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Commentary: China, a doer in advancing global climate governance

Xinhua) 09:51, December 02, 2023

COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (C) visits China's pavilion in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Nov. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

As a leading practitioner of ecological civilization, China has in recent years stepped up efforts toward green transition and made sustainable development achievements.

DUBAI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- In an unprecedented crisis of climate change, China, a responsible member of the global family, stands out as a doer in advancing global climate governance, and has been actively boosting international cooperation to address the crisis.

COP28, namely the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is going on in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

The UN climate conference has garnered increasing global attention as climate change is threatening human survival more than ever.

This year's conference is notably significant as it will respond to the first-ever Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, a two-year assessment of the world's collective progress toward achieving the goals of the agreement.

As a leading practitioner of ecological civilization, China has in recent years stepped up efforts toward green transition and made sustainable development achievements.

It has set a bold "dual carbon" goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and formulated a "1+N" policy framework for its realization.

For a net-zero future, China has built the world's largest clean power generation system, with its total installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, and solar power generation ranking first in the world.

In addition, during the past decade, its annual energy consumption has grown at a rate of 3 percent, supporting an average economic growth of 6.6 percent, making China one of the countries that have seen the fastest reduction in energy intensity.

Upholding the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, China has also been actively promoting international climate cooperation and getting increasingly involved in global environmental governance.

It has signed 43 South-South cooperation documents on climate response with 38 developing countries, trained about 2,000 officials and professional personnel specializing in climate response for more than 120 countries, and made notable contributions to building a fair and rational global climate governance system for win-win results.

Earlier this month, China and the United States jointly issued "The Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis." COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber welcomed the statement as an important achievement ahead of COP28. He said it echoes the continued international calls for climate actions and raises the threshold for responses to the stocktaking of the Paris Agreement at COP28.

China holds a consistent position on climate issues: to tackle climate change, a pressing global challenge, it is crucial to come up with a worldwide solution, and it is essential to effectively implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in a comprehensive and balanced manner; All parties should promote unity and cooperation, and reject protectionism and unilateralism in any form.

This photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows wind turbines of Longyuan South Africa Renewables (Pty) Ltd.'s De Aar Wind Power Project in De Aar, South Africa. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

These staunch calls came as many Western developed countries, which are duty-bound in global climate governance and have actual capabilities to do more in global cooperation, failed to deliver on their promises.

Neither a 25-42 percent emission reduction from the 1990 level nor a 100-billion-U.S. dollar financing every year for developing countries' climate action, has been implemented.

In recent years, extreme weather events have become more frequent, and the adverse effects of climate change have become prominent, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, noting that the latest report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) once again reminds the world that the efforts to tackle climate change are far from enough.

Ahead of COP28, China reaffirmed its resolve and commitments, and urged developed countries to walk the talk.

"China will work with all parties to support the UAE's presidency, and use the global stocktake as an opportunity to step up implementation, strengthen supporting measures and jointly build a fair, reasonable and win-win global climate governance system," said the spokesperson.

To achieve climate control goals, the Convention and its Paris Agreement require developed countries to take the lead in making significant emissions cuts and provide financial, technological and capacity-building support for climate actions in developing countries. At the same time, developing countries should also contribute to the fight against climate change, Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Sandra Day O'Connor stands in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building after being sworn in, Sept. 25, 1981, in Washington, D.C. She wasn't only the first woman on the Supreme Court, but often its most influential voice. David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

Such was the scale of Sandra Day OConnors accomplishments, the range of her influence, the quality of her intellect and judicial temperament, and her place in history that two presidents of different generations, parties and political ideologies were unabashed in their praise of her.

In 1981, when President Ronald Reagan announced he would nominate OConnor to be the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, he said, She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 brethren who have preceded her.

In 2009, when President Barack Obama awarded OConnor the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, he said that she had paved the way for millions of women to achieve their dreams.  Her historic 25-term tenure on the court was defined by her integrity and independence, and she has earned the nations lasting gratitude for her invaluable contributions to history and law.

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OConnor, who died Friday in Phoenix, Ariz., at the age of 93, wasnt merely a historic appointee to the nations highest court; she was such an evolving centrist force  one who often provided the deciding votes in key cases  that the nations highest court was often referred to as the OConnor Court.

She was a swing vote not because she was a fence-sitter of little conviction, but because she was a pragmatist of principle who considered each case on its own merit and whether it adhered to or strayed from her interpretation of the Constitution.

Given the ultraconservative makeup of the current court  a rightward tilt that began when OConnor retired and President George W. Bush appointed Samuel Alito as her successor  some in this current political environment might mistakenly identify OConnor as liberal. Not so. She was a moderate conservative.

She voted with the conservative majority in 2000 in Bush v. Gore, which stopped the counting of votes in Florida and guaranteed the presidency for the Republican nominee. She was a consistent supporter of states' rights, but in 1992s landmark abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, she was instrumental in crafting a 5-4 majority decision that upheld the core of Roe v. Wade. That decision, along with Roe, was overturned in June 2022.

In her opinion in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger, a 5-4 ruling upholding the University of Michigan Law Schools affirmative-action admissions program, OConnor wrote, Affirmative Actions benefits are not theoretical, but real. Effective participation by members of all racial and ethnic groups in the civic life of our nation is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible, is to be realized.

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OConnor was also the deciding vote in another 5-4 decision, 2005s McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, which ruled that the display of the Ten Commandments at two Kentucky courthouses violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Of those who would want to erase the line between church and state, OConnor asked, Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?

Solely because of her gender, OConnor was almost denied the opportunity to showcase the talent, acuity and equanimity reflected in her opinions. Born in El Paso, she split her childhood between Texas and Arizona. OConnor graduated from high school at 16 and finished Stanford Law School in two years. Yet upon graduation, because of blatant sexism, she was offered only one job  as a legal secretary.

There were women who could and should have been among the 101 brethren who preceded her to the Supreme Court but were never afforded the opportunity.

Four of the nine members of the current court are women, something unthinkable before 1981.

But before Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there was Sandra Day OConnor.

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Shelby Count Justice Center can be seen here at 201 Poplar Avenue on August 14, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn.

Editor's note: this story has been updated with comment and additional details from Bobby Carter.

A report from former Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Bobby Carter found that fewer than 40 jury trials have taken place in 2023, a substantial drop from the "historically conducted" 200 annual criminal trials presided over by Shelby County's 10 criminal court judges.

The report was commissioned by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, who contracted Carter in mid-July to sit in on court proceedings. Carter's role came after Strickland said he wrote to the criminal court judges requesting transparency in the judicial system and received no response from the judges.

Carter's report, released Friday and posted to the City of Memphis website and mentioned in Strickland's weekly email, included a history of criminal courts in America, and a history of how the criminal court has operated in Shelby County.

Combined with that history, Carter also analyzed data from the Tennessee Administrator of the Courts, which compiles dispositions of charges levied against people in Tennessee. That data was from 2018 through 2022.

According to Carter, the 10 criminal courts in Shelby County had "historically conducted" 200 jury trials each year, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that pattern. He then wrote that the "tempo" of court cases had returned to pre-COVID levels in late 2021, but the elections in 2022  which saw five new judges elected and a new district attorney  changed that.

"Since September of 2022, the number of jury trials being conducted has drastically declined," Carter wrote in the report. "In the 14-plus month period of September 1, 2022 through November 27, 2023, fewer than forty jury trials have been conducted."

"Crime, however, continues," he added, referencing the record-high number of homicides recorded in 2023.

Carter also noted that trials are taking longer to be reached and that the length of time it takes to reach those trials has made plea deals less attractive to defendants, amplifying the backlog of cases. Carter, however, did not disparage plea deals but instead said plea deals are a necessity for the criminal justice system to work.

More: Families of murder victims with unsolved cases search for hope at remembrance event

"The growth of our country, the rise in crime and simple arithmetic makes the concept of trying every single offense before a jury a physical impossibility," Carter wrote. "Enter the system of plea bargaining or plea negotiation.'"

However, those plea bargains do not work, he said, if cases do not reach a trial quickly and sentences are not severe.

"For this system to work, there must be a relative certainty that those who choose not to accept any offer of settlement will face a jury reasonably quickly and receive a generally more severe sentence," he wrote. "Otherwise, no incentive exists for anyone to ever plead guilty other than to very, very favorable terms. This entire premise falters if a jury trial cannot be provided in a timely and proficient manner."

What did prior case disposition data tell Carter?

The data from the Administrator of the Courts, which breaks down the disposition of each charge levied against someone and not each case someone faces, featured fiscal years 2018 through 2022, the latter of which ended in June 2022. The data from the AOC did not include the tenure of the judges or district attorney's office that took office in September 2022.

More: Memphis to be second city to get federal law enforcement program targeting violent crime

That data, Carter said, will not be available until early 2024.

However, Carter said he found "interesting takeaways" from that data, even as the numbers remained fairly constant.

About half of all charges of every case in Shelby County from 2018 to 2022 were dismissed, which Carter said was due to the fact that often a plea to one count of the indictment results in the remaining counts being dismissed. About 22% of the charges resulted in a guilty plea as charged in that count. Carter said 6% of the charges were pleas to lesser charges.

He did, however, note changes in the percentage of cases tried in Shelby County's criminal courts.

The Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, located at 201 Poplar, is seen in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.

"The percentage of cases tried before a jury dropped from 1.9% in 2018 to 1.2% in 2022," he wrote. "The year-to-date trials of 2023 suggest an even more precipitous drop in this calendar year. The issue is simple. Even if we dispose of cases in the same way, but take much longer to do so than before, our case backlog must continue to grow. Without the assurance of a speedy trial, a person accused of a crime has no incentive to do anything but delay their matter for as long as possible."

Carter suggests solutions

Carter said the solution will take the committed effort of judges, the DAs office and the community.

The judges, he said, must be more strict about case timelines and ensure that they are not allowed to drag on. They must also develop a plan to dispose or try any case older than 500 days, referencing a federal courts rocket docket model to play catch up. That, however, would also require trials to be carried out much faster, Carter said.

The DA, according to Carter, should obtain the training and education for the members of his office to ensure that they are able to evaluate cases fairly, prepare them effectively and present them to a jury promptly and persuasively. He also said prosecutors should be the peoples attorney, especially for the victims of crime.

Mayor Jim Strickland speaks during a press conference to discuss the $3 million in federal Community Project funding Cohen secured for the Overton Park-Memphis Zoo Parking Solution Initiative in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, October 31, 2023.

The people of Shelby County, he said in closing, should be alerted to their rights to a speedy trial or disposition in criminal cases.

"At the end of the day, a knowledgeable and vocal public is the most effective mechanism for insuring that the judges and district attorney effectively protect the community and guarantee their rights as well as those of the accused," he wrote.

Why did Carter get this role, and how much was he paid?

Carter was given this role by Strickland in mid-July 2023, and he began sitting in on court cases shortly after, The Daily Memphian reported.

Carter's contract, obtained through a public records request by The Commercial Appeal, was not signed by Strickland until Aug. 23 this year. The contract showed that Carter was to be paid $200 an hour, for his court monitoring duties with a 10-hour working cap.

Assuming Carter worked for the 26 weeks from Strickland's announcement through the report's publication for his full, 10-hour allotment, the city could pay up to $52,000 for the court watch report from the retired judge.

Carter, in an email to The Commercial Appeal Dec. 5, said he has "submitted two invoices totaling $8,8,00" as of sending that email. He said he will file his final invoice, which he believes is "slightly less than $4,000," for a total of just under $12,800 paid for the report.

More: City of Memphis is paying ex-Judge Bobby Carter $200 per hour for 201 Poplar court watching

The contract is broken up into three levels. In level one, Carter, per the contract, was asked to conduct "an in-depth examination and analysis, through data/record compilation and personal observations of activities and outcomes of criminal cases in Shelby County Courts, including but not limited to criminal courts."

Carter's report was six pages long, not including an attached case management plan that he referenced within the report.

The second level of Carter's contract said he was to "perform a systematic evaluation of such actives and outcomes, to include" caseloads, trial calendars, data and efficiency trends, case outcomes and any other subject requested by the City of Memphis.

Shelby Count Justice Center can be seen here at 201 Poplar Avenue on August 14, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn.

The report, though driven through narrative and not including graphs or charts, noted multiple trials are scheduled that get rescheduled, or do not begin due to a plea deal being struck.

"Every week six, seven or more trials are scheduled to begin," he wrote. "Most weeks only one or two begin. Many weeks pass with no trials being conducted at all. Some of the cases are settled, many are continued to another date, and a few are dismissed for various reasons including, unsurprisingly, witness problems. With only one trial set in a given courtroom per week these alternative outcomes result in the whole week being a missed opportunity for any of the myriad other cases awaiting trial."

Level three of Carter's contract stated he was to give written reports when asked to do so.

Though Carter's contract was signed for a single year, there is an option to extend the contract for another year.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County court report: fewer cases tried, length complicates plea deals
A mysterious respiratory disease spreading among dogs has now officially arrived in Western Washington.

According to the latest numbers from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), there have been 16 reports statewide of what is now being called atypical Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC). Among those, there have been two confirmed cases, one in each of Snohomish and Clark counties.

Of those 16 reports, seven have been in King County. Another three were in Spokane County, two in Island County, and then one in each of Clark, Pierce, Skamania, and Snohomish counties.

The dogs in the two confirmed cases are said to be recovering, as are the majority of cases tracked by veterinarians. That said, a small portion of animals do experience serious disease, the WSDA warns.

For the 14 reports that have not yet been confirmed, the WSDA says it is still collecting information to ensure we provide accurate information.

To protect your pets, the WSDA advises the following:

Fully vaccinating your pets for all canine respiratory diseases

Avoiding group settings for dogs

Keeping pets away from sick dogs

Washing your hands, especially if youre exposed to sick dogs and/or boarding facilities

Contacting your vet if your dog is showing symptoms

CIRDC symptoms include lethargy, coughing, discharge from the nose and/or eyes, and in more serious cases, signs typically seen in pneumonia. The typical iteration is commonly known as kennel cough. The atypical form first surfaced around August of 2023, and has since spread to several states, including Oregon and Idaho.

There have not been any reports of the illness spreading to humans.
The woman accusing Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler of sexual assault told police she had planned to have sex with him and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, but called it off when Bridget couldnt make it, according to a newly released search warrant affidavit.

The woman, whom Ziegler claimed to have known for 20 years in a message detailed in the warrant, told Sarasota police she was sexually involved one time over a year ago with Ziegler and his wife, a Sarasota School Board member who helped start the conservative organization that advocates for more parental control and traditional values in public schools.

The search warrant affidavit offers the most detailed public account yet of the incident, which has roiled Florida GOP leadership and led to calls for Ziegler to resign. The documents were shared with the Miami Herald by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, which uncovered the sex assault allegations.

The victim said she had agreed to have a second sexual encounter with the couple on Oct. 2, according to the affidavit, which was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel and ABC Action News in Tampa. But when Bridget Ziegler was unable to make it, the woman told investigators she canceled the plans, texting Christian Ziegler that she was mostly in it for his wife.

Read for yourself: Heres what the search warrant affidavit in Ziegler sex assault case says

Minutes after the woman canceled, she opened her front door to walk her dog, where she claims to have seen Christian Ziegler standing in the hallway outside of her apartment, according to the affidavit. He then proceeded to enter her apartment, where he allegedly raped her.

Zieglers attorney has said he did nothing wrong and will be completely exonerated.

With his attorney present, Christian Ziegler told detectives that the Oct. 2 encounter was consensual and that he recorded it. He said he initially deleted the video but then uploaded it to his Google Drive after learning of the allegation. Police said in the affidavit that they had not recovered the video.

According to the affidavit, the victim called her sister after the alleged assault and went to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where a sexual assault kit was performed.

The alleged assault was reported to police two days after the encounter on Oct. 4. Audio of a 911 call from that day reveals that a friend of the victim had asked law enforcement to perform a wellness check on the woman after she reportedly failed to show up to work for two days.

She hasnt shown up for work the past two days and I just got off the phone with her and she sounds drunk and I know she has pain medication on her and she told me that she doesnt think she can do it anymore, the caller told the dispatcher, according to audio of the 911 call that was obtained by the Florida Trident, a watchdog news outlet that first broke the news that police were investigating the sexual battery allegation against Ziegler.

The affidavit then recounts a series of messages and phone calls between Christian Ziegler and the woman. According to the affidavit, the victim said that Ziegler liked to contact her through Instagram because he conceals the messages using vanish mode. The calls were recorded.

In one call, the victim expressed that Ziegler had hurt her and that she was deeply upset at what had happened during the encounter. In a separate call, she told Ziegler directly that he had sexually assaulted her.

 Those are big words, please dont, no I didnt,  Ziegler responded, according to the affidavit. You invited me in, thats it. I did not at all, and I never want you to feel that way. 

The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed against Christian Ziegler. His lawyer Derek Byrd issued a statement on Thursday saying that Ziegler was cooperating with investigators and predicting that he would ultimately be exonerated of any wrongdoing.

Still, the allegations have cast a shadow over the Zieglers, one of Floridas most influential Republican couples.

Bridget Ziegler is a Sarasota School Board member and a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization that has gained national attention while advocating for more parental control and traditional values in public schools.

Bridget Ziegler speaks at the Sarasota and Manatee Republican Parties candidates rally at Robarts Arena in Sarasota on Saturday, July 16, 2022.

Christian Ziegler, as Florida GOP chairman, is tasked with guiding the party through the states 2024 presidential primary, when two Floridians  former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis  will be on the ballot.

Zieglers future at the helm of the Florida Republican Party, however, is facing a real challenge. On Thursday, shortly after a debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, DeSantis told reporters that Ziegler should step down from the chairmanship amid the investigation.

I dont see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing given the gravity of those situations, and so I think that he should step aside, DeSantis said. I think he should tend to that.
With George Santos' expulsion from the House, attention now turns to who might replace him.

New York's 3rd Congressional district has a distinct shade of blue in presidential elections.

But Republicans are thriving on Long Island, and they could win the upcoming special election.

On paper, Democrats should be able to reclaim New York's 3rd Congressional district with relative ease.

George Santos, the seat's scandal-plagued Republican occupant for nearly a year, was ousted from the House on Friday in a historic expulsion vote. The district, anchored on Long Island's North Shore, with a sliver of Queens included, is filled with the sort of upper-income swing voters who have increasingly rejected Republicans in the Trump era. And President Joe Biden would have handily carried the district in its current configuration.

But despite everything going for Democrats, they've faltered on Long Island in recent cycles, a significant regression after years of inroads in what had been a Republican stronghold for generations. And after the Santos debacle, Republicans will look to nominate a serious contender devoid of the ex-congressman's penchant for headlines.

So the race at this moment appears to be a toss-up, a sentiment also expressed by the Cook Political Report.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has not yet called for a special election, but under state law must do so within 10 days of the vacancy. There will then be 70 to 80 days before an election is held, putting the date for the special election sometime in February 2024.

Here's why the contest looks to be so competitive:

Despite the nationalization of politics, this remains a local race

While Democrats racked up wins in affluent suburban districts across the United States in the 2022 midterms, Long Island took on a shade of red.

Lee Zeldin, the Republican Long Island congressman who mounted a competitive gubernatorial bid against Hochul, performed strongly in Nassau and Suffolk counties, winning the former by 10 points and the latter by nearly 17 points. Despite Zeldin's six-point statewide loss, his coattails on the island helped elect Santos, Nick LaLota, and Anthony D'Esposito to open congressional seats. (Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who represents the GOP-leaning 2nd district, was already favored to win.)

Republican Anne Donnelly won the Nassau County district attorney's race in 2021. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Zeldin during his campaign sought to tie Hochul to voter concerns over crime and criminal justice, with a Democratic-led law that ended cash bail in the state proving to be controversial, but especially so on Long Island  which is filled with many active and retired NYPD officers.

Last year, Santos rode the Zeldin wave and defeated his Democratic opponent, businessman Robert Zimmerman, by nearly 8 points.

Abortion and the preservation of democracy may have boosted Democrats in other House districts across the country last year, but it wasn't enough to overcome the GOP momentum in New York State.

Republicans actually have a bench

Republicans in recent years have begun to claw back power across Long Island.

In 2021, Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, won the Nassau County executive position, ousting then-Democratic incumbent Laura Curran. Republican Anne Donnelly also easily defeated then-Democratic state Sen. Todd Kaminsky in that year's hotly contested Nassau County district attorney's election, which centered on the polarizing bail reform law.

Republicans flipped control of the Suffolk County legislature in 2021. And last month, Republican Ed Romaine was handily elected to the county executive post.

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito was elected in 2022 in a Democratic-leaning Long Island House district. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

For the upcoming special election, local party leaders will choose the nominees who'll appear on the ballot.

Joe Cairo, the chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee, is currently interviewing roughly 22 individuals for the seat. Names being floated as potential nominees include Nassau County legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip, Nassau County comptroller Elaine Phillips, state Sen. Jack Martins, ex-NYPD detective Mike Sapraicone, and Air Force veteran Kellen Curry.

All of the candidates have the sort of profiles typical of Nassau County Republican elected officials, with ties to the business world, New York City and state law enforcement, or local government.

The one caveat here is that the Democratic nominee could be former Rep. Tom Suozzi, who previously held the seat before Santos and is very familiar to Long Islanders. Suozzi, a former Glen Cove mayor and ex-Nassau County executive, launched two unsuccessful gubernatorial bids in 2006 and in 2022.

In Suozzi's gubernatorial challenge to Hochul last year, he ran to her right on the issue of crime, hoping to make inroads with voters frustrated by the state's bail reform. Suozzi came in third place in the Democratic primary, but he's a known commodity to 3rd district voters and likely the strongest candidate that the party could field.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents a Brooklyn-based district, worked earlier in the fall to convince Suozzi to attempt another House run, according to The New York Times. And Jay Jacobs, the state and Nassau County Democratic Party chair, has informed associates that the former congressman will be the probable choice, per the Times report.

Former Democratic state Sen. Anna Kaplan, who had already been running to succeed Santos, remains in the 2024 contest. The ex-lawmaker is offering a more progressive candidacy that that of the moderate Suozzi, whom she had already been attacking over abortion rights even before Santos was removed from the House.

No matter what, both parties have solid candidates that they can field for the special election. But Republicans can't be discounted in the district given the current political shifts on Long Island.

Read the original article on Business Insider
China's population long has been accustomed to wearing masks in public (such as pictured in Hong Kong in 2022), and it continues to now during an apparent rise in respiratory infections there. But in testimony provided Thursday to members of Congress, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a current surge in respiratory illnesses in China is not being fueled by a new virus. File Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE

In testimony provided Thursday to members of Congress, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China is not being fueled by a new virus.

Instead, the spike can be linked to existing viruses and bacteria, including COVID-19, the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Mycoplasma pneumonia, CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen testified.

Her assessment mirrors the explanation offered by Chinese authorities and reported by the World Health Organization.

"But they are seeing an upsurge. We do have an office, the CDC does, in China," she testified, NBC News reported. "And our officials have been in touch with our counterparts to ensure that we're understanding the situation there."

The surge is concentrated in northern China, she added, where hospitals have been flooded with sick children.

Since mid-October, that region has reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared to the same period in the previous three years, WHO has reported.

The United Nations health agency has asked China to provide more information about the surge in respiratory illnesses, NBC News reported. Both the Chinese government and WHO have faced criticism over a lack of transparency in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Chinese officials insist the lifting of the strictest pandemic restrictions late last year has fueled the surge in illnesses, NBC News reported. Such a surge has been seen in other countries that have lifted strict COVID restrictions, including Australia and New Zealand.

Health officials in China say they are working to increase the availability of health care providers and boost the supply of medicine, while advising parents of children with mild cases to avoid going to hospitals because of long wait times and the risk of more infections, NBC News reported.

More information

Visit the CDC for more on respiratory viruses.

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall plans to build the first armored vehicles on-site in Ukraine from the summer of 2024, CEO Armin Papperger said in an interview with German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche on Dec. 2.

The first Fuchs armored personnel carriers could be produced in Ukraine by late summer 2024, about six to seven months after signing the relevant contract, Papperger said.

The first Lynx armored fighting vehicles could be built in Ukraine by 2025, or "12 to 13 months" after signing the contract, according to the CEO.

The first 10 Lynx vehicles are currently being manufactured in German and Hungarian plants, but "after a ramp-up phase, we should then quickly be in a position to produce a significant number of these vehicles entirely in Ukraine."

Papperger told WirtschaftsWoche that he is not concerned about the security of factories in Ukraine, as Rheinmetall will be "renting existing plants, converting them and then operating them," and "they seem to be quite well protected."

Armored vehicles produced abroad are already being repaired and maintained in Ukraine, Paperger said, since "skilled workers from Ukraine have been trained in Germany for this purpose."

Papperger first announced plans for Rheinmetall to produce Fuchs armored personnel carriers in Ukraine in May 2023.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Oct. 24 that Rheinmetall will join forces with Ukraine's state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom to repair and maintain Western-produced military vehicles and ultimately produce them domestically in Ukraine.

The joint Rheinmetall-Ukrainian Defense Industry was registered on Oct. 18, Shmyhal said.

"The creation of a joint enterprise is, without exaggeration, a landmark event that takes cooperation between our countries to a qualitatively new level."

Rheinmetall regularly provides weapons and equipment to Ukraine, such as Leopard 1 tanks, mortar shells, and drone surveillance systems.

The German government, the second-biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine worldwide, finances the deliveries.

Read also: Defense Ministry: Ukraine to produce anti-air missiles with 100 km range next year

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
WASHINGTON - Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Along with roll call votes this week, the House passed these measures by voice vote: a bill (H.R. 4666), to require the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration to submit a quarterly report on fraud relating to certain COVID-19 loans; the Returning Erroneous COVID Loans Addressing Illegal and Misappropriated Taxpayer Funds Act (H.R. 4667), to require the Small Business Administration to issue guidance and rules for lenders on handling amounts of Paycheck Protection Loans returned by borrowers; the Small Business Contracting Transparency Act (H.R. 4670), to require reporting on additional information with respect to small business concerns owned and controlled by women, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, and small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans; and a bill (H.R. 5427), to prohibit individuals convicted of defrauding the federal government from receiving any assistance from the Small Business Administration.

The Senate also confirmed a set of senior officer nominations in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force.

House votes

Chuck Edwards

House Vote 1: ISRAELI HOSTAGES AND HAMAS: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 793), sponsored by Rep. Haley M. Stevens, D-Mich., calling for Hamas to immediately release the hostages it took in its attack on Israel in October. Stevens said: "We must condemn the terrorists who seek to attack the Jewish state. They have brutally killed relatives, neighbors, and fellow Israelis. We must continue to push to return the remaining hostages." The vote, on Nov. 28, was unanimous with 414 yeas. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 2: ISRAEL RESOLUTION: The House has passed a resolution (H. Res. 888), sponsored by Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., to reaffirm Israel's right to exist, condemn Hamas's attack on Israel, and deem the denial of Israel's right to exist a form of anti-Semitism. Lawler said: "Congress must never stop pushing back against Israel's opponents, and we must reject biased attempts to destroy our greatest ally." The vote, on Nov. 28, was 412 yeas to 1 nay, with 1 voting present. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 3: CONDEMNING HOUTHIS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Andrew Ogles, R-Tenn., to the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act (H.R. 5961), to criticize the Biden administration for failing to unequivocally condemn the Houthi group in Yemen, which is supported by Iran. Ogles cited attacks against U.S. citizens and military ships by the Houthis, and said the lack of condemnation "is to the detriment of our national security." An opponent, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said that in fact the administration "has repeatedly called out the violence of Houthi militants that they have perpetuated against civilians, including recent missile launches toward Israel." The vote, on Nov. 30, was 226 yeas to 199 nays, with 1 voting present. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 4: IRAN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS: The House has passed the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act (H.R. 5961), sponsored by Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Texas, to require sanctions against foreign financial firms that attempt to help Iran transfer $6 billion that had been held in restricted accounts in South Korea but were de-restricted to facilitate the release of five U.S. citizens detained in Iran. McCaul said: "Blocking money to Iran is the most consequential thing we can do here in this Congress to stop Iran's financing of terrorism to Hamas and other proxies to help keep our troops safe who are now under fire from Iran-backed militias." An opponent, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the bill would remove U.S. leverage against Iran by breaking a negotiated agreement under which the $6 billion could only be used in Iran for "approved humanitarian purchases to acquire medicine, medical equipment, agricultural goods, and food." The vote, on Nov. 30, was 307 yeas to 119 nays, with 1 voting present. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 5: IMMIGRANTS AND FEDERAL LANDS: The House has passed the Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act (H.R. 5283), sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., to bar the federal government from using various federal lands to house foreign alien nationals not authorized to be in the U.S. Malliotakis said housing such aliens on federal lands was not fair to foreigners who are going through the legal procedures for moving to the U.S., and she cited the burden that has been placed on New York City by a recent agreement to house at least 2,000 unauthorized migrants at a federal facility in Brooklyn. A bill opponent, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., called it "another ploy by the Republicans to score political points without actually addressing the desperately needed reforms to our immigration system." The vote, on Nov. 30, was 224 yeas to 203 nays, with 1 voting present. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

Senate votes

Sens. Ted Budd, left, and Thom Tillis

Senate Vote 1: MINNESOTA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jeffrey M. Bryan to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Minnesota. For the past decade, Bryan has been a district court and appeals court judge in Minnesota; previously, he was a federal prosecutor in the state. A supporter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said of Bryan: "Through his devotion to justice and the rule of law, he has earned the respect and support of judges, attorneys, and law enforcement officials across the political spectrum." The vote, on Nov. 28, was 49 yeas to 46 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 2: NEW YORK JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Margaret M. Garnett to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Over the past two decades, Garnett has variously been a private practice lawyer, prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District, and lawyer for the New York and New York City governments. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Garnett not just "brilliant but wise, not just determined but kind, not just an outstanding lawyer but a true friend and defender of our system" of justice. The vote, on Nov. 28, was 49 yeas to 46 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 3: LABOR APPOINTEE: The Senate has rejected a cloture motion to end debate on the nomination of Jose Javier Rodriguez to be the Labor Department's Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. Rodriguez is a private practice lawyer in Miami, specializing in employment law; he was, for eight years, a member of the Florida state legislature. The vote, on Nov. 28, was 44 yeas to 51 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 4: HAWAII JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Micah Smith to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Hawaii. Since 2012, Smith has been a federal prosecutor in U.S. Attorney's Offices in first New York and then Hawaii. The vote, on Nov. 29, was 57 yeas to 41 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC. NAYS: Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 5: NEW JERSEY JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Jamel Semper to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. A state prosecutor for most of the 2010s, Semper has, since 2018, been a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey. A supporter, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said: "Semper has demonstrated unflinching fidelity to the rule of law. Time and time again, Mr. Semper has kept New Jerseyans safe, while also building bridges between residents and those who have sworn an oath to protect them." The vote, on Nov. 29, was 54 yeas to 44 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 6: SECOND HAWAII JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Shanlyn Park to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for Hawaii. Park has been a circuit court judge in Hawaii's government since 2021; previously, she had been a private practice lawyer, and was a federal public defender in the state for two decades. A supporter, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said: "As a judge, she has earned high marks for her even-handed approach and well-reasoned, fair decisions." The vote, on Nov. 30, was 53 yeas to 45 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Here's how WNC's members of Congress voted Nov. 24-30
A kayaker approaches large buoys being used as a floating border barrier on the Rio Grande Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Eric Gay/Associated Press

Texas will have to move its floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande after a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the states appeal of a lower court ruling.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a district court judge in Austin had not erred when he ordered Gov. Greg Abbotts administration to temporarily reposition the 1,000-foot barrier near the shore in Eagle Pass while a fuller review of the case continues.

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The decision is a big victory for the U.S. Justice Department, which sued Abbott in July after he refused to remove the barrier. Federal officials argue that Abbott violated the federal Rivers and Harbors Act by not getting permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before he deployed the buoys this summer. The Corps of Engineers has authority over all U.S. waterways.

Abbott said in a statement on social media that the courts decision on Friday was clearly wrong and the he and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would seek a rehearing in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Abbott vowed to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed.

The buoys are 4 feet each in diameter and rotate if people try to climb or get around them. Abbotts original plan for them called for putting more in other parts of the river over time to deter migrant crossings.

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The Republican governor included the pilot project as part of his latest phase of Operation Lone Star, the border security program that has seen thousands of National Guard troops sent to the border, migrants bused to other states and miles of razor wire strung along the Rio Grande to deter crossings.

Abbott has said hes taking action along the border because of the federal governments inability to stop migrant crossings into Texas. And in court, his lawyers argued that the Rivers and Harbors Act did not apply in this situation. They argued the 1,900-mile Rio Grande cannot be considered a navigable river and the floating buoys were not a hardened structure that violates the law.

But in September, Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra sided with the Justice Department, issuing an emergency injunction to force the buoys out of the river until the fuller case could be resolved. Abbott appealed that decision to the 5th Circuit.

In speeches, Abbott has said he is taking extraordinary steps to secure the border because the state is facing an invasion at the Texas border that the Biden administration has failed to slow.

I will do whatever I have to do to defend our state from the invasion of the Mexican drug cartels and others who are trying to come into our country illegally, Abbott said in a speech to Republican leaders in Georgetown during the summer. I will protect our sovereignty.

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The Trump administration first pushed the idea of a buoy barrier. In 2020, President Donald Trump had teams studying the idea of using it in the Rio Grande. The administration went so far as to seek bids for the project, but it was never deployed.

One of the federal officials who worked on that project for Trump was Mike Banks, whom Abbott appointed as his new border czar in January.

During a stop in Edinburg near the Texas border two weeks ago, Trump praised Abbott for his innovation along the river, calling it amazing.

Besides potentially violating the Rivers and Harbors Act, Justice Department lawyers say the barrier potentially violates treaties with Mexico.

Hillary Quam, a U.S. State Department official, testified at a hearing in August that Mexican officials have sent three different letters, made phone calls to top U.S. officials and brought the buoys up at unrelated meetings. Quam, the U.S.-Mexico border affairs coordinator for the State Department, said the issue has become a major concern for Mexican officials because of its potential to disrupt the flow of water thats needed downstream.

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The legal fight comes as federal government data shows federal border patrol officials encountered a record number of migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico in the last year. They reported almost 2.5 million border encounters, up about 100,000 from a year ago and up about 800,000 from two years prior.

One of the biggest critics of the buoys has been U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who early on was pushing the White House to intervene. Castro has also led congressional delegations to the border to see the barriers up close. On Friday, he praised the Justice Department for winning this round in court.
Romanian guru Gregorian Bivolaru is escorted to a vehicle, after a hearing at the Romanian Police headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. French authorities arrested the leader of a multinational tantric yoga organization Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023 on suspicion of indoctrinating female followers for sexual exploitation. The Romanian guru at the heart of the Atman Yoga Federation was detained during a massive morning police operation across the Paris region. (AP Photo/Marian Ilie)

PARIS (AP)  A 71-year-old Romanian yoga guru and 14 others were handed preliminary charges by a Paris magistrate on a raft of counts linked to an international ring that for years allegedly subjected followers seeking enlightenment to sexual exploitation.

The Paris prosecutors office said that six of the 15 people interrogated were ordered held on Friday, while nine others were freed but under judicial surveillance.

Gregorian Bivolaru was among two of the six handed a string of preliminary charges that included human trafficking in an organized band, kidnapping, sequestration or arbitrary detention of numerous people along with rape and abusing the weakness of a group via psychological or physical subjection. None of the 15 was named but a judicial source said that Bivolaru was among the two facing the longest list of charges.

A trimmed-down version of the preliminary charges were handed to the other suspects. An investigation will now determine whether the preliminary charges lead to a formal indictment and a trial.

The arrest this past week of Bivolaru and 40 others in the Paris region ended a six-year manhunt in several countries. The police unit that combats sect-related crimes freed 26 people described by authorities as sect victims who had been housed in deplorable conditions.

Accounts from alleged victims detailed in the French media portray Bivolaru as a guru who coerced women into sexual relationships under the guise of spiritual elevation in a career spanning decades and continents.

Bivolarus group, initially known as MISA, for Movement for Spiritual Integration Toward the Absolute, was later known as the Atman yoga federation. Non-consensual sexual activities under the facade of tantric yoga teachings were allegedly at the heart of the organization, according to a French judicial official who spoke last week on condition of anonymity because the person, like other judicial officials, wasnt authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

The groups ashrams were centers for indoctrination and sexual exploitation disguised as spiritual enlightenment, according to the official. One appeared to be exclusively dedicated to satisfying the desires of the leader, with women transported there from elsewhere, the official added.

MISA said in a statement on its website in Romanian that Bivolaru had been targeted by media campaigns since the 1990s to discredit and slander him, calling any charges against him in France absurd accusations.

The Atman federation meanwhile described the situation to The Associated Press in an email as a witch hunt, disclaiming responsibility for the private lives of students and teachers at its member schools. It also highlighted that some member schools had won cases at the European Court of Human Rights, demonstrating human rights violations against them.

The alleged sexual abuses spanned Europe. In 2017, Finlands National Bureau of Investigation issued an international arrest warrant for him for alleged aggravated human trafficking. Bivolaru had obtained political refugee status in Sweden in 2005, which delayed legal proceedings in Romania. In France, yoga retreats were held in and around Paris and in the southern Alpes-Maritimes region. However, it was not immediately clear how long he had been in France.

___

Thomas Adamson contributed to this report.
Ventura City Fire officials say an explosion in a residential kitchen Thursday was caused by pest control foggers placed too close to a water heater.

Here's a roundup of recent incidents and announcements from Ventura County agencies:

Pest foggers cause explosion

An explosion in a west Ventura apartment Thursday was due to poor placement of pest control foggers, city fire officials said.

The explosion was reported around 10:50 a.m. inside a residence in a two-story multifamily complex near Ventura Avenue and Dakota Drive. The blast damaged the kitchen area and multiple windows, according to the Ventura Fire Department.

A man was home at the time but wasn't injured, department officials said in a news release.

Firefighters shut off utilities and used thermal imaging cameras to check for any remaining fire before they entered the home. Building and safety officials checked the condition of surrounding units.

Fire investigators determined the cause of the explosion was pest control foggers being used too close to a water heater.

The department warned residents of the "flammable and explosive nature" of pest control foggers and urged people to be diligent while using them.

Man denied bail after alleged hammer attack

A 21-year-old Thousand Oaks man accused of seriously injuring two family members in their 60s during an alleged hammer attack was denied bail last week.

Scott Goldberg has been charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the Nov. 19 incident at a home on Mayfield Court, a cul-de-sac off Mayfield Street in Newbury Park. Authorities have said Goldberg seriously injured his father, 64, and critically injured a woman, 63, who was said to be a family member but whose exact relationship to Goldberg wasn't immediately clear. No update on the woman's condition was available Saturday.

Scott Goldberg

Goldberg, who was arrested at the scene on the night of the incident, was initially booked into county jail in lieu of $500,000.

He had remained in custody until his bail review hearing Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court, when Judge Patricia Murphy granted the prosecution's request to deny bail, court records show, barring him from being released before trial.

Goldberg, who has not yet entered a plea in the case, is scheduled for arraignment on the morning of Dec. 20 in courtroom 37.

Smash-and-grab suspect nabbed in Simi

A Palmdale man who allegedly committed a "smash-and-grab" robbery at the Simi Valley Macy's store Thursday night was arrested after a pursuit and search.

Several 911 callers reported the incident in progress at the department store at 1475 Simi Town Center Way, where a man was said to be smashing display cases with a hammer and taking items shortly before 8 p.m., according to the Simi Valley Police Department.

As officers were on the way, the suspect fled in a white passenger vehicle that was soon spotted going eastbound on Highway 118. Officers tried to pull over the car and a short pursuit was launched when the driver failed to stop, according to police.

The suspect got off the freeway and drove on surface streets into a residential area where he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, police officials said in a news release.

The department issued an alert for residents to avoid the area around the 5900 block of Los Angeles Avenue as they established a perimeter while they searched for the suspect. The effort was aided from the air by a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter crew and on the ground by a Simi police dog K-9 unit.

Police ultimately found and the man and arrested him without incident on suspicion of robbery and felony evading. He remained in county jail Saturday in lieu of $110,000 bail.

Authorities recovered about $6,000 in stolen merchandise that was later returned to Macy's.

Items may be updated.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Roundup: Pest foggers trigger explosion at Ventura home, more news
The eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka is increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the conflict, where fighting remains intense even when the front lines have barely moved for months.

Russia appears to have made tactical advances in the outskirts of the embattled town as Ukraine claims it is inflicting heavy losses on assaulting troops.

With the weather getting colder and both sides struggling for a breakthrough, Ukraines president also announced he would shore up his countrys defenses.

Here is what you need to know about the past week in Ukraine.

Zelensky bolsters front line defenses

Ukraine is stepping up efforts to bolster defenses and fortifications across the country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a countrywide initiative to strengthening defensive positions on Thursday, outlining the main areas of focus.

The primary effort will be where heavy fighting is taking place on front lines in the Avdiivka-Mariinka direction in eastern Donetsk, and the defensive line near Kupiansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

Defensive fortifications will be bolstered along all of Ukraines northern territory which borders Belarus and Russia.

Positions will also be strenegthened in the southern Kherson region where Ukrainian troops are continuing their attempts to widen a bridgehead in the Russian occupied bank of the Dnipro River.

Analysts warn that building up fortifications with active shelling in some areas and harsh winter conditions can pose a challenge.

Zelenskys announcement comes as the war enters what Ukraines top military chief called positional war a maturing phase of the conflict where neither side has the ability to generate force overmatch or significant breakthrough leading to more static and solidified frontlines.

Analysts have pointed to Russian defensive positions which managed to keep Ukraines summer counteroffensive from gaining ground as an example of the effectiveness of fortified lines.

As both side dig in, it makes seizing significant territory without huge attrition - where depth of manpower and equipment becomes a determining factor  harder and harder.

It gets worse and worse: The fight for Avdiivka

Russian forces continued their attempts to fully encircle the town of Avdiivka in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region where harsh winter conditions have reportedly complicated maneuvers for both Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Pro-Russian bloggers have reported tactical advances in the industrial zone in the southeast and the rail lines in the northwest of the town throughout the week as the Ukrainian military claimed they are holding defensive positions.

Russia maintains air superiority and has been making use of guided aerial bombs, retrofitted Soviet-era munitions with high explosive loads that are released by Russian warplanes outside the range of air defenses, as high velocity winds and snow limit the use of drones.

A local official said Russia has been focusing on trying to get the high ground in the industrial zone in Avdiivka but has not been successful. Ukraine claims defensive actions in and around the town are inflicting heavy losses on Russian troops and equipment.

Ukrainian police have been helping locals evacuate. Some 1,300 civilians remain in Avdiivka, which has been a front line town since 2014.

An elderly couple who were evacuated from Avdiivka this week recounted the decision to leave. It gets worse and worse day after day we get almost no sleep. Shelling and shelling and shellingWe thought we could wait, that things would get better, but we have run out of patience, she said. At least now, we can get some sleep.

Some essential workers are in the city to provide services for the remaining civilians, including two doctors and four nurses, according to the head of local military administration Vitalii Barabash. If needed most of them have already packed their bags and are ready to leave within an hour.

Ukraine claims it sabotaged two Russian trains in Siberia

Ukraines Security Service (SBU) is responsible for explosions on two trains traveling along a strategic rail route in eastern Russia this week, a Ukrainian defense source claimed Friday.

If confirmed, the strikes show Kyivs intent and ability to disrupt Russian logistics thousands of miles away from the frontlines of Moscows war in Ukraine.

The first explosion occurred Wednesday along the Baikal-Amur railway as the train passed through the Bessolov Severomuyskiy tunnel in Buryatia, in the eastern Siberia region of Russia bordering Mongolia, the source told CNN.

With train traffic rerouted around the tunnel, the SBU on Thursday targeted the second train as it passed over the nearby Devils Bridge, according to the source.

Both explosions were the result of planted explosive devices, the source claimed.

The Russians have fallen into the SBUs trap twice, the source said. The twin bombings were a special operation to disable this important railroad, the source added.

Russian Telegram channels reported news of two train fires in the area. Videos circulated by some Russian telegram channels show wagons on fire along a rail track, although it is not immediately clear which incident the videos are from.

Russia has not immediately called Wednesdays explosion an attack or blamed Ukraine for what it has so far characterized as a cargo train fire. Unofficial Russian media reported investigators are looking into the possibility of sabotage.

The Ukrainian source said the Russians use the railroad for military logistics and characterized the route as the only major railroad connection between Russia and China. The targeted trains were carrying fuel, the source said.

Ukrainian analysts said the route is critical for Russian deliveries from North Korea and China.

Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility for the attacks and the SBU has not offered an official comment. CNN cannot independently confirm the explosions.

Finland closes border with Russia after migrant surge

The warning light turned from green to red at the last operating checkpoint on the Finnish side of the border with Russia this week as Moscows international isolation continues to grow.

Finnish television announced the closure: The entire eastern border of Finland is now closed.

The crossing was one of the few entry points for Russians after many Western countries shut their air space and borders to Russian planes in response to the Ukraine invasion.

The 1,340-kilometer- (833-mile-) long border will be closed for at least two weeks.

Finlands decision came as more and more third country nationals started arriving from Russia. Helsinki accused Russia of weaponizing refugees and asylum seekers and called the arrivals a Russian hybrid operation.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of using migration as a tool to create pressure along its border with Finland. We have seen them using energy, we have seen them using cyber attacks, we have seen them using different kinds of clandestine operations to try and undermine our democracies. The fact that Russia is using migration as a tool is now another example of the attempt to put pressure on neighbors, Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels.

Russia called Finlands decision to close all border checkpoints irrational.

Ukrainian spy chiefs wife hospitalized after apparent poisoning

Marianna Budanova, who is married to Ukraines defense intelligence (GUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov, was hospitalized with apparent heavy metals poisoning the GUR said, raising concerns that Russia may have the capacity to target senior Ukrainian leadership.

American and Western intelligence officials have not independently verified the poisoning but believe Ukrainian reports to be accurate, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The seriousness of Budanovas condition was not immediately apparent.

According to Andriy Yusov, a representative for the GUR who spoke to CNN, she has been hospitalized for a week and had felt poorly for some time prior to being hospitalized. Tests showed heavy metals in others to Yusov on Tuesday. An investigation is underway.

During Ukraine-Russia talks in March 2022 in Turkey, negotiators suffered minor skin peeling and sore eyes, a source close to the Ukrainian negotiation team told CNN at the time, and initial reports indicated that they suffered from poisoning, but later reports suggested that they were sickened due to an environmental factor.

Russia  and the Soviet Union before that  has been known to carry out extra-territorial poisonings against its enemies.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the countrys military to increase its number of troops by 170,000, as Moscows war in Ukraine enters its 22nd month.

The increase would take the overall number of Russian military personnel to more than 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops, according to the decree published by the Kremlin Friday.

Russias defense ministry said the move was in response to growing threats to our country including the war in Ukraine and the continuing expansion of NATO.

It said the increase would be implemented in stages through a recruitment drive, and that there were no plans for conscription or a new wave of mobilization.

Putins decree marked the second such expansion of the army since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In August 2022, Putin ordered an increase of 137,000 troops by January 1, 2023, which put the militarys staffing at just over 2 million personnel, including 1.15 million troops.

The next month, Putin ordered the immediate partial mobilization of Russian citizens following a string of defeats that caused recriminations in Moscow. The mobilization meant citizens who were military reservists could be called up and that those with military experience were subject to conscription.

The mobilization led to angry demonstrations  particularly in Russias ethnic minority regions  and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country. It was suspended in November of that year after officials said the target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, said Friday that more than 452,000 people had been recruited to Russias military under contract from January 1 to December 1 2023.

Putin delivers a speech in Moscow on Victory Day, which marked the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, May 9, 2023. - Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Reuters

But Russias casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy. In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 troops had been killed in the war. The ministry has not published an update since.

Western intelligence assessments put the toll much higher. The United Kingdom defense ministry said in October it is likely that Russia has suffered between 150,000 and 190,000 permanent casualties, meaning killed or permanently wounded, since February 2022.

Putins latest decree comes as Russias war in Ukraine is set to enter its second winter, with both sides suffering heavy losses without making significant gains on the battlefield.

Ukraines top military commander Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview with The Economist magazine last month that the war had entered a stalemate.

He warned that without technological improvements there will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough, but instead an equilibrium of devastating losses and destruction.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky disagreed with Zaluzhnys assessment, telling NBC the situation is difficult but denying that the war had reached a stalemate.

Ukraine, which imposed martial law in response to Russias full-scale invasion, is also attempting to enlist more troops. Earlier this year, the rules of registration were updated to include women. The measures, however, stopped short of full conscription.

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Finnish President Sauli Niinisto believes that an artificial migration crisis at the Finnish-Russian border organized by Russia is part of a "broader picture" and a way for the Kremlin to destabilize the West, the local outlet Yle reported on Dec. 2.

"There are rather interesting broader factors involved," Niinisto said.

Read also: Sweden backs Finland in securing EUs external border to combat illegal migration from Russia

Other countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, have also been the targets of similar hybrid operations by Russia in the past, the head of state said.

Russia's actions against Finland "are not isolated from everything else," Niinisto said.

"Russia is waging a propaganda war that aims to create chaos in the West," the Finnish leader said.

It is also about "great-power politics" and the struggle for power, part of which is Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, according to the Finnish politician.

Read also: Finland responds to Russian hybrid attack using migrants  complete border shutdown for two weeks

At the same time, Russia's desire to divide the West only strengthens it, Niinisto said.

"The artificial migration movement is a cause for concern not only in Finland but also at the European level, and this could be an incentive to further support Ukraine," he said.

Finland announced the closure of four border-crossing points in the east along the border with Russia on Nov. 6. The restrictions will be in effect until Feb. 18, 2024, but may be extended if necessary.

Norway could support the Finnish government's decision and also close its border crossing with Russia, Norwegian Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl said earlier. Estonia made the same statement a day later.

Several more Finnish-Russian border crossing points were closed on Nov. 22, leaving only one open.

Read also: Norway may follow Finland by closing border with Russia, says PM, Estonia may follow suit

The entire border with Russia could be closed if necessary, Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said on Nov. 24.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Interior Minister Rantanen announced the closure of the last checkpoint operating on the border with Russia on Nov. 28.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasised the fact that this week, Russia has lost its influence in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Maritime Organisation.

Source: Zelenskyys evening address

Quote: "It is significant that Russia has recently lost its influence in two international institutions. These are the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Maritime Organisation  two of the key organisations in the world that deal with security.

Indeed, there is no place for terrorists there, and there will no longer be Russian representatives on the executive bodies. This is entirely fair."

Details: The president also thanked Germany, especially for the "clear implementation of the agreements on air defence for Ukraine".

"This is a lifesaver for thousands of Ukrainian lives  a truly strong outcome of our bilateral cooperation with Chancellor Scholz, and with everyone in Germany who supports the protection of life and the rule of international law. There is also another defence package, including much-needed 155-mm artillery rounds. Thank you, Olaf!" Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that this week, the United States imposed sanctions against Russian entities that support Russias economy. "This includes those who help violate the price cap for Russian oil and those working in Iranian structures to destabilise [the situation in Ukraine]," he said.

"This is extremely useful for bringing a just peace closer  so that every week brings news of sanctions, so that sanctions are more effective," the president said.

Background:

On 29 November, Russia failed to be elected to the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the first time in history.

On 1 December, Russia was not re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation, the UN agency dealing with navigation safety issues.

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Harris County election workers accept paper ballots and voting machines at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer Harris County election workers accept paper ballots and voting machines at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

A series of long-shot election lawsuits threaten to delay cost-of-living increases for retired teachers and billions of dollars in property tax relief that Texas voters overwhelmingly approved last month.

Republican legislators scrambled Friday to shield their priority policies by setting earlier deadlines for the courts to resolve the lawsuits.

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Though none of the challenges are expected to succeed, they could temporarily block the changes voters agreed to, which also include the creation of billion-dollar funds to expand state parks and improve Texas water infrastructure passed by the Republican-led Legislature this year.

The lawsuits seek to toss the results of all 14 constitutional amendment elections, alleging without any evidence that the Nov. 7 contests used substandard voting systems that produced illegal votes.

According to Texas election law, the secretary of states office may not finalize the elections results until the contest is finally determined, which could take months or even years if any of the lawsuits were appealed all the way to the state Supreme Court.

On Friday, the GOP-led Senate quickly passed a bill that would significantly move up the deadline for the courts to resolve such election challenges.

Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, in introducing Senate Bill 6, said the bill was necessary because the constitutional amendments affect so many people and that any delays would be a big deal.

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Nothing in Senate Bill 6 affects the rights of the people that filed the election contest, Hughes said, without opining on the merits of the lawsuits. What we are doing is saying to the courts: You have to hear this case quickly, rule on it quickly, so it can be appealed to the next level, so that we have a resolution.

Democrats were quick to note that the lawsuits contained fraud-related conspiracies similar to those pushed by former President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans who questioned the 2020 election results. GOP lawmakers in Texas and other states also have invoked the former presidents claims to push new voting restriction laws.

Gee, denying the election, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said with sarcasm. I wonder where anyone would come up with that.

SB 6, which was hastily moved through a Texas Senate committee and onto the floor Friday, passed on a 23-1 vote. Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, who had quarreled with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick over the move she viewed as interfering in the courts, was the sole no vote.

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I cant say for sure that these six cases are without basis in law or fact, but I have been told that they are, in which case, why do we believe that the judiciary will not dispatch these cases quickly? Eckhardt said in an interview after the vote.

The irony here shouldnt be lost on anyone: When you stoke lies about elections fraud, you cant really be surprised when folks file unsubstantiated claims of elections fraud, Eckhardt said, referring to Republicans in Texas and nationwide.

The bill now moves to the House.

During the special legislative session, which ends Wednesday, lawmakers typically are limited to passing only bills on the governors agenda. Lawmakers still can choose to push through unrelated legislation, and its ultimately up to Gov. Greg Abbott whether to accept or veto it.

As of Friday afternoon, Abbott had not added the election suit timeline issue to the call. An Abbott aide told the Texas Tribune that if both chambers pass the legislation, he would consider it.

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On Friday, Patrick described the decision as Abbotts prerogative.

We are acting quickly because the session ends the middle of next week. And we want to be sure that this is handled in an expedited manner, he said.

This year, the Legislature passed a bill, SB 1054, which set new time limits for lawsuits contesting constitutional amendment elections; previously, there were none. SB 6 would further tighten the deadlines.

The six nearly identical lawsuits, filed last month in Travis County, allege that election machines used across the state were not properly certified and that the voting system was connected illegally to the internet. All were filed pro se, meaning the plaintiffs are representing themselves in court without an attorney.

The plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Hearst Newspapers.

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The secretary of states office declined to comment on the pending legislation. The office has in previous statements, however, batted down the suits main allegations as common misconceptions.

Texas law prohibits voting machines from being connected to the internet. The suits point out that electronic pollbooks, which election workers use to look up voters, are connected to the internet, which it claims is a violation.

In the past, the secretary of states office has responded to similar accusations by pointing out that the pollbooks are not connected to the machines that cast or tabulate votes.

The office also has noted that the two voting system vendors whose machines are used in Texas, ES&S and Hart InterCivic, are certified.

All voting machines are required to be tested for logic and accuracy three times  twice before each election, and once immediately after, the office's webpage reads.

Some of the plaintiffs last year filed similar lawsuits against multiple county officials across the state, making the same claim about voting equipment not being certified.

At least seven of the suits were dismissed, and the others have yet to succeed, according to Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project on elections and voting that first reported on the lawsuits. The same types of false claims have been floated in suits across the country without success.

One of the plaintiffs, Jarrett Woodward of Bexar County has urged county commissioners in Bexar, Kerr, Uvalde and Medina counties to do away with electronic voting systems altogether and instead count ballots by hand, Votebeat reported.
Russia's 2024 federal budget brought little in the way of surprises, the country is gearing up for a long war.

Signed by President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, it ushered record levels of military spending  a sign of Moscow's commitment to its war against Ukraine.

While part of the Russian budget is undisclosed, making it hard to pinpoint specific areas of spending, the country's defense budget jumped from 3.9% of GDP to 6%, outstripping social spending for the first time in Russia's modern history.

The budget also revealed the Kremlin's vision for Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Some 653.5 billion rubles ($7.4 billion) were allocated for rebuilding the annexed Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia until 2026.

Crucially, special funds were laid aside to invest in the occupied area's mining industry.

Previously, Moscow largely sought to use Ukrainian territories ruled by Russian proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk as political and military leverage over Kyiv.

Read also: Can Russia afford to commit to a years-long war?

By proclaiming these areas to be "autonomous republics," Moscow could avoid investing in the areas, instead doling out the minimum of social support while effectively holding these territories hostage.

Now, it seems the Kremlin is increasingly set on using Ukraine's own wealth in natural resources to fund its ongoing aggression.

Ukraine contains considerable mineral wealth.

The country ranks in the top 10 globally for its stores of iron, manganese, titanium, graphite, and uranium. It also has some of the largest coal, oil, and gas reserves in the world.

In 2021, Ukraine's mining sector reported an output of $11.7 billion.

A significant portion of those resources are in the country's east, now bearing the full brunt of Russia's war.

The Donetsk Oblast, in particular, has a well-established history of mining: the area contains 90% of Ukraine's coal reserves. Several lithium and rare earth deposits are in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, while offshore oil and gas reserves are concentrated in the Black and Azov seas.

Damaged buildings are being demolished in Russian-occupied Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

So far, Russia's policy on eastern Ukraine's mineral wealth has been a simple one.

Moscow hasn't thrown its full weight into extracting and exploiting these resources because it has simply been enough to ensure that Kyiv can't use them either.

"More than 20 percent of all known Ukrainian deposits have been effectively 'controlled' by Russia since 2014," says Robert Muggah, co-founder of SecDev, a global digital risk and resilience firm.

It began mapping critical minerals and rare earth materials in Ukraine, as well as the country's agriculture, oil, and gas, in early February 2022.

"This does not mean these resources are being actively extracted or sold, but rather that they are no longer under the dominion of Ukrainian authority," he says.

Occupy and deny

So far, this fall in productivity  and the ensuing losses for Ukraine  have been a goal for Russia in itself, says Muggah. By controlling these deposits, Russia has effectively deprived Ukraine of billions of dollars of its own wealth.

SecDev estimates that 63 percent of Ukrainian reported coal mines are under Russian control as of July 2022.

This trend continues across other key sectors: Russia controls 27 percent of Ukraine's iron ore deposits, 50 percent of its manganese ore deposits, 100 percent of its strontium supplies, and roughly 20 percent of precious metal deposits.

According to SecDev estimates, the total worth of all Ukrainian mineral wealth now under Russian control is around $12 trillion.

"Denying Ukraine its mining and oil revenue is certainly a Russian priority because this effectively degrades (Kyiv's) military capacity," says Muggah. "Russia understands the geopolitical and economic advantages of controlling some of the world's richest mineral, coal, oil and gas deposits. Even if Russia were to do nothing and sit on Ukraine's mineral resources and infrastructure, it benefits by controlling supplies and rising prices."

Away from Russian-occupied areas, the ongoing instability caused by Moscow's war also undermines investor confidence.

Previously, Ukraine's large lithium deposits had generated significant attention from outside parties, including European Lithium and China's Chengxin Lithium. Now, such deals face an uncertain future, scuppering not only Ukraine's chances of securing more revenue but also building strategic business ties.

"At the very least, Russia has successfully blocked Europe from securing a strategic partnership with Ukraine," says Muggah.

Read also: Its a cult-like mentality: Historian Ian Garner on the militarization of Russian society

New needs

The large amounts of money set aside in Russia's latest budget, however, suggest that this strategy is no longer enough. With renewed investment, Moscow will be able to mine Ukraine's resources and sell them to boost the Kremlin's coffers.

Extracting these resources will be no easy task. Alongside the many logistical problems that come with proximity to the front lines, the Kremlin will need to contend with the state of the mines themselves.

They will need investment because they have been allowed to decay.

The mines administered by Russian-led militants in the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia since 2014 have performed poorly compared to those under Kyiv's control.

In 2017, the industrial output of the occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast was three times lower than in government-controlled areas  despite previously being almost equal before the war.

Yet, in the Kremlin's eyes, the investment could be worthwhile.

A view on the destoyed Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Russian-occupied Mariupol on April 08, 2023. (Vladimir Aleksandrov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

War is expensive  and the increased military spending outlined in the 2024 budget has Moscow looking for additional income, this time by exploiting Ukraine's resources.

Despite sanctions, Russia's war effort is still largely funded by its oil and gas sales. Adding Ukraine's coal and metal reserves to this calculation might be the next step.

"Based on 2022 data, we've seen 46 percent of Russia's federal budget being funded through taxes on oil and gas sales," says Isaac Levi, team lead at the Center of Research for Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Levi's team works to identify fossil fuel exports from Russia and formulate effective economic countermeasures.

"It's an economy that's incredibly reliant on the export of fossil fuels. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has been more dependent than ever on oil earnings to basically fund the war."

That dependence has also grown as sanctions have shackled Russia's economy.

The federal budget could already herald trouble further down the line: In order to cover this increased spending, the treasury will have to receive 35 trillion rubles ($389 billion)  22 percent more than it received in 2023.

In this context, increasing revenue from occupied areas of Ukraine is imperative.

An aerial view of the destruction in the city of Bakhmut on June 1, 2023. The city was an important economic hub before Russia's full-scale invasion. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Experts believe that if global powers truly wish to stop this cashflow  and by extension, curb Russia's ability to wage war against Ukraine  existing sanctions against Russia's export of natural resources need to be more strongly enforced.

Although sanctions have damaged Russia's economy, Moscow has managed to circumvent the worst of the embargo.

It has been able to find new buyers for their exports and transport them on shadow tankers: ships that are owned and insured in countries that are not implementing the sanctions.

"Russia has increased its ability to circumvent sanctions," says Levi. "They need to be monitored and enforced much quicker to prevent Russia's ability to find new ways around them."

For sanctions to have a greater effect, they must also be adopted by a wider range of countries, Levi says.

Despite the EU's embargo on the coal industry, coal production in Russia increased by 0.3 percent compared to 2021, reaching a record level of 442 million tons, according to CREA's data.

Meanwhile, an investigation by Reuters found that $14 million worth of coal  some 160,400 tons  produced in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine were exported to Turkey in 2023.

Read also: Europe still hooked on Russian gas despite deep cut

Crucially, these steps should encompass not just fossil fuels but also minerals, rare earth metals, and products derived from coal, gas, and oil.

"Lots of the oil products are banned (under sanctions), but we think that should be expanded to other oil products such as liquefied gas and other residual products," says Levi.

"For example. Bulgaria had put an exemption on crude oil imports from Russia. It's brought to a refinery where it is changed into different products  and those products can be exported into countries imposing sanctions on Russia."

This will be difficult.

While Europe has taken great strides to wean itself off Russian resources, the process remains ongoing.

Even the switch to renewable energy has its pitfalls: The equipment needed to produce clean energy often contains the same rare earth minerals that Russia has seized in eastern Ukraine.

Yet if the international community does not act, ultimately, it is Ukraine that will suffer the consequences.

"Right now, there's a high correlation between any funds (from the sale of fossil fuels) flowing to the Kremlin and Russia's ability to fund military spending," says Levi.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in late-night posts on social media pledged to file ethics complaints against several of his House colleagues after he was expelled from office Friday.

His threats were levied against Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) and Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) over campaign finance violations and other ethics claims. The embattled former lawmaker said he will file official complaints Monday.

New York Republicans led the GOP push to oust Santos, who was himself accused of campaign finance violations, lying to donors and fraud. He faces 23 criminal charges for his alleged conduct, including wire fraud, identity theft and theft of public funds, but he has not been tried.

Santos said the complaint against Malliotakis will focus on her questionable stock trading since joining the Ways and Means committee this Congress.

Lets talk about hypocrisy. Can someone ask Nicole MalioStockTips when did she become a savant in stock trading? Santos posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, late Friday.

The signature bank trades she did REEKS of insider trading much like Paul Pelosis every trade! he added, referring to the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has been accused of using information from Congress to profit on the stock market.

Before joining the committee [Malliotakis] didnt have an active trading habit or a high volume stake, Santos continued. The question is, what set of information is she trading with?

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The Lawler claims center on allegations that he funneled campaign expenses through a company he has a stake in.

The concerning questions are; is Mr Lawler engaging in laundering money form his campaign to his firm then into his own pocket? Santos wrote in another post. I will let the Office of Congressional Ethics be the judge of that.

Against LaLota, Santos raised assertions that the fellow Long Island congressman was a no-show at his local board of elections job while attending law school.

Did Rep Lalota no-show to his tax pay funded job while going to school and if so he can potential have stolen public funds form the tax payers of NY, Santos questioned. I will let the Office of Congressional Ethics determine the validity of this grave allegation raised in his local media.

In response, LaLota spokesman Will Kiley told The Hill that George is just mad the congressman has three actual degrees, while he lied about one.

Santos also demanded the Ethics Committee look into Menendezs relationship with his father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has been charged with multiple federal crimes in a bribery scheme.

While he didnt accuse the younger Menendez of misconduct, he said the committee should investigate what did he know and when did he know it. The senator is accused of selling political favors to interests in Egypt.

I think its a fair point to make sure we weed out the doubt surrounding Rep Menendez and his business associations with his father, Santos said.

Menendez spokesman Michael Zhadanovsky brushed off the complaint in a statement to The Hill on Saturday.

George Santos is neither Rep. Menendezs colleague nor a constituent so we will not expend any energy responding to his Botox-fueled fits of rage, he said.

The suite of accusations follows attacks against Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) on the House floor Thursday, when Santos called him a woman-beater after Miller dubbed Santos a crook.

Miller has been accused of domestic violence by former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was previously in a relationship with the congressman.

The Ethics Committee investigation into Santos is what ultimately led to his expulsion from office. The committees damning report changed the minds of members who previously voted against expelling him by levying extensive allegations of misconduct.

Before his expulsion vote, Santos warned that voting him out would set a bad precedent for expelling other members for misconduct allegations.

The Hill has reached out to the offices of Malliotakis and Lawler for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanderss latest appointee to the State Library Board is a far-right activist who has claimed activist teachers  are pushing homosexual pornography on minor children and wants to defund public libraries that are challenging state censorship.

Jason Rapert is a former state senator who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor last year. Like Sanders, hes a Republican.

She appointed him to the library board November 20, the Arkansas Times reports. She also appointed another conservative, Shari Bales, with both Bales and Rapert succeeding board members whose terms have ended. But its Rapert who has been the most outspoken and drawn the most attention.

Rapert generates controversy the way funerals bring on tears, the Times notes.

In a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, after the November 7 election, he decried the Democratic Party and victories for abortion rights and transgender politicians. Across the cousntry in elections yesterday, the Leftists in our nation through the #DemocratParty outworked the good people in America who work hard, run businesses, and keep America strong, he wrote. I predict that the voter turnout among church people was abysmally low in areas where abortion butchery won on the ballot, recreational marijuana was passed, and a transgender candidate was elected to a state senate seat.

The Democrat Party is behind the radical homosexual movement in our nation that sought the dilution of marriage between one man and one woman, he continued. The Democrat Party is behind the [radical] LGBTQ insanity attacking our children through public libraries and activist teachers that are pushing homosexual pornography on minor children. He also blamed Democrats for anti-Semitism  as well as atheism and Satanism  and said no sincere Bible believing Christian could support Democratic policies.

 (@)

Rapert is a leader of several far-right groups, including the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, Holy Ghost Ministries, and the American History and Heritage Foundation. The mission of the Christian lawmakers group is to bring federal state and local lawmakers together in support of clear biblical principles, its website says.

He has said libraries that are suing Arkansas over a recently enacted censorship law should not receive state or federal funds  and the State Library Board oversees distribution of those funds. Act 372, signed into law by Sanders in March, would, among other things, create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider obscene or harmful to minors, according to the Arkansas Advocate newspaper. A judge has blocked some provisions of the law while a suit against it proceeds. Those suing include public libraries, bookstores, organizations, and individuals.

When you turn around and sue the state of Arkansas, who is responsible for sending funding to you, thats a problem, Rapert told Little Rock TV station KTHV. We want to make sure people are doing right.

Among Rapert's other anti-LGBTQ+ actions are saying his hometown's Pride parade should not be held on a Sunday because it's offensive to Christians; condemning Sesame Street for featuring gay entertainer Billy Porter as a guest; and expressing support for anti-LGBTQ+ policies adopted by the school board in Conway, Ark., where he lives.

The governors appointments to state boards and commissions are subject to confirmation by the Arkansas Senate, and two senators, one Republican one Democrat, say they wont vote to confirm Rapert.

His past actions and how he handles a lot of the things, I dont feel like will serve best for Arkansas moving forward with deciding on libraries, Republican Sen. Bryan King told KTHV.

Senate Democratic leader Greg Leding, speaking to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, added that the library board doesnt need a polarizing figure like Rapert.

The vote will take place sometime this month.

Pictured: Jason Rapert and Sarah Huckabee Sanders
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Dec. 2 that it had requested Ukraine's parliament cancel the permission of lawmaker and ex-President Petro Poroshenko to exit the country due to a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The meeting would be used by Russian propaganda, the SBU said, making Poroshenko a "tool in the hands of the Russian special services."

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hungary has repeatedly obstructed EU funds for Kyiv while opposing sanctions against Russia.

Orban, who maintains close ties with the Kremlin, has refused to provide military aid to Ukraine, and said he would not support Ukraine's accession into the EU.

Poroshenko said on Dec. 1 that border guards prevented him from leaving the country even though he had previously received an official permission.

Oleksandr Korniienko, deputy speaker of Ukraine's parliament, released a video later in the day saying that Poroshenko had a legitimate reason to be initially granted permission to leave the country but that he had received a letter marked "for official use," which caused him to retract the approval.

Korniienko said that he could not disclose what the letter said. It is unclear if the letter Korniienko referred to contained the request from the SBU.

Poroshenko claimed that the cancellation was for political reasons and hinted that the decision came from high up. "This is anti-Ukrainian sabotage," he said.

A statement on Dec. 1 from Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, also criticized the cancelation of his exit permission, saying that it harmed the country and "undermines internal unity."

Due to martial law, Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are forbidden from leaving the country, barring special circumstances or official permission.

Poroshenko, 58, said his reason for traveling outside Ukraine was to go to Poland and help negotiate an end to the ongoing blockade by Polish truckers and then to the U.S. to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Poroshenko, who was elected president in 2014, lost his reelection bid in 2019 to President Volodymyr Zelensky in a bitter campaign that often included personal attacks.

The rivalry between the two did not subside after the election, and Poroshenko was investigated on charges of treason for allegedly doing business in Russian-occupied Donbas.

Poroshenko claimed the investigation was politically motivated.

Poroshenko and Zelensky publicly put aside their differences after the full-scale invasion, and Poroshenko said in a May 2022 interview that he "hate(d)" the notion of attacking Zelensky during wartime.

He has since criticized Zelensky publicly.

Poroshenko was previously blocked from leaving Ukraine in May 2022 for a NATO summit but was eventually allowed to exit the country on his third try.

Read also: Zelensky says hes ready to hold elections, but most Ukrainians are against it

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Kristina Hernandez has a job many people probably envy.

A writer for the website Kidding Around Greenville, she compiles the annual Christmas lights list.

Its not clerical.

She drives all over the Upstate, checking out the recommended houses to be sure theyre as spectacular as described.

People start asking her for the list as early as September, she said.

I tell them lets get through the other holidays first, she said, laughing at the thought.

5 Digby Place in Simpsonville is known as the Gingerbread House. Kidding Around Greenville/provided

The list is among the most popular features on the website, which was founded almost 10 years ago to help parents find all the cool and entertaining family stuff going on in the Upstate.

Hernandez said theyve added a Halloween decoration list. Some of those houses are truly scary, she said.

But the Christmas lights, now, those are something to see. Many have 10,000 or many more lights. Some have areas people can walk through, blow up Santas and reindeer, you name it. One Greenville street  Earle has matching inflatable Santas at various houses. Big ones. Hernandez says giant.

Riccis Christmas Lights in Pelzer has snow machines and more than 10,000 lights, synced to music from the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

A Victorian style house at 214 Bennett Street in Greenville is a Hallmark themed Victorian style Christmas decorated house that will bring Greenville back into Dickens era, Hernandez wrote on the website.

The Christmas House in Inman has been decorated by the Montgomery family for 50 years. Sandra Montgomerys father started the tradition, which this year has grown to about 130,000 lights and other displays like the home for misfit toys.

Anthonys Family Lights in Simpsonville has a musical light show and this weekend will be collecting toys for kids.

Hernandez said shes been enthralled with Christmas displays since she was a child growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s. Her parents would drive her and her two younger brothers around their community in search of lights.

Hey dad theres one, she remembers saying as they all snacked on the popcorn her mother made.

Pure family time. Pure joy.

This year, Kidding Around features seven communities with corresponding maps. Eight are featured on the Greenville route, including 123 Bennett Street, which has Santas, snowmen, elves, polar bears, snowflakes, and a Christmas movie playing in the living room window.

Four are on the Easley route, five in Simpsonville, seven in the Five Forks community, seven in Spartanburg, eight in Greer, four in Anderson and five that arent on any route but are worth the drive.

902 Whitemarsh Avenue in Simpsonville is open nightly 6-9 pm until New Years, weather permitting. Kidding Around Greenville/provided

One of the only rules for being included in the list is that the house cant be on a main road for fear of clogging up a busy thoroughfare.

The crush can be overwhelming, so much so that some well-known and spectacular displays have stopped decorating and people have contacted Hernandez to ask to be taken off the list.

Hernandez has one message for anyone driving around to experience the joy of Christmas decorations: Be respectful. These are peoples real homes, after all.

One woman told Hernandez she had turned off her lights at 10 p.m. one night and someone came to her door to ask why the lights werent on.
By Omar Younis

SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday met relatives of three people seized by Hamas in Israel and now held in Gaza, lending his celebrity to support those whose loved ones are still unaccounted for following the Oct. 7 attack.

Schwarzenegger gave bronze eagle sculptures to his visitors at a video production company in Santa Monica, just west of Los Angeles. In turn they presented Schwarzenegger with "Bring Them Home" dog tags.

Declaring himself "a big friend of the Jewish people and Israel," Schwarzenegger said he wanted to amplify the message not to abandon those who remain captive.

Israel says Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, took 240 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack that also killed 1,200 people and set off a Middle East war.

During a seven-day pause in fighting that ended on Friday, officials said 110 hostages - 86 Israelis and 24 foreigners - were released in exchange for Palestinian detainees, while the bodies of two hostages were recovered by Israeli troops.

"This is where I come in because when you're a celebrity, then you have a certain kind of a power to communicate to the mass because you have a lot of cameras show up," said Schwarzenegger, the former champion bodybuilder and Hollywood screen star whose show business career was interrupted by his time as governor from 2003 to 2011.

Among those meeting the "Terminator" star was Bar Rudaeff, 27, whose father Lior Rudaeff, 61, was taken from the Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak. He said Schwarzenegger was one of his father's favorite actors.

"I remember watching a 'Terminator' movie with him in the living room. And I know that when he comes back, it will put a smile on his face," Rudaeff said.

Schwarzenegger also met with Jacob Bohbot, 36, whose brother Elkana Bohbot, 34, was taken from the Nova music festival in Israel near the border with Gaza, and with Ella Shani, 14, whose cousin Amit Shani, 16, was kidnapped in the attack on Kibbutz Be'eri, taken to the Gaza Strip, and released on Wednesday. Ella's father, Itzik Kozin, was killed in the kibbutz attack.

The meeting was arranged by the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.

(Reporting by Omar Younis; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A 33-year-old man, who was one of the current wanted Se Busca Informacion targets, was arrested Monday, Nov. 27 in Mexico as result of information provided to the initiatives tip-line, the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector confirmed in a press release sent to KTSM.

The Se Busca Informacion initiative, which means to look for information in English, identifies 10 individuals associated with transnational criminal organizations, wanted for crimes by both the U.S. and Mexican law enforcement in the El Paso/Juarez sector, according to CBP.

According to CBP, all the individual targets listed as part of the initiative are wanted for various crimes including human smuggling, narcotics, weapons trafficking and murder.

On Monday, Nov. 27, the Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones (AEI)  Chihuahua State Investigations Agency, received an anonymous tip regarding the whereabouts of target EP8, 33, a Mexican national with an alias of El Barbas. The individuals name was not provided; however, he is referred as Venegas in the press release.

Based on the information provided, Venegas was intercepted by AEI in Ciudad Aldama, Chihuahua and was taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, Venegas was in possession of 6.8 grams of crystal methamphetamine with and active warrant for aggravated extortion, according to the news release.

Since his arrest, additional charges have been added and he now faces charges for homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, and possession/distribution of narcotics, according to CBP.

The bi-national initiative encourages the public on both sides of the border to anonymously report information about wanted criminals with the goal of disrupting and displacing members of criminal organization that present threats to the community on both sides of the border.

People who have information about the targets can confidentially report this information to law enforcement at 1-800-635-2509 or (915) 314-8194.

The public may also provide information via the WhatsApp application. The phone lines are open 24-hours a day and the calls go directly to El Paso Sector Border Patrol call centers.

This arrest with information from citizens from both sides of our border community demonstrate a great partnership between the United States and Mexico. The bi-national law enforcement cooperation as part of the Se Busca campaign is a commitment to pursue a safer and more secure border region, said U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Good. I am truly grateful for the partnership we have with the government of Mexico and officials from the state of Chihuahua. We will continue to work with our border community counterparts to bring these wanted criminals to justice.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
ORLANDO, Fla.  A search warrant affidavit released Friday sheds more light on the sexual battery accusations Christian Ziegler is facing amid growing bipartisan calls that he should quit his job as Floridas Republican Party chair.

The allegations are being brought by a woman who says she had a previous consensual sexual encounter that included Ziegler and his wife, Bridget, also a player in Florida politics, according to the affidavit.

The document obtained through a public records request corroborates details from anonymous sources that were first reported Thursday by the Florida Center for Government Accountability.

Ziegler has not been charged with a crime, and his attorney, Derek Byrd, says he will be cleared of wrongdoing.

Sarasota Police outlined the accusations when applying for a search warrant in the 12th Judicial Circuit for Zieglers cellphone, Google email and Google Drive.

Ziegler and the woman who hed known for 20 years agreed to have a sexual encounter including his wife on Oct. 2, but the woman canceled when she learned Bridget was unable to make it, police said in the affidavit.

The woman told detectives she opened her door to walk her dog and Ziegler entered her apartment and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states.

The victim advised Christian did not wear a condom, and he stated Im leaving the same way I came in,' the affidavit states.

Ziegler was on surveillance footage visiting the apartment, police said in the affidavit.

Ziegler told detectives in an interview with his attorney present he had consensual sex with the woman and took video of it, initially deleting it but then uploading it to his Google Drive since the allegation, according to the affidavit. Police said in the affidavit that they have not located the footage.

Bridget Ziegler told detectives she was involved in a sexual encounter with her husband and the woman once over a year ago, the affidavit states.

Christian Ziegler is facing calls to resign from both Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party.

I dont see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing given the gravity of those situations, DeSantis told reporters following his Georgia debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, according to NBC News. And so I think he should step aside. I think he should tend to that.

A heavily redacted Sarasota Police report released Thursday offered few details but included an accusation from a person who reported being sexually battered in an Oct. 2 incident at a home in Sarasota.

The redacted police report does not mention Ziegler by name but was released in response to questions about a complaint filed against him.

Although innocent until proven guilty, the GOP cannot have a party chair under that type of scrutiny, DeSantis said.

I hope the charges arent true. Ive known him, Ive known (his wife) Bridget, theyve been friends. But the mission is more important, he said.

Bridget Ziegler, a cofounder of the conservative education group Moms for Liberty, serves on the board of DeSantis Disney World oversight district and also is a member of the Sarasota County School Board.

_____
A pizzeria in Seattles Columbia City neighborhood has been the victim of several car break-ins, with both the staff and the restaurants customers experiencing theft. Now the manager has shared with The Gee and Ursula Show how he solved this specific crime spree  by getting the suspected car thief a job.

It was to the point where we had several employees who had their cars broken into not once, but twice or three times, Jordan Mullner told The Gee and Ursula Show. So as I went out to check the cars for the team, I noticed that there was someone peering into a car. And he got pretty startled by my appearance. The exchange was heated at first when I asked him what he was doing, if I could help them at all because he was peering into my car. He got a little threatening, got a little upset.

Seattle Police eventually had to intervene, questioning the suspect while also warning Mullner that it seemed he was carrying a weapon in his pocket. Failing to have probable cause though, the police officers were unable to search him.

At that point, Im just worried about retaliation. I want my staff to feel safe. I feel like theyre part of my family, Mullner said. [Mostly] everyone has kids in my restaurant. I need to protect and take care of them. So when the officers asked me what to do, I was kind of at a loss going ' isnt this law enforcements job to take care of these things?

But after continuing the conversation with the officer, he mentioned that the young man kept saying that he just wanted a job. Thats all he needed was a job, Mullner continued. So at that point, I see an opportunity to de-escalate the situation by giving them a viable alternative.

That opportunity was a job offer after bringing him into the restaurant for an interview.

I like to think of second chances in life, Mullner said. You know, not everybody gets a chance to tell their story or gets a fair shake in life.

It was revealed in the interview process that the now-former car thief fell into the world of drugs and began stealing from his mother to feed the addiction. He ultimately was kicked out of his home.

She kicked him out of the house and pretty much disowned him, Mullner said. At that point, he was on the streets and breaking into cars, just to try and steal backpacks and laptops for money for food and stuff. Once I heard all of that, I realized that we were kind of at a stopping point. I wasnt going to be able to hire him, obviously, without some form of ID.

The Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) was contacted by Mullner, who began setting up the paperwork for the young man to be able to be hired with proper identification.

While offered a job at Tutta Bella, the pizzeria Mullner runs, in Columbia City, the former thief took another job in Interbay with the help and assistance from both HSD and Mullner himself.

We hadnt had any break-ins after that for some time. And we didnt hear or think another thing of it, Muller said. It was about six months later, I was in my office and was told that someone was here to see me and they didnt want to tell me who it was. When I went downstairs, it was the same young man, and he was just all smiles. He had a brand new ID, a social security card and a name badge for his job. He just came all the way from the Interbay, bussed back over here to thank me and said he had gotten his IDs that have taken a long time. It was a lot of work. But they were able to get him IDs and then he got a job. He took that information back to his mother and then was able to rekindle the relationship with his mom.

This story was originally published on the My Northwest website.
This combination of photos shows California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, speaking in Sacramento, Calif., on June 24, 2022, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, right, speaking in Sioux Center, Iowa, May 13, 2023. | Associated Press

As Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California engaged in a heated debate Thursday night, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah offered his thoughts in a series of posts on social media.

Lee expressed enthusiasm for Fox News host Sean Hannity serving as the moderator for the live debate.

I wish the lefty news anchors who usually moderate these things were even half as fair as Sean. Theyre not, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that all presidential debates should be moderated by Hannity.

The Utah senator said he fact-checked claims, criticized Newsom, and gave DeSantis points for creativity during the 90-minute show.

Related

Did Ron DeSantis support amnesty, as Gavin Newsom said?

A little over half an hour into the program, headlined DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate, the two high profile governors clashed over immigration and the border.

Newsom claimed DeSantis supported amnesty for migrants while in Congress, saying the Florida governor supported former President Barack Obamas reform.

Lee in a post said the California governor lied about DeSantis voting record.

The New York Times categorized Newsoms statement as misleading. DeSantis did vote in favor of a bill that secures amnesty for those in Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. But, as report noted, the same year, he voted against another bill that created a path to citizenship for those in the DACA program.

Gavin Newsom dodged question on abortion

The Utah senator said Newsom was deflecting, calling him narcissistic and a singularly unlikable guy. In another post, he said the California governor wouldnt answer a single question about abortion

Newsom did avoid answering Hannitys question on whether, as governor, he would support any restrictions in the third trimester of pregnancy.

The California governor said late-term abortions were extremely rare, and that he believes the decision should be up to the mother and her doctor. Hannity repeated the question several times but Newsom remained firm on his stance.

The wins and losses

Lee quoted DeSantis saying, California has freedoms we dont have elsewhere  like the freedom to defecate in public, following it up with praise for the Florida governors use of a turd map of San Francisco.

Everybody needs a turd map now and then, the Utah senator said.

Everybody needs a turd map now and then. https://t.co/z8bwvrXWDb  Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 1, 2023

DeSantis pulled out the heavily marked up map from Open the Books, a nonprofit government watchdog, while criticizing progressive policies in California.

You may be asking, What is that plotting? Well, this is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco, and you see how almost the whole thing is covered, DeSantis said.

Lee said Newsom was an amazingly good debater whos allergic to truth  which wasnt exactly a compliment. But he did shout out Newsoms speechwriter for the super cheesy line: Its not about red versus blue. Its about red, white, and blue.

Sen. Mike Lees final verdict, Newsoms accusations of cheating

Ultimately, Ron DeSantis cleaned the floor with Gavin Newsom tonight, Lee said.

Gavin Newsom succeeded at exactly one thing tonight: refusing to answer a single question, Lee added in another post.

The debate ended with both governors talking over each other before Hannity offered them the opportunity to continue for another hour, before the start of another ad break. But after the commercials, the moderator informed viewers of Newsom and DeSantis backing out of extending the event.

Politico reported a DeSantis aide who said California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom was the one to end the debate on her husband's behalf. This was confirmed by another person on the ground.

But Newsoms camp pushed back: Ron didnt want to do the debate anymore, either. Everyone shook hands and left, a Newsom aide said, per the report.

The California governors team also accused DeSantis of cheating by using graphics on stage. Meanwhile, Newsom also criticized Hannity for leveling the questions against California, creating a two-on-one match.
Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong, Sr. and New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Photo/Seneca Nation)

Following a face-to-face meeting between Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong, Sr., and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, along with representatives from both governments, the Seneca Nation and the State of New York have reached an agreement for a short-term extension of the Nations current Class III gaming Compact. Concurrently, the two parties have committed to continuing negotiations for a new Compact agreement.

President Armstrong issued the following statement on Friday, December 1, 2023:

Over the last several weeks, our discussions with New York State, including face-to-face meetings with Governor Hochul, have centered, in part, on the potential extension of our current Compact, especially as the December 9 expiration gets ever closer. As a result of those discussions between our governments, the Seneca Nation and New York State have agreed to a short-term extension of our current Compact. As important, we have agreed to continue negotiations on a new Compact.

This short-term extension will provide additional time for our governments to complete Compact negotiations and to seek all necessary approvals in accordance with Seneca Nation, New York State, and federal law. Under the extension, our three gaming properties will continue to operate without interruption, alleviating any concerns about potential impacts for our thousands of casino employees, which was a priority for the Nation.

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In our discussions, Governor Hochul has expressed a desire to reset the relationship between our governments. No issue is of greater importance to the economies of Western New York and the Seneca Nation than a fair Compact. Tens of thousands of individuals, families and businesses across Western New York are depending on an agreement that secures the significant jobs, business opportunities, and economic benefits the Seneca Nation delivers to the Western New York economy.

The short-term extension of our Compact is an important step, but even more important work remains to be done. The Seneca Nation remains committed to negotiating honestly and directly with New York State on a Compact that provides a fair and equitable economic and competitive environment for our gaming operations and the many people who depend on them.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
A serial bank robber in metro Atlanta has been arrested thanks to a multi-agency investigation.

Officers said over the last few weeks evidence suggested that multiple bank robberies were committed by the same suspect.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Dallas police along with Marietta police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation then began to collaborate on the investigation, comparing notes on the suspect.

The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Khyri Brown of Dallas, Georgia.

In multiple of these robberies, Brown used or displayed a gun while demanding money from bank tellers.

TRENDING STORIES:

On Wednesday morning, Brown was tracked in Dallas and arrested without incident, according to police.

I could not be more proud of the collaboration between our officers and detectives with other agencies to take this dangerous robber off the streets. Let this be a lesson to other criminals seeking to hide in our city; criminals are not welcome here, Dallas Police Chief Joe Duval said. We acknowledge and appreciate the dedicated work by all the agencies that collaborated in this capture, including but not limited to the City of Marietta Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
If youre charged with murdering someone who is queer or trans in Kentucky, you may have a powerful legal defense on your side. Kentucky is among the states that allow for you to excuse that murder on the basis that your violence was a justified reaction to the victims sexual orientation or gender identity.

That might sound outrageous, because it is. It's also true.

It's called the LGBTQ+ panic defense, and it is nothing new in Americas legal system. Thankfully, it is on a rapid decline.

In the past decade, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have expressly banned the use of the gay/trans panic defense. This year alone, both New Hampshire and Delaware joined in outlawing the defense.

Students at Atherton High School held a protest against the new Kentucky Dont Say Gay/Trans bill by walking out of school. Feb. 14, 2023

Why hasn't Kentucky outlawed panic defense to murder charges?

The LGBTQ+ panic defense relies on the assumption that it is reasonable for a perpetrator to react violently to discovering a victims sexual orientation or gender identity, or in responding to a romantic advance by a queer or trans person.

The defense has allowed for individuals accused of murder to have their charges and sentences reduced because of their justification for responding violently to the knowledge that an individual identifies as LGBTQ+.

The gay/trans panic defense is not a passive and never-before-used legal tactic. Since the 1960s, it has been frequently used in court opinions in roughly half of the states.

The panic defense has been used in Kentucky to excuse the murders of queer people. Twenty years ago, Joshua Cottrell lured Guin Richie Phillips, a 36-year-old gay man, into an Elizabethtown hotel room and killed him. Phillips' body was found days later in a suitcase dumped into Rough River Lake.

Kentucky allows sexual identity as justification for murder

After Cottrells lawyers invoked the gay panic defense at trial, arguing that he was justified in responding violently to Phillips alleged romantic advance at the hotel, the jury rejected the murder charge and instead found Cottrell guilty of a lesser charge: second-degree manslaughter.

Cottrell was sentenced to 20 years for his killing of Phillips, but was eligible for parole merely 2 1/2 years after his conviction.

Beyond the devastating influence of the gay panic defense in excusing the murders of queer and trans civilians, the defense sends a clear message that an individuals sexual orientation or gender identity is a valid basis to justify violence.

We misremember marriage equality fight. It wasn't 'easy,' but it paved the way for trans rights.

By continuing to allow for the gay/trans panic defense to be a valid legal excuse under Kentucky law, the legislature sends a message to our LGBTQ+ community that our identities are worthy of rejection, cruelty and violence.

Behind the statue of Abraham Lincoln, students look on at a Family Freedom rally in the capitol rotunda Wednesday. Hundreds of students from throughout Kentucky rallied in Frankfort Wednesday to oppose SB 150, the bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. March 29, 2023

Anti-LGBTQ+ agenda of Kentucky's conservatives is expanding

But for those witnessing the ever-expanding anti-LGBTQ+ agenda of Kentuckys conservative lawmakers, it is no surprise that nothing has been done to address the panic defense.

Kentuckys lawmakers proudly overrode Gov. Andy Beshears veto of Senate Bill 150 and allowed the bill to become law. It bans all gender-affirming medical care for trans youth and permits teachers to openly misgender and discriminate against students.

Starbucks gave trans employees lifeline. Then they put our health care at risk.

Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that so many within Kentuckys LGBTQ+ community remain pessimistic about the prospect of prohibiting the use of this panic defense.

It is nonetheless crucial that we continue to call out Kentucky's lawmakers for their inaction on banning a malicious legal tactic that excuses violence against queer and trans people in the state.

And hope could be found in the reelection of Gov. Beshear, who has been a noteworthy champion for LGBTQ+ Kentuckians in his advocacy to ban conversion therapy and vetoing legislation that attacks members of our community.

With his final term approaching, Beshear has the unique opportunity to build on his pro-equality legacy and call on Kentuckys legislature to join the growing number of states in rejecting the LGBTQ+ panic defense, an issue that has avoided the political spotlight.

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Although the prospects of banning the defense with a conservative supermajority in Kentuckys legislature remains disturbingly slim, we owe it to past, present and future victims of sexuality- and gender-motivated crimes to call for an end to a defense that skirts justice where it is needed most.

Until then, as more and more states rid themselves of the gay/trans panic defense, Kentucky will unfortunately remain at the tail end of progress for LGBTQ+ equality.

Robert Blake Watson

Robert Blake Watson is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. This column first published in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

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.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Can you kill someone for being gay? 'Panic' defense is homophobic.
The United Nations' top court has issued an order that bars Venezuela from taking any action that could alter Guyana's control over a disputed territory.

Despite the order, the global agency did not specifically ban the South American country from holding its planned referendum on Sunday regarding the future of the territory. The situation came after Guyana had asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order a halt to parts of the vote.

UN Court Issues Order Over Essequibo

Officials argued that the vote was aimed at paving the way for Venezuela to annex the disputed Essequibo region, which makes up roughly two-thirds of Guyana. The two countries interpreted the UN top courts' Friday ruling as largely backing their own positions regarding the territory in question.

However, the court order falls short of any explicit mention of the referendum but notes that Venezuela must "refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation that currently prevails" in Essequibo.

The legally binding ruling will remain in place until a case that was brought by Guyana against Venezuela on the future of the disputed region is considered by the court. This is something that could take years, as per ABC News.

Court President Joan E. Donoghue said in comments explaining the verdict that the order on Friday was necessary. He said that this was because "Venezuela's expressed readiness to take action" on the disputed territory" at any moment following the referendum shows that there was a real and imminent risk of "Irreparable prejudice" to Guyana's right before a final decision is given by the court.

Venezuela had arranged a referendum to ask voters five questions on Sunday, including whether or not to create a Venezuelan state in Essequibo. It also asked whether voters support granting Venezuelan citizenship to the current and future residents of the region.

The situation comes as Venezuela does not recognize the UN panel's jurisdiction over the decades-long dispute. However, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez characterized the ruling as a "victory for Venezuela." This is given that the UN did not order a halt to the referendum plans.

Read Also: US Senators Seek China Travel Restrictions to Prevent Spread of Mysterious Pneumonia

Venezuela's Claims to the Region

The region of Essequibo spans roughly 160,000 square kilometers and for more than a century, Guyana has administered the area. Its government insists on retaining the border that was determined in 1899 by an arbitration panel. On the other hand, Venezuela agreed with the ruling until 1962, when it changed its mind, according to Aljazeera.

For its part, the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, claims that the Essequibo River to the east of the region forms a natural border and has been recognized as such since 1777. This was when the so-called Captaincy General of Venezuela, an administrative district of colonial Spain, was established.

In 1899, while Guyana was still under British rule, a tribunal backed by the United States and Russia ruled that Britain should have control of the region. Venezuela has spent the last few decades laying claim to the region and the dispute has intensified after ExxonMobil, a U.S. oil giant, discovered oil in the area in 2015, said DW News.

Related Article: London Jewish Community to Push Through With Public Celebration of Hanukkah

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Fishermen off the coast of Peru in the 1800s observed a troubling phenomenon: Catch numbers would nosedive if warm water arrived around Christmastime.

Fish who fed best in cold upwelling waters along the coast abandoned the now-too-warm equatorial zone.

They called it El Nino  the boy in Spanish  referring to the birth of Christ.

Decades later, the oscillating pattern would be linked to changes in rainfall and other metrics.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls the pattern El Nino/Southern Oscillation or ENSO. The cycle tends to run in a 3 to 5 year loop, bookended by El Nino and the opposite condition, La Nina.

NOAA heralded the arrival of El Nino this summer and an updated reading of data in October forecast a 75-85% chance of it becoming a strong event.

Strong events in 1982 and 1997 were associated with heavy rainfall events in California. However, the 2015 event was not.

Will this year be a repeat wet year or dry like 2015? Stay tuned.

You might wonder: Where did those fish go when the ocean temperatures changed near Peru?

Some of them came here.

On June 28, 1983, Dan Stephens wrote about the trailing influence of a wet El Nino season that had brought wind, rain and storm damage to piers on the Central Coast.

After all, El Nino was still a novel phenomena in the early 1980s.

Fishing at Port San Luis continues despite the changed conditions due to a tropical weather system called El Nino. June 27, 1983.

El Nino changes local fishing

Tropical fish are warming up to the chilly waters of the Central Coast.

Barracuda and bonito, usually found south of Baja, have made their way farther north this year because of warmer seas, according to scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Heating the water is a wacky tropical whirlwind called El Nino, which means The Child, after the feast of the Nativity, since the greatest effects usually occur around Christmas.

Spawned off the coast of Peru for unknown reasons, El Nino heats vast areas of ocean, causing dramatic changes in weather patterns and marine life.

During a normal winter, tradewinds normally blow west toward Australia and the water stays cold. But during El Nino, winds blow toward the east, warming the seas, said Chuck Colgan of Scripps.

He added El Nino is not an ocean current.

Rather, it is a strange atmospheric phenomenon which heats large areas of ocean as it moves up the coast from Peru.

On the Central Coast, long-time fisherman Ed Edwardson of Port San Luis, said barracuda and bonito, a type of mackerel, are in these waters following their feed, the red pelagic crab. Pelagic means open-water.

The crab in turn are following the warm water.

Fishing at Port San Luis continues despite the changed conditions due to a tropical weather system called El Nino. June 27, 1983.

The fish go in and out with their bait and their stay usually lasts eight of 12 months. It started in September and this year barracuda and bonito even got up as far as San Francisco because of El Nino, Edwardson said.

This year El Nino, like a giant heat lamp, has heated one-third of the Pacific Ocean from Southern Chili to the Gulf of Alaska and west to the International Dateline.

And according to Colgan, the lobster-like crab have been found from Ensenada, Mexico, as far north as San Simeon because of the warming trend.

Lawrence Bud Laurent, a marine biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, said he isnt sure if the warmer temperatures on the Central Coast are due to El Nino. But he does acknowledge the temperature changes.

Temperatures now are in the mid-50s here. Normal water temperature for June, which is the coldest time of year, is the upper 40s, he said.

Laurent said the warming trend exists because of a lack of something called upwelling, which could be caused by El Nino.

Upwelling is when the colder waters come up to the surface which aisd in the process of photosynthesis, Laurent explained.

When upwelling is strong, the nutrients are rich, Laurent said.

And since upwelling is weak, temperatures are warmer.

Such drastic change in temperature could have dramatic effects on the food chain, from plankton on one end to commercial fishermen on the other.

Many species are narrowly tolerant, especially pelagic (open water) fish like the barracuda and bonito, Laurent explained.

In Morro Bay, a spokesman for Virgs Landing, a fishing charter, said one spot recently just offshore was 65 degrees. He said bonito were being caught right off the Morro Rock.

Colgan agreed with Laurent that El Nino could have far-reaching effects on both marine life and man.

El Nino historically has had an averse impact on the Peruvian anchovy fisheries, which is a major source of the worlds fish meal production, used mainly for livestock and chicken feed.

A 1972 El Nino resulted in the reduction of these fisheries to less than half the 1968-70 level. This spurred an increase in the production of soybeans and some synthetic protein materials and doubled the price of chicken in one year.

Another significant effect of El Nino could be the loss of kelp forests, Colgan said.

He explained that when warm water destroys the plants nutrients and kelp dies, help dwelling fish lose their habitat.

Despite the overwhelming effects of this fickle weather system, Colgan said no one really knows what causes it.

The last major El Nino event of this size was in 1957-58 and lasted more than a year. Scientists will be tracking the current El Nino to see if it diminishes this summer.
Smartphones are ubiquitous, and not just among adults. Many kids have them now, even at elementary school ages  and theyre not just on TikTok at home, theyre distracted during school hours, too.

Given what we know now about the dangers phones pose to educational and social development, public schools should clamp down on kids use during school hours, at the elementary, middle and even high school levels. Stricter policies could facilitate learning, encourage focus and order in class, help teachers, and strengthen social interactions among students. School districts in other states, including Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania, are already doing this. Texas should be next.

Its been 16 years since Apple released the first iPhone and even less time since social media boomed. This acceleration of technology has been a boon to society in many ways, enabling people to find information anywhere at any time at lightning-fast speed.

Although phones are convenient tools that make communication easier, even many adults struggle to put them aside to focus on work, relationships, hobbies, or rest. The effect on kids is even more profound: A study from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group in San Francisco, found that among kids ages 11-17, smartphones are a constant companion and that 97% of kids use their phones during school hours.

The correlation between kids smartphone use and depression and anxiety is strong. From 2010 to 2016, the number of kids experiencing depression jumped 60%, according to a survey from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Suicide rates have risen among teens, and especially spiking among girls.

Many teacher-implemented classroom policies have kids using cell phones to supplement education. But the effectiveness is overrated. According to the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report that included 14 countries, just having phones nearby distracted students from learning, causing a 20-minute delay until they can refocus again. Thats half a class period.

Data is clear: Kids are on their phones all the time, and it isnt good for them. Since they spend three-quarters of the year in school, its time schools play hard ball.

Most districts in North Texas have cell phone policies for students but they vary widely. While most elementary schools have banned cell phone use, only some middle schools have. At one middle school in Keller, Fossil Hill, cell phone use is permitted for academic purposes only and teachers have a say whether kids use phones or not. Some middle schools have policies that suggest students can use phones at lunch or in class as the teacher permits, but not in bathrooms or locker rooms.

Fort Worth ISD has a district-wide policy that permits students to have cell phones, but they have to be turned off during the day unless theyre being used in class. Districts allow different campuses to create their own campus-specific policies for students and at many FWISD high schools, policies permit phone use during class as long as teachers agree and it doesnt disrupt learning.

Arlington High School allows students to use personally-owned mobile devices such as laptops, netbooks, tablets, iPads, iPod Touches, smartphones and eReaders, during the school day for educational purposes.

Districts should have control over these issues, and while teachers should have leeway to run their classrooms as they see fit, this like too large an issue to leave up to individual educators. Teachers have enough work to do to enforce good behavior; if schools can take a big step toward focusing more on on facilitating learning, they should.

Mansfield ISD is one of the only, if not the only school district in Tarrant County thats taken a hard stance on cell phone use during school hours. In July, the Mansfield board President Courtney Lackey Wilson described new guidelines to limit distractions and disruptions to the learning process, which can frequently be caused by cell phone usage and said outlining clear consequences for use would empower our employees.

This is a bold stance and a good one. By making it non-negotiable, it ends the discussions in classrooms, among teachers, and most of all, among students and parents.

Districts need firm policies that essentially ban cell phone use during the day, even at lunch and recess, so that kids continue to learn the art of social cues, create friendships, and maintain healthy interactions with others. All students, even up to high school, should keep their phones in their backpacks on silent mode.

If kids need to communicate logistics to their parents or other family members about car rides home or after school activities, the time to do it is immediately after school. In an emergency, parents should contact school officials or come to the campus. Its a significant trade-off to make in terms of families scramble to get through work, school and kids activities, but they somehow functioned before cellphones, and devices in classrooms are just too big a problem.

There is no statewide policy about cell phones in schools, and there need not be. But theres no reason districts and specific campuses couldnt end this debate once and for all by getting tough on cell phones, just like they do with other potential distractions and harmful things.

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A South Bay man was sentenced to prison for distributing fentanyl-laced pills that killed a teen boy while mocking him on social media.

After a five-day trial, Alexander Declan Bell Wilson, 23, of Rolling Hills, was found guilty of one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

On May 14, 2020, Wilson agreed to provide five Percocet pills to the 15-year-old boy.

Evidence discovered on the boys cellphone shows he believed the pills were authentic pharmaceutical pills that contained the opioid oxycodone, court documents said.

At around 11:30 p.m. that night, the victims 13-year-old brother met Wilson outside their home to pick up the pills.

Wilson handed a plastic bag containing the pills to the 13-year-old from his car. The boy went back inside and gave the pills to the victim. Shortly after, the victim posted a photo of the pills to his Snapchat account before ingesting the drugs.

Ventura County woman killed man during weed-induced psychosis

Later that night from 1:50 a.m. to 5:30 a.m., Wilson and the victim argued on Snapchat over the proper way to consume the pills.

During those chats, Wilson chastised the victim for chewing the pills and then shared screenshots of their conversation with his Snapchat followers, authorities said.

The next morning, the boys grandmother found him dead in his bedroom. Officials later confirmed his death was caused by fentanyl poisoning.

After [the victims] death, [Wilson] showed no remorse for his crimes, prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. To the contrary, he lied to police about his conduct, deleted incriminating evidence from his phone, and minimized his role in the offense. Indeed, [Wilson] blamed [the victim] for his own death, boasting that [the victim] did that to himself.

Wilson was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $2,364 in restitution. Upon his release, he will be placed on supervised release for 12 years.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino is now supporting Elon Musk's foul words against fleeing advertisers. She confirmed her stance in the latest memo she sent to employees on Thursday, Nov. 30.

Before Elon Musk insulted X's advertising partners during the New York Times DealBook Summit, the billionaire was criticized after he agreed to an antisemitic post on his social media platform.

After that, numerous ad companies decided to freeze or pull out their spending. This disappointed Musk, leading him to say foul words against them.

However, instead of urging the billionaire to avoid further igniting the issue, Yaccarino backs up Elon Musk.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino Now Supporting Elon Musk's Foul Words

According to Business Insider's latest report, Yaccarino sent a memo to X staff, confirming the stance of the social media giant when it comes to leaving advertisers, as well as critics.

"Our principles do not have a price tag, nor will they be compromised - ever," said Linda Yaccarino.

"No matter how hard they try, we will not be distracted by sideline critics who don't understand our mission," added the X CEO.

She also said that what Elon Musk shared is an unmatched and entirely unvarnished perspective and vision for the future.

Although she supports Elon Musk and his controversial remarks, this doesn't mean that Linda Yaccarino is giving up on attracting advertisers.

Read Also: Fleeing X Advertisers Will Not Return After Elon Musk's Insults-Will CEO Linda Yaccarino's Explanation Help?

Is Linda Yaccarino Giving Up on Advertisers?

Based on her statements, what Linda says is that what's happening on X is inevitable for a social media platform that is trying to be a 100% free-speech website.

Of course, Elon Musk's recent insults against advertisers are making her job more difficult. Some ad experts and veterans even urged her to resign from being X's CEO.

But, she told them that would hold firm on her current position.

"X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street - and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you," she said.

Advertisers Fleeing X Platform

Ever since Elon's antisemitic issue trended and his insults against advertising firms made huge headlines, numerous brands decided to halt their spending.

These include Apple, Disney, IBM, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Universal, and Paramount Global, as reported by Engadget.

The latest one to do this is Walmart, which suggested other companies use other platforms for their advertisements.

With the ongoing business trend on X, there's a high chance that more advertisers will leave the company for good if the issue regarding antisemitism and other similar problems is not solved.

Related Article: Walmart Pulls Ads from X, Suggests Using "Other Platforms" to Reach Customers

@ 2024 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  At about 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 4, Tampa police said officers went to the 8400 block of North Dexter Avenue.

Its one thing to lose a child, Mary Campbell said. But to lose a child like this? In this type of manner?

Officials said police found an unresponsive man in his late 20s, shot multiple times. That man was Campbells son, 29-year-old Daryl James McIntosh.

Its just been really hard for me, Campbell said. I cant sleep. Just sleepless nights.

He later died at the hospital.

The hurt and the pain that I have every night, you know, for my son is buried now, Campbell said through tears. Everyone gets to go on with their life, but Im left to pick up the pieces.

The Tampa Police Department said three men broke in McIntoshs home, demanded money, then shot him.

The only way I can get any comfort from this, is to try to find out who did this to my son, she said.

Now, nearly a month later, TPD said it is still an active investigation and detectives are following leads, but have not made any arrests or found any suspects.

I need you guys help, Campbell said. Someone knows who did this to my son.

Campbell said she wants justice for her son, who she said she cries over every day.

If I can get that one more moment, Campbell cried. Just one more, to just tell him how much I love him.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tampa Police at 813-231-6130 or submit an anonymous tip by contacting Crime Stoppers at 800-873-TIPS (8477) or via TIP411.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
An Illinois woman was evicted after she called the police multiple times to report a string of violent activity near her home.

Diamond Jones is suing the Village of Richton Park, a predominately Black southern suburb of Chicago, after she was kicked out for violating the controversial crime-free housing ordinance  which puts the village in a position to require the landlord to evict a tenant for causing an unreasonably high numbers of calls to the police or other alleged criminal-related activity.

A housing expert told the Chicago Sun-Times that the law targets non-white renters and shouldnt be used to drive them out their communities.

Diamond Jones was evicted because she called the police multiple times to report crimes. (Photo: Chicago Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights)

Jones lawsuit was filed earlier this month to remedy the harm that she suffered as a direct result of the Villages actions and to ensure that Richton Parks Crime-Free Housing Ordinance is declared unconstitutional, the document stated. It claims that her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated as a result of this matter.

Things shifted in June 2022 when a shooting occurred in the village down the street of Jones residence, per a news release from the Chicago Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights.

Jones was at work while her mother was watching her kids. It led the family to call the local police department; however, doing so opened them up to a wave of threats online. Because of this, they contacted law enforcement for a second time.

The violence against them escalated two days later when a perp opened fire at her home.

Her mother heard gunshots and glass breaking and fell to the floor until the incident was over. Once the shooting stopped, she was able to check whether the children were harmed, the lawsuit said. The shooting caused damage throughout Ms. Joness home, with bullet holes and fragments spraying multiple rooms, including the girls bedroom.

They reached out to police again, and following the attack, a patrol car was stationed outside of the home. Jones, who moved into the rental property in 2018, was notified that she violated the CFO and was given a ten-day eviction notice. The note was placed on her door, and according to the lawsuit, it was the first time she heard about the law. The Chicago Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights argued that CFOs cause renters like Jones to be more reluctant to report crimes to avoid getting evicted.

I reached out to those who were supposed to protect me and my family, but they let us down. I was ultimately evicted from the home we had lived in for four years as a consequence of these events, I sincerely hope that no one else has to go through what I did. I feel like I lost everything, Jones said in the press release.
A white rocket blasts off above a plume of fire. the ocean can be seen just behind the rocket.

SpaceX launched Ireland's first satellite and a South Korean reconnaissance satellite today.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT or 10:10 a.m. PST) from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the California coast. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg around 8 minutes after lift off in what was the company's 250th successful recovery of an orbital class rocket.

SpaceX stopped their livestream after stage separation at the request of today's customers; no views of the rocket's second stage were offered.

On board was a total of 25 satellites . One is the Educational Irish Research Satellite-1 (EIRSAT-1) built by students from University College Dublin following a 2017 proposal. Also on board was the first South Korean spy satellite in a set of five that SpaceX has been contracted to complete launching by 2025.

Related: North Korea rocket explodes during spy satellite launch, and meteor hunters caught it on camera: report

a white rocket blasts off above a plume of fire. the ocean can be seen just behind the rocket

The South Korean satellite, called 425 Project EO/IR, the initial satellite will be 1,700 pounds (800 kg) in mass and include abilities in infrared (heat-seeking wavelengths) as well as electro-optical capabilities, SpaceNews reported in 2022. The South Korean satellite is set to launch into space just days after North Korea claimed to have deployed its own spy satellite in space from a Nov. 24 launch.

EIRSAT-1's payloads were supported by the European Space Agency Academy's Fly Your Satellite program. Its payloads include a gamma ray detector, an evaluation of protective coatings, and a rare kind of attitude control system that orients itself with the Earth's magnetic field, according to satellite's website.

a rocket on a landing pad with four legs extended

Related Stories:

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Also onboard were a variety of commercial satellites including Space BD's ISL48, SITAEL's microHETSat, D-Orbit's ION SCV Daring Diego, York Space Systems' Bane, and PlanetIQ's GNOMES-4.

The mission will be the 88th launch for SpaceX in 2023 and the 84th launch this year with the Falcon 9. (The others used the company's much larger Falcon Heavy or Starship rockets.)
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Saturday that he believes Republicans have the support needed to formalize their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, although there is no evidence of the presidents wrongdoing at the moment.

House Republicans have been trying to dig up dirt on Biden for months. Johnson said that holding a floor vote to approve the inquiry would give them more investigatory power.

Asked whether he had the votes during an appearance on Fox News, Johnson replied, Yeah, I believe we will.

He added, I suspect no Democrat will assist in this effort, but they should.

Republican lawmakers leaving a closed-door conference Friday told reporters that the vote could come as early as next week.

Appearing alongside Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Fox & Friends, Johnson recalled that both of them had served on former President Donald Trumps defense team when he was impeached over allegations that he abused the power of his office and obstructed justice, and again when he was impeached for trying to stage a coup.

This is very different, Johnson claimed of the Biden inquiry.

Republicans have accused Biden of using his time in the vice presidents office to enrich his family, including his son Hunter Biden, but have not been able to produce evidence. The partys far-right flank has agitated for Joe Bidens impeachment, pressuring then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) into launching an impeachment inquiry back in September, before McCarthys ouster.

House Speaker Mike Johnson addresses reporters from behind a podium that reads

House Speaker Mike Johnson addresses reporters from behind a podium that reads "Biden impeachment inquiry" on Wednesday.

At the time, McCarthy claimed that his colleagues had uncovered a culture of corruption. The White House labeled the effort extreme politics at its worst.

Three House committees  judiciary, oversight, and ways and means  have struggled to produce results in their investigations. Hunter Biden has offered to appear at a hearing, but only if it can be public.

Republicans have not held any public impeachment hearings since September, when their own witnesses said they did not have evidence to impeach the president.

The inquiry is seen by its critics as a way to muddy the waters between Joe Biden and Trump, who stands accused of dozens of charges in various civil and criminal cases.

Related...
SPRING HILL, Fla. (WFLA)  A Hernando County man was arrested Friday after deputies found disturbing sex dolls inside his home, deputies said.

The Hernando County Sheriffs Office said its deputies first learned that a resident on Goldcoast Avenue in Spring Hill was possibly involved with child pornography possession and distribution in February 2023.

Speeding driver hospitalized after crashing into Port Richey concrete pole: police

However, it wouldnt be until Dec. 1, 2023, that deputies would execute a search warrant at the home of suspect Greg Houseman, 53.

Houseman told detectives that he was not aware of any child pornography being present on his electronic devices, but the sheriffs office said detectives found two child-sized sex dolls in his bedroom, which violates Florida state law.

Houseman told detectives that he did, in fact, use the dolls for his own sexual gratification, the sheriffs office said.

Detectives arrested Houseman on two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of possession of child-like sex doll.

Other charges are pending. The sheriffs office said if you know anything about the investigation, call Hernando County Crime Stoppers at 1-866-990-TIPS (8477) or **TIPS from a cell phone.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis man pleaded guilty Friday to a second-degree murder charge in a mans shooting death several years ago, which stemmed from drug debt.

Investigators say Benjamin Chatman, now 35, shot Gregory Jordan, then 35, in St. Louis Hamilton Heights neighborhood on Sept. 7, 2015. The two were involved in an argument over a drug debt prior to the shooting.

According to court documents, Chatman fled to New York after the shooting, where U.S. Marshals later arrested him. In his initial statement to police, Chatman denied shooting Jordan. He also claimed he had moved to Buffalo and was living there at the time of the shooting.

Three men charged in St. Charles County trafficking case plead not guilty

Chatman was originally convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in 2017, but he appealed the decision. Last year, a St. Louis circuit court judge vacated the convictions and determined that Chatmans trial lawyer had misinformed him about Missouris sentencing law.

Chatman pleaded guilty in the death on Friday. In exchange, prosecutors amended the first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder, and dismissed one count of armed criminal action. He is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
FORT PIERCE  When Keith Pearson learned Gov. Ron DeSantis had tapped him to succeed Ken Mascara as sheriff of St. Lucie County, the veteran deputy wasnt consulted about the appointment before Fridays surprise announcement, he said.

I got a phone call about 30 minutes before the press release came out that the governor put his confidence in me to lead St. Lucie County, Pearson said Saturday. And it's just been very, very humbling and exciting since then.

Pearson, 40, a lieutenant deputy who joined the sheriffs office at age 19, said Mascara also didnt alert him ahead of time about his plans to abruptly retire Friday after more than two decades on the job.

Keith Pearson

Its still shocking, you know. It's an honor that the governor selected me as the next sheriff to take us into the future, Pearson said. Most importantly, Sheriff Mascara gave 23 years to this community. He did an excellent job and (me) and the citizens will always be indebted to the service that he provided here.

DeSantis on Friday appointed Pearson as sheriff "to ensure law enforcement operations continue without delay," a governors news release stated.

Mascara, 65, didnt respond to efforts Saturday to reach him by phone.

Why did Mascara suddenly resign?

First elected in 2000, Mascara was sworn in for his sixth term in 2021, which he said would be his last.

In a letter Mascara released Friday afternoon to the public, he cited ongoing health issues for his departure. Hes currently out of state seeking treatment, he noted.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara discusses his experience of being affected by the COVID-19 virus, during a roundtable meeting on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, at the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. "The symptoms are different for everybody, and the cure is different for everybody," Mascara said.

With a rapidly developing scenario of medical procedures on the horizon, with heavy heart, I contacted our governor and explained my dilemma, Mascara wrote.

On Saturday, his profile page was no longer available at the sheriffs office website.

State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl said Mascara said nothing about his sudden exit plan and his office wasnt consulted by DeSantis or his staff about who might replace him as sheriff.

I didnt know (Mascara) was considering retiring and certainly didnt know who they were considering putting in his place, Bakkedahl said. I would have appreciated a call. And Im sure there are other people in the community who would have liked to offer input.

Tom Bakkedahl

In June, Mascara was cleared after being the target of a criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement over allegations he recruited a "ghost candidate" to eliminate a rival in the 2020 election.

Prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence Mascara and others broke the law in promoting a straw candidate in the 2020 primary and general elections for sheriff, state records show. Kevin Carter, a retired St. Lucie County deputy, defeated Richard Williams, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper, in the Republican primary. Mascara, a Democrat, defeated Carter in the general election.

Pearsons long career includes awards and use-of-force probe

Before his Friday appointment, Pearson has been a lieutenant in charge of school security over the countys 48,000 students, worked in the crime investigations unit and started out in corrections at the county jail. He was hired as a deputy in 2003 after attending the police academy. He also has an associate degree in criminal justice from Indian River State College.

I've pretty much been exposed to every aspect of the agency, he said. My entire adult career has been here serving St. Lucie County.

Pearson was born in New York but moved to St. Lucie County at age 3 and grew up in Fort Pierce, where he attended Lincoln Park Academy. He lives in Port St. Lucie with his wife Brandi; the couple married in 2005.

In 2010 at age 26, Pearson was recognized with the Treasure Coast "Peers" award from ASIS International, a worldwide organization of security professionals. He was recognized in 2009 with a commendation award for his assistance to the sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division.

Hes also the recipient of the U.S. Department of Justice Distinguished Service Medal and the U. S. Southern District Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award.

Pearson also has faced the scrutiny that follows a fatal police-involved shooting, records and media reports show.

On Dec. 19, 2012, Pearson and Fort Pierce Police Officer Keith Holmes fired multiple times at John Donald Augstgen Jr., 47, of Fort Pierce, who died days later.

The incident happened when Pearson and Holmes, who had been working undercover, interrupted an alleged drug deal. Augstgen attempted to run them down while driving a pickup truck, reports stated. A grand jury cleared both men in 2013.

Will Pearsons appointment shake up the 2024 sheriffs race?

Pearson on Saturday declined to say whether he will join the field of five candidates  three Republicans and two Democrats  campaigning for sheriff in next years election. The primary is in August and the general election is Nov. 5.

Well have some announcements coming out shortly, Pearson said. We need to make this about Sheriff Mascara, and not about me or any of that.

Still, he suggested that changes for both the vision and direction for the agency are coming.

Quality of life issues are going to be our first and foremost direction with the agency, he said. Working together with all the municipalities and local agencies at the state and federal level, we can continue to make St. Lucie County the prime destination of Florida because people know that they're going to be safe.

Transparency, too he said, will be key to the relationships that build communities.

We're only successful because the citizens allow us to be successful, Pearson said. We serve them, and that's something that we never need to forget, ever.

Treasure Coast Shellfish: Lone Treasure Coast oyster farm trying to restore lagoon biodiversity

Water litigation: Sugar lawsuit could affect Everglades, EAA reservoir, Lake O plan

Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Sheriff Keith Pearson mum about joining St. Lucie County sheriff race
Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Jeff Ashton will not face charges of child abuse after a review by the state attorneys office concluded allegations were unsupported by the facts.

The abuse allegations came to light in an executive order signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in October accusing Ashton of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child under 16 and failure to report child abuse.

In the order, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain advised the governors office to transfer any investigation and prosecution of Ashton from the Ninth Judicial Circuit to the 10th Judicial Circuit to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Ashton is a circuit judge in the Ninth and former Orange-Osceola state attorney.

On Friday, State Attorney Brian Haas in the 10th sent a letter to Winter Park police Chief Timothy Volkerson saying his office conducted its own investigation after reviewing material provided by the agency and determined that the filing of criminal charges is not supported by the evidence.

According to an investigative report shared with the Orlando Sentinel, allegations against Rita Ashton, for failure to report child abuse, and David Ashton, for lewd conduct on a child under 16, could not be substantiated.

Where did my doctor go? Orlando Health wont tell me

In the investigative report, State Attorney Chief Investigator Chad McConchie said Jeff Ashton voluntarily submitted to a roughly two-hour interview with Winter Park Police investigators during which he denied knowledge of the incident.

Haas said that the person who came forward with the allegations gave conflicting accounts of events that led to the claims of abuse and no longer wished to pursue criminal charges.

The Winter Park police investigation took from February to April. Findings from that probe and the Department of Children and Families were turned over to the state attorneys office and reviewed in October, according to the report.

Winter Park police said it did not find probable cause to substantiate criminal charges.

DCF closed its investigation in April, stating it did not find evidence to support any inadequate supervision or sexual abuse. DCF ordered a 60-day safety plan, stating that Jeff Ashton could have supervised contact with the unnamed 12-year-old mentioned in the report who is diagnosed with autism and is nonverbal.

According to the report, at the conclusion of the DCF investigation the 12-year-old was fully reunited with Jeff and Rita Ashton.

Jeff Ashton, who spent decades as a prosecutor in Orlando, was elected Orange-Osceola state attorney in 2012 after serving as the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony trial. The case drew intense national and international attention and ultimately ended with Anthonys acquittal in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony, in 2011.

Ashton is also known as being the first prosecutor in the U.S. to use DNA evidence in criminal court in 1987.

He lost his bid for reelection as state attorney in 2016 to Aramis Ayala. His defeat came after online hackers revealed in 2015 he had frequented the Ashley Madison website, an adult dating platform often used by married people looking to have affairs.

arabines@orlandosentinel.com
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an additional 170,000 military troops to join the force, bringing the total number of servicemen to roughly 1.32 million.

The document detailing the order was published by the Kremlin's website and follows the singing on Friday. The document states that the military personnel quota of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is now set at 1,320,000 troops. This is an increase from the previous number which was set at 1,150,628.

Putin Orders Increase in Number of Military Troops

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that the increased quota was made in response to "the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO." Putin's military personnel also reportedly suffered heavy losses in the last few weeks as the invasion of Ukraine continued on its 22nd month.

Russia's MoD said that the increase will be implemented in stages at the expense of citizens who express a desire to perform military service under a contract. It added that there was no plan for a significant increase in the conscription of citizens for compulsory military service, as per Newsweek.

The Russian president's latest move could be seen as another political gamble as he is facing a re-election vote in March. Officials from Moscow have argued that Putin is expected to have no serious competitors in the upcoming election.

However, with the invasion of Ukraine growing increasingly unpopular among Russian citizens, it is possible that Putin's continued support for the war could become an obstacle to his re-election campaign.

Read Also: France: Yoga Guru Arrested for Alleged Sexual Exploitation of Female Followers

A professor at George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government, Mark Katz said in an email that not all polling numbers have shown bad news for the Russian strongman. This includes a study that was published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday. It found that 75% of Russian citizens "generally support the actions of the Russian armed forces."

The statement from the Russian MoD explaining the reason for the increase in military troops also noted that NATO "joined armed forces are being built up near Russia's borders." It added that additional air defense systems and strike weapons were being deployed. The ministry argued that the potential of NATO's tactical nuclear forces was being ramped up, according to Yahoo News.

Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War

Officials said that boosting the number of Russian troops was an appropriate response to the NATO bloc's aggressive activities. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in December last year declared that the nation needed a total force of 1.5 million.

He argued that this was to guarantee the fulfillment of tasks to ensure Russia's security but did not say when the military would be able to reach such a size. Previously, the Kremlin also considered the size of its military as sufficient.

But amid continued conflict between Russia and Ukraine, both nations have been secretive about the actual number of military casualties that they have suffered. Moscow only confirmed just over 6,000 military casualties but the West has had much higher estimates.

The UK Defense Ministry in October tweeted in a regular update that Russia has "likely suffered 150,000 -190,000 permanent casualties." This number included troops that were killed and those that were permanently wounded, said the Associated Press.



Related Article: Sergei Lavrov Spoke at a Security Meeting To Criticize NATO, West Before Walking Out

@ 2024 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(BCN)  California is failing to provide a high-quality education to students in the juvenile justice system by not addressing the inadequacies of academic data collection practices, according to a recent report from the national Youth Law Center. Current collection practices, the report authors argue, do not accurately measure student needs and outcomes.

A failure to design better metrics would be a disastrous choice on the part of California stakeholders to keep these students out of sight and out of mind, the reports authors wrote.

Biden says HIV/AIDS strategy needs to confront inequity

The report, Out of Sight, Out of Mind, is a follow-up to a 2016 report that similarly found the state to be failing in its mission of providing students in juvenile detention with high-quality education via its disproportionate representation of multiple student populations, high rates of chronic absenteeism, low high school graduation rates, inaccurate or incomplete data, and more.

The most recent report highlighted data from two school years  2018-19 and 2021-22  using publicly available data from the California Department of Education as well as public records requests sent to 10 county offices of education that oversee court schools, which are education facilities for youth in the juvenile justice system. Students enroll in court school as they await adjudication or disposition, after theyve been committed to a juvenile facility, or if theyre in a home placement under the supervision of probation.

During 2018-19, nearly 20,000 students attended court schools in the state. In the 2021-22 school year, the number dropped to 10,891. This decrease likely reflects the lower number of youth in the juvenile justice system, which has trended downward in recent years, per the report.

Californias current academic data system does not capture one crucial data point  that the majority of students attend a court school for less than 31 instructional days, the report noted. This means that few students attend for an entire school year, which is typically the time frame that data collection practices are based on.

Whats more, currently available data does not distinguish between academic needs and outcomes of students who spend days or weeks attending a court school versus those who attend for years.

The report highlighted that it has long been anecdotally understood by researchers, probation staff and others working in education within the juvenile justice system that student attendance is often transitory given the dynamic nature of the legal system. The reports authors argue that instructional programming should reflect this knowledge by calculating any partial credits earned by recording them in student transcripts once they leave juvenile detention. Students also need additional services to more seamlessly move back into their local schools.

While the reports authors acknowledge that less time in the juvenile justice system is most beneficial, they maintain that the time youth do spend attending a court school should be as minimally disruptive as possible to their education. Minimizing disruption, they said, could include a heightened focus on the transition process out of juvenile detention.

An ongoing challenge with inadequate data collection is that improvements are difficult to highlight. For example, the report authors found that the college-going rate at 10 court schools exceeded the average for the states alternative schools.

The data doesnt really care if its positive or negative. The limitations exist on both sides, said Chris Middleton, an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Youth Law Center and a primary author of the report. And I think here where a really positive story could be told, theres still a set of limitations thats very evident.

Much of the data contained in the report reflects a dire reality.

Cost of living in California is comparable to this European country

For example, the overall number of youth in the juvenile justice system decreased significantly from 2018 to 2022, yet the number of students with disabilities rose from 20.1% to 29.8%.

The report suggests a few potential reasons: improved screening and identification, improved communication between schools regarding disability status, or a failure to capitalize on the systemic changes that drove the decrease in youth detention statewide.

The reports authors also found that foster youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system.

While foster youth represent less than 1% of all students enrolled in California schools, in 2018-19 they made up 21.44% of court school enrollments; by 2021-22, they were almost 31 times overrepresented in court schools versus traditional schools. This data was either redacted or unavailable for 27 of 51 court schools.

The extremely high rate of disability status and the extremely high rate of foster care overlap, Brady said. We have long known that young people with disabilities are more likely to be impacted by the juvenile justice system.  The numbers for foster care were still surprising.

Similarly, high rates of students experiencing homelessness were found at some court schools, but the data for this population of students was particularly unclear; much was either redacted or unavailable. While foster youth status is centrally tracked by the state, homelessness is largely screened by school districts  an identification process that has only in recent years improved through legislation and enforcement.

Regarding chronic absenteeism, the rate was 12.9% among court schools and 12.1% statewide during the 2018-19 school year, and by the 2021-22 school year, that rate was 16.8% among court schools and 30% statewide.

Though lower than the state average, this was alarming for the reports authors.

Students who attend a local education agency for less than 31 days are not eligible to be considered chronically absent, which indicates that the true rate of chronic absences is much higher, given that most court school students attend for less than 31 instructional days, the report authors wrote.

Additionally, the authors found while some students refuse to attend class, some cannot attend due to decisions made by probation staff. Two examples shared in the report include a practice in Los Angeles County of barring entire living units of young people from attending school if one of them misbehaved and refusal by probation staff to provide timely transport of students to school.

According to the report, A necessary element of addressing chronic absenteeism in court schools must include better documentation of missed instructional time and the reasons why students are absent from class.

Additionally, efficient and effective coordination between probation and school staff is critical to ensuring the basic educational responsibility of students being present in their classrooms is met.

While the rate of chronic absences was lower among court schools during the 2021-22 school year, it should be noted that the percentages across court schools varied. Some schools reported a rate of over 30% while other schools reported 0%.

One recent allocation of $15 million toward post-secondary education programs for youth in the juvenile justice system might turn the tide on better understanding outcomes. The funding will create and expand community college programming inside juvenile facilities, and a portion is intended to go toward evaluating such programs.

This ongoing funding is the single most positive and exciting thing thats going on in the area of juvenile justice and education right now, said Lauren Brady, managing director of the legal team at Youth Law Center.

Many of the issues with data collection that researchers found were due to unavailable data or redactions  when a group includes fewer than 10 students, data is withheld to protect student privacy.

We cant tell the complete story. Thats where were at right now.  In order to truly transform the experience for students and to give them the best chance to have a brighter future, we have to be able to measure what theyre experiencing, report co-author Middleton said. And I think that we have the capability. I have faith in California and our institutions that we are able to properly develop these measures and ensure that the datas actually being reported.

Copyright  2023 Bay City News, Inc.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
The state of Illinois and the Greater Chicago Food Depository are teaming up to ensure migrants living in the citys shelter system are fed through the end of the year after Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration pushed back a deadline to award a food contract.

The city in mid-October solicited bids for a new food vendor contract that was to begin Friday, but last week the Johnson administration pushed that start date back a month and a half to Jan. 15, according to city records. The delay raised questions about whether migrants would be fed throughout December. The new deadline for food vendors to submit proposals was noon Friday.

A spokeswoman for the citys Office of Emergency Management & Communications said late Friday that the deadline was pushed back twice in order to answer numerous questions from potential bidders.

On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration announced the state would chip in $2 million and the food bank would contribute $2 million more raised through private philanthropy to close that gap and continue providing meals to the more than 13,000 migrants in city-run shelters and more than 1,000 sleeping at police stations and at OHare International Airport while awaiting placement.

In Illinois  we welcome asylum seeking families with dignity and that means ensuring they dont go hungry, Pritzker said in a statement. The state is continuing to make strategic investments in the absence of the resources and coordination we continue to advocate for from Congress and the federal government.

The additional food funding comes roughly two weeks after the Pritzker administration, after months of deflecting questions about additional state funding for Chicagos migrant crisis, promised $160 million in additional funding for several migrant-related projects. The new money is slated to set up a controversial tent encampment in Brighton Park and another bricks-and-mortar shelter for migrants, establish a centralized intake center for those arriving in the city, and provide legal and job assistance.

The state will be providing food at the two new shelter sites through its contract with GardaWorld Federal Services, a private security company that will set up and run day-to-day operations at the tent encampment in Brighton Park and an indoor shelter at a former CVS store in Little Village.

The state attributed the need for additional food funding for the existing shelter system to unspecified delays in the citys bidding process.

At the citys request, the state has provided $10.5 million since the summer to the Chicago food depository, with $5 million of that being distributed last month.

The food bank has used the money to serve about 20,000 hot meals a day at 20 shelters and at police stations, organization spokesman Jim Conwell said. He estimated the organization is spending approximately $1 million per week to feed migrants.

The food bank also has received several million dollars in commitments from the private sector, Conwell said. He added that he is not worried about the organizations ability to meet needs through the end of the year.

This is a significant investment, he said. This is a big project, but its a really important project because we believe that everybody deserves food and we are committed to doing this work.

The food bank stepped up to provide meals for shelters at the same time it was already meeting record demands across the community for food assistance, Conwell said.

The food the organization provides at migrant shelters and police stations is only 10% of its total distribution. The remainder is distributed through its network of 800 food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other programs.

Food distribution this fall is far higher than what it was at this same point in 2022, Conwell said.

Our role as a food bank is to provide food for people who need it when they need it, he said. We dont know what the coming months and year will bring with our mission to end hunger. We will do everything we can to meet that need.

Chicago Tribunes Alice Yin contributed.

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com

nsalzman@chicagotribune.com
Susan Sarandon has issued an apology for remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally that led to her being dropped by her talent agency.

Last month, the Hollywood star, whose credits include The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Thelma & Louise, gave a speech at the New York protest amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.

During her address to the crowd, Sarandon, 77, said: There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.

After receiving criticism for her comment, she was dropped by United Talent Agency (UTA)  and now, Sarandon has apologised, calling her wording a terrible mistake.

She posted on Instagram: Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire. I had not planned to speak but was invited to take the stage and say a few words.

She continued: Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.

This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day.

I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment. It was my intent to show solidarity to the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.

Susan Sarandon apologises for terrible phrasing during pro-Palestine speech (Instagram)

Sarandon has a long history of political activism. The Hollywood star became a prominent voice in the anti-war movement during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was a vocal critic of Donald Trump during his term in office.

In 2018, Sarandon was arrested during a Womens March protest in Washington DC in opposition to the Trump administrations immigration policy.

She was arrested again earlier this year at a protest demanding fair wages for restaurant workers at the New York State Capitol in Albany.

Susan Sarandon (Getty Images for Christian Siria)

News of Sarandon being dropped by her agency arrived as Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream VII due to her Instagram posts about the Israel-Hamas war.

On Tuesday (21 November), sources confirmed to Deadline and Variety that Barrera, 33, has been dropped from Spyglass Medias forthcoming sequel over the posts, which have been perceived as antisemitic.

She wrote in an Instagram Story: Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.

On Friday (1 December), a letter was signed by 1,300 actors and artists accusing cultural institutions across Western countries of censoring those speaking out on behalf of Palestine. Among the names listed were Olivia Colman, Harriet Walter, Sex Educations Aimee Lou Wood and Derry Girls actor Siobhan McSweeney.
Actress Susan Sarandon apologized Friday for comments she made diminishing the history of antisemitism at a recent pro-Palestinian rally.

Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire, Sarandon wrote in a post on Instagram. I had not planned to speak but was invited to take the stage and say a few words.

The Hollywood star was caught on video last month claiming that lots of people are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often objected to violence during a protest in New York City related to the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Sarandon said her comments were intended to communicate her concern for the increase in hate crimes across the globe.

This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true, Sarandon wrote. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day.

I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment, Sarandon continued. It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.

In response to her comments, the actress was dropped by her talent agency, according to reports.

In the two weeks that followed Hamass initial Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has reported a 388 percent spike in antisemitic incidents  compared to the same period in 2022.

When conflict erupts in Israel, antisemitic incidents soon follow in the U.S. and globally, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a release.

From white supremacists in California displaying antisemitic banners on highway overpasses to radical anti-Zionists harassing Jewish people because of their real or perceived support for the Jewish state, we are witnessing a disturbing rise in antisemitic activity here while the war rages overseas, he added.

Sarandon concluded her apology with a vow to remain committed to peace, truth, justice, and compassion for all.

I hope that we can meet with love and willingness to engage in dialogue, especially with those with whom we disagree, the actress added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Police in Los Angeles have identified the suspect believed to be responsible for the murders of three of the citys homeless community who were shot and killed as they slept this week, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore announced on Saturday.

The suspect was identified as Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, a Black male who is a resident of Los Angeles, Moore said.

Powell is also suspected in a fatal shooting during a robbery in San Dimas, about 28 miles east of Los Angeles, Moore added. Powell was already in custody in connection with the San Dimas shooting, authorities said Saturday.

He was arrested Wednesday evening after the Beverly Hills Police Department conducted a vehicle stop, the same day as the death of the third homeless victim.

The vehicle police believe was used during the San Dimas robbery was identified as the same vehicle connected to the three homicides, Moore said.

Officials do not believe there was any connection between Powell and the victim of the robbery, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said on Saturday.

No motive has yet been determined.

I am grateful that this suspect in this case is in custody and no longer a threat to our community, Moore said.

Los Angeles authorities said Friday the first killing in the city happened around 3 a.m. Sunday in an alley; the second occurred Monday shortly before 5 a.m. and a third person was killed Wednesday around 2:30 a.m. The victims include two Hispanic men, ages 37 and 52, and a 62-year-old Black man, Moore said.

Moore said Friday each of the killings in the Los Angeles area happened under similar circumstances and each of the victims were believed to be alone and asleep when they were attacked.

Los Angeles authorities gathered at a news conference Saturday to announce the arrest of a suspect in the killings of three homeless community members. - KCBS

Police said they believe a single person approached each victim as they slept, opened fire then walked away, according to Moore. Each victim was experiencing homelessness, alone and killed in an open area, either a sidewalk or an alley, the chief said Friday.

The killings happened in various locations in the city, including one near Skid Row, a downtown Los Angeles area known for its large homeless population.

City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Friday the homeless community in Los Angeles  home to one of the largest unhoused populations in the country  already faces dangerous conditions daily, with four to five unhoused people dying every single day for a variety of reasons, including violence.

The mayor said following Fridays news conference, her office convened more than 400 people representing city departments, housing service providers, regional agencies and elected officials to ensure they would go out about the threat facing our unhoused community and let individuals know of the threat.

A shooting at a homeless encampment in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon did not initially appear to be related to the fatal shootings in the Los Angeles area, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNNs Andy Rose, Ashley R. Williams, Cheri Mossburg and Emma Tucker contributed to this report.

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Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, LAPD Chief Michel Moore, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Dist. Atty. George Gascon speak during a news conference Saturday about the fatal shooting of three homeless people. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Less than 24 hours after news broke that a serial predator might be targeting some of Los Angeles' most vulnerable residents, police on Saturday announced the arrest of a suspect linked to the homicides of three homeless men across the city in the past week.

Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, is accused of walking up to men in three different Los Angeles neighborhoods over a four-day span, killing each for no apparent reason, Police Chief Michel Moore said Saturday.

Moore described the killings as "senseless" and said footage of at least one homicide shows Powell acting borderline indifferent as he takes a man's life.

"It was chilling and I've been in this work for four-plus decades," Moore said of the Monday killing of Mark Diggs. "The cold-blooded manner in which he walks up and shoots this individual without any hesitation, no interactions."

Powell was arrested Wednesday night by Beverly Hills police after his car was linked to the Sunday killing of 42-year-old Nicholas Simbolon in San Dimas. Powell allegedly robbed Simbolon at his home and shot him in what authorities have termed a "follow home robbery." Simbolon, who worked for the L.A. County chief executive's office, is survived by his wife, his mother and two sons, officials said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said a 2024 BMW belonging to Powell was spotted at the scene of Simbolon's slaying, and Beverly Hills police spotted the car and arrested Powell after a traffic stop late Wednesday.

Moore said investigators linked the car to the killings of the homeless victims, though he didn't say how, and confirmed that a handgun recovered during Powell's arrest has been tied to all four shootings.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after city officials said that a killer was "preying on the unhoused" during a Friday news conference. Moore said each victim was shot as they slept or was about to lie down.

While Powell was already in custody before Friday's news conference, Moore said Saturday that investigators did not definitively connect him to the killings of the homeless victims until sometime "in the last 16 hours."

A motive remains unclear. Moore said it appeared that the gunman was attacking homeless people who were isolated from groups. None of the homeless victims appear to have been robbed. It also does not appear Powell knew Simbolon or the homeless men.

Powell has a lengthy criminal history, including felony convictions, according to Moore, who said police are looking for additional victims. Moore said investigators will try to reconstruct Powell's movements to see if he left "a path of destruction behind him that we have not yet determined."

Authorities said the first shooting happened at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday in South L.A., when 37-year-old Jose Bolanos was found dead in an alleyway near 110th Street and Vermont Avenue. Bolanos was sleeping on a couch when he was shot, Moore said.

Roughly 24 hours later, Diggs, 62, was shot in the 600 block of Mateo Street in the Arts District. Diggs was pushing a shopping cart and had stopped to plug in his phone, according to Moore, who said the victim was about to go to sleep when the assailant opened fire.

The third shooting occurred Wednesday around 2:30 a.m. near Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue in the Lincoln Heights area, where the body of a 52-year-old Latino man was discovered. Police have not released the man's identity yet, pending notification of his family.

The shootings came to light Friday hours before a gunman shot five homeless people beneath a Las Vegas freeway overpass, authorities said. One man died of his injuries and another was in critical condition. The other victims were listed as stable, police said. No one has been arrested in that case.

Murder charges are expected to be filed early next week, according to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon. He said prosecutors will consider filing special circumstances enhancements in the case. If that happens, Powell would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The spasm of violence sparked immediate concern among the city's homeless populations and those who minister to people living on the city's streets. In an emergency meeting with outreach coordinators and service providers on Friday afternoon, LAPD officials asked advocates to urge people to either seek shelter space for the night or at least stay in groups until the killer was caught.

News of the suspects arrest on Saturday made Jose Fajardo, 64, feel more at ease.

This is good news, he said, smiling. For those of us living outdoors, it gives us a sense of peace knowing hes been caught.

Fajardo was unaware of the killings until a Times reporter informed him about it Friday night. He lives in the Vermont Vista neighborhood, where the first homicide occurred six days ago.

The killings made him rethink scavenging for recyclables Saturday morning, since the slayings often took place during the early hours of the day. Instead, he slept in.

Not far from where Fajardo stayed, 41-year-old Eric Munoz was sweeping trash outside of his RV. He said he was an acquaintance of Bolanos, the man killed near 110th and Vermont.

"He was cool and never got into arguments with people and would try to avoid conflicts, Munoz said. He often spoke about his family, his daughter and how he wanted to get his life in order and return to them. I told him do it, just go and do it. 

Hearing of the arrest Saturday afternoon, Munoz nodded in approval.

Im glad they got the person, he said. Give him the chair.

But the arrest did not make Munoz feel any safer. Hes always on alert, and the killings made him worry that someone could easily attack him while hes sweeping the area outside of his RV.

I stay here with my girlfriend, they can also just get in the RV and do something, he said, pointing to a side window of the vehicle. Someone already broke a window, so you never know. Im always on alert.

In Little Tokyo, 46-year-old Amber Schoen had just returned to her tent after washing her clothes when her sister drove up and rushed toward her.

"She didn't say hi or anything, she just immediately said, 'I want you to know there's a serial killer on a mad rampage killing people who are sleeping on the ground,'" Schoen said. "She just wanted me to be careful."

Schoen was relieved to hear of the arrest, but said she knows she needs to remain vigilant sleeping on the street.

"You can't let the foot off the gas, so to speak," she said. "I try to stay in my tent at night and not go out."

Times staff writer Richard Winton and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The new U.S.-U.K.-Australia military tech deal was announced on Friday, Dec. 1. This was confirmed by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after meeting with the defense chiefs of the United Kingdom and Australia.

They discussed the latest defense cooperation at the U.S. military's defense technology hub in Silicon Valley in San Francisco. But, can this new high-tech military deal counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific? Here are the latest details.

Can New US-UK-Australia Military Tech Deal Counter China?

According to VOA News' latest report, Lloyd Austin, U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps, and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles forged the new agreement.

This deal is expected to enhance the information sharing and tech cooperation between the three nations. Based on their joint statement, the main goal of the new military tech deal is to better address global security challenges.

Aside from this, the defense cooperation will contribute to the Indo-Pacific region's stability and prosperity, as well as ensure that each nation can defend against evolving threats.

The U.S. defense secretary also said that the new military cooperation of the three countries will rapidly accelerate the sophistication of the drone systems to prove that they are stronger together.

The latest military tech cooperation is considered to be the next step in a widening defense partnership between the U.S. and the U.K. with Australia, which was first announced in 2021.

Read Also: Wagner Group Plans To Provide Air Defence to Hezbollah Amid Rising Tensions in Middle East, US Claims

About US-UK-Australia Military Tech Deal

First Post reported that the new U.S.-U.K.-Australia deal includes purchasing three Virginia-class subs from the U.S. government. Five new AUKUS-class submarines will also be constructed as part of cooperation with the U.K.

These submarines, which will be powered by U.S. nuclear technology, will be manufactured and designed in Adelaide, Australia. But, officials clarified that the underwater vessels will not carry nuclear missiles and other similar weapons.

The first unit is expected to be completed around 2040. The Australian defense minister said that since Australia is an island country, it needs to have improved maritime drones, as well as precision strike capabilities.

The U.K. secretary of state for defense also said that there's a greater need for more military and maritime innovation as China's growing influence undermines navigation freedom in the Indo-Pacific.

With the new U.S.-U.K.-Australia defense tech deal, the three nations expect that the benefits and improvements that this cooperation will offer will counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Related Article: China Ramps Up Defense Near Border, Deploys Howitzers as Turmoil With Myanmar Intensifies

@ 2024 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Two people, including a teen, turned themselves in to Florida police in connection with the violent beating of a Nardo Wick fan, who was merely hoping to snap a photo with the rapper when he was assaulted.

Zachary Benton and an unidentified 15-year-old boy surrendered Friday at the Tampa Bay Police Station, TMZ reported. They were each charged with felony battery and the younger suspect faces an additional count of minor in possession of a firearm while wearing a mask.

Police previously said the pair were affiliated with Wick, who performed at Club Skye in Ybor City before the attack unfolded Monday around 1:30 a.m. Video of the altercation circulating on social media shows 20-year-old George Obregon approaching the rapper outside the venue. Another person nearby almost immediately punches Obregon, stunning him before hes knocked to ground by another assailant.

Police said Benton threw the first sucker punch, and that the teen then followed up with several more hits.

Obregon was hospitalized after the confrontation. His mother, Michelle Obregon, told WFLA he suffered a concussion and that his brain was bleeding in several spots in wake of the assault.

Thanks to videos submitted and anonymous tips provided, detectives were able to positively identify the suspects involved and issue an arrest warrant, Tampa police said in a statement.

Wick earlier this week condemned the attack, writing on social media that he tried to break up the violence, but was unsuccessful.

I love and appreciate all my fans and dont condone what happened at all, he added. Dat st aint gangsta or cool in no type of way.
The Sussexes have been excluded from the guest list - MATT DUNHAM/PA

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reported to have been excluded from the wedding of the Duke of Westminster next summer.

Hugh Grosvenor, 32, has invited the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales when he marries Olivia Henson, 30, at Chester Cathedral on June 7, which will be the society wedding of the year.

The Duke, who is a lifelong friend of Prince Harry and is the godfather to the Sussexes son, Prince Archie, is reported by The Sunday Times to have taken the decision to avoid a family clash.

A friend of Prince William and Prince Harrys said: Its incredibly sad it has come to this. Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harrys who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both.

He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises its unlikely to happen before the wedding. He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia and doesnt want any awkwardness.

On Saturday night, a spokesman for the Duke of Westminster said: We are not in a position to comment on the guest list.

Buckingham Palace also declined to comment.

Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster - Getty Images

The reports come as the former head of royal protection claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are chipping away at the foundations of the monarchy through their role in accusations of racism against the King and the Princess of Wales.

Dai Davies, a former divisional commander in the Metropolitan Police who worked closely with Queen Elizabeth and senior royals, said the false narrative being created about alleged comments made by the King and the Princess of Wales could prove damaging to the institution.

Prince Harry and Meghan have remained silent following the naming of his father and sister-in-law as the royals alleged to have made remarks about the colour of their unborn childs skin.

Their identities first emerged in the Dutch translation of the book Endgame by Omid Scobie, which were then reported by news organisations around the world.

Mr Davies, was responsible for royal protection until his retirement, told The Telegraph: Prince Harry and Meghan and those who purport to talk for them are slowly damaging the status of the Royal family.

There is a false narrative that is being peddled about Palace racism. Its not at all unusual to ask what a baby will look like.

The Princess of Wales, pictured with Meghan, was named as one of the royals involved in the row - MARK CUTHBERT/UK PRESS

He added: What the Duke and Duchess are doing is giving succour to those who would want to replace the monarchy and get rid of it. They are chipping away at the foundations of the institution.

Unless there is respect for the King and what he stands for, everything else around him crumbles away.

There is now growing pressure on the Sussexes to distance themselves publicly from Mr Scobies book in order to limit any potential damage to the monarchy.

Ingrid Seward, royal biographer and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, said: It is interesting that they havent come out and denied the allegations in the book and the allegations of them being involved in its writing.

Most people would want to say, Its got nothing to do with us in order to distance themselves from the book.

I would advise them to make a personal statement saying they had nothing to do with this book and the unpleasant rumour and innuendo it contains.

Dickie Arbiter, the former press spokesman for Queen Elizabeth, said: Its a bit rich the Sussexes staying silent now. They were at pains previously to say the alleged names were not going to be revealed.

You would have thought they would say something now they have been, to distance themselves from this mess, even though its probably too late for that now.

King Charles, pictured with Camilla, has made no public comment about the allegations - TIM ROOKE/SHUTTERSTOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK

Sources close to the Sussexes have previously maintained that the Duke and Duchess did not say that either the comments, or those who made them, were racist.

Earlier this year Prince Harry said he considered the remarks to be an example of unconscious bias.

But commentators suggest the Duke and Duchess may also be causing damage to their own brand as they come to be seen as associated with constant sniping at the Royal family.

Ms Seward said: Its looking dire for the Sussexes. Their popularity is plummeting by the day.

She added that the Palace was right not to respond to the claims in Mr Scobies book, saying: The monarch doesnt say anything and its worked. I cant see Charles or the Palace commenting on this as it would simply keep things stirred up.

The exact nature of the comments allegedly made by the Royals about Prince Archie is still unknown. The claims were originally made by the Duke and Duchess themselves in an Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021.

Meghan told Winfrey that the Duke had been privy to concerns and conversations about how dark their first childs skin might be.

She did not name the member of the household, saying at the time: I think that would be very damaging to them.

Prince Harry and Meghan have remained silent since the naming of the Princess of Wales as one of the royals involved - WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES EUROPE

In Endgame, Mr Scobie writes that several conversations were had in the family, away from herself [Meghan] and Harry, that featured concerns over what colour their unborn son Archies skin might be and what that would mean or look like.

Mr Scobie told James OBrien podcast on Saturday that the use of the word concerns suggested that the conversation went beyond simple curiosity about whose characteristics Archie would inherit.

The Dutch translation of the book named the King and, in a separate chapter, the Princess of Wales as those involved in the conversation.

The names did not appear in the English edition of the book when it was released on Tuesday, with Mr Scobie including a paragraph in which he said he could not name them under UK law.

The King is understood to be treating the situation very seriously and is said to be likely to consult senior advisers next week on the Royal familys next step, with all options including legal action set to be considered.

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex, who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted that she never intended for them to be publicly identified and deny that their contents were leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp.

The Dutch translators who worked on the volume maintain that the manuscript they were given featured both names.

Saskia Peeters told MailOnline last week: I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.

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The US media company RedBird IMI, funded by the rulers of Abu Dhabi must not be permitted to take ownership of this newspaper. That statement should be obviously true.

The arguments for it need have nothing to do with the nature of Abu Dhabis government, its record on human rights or its attitude to the Western concept of freedom of speech. By most accounts, it is, as a member of the United Arab Emirates federation, a benign force in the region and a reliable friend of this country. What is at issue is not the integrity or the diplomatic standing of this particular nation or its reigning family. Foreign Office ministers who make those considerations central to this question may be committing a damaging error.

The only point worth considering here is that in a free society no government  including the countrys elected one  should own a news media outlet. The power wielded by a state must be, always and without qualification, separate from the presentation and analysis of information in the public domain. That principle has been one of the distinguishing differences between tyrannies and democracies in the modern world.

Even media outlets financed by public funding mandates like the BBC, or Channel 4 which is owned by a corporation that belongs to the government but is funded by advertising, have managerial and editorial independence. The suspension of that independence is permissible only in the most severe national emergencies and is rescinded as soon as those crises are resolved. So no, this need not and should not be a diplomatic problem. Abu Dhabis governing philosophy, which may be incompatible with our own, and its relations with the West on the world stage, are not relevant to this decision and the rejection of their ownership bid for the Telegraph should not be construed as any kind of insult by the UK government.

There is a famous quote from the author of the US Constitution, Thomas Jefferson: If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I would not hesitate to choose the latter. What Jefferson clearly meant by this was that a government without newspapers could hold power unchecked, but a population empowered by independent news could reject and replace a government. If you cannot see what is happening, you are powerless. If you can see it, there is nothing you cannot do.

But the underlying premise of his statement is that these two enormously powerful forces  government and news media  must be clearly and indisputably separated. There may be times when news organisations support a sitting (or a foreign) government and other times when they are in implacable opposition  but they must always be, and always be seen as, independent purveyors of fact and analysis.

Of course, the Jefferson quote uses what might be considered outdated vocabulary. Newspapers, in the old sense of printed editions, are thought to be no longer particularly important, so why worry about who owns them? This is an idiotic and pernicious argument. First and most obvious rejoinder: more people than ever are accessing newspaper content in its newer digital form. The Telegraph (and some other British papers) has more readers  and much greater global reach  now than it had in its flourishing print years. Indeed, it is precisely this increasing influence which is attracting buyers like RedBird and its Abu Dhabi backers.

This dismissive narrative (newspapers dont matter anymore) calls up in evidence the proliferation of social media news outlets which are, supposedly, replacing legacy media, particularly among the young. Presumably, the exponents of this glib narrative would be happy to have a public discourse dominated by the grotesque absurdities of Deep Fake video clips, manipulated photographs, unchecked hysterical testimony and outright deception (sometimes generated robotically), overseen by unqualified and possibly irresponsible social media billionaires who are accountable to no one.

Are there really serious grown-ups who believe that social media has made newspapers  and real journalism  redundant, rather than more urgently needed than ever to hold the tidal wave of fakery and falsehood up to the light? To those naive people, let me explain that a professional newspaper operation is not only subject to all the old legal constraints of libel and contempt, but a whole new battery of Ipso guidelines on accuracy and ethical procedure, overseen by inhouse enforcement officers, in which its trainees are rigorously instructed.

An equally absurd point that is being made by the insouciant brigade is that the possible sale of the Telegraph only matters to Conservatives who regard it as a bulwark of party political loyalty in an otherwise hostile media environment. I have even heard it said that the upcoming general election will have been a factor in the decision to refer the possible sale to a regulatory investigation since the Tories cannot afford to have their inhouse newspaper compromised at such a moment.

All that I can say to the purveyors of this interpretation is that if you believe that the Telegraph has been a stalwart supporter of this Tory government, you have obviously not read a word that has appeared on these pages for a long time. Cue bitter laughter from inside Downing Street. And in the opposite corner we have the Foreign Office which seems ready to reconcile itself quite happily with this possible sale because its concern with diplomatic accommodation is so much greater than its belief in a troublesome free press.

Maybe this is the source of a terrible misapprehension about what is at risk. The Foreign Office is, probably more than any other Cabinet department, the beating heart of the British establishment. The guiding philosophy that dictates that establishment approach has been, at least since the national trauma of the Reformation, pragmatism and compromise at home, tact and calculated diplomacy abroad. Defending to the death abstract ideals of freedom was only for volatile revolutionary republics. But if ever there was a moment for a statement of absolute, inviolable commitment to the principle of a free press, this is it.

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The Environmental Protection Agency on Saturday finalized a long-anticipated climate regulation that will require oil and gas operators to dramatically reduce how much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is escaping from equipment in many oil fields across Texas.

The rule achieves a major goal of the Biden Administration to crack down on methane, the second-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. The regulation was announced early Saturday morning in Dubai at the 28th international United Nations climate summit, known as COP 28.

Methane can trap much more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but lasts in the atmosphere for a few decades rather than a few centuries meaning that emission reductions are felt relatively quickly.

With nations behind on their commitments in the Paris Climate Accords international treaty to hold the Earth to 1.5 degrees celsius of warming compared to pre-industrial levels, attention has turned to methane for its potential to slow climate change in the short term and buy some time.

This is historic news for our climate, for our future, and for our children, said EPA Administrator Michael Regan during a press conference Saturday in Dubai. The standards today, while ambitious, are common sense.

Global concentrations of methane in the atmosphere have dramatically increased in recent years: In 2021, methane increased by almost 18 parts per billion in the atmosphere, the biggest increase in a single year since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations records began in 1984. In 2022, atmospheric methane increased by 14 parts per billion, the fourth largest increase on record.

Most of the methane emissions in the U.S. come from the energy sector  especially in Texas, the nations largest oil and gas producing state which currently lacks a strict rule to capture escaping methane emissions from energy infrastructure. The Permian Basin in particular is a major methane hotspot, and operators there have long been criticized by environmental groups for failing to ensure equipment isnt venting huge quantities of methane into the atmosphere.

The rules, which were first drafted two years ago, were modeled in part after state-level methane regulations in New Mexico and Colorado. At a press conference in Dubai, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham applauded the EPA rule as one that would ensure states that neighbor each other  like Texas and New Mexico  would have apples to apples regulations.

Having federal rules means that my border states, and the very same companies who are operating in both states, will adhere to the same standards, Lujan Grisham said.

Oil and gas companies will be required to phase out routine flaring of natural gas, a relatively common practice in which companies burn off excess gas that is unearthed along with oil. If a flare isnt wholly lit, or the flame goes out and is not re-ignited, then the raw methane vents into the atmosphere. Companies also burn off gas when drilling wells or when shutting down a facility on short notice, such as during a weather emergency.

Routine flaring without permission from regulators is barred by state law, but companies frequently request exceptions from the rules; the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the states oil and gas industry, authorized about 3,600 venting and flaring exceptions in 2022, according to agency data. Yet some independent analyses have found that oil and gas companies are likely flaring gas in the field more frequently than approved by state regulators.

The oil and gas industry has in recent years touted its own efforts to cut methane emissions in the oil field.

Early on Saturday, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that 50 oil and gas companies  including Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, Shell, and several national oil companies  had agreed to meet net-zero emissions in their operations by 2050, end routine flaring by 2030, and significantly curtail methane emissions in the oil field.

Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil, headquartered in Spring, a suburb of Houston, also made an appearance at COP 28 this week. Woods is reportedly the first Exxon chief executive to attend one of the climate summits.

Some industry groups on Saturday did not immediately oppose the EPAs new regulation. For example, the American Petroleum Institute, a major trade group for U.S. oil and gas companies, said it was still reviewing the rule on Saturday, and said that it shares the administrations goal to reduce methane emissions.

This rule must balance emissions reductions with the need to continue meeting rising energy demand, said Dustin Meyer, APIs senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs, in a statement.

However, in comments submitted to the EPA earlier this year, the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers wrote that the regulations would be costly and lauded industry-led efforts.

Burdensome federal requirements on producers are unnecessary, wrote Jason Modglin, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, which represents independent oil companies.

A major tenant of the regulation is that it will require companies to monitor their equipment for methane leaks  another big source of emissions from the oilfield  and allows companies to choose from many different types of technology to do so. That was a sticking point that many industry groups asked regulators to include.

The rule also creates a new super emitter program in which large methane releases are identified and targeted. Last year, the federal agency did some limited helicopter flyovers of the Permian Basin in an attempt to identify some of those methane pollution hot spots.

States will be tasked with enforcing the regulations, and will have two years to create a plan for how theyll implement them, an extension of an earlier proposal. Texas environmental and energy agencies had both requested the EPA extend the deadline.

The Administration has estimated that the regulation will cut 58 million tons of methane emissions between 2024 and 2038, which is nearly as much carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021. However, in comments submitted earlier this year, Texas environmental and energy agencies characterized those estimates as inflated and unrealistic.

But Texas regulators have already suggested that they believe the federal regulation could be vulnerable to legal challenges: In comments submitted to the EPA in February, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Railroad Commission warned of overreach by EPA in light of a Supreme Court decision last year that significantly curtailed the federal agencys power to regulate emissions.

The Texas regulatory agencies argued in their comments that responding to climate change could be considered a major policy question, which the Supreme Court has found should be decided by Congress rather than federal bureaucrats, and that agencies have only the authority granted to them by Congress and no such grant to address global climate change.

Texas state regulatory agencies also complained in the comments that there are too many requirements before the state can approve requests by facilities, including old facilities nearing the end of their life, to waive some of the stricter emissions requirements. Texas argues that the red tape will effectively force states with large oil industries to apply the rule as written and eliminate discretion.

The state, under Attorney General Ken Paxton, frequently and enthusiastically sues the Biden Administration over regulations it views as onerous or an economic threat to the energy sector.

An EPA official told The Texas Tribune that the agency doesnt intend for those requirements to be onerous for state agencies.

Texas environment groups on Saturday praised the new regulation given Texas lax attitude toward greenhouse gas emissions. Elizabeth Lieberknecht, a regulatory and legislative manager for the Environmental Defense Fund, called the regulation game changing in Texas.

Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas, said the federal regulations are necessary since state regulators appear unwilling to take serious steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Texas massive oil sector.

Texas, Metzger said, needs strong federal regulations to reduce methane emissions maybe more than any other state.

Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Texas Alliance of Energy Producers have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
(NEXSTAR)  The holiday season is in full swing and that means most retail stores and radio stations are playing end-to-end Christmas music. And while we all have our favorites (and least favorites), have you ever wondered how it breaks down state-to-state?

Recently, data outlet FinanceBuzz used Google Trends to determine which Christmas songs each state searched for the most over the past five years. Only data on the 25 highest-charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were used, FinanceBuzz says.

Worst Christmas songs ever? Here are some of the internets most hated

So whats the most popular Christmas song in Texas?

Turns out, you could potentially guess it if you needed to. Given its proximity to the Mexican border and its high population of Latinos, its no huge surprise that Jose Felicianos Feliz Navidad ranks as the Lone Star States favorite.

Texas is one of only three states to claim this 1970 hit as their most popular. The other two states are Florida and New Mexico.

Mariah Careys iconic 1994 classic All I Want for Christmas is You ranked number 1 in 10 states, making it the most popular nationwide by far. Interestingly, Careys song was also named the no. 1 most annoying Christmas song by a FinanceBuzz survey of 1,250 U.S. adults.

Father of bride giving away daughter at wedding: Love or hate?

Also making that list was Feliz Navidad, which was named third most annoying.

Since its release, Feliz Navidad (Spanish for Merry Christmas) has reached no. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and become one of the most recognizable holiday songs around. In 2020, Feliciano released a special version of the song for its 50th anniversary, featuring guests Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jason Mraz and Shaggy.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
AUSTIN (The Texas Tribune)  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Texas on Friday to remove the floating barrier it deployed in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass this summer, affirming a lower courts ruling.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the court found that the river is navigable where the barrier was placed and that it is an obstruction, meaning that Texas needed to receive permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  which regulates activities in waterways and wetlands under federal law  before deploying it.

Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, was the dissenting vote in the ruling, arguing that the Rio Grande cannot accommodate commercial boat traffic and is therefore not navigable.

Texas argued that the barrier was also meant to save lives and force migrants to cross the border at ports of entry, but Willet said Texas hasnt proved thats the case.

At this stage, however, Texas has not offered concrete evidence that the barrier has saved lives or reduced illegal crossings and drug trafficking, Willet wrote.

In a statement on social media, Gov. Greg Abbott said:

The 5th Cir. Court of Appeals denial of Texas sovereign authority to secure the border with floating marine barriers is clearly wrong. AG Paxton & I will seek an immediate rehearing by the entire court. Well go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders. Gov. Greg Abbott statement on X

Abbott ordered the barrier deployed in June as part of Operation Lone Star, his multi-prong effort to halt illegal immigration along the 1,200-mile border. Texas spent $850,000 on the barrier, a 1,000-foot-long string of buoys separated by saw blades that supports a submerged mesh net designed to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande.

The barriers sparked protests from the Mexican government and migrant advocates. In July, the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas in an Austin federal court, arguing that the barrier was installed without required federal authorization. Texas argued that the barrier was designed to direct migrants to appropriate entry points and deter unlawful crossings and drug smuggling.

San Antonio-based Federal District Judge David A. Ezra ruled in September that Texas must remove the barrier. The state appealed to the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit, halting Ezras order while the Fifth Circuit considered the case.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit on Dec. 2 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Kamran Jebreili/AP

The Biden administration moved Saturday to crack down on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, by finalizing newly strengthened mandates forcing companies to replace leaky equipment and regularly search for escaping gas.

The final regulation announced by Vice President Kamala Harris and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai comes amid intensifying global focus on methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas thats at least 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere during the first two decades after its release. The rule is the culmination of a three-year EPA quest to stifle methane releases from existing oil wells and equipment  coming roughly a decade after the first initial steps to indirectly regulate that pollution.

Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the US. While methane is the prime component of natural gas  and valued as a source of energy  the gas can leak errantly from pipelines and processing equipment, or be vented and flared at oil wells that lack infrastructure to carry away the fossil fuel.

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EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the plan represented historic action to reduce climate pollution.

Weve crafted these technology standards to advance American innovation and account for the industrys leadership in accelerating methane technology, he said in a news release.

The US government estimates the requirements would prevent some 58 million tons of methane from being released into the atmosphere from 2024 to 2038. And because of methanes potency, thats roughly equivalent to all the carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021.

The requirements are set to be the strongest in the world  providing inspiration to other countries now zeroing in on methane as a key climate risk, said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The measure was tightened from earlier proposals to include a phased-in requirement to eliminate routine flaring of natural gas from newly constructed oil wells. Environmental activists panned earlier iterations of the plan for not doing enough to go after the practice, since burning methane generates carbon dioxide at best, and, when flares burn inconsistently, results in methane discharges instead. Routine flaring at some lower-emission existing wells would be grandfathered.

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But the EPA also gave companies more time to replace some leak-prone devices after industry officials warned that long supply chain delays would make it impossible to procure new equipment in time.

The EPA held firm on its controversial plan to empower private citizens and groups to help police the industry by requiring oil and gas companies to investigate incidents when notified by the agency that third parties had detected large emissions events at their sites. The planned super emitters program would effectively elevate the role and importance of methane surveillance  whether done by activists wielding infrared cameras or satellites circling the globe. Supporters say the initiative could push oil companies to respond more swiftly to leaks that otherwise could go unreported.

However, in response to industry criticism, the EPA altered its earlier proposal to ensure the agency first vets those third-party reports and limit when they can be filed.

The EPA projects the requirements could add an extra 25 cents to the cost of a barrel of oil in 2038  though the agency forecasts total net benefits of at least $7.3 billion a year from averted harm to the climate and human health tied to ozone exposure.

The American Petroleum Institute said it was still reviewing the regulation.

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We share the administrations goal of reducing methane emissions, and smart federal regulation can help build on industrys progress to date, said Dustin Meyer, a senior vice president of policy for the API. To be truly effective, this rule must balance emissions reductions with the need to continue meeting rising energy demand.

Oil industry leaders have emphasized that many companies already are moving more aggressively to stem methane pollution  especially since it undermines the green bonafides of natural gas being pitched as a cleaner alternative to coal.

But environmentalists said the mandates will spur laggards to clean up, too.
Granville T. Woods was a pioneering inventor with nearly 60 patents to his name. Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

Granville T. Woods was one of the most prolific Black inventors in the 19th century.

In the 1880s, Thomas Edison sued Woods twice, claiming he'd first invented a telegraph for trains.

Woods' inventions revolutionized transportation, but he faced many challenges as a Black inventor.

Thomas Edison is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated inventors in American history, pioneering technologies like the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.

Edison was a genius by his own right, but some historians say he also had a penchant for claiming other inventors' patents.

One such inventor was Granville T. Woods, the most prolific Black inventor in the late 19th century. Woods was regarded the first African American mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War, and jostled with other prominent inventors like Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Frank Sprague.

In 1887, Woods secured a patent for the induction telegraph, which allowed messages to be sent between moving trains and train stations. His discovery was a much-needed improvement to the communication system at the time, which was slow, shoddy, and could lead to train collisions.

Soon after Woods patented his invention, Edison sued Woods, arguing he had first created a similar telegraph and was thus entitled to the patent. Woods eventually won the battle over the patent, but the victory came at a hefty financial and personal cost, according to several historians.

"Woods' life  at times closer to a nightmare than the American dream  clearly illustrates the harsh realities of being a Black inventor at the end of the 19th century," historian Rayvon Fouche wrote in "Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer and Shelby J. Davison."

Woods, ironically, was dubbed "Black Edison" by newspapers at the time for his contributions to science.

Woods founded the Woods Electric Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio, and developed hybrid cars. Public Domain

Woods' inventions revolutionized transportation

Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio, to freed African Americans in 1856. When he was 10 years old, Woods had to stop attending school because his parents couldn't continue paying for their children's education.

Instead, Woods became an apprentice at a railroad shop, which became the springboard for his career as an engineer.

Woods went on to have nearly 60 patents to his name. His innovations revolutionized the world of transportation, including the "Dead Man's Handle," an automatic brake that slows down trains if the operator is incapacitated. Woods also patented an innovation that led to the "third rail," a crucial means of providing electricity to trains to keep them moving, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Several biographers said that Woods spoke and dressed in an elegant fashion, often dressing in all black. He sometimes referred to himself as an immigrant from Australia, which biographers believe was a way to garner more respect than if people knew he was African American.

A diagram of the induction telegraph system, patented by Woods. US Patent and Trademark Office

The legal battle with Edison

Among Woods' most important inventions was the synchronous multiplex railway telegraph, which allowed messages to be sent uninterrupted between trains.

Before he could file for a patent, however, Woods caught smallpox and was bedridden for months. Historians describe how, upon recovery, Woods was shocked to learn that another inventor, Lucius Phelps, had been credited for a version of the induction telegraph.

Woods painstakingly used notes, sketches, and a working model of his invention to prove that he'd started developing the technology first, and won the patent in 1887.

But the battle over the patent didn't end there. Soon after, Edison sued Woods not once, but twice, claiming he had invented the inductor telegraph first. Woods successfully defeated both lawsuits, according to several historians. Some writers suggest that Edison offered Woods a job at the Edison Company, which Woods declined.

Some of Edison's devices were improvements of existing ideas by other inventors. Corbis via Getty Images

The challenges of being a Black inventor

Woods ultimately sold some of his patents and devices to Edison and other industrialists, as well as companies like Westinghouse, General Electric, and American Engineering. Historians ascribe Woods' decision to sell his hard-won patents to an acknowledgment that it was difficult to market Black American inventions to a largely white audience.

"Like most other Black inventors of the era, Woods had to concede that the race of the inventor did affect the market value of the invention," Michael C. Christopher wrote in the Journal of Black Studies.

Some of the people who bought Woods' inventions didn't pay him fairly, or failed to give him credit for his work, according to historians. Sometimes, inventors lost all claims to their inventions once sold, and received no profits.

Woods died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1910, destitute and virtually forgotten for decades. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Thousand And One Director A.V. Rockwell Was Stalked By Stand-In Actor Who Killed Her Friend, Hollywood Social Justice Advocate Michael Latt | (L-R) Michelle Satter, A.V. Rockwell, and Michael Latt attend the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

Police in Los Angeles are investigating the murder of 33-year-old Hollywood social justice advocate Michael Latt, who was shot and killed in his home on Monday by a woman who was a stand-in-actor for the film A Thousand and One, directed by A.V. Rockwell.

Jameelah Michl, 36, was charged with murder, and court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times state she had threatened and stalked Rockwell after production ended on A Thousand and One, which was released on March 31. The project received a grand jury prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and Michl began sending hundreds of emails to Rockwell.

According to reports, Michl emailed a producer to congratulate Rockwell on her success with the film. However, when the 36-year-old realized Rockwell had not acknowledged her kind gestures, she started to send threatening emails and warned she had a gun and would kill herself.

My Glock is loaded as I write this, Michl wrote in an April handwritten note, according to the Times. One pull of the trigger and Ill be free.

On Monday, Michl showed up at Latts home, forced her way inside and shot him. A press release from the district attorneys office said she reportedly targeted Michl because he was friends with a woman [Michl] had been stalking. Several reports have confirmed Latt and Rockwell had a close friendship, and he supported her on the project.

Latt was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries. According to the Times, Michl lived inside her car and remained at the scene until police arrived. She was arrested without incident and taken into custody.

According to Deadline, Michl was charged on Thursday with one count of murder and one count of first-degree residential burglary with a person present. She is being held on a $3 million bond. If found guilty, she could face up to life in prison.

The court documents state that Rockwell had repeatedly filed a restraining order against Michl for her behavior. She said she often feared for her life after receiving the distressing Michls letters and emails.

The emotional distress has [led] to lack of sleep, inability to eat and concentrate, she wrote, according to the court documents. Panic attacks caused by the anxiety and fear for my safety has meant that I have been unable to return to work. Her messages have disrupted my professional relationships.

Michl appeared to be obsessed with Rockwell but had no personal ties with Latt, Lead With Loves founder and CEO and son of Michelle Satter, the founding senior director at the Sundance Institute.

Our hearts ache for the loss of a passionate advocate who believed in the principles of justice and equity within our criminal legal system, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said Thursday in a statement obtained by Deadline. It is devastating to see a life cut short, especially one dedicated to fighting for a more just society. This tragedy serves as a stark reminder that the pursuit of justice is a collective responsibility that we must all share.
The fate of three schools facing potential closure will be decided by the Terrebonne Parish School Board. The Bayou Black community is not happy.

Terrebonne Parish Superintendent "Bubba" Orgeron revealed his plans to overhaul the Terrebonne Parish School District to members of the Bayou Black community Nov. 29. The plan includes consolidating Bayou Black Elementary School, Gibson Elementary School and Honduras Elementary School with other schools.

The vote will be during the next Terrebonne Parish School Board meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. Dec. 5.

The plan would see Gibson students pool with Schriever Elementary School, Honduras Elementary School with Village East and Acadian, and Bayou Black would see some students go to Mulberry and some to Schriever Elementary School.

The overhaul, Orgeron said, would place more certified teachers in front of students by merging schools with dwindling student enrollment with other schools to make classroom sizes about 20 to 24 students per class. It would remove certified teachers from positions like librarians and computer labs and place those teachers back in front of classrooms. The plan gives a flat 10% pay raise to all teachers.

"The teacher in the classroom is the most important factor in education," Orgeron said. "Believe it or not, when you consolidate a school, you need less certified teachers, so some of these teachers can fill gaps where we need more certified people."

Terrebonne Parish Superintendent Aubrey "Bubba" Orgeron tells the Bayou Black community of his plan to overhaul the districts educational system, November 29. The plan includes closing their school and merging students with other elementary schools in the parish.

The school district has about 180 uncertified teachers across the parish. According to Orgeron these changes would do away with inefficiencies that move the best teachers into positions that aren't directly teaching students. By placing the certified teachers back in front of students, fewer uncertified teachers would face job loss.

The community pushed back against his proposal. Residents said they prefer the smaller classroom sizes that are at their schools. It gives their children a more personal education and fosters time for more one-on-one, they said. They argued that in schools like Mulberry and Schriever, their children would be lost in the crowd.

They also feared that the shuttering of their school would sound a death knell for their community. What was a community, they asked, without a school?

"This school is home," Katelyn Bourgeois said. "When I walk in that front door it's the same floor, it's the same walls, it's the same vibe, it's the same smell. This is home. This is the school that I picked up a double-wide trailer to make sure he came here. I picked that house up when he turned 1 to make sure he could come here."

Bourgeois has a son in the school, and another child soon to enter the school system. She said the nearly 100-year-old school is the one she attended as a child, and where she wants her children to learn. If the school is closed, she will begin homeschooling her children.

"The thing is, it's not about how they are going to treat my kids over there, because I am not giving them the chance to go over there," she said. "It's Bayou Black or homeschool."

Her sentiments were shared by many other parents who said the school is familiar to them. They said it's an anchor in the community and gives those who attend it a sense of pride about where they come from. They acknowledged that as kids grow older, they move away into the high schools. In those early years, they want their children to be closer to home.

Bayou Black community member Tyler Breaux argues that the smaller classroom sizes at Bayou Black are beneficial for his child's education, Nov. 29. He opposes the closure of the community's elementary school and didn't want his kid sent a mile-and-a-half away.

"No kid, at this age, from kindergarten to fourth grade, should be [riding] an hour-and-a-half to go to school," Joshua Bridges said. "The teachers are great here. Smaller classes, individual teachers, it works with them every time."

"I don't understand why you want to put them in larger classrooms," he added

Members of the community said taking away their school is unfair. They pay their taxes like everyone else, why can't they have a school like every other community, they said. The school has great marks, they said, which proved the smaller classrooms were better. Former Justice of the Peace Horace Johnson argued, with documentation in hand, that Bayou Black has a better educational average score than Schriever Elementary.

More: Christmas events scheduled in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes

More: 'Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce'' to open at Houma AMC theater Thursday

Community members said they understand the enrollment is down, and Korey Burnet asked why Gibson and Bayou Black can't just be merged to keep his children closer to home. He said he doesn't want to give up his school. But a Gibson-Bayou Black merger would be a compromise allowing to still put more students in classrooms together.

He said new subdivisions are being built, and new homebuyers will be dissuaded if there is no school nearby. As Brunet spoke, many people nodded in agreement.

"You're going to take them completely out the bayou, man," said Tyler Breaux, another parent. "I'm scared to move them anywhere else."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Terrebonne superintendent lays out school consolidation plan at Bayou Black
Former Congressman George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives Friday in a bipartisan vote that followed a House Committee on Ethics report claiming the Queens native deceived donors and  blatantly stole from his campaign.

Allegations about the 35-year-old Republicans checkered past were brought to light by a damning New York Times article published shortly after he was elected to represent New Yorks 3rd Congressional District in November 2022. That Dec. 19 expose, which called into question nearly every claim Santos made about his personal and professional history, kicked off a chain of events leading to Fridays historic expulsion.

Santos lied about his background including his education and heritage

His long list of apparent lies include campaign documents in which Santos referred to himself as a proud American Jew, as well as a 2021 tweet in which he claimed to be the  grandson of Holocaust refugees.

Jewish news outlet The Forward reported Santos grandparents were both born in Brazil, well before Adolf Hitler took power in Germany. He later joked hes Jew- ish, but was raised Catholic.

Santos also boasted on the campaign trail that he was educated at the Bronxs prestigious Horace Mann School, then attended New York University and Baruch College, where he claimed he was a volleyball star. Theres no evidence he attended any of those schools.

That educational background prepared Santos to work for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs on Wall Street, the disgraced politician bragged. Those companies have also denied any connection to him.

Santos falsely said his mom was a 9/11 victim

According to Santos, his mother was in the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and later died from cancer because of the toxic air she breathed. But immigration documents obtained by The Washington Post indicate his mom, Fatima Devolder, went to Brazil in 1999, returned to the U.S. in 2003 and lived for another 13 years.

He claimed to be a Broadway producer (also a lie)

Santos web of deceit also included the claim he was a producer on Broadways trouble-plaguedSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical, according to Bloomberg, which debunked that tale.

Obviously, I dont need to explain to you that this is a lie, late night host Stephen Colbert joked about the claim in February. But its also a really weird one because Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is famously one of the biggest disasters in Broadway history.

Congress investigates Santos lies further

While Santos absurd antics made for plenty of comic fodder, lawmakers and law enforcement officials spent much of 2023 investigating the elected official.

In January, citing extensive public reporting and comments made by Santos, Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman petitioned the House of Representatives to investigate their colleagues conduct. Their concerns included sparse and perplexing financial disclosure reports in 2022 and 2000, when Santos first ran for office and lost. On Jan. 12, Torres and Goldman introduced the  SANTOS Act  an acronym for Stopping Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker.

A 10-member House ethics committee began an examination of Santos in March. The eight-month process would conclude with a damning 56-page report leading to his downfall.

Santos 2024 reelection campaign spending draws scrutiny

On April 17, a defiant Santos announced he would seek reelection in 2024. Between April and June, he raised nearly $180,000 for that reelection campaign, repaying himself $85,000, according to the Times. House investigators would later allege Santos lied about loaning money to his campaign, then supposedly reimbursed himself with cash from donors.

Democrats moved to expel Santos in May, though that effort was temporarily thwarted by House Republicans who put the matter in the hands of the ethics committee. On May 10, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charged Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, a single count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He denied all wrongdoing.

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of New York announced a 23-count superseding indictment alleging Santos falsified records, committed identity theft, laundered money and lied to the House of Representatives. The MAGA politician dismissed the claims made against him as a witch hunt.

But five days earlier, former Santos campaign manager Nancy Marks pleaded guilty to conspiring with the congressman in some of his alleged crimes. According to court documents, she claimed Santos made a fake $500,000 loan to his campaign, when he had less than $8,000 in his personal business account.

Marks will be sentenced in April for her role in the scheme. Prosecutors have recommended she serve up to four years in prison.

An initial expulsion attempt fails to pass

By Nov. 1, an effort championed by New York GOP members forced a vote to dump the congressman, but that tally fell short, despite two dozen Republicans supporting the measure.

Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland opposed the initiative, believing that ousting Santos before the ethics report was released would be setting a bad precedent.

The House has expelled five people in our history, three for joining the Confederacy as traitors to the Union and two after they were convicted of serious criminal offenses, Raskin said in a statement. Santos has not been criminally convicted yet of any of the offenses he has been indicted for that were cited in the Resolution nor has he been found guilty of ethics offenses in the House internal process.

An ethics committee report provides the final nail in the coffin

On Nov. 16, the ethics committees long-awaited report was finally published. It accused Santos of using campaign money for personal travel, meals, Botox treatments and a subscription to a pornography site. Santos blasted the biased report in a tweet calling off his reelection campaign, but insisted hed continue to maintain my commitment to my conservative values in my remaining time in Congress.

Santos time in office came to an end on Friday when 105 Republicans, and Raskin, lent support to a 311-114 vote leading to the congressmans exit. He still faces criminal charges. Santos stalked off Capitol Hill following the vote, saying, To hell with this place.

A link to his congressional webpage now directs to a list of Current Vacancies of the 118th Congress.

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I traveled to seven countries this year, and some experiences convinced me to book a return trip.

Thailand had delicious cuisine, kind locals, and great activities, like scuba diving and snorkeling.

Laos was an affordable spot with fun activities that exceeded my expectations.

I traveled solo to seven countries this year. Each was unique and enjoyable, but some destinations were so great that they made me consider planning another trip.

Here are the three countries I'd love to visit again in 2024.

Thailand felt like a perfect mix of tradition and modernity

Thailand offered great cuisine and locals that created memorable experiences. Dominique Mills

From the lively streets of Bangkok to the peaceful shores of Krabi, my three-month trip to Thailand kept me longing for more.

The locals were warm and friendly, the cuisine was delectable, and the cultural immersion was eye-opening.

In Northern Thailand, I learned to cook famous Thai dishes and went river-tubing before heading south. I even visited eastern Islands like Koh Tao and Koh Samui, where I went snorkeling and scuba diving in reefs to see sharks and turtles.

I ended up staying on one island for over two weeks because of how much I enjoyed its scenery and activities.

Returning to Thailand in 2024 would help me build better connections with locals and explore even more.

Portugal had a timeless charm and breathtaking views

I was lucky enough to visit Portugal this year and experience the country's city and coastal elements.

The highlight of my time in the north was visiting Porto, the country's second-largest city. I climbed the massive, concrete Arrabida Bridge, took in stunning views, and toured the city in a vintage Volkswagen van.

I met some amazing people in the process.

I also visited smaller, southern towns where I learned to sail and lived on a catamaran just off the coast. I'd never sailed before, and it was one of the best challenges I'd taken on all year.

Slow and peaceful living felt encouraged, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

Next year I hope to surf the southwest coast, visit Lisbon, and possibly begin walking the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage from Portugal to Spain.

Laos exceeded my expectations, making it one of my favorite countries to date

Laos was even better than I expected, and I hope to return in 2024. Dominique Mills

Laos was beautiful and affordable, which is perfect for a traveler on a budget like me.

My journey started in Luang Prabang, a northern town with tranquil attractions like the famous Kuang Si Waterfall. One of my favorite memories was visiting a local silversmith's home, where I designed and made silver rings from scratch.

Then I took a high-speed train to Vang Vieng. Affordable adventures there included hot-air ballooning, paragliding above the mountains at sunrise, and ziplining over different lagoons.

My final stop in Laos was its capital, Vientiane. I found it to be quiet, calm, and culture-rich, which I loved.

If I were to return to Laos next year, I'd extend my travels to less-explored cities that were highly recommended to me, like Pakse, Thakhek, and Don Det.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The 2023 edition of Small Business Saturday is over, but Tri-Cities businesses are eager to see its spirit live on as the holiday shopping season hits its stride.

Local businesses noted an uptick in traffic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, heralding a promising start to the time of year that can make or break the bank.

Small Business Saturday was awesome, said Jessica Dilger, owner of Whimsy Apothecary, in downtown Kennewick.

Whimsy, like several other small businesses the Tri-City Herald visited in the days after Thanksgiving, was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic but stands eager to embrace holiday shoppers.

At a national level, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was an unquestioned hit for retailers, with more than 200 million consumers making some sort of purchase, according to the National Retail Federation. That was well above expectations.

The federation said shopping took place in person and online, with 121.4 million people visiting physical locations over the holiday stretch. The vast majority made holiday-related purchases.

Mike Fong, director of the Washington Department of Commerce, turbocharged the #ShopLocal message in the Tri-Cities. He spent Small Business Saturday in downtown Pasco, where he called on three retailers and a radio broadcaster.

His mission: Raise the visibility of small businesses during the holidays and highlight resources the commerce department provides the rest of the year.

He encouraged shoppers to keep supporting small, local businesses throughout the holiday season. Washingtons 600,000 small businesses collectively employ more than half of all workers.

We should do everything we can to support them, he said. It keeps our dollars in our local economies. That builds our economic growth and workforce.

#SmallBusinessSaturday

American Express created Small Business Saturday in 2010 to steer shoppers to small, local businesses on the day after Black Friday. It started as a marketing promotion to extend the shopping frenzy into the weekend.

It caught on and became one of the anchors of the first week of shopping season: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Secondhand Sunday, Giving Tuesday and so forth.

Today, small businesses say they depend on it and sales throughout the holiday season to stay afloat the rest of the year.

Fong spent the holidays in the Yakima area. He said he decided to drive to Pasco for Small Business Saturday after being impressed by the growth and diversity of the community during a statewide tour earlier this year.

I think the Tri-Cities is an exciting area, he said, We are increasing our focus out there.

His department is bringing a focus to equity as the economy recovers from the pandemic. That means offering greater support to minority and women-owned businesses. Pasco, he said, represented an opportunity to tell that story.

A big part of this role is to make sure I am in communities and to listen to the needs so we better shape the policies and investments we make, he said.

Businesses at the ready

Dilger is a serial entrepreneur who started Whimsy at her husbands suggestion in mid-2022 at the Public Market at Columbia River Warehouse. Shed closed another business during the pandemic and was ready for something new.

Whimsy moved to 318 W. Kennewick Ave. in February. The business sells soy candles, vegan skin care lotions, teas, books, cards, home decor, bags and more. Holiday sales are a main source of revenue.

Its pretty important to me, she said.

Before the pandemic, Dilger owned a photography business and later a subscription box service that combined products from small businesses into boxes for about 200 subscribers. The subscription boxes faltered during the pandemic because of supply chain issues.

Whimsy, her newest business, was inspired by her family and attempts to keep allergies at bay. Family members make the candles and other products sold in the store without allergy-triggering chemicals. Whimsy also offers workshops and classes on candle making as well as mixing lotions.

We mostly started because were allergic to everything, she said.

Creations Crystals & Healthy L.I.F.E. Center, 222 W. Kennewick Ave., is another business that had to find its footing after the pandemic.

Owner Charee Jackson spent late 2019 and early 2020 preparing to open her store, which sells crystals, rocks, gems, bracelets, art and other items made by more than 20 vendors in downtown Kennewick.

Creations Crystals also hosts small gatherings in its cozy tapestry-lined basement and Jacksons Reiki practice. Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing.

A death in the family delayed the opening. But by spring 2020, she was ready and set a day: Monday, March 23.

That ended up being the day Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order for people to stay home for all but essential activities in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

She was able to open because her Reiki practice was considered essential, With few customers out and about, the early days were challenging.

She cant compete with big box retailers and their massive Black Friday-style discounts. Instead, she works to keep prices reasonable and the atmosphere welcoming.

Everybody is welcome. That is the purpose of my store, she said.

Jackson said holiday shoppers dont just boost the shops revenue. They show small business owners people care about their neighbors.

Its huge for small business for people to shop local, she said.

Fongs visit to Pasco highlighted another pandemic survivor, Chica Dorada Boutique, which sells womens apparel.

Owner Gabriela Dominguez had to move out of her original location at the pandemics onset. She put her inventory in storage and waited. She reopened four months later by co-locating her apparel business with her nieces business, Shoe Love Shoetique, at 516-1/2 W. Clark St. in downtown Pasco.

Now in its 16th year, Chica Dorada is back on solid footing. Like her neighbors in Pasco, her traffic is tied to farming season. Business slows in the coldest months and shes prepared for it.

She said shes grateful for the support shes received and the opportunity she found to own her own shop.

I love business, she said.

Its a story weve been hearing a lot of. Folks hunkered down for the pandemic, turned a corner, and are kicking the tires on growth opportunities, Fong said. It reinforces for me every time, the entrepreneurial spirit is a thing to behold.

Resources available

Resources are available for entrepreneurs and existing businesses through both the state and federal government, said Fong.

He is the state commerce director now. But previously, he was regional administrator for the Small Business Administration.

Pandemic era resources such as the Paycheck Protection Program have wound down. But the crisis created a new urgency around small businesses. Washington state, he said, is rolling out new funding programs and a commitment to ensure they are distributed equitably.

He advises small business owners and those considering starting a business to tap into the Small Business Resiliency Network, which can facilitate access to resources, technical assistance and even help with translating services.

To connect with the department in the Tri-Cities, contact Norma Chavez, a community engagement specialist serving business serving Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla and surrounding counties.

She maintains a Kennewick office at the Tri-City Development Council. Call 360-918-3039 or email Norma.chavez@commerce.wa.gov.

Sign Up: Boom Town Tri-Cities

Stay up to date on Tri-Cities growth and development with our weekly business newsletter. Get the latest on restaurant and business openings and closings, plus the regions top housing and employment news. Click here to sign up. In your inbox every Wednesday.
More than three years after allegedly shooting and killing a Merriam Woods couple in a Branson restaurant parking lot after attempting to rob them, Miguel Melendez-Torres is scheduled to face a jury.

The twice-postponed trial is set for June 10-14 in Taney County Judge Jeffrey Merrell's courtroom, according to online records.

Melendez-Torres

Melendez-Torres, 36, faces two counts of second-degree murder and armed robbery following the May 29, 2021, deaths of Krystle Buhl and Richard McMahan, who had finished their respective work shifts as Famous Dave's servers before the deadly encounter.

Investigators said that Melendez-Torres was walking around the area of Highway 76 and looking for someone to rob when he approached Buhl and McMahon. When they didn't heed the man's request for their money, an argument ensued, and police say Melendez-Torres allegedly shot each of the victims in the head.

More: Police say rent dispute leads to murder-suicide at Branson senior-living complex

Melendez-Torres fled the scene and was arrested months later in Boston, Massachusetts, and transported back to Missouri.

The nature of the double homicide shook the southwest Missouri tourist town.

"These crimes have impacted the families and our community and our sense of safety," then-Branson Police Chief Jeff Matthews said after Melendez-Torres was arrested.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Trial set for man accused of killing couple outside Branson restaurant
Former President Trump reiterated his disapproval of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynoldss endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 primary during a campaign stop Saturday in the Hawkeye State.

I mean, that was her choice to do this. But I believe in loyalty, Trump said to loud cheers in the crowd during a rally in Ankeny, Iowa.

The former president went a step further, taking credit for Reynoldss own election victories in 2018 and 2022.

This state is not that difficult, and it is a great state with great people, he said. But, she became the governor, and then she called me when she had a big [problem]: running against a very wealthy man.

He was way up in the polls, and he was going to win. I came, did a big rally and endorsement of her, fought like hell and she ended up winning, right? Trump continued. And the second time was much easier.

Reynolds gave DeSantis her official backing early last month, crediting him for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida and championing the governor as one of the most effective leaders she had ever seen.

Her endorsement came after she originally vowed to stay out of the 2024 GOP primary, hosting events with nearly every candidate in the race in the critical state. Her reversal gained Trumps attention and his attacks.

She said shes going to endorse him because he worked very hard, Trump said at the event Saturday, renewing his critique of the Iowa governor. Now, how do you endorse somebody thats 40 or 50 points down?

He made a similar argument in a post on social media immediately following her announcement.

On Saturday, the former president claimed he doesnt care if Reynolds endorses him or not because its not going to make any difference.

The only endorsement that matters is the Trump endorsement, he added.

Although Trump said Reynolds is the most unpopular governor both in his rally and in posts online, she remains popular and is seen as a prominent political face in the state. According to polling, she has a +6 net approval rating and is +65 among Republicans.

In her endorsement, Reynolds said we need someone who wont get distracted and will put the country first and not himself. She had previously introduced DeSantis and appeared with Florida first lady Casey DeSantis  but didnt declare her support for him until early November.

The DeSantis campaign is gearing up for the Iowa caucuses. Senior campaign leaders said a win in the state is one of the few hopes to overcome Trump.

The former president is holding a rally in Cedar Rapids on Saturday afternoon, where the focus will likely be on DeSantis and President Biden.

The Iowa caucuses mark the first primary vote in the nation and will be held on Jan. 15.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The partially completed Bella Heights condominium residence project on Yale in the Heights, is visible Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023 as construction is reported to be resuming at the project in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

A long dormant, partially complete condo project in the Heights that stalled when previous owners faced financial and legal turmoil a few years ago is in the hands of new owners who plan to complete it next year.

Dallas real estate developer Bella Houston Heights will finish the 28-unit, six-story condominium project at 829 Yale. The shell of the building has stood dormant for several years after construction stopped when the original developer ran into financial and legal troubles.

Bella Houston Heights bought the property from lender Steadfast Funding in January, and began working on interiors.

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When complete, the condos will be priced from about $700,000 to $1.8 million. Sales will launch around March, said Betty M. Harbourt, executive vice president of Nan Properties Developer Services, which is marketing the project. Residents are expected to begin moving in next fall.

A rendering of what the new luxury condo project is expected to look like by Bella Houston Heights at 829 Yale. Nan Properties Developer Services

The site has been dormant for at least three years, Harbourt said.

Previous owners are embroiled in litigation after the original developer, Terry Fisher, allegedly attempted to avoid foreclosure through a fraudulent scheme involving bribery, theft and racketeering, according to a lawsuit Steadfast filed in the U.S. Southern District Court of Texas against multiple defendants.

Fisher in 2016 borrowed $4.2 million from Steadfast for the project, and later borrowed $2.25 million more, according to court filings.

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But as Fishers finances crumbled and he faced foreclosure at 829 Yale, he allegedly secretly transferred the property to Houston-based real estate investor Ali Choudhri and his firm, Jetall Cos., in exchange for $100,000 and a promise that Jetall would help the project avoid foreclosure, according to Steadfasts lawsuit.

Construction waste is visible on the site of the partially completed Bella Heights condominium residence project on Yale in the Heights, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023 as construction is reported to be resuming at the project in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

Jetall and Choudhri did not respond to requests for comment. Fisher could not be reached.

After threats by Choudhri of protracted legal battles, according to the lawsuit, a new ownership group defaulted on the loan, leaving the building unfinished and contractors unpaid.

It would take another two years of litigation for Steadfast to foreclose. Steadfast and a group of other investors bought the property for $5.82 million in November 2019, according to Harris County Deed records.

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In 2022, Steadfast consolidated the ownership into one legal entity that then sold the site to Bella Houston Heights, according to Harris County deed records. Bella Houston Heights is not involved in any of the litigation.
Former President Donald Trumps lawyers argued in court Friday that his Georgia election subversion indictment should be thrown out because it violates free speech, and that if he wins the 2024 election, the trial would need to be postponed anyway, until he completes his second presidential term.

They made the comments at an all-day hearing in Atlanta that featured arguments from attorneys for some of the other 14 defendants beyond Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee held the hearing to address a slew of pretrial motions about the potential trial date, attempts to dismiss the charges and discovery matters.

McAfee did not issue any rulings from the bench during the roughly six-hour hearing.

This was the first in-court appearance for Trumps legal team in the Georgia case, where he and 14 others are facing a bevy of state charges, including racketeering or RICO, for their attempts to overturn the 2020 election. They have pleaded not guilty.

Trumps team argued that the indictment, filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, essentially criminalizes political activity that is protected by the First Amendment.

You take the facts as alleged in the indictment as applied constitutionally with the First Amendment, youll find that it violates free speech, freedom of petitioning, all the expressions that the First Amendment is designed to protect, and therefore the indictment needs to be dismissed, Trump lawyer Steven Sadow told the judge.

If the case survives the motions to dismiss from Trump and others, Willis hopes to hold one large trial with all 15 remaining defendants. A trial date hasnt been set yet, but state prosecutors said they still want it to begin in August 2024, which Trump opposes.

Its very possible at that time, that my client will be running for election for president of the United States for the Republican Party, Sadow said, adding that the preference would be that he not be on trial during the time that he is campaigning.

At one point, McAfee asked Sadow what would happen to the case if Trump wins the 2024 election and the trial hasnt happened yet. The question illuminates the unprecedented challenges McAfee  and the nation  are grappling with: That the leading candidate for next years GOP nomination is under indictment in four cases.

Under the Supremacy Clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office, Sadow replied.

Fulton County prosecutors pushed back against Sadows claims that the indictment is an attempt to interfere in the 2024 election and undermine Trumps chances of winning. Trump has claimed Willis, a Democrat, brought the case due to anti-Republican bias.

Prosecutor Nathan Wade said Willis has no interest in interfering or getting involved in this presidential election and that her sole purpose is to move this case forward.

CNNs Hannah Rabinowitz and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Fake Pizza Pie

As the web continues to fill up with bottom-tier AI-generated content  see our reporting this week that Sports Illustrated had been publishing articles by fictional authors with AI-generated headshots  here's a new one: Uber Eats seemingly publishing a restaurant's menu with, instead of real photos of the food, ones that were cooked up using some sort of AI system.

The situation was spotted by X-formerly-Twitter personality Online Boy, who noticed that the online Uber Eats menu for a restaurant called Roma Pizza, in New York City, appeared to have used AI to generate pictures of its cuisine, resulting in monstrosities such as this:

And this, with the AI seemingly confusing a "pizza pie" with the dessert version:

And this, which is just deeply unsettling in a way that we can't quite put our finger on:

That's AImore

Condemnation was swift.

"Impressive example of Uber Eats doing more work to deliver an inarguably worse experience," wrote one onlooker. "Welcome to the future of AI powered experiences."

Online Boy followed up by calling the restaurant, who said they were aware of the situation and that "someone else" was had handled the content on their Uber Eats page.

"We are in touch with everyone trying to get that all... it's a thing," a Roma employee told him.

It sounds like the restaurant is still trying to figure out what happened, but the AI-generated images have since disappeared from the site's Uber Eats menu  though some AI-looking monstrosities are currently still live on the eatery's Seamless page.

"A guy from Tonys named Sal called me back 5 minutes later and said he was very confused what was happening and that he didnt know what AI was," Online Boy explained in a followup. "I tried to explain it and he just said 'I dont know about this stuff, but I didnt approve these images.'"

More on food: Cursed Tech Turns Plastic Waste Into Edible Food
(Bloomberg) -- The UK committed an additional 35 million ($38.1 million) to Brazils Amazon Fund, an international conservation initiative aimed at ending deforestation in the worlds largest rainforest by 2030.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The UK will also transfer 80 million to Brazils development bank, BNDES, fulfilling a commitment made in May by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was visiting London, according to a statement Saturday at the COP28 conference in Dubai.

Read more: UK Commits $100 Million to Brazils Amazon Fund, Joining US

The Amazon Fund halted operations in 2019 when Germany and Norway froze contributions in response to former President Jair Bolsonaros environmental policies. It resumed upon Lulas inauguration in January, and has become a focus of the leftist leaders efforts to put climate change and environmental protection at the center of his global agenda.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Israel issues "evacuation map" in full-force raids on Gaza

Xinhua) 10:33, December 02, 2023

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. Israel's army published a map Friday, splitting the Gaza Strip into "evacuation zones" in full-force strikes on the Palestinian enclave following a seven-day truce. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army published a map Friday, splitting the Gaza Strip into "evacuation zones" in full-force strikes on the Palestinian enclave following a seven-day truce.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the online map divides the Gaza Strip into numbered areas, aiming to help civilians understand from which areas they are required to evacuate ahead of Israeli strikes.

The official mentioned that the "evacuation map" serves as a means to help people protect themselves during "the next stage of the war," in which Israel plans to carry out attacks also in the southern Gaza Strip, an area previously labeled by the army as a "safe zone."

Simultaneously, Israeli fighter jets dropped leaflets in southern Gaza, urging residents to leave their homes in the city of Khan Younis and move eastward. The leaflets warned that Khan Younis is now a "dangerous battle zone."

Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza earlier Friday, accusing Hamas of violating the seven-day truce deal to free all women held hostage in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that Hamas "has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens."

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, at least 32 people were killed by the Israeli strikes on Friday.

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People flee from their homes after Israel's resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Chuck Rosenthal, in this 2003 photo, argued before the Supreme Court Texas' challenged sodomy law. His performance was widely derided. The New York Times called it "a mismatch of advocates to a degree rarely seen at the court." The court later tossed out the Texas law. RICK BOWMER/AP FILE Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal poses in his new office in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center on Dec. 19, 2000. Buster Dean/Chronicle Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal arrives at the Bob Casey U.S. Courthouse on Thursday for a hearing on the deleted e-mails. Steve Ueckert/Chronicle Chuck Rosenthal, candidate in the runoff election for Harris County District Attorney, drops his ballot in the ballot box following his vote this morning in the Republican runoff election April 11, 2000 at the Briarmeadows Clubhouse. Steve Ueckert/Chronicle Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, left, is followed by reporters and photographers as he leaves the federal courthouse Jan. 31. Pat Sullivan/AP Magidson was tapped by then-Gov. Rick Perry in 2008 to finish out the term of Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, above, who was forced to resign. Steve Ueckert/Staff Chuck Rosenthal's decision marked a change of heart from his previous vows to finish out the remainder of his term even though he had abandoned his re-election plans because of the e-mail controversy. Steve Ueckert/Chronicle

Chuck Rosenthal, a career Harris County prosecutor whose tenure as district attorney ended in scandal, died recently after spending weeks in hospice care. He was 77.

Voters elected the prosecutor in 2000 to lead the Harris County District Attorneys Office following the retirement of Johnny Holmes, who stepped aside after a crime-fighting legacy that spanned two decades. Rosenthal served in that role until 2008, when he resigned over the public disclosure of inappropriate emails.

At the time of his death, Rosenthal was not actively practicing law but retained his license, Texas Bar records show. Fellow attorneys said Rosenthal continued infrequent legal work ranging from research to juvenile law in the years after his resignation. Rosenthals family could not be reached for comment.

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Rosenthal, an Alice native, joined the district attorneys office in 1977 after earning a law degree from the South Texas College of Law. He planned to switch to criminal defense work within a few years to make more money, according to news accounts. He tried a few trials and changed his mind.

Hal Kennedy, a retired Houston police detective, trusted Rosenthal to prosecute several of his homicide cases.

He could have been another DeGeurin, said Kennedy, referring to attorney brothers Dick and Mike DeGeurin. He could have been anyone. He chose not to.

It was not unusual for Rosenthal to take 2 a.m. calls from Kennedy or other law enforcement officials with questions about search warrants and other advice that could shape the future of a case.

As a prosecutor, Rosenthal went on to try more than a dozen death penalty cases  a punishment that he deemed sanctioned by biblical law.

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As district attorney, his office sent 36 convicted killers to death row. Rosenthal made the decision to pursue the death penalty on cases and famously exercised that discretion with Andrea Yates, the mother who drowned her five children. Jurors ultimately opted for a life sentence before her verdict was overturned. In a later trial, jurors found her not guilty by reason of insanity and sent her to a mental hospital.

A committee of senior prosecutors now decide whether to seek the ultimate punishment on a capital murder defendant.

Former prosecutors lauded Rosenthals stretch of leadership for being free of politics.

People never knew whether someone was a Democrat or Republican, said Bert Graham, who worked as a first assistant district attorney under Rosenthal and Holmes. It was just harped upon to do justice.

Rosenthal had no qualm about dismissing criminal cases in instances in which he thought the defendant was innocent, Graham said.

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He avoided small talk or conventional conversation norms, former colleagues said. Some considered him an odd duck.

I was always aware that Chucks brain worked a little differently than everybody else, former prosecutor Shirley Cornelius said. But that made him a good trial lawyer. He had an encyclopedia knowledge of cases.

When the courts closed, Rosenthal often hosted informal office parties that attracted a whos who of guests  sometimes the occasional HPD officer or FBI agent, Cornelius said.

You never knew who was floating in, she said. There was wild music going and alcohol flowing, and Chuck Rosenthal would be reciting an affidavit for a search warrant for capital murder. Hed be reciting it off the top of his head.

Defense attorney Murray Newman perceived little change as a fledgling prosecutor when Rosenthal took over as district attorney. He ran the office like a well-oiled machine, he said.

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He trusted his people to do their jobs and he left us alone to do them, Newman wrote in a Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center blog post paying tribute to Rosenthals legacy.

Rosenthals departure in 2008 signified the end of old-school prosecuting in Harris County, Newman continued.

The status quo at the office was upended when a federal suit alleging a wrongful arrest exposed love notes that Rosenthal sent an employee. Other emails that Rosenthal sent and received on his county account surfaced. Some were sexually explicit, racist and campaign-related.

Political opponents, Democrats and Republicans, seized the moment to scrutinize Rosenthals career as the emails jeopardized his bid for a third term. GOP leaders pressured him to stop his campaign, which he did, and immediately threw their support behind former prosecutor Kelly Siegler.

As calls for his resignation increased, several lawyers, including renowned Houston attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, encouraged him to not give in to mounting pressure. Cornelius encountered Haynes, whose work inspired the 1976 true crime novel Blood and Money, in a waiting room outside Rosenthals office and recalled his mission as his resignation neared.

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Haynes had words for Rosenthal: I dont want him to resign. I dont want him to lose his dreams.

Weeks into the snowballing scandal, Rosenthal resigned and blamed prescription medication for his poor judgment. His resignation ended 31 years of service to the district attorneys office.

Graham expressed disappointment in Rosenthals decision to step down  which followed threats by state leaders to investigate him. He remains proud of having worked for Rosenthal before and during the downfall of his tenure.
The Russian government is using different means to try and suppress a growing anti-mobilization movement stemming from the wives of deployed Russian soldiers, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote on Dec. 2.

Russian authorities have sought to discredit the rare public display of dissent as well as offering increased cash payments for the families of mobilized soldiers if they agree to not protest.

A grassroots movement protesting the extended deployment of mobilized soldiers has been more vocal in Russia in recent weeks, with one of the major outlets for discontent being expressed on a Telegram channel called "The Way Home."

The channel is labeled "fake" by the platform, which the U.K. Defense Ministry said was likely the result of "instigation of pro-Kremlin actors."

Read also: British Intelligence: Mobilization ahead of March 2024 Russian presidential election highly unlikely

According to an article by The New York Times on Nov. 28, protesters said that they were angry that many of the soldiers originally mobilized in late 2022 are still serving in Ukraine one year later.

The wives and families of the mobilized soldiers said that, at the very least, they want a rotation of troops.

Russian State Duma Defence Committee Chair Andrei Kartapolov said on Sept. 15 that mobilized soldiers were required to serve for the duration of the Ukraine war.

Russian authorities have not implemented the heavy-handed approach often used against protests in Russia, perhaps in part because the movement is not against the war.

"The groups protesting take pains to stress that they are not unpatriotic and that they strive to respect the law," The New York Times said.

In one of the popular videos shared on Telegram, one of the women protesting said, "If he did something heroic, spilled blood for his country sincerely, then maybe it was time to return to his family."

In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, there were explicitly anti-war protests across Russia, which the Russian police watchdog OVD-Info said resulted in the arrest of around 13,000 people in 147 different Russian cities.

Protests again broke out after mobilization was announced in late September 2022. As in this new movement, the trigger appeared to be a reaction to the war coming home, and resistance to seeing themselves or family members be sent to Ukraine, rather than anti-war sentiment per se.

Read also: Where is Russias anti-war opposition?

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The first picket of the wives of mobilized occupiers in Moscow

The Russian authorities are trying to suppress public protests by the wives of Russian soldiers, including through pay-offs and discrediting them online, following small protests in Moscow in November, UK Defense Intelligence said in a report posted on X on Dec. 2.

Intelligence officials believe that research by independent Russian media and comments by the protesting wives themselves indicate that in recent weeks the Russian authorities have offered families increased cash payments in exchange for their refraining from protesting.

Read also: Irkutsk conscripts appeal to Putin for third time for being sent to war without training

One of the well-known online groups of wives of Russian soldiers published a manifesto against "indefinite mobilization" on Nov. 27.

After that, in late November, the group was labeled "fake" with a warning label, probably with the assistance of supporters of the Kremlin regime.

Read also: UK intel flags Russian military morale cracks amid family protests decrying indefinite front duty

UK intel suggests that the Russian authorities are "particularly sensitive" to any protests related to those mobilized in September 2022, who have been on the front line for more than a year.

The wives of Russian military personnel held on Nov. 7 what was probably the first public street protest in Moscow since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

UK intelligence has previously reported that the prolonged stay of Russian soldiers at the front without the possibility of rotation is perceived by them and their relatives as unacceptable.

Intelligence officials note that since February 2022, examples of online appeals by Russian wives and mothers protesting the conditions of their relatives' service have been appearing on social media every day.

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The Russian leadership has most likely been concerned over the protests of the deployed troops families and is trying to curb them in various ways.

Source: UK Defence Intelligence review on Twitter dated 2 December, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Following small protests in Moscow in November 2023, Russian authorities have seemingly begun to prevent any further similar events, the UK Defence Intelligence review notes.

The analysts indicate that investigations by non-governmental media outlets in Russia, as well as comments by protesting wives, suggest that deployed soldiers' relatives are now being offered larger payments in exchange for keeping quiet.

A group of Russian deployed troops' wives released a manifesto against "indefinite mobilisation" on 27 November, and a few days later, they were "pinned with a fake warning label".

"The authorities are likely particularly sensitive to any protests related to those citizens mobilised in September 2022, who have now been at the front line for over a year," the intelligence service pointed out.

Background: In a previous review, the UK MoD reported that a small advance near the town of Avdiivka had cost the Russians heavy losses.

Meanwhile, Estonian intelligence believes that Russia's budget for 2024 will allow it to sustain the current intensity of hostilities in the war against Ukraine.

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Editors note: The childrens full names are not revealed in this story to protect their identity. The location of the camp they attend is also not revealed for security reasons.

Western Ukraine  At the Gen.Camp tucked away in western Ukraine, children spend much of their day throwing frisbees across the playground, waiting for turns on the swing, and dancing to American pop music.

Their daily rhythm is punctuated by therapy. Every camper here has lost a parent in Russias war.

The children who have survived the worst of Russian attacks, and in some cases narrowly escaped death themselves, are the priority for the rehabilitation camp run by the Gen.Ukrainian nonprofit, its founder Oksana Lebedeva said. Since August 2022, over 300 children have come to the camp.

The number is just a fraction of the over four million children in Ukraine in need of psychological help, according to estimates provided to the Kyiv Independent by the Digital Transformation Ministry.

Many of the over 2 million children who have fled the full-scale invasion with their families may never return, which means ensuring the mental wellness of future generations in Ukraine is crucial for the countrys long-term recovery.

Initiatives like Gen. Camp provide resources to begin the healing process, but experts say rehabilitation largely depends on the system's resilience back home  from educators to family support. Raising awareness in local communities can be difficult as Ukraine continues to shed a Soviet stigma of open dialogue about mental health.

Ukrainian NGOs, international partners, and the government have been chipping away at the problem as Russias attacks continue to traumatize the nation.

The biggest challenge is the scale: the scale of the humanitarian situation, the scale and variety of demands, said the mental health program lead at WHO Ukraine, Alisa Ladyk-Bryzghalova.

I dont think there is a group of people (in Ukraine) that has not been involved or has not suffered in one way or another.

By impacting one child, we influence the whole microsystem



Lebedeva chose to focus on the most difficult cases after hearing about a child from Bucha who lost his father in a Russian attack, and barely survived the attack himself. After hosting the initial sessions in Spain, away from the air raid alerts in home country, the camp moved to western Ukraine in 2023. This fall, the camp is in its seventh session.

Nine-year-old Margo has been at two sessions after she escaped Mariupol with her mom, losing the rest of her family in a Russian attack. She loves making friendship bracelets, and cant resist exchanging camp secrets with her roommates, Margo told the Kyiv Independent.

Nine-year-old Margo has attended Gen.Camp twice since losing family members in Mariupol. (Gen. Ukrainian)

Deflection becomes difficult in therapy  where Margo is only allowed to avoid one question per meeting asked by her therapist. As she opened up during her second visit, Margo has started to internalize more tips that she can share with campers earlier in the healing process and peers back home, psychologists at the camp said.

She can take more tools from the camp and share more of them with people around her because children are incredible therapists, said Vanui Martyrosian, a camp psychologist. By impacting one child, we influence the whole microsystem because they support each other and help.

In addition to tailored rehabilitation, Lebedevas team also looks to scale the treatment beyond the camps cohorts through cooperation with the Ukrainian government.

In 15 years, (children) will make all important decisions in this country, said Lebedeva in an interview at the camps fall session. They will become millions of adults who survived through terrible events.

Every month counts in the race to minimize the long-term impacts of traumatic events. Communication with parents is integral to the effectiveness of therapy.

While the process of finding kids has gotten easier as she established relationships with officials and non-profits, Lebedeva still has to place calls to convince reluctant family members to send children for rehabilitation. With some, the process takes months.

The country did not have an established culture of caring about personal mental health or the mental health of loved ones, said Lebedeva. Now, we are creating it in critical situations, when people are in acute grief.

Remnants of inherited stigma



The crisis has pushed some parents and professionals working with children to seek out additional support, but the history of shame and social stigma creates additional hurdles.

We are descendants of a Soviet society, which experienced punitive psychiatry, said Katerina Timakina, a psychologist at Masha Fund who helps educate teachers and parents. Seeing a mental health professional in the Soviet Union often meant more severe confinement conditions than in prisons.

Ukrainian mental health experts say the Soviet blanket approach often came with hospitalizations, hampering of personal freedom, and future prospects for patients. Now, help is framed as a source of resilience.

Ladyk-Bryzghalova says society is moving away from the stigma as the problems become impossible to ignore, with officials nudging them in the right direction. Even word choice  communicating about mental health compared to references to psychology or psychiatry  helps to move the needle.

The national mental health program How Are You? initiated by First Lady Olena Zelenska set out to integrate mental health habits into the routine of the nation.

Colorful posters in the subway and coffee shops give tips on how parents can calm their kids through breathing exercises, directing them to the initiatives website for detailed self-help recommendations. Experts say public campaigns help to scale psychological resilience while freeing up resources for in-depth care for those who need it.

Read also: Vox populi: How does war affect mental health of Ukrainians?

Oleksandr Avramchuk, a lecturer in the clinical psychology department at the Ukrainian Catholic University, says increasing parents awareness helps to decrease stigma, which he explained as an attempt to distance from whats painful or unpleasant.

Cases of severe grief create additional barriers for traumatized adults. When Martyrosian helped convince a grandmother to let her three granddaughters go to rehabilitation after losing her daughter to a Russian attack, the fear of separation complicated the process.

Detailed communication about the camp itinerary and the girls future opportunities after working with professionals helped to overcome her anxiety.

The percentage of parents who are willing to let their kids go to therapy is much higher than it was last year, said Martyrosian. Despite these horrible events, society is developing.

Experts at the Ohmatdyt National Specialized Childrens Hospital report similar trends. The pre-war hesitation about the necessity of psychological help is diminishing in the face of concerns about the childs anxiety and behavioral changes, with parents taking a more active part in the process.

We have an opportunity to communicate with the families, not just children, said Olena Anopriyenko, who leads the hospitals psychological and social rehabilitation center. Family performs the role of a therapist. It can provide support.

Olena Anopriyenko conducts a mental health session with a patient at National Specialized Childrens Hospital Ohmatdyt on Nov. 16. (Anastasiia Malenko/The Kyiv Independent)

Avramchuk also views family buy-in as integral for long-term recovery.

If the child returns to a family where everything remains unchanged and does not help to process the new (therapy) experience the child has to decide whats more important  parents or some stranger? Parents and peers remain a priority, said Avramchuk.

Search for systemic solutions



International partners, NGOs, and government agencies are working to find the balance between a reactive response to crises and the need to build resilient systems for unprecedented demand. But Russian attacks continue, and exhaustion kicks in.

Ukrainian psychologists in education facilities received 5 million requests in 2023, compared to 2.5 million in 2020, according to Education Ministry data. Some 456,378 of the requests from parents, children, and educators pertained to difficulties with learning and motivation among students.

The number of children and psychologists is very mismatched. Our school has around 2,000 students and one school psychologist, said the deputy director of School No. 3 in the northern city of Chernihiv Oksana Kovalenko.

She called the situation critical as many families and teachers need additional support with loved ones on the front lines but realizes that the solution will not be immediate in a country at war.

As Lebedeva observes schools  fighting for their survival, especially in the areas under increased danger of Russian strikes, she attempts to alleviate the burden by expanding the camp toolkit to a national level with the Digital Transformation Ministry. The collaboration will include handbooks, educational series, and podcasts.

Gen. Ukrainian founder Oksana Lebedeva looks at the children's paintings of their fears in camp in western Ukraine. (Gen.Ukrainian)

School is at the core of the childs social environment, and thats where psychological reactions are often manifested, the Deputy Digital Transformation Minister for European Integration Valeriya Ionan wrote in a comment to the Kyiv Independent. So, it is extremely important to educate teachers on how to care for the students mental health correctly.

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) is helping coordinate over 300 partners in the biggest Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Technical Working Group in the world in Ukraine, said Ladyk-Bryzghalova. As the additional resources flow in, coordinators are trying to connect the initiatives to expand the reach and avoid tackling the same issues repeatedly.

With increased enrollment in his program during wartime, Avramchuk is preparing new professionals for unrealistic demands in a society desperate for relief and support.

They expect a psychologist to come and handle everything that burdens them, said Avramchuk. Unfortunately, psychologists are not omnipotent. They dont have magic wands. They cant resurrect people.

His colleagues in local and national initiatives have been working on overdrive for 21 months, trying to handle the pressure, while also dealing with personal trauma.

Is there a general exhaustion because you have not slept for two nights because of air alerts and you have to go to a training? Yes, said Timakina.

When the electricity goes out during her talks, or she has to move her group to bomb shelters, thoughts of tangible impact keep her going.

Each teacher works with 30 children. So, when I conduct training, it is not for 30 teachers; it is for 900 children, said Timakina.

It is a small seed that you plant, and it starts growing. It might give way to something better  a nation of strong people who are unafraid and know why they live.

Read also: Uncertainty and despair: War taking heavy toll on mental health of Ukrainians

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The dual language program pre-k family project is displayed at the lobby on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023 at Gregg Elementary School in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

Houston ISD announced Friday that it plans to open its school choice process application process for the 2024-25 academic year on Jan. 18 and provide results to families on March 26.

Under the school choice application process, HISD families can apply for up to 10 different programs for their child, including magnet schools. The system conducts a lottery to see who is assigned to each program if there were more qualified applicants than space available. Nearly 56,000 students attend one of HISDs magnet programs or other school choice options.

Last year, HISD opened the school choice application for phase I on Dec. 14, closed the process on Feb. 2 and notified students of their acceptance by April 5. This year, the phase 1 application will be due on Feb. 23, and the deadline to accept a school match will be April 9.

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Students who participate in the initial lottery but do not accept a position can apply to any available school as part of the phase II process. The phase II process last year opened on April 5 and closed on June 15. The phase II application for the 2024-25 school year will open on March 26, but the acceptance deadline has not been announced yet.

HISD will also be announcing the list of New Education System campuses for the upcoming school year in February before the Phase 1 application closes, according to a district media release.

HISDs chief academic officer Kristen Hole said the district is able to compress the timeline this year because it was doing gifted and talented testing for students earlier in the year, which means parents learn whether their child qualifies before they apply.

The deadline to request testing to see if students qualify as gifted as talented is Dec. 8, which is required for students interested in attending Vanguard magnet programs.The district tests all second graders.

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Hole also said HISD will also no longer be requiring parents to apply if they want to enroll their children in pre-K. The district will be providing zoning for pre-K classes, which means all eligible students will be assigned a pre-K class they can attend without an application, although they can still apply if they want their child to attend a different campus.

This zoning really allows for that first step of that student entering the community with the same leaders of elementary schools, the same teachers in that area, and they can start off strong because that will be another really strong enhancement to support parents of students entering pre-K, Hole said.

The release of the school zone timeline comes after state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles said in a message to families in October that the district was planning to seek feedback before making changes to its school choice process for the upcoming school year.

Miles said during the press conference that school choice is a popular and successful program, and the district would continue to have it for families in the future.

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We're going to continue to have choice options for our parents well into the future, and if anything, we'll try to make it more efficient, Miles said. We may try to expand it but school choice is here at HISD. Its been successful. We're going to continue to try to grow that success.

Hole said the district heard from more than 11,000 families in the past month through community events, surveys and focus groups, who said loud and clear that they wanted to keep the current choice options, magnet programs and lottery process.

Hole said the district will be keeping all current magnet programs, and it wont be changing the lottery process, including the number of phases, how it is run or the number of choices parents have. Parents will also still have 14 days to decide on schools after they receive their options, as they have had in the past, Hole said.

Hole said parents also said that they wanted improved and increased communication and clarity about how the process works, including a way to get in touch with central office staff to ask questions.

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She said the district was planning to focus on improving communication, including by investing in improved training for central office staff, principals and other campus staff
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has learned that Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president of Ukraine, has scheduled a meeting with Viktor Orban, the pro-Russian Hungarian PM.

Source: SSU; statement by Poroshenkos European Solidarity party faction

Details: The SSU and Ukrainian intelligence agencies received information about Russian secret services preparing provocations targeting Ukraine in the international arena.

The SSU stated that it had approached the Ukrainian President's Office, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Parliament, requesting that they consider information about Russia's plans when organising and approving foreign trips for Ukrainian delegations.

Afterwards, the Ukrainian parliament's leadership denied permission for Poroshenko to travel abroad.

Quote: "The Russian secret services plan to launch a major psychological operation to shift the sentiments in anti-Russian coalition partner countries and encourage Ukrainian politicians to promote narratives concerning the necessity of negotiations with Russia under the conditions that the war is frozen.

The Russian secret services intended to extensively promote these messages through pro-Russian political forces in other countries.

The enemy's plans included using individual Ukrainian politicians to engage in psychological operations during their visits to third countries.

Counterintelligence reports suggest that the information on the planned meeting between Petro Poroshenko, leader of the European Solidarity party faction, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has consistently expressed an anti-Ukrainian stance, is a "friend of Putin" and advocates lifting sanctions against Russia, should be viewed in this context.

This meeting (as well as other "business meetings" of Ukrainian politicians with representatives of states promoting pro-Russian narratives) was planned to be used by the Russian Federation in its psychological operations against Ukraine."

More details: The European Solidarity party responded to the ban by noting that should Poroshenko have the opportunity to help, he would "do so in any country in the European Union where Ukraine's position is not so strong".

Quote: "Those who are now trying to find justification for their refusals on the Hungarian track, exploiting Petro Poroshenko's former contacts with Viktor Orban, are doing so in vain. Remember that on 14-15 December in Brussels, the European Council will announce its decision to start pre-accession talks with Ukraine, where Budapest has a right of veto.

If Petro Poroshenko had the opportunity to help, using his own personal positive experience and contacts, to ensure that this decision would be successful, especially amid recent remarks, he would do so. No betrayals. In the best interests of the state. And in close coordination with international partners.

This is not only in Budapest but anywhere in the European Union where Ukraine's position is not as strong or where official government efforts do not bring the desired results. And the approach of 'letting things work themselves out' has not proven effective for a long time.

Background: Poroshenko said the border guards refused to let him leave for a business trip abroad to Poland and the United States. The former president labelled it as "anti-Ukrainian sabotage".

Border guards explained that they refused to let Poroshenko leave as the Ukrainian parliament had cancelled his business trip.

First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniienko stated that he cancelled Poroshenko's international business trip after receiving a letter classified as "For official use only", the contents of which cannot be disclosed.

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The body of a 19-year-old man was found in southwest Houston Sunday, Nov. 19, authorities said. Houston Chronicle

A Sharpstown shootout left one man dead and a Houston police sergeant injured Saturday morning.

Police said the man approached Sgt. Mauricio Valle from the front passenger window of his car and shot into the vehicle multiple times near the 6900 block of Harwin Drive around 1:15 a.m.

Valle got out of the car and shot at the suspect, who ran away but was later found with gunshot wounds.

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Officers rendered first aid, and Houston Fire Department paramedics announced the suspect, 23, dead at the scene. Officers did not name the man, who will be identified by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, according to a statement from Houston police.

The sergeant and two other Houston police officers were following the man, suspected of several burglaries as well as an aggravated assault and robbery, according to police.

The suspect and a woman were apparently looking into the nearby businesses as a possible burglary target before the shootout began, Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference. The woman was detained following Saturday morning's shooting, although whether she was a suspect or a witness is unknown.

Douglas Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, posted a picture of an unmarked car with scratches and gunshots on it along with a statement that he was glad that the officer survived.

We are truly blessed that our officer, and my friend is still here. Im am proud that his training and will to live won last night and pray for a quick recovery! #blessed

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Valle, 38, was sent to Memorial Hermann at the Texas Medical Center, according to a news release from Houston police. Valle has been with Houston police since 2007 and is on Midwest Patrol Division.

Finner said the sergeant was hit three times  once in the arm, once in the leg and once in the side  and credited a tactical vest with saving the officer's life. He is expected to make a full recovery, and was scheduled for surgery Saturday, according to a statement from the department posted to X, a social media site formerly known as Twitter.

Valle was "alert and talking," and he and his family members are "doing well and in good spirits, considering the circumstances," according to the department's statement.

The chief did not say whether the officers were wearing body-worn camera devises.

Officers have killed 10 suspects in 2023. An unidentified Houston Police officer shot and killed a teenager after a shootout in September. At least three Houston Police officers shot at and killed a carjacking suspect Nov. 12. The shootout injured a 28-year-old unidentified West Side Patrol Division officer.

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The Biden administration has finalized a rule to significantly cut the US oil and gas industrys emissions of methane, a powerful planet-warming gas that scientists and climate advocacy groups have pressed nations to rapidly reduce as global temperature soars.

The announcement came amid a wave of commitments at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Saturday, including a pledge from at least 117 countries to triple renewable energy by 2030. Vice President Kamala Harris also announced the US was committing another $3 billion to global climate action.

Methane, the main component of natural gas and a byproduct of fossil fuel drilling, is a potent source of climate pollution with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. The oil and gas industry is one of the main sources of global methane emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.

The new US rule, which will be implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to slash methane emissions by nearly 80% through 2038, compared to what they would have been without the rule. The EPA estimates it will stop about 58 million tons of methane from escaping into the atmosphere during that period  the equivalent of taking more than 300 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

The rule will crack down on methane leaks from industry in several ways. In a major new development, it will end routine flaring of the natural gas that is a byproduct of drilling oil wells and will phase in a requirement for that gas to be captured instead of burned. The rule will also require stringent leak monitoring of oil and gas wells and compressors, and cut down on leaks from equipment like pumps, storage tanks and controllers.

It will also rely on independent, third-party monitoring  using satellites and other remote-sensing technology  to find very large methane leaks.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi unveiled the rule at COP28 on Saturday  a day where cutting methane emissions was a major theme and other multi-lateral announcements were made.

Regan said the US rule signified strong action from the Biden administration by significantly slashing methane emissions. The US is the worlds largest oil producer, drilling and selling 21% of the worlds oil last year.

From mobilizing billions in investment to plug orphaned wells, patch leaky pipes, and reclaim abandoned mines to setting strong standards that will cut pollution from the oil and gas sector, the Biden-Harris Administration is putting the full weight of the federal government into slashing harmful methane pollution, Zaidi added in a statement.

Speaking to CNN at COP28, Zaidi reiterated the need for accountability and data on methane emissions is key to enforcement.

In addition to commitments and transparency, weve got to get the receipts  make sure were making the progress we need to make, Zaidi said.

Methane emissions surged in recent years, to the surprise of scientists and energy experts, who are now advocating for capping leaks and ending flaring and venting as easy ways to pump the brakes on the pace of global warming.

Pollution experts and climate advocates told CNN there is plenty of incentive for oil and gas companies to fix the leaks and stop most flaring, since it ultimately means they can pollute less while selling more oil and gas.

Theres a lot of opportunity, Carrie Jenks, the executive director of Harvard Law Schools Environmental & Energy Law Program, told CNN. Companies should want to reduce their leaks because thats more product. All the incentives should align here.

The EPAs plan to end routine flaring is a major step forward, said Jon Goldstein, senior director for regulatory and legislative affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, who focuses on methane pollution.

The latest science is showing that flares are not just sources of waste, theyre also large sources of pollution because theyre just not working right, Goldstein said. The easiest way to stop that pollution is to stop sending it to flares in the first place. It doesnt seem logical, why are you burning off this product you can sell?

50 companies commit to slashing methane

Fifty major oil and gas companies, including Exxon and Saudi Aramco, signed a pledge on Saturday to cut their methane emissions by the end of the decade, according to an announcement by COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber and the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund.

The new Oil and Gas Compact commits each company to reducing their methane intensity by around 80 to 90% by 2030.

Recent studies from the EDF suggest oil and gas operations worldwide have a methane intensity of around 2 to 3%  this is roughly how much methane gas is released during drilling, venting or flaring, or in pipeline and compressor leaks. The companies are committing to cutting that methane intensity percentage to 0.2% by 2030.

The agreement also commits the companies to third-party verification that they are cracking down on leaks or improper flaring, following international standards set by the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, according to EDF president Fred Krupp.

Without an iota of hype, this compact is the biggest thing that will reduce temperatures on the planet in decades, Krupp said in a statement.

Because of methanes potency, scientists have emphasized in recent years that swiftly cutting methane emissions is key to limiting the climate crisis. Rapid and large-scale efforts to slash human-caused methane emissions could slow global heating by as much as 30%, according to an EDF analysis.

Others were critical of the announcement as not being ambitious enough. Murray Worthy, a senior oil and gas researcher at Zero Carbon Analytics, noted that it doesnt go further than commitments from previous years, and that industry has yet to deliver on those promises.

Most importantly it doesnt require companies to deal with the main cause of emissions from fossil fuels, which is burning them, Worthy said in a statement.

Later in the day Saturday, a group of organizations led by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the United Nations announced it will launch a new program to ensure the 50 oil companies are following through on those promises to reduce methane leaks from their operations.

The better we can measure problems like greenhouse gas emissions, the better we can manage them, said Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire philanthropist and former mayor of New York City.

Al Jaber praised the pledge and said it was aligned with the goal to keep the Paris Agreement goal within reach. But he also said it is not enough.

I say with full passion and conviction, much more can be done, he said.

Correction: The oil and gas industry is one of the main sources of global methane emissions. This story has been updated.

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On Nov. 13, at a Buffalo Soldiers Museum event recognizing the legacy of Camp Logan's Black soldiers, a man dressed as a Buffalo Soldier salutes during the national anthem. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer An archival photo from the U.S. War Department. The caption reads, "Largest Murder Trial in the History of the United States. Scene during Court Martial of 64 members of the 24th Infantry United States of America on trial for mutiny and murder of 17 people at Houston, Texas August 23, 1917. Trial held in Gift Chapel Fort Sam Houston. The Houston Riot of 1917, or Camp Logan Riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry. It occupied most of one night, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and sixteen civilians. The rioting soldiers were tried at three courts-martial. A total of nineteen would be executed, and forty-one were given life sentences." Buyenlarge Getty Images, Buyenlarge, Getty Images At the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, a woman examines the names of the soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who were charged with mutiny. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer Angela Holder, whose great uncle was killed following the Houston riot of 1917, holds a photo of him taken when he was stationed at Camp Logan. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

On Nov. 13, the Army overturned the 1917 convictions of Black soldiers convicted of mutiny in Houston. I was overjoyed: After more than 100 years, this miscarriage of justice had finally been corrected.

After the U.S. entered World War I, the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the well-known Buffalo Soldiers, was dispatched to Houston, a city where Jim Crow laws were in effect. The 156 soldiers were ordered to guard the construction of Camp Logan, a training base located in whats now Memorial Park. Houstons white citizens  including police  were hostile.

On Aug. 23, 1917, a little more than a month after the 24th arrived, during a police raid on a craps game in downtown Houston, one soldier stood up for a Black woman he believed police were abusing. He was arrested. After a respected corporal went to talk with police about the matter, he was pistol-whipped, arrested and beaten.

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After the corporal returned to camp, bloody, the soldiers were on edge, and at one point they believed they were being attacked by a white mob. More than 100 of them then marched on the downtown jail.

By the time the shooting stopped that night, four soldiers and 15 white civilians were dead. Its the only racially motivated confrontation in U.S. history in which more whites than Blacks were killed. Perhaps this unusual outcome was due to the fact that the confrontation had involved well-trained, well-armed Black men.

Afterward, 118 enlisted black soldiers were indicted. Of those, 110 were found guilty. Nineteen were hanged, and 63 received life sentences.

It was the largest court-martial trial in U.S. history, but all the soldiers were represented by only one man, who taught law at West Point but was not a lawyer and had no trial experience. They had no chance to appeal.

Their story has always haunted me. Thirty-six years ago I thought the story of the so-called Camp Logan Mutiny was so important that I wrote a play to dramatize the events. With Mountaintop Productions, I toured with it across the country. It was performed at over 400 colleges, universities, military installations and commercial venues, including the Kennedy Center.

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We presented the case and asked this question about the hanging of the soldiers: Was it murder or was it justice?

Metaphor for America



Camp Logan, the play, is a metaphor for America. Its not about soldiers or military valor. It is not about a mutiny, nor, for that matter, does it focus upon the largest murder trial and largest mass execution in American history.

Yes, the facts are 1917, but the problem is 2023. The texture is the U.S. Army, but the context is U.S. society. The specific characters, circumstances and confrontations are of a past era. But the story, the general mood, and the fundamental undertones are every bit as relevant today as they were 107 years ago. Camp Logan is about us and one dark side of American society. Like the George Floyd tragedy, it exposes a frightening mindset that existed at that time, and that still exists.

This vindication of the soldiers seems to be a part of whats happening in America, and indeed the world, since the beginning of the new millennium: a global purging of the soul.

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Repentance is trending, and the world is confronting the upheavals of the past hundred years as a form of collective atonement  for British colonialism, Nazism, communist totalitarianism, anti-Semitism, apartheid, anti-Black violence, anti-immigrant violence. But nowhere, perhaps, is the process more fraught today than in this countrys angst over its brutal treatment of African American citizens over the past 100 years.

Still, Camp Logan was not offered as a dramatic apology for the soldiers, nor to evoke a sense of collective guilt to the nation. Rather, I hoped to offer an undisguised acknowledgment of the inequality and hypocrisy fostered by American institutions, including the Armed forces, within which African Americans have rarely been given a fair opportunity for excellence. These men sought nothing more than human dignity and equal treatment. More than any other institution in America, the way the United States Army treats its soldiers and veterans is a barometer of its soul.

Dead by hanging

The soldiers kept a code of silence all during the trial, and on Dec. 11, 1917, they calmly met their deaths, asking for nothing but to be executed by firing squad like soldiers instead of being hanged like criminals.

By sunrise, 13 of them were dead by hanging.

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Justice was a long time coming, but the journey to clemency was begun by the NAACP and other civil rights groups immediately the day after the public was informed of the secret hanging.

A nation that does not know its past, does not acknowledge its past and does not try to correct the wrongs of its past is doomed.

Horrific as this betrayal was, widespread indignities and prejudice continue today in every American city, inexorably pushing the United States toward a retrospection about mans inhumanity to man. And well it should, indeed it must, for America will collapse under the weight of another 100 years of racism, oppression and inequity.

In this season, Im thankful to see that the spirit of justice could no longer be denied. Vindication of and exoneration for the soldiers of the 24th Infantry came through the dedicated lawyers of the very institution that had denied them justice: the United States Army.

The Armys decision confirms the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr.: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Overturning this conviction is a triumph for the men, a redemption for the Army and a hope for America.
Mario Castillo and Cynthia Reyes-Revilla will face each other in the runoff for City Council District H. Houston Chronicle

A text sent out by City Council candidate Cynthia Reyes-Revilla's campaign to District H residents has been lambasted by an LGBTQ+ political group and a county commissioner as being homophobic.

The message includes a graphic with a side-by-side comparison of Reyes-Revilla with her family and her challenger, Mario Castillo, with his husband. The campaign wrote phrases including "Committed Christian Family Values" under her name. Below Castillo, allegations include, "Not a man of Faith."

The words "Lifetime Record of Creating Safer and Healthier Communities" appear beside the photograph of Reyes-Revilla and her family, along with "District H deserves a leader with Integrity and the right values" beside Castillo and his.

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The text was sent Thursday urging the recipient to vote for Reyes-Revilla. The candidate wrote Friday in an email that the text was a response to attacks from Castillo's campaign.

"The text message that was sent by my campaign was intended as a comparison piece to share facts and information about the opponent and myself," Reyes-Revilla wrote.

She went on to say that she has "always been a supporter of the LGBTQ community and I am proud to say that half of my team and supporters are from this community."

Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who endorsed Reyes-Revilla and filmed videos of support for her campaign, called the message a "hateful mailer" on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

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"The message is an affront to the LGBTQ+ community & I've urged Cynthia to apologize," he said on X. "She should be better than this. Nastiness doesn't serve anyone. The word 'Disappointed' does not do justice in describing how I feel."

The Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus stated Thursday on X: "TL;DR: Homophobic campaign mailers have no place in Houston politics" and urged Houstonians to vote for Castillo.

In another Thursday tweet, the caucus said, "Let's call this what this is: a homophobic dogwhistle. This is why The Caucus is still necessary in Houston. @CReyesRevilla should be ashamed of herself. Focus on the issues and leave the childish drama at home."

The mailer also misrepresents Houston Chronicle reporting regarding Castillo's termination from District H Councilmember Karla Cisneros' office, and the Chronicle had not found any evidence of the causes of the termination alleged in the mailer.

EARLY VOTING IN HOUSTON: What to know about voting early in the Houston runoff.

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Canada encountered many problems as they revealed the Online News Act, where news outlets would get a chunk of ad revenues that tech companies get. Others still refuse to budge, but Google finally agreed to the deal and is providing tens of millions for it.

Canadian News Publishers Get Their Cut

The initial response of Google to Canada's Online News Act was to remove links to its news across its platforms. Fortunately, a fair deal has already been reached, and citizens of the country can continue to read news through Google.

Google's deal with the Great White North finally means that news publications will now get a portion of the ad revenues from Google, although the percentage is unknown. The only officially revealed factor is the number that the company is willing to share, which is $73.6 million.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge stated that following weeks of productive discussions, he was happy to announce that they have "found a path forward with Google for the implementation of the Online News Act," as per The Guardian.

The rules of the Online News Act are still being finalized, with the deadline of December 19th this year. It was first passed back in June. Alphabet President of Global Affairs, Kent Walker said that the Canadian government has committed to "addressing our core issues with Bill C-18."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised Google for finally reaching a deal with the government, all while criticizing Meta, expressing that "Meta continues to completely abdicate any responsibility towards democratic institutions."

Meta's spokesperson said that unlike search engines, they do not proactively pull news from the internet to place in their users' feeds, adding that they have long been clear that the only way they can "reasonably comply" with the Online News Act is to end news availability in Canada.

Read Also: Facebook May Ban News Sharing in Canada if Online News Act is Passed

Meta Refuses to Pay Still

The social media giant released a statement back in May making their position clear on the matter. Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg said that the Online News Act is based on a "fundamentally flawed premise."

He clarified that Meta does not benefit unfairly from people sharing links to news on the company's platforms. On the other hand, news publishers are actually benefiting from posting on Meta's social media sites as it gives them more exposure, which translates to more clicks.

By the company's estimation, access to their platforms led to about 1.9 billion clicks in the 12 months to April 2022, which is considered free marketing and has earned the news publications over $230 million.

Furthermore, the tech giant pointed out that publishers choose to share their content because it drives traffic to their websites. Through social media exposure, businesses can encourage readers to subscribe to their service and grow their audience.

Since Meta refused to comply with the legislation since they believe that it's not fair, they have decided to simply end the availability of news content for Canada on both Facebook and Instagram.

Related: Meta Insists It Would Rather Block News in Canada Than Pay Publishers
Over a week after North Korea launched its spy satellite, South Korea sent its first reconnaissance satellite into space via a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket in California.

The 425 mission was deployed from Vandenberg US Space Force Base at 10:19 a.m. PT. The liftoff was shown live on the American aeronautics company's X (formerly Twitter) account.

The military eye "successfully established communication with an overseas ground station" a little over an hour after launch, South Korea's ministry reported.

Set to orbit between 400 to 600 kilometers above the surface, the satellite is capable of observing and detecting objects as small as "30 centimeters," South Korea's Yonhap Agency reported.

The mission was launched after North Korea sent its first satellite with intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Also Read: SpaceX Launches Final Communication Satellites for SES Commercial Services

North Korea Spy Satellite Observations

Pyongyang recently released reports of its satellite photographing the White House, Pentagon, and the US naval base in Norfolk.

The military eye, "Maligyong-1," was also able to capture images of cities and other military bases in South Korea, Guam, and Italy.

North Korean state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un reviewed the photos himself. The photos themselves, however, are yet to be released to the public.

Kim's sister and senior official Kim Yo Jong vowed North Korea will release similar satellites in the future, rejecting Washington's offer of peace talks.

In response, Seoul plans to send four more synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites with SpaceX in 2025 to better monitor Pyongyang's actions.

SpaceX Service with South Korea

This was not the first time the South Korean government worked with SpaceX.

Last year, the Falcon 9 delivered the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, to space. The lunar probe is set to reach the moon in December.

The lunar orbiter, Danuri, is South Korea's first attempt to journey the deep space. Danuri is set to play South Korean group BTS's hit song "Dynamite" once it lands on the moon.

Related Article: SpaceX Launches South Korea's Lunar Orbiter, Which Will Play BTS 'Dynamite' From the Moon
First responders across Pottawattamie County are becoming better equipped to handle encounters with autistic people thanks to a training program hosted by Autism Action Partnership.

Once youve met one person with autism, youve met one person with autism, said Wendy Andersen, the Omaha groups education and outreach manager, quoting autism advocate Dr. Stephen Shore during a training session at the Council Bluffs Fire Department training facility Thursday morning.

The quote is meant to convey that the autism spectrum is very wide, and everyone on it is different.

During this weeks training sessions, Andersen went over what autism is and the various traits first responders might witness when encountering an autistic person while out on duty. She said many autistic people may not be prepared for an encounter with firefighters or law enforcement, and their initial reaction could be a fight or flight response.

With this training, area first responders will have a better grasp on how to handle a number of situations, whether an individual is asking for help or being detained as a suspect, Andersen said.

Each agency receiving training also received sensory kits to employ during encounters with autistic people. They include items and tools meant to ease anxiety and help with communication, such as headphones or sunglasses, fidget items and communication cards for non-verbal people.

Andersen said 1 out of every 36 people are on the autism spectrum, and each year an estimated 70,000 children with autism turn 18. She said the training is meant to improve mutual understanding and build critical safety skills when working with autistic people.

The training sessions have been made possible thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation for Western Iowa. Andersen said shes already worked with the Treynor and Lewis Township fire departments, and two sessions were held in Council Bluffs this week. She said more training sessions will be held with county agencies later this month.
County proposal seeks to block clean energy

As Iowans we can point to with pride our states position as a bright light and leader in helping solve one of the most complex and difficult problems we have ever faced. However, a proposed ordinance in Pottawattamie County will cast a dark stain on that light and put our county on the wrong side of history.

We see all around us the effects of climate: Record floods on our rivers, periodic and sustained record droughts, changes in storm patterns, heavier rainfall at the wrong times, and on and on Reliable sources of information linking the effects we are seeing to climate change are everywhere, even from our own DNR.

And the effect can even be found on our southern border and into Iowa. Not all, but a significant amount of immigration from the Dry Corridor of Central America is caused by food insecurity due to the prolonged drought and severe storms caused largely by climate change.

A bright spot has been Iowas position as a leader in clean, renewable wind energy. Wind power not only produces CO2 and pollution free energy but has one of the lowest lifetime carbon footprints  hundreds of times less than coal, oil and gas.

Aside from the climate and health benefits from wind power, the economic benefits are numerous:

Land based wind has the lowest capital construction and unsubsidized levelized cost of any electrical production technology currently available.

Clean energy provides good, well-paid jobs to thousands in construction and maintenance.

On-going lease payments provide a measure of financial security to landowners. Who knows, maybe if this technology had been available in the 1980s, Farm Aid wouldnt have been needed.

Certainly, with advancing technology Pottawattamie County needs to update its ordinance to ensure the safety of its citizens, but this is not the one to do it. The setbacks for wind towers in this ordinance are far larger than needed, as most of the peer-reviewed data collected by established scientists and engineers whose life work is in this field shows.

Looking in from the outside, I can only see this project-killing ordinance as an attempt to prevent the establishment of need clean energy solutions in the county and to limit the rights of landowners to do what they see best on their own land by big-government over regulation.

Tom Reardon

Council Bluffs

Vice-Chair, Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club
MADISON  Jeanne Reigle  an agriculture producer and current member of the Northeast Community College Board of Governors  announced on Friday that she would seek election to Nebraskas 19th Legislative District seat.

Reigle will go against incumbent state Sen. Robert Dover  and possibly others  for the seat he was appointed to by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts in July 2022.

Reigle, a self-described conservative Republican and resident of Madison, said she submitted her resignation from her position on Northeasts board in November to devote more attention to her legislative campaign. Her resignation is effective Monday, Jan. 1.

As an ag producer, mother and grandmother, I know firsthand the challenges that Northeast Nebraska families face, Reigle said in a press release. Its time that taxpayers, small businesses and families had a strong conservative voice representing us. As your state senator, Ill work every day as a tireless advocate to protect the Second Amendment, parents rights and fight to advance a culture of life and protect the life of the unborn.

The release also spoke of Reigles pledge to stand against liberal radicals and federal overreach in protecting threats against agriculture, the states largest industry, and said her agenda includes fighting burdensome regulations and ensuring farmers and ranchers have the necessary tools and resources to sustain their vital role in feeding the world.

Pledging to collaborate with Gov. Jim Pillen and colleagues, Reigle aims to address Nebraskas rising valuations and broken property tax system, specifically focusing on the challenges faced by producers, farmers and families, according to the release.

Her legislative goals include removing trade barriers, enhancing access to precision ag technologies and improving broadband connectivity in rural Nebraska so that rural communities can thrive, according to the release.

She has previously served on the Northeast Community College Foundation Board and was co-chairperson of the colleges Nexus campaign for new agricultural facilities at the school, the Elkhorn Valley Cattlemen Preservation Madison Inc. and the Madison Area Chamber of Commerce. Reigle also was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Administration board and co-chaired the Nebraska Cattlemens Ball in 2008.

She married her husband, John, in 1982 and works with her family at the Reigle family farming and cattle feeding operation. In the early 2000s, she and her husband bought the operation and renamed it Reigle Cattle Co. They have four children and nine grandchildren.

The District 19 seat covers all of Madison County and half of Pierce County, including Norfolk, Pierce and Hadar, among other smaller communities in those counties.

Before Friday, Dover did not have a challenger for his seat. Dover was appointed after now-U.S. House Rep. Mike Flood vacated the seat after winning a special election to replace Jeff Fortenberry. Fortenberry left Congress after being convicted of misleading federal investigators in connection to purported campaign finance violations.

The filing deadline for candidates is not until March 2024.
An Omaha man was arrested Friday afternoon in West Point in connection to the fatal shooting of a Council Bluffs teenager in November, according to an Omaha police spokesperson.

Zadik Motino, 18, was arrested by the Omaha Homicide Unit, said Lt. Neal Bonacci with the Omaha Police Department. Motino was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, use of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He is suspected in the shooting death of 17-year-old Mauricio Chavez at a South Omaha bar on Nov. 17.

Omaha police were called to the Sippin Sirens bar at 42nd and H streets around 11:15 p.m. and found Chavez suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, the Omaha World-Herald previously reported. Chavez was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with lifesaving measures in progress, but he was declared dead at the hospital.

The teens mother, Lucinda Chavez of Council Bluffs, told the World-Herald she had gone to the bar to celebrate her sisters birthday. She stepped outside to get in a car driven by her son and saw the shooting.

Mauricio was a good, quiet and very respectful boy, his mother said. He was a junior at Omaha South High after transferring back there from a Council Bluffs high school.

According to court documents, a Douglas County judge signed a warrant for Motino's arrest on Nov. 22.
WAYNE  Wayne State College's Language and Literature Department, the School of Arts and Humanities and the WSC Press will host the next installment of the Plains Writers Series, featuring Jessica Hendry Nelson, on Thursday, Dec. 7, at Wayne State.

The reading, free and open to the public, will begin at 2 p.m. in the second-floor lounge of the Humanities Building. This event will be live-streamed on the Plains Writers Series Facebook page.

The fiction slam will follow the Plains Writers Series reading. The slam will be at 7 p.m. at the Max Bar and Grill in downtown Wayne. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. for slam participants who need to bring two original stories and the registration fee. The slam is also free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.wscpress.com.

Hendry Nelson, who resides in Richmond, Virginia, is the author of the memoir If Only You People Could Follow Directions. The book, published in 2014, was selected as a best debut book by the Indies Introduce New Voices program, the Indies Next List by the American Booksellers' Association, named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Review, received starred reviews in Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, and reviewed nationally in print and on National Public Radio  including twice in O (The Oprah Magazine). It was also a finalist for the Vermont Book Award.

She is also co-author of the textbook and anthology Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writers' Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2021), along with writer Sean Prentiss. Her work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Tin House, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, The Carolina Quarterly, Columbia Journal, Painted Bride Quarterly, Crab Orchard Review, PANK, Drunken Boat and elsewhere.

She is an assistant professor in the master of fine arts program and English department at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a faculty member in the master of fine arts program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Plains Writers Series is held several times a year at Wayne State and has been an integral part of the colleges history since 1977. This reading series generally features Great Plains authors and artists in a one- or two-day event that is free and open to the public. The Plains Writers Series brings attention to the prose and poetry of Great Plains writers through reading and interacting with area audiences.

* * *

Want to learn more?

For more information about the Plains Writers Series, contact Chad Christensen, managing editor of the WSC Press and director of the Plains Writers Series, at wscpress@wsc.edu or 402-375-7118, or visit www.wscpress.com.
Weather Alert

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 3 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 9 PM CST FRIDAY... ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO NOON CST FRIDAY... ...WIND CHILL WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM FRIDAY TO NOON CST TUESDAY... * WHAT...For the Winter Storm Warning, heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 5 and 8 inches. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph. For the Wind Chill Advisory, very cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 25 below zero. For the Wind Chill Warning, dangerously cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 50 below zero. Coldest wind chills are expected Saturday night into Sunday morning. * WHERE...Portions of east central, northeast, and southeast Nebraska. * WHEN...For the Winter Storm Warning, from 3 PM this afternoon to 9 PM CST Friday. For the Wind Chill Advisory, from midnight tonight to noon CST Friday. For the Wind Chill Warning, from 9 PM Friday to noon CST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Travel will be hazardous. Areas of blowing snow will reduce visibilities, even after snow has stopped falling. The hazardous conditions will impact the Thursday evening and Friday commutes. The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Avoid outside activities if possible. When outside, make sure you wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. &&
Morocco has once again championed climate action in favor of Africa, urging active solidarity with the countries of the continent as they seek to meet their own socio-economic and sustainable development goals.

In an address to the UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai, King Mohammed VI reiterated Moroccos pledge to help the African continent address climate change and adaptation challenges.

In a global system that remains inequitable, Africa received $30 billion in annual climate financing flows in 2020, representing less than 12% of its needs, he said.

Penalized and disadvantaged, Africa has, nonetheless, all the assets needed to become the solution to the global climate issue  the answer to the major challenges of the 21st century, Moroccos King added.

Morocco, currently president of the UN environment assembly, considers the lack of solidarity with the continent as slowing down the momentum of Africas climate action, said the King.

True to its commitment to Africa, Morocco is tirelessly pressing ahead with its efforts to implement the decisions of the First Africa Action Summit, held on the sidelines of COP 22, especially the operationalization of the three African Climate Commissions for the Congo Basin, the Sahel and African Island States, the Monarch recalled.

Morocco is also committed to promoting regional initiatives aiming at a better adaptation of African agriculture, strengthening sustainability, stability, and security on the Continent, and encouraging the climate leadership of young Africans, he said, adding that these reflect Moroccos multidimensional and unwavering support for the tireless efforts African sister countries are making.

Climate remains a landmark feature of Moroccos commitment to Africa in line with a south-south cooperation approach that focuses on pooling efforts to address common challenges. In fact, countering climate change is a means to safeguard the future of young generations, curb calamities such as migration and displacement and promote agriculture.

During the COP22, Morocco hosted the Africa Action Summit. At the event, first of its kind, the King had said Morocco will make its expertise in renewable energies available to its African partners.

The Climate Policy Initiative estimates that the continent needs $277 billion annually to implement nationally determined contributions- part of the Paris Agreement- to meet 2030 climate goals. Annual climate finance flows in Africa stand at only $30 billion at the moment.

A UN commissioned report recently said multilateral development banks have to triple their climate finance within five years from 60 billion dollars to 180 billion to help developing nations address global warming challenges.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that loss and damage costs due to climate change in its region are between $289.2 billion to $440.5 billion and that an 1C increase in temperature is also associated with a greater probability of conflict in the region of approximately 11%

The International Monetary fund also estimates that 34 of 59 developing economies most vulnerable to climate change, many or which are in Africa, are also at a high risk of fiscal crises.
The Rabat-based Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) will provide financial grants to the Palestinian students attending Universities and Institutes in Morocco.

The initiative, announced as part of the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, is meant to offer support to the Palestinian students amid the challenging circumstances confronting their families in Palestine due to the brutal Israeli aggression, the ICESCO said in a press release.

Addressing the Palestinian students at the ICESCO headquarters, the chief of the pan-Islamic organization Salim M. AlMalik recognized the students symbolic representation of the Palestinian cause and the ongoing sacrifices and honor it embodies. He noted that ICESCO, along with all its leaderships and staff, shares the students grief for the martyrs, beseeching Allah Almighty for the prompt recovery of the wounded, the release of the captives, and the safe return of the displaced to their homes.

He affirmed that ICESCOs support for the Palestinian students in Morocco reflects a sincere effort to demonstrate the organizations solidarity and assistance. He also commended the Kingdoms warm embrace of these students and acknowledged the care they receive from the officials of the State of Palestine and its Embassy in Rabat.

Moreover, he called on the Palestinian students to empower themselves with knowledge to actively support their country with enthusiasm and determination. He further stressed that the youth and children in Palestine are capable of writing a history marked by dignity, heroism, and sacrifices, notwithstanding the challenging events unfolding in their homeland.

Your challenge is to develop science and creativity to build a hopeful future, said Al-Malik

On his part, Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, Acting Director of Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, who attended the event, highlighted the Agencys role and efforts to support the Palestinian cause. With unwavering conviction, he affirmed that the Palestinian people will rise from the ruins to rebuild all that has been ravaged by the occupation.
Its something unpredictable, but in the end, its right. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

George Santos was not in the House for very long, but in the 11 months before he was expelled on Friday, the New York congressman made more of a splash than many of his former colleagues would in their entire careers. Thanks to his apparently compulsive habit of lying, a no-holds-barred approach to his Republican critics, and a few more tricks up his sleeve, Santoss brief run in Congress will go down as one of the more notorious, tabloid-friendly sprints in modern American politics. As we grapple with the idea of a much more boring (but still extremely dysfunctional) House GOP caucus, here are some of the more unusual moments from Santoss time in Congress.

1.

Any questions about whether or not Santos would tone down his pre-political antics were promptly addressed during one of Santoss first acts as a congressman. In January, one of his first speeches on the House floor was to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. For most representatives, this would be a somber occasion without any weird subtext. But Santos had just been caught lying about how his grandparents survived the Holocaust and that his mothers parents fled from Ukraine to Brazil to escape the Nazis. To many, the speech was a wink at getting caught in one of his more brazen lies  and a sign of the circus acts to come.

2.

In his first weeks in the House, Santos learned that his totally fabricated resume meant that he would be tailed by a gaggle of reporters whenever he was at work. So he decided to have some fun with it:

George Santos delivers Chick-fil-A to the reporters hounding his every move. pic.twitter.com/WaAfdrhR25  Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 25, 2023

Since you guys are staying out here all day, I just wanted to make sure you guys are taken care of, Santos told reporters as he plopped a Chick-fil-A bag on the desk outside his office. Eat up, while its warm. But there may have been ulterior motives: Staffers reportedly considered bugging the snack table to listen in on what journalists were talking about just outside his office.

3.

At the State of the Union, as Santos was shaking hands with Republican Senate leaders, Mitt Romney came up to let Santos know that his presence wasnt welcome there. Later, Romney told reporters that his colleague is a sick puppy and that he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet, instead of parading in front of the president.

It wasnt very Mormon of him, Santos said in a snide reply.

I think it's reprehensible that the Senator would say such a thing to me in the demeaning way he said, Santos said about Sen. Romneys comments to him at last nights SOTU



It wasn't very Mormon of him. pic.twitter.com/OUs3xuh5Wh  Lalee Ibssa (@LaleeIbssa) February 8, 2023

Santos later added that Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a friend of Romneys, came up to him after his exchange with the Utah senator and told him to hang in there. But, according to Sinemas people, she wasnt even aware that Romney and Santos had spoken until Romney told her about it after the fact.

4.

Some of the earliest GOP calls for Santoss resignation came from his fellow New York representatives, including Anthony DEsposito, who represents the district adjacent to Santoss on Long Island. After DEsposito wrote in March that frauds shouldnt be able to profit from their deceptions at the publics expense, Santos went on the site then known as Twitter to rip into DEsposito, claiming that the former police officer lost his NYPD issued GUN while he was DJing at a party and that he once assaulted a 72-year-old woman. You sir are the example of a bad cop who give cops a bad name. Spare me, Santos wrote.

5.

Santos got some mileage out of Mitt Romneys comment about how he should be sitting in the back row and remaining quiet rather than attracting attention to himself. As if Romney was talking about his identity  not his alleged practices like ripping off a disabled veteran dog owner  Santos responded on a podcast months later. Mitt Romney goes to the State of the Union of the United States wearing a Ukraine lapel pin, tells me, a Latino gay man, that I shouldnt sit in the front, that I should be in the back, he said in July. Well, guess what, Rosa Parks didnt sit in the back, and neither am I going to sit in the back.

6.

The crown jewel of Santos moments came in October, when he was confronted in the hallway of the Longworth House Office Building by pro-Palestinian protestors. Santos escalated the encounter by screaming at the demonstrators  while holding a baby. When a reporter asked if the baby was his, he added to the confusion of the moment with a mysterious reply: Not yet.

Washington, D.C. (AP)  George Santos last seen rushing out of the U.S. Capitol clutching an unidentified baby pic.twitter.com/qM6kgKvzq5  Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) December 1, 2023

7.

In September, Santos spoke with New York Times reporter Grace Ashford roughly half a dozen times after she spent months trying to get in contact with him. He chatted about his pet and baby shower gift ideas and his haters. Oh, and the time that his niece was kidnapped in Queens by the Chinese Communist Party. When Ashford reached out to police officials, they had no record of such an event. We found nothing at all to suggest its true, the official told her. Id lean into, he made it up.

8.

Even after Santos was indicted on 23 counts including aggravated identity theft and wire fraud, he survived multiple efforts to be removed from Congress. But the fatal blow to his political career came in November, when the House Ethics Committee released an extensive report detailing Santoss many alleged campaign finance violations in vivid detail  like how he spent donor dollars on Botox, Hermes, and OnlyFans. When his own staffers told him during the campaign with a document showing that he was almost definitely going to get audited, he told them that was not worrisome.

9.

Santos went out of Congress the way he came in  in a sweater, surrounded by reporters.

Santos leaving the Capitol after the threshold to expels him gets hit  with a gaggle for the books pic.twitter.com/Y6GdLcKT3h  Ursula Perano (@UrsulaPerano) December 1, 2023

He also went out with a few memorable quotes on his last day at work. He told one reporter: Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place. To another, he proffered this gem: The future is endless. You can do whatever you want next, and Im just going to do whatever I want.

Whatever he wants might be a bit ambitious, considering that he is facing 23 criminal charges. And as Republican Max Miller told fellow representatives in an email on Friday, many Americans are not going to forget what Santos did to get infamous in the first place. Miller alleged that his colleagues campaign charged him and his mother for several thousand dollars in contributions. Neither were aware of the charges and they have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees.

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The Beat Bama Food Drive has drawn to a close with another record setting year and a win over Alabama.

The 2023 Beat Bama Food Drive was largest in the events 30 year history, as the BBFD team brought it 686,807 pounds of food, the highest mark ever between the BBFD or Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Drive. BABH brought in 326,644 pounds, bringing the total donated food to over 1 million pounds for the second year in a row. This was the fourth year in a row that the BBFD total was larger than the pervious years haul.

I think the really astonishing thing is any of us that shop at the grocery store, which I guess is probably most of us know that a little bit of money doesnt go real far at the grocery store. And so people are really struggling to cover their own expenses, said Martha Henk said, the executive director of the Food Bank of East Alabama. So this kind of generosity while people are themselves feeling the strain is really all the more remarkable.

The pounds of food collected is calculated as the drive accepts physical donations and monetary donations, with $1 equaling 2 pounds of food. According to statistics from the food bank, the competition has raised a total of 10.4 million pounds of food since 1994, equivalent to 8.7 million meals.

The 686,807 for the BBFD will be shared by the Food Bank of East Alabama and the Auburn Campus Food Pantry, with over 600,000 pounds going to the food bank.

Henk said she just cant say enough positive things about the Opelika-Auburn community and well they respond to local needs.

According to the Food Bank of East Alabama website, there are 57,220 people facing hunger in the food banks seven county area which includes Lee County, Chambers County, Macon County, Russell County, Barbour County, Randolph County and Tallapoosa County, which is shared with the Heart of Alabama Food Bank. While BBFD won this year, Henk said that the real winners are the people that both food banks were able to feed thanks to the donations.

Since Henk arrived at the food bank in 1995, during the second year of the BBFD, the drive has grown consistently, specifically in the last four years. In 2019, the BBFD brought in 229,361 pounds of food, and the amount has grown each year since.

In 2022, the BBFD set a new record with 550,117 pounds of food which, in tandem with the BABHs 565,983, marked the first time the drives crossed one million pounds combined.

For this years success, Henk gives most of the credit to the team of Auburn students leading the charge with the BBFD.

Right at the end of last years Beat Bama Food Drive, the team got together and started brainstorming about what they were going to do to improve the drive. I cannot say enough about the team of students, Henk said. Last year was pretty remarkable, it was a record setting one. And for them to not only beat that record, but to go so far beyond it is really remarkable.

One of those team members was BBFD President Justin King, who told the O-A News in August that the goal for him was to improve from 2022. The team did that and more, setting the highest total between both drives, and continuing the improvement that King has seen since he got involved in 2020.

King said last years number has become the standard for the BBFD, as it showed what the organization was capable of. He said that this year was about community involvement and student involvement, with over 650 students involved in this years drive, which King said makes the BBFD the largest student-led service organization on Auburns campus.

Im just proud, King said. Every dollar earned, every can raised, every ounce of awareness that people even just knew about our name was really earned. And thats thats really the one word I could say to describe this year. Its just proud.

King will be graduating in Spring 2024, meaning this was his last BBFD as he looks to go to law school. He remains hopeful for where the BBFD can go from here, including possibly crossing the one million pound mark one day.

Were appreciative of the support that this campus and community has given us. The Auburn Family has really stepped up for us and thats something that we will never forget, King said.

After another successful drive, Henk said that they have crossed the 5 million pound threshold for 2023, but there is still a need for their seven county service area and still ways for people to donate. The food bank has introduced its food donation advent calendar for the Christmas season

Henk said there is a donation bin at the Food Banks physical location where any non-perishable items can be dropped off, and the Community Market at 3810 Pepperell Pkwy accepts donations as well. There will also be Food Bank of East Alabama donation bins at the Auburn and Opelika Kroger locations, which Henk says is about simplifying the process for people.

It can be really overwhelming when you think about the number of people that are food insecure in our service area. But when you really break it down and say Okay, I cant feed all of those 47,000 people, obviously, but I can break it down and I can make a difference to one family or to two families, Henk said. If I do that, and you do that and enough of us do that, we can really make a difference.
A federal judge in Montana has blocked the law that will enforce the first-ever state-wide TikTok ban which is supposed to start on January 1, 2024.

Read Also: TikTok Launches New 'Artist Account' to Promote Music Conveniently

Montana Federal Judge Presents Preliminary Ruling

In a legal filing, Judge Donald Molloy detailed his ruling for the supposed TikTok ban next year. He stated that Montana failed to show how SB 419 would be "constitutionally permissible."

Moreover, the judge emphasized that the Attorney General was more interested in targeting China's role in TikTok than prioritizing protecting Montana consumers. "This is especially apparent in that the same legislature enacted an entirely separate law that purports to broadly protect consumers' digital data and privacy," he added.

Meanwhile, TikTok expressed thankfulness for the judge's ruling citing that the rejection of the state-wide ban will mean a continuous way for hundreds of thousands of Montanans to express themselves, earn a living, and find a community on their platform.

Montana's State-Wide TikTok Ban

On the contrary, the office of the Montana Attorney General stated that the judge's decision is only a preliminary matter and nothing is finalized at this point. This means that the analysis could still change over time, giving the State a chance to present more evidence to advance the ban.

"We look forward to presenting the complete legal argument to defend the law that protects Montanans from the Chinese Communist Party obtaining and using their data," the office said in a statement.

Last May, Governor Greg Gianforte signed SB 419 into law which aims to ban TikTok in Montana as a way to protect its community from the Chinese Communist Party surveillance. ByteDance also sued Montana for unlawfully banning TikTok in the State.

Related Article: ByteDance Slashes Hundreds of Positions Under Gaming Unit
The Lee County Commission rescinded the approval of liquor license for a Phenix City package store at Mondays regular meeting after the owner of a nearby daycare and school opposed it.

The commission voted unanimously at Mondays meeting to rescind the resolution approving Thirstys package stores application for an ABC Lounge Retail Liquor Class II Package license. The Phenix City package store can be found on Lee Road 240, near the Miracles Child Enrichment Center at 55 Lee Road 212.

Im not opposed to liquor stores. Im opposed to it being right next door to where Im raising children, said Shandra Lawrence, the owner of the day care center. I am right next door to the building where theyre proposing to open the liquor story. My playgrounds are right there, where the children play everyday. I have a valid concern.

The commission approved the application at the Sept. 11 meeting, but rescinded the approval it after the owner of a nearby daycare expressed opposition. Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said that the the Alabama Beverage Control Board ultimately has the final say.

In addition to being a daycare, Lawrence said she runs a pre-K school. Lawrence said her concern is unrelated to whether people are drinking on the premises or carrying it to their car. She mentioned that last week, they had a man just wondering around the day cares parking lot, and that they have to be consistent in protecting the children.

Lawrence spoke after Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones updated the commission on the application, and told the O-A News that a concerned citizen had reached out to his office about the potential package stores proximity to church. Jones said that his office does not make recommendations on approval or denial of any ABC applications to the commission, and that his office serves as an information provider in these cases.

Jones told the commission that the owners of Thirstys have already invested quite a sum of money, in preparation for opening the business.

During the commission meeting, Jones said that as his team looked into the stores location they turned to Alabama Title 28, which governs ABC and the issuing of ABC licenses. Jones said the specific title they came across was Alabama title 28-3-43 (a) 5, which says that the location of liquor stores shall not be adjacent to schools or churches or in a neighborhood which is exclusively residential.

Jones said they found that there was a school nearby at the Miracles Child Enrichment Center which has a curriculum and certified teachers. He said that his office spoke to the Alabama Beverage Control (ABC) Boards enforcement division for some clarity on the situation.

What we received as a reply was simply this, that there are no laws in the state of Alabama in regard to distance under state law, Jones said. Unless its a local act or city ordinance, theres no state law that applies specifically to the issue of the location of a business that sells alcohol, and as far as their distance from a church or school.

In an interview with the Opelika-Auburn News, Government Relations and Communications Manager for ABC Dean Argo explained that 28-3-43 (a) 5 specifically deals with state operated liquor stores, which are run by ABC, and does not have an effect on privately owned liquor stores.

Long said he cannot, in good conscious, allow the store to stay there

After hearing from Jones and Lawrence, District 3 Commissioner Gary Long expressed an interest in rescinding the approval.

I cannot, in good conscience, Sheriff, let this allow to stay there. I have issues with it, and I dont think it oughta be left up to the daycare to go to ABC, Long said. I dont know what it takes to rescind the license or the approval if we can, but I just do not feel like its her place to take care of it.

Long made the motion, and it was unanimously approved to rescind the September approval.

During the commission meeting, there was some discussion that ABC had gone against a commission vote on a license in the past. While Argo could not speak to that, he did say that ABC had the final say but he emphasized the importance of the commissions decision.

Their decision to rescind their approval does have an impact, because we will not issue a license to an entity that does not have a local government approval, Argo said. We strictly abide by local government approval. And in this case, since this license was going through the process, and the local government decided to resend its approval, as far as were concerned, that license will not be issued.

He said that, while the commission approved the granting of the license in September, But it had not been approved by ABC yet because there were renovations being done by the owners. Argo said that in the case of renovations, ABC needs photos of the premises to confirm where alcohol will be served as well as the overall layout, and they did not receive any photos so the application was on hold.

Argo also offered some clarity on the relationship between local government and the ABC Board and how the issuing of licenses is handled.

Local governments cannot issue [liquor] licenses. What they do is they grant approval for a license to be held. Were the only entity that can actually issue a license. So they dont have a liquor license from Opelika or a license from Lee County. They have a business license, and then they have approval from the county to hold the liquor license, Argo said.

Argo said that now the matter is a local issue between the owners of Thirstys and the Lee County Commission. The owners of Thirstys declined to comment at this time.

If the licensee, in this case the owners of Thirstys, if they can satisfy the issues with the local government, then we more than likely would issue that license but until they do, we will not.

Argo told the Opelika-Auburn News on Thursday that ABC had not heard from the commission on why the license was rescinded.
Fan Bingbing Unpacks LGBT Role in 'Green Night' at Electrifying, Fan-Friendly Singapore Masterclass: 'When Souls Connect There Is Love' https://t.co/PoXQRLsFHT  Variety (@Variety) December 2, 2023

- Fan spoke frankly on a range of topics including an in-depth analysis of Han Shuais Green Night, which comes to Singapore after Berlin and Busan. In the film, Fan plays a Chinese woman, trapped in an oppressive life with her Korean husband, and sets out on an adventure with a mysterious green-haired girl, played by Lee Joo-young (Broker).- The story is very much about two girls, what happened between two days and one night, a very short period of time. Its something that Ive never experienced before, Fan said. The director actually allowed me to have the choice of who the partner is going to be. So I chose Joo-young.- The portrayal of the relationship to me is that really arent any boundaries when it comes to love. I dont think we should think too much about it, there should be freedom, what is more important is that when souls connect, there is love, Fan added.
The U.S. and other countries may be able to use coal mines to reduce their reliance on China for its rare earth minerals.

Just when we thought it was the end of the coal era, the discovery of rare earth mineral deposits could mean that coal mines still have a role to play in the future of the energy sector. There have been proposals for the transformation of coal mines into geothermal facilities and other renewable energy sites, but this discovery could give coal mines a new lease of life for the more conventional purpose of mining.

There has been a significant global push to move away from coal mining in favor of less dirty fossil fuels and renewable alternatives. Once considered the driver of the industrial revolution, coal is now viewed by many as an unnecessary evil. Simultaneously, the demand for metals and minerals associated with renewable energy production and clean technologies is increasing, making mining for other elements critical. There are seventeen metallic elements, known as rare earth elements (REE), many of which are essential for the manufacturing of everyday technological devices and green energy components, such as batteries and semiconductors. In 1993, 38 percent of the global production of REEs was in China, 33 percent was in the United States, 12 percent in Australia, and 5 percent was in Malaysia and India.

This year in May, the U.S. firm Ramaco Resources, researchers from mining consultancy Weir International, and the U.S. Department of Energys (DoE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) published a paper including a technical assessment of REE. In the report it revealed that these minerals were present at a coal mine in Wyoming, suggesting they may be present in other coal sites. Ramaco stated, Following eighteen months of extensive core drilling and independent chemical analysis, NETL researchers and Ramaco now believe that the Brook Mine property contains perhaps the largest unconventional deposit of REEs discovered in the United States.

The discovery came about when Ramaco decided it was no longer worth developing the site as a thermal coal mine due to global changes in the perception of coal since it purchased the location around a decade ago. The company was questioning how it may develop the site using an alternative approach, and the discovery of REE has given the spot great potential for development.

At present, China dominates the global production of rare earths, producing around 90 percent of the worlds REEs. Ramacos mine could, therefore, provide North America with a strategic advantage for regional production. Most REE deposits outside of China are found in igneous hard rock deposits and are hard to extract, making the Wyoming coal mine look ever more appealing. Ramaco stated, In contrast, the REEs from the Brook Mine are characterized as unconventional because they are largely found in clay strata located above and below the coal seams themselves. Further, It is expected they can be mined using normal surface mining techniques and processed in a more economic and environmental manner than conventional REE mines, the company added.

The DoE is searching for REE in other parts of the U.S. as it looks to develop its regional energy supply chains. In April, it provided West Virginia University with a grant of $8 million to explore coal and rare earth extraction. The DoE is hoping to develop innovative methods of extraction to enhance using a pioneering method to extract and separate rare earth elements and critical minerals from acid mine drainage and coal waste. Similar research is also taking place at Penn State.

It's not just the U.S. that is exploring the potential for REE deposits in coal mines as researchers in South Africa are also assessing the possibility of mineral extraction. The Clean Coal Technology research group at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg published a paper earlier this year that discussed the chemical composition of coal. The group found that the REE content in the coal being analysed was over 225 parts per million, a concentration higher than the cut-off grade of 130ppm needed to extract rare earths in coal. This means that the coal can be reprocessed as raw materials to be used to support renewable energy production and clean technologies. This is just one of several areas of exploration by governments and researchers to find innovative ways to access critical metals and minerals for clean energy production.

The global demand for REEs is expected to rise by around 600 percent by 2040, and it is not yet clear how governments will meet this demand. While extraction from coal shows some potential, the question of environmental impact lingers, particularly as countries worldwide strive to meet net-zero carbon emissions pledges. Sweden, South Africa, and Australia have all shown interest in REE extraction from coal, while the U.S. and Europe are attempting to develop regional supply chains and reduce their dependence on China.

There could be great potential for the use of coal sites to extract rare earth elements from coal, as producers look for alternative uses for the fossil fuel. As countries shift away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives, the demand for REEs will continue to increase and governments must meet this demand if they want the global green transition to be a success. However, there is still great uncertainty over the potential impact of this type of extraction on the environment, which will need to be fully assessed before coal mines are developed for this purpose.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Even a near-record discount for European stocks relative to the US isnt proving enough to entice investors worried about a slowing economy and weakening profits.

After starting the year well ahead of the S&P 500, the Stoxx Europe 600 lost ground from May onward as the buzz around artificial intelligence fired up technology stocks across the Atlantic. Worries about a regional recession have also fueled an exodus from European stock funds, and the index is back to underperforming US stocks in dollar terms for the full year.

Thats a frustrating turn of events for equity bulls who were banking on a 35% discount in Europes price-to-earnings ratio  almost the lowest on record  to rekindle investor interest. Wall Street strategists say the gap isnt closing any time soon.

Forecasters from Bank of America to Deutsche Bank expect the S&P 500 to hit a record high in 2024. The outlook for European benchmarks is a lot more timid, with earnings expected to rise just 6.7% versus an 11% gain in the US, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

We expect European stocks to underperform the US, says Marija Veitmane, senior multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets. We are already in a global manufacturing downturn and its really weighing on cyclical exporter markets like Europe. While she agrees European stocks are relatively cheap, unfortunately value tends to underperform in a recession, she says.

Veitmane is not alone. A multi-asset portfolio team at Societe Generale says European stocks are likely to show no gains at all next year amid an economic slowdown. They see the regions stocks potentially slumping nearly 10% early in the year  a starkly bearish stance compared with the US, where they expect the S&P 500 to flirt with its all-time peak.

The gloom has also been reflected in the investor exodus from the region this year. European stock funds had outflows for 37 straight weeks, according to a Bank of America note citing EPFR Global. Even Goldman Sachss Sharon Bell, who expects the Stoxx 600 to rise next year, says the main buyers will come from within Europe via corporate buybacks.

Not that the discount doesnt matter. Part of Bells optimism stems from Europes reasonable valuations. And while JPMorgans Mislav Matejka is staying underweight on the euro zone versus the US for now, his team say they could potentially change that call through the first half of 2024 given the increasingly attractive valuations. Oliver Collin, co-head of European equities at Invesco, says that European equities are one of the few equity markets to still be attractively priced relative to bonds.

But thats not enough for bears like BofAs Sebastian Raedler, who expects the Stoxx 600 to slide 15% halfway through the year. We see scope for a meaningful deterioration in growth momentum ahead on the back of a weakening credit cycle, he says.

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By Farah Elbahrawy and Sagarika Jaisinghani, Bloomberg markets live reporters and strategists

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The scene is a second-floor ballroom near 26th and Farnam Streets, where 80 people are clustered around large round tables facing a Victorian living room tableau.

Entering, stage left, are Detective O'Malley, trailed by Detective O'Connor, who announce that they are officers with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service, also known as disease detectives.

They're here to investigate an outbreak of an unidentified illness. But they need help. O'Connor uses her "super powers" to swear audience members into the service.

For the next hour and a half, the pair and several other cast members lead participants in "A Puzzling Plague" through a simulated interactive infectious disease investigation, a twist on a murder mystery dinner theater. Rather than solving a whodunit, their goal is to identify the source of the outbreak, contain its spread and limit its toll.

The production, which continues Saturday night, was developed as a fundraiser for the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Registration is open until 1 p.m. Saturday at https://events.nufoundation.org/go/puzzlingplague.

But Katie A. Weitz, chairwoman of the College of Public Health committee for the University of Nebraska Foundation's "Only in Nebraska" campaign, said the program also is intended to help raise awareness about the work of public health in the community, which touches on issues ranging from disease control and prevention to mental health and health equity.

"The thing about public health is it's really everything," Weitz said. "It's all the social justice issues a person could care about in one place."

That work, in fact, has been showcased in recent months by several high-profile events. Local, state and federal health officials launched a multi-prong response after a type of rabies not usually found west of the Appalachian Mountains was identified in a stray kitten. Weeks later, local officials identified a case of active tuberculosis that resulted in possible exposures to more than 500 children and staff members at a drop-in child care center.

It can be serious stuff. Tom Henne, a committee member, said the group was trying to find a way to bring out public health's fun side. He came up with the idea for the infectious disease mystery, which is akin to the murder mystery theater he has enjoyed. He and his wife, Tracy Hightower-Henne, who also serves on the committee, hosted the production. All of the proceeds go to support students and programs within the college.

Weitz produced the event as part of her AdvoKatie initiative, which focuses on nontraditional fundraising and advocacy efforts. The college will own the rights to the production.

Weitz tapped Will Meinen, who teaches at the Omaha Playhouse, performs improv and writes plays and short fiction, to write the script. Meinen also has studied and performed improv and sketch comedy in Chicago.

The piece is based on a historical outbreak. Meinen said it was challenging to write because the genre was new to him. But the scientific bits were not. Before he ventured into the theater world, he earned a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology and worked as a researcher for the Omaha Public Schools.

"It was a nice combination of things in the science space and my ability to do traditional research coupled with sketch comedy writing," he said.

Dr. Ali Khan, the college's dean and a former disease detective, read the script to ensure its accuracy.

"Its going to be a great opportunity for people to understand what it's like to be a disease detective and bring out the fun aspects of public health," he said.

During the program, participants at each table worked together through a series of clues, some on paper, some delivered by actors, earning points as they proceeded.

"We just thought it was kind of unique and fun," said Gary Cochran, an associate professor in UNMC's College of Pharmacy. He attended Thursday night's show with wife, Korie, and daughter, Hannah, who plans to apply to study within the public health college.

They teamed with Ian Marchinton, a doctoral student in public health who hails from Georgia. "All this is sort of my thing," he said. "I'm so excited for this."

Participants face multiple twists and turns. At one point, several audience members stood to argue their cases on a legal and ethical question. Hannah Cochran relished that detail. "I like the little ethical dilemma," she said.

To lighten the workload, Meinen also worked in a little song-and-dance and some one-liners. Early in the Victorian-era production, a female character asked audience members about the future.

"Can women vote?" she quipped. "Oh, never mind. That's just crazy talk."

Photos: "A Puzzling Plague" a night of dinner theater and public health
When the call came in to the Omaha Police Department headquarters on Monday, the response was immediate.

An unidentified caller told the department that a student at Omaha South High School had been shot in one of the schools bathrooms, and the suspect was on a separate floor. The school resource officer stationed at the school immediately notified administrators and began searching for the victim.

Within minutes, South High School was placed into lockdown as state and federal law enforcement officers descended on the school and began methodically checking every room. As the search ended with no victim or suspect located, there was only one conclusion: For the second time this year, the school had been subjected to a swatting call.

Swatting is defined by the FBI as calling police with fake allegations for the purpose of sending law enforcement  typically the SWAT team  to a particular address. While anyone can be the target of swatting, officials across the country have seen a significant spike in fake shooting or bomb threats called in to schools.

An October report from the Washington Post estimated that more than 500 schools in the U.S. have been subjected to fake reports of shootings or bomb threats in the past year. From June to November of 2022, FBI officials told the Associated Press that they had identified hoax calls to more than 350 colleges and grade schools in the U.S in those five months alone.

In Nebraska, at least 10 schools have been targeted in 11 separate swatting incidents this year, according to news reports. On March 2, 10 schools across the state  including Omaha South High School  were the targets of fake school shooting calls placed to 911. In addition to Omaha, the calls affected schools in Columbus, Kearney, Grand Island, Lincoln and Fremont.

For school districts and law enforcement, the policy is typically to treat each threat as if it is real until proven otherwise.

Until we can determine that its a swatting call, we are going to take every single threat completely serious, said Sgt. James Shade of the Omaha Police Departments assault unit. On the investigative side, we immediately begin trying to figure out where the call came from and anything else we can. But thats me in an office saying this might be a hoax, compared to officers who are on scene and can confirm.

Though swatting calls are certainly a concern, Shade said, hes seen a more significant increase in school threats being posted to social media. These threats can spread like wildfire  even across state lines  and can lead to hysteria as parents keep their children home from school.

For example: In January, one adult and three juveniles were cited or arrested for disorderly conduct and terroristic threats for a social media post in which the author claimed to be coming for all schools in Omaha NE. Also in January, Thayer Community Schools in Hebron, Nebraska, canceled classes for multiple days after an online post threatened a school shooting.

Shade said the most important thing parents, students and community members can do is immediately report any threats  even those that seem noncredible or sarcastic  to law enforcement.

When you see something threatening, dont just repost it, Shade said. Its a threat that needs to be taken seriously. And the sooner we get that information, the closer we are to the original post. Im happy that there are anonymous options for people to report, but calling 911 is still the best option.

Photos: Omaha South placed on lockdown Monday afternoon
Omaha police have arrested a man in connection with the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Mauricio Chavez on Nov. 17.

Zadik Motino, 18, is suspected of second-degree murder in the killing of Chavez, who was found suffering from a gunshot wound at the Sippin Sirens bar at 42nd and H Streets around 11:15 p.m. that night, according to a press release from the Omaha Police Department.

Chavez was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with lifesaving measures in progress, but he was declared dead at the hospital, police previously said.

Motino is also suspected of use of a weapon to commit a felony and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person and also had an active felony warrant out of Sarpy County, according to the release.

The investigation remains ongoing.
LINCOLN  State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon made one thing clear at a legislative hearing Friday about allowing more people to carry guns in schools as a way to boost security.

Hes not interested in forcing teachers to carry weapons, he said. Nor is he necessarily looking to authorize anyone besides off-duty law enforcement officers to carry weapons on school grounds or at school events. State law already allows armed on-duty officers at schools.

Brewer said there are a number of factors to consider before he would propose authorizing other armed people in schools. Those include figuring out what training and screening would be necessary for those people.

But he told members of the Education Committee at the interim study hearing that he wants to find ways that the state can help local school districts better protect children and staff.

I think we would be very neglectful of our students if we dont look at all the options possible, he said. Our laws order parents to send their kids to school. I believe that leaves us with an obligation to protect the kids while they are there.

Only invited testifiers spoke at the hearing. They offered several ideas aimed at making schools safer. The ideas included allowing trained people to carry weapons on school grounds, training school staff to treat wounded students and standardizing school maps for use by first responders.

Art Frerichs, a state trooper and member of the Morrill Public School board, urged the state to look at allowing off-duty law enforcement to carry weapons on school grounds or at school events.

He said the change could help districts like Morrill, which cannot afford a school resource officer and where local law enforcement could be a long way away. He said the school is well-protected with locked doors and other measures during the day, but is less so during school events.

Frerichs said off-duty law enforcement could help boost security at events, but the decision should be up to local school boards.

Zach Kassebaum, superintendent of Lincoln Christian School, called for going a step further by allowing properly trained individuals that met necessary criteria to carry guns at schools.

Currently, he said, Lincoln Christian relies on unarmed volunteers to provide security, in addition to such measures as security cameras, locked entrances and double doors. Those volunteers are intended to slow down attackers so staff and students have more time to protect themselves.

Kassebaum said state law ties the hands of those security volunteers by barring them from being armed. He urged a change in the law to allow people with the right temperament and right training to carry weapons in schools.

Allowing non-law enforcement people to carry weapons can ensure rapid response to attacks, said James Donahue, community security director at the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the Friedel Jewish Academy. He said having a trained, armed person on site also can deter shooters.

James Irvine, with a group called FASTER Saves Lives, argued that the responsibility for saving staff and students is the job of schools, not law enforcement. He said his group trains school staff on using weapons to stop school violence and on providing immediate medical assistance to anyone wounded.

He said the medical training, in particular, saves lives because it can stop people from bleeding to death before emergency medical staff can get to the scene. The measures needed in such situations are similar to those used on the battlefield, such as tourniquets, chest seals and wound packs.

There is no denying that waiting on outside help increases fatalities, he said.

Mike Rogers, CEO of Critical Response Group, called for schools to improve and standardize their building and campus maps to help law enforcement and emergency medical personnel respond to emergencies. He said seven states have now passed legislation to require such updates.

Rogers, whose company does school mapping work, said the maps often become outdated because of building renovations or changes in usage of rooms. Many do not use the common geographic orientation of having north at the top of the map.

Once maps are updated, he said, they need to be made available for use by multiple agencies that use multiple computer platforms.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of November 2023
It turns out that there's still much to learn about the controversial decision of the previous OpenAI board to fire Sam Altman. While the main reason for the chief executive's removal is still anyone's guess, it was revealed that the OpenAI board hid the decision on purpose.

Microsoft Was Kept Out of the Loop

Just when you think that there's nothing else to learn about OpenAI's surprising decision, a recent report revealed that the former board of the AI company did not inform Microsoft of the major decision for a reason.

Microsoft has been relatively successful in the AI department due to its partnership with OpenAI, which Sam Altman then headed as the chief executive. This may have led the board to believe that the software giant's loyalty lies with the reinstated CEO.

In order to prevent the ouster's news from reaching Altman before it happened, the OpenAI board kept the news from its biggest investor to prevent Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella from warning Sam Altman, as reported by The Verge.

In fact, the board believed that Microsoft would not only let the decision slide but agree with them as they fired the face of OpenAI. We all know that was not the case since Microsoft was willing to accept Altman with open arms in its AI research division.

OpenAI may have thought that Microsoft would agree due to the alleged reason why Altman was fired in the first place, which was about him not being completely transparent about their work, resulting in distrust from the higher-ups.

Until now, concerns over the lack of safety guardrails in AI tools and services are still the assumed reason for the ouster. Since Microsoft is also dedicated to making sure that AI will remain safe, OpenAI was led to believe that Microsoft would think the decision was just.

Microsoft's next steps were also surprising. It turns out that while they believe the ouster was "mind-bogglingly stupid," they also planned to back the interim CEO Mira Murati, explain why they fired Sam Altman, and eventually rehire him.

If that didn't work, they planned to use the influence of their 49% stake to convince the board to reverse the decision. Lastly, they planned to hire Altman within Microsoft as well as those who were willing to follow the tech executive.

Read Also: Certain ChatGPT Prompts Can Generate Sensitive, Copyrighted Data

All Plans End in Altman Still Working in AI

Based on the plans that Microsoft made after the news of the ouster broke, they were more than willing to back Sam Altman and his expertise in the field. All three plans ended up with Sam Altman working as a leader for AI advancement.

At the end of the day, the reason for his ouster is still vague. If anything, people are confused once again after Microsoft's President Brad Smith clarified that OpenAI did not have an AI breakthrough.

In case you missed it, it was first believed that Altman was fired after OpenAI researchers sent a letter to the board with concerns over Q*, a rumored artificial general intelligence that could threaten humanity. Smith said that we are still years away from creating such a technology.

Related: OpenAI Did Not Have an Advanced AI Breakthrough, Microsoft President Says
WATERLOO, Iowa  A Bloomington, Illinois, man has been found guilty of painting "KKK" on a Waterloo, Iowa, teen's car in 2020.

Jurors deliberated Friday morning before finding Gary Eugene Shelton, 56, guilty of third-degree criminal mischief.

The jury also found the crime was committed in violation of individual rights, effectively making it a hate crime and elevating what would normally be an aggravated misdemeanor to a felony.

Sentencing will be at a later date. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors said Shelton was staying at the Waterloo Baymont Inn on La Porte Road during a work trip when he painted "KKK" on the doors of a Ford 500 in the hotel parking lot.

The vehicle belonged to an African-American teen from Waterloo who was at the hotel to celebrate her friend's high school graduation.

Assistant County Attorney Charity Sullivan said Shelton targeted the teen's car because she had written a social justice message on the back window.

"He put KKK on a car that said Black Lives Matter," Sullivan said.

The incident happened June 4, 2020, during the height of racial justice protests across the county following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota.

The teen testified the letters were painted in an unknown substance  possibly silicone adhesive  that couldn't be washed off with soapy water or buffed out. The family couldn't afford to pay the $900 to $1,000 to have the doors professionally repainted.

The crime was investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the FBI.

Detectives recovered surveillance video showing Shelton parking his boom truck next to the Ford and lingering for several minutes with a passenger-side door open allegedly to shield what he was doing before pulling out and parking elsewhere.

Shelton denied damaging the car in an interview with an FBI agent a month later. But he remembered the car and claimed it also had messages stating "kill all white people" and "F the police," words the FBI agent said weren't there.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Mark Seda said the hotel's video system was motion-activated and the footage had multiple skips and gaps during the time the Ford was parked in the lot.

"The amount of missing footage is astonishing," Seda said.

He also said there were other people acting suspiciously around the car that police hadn't investigated.

Photos: Remembering George Floyd
JOLIET  Odai Alfayoumi struggled to find words Friday when asked how he is doing a month and a half after the death of his son, Wadee Alfayoumi, the Palestinian 6-year-old boy stabbed to death in Plainfield Township in what police call a hate crime.

What can I say, he told the Tribune. I lost my everything. My life. My son. My job. Everything.

Alfayoumi said he took off from work for 40 days to mourn and attend court cases after his sons death.

Nobody can wait 40 days, he said.

He is now driving for Uber. Many passengers recognize him and tell him they are sorry for his loss. The condolences make it hard to not think about his sons death and hard to work, he said.

Thats why I cannot do nothing, Alfayoumi said.

Last week, Alfayoumi filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Czuba, the man who allegedly killed his son. The father also named Czubas wife, Mary, and their company, Discerning Property Management, in the Nov. 21 filing, claiming the Czubas and their company are responsible for the fatal attack through intention and negligence.

Czuba, 72, allegedly attacked the boy and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 14, eight days after the boy celebrated his sixth birthday. Czuba, the womans landlord, had become deeply troubled by Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He stabbed Shaheen at her door before she escaped to a bathroom, according to police.

When she came out, she found her son had been stabbed 26 times, police said. The boy was pronounced dead at Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet.

Joseph Czuba faces ongoing criminal prosecution for the fatal attack. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 30 to murder, hate crime and assault charges as Alfayoumi watched a few feet behind him in the courtroom. A judge ordered Czuba detained before trial.

Alfayoumis attorney, Ben Crane, said he hopes the lawsuit will provide monetary compensation to help the family recover. Alfayoumi is seeking over $50,000 and demanded a jury trial.

Theres justice for people who do bad things, and theres justice for the people hurt by them, Crane said.

For Odai Alfayoumi, the lawsuit is an opportunity to ensure his family is cared for, Crane said.

He wants to protect his family as much as he can, the attorney said. He wasnt able to when this happened, and now he wants to make sure.

A closed LaunchGood fundraiser collecting money for the boys family raised $630,541.

Any money recovered from the lawsuit would help support Shaheens recovery and the familys needs, Crane said. However, identifying where money can be recovered from may pose a challenge, he added.

While Joseph Czuba could be held directly liable through his assets, Alfayoumi will likely need to prove the Czubas acted negligently to win money from their homeowners insurance policy and commercial insurance, Crane said.

The lawsuit alleges Mary Czuba texted Shaheen about her husbands hatred of Muslims on the day of the attack, according to a copy shared with the Tribune.

It also claims that, before the attack, Joseph Czuba told his wife Shaheens Palestinian friends would harm them and also said he wanted the mother and son out of the unit they rented.

Mary Czuba knew enough to take actions that might have prevented the attack, such as calling the police or health care providers, Crane said.

The fact that he was in this downward spiral or was harboring hateful feelings, talking about taking steps, that something was going to be happening, all of those things in my view would cause a reasonably careful person to take some steps, he said.

The parties are expected to appear in Will County court March 11, according to court records. The Czubas are not yet represented by an attorney, and Mary Czuba has filed to divorce Joseph Czuba, court records show.

Thousands attended the boys funeral in October, where many mourners likened his death to the deaths of children in Gaza killed by Israeli bombs. The funeral occurred across from an Islamic day school that temporarily closed the week of the attack after receiving a threatening letter.

This is a terrible thing, Crane said. This family lost a little boy. Theres nothing worse. Theres nothing worse.

The Tribune is using spellings of the name of the victim and his family provided by Odai Alfayoumi. Some of the spellings differ from previous spellings attributed to authorities and activists working with the family.

Photos: Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - File Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022
BLOOMINGTON  Six Bloomington High School musicians were nominated to participate in the 2024 Illinois Music Education Association All-State Music Ensembles in January.

Those students are Leo Halperin, Lydia Jennings, Rowan Loseke, Nick Sleevar, Gwen Suess and Nolan White. They will join 1,500 young musicians from across the state. They were selected from over 10,000 students statewide who participated in a competitive virtual audition process last fall.

Just over 7,000 students were chosen for ILMEA District Festivals, and the top 1,500 were nominated for the All-State Ensembles. Additionally, Celeste Price was selected to attend the conference as part of the Future Music Educator Seminar.

The All-State Ensembles will perform at the 2024 Illinois Music Education Conference in Peoria from Jan. 24-27. Students will work under renowned conductors and educators from across the country to prepare for a series of concerts.

Students will also be able to participate in a seminar for those interested in professional music education careers. The conference also hosts the ILMEA Competition Contest for students to present original compositions.

Over 12,000 students, educators, parents and industry leaders will attend the conference.

Visit ilmea.org for more information.

Photos: Intercity girls basketball tournament at Bloomington High School
Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the Wednesday, April 10, 2013, edition of The Pantagraph. It is being republished in light of O'Connor's death on Friday at age 93.

In a statement Friday afternoon, Eureka College President Jamel Wright said: "As our flag flies at half-mast today, we reflect on Justice O'Connor's remarkable achievements and honor her legacy of support for Eureka College. Notably, Justice OConnor was awarded with an honorary doctorate and received the distinction of an honorary Ronald Reagan Fellow when she spoke at convocation in April 2013.

"Justice OConnor also supported our fundraising efforts with various donor events at the 'OConnor House,' her former adobe home in Tempe, AZ that is part of the National Register of Historic Places, keeping our community close to her heart from across the country."

EUREKA  Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor advised young people Tuesday at Eureka College to find a forum for public service where you can contribute to the public good.

The first woman to serve on the nations highest court spoke on the topic of servant leadership during a convocation at the Reagan Physical Education Center. She also received an honorary doctor of laws degree and was named an honorary Ronald Reagan Fellow at dinner later that evening in the Cerf Center.

OConnor, 83, who was appointed by Eureka alumnus Ronald Reagan to the court in 1981, spoke about the presidents legacy, her work in educating middle school students on civics and the struggles and triumphs she had as a woman in leadership.

Referring to Reagan as one of my heroes, OConner credited him with engendering a sense of public spirit in the U.S. and encouraging people to dream heroic dreams.

OConnor recalled the day Reagan fulfilled his campaign promise to make his first pick for the Supreme Court a woman.

Id like to announce your name as nominee for the Supreme Court tomorrow. Is that OK with you? he said in a call to her.

OConnor said her appointment was not just about her, but about every woman and the opportunities all Americans have to serve their country.

She told the students that public service, no matter how small, is important for democracy to thrive. Serving on a jury without complaining or teaching in a public school are just as crucial as serving in a legislature or on the judicial bench, she said.

It may not always be fun, but it is fundamental, she said.

Her first foray into public service, however, was borne out of necessity.

She graduated in 1952 with a law degree from Stanford University, but no law firms would even interview her for a job because she was a woman. When she finally got an interview at a county law office, she was told they didnt have the money to hire her.

She volunteered to work for free until a position came open.

It was not easy in those days for a woman to get her foot in the door, she said.

Despite its importance, OConnor sees a lack of public spirit among Americans today. She blames this partly on the dismal lack of civics classes in public schools.

In 2006, the year she retired from the court, she launched icivic.org, a free online program aimed at middle school students. It uses video games to teach the fundamentals of how the U.S. government works.

Photos: Sandra Day O'Connor through the years
How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region.

100 years ago

Dec. 2, 1923: Action of the city council was taken to compel Illinois Central railroad to discontinue delaying traffic at the Oakland Avenue crossing, after Alderman Paxton told of complaints about delays. The police were directed to watch the crossing and cause the arrest of train men violating the city ordinance.

75 years ago

Dec. 2, 1948: A dinner to announce the beginning of Altrusa, a women's service club, will be held Thursday at Hotel Rogers, field representative Mrs. Eunice Cline of Springfield announced today. Mrs. Spencer Ewing and Mrs. Florence Fifer Bohrer have been invited as honored guests.

50 years ago

Dec. 2, 1973: "Judas," an original drama written and directed by ISU professor John W. Kirk, will open Thursday in Westhoff Theater at ISU. Kirk, who wrote the play while on sabbatical leave in London, has long been interested in the relationship between Jesus and Judas.

25 years ago

Dec. 2, 1998: Paul Gleason's "labor of love" for the past 18 months came to fruition with a book party celebrating the release of "Lincoln: A Pictorial History" at the Lincoln Depot as a kickoff to State Bank of Lincoln's 95th anniversary observance in 1999. Bank President Terry Brown said, "We are trying to do something special each year as the bank approaches its centennial in 2004. A pictorial history had never been done and it was a way to give something back to the community that has been so good to us."
The state is spending $3 million in an effort to recruit and retain more substance abuse counselors amid a surge in drug abuse and overdoses that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Counselors have been in short supply as the need has grown, according to state officials. Last year, there were 18,547 reported opioid-related drug overdoses in Illinois, of which 3,261 were fatal, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The number of overdoses represented a 17.5% increase since 2018 when there were 15,783 cases, the data show, while fatal overdoses have jumped by 50% with 2,167 that same year.

It makes it vital that somebody who goes into the field has evidence-based training on how to deal with those issues, said Chris Boyster, executive director of the Illinois Certification Board. If you are successful at knowing what youre going into, youll have successful outcomes.

The certification board is partnering with the states Department of Human Services to make more counselors, also known as Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Counselors, or CADCs, available to respond to the crisis and help addicts who are at-risk of harming themselves.

The state money will go toward expanding a program to recruit potential CADCs to help them with tuition payments, scholarships, internship stipends and other payments related to the training needed to get certified. The program also offers assistance with job placement, continuing education and credential renewal opportunities for existing CADCs.

In addition to providing emotional and psychological support, counselors are trained to help addicts manage their cravings and develop coping strategies to steer them away from bad habits, the certification board said.

The whole design of this program is to invest in retaining the field and growing the field, Boyster said.

Statistics show the availability of substance abuse counselors in Illinois has declined as the opioid crisis has worsened in recent years.

According to a 2019 report from a task force that examined the behavioral health workforce, Illinois had a below-national-average rate of 30 substance abuse disorder providers for every 1,000 adults identified as having such a disorder.

The report, commissioned by the Illinois General Assembly, also noted that according to the state Department of Human Services, the substance abuse disorder workforce was aging while the number of people entering the profession was decreasing.

The report showed that 56% of substance abuse disorder professionals certified through the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association were over 50. In addition, new certifications for CADCs  the most common credential for the field  dropped by a third from 2016 to 2019.

The number of CADC applicants has continued to drop, from around 400 a year in 2017 through 2019 to 364 in 2022, and the existing workforce is not sufficient to meet the demand for substance use service needs, according to IDHS.

Boyster said that in addition to counselors retiring, many are leaving the field after becoming emotionally burned out.

That goes again to the training, Boyster said. Youre going to be a lot more successful in addressing someones burnout if they go into the field equipped to handle what theyre going into.

Eight colleges or universities are participating in the CADC certification program: Aurora University, College of Lake County, Governors State University in University Park, Kennedy-King College in Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, University of St. Francis in Joliet, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and The Chicago School, which places an emphasis on professional psychology.

The funding will go to people who agree to enter the field for at least two years in Illinois once they get certified, according to IDHS.

Marcia Van Natta, a certified drug and alcohol abuse counselor and an instructor at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, said counselors face a number of challenges, from figuring out appropriate treatments to changing the mindsets of addicts.

The problem with drugs and alcohol is that its chemical-based. So, therefore, your body now craves it, said Van Natta, who also oversees DHS certified recovery support specialist grant program through the state certification board. So, you have the mental aspect, the emotional aspect and I call it the spiritual aspect as well because drugs and alcohol rob you of all of that.

The General Assembly passed bills related to drug education that were later signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. One measure requires all schools to maintain a supply of opioid antagonists, such as Narcan, while another requires high schools to provide instruction, study and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl beginning with the 2024-25 school year. Both new laws going into effect Jan. 1.

In Cook County, about 73% of the opioid overdose deaths since 2015 have involved fentanyl, a powerful painkiller that, according to law enforcement, has been known to be mixed with other opioids like heroin that are sold on the street.

Van Natta said recruiting and training counselors, as well as re-training those already in the field, is key to saving lives.

There are a lot of different clinicians out there...who dont recognize that substance abuse disorders are specific, Van Natta said. So, the education needs to be there to treat the individual for what they need. Its kind of like the doctor-specialist kind of thing. And thats what I hope that this (state funding) will promote because it is desperately needed.

Photos: Pritzker Military Archives Center
Shootings on our city streets are always unnerving. Multiple incidents within a week's time even more so.

Worst of all, in three shooting incidents in a week, all the victims were teenagers. A teenager was arrested in connection with one of the shootings. Police are indicating the shootings were not connected.

Nationwide, gun violence remains the number one cause of death for children ages 1-19 at a rate of almost 5 in every 100,000. Black children are six times more likely to die from gun violence than their peers.

The number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the United States increased 50% between 2019 and 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

The gun death rate among children and teens  a measure that adjusts for changes in the nations population  rose from 2.4 fatalities per 100,000 minor residents in 2019 to 3.5 per 100,000 two years later, a 46% increase.

In 2021, Illinois was fourth in the U.S. in teen shooting deaths, trailing only Tennessee, Florida and California. Chicago, of course, accounts for a significant number of those deaths. But recent history shows us that no place is really safe. If someone is determined to use firearms, they're going to do it.

If there were an obvious and easy solution, we'd have employed it by now. The issue and its causes are complex and intertwined, and range from family, living conditions, income and substance abuse, just for starters.

Addressing this issue goes beyond legislative measures. We must also turn our attention to the social and emotional well-being of our youth. Teens today face unprecedented pressures, from academic stress to the challenges of navigating a complex and often tumultuous social landscape. Mental health resources and support systems must be made readily available and destigmatized, encouraging young people to seek help when needed.

Parents play a pivotal role in identifying warning signs and intervening when their children exhibit signs of distress or aggression.

The World Health Organization lists a number of programs that can help battle the issue, including:

life skills and social development programs designed to help children and adolescents manage anger, resolve conflict, and develop the necessary social skills to solve problems;

whole school approaches to violence prevention in educational facilities;

programs that support parents and teach positive parenting skills;

preschool programs that provide children with academic and social skills at an early age;

therapeutic approaches for youths at high risk of being involved in violence;

reducing access to alcohol;

interventions to reduce the harmful use of drugs;

restrictive firearm licensing;

community and problem-oriented policing;

interventions to reduce concentrated poverty and to upgrade urban environments.

Preventing youth violence requires a comprehensive approach that recognizes the strong correlation between rates of youth violence and economic inequalities.

Recognizing the concerns is the first step toward resolving them.

Anyone with information about either of the Bloomington shootings that hospitalized two 16-year-old boys should contact Detective Jordan Downing at 309-434-2587 or Jdowning@cityblm.org.

Those wishing to remain anonymous may contact the Crime and Intelligence Analysis Unit at 309-4542963 or at CIAU@cityblm.org.

Text messages can also be sent to 847411 with the word BPDTIPS, a space, and the tip information.
The Deputy Minister for Education in charge of TVET, Hon. Gifty Twum Ampofo, has stated that over 19,000 master craftsmen and apprentices have received training under Ghana TVET voucher projects.



The Ghana TVET voucher projects provide demand-driven training vouchers to CTVET-registered master craftspersons, their apprentices, and workers.



She said that there are 19,000 people who have benefited from this project since its introduction in 2017.



She said they have been able to do this with the support of the government of Ghana and the German government.



She added that by encouraging other people to participate in the next TVET voucher project, where the government has invested a lot of money, about 50,000 master craftsmen and apprentices will be trained.



The Deputy Minister for Education in charge of TVET made this known in an interview with Peace FM News during the Sector Skills Bodies media engagement organized by the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET).



Hon. Gifty Twum Ampofo therefore urged parents to encourage their children to be involved in the TVET project when they are placed in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and not to change their placements.



She said the Ministry of Education will introduce a dual TVET, including learning in the classroom and at the workplace.



The Director General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, also added that we have been talking a lot about the CTVET and TVET institutions and the Sector Skills Bodies also need to get the attention it need because they have to support and collaborate with the government to make their workplace available for training including media firm.

Source: Clinton Akwasi Amoako/Peace FM News









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 Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP) which is under the Ghana Education Service, has transitioned a total number of 17, 340 pupils into mainstream schools across the five regions of the North in six districts and 300 communities after taking the children through a six-month accelerated learning programme in March this year.



About 7,336 out of the 17,340 pupils were transitioned in the Savelugu municipality of the Northern region.



The 17,340 pupils were also supported with free school uniforms.



The GEOP is aimed at supporting out-of-school children at the age of eight to 16 years, to reintegrate them into Ghanas formal Education system and improve learning outcomes in primary schools and is also the first of its kind in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.



The programme is being implemented by Plan Ghana International, School for Life and Ghana Transformed Partnership Consortium.



Speaking at the launch of the project to formally transition the school children into the formal Ghana Education Service system at Savelugu in the Northern Region, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Education Mrs. Maamle Andrews pleaded with all stakeholders including traditional leaders to continue to join hands to strengthen the partnership with the ministry of education and other stakeholders to ensure that the children take their studies seriously and stay in school to be able to complete the full course of their school.



She was optimistic that their role as traditional leaders in the communities would ensure massive progress in the lives of the children and bring an end to the out-of-school children syndrome.



Mrs Maamle indicated that the project will bring significant improvement in the livelihoods of the children.



The National Coordinator of the Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP), Hajia Fatima Nana High expressed excitement about the progress of the project and encouraged the children to stay in school to have a full benefit of the programme.



The Northern Regional Education Director of the Ghana Education Service, Hajia Kusumi Nantogmah on her part said the GEOP project has so far equipped children with literacy skills and that it is paving way for a brighter future.



She noted that the programme has also played a pivotal role in boosting the confidence of learning, particularly among the girls.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Syrian heritage display opens dialogue on Silk Road trade

Xinhua) 11:10, December 02, 2023

YINCHUAN, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A blue-and-white porcelain bottle from Syria reminds the audience at a northwestern Chinese museum of the active civilizational exchanges along the ancient Silk Road.

Dating to the Mamluk Period (1250-1517), the ceramic bottle was made by local artisans using Chinese techniques. It has pictures of a peacock, flowers and trees drawn in clear Chinese painting styles.

The bottle is strikingly similar in design to a Chinese counterpart at the Ningxia Museum: a brown glazed ceramic vase with flower patterns dating to the Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227) and discovered in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

"The closeness of these ancient ceramics in Syria and Ningxia is one example of close exchanges between China and the West Asian region up to the Mediterranean in ancient times," said Wang Yi, head of the display department of the Ningxia Museum.

"Many relics unearthed here have also been proven to be imports from Persia, Iraq and Syria, and even the Eastern Roman Empire," said Wang.

At a parallel exhibition of ancient Ningxia heritage at the museum, one can see a long-necked glass bottle and a glass hanging bottle, believed to have been imported from West Asia during the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907).

"The earliest glass relic unearthed in Ningxia is a 6th-century glass plate from Persia," Wang said.

A total of 97 pieces or sets of cultural relics from Syria, including stoneware, bronzeware and statues, are currently on display at the Ningxia Museum in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia. Several cultural relics unearthed in Ningxia are also displayed to shed light on the cultural and trade exchanges between China and Syria in history.

"China and Syria enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges. This exhibition provides an important window through which visitors can appreciate the splendid history and civilization of Syria up close, and experience the exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations," said Tan Ping, director of Art Exhibitions China, which co-hosted the exhibition with the Ningxia regional government.

Su Xiaomei, a local historian with the Guyuan Museum of Ningxia, whose relics are also on display at the Ningxia Museum, said, "This exhibition also offers a chance to hold dialogue on the role of the Silk Road in building over 2,000 years of exchanges between the people of China and Syria, which is more significant considering the Belt and Road Initiative of modern time."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Amazon and its consultants have been found to have violated federal labor law by engaging in interrogations, threats, and racial disparagement of organizers seeking to unionize a Staten Island warehouse, according to a ruling by a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge. The judge, Lauren Esposito, determined that Amazon committed multiple violations at its JFK8 warehouse between May and October 2021. This period coincided with increased organizing activities, leading to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S., the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).

Alleged Violations

Employees at JFK8 voted to join ALU in April 2022, but negotiations for a contract with Amazon have been ongoing since then. After almost a year of virtual hearings, the NLRB judge found that Amazon confiscated organizing pamphlets, conducted surveillance of organizing activities, and retaliated against an employee supporting the union at a neighboring facility. The judge concluded that Amazon had broken labor laws when it retaliated against a worker who helped the league by altering his work assignments and sending him home early at a nearby facility. Packages were sorted by the worker, Daequan Smith, at DYY6, a delivery station located across the street from JFK8.

Workers Interrogation

The ruling also highlighted a violation of labor laws when a consultant hired by Amazon, Bradley Moss, allegedly threatened employees, discouraging them from voting to join ALU. Such "union avoidance" consultants are commonly employed by companies as "persuaders" to dissuade workers from unionizing. According to a Huffington Post report in March, the company spent $14 million on anti-union consultants in 2022, citing disclosure forms filed with the Department of Labor. The ruling requires Amazon to post notices at its JFK8 and DYY6 facilities, reminding workers of their rights and compensating affected employees for any loss of earnings and benefits.

READ ALSO: Dealing with Workplace Bullying: 5 Ways to Stop It

Additionally, the judgment revealed an exchange where the consultant, Moss, allegedly referred to the union campaign in Bessemer, Alabama, as not a "serious union drive" but a "Black Lives Matter protest about social injustice." This comment and other violations underscore the challenges surrounding Amazon's labor practices, which have faced increased scrutiny amid growing union organizing efforts.

Amazon Under Spotlight

Moss or an Amazon representative did not immediately answer a request for comment.

In April 2021, BHM1 employees cast ballots opposing union membership in the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union; however, the election results were voided when the NLRB discovered that Amazon had improperly manipulated the vote. Although there was a rerun election last year, the results are still too close to call.

According to the NLRB, Amazon has been under the spotlight for its labor practices and conduct around union elections, with 240 open or settled unfair labor practice charges across 26 states. The company has also clashed with Chris Smalls, a former Amazon employee and one of the leaders of ALU. A leaked memo obtained by Vice revealed David Zapolsky, Amazon's general counsel, had referred to Smalls, a Black man, as "not smart or articulate." It recommended making him "the face" of efforts to organize workers.

Amazon continues to contest the JFK8 election results, the union's actions during the drive, and the NLRB. The organization maintained the election results in January.

RELATED ARTICLE: Communication is One of the Biggest Challenges as a Leader - Fito Salume

 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare and members of the Police Management Board on Wednesday held a police open day for Pupils of Joyhil International School based in Fise-Amasaman as part of the "Snatch Them Young Policing Initiative at the Police headquarters.



As part of the engagement, the pupils were taken around the police headquarters where they had the opportunity view and ask questions about some of the equipment the police use in their operations.



The IGP and his team also held a forum for the children where they were allowed to ask questions about the police and basic security. The leadership of the police took turns to answer the questions and also educate the pupils on their role in ensuring security in their communities.



The STYPI which started in Accra on September 12, 2023, with students from the Police Depot Cluster of Schools in Tesano aims at instilling security awareness in children and fostering their appreciation of the police forces work. The campaign intends to bolster childrens confidence in the polices mission to prevent and solve crimes, apprehend wrongdoers, and maintain public order and safety



It is expected to expand its reach to schools and communities across the country, with a focus on nurturing positive relationships between the Police and the nations youth.

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 President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has called on the international community, both public and private, to partner with Ghana to implement its Country Package under the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP), dubbed Resilient Ghana: Advancing Climate Action for Prosperity. He said the urgency to implement forest solutions to tackle climate change, required that the world comes together, to mobilise support for nature-positive action.



The President made the call at a high level event at the ongoing twenty-eighth Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where he announced Ghanas Country Package.



It will be recalled that at COP26 in Glasgow, world leaders adopted the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. At COP27 in Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt, Ghana joined the United Kingdom to launch the FCLP as a vehicle to deliver on the ambitious target of the Glasgow Leaders Declaration. The Country Packages is an initiative of the FCLP to design, develop and implement an integrated system-wide wholistic suit of interventions to address Forest Landscape Restoration, according to each countrys Nationally Determined Contributions.



Since the launch of the FCLP, Ghana has been working on this Country Package, which was socialised broadly on the sidelines of New York Climate Week in September, 2023, in a workshop which had in attendance a number of partners, including the World Bank, the Tony Blair Institute, Bezos Earth Fund, the Governments of the USA, UK, Norway, Singapore. The Package is hinged on three (3) main pillars, namely, advancing nature-based industrialisation and sustainable rural development; building an inclusive green economy with future-fit green jobs and nature-based alternative livelihoods; and scaling climate ambition. It is estimated that the Country Package will transform forest landscape economy with a ripple effect on the macro-economy by generating some Twelve Billion US Dollars (US$12,000,000,000.00) by 2030, through scaling compliance and voluntary carbon markets, promoting sustainable oil palm and cocoa farming models, restoring degraded forest lands and promoting eco-tourism.







Announcing the details of the Country Package, President Akufo-Addo said Resilient Ghana is a vision to strengthen Ghanas economy, protect and restore her abundant forests, meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost cocoa production, position the country as a global leader in sustainable timber, andscale up tourism potential, while creating jobs and livelihoods for people.



He said the worlds forests have over the years, been undervalued and under-protected, and the launch of the FCLP signified the urgency of accelerating action to halt and reverse forest loss. According to the President, through the Country Package, Ghana will showcase how to transform the forest sector and strengthen the economy in tandem. This will be achieved, through strategies, such as building a strong foundation to access international carbon markets, strengthening agricultural and mining practices, promoting aggressive afforestation and reforestation programme, and reinforcing the enabling conditions for a just transition.



The Country Package will be implemented with partners from both Government and the private sector, including the Governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States of America (USA), Singapore and Canada. Already, UAE has committed to support the Package with Thirty Million US Dollars (US$30,000,000.00). The UAE High Level Champion on COP28, H.E. Razan Al-Mubarak, commended Ghana on her leadership on forests, climate and nature, adding that the UAE is pleased to deepen our bilateral cooperation with Ghana by joining the Country Package for Forests, Nature and Climate and supporting development of sustainable agriculture forest restoration, ecosystem services and sustainable livelihoods for local communities.



The United States Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, Secretary John Kerry, in a goodwill message said The United States is pleased to join partners in Resilient Ghana in supporting Ghana's ambitious efforts to halt deforestation and restore 2 million ha of degraded lands. On her part, the Minister for Sustainability and Environment of Singapore, H.E. Ms. Grace Fu, said Singapore will continue to work with Ghana to operationalise and implement this initiative.



World leaders are meeting in Dubai, UAE, to discuss measures to halt climate change and its devastating consequences on lives and livelihoods. The Conference, which begun on Thursday, November 30, is expected to run until Tuesday, December 12, 2023, with several countries making new commitments towards halting climate change.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Statement By The Majority Caucus On The Approval of The 2024 Budget Statement And Economic Policy of Government



Following the conclusion of the debate on the budget yesterday, the Speaker, as per the established protocol of the House, was to put the question regarding the approval of the policy and principles underpinning the budget.



After a period of deliberation, the Speaker posed the question and announced that the "ayes" had it. Subsequently, the Deputy Minority Leader, Armah Kofi-Buah, rose on account of Order 113(2) to contest what he (Mr. Armah Kofi-Buah)

deemed a ruling by the Rt Hon. Speaker.



As a result of the challenge, he called for a headcount. This prompted an intervention from the Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader. They raised procedural issues in respect of the application brought before the Speaker.



Despite the procedural objections raised, the Speaker declined to acknowledge these concerns and expressed his intention to proceed with a headcount as demanded. At this juncture, the leadership of the majority caucus insisted on

their readiness to submit to the headcount that was being sought.



The headcount, a process where members indicate "aye" or "no" to be counted, typically takes approximately 10 minutes. The results are then tallied by table officers and presented to the Speaker, who announces the outcome.



Instead of sticking to the request of the headcount, the Speaker then said that he was drawing the attention of the House to the possibility of resorting to a division, and indeed, the Speaker then called for a division. This came as a

surprise to Members of the Majority Caucus, since no such application for a division had been presented to the Speaker.



The decision to call for a division was certainly not the initial application. Leadership of the Majority, -well aware that under our rules, being absent during a headcount disqualifies a member from being recorded present, whereas in a division, absent members who rush in can be counted as participants, even if they were not present when the question was initially put-moved to halt this process that would have allowed some of the minority MPs who were outside Accra at the time to be able to proceed to Parliament to be counted, even though the Majority was fully aware that it was not going to give minority any advantage.



This departure from the call for a headcount generated heat and was set to frustrate government business; at the same time undermining the sanctity of the parliamentary processes.



Since 1993, Parliament has never resorted to a division in making decisions. The majority concluded the choice for a division was unfair under the circumstance, leading to their decision to stage a walkout.



It is essential to note that despite the Speaker's indication that the "ayes" had prevailed and despite a petition presented to him, a petition that hadn't followed due process, the Speaker's initial ruling on the "ayes" retaining their advantage stands.



Consequently, the budget has been duly passed until the appeal for a headcount is dealt with, not the division that the Speaker had called.



Signed

Deputy Majority Leader

Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin





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The National Headquarters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was yesterday afternoon literally turned upside down following an attack on the place by a horde of angry-looking party supporters.



The attack left in its trail broken glasses and damaged property.



Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that the party supporters were on a mission to vent their anger over the disqualification of a certain candidate for the Odododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra Region. Michael Nii Yarboi had his hopes of contesting the constituency as a candidate dashed when he was disqualified by the partys vetting committee.



The move did not go down well with the candidate and his supporters, whose response was what unfolded the part of Adabraka in Accra where the plush headquarters of the party is located.



For those who witnessed pictures and videos of the party supporters who brandished an yassortment of weapons when they went to the residence of the flagbearer of the party, John Dramani Mahama to undertake a cleanup exercise, the resemblance between the two scenes was striking.



The destructive supporters of Michael Nii Yarboi, the disqualified aspiring parliamentary candidate in the Odododiodio Constituency, were in no mood to calm down until their mission was accomplished.



As they continued the rampage, residents and workers in the nearby houses and offices feasted their eyes with the unfolding drama.



Motorists however endured the inconveniences of being patient, so their vehicles did not suffer damages from the resultant rampage.



The garbage heaped on the facade of the headquarters was akin to the shit-bombing days of NDC politics when human faecal matter was dumped on the premises of some newspaper houses.



Some of the supporters hurled bricks at the glassy parts of the headquarters for maximum damage.



It would appear that the Functional Executive Committees (FEC) statement yesterday disqualifying Michael Nii Yarboi from contesting in the partys upcoming parliamentary primary in the Odododiodio Constituency triggered the mayhem.



The decision to disqualify Michael Nii Yarboi was premised on a report submitted by the Special Committee assigned to investigate the violence that occurred at Odododiodio Constituency during the vetting of parliamentary aspirants held on October 13, 2023.



Some of the rampaging supporters said they want an MP called Don, but who has been knocked out of the race.



The person, they claimed, has been engaged in philanthropic work in the community as evidenced in his sponsorship of students in various levels of education.



The police intervened to restore normalcy but not before the destruction caused by the incensed party supporters.



The opposition party is credited with a chain of undisciplined conduct in recent times, some of which had journalists caught in the crossfire.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Almost half of marine mammals around the UK are being poisoned by banned chemicals.

The compounds, once used in pesticides, flame retardants and coolants, are having significant impacts on the health and reproduction of the animals.

The UK's whales and dolphins are full of toxinsand it might only get worse.

Despite many being banned almost 20 years ago, levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) remain high in the oceans. In fact, these chemicals may breach safe limits in as many as half of all marine mammals living around the UK, based on a new study of stranded animals.

While the researchers found that levels of six key POPs are declining, they're concerned that the chemicals currently contained in coastal landfill sites could increasingly leak out as flooding, extreme weather and coastal erosion are enhanced by climate change.

Dr. Rosie Williams, the lead author of the study at the Zoological Society of London, says, "This is a huge wake-up call. It's been over 20 years since several of these chemicals were banned globally, yet we still see concerningly high concentrations in wildlife."

"We need to act now, learn from our past mistakes and employ stronger, science-backed measures to curb pollution. Ambitious and urgent action is required and by beginning today we can start mitigating the profound impact that chemical pollution continues to have on marine life."

The findings of the research were published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The problem with POPs

Many POPs were first developed in the twentieth century as part of a new wave of synthetic chemicals. At the time, they were seen as groundbreaking new compounds which could be used in stronger pesticides, longer lasting paint, and more fire-resistant furniture.

However, the same properties that made these chemicals so useful came at a cost: they are highly toxic and do not easily break down in nature. Over time, these chemicals leached into our soil, air and rivers, eventually making their way into the ocean.

"These toxins are initially taken up by plankton at the bottom of the food chain," Rosie explains. "Unable to be broken down or excreted, these persistent chemicals increase in concentration the further up the food chain they go in a process known as biomagnification."

"As apex predators, many marine mammal species consume large amounts of toxins every time they feed, making them some of the most contaminated wildlife species."

While the effects of these chemicals vary, they are unfailingly harmful. As they build up in the body's fats, they can damage the reproductive system, the immune system, and hormonal cycles.

When this was recognized in the 1970s, countries began to introduce rules on their use. However, it wasn't until 2004 that the Stockholm convention came into force which bans or restricts the production and use of the most damaging compounds.

Despite this, the staying power of these chemicals means that marine mammals will remain vulnerable to their impacts for many years to come. Though no death of a marine mammal has ever been directly linked to pollution, the chemicals continue to provide another threat to animals already under pressure from fishing bycatch, noise pollution and climate change.

Every year hundreds of marine mammals end up dying after becoming stranded on the coast of the UK. Many of these animals are reported to the UK's Cetacean Strandings Investigation Program, who investigate the events which led up to their death.

As a result of this work, the team have toxicology samples dating back more than 30 years. This is allowing researchers to reveal what impact the pollutants are still having on marine mammals.

What did the strandings data reveal?

One of the clearest examples of the effect these chemicals can be found off the north coast of Scotland. The UK's only resident orca population lives here, a group of four males and four females.

However, you'll find no calves among them. In fact, no calf has been born to the pod in more than 20 years, which may be a result of them being highly contaminated with particular POPs known as PCBs which have an impact on reproduction.

Andrew Baillie, the cetacean stranding officer at the Natural History Museum, says, "The UK's resident orcas are massively overburdened with toxins. In fact, they contain levels of PCBs as much as 30 times higher than the point at which they start to have negative health effects."

"Orcas are probably at greater risk than other species because they eat seals, which are already very contaminated in their own right, and because they live for a long time."

In fact, PCBs were the most abundant POP found in the study. From 2014 to 2018, 48% of animals had levels of this chemical higher than the point where it starts to have noticeable effects on hormones and the immune system.

Many of these animals were bottlenose dolphins, which have to contend with a historic legacy of pollution in the area they call home.

"Many bottlenose dolphins live in the southwest of the UK," Andrew says. "Historically, there used to be a factory in Newport which manufactured PCBs and released them into the Bristol Channel, meaning that these animals are more saturated with these chemicals than those living elsewhere."

Over half of bottlenose dolphins were also over a critical level of DDT, a pesticide that is known to harm the immune system of mammals. However, sperm whales appeared to be most affected by this chemical, being the only species where DDT was the most abundant POP in their body.

A cleaner future?

While the findings present a concerning future for the UK's marine mammals, there were a few reasons for hope. Though levels of POPs remain high in the oceans, their concentration in wildlife appears to be in decline.

"Persistent organic pollutants are, by their very nature, persistent," Andrew says. Once they've been created, they're out there in the environment and they're very hard to get rid of."

"However, more recent strandings contain a lower amount of these chemicals than animals from 30 years ago. Some of that decline might be because these chemicals are now dispersing more widely, having been banned."

"It shows that, with concrete action, we can make a difference to our environment and help these marine mammals."

Despite this progress, the scientists remain concerned that leaks of existing POPs and newly developed chemicals could set this progress back. They're calling for urgent action to improve pollution control measures, and to phase out the non-essential use of hazardous chemicals as soon as possible.

"The global costs associated with environmental chemical exposure, such as medical treatment, has been estimated to be around 10% of the entire world's GDP," Rosie says. "This means there's a huge economic incentive to address this problem now."

"Tackling the issue of chemical pollution will not only protect the environment and our wildlife, but will also protect humans too."

At the same time, it will also be vital for the strandings program to continue its research on the current condition of the UK's marine mammals. If you spot a dead whale, dolphin, seal, marine turtle or large shark in England and Wales, you should report it by emailing strandings@nhm.ac.uk or calling 0800 6520 333.

More information: Rosie S. Williams et al, Spatiotemporal Trends Spanning Three Decades Show Toxic Levels of Chemical Contaminants in Marine Mammals, Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c01881 Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology

This story is republished courtesy of Natural History Museum. Read the original story here.
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 image shows the distribution of matter in space - (blue; the yellow dots represent individual galaxies). The Milky Way (green) lies in an area with little matter. The galaxies in the bubble move in the direction of the higher matter densities (red arrows). The universe therefore appears to be expanding faster inside the bubble. Credit: AG Kroupa/University of Bonn

The universe is expanding. How fast it does so is described by the so-called Hubble-Lemaitre constant. But there is a dispute about how big this constant actually is: Different measurement methods provide contradictory values.

This so-called "Hubble tension" poses a puzzle for cosmologists. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and St. Andrews are now proposing a new solution: Using an alternative theory of gravity, the discrepancy in the measured values can be easily explainedthe Hubble tension disappears. The study has now been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

The expansion of the universe causes the galaxies to move away from each other. The speed at which they do this is proportional to the distance between them. For instance, if galaxy A is twice as far away from Earth as galaxy B, its distance from us also grows twice as fast. The US astronomer Edwin Hubble was one of the first to recognize this connection.

In order to calculate how fast two galaxies are moving away from each other, it is, therefore, necessary to know how far apart they are. However, this also requires a constant by which this distance must be multiplied. This is the so-called Hubble-Lemaitre constant, a fundamental parameter in cosmology. Its value can be determined, for example, by looking at the very distant regions of the universe. This gives a speed of almost 244,000 kilometers per hour per megaparsec distance (one megaparsec is just over three million light-years).

244.000 kilometers per hour per megaparsecor 264,000?

"But you can also look at celestial bodies that are much closer to usso-called category 1a supernovae, which are a certain type of exploding star," explains Prof. Dr. Pavel Kroupa from the Helmholtz Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn. It is possible to determine the distance of a 1a supernova to Earth very precisely. We also know that shining objects change color when they move away from usand the faster they move, the stronger the change. This is similar to an ambulance, whose siren sounds deeper as it moves away from us.

If we now calculate the speed of the 1a supernovae from their color shift and correlate this with their distance, we arrive at a different value for the Hubble-Lemaitre constantnamely, just under 264,000 kilometers per hour per megaparsec distance. "The universe, therefore, appears to be expanding faster in our vicinitythat is, up to a distance of around three billion light yearsthan in its entirety," says Kroupa. "And that shouldn't really be the case."

However, there has recently been an observation that could explain this. According to this, the Earth is located in a region of space where there is relatively little mattercomparable to an air bubble in a cake. The density of matter is higher around the bubble. Gravitational forces emanate from this surrounding matter, which pulls the galaxies in the bubble toward the edges of the cavity. "That's why they are moving away from us faster than would actually be expected," explains Dr. Indranil Banik from St. Andrews University. The deviations could, therefore simply be explained by a local "under-density."

In fact, another research group recently measured the average speed of a large number of galaxies that are 600 million light years away from us. "It was found that these galaxies are moving away from us four times faster than the standard model of cosmology allows," explains Sergij Mazurenko from Kroupa's research group, who was involved in the current study.

Bubble in the dough of the universe

This is because the standard model does not provide for such under-densities or "bubbles"they should not actually exist. Instead, matter should be evenly distributed in space. If this were the case, however, it would be difficult to explain which forces propel the galaxies to their high speed.

"The standard model is based on a theory of the nature of gravity put forward by Albert Einstein," says Kroupa. "However, the gravitational forces may behave differently than Einstein expected." The working groups from the Universities of Bonn and St. Andrews have used a modified theory of gravity in a computer simulation.

This "modified Newtonian dynamics" (abbreviation: MOND) was proposed four decades ago by the Israeli physicist Prof. Dr. Mordehai Milgrom. It is still considered an outsider theory today. "In our calculations, however, MOND does accurately predict the existence of such bubbles," says Kroupa.

If one were to assume that gravity actually behaves according to Milgrom's assumptions, the Hubble tension would disappear: There would actually only be one constant for the expansion of the universe, and the observed deviations would be due to irregularities in the distribution of matter.

More information: Sergij Mazurenko et al, A simultaneous solution to the Hubble tension and observed bulk flow within 250 h1 Mpc, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2023). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad3357 Journal information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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:

LHS 3154b, a newly discovered massive planet that should be too big to exist. Credit: Pennsylvania State University

Imagine you're a farmer searching for eggs in the chicken coopbut instead of a chicken egg, you find an ostrich egg, much larger than anything a chicken could lay.

That's a little how our team of astronomers felt when we discovered a massive planet, more than 13 times heavier than Earth, around a cool, dim red star, nine times less massive than Earth's sun, earlier this year.

The smaller star, called an M star, is not only smaller than the sun in Earth's solar system, but it's 100 times less luminous. Such a star should not have the necessary amount of material in its planet-forming disk to birth such a massive planet.

The Habitable Zone Planet Finder

Over the past decade, our team designed and built a new instrument at Penn State capable of detecting the light from these dim, cool stars at wavelengths beyond the sensitivity of the human eyein the near-infraredwhere such cool stars emit most of their light.

Attached to the 10-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope in West Texas, our instrument, dubbed the Habitable Zone Planet Finder, can measure the subtle change in a star's velocity as a planet gravitationally tugs on it. This technique, called the Doppler radial velocity technique, is great for detecting exoplanets.

"Exoplanet" is a combination of the words extrasolar and planet, so the term applies to any planet-sized body in orbit around a star that isn't Earth's sun.

Thirty years ago, Doppler radial velocity observations enabled the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first known exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star. In the ensuing decades, astronomers like us have improved this technique. These increasingly more precise measurements have an important goal: to enable the discovery of rocky planets in habitable zones, the regions around stars where liquid water can be sustained on the planetary surface.

The Doppler technique doesn't yet have the capabilities to discover habitable zone planets the mass of the Earth around stars the size of the sun. But the cool and dim M stars show a larger Doppler signature for the same Earth-size planet. The lower mass of the star leads to it getting tugged more by the orbiting planet. And the lower luminosity leads to a closer-in habitable zone and a shorter orbit, which also makes the planet easier to detect.

An artists rendering of LHS 3154b. Credit: Abby Minnich

Planets around these smaller stars were the planets our team designed the Habitable Zone Planet Finder to discover. Our new discovery, published in the journal Science, of a massive planet orbiting closely around the cool dim M star LHS 3154the ostrich egg in the chicken coopcame as a real surprise.

LHS 3154b: The planet that should not exist

Planets form in disks composed of gas and dust. These disks pull together dust grains that grow into pebbles and eventually combine to form a solid planetary core. Once the core is formed, the planet can gravitationally pull in the solid dust, as well as surrounding gas such as hydrogen and helium. But it needs a lot of mass and materials to do this successfully. This way to form planets is called core accretion.

A star as low mass as LHS 3154, nine times less massive than the sun, should have a correspondingly low-mass planet forming disk.

A typical disk around such a low-mass star should simply not have enough solid materials or mass to be able to make a core heavy enough to create such a planet. From computer simulations our team conducted, we concluded that such a planet needs a disk at least 10 times more massive than typically assumed from direct observations of planet-forming disks.

A different planet formation theory, gravitational instabilitywhere gas and dust in the disk undergo a direct collapse to form a planetalso struggles to explain the formation of such a planet without a very massive disk.

Planets around the most common stars

Cool, dim M stars are the most common stars in our galaxy. In DC comics lore, Superman's home world, planet Krypton, orbited an M dwarf star.

Astronomers know, from discoveries made with Habitable Zone Planet Finder and other instruments, that giant planets in close-in orbits around the most massive M stars are at least 10 times rarer than those around Sunlike stars. And we know of no such massive planets in close orbits around the least massive M starsuntil the discovery of LHS 3154b.

Understanding how planets form around our coolest neighbors will help us understand both how planets form in general and how rocky worlds around the most numerous types of stars form and evolve. This line of research could also help astronomers understand whether M stars are capable of supporting life.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Nuclear push: US climate envoy John Kerry.

More than 20 nations including the United States called for a tripling of nuclear energy to drive down emissions on Saturday as world leaders assembled for a second day at UN climate talks in Dubai.

With smoggy skies in Dubai highlighting the challenges facing the world, other pledges are expected at the COP28 conference, including stepping up the deployment of renewable energy and cutting methane emissions.

The use of nuclear power as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is highly controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.

But more than 20 nations ranging from the US to Ghana, Japan and several European countries said in a declaration that it plays a "key role" in the global goal of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century.

They called for the tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels.

"We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source," US climate envoy John Kerry said at the COP28 conference in Dubai.

"But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can't get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear," he said.

The other signatories include Britain, France, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, but nuclear powers Russia and China did not sign up.

South Korean activists protest at Japan's plan to release wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

Environmental group 350.org said the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 in Japan highlighted the dangers of atomic power.

"While we appreciate that the Biden administration is looking to invest in alternatives to fossil fuels, we don't have time to waste on dangerous distractions like nuclear energy," said its North American director Jeff Ordower.

Methane 'most destructive'

The declaration came as more world leaders took the stage at COP28 for the second day in a row, though US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are skipping the talks.

"We want to make the energy transition a global success story. It has to be now," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

"We all have to demonstrate the same determination to phase out fossil fuels, beginning with coal," he said.

Nations at the COP28 talks are also expected to adopt a goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030.

Methane, often from farm animals, is the second biggest contributor to climate change.

The European Union first appealed for the new targets earlier this year, and the cause has since been taken up by COP28 hosts the UAE, then the G7 and G20 groups of nations.

The discussions about the renewables goal are closely linked to far more difficult negotiations about whether a final COP28 deal will commit nations to phasing downor phasing outall fossil fuels.

The United States and China, the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and the UAE will host later Saturday a summit on methane emissions.

Methane, a non-CO 2 gas, is the second largest contributor to climate change, accounting for around 16 percent of the warming effect.

China agreed for the first time to include all greenhouse gases in its next national climate pledge for 2035 in an agreement with the US last month.

But Beijing has stopped short of joining a US-backed Global Methane Pledge that has been signed by more than 150 countries and seeks to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.

Methane "is the most destructive gas", Kerry said.

 2023 AFP
The government on Saturday posthumously conferred a state medal on late Ven. Jaseung, a former leader of South Korea's largest Buddhist order, Jogye, in recognition of his decadeslong service in the Buddhist community.

Culture Minister Yu In-chon awarded a Mugunhwa Medal of the Order of Civil Merit to the deceased during his visit to the Jogye Temple in central Seoul, where a memorial altar has been set up to pay tribute to the late monk.

The Mugunghwa Medal is the highest of five medals that make up the Order of Civil Merit.

The government said it recognized Ven. Jaseung's service in stabilizing Buddhism in the country, developing traditional Buddhist culture, harmonizing religious communities and promoting social integration.

"We thought that he deserves to be given (a state medal) as Venerable Jaseung has done great work in the Buddhist community and played a role as a prominent senior monk," Yu said.

Later in the day, President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee visited the altar, his office said.

The president and the deceased previously met several times.

Ven. Jaseung, who served as president of the Jogye Order from 2009 to 2017, was found dead at a burnt dormitory at a temple in Anseong, south of Seoul, Wednesday, in an apparent self-immolation, or a Buddhist practice of burning oneself alive as an offering to Buddha.

Police discovered several notes in the monk's car that implied he was about to end his life. (Yonhap)
Cannabis could be coming to Hudson Falls from local entrepreneur Belinda McPhee of McPhees Candy Shop.

McPhee recently submitted a site plan to the Hudson Falls planning board for a re-branding of her Candy Shop, that would turn the store into a legal cannabis dispensary. The proposed name of the new store is High Society Dispensary, and would be in the same location of the candy shop, 345 Main Street, Hudson Falls, N.Y. Currently, the candy shop, sells candy, tobacco and CBD products.

In her application to the planning board, McPhee described the action as an addition of partition walls so that the old candy shop can be used as a dispensary. All non-load bearing to create additional spaces inside. No outside changes.

When asked why it was important to expand to cannabis, McPhee told The Post Start that is was so the distribution in the community would be safer.

Itd be in a business and not on the streetit can be regulated, McPhee said.

She said that this dispensary, if approved, would be for recreational cannabis, not medicinal.

Anybody that is in need that cant [get it medicinally] will still be able to get it recreationally, McPhee said.

The Planning Board of Hudson Falls will be holding a public hearing for the proposal on Dec. 18at 6 p.m., where locals can voice their support for or objections against the changes.

Plans for the proposal are available to review at Village Hall, 220 Main Street, Hudson Falls, New York during regular business hours.
TICONDEROGA  To commemorate the noble train of artillery, the expedition carried out by Henry Knox, which brought heavy artillery to the frontlines of Boston during the start of the American revolution in 1775, Fort Ticonderoga will recreate how Knox and his team prepared for that epic journey.

Well have our oxens, Mick and Mack, hauling cannons in and out of the fort,...Well have a recreated officers quartersWell have carpentry going on, explained Stuart Lilie, vice president of public history for Fort Ticonderoga. So its as close to what we can recreate as far as what it would be like to step back into December 1775.

As George Washington fought to drive the British out of Boston, Knox and his team traveled to Fort Ticonderoga to retrieve the cache of cannons and armaments that had been captured earlier that year.

It was actually the potential guns and other military stores that had been the reason for Fort Ticonderogas capture back in May of 1775, Lilie said.

Traditionally in those days, military activity slowed during the winter months, but the innovative continental army took advantage of the lull to shore up its forces in preparation for fighting to resume in the spring. It was a bold strategy which required immense planning and expert execution to achieve.

The feat of it, that Henry Knox achieved, its hard to make it seem dramatic in some ways, Lilie conceded. But its really good administrative work.

Although the expedition took much longer than Knox anticipated and was far from smooth sailing, the artillery made it to Massachusetts in January, 1776. On March 4, the cannons were moved into position at the top of Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city of Boston and the harbor. On March 6, British General William Howe gave the order for the British forces to evacuate in what is known as the Siege of Boston.

On Dec. 16, the staff and more than 30 volunteers at Fort Ticonderoga will reenact the events leading to Knoxs departure for this crucial delivery.

The immersive, living-history experience will give visitors a glimpse into what life was like nearly 250 years ago at the exact spot where it all happened.

The beauty of this landscape in the winter is awe-inspiring, its something not to be missed, Lilie added. To gaze out over Lake Champlain and see snow-capped peaks surrounding us, its something that I think everyone should have the opportunity to experience.
ATLANTIC CITY  Most small businesses in South Jersey would love to have a relationship with at least one of the multimillion-dollar casinos that dot the citys skyline.

To celebrate Ocean Casino Resorts fifth anniversary over the summer, its executive and marketing teams came up with the idea to incorporate and support several local businesses because local businesses are extremely important to the foundation and success of Atlantic City, they said.

Five  The Seed: A Living Beer Project, Little Water Distillery, Bar 32, Jetty Ink and MudGirls Studios  of the 11 partnerships that started over the summer have continued into the fall and holiday season.

We found our guests really enjoyed the collaborations deployed across property to the point that we wanted to continue them through the fall and winter months, said Kelly Burke, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Ocean.

The partnership between Ocean and Atlantic Citys Little Water Distillery resulted in the crafting of a signature pumpkin spice martini that was introduced in November and is featured at multiple Ocean bars and restaurants.

Little Water was established in 2016 and tried in the past to have its product sold at Ocean, but executives approached the distillery this time to participate in the program, said Mark Ganter, the distillery owner.

Ocean purchased the distillerys 48 Blocks Chocolate Martini to create its Chocolate Cake Martini, a fifth anniversary birthday cocktail.

The distillerys 48 Blocks Espresso Martini was used to make Oceans Pumpkin Espresso Martini, which was sold until Nov. 30. The casino will also be featuring a winter cocktail including the distillerys product.

It has been very successful. We have sold cases and cases. Its a good promotion, Ganter said.

Ocean reached out to Jetty Ink in Manahawkin to create an exclusive line of hats, hoodies, tees and more for the casinos fifth birthday.

They did place multiple orders of the fifth birthday apparel, and we are also working on a holiday capsule for them. These reorders and additional projects are all indicators that things are going well for their apparel program, said Anthony Hediger, director of sales at Jetty Ink.

Jetty Ink, which was established in 2003, now prints for multiple brands, businesses, nonprofits, organizations, etc., ranging from mom-and-pop shops to million-dollar corporations up and down the East Coast and all across the country in addition to Ocean.

Working with Ocean Casino was a no-brainer given the reach and exposure they have and to simply help back another N.J.-based business. We truly enjoy taking on large projects with large clients as it allows us to showcase our quality of work with a much larger customer base, Hediger said.

Ocean worked with Atlantic Citys Bar 32 Chocolate & Cocktails, the areas only bean-to-bar chocolate shop, to create three exclusive and unique chocolate bars to commemorate its fifth birthday  the Party Pretzel Bar, the Salty Peanut Butter and the Berry Pretzel Bar.

Bar 32 created a custom pumpkin spice bar for fall and made a signature holiday bar called the Broken Candy Cane Bar that will be dark chocolate with bits of broken candy canes and a drizzle of white chocolate, said Nicole Callazzo, the Bar 32 chocolatier.

Some Bar 32 products also can be found at Golden Nugget Atlantic City and Resorts Casino Hotel, but Ocean is the chocolate shops biggest collaborator, Callazzo said.

A billboard that Ocean put up included Bar 32, and the casino created a video featuring Bar 32 that was awesome, Callazzo said.

Some Ocean customers attended wine and chocolate events at the casino where Bar 32 chocolate was featured, Callazzo said. Afterward, they visited the shop on South Tennessee Avenue to see whether they wanted to hold a baby shower or bachelorette party there.

Even though Ocean is a big business, all of the people we deal with are amazing, Callazzo said. We look forward to keeping this relationship for a long time.

Earlier this year, Ocean started a relationship with MudGirls Studios in Atlantic City. The casino asked MudGirls to create exclusive handmade bowls for its fifth anniversary, which turned into 250 hand-formed, glazed-stoneware 5-inch bowls, said Dorrie Papademetriou, the founder and designer for MudGirls.

After that successful project, the casino came back and asked MudGirls to make a tile wall of recognition for its employees. The tiles have been placed on the wall in sequential order, so the more senior employees names appear first. MudGirls created close to 1,000 tiles, Papademetriou said.

Its a great opportunity to get our name out and raise revenue and hire women, Papademetriou said. For us, its really the recognition of the work we do and the value of the people in the studio. ... We want to empower the women who do the work.

Ocean is interested in continuing its partnerships as well as developing new ones in the new year, Burke said.

As Ocean continues to grow, we want to use our success to help amplify Atlantic City as a destination, Burke said.
Festive events coming up if you missed this one

Sat, Dec. 2

The Lloyd Wimberg Winter Bazaar and tree lighting

Dec. 2 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the 100 Block of Philadelphia Ave in Egg Harbor City. Guests can expect ice skating, giant human snow globes, a showing of the Frosty the Snowman movie, caroling, cupcakes, hot chocolate and a tree lighting with Santa at 6 p.m.

Sat, Dec. 2

North Wildwood Tree Lighting

Come to the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Courtyard, 1st and Central Avenues in North Wildwood, at 5 p.m. on Sat, Dec. 2, for a Christmas tree lighting event including music, refreshments, self-guided tours of the lighthouse, and Santa Claus. For more information, call 609-522-2955 or visit www.NorthWildwood.com.

Sat, Dec. 9

The Wildwoods Convention Center Tree Lighting

The Wildwoods Tourism Authority will illuminate the Wildwoods Convention Center Christmas tree as part of their Family Holiday Celebration from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sat, Dec 9. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be there to assist in the tree lighting ceremony, which begins at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Wildwoods Convention Center. For more information call 609-729-9000 or visit www.WildwoodHoliday.com.

For more information about the Wildwoods Five Weekends of Holiday Fun, visit www.WildwoodHoliday.com or call 609-729-9000.

For additional information about the Wildwoods, visit www.WildwoodsNJ.com or call 800-992-9732.

41st Annual Lower Township Rotary Christmas Parade on Sat, Dec. 9, 2023

On Sat, Dec. 9, 2023, the Lower Township Rotary will be hosting their 41st Annual Christmas Parade along Bayshore Road. The parade is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. from Breakwater Plaza, at Breakwater and Bayshore Roads. From there, the parade will proceed Southbound onto Bayshore Road, to Rosehill Parkway in North Cape May and end at approximately 9 p.m.

Registration is now open for Ocean Citys annual Holiday House Decorating Contest. The deadline to sign up is at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

Judging will take place the evenings of Dec. 14 and 15 between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Prizes include gift certificates for shopping in downtown Ocean City and gift baskets from the city and the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Pictures of all entries will be posted on social media on Friday, Dec. 15 so that the public can vote for the People's Choice Award. Voting will end Sunday, Dec. 17.

Registration, information, online voting and a list of all participating houses will be posted at ocnj.us/holidayhouse.

Photos with Santa in Lifeguard Boat (Dec. 2-Dec. 23)

Noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Ocean City Music Pier.

Visits with Santa in the Downtown (Dec. 2-Dec. 23)

9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays at Mark Soifer Park, 9th Street and Asbury Avenue.

Holiday Festival (Dec. 3)

The Ocean City Community Center (1735 Simpson Avenue) will host its annual Holiday Festival 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sun, Dec. 3. The event takes place in the Ocean City Free Public Librarys atrium with holiday crafts, a balloon sculptor, live music, refreshments and a visit from Santa (feel free to bring your letters and lists). Mrs. Claus, a reading by a local childrens author, crafts and shopping will take place at the adjacent Ocean City Historical Museum. Hand-made pottery, jewelry, paintings and other unique gifts will be for sale in the adjacent Ocean City Arts Center.

Festive Fridays (Dec. 8, 15, 22)

Shopping, carolers, and free horse-and-carriage rides from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. along downtown Asbury Avenue.

Finding Nemo JR (Dec. 8-10)

Ocean City Theatre Company students in grades 3 to 8 will present this stage adaptation of Disneys classic story. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9, and 2 p.m. Dec. 10. More information and online ticket sales are available at oceancitytheatrecompany.com.

First Night New Years Eve Celebration (Dec. 31)

Celebrate New Years Eve with the entire family. The 31st anniversary of this Ocean City event will feature traditional favorites like rides, ice-skating and magicians, along with headline entertainment including the Stevie Nicks tribute band Gypsy and the Motown revue Motor City. For a complete schedule and to purchase all-inclusive admission buttons, please visit firstnightocnj.com.

First Day Celebration (Jan. 1, 2024)

Activities include a 1 p.m. 5K run on the Boardwalk (pre-register at www.ocnj.us/race-events), a 2 p.m. First Dip polar plunge, and an all-day Shopping Extravaganza. Visit firstnightocnj.comfor more information.
All 12 House of Representatives members from New Jersey, including U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, voted Friday to oust U.S. Rep. George Santos over his ethics and criminal charges.

In a November report, the House Ethics Committee determined Santos used campaign funds to pay for $2,000 in trips to several Atlantic City casinos last year.

The vote was successful, and now New York's 3rd District seat, representing part of Long Island's wealthy North Shore, is vacant. There will be a special election to replace him.

Van Drew said he voted to expel Santos because of the contents of the Ethics Committee report.

"I would not expel until that report came out. It was damning," Van Drew said in a texted response to questions after the vote Friday.

Van Drew had voted against expelling Santos in an early November vote that failed.

The committee met nine times, interviewed more than 40 witnesses and authorized 37 subpoenas.

House Ethics Committee questioning visits to Atlantic City by US Rep. George Santos The House Ethics Committee is questioning whether U.S. Rep. George Santos used campaign funds to pay for $2,000 in trips to several city casinos last year.

"Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit," the report said. "He blatantly stole from his campaign. He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit."

According to the committee, he also "reported fictitious loans to his political committees to induce donors and party committees to make further contributions to his campaign  and then diverted more campaign money to himself as purported repayments of those fictitious loans."

Santos also faces a 23-count federal indictment that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges.

In a written statement, Van Drew called it a difficult vote for him and a sad day for America.

"Representative Santos defrauded everyday Americans just trying to make a living and get by," Van Drew said. "He has forced some of these Americans to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees because of his conscious decision to run up his donors' credit cards above the FEC limit."

Some members of Congress voted against expelling Santos, saying they worried about the precedent it would set to expel a member before they were convicted of a crime.

But Van Drew said the charges against Santos were so serious he voted to expel.
This story is available in Spanish. To read a translated version of this article, click here.

OCEAN CITY  Not much has changed in the second floor corner office at the Ocean City Police Department since Bill Campbell moved in as the new chief.

There are different photos on the shelf, and a few more plants around than when Jay Prettymans name was on the desk. Campbell said his officers and the public should not expect major changes since Prettymans retirement.

Chief Prettyman really left the department in tremendous shape. He was a fantastic chief, a fantastic leader, Campbell said. My standard answer is, look, Ive inherited a well-oiled machine as opposed to a Dumpster fire.

There are a few changes planned, including a more detailed system for tracking complaints reported to police, including the amount of time spent on investigations, and a standard responsibility for an officer to contact the person making the complaint, typically within a week or two.

He described a customer service approach to policing, citing an example of someone reporting what may seem like a minor crime in some jurisdictions, such as something stolen from a front porch.

For the person making the report, he said, it is a big deal, and that person deserves to have it taken seriously.

Ocean City has a low crime rate, but like anywhere else, there are crimes, and at times there have been violent crimes. Campbell said officers have to be ready for anything, projecting a friendly demeanor in most circumstances but remaining prepared for the worst.

During the course of your shift, you could be responding to a homicide, and the next call you might get is a cat stuck in a tree, Campbell said. He admitted the cat was an exaggeration, saying police rarely get that call, but that Ocean City officers do respond to a wide variety of calls.

Bill Campbell named Ocean City police chief Ocean City Council members unanimously approved a resolution naming Bill Campbell police chief, officially replacing former Chief Jay Prettyman.

He said residents and visitors should not feel reluctant to call the police, even for minor issues.

If nothing else, if you report it, at least we have a record of it and its data we can track, Campbell said.

Campbell, 55, served as Prettymans deputy chief for about a year before taking the reins at the department. He said he was Prettymans pick as the new chief, and was backed by Mayor Jay Gillian and city Administrator George Savastano.

Its up to the mayor who will serve as Ocean Citys chief, but he also received the unanimous support of City Council at a recent meeting, at which many of the citys officers attended.

Members of council congratulated the new chief, and Gillian praised the police and other public safety professionals in the city.

Our public safety is the best, Gillian said at the meeting. Nothings more important to me as mayor than that: When you come to Ocean City, you feel safe.

With 68 officers, Ocean City has the largest municipal police department in Cape May County, and in the summer, it almost doubles, hiring about 65 summer officers to handle the significant crowds.

In a recent interview before he ended his time as chief, Prettyman said New Jersey policing has undergone significant changes in the past six years, including the legalization of marijuana and new guidance from Trenton on how officers deal with juveniles.

Ocean City police chief's one regret? No new headquarters. After almost six years as police chief in Ocean City, Jay Prettyman says he cared for his officers, but he would have liked to have gotten a new police station completed. He retires Friday.

Many of those changes have been described with a note of frustration by law enforcement officers, but Campbell spoke positively of having clear rules in place for police.

If were going to be considered professionals, then there are guidelines and procedures that have to be in place, he said.

Campbell cited Ocean Citys being an accredited department six times in a row, an extensive process that includes community input and reviews of police operations.

We have a system of policies and procedures in place that pretty much dictate how we do everything, he said. Changes to laws, court decisions and guidance from the state Attorney Generals Office have a direct influence on how policing can be done, he said.

For the summer of 2024, he does not expect a change to one of the highest-profile decisions of the year for Ocean City, an 8 p.m. curfew on the beach and a rule against backpacks on the Boardwalk starting at the same time.

The change came as large crowds of unruly teens continued to gather on the beach. In 2022, Prettyman allowed the gatherings, with the idea that it was better to have one large group where officers could keep an eye on things than to have smaller groups around the city.

But by the start of last summer, locals agreed that things had gotten out of hand. Prettyman said in previous interviews that parents from other communities were dropping off their kids in Ocean City, leaving police to babysit, as he described it.

Im an advocate for keeping the beach curfew at 8 oclock, Campbell said. He said Ocean City should keep in place the rules that turned things around for the summer, not relax them too early. It put the control back with us, and made it more of a family environment again on the Boardwalk.

Ocean Citys response to teens gets good marks from merchants Earlier this summer, Ocean City enacted sweeping changes, with beaches closed at 8 p.m. each night, 10 p.m. closing times for Boardwalk bathrooms and an earlier curfew for juveniles. Business owners and leaders have said the changes have worked.

Campbell lives in Egg Harbor Township. He has been married 25 years, and he and his wife have a 22-year-old son. He has spent his entire career in Ocean City, starting in summer 1994 and working his way through the ranks.

He said his salary is still to be determined, saying he has not yet signed a contract for his new position. As chief, Prettyman made $165,194, according to a listing of police salaries in New Jersey.
A Davenport man is in Scott County Jail Friday after an early morning chase reached speeds of 75 mph in the Village of East Davenport and he was Tazed while fleeing on foot.

Zavaan Patrick Mueller, 20, faces Class D felony charges of second-degree criminal mischief and eluding, as well as serious misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and driving with a revoked license.

Mueller was pursued by the the Iowa State Patrol starting at roughly 1:35 a.m. Friday, a police report said. That pursuit started after an Iowa State trooper saw a light blue Charger leaving the BP gas station near the intersection of Locust and Bridge streets.

The report said the Charger did not have tail lights or a real license plate, and looked familiar from an OWI investigation two weeks prior, with Mueller as the registered owner who had a revoked license.

The trooper said he tried to initiate a traffic stop at the intersection of Locust and Adams streets, but the Charger accelerated southbound and tried to elude the trooper.

The trooper said the Charger reached speeds of 60 mph as it travelled south on Adams Street.

"During the pursuit I witnessed multiple traffic infractions including but not limited to; speeding in excess of 25 mph over the speed limit, fail to obey traffic control devices, unsafe turns, careless driving, unsafe approach to stationary vehicles, driving on the wrong side of the road and failure to maintain control," the trooper said in the report.

The pursuit "circled the area around the Village of East Davenport" and the Charger reached the speed of 75 mph while on 12th Street, the affidavit said. The trooper said the Charger drove toward Davenport Police units who were clearing intersections and trying to put out stop sticks.

Those efforts, the report said, were unsuccessful.

The pursuit came to an end near the intersection of Oneida Avenue and 10th Street after " .. a Precision Intervention Technique was attempted to avoid a collision. During the PIT the driver of the Charger continued to accelerate causing his vehicle to continue northbound striking a fully marked DPD cruiser causing in excess of $5,000 worth of damage. I then used my cruiser to pin the driver's door shut."

The troopers report said the driver of the Charger " ... then began kicking his own window in an attempt to try and flee on foot. He then jumped to the passenger's side and exited the vehicle fleeing on foot. A chase ensued and Mueller failed to stop or follow commands keeping his hands out of sign. I successfully deployed my Taser as Mueller was attempting to scale a fence. He was then taken into custody and checked over by EMS."

The report said a "bag of marijuana" was found in the car, though the report did not say if the substance was tested.

Mueller is in the Scott County Jail on two bonds totaling $14,000.
Lois Nichols was losing weight rapidly and turned to more than a dozen doctors for help. At 91, she had no time to waste.

"Nobody paid attention. I think they kind of give up when you get older like this," she said.

A retired music teacher and Figge Art Museum docent, Nichols lost as much as 25 pounds while she was waiting for a diagnosis. She eventually came under the care of Dr. Samyuktha Ramavaram at Genesis Health System, who set her up for a colonoscopy that saved her life.

Shortly after the procedure, Nichols was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The Genesis team had a less common option for her: robotic assisted surgery. Nichols and her son met with her surgeon, Dr. Robert Harson, who proposed the treatment plan to her.

"When people have colon cancer our job is to give advice on what their management options are and what the approach would be," Harson said.

Harson explained the surgery would consist of four small incisions in her abdomen that would allow for probes to be placed inside and give him a 3D view.

"That's one of the huge advantages of doing things robotically over the traditional laparoscopy because we have the value of that depth perception," he said.

Nichols said he made drawings and went to great lengths to help her understand why this procedure would be best. Before long she felt confident in the procedure and decided to move forward.

"Dr. Harson was wonderful about explaining," she said. "By the time I got done I felt very pleased he was my surgeon."

Harson said the advantages to robotic assist include smaller incisions, minimal pain and an early return to normal activities. It also allowed for Harson to take out the effected part of the colon then sew the existing sides back together all in one surgery.

"Sometimes when people have these types of surgeries they need a much larger incision to be able to sew those two ends of the colon back together," he said. "With Lois, she was able to have a relatively short operation with small incisions in a surgery where the colon was able to be put back together on the inside."

The robot also allows for precise movements, giving Harson finer control for procedures like sutures. From a patient's perspective, the smaller incisions lead to less pain, a shorter recovery and reduces the chance of a hernia developing.

Genesis has the largest robotic assist program in the state of Iowa, offering procedures in a variety of units. Surgeons at Genesis have performed more than 6,700 procedures in the urology, genecology and general surgery units alone since 2010.

Nichols' surgery took place Oct. 9 and was a complete success, leaving her cancer free. The surgery was less than two months ago but Nichols is already back on her feet and resuming normal activities.

"I've been up and moving a lot because I'm that kind of person," she said. "I'm not very good at sitting down."

She's even found time for a new passion to help combat the weight-loss problem she originally came to doctors with.

"I've become a big fan of Whitey's ice cream because I'm supposed to be gaining weight," she said with a smile.
A Davenport man arrested with eight other men during a federal sex crime sting has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

During a sentencing hearing held Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Peoria, Auston M. McLain, 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count of attempted enticement of a minor and travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activities.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sara Darrow ordered the sentences to run concurrently. McLain will receive credit for the time he has served in custody awaiting trial and sentencing.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Darrow also ordered that McLain spend 10 years on federal supervised release once his prison sentence is completed.

A federal jury found McLain guilty of the charges on June, 2023, after a two-day trial.

A charge of soliciting an obscene visual depiction of a minor was dropped.

McLain was arrested in November of 2020 after he traveled from his Davenport apartment to a house in Rock Island to meet a person he believed was boy for sex. The person McLain had been chatting with and agreed to meet was actually an undercover federal agent.

Eight other men were arrested in the sting that targeted adults attempting to entice minors for sexual exploitation.

Only one other man from the nine awaits sentencing in the case. Jeffrey Alan Bosaw, 55, of Bloomington, Illinois, was found guilty by a federal jury of one count of attempted enticement of a minor after a one-day trial held Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court, Peoria.

Bosaw is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court, Peoria.

The other seven men have either been found guilty by a jury or entered into a plea agreement and have been sentenced, with sentences ranging from seven years and three months to 17  years.

Douglas L. Christensen, 58, of East Moline was sentenced Nov. 3, 2021, to 10 years in federal prison. He is currently being held in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. He is scheduled to be released Sept. 16, 2028.

Michael Robert McKinney, 26, of Silvis was sentenced July 20, 2021, to 12 years in federal prison. He is currently being held in the Federal Correctional Institution in Marianna, Florida, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. He is scheduled to be released March 29, 2031.

Douglas Michael Speer, 33, of Johnston, Iowa, was sentenced Oct. 20, 2021, to 11 years in federal prison. He is currently being held in the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. He is scheduled to be released May 18, 2029.

Nicholas Bryan Swank, 34, of Muscatine was sentenced Jan. 6, 2022, to 17  years in federal prison. He is currently being held in the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. He is scheduled to be released Oct. 11, 2035.

Charles Walter Christopher, 45, of West Liberty was sentenced Dec. 15, 2021, to 22 years in federal prison. He is currently being held in the U.S. Penitentiary in Thomson, Illinois, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. He is scheduled to be released July 2, 2040.

Joseph Allen Wilcher, 42, of Cedar Rapids was sentenced Feb. 24, 2022, to 10 years in prison. He is currently being held at the Federal Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas. He is scheduled to be released Nov. 2, 2029.

Damien Pernell Shepherd, 38, of Moline, was sentenced Nov. 22, 2022, to seven years and three months in prison. He is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan. He is scheduled to be released Jan. 19, 2027.
By Nam Hyun-woo

Seven opposition lawmakers are taking flak for giving up their votes in the National Assembly adopting a resolution calling on China to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors.

Ruling People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Rep. Yun Jae-ok said in a party meeting, Friday, that the abstainers abandoned their basic duty as lawmakers, questioning whether they are North Korea sympathizers.

Chinas forced repatriation of North Korean defectors is equivalent to human rights abuses that violate international rules, and politicians of a democracy should not turn a blind eye to this issue, Yun said.

Those who gave up their votes for the resolution yesterday may have looked into this issue with their ideological bias, and ended up sympathizing with the North Korean regime instead of the defectors who sought freedom.

On Thursday, the Assembly adopted the resolution calling on China to stop forcibly returning North Korean defectors, after China in October sent approximately 600 North Korean defectors, who had been held in detention, back to the North soon after the closing of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

In the resolution, the Assembly urged Chinas cooperation in recognizing North Korean defectors as refugees and rather sending them to South Korea or other safer countries. The resolution also called on the South Korean government to beef up its efforts in negotiations and cooperation with China and other countries to protect North Korean defectors.

Among 260 attending lawmakers on Thursday plenary meeting, 253 approved it and seven gave up their votes. The seven lawmakers are main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Reps. Kim Jung-ho, Min Hyung-bae, Back Hye-ryun, Shin Jeong-hoon, Justice Party Rep. Kang Eun-mi, Jinbo Party Rep. Kang Sung-hee and independent Rep. Youn Mee-hyang.

The lawmakers who gave up their votes yesterday include human rights activists, members of civic groups for the vulnerable or members of political party who seek benefits for the weak, PPP Rep. Tae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-politician, said during the meeting.

I want to ask why they are wary of the response from China and the Kim Jong-un regime whenever there are North Korean human rights issue. I urge them to pay more attention to the response of the people of South and North Korea, not the dictators.

Of the abstainers, Rep. Back said her voting system was malfunctioning. She wrote on Facebook that she is sorry for failing to fix it before the plenary session ended, adding that she supports the resolution.
Before the Davenport city administrator announced her departure, citing harassment from current and former Davenport elected officials, two other city employees left, too, because of behavior of elected officials.

Separation requests detail alleged actions from elected officials that prompted the employees to leave. Each received severance in their resignation from the city  one employee of close to 11 years received $157,000 and the other employee of nearly five years received $140,500. According to hourly paystubs released, they were making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year in their positions.

The terms were made public in a Freedom of Information Act request from a member of the public that were then shared with the Quad-City Times.

The two employees requested to separate from the city Aug. 31 and signed separation agreements Sept. 8. In that time window, the mayor called a hearing to oust former Ald. Derek Cornette from office, which the city council did Sept. 7.

Cornette is suing over the councils 7-3 decision.

The separation requests shed additional light on what led to the departure of three employees at a cost to the city of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Earlier this month, City Administrator Corri Spiegel announced shed be departing the city. A separation agreement dated Oct. 6 and prepared city council statement cited harassment by Cornette and unnamed current and former elected officials of the past eight years in her departure and the councils decision to award her $1.6 million in lieu of a lawsuit.

Documents regarding Spiegels specific complaints against elected officials were not made public other than what was included in Cornettes hearing.

Because the two employees are alleged victims of harassment in the workplace, are not department directors, and did not give permission for their names to be used, the Quad-City Times decided not to publish their names. The Quad-City Times also will not publish details of medical care sought by the employees due to alleged harassment, which is detailed in the records that Assistant City Attorney Brian Heyer said were mistakenly released un-redacted.

Employees describe hostile work environment

The two employees emailed letters to City Attorney Tom Warner describing an increasingly hostile work environment that caused them to leave.

They said Cornette persistently used pet names, which also was detailed in the Sept. 7 hearing to remove Cornette, such as sweetie, dear, honey despite requests to stop from the citys legal and human resources department and the mayor.

In February, one employee described how Cornette ambushed the employee alone in the office to ask if he had ever offended the employee. The employee responded that he hadnt recently but the pet names such as sweetie, honey, dear, sweetheart made me uncomfortable, were not professional or welcomed, and that none of his colleagues speak to me that way. It was evident that he was not expecting that response, was offended and responded with Ill be mindful of that in the future and departed my office.

Both then noted an article several months later that appeared in the Quad-City Times in which they said Cornette made statements intended to retaliate against them for the complaints they made.

Cornette referred to city staff as having thin skin in answering questions about why the city was directing him not to communicate with city staff except for the city attorney. Following the publishing of the article, the employees said multiple city staff members approached them to ask about it.

This interview by Alderman Cornette was retaliatory and made me extremely uncomfortable to return to the office as he could enter the office at any point in time, one employee wrote.

Both said that they believe Cornette came into City Hall intoxicated. They said in several instances, Cornette smelled of alcohol, had slurred and delayed speech, and acted extremely inappropriate.

In another incident in February, Cornette approached the desk of one of the employees and extended his hand in a gesture that appeared he wanted to shake my hand and unsure of his intent, I reciprocated.

He then gripped my hand and held it in place for an extended period of time as he said thank you for all that you do for me. I pulled my hand back when it was evident that his intention was more than a handshake, the employee wrote. It was not a welcomed gesture and it made me feel uncomfortable. I advised Tom Warner and Corri Spiegel of the interaction.

In another February incident, Cornette told the employee, Youve been looking really nice lately and you know, just your whole aura. What are you doing? Meditating? Other employees, overhearing the conversation entered to interrupt the encounter, the employee said.

In what appeared to be the final straw for the employees: on Aug. 30, one day before the separation requests were sent, Cornette called one employees direct line and left a voicemail intended for Alderman Kyle Gripp in which Cornette used vulgar language for female and male genitals.

During the Sept. 7 hearing, city legal staff played voicemails, videos, and provided staff testimony that Cornette had inappropriately addressed female staff despite requests to stop and came to meetings appearing to be intoxicated. The voicemails played included the one intended for Gripp.

In response to a request for comment on the allegations in the letters, Cornettes attorney, Mike Meloy, wrote in an email: There are many questions Davenport taxpayers are asking about these three settlements, which they deserve answers to.

Those questions included whether the city council approved the settlements in an open session, why taxpayers werent allowed to address the city council about the settlements, and why the City only disclosed the settlements following records requests.

Were these settlements kept secret from the public because of the hotly contested race for Mayor this year? Meloy wrote in the email.

The statement did not specifically respond to the allegations in the letter.

Cornette, in his suit against the city, has argued that his due process rights were violated with short notice of the hearing and that the mayor and members of the council intermingled prosecutorial and judicial duties, and that the actions described did not meet the bar for removing an elected official from office. A Scott County judge is reviewing the councils decision.

Staff said behavior continued after it was reported

One employee wrote that despite reporting behavior of elected officials to the mayor, city attorney, city administrator and human resources the behavior and hostile work environment continues and has gotten progressively worse over time.

The employee said the Feb. 24 ambushing incident with Cornette was documented in writing and reported to Warner, Spiegel and Mayor Mike Matson. The employee also said behavior of former elected officials was well known.

The second employee reported the multiple incidents in February and March with Cornette, and, for each, said Warner and Spiegel were advised. In some cases elected officials were notified.

Each employee said they notified their supervisors when Cornette or Ald. Judith Lee attempted to call or email them directly despite being told staff couldnt communicate directly with them.

Cornettes voicemail with vulgar language was left Aug. 30, and reported to Warner, Spiegel, and later shared with other members of the City Council for action.

Soon after, Matson called for the Sept. 7 hearing to remove Cornette.

The behaviors of the elected officials have created an uncomfortable, hostile, volatile and scary workplace for me that I can no longer subject myself to, one employee wrote in their separation request letter. It is apparent that the elected officials believe the city of Davenport administrative policies do not apply to them nor do they care about the impact their actions have on city staff.

What has the council said about preventing or addressing harassment?

The Davenport city council, in its statement released alongside Spiegels settlement agreement, stated that no truly effective enforcement mechanism currently exists to stop wrongful behavior prior to liability being created for the city.

The council statement urged future councils to adopt codes of conduct for their members early on in their terms.

It also said future councils should turn to the state legislature and ask lawmakers to provide an official who is empowered to investigate and hold accountable local elected officials for their transgressions of the law, codes of conduct and employment policies in a swift and effective manner through fines, suspensions, and removals.

Until elected officials can refrain from these behaviors or until we can provide this protection in an effective and timely manner, we will continue to lose great employees, the council statement said.

But Alan Kemp, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities, said there are tools cities can use to address harassment by elected officials.

Kemp wrote in an email that, speaking generally, harassment is never acceptable, including by elected officials.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, defines harassment as unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, sex...national origin, older age...disability, or genetic information.

Examples the EEOC gives include offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance.

In addressing such behavior, cities are not unique as organizations. All organizations and employers face significant liability as a result of such conduct, Kemp wrote.

He said actions that cities can take include:

Have a strong harassment policy that identifies unacceptable behavior, whether sexual in nature or not.

Provide regular training on the harassment policy that includes what constitutes harassment and how individuals can report

Adopt a code of conduct for elected and other officials.

As an organization, the League has such a code of conduct for our board members that we ask them to sign when joining our board, Kemp said. These actions do establish known expectations for behavior. That provides a clear basis for action to address the situation. Once reported, there needs to be a thorough investigation and clear follow-up that protects all parties involved.

He wrote that while elected officials are unique in that they essentially report to the citizens who elected them, the city council does have authority to address behavior under Chapter 66 of the Iowa Code. Under that chapter, depending on the facts, harassment can rise to the level of willful misconduct as a basis for removing an elected official, Kemp wrote.

That was the chapter the City of Davenport used in removing Cornette.

I am not sure there is an additional role for the state government in these cases, Kemp wrote. There are processes that cities, as well as other private and public employers, can take to address harassment.

Complaint of leaked email

One employee also asked for an addendum to document that members of the city council leaked an email that notified the council that the two employees would be out of the office indefinitely without giving a reason and instructed council members not to contact them.

The employee stated that leak was a retaliatory act in order to further harass and victimize me. The action of intentionally sharing confidential information with the media was done with malice and intentions to negatively impact my reputation and mental well-being.

The employee cited a LinkedIn direct message and home visit from a Quad-City Times reporter.

I am not a public official and should not be subjected to unwelcome visits from a reporter seeking comment on a matter that is confidential and should have never been shared with the media in the first place, the employee wrote.

The employee also cited a newscast from KWQC which named the employees and led to multiple phone calls and text messages to both me and my husband with friends and family assuming I was either fired, suspended or placed on administrative leave for wrongdoing.

The KWQC article has since removed the names of the employees.

Allegations against former mayors

Previously unnamed, one of the employees complaints describes other city elected officials behavior, including under former mayors.

The employee wrote that during former Mayor Frank Klipschs tenure, from January 2016 to the end of 2019, they witnessed the mayor make sexual comments and sexually charged behaviors to city staff.

One example of this is when he placed a wreath over his private parts and made sexually inappropriate comments to staff, the employee wrote. Mayor Klipsch would often reference female staffs attire and how beautiful their appearance was. Also during my time under Mayor Klipsch, an office remodel was completed to move his then administrative assistant into my office after complaints of sexual harassment were lodged. My work space was impacted by this change and made working under Mayor Klipsch uncomfortable and intimidating. During this time we were also told that we were no longer allowed to ride with Mayor Klipsch alone in his car or city issued vehicle due to the sexual harassment complaints on file.

Mayor Klipschs inappropriate behaviors were known by several members of the leadership team and continued during the entire duration of his time as mayor.

Reached by phone, Klipsch said he was a friendly guy, and was talked to early in his tenure that he needed to be more sensitive with that, but that he was surprised by the comments. He said he didnt intend to make anyone uncomfortable and apologized if he did so.

Klipsch said he had no recollection of any incident like the one described with the wreath. He said he recalled his assistant moving offices, but said he thought it was because it was more efficient for his assistant to coordinate with other staff members. Klipsch said he remembered discussion of not riding together as just a good policy.

I understood and we just didnt do that. Consistently I would ride with men and mixed staff. I would try to treat everyone the same, Klipsch said. I would take men in the car by themselves, and if it came up I would offer a ride, but never intended for anything beyond that.

Being friendly could be perceived differently by different people, he said. But what I did was consistent. If any were feeling uncomfortable, I surely am sorry thats the case. I wish someone wouldve told me about it.

Bill Gluba, the mayor before Klipsch, also is named. The employee said Gluba accused her of anonymously reporting him to the Iowa ethics board. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board did not end up reviewing the complaint because the agency director said she found no evidence to corroborate the complaints of an ethics violation, according to previous reporting.

Mayor Bill Gluba stepped into the hallway outside of my office, pointed his finger at me and said f*** you and accused me of being the one to turn his assistant in  This interaction was witnessed by others and because Mayor Gluba was an elected official, nothing could be done to reprimand him, the employee stated.

Gluba, reached by phone said of the interaction: Its not true, period. It just didnt happen.

He said he didnt know the employee and questioned whether any report was filed at the time and why he wasn't contacted about the alleged incident.

Other aldermen named in complaints

Two other current aldermen  Tim Kelly and Lee  are also named.

Both employees said Lee, the 8th Ward alderwoman, had called and emailed them directly and stopped in the office despite being told only to communicate with Warner since January. One employee said Lee made a comment in the office that colleague Marion Meginnis was mad at her, which put the employee in an uncomfortable situation as the employee was told not to communicate with Lee.

Lee, reached by phone, said she stopped in the office because thats where council members mailboxes are and made some small talk to avoid awkward moments, including once when she said Meginnis abruptly left the city council office without returning a greeting to Lee and Lee made a comment acknowledging the interaction and left.

Lee said she felt like she was being lumped together with Cornette, and that the complaints and allegations against her were undated and vague. She said her attorney sent a letter to the city's legal department in September asking for documented reasons for the communication protocol she was under, but received none.

One employee states in the letter that Kelly falsely shared with elected officials and members of the community that I was related to former mayoral candidate and community activist Athena Gilbraith in an attempt to discredit my professionalism and reduce the trust elected officials would have of me.

The employee said Kelly had told both employees that he was told not to trust either one of you. 

The employee added that Kelly had repeatedly expressed frustrations with Spiegel about interactions with the employee despite, according to the employee, the interactions being professional. The employee gave an example of Kelly telling the employee that he was offended by a brief response to an email. According to the employee's statement, Kelly shared that he didnt speak to the employee for a period of time after that because he was upset by the terse response.

Kelly did not immediately return phone calls.

Both employees wrote that they regret having to separate from the city, but say that the elected officials behavior left them no choice.

Please know that I value and appreciate my time with the city of Davenport, one employee wrote. My career with the city has enriched not only my life, but my familys as well and has been unfairly cut short due (to) the repetitive harassment and inappropriate actions of the elected officials. The unprofessional actions of the elected body leave me not only disappointed, but deeply saddened to have no choice but to end my career.
The state-run Glenwood Resource Center for people with disabilities has allegedly failed to comply with all the requirements of a 2022 settlement agreement with the federal government.

The agreement was intended to address claims by the U.S. Department of Justice that the state had violated the constitutional rights of Glenwood residents and exposed them to unreasonable harm. The DOJ alleged that harm stemmed from uncontrolled and unsupervised experimentation on residents, as well as inadequate physical and behavioral health care.

Glenwood is run by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the same state agency thats charged with protecting the health and welfare of children and dependent adults in Iowa. The agency plans to close Glenwood by the end of 2024.

As part of DHHS 2022 settlement with the Justice Department, the agency agreed to implement a wide range of changes intended to improve the overall care and treatment received by the residents of Glenwood.

The agreement includes a provision that has resulted in a court-approved monitoring team checking on conditions in the home to ensure the states compliance with the agreed-upon standards of care. In October, the monitoring team completed one such review and recently submitted to the court a written report of its findings.

The report indicates Glenwood has failed to meet numerous standards in two critical areas: the protection of residents who are being transitioned into community settings as Glenwood moves toward the planned shut-down in 2024, and the clinical and medical care thats now being provided to residents,

In the area of clinical and medical care, Glenwood was found to be in substantial compliance in only 15 of the 65 standards that were evaluated. In the area of discharge and transition planning, the home was judged to be in substantial compliance in only four of 34 standards.

To be considered in substantial compliance with one of the agreed-upon standards, the home had to meet those standards in only 80% of the cases that were reviewed.

A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services indicated the agency would be providing a comment on the monitoring teams report, but the agency had yet to do so late Thursday.

Monitors question transfers and death reviews

Court records indicate that in December, the team intends to conduct additional monitoring related to the states efforts to relocate Glenwood residents before it closes.

The team also plans to visit several former residents who have moved from Glenwood, and to remotely observe state meetings to plan for the relocation of current residents.

Among the monitoring teams most recent findings:

 Deaths: Eight Glenwood residents died after being discharged from the home, including one who died six months after being moved to a group home and one who died one month after a move to a group home. The medical team should be reviewing deaths for Glenwood Resource Center individuals even if they had transitioned to the community within the past rolling one-year period, the monitoring team stated. However, this was not done. Consequently, there was no way to learn what happened and how the likelihood of death can be minimized, and the transition process improved.

 Mortality reviews: The team faulted Glenwoods process of reviewing the circumstances surrounding a resident death at the home. What was striking is that only nursing and medical services reviewed the death, the team reported. Input from habilitation services, psychiatry services, and behavioral health services would be appropriate to review the death from their perspective.

 Abuse reporting: Procedures for the staff to anonymously report abuse, neglect and exploitation to the state inspections department were problematic, the team reported, adding that while the Glenwood staff said it was permissible for workers to file such reports it was not necessarily encouraged.

 Activities: The team found that some residents spend most of the day in their (campus) homes with limited opportunities for engagement or exposure to new activities. Over a period of six months, one resident attended daytime programming activities on three occasions, while another attended such activities just once.

 Peer review: Aside from a death review, there were no reports of any external medical peer review for clinical cases at Glenwood, despite that being a requirement of the settlement. Also, there were no periodic medical reviews based on residents individual needs, except for an annual history and physical. The facility did not have a system in place requiring routine medical reviews at 90-day intervals, the team noted.

 Medical assessments: Annual medical assessments lacked family-history information, which could make preventative testing and early identification of medical conditions more difficult. Also, residents didnt receive their expected immunizations for shingles and other conditions, and some residents did not receive an adequate annual nursing review. In addition, the annual nursing assessments that were performed were not sufficient in addressing individuals at-risk conditions.

 Relocations: Since September 2022, 18 Glenwood residents have been moved to another state-run facility, the Woodward Resource Center, rather than to community-based care providers. There was no robust development of resources and incentives for community-based service providers to accept Glenwood residents who require a high level of support. One individual was moved to a group home, was arrested five times for assault over the next six months, and then returned to Glenwood. Another moved to a group home and within two weeks was hospitalized amid allegations that a group-home worker had committed abuse by placing solid food in the residents abdominal feeding tube. That individual returned to Glenwood a few weeks after the incident.

 Public reporting: The state has established an online dashboard for reporting Glenwood data to the public, but the dashboard doesnt include any assessment of the efforts to transition residents into the community or whether the home is on track to meet deadlines for such transitions.

 Zoom welfare checks: For six former residents who had been discharged, Glenwood social workers checked on the individuals welfare via computer, using Zoom-type software, which didnt meet the requirement for face-to-face visits. In addition, the transition monitoring wasnt tailored to the residents individual needs and the specific supports they required.

 Training: Some of the staff assisting with resident discharges and transitions appeared to be inadequately trained, and case management notes consisted of broad observations such as seemed happy, or having a good relationship with housemates.

Investigation found harmful experimentation on residents in 2020

The Justice Departments Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa initiated an investigation at Glenwood in November 2019.

In December 2020, the department provided the state with written notice of the unlawful conditions that existed at the facility. Specifically, the department concluded that there was reasonable cause to believe the state violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by harming Glenwood residents and by placing them at serious risk of harm.

At the time, the DOJ issued a press release that said individuals with disabilities are not human guinea pigs, and like all persons, they should never be subject to bizarre and deviant pseudo-medical experiments that injure them. Human experimentation is the hallmark of sick totalitarian states and has no place in the United States of America.

Specifically, the department concluded that the state violated Glenwood residents constitutional rights by conducting experiments on them without their consent. One experiment, which involved overhydrating residents, caused physical harm to the residents, the DOJ reported.

In addition, the department concluded that Glenwood residents received constitutionally inadequate health care, at times resulting in severe physical harm. The department also concluded that Glenwoods behavioral health care, including its use of restraints, violated residents due process rights.

The DOJ blamed severe deficiencies in the oversight and quality management at not only Glenwood, but at the Iowa Department of Human Services, now part of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

The DOJ also noted that DHS withheld information about the experiments from state legislators who had questioned the facilitys unusually high death rate.

The 2022 settlement prohibits uncontrolled and unsupervised experiments at Glenwood; requires better staffing, training and oversight for clinical care; dramatically limits the use of restraints and seclusion; and requires substantial state oversight over all aspects of Glenwoods operation.

The state must also implement policies and procedures to address the underlying deficiencies that led to the alleged constitutional violations. In addition, the decree requires greater transparency by the state through public reporting.

State inspectors cite Glenwood for 24 violations

State records indicate that Glenwood still struggles with resident-care issues. In the past year, the states own inspectors have cited the home for 24 regulatory violations.

In August, the home was fined $7,500 when a resident was hospitalized after swallowing medication found in an employees purse. In June, the home was fined $2,500 after a resident was hospitalized due to a fall that resulted in a head injury. In March, the home was fined $10,500 when a resident was hospitalized after receiving medication intended for a different resident.

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SAC CITY, Iowa  Thursday evening, a group helping search for missing Wall Lake, Iowa truck driver David Schultz announced it had covered close to 50,000 acres.

Since Saturday, November 25, the United Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based nonprofit organization that performs search and rescue operations, has helped look throughout Sac County for the 53-year-old Schultz who was reportedly last heard from on the morning of Tuesday, November 21. Sarah Schultz, David Schultz's wife, said Tuesday afternoon, his truck was found northeast of Sac City, parked on northbound U.S. Highway 71, about five miles north of the old U.S. Highway 20 intersection. The truck was reportedly turned off but wasn't pulled over and the trailer was still loaded with young pigs.

"We have another 58,000 acres to cover before we can eliminate the areas along Highway 20 and 71," Jake Rowley, the Midwest team leader for the United Cajun Navy, posted to the group's Facebook page.

Friday, the group resumed search operations at 10:30 a.m. from its meeting location at the Sac City Motel on Ash Avenue in Sac City.

Rowley also said in the post the group has seen volunteer numbers diminish before acknowledging "we did keep a solid crew together that has covered a ton of ground."

For the weekend, Rowley said the group is hoping for a big push to "finish our search area all the way to Highway 4."

Since the married father of 10-year-old twin boys disappeared, volunteers have search for Schultz in Calhoun, Sac, Webster and Wright counties. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations is involved in the case as well as the Sac County Sheriff's Office and the Lake View Police Department.

Photos: Missing children in Iowa Daquan Nelson Jade Colvin Fredrick Workman Benjamin Roseland Erin Pospisil Marc Allen Eugene Martin John Gosch Kimberly Doss Colleen Simpson
A federal court case was dismissed after the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court reversed its exclusion, or banishment, of two current Dupree School District employees.

In early November, Dupree Elementary School teacher Sarah Shaff and district superintendent Keith Fodness launched a federal lawsuit challenging their banishment from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

The U.S. South Dakota District Court held a hearing November 15, anticipating on setting a date for the plaintiffs Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and request for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief.

Instead, shortly before that hearing, representatives from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court presented the district court with a reversal of its initial banishment that sparked the lawsuit.

After this news was presented, the Shaff et. al lawsuit was considered moot and dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cant file another lawsuit pertaining to the issue.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal officials did not respond to a request for comment on why Shaff and Fodnesss banishment was reversed. It is unclear if the tribal council was involved in the decision.

The Dupree School District is not affiliated with the tribe, but sits within the formal boundaries of the Cheyenne River Reservation and serves a student body of mostly tribal members. Not all of Dupree is tribal land, and the exact plot of land the school sits on is not tribal land.

Per the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribes possess the right to banish any individual Native or non-Native who violates the tribes terms of agreement allowing for their presence on tribal land.

Court documents indicate Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chief Justice Brenda Claymore, who was named in the Shaff and Fodness lawsuit, signed off on the banishments dismissal.

Both individuals had been formally banished on August 18 after Shaff was accused of child abuse and Fodness of failure to report abuse. Another employee, Cindy Lindskow, was also banished, but that order was dismissed in September as she is a private property owner on the reservation.

Shaff was accused of allegedly hitting, grabbing and berating students of color while also making them fetch snacks like dogs. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Police turned over their findings to the Pierre FBI office, as they cannot charge any non-tribal member with a crime. It is unclear if any of the educators have been charged.

In late August, the two families who accused Shaff of abuse filed a Voluntary Dismissal of their civil complaint in tribal court.

On November 30, a Dupree School District administrator told ICT News and the Rapid City Journal that all three  Shaff, Fodness and Lindskow  are still employed by the Dupree School District. None of them were ever technically removed from the district.

The family whose children allegedly were abused by Shaff stated in court documents they filed a complaint with the South Dakota Board of Education. The Board of Education has not taken any action.
Senior leaders from the South Dakota National Guard visited the Republic of Suriname from Nov. 24 to 28 to celebrate Surinames 48th National Day.

National Day is a celebration of the countrys independence from the Netherlands in 1975.

Maj. Gen. Mark Morrell, the SDNG Adjutant General, and Command Sgt. Maj. Marcus Stacey, SDNG Senior Enlisted Leader, met with Surinamese senior officials about upcoming events between Suriname and the United States. Suriname and South Dakota have more than 17 years as partners under National Guard Bureaus State Partnership Program.

The two groups signed a security cooperation document in 2006 and typically conduct 15 or more engagements per year. These engagements consist of key leader meetings and subject matter expert exchanges to share best practices and continuing education.

It was an honor to join in Surinames 48th National Day celebration, Morrell said. Together, we participate in training, humanitarian missions, and the regular exchange of ideas that lead to a deeper relationship between our peoples and enhance the security of both nations. I look forward to continuing our strong, 18-plus year partnership.

Our trip to Suriname over their Independence Day festivities was a great way for us to show appreciation for Surinames rich history towards their countrys freedom from Dutch rule, Stacey said. The opportunity to share in their countrys history and military parade highlights our continued support of the South Dakota National Guards partnership with Suriname. The State Partnership Program exchange builds relationships between our soldiers and their Suriname counterparts adding relational value through shared experiences.

Morrell and Stacey participated in the National Day Parade and Reception with President Chan Santokhi. Meetings were conducted with Ambassador Robert Faucher and other senior civilian and military officials. These meetings are held to enhance relationships and focus efforts for the upcoming year.
Doug Crow Ghost, Hunkpapa Lakota, opens a large binder labeled Volume II: Dakota Access Pipeline Lake Oahe Crossing Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The binder is supposed to contain instructions for the tribe should there be a leak in the Dakota Access Pipeline. Instead, the entire page is redacted, replaced with a massive black square.

So, this is what we do if theres a leak, said Crow Ghost, water administrator for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, holding the binder open to two entirely redacted pages.

A public forum held Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 in Bismarck was meant to be an opportunity for concerned citizens and tribal officials to provide feedback on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS outlines five options for the future of the pipeline. Options include denying the easement that allows for the Cannon Ball, N.D. crossing, abandoning or removing the segment, granting the easement with no changes or additional safety measures, or rerouting the pipeline north of Bismarck.

The Bismarck format of the public forum upset many in attendance. Many, including Standing Rock officials, expected a public hearing-style forum. Instead, it was a one-on-one meeting with a stenographer present to write down concerns. There was also an opportunity for individuals to write comments.

Standing Rock tribal leaders said several tribal leaders, citizens and general community members were unable to enter the building where the forum was held. Tribal officials said Bismarck law enforcement asked for identification from anyone attempting to enter. A sign posted outside on Nov. 2 said "meeting by invitation only, no media allowed."

Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire called for the draft review to be invalidated and the pipeline shut down. Alkire voiced concerns over online comments made not being fully considered.

A press release from the tribe called the forum undemocratic.

The quietly announced sessions initially excluded key tribal participants. Would-be speakers were also asked to submit written comments or were siloed with a stenographer rather than being heard in a truly public forum, the press release said.

Following the forum, the period for online public comments was extended to Dec. 13, 2023. Standing Rock officials said over 60,000 comments have been submitted so far.

Neither the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nor Energy Transfer Partners, which owns the pipeline, responded to requests for comment.

Since finding out the pipeline would cross over the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes treaty territory, the tribe has fought to stop the crossing. After years of legal battles, protests and pushback, the pipeline continues to move more than 1 million barrels per year of crude oil from the Bakken Oil Fields of North Dakota to Patoka, Ill. The pipeline has remained in service since June 2017.

The EIS draft was created by a January 2021 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that said the Army Corps existing National Environmental Policy Act analysis did not address potential impacts on Standing Rock and other tribes. The court left it up to the Army Corps to decide whether to keep the pipeline in operation during this period. In May of that year, the Biden administration announced the pipeline would remain in operation.

The new EIS came out on Sep. 8. Crow Ghost said 80% of the stack of three binders he received that make up the EIS is redacted, offering him little instruction on a potential spill.

Another main issue in the ongoing fight is whether or not the pipeline infringes on the tribes land.

The pipeline crosses directly through land taken by Congress in 1958 around the time the Oahe dam was built, less than a mile from the reservations current northern boundary. This land and all land up to the Heart River were guaranteed to the tribe by Article II of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

Additionally, by crossing over the Missouri River, the pipeline has the potential to impact the tribe's main water source.

The Army Corps of Engineers said the tribes water intake source was moved 75 miles south once the pipeline was installed. What was not moved were the more than 1,000 cultural sites along the Missouri River bed.

Several tribal members, including Tim Mentz, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe communications director and former tribal historic preservation officer, attempted to ask about this during the November forums in Bismarck. Mentz was unable to speak to anyone from the Army Corps.

Instead of a forum, concerned citizens would speak one-by-one for up to three minutes to Army Corps representatives, then leave. Mentz said he and six tribal officials from Standing Rock and Cheyenne River were left waiting outside.

We were lined up outside. Law enforcement was asking for IDs from people before they could enter. It began to turn into a protest, Mentz said. It reminded me of 2017.

In 2017, protests erupted in North Dakota around the Lake Oahe crossing point. Tribal citizens, allies and even celebrities came to protest the pipelines construction. More than 30 individuals were arrested and the state of North Dakota issued an order to break up the protests in February 2017.

Mentz said he still has not heard of any plans for what would happen to human remains after a spill.

In the early days of the DAPL protests, Mentz was still working as a tribal historic preservation officer. A survey conducted of the area in 2016 indicated there were 87 sacred sites in a two-mile radius of the pipelines crossing point over Lake Oahe, part of the Missouri River.

The Missouri River itself has great cultural significance to the tribe, Mentz said. This is why there are so many cultural sites along the riverbanks. Mentz said the tribe believes the Little Missouri River, a tributary of the Missouri River, is the oldest river system in the world.

The Missouri River itself runs either along or through 11 reservations, six of which are in South Dakota. Besides reservation communities, as many as 10 million people live along the Missouri River as it runs through Montana to St. Louis where it meets the Mississippi River.

Mentz said there are more than 1,000 cultural sites just in the area along the Lake Oahe Reservoir. Many of the burials are between 100 and 1,000 years old. A majority belong to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and 64 belong to Standing Rock.

In 1960, during the creation of the Oahe Dam and Lake Oahe Reservoir, 24 burial sites were submerged in the Missouri River. These 24 sites are at high risk of contamination if the pipeline were to break.

How do you mitigate oil-soaked human remains? Mentz said. In soil mitigation, it's disposed of. Does that mean our relatives will be disposed of?

Cultural sites have already been disrupted by the pipeline, Mentz said. On Sept. 3, 2016, during the creation of the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners demolished a two-mile area near Cannon Ball containing sacred sites and artifacts. Several archaeological sites were preemptively bulldozed. The tribe issued a formal statement asking for construction to cease, but the request was denied.

From Alaska to the tip of South America, all weve known for the past 500 years is survival, and were still doing it, Crow Ghost said.

In the days leading up to the Dec. 13 EIS public comment deadline, the tribe is working to make their voices heard.

With the help of numerous technical experts such as oil spill model experts, climatologists, geologists and more, the tribe is compiling a comprehensive document to present to the Army Corps beforehand.

The tribe is also requesting a congressional hearing regarding the destruction of cultural sites and human remains in the pipelines creation.

Its important that we stay ahead of this all because the (pipeline) companies are, Crow Ghost said. The environment, the destruction of cultural sites and Indigenous communities are all secondary to them. Their primary goal is to make money at any cost. Its not about conservation or protection. Its all about money.
Marcus Raggio is a Gulf War veteran whos known about his own battle with cancer since 2016, but it was never covered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs until a year and a half ago.

That coverage followed passage of the PACT Act, which allocated more than $250 billion to research and provide treatment for exposure to toxins suffered in military service like burn pits and Agent Orange.

Since its passage in August 2022, the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act has seen 1.2 million claims received, 782,000 of which are completed for a payout of $3.1 billion.

More than 5,800 PACT Act claims have been filed in Montana, 3,500 of which have been paid out, like Raggios.

I would have lost my house, Raggio, who lives in the Bitterroot with his family, said Friday at the VFW Post 209 in Missoula. We wouldnt have had money for the kids food, or my medicine for PTSD.

The event at VFW hosted by Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, was meant to urge more veterans whose claims were previously denied to refile under the PACT Act.

Were doing this today to point out to everybody that the PACT Act can work for our veterans and it is working for our veterans, he told the room. They need to know that this VA is a different VA than it was a year ago, that there are benefits that they may have gotten turned down for in the past, that they wont get turned down for now.

Tester is up for re-election next year, and has long hung his credibility in an increasingly red state, with one of the highest percentages of veterans in the country, on his work on veterans issues.

Tim Sheehy, who so far has the GOPs strongest campaign to unseat Tester, is a former Navy SEAL and decorated combat veteran, awarded the Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart. He is now CEO of an aerial firefighting company in Belgrade.

While Tester was first elected to the Senate in 2006, Sheehy was virtually unknown until this year. He has made up some ground in the name recognition field with an advertising blitz thats already totaled $1.7 million, according to AdImpact. Polls earlier this month showed Sheehy climbing over a prospective primary challenger in Rep. Matt Rosendale, who also holds name recognition after repeat appearances on the ballot in some form over the last decade.

On Thursday, Cook Political Report announced it had updated its rating of the Montana Senate race from Lean Democrat to a Toss Up, citing the Sheehy campaigns lineup of endorsements by Montanas political establishment, recent polling in favor of Sheehy and hesitation around Rosendales potential campaign.

Tester on Friday waved off the Cook Political rating as any reason to fret so far out from the general election.

Its a long ways til Election Day, he said. The truth is this race is going to ebb and flow as they always have. In the end, elections are about choices.  Well talk about our record, and what Ive done, who I am and what I intend to do. And hopefully voters will go to the polls informed with good information and theyll make a good decision.

Sheehys camp, meanwhile, held up the new Toss Up rating as proof of further momentum for the GOP newcomer.

This only reinforces Sheehys strength as a political outsider, combat veteran, and businessman and the reality that he is the strongest conservative to take on and finally defeat Jon Tester, a spokesperson for the campaign said in an emailed statement. Democrats will easily turn this into the most expensive race in Montana history trying to save Tester, but Tim Sheehy has fought and won tough battles before and hell do it again to end Jon Testers 18-year career failing to represent us back in Washington.

Toss up could describe any of Testers elections, which have each finished by razor-thin margins. In 2018 the contest against Rosendale was his largest victory to date with an 18,000 vote difference and the first time he captured 50% of the vote.

As veterans shook hands and shuffled out of the VFW on Friday, Raggio said veterans next year will care less about whether members of Congress actually served.

Veterans care more about whos going to do the damn job, he said.

Seaborn Larson has worked for the Montana State News Bureau since 2020. His past work includes local crime and courts reporting at the Missoulian and Great Falls Tribune, and daily news reporting at the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell.
Kathmandu: H.E. Mr. KIKUTA Yutaka, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, signed a grant contract for the construction of a girls hostel at Shree Kali Devi Secondary School (SKDSS) in Lalitpur district with Ms. Amira Dali, President of Love Green Nepal and the recipient of the Imperial Decoration of Japan. The signing ceremony was held at the Embassy of Japan in Kathmandu today.





This project is funded under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) of the Government of Japan and includes a grant of USD 156,881 (approximately NPR 20.5 million).





SKDSS was established in 1962 and serves as the main educational institution for approximately 400 students in the southwestern part of Lalitpur and the nearby Makwanpur district. However, some students are from remote areas and have to commute long distances or rent rooms to attend school. This situation has constituted a barrier to safe education and academic performance, especially for female students. This project aims to provide a safe and educationally effective foundation by constructing a hostel for those female students who face challenges in attending the school. It will be managed by Love Green Nepal, the non-governmental organization which has been working in the fields of education, environment, agriculture, women empowerment, community development, etc. since 1991.




Starting out on the journey of bringing your invention idea to life can be a daunting task, especially if you're new to the world of inventing. Many aspiring inventors often find themselves unsure about the steps they need to take to turn their ideas into actual inventions. Fortunately, in today's digital era, there are many resources available to assist new inventors.

Numerous specialist providers offer services tailored to the needs of new inventors, making it possible for you to receive expert guidance. InventHelp is one such company that has gained huge popularity among new inventors. Whether you're already familiar with InventHelp or just hearing about it for the first time, it's crucial to conduct thorough research if you're considering their services for your new invention journey.

New inventors usually have many questions when seeking assistance from companies like InventHelp. Conducting research and exploring common questions from other new inventors can be incredibly beneficial as you navigate the world of inventions and consider whether InventHelp is the right new inventions services provider for your needs.

In this comprehensive guide, youll learn some of the most frequently asked questions asked by new inventors about InventHelp, along with detailed answers to help you make an informed decision regarding your choice of a provider for your first new invention journey.

Common Questions and Answers About Inventions and InventHelp

New inventors often seek answers to various questions when considering the use of a service like InventHelp to help them on their invention journey. By examining these commonly asked questions and their answers, you can gain valuable insights into InventHelp's history, reputation, services, and how it can assist new inventors.

How Do I Come Up with an Invention Idea?

Coming up with a unique invention idea is the first step in the journey of becoming an inventor. However, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to generating great ideas. They can come to you in various ways, such as sudden lightbulb moments and flashes of inspiration, through identifying gaps in the market and coming up with ideas to fill these gaps, or from personal experiences in your daily life.

It is important to remember that the path to coming up with an invention idea is unique to each person.

What Do I Do Once I Have an Invention Idea?

While coming up with an invention idea is the first key part of the process, the real challenges begin when it comes to working out what to do next. Many new inventors often struggle to determine how to move forward from idea to actual invention, leading some to abandon their dreams due to a lack of guidance and support.

To successfully move forward with your invention idea, it's crucial to seek the right support and guidance. This is where companies like InventHelp play a vital role. They offer a range of services designed to assist new inventors, making the journey smoother and more manageable.

Once you have a clear idea you wish to pursue, reaching out to experts like InventHelp will help you navigate the next steps and set your invention journey in motion.

How Do I Sell My Idea for an Invention?

To sell your idea for an invention, follow these steps:

1. Protect Your Idea: Consider patenting your invention or using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to protect your intellectual property.

2. Research Your Market: Identify potential buyers or licensees in industries related to your invention.

3. Create a Compelling Pitch: Develop a clear and persuasive presentation highlighting your invention's uniqueness and value.

4. Network: Attend industry events, join inventor networks, and use online platforms to connect with potential buyers.

5. Make Contact: Reach out to potential buyers through emails, letters, calls, or meetings.

6. Presentation: Deliver a thorough and convincing presentation of your invention when given the opportunity.

7. Negotiation: Be prepared to negotiate terms, including pricing, royalties, and responsibilities.

8. Legal Assistance: Consult with an attorney to ensure your rights are protected during negotiations and in the final agreement.

9. Finalize and Execute: Once terms are agreed upon, finalize the legal contract and execute it.

10. Follow Up: Stay involved to ensure the agreement is upheld and maintain communication with the buyer or licensee.

Can I Sell My Invention Idea Without a Patent?

Yes, you can sell your invention idea without having a patent, but it's important to be cautious when doing so. Without patent protection, your idea may be more vulnerable to theft or unauthorized use by others. Here are some considerations:

1. Use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs): When discussing your invention idea with potential buyers or licensees, use NDAs to legally bind them to confidentiality. This can help protect your idea from being disclosed or used without your permission.

2. Choose the Right Buyer or Licensee: Be selective in choosing who you share your idea with. Look for reputable companies or individuals who have a track record of respecting intellectual property rights.

3. Documentation: Maintain detailed records of all interactions, discussions, and communications related to your invention idea. This documentation can be valuable if any disputes arise.

4. Seek Legal Advice: Consult with a qualified attorney to help you navigate the process, especially when drafting NDAs and negotiating agreements. Legal guidance can protect your interests.

5. Consider a Provisional Patent Application: While not a full patent, filing a provisional patent application can establish an early priority date and offer some protection for your idea for up to one year.

6. Understand the Risks: Selling an invention idea without a patent involves risks, and there is no guarantee of protection. Be aware of the potential challenges and consider whether the benefits of selling without a patent outweigh the risks.

While selling an invention idea without a patent is possible, it's generally advisable to pursue patent protection if your invention has significant market potential. A patent provides stronger legal protection and can increase the value of your invention when negotiating with potential buyers or licensees.

What Sort of Company Is InventHelp?

InventHelp is a specialist provider offering a comprehensive suite of services to assist new inventors throughout their invention journey. These services include everything from helping inventors secure patents for their inventions to providing access to marketing services.

The company's mission is to offer extensive guidance and support to its clients, making it an excellent choice for new inventors seeking assistance. One very useful benefit is InventHelp's huge database, which contains thousands of companies interested in reviewing the ideas of new inventors. This database provides a significant opportunity for inventors looking to have their ideas evaluated.

Does InventHelp Have Lots of Experience?

One common concern among new inventors is selecting a provider with a proven track record and substantial experience in aiding inventors. InventHelp addresses this concern effectively, as the company has been operating for nearly four decades, assisting countless new inventors during this time.

InventHelp's extensive experience in the industry is further enhanced by its widespread presence, with offices in 65 cities across the United States and Canada. This strong presence demonstrates the company's long-standing commitment to helping inventors over the years.

How Reputable Is InventHelp?

Reputation is a crucial factor for new inventors when choosing a provider to assist them in their invention journey. InventHelp has established a strong reputation over the years through its dedication to clients and the quality of its services to new inventors.

The invention company prioritizes honesty and transparency, which is vital when it comes to new invention services providers. InventHelp does not make false promises or claims to entice new inventors but relies on its reputation and years of experience to attract clients. Moreover, InventHelp is transparent about costs, ensuring that clients are not surprised by unexpected fees.

To gain a better understanding of InventHelp's reputation, conducting independent research and reviewing honest reviews and testimonials online is vital. This will provide valuable insights into what you can expect when considering InventHelp's services.

What Does InventHelp Do to Help New Inventors?

InventHelp offers a wide array of services designed to assist new inventors at every stage of their invention journey. These services are designed to help with various aspects of the invention process and can prove invaluable to new inventors who may be unfamiliar with the different tasks and processes involved.

Some of the key ways in which InventHelp supports new inventors include:

Access to a database with thousands of companies willing to review new invention ideas

Assistance with securing patent protection for your invention

Guidance and support in creating a prototype of your invention

Providing marketing services to promote your invention

Facilitating connections to potential sources of funding

Offering ongoing support and guidance throughout your invention journey

Granting access to a wide range of resources and tools specifically tailored for new inventors

InventHelp's comprehensive service offerings allow new inventors to access all the support they need from a single provider, simplifying the often challenging and stressful invention process.

What Types of Inventions Can InventHelp Assist With?

InventHelp is equipped to assist inventors with a broad range of invention ideas spanning various industries. Whether your idea relates to technology, environmental solutions, scientific innovations, medical advancements, or any other field, InventHelp is able to provide support.

The company's approach ensures that it can cater to inventors from diverse backgrounds and industries. Regardless of the nature of your invention idea, the InventHelp team is always on hand to offer guidance and assistance to help you bring your vision to life.

Other Common Questions Asked About InventHelp

You will find plenty of other questions that new inventors ask about this provider, many of which can be found when conducting online research. Some of the other common questions people ask about this provider include:

Can InventHelp Provide Assistance with Patent Protection?

New inventors are often unfamiliar with patent protection and its significance, but it is crucial to gain knowledge about this vital aspect of the invention process. Patenting plays a vital role in safeguarding your inventions. Fortunately, InventHelp offers assistance in this area, boasting a team of legal experts who can guide you through various aspects of patent laws.

With the expertise of their professionals, you can verify whether your invention has already been patented before proceeding. In addition, the legal specialists can assist you when it comes to filing patent applications and navigating the complications of patent protection. This ensures that you can proceed with confidence, knowing that you have the necessary legal protection in place to safeguard your invention.

Failing to secure patent protection can lead to potential problems, such as others claiming your idea as their own or someone else patenting a similar concept. Therefore, this process is extremely important, and InventHelp is well equipped to provide the necessary assistance.

Is a Prototype Required, and Can InventHelp Assist?

Prototypes are often a concept that new inventors are unfamiliar with, yet they hold a lot of importance in the invention process. While sharing your idea and invention with others might be exciting, it might not provide sufficient information for third parties like businesses and potential investors to make informed decisions. This is where having a prototype becomes invaluable.

A prototype serves as a tangible representation of your invention, enabling others to learn more about its appearance and functionality. Enhanced understanding of your invention leads to more informed decision-making among investors and businesses.

The process of selecting the right prototype can be challenging for new inventors. However, InventHelp can provide expert assistance in creating a prototype. Moreover, they can assist with preparation and presentations if you intend to showcase your prototype to potential businesses and investors.

Does InventHelp Offer Access to Marketing Services?

The journey of a first-time inventor involves numerous tasks that can prove challenging. Among these is the marketing of your invention, which is a critical part of the process. Many new inventors are keen to know if InventHelp can provide access to marketing services, and the answer is yes.

For novice inventors lacking experience in marketing, this can be a challenging process. However, with the expertise of InventHelp's team, you can easily access a range of marketing services. Various options are available to help you optimize your marketing campaigns.

InventHelp's team can assist with a diverse range marketing areas, including the creation of marketing materials, devising marketing plans, and preparing for presentations relating to your invention. With their support, you can cover all aspects of your marketing needs.

Can InventHelp Assist with Obtaining Funding?

New inventors often want to learn about funding options for their inventions. Many are curious if InventHelp can help with this process. Fortunately, InventHelp can help connect new inventors with potential investors, offering an opportunity to secure the necessary funding.

Regardless of the effort, time, and dedication invested in your invention, securing funding might be a real challenge. If you lack experience and connections in this regard, it can be a daunting task. However, with InventHelp's assistance, you can establish valuable connections that may lead to securing the required funding.

The provider can also help you to enhance your chances of success in obtaining funding in other ways. For instance, the team can assist in creating an impressive prototype to capture potential investors' interest or in crafting a compelling pitch that keeps them engaged.

What Is the Cost of Using InventHelp's Services?

New inventors naturally want to understand the costs associated with using InventHelp's services. Considering costs is essential to ensure affordability. However, InventHelp does not have a fixed fee, as it can vary depending on various factors specific to each case.

To determine the cost for your particular project, you can consult with the team before making any commitments. This approach allows you to gain a clear understanding of the expenses involved and make an informed decision based on the fees.

It's worth keeping in mind that InventHelp is committed to transparency when it comes to costs. After evaluating your project, the provider can provide you with a straightforward and honest quote, ensuring that you won't encounter unexpected fees or hidden charges later in the process.

Is Success Guaranteed with InventHelp?

Most new inventors are keen to achieve success through their inventions. Some may wonder if enlisting the services of a specialized invention company like InventHelp guarantees success. However, it's important to keep in mind that no company can guarantee the success of your invention. Therefore, InventHelp does not make false promises in this regard.

Any invention service company that guarantees success for a new inventor is essentially making false promises, as you cannot predict the outcome of any invention without a very reliable crystal ball! Even established inventors have encountered unsuccessful projects, making it clear that providers should never make guarantees. If you do come across a company that offers this sort of guarantee, the red flags should go up right away.

Will I Profit from My Invention with InventHelp?

Some new inventors are eager to know if they can generate profits from their invention by working with InventHelp. As there is no guarantee of success with any invention, the ability to profit also cannot be predicted or guaranteed. The financial outcome of your invention is based on its success, which you will not be able to gauge until it enters the market.

While many inventors from the past have become wealthy and even famous through their inventions, others have not. This unpredictability is part and parcel of being an inventor, and all new inventors should avoid setting out on their journey with expectations of success, wealth, or fame.

Are My Invention Details Secure with InventHelp?

Another concern for new inventors is in relation to the confidentiality of their invention details when working with InventHelp. Protecting the details of your idea or invention from falling into the wrong hands is crucial, and this is why the careful selection of a trusted provider is essential.

At InventHelp, strict protocols are in place to ensure confidentiality and provide you with peace of mind and protection. Not only are employees handling your case required to sign confidentiality agreements, but the same applies to other parties, such as companies in their database who may be involved in reviewing your idea.

When it comes to confidentiality and security, you can benefit from the reassurance that InventHelp has rigorous measures and protocols in place to safeguard your invention details.

Summary of Reasons to Consider InventHelp

If you are still unsure about whether InventHelp is the right service provider for your needs, it is worth looking over a summary of the advantages it offers. This will make it easier for you to determine whether this service fits in with your needs, how the team can help you with your journey, and what you can expect from the provider. Key benefits include:

Comprehensive Support: InventHelp aids inventors with crucial tasks such as patenting, prototype development, marketing, and establishing connections for funding

Ongoing Assistance: The company provides continual support throughout your initial journey as a new inventor, ensuring you have the guidance you need at every stage

Access to Resources: InventHelp grants access to an array of tools and resources tailored for new inventors, which can help to aid skill development and enhanced knowledge

Learning Opportunities: With the support and guidance offered, you have the opportunity to learn and grow as you progress in your invention journey

Industry Networking: InventHelp maintains a database of companies open to reviewing innovative ideas, expanding your chances of finding potential collaborators or investors

Confidentiality: Your new invention idea is handled with utmost confidentiality, safeguarding the details of your idea

Transparent Pricing: InventHelp ensures transparency in pricing, enabling you to make informed decisions before committing to its services

It is important to remember that many people with great invention ideas decide not to move forward with them due to uncertainty about the necessary steps and available resources. Having access to expert support and guidance significantly reduces the chances of you abandoning your invention idea and encourages you to move forward with the process.

Moreover, having experienced professionals by your side provides greater confidence and reduces stress during your initial journey as an inventor. This, in turn, enhances the overall enjoyment of your invention journey, turning it into an enriching experience rather than one fraught with anxiety.

So, lets take a closer look at the benefits outlined above:

1. Comprehensive Support

InventHelp distinguishes itself by providing invaluable assistance in several key areas, simplifying the path for inventors. This support includes:

Patenting: InventHelp assists in navigating the complex process of patenting, ensuring that your invention is protected and legally secured

Prototype Development: The company aids in turning your concept into a tangible prototype, which is a crucial step in showcasing your idea to potential investors or partners

Marketing: InventHelp offers guidance on how to effectively market your invention, helping you reach a broader audience and garner interest

Funding Connections: InventHelp can connect you with potential sources of funding, increasing the chances of turning your idea into a reality

2. Ongoing Assistance

One of the key benefits of InventHelp is its commitment to providing continuous support. As a new inventor, you will receive guidance and assistance at every stage of your journey. This ongoing support not only helps ensure that you stay on the right track but also boosts your confidence and motivation.

3. Access to Resources

InventHelp recognizes the importance of equipping inventors with the necessary tools and resources. By offering access to a diverse range of resources, the company empowers you to develop your skills, gain knowledge, and make informed decisions. These resources are tailored to the unique needs of new inventors.

4. Learning Opportunities

Embarking on the first journey as a new inventor can be daunting, especially if you lack prior experience. InventHelp's support and guidance enable you to learn and grow as you progress. This approach ensures that you acquire valuable insights and skills that can be applied throughout your career in the world of inventions.

5. Industry Networking

InventHelp maintains a database of companies and individuals who are open to reviewing innovative ideas. This networking opportunity expands your horizons, providing a platform to connect with potential collaborators, partners, or investors who share an interest in your invention.

6. Confidentiality

The confidentiality of your invention idea is of paramount importance to InventHelp. You can rest assured that your idea will be treated with discretion and safeguarded from falling into the wrong hands.

7. Transparent Pricing

InventHelp believes in transparency when it comes to pricing. Before you commit to the services, you will receive clear information about the costs involved. This transparency ensures that you can make informed financial decisions and avoid hidden fees or surprises.

In short, InventHelp offers a comprehensive suite of services and support to inventors, particularly those who are new to the process. By addressing key aspects such as patenting, prototype development, marketing, and funding, the company provides a solid foundation for turning your innovative ideas into reality.

The ongoing guidance, access to resources, and commitment to confidentiality further enhance the value the provider offers to aspiring inventors. Ultimately, InventHelp's mission is to empower individuals with creative ideas, making the journey of innovation more manageable, enjoyable, and enriching.

Is This the Right Invention Service Company for You?

When considering InventHelp as your potential partner for your new invention, you're likely to have many questions about the company, its array of services, and how it caters to budding inventors. Making an informed decision is crucial, and you might still be uncertain about whether InventHelp aligns with your specific needs. Therefore, it is advisable to do thorough independent research before reaching a decision.

A simple way to gain further information about InventHelp is to explore the most frequently asked questions and answers, like the ones outlined above. These FAQs can provide a comprehensive overview of the company's offerings, helping you to more easily decide if they fit in with your needs.

Also, seeking out online reviews from other new inventors can be hugely beneficial in helping you to understand what InventHelp can offer. These reviews serve as a valuable resource as they enable you to learn about the experiences of others who have entered into the world of inventions with InventHelp by their side. Learning from their journeys and experiences can provide you with the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision.

Making a Difference to Your Journey

It is important to keep in mind that embarking on a career as a new inventor can be daunting. However, having the support and guidance of seasoned experts can make a big positive difference in your journey. While success and wealth are never guaranteed in the world of new inventions, the help of experts can improve the quality of your journey and experiences.

Furthermore, working with experienced professionals means that your initial journey into the world of new inventions can be highly educational. The knowledge and insights you gain during this initial experience can prove to be invaluable as you continue your career as an inventor in the future. The lessons learned and expertise gained in this partnership can be used in future ventures, ensuring that you reap long-lasting benefits from the guidance of experienced professionals.

In summary, the decision of whether InventHelp is the right choice for you should be based on a range of factors. Through proper research, reading FAQs, and examining reviews from other inventors, you can gain a clearer understanding of how InventHelp aligns with your goals as a new inventor.

Remember that while InventHelp cannot guarantee overnight success or wealth, its experienced experts can enhance your journey as a budding inventor. The knowledge acquired during this partnership can serve as a valuable foundation for your future ventures.

You also have the added reassurance of working with a provider with a solid background in the world of new inventions. This can make a big difference when it comes to confidence levels and peace of mind.

This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this paid post belong solely to the advertiser and do not represent the views of Lee Enterprises.
A Henrico County man who in April pleaded guilty to child abuse charges alleging he had tortured a child by duct-taping him to a chair and shooting him with a BB gun was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison, according to court records.

Joshua Torres was arrested in March 2022 after a joint investigation conducted by Child Protective Services and the Henrico Police Special Victims Unit found that Torres had subjected a child, identified by prosecutors as R.J.L., to extreme abuse.

Henrico police and CPS investigators initially responded in September 2021 to a residence in the 3500 block of Corum Drive in Henrico for a concerning CPS case alert. At the scene, Henrico detectives and a CPS caseworker noticed that R.J.L. had multiple bruisings and markings all over his body and that the child was visibly thin.

Duct tape was also recovered on the wall of his room.

The family, which included Torres and R.J.L.s mother, was not able to offer any history that could appropriately explain the injuries, authorities said. R.J.L. was taken for treatment and evaluation at VCU Medical Center, where prosecutors said professionals were immediately able to recognize the signs of chronic abuse.

Authorities interviewed R.J.L., who they said described a pattern of torture. The child reported being duct-taped in uncomfortable positions to a wooden chair in his closet and left alone in the home for hours at a time, until he was hurting so bad (he) couldnt take it anymore and he was forced to urinate and defecate in his pants.

R.J.L. also told investigators that Torres would pour hot sauce in his eyes, beat him with a phone charging cord, choke him, withhold food and had once ordered another person to pepper-spray him in the face. On at least three occasions, R.J.L. said Torres had shot him with a BB gun.

Despite the horrific treatment, R.J.L. said he was denied medical care, prosecutors said.

Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Alison Martin referred to the 13-year sentence, which was above the upper end of the sentencing guidelines of eight years and three months, as a successful resolution. The presiding judge on Friday referred to the guidelines as wholly inadequate in light of Torres crimes, Martin said.

Torres attorney Russ Stone told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that a less significant sentence would be appropriate, but that his client has accepted responsibility for his actions.

(Torres) has, since the beginning, acknowledged his guilt and taken responsibility for what occurred, Stone said.

31 photos from the Times-Dispatch archives
North Korea lashed out at the United States on Saturday after a U.S. space official hinted at possible disabling of the North's military spy satellite launched last week, saying that it will take it as "a declaration of war" against the regime.

A spokesperson of the North's defense ministry issued the statement after Sheryll Klinkel, a strategic communicator at the U.S. Space Command, told a media program in reference to the North's spy satellite that "a variety of reversible and irreversible means" can be employed to "deny" an adversary's space and counterspace capabilities.

Appearing on Radio Free Asia earlier this week, Klinkel also said that joint force space operations can reduce the effectiveness and lethality of adversarial forces across all domains.

"The U.S. Space Force's deplorable hostility toward the DPRK's reconnaissance satellite can never be overlooked as it is just a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration war against it," read the English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

Citing an article on the U.N. treaty on principles governing space activities, the official said that its Malligyong-1 spy satellite, launched Nov. 21, falls under the jurisdiction of the launcher state and that it is part of its own territory, "not a space weapon."

If the U.S. regards the spy satellite as a "military threat," all of the U.S. spy satellites "flying above the Korean Peninsula every day" should be deemed primary targets of destruction, the spokesperson added.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defense to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites by exercising its legitimate rights vested by international and domestic laws," the official said. (Yonhap)
Virginias new prisons chief has announced a 90-day hiring freeze to keep the state prison system from going financially underwater.

These actions are challenging but necessary as we work together to continue to perform our public safety mission while remaining good stewards of state tax dollars, wrote Virginia Department of Corrections Director Chadwick Dotson in a memo to staff.

The memo said the freeze is necessary to prevent a major budget shortfall for the $1.5 billion department.

The state prison system faces a critical staffing shortage that officials have struggled to reverse. In December 2020, the agency had an 18% vacancy rate for corrections officers and senior corrections officials. By May 2022, the rate had risen to 32%. As of Dec. 1, the vacancy rate sits at 26%.

The agency is mostly struggling to bring on corrections officers, who run the day-to-day operations of prisons that hold about 24,000 people.

Under former Director Harold Clarke, the agency authorized sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses and large amounts of overtime as a proactive strategy to retain personnel. Between 2019 and 2021, the agency lost over 800 employees working in its prisons.

Dotson, who took over in September, said those retention strategies created a significant shortfall in the agencys budget.

The VADOCs temporary hiring freeze does not apply to recruitment for the Departments Security Staff employees, agency spokesperson Kyle Gibson said. The VADOC continues to work aggressively to fill these positions. For the last six consecutive months with complete data, the VADOC has seen a decline in vacancies for Correctional Officers.

Gibson did not share how much of a shortfall the agency was projecting.

Throughout 2023, problems in the state prison system have become highly visible. Over the summer, two sleeping correctional officers allowed a violent felon to escape from a Henrico County hospital, sparking a multistate manhunt. The individual, Naseem Roulack, was captured in Fairfax County.

Later, a series of fires, deaths and lockdowns at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt made headlines. In November, the agency released the results of a two-week shakedown at Greensville, announcing it had recovered 21 homemade weapons and a large number of drugs, including cocaine and heroin.

The agency also removed Greensvilles leadership staff and transferred in three new wardens to run the facility.

On Nov. 22, WRIC-TV reported that correctional officers at Greensville worked over 100,000 hours of overtime between May and November of this year. The information was released under a public records request.

Its not clear whether the new directive from Dotson will end the practice of authorizing large amounts of overtime.

Virginia correctional officers are unionized under the Communications Workers of America. Bubba Craddock, president of the Richmond branch of the CWA, described long-running frustrations with Clarke. Craddock said Clarkes DOC would run people ragged.

The problem as we see it is, its cyclical, because youre trying to run the department as if its fully staffed, no matter what the staffing level is, Craddock said. Which is creating these conditions that arent suitable for the officers or the inmates inside  thats what happened a couple months ago when you had the inmate that ran away.

Craddock said that this past summer, a group of 13 new officer trainees quit after being introduced to Sussex II.

Im hoping this director will have a different set of ears, said Craddock, referring to Dotson.

Virginias incarceration rates are significantly higher than the national average, a product of a longstanding, bipartisan tradition of tough-on-crime sentencing laws. In 1995, the state abolished discretionary parole.

Over the summer, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that state prisons would save $465 million if parole was reinstated and used at the same rate as New Jersey, a state with a comparable total population.

The business of operating prisons has also become increasingly more expensive, with one key driver being health care costs. VADOC records show the cost of caring for the incarcerated has risen by around $5,000 per inmate in the past five years.

Who are they? VA children reported missing as of December 2 These are recent reports of missing children made to local law enforcement. If you think you have seen a missing child, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
They cant get rid of me, Susanna Gibson said with a small chuckle and a large grin.

They being the Republican Party of Virginia.

Though the nurse practitioner-turned-Democratic political candidate lost her bid to represent House District 57 in the General Assembly by 715 votes against retired homebuilder David Owen, she still plans to frequent the Capitol to advocate for various laws.

She also hasnt ruled out running again.

Now weeks after the Nov. 7 election, Gibson is able to smile as she reflects on the connections she made with people during her campaign and since, but there have been difficult times.

She says she has received death threats and that people frequently loiter outside of her home. At one point a false call was placed to law enforcement, resulting in officers showing up at her house. The act, colloquially referred to as swatting (after law enforcements SWAT units), is often a tactic used to target and harass public figures or activists.

Then theres also the harassment on social media  where comment threads across multiple platforms levy explicit language and insults at Gibson and regurgitate images of her nude body.

The harassment stemmed from when an anonymous Republican operative in September sent a media outlet images of Gibson and her husband performing sex online  perhaps in violation of state law.

The interactions between the married couple in the handful of streams were consensual, as was their decision to stream them. But, she says, the archival and disbursement of the content to broader audiences was a crime.

The story made international headlines.

By October, the Republican Party of Virginia also sent mailers to voters with cropped screenshots of Gibsons nude body. In a statement at the time, Party Chairman Rich Anderson attacked her campaign for calling the operatives actions a leak, arguing the content was created by the Gibsons online.

Gibsons campaign has falsely alleged that the videos of her publicly engaging in sexual activity on publicly accessible pornography websites were leaked by Republicans. In reality, the opposite is true, he said.

But the original streams, Gibson said, were only live for the intended audience of followers on a website called Chaturbate.

Theres a stark difference between consenting for someone to see something with it existing only as a memory and consenting for that image to be stored as a permanent file and reviewed in perpetuity, Gibson said. America has never been great with consent, but digital consent is a whole new realm.

Its why Gibson alleges that the political operative engaged in revenge porn and shes seeking legal action against them to hold them accountable  once she figures out who did it.

She also plans to advocate for Virginia to make its current revenge porn law stronger.

This cannot be allowed to be OK

In Virginia, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to distribute pornographic content of someone without their consent. The practice is commonly referred to as revenge porn. When several celebrity womens iCloud accounts were hacked in 2014 and their nude content was posted on social media platforms, men in various states were convicted.

Though revenge porn can happen to anyone, Gibson noted its higher prevalence in affecting women, an observation backed by multiple studies. She noted the aura of victim-blaming that also occurs especially when disseminated images are originally taken in a consenting manner.

(The political operative) found illegal pornographic images and videos of a woman running for office, disseminated them with intent to interrupt or change the outcome of a very important election  but the majority of our societys reaction is how dare that woman, Gibson said.

Challenging the operative is a start, but strengthening Virginias law would be able to help others in her situation, she said.

Gibson has her eye on Illinois current revenge porn law as an example Virginia could follow. Where it is a Class 1 misdemeanor here, its a Class 4 felony there.

This cannot be allowed to be OK, Gibson said. And if I say I just want to move on, it would probably be easier emotionally for me. But it wouldnt be helping others.

Gender dynamics

Political analysts and scholars say that gender, age changing technology and evolving social standards are all factors that contributed to the international spotlight on Gibsons story.

A 2016 study found that over one in 25 Americans, or about 10.4 million people have had their images posted without their consent. The number is higher for young women at one in 10.

Having recently turned 40 years old, Gibson falls within the millennial generation  people born between 1981 and 1996. Nude content aside, millennials and younger generations typically have more online activity as they grew up with the internet and smartphones.

Democratic political strategist Atima Omara believes Gibson wont be the last candidate to have had online sexual activity. She also noted how during the early days of the pandemic as people faced layoffs, there was a rise in people selling access to photos or videos of themselves on a site called OnlyFans.

Especially with the younger generations, Omara said. We are going to have candidates whove had some variety of sex work. Were probably going to have a candidate for a higher level of office who will have had an OnlyFans account who will have been a cam girl or cam guy.

While people of both genders and particularly younger generations may be more likely to have engaged in sexual content online or to have shared nude images with other people, women are more likely to be victims of revenge porn.

Its a concern that Gibson said she is already hearing from others. In recent weeks, she said a few women aspiring to get into politics have connected with her for advice or to relay their worries.

Every single one of us has taken some kind of nude photo. Were watching this and were thinking, oh my god, none of us can ever run for office, Gibson paraphrased one of the women, a college student.

That is literally what this is telling people, Gibson added.

While she sees her challenge to the operative and advocacy to strengthen revenge porn laws as a starting point, Gibson is considering launching a legal fund to help people or a political action committee to boost women candidates.

And its not off the table that she might run for state office again.

She said that by staying visible and loud, she can show that this is not an acceptable political strategy and that you cannot do this to women to make us just go away and be quiet.

From the Archives: The Virginia state Capitol building
The state office that oversees emergency medical services in Virginia is tangled in a financial crisis, preventing rescue squads from buying new ambulances and threatening the jobs of EMS support personnel.

In the spring, state government leaders discovered the Office of Emergency Medical Services had for years misspent millions of dollars. So far, no one has said exactly how much money is missing, how long it was misspent, where it went or why it was mishandled. State and federal investigators are now asking questions.

The impact is far-reaching. EMS crews throughout the state cannot apply for grants to buy ambulances, stretchers or automated external defibrillators, leaving them to deal with sometimes outdated equipment. A volunteer rescue squad in Winchester has to make do with a 14-year-old ambulance that often breaks down or raise more than $400,000 to buy a new one.

And the nonprofit regional councils that coordinate and train EMS providers across the state are going unfunded. For now, they are surviving on reserve funds and other revenue, but some could be forced to cease operations at the end of the month, said Tracy McLaurin, who leads the Lord Fairfax EMS Council in the Winchester area.

Its going to have far-reaching and long-lasting implications, unfortunately, McLaurin said in an interview. We dont know what the futures going to hold.

Office spent money it didnt have

In the spring, the Virginia Department of Health conducted regular budget reviews of each of its 20 offices. During a routine review in May, leadership discovered financial irregularities, at the Office of EMS, said R. Christopher Lindsay, the departments chief operating officer, according to prepared remarks from a November meeting. A significant portion of the money the Office of EMS was supposed to deliver to the general fund had disappeared.

This led department leadership to open an audit, which is ongoing, and contact the Office of the State Inspector General, the Virginia State Police and federal prosecutors.

I cannot comment further on the specifics of these investigations, Lindsay said at the November meeting.

What Lindsay would divulge is that for years, the Office of EMS created budgets that were not in line with available funding. The office spent significantly more money than it had, and overspent on contracts.

There have been years of moving of funds from one source to another to cover shortfalls with little agency oversight or controls which has left a multimillion-dollar deficit within the Office of EMS that will take time and effort to correct, Lindsay said.

Its unclear if the money was lost to negligence or if it was stolen. Its also unclear why systems were not in place to discover the problem earlier.

The offices longtime director, Gary Brown, who was in charge there for 27 years, announced in October he would retire, WTVR CBS6 reported. The health department named Cam Crittenden as the offices acting director.

There are roughly 38,000 EMS providers in the state  both volunteer and paid and not including firefighters  working at about 550 agencies.

In Richmond, the Richmond Ambulance Authority is the citys primary EMS provider. In Henrico County, volunteer rescue squads, including Tuckahoe and Lakeside, work alongside the countys fire department.

The salaries of paid employees are generally funded at the local level and are not in danger of disappearing. But much of their equipment is paid for by the state or local fundraising.

When a Virginia resident registers a vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the resident pays a tax of between $30 and $35. From that total, about $6 goes toward the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, which pays for the departments $56 million budget for fiscal 2024. The funding program is referred to as 4 for Life because, previously, $4 was allocated from vehicle registrations for emergency medical services.

The budget is used to pay the offices nearly 50-person staff and the regional councils that train and coordinate EMS agencies. Other money is disbursed to localities, volunteer rescue squads, the Virginia State Polices emergency helicopter transport, trauma centers such as Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the states general fund. Much of the funding is required by state law.

One of the largest pieces of the pie, almost $10 million, is designated for the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund, in which rescue squads can apply for grant money to buy new ambulances or other equipment.

But the state will not fund any grant applications in the next cycle.

Replacing a 14-year-old ambulance

In the city of Winchester, the Shawnee Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department owns two ambulances. One of them is 14 years old, frequently out of service and in dire need of replacement, said Jon Henschel, Winchesters fire chief, in an interview.

The department has asked the state three times for the money to buy a new one, which costs more than $400,000. The first two times, the request was denied. Henschel thought the third time was the charm.

In a normal period, the Office of EMS would award its next cycle of grant money around Jan. 1. Without that money, Shawnee will likely have to pay for the ambulance on its own.

The department already fundraises  it holds bingo nights twice a week  but that money also goes toward fire engines and the fire stations building upkeep. And fundraising has become harder in recent years as the cost of ambulances has soared.

Agencies can borrow ambulances from one another, but that causes a domino effect, inconveniencing more and more units.

When the state will resume funding, Henschel does not know.

A wet weekend, then snow, in forecast for Richmond region Much needs to come together at just the right time. But it does appear that most of the elements to make snow will be on the forecasting table next week.

Were not getting a lot of answers, he said. This is going to have a detrimental outcome statewide if they dont rectify this soon.

While rescue squads themselves are not in danger of shutting down, the bodies that coordinate EMS are.

The Lord Fairfax EMS Council in Winchester is one of 11 across the state and are paid as contractors. They decide which trauma centers will receive ambulances from different localities and where ambulances will go if the first option is overwhelmed. The councils, which distributed personal protective equipment to ambulances during the pandemic, provide training for EMS providers and operate a program that allows them to carry blood for transfusions.

The Lord Fairfax Council has not received payment from the state since March, McLaurin said. At the end of December, the state will owe the council about $175,000 for nine months work.

McLaurin has been able to pay her four other employees by collecting revenue from CPR training, the sale of defibrillators, certification testing and tapping into the nonprofits rainy-day fund. But that money will go only so far, she said. If the council isnt paid by early next year, it might have to cease operations.

Other councils depend more on the state for revenue and might be forced to shut down at the end of the month, she said.

Its putting everybody in a really difficult position right now, McLaurin said.

Dr. Karen Shelton, the state health commissioner, said the health department is working to free up funds to pay the councils. To meet payroll, the health department will restructure the office and delay payments back to localities.

During the pandemic, the health department lost much of its financial management workforce, Shelton said at the November meeting. Now, its working to rebuild.

Kevin Dillard, chair of the state EMS advisory board, has been tasked with assembling a workgroup to begin fixing the office. The work will take time and effort, Dillard said in an interview.

Theyre taking drastic measures to stop the bleeding and get this under control, he added.

This morning's headlines: Henry Kissinger; lead pipes; Israel-Hamas truce extended
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During his recent summit on free speech, Gov. Glenn Youngkin cited as a cautionary tale the 2022 appearance of former Vice President Mike Pence at the University of Virginia.

There were attempts to disinvite him, to put it mildly, Youngkin said Wednesday. And the administration of the University of Virginia stood up, stood up for the fact that we have to have divergent views, and therefore must welcome divergent views.

Pences announced theme  How to Save America From the Woke Left  was hardly benign. It was a provocative shot across the bow that invited dissent. The university was only five years removed from Nazis and other white supremacists marching across its grounds during a weekend of protest that turned deadly. Pence served a president who saw very fine people among those hatemongers.

Prior to Pences appearance, the Cavalier Daily student newspaper published an editorial arguing that platforming a homophobic, racist and transphobic politician was at odds with the universitys purported values of diversity, honor, integrity, trust and respect.

UVA President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom countered with an op-ed in the same newspaper. The exchange of ideas about Mr. Pences presence on Grounds is not a sign that free expression is dead on Grounds  its a sign that it is alive and well, they wrote.

The tiki-torching white supremacists who invaded the Lawn were fans of the Trump-Pence administration, they wrote. Are their chants covered or are they not? Is Jews will not replace us! Blood and soil! White lives matter! welcome speech on the Lawn or is it not?

All parties had their say. That includes Pence, who came and spoke without disruption.

There are far better examples of the crisis of free speech in America today.

UVA was the platform for Youngkins Higher Education Summit on Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity, which his administrations Department of Education spent more than a year planning, according to a story by Jason Armesto, a reporter for the Daily Progress in Charlottesville.

We provided the space at the governors office request  but this was really their event, university spokesman Brian Coy said Friday.

This summit should be seen for what it is: An attempt to place a thumb on the scale of college discourse to tilt the needle rightward.

The title of the conference is ironic. The buzz phrase diversity of thought is the only diversity the political right champions as it dismantles affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses.

Larry Sabato, the founder and director of the Center for Politics at UVA, said in an email that he learned about the summit from a reporter after the fact. But reading Youngkins quotes, its pretty obvious what the agenda was. Lefty socialist educators are poisoning the minds of our youth! The Republican right-wing all across the country cant get enough of it.

The notion of college campuses as bastions of liberalism and wokeness is an article of faith on the American right. But debates over freedom of speech on campus are nothing new, and the examples cited by Youngkin hardly do the issue justice.

Sadly, the most egregious assaults against free speech in the history of U.S. higher education have been literal.

On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard members killed four and wounded nine Kent State University students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into neutral Cambodia. Eleven days later, police killed two students and wounded 12 at Jackson State College (now university) in Mississippi during a similar protest.

It was unclear from Youngkins speech what he thinks of the censorship and suspensions of student groups Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) amid campus tensions from the Israel-Hamas war. But to focus this debate on college campuses is to miss the big picture that is the precarious state of the First Amendment, the U.S. Constitution and American democracy.

We have all seen headlines, read newspaper articles and watched a video probably of students afraid to express their viewpoints out of fear of retribution, Youngkin said during his summit speech.

Teachers are afraid to teach from a particular point of view  or have been reprimanded for it  because elected officials like Youngkin have stifled free discussion of systemic racism in the schoolhouse by weaponizing students and parents against their instructors. Youngkins first action as governor was an executive order to end the use of inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory in K-12 education.

How, exactly, does that square with his First Amendment message at UVA?

In his speech, he also cited students and faculty, sometimes, sadly, shouting down an outside speaker who was invited to campus. He didnt mention congressional members of his political party, who shout down or heckle presidents from the audience during State of the Union speeches.

He noted a marked increase in antisemitism and violence against Muslims and other religious groups, but didnt mention the elected officials who say antisemitic or Islamophobic things to fuel that hate.

Should students who challenge the status quo be ostracized because they dont subscribe to the same groupthink? So asks the governor whose political party of insurrection apologists is the embodiment of Trumpthink.

And then, theres the book-banning fervor sweeping American K-12 education, in places like Hanover and Spotsylvania counties.

I can think of one way Governor Youngkin can encourage free speech in education, Sabato said. Maybe he could tell his most ardent supporters to stop banning books. Book bans are an egregious suppression of free speech.

The reality is, Americas elected officials are poor role models for students when it comes to free speech.

These politicians cant be part of the solution as long as they are part of the problem.

From the Archives: University of Richmond in the 1970s
Cancun beach party ends in tragedy with one youth drowned

Cancun, Q.R.  One youth from a group of Cancun beach party swimmers drowned Friday night in the Hotel Zone. Others at the beach called for help when they realized the young male swimmer was experiencing difficulty.

The incident happened at Playa Gaviota Azul in the Cancun Hotel Zone Friday night. According to reports, the now-deceased youth was with a group drinking and swimming when he was dragged away from the beach by the strong current.

The young man was unresponsive to CPR attempts.

In realizing what had happened, the other young group members fled as authrotieis approached. Since official lifeguards were off duty, personnel from Cancun Civil Protection retreived the young mans body from the sea.

Tourist Police cordoned off the area as soon as paramedics confirmed his death on the sand.
Contact with overhead power lines throws Cancun installation worker to ground

Cancun, Q.R.  A company worker was rushed to Cancun hospital Friday after a cable he was holding made contact with overhead power lines. The unidentified worker was on a ladder performing installation work at the top of a CFE power pole in SM 227 at the time of the incident.

The strong electrical shock caused him to fall approximately three meters from the top of his ladder to the ground below. Paramedics arrived at the work site in the Los Pinos neighborhood where they stabilized the man before his hospital transfer.
Mexicos minimum wage rises to 7,508 pesos per month ($429 USD) in 2024

Mexico City, Mexico  Mexicos minimum wage will be increased by another 20 percent for the start of the new year. As of January 1, 2024 minimum wage in Mexico will officially be 249 pesos per day, around $14 USD, or 7,508 pesos per month, approximately $429 USD.

The announcement was made by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Thursday.

Today we celebrate five years in the government and what better than to report on () that an agreement was reached with the labor sector, with the business sector, to increase the minimum wage by 20 percent starting on January 1st , he said.

It means that we are going to fulfill what we offered at the beginning of our government to double the minimum wage in real terms, he added.

In the Treasury Room of the National Palace, he explained that the minimum wage in 2018, the year of Enrique Pena Nietos six-year term, was 88 pesos a day and next year it will rise to 249 pesos as a result of the consensus reached between the business and public work sectors during his term.

What better way to commemorate the five years of our government by demonstrating that progress is possible, he added.

In the Free Zone of the Northern Border, wages will increase to 375 pesos per day starting on the first day of 2024 for which they will receive 11,403 pesos per month , he explained.

This has not happened for at least 50 years, which is why I say it is historic. () It is a good goal for our government to have achieved this consensus, he expressed before media representatives.

During his announcement, AMLO thanked the businessmen who accepted the increase.
Playa del Carmen tourist trapped when concrete lid breaks on pedestrian avenue

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  A young tourist from Chile was freed from a concrete lid by firemen after it gave way when she stepped on it. The incident happened late Friday morning in Playa del Carmens pedestrian only area of Fifth Avenue.

City authorities were requested for assistance after a concrete cast lid broke. The young womans left leg became trapped in the jagged edges of the broken box cover as she walked over it.

Personnel from Civil Protection along with city firemen were at the 10th Street location where they found the young woman sitting on the avenue in the company of another woman.

In the photo right, a slight bowing of the blue section of box can be seen under the weight of local firemen. Photos: December 1, 2023.

Firemen used tools to break the jagged concrete pieces that prevented the woman from moving. She was eventually freed and treated for minor injuries.

A section of the concrete cover gave way as she walked over it. Photo: December 1, 2023.

The cover was installed during the remodeling of Fifth Avenue less than three years ago. The remodeling of the citys pedestrian avenue was carried out by the previous administration.

Last week, private businesses along sections of the remodeled avenue began corrective work on the project that has already begun to deteriorate.
The New River Valley Home Builders Association announced the first round of funding for its new Microgrant program, created by the proceeds from the annual community Touch-a-Truck NRV event.

The NRVHBA awarded three educators with funding for special projects that align with the workforce development interests of both the home building and construction industry.

The NRVHBA hopes that this program will provide the opportunity for teachers to enhance their curriculum, maximize opportunities for their students, and encourage interest in construction trades careers, according to a news release from the organization.

Grant recipients were required to propose how their project helps to either raise awareness of careers in the construction trades or give students practical experience in a trade that they can use outside of the classroom. The grant recipients are:

Marc Eaton with Eastern Montgomery High School; EMHS currently has a thriving Career & Technical Education program and by the funding from the NRVHBA program will go toward the pouring of a concrete patio for future outdoor classroom space where their students will be protected from the elements, according to the release.

Veronica Spradlin with Blacksburg High School; with the NRVHBA funding, the current Drone Competition Team will be applying the funds to the purchase of a new drone package.

Not only do the students utilize multiple aspects of the construction process when building the drone competition course, drone technology is utilized through site surveys, property management, equipment management, and project marketing programs, according to the release.

Rupert Cox with Blacksburg Middle School; Coxs animal husbandry class will build multiple animal cages for indoor use and create outside containment for the animals, and the class will be learning basic carpentry and framing skills and will be improving the life of their class animals, according to the release.

The spring 2024 funding cycle and application for the program opened Dec. 1. Teachers and CTE Directors from the following districts are eligible to apply: Montgomery County, Giles County, Pulaski County, Floyd County, Radford, Wythe County, and Carroll County. For more information, visit https://www.nrvhba.com/microgrant-program.

The New River Valley Home Builders Association is a professional trade organization serving the building community by advocating for the construction industry; educating, supporting, and promoting members and giving back to the New River Valley.

 The Roanoke Times
North Korea said Saturday that it will take countermeasures against individuals and organizations that impose sanctions against the regime.

On Thursday, the United States sanctioned a North Korean cyber espionage group and eight foreign-based agents of the reclusive regime in response to Pyongyang's spy satellite launch last week. The new designations were conducted in coordination with South Korea, Japan and Australia.

"It is the sovereign right of the DPRK to firmly defend the state's sovereignty, security and interests from hostile forces' encroachment," North Korea's foreign ministry said in an English-language statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang said it will apply countermeasures to individuals, institutions and organizations of the U.S. and its vassal forces involved in the drawing up and execution of the sanctions policy toward the regime, according to the KCNA. (Yonhap)
Frank J. Distefano, 52, pleaded guilty in October to one count of assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.

Distefanos lawyer, Cathy Reynolds of Roanoke Valley Criminal Defense, said her client has come a long way since the officer-involved shooting, which occurred primarily due to medication issues.

On Jan. 25, police reported, a Roanoke police officer responded to Lee-Hy Manor in the 3700 block of Stratford Park Drive. There, he encountered Distefano outside the complexs laundry building.

The officers body camera video, which Chief Assistant Commonwealths Attorney John McNeil played for the court for the first time Friday, captured Distefano pacing along the sidewalk outside of the laundry buildings door, telling the officer that his girlfriend was inside.

Distefano, who had a knife in his hand, also shouted a racial slur at the officer and told the officer he wasnt on American soil, but was in Japan, according to the body camera video.

The video captures the officer extending his flashlight and handgun in the direction of Distefano, who the officer orders several times to drop the knife. Distefano did not.

The exchange between the officer and Distefano continued, McNeil said, until the body camera video captures Distefano yelling, Ill kill you! and marching towards the officer.

The officer fired a single shot, which struck Distefano. The man retreated, threw the knife and fell to the ground in the grass nearby.

The officer then approached Distefano, according to the video, and took him into custody. The officer called for a medical unit, sharing over his radio that Distefano had been shot in the lower left side of his stomach and that he didnt have a choice.

The officer removed Distefanos jacket and asked for his name. Distefano identified himself as the king of Israel and his girlfriend, who was still in the laundry building, as the queen.

McNeil said Distefano was mentally not making any sense whatsoever out there at the Stratford Park Drive apartment complex. Distefanos manner didnt change in the courtroom, where Reynolds said he was totally noncompliant with her or with doctors attempting to conduct mental evaluations.

Since then, Reynolds said, Distefano has a medication regimen and is now a different man who simply wants to get out of jail and go home. She said hes been in jail since the Jan. 25 incident.

But McNeil said he was concerned that Distefano had not secured a residence, and that Distefano may have a repeat incident if he does not continue with mental health treatment.

The prosecutor asked that Distefano be ordered to comply with mental health services and treatment recommended by his probation officer once released. Reynolds made no objection to the suggestion.

Distefano told Judge David Carson that he was sorry and embarrassed.

I didnt realize it was quite like that, Distefano said, commenting on the body camera video of the Jan. 25 shooting. It wont happen again.

I dont think it will, Carson said, but added that Distefanos success is contingent on his compliance with his mental health treatment.

The judge told Distefano that while he recognized the person in the captured body camera video wasnt him, the footage is disturbing.

No one, law enforcement or otherwise, should have to go through this stuff, Carson said.

Carson sentenced Distefano to five years of incarceration, suspended after Distefano serves eight months. Hell receive credit for the time he has already served. Once released, hell be placed on supervised probation.

The first three months of that probation period will be intensive, Carson said. While on probation, Distefano will have to comply with all mental health treatment and medication recommendations. Otherwise, he may face the revocation of his suspended sentence.
After nine weeks of classroom instruction about stigma and society, Roanoke City Adult Detention Center inmates and Roanoke College students report that they share more similarities than differences.

The program helped give each student, both insiders and outsiders the opportunity to get a comprehensive educational experience, inmate John Gustaitis said during the class graduation ceremony at the detention center Friday. Most importantly, it has shown us and empowered us to treat one another with respect and dignity regardless of gender creed, race, sexual orientation, social class or status.

The class, organized through the international Inside-Out Prison Exchange program, allowed eight college students to enter the Roanoke city jail and learn alongside eight from the detention center. The class is the first to graduate from the facility.

We spent a semester discussing things that make us different and things that unite us, said Dr. Sarah Murray, assistant professor of criminology at Roanoke College and Inside-Out instructor. In those discussions, I challenged students to reconsider their preconceived ideas and to engage in meaningful conversation and critical reflection.

I learned that were all the same, inmate Michael Perdue said. Nobodys better than anybody, and with the correct atmosphere, we all can adapt, and we can all become comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.

All eight participating from the detention center were enrolled in the facilitys (R)I.G.N.I.T.E program, which launched in September 2022. It aims to reduce recidivism by educating and giving certifications and support needed to be successful once released.

Programs such as Inside-Out are the silver lining behind the clouds, Gustaitis said. Programs like these are critical and so very important first steps to recognize the issues and problems within ourselves and give us a better opportunity, not just to take responsibility for our actions, but to honestly and truly find the change within ourselves, and identify and change thought patterns and behaviors, and then finally step off this hamster wheel that is incarceration that has become an unfortunate norm for so many of us.

At their first meeting, all class participants said they were nervous. The inmates said they worried that the college students would be afraid of them, so they sat together in a classroom corner. But after their instructor encouraged participants to move their chairs into a circle, and after some ice-breaking activities and genuine face-to-face conversations, the participants said they became friends.

More so than anything, I hope that the class is going to impact them kids so that somewhere in the future they can have an impact in society, Perdue said.

Like in any other college class, participants were assigned reading materials and homework and engaged in group discussions. The graduates applauded each others achievements during Fridays ceremony, then shared handshakes, fist bumps and laughs as they moved folding chairs into a large circle for the final time.

Roanoke College students have previously worked with inmates in Roanoke County. Sheriff Antonio Hash said he saw the programs success there and wanted to implement it in his locality.

They pay their debt to society when they come into our facility, and I dont skate by that, because if you do the crime, you do the time. But I also have a responsibility as the sheriff of this great city to make sure that when individuals come into our custody broken, we prepare them to go back out into society, Hash said. How do you want me to return your people back to you? Broken or rehabilitated so they dont reoffend?

The sheriff said he hopes another Inside-Out cohort can begin classroom instruction in 2024.

Individuals in our building who embrace the change take this curriculum, and those who want to do time, they just do time, Hash said. I just appreciate the community at large giving us the opportunity and trusting me as a sheriff to make sure that we put programs on like this inside our facility. Residents are asking for opportunities to change.
The state office that oversees emergency medical services in Virginia is tangled in a financial crisis, preventing rescue squads from buying new ambulances and threatening the jobs of EMS support personnel.

In the spring, state government leaders discovered the Office of Emergency Medical Services had for years misspent millions of dollars. So far, no one has said exactly how much money is missing, how long it was misspent, where it went or why it was mishandled.

State and federal investigators are now asking questions.

The impact is far-reaching. EMS crews throughout the state can't apply for grants to buy ambulances, stretchers or automated external defibrillators, leaving them to deal with sometimes outdated equipment. A volunteer rescue squad in Winchester has to make do with a 14-year-old ambulance that often breaks down or raise more than $400,000 to buy a new one.

And the nonprofit regional councils that coordinate and train EMS providers throughout the state are going unfunded. For now, they are surviving on reserve funds and other revenue, but some could be forced to cease operation at the end of the month, said Tracy McLaurin, who leads the Lord Fairfax EMS Council in the Winchester area.

It's going to have far-reaching and long-lasting implications, unfortunately," McLaurin said in an interview. "We dont know what the futures going to hold.

Office spent money it didn't have

In the spring, the Virginia Department of Health conducted regular budget reviews of each of its 20 offices. During a routine review in May, leadership discovered "financial irregularities," at the Office of EMS, said R. Christopher Lindsay, the department's chief operating officer of the, according to prepared remarks from a November meeting. A significant portion of the money the Office of EMS was supposed to deliver to the general fund had disappeared.

This led department leadership to open an audit, which is ongoing, and contact the Office of the State Inspector General, the Virginia State Police and federal prosecutors.

"I cannot comment further on the specifics of these investigations," Lindsay said at the November meeting.

What Lindsay would divulge is that for years, the Office of EMS created budgets that were not in line with available funding. The office spent significantly more money than it had, and overspent on contracts.

"There have been years of moving of funds from one sources to another to cover shortfalls with little agency oversight or controls which has left a multi-million-dollar deficit within the Office of EMS that will take time and effort to correct," Lindsay said.

It's unclear if the money was lost to negligence or if it was stolen. It's also unclear why there weren't systems in place to discover the problem earlier.

The office's long-time director, Gary Brown, who was in charge there for 27 years, announced in October he would retire, WTVR reported. The health department named Cam Crittenden the office's acting director.

There are roughly 38,000 EMS providers in the state  both volunteer and paid and not including firefighters  working at about 550 agencies.

In Richmond, the Richmond Ambulance Authority is the city's primary EMS provider. In Henrico, volunteer rescue squads, including Tuckahoe and Lakeside, work alongside the county's fire department.

The salaries of paid employees are generally funded at the local level and are not in danger of disappearing. But much of their equipment is paid for by the state or local fundraising.

When a Virginia resident registers a vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the resident pays a tax between $30 and $35. From that total, about $6 goes toward the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, which pays for the department's $56 million budget for fiscal 2024. The funding program is referred to as "4 for Life," because previously, $4 was allocated from vehicle registrations for emergency medical services.

The budget is used to pay the office's nearly 50-person staff and the regional councils that train and coordinate EMS agencies. Other money is disbursed to localities, volunteer rescue squads, the Virginia State Police's emergency helicopter transport, trauma centers such as Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the state's general fund. Much of the funding is required by state law.

One of the largest pieces of the pie, almost $10 million, is designated for the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund, in which rescue squads can apply for grant money to buy new ambulances or other equipment.

But the state won't fund any grant applications in the next cycle.

Replacing a 14-year-old ambulance

In the city of Winchester, the Shawnee Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department owns two ambulances. One of them is 14 years old, frequently out of service and in dire need of replacement, said Jon Henschel, Winchester's Fire Chief, in an interview.

The department has asked the state three times for the money to buy a new one, which costs more than $400,000. The first two times, the request was denied. Henschel thought the third time was the charm.

In a normal period, the Office of EMS would award its next cycle of grant money around Jan. 1. Without that money, Shawnee likely will have to pay for the ambulance on its own.

The department already fundraises  it holds bingo nights twice a week  but that money also goes toward fire engines and the fire station's building upkeep. And fundraising has become harder in recent years as the cost of ambulances has soared.

Agencies can borrow ambulances from one another, but that causes a domino effect, inconveniencing more and more units.

When the state will resume funding, Henschel doesn't know.

"Were not getting a lot of answers," he said. "This is going to have a detrimental outcome statewide if they don't rectify this soon."

While rescue squads themselves aren't in danger of shutting down, the bodies that coordinate EMS are.

The Lord Fairfax EMS Council in Winchester is one of 11 throughout the state and are paid as contractors. They decide which trauma centers will receive ambulances from different localities and where ambulances will go if the first option is overwhelmed. The councils provide training for EMS providers, operate a program that allows them to carry blood for transfusions and distributed personal protective equipment to ambulances during the pandemic.

The Lord Fairfax Council hasn't received payment from the state since March, McLaurin said. At the end of December, the state will owe the council about $175,000 for nine month's work.

McLaurin has been able to pay her four other employees by collecting revenue from CPR training, the sale of defibrillators, certification testing and tapping into the nonprofit's rainy-day fund. But that money will only go so far, she said. If the council isn't paid by early next year, it might have to cease operations.

Other councils depend more on the state for revenue and might be forced to shut down at the end of the month, she said.

"It's putting everybody in a really difficult position right now," McLaurin said.

Dr. Karen Shelton, the state health commissioner, said the health department is working to free up funds to pay the councils. To meet payroll, the health department will restructure the office and delay payments back to localities.

During the pandemic, the health department lost much of its financial management workforce, Shelton said at the November meeting. Now it's working to rebuild.

Kevin Dillard, chair of the state EMS advisory board, has been tasked with assembling a workgroup to begin fixing the office. The work will take time and effort, Dillard said in an interview.

"They're taking drastic measures to stop the bleeding and get this under control," he added.
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Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 74F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Wind increasing. Mostly clear. Low 51F. S winds shifting to W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
125 Years Ago

Delegates Are Pleased: Most of the delegates from Sioux City to the convention of the Episcopal church at Cedar Rapids have returned to Sioux City. The delegates from St. Thomas Church express the greatest satisfaction over the election of Dr. Morrison of Chicago to the office of bishop of Iowa. Rev. Dr. George H. Cornell says he is very pleased with the outcome of the election as all along he favored Dr. Morrison. It would now seem the chances of Dr. Cornell becoming a bishop before many years are better than ever, as the prevailing opinion is that the diocese of Iowa will be divided before very long, and Dr. Cornell may someday be elected bishop of the western division. That would mean the establishment of a see in Sioux City, leaving the see of the eastern division at Davenport. Thus, Dr. Cornell would not remove his home from Sioux City.

Equal Suffragists Meet: The Equal Suffragist convention of the eleventh district met in Unity Church yesterday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Two sessions were held, and two more will be held today and tonight at the residence of Mrs. Viola Follett. The attendance was as expected, with delegates beginning to arrive Wednesday night and the rest arriving yesterday. A meeting of the executive committee was held in the morning at the residence of Mrs. Evelyn S. Belden, and plans for the convention were discussed and formulated.

100 Years Ago

Zoo Attendant Given Damages: Iver Wallen, an attendant at the Stone Park Zoo, will receive $2,250 for injuries received last winter when he was attacked by Mark Anthony, one of the bears in the zoo. Wallen had entered the bears cage to serve his usual bountiful supper, but the bear, normally playful, was in a foul mood and attacked the attendant. Wallen received serious injuries and spent considerable time in a hospital. It was stated by Councilman P. J. Dalton that some of the injuries are permanent.

Find Body of Man in River: Imbedded in mud and partially covered with water, the body of an unidentified man was found in the Missouri River at the foot of Jennings Street at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Police believe the man fell into the river and became stuck in the mud some time Friday night. The river victim was buried hip deep in the mud and lying face downward in the water. Authorities believe the unidentified man fell down a steep 15-foot incline which leads from a roadway along the river bank. A bottle containing a small quantity of moonshine was found near the body. The victim was discovered and reported to the police by three small boys who reside the in the neighborhood.

50 Years Ago

FCA Chapter at Heelan to Aid Needy by Christmas Tree Sale: There may be a shortage of energy this year, but not a shortage of Christmas trees. Although they may go unlighted, the Heelan High Schools Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter will have plenty available. The project is under the direction of FCA head Brendan Burchard, and recipients of the sales proceeds will include city nursing homes and other needy groups. Trees were secured by Heelan faculty member John Adams.

Free Course in Life Saving: St. Joseph Mercy Hospital is sponsoring an evening training session in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and closed heart massage on Tuesday, Dec. 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Social Hall on the ground floor of the hospital. The session is open to the public at no charge. Demonstrations with manikins will be given. This CPR class will be unlike most classes in that the test will come when it is necessary to apply the procedures learned to save a life.

25 Years Ago

Church to Present Living Christmas Tree Pageant: Central Baptist Church will put a new face on Christmas celebrations this year when it stages Siouxlands first living Christmas Tree pageant. Sixty choir members will present the program from a vertical choir loft rising 25 feet in the air. The frame is constructed in a triangle shape to resemble an evergreen. The vocalists stand on eight tiers, one above the other, with one choir member at the apex. Several thousand lights will be attached to the frame, with a large, lighted start to decorate the top of the tree. Rev. Bob Myers, minister of music and pastor of worship, proposed the Living Christmas Tree to the church leaders after Christmas last year.

South Sioux High School Classes Publish Book of Their Stories: Two-hundred-fifty copies of Stories From a Rainbow of Cultures are being distributed to area schools, city council, and school board members and to the high schoolers who authored and illustrated the book as part of a federal grant. The students were encouraged to find problems in the community and write a childrens story using their chosen issue as their theme. Then they took their stories to kindergarten, sharing their stories with the younger students. The stories were written and told in 1996 and 1997, and although the books printing was delayed, the book is now available to everyone.
By David A. Tizzard

I was walking out of a Fred Perry store in Gangnams COEX shopping mall when I decided Id write this column. The man working there was incredibly friendly, happy to speak Korean, and he showed me how to sign-up to an app so I could get a decent discount on the two jumpers I bought for winter. Yet, the whole time, he had a single Bluetooth earphone in. Not two. Just one. Im not sure if he was listening to something or not. I dont think so, to be honest. But, nevertheless, there it was: his gateway into his world and an escape from the mundane reality of the service industry.

But the guy I saw doing it in Fred Perry was not the first. He was the culmination in a trend Id observed repeatedly over the past few weeks. Id seen people doing it in convenience stores, in small cafes, and on university campuses. I could kind of understand it when it was someone stuck behind a counter in a quiet shop at the ass-end of a subway station with only the occasional customer coming in for a coffee or a pack of cigarettes. I didnt expect it to be a trend in (relatively) high-end retail, too. Yet there it was.

Further demonstrating this trend, I received a comment on my recent podcast conversation with Steve Shields. Id found a new recording studio and was experimenting with panning the audio of each speaker to the left and right. This time, I panned it a bit too much, putting me and Steve near completely in the left and right speaker respectively in the hope of creating an auditory digital space. Someone then commented on the episode saying, I use one headphone at a time. And I can only hear one of you!

Fisher was right?

The British cultural critic Mark Fisher (1968-2017) saw much of this coming. In his lucid deconstruction of modern society, "Capitalist Realism," he wrote about the following interaction with a university student:

I challenged one student about why he always wore headphones in class. He replied that it didnt matter, because he wasnt actually playing any music. In another lesson, he was playing music at very low volume through the headphones, without wearing them. When I asked him to switch it off, he replied that even he couldnt hear it. Why wear the headphones without playing music or play music without wearing the headphones? Because the presence of the phones on the ears or the knowledge that the music is playing (even if he couldnt hear it) was a reassurance that the matrix was still there, within reach.

Though depicted slightly different back then because technological developments had not yet created the option of wireless, single, earphones, Fisher saw this phenomenon through the lens of stimulation. It was about making sure one was always plugged into the stimulus matrix of digital reality, receiving a constant flow of dopamine-laced virtual gratification.

TikTok sludge

When I spoke to some of my university students about this, they said that they often used one earphone as a way of making life more interesting. It was about extra stimulation. Getting more done at the same time. Perhaps the most striking representation of this is sludge content on TikTok. If you havent seen this before, it might be hard to visualize. But essentially it involves watching 3 (or more) disparate pieces of content on your phone screen at the same time. For example, there might be the clip that you are interested in, say Richard Feynman talking about magnets or a South Park skit. To the left will be a computer game playing, Cookie Run, GTA V, or Subway Surfers. Then, above that, there will be a video of slime being cut or ice-cream being scooped. The three videos have no logical connection between them, but they create an overall aesthetic. A vibe so addictive it sucks you in without you realizing.

And it works. This kind of content produces more engagement than any other. In the digital world, your attention is the currency and this makes the most money because it commands the most attention. The digital disorder is not just intended, its also intentional. It is not designed for active engagement but provides multiple distractions on the same screen, meaning you stay longer and dont immediately swipe away. You disassociate. It is this kind of stuff thats having incredibly negative effects on our attention spans, general intelligence, and sociability. At the same time, this is so new we dont really have a name for it. While some call it sludge content, others have labelled it corecore, stim-maxxing, or cocktail content. And just because you might not use Tik-Tok, it doesnt mean youll never see it. This content now appears in Insta reels and YouTube Shorts.

And so maybe this is what the one earphone is doing. Its bringing this Tik-Tok trend to real life. Allowing people to speak to a customer and listen to music at the same time. Its real-life sludge; stim-maxxing reality.

Social signals

But theres another aspect to it that goes beyond stimulation. Having one earphone is actually young people signaling to others that they are open to communication if the right conversation comes on. This perspective fascinated me because, in my old age, I saw it completely differently. I thought this was people expressing their distaste with the world and a cue they wanted to psychologically check-out. But a student told me that he did it for the opposite reasons. His one earphone (rather than two) showed that he was actually cool talking to people. He was willing to turn his head and talk provided the right person had the right thing to say.

It's kind of like being at the orange light at the traffic symbols. Youre not fully checked out (red) but at the same time youre not fully engaged (green). Its more like youre in a holding pattern (amber). And so while those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s will often look on aghast at the idea of a young person talking to us with an earphone in, from their perspective, its actually a sign of willingness. We may not always agree with their behavior but we should at least try to understand what they are saying.

Pockets and elbows

When I was young, there were various things I was told not to do. I was not to have my elbows on the table while eating dinner. I didnt really understand why and it caused a whole host of unpleasant bodily contortions as I navigated various events without ever feeling comfortable. Another one was that I was never to have my hands in my pockets, particularly when speaking to (or, more likely, being spoken to by) my elders. I was to stand up straight and show the correct deference. This, I assumed, was the way of the world.

Not for the first time, I was wrong. Elbows on the table are now a sign of positive engagement and interest. Billionaires now dress down and frequently have their hands in their pockets. Neck ties are often missing from state events. Culture changes and, all the while, some embrace the new while others lament the passing of time and usurpation of tradition.

So, when you see a young person with one speaker in their ear, rather than two, remember it might mean they actually want to talk to you. Well, maybe not you. But at least someone. And thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online.




RURAL JOLLEY, Iowa -- A missing Rockwell City man was found dead in a vehicle Friday afternoon on a wooded abandoned property southwest of Jolley.

At 1:35 p.m., 54-year-old Mark Edward Riesberg's body was found in a Chrysler PT Cruiser at 1710 230th St. Preliminary findings suggest Riesberg, who was reported missing on Oct. 28, suffered a single gunshot wound, according to a statement from Calhoun County Sheriff Pat Riley.

"Riesberg's body has been sent to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner for autopsy. While investigations are ongoing, foul play is not suspected," Riley said in the statement.

The statement indicated the United Cajun Navy assisted in the response. The Louisiana-based nonprofit organization, which organizes search and rescue teams, has been in the area searching for another missing man, 53-year-old David Schultz, of Wall Lake. Schultz, a truck driver, was last heard from in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, according to authorities. The United Cajun Navy announced on its Facebook page Thursday evening that it had covered close to 50,000 acres.

At 10:30 a.m. on Friday, the United Cajun Navy resumed search operations for Schultz from its meeting location at the Sac City Motel on Ash Avenue. The motel is roughly 12 miles from where Riesberg was found dead.

The Lake View Police Department and the Sac County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into Schultz's whereabouts the afternoon of Nov. 21.

Sarah Schultz, Schultz's wife, told The Journal his red truck was found the afternoon of Nov. 21 northeast of Sac City. She said the vehicle was turned off, but it wasn't pulled over to the side of the road. The trailer was reportedly still loaded with young pigs. Schultz said there was no sign of her husband, but his coat was located in a ditch on the opposite side of the road.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting the Sac County Sheriff's Office and the Lake View Police Department in the investigation into Schultz's disappearance.
SIOUX CITY  Public education officials from the Sioux City metro area had the chance Saturday morning to voice concerns and priorities they have for the coming year to a panel of Iowa state legislators.

For nearly an hour-and-a-half, Iowa State Reps. Jacob Bossman (R-Sioux City), Bob Henderson (R-Sioux City), J.D. Scholten (D-Sioux City) and State Sen. Rocky De Witt (R-Lawton) fielded questions on educational savings accounts, salaries for public school teachers, early child care, and more.

In his opening remarks to the legislative panel, Sioux City Community Schools Superintendent Rod Earleywine said teacher recruitment and retention continue to be major issues for the district. Earleywine later took aim at the 2023 state law that created educational savings accounts (ESAs) which allow families to use public funds to pay for private school tuition. He said the program is already over budget because of an unexpected number of signups and critics have suggested covering the difference could hurt the public education system.

"There is more than funding that goes into decisions that help schools," Henderson said in further discussion on the matter. Henderson then suggested the number of people utilizing ESAs in future years could wane.

Bringing in and keeping teachers

With respect to teacher recruitment and retention, Bossman said those matters have lingered since he's been in the legislature.

One suggestion he had was a potential recurring bonus to public school teacher salaries. Henderson mentioned a similar idea and proposed an expedited process of teacher licensure for individuals looking to make career changes.

Sioux City School Board Member Dan Greenwell said, under current law, the state of Iowa would require that someone from the business sector, looking to switch to education and teach accounting or financing, would need to have a Master's Degree in Business Administration.

"If you dont make as many teachers, there wont be as many teachers," Greenwell said.

To further fill open teaching positions, educators and legislators discussed the idea of providing stipends to student teachers who want to work in the public education system. Such a practice is not currently allowed in Iowa.

De Witt said he would be in favor of such a measure.

Education Legislative Forum - Panel Iowa State Sen. Rocky De Witt (far left), State Rep. Bob Henderson (center left), State Rep. Jacob Bossman (center right) and State Rep. J.D. 

Legal matters

Earleywine also chided the legislature's passage of Senate File 496 (on GOP votes), which prohibits books that include descriptions or depictions of any of a list of defined sex acts from public school libraries, because of the lack of guidance from the Iowa Department of Education on how to comply with the law signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

"Now we are spending time, effort, energy and valuable resources to defend a law that was passed and we try to make sure were following the law and then we get included in a lawsuit," Earleywine said. Thursday the district was one of a number of a local school districts named in a lawsuit which argues that the restrictions on books imposed by Senate File 496 are overbroad and an unconstitutional restriction on speech and the right to receive information.

None of the members of the panel directly addressed the lawsuit during the open discussion.

Care concerns

When first speaking to the education officials gathered, Scholten said both prenatal care and child care are top priorities for him in the coming legislative session.

"I dont necessarily have an agenda because Im working across the aisle on everything," said Scholten, the lone Democrat in the Northwest Iowa legislative delegation.

Earleywine said that if people have to pay high costs for child care that keeps people from entering the workforce. Scholten asked what might make sense to address the issue and Earleywine pitched the idea of all-day, everyday preschool offered by the public school systems.

Following the meeting, Earleywine said with early child care or ESAs or teacher salaries, what's said about the issues in a forum is not the same as what follows when legislators have a real chance to address such matters.

"Actions speak volumes," he said. "So if their actions are supportive of public schools, I think that sends the message."
SIOUX CITY  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unleashed a volley of criticisms at former President Donald Trump during the opening of his presidential campaign office in Sioux City on Saturday.

Ron DeSantis in Sioux City Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks to a crowd gathered at his Sioux City campaign office on Saturday. The DeSantis campaign is the first GOP pres

DeSantis, who's competing with Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, alleged the Democratic Party wants to run against Trump in next year's general election and that even if Trump were to win his time in office would be spent focusing on his own concerns.

"They have a playbook that they will use and unfortunately it will work," DeSantis said of the Democratic Party's plans for a race with Trump. "The Democrats are telling us who they want to run against. The media is telling us who they want to run against. And so the question is: As Republicans, are you going to do what the media wants? Are you going to do what the Democrats want?"

Another Trump critique DeSantis has had on the campaign trail is that the former president would only be able to serve one more term in office if he were to beat President Joe Biden.

"We need somebody that can serve for two terms," DeSantis said. "Because if you don't two terms, you can do some good things and if Democrats come in they're just going to reverse it. And we can't let that happen. So we need somebody like President Reagan. When he came in, not only did he change the trajectory of the country, what he did really lasted far beyond his tenure of office."

Contrasting two states

While trying to make his case about who the other side would prefer in 2024, the two-term Republican governor said Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, cited Trump favorably, to wield against DeSantis, during a Thursday night debate between the two state chief executives. After the campaign event ended, DeSantis said he took the opportunity to debate Newsom, who is not running for president in 2024, to "articulate conservative principles."

"Talk about how freedom works and show the success of Florida but also paint the picture of what the country would look like if the Democrats were able to adopt California policies nationally."

Ron DeSantis with family in Sioux City Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stands with his wife, Casey DeSantis, and two of their three children, during a stop at his campaign's newly opened 

Throughout his Sioux City stop, DeSantis, who is more than 25 points behind Trump in FiveThirtyEight's average of Iowa polls, criticized the state of California, taking particular issue with the state's embrace of renewable energy sources and its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former three-term Congressman suggested California's dealt with rolling blackouts because of the adoption of solar and wind energy. However, ABC News reported another driver of a 2022 blackout in the Golden State was the breakdown of several plants, including gas-fired ones. The ABC News story did note too: "The solar supply decreases toward the end of the day, prompting the calls to reduce energy use after 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. There can also be uncertainty with solar supply due to factors such as cloud cover and smoke from wildfires, as the state battles several blazes."

As for California's COVID-19 response, DeSantis alleged the state's lockdown measures had an impact on so-called "deaths of despair."

"They were locked out of opportunity," DeSantis said. "And nobody's been held accountable for any of this. So we're going to bring a reckoning to Fauci, the CDC, the NIH, the FDA because we can never let this happen to our country ever again," he said. Per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California's suicide rate in 2020 was 10 per 100,000 people (for 4,144 total). In 2021, the number was 10.1 per 100,000 people (4,148 altogether). Those figures for Florida were 13.2 per 100,000 in 2020 (3,135 total) and 14 per 100,000 in 2021 (3,351 people).

Ron DeSantis with Bob Henderson in Sioux City Iowa House District 2 Rep. Bob Henderson (R-Sioux City) welcomes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the stage during a presidential campaign event i

The road ahead

The DeSantis campaign is the first to hold an event for the opening of a presidential campaign office in Sioux City this cycle.

With an appearance in Jasper County Saturday afternoon, the DeSantis campaign becomes the first to hit all 99 counties in Iowa for the 2024 GOP primary. The planned stop had scheduled speeches from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats (a Sheldon, Iowa, native, who served as principal at Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn High School and Sheldon High School), Iowa House District 17 Rep. Matt Windschitl and Iowa House District 29 Rep. John Dunwell.
SIOUX CITY  About two months after opening the doors on their new Gordon Drive location in Sioux City, the Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council (SIMPCO) played host Friday to policymakers and public officials from across the extended metro area.

The latest SIMPCO Tri-State Legislative Forum featured discussions on license plate cameras, water and wastewater infrastructure projects, local government public notice requirements and what issues legislators from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota are hearing about the most often.

SIMPCO Tri-State Forum - Jacob Bossman Iowa House District 14 Rep. Jacob Bossman (R-Sioux City) talks with the SIMPCO Tri-State Forum on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 about the housing needs

"Housing is the main issue," Iowa House District 14 Rep. Jacob Bossman (R-Sioux City) said.

One potential solution Bossman posited is pushing for the expansion of tax credits for workforce housing. According to the Iowa Economic Development Authority, to receive workforce housing tax credits, projects must meet one of the following criteria: housing development located on a grayfield or brownfield site, repair or rehabilitation of dilapidated housing stock, upper story housing development or new construction in a greenfield. (Grayfield projects are commercial or retail sites that have been vacated, brownfields are locations that have faced pollution issues and greenfields are entirely new projects built on undeveloped land.)

Fellow Iowa House Rep Bob Henderson (R-Sioux City) told forum attendees he anticipated more work will need to be done to "fix or rearrange some things on this bill related to property tax." This past May, Iowa legislators reached an agreement on a bill to address rising property taxes. In part, the law required any votes to approve local bonding be held on general election ballots in November of even-numbered years. It would also require transparency measures for taxpayers.

License plate cameras

South Sioux City Police Chief Ed Mahon was the first official presenter for the forum and spoke on his force's use of Flock license plate cameras which take high resolution images of cars as they travel past and away from the camera. The use began as part of a pilot program. Mahon said the readings are stored and go away after 30 days if they are not needed for any official police work.

"Of those reads, we use very few," Mahon said.

To date, Mahon said the cameras have helped with: recovering 11 stolen vehicles, served six arrest warrants, identifying five suspects in hit-and-run accidents, locating two missing people and arresting a commercial burglary suspect.

During the question-and-answer portion of Mahon's presentation, Iowa House District 1 Rep. J.D. Scholten (D-Sioux City) asked Mahon about any concerns of the system being too intrusive or 30 days being too long of a timeframe to store data.

"We're not getting your faces. We're not setting it up in questionable places. We put it in traffic. That's what we use it for," Mahon said.

Mahon was later questioned about who would have access to the local data and if there was a possibility of the maker of the software using the information. "We have complete control with what we do," he said.

SIMPCO Tri-State Forum - J.D. Scholten During the SIMPCO Tri-State Forum on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, Iowa House District 1 Rep. J.D. Scholten (D-Sioux City) asked about the use of lice

Water and wastewater treatment projects

Four separate folks talked about water and wastewater infrastructure improvement options for rural areas.

Frank Grage, the senior manager of business development for Iowa American Water, which serves customers in nine eastern Iowa communities, said recent estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show that the needs for water and wastewater infrastructure in Iowa total more than $9 billion. (Just in Sioux City, the council has discussed spending $470 million to rebuild the wastewater treatment plant and substantially raise sewer rates to cover the costs.)

Finding funding for such large-scale efforts, Grage said, is a continual process.

"There's no big lift, there are lots of little steps," he said.

SIMPCO Tri-State Forum - Frank Grage Frank Grage, senior manager of business development for Iowa American Water, told the SIMPCO Tri-State Forum on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 that more

Three representatives from SIMPCO, Erin Berzina, Dawn Kimmel and Corinne Erickson, touched on where to go for assistance programs. Berzina said three highlights are Community Development Block Grants, State Revolving Loan Funds and USDA Water & Waste Disposal Loans & Grants.

"Aging infrastructure is a relentless issue in our communities. The need for financial assistance to complete vital projects, such as water and sewer line replacements, water tower reconstruction, storm water infrastructure in rural communities has become more pronounced," her presentation stated.

Other matters to address

Two forum guests, Daniel Stalder with the Iowa League of Cities and Susan Patterson Plank of the Gannett and USA Today Network, talked to those in attendance about public notice requirements.

In April, the Iowa Legislature majorly altered a bill that would have excised a requirement for public entities to publish certain notices in newspapers. The changes allowed for public notices to still be printed but pushed for newspapers to publish notices on their websites and make them free to read. The legislation was not signed into law.

The purpose and what comes next

At the start of the meeting, SIMPCO Executive Director Michelle Bostinelos said the organization is "a uniting force among local governments."

For the coming year, Bostinelos said that force intends to: maintain and modernize the transportation system, give continued support and development of alternative transportation, maintain and modernize wastewater facilities, have continued investment in natural gas and broadband, support new housing incentive programs and encourage workforce housing.
Ive never met James Schaap, emeritus professor of English at Dordt University. What a storyteller! I am certain he would agree that stories enhance understanding for everyone. (More on James Schaap at the end of this story.) Stories are memorable long after they are told. Storytelling is about building community and creating empathy, perspective, and space to connect more deeply with our neighbors.

In a world of TED Talks, and The Moth Radio Hour, the best real-life storytellers are possibly the ones closest to you. Perhaps your uncle, mom, your weird cousin, or the neighbor next door.

Siouxland has many fine storytellers: Tim Gallagher, Jim Tillman, Bruce Forbes, Jackie Smith, Bruce Miller and Rabbi Guy Green. Weve lost, recently, some great storytellers: Frank LeMere, Rudy Daniels, Rick Mullin and my friend Kris Dillman. There are, of course, creative and captivating storytellers in the national media: Scott Simon, Steve Hartman, Harry Smith, Martha Teichner, Lee Cowan, and Jim Gaffigan. But stories and storytellers close to home are the best. Home states for me include North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.

An admired Iowa storyteller is Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot. A recent sample:

Just when I am supposed to write the annual holiday letter, this Venezuelan family comes on CNN after traversing the Rio Grande for El Paso. A man and a pregnant woman, a child in tow, crossed the cobblestone walkway through the shallows in search of some sort of peace. She gave birth to a girl shortly after crossing. Of course, the Christmas story is that of a family in transit and fear, because Mary and Joseph know whats at stake. So do the Venezuelans. They get to New York and sleep in a shelter, and he goes to work...That Venezuelan father is glad to have a job and a chance at refuge. Were glad that people like him end up in Storm Lake with the sole hope of building a future for their children. The theme is inescapable this time of year. It is lost on few of us. Decency remains the standard here, to help people catch a break no matter the politics of the hour.

The best North Dakota storyteller is Clay Jenkinson. Jenkinson is a humanities scholar and author. His stories can be heard on Listening to America, an evolution of the long-time public radio program and podcast, The Thomas Jefferson Hour. Jenkinson finds and tells overlooked historical and contemporary stories that shape us. A recent sample:

You should have seen the color palate of the Great Plains on the day I drove through [North Dakota]. The sun was bright, almost garish at times, but it was clearly a November and not a July sun. The tall dead corn stalks still unharvested in the fields were a dull raspy yellow bordering on beige. The sunflowers drooped their black heads in vast fields where every flower is the size of a dinner plate, and they all faced a single direction in a kind of tight military formation. The prairie grasses were worthy of Monet  rust colored, gray-blue, mauve, tawny, golden, beige-green. But it was the prairie potholes filled with water that stunned my senses and forced me to stop the car half a dozen times to take photographs. They were the bluest blue you can ever imagine. They were bluer than the sky. They were the blue of God. If God has a color it has to be blue.

The best storyteller in Minnesota is Boyd Huppert, a storytelling legend. For years he has worked in tandem with award-winning photojournalists to tell human-driven stories on KARE-11 televisions long-running The Land of 10,000 Stories. Hes a master at storytelling. His stories are fresh, engaging, and surprising. A few opening line samples:

You wont find four closer sisters. All in their 80s. All pianists since childhood in tiny Prinsburg, Minnesota. Now, they're combining their talents. Its what they do with two pianos that's earned them a spot in this week's Land of 10,000 Stories.

Travis Gienger holds in his hand the seeds of a pumpkin that grew to the weight of a compact car, shattering a world record. The seeds are now worth hundreds of dollars each.

What's it like to drive 120 miles in a car nearly 120 years old? Both challenging and exhilarating, the owners of 40 such cars say. It's like getting on your lawnmower and going 25 miles an hour all the way to Minneapolis, one owner says, and hoping you get there.

I think the very best storyteller in Iowa is James Schaap. Its been said that if hes not writing, most mornings hes out on Siouxlands country roads, running down stories that make him smile or leave him in awe. Schaap has been telling wonderful Small Wonders radio stories on Siouxland Public Media (KWIT/KOJI) for years. Recently a book of the same name has been published. One reviewer wrote: Whether hes looking into empty basements or waving prairie grass, in Small Wonders Schaap is really practicing something spiritual, at the intersection of where imagination and spirituality meet.

Listen to the dozens of Small Wonders stories on the KWIT/KOJI website including From Prospect Hill to Heaven, The Sioux City Ghosts, and A Lake of Black Earth. Schaap the storyteller begins Pierre Cruzatte, the Multilingual Fiddler and Corpsman this way: William Lewis gave Meriweather Clark the job of recruiting the Corps, and Clark did most of the drafting at St. Louis during the winter of 1803... Those St. Louis recruits were the heart of the Corps of Discovery, but once in a while Lewis and Clark picked up a ringer out from the transfer portal - men like Pierre Cruzatte, a one-eyed trapper, big and rangy, and blessedly multi-lingual. The man knew more languages than todays average CEO - fluent in English, French, and Omaha, as well as the lingua franca of the whole Louisiana Purchase, sign language.

And an excerpt from Schaaps The Old Danish Church will leave you longing for the rest of the story: Listen, if you're in the Loess Hills sometime, and you're coming up from Moorhead along E54, let me warn you. Don't be surprised if the car in front of you suddenly veers off the highway and someone jumps out with a phone to snap a picture. Just pull up behind them and take your turn. Honestly, there ought to be a turnout right there because the Old Danish Church is bucolic, all right; its just plain beautiful. If it isnt already, it ought to be on a calendar.

Storytellers tell the stories of our lives.

David Halaas has a commitment to community involvement, recently serving on the boards of Leadership Siouxland, SafePlace, the Sioux City Public Library and currently on the board of trustees of the Sioux City Public Museum. He is the pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church ELCA in Sioux City.
Jeremy Taylor should rethink his decision to finish out his term on the Woodbury County Supervisors. We agree with board chairman Matthew Ung that Taylor remaining on the board, despite his wife's recent conviction for voter fraud, would be a disservice to county residents.

By urging him to voluntarily step aside, Ung and fellow supervisors Mark Nelson and Dan Bittinger also are doing their Republican colleague a favor.

With Taylor's wife, Kim, convicted of 52 counts of federal voter fraud and Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gills resolution calling on the Iowa Attorney General's office to investigate allegations of state voter fraud, thats a lot to face.

Resigning would give Taylor more time to help his wife mount an appeal, as well as prepare his own legal defense. (Prosecutors identified Jeremy Taylor as an unindicted co-conspirator in his wife's trial, but he has not yet been charged.)

As history has shown, stepping aside also would help get him back in the good graces of county voters.

In January 2020, as you may remember, Taylor was forced to give up his seat on the board when a voter challenged his residency in District 2. After claiming District 5 as his legal residence, he ran for a spot there  and won.

During the November 2020 general election for that race, and Taylor's run for the GOP nomination for Iowa's 4th Congressional District in the June primary 2020, Kim Taylor, a Vietnam native, approached numerous Vietnamese voters with limited English comprehension and filled out and signed election forms and ballots on behalf of them and their English-speaking children.

Once the voter fraud dust settles, Jeremy Taylor potentially could run again and regain residents trust.

Now, however, theres too much baggage to make him an effective supervisor.

With costs for the new Law Enforcement Center rising and questions about its construction looming, family issues would have to take a back seat. Emphasizing supervisors business over family concerns would fly in the face of Taylors stated priorities.

Additionally, voter fraud has been a rallying cry among Republicans. Providing false information in registering and voting is high on their list.

That three of his four Republican colleagues are asking him to step down says as much. (The fourth GOP supervisor, Keith Radig, has repeatedly declined to comment on the issue).

Getting his house in order and determining what matters most should be Taylors priority. Not the board of supervisors.
The 1920s marked a period of significant change, and in 1925, the Iowa Legislature enacted the Iowa Credit Union Act to enhance Iowans' access to affordable financial services. Nearly a century later, it is crucial to revisit this act so Iowa credit unions can adapt to the current times.

Across various industries, business models have evolved to stay competitive, and the financial sector is no exception. Decades ago, banks faced restrictions such as being barred from the insurance business, operating branches across state lines and imposing surcharges on ATM machines. Recognizing the necessity for updates, policymakers made changes to banking laws to help the industry better evolve.

Now in the present time, the Iowa Banking Act recently received significant updates in the 2022 legislative session. A bill aimed at updating the Iowa Credit Union Act passed the House in 2023 with an 86-3 vote, but stalled in the Senate due to opposition from the banking industry.

Iowa thrives when both banks and credit unions are strong and vital. The 1.4 million Iowans relying on credit unions expect them to be secure, stable and modern. Similar to the changes the banking industry received over the years, Iowa credit unions must undergo a similar transformation to evolve.

Iowa needs a financial landscape where both banks and credit unions flourish. Resistance to updating the credit union code hinders progress. Let's advocate for the modernization of the Iowa Credit Union Act, ensuring the continued vitality of Iowa credit unions. -- John Parks, Moville, Iowa
When I asked veteran New York City reporter David Freedlander to lay out one moment that encapsulates whats going on with New York Citys mayor, Eric Adams, right now, he knew exactly what to say.

He was leaving an event in New York a couple of weeks ago with his security detail, and FBI agents stopped the vehicle and ordered Eric Adams to turn over his phones, tablets, devices, Freedlander said. This is the kind of thing that really feels like its out of a movie. Ive never heard of anything like that.

We dont know exactly why the FBI was after the mayors phone, but we can make some educated guesses. The district attorney in Manhattan is investigating the Adams administration over campaign finance irregularities. The home of a top aide was just searched. There are allegations that the mayors team was getting paid to do favors for the Turkish government. To be clear, the mayor insists he is not the target of any of these investigations. But the news is not great. It also isnt getting better. Over Thanksgiving, Adams was slapped with a sexual assault allegation in civil court.

In the past, David Freedlander says, Eric Adams has always been able to brush of this kind of controversy. Hes been a sort of Teflon politician, with a megawatt smile. And when he took office less than two years ago, many thought of him as the future of the Democratic Party.

If there has been a consistent criticism of him, its that he sometimes isnt always paying a lot of attention to the running of the city. And hes the nightlife mayor in a way we havent quite seen before, Freedlander said. Hes out a lot at clubs and parties, living his best life.

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At the same time, the polls are not particularly kind to Eric Adams. A Marist Poll just found that his job approval with New Yorkers was 37 percent. Its a pretty precipitous fall from grace. And Freedlander says that hes heard of private polling thats even lower. It isnt helping that the mayor just announced deep budget cuts. Freedlander says that Eric Adams is worth paying attention to right now because hes in a tight spot, facing local and federal investigations into him personally, facing political pressure from voters. And no one seems to know what happens next.

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On Thursdays episode of What Next, we asked: How much longer will New York City Mayor Eric Adams be living his best life? Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Mary Harris: The first thing to know about Eric Adams is that scandal is not new to him. If you look back at his political career, hes been making ethical trade-offs for a while now. Adams background is humble: He was a transit cop. But he always had a taste for the spotlight. In 1995, Adams and others formed 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group fighting racial profiling. He used that experience as a platform to vault himself into politics.

David Freedlander: He ran for Congress in the 1990svery unsuccessfully, against an incumbent. I cant remember now if he ran as a Republican or Democrat, but he was briefly a Republican. He was a Republican when Rudy Giuliani was mayor.

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His congressional run, though, is important because it was a long-shot bid. He was gathering signatures to get on the ballot. And he accused the incumbent of stealing his signatures, right? Without evidence.

Yeah, correct. It was the congressional run that someone who is just a gadabout of local politics would do. People run for Congress like that where they dont really have a constituency but theyre in the news a little bit.

Theyre just trying stuff out.

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Yeah, they just want a bigger platform. He traveled to Indiana to shepherd Mike Tyson out of prison after Tyson was in prison for rape, something that actually earned him a rebuke from the police department.

So, hes always tilting the camera toward himself, which is a political move.

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Yeah, with a bit of outrageousness, doing things that his base of supportvoters of color in Brooklynis going to look favorably on. He then eventually decides to run for the state Senate. Hes successful there. It was a little bit of an undistinguished record in the state Legislature. One of his first major speeches was calling for pay raises for lawmakers. He would start campaigns dedicated to having young people pull their pants up.

Respectability politics.

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Yeah. He cut PSA videos teaching parents how to search their kids rooms and backpacks for drugs and guns.

Was he a good state senator? Did he get stuff done?

They were in the minority, so there wasnt really like much to do. He got into a lot of troublehis first corruption allegationswhere he was on this committee that was going to vet various bidders who want to bring gaming slots to a horse-racing track out in Queens. And he was seen as giving favoritism to the group that ultimately won that contract. For example, he went to the victory party that they held after they won. And it was the first of many red flags that would follow him throughout his career.

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Youre underlining something else too, which is that until becoming mayor, maybe he didnt have a ton of responsibility. He was a politician, but as a Democrat in the state Senate, the Democrats didnt have power, so he could just be noisy and kind of be there. But he didnt have to govern really. Is that fair?

Yeah, and also, no one would pay attention to a lot of this stuff that was happening. He then became Brooklyn borough president.

For those who are outside of New York, I think we should just explain what the borough president is, because its mostly a ceremonial role.

Yeah. It is. It sounds kind of impressive, but they have less power than a City Council member. And he started a nonprofit when he was there that was soliciting donations from people with business before the borough.

That doesnt seem right.

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It seemed like a way to get around campaign finance laws potentially.

And borough president was never the goal. Even as a cop, Eric Adams said he would one day be mayor of New York. In the 2021 race, one issue in particular, one he had a lot of personal experience with, became his campaign centerpiece.

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His focus was really on crime and cleaning up the city. He used to say that New Yorkers werent getting what they paid for with their taxes. And as someone who is both a Black man and a former police officer, he could really talk about crime and justice in a way that few New Yorkers could.

Its a very traditional way to run for mayor in New York City.

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Everybody thought of him as a front-runner but wondered if he would stumble because there are all of these questions around him. When he was usually written about, it was for saying nutty stuff. For example, after the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue, he encouraged people to bring firearms to church and places of worship to protect themselves. He said that if he were mayor of New York, he would carry a firearm and he wouldnt have a security detail. At one point, he cut the ribbon on an LGBT senior housing building in his district, and he castigated the people there as being interlopers and gentrifiers.

Adams had his advantages, but these gaffes made him a risky candidate. In the Democratic primaries, he only won the nomination by 7,000 votes. Thats nothing in New York City. But he seemed to be the man of the moment.

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There was a post-COVID crime spike and crime became the central issue in the race. And he was the only person who was talking about crime. And he talked about crime incessantly and really leaned on his history as a police officer. Whenever there was a major crime in New York, a high-profile crimeI think there was a shooting in Times Square, a stabbing on the subway, this kind of thinghe would show up to the crime scene and host a little press conference about it. And he was positioned to say, Im going to keep you safe.

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It was funny to me how as soon as Eric Adams cinched the Democratic nomination for mayor, he began talking about himself as the future of the Democratic Party.

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Back in the 2020 primary and afterward, there was a concern that the Democratic Party had moved too far to the left and didnt care about crime. It didnt care about quality of life. It didnt care about middle class homeowners. He was saying, Ive figured this out. A big issue among Democrats is theyre losing support among working-class voters, especially working-class voters of color, and even more especially male working-class voters of color. And heres a guy who is a working-class man of color who has won election in a supposedly liberal progressive city.

Who did Eric Adams become once he assumed office as mayor?

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In some ways he has approached the office as still someone whos a state lawmaker. He calls on other political figures to do things.

As opposed to doing things himself.

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Exactly. Which is what people want your mayor to do. Hes been castigating Joe Biden, for example, for not providing aid to the city to handle the migrant crisis. And theres been a lot of thatcalling on federal officials, calling on state officials to do stuff.

You characterize Adams as a mayor as setting himself up against the city, fighting the city. Hes also fighting the Democratic Party a bit, too. One of the major things thats happened under his watch is this influx of migrants from the Southern border. Initially, there were these buses that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was sending north. Then it ballooned because New York City has this right to shelter for people who are in the city and dont have a home. Can you describe how the migrant crisis has shaped Eric Adams as a mayor, and how its also shaped his relationship with people who you would think would be his colleagues, like the party that helped get him into office?

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I forget the sheer numbers of migrants that have arrived in New York so far. Its a lot. But its also not a lot of people for New York City. New York City is a really big place. Its a place where to this day, close to 40 percent of New Yorkers were born in another country. People come here all the time. But his administration has done a pretty fantastic job of managing what is a difficult crisis. There are not a lot of great options here. Theres not a lot of empty space, empty buildings, empty rooms to house people. And theyve managed to pretty much house everyone, creatively. These arent great places. Theyre not permanent. Theyre not places you probably want to be in winter or in a bad storm. But the city is managing this under very difficult circumstances. But the mayor doesnt talk about that that often. What he does talk about is how these migrants keep coming, and if they keep coming, theyre going to destroy New York City. It can be pretty ugly rhetoric. Its really unfamiliar rhetoric to hear from a Democrat. Its very familiar to Fox News or the New York Post.

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Mayor Adams personal troubles started back in the summer. Thats when the Manhattan district attorney charged six of his donors, one of whom was an old friend from the NYPD, with campaign finance violations. Heres what theyre accused of: Since the city matches small, first-time political contributions at a rate of 8-to-1you give $1, you get $8these individuals made many additional donations under falsified names of relatives, employees. This made it rain for the mayorand curried favor with him, allegedly.

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Eric Adams, at the time, said he wanted to let law enforcement do their jobs, and that he had no knowledge of the scheme. But that was just the beginning of the finger pointing.

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Fast forward a couple of months and Eric Adams is flying down to Washington, D.C., to meet with White House officials to talk about the migrant crisis and how the city can get money from them, get help from them. He shoots a video where hes on the plane prepared to take off from LaGuardia or wherever it was to go down to D.C. Then, later in the day, we find out, in fact, he never made it to the White House. He was on his way down and abruptly turned around and came back to New York because federal law enforcement agents had raided the home of the chief fundraiser of his campaign for very similar allegations to what the Manhattan D.A. was investigating involving straw donors. Only this time, the straw donors were seemingly coming from Turkey. So now we have a little bit of international intrigue. Also, federal law enforcement raiding the home of a top aide to the mayor of New York City, thats an escalation.

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Over Thanksgiving, Adams was hit with yet another scandal: A woman accused the mayor of sexually assaulting her in 1993, when he was a police officer and she worked for the city. So now, hes facing assault allegations and campaign finance violations. But thats not even the most worrying thing about Adams political future.

The thing that put more blood in the water was actually when he announced the budget cuts. There was supposed to be a 3-K program for 3-year-olds in city schools and that was going to be cut. Library service is going to be cut on Sundays. There will be less trash pickup.

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You could say, Look, there may be all this stuff going on in my personal life and political life. But at least the city is thriving. But now theres austerity budget cuts. The deal here was that if you can manage a city, well look past some of this other stuff going on. But if now were all going to have to hunker down to weather this storm, thats going to get political opponents very interested in taking the city in a new direction.

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Its important to say here that Eric Adams has been dogged by ethical allegations since the beginning of his political career. And the mans a phoenix. Hes just kept going. Is there any sign that whats happening now is somehow fundamentally different from what hes encountered before when people who have questioned his ethical wherewithal?

Hes always been questioned about cutting ethical corners, but this feels different. Federal agents stopping your vehicle and seizing your phones for several days, thats an escalation that we havent seen. Whats flummoxed a lot of people like me is that we just dont know what this is all about. It just seems like if this is a straw donor scheme, even a straw donor scheme from Turkey, even a straw donor scheme where essentially you can give money to the mayors political campaign and they will push projects on your behalf, thats not super ethical. Its not clear that its super illegal either. And its not the kind of thing that usually draws the interest of federal agents.

I think what youre saying is you dont think the last shoes dropped here?

No one knows whats going on. We just know that this massive escalation happened, and its unclear what it is all about. Its mystifying.
Palestinian author and editor Atef Abu Saifwho since 2019 has also served as the Palestinian Authoritys minister of culture in the West Bankwas visiting the Gaza Strip when Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack, and when Israel then launched its military response on the territory. Saif took shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where he began writing daily diary entries documenting his experiences with friends and family there. Surviving airstrikes on the camp, he recently fled Jabalia to the south. He spent two days in Khan Younis, before moving to Rafah, where he has spent the past week. Slate is publishing three of his diary entries from the days ahead of his move to the south, the third of which is below. Read the first entry and the second.

Wednesday, 22 November (Day 47)

Last night was my first night in the south. When I opened my eyes this morning, I looked around, not immediately sure where I was. Its the first time this war that Ive woken and not seen my son Yasser lying beside me. Then I remembered: He agreed to stay in the European Hospital to keep an eye on his grandparents.

Around 3 p.m. yesterday, after setting up my in-laws in the hospital, I decided to go to the Khan Younis camp. I told Yasser to stay with [my niece] Wissam and the others in the hospital. Just for one night, I said. There were no mattresses or spare beds at the hospital, he protested. They had a chair at least, I said. Be grateful of that. For me, coming to the south is a nightmare. I dont have any friends or networks here. Khan Younis is a long way from Gaza City in many senses. And here, Im completely out of my comfort zone; I worry about where well sleep each night and how well get what we need. Yasser had a chair in the room beside Wassim; that was enough for now, I told myself. I had to sort myself out separately. Mohammed [my brother] had gone already to stay with his wife, whos staying at her uncles house in Rafah. I tried calling my friend Mamoun, who fled from Rimal when his apartment was destroyed in the first week of the war to his family house in Khan Younis. I was expecting you, he said the moment he picked up. Outside the European Hospital I stopped a very old, dilapidated car and asked for a lift to Khan Younis. Fuel is so expensive in the south, most cars are now using cooking oil instead of petrol (something they did in Gaza when the blockade first started in 2007), and his car stank. I didnt know the way to Mamouns exactly, so the man said no. I had to walk. I was so angry with the situation generally, the walk actually did me some good. It let me work off some steam. I headed toward the town center and the camp where Mamouns house is located.

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On the way, I happened to bump into Bilals brother, Mohammed Jadallah, a photographer who works for Reuters. [Bilal Jadallah, a friend of the authors, press freedom advocate, and director of Press HousePalestine, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nov. 19.] We embraced and failed to hold back tears; the size of the loss we had both experienced overwhelmed us. No one could believe that Bilal was gone. His kids still think he will return after the war.

In the town center, hundreds of people crowded in front of a Western Union office, hoping to pick up cash transferred to them from abroad. Everywhere in Khan Younis there are people queuing for one thing or another. Bread, water, power. I walked through streets Ive never walked before. The first thing that surprised me was the availability of vegetables. In the truck that brought us to Khan Younis, the woman in the front seat had started crying the moment she saw a grocers stall heaving with tomatoes and cucumbers. Its been 40 days since Ive seen vegetables, she confessed.

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Related From Slate The Horror Thats Become Normal in Gaza Read More

Khan Younis is a city that normally hosts 150,000, but today contains a million. There is barely enough room to walk. People have flocked here, not just from Gaza City and the north, but from the villages to the east. I walked for an hour or so until I reached the Red Crescent Hospital. I realized the only way I was going to find Mamoun was if he came and got me. While I waited for him outside the hospital, I saw many friends who had moved here from the north. I had been carrying my laptop bag all day and was more tired than I realized. My back had gotten worse. Back at the European Hospital, Id asked the doctor for painkillers. He gave me some but said I should only take one while eating. I hadnt eaten since the day before.

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On the way to Mamouns house, we talked about the situation in Khan Younis. Despite the apparent abundance of vegetables, many other products are missing, he told me. Things like salt, and coffee. With the division of the Strip into two, the supply chain from the wholesalers in Gaza City had been cut off from Khan Younis.

I had dinner with Mamouns family then talked until nearly midnight. I even managed to go on the internet with my phone, something I hadnt had in two weeks.

This morning I slept all the way through till 9 a.m. As soon as I get up, I go to see Yasser at the European Hospital. He is frustrated from having had a bad nights sleep on the chair. I make a series of phone calls, checking on [my brother] Ibrahim, [my sister] Eisha, and Mohammed separately. Now we are spread all over the south.

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[My friend] Faraj calls to ask if Ive heard any news about an attack in our street in Jabalia. Someone in Rafah told him that the house next to his house had been hit. He was afraid that his house had been damaged as well. His mother is still on the ground floor. There were many attacks on Jabalia last night, some of them in an UNRWA [U.N. Relief and Works Agency] school where newly displaced people are sheltering. I spend an hour reading the news about the different attacks. The drones never stop hovering above me; the buzzing is continual. Occasionally I hear the sound of explosions, but they are very faint. I shake my head, unsure if these are real or just memories now.
Some large businesses use small business grant programs to give back to their communities. Such is the case for one tequila brand founded by a major celebrity. Read about this small business grant opportunity and more below.

The Coramino Fund

Gran CoraminoTequila, the tequila brand founded by Kevin Hart and tequila maker Juan Domingo Beckmann, is launching a new round of applications for its giveback program, The Coramino Fund. The brand is partnering with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to facilitate the program, which provides $10,000 grants and educational resources to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs across the U.S. and Mexico. Applications for eligible U.S. businesses are available now through December 5. The next round of educational programming will launch in Jalisco, Mexico in early 2024.

Feed the Soul Foundation Restaurant Business Development Grant Program

Feed the Soul Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports marginalized businesses in the restaurant industry, is partnering with the Grubhub Community Fund and Stella Artois for a new round of grant funding. Feed the Soul Foundations 2023 grant program plans to award 30 grants of $25,000 to marginalized culinary business owners. The Restaurant Business Development Grant Program also includes an educational component, where cohorts get to work closely with subject matter experts and consultants during a six-month program. The organization recently awarded its grant recipients for 2023. But the annual grant program will open applications again in 2024.

Thomaston Small Business Micro-Grant Program

Thomaston, Maines Community & Economic Development Committee just introduced the Small Business Micro-Grant Program to support small businesses throughout the town. Eligible businesses with a brick-and-mortar location in Thomaston can apply for grants of up to $3,000. Eligible uses include physical improvements to commercial spaces, tech upgrades, new marketing campaigns, and more. And grant recipients will be required to provide at least ten percent of the total project cost. The town will accept applications on a rolling basis until all funds have been allocated.

Canton CARES Small Business Grant Program

Canton, New York, is currently accepting applications for its Canton CARES Small Business Grant Program. The program is open to microenterprises and small businesses with less than 25 employees who faced hardships due to the pandemic. Applicants must demonstrate how theyll use funds to prepare for, prevent, or respond to the effects of the pandemic. Cantons Office of Economic Development will screen applicants to make sure they meet the eligibility criteria and then provide materials to those interested. So interested businesses should reach out for more information. December 20 is the deadline to apply for grants.

Antioch Small Business Grants

Antioch, California, is offering grant funds to support small businesses in the citys high-crime areas. This is the fourth round of the citys Small Business Grants program. Grants are expected to range from $5,000 to $25,000 for eligible businesses. Applicants can use funds to improve safety and security or update their storefronts with new features to increase curb appeal. This round is slated to begin December 1, 2023, and applications will be due by February 29, 2024.

Small Business Deals

Wisconsin State Small Business Credit Initiative

Wisconsin recently received a $1.9 million grant from The U.S. Department of the Treasury through its State Small Business Credit Initiative. The state plans to use this funding to provide legal and financial advice for small businesses across the state. The Wisconsin Department of Administration and WEDC will administer the program and award grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic and the UW Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship. With this funding, the state plans to support 1,150 existing businesses and help to create 120 new small businesses through a new on-demand LLC formation tool.
By Lee Min-hyung

Koreas major conglomerates are moving to speed up generational shifts in leadership, in a strategic move to tackle economic uncertainties by injecting younger approaches to conventional businesses.

Lotte Groups third-generation heir apparent Shin Yoo-yeol has taken on multiple executive roles for the past few years. Late last year, the 37-year-old executive was promoted to vice president at Lotte Chemical. He is also working as a leader for Japans Lotte Financial. He is the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

The promotion made headlines, as it was seen as a sign of Lotte Groups major management succession.

He is expected to accompany the incumbent chairman for a ground-breaking ceremony for its automated fulfillment center in the nations southern port city of Busan next week. Earlier in September, Shin made a public appearance by participating in the opening ceremony for Lotte Mall Lak Hanoi in Vietnam.

Given the Lotte chiefs public comments favoring his son, chances are Shin Yoo-yeol will be promoted to a higher-ranking executive position during the upcoming year-end reshuffle possibly as early as mid-December.

Other conglomerates have already taken similar steps during their recent reshuffles of top management.

According to industry sources, LS, Kumho and KG, recently carried out a major management reshuffles, with second- and third-generation scions promoted to top positions.

At Kumho Group, a third-generation heir apparent was promoted to vice chairman. According to the company, Park Se-chang, the eldest son of Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo, was appointed as vice chairman of Kumho Engineering and Construction during the latest leadership reshuffle.

LS Group is also moving to spur its generational shift. Last week, Koo Dong-hui, vice president at LS Electric, was named chief operating officer of LS MnM, a non-ferrous metal materials arm of the group. The 41-year-old executive is also the oldest son of Koo Ja-yeol, chairman of the groups board of directors. He will be responsibl forn spearheading the groups battery business after the latest reshuffle.

KG Groups heir-apparent Kwak Jung-hyun became its president. KG operates diverse affiliates in areas such as mobility and chemical products. Kwak, 42, served as vice president, but the latest promotion is widely forecast to strengthen his presence within the group. He is the eldest son of KG Group Chairman Kwak Jae-sun.

Starting from major conglomerates, such as Samsung and LG, younger leaders and executives are coming to the fore, as the young generation is considered more suitable to deal with the rapidly-changing market circumstances, an industry official said.
Exceptional customer service remains a pivotal factor in distinguishing successful businesses, regardless of their size or industry. This guide delves into the art of delivering outstanding service, offering insights and strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and foster loyalty.

Understanding that every client has unique needs and preferences, these tips are designed to help businesses navigate the diverse demands of their customer base, ensuring that each interaction not only meets but exceeds expectations.

Embracing exceptional customer service is more than just solving problemsits about creating an environment where every customer feels valued and heard.

Exceptional Customer Service Tips

Every person wants to feel important, and like their needs and issues are being met with sincerity and competence. Customer service in the past meant greeting a customer when they walked in and addressed any concerns or questions in person.

We are immersed in an almost entirely digital world. It is guaranteed while you may understand why your online business is unique and important; and you or your company are the right person for the job, thats hard to tell for an average consumer.

If your company is entirely online, whether a startup or an established corporation, you cant risk a bad customer experience.

According to this American Express study (PDF) having exceptional customer service and satisfaction not only correlates to existing clients spending more money; it also means attracting new clients. Loyalty, word of mouth, and satisfaction are things that can sometimes make or break a business.

A good reputation is important for growth and success. Thats why the customer experience should be one of if not the most important keystones of your marketing platform.

Modern businesses need to adapt their customer service strategies to thrive in a digital marketplace. Here are five essential tips to enhance your customer service:

Start Off On the Right Customer Service Foot

If a potential customer has received no personal recommendations from a friend or colleague, they open up their computer, search for the product or service they want, and start to narrow down the data to find what might work for them.

While your website or app might be sleek and beautiful, engaging and easy to use, people will still have questions. Your team may be impressive and come with high accolades, people will still have questions.

An individual embarking on a new career path they might not be familiar with yet, will appreciate customer service the most.

For instance, someone trying to grow their small business online with a mobile app or website design would appreciate feeling welcomed and encouraged the second they open your page.

This is where the opportunity to provide exceptional customer service experience from the very beginning first presents itself.

A live chat option can be immensely helpful. It has the personal touch of speaking to a real person with the convenience of distancing yourself from a product you arent fully invested in yet. It makes a customer feel heard and acknowledged without the pressure of feeling the need to buy or upgrade.

Often just a simple live chat icon somewhere visible on the page helps let the customer know right from the second they discover your page, you are willing to help.

Not all businesses implement live chat and not everyone needs to. However, having a Contact Us tab or a FAQ link viewable when first browsing a site is important.

The customer has only begun to consider your business, and they already feel important and appreciated. Which is hopefully how you want them to feel!

Immediate Engagement : In the digital age, the first interaction with a customer often happens online. Implementing features like a live chat option on your website or app can provide instant, personal engagement. It offers a mix of human interaction and digital convenience, making customers feel acknowledged without pressure.

: In the digital age, the first interaction with a customer often happens online. Implementing features like a live chat option on your website or app can provide instant, personal engagement. It offers a mix of human interaction and digital convenience, making customers feel acknowledged without pressure. Visibility of Contact Options: Even if live chat isnt feasible, ensure easy access to contact information. A prominent Contact Us tab or FAQ section can make a significant difference. This early display of willingness to assist can create a positive first impression and foster customer trust.

Follow Through

A customer is interested in your business. They hopefully want what you are selling. You have already answered most of their questions with a help option of some kind. If it is an item they are buying you need to make sure the entire process is seamless.

A person shouldnt have to select purchase, enter in their card information, and then find out the item is out of stock or discontinued. Purchasing an item already decided upon shouldnt take more than ten minutes.

For an online service such as design, app building, marketing, etc. alongside a website that shows your work and success; accessibility is key. For an optimum customer experience, you need to be accessible. Respond in a timely manner.

Its infuriating to submit a question online but not receive a reply for three days, or worse an automated message that addresses zero concerns. After all someone is paying you for a service.

If you are a larger start up company and cant keep up with all the communication, hiring a third party site, a part time assistant, or even an intern can help.

A customer who feels as if his needs are met during the process is more likely to use you for all their needs in the future. And as their business grows, so does your likelihood of good word of mouth from them to their colleagues, friends or family.

Seamless Transaction Process : Ensure that the purchasing or service enlistment process is smooth and transparent. Avoid situations where customers face surprises like out-of-stock notifications after payment. For services, particularly online ones like design or app development, responsiveness and accessibility are key.

: Ensure that the purchasing or service enlistment process is smooth and transparent. Avoid situations where customers face surprises like out-of-stock notifications after payment. For services, particularly online ones like design or app development, responsiveness and accessibility are key. Efficient Communication: Timely responses to inquiries or concerns are crucial. If your business scale makes personal attention challenging, consider hiring a third party, an assistant, or using automated yet personalized response systems to maintain engagement.

Recognize and Engage Feedback

It is reported that 88 percent of customers look at other reviews when deciding to buy an item or commit to a business. Of those over half will take some sort of positive action whether it is visiting the website or searching for further content.

Whatever social media your company utilizes; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., it is important to acknowledge a customer or clients recognition, either good or bad.

It takes an instant for someone to post a status or tweet an opinion about a company. It takes an instant for hundreds of people to see it. A business looks engaged and invested when they respond publicly to a compliment or complaint.

Alternatively, a poor response or none at all can tend to gain momentum, and can forever link your business with a poor opinion in a readers mind. Responding positively will be seen by others and place your brand in their mind for future choices.

It doesnt hurt to remind the public of your business and likability. And often times it pays off with recognition and appreciation when businesses treat their clients as a priority. And lets be honest, it feels good as a client to be endorsed by a company youre working with.

Active Social Media Interaction : Engage with customer feedback on social media platforms. A quick, positive public response to both praise and criticism can enhance your brands image. It demonstrates that your business values customer input and is committed to improving experiences.

: Engage with customer feedback on social media platforms. A quick, positive public response to both praise and criticism can enhance your brands image. It demonstrates that your business values customer input and is committed to improving experiences. Managing Online Reputation: Actively managing your online reputation by responding to reviews and comments can significantly influence potential customers. Positive engagement can turn even neutral observers into future customers.

Customer Dissatisfaction

Problems will happen. Things will go wrong. The most important part of a small online business is personal engagement and creating loyalty.

Whether it is questions or complaints, to build a superior customer experience you need options. Some clients dont have the time to call in for a simple question or issue.

Other clients might not feel comfortable typing all their concerns and questions online. The most important thing is a response, preferably an engaging response. A person shouldnt have just one choice on how to reach a company.

Ideally, there should be a social media option, an email option, and/ or a direct phone contact option. Live chats and additional strategies are added bonuses. When someone is dissatisfied they often just want recognition, an explanation, or a product exchange or refund.

Providing a prompt and concerned response can settle a dispute and convince a customer they are valued and should keep their business with you.

Diverse Contact Options : Offer multiple channels for customer support  phone, email, social media, live chat. This diversity ensures that customers can reach out in a way thats most convenient for them.

: Offer multiple channels for customer support  phone, email, social media, live chat. This diversity ensures that customers can reach out in a way thats most convenient for them. Prompt and Empathetic Responses: When issues arise, a prompt and understanding response can often defuse frustration. Ensure that your team is trained to handle complaints effectively, offering solutions, explanations, or compensations as needed.

Stay Innovative

As your customers grow and change, grow with them. Staying on top of their evolving needs is important. Once youve developed a client following and a method for attracting new business you are on the path to a successful future.

Having a loyal client base means you get to take the kinds of innovative and exciting initiatives for the direction you want your company to head.

Adapt to Changing Customer Needs : Keep an eye on evolving market trends and customer preferences. Adapting your strategies to meet these changes not only retains existing customers but also attracts new ones.

: Keep an eye on evolving market trends and customer preferences. Adapting your strategies to meet these changes not only retains existing customers but also attracts new ones. Continuous Improvement: Regularly seek feedback and use it to refine your customer service approach. Staying innovative in your service delivery can lead to a loyal customer base and open doors for new business opportunities.

By following these customer service tips, modern businesses can build stronger relationships with their customers, leading to increased loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and overall business growth.

Comparison of Customer Service Tips for Businesses

Strategy Key Features Best For Live Chat Support Instant communication, Personal interaction Businesses with high online traffic Social Media Engagement Public interaction, Brand visibility Businesses targeting younger demographics Email Support Detailed responses, Documentation B2B and service-oriented businesses Phone Support Personal touch, Immediate resolution Businesses with an older customer base Automated Responses Efficiency, 24/7 support E-commerce and tech companies

Key Takeaways for Modern Customer Service

Personalization is Key : Tailoring responses and interactions to individual customer needs.

: Tailoring responses and interactions to individual customer needs. Speed Matters : Ensuring quick responses to customer inquiries and complaints.

: Ensuring quick responses to customer inquiries and complaints. Embrace Technology : Utilizing tools like live chat and social media for efficient communication.

: Utilizing tools like live chat and social media for efficient communication. Feedback is Crucial : Actively seeking and responding to customer feedback.

: Actively seeking and responding to customer feedback. Continuous Innovation: Adapting to changing customer needs and preferences.
Xeedo Technologies thrives at the cross roads of creativity & innovation, propelling both its internal teams & client organizations to success

drives its growth into Ahmedabad, where it hopes to capitalize on the developing semiconductor wave. Furthermore, Xeedo Technologies is actively involved in the development of cutting-edge IoT goods such as trackers, false detection systems, and CO2 measuring solutions."At the heart of our ethos is the pride we take in cultivating consultative alliances and delivering bespoke solutions to diverse employment requirements. We operate at the intersection of creativity and innovation, propelling both our internal teams and client organizations towards success", emphasizes Dhanpati Sahu, a Computer Science Engineer and IIM Bangalore Alumnus at the helm of Xeedo Technologies. His progression from his initial venture to Xeedo Technologies highlights a trajectory of useful insights. Dhanpati set out on this quest to actively contribute to the changing landscape, fueled by a deep understanding of business dynamics and a belief in India's imminent leadership in semiconductors and software.The success of Xeedo Technologies is based on its strategic approach to client satisfaction. Dhanpati and his team establish a familial environment that develops longevity and dedication by directly connecting with each employee. A low attrition rate demonstrates the effectiveness of this technique, which leads to client satisfaction. A noteworthy case study illustrates the adaptability and determination of Xeedo Technologies. In order to meet a client's urgent demand for ten technical experts in just 15 days, the firm organized a rigorous and unique interview procedure. Xeedo Technologies met the client's objectives by integrating the skills of senior and younger professionals, obtaining plaudits for the company's commitment and problem-solving acumen.Xeedo Technologies' growth trajectory has shown great advances in terms of revenue, client base, and global expansion. In comparison to the previous fiscal year, the current fiscal year is positioned for exceptional progress, with more than a doubling of growth projected reaching an astonishing 100 percent increase and even beyond that on the revenue front. In the future, Xeedo Technologies plans to strategically extend its IoT product lines and move into IP-level development. Geographically, the firm plans to open a new office in Gujarat, while also exploring international expansion opportunities in Japan and the United States. Notably, the firm's strategic focus is being driven by the expanding prominence of IoT and the semiconductor sector. This focus on these two categories will be critical as Xeedo Technologies grows.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/aukus-allies-to-hold-series-of-military-drills-beginning-next-year---pentagon-chief-1115339944.html

AUKUS Allies to Hold Series of Military Drills Beginning Next Year - Pentagon Chief

AUKUS Allies to Hold Series of Military Drills Beginning Next Year - Pentagon Chief

The US, UK, and Australia under AUKUS pillars have endorsed holding military drills beginning in 2024, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after talks with his British and Australian counterparts in California.

2023-12-02T09:16+0000

2023-12-02T09:16+0000

2023-12-02T09:17+0000

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austin

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"Today, we endorsed several new efforts under pillar two of AUKUS. Let me highlight two of these efforts. The first is a maritime autonomous experimentation and exercise. Beginning next year, our three countries will conduct a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercises. They will enhance capability development, improve our interoperability," Austin said. on Friday. According to a joint statement, Austin, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and UK defense chief Grant Shapps discussed the AUKUS enhanced defense and security partnership. The group reviewed progress made since the March 2023 announcement of the Optimal Pathway for Australia to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, the release added.The ongoing military build-up comes as the US beefs up its military presence in the Asia Pacific along with the UK and Australia within the framework of the tripartite AUKUS alliance. China, in turn, voiced opposition to certain countries uniting in exclusionary groups in the region.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230815/why-merging-aukus-and-nato-would-pose-serious-danger-to-asia-pacific-1112617375.html

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austin

united kingdom (uk)

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the us, uk, and australia under aukus pillars have endorsed holding military drills beginning in 2024, defense secretary lloyd austin said after talks with his british and australian counterparts in california.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/israel-bans-entry-of-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza-through-rafah-crossing-1115341630.html

Israel Bans Entry of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza Through Rafah Crossing

Israel Bans Entry of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza Through Rafah Crossing

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that Israel had banned the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on the enclave's border with Egypt.

2023-12-02T08:54+0000

2023-12-02T08:54+0000

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"Today, Israeli occupation forces informed all organizations and entities operating at the Rafah border crossing that the entry of aid trucks from the Egyptian side to the Gaza Strip is prohibited, starting from today until further notice," the organization said on X on Friday. The PRCS added that the move aggravated the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip and complicated the work of humanitarian organizations. On Friday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said that Palestinian movement Hamas had violated the truce between Israel and Hamas that had been in effect since November 24. As a result, the Israeli military resumed fighting in the enclave. On October 7, Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231201/report-israel-obtained-hamas-battle-plan-over-a-year-before-october-attack-1115336635.html

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the palestine red crescent society (prcs) said that israel had banned the entry of humanitarian aid into the gaza strip through the rafah crossing on the enclave's border with egypt.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/israel-defense-forces-says-struck-hamas-command-centers-in-gaza-strip-1115339804.html

Israel Defense Forces Says Struck Hamas Command Centers in Gaza Strip

Israel Defense Forces Says Struck Hamas Command Centers in Gaza Strip

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck the infrastructure of Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting operational command centers and underground facilities.

2023-12-02T05:05+0000

2023-12-02T05:05+0000

2023-12-02T05:05+0000

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middle east

gaza strip

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palestine-israel conflict

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"In the past hours, terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip was targeted and struck. The targets included operational command centers in which Hamas terrorists were operating, underground sites, and a military compound from which anti-tank missiles were launched at soldiers earlier today," the IDF said on Telegram on Friday. On Friday morning, the IDF said Hamas broke a pause in hostilities and opened fire on Israeli territory, and the Israeli military resumed hostilities against the Palestinian movement in the Gaza Strip.In a separate development the Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry has issued a statement that the death toll in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip after the expiration of the ceasefire has reached 178 people.Earlier, a ministry spokesman said the death toll from Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave after the expiration of the ceasefire on Friday exceeded 109 people.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231201/report-israel-obtained-hamas-battle-plan-over-a-year-before-october-attack-1115336635.html

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the israel defense forces (idf) said it struck the infrastructure of palestinian group hamas in the gaza strip, targeting operational command centers and underground facilities.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/macron-to-visit-qatar-for-talks-on-israel-hamas-conflict-1115340621.html

Macron to Visit Qatar for Talks on Israel-Hamas Conflict

Macron to Visit Qatar for Talks on Israel-Hamas Conflict

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday is scheduled to pay a diplomatic visit to Qatar, a key mediator in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas and the broker of their truce and hostage deal.

2023-12-02T06:51+0000

2023-12-02T06:51+0000

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palestine-israel conflict

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doha

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Macron is expected to meet with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha and discuss a variety of issues related to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, including ways to achieve a humanitarian pause in fighting, free more hostages and facilitate peace talks. At least four French nationals are believed to continue to be held hostage by Hamas. The French president will be traveling to Doha from Dubai, where he arrived earlier in the week for the COP28 conference and reportedly discussed the Middle East crisis with several regional leaders on the sidelines, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231024/france-proposes-to-create-regional-international-coalitions-to-fight-hamas---macron-1114449439.html

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french president emmanuel macron on saturday is scheduled to pay a diplomatic visit to qatar, a key mediator in the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas and the broker of their truce and hostage deal.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/philippines-opens-new-monitoring-base-in-south-china-sea-amid-rising-tensions-1115338597.html

Philippines Opens New 'Monitoring' Base in South China Sea Amid Rising Tensions

Philippines Opens New 'Monitoring' Base in South China Sea Amid Rising Tensions

The Filipino military opened up a new Coast Guard monitoring station in a disputed region of the South China Sea.

2023-12-02T00:03+0000

2023-12-02T00:03+0000

2023-12-02T00:01+0000

military

wu qian

joseph wu

ferdinand marcos jr.

china

philippines

coast guard

us

us-china relations

south china sea

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The Philippines opened a new Coast Guard monitoring base on Friday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, which comes after the announcement of increased cooperation and joint military patrols of the area with the country and the US and Australia.Officials in the Philippines said that the base and expanded patrols were in response to what it perceived as pure bullying by China in the area. China has accused the US and other foreign interests of stirring up trouble in the contested region.Face-offs between Filipino and Chinese ships have intensified over the past year. In October, Filipino and Chinese vessels collided while Chinese ships were trying to block construction materials being sent to a warship that has been marooned near the disputed reef Renai Jiao (aka Second Thomas Shoal) since 1999. China says the Philippines has failed to fulfill its decades-old promise to remove the ship while the Philippines contends that the ship and submerged reef fall under its territory.Amid the growing tensions, the US has stressed that it must defend the Philippines in the event of a conflict. The Philippines is the United States longest-running treaty ally in Asia.The new Coast Guard monitoring station sits on a small island named Thitu and includes a two-story building with radar, ship-tracking and other equipment. Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano and other officials flew for the opening to Thitu, which is home to about 250 inhabitants and is one of nine islands, islets and atolls in disputed territory that have been occupied by Philippine forces since the 1970s.Ano hinted that patrols could expand to include Japan. Were open to like-minded countries to join as observers or participants, he told reporters.In addition to the Philippines, Thitu is claimed by China and Vietnam.China has repeatedly said that the patrols increase tensions in the area and accused the Philippines of enlisting foreign "forces to stir up tensions in the region.On Thursday, Chinese Senior Colonel Wu Qian reiterated that China believes the US is behind the growing tensions. The US instigated and emboldened the Philippine side to infringe upon China's sovereignty, which escalated maritime tensions. The Chinese side firmly opposes that, Wu, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said at a news conference.The Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, fresh off his meeting with his US counterpart Austin Lloyd, responded by saying it was China who was stirring up trouble.Earlier this year, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose administration has been moving closer to the US, said that his country would not yield to China. The Philippines will not give a single square inch of our territory to any foreign power, Marcos warned after meeting with US officials in Hawaii.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231023/china-files-complaint-with-philippines-over-south-china-sea-collision---reports-1114426101.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231125/australia-and-philippines-launch-joint-naval-patrols-in-south-china-sea-1115203497.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/why-rheinmetalls-proposed-armored-vehicle-production-in-ukraine-is-infeasible-1115346238.html

Why Rheinmetalls Proposed Armored Vehicle Production in Ukraine is Infeasible

Why Rheinmetalls Proposed Armored Vehicle Production in Ukraine is Infeasible

The implementation of the German arms manufacturers project on Ukrainian soil may never see the light of day, Andrey Koshkin, retired colonel and expert at the Association of Military Political Scientists, told Sputnik.

2023-12-02T14:39+0000

2023-12-02T14:39+0000

2023-12-02T14:39+0000

military

russia

ukraine

germany

armored vehicles

construction

plant

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German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall AG wants to build its first armored vehicles in Ukraine next year, Chief Executive Armin Papperger recently said during an interview with a German business news magazine.The CEO said that he expected a deal with Kiev on the construction of the Fuchs armored transport vehicles and the Lynx infantry fighting vehicles by the beginning of 2024."After the contract is signed, we want to have finished the first (Fuchs) within six-seven months, and the first Lynx within 12-13 months," he was quoted as saying.However, retired colonel and expert at the Association of Military Political Scientists, Andrey Koshkin, argued the proposed project was not realistic.He said that Rheinmetall AG is just paying lip-service to the companys plans to produce the above-mentioned armored vehicles on Ukrainian territory because implementing the project may prove an infeasible task.Dwelling on what is behind the German arms manufacturers drive to produce military hardware in Ukraine, Koshkin suggested that Germany could be instructed by the US to let Kiev know that it wouldnt be abandoned by its Western allies.Those "wish lists" by Rheinmetall AG are nothing but "politically motivated statements" instigated by third parties, according to the Russian expert.One cannot but take Russias stance on the matter into account, Koshkin said. He cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that if built, Rheinmetall AGs enterprise would become a legitimate target for the Russian military.According to Zakharova, the enterprise will be destroyed as part of military infrastructure in the format of the tasks of the ongoing Russian special military operation to demilitarize the territory of Ukraine.Touching upon economic feasibility for Rheinmetall AG to manufacture German armored vehicles on Ukrainian soil, he singled out "many political, economic, social, and humanitarian factors," but underscored that the companys statements are "out of line with reality."When asked what Ukraine could offer Rheinmetall in exchange for having its plant on its territory, the expert referred to the Zelensky regimes desire to defend the so-called "Western democracy" at the frontline, something Kiev is paying a heavy price for.At the time, Kiev deployed brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment, including the much-hyped German-made Leopard tanks. Three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev's push had failed and that Ukraine had suffered heavy losses in men and materiel during the counteroffensive.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20231202/zaluzhny-vs-zelensky-top-ukrainian-general-surpasses-president-in-approval-rating-1115345819.html

Zaluzhny vs. Zelensky: Top Ukrainian General Surpasses President in Approval Rating

Zaluzhny vs. Zelensky: Top Ukrainian General Surpasses President in Approval Rating

Reports suggest there is a major spat between the chief of Ukraine's military and the head of state after the much-touted "counteroffensive" against Russia failed, leading only to dramatic casualties and growing fatigue in the West.

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Ukrainians trust the Commander-in-Chief General Valeriy Zaluzhny more than President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the results of a recent sociological survey, the Strana.ua newspaper reported.According to the data, Zaluzhny has a 82% approval rating, while Zelensky is at 72%. Likewise, 63% of citizens fully trust the commander and 19% tend to trust him more, while for the Ukrainian leader these numbers are 39% and 33%, respectively).According to the "Rating" data, Zelensky began losing the trust of citizens from July, as noted by the publication.In the hypothetical scenario of elections featuring both Zelensky and Zaluzhny, neither would secure victory in the first round (47.4% of voters would hypothetically support the president, and 30.7% the commander). In the second round, the votes would be almost evenly distributed: 42% for Zelensky and 40% for Zaluzhny.Last month, Bloomberg cited data from the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in presenting different information: according to KMIS, Zelensky's approval rating decreased from the wartime peak of 91% but still remains high at 76%.It came amid media reports of a growing internal conflict between the political and military leadership of Ukraine. The Economist has claimed that relations between Zelensky and Zaluzhny are described in their circles as "terrible."In an interview with The Economist earlier last month, the general stated that the situation on the battlefield had reached a deadlock, while Zelensky disagreed with his evaluation.Ukraine's political leadership denies any conflict between the president and the chief of the Armed Forces. "There has never been any tension between the political and military leadership," said the speaker of the country's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, in an interview with Politico, calling such ideas "rumors."Presidential elections in Ukraine are scheduled for March 2024. According to Ukrainian legislation, holding elections is impossible under the current martial law. Zelensky stated recently that he is prepared to hold elections, but the majority of Ukrainians are against it.The Russian leadership has repeatedly spoken about the failure of Kiev's counteroffensive and significant losses for Ukraine. The day before, Russia's defense minister stated that since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost more than 125,000 people and 16,000 units of weapons.

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Reports from overseas indicate that 2023 Maple Leaf Trot winner Alrajah One IT is headed back to Europe.

A multiple European Group 1 stakes-winning trotter before his North American career, the son of Maharajah from the Varenne mare Mariu captured the Italian Trotting Derby, Gran Premio dEuropa, Gran Premio Freccia d'Europa and the Gran Premio Continentale. He left Europe after his five-year-old season.

Campaigned in North America by Ake Svanstedt, Alrajah One IT had an extremely successful stint on this side of the Atlantic over the past two seasons despite making just eight starts. The trotter sped to scores in the 2022 Crawford Farms Trot, Spirit of Massachusetts and Cashman Memorial in 2022 before being sidelined due to injury just before the 2022 Maple Leaf Trot.

Alrajah One returned almost a year to the day after that missed Maple Leaf Trot to score in the 2023 edition, winning in a Canadian record and lifetime best mile time of 1:50.2 -- a time he matched in the 2023 Allerage Open Trot.

He finished seventh as the beaten favourite in the 2023 Breeders Crown, then finished sixth after making a break in the 2023 FanDuel Open Trot.

"The American trip was fantastic and stratospheric," owner Vincenzo Izzo told Italian publication Equos. "I would even say beyond all possible predictions, so much so that the horse has now built an exceptional image in the USA too. But at a certain point I convinced myself that it was a parenthesis that needed to be closed."

According to Izzo, Alrajah One received substantial offers to continue to stand the horse in North America but wanted him to return to Italy.

"He is a precious exponent of Italian breeding, he is our heritage and I didn't like the idea that he would have to remain in the USA forever. And then he is very fertile, if you consider that with frozen semen he had a very high percentage of mares becoming pregnant, which is never easy to achieve."

During the breeding season, Izzo indicated that Alrajah One would resume training but noted that a decision has yet to be made on who would train and campaign the horse in Europe.

"Europe is large, there is Sweden, there is France, there is Italy... What is certain is that, during the stallion break, he will remain in training and, therefore, we are organizing to entrust him to a centre in which he can carry out both activities."
The United States will pledge $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday as Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Dubai for the U.N. climate summit.

The fund, with more than $20 billion in pledges, is the largest international fund dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries.

The latest pledge, which Reuters was first to report, would be additional to another $2 billion previously delivered by the United States. The sources said the pledge was subject to the availability of funds.

Vice President Harris was expected to announce the pledge later on Saturday in an address to the COP28 summit.

The fund's facilitators said in October that the current second round of replenishments had brought in about $9.3 billion in pledges to fund projects in climate-vulnerable countries between 2024 and 2027.

Even so, pledges so far represent a fraction of the roughly $250 billion that developing countries would need every year by 2030 just to adapt to a warmer world. In addition to supporting climate adaptation, the fund also finances projects to help countries shift to clean energy.

A U.S. climate official said the vice president would tell the summit that the world needs to "make sure that everybody is at the table, and everybody is stepping up. Everybody has to step up."

Harris, who is representing the United States at COP28 in place of President Joe Biden, is part of a U.S. delegation that also includes climate envoy John Kerry and dozens of senior officials.

"It was important for both the president and vice president to ensure that a leader from the United States was at COP," an official said, adding that Harris wanted to make sure we are telling the world the story of progress that we have made in the U.S." (Reuters)
Stash The Cookies capped off a five-win night at Century Mile for driver Brandon Campbell with a wire-to-wire victory in the Friday featured finale, the $14,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Handicap Pace.

Leaving from post four, 3-2 favourite Stash The Cookies chased the gate away to secure the lead over seven other distaffers in the featured affair for Campbell. The John Chappell trainee cruised through fractions of :28.3, :57.2 and 1:25.4 en route to a 1-1/4-length victory in 1:54.2 while first-over challenger Outlaw Sharktastic and Nathan Sobey posed no threat down the stretch. Gold Onthehorizon and Phil Giesbrecht shot through at the rail to finish second over pocket-popper Sunshineatthebeach and Jamie Gray.

Stash The Cookies, who has won two of her last three starts in the Mares Preferred, returned $5 to her backers at the betting windows. A seven-time winner in 24 races this year, the seven-year-old Sunfire Blue Chip-Saucy B mare now has 29 victories lifetime with earnings topping the $300,000 mark. She is owned by Derek Gilbert of Brandon, Man.

Campbell scored back-to-back wins on two occasions earlier on the card. He teamed up with three-year-old fillies Rezies Girl ($8.10) for trainer Jacques Lambert and Ima Beach Diva ($9.30) for the Kelly Hoerdt stable to kick off his winning crusade in races two and three. Campbell also scored with his own trainee Outlawstormywether ($2.70) in race six and then with Portaj ($15.20) for trainer Samuel Johnson in race seven before making his final winner's circle appearance after the ninth race finale.

Campbell's five wins push his 2023 win count to 275 with his 60 scores at Century Mile topping all drivers on the local leaderboard. He ranks among the top five drivers for wins in all of Canada.

The 40-year-old Calgary, Alta. horseman, who became the first driver to record a $2 million season competing exclusively in Western Canada last year, has already broken that record of $2,056,905 in purses, with his current 2023 earnings now over $2.1 million.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Mile.

(Photo of Stash The Cookies and Brandon Campbell from a previous win)
Its no secret in largely rural Nebraska that property tax gripes take a different shape outside cities and villages.

The states farmers and ranchers typically pay far higher tax bills than their in-town neighbors. They cant hope to make money raising crops or cattle on a single property.

In the eyes of many Nebraska agricultural producers, property tax bills  and the taxable valuations underlying them  do nothing but go up.

An analysis for the Star-Herald tests that perception through a glimpse at recent trends in Scotts Bluff Countys ag property taxes, days before 2023 tax bills arrive in mailboxes countywide.

For three anonymous ag operations spread across the county  one mostly rangeland, the others largely featuring irrigated land  this falls local government budget season brought higher gross tax bills on top of sharply higher taxable values.

But that hasnt happened every year, based on valuation, budget and tax figures dating to 2010.

Meanwhile, Nebraskas increasingly generous credits for property tax payments have limited or even driven down their net tax bills  though, again, not always.

How we did it

This story completes the Star-Heralds launch this fall of a big-picture overview of local governments annual budget season that breaks down how each decision impacts local tax bills.

The papers initial set of tax tracker stories tracked the assembly of 2023 tax bills for three sample homes of similar ages, sizes and taxable values in Scottsbluff, Gering and Terrytown.

When 2024s budget season rolls around, the newspaper will add these three ag operations to our coverage of the three Twin Cities sample homes.

We began by scouting the Beacon GIS webpage on the Scotts Bluff County website (scottsbluffcounty.org/surveyor-gis) for appropriate ag properties.

Their tax experiences are more complex than they are for homeowners. Ag operations usually own multiple land parcels, each with a variety of soil types and subtypes that county assessors must value along separate tracks.

Our Ag 1 operation consists of seven parcels dominated by grassland, with a small amount of dryland, well southeast of Lyman in the southwest part of Scotts Bluff County.

The other two have mostly irrigated land with some grassland. Ag 2 includes nine parcels northwest of Mitchell near the Pathfinder Irrigation Canal. Ag 3, mostly southwest and southeast of Melbeta near the Castle Rock Canal, has grown from four to seven parcels since 2010.

Each sample operation has at least one residence  Ag 2 has six  and a varying number of outbuildings. Like homes, theyre valued for tax purposes at 92% to 100% of actual value rather than the 69% to 75% range state law requires for agland values.

The Beacon GIS webpage supplied valuation information, while past tax information came from Nebraska Taxes Online (nto.us). Information on state property tax credits came from the Nebraska Department of Revenue (revenue.nebraska.gov).

Valuations and taxes

One theme was common in 2023 for most Scotts Bluff County property owners: much higher valuations.

Combined taxable values for Ag 1, the southwest grassland operation, soared 35.3% to $1.32 million. The rural Mitchell Ag 2 operation saw a 17.5% increase to almost $1.9 million, while the Melbeta-area Ag 3 faced a 10.1% increase to $1.71 million.

But their 2023 tax experiences diverged greatly from there.

Ag 1s combined gross tax bill leapt 31.7% to $22,744, on the heels of an 8% increase in 2022. But Ag 3s gross bill grew only 8.1%, reaching $33,265, while Ag 2s crept up just 1.2% to $28,656.

Valuations grew in 2023 for all 23 parcels among the three ag operations. But four of Ag 2s nine parcels saw their gross tax bills decline between 0.3% and 5.7% when compared with 2022.

Only six local governments serve all three outfits: Scotts Bluff County, its agricultural society, the Western Nebraska Regional Airport, the Western Community College Area, the North Platte Natural Resources District and Educational Service Unit 13.

But each operation is served by a different school district, which typically claims the majority of property tax bills.

School 2023-24 tax rates for all funds were 88.7 cents per $100 of taxable value for Mitchell Public Schools (Ag 2), $1.094 per $100 for the Morrill schools (Ag 1) and nearly $1.285 per $100 for the Gering district (Ag 3).

Various combinations of rural fire districts, cemetery districts and a drainage district account for the rest of the ag operations combined 2023 gross tax bills. One Ag 2 parcel is served by a different combination of local governments than the other eight held by its Mitchell-area owners.

Combined 2023 property tax rates fell for all three sample operations, though not enough to prevent tax-bill increases given their sharp taxable-value growth.

Ag 1s combined tax rate fell by 2.7% to $1.726 per $100. The rate for Ag 3 dropped 1.8% to just over $1.94 per $100.

Ag 2, with the lowest overall gross tax boost, saw the combined rate for eight of its parcels fall 8.9% to $1.508 per $100. The ninth, with its different array of local governments, saw its rate decline by 8.4% to $1.522 per $100.

Recent years

When one looks back to 2010, the belief in ever-higher valuations and taxes has been truer over the long haul than in any given year.

Taxable values have grown nearly 136% since 2010 for Ag 1, the rural Lyman grassland operation, and 50.2% for Ag 2s mostly irrigated operation northwest of Mitchell. Land purchases account for some of the 286.4% growth in irrigated Melbeta-area Ag 3.

But Ag 1s combined valuation fell 6.5% in 2011 and held steady the next two years. It jumped five of six years from 2014 to 2019, stayed the same in 2017, dipped by 0.3% in 2020 and was unchanged in 2021.

Total Ag 2 taxable values rose seven straight years through 2017 but dropped in 2018, 2020 and 2022. After Ag 3 reached its current size in 2019, its combined valuation fell in 2020 and 2022.

In all three cases, valuations rose some years for some parcels but fell or held steady in others.

Gross tax bills have shown a similar uneven pattern. They rose consistently from 2011 to 2017 for both irrigated operations, but that was true for Ag 1 only from 2013 to 2016.

The script then flipped somewhat. The rangeland outfits gross tax bill zigzagged for five years (down one year, up for two, down for two more) before rising in 2022 and especially 2023.

But after peaking at $31,268 in 2017, Ag 2s gross tax bill dropped each of the next five years before this fall.

Ag 3s gross bill likewise fell from its 2019 peak of $33,729 each of the three years previous to 2023.

Those declines dont take into account the final postseason factor in Nebraskas annual property tax story.

State tax credits

Those tax bills youll get in your mailboxes this month already will be smaller than your gross bill. Thats due to the Property Tax Credit Fund, a direct discount on county tax bills that the state has paid for since 2007.

Although the Legislature has put more into that fund in recent years, potential property tax relief mushroomed after it approved state income tax credits in 2020 for portions of property owners bills for supporting local education.

We use the word potential for a reason: Nebraska property owners must claim the education credits on their state income tax returns to get them. (If they owe nothing in state taxes, they can get a refund for the education credits.)

For 2023, property owners can recover 30% of their taxes to support their school district and 55% of their community college tax bill through the income tax credits. The state is set to take over most community college funding in 2024-25.

All of this has added up to thousands of dollars in potential tax relief for the owners of the Star-Heralds sample ag operations: $6,799 in 2023 for the Ag 1 grassland outfit, $8,488 for irrigated Ag 2 near Mitchell and $9,826 for its Ag 3 counterpart near Melbeta.

Those credits of course have reduced the outfits gross tax bills each year. But have the credits slashed their net tax bills from one year to the next?

They did for all three in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of the K-12 credit before senators added the community college credit for 2022.

For Ag 2s owners, the credits consistent growth has lowered their net tax bill seven straight years, from $29,562 in 2016 to $20,168 in 2023.

But Ag 3s net 2023 bill, even if its owners claim all their credits, will grow by 4.8% this year after dropping 7.9%, 14.8% and 10% from 2020 to 2022. Its $23,439 total for 2023 remains well below the peak of $31,653 in 2019.

And the owners of Ag 1, in the heart of Scotts Bluff Countys southern ranch country, saw their net property taxes rose 2.7% in 2022 despite the debut of the community college credit.

Theyre set to spike upward by 25.9% for 2023, reaching an all-time high of $15,945  if they claim their education credits during income tax season on top of the smaller break they get this month.
It isnt easy to sit in the same room as someone youve caused harm to. Harder still if youre also in the room with a jury of your peers.

It gives the kids more impact so that they understand the harm, Piedmont Mediation Center Executive Director Jessica Lemons said. We can sit here and tell them they did this amount of damage, but when the person you offended sits across from you, it hits a little different.

When they finally take ownership, its a shift.

By putting the offender, the offended, then their peers in the same room, Iredell Countys Teen Court program aims to bring restorative justice to all those involved.

Piedmont Mediation Center has been doing that since 2016, with Teen Courts in Statesville and Mooresville, but the program has been going on for more than 20 years. Instead of putting a young offender in the legal system directly, the Teen Court program aims to get offenders justice, but without the potential beginning of a criminal record for the offender. The charges are misdemeanors  anything from property damage to fighting or truancy  with the goal to create a pathway for the accused to avoid a criminal record but that requires the teens to be accountable for their mistakes while also addressing the damage theyve done.

Simply put, restorative justice aims to have these teens take responsibility for what theyve done and understand the harm but also to give themselves a chance to make up for their mistakes and avoid making them again.

Not all of Piedmont Interventions work happens in a Teen Court setting. There is also a more informal setting called Circle where the offender and peers gather in a small room together. The aim of it is the same as it allows for the same path of responsibility and redemption, but in a setting that is intentionally less intimidating than a courtroom.

We bring them in that intimate circle and let the youth really see what theyve done to the victim to let them have a building piece to put together all the things theyve done so that they can understand that victims situation, Sandra Donawa, Teen Court and Restorative Justice coordinator, said.

Lemons said that Circle is created for those who might have learning disabilities, high anxiety or other concerns that could make the Teen Court too stressful, but still are on a path of restorative justice.

Whether in the teen courtroom or Circle, allowing the perpetrator to take ownership of their wrong can lead to them beginning to work toward a way to fix the harm theyve done.

A jury of their peers

The courtroom setting, either at the Hall of Justice Annex in Statesville or the Mooresville courthouse, allows for the process to play out in a way that translates the seriousness of the matter while avoiding the regular judicial proceedings.

The process, the whole setting, is kids. Kids do everything except the judge, which is an adult volunteer or an elder as we call them, Donawa said.

While everything is on a script as far as the process of teen court, it is the teens themselves in their different roles that ask and answer the questions.

The jury aims to find the impact of the teens transactions, the defense represents the teen, and the prosecutors job is to fully illuminate the teens life that the defense may have left out.

Some get into those roles, if theyre not the actual offender at least, more than others.

In his role as a prosecutor, Rayhan Akbar isnt afraid to play the part of a charismatic attorney.

He does very well, I was very impressed by him when we had court, Donawa said. Being in the program, he wants to go to law school. Hes very fascinating to watch quite the impressive young man

The Lake Norman High School student said he wanted to be a lawyer for years and the program allowed him to have a part in real-life situations.

I thought it was really cool how you could be a teenager with the ability to defend or prosecute other teens in cases that really had an effect on people, Akbar said.

Akbar has been involved with the program for two years, with his start as a jury member. That allowed him to get a clearer picture of the teen court process and led to his role as a prosecutor in the program.

I learned what a jury member looks for which helps me know what questions to ask and also allows me to reveal different aspects of the case, Akbar said.

Akbar said he believes the program works for those who commit themselves to it.

I think that Teen Court does work for those that are subject to it but only if they really try to learn from their mistakes and follow the advice given to them. Teen Court can really help change someone for the better and help them realize their mistakes, Akbar said.

The jury then goes through its role and decides  with guidance from the adults  what sanctions the teen will face. The consequences: classes to address behavioral issues, projects, and up to eight hours of community service are required by the jury of their peers. Some are also required to come back to take part in juries or Circles as well.

The adults can rein in the juries if needed but also put trust in them as well.

They can read BS in their peers better than we do, Lemons said.

In the end, the process of the teen court program has the accused take responsibility for the wrong theyve done. But with that, they have to do classes, projects, and community service as well to fix the harm.

Ripple effect

Donawa and Lemons said that the deeper understanding often comes as they embark on restoring what theyve broken, both figuratively and literally.

They used bullying as an example, as the teens often begin to see how the bullying doesnt stop with the victim, it often continues throughout their lives and into others, sometimes back to the person who began it all.

The next person you bully, theyre going to bully your sibling, your cousin, or your neighbor. Its going to go back in that vicious circle, Donawa said.

Lemons said with any offense, it is like throwing a rock into a pond.

Its a ripple effect. You dont realize who you touch when you do harmful things, Lemons said.

Part of the entire process allows for all sides, including the teen accused, to get their part of the story out. While they still have to take responsibility for the harm theyve done, it provides the teen court with greater context. Adult volunteer Marta Koesling said that is important to take into account.

Usually people are so wound up in their own drama and their own stories and their own hurt, that they dont take into account the other persons side. Through mediation, when there is a neutral person, both people get to be heard non-judgmentally and then when you hear the other side, then sometimes youre more likely to make steps to make some sort of resolution or some sort of plan that works for both people. And surprisingly, it really does work, Koesling said. She also said that process also allows the parents involved to see it that way as well, as it goes beyond just the damage done to the victim.

Donawa and Lemons know that sometimes these teens might be saying and doing the right things just to complete the process, but with less than 25% returning to the program, its clear progress is made through it.

You learn kids. The longer you work with them, the more you learn them. You can tell who is going to take this seriously versus doing to get out of it, Lemons said.

Part of the programs goal is that the offenses that land the teens in court are just one unfortunate decision in their life, not the beginning of a troubled life.

Success for me is watching these kids and not seeing them again, and if we see them again, its because theyre coming back to volunteer.

Want to help out?

Piedmont Mediation Center continues to look for volunteers, both adults and students. Donawa said middle school and high school students are needed, and adults throughout the community are encouraged to volunteer as well.\ For those interested, email Donawa at mediationwithsdonawa@gmail.com.
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OpenAI's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT was unleashed onto an unsuspecting public exactly one year ago.

It quickly became the fastest-growing app ever, in the hands of 100 million users by the end of the second month. Today, it's available to more than a billion people via Microsoft's Bing search, Skype and Snapchatand OpenAI is predicted to collect more than US$1 billion in annual revenue.

We've never seen a technology roll out so quickly before. It took about a decade or so before most people started using the web. But this time the plumbing was already in place.

As a result, ChatGPT's impact has gone way beyond writing poems about Carol's retirement in the style of Shakespeare. It has given many people a taste of our AI-powered future. Here are five ways this technology has changed the world.

1. AI safety

ChatGPT forced governments around the world to wise up to the idea that AI poses significant challengesnot just economic challenges, but also societal and existential challenges.

United States President Joe Biden catapulted the US to the forefront of AI regulations with a presidential executive order that establishes new standards for AI safety and security. It looks to improve equity and civil rights, while also promoting innovation and competition, and American leadership in AI.

Soon after, the United Kingdom held the first-ever intergovernmental AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Parkthe place where the computer was born in World War II to crack the German Enigma code.

And more recently, the European Union has appeared to be sacrificing its early lead in regulating AI, as it struggled to adapt its AI Act to potential threats posed by frontier models such as ChatGPT.

Although Australia continues to languish towards the back of the pack in terms of regulation and investment, nations around the world are increasingly directing their money, time, and attention towards addressing this issue, which, five years ago, didn't cross most people's minds.

2. Job security

Before ChatGPT, it was perhaps car workers and other blue-collar workers who most feared the arrival of robots. ChatGPT and other generative AI tools have changed this conversation.

White-collar workers such as graphic designers and lawyers have now also started to worry about their jobs. One recent study of an online job marketplace found earnings for writing and editing jobs have fallen more than 10% since ChatGPT was launched. The gig economy might be the canary in this coal mine.

There's huge uncertainty about whether more jobs get destroyed by AI than created. But one thing is now certain: AI will be hugely disruptive in how we work.

3. Death of the essay

The education sector reacted with some hostility to ChatGPT's arrival, with many schools and education authorities issuing immediate bans over its use. If ChatGPT can write essays, what will happen to homework?

Of course, we don't ask people to write essays because there's a shortage of them or even because many jobs require this. We ask them to write essays because it demands research skills, improved communication skills, critical thinking, and domain knowledge. No matter what ChatGPT offers, these skills will still be needed, even if we spend less time developing them.

And it isn't only schoolchildren cheating with AI. Earlier this year, a US judge fined two lawyers and a law firm US$5,000 for a court filing written with ChatGPT that included made-up legal citations.

I imagine these are growing pains. Education is an area in which AI has much to offer. Large language models such as ChatGPT can, for example, be fine-tuned into excellent Socratic tutors. Intelligent tutoring systems can be infinitely patient when generating precisely targeted revision questions.

4. Copyright chaos

This one is personal. Authors around the world were outraged to discover that many large language models such as ChatGPT were trained on hundreds of thousands of books, downloaded from the web without their consent.

The reason AI models can converse fluently about everything from AI to zoology is because they're trained on books about everything from AI to zoology. And the books about AI include my own copyrighted books about AI.

The irony isn't lost on me that an AI professor's books about AI are controversially being used to train AI. Multiple class action suits are now in play in the US to determine if this is a violation of copyright laws.

Users of ChatGPT have even pointed out examples where chatbots have generated entire chunks of text, verbatim, taken from copyrighted books.

5. Misinformation and disinformation

In the short term, one challenge which worries me most is the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to create misinformation and disinformation.

This concern goes beyond synthetic text, to deepfake audio and videos that are indistinguishable from real ones. A bank has already been robbed using AI-generated cloned voices.

Elections also now appear threatened. Deepfakes played an unfortunate role in the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election campaign. Two days prior to the election, a fake audio clip about electoral fraud that allegedly featured a well-known journalist from an independent news platform and the chairman of the Progressive Slovakia party reached thousands of social media users. Commentators have suggested such fake content could have a material impact on election outcomes.

According to The Economist, more than four billion people will be asked to vote in various elections next year. What happens in such elections when we combine the reach of social media to with the power and persuasion of AI-generated fake content? Will it unleash a wave of misinformation and disinformation onto our already fragile democracies?

It's hard to predict what will unfold next year. But if 2023 is anything to go by, I suggest we buckle up.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Yoshua Bengio, dubbed a 'godfather of AI,' is the founder of the Mila institute in Montreal.

Rapid developments in artificial intelligenceand recent turmoil at industry powerhouse OpenAIhave brought fresh attention to a key hub of ethics research related to the technology in Montreal, led by Canadian "godfather of AI" Yoshua Bengio.

Bengiowho in 2018 shared with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun the Turing Award for their work on deep learningsays he is worried about the technology leapfrogging human intelligence and capabilities in the not-too-distant future.

Speaking to AFP at his home in Montreal, the professor warned that AI developments are moving at breakneck speed and risked "creating a new species capable of making decisions that harm or even endanger humans."

OpenAI's recent dismissal and then rehiring a few days later of chief executive Sam Altmanwho has been accused of downplaying risks in his push to advance its ChatGPT botillustrates some of the turmoil in the startup sector and fierce competition in the race to commercialize generative AI.

For some time, Bengio has been warning about companies moving too fast without guardrails, "potentially at the public's expense."

It is essential, he said, to have "rules that'll be followed by all companies."

At a world-first AI summit in Britain in early November, Bengio was tasked with leading a team producing an inaugural report on AI safety.

The aim is to set priorities to inform future work on the security of the cutting-edge technology.

Neighbors to the Mila institute include AI research facilities of American tech giants Microsoft, Meta, IBM and Google.

Society and AI

The renowned AI academic has brought together a "critical mass of AI researchers" (1,000+) through his Mila research institute, located in a former working-class neighborhood of Montreal.

His neighbors include AI research facilities of American tech giants Microsoft, Meta, IBM and Google.

"This concentration of experts in artificial intelligence, which is greater than anywhere else in the world," is what attracted Google, says Hugo Larochelle, the hoodie-wearing scientific director of the Silicon Valley giant's AI subsidiary Deepmind.

Early on, these researchers began thinking about the future of AI, and consultations with the public and researchers from all disciplines led in 2018 to a global AI charter called the Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence.

Mila is a not-for-profit organization led by Yoshua Bengio who has brought together some of the world's top minds in deep learning.

"We knew early on that the scientific community needed to think about the integration of AI into society," explained Guillaume Macaux, vice-president of OBVIA, an international observatory studying the social impacts of AI.

Its 220 researchers advise government policies and raise public awareness of the possible positive effects and negative impacts of this cutting-edge technology.

Art 'demystifying AI'

Artists too are playing a part in "demystifying AI," says Sandra Rodriguez, who splits her time making art in Montreal and teaching digital media at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

She showed off to AFP her latest art installation.

Entering a breathtaking futuristic world via a virtual reality (VR) headset, the public is able to converse with a bot inspired by American linguist Noam Chomsky.

Arist Sandra Rodriguez describes Montreal as a 'fantastic playground' for exploring AI and 'debating (related) ethical and societal issues'

Rodriguez splits her time making art in Montreal and teaching digital media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Voice and text answers to queries appear simultaneously. With the touch of a finger, lists of alternative responses considered by the AI with their associated percentage gradient pop up.

"You quickly realize that it's actually just an algorithm," said Rodriguez.

"Montreal is a fantastic playground" for exploring the potential and limits of artificial intelligence, as well as "debating (related) ethical and societal issues," she told AFP.

According to Rodriguez, art becomes "necessary more than ever" to invite "a wider public to ask questions about the issues of artificial intelligence which will affect them tomorrow."

 2023 AFP
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A decade ago, the state's largest electric utilityGeorgia Powertook its first, major step toward a future powered by the sun when it installed thousands of solar panels on 150 acres outside the town of Social Circle.

The project was the utility's first large-scale solar installation. And though Georgia still relies heavily on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs, today the state consistently ranks among the top-10 for installed solar.

Now, utilities and citiesalong with local companies and universitiesare seeking to turn more of that solar into an around-the-clock source for power.

The key? Massive clusters of batteries known as battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Turning solar from an intermittent source of energy into a constant, reliable part of the state's electricity supply also meshes with national climate goals of the Biden administration, which is offering billions of dollars in grants and tax credits to expand solar power and battery infrastructure.

Last year, Norwegian clean-tech startup Freyr Battery announced plans for a $2.6 billion factory in Coweta County to build batteries to store power produced by the sun. The company has not broken ground yet, but said it expects to begin production in late 2026.

BESS come in different shapes and sizes, from small batteries connected to rooftop solar arrays as a backup power source, to large systems that can provide electricity to hundreds of homes and businesses. Some rely on different chemistries, too, but the purpose of each is generally the same: To store large amounts of energy.

The basic technologies used in most of today's battery systems have been around for decades, experts say. What has changed is the demand, especially for large installations.

As of the middle of this year, Georgia had an estimated 5,200 megawatts of solar capacity installed statewideenough to power roughly 626,000 homes  nearly all in the form of utility-scale arrays that cover hundreds of acres. Those facilities produce huge amounts of energy, but it is intermittenton cloudy days and during overnight hours, generation drops off. At other times, when the sun is shining, a solar facility's electricity output can exceed demand.

Enter BESS. The battery systems can be charged with extra solar electricity at times of low usage and then pushed onto the grid instantly when demand spikes.

Matthew McDowell, the co-director of Georgia Tech's Advanced Battery Center, said it's a "no-brainer" for Georgia utilities to add more BESS.

"Solar panels work really well in Georgia, and combining solar panels and batteries at grid-scale makes a lot of sense," McDowell said.

In a clearing 30 minutes outside Columbus, Georgia Power is almost finished installing what it says will be the state's largest battery storage facility yet, a 65-megawatt system of lithium-ion batteries. It is expected to come online in the first half of 2024.

The technology isn't much to look at: The battery stacks, that sit on concrete slabs, are housed inside stark, gray metal enclosures. Inside, black batteries resembling the ones found under the hood of a car are stacked on trays. A large air conditioner is built into the door of each container to keep the batteries from overheating.

This is the first large battery system Georgia Power is adding, but many more are on the way. Last year, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved the company's plans to add 765 more megawatts of BESS to its system. And in a recent update to its plans filed with the commission, Georgia Power is seeking to add another 1,000 megawatts of batteriesequal to the maximum output of one of Plant Vogtle's new reactorsby the end of 2027, to meet the increased demand the company says it expects as Georgia's economy booms.

On a recent visit to the site, Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power's vice president of pricing and planning, said the company sees batteries as a valuable asset. In addition to pairing nicely with solar, he said the batteries can provide extra capacity to help meet surges in demand, like during a deep freeze. Texas, which suffered crippling blackouts during a deadly winter storm in 2021, has since added thousands of megawatts of batteries to its system, helping the state avoid a similar outcome in recent heatwaves.

"This is just the beginning," Mitchell said.

Georgia Power isn't the only electricity provider adding batteries in the state. With the help of new federal funding, Oglethorpe Power plans to add three large battery storage systems, each with a capacity of 25 megawatts, to its fleet around the metro Atlanta area.

Meanwhile, at least one local company is working to develop the next generation of BESS.

Alpharetta-based Stryten Energy is working to advance its vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), a type of BESS that uses a different electrochemistry to store energy. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, VRFBs use a liquid electrolyte with ions of the chemical element vanadium dissolved in the solution to hold a charge.

Stryten is also collaborating with Georgia Tech to advance its vanadium batteries, a project that's being led by Tech assistant professor Nian Liu.

VRFB has efficiency and price hurdles to address, but McDowellwho is also participating in the research with Strytensaid they also have some advantages over lithium-ion, especially for large applications. VRFB batteries do not present a fire risk, their energy storage capacity does not degrade over time, and the tanks of liquid can be stacked on top of each other, unlocking the potential for much bigger battery systems to be built.

This summer, Stryten partnered with Snapping Shoals EMC to install its first VRFB demonstration in Georgia near Covington. Mike Judd, the president and CEO of Stryten, said he hopes the Snapping Shoals project will help the company further commercialize its proprietary technology.

"We want them (Snapping Shoals) to beat it up and give us feedback on it, because we're just going to take the one that they have and scale it bigger and bigger and bigger."

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
After Hailey Acosta attended a 2022 weekend event through Texas A&M Universitys McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship, she realized she didnt have to wait around to start her own business.

A year later, the A&M junior is the owner and operator of Hays Bouquets. Acosta has taken childhood lessons from her grandmother on how to make flower arrangements and arranged her own business.

One day, Acosta said shed like to apply an architecture degree into building wedding venues. On Thursday, she was set up inside the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship as one of 38 student-led businesses selling their products in a semi-annual marketplace.

The biggest goal about my business is to just teach myself about running a business and make sure Im having fun, Acosta said.

The marketplace started in 2021. This semesters iteration featured vendors selling products and services that ranged from jewelry, clothing, accessories, handmade crafts, leather goods, in-home dog training, published literature and more.

The McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship is based out of A&Ms Mays Business School, but is open to students of all classifications and majors.

Were fond of saying: were going to learn business by doing business, said Blake Petty, executive director of the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship. But in reality, many of the classes, many of the programs, many of the things on campus will teach them right up to the point of doing the transaction and then the transaction is probably online or off campus. We love the marketplace because it takes us all the way through, Hey, youre going to do the transaction.

Some students at the marketplace were a part of the Integrated Business Experience class in A&Ms Masters of Science Business program. Petty said this semester-long class divides students into teams that identify a product to market and sell. Those students create a bank loan pitch and go in front of loan officers at Aggieland Credit Union, who give the student-led teams loans up to $5,000 with negotiated rates if approved. The teams then have 90 days to sell as much of their products as possible and pay back the loan and interest. Any additional revenue is donated to charity.

One of those teams at Thursdays marketplace was The 12th Bag. Four of six team members  Josiah Chow, Jena Emshoff, and Renate Olson  were present to sell Aggieland-themed tote bags. Thursday was their final sales event and their charity of choice was the Brazos Valley Food Bank. Chow said the hands-on experience allowed him to learn how to do things such as balance sheets and income statements.

I think this whole IBE process is super cool because we get to practice doing business by creating a company instead of doing some sort of theoretical simulation, Chow said.

Participating businesses must complete an application process, Petty noted, and explain what their company and product is and why theyre a good fit. Petty said he enjoys seeing return vendors because that means theyre still in business on a six-month cycle.

It allows us to have some continuity with our student entrepreneurs who are hustling and building and they also strive to have better products than they had last time, Petty said. We love seeing the growth and improvements of these companies.

Senior Logan Russells Runners High Cookies is one of those repeat vendors.

As a high schooler in Orange, Russell used his grandmothers family recipe to sell cookies and raise money for his cross country team. His Startline cookie  a chocolate chip, salted caramel and toffee cookie  was a hit around the school. The team sold Russells cookies again his senior year and tripled their funds to buy new equipment and gear.

When Russell enrolled at A&M, he kept baking for family and friends. But a trip to New York City piqued his interest on emulating their baking style and creating more gourmet cookies with different flavors. So, he started Runners High Cookies to share his passion for baking with others and pay homage to his runner roots.

When I was having my friends taste-test everything, they would say, Logan, you need to start selling these cookies, Russell said.

Russell is scheduled to graduate soon, but is applying to be a graduate student in A&Ms Masters in Urban Planning program. Schedule willing, he hopes to still be a vendor.

Eventually I do hope to continue this and maybe open a brick-and-mortar cafe store with more than just cookies and hopefully be able to open that in my hometown area where the recipe started, Russell said.
Almost a year after pleading guilty, a Bryan man has been sentenced to 97 months in federal prison and fined nearly $30,000 for fake car loans and payroll scams, according to the Southern District of Texas Department of Justice.

William Dexter Lucas, 61, pled guilty on Dec. 8, 2022, for taking part in a scheme to steal funds from the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) and falsely obtaining car loans from car dealerships. William was originally charged on Sept. 17, 2020, along with Deborah Jean Lucas, 64, of Bryan, and Brian Corpian, 45, of Houston, according to the DOJ.

The trio were self-proclaimed pastors of a church known as Jesus Survives Ministries that the DOJ said only existed on paper.

Shortly after the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, William Lucas applied for multiple economic injury and PPP loans from several banks. Deborah Lucas and Corpian also allegedly falsified several of the documents filed, according to the DOJ.

Williams also pled guilty to submitting car loan applications without the intention to pay them, the DOJ said.

When banks did not approve the loans quickly enough, the DOJ said that William Lucas began threatening the banks via email and called them minions of Satan while sending one bank employee a photo of the bank employees family.

The total damages are estimated to be over $400,000, according to the DOJ.
Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hitting mosques and homes and close to a hospital, after the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas militants

The Gaza health ministry said at least 193 Palestinians had been killed and 650 wounded since the truce ended on Friday morning - adding to the more than 15,000 Palestinian dead since the start of the war.

The head of International Red Cross said the renewed fighting was intense.

"It's a new layer of disruption coming on top of massive, unparalleled destruction of critical infrastructure, of civilian houses and neighbourhoods," Robert Mardini told Reuters in Dubai.

With conditions inside the Hamas-ruled enclave reaching "breaking point," in Mardini's words, the first aid trucks since the end of the truce entered Gaza through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Saturday, Egyptian security and Red Crescent sources told Reuters.

The warring sides blamed each other for the collapse of the seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The southern part of Gaza was taking a pounding on Saturday. Residents said houses and open areas had been hit and three mosques destroyed in Khan Younis. Columns of smoke rose into the sky.

In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an air strike, health officials said.

Displaced Gazans have been sheltering in Khan Younis and Rafah because of fighting in the north of the densely populated enclave, but residents said they feared Israeli troops were preparing to move on the south.

"This is the same tactic they used before entering Gaza and the north," said Yamen, who gave only his first name.

Yamen fled to Deir Al-Balah from the north after Israel destroyed several districts there.

"Where to after Deir Al-Balah, after Khan Younis? I don't know where I would take my wife and six children," he said.

On Saturday morning, Israeli war planes attacked areas close to the Khan Younis Nasser Hospital six times, according to medics and witnesses.

The hospital is filled with thousands of displaced and hundreds of wounded, including many of those who had been evacuated from north Gaza hospitals.

"A night of horror," said Samira, a mother of four. "It was one of the worst night we spent in Khan Younis in the past six weeks since we arrived here," she said. "We are too afraid they will enter Khan Younis."

The Israeli military said that in the last 24 hours combined attacks by its ground, air and naval forces had hit 400 militant targets and killed an unspecified number of Hamas fighters.

The conflict broke out on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants crossed into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in a rampage against kibbutzim and other communities. More than 200 hostages were taken back into Gaza.

Israel responded with a bombing campaign and a ground offensive which has destroyed large areas of Gaza in what has become the bloodiest episode of the wider Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Told to flee

Leaflets dropped by Israel on eastern areas of Khan Younis ordered residents of four towns to evacuate  not to other areas in Khan Younis as in the past, but further south to Rafah.

Residents took to the road with belongings heaped up in carts, searching for shelter further west.

In Rafah, residents carried several small children, streaked with blood and covered in dust, out of a house that had been struck. Mohammed Abu-Elneen, whose father owns the house, said it was sheltering people displaced from elsewhere.

Islamic Jihad's armed wing Al-Quds Brigades said its fighters had fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces massed in Kissufim in the southern Gaza Strip east of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

The Israeli military said it had killed many fighters in northern Gaza, including in a gunbattle at a mosque used by Islamic Jihad militants as a command post.

In southern Israel, rocket sirens sounded early on Saturday in communities near the border with Gaza, but there were no reports of serious damage or casualties.

Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.

Trading blame

The truce that started on Nov. 24 had been extended twice. But after seven days during which women, children and foreign hostages were freed as well as a number of Palestinian prisoners, mediators failed to find a formula to release more.

Qatar, which has played a central mediating role, said negotiations were continuing with Israelis and Palestinians to restore the truce but Israel's renewed bombardment of Gaza had complicated matters.

An Israeli official in Washington said it was a "very high priority" to get as many hostages released as possible.

"Israel is willing to give additional pauses," the official said. "We can negotiate while we still fight."

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was due to lay out American objectives for when the Israel-Hamas conflict ends.

Harris, who is attending the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, will stress that the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank should ultimately be reunified under one governing entity, a White House official said.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

However, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said in Istanbul that the chance for peace in Gaza after the pause was lost for now due to what he called Israel's uncompromising approach.

In a sign of the danger that the war is spreading to other fronts, Israel shelled Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon for a second day. Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed. (Reuters)
Bryan J. Mahrt

Jan. 13, 1978 - Oct. 30, 2023

Giver of life through donation

To register as an organ and tissue donor in memory of Bryan, visit LiveOnNebraska.org

The Bryan Mahrt family wishes to acknowledge those who so generously gave in his memory. Your kindness, prayers and support have blessed our family. We are forever grateful for the cards, memorials, flowers, calls, visits and food contributions received upon his passing. In turn, the attendance at Bryans visitation and funeral also truly warmed our hearts.

Finally, we wish to thank:

Those who stepped up and helped complete harvest.

The Wolbach Volunteer EMTs.

The ER staff at the Howard County Medical Center.

Live On Nebraska tissue and organ donation organization.

Todd and Cindy Peters and Riley and Katlynn Peters with Peters Funeral Home.

Those who served as pallbearers.

Country Market for providing food for the luncheon.

The Church Ladies for food contributions and serving the luncheon.

Finally, Vicar Abigail Vetick for her support during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

The family of Byran Mahrt
Blauhorn Law has opened at 313 W. Second St., in downtown Grand Island.

Led by attorney Rene Blauhorn, the firm specializes exclusively in personal injury law, serving the Tri-City area.

The Grand Island Chamber of Commerce recently celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Hers is the only firm physically located in the Tri-City area that specializes in personal injury law, Blauhorn says, including but not limited to auto accidents, workers compensation, wrongful death and medical malpractice.

With a background in insurance defense and a lifelong dedication to pursuing justice, Blauhorn is says she is uniquely equipped to provide the legal assistance that central Nebraskans need.

Blauhorn said that often in life, when faced with specific challenges, we seek out those with specialized expertise.

Just as one would consult a medical specialist for a unique health concern, when it comes to personal injury law, the same principle applies, she said. A personal injury attorney is dedicated to being that expert, guiding you every step of the way.

Blauhorn said her firms mission is to ensure that the local community has easy access to top-notch legal support.

Blauhorn doesnt charge by the hour. She said her firms compensation comes at the conclusion of the case.

This approach means theres absolutely no risk to you when seeking legal assistance, Blauhorn added. Its about leveling the playing field against insurance giants, ensuring they see the person behind the claim and not just a file number.

Blauhorn brings extensive experience to the table, serving the last four years as Special Assistant Attorney General. She currently serves as Regional Counsel, providing advice and representation for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child and Family Services in juvenile and adult protective services cases across 28 counties in Central Nebraska.

Blauhorn represents DHHS in Child Abuse and Neglect Registry and Adult Protective Services expungement hearings statewide, and has drafted briefs and provided arguments in appellate cases.

Prior to founding Blauhorn Law, she worked as a lawyer at Clark & Curry PC, handling a wide range of legal matters including personal injury, family law, real estate, corporate law, criminal law, probate, estates, adoptions and guardianships.

Blauhorn also began her law career as an associate claims counsel for the Fidelity National Title Group, where she administered real estate title insurance claims, managed litigation, negotiated settlements and drafted legal documents.

Blauhorns passion for law was further nurtured during her time as a law clerk at Boys Town, Nebraska Attorney Generals Office, Open Sky Policy Institute, and Douglas County Juvenile Court. She says she gained valuable experience in conducting legal research, creating memorandums, drafting legislation in tax and education reform, and observing court proceedings.

Blauhorn holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln and a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She has also received additional training and certifications in various legal areas, including negotiation, mediation, restorative justice and child abuse and neglect.

Outside of her legal profession, Blauhorn is actively involved in the community, volunteering and serving on boards with organizations such as Imagination City Grand Island Childrens Museum, Common Ground Nebraska, Palmer Childcare, Palmer Community Foundation, Palmer Economic Development Corporation, CASA of Omaha, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Omaha.

Empowering women, sustaining gender equality, access to justice, and providing access to affordable quality childcare are some of Blauhorns goals in life.

She said she believes in giving back to the communities she serves and is committed to making a positive impact in the years to come.

Blauhorn said these experiences have deepened her connections to the wonderful people and families in our communities.

Its my firm belief that contributing to the well-being and development of our local neighborhoods is an essential part of the work I do as an attorney, and Im committed to continuing these efforts in the years to come she said.

Blauhorn said imagine a world where insurance companies dont have the upper hand, where the injured person feels empowered and understood.

Im a personal injury attorney with a deep knowledge of what makes a compelling case, she said. I will level the playing field, ensuring the injured get a fair settlement that they deserve.

For free consultations or inquiries, Blauhorn Law can be contacted at 402-215-3025 or rene@blauhornlaw.com.

More information about their services can be found on their website at www.blauhornlaw.com.
The Grand Island Chamber of Commerce celebrated the completion of the renovation of its exterior and front office space Friday with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

At the ceremony, Chamber President Cindy Johnson expressed her gratitude and appreciation toward everyone involved in the renovation project. She acknowledged the architects (CMBA Architects), contractors (Chief Industries), cleaning crew (Yellow Van Cleaning & Restoration) and others for their contributions to the successful completion of this project.

The Chamber is located at 309 W. 2nd St.

Johnson emphasized the importance of the renovation.

Our previous exterior did not reflect the dynamic and progressive work that we do inside this building, Johnson said. Now, with our new exterior, we have a look that speaks in harmony with the work we do.

Chad Nabity, representing the Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA), explained the significance of exterior renovations in improving the communitys overall appearance.

The CRA helped facilitate the grant that funded the renovation. The Grand Island Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit organization.

A fading facade is one of those things that people notice and wonder why nothing is done about it, he said. We saw an opportunity to assist the chamber in addressing this issue and giving the community a better face to present.

Mayor Roger Steele also commended the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce for their efforts in bringing growth and prosperity to the city. He praised the chambers expertise and continued support in various city initiatives.

This new facade truly captures the progressive and dynamic role the chamber plays in our city, he said. It is not just a celebration of a new look, but a celebration of the strength of our Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Allen, president of the Grand Island chamber board, expressed his gratitude toward the community for their overwhelming support. He emphasized the importance of taking pride in the appearance of their facility to reflect their commitment to the community.

If we dont take pride in our facility, what does it say about what we think of our community? Allen said. This renovation is a testament to our dedication.

Johnson said the renovated exterior and front office space of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce represents a significant milestone for the organization.

She said with its vibrant and modern new look, the chamber looks forward to continuing its mission of supporting the local business community and fostering economic growth in Grand Island.

Johnson, who has served as president and CEO for the past 20 years, said the mission of the chamber is to enhance the vitality and quality of life for the community.

She said they achieve this through various programs focused on workforce development, talent recruitment and retention, community networking and community development projects such as housing and retail development.

During the last 20 years, Grand Island has experienced significant growth, boasting a billion-dollar annual retail industry and attracting new businesses.

Johnson emphasized that the chamber, along with its partners and the business community, plays a vital role in fostering this growth.

As evidence of their success, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently awarded the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce with the prestigious designation of Accredited with 5 Stars, one of only six chambers in Nebraska to receive such recognition.
CARBONDALE  Spending 10 to 12 hours a day in sweltering heat 20 feet off the ground on a scissor lift scaffold might not be ideal. But transforming a drab brick wall into an artwork that reflects the vibrancy and spirit within Southern Illinois University Carbondale is Antonio Martinezs mission.

Martinez, an associate professor and head of undergraduate studies in the School of Art and Design within SIUs College of Arts and Media, has painted two of three murals planned in Carbondale that reflect the Saluki spirit. His first mural at Illinois Avenue and Mill Street a large Saluki Dawg head that features logos and symbols relating to various academic areas on campus  was dedicated in October 2022. The second piece, an eclipse mural in maroon, black and white that also features a Saluki head, is on the east side of Mountain Valley Properties, 633 E. Main St., in full view of motorists entering Carbondale. That piece was completed in May 2023 just ahead of spring commencement ceremonies. Plans for the third mural in the setting continue, with the location to be determined.

Turning drab into vibrant

Murals offer a glimpse into how vibrant a community is. Carterville, Marion, Murphysboro and Herrin, and Martinez noted, other communities including Portland (Oregon), Ashville (North Carolina), Austin (Texas) and east Nashville (Tennessee) have numerous murals. The mural at Illinois Avenue and Mill Street transformed an area that serves as an entrance to the university and is visible during live camera shots on a local television news station.

The murals are a great entry point for the community members who may not regularly go to a museum or have not taken an art class, he said. Its a great way for young and old to appreciate art and understand the value of art. I think a lot of times visual art can be downplayed or undervalued. But these murals show that there is value.

Planning and hard work

Mural painting is more than just slapping a coat of paint on a wall. Martinez estimates about 220 hours went into the first mural, including 30 to 35 hours in design work. Student volunteers and faculty assisted in that project, with a big assist from the city of Carbondale so he could use a projector to trace the outlines onto the building.

That one was probably the hardest, he said. I created the design and did a practice run on the side of the Communications Building. I took measurements of the site and location knowing how large it needed to be, he said. The challenge is there was traffic. Luckily, the city worked with me and coned off part of the intersection and let me project off the side of one of their trucks.

The work would have been more difficult without the citys help because he would have had to approximate dimensions from a piece of paper onto the wall.

Its all about proportions, getting your exact measurements right when it comes to that type of tracing, he said.

Heights and heat

The work isnt for the faint of heart. Martinez noted the project required longer hours of work each day to take advantage of good weather needed to set up and tear down each day. On the lift, which at times can shake when a person is up that high, Martinez encountered traffic zooming nearby and the sounds of trains. Even in the heat, he wore a hoodie to keep off the sun and to block his peripheral vision so that he wouldnt be distracted. Martinez took frequent breaks for water and food and to stretch. And he kept working. Each mural took three to four coats of paint.

Your body is in self-defense mode. Its that intense, he said. It is physical. You are on your feet. The heat is hitting you. The heat radiating off the wall. Its basically a pizza oven that you are painting.

Student volunteers helpful

Most of the student volunteers come from SIUs art education program, Martinez said, adding that program coordinator Jody Paulson has been really great sending students my direction.

When you are in that field, if you are an art teacher, you will get requests to paint a mural, he said. The more experience they have with that, the better for their career outlook.

Martinez has 10 to 11 mural requests from Carbondale businesses and departments on campus. One of the projects for next semester with students from a street mural production class he will be teaching is for an indoor mural for the zoology program. Martinez said the class will assist with the third Saluki mural project, and work in other locations while also learning intricacies of measurements, paint needs, the importance of color management, cost estimates and project timelines.

Students assisted Martinez in non-SIU-related murals, including the Swamp Fox in Marion, that can be seen at the 25:28 mark of the video. In July, Martinezs Owl Mural on the southeast corner of Slabz Skatepark, 609 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale, was unveiled. That project is part of an Artspace 304 Welcome Carbondale! initiative in collaboration with the city of Carbondale, SIU Carbondale, local businesses and private donors. Another mural Martinez completed in conjunction with Artspace 304 is Shawnee Labryinth, located on the side of Notcho Fries, 903 S. Illinois Ave., across the street from Quigley Hall.

I think its important to have in mural form a sense of pride. I dont think every wall in Carbondale needs to have a Dawg head. You can definitely cross a line, he said with a smile. I think there is a nice balance with Artspace 304 funding artists who are in the region to generate other murals that arent specifically related to SIU. Some are related to the history, the nature or the landscape of the area and that helps form an identity in this area.

For Martinez, the wonderment that comes from a child who is watching him put paint to brick, asking him how that is done or telling him hes doing a good job is important.

An art critic can say well done, Martinez said. For me, it means more when its a child who has a pure lens and understands.
CHICAGO  A federal judge on Friday sentenced a retired Chicago firefighter to two months in prison, more than two years on house arrest and probation for his role in the attempted Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors had asked for more than a year behind bars for Joseph Pavlik, 66, a 2013 Chicago Fire Department retiree who became the latest Illinois resident to be charged in connection with 2021 disturbance. He pleaded guilty to felony charges of civil disorder and entering or remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon in late August.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced Pavlik to the shorter prison term with six months of home confinement and 24 months of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. attorneys office. Pavlik will also have to pay a $6,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford confirmed in February that Pavlik joined the department in 1981 and worked as a firefighter until his retirement.

Prosecutors said Pavlik was a member of the Guardians of Freedom, an organization founded by his nephew and loosely affiliated with another right-wing militia group, the Three Percenters. They also cited numerous social media statements Pavlik made in the weeks preceding the riot calling for violence in response to Donald Trumps election loss.

These arent Americans they are indoctrinated socialists that hate America and hate Americans, he allegedly posted on Facebook in December 2020. We need to be much more brutal than punching and kicking. This is not some simple street disagreement.

At the Capitol on Jan. 6, Pavlik and five others tried to breach a line of law enforcement defending the buildings west terrace tunnel, where some members of Congress were sheltering in place, according to prosecutors.

He later appeared in surveillance images and police body-worn camera footage wearing a gas mask and vest with patches depicting anti-government phrases.

Pavliks companions, who are all from Florida, were arrested in the last year on charges stemming from the same tunnel altercation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Pavlik is among some 42 Illinoisans to be federally charged as part of the ongoing investigation into the Capitol attack, which prosecutors have described as one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history.

Nationwide, more than 1,200 people have been arrested in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on charges stemming from the Capitol breach, according to the Justice Department.

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CHICAGO  After weeks of pressure, Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration dropped a voluminous environmental assessment of a proposed tent camp for migrants late Friday that said contaminants are being removed from the former Southwest Side industrial site.

The nearly 800-page report by outside contractor Terracon Consultants was released to the Tribune on Friday evening.

It said high levels of mercury and other chemicals were found and are being removed from the Brighton Park lot at 3710 S. California Ave., where workers had already begun building the giant tents for incoming migrants this week.

But the hefty document was only released Friday night to those filing an open records request, despite being at the heart of roiling controversy over the site and in spite of a repeated vow from Johnson to keep the public informed.

Environmental advocates have argued for weeks the propertys long history of industrial uses meant its soil was likely contaminated and unsafe for people to reside on. Still, Johnsons administration said late Friday it was confident in moving ahead with placing a migrant camp there.

Terracon conducted a field investigation under a sampling plan that was developed for this specific site, a Johnson spokesperson wrote in a statement, before noting soil with mercury levels and other contaminants, which were addressed through removal as well as an engineered barrier along the site. With the limited soil removal and placement and maintenance of the barrier, the site is safe for temporary residential use.

The report notes that despite the presence of toxic substances at the site, the levels detected are within state guidelines and as a result pose minimal risks to temporary occupants of the tent encampment.

Dumping announcements Friday evening is common tactic by mayors to blunt the impact of news heading into the weekend, but the move to release such a lengthy and technical report so late is unusual and could mark the appearance of an administration hoping to escape scrutiny on a future encampment for migrants.

Officials in Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration also expressed frustration at their own wait for the reports release, even as the state is covering the cost of setting up and operating the tent encampment.

The state has repeatedly requested this report from the city and despite assurances it would be sent, that has yet to occur, the governors spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said Friday evening.

Later in the evening, she updated: The state just received the environmental report. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will need to review it. We will not have additional comment until the review of the nearly 800 page document is complete.

The base camp in question, expected to hold about 2,000 asylum-seekers, could open its doors this month and will be the citys first government-run camp for new arrivals as they wait for beds inside brick-and-mortar shelters. Earlier this week, Johnson did not directly address anxieties from environmental advocates at a news conference, even as tent construction began at the vacant lot and the environmental report was not forthcoming.

The mayor did say, however, that we have looked for any contaminants, and all of the remediation thats necessary to eliminate the contaminants, thats very much a part of our overall agenda.

And amid sharp grumblings from local stakeholders about what they said was a dearth of information as construction crews descended on the Brighton Park site, Johnson also promised complete transparency about the results: Once that full report is available by the end of the week, everyone will have access to it. There is no information that is available that you do not have.

Contrary to his pledge, however  and despite the mayor on Tuesday saying, The community partners know exactly whats happening; alders know exactly whats happening  his administration did not release the environmental assessment to the public.

The Tribune instead obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Johnson first pitched the tent encampment idea in September as a means to get migrants off the floors of police station and airport lobbies, but the idea has seen numerous hurdles including alarm from community members over potential contaminants in the soil and other viability issues. Now, an environmental report that has been weeks in the making reveals chemicals were present, according to the company hired by the city to assess the viability, though Johnsons office said those concerns will be mitigated.

According to the report, soil with mercury levels was identified at one location and was removed and properly disposed off-site at a landfill, Johnsons office said. Likewise, soil with a high level of a semivolatile compound was identified at another location, and will be removed and disposed of off-site.

The Terracon report said in the one sample location where high mercury exposure was detected, The soil surrounding this sample was excavated and properly disposed off-site at a landfill, while the spots with excess amounts of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, a chemical used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC), will be remediated via excavation and landfill disposal.

In addition, high levels of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and four metals were also found and required workers to ensure the placement of imported clean stone from a quarry and compaction of the stone to a minimum thickness of six inches throughout the site. The stone layer will be periodically inspected and maintained.

The mayors office said the investigation entailed soil sampling, groundwater sampling, and soil gas sampling which yielded soil analytical results, groundwater analytical results, and soil gas analytical results.

The 38th and California site will be funded by the state as part of a $160 million infusion earmarked to help deal with the growing population of asylum-seekers to Chicago, in a sign of Pritzkers escalating involvement in the ongoing migrant humanitarian crisis. Questions remain on how the city and state will split up responsibility for the encampment, however.

Workers with state contractor GardaWorld Federal Services, a private security firm, started building out the structure this week, while the city has taken on inquiries surrounding the environment report. The governors office has said the migrant camp will not open its doors until mid-December and until the viability assessment was complete, but officials did not have a more concrete timeline as of Friday.

Local Ald. Julia Ramirez, 12th, has staunchly opposed the Brighton Park project amid what she said has been poor communication from the mayors office. Reached Friday evening, she reiterated her displeasure.

Once again, I urge the City to provide comprehensive information on the risks associated with the site, as well as the proposed remediation process, Ramirez wrote in a statement. Transparent communication is essential for fostering trust within our community and addressing valid concerns.

Ramirez has called on the Johnson administration to provide timelier updates for her and neighbors, and she previously questioned why workers were advancing on building an encampment before the public could view the environmental assessment.

At the same time, Johnson is in a race to house hundreds of migrants sleeping out in the cold before another punishing round of snowfall and subfreezing temperatures arrives. That population has sharply plummeted, however, from about 3,800 new arrivals camped out at Chicago police stations and OHare International Airport a few weeks ago, to about 900 at the CPD districts and 160 at the airport as of Friday.

In total, more than 23,400 migrants have arrived in Chicago, mostly from south of the U.S. border, since August 2022. The city is sheltering about 13,200 across 26 of its shelters.

Photos: Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - File Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022
An invasive yellow-legged hornet was trapped in Jasper County last week, according to Clemson University officials tasked with protecting the states beekeeping industry.

The hornet was captured Nov. 9, and the finding was confirmed by the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Nov. 16. This is the first known detection of the hornet (Vespa velutina) in South Carolina, after Georgia officials reported a Savannah-area sighting in August.

While the yellow-legged hornet  not to be confused with the northern giant hornet  is no more harmful to humans than other hornets, it can have a devastating impact on both managed and wild bees.

Clemson officials are urging anyone who suspects they have spotted a yellow-legged hornet to report their findings to www.clemson.edu/public/regulatory/plant-industry/invasive/ylh.html.

South Carolina has a robust beekeeping industry and an enthusiastic beekeeping hobbyist community. Bees are also essential to the states agriculture industry and the safety of our food supply as pollinators. This is why it is so important that South Carolina citizens remain vigilant and report sightings, said Steven Long, assistant director, Clemson Department of Plant Industry.

Yellow-legged hornet Clemson University officials are urging South Carolina beekeepers and the public to be on the lookout for yellow-legged hornets after the inva

The South Carolina detection comes after DPIs Apiary Inspection Program  the regulatory agency charged with protecting the states beekeeping industry  collaborated with the Clemson Cooperative Extension Apiculture and Pollinator Program to proactively monitor Lowcountry locations through an elaborate trapping system.

While the detection does not necessarily indicate that yellow-legged hornets have established habitat in the state, hornets know no borders and the Lowcountrys proximity to Savannah is giving officials cause for concern. As a result, Clemson DPI will be enhancing its current trapping efforts in the area, will work with federal officials to confirm suspected specimens and will respond to active hornet colonies if they are located.

The yellow-legged hornet is a predatory insect that has been reported to attack western honeybee colonies and has become a serious pest of beekeeping operations where it has been introduced, said Ben Powell, who directs Clemson Cooperative Extensions Apiary and Pollinator program. Establishment of this exotic pest in the U.S. would pose a significant threat to our already embattled beekeeping enterprises.

USDA applauds the swift response from Clemson DPI to the detection of a yellow-legged hornet in South Carolina, said Dr. Mark Davidson, deputy administrator of APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine Program. APHIS has supported Clemson DPI by providing technical and financial assistance since the initial detection of this pest was first found in Savannah, Georgia. APHIS is committed to working with our state partners on the eradication of this pest. The public also play a critical role in helping to eradicate this pest by being vigilant and reporting any signs of the yellow-legged hornet.

Yellow-legged hornet Clemson University officials are urging South Carolina beekeepers and the public to be on the lookout for yellow-legged hornets after the inva

The yellow-legged hornet is native to Southeast Asia and has established itself in most of Europe and areas of the Middle East and Asia. The hornet builds egg-shaped paper nests above ground and often in trees. The nest can be large and house an average of 6,000 workers. This exotic hornet may be confused with several native insects, including the cicada killer wasp, the bald-faced hornet, paper wasps, queen yellowjackets, wood wasps and robber flies, but is distinguished from these other stinging insects by its larger size.
Dogs deserve ice cream, too.

It was last Christmas when Wendy Roberts gifted Virginia Roy take-and-make ice cream for dogs. Over a bottle of wine, the two came up with an idea.

"Baskin-Robbins for dogs," Roy says. "A dog-safe place where everything is just for them."

The idea became a reality last month when the duo opened Cones For Bones, Tucson, Arizona's first doggy ice cream bar. There are eight flavors to choose from: peanut butter, banana, birthday cake, bacon, vanilla, cheddar, blueberry and a dog-safe version of chocolate. Toppings like cookies and mini sausages are also part of the fun. The ice cream comes in a package from a supplier, but Roberts, Roy and employee Lori Day spruce it up before putting it in giant tubs to scoop up for the dogs.

You can bring your pup to eat the ice cream inside the shop or you can get a pint to-go. There are tasters, too  like a beer flight but with doggy ice cream.

"Everyone who walks in here says, 'I wish there were more of these,'" Roberts says.

More stories about animal friends at Whiskers101.com

Beyond the ice cream, there are dog toys, racks of pet clothing and shelves of cookies soon to be supplied by Tucson's Dogs-n-Donuts. Cones For Bones also has an area that they plan to use for doggy birthday parties.

"I've heard of parties of every kind under the sun (for dogs)  birthday parties, adoption parties, even baby showers for your dogs," Roberts says. "There's parties for everything nowadays so we figured, why not? It would be a lot of fun and less mess for people to clean up at home. And who wants six or seven dogs at their house eating birthday cake?"

Cones For Bones provides dog-friendly birthday cake, plus treats to the partygoers. Roberts has even thought about using the space to host corporate events.

The entire concept for Cones For Bones is rooted in Roy, Roberts and Day's love for dogs. They started Karma's Corner, named after one of Roy's Australian Shepherds, which is an area of the shop where community members can drop off pet items to be donated to local rescues.

There's also a "Dogs of Tucson" wall  pay $20 to have a photo of your dog displayed. Half goes to the Pima Animal Care Center (PACC), the other half goes to printing services and the picture frame. Roberts hopes the entire wall will be filled one day.

Once the duo breaks even on the business, the plan is to donate proceeds to PACC after rent, utilities and products are paid for. Even though they aren't yet breaking even on the business, Roy says they're donating out of pocket to PACC each month because they want to remain true to their mission.

"What started as, 'Isn't this a cute idea?' turned into the giving spirit and compassion for animals," Roy says.

The business has been a hit so far. One dog came in and sniffed every single cookie before deciding on the one he wanted. Two friends came in with coffee, bought cookies for their dogs and simply enjoyed the space. One couple visited the shop on their first date, both their dogs in tow.

All three of the women behind the business have full-time jobs elsewhere, but Cones For Bones is their passion project and they're dedicated to making it work.

Of course, the three have their own dogs at home: Roy has two Aussies named Karma and Doodle; Roberts has an English bulldog named Maggie and a chihuahua named Max; and Day has a heeler named Bailey.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide a safe and fun space for pet parents to bring their best friends. In the long run, Roberts would love for Cones For Bones to open locations beyond Tucson to help rescues and pet organizations in other cities.

"I can't stress enough how passionate we are to save dogs and find homes for them," Roy says.

For more information, visit the Cones For Bones website.
A person was shot on South Carolina State University's campus on Friday, according to a university release.

ILLUSTRATION: SCSU NANCE GATE South Carolina State University. Transferring from a two-year college to a four-year school should be simple, but many students encounter problems.

The shooting occurred between two nonstudents who were guests of a student residing on campus, the university said.

One person was wounded with a nonlife-threatening injury.

The incident was reported at 7:24 p.m. Campus police responded immediately, secured the area, and determined that the shooter had exited the campus.

The S.C. State police are investigating the incident with the assistance of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division.

In response to the shooting and other guest-related incidents on campus this semester, S.C. State President Alexander Conyers advises students to exercise extreme caution about whom they invite to campus and to remember the ramifications of not following campus rules:

UPDATED: Student accused of helping SCSU shooter; report details campus activity before incident A 20-year-old who attended South Carolina State University is accused of helping the gunman in the March 3 campus shooting that left one perso

"Our priority at South Carolina State University is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students and employees. I cannot emphasize enough that the misguided actions of one person can put others unnecessarily at risk. One bad decision can disrupt the safety and security of everyone who lives, studies and works at SC State.

SCSU wont release shooting reports; press attorney says police violating law South Carolina State Universitys campus police refuse to provide incident reports in connection with two recent shooting incidents.

"Students always must be vigilant about safety  both in their own behavior and those with whom they associate. Campus visitation is a privilege that must be exercised with the welfare of everyone in mind. You should never bring or invite untrustworthy individuals onto the campus with particular attention to avoiding illegal activity.

"As a reminder, no weapons are allowed on campus, and violations result in both criminal charges and campus judicial proceedings that can lead to suspension or expulsion. The same applies to illegal drug trafficking.

"South Carolina State University will continue to hold students accountable for any policy violations and illegal activity conducted by them or their guests.

UPDATE: No injuries reported in SCSU shooting No injuries have been reported from Saturdays shooting on the South Carolina State University campus, according to the S.C. Law Enforcement Division

"Our Campus Police Department works hard to maintain security on the SC State campus, but they require the assistance of students and employees. We ask you to join us in maintaining a safe environment by always remaining alert and aware of your surroundings. I remind you that the best defense against trouble is that if you see something, say something."

Over the last year, S.C. State has implemented a $1 million plan to upgrade lighting and security technology, particularly around residence halls and classroom buildings.

The effort included the installation of 700 cameras and 27 emergency call boxes across the campus.

The university also has employed additional Campus Police officers, increased patrols and established a joint community policing station with other law enforcement agencies immediately adjacent to the campus at the corner of Goff and Russell Streets.
(TBTCO) - Gia ca phe hom nay (11/1) tai thi truong trong nuoc noi dai chuoi ngay i len. Ghi nhan cho thay, muc giao dich cao nhat trong cac ia phuong uoc khao sat la 70.500 ong/kg. Trong khi o, gia tieu dao ong trong khoang 78.000 - 80.000 ong/kg sau khi uoc ieu chinh giam ong loat. oi voi cao su, gia ky han tren hai san giao dich uoc ieu chinh tang duoi 2% trong phien sang nay.
GLOBAL growth is expected to remain weak, with the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region projected to experience 2% GDP growth in 2023. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests that T&Ts economy is on a broad-based recovery path. Explore these and other international, regional and local economic insights from the Chambers Trade & Business Development Unit.
Delegates to COP28 endorse agriculture, food and climate action declaration

Xinhua) 13:47, December 02, 2023

DUBAI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Delegates to the COP28 climate conference signed up Friday for a landmark declaration calling on countries to work together on agriculture, food and climate action.

The "COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action" was announced at a special session of the World Climate Action Summit, held during the ongoing 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The declaration addresses both global emissions while protecting the lives and livelihoods of farmers who live on the frontlines of climate change.

Endorsement of the declaration will help in strengthening food systems, building resilience to climate change, reducing global emissions, and contributing to the global fight against hunger, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The declaration stresses the need for common action on climate change, which adversely affects a large portion of the world's population, particularly those living in vulnerable countries and communities.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
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The Ministry of Works and Transport is being asked by citizens why it issued no warning to d
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was laid to rest this week. People close to her will remember various aspects of her life. Us in the trivia business, were more likely to remember the time John Wayne Gacy posed for a photo with her and got her to autograph the print with the message Best wishes.

We tend to focus on the weird around here. Read some weird facts below. Theres even one fact about puppies, and thats one of the less pleasant ones.

15 Rest in Peace Two British grandmothers went on vacation in Spain in 2005 to a resort with a bed that folded up into the wall. The bed popped out and crushed them both to death. Four days passed before the hotel noticed what had happened.

14 47 Rabbits The Aztecs measured drunkenness in terms of rabbits, based on the legend that a goddess gave birth to 400 rabbit gods. If youre slightly drunk, that might count as a few rabbits, but if youre extremely drunk, that might register as the full 400 rabbits.

13 Lying Technology Your cars speedometer probably says youre going faster than you really are. The issue is, laws strictly ban speedometers from underestimating your speed, for safety reasons, and yet the meter might always be a little inaccurate, so they generally err in the other direction. Advertisement

12 Decades of Porn The Smithsonian has in its collection, sealed away, thousands of nude photos of college students. Colleges such as Yale used to take nude photos of all incoming freshman, as part of an investigation into a link between body shape and intelligence.

11 Sagrada Familia Barcelona has a church big enough to sit 9,000 people, which is still being built, though construction began all the way back in 1882. You might imagine they should have it finished it by now, but they didnt, because of COVID. Maksim Sokolov And maybe some earlier stuff, but definitely also COVID. Advertisement

10 Humps from Down Under Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia. Saudi Arabia has its own camels, but it mainly breeds these for racing. Race camels arent very tasty, and Saudi Arabians also like eating camels, so they get juicier ones from Australia. Advertisement

9 Intimate Ceremony Bill Gates wanted to keep his 1994 Hawaiian wedding private, so he did the reasonable thing and bought out every hotel room in town. On the off-chance that people would try spying on the couple via helicopter, he also took the precaution of hiring every helicopter on the island. Advertisement

8 Puppy Tummies A Colombian drug cartel came up with a novel method for smuggling heroin. They cut open the stomachs of Labrador retriever puppies, inserted packets of liquid heroin then stitched the pups back up. Like most heroin smuggling plans, it worked fine  right until they got caught.

7 The Boss Sacrifice Sega was in bad shape in 2001, facing huge losses thanks to the failure of their Dreamcast console. President Isao Okawa restored faith by donating his own $700 million stake in Sega back to the company. He died of heart failure right after that. Advertisement Advertisement

6 Filthy Necks Mens shirts used to feature detachable collars. Laundry was so expensive back then that it made practical sense to detach a collar, wash it, then sew it back to the shirt rather than to simply wash the shirt in its entirety. Charlie Huang You can still buy detachable collars today, if youre a crazy person.

5 Just Bow and Smile Japanese folklore has monsters you can defeat through politeness. If the monster Betobeto-San follows you at night, you can escape harm simply by stepping aside and saying, After you, Betobeto-San. Another monster, you can just bow to it, and it will bow back and fall off its perch into the lake. Advertisement

4 Stupid Beavers Beavers have no idea what theyre doing when building dams. Beavers will even cover a tape player with sticks if it plays the sound of running water. They just instinctively cover up the sound of water, in whatever form. Advertisement

3 Photo-Op Gone Wrong A parachutist in 1980 came up with great stunt: Hed jump out of a plane and then fly under St. Louis Gateway Arch. Instead, the wind blew him smack into the arch, and he slid down one of the archs legs and died. Advertisement

2 The Pee Shark The flesh of the Greenland shark tastes like urine. Most of these sharks are blind, from parasites. Vikings still ate them because Vikings were hardcore.
Tucson is getting a twofer of firsts next week when the fledgling Isidore String Quartet makes its Arizona debut at Leo Rich Theater.

Their concert on Wednesday, Dec. 6, with Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will be the first time we will see the 2-year-old quartet on an Arizona stage and the first time well hear jazz pianist/composer Billy Childs String Quartet No. 2 Awakening.

This is a very special program for us. This is the first program we crafted together and we call it the Awakening program, said Isidore violist Devin Moore. The centerpiece is really the Billy Childs quartet.

Childs, who played the Tucson Jazz Festival in 2015 with J.D. Souther, wrote Awakening in 2012 for the Grammy-winning Ying Quartet. The three-movement piece reflects on Childs heart-wrenching experience when his wife suffered a pulmonary embolism 10 years earlier.

The piece opens with Wakeup Call, recounting the phone call from the hospital that his wife was facing a life-threatening health crisis.

This entire movement, utilizing so many extended techniques in the quartet, really exemplifies that sense of panic, Moore said. The metronome markings list a quarter note equals 170 or as fast as possible so you can imagine the kind of fury in this first movement.

The second movement The White Room takes you into the hospital.

You have the strings mimicking the sounds of the hospital machines and theres sort of this sterile environment thats juxtaposed with these two cadenzas in the violin and viola that are sort of these outbursts asking for help, Moore said. That sense of helplessness is really palpable in this movement.

The piece concludes with Song of Healing, which Moore said expresses Childs relief that his wife survived and the stress that sort of close call puts on a relationship. The movement includes a beautiful conversation between the first violin and cello that Moore said signifies reconciliation.

Its a really difficult piece, but all four of us connected so deeply with the story, Moore said during a phone interview days after the quartet returned from a three-week European tour in late November. Weve taken it around the world at this point. Audiences have absolutely fallen in love with it in Germany and in the U.S. and Canada.

Moore discovered Childs works during the pandemic when he and a colleague started a nonprofit that focused on uplifting underrepresented composers and musicians. They did a small concert series that was streamed and after getting some grant funding, decided to do a documentary that focused on five of those composers including Childs.

As soon as we got vaccinated, we were on a plane in 2021 in May and we flew out to Los Angeles to do some interviews with him, Moore said. We went to his home and I absolutely fell in love with this musician.

The next year, after Moore and his Isidore partners  violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon and cellist Joshua McClendon  started to focus full-time on the quartet, they performed Awakening at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition on a program with string quartets from Haydn and Beethoven that build on the theme of awakening.

Moore said Haydns String Quartet in C major is among the pioneering string quartets that became the template for the genre while Beethovens A minor Quartet No. 15 was the German composing giants awakening and gratitude to the universe and God for surviving a near fatal illness. As it turned out, the No. 15, composed in 1825, was among Beethovens late quartets written in his final years; he died two years later in 1827.

Moore has been playing with McClendon and Steele since the trio, graduates of Juilliard, met at the 2018 Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Steele and McClendon introduced him to Avalon when they returned to Juilliard.

Tucson marks the ensembles 80th concert this year. Next season, they will program Childs String Quartet No. 3 Unrequited and Moore hinted that a recording of Childs works might be in their future.

His three string quartets are on our program sheets for the next few years, he said.
Eight people are seeking appointment to a vacant seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors following the resignation last month of Sharon Bronson.

Bronson, a Democrat, cited injuries suffered in a recent fall in a resignation letter explaining her decision to leave the position.

Bronson was first elected to the post in 1996. She won a seventh four-year term in 2020.

The board accepted Bronsons resignation on Nov. 21.

The applicants to replace Bronson are Brian Johnson, Kristen Randall, Joe L. Machado, April Hiosik Ignacio, Matthew A. Kopec, Jennifer Allen, Edgar F. Soto and Sylvia M. Lee.

An update on the vacancy is on the Supervisors agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5.

The Board is expected to fill the vacancy at its scheduled meeting Dec. 19.

Voters in the district will elect a candidate to a new, four-year term in 2024.

Bronson represented District 3, Pima Countys largest district. It covers about 7,400 square miles in the western part of the county. The district shares 130 miles of international border with Mexico.
An extraordinary surge in migrant arrivals at the southern border is stretching humanitarian resources in Pima County to the breaking point and straining border enforcements capacity, especially as asylum seekers have been funneled to increasingly remote parts of the border.

The sustained high volume of arrivals in the borders Tucson sector, particularly since September, is unprecedented, local officials said.

Weve never had a surge that has lasted this long, Mark Evans, Pima County spokesman, said on Friday.

Border crossings  including at the previously quiet San Miguel gate, on the Tohono Oodham Nation; at Lukeville, about 150 miles southwest of Tucson; and at a remote border-wall gap, east of Sasabe  have been experiencing unusually high numbers of migrant arrivals.

Pima County is now spending $4 million per month in federal funds for transportation, shelter, medical care and other services for the migrants whom border agents release as legal asylum seekers, Evans said. Thats double the spending rate for the first half of the year.

Migrant-support agencies like Casa Alitas in Tucson have thus far been able to manage the flow of asylum seekers, helping them get to their destinations in other parts of the U.S., where they have family or sponsors. Most asylum seekers released to shelters in Tucson only stay a night or two before moving on.

But facing an unrelenting flow of arrivals  topping 1,000 per day for weeks  Pima County is getting closer to having unsheltered street releases of asylum seekers, local officials said.

As the Border Patrols capacity maxes out, agents may be forced to release legal asylum seekers without prior coordination with the nonprofits who help transport and shelter them on this leg of their journey.

These so-called unsheltered street releases have happened in small numbers in recent months in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. But Pima County, in coordination with state emergency services, has been able to quickly send buses to transport asylum seekers to Tucson or Phoenix.

If the volume of arrivals doesnt relent soon, unsheltered street releases will occur in Tucson, too, Evans said.

The question is, what is street release in Pima County going to look like? Evans said. If its a couple dozen people a day, it probably wont be noticeable. If its several hundred people a day, it will be noticeable.

An upcoming change in federal funding, which will add restrictions on how federal dollars can be used, would also reduce Pima Countys capacity to care for asylum seekers, as well as constrain its ability to assist border communities that dont have the necessary transportation or shelter infrastructure, Evans said.

Since the end of the Title 42 pandemic expulsion policy, Pima County processed nearly 96,000 asylum seekers from July through October  more than in all of 2022, county records show. November figures are still being calculated, but will be even higher than the October total of 28,500, Evans said.

Were on pace for this year to process more people in 2023 than we did between 2019 to 2022 combined, he said.

Migrants unsheltered at border

Meanwhile, large numbers of migrants have been left waiting outside for days before the Border Patrol can retrieve and process them. They face harsh weather conditions, illness and hunger, asylum seekers at the border, east of Sasabe, told the Arizona Daily Star on Wednesday.

As construction teams close gaps left in the border wall that were previously an entry point for asylum seekers close to Sasabe, Arizona, many have resorted to crossing through another gap more than 10 miles to the east.

Thats left them in a hard-to-reach area of the border wall that some Border Patrol transport vans cant access, due to the border roads steep inclines, aid workers said.

Vulnerable migrants, including sick children, have been left overnight in increasingly bitter temperatures, said Gail Kocourek, volunteer with the Tucson Samaritans and co-founder of migrant resource center Casa de la Esperanza in Sasabe, Sonora.

Last weekend the Samaritans, easily traversing the border roads hills in their all-wheel-drive Toyota 4Runner, saw more than 400 migrants in this remote place, including at least 200 children.

Some families the Samaritans encountered on Saturday were still awaiting the Border Patrol when Kocourek returned on Monday, she said.

On Wednesday, volunteers with the Tucson Samaritans aided more than 100 migrants in this part of the border wall area, between Fresnal Peak, about 9 miles east of Sasabe, and the end of the border wall southeast of Arivaca, where the mountainous terrain becomes impassable.

The migrants  all asylum seekers eagerly awaiting the arrival of border agents  were mostly from southern Mexico, as well as Latin American countries including El Salvador and Guatemala.

Standing beside a smoldering campfire in front of the 30-foot-tall border wall, Hugo Perez, 27, said he and his family are fleeing violence in their home state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico.

The narco-traffickers have advanced a lot there, he said in Spanish. Armed men in the streets and kidnappings were common in their home town, Perez and his companions said. Boys and men were vulnerable to being forced into working for organized crime groups.

Perez was traveling with a group of about 20 friends and family from Chiapas, including his 3-year-old son, also named Hugo, who was eagerly snacking on a granola bar and juice pouch distributed by the Samaritans.

Theyd been traveling for a month to arrive here. The cold and hunger were their biggest challenges along their journey, especially for the children, Perez said. After arriving late the previous night, they spent a cold, sleepless night on the ground, lighting campfires to try to stay warm, they said.

The group traveled together for safety, as protection against both organized crime groups and corrupt police in Mexico, who are known to extort migrants on their journey, Perez said.

Asylum seeker Juan Pablo Portio, 48, of El Salvador said he was assaulted and robbed by police as he traveled through Mexico, and that it would not have been safe for him to stay there.

Its very corrupt, he said.

Asylum seeker Yolanda Alvarez, who said her family is fleeing violence in Chiapas, asked the Samaritans whether la migra  border agents  would arrive before nightfall, or whether she and her children should start walking eastward toward Sasabe, in hope of encountering border agents sooner.

We dont want to spend another night here, she said. The cold is unbearable for the children.

There was no easy answer: The hilly walk to Sasabe would be exhausting and long, especially for travelers who are already weak and hungry, aid workers said. Yet there was no guarantee the Border Patrol would make it out here that day.

More border resources needed

In light of the large numbers of migrants arriving at Lukeville, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Friday it will temporarily shut down the port of entry there starting Monday.

Both northbound and southbound pedestrian and vehicle traffic at Lukeville Port of Entry will be suspended until further notice, a Friday statement said, directing travelers to enter or exit the U.S. through the Nogales or San Luis, Arizona, ports of entry.

On Friday, Arizona state Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, called on Gov. Katie Hobbs to deploy the National Guard to the border to help alleviate the overwhelmed law enforcement currently battling this crisis.

He also pressed Arizonas congressional delegation to demand a reversal of the decision to close the Lukeville port, a popular crossing point for Arizonans traveling to the beach at Rocky Point, Sonora.

Forcing Arizonans to travel hours out of their way on routes vulnerable to cartel organizations, terrorists, and other criminals seeking to do harm is completely unacceptable, he said in an emailed statement. Im demanding swift action from Hobbs to protect our citizens and our communities.

More resources are desperately needed to care for and transport asylum seekers out of Pima County, and neighboring border communities in Santa Cruz and Cochise counties, local officials say.

The small border communities have been relying on Pima Countys support services, and its federal funding, to help manage the situation, said Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva on Thursday. She was returning from a trip to Washington, D.C., where she met with Arizonas congressional delegation and made the case for why Pima County needs more funding to receive and process asylum seekers released to the community.

Pima County has been carrying the water not just for Arizona, but for the entire country, she said. We need more resources if they want us to continue to be able to provide these services. And if we dont provide these services, I think that will very quickly become a national emergency.

Grijalva said Border Patrol officials told her the Tucson sector received 115,000 border-crossers in October and November, compared to 77,000 in the sector with the next-highest volume, the Del Rio sector in Texas.

Impending changes in the financing mechanism the county has relied upon mean Pima County will only have enough funding to care for only 700 asylum seekers per day, compared to 1,500 under an earlier FEMA funding mechanism, she said.

Its not our job at the county level to fix this federal problem, Grijalva said. Weve just been trying to manage it the best we can. I think its important for our federal representatives to hear that we cant manage it anymore without a lot of help.

Across the entire southern border, agents actually encountered fewer migrants between ports of entry in October, compared to Septembers border-wide statistics, even as the arrivals in the Tucson sector surged, according to CBP data.

Trends in migration routes are always evolving and difficult to anticipate, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute.

But word of mouth, and human smugglers perception of border enforcement patterns, play a major role in where migrants end up crossing into the U.S., she said.

Even if its not true or (is) misguided, word of mouth is prolific, she said. Its hard to predict (where migration will surge) because there are so many different factors that drive it.

Prioritizing remote areas

This week CBP announced that agents would be temporarily reassigned from operational duties, such as processing vehicle entries at ports of entry and manning checkpoints, in order to concentrate personnel on receiving and processing migrant arrivals. The Tucson sector has even paused social media updates to direct those personnel to where they are more needed, Tucson sector Chief John Modlin said last Sunday.

The shift appears to be making a difference, aid workers report.

On Thursday, another 700 asylum seekers arrived at Lukeville, in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, said Laurie Cantillo, board member and water-truck driver for Humane Borders.

The presence of additional border agents appeared to help quell the chaotic situation, she said.

But further west of Lukeville, theres still no Border Patrol presence, she said.

We remain concerned about lack of resources along the wall to the west, where asylum seekers enter and sometimes walk up to two days. Hundreds are left in the desert overnight, she said on Friday. While it appears to be more orderly at Lukeville the last two days, its still a heartbreaking situation. There are men, women, and children who remain in a dangerous desert environment, without adequate food, water, or shelter. Many walk for days and have serious and sometimes life-threatening medical issues.

On Thursday CBP spokesman John Mennell said the Border Patrol has also been prioritizing patrols in these remote locations, including east of Sasabe, as migration trends have shifted.

Aid workers said theres been an improvement in responsiveness to the area. Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Tucson Samaritans saw the arrival of eight Border Patrol trucks and vans at the border-crossing site east of Sasabe, where they were distributing food and medicine to waiting asylum seekers.

As the trucks pulled up, asylum seekers scrambled to gather their belongings and make sure they were ready for whatever was ahead. Agents didnt have space for everyone, but loaded up as many as possible into their 13-passenger vans and smaller SUVs.

The Border Patrol does not coordinate with aid groups along the border, Mennell of CBP said. Additional people in the area can be dangerous, not only because of its remoteness, but the proximity to armed criminals just over the border and the potential for collisions between vehicles driving up and down blind hills.

The border wall now features no trespassing signs, initially aimed at the often-armed vigilantes who had been spending nights here, harassing migrants and aid workers, Kocourek said.

The 60-foot-wide strip of land along the international border with Mexico is known as the Roosevelt Reservation, and its owned by CBP, so technically aid workers are also trespassing there.

But Kocourek said agents seem to increasingly tolerate, and even welcome, aid workers presence and their reports of migrants with medical needs, especially as the Samaritans trucks are better equipped to traverse the steep hills along the border road than the older Border Patrol transport vans.

By late afternoon on Wednesday, the Samaritans were ready to return home, picking up trash and blankets and extinguishing smoldering camp fires from the now empty area where one group of migrants had been.

Another set of Border Patrol vehicles drove by, returning to Sasabe with their trucks full of as many asylum seekers as possible.

As he passed, one agent advised the Samaritans that 25 migrants were still left behind, at a nearby spot along the border wall.

Not knowing whether agents would return for another transport that night, the Samaritans returned to the site to offer the last of their food, and words of comfort, to the people left behind.

Driving back toward Sasabe, Kocoureks sadness was evident.

I hate leaving them, she said. But I dont know what else we can do for them.

But before long, multiple Border Patrol trucks came roaring down the road, headed back to retrieve the waiting asylum seekers who would at least have shelter for the night.

An agent leaned out the window and grinned as the Samaritans waved happily, calling, Thank you!
Tucsonan James Van Horn was just 17 years old when he was killed along with 1,176 of his crewmates on the USS Arizona.

Now a man who shares more than just Van Horns name has joined a new campaign to identify and honor at least 85 casualties from the Arizona who are still buried as unknowns, some in mass graves, 82 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

In honor of his uncle, Jim Van Horn of Corona, California has submitted a sample of his DNA to the Armed Forces Medical Examiners System, joining a growing, all-volunteer, civilian-led effort to finally identify the battleships unknowns.

USS Arizona Operation 85 was launched early this year by Kevin Kline, a Northern Virginia real estate agent whose great-uncle, Gunners Mate Second Class Robert Kline, died on the Arizona at the age of 22.

Kline said he grew up hearing stories about his great-uncle. He always assumed the young mans final resting place was on the sunken ship.

Then last year, after a trip to Pearl Harbor, Kline learned about a burial plot at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, nearby in Honolulu, for Arizona crew members whose remains were recovered but never identified.

It kind of infuriated me that they were just left there  85 guys sitting in those commingled graves, he said.

Kline founded Operation 85 with one mission in mind: Collect enough DNA samples from the descendants of fallen Arizona crew members to allow for a new forensic examination of those graves.

The federal Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has told him it needs so called family reference samples for at least 60% of the ships unrecovered crew before the agency will consider disinterring remains from the cemetery commonly known as the Punchbowl.

Most of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on the Arizona were entombed inside the battleship when it sank. Only 105 bodies were recovered and identified.

So far this year, Kline said, he and his small team have made contact with 672 family members representing 346 lost crew members.

The Defense Department now has reference DNA on file for more than 190 men from the Arizona. That puts Operation 85 almost a third of the way towards its goal of securing genetic samples for at least 643 crew members, the minimum amount DPAA has said it needs to begin the identification process.

Were not going to stop, Kline said.

Difficult search

Operation 85 has already won the support of several members of Congress and officials from the Navy, the Marines and the Pentagon, Kline said. The effort is also being backed by Pacific Historic Parks, a Hawaii-based nonprofit that supports the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and other historic sites.

Tracking people down is the biggest challenge, so Operation 85 sought help early on from a Tucson woman with as much experience researching the Arizona crew as anyone.

Former Arizona Daily Star Editor Bobbie Jo Buel spent more than five years compiling profiles of every sailor and Marine who died on the battleship. The work involved scouring newspaper archives and public records, contacting relatives of the men and collecting snapshots and personal letters.

Kline said he and Buel connected about a year ago. She really started me out by giving me her list of people she had contacted, he said.

The Operation 85 website now hosts Buels profiles of the crew, an arrangement that is helping to draw new attention to both the project and her work.

Its exactly what I was hoping for, she said. We want all of this to live on.

Based on her own experience, Buel thinks Kline and company have their work cut out for them.

Its really hard to find people. Youre looking for people who dont even have the same last names, she said.

And it only gets harder as time passes and the earlier generation of relatives dies off.

So far, though, Buel has been impressed by Klines methodical approach and his tenacity. If anyone can do it, I think hes the guy, she said.

Kline expects the process to take a while. Conservatively, he hopes Operation 85 can reach the minimum number of genetic samples to trigger DPAAs identification process before Dec. 7, 2026, the 85th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The response from those contacted so far has been overwhelmingly positive, he said. Only a handful of relatives have declined to participate. And for almost everyone who said no, we found another family member who said yes, Kline said.

He would love to eventually see samples on file for all 1,072 lost crew members, but he said they have already come across at least one family that has no sources of DNA left.

The effort is focused solely on the graves of the unknowns at the Punchbowl. The sunken battleship itself would not be disturbed as part of Operation 85.

Were just interested in giving a name back to those who were recovered and buried as unknowns, Kline said. It just kills me that we have these graves that say unknown on them.

Unknown uncle

Jim Van Horn only has one picture of his uncle, who dropped out of Tucson High to join the Navy in 1941, after Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, another eventual Arizona casualty, gave a recruiting talk at the school.

Hes a 17-year-old gangly kid, thats all he is, Jim Van Horn said, describing the photo of James in his Navy whites.

The seaman second class was the only Tucsonan lost on the Arizona.

The younger Van Horn said he has known where his name came from since he was a teenager, but he was never told much about the uncle who died 20 years before he was born.

It was not something that was talked about, he said. Everything Ive learned, Ive learned on my own.

Van Horns father, Dudley, was especially tightlipped about the loss of the big brother he idolized.

It was a very, very sensitive subject to him, Jim Van Horn said. He just kept that all bottled up.

Van Horn and Kline found each other on Facebook early this year. By April, Van Horns DNA was on file with the government.

He said the process was free and easy, if a little bureaucratic. Before he could collect his own DNA with a swab inside his cheek, he had to fill out a form authorizing the military to send him the test kit. Typical government, you have to get permission to get permission, he joked.

Van Horn does not expect his uncles remains to turn up at the Punchbowl, but if Operation 85 can answer that question definitively  for his family or someone elses  the effort will have been worth it.

To know the history and get the final word on his resting place? Absolutely, he said.

But what if Tucsons only USS Arizona casualty is recovered and identified as a result of Operation 85s efforts?

Thats a bridge to be crossed if we get there, said James Van Horns namesake nephew. Id probably have him returned to the ship. Its where he wanted to be.
Things at the University of Arizonas College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences had been going well over the last few years. Faculty managed to increase research by 12% in two years while simultaneously producing a 7% increase in the number of majors and a 15% increase in the student credit hours that faculty taught.

And yet, earlier this year, the college, also known as CALES, was told by the university that it was in a $20 million deficit.

Most faculty were surprised. According to their calculations, the college wouldve had to hire 200 faculty members to be in that level of deficit. Plus, they say they were told for years by the universitys Chief Financial Officer Lisa Rulney and then-Provost Liesl Folks to spend down their central reserves.

(We) have a larger enrollment and generated more research dollars than ever before, yet we are suddenly in a budgetary crisis, Jeffrey Michler, an associate professor in the agricultural and resource economics department, said in disbelief.

Members of the colleges administration who spoke on background claim they informed Rulney that, with continued spending down of their central reserves, the college would find itself where it is today: in a deficit.

They say they warned the universitys senior staff of the imposing deficit, which was predicted using the colleges own internal financial modeling system, in March 2021, May 2022 and most recently on March 20 of this year. University President Robert C. Robbins attended the most recent meeting and was briefed on their concerns, as well, they said.

But Rulney, according to these college officials, ignored repeated warnings and continued to order the college to spend down its central reserves.

Required overspending and cash stripping by the provost and CFO took our sustainable college and forced it into near collapse, read one internal document obtained by the Arizona Daily Star.

According to the document, Rulney and Folks decided CALES was still not spending fast enough, despite the deficit they were shown would happen for three years running.

The document continues, They said CALES had too much cash and did not believe us when we said that we would be in deficit. So, at the end of (fiscal year 2023), CALES was taxed (more than) $2 million in gain share.

Because of the drain on the central reserve, the college must now remove one school and one department each in fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026 to avoid dipping below zero in balance. That means that by fiscal year 2026, the college will be just 40% of the size it is today.

It must now grow its revenue by over 7% annually just to break even.

In a statement Friday to the Arizona Daily Star, UA spokeswoman Pam Scott wrote that there have been no discussions about double digit percentage cuts to any college.

She added, As (a) land grant university, the university is committed to supporting our colleges, including the college of agriculture, life and environmental sciences, and its critical outreach through the state.

Scott did not respond to inquiries on whether Rulney and other members of senior staff pushed CALES to spend down its reserves despite repeated warnings.

UA-wide financial crisis

The issues within CALES are backdropped by a $240 million miscalculation, led by Rulneys team, of the overall universitys predicted cash on hand. On Nov. 2, Robbins and Rulney told the Arizona Board of Regents that the UA is in a financial crisis.

Administrators originally figured they had 156 days worth of cash on hand but are now projecting only 97 for this fiscal year. The UA now significantly lags behind the regents requirement of at least 140 days cash on hand, and Robbins has warned draconian cuts are coming.

Robbins blamed a financial model he says had been successfully used by UA for a decade but has now been replaced.

It has become clear that we have overinvested and that some colleges and units have overspent, he told faculty in a Nov. 11 email. The model produced a significant overestimate because it did not account for the collective accelerations in spending, he said. But he defended UAs overall significant investments in key areas that advance our strategic plan.

Robbins has until Dec. 15 to tell the regents how UA will deal with the miscalculation and shortfall.

In a Nov. 22 email to faculty, Robbins wrote: No decisions about any budget cuts had been made, although he did commit to not imposing furloughs or cutting retiree benefits. He said, new budget controls must be implemented to prevent deficit spending in the future.

Robbins did not mention if layoffs will be necessary. Many at CALES, like Michler, are concerned that the shrinking of programs and departments will cause layoffs.

Robbins, Rulney faulted

What happened at CALES, Michler said, is a further example of the mismanagement within central administration.

By forcing the college to spend down its central reserves just like the university did, senior leadership like Rulney and Robbins, he argued, are the ones at fault.

The issues facing CALES are a manufactured budget crisis, according to Katie Zeiders, a professor of human development and family science who serves as a faculty senator representing the college.

Even at the department level we heard this  that central administration was directing colleges to spend down cash and individual faculty were being asked to spend down research or start up accounts more quickly than they had planned to, Zeiders said. The messaging then switched in July 2023, and suddenly colleges were being asked to preserve cash balances with no explanation for this 180-degree change.

To help fix the deficit, university officials have ordered CALES into a hiring freeze. The college has had to rescind at least one job offer and cancel another search halfway through the process.

Across CALES, we have worked tirelessly to support our mission as a land grant university through the pandemic we increased our teaching and our research to record levels, Zeiders said. And then we are told we cannot hire another needed colleague ... and it comes to light that this is because of senior administrators who have made poor decisions about our universitys finances.

Rescinding job offers often impacts a college or departments professional reputation. But more importantly, said Michler, the agricultural and resource economics professor, it creates academic gaps in programs.

When a colleague of Michlers who studies water issues in Arizona announced their retirement, he and other faculty members within his department began a new search, eventually hiring a candidate they were excited about. But when the university enacted the hiring freeze, the department had to rescind the offer.

This is coming at a time when water issues are continually on the front page and debated in the Legislature, Michler said. This loss comes at a time when we need more than ever expertise in this area. And because of mismanagement by senior administration, the university and our state no longer have this expertise.

Outside faculty said in an external review of Michlers department, published this fall, that not hiring for the water issue position would be a failure in university leadership.

The departmental review, obtained by the Arizona Daily Star, continues: Not making those hires really cripples (the departments) ability to move forward and creates a morale crisis.

The report, which was sent to senior leadership, including UAs current Interim Provost Ronald Marx, stated that the department should be granted the exception from the hiring freeze that was requested twice by the department head.

That request has yet to be granted.

Cut their own salaries

Michler remains frustrated with the incredibly opaque UA leadership team. If it wasnt for the forced spending down of the reserves, his college may have been able to continue hiring faculty and remained in a healthy position, he said.

The fact that our college has spent down a lot of our reserves means theres no funds left to bridge the gap and so theyre having to (take) drastic measures, he said. Senior administration continues to be making these public statements that the budgetary problems are due to mismanagement in colleges. That is not true.

Administrators in the college warning of an impending deficit were not being taken seriously, according to Leila Hudson, the chair of the faculty at the university.

Hudson wasnt involved in the warnings from the college but was looped into the situation by her colleagues in early November.

Many of us have had long-standing concerns about the financial management issues dating back to 2020 when the furloughs (imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic) were exacted from us, she said. There have been concerns about the sort of financial leadership for a long time.

Zeiders, who vowed to continue working on this issue in her role as a faculty senator representing the college, echoed Hudsons statements on administrative financial mismanagement.

They can start by giving my college the needed money back so that we can continue in our land grant mission, she said. If they want to cut anything, it can be their own salaries.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Have you ever heard someone say that those living with depression should just tough it out? Or that a person challenged by a substance use disorder is to blame for their condition? These are invalidating and untrue statements. Even as conversations surrounding behavioral health have become more prevalent and normalized in recent years, there are still many stigmatizing misconceptions around it.

The truth is  behavioral health conditions (encompassing both mental health conditions and substance use disorders) are health conditions just like diabetes or cancer and should be treated with the same importance and care. Unfortunately, many people arent getting that needed care.

Fast facts:

1 in 7 people in the U.S. say they have experienced substance use disorder and at least 1 in 5 adults live with a mental health disorder.

About 60% of U.S. adults with a mental health condition dont receive care.

Nearly 16% of U.S. adults had a substance use disorder in the past year. Of them, about 94% did not receive any form of treatment.

More than 1 million Arizona adults have a mental health condition, and more than 320,000 are not receiving needed mental health care.

There are a variety of reasons why someone might not get help, but we know that stigma and fear of others finding out is one of the main reasons. Bottom line: we need to stop stigma, so it doesnt stop Arizonans from getting the care they need and deserve.

Pledge to support a Stigma-Free AZ

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (AZ Blue) is paving the way to a stigma-free Arizona, and we cant do it without you. AZ Blue launched a Stigma-Free AZ campaign and pledge to help end behavioral health stigma in our state. Please join us in our effort to normalize and remove barriers to behavioral health care. It starts with a commitment  a pledge  to reduce stigma, and it takes less than 30 seconds! All you have to do is input your name, county, and email if you want. Take the pledge by visiting: azblue.com/stigmafreeaz.

Its one small step that can make a BIG difference to someone who has experienced the sting of stigma firsthand. Each pledge is a visual and tangible representation of support. Our hope is that those who see that support will feel empowered to reach out for help  knowing there is a multitude of Arizonans rooting for them.

Why is behavioral health care so important?

Substance use disorder recovery, an ongoing journey of healing from this chronic disease, is possible. Gaining a greater sense of control over a mental health condition is possible. Whether its therapy, medication, group support, self-help strategies, or other types of clinical help  there are methods that have been proven effective to manage or overcome behavioral health conditions. We want Arizonans to live their healthiest lives possible, and that is possible with the right course of care.

Behavioral health conditions are common and can happen to anyone. These struggles deserve attention, awareness, and treatment just like physical conditions  not shame and judgment. We need to create a culture of compassion and understanding around behavioral health, so Arizonans get the support they need. That is the heart of the Stigma-Free AZ campaign, and you can do your part by taking the pledge.

I encourage you to also learn more about different types of behavioral health conditions to help eliminate the harmful prejudices and stereotypes. For additional information and resources, explore our AZ Blue Behavioral Health website: Behavioral Health (azblue.com).
The difference in healthcare costs between the U.S. and Canada is a popular topic of debate. From hospital care and prescription drugs to physician services and private health insurance, both countries have a unique financing structure that makes for a vastly different patient experience  especially when it comes to accessibility and affordability. This article from Debt Relief Canada will explore the key differences in healthcare costs between the U.S. and Canada, focusing on some of the largest price gaps, and why, despite sharing a border, both countries adopt such a dramatically different approach.

Healthcare spending in the U.S.

The U.S. has been home to the highest healthcare expenditure in the world for decades, with an average annual spend of 12,914 U.S. dollars per person. This cost  which is almost double that of Germany, the country with the next highest healthcare expenditure  makes up 17.8% of the countrys GDP. Unlike Canada, where healthcare is primarily publicly funded, the U.S. relies heavily on private health insurance plans. This provides patients with access to a wider range of healthcare services and shorter waiting times but results in extra administrative costs. The cost of medical liability in the U.S. is also significant, with this figure averaging around $55 billion a year. Furthermore, premiums and out-of-pocket expenses can be substantial for those who are self-employed or dont receive health insurance through their employer.

Healthcare spending in Canada

Canada's average annual healthcare expenditure is around 8,563 Canadian dollars per person, which is equal to 12.2% of the countrys GDP. The nations healthcare system operates on a vastly different model than that of the U.S. and is primarily funded through taxation at the provincial level. This approach eliminates the need for multiple private insurance providers and simplifies the billing process, resulting in fewer costs for the patient. The cost of medical liability in Canada is also lower with the total expenditure estimated to be around C$200 million a year. Finally, because the government negotiates directly with healthcare providers, including hospitals, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies, to determine fees, patients benefit from better cost control, lower administrative overheads, and a more affordable healthcare service across the board.

Hospital care

Hospitalization costs in the U.S. are among the highest in the world. This is largely due to the administrative complexity of the countrys healthcare system, which involves numerous interactions with insurance providers, each with their own set of rules and procedures. From verifying insurance coverage to negotiating payments, this process consumes a significant chunk of hospital resources, and these extra costs are passed onto the patient. In Canada, the cost of hospital care is generally lower due to the nations single-payer system, which streamlines the billing process and reduces administrative overhead. Hospitals also negotiate fees for their services directly with provincial governments which, coupled with the absence of multiple private insurance providers, results in greater cost savings.

Prescription drugs

The cost of prescription drugs is notably higher in the U.S. than it is in Canada because pharmaceutical companies tend to have maximum control over setting and regulating the price of medication. This has led to sky-high costs, which are a source of concern for low-income patients who are often faced with the difficult decision of choosing between their health and financial stability. Canada adopts a different approach to managing prescription drug prices, with federal and provincial governments negotiating costs with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the general population. This collective bargaining power allows for lower costs across the board so residents can benefit from more affordable and accessible healthcare when they need it.

Physician services

In the U.S., physician services can be considerably more expensive than in Canada. This is mainly due to the countrys fee-for-service payment model where doctors are paid based on the services they provide and patients are billed for individual medical appointments. While this approach creates incentives for healthcare providers to perform more tests and procedures, it also drives up costs. In Canada, physicians are typically compensated through a fee schedule negotiated with provincial governments. This approach helps to regulate how physicians are paid and keeps costs stable for patients. Physicians in Canada also dont deal with as many insurance providers as physicians in the U.S., which results in a more straightforward billing process and lower overhead costs.

Private health insurance

The role of private health insurance in the U.S. is significant, with many patients relying on private insurance plans to access essential healthcare services. But while this has the added benefit of a wider range of healthcare options and lower waiting times, it has also led to higher profit margins and marketing costs, all of which contribute to the high cost of healthcare in the country. In Canada, basic healthcare services are provided through the single-payer system and private health insurance is primarily for the supplementary services and medications not included in this system. Because patients in Canada are less reliant on private health insurance, it doesn't consume as much of the countrys healthcare budget as it does in the U.S.

Conclusion

Since Canada adopted a different healthcare system to the U.S. in the 1970s, the differences have been vast and varied. The administrative complexities of the healthcare system in the U.S., coupled with the role of private health insurance, contribute to higher costs across the board. In contrast, Canadas single-payer system streamlines the billing process and reduces administrative costs, resulting in a more cost-effective and efficient allocation of resources and a lower healthcare expenditure than that of its neighbor. Furthermore, the high cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. and Canadas ability to negotiate prescription drug costs further highlights the gap in healthcare expenditure between both countries. Both nations provide some of the highest quality healthcare in the world, but its clear that their individual approaches to financing have had profound implications for patient accessibility and affordability.

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Officials with Tulsa Public Schools are now regrouping in light of additional requirements placed on the district Thursday by the Oklahoma State Board of Education.

The board unanimously adopted an order requiring the district to meet additional goals by the end of the 2022-23 school year in order to avoid a state takeover or loss of accreditation.

TPS officials said after the meeting that they were not given any advance notice of the additional requirements. The district did not have any representatives in the room when the board voted to adopt the order.

Speaking to reporters after Thursdays meeting, State Superintendent Ryan Walters said all options would remain on the table should TPS not hit all of the benchmarks listed in the order.

Ive said Im willing to do everything to get that district back on track and that failure is not an option, Walters said. That is still 100% the mentality.

Along with requiring all of the districts teachers and site administrators to be trained in an Oklahoma State Department of Education-approved science of reading model and improvement on the language arts portion of the Oklahoma state testing program, one of the new goals was that at least 12 of the districts 18 schools that are currently on the states Most Rigorous Intervention list be removed from that list.

Schools on that list include Anderson, Burroughs, Celia Clinton, Emerson, Hamilton, John Hope Franklin, McClure, Unity and Whitman elementary schools; East Central, Hale and Webster middle schools; Central, Hale and McLain high schools; and three alternative sites  TRAICE, Tulsa Met Middle School and Tulsa Met High School.

Developed as part of the states efforts to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Most Rigorous Intervention list is compiled on a three-year cycle and is made up of schools that scored in the bottom 5% of all report card indicators. Oklahomas list was last updated for the 2022-23 school year.

Although schools report card grades are part of the process, a Most Rigorous Intervention designation is a federal label and is distinct from the letter grades issued to schools by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

In a letter sent to TPS employees Thursday evening, interim Superintendent Ebony Johnson noted that MRI designations are reviewed every three years and said the district would be seeking clarification as to whether the MRI evaluation process will be changing in light of Thursdays vote.

Regardless of how the MRI school evaluation process may change, we are working to accelerate learning in all our schools this year, Johnson wrote.

Her letter also addresses another issue raised at Thursdays board meeting and referenced in one of the orders adopted Thursday: the possibility of school closures, consolidations or grade reconfigurations.

Thats absolutely what we think that they need to be looking at  school closures, Walters told reporters Thursday. Im not telling them which schools need to close, but I am saying that when you look at these numbers of that many F schools, you look at the resources that youre making available, you look at some that have been on this list for years, it absolutely has to be part of the decision-making process.

In her letter, Johnson said the possibility of closures or consolidations was raised by the Department of Education in early November and that the district was asked to publicly address it as part of Thursdays presentation.

TPS last closed schools at the end of the 2019-20 school year. Citing budget constraints, Grimes, Jones and Wright elementary schools were shuttered, and Mark Twain Elementary School was consolidated with Wayman Tisdale.

TPS board President Stacey Woolley said Thursday that no plans or proposals on the matter have been brought to the school board to date. However, with three campuses in her board district shuttered and consolidated at the former Clinton Middle School in 2017, she acknowledged the possibility that the language in Thursdays order could lead to some painful conversations.

Any conversations about school closures or consolidations are going to be incredibly painful, based on the experience Ive had so far on the board, Woolley said. I also believe that we are under very extreme conditions.

Meanwhile, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum showed support for local leadership at Tulsa Public Schools the day after the additional demands were placed on TPS.

Bynum was in close contact with Walters amid his state takeover threats in the lead-up to Augusts state Board of Education vote on renewing TPS state accreditation.

He even hosted meetings with Walters, state Board of Education member Don Burdick of Tulsa and local Tulsa school board leaders in his office at City Hall.

Ultimately, takeover threats were set aside temporarily after then-Superintendent Deborah Gist, who had been the subject of repeated criticism by Walters and Gov. Kevin Stitt, agreed to step down.

After Walters successfully lobbied to get the State Board of Education to add three new demands for TPS to meet by the end of the current academic year or risk its accreditation renewal in 2024, the World reached out to Bynum for his take.

He said he had not yet had a chance to visit with the interim TPS superintendent about any of the specifics, but he told the World: I have complete confidence in Dr. Johnson to lead the improvements in Tulsa Public Schools that are necessary to make it a model of excellence. She is the right leader in the right place at the right time.

Later, he posted the same remarks to his social media accounts with a photo of him standing alongside Johnson in a school hallway.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is expected to oppose a proposed state question that seeks to increase the minimum wage.

The State Chamber and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundation filed a protest to the petition in the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Nov. 20.

Earlier this week, Drummond gave notice of his intent to express his views on the matter.

The State, like this Court, has a compelling interest in preventing costly and unnecessary elections for proposals that manifest constitutional infirmities and other legal deficiencies, the notice says.

Phil Bacharach, a Drummond spokesman, said he would anticipate the filing of a brief supportive of the petitioners position that the proposed State Question 832 is unconstitutional.

Supporters of increasing the minimum wage filed paperwork on Oct. 27 with the Secretary of States Office indicating an intent to circulate an initiative petition to get the measure on the ballot. They need at least 92,263 signatures.

Legislative efforts to increase the minimum wage in recent years failed to secure approval.

The states current minimum wage  $7.25 an hour  is tied to the federal minimum wage. If the question gets on the ballot and is approved, the states minimum wage would gradually rise to $15 per hour by 2029.

Increases in additional years would be tied to hikes in the cost of living, if any, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labors Consumer Price Index.

Protestors allege that because the cost of living is set by the federal government, the minimum wage would be determined by unelected federal officials in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution.

The petition attempts to delegate the legislative power of Oklahoma in a manner that is clearly unconstitutional, the State Chamber and Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundations protest says. Oklahomans would have little power to challenge the Consumer Price Index determination that would govern the states minimum wage, the protest also says.

Protestants/Petitioners include both citizens of Oklahoma and organizations of employers, including small business owners, farmers, and other companies that provide hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans with employment, the protest brief says. Initiative Petition 446 threatens to raise their prices, reduces their ability to employ as many workers as they do now, and undermines the viability of their businesses.

The protestors also allege that the gist of the initiative petition is misleading because it suggests that the petition would amend the law to exempt federal workers when they are already exempt.

Amber England, Raise the Wage Oklahoma spokeswoman, said the costs of groceries, gas and housing are skyrocketing. Despite working full time, hundreds of thousands of families struggle to get by, she said.

If the monied interests behind the State Chamber want to be on record opposing giving hard-working Oklahomans a raise, thats on them, she said. Raise the Wage Oklahoma stands firm in our belief that Oklahomans who work for a living should earn a living.

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An international rice festival will kick off in Hau Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region from December 11 to 15, featuring the participation of more than 39 nations.

Dong Van Thanh, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, told a press briefing on Friday to introduce the Vietnam - Hau Giang Rice Industry Festival 2023 that the fest is themed Green Rice for Life.

More than 200 international representatives from firms and agencies from over 39 countries will join the event, he underlined.

As many as 12 major enterprises from the Philippines, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East have registered to take part in the fest and shown their interest in Vietnamese rice, Thanh noted.

Eight leaders of the Ministries of Agriculture in the Philippines, Laos and Indonesia, and many Ambassadors of the United States and European nations will travel to the province to join the event.

Hoang Trung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that this years event is expected to cement Vietnamese rices position in the world.

The festival is part of Vietnams efforts in improving the quality of rice, boosting green development, and helping firms and farmers access new technology and farming techniques.

Within the framework of the fest, Vietnam will cut a deal with the World Bank to support farmers in implementing a project passed by the government in late October to develop one million hectares of high-quality rice paddies.

The government had previously set a target of developing one million hectares of high-quality rice paddies and reducing emissions by 2023 for the region.

The country will also sign a rice export agreement with Indonesia at the fest, Trung said.

Between January and November, Vietnam exported 7.75 million metric tons of rice worth US$4.4 billion, up 36.3 percent in value year on year.

Several nations are rushing to buy Vietnamese rice due to its high quality and abundant supplies.

The festival will include a series of booths showcasing rice varieties, rice manufacturing machines, and farming equipment and technology.

Numerous rice-centered conferences, seminars and art performances will be organized during the fest.

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Approximately 700 delegates, including central and local leaders, consuls general, and representatives from associations, as well as domestic and foreign businesses, are set to participate in the 2023 Horasis Asia Meeting held in Binh Duong Province, southern Vietnam on Sunday.

During a press conference on Friday, Mai Hung Dung, deputy chairman of the Peoples Committee of Binh Duong, highlighted the significance of the event, saying that this will be an important international event in the province after it was recognized by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) as the Intelligent Community of the Year.

The forum, spanning six plenary sessions and 28 dialogue sessions from Sunday to next Tuesday, serves as a valuable platform for organizations, businesses, and managers in Binh Duong to gain insights into knowledge, visions, and emerging trends in the 4.0 technology era, emphasized Dung.

Addressing innovation and socio-economic development, the forum underscores Binh Duongs commitment to fostering investment, expanding international cooperation, and enhancing Vietnams standing in the global economic community.

Two symposiums focused on Binh Duong will delve into the Binh Duong Smart City development strategy and challenges related to innovation and creativity in the province.

As the fourth event of its kind in Binh Duong, the forum anticipates participation from hundreds of experts and representatives from domestic and foreign businesses.

Established in 2005, the Horasis Asia Meeting connects multinational groups, serving as an international investment promotion organization.

Binh Duong reported a 6.5-percent expansion in its industrial production index in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the provincial Peoples Committee.

Export earnings reached $31.8 billion, while investment attraction estimated at $1.4 billion by the end of November.

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Vietnamese fashion supply chain platform Inflow has secured US$2 million in a seed funding round from AppWorks, 500 Global, January Capital, Spiral Ventures, and Saison Capital.

The start-up said it will invest the capital in designing research and development and developing new technologies for supply chain and manufacturing, Tech in Asia reported.

Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Inflow is a tech-driven sourcing and manufacturing platform.

It provides fashion brands of all sizes with tools and technologies to simplify the sourcing and manufacturing process and speed up time to market.

Inflow taps into the garment production advantages of Vietnam and Southeast Asia while solving critical supply chain challenges in the fashion industry, such as opaque supplier networks and inefficient project management of the design-to-production cycle.

According to the company, the platform offers full visibility into the supply chain, from inventory forecasts to data-driven factory matching to merchandise management, all accessible through a user-friendly dashboard with real-time tracking.

Its production network includes over 150 manufacturers and suppliers in Vietnam.

Inflows platform and factory matching help reduce sample production to a rapid seven-day process with a 45-day turnaround for a wide range of fabrics and designs.

The solution also supports flexible small-batch orders with low minimum order quantities (MOQs) starting from 50 units, allowing brands to scale production based on market response, reduce design-to-production cycles from months to weeks, and prevent wastage that comes with large MOQs.

The company plans to use a portion of the capital raised to enhance its product offerings to help brands rapidly bring new designs to market within 30 days at minimum order quantities of 50 pieces.

Last year, Inflow claims to have grown its revenue over 15 times.

The enterprise said it currently has over 80 fashion brand partners across Southeast Asia.

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Authorities and tourism businesses in Hon Son and Nam Du, two islands off Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam should jointly develop new, unique travel products and offer travel products, services at reasonable prices so as to develop local tourism in the long run, according to business leaders in the field.

They made the suggestions at a tourism-related conference co-held early this week by the Kien Giang Tourism, Trade and Promotion Center and the administration of the provinces Kien Hai District, with the participation of more than 20 travel agencies in the country.

Le Minh Tam, director of Long An Tourist An Giang Company, said Kien Hai boasts natural landscapes, hospitable people, budget-friendly and tasty local dishes.

Tourists take a boat tour to explore Hon Son Island, off Kien Hai District, Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam. Photo: Chi Cong / Tuoi Tre

However, around 60 percent of local people in Hon Son and Nam Du do tourism businesses and many of them were found to have offered their services at exorbitant prices. They should keep the prices reasonable and stable so that tourists will visit and stay longer in the islands, Tam suggested.

Tran Hoang Son, board chairman and general manager of the Vinh Hoi Hotel in Gia Lai Province, located in Vietnams Central Highlands region, recommended that the district should make the best use of its human resources to promote the local tourism and cultural values.

The participating travel agencies said both Hon Son and Nam Du offer similar tourism products and services. Visitors to the islands normally engage in main activities such as sampling local seafood, going diving to explore coral reefs, and taking a bike tour to experience the daily life of the island inhabitants.

Le Binh Tri, vice-chairman of the Kien Hai administration, said both Hon Son and Nam Du boast stunning natural landscapes but the number of travel products currently on offer are modest and the islands have barely seen major tourism investors.

The district is set to work with relevant agencies to seek measures to stabilize travel product prices, tackle household waste, and address other issues such as unauthorized tours in an attempt to develop local tourism, Tri said.

Le Binh Tri, vice-chairman of the administration of Kien Hai District, Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam said the district will adopt measures to better serve tourists. Photo: Chi Cong / Tuoi Tre

Similarly, Nguyen Viet Anh, deputy director of the Kien Giang Tourism, Trade and Promotion Center, suggested that the district and travel firms should join hands to boost local tourism in a professional manner.

The center will continue to launch more tourism promotion events to woo more international and domestic visitors to the islands in the upcoming holidays such as Christmas and the Lunar New Year, Anh elaborated.

Data from the Kien Hai administration showed that Kien Hai is home to 23 islands of various sizes. In 2018, the provincial administration decided to establish two tourist sites in Hon Son and Nam Du. Over the past couple of years, Hon Son has welcomed some 200,000 tourist arrivals.

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Many Vietnamese workers have found it hard to make ends meet as they have few chances to work overtime to earn more money due to their companies decline in orders.

In many localities, roads around industrial parks have become crowded after 5:00 pm as workers return to their homes after work. Working overtime has been rare among workers.

At a boarding house with more than 25 rooms for rent near the Khac Niem Industrial Park in northern Bac Ninh Province, workers often complete their work and return to their rented rooms early, which is contrary to the situation in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period.

Hanh Phuc, the owner of the boarding house, said that companies were lacking in new orders, so they did not ask their workers to work overtime.

Many workers have even quit their jobs and returned to their hometowns.

As a result, many rooms at her boarding house have been left vacant, Phuc shared.

Vi Kieu Oanh, a 19-year-old resident in Nghe An Province in north-central Vietnam, and Luc Thi Phuong, 21, from northern Lao Cai Province, share a room at the boarding house as they are working for a company.

They work eight hours per day and do not work overtime the whole week.

After the pandemic was kept at bay, my work became unstable. Without working overtime, my salary is only around VND5 million [US$206] per month. I cannot save a penny, Phuong said.

Oanh added My salary is barely enough to cover my expenses. Earlier, I had to ask for an advance on my salary to cover my needs, and sometimes I did not have enough money to buy instant noodles. I do not think I can be in such a situation.

The two workers share the room rental of about VND1.5 million ($61.8) per month, with water and power costs included.

They have not dared to visit their families.

We hope [our companys] orders will increase so that we can work overtime to earn additional incomes during this tough time, Oanh said.

Pham Tuan Anh, a 28-year-old worker of a South Korean-invested company located in Bac Ninh Province as well, seems luckier.

He works from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and works overtime until 7:00 pm everyday as his company has secured orders.

Tuan Anh works as a phone body housing tester with a basic salary of more than VND5 million ($206). His total income is VND8-9 million ($330-371) with overtime pay and allowances included.

He can save VND3 million ($123.7) per month after paying for a rented room, meals, and other costs.

Owning a home a pipe dream

Leaving their hometowns for Ho Chi Minh City for 10 to 20 years, most workers can earn enough money to nurture their children only. Buying a house, even a social house, is beyond their ability.

Nguyen Cam Thi, a 42-year-old worker in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, said her company has offered no overtime work this year.

However, Thi said she was still lucky as many other workers had been laid off.

Working as a worker for 20 years, her income was nearly VND10 million ($412.3) per month in previous years. The figure has fallen to only VND7-8 million ($288.6-330) now.

School fees for her two children are nearly VND7 million ($288.6), and boarding house, water, and power costs require more than VND2 million ($82.5) a month.

In a rented room measuring some 12 square meters, Thi said its lucky as the boarding house owner does not raise the room rental. I do not dare to think of purchasing a house, which requires billions of Vietnam dongs. How can a worker earn such a giant amount? (VND1 billion = $41,261).

Huynh Thi Le Trinh, a 41-year-old resident in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, faces the same fate.

Her salary was more than VND6 million ($247.4) this month. She and her husband are workers of the same company and they have just resumed their work after one week off.

Earlier this year, my monthly salary was VND8-9 million [$330-371] as I could work overtime. This month, we were furloughed for one week due to [our companys] falling orders. Purchasing a house is impossible with our salaries, Trinh said.

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WASHINGTON -- Our Milky Way galaxy's most common type of star is called a red dwarf - much smaller and less luminous than our sun. These stars - or so it was thought - simply are not big enough to host planets much larger than Earth.

But the discovery of a planet at least 13 times Earth's mass orbiting very close to a red dwarf only 11 percent of the sun's mass has astronomers going back to the drawing board on planetary formation theory involving this prevalent type of star. The mass ratio of this planet with its star is more than 100 times greater than that of Earth and the sun.

"We discovered a planet that is too massive for its star," said Penn State astronomer Suvrath Mahadevan, one of the leaders of the study published this week in the journal Science.

The star, called LHS 3154, is relatively close to us, about 50 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

The sun is about a thousand times more luminous than this star.

"It is barely a star," said Princeton University astronomer Gumundur Stefansson, the study's lead author. "It has a mass just above the cutoff of supporting hydrogen fusion to be considered a star."

The planet, called LHS 3154 b, orbits at about 2.3 percent of Earth's orbital distance from the sun, circling its star every 3.7 days. It is much closer even than our solar system's innermost planet Mercury is to the sun.

The planet may be similar in size and composition to Neptune, the smallest of our solar system's four gas planets. Neptune's diameter is about four times that of Earth. The method employed to study the planet did not enable the researchers to measure its diameter, but they suspect it is about three to four times that of Earth.

Neptune, which lacks a solid surface, possesses a dynamic atmosphere mainly of hydrogen and helium, atop a mantle mostly of slushy ammonia and water and a solid core. Based on its probable Neptune-like composition and closeness to its star, it is unlikely to support life, Stefansson said.

Stars form when dense clumps of interstellar gas and dust collapse under their own gravitational pull. Once a star is born at the center of such a cloud, leftover material forms a swirling disk around it that feeds stellar growth and often gives rise to planets.

So why should a red dwarf not be able to host a planet the size of the newly described one?

An undated handout image shows an artistic rendering of the possible view from the planet LHS 3154b toward its low mass host star LHS 3154. Photo: Reuters

"The planet-forming disk around stars is only a small fraction of the stellar mass, and is expected to scale with that mass. So a very low mass star should have a disk that is also low mass. Such a disk should not be heavy enough to birth the planet we discovered," Mahadevan said.

"This planet raises questions of how planets form around the lowest mass stars, because such stars were previously thought to primarily only be able to form small terrestrial planets similar in mass to Earth," Stefansson said.

The researchers discovered LHS 3154 b by detecting a subtle wobble in the host star caused by the planet's gravitational effects during its orbit. They used an instrument called the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF), built by a team led by Mahadevan, on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory.

It was designed to find planets that orbit relatively cool stars and have the potential for liquid water on their surfaces, a key factor for life.

"As we build new instruments, and as our measurement precision increases, we see the universe in new, unexpected ways," Mahadevan said. "We built HPF to detect terrestrial planets around these cool stars. This discovery is another in the constant stream of surprises showing how much we still have to learn about planets and planet formation."
Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have pledged to further strengthen multifaceted cooperation, including trade and investment, and soon enter into a Vietnam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) soon.

The pledge was made between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum when they met on Friday on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which opened in Dubai on the same day.

The Crown Prince of Dubai, Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, also joined the meeting.

PM Chinh, who arrived in UAE on a four-day trip starting Friday for the COP28 and other activities, told his hosts that he highly appreciated the fruitful development of the Vietnam-UAE relations over the past 30 years since the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

He asked the two countries to further promote their multifaceted cooperation, including trade and investment, and expressed his wish that a bilateral CEPA will be made available soon to better tap the cooperative potentials of the two nations.

The Vietnamese government leader asked the UAE to share experiences and support Vietnam in building an international financial center, and call on the UAEs investment funds to invest in Vietnam.

The UEA prime minister recollected his good impressions of his visit to Vietnam 20 years ago and said he wished to re-visit the Southeast Asian country soon.

He agreed with PM Chinhs proposals on promoting bilateral relations, especially the early signing of a CEPA, and affirmed that the UAE attaches great importance to the multifaceted ties with Vietnam.

The Crown Prince of Dubai told his guest that he was ready to exchange knowledge and experiences in building a financial center.

He also expressed his special impressions of the famous quality of Vietnamese coffee products, and added that he hoped to visit Vietnam in the near future.

UAE is Vietnams leading trade partner in the Middle East region with the turnover in recent years always reaching approximately US$5 billion, according to official figures.

As of November 20, UAE ranked 53rd among 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with 39 projects worth $71.51 million, the Voice of Vietnam reported.

There are currently about 4,500 Vietnamese workers in the Western Asian country, mainly in the construction, mechanics and hospitality sectors, according to statistics.

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Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong hosted a reception in Hanoi on Friday afternoon for Politburo member, Director of the Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Commission for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, who is in Vietnam to attend the 15th session of the Vietnam - China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.

President Thuong sent his greetings to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping and thanked the Chinese side for giving a warm welcome to President Thuong and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation during their visit to China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this October.

Both sides agreed that the relations between the two Parties and nations have maintained strong growth and achieved more accomplishments, following Vietnamese Party chief Nguyen Phu Trongs visit to China in October last year.

Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong (R) shakes hands with Politburo member, Director of the Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Commission for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi during a reception for the latter in Hanoi, December 1, 2023. Photo: Nguyen Khanh / Tuoi Tre

President Thuong affirmed that Vietnam always considers the relationship with China a strategic choice and a top priority in its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, and diversification of relations.

The Vietnamese state leader proposed that both nations continue to promote high-level exchanges and meetings and effectively implement cooperation activities.

Minister Wang said that China attaches great importance to friendly neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam and considers this a priority in Chinas foreign policy.

As for the East Vietnam Sea issue, the top Vietnamese leader proposed both sides well implement high-level common perceptions, better control and settle disagreements at sea, put themselves in each other's position, and respect each other's legitimate and legal interests in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and jointly develop the East Vietnam Sea into a sea of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development.

On the same day, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son receives his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Hanoi, December 1, 2023. Photo: Phong Son / Tuoi Tre

The two top diplomats agreed to further facilitate and make thorough preparations for upcoming high- and all-level exchanges and meetings.

Minister Son proposed China open its doors wider to Vietnamese commodities, including farm produce, develop more rail and road links with Vietnam, jointly seek measures to remove obstacles hindering projects involving both sides, and create favorable conditions for Vietnam to set up its trade promotion offices in Chinese localities.

The top Chinese diplomat suggested both sides strengthen strategic connectivity between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Two Corridors, One Belt Initiative.

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Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and State President Vo Van Thuong hosted separate receptions in Hanoi on Friday afternoon for Politburo member, Director of the Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Commission for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, who is in Vietnam to attend the 15th session of the Vietnam - China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.

-- Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Friday said that Dubai is willing to share its experience in developing an international finance center with Vietnam.

Society

-- All vehicles are banned from entering the Pham Ngoc Thach Street section bounded by Le Duan Boulevard and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 1 from 9:00 pm on Friday to 0:00 am on Sunday to serve events of the 2023 National Volunteer Day.

-- Authorities in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam proposed piloting swimming and scuba diving at four new diving spots in Nha Trang Bay to ease overtourism at Hon Rom Island, which became overwhelmed after another diving site at Hon Mun Nature Reserve was closed for coral ecosystem restoration.

-- Traffic police in Ho Chi Minh City will conduct breath testing both day and night from now till the pre-Tet holiday to detect alcohol-impaired drivers.

Business

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bill Winters co-chaired an event on mobilizing finance to implement Vietnams commitment to climate change in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday. The event was part of the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) held in the UAE from November 30 to December 12.

-- China remained Vietnams largest import market in the year to November, with a total turnover reaching an estimated US$99.6 billion, while the U.S. was the biggest buyer of Vietnamese products during the same period, with a turnover of some $88 billion, according to official data.

-- Ho Chi Minh City attracted more than $3 billion of foreign direct investment in the January-November period this year, down 12.9 percent year on year, according to the citys Statistics Office.

World News

-- ChatGPT maker OpenAI has delayed the launch of its custom GPT store until early 2024, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday.

-- U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders at the COP28 climate summit on Friday to plan for a future without fossil fuels, saying there was no other way to curb global warming, Reuters reported.

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Vietnam has launched the Resource Mobilization Plan (RMP) to implement the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between Vietnam and the International Partners Group (IPG), under which a US$15.5 billion initial finance will be given to the Southeast Asian country.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the announcement on Friday, when he attended the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which opened in Dubai of United Arab Emirates a day earlier, with some 70,000 participants, including leaders from 197 countries, EU officials, heads of non-governmental organizations, and others.

The launch of the RMP represents a key milestone towards the implementation of the JETP, which was agreed between Vietnam and the IPG in December 2022 at the EU-ASEAN summit in Brussels and outlined in the JETP Political Declaration.

The IPG comprises the EU, the UK, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway and the U.S., and is co-led by the EU and the UK.

Under the JETP, international partners from IPG and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) have committed to provide around $15.5 billion for Vietnam over the next three to five years to address urgent needs, which serve as catalysts for the just energy transition in the country.

Of the initial finance, $7.75 billion will be mobilized by IPG members, with more attractive loan conditions than the current capital market, and at least $7.75 billion by the GFANZ in private finance to directly support businesses through investments by international corporations and enterprises, according to the Vietnam Government Portal (VPG).

Through JETP, international partners help Vietnam improve relevant policies, transfer technology, provide financial support for a fair energy transition, attract investment in renewable energy development, improve energy use efficiency, upgrade power grid infrastructure, develop skills and capacities needed for just transitions through vocational education and training, and increase participation of the private sector.

They will also help Vietnam to build a renewable energy center, promote carbon storage and use, manufacture energy storage equipment and batteries, produce green hydrogen, and develop offshore wind power.

Just energy transition is decisive for Vietnam to realize its national energy development strategic orientation, including the ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, along with people-centered sustainable development targets, PM Chinh told the audience.

He emphasized that Vietnam has taken drastic steps to accelerate the energy transition process and suggested international partners to prioritize cooperation with Vietnam in five areas, including development of industrial ecosystems and services using renewable energy; energy transmission and storage; use of energy in economical and efficient ways; green energy transition; and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation industry.

The PM urged international partners to promptly reach an agreement on translating the $15.5 billion funding into breakthrough projects that help accelerate the just energy transition in Vietnam and thereby promote economic growth, strengthen energy security and ensure a prosperous future for all people of the country.

The JETP supports Vietnam to deliver on its net zero 2050 goal and 2030 targets to accelerate and reduce the peaking of its greenhouse gas emissions and transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, the European Commission (EC) said in a statement.

As an important first step towards the implementation of the JETP, the RMP will be a living document, updated regularly as implementation progresses, according to the EC.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, told the ceremony that the launch of the RMP has set a great landmark for the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership, and demonstrates Vietnams determination to facilitate clean energy development.

The EU is proud to be part of this partnership and we remain committed to working with Vietnam to support the necessary reforms for speeding up crucial investment into renewable energy and a green economy, she added.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, commented that the RMP will unlock the vital finance needed to accelerate Vietnam's transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, and help meet the nation's ambitious climate and economic goals while ensuring nobody communities are not left behind.

The UK is proud to be a partner in helping to deliver it, Sunak stated.

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Phu Quoc Island City off Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam has officially inaugurated six surveillance cameras, implementing fines up to VND2 million (US$82) for individuals caught improperly disposing of trash.

The Peoples Committee of Phu Quoc City, in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Vietnam, unveiled the surveillance camera initiative in Duong Dong Ward on Saturday, in response to Phu Quoc Environmental Day in December.

Doan Van Tien, deputy chairman of the Phu Quoc Peoples Committee, emphasized the islands commitment to upscale resort tourism, placing significant emphasis on waste management and the preservation of a green, clean, and attractive environment for tourists.

Six surveillance cameras were strategically installed in key areas such as the old airport zone, the new international airport, markets, and the Duong Dong River to deter improper disposal of household waste.

Violators will face fines ranging from VND100,000 ($4) to VND2 million for leaving trash in unauthorized locations, and from VND2 million to VND1 billion ($41,169) for the illegal burial of solid waste.

Residents exchange household waste for children's books in Phu Quoc Island City off Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam. Photo: C.Cong / Tuoi Tre

Tien urged collective efforts from the community, businesses, residents, and tourists to safeguard the marine environment and the overall beauty of Phu Quoc, which is grappling with the waste generation of around 170-180 metric tons a day.

The local authorities aspire to reduce plastic consumption and promote responsible waste disposal practices.

In conjunction with these efforts, Phu Quoc City organized an initiative to exchange plastic waste for useful gifts.

Participants can bring one kilogram of household waste, dried and sorted, to receive gifts such as small plants, fish sauce, food containers, bamboo cups, thermos flasks, and diving goggles for fishermen.

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Japanese government officials say bear attacks nationwide have surpassed the 200 mark for the first time.

The Environment Ministry says there were 212 victims in the eight months since April, which marks the start of Japan's fiscal year.

Thirty people were attacked in November, the second highest for the month.

The overall tally exceeds the previous record of 158 in fiscal 2020. Record keeping began in 2006.

Some victims lost their lives. They include two people in Hokkaido, two in Iwate Prefecture, and one each in the prefectures of Toyama and Nagano.

Seventy percent of the attacks occurred in northeastern Japan, including 70 in Akita and 45 in Iwate.

The ministry has sent experts to Iwate and Toyama upon request to help the prefectures capture and study bears.

Ministry officials say the animals usually enter hibernation in December, but they also warn more attacks are possible.
HA NOI  Global technology service provider FPT Software and one of Germany's leading energy companies RWE recently celebrated 10 years of strategic partnership.

Building upon this foundation, FPT Software aims to further support RWEs goals with expanded offerings to other RWE business units and diversified offshore delivery locations from Viet Nam.

The partnership includes services delivery from FPT Softwares strategic offerings, namely Cloud and Data, Cybersecurity, Sharepoint Migration and Support, Application Managed Services, and most notably, SAP which FPT Software became the strategic partner of RWE last year.

Both companies started implementing Managed Services in SAP  an adaptive and scalable model that allows FPT Software to be the single preferred partner that provides continuous support services to operations of RWE last year.

The collaboration also allows RWE to leverage FPT Softwares diversified Best-Shore delivery models, using both nearshore and offshore workforce to boost efficiency while optimising cost and human resources.

With an extensive investment and growth strategy, RWE will expand its powerful, green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts internationally by 2030.

RWE is investing more than 50 billion euros gross for this purpose in this decade. The company is looking for a reliable strategic partner who can help with the extended workforce, digital transformation, and innovation.

The 10-year partnership anniversary celebration was hosted during RWE executive visit to FPTs headquarters in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

Speaking at the event, FPT Software Chairwoman Chu Thi Thanh Ha said: "We are delighted to celebrate 10 years of an excellent partnership with RWE. The world is undergoing remarkable changes to push for a more sustainable future for everyone, and FPT is committed to doing our best to accompany RWE as a global leader in energy transformation, by reinforcing our talent workforce, diversifying delivery models, and integrating the latest in technology in our services and solutions.

FPT Software is an important partner that has already contributed to great results in key areas such as cloudification, SAP, data platforms, and cyber security. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership, said Edgar Aschenbrenner, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of RWE AG.

Digitalisation is very important for an energy company as we want to optimise the operations of our fleet, the CIO RWE AG told Viet Nam News.

We want to optimise the way we run the renewable technologies. And FPT has helped us to build the necessary IT platforms for those digitised processes, he added, FPT also played a key role in our cloudification effort, which means we are moving into the data centre, our strategy is clearly announced of AWS and Microsoft.  VNS
HCM CITY  The imperative for enterprises, including those in the textile and garment sector, to proactively embrace the green transition wave for enhanced global supply chain positioning was highlighted at a seminar in HCM City on Friday.

Enhancing Competitive Capacity for Textile and Garment Enterprises on the Green Growth Pathway, organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, HCM City (VCCI-HCM) and Global PR Hub, was attended by executives from over 100 textile and garment enterprises.

Experts said global fashion brands are increasingly prioritising green business and encouraging suppliers to adopt sustainable practices.

Renewable energy, especially solar, is a viable long-term solution for sustainable transformation in manufacturing, they said.

Nguyen Huu Nam, deputy director of VCCI-HCM, said textile and garment exports are a key component in Viet Nams open economy, and underlined the necessity to adapt to new conditions and regulations in export markets.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, deputy secretary-general of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said Viet Nams free-trade agreements (FTAs) with 53 countries offer favourable conditions for market expansion and improving production and business efficiency.

But she also pointed out that newer generation FTAs impose stricter requirements for green growth, posing a challenge to over 80 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises due to their lack of resources to invest in eco-friendly production transitions.

Complex requirements such as LEED certification, supply chain due diligence, origin tracing, and ecological design standards have deterred many businesses from making the transition, she added.

Experts said Viet Nams textile and garment companies still have considerable room for exports in international markets and so need to learn and comply with new regulations in major markets like the EU and US.

An expert from AHK Vietnam spoke about the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement boosting Viet Nam's competitiveness in the textile and garment industry, but noted that the vague provisions on labour protection and social responsibility could challenge Vietnamese enterprises.

Challenges of the green transition by the textile and garment industry were discussed at the seminar, notably from major markets such as the EU, which are tightening environmental standards, introducing the carbon border adjustment mechanism and implementing the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.

Safety, particularly during significant investments such as installing photovoltaic systems, was also highlighted as a major concern.

During discussions on exemplary cases and lessons learned from developed countries, VITAS, WWF Vietnam, SolarEdge Vietnam, LONGi, and HDBank representatives delved deep into green transition in advanced countries, opportunities for Viet Nam and access to green credit for enterprises.

Viet Nam has 7,000 textile and garment companies, 80 per cent of them SMEs, which employ three million workers.

Textile and garment exports have consistently remained among Viet Nam's top four exports, and the country is the third largest global exporter.

In the first ten months of this year, its exports were valued at US$33 billion despite a 12 per cent year-on-year decrease. But the full-year target is 9.2 per cent lower at $40.3 billion.  VNS
SHANGHAI  Vietjet has inaugurated a new route connecting Shanghai with HCM City, facilitating convenient and easy travel needs of both residents and tourists.

The route operates with seven round-trips per week, with a flight time of just over four hours per leg, according to Vietjet.

"With the new routes, flyers can easily travel to Shanghai, Chinas most populous city and one of the four centrally administered municipalities of the second-largest economy in the world," the airline said in a statement.

"The connectivity between HCM City and Shanghai, the city ranked fifth in terms of billionaire number worldwide, will open up more opportunities for the development of high-end products, services, trade connections, and investment attraction," it said.

Meanwhile, HCM City, home to nearly nine million people, is Viet Nams and Southeast Asias prominent economic, cultural and tourist centre. It boasts unique cultural features, a vibrant modern lifestyle, while offering seamless connectivity to a plethora of destinations within Viet Nam and internationally.

Vietjet said it has painted the vibrant HCM City tourism symbol on our aircraft with a message about a friendly, hospitable city that welcomes tourists around the world, the aircraft has operated on all domestic and international routes of the airline.

Vietjet has operated services between Viet Nam and China since 2014 with the first routes facilitating travel for Chinese visitors to popular tourist destinations in Viet Nam, including Nha Trang, a Nang, and Phu Quoc.  VNS
DUBAI  Viet Nam needs international support, financial cooperation, cutting-edge technology and high-quality personnel to serve its green transition, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told a business forum in Dubai on Saturday.

The Vietnam Business Forum, themed Mobilising Resources for the Green Transition, was jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Vietnamese Embassy in the UAE and the Global Wind Energy Council.

It saw the attendance of representatives from the COP28 Organising Committee and nearly 200 leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), international organisations, businesses operating in the fields of energy, manufacturing, finance and banking, and investment funds.

PM Chinh briefed the participants on Viet Nams situation, stressing the country will not trade social progress, equality and welfare, as well as environment for economic growth.

He highlighted that the country is focusing on developing digital economy, green transition, circular economy, knowledge-based economy, and sharing economy, with science, technology and innovation taken as new driving force, and green transition an objective and strategic choice.

Viet Nam will focus efforts on building socio-economic development plans in accordance with its distinct potential, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages, while providing legal support for businesses, removing their obstacles, and protecting their legal and legitimate rights and interests, he pledged.

He used the occasion to call on partners to continue their support for Viet Nams green development in the spirit of "harmonious benefits, shared risks."

At the forum, leaders of international organisations and businesses commended the investment environment in Viet Nam, especially the country's green development strategy, and shared the view that Viet Nam boasts great potential for renewable energy development, especially wind energy.

The delegates engaged in in-depth discussions on accelerating green transition in Viet Nam by optimising its wind power energy potential, and proposed policies and solutions in this regard, including measures to encourage the financial sector to participate in the green transition process and necessary conditions to mobilise large-scale financial funding.

Many cooperation agreements were inked at the forum, covering aviation, carbon credit transactions and carbon emission reduction, and trade collaboration.  VNS
DUBAI  Viet Nam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Friday announced a Resource Mobilisation Plan to implement the political declaration on establishing a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between Viet Nam and the International Partnership Group (IPG), on the occasion of his attending the COP28 in Dubai, the UAE.

The announcement ceremony took place in the presence of President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen, ministers and high-level representatives of many IPG member states including the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, Denmark, the Vice Chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), along with leaders of some international organisations, financial institutions and funds.

In his remarks, the Vietnamese PM affirmed that just energy transition is decisive for Viet Nam to realise its national energy development strategic orientation, with the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and people-centred sustainable development goals. He underlined that Viet Nam has taken drastic and ambitious steps to accelerate the energy transition process.

He particularly highlighted 12 specific actions of Viet Nam, including the building of many strategies, green planning, emission reduction, development of the renewable energy industry, and most recently the implementation of a project to develop 1 million hectares of high-quality rice with low emissions.

The PM asked international partners to prioritise cooperation with Viet Nam in five areas of transformation: developing industrial ecosystems and services for renewable energy, energy transmission and storage, economical and efficient use of energy, green energy transition and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector.

He emphasised the need for a global, people-based approach and international cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit. On that basis, PM Chinh urged relevant parties to quickly reach an agreement to translate the pledged amount of support for Viet Nam worth US$15.5 billion into breakthrough projects, accelerating the just energy transition in Viet Nam and contributing to ensuring a prosperous future for all people, economic growth, self-reliance and energy security of Viet Nam.

Leaders of IPG member countries appreciated Viet Nam's JETP Resource Mobilisation Plan and affirmed their readiness to continue supporting Viet Nam in financing, technology and governance capacity building. They noted that the plan is developed by Viet Nam and is suitable with Viet Nam's needs and situation.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen said that the Resource Mobilization Plan is an important milestone in the implementation of JETP, demonstrating Viet Nam's commitment and leadership in the energy transition, and affirmed that the EU is proud to become Viet Nam's partner in this process.

The UK's Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero emphasised that the Resource Mobilization Plan will not only help Viet Nam achieve its ambitious climate and economic goals, but also provide attractive job opportunities for workers from clean development, leaving no one behind. He affirmed that the UK and partner countries stand behind supporting and supporting Viet Nam, according to Viet Nam's own needs.

The announcement of the Resource Mobilisation Plan is the first step to implement the JETP, contributing to the implementation of Viet Nam's national energy development strategy and the Global Declaration on Coal Power's Transition to Clean Energy.  VNS
DUBAI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Friday had several bilateral meetings with leaders of countries and international organisations as part of his trip to the UAE to attend the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the PM affirmed that Viet Nam always attaches importance to the partnership and comprehensive cooperation between Viet Nam and the European Union (EU). Vietnam wishes the EU and member states will increase support for Viet Nam in finance, technology and human resource training to cope with climate change and energy transition within the framework of the Political Declaration on the JETP.

Chinh conveyed an invitation to visit Viet Nam from Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong to the EC President.

He also asked the EC to push for the approval of the Viet Nam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) by its member countries, and consider the early removal of its yellow card over IUU for Viet Nam's fishery products taking into account Viet Nam's resolve and efforts to implement ECs recommendations on sustainable fishery development.

The EC President affirmed that Viet Nam is an important partner of the EU and the EC, and welcomed the close cooperation between the two sides, typically the implementation of JETP. She highly appreciated Viet Nam's efforts in implementing the EC's recommendations on IUU and hoped that the issue would be resolved soon.

The two sides agreed to promote close cooperation at regional and international forums.



At his meeting with Hungarian President Katalin Novak, PM Chinh proposed that the two countries further promote cooperation, particularly in economy-trade-investment and market opening, given the large room and potential for collaboration.

He also sought Hungarys support in pushing for the approval of EVIPA by EU member countries and the early removal of ECs yellow card on Viet Nam's fishery products, as well as for the stance of ASEAN and Viet Nam on the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) issue.

President Novak stressed that Hungary values the role and position of Viet Nam in general and the Vietnamese community in Hungary in particular. She affirmed Hungarys commitment to continue granting scholarships for Vietnamese students.

The President said she hopes to early visit Viet Nam and Hungary also looks forward to welcoming the Vietnamese Prime Minister to visit Hungary in 2024.

The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, local cooperation and people-to-people exchange to help deepen bilateral ties.

In another meeting, PM Chinh and Indonesian President Joko Widodo reached consensus on continued cooperation and stance coordination in ASEAN and international forums, including those on climate change response and energy transition.

In a dialogue with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, PM Chinh affirmed that Viet Nam attaches importance to cooperation with the country, which is an important partner of Viet Nam in Northern Europe.

President Niniisto said Viet Nam is a potential partner of Finland in Southeast Asia, and noted his hope that the two countries will strengthen cooperation, particularly in green transition, renewable energy and climate change response.

The two leaders agreed to promote cooperation in trade and investment, and make the best use of the Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement to raise bilateral trade turnover on a par with their potential.

Also on December 1, PM Chinh and his spouse met with staff members of the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives from the Vietnamese community in the UAE.

There are nearly 5,000 Vietnamese living and working in the UAE.  VNS
ONG NAI  ong Nai Province is expanding the development of organic agriculture to meet market requirements and improve product value.

The southeast province has advantages for developing agricultural production as it has more than 270,000ha of farmland and diversified plants and animals.

It has identified the development of organic agriculture, in combination with processing and outlet for agricultural produce, as one of its four breakthrough missions in 2021-25.

It has implemented projects and programmes of developing organic agriculture to increase organic farming areas and diversify organic produce.

It has advocated developing organic farming for orchards, vegetables and other crops, and taught organic farming methods to farmers.

Trang Bom District has successfully established exemplary organic orchards and encouraged farmers to develop more such orchards.

Nguyen Trong Y in ong Hoa Commune was one of the first three farmers in Trang Bom to develop an exemplary organic orchard for his 17ha of grapefruit.

He plants the fruit under organic farming methods and uses automatic irrigation facilities and organic fertiliser, techniques that help him to reduce production costs by 20 per cent compared to traditional farming methods, he said.

Last year, he earned an income of VN1.2 billion (US$49,600) from the orchard, and many local farmers have visited his orchard to learn the model, he said.

After applying organic farming, I saw it has many benefits. The first benefit is for the grower, the second benefit is for consumers and the third benefit is the soil of the orchard, as it is not barren and infertile like previously, he said.

Tran Khac Duong, Vice Chairman of the ong Hoa Commune Peoples Committee, said: We will continue developing exemplary orchards in the commune. The commune has some orchards which meet the requirements of exemplary orchards.

Trang Bom aims to have at least one exemplary orchard in each commune and town.

The district has issued criteria for developing exemplary orchards such as their scale, application of advanced farming techniques and income.

In Xuan Loc District, farmers have applied advanced techniques in growing rice and participated in co-operatives to apply mechanisation and produce rice on a large scale.

Many co-operatives in the district have used machines for all rice cultivation stages from tilling, harvesting and preservation.

Cooperative members in the district have applied organic farming methods to grow rice and reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

ST24, one of the world's best strains of rice, is planted in the district, has been granted a trademark certificate and is popularly sold in the domestic market.

In Vinh Cuu District, 1ha of vegetables and 15ha of fruits have been granted organic certificates and 238ha of plants are grown under organic farming methods.

Nguyen Tran Phuoc Loc, head of the Vinh Cuu Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, said more farmers in the district have focused on organic farming.

However, the provinces organic agriculture has difficulties such as small farming scale and a lack of unified organic farming processes.

The province now has only 25.3ha of pepper, durian and vegetables granted organic certificates.

It has approved a project to develop organic agriculture in 2021-30, to have 1,322ha of crops planted under organic methods in 2025 and 4,400ha in 2030.

The project also aims to develop 200ha of organic aquaculture and develop organic animal husbandry for 290 cattle, 1,700 pigs and 100,000 poultry in 2025.

To develop organic agriculture, the province will develop human resources for organic agriculture, instruct farmers on organic farming methods, build brand names for organic produce and linkages among stakeholders in producing and selling organic produce, implement trade promotion and expand markets for organic produce.

The province has zoned eight concentrated organic farming areas with a total of 19,000ha and identified 23 areas that meet requirements of developing organic agriculture.

Nguyen Van Thang, deputy director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the department will develop linkages among stakeholders in producing and selling organic produce.

He said that the department will prioritise developing infrastructure for concentrated organic farming areas, brand names and trademarks for organic products, trade promotion activities, digital transformation in managing and tracing the origin of organic produce and e-commerce.

ong Nai has preferential policies to attract investment in organic agriculture to 2030, including a subsidy of up to VN300 million ($12,400) for the cost of applying for identifying farming area that meets organic farming requirements.

It also gives organic produce producers one-time financial support worth VN9-25 million ($340-1,000) per hectare to buy organic fertiliser for growing durian, mango, grapefruit, honeydew melon, rambutan, pepper, cacao, vegetables, cashew and rice.

Organic animal breeders are given one-time support of VN8 million ($330) for breeding pigs and VN5 million ($200) for breeding chickens.

The province also gives organic produce producers a subsidy of up to VN300 million ($12,400) for the cost of applying for organic certificates.  VNS
By Ollie Arci *

An initiative by the UK-based charity Facing the World is giving new hope to patients with severe facial deformities in Viet Nam.

The organisation is facilitating partnerships between British surgeons and local Vietnamese doctors to share expertise and transform the lives of patients in need.

"Our opportunity to cooperate with experts from the UK has opened many new things to serve our patients better and better," said Dr. ao Van Giang of Viet uc University Hospital's maxillofacial department.

"They have helped us in professional fields like diagnosis, and ways to treat problems in operations."

Continuing their commitment to the country, the project is just the latest by Facing the World and CEO Katrin Kandel, who have previously helped bring world-leading surgeons to Viet Nam to perform complex surgeries on children.

This time, the visiting surgeons are training their Vietnamese counterparts on the latest techniques and approaches for complex maxillofacial cases.

"It's important that as surgeons we make sure that we train the next generation of surgeons. If I don't teach, and if my colleagues don't teach...there's no one to take over from us. So information has to be cascaded down from generation to generation," said Michael Perry, a consultant maxillofacial surgeon from Northwick Park Hospital in London who is working with the programme.

In return, the British surgeons are also taking home some new experiences. No surgeon knows everything. There's things where I have little areas of expertise and areas I have no expertise. And by meeting other surgeons, I learn from them, and hopefully they learn from me, Perry said.

Together, they have worked on highly complex surgeries, fixing serious facial trauma for patients like 20-year-old Nguyen Tien Phong.

"Before the operation, my left eye was in a hollow position, which resulted in double-blurred images. My forehead is also hollow. I had an accident and got my forehead bone, my cheekbones, and my eye socket broken," said Phong.

"I think Im very lucky to have such a successful operation. It opens a new page in my life. Im more confident in communicating with others."

His mother Le Thi Phuong also expressed relief at her son finally receiving the care he needed. "My son was unlucky to have an accident. He fell and had half of his face broken. He underwent two operations but they all failed. Here, Doctor Giang did the surgery and put his eye back to the original place."

Through these collaborative efforts, more patients like 12-year-old Nguyen Viet Kim Ngan are getting a second chance at life.

"I had half of my face swollen. I had no difficulties in daily life but I did not have enough confidence. I used to wear a mask everywhere except my home," said Ngan. "After the operation, my face looks better than before. I feel happy and self-confident."

Her mother Nguyen Thi Thu Hang added: "Before, my daughter led a quiet life. She was often not confident enough. Now she has a chance to gain back her self-confidence. My family is happy now."

Without the visiting experts, complex cases could not be treated properly in Viet Nam. "She is lucky to have foreign experts here. Because her disease is complicated, doctors said if the foreign experts come, they can treat it more properly," said Hang.

The success of the initiative is thanks in large part to the support of Facing the World and facilitator Katrin Kandel.

Surgeon Michael Perry said: "The initial Vietnamese doctors coming to visit us, and then me, myself, coming out here, has been arranged through a charity called Facing the World, which I've worked very closely with a lady called Katrin Kandel."

As the collaborative project starts wrapping up, the bonds built between British and Vietnamese medical professionals ensure the lifesaving work will carry on.

When I go home, I'm going to recommend to my colleagues that we look to send one of our juniors here, one of our trainees here. I've learnt a lot. They would definitely learn a lot just by seeing things. That's part of an educational exchange, Perry said.

With shared knowledge and practices in place, more patients with facial deformities can look forward to the possibility of a brighter future. VNS

* Additional reporting Minh Phuong and Le Huong

---------------------

Building local expertise in life-saving techniques

As part of Facing the World's recent education exchange programme, operations have been carried out at Ha Noi's Viet uc, 108 Central Military and Hong Ngoc hospitals which are partners of the UK-based charity in Viet Nam.

Led by top craniofacial surgeon Professor Mike Perry, the mission lasted for two weeks, integrating foreign and Vietnamese surgeons for multidisciplinary team-building and providing training for local doctors treating children with craniofacial defects.

Voluntary CEO of FTW, Katrin Kandel, said the mission is the second this year and the 33rd since FTW first sent international medics to Viet Nam to join local doctors in 2008.

Facing the World has facilitated thousands of craniofacial surgeries and dozens of doctor training fellowships in Viet Nam. Over the next five years, it aims to enable 40,000 more operations performed by Vietnamese doctors and send 200 more abroad for training, while donating vital medical and surgical equipment.
The operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train line says five passengers complained of sore eyes and throats after an aerosol was released inside a train car.

Police are looking into the possibility that a passenger may have accidentally sprayed bear repellant when moving baggage.

Central Japan Railway Company says the incident occurred on the Hikari No. 518 headed for Tokyo on Saturday at around 7:15 p.m.

The company says an emergency button was pressed at Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Fire department officials say five women between the ages of 7 and 32 had minor symptoms, and two were treated at hospital.

The incident prompted ambulances and fire engines to rush to Hamamatsu Station, where a command post was set up in front of the ticket gate.

The Shinkansen train operator asked all 770 passengers to change trains.

Based on eyewitness information, police suspect that a passenger may have accidentally released bear repellant spray after returning from a mountain trip and boarding the train at Hamamatsu Station.

The incident has caused delays in some other services on the Tokaido Shinkansen line.
HA NOI  Both the Government and Prime Minister have issued many mechanisms, policies and solutions to fight against smuggling, trade fraud, production and trading of counterfeit and substandard goods, including digital technology solutions.

The project on anti-counterfeiting and consumer protection in e-commerce until 2025 was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 319/Q-TTg on March 29, 2023.

It aims to perfect the system of policies and laws on inspection and handling of administrative violations on standards, measurement, quality of products goods, and labels in e-commerce activities; complete the system of national standards and national technical regulations on product and goods quality; promote activities to apply codes, barcodes and trace the origin of products and goods.

In addition to sanctions in legal documents related to anti-counterfeit and counterfeit goods, the application of digital technology into the process of buying and selling goods is believed to become a "lifesaver" for Vietnamese businesses.

Nguyen uc Le, deputy director of the Professional Skill Division, under the Viet Nam Directorate of Market Surveillance, said many suspects were found to take advantage of loopholes in the internet to trade counterfeit, banned and smuggled goods, affecting the business environment of enterprises, causing loss of revenue for the tax sector as well as loss of consumer confidence.

He said that making anti-counterfeit stamps one of the anti-counterfeit technology solutions was an effective solution so far.

Currently, many new modern technologies have been applied by businesses and authorities in order to actively fight against counterfeit goods.

Bui Minh Cuong, director of the Science and Technics Publishing House under the Ministry of Science and Technology, said the publishing house had coordinated with many companies to produce anti-counterfeit smart stamps, certified by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The publishing house was also working with agencies to produce anti-counterfeit stamps in cyberspace, which was expected to be deployed from the beginning of 2025. All e-publications of the publisher would be able to combat pirated and fake books in cyberspace in the near future, he said.

At the National Numbering and Barcodes Centre under the science and technology ministry, the National Product Traceability Information Portal has been operated.

It is considered an important solution that contributes to ensuring the safety and quality of products, thus enhancing the competitiveness of businesses, protecting the rights of consumers and helping to build a transparent and sustainable economy in terms of traceability of goods origin.

Tran Van Viet, head of the centres International Cooperation Office said that the portal played the role of connecting independent traceability systems.

When consumers scanned, the portal would link traceability data together to provide consumers with a preliminary picture of the product through steps such as production stage and transportation to the customers, he said.

Bui Ba Chinh, deputy director of the centre, said the centre was assigned as the focal unit to implement Decision No. 100/Q-TTg of the Prime Minister on deploying, applying and managing the origin traceability system.

It worked with solution providers to establish the portal. The portal, which connected State management systems of ministries, sectors and localities nationwide, was scheduled to link with origin traceability systems around the world in the coming time so that domestic and imported goods can have the most transparent information of origin, he said.

Chinh also added that the portal had gained acceptance from authorised agencies since November 2022. It already connected with two localities of Yen Bai and Soc Trang. It was set to connect with an additional of six provinces and cities across the country soon.

Currently, the portal has database of more than 4,000 products, mostly foods and functional foods. People can scan the code on the portal to get product information. The centre has issued 70,000 business codes.

After being granted the codes, the businesses proactively generated trade codes for their products.

If we applied the tools of codes, barcodes and other similar identification tools during the product creation process, the digitalisation process of the entire product chain would be fully and more easily implemented, he said.

According to Chinh, after digitised product information was posted to the portal, systems of ministries, sectors, localities and other e-commerce sites, the product information would be easily accessible by authorities as well as people.

Therefore, digitisation and information transparency were truly an effective tool to fight against fake, counterfeit, and substandard goods.

If the process of digitisation and information transparency was carried out actively, it would be one of the most fundamental, long-term and sustainable solutions for businesses to fight against counterfeit, fake and substandard goods.

Besides, consumers need to be equipped with more knowledge to choose products with clear origins.

The easier, more transparent and verifiable the information is to access, the lower the probability of damage from fake, counterfeit or poor quality goods, he said.

Businesses should be more aware of digitalisation to protect their own brands and coordinate with other authorities and the consumer community to join hands in the fight against counterfeit goods, according to the official.  VNS
DUBAI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on the international community to strengthen solidarity, take drastic and effective actions, and make greater efforts for the prosperous development of humankind while addressing the World Climate Action Summit within the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the UAE, on Saturday.

The Vietnamese leader expressed his concern over the increasingly serious impacts of climate change amid the big gap between climate commitments and actions, and dispersed resources for climate change response due to competition, separation, war and conflict.

He, therefore, emphasised that the motto of "putting words into action, delivering on commitments" is the key to consolidating trust between countries and breaking deadlocks in climate negotiations.

Climate change is a global issue, an issue of all people, he said, stressing that to effectively respond to the problem, a new, proactive, practical and more effective mindset and approach are needed along with concerted, global actions.

Each country should maximise its intrinsic strengths and stay united and cooperate with the international community in the combat, PM Chinh said, emphasising the importance of multilateralism, putting people and global interests at the centre, and not leaving any nation and citizen behind.

He pointed to the need to diversify the mobilisation of resources in response to climate change, combine public and private sectors, internal and external and bilateral and multilateral resources as well as other legal resources, especially private resources.

The Vietnamese PM called on developed countries to increase support for developing and underdeveloped nations, particularly in capital, technology, governance, and institutions. Meanwhile, he said, developing and underdeveloped countries must make greater efforts in the spirit that no one can do better for them than themselves.

He highlighted fairness and justice in climate action, and the need to ensure self-reliance, national energy security and access to clean energy for all businesses and people.

According to the leader, since COP26 which took place in the UK in 2021, Viet Nam has simultaneously rolled out three groups of solutions. First of all, the country has built and implemented plans such as the climate change response strategy, the green growth strategy, the National Power Development Plan VIII, developing the renewable energy industry, and building a renewable energy ecosystem.

Second, the country has implemented the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), established a secretariat and announced the implementation plan and the Resource Mobilisation Plan for the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), and launched a plan to develop one million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice-growing areas.

The third group of solutions focus on institutional building, for example the Law on Oil and Gas, the Land Law, the Electricity Law.

The speech of PM Chinh was applauded by high-ranking leaders of many countries and international organisations who affirmed their readiness to cooperate, support and accompany Viet Nam to achieve its climate and socio-economic goals.

The same day, the Vietnamese Government leader attended at a forum on acceleration of coal power transition chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron in the framework of COP 28. Addressing the forum, PM Chinh highlighted that it is time to shift to a cleaner energy even though Viet Nam and many other developing countries could not deny the role of coal-fired electricity.

Energy transition is an objective requirement of strategic benefits and a top priority of all countries, he said, stressing that however, the process should ensure the targets of economic development, national energy security, and job generation and it should not create any shocks for workers.

Viet Nam will work to complete institutions, legal frameworks and policies to shift to renewable energy with a roadmap and steps suitable with the country's situation, along with evaluating and handling impacts of energy transition, mobilising finance and bolstering public-private and international cooperation to accelerate the process, he stressed.

PM Chinh took the occasion to thank G7 countries, including France, and other international partners for supporting Viet Nam during the energy transition process, especially through the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), making contributions to the global green transition efforts.

He also asked international partners to enhance assistance for Viet Nam in terms of preferential financing, advanced technologies, high-quality human resources training, and building of smart management systems.

Leaders of France, the European Commission, the US and international organisations welcomed Viet Nams commitment and efforts, and affirmed they will accompany the Southeast Asian country in the energy transition process in the interests of the country and the world as a whole.

They laid stress on the necessity to reduce dependence on coal for electricity generation, push forward energy transition and develop renewable energy, while noting that developing countries should not be required to choose between energy transition and economic development.

They affirmed that they will build effective tools to support and accelerate the process.  VNS
In July, Hyosung Vietnam Co., Ltd. was greenlit to invest in the carbon fibre plant project based in Phu My 2 Industrial Park, Phu My Town, with a planned mobilised capital reaching $540 million, with approximately $120 million earmarked for phase 1 alone.

The chemical production plant of Hyosung Vina Chemicals Co., Ltd. in Phu My town

Kim Kyung Hoan, general director of Hyosung Vietnam, stated that the carbon fibre and material production plant is the first of this kind in Vietnam, with a designed capacity of 4,800 tons per year in phase 1.

The plant is slated for completion and to come on stream from February 2025.

We have received active support from local management authorities. As of now, our company is carrying out relevant procedures for the project, such as construction, environmental protection, and fire prevention, to be able to soon commence the project, said the general director.

We hope that the provincial management continues to accompany us, creating better conditions for the project to start on schedule, contributing to the overall development of the province, Kim noted.

Hyosung's carbon fibre plant is among the largest foreign-invested projects in Ba Ria-Vung Tau in 2023.

In October alone, the province hailed five projects with a total registered capital reaching $594 million, pushing the total number of foreign-invested projects in the first 10 months of this year to 20 valued more than $750 million in total registered capital, equal to a 2.78-fold increase compared to 2022 amid numerous headwinds in both domestic and global markets.

Driving force

With the significant increase in FDI in the province in 2023, up to now, the province is home to 457 foreign initiatives with a total registered capital surpassing $31.4 billion.

Among them, 284 projects are based in local industrial parks (IPs) with a total capital of $13.7 billion, and 173 projects are outside IPs with a total registered capital approximating $17.7 billion.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau is also well-prepared in land and infrastructure to greet foreign investors

FDI has become a driving force in promoting the provinces development. This is a testament to the province's appeal to foreign businesses, leveraging vigorous and coordinated implementation of various solutions.

The province has focused on innovating its governance and organisation to propel administrative reform, especially enhancing the role and responsibility of leaders in various agencies and units.

In addition to maintaining good performance in existing indicators, the province particularly emphasises clearing bottlenecks in the mechanisms, conducting a comprehensive review, and simplifying administrative procedures in investment activities to facilitate businesses.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau prioritises creating the most better conditions for investors

Concerted efforts have been taken to engage the entire political system in improving indices, such as the Provincial Competitiveness Index.

According to Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, the provinces management consistently makes efforts to accompany businesses with the principle that the success of businesses is the success of the provincial government.

Concerted efforts have been taken to engage the entire political system in improving indices, such as the Provincial Competitiveness Index.

The provincial People's Committee has established a special taskforce to receive suggestions from businesses and investors in the province, addressing difficulties and providing effective support in a timely manner. Preparations also involve with land, infrastructure, and a high-quality workforce.

As of now, local IPs are having available clean land to serve investors. The provincial leaders have also instructed relevant departments and localities to reassess the potential in industrial clusters, zones, and commercial land to attract new investors both domestically and internationally.

Developing the transport infrastructure to connect the regions is also set a priority. As such, a series of key projects such as the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway, coastal road 994, or Phuoc An bridge are actively under construction and gradually taking shape.

In early November, during a meeting between provincial leaders and investors, businesses, the provincial leaders demanded that any difficulties or obstacles faced by investors and businesses be promptly resolved.

Issues that cannot be immediately resolved should be urgently studied and reported to the competent authorities for timely, flexible, and effective handling.

We are committed to supporting businesses and investors in the swift manner to ensure convenient implementation of their projects. We will continue to streamline procedures to make Ba Ria-Vung Tau truly a place to invest with large and compelling projects, contributing to the development of the province and the southeast region, Tho said at the meeting.

Vietnamese, Thai localities and businesses boost cooperative ties A conference to boost trade cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand as well as between Quang Tri and Thai localities was held in the central province of Quang Tri from August 3-4.

Localities set sights on foreign-invested project windfalls Leaders of various cities and provinces are putting all hands on deck for the goal of luring in large-scale investors in high-tech and green industries.
As a result, many businesses in Vietnam, particularly in sectors such as real estate, consumer manufacturing and hospitality, find themselves facing liquidity challenges and unsustainable capital structures.

Repairing balance sheet to return to profitable growth (illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com)

KPMGs Financial Performance Index suggests that Vietnams distress levels in Q4 of last year exceeded levels observed in the early stages of the recent pandemic, albeit with some initial positive indicators in 2023 to date. As a growth market, Vietnams overall economy has historically shown less significant signs of distress than the global economy, although this year has proven exceptionally challenging.

Businesses must now act decisively to recover, creating adaptive strategies that protect operations and forge pathways back to sustainable growth. One such strategy involves the adept management of working capital, an approach that offers substantial benefits at minimal funding costs.

At its core, optimising working capital leads to cash release and more streamlined operations. Vietnams public listed companies have typically maintained around 100-120 days of cash tied up in working capital. Especially in the current economic downturn, businesses need additional liquidity to fund daily operations, debt repayments and internal reorganisations.

Working capital optimisation involves improving receivables, payables and inventories management. Standardising procurement processes, for instance, could lead to cash release in the payables cycle. Similarly, accounts receivable optimisation could include minimising overdue receivables, installing robust dunning processes and improving billing processes.

Yet, the key lies not just in the implementation of these strategies but also in their constant vigilance and re-assessment. Regular monitoring of individual working capital components is paramount. Implementing SKU-level reporting, for instance, facilitates the identification of slow-moving inventory items, enabling timely adjustments and informed procurement plans.

Even without a dedicated management information system, businesses can harness available office software or deploy reporting platforms through Business Intelligence tools. These practices, however, necessitate a corporate culture that places liquidity at its core.

In tandem with getting a grip on working capital, it is crucial for businesses to review their financing arrangements, particularly when facing severe financial distress. In many cases, a financial restructuring plan may be required to help the business navigate uncertain times.

The first step towards achieving a successful financial restructuring is assessing the short-term cash flow forecast to ascertain the ability to sustain operations for at least three months, to be maintained on a rolling weekly basis. The subsequent debt restructuring involves rearranging the companys outstanding debts to reduce near-term financial pressure and reinstate stability. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution; rather, it is about tailoring the strategy to the specific financial needs and goals of the business.

Through financial restructuring, companies aim to ensure that their new capital structure can be sustained by future expected cash flows, considering that cash flow projections may have drastically altered due to the events causing financial distress.

Debt restructuring must always be accompanied by a review of the asset portfolio, ensuring that investments are channelled into core business segments. Fix-sell-close considerations typically come into play at this junction, whereby the company considers whether it can turn around any of its underperforming business units; or alternatively, sell or close these based on the potential value realisation, ease of implementation and time required to execute each available option.

Corporate financial leverage for public companies, as indicated by the net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) ratio, is currently at levels similar to early 2020, indicating that companies are weathering the prevailing storm with leveraged balance sheets. This reinforces the burning platform for timely and transparent conversations with lenders and other stakeholders.

In the dynamic landscape of contemporary business, challenges are not isolated obstacles but integral components of an ever-evolving ecosystem. However, businesses are not merely passive reactors to challenges. They are active participants on a transformative journey. Proactively addressing challenges is the crucible of growth and resilience. It is not just about weathering storms; it is about using each challenge as a steppingstone for transformation.

This proactive stance allows businesses not only to navigate uncertainties adeptly, but also to secure and fortify their market positions. Challenges become the impetus for innovation, efficiency, and strategic recalibration.

Vietnam embraces green growth in its sustainable development strategy for 2023 At the Sustainable Development 2023 seminar, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong outlined Vietnam's commitment to green growth and sustainable development, highlighting the challenges and strategies in the new era.

Vietnam shows outstanding Q3 growth Following its recent impressive economic progress, Vietnam has featured in the Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) report for the third quarter of 2023 by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Climate tech startups a catalyst for Vietnams net-zero future I remember landing in Hanoi for the first time in early 2010, impressed by endless streams of motorbikes. As a practitioner pursuing sustainable development, I thought about the emissions fuming out of the many vehicles. Over a decade passed, and when I landed again in Hanoi a few months ago, I still found myself surrounded by swarms of motorbikes. But things are about to change.

M&A arena expects growth next year Due to an unstable global economy, the merger and acquisition market will face many challenges in 2024, but there will still be great opportunities in several sectors, according to experts.

(*) By: Tim Kramer, Director and head, Turnaround and Restructuring,

Tran Ngoc Mai, Manager Turnaround and Restructuring and

Pham Hong Van, Senior Turnaround and Restructuring KPMG in Vietnam
These events offer a window into the day-to-day running of a school, providing invaluable insights into your child's potential educational journey. Therefore, investing time to attend open days is essential for a number of reasons.

Open houses provide parents with an immersive experience to gauge the school's compatibility with their family values and expectations, foster connections with teachers and other families, and equip them with the necessary information to make informed decisions.

At the heart of ISHCMC are passionate educators who play a crucial role in shaping the educational journey of their students.

These events are an opportunity to gain insights into the child's future academic environment. By attending, parents can make better decisions that will support their child's success in school and beyond. It also ensures a holistic understanding of the educational landscape, which helps to foster a smooth transition.

A morning filled with insights

The International School Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC) understands the weight of this decision and is thrilled to extend a warm invitation to its Open House on December 13, running from 8am-11am.

This event will allow attendees to join mini-lessons led by our passionate and dedicated teachers, Kelly and Jade, take part in a campus tour led by the ISHCMC admissions team to provide a first-hand glimpse into the dynamic learning environment that awaits your child, and meet our leadership team to gather detailed insights into the school's curriculum, extracurricular activities, and any other aspects of ISHCMC in a Q&A session.

A mini-lesson in reading by Kelly and phonics by Jade in the Art Room and Library

At the heart of ISHCMC are passionate educators who play a crucial role in shaping the educational journey of their students.

Two remarkable teachers, Kelly and Jade, will lead the in-classroom experiences during the open house.

Reading by Kelly: Dive into a world of literacy with Kelly. Her approach is rooted in creating a peaceful, tolerant, fun, and productive learning environment for children of all backgrounds and abilities.

Her goal is to provide a safe space where children can explore, learn, and grow. Through engaging discussions and encouraging questions, Kelly aims to foster a love for learning that extends beyond the classroom.

Phonics by Jade: Jade is a dedicated early-years teacher known for her passion and enthusiasm.

She takes pride in recognising each child as an individual with unique needs and strengths.

Jade's goal is to provide students with authentic, meaningful, and inquiry-based experiences. Creating a safe environment where children feel free to explore and learn is central to her teaching philosophy.

Campus Tour (Primary Campus)

Embark on a guided tour led by the ISHCMC Admissions team, exploring the state-of-the-art facilities, vibrant classrooms, and specialised learning spaces.

This is a hands-on opportunity to witness the dynamic learning environment that awaits your child at ISHCMC.

Q&A Session (Art Room and Library)

Engage with the ISHCMC leadership team and admissions staff in a lively Q&A session. This is your chance to gather detailed insights into the curriculum, extracurricular activities, and any aspect of the ISHCMC experience that piques your interest.

The ISHCMC Primary Open House is more than an event; it's an opportunity to envision the educational journey that awaits your child.

Register today and experience ISHCMC Primary on December 13 for a morning filled with insights, engagement, and the promise of unlocking the door to a world of learning at ISHCMC Primary.

Don't miss out, reserve your spot today. To register for the Open House, click here.

Contact us

Phone +84 (28) 3898 9100 Email admissions@ishcmc.edu.vn Location Primary Campus, 28 Vo Truong Toan St., An Phu, Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City

Unlocking the potential of Vietnamese medicinal herbs Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) shows that exports of cinnamon and star anise have increased steadily over the past few years, reaching a value of $276 million last year. However, this figure remains modest when compared to the overall global market, as the cost of production, storage, and transportation remain major obstacles for local businesses when exporting medicinal herbs.

SLP delves into unlocking the potential of Vietnam's logistics industry On the sidelines of the Logistics Summit 2023, Edwin Chee, COO of SEA Logistics Partners (SLP) Vietnam, spoke to VIR's Thanh Van about the company's investment in the nation and how to unlock the potential of its logistics industry.
In communities throughout Texas, the veterinarian serves as the cog of livestock and animal care, yet many rural areas are experiencing a historical lack of veterinary service.

A collaborative pilot effort between the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases and the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is underway to enhance recruitment of veterinarians to critically underserved areas of Texas.

The three-year project is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture  National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant.

What we are trying to do is create a community template of recruiting (options) intended for use by communities that need a veterinarian and want to help attract one to their area, said Dee Ellis, DVM, Texas A&M AgriLife Research veterinarian and part of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology.

For example, if a church wants to recruit a preacher, they often offer them a place to live. So, the question we are trying to answer is, What can communities offer to veterinarians as incentives for them to relocate to their town?

Community template project

Ellis is joined by project co-members Dan Posey, DVM, clinical professor at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences who leads outreach efforts within the schools Veterinary Education, Research and Outreach initiative in Canyon, and Jennifer Schleining, DVM, Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, ACVS-LA, head of the Department of Large Animal Clinic Sciences at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

The ultimate goal of this grant is to help communities help themselves and be able to attract, recruit and retain veterinarians, Schleining said. In a lot of small communities, the veterinarian is also highly involved in driving the economy and is seen as a leader. So, its really an important part of the whole community atmosphere to have a veterinarian located there. Were thankful to the USDA for recognizing that this is a much larger issue than just training and that theyre giving us the tools to be able to address it from a multifaceted approach.

The community template project will not replace the supplemental loan repayment programs already in place, Ellis said.

Texas currently has both state and federally funded programs to help repay part of a veterinarians student loan debt if they relocate to an underserved area, Ellis said.

In the federal program, the Texas Animal Health Commission, with industry input, selects the areas each year that are designated as underserved and then USDA reviews the applications of veterinarians to see who will actually receive a loan repayment stipend.

Ellis said the template project is intended for small towns or communities that need a veterinarian but also could be used by agribusinesses or other stakeholders looking to recruit veterinarians into historically underserved parts of Texas. It could also help in food animal sectors, which also struggle to recruit veterinarians due to the shortage of large animal practitioners.

Beyond salary, the project could explore other areas of attraction, such as good schools, recreational opportunities, cultural or well-being environments, and peer or mentorship interactions.

This embraces the it takes a village mindset to recruit veterinarians to historically underserved areas, Ellis said. Its not just about a community providing housing or inexpensive locations for a clinic to set up at an industrial park, but how can the community work with the veterinary professionals and local agribusiness to offer a desirable environment for a veterinarian to relocate to.

Retention in a small town

Its also not just about moving to a small town; its about staying in a small town long term, Ellis said.

Retention of newly located veterinarians is a big issue facing many rural communities that needs to be addressed. Processes helping to repay student loans may get a veterinarian to a rural location, but the real question is How do you keep them there long term? Ellis said.

When you look at the rural dilemma, there are rural towns that are getting smaller, but there are also rural towns that are getting bigger, Posey said. Part of what we aim to find out is why.

By doing this work, we can see why some rural communities, like Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, thrive and others dont. Once weve identified these things, well make a toolbox to help rural areas that are shrinking start thriving again so that they can attract veterinarians. The toolbox will serve as a blueprint to help build stronger attractions for young professionals to rural areas.

Posey said when he and the fellow researchers looked at the many ways to solve the problem, which has been on-going for the duration of my 21 years teaching veterinary medicine, it was really clear that the next logical step is to help rural communities develop and grow in a way that attracts young professionals.

To be part of such a project is an honor, because it means were part of the solution, he said.

Schleining said the grant emphasizes the core tenets of the land-grant university  service and commitment.

One of the things that drew me to Texas A&M was service, Schleining said. This grant really gets to the heart of service and our commitment as a land-grant university. Its really fun to work with people to address a problem that weve been talking about in the veterinary profession for 20 years. This project is a very meaningful way to make a positive difference both in the field of veterinary medicine and in the communities that need veterinary care most.
A 20-year-old man faced an angry judge in a contempt of court hearing Friday after he skipped an entire murder trial, having been selected as a juror Monday and not returning for any portion of the trial that wrapped up Thursday afternoon.

Grow up! Judge Thomas West of Wacos 19th State District Court told Bryan Dominguez, 20, of McGregor. When I told you Monday afternoon to return Tuesday morning for the trial, that was an order. I could send you to jail right now for six months and fine you $500 right now, without a lawyer and without another hearing.

Dominguez told the judge he just didnt feel comfortable serving as a juror on the murder trial of Courtney ONeil Washington, 29, of Waco. The rest of the jury sentenced Washington on Thursday to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering Larry Bryant Jr., 50, of Waco, on July 13, 2020, in a garage apartment in the 2600 block of Sanger Avenue.

You had an opportunity to say that to the prosecutors and the defense attorneys when they questioned you during voir dire (jury selection), West upbraided Dominguez. If you have a reason why you cant do something, stand up like a man and say so. This is the real world and you are an adult. Act like it.

The judge told Dominguez he was lucky there was an alternate juror selected, because if there had not been, Dominguez would have wasted the time of 65 people on Monday who participated in jury selection and all the witnesses who had been scheduled to testify and the lawyers who had spent weeks preparing to try the case.

It also would have resulted in a third mistrial for Washington.

Prior to Thursdays sentence of 20 years, Washington had two previous mistrials. West called the first in June when evidence returned late from a state crime lab and the second in July after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict of guilt or acquittal.

This weeks jury heard from several reluctant witnesses, three of whom came from jail to testify. One said she saw Washington shoot Bryant. Another described the shooter in a way that matched Washington. Two more witnesses described the first person who ran out of the garage apartment after the gunshots as matching Washingtons appearance at the time.

The woman who shared Washingtons apartment at the time, Kristine Hutchins, also the jury Washington said he had killed Bryant the day of the shooting, though she also said she had been on drugs at the time and didnt want to believe her memories.

Defense attorneys Sandy Gately and Nora Farah called the states witnesses unreliable and questioned why police had not investigated anyone else as a suspect who had been in the apartment at the time of Bryants shooting. Gately said the state had relied on liars and drug addicts who had changed their testimony numerous times and no two of them told the same story. Farah asked two Waco detectives repeatedly why they had not investigated a half dozen people she named and others she referred to indirectly.

Washingtons mother, Tiffany Soto, said after the conclusion of proceedings Thursday that Gately and Farah had done great work defending her son.

Washington returned to McLennan County Jail on Thursday to await transfer to a Texas prison. According to Texas law, he will receive credit toward his 20-year sentence for around 41 months served in pre-trial confinement on the murder charge.

Dominguez had entered the courtroom Friday wearing camouflage pattern shorts with large pockets and a dark hoodie jacket with decals resembling a deer, a hunting rifle and the American flag. He walked out with a small smile and declined to be photographed.

West, reprimanding Dominguez sternly but imposing neither fine or nor jail time, concluded the hearing saying, Get out of my courtroom!
A south Lincoln house fire early Thursday morning left two dogs dead and one man in serious condition, but the incident could have been worse had it not been for the swift action of two Nebraska State Patrol officers.

Steve Creps, a Nebraska State Patrol capitol security officer, was on patrol at the Nebraska Department of Transportation campus near 14th Street and Nebraska Parkway at about 3:40 a.m. when he noticed heavy smoke coming from a house nearby. He said he attempted to contact anybody who might be in the home but didn't get a response.

State Trooper Ben Nguyen was also patrolling nearby, and the two managed to break down the door to get inside before Lincoln Fire and Rescue personnel arrived.

When I got there, the smoke was pouring out of the house everywhere it possibly could, Nguyen said. We couldnt breathe, we could hardly see anything.

Creps said inside there was only a couple of feet of visibility in the thick smoke as he and Nguyen crawled on their hands and knees throughout the house. They found a man unconscious and a dog by the kitchen stove and were able to pull both out of the house.

I would think it was definitely mans best friend doing what he could," Creps said of the dog. "He knew he was in trouble.

LFR arrived and provided medical treatment to the man, who was taken to a local hospital with burns to his lower body and smoke inhalation. He was considered to be in critical condition as of Thursday evening, LFR spokesperson MJ Lierman said.

Fire investigators said it appeared as though the fire started because of unattended cooking and the man was able to put out the fire before falling unconscious. The heavy smoke caused about $175,000 in damages to the house, according to LFR.

Firefighters found two dogs that died from smoke inhalation inside the home, and the dog that was rescued is expected to make a full recovery. There were no working smoke detectors in the home, Lierman said.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Creps said he was still trying to process the event.

I think it was just instinct on what shouldve been done, on what was right, said Creps, who has been on the State Patrol security division for nearly two years.

Nguyen, who has been a state trooper for about five years, said he hopes others would do the same thing in their situation.

I wouldnt say its heroic, Nguyen said. We do wear a uniform and a gun and a badge, but that doesnt make us heroes any different than anyone else.

Creps and Nguyen work the night shift and were eager to return to work Thursday evening. They both agreed that had Creps noticed the smoke just a few minutes later, the man's injuries could have been much worse.

Top Journal Star photos for November 2023
As the worlds population continues to age, financial planning has become an increasingly important topic for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada. However, while these neighboring nations share several similarities, they also have distinct differences when it comes to the cost of aging. This article from Debt Relief Canada will explore retirement readiness in the U.S. and Canada, shedding light on the key factors that influence retirees financial well-being, such as tax, healthcare, and pensions. So whether youre nearing retirement age or are just curious, continue reading to find out how the cost of aging compares in each country.

Healthcare

Healthcare is a significant concern for the aging population in the U.S. Despite it being one of the biggest costs an individual faces in retirement, it is primarily funded through private insurance and out-of-pocket expenses. According to the Fidelity Retiree Healthcare Cost Estimate, a typical retired couple has medical expenses of 315,000 U.S. dollars (431,246 Canadian dollars) on medical expenses in 2023. Medicare is available for individuals over the age of 65, but it doesnt cover all expenses, leaving millions of retirees with copayments, deductibles, and premiums. Canadas healthcare system is publicly funded, providing universal coverage to all permanent residents and citizens. But while this ensures access to necessary medical services, it doesnt cover prescription drugs or certain medical devices, so some individuals feel obliged to purchase private insurance or prescription drug coverage through their employer or provincial programs to close the gap.

Long-Term care

The cost of long-term care services, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities, can be expensive in the U.S. Medicare provides limited coverage for short-term stays, but extended long-term care is often paid for through personal savings or insurance, which requires prior planning and preparation. Costs can also vary depending on the location and level of care required. The cost of long-term care in Canada is also costly, but the government tends to provide more financial assistance than its neighbor south of the border. Because individual provinces manage long-term care services, funding levels and eligibility criteria can vary. This means that, while public funding covers a significant portion, individuals may still need to contribute to the total cost of their care. On average, a private care home costs around $8,365 (C$11,451) a month in the U.S. and C$5,000 ($3,652) in Canada.

Retirement income

The U.S. offers various sources of retirement income, including Social Security, pensions, 401(k) plans, and individual retirement accounts. However, Social Security alone rarely allows retirees to maintain their pre-retirement lifestyle so additional savings and investments are often required. In Canada, retirees can access retirement income from the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, employer-sponsored pension plans, and personal savings. The combination of these income sources aims to provide a financial safety net for retirees looking to maintain a similar level of wealth during their golden years. There are several differences between Social Security and CCP, and both pension plans are often compared. For example, while both are government-sponsored retirement income programs, CCP tax rates, income thresholds, and benefits tend to be lower.

Housing

Housing costs can vary widely across the U.S., with high-cost metropolitan areas significantly impacting retirees budgets. Because of this, some seniors choose to downsize or relocate to more affordable regions in the run-up to retirement. Housing costs in Canada are also influenced by location, with major cities like Toronto and Vancouver experiencing stratospheric real estate prices and retirees often feeling compelled to make housing-related decisions that align with their financial goals and long-term plans, such as downsizing, relocating, or remortgaging. However, while it generally costs more to rent in the U.S. than it does in Canada, real estate prices are steeper north of the border. Numbeo, the worlds largest cost-of-living database, cites a 25% difference in the price per square meter to buy an apartment in the city center and a 30% difference for the same property outside of the city center.

Tax

The tax implications of retirement income in the U.S. can be complex, with different income sources subject to federal and state taxes. Because of this, strategic tax planning is not only recommended but crucial to maximize after-tax income. Canadian retirees must also consider tax implications, including the taxation of retirement income, withdrawals from registered savings accounts such as RRSPs, and the use of tax-efficient income-splitting strategies. In both countries, working with a financial advisor or tax professional who specializes in retirement planning can be invaluable. They can help you develop a tax-efficient strategy that aligns with your financial goals and is compliant with changing tax laws. With the right help, support, and guidance, you can take the first step toward a more financially secure retirement.

Lifestyle

The cost of aging isnt solely financial; it also encompasses quality of life and lifestyle choices. For example, retirees in the U.S. often consider factors like climate, cultural amenities, and recreational opportunities when choosing where to spend their retirement. Other major factors that influence retirement location include access to healthcare and proximity to family. So while it may cost more to retire in the U.S., the higher cost can be offset by a greater quality of life. Retirees in Canada tend to prioritize healthcare access, community engagement, and housing affordability when making retirement choices. The desire to be near family and enjoy a comfortable quality of life is paramount in both countries.

Conclusion

The cost of aging in the U.S. and Canada is influenced by various factors, including healthcare expenses, long-term care costs, retirement income sources, housing affordability, taxes, and quality of life. While both countries offer diverse opportunities and challenges for retirees, there are notable differences that can impact your level of financial preparedness. Ultimately, the key to a successful retirement in either country lies in financial planning. By understanding the cost of aging and the available resources in your respective country, you can embark on your retirement journey with greater confidence, security, and peace of mind.

This provided content was produced by Lee Enterprises. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display.
WATERLOO -- People can recognize a loved one as part of the Cedar Valley Hospice Tree of Love fundraiser. With a contribution, they will receive an ornament or magnet.

Contributions support Cedar Valley Hospices work of "Making Each Moment Matter" in our community.

New this year, with the purchase of an ornament, people can place a name, photo and memory on the Tree of Love Tribute Wall on the Cedar Valley Hospice website and then share with family and friends. View the Tribute Wall or purchase ornaments at cvhospice.org.

Tree of Love ornaments are available for pick up at each site location (excluding the Hospice Home). Shipping is also available for $5/ornament. For more information, call Cedar Valley Hospice at (800) 626-2360.
WATERLOO  Robert Lee Williams Jr. said he was just trying to calm down Tony Campbell as they talked.

Williams ended up shooting Campbell in the face.

Williams, 34, of Waterloo, is charged with attempted murder and other offenses in the July 31, 2020, shooting next to the alley behind Williams sisters West Sixth Street house.

Prosecutors said Williams had suspected Campbell of poisoning his brother a month earlier, and Campbell, 39, told jurors he had been merely hanging out with Williams, drinking and doing cocaine, when Williams accused him of harming family members, pointed a gun at his head and fired.

On Friday, jurors got to hear Williams side of the story as he took the stand in his own defense.

Williams said Campbell had approached him while he was outside near his sisters house in the afternoon. After driving to get drugs and alcohol, they returned to West Sixth Street.

Williams said Campbell had been acting aggressive during the encounter, even flashing a pistol and staring Williams in the eye.

Im trying to be cool and cordial, Williams testified.

He said another friend, Patrick Sallis, eventually pulled up, and he overheard Sallis and Campbell talking about Williams brother, who had been in the hospital from a possible poisoning.

Williams said Campbell was becoming agitated, so he offered him a sip from his liquor bottle.

The offer didnt help, and Williams said he sensed something was about to go down.

Campbell said he was tired of talking about what happened to the brother and was going to start shooting, according to Williams account. Williams said he saw Campbell reach for the pistol in his waistband.

Williams said he drew his own pistol.

Hes going toward the gun, Williams said. I shot one time. He was reaching for his weapon to pull it out.

Williams said he continued firing as Campbell ran off to keep him from turning around and returning fire.

I got to protect myself, Williams said.

Assistant County Attorney Brad Walz questioned why Williams didnt tell investigators Campbell was carrying a gun and was about to shoot during a police interview weeks later.

Instead, Williams told police Campbell had harmed his brother and sister, and he admitted to police he had tried to kill Campbell.

On the stand, Williams said he was merely telling police what they wanted to hear and was trying to keep his family from getting in trouble for the shooting.

Walz pointed out that none of Williams relatives were charged in the incident.

After the shooting, Williams said he walked a few blocks to a friends house and later traveled to the St. Louis area.

Jurors began deliberation in the case on Friday afternoon.

Photos: Homicide, Adrian St. Aug. 15, 2020 081820jr-adrian-homicide-1 081620jr-homicide-search-1 081620jr-homicide-search-2 081620jr-homicide-search-3 081620jr-homicide-search-4 040622jr-robbery-trial-2 040622jr-robbery-trial-1 040622jr-robbery-trial-3 040622jr-robbery-trial-4 040622jr-robbery-trial-5 040722jr-robbery-trial-1 040722jr-robbery-trial-3 040822jr-robbery-verdict-1 042023jr-williams-trial-1 042023jr-williams-trial-4 042023jr-williams-trial-3 042023jr-williams-trial-2 042023jr-williams-trial-5 041923jr-williams-trial-2 041923jr-williams-trial-1 041923jr-williams-trial-3 041923jr-williams-trial-4 042123jr-williams-trial-4 042123jr-williams-trial-1 042123jr-williams-trial-2 042123jr-williams-trial-3 042423jr-williams-trial-1 042423jr-williams-trial-2 Robert Lee Williams Jr. verdict 062823jr-williams-sentencing-1 062823jr-williams-sentencing-3 062823jr-williams-sentencing-2
NEW YORK  Justin Ryan Horton has two jobs. When he's not putting in 24-hour shifts as a firefighter, the 22-year-old is working as an administrative assistant for a local community college from his home in Colorado Springs.

Firefighting is, of course, not a work-from-home kind of job. So when the community college position gave Horton the choice to clock in remotely, he took it.

I'm gone a lot being a firefighter, Horton said. Instead of coming home and then seeing my family for a few minutes before leaving to go to my other job ... I feel like I have just more time with (them) when I work from home."

The COVID-19 pandemic upended what working looks like for millions of people all around the world. While many jobs can be done only in person, swaths of employers shuttered their physical doors and moved their workplaces increasingly online.

Workers have since begun to return to the office in waves, at least for part of the week, and navigating that transition is an ongoing and significant hurdle for employers and workers alike. And many simply cannot fathom a return to the pre-COVID status quo, changing how companies approach their staffing needs.

Retaining employees who don't want to work in person is an issue for companies, but relatively few employers (13%) have introduced new incentives that would make employees more satisfied with it, according to a newly released poll conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.

About 3 in 4 human resources representatives say that retaining employees who dont want to work in the office is a problem  including 19% who call it a major problem. Another 54% of HR representatives call it a minor problem. And only about one-third of HR professionals say employees at their workplace are extremely or very happy about returning to the workplace.

Once workers discovered that (remote work could be) less expensive and... make their life a little easier, they just wanted to keep doing it, even once the pandemic began fading away, Marjorie Connelly, senior fellow with NORCs Public Affairs & Media Research department, told The Associated Press.

In both the HR survey and a separate poll of U.S. adults, researchers found that the top factors behind employees desire to work from home include their prioritization of flexibility and work-life balance. Other HR representatives and employees who work from home cite the length and costs of commuting as key.

Those are some of the main reasons that Megan Homis, 33, prefers remote work. As a senior account executive for an advertising and marketing firm in Southern California, Homis goes into the office once a month.

With traffic, its about an hour and 45 minute drive each way into the office," she said. And on top of that, I have two little kids  so just wrangling child care for them with drop off and pick up is a lot.

Homis said the ability to work remotely will continue to be a priority for her down the road. She would consider potentially going into the office more if an employer offered sufficient incentives and support for in-person work, but hasn't seen opportunities that would sway her in that direction yet.

Bill Castellano, a professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, notes that flexibility is key  particularly in giving employees agency for scheduling their work.

Employees really value more of when to do work vs. where to do work, said Castellano, who was not involved in the NORC surveys. He added that this is a key benefit for many remote workers today  and could be duplicated in physical offices with the right policy, such as having flexible start times.

There are some initiatives that could incentivize more employees to work in-person  or at least increase their satisfaction about already going into the office  the poll shows. Most hybrid workers (55%) say paying employees more for their in-office work would provide a lot of encouragement for them to work in-person more often.

Additional pay topped the list across respondents whether they were working in-person, remotely (44%) or in hybrid (50%) roles. However, just 4% of HR representatives whose companies have introduced new policies to get employees back to the workplace say that higher compensation is among them.

Employees who are already going into the office  either entirely or part time  indicated that other incentives such as commuter benefits, in-office child care, free food and social gatherings could also add at least some more satisfaction with returning to the office.

Those in-office perks had less sway among solely remote workers, Connelly noted  particularly social gatherings. For example, I work hundreds of miles away from the main office, so they can have a pizza party (and) all the pizza parties they want, but Im not going to be affected by it, she said.

Regardless, many U.S. employees have returned to in-person work, or had never left. Most paid employees report that they work in person per NORC's survey, and three-quarters of those in-person employees say they are required by their employer to do so. About 1 in 10 indicate that they could work remotely but prefer working from the office.

Meanwhile, about one-third of paid employees surveyed work remotely or in hybrid positions. The majority cited convenience and work-life balance, as well as a lack of in-office requirements, as reasons to do so.

Most common causes of workplace stress Most common causes of workplace stress Workload Interpersonal issues Poor company communication
PORTLAND, Ore.  Tossing tent poles, blankets and a duffel bag into a shopping cart and three wagons, Will Taylor spent a summer morning helping friends tear down what had been their home and that of about a dozen others. It wasnt the first time and wouldnt be the last.

Contractors from the city of Portland had arrived to break down tents and tarps on a side street behind a busy intersection and people had an hour to vacate. Whatever they couldnt take with them was placed in plastic bags, tagged with the date and location, and sent for storage in an 11,000-square-foot warehouse.

It can get hard, said Taylor, 32, who has been moved at least three times in the four years hes been homeless. It is what it is.  I just let it go.

Tent encampments have long been a fixture of West Coast cities, but are now spreading visibly across the U.S. The federal count of homeless people reached 580,000 last year, driven by lack of affordable housing and a pandemic that economically wrecked households. Encampments are also generating more controversy because of homeless people with severe mental illness and drug addictions who refuse treatment or dont have access to programs.

Records show attempts to clear encampments increased in cities from Los Angeles to New York as public pressure grew to address what are dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. But despite tens of millions of dollars spent in recent years, there appears to be little reduction in the number of tents propped up on sidewalks, in parks and by freeway offramps.

Homeless people and their advocates say the sweeps are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the answer is more housing, not crackdowns.

The AP submitted data requests to 30 U.S. cities regarding encampment sweeps and received at least partial responses from about half.

In Phoenix, the number of encampments swept soared to more than 3,000 last year from 1,200 in 2019. Las Vegas removed about 2,500 camps through September, up from 1,600 in 2021.

The city of Los Angeles said its sanitation department responded to more than 4,000 requests a month from the public to address homeless encampments at the end of 2022, double the amount the previous year.

But it would not explain whether that meant the encampments were dismantled or simply cleaned around or even how large the encampments were.

But even cities without data confirmed camping is consuming more time, and they are starting to track numbers, budget for removals, and beef up or launch programs to connect people to housing.

I hope this goes to the Supreme Court. And thats a hell of a statement coming from a progressive Democrat.

 California Gov. Gavin Newsom

State and local laws criminalizing homelessness are on the rise, said Scout Katovich, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of sweeps and property seizures in a dozen cities, including Miami, Anchorage and Boulder, Colorado.

These laws and these practices of enforcement do nothing to actually alleviate the crisis and instead they keep people in this vicious cycle of poverty, she said.

But California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose state is home to nearly one-third of the countrys homeless population, says leaving hazardous makeshift camps to fester is neither compassionate nor an option.

He is among officials urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a 9th Circuit appellate court ruling that prohibits local governments from clearing encampments without first assuring everyone is offered a bed indoors. San Francisco is under a court order to enforce the ruling.

I hope this goes to the Supreme Court, Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, said in a September interview with news outlet Politico. And thats a hell of a statement coming from a progressive Democrat.

Earlier this month, crews in Denver erected metal fencing as police officers called to residents to leave a sprawling downtown encampment. A bonfire blazed against temperatures in the teens and snow covered the ground.

The word sweep that they use  thats kind of how it feels, like being swept like trash, said David Sjoberg, 35. I mean were not trash, were people.

Removing encampments is costly  an expense more cities, counties and states have to budget for. Several cities provided some costs, but others said comprehensive figures were difficult to get given the multiple departments involved, including police, sanitation and public health.

Still, Denver reported spending nearly $600,000 on labor and waste disposal in 2021 and 2022 to clean 230 large encampments, some more than once. Phoenix said it spent nearly $1 million last year to clear encampments.

Despite all that spending, said San Francisco real estate broker Masood Samereie, businesses keep losing customers because of people camped on sidewalks, some clearly in mental distress. Its throwing money at it without any tangible or any real results, he said.

For homeless people, sweeps can be traumatizing. They often lose identification documents, as well as cellphones, laptops and personal items.

Advocates for homeless people say there are not enough temporary beds, permanent housing or social services and there are many reasons why someone might reject shelter. Some have been assaulted in one, or say there are too many rules to follow.

But, cities cant stand by and do nothing, said Sam Dodge, who oversees a San Francisco city department that coordinates multiple agencies to place people into housing so crews can clear tents.

Saying, This is not working, this is dangerous, you can do better than this, you have a brighter future than this, I think thats caring for people, Dodge said.

Homeless encampment sweeps spike in cities across US as housing crisis grows
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (1 December 2023)

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces, aviation, and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 14th, 30th mechanised, and 101st, 103rd, and 113th territorial defence brigades near Sinkovka, Petropavlovka, Peschanoye, Kislovka, and Kulagovka (Kharkov region).

The enemy lost up to 35 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, three pickups, as well as one Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station.

In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, helicopters, and artillery repelled one attack launched by assault groups of the AFU 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade near Serebryansky forestry.

In addition, strikes were delivered at clusters of enemy manpower and hardware near Torskoye, Seversk, and Grigorovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The enemy lost up to 65 Ukrainian troops and two motor vehicles.

In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery repelled six enemy attacks and inflicted fire damage on AFU manpower and hardware near Konstantinovka, Dyleyevka, and Grigorovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The AFU losses were up to 300 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, four pickups, one Akatsiya self-propeled artilllery system, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and two D-30 howitzers.

In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, helicopters, and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 58th mechanised infantry and 79th air assault brigades near Novomikhailovka and Ugledar (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The enemys losses amounted to up to 95 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, one U.S.-made M777 artillery system, and one D-30 howitzer.

In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces repelled six attacks launched by AFU assault groups close to Rabotino and Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

In addition, air strikes and artillery fire struck the personnel and hardware of AFU 33rd, 65th mechanised brigades close to Uspenovka and Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region).

The enemys losses amounted to up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two pickups, one U.S.-made M777 artillery system, and one D-20 howitzer.

In Kherson direction, as a result of the Russian Group of Forces actions, aviation, and artillery the AFU lost up to 105 Ukrainian troops, seven motor vehicles, and one D-20 howitzer.

?? Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Groups of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit the following facilities: one UAV Training and Application Centre in Zaporozhye region, one air-delivered ordnance depot in Kirovograd region, one P-18 radar station for detecting and tracking air targets near Lozovoye (Kherson region), as well as manpower and military hardware in 106 areas.

Russian air defence systems have shot down one Mi-8 helicopter of Ukrainian Air Force near Tyaginka (Kherson region).

One MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down near Peresadovka (Nikolayev region).

In addition, two HARM anti-radiation missiles and eight HIMARS missiles have been intercepted over the past 24 hours.

Thirty eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted near Shipilovka, Nyrkovo, Belogorovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic), Gorlovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic), Novofyodorovka (Zaporozhye region), Skadovsk and Sofiyevka (Kherson region).

In total, 545 airplanes and 256 helicopters, 9,348 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 air defence missile systems, 13,735 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,187 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 7,214 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 15,831 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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A European performer who has appeared on Americas Got Talent and sung and danced worldwide is coming to Baraboo for a holiday performance.

Gunhild Carling, a native of Sweden, will perform her Holiday Show at the Al. Ringling Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday as part of a nationwide holiday tour. Carling, who also plays multiple instruments in addition to singing and dancing, will perform holiday songs with her band during the roughly 90-minute show. She will primarily play the trombone.

Carling described her performances as a variety show with jazz as her primary genre. She referred to the upcoming show music as happy jazz and said her dance routines feature humorous aspects. Her traveling band will play piano, saxophone and other instruments.

Everything from Jazz, the Great American Songbook, and some Swedish hits, Carling said of what she will perform at the holiday show.

The Great American Songbook is the canon of the most important and enduring pop and jazz songs from the 1920s to the 1960s created for theater and musical films, according to the Great American Songbook Foundation website.

The Swedish performer has done shows in Milwaukee and Eau Claire. She said Wisconsin reminds her of her native country, particularly during the winter. She has played three trumpets simultaneously while tap dancing during past performances, and plays other instruments, such as the oboe, piano and bagpipes

Whether shes singing favorite jazz standards, playing one of 11 instruments, or juggling and tap dancing, Gunhilds sublime showmanship shines, Sauk County Historical Society executive director Paul Wolter said of the performer who is referred to as Swedens Queen of Swing.

Carling has performed on six continents and in major American cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Along with Americas Got Talent and Swedens Got Talent, she has auditioned on Last Dance, a dance television show in Sweden, and the countrys version of Dancing with The Stars. She has toured with Postmodern Jukebox, a musical collective which has reworked popular songs into different genre sounds.

Tickets for the Gunhild Carling Holiday Show in Baraboo are available on the Al. Ringling Theatre website at alringling.org/events.
The 2023 Canadian Pacific Kansas City Holiday Train will make a stop in Columbus on Monday night.

The train is scheduled to arrive at the Amtrak Depot, near downtown Columbus, about 9:05 p.m.

There will be warm-up activities from 6:30 until 8 p.m. The Columbus Community Center, 125 N. Dickason Blvd., will be used as a warm-up shelter. There will be games to play and crafts to make led by the Columbus Public Library volunteers. Children will also have the opportunity to visit Santa. There will also be warming barrows in the parking lot of the Amtrak station.

Julies Java House, next to the train station, will be open selling hot dogs, sloppy joes, hot cider, sweet treats, and Ghirardelli hot cocoa. Outside Julies, the Salvation Army will be offering free hot cocoa. The Rotary Club will also sell hot chocolate and cookies.

A 30-minute concert is scheduled to begin at 9:15 p.m. Donations will be given to the Columbus/Fall River Food Pantry during intermission.

It is free to attend the event, but guests are encouraged to make monetary donations to the local food pantry or to donate non-perishable food items.

This years performance will be presented by BRELAND and Tenille Townes.

The 2023 CPKC Holiday Train tours Canada and the United States from Nov. 20 through Dec. 19, raising money, food and awareness for the important work that food banks do in their communities.

Since its inception in 1999, the CPKC Holiday Train has raised more than $22.5 million and more than 5 million pounds of food for community food banks across North America.

Highway 73, between Church and Middleton streets will be closed between 7 and 11 p.m. on Monday for the train. There will be handicap parking between Middleton Street and Julies Java House on Highway 73.

During this time there will be no parking on both sides of Church Street between Water Street and Dickason Boulevard. There will be no parking on several properties along Water St. as marked by no parking signs and barricades.

There will be additional road closure signage from north of Middleton Street to the intersection of highways 73 and 151 to alert southbound motorists.

Photos: Festive Canadian Pacific Holiday Train rolls into Columbus (copy) HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN HOLIDAY TRAIN
Afghanistan Women News, December 1, 2023



Hosna Sadat, the former presenter of Khurshid private TV. Hosna Sadat, the former presenter of Khurshid private TV.

Hosna Sadat, the former presenter of Khurshid private TV, ended her life by jumping from the fourth floor of a building in Qala-e-Fathullah area of the 10th district of Kabul.

A number of Hosna Sadats friends called the reason for her suicide to escape from the hands of the Taliban and said that last night the Taliban had invaded her house, she had to jump from the fourth floor of her residential building to save herself and eventuated to commiting suicide.

The news of Hasnas suicide has become public today, Friday, December 1.

The spokesman of Taliban police headquarters in Kabul confirmed the news of her death and said that they are investigating about her death.

The deceased woman is survived by two children.
A Montello man and woman died in a car crash Wednesday at the intersection of highways M and G in the town of Lincoln, the Adams County Sheriff's Office said.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Jane and James Kronschnabel, both 83, were in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection just after 2:30 p.m. Both were trapped in the vehicle and unconscious.

Deputies pried open the driver's door, and life-saving measures were begun. James Kronschnabel died at the scene. Jane Kronschnabel was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital where she later died.

The lone occupant of the other vehicle involved suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.

The New Chester Fire Department, Adams County Fire District, LifeLink II, Gundersen MedLink Air Ambulance, LifeStar Ambulance Service, Marquette Ambulance Service, Wisconsin State Patrol and the Adams County Medical Examiners Office provided assistance.
Michigan officials approved a $500 million plan Friday to encase in a protective tunnel a portion of an aging oil pipeline that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes, leaving just one more regulatory hurdle for the contentious project.

The state's three-person Public Service Commission approved the project in the Straits of Mackinac on a 2-0 vote. Commissioner Alessandra Carreon abstained, noting she just joined the commission four months ago.

The commission's chairperson, Dan Scripps, said the tunnel is the best way to mitigate the risk of a spill as the state slowly transitions to renewable energy sources.

An oil spill in the straits would be, in a word, catastrophic, he said.

Opponents lined up in front of the commission to complain after the vote, blasting the project as a boondoggle that will lock the state into using fossil fuels even longer and endanger the environment.

The plan still needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is still compiling an environmental impact statement. A final decision may not come until 2026.

Enbridge Energy has been operating the Line 5 pipeline since 1953. The pipeline moves up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.

A 4-mile portion of the pipeline crosses the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. After an Enbridge pipeline leaked about 21,000 gallons of crude oil into a Kalamazoo River tributary in southern Michigan in 2010, the state formed a task force to review petroleum pipelines across the state, including Line 5.

Enbridge officials revealed in 2017 that engineers had known about gaps in Line 5's protective coating in the straits since 2014. That section of pipeline was also damaged by a boat anchor in 2018, raising concerns about a spill. Later that year, then-Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's administration reached an agreement with Enbridge calling for the company to build a tunnel 60 to 375 feet beneath the lakebed to house a new section of Line 5 and shut down the existing segment at a cost of $500 million.

Opponents attending Friday's vote expressed their anger at the commission's approval of the project.

I am disgusted with your vote, said Andrea Pierce, who works with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and is a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, which opposes the project. Seriously, you are supposed to protect the Great Lakes and protect us. I think what youve done here is completely and utterly negligent."

No Enbridge officials spoke at the meeting. Enbridge Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Mike Fernandez said in a telephone interview after the meeting concluded that the company was pleased with the commission's decision and called it a great step forward.

He stressed that replacing the section of pipeline under the straits and encasing it in a tunnel buried dozens to hundreds of feet below the lakebed creates two new layers of protection. He added that demand for oil and propane may recede as the country moves toward renewable energy sources but it won't end because oil is needed to produce plastics used in computers, handheld devices and medical devices.

Current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has said she opposes the continued operation of Line 5 under the straits  even with the new tunnel  agreeing with Indigenous tribes, environmentalists and tourist businesses that it is at risk of causing a devastating spill.

She ordered Enbridge in November 2020 to close the 68-year-old line, revoking a 1953 state easement allowing its placement in the straits. Enbridge, based in Calgary, Alberta, contends the line is safe and ignored the governors shutdown deadline.

Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a state lawsuit in 2019 to void Enbridge's easement in the Straits. A federal appellate court is reviewing whether the lawsuit belongs in state or federal court.

The state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy in 2021 approved construction of the tunnel. Liesl Clark, who was the director of the Michigan agency at the time and a Whitmer appointee, said the companys application satisfied state legal requirements.

A federal judge in Madison this summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove about 12 miles of pipeline crossing its reservation, saying the pipeline is prone to spills and land agreements allowing it to operate on reservation land expired in 2013.

The company has proposed a 41-mile reroute of the pipeline to end its dispute with the tribe. It has appealed the shutdown order to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; the case is still pending.
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Delta acquires LCT Mineral Rights at the Lyons River Project

Perth, Dec 1, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Delta Lithium Limited ( ASX:DLI ) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the LCT Mineral Rights from Dalaroo Metals Ltd ("Dalaroo" or "DAL") over its Lyons River Project in WA's Gascoyne.



Highlights:



- Binding agreement executed with Dalaroo Metals Ltd ( ASX:DAL ) to purchase the LCT (lithium, caesium and tantalum) Mineral Rights over its Lyons River Project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia



- The Lyons River Project tenements cover 838 km2 and are proximal to and have the same granite intrusives and sediment-mafic packages, that host significant Li2O mineralisation at Delta's Yinnetharra Project



- Delta's footprint in the emerging Gascoyne lithium province has increased by 161% to 1,356 km2



- The Lyons River Project tenements have mapped pegmatite swarms and lithium in soil anomalies up to 334 ppm Li2O



- Exploration activities to commence on DAL tenure alongside continued exploration at DLI's Yinnetharra Project in the first quarter of 2024



- Delta to pay DAL $500,000 in cash and issue $500,000 in Delta shares on completion and spend a minimum of $280,000 per annum on exploration over three years.



Commenting on the agreement with Dalaroo Managing Director, James Croser said:



"This large package of LCT rights boosts our Gascoyne footprint by 161%, giving us a great stronghold in this emerging lithium province. The ground is close to our Yinnetharra Project, where our focus is to undertake significant resource development drilling at Malinda as we continue to build confidence in this discovery.



We will use our existing base to concurrently explore a regional pipeline of promising prospects that could support a long-life lithium operation in the area, starting with Jamesons in 2024 and greenfields exploration on this newly acquired ground."



Geological setting



At Yinnetharra, Lithium bearing pegmatites are hosted within a package of interleaved sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks adjacent to granitoids belonging to the Thirty Three Super Suite.



The Lyons River Project hosts the same geological setting as Yinnetharra, with pegmatites hosted within sedimentary-mafic packages adjacent to Thirty Three Suite granitoids. Work undertaken by Dalaroo to date indicates the pegmatites are LCT fertile with Li2O soil samples up to 334 ppm.



Exploration



The Lyons River Project is close to the Yinnetharra Project and can be explored by an expanded team based out of the Yinnetharra camp. Work on the Lyons River Project will begin immediately and will consist of data compilation, target generation, followed by on-ground mapping and sampling work in order to define drill targets.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/W6D70982





About Delta Lithium Limited





Delta Lithium Limited (ASX:DLI) is an exploration and development company focused on bringing high-quality, lithium-bearing pegmatite deposits, located in Western Australia, into production. With a strong balance sheet and an experienced team driving the exploration and development workstreams, Delta Lithium is rapidly advancing its Mt Ida Lithium Project towards production. The Mt Ida Lithium Project holds a critical advantage over other lithium developers with existing Mining Leases and heritage agreements in place. To capitalise on the prevailing buoyant lithium market, Delta Lithium is pursuing a rapid development pathway to unlock maximum value for shareholders.

Delta Lithium also holds the highly prospective Yinnetharra Lithium Project that is already showing signs of becoming one of Australia's most exciting lithium regions. The Company is currently undergoing an extensive 400 drill hole campaign to be completed throughout 2023.

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IonicRE Presenting at MST Financial African Mining Forum

Perth, Dec 1, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of Ionic Rare Earths Limited ( ASX:IXR ) ( IXRRF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to invite investors and shareholders to attend the MST Financial African Mining & Energy Forum on Monday 4 December 2023 at 1.30pm AEDT.



Managing Director Tim Harrison will discuss progress across the Makuutu Heavy Rare Earth Project and Ionic Technologies, and engagement with the new economy supply chain.



To join the presentation, please visit:

https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/D3QY7D2U





About Ionic Rare Earths Limited





Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX:IXR) (OTCMKTS:IXRRF) is focused on developing its flagship Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda into a significant long life, low-cost, supplier of high-value critical and heavy rare earths.

Makuutu is an advanced-stage, ionic adsorption clay-hosted project highlighted by near-surface mineralisation, significant exploration upside, excellent metallurgical characteristics and access to tier-one infrastructure.

The ionic adsorption clay-hosted geology at Makuutu is similar to major rare earths projects in Southern China, which are responsible for the majority of global supply of low cost heavy and critical rare earths, specifically the high value magnet metals (Dysprosium and Terbium) Heavy Rare Earths (>98% originating from ionic clays). Metallurgical testing at Makuutu has returned excellent recovery rates, which provide multiple avenues for a simple process route.

Makuutu is well-supported by tier-one existing infrastructure which includes access to major highways, roads, power, water and a professional workforce.

Rare Earths will play a critical role in the future of clean energy. Rare Earths are a key ingredient in the permanent magnets found in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

IonicRE is led by an experienced and proven team, who have the capabilities to deliver Makuutu into production and realise value for all stakeholders.

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The Mattel doll version of the 53-year-old supermodel gets overhauled with the iconic turquoise designer gown she donned at the 1994 Atelier Versace show.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - Claudia Schiffer gets her own Barbie doll - for the third time. The German supermodel, 53, became the inspiration for manufacturer Mattel's latest version of the toy and shows it dressed in the iconic turquoise gown she wore on the catwalk of the 1994 Fall/Winter Atelier Versace show.

"My earliest memories are playing with Barbie and wishing I could be just like her. Half a century later, Mattel has made my wish come true by designing a doll in my likeness. I hope my doll can inspire all fans to dream big and follow their passions," she said.

Claudia has been photographed for the cover of Vogue 16 times and has modelled for the world's biggest fashion houses since the '90s.

In 2017, Mattel made a doll to mark 30 years of the model's career and the launch of her autobiography - and created another doll in 2020 to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Despite being turned into a toy originally famed for its image of human perfection, Claudia says she feels like a down-to-Earth Briton as loves Marmite, junk food and sarcasm. She added in a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph friends from her homeland now fail to get her English sense of humour.

Claudia - who lives in the UK with her Londoner filmmaker husband Matthew Vaughn, 52, and their children Caspar, 20, Clementine, 18, and 13-year-old Cosima - said, "I love English chocolate, Marmite and crisps. I've even picked up an English sense of humour, which has got me into trouble with my German friends who don't understand British sarcasm."

Claudia, who has homes on the Northamptonshire-Oxfordshire border and a 14-bedroom Tudor manor house on 530 acres in Suffolk, also said her favourite chocolates are Cadbury's Buttons. But she said she still tries to avoid wheat and is fortunate to be working in her 50s.

Claudia added, "I'm lucky enough to be working in an era that sees no 'ageing out.' Before the '90s, a model's career would rarely last past her 30s and there was a constant turnover of faces. With the supermodels, careers started to last longer as we became powerful brands in our own right. Models now are working well into their 40s, 50s and beyond."

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The 'Superstore' actress finds it 'insane' and 'so ridiculous' that she was considered 'imperfect' when she played plain girl Betty Suarez on the ABC drama comedy.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - America Ferrera feels it is "ridiculous" that she was considered "imperfect" in Hollywood 20 years ago. The 39-year-old actress became famous when she took on the title role of the hit series "Ugly Betty" in 2006 and slammed the notion that her "curvier" figure was thought to be something "groundbreaking" in showbusiness at the time.

"What's so insane is, you go back and look, and I had a very average-size body. And so the idea that people were looking at me and saying, 'That's curvy' is crazy. Not that I care, but it's like, that's insane that we thought that was so groundbreaking," she told ELLE.

"I was Hollywood's version of imperfect, which seems so ridiculous. I don't feel alone in that either. There are so many women who were called brave, just because they are people in bodies."

The "Barbie" actress went on to add that it is her "wish" for the future that actors will no longer be stereotyped and she will instead be looked at for more of who she is as a person rather than being "relegated" to being a stereotype.

She said, "What I continue to wish for my career, and women's careers and people of colour's careers, is that we don't have to exist inside of these boxes or these lanes - that we don't have to be relegated to represent just the thing that the culture wants us to represent."

"I want to be more of who I am as a person, and to get to make art that doesn't fit into any of the boxes and isn't about the dominant conversation people have wanted to have about me because I'm a woman who doesn't fit into stereotypical Hollywood."

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In a new report, the 'In Da Club' rapper is said to be developing a TV documentary on the Bad Boy Records mogul and the sexual abuse allegations leveled at him by Cassie and other women.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - 50 Cent takes his trolling against Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to another level. If a new report is to be believed, the "In Da Club" rapper and his G-Unit Films and Television company are developing a TV documentary on his rival.

A source spills to Page Six that the planned documentary will be about the Bad Boy Records mogul and the mounting sexual abuse allegations leveled at him by Cassie and other women. Other details of the project are still scarce as it's in the early stage of development.

Fiddy isn't strange to producing TV contents, one of which was hit show "Power". He additionally produced acclaimed true crime documentaries and podcasts, including "Hip Hop Homicides". The show featured former TMZ personality Van Lathan exploring the death of rap stars such as Pop Smoke, XXXTentacion and King Von.

In the recent weeks, 50 Cent has been making use of his social media account to mock Diddy in the wake of Cassie's sexual abuse lawsuit against the latter. Most recently, Fiddy took to Instagram to troll his rival for stepping down as a chairman of REVOLT.

Jokingly offering to buy out REVOLT, Fiddy wrote in the caption, "I'll buy that from you play boy for the low because you know Cadillac and AT&T gonna pull out. I'll give you a few dollars for it now!" He continued persuading his fellow New York City rapper, "Sell it to me, then we can be friends I'm serious call my phone."

50 Cent's post came after REVOLT announced via its own Instagram page that Diddy would temporarily step down as chairman of the company. "Sean Combs has stepped down from his position as Chairman of REVOLT," read the statement issued by the network.

"While Mr. Combs has previously had no operational or day-to-day role in the business, this decision helps to ensure that REVOLT remains steadfastly focused on our mission to create meaningful content for the culture and amplify the voice of all Black people throughout this country and the African diaspora," it added.

The company further assured, "Our focus has always been one that reflects our commitment to the collective journey of REVOLT - one that is not driven by any individual, but by the shared efforts and values of our entire team on behalf of advancing, elevating and championing our culture - and that continues."

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In an expose released shortly before the ABC show's season finale, the retired restaurateur's alleged ex-girlfriend claimed that he refused to take her to his high school reunion because of her weight.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - "The Golden Bachelor" star Gerry Turner has responded to an ex-girlfriend's recent damning claims against him. In an expose released shortly before the finale of his "The Golden Bachelor" season aired, the anonymous ex-girlfriend claimed that Gerry refused to take her to his high school reunion because of her weight.

When asked if the story was accurate, Gerry told The New York Times, "I guess I haven't really looked at it as how accurate it is. I've more looked at it in terms of timing, and how it really doesn't fit with all of the positive things that are going on in my life right now."

He went on referring to his fiancee Theresa Nist, saying, "I mean, I'm sitting across from Theresa right now, and I look at her, and she's the love of my life. And I really don't have time to think about some of the other stuff."

Similarly, the retired restaurateur told Los Angeles Times of the matter, "My only response is that I have so many positive things in my life right now. I have the wonderful love of Theresa, my partner. I don't have time to reflect on comments like this. I'm happy to look forward."

In a report published by The Hollywood Reporter, a woman, who went by Carolyn in an article to keep her anonymity, claimed that she used to date Gerry for three years before he went to the ABC show to find love. Carolyn said that they started dating only a month after his ex-wife Toni died in 2017, shutting down Gerry's claim that he hadn't been kissed since.

She further alleged that they moved in together in summer 2018, 10 months after they started dating, and that was when he started showing another side of him. Carolyn alleged that Gerry made her pay $850 a month to cover her expenses in addition to splitting the cost of all meals. He also made sure that Carolyn made the bed before having breakfast.

Carolyn added that Gerry refused to take her to his high school reunion after she gained 10 pounds. "I'm not taking you to the reunion looking like that," Gerry allegedly told her. That seemed to be the final straw as they broke up after the incident.

In "The Golden Bachelor" finale, meanwhile, Gerry decided to pick Theresa over Leslie Fhima. He proposed to Theresa, who gladly accepted his golden rose. Additionally, the new couple is set to tie the knot in a televised Italian wedding on January 4, 2024.

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The Weeknd's generous act arrived nearly a month after his ex Selena Gomez's brand, Rare Beauty, pledged to help Palestinians following weeks of heavy bombardment from Israeli forces.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - The Weeknd earned praise from fans for his generosity. Many on social media applauded the "Save Your Tears" crooner for directing $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund to aid the World Food Programme's humanitarian response in Gaza.

"This conflict has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning. WFP is working round the clock to provide aid in Gaza but a major scale up is needed to address the desperate level of hunger we are seeing," said WFP's Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Region, Corinne Fleischer. "Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access and continued support from donors to reach as many people as we can."

"We thank Abel for this valuable contribution towards the people of Palestine," added Corinne. "We hope others will follow Abel's example and support our efforts."

Many social media users happily reacted to the news, with one writing, "I'm so proud of you helping all the families you're humble you're an angel." Another added, "One way or another he steals my [heart] The things he does outside of his music commendable his heart consists of only love for other's."

A third joined in, "This is really gesture from Abel, he is amazing Abel is the best. I loved him for this." A different individual chimed in, "Thats why I love you @theweeknd."

The Weeknd's generous act arrived nearly a month after his ex Selena Gomez's brand, Rare Beauty, pledged to help Palestinians following weeks of heavy bombardment from Israeli forces. "Thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes & millions of civilians have been displaced & left without access to food, water, medicine, or basic necessities for survival. A large number of these victims are children. Palestinian civilians must be protected, period," the company stated.

"We remain heartbroken by the horrible terror attack against innocent civilians in Israel on October 7th, many of them also children. There is no situation where attacks on civilians are acceptable," they added. "We strongly denounce any & all forms of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia."

"We urge everyone to support humanitarian organizations working tirelessly to provide aid & relief to those in need. Every bit of help can make a difference," the statement continued to read. "Rare Beauty will be making donations to the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies - Magen David Adom, & Palestinian Red Crescent Society - who are providing urgent care on the ground. We will also be donating to UNICEF to help get urgent medical relief & resources to the children of Gaza."

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The trailer for the second part of the hit Netflix show's sixth and final season offers a look at the last six episodes of the royal drama which first premiered in 2016.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - "The Crown" teases the end of the royal saga in the first trailer for its season 6 part 2. Unveiled on Friday, December 1, the trailer offers a look at the last six episodes of Netflix's hit series which first premiered in 2016.

It kicks off with the British royal family members posing together for a family portrait. Prince William, portrayed by Ed McVey, can be seen being reprimanded after he briefly drops his smiling face, prompting him to forcefully smile to the camera.

It also offers a glimpse at William's first meeting with now-wife Princess Kate Middleton, played by Meg Bellamy. Meg's Kate can be seen rocking the royal's famous see-through dress that caught William's eye back in 2002.

The trailer also sees Imelda Staunton's Queen Elizabeth II reacting to the British citizens' view on the monarch. "Having reviewed the data, the pollsters have now presented their findings. Asked if the royal family were out of touch with ordinary people, 53% said yes. Asked if they were wasteful of public money and if they lacked compassion, 62% said yes," a man reports to the Queen.

Towards the end of the trailer, the Queen poses a question, "What about the life I put aside? The woman I put aside?"

The official logline of the second part of "The Crown" season 6 reads, "Prince William (McVey) tries to integrate back into life at Eton in the wake of his mother's death as the monarchy has to ride the wave of public opinion. As she reaches her Golden Jubilee, the Queen (Staunton) reflects on the future of the monarchy with the marriage of Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla (Olivia Williams) and the beginnings of a new Royal fairy tale in William and Kate (Bellamy)."

The hit show's sixth and final season will also star Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne as well as Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair.

Part 2 of "The Crown" season 6 will be available to stream on Netflix on December 14.

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Karlissa Saffold urges Blac Chyna's mother to leave the singing diva's 11-year-old daughter out of Tokyo's hateful remarks about the 'Brown Skin Girl' songstress.

Dec 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - Two of the most notorious controversial mothers are clashing on the Internet. While she clearly doesn't have a glowing record when it comes to motherhood, Karlissa Saffold did not hesitate to school Tokyo Toni after the latter spewed hatred on Blue Ivy.

It all began with Tokyo's rant against Blue's mother Beyonce Knowles. Out of nowhere, Blac Chyna's mom launched into a tirade against the R&B artist in a video shared via her social media account on Friday, December 1.

"Dear Beyonce, try again," Tokyo began to read a message which she apparently had written on her phone. "Girl please, get out of here. Scripted, made-up pieces and portions. Dear Beyonce, can you do me a favor? Can you go to the Moon? Build your house there with your husband, and your kids."

She went on alleging the mother of three, "Why are you grooming our black children through your daughter? I don't care nothing about your BeyHive, those lil demons will get sprayed down with my mouth - pure Holy water." She then threatened any fans who dare to defend the Carter family.

Karlissa disagreed with Tokyo and despite Tokyo's warning, Karlissa wasn't deterred. In TheNeighborhoodTalk's comments section, she wrote back to Tokyo, "Girl, if you don't stop messing with Blue Ivy!"

Defending the 11-year-old teen, Blueface's mom said, "She is proving the Black children early work ethics through generational talent. Don't discourage her because she ain't out here getting pregnant and waiting to be nobody baby momma like us. Don't do her."

Some people are sensing a possible epic showdown between Tokyo and Karlissa, with many taking the latter's side. "this is what ive f**king been waiting for a Tokyo Toni vs Karlissa standoff this is the definition of the pot calling the damn kettle black!" one person reacted to Karlissa's remarks.

Agreeing with Karlissa, a second person weighed in, "Although I may not agree with everything she say or do Karlissa is funny I cannot and she ain't lie here." Another slammed Tokyo, "Tokyo, please. We're literally watching your daughter, in real time, heal from the life you gave her go away with this..," while a fourth remarked, "Even a broken clock is right twice daily."

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The former 'Empire' actor has failed to toss his disorderly conduct conviction for staging an attack on himself after Illinois appeals court upheld the original decision.

Dec 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jussie Smollett's disorderly conduct conviction for faking a hate crime has been affirmed. The "Empire" actor was convicted of staging the 2019 attack on himself and making a false police report two years ago and was sentenced to 150 days in jail in March 2022 but released pending an appeal and on Friday, December 1, an Illinois court upheld the original decision.

"We affirm the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County," appellate Justices David Navarro and Mary Ellen Coghlan ruled.

The 41-year-old star had sought to dismiss the charges after arguing there had been an "invalid appointment of the special prosecutor," but the opinion stated he had filed an appeal on a case under a different proceeding but also after the deadline had passed.

The ruling stated, "Given the absence of a non-prosecution agreement with the CCSAO (the Cook County State's Attorneys Office), reprosecuting Smollett was not fundamentally unfair. Because the charges against Smollett were nol-prossed before jeopardy had attached in the first criminal proceeding, the subsequent prosecution did not violate his right against double jeopardy."

The third judge, Freddrenna Lyle, had found it was "fundamentally unfair" for Dan Webb to be appointed special prosecutor after the actor had completed the community service that was part of a deal his team had previously made to get charges dropped.

The judge wrote, "Rich or poor, famous or infamous - the State is called to prosecute everyone fairly and justly and not be swayed simply by public criticism. Unfortunately, this case shows that outcry from some members of the community and media pressure can lead to a dismantling of such an agreement between the State and a defendant."

Jussie's lawyer said they are ready to take the case to the Supreme Court as only two of the three appellate judges had ruled against him. A spokesperson for his attorney Tina Glandian told Deadline, "We wish to highlight that the decision was divided, with Justice Lyle offering a detailed analysis in favor of Smollett. We are preparing to escalate this matter to the Supreme Court, armed with a substantial body of evidence."

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Zomato, Indias food ordering and delivery platform, has joined forces with the acclaimed Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal to pay a special tribute to India's first Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw. Known for his stellar performance on screen, as part of the collaboration, Vicky Kaushal, in a unique twist, will be seen stepping into a different role for a day, playing, crafting, and sending orders on Zomato.

In Zomato's latest ad film, Zomato users are greeted with notifications written by Vicky Kaushal himself. From creating personalized breakfast requests to exploring pizza preferences, such as the choice of pineapples as toppings, the actor embodies the commanding nature of his character. Creating a seamless connection between the film and the Zomato platform, the actor also encourages people to watch "Sam Bahadur" in theaters. This collaboration extends beyond the screen to social media content that captivates audiences, tailored notifications that tantalize taste buds, visually appealing app banners, and cityscape hoardings. Zomato and Vicky Kaushal offer users a distinctive fusion of delightful orders and engaging stories, transforming every interaction into an enjoyable experience.

As part of the celebrations, Zomato also hosted a special secret screening of Sam Bahadur for its delivery partners in Delhi. Vicky Kaushal, portraying reel-life Sam, graced the screening as a surprise for the 200 delivery partners who attended it.
Games24x7, Indias leading online skill gaming company, today joined forces with the Government of Karnataka, to launch the gaming industrys first-of-its-kind accelerator programme, 'GameTech Accelerate - The Future of Gaming'. This initiative, announced at the ongoing Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023, aims to foster innovation and catalyse growth within the dynamic realm of online gaming. Through the accelerator programme, Games24x7 will help identify and mentor ventures offering innovative and viable solutions, bridging them to investors who are keen to back the sector.

Speaking on the occasion, Priyank Kharge, Honble Minister for Information Technology & Biotechnology and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Govt. of Karnataka said, Karnataka boasts one of the most vibrant technology startup ecosystems in the nation, and we are dedicated to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship through initiatives like these. The online gaming sector in India is rapidly evolving, and it is crucial to support this industry, which not only generates employment opportunities but also fosters innovation, contributing significantly to our digital economy. We are delighted to collaborate with Games24x7, who shares our commitment to responsible innovation, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs on their journey toward success.

"In collaboration with the Government of Karnataka, we aspire to foster entrepreneurship and innovation within the gaming industry, which has shown remarkable growth. Games24x7's accelerator programme represents our firm commitment to unlock the gaming industry's full potential. Our winners won't just receive accolades and mentorship; they'll pitch to potential investors, gaining crucial support to transform their visionary ideas into reality. We are also collaborating with AWS for this initiative, and are positive that their expertise will further bolster this programme., said Rajat Bansal, Chief Technology Officer, Games24x7.

With this initiative and collaboration with the Government, we are not merely nurturing game development but actively shaping a connected and innovative future for the Indian gaming landscape Bansal added.

In recognition of the multifaceted nature of the gaming industry, the accelerator programme will revolve around four key focus areas: New Games (Real Money, Casual, Hyper Casual, Educational, Simulation, Strategy, and MMO); Real-Time Analytics, Telemetry & Personalization; Security and Anti-Cheating Measures; and Community and Social Integration. These carefully selected themes encapsulate the core challenges and opportunities in the evolving gaming industry, with the intention of guiding and supporting participating startups to pioneer transformative solutions. The shortlist will be revealed at the forthcoming GAFX event in Bangalore scheduled for January 2024. Following the accelerator programme, the upcoming month will host mentoring sessions empowering select startups to receive valuable guidance from Games24x7 and AWS experts, along with AWS credits. The programme will culminate with an exclusive investor session in the first week of March.

This collaboration between Games24x7 and the Government of Karnataka signifies a shared commitment to shape the future of the gaming industry. This programme not only aligns with the state's vision of becoming a hub for innovation and technology but also reflects Games24x7's focus on bringing forth the most enriching gaming experiences backed by scientific principles and solutions. This strategic partnership between the government and the private sector underscores the pivotal role that established companies like Games24x7 can play in fostering entrepreneurship, driving innovation and harnessing cross sector growth for the countrys digital economy.
The year 2023 has been about generative Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies that are beginning to bring about a transformation in the way businesses operate. In such a state of tech flux, it has become important for the Public Relations industry to be up-to-date in how they handle the business for their clients.

Keeping this important area in mind, the latest edition of #GullyChat, Adgullys premier property, turned the spotlight on How PR professionals can effectively harness emerging technologies for communication. This edition of GullyChat featured some leading communications industry experts:

Bhaskar Majumdar , Head - Marketing Communication, CSR & Digital Egis

, Head - Marketing Communication, CSR & Digital Egis Himanshu Hira , Marketing Lead  India, MiQ

, Marketing Lead  India, MiQ Jyotsna Dash Nanda , AVP - Corporate Communications, DS Group

, AVP - Corporate Communications, DS Group Mrinall Dey , Vice President & Head - PR & Corporate Communications, MobiKwik

, Vice President & Head - PR & Corporate Communications, MobiKwik Priya Rattan Patankar , Head of Corporate Communications, PhonePe

, Head of Corporate Communications, PhonePe Samir Kapur , Director, Adfactors PR

, Director, Adfactors PR Srishti Thakur, Head - PR & Corporate Communications, Physics Wallah

When talking about understanding the effectiveness of VR for storytelling and engaging content, Bhaskar Mazumdar said, PR professionals can harness the power of VR for immersive storytelling and engaging communication. By creating virtual experiences, they can transport audiences to different environments, making the narrative more impactful. VR offers PR professionals a dynamic tool to tell compelling stories, shape opinions, and build authentic connections with audiences, aligning with the timeless principles of truthfulness and adaptability in communication.

Additionally, VR can be utilised for virtual site visits enabling remote audiences to explore locations and projects firsthand. Integrating VR into PR campaigns can enhance storytelling, making narratives more compelling and fostering stronger connections with the audience. According to Deloitte, more than 70% of businesses are expanding their abilities to use big data. This is because big data has a lot to offer to businesses and PR companies. It gives a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of your audience, your competitors, and the market. You can make smarter decisions on how to promote your brand and improve your reputation, he added.

In a world saturated with messages, PR professionals need to stand out. VR provides the canvas for experiential storytelling. Whether unveiling a new product or sharing a brand journey, immerse your audience in an interactive experience that goes beyond words  make your story felt, remarked Samir Kapur. He further said, Transport Audiences, Not Just Messages: VR transcends traditional communication boundaries. PR professionals need to seize the opportunity to transport your audience into the heart of your brands story. Engage their senses, evoke emotions, and create a connection that lingers long after the VR experience ends. PR in the era of virtual reality is more emotion than information. Leverage VR to immerse your audience in a 360-degree storytelling experience. From product launches to brand narratives, make every communication an unforgettable journey.

Mrinall Dey added here, PR professionals can use VR to host virtual press events, allowing journalists and stakeholders to attend product launches, announcements, or press conferences in a virtual environment. VR can be used to create virtual tours of facilities, offices, or event spaces, allowing PR professionals to provide an immersive experience to journos, influencers, and stakeholders who may not be able to visit in person.

He further said, PR professionals can create interactive VR experiences to demonstrate products or services in a virtual environment. This can be particularly effective for showcasing complex or large-scale products that are difficult to transport or demonstrate in traditional settings. VR can be used to create immersive storytelling experiences that bring a brand's narrative to life. By developing VR experiences that align with the brands values and messaging, PR professionals can create memorable and impactful narratives that resonate with their target audience.

Jyotsana Dash Nanda opined, Incorporate VR and AR to showcase products like never before! Create virtual showrooms, create demos that immerse customers in your offerings. This elevates the product experience, making it engaging and unforgettable. Transform your media presence by swapping out mundane press releases for immersive experiences and interactive content. Harness the power of VR and AR to captivate journalists, ensuring heightened attention and maximising your potential for media coverage.

She further said, Real estate, Auto, home furnishing players are already leveraging it to give an enhanced experience to the consumer; large events, world-class manufacturing facilities can be showcased at the click of a button!

According to Priya Patankar, PR and VR are a winsome-twosome! VR makes the storytelling more immersive and relatable. PR is about ideas, which co-dwell in the mind of the creator and recipient, while allowing them to flexibly shape it as per their imagination. VR makes it easier to visualise real products in a virtual way. VR gives Brands the power to immerse users in their storytelling making them contributors instead of mere spectators.

Himanshu Hira, too, added that that VR in PR is a unique opportunity for communication professionals to innovate and WOW their audiences! He said, VR can be used as an experiential marketing tool to showcase brand vision, products & take live events experience to the next level. By creating immersive VR experiences, PR campaigns can evoke emotions & enhance engagement. VR can be used through virtual events, 360-degree videos, or interactive VR tours.

Srishti Thakur underscored that accessibility and inclusivity are critical to ensure VR content is accessible to a wide audience, including those with disabilities. Implement features like voice commands or compatibility with assistive technologies. PR teams can leverage VR for immersive storytelling by creating 360-degree videos, virtual press events, and interactive experiences. VR offers engagement and training opportunities. Combining VR elements with press releases enriches news delivery, she added.
The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), an international trade organization connecting more than 300 WTCA Members in nearly 100 countries, has selected Ketchum Sampark as its strategic PR partner for India. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in advancing the WTCA's communication strategy and promoting international trade and investment opportunities in the Indian market.

The WTCA is a leading international network dedicated to stimulating trade and investment opportunities. It serves as an "international ecosystem" of global connections, iconic properties, and integrated trade services under the prestigious WTC brand. With a presence in over 300 locations across nearly 100 countries, the WTCA is committed to enhancing business connections and facilitating trade on a global scale. In India, the WTCA maintains a robust presence with 38 "World Trade Center" licensees, playing a pivotal role in connecting businesses and promoting economic growth across the nation.

Under the mandate, Ketchum Sampark will provide strategic counsel and media relations aimed at elevating the WTC and WTCA brands in the Indian market, making international trade and investment opportunities more accessible to businesses across India. Ketchum Sampark will also be responsible for spotlighting India WTCA Member successes and case stories as well as support the upcoming 2024 WTCA Global Business Forum (GBF), hosted by WTC Bengaluru in India.

We are pleased to have Ketchum Sampark as our strategic communications partner in India. Our vision is to play a key role in Indias infrastructure and smart city development, growth of small and medium enterprises and trade promotion. The teams experience and industry knowledge stood out and I am confident Ketchum Sampark will play a significant role in our Road to 500 initiative and help us achieve our overall communication and market specific objectives, said Mr. Scott Wang, Vice President, Asia Pacific, WTCA.

We are truly excited about this collaboration with the World Trade Centers Association. The number of World Trade Centers (WTCs) in India has crossed 37 and it is the only country after the U.S. to have as many WTC locations. We look forward to showcasing the WTCAs global reach, membership and unrivalled network in India, and highlight key events that facilitate robust business connections throughout the country, said Rohan Srinivasan, Managing Director, Ketchum Sampark.
G-SHOCK, the trailblazing force in unbreakable watches, is thrilled to announce the much-anticipated return of the 'Shock The World' tour to India after a hiatus of 11 years. In collaboration with Vh1 Supersonic, the spectacular celebration of music, culture, and the indomitable G-SHOCK spirit is set to unfold in the vibrant city of Mumbai on the 16th of December 2023.

In reaffirming our commitment to youth culture, G-SHOCK considers it a paramount mission to wholeheartedly support the flourishing endeavors of the younger generation. At the core of our values lies an unyielding commitment to foster the growth and success of the youth across various realms of real-life expression, encompassing music, sports, performing arts, street culture, and more. Through this steadfast resolve, we aim to be a catalyst for their achievements, contributing to and celebrating the dynamic spirit of youth culture.

Since its inception in 2008, the 'Shock The World' tour has evolved into a global phenomenon, showcasing the dynamic fusion of street culture, music, and the unyielding G-SHOCK spirit. Over the years, it has hosted performers whose electrifying acts have left an everlasting impact on audiences across 34 countries. The 'Shock The World' global event, which took place recently in Tokyo, New York, Berlin, London, Shanghai and Bali, is set to conclude in Mumbai this December.

This December, G-SHOCK's 'Shock The World' promises an unforgettable night celebrating the brand ethos of absolute toughness along with cultural and musical brilliance in Mumbai. Featuring awe-inspiring feats by the Father of G-SHOCK, Kikuo Ibe, alongside headlining artists Krsna and Paradox and DJ sets by Kayan and OG Shez, the event is set to create a spectacle that resonates with the core values of G-SHOCKtoughness, resilience, and innovation. The brand will also be announcing the culmination of the first-ever TEAM G-SHOCK in India as part of these momentous celebrations.

Commenting on the unveiling for the G-SHOCK 'Shock The World' Tour in India, Hideki Imai, Managing Director, Casio India said, As the pioneering force behind unbreakable timepieces, G-SHOCK is thrilled to celebrate 40 iconic years of toughness by bringing back the electrifying 'Shock The World' tour to India after 11 long years, in collaboration with Vh1. The upcoming tour is poised to deliver a magnetic celebration spanning across some of the most definitive G-SHOCK models which have made history along with an amalgamation of the subcultures which it has inspired such as music, performing arts, street culture, all infused with the indomitable G-SHOCK spirit. This December, we are set to deliver an unforgettable night in Mumbai, featuring a curated experience with fascinating surprises that will bring our cherished audience closer to the iconic G-SHOCK spirit in a grander way.

Gaurav Mashruwala, Business Head, Viacom18 LIVE said, "We are thrilled to join forces with G-SHOCK 'Shock The World Tour in India. In tandem with Viacom18 Live, known for creating magnificent experiential events like Vh1 Supersonic, this event blends the unparalleled energy of Viacom18 Live with the indomitable spirit of G-SHOCK. Together, were excited to redefine the very essence of time, and bring to Mumbai an experience that transcends the ordinary - a fusion of music and culture that resonates with fans and enthusiasts".

Attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to witness and explore the iconic and limited-edition G-SHOCK timepieces from across the world at a specially curated zone, allowing them to get up close and personal with some of the most sought-after G-SHOCK creations.

'Shock The World' stands as a cultural fest embodying G-SHOCK's valuesabsolute toughness, resilient spirit, and constant innovation. The tour's return to the vibrant Indian landscape, in association with Vh1 Supersonic, promises a magnetic euphoria through an irresistible lineup of performances and carefully curated presentations.

For all rap music and pop culture lovers, streetwear enthusiasts and G-SHOCK fans, get ready to roll and experience the time of your life with G-SHOCK! Register on the link below and secure your tickets for the Shock The World Tour now!

Registrations for the Shock The World Tour are now live and can be accessed here: https://www.gosupersonic.in/gshock/
In line with its on-going campaign Be Someones We that aims to be a partner in building a better today and a brighter tomorrow by bringing people together and making people feel loved and cared for, Vi, the leading telecom operator, today has created a Guinness World Record for the Worlds largest notebook sentence , using 23071 notebooks.

This initiative took place at Janeshwar Mishra Park in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh where more than 700 people including Vi employees and their families, 500 underprivileged kids from Umeed Foundation, Care Education Trust, Aadijyoti Sewa Samiti and Bal Shahswat Foundation came together to create worlds largest notebook sentence - Be Someones We; thus sharing the message of inclusivity and togetherness.

Vi will be donating 23071 notebooks used in creating the world record to Ministry of Education  Uttar Pradesh. The primary objective behind attempting this GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title is inspired from everyday life scenarios to illustrate how a network brings an entire community together and serves as a bridge for forming human/social bonds. Further, promoting inclusivity and fostering a sense of togetherness.

Honble Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Brijesh Pathak Ji, was present to support this initiative by Vi. He spent some time with the kids from the NGOs and Vi employees to encourage everyone for the world record.

The event also saw presence of other dignitaries such as, Smt. Baby Rani Maurya, Honourable Cabinet Minister Women and Child Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Smt. Sushma Kharkwal, Honble Mayor, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Expressing his enthusiasm on achieving this milestone, Pravir Kumar, Operations Director, Vodafone Idea, said, We are thrilled to have achieved the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Largest notebook sentence. Loneliness is a growing concern in India and with this world record our objective is to convey a message to the nation that a small gesture is enough to make someone feel less left out, less lonely and loved and cared for. The world record is another step in fostering togetherness & inclusivity by bringing people together. I am extremely thankful to the children and the people of Lucknow who played a crucial role in making this achievement possible. Today, we've become 'We' for the children, and we aspire to continue this journey of togetherness for others as well."

Commenting on the world record with a purpose, Swapnil Dangarikar, Official Adjudicator, Guinness World Records, said This was the record attempt for largest notebook sentence. Previously this record happened in 2019 with 7674 notebooks, I had adjudicated that one as well. And, I was here today to verify what Vodafone Idea does and how many notebooks they use etc. The design and the notebooks were already pre-approved. After running the final checks, I am very happy to announce that with 23071 notebooks, Vodafone Idea has broken the previous record and created a new Guinness World Record title for largest notebook sentence. I would like to congratulate Vi for achieving this feat.

Vis ongoing campaign Be Someones We is designed to deliver a powerful message of supporting one another through both good and challenging times, even with the smallest of actions. It aims to create an inclusive world where people feel less left out, less lonely and loved and cared for.
A California man will spend the next 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to shipping methamphetamine with an estimated street value of more than $500,000 to the Mississippi coast.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, an anonymous tip in October 2019 led the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to a PODS container being shipped by 41-year-old Shaun Patrick Fuller of Los Angeles to a residence in Jackson County, Miss.

The anonymous tipster said the PODS container was full of drugs intended to be trafficked on the Mississippi coast.

Agents located the PODS container and a K9 alerted on the container, prompting the issuance of a search warrant. The search uncovered 1,342 grams of methamphetamine that tested at 100% purity, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. The meth has an estimated street value of $536,800.

Fuller initially pleaded not guilty, but in August reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Fuller was facing a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
This headline has been updated.

Alabamas education budget is in great shape, Deputy Fiscal Director Kirk Fulford told school board members Friday, but local districts need to plan now for big changes ahead.

While Fulford said it was too early to put a specific number on the states education trust fund for the next fiscal year, he can put a number on excess education revenues that lawmakers will need to allocate in February: $2.2 billion.

We had extraordinary things going on in fiscal year 2021 and 2020, he said. Things like billions of dollars in federal COVID relief funds, which resulted in higher income taxes and higher sales taxes Those two revenue sources make up more than 90% of education revenues.

The good times continued into the 2023 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, with education revenues topping $10.4 billion, $2.2 billion more than the $8.2 billion lawmakers budgeted for FY23. This makes the third year in a row that revenues far exceeded what was budgeted.

Income tax revenue grew 13% in 2021 and 22% in 2022, according to charts Fulford shared. That growth dropped to 0.2% for 2023. Sales tax revenue grew 15% in 2021, 8% in 2022 and 4% in 2023.

The extraordinary year over year increases in income and sales tax over the past couple of years may have created a new normal in some peoples minds where spending is concerned, but Fulford cautioned that those good times will come to an end. Its just a matter of when.

We just need to take what happened in 21 and 22 and set that over here, he said, because thats not normal. Thats not real. Thats not anything that needs to be considered or base a budget on.

The problem is we have to figure out what the new normal is, Fulford said.

Fulford said he expects the economy to slow down and the states 1% sales tax reduction on groceries will have an impact on revenues, too.

Also worrisome is what happens when federal COVID relief money no longer is available - by the fall of 2024.

Im deeply concerned about how that impacts requests and programs, he said. The last information I saw is that about 35% of that money has been spent on people and benefits.

Its hard to get rid of people and benefits. Its hard to get rid of programs that people say are successful. Fulford said when the Great Recession hit, federal aid came in, and when it dried up, people came to state lawmakers to ask for funding to continue those programs. Hes concerned that is about to happen again.

We have a finite amount of money that the Rolling Reserve will allow us to spend, he said, and a finite amount of money that will be dedicated toward K-12.

Fulford said caps on how much lawmakers can spend through the regular budget process have helped build up reserve funds, which will soften the blow when the economy slows down.

Much of the excess revenue has been squirreled away in those reserve funds, but lawmakers have had a lot of discretion in how to spend more than $4 billion in excess revenues in 2021 and 2022.

This years expected $2.2 billion surplus has more restrictions than excesses in the past two years when lawmakers had full discretion over how to spend the surplus.

Lawmakers will get to spend about $600 million of the surplus how they see fit, but most of it will be put into reserve accounts:

$112 million into the Budget Stabilization Fund,

$1 billion into the Advancement and Technology Fund, and

$412 million into the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund.

In the regular FY24 budget, teachers received a 2% raise, some specialty positions received stipends and lawmakers approved an upcoming principal bonus program.

Last years $2.8 billion surplus received a lot of debate. Gov. Kay Ivey initially requested to use a chunk of it for a water park, an airport and a port project.

Satsuma City school board member Matt Dial said the excess revenues handed out during the last legislative session was not distributed equitably, with higher education getting the bulk of the excess.

Do you have any insight on why K-12 got screwed on that versus the two year schools and four year schools? he asked Fulford during the presentation. Fulford said he wasnt sure how lawmakers arrived at the final allocations.

Dial shared calculations of per student amounts to demonstrate his point.

Four-year colleges and universities received about $2,600 per student, and two-year colleges received $4,600 per student, Dial said, while K-12 students received $830 per student.

I absolutely get your point, Fulford said.

Dial told AL.com he would like to see lawmakers allocate the $600 million excess more equitably during the upcoming session.

Its important that Education Trust Fund money benefits education, he said. And if were not getting it at our most basic level [K-12], were missing the boat.

Fulford did not share projections for 2024 tax collections, saying he wants to watch what happens with the economy over the next few months. Each year at the start of the legislative session, Fulfords office produces a revenue estimate for lawmakers to consider when budgeting for the following year.

Lawmakers capped year over year education budget increases when they made changes to the Rolling Reserve Act, which governs the budgets. The education budget for FY25 cannot exceed $9.4 billion, which is 106.25% of the $8.8 billion FY24 budget.

The next legislative session starts Feb. 6, when lawmakers will decide on budgets for the 2025 fiscal year.

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A new, streamlined federal financial aid form is coming soon  but when, exactly, is still up in the air.

The Department of Education recently announced that the overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, will launch online by December 31  nearly three months later than its usual launch date.

Officials predict the changes will allow more than half a million additional students, including nearly 8,000 more in Alabama, to receive federal aid for the 2024-25 award year.

Heres what we do know about the new FAFSA form, and how Alabama families can start preparing over the holidays:

Do I have to fill out the FAFSA?

Students must submit FAFSA forms for each year that theyre requesting federal aid.

In Alabama, high school students must complete the form, or complete a waiver, to graduate. FAFSA completion is also required to get state aid in Alabama.

Completing the FAFSA gives students access to the largest source of financial aid for education after high school, said Chandra Heard of Alabama Possible, a group thats working to get more Alabama students to apply for financial aid.

Recent efforts to improve FAFSA completion have saved Alabama students millions of dollars, data shows.

In 2021, Alabama students left an estimated $66.7 million in unclaimed Pell dollars on the table, according to a recent analysis by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, which used figures from the National College Attainment Network.

In 2023, 29,792 Alabama students have completed the FAFSA  a 19% jump from 2021, where just under 25,000 students filled out the form, according to ACHE. The increase alone, officials said, saved students an estimated $14.4 million in unclaimed Pell dollars.

Whats changing?

Fewer questions: The new form will have 36 questions instead of 108.

A streamlined process: Families will be able to automatically import income data from tax records, eliminating the need to self-report earnings and assets.

New aid calculations: The new formula will place a greater emphasis on wealth instead of cash flow  meaning students who exceed the income threshold but dont have a lot of property or assets could now be eligible for more student aid. This might mean changes for students whose families have farms or businesses.

Separate accounts for parents: Questions are based on the applicants role, so students and guardians will have to create separate accounts to answer separate sets of questions on the form.

Expanded access to aid: Incarcerated students and students who have been convicted of drug-related offenses are now also eligible for aid.

Check out this video series from the U.S. Department of Education to learn more about the updates and find answers to common questions.

When is the new deadline?

Typically, the FAFSA form doesnt close until June 30 of the year youre receiving federal aid. So for the 2024-25 school year, youd have until June 30, 2025, to apply for aid for that year.

But different aid deadlines are set by states and individual colleges.

To maximize your chances of receiving the most aid possible, youll need to know when your schools priority deadline is. To learn more, check your schools website or contact a financial aid advisor at your institution.

Practically speaking, most students should aim to complete the FAFSA in January or February, depending on schools deadlines, in order to receive an award letter before making a commitment to a college.

The U.S. Department of Education also publishes a list of deadlines to receive state aid. In Alabama, those deadlines are determined by individual colleges.

But just be prepared  It may take a bit longer to get your check this year, since some colleges are already pushing back their distribution deadlines to keep up with a potential backlog of aid applications. Its best to check with your school if you have any questions.

What can I do in the meantime?

The form is scheduled to launch by Dec. 31. Prospective students can keep an eye out for updates at studentaid.gov.

In the meantime, applicants can go take the following steps:

Set up your Federal Student Aid ID : This will allow you to securely and confidentially access their FAFSA once it launches. The FSA ID also unlocks other opportunities for aid, as well as work-study possibilities. To create an account, youll need your social security number and a mobile phone number or email address. Just make sure to remember your username and password so you can access the form when its available.

Find out who will need to be contributors : If youre a dependent student, you will report your and your parents information. If youre an independent student, you will report your own information, and, if youre married, your spouses. In each case, contributors will need to create their own StudentAid.gov account.

Gather materials: You should only need your social security number and an email address or phone number to complete the form, since the new FAFSA will upload tax information from the IRS automatically. But just in case, its a good idea to keep any important financial and personal documents handy  like tax and bank statements, child support documents, and information about assets like family businesses or farms.

Calculate your aid: Applicants can use this calculator to get an early estimate of what their federal student aid could be before even submitting their form.

Its also never too early to look for local scholarships and get to work on your college applications.

Check out these toolkits from the Ed Lab for tips on how to find funding and ensure your application stands out.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission awarded licenses on Friday to 20 companies to cultivate, process, transport, test, and sell medical marijuana products, a key step toward starting the new industry in Alabama.

Patients who receive a recommendation from a doctor will be able to buy the products to treat chronic pain and a wide range of conditions and symptoms.

Friday was the third time for the AMCC to award licenses. Awards made in June and August were rescinded after mistakes by the commission and delays caused by lawsuits.

Fridays awards come after a judge approved a settlement the AMCC reached in mediation with some of the companies that have sued the commission.

A key part of the settlement was that the AMCC agreed not to consider scores from third-party evaluators that had previously been used to rank the applicants. The scores have been controversial and were challenged in court.

Companies seeking licenses made presentations to the AMCC this week under a new procedure adopted in October.

On Friday, the AMCC voted on the license awards in an open meeting at the Alabama State House. Several commissioners participated remotely. Ten or 11 of the 13 commissioners voted on most of the decisions.

The open meeting Friday was in contrast to the license awards in June and August, when most of those two meetings took place behind closed doors. The closed meetings had sparked some of the litigation against the AMCC.

Before the vote on Friday, the commissioners filled out sheets to rank the applicants in each category. The averages of those rankings were used to to determine the order in which the applicants would be considered. The commission then accepted nominations for each licensee, category-by-category. For those that received a nomination and a second, a roll call vote followed.

The companies chosen:

Cultivators: CRC of Alabama; Greenway Botanicals; Gulf Shore Remedies; Native Black Cultivation; Creek Leaf Wellness; Twisted Herb Cultivation; and I AM FARMS.

There were 12 cultivator license applicants.

Processors: Organic Harvest Lab; Coosa Medical Manufacturing; 1819 Labs; and Jasper Development Group.

There were 11 processor applicants Four is the maximum number of licenses allowed under the law.

Dispensaries: CCS of Alabama; GP6 Wellness; Capitol Medical; and RJK Holdings.

There were 18 dispensary license applicants. Four is the maximum number of licenses allowed.

Each dispensary licensee gets three locations.

According to their license applications for the four companies picked, their dispensaries will be in Montgomery (2), Talladega, Cullman, Birmingham, Athens, Attalla, Opelika, Dothan, Oxford, Mobile, and Daphne.

There should be 25 other dispensary sites when the five integrated licensees are picked on Dec. 12. They get five each.

Secure transporters: Alabama Secure Transport; Tyler Van Lines; Pick Up My Things; and International Communication.

There were originally nine secure transporter applicants, but two had been eliminated before Friday. Three others were denied licenses Friday. There is no limit on the number of transporter licenses.

Testing labs: Certus Laboratories.

Certus was the only testing lab applicant considered on Friday. There was originally one other applicant but it was eliminated before Friday.

Dr. William Saliski, Jr., a pulmonologist and commission member, said one lab would not be enough for the entire state.

AMCC Chairman Rex Vaughn agreed, saying the state needs a second lab.

We need another lab at least for the purpose of being objective in testing the products that are out there and also to avoid the potential bottleneck of all the product that comes into one laboratory, Vaughn said.

That will be on our agenda sooner than later, Vaughn said.

The presentations from applicants this week were part of the AMCCs new approach to making the licensing decisions. Several commissioners praised individual applicants for their presentations before Fridays votes.

Vaughn said it was a long week of watching the presentations but worth the time.

Its worked well, Vaughn said. The presenters brought things to the forefront that maybe we didnt see otherwise, that you cannot really see on a paper application.

The AMCCC distinguishes between awarding licenses and issuing licenses. The companies selected Friday are scheduled to be issued licenses on Dec. 29. Before that, Vaughn said the AMCC would do investigations that include on-site inspections.

Theyll go through the investigative process to make sure that company is what we think they are, Vaughn said.

Companies awarded licenses have until Dec. 15 to pay their licensing fees. Companies that were denied licenses on Friday have until Dec. 15 to request an investigative hearing before the AMCC.

The AMCC is scheduled to award the final category of licenses, integrated licenses, on Dec. 12. Integrated licensees will be able to cultivate, process, transport, and dispense medical marijuana products. The integrated license category has been the most contentious and sparked most of the lawsuits. There are 38 applicants for integrated licenses, but the AMCC can award a maximum of five under the law.

The Legislature approved medical marijuana in 2021 and created the AMCC to oversee seed-to-sale regulation of the industry, which will be fully intrastate.

Products can include gummies, tablets, capsules, tinctures, patches, oils, and other forms allowed by the legislation.

Patients who receive a recommendation from a certified doctor and receive a medical cannabis card from the AMCC will be able to buy the products at licensed dispensaries.

The products can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, weight loss and nausea from cancer, depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, muscle spasms caused by disease or spinal cord injuries, PTSD, and others.

This story was edited on Dec. 2 to say what cities some of the dispensaries will be in.
A Mississippi man was killed early Friday in a Chilton County crash.

Alabama State Troopers identified the fatality victim as Robert E. Johnson. He was 73 and lived in Price, Miss.

The wreck happened about 5:20 a.m. on Interstate 65, about three miles south of Jemison, said Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Burkett.

Authorities said Johnson was driving a Chevrolet Suburban that left interstate and hit an unoccupied pickup truck on the shoulder.

Johnson was pronounced dead on the scene.
An Evergreen man died Friday when his vehicle collided head-on with a tractor-trailer in Monroe County, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The accident occurred just before 5 a.m. Friday on U.S. 84, just one mile east of Repton, when a 2016 Nissan Altima driven by 34-year-old Jonathon L. Wilson collided with a 2016 Mack tractor-trailer driven by 51-year-old Scottie Smith of Frisco City.

Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene. Smith suffered what ALEA described as minor injuries and was transported to Monroe County Hospital for treatment.

No additional details were released as ALEA continues to investigate the cause of the crash.
On the 68th anniversary of Rosa Parks arrest on a Montgomery bus, Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell is leading an effort in Congress to make Dec. 1 a federal holiday.

In a speech Friday, Sewell asked all members to co-sponsor House Bill 308, the Rosa Parks Day Act. If passed, this would mark the first federal holiday that honors a woman.

Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of Americans to advance justice and equality, Sewell said during her speech on the House floor. Now is the time to pass this legislation and declare December 1st as a federal holiday and as Rosa Parks Day.

Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955 and was arrested. Though she was not the first person to be arrested, the incident inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for more than a year and eventually forced the end of segregation ordinances.

Parks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1966 and was the first woman to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

Four states - Ohio, Oregon, California and Missouri - currently observe Rosa Parks Day as state holidays.

Alabama, Parks home state, does not officially observe the holiday, but does allow counties and municipalities to elect to take the day as a full-fledged paid holiday.

The bill to make Dec. 1 a federal holiday is currently backed by 31 co-sponsors, all of whom are members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

This is not just about Black history. Its about American history, Sewell said at a news conference Wednesday. I know that all of us, this whole nation, has benefited from the courage and bravery of this one woman.

Several other Alabama politicians, including Gov. Kay Ivey, posted in honor of Parks. Her courage transcends politics, reminding us of the importance of individual liberty and fair treatment for all, Ivey wrote on X on Friday.
Alabamas first Safe Haven Box where young mothers can surrender infants they cannot raise will be open in early spring, Madison Fire and Rescue spokesman Dan Pickens said Friday.

The box was delivered this week to fire station No. 1 at 101 Mill Road in Madison, just next to Huntsvillle. The box will be installed in an exterior wall. The front of the box will be accessible to the public until a child is inside and the back of the box will open into the fire station where fire fighters trained in infant care will be alerted when the box is occupied.

There will be no questions asked, photographs taken or any other method of contact with the person surrendering the child, Pickens said.

The main purpose of the fire department is lifesaving, Pickens said. If this box saves one child in in 20 years, thats one child that made it because this box was available. Thats worth it to us. A child has a whole future in front of them.

Alabama legalized the boxes this year through an act of the state Legislature. Lawmakers expanded an existing state law allowing the surrender of infants at hospitals without being charged with abandonment.

Supporters say momentum for the boxes increased this year after one baby was found dead in a Dothan dumpster and a second in a Decatur dump. Installations have been made or are planned in Prattville, Mobile and Hoover,

Alabamas law now allows surrender of infants up to 45 days old instead of the previous three-day limit.

Kids to Love, a private foundation in Madison County, has said it will provide the first 10 Safe Haven boxes in Alabama through an anonymous donor. Lee Marshall, founder and CEO of Kids to Love, said Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Madison, Gadsden and Scottsboro have committed to using the boxes. Foley is also planning to put up one of the boxes,

Meanwhile, the City of Huntsville said Friday it will stay with its current system.

After carefully reviewing the new Baby Box option, spokeswoman Kelly Schrimsher said in a statement, the City of Huntsville decided the present system is preferable for the health, safety and welfare of the child and all parties involved. A new mother is able to surrender her child to any Fire & Rescue station - no questions asked - and her identity will be protected, which keeps us in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations. Some aspects of the regulatory requirements for a Baby Box cannot be met at our fire stations at this time.
A Florida hotel will pay a $5,000 fine to settle a legal entanglement with a state regulatory agency after the hotel allowed minors into a Christmas drag show in 2022, USA Today reports.

A Drag Queen Christmas was performed at the Hyatt Regency Miami, with the hotel billing the show as open to all ages, despite the sexually explicit nature of the Shows performances, including performers wearing sexually suggestive clothing and prosthetic female genitalia, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) received multiple complaints about a sexually explicit performance marketed to children in Fort Lauderdale last December, the day prior to the Miami show, prompting the department to begin an investigation, according to NBC6.

The DBPR filed a complaint initially seeking to revoke the hotels liquor license, but through a settlement reached between the department and the hotel this week, Hyatt will instead pay a $5,000 fine and agree to ban minors from attending any shows with specific sexual activities as described by Florida state law.

The agreement does not include an admission of liability by the hotel, according to the report.

The Orlando Sentinel reported the Orlando Philharmonic had reached a similar agreement with the DBPR over its presentation of A Drag Queen Christmas at the Plaza Live facility, owned by the Philharmonic. The Sentinel report notes undercover agents found nothing lewd about the event. The agents took photos of three minors at the event, all accompanied by adults.

Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, when licensees break the law, they are held accountable, said DBPR secretary Melanie S. Griffin in a release.

A representative of the company which produces A Drag Queen Christmas told USA Today the states actions were politically motivated.

We have played to sellout crowds every year in Florida, except, last year was politically charged when Mr. DeSantis set his eyes on the White House and used drag queens to fire up his base, Murray Hodson wrote in an emailed statement.

A Drag Queen Christmas is a nationwide tour now in its ninth year. It is scheduled to return to Florida for performances in Jacksonville and Miami Beach in late December.
A Brantley man has been charged in the slaying of a woman earlier this week in Crenshaw County.

Dustin Lee Burbage, 40, is charged with murder in the death of 32-year-old Angel Renea Soisson, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced on Friday.

State Bureau of Investigation agents launched the investigation about 10:15 p.m. Monday at the request of the Crenshaw County Sheriffs Office and the Crenshaw County District Attorneys Office, said Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Burkett.

The death happened near the 6000 block of Old Three Notch Road near the Bullock community.

Details about Soissons slaying have not yet been made public.

According to court records, Burbage was arrested on Tuesday.

In addition to murder, he is charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

His bond is set at $475,000.
The publisher and a reporter for the Atmore News were both indicted Friday by an Escambia County grand jury on a charge of revealing grand jury secrets.

District Judge Ben Fuller canceled a preliminary hearing that was set on the original charges filed in late October. The hearing had been scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday. No future court dates have been set.

Brewton attorney Ernest White told AL.com earlier in the week that he had planned to ask Fuller to dismiss the charges, saying that he felt District Attorney Steve Billy is totally off-base on his interpretation of the Alabama grand jury secrecy act in applying it against the journalists.

White also said he was hopeful for a hearing to see if we can do some discovery in that case which might help us on the ethics and impeachment charges filed against publisher Sherry Digmon, 72, who is also a member of the Escambia County School Board.

Billy has declined to comment since charges were initially filed in October. The case has sparked a wave of national interest from free press advocates and coverage from newspapers like the The Washington Post and New York Times, focusing on charges against journalists for reporting the news.

Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher observes the Escambia County School Board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in Atmore, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

The case against reporter Don Fletcher, 69, and Digmon is related to a story in the Atmore News detailing that authorities were investigating the Escambia County School Boards handling of COVID-19 relief funds after allegedly receiving a copy of a grand jury subpoena in the mail. The indictment filed against Fletcher on Friday does not include details about the matter.

Also facing indictment is Ashley Fore, 47, of Brewton, a school system bookkeeper who is accused of revealing grand jury evidence to the journalists.

Digmon also faces two counts of ethics violations and an impeachment charge related to her dual role as a newspaper publisher and school board member. Digmon is alleged to have used her school board position for personal gain by selling ads in the Atmore Magazine and/or Grace Publishing LLC, which she also has financial interest in, and for receiving more than $2,500.

The impeachment indictment was filed on Oct. 27 and was provided to AL.com by Digmons attorney, Ernest White of Brewton, and the Alabama Association of School Boards. It accuses Digmon of violating the 11-year-old School Board Governance Improvement Act of 2012 that establishes training requirements and accountability measures for all local school board members.

The indictment also accuses Digmon of failing to participate in school activities and functions in her role as a school board member, that she worked as a reporter to promote her newspaper business, The Atmore News, and for attending school conferences  spending several thousand dollars yearly.

A representative with the Alabama Association of School Boards has since slammed the impeachment charge and questioned the timing of the charges occurring after the School Board made a controversial decision not to renew Superintendent Michele McClungs contract beyond June 30, 2024.

White said the legal activity against his clients is politically motivated. Digmon was one of the board members in a 4-3 vote to support not renewing McClungs contract. The vote occurred after a heated board meeting on Oct. 12.

Escambia County District Attorney Steve Billy speaks with the parents of Superintendent Michele McClung during a break at the Escambia County School Board's meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in Atmore, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Billy, the district attorney, was a vocal supporter of McClung during that meeting.

The board met on Tuesday for the first time since the charges were filed against Digmon, Fletcher and Fore. Board members voted once again along 4-3 splits on a new school board president and vice-president. Digmon sided with the majority. No one publicly spoke about the criminal cases.

The mood is generally that its a revenge thing against Ms. Sherry Digmon to not renewing the contract of Ms. McClung, White said.
A murder suspect wanted in the March slaying of an Alabama pastor was arrested Friday morning in Arizona.

Joseph Christopher, 40, was arrested by Mesa police in Maricopa County on a murder charge in the death of 41-year-old Kevin Burks, who was a pastor at Living Waters Christian Church in Opp, authorities told WDHN.

Burks was found dead in the kitchen of his Opp home on March 4.

Opp police identified Christopher as a suspect in the slaying.

Police obtained a warrant for the suspect but later learned he fled Alabama and was living in Arizona, WDHN reported.

Christopher is facing unrelated charges in Arizona and is expected to be extradited to Alabama once his Arizona charges are resolved, according to the network.
The best debate of the 2024 presidential cycle so far is unequivocally the Red State v. Blue State Debate on Fox News featuring California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America was treated to both a poop map and a clear difference in governing philosophies that will play out in 2024 and beyond.

Working against a barrage of awful facts, Newsom distilled the case for Democratic governance: Tax the wealthy, spend on public problems, and engage identity politics effectively. DeSantis made a common sense appeal to the American people that Republican leadership in Florida is a blueprint for lowering gas prices, reducing the burden of taxes, and combating the high cost of groceries.

Give Newsom tremendous credit. Name another rising star in the Democratic Party willing to take the stage on the conservative flagship cable news channel and debate a popular Republican governor with Sean Hannity as the moderator. Its a short listof one.

Newsom walks into the lions den with a smile on his face. Meanwhile Biden struggles with stairs. As a conservative Republican, I simply cannot understand why any Democrat with eyes, ears, and a brain isnt begging Newsom to lead the party immediately.

In the head-to-head between Florida and California, the sunshine state is heading in a better direction in terms of its economy, education, violent crime, and homelessness. Newsom spun some of the facts by cutting up the information differently. For example, he credibly argued that the murder rate in California is lower than Florida even though overall violent crime is markedly higher in Newsoms state.

Nevertheless, the driver behind Newsoms arguments isnt built on California having better statistical outcomes than Florida. He made his shots count on issues favorable to Democrats.

Ron DeSantis signed the most extreme, anti-abortion bills in America. Newsom said. He signed a bill banning any exceptions for rape and incest, and then he said it didnt go far enough and decided to sign a six-week ban before women even know theyre pregnant.

Newsom also presented himself as the champion of various groups from the LGBTQ community to librarians. Ron, relax, Newsom jabbed. Youre a bully. I can handle it. The Democratic proxy let countless demographic groups know that he was an ally who is willing to fight Republicans.

DeSantis had a much different approach that proved quite effective. Identity politics arent as pressing if you cant afford to put gas in your car. How does paying seven dollars a gallon gas help working people?, DeSantis asked. How does paying an eight percent sales tax help working people? He continued. How many people are able to afford groceries now compared to what you were doing three or four years ago?

Each of those questions was a common sense haymaker for which Newsom had no clear response.

DeSantis pointed out that Newsoms own father-in-law had exited California for Florida. He even produced a defecation map of San Francisco to illustrate how conditions had deteriorated in the city. The Florida governor found the most success asking Americans to use their common sense and highlighting issues that impact all of them rather than various specific groups.

A flagging DeSantis needed a good night to keep his presidential hopes alive, and he succeeded. Yes, hes awkward on his feet. His trademark grimace isnt exactly warming. Hes far from poetic in his delivery. Thats a reality for most Americans as well. Were not slick politicians. DeSantiss everyman delivery likely helped him with the voters he needed to reach.

Newsom needed a national introduction. He is unquestionably superior to Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris while graciously defending both of them. Armed with a polished national agenda instead of simply defending Californias lackluster performance, he would be formidable. If he isnt the nominee in 2024, Democrats simply arent putting forth their best candidate.

What struck me the most about the evenings exchange is that Republicans presently have a messenger problem and Democrats have a message problem. Gas, groceries, and stretching paychecks a little further matter to Americans regardless of our various group identities. Winning on economic issues matters a lot more than cultural battles and parochial interest issues. At the same time, how American leaders achieve that success is critically important. The facts werent favorable to Newsom but he was able to hold his own by attacking DeSantis for demeaning and humiliating people with whom he disagrees. Empathy still matters to millions of Americans.

The path to success for either party is leading with policies that help all Americans without being total jerks to those who have different perspectives.

There are profound differences tonightbut theres one thing in closing that we have in common, Newsom noted, neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024. He might be correct, but America will clearly be worse off if our choices are simply more of what weve seen before.

More Cameron Smith columns:

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. Hes a partner in a media company, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to csmith@al.com or @DCameronSmith on X or @davidcameronsmith on Threads.
China, Vietnam agree to jointly maintain peace, stability at sea

Xinhua) 13:49, December 02, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, shakes hands with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali)

HANOI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son agreed during their meeting here on Friday to jointly maintain peace and stability at sea.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said during the meeting that like-mindedness and a shared future are the salient features of China-Vietnam relations. The two parties and the two countries have seen close high-level exchanges and frequent contacts like visiting relatives, which fully demonstrates the high level and special nature of China-Vietnam relations, he said.

China and Vietnam have the same social system and shared ideals and beliefs, Wang said, adding that defining a new positioning and setting new goals for the relationship will not only open up new prospects for the development of the ties, but also make new contributions to the cause of peace and progress of mankind.

Wang emphasized that the foreign affairs departments of the two countries should encourage, support and coordinate various departments and sub-national governments to implement the strategic consensus reached by leaders of the two parties, strengthen inter-party exchanges and exchanges of experience in governance, and usher in a new surge in practical cooperation in various fields.

China and Vietnam should actively promote mutually beneficial cooperation at sea, prevent the involvement of external forces, accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and make the South China Sea a sea of peace and cooperation, the Chinese foreign minister said.

In the international and multilateral arena, he said, China and Vietnam should closely coordinate and support each other to jointly uphold international equity and justice.

Bui Thanh Son said the party, state and people of Vietnam have special feelings for China, as the friendship between Vietnam and China is deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The Vietnamese side regards the development of relations with China as a strategic choice and top priority, Son said, adding that Vietnam hopes to promote the healthy, stable and lasting development of relations between the two parties and two countries, and elevate the ties to new heights.

He said the foreign affairs departments of the two countries may work closely together, play the role well in coordinating and promoting cooperation in various fields, strengthen high-level exchanges and exchanges at all levels, and deepen practical cooperation in agricultural products, connectivity, high science and technology, tourism, and other fields.

Son said the Vietnamese side is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the Chinese side in international and regional affairs, and support the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative.

China's ideals and initiatives are in line with the spirit of the United Nations Charter and the aspirations of all countries to build a better world, and are conducive to the cause of peace and progress of mankind, he said.

The Vietnamese side is willing to work with the Chinese side to maintain peace and stability at sea in accordance with the high-level consensus between the two countries, said the Vietnamese foreign minister.

The two sides also exchanged views during the meeting on international and regional hotspot issues of common concern.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and four of his Republican colleagues on Friday urged President Biden to ban travel from China as health officials grapple with understanding a so-called mystery illness there.

Tuberville and the four other Republican senators said they were skeptical of China telling World Health Organization officials the truth about the cluster of respiratory illness detected in the northern part of the country that is mostly plaguing children after the COVID-19 pandemic.

We must take the necessary steps to protect the health of Americans, and our economy, the senators wrote in a letter to Biden on Friday. That means we should immediately restrict travel between the United States and the PRC until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness. A ban on travel now could save our country from death, lockdowns, mandates, and further outbreaks later.

Tuberville and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., spearheaded the letter, while Republican Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Braun of Indiana signed on to the missive.

The senators said China has a long history of lying about public health crises, including during the pandemic, claiming the countrys obfuscation of the truth, and lack of transparency, robbed the United States of vital knowledge about the disease and its origin.

The WHO has requested that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] share detailed information about the mystery illness, the senators wrote. However, CCP has an incentive to lie, just as they did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and any new pathogen could derail its efforts to stimulate its economy. Besides, we should not wait for the WHO to take action given its track record of slavish deference to the CCP.

The WHO said the symptoms observed in the current outbreak are common to several respiratory diseases and, as of now, at the present time, Chinese surveillance and hospital systems report that the clinical manifestations are caused by known pathogens in circulation.

The agency said China attributed the upsurge in respiratory illness to lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the arrival of the cold season, and due to circulating known pathogens such as influenza.
The U.S. has a critical shortage of medical professionals: nurses, mental health therapists, and particularly physicians. The shortage has been worsening over the years and now is at crisis levels, with wait times for care so long that people are dying waiting for care.

It was recently suggested that Congress should fix the problem of doctor shortage by facilitating the in-migration of trained physicians from other countries. After all, Washington has more than six decades experience in fixing healthcare, with an impressive track record!

To solve a problem, one must first identify the cause of the problem. There are several reasons for the U.S. doctor shortage.

The first and most obvious is the overwhelming, time-devouring regulatory and administrative burden placed on physicians by federal healthcare BARRCOME: bureaucracy, administration, rules, regulations, compliance, oversight, mandates, and enforcement.

Any time Congress fixes a problem, it does so by creating BARRCOME, which costs money. Approximately half (!) of all U.S. healthcare spending goes to BARRCOME, not care. Since the U.S. spent $4.3 trillion on its healthcare system in 2022, roughly $2 trillion care dollars were diverted from patients needs to pay for healthcare bureaucrats, both government and insurance. Expressed more bluntly, Washington stole $2 trillions worth of Americans medical care to pay its non-clinical minions.

For example, to pay for BARRCOME in the ACA, $716 billion was taken from the Medicare Trust, money intended to pay for seniors hospital care.

Asking Congress to pass legislation, adding more BARRCOME, to entice outside physicians to migrate here will a) cost millions possibly billions; b) take even more money away from patient care; c) make enemies of our allies, who have their own critical doctor shortages; and d) not work. The reason physicians are leaving Great Britains NHS, for example, are the same reasons American physicians are quitting our system. Why would British M.D.s jump out of a British frying pan into an American fire?

Another important reason for the doctor shortage is psychological.

Physicians endure all those years of school and training along with long hours and great emotional as well as physical stress for one reason above others: to obtain a psychic reward. Maslow described it as the highest of human needs, self-actualization, discovering the meaning for that persons life and achieving it. As one nurse described the psychic reward, when my babies [her patients] do well, it feeds my soul.

The current U.S. healthcare system with its third party decision-making disconnects physicians from their patients emotionally (as well as financially)  i.e., no psychic reward. The depersonalization that patients rightly resent is felt equally by care providers. My former physician had an assigned list of more than 900 patients. Surgeons often first learn the patients name from that days operating schedule.

Physicians cannot use their own best judgment on a patient  they must comply with federal clinical guidelines; FDA and CDC advisories and prohibitions; pharmacy benefits managers limited allowable drug list; and insurance companies dictating where, when, and by whom procedures are done. Doctors have all the responsibility but are denied the necessary authority. They work in a system where federal government believes it must protect the patient from the doctor!

Anyone who questions the above should consider how Washington took away all COVID decision-making from clinicians and gave it to one-size-fits-all federal bureaucrat-M.D.s, who, like Anthony Fauci, practice paper-pushing, not medicine. This was an extreme form of devaluation.

Devaluation of physicians is not only psychological. It is also financial. Doctors charges  how they value their work  are summarily ignored as insurance pays whatever it chooses, a small fixed amount based on Washingtons allowable reimbursement schedules. This authors charges for a catheterization procedure in a critically ill cardiac newborn ranged from $2,500 to as much as $9,000 if medical devices were necessary. Medicaids maximum allowable payment for my work was $387.

Between Washingtons third-party enforced devaluation and disconnection, physicians get neither psychic reward nor fair compensation for their work.

Washington is the reason for our doctor shortage.

Asking federal politicians to fix the doctor shortage is like asking an arsonist to put out the fire he started.

To prevent the arsonist from doing more damage, take him out of circulation. To stop Washington from driving more doctors out of practicing medicine, and hopefully to return some, remove federal third-party control of healthcare and return financial-decision making along with medical freedom  autonomy, the right to choose  where they belong: in the hands of We the Patients.

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: kolyaeg via Pixabay, Pixabay License.
Nearly two decades ago, I left my hometown for Lackland Air Force Base. Every enlisted airman since 1968 has completed Basic Military Training at this historic base in the Alamo City. First, trainees work to graduate from being a rainbow, referring to the mixed colors of their civilian clothing, which involves getting a free haircut, getting new uniforms, and learning how to move in a formation. Trainees are further unified by reminders from military training instructors that they are no longer back on the block, and from here on out, they all bleed blue!

Trainees from across America are honed into a team of airmen. The military has always excelled at forming our diverse citizenry into a unified force  it embraced E pluribus unum. However, the U.S. Air Force is currently indoctrinating airmen in neo-Marxist ideology and creating activists thorough its Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE) programs.

Some will push back and claim that DIE is simply about being inclusive of diverse viewpoints, and if this were the case, there would be little controversy. Yet when senior leaders discuss diversity, as in DIE, the word has a neo-Marxist meaning. Herbert Marcuse in his 1969 Essay on Liberation stated the following: the familiar (used and abused) vocabulary of freedom, justice, and equality could thus obtain not only new meaning but also new reality, with a methodical subversion of the linguistic of the Establishment. Today, diversity as part of DIE is in line with Marcuses subversive definition, which is used in Critical Theory and its offspring, intersectionality.

Critical Theory and intersectionality spawned out of Marxist scholarship and have grown into legal studies, history, education, social sciences, and military studies. It undergirds identity politics, which has been institutionalized into the Air Force through Barrier Analysis Working Groups, or BAWGs. The Air Force has established seven BAWGs:

BEST  Black Employment Strategy Team

DAT  Disability Action Team

HEAT  Hispanic Empowerment Action Team

INET  Indigenous Nations Equality Team

LIT  LGBTQ+ Initiative Team

PACT  Pacific Islander Asian-American Community Team

WIT  Womens Initiatives Team

Through BAWGs, the Air Force has established political advocacy groups to advise the chain of command and make recommendations regarding equity and inclusion. Examples are optional pronouns in an airmans official signature block or that males who identify as female can now complete the womens Physical Fitness Assessment (ref. attachment 5). The force is also subjected to regular stand-downs and bridge-chats.

The 2021 extremism stand-down day is a good example of these sessions. Not once did they mention Islamic extremism or how support for the Marxist movement Black Lives Matter is incompatible with military service. Nor did the stand-down facilitators mention the airman in Utah who was caught in his military-issued gas mask throwing Molotov cocktails at a police car during a BLM riot.

During bridge-chats, airmen are organized into small groups to lean in and discuss hard topics such as race, sexuality, unconscious bias, microaggressions, and social-emotional learning. These groups, however well intentioned by some, are not talks meant to foster inclusion, but are consciousness-raising sessions.

In the last century, Marxists such as Marcuse sought to understand where Marxs theory went wrong. The urban proletariat were supposed to naturally overthrow their bourgeois oppressors, but the revolution did not naturally develop  it had to be enticed. This led Marcuse and others to develop the idea of false consciousness: put simply, people raised in oppression are not aware they are oppressed. Marginalized groups had to be shown they are oppressed through a process such as Paulo Freires conscientization, enabling them to develop a critical awareness and see through the false consciousness.

The result of conscientization is activism, which is seen from the highest levels of Air Force leadership. For example, during the 2022 Air Force DEIA Conference, Secretary Kendall recommended reading Ibram X. Kendis How to Be an Antiracist and promoted Kendis idea that its not enough to just not be racist, but you must be antiracist. Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, the former commander of Air Education and Training Command, stated that the death of George Floyd has fundamentally changed the Air Force, and Air Force leaders have been charged by the chief of staff of the Air Force to engage.

Activism has also been institutionalized into foundational documents, such as the Air Forces Core Values. The May 2022 edition of the little blue book now includes calls to activism. In the section titled CORE VALUES  THE WHY, airmen are admonished to accept accountability and practice justice, and furthermore that it is our obligation to understand and be advocates of the ethical demands these values require. In the section on SERVICE BEFORE SELF, airmen are instructed to recognize and root out prejudices, biases, and stereotypes ... and honor the Air Force and others by following our words with actions.

It is a longstanding tradition for the military to remain politically neutral and divorced from partisan politics, yet now Air Force leaders are stating that airmen have an obligation to practice justice and be advocates. Over the last three years, we have seen the changes publicly.

In 2020, General Brown, in his former position as commander of Pacific Air Forces, released an official video where he states he is full of emotion and publicly shared his opinion about George Floyds death and alludes to the many African-Americans that have shared the same fate.

In 2023, Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt disparaged laws legally passed by millions of citizens at the state level as anti-LBGTQ+ and a dangerous trend. She went on to share that she would make manning decisions, in part, if a family could be denied critical healthcare due to the laws of that state, referring to the restriction of surgeries and hormones to make minors look like members of the opposite sex in states such as Texas.

Also in 2023, Secretary Kendall undermined the will of American citizens and their state laws meant to protect children from abortion by implementing a policy to ensure that airmen and their families can access reproductive health care regardless of where they are stationed.

There has also been a regression with DIE. For example, the first all-female flight over the 2023 Super Bowl is a step back, as the WASPs already fought for true inclusion to fly alongside their brothers. Or consider the first all-black heritage flight compared to the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. Why are we celebrating the resegregation of our formations? Wouldnt true diversity and inclusion be represented in a flight with a mixed-race/sex crew? Isnt this something we do every day in the Air Force, and have been doing for decades?

Yes, we have! However, DIE isnt about diversity; its about indoctrinating airmen into neo-Marxist ideology and creating activists. The Air Force needs to disband DIE programs and get back to building true unity within the force. It needs to focus on what airmen have in common  our oath, the Constitution, and love of country  not on what makes us different. Lets get back to one team, one fight!

Josh Culper (a pseudonym) is an Air Force officer. Josh is remaining anonymous after seeing how Lt. Col. Matt Lohmeier was treated for engaging in wrongthink.

Image via Picryl.
After a year-long investigation, the 562-page final report was recently released regarding the Michigan Oxford High School shooting tragedy on Nov. 30, 2021. I previously reported on this shooting within a month of the tragedy and focused on the serious decline in morality that exists in America. Now we have the details of what actually happened in that shooting.

After I read the final report, I concluded: this shooting didnt need to happen! There were so many red flags, warnings, gaps, and deficiencies in security preparedness and implementation.

On Nov. 29, the day before the shooting, a teacher alerted school administrators that the shooter (a 15-year-old boy) had been looking at an image of bullets in class. Later in the day, the same teacher sent an index card to administration upon which the shooter had drawn a picture of a person holding a gun. The principal was not notified.

On Nov. 30, the shooter was caught watching a violent video in his first class of the day, despite having been warned the day before not to do so. Again, the teacher notified administration. Even more concerning was the shooters behavior in his second class. The teacher noted that the shooter had written on his math assignment paper the following: the thoughts wont stop, help me, blood everywhere, my life is useless, and the world is dead. He had also drawn pictures of a crime scene body with multiple holes in it and blood flowing. But when this boy was taken to the school counselors office, he had crossed out most of the concerning statements. Instead, he wrote, I love my life and OHS Rocks!

The boys parents were then called to come to the school and were asked to take their son for mental health treatment that day. The parents said they had to get back to work and could not take him. Meanwhile, the boys backpack was brought to the office. None of the school officials asked for consent to search his backpack. Later, the shooter testified to a defense psychologist that he was relieved for the first time in his life when he was in the counselors office because he just knew that sheriffs would burst into the office and arrest him. After all they had witnessed, he felt there would be no way that they wouldnt search his backpack.

Well, they didnt search his backpack. Had they done so, they would have found a gun and bullets. This was the weapon the shooter used later in the day to kill four students and injure five other students and a teacher.

The school counselor and the dean of students never asked the parents if their son had access to a firearm. It was concluded that it would be okay to send the boy back to his classroom, as it would be a controlled, supervised setting, and we know that students are happier when theyre with their peers. Four individuals had knowledge of threatening behavior of the shooter, but this info was not shared through their computerized database. Had the principal been notified, he would have had the authority to trigger a Threat Assessment and a Suicide Assessment Intervention. The shooters social media posts would have been checked, which would have revealed that he did have access to a firearm.

The shooter should never have been sent back to the classroom. Concerns about invasion of privacy should not have precluded a check of his backpack.

No one was willing to connect the dots and make a decision to intervene. Bureaucratic inertia, to say the least.

There were two security staff members. The armed security guard had the day off, and the school resource officer (SRO) was off site at another school. They had an understanding between them that it would be a good idea for one or the other of them to always be present at the school, but it was not an official policy to require it.

There were over 177 surveillance cameras throughout the school. But no one was monitoring them. Had this been done, information as to where the shooter was could have been relayed via the P.A. system so that students and staff would know where not to evacuate to. It is not realistic to expect one person to monitor that many cameras. However, there is A.I.-powered software that can utilize existing cameras to monitor cameras and alert the human observer. Then a real-time alert can be sent to school officials and local police.

The P.A. system in the high school was inadequate. Communications were often garbled and hard to hear and did not access certain locations.

A dangerous situation existed for students because of the inability to lock down the bathrooms and doors from outside courtyards. The bathrooms did not have speakers for students to receive alert communications. One of the students was shot and killed in the bathroom. Another student was killed as he entered from a courtyard into the hallway where the shooter was.

It is common practice in schools not to provide lockdown devices for bathrooms. This is due to concern for self-harm, assaults, and drug use that would prevent staff from entering. However, panic (duress) buttons in bathrooms and Nightlock barricading devices with an overriding component placed near the bathroom would have compensated for this.

Opponents of having armed security guards in school complain about turning schools into armed fortresses. They say that armed SROs are costly. But there are retired police and military citizens who can be contracted for much less. In my school district, there is a $1-million grant allocated for school safety. Administration does not prioritize the hiring of armed security with this grant.

Opponents also say the school shooters are often suicidal, and the presence of armed guards is not a deterrent to them. They ignore those events wherein it clearly was established that shooters searched for sites with the absence of armed resistance. For examples, see this South Carolina shooting and the Nashville trans shooter (Audrey Hale).

We have an armed guard at our school board meetings in my district  just in case parental domestic terrorists get out of hand! We provide armed security for sporting events, concerts, VIPs. The ideology of liberals is to remove guns from society in general. So it doesnt make sense to have guns in school to them. With that thinking, then why have armed security anywhere? We have armed security in hospitals, airports, government buildings, etc. The inability to solve the gun debate issue doesnt preclude providing protection now for these people. Why dont children merit the same level of concern?

Opponents also miss the point that if a shooter succeeds in shooting, it requires an armed individual to stop it. So if one person is shot, why not try to keep the body count down by stopping further shooting? Time is critical. Police usually cannot arrive in time to make a difference.

Finally, school board members need to know that they are responsible for ensuring that their school superintendent actually carries out the polices set by the board. This means that they need to know the details of implementation of those policies. In the Oxford school district, there were insufficient building-level guidelines for these policies. Many civil lawsuits against school board members have been filed in this school district now.

Parents need to be proactive in their school districts and make sure that best practices are followed in the area of safety and security. Dont wait until a tragedy happens in your schools.

Rebecca Behrends, M.D. is a retired E.D. physician and is vice president for research for Michigan Citizens for Election Integrity at MC4EI.com.

Image via Pexels.
Tis the Christmas season, and people who arent embarrassed by Americas Christian (but not discriminatory) culture are putting up decorations. It turns out that House members are among those who also celebrate the holidays by bringing Christmas decor to their offices. Rep. Eli Crane, a Republican from Arizona, put up a little tableau that combined Christmas with honoring the Border Patrol. In doing so, he completely triggered a staffer and a fellow representative. You wont be surprised to learn that they are both Democrats.

Rep. Crane put a representation of a snow-draped brick wall on either side of his office door. On the door itself is a sign saying, Border Patrol Elves Only, along with a sign on the wall saying, Welcome to Arizona. The little stand-alone direction sign bears labels for Arizona, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona.

However, for Jason Tufele Carl Johnson, who works for Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), being forced to witness the lighthearted display about Americas border and border patrol was a deeply damaging experience:

*amicable  Jason Tufele Carl Johnson (@jasontcjohnson) November 30, 2023

As you can imagine, both conservatives and leftists piled on, with the former applauding the Christmas display and the latter expressing horror. One of the more bizarre responses came from Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, who called the display disgusting and dehumanizing rhetoric.

This is how Republicans choose to use their time and resources in the halls of Congress.



This is disgusting and dehumanizing rhetoric, and as a fellow member of Congress, I can think of so many better uses of our time than hanging up crude signs. https://t.co/4nPaEY8xY4  Grace Meng (@RepGraceMeng) November 30, 2023

I know that Im being dense, but did you see any disgusting and dehumanizing rhetoric there? In a nice light, the display can be understood to be an homage to the Border Patrol, the members of which would like to do their job as defined under American law but who are blocked thanks to orders from their boss, Joe Biden.

Is Meng saying that its disgusting and dehumanizing to liken the Border Patrol to elves? Im guessing not. Whats really going on here is that Meng is saying that having a border, any border, is disgusting and dehumanizing. Meng dreams of a world without borders.

I can tell you what that world looks like: It looks like the centuries after the Roman Empire had completely collapsed, and Europe entered what is known as the Dark Ages. That was an era when all the civilizational advances of Romeaqueducts, standing armies to keep the peace across vast swaths of land, straight roads, international trade zones, personal cleanliness, toilets, etc.vanished, not to return for over a thousand years. And yes, the Romans were incredibly cruel by the standards of today, but the invaders who poured through their borders were no less cruel; they were just dirtier and infinitely more primitive.

Without a border, there is no nation. And without America, the blessings of the post-WWII eraand there are manyare gone. And that, seemingly, is what Grace Meng, Raul Grijalva, and Jason Tufele Carl Johnson desperately want.

Image: X screen grab.
Im routinely asked why non-conservative/non-orthodox American Jews are so committed to the Democrat party despite mounting evidence for years now that the Democrat party is the party of American antisemitism. I could talk about 19th-century Jews becoming socialists because the socialists opposed the antisemitic Russian Tsar or 20th-century American Jews finding the Democrat party more welcoming than the Republican. But heres the real reason why American Jews are leftists: Its their obsession with academic credentials, especially from the fanatically leftwing Ivies. That, however, may finally change.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American Jews saw that a college degree was a ticket to wealth in America. For upwards of 100 years, if you could rise above a blue-collar job in America, you could get into the middle class.

However, for over half a century, antisemitism was a hallmark of American academia. This wasnt the murderous antisemitism were seeing now, though. Instead, it was simply the youre not one of us, stay away antisemitism that characterized pre-modern Americas response to Jewish immigrants:

Virtually every major part of the selective college application process  the freshman class cap, the interview, an emphasis on outside interests and character, the desire for geographical diversity, the legacy preference  were put into use in an effort to cut down on the Jewish student population. Columbia University in New York City, followed by Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities, found novel ways to cut back on, and then keep down, Jewish enrollment that stemmed from a historic wave of Jewish immigration beginning in the late 19th century, historians say. Hundreds more schools over the decades restricted Jewish enrollment, too, with quotas and other measures, some of which remained in force until the 1960s, historians say.

Nevertheless, according to the same article, Jews got degrees whether the Ivies wanted them to or not, continuing to do so once the colleges finally and fully opened their doors:

By 1920, Jews made up some 30 percent of the citys population, and the student bodies of local colleges, including the City College of New York, were mostly Jewish. At the elite Columbia University, Jewish enrollment had swelled to 40 percent by 1920, according to a paper by Oliver P. Pollak, who taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and co-founded the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. [snip] [By 1967] the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Ivy League colleges  the very ones that had started Jewish quotas  were enrolling Jews in larger numbers than ever (though counting students by religion is never an exact science). Columbia Universitys Jewish population was back up to 40 percent, where it had been when restrictions started earlier in the century.

Because of Jewish loyalty to credentialism, as colleges have moved to the left, so have the Jews. Even as antisemitism became increasingly overt on American campuses (something that goes back at least to the 1960s and the rise of campus Marxism), Jews absorbed those leftist values, passed them on to their children, and kept writing the tuition checks. Rich Jews, once they left, showered their former colleges with money.

However, now that colleges have gone from anti-Zionism, a concept with which leftwing Jews could still agree, to we want you dead, which is a cattle car too far, Jews are finally figuring out that theres a problem:

Wealthy Jewish families are not having their college-bound children apply for Ivy League schools following antisemitic incidents and protests against Israel. Schools in conservative states, like Washington University in Missouri, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Texas are seeing the influx of applications from Jewish students who are passing on top-tier universities like Harvard and Columbia, the New York Post reported. The parents cited protests in support of Palestinians on college campuses. Theyre not paying a single dollar more to the schools, college admissions consultant Christopher Rim said. They dont want to be associated with these schools. They are totally out.

I believe that this report is accurate. On my Facebook feed, I have a lot of leftist Jewish friends, all of whom have traditionally had the utmost reverence for the Ivy League. The other day, all of them posted the same meme:

Its sad that it takes a mini-Holocaust to wake up American Jews, but I guess what matters is that they are finally aware that theyve been the ones funding the antisemitic death cults that are dominating once prestigious American campuses.
In mediaeval England, when feuds were violent and justice swift and brutal, it was common for castles and mansions of the powerful and the wealthy to have secret chambers or hidden passageways that allowed the owners to hide or escape from pursuers in the event of a surprise attack. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the number of such secret chambers and hiding-places increased sharply, especially in the houses of the old Catholic families.

The 16th century was a time of strong religious tension. Europe was torn between the Roman Catholic Church and the gaining Protestant movement that eventually led to the separation of the Church of England from Rome under Henry VIII. The English Reformation continued under the rule of his son, Edward VI, whoduring his short reignintroduced new forms of worship and more radical reformation. But Edwards successor, Queen Mary, had strong opposing views and she dragged England kicking and screaming back under the authority of the Catholic Church. Those who refused to give up their Protestant beliefs were burned at the stake, earning Mary the nickname Bloody Mary.

A priest hole at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk. Photo credit: Jim Barton/Flickr

Mary was succeeded by her half-sister Queen Elizabeth I who wanted a strong, independent England with its own religion, trade and foreign policy. She restored the Church of England which was moderately Reformed in doctrine, but also emphasizing continuity with the Catholic and Apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers. During her time, anti-Catholic sentiments reached such fever pitch that the Pope declared Elizabeth a heretic and called for her removal from the throne. A series of rebellions and murder attempts followed provoking the Queen into taking serious repressive actions against Catholics, especially against priests.

Catholic priests were forbade from entering England, and anyone found giving shelter to them were severely punished. A network of informers, spies and priest hunters helped track down Catholic priests in England. Arrested priests were imprisoned, or tortured and hanged.

To escape capture and death, many priests began living with wealthy Catholic families in the guise of a cousin or a teacher. Hiding places known as priest holes were built in these houses where the priest could slip into in case of emergency. Priest holes were often built in fireplaces, behind false walls and under staircases. More often than not, these secret chambers were tiny with no room to stand up or move around. While priest hunters raided the house, sometimes for days, carefully measuring every room for unaccounted space, the priests would lie still and silent, almost afraid to breathe, holed up inside. During their torturous confinement, food and drink would be scarce and sanitation non-existent. Sometimes a priest would die in a priest hole from starvation or from lack of oxygen.

The most skilled and prolific builder of priest holes was Jesuit Nicholas Owen who devoted the greater part of his life to constructing these places in the principal Roman Catholic houses all over England. Such was the ingenuity of his craftsmanship that some of the holes were only discovered during renovation by later owners decades and centuries after. Nicholas Owen is also believed to have masterminded the famous escape of Father John Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597.

Nicholas Owens works survive at many places Sawston Hall in Cambridgeshire, Huddington Court in Worcestershire, Coughton Hall in Warwickshire, and Harvington Hall in Worcestershire, which has seven priest holes. Owen gave himself up in 1606 at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire, to distract attention from his master Father Garnet who was hiding nearby with another priest. He was tortured to death in the Tower of London.

Cross section of the West side of the Harvington Hall Worcestershire, showing the hiding places built probably by Nicholas Owen, centered around the Great Staircase. Photo credit: harvingtonhall.com

Trapdoor to a concealed chapel at Harvington Hall, where Mass could be held by whichever priest was in the residence at the time. Photo credit: harvingtonhall.com

Another hiding place at Harvington Hall above the bread-oven, in the thickness of the chimney-stack. Photo credit: harvingtonhall.com

This hiding place is located behind a false fireplace at Harvington Hall. It leads into the attic from which there is another exit that allowed the priest to escape to another part of the house if required. Considerable attention was spent on the details including bricks that had been blackened by fire. Photo credit: harvingtonhall.com

Photo credit: Secret Chambers and Hiding Places, by Allan Fea

Priest-hole on first floor of Boscobel House, Shropshire. Photo credit: Sjwells53/Wikimedia

An entrance to priest hole at Havrington Hall. Photo credit: Quodvultdeus/Wikimedia

A priest hole at Coughton Court. Photo credit: nationaltrust.org.uk
A rendered, aerial view of the planned Baylands development on the San Francisco-Brisbane border that will blend housing and commercial real estate. BergDavis

The small San Mateo County town of Brisbane is under fire from housing advocates after failing to meet a deadline for completing an environmental impact report, or EIR, for the Baylands project, a development that would add 2,200 homes and 6.5 million square feet of commercial space to the municipality of about 4,700 residents.

Brisbanes housing element, a state-mandated eight-year housing production plan that every municipality in the state is required to complete, was approved in May by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, known as HCD. But Brisbanes plan was unusual because it counts on a single site  the 660-acre rail yard and former landfill known as the Baylands  for 90% of its housing production between this year and 2031. Under the citys housing element, Brisbane is charged with permitting 1,588 units by 2031, of which 803 are supposed to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

Overall, the Baylands project, slated to start construction next year, will total about 4,000 units spread over a property that is located on both sides of the San Francisco/Brisbane border.

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Because of the reliance on a single project, state housing regulators required that Brisbane include a detailed timeline of when project milestones would be completed. The first deadline  for publishing the environmental impact report  was Oct. 31, and the city failed to meet it.

A rendering of the planned commercial district that will be built at the Baylands development on the border of San Francisco and Brisbane. The development has missed a crucial deadline, advocates say. BergDavis

The missed deadline has prompted the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo and the Bay Area Council to fire off letters of complaint to HCD.

They are at risk of being out of compliance on their housing element, said Ali Sapirman, a San Mateo organizer with the Housing Action Coalition. The developer has been working in good faith with the city. Unfortunately, the city has not been working in good faith with the developer.

The developer, Baylands LLC, declined to comment on the deadline.

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Brisbane City Manager Clay Holstine said he disagreed with the characterization that the city had missed a deadline.

That was an aspirational date, he said. It was a best-faith effort to try and reach, but we have three years from May of this year to get the zoning in place and we are working towards that.

Holstine said that its likely the EIR would be published next spring. He said the city is working to resolve two complex issues before the study can be completed: where water for the project will come from, and the location of a rail yard that the California High-Speed Rail Authority had planned for a part of the site.

A spokesperson for HCD said the agency is reviewing the complaints letters and will work with the city as appropriate.

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Jeremy Levine, policy manager for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, said the deadlines are important because they demonstrate a commitment to living up to the goals of the housing element.

The whole thing that got them approved by HCD was the timeline, Levine said. From the beginning, our goal has been to help cities get certified with good plans that really work. We are trying to help cities get certified and stay certified. They get certified by coming up with a good plan and they stay certified by executing on that plan.

Louis Mirante, vice president of public policy at the Bay Area Council, said the situation underscores the challenges that arise when small cities with limited staffs and budgets have large, complex developments within their borders.

A rendered example of the type of housing expected as part of the Baylands project on the border of San Francisco and Brisbane. BergDavis

He pointed to the redevelopment of the Concord Naval Weapons Station  the biggest housing project in the Bay Area  which has been stalled for more than a decade as several developers have worked on the project for years only to walk away after failing to reach a deal with the City Council.

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Mirante said it would make sense for state officials to take an expanded role in the development of some of the larger projects like Baylands. The Baylands is a particularly important project and has broader consequences for the Bay Area and the state, he said. These are projects with major regional, if not statewide, significance, and we should be treating them in that way.

The stakes could potentially be high for Brisbane. If HCD deems that Brisbane has missed deadlines, it could decertify the citys housing element, opening it up to the builders remedy projects where developers can bypass local approval process. It could also lose out on state funding for transportation and affordable housing.

Mirante said that he hopes that Brisbanes housing element is not decertified, but that its important for the state to be aware when cities are not meeting their deadlines.

Everyone in local government regards HCD as mean regulators, but they are able to provide valuable technical assistance, he said. Sometimes the question is, Does the city even want the housing?  In other jurisdictions the question is, Can we even review the proposal given our resources?  

Sapirman said Brisbane has a track record of dragging its feet on the Baylands project.

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They put all their eggs in one basket with Baylands, Sapirman said. If they are going to do that they need to move the needle to make sure it gets built.

The fact that Brisbane has a state-approved housing element is an accomplishment in San Mateo County, where just four of the 21 jurisdictions have state-approved plans, according to Levine.

We have some of the most exclusionary jurisdictions in the region, he said.

A spokeswoman for Baylands CEO Greg Vilkin declined to comment on the missed deadline. But, recently, Vilkin said he hopes to start construction next year on phase one, which will consist of six buildings, 594 housing units, two parks, a renovated Bayshore Caltrain station and a pedestrian-oriented retail strip, all on the San Francisco portion of the property.
Evernote is tightening its free tier plan starting next week. It recently tested a limited free plan with select users earlier this week and is announcing it for all users starting December 4th. Hence, both, the new and existing free accounts will be restricted to only 50 notes and one notebook.

Evernote is limiting 50 notes and 1 notebook for free users

Evernote announced this change via a blog post: From December 4, the Evernote Free experience is changing. Going forward, new and existing Free users will have a maximum of fifty notes and one notebook per account. These limits refer to the number of notes and notebooks a user can have in their account at one time: you can always delete unwanted content to remain below the threshold.

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Evernote assures that there will be no alterations to the current notes and notebooks. It states that any Free user who currently has more than fifty notes and one notebook will still be able to view, edit, export, share, and delete existing notes and notebooks. What this means is that youll be able to access your existing notes. However, with the limit in place, you wont be able to create new ones unless you upgrade. Your option at that point will be to start deleting or exporting notes you no longer need to keep inside the app.

For instance, you could export things to Google Keep, although it doesnt operate quite the same way. But it would serve as a place to store notes you dont want to delete if you need to free up some room in Evernote.

How much does an Evernote plan cost?

Evernote has different plans you can choose from. And if you want more features beyond basic use, the premium plans are a good idea. The $15 per month Personal plan gives you 10GB of monthly uploads. If you pay $18 per month, you get 20GB and some extra benefits. It also has yearly versions of these plans, which cost $130 and $170, respectively.

Evernotes recent decision to significantly restrict its free tier plan aligns with concerning reports about the companys financial struggles. Notably, last year around this time, Evernotes owner Bending Spoons laid off over 100 employees. A company spokesperson attributed the layoffs to Evernotes years of unprofitability and the need for a more sustainable approach, according to a report by TechCrunch.
Google may face investigation over its deleted chat history, as Federal Judge James Donato says he plans to look into the matter. Over the past several weeks and months, Google has been locked in court trials. The company recently wrapped up its trial against the DOJ on November 16 in a lawsuit that alleges the company used exclusive deals to operate a monopoly in the search market. A ruling on that is expected sometime in 2024.

Its also in court against Epic, which alleges Google has operated a monopoly with the Play Store by preventing fair competition for alternative app stores. In both trials, testimony revealed that Google employees, including CEO Sundar Pichai, had purposely enabled an auto-delete option for internal chats to keep information out of a courtroom. Donato calls Googles act of destroying evidence a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice and that it undercuts due process.

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Donato also states that he wont force the jury via mandatory inference instruction to factor in that Googles chat deletion could have hurt the company in the case. He says the jury may infer this was a possibility. But that he wont make that decision for them. Instead, Donato plans to pursue the matter outside the bounds of this particular trial.

Donato may pursue a Google investigation over deleted chat history on his own time

Donato doesnt appear to be leaving anything on the table. While he wont continue to pursue the matter as part of this particular trial, he wont be letting it go.

Im going to get to the bottom of who is responsible, Donato said when referencing Googles actions. He continued by confirming that it would be separate from the current trial. But he assures Google and everyone else in the courtroom that the time will come.

Epic and Google must discuss potential settlements

Todays trial hearing also revealed that Judge Donato has ordered both companies to discuss potential settlements. Neither company has tried to settle. But they will be forced to sit down and try to hash things out. In hopes that an agreement can be reached. Its an interesting turn of events. Especially considering Donatos perseverance in investigating Googles actions to potentially obstruct evidence.

A ruling on the case is expected to be made by December 11. So Google and Epic will have to sit down before that time and try to settle. Theres no guarantee of how those talks will go. However, it wouldnt be surprising if either company was unable or unwilling to settle even after discussions.

Epic once reportedly refused a deal from Google to bring Fortnite to the Play Store. And Google isnt likely to concede any special treatment to Epic over Play Store fees.
Over 20 nations call for tripling of nuclear energy It plays a "key role" in reaching the goal of carbon neutrality

(ANSA-AFP) - DUBAI, 02 DIC - More than 20 countries called for the tripling of world nuclear energy capacity at UN climate talks on Saturday as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. A declaration endorsed by nations ranging from the United States to Ghana to Japan and several European countries said nuclear energy plays a "key role" in reaching the goal of carbon neutrality. The use of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste. "We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source," US climate envoy John Kerry said at the COP28 conference in Dubai. "But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can't get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear," he said. "These are just scientific realities. No politics involved in this, no ideology involved in this." The aim is to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels. The other countries that signed up to the declaration include Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, South Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. "While we appreciate that the Biden administration is looking to invest in alternatives to fossil fuels, we don't have time to waste on dangerous distractions like nuclear energy," said Jeff Ordower, North America director at environmental group 350.org. lth/fg / (ANSA-AFP).


Jordan Parker is a breaking news reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. He graduated from Sacramento State University in May 2022 with a degree in journalism. During his time there, he spent three years as a reporter and editor for the university's award-winning student newspaper, The State Hornet. He spent his senior year of college serving as The Hornet's first Black editor in chief, leading the organization to two Pacemaker awards and several other national honors from the Associated Collegiate Press. When he's not chasing down a story, he likes watching movies, traveling and trying new restaurants.

He can be reached at Jordan.Parker@sfchronicle.com.
The Defence Secretary hailed a new phase of the security arrangement between the UK, US and Australia.

The trio of allies have announced that there will be further collaboration in the areas of cyber and undersea warfare to build on the initial Aukus deal struck in 2021.

The so-called second pillar agreement announced on Saturday will see collaboration on artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, and quantum technology, while also agreeing to reduce barriers to sharing information and technology.

The first plank of the joint agreement, as first announced two years ago, will see Australia given support to achieve its first nuclear-powered submarines.

The vessels will not be nuclear-armed.

It will also provide the Royal Navy with replacements for its seven Astute submarines, potentially doubling the size of the fleet of its attack boats.

Aukus was agreed in recognition of Chinas growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who travelled to the US for the announcement about the second stage of the partnership, said: Today Aukus enters a new phase.

Together with our partners in the US and Australia we have strengthened our alliance to bring our armed forces closer than ever and ensure our nations are protected from new and advanced threats.

As the world becomes more dangerous, Aukus only becomes more important in ensuring the UK and our allies maintain a strategic advantage.

Today AUKUS enters a new phase  In a more dangerous world, where hostile actors have access to high-tech weapons, we must adapt and invest. Todays unprecedented projects will keep Britain safe by strengthening advanced cyber, stealth and anti-submarine defences. pic.twitter.com/9vsdFplNsd  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) December 2, 2023

That is why we have today driven forward joint programmes on threat detection, quantum technology and autonomous systems.

This progress will radically improve our shared ability to tackle emerging threats and demonstrates our commitment to making our militaries more lethal, more connected and more prepared.

The allies also agreed what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) dubbed a landmark radar initiative to better detect, track and identify objects in deep space, with a site in Wales identified as the UKs preferred location for the facility.

The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (Darc) programme will provide 24/7, all-weather capabilities that will increase the three nations ability to characterise objects deep in space up to 22,000 miles away from Earth, the MoD said.

Its creation is a recognition of the growing threat of space warfare.

Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, has been identified as the UKs preferred site for Darc.

The final decision for choosing a site is conditional on the results of the ongoing MoD-funded environmental impact assessment and subsequent town planning application.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travelled to San Diego in March to finalise plans for the Aukus submarines deal (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Cawdor Barracks is currently the home to a British Army Signals Regiment which is due to relocate from 2028.

Retention of the base for Darc would create employment during the construction phase and provide up to 100 longer-term jobs, Mr Shapps department said.

During their meeting in the States, Mr Shapps and his defence counterparts  US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin and Australian defence minister Richard Marles  agreed that exceptional progress had been made on delivering SSN-Aukus submarines to Sydney.

The MoD said progress included increased training opportunities for Australian sailors in the UK and US, and more planned visits of US and UK nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travelled to San Diego in March to finalise plans the plans for the subs.
Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters have held a demonstration outside the Metropolitan Polices central London headquarters.

At least two climate activists, who gathered outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday afternoon, were carried into waiting police vans.

Uniformed officers watched as the protesters held speeches in which they said they would take their protest to other London sites, which they dubbed centres of oppression, such as the Supreme Court.

Before the group moved to Parliament Square, where the Supreme Court is, an activist on a loudspeaker told the small group: The police think they can stop our protests.

They can never stop our protests.

Just Stop Oil protesters demonstrate outside New Scotland Yard (Yui Mok/PA)

JSO, which has carried out a string of recent slow marches, billed Saturdays protest as a mass march through the capital in solidarity with the innocent climate prisoners.

It came after the Met said it had arrested JSO activists on 649 occasions, with 338 charges secured so far since the start of their latest campaign of disruption on October 30.

The force later confirmed arrests were made during Saturdays protest but denied they were for allegedly demonstrating on a pavement, as claimed by JSO.

In a tweet, the Met said thats not accurate.

A protester outside New Scotland Yard (Yui Mok/PA)

The force spokesman added: One of these activists was arrested for breaching bail conditions set by the court.

The other was wanted for a racially aggravated public order offence after antisemitic remarks were made at a protest.

Both are on their way to custody.
Sir Keir Starmer set out how the UK would lead a clean power alliance to accelerate the energy transition as he attended the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai.

The Labour leader said his participation at the summit was a statement of intent that a government with him at the helm would play its full part on the global stage through leading by example.

He accused Rishi Sunak of shrinking from such responsibility and risking global relationships to make divisive political points.

Sir Keir, who polls suggest is on track to snatch the keys to No 10 at the next general election, also used his trip to the annual climate gathering to meet with world leaders including the King of Jordan and the premiers of Iceland, Lebanon and Barbados.

He detailed plans for an alliance of countries at the forefront of climate ambition that will push down costs and strengthen supply chains to ultimately bring down energy bills at home.

A global buyers club would see nations cooperating on investment and information sharing on decarbonisation.

The network would speed up access to vital materials, such as Cobalt, Lithium, and Nickel, and push others to match their ambition.

He first called for a clean power alliance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, describing it as a reverse Opec.

Sir Keir Starmer holds a media briefing at Cop28 in Dubai (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Sir Keir said: By building a global Clean Power Alliance, a Labour government will build strong partnerships abroad to boost prosperity at home.

While the Conservatives risk global relationships to make divisive political points, Labour know theyre a path to lower bills for working people in Britain.

My Labour government will be a serious, responsible partner, in the national interest. Every decision I take will be to cut bills for families, boost energy independence, and protect our country for future generations.

Prime Minister Mr Sunak had earlier accused Sir Keir of just trying to catch up with plans to make Britain the worlds green finance capital.

In response, the Opposition leader told reporters in Dubai: I think that an event like this is an opportunity for a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to show a seriousness, to show leadership, to want to lead on the global stage on issues which are really important to our country

For the Prime Minister to reduce this down in the way that he does, the smallness of his politics is becoming a feature of his politics. We saw it with the Greek Prime Minister. We saw it with some of the lines that he was putting out about eco zealots as he got on the plane to come here.

The end of the cessation of hostilities in Gaza is deeply concerning, I urge all sides not to squander progress made over the last week.  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) December 1, 2023

Sir Keir was referring to Mr Sunaks last-minute cancellation of a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after accusing him of grandstanding about the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, and the Prime Minister saying he was not in hock to ideological zealots over climate change.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said Mr Sunaks rollback in September on a host of climate pledges amounted to an attempt to create a culture war, which hasnt worked for him.

Mr Miliband added: Thats because hes got the British people wrong. They dont want an imported US-style culture war on climate. They want a government that will tackle the climate crisis and the cost-of-living crisis together.

I think hes just misjudged the public mood.

In his meeting with the King of Jordan, Sir Keir discussed the Israel-Hamas war after fighting resumed in Gaza.

He renewed calls for a further cessation of hostilities and spoke of the unacceptable rise in settler violence towards Palestinians on the West Bank, Labour said.
Man who died after house explosion in Edinburgh named

An 84-year-old man who died after an explosion at an Edinburgh house has been named locally as James Smith.

Police officers were called to the Baberton area at 10.25pm on Friday after multiple reports about the blast.

A 43-year-old woman and 54-year-old man were taken to hospital. Their condition was unknown on Saturday evening.

Mr Smith was in a neighbouring property, the PA news agency understands.

Police said there are no suspicious circumstances.

Mr Smiths next of kin have been told of his death, it is understood.

People were evacuated from a number of homes and the road, Baberton Mains Avenue, was still shut on Saturday morning.

Pictures showed a house destroyed, with bricks strewn across the road.

Police officers remained at the scene.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five engines attended and two people were rescued from the ruins of the home before their arrival.

The service left the scene at 6.39am on Saturday after handing control to Police Scotland.

A spokeswoman for gas distributor SGN said it was brought in to help emergency services and ensure the immediate vicinity was made safe.

Bricks were left strewn across the road (Lesley Martin/PA)

She said: Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the man who has tragically died as well as those who have been injured.

While it is too early to speculate as to what has happened, we are working closely with the authorities to help discover the cause.

Some locals reported hearing the explosion as far away as Gilmerton, a suburb miles from the blast.

The blast was reportedly heard miles away (Lesley Martin/PA)

Neighbours said they felt their homes shaking, while one person said they heard the explosion from inside a cinema in nearby Wester Hailes.

Cammy Day, leader of Edinburgh City Council, said: This is incredibly sad news for the city and all of our thoughts are with those affected.

Were very grateful to the emergency services who responded so quickly and tirelessly last night, evacuating the scene and making the surrounding area safe.

I know that council officers assisted into the early hours of this morning and continue to stand ready to support all agencies and the local community.

Sue Webber, a Scottish Tory MSP for the Lothian region, said on social media: Such tragic news, in such a close community.

Thank you to all the emergency services that attended. My thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this incident.
The Health Secretary has spoken of her respect for striking junior doctors ahead of fresh pay talks.

Victoria Atkins struck a conciliatory tone, saying she wants to build a new relationship with the British Medical Association (BMA) after her appointment less than three weeks ago.

Her language has proved markedly different to her predecessor Steve Barclay, who referred to the BMA as having a politically militant stance.

Ms Atkins, in an interview with The Times, said junior doctors understand the Government is not going to be able to meet some of their asks but she is entering discussions with a constructive frame of mind.

It comes after she this week agreed a deal with consultants in England to potentially end a long and bitter dispute over pay.

The deal on the table, set to be put to union members, will see the countrys top doctors earn more money from January, although it will not be paid until April.

The junior doctors dispute remains unresolved, however. Their opening gambit was for a 35% pay rise.

During the summer, the Government said junior doctors would receive a 6% wage rise plus 1,250, in line with recommendations from independent pay review bodies, but it was not enough to satisfy unions.

Ms Atkins refused to echo Mr Barclays labelling of the BMA as militant.

She said: I can only speak as I find and I had the pleasure of meeting the two leaders of the BMA junior doctors committee and I found them to be very constructive.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has struck a conciliatory tone as she enters fresh talks with striking junior doctors (PA)

Im not going to be able to meet some of their asks. I think they understand that.

But what I do want to look at is not just pay, but also that we value them as members of the workforce.

Of course I respect junior doctors. I have admiration for our doctors but also nurses and our volunteers.

There is said to be an acceptance among ministers that without breakthroughs in the health sector strikes deadlock, there is little chance of delivering on Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks pledge to cut NHS waiting lists before a likely general election next year.

NHS trusts are also footing the bill to bring in expensive locums to cover the strikes, which have been going on for a year.

Downing Street said this week that ministers will be open to non-pay negotiations with junior doctors in what could amount to a deal similar to that agreed with consultants.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has announced plans for neighbourhood health centres (PA)

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said on Monday: Certainly our offer to junior doctors is the same as to consultants.

While headline pay was a settled issue, we are more than happy to discuss non-pay issues.

The efforts to resolve the strikes in the NHS comes as Labour set out plans for GP hubs, where patients can access weekend and evening walk-in appointments.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the Opposition party plans, if it wins the next election, to install in every part of the country neighbourhood health centres that bring together a wide range of services, including doctors, dentists and treatment of minor injuries.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting tweeted: Labours mission is to get our NHS back on its feet and fit for the future  a neighbourhood health service that gets to patients faster, treats them quicker and prevents ill-health.
Former prime minister Liz Truss has said people are being allowed to demonstrate in favour of terrorists as more pro-Palestinian marches take place across the UK on Saturday.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has arranged a country-wide day of action to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Fighting has resumed between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian military group following a week-long truce that allowed hostages being held in Gaza to be released, along with Palestinian prisoners who had been incarcerated in Israel.

There are fears of further civilian casualties after Israel dropped leaflets on Friday warning residents to leave the southern part of the strip where two million people  almost the entire Gazan population  are based.

The conflict, sparked by Hamass deadly assault on Israel on October 7, has led to regular protests in support of the Palestinians in the UK since the bloodshed started.

Ms Truss, who has been on a trip to the United States this week as part of a delegation with the Conservative Friends of Ukraine, suggested the protests showed the woke left would rather support authoritarian regimes than the West.

Speaking to the right-wing US broadcaster Fox News while in Washington DC, the Conservative MP said: On the streets of London, I see people demonstrating in favour of terrorists, and that being allowed to happen.

And youve got the trans extremists, the eco extremists, the anti-capitalists, the degrowth-ers.

They are about saying, The way of life that we have in Britain or America, that is not the right way of life.

Actually, we would rather support terrorists, wed rather support authoritarian regimes.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman had branded the protests hate marches before she was sacked by the Prime Minister.

Rishi Sunak, who succeeded Ms Truss after the fallout from her disastrous mini-budget led to her becoming Britains shortest-serving prime minister, is reportedly looking to tighten the law to make it easier to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism.

More than 80 people have been charged in the UK over alleged hate crimes and violence linked to pro-Palestinian protests since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

WATCH: Former Prime Minister of the UK @trussliz joins @johnrobertsFox to discuss her op-ed calling for a renewal of global American leadership in the face of "grave threats" from "Russia, China, Iran and radical domestic ideologies." #AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/myXQedrCSU  America Reports (@AmericaRpts) December 1, 2023

There has been controversy about those on the marches chanting the phrase from the river to the sea, which critics have claimed is antisemitic, while some attendees have been accused of showing support for Hamas.

The militant organisation is proscribed as a terror group in the UK and support for it is banned.

Former No 10 incumbent Ms Truss said anti-Western sentiment was not the view of the vast majority of Britons and that her constituents in South West Norfolk were frustrated that such ideology is not being taken on enough by Conservatives.

This is why we need Conservative leadership to actually take on the leftists, show strength in the face of aggressors abroad, so that we can revive the values that most people in our societies are desperate for, she said.

They believe in family, they believe in freedom, they believe in Anglo-American values.

The problem is that so much of the public debate is now dominated by the woke left.

You can see that here in Washington DC, you can see that in London, you can see that right across Europe.

Pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather across the UK, with the PSC arranging ceasefire rallies and vigils in places such as London, Cardiff, Hull and Coventry.

Israel pounded targets on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip as it pursues Hamas targets following the resumption of violence.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Saturday (Fatima Shbair/AP/PA)

Most Gazans are in the area after Israel urged people to relocate there at the wars start, a move that left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

In a move that appears to hint that the Israel Defence Forces plans to extend its ground assault, Palestinians are being urged to move out of the south.

Unable to go into the battleground of north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 85 sq mile area.

Lord Ricketts, who served as the UKs first national security adviser, said Israel is in danger of causing massive civilian casualties if it takes the fight to Hamas in southern Gaza.

The peer told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Theyve got an increasing dilemma.

They ordered a million people from the north to leave into the south.

They now have two million people there, many of them displaced, many of them living out in the open.

They simply cant use the same kind of armoured all-out assault that they used in the north without massive civilian casualties.

He said Tel Avivs plan to destroy Hamas seems to me to be impossible due to the political and social nature of the organisation.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his call for a further pause or further cessation of hostilities so that we can build on what happened in the days when the truce, which allowed for about 105 hostages taken from Israel to be freed, was in place.

Speaking to the BBC during his trip to Dubai for the Cop28 climate summit, he urged both sides, while the fighting is continuing, to attempt to limit the impact on civilians.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has said that at least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning, bringing the death toll within the territory to beyond 15,200.

Some 1,200 Israelis were killed when Hamas carried out its raids almost two months ago.

Sir Keir said: While we are in this phase of resumption, it is important for me to say that we cant go back to the way the first phase of this war was conducted.

Too many people, innocent individuals, have lost their lives in Israel and across Gaza.

We cant go back to where we were just a week or so ago. We have to see this as a different stage.
Ali Redmond

Grain bowls are a convenient option for lunch since all your grains, proteins and vegetables easily come together in one bowl. This collection of recipes is packed with grain bowls that are even simpler since they take only three steps or less to make. Get energized at lunch time with dishes like our delicious Salmon Rice Bowl, or refuel with a meal like our flavorful and hearty Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.



Jackfruit Barbacoa Burrito Bowls

Jackfruit, a tropical fruit with a dense, chewy texture, is a blank canvas that takes on flavors well. In these vegan burrito bowls, the jackfruit is simmered in a warm and spicy chile sauce that's so good you'll never know you're eating a plant-based protein instead of pork or beef.

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Salmon Rice Bowl

Ali Redmond

Inspired by the viral TikTok trend, this salmon rice bowl makes for a tasty lunch or dinner. With healthy ingredients like instant brown rice, salmon and veggies, you'll have a flavorful meal in just 25 minutes.

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Black Bean-Quinoa Bowl

This black bean and quinoa bowl has many of the usual hallmarks of a taco salad, minus the fried bowl. We've loaded it up with pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and avocado plus an easy hummus dressing to drizzle on top.

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Salmon Sushi Grain Bowl

Get all the delicious flavors of sushi without the time-consuming rolling with this quick grain bowl recipe. All you need is 15 minutes to get this healthy dinner on the table or to pack it up for lunch at work.

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Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Quinoa and chickpeas pack this vegetarian grain bowl with plenty of plant-based protein. Whip up a batch of these flavorful grain bowls and pack them in lidded containers to stash in the fridge for easy, healthy grab-and-go lunches all week long.

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Charred Shrimp, Pesto & Quinoa Bowls

Brie Passano

These shrimp, pesto and quinoa bowls are delicious, healthy, pretty and take less than 30 minutes to prep. In other words, they're basically the ultimate easy weeknight dinner. Feel free to add additional vegetables and swap the shrimp for chicken, steak, tofu or edamame.

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Meal-Prep Chili-Lime Chicken Bowls

Skip takeout and whip up these equally delicious and easy-to-make burrito bowls at home. They're great for a fast and easy dinner or a healthy meal to pack for work throughout the week.

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Edamame & Veggie Rice Bowl

The ingredients in this vegan grain bowl recipe can be prepped ahead for an easy lunch to pack for work. The tangy citrus dressing is a refreshing flavor with the sweet caramel of the roasted sheet-pan veggies.

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Chickpea & Quinoa Grain Bowl

It seems grain bowls have as many variations as there are stars in the sky, and there is no wrong way to build one! But we prefer to keep things classic and simple with hummus, quinoa, avocado and loads of veggies!

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Salmon & Avocado Poke Bowl

Poke (pronounced poh-kay), the bite-size marinated fish salad famous in Hawaii, is so popular that it's sold by the pound in supermarkets. Now it has crossed the Pacific to become the meal-in-a-bowl du jour, served in eateries from Los Angeles to New York. But it's easy to make at home with this quick recipe. Sriracha and Chinese-style mustard add a touch of heat to the classic poke seasoning of soy sauce and sesame oil. Serving it over a brown rice salad makes it a meal.

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Brown Rice Shrimp Bowl with Tomatoes & Avocado

This quick and easy bowl pairs brown rice with cooked shrimp, tossed in a ginger-soy-sesame sauce, to create a flavorful dish in no time. Topping with tomatoes and avocado adds color and nutrients. Use leftover brown rice or pick up a package of pre-cooked brown rice from the grocery store to keep this meal no-cook.

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Quick Gochujang Pork & Rice Bowls

Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Margaret Dickeyt, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless

Deeply savory gochujang adds a mild heat to these quick-cooking grain bowls. Look for gochujang, a fermented red pepper paste, in Asian markets or in the Asian foods aisle of your local supermarket. Leftover brown rice can also be used in these grain bowls.

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Farro & Vegetable Bowls with Lemon-Shallot Herb Sauce

PHOTOGRAPHER: GREG DUPREE, FOOD STYLIST: MARTGARET DICKEY PROP STYLIST: KAY CLARKE

These hearty grain bowls make the perfect lunch or dinner. You can use any assortment of roasted vegetables you like. The herb sauce adds brightness, while chopped pistachios provide crunch. Use any leftover sauce as a spread on a sandwich or drizzle over fried eggs.

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Teriyaki Tofu Rice Bowls

With a handful of shortcut ingredients from your grocery store, including precooked rice packets and seasoned baked tofu, you can prepare several high-fiber, high-protein meals in about 15 minutes.

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Roasted Veggie & Tofu Brown Rice Bowl

A healthy and satisfying vegan lunch for one, featuring roasted butternut squash, broccoli, peppers and onions with simple brown rice, lime-marinated tofu and creamy cashew tahini sauce.

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Kale & Chickpea Grain Bowls

Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Ruth Blackburn, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster

This veggie-heavy bowl is loaded with crunch and color, thanks to crispy carrots and chickpeas, fresh kale and a vibrant avocado dressing. It also delivers more than 50% of your daily dose of fiber, key for weight loss, energy and healthy digestion. Bulgur, also called cracked wheat, is a quick-cooking whole grain. These bowls would be excellent make-ahead lunches. Pack the avocado mixture separately, adding a little water to thin it as needed.

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3-Ingredient Farro Bowl with Rotisserie Chicken

Carolyn Hodges

To make this hearty grain bowl, grab a salad kit from the grocery store. Then, top the kit with farro and chicken for a high-protein lunch or dinner that's ready in minutes.

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Read the original article on Eating Well.
Relatives of a mother of two who vanished on a trip from Alabama to Wyoming are desperate for answers about what has happened to her.

Katheryn Katie Ferguson, 33, was last seen Oct. 5 by police in Arkansas as a passenger in the vehicle of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who is under investigation in her disappearance.

Adam Shane Aviles Jr. of Cody, Wyoming, has not been charged in the disappearance. He was arrested on a charge of felon in possession of ammunition, according to a criminal complaint filed Nov. 13.

Authorities in Wyoming said a search of his 1999 Dodge Durango turned up dried blood, a loaded Glock magazine and a projectile hole in the front passenger door, according to the complaint.

Multiple attempts to reach Aviles attorney were unsuccessful Friday.

The complaint said that on Nov. 2, a person whose initials are M.H. contacted the Cody Police Department to report her daughter, K.F., was missing.

Fergusons sister, Amanda Ferguson, confirmed to NBC News on Friday their mother is Mona Hartling and the person listed as M.H. in the complaint.

She said her younger sister had been living in Alabama since May, having left her home state of Wyoming for a fresh start to live with family and get away from Aviles, who she alleged had been abusive during their relationship.

She was scared of him. She didnt want the girls around him, said Amanda Ferguson, 36, of Cody.

But Katie Ferguson had recently contacted Aviles to get her and take her to Cody after relapsing on drugs, the complaint said. The pair along with their two daughters were making the cross-country trip. It was not clear when they set out.

The girls, ages 1 and 4, are now staying with their paternal grandmother, Amanda Ferguson said.

The day her mother reported Katie Ferguson missing, Aviles told Cody police that she was not missing but did not want to have contact with her mother, the complaint said.

Two days later, Wyoming's Park County Sheriffs Office deputies found Aviles Durango abandoned in a rural area near Cody. Trash bags were blocking the windows, and deputies broke in because of the vehicle owner's connection to a person who had been reported missing, officials said.

Deputies wanted to make sure there was no one who required medical attention inside the Durango, the complaint said. A law enforcement officer indicated he could smell the odor of putrefied blood'" inside the Durango, the complaint said.

The passenger's seat was missing and there were cleaning wipes inside, according to the court document. A Glock pistol magazine loaded with live ammunition was near the vehicles center console, the complaint said.

There was also what appears to be a projectile hole in the front passenger door, the complaint said.

As deputies investigated the vehicle, Aviles approached with a gas canister. He told deputies it was his Durango and that it was out of gas, the complaint said.

Before he returned to Wyoming, Aviles had at least three other interactions with police, investigators determined. The circumstances and outcomes of those encounters were not clear Friday night, and the complaint did not provide specifics.

The first was Oct. 5 in Trumann, Arkansas, the report said.

K.F. was present in the passenger seat and Aviles Jr. was operating the vehicle, the complaint said. There was no projectile hole in the passenger side door on bodycam video.

The Texas State Patrol interacted with Aviles on Oct. 9. A body camera review of the incident showed Ferguson was not in the Durango and a projectile hole in the passenger door was concealed with tape, the complaint said. On Oct. 11, Aviles encountered Colorado State Patrol, and Ferguson was not in the Durango, the document stated.

Aviles was operating the vehicle during each of the three encounters, the complaint said.

Aviles was convicted of heroin possession in 2017 in Park County, Wyoming, the complaint said.

Amanda Ferguson said she last spoke to her sister on Sept. 24, and it was not a pleasant conversation because she was mad at her for getting back with Aviles.

She described her sister as a goofball and doting mother who would never miss her youngest daughters first birthday, which was late last month.

She remains hopeful that her sister is alive, but worries that evidence is pointing to the contrary, she said.

I still have a little bit of hope. But with all the evidence Ive heard, if Katie is still alive, I just want her to know that we love her and miss her and were here for her, Amanda Ferguson said. But if she isnt, I want to know where shes at so I can properly say goodbye to her. Our whole family would love that.
Longtime HIV survivor Greg Louganis, a five-time Olympic medalist for diving, listens to speakers Friday during the World AIDS Day observance at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Flowers and candles memorialize lives lost to AIDS in the middle of a circle at the National AIDS Memorial Grove inscribed with the names of those who have died of the disease. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

A ceremony Friday in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park marked World AIDS Day by memorializing the 32 million people lost worldwide to the disease and offering support to the estimated 1.2 million HIV survivors in the U.S. today.

The event at the National AIDS Memorial Grove marked the 35th anniversary of World AIDS Day, held annually on Dec. 1 to raise awareness of the pandemic.

Sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are displayed behind the stage during the gathering to mark World AIDS Day. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Longtime HIV survivor and LGBTQ activist Greg Louganis, a five-time Olympic medalist for diving, recounted how his diagnosis in 1988 changed the course of his life during a conversation with National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham as part of the ceremony.

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The most important thing is speaking up and speaking out. The more people get to know you, the more we lessen the stigma, Louganis said. Every person is so much more than the label we give each other. It is really key that we connect on a human level and be empathetic to the challenges that each of us have.

The event began with a performance by an Aztec dance troupe, followed by an invocation and opening remarks by Cunningham and Daniel ODay, chairman and CEO of HIV drugmaker Gilead Sciences of Foster City.

An Aztec dancer performs to commemorate World AIDS Day at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

The ceremony featured the presentation of the Hope and Inspiration Award to Lashanda Tootie Salinas, who helped change Tennessee laws covering people with HIV after she was forced to register as a sex offender when an ex-boyfriend said she exposed him to the virus.

There is still so much stigma and misinformation around HIV/AIDS, including outdated laws that criminalize and take away basic human rights just for having the disease, Salinas said. Through education and advocacy, we can make great strides to change that.

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After the ceremony, attendees were invited to the AIDS Memorial Groves Circle of Friends for a reading of nearly 4,000 engraved names of lives touched by AIDS, including Louganis.

The event was preceded Thursday night by Light in the Grove, an annual fundraiser for the memorial grove featuring colorful displays, performances, tributes, food and a display of sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which honors lives lost to the disease.
The father of a British soldier killed while off-duty in Kenya has told of his pride in his special son.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died in the African country on November 29, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Saturday.

He was shot while on a motorbike trip away from base, his father Joseph McCool said.

Mr McCool said his son, from Northern Ireland, was due to finish his tour of duty in Kenya three days after his death.

The MoD said Maj McCool, who saw service in Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa, thrived in the military environment, adding that he was at his best when deployed, and at his very best when the conditions were at their very worst.

Mr McCool told the PA news agency: I dont know what to say. Every life is precious but this guy was really, really special.

He was 1,500m Ulster champion. He ran for Ireland. He played piano, harp, tin whistle.

He went to Sandhurst. He progressed up the ranks very quickly to be a major.

He won several military cross-country races and various sporting events. A very strong sporting guy.

He was loved, I am tempted to say adored, by his fellow officers. We are getting that from the horses mouth. That is what we are being told by top brass because he was so good.

Mr McCool said his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya to be with Kevin before he died from his injuries.

He said: He was due to leave Kenya in three days. He had three days left on that tour of duty.

He decided to go out on his scrambler motorbike for one last ride up a local mountain.

He went up a road and two guys jumped out at him with a gun.

It seems that he thought the gun was a dummy, he didnt think it was real.

He made the mistaken assumption that the gun was artificial and they shot him.

Mr McCool said his family is weathering the storm as best it can.

He said: We are all in bits.

We are incredibly proud of our son and what he has done.

Maj McCool was commissioned from Sandhurst in August 2014 and the MoD said he had the unwavering loyalty of the recruits in his platoon and rifle company.

His commanding officer said he will be missed but never forgotten.

They added: Kevin McCool was living his best life, doing a job he loved, with people he loved. A man of the utmost integrity, he was fearless and oozed moral courage.

I will never forget my final memory of him, which was on operations; he had just come off the ground having slept a handful of hours in as many days. We discussed the possibility of having to deploy another team into the operational furnace from which he had just come. He stopped me mid-sentence, fixed me with his piercing blue eyes, and simply said, Send me.

A bright light has gone out amongst our ranks. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Maj McCools officer commanding said: Kevin McCools eyes shone with his spirit of adventure and with his focussed, determined nature. He was a pilgrim soul in the truest sense.

Intelligent, pro-active and selfless, he was at his best and at his happiest whilst serving others and whilst facing challenges in the arena.

As a soldier, his courage and talent were proven on operations. As a leader, he had a compelling character and easy charm that all who met him warmed to. And as a man, he had a deep humility which displayed a wisdom beyond his years.

Spotting opportunities, restless to serve and to seek out challenges, pushing himself to the frontiers, helping others; that is how we will remember him. He was the best of us.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps (PA)

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: Its clear from the tributes of those who knew him that Maj McCool was an exceptional person and an exceptional soldier, loved and respected in equal measure, who served his country with distinction.

My thoughts and sympathies are with his family, friends and colleagues currently coming to terms with this most tragic loss.

https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1730925045269110825?s=20

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: My heart goes out to Maj McCools family, friends, and fellow soldiers today in the face of their tragic loss.

The tributes pouring out for him show a man who served his country with pride, integrity and bravery.

His service will not be forgotten.

The British Army has a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 124 miles north of Nairobi, with a small element also based in Kenyas capital.

It provides demanding training to exercising units preparing to deploy on operations or assume high-readiness tasks, according to the Armys website.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) consists of around 100 permanent staff and a reinforcing short-tour cohort of another 280 personnel.

Under an agreement with the Kenyan government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.
Elisabetta Balzola describes Cucina Lab Torino not as a restaurant, but as a little corner of Italy in Michigan. The chef and owner recently marked the third anniversary of the almost hidden place on Crooks at Wattles in Troy that's housed in the same building and behind the Troy Dental School.

Balzolas annual holiday market is set for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 3 and Dec. 10. At the free event, you can shop made-from-scratch Italian cookies, cakes, liqueurs, focaccia and sauces. You can also check out the wines, oils and pasta. There will be espresso, hot cocoa, and wine to order available.

Cunina Lab chocolate liqueur

The event is free, but its best to make a reservation. Typically, according to Cucina Lab, the housemade limoncello and chocolate liquor, which make nice gifts, sell out quickly.

At Cucina Lab Torino, Balzola offers authentic Italian gourmet dinners by reservation only. The multi-course menu, served on Fridays and Saturdays, offers five courses and changes weekly.

Balzola also features special events, including food and wine tastings, cooking classes, and private event options. The space offers counter seating and table seating where guests can see Balzola and her team at work in the open concept where everything is prepared fresh  no deep fryer here.

In the works, in a separate space, is a new wine concept called Vino Lab owned by Raj Batra, Balzola and several others. Batra said at Cucina Labs recent anniversary gathering marking three years in business that Vino Lab is planned for 2024.

Raj Batra and Elisabetta Balzola at Cucina Lab Torino

It (Vino Lab) will be a place, he said, for people to experience, sample, and buy wine, one of the oldest drinks in the world.

It is what this area needs, Batra said. It (Vino Lab) will have the ambiance and the programming in an evening that will make it a fun thing.

Balzola agrees and added that Vino Lab will be a way to meet great wine. It will be the place, she said, where youve finished your work and then meet for a glass of wine.

Local wine professional Mindy Lopus is assisting in developing the wine program forthcoming Vino Lab.

Visit cucina-lab.com to make reservations, a list of classes and upcoming tastings.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cucina Lab Torino in Troy has 2 dates for annual holiday market
Eduard Figueres / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Living on campus may be a rite of passage for college students, but dorm life isnt for everyone. Although most universities require freshmen to live on campus, a number of students opt for off-campus housing, where they may live on their own or with roommates. This is especially true in southern states, where youll find some of the highest rates of off-campus housing compared to other regions. Heres what they pay to live off campus in southern college towns and how it compares to the national median rent of $1,480.

Barbara Corcoran: Housing Prices Are Going To Go Through The Roof: Heres When

Learn More: 5 Expensive Home Renovations That Youll Probably Regret

1. Athens, GA

Population: 128,561

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,347

Located about an hour and a half drive from Atlanta, Athens is home to the states top public university, the University of Georgia. This charming college town also hosts Athens Technical College and some private schools. The median rent in the area is $1713, with a studio going for about $930 per month. Although its lower than the national rent rate, Athens is one of the pricier locales on this list, with the cost of living about 3% higher than the rest of the country.

2. Auburn, AL

Population: 80,006

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,039

Surrounded by the lush forests of eastern Alabama, Auburn is where youll find its namesake, Auburn University. The median rent in Auburn is higher than the national average: $1500, but studios and one-bedrooms are a steal at $475 and $950, respectively. Overall, Auburn is affordable, with the cost of living nearly 10% lower than the national average.

3. Austin, TX

Population: 974,447

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,869

Its no surprise that Texas state capital, Austin, is the biggest college town on this list. Several notable public and private schools attract more than 422,000 students to the city each school year. In addition to the University of Texas at Austin, youll find St. Edwards University, Huston-Tillotson University, Concordia University Texas and Texas Health and Science University. Median rent here is $2,195, and you can expect to pay about $1,291 for a studio and $1,425 for a one-bedroom if you rent a place off campus.

4. Durham, NC

Population: 332,680

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,653



Part of the famed Research Triangle, along with Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Durham is home to Duke University, including Durham Technical Community College and North Carolina Central University. The median rent in Durham is $1,800, and a one-bedroom is a better deal at around $1,288 per month. The going rate for a studio is $1,585. The cost of living here is about 7% higher than the rest of the country.

5. Charlottesville, VA

Population: 45,373

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,763

Nestled in the rolling hills of Virginia, Charlottesville was home to two presidents, one of whom founded the University of Virginia there. Piedmont, Virginia Community College is also in Charlottesville. At $2,095, the median rent here is higher than the national average, but the cost of living is typically around 9% lower. You can expect to pay around $1,388 for a studio and $1,459 for a one-bedroom.

6. Columbia, SC

Population: 137,996

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,327

Located in the heart of South Carolina, Columbia is the states capital and the site of its largest school, the University of South Carolina. Benedict College, Columbia College and Columbia International University also call the city home. The cost of living in the city is about 3.6% lower than in other parts of the country. Median rent is $1,450, and youll pay about $800 for a studio and $1,011 for a one-bedroom.

7. Gainesville, FL

Population: 145,214

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,429

Located in north central Florida, Gainesville is surrounded by a number of preserves and springs  an outdoor lovers dream. Its also where youll find the Sunshine States flagship school, the University of Florida, and Santa Fe College. Gainesville is an affordable area overall, with the cost of living about 2% lower than the national average. Median rent here is $1,600, higher than the national median, and a studio costs about $1,077. Youll pay about $1,100 for a one-bedroom.

8. Lexington, KY

Population: 320,576

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,519

It may be best known for its horse farms. Still, Lexington is also a fun college town, thanks to the presence of the Unversity of Kentucky, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, and Transylvania University. Median rent is close to the national figures, coming in at $1,400, and you will likely pay about $750 for a studio and $857 for a one-bedroom. The area is generally affordable, with the cost of living about 3.4% lower than in other regions.

9. Knoxville, TN

Population: 196,823

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1574

The quintessential college town is located within sight of the Great Smoky Mountains, Knoxville, Tennessee. Here, you will find one of the oldest schools in the country, the University of Tennessee and Pellissippe State Community College. The median rent in the area is more than the national rate of $1,836, but the cost of living is more than 8% lower than in other parts of the country, making it more affordable. Studios cost about $995, and one-bedrooms cost about $1,250.

10. New Orleans, LA

Population: 364,659

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,725

New Orleans, Louisiana, is more than a popular tourist destination; its also a bustling college town. More than 40,000 students attend one of the schools in the area, including Tulane University, The University of New Orleans, Loyola University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans and the University of Holy Cross. The median rent is $1,700, and a studio costs about $1,150. A one-bedroom costs about $1,375 per month. Rent may be high, but the cost of living in New Orleans is slightly lower than the national average.

11. Oxford, MS

Population: 26,437

Average rent for a two-bedroom: $1,010

The smallest college town on this list, Oxford, Mississippi, is best known as the home of Ole Miss. Located in the rolling hills of northern Mississippi, Oxford is a beautiful and affordable city, with the cost of living 12% lower than the rest of the country. Median rent is $2,000, significantly higher than the national rate. Here, youll find a studio for about $950 and a one-bedroom for about $1,527.

Final Take

For many students, living expenses make up the second largest piece of the cost of college  after tuition. If youre considering off-campus housing, be sure to include the monthly rent in your budget. In some college towns, living with a roommate can help lower expenses. Splitting a two-bedroom with a roommate costs about $600 each, and sharing a three-bedroom with two roommates costs about $540 each.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Housing Market 2023: Heres How Much Students Pay to Live in these Southern College Towns
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A new study claims that the Gunung Padang site in Indonesia is a prehistoric pyramid from up to 27,000 years ago.

The study authors site ground-penetrating technologies as the main source for the conclusion.

The archaeological community, however, is questioning the findings and the paper is now under investigation.

The Djoser pyramid in Egypt is known as the oldest in the world at 4,700 years old. A new paper published in Archaeological Prospection calls that record into question with the strong claims of a prehistoric pyramid in Indonesia that is up to 27,000 years old. Not everyone is buying the research, however, and now the journal has launched an investigation into the study.

Im surprised [the paper] was published as is, Flint Dibble, archaeologist at Cardiff University, told Nature, which first reported the investigation into the paper. Dibbles questions pertain not so much the data from the Gunung Padang site, but rather to the conclusions drawn by the authors.

The papers authors write that they have compelling evidence of a complex and sophisticated megalithic site. Using seismic tomography, the researchers have come to believe that hidden cavities or chambers exist, showing the presence of multi-layer constructions.

There could be other explanations.

The Gunung Padang site in West Java, Indonesia, includes a raised earth site. If underneath the soil lies human-built caverns and rooms, it would offer up not only the oldest known pyramid by thousands of years, but also the oldest known use of stone masonry. This would completely undo previous beliefs surrounding civilization advancement in the Paleolithic era.

These findings offer valuable insights into the construction history of Gunung Padang, the authors wrote in the paper, shedding light on the engineering capabilities of ancient civilizations during the Paleolithic era.

To arrive at their conclusions, the authors used ground-penetrating technologies to uncover what they believe are four layers of construction that include rooms throughout differing phases of build. The first layer is dated to 27,000 to 16,000 years ago, and was done by carbon dating the soil drilled from the site. They also believe that the technology shows sculpted stoneworkmeticulously sculpted, to be exactand the arranging of rocks in a planned way.

But theres two giant question marks. Does all this technologyand no visual evidencereally show the work of human (or hominin) hands, or could the ground have shifted over thousands of years, forming layers that left voids in the soil? And what does it mean that no researchers have found evidence of human activity in that area dating that far back, let alone any record of known organized settlements or societies?

Dibble, according to Nature, claims that the natural movement and weathering of rocks can sculpt stone and roll down hills to make it appear planned. But Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, geologist at the National Research and Innovation Agency in Indonesia and study co-author, told Nature that the stones were neatly arranged, shaped, and too large for easy natural transportation. Dibble counters that theres no evidence to believe that the rocks were shaped by humans.

Then comes the dating. Bill Farley, archaeologist at southern Connecticut State University, told Nature theres been no evidence that an advanced civilization existed at that site during the last ice age. And while soil samples may well be from 27,000 years ago, without the telltale signs of human activity (such as charcoal or bone fragments), theres no reason to believe that there was any sort of large settlement in existence during that timeespecially in Indonesia. The oldest known complex societies with settlements, which would be required to build pyramid-type structures, is 9,000 years old and located in modern-day Turkey.

The looming question marks on the paper have been enough to warrant another look by the publisher. A deeper investigation into the paper may also spark a more intense scrutiny of Gunung Padang.

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Of all the positions Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has publicly taken in recent months, few have been more constant than his call for Sen. Bob Menendez to be booted from the Senate.

So when given the spotlight Friday on national TV, Fetterman didn't pull any punches.

"He needs to go," Fetterman said during an appearance on "The View."

"How can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?"

Menendez, who was indicted in September along with his wife on federal corruption charges, has maintained his innocence, and has refused the many calls within his own party to relinquish his seat.

Senator Bob Menendez is shown Oct. 23 as he exits federal court in the Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan, after pleading not guilty.

The sweeping indictment accuses Menendez of taking cash, gold bars and other bribes from three acquaintances of his wife in exchange for lobbying on behalf of the Egyptian government and pressuring prosecutors to drop criminal investigations.

On Saturday, Menendez fired back in a statement to NorthJersey.com saying Fetterman will "have to eat his words" when he is exonerated.

Mr. Fetterman appears to think hes judge, jury, and executioner," Menendez said. "The junior senator from Pennsylvania seems to be more interested in clickbait than justice. He cannot say he stands for core constitutional principles of due process and the presumption of innocence when he is actively working to undermine my rights. Im confident when all the facts are presented, I will be exonerated and the senator will have to eat his words."

A rising star in his party, Fetterman was the first Senate Democrat to call for Menendez's resignation less than 24 hours after the New Jersey politician and his wife were indicted on federal corruption charges. Since then, dozens of Democratic leaders have echoed that call.

Fetterman didn't let go. Last month, he introduced a resolution to strip Menendez of his committee assignments and to bar him access to classified information.

On Friday when asked by host Joy Behar for his reaction to the expulsion of Rep. George Santos, R-NY, from the House of Representatives, Fetterman instead focused on Menendez.

"We have a colleague in the Senate that's actually done much more sinister and serious kinds of things, Senator Menendez," said Fetterman, wearing his trademark hoodie. "He needs to go. If you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate? Santos' lies were almost kind of funny. He landed on the moon and that kind of stuff. Menendez is really a Senator for Egypt, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go, especially since it's kind of strange that Santos is not allowed to remain in the House."

When asked whether a decision like that should be held off until Menendez's case goes through the courts, Fetterman remained firm.

"He has his right to his day in court, but he doesn't have the right to have those kind of votes ... that's not a right," he said. "I think we need to make that kind of decision to send him out."

Menendez said he will still seek the Democratic nomination for his Senate seat in next year's primary, which also includes opponents Rep. Andy Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fetterman says Menendez should be kicked out of the Senate
For more than a year, Anna Corbett lived alone with her fear. If she spoke publicly, she was told, her husband might die. If she remained quiet, he might live.

I was really scared to put Ryan at risk, Anna said in an interview with NBC News, referring to her husband. I was advised to not raise his profile, raise his value, but its just become clear that he has a high value.

Ryan Corbett is one of at least three Americans being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to a source familiar with the situation who asked not to be named. His days are spent in a 9-by-9-foot basement cell in Kabul alongside other Western prisoners held by the Talibans main spy agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence.

He survives on scraps of fatty meat, must request access to the bathroom, and rarely has access to sunlight, according to prisoners who once shared his cell and have since been released. They say Ryan, who has been imprisoned since August 2022, has been fainting, experiencing seizures and has discolored extremities.

Ryan and Anna Corbett in Puget-sur-Argens, France, in September 2021. (Courtesy Anna Corbett)

As time goes on, Anna is increasingly concerned about her husbands physical health and mental well-being. One of the prisoners in Ryans cell went into sepsis twice.

After remaining quiet about his case for more than 14 months, she decided she could no longer wait. Two weeks ago, she testified before Congress and asked for help. Anna still does not know how the Taliban will respond.

Ive been reassured Ryan is important. Theyre not gonna let anything happen, Anna said. But  this man almost died.

Since the Biden administration withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan and shuttered the U.S. Embassy two years ago, the U.S. has no diplomatic presence in the country. The U.S. does not recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan but still engages in diplomatic discussions with them. As U.S. officials communications with the Taliban increased this year and Annas own communication with her husband decreased, she decided to use her voice.

Its just been too long, and Im concerned about increasing these conversations with the Taliban and maybe losing points of leverage that can be used for bringing Ryan home, Anna said. I know its extremely complex, but Im just a normal mom who wants her husband back.

Ryan, 40, was raised in a rural corner of western New York. He was home-schooled, grew up loving hunting, and met people from around the world who were hosted by his family. Anna, 43, was born in France and spent her youth traveling around Europe with her family and attending French public schools.

While their childhoods were vastly different, when Ryan and Anna met in college in Wisconsin in 2000, they bonded immediately over their common love of the outdoors, dreams of living abroad and making a difference. They married in 2004.

Anna, Miriam, Ryan, Caleb, and Ketsia in South Bend, Ind., in March 2022. (Courtesy Anna Corbett)

They have three children, their two daughters Ketsia, 18, and Miriam, 16; and a son Caleb, 13, who was born in Afghanistan. Ketsia is heading to college next year, and Anna wants Ryan back before their eldest child leaves home.

We cant go on like this, Anna said. It's 15 months. This is my kids childhood.

The Corbetts moved to Afghanistan in 2010, working with NGOs supporting humanitarian projects and later starting Bloom Afghanistan, a microfinance company focused on providing Afghans with the tools they needed to build successful small businesses.

Ryan learned to speak Pashto, the language spoken in southern and eastern Afghanistan, and became close to his clients and their families. Even after their family fled the country in 2021 with other Americans, the Corbetts struggled with leaving behind their home, their community and their lives in Afghanistan.

We believe that every human life is sacred, whether someone was born in a country devastated by decades of war or here in our nations capital, Anna testified to Congress earlier this month. Despite our personal anguish, we felt deeply that we could and should continue to support those we left behind including Ryans employees.

Ryan Corbett teaching a course on leadership in the summer of 2015 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Courtesy Anna Corbett)

In January 2022, Ryan returned to Afghanistan, buoyed by his belief that his business was welcomed in the country, and by authorities decision to renew his visa. But on a subsequent trip in August, Ryan, a European colleague and two Afghan partners were detained by the Taliban. While the others were all released, Ryan continues to be held prisoner. To date, Ryan has still not been charged with a crime.

In September, the State Department found Corbett had been wrongfully detained, a determination that opens his case to high levels of diplomatic negotiations and resources including potential prisoner exchanges to secure his release.

Since his arrest, his family has had one six-minute call with Ryan. His last consular visit by the Qatari government, acting as a protecting power on behalf of the U.S. government, was in January 2023. Earlier this month, Ryan was able to speak to U.S. consular officers for three minutes by phone and hear directly that the Biden administration was working on his case.

A State Department spokesperson said the United State has continuously pressed, including in meetings with Taliban representatives, for the immediate and unconditional release of Americans detained in Afghanistan. Citing privacy, safety and operational reasons, the spokesperson said the State Department is not speaking publicly about its efforts.

Since Ryans arrest, Anna has met with Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, and deputy national security adviser Jon Finer to discuss her husbands case. Shortly before Thanksgiving, Anna was able to speak by phone with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Anna says she is grateful to the Biden administration for what its done, but after her brief conversation with her husband in May and the reports she hears from the prisoners who shared his cell, Anna worries that Ryans resilience is running out.

Theyve said this is our number-one priority. But theres an American sitting in a basement for 15 months. I think they can do more, Anna told NBC News. Theyve done a lot and Im grateful for that. But more needs to be done so he can be brought home.
Photo illustration of the logo of online social media and social networking site TikTok on October 29, 2023. Credit - Matt CardyGetty Images

On Thursday, a Montana judge moved to block a first-of-its-kind ban of TikTok in the state one month before it was set to go into effect.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban, claiming that it "violates the Constitution in more ways than one" and "oversteps state power."

But Montana isn't the only place to attempt to restrict TikTok. The Chinese-owned app has faced scrutiny worldwide including in India, France, and Nepal over concerns that user data could be passed on to the Chinese government.

Heres what to know about TikTok bans worldwide.

Why was Montana's ban blocked?

The Montana law, which was set to take effect Jan. 1, would have made Montana the first state to outright ban TikTok on all devices and would have fined Google and Apple for each day they failed to remove the app from their stores. It is unclear how the ban would have been implemented on personal devices that already had the app installed.

In a statement released at the time of the bills signing in May, Governor Greg Gianfortes office called the law an attempt to protect Montanans personal and private data from being harvested by the Chinese Communist party.

Judge Molloy wrote, however, The current record leaves little doubt that Montanas Legislature and attorney general were more interested in targeting Chinas ostensible role in TikTok than with protecting Montana consumers."

The ban has now been temporarily halted as the matter moves through trial sometime next year, with a final ruling to follow.

The legal battle over Montana's law is setting the precedent for how the app is regulated in the United States. We are pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok, TikTok said in a statement on X.

Why is TikTok facing government bans?

Lawmakers across the globe have expressed concern that TikTok, and its parent company ByteDance, might place user data at risk. TikTok, like most other social media companies, collects vast amounts of data on its usersincluding location data and browsing history. Officials say that this information could pose a security threat, given that Chinese law allows the government to obtain information from companies in the interest of national security.

During a congressional hearing in March, TikToks CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the app is "free from any manipulation from any government."

However, there have been concerns about the companys handling of data. Last December, Bytedance fired four employees who accessed data on journalists from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times in an attempt to track down the source behind a leaked report about the company.

To get around governmental concerns in the U.S., TikTok has proposed a $1.5 billion plan called Project Texas, that would store U.S. data on servers owned and operated by the software company Oracle.

Which governments have banned TikTok?

In recent months, lawmakers across the globe have taken action to restrict the use of TikTok.

Nepal became the most recent country to ban the app in November, with officials saying it was disrupting social harmony in the country. India, which previously made up the largest share of downloads of the app, banned the platform in 2020 along with 58 other Chinese companies. Several other countriesincluding Australia, Canada, and France have banned the use of the app on government devices.

The U.S. federal government and more than half of states have banned the app on government devices. Several public colleges including the University of Texas at Austin, Auburn University, and Boise State University  have blocked the app from campus Wi-Fi networks.

The Biden Administration has made moves to ban the platform outright. The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to advance a bill that would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok nationwide, and the Administration told the company earlier this year that the app would either need to be sold or face a ban in the U.S.

Write to Simmone Shah at simmone.shah@time.com.
An audacious collaboration between geneticists and conservationists plans to bring back the extinct dodo and reintroduce it to its once-native habitat in Mauritius.

US-based biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences, which is pursuing the de-extinction of multiple species, including the woolly mammoth, has entered a partnership with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to find a suitable location for the large flightless birds.

The dodo has been extinct since 1681; a combination of predation by humans and animals introduced by humans led to its downfall, turning it into a textbook case for extinction. But according to the partners, its return to Mauritius could benefit the dodos immediate environment and other species.

Colossal first announced its intention to resurrect the dodo in January 2023. Exactly when it will be able to do so remains unclear, but fresh details regarding how it plans to recreate the species have been revealed.

The full genome of the dodo has been sequenced by Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist at Colossal. In addition, the company says it has now sequenced the genome of the solitaire, an extinct relative of the dodo from Rodrigues Island, close to Mauritius, and the Nicobar pigeon, the dodos closest living relative, which resides on islands in Southeast Asia spanning the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The Nicobar pigeon, native to the coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is the closest living relative to the dodo. - Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Geneticists at Colossal have found cells that act as a precursor for ovaries or testes in the Nicobar pigeon can grow successfully in a chicken embryo. They are now researching to see if these cells (called primordial germ cells, or PGCs) can turn into sperm and eggs.

This is a vital step in creating hybridized animals through reproduction. Scientists have previously introduced PGCs to create a chicken fathered by a duck  for which a duck embryo was injected with chicken PGCs, producing an adult duck with the sperm of a rooster. It then bred with a hen, which gave birth to a chick.

Colossal plans to go down a similar route. First, it will compare the dodo and solitaire genomes to the Nicobar pigeons to identify how they differ. Then it will edit the PGCs of a Nicobar so it expresses the physical traits of a dodo.

The edited PGCs will then be inserted into the embryos of a sterile chicken and rooster. With the introduction of the edited PGCs, the chicken and rooster will be capable of reproducing, and, in theory, their offspring will resemble the dodo thanks to the hybridized pigeon DNA in their reproductive systems.

Physically, the restored dodo will be indiscernible from what we know of the dodos appearance, said Matt James, Colossals chief animal officer, in an email.

James described the project as an amazing engine of innovation for avian genetics, genomics, and cell biology, in part because most of the technologies that we use for cloning in mammals does not exist in birds today. However, he declined to put a timeline on when the first embryo will be created.

Building a new home for the dodo

Black River Gorges National Park, Mauritius. - Holger Hollemann/dpa/picture alliance/AP

While Colossals laboratory continues its research, a team at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) will busy itself feathering a proverbial nest.

Vikash Tatayah, director of conservation at the foundation, said the MWF approached Colossal earlier this year about a partnership, and is planning a feasibility study for where best to locate Colossals birds when they are born.

Mauritius is not a big island, its 60 kilometers by 30 kilometers, Tatayah said. Much of it has already been replaced by sugar cane, buildings, villages (and) reservoirs.

The most ideal site does not exist, he added, saying each potential location has pros and cons, with predators, poaching and other human interference all factors.

Black River Gorges National Park, with its pockets of restored forest, is one location being considered; neighboring nature reserves Round Island and the islet of Aigrettes are two others.

The island and islet are not home to natural predators, he explained, whereas on the mainland, invasive species including rats, feral cats, pigs and dogs, monkeys, mongooses, and crows may need to be excluded, rehomed or even controlled for Colossals dodo to thrive. On the other hand, Tatayah said the foundation would like a location where the dodos could be visible to the public, and Round Island and Ile aux Aigrettes are currently uninhabited.

There is the possibility the dodo will be reintroduced at multiple locations, he added.

The protected island of Ile Aux Aigrette in the Indian Ocean, close to Mauritius, is one potential location for Colossal's dodos. - Ben Birchall/PA/AP

Once human factors and alien predators are controlled, Tatayah is less concerned about how the dodo will re-integrate into its environment. (It) was coexisting and coevolved with other birds, other plants and reptiles  so I cant see them being competitive at all, he said.

In fact, there could even be tangential benefits, he argued, citing mutualistic relationships which have broken down since the loss of the dodo.

The birds large beak is an indicator that it consumed large-seeded fruits, he explained, and the dodo played a role in the seeds dispersal. Some of these plant species are threatened or highly threatened, he added, one hypothesis being that the seeds are no longer being sufficiently dispersed and primed for germination without the dodo and other extinct large species (another being the domed Mauritian giant tortoise.).

I think (the dodo is) going to be a big bonus for the restoration of ecosystems, said Tatayah.

While agreeing that the dodo could have a hand in dispersing seeds, Julian Hume, an avian paleontologist at Londons Natural History Museum, who has studied the bird, offers caution.

Despite being one of the most famous birds in the world, we still know virtually nothing about the dodo, so how it interacted with its environment is impossible to know, Hume said in an email.

Colossals idea is a sound one, he added, although, because of the complexity of recreating a species from DNA, even if it was possible, (it) can only result in a dodo-esque creature. It will then take years of selective breeding to enhance a small pigeon into a large flightless bird. Remember, nature took millions of years for this to happen with the dodo.

As for studying the bird once reintroduced, at best, Colossal can only produce a bird with some dodo-like qualities, and a bird that has no inherent idea of how to live in the wild, so it would be rather naive to base any conclusions about behavior or other life-history characters (on it), Hume said.

Why revive the dodo at all?

An illustration of a dodo, created by Colossal Biosciences. - courtesy Colossal Biosciences

One lingering question is why? Why pool resources into recreating a long-dead, flightless bird and sequestering it on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean?

Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Colossal, argued that restoring the dodo gives us the opportunity to create conservation optimism, that hopefully inspires people around the globe, specifically the youth, in a time when climate change, biodiversity loss and politics can make things seem hopeless.

He added that the techniques pioneered by the dodo project could help restore other avian species.

Tatayah believes the high-profile project could offer impetus to wider conservation efforts on Mauritius. In our experience, when you start saving a species, it gives the drive for protection and restoration of habitats and ecosystem, he said.

Were interested in entire ecosystem conservation. We dont want to find the dodo alone in a field, Tatayah added.

The director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation said that in any case, the dodos return is not going to happen overnight  were talking about probably a decade. The birds would be created in the US and would need to be imported, he explained. Citing the legal and political dimension of the project, he said the years may add up.

Tatayah stressed that nascent de-extinction technologies should not provide a get-out for tried and tested conservation methods  particularly for endangered species  describing it as another tool in the toolbox  but not the tool that replaces the whole toolbox.

Hume agreed, adding the huge investment made by Colossal could be used elsewhere to help save many other species on the brink through conventional conservation.

The paleontologist is not against the de-extinction movement, but would rather see it applied to recently extinct species such as the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), or species with non-viable populations, like the Northern White Rhino, which has only two remaining females. (Colossal Biosciences is conducting research into both.)

The dodo, despite being a regrettable case of human-caused extinction, has really had its day, Hume said. Nevertheless, our ongoing curiosity is harder to extinguish.

I have studied the dodo for many years, and there is still a lot to learn about this enigmatic bird, he added. If one was ever recreated, I would certainly be the first in the queue to see it.

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Dominic Fracassa is an assistant metro editor overseeing breaking news and criminal justice in San Francisco. He previously covered San Francisco City Hall as a staff writer.

He can be reached at dfracassa@sfchronicle.com.
Klete Keller avoided prison time after pleading guilty on a charge related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Klete Keller was sentenced to six months of home detention and 36 months of probation on Friday for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to ABC News.

Keller will reportedly also have to do 10 hours of community service every month and pay $2,000 to the Architect of the Capitol, plus $100 in court fees. The judge who presided over his trial told Keller he wanted his rehabilitation to become an example for others, per ABC.

Judge Richard Leon told the Olympian that he wanted him to speak to young adults and students about his mistakes and "How he learned from his mistakes" and Leon would later tell Keller 'I expect you to succeed.'

Keller responded, "Thank you your honor, I will not let you down."

Keller's involvement was first noticed in the days after the Capitol riot, when several people in the swimming community noticed him in videos of the rioters fighting police in the Rotunda. Keller's 6-foot-6 stature and Team USA jacket made him particularly easy to identify. You can see him at roughly the 11-second mark in the video below.

Trump supporters fought back after Capitol Police moved in to retake the Rotunda. pic.twitter.com/4e7mNyqWZy  Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 6, 2021

Klete Keller stood out in the crowd during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (Justice Department via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

It wasn't long before Keller was charged, arrested and eventually indicted on seven federal counts, which included knowingly and unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted area, interfering with official government business, engaging in disorderly conduct to disrupt a session of Congress and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder.

Keller, who now works as a commercial real estate agent, initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, before agreeing to plead guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. At the time, Keller was warned he could expect to see 21 to 27 months in prison, with his sentencing up to the discretion of the court.

Keller reportedly admitted to blocking police in the Capitol and yelling "F*** Nancy Pelosi and f*** Chuck Schumer," as well as destroying his phone and throwing away his Team USA jacket in the aftermath of the riot.

He has since apologized and expressed remorse for his actions in a letter to the judge, via ABC News:

"I stand before you feeling ashamed and profoundly embarrassed," Keller wrote in the letter. "On January 6, 2021, I unlawfully entered the United States Capitol Building and demonstrated without permission. I am ashamed to admit that I wanted to interrupt and influence Congress's certification of the Electoral College vote."

"As a former member of the United States Olympic Swimming Team, my behavior set a terrible example for young people who looked up to me," he continued. "I take full responsibility for my inexcusable actions. I will accept my punishment with humility and serve my sentence in peace."

Prosecutors reportedly requested Keller receive a relatively light 10-month sentence due to his cooperation with authorities, and the judge apparently decided to go a step further. Many other rioters have received sentences of several years in federal prison.

Keller's involvement in the riot came more than a decade after his last Olympic appearance. He won both of his gold medals in the 4x200-meter relay at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He also won silver in the same relay in Sydney in 2000 and bronze in the 400-meter freestyle in 2000 and 2004.
By Mikhail Flores

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines and France agreed on Saturday to ramp up military ties, including possible negotiations to allow soldiers from each country into the other's territory.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro signed a letter of intent in Manila to boost bilateral defence cooperation.

"We intend to take concrete steps to levelling up and making more comprehensive our defence cooperation," Teodoro told a joint press conference. That includes seeking authority from their leaders to negotiate a status of visiting forces agreement, he said.

The Philippines has such agreements with the United States and Australia, and recently initiated talks with Japan for a reciprocal access agreement.

Lecornu's visit is the first leg of his trip across the Indo-Pacific, with stops in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, as well as Malaysia.

"We are working on an agenda of strengthening our presence in the Indo-Pacific," Lecornu said.

France considers itself an Indo-Pacific power, with over 7,000 troops stationed in overseas territories in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

The Philippines has been ramping up military ties with several countries in a bid to counter China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, where the two countries have a longstanding maritime dispute.

Manila's claims are backed by a 2016 international tribunal's ruling which rejected China's claims to almost all the South China Sea, where several other countries also assert claims.

The Philippines recently began joint patrols in the South China Sea waters with the United States and Australia.

(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Edwina Gibbs and William Mallard)
There are still three places in the Euro 2024 finals up for grabs following the end of the group-stage of the qualifying campaign.

Wales could yet join England and Scotland in the hat for the Euro 2024 draw, but Rob Pages side will need to navigate the play-offs if they are to reach a fourth major tournament in eight years.

Thats because Wales finished behind Turkey and Croatia in qualifying from Group D, but the Dragons have been afforded a second-chance thanks to their performance in the Uefa Nations League.

Wales are guaranteed a home semi-final after taking their place in play-off Path A - but Thursdays draw will determine who they face in Marchs play-off rounds, while Poland and Robert Lewandowski could be waiting in the final.

Heres everything you need to know.

Who has qualified for Euro 2024?

Pot 1: Germany (hosts), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England

Pot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria

Pot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic

Pot 4: Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Play-off winner A*, Play-off winner B*, Play-off winner C*

Who could still qualify?

Semi-finals  Path A: Poland (1) vs Estonia (4) / Wales (2) vs TBC*

Semi-finals  Path B: Israel (1) vs TBC* / Bosnia and Herzegovina (2) vs TBC*

Semi-finals  Path C: Georgia (1) vs Luxembourg (4) / Greece (2) vs Kazakhstan (3)

TBC* = one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland

How do the Euro 2024 play-offs work?

There is still space for three teams to join the Euro 2024 draw, with three separate paths offering those sides who qualified for the play-offs a way into the tournament finals.

There will be six semi-finals on 21 March 2024 and three finals on 26 March, with the winning teams entering the Euro 2024 group stage.

When is the play-off draw?

This will be held from 11am GMT on Thursday 23 November. The only thing to draw is which side from Finland, Ukraine or Iceland goes into Path A and which of the other two go into Path B. The draw will also determine which winner of the semi-final hosts the play-off final.

*If Finland are allocated to Path B by the draw, as the higher-ranked team they would play Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whichever of Ukraine or Iceland are allocated to Path B would play top-ranked Israel. If Ukraine and Iceland are both allocated to Path B, the higher-ranked Ukraine would play Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iceland would play Israel.
By Mohammad Salem and Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said too many innocent Palestinians had been killed in Gaza as Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday following the collapse of a truce with Hamas militants.

Residents feared the barrages presaged an Israeli ground operation in the south of the Palestinian territory that would pen them into a shrinking area and possibly try to push them across into Egypt.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 193 Palestinians had been killed since the truce ended on Friday, adding to the more than 15,000 Palestinian dead since the start of the war. Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas following its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel in which it says 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

Speaking in Dubai, Harris said Israel had a right to defend itself, but international and humanitarian law must be respected and "too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."

"Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza, are devastating," Harris told reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holding a news conference in Tel Aviv later on Saturday, said Israel was continuing to work in coordination with the U.S. and international organisations to define "safe areas" for Gaza civilians.

"This is important because we have no desire to harm the population," Netanyahu said. "We have a very strong desire to hurt Hamas."

Harris also sketched out a U.S. vision for post-conflict Gaza, saying the international community must support recovery and Palestinian security forces must be strengthened.

"We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work," she said, adding that Hamas must no longer run Gaza.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas once and for all. The Iranian-backed Islamist group is sworn to Israels destruction. One of its officials has said Hamas would repeat the Oct. 7 attacks if possible.

The Israeli military said it had killed Wessam Farhat, commander of a Hamas battalion who sent fighters to hit two kibbutzim near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7. It also described him as one of the planners of the raid.

ISRAEL SEEKS 'SECURITY ENVELOPE'

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Israel did not want to see Gaza's civilians caught in the crossfire.

"Israel is targeting Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization that has committed the most horrific violence against innocent civilians. Israel is making a maximum effort to safeguard Gaza's civilians," Regev said.

He said that when the war was over, Israel would seek a "security envelope" with special zones and arrangements to prevent Hamas from being positioned on its border.

Throughout Saturday morning, a steady stream of wounded people were carried into the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, some receiving treatment on the floor. Gaza health officials said 650 had been wounded since the truce collapsed.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said the renewed fighting was intense.

"It's a new layer of destruction coming on top of massive, unparalleled destruction," Robert Mardini told Reuters in Dubai.

With conditions inside Gaza reaching "breaking point," in Mardini's words, the first aid trucks since the end of the truce entered from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, Egyptian security and Red Crescent sources said. Some 100 trucks passed through, carrying food, water and medical supplies, the sources said.

A senior official said Israel would facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza's civilians.

The warring sides blamed each other for the collapse of the seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Israel said it had recalled a team from Qatar, host of indirect negotiations with Hamas, accusing the Palestinian faction of reneging on a deal to free all the women and children it was holding.

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile said he was heading to Qatar to work on a new truce.

The deputy head of Hamas, however, said no prisoners would be exchanged with Israel unless there is a ceasefire and all Palestinian detainees in Israel are released.

Saleh Al-Arouri told Al Jazeera TV that Israeli hostages held by Hamas are soldiers and civilian men who previously served in the army.

But Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas breached its commitment to free 17 women and children still held in Gaza and insisted that the militant group must keep its word.

SOUTH TARGETED

The southern part of Gaza including Khan Younis and Rafah was pounded on Saturday. Residents said houses had been hit and three mosques destroyed in Khan Younis. Columns of smoke rose into the sky.

Displaced Gazans have been sheltering in Khan Younis and Rafah because of fighting in the north, but residents said they feared Israeli troops were preparing to move south.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks had taken up positions near the road between Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

Yamen, who gave only his first name, fled to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza from the north after Israel destroyed several districts there.

"Where to after Deir Al-Balah, after Khan Younis? I don't know where I would take my wife and six children."

On Saturday morning, Israeli air strikes hit areas close to the Nasser Hospital six times, medics and witnesses said.

The hospital is filled with thousands of displaced and hundreds of wounded, including many of those who had been evacuated from north Gaza hospitals.

"A night of horror," said Samira, a mother of four. "It was one of the worst nights we spent in Khan Younis in the past six weeks since we arrived here ... We are so afraid they will enter Khan Younis."

Among the dead on Saturday was the president of the territory's Islamic University, a theoretical physicist and applied mathematician killed with his family when a house was bombed, health officials said.

The Israeli military said that in the space of 24 hours its ground, air and naval forces had hit 400 militant targets and killed an unspecified number of Hamas fighters.

Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.

(Reporting by Suhaib Salem in Gaza, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; additional reporting by Mohammed Salem and Roleen Tafakji in Gaza, Ari Rabinovich and Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Andrew Mills in Doha, Nandita Bose and Steve Holland in Dubai; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Giles Elgood and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Alison Williams and Matthew Lewis)
A Monroe County man was sentenced Nov. 29 to seven years in prison, followed by eight years of supervised release, for drug trafficking by United States Judge Malachy E. Mannion.

According to the United States Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 28-year-old Jonathyn White of Tobyhanna pled guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute between 40 and 160 grams of fentanyl in Monroe County. His sentence was enhanced because he maintained a premise to store and distribute the Schedule II substance between 2019 and July 2021.

White was indicted with two other individuals, 36-year-old Tyrell Donta Ravenell of Wind Gap, and 27-year-old Amber Paige Moeck of Bethlehem, in June 2022 for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances within the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which includes Monroe County. White and Ravenell were also indicted on three additional charges of distribution of a controlled substance for distributing fentanyl and tramadol, a Schedule IV substance, all of which were dismissed, according to plea agreements.

Ravenell was sentenced on Nov. 28 to 14 years in prison and five years of supervised release. Moeck was sentenced on Oct. 4 to four years and three months in prison and three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Scranton and the Pennsylvania State Police, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Olshefski.

Max Augugliaro is the public safety and government watchdog reporter at the Pocono Record. Reach him at MAugugliaro@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Monroe man sentenced for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Countries once colonized by empires are striking back on global warming  and they have the pope's blessing.

Leaders of developing nations jumped into Saturday's high-level speeches at the U.N. climate summit to press rich industrial countries to share their knowhow to fight global warming and ease the financial burdens they face  while trumpeting their own natural resources that swallow heat-trapping carbon in the air.

The 28th annual U.N. Conference of the Parties, or COP28, in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, featured about 150 presidents, prime ministers, royals and other leaders who are presenting their plans to cut heat-trapping emissions and mostly seek unity with other nations to avert climate catastrophe that seemed to draw closer than ever in 2023.

Injecting moral authority into the talks, Pope Francis said the destruction of the environment is an offense against God in a letter read on his behalf because he had to cancel plans to attend because of a lung inflammation.

In the letter read by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis noted that almost all of the world thats needy is responsible for scarcely 10% of toxic emissions, while the gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal.

The poor are the real victims of what is happening: we need think only of the plight of Indigenous peoples, deforestation, the tragedies of hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration, the popes letter said.

Several African leaders noted their continent's rainforests help gobble up excess carbon dioxide in the air and emphasized how their countries belch out only a tiny fraction of heat-trapping emissions compared to richer countries.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea  one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers  faulted developed nations for failing to deliver on their pledges to meet their commitments on financing for climate action and meet their own targets to curb their industries' emissions.

President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor-Leste, next to Indonesia and north of Australia, blasted shark loans from multilateral lending institutions, saying developing nations cannot recover from heavy debt burdens that squelch their ability to put money into fighting climate change and grow economically.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, the incoming head of a group of 20 climate-vulnerable nations, called for a change of attitude about access to long-term capital and put a challenge to the private sector: We need new players at the table in terms of the insurance companies and in terms of the credit rating agencies and the bank regulators.

Conference organizers were quick to highlight what they said were early accomplishments during the two-week gathering that opened on Thursday, though environmentalists cautioned against over-billed pledges and even some of the leaders acknowledged that upbeat words would need to translate into action after the meeting is over.

Adnan Amin, the CEO of the summit, said that a loss and damage fund that was formally launched on Day One had already reaped nearly $700 million and was still growing. Experts say countries need hundreds of billions to fully adapt to climate change.

Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies expressed support for the fund  which is aimed mostly to help poorer countries respond to climate-related disasters  but said it was just a first step, and urged strong oversight to ensure the money will get to people in need.

Availability of funds is one thing, but the flow of the funds is a different thing," said Chapagain, noting that some money today aimed to help countries adapt to climate change doesn't all get where it should. Like adaptation funding: At the moment, only 10% of the adaptation funding actually reaches the local communities -- only 10%!"

"Thats the type of pitfalls we have to avoid in developing the existing mechanism for the loss and damage fund, he said in an interview.

Also Saturday, 50 oil companies  representing nearly half of global production  pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030. The companies also signed up to reach net zero for their operational emissions by 2050.

With U.S. President Joe Biden staying home, Kamala Harris became the first vice president to lead Americas delegation since Al Gore  now a major climate activist  at COP3 in 1997.

Harris said the United States is pledging $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries access capital to invest in clean energy and nature-based solutions. In a statement, the U.S. Treasury said the pledge is subject to funding availability.

Harris also said the U.S. was joining over 100 countries that have committed to double energy efficiency and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, saying her country was on track to meet those goals because of investments like building 30 gigawatts of solar energy and laying thousands of miles of more efficient high voltage transmission lines.

We understand the whole world will benefit from our work, she said. "When the United States increases renewable energy production and innovation, it lowers the costs and boosts the efficiency of renewable energy technology around the globe.

Earlier Saturday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry joined French President Emmanuel Macron to push for development of nuclear energy, which doesn't produce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it also presents security and waste challenges.

Overall, a group of more than 20 nations called for a tripling of nuclear energy generated in the world by 2050.

I want here to reiterate the fact that nuclear energy is a clean energy and it should be repeated, said Macron, whose country gets around two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power, the most of any industrialized country, and exports some of it to France's neighbors.

Kerry also announced that the U.S. was joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which means the administration commits to building no new coal plants and phasing out existing ones. It's in line with other Biden regulatory actions and international commitments in the works that had meant no coal by 2035.

Whatever their perspective or national interest, leaders almost universally voiced their shared views that Earth is in crisis  with the United Nations and other environmental groups warning that the planet has recorded the nine hottest years on record over the last decade.

Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca called for "saving Mother Earth and staving off the multiple crises which have been caused by neocolonial, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal, Western culture.

The climate crisis is but the latest chapter in a long history of hypocrisy and lies: The Global North' is responsible for the global imbalance that were seeing," he said, using a catchall term for industrialized countries. "They seek permanent growth to the detriment of the global South.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said science shows that the world needs to step up the pace to battle climate change, but took a more upbeat tone, saying: We have what it takes to meet these challenges. We have the technologies: wind power, photovoltaics, e-mobility, green hydrogen.

Demand for fossil fuels has slowed and the peak is "in sight, he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Will Weissert and Jon Gambrell contributed.

___

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.
Lester Dunton of DuntonCine Studios in Wilmington recently moved his camera shop to 23rd Street in Wilmington, in the same building where his father, Joe Dunton, once ran Joe Dunton Cameras.

Last month, during Wilmington's 29th annual Cucalorus Film Festival, dozens of festival attendees and film industry workers showed up for an event at the new DuntonCine Studios on North 23rd Street.

Alongside tubs of beer on ice and a Southern-style buffet, the assembled throng enjoyed the display of a vintage 65mm Mitchell film camera once owned by the director Stanley Kubrick and demos of such advanced camera techniques as "rear projection," which allows actors to do a scene in a studio while, on the screen, it looks like they're in a moving vehicle.

If the gathering felt like a homecoming, or maybe a family reunion, that's because it kind of was.

The man of the hour was Lester Dunton, the English camera whiz and digital imaging technician who was bringing DuntonCine Studios back to the very same building where, more than three decades earlier, his father had opened the Joe Dunton & Co. camera shop, or JDC, in Wilmington, renting camera kits and lending expertise and support to dozens of locally filmed TV and movie productions, from "Matlock" to "One Tree Hill."

Open house at DuntonCine Studios on 23rd Street in Wilmington, Nov. 18 during the Cucalorus Film Festival.

Joe Dunton, 78, is an English camera innovator who not only is a Member of the Order of the British Empire but is also a revered member of Wilmington's film community despite having moved back to the United Kingdom several years ago following his retirement.

The elder Dunton, who got his start in London's film industry in the 1960s, first came to Wilmington in the 1980s to work with late Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, who built the studio here, now called CineSpace Wilmington. Initially operating out of what was then DEG Studios, Dunton eventually opened JDC at the 23rd Street location where DuntonCine Studios is now.

Joe Dunton sold JDC to Panavision around 2010, and sold the building on 23rd Street a few years later.

Joe Dunton circa 1970. PHOTO COURTESY OF CUCALORUS

Lester Dunton, 51, whose big frame and affable air recalls his father, said he's been coming to Wilmington since he was about 14, when his dad would bring him and his siblings to spend summers here. He's got "lots of memories" of hanging out at Wrightsville Beach on Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier, the old wooden one before the current-day concrete pier was built.

As a teenager, Lester helped his dad at JDC on 23rd Street before studying electronic imaging at Westminster University in London and going to work doing video playback and technical visual effects for such directors as Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino, and on such productions as "Star Wars: Episode I  The Phantom Menace."

"I've always been very technical," he said.

He jokes that he didn't get into Britain's National Film and Television School, "But now they ask me to go back and teach."

First family of film

If Wilmington has a first family of film it would probably be the Duntons, even if Lester finds the designation "a bit much."

Lester's younger sister, the director Erica Dunton, has made several independent movies in Wilmington and last year directed episodes of hit Amazon show "The Summer I Turned Pretty" here. She's also directed episodes of "Ted Lasso," and will be back in the Carolinas next year to direct episodes of "Outer Banks."

Lester and Erica's younger brother Richard, a cameraman, is in the film industry as well.

During the Cucalorus Film Festival in November, Erica Dunton gave a heartfelt introduction to "Sisters," a feature she helped bring to the festival, and got choked up as she talked about what Wilmington and its film community mean to her. At the party for DuntonCine Studios, she set up a remote video link with her dad in London so that he could be part of the gathering as well.

British filmmaker Erica Dunton and her family have deep connections to Wilmington.

"I love that Lester has a base here now and projects can just pull their vehicles into the stage and shoot when they need," she said. "Having Lester's equipment and experience here in Wilmington is going to be so good for this town and it's wonderful to see the Dunton name back up on North 23rd Street just next to the studio where it belongs. It feels like exciting new chapters are beginning for all."

Lester, whose girlfriend lives in Wilmington, had actually moved his business into a space on Oleander Drive about three years ago, and was going to relocate into Wilmington's new Dark Horse Studios.

"But obviously this came up and I decided this was an opportunity I couldn't really miss," Dunton said of the building on 23rd Street, cracking a smile and saying, "I was kind of mad when my dad sold it." He then added that his father was "very happy" about Lester's decision to purchase what is kind of the Duntons' ancestral Wilmington home.

Lester said he bought the building "both for sentimental reasons, and I think it was a good investment in this area."

For the past year since he bought it, Dunton has been working on getting the building back to its former glory. Parts of the sprawling 45,000-square-foot structure are still being rented out and will be for a while, although Dunton said he's got thoughts of expanding in the future.

Cameras in DuntonCine Studios on North 23rd Street in Wilmington.

Along with the rest of Wilmington's film industry, Dunton said, he's looking forward to getting back to work in 2024 after productions shut down for most of the last year as strikes by writers' and actors' unions were resolved.

"I think we'll get some work in February, but my gut feeling is it takes longer than that to actually get going again and actually come into production," Dunton said. "Some people think that work is gonna start flooding back in February. I'm not so sure."

When production does return, DuntonCine Studios should be well-positioned.

"There hasn't really been a bricks and mortar (camera shop here) for the past 10 years," Dunton said.

Dunton essentially does two kinds of work: the rental of camera kits and camera equipment, like speciality lenses, and also visual effects work, like rear projection. He's got a car specially outfitted with a camera to capture driving footage that can be projected behind actors doing scenes in vehicles.

A car at DuntonCine Studio in Wilmington used for capturing footage used in driving scenes for movies and TV shows.

"Right now, if they want to do something like that, they've got to get it from Atlanta," he said.

He'd also like to rent out the space for photo and video shoots. In London, he's still got a location that's "purely manufacturing," making dolly tracks, grip equipment and the like.

"Real core engineering," he said. "I want to bring some of that here, actually make some American product to sell. But that's a little bit down the road when I get established, get some money coming in."

He admittedly faces some challenges related to the changing film business, and says more than once that the Dunton business in Wilmington is "going to be different from what it used to be."

One thing that will be the same, however, is that when future productions are made in Wilmington you'll continue to see the Dunton name in the credits, something that's been true for nearly four decades, and will now continue for many years to come.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Lester Dunton opens DuntonCine Studios on 23rd Street in Wilmington NC


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Cynthia Dizikes is an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the Chronicle in 2016, Dizikes worked in Chicago where she focused on government agencies and the courts. In addition to investigations, Dizikes has a background in general assignment and political reporting. She previously covered the Minnesota congressional delegation in Washington D.C.

She can be reached at cdizikes@sfchronicle.com.
On the Indo-Pacific, the Chief of Naval Staff said all like-minded nations must work together to ensure peace and stability in the region

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar addresses a press conference ahead of the celebration of Navy Day, in New Delhi, on Friday. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The disputes in the Indo-Pacific do have the possibility of getting out of control and turning into conflict, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday against the backdrop of growing global concerns over China's increasing military assertiveness in the region.In a media briefing ahead of Navy Day on December 4, he also said India has been closely monitoring Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean and that his force deployed surveillance assets, ships, aircraft, submarines and drones to boost its presence.

"We try to keep the extra-regional forces which are present in the region under surveillance as we would like to know what are their activities and what are the intentions," he said, referring to Chinese forays into the Indian Ocean.

"That is why we deploy our surveillance assets and ships, submarines, aircraft, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) etc. They are deployed regularly to keep our area of interest under observation to see that we are aware of all the happenings that are taking place."

On the Indo-Pacific, the Chief of Naval Staff said all like-minded nations must work together to ensure peace and stability in the region.

"In the Indo-Pacific what we see -- there are disputes. These disputes do have the possibility of getting out of control or getting elevated and then they can go into conflict," he said.

"That is one end of the spectrum. But at the other end or in the middle, I would say you find all other challenges like illegal migration, fishing, piracy, drug trafficking and the challenge of climate change," he said.

Admiral Kumar said "dialogue" is essential to ensure that "we maintain peace and tranquillity in the region besides working for use of the oceans based on a rules-based approach.

The Navy Chief said all like-minded nations must work unitedly towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, adding no force irrespective of size alone can tackle the challenges in the region.

He said oceans can be used for the legitimate economic aspirations of any nation.

"China may have a legitimate reason to be present in the Indian Ocean region for economic activities. But, as the resident naval power in the Indian Ocean, keep an eye on what all is happening there," he said.

Admiral Kumar said six-to-eight Chinese ships generally operate in the Indian Ocean besides a large number of fishing vessels and research platforms. "We monitor their activities," he said.

"First and foremost, maintaining credible deterrence, while remaining ready to win war at sea will remain our principal priority. Our vision of being a 'combat ready, credible, cohesive, and future-proof force' underpins this aspect," he said.

"As an associated element, we will keep a close tab on the intention, messaging, behavioural characteristics and transparency with which actors and forces are operating in our areas of interest," the Navy Chief said.

He asserted that the Indian Navy is committed towards the government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) approach.

"In comprehension of the government's view that Aatmanirbharta is not merely an economic necessity, but increasingly a strategic one, Bharatiya Nausena has made an unequivocal commitment to be fully Aatmanirbhar by 2047 in capabilities, capacities as well as concepts," he said.

The Navy Chief said his force aims to become 170 ship-Navy by 2035.
by Melani Manel Perera

Appeals unheeded: President Wickremesinghe appointed Deshabandu Thennakoon, whom the same local commission of inquiry into the massacres accused of negligence, as inspector general of Sri Lanka's police. The Catholic Church: "An insult to the victims of the attacks."

Colombo (AsiaNews)  We strongly reject the nomination of Deshabandu Thennakoon. This decision is the greatest insult to the victims of the Easter 2019 attacks, a barbaric act," says Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo.

He was commenting on the decision of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday to officially appoint Deshabandu Thennakoon as Inspector General of the Sri Lankan Police. A step that the Catholic Church had repeatedly asked to avoid, since the general is accused by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry itself of serious responsibility in the failure to prevent the terrorist attacks against churches and hotels which in April 2019 led to the death of 273 people.

If people like the new Inspector General of Police had done their duty correctly, these innocent people would still be alive today - said Fr. Fernando - It is evident that the president's appointment is aimed at safeguarding the interests of several power-hungry individuals within his circle, including the minister responsible for public security and the police."

The archbishop of Colombo, Card. Malcom Ranjith, and the Sri Lankan Catholic Bishops' Conference had urged the president, through letters and petitions, to refrain from nominating Thennakoon. The fact that this appeal was not heard once again raises the urgency of an international commission of inquiry into the many shadows surrounding the reconstruction of the 2019 massacres.

Sri Lankan public opinion is divided on Thennakoon: some praise the general's experience and competence, stating that they will be invaluable in leading the police force and implementing strategies to reduce crime; others express concerns about his alleged links to the former Rajapaksa regime, questioning his impartiality. Assuming his duties, the new police chief said he will give priority to safeguarding national security and cracking down on drug trafficking and organized crime in the country.
The Pontiff's speech read by Card. Parolin at U.N. Climate Change Conference: "Attempts to shift responsibility onto the poor and the birthrate are taboos to be firmly debunked." The appeal to political leaders: "The climate gone mad is a warning to stop the delusion of omnipotence. Do not postpone commitments any longer, let 2024 be a breakthrough year."

Dubai (AsiaNews) - "It is useless to cling to an authority that will one day be remembered for its inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so." This is the harsh warning that Pope Francis addressed to the governments of the world gathered in Dubai for COP28, the annual UN Conference on the fight against climate change.

A few weeks after the publication of the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, cited several times in his speech, the pontiff would have liked to be there in person to ask everyone to listen to "the groaning of the earth" and "the cry of the poor". Lung inflammation forced him to stay in Rome; but his words on the need for "2024 to be the year of the turning point" were nevertheless read in the large hall of Expo City in Dubai where delegations from all over the world are gathered by the Cardinal Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

Francis warns: "the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.. I am with you to ask the question we are called to answer now: are we working towards a culture of life or death?.

He defines as "established" the fact that the climate changes underway derive from global warming, mainly caused by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, in turn caused by human activity. The ambition to produce and possess - he comments - has turned into obsession and has resulted in limitless greed, which has made the environment the object of unbridled exploitation. For the Pope, the crazy climate is a warning to stop the delirium of omnipotence. Let us return to recognizing our limitations with humility and courage as the only way to live fully."

He criticizes the fact that even in the face of this great global challenge, national interests prevail over the common good. He stigmatizes those who claim to justify themselves by citing what others have done in the past. But above all he says he is struck by the "attempts to shift responsibility onto the many poor people and the number of births. They are taboos that must be firmly debunked."

The poor are the real victims of what is happening: we need think only of the plight of indigenous peoples, deforestation, the tragedies of hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration. Births are not a problem, but a resource: they are not opposed to life, but for life, whereas certain ideological and utilitarian models now being imposed with a velvet glove on families and peoples constitute real forms of colonization. The development of many countries, already burdened by grave economic debt, should not be penalized; instead, we should consider the footprint of a few nations responsible for a deeply troubling ecological debt towards many others (cf. ibid., 51-52). It would only be fair to find suitable means of remitting the financial debts that burden different peoples, not least in light of the ecological debt that they are owed.".

Francis reiterates his concern for the crisis of multilateralism, the weakening of the idea that we belong to a single human family. It applies to the care of creation as well as to peace  he recalls -. How much energy is humanity wasting in the many ongoing wars, such as in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine and in many regions of the world: conflicts that will not solve the problems, but will increase them".

He calls for a political change as a response to climate change: "is essential that there be a breakthrough that is not a partial change of course, but rather a new way of making progress together", he explains. He asks the Dubai COP to be a turning point: "it manifests a clear and tangible political will, which leads to a decisive acceleration of the ecological transition, through forms that are efficient, binding and easily monitored. And they find realization in four fields: energy efficiency; renewable sources; the elimination of fossil fuels; education in lifestyles less dependent on the latter".

It's about not putting it off any longer - he adds - to implement, not just hope for, the good of your children, your citizens, your countries, our world. Be the architects of a policy that gives concrete and cohesive answers, demonstrating the nobility of the role you play, the dignity of the service you perform".

Finally, he reminds the world that 2024 will mark 800 years since the day on which Francis of Assisi composed the Canticle of Creatures. He did it after a night spent in physical pain, now completely blind," - the Pope recalls.

"After a night of physical suffering, his spirits were elevated by a mystical experience. He then turned to praise the Most High for all those creatures that he could no longer see, but knew that they were his brothers and sisters, since they came forth from the same Father and were shared with other men and women. An inspired sense of fraternity thus led him to turn his pain into praise and his weariness into renewed commitment. Shortly thereafter, Francis added a stanza in which he praised God for those who forgive; he did this in order to settle  successfully  an unbecoming conflict between the civil authorities and the local bishop. I too, who bear the name Francis, with the heartfelt urgency of a prayer, want to leave you with this message: Let us leave behind our divisions and unite our forces! And with Gods help, let us emerge from the dark night of wars and environmental devastation in order to turn our common future into the dawn of a new and radiant day."
Today's news: second day of shelling in Gaza after truce, death toll already high; UN report: one in five people in China at risk of drought with climate change; In Bhutan, a party formed last year will go on the ballot in elections undermining the outgoing premier; State body would like "selfie points" with Modi's image in Indian universities.

SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA

South Korea has successfully launched its first spy satellite from a US military base in California. This was announced by the Seoul Ministry of Defense. The launch of the satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Base came after Pyongyang claimed its own successful launch of a spy satellite last week - a move that underlined growing tension between the two Koreas. For its part, Pyongyang has said it will consider any interference with its satellite operations as a declaration of war.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

For the second consecutive day since the end of the truce, intense Israeli bombings in Gaza continue, to which Hamas responds with missile launches. Israeli sources speak of 400 targets hit in the Strip, especially in the Khan Younis area, while Palestinian sources have already reported 178 deaths since the resumption of fighting. Syrian sources also speak of a raid that the Israeli air force carried out against Hezbollah targets near Damascus.

CHINA

According to the UN report "Global Drought Snapshot", released at COP28 in Dubai, in the 21st century between 15 and 20% of the Chinese population will have to face more frequent droughts, with extreme to exceptional intensities. By the end of the century, the duration of moderate, severe and exceptional droughts in some regions of China will double, and the intensity of drought will increase by more than 80%, the report said.

BHUTAN

In Bhutan a new formation born just a year ago has displaced the government party and is among the two political forces chosen by the population to participate in the run-off of the fourth elections since the establishment of democracy, which took place 15 years ago. The People's Democratic Party - a liberal political force that led the country between 2013 and 2018 - received the most votes in Thursday's preliminary round of elections, followed by the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), formed in 2022. by Pema Chewang, a former bureaucrat. The ballot will be held on January 9th.

PAKISTAN

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) - Imran Khan's party - has elected lawyer Gohar Ali Khan as its new president in its internal party elections held under the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Gohar had been designated for the top post by Imran Khan himself in recent days and was the only candidate. But his nomination sparked strong divisions within the party, as Gohar had never held any role and his closeness to exponents of Pakistan's People Party was viewed with suspicion.

INDIA

The University Grants Commission has written to colleges and universities across India asking them to set up selfie points with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the background. The request, which came as the 2024 general elections are approaching, is motivated by the importance of growing a sense of "collective pride" on "the results obtained by India in various fields".

RUSSIA

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Misustin signed the decree implementing the Far Eastern Mortgage program also for the Arctic area. By virtue of the provision, all inhabitants of cities and towns near and above the Arctic Circle will be able to obtain subsidized loans through the Dom.Rf, Btb and Sberbank banks for acquisitions or new real estate constructions, and other professional activities.

ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN

On the section between Idzevan and Gazakh of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, negotiations have begun between the vice-premiers of Yerevan and Baku, Mger Grigoryan and Sakhin Mustafaev, for the demarcation of the borders, as announced by the Armenian government.
Seeking a better life with fewer constraints on their crisis-hit businesses. Tokyo and Osaka represent attractive alternatives to Singapore, where prices have skyrocketed. The fallout on the Japanese real estate market.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - With the economic crisis, more and more wealthy Chinese are also looking for a better life in Japan. The causes are many: the difficulties experienced during the restrictions of the zero-Covid policy, the controls imposed by the Party, the frost in relations between China and the United States, a more difficult business environment than in the West. This is pushing not only the Chinese middle and upper classes to look to Tokyo, but also real tycoons.

The Chinese already constitute the largest group of foreigners in Japan today. Until recently, Chinese migrants tended to be students, interns, as well as working-class people. But newcomers are increasingly wealthy and financially savvy, and they choose Japan after weighing the pros and cons of other potential overseas destinations such as Singapore and Bangkok.

Investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners predicted in a June report that China will rank first in terms of fleeing from their country of individuals with a net worth of more than million this year, with 13,500 people emigrating.

Wang Yun, chief consultant of the Japanese law firm Support Gyoseishoshi, said that more and more Chinese are arriving in the Land of the Rising Sun with visas as consultants, business managers or with the professional visa of a "highly qualified foreigner".

According to Wang, the cost and difficulty for Chinese citizens trying to travel to the United States is now much higher. Furthermore, prices for settling in Singapore are increasing, so many people think that Japan is a more reasonable option."

For these new migrants, the favorite destination is Tokyo in the Toyosu area, a reclaimed area and former industrial area, famous for its breathtaking views of the capital's skyline. The Chinese population among Tokyo's 23 districts increased by as many as 16,297 registered residents between January and November 2023. A real estate consultant covering the area estimates that in some condominiums the percentage of Chinese residents is now as high as 20%.

Newcomers are attracted by the cost-benefit ratio of moving to Japan. A 30-year-old Chinese woman living in Tokyo's Branz Tower Toyosu said, "If I bought a similar level apartment in the same geographic location in Beijing, it would cost at least 100,000 yuan (about 2 million yen) per square meter." Since the starting price for a unit in the Branz Tower Toyosu is around 1.2 million yen, purchasing in Japan represents a savings of more than 40%. Other Chinese migrants prefer Osaka, where renting or buying a house is even cheaper.

Japanese society has yet to understand and deal with this wave of migrants and there are still no measures on how to integrate the new Chinese arrivals. At a political level, while conservatives are worried about the negative consequences from a security point of view, some "liberal" currents believe that this is an opportunity to revitalize the stagnant Japanese economy, with new ideas and above all new capital.
A district judge will review the audio recording from an Aug. 10 executive session conducted by the Glenwood City Council regarding the employment status of its city manager. Former councilman Tony Hershey, pictured, pushed for the release of the recording through a lawsuit he filed against the city.
The gathering tripledemic prompted a coalition of regional health officers to issue joint recommendations for safely navigating the upcoming holiday season  including a mask advisory for people over 65. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

They warned us  and their predictions are playing out.

After a summer wave of COVID cases receded heading into the fall, public health officials cautioned that SARS-CoV-2 was likely to stage a winter return accompanied by other respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV. While its too soon to measure the impact of Thanksgiving travel and family gatherings, the metrics are already showing a sharp uptick.

The Bay Area is seeing a resurgence of COVID-19 at the same time as a pronounced influenza wave and a troubling climb in the prevalence of respiratory syncytial virus. The gathering tripledemic prompted a coalition of regional health officers to issue joint recommendations on Thursday for safely navigating the upcoming holiday season  and it included strongly worded advice for some people to wear protective masks.

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Data published Friday by the California Department of Public Health show a 48% surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past month, totaling 2,088 admissions in the week ending Nov. 25. Californias COVID-19 test positivity rate climbed from 6.1% to 8.3% during the same period, and the coronavirus share of all fatalities rose from 1.5% to 2.7%.

Nationwide, COVID-related hospitalizations continued to increase for the third consecutive week, with over 19,400 new admissions reported in the week ending Nov. 25, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen reminded a House committee hearing Thursday that federal health officials had anticipated an uptick following the Thanksgiving period.

At this time, what we are seeing is quite typical of this moment in the winter respiratory virus season, Cohen said.

Wastewater data from the CDC indicates that COVID levels across the country are currently high and trending upward, poised to exceed peaks notched earlier this year. There is also a surge in hospitalization rates for both flu and RSV, accompanied by unusually high outpatient visits for respiratory illnesses.

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The rise in California influenza cases is especially noteworthy, with a 400% increase in hospital admissions, to an average of 71 per day compared to just 14 last month. At the same time, the states three-week moving average positivity test rate for RSV has soared to 21%, more than doubling in a month.

RSV season is in full swing, Cohen said. Flu season is just beginning across most of the country, though accelerating fast.

However, she added, Even though those are both going up and were at the peak of RSV, COVID is still the respiratory virus that is putting the most number of folks in the hospital and taking their lives.

California is among the hardest-hit states in the country.

In response to these escalating concerns, health officers from all nine Bay Area counties and neighboring regions put out their unified call to action on Nov. 30, reminding residents to protect themselves during the holidays.

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Bay Area health officers recommend the most recent COVID-19 vaccine and the annual flu shot for everybody 6 months and older and the RSV vaccine for adults 60 and above. Peter DaSilva

These measures include targeted vaccination against COVID-19, flu and RSV, staying home when sick, prompt testing for symptoms and seeking timely treatment. Of note, they made specific recommendations for masking in indoor public spaces, advising people over 65 or those who are immunocompromised to consider wearing a well-fitting high-quality face coverage, such as a KF94, KN95 or N95 respirator.

Wearing a mask can reduce your risk of getting sick and missing out on work, school, and holiday events, the bulletin said.

They also reminded Bay Area residents who socialize with vulnerable people to consider masking as well. This helps protect people around you, especially those at higher risk of serious illness.

About a third of adults and children in the U.S. have received their flu shot this year, according to the latest CDC data. Approximately 16% of adults and 6% of children have gotten the new COVID-19 vaccine  figures below the agencys desired benchmarks.

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Thats not enough, Cohen said.

Moreover, only 15% of older adults aged 60 and above have received the new RSV vaccine.

Health officials are now monitoring for other viral and bacterial outbreaks. This week, authorities in Ohio and Massachusetts reported a spike in pediatric pneumonia cases tied to pathogens including adenovirus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae  bacteria that may be associated with a surge in respiratory infections in China.

Children are suffering disproportionately from the increase in respiratory illnesses, with approximately 75% of pediatric hospital beds currently in use across the nation, according to federal data, marking the highest demand since last December.
It's time. It could be that it's lunch-hour time, or time to call it a day and head back home to your family and your life outside of work. It's time we started acting more considerately towards our planet before it's too late, as we've been told a lot by frantic environmentalists in recent years. It's time to think about the future.

Photo: Long Now Foundation

Danny Hillis' clock of 10,000 years

Photo: Long Now Foundation

Easier said than done

Photo: Long Now Foundation

Bezos' mountain clock is the ultimate "rich boy toy"

Photo: Annie Leibowitz for Vogue

Or maybe it's time to think about time. If you're as rich as centibillionaire Jeff Bezos (you wish!), you most definitely can do just that: decide it's time to think about time and embark on the most ambitious, expensive, and large-scale timekeeping project of modern times. Bezos calls it the 10,000-Year Clock, but it goes by many names.In reality, its official name is The Clock of the Long Now. It's a gigantic piece of mechanical timekeeping hidden deep inside a Nevada mountain, ticking once every year and chiming every millennium. Its mission is simple, in that deceiving way in which all great ideas are "simple:" to remind us of the past we'd like to forget and to usher in the future we imagined wouldn't come.It aims to encourage long-term thinking by turning into a deliberate icon of our civilization  much in the way that photos from space made us realize the importance of more sustainable behaviors with reduced carbon footprints.The Clock of the Long Now is an art installation with potential benefit for the entire mankind, according to the Long Now Foundation, which was set up to build it. If you're of a more skeptical inclination, such a timepiece is flattery for, by, and of the ultrarich. Bezos included.The idea for such a timekeeping piece goes back to 1986. It's the brainchild of inventor, scientist, and computer designer Danny Hillis, who thought it would be a way of creating a universal feeling of belonging to the passage of time, as arbitrarily as we might keep it.By 1995, Hillis had fine-tuned the idea: such a clock, ticking every year and chiming every thousand of years, would be humanity's way of looking back to the past and ahead into the future, learning from the former and adapting behaviors for the latter. It would be the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle, making us see not just the present but our belonging to the Long Now.In 1996 (or 01996, as it would read on the Clock), Hillis founded the Long Now foundation together with Silicon Valley fellow enthusiasts, which, in this case, meant techno-optimists with enough cash to burn on artsy pretentiousness. Three years later, the first prototype was unveiled, displaying the characteristics of the piece that would, at least in theory, keep time for the next 10,000 years.As of the time of writing, three such prototypes exist: the original one is at the Science Museum in London, while two more are located at The Long Now Museum and Store in San Francisco. The prototype count doesn't include the model on Jeff Bezos' Texas ranch, which is often identified as the original Long Now  an understandable error since construction on that one has just broken ground.It's easy to ponder philosophically on the passage of time and our relevance in the grander scheme of things. It's perhaps not exactly very complicated to fantasize about a clock that could do a bit more than just keep time but remain legible and reliable for the next 10,000 years and, in a way, defeat time while also keeping it.Whatever the challenge was, Hillis was up for it. The Clock of the Long Now was designed based on the principles of longevity, maintainability, transparency, evolvability, and scalability. In short, it was designed as a piece that lasts for as long as it should, remains accurate and easily understandable, can be improved and repaired without stopping it, and is safeguarded against external factors, whether the elements or humans looking for an easy buck.In essence, it's a mechanical clock that requires human winding by a falling weight design with a solar synchronizer. It will continue to keep time even without winding, it just won't tell it. Instead of traditional gears, it uses binary digital logic that allows for some adjustments and helps keep elapsed time, like a stopwatch.To build the watch, only long-lasting materials with no appeal to potential raiders will be used, like titanium, ceramics, quartz, sapphire, and stainless steel. The fact that the heart of the clock itself will be buried some 500 feet (152 meters) deep into the mountain and that access will be done by means of separate chambers sealed off by metal doors will help keep those raiders disinterested.The Clock of the Long Now will be located on Foundation land in Nevada. Bezos' is at his ranch in Texas, which also holds the Blue Origin spaceport and is now heavily under construction. The completion of this project will inform the final design of the Long Now, so we're technically looking at two different projects rather than a single one and its prototype.If this was a competition among millionaires, Jeff Bezos would win it. Whereas others collect diamond watches or limited-edition, vintage timepieces, this "space cowboy" is having the world's most complex timepiece built inside a mountain in his own backyard.Bezos has spent a reported $42 million on the project so far, so you understand why he might be itching to show it off . It's been turned into a prop for Lauren Sanchez's December Vogue spread, with her taking the reporter down the steps carved into stone, looking down at the giant gears that make up the complicated mechanism."It represents thinking about the future," Sanchez tells the interviewer before adding that it would also make for an awesome location for a Halloween party. But reducing it to a novel party venue would be doing it an injustice: the magnitude of the project can be appreciated when you hear that drilling the shaft alone took more than a year or that diamond-cutting robots needed two years to carve the steps into stone.Neither this clock nor the Nevada one that will follow it has a completion date because, put simply, something like this has never been done before."The whole point of the clock is after a few hundred years, like all old things, it will take on a certain kind of respect," Bezos explains That's a very simple way of summing up Hillis' dream clock, but it's also the most relevant. Whatever aspirations Hillis attached to this feat of underground engineering, at the end of the day, the Clock of the Long Now remains a rich boy's toy. A very complex, awe-inspiring, astounding piece of engineering, but a rich boy's toy masquerading as art with value for the whole of mankind.
Right now, if you order a third-generation N300 Toyota Tacoma, a model that first appeared almost a decade ago in 2015, the Japanese automaker wants at least $28,600 without destination and other fees. That makes it quite a good deal, as the starting MSRP is, in order of growing prices, below the all-new third-generation Chevy Colorado, the newly standalone Nissan Frontier, the all-new Ford Ranger, the premium GMC Colorado, as well as the quirky unibody Honda Ridgeline, and the highly specialized Jeep Gladiator.However, we have all seen that during the latest quarter, the sales for the current Toyota Tacoma plummeted as people started saving up each penny for the arrival of the N400 fourth-gen Taco model. Well, the waiting is almost over, as the company recently announced the initial pricing information about the new iteration. So, in case you missed the news that buzzed all over the US automotive market this past week, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma starts from an MSRP of $31,500.Of course, then you also have to add $1,495 for the dealer processing and handling fee. Still, for this quick MSRP comparison with the rivals, we will use the base MSRP quotations as those pesky processing and handling fees tend to vary from one carmaker to another. Obviously, there's a difference between $28,600 and $31,500  and Toyota hasn't even spilled the beans on the 326-hp i-Force Max hybrid powertrain just yet, only saying the MSRP will be announced closer to the start of sales.However, the company boasts about the many improvements and changes that indeed justify the hike  the standard mill is now the i-Force 2.4-liter turbo with 278 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque, there's bespoke suspension tuning for each trim level and an optional coil spring rear suspension, the latest Toyota Audio Multimedia System is displayed on a 14-inch touchscreen, and the experience of dominating the mid-size pickup truck segment for almost two decades. Oh, by the way, some will also be glad to hear that Toyota is sending the first N400 Tacoma units to dealerships this December rather than the first quarter of next year."Our engineers outdid themselves with this next-generation Tacoma," said Dave Christ, Toyota group vice president and general manager. "This truck offers customers more of everything, including technology, style, and capability, all with an attractive starting MSRP. This is a segment Toyota has carried for years, and we feel this next iteration of Tacoma only raises the bar." Alas, the competition hasn't been idle  Nissan finally changed the Frontier to a standalone model dedicated to the North American region, and the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, plus the Ford Ranger are all brand-new, too. So, how does the new MSRP of the 2024 Tacoma stack up against its rivals? Pretty good, actually.For starters, we should first speak about the only two models that are cheaper than the 2024 Tacoma. The 2023 Chevrolet Colorado  in Crew Cab, Short Box, WT, and 2WD form  costs from 'just' $29,200. You had better hurry, though, as I have a sensation that it won't last long  the 2024MY is probably just around the corner, and I bet the GM subsidiary will subtly cross the $30k threshold. By the way, the base Tacoma is more powerful than the 2023 Colorado, with the entry-level 2.7-liter turbo engine boasting 237 horsepower when hooked to an eight-speed automatic transmission. If you want to brag about driving the H/O (high output) version, that will cost you extra  from $32,115, including destination.Next up comes the first Japanese foe  Nissan's Frontier D41 version, which arrived for the 2022 model year, is produced locally in Canton, Mississippi, on the Nissan F-Alpha platform and starts at an MSRP of $29,770 for the 2024 model year. For that money, you get a Frontier King Cab S 4x2, and this Nissan boasts a massive (for the times we live in, at least) 3.8-liter direct injection (DIG) V6 engine hooked to a nine-speed automatic transmission sending 310 horsepower to the wheels. If you think there's no replacement for displacement, this V6 Frontier is cheaper, more powerful than the Tacoma, and also on par (yet more affordable) with the Colorado equipped with the H/O mill If money is no problem and you feel like you need to splash out on the absolute best, Nissan recently introduced the Frontier Crew Cab Hardbody Edition 4x4, and that one goes out of the dealer lot for at least $44k. Third in line on the roll call arrives the Ford Ranger  and this is also the first model that is more expensive than the 2024 Tacoma. As such, a 2024 Ranger can be had for at least $32,565, and for the money, you are getting a Ranger XL with the STX Appearance Package included, a 2.3-liter EcoBoost with Start-Stop tech and the ten-speed SelectShift transmission, plus 270 hp and 310 lb-ft. That's almost on par with the Taco, albeit at a slightly higher pricing point. Soon, the Ranger will also have a 315-hp 2.7-liter EcoBoost, and if you feel the call of the wild, you can also select the mighty 405-hp 3.0-liter EcoBoost Ranger Raptor.From here on, we are entering 'premium' mid-size pickup truck territory, beware. First on this high-end shortlist is the 2023 GMC Canyon, which starts from $36,900 with the Crew Cab, Short Box, 2WD, and Elevation trim. However, at least you are getting the 2.7-liter H/O from the get-go, along with other goodies. A quirky choice, yet one that has survived to this day, is the only mid-size pickup truck built around a unibody platform  Honda's Ridgeline. This model starts from $38,800 in Sport trim with the 3.5-liter V6 boasting 280 horsepower and a dual-action tailgate. Last but not least comes the specialist of outdoor adventures  the Jeep Gladiator, starting at $38,990 for the 2023 model year. Consider that this one was just refreshed, so you might want to wait for the 2024MY  but prepare to pay more for it, too.
Many of the big players in today's automotive industry (meaning both car and motorcycle makers) can trace their roots back to the dawn of the last century, in both Europe and the U.S. On the American continent, like elsewhere, only two of them can proudly call themselves the first in both categories.

Photo: Indian

The engines that made Indian legendary (1897 - 1952)

Photo: Indian

Photo: Indian

Tumultuous times and the fight for survival (1953 - 2010)

Photo: Indian

Photo: Indian

The engines of the Indian revival era (2011 - present)

The Thunderstroke engine (2013 - present)

Photo: Indian

The Powerplus engine (2019 - present)

Photo: Indian

The Scout engine (2015-present)

Photo: Indian

The FTR engine (2018 - present)

In the case of makers of four-wheeled vehicles, the oldest name (that is still active) on the American market is Buick, which was established in 1899. On the two-wheeler front, that name belongs to Indian.These guys like to call themselves "America's first motorcycle company," and not the oldest, for the simple reason their history is very fragmented, at least compared to that of rival Harley-Davidson's.Current historians, including those on Indian's payroll, split the company's existence into three major eras: the original one that put the motorcycle maker's name on the map, the tumultuous one that started in 1953, when Indian technically went out of business and many tried to revive it, and the current one, which started once Polaris acquired it in 2011.An existence with so many ups and downs means that, despite creating some incredible technology over the decades, Indian is a very tough nut to crack when trying to put together a comprehensive list of engines produced over the years. The mission is made even more difficult by the fact that, unlike Harley, Indian and its followers did not go out of their way to give the bike maker's engines their own names and families. At least not not to the extent Harley's people did.What does that mean? Well, if you've read our Harley-Davidson Engines: Full Timeline and History piece, or are in the slightest interested in motorcycle making history, then you know the Milwaukee company's engines are neatly split into distinct families that follow a natural evolution of technological prowess: the lineage starts with the F-head of the 1910 and 1920s, smoothly burns through a number of other designs, and ends with the modern-day Revolution Max or Screamin' Eagle.By comparison, Indian seems to have been a lot less careful in preserving a semblance of structure in this respect, so for the most part of its life there are no engine families to talk about, but we're dealing more with an complete motorcycle package.So we chose to run this piece a little differently: instead of an actual timeline of the engines themselves, like we did with Harley, we will be focusing on the Indian motorcycle engines as they appeared during any of the company's three main eras. Let's dive in.Indian came to be as the Hendee Manufacturing Company in 1897, a company whose main purpose was to assemble and sell bicycles. Its founder, George M. Hendee, was naturally trying to take advantage of the increasing appetite Americans had for this means of transportation, but, with the help of Oscar Hedstrom, who joined the company in 1900, saw that there could be better ways to move about on to wheels: by slapping an engine in the frame.In fact, that's the reason why Hedstrom, a bicycle racer himself, came on board: design gasoline-powered bikes, not to be used for racing, but for pacing bicycle races. It didn't take long though for the two to see the true potential of such an idea.The first engine Indian ever made was a single-cylinder one that could only develop close to two horsepower. It appeared in 1901 on a machine that's now known as the Indian Single, and it was enough though to put Hendee on the map and drive sales of its products to the roof. So much so, that these engines began being made under license by a company called Aurora, and even sold to third parties.The popularity explosion the brand experienced back then was fueled by the fact Hedstrom rode one of these engine bicycles to a new world speed record. It happened in 1903, when he rode his two-wheeler to 56 mph (90 kph). In doing so, the man also won the endurance race held from New York City to Springfield, Massachusetts and back.The initial engine design evolved, and in 1905 Hendee produced its first V-twin powerplant, effectively making the company the original creator of such an engine design (Harley wouldn't use one until closer to the end of that decade). It was used on a racing bike, Indian's first factory racer, but it would soon spawn a version for daily use that, for all intents and purposes, was America's first production V-twin.The powerplant was 39ci in displacement (633cc), and configured in a 42-degree V-twin setup that was used on both a street and roadster versions of the Indian motorcycles of that era. The engine helped Indian win all three first places during the 1911 Isle of Man race, and made the company the largest of its kind in the world that decade.Taking advantage of the success, Indian introduced in 1916 the Powerplus engine, a side-valve V-twin that displaced 61ci (1,000cc), also in a 42-degree setup. The four-stroke unit worked with a three-speed transmission, and was installed in the frame of a motorcycle that would go on to wear the same name (it was alternatively called the Indian Standard). The engine was successful enough to be kept in production until 1924.Accompanying the Standard in the Indian lineup during that decade were the Model K and its successor, the Model O. The former was powered by single-cylinder two-stroke engines with just 13ci (221cc) in displacement, while the latter was launched as a four-stroke flat-twin-powered machine. These bikes, which would become known as the Lightweights, went out of production in 1919.Come 1920, Indian let loose into the world a motorcycle model called Scout. To many, it's a family that will forever be the best Indian ever made, and it was initially in production until 1949.Scouts were originally powered by a side-valve V-twin 37ci (606cc) engine, but the displacement would gradually grow to 45ci (740cc) in 1927, in the same configuration. Later on in the model's life, in 1933, a new Scout model called Pony came with a slightly smaller displacement, 30.5ci (500 cc).The same decade that gave birth to the Scout saw the arrival of the Chief, the other historically important model for the American bike maker. Made initially from 1922 to 1953, the family relied on a more potent line of four-stroke V-twin engines, with displacements going from 61ci (1,000cc) to 74ci (1,212cc) and even 80ci (1,311cc). The engines are considered the successors of the Powerplus.Both the Scout and the Chief motorcycles were impressive enough to give rival Harley-Davidson headaches, but that would soon change when the Second World War came. For one reason or another, the American military decided to go with the Milwaukee brand for its war effort needs, and that would spell disaster for Indian.To fight off the Harley WLA, Indian proposed the Scout model with a 46ci (750cc) engine in its frame, but it proved to be both too heavy and too expensive for what the Army needed. The company then tried its hand with a bunch of experimental Chiefs running the same kind of engine, but this proposal was rejected as well.When the war ended, only the Chief model remained in Indian's lineup. At least as far as the bikes it made itself went, as it also tried its hand at selling rebadged CZ125b motorcycles made in Europe, and even the Corgi Scooter made in the UK.The Chief was pulled from the production lines as well in 1949, as attention shifted to making lightweight bikes, namely the so-called Arrow with a 13ci (220cc) engine, and small-displacement Scouts. They didn't prove successful either, and the plug on Indian was officially pulled in 1953, kickstarting a period of incredible struggle for the company. A period Indian itself now calls theStarting with 1953 and for the next almost six decades, the Indian name almost didn't matter on the American motorcycle scene. A number of people and organizations tried to keep it afloat with various degrees of success, but none of them really succeeded in coming up with a suitable rival for the behemoth that Harley-Davidson already was.That's because most of these efforts to keep Indian alive were not necessarily centered on the company producing its own bikes, but tended to use imported and rebranded motorcycles for the task.The almost six decades of production bikes are divided by the industry's historians into several eras, named after the ones who drove the survival efforts.First at the helm of the group was English businessman John Brockhouse and his Brockhouse Engineering, who essentially transformed Royal Enfield motorcycles into Indians and sold them as such.The idea didn't last for long, and in 1960 Indian was sold to Associated Motorcycle Company, who essentially drove it into the ground. Three years later, another business icon of the era, Floyd Clymer, tried again the same British rebranding idea, but his death in 1970 will eventually lead to Indian's demise, once again, seven years later (while under the ownership of Los Angeles attorney Alan Newman).From 1977 to 1984 Indian belonged to the American Moped Associates and yes, it tried its hand at selling Honda-based mopeds manufactured in Taiwan. The Derbi group would then take over, and the focus once again shifted, this time on making go-carts.From 1984 to 1998, the name Indian completely disappeared from the motorcycle making scene. It would come back in the late 1990s as the Indian Motorcycle Company of America (IMCA), and it tried to revive the name by making modified versions of the earlier Scouts and Chiefs. The magic didn't last long this time either, and IMCA went out of business in 2003.Then the reigns passed over to London-based private equity firm Stellican, which even tried its hand at making a few motorcycles before the brand eventually passed over to Polaris During the 57 years that have passed since Indian's initial demise and the Polaris takeover, the brand produced not a single new engine on its own.Polaris has always dreamed of making motorcycles, and since the easiest way to do that was to create its own brand, it birthed Victory. The brand was born at about the same time IMCA came into this world, and was around until Polaris decided to take over Indian from Stellican in 2011.Since that time, the brand has known a meteoric rise, if there ever was such a thing, with a revival of the iconic names from the company's past in terms of both motorcycle models and the engines that power them. So much so that at the time of writing Indian is making no less than six engines that power its many modern-day models, part of four distinct families.Two years after it took over Indian, in 2013, Polaris had a manufacturing facilities up and running in Minnesota and Iowa, and that meant it needed products. On the engine front, the first such product the company ever made was the Thunderstroke, a classic V-twin powerplant that was meant to pull forward "iconic elements from past Indian Motorcycles."The original engine had a displacement of 111ci (1,819cc), was air-cooled, and cranked out 119 ft-lbs of torque. It was (and in some cases still is) available on several Indian models, including Chieftain, Indian Springfield, Chief, Chief Bobber, and Super Chief.Six years after the first Thunderstroke was born, in 2019, a larger, 116ci (1,900cc) variant came to the market. It too an air-cooled V-twin, it uses high-flow cylinder heads to take torque levels to 126 ft-lbs of torque, a "class-leading" value according to Indian itself.The Thunderstroke 116 engine is available on most of the bike makers' important models, including some variants of the Springfield, Chieftain, Roadmaster, and Chief.At the same time the 116ci version of the Thunderstroke was born, in 2019, Indian brought back an iconic engine name from its past: the Powerplus. Initially a side-valve V-twin that displaced 61ci, the Powerplus morphed into Indian's "most powerful engine ever built."The hardware is a liquid-cooled V-tin that displaces 108ci (1,770cc), and cranks out a total of 128 ft-lbs of torque. It tops that with a total horsepower value of 122, controlled by means of a six-speed transmission.Because of its high performance the engine is not meant for all the bikes Indian is currently making and selling. As such, it is offered on the highly exclusive and very expensive Challenger and Pursuit lines of motorcycles.Scout is not only the name of a historically important model in the Indian lineup, but also that of an engine. With a history dating back almost 100 years, there was no way Polaris was going to ignore it.Back in 2015, two years after it released the Thunderstroke, Indian unleashed the new Scout engine called Sixty, a liquid-cooled 60ci (983cc) V-twin that is rated at 78 horsepower (at the top of its class in this respect) and 65 ft-lbs of torque. The powerplant comes with electronic fuel injection, and a five-speed transmission.At the same time, the Scout engine family was enlarged with the introduction of another version that displaced 69ci (1,131cc). This variant spits out a nice, round 100 horsepower and 72 ft-lbs of torque. This one was designed to work with a six-speed transmission.In the present-day lineup of the bike maker, the Scout Sixty powers three motorcycles, namely the Scout Sixty, Scout Bobber Sixty, Scout Rogue Sixty, while the larger variant is deployed on the Scout, Scout Bobber, Scout Rogue, and Scout Bobber Twenty.Last but not least on in the lineup of Indian engines in the modern era is the FTR. It's also the youngest, having been introduced just five short years ago.It too a V-twin by trade, the FTR is a liquid-cooled 73ci (1,203cc) unit with 120 horsepower on tap, and torque levels rated at 87 ft-lbs.In the purest Indian tradition, the FTR engine powers a line of motorcycles called exactly like that, FTR.
2 December 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Opening a university by Azerbaijan in liberated Garabagh demonstrates the big differences between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the peace in the region.

Roughly, ten years ago, when Garabagh was under invasion, Armenians opened a military school. Yes, not civilian but military school. In addition, the Armenian side shot a documentary film about the school and circulated it on the internet. Strictly speaking, it looked like an advertisement rather than a documentary film. In the film, the Armenian side demonized Azerbaijan and called for all minorities, except Kurds, living in Azerbaijan to come and study in the said school to fight against Azerbaijan. In short, they tried to ignite inter-ethnic conflict, more precisely, in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. As a matter of course, it did not work because the minorities know very well how much attention Azerbaijan gave them and how wildly Hay behaved against Kurds and Azerbaijanis living in Armenia and Garabagh in the 1990s.

On November 28, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on establishing Garabagh University. It is worth noting that it is a civilian university, not a military one like Armenians opened. Even the government circulated the advertisement of the university as well. Unlike Armenian, there is no hint about war, but peace. It has big and clean auditoriums and classrooms. As for the library, we dare call it the source of pride of Azerbaijan. There were a lot of books in different languages, including Armenian. Yes, by this advertisement Azerbaijan once again demonstrated that the country thinks it is high time to bury the hatchet and move forward. Therefore the advertisement is distinguished from Armenian military school.

In addition, many believe that the university will play a significant role not only in bringing different ethnic groups together but also in the economic development of the region which has suffered from wars and clashes for a long. Because the advantages and disadvantages of the region were taken into account in establishing the university and occupations were determined based on the above pros and cons. Garabagh University will prepare the following specialties: teacher in different subjects, social-psychological service in education, information technologies, computer science and engineering, communication and digital media, food engineering, urban planning, civil engineering, international relations, regional studies, international trade and logistics, business management, economy, finance-marketing, management, accounting, organization of tourism work, tourist guidance.

Of course, we need all specialties, but given the scale of mega reconstruction and restoration works in the region, opening industrial parks, and the importance of the region in Azerbaijans agriculture, especially in animal husbandry, and tourism, we can say how significant the university is. Shortly, we will need specialists who can work in the industrial parks in the Garabagh economic zone. They will not just work in production, but also in exporting the products manufactured in the region. Besides, Azerbaijan intends to turn Garabagh into a center of green energy. As is known, the region has 10 GW of green energy potential. Azerbaijan also intends to turn some of these potentials into reality and even export through the Zangazur corridor. As for tourism, it is the most dynamic sector in the country. The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan tripled for 10 years and it is expected to grow further. Keeping in mind that Garabagh is one of the most beautiful places in Azerbaijan, no doubt that the region will be the center of tourism in the future. In short, it seems the graduates of the university will not face any difficulties in finding jobs and it will be they who will build Garabagh thoroughly again. Thus, Garabagh once again will be the pearl of Azerbaijan.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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2 December 2023 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made a speech at a special session of the II European Conference on Azerbaijani Studies held in Skopje, the capital of Northern Macedonia, on 1 December, Azernews reports.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that during his speech Jeyhun Bayramov drew attention to Azerbaijan's foreign policy priorities in the post-conflict period, prospects of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, as well as the position of our country in connection with the regional situation.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister informed of the factors that led to the holding of anti-terrorist measures in the Garabagh region on 19 September and noted Armenia's obstacles to the peace process.

The Minister informed about the construction-restoration works carried out by Azerbaijan in the region, at the same time highlighting the mine threat created by Armenia. Minister also drew attention to the strengthening of Armenia's military potential and destructive activities of some third parties in the region, stating that such activities do not serve peace and stability in the region.

Speaking about the biased and provocative accusations against Azerbaijan after the anti-terrorist activities, Jeyhun Bayramov said that they contradict the reports and statements of the representatives of the UN specialised agencies, who visited the region and were active in Armenia, adding that the groundlessness of those accusations against Azerbaijan has already been proved.

The Foreign Minister also drew attention to the initiatives of international importance put forward by Azerbaijan in recent years and spoke about the active role of our country in the sphere of multilateral diplomacy.

Noting the growing importance of energy security against the background of recent developments in the region and the world, Minister Jeyhun Bayramov focused attention on efforts in the field of energy security, alternative energy, the importance of expanding multilateral cooperation in the direction of diversifying transport corridors.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov then answered numerous questions from the participants of the event.

The conference, organised by the Centre for Analysis of International Relations with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attended by representatives of more than 30 analytical and research centres in Europe, as well as authoritative specialists.

The European Conference on Azerbaijan Studies, first held in Warsaw last year, aims to encourage research in various fields, including political, economic and cultural topics related to Azerbaijan, as well as to correctly communicate information about Azerbaijan to the world community and contribute to objective analyses at the academic level.

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2 December 2023 11:34 (UTC+04:00)

Discussions in the Czech Republic: Azerbaijan is an important gas supplier to Europe

Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, who is on an official visit to the Czech Republic, met with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament Marketa Pekarova Adamova, Azernews reports, citing parliamentary.

The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies expressed satisfaction with the visit of the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament and emphasised the importance of cooperation between two legislative bodies not only at the level of speakers, but also at the level of committees and friendship groups. Attention was also drawn to the importance of mutual cooperation of two parliaments within the framework of international organisations.

It was noted at the meeting that Azerbaijan is an important supplier of gas to Europe. In particular, it was emphasised that Azerbaijan is the second supplier of oil to the Czech Republic. Noting that there are good opportunities for the development of relations in the fields of energy, trade, economy, it was noted that co-operation between the sides in the field of renewable energy is one of the important directions.

It was also noted at the meeting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and that interstate relations have developed over the past period.

S.Gafarova noted the exclusive role of political contacts, including visits and high-level meetings, in the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Speaker of Milli Majlis pointed to the importance of joint activities of the parliaments as one of the factors having an important and positive impact on bilateral and multilateral relations and said that as parliaments of the two countries it is important to further strengthen mutual activities in order to further develop cooperation and support each other in inter-parliamentary organisations. In this sense, the Speaker drew attention to the importance of joint activities of friendship groups, which play the role of a bridge between our parliaments.

At the meeting S.Gafarova gave information about the current situation in the region, the consequences of occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia for almost 30 years, the expulsion of one million Azerbaijanis from their native land as a result of this occupation, the destruction of all infrastructure and buildings in the occupied territories, including historical ones, the destruction of cultural and religious monuments was mentioned.

Noting that Azerbaijan alone liberated its lands from the occupation of Armenia and started large-scale reconstruction works at the expense of its own resources, the Speaker of Milli Majlis said that despite the fact that Azerbaijan was under occupation, after the 44-day Patriotic War of 2020 Azerbaijan offered Armenia to sign a peace agreement based on 5 principles of international law, made great efforts to ensure long-term peace in our region.

S.Gafarova also informed the other side about Armenia's political and military provocations, non-fulfilment of the commitments undertaken over the last 3 years, anti-terrorist measures in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan and the results of those measures. According to the Speaker, these measures fully corresponded to the norms of international law, there were no casualties among the peaceful population.

Sahiba Gafarova also stressed the obstacles created by Armenia's mine threat to the reconstruction and rehabilitation works carried out in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. She reiterated that although some circles accuse Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing, there is not a single fact confirming these accusations, which was also confirmed by the UN missions that visited the region.

Stating that Azerbaijan wants to ensure permanent peace in the region, Sahiba Gafarova once again noted that today there are no obstacles for signing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Azerbaijan is ready for peace.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marqueta Pekarova Adamova expressed Czech support to the peace talks and the importance of establishing permanent peace in the region.

Then the Speaker of the Milli Majlis signed the memorial book.

After the meeting, the head of the Azerbaijani parliament was welcomed by the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament.

The members of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation familiarised themselves with the administrative building of the Chamber of Deputies.

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2 December 2023 12:34 (UTC+04:00)

The Western Azerbaijan Community made a statement in response to the speech of the European Union representative on approach to issues based on ethnic and religious grounds at the OSCE Ministerial Council, Azernews reports.

Addressing the OSCE Ministerial Council, the representative of the European Union raised the issue of "the rights and security of Garabagh Armenians, including the right to return, the Western Azerbaijan Community said in a statement.

It is completely unacceptable for the European Union to interfere in Azerbaijan's internal affairs, approach issues based on ethnic and religious grounds, and not touch upon the right of return of Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia.

Such biased statements show that the European Union cannot act as an honest mediator in the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Community added.

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2 December 2023 11:22 (UTC+04:00)

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Lao Peoples Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith, Azernews reports.

Dear Mr. President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my most sincere congratulations to you and through you all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Lao People's Democratic Republic  the Day of Republic.

I believe that through our joint efforts, the relations of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lao People's Democratic Republic will continue to expand and strengthen in line with the interests of our peoples.

On such a remarkable day, I wish you robust health, happiness, success in your endeavors, and your friendly people everlasting peace and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 29 November, 2023

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2 December 2023 15:36 (UTC+04:00)

Euronews Business News Agency published an analysis on the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) that took place in Baku during the last week of SPECA, Azernews reports.

SPECA: Central Asia reaffirms its key role in international transport

In Baku, during SPECA week, the United Nations programme for Central Asian countries, the Member States signed new agreements to develop better international connections between Asia and Europe.

Baku welcomed participants to SPECA week, a special UN programme designed for the countries of Central Asia. This year marks the programme's 25th anniversary and was the first time that a summit of leaders from SPECA states was organised.

The main topic focused on transforming the region into a connectivity hub with global outreach. Sustainable transport, trade and energy are among the key areas for SPECA, which was established in 1998 to facilitate integration of these countries into the global economy and to become a platform for cooperation aimed at achieving UN Sustainable Development goals.

Azerbaijan-Central Asia relations at 'record high'

SPECA unites five Central Asian countries, along with Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan and two UN agencies. The summit supported the creation of the SPECA Multi Partner Trust Fund under the auspices of the UN.

Azerbaijan, which is the chair of SPECA this year, will provide $3.5 million to this Fund.

"This programme is based on economic relations between Central Asia and Azerbaijan; today we see the new dimension of that interaction," said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

"During the last two years, interaction between Azerbaijan and all Central Asian countries, and also among Central Asian countries, is at a record high. So this is a new reality and we need to capitalise on that.

"We have excellent relations with all SPECA states. We have a lot of investment projects now: Azerbaijan invests in Central Asia, and Central Asian invests in Azerbaijan. We have projects such as the East-West Trans-Caspian Route, which is one the most attractive transport routes for Central Asia  connecting to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and then on to Europe through integrated connectivity projects. We see a lot of positive dynamics on the political track."

A connectivity hub: Boosting the region's economic potential

The Baku Declaration adopted at the summit emphasised a strong political willingness to jointly capitalise on the regions vast economic potential.

"The analysis shows the opportunity to increase the mutual trade turnover of our countries from the current $52 billion to $100 billion by 2030," said the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The SPECA Economic Forum, which took place ahead of the summit, discussed how the region can become a connectivity hub between Europe and Asia.

"Its the most important platform that brings together one of the worlds biggest regions of landlocked countries," explained Samad Bashirli, Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Economy and Co-Chair of SPECA Economic Forum.

"As landlocked countries we have to cooperate and increase our transport cooperation, which in turn will facilitate our trade and increase our integration into the world economy," he added.

Improving the logistics capacity and performance index of trade corridors is crucial for the SPECA landlocked countries.

"We see a big role for digital solutions, in making sure that goods can pass through the corridor between Europe and Asia much faster," said Dmitry Mariyasin, the Deputy Executive Secretary at UNECE and fellow Co-Chair of SPECA Economic Forum.

"It is about adopting UN norms and standards in how member states clear customs, how freight documentation is exchanged. It is about making sure that the different parts of the ecosystem, the traders, the customs authorities and government officials can use similar approaches, and can literally use one language; and this is what we are focusing on from the UN side."

Re-greening Uzbekistan's desertified Aral Sea region

Uzbekistan makes strides towards a greener future through solar energy

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route took centre stage at the forum. This multilateral, multimodal corridor connects China and Europe, passing through the region via ferry terminals, rail systems, and roads across various countries.

To enhance the Middle Corridors efficiency a roadmap for the digitalisation of multimodal data and document exchange, in accordance with UN standards and documents, was endorsed in Baku.

"The idea is to harmonise digitalisation along the whole supply chain using UN standards as well as UN semantic standards and reference data models, so that data can flow seamlessly along the whole supply chain, moving from one mode of transport to another, from one sector of the supply chain to another. The buzzword in all of that is interoperability," said Mario Apostolov, Regional Adviser at the UNECE's ECT Division.

"This is a multimodal route that we are trying to develop; since the demand has grown, we expect that when the decisions and recommendations of SPECA are applied it will have a multiplier effect that will significantly increase freight traffic on our corridor," revealed Gaidar Abdikerimov, the Secretary General of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

Kazakhstan 'quite serious' about the green energy transition

How SPECA can become a region of interconnected energy systems, moving towards lower carbon energy sources, was another major topic of discussions in Baku.

"We are really encouraging member states to scale renewable energy resources, to integrate them in their energy mix through low and zero-carbon technologies, to strengthen the capacity of the grid to absorb the additional renewable energy capacity, because this will help the region to achieve energy resiliency and to achieve net zero," said Iva Brkic, the Economic Affairs Officer at UNECE.

UN agencies are working with SPECA states, helping to develop tools and design energy policies to achieve resilient and carbon neutral energy systems.

Euronews asked the President of Kazakhstan, Kasym Jomart Tokayev, how his country sees the net-zero transformation.

"We are quite serious about decarbonising our economy, and about the diversification of our economy, making impetus on developing non-carbon sectors in Kazakhstan," he told Euronews.

"Its a challenge. There needs to be a huge change in our mindsets first of all, and I do acknowledge that its a general trend in global economic development, and Kazakhstan wont lag behind, and at the same time we are very much committed to environmental protection. Yes, Kazakhstan still relies on coal in its energy mix, but I think that in the nearest future the situation will change positively."

The regions energy potential is huge. SPECA states are working to diversify energy transit routes to global markets.

"Energy resources are distributed unevenly. To ensure the energy security of countries, there is an objective need for cooperation and interconnection," said Samir Valiyev, Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Energy.

"The SPECA program at the forum helps to foster this cooperation, as well as the organisation of ongoing discussions and the harmonisation of rules, and legislation in the support and organization of various infrastructure projects."

Climate change and lack of water resources are among the regions crucial challenges. SPECA can, no doubt, play an important role in addressing these challenges.

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2 December 2023 16:20 (UTC+04:00)

The Chief of the General Staff of Azerbaijan Army inspects combat readiness of military units stationed in high mountainous areas

The First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev and other officials of the Ministry attended military units stationed on the border with Armenia in Gadabay, Dashkasan and Kalbajar directions, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry.

The Chief of the General Staff held meetings with servicemen in the units deployed in the mentioned directions, delivered the tasks set to the Azerbaijan Army by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and gave specific instructions regarding their implementation.

The organization of troops service and combat duty was inspected in the units stationed in the positions in high mountainous areas. It was reported that the service is conducted 24 hours a day in an intensive working mode according to the daily routine, combat duty is organized.

Colonel General K. Valiyev also inspected combat readiness of the artillery, engineering and commando military units. He heard the reports of the commanders regarding the daily activities of the units and the taken measures. It was noted that the assigned tasks are conducted based on the plan, special attention is paid to the organization and conduct of combat training measures in accordance with the requirements.

In the end, the Chief of General Staff watched training and exercises on combat readiness of one of the commando units, and set specific tasks for the command staff to further increase quality and intensity of exercises, as well as to improve the practical skills of the servicemen and develop the level of readiness.

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2 December 2023 17:36 (UTC+04:00)

Turkish political scientist Esma Ozdashli during her speech at the Turan International Conference on the Future of the Turkic World of the Centre for International Relations and Diplomacy said that "With the establishment of the Armenian state in the region, terrorist activities also began", Azernews reports.

Political scientist reminded that the current territory of Armenia is actually Turkish lands: "Therefore, we can say that the foundation of terrorism in the region was laid with the creation of this state. It is also noteworthy that Armenia is a mono-ethnic state."

Expert noted that, if today there are no Turks in Irevan, which is a historical Turkish land, then genocide was committed by Armenia and the accusations against Turkiye are unfounded.

Esma Ozdashli added that Armenian terrorists killed a large number of Azerbaijani and Turkish politicians, "The West has always defended Armenian terrorist organisations."

Esma Ozdashli said that there are many PKK terrorists in Garabagh and they act against Azerbaijan.

Ozdashli said that during the time of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, he played yallas with PKK terrorists in the Jydir Plain: "There are various terrorist organisations in Armenia. They have repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani embassies. This once again shows that the fight against terrorism must be strengthened."

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2 December 2023 18:33 (UTC+04:00)

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Edmondo Cirielli in an interview with "Formiche" newspaper expressed the opinion that there is still a strong nationalist ruling class in Armenia, forces seeking to destabilise the Caucasus, strong Armenian communities living outside Armenia who are really unaware of the problems and the current situation, Azernews reports.

"They are also among the causes that people accept more easily. Because they are children and descendants of the Armenian diaspora with strong nationalistic and chauvinistic views." said the minister

The Deputy Minister emphasised that Azerbaijanis have nothing to do with what happened against Armenians at the beginning of the last century, so Azerbaijanis bear no responsibility. They cannot be held responsible for the sins of others just because they are Muslims.

"Moreover, we know very well that Azerbaijan is one of the most secular and tolerant countries in the Muslim world. This is their distinctive feature. So let's try not to use religion as an element of conflict between nations," Cirielli added.

There have always been those in Europe who foment Armenian revanchism and Armenian nationalism, confusing Iravan in issues not even envisaged by international law.

Referring to the processes taking place in the South Caucasus, Cirielli emphasised that President Ilham Aliyev is a very pragmatic leader who has categorically ruled out any steps by Azerbaijan that contradict international law.

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2 December 2023 18:01 (UTC+04:00)

A representative of the Western Azerbaijan Community took part in the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination, Azernews reports, citing Western Azerbaijan Community.

It was informed that chairwoman of the Women's Council of the community, MP of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan Malahat Ibrahimgizi represented the Western Azerbaijan Community at the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination.

The forum, held from 29 November to 1 December in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was attended by high-ranking officials of UNESCO Member States, representatives of non-governmental organisations and experts.

MP addressed the event as a panellist and spoke about the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and its aspects of racial discrimination. MP Ibrahimgizi noted the importance of international efforts to combat racial discrimination, including the UNESCO forum.

Noting that one of the most hateful forms of racial discrimination was attacks on cultural heritage, Mr IIbrahimgizi gave detailed information on the destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Armenia.

In MP speech noted the role of UNESCO in the field of protection of cultural heritage and renewed the call of the Community to send a mission to Armenia for a comprehensive assessment of the situation of Azerbaijani cultural heritage in Armenia.

The representative of the Community stated that she is ready to cooperate with UNESCO for the sake of a world where ethnic and cultural diversity is protected, where all people live in dignity and in a world where there is no place for racism and discrimination.

Within the framework of the event, M.Ibrahimgizi held meetings with high-ranking representatives of Member States and international organisations.

The participation of the Western Azerbaijan Community in the forum is an important step towards promoting its own human rights agenda in the international world. The Community will continue its efforts to represent the right to return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia in relevant international formats.

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2 December 2023 15:20 (UTC+04:00)

"Azerbaijan hopes for further strengthening of cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," This is stated in the publication of Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry in the social network "X" on the occasion of the UAE Independence Day, Azernews reports.

We congratulate #UAE, its people and government on their #NationalDay!



We look forward to further enhance our cooperation in the coming years.



Happy National Day! @mofauae pic.twitter.com/yIgLfqoepr  MFA Azerbaijan  (@AzerbaijanMFA) December 2, 2023

"We congratulate the UAE, its people and government on the bank holidays! We hope for further strengthening of our cooperation in the coming years," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

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2 December 2023 17:55 (UTC+04:00)

The artistic programme of the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, which will be held for the first time in Baku on December 8, will present guests and viewers of the broadcast with bright moments, Azernews reports,

Award Ceremony, which will be held with the full comradeship of the Automobile Federation of Azerbaijan, will be remembered by an interesting stage performance.

The unforgettable three-part Baku awards show, which has been held since 2011, will begin with a presentation by the FIA in the Land of Lights. The presentation will demonstrate the possibility of integration and co-operation through music, the only language equally understood by all peoples of the world without translation.

The award ceremony will feature the native sounds of the folk song "Yellow Bride", which touches the most tender feelings of every Azerbaijani and is recognised worldwide as the embodiment of our country's cultural heritage.

The programme, which will be organised in the format of interactive dialogue with the audience, will also carry a message about the importance of intercultural dialogue. Thus, the importance of diversity and harmony between East and West will once again be conveyed through the synthesis of music of different genres that will be played at the presentation.

People's artists Alim Gasimov, Alikhan Samadov, honoured artists Alexei Miltikh, Emil Afrasiyab, Fergana Gasimova, Isfar Sarabski, soloists of the Azerbaijan State Orchestra of Folk Musical Instruments, Mirvari Dance Ensemble, performances of the rhythm band Natigi will add colour and impressive moments to the ceremony.

Following the FIA General Assembly, the FIA Awards Ceremony is organised, which is considered one of the most spectacular events of the year in the field of sports, and awards are given in various categories of motorsport.

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2 December 2023 19:02 (UTC+04:00)

The fourth meeting of political consultations between Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers and the Republic of Bulgaria was held in Sofia, Azernews reports.

The delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev and the delegation of the Republic of Bulgaria by Deputy Foreign Minister Tihomir Stoychev.

During the consultations the current situation and prospects of development of bilateral relations in political, economic, energy, transport and humanitarian spheres, as well as cooperation within international organisations were discussed.

The sides stressed the importance of the high-level reciprocal visits in the development of bilateral relations, noting that the visits expected next year will make an additional contribution to the current dynamics of cooperation.

The mechanisms of strategic dialogue and political consultations between the two countries, as well as the activity of the Joint Commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Bulgaria were highlighted.

The other side was informed about the situation in the region in the post-conflict period, the mine threat in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, the large-scale reconstruction, restoration and urban development works carried out by our country, as well as the implementation of the State Programme "Great Return to the Liberated Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan".

Detailed exchange of views on other issues of mutual interest took place during the meeting.

During the visit to the Republic of Bulgaria, Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev, as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Mrs Maria Gabriel, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr Boyko Borisov and Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria on Foreign and Security Policy Mr Dragomir Zakov held meetings.

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2 December 2023 11:58 (UTC+04:00)

Armenia has completed repair and re-equipment of the Margara checkpoint on the border with Turkiye and now it is ready for operation says Armenian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Azernews reports.

Yerevan expects to receive positive signals from the Turkish side on opening the border for citizens of third countries and those holding diplomatic passports.

The Armenian government allocated 28.3 million drams (about $73 thousand) for the design and rehabilitation of the checkpoint in April 2021. The construction was awarded to one company without a tender, as the State Revenue Committee asked the Town Planning Committee to provide a list of companies that could build the checkpoint quickly.

In July 2022, Armenia and Turkiye agreed in normalization talks to open their common border for third-country nationals and persons with diplomatic passports. In preparation for the possible reopening, the State Revenue Committee of Armenia has started to carry out preparatory work along with other state agencies for the smooth implementation of customs procedures at the checkpoint.

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2 December 2023 20:49 (UTC+04:00)

"Thanks to recent developments, we have all become convinced once again of the importance of establishing an independent, sovereign and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.... We are ready to assume full responsibility for its establishment," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, Azernews reports.

On 17 October, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan said that Ankara is ready to become a guarantor country for Palestine in case a peace agreement is reached in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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2 December 2023 19:50 (UTC+04:00)

The UK, the US and Australia, as part of the AUKUS security pact, have agreed to build a network of powerful deep space surveillance radars. These radars, which are planned to be deployed in the UK, US and Australia, will track and identify objects up to 22,000 miles from Earth, Azernews reports.

The UK radar is expected to be operational in Wales by 2030 and the Australian radar is expected to be ready by 2026. The network, known as the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) programme, will provide global coverage and detect potential threats to defence and civilian space systems.

The British radar will be built at Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire, which is currently home to the British Army's communications regiment. The project is expected to bring economic benefits including construction work and up to 100 long-term jobs.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps stressed the importance of the initiative in addressing the growing risk of space warfare, saying it will enable the UK to detect, track and identify objects in deep space with greater sensitivity and accuracy than existing systems.

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Among the many artillery systems sent to Ukraine after the Russian invasion were eight Swedish Archer truck mounted 155mm artillery systems. Ukrainian artillerymen used the Archers for counterbattery, as in destroying enemy artillery, work. Ukrainians used UAVs for find targets for Archer and sent target locations to the nearest Archer system. Archer then fired a few 155mm shells at the target and moved, all in less than two minutes. Archer has 21 155mm shells onboard in a magazine that automatically loads these shells into the gun. This contributes to the speed of operation capability that makes Archer so effective. The Russians are also looking for counterbattery opportunities but have nothing like Archer, which can move, halt, fire and then resume moving faster than any Russian artillery. Archer can fire 20 shells at the rate of one every 7-8 seconds.

Archer counterbattery tactics have destroyed a growing number of Russian artillery and the Russians have not developed any defensive measures, except to shut down artillery operations and seek a hiding place from Archer.

Sweden has been responsible for several artillery innovations, including the Excalibur GPS guided shell.

It was a French firm that developed, in the 1990s, the truck-mounted 155mm Caesar, which entered service in 2003. In 2009 France sent eight Caesar howitzers to Afghanistan. The roads in Afghanistan are pretty bad, and wheeled combat vehicles have a hard time of it, but Caesar was built to handle cross country operations. Afghanistan was the first time Caesar has served in combat and was successful. The French Army has ordered about a hundred and another hundred have been exported. Caesar is the lightest of the truck-mounted 155mm howitzers, weighing 18 tons. Other nations have built heavier (20-30 ton) systems, usually on a 6x6 heavy truck chassis.

None of these systems can be considered an exotic piece of technology. For example, Archer is an FH77 155mm/L52 howitzer mounted on a modified Volvo 6x6 dump truck. The vehicle, with the howitzer on board, weighs 30 tons. L52 means the barrel is 52 times the caliber (8 meters/25 feet). When the vehicle halts, the four-man crew can extend the metal braces in the rear, raise the barrel, and be firing within minutes. After firing, the vehicle can be moving in less than a minute. Archer can use the Excalibur GPS guided round, which means Archer and an ammo vehicle can supply lots of effective firepower without the need for constant resupply. Each Archer vehicle costs about $5 million.

This French experience with Caesar in Afghanistan encouraged Sweden about the ability of its Archer system to operate in the vast rural areas of Scandinavia. Some parts of rural Sweden are similar to Afghanistan, but worse , with more swamps. Sweden had had some Archer systems in service 2013 and 24 by 2017 and eventually 48. More were ordered because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The original Caesar system has been produced in larger quantities, with about 870 delivered or on order so far. Every time Caesar or similar systems like Archer have been used in combat, they have been successful. Their mobility has reduced losses and only four have been lost in combat so far. Three of those losses were in Ukraine, where these systems have experienced their most intense combat operations.
2 December 2023 19:00 (UTC+04:00)

French journalist of Armenian origin Leo Nikolyan addressed French President Emmanuel Macron in X network with a demand to explain the corruption in the country's foreign policy department. In particular, he pointed out that the French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottigny had embezzled 35 million euros through illegal sale of visas, Azernews reports.

Probably, in this way the Ambassador enriched himself on the Armenians who voluntarily left Garabagh, as it is known that a very small part of them settled in Armenia, the majority of them went to Europe.

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EZULWINI - Members of the 12th Parliament have come down hard on the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) for taxing retired pensioners.

This happened yesterday during the last day of the induction for the Members of Parliament (MPs) and senators who form part of the 12th Parliament.

The ERS had joined yesterdays session to educate the new legislators on how it conducts its operations and the benefits of complying with the tax laws. Despite that the ERS Commissioner General (CG), Brightwell Nkambule had explained that the parastatal was simply an agent of government and was not responsible for the laws that governed the amount of taxes, the legislators demanded answers.

The CG informed the parliamentarians that it was the Ministry of Finance that tabled requests for tax fees and bills, after which Parliament approved and then the ERS implemented and educated its clients. First to speak on the issue was Senator Stukie Motsa, who asked to know if it was not possible for the ERS to consider not taxing the monthly pay for pensioners.

Argument

Motsas argument was that pensioners were people who had worked for years and been taxed accordingly. Also raising the issue was Ludzeludze MP Nomkhosi Masuku, who made an example of an individual who works for 42 years where they are taxed in accordance with the stipulated laws.

Masuku asked why that person went on to be taxed even when they had retired. Why should the senior citizens be made to pay tax forever? she asked.

Motshane MP Wilton Nkambule submitted that part of the revenue generated through taxes was used on infrastructure development projects as demonstrated during the session yesterday. He said infrastructure development had become a success because of emaSwati who had paid taxes for years while they were still employed. He asked why, therefore, they were taxed upon retirement as they had already made a contribution and invested towards the development of the country. Providing response on behalf of the ERS was Bhekisisa Sukati, who said whenever a person earned a monthly salary, about five per cent was not taxed.

The five per cent, Sukati said, was taxed once the person reached 60 years and retired. Still on senior citizens, the legislators also asked to know why they did not get a tax exemption when purchasing basic commodities. A response from the ERS was that government realised that certain food items and basic commodities were a necessity and decided that they should not be taxed.

Introduce

The legislators also asked to know if anything was being done to introduce toll gates in the country. The argument by the legislators was that government would generate a lot of revenue from toll gates as was the case in other countries. An example was given that in Mpumalanga, South Africa, there was a toll gate where motorists were charged about E600. On another note, the CG provided clarity regarding the closure of companies found to have not complied with the tax laws.

Nkambule said it was not true that the ERS forced such companies to close down.Our mandate is that we collect tax from companies. We cannot fulfill such a mandate if we close down companies. Instead, we always encourage companies to engage us whenever they faced challenges, he said.

Also, the CG pleaded with the legislators to play their part in educating the public about tax laws whenever they had the platform.

He said for the citizens of the country to understand taxation better, the legislators needed to speak about it at the various tinkhundla centres.

Other concerns raised by the legislators included that of not having ERS service centres in the rural areas. Ngudzeni MP Charles Ndlovu said it was disheartening that people had to travel long distances to get ERS services, yet government spoke about decentralisation now and again.
Large Patches of Dead Oregon Coast Birds Usually Not a Concern, But Virus Possible Factor

Published 11/30/23 a 5:39 p.m.

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Oregon Coast)  To at least one observer, it was the most dead birds they've seen on a beach.

Raging tides have been pushing a great deal of objects and debris onto the Oregon coast and Washington coast as of late, and among them have been a run of dead birds in some areas. On the south coast, the volunteer group CoastWatch has noticed some large numbers of bird carcasses on a few beaches, such as around Port Orford. (Photo Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition's / CoastWatch's JaneSkipLegacy)

It's a concerning sight to many beachgoers, giving the impression there's a massive die-off event offshore or something. Normally, this isn't anything that's an actual issue: it's simply tidal action bringing many things onshore. This time, however, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) said it could partially be a sign of a disease that's been hitting birds all around the United States and killing more than usual.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is still out there, and some of those bird carcasses could be infected. While it's never a good idea to touch or pick up dead things on the Oregon coast or Washington coast, this time it's really important you don't touch them  not that this occurs to most people, anyway.

CoastWatch's JaneSkipLegacy was checking out the Hubbard Creek and Graveyard Point areas of Port Orford, and found more dead birds than she had ever noticed before. Near Battle Rock, she counted 43 dead avian bodies.

Meghan Dugan with ODFW said most of this, however, is a combination of migration patterns and more birds being out on the ocean right now, but there is a warning.



Battle Rock, Port Orford, courtesy Flickr / Julia Sumangil

We are at the tail end of migration mortality and HPAI is still out there; people should not handle dead or sick birds, Dugan told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

ODFW said HPAI has been circulating around North America, with the current strain (H5N1) was first detected in Oregon in May of 2022. Normally, these outbreaks disappear, but ODFW said this one is of concern because it did not go away the following spring.



Port Orford find: CoastWatch's JaneSkipLegacy



Dugan said ODFW biologists say there have been many young common murres out there, not just on the south Oregon coast but up north as well. The large numbers of them washing ashore in some areas are not a big surprise to scientists.

Storms offshore  even far offshore  create larger debris events, especially considering how many murres there are out there now. Big numbers of carcasses of anything are just bound to wash up.

High wind and large wave events occasionally deposit that debris onshore, Dugan said. This can make it appear to be a large, localized mortality event when in actuality those carcasses may have been collected over a very large area. All of these things are still present in the ocean, just wouldnt be visible without the tidal events pushing them onto shore.

When there's more of something out there at sea, more of it is going to wash up. The avian disease may or not be a factor, but in any case you should keep your pet and kids away from the bodies on the beaches.



A fledgling common murre (ODFW)

HPAI is still present in some areas of Oregon, Dugan said. During this past spring and summer, six birds from the coast tested positive. More recently, a herring gull, a cackling goose and a bald eagle tested positive as did a bald eagle from Clatsop County.

The virus has been cause for warning for hunters, with ODFW saying it seems to have increased the death rate of waterfowl, especially geese, but also affecting ducks. However, it's not killing masses of them, either.

Another issue the virus causes is infections in animals that eat infected birds. It's been found in coyotes, foxes and skunks, ODFW said.

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Tufted Puffin Numbers Up at Cannon Beach but Down on Rest of Oregon Coast

Published 11/28/23 a 3:55 a.m.

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast)  A survey by US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2023 found that the tufted puffin (Fratrecula cirrhata) had a decent increase in population numbers at Cannon Beach's Haystack Rock, though overall trends from other studies show a large decline everywhere on the Oregon coast. (Photo Seaside Aquarium)

Cannon Beach was the only area in the 2023 document, written by USFWS' Shawn Stephensen (an unpublished paper that regional media were given access to). It was the only part of the coast surveyed thoroughly this year, while all other parts of the region were looked at leading up to and including 2022.

While the Cannon Beach rise for the adorable little bird is a hopeful sign, USFWS still refers to the trend as an order of magnitude decline. When the first survey on the Oregon coast was done in 1979 they found 6,632 individual birds at 38 colonies, while in 1988 there were 4,858 individual birds at 49 colonies.

As of the 2022 survey, observers found a little over 550.

Cannon Beach's Haystack Rock is the most visible home to the tufted puffin on this coastline, with varied observers helping out on these puffin stakeouts  including personnel from Seaside Aquarium, Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) and Friend of Haystack Rock. The numbers there hit a new low in '22 with only 74 individuals, However, they found 106 in 2023.



Tufted puffins atop Haystack Rock - Seaside Aquarium

The Tufted Puffin population has declined in Oregon over the past 30 years and scientific studies need to be conducted for further investigation, writes Stephensen. Haystack Rock is an important nesting site for Tufted Puffins and current data suggest Haystack Rock supports the second largest puffin colony in Oregon due to declines at other sites along the coast.

For the last 13 years, numbers have shown a steadier population on top of the Cannon Beach landmark  if you're only looking at those years. It's vacillated from about 80 to 125 puffins each year since 2010, Yet the count of 400 there in the late '70s is still the highest number ever seen and researchers say the general trend is still drastically downwards.

Because of its closeness, Haystack Rock has been relatively easier for observing the puffins, and the studies acknowledge that when noting the skimpy numbers of areas like Bandon's Haystack Rock, Face Rock and the Cat and Kittens. In 2021, for example, observers found none on those landmarks during their survey days.

One remarkable statistic showed 100 puffins on one section of Whaleshead Cove near Brookings in 1979, and only two spotted there in 2008. There were 7 others on another section of the cove that year, however.



Courtesy Ram Pampish

Finley Rock, part of the Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge off Oceanside, is believed to the be the largest colony of tufted puffins in Oregon. In 2021, it and the other two rock landmarks supported a mere 200 or so  a tenth of the more than 2,000 that once bred there.

All these aforementioned sea stacks and rocky areas are considered part of the wildlife refuge. They also include many of the sea stacks you see off the southern Oregon coast and areas like Heceta Head and parts of Otter Rock.



Graphic USFWS

Possible causes of puffin decline include factors related to conditions at breeding sites, at-sea mortality due to direct human impacts such as net bycatch and oil spills, and long-term changes in marine food webs that affect reproductive success, winter survival, and distribution, Stephensen writes.

In spite of these numbers, the tufted puffin did not make endangered species status when it was considered back in 2020. Part of that is due to an enormous population in Alaska of some 2.3 million.

Even so, HRAP expressed its pride in its part in the study, and to those dealing with Haystack Rock on a regular basis the jump from 74 to 106 puffins raising their young is good news.

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Keywords: Oregon coast, Port Orford, Bandon, Coos Bay, tufted puffins, Cannon Beach, Seaside, history, science
Understanding that there are two firm positions concerning the Open Border Crises, but many realties regarding its current, and, or projected real impacts to the functioning, sustainability of this Constitutional Republic: What position below best represents what you know to be true regarding this impactful policy?

0% The United States' must continue the Executive initiative of Open Borders until a Democratic Congress can codify full Demographic Inclusion by keeping the Biden /Harris Open Borders policy in place.34.62% Our United States' borders are sovereign just as are our self-governed citizens, where borders must be maintained, monitored and defended, which is the position of core Republicans.3.85% I am in favor of Open Borders to make my America more of a global community; however, the federal government must now fix problems that "Red State" governors have caused in our cities.61.54% I do NOT favor the Democratic Socialists' disruption of the cultural fabric of my Representative Republic, and there will be Treasonous Hell to Pay when the certain calamity begins in earnest.
A decade on, BRI injects vigorous impetus into Cambodia's development: experts

Xinhua) 14:13, December 02, 2023

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- A decade-old China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has given strong momentum to Cambodia's socioeconomic development and poverty reduction, experts said on Saturday.

Neak Chandarith, director of the Cambodia 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Research Center, said BRI's landmark projects such as the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, and hydropower plants have greatly contributed to boosting the kingdom's economy, trade, investment and tourism.

"The BRI is not just a framework for infrastructure development. It's a catalyst for economic progress and prosperity, not only in Cambodia but also in the region and the world," he told Xinhua.

Chandarith said these landmark infrastructure projects represented a monumental leap forward for the Southeast Asian country.

"With a network of roads, bridges, and upgraded railways spanning thousands of kilometers, the country is becoming better connected internally and with its neighboring nations," the expert said.

He added that these developments have not only improved the country's transportation network but also spurred trade and increased foreign investment.

"Cambodia is becoming a more attractive destination for businesses and investors, and these developments have the potential to drive economic growth and create jobs, and improved the quality of life for millions of Cambodian people," Chandarith said.

He said the BRI, along with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement and the Cambodia-China free trade agreement, will help Cambodia achieve its ambitious goals of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

Thourn Sinan, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association Cambodia chapter, said the recently-launched Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, one of the BRI's landmark projects, has become a major international gateway to the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park, which is the kingdom's most popular tourist destination.

"The Siem Reap Angkor International Airport is a key example of the successful cooperation between Cambodia and China under the BRI," he told Xinhua. "The 4E-level international airport is expected to boost tourism, trade, and investment in the region."

He said that the BRI has provided mutual benefits and win-win results and that under the initiative, Cambodia has received significant investment and assistance from China.

The BRI, a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was initiated by China in 2013 to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond via the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said BRI projects are transforming Cambodia into a key hub for trade and connectivity in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Cambodia is one of the countries that have seen the greatest impact of the BRI on infrastructure, trade, economy and cultural landscape," he told Xinhua. "China's investments in Cambodia have catalyzed a significant transformation of its infrastructure."

Sam added that China's investment in energy infrastructure has helped reduce Cambodia's power shortages and foster its sustainable development.

"The construction of hydropower plants, solar panel farms and power transmission networks has increased the country's green energy production capacity and alleviated its dependence on costly imported energy sources," he said.

"All in all, the BRI has provided tremendous benefits to Cambodia, injecting vigorous impetus into building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard Cambodia-China community with a shared future," he added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
MBABANE  The whole point of having a security guard is to ensure safety.

However, in a shocking turn of events, a 13-year-old girl suffering from autism, whose identity has been withheld for ethical reasons because she is a minor and also alleged survivor of rape. The minor was allegedly subjected to a horrific ordeal that has left tenants of a block of flats in Mbabane reeling. Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a broad range of conditions characterised by challenges with special skills, repetitive behaviour, speech and nonverbal communication. It is a lifelong development disability that affects how individuals communicate and interact with the world.

It is alleged that a security guard who is said to have been stationed by a security company, allegedly raped the very same person who he was hired to ensure thier safety and that of other tenants. The alleged rape incident is said to have occurred at a guardhouse, which the security guard uses to monitor people coming in and out of the premises. The incident has brought to light the dangers of sexual violence. It is alleged that the incident happened last Thursday evening at around 7pm.

According to reports, the survivour, referred to as *Jena, was allegedly lured by the security guard. It is alleged that the security guard, whose state of sobriety was reportedly questionable, proceeded to commit the heinous act without the use of protection, exposing Jena, not only to mental and physical trauma but also the risk of sexually transmitted infections.

Screamed

It is alleged that when the girl realised what her attacker is said to have been doing to her, she screamed for help. The security guard is then said to have fled from the guardhouse and the matter was reported to the police for investigation. This distressing event has come to the fore at a time when the country is actively participating in the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based violence, a period dedicated to promoting non-violence against women and children. The timing of this alleged assault serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the pervasive issue of gender-based violence (GBV) in our society.

Noteworthy, Eswatini is one of the countries around the world with tough laws ensuring the safety of children. One such law is the Childrens Welfare and Protection Act. Also, the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act is to ensure the safety of children. When reporters from Eswatini News arrived at the block of flats where the alleged rape is said to have taken place, some of the occupants did not hesitate to recall the incident, though they said they could not give further details as the matter had already been reported to the police.

Hospital

It was also gathered that the minor was also taken to hospital, due to the physical trauma she is said to have suffered and also medical check-ups considering the nature of the incident. The alleged rapist is said to have referred to the teenager as mshana, a word which also means niece or nephew. It could not be established whether the alleged culprit is a relative or he had used the term mshana just for communicating. It is not uncommon for an adult to refer to any child as mshana locally as a way of reference, while children can refer to adult males as malume which means uncle.

The deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Inspector Nosipho Mnguni, confirmed that a 31-year-old man from Gobholo in Mbabane has been arrested in connection with the alleged rape. The arrest has provided a glimmer of hope for justice in the wake of this deeply troubling incident. The name of the arrested person is known to this publication, but will not be mentioned for ethical reasons as he had not yet appeared in court by the time of compiling this report.

The alleged rape has not only incited widespread outrage, but has also galvanised the residents of the flats where the incident took place.

The tenants collective anger and concern reflect the gravity of the situation and the urgent need for measures to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future. In the past, experts such as psychologists have warned that the ramifications of rape extend far beyond the immediate physical violation, as it could put the survivors life in jeopardy.

Further, that if left untreated, the traumatic experience and potential infections can have severe and even lethal consequences. This sobering reality underscores the urgent need for comprehensive support and protection for survivors of sexual violence, a psychologist previously noted. An attempt was made to reach a manager at the security company, where the alleged culprit is said to have been working. However, the person contacted said that the right authority to contact was the company that owns the flats where the incident happened. The officials from the company could not be reached for comment. The name of the company or the flats where the incident happened will not be mentioned for ethical reasons to protect the minor from being identified.
Below are 13 cases of healthcare fraud reported by Becker's in November:

1. A Springdale, Ark.-based psychiatrist and former head of Arkansas' state medical board was charged with two counts of Medicaid fraud, according to the state attorney general's office. From Jan. 1 to April 29, 2022, Brian Hyatt, MD, allegedly made more than $300,000 in false Medicaid claims while working as medical director of the behavioral health unit at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.

2. A nurse practitioner pleaded guilty in Boston federal court for her role in a $7.8 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary medical equipment. Between December 2018 and April 2020, Daphne Jenkins worked with a telemedicine company to sign orders for unnecessary equipment for Medicare beneficiaries she had no therapeutic relationship with.

3. Desi Barroga, MD, and Deno Barroga, MD, were charged in a $12 million healthcare fraud scheme, according to the Justice Department. While operating a pain management clinic in Dallas, the pair allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to their patients' insurance companies for dozens of corticosteroid injections, while the patients only received few or no injections.

4. Steven King, the chief compliance officer of A1C Holdings, a pharmacy holding company, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and must pay $21.7 million in restitution for his role in a healthcare fraud scheme. Mr. King was convicted for fraudulently billing Medicare for dispensing medically unnecessary lidocaine and diabetic testing supplies.

5. David Nourian and Christopher Rydberg, who owned and operated three pharmacies in Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas, and Michael Taba, MD, were convicted for their role in a $145 million healthcare fraud, money laundering and tax evasion scheme. The pharmacy owners conspired with Dr. Taba and other physicians to prescribe medically unnecessary compound creams to injured federal workers, after which the pharmacy owners allegedly paid Dr. Taba for referring the medication to be filled by their pharmacies.

6. Simon Orobor, owner of two durable medical equipment companies in Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pay healthcare kickbacks for his role in a $20 million Medicare fraud scheme. Between at least June 2016 and February 2019, Mr. Orobor obtained access to thousands of Medicare beneficiaries by paying weekly kickbacks in exchange for signed physicians' orders for braces.

7. David Copeland of Tallahassee, Fla., James Moss of Huntsville, Ala., and Michael Gordon, 60, of Fort Myers, Fla., were sentenced for their roles in a $54 million bribery and kickback scheme related to fraudulent prescriptions. Mr. Moss and Mr. Copeland were part owners of a Florida-based pharmacy and Mr. Gordon was a lead sales representative. The trio engaged in a practice to develop the most expensive combination of drugs to maximize reimbursements from Tricare. From 2012 through 2015, the pharmacy billed Tricare more than $54 million for its compounded pharmaceuticals.

8. Tommy Louisville, MD, a Tampa, Fla.-based physician, pleaded guilty to unlawful drug distribution, wire fraud and making false statements related to healthcare. In May 2019, Dr. Louisville became ineligible to prescribe controlled substances after he was suspended from practicing medicine for two years. He continued to issue controlled substances, concealed from Medicare that he was not authorized to issue prescriptions and shuttered his medical business in November 2019. He later used his closed business to fraudulently obtain $33,034 in a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan.

9. Brett Weiner and Valerie Desalvo, co-owners of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Laboratory Marketing Services, pleaded guilty to buying and selling fake physician orders used to obtain more than $1.5 million in fraudulent Medicare payments.

10. Luke Steiner, a former Optum employee, will pay $13 million and serve two years of probation for his role in a healthcare fraud scheme. From 2013 and September 2019, Mr. Steiner admitted he conspired with ValueWise CEO Michael Mann to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in loans for Mr. Mann's companies. While employed at Optum, Mr. Steiner worked to induce financing companies to loan money on the basis of fake invoices to show payments owed by Optum to Mr. Mann's companies.

11. Jeremy Gobe, a California sleep clinic owner, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft for submitting more than $1.5 million in false claims for sleep studies. From August 2016 to July 2020, Mr. Gober caused his organization to submit thousands of claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal for sleep studies that were not actually performed on patients.

12. New Orleans-based hospice facility owner Shiva Akula was convicted in a $62 million healthcare fraud scheme. Between January 2013 and December 2019, Eight counts were related to overbilling for general inpatient services, causing Medicare to pay roughly $600 more per patient per day than it would have for the appropriate level of care.

13. Oakland, Calif.-based physician Henry Watson, MD, was convicted for accepting kickbacks for patient referrals, healthcare fraud and false statements. From 2013 to 2019, Dr. Watson engaged in three healthcare schemes in which he earned kickbacks.
Gastro Health partnered with M.H. Razavi, MD, and the Endoscopy & Digestive Center of Woodbridge (Va.).

The partnership marks the company's seventh partnership in the state, according to a Dec. 1 news release from Gastro Health shared with Becker's.

Gastro Health's footprint spans seven states: Florida, Alabama, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Massachusetts. The company has more than 400 physicians and 150 locations.
Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, will continue its emergency medicine program under an expanded partnership with the Nueces County Hospital District.

"With this enhanced partnership with the hospital district, we will be able to confidently invite more classes of residents into the program in the future knowing they will have a sustainable and high-quality learning experience at Christus," the health system said in a Dec. 1 statement shared with Becker's.

Christus Spohn Health System said it will also continue to support its primary care, geriatrics and OB training programs "as all are so important to addressing key workforce shortages in the communities we serve."

In October, Christus Spohn announced plans to end the emergency medicine residency program after its current residents graduate in 2026, saying the decision was made with "thorough consideration of our community's needs and our available resources to serve those needs." It also cited a national oversupply of emergency residency slots.

Staff at the hospital and residents of the Coastal Bend region pushed back against the plan, arguing that loss of the program "would be a great blow to our city's health infrastructure," according to a petition asking the hospital to reverse its decision.

The petition garnered more than 3,100 signatures.
It likely wasn't by happenstance that cybercriminals attacked a major U.S. health system the week of Thanksgiving, IT security chiefs told Becker's.

Ardent Health Services, a 30-hospital system based in Nashville, Tenn., took its IT systems offline Nov. 23, the morning of Thanksgiving, after discovering what it later found to be a ransomware attack. Ambulances were still being diverted to other emergency rooms and surgeries were being delayed a week later. Hospitals were disrupted across Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas.

"Cybercriminals have been striking for years during the holidays, so this certainly wasn't a coincidence," Jeffrey Vinson, senior vice president and chief cyber and information security officer of Bellaire, Texas-based Harris Health System, told Becker's. "Nation-state bad actors and cybercriminals understand when organizations are most vulnerable and when they are less likely to be paying attention to their monitoring and detection system  and the holidays would be when they reduce their cybersecurity and IT staff."

Healthcare is a "24/7/365 industry"  and so is cybercrime, Mr. Vinson said. "You cannot drop your guard at any time," he said.

Asked to comment for this story, Ardent referred Becker's to its Nov. 27 statement.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reportedly contacted Ardent on Nov. 22, the day before Thanksgiving, to alert the health system of malicious cyber activity on its network, according to CNN. An Ardent spokesperson told the news outlet the health system had found an "anomaly" on Nov. 20 and "engaged additional external cybersecurity resources to investigate," discovering the ransomware on Thanksgiving.

"Cybersecurity does not sleep, and it does not take a holiday," said Esmond Kane, chief information security officer of Dallas-based Steward Healthcare. "Bad people will not respect your change freeze, your budget constraints or your family time. Expect attacks always, but especially when your team is sparse or attention elsewhere."

"We always owe a debt of gratitude to our first responders," he added. "Increasingly, we must also be thankful for our security operations teams working to keep critical IT systems from harm."

The timing of cyberattacks to coincide with holidays is a "new norm," said Jack Kufahl, chief information security officer of Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine.

"Factoring in notable events at our targeted companies, as well as likely threat actors' countries of origin, are useful context for threat intelligence activities," he said. "Dates alone will not tell you when or if an attack will occur, but it should enrich all the other cofactors one uses in predicting likelihood."

He recommended health systems incorporate "inconvenient timing" into their cybersecurity tabletop exercises to increase awareness at the organizations and make sure they're ready for a surprise holiday attack.
New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health inked a three-year sponsorship deal with New York City's Carnegie Hall.

The health system became the historic concert venue's first healthcare partner, while Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling joined Carnegie Hall's board of trustees.

"At Northwell, we strongly believe in the healing power of music and know the positive impact music has had on both our patients and staff," Mr. Dowling said in a Nov. 30 news release.

Northwell Health will provide support for the free Carnegie Hall Citywide concert series and sponsor a February performance, part of the new Well-Being Concert series, that will mix jazz with meditation and themes of self-care.

"We have seen firsthand the many ways that music can play a role in supporting health and well-being," stated Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall. "We are grateful for a partner who shares our belief in the healing power of music and the positive impact it can have on people's lives."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Vincent Cataldo has retired from his role as administrator of Prevost Memorial Hospital, the Donaldsonville, La.-based hospital that saw its entire board replaced Nov. 21, The Advocate reported.

Mr. Cataldo worked at the hospital since it opened in 1968 and was promoted to the helm in 1990. On the same day that the board was ousted by the Ascension Parish Council, he sent a letter to the ousted board's chair, Michel Hirsch, MD, saying he would retire Dec. 22. The news was not made public until Nov. 29, according to the newspaper.

On Nov. 30, Mr. Cataldo told The Advocate by phone that he would not comment on the timing of his retirement; the new board; or recent scrutiny of the hospital's management: "I'm not going to go there," he said.

The previous board faced mounting criticism from the Ascension Parish Council in recent years, especially after a recent audit found investment losses, the newspaper reported. Community groups argued the hospital did not offer enough services, given that it held more than $26 million in cash and investments by mid-2022, and should have built a new facility. Hospital leaders were also criticized for their acquisition of a medical clinic building for $900,000 in 2020, which was purchased from two board members.

Mr. Cataldo defended that purchase on Nov. 30, telling The Advocate, "We needed to own that building for the hospital's sake. That was a good move." He also told the paper he will have worked at the hospital for 56 years when he retires and has no regrets.

The ousted board members have filed a lawsuit to be reinstated, with a hearing set for Jan. 29. Five new board members were temporarily appointed by the Ascension Parish Council until permanent replacements are named.

At the first meeting of the new board, its chair, Bill Dawson, said Mr. Cataldo's retirement will be a challenge, but he "knows" the board is up for it.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., and United Steelworkers Local 4-200, which represents about 1,700 nurses at the facility, have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract.

The hospital announced the tentative three-year deal on Dec. 1, about four months after union members began a strike Aug. 4.

"A memorandum of agreement was signed by both parties and will be presented over the next several days to union members through informational meetings as part of the ratification process," Wendy Gottsegen, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesperson, said in a statement shared with Becker's. "We encourage our nurses to attend these meetings and vote at the ratification sessions. The resolution reflects our shared goals of providing the highest-quality patient care and creating a safe and supportive working environment for our nurses."

A statement from the union noted that the proposed contract raises wages, caps insurance costs and provides safe staffing ratios.

"This agreement was hard-fought, but our sacrifice ultimately paid off with a fair contract that addresses nurses' most urgent concerns. The local bargaining committee unequivocally recommends ratification," USW Local 4-200 President Judy Danella, RN, said in the statement.

Staffing was a key sticking point at the bargaining table. Union members called for minimum staffing levels that they contend are needed for nurses to devote more time to each patient and keep themselves safe on the job. Hospital officials said RWJUH is already among the highest staffed hospitals in the state and that its nurses are the highest paid in New Jersey, based on available public data.

Meanwhile, the hospital has spent more than $120 million for replacement nurses during the strike.

"RWJUH has the utmost respect and appreciation for our nurse colleagues and all they do for our patients, the community and this hospital," Ms. Gottsegen said. "We look forward to the outcome of the ratification vote."






Resident physicians and fellows at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, which is on the university's Chicago campus, announced Dec. 1 their efforts to unionize with the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union.

The physicians, who filed with the National Labor Relations Board, are requesting voluntary union recognition from their employer, McGaw; an association of the university's Feinberg School of Medicine; and affiliated urban, suburban, specialized and general hospitals. They say they regularly work more than 80 hours a week and seek improved working conditions and patient care.

"My colleagues and I are forming this union because, together, we believe that we can help improve our health system," Joseph deBettencourt, MD, a pediatrician in his third year of residency, said in a union news release shared with Becker's. "Over the last few years, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number and complexity of pediatric patients  yet due to inadequate staffing and support systems, we have to sacrifice our well-being to provide the high-quality care our patients receive. By forming a union we can gain the power and support to address these issues and actively improve our work place and the care we provide for our patients."

If successful, the Committee of Interns and Residents would become the bargaining representative for nearly 1,300 interns, residents, chief residents and fellows, according to the NLRB filing.

Nicole Mladic, spokesperson for McGaw, shared the following statement with Becker's: "The McGaw Medical Center has received the petition. We are reviewing it and will respond in due course."






MBABANE  A pastor, some members of the church elders and congregants are alleged to have killed a man who attended a church service while drunk.

Sethu Gamedze died after being chased out of the church, pursued even after trying to hide in two homesteads, as he ran away and allegedly assaulted by the Pastor, Lindokuhle Thwala (30) of Lushini under Chief Ndabefihlwayo, and other church members. Lushini is under Hosea Inkhundla. Lindokuhle is the pastor of Devine Life in Christ Ministries, situated at Lushini in the Shiselweni Region. Devine is a frequent misspelling of divine, according to Dictionary.com.

Assaulting

Lindokuhle was in the company of Sibusiso Tfwala (43), Sifiso Masango (46), Mciniseli Masango (29), Mbuyiseni Mndzebele (30) and Simanga Thwala (39), when allegedly assaulting the inebriated Gamedze. The pastor and the others are all residents of Lushini. They allegedly killed Gamedze by assaulting him several times all over the body with sticks and batons on Sunday, November 12, 2023. According to Sibusiso, on that Sunday, he was in church at Devine Life in Christ Ministries with Pastor Lindokuhle, Mndzebele and other members of the church when Gamedze arrived and joined the congregation. According to Sibusiso, who is also a farmer, Gamedze was purportedly clearly intoxicated. He said the pastor politely went to him and asked him to excuse them as he was also disturbing the church service.

Alteration

I then saw an alteration between the deceased and the third applicant (pastor), with the deceased drawing a knife at the third applicant. The other members of the church and I then intervened to disarm the deceased of the knife. The deceased then ran out of the church and we chased after him. He ran into a Shabalala homestead and locked himself in one of the houses in the homestead. While at the Shabalala homestead, other members of the public joined us. They included the second (Sifiso), fourth (Mciniseli) and sixth (Simanga) applicants herein, Sibusiso stated.

He alleged that while they were at the Shabalala homestead, they saw Gamedze escaping through a window of one of the houses he was in and they pursued him again. According to Sibusiso, Gamedze ran until he reached a Hlophe homestead and again locked himself in a house there. We had to break a window to get to the deceased, who was then taken out of the homestead. The mob then assaulted him with sticks. Police from Hluti Police Station were called. He alleged that the police informed them that they did not have a car. Sibusiso said their intention was to hand Gamedze over to the police.

Allegations

He alleged that they thereafter released him to his relative, who took him away. However, he said they later learnt that he had died.

Sibusiso mentioned that on the following day, they were arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) based in Hluti. He said they were charged with murder. He made these allegations, whose veracity is still to be tested in court, in their application for bail. His co-accused filed confirmatory affidavits.

In his confirmatory affidavit, Lindokuhle, described himself as the pastor of the church. He said on the day of the incident, Gamedze came to the church while under the influence of alcohol. I asked him to leave the church and he drew a knife at me. That is when the whole church intervened. I was later arrested and charged together with my co-accused, by Hluti police who preferred a charge of murder against me. I am innocent of the charge I am facing and will accordingly enter a plea of not guilty during the trial. I never committed the offence and I am confident of my prospects of success at trial. I never even took part in the assault of the deceased. I was at the scene as a spectator of what was happening, Lindokuhle told the court. The pastor pleaded with the court to grant him bail. He said if he were to be released on bail, he would not escape to any area outside the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Incarceration

He informed the court that apart from being a pastor, he was a small scale businessman, who supplied meat in his community. Lindokuhle also told the court that he had one child and his continued incarceration would be detrimental to his business and family. I will obviously lose customers and my child is without maintenance in my absence. The accused persons denied taking part in the assault of Gamedze. They told the court that they would neither interfere nor influence Crown witnesses. The accused persons also told the court that they would not endanger public safety or any person or commit any offence, if released on bail. They said there were no factors indicating that they would commit any offence upon release from custody. The sextuplet filed their application for bail at the High Court. They first appeared in court on November 16, 2023, and were remanded in custody pending committal to the High Court.

Detained

They were advised to move their application for bail at the High Court. The accused were detained at His Majestys Correctional Services in Nhlangano. They appeared before Judge Mumcy Dlamini for their bail hearing on Wednesday. They were represented by Raymond Mwelase of B.S. Dlamini and Associates based in Nhlangano. Their bail application was not opposed by the Crown. The court granted them bail in the amount of E50 000. They were each ordered to pay E3 000 in cash and provide sureties for the balance.
Proceedings to get underway next week in dispute between presenters and their employer

A number of presenters at U105 are taking industrial tribunal proceedings against the station.

The claimants are: Elizabeth Cullen; John Patrick Cullen; David Anthony Johnson; Andrew (Jerry) Lang; Angela Denise Scott; Carolyn Ann Stewart, and Stephen Woods.

The hearing is listed for December 5-8.

The respondent is listed as U105 Ltd in a weekly schedule published by the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal.

The reason for the claims is not stated.

John Cullen presents U105 Drive entertaining audiences with music, chat and the latest news from 3-7pm.

Mr Cullen, aka Johnny Hero, began his broadcasting career at a pirate station in Monaghan. He moved to Downtown Radio where he spent 20 years before joining U105. He has won a number of Hot Press Awards and was previously named radio presenter of the year.

Mr Johnson presents Sunday Best.

Mr Lang presents shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

Ms Stewart presents the 12-3pm slot on Mondays to Fridays, while Mr Woods hosts the Saturday Brunch show.

U105 was launched in November 2005 and is based at City Quays in Belfast.

The station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 280,000, according to radio industry body Rajar in September.

In accounts filed with Companies House in April, it is stated U105 Ltd was in a net liability position as of July 3, 2022.

The report said: The ultimate parent undertaking, News Corporation (the parent company) has agreed to provide continuing financial support to enable the company to meet its obligations as and when they fall due for a period until 31 January 2024.

The parent company was to continue to review its liquidity needs in light of the business and financial impacts the company may face, such as recovery from the Covid pandemic.

Profit for the financial year 2022 was 421k.

U105 has been contacted for comment.
The depiction of Kate Middletons university fashion show and Charles wedding to Camilla are beautiful moments in the final instalment of The Crown, actor Ed McVey said.

The British star plays a young Prince William in the series, set for release on December 14, coming to terms with his mother Dianas death and amid increased female attention, he develops a crush on Kate at St Andrews University.

McVey said the scene where William and Harry step out onto the balcony during the Queens Golden Jubilee was a big tipping point and will be an interesting event for viewers to watch  while also handpicking Kates catwalk scene as a showstopper.

Actor Ed McVey as Prince William from part two of the final season of The Crown (Netflix/PA)

People are going to love it, it looks amazing and obviously Meg (Bellamy) does an incredible jobthats going to be an amazing moment, he said about the moment often referred to as the one when William first became smitten with Kate.

Meg Bellamy, who plays Kate, said she was a bit apprehensive about portraying the scene to begin with.

Purely because it was the first time I had really felt like I was reliving a key event that I remembered seeing in the news, but on the day itself it was completely different to what I thought, it was amazing, she said.

Bellamy said they had Kylie Minogue blasting through the speakers while the crowd cheered at the top of their lungs during filming.

So it was a really liberating experience and it was so great for the self esteem and I had such fun, the actress said.

It was amazing and I was really nervous for it so that was a relief and it was one of my favourite days to film for sure.

The cast playing the role of the royal family from part two of the final season of The Crown (Netflix/PA)

Meanwhile, McVey said the depiction of Charles and Camillas 2005 wedding is another stand-out moment of the series.

Camilla and Charles wedding ends on such a hopeful note and you really get to understand their love and how far theyve come and how hard theyve had to fight to get to where they are and its a really beautiful moment to end on, he said.

Dominic West, who plays Charles in the last instalment, spoke about the level of detail which went into that scene.

It was the wedding and it was the blessing of their wedding in St Georges Chapel, Windsor and we had the programme, which no one had seen on screen, this programme which was about 20 pages long of exactly what happened, he said.

I dont know where they found it, where they got it from, of all the hymns, all the readings, everything that was at that thing and then I think there was a line wrong in one of the hymns and so someone had to put into 300 of these programmes, a page with the right hymn in it and we could have all just written it down, but when you get that level of detail and professionalism and perfection, really, you have to step up your game.

Bellamy also spoke about the insane level of detail she noticed throughout the filming of the series.

We did some university scenes and I looked in this vending machine and there were all the chocolate bars but they were re-branded to be of the time and the slight details like that is just fascinating.

You could just spend a whole day looking through Kates bedroom and just looking at all the different history of art books.
An armed gang who tried to rob a filling station in Belfast were sent packing by a determined staff member.

Three men, armed with knives and with their faces covered, attempted to rob the filling station on the Antrim Road in north Belfast on Friday night.

But they were forced back out of the premises by a staff member before fleeing on foot.

The PSNI said: It was reported shortly before 10pm that three men, all dressed in dark clothing with their faces covered, entered the shop and threatened staff with knives.

No money was handed over and after a short struggle, a male staff member forced the men from the premises.

The men then made off from the scene country-bound, on foot.

The staff member sustained a cut to his hand as a result of the incident and was also left very shaken. Detectives urged anyone with information about this incident or who may be able to help with the investigation, to call them at Musgrave on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 1770 01/12/23.
Eoin Brannigan, Claire, Georgina and Rozalind Lilley and Edward McCann at the unveiling

Family members and colleagues of the late Belfast Telegraph editor Roy Lilley attended a ceremony yesterday to mark the renaming of its boardroom in his honour.

Mr Lilley, who edited this newspaper from 1974 to 1992 and served from 1992 to his retirement in 1998 as editorial director, passed away in February after a lengthy illness.

The Roy Lilley Room was officially opened at a ceremony attended by his wife Georgina and daughters Claire and Rozalind.

Claire said her fathers defining identity was as a journalist.

He truly believed in the power of journalism and in particular the Belfast Telegraph to build a better future for NI, she said.

Claire recalled how her father was very touched to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 at the NI Media Awards.

He would have been very flattered to have the boardroom named after him, she added.

Current staff of the Belfast Telegraph also attended the renaming ceremony as did Mr Lilleys former colleagues on the newspaper, Robin Walsh, Martin Lindsay, Barry White, Jim Gracey and Alf McCreary.

Alf, a lifelong friend, described him as a great editor and a great manager of people.

Eoin Brannigan, editor-in-chief of the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life, said Mr Lilley had been a distinguished editor who steered the publication through some of the worst years of the Troubles.

Edward McCann, director of publishing operations at Mediahuis Ireland, said it was a fitting tribute to Mr Lilleys legacy.

Roy has been variously described as courageous, a man of integrity and, of course, a great journalist. These attributes were fundamental to the Belfast Telegraph then. They remain fundamental to the Belfast Telegraph and Mediahuis today.
Frances McCallan holds a picture of her son Matthew, who was tragically found dead in a ditch near Fintona in December 2022 and died of hypothermia (Picture by Peter Morrison)

The mother of Matthew McCallan has described how she has completely changed as a person following the tragic loss of her young son a year ago.

She explained how life for the family will be particularly poignant around the festive season this year.

Matthew was just 15 when he was found dead in a ditch outside Fintona, Co Tyrone, on December 5 last year, after attending a country music festival with friends.

His frantic family and scores of volunteers spent almost two days searching for him after he was reported missing the day prior.

His body was found by a local woman who lived nearby.

It was one of the coldest nights of the winter and an initial post-mortem examination found Matthew died of hypothermia.

I feel as if I have lost my identity as a person, Matthews mother Frances told The Belfast Telegraph.

I know Im Matthews mummy, but Im not a mother  Im not doing those day-to-day things like doing his washing, ironing his clothes, making his dinner or picking up his favourite treats when Im out.

I just feel like Ive completely changed as a person and Ill never be the same again.

Grief like this isnt like losing a parent thats older. When my dad died, he was sick and he needed to go for his own peace, but when you know your child was full of life and living to the fullest, its devastating. My heart has been totally ripped out.

Matthews first anniversary Mass will be held on Monday, December 4, at 7.30pm in St Malachys Church, Edendork.

Matthew McCallan and mum Frances

While Frances believes time has flown, she noted that every day is tough but Christmas is especially difficult for those who have lost children.

Every day is hard, but the night that it all happened [when Matthew passed away] I was putting up our Christmas tree, having Baileys, and Matthew and Thomas [his cousin] were jumping through the house, so excited to go out.

The most natural thing in the world is to talk about your kids, and anywhere I go now people are talking about what theyre planning on doing for Christmas.

But when youre grieving, you dont want to hear it, so you end up just shutting yourself off and staying at home just to protect yourself.

Matthew was the only child of Frances and her husband Peter.

In summer, the Coroners Service confirmed that an inquest will be held into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death.

The McCallan family previously raised concerns about the PSNIs handling of their loved ones disappearance.

Frances criticised police after revealing that her family only found out the PSNI wanted to meet them to discuss her sons case via the media.

Last year the PSNI referred the case to the Police Ombudsman due to the familys concerns.

The inquests next hearing will take place on January 9.

Frances explained that having it to focus on, alongside other fundraising efforts in Matthews memory, help to direct her energy into more positive aspects.

We are looking forward to finding out information from the inquest, and we have already begun raising money again for an all-weather search and rescue drone, to help search for missing people in the unfortunate event they will ever need to use our services.

The McCallan family and their friends are also in the midst of planning a second charity tractor run for Matthews birthday (March 10) and Frances has praised The Niamh Louise Foundation for helping her when she has been at her most vulnerable.

Matthew McCallan

The Dungannon-based foundation provides support primarily for rural people who have been affected by suicide, but also by sudden deaths in general.

It was set up in 2006, following the death of a local 15-year-old girl, Niamh McKee, who died by suicide, and Frances participated in a charity walk for the organisation earlier this year.

Counsellors are lovely but very clinical. But with Niamh Louise I can pop down any time when Im feeling stressed or disturbed and its all casual, which I love, explained Frances.

Someone is always there to listen, understand, have a coffee.

I have gotten so angry  and Im not that type of person.

Some of the thoughts in my head are not nice  and that is the way this all has made me. Am I always going to be like this?

But they tell me that its fine and Im allowed to feel like that. They get no funding and they are helping so many families.

Frances added that many parents who have lost their children have been in contact with her over the past year, and she encourages those in similar situations to reach out to others going through the same ordeal.

Unless you have lost a child, no one understands what youre going through. But people ring me, because they know I will understand.

To find out more information about the drone fundraiser, click here. The Niamh Louise Foundation can also be contacted via their website here.
There are marked differences in attitudes to Irish unity north and south of the border.

A border poll would be comprehensively defeated if staged in Northern Ireland tomorrow, a new survey suggests.

Less than a third of people surveyed here said they would vote in favour of Irish unity.

But it would pass in the Republic by a majority of four to one, the findings indicate.

Two new polls, published in todays Irish Times, show clear - if unsurprising - divisions on the constitutional question.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, the power to call a border poll rests with the Secretary of State.

Currently there are no set criteria for when a border poll would be triggered.

However, debate on the issue continues, with Sinn Feins electoral growth and the fallout from Brexit both reopening the question.

Identical surveys on a border poll were simultaneously run by Ipsos in Northern Ireland and Ipsos B&A in the Republic.

In Northern Ireland, more than half of all voters (51%) said they would vote against unity, with 30% in favour. The rest were undecided (15%) or would not vote (5%).

But the most hardline view may be diminishing slightly, compared to last years findings.

Unionist voters who said they would find it almost impossible to accept a vote for Irish unity fell from 32% last year to 23% in the latest poll.

The number who said they would not be happy but could live with it rose from 41% to 52%.

Over a fifth (21%) of all voters in Northern Ireland from a Catholic background say they would vote to remain in the UK.

There is much stronger support for unity in the Republic.

Some 64% of respondents there said they would vote for unity, with just 16% against. Some 13% said they did not know, and 5% would not vote.

There has been an increase in the number who want to see a referendum take place.

Some 59% of voters in Northern Ireland said there should be a border poll. It found 31% of DUP voters favour a border poll - many may be unionists who believe that a poll which rejected Irish unity would settle the constitutional question for the foreseeable future.

More than three quarters of voters in the Republic (78%) want a border poll.

The polls involved in-home interviews with more than 1,000 voters in each jurisdiction. The margin of error in each is estimated at 3.1%.

In October, NIO Minister Steve Baker indicated a border poll should need the support of a super-majority' to pass.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, such a referendum would be decided on a simple majority of more than 50%.

But Mr Baker cited his experience in the Brexit referendum, saying he regretted now it did not require the support of 60% of those who voted.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris later said there would be no change in policy.

"The comments should not be considered any shift in government policy, he said.

He added: "The Agreement is clear that any change to the constitutional position of Northern Ireland would require the consent of a majority of its people.

In October, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a border poll in the near future was not a good idea.

He said: The reason why I don't think it's a good idea at the moment is the indications are that it will be defeated. And it would also be divisive.

The Taoiseach said he expected and hoped to see a united Ireland in his lifetime, but when asked whether unity referendums could be successfully mounted in 10 or 20 years, replied: I honestly don't know.

The prospect would be quite distant, he added.
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Pro-Palestine campaigners have staged a die-in protest at Queens University Belfast to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Many of those attending the rally, organised by Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign, draped themselves in Palestinian flags and held placards calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Dozens of activists wrapped themselves in sheets and lay on the ground outside the Lanyon Building on Saturday afternoon.

"Bring a sheet to wrap yourself as a shroud to symbolise the victims of apartheid Israels genocide, campaigners were urged in advance of the gathering.

Organisers also posted criticism of Hillary Clinton on social media after the former First Lady and US Secretary Of State warned that those calling for a ceasefire do not understand Hamas.

A Belfast Palestine solidarity protest takes place at Queens university in Belfast. Pic by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker.

It would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding their armaments, you know, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis, Mrs Clinton has previously said.

We are in a very different world. I dont think it had to be the world we are in but thats the world we are and weve got to figure a way forward through it.

Signs at the at the rally branded Mrs Clinton a war criminal and criticised QUBs shameful decision to re-appoint her as the universitys Chancellor.

Israeli fighter jets resumed bombing Gaza within 30 minutes of an agreed truce collapsing on Friday.

Hamas also resumed firing hundreds of rockets into Israel.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the past day, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Several homes were hit across the region on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a multi-storey building on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on November 20.

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his intelligence agency, Mossad, to leave Qatar.

It's been mediating ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, however it's believed talks have reached an impasse.

Some analysts have suggested the move shows Israel believes there is nothing more to discuss.
Loss and damage funding given to developing nations in the global south must not increase their debt burden, Scotlands First Minister has said as he announced an extra 2 million.

At the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, Humza Yousaf said the money will go towards urban communities in the global south.

The latest funding means the devolved government has donated 10 million to address loss and damage from climate change.

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the first round of funding at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, with further money coming at Cop27 and the New York Climate Week.

The latest funding will go to C40 Cities  an organisation led by mayors around the world  and the charity GiveDirectly, which works in Malawi.

Speaking at an event in Dubai, the First Minister said: I was very pleased to see the announcement by Cop in the opening days in relation to loss and damage.

What our friends tell us in the global south is that, yes, you need to capitalise and you need to put money, but that also has to be fair.

When it comes to the distribution of that money, it cant add to the debt burden of countries in the global south.

He went on to promise a minister from the Malawian government that the Scottish Government would advocate alongside you the issue of fairness and that this money should go to the beneficiaries, and it should be grants, not high-interest loans that add to the debt burden.

The Cop28 summit got under way earlier this week (Chris Jackson/PA)

In a statement announcing the increased investment, Mr Yousaf said: Our world-first climate justice fund will continue to focus on communities most affected by climate change, and in order to deliver for those who need it most we must ensure the views and needs of those typically marginalised in such communities  particularly urban voices from the global south and youth perspectives  are heard.

While of immense importance, we cannot just provide funding to deal with the effects of climate-induced loss and damage alone.

Devolved governments have a crucial and essential role to play in addressing loss and damage, and the global journey to net zero  responsibility for over half of the emissions cuts needed at a global level lie with devolved state and regional governments.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the mayor of Sierra Leone capital Freetown, said: I thank the Scottish Government for its leadership in climate justice and support to C40.

This funding will support cities in the global south to deliver for their residents through local inclusive climate action, building resilience and piloting innovative city-led approaches to loss and damage.
Washington, Dec 2 (UNI) Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani, urging the Iraqi government to fulfill commitments in safeguarding US installations on Iraqi soil and to pursue those responsible for attacks on US personnel, Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani. The Secretary called on the Iraqi government to fulfill its commitments to protect all installations hosting US personnel at its invitation and to pursue those responsible for attacks on US personnel in Iraq," the statement said on Friday.

Furthermore, Blinken and the Prime Minister engaged in discussions concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict, emphasizing the need to prevent its escalation, the statement said.

"The Secretary discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and our work with Iraq and other partners in the region to identify the steps that we can take now to lay the foundation for a just and lasting peace," the statement added.

UNI/SPUTNIK GNK
The front pages of Britains daily papers cover various topics, including an update on the Governments migrant policy and the climate.

The Daily Express says senior officials in the Rwandan government insist a new treaty would make the deportation policy work.

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The Sun reports on a split beyond repair between King Charles and the Duke of Sussex in the wake of the release of Omid Scobies tell-all book Endgame.

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The Daily Telegraph leads with a piece on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their deafening silence in the wake of the latest racism row.

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The Independent ran a piece on the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai with King Charles revealing he hopes the summit is the tipping point to a better planet and cleaner climate.

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The Guardian looked to the Middle East for its lead as Israel and Gaza took up weapons once more.

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The Financial Times says Israel is prepared for a year-long war with Hamas in Gaza.

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The tobacco industry is plotting to block the UKs new smoking ban, according to the i.

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The Times says former prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to issue an apology to the Covid Inquiry next week.

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The Daily Mirror splashed with a piece on Nigel Farage and a chance to vote him from the Im A Celebrity jungle.

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Last but not least, the Daily Star leads with a story about a hairless man who won a sexual harassment claim after his boss called him a bald c***.
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

Israel has pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip and ordered more neighbourhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the US and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning following the week-long truce with the territorys ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a multi-storey building on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on November 20.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis (Fatima Shbair/AP)

The ministry stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on November 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said on Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children.

It also said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the start of the war.

With the end of the truce, Israel has been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Some two million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the territorys southern half.

It was not clear if Israels military would heed appeals to spare civilians.

The military said on Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using air strikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

It included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah city in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken.

The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight air strikes, including two children.

In northern Gaza, an air strike flattened a residential building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City.

The strike left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

There was a loud bang, then the building turned into a pile of rubble, Mr Obeid said.

AP video showed smoke rising from a fire as men, some in sandals, picked their way over the debris.

The Israeli military confirmed it was operating in Jabaliya and said it had found and destroyed Hamas tunnels in the surrounding area.

And a powerful strike hit a cluster of multi-storey buildings in Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development on the outskirts of Khan Younis.

Huge clouds of smoke engulfed the complex. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Lt Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Hamas had launched more than 250 rockets at Israel since the ceasefire ended.

The prospect of further ceasefires in Gaza appeared bleak, as Israel recalled its negotiators and Hamass deputy leader said any further exchange of prisoners would happen after the war ends.

Saleh Arouri asserted to broadcaster Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, all of whom served in the (Israeli) army.

Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas violated the agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women it is holding.

Trails of rockets fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

With the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarise themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis.

Separately, the military dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

One Khan Younis resident said a neighbour received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit and everyone should leave.

We told them, We have nothing here, why do you want to strike it? said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra.

They eventually left, and al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south.

Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) area.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the north a month ago to Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Amal Radwan, who sheltered in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others were not able to leave because of the relentless bombardment.

Here is death and there is death, she said.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was making maximum effort to safeguard Gazan civilians and the military has used leafleting, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.

Weve not asked the whole population of the south to relocate, he said.

Mr Regev added that Israel is considering a future security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access to the border fence on foot, adding that Israel does not plan to annex any territory from Gaza.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods.

It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the first convoy of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing since fighting resumed.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said a convoy of 100 trucks entered Gaza, including three carrying 150,000 litres (nearly 40,000 gallons) of fuel.

Current conditions do not allow for a meaningful humanitarian response, and I fear will spell disaster for the civilian population, Pascal Hundt, in charge of operations in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, US vice president Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the Cop28 climate conference, said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that under no circumstances would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders, according to a US summary of the meeting.

Ms Harris was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House.

President Joe Bidens administration has emphasised the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state co-existing.

The October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and around 240 people were taken captive.

The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

For families of remaining hostages, the truces collapse was a blow to hopes that their loved ones could be the next out.

A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons.

Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

The truces end also saw new activity along Israels northern border.

Lebanons militant Hezbollah group said its fighters attacked at least five Israeli posts along the border, and Israeli forces struck several areas on the Lebanese side.

There were no reports of casualties.
Killed for his convictions: Edgar Graham, the brilliant lost leader of unionism, was slain 40 years ago and his loss is still felt

Forty years after the young law lecturer was slain by the IRA at Queens University, Sam McBride examines his life and legacy

Edgar Graham (above, left) was murdered at Queens University 40 years ago. David Trimble, right, said hed never have been UUP leader if Edgar had lived

Sam McBride Sat 2 Dec 2023 at 08:00

Late on the morning of December 7, 1983, students and lecturers were coming and going on Queens Universitys campus, oblivious to the fact that an act which altered Northern Ireland for decades was about to unfold.
November has faded away, and with it the last remnants of autumn and the arrival of December. The air carries a crispness, trees stand bereft of their leaves and darkness stretches long.

At the edge of the winter solstice stillness settles. Like many others, I struggle with daylight waning and what feels like enduring darkness.

With the sun making increasingly rare appearances, it is immersing myself in books that has stopped me from disappearing into the shadows. Curling up with a book is a comforting image that resonates with many. Snuggled into a plush armchair with plump cushions and soft blankets, reading is a tactile, warm activity. A warm cup of tea in one hand, a book in the other, you fold the smooth pages under your fingers.

Reading is stimulation, its escapism and its a multi-sensory experience. Against the muted winter palette of grey, reading allows you to step into a world that seems to be created for you. As you become submerged in the realms of the imaginary, you embody that world. You become part of it. The words on the page come alive and the coolness of the outside world is forgotten. Firmly outside space and time, different stories transport us to different worlds  worlds of adventure, romance, mystery, fantasy, action.

As someone who enjoys spending time outside and feels effectively hemmed in during the winter months, for me it is books on nature that have become a portal to another environment, one of vitality and life. For instance, Eoghan Daltuns An Irish Atlantic Rainforest took me into the realms of the Beara Peninsula in West Cork. We accompany Daltun on his personal journey of rewilding over the years, tracing the cultural and ecological relationships and histories of landscapes, agriculture and community in Ireland. Part memoir, part call to action, the pages glimmer with his impassioned appreciation for the natural world, the lyric of the prose reflecting the rhythm of the nature. You close the book with a longing to explore the 73 acres of land that Daltun has rewilded for yourself.

I also enjoyed The Overstory by Richard Powers, as he weaves individual stories from nine different characters with the lives of trees. The characters experiences are not only bound up with trees, including their qualities and wisdom, but events and activities are also influenced and shaped by them. Its not just a book about trees, its also about our relationship with them, posing a fundamental challenge to the way we view them. Powers writes: No one sees trees. We see fruit, we see nuts, we see wood, we see shade. We see ornaments or pretty fall foliage. Obstacles blocking the road or wrecking the ski slope. Dark, threatening places that must be cleared. We see branches about to crush our roof. We see a cash crop. But trees, trees are invisible.

Read more The natural spaces in Northern Ireland that bring me joy and peace

The resounding reminder that we are a part of nature (rather than apart from nature) also cuts through in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Mingling traditional ecology, indigenous knowledge and sustainable practice, Braiding Sweetgrass is a gentle ode to nature and an expression of gratitude to the earth. At the threshold of every page, a quiet voice whispers that the earth, and all that the earth provides, is a tremendous gift. It made me want to go out and sit quietly in some fields.

Finally, the pages almost turned themselves when I read Kerri ni Dochartaighs Thin Places. Against the backdrop of the aftermath of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Derry-born Ni Dochartaigh describes the grounding effect of her encounters with nature, speaking in the language of moths, birds and butterflies. In a society marred by conflict and violence, nature is healing and uplifting, and, in her pain and sorrow, Ni Dochartaigh finds refuge in wild and remote places. Places she describes as thin.

In Irish mythology, thin places are holy, sacred spaces existing on the edge of time. Ni Dochartaigh describes them as places that make us feel something larger than ourselves, as though we are held in a place between worlds, beyond experience. According to the folklore, heaven and earth are three feet apart, a distance dissolved in thin places where the veil between heaven and earth run close.

There are many thin places waiting to be known and discovered, and perhaps reading can help us find them. If a thin place is a place where the veil between what is known and unknown disintegrates, albeit momentarily, then by embracing the textures of a world of words we can step into thin or thinner places.

I know that many struggle with reading, feeling that they need to read certain books or keep up with the latest, newly published authors. To those people, my advice would be to start reading books and genres that you actually enjoy. Let go of the expectation or feeling that you have to read something and instead look at reading as an activity that can help you to unwind. Reading doesnt have to be a solitary act either: you could start a book club with your friends and make the reading experience more social.

As the winter chill settles, lingers and the sunlight dips, all of us deserve the opportunity to retreat into the realms of fiction, non-fiction or both. And when we are ready to retire our book to the shelf for the day, we return to the present still holding on to that tapestry of thought, emotion and experience within each page. Like gently waking from a dream, we step back into reality with softer senses, our hearts more open.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 32F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%.
BENNINGTON  The Bennington Rescue Squad has entered partnerships with the Cambridge Valley Rescue Squad in New York and the Bennington Police Department.

The Cambridge Valley Rescue Squad and the Bennington Rescue Squad, on Oct. 1, signed a memorandum of understanding to start collaborating on emergency medical service education and coverage.

Traditionally many EMS organizations try to succeed on their own, said Bill Camarda, executive director of Bennington Rescue, in a press release. Continuing that approach creates duplication and keeps organizations working independent of each other. That doesnt work today.

We always have communicated and worked on small issues together, said Mark Spiezio, chief of operations at Cambridge Valley Rescue, in the release. A few months ago, we met and really started to drill down on how we can try out some efforts that can help our patients, communities, and our crew members.

Both agencies started by working on education programs together. They started with some joint driver, ventilator, and CPR training. This is now expanding to advanced medical and trauma life support courses. Soon, the squads envision training in mobile healthcare to address non-emergency care gaps in their communities and joint workforce training programs, like EMT training.

The squad officers said that most EMS agencies have mutual aid agreements. With traditional mutual aid, EMS organizations help each other when a call comes in after all crews are on calls or there is an incident with many patients by responding from their station.

In the new program, these rescue squads decided to go beyond that traditional approach and whenever possible send a crew to help cover the others area when they get busy, or an emergency requires a crew leave their response area to help get a patient to a more distant hospital.

Now, we can call Cambridge via Bennington dispatch if I need to dispatch and they'll move first over to the border and then they'll actually come to our station, Camarda told the Bennington Select Board on Monday. We've exchanged door cards so that ambulances can park inside so they're not idling, not polluting, can plug in, people have a place to sit and a bathroom.

They shared two examples of how the arrangement worked successfully for both squads and those they serve.

We received a request from SVMCs emergency department for someone having an acute heart attack that needed to get to Samaritan Hospital in Troy, N.Y., right away for an emergency cardiac catheterization, Camarda said. "We [Bennington Rescue] were down to only one crew. In the past, our supervisor would have to say No, unfortunately we cant leave our communities uncovered.

Instead, we called Cambridge Valley Rescue, who had two crews available, and were able to send another paramedic crew to cover our area. This meant the heart attack patient got the emergency care they needed when they needed it.

Later in the same week, Cambridge Valley Rescue received three emergency calls in a very short period of time. When they knew they were sending out their last staffed crew, they called for Benningtons assistance. As soon as the Bennington crew arrived in Cambridge, they went on two calls. In both cases, what would normally be a 15 to 25-minute mutual aid response was reduced to normal response times.

The Bennington Rescue Squad serves Bennington, Shaftsbury, and Woodford. According to its website, Cambridge Valley serves Cambridge Village, and the rural area around it, including the towns of White Creek, Cambridge, and Jackson, all in New York.

BPD first responder training

The Rescue Squad has also entered into a memo of understanding with the Bennington Police Department to provide first-responder training.

According to Camarda, this training in first aid and CPR for BPD officers. There is a newer basic first responder certification offered by the Vermont EMS Office known as the Vermont Emergency First Responder (VEFR).

The VEFR training is focused on helping in life-threatening situations such as when CPR is needed; there is severe bleeding; or when there is slow or no breathing from opioid overdose; or assisting a patient with their prescribed inhaler or epinephrine autoinjector.

After some discussion it made sense to those involved to train the police departments officers to be VEFR personnel working under the EMS license of Bennington Rescue. In Bennington, police department personnel are often first on the scene for these types of serious calls where time counts.

Training started on Oct. 3, with an initial class of nine students. A week later, 10 more Bennington Police Department staff were trained. Over the next three months they are scheduling additional classes to train the remainder of the department.

Bennington Rescues educators, Paramedic Katie Fox and EMT Alex Szabo, conducted each of the training sessions.

At the same time, Bennington Rescue was able to secure a grant to obtain four additional automated external defibrillators (AEDs). AEDs are small defibrillators which analyze to determine when a shock is needed during CPR.

As part of the collaboration, the rescue squad is providing these soon to be delivered AEDs to help equip the four front line Bennington Police Department patrol vehicles.
Ed Gent in Singularity Hub:

Teaching algorithms to mimic humans typically requires hundreds or thousands of examples. But a new AI from Google DeepMind can pick up new skills from human demonstrators on the fly. One of humanitys greatest tricks is our ability to acquire knowledge rapidly and efficiently from each other. This kind of social learning, often referred to as cultural transmission, is what allows us to show a colleague how to use a new tool or teach our children nursery rhymes. Its no surprise that researchers have tried to replicate the process in machines. Imitation learning, in which AI watches a human complete a task and then tries to mimic their behavior, has long been a popular approach for training robots. But even todays most advanced deep learning algorithms typically need to see many examples before they can successfully copy their trainers.

When humans learn through imitation, they can often pick up new tasks after just a handful of demonstrations. Now, Google DeepMind researchers have taken a step toward rapid social learning in AI with agents that learn to navigate a virtual world from humans in real time. Our agents succeed at real-time imitation of a human in novel contexts without using any pre-collected human data, the researchers write in a paper in Nature Communications. We identify a surprisingly simple set of ingredients sufficient for generating cultural transmission.

More here.
PAWLET  Late Friday afternoon, the Town of Pawlet filed a post-inspection update to be reviewed by the presiding judge in the ongoing legal battle between the town and Daniel Banyai.

The document claims the results of Mondays property inspection of Banyais West Pawlet property contradicts affidavits Banyai filed which asserted the property was now compliant. The town also claimed that Banyai attempted to disguise structures to give the appearance of compliance rather than dismantle and remove them permanently as ordered by the Court in June.

Merrill Bent, the lead attorney for the Town of Pawlet, filed the summary paperwork along with several photographs showing structures, berms, facades, shipping containers, and grain silos both before the court order and what they looked like during Mondays inspection.

Per the town's documentation, some of the small, storage-like structures in the previous photos resemble similar structures  now painted black and, in some cases, are now in different locations on the 30-acre property. One particular structure, a small barn, is painted black and surrounded by farm and construction equipment in photos taken Monday. According to the town, the barn was behind the farm equipment in an effort to obscure photographs.

Several shipping containers  also now painted black  were, according to the paperwork, moved to different locations on the property. Two structures Banyai had dismantled, a school building and a shooting range facade, the town claims were still possibly on the property under tarps, inaccessible to the inspectors behind fenced-in areas.

According to town claims, two former shooting ranges, now clear of structures and facades, still maintained the earthen berms that initially surrounded them. The report also mentions a chicken coop, which was removed, and livestock run-in, which they claim was moved to a different location and repainted.

The Town does not find credible that defendant has dismantled or removed these structures and then erected near-identical structures on the property, the paperwork goes on to say. The Town asserts that it is more likely that the defendant has attempted to disguise the structures rather than remove them.

The Town paperwork concludes by deferring final judgment to the court on whether Banyais property is compliant with the evidence it included. They also asked Environmental Court Judge Thomas Durkin to rule on the pending motions without delay.

Those motions include a pending and updated arrest warrant for Banyai, guidance for law enforcement regarding Banyais arrest, a deadline for Banyai to surrender, and the continuation of fees and fines if found non-compliant.

When asked for comment immediately after the Town paperwork was filed, Robert Kaplan, Banyais attorney, stated in an email, Mr. Banyai disagrees with the Towns assessment of his compliance with previous orders the Environmental Court issued and expects the Court to determine that he has achieved compliance.
The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming an expert who debunked the pizzagate conspiracy theory has been jailed for possessing child sexual abuse images.
The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a recent court filing revealed that 3,600 duplicate ballots were cast for Biden and illegally counted in Fulton County, Ga., during the 2020 election.
An armed robbery was reported at the NBT bank on Merrill Road in Pittsfield, according to police Sgt. Shaun Gariepy. No one was injured.
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PITTSFIELD  State officials heralded a $20 million cash infusion Friday that will fund the removal of an aging dam whose failure would threaten the safety of a downtown neighborhood.

The story of how the Bel Air Dam off Wahconah Street was built and ultimately fell into disrepair is a long one, but officials say it will be over in a few years. The state announced in September that it would be removing the 19th century dam, and pegged the cost of doing so at $19 million.

The fast-tracked project took another step forward on Friday, when state leaders gathered at City Hall to announce that the state's allotment of federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars would be used as funding, to the tune of $20 million  up $1 million from that initial figure.

"This is another example of a really important environmental restoration project in the heart of our city," Jim McGrath, the city's park, open space and natural resource program manager, told The Eagle Friday.

Driving the cost of the project is the removal of environmental contaminants, he said. Workers will haul 355 tons of sediment polluted with chromium, arsenic and lead out of the area. Work is slated to begin in summer 2025 or spring 2026, and McGrath said it could be completed in the span of one six-month construction period.

Residents interested in learning details about the project are invited to attend a presentation 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at the Polish Falcon Club on Bel Air Avenue behind Harrys Supermarket.

Officials said the removal of the abandoned dam will improve habitat conditions for wildlife by removing the contaminants and restoring that portion of the Housatonic River to its natural flow state.

The Bel Air Dam is among the most unsafe failing dams in the Commonwealth  if it gives, it could result in substantial damage to surrounding homes and businesses, and put residents at risk, said state Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Brian Arrigo at the Friday news conference.

Arrigo said those risks increase as weather events grow more extreme. He pointed to the September catastrophic flooding in Leominster, where heavy rain overwhelmed dams, causing flooding that devastated homes.

"This funding, and I don't say this lightly, is lifesaving for the community," said Arrigo of the money for removing the Bel Air Dam.

The decaying Pittsfield structure is one of eight unsafe dams slated for removal using state ARPA money. The other seven are located on MassWildlife-managed properties in Athol, Sutton, Brookfield, Hardwick, Windsor and New Braintree, state officials said. Those projects are smaller in scope, with the state designating $5 million for them.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said the dam projects fit alongside a raft of other investments by the Healey administration to steel the state against climate change. Western Massachusetts in particular, she said, is experiencing record flooding.

"This year's devastating storms showed us that we cannot wait to act," Tepper said.

Outgoing Mayor Linda Tyer noted the past removal of the Mill Street Dam. And given the location of the Bel Air Dam, its potential floodpath covers a low-income community as well as Berkshire Medical Center.

"Both of these projects are representing a significant step toward improving environmental quality throughout our community, but especially creating greater resiliency in Pittsfield environmental justice neighborhoods," Tyer said.
Lenox native James Brooke has traveled to about 100 countries reporting for The New York Times, Bloomberg and Voice of America. He reported from Russia for eight years and from Ukraine for six years.
Should customers shoulder a 120 percent bill hike to fund Housatonic Water Works repairs? Officials from three towns weigh in The testimonies of Mark Pruhenski, Patrick White and Kathleen Keresey point to questions about why the waterworks is relying on ratepayers to boost cash flows.

We have said it before, so amid rate hike sticker shock and financial controversy it bears repeating: It is past time for municipal leaders to initiate a public takeover of the long-struggling Housatonic Water Works Co.

The woes of this private utilitys customers  comprising hundreds of households mostly in the Great Barrington village of Housatonic along with a handful in Stockbridge and West Stockbridge  are longstanding and well-documented. Deeply discolored water that discourages nearly every normal household use, from consumption and cooking to bathing and laundry. Periodically high levels of worrisome contaminants like the cancer-linked compound haloacetic acid. Low hydrant pressure that has long concerned firefighters. And on top of all this, monthly water bills higher than the state average.

Now, the Water Works is adding even more insult to all that injury by asking the state Department of Public Utilities to approve a 120 percent rate hike. In doing so, owners James and Frederick Mercer are seeking to dump the cost of multimillion-dollar, long overdue upgrades directly onto households theyve failed to serve for years, apparently without any plan to mitigate ratepayer pain by seeking grants or borrowing. Thats after claiming theyre owed nearly $2 million in delayed compensation of their six-figure salaries on top of $550,000 for miscellaneous expenses in the Water Works 2022 return filed with the state.

We agree with local officials from all three affected towns who testified to the DPU that regulators should scour the Water Works financial records and tax returns. If ratepayers are being asked to double up on their water bills after years of egregious service and subpar responsiveness, then the Mercers delayed compensation claims must be substantiated, as should expenditures that put hundreds of thousands of dollars toward things like management fees and office supplies instead of badly needed improvements. We also share Stockbridge Select Board member Patrick Whites concern that by seeking maximized cash flows instead of a more stable financing plan for improvements the Water Works might be trying inflate a future sale price on the backs of ratepayers.

We are glad to hear that the DPU will not allow rate changes until its investigation is complete, and we hope that process is a thorough one on behalf of hundreds of long-beleaguered Housatonic households and businesses. But even if the DPUs probe shows little or no fiscal skullduggery, this fiasco still exemplifies why officials need to get going on a plan to purchase this private utility and make it a public one  even if that requires doing so by eminent domain.

While the contours of this rate hike request are troubling, the reality is that this water system badly needs some systemic upgrades. Over the years that this villages citizens have endured woeful water quality, this private utility has not demonstrated a capability to address the problem at all, much less in a fair and sustainable way. But a municipally owned Housatonic Water Works could. Unlike the current father and son ownership, local officials have greater experience and capability with (and no potential financial disincentives against) pursuing and attaining grants to help fund necessary fixes  including some only available to publicly owned entities. That could soften the blow for ratepayers. So, too, would a responsible financing program, which a municipality is much better positioned to arrange via bonds.

We have long argued that this is the only real long-term solution to this ugly failure of basic services. That argument is only underscored more by an eye-watering proposed rate hike aimed at those who have already paid so much in dollars and anxiety as a key aspect of residential quality of life continues to go down the drain. The prospect of a taking by eminent domain is a potentially tense one, although it shouldnt outweigh the unease of Housatonic residents drawing coffee-colored water from their taps or worrying whether their immunocompromised relatives can safely take a shower. And while it could mean increased public costs, its a solution with considerable public backing, as a citizen petition with a similar directive won approval at Great Barringtons annual town meeting earlier this year.

What we know for sure is that this problem is only going to get worse, and fixing it will be costly  only more so the longer that this singular realistic long-term solution is put off. Kicking this can down the road should no longer be an option. Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge leaders need to swiftly pursue a plan to make this private utility a public one  before the purchasing price to do so is raised on the backs of ratepayers.
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The concept of investment typically conjures images of urban real estate, stocks, and bonds. However, the allure of the African savanna, known colloquially as The Bush, presents an unconventional yet profoundly impactful investment opportunity.

Source: Supplied.

The rugged, untamed wilderness areas of the Mpumalanga Lowveld spring to mind when one hears someone say, Were off to our place in the bush and the visions those words conjure up, often inspire a little envy too.

A place in the bush offers so much more than just a piece of land; it comes with the promise of a wealth of memories of family and friends, wide open skies, incredible game sightings, and the opportunity to become a guardian of a legacy that must be protected and cherished.

With careful planning and consideration, investors can enjoy several advantages, including:

Financial returns: Bush properties can offer excellent financial returns, especially those located in areas with high tourism potential. For example, Simbini Lifestyle Estate, which is located on the border of the Kruger National Park, offers investors the potential to earn a gross return of 20% to 22% per year.

Bush properties can offer excellent financial returns, especially those located in areas with high tourism potential. For example, Simbini Lifestyle Estate, which is located on the border of the Kruger National Park, offers investors the potential to earn a gross return of 20% to 22% per year. Unique lifestyle: Living in The Bush, or close to it, offers a unique and rewarding lifestyle. Residents, whether permanent or holiday visitors, can enjoy stunning scenery, abundant wildlife and a sense of community.

Living in The Bush, or close to it, offers a unique and rewarding lifestyle. Residents, whether permanent or holiday visitors, can enjoy stunning scenery, abundant wildlife and a sense of community. Sustainability: Bush property developments are often designed with sustainability in mind. This can include features such as energy-efficient construction, water conservation measures, and waste-management systems.

Bush property developments are often designed with sustainability in mind. This can include features such as energy-efficient construction, water conservation measures, and waste-management systems. Environmental stewardship: By investing in a bush property, investors become custodians of a natural environment that is important for biodiversity and conservation.

South Africas unique position as home to endemic free-roaming Big Five game, places it on the must-visit list of international tourists. And the Kruger National Park is the crown jewel, with 96% of foreign visitors ensuring it is on their itinerary.

For the property investor, this translates into substantial tourism-related returns, especially considering the favourable exchange rate with currencies like the US dollar and euro, which makes South Africa a cost-effective destination for international travellers.

Investments in bush properties are not mere transactions but are akin to securing a stake in a living, breathing entity, and an excellent investment. Lets take Simbini Lifestyle Estate as an example. It is situated on the Crocodile River, looking directly into Kruger, yet close enough to the town of Malelane for easy provisioning.

The developers are committed to environmental stewardship, and it has been designed to minimise its impact on the surrounding environment.

With a promise of gross returns within five years, and an annual return rate between 20% and 22%, an investment here looks robust against the backdrop of current global economic trends and is likely to outperform traditional investment expectations.

A sustainable investment

The sustainability of bush property developments is paramount. Here, the investor is not merely a buyer but a custodian of South Africa's rich biodiversity, which encompasses protected areas of fauna and flora, integral to the nation's natural heritage. Such an investment transcends the material to embody a responsibility towards conservation and the celebration of life in its most primal form.

At Simbini, the meaning of sustainability is threefold: ecological, structural and financial. The Estate is meticulously planned, from its construction methodologies to its long-term financial viability. Significantly, it includes an operational 17ha macadamia farm, which adds a layer of agro-economic resilience to the investment, ensuring a steady income stream while promoting ecological harmony.

Bush properties adjoining the Kruger National Park, especially those along vital water sources like the Crocodile River, come with an added imperative  custodianship of a precious legacy and a commitment to the enduring prosperity of one of the planet's most extraordinary landscapes. Such properties are increasingly rare.

This scarcity creates a supply-and-demand dynamic poised to accelerate the value of such investments substantially. In this context, estates like Simbini Lifestyle Estate emerge not only as protectors of the Crocodile River and the Park but as coveted assets that promise escalating returns.

Investing in the bush should be a blend of financial sustainability and ethical stewardship. To find that is rare, but where it exists, it is a compelling proposition for a particularly discerning investor.
National Treasury said on Friday, 1 December, it has issued state-owned rail and ports firm Transnet support of R47bn to help with a recovery plan, which includes meeting its immediate debt obligations.

Source: Archive | Transnet

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Transnet has struggled to provide adequate freight rail and port services in South Africa due to equipment shortages and maintenance backlogs after years of under-investment.

The logistics utility's underperformance has impacted commodity exports and other sectors such as manufacturing and retail, weakening Africa's most advanced economy.

"The financial support package provided for the entity is a R47bn guarantee facility against which Transnet will drawdown an initial amount of R22.8bn to deal with immediate liquidity matters such as settling maturity debt," the National Treasury and Department of Public Enterprises said.

Pepkor's CEO said this week the discount retailer is struggling to import goods due to Transnet's problems and had nearly $40 million worth of stock stuck at sea.

Restoring freight volumes and return

Transnet, which has debts of R130bn and recorded a loss of R5.7bn in the financial year to March, has seen freight volumes decline to 150 million metric tonnes in the financial year 2022/23 from 226 million tonnes in 2017/18.

Its new board is pursuing a recovery plan which seeks to restore freight volumes and return the company to profitability over the next 18 months. The turnaround plan includes splitting the freight rail subsidiary into two - an infrastructure management company and an operating unit.

The company is also targeting reduced port backlogs and will make another attempt to open up parts of its rail network to private operators after last year's false start.

Transnet on 26 October said it had requested funding from the government, reported to be around R100bn, including an equity injection, to help fund the recovery.

But South Africa's government said on Friday it had not considered an equity injection, saying its budget for the 2023/24 financial year was closed.

Transnet's single $1 billion international bond, which matures in 2028, rose on the news, with its price up as much as 1.8c to 98.9c, its highest price since 1 August, according to Tradeweb data.

Andrew Bahlmann, chief executive of Deal Leaders International's corporate and advisory arm, said the government had no choice but to bail out Transnet, "given the appalling impact that Transnet's incapacity has on the economy and particularly our vital export markets."

"The business and investment community will expect to see some immediate improvements in port delays and rail performance to feel the financial package is justifiable or just good money thrown after bad," Bahlmann said in a note.
Within the framework of its prominent AZ Forest programme, AstraZeneca has committed to planting a potential six million trees in western Kenya. This latest endeavour, unveiled during Cop28, extends AstraZeneca's ongoing African reforestation efforts, which have recently been broadened to include initiatives in Ghana and Rwanda.

Source: Supplied.

AZ Forest Africa is part of AstraZenecas broader commitment to plant and maintain more than 200 million trees across six continents by 2030, in recognition of the strong connection between human and planetary health.

The reforestation in Kenya will span six counties in the west of the country, adjacent to the Rift Valley, covering more than 3,500ha of land. The project will be among the first to use an advanced AI deep learning model to analyse drone footage and satellite imagery to monitor tree growth and health, while also quantifying levels of carbon sequestration.

Designed using a science-based approach and harnessing new technological innovations, the programme aims to promote long-term tree health, increase biodiversity of flora and fauna, and generate an economic boost for local communities.

The role nature-based solutions can play in addressing the climate-health crisis is a top agenda item at Cop28, with the climate summit placing a focus on the progress made since the Glasgow Declaration of Cop26 to end deforestation.

Scientific leadership in reforestation

New research has underlined the impact that reforestation and the protection of existing trees can have in tackling climate change, potentially sequestering up to 226 gigatonnes of carbon.

Juliette White, vice president of global sustainability at AstraZeneca, said: The link between planetary and human health is clear. Investing in our natural world through tree planting and conservation, and limiting deforestation, are some of the most effective preventative health steps we can take.

By expanding AZ Forest to Kenya, we are progressing our commitment to deliver reforestation at scale, with a science-led approach that benefits both the environment and local communities.

AstraZeneca is working with world-leading experts to design and deliver its AZ Forest programme including with Earthbanc and the Green Planet Initiative 2050 Foundation (GPI2050) for its Kenya project.

Indigenous and productive tree species will improve soil health and local crop yields, while produce including leaves and honey will benefit the local agroeconomy.

More than 5,000 local farmers and local community members will be engaged in the project, which also aims to support a groundbreaking reforestation ambition from the Kenyan government.

High-level endorsements

Her Excellency Rachel Ruto, First Lady of the Republic of Kenya, said: Climate change affects us all and tackling it requires concerted action from governments, individuals, and business.

We welcome AstraZenecas approach to reforestation: working with local communities to ensure economic benefits for people that match the positive impact on the planet. This initiative will contribute towards Kenyas goal to plant 15 billion trees over the next decade.

Tom Duncan, chief executive officer of Earthbanc, said: This land regeneration project in Kenya is a very exciting opportunity that we are pleased to support in collaboration with our partners.

Earthbanc is committed to bringing private-sector climate finance to accelerate and scale reforestation to meet the challenge of climate change. The AZ Forest initiative brings significant co-benefits with its focus on circular bioeconomy, sustainable communities, ecosystem health and sustainable markets.

We are looking forward to this project launch and demonstrating that we can all play a part in the global effort towards planetary regeneration.

Aside from Kenya, AZ Forests global programme which aims to span 100,000 hectares worldwide continues apace. In Ghana, almost three million trees have been planted this year taking the total to over four million since the project began in 2021.

The project has engaged 1,200 farmers across 23 communities. Meanwhile, in Rwanda, 6,000 farming-households are signed up to the project, with 16 community nurseries established to grow a range of indigenous and fruit-tree species.

Planting is set to start in the coming months with a target to plant around 5.8 million trees across 21,000 hectares, in what is one of the largest forest restoration initiatives in Rwanda.
As the 2023 academic year comes to an end, Eduvos is proud to look back on its achievements in the esports world and is excited about the future of esports at the institution.

This year, the institution, voted the best private higher education provider in South Africa, launched esports leagues at its 12 campuses, making it the biggest league in the country. Along with this, two esports qualifications were also added to the over 20 qualifications Eduvos already provides, to bridge the skills gap in the esports field in Africa.

As a forward-thinking institution, Eduvos is constantly looking at how the advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) can be incorporated into its teaching so that Eduvos students, affectionately known as Vossies, can prosper in a changing work environment. Esports is just one of the 4IR aspects that Eduvos is embracing to better prepare its students for life after graduation.

Eduvos has acknowledged the academic merits of esports as they provide a bridge to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) fields. As such, Eduvos director Dr Riaan Steenberg will be on the panel discussing Empowering Education through Esports & Casual Gaming at Africa Games Week. Dr Steenberg has been instrumental in establishing the esports league and esports qualifications at Eduvos and wants to see the esports industry expand across the African continent.

You can hear Dr Riaan on the panel on 2 December at Workshop 17 in Cape Town, tickets are available to buy here.

Eduvos, along with its esports partner RGB Gaming, will be exhibiting at this years rAge Expo from 8-10 December at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Vossie Gamers will compete in an Apex Legends tournament. On top of this, the winners of Eduvoss first Game Jam will be presenting their game at rAge for festivalgoers to play for themselves.

Eduvos and its esports leagues have exhibited and participated in both Comic Con Cape Town and Comic Con Africa this year.

For press enquiries and more information contact Kara van der Berg at moc.sovude@grebdv.arak

Find Eduvos Online

Website: eduvos.com

Twitter: @edu_vos

Instagram: @eduvoseducation

YouTube: noitacudEsovudE@/moc.ebutuoy
In the 2013 Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC Report), one of the recommendations provided was the need for South Africa to consider enacting a law that would allow audit firms to organise as limited liability partnerships (LLPs). A lot of jurisdictions across the world have, since the 1990s, passed legislation allowing their audit firms to become LLPs. This includes both developed and developing economies. Thandokuhle Myoli, project director: audit and assurance at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, provides more information on this matter.

Thandokuhle Myoli, project director: audit and assurance at SAICA

What is the significance of this? In an LLP, the personal assets of an audit firms non-negligent partners are protected in the case where a negligent partner has a lawsuit brought against him or her. LLP legislation, however, offers no protection to the personal assets of negligent partners or those assets belonging to the audit firm.

In South Africa, the Auditing Professions Act, 2005 (APA) regulates the auditing profession. Section 38(3)(a) of the APA requires that for incorporated companies, the memorandum of incorporation should provide that the companys directors and past directors shall be liable jointly, together with the company, for its debts and liabilities contracted during their periods of office. This implies that in cases of audit failure brought about by one or more directors in the firm, the entire firm and the other directors who may not be guilty could have their personal assets in jeopardy in the case where the firm assets are not enough to cover the obligation.

Earlier in the year, National Treasury gazetted new maximum fines for auditors and audit firms. These maximum fines have increased significantly compared to the previous fines that IRBA was previously permitted to administer. The new maximum fines increase the risk of exposure of the personal assets of the partners and directors under the current liability regime. Under the current regime, all partners or directors in an audit firm are responsible for all debts of the firm irrespective of whether only one negligent partner or director created them. If the firm does not have sufficient assets and insurance to cover debts, the personal assets of the other directors or partners may be required to settle the debts.

Within an LLP, limits may be placed on the liability to be borne by innocent partners, therefore protecting their personal assets from the negligence of other partner(s) within the firm. The current liability regime in South Africa may be a significant deterrent to the attraction and retention of skilled auditors in the profession. South African auditors are sought after in various jurisdictions across the world due to their expertise. While there may be other factors in the decision-making process on whether to apply ones trade abroad or not, the issue of liability regime for auditors may certainly be an important contributing factor as well.

It is in the interest of the sustainability of the profession to protect auditors from the wrongdoing and malfeasance of their fellow professionals. An LLP regime could potentially address this situation. Developing a suitable LLP framework for South African audit firms will require input from all affected stakeholders as it should not result in a situation where the protection afforded to auditors outweighs any public interest considerations. As indicated by the ROSC Report, it is important that South Africa considers reforms to its current unlimited liability auditor liability regime.
Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi did not deliver about 21 judgments timeously.

Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi will face a Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing from Friday for not timeously handing down judgments.



She is the first Judge in South Africa to face possible impeachment for tardy rulings.



The tribunal, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Judge Chris Jafta, will examine her failure to deliver 21 judgments within prescribed timelines.



Judge Mngqibisa-Thusi previously told a Judicial Conduct Committee, that she had been ill, anxious, depressed and overwhelmed by the workload.

For the first time a judge is to face disciplinary proceedings and possible impeachment in South Africa for not handing down judgments on time.

On Friday 1 December Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi, first appointed to the bench in Johannesburg and Pretoria in 2009, will face a Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing by retired Constitutional Court Judge Chris Jafta.

The focus will be on the fact that she did not deliver about 21 judgments timeously. If she is found guilty of gross incompetence or gross incapacity she could face impeachment.

The hearing has been set down from 1 to 7 December.

The complaint against her was made by Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

Last year, a Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) consisting of Justice Dumisani Zondi, Judge Nambitha Dambuza, Judge Phineas Mojapelo and Judge Margaret Victor considered the complaint. Although the panel was split, Judge Zondi used his casting vote, meaning the majority recommended to the Judicial Services Commision (JSC) that the complaints be referred to a Tribunal for investigation.

Judge Mngqibisa-Thusi was then suspended.

The written ruling of the JCC, which forms the basis of her suspension and the disciplinary proceedings against her, sets out five matters in which she failed to hand down judgments within 12 months, six matters in which she took longer than six months and another 10 which, while they had been delivered had been unduly delayed.

The JCC noted that at the time of the hearing of the complaint (June 2021), six more delayed judgments with an average time of nine months had been brought to the attention of the Judge President.

Judge Mngqibisa-Thusi told the committee that she had been suffering from anxiety and depression caused by a close relatives addiction issues.

She also spoke of the age-old problem that required her to undergo some form of African initiation. Her attempts at working through the backlog were hampered by a fall when she fractured her wrist and elbow.

She said that at times she felt overwhelmed by what she was going through aggravated by the heavy court load in the Gauteng division.

The JCC (by majority) said it appeared that the complaint, if established, would indicate incapacity or gross incompetence and this needed to be investigated by a tribunal.

The minority, however, said the judge had relied on African spirituality to deal with her problems, arguing that the judiciary should get out of the ivory tower and embrace African culture.

They said the well-being of judges should be recognised and addressed at an institutional level, not on an ad hoc basis.

There was no indication that her working environment had been conducive for productivity and an open-minded investigation into the mental health of judges was more appropriate than a tribunal process that determined impeachable conduct.

Mlambos complaint against Mngqibisa-Thusi and another similar complaint against Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela, which was also referred to a tribunal by the JCC, predated a letter to all Judge Presidents written by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in June this year regarding the unacceptable ongoing situation of judges reserving judgments for, in some cases, years.

He instructed every Judge President to lodge misconduct complaints with the JCC against every errant judge in this regard by the end of that month.

He said Article 10 of the Code of Judicial Conduct dealt with diligence on the part of judges. It stated a judge must deliver all reserved judgments before the end of the term in which the hearing of the matter was completed. If it is heard towards the end of the term, it must be delivered during the next court term.

Where a reserved judgment relates to a complex matter, and if the head of court has consented, it may be handed down during the next court term.

Failure to do so is prima facie (on the face of it) misconduct in terms of the code.

He said the JCC would consider the complaints and where it recommended that a Tribunal should be established, I shall do so without any delay .

This issue gives the judiciary a bad name and litigants are denied justice, he said.

This article was originally published on GroundUp.

 2023 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Employee engagement is the key to success amidst crisis.

Impacted by significant challenges, including a global pandemic, civil unrest, economic hardships and environmental disasters, South Africa stands at a crossroads. In this complex landscape, one spotlight-stealing factor cannot be ignored  employee engagement. The secret to navigating this arduous situation lies in the hearts and minds of its workforce. Employee engagement isn't just a buzzword; it's the linchpin of success. It's the pulse that defines success or failure in these turbulent times.

In 2023, Bateleur Brand Planning, a recognised authority in market research and employee engagement, conducted the Vantage Point survey 1 , revealing that the key to thriving amidst adversity, the antidote to stagnation, and the catalyst for growth are engaged employees, the lifeblood of a resilient South Africa.

Impact of remote work

Remote work has become a prominent part of the South African work landscape. In this survey sample, 20% of the respondents worked from home, 47% from their offices, and 33% enjoyed a hybrid model. They spanned diverse industries, including education, health, retail, ICT, civil services, banking, insurance,

The research indicates that work-from-home employees are more satisfied with their working arrangements (74%) compared to those required to work at the office (54%). Hybrid workers fall in between, with 67% satisfaction.

Engagement levels vary significantly based on working style. Remote workers are the most engaged (62%), followed by hybrid workers (60.5%). Conversely, employees in entirely office-based roles have the lowest engagement (43.9%).

Older employees are generally more engaged than younger counterparts.

Engagement correlates positively with education and income, with better-educated and higher-income employees exhibiting higher engagement levels.

Interestingly, employees living in neighbouring countries have significantly higher engagement levels at 69.5%, raising questions about South Africa's engagement challenges.

Engagement levels are less than ideal

In South Africa, current employee engagement levels fall short, with 53% of employees engaged, 27% neutral, and 20% disengaged.

Engaged employees: Typically exhibit positive, committed, focused, and motivated behaviours with a we mentality.



Typically exhibit positive, committed, focused, and motivated behaviours with a we mentality. Neutral employees: Tend to be passive, freewheeling, and content with achieving ordinary outcomes, exhibiting an I mentality.



Tend to be passive, freewheeling, and content with achieving ordinary outcomes, exhibiting an I mentality. Disengaged employees: Are often negative, rebellious, distracted, and indifferent, wishing they were elsewhere, displaying a they mentality.

These results have remained relatively consistent over the past five years, with a slight increase during the initial Covid-19 pandemic. However, they have since regressed. This underscores the need for improvements in fostering a more engaged workforce, which is crucial for organisational success.

Factors influencing employee engagement

Leadership and organisational culture play a pivotal role in driving employee engagement. Purpose-driven leadership, characterised by vision, long-term objectives, and strategic planning, emerged as a critical factor. Effective leaders should exhibit emotive and personality skills, such as empathy and appreciation, while also possessing rational and functional skills, like decisiveness and guidance.

The urgent need for change

Gordon Hooper, Bateleurs managing director, said: South Africa's economy and society face numerous challenges, and employee engagement plays a crucial role in addressing these issues. Achieving a highly engaged workforce requires inspirational and inclusive leadership. The statistics reveal a strong link between employee engagement, general happiness, and optimism for the country's future.

Call to action

South Africa's economic future hinges on a substantial increase in employee engagement, which calls for a shift towards inspirational and inclusive leadership. Organisations should prioritise leadership development and foster cultures that emphasise empathy, appreciation, setting a good example, purpose-driven leadership, decisiveness, and guidance.

By prioritising leadership development and creating an inspirational and inclusive environment, South Africa can unlock the potential of its workforce, driving progress and prosperity for the nation.
I drove the new Ford Puma with local media around the Cape Peninsula to get a feel of what the vehicle offers drive-wise, at the recent official local launch.

The new Ford Puma out the wild in Grey Matter colour | Image credit: Imran Salie

The Puma, which was introduced to the European market three years ago, is manufactured in Romania, is a replacement for the discontinued Fiesta, not the EcoSport.

Ford Motor Company Southern Africas president Neale Hill reiterated this to local media at the Pumas recent launch, saying that the Puma was never intended to be an EcoSport replacement in South Africa.

Ford Motor Company Southern Africa's president Neale Hill addressing local media at the launch of the new Ford Puma | Image credit: Imran Salie

The launch of the Puma comes less than a month after Ford South Africa's 100-year celebration, where it made several significant announcements.

What is the Ford Puma?

The Puma comes in two derivatives: the Titanium and the ST-Line Vignale. The latter, the higher-specced model, is a compact crossover SUV built on Fords B-car architecture. It competes locally with the Volkswagen Taigo, Volkswagen T-Roc, Hyundai Kona, and the Mazda CX-30.

Its introduction to South Africa is a move to strengthen Fords passenger vehicle segment in the market, where there is now an absence of familiar names such as the Figo, Fiesta, and EcoSport.

The Puma is the car makers attempt to not become recognised solely as a bakkie brand. "It's crucial we get back into the segment," Hill told the local media.

Design

Because the Puma replaces the Blue Ovals Fiesta, the twos dimensions are nearly identical, except for the Puma being slightly wider, higher and longer by 167mm in length, 22mm in width, and 61mm in height. The ground clearance difference is 33mm.

Cosmetically, however, the two are very different. The Puma has a sloping roofline and headlamps that Ford describes as canoe-shaped. On the side, its wheel arches are more pronounced than that of the Fiesta's.

The ST-Line Vignale has 18" 10-spoke alloy wheels and the Titanium has 17" 10-spoke alloy wheels.

From a design perspective, the Puma is stylish and more modern-looking than its predecessor.

The Ford Puma front grill design found only on the ST-Line Vignale | Image supplied The Ford Puma with its LED taillights and it sloping roof | Image credit: Imran Salie

Interior

I drove the ST-Vignale model at launch, which had a solid interior of premium materials mixed with hard plastics. This mix felt rigidly built.

The ST-Vignale comes in partial leather trim with grey stitching and a plethora of inside features, such as an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a 12.3" digital instrument cluster, massage seats for driver and front passenger, paddle shifters, rearview privacy glass, an 8" touchscreen with Sync 3, two USB ports, wireless charging, FordPass Connect, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, and 10-speaker B&O sound system.

The Premium model is similarly specced on the inside, with the omission of the partial leather trim, massage feature, rear privacy glass, and paddle shifters.

The cabin was fairly quiet on a very windy day in the Western Cape and not much road noise from the tyres penetrated through. I had ample space in the driver seat, however, the rear passenger section was slightly cramped for leg room.

Safety for the passengers on the inside includes six airbags, hill launch assist, lane-keeping aid, pre-collision assist and auto high beam assist.

Image credit: Imran Salie Image credit: Imran Salie

What is it like to drive?

Under the bonnet of the Puma is the award-winning 1l EcoBoost engine matched to a seven-speed DCT gearbox, which enables a peppy drive experience.

Driving the Puma to get a feel drive-wise, I found it more confident in urban surroundings where its peppiness allows it to be agile around bigger vehicles.

Although it was nippy, the suspension was on the firmer side, especially on open roads, but bumps were definitely felt. Coming back into the city however the firmness was felt less. The steering was reasonably light and accurate.

The Puma produces 92kW of power at 6,000 r/min matched to 170Nm of torque.

Five drive modes are available, Normal, Sport, Trail, Slippery, Eco. Other driver features include adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go.

Pricing

Puma Titanium - R569,900

Puma ST-Line Vignale - R613,900

Included as standard is Ford Protect comprising a four-year/120,000km warranty, four-year/unlimited distance Roadside Assistance and five-year/unlimited distance corrosion warranty. The recommended service interval is 15,000 km or annually, whichever occurs first.
The latest statistics show that that South Africa's installed rooftop solar PV capacity increased from 983MW in March 2022 to 4,412MW in June 2023. This represents a whopping 349% increase in a little over a year. Other data shows that in the first quarter of 2023, we imported five times as many batteries as we did in the entire 2022, as trade and industry pursue energy security during load shedding.

Supplied image: Nicolway NSE solar system

South Africas import of solar panels has also hit a new record. R12bn worth of solar panels have been imported by South Africans so far in 2023. Since 2010, we have imported R35bn worth of panels. Largely driven by private sector consumption, the value of imports in the first half of 2023 equates to more than the entire value imported in 2022, which was R5.6bn.

Research from Morgan Stanley suggests that the decline in South Africas coal generation, coupled with the boom in private power supplies, means electricity generated from the private sector could well exceed output from Eskom by 2025.

The boom in rooftop solar in the country not only helps consumers achieve electricity independence, and lower energy costs in the long term, but also softens the blow of relentless load shedding.

New legislation paves way for future growth

Earlier this year, government announced its support for the adoption of new rooftop solar capacity with policy measures, including a new rebate scheme, which enables individuals who install new panels onto their homes to claim rebates equal to 25% of the cost of the panels. This rebate scheme is effective from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024.

This is just one of the many legislative reforms introduced in the past few years to trigger reform in the energy sector and encourage self-production as government grapples with the ageing fleet of 15 coal-fired power stations that currently generate more than 80% of the country's electricity. The science makes sense as our climate is ideal for solar, with most areas in the country average more than 2500 hours of sunshine per year, among the highest in the world.

What this means for the solar industry

Alongside this urgent sense of adoption and race for energy autonomy, the solar industry in South Africa is on an upward trajectory, fast outpacing almost every other sector in industry. From residential, to commercial and industrial, all the way to utility scale providers, few can keep up with the demand. Initially, the mines were the early adopters. Now we see every sector of industry scrambling for autonomy, with a focus on behind the meter energy production.

The space has become highly competitive from a skills perspective with the sharpest minds being highly sought after as solar players seek to retain their edge. Simultaneously, the banks have increased their appetite to finance solar installations, providing further impetus for growth.

The quest for longevity

However, beyond the move towards adoption, the focus must extend to the longevity and quality of solar assets. A solar PV plants lifespan can span decades, but this durability hinges on meticulous development, thorough planning and quality workmanship. Building solar systems with a 20-25 year life expectancy demands attention to detail at every stage of implementation.

Mitigating risk

Mitigating the risk of and unstable grid is another critical facet of solar energy integration. The inclusion of battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions and microgrids improves energy production by creating grid stability.

The consolidation of energy production through a single point also alleviates administrative complexities and unnecessary admin fees associated with multiple connections. This is coming to the fore particularly in the agricultural sector and is a valuable learning for all.

The importance of solar literacy

Yet, beyond the technical aspects lies a vital aspect of this transformation: solar literacy. As the solar revolution flourishes, organisations must invest in building an informed workforce.

If you dont have engineering skills in house, contracted external engineers can provide invaluable insights and aid in intentional decision making for your organisations transition towards sustainable energy management. This entails understanding not only the technical intricacies but also the sensitivities particular to your site and your unique requirements.

Prioritise operations and maintenance

We are seeing an influx of trophy solar systems being built that add appeal to modern architecture and reflect high tech brands, but I emphasise caution where this is prioritised. While aesthetics are fun, the novelty wears off when energy efficiency crashes.

It is critical to prioritise the long term operations and maintenance of the system. Things like easy access for cleaning, solid monitoring systems and support structures are essential. If they arent factored into the design, the systems output will suffer, with the result that the predicted yields wont be reached.

Efficiency is everything when it comes to solar. Spend time interrogating the best ways to maximise output. It sounds so simple, but too often, short term costs get prioritised over long term yields. However it is the latter where even 1% represents substantial savings in the long term. Solar trackers, for instance, increase the yields of ground mounted systems significantly.

In this journey towards energy independence, there's a lesson to be learned from South Africa's abundant sunshine: just as the sun endures, so should our commitment to creating a resilient, efficient and sustainable energy ecosystem. Every solar panel installed today isn't just about immediate gains; it's about paving the way for a future where energy reliance is anchored in clean, renewable resources that last.

The journey has begun, and the destination is clear: a brighter, cleaner, and more resilient energy landscape that will empower all South Africans to thrive.
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa's president Neale Hill has echoed similar sentiments to the ones recently made by Volkswagen's brand chief Thomas Schaefer on South Africa's economic circumstances affecting local operations. Hill was speaking to local media at the recent launch of the new Ford Puma

Schaefer said at the time that he was "worried" about Volkswagen's operations in the country because of load shedding and logistical issues impacting manufacturing at Volkswagen's plant in Kariega.

Hill, however, said that he doesn't think the problems currently facing automotive manufacturers in South Africa will lead to a sudden unplugging of operations. He said the situation is more of a slow poison that Ford South Africa and other manufacturers will feel later down the line.

"I think the bigger risk we face is the slow poison that we are feeling because it's getting harder and harder to convince our principles that South Africa is worthwhile doing business in. We have to fly parts in versus using the sea because we can't get stuff through the ports.

"We are actually moving into a position where it's actually more expensive to produce a vehicle in South Africa as opposed to Thailand. My fear is that the investment decisions taken now are not going in our direction. But we are not going to feel that now but in five years time," he said.

Some of the problems that are making Ford's operations in Thailand more appealing is the fact that the company has resorted to air freight to bring parts into South Africa. Hill said these types of logistical problems have put an unnecessary strain on Ford South Africa's business. Transnet has faced problems with providing rail port services due to backlogs and equipment shortages.

Hill also said he's worried about South Africa not attracting enough investment as a result of the problems facing automotive manufacturers in the country. "Because we are a high-risk volatile country where unfortunately government is not enabling business and moving forward, I worry investment decisions won't go our way," he said.

Ford has been operating in South Africa for 100 years and recently made a significant investment announcement of R5.2bn for the production of new bakkies to be exported to other markets.
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) has opened the application process to matric students and first time university applicants across the country for its Study Buddy Fund bursary programme for the 2024 academic year.

The Study Buddy Fund, now in its fourth year, has assisted over 100 deserving young people from communities in which CCBSA has operations, to access tertiary education. The fund pays for full tuition, accommodation fees, as well as textbooks.

To date, CCBSA has invested over R8m to support students and has now called for applications for the 2024 academic year.

Nozicelo Ngcobo, CCBSA public affairs, communication and sustainability director, said: The Study Buddy Fund forms part of our economic inclusion commitments to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds and is focused on enhancing young peoples prospects of finding sustainable employment once they finish studying.

The matric class of 2022 in South Africa achieved a pass rate of 80.1% and while many qualified to attend universities, lack of funding was a key inhibitor to aspirations in many instances. CCBSAs Study Buddy Fund's primary objective is to support academically deserving students to realise their dreams.

According to Ngcobo, investment in education plays a critical role in improving future educational and employability prospects for youth while ensuring sustainable economic growth for the country. Ngcobo stressed that South Africa like may African countries, has a demographic dividend that can only be exploited if sustainable development solutions are co-created and theres collaboration amongst all stakeholders, including government, industry, and civil society.

We are operating in a rapidly changing environment where increasingly, a good education, coupled with the acquisition of relevant and critical skills and a resilient and teachable spirit will set you apart. At CCBSA, we believe that companies which grow their businesses the right way and are invested in and support the communities where they operate, help create inclusive and sustainable growth opportunities, that will help shape better- future outcomes for our young people.

Ngcobo added that, our challenges may be daunting given their magnitude, but they cannot deter us from envisioning a brighter future for our young people and helping them on their journey to make that future possible, she added.

The Study Buddy Fund provides financial and holistic support to indigent students who meet entry requirements for access to higher education institutions.

For the 2024 academic year, the fund will pay for the tuition and accommodation fees of deserving students in communities in which CCBSA has operations, with a particular focus on the following areas but not limited to: Mdantsane/Motherwell/Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu/Greater Eldorado Park Community Forum (including Freedom Park and Motsoaledi)/Tembisa/ Greater Nigel/PTA West Ward 55/Westenburg- Seshego/Alabama/Mangaung

The Study Buddy Fund comprises four programme pillars:

Host community bursary programme

The bursary programe provides scholarship support to academically strong students from indigent backgrounds who meet entry requirements for access to universities. This financial support covers registration, tuition, accommodation, meal allowances and textbooks.

University partnership

This provides funding to students already at university but who do not have bursaries and/or National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding and are often regarded as the missing middle.

CCBSA has invested R3,9m to support 80 students, of whom half were young women.

TVET college support

Targets young people in CCBSA host communities who did not meet university entrance requirements. Instead, the scholarship support focuses on technical skills development, specifically geared towards the CCBSA value chain including electrical or mechanical engineering, and over 40 learners have been supported.

Ligbron

This is E-Learning Using Technology to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science. To date, CCBSA has invested over R1m to support over 6,000 students.

Study Buddy Fund application requirements:

Must pass Grade 12 with bachelors admission and an acceptance from a South African university. Residing in one of the host communities will be advantageous

Must be in Grade 12 in the recruiting year or applying for first year in University

Must not be affiliated with Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa or its affiliates

Must have applied to an accredited South African tertiary institution and meet all criteria above.

Applications for the 2024 Study Buddy Fund bursary close on 31 January 2024. Please email az.oc.hctamsedarg@dnufyddubyduts for further information.
The father of a British soldier from Northern Ireland who was killed while off-duty in Kenya has told of his pride in his special son.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died in the African country on November 29th, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Saturday.

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He was shot while on a motorbike trip away from base, his father Joseph McCool said.

Mr McCool said his son, from Northern Ireland, was due to finish his tour of duty in Kenya three days after his death.

The MoD said Maj McCool, who saw service in Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa, thrived in the military environment, adding that he was at his best when deployed, and at his very best when the conditions were at their very worst.

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Mr McCool told the PA news agency: I dont know what to say. Every life is precious but this guy was really, really special.

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He was 1,500m Ulster champion. He ran for Ireland. He played piano, harp, tin whistle.

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He went to Sandhurst. He progressed up the ranks very quickly to be a major.

He won several military cross-country races and various sporting events. A very strong sporting guy.

He was loved, I am tempted to say adored, by his fellow officers. We are getting that from the horses mouth. That is what we are being told by top brass because he was so good.

Mr McCool said his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya to be with Kevin before he died from his injuries.

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He said: He was due to leave Kenya in three days. He had three days left on that tour of duty.

He decided to go out on his scrambler motorbike for one last ride up a local mountain.

He went up a road and two guys jumped out at him with a gun.

It seems that he thought the gun was a dummy, he didnt think it was real.

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He made the mistaken assumption that the gun was artificial and they shot him.

Mr McCool said his family is weathering the storm as best it can.

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He said: We are all in bits.

We are incredibly proud of our son and what he has done.

Maj McCool was commissioned from Sandhurst in August 2014 and the MoD said he had the unwavering loyalty of the recruits in his platoon and rifle company.

His commanding officer said he will be missed but never forgotten.

They added: Kevin McCool was living his best life, doing a job he loved, with people he loved. A man of the utmost integrity, he was fearless and oozed moral courage.

I will never forget my final memory of him, which was on operations; he had just come off the ground having slept a handful of hours in as many days. We discussed the possibility of having to deploy another team into the operational furnace from which he had just come. He stopped me mid-sentence, fixed me with his piercing blue eyes, and simply said, Send me.

A bright light has gone out amongst our ranks. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Maj McCools officer commanding said: Kevin McCools eyes shone with his spirit of adventure and with his focussed, determined nature. He was a pilgrim soul in the truest sense.

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Intelligent, pro-active and selfless, he was at his best and at his happiest whilst serving others and whilst facing challenges in the arena.

As a soldier, his courage and talent were proven on operations. As a leader, he had a compelling character and easy charm that all who met him warmed to. And as a man, he had a deep humility which displayed a wisdom beyond his years.

Spotting opportunities, restless to serve and to seek out challenges, pushing himself to the frontiers, helping others; that is how we will remember him. He was the best of us.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps (PA)

UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said: Its clear from the tributes of those who knew him that Maj McCool was an exceptional person and an exceptional soldier, loved and respected in equal measure, who served his country with distinction.

My thoughts and sympathies are with his family, friends and colleagues currently coming to terms with this most tragic loss.

https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1730925045269110825?s=20

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: My heart goes out to Maj McCools family, friends, and fellow soldiers today in the face of their tragic loss.

The tributes pouring out for him show a man who served his country with pride, integrity and bravery.

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His service will not be forgotten.

The British Army has a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 124 miles north of Nairobi, with a small element also based in Kenyas capital.

It provides demanding training to exercising units preparing to deploy on operations or assume high-readiness tasks, according to the Armys website.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) consists of around 100 permanent staff and a reinforcing short-tour cohort of another 280 personnel.

Under an agreement with the Kenyan government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.
Ireland will double its contribution to international climate finance to at least 225 million a year by 2025, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told delegates at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.

Mr Varadkar pledged 25 million to a new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025 to help poor and vulnerable countries affected by climate disasters.

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He added that his Government is committed to halving emissions by 2030 and to climate neutrality by 2050.

In his formal address on behalf of Ireland to Cop28 on Saturday, Mr Varadkar said never before have alarm bells been ringing so loudly over climate change and world leaders must rise to the challenge.

Secretary General Guterres has said that the challenge of turning a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition is with us now. Let us rise to that challenge @COP28_UAE pic.twitter.com/YFJBsCNjSt Advertisement Advertisement  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) December 2, 2023

He told the summit: We cannot prevent climate change. Were well past that point. But by acting urgently now, we can limit its extent and mitigate its worst effects.

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In mobilising our societies, we must recognise our peoples concerns and bring people with us  our farmers, our workers, our enterprises, our people.

With the cost of living and high energy prices, many worry about how much the transition will cost and what it will mean for their jobs and incomes and living standards.

Those are legitimate concerns. We need to understand where people are coming from and offer reassurance.

He said change would be difficult but the transition must be made while protecting the vulnerable and leaving nobody behind.

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He said: I lead a Government committed to halving emissions by 2030 and to climate neutrality by 2050.

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The Taoiseach added: Ireland is a wealthy country. Even so, we are struggling to make as much progress as needed.

We are constantly looking at ways to improve.

Im conscious of the even greater challenges others face, particularly least developed countries and small island developing states.

So the Loss and Damage Fund must begin disbursing finance as soon as possible.

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Ireland will double our climate finance to at least 225 million per year by 2025, and this year, we will spend close to 150 million.

Today I am announcing a contribution of 25 million to the new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025.

We will make further contributions thereafter.

Mr Varadkar concluded: Let us also work together so the world has the financial firepower and institutions and infrastructure it needs to make the journey we need to make together.

We have to prioritise investment in energy access and low carbon development for the most vulnerable countries.

This Cop must also set us on a clear path to a safe and planned reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
Israels war with Hamas has resumed in full force, with air strikes hitting targets in the Gaza Strip minutes after a week-long truce expired.

Black smoke billowed from the besieged territory and Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave, urging civilians to leave their homes to avoid the fighting.

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In Israel, sirens warned of incoming rockets at several communal farms near Gaza, a sign that militants have also restarted attacks.

The renewed hostilities heightened concerns for Palestinians  many of whom have been displaced by the war  as well as about 140 hostages still in Gaza, after more than 100 were freed during the truce.

Qatar, which has served as a mediator along with Egypt, said negotiators were still trying to restart the ceasefire. Qatars Foreign Ministry singled out Israels role in the resumption of fighting and said it complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe.

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A day earlier, US secretary of state Antony Blinken met Israeli officials and urged them to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as they seek to destroy Hamas.

Mr Blinken arrived on Friday at the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai, where he was to meet Arab foreign ministers and other officials.

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Israels retaliation for Hamass deadly October 7th raid has killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted most of Gazas 2.3 million people and led to a humanitarian crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crammed into the territorys south with no exit, raising questions over how any Israeli offensive there could avoid heavy civilian casualties.

It was not clear to what extent Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu will heed appeals from the United States, Israels most important ally.

Mr Netanyahus office said on Friday that Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war: releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel.

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Only hours in to the renewed offensive, the Health Ministry of Hamas-controlled Gaza said 178 people had been killed and dozens wounded.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv(Saul Loeb/Pool/ AP)

In the leaflets it dropped in southern Gaza, Israel urged people to leave homes east of Khan Younis, warning that the southern town was now a dangerous battle zone. Other leaflets warned residents of several neighbourhoods in Gaza City in the north to move south.

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The Israeli military also released a map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels, and asked residents to learn the number associated with their location in case of an eventual evacuation. It was not immediately clear how Palestinians would be updated on calls for evacuation.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza earlier in the war in an extraordinary mass exodus that saw many take shelter in Khan Younis and other places in the south.

One of the first air strikes on Friday destroyed a large building in Khan Younis. Moments later, residents were seen frantically searching the rubble for survivors as medics approached. One wounded person was carried away on a stretcher.

Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory.



The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/gVRpctD79R  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 1, 2023

In Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development near the city, a strike hit an apartment in a multi-storey residential building, while other parts of the building appeared largely intact.

Elsewhere, a strike hit a home near Gaza City in the north, and in the refugee camp of Maghazi, in central Gaza, rescuers clawed through the rubble of a large building hit by warplanes.

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Israel has said it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the group, accusing the militants of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Since the war erupted on October 7th, in response to a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel, many of those killed in Israeli bombardments have been women and children.

In Israel, white smoke trails could be seen in the skies over Sderot on the border with northern Gaza after Israels missile protection systems activated.

Mr Netanyahu said the war resumed because Hamas had violated the terms of the truce. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens, he said.

Hamas claimed Israel had asked for the release of 10 female soldiers, which it rejected.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the truce, saying in a statement that it had rejected all offers Hamas made to release more hostages and bodies of the dead.

The Israeli militarys announcement of the resumption of strikes came only 30 minutes after the ceasefire expired early Friday.

During the week-long truce, Hamas and other militants in Gaza released more than 100 hostages, most of them Israelis, in return for 240 Palestinians freed from prisons in Israel.

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A woman is overwhelmed by emotion after being released from prison by Israel (Nasser Nasser/AP)

Virtually all of those freed were women and children but the fact that few such hostages now remain in Gaza made it hard to reach a deal to extend the ceasefire.

Hamas, a militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years, had been expected to set a higher price for the remaining hostages, especially Israeli soldiers.

Mr Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from families of the hostages to bring them home but his far-right governing partners have also pushed him to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed, and could abandon his coalition if he is seen as making too many concessions.

A total of 81 Israelis, including dual nationals, were freed during the truce, most of whom appeared physically well but shaken. Another 24 hostages  23 Thais and one Filipino  were also released, including several men.

The Palestinian prisoners who were released were mostly teenagers accused of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. Several were women who were convicted by military courts of attempting to attack soldiers.

In its October 7th attack on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 people captive.

Since then, Israels bombardment and invasion in Gaza have killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel has pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip and ordered more neighbourhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the US and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning following the week-long truce with the territorys ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

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Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a multi-storey building on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on November 20.

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Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis (Fatima Shbair/AP)

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The ministry stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on November 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said on Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children.

It also said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the start of the war.

With the end of the truce, Israel has been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

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The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Some two million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the territorys southern half.

It was not clear if Israels military would heed appeals to spare civilians.

The military said on Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using air strikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships.

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Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

It included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah city in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken.

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The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight air strikes, including two children.

In northern Gaza, an air strike flattened a residential building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City.

The strike left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

There was a loud bang, then the building turned into a pile of rubble, Mr Obeid said.

AP video showed smoke rising from a fire as men, some in sandals, picked their way over the debris.

The Israeli military confirmed it was operating in Jabaliya and said it had found and destroyed Hamas tunnels in the surrounding area.

And a powerful strike hit a cluster of multi-storey buildings in Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development on the outskirts of Khan Younis.

Huge clouds of smoke engulfed the complex. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Lt Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Hamas had launched more than 250 rockets at Israel since the ceasefire ended.

The prospect of further ceasefires in Gaza appeared bleak, as Israel recalled its negotiators and Hamass deputy leader said any further exchange of prisoners would happen after the war ends.

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Saleh Arouri asserted to broadcaster Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, all of whom served in the (Israeli) army.

Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas violated the agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women it is holding.

Trails of rockets fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

With the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarise themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis.

Separately, the military dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

One Khan Younis resident said a neighbour received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit and everyone should leave.

We told them, We have nothing here, why do you want to strike it? said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra.

They eventually left, and al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south.

Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) area.

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Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the north a month ago to Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Amal Radwan, who sheltered in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others were not able to leave because of the relentless bombardment.

Here is death and there is death, she said.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was making maximum effort to safeguard Gazan civilians and the military has used leafleting, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.

Weve not asked the whole population of the south to relocate, he said.

Mr Regev added that Israel is considering a future security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access to the border fence on foot, adding that Israel does not plan to annex any territory from Gaza.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods.

It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

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Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the first convoy of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing since fighting resumed.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said a convoy of 100 trucks entered Gaza, including three carrying 150,000 litres (nearly 40,000 gallons) of fuel.

Current conditions do not allow for a meaningful humanitarian response, and I fear will spell disaster for the civilian population, Pascal Hundt, in charge of operations in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, US vice president Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the Cop28 climate conference, said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that under no circumstances would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders, according to a US summary of the meeting.

Ms Harris was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House.

President Joe Bidens administration has emphasised the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state co-existing.

The October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and around 240 people were taken captive.

The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

For families of remaining hostages, the truces collapse was a blow to hopes that their loved ones could be the next out.

A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons.

Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

The truces end also saw new activity along Israels northern border.

Lebanons militant Hezbollah group said its fighters attacked at least five Israeli posts along the border, and Israeli forces struck several areas on the Lebanese side.

There were no reports of casualties.
A new Christmas cocktail is dividing opinion.

Channel 4s Sunday Brunch mixologist, Jack Sotti, has taken to social media to share a new cocktail infused with Tenderstem broccoli.

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Sotti, who is also The Standard Hotels Sweeties bar mastermind, was inspired by the olive-infused Dirty Martini, and decided to put his own spin on the green cocktail trend by mixing up a new tipple using Tenderstem broccoli in a video posted on Instagram, in partnership with Tenderstem.

The sweet and nutty Broctail, which was developed with the brand, has since garnered over 23,000 views and received a mixed response from people in the comments section.

(Jack Sotti/PA)

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One comment from @jackhawkins.psd said: Wow! As a vegan this recipe really touches my heart. Amazing work ! #brocnation. Whilst @pollycheeseman said she is not sure about this one!

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Another user on Instagram called @kerry_whitten, showed their support for Sotti and told him to broc n rolllllllll. But @caitlananderson_ was in dismay and asked: No wtf!?!? Tenderstem on my Sunday dinner but in my cocktail??!!

The Broctail puts a festive spin on the classic cocktail  the margarita  pairing the tang of tequila with the sweet and nutty flavour profile of Tenderstem broccoli, which is then balanced with citrus, salt, and the aromas of extra virgin olive oil. It shows that going green doesnt have to mean you are a Grinch this holiday season.

In the world of mixology, creativity is an integral part of what we do, celebrating new ideas and flavours. I love experimenting with different ingredients to create incredible tasting concoctions to push customers outside of their cocktail comfort zoneand the Tenderstem Broctail does just this, says Sotti.

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(Jack Sotti/PA)

I understand that some people may be a bit sceptical about trying a cocktail made using Tenderstem, but I think theyll be pleasantly surprised by the sweet and nutty addition to a classic cocktail to enjoy during the festive period. If you cant shake it up at Christmas, then when can you?

Sotti explains how you can make your own Broctail, just in time for December drinks.

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The Broctail

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Ingredients:

50ml Blanco tequila

25ml fresh pressed lime juice

20ml 1:1 sugar syrup

5ml good extra virgin olive oi

4 florets of blanched Tenderstem Broccoli

1 pinch of flaky salt

Recipe:

1. Start by prepping your Tenderstem, bring a pot to the boil and blanche for no more than one minute.

2. Quickly remove and crash cool in an ice bath to prevent any further cooking.

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3. Pat dry and store in a sealed container with a dry kitchen towel.

4. Into a shaker, add three florets of Tenderstem Broccoli, add your lime juice, sugar syrup, blanco tequila, olive oil and salt.

5. Use a stick blender or blender to break down the broccoli. If you dont have one, use a muddler or rolling pin to crush the life out of it.

6. Then add lots of ice to a shaker and shake hard for 30 seconds until your hands go numb.

7. Fine strain into a rocks glass with lots of ice and garnish with a blanched Tenderstem floret and a pinch of flaky salt.
Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, the president of the United Nations climate talks said.

The announcement by Sultan al-Jaber, president of the Cop28 summit and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, came as he and others have insisted his background would allow him to bring oil companies to the negotiating table.

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Mr al-Jaber has maintained that having the industrys backing is crucial to drastically slashing the worlds greenhouse emissions by nearly half in seven years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared with pre-industrial times.

Cop28 president Sultan al-Jaber (Kamran Jebreili/AP)

The pledge included major national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, Brazils Petrobras and Sonangol, from Angola, and multinationals like Shell, TotalEnergies and BP.

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The world does not work without energy, said Mr al-Jaber. Yet the world will break down if we do not fix energies we use today, mitigate their emissions at a gigaton scale, and rapidly transition to zero carbon alternatives.

Methane can be released at several points along the operation of an oil and gas company, from fracking to when natural gas is produced, transported or stored. Over a shorter period, it is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for climate change.

For months leading up to Cop28, there has been talk that one of the biggest outcomes could be on methane. Not only do methane leaks  along with flaring, which is burning of excess methane  and venting of the gas all contribute to climate change, but these problems can largely solved with current technologies and changes to operations.

Oil and gas companies could have taken such measures years ago but largely have not, instead focusing on expanding production than focusing on the by-product.

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In that way, the methane deal represented a potentially significant contribution to fighting climate change that largely maintained the status quo for the oil and gas industry. Environmental groups were quick to criticise it.

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The pledge is a smokescreen to hide the reality that we need to phase out oil, gas and coal, said a letter signed by more than 300 civil society groups.

Marcelo Mena, chief executive of Global Methane Hub, rejected the notion that having near-zero methane emission commitments was a way to delay a phase-out of fossil fuels.

We wouldnt let oil companies leak into the ocean until phase-out, so why would we let them leak out methane to supercharge climate change? said Mr Mena, a former environment minister in Chile.

He said self-reporting did not go far enough to push oil and gas companies to make changes. Instead, he said putting a price on pollution, or companies finding themselves shut out of markets that require high standards with leaks, would force change.

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The COP28 Presidency today launched the landmark Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), a global industry Charter dedicated to speeding up climate action and achieving high-scale impact across the oil and gas sectors.To date, 50 companies, representing more than 40 pic.twitter.com/0ZV4qiye0y  COP28 UAE (@COP28_UAE) December 2, 2023

High regulations are beginning to happen. Earlier this year, European Union negotiators reached a deal to reduce methane emissions from the energy industry across the 27-member bloc.

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The agreement bans routine venting and flaring, and mandates strict reporting. By 2027, it will expand those norms to oil and gas exporters outside the bloc.

Saturdays announcement did not address the oil and natural gas being burned off by end users, whether motorists in cars or plants powering cities. That burning off creates the greenhouse gases fuelling climate change.

The Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter is backed by the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, two Opec heavyweights.

Saudi Arabias vast oil resources, located close to the surface of its desert expanse, makes it one of the worlds least expensive places to produce crude. Both Abu Dhabis ADNOC and Saudi Aramco, the worlds third-most-valuable company, have signed on to the pledge.

Separately, organisers said 110 countries have signed a pledge to triple the worlds installed renewable energy capacity by 2030, something pledged in September by leaders of the so-called G20. Their countries emit 80% of planet-warming gases.
Boris Johnson apologised to Matt Hancock for hiring Dominic Cummings and the damage the ex-adviser did to UKs Covid response, according to England's former health secretary.

The claim is made in Mr Hancocks written evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which has been published after he finished giving evidence in person on Friday.

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Mr Hancock used part one of his appearance on Thursday to paint the former British prime ministers ex-chief adviser as a malign actor who subjected his staff to abuse as they grappled with the emergence of coronavirus.

The former cabinet minister divulges further details in his 176-page written submission, claiming Mr Cummings attempted to centralise power to himself and worked without the then-prime ministers approval during the pandemic response.

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He also appears to hint that Mr Cummings may have been behind leaks from within Downing Street, suggesting that they stopped when Mr Johnson and his de facto chief-of-staff were both ill with coronavirus in spring 2020.

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Mr Hancock said Mr Cummings decision making was known to be erratic and labelled his alleged decision to continue to hold in place a ban on British government ministers appearing on BBC Radio 4s Today programme at the start of the pandemic beyond ridiculous.

He said that the then-prime minister has apologised to me for appointing his chief adviser and for the damage he did to the response to Covid-19.

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Asked whether Mr Johnson had apologised for hiring Mr Cummings, the former prime ministers spokesman said: Boris Johnson will be at the Covid inquiry next week and is looking forward to assisting the inquiry with its important work.

Mr Hancock played a key role in the response to the pandemic, but his performance has been repeatedly criticised by a number of other inquiry witnesses, including Mr Cummings.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock gave two days of in-person evidence to the Covid inquiry (UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA)

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Hitting back as he gave evidence on Thursday, the former health secretary said Mr Cummings had attempted to exert influence over decision-making in a way that was inappropriate in a democracy.

Expanding on that argument in his written comments, the MP said Mr Cummings in late February 2020 instigated a decision-making process from No 10, which he insisted supplanted prime ministerial decision-making.

He said a major challenge for the government when deciding on suitable actions for tackling the virus was that senior figures in No 10, including the prime ministers chief adviser, were in fact not aligned with Mr Johnson, but yet were issuing instructions as if they had the prime ministers full authority.

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Referencing the period in April 2020 when then-deputy prime minister Dominic Raab was put in charge while Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings were ill with Covid, Mr Hancock stated that the proper lines of accountability were respected far more in this time.

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In what appears to be a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Cummings, he said: This time was a very good example of how the state can operate in a time of crisis when convention is respected.

Ministers do not play politics, and advisers do not leak government decisions to the media in order to get their own way or exert disproportionate influence on decision-making in the name of their boss without their boss approval.

Mr Hancock is sitting as an Independent MP after being stripped of the whip in November 2022 by British prime minister Rishi Sunak following the announcement that he would be appearing on ITVs Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! programme.
Leaders of developing nations have used the second day of the UN climate summit to press rich industrial countries to share their knowhow to fight global warming and ease the financial burdens they face.

The annual United Nations Conference of the Parties, known as Cop28, in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates featured about 150 presidents, prime ministers, royals and other leaders who are presenting plans to cut heat-trapping emissions and mostly seek unity with other nations to avert climate catastrophe.

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The developing world took centre stage early on Saturday, with US vice president Kamala Harris of the US set to speak later.

Kamala Harris arrives at Al Maktoum International Airport (Kamran Jebreili/AP)

African leaders noted their continents rainforests help remove excess carbon dioxide in the air and their countries have produced a tiny fraction of heat-trapping emissions compared with richer countries.

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Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, of Equatorial Guinea  one of sub-Saharan Africas biggest oil producers  faulted developed nations for failing to deliver on commitments on financing for climate action and meet their own targets to curb industrial emissions.

Africa is one of the regions in the world that sequesters the most carbon and emits oxygen, he said.

President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor-Leste, next to Indonesia, condemned shark loans from multilateral lending institutions, saying developing nations cannot recover from heavy debt burdens that hamper their ability to put money into fighting climate change and grow economically.

Ms Harriss appearance at Cop28 in Dubai marks the first time a vice president has led Americas delegation since Cop3 in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, when Al Gore spoke. The US sent lower-level representatives from then until George W Bushs presidency.

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As Ms Harris made her way to the Dubai venue, US climate envoy John Kerry and French president Emmanuel Macron pushed for development of nuclear energy, which does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it presents security and waste challenges.

Emmanuel Macron speaks at Cop28 (Peter Dejong/AP)

A group of more than 20 nations called for a tripling of nuclear energy generated in the world by 2050.

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I want here to reiterate the fact that nuclear energy is a clean energy and it should be repeated, said Mr Macron, which gets around two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power, the most of any industrialised country, and even exports some of it to its neighbours.

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A declaration issued at the event did not specify how much money should be set aside, but urged the World Bank and others to encourage expanding lending for nuclear projects.

Mr Kerry said: We have to invest. Im not saying give away. Im saying invest the trillions of dollars that are sitting on the sidelines looking for bankable deals but not willing to move as fast as we need to move.

Leaders almost universally voiced their shared views that Earth is in crisis  with the UN and environmental groups warning that the planet has recorded the nine hottest years on record over the last decade.

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Pope Francis said the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, in a letter read on his behalf because he had to cancel plans to attend because of a lung inflammation.

The letter read by Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said almost all of the world that is needy is responsible for scarcely 10% of toxic emissions, while the gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal.

The poor are the real victims of what is happening: we need think only of the plight of Indigenous peoples, deforestation, the tragedies of hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration, the letter said.

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David Choquehuanca (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)

Bolivian vice president David Choquehuanca called for saving Mother Earth and staving off the multiple crises which have been caused by neo-colonial, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal western culture.

The climate crisis is but the latest chapter in a long history of hypocrisy and lies. The global north is responsible for the global imbalance that were seeing. They seek permanent growth to the detriment of the global south.

Worries are rising that the world is set to race past targets in the Paris climate accord of 2015 to cap the increase in global temperatures by the end of the century by 1.5 degrees since the start of the industrial era.

In a passionate start on Friday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, fresh from viewing melting glaciers in Antarctica and Nepal, said Earths vital signs are failing and told leaders: You can prevent planetary crash and burn.

In a direct challenge to fossil fuel-aligned nations, he said the only way to limit warming to the goal set in 2015 is by eliminating oil, coal and gas use. Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, he said.
A prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso has been abducted by unknown individuals, rights groups have said.

Activists say it could be the latest attempt by the military government to target dissidents using a controversial law.

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Daouda Diallo, a 2022 recipient of the Martin Ennals international human rights award, was abducted on Friday in the capital Ouagadougou after visiting the passport department where he had gone to renew his documents, according to the local Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatisation of Communities civic group, which Mr Diallo founded.

His captors  in civilian clothing  accosted him as he tried to enter his car and took him to an unknown location, the group said in a statement on Friday, warning Mr Diallos health could be at risk and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

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Amnesty Internationals west and central Africa office said the abduction was presumably (for him) to be forcibly conscripted after he was listed last month among those ordered to join Burkina Fasos security forces in their fight against jihadi violence as provided by a new law.





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Amnesty International denounces the use of conscription to intimidate independent voices in #BurkinaFaso and calls for the release of Dr Diallo, the group said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Earlier this year, Burkina Fasos junta announced the general mobilisation decree to recapture territories lost as jihadi attacks continue to ravage the landlocked country.

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The decree empowers the government to send people to join the fight against the armed groups.

It is also being used to target individuals who have openly criticised the junta and to silence peaceful dissent and punish its critics, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

HRW said at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition party members were informed by the government in November that they would be conscripted, including Mr Diallo, who joined Burkina Faso activists in condemning the move.

The simple fact of showing an independence of position is enough to be conscripted, said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty International in Burkina Faso.

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Right now, civil society activists, human rights defenders and even leaders of opposition political parties do not dare express freely their opinions because this decree is being used to silence and intimidate all of the voices that are independent, he added.
Former UK prime minister Liz Truss has said people are being allowed to demonstrate in favour of terrorists as more pro-Palestinian marches take place across the UK on Saturday.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has arranged a country-wide day of action to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

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Fighting has resumed between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian military group following a week-long truce that allowed hostages being held in Gaza to be released, along with Palestinian prisoners who had been incarcerated in Israel.

There are fears of further civilian casualties after Israel dropped leaflets on Friday warning residents to leave the southern part of the strip where two million people  almost the entire Gazan population  are based.

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The conflict, sparked by Hamass deadly assault on Israel on October 7th, has led to regular protests in support of the Palestinians in the UK since the bloodshed started.

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Ms Truss, who has been on a trip to the United States this week as part of a delegation with the Conservative Friends of Ukraine, suggested the protests showed the woke left would rather support authoritarian regimes than the West.

Speaking to the right-wing US broadcaster Fox News while in Washington DC, the Conservative MP said: On the streets of London, I see people demonstrating in favour of terrorists, and that being allowed to happen.

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And youve got the trans extremists, the eco-extremists, the anti-capitalists, the degrowth-ers.

They are about saying, The way of life that we have in Britain or America, that is not the right way of life.

Actually, we would rather support terrorists, wed rather support authoritarian regimes.

Former UK home secretary Suella Braverman had branded the protests hate marches before she was sacked by the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.

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Mr Sunak, who succeeded Ms Truss after the fallout from her disastrous mini-budget led to her becoming Britains shortest-serving prime minister, is reportedly looking to tighten the law to make it easier to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism.

More than 80 people have been charged in the UK over alleged hate crimes and violence linked to pro-Palestinian protests since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

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WATCH:



Former Prime Minister of the UK @trussliz joins @johnrobertsFox to discuss her op-ed calling for a renewal of global American leadership in the face of "grave threats" from "Russia, China, Iran and radical domestic ideologies." #AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/myXQedrCSU Advertisement  America Reports (@AmericaRpts) December 1, 2023

There has been controversy about those on the marches chanting the phrase from the river to the sea, which critics have claimed is antisemitic, while some attendees have been accused of showing support for Hamas.

The militant organisation is proscribed as a terror group in the UK and support for it is banned.

Former No 10 incumbent Ms Truss said anti-Western sentiment was not the view of the vast majority of Britons and that her constituents in South West Norfolk were frustrated that such ideology is not being taken on enough by Conservatives.

This is why we need Conservative leadership to actually take on the leftists, show strength in the face of aggressors abroad, so that we can revive the values that most people in our societies are desperate for, she said.

They believe in family, they believe in freedom, they believe in Anglo-American values.

The problem is that so much of the public debate is now dominated by the woke left.

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You can see that here in Washington DC, you can see that in London, you can see that right across Europe.

Pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather across the UK, with the PSC arranging ceasefire rallies and vigils in places such as London, Cardiff, Hull and Coventry.

Israel pounded targets on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip as it pursues Hamas targets following the resumption of violence.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Saturday (Fatima Shbair/AP/PA)

Most Gazans are in the area after Israel urged people to relocate there at the wars start, a move that left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

In a move that appears to hint that the Israel Defence Forces plans to extend its ground assault, Palestinians are being urged to move out of the south.

Unable to go into the battleground of north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 85 sq mile area.

Lord Ricketts, who served as the UKs first national security adviser, said Israel is in danger of causing massive civilian casualties if it takes the fight to Hamas in southern Gaza.

The peer told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Theyve got an increasing dilemma.

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They ordered a million people from the north to leave into the south.

They now have two million people there, many of them displaced, many of them living out in the open.

They simply cant use the same kind of armoured all-out assault that they used in the north without massive civilian casualties.

He said Tel Avivs plan to destroy Hamas seems to me to be impossible due to the political and social nature of the organisation.
When the outback epic Australia had a disappointing release in American cinemas 15 years ago, director Baz Luhrmann simmered over how it had been pitched to audiences there.

I really had conflict with the way the film was marketed and sold, the celebrated Australian director says from New York City. They hid in the US all of the cattle stuff and just sold it as Australias Pearl Harbour. It was all about the war.

I realised I had 2.1 million feet of footage: Baz Luhrmann. Credit: Brendon Thorne

It took watching streaming services when COVID-19 shut down the production of Elvis on the Gold Coast for Luhrmann to see a way of giving his most polarising film a new life  using footage that did not make the final cut, along with a new soundtrack, to turn Australia into a six-chapter miniseries called Faraway Downs that is streaming on Disney+.

I realised I had 2.1 million feet of footage, he says. In the back of my mind, I probably thought that one day I might make an epic two-film version.
The great Australian dream is  once again  under fire, and in a surprise to absolutely nobody Id like to talk about it. A recent housing report has suggested that Australians now need to earn an annual income of more than $300,000 to embark on the journey of home ownership  a claim Id like to dispute.

This has been gleaned from the analysis of over 22,000 property sales conducted by Suburbtrends in October, has purportedly established that median house prices are currently nine times the average annual income.

Reports this week claimed an income of $300,000 would be needed to afford property. In my experience, you can get by on far less. Credit: Dionne Gain

Employing the internationally recognised median multiple as its metric  a calculation involving the division of a markets median house price by the gross median household income  the report indicates that Australia has grown to a median multiple of 9.1.

This figure implies that aspiring home owners would need to command an income of at least $301,769 to navigate the property market terrain successfully  which understandably has disheartened many people around the country who still hold tight to the dream of one day owning the roof that covers their heads.
The activities of a suspected spy, trumped-up terrorism charges and the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of six innocent men over an alleged bomb plot in Sydney would make for a startling work of fiction.

But a NSW Supreme Court inquiry, starting public hearings on Monday, December 4, is set to determine if it is gravely troubling fact  and one of the nations worst miscarriages of justice.

The Croatian Six (clockwise from far left: Ilija Kokotovic, Anton Zvirotic, Joseph Kokotovic, Vjekoslav Brajkovic, Maksimilian Bebic and Mile Nekic) were convicted over an alleged plot to bomb locations in Sydney.

On February 8, 1979, six Croatian-Australians were arrested in raids in Lithgow and Sydney following a tip-off from a man claiming he was involved in a shared plot to bomb a string of targets across the city, including a Serbian club in Cabramatta, the Elizabethan Theatre in Newtown, and water supply pipes.

Among the officers leading the arrests in Sydney was one Roger Caleb Rogerson, then with the armed hold-up squad.
To his followers, he was Grieg, their guide through tantra yoga toward enlightenment and a higher state of consciousness. For European police, Gregorian Bivolaru represents a far more sinister figure: a master manipulator accused of sexual abuse and exploitation.

The arrest this week in the Paris region of the 71-year-old Romanian yoga guru and 40 others marked the culmination of a six-year manhunt involving Interpol. The raid, led by 175 officers of a French police unit that combats sect-related crime, also freed 26 people, who were described by authorities as sect victims who had been housed in deplorably dirty and cramped conditions.

Bivolaru is escorted to a vehicle after a hearing at the Romanian Police headquarters in Bucharest in 2016. Credit: AP

Bivolaru went before a judge Friday and could be handed preliminary charges, along with 14 other suspects. French police have for months been investigating a range of suspected crimes, including rape, human trafficking, illegal confinement and preying on followers as part of a sect.

It wasnt possible to reach Bivolaru, who remains in custody, and it wasnt immediately clear if he had legal representation.
Washington: The US insisted to Israel this week that it come up with clear plans to minimise civilian harm in any military operation in southern Gaza, a senior US official said, as the Israeli military resumed bombardment of the enclave after a week-long truce collapsed.

By Friday evening, Israel-time, Gaza health officials said Israeli air strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others and hit more than 20 houses.

A soldier watches as rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel from Sderot, Israel. Credit: Getty

Fridays bombing was most intense in the southern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah, medics and witnesses said. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been sheltering there because of fighting in the north. Houses in central and northern areas were also hit.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had indicated it would move into southern Gaza when hostilities resumed having already taken control of much of the north.
Dubai: King Charles III sported a tie emblazoned with the Greek flag while meeting Rishi Sunak in Dubai  just days after the UK prime minister was embroiled in a diplomatic spat with Greece.

The monarch matched the blue-and-white tie with a pocket square in Greek colours while attending international climate talks on Friday.

Sending a message? King Charles III sported a tie with a motif of the Greek flag during the opening ceremony of the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai. Credit: AP (Peter Dejong/Rafiq Maqbool)

Earlier this week, Sunak abruptly cancelled a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after his counterpart repeated calls for the Parthenon sculptures  known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles  to be returned to Athens.

Two centuries after they were taken from the ruins of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, the treasures are considered among the greatest in the British Museum.
Multi-pronged measures in place to cope with upsurge of respiratory illnesses

Xinhua) 14:21, December 02, 2023

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Facing the recent high incidences of respiratory infectious diseases, medical authorities across China have coordinated medical resources and taken multiple measures to meet the increasing demand for medical treatment among its residents this winter.

Monitoring data shows that the recent respiratory infectious diseases are mainly influenza, along with others caused by rhinovirus, mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, and the like.

Currently, pediatric medical institutions nationwide continue to run around the clock, providing necessary medical support for minor patients. At the same time, education authorities and schools are strengthening their health monitoring and disease prevention measures to safeguard the health and safety of their faculties and students.

24/7 MEDICAL SERVICE

The National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday that it will fully tap the potential of pediatric diagnosis and treatment services and expand the total number of available service resources.

Amid the latest surge of respiratory illnesses, medical institutions should extend their outpatient reception hours, add available outpatient service numbers, expand consultation rooms and diagnosis and treatment areas in hospitals, and set up nighttime and weekend outpatient departments according to the medical treatment needs of their children patients, said NHC.

Beijing Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric specialty medical institutions in the Chinese capital and the national children's medical center. Recently, the number of outpatient and emergency children patients has risen sharply, at times far exceeding its reception capacity. To expand its service capacity, the hospital's surgical rooms have also freed up a large part of the space for treating children with fevers.

Zhao Chengsong, vice president of Beijing Children's Hospital, introduced that the hospital has coordinated all its medical resources to ensure the medical needs of various children patients, adjusted the staff distribution, which is now tilted to the internal medicine or fever and cough departments, set up a sequential treatment clinic for pneumonia, adjusted the inpatient beds, and opened beds in its internal medicine department to treat children with pneumonia.

Meanwhile, the hospital also facilitates its inspection, imaging, pharmacy, and charging services for the patients, with staff numbers increased and their working hours extended.

In the Second Hospital of Jilin University, located in Changchun, the provincial capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, most of the outpatient reception hall has been turned into an infusion area for minors, where children can undergo infusion treatment accompanied by their family members.

Zhang Yunfeng, director of the pediatric diagnosis and treatment center of the hospital, said that as of late, the daily number of pediatric outpatients was around 400 to 500, while the number of patients in the emergency department was 200 to 300.

Pan Zhenxiang, vice president of the Second Hospital of Jilin University, said that some doctors from other departments have joined the work of the pediatric internal medicine department to help relieve the piled-up medical treatment demands. A complete emergency plan has been made, with sufficient medics on standby.

Even at night, the hospital has set up a special emergency department that lasts until 11 p.m., which helps ensure those who come to see a doctor late at night. It also established a temporary pharmacy for pediatric emergency patients, making the service easily accessible for anxious patients.

FOR THE SAKE OF STUDENTS' HEALTH

In response to the current upsurge of respiratory diseases, in late November, relevant Beijing municipal authorities including the Beijing Municipal Education Commission urged greater efforts to safeguard the health and safety of students, and demanded monitoring the health of teachers and students to ensure that no teachers nor students go to work or attend classes with illness.

The schools should not make mandatory requirements for homework when its students fall ill, and it is not recommended to rush making up homework during their illness, said the municipal education commission.

Moreover, the schools should do a good job in the orderly coordination of online and offline teaching. The schools and relevant class teachers should communicate with the parents about the key points of the recent teaching courses missed by the absent student patients, the commission added.

In accordance with the requirements of the local education department and disease control department, all schools in Jilin Province have strengthened their daily management and science popularization in schools and among students and parents.

In the Second Experimental Gaoxin School of Jilin Province, each grade strictly implements the system of morning and afternoon inspections, registration, and reporting of absence due to illness.

The classes have strengthened the daily ventilation and sanitation work. The head teachers are asked to guide their students to wash their hands frequently.

In the classes with related cases, measures such as symptom monitoring, case management, disinfection, and ventilation have also been ramped up, according to the school.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the pioneering body in the field of space science in India. A career with ISRO not only promises an exciting career filled with innovation and exploration but also gives an opportunity to contribute to the nation's interests in space.

The Indian Space Research Organisation is the country's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru. It is governed directly by the Honourable Prime Minister of India through the Department of Space (DOS), and the chairman of ISRO also acts as the executive of DOS. ISRO was established in 1969 with the goal of developing and deploying space technology for national development, as well as conducting planetary exploration and space science research. ISRO superseded INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research), which was founded in 1962 by India's first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, and scientist Vikram Sarabhai, both of whom are considered the country's founding fathers of the Indian space programme.

Here, we discuss the top 10 courses that can pave the way to becoming a scientist at ISRO.

Top 10 Courses to to Become an ISRO Scientist

Aeronautical Engineering

This branch of engineering deals with the development of spacecraft and aircraft. Aeronautical Engineering is directly associated with the design, development, testing, and production of aircraft and related systems. A degree in this field can be an ideal stepping stone to a career at ISRO.

Robotics & Automation

Space exploration and mission operations rely heavily on robotics and automation. ISRO robotics and automation expertise assist in the construction, maintenance, and exploration of space vehicles. They develop space-capable robots for precision work. Robotic arms, rovers, and other autonomous devices created and programmed by robotics and automation professionals are used in space missions. Their expertise increases quick and accurate work execution, reduces human risk, and expands space exploration alternatives.

Engineering in Electronics and Communication

Communication and electronics are the two most important components of satellite technology. This course provides an in-depth study of circuits, signals, and communication systems, which is essential for creating satellite payloads and communication systems.

Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineering encompasses the design, development, construction, and operation of aeroplanes, spaceships, and missiles. ISRO aerospace engineers are in high demand because to their versatility. These roles may include systems engineering, in which engineers assure the seamless integration of a spaceship's or satellite's subsystems and components. Design engineering, which involves generating and improving sophisticated aeronautical vehicle designs, is another crucial activity. Another branch of aeronautical engineering is manufacturing engineering, which optimises the fabrication and assembly of aircraft systems.

Geospatial Engineering

Geospatial engineering involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of geographic data. ISRO geospatial engineers play an important role in mapping, navigation, and disaster management. Remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) are used to collect and interpret Earth surface data. Geospatial engineers develop accurate maps, monitor environmental changes, and provide information on catastrophe response and mitigation. They improve mission planning and understanding of Earth's attributes by processing and interpreting spatial data.

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering is a versatile branch of engineering that deals with the design, analysis, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. This course offers a broad understanding of the technical aspects involved in space exploration, making it a viable choice for a career at ISRO.

Computer Science Engineering

Computer Science Engineering deals with the design and development of computer software and hardware. With the increasing role of technology in space exploration, a degree in this field can provide a strong footing for a career at ISRO.

Avionics Engineering

Avionics engineering is the design, development, and testing of avionic systems. ISRO's avionics engineers guarantee that the electrical systems that control and guide planes and spacecraft run smoothly. Working with other engineers to integrate avionics systems into aeronautical projects is what system engineering entails. Avionics engineers also work on design engineering, creating and improving communication, navigation, and control systems for aeronautical vehicles. Avionics engineers also work in software engineering, developing and maintaining software for avionic systems.

Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering involves the design and development of chemical processes for large-scale manufacturing. A degree in this field can be particularly useful in the area of propellant and fuel technologies, making it a viable choice for a career at ISRO.

Systems engineering

Systems engineering is the design and management of complex systems. ISRO's systems engineers oversee the development and integration of space mission components. They connect subsystems like propulsion, guiding, navigation, and control. Systems engineers work with engineers from other disciplines to ensure subsystem compatibility and interoperability. During a space mission, they create system requirements, undertake system-level testing and validation, and manage risks and uncertainties.
The field of Pharmacology in India is one that is ripe with opportunities for those interested in the science of drugs and their effects on the human body. As a crucial sector in the healthcare industry, pharmacology involves the research, discovery, and development of new medications, as well as the monitoring of their safety and efficacy. With the growing demand for medical advancements and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the need for skilled pharmacologists is ever-expanding in India.

Educational Pathways

To embark on a career in pharmacology, one must first lay the educational groundwork. In India, aspirants can start with a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy (B.Pharm) followed by a Masters degree in Pharmacology (M.Pharm) or related fields. For those looking to delve deeper or engage in research, pursuing a Ph.D. in Pharmacology is highly recommended. Educational institutions across India offer these programs, equipping students with the necessary knowledge and practical skills to flourish in the industry.

Career Prospects in Pharmacology

Pharmacologists can also choose to specialize in specific areas such as toxicology, neuroscience, or cardiovascular pharmacology. They can work on developing new drugs or studying the effects of existing medications. The field of pharmacology offers a range of career options with opportunities for growth and advancement. With the increasing demand for new drugs and advancements in medical technology, pharmacologists can play a crucial role in improving healthcare and ensuring patient safety. Whether it's conducting research, working in the pharmaceutical industry, or contributing to drug regulation, a career in pharmacology offers diverse and rewarding opportunities for those interested in the field.

Specializations within Pharmacology

Clinical pharmacology involves studying the effects of drugs in humans, with a focus on determining the most effective and safe dosages for patients. These professionals play a crucial role in conducting clinical trials, monitoring drug interactions, and providing evidence-based recommendations for optimal drug therapies. Neuropharmacology focuses on understanding how drugs affect the nervous system and the underlying mechanisms of neurological disorders. This specialization is important for developing new medications to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, and depression.

Cardiovascular pharmacology involves studying drugs that affect the heart and blood vessels. Professionals in this field work to develop medications that can treat conditions like hypertension, heart failure, and arrhythmias. Psychopharmacology is the study of drugs that affect the brain and behavior, with a particular focus on mental health disorders. These specialists play a critical role in developing and prescribing medications for conditions such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. By specializing in a specific area of pharmacology, professionals can make significant contributions to patient care and the advancement of medicine in their chosen field.

Emerging Trends and Opportunities

Pharmacologists in India can expect to be at the forefront of innovative research and development in the healthcare sector. The implementation of precision medicine allows for tailored treatments based on an individual's genetic makeup, leading to more effective and targeted therapies. This approach requires pharmacologists to possess a deep understanding of genetics and molecular biology, making it an exciting and intellectually stimulating field to work in.

Additionally, the development of biologics and biosimilars is transforming the pharmaceutical industry. Biologics, which are derived from living organisms, offer unique therapeutic opportunities, but also present complex challenges in terms of research, manufacturing, and regulation. Pharmacologists with expertise in this area are in high demand as they play a crucial role in developing safe and effective biologic drugs.Overall, the pharmacology sector in India is experiencing a significant shift towards cutting-edge technologies and personalized medicine. Pharmacologists who embrace these advancements and keep up with the latest scientific discoveries will find themselves in a rewarding and promising career path.
The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has chosen Hayao Miyazakis The Boy and the Heron as the years best animated feature film.

It marks the fourth time that Miyazaki has won the honor from the NYFCC, which is the oldest film critics group in the United States. He was previously honored by the group for Spirited Away, Howls Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises.. Its unlikely that another animation director will match Miyazakis success at the NYFCC anytime soon; the only other filmmaker who has been honored with multiple animation honors is Sylvain Chomet, who has won the category twice.

The NYFCC animation prize is an excellent indicator of future Academy Award feature animation nominees, if not necessarily winners. During years in which both awards have been handed out, 19 of the 21 NYFCC winners have gone on to be nominated for an animation Oscar.

There is much less correlation between winners. In fact, none of the last four NYFCC winners  Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022), The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), Wolfwalkers (2020), and I Lost My Body (2019)  have gone on to win the Oscar. The last time both groups agreed on a winner was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The Boy and the Heron will be widely released in the U.S. on December 8, when GKIDS will distribute the film nationwide in both an English-language dub and a Japanese-language version with English subtitles.

The Boy and the Heron is an original semi-autobiographical fantasy written and directed by Miyazaki, about a young boy, yearning for his mother, who ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
Several high-profile individuals spoke at this years The New York Times Dealbook Summit, but it was one exchange between Disney CEO Bob Iger and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk that is making all the headlines.

X is currently suffering an advertiser exodus after Musk was accused of promoting antisemitism and refusing to moderate hate speech on the platform. Among the companies that have paused advertising on X is The Walt Disney Company, and things got heated when the two executives both spoke on the same day.

Iger went first, and when asked about Disneys decision to stop advertising on Twitter, he explained:

I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished. We know that Elon is larger than life in many respects, and that his name is very much connected to the companies he founded or owns. By him taking the position he took in a public manner, we felt that the association was not necessarily a positive one for us.

Musk later took the stage and admitted that he erred when he described an antisemitic post on X as the actual truth. In the two weeks since that post, dozens of major brands have stopped advertising on X and the company could lose as much as $75 million by the end of the year, according to The New York Times.

When asked about advertisers fleeing X in droves, Musk quickly replied:

Dont advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey Bob, if youre in the audience. Thats how I feel. Dont advertise.

Moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Musk to elaborate, and the X boss went on to explain:

What this advertising boycott is gonna do is its gonna kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company. And we will document it in great detail.

Sorkin reminded Musk that without significant changes to its business model, X cant survive without advertising dollars. He also insisted that despite Musks protestations, advertisers will argue, We didnt kill the company. Musk was undeterred and replied with a non sequitur:

Oh yeah? Tell it to Earth. Lets see how Earth responds to that. Well both make our cases, and well see what the outcome is. If the company fails because of an advertisers boycott, it will fail because of an advertisers boycott, and that will be what bankrupt the company and thats what everybody on Earth will know. Then well be gone, and well be gone because of an advertisers boycott.

Jamies take: The Walt Disney Company, a prominent cultural company that is currently struggling creatively, has turned out to be a convenient target for public figures who need a punching bag. One of the reasons that former Disney CEO Bob Chapek fell out of favor at the company was because of external feuds, like the very public back-and-forth he shared with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. That always seemed a bit unfair, as the feud was largely one-sided, with DeSantis trying to turn Disney and Chapek into a bogeyman for political reasons. Musks attack on Iger feels similar, as if the X owner is trying to deflect from his companys struggles by placing the blame elsewhere.
Warner Bros. Japan has released the first trailer for its upcoming DC anime series Suicide Squad ISEKAI, which will debut worldwide next year.

Isekai means different world, and in the trailer, the members of the Suicide Squad find themselves battling all kinds of strange enemies in a distinctly fantasy setting. Transposing the comic book characters in an anime style feels like a great choice for the otherworldly nature of the shows narrative.

Heres what we know about Suicide Squad ISEKAI:
At the School of Visual Arts (SVA), the creative experience does not stop at the classroom doors. Besides a rigorous curriculum taught by world-class professional artists, students are encouraged to find inspiration for their artists voice in diverse environments with members of their communities helping to spur their own creative work.

Three animation departments at SVA enthusiastically support many opportunities to foster young creatives, including mentorship connections through the Mentorship, Advice and Relationship Services (M.A.R.S.) student club, the chance to travel to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), and community networking events with the Women in Animation (WIA) Student Collective.

In September, seven students from both the BFA Animation and MFA Computer Arts departments were invited to travel across the border to attend the annual Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) in Canada. Known for showcasing cutting-edge films and work on the fringes of the art form, the festival provided inspiration to students in countless surprising ways. They were able to roam the festival, meet peers from other schools, and hear from animation filmmakers from around the world.

BFA Animation Senior Student Representative, Kaylee Park, recounts her experience traveling to the OIAF:

This was my first experience with the animation industry outside of New York City. I was immersed in the community outside of my usual environment as well as watching work that was created outside of the usual box. In the midst of a troubled and turbulent change in the industry, watching people come together to experience and talk about animation has filled my heart with hope and excitement for whats to come for us.

Teo Nalani, another BFA Animation Student Representative who traveled with the group, shares:

It was a different kind of storytelling than were used to. It was awesome to see whats possible outside of the traditional storytelling structures. It was also great to be surrounded by other artists and so many different kinds of animation projects. I am inspired to make more stuff and let my art be more free.

SVA is home to a plethora of specialized and student-run clubs. M.A.R.S. is unique to the BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects department. The club was founded by former Pixar technical director and a current Method Studios cg supervisor Christina Faraj during her time as a student at SVA. Each semester the club hosts a variety of events, including tech demos with industry professionals in addition to a mentorship program where freshmen and sophomores connect with juniors and seniors.

Seogene Lee, the clubs leader and a mentor, says:

We (M.A.R.S.) place students interests and needs first and foremost. We also look out for industry-standard skills and trends [] and continue to bring in motivational speakers from the industry for SVA students to make connections and seek inspiration.

Lees mentee Hayden Glover shared with us some of their experiences in M.A.R.S.s mentorship program. Glover joined M.A.R.S. this fall and was drawn to the clubs environment, community, and opportunities to interact with and learn more from his peers:

Even though its only been a semester, with the help of my mentor I feel as if I have already greatly improved my modeling skills which truly makes me appreciate M.A.R.S.

Animation students looking to integrate clubs into their academic lives have found a helpful community in SVAs Student Collective of WIA (Women in Animation). Student members can take advantage of various opportunities ranging from career-readiness events like studio tours and portfolio reviews with industry professionals to talent development workshops to help members develop their hard and soft professional skills. SVA WIA promotes equity, empowers, and advocates for underrepresented students in one of the NYC areas largest communities of young animators, both academically and professionally. Membership is open to all, regardless of gender identity.

MFA Computer Arts student and WIA SVA president Jessica Reisch describes the clubs role in her academic life:

Joining the club was a fantastic opportunity to get to know other students outside of my department. I was already a volunteer with WIAs NYC Chapter, where I helped to organize studio tours for students. I brought that experience with me to SVA, and have continued to make studio tours a priority. These are some of our most sought-after events; the sign-ups fill within minutes of release.

Describing how the organization will continue to impact her after graduation, Reisch states:

My role as president of WIA SVA has broadened the horizons of my SVA community far beyond what would have been possible if I were not involved in the club. Studio tours and talks with industry professionals have provided me with invaluable insight, and discussions and connections with other members have nourished my interests and passion for this work.

The most impactful stories are those that carry inspiration from everyone, everything, and everywhere. Experiences outside of the classroom are important to the development of ones artistic voice and essential to navigating an ever-changing industry. The School of Visual Arts provides many opportunities for growth and community to provide a well-rounded experience for its students.

Learn more about our BFA Animation, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects, and MFA Computer Arts programs at SVA.edu.
A woman on Arkwright Street told police she had borrowed a pet crate from a neighbor back in March of this year. She said she was under the impression that the neighbor gave it to her to keep. She said that neighbor has recently started asking for it back and following her on social media. She gave police the crate and they returned it to the neighbor so there would be no more issues.* * *A woman told police some man stole her purse from her place of work at 6025 E.Brainerd Road. She said the store has working cameras, but she was unable to secure footage. Police provided an email address in case any footage is located. She valued her purse and belongings at $400. Police currently have no viable suspect information.* * *A woman told police she last had possession of her backpack in the parking area across from Jax Liquor, and did not notice that the bag did not make it into the car when they were leaving the area. She said the backpack contained several misc. electronic cables, as well as some medication, but could not recall what type of medication. She said she provided her information to the property owners on the chance that someone located her bag and turns it in.* * *Officers responded to a homeless person sleeping by the door of a business at 5530 Hixson Pike. The owner wanted her trespassed. Police spoke to the woman and identified her. She was informed she was trespassed from the property and she would be arrested if she were found back at the property. She began packing her items and left the property.* * *Police received a call about a suspicious person walking away from the Downtown Library. Police spoke with a man who matched the description given. The man was very cooperative in giving his identity. There was no reason to detain him, so he was free to go about his way.* * *A nearby resident of a home on S. Willow Street called in to report a suspicious vehicle in the alleyway behind the address. Police responded and located an unoccupied Subaru Outback bearing a TN tag. This vehicle returned stolen out of Chattanooga, which was verified by NCIC. The vehicle was removed from NCIC and towed from the location by United Wrecker #2. No keys were recovered with the vehicle, and no further suspect information was obtained. The owner of the vehicle was notified by Dispatch that the vehicle was recovered.* * *A woman on W. 38th Street called police about a disorder. Police attempted to make contact with the woman at her address, but received no answer at the door. A few minutes later the woman arrived on scene and said her boyfriend and friend were in a verbal disorder earlier, but left prior to police arrival. She said there was no longer a disorder and she did not need police.* * *A woman on Aubrey Avenue told police she had left her vehicle parked on the street in front of her house the day before around 6:30 p.m. When she got back out to it that morning around 7:40 a.m. she discovered some damage on it. There was a medium sized dent and a scratch on the driver's side front door. She is not really sure what happened to it.* * *A man on E. 11th Street told police he had left his vehicle parked at his home overnight and he last saw it the night before around 9:30 p.m. When he got back to it that morning around 6:30 a.m., he discovered the inside had been ransacked and some things had been stolen. Also, the passenger side front door was bent around the frame and the window behind the door in the rear of the cab had been broken out.* * *A shoplifting was reported at Belle Rive Boutique, 113 Frazier Ave. The owner told police a white female stole a $10 pair of stud earrings and left the store on foot. The woman was captured on video surveillance concealing the merchandise while the owner assisted another customer. Police checked the area in an attempt to locate the woman, but to no avail.* * *A woman at Employbridge, 2204 Encompass Dr., told police that their staffing agency received an application for a man. They said that their system rejected the application and then sent him an email saying they were not taking his application. The man then responded to the email twice and said that they were all going to die. The woman wanted to make a report about the incident just in case anything was to happen; they did not want to proceed with any kind of charges. The staffing agency was able to provide all the information for the man.* * *An employee at Premium Landscaping told police he parked a truck in the parking lot of the Starbucks on Brainerd Road. The man said he was working on the east side of the business. When he returned, he said he noticed that the RedMax black/red blower had been taken from the bed of the work vehicle. Police will attempt to view video footage from Starbucks.* * *A suspicious person was reported at a business at 5425 Highway 153. Police made contact with a woman fitting the description in front of Planet Fitness. Police were told by multiple employees that the woman was bothering customers. The woman was trespassed from the property. She left without incident.* * *A woman on Colony Circle told police she is receiving unwanted texts. The texts are saying several things, including that they like her BMW (car) and she might wake up with no car tomorrow. She has no idea of who is sending the texts.* * *Police were called to a disorder at First Response Towing at 980 Airport Road regarding an employee who had been recently terminated and was causing problems. Police spoke with the ex-employee. He said he was trying to get his DOT heath card that was in the truck he had been using several days prior. He said the owner told him he threw everything away, so he got upset because it was going to cost him money to get another one. Police spoke with the doctor's office, who said they would issue him a new one at no charge, and he was told he was trespassed from the tow yard and not to return.
Lee alumna Lindsey Taylor Moseley, fourth-grade teacher at Waterville Community Elementary School, was named Bradley Countys Teacher of the Year for the 2024-25 academic year.

While this was entirely unexpected, I am thrilled and humbled to represent such a phenomenal school district as Bradley Countys Teacher of the Year, said Ms. Moseley. While I have always known I wanted to be a teacher, I am so thankful for the wonderful foundation provided by Lees Helen DeVos College of Education that helped me excel in the teaching profession.

Ms. Moseley has taught at Waterville Community Elementary School since 2020. Prior to accepting that position, she taught sixth grade at Lake Forest Middle School for eight years.

A Cleveland native, Ms. Moseley graduated from Walker Valley High School in 2008 and went on to pursue her degree at Lee. In 2011, she graduated from Lee with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education, returning to earn her Master of Education in classroom instruction in 2014.

I am delighted to hear of Lindsey being named as Bradley County Teacher of the Year, said Dr. Laura Anderson, professor of education at Lee. As one of Lindseys education professors, I can attest to her wonderful ability to teach in the classroom. Bradley County is fortunate to have her, and Helen DeVos College of Education is proud of her!

As a student at Lee, Ms. Moseley was a member of the Greek service club Delta Zeta Tau. She also participated in cross-cultural trips to the Philippines and Thailand.

She lives with her husband, Jonathan, and they have two daughters, Brooklyn, six, and Olivia, four.

For more information about Lees Helen DeVos College of Education, visit www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/education/ or call 614-8175.
Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation has been recognized nationally for superior patient outcomes. And although the hospital draws patients nationally, its five outpatient physical therapy locations have been located within Tennessee. Now, the hospital will serve residents within the northwest Georgia area with a new outpatient physical therapy clinic located at 4618 Battlefield Pkwy. in Ringgold.We are excited to bring the high level of care we are known for to residents in and around Catoosa County, said Matthew A.Gibson, Ph.D., FACHE, president and CEO for Siskin Hospital.Mr. Gibson said that a primary benefit of the Battlefield Parkway location is continuity of care. Patients who leave Siskin Hospital and return to their Northwest Georgia home can now have a seamless experience of care as they transition to outpatient therapy. Our clinicians in Georgia have access to their records and can ensure continued improvements, he said.A second benefit Mr. Gibson adds is convenience, stating that research shows patients are more likely to attend their full course of treatment and have better outcomes when outpatient care is convenient to their home.This is certainly in keeping with our mission and goal of enabling access, said Mr. Gibson.The public is invited to the new outpatient clinic ribbon cutting next Tuesday from 9-11:30 a.m.
The federal government's General Services Administration, with a new federal courthouse planned to be ready by 2030, is still in the process of making a final determination on how to best dispose of the historic Joel W. Solomon Building.

The marble structure on Georgia Avenue across from Miller Park was the final creation of noted Chattanooga architect R.H. Hunt.

An environmental assessment draft report says, "GSA will take into account multiple points of consideration, including financial viability, availability of appropriations, the needs and requirements of the federal tenancy, as well as the historic significance of the property.

"It is GSAs goal to make a decision for the Solomon Building that is in the best interest of the Federal Government and taxpayers. Disposal options will be determined through the GSA disposal process.

"Future reuse of the Solomon Building is not part of the Proposed Action and is not considered in this EA."

GSA earlier "determined that renovation and expansion of the existing courthouse was not feasible due to the cost for such renovations, disruption to existing courthouse operations during renovations, and the lack of additional space to accommodate the additional square footage necessary to bring the existing courthouse into compliance with the U.S. Courts Design Guide, as amended in 2008 and 2016 (Judicial Conference of the United States 2021)."

The existing federal courthouse serves the Eastern District of Tennessee, one of 94 federal judicial districts established across the country. Each district has its own U.S. District Court. In addition to the District Court itself, the Solomon Building hosts other judicial and non-judicial-related tenants. It was constructed in 1933 and currently supports four courtrooms and three district judges, one senior district judge, and two magistrate judges.

The report says, "The courthouse building lacks adequate security, does not provide for future expansion, and does not meet USCDG (U.S. Courthouse Design Guide) standards. Because of inadequacies in the existing buildings configuration and size, judges, prisoners, and the public must use the same public elevators and corridors. There are not enough courtroom holding cells. The prisoner access route to one of the magistrate judge courtrooms passes through the magistrate judges chambers. Further, the building lacks a prisoner sally port, adequate setbacks, or perimeter barriers. The building has ongoing water infiltration issues, mold issues, and a major rat infestation throughout the building, as well as the presence of asbestos. None of the courtrooms meet the recommended size requirements of the USCDG, nor accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities."

The new courthouse will have approximately 190,478 gross square feet and accommodate 40 secured parking spaces, seven courtrooms, and nine chambers.

Tenants of the existing courthouse that would move to the new Courthouse currently include:

 U.S. District Court,

 Circuit Library,

 U.S. Probation Office,

 U.S. Department of Justice - U.S. Marshals Service,

 U.S. Department of Justice - Office of the U.S. Attorneys,

 Congressional Offices, and

 GSA.

In addition, the Bankruptcy Court and potentially the U.S. Trustees would relocate to the new Courthouse from their current leased space in the Old Post Office Custom House Building, located at the intersection of E. 11th Street and Lindsay Street, it was stated.

The report states, "While the U.S. Attorneys Office currently located in the Old Post Office Custom House Building would not move to the new courthouse, the proposed courthouse would include approximately 1,500 square feet of trial preparation space for their use."
Vice President of Century Park Associates, Lee alumna, and recent TICUA Hall of Fame inductee Esmerelda Lee will deliver the commencement address at Lee Universitys winter ceremony, taking place on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 10:30 a.m.

We are delighted to have Esmerelda Lee as our commencement speaker, said Lee President Dr. Mark L. Walker. She is a model Lee alumnus of service, work ethic, and Christian character. We could not ask for anyone better to speak to our graduates."

Ms. Lee graduated cum laude from Lee College in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and pre-med emphasis. She went on to earn her masters degree in public health administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) in 1999.

Since 2019, she has served as VP and Chief Operations Officer for Century Park Associates, where she oversees the assisted and independent living for seniors in the Cleveland community, seeking to provide an enriching lifestyle for its seniors and residents. She has also served in various roles within the Cleveland community, including the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Rotary Club of Cleveland, the 2009 Steering Committee for United Way, the Governors Board, the Lee University Alumni Advisory Board, and the Cleveland High School Community Advisory Board.

This fall, Ms. Lee was inducted into the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Associations Hall of Fame, which aims to honor distinguished alumni from TICUA institutions while highlighting their contributions to the state, nation and world.

The schools winter commencement is one of three graduation ceremonies held each year on campus, the others being held in the spring and summer. The winter ceremony combines the music, which will be provided by Lee University Chorale, and decorations of the Christmas season with traditional commencement activities.

There will be 181 undergraduate and 21 graduate students receiving degrees in the Saturday morning ceremony. Of the 21 graduate students, two are doctoral students.

Prior to the Saturday commencement, a commissioning ceremony will be held Friday, Dec. 8, at 6:30 p.m. The commissioning service is a special occasion for students and their families to reflect on their time at Lee, and five student speakers will share brief stories about their experiences. During the event, each graduate is presented with a personalized Bible in a traditional walk across the stage.

Both services will be held in the Conn Center.

This Decembers undergraduate speakers for the commissioning ceremony include Jeremiah Burkley, a history education major with a minor in music; Allie Grace Kinard, a psychology major with a Christian ministry minor; Eamon McLaughlin, a business administration major; and Aime Ndiaye, a theological and professional studies major with minors in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and business administration. Representing the graduate students is speaker Adam Dodson, earning his degree in ministry studies. Marielle Alexander, a TESOL and music double major with a minor in psychology, will perform during the commissioning ceremony.

In addition to the commissioning ceremony on Friday, the hooding ceremony for recipients of masters degrees, education specialist degrees, and doctoral degrees will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the Lee Chapel.

Following the commissioning ceremony, there will be a reception on Friday for all in attendance to celebrate the graduates.



The hooding, commissioning, and commencement ceremonies are ticketed events. For those wishing to view any of the events, live streaming will be available at leeu.live.

For more information about commencement exercises, contact the Academic Events Office at

graduation@leeuniversity.edu, 614-8117, or visit leeuniversity.edu/academics/graduation-info/.




For close to three months, this 25-year-old guy has been dating a 21-year-old girl. A month before he met her, the place where he was working informed him they were closing down for good, so he knew that meant he would lose his job.

As he began dating her, he mentioned he had to be careful with his money as he was going to eventually be unemployed.

A week or two before he got laid off (the exact day he lost his job was November 17th), he noticed that hundreds of dollars were being charged to his debit card from DoorDash.

The thing is, he exclusively uses Uber Eats to order takeout, and so he was quite confused as to why these charges were on his card.

So I get on the phone with the bank and get all this refunded (almost $450 in DoorDash orders, crazy), he explained.

Nowlast night she fell asleep with her phone unlocked. Typically I dont care, Ill plug it in and leave it. But shes been wanting me to make things official, so I wanted to see what else shes got going on.

While he was searching through her phone, he came across a number for a credit or debit card, and it crossed his mind that perhaps she had actually stolen his card number.

His gut instinct was right, as he logged into her DoorDash app and found that all of the charges she had made there were connected to his debit card that he just had to close down.

He has no clue where she ordered the food to be delivered since it never went to his apartment, but thats beside the point.

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When you were in school, did you or someone you know run out of lunch money and accumulate debt in the cafeteria?

Not being able to afford school lunches is a problem that many children in America tragically have to face.

It leaves them feeling upset and insecure, and some children are left hungry in the middle of the day if their school lunch debt is too large.

One magnificent teenager who experienced school lunch debt himself as a child is working hard to prevent students from having to deal with it themselves.

DeJaun Strickland is 15-years-old and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He loves science and has also created his own comic books. One of DeJuans latest passions is giving back to others and making a change in his community.

DeJuan was recently reflecting on a day in the fourth grade when he had accumulated school lunch debt and couldnt afford a lunch.

Although his mom, Sharron, was thankfully able to pay off his lunch balance the next day, DeJuan started thinking about all the other students in the country who must be stuck in that situation for days or weeks.

Then, at only 14-years-old, DeJuan had the brilliant idea to create a GoFundMe page to raise money to help pay off students lunch debts at his former elementary school.

At first, he only hoped to raise $500, but after word about his initiative began to spread, hes raised over $10,000 and has been able to help more schools in his area.

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Home Entertainment Rob Schneider discusses what his newfound faith in Christ means for his Hollywood career

Since emerging on the comedy landscape several decades ago, Rob Schneider has become a household name, often associated with an absurdist and raunchy brand of humor, from "Hot Chick" to "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo."

But since converting to Catholicism, an announcement the "Saturday Night Live" alum made on his 60th birthday in October, Schneider feels called to leave behind the type of comedy he has performed in the past  and he doesn't care what Hollywood thinks about that decision.

"I know I can't do the same stuff I used to do," Schneider told The Christian Post. "Not because I have anything against what I did; I did what I did, and I felt fine about it at the time. I'm not going to judge myself. But I won't do the same stuff I've done. I don't know what I'm going to do.  I want to come to it from a place of faith, a place of something good in my heart."

"I don't know if I can tell dirty jokes anymore," he added. "I don't know if I can. I don't know if I'm going to. I have an act I'm doing now; I don't know if I'll do it again next year. Just some of the bad words, I go, 'Maybe I don't want to say those words anymore.' I don't know. I also think it's important to not only talk to the converted but to bring people in, and the best form is to show by example. People talk all the time; that doesn't mean anything. So I hope that me standing up for what I believe in  God, family country  I'm OK with whatever comes my way, positive or negative. When you have faith, nothing can really rock you."

In an Oct. 31 announcement on X, the storied comedian said that he converted to Catholicism. His post declared, "I am the luckiest man in the world" and featured shout-outs to his wife, Patricia, and their three daughters, Elle, Miranda and Madeleine.

"At last it is forgiveness itself that is the gift that we give ourselves because it frees us as Christ intends for all of us to be free. For His gift of ultimate and unlimited forgiveness is indeed the gift for all humanity," Schneider concluded his post at the time.

Schneider acknowledged that his newfound faith might come at a cost when it comes to his Hollywood career  but it's a risk he's willing to take.

"I don't feel a part of Hollywood," he told CP. "I don't feel any obligation to Hollywood whatsoever. I don't feel like I'm from Hollywood. I'm just an actor and made my living for a long time there. I feel no sense of loyalty or disloyalty to Hollywood. Let them do whatever they want. I don't feel the same fear that they feel.

"I'm not speaking for all of Hollywood, but what I noticed is that there's a fearfulness to speak the truth and to talk about what people believe in and what they want," he continued. "I think a lot of it is self-motivated and protecting themselves. You're always going to be missing something if you're led by fear."

Schneider is now promoting "Daddy Daughter Trip," a heartwarming family movie he stars in with his daughter, Miranda. His wife, Patricia, co-wrote the film with his best friend, comedian Jamie Lissow. The film also stars John Cleese, Jackie Sandler, Monica Huarte and others.

The family-friendly comedy follows Larry Buble, an ambitious yet broke inventor struggling to keep his family eating and sleeping indoors. When he promises his 8-year-old daughter the spring break vacation of a lifetime, he is forced to get more inventive than ever before.

"I wanted to make a movie that finally, my wife would let my kids see," Schneider said. "This is the first one. And I wanted to make a movie that makes people feel good ... and makes you laugh, makes you think and makes you feel like you're watching a real family, and it is a real family."

The actor said that through comedy, what he does best, he wanted to highlight the importance of spending time with one's children, no matter how busy life might be.

"No matter how much money or who you have, whether it's little to no money, it's time [kids want], they want to do stuff. Childhood flies by no matter what; it's just zooming by. And you need to spend time.  It is the most special time in life," he said.

Next, Schneider wants to make a film based on a true story that explores a woman's journey to prove that the Shroud of Turin's carbon dating was flawed.

The film is "really about the love of Jesus Christ," he said, adding: "It's very difficult to make an expensive independent movie. And I've been trying for a few years to put it together and we're getting closer."

It's the love of Christ, Schneider said, that has transformed his outlook on life. He emphasized the power of love, forgiveness and loving one's enemies  a countercultural message in the face of cancel culture and what he sees as tyrannical government overreach in response to COVID-19.

"Jesus has always been there in my life; it was just me running away. But He never ran away. He was always there. So it was just acknowledging it and also realizing there was so much evil that was happening during the COVID and the tyranny that was forcing people to do things against their will. It really did come to a head for me. You had to acknowledge that there is some sort of organized evil. And the opposite of that was much stronger, which is Jesus and God."

"I think if you get to the core of Christianity, it's about love," he added. "That's it, love. Love your neighbor, love your enemy, love your neighbor as thyself. It's a beautiful way to go through life; it's a more peaceful way. And what better way to raise children? You see the countries that don't have that, and it's a cold or darker place. You see other beliefs where it's not about loving your enemy but killing your enemy. And you realize that Christianity is the true faith."

Schneider regularly addresses hot-button issues on his social media pages and expressed concern about people being misled and used for hidden agendas. He urged Christians to hold onto their faith and be courageous during these challenging times.

He sees the U.S. as an experiment in freedom and liberty that requires vigilance to maintain.

"There is a threat to liberty," he said. "The Founding Fathers, who founded this nation under God, were very astute in saying that this freedom requires eternal vigilance. I don't think our country has been extremely vigilant, either. We've been very lax. I think it's going to take some leaders with some backbone, not just worried about getting reelected, to stand up to this tyranny and to stand up against what I can't describe in any other way but evil."

Christians, he said, should be "buoyed" and "fortified" by the reality that Christianity is "under attack," adding: "It means there must be something to it."

"There is a real storm brewing," he warned. "Jesus already won. This is a mop-up mission, but it will be a mission. You need to fortify yourself and protect yourself, protect your family with faith and also be prepared. There's a cultural war that's happening, whether that cultural war turns into spiritual warfare or an actual war  and there is war in some parts of the world. It's time to get closer to God and to heed the words and be strengthened by it, not weakened, not fearful."

"Daddy Daughter Trip" will be available to own on DVD and digital on Dec. 5. Check out the trailer for the film here.
Home Church & Ministries Wife of Sam Collier, Hillsongs first black lead pastor, announces divorce amid allegations of infidelity

Toni Collier, the wife of former Hillsong Atlanta Pastor Sam Collier, who served as Hillsong Churchs first black lead pastor before he stepped down early last year as the global church network faced a wave of scandals, announced Friday that she is seeking a divorce over alleged infidelity. In response, her husband accused her of abuse.

The couple issued dueling statements on Instagram just minutes apart on Friday morning, confirming their relationship is over.

Im in the middle of the hardest season of my life. I am heartbroken, yet still hopeful. If you could see all the ways God has been kind to me and my kids your jaw would be on the floor. After years of discovering and enduring repeated acts of infidelity, I have chosen to end my marriage with Sam, Toni Collier announced minutes before 10 a.m. Eastern time.

Despite seasons of hope, attempts at reconciliation, and counseling, after recently discovering more infidelity, I realized this wasnt a sustainable or God-honoring marriage anymore. Im at a point where I have to say no more. Im taking time off the stage and social media to focus on healing with my kids. I have no desire to hurt Sam but do want to vigorously protect my heart and my children, she added before ending with, Thanks for giving us privacy to do that, and for prayers that will undoubtedly be felt. Love yall.

In a separate post that has since been deleted, Sam Collier accused his wife of being a liar and abuser and insisted that they made a mutual decision to divorce.

Toni Collier is a liar and abuser. It is documented that she has abused me our entire marriage and wants to continue to. I asked Toni not to do this. As well as our team and our lawyers. She is not divorcing me, we are divorcing each other, he wrote. AND I tried to divorce her 7 times and she begged me to stay and kept abusing me. I will tell more of the story later.

Following that post, Sam Collier released a separate, formal statement and an apology: "I would like to apologize for my earlier comments regarding my divorce. It did not reflect the leader I am or my sincere feelings. I was emotionally overwhelmed and angry at the highest level. These past two months have been extremely exhausting."

The public statements come days after The Christian Post reached out to the couple after Toni Collier posted pictures of herself and her two children last week on her social media while calling out unfaithful, manipulative and unhealthy church leaders.

Went to a safe, honest church with my babies today, sat next to dear friends who held grief with me, and left with these thoughts  Ive been in a lot of churches as a member, as a volunteer, a minister, a pastor, and as a speaker and heres what I know to be true. God will not be mocked, she wrote.

The church is designed to be the safest house on the block, Gods plan A for humanity and Ive seen it be destroyed in my time, not because of its design, but because of its unhealthy leaders. The root of this destruction is shame, she insisted. Weve all seen how the disgusting behavior of leaders and their attempt to cover up addictions, infidelity, and manipulation has torn apart Gods design and have His people left in disappointment and confusion about their own faith. But God will not be mocked.

Sam and Toni Collier both led the Georgia-based branch of Hillsong for approximately one year until he announced on March 23, 2022, that he was stepping down.

My greatest reason for stepping down as pastor of Hillsong Atlanta is probably not a secret to any of you. With all of the documentaries, scandals, articles, accusations and the churchs subsequent management of these attacks its become too difficult to lead and grow a young Church in this environment, Collier, who currently leads Story Church wrote on Instagram. I have no shame in admitting I cried like a baby moments after I informed the Hillsong global pastor of my departure."

While Story Church did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CP about his wifes latest announcement, Collier noted in a statement on his social media accounts that God knows the story, Im just glad Im still alive to tell it one day. Heres to better and brighter days ahead!
Home World Christian teen forced into marriage makes daring escape, shares her story 'God had answered my prayers for freedom'

Nayab Gill was just 13 years old when she was taken from her home in Gujranwala, Pakistan, by her Muslim employer. She was forced to convert to Islam and made to marry her abductor at gunpoint, a fate faced by dozens of minor Christian girls in Pakistan each year. Two years after her kidnapping, Nayab made a daring escape and is now sharing her story.

On May 20, 2021, Nayab Gill's employer, Saddam Hayat, a 30-year-old married father of four children, reportedly arrived at her home to "take her to work" in his vehicle.

"Saddam was a frequent visitor to our house," said Nayab. "He owned some shops in our area, one of which was rented by my father. Saddam promised to pay me a salary of 10,000 Pakistani Rupees ($34) and said the money would help my poor family to supplement its income. My father reluctantly agreed to his proposal because Saddam told him that I was like his own daughter."

Nayab recalls that Saddam at least twice tried to make advances on her at work, compelling her to keep a safe distance.

"I was afraid that if I told my family about Saddam's advances, my father would stop me from going to work, and my family would lose the money that we needed so desperately," she said.

On the day of the kidnapping, instead of taking her to the salon where she worked selling facial products, Saddam took her to a deserted house, where he forced her to renounce her Christian faith and sign a blank paper. Nayab says that soon after being held hostage, Saddam threatened her at gunpoint that if she did not succumb to his will, he would kill her and her father.

"I screamed and cried, but no one heard me. After getting the paper forcibly signed, Saddam locked me up in a room and left," she said. "I was kept there for two days, during which I was given food only once in 24 hours."

"On the third day, Saddam came and told me that my father had registered a case of abduction against him. He told me that I would be presented before a judge, and if I did not testify that I had converted to Islam and married him of my free will, my family and I would be killed on the court's premises."

Nayab recorded a statement in court in her abductor's favor. He was given custody of Nayab as his lawful wife in front of her helpless parents, who shed tears for their young daughter.

Nayab's ordeal worsened after the court gave custody to her abductor.

"Saddam then took me to his own house and locked me up in a room on the second floor," she said. "During my two-year captivity, he repeatedly assaulted me against my will and treated me like a slave. But I did not lose hope and my faith in Christ!"

"I prayed every night, saying, 'God, please help me.' I would also pray for my family's safety. They refused to give up and kept moving through the court system for my recovery. But I was too scared to reveal the truth. Each time I was summoned in court, I would say that I was an adult and had married Saddam with my free will."

"Saddam's family treated me like an outcast. They often humiliated me for being born to a Christian family. There were times when I thought I should end my life, but I think it was my faith in God that gave me the strength to face that situation."

In April 2023, Nayab found a chance to escape.

"It was the last week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Saddam's former wife registered a case against him for threatening her," she said. "Fearing arrest, Saddam and his brothers fled the house, but in the rush of things, they forgot to lock me up.

"It seemed God had answered my prayers for freedom. I discreetly left the house and started running, not even knowing where the road would lead me."

"I stopped at a market to catch my breath when a Muslim woman approached me. She must have sensed that something was not right. She asked me if I needed help. I told her that I did not have any money or a phone to contact my father. She took me to her house, where I was able to get in touch with my family."

Nayab was soon reunited with her parents.

"I don't have words to express the joy I felt when I saw my father," she said. "Tears rolled down our eyes as he hugged me and kissed my forehead, promising to keep me safe forever."

Nayab's father filed a second petition with the Supreme Court in July 2021 after the High Court rejected his first petition and sent the girl with her abductor. The Supreme Court set a hearing for the newest petition a full two years in the future, dampening the family's hopes of recovering their child. Once the court finally heard the case in September 2023, it dismissed the petition as being "infructuous," or pointless, because the girl had been reunited with her family.

The Supreme Court's decision has left the door open for more sexual exploitation of underage Christian girls in Pakistan in the guise of religious conversion.

"I was expecting that the Supreme Court would hear my story, but it seems it wasn't interested. I now want to resume my education and make friends. I don't have friends anymore. I even asked my mother to let me cut my hair because I want to be like a boy. It's not safe to be a girl in Pakistan."
Home Church & Ministries Perry Noble says he never thought he would pastor again, announces new Second Chance campus

Approximately seven years after he was fired from NewSpring Church in South Carolina for alcohol abuse and other "unfortunate choices and decisions," Perry Noble is thanking God for allowing him back into the megachurch space with the announcement of the Greenville campus of his Second Chance Church.

Noble, the founder and senior pastor of Second Chance Church, revealed in a post on Facebook Tuesday that he never thought he would ever be a pastor today after his firing in 2016.

"I didn't want to announce @thesecondchancechurch was going to start a Greenville campus  heck, for the longest time I actually didn't want to start another campus at all!" he wrote, adding that he never thought he would "pastor again."

"When we finally did open up the doors at our first location (aka - the liquor store - IYKYK) - I honestly didn't know if anyone would show up!"

After Second Chance Church moved to its current location in Anderson in 2018, Noble said he figured "that was it" and was "content with it all."

"If Jesus never blessed me with anything else in my life  I've' always been given/blessed way more than I ever deserved! But the Lord kept pressing into me," Noble stated. "[God] kept reminding me that the local church has more to bring change to the world than anyone or anything!"

He said God kept reminding him of the Great Commission and "made a way for Greenville to happen."

"[S]tepping into this next season I am both excited and a little scared as well!" he said. "I know the accusations of not being qualified are coming  as well as reminders of my past!" he said. "But I also know the grace of God, His mercy to me and His relentless pursuit (He never gave up on me!)"

Second Chance Church did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post Friday about how the work of the new campus is progressing.

In October 2016, three months after his firing as senior pastor of NewSpring Church, Noble, who would later divorce his wife, Lucretia, went public with details of his marriage, drinking issues and other aspects of the double life that led to his exit from the church.

"I was a hypocrite  I preached, 'you can't do life alone' and then went out and lived the opposite," he wrote. "I chose isolation over community.  Isolation is where self-doubt dominated my emotions, causing me to believe I just could not carry the weight anymore, and alcohol was necessary for me to make it through another day. I hated myself, literally HATED myself for doing what I was doing, but believed the lie that this was just the way things were, and there was no way it could ever get better."

Though NewSpring leaders voiced opposition to his return to ministry, seven months after his firing, during which time he completed a rehab program, Noble returned to the pulpit with the blessing of his friend and confidante, Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in North Carolina. He also continued preaching at other churches while running a consultancy business, The Growth Company, which teaches churches how to grow.
Home Church & Ministries Pope Francis denies calling conservative Cardinal Burke his 'enemy': report

Pope Francis reportedly confirmed to his biographer that he stripped U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke of his salary and evicted him from his Vatican apartment but denied accusations that he called the conservative American prelate his "enemy."

Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh wrote on the website Where Peter Is that he met with the pope on Nov. 27 amid swirling rumors that he had punished Burke for allegedly using his retired cardinal privileges against the Church, according to the Catholic News Agency.

"In the course of our conversation, Francis told me he had decided to remove Cardinal Burke's cardinal privileges  his apartment and salary  because he had been using those privileges against the Church," wrote Ivereigh, who noted that his meeting with Francis was short because of the pontiff's lung inflammation.

"He told me that while the decision wasn't a secret, he didn't intend a public announcement, but earlier that day it had been leaked," he added.

Sources at the meeting who spoke to the Catholic newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana said that Francis announced his intended actions against Burke during a Nov. 20 meeting of the heads of Vatican offices.

"Cardinal Burke is my enemy, so I take away his apartment and his salary," the pope was quoted as saying, according to an anonymous source who spoke to the Italian outlet.

The actions against Burke went international when the Associated Press confirmed the story with two sources who attended the meeting and also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Ivereigh claimed that the quote attributed to Francis describing Burke as his "enemy" was "pure fiction" and that the pope "would never conduct a personal vendetta."

"It was conveniently in line with the traditionalist narrative of a merciless, vindictive pope who recklessly and unreasonably 'punishes' those who disagree with him," he wrote, adding that the pope gave him a note saying, "I never used the word 'enemy' nor the pronoun 'my.' I simply announced the fact at the meeting of the dicastery heads, without giving specific explanations."

Burke, who has repeatedly asked Pope Francis to clarify his position on crucial doctrine, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that "people can draw their own conclusions about why the Holy Father told this to Austen Ivereigh and not the person concerned."

Burke told the outlet that he intends to stay in Rome even if evicted from his Vatican apartment.

"It's my duty as a cardinal to remain in Rome," he said.

Burke was made a cardinal in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI but faced repeated demotions during Francis' papacy amid his public criticisms.

In 2014, the pope removed Burke from his position as head of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the Vatican's highest court to which he had been appointed by Benedict XVI in 2008.

Burke also lost his position in the Congregation for Divine Worship and his patronage of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Burke and Francis also seemed to clash over COVID-19 vaccinations, with Francis hitting at vaccine "negationists" among the College of Cardinals and referencing Burke as one of them in 2021, according to the AP.

The actions against Burke came weeks after Francis removed Joseph E. Strickland from his post as bishop of Tyler, Texas.

Strickland, who has also been a vocal critic of Francis' papacy, thanked Washington, D.C.-based Monsignor Charles Pope on Thursday for posting a statement condemning Francis' actions against Burke as "petty."

Msgr Pope, thank you for loving enough to speak out on this. As you say let us pray for Pope Francis and for the entire Church. Que Viva Cristo Rey. pic.twitter.com/J1m5f3q2CA  Bishop J. Strickland (@BishStrickland) November 29, 2023

"At some point we are forced to conclude that the Pope is behaving like a bitter, vengeful, and intolerant man through his heavy-handed actions," Pope wrote. "No accompaniment or going to the margins here!"

Pope claimed that "even many of the Pope's allies are growing concerned and fearful," but believes the next conclave will be forced to elect a pontiff "who can be a healer and uniter rather than the divisive and frankly mean-spirited leader we have now."
Home World Texas Baptists help provide 100K meals as Israel-Hamas war continues

A rocket hit Leora's high-rise apartment building in Israel, but she found protection in her "safe room."

Later, one of Leora's three adult children came to her apartment in blood-drenched clothes before leaving again. He soon returned a second time in bloody clothes, needing to change again.

The middle-aged Israeli woman shared her story with Doug Hall, who served on a Texas Baptist Men feeding team in Israel.

"There's an obvious weight of war that sits over the country all the time," Hall said. "It affects everyone."

Hall met Leora when he and other volunteers arrived at a hospital in Ashkelon, about 10 miles north of Gaza, to deliver food. Twenty-nine TBM volunteers in two teams worked in the first few weeks of fighting. A third TBM team arrived in Israel this week. Texans and Israelis have worked together to provide the 100,000th meal using TBM-design mobile kitchens.

"We spent maybe 30 minutes talking" to Leora, Hall said. On the first day of fighting, a rocket hit the lower part of her apartment building and "wiped out a market that she visited three or four times a day." After spending about 10 minutes in her safe room, the woman went downstairs to help the injured.

On the first or second day, her son arrived wearing the bloody clothes. Leora was "obviously emotional when she would speak about that because you're seeing your son return, then he walks right back out the door and goes out to be involved in the fighting," Hall said. "And then he comes back later and says, 'I need some more clothes.' And then disappears again."

The son had been "helping wounded and dying people, dragging them out of harm's way," Hall said.

After the first days of conflict, the children of the woman at the hospital were all safe, and none of her family members had been injured or killed.

"She had gone to several funerals of kids that were at the concert that you saw on the news," Hall said. "Her children had friends that were at that concert, so she went to their funerals."

TBM volunteers do not get involved in the issues behind the conflict. "We were there to provide help and hope to the folks there, whoever it was, whether it was Israeli, Palestinian, Arab; it didn't matter," said Hall.

Though in a safe location, the volunteers still caught glimpses of the war.

"We would hear the rockets," Hall said. "We would hear the booms in the air."

A team driving to Tel Aviv one evening "saw an interception of a rocket by Iron Dome," which involves Israeli missiles intercepting rockets intended for populated areas.

Since returning to Texas, Hall often receives questions about whether or not he felt safe.

"I always felt safe," he said, "but I never felt at ease because there is a constant presence of the reality of war and the fact that for centuries, war has raged over the land."

The war is ever present in the minds of the people who live in Israel and Gaza while the volunteers work preparing up to 3,000 meals a day.

Hall told of the long days of work faced by TBM volunteers. They arose early, some as early as 4:30 a.m., with a devotional at 6 a.m. After prayer time together, the volunteers ate breakfast and then started cooking, which continued until early afternoon.

After a light lunch, Israeli and TBM teams delivered the sandwiches and meals "to wherever our Israeli partners said they needed them. Sometimes, we wouldn't get back from that until 5:30 or 6 p.m. or even later. Then, when there were "evening cooking opportunities, you didn't get back until 8:30 or 9 p.m."

As the Americans encountered people living in Israel, a pattern emerged in the response they received. Hall cited one example as an illustration. He recalled being in a market one evening when a woman approached him along with her son, his wife and infant. The young man, about 18 or 19 years old and in the military, had his weapon with him.

The TBM volunteers tended to stand out when in public, especially when they were together as a group. The woman "asked me who I was and why I was there," Hall said. "So I told her we are with an organization called TBM, and she kind of looked at me then asked, 'What does that stand for?'

Hall explained that TBM is a Christian volunteer organization that helps people whenever there's a disaster or a problem. "And that, you could see, registered, and she reached out and touched me and said, 'Thank you for coming,'" Hall continued. "Every person that we encountered like her, the conversation would always end, 'Well, thank you for coming.'"

TBM is "providing help, immediate help with food and hope" to people in Israel, and it moves them to know "they have a partner, a Christian partner," Hall said.

"We may not ever see the ultimate healing that we normally look for," he continued. There are few opportunities in Israel right now to actually share the Gospel with people, "but they do arise in intimate conversations with various people.

"Certainly, we provide the help that everybody is used to seeing TBM provide and then, from our conversations, I do know that they would see that as us walking alongside them and providing some hope as well, that they weren't standing alone."
Home World US blames Hamas for Gaza truce breakdown as war resumes: 'The onus is on Hamas'

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended Friday as Israeli forces resumed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, marking a significant escalation after a weeklong pause in hostilities. The United States squarely blamed Hamas for the breakdown, citing its failure to provide a list of hostages for release.

Israel claimed to have struck over 200 Hamas targets, and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported a significant toll in the hours following the resumption of hostilities, with reports of bombardment in eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza forcing residents to flee.

At least 184 Palestinians were killed and more than 589 injured, according to Reuters.

Israels Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the militarys actions as effective, vowing to continue until their objectives are met.

John Kirby, the U.S. National Security Councils coordinator for strategic communications, emphasized Hamas role in the ceasefires collapse.

Its because of Hamas that this pause ended, Kirby said, according to USA Today. They were just simply unable, failed to produce a list of hostages that could help enable that pause extending.

"The onus is on Hamas to be able to produce a list of hostages that they can get out so that we can try to get this pause back in place.

Hamas accused Israel of rejecting offers to release elderly hostages and the bodies of hostages.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the Associated Press that the group is open to civilian hostage and Palestinian prisoner swaps but noted disagreements over the terms of such exchanges.

The initial four-day pause began on Nov. 24 and was extended twice. Israel declared that the temporary truce could stay in place if Hamas released 10 hostages daily.

The United Nations, which has called for a permanent ceasefire, said both parties face a "fundamental responsibility" to prevent "inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza."

"I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza. I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday.

"The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire."

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that Israeli forces halted all aid deliveries into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. However, COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, stated that some aid had been allowed through at the request of the U.S.

During the pause in fighting, over 100 hostages, including women and children, were released from Hamas captivity. Kirby said at least four American hostages were released by Hamas. In exchange, Israel released at least 240 Palestinian prisoners.

The war was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed over 1,200, mostly civilians. At least 240 people were taken hostage. In response, Israel launched airstrikes and a ground offensive seeking to eradicate Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Before the ceasefire, Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that over 13,000 people were killed.

Hamas is still holding 137 hostages  including 126 Israelis and 11 foreign nationals.

The Israeli military has confirmed Friday that at least six more people believed to have been held hostage by Hamas are dead, including three members of Kibbutz Nir Oz and an attendee of the music festival in Re'im.

International reactions have been swift, with Germanys Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calling for a renewed ceasefire and Hezbollah attacking Israeli troops along the border, marking its first engagement since the truce.

The World Health Organization expressed extreme concern over the continued fighting and the potential collapse of Gazas healthcare system. WHO's Dr. Rik Peeperkorn said during a briefing at the UN on Friday that 18 of 37 hospitals in Gaza are only partially functional.

Israeli airstrikes also extended to the outskirts of Damascus, with Syrian state media reporting strikes and Syrian air defenses responding. These strikes are part of Israels broader strategy in the region, often targeting Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militant groups in war-torn Syria.
Home Opinion What makes Western civilization what it is?

For the last few generations, Western civilization has been under attack. But recently there were some excellent defenses of it made by Bill Maher (earlier this month) and by Greg Gutfield in his program on Fox News last Friday.

Gutfield said: So let's talk about the death of Western civilization. Its in trouble, people. ... Now, before you accuse me of being too pessimistic, let me just say the West has been tested before and we've come through. ... In 1940 when it looked like the Nazis could take over all of Europe, it was the British who stood up to them alone. Sounds familiar to what Israel is doing right now, doesn't it?

Gutfield went on, When the wall and Soviet communism fell, our president didnt. The West survived once again ... So if youre a parent, think hard about where your kids are going to school. Make sure they understand that America is unique in history and so are the achievements and the freedoms of Western civilization.

I really appreciate the comedians insights as far as they go. But I would add that the Judeo-Christian tradition has been the critical foundation for this strength and resilience.

For example, Gutfield rightly extolled Winston Churchill for his great rallying speech when the British army was surrounded at Dunkirk. But its important to also note that Churchill declared in that speech that they (the British) would fight against the Nazis in every way they could until, in Gods good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Churchill said in another speech on June 18, 1940, I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.

Although many point to the influences of the Enlightenment, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome, it is the predominant Judeo-Christian influence that defines Western Civilization.

Meanwhile, another comedian recently defended the West. A few weeks ago, Bill Maher said, For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western Civilization, like its a bad thing  Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every [expletive] liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore. Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, womens rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech.

He credited Rousseau and Voltaire with the giving the world the idea of human rights. There I would disagree. Rousseau and Voltaire were at war with Western civilization, and they helped create the nightmare that was the French Revolution. The streets ran red with blood because of their anti-God philosophies.

Maher did properly credit John Locke for the rights against unreasonable searches and seizures embodied in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. But Maher left out Lockes Christian worldview  which is seen throughout his books, including his Second Treatise on Civil Government, which has some 90 references to the Bible to formulate his arguments. That book was influential to Americas founders.

Furthermore, John Locke wrote a book entitled, The Reasonableness of Christianity. I once attended Sunday school classes taught by Greg Forster, Ph.D., now with Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. Forster credits his conversion to Christ through his study of that book by Locke for his doctoral thesis at Yale.

What makes Western civilization what it is? A dozen years ago, reports emerged that some Chinese intellectuals were beginning to realize how important Christianity was to the genius of the West.

Writing for the Iona Institute for Religion and Society (March 3, 2011), Tom OGorman opined, In the West we are doing our best to destroy our Christian heritage; but in China, Chinese intellectuals are coming around to the view that it is precisely this heritage that has made the West so successful.

Harvard Universitys Niall Ferguson quoted a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in his book, Civilization: The West and the Rest: The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We dont have any doubt about this.

At D. James Kennedy Ministries, we are gearing up to release in December our ground-breaking documentary based on a book that I co-wrote with Dr. D. James Kennedy, What If the Bible Had Never Been Written? This book shows how the Scriptures have transformed our world in a multitude of positive ways.

One quote from our book says it all  as to the scriptural contribution to Western civilization. Said author and former Yale professor William Lyons Phelps: Our civilization is founded upon the Bible. More of our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, our ideals come from the Bible than from all other books combined.
Christian community in Syria brought to its knees by 'uncontrollable emigration'

The future of Christianity in Syria is under threat as Christian families continue to leave the country "en masse", a church leader is warning.

Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) said that "oppressive sanctions" against Syria were driving social problems like extreme poverty and corruption.

Other problems include an education system in free fall, with teachers earning 15-17 per month, what the archbishop called "below the level of human dignity".

ACN estimates that up to half a million people have left Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011. Many of those who have left are young men.

According to the archbishop, the shortage of husbands has led to young Christian women marrying Muslims and having to convert, as is the law in Syria.

"We see families leaving Syria because they want to ensure a better life for their children," he said.

"They have lost hope and confidence in this country, and they do not want their children to live in a country where they are not safe.

"There are also many young people who choose to emigrate, and this also poses considerable problems."

ACN is providing financial assistance to the Archdiocese of Homs and this Christmas will give over 3,000 gifts to children and people with disabilities.
In our rapidly advancing digital era, where our lives seamlessly merge with the vast online realm, the trust we place on websites to safeguard our sensitive data and personal information becomes increasingly critical with every click. As we navigate the continuous flow of information and effortlessly access many online services, the omnipresent challenge of cybersecurity looms large.

One of the most sophisticated and clandestine threats in this landscape is website spoofing. In the past year, over 48% of the mail sent globally was found to be spam. Allow me to delve deeply into the risks associated with website spoofing, its manipulation of unsuspecting users, the far-reaching repercussions, and the strategies I believe are effective in tackling this ever-evolving menace.

The impacts of website spoofing

The motivations behind website spoofing are diverse, but they all center around gaining access to valuable data, presenting significant risks to organizations and end users alike:

Financial gains

Financial motives often drive website spoofing, with cybercriminals exploiting users who enter personal information, such as credit card details, on these fake websites. This opens the door to identity theft and data brokerage, where user information is collected and sold to third parties for illicit purposes.

Malware distribution

The opportunistic nature of website spoofing allows attackers to distribute malware to users devices. Through browsers, plugins, or extensions, users are prompted to download seemingly legitimate files or applications, unwittingly inviting chaos into their systems. The distribution of malware serves various purposes, from causing general system distribution to potentially being employed as a tool for more sophisticated cyberattacks.

Reputation damage

Beyond immediate financial gains, there is a more insidious consequence  tarnishing a brands reputation. Victims of spoofing scams, whether downloading malware or compromising personal information, harbor resentment towards the impersonated brand. This not only jeopardizes the trust established by the customers but can have far-reaching consequences, potentially alienating a loyal customer base and impacting future business endeavours.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, left, speaks next to Christian Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), during an ALU rally in the Staten Island borough of New York, U.S., on Sunday, April 24, 2022.

Amazon and consultants for the company violated federal labor law by interrogating and threatening employees regarding their union activities, and racially disparaging organizers who were seeking to unionize a Staten Island warehouse, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

The NLRB said Friday that Administrative Law Judge Lauren Esposito found Amazon "committed multiple violations" of federal labor law at its largest warehouse in New York, called JFK8, between May and October 2021, a period that saw an increase in organizing activity.

In April 2022, employees voted to join the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots group of current and former workers, becoming the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. Since that victory, the group has been fighting to reach a contract with Amazon.

The judge in New York heard testimony from Amazon employees, managers and labor consultants in virtual hearings that went on for almost a year. Esposito determined Amazon illegally confiscated organizing pamphlets from employees that were being distributed in on-site breakrooms and conducted surveillance of employees' organizing activities.

Amazon also violated labor laws when it sent an employee at a neighboring facility to JFK8 home early from his shift and changed his work assignments in retaliation for supporting the union, the judge found. The employee, Daequan Smith, sorted packages at a delivery station called DYY6, down the street from JFK8, and was later fired in Nov. 2021. The union alleged Smith's firing was in retaliation to his union activities.

Additionally, the judge found that Amazon broke the law when a "union avoidance" consultant, Bradley Moss, who was hired by the company, threatened employees, telling them it would be "futile" to vote to join the ALU. Amazon and other companies often hire labor consultants like Moss, referred to as "persuaders," to dissuade workers from unionizing. The company spent $14 million on anti-union consultants in 2022, the Huffington Post reported in March, citing disclosure forms filed with the Department of Labor.

As a result of the ruling, Amazon will be required to post notices reminding workers of their rights at its JFK8 and DYY6 facilities. The company also has to make Smith "whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits," the NLRB said.

In one exchange with a JFK8 employee, Natalie Monarrez, Moss discussed the union campaign at another Amazon facility, BHM1, in Bessemer, Alabama. Monarrez said Moss told her the Bessemer campaign was "not a serious union drive," but a "Black Lives Matter protest about social injustice."

"Moss then pointed to the front of the JFK8 warehouse and said, 'Just like these guys out here, they're just a bunch of thugs,'" Esposito wrote in her judgment, citing testimony from Monarrez.

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement that company is reviewing the judge's decision and weighing its next steps based on the ruling.

"We disagree with certain decisions within the ruling, but are glad the judge agreed that the terminated individual should not be reinstated," Hards added.

Moss didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Employees at BHM1 voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in April 2021, but the results of the election were tossed after the NLRB found Amazon improperly interfered in the vote. A do-over election was held last year, but the results remain too close to call.

Amazon's labor record has been scrutinized heavily, especially as union organizing ramped up in its warehouse and delivery workforce during the Covid pandemic. The company faces 240 open or settled unfair labor practice charges across 26 states, according to the NLRB, concerning a range of allegations, including its conduct around union elections.

The company has also clashed with Chris Smalls, a former Amazon employee and one of the leaders of ALU. A leaked memo obtained by Vice revealed David Zapolsky, Amazon's general counsel, had referred to Smalls, a Black man, as "not smart or articulate," and recommended making him "the face" of efforts to organize workers.

Amazon continues to challenge the JFK8 election results, as well as the NLRB and the union's conduct during the drive. The agency upheld the results of the election in January.

WATCH: Amazon favored 'Magnificent Seven' stock
As Charlie Munger's admirers around the globe mourn the loss of one of the most influential investors ever, a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation has spread  for his unparalleled business acumen as well as his uniquely sharp tongue.

Munger, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman who died Tuesday one month shy of his 100th birthday, left a mark on generations of investors in a host of ways thanks to a long and fruitful life.

First and foremost, Munger's investment philosophy rubbed off on none other than Warren Buffett, giving rise to the sprawling conglomerate worth almost $800 billion that Berkshire is today.

Early in their careers, Munger broadened Buffett's investing approach, eventually turning away the younger Buffett from buying dirt cheap, "cigar-butt" companies that might still have a little smoke left in them, to instead focus on quality companies selling at fair prices.

"Certainly as Berkshire shareholders, we owe them a debt of gratitude because the earlier you get to a good decision, the better," Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, said in an interview. Such timing gives rise to "a compound" effect, he said.

Recognizing a good business

Matt McLennan, co-head of the global value team and portfolio manager at First Eagle Investments, a longtime investor in Berkshire, recalled a meeting with Munger more than 15 years ago, where he asked how he and Buffett spent their time, given their claim that they made investment decisions in only minutes.

"Charlie responded 'reading,' which struck me as quite apt given his uncanny ability to build mental models of how the world works and use these models as the advance groundwork for efficient decision-making," McLennan told CNBC.

Munger long emphasized the importance of recognizing a good business before it's widely seen as such, and he did so many times in his storied career.

He made a shrewd bet on Chinese electric automaker BYD that proved a big winner. Berkshire first bought BYD in 2008, and the stake has since grown into a multibillion-dollar position in the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer.

Munger was also a loyal supporter of Costco Wholesale Corp ., calling it one of the best investments of his life. He invested in the retailer before it merged with Price Club in 1993.
This picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke rising from buildings after being hit by Israeli strikes, as battles resume between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 1, 2023.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said too many innocent Palestinians had been killed in Gaza as Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday following the collapse of a truce

with Hamas militants.

Residents feared the barrages were a prelude to an Israeli ground operation in the south of the Palestinian territory that would pen them into a shrinking area and possibly try to push them across into Egypt.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 193 Palestinians had been killed and 650 wounded since the truce ended on Friday morning - adding to the more than 15,000 Palestinian dead since the start of the war.

Speaking in Dubai, Harris said Israel had a right to defend itself, but international and humanitarian law must be respected and "too many innocent Palestinians have been killed".

"Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza, are devastating," Harris told reporters.

She also sketched out a U.S. vision for post-conflict Gaza, saying the international community must support recovery and Palestinian security forces must be strengthened.

"We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work," she said, adding that Hamas must no longer run Gaza.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas once and for all, saying the Islamist group is bent on its destruction.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel did not want to see Gaza's civilians caught in the crossfire.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to guest during a campaign event at the Machine Shed restaurant on November 07, 2023 in Davenport, Iowa. Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Newton, Iowa  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' campaign is announcing the completion of a longtime campaign pledge Saturday: touring all of Iowa's 99 counties, a milestone for a campaign that has devoted significant resources to the first-in-the-nation contest. The statewide tour, colloquially called the "Full Grassley" in a nod to Sen. Chuck Grassley, is part of the DeSantis campaign's battle for a first-place finish in the caucuses, despite former President Donald Trump maintaining a stubbornly wide polling lead  and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley coming from behind to challenge DeSantis' place in the pack. On paper, DeSantis has made significant strides in running a traditionally successful Iowa campaign, racking up influential endorsements and dedicating significant time, personnel and financial resources to the state. But the 2024 contest comes with a hitch previous successful caucus campaigns haven't had to battle: a former president on the ballot, multiple state and federal indictments notwithstanding. More from NBC News: No good answers for Biden as voters recoil over border crossings In battleground Arizona, a Latino radio station fights disinformation Sparks flew behind the scenes at the DeSantis and Newsom debate Despite having held only 26 events in Iowa since launching his third bid for the White House, Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in most Iowa polls. And while the DeSantis campaign, with significant super PAC help, has stayed focused on Iowa, it remains unclear just what the traditional Iowa playbook counts for in this unusual modern campaign against Trump. Presidential candidates have long sought to follow Grassley's tradition of spending time in every Iowa county to shore up support and build a reliable network of caucusgoers  and prove their investment in the state. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum squeaked out an upset GOP caucus win in 2012 after completing his own shoe-leather tour of Iowa. Four years later, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz used the same road map as he edged out a win over Trump. But the tour isn't a surefire path to victory: Neither Mike Huckabee nor Santorum could recreate their past winning momentum after completing 99-county tours in 2016. Former Rep. Michele Bachmann came in sixth place in 2012 despite hitting all of Iowa's counties after a hasty 10-day bus tour just days before the January caucuses. This year, pastor Ryan Binkley claims to have been the first Republican candidate to canvas every county and is not registering in the polls. This year, DeSantis has crisscrossed Iowa largely on the campaign bus belonging to his first super PAC, Never Back Down. A typical day saw the bus shuttle DeSantis between four to seven stops, often featuring one or two larger "meet and greets" where the Florida governor would deliver his full stump speech and take questions from Iowans. The rest of the day would then be punctuated by the briefer visits to local coffee shops, small businesses and farms. Not all stops were created equal, particularly when it came to the potential for interactions with future voters. DeSantis' visit to Wright County was a private tour of a local butcher shop with the owners, which took no more than 15 minutes. He didn't interact with voters beyond the handful of employees present in the shop.

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Other events, though, were designed to draw significant crowds, even in rural counties far from Des Moines. One stop in the town of Red Oak  home to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, with a population of just under 6,000  drew more than 100 attendees at a local history museum for a "meet and greet" event, leaving just standing room for those who arrived late. Of DeSantis' 99 county visits, 87 of the first stops in a new county were open to the press, according to an NBC News count. Never Back Down hosted another nine private events for DeSantis that served as his first visit to a new county, including a mix of church services, private farm tours and events with local elected officials. The campaign hosted another three such events that were closed to reporters. In some cases, a handful of closed-press events were shared on DeSantis' social media accounts. For others, like the private gatherings with state legislators arranged by the super PAC, few details have emerged about the event attendees or formats. "The Republican winners of the last three Iowa caucuses all completed the 'Full Grassley' because they knew Iowans expect their candidates to show up and earn their support," DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement to NBC News. "Winning an Iowa caucus requires a strong combination of outworking and out-organizing the competition and that's been the Ron DeSantis model. This historic milestone is just another example of how no one in the race is coming close to matching Ron DeSantis as we hit the deciding stretch," he added.

Inside the sprint to the caucuses

Still, the DeSantis playbook in Iowa hardly stops at the "Full Grassley." In November alone, DeSantis bagged endorsements from two of the state's key Republican leaders: popular Gov. Kim Reynolds and evangelical power broker Bob Vander Plaats. Since making her support official at a rally just four weeks ago in Des Moines, Reynolds has made at least nine appearances on the campaign trail alongside DeSantis, including Saturday's celebration  introducing the governor at events, taking selfies with supporters, and perhaps most importantly, urging audiences across the state to show up to caucus on Jan. 15. DeSantis has also touted Vander Plaats' network of supporters as a "pretty powerful machine" that may prove crucial for turnout on the big day. But with just over a month to go until Iowans officially caucus, hundreds of miles of Iowa highway in the rearview mirror, and influential Iowans at his side, DeSantis still faces a major climb to challenge for victory. The most recent NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey  which measured voter sentiment before DeSantis' recent endorsements and the completion of his 99-county tour  showed Trump with a 27-point lead over DeSantis and Haley in second place. The battle for a podium finish in the caucuses has grown increasingly competitive in recent weeks, as Haley has seized on momentum from strong debate performances and endorsements of her own from the likes of Americans for Prosperity and other groups. Haley, though, has held just 27 events in Iowa compared to DeSantis' 108 stops since May 23, when NBC News started tracking daily events. She has focused more on Iowa's early-voting first cousin, New Hampshire. As the second candidate to officially enter the race, Haley launched her campaign back in February and her team claims 60 events held in Iowa. "Poll after poll show Nikki Haley is the best challenger to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. She's second in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina  a stark contrast to Ron DeSantis' Iowa-or-bust strategy." Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokesperson with the Haley campaign, said in a statement. DeSantis supporters hope his time spent on the ground in Iowa will solidify his standing over Haley despite her recent gains. DeSantis "gets to hear what people in the Midwest are saying  and how they feel, what they believe, and how they react to all these different things going on in the world right now," said David Hansen, an independent voter from Waterloo who attended DeSantis' 98th county visit in Plainfield. Hansen, who was interested in Sen. Tim Scott and is now considering caucusing for DeSantis, expressed hope that touring the state in its entirety meant the governor was committed to communities like his. "It feels like he might stay here and look out for us more," Hansen posited.

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In the small town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, people knew Geoffrey Holt as the unassuming caretaker of the mobile home park where he lived.

What they didn't know was that he was a multimillionaire  and he donated the entirety of his $3.8 million fortune to the 4,000-person community after he died at age 82 in June.

When Holt suffered a stroke in September 2021, his best friend and one-time employer Edwin "Smokey" Smith became his primary caretaker and estate executor, according to the Brattleboro Reformer.

"Geoff was a private person, preferring to be in the crowd rather than in the front of it," Smith tells CNBC Make It.

Holt had previously confided to Smith about his wealth, but Smith didn't know of Holt's plans until he became caretaker.

"I wasn't particularly surprised," says Smith. "Except I expected him to leave his money with more than one place."

Holt's fortune was placed in the care of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

Grants will be made "to honor Mr. Holt's wishes: support projects, programs and organizations that provide health, educational, recreational or cultural benefits to the residents of Hinsdale," an NHCF spokesperson tells CNBC Make It.

A shrewd investor, Holt invested in several mutual funds that grew over the years. "He was quite surprised that his investments had done as well as they did," says Smith.

Holt settled in Hinsdale in the 1970s after serving in the Navy. He didn't own a car and lived frugally in a mobile home on the 25-acre land Smith owned.

"It was his oasis in the world," says Smith. "He could remove himself from everyday life, read and enjoy nature, the views, a brook, birds and all else that goes with his private hideaway."
Chinese conglomerate ByteDance's TikTok has asked Europe's second highest court to suspend its designation as a gatekeeper under onerous new EU tech rules until judges rule on its challenge against the label.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires TikTok and other designated gatekeepers Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals and let users decide which apps to pre-install on their devices.

They are not allowed to favour their own services over rivals' or prevent users from removing pre-installed software or apps.

TikTok last month challenged the EU decision at the Luxembourg-based General Court, saying its designation risks undermining the DMA goal of protecting gatekeepers from newer competitors like itself.

"We have applied for interim measures," a spokesperson said.

The bar for the court to approve interim measures is very high. Companies must show that the situation is urgent and that they would suffer irreparable harm without an interim measure.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday (December 2, 2023) said that it has carried out airstrikes against 400 targets across the Gaza Strip since the temporary truce ended.

A man takes his children across bombed land in the Gaza Strip during the temporary humanitarian pause. (file). Photo Courtesy: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

Yesterday, Hamas violated the operational pause, and in response, the IDF resumed combat, IDF posted on X.

Struck a total of over 400 terrorist targets in Gaza, the forces said.

Struck over 50 targets in the area of Khan Yunis, IDF said.

The Israeli army said fighter jets targeted an Islamic Jihads operational command centre inside a mosque.

Israeli Navy troops struck military targets used by Hamas Naval Forces.

IDF said Hamas members violated the truce that was reached between Israel and the group and remained effective till November 24.

The return to violence follows the end of a week-long pause in hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces that allowed the delivery of desperately needed fuel, food and water, which people have been drinking as soon as it is given to them, humanitarians report.

The pause also enabled the release of hostages taken during Hamass 7 October surprise attack on southern Israel and ensuing massacre of some 1,200 people, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
At least three suspected Khalistan extremists have been convicted of an attempted murder of Auckland-based popular radio host Harnek Singh, media reports said.

Radio host Harnek Singh. Photo Courtesy: Harnek Singh Instagram page



Sukhpreet Singh, 44, was found guilty of being an accessory, and Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, The Australia Today reported.

One man is an Auckland resident and has been given one of the longest possible prison sentences for the crime, The Australia Today reported quoting NZ Herald.

Harnek Singh, also known as Nekki, suffered over 40 stab wounds when he was ambushed by a group of religious fundamentalists on December 23, 2020.

Harnek Singh had been followed by three cars full of men and was stabbed within an inch of his life, the news portal reported.

He locked the door of his vehicle and began pounding on the horn, attracting the attention of neighbours as the attackers bashed in his window.

The police told the court that Singh would have bled to death from his extensive stab wounds.

Harnek Singh required over 350 stitches to his head and upper body and multiple surgeries due to the attack.
No one wants to earn the wrath of Prince, lest he rain down purple vengeance upon you, so Weird Al Yankovic is steadfast about getting permission from the artists he parodies, even though he could legally tell them to suck rocks. That means most of them love his jabs at them -- sometimes a little too much -- but sometimes, wires (or shall we say dreads) get crossed.

15 Prince (El Pantera/Wikimedia Commons) Throughout the 80s and 90s, Prince always turned down Yankovics pitches, including a parody of Purple Rain called Yellow Snow and one of Lets Go Crazy about the Beverly Hillbillies. Until Prince became a casualty of 2016, Yankovic approached him every few years see if he's lightened up.

14 Chamillionaire (Brian Solis/Wikimedia Commons) Chamillionaire loved White and Nerdy so much that he posted the video to his own MySpace, which was like putting something up on the walls of your home back then. "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, he gushed to MTV. He's spittin' just like Krayzie Bone on the second verse.

13 Paul McCartney (Cecioka/Wikimedia Commons) McCartney had no problem with Yankovic parodying Live and Let Die, but hes famously the most vegetarian, so he didnt want it to be called Chicken Pot Pie. Yankovic ended up scrapping the whole thing because Tofu Pot Pie just doesnt have the same ring to it, and besides, the chorus of my song Bawk-bawk-bawk-bawk and tofu doesnt make any noise.

12 Mark Knopfler Determined to work the Beverly Hillbillies into something, Yankovic instead asked the Dire Straits to use their song Money For Nothing. Frontman Mark Knopfler, taking advantage of the opportunity to jam with a legend, granted permission only on the condition that he was allowed to play lead guitar on the track. Advertisement Advertisement

11 Presidents of the United States of America (Danny Lechanteur/Wikimedia Commons) When Yankovic played Gump for the Presidents of the United States of America, it was the first time he got to see a musicians reaction to his work firsthand, and fortunately, they loved it. In fact, they often sing his words when they play Lump live.

10 Michael Jackson (Constru-centro/Wikimedia Commons) Yankovics parodies of Michael Jackson are among his most popular, including with Jackson, who became such good friends with Yankovic that he invited him to appear in a music video. There was one song he couldnt hang with, though: Black or White, which Jackson said was too important of a song and actually wound up doing me a big favor, according to Yankovic, because, frankly, my wanting to do Michael Jackson a third time was a pure act of desperation. Advertisement Advertisement

9 Nirvana Instead, Yankovic had a stroke of luck after asking a friend and cast member of Saturday Night Live to put Nirvana on the phone if they were ever on the show -- and then she did. Kurt Cobain just had one question: Is it going to be a song about food? Yankovic assured him, no, its going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics, and he replied, Oh, sure, of course, thats funny. It was later revealed that Cobain had called Yankovic Americas modern pop-rock genious in his journals.

8 Don McLean (Lisa O'Connor/Wikimedia Commons) McLean liked Yankovics Star Wars parody of American Pie, but his kids liked it even more. He told Yankovic that they played it so much around the house that he sometimes couldnt keep his own lyrics straight when he performed. He also mentioned that hed denied Coolio permission to sample the song, which Yankovic thought was great, another reason for him to hate me. (Well get to that.) Advertisement Advertisement

7 Lady Gaga (proacguy1/Wikimedia Commons) Its unclear exactly who denied Yankovic permission to release his parody of Born This Way, but Lady Gagas managers demanded a finished demo for her to hear before delivering a resounding no anyway. Since hed already recorded it, he released it for free instead, and fans were so mad it wouldnt be on his next album that Lady Gaga had to go on the record that her managers never even told her about it, and if they had, of course shed have said yes. Either they threw themselves under the bus of their bosss whims or someone got fired.

6 Graham Nash Nash wasnt just pleased that Yankovic chose to parody Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, he actually asked him to do it. They ran into each other in the early 2010s, and Nash asked, So when are you going to get around to doing a parody of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes?' Yankovic had, in fact, just recorded a parody of the song, so he got to play it for him right there. Advertisement Advertisement

5 Red Hot Chili Peppers (Leon Wilson/Wikimedia Commons) Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea insisted he didnt mind being made fun of by Yankovic, he was just unimpressed with the final product. "I didn't think it was very good. I enjoy Weird Al's things, but I found it unimaginative, said the man who has recorded 127 songs about California.

4 Weezer Yankovic wanted to include Buddy Holly in one of his polka medleys, and Weezer had initially granted permission, then decided against it at the last minute. And we do mean last minute -- the CD booklets that included special thanks to Weezer had already been printed, confusing fans, and the song had to be physically cut out of the track. Advertisement Advertisement

3 Eminem (DoD News Features/Wikimedia Commons) Eminem allowed Yankovic to record a parody of Lose Yourself but asked him not to make a music video, fearing that it would change kids' visual perception on what that image was. Yes, the image of Eminem vomiting in a filthy public restroom.

2 Daniel Powter You probably dont even remember the name Daniel Powter -- he did that Bad Day song back in the 2000s -- but he decided he was too good for Yankovic when he was recording Straight Outta Lynwood. He later changed his mind, but there was no longer any room for him on the album. It was the ultimate musical neg. Advertisement Advertisement
As two-dimensional works of fiction who cant vote (and sometimes dont even bother to wear pants), childrens cartoon characters seldom tend to get involved in government affairs  which makes it all the stranger when beloved toons do dip their toes into the political process.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

While Shaggy never lobbied for the legalization of Scooby Snacks, and Garfield didnt run for public office on the platform of abolishing Mondays, some cartoon characters have attempted to engage with politics, and things got really weird as a result, such as the time when

4 Yogi Bear Fought Back Against His Yellowstone Oppressors, With the Help of the U.N. Yogi Bear isnt exactly famous for his political activism  unless you consider stealing picnic baskets an act of anti-capitalist rebellion. But back in 1961, the comic book Yogi Bear Visits the U.N. found Jellystones most famous resident taking action against his human oppressors. It all starts when Yogi discovers an old treaty between an Indigenous tribe and the U.S. government, promising the land that became Jellystone Park to the bears. Fed up with having his food supply cut off by Ranger Smith, Yogi then attempts to essentially de-colonize Jellystone, pleading his case to the United Nations that the national park should be turned into a sovereign nation for bears called Bearsylvania. Advertisement Yogis proposal is shot down, with the U.N. refusing to honor the treaty, but he continues to fight. Eventually, the U.N. Human Rights Commission visits Jellystone and decides that the bears should get to run the park  for one measly day a year. But weirdly, Yogi is totally happy with this outcome, remarking, You know, Boo Boo, thanks to the United Nations, this is a better world. Foreign Policy Magazine noted that this ending is not wholly different from reality because repression 364 days a year does seem uncomfortably close to some situations the United Nations suggests  at least implicitly  that people bear.

3 Arthur Went to Washington, Shared Pizza With Human-Aardvark Hybrid Bill Clinton Long before Florida conservatives were attempting to ban Arthur books for introducing the concept of (*gasp*) kissing to children, everyones favorite bespectacled aardvark actually met the president. Advertisement In the episode D.W. Goes to Washington, Arthurs sister wanders off during a White House tour  instead of being tased and thrown in a cell, she somehow befriends the Commander in Chief and, as a result, the whole family is invited for dinner, which for some reason was pizza. Instead of bothering to create a new character, the writers simply cobbled together a human-aardvark version of the current president at the time  thus giving us an Island of Doctor Moreau-esque Bill Clinton. Advertisement Advertisement And the less said about the George W. Bush bunny rabbit monstrosity that briefly showed up in a 2001 episode, the better
China a doer in advancing global climate governance

14:40, December 02, 2023 By He Yin ( People's Daily

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, kicked off in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 30.

The meeting will carry out the first-ever two-year assessment of the world's collective progress toward the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and is of great phased significance for the global climate governance process.

The international community expects all parties to adhere to the objectives, principles and institutional arrangements outlined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and send a positive signal of focused action and enhanced cooperation.

The COP28, themed "Unite, Act and Deliver," reflects the aspiration of the international community to jointly cope with climate change. According to a recent report issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, national climate action plans remain insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that the COP28 must be the place to urgently close the climate ambition gap, and developed countries must rebuild trust "by delivering on their finance commitments."

China is a doer in advancing global climate governance. Since the beginning of this year, it has maintained close communication with all parties to promote a successful COP28 and the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco. The two heads of state underscored the importance of working together to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate crisis in this critical decade.

They welcomed recent positive discussions between their respective special envoys for climate, including on national actions to reduce emissions in the 2020s, common approaches toward a successful COP28 and operationalization of the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s to accelerate concrete climate actions.

Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas believes that this echoes the spirit of global cooperation and has a positive impact on addressing the challenges of climate change worldwide.

Xi recently emphasized in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron that China stands ready to work with France in sending a strong signal of jointly addressing the issue of climate change, so as to prompt the success of the COP28.

As a responsible developing country, China has actively addressed climate change as the intrinsic demand for it to realize sustainable development. It has contributed its wisdom and strength to global climate governance.

China has implemented a national strategy to actively address climate change, announced its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and put in place a "1+N" policy framework for carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

It has promoted structural adjustments of industry, energy, and transportation, adopted energy-saving and efficiency-improving measures, established and improved market mechanisms, and increased forest carbon sinks.

China places mitigation and adaptation on equal footing, and has made positive progress in addressing climate change. In 2022, China's carbon emissions intensity decreased by over 51 percent from its 2005 level.

China has been actively engaged in South-South cooperation on climate change, and actively participated in the multilateral process of climate change, showing great responsibility as a major country.

Recently, the Al Dhafra PV2 Solar Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates, which was contracted by a Chinese company, has been completed. It is currently the world's largest single photovoltaic project, providing electricity for 200,000 households and reducing carbon emissions by 2.4 million tons annually.

By September 2023, China had signed 48 memorandums of understanding on South-South cooperation on climate change with dozens of developing countries. It has collaborated on the construction of four low-carbon demonstration zones and implemented 75 projects on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Furthermore, China has trained over 2,300 officials and technical personnel in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries.

China has launched close cooperation with Europe on green development, established a China-Europe carbon neutrality research center, initiated the China-France Carbon Neutrality Center, and hosted the Global Sustainable Transport Forum. These efforts have helped build consensus on global climate governance and boosted confidence in addressing climate change worldwide.

Addressing climate change is a cause shared by all of humanity. All parties should uphold the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as the main channel for global climate governance, stay committed to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and promote full and effective implementation of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

China will work with all parties to use the Global Stocktake as an opportunity to step up implementation, strengthen supporting measures and jointly build a fair, reasonable and win-win global climate governance system.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
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The announcement with students and staff was held at the Massry Center for the Arts, but ahead of the speech, some would-be attendees were told they could not enter as the 405-seat hall was at maximum capacity. One staff member said they were not expecting so many people to show up. They scrambled to set up speakers outside in the hall for the leftover people who were not allowed in, as they did, one student commented, They couldnt even get this right.

ALBANY  After news organizations broke the news Thursday afternoon that The College of Saint Rose will close next year , President Marcia White was met Friday with boos, and angry students and staff while explaining why the school will permanently close in May.

The College of Saint Roses Board of Trustees voted to close the school on Thursday. The colleges Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Stone kicked off the announcement on Friday, saying cost-cutting and fundraising efforts by the college were not enough to bridge the financial gap the institution faces.

As it became more clear that the college would be unable to continue as a standalone institution, we sought financial support from the legislature and other elected officials and, behind the scenes, actively sought to partner with a like-minded institution of higher learning to continue our 103 years. But, those efforts were unsuccessful. The board's decision to close The College of Saint Rose was not an easy one," Stone said.

Only a few minutes into his speech, he was met with booing from the crowd. When White interjected to tell students to be more respectful, the crowd both inside and outside the hall only voiced their anger louder.

White spoke after and said she wanted to address what she called factual errors and misinformation in media reports of the closure. Earlier last week, the Albany Times Union reported that the school was facing mounting debt and had lobbied state officials for emergency funds.

It was reported that we recently reached out to various political leaders for a financial bailout. That is not true. We never asked for a bailout. That was not a request for immediate funding, White said. It was a request for bridge funding to support operations through the 2024-2025 academic year to give us time to work towards a continuation of the college's critical programs to a potential partnership with another institution and to the programs that significantly increase the professional workforce in fields that are facing a shortage of crisis proportion in New York State.

Speaking to reporters following the community gathering, White criticized reporters for breaking the news of the college's closing.

The only reason that I'm not a wreck and in tears is I am so angry at the fact that our students, our faculty, our employees, their parents, the parents of our students had to hear this news in the press, rather than from us today, which is a time we had put aside to do a personal message to them and have a conversation, she said.

She also reiterated that the request for state funding was not a bailout, but a request for bridge funding.

White said the college had been in financial trouble for about 10 years and there was a decline in enrollment that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. She said, during that time, the school cut $9 million in administrative costs and $6 million in academic programs, while also looking for potential partnerships. She said the school signed non-disclosure agreements, so she could not share which institutions were approached. It is also unclear how big a budget gap the school faces.

Another question is what will happen to the colleges 48-acre campus in the citys Pine Hills neighborhood. In a joint statement, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Albany County Executive Dan McCoy expressed their sadness for the students and staff.

We are in close communication with City and County stakeholders, state and local government leaders, academia, and developers to ensure that we are all working together to reimagine the CSR campus to minimize the impact of the Colleges closure, the statement read. In the coming weeks and months, we will also work with the Colleges staff to connect them to job opportunities with the City, County, and other local employers through job fairs and other events.

After Fridays announcement, several students expressed their frustration and anger with the college. McKayla Ganci is a junior at the college and said it was hard to think about leaving.

I'm a transfer student, so I just started this semester. And, you know, we're already attached to so many friends and clubs and our professors and everything, she said. And I can't imagine how our professors feel. I mean, they're all losing their jobs. We're losing our friends.

Keisha Aliza, also a transfer student and a sophomore, said she wished the college had been more transparent with students.

It just sucks overall. They should have been more transparent with us, especially transfer students. I feel like they should have said, like, This is what's going on. This is the reality. And this might happen, just so we could have been more prepared and maybe even gone somewhere else. But, they probably didn't want that, to try and keep the college open.

Both students said they had seen the college continuing campus tours this week for prospective students. Aliza said she was angry that she went into debt to attend this college, when she could have chosen another school.

Now, if I go somewhere else, Im going to still be in debt, but Im going to have this debt to pay off -- and what if not all of my credits transfer? And its just a bunch of questions and we dont know whats going on," Aliza said.

White said the college will have a series of Zoom meetings with staff and students going forward to provide more information.
Retail sales records were broken in Amsterdam in 1902 as merchants reported a week's worth of banner shopping days leading up to Christmas. Th
Sometimes it's the smallest things that offer the biggest insights. While having lunch with a friend recently, I remarked that her hair looked especially good. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I had a blow-dry  God, it was traumatic.'

She told me that she'd wanted to tip the person who had washed her hair but faced a conundrum: the individual in question was clearly male  with facial hair and pleasingly firm massage technique  but was dressed as a woman. What pronoun should she deploy? Him? Her? They? Hedging her bets, she decided to plump for 'They'.

'It's her, actually,' said the receptionist, witheringly.

Aargh! Wrong again. My poor friend fled, mortified.

Maybe it's my age or there's just something wrong with me, but modern life is increasingly a series of baffling obstacles and pitfalls. One feels adrift in a strange sea, lost in a fog of political correctness and constantly shifting rules.

King Charles is right to stay silent about the appalling allegations of racism, but why are Palace lawyers so circumspect? The institution Charles represents has a right to defend itself against unscrupulous publishers.

It's as if they seek out any opportunity to be offended or upset  relishing the drama and the chance to bring others down. A glaring example is the so-called 'Royal racist' allegations, re-heated with a side order of triple-fried malice by Omid Scobie.

Daily life is filled with tricky tasks and challenges which, inevitably, I fail. I feel like I'm living in some surreal version of the Celebrity jungle, forced to swallow a variety of unpalatable concoctions and where, if at any stage I put even a toenail wrong, I could be cancelled: I'm a Gen X-er... Get Me Out of Here!

Of course, everyone experiences some form of age-related alienation. I'm sure that my grandparents' generation were as mystified by the groups I once eagerly followed on Top Of The Pops as today's fiftysomethings are by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

But even though different generations in the past didn't always see eye to eye  culturally, politically, socially  mostly we respected each other's views. Or even if we didn't, we left each other to get on with it.

That's no longer the case. Everyone is expected to accommodate  or else. We 43- to 58-year-olds must be educated, shaken out of our gentle Gen X slumber, in which we just bumble along making the most of life, to be pitched into a post- millennial minefield that could blow up in our face at any time.

Another example. A friend was stuck in a traffic jam when her hearing aids started making a terrible screeching noise. As she sat frantically trying to sort out her device, a cyclist took a photo and reported her to the police.

Now she faces a fine and up to six points on her licence. True, technically she was breaking the law. But sometimes the law is an ass. Sometimes people are also asses.

To my generation, such interfering, inflexible behaviour is anathema. We grew up minding our own business in a live-and-let-live way. Self-determination and free speech are central to our mindset. Common sense is our watchword.

However, the generation that gave us avocado on toast and matcha lattes  millennials  are very different. They try to shape the world in their holier-than-thou image. There's an intractability and almost deliberate desire to seek offence about so many younger people that makes me think they're almost doing it on purpose, just waiting for the rest of us to trip up, spoiling for a fight.

Anyone with half an ounce of sense knows that the whole thing is a completely overblown reaction to a most likely perfectly innocuous and possibly slightly jokey conversation about which of their parents' very different physical characteristics the Sussexes' first baby might inherit. The kind of conversation every family has ahead of a new arrival

It's as if they seek out any opportunity to be offended or upset  relishing the drama and the chance to bring others down.

A glaring example is the so-called 'Royal racist' allegations, re-heated with a side order of triple-fried malice by Omid Scobie. Anyone with half an ounce of sense knows that the whole thing is a completely overblown reaction to a most likely perfectly innocuous and possibly slightly jokey conversation about which of their parents' very different physical characteristics the Sussexes' first baby might inherit. The kind of conversation every family has ahead of a new arrival. 'Let's hope the baby doesn't have your huge nose/feet/terrible teeth' and so on.

But in a world where everything carries the threat of offence, and where even the best intentions are weaponised, such things can become battlegrounds.

Better just to keep your mouth shut or avoid taking the risk altogether. Don't pay anyone any compliments, don't comment, don't ask questions  and for God's sake don't ever attempt humour. And that is why the world is becoming increasingly bonkers and intolerant, why it's hard to escape the notion we're all trapped in a cultural straitjacket, and that the lunatics are taking over the asylum. Because that's what is happening.

I suppose the only consolation is that, at 56, I've only got to put up with it for, what, a couple more decades? Assuming that they don't bump me off first.

 Forget Liz Truss's 44 days as PM: she would have a legacy to be proud of if her proposed bill to prevent under-18s accessing hormone therapy passes into law, saving countless youngsters from ruining their lives before they're ready to make an informed decision.

If politicians are so keen on net zero, why don't they attend climate change summits by Zoom, instead of flying halfway around the world to places such as Dubai, global capital of conspicuous (and planet-combusting) consumption?

 Jozef Puska, killer of Ashling Murphy, tried to take his own life during his trial, but was thwarted by officers. Why? If such a scumbag wants to do us all the favour of topping himself, no one should stop him.

My cat could do with a Ted talk on manners

My fellow columnist Amanda Platell says her cat, Ted, disdains a survey claiming dog-walking can help stave off dementia.

How different from my cat, which wakes me every morning with her razor-sharp claws demanding breakfast.

How different from my cat, which wakes me every morning with her razor-sharp claws demanding breakfast

She then spends hours nagging to be let in and out, rushing around the house attacking my soft furnishings before settling down for the day, having covered everything in cat hair.

Amanda, any chance I could borrow Ted? He might teach my cat some manners.

 King Charles is right to stay silent about the appalling allegations of racism, but why are Palace lawyers so circumspect? The institution Charles represents has a right to defend itself against unscrupulous publishers.

Claudia's clone is a mini-me too far

New on my growing list of Things That Make No Sense Whatsoever is the obsession that otherwise perfectly intelligent women seem to have with Barbie.

Now Claudia Schiffer, who I've always considered as one of the more sensible supermodels, dresses like a Disney princess, gushing about her 'limited edition' mini-me Barbie

The hysterical hype surrounding the film (starring Margot Robbie) was bad enough.

Now Claudia Schiffer, who I've always considered as one of the more sensible supermodels, dresses like a Disney princess, gushing about her 'limited edition' mini-me Barbie.

Come on, Claudia, you're better than this.

 Parcel theft has soared  up 57 per cent according to one report. I'm not surprised.

I've lost count of the number of times Evri or DHL has sent me a cheery message saying, 'Congratulations, your parcel has been successfully delivered', only to find it on my doorstep in full view of passers-by (not to mention the local meth addicts).

It seems delivery firms just dump stuff and run  or return it to a depot so far away it might as well be in Ulan Bator.

Schools should be safe

One way extremist ideologues infiltrate society is by indoctrinating the young. Recent proof is how children have been skipping school to attend pro-Palestinian marches.

Today, this newspaper reports that some Muslim pupils at a high-performing English state school are being bullied by older students for not fasting during Ramadan or wearing the hijab

Today, this newspaper reports that some Muslim pupils at a high-performing English state school are being bullied by older students for not fasting during Ramadan or wearing the hijab.

Of course, everyone has a right to practise their religion, but schools should be safe environments where youngsters can expand, not shrink, their horizons, and make up their own minds about life without fear of intimidation or indoctrination.

 Tunnock's Teacakes profits have plunged by more than 80 per cent. This is a national emergency. It's the duty of every citizen to eat at least one Teacake a day  a task I'll take very seriously.
Don't miss our brilliant new podcast, The Crown: Fact or Fiction with Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone. Listen now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

She was the ultimate insider, one of the late Queens intimate friends and so close to King Charles that he made her godmother to Prince William.

So when, one year ago today, Lady Susan Hussey was engulfed in a racism row that forced her to resign, it sent shockwaves through the royal family.

Lady Susan, 84, announced her withdrawal from royal duties on December 1, 2022, after charity campaigner Ngozi Fulani accused her of racially insulting her at a Buckingham Palace reception.

The furore occurred when the aristocrat, who is one of Queen Camillas closest aides, repeatedly asked Ms Fulani, the British-born director of the east London charity Sistah Space, where she was 'really from'.

Lady Susan, who had served the late Queen for six decades, stepped down from her honorary role 'with immediate effect' amid a furious outcry this time last year

Ngozi Fulani, the British-born founder of the charity Sistah Space, expressed shock at her treatment by Lady Susan Hussey

Ms Fulani said she had been 'insulted' during the reception at Buckingham Palace to raise awareness of violence against women and girls

The Royal Family, still reeling from accusations of racism by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex the previous year, were further rocked when Ms Fulani took to X (Twitter) to detail her treatment by Lady Susan, such a fixture at Buckingham Palace that she was dubbed, Number One Head Girl.

Mixed feelings about yesterday's visit to Buckingham Palace, posted Ms Fulani on X, following the November 30 reception.

10 mins after arriving, a member of staff, Lady SH, approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge. The conversation below took place. The rest of the event is a blur.

In Ms Fulani's version of events, it started with the royal aide asking her where she was from. She replied, Sistah Space.

Lady Susan followed up with, No, where do you come from? to which Ms Fulani replied, were based in Hackney.

According to Ms Fulani, Lady Susan then asked, No, what part of Africa are you from? Ms Fulani met this query with, I dont know, they didnt leave any records.

Lady Susan, widow of the famed BBC chairman Marmaduke Hussey, then replied, Well, you must know where youre from,,

Ms Fulani, told her here, the UK', but suggested that Lady Susan continued to press the point asking, 'No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?'

Ms Fulani protested, "My people lady, what is this?", to which Lady Susan countered, "Oh I can see I am going to have a challenge getting you to say where youre from. Where did you first come here?"'

Ms Fulani replied that shes a British national and that her parents came here in the 1950s.

After sharing this interaction on X, another writer commented: I hope she was reported.

Fulani replied, There was nobody to report it to. I couldn't report it to the Queen Consort, plus it was such a shock to me and the other 2 women, that we were stunned to temporary silence. I just stood at the edge of the room, smiled & engaged briefly with who spoke to me until I could leave.

We have never heard Lady Susan's account of the exchange.

Her response, however, was swift - after 60 years of service to Queen Elizabeth, she resigned from her position in Queen Camillas household with immediate effect.

The row occurred in the wake of a review into diversity at Buckingham palace, Clarence house and Kensington Palace.

And the veteran lady-in-waitings speedy departure was a clear sign of a new, more woke era, with Prince William quickly issuing a statement that it was really disappointing to hear what had happened and that racism has no place in our society.

Lady Susan met with Ms Fulani in December (pictured) and offered her 'sincere apologies' for her comments

Lady Susan served the late Queen without incident for more than 60 years. Pictured: With the Royal Family on the day of Prince William's confirmation at Windsor Castle

The late Queen with her 'Head Girl' Lady Susan in the Market Square in Aylesbury in 2002

Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by her Lady-in-Waiting Lady Susan Hussey after attending the Gold Service Scholarship awards ceremony at Claridge's in 2016

The then Prince and Princess of Wales with their eldest son Prince William at his christening where Lady Susan was chosen to be his Godmother

Ms Fulani defended speaking out about the event, telling The Independent that it was bigger than one individual. It's institutional racism.

'I was in shock after it happened and anybody who knows me knows I don't take this kind of nonsense," she said.

However, Lady Susan was quick to make amends, sitting down with Ms Fulani just two weeks later to offer her sincere apologies for her comments.

After the December 16 meeting, Buckingham Palace and Fulani issued a joint statement saying the meeting was filled with warmth and understanding.

The statement continued: Lady Susan has pledged to deepen her awareness of the sensitivities involved and is grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the issues in this area.

Both Ms Fulani and Lady Susan ask now that they be left in peace to rebuild their lives in the wake of an immensely distressing period for them both.

They hope that their example shows a path to resolution can be found with kindness, cooperation and the condemnation of discrimination wherever it takes root.

Few could have foreseen that Lady Susans long and distinguished royal career ending in such an ignominious fashion, and her gaffe surprised many who know her well.

One friend suggested that the aides hearing was to blame. 'Like many people of her age, Lady Susan is rather hard of hearing. It's likely that her deafness contributed to the problems she had that day.'

At the time, it was believed that senior royals hoped Lady Susan would return to her post and it seems that she is now back in The Firms good books.

In February just three months after the racism scandal, Lady Susan stood in for Princess Anne at a memorial service for her mothers friend Dame Frances Campbell-Preston.

'Lady Susan was formally asked to represent the Princess Royal at the service,' a family friend told The Daily Mail. 'She was more than happy to do so. Her official position was recorded in the order of service. It's great to see her back in the royal fold.'

Queen Camilla with Lady Susan Hussey (left) at the State Opening of Parliament in 2019

READ MORE: Lady Susan Hussey chats to King Charles at Royal Ascot 6 months on from Buckingham Palace race row - after also attending the Coronation last month Advertisement

Lady Susan Hussey chatted to King Charles at Royal Ascot earlier this year in June

Lady Susan Hussey arrives to attend a church service with King Charles and the Princess Royal at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in January

And at Royal Ascot in June, she enjoyed a friendly exchange with the King in the Royal Box on Ladies Day - following her attendance at the Coronation at Westminster Abbey in May.

Its no surprise that Lady Susan and King Charles are old friends as shes been a fixture in the Royal Family since 1960, when she was employed to help answer letters addressed to the Royal household.

As an expert on the inner workings of royal life and its conventions, she is thought to be one of the key figures who showed Princess Diana the ropes when she became engaged to Charles - and she has been portrayed by the late actress Haydn Gwynne in series five of The Crown.
If you've ever contemplated spending loads of your hard-earned money on a pricey beauty product, you know how difficult it can be to discern what's really worth it.

While a $150 cream or a $80 serum might seem quite expensive when there are drugstore products aplenty under $20, there are actually a slew of high-cost products that go above and beyond price-wise.

Some of these skincare products boast inventive ingredients like sturgeon DNA and others have platinum or caviar, almost explaining their high price point.

From a $1,700 rejuvenating face serum to a $1,500 anti-aging serum, FEMAIL asked dermatologists if any of the luxury beauty products are actually worth buying.

La Mer is famous for its extremely high price point and has been a favorite with A-list celebrities for years

La Mer Creme de la Mer ($2,675)

La Mer has been a celebrity-beloved brand for years and swears it reduces the look of fine line and pores, with a 16 ounce tub of the stuff running you more than $2,000 for a 16.5oz jar.

Creme de la creme! Here's what to know about La Mer The skincare line started after Dr. Max Huber suffered burns in a lab accident and created a healing cream

Celebrity fans of the famed ultra-hydrating cream include Nicole Kidman, Kim Kardashian, Liv Tyler , Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, and Chrissy Teigen

Dr. Mian says La Mer is best for dry skin

Dr. Thosani believes it provides hydration while repairing the skin barrier Advertisement

Described by the brand as having 'rejuvenating' powers, the cream has earned something of a cult following over the years - with scores of people willing to fork out hundreds and thousands for a jar of this product.

'So much more than an icon,' the brand says of its most well-known product. 'Powered by visible youth-regenerating Miracle Broth, Creme de la Mer helps heal dryness and energizes repair to unlock a rejuvenating transformation.'

On the Skincare Addiction Reddit page, one commenter explained, 'Its all relative when you consider price and explained, 'For someone who makes $600,000 a year, spending a few hundred or even a thousand on skincare would be the equivalent of someone with an average salary spending $40.'

The Reddit user previously worked at the Nordstrom beauty counter and had one customer 'who used to buy La Mer for her (wait for it). eczema-prone chihuahua.'

The key ingredient is the trademarked miracle broth, which is a mix of fermented sea kelp, vitamins and minerals. Dr. Kiran Mian, board-certified Dermatologist at Hudson Dermatology and Laser Surgery in New York, explains this product is especially beneficial for dry skin, 'as it has soothing and hydrating ingredients including brown algae, glycerin, sesame, and lanolin.'

Dr. Maya Thosani, Double Board Certified Dermatologist and owner of Modern Dermatology in Scottsdale, Arizona, agrees that the cream 'clearly has several of the key components to provide hydration and repair the skin barrier.' However, Dr. Thosani says, 'As a dermatologist my concern is that there are a few ingredients that are on the contact dermatitis list of triggering allergic reactions in the skin.'

'The fermentation of the sea kelp is interesting as it is a unique step that incorporates probiotics in the skin which are beneficial,' Dr. Thosani continues.

'However, at this price point it is rare that enough product is applied to achieve ideal moisturization.'

Instead, she recommends the much more affordable CeraVe ($19), Cetaphil ($13), Aveeno ($9), and Vanicream ($25).

La Prairie is hit a with celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Margot Robbie

La Prairie Platinum Rare Haute-Rejuvenation Cream ($1,690)

This bougie bottle with pink accents would look ideal sitting on your vanity...but what makes it worth the $1,690 price tag?

Dr. Mian thinks La Prairie has a unique profile but isn't necessarily more effective

The cream was 'inspired by the cellular therapy offered at the brand's wellness retreat in Switzerland,' which is fitting, because you could also book a trip to Switzerland for that price.

The cream (which you're supposed to use twice a day) promises to firm, rejuvenate and smooth the skin,' and unsurprisingly, Kim Kardashian is a fan. The formula includes pure platinum for an A-list approved glow.

Dr. Mian says that while La Prairie has a unique profile, with amino acids and peptides that she hasn't seen elsewhere, 'You may be able to achieve the same results using other creams or even in-office procedures combined with more affordable skincare.'

Dr. Thosani explains that this product contains 'platinum bonded with tetrapeptides, and this combination is supposed to allow it to work more effectively and longer,' which will help 'enhance firmness, reduce the appearance of wrinkles in the eye area and improve skin elasticity and hydration.'

Dr. Thosani comments, 'While peptides have been studied and are clearly known for their ability to reduce signs of aging, including minimizing the appearance of expression lines and visibly reducing wrinkle depth, further studies would need to prove that this platinum polymer is so superior to the other numerous market brands available.'

It's also possible the platinum won't even be doing it's job, as Dr. Thosani cites 'studies that show that while platinum nanoparticles may penetrate the skin barrier, there is no evidence for their absorption.'

Celebrities including Grace Kelly, Coco Chanel, Jennifer Lopez, and Kim Kardashian have all used Valmont products

La Maison Valmont Creme Merveilleuse ($1,100)

Valmont, famous for its costly but beloved skincare products, calls this the ultimate regenerating cream due to being 'packed with sturgeon DNA and marine minerals to revive the skin's youthful glow.'

Dr. Mian explains the use of sturgeon DNA, as 'sturgeons are known to be one of the longest living animals and their DNA has sequences for repair and regeneration.'

Dr. Thosani thinks these ingredients are good but that it's important to use retinoids to build collagen over time.

'While sturgeon DNA can be reliably sourced and is proven in several different studies to be beneficial the price point does not need to break the bank in order to build new collagen,' Dr. Thosani says, adding that the minerals can be found in many other more affordable products.

Dr. Ahram says another option is the Mario Badescu Caviar Night Cream ($15)

La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Cream Moisturizer ($1,066)

La Prairie makes the list of most expensive beauty products yet again, but this time the secret ingredient in this 'rich and indulgent' cream is caviar, instead of platinum. The natural caviar extract promises to hydrate and the skin and help with firmness and elasticity.

Dr. Aya Ahram suggested a more affordable caviar-infused option

New York-based Dr. Aya Ahram, board-certified dermatologist at Hudson Dermatology and Laser Surgery, says, 'caviar oil can help with adiponectin production, which is a hormone that can enhance the production of collagen and elastin, which are important for tissue remodeling and repair.'

Dr. Ahram explains that 'UV radiation over time can lead to degradation of these enzymes in the skin, which leads to skin aging and the development of wrinkles.'

According to Dr. Ahram, 'caviar oil can help combat the damage caused by UV radiation and prevent the enzyme dysregulation and degradation.'

But busting out the big bucks isn't necessary, as another accessible option is the Mario Badescu Caviar Night Cream, which retails for a more affordable $15.

'Japans best-kept beauty secret' is available at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales

Decorte AQ Meliority Intensive Regenerating Multi Cream ($1,000)

This Japanese skincare brand's cream boasts a serum-like texture that 'absorbs so completely it seems to merge with skin's surface.'

Dr. Ahram explains this Japanese product contains benifuuki extract, which is also present in green tea and boasts antioxidant properties that help with UV induced damage.

According to Dr. Ahram's research, it also contains White Mucuna Extract 'which helps to produce L-dopa, a neurotransmitter.'

Dr. Ahram says, 'This plant has been used as a traditional medicine remedy in China and India for disorders such as Parkinsons, but topically can have antioxidant effects.'

This lavish cream is so costly because it contains diamonds and gold powder

111Skin Celestial Black Diamond Cream ($991)

Want to shine bright like a diamond? According to the brand, this 'luxurious beauty elixir will transport you to a realm of youthful radiance,' thanks to its black diamond particles, which shimmer and illuminate the skin.

One Walmart comment read, 'I don't think this is worth the price,' with the commenter explaining, 'There's better products from the line or just other brands, and asking, 'Why is this one so expensive? the ingredients are not wild or anything. its ok if you just wanna have a bougie mix in your skincare arsenal.

Dr. Ahram explains that this product also contains gold powder, 'which can help act as a gentle physical exfoliant by acting like a scrub, which can help brighten the skin.'

Dr. Ahram believes 'it really can 'help reflect light off the skin to make it look brighter and more luminous.'

The bottle was created in collaboration with a French glassmaker

Chanel Ultimate Repair Night Concentrate ($920)

This serum is made with 91 percent naturally derived ingredients, including Vanilla Planifolia, which was was chosen from more than 117 vanilla varieties, and is grown and harvest at the Chanel lab in Madagascar.

Another key ingredient is Himalayan Swertia, which is sourced from Bhutan, where it's harvested every three years during the plants flowering cycle.

It's also expensive because of the refillable bottle, which was created in collaboration with a premier French glassmaker.

Dr. Ahram says the Vanilla Planifolia has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits but names Medik8 crystal retinal ($81) as a similar product, as it has the same key ingredient.

Dr. Barbara Sturm is a German doctor, orthopedics specialist and aesthetics expert

Dr. Barbara Sturm's Super Anti-Aging Serum ($900)

This expensive serum claims to tackle fine lines and wrinkles using anti-inflammatory ingredients like purslane, skullcap, hyaluronic acid and red algae extract.

Dr. Mian says 'studies have shown purslane to be effective in antioxidant activity, fighting free radical damage against collagen,' and that the peptides 'are the building blocks of collagen and can help reduce fine lines and strengthen the dermis to improve elasticity.'

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Dr. Maya Thosani suggests ingesting purslane and skullcap

However, Dr. Sturm isn't the only one to offer these ingredients. 'Many skincare products on the market are utilizing this powerful group of skincare activators and can be found at a lower price point,' Dr. Mian explains.

That doesn't mean that this serum won't do the trick, as Dr. Mian says, 'Barbara Sturm is known for her quality, science-backed products that deliver results.'

Dr. Thosani calls purslane and skullcap extracts 'the antioxidant powerhouses in the serum,' especially since purslane is 'one of the most useful medicinal plants and is known for its antiseptic, anti-bacterial, wound healing, and anti-inflammatory effects,' while Skullcap 'is a common and widely used Chinese medicinal herb.'

Dr. Thosani says 'High weight molecular hyaluronic acid is one of the ingredients touted in this serum, however, the lower the molecular weight of hyaluronic acid, the better the penetration.'

Dr. Thosani believes the antioxidants are beneficial to the skin but 'for the budget conscious person, an over the counter topical Vitamin C will be an appropriate alternative.'

Dr. Ahram suggests using a retinol, a product with Vitamin C, and sunscreen

Should you invest in these pricey products?

Are you still considering adding diamonds or sturgeon DNA to your skincare routine?

Dr. Mian explains, 'Luxury skincare is like designer clothing,' comparing a coat from Zara to a coat from Bergdorf Goodman and says, 'Both will keep you warm,' but 'one may be a more elevated experience to wear, may make you feel more confident, or last longer.'

'At the end of the day, luxury skincare depends on your means and what you want to spend your money on. Can you achieve healthy, radiant skin with more affordable products? Absolutely,' Dr. Mian proclaims.

Dr. Ahram agrees, 'None of these products are truly worth paying over $500 for,' even though 'they may contain ingredients that can help with anti-aging and act as antioxidants, there are certainly more cost-effective methods to work towards repairing the skin.' Dr. Ahram suggests instead using a retinol, a product with Vitamin C, and sunscreen.

'However,' Dr. Ahram says, 'For those who like to indulge in a more luxurious skincare experience, I believe that these products do have good ingredients that can provide some benefit.'
Young Britons want to ditch turkey from their Christmas dinner along with other much-loved festive traditions, a study has shown.

Gen Z are keen for a meat-alternative on December 25 and would also rather replace an after dinner cheese board, the research by Costa Coffee has revealed.

Despite 68% of Brits stating that their households enjoy the same traditional Christmas meal, the findings show that younger and older generations hav very different views about Christmas food, treats and even baubles.

When it comes to food, Gen Z, who were born between 1996 and 2010, are the least likely to want a roast turkey, similar to millennials who are also hoping to rid of it and enjoy a meat alternative instead.

With all the family together during the holidays, there's no escaping the divided opinions - especially on how to spend Christmas day (stock image)

After dinner, the differences continue - families might need to hold the cheeseboard as Gen Z are half as likely to have one than any other generation.

When it's time to sip on the first tipple of the day, there may be arguments about what to pop open first.

Gen Z favour cocktails and champagne whereas baby boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964, would be keen for a glass of prosecco or an Irish cream.

Iced coffee, smoothies and frappes also make it to the top ten drinks for Gen Z on Christmas day - but are nowhere to be seen in Boomers' lists.

As many as one in four members of Gen Z hope to sip on an iced coffee on Christmas morning.

Instead, sherry, brandy and soda water are popular choices for the older generation.

Both age groups are in agreement that the main thing they want to do on the big day is open gifts and play board games or charades.

Despite 68% of Brits stating that their households enjoy the same traditional Christmas meal, the findings show that this isnt the case at all, with younger and older generations having very different views about Christmas food, treats and even baubles

Top 10 activities Gen Z want to do on Christmas 1. Open gifts 2. Play board games and / or charades 3. Watch The Holiday 4. Watch Love Actually 5. Watch the Gogglebox Christmas special 6. Watch the Eastenders Christmas special 7. Go to the pub on Christmas Eve 8. Elf on the shelf 9. Go for a run or workout 10. Attend a Christmas church service Advertisement

Top 10 activities Boomers want to do on Christmas 1. Open gifts 2. Play board games and / or charades 3. Watch the Doctor Who Christmas special 4. Watch It's a Wonderful Life 5. Watch the Gogglebox Christmas special 6. Go to the pub on Christmas Eve 7. Watch Love Actually 8. Attend a Christmas church service 9. Watch The Holiday 9. Watch the Eastenders Christmas special Advertisement

However, the similarities stop there as the younger generation would love to watch Jude Law and Kate Winslet in The Holiday or Hugh Grant in Love Actually.

But while they still made it to both lists, their parents or grandparents would prefer the 1946 classic, It's A Wonderful Life instead.

Christmas TV specials are a treasured part Christmas celebrations, with fans looking forward to them every year.

The third highest activity for baby boomers on Christmas day is to Watch the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Gen Z would prefer to stick on the Gogglebox Christmas special or EastEnders.

Surprisingly, going to the pub on Christmas Eve makes it onto both top ten lists, as does attending a Christmas church service - although it's lower on Gen Z's agenda than baby boomers'.

There's no rest for Gen Z as they also love to go for a run or workout on the big day, with it being number nine on the list, just behind playing elf on the shelf.

Elf on the shelf is a relatively new Christmas tradition aimed at children, that involves toy elves 'keeping watch for Santa while he's in the North Pole' - this didn't make it into Baby Boomers' top ten.

Top 10 drinks Gen Z want on Christmas Day 1. Cocktails 2. Champagne 3. Lemonade 4. Prosecco 5. Iced coffee 6. Smoothie 7. Ginger beer ale 8. Eggnog 9. Irish cream 10. Frapp Advertisement

Top 10 drinks Boomers want on Christmas Day 1. Prosecco 2. Irish cream 3. Lemonade 4. Champagne 5. Sherry 6. Cocktails 7. Ginger beer ale 8. Brandy 9. Eggnog 10. Soda water Advertisement

The survey of 2,000 Brits, commissioned by Costa Coffee, also highlighted that when it comes to desserts, Gen Z is 48% more likely to want sticky toffee pudding as part of the Christmas Day than mince pies and 70% more likely than yule log.

The high street coffee chain also polled its 420K followers about their festive frights and fancies.

Beyond the dining table, Gen Z have a desire to twist up their festive decor by bringing back old school decorations.

They are more likely to go for outdoor ornaments and almost twice as likely as any other generation to opt for fake snow.

A whopping 75% of Gen Z are also fans of fake Christmas trees and 59% make a Christmas music playlist - they're also 50% more likely to volunteer around the holidays than any other generation.

Gingerbread biscuits came in second place with 35% of votes with less than a quarter (20%) voting for Christmas pudding and almost half (46%) stating that Christmas pudding is the thing they look forward to at Christmas.
An upcoming documentary is set to unravel the harrowing true story of the 'wilderness therapy camp' that promised to reform wayward teens.

Former military special forces officer Steve Cartisano established the Challenger Foundation in the Utah desert in the 1980s - and its popularity skyrocketed.

It charged parents $15,900 for its 63-day program and promised to 'wear kids down until they're good again.'

But it would later be engulfed in scandal and was ultimately shut down following multiple charges of child abuse and negligent homicide over the death of a 16-year-old girl.

Here, FEMAIL has laid bare the sordid details of the camp as Netflix gets set to release Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare.

Former military special forces officer Steve Cartisano established the Challenger Foundation in the Utah desert in the 1980s - and its popularity skyrocketed

It charged parents $15,900 for its 63-day program and promised to 'wear kids down until they're good again'

The new trailer for Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare began by explaining that the Challenger Foundation was set up against a backdrop of societal unease.

It stated: 'The '80s were a time when the world was changing. There was a deep concern that the youth of America was taking a wrong turn.'

And it was Cartisano, often referred to as the 'godfather of wilderness therapy treatment,' who decided to capitalize on this.

He established the Challenger Foundation in 1988 based on the premise of being 'made better by struggle.'

Cartisano, who believed in intimidating defiant kids into submission through outdoor survival, previously said: 'These kids need this, we are saving so many more lives.'

Parents appeared to lap it up with high-profile attendees even including two teens from the Winthrop Rockefeller family.

Dozens of families shelled out on the hefty enrollment fee with the program reportedly grossing $3.2 million in its first year.

The rules were strict that were said to involve 'strip searches and military haircuts' as Cartisano 'adopted a drill-sergeant style of speech which required "Yes sir!" answers,' according to High Country News.

The Challenger Foundation was established in 1988 based on the premise of being 'made better by struggle'

Cartisano, who believed in intimidating defiant kids into submission through outdoor survival, previously said: 'These kids need this, we are saving so many more lives'

The rules were strict that were said to involve 'strip searches and military haircuts' as Cartisano 'adopted a drill-sergeant style of speech

It seemed as though Cartisano was getting results - to some extent - as many hailed him as a 'genius' who was 'ahead of his time' with a 'great idea'

There were also heavy punishments for kids who did not properly follow instruction which included having rations removed and being forced to carrying heavy loads of cow manure in backpacks all day.

It seemed as though Cartisano was getting results - to some extent - as many hailed him as a 'genius' who was 'ahead of his time' with a 'great idea.'

But his bubble spectacularly burst.

In 1990, camp attendee Kirsten Chase, from Florida, had been hiking the rugged Kaiparowits Plateau in the desert when she complained of headaches.

The 16-year-old girl, who had only arrived at the program three days earlier, then collapsed and died.

Her autopsy would later list her cause of death as 'exertional heat stroke.'

Cartisano and the program were charged with negligent homicide and multiple misdemeanor counts of child abuse as a result of Chase's death and allegations that other teens were starved and physically abused.

There accusations included that kids were being 'tied to trees' as well as being 'physically dragged.'

There were also heavy punishments for kids who did not properly follow instruction which included having rations removed and being forced to carrying heavy loads of cow manure in backpacks all day

Dozens of families shelled out on the hefty enrollment fee with the program reportedly grossing $3.2 million in its first year

Cartisano and the program were charged with negligent homicide and multiple misdemeanor counts of child abuse as a result of Chase's death as well as allegations that other teens were starved and physically abused

One witness in the trailer revealed: 'They were emaciated, they were dirty, you couldn't even tell that they were kids.'

And another claimed: 'The doctor had counted over 80 scars, marks and contusions.'

During the trial, Kane County Sheriff Max Jackson testified that Cartisano, then 38, had been 'flippant' when told about Chase's death, according to Tampa Bay Times.

Cartisano, who was a father of four, passed away in 2019 aged 63

He also said that the Challenger Foundation did not have adequate procedures in place to deal with medical emergencies, adding that it took nearly two hours from the time the girl fell ill before professional medical help arrived.

The camp filed for bankruptcy and shut down in the aftermath.

Cartisano was ultimately acquitted of any criminal charges but was sued civilly.

He was subsequently banned from operating any child treatment program in Utah but later set up offshoots in Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Tragically, many of the attendees did not just blame Cartisano for their traumatic experience.

In the trailer, one former attendee fought back tears as she concluded: 'The hardest thing about being there, knowing my parents did it to me.'

Cartisano, who was a father of four, passed away in 2019 aged 63.
Having been nominated for a 'Best Actress' Oscar in 1961, Elizabeth Taylor wasted no time in flying to Paris to commission a dress from Christian Dior for the ceremony.

For the previous three years, the 29-year-old starlet had narrowly missed out on the coveted gong, a losing streak largely attributed to her scandalous affair with, and subsequent marriage to, 1950s music idol Eddie Fisher who had been married to American sweetheart Debbie Reynolds when they met.

Finally declared the winner at the 33rd Academy Awards for her role in the film Butterfield 8, Taylor henceforth believed that the exquisite 'Soiree a Rio' evening gown she wore that night was her 'lucky charm'.

But what happened to it next is itself a saga worthy of any Hollywood movie. For while French fashion house Dior claimed for years that Taylor's Oscar dress was sitting in its Paris archive, an email to a London auction house last year finally revealed the astonishing truth about its whereabouts.

About to go under the hammer and expected to fetch up to 100,000, the Mail can now tell the story of how Taylor's gown ended up stashed away in the wardrobe of a window cleaner's daughter from London.

'I couldn't believe it when I took it out of the suitcase and saw it for the first time,' says Kerry Taylor of Kerry Taylor Auctions in London, who will auction the dress, which is embroidered with delicate flowers and insects, on December 12.

Finally declared the winner at the 33rd Academy Awards for her role in the film Butterfield 8, Taylor henceforth believed that the exquisite 'Soiree a Rio' evening gown she wore that night was her 'lucky charm'

'It's one of the most important celebrity dresses to come on the market in recent times, and is in wonderful condition.

'It has an amazing story behind it and a water-tight provenance backed up by telegrams and family photographs.'

Believing the silk and taffeta creation brought her good fortune - it is thought Taylor chose the demure, scoop-necked style because of her 'scarlet woman' reputation - she carted it around the world for years as part of a vast trousseau of 40 suitcases.

But in the early 1970s, after deciding to clear out the wardrobe in the rooftop suite she and her fifth husband Richard Burton kept for years at London's Dorchester Hotel, it was among several items Taylor gave to her personal assistant, Anne Sanz.

Anne, who was married to Taylor and Burton's French chauffeur and minder, Gaston Sanz, was allowed to fill two large suitcases with various gowns by Dior and Karl Lagerfeld.

For the next half a century the items were carefully stored in a large plastic suitcase at the couple's flat in Hammersmith, West London. While Gaston, who was 18 years his wife's senior, died in 2003, Anne - who is still alive - has never spoken publicly about her friendship with Taylor.

But the couple's daughter, who was named Elizabeth after the Hollywood star, this week shared her memories exclusively with the Mail. 'The dresses were part of my childhood. I just always knew they were there,' she says.

So close were her mother and father to Taylor and Burton that when she was born in 1970, the stars were her godparents.

'She was the most engaging and loving godmother,' recalls Elizabeth who, as a young girl, travelled around the world with her parents and Taylor and Burton. 'And that carried on even after my father stopped working for them. She sent me little notes and gifts up until her death. I have very fond memories of her.'

Believing the silk and taffeta creation brought her good fortune - it is thought Taylor chose the demure, scoop-necked style because of her 'scarlet woman' reputation

As a child, Elizabeth was even occasionally allowed to try on the famous Oscar dress by her mother, but only if she promised to stand absolutely still.

'I used to think of it as a princess dress,' she says. 'It's absolutely exquisite and makes a wonderful rustling noise when it moves. But it's tiny and not something I could ever wear now.'

Fearing that the condition of the garment might deteriorate if they continued to store it at home, the family sought expert advice and were astonished to learn its value.

'It deserves to be seen and appreciated by people who appreciate the skill that goes into creating couture clothes,' adds Elizabeth. 'The dress is part of fashion history.'

The Sanz family's close relationship with Taylor and Burton stretches back to 1950s Paris, where Gaston, a decorated World War II hero who had fought under Charles de Gaulle, was working as a bodyguard for the fabulously wealthy Rothschild family.

He had been a crew member on the legendary French submarine, Rubis, which, after France fell to Nazi Germany, operated out of Dundee in Scotland, planting mines in the Norwegian fjords.

After the war, he trained in martial arts and became a French karate champion. Taylor, who met him at the Rothschilds' home, swiftly poached him to work for her, which he did for the next two-and-a-half decades.

While she became one of the most famous women on the planet, Gaston was one of her closest, most trusted employees, which was evident when tragedy struck in 1965.

Anne, pictured with Elizabeth Taylor (right) who was married to Taylor and Burton's French chauffeur and minder, Gaston Sanz, was allowed to fill two large suitcases with various gowns by Dior and Karl Lagerfeld

Elizabeth Taylor kissing her goddaughter (Anne and Gaston's daughter)

In late February that year, when Gaston's son by his first, French wife died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Taylor leapt into action, chartering a private plane from Dublin where Burton was filming The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

According to letters uncovered last year by biographer Kate Andersen Brower for her book Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit And Glamour Of An Icon, the actress flew to France and made the arrangements for the funeral. She also attended the inquest and visited Sanz's family in their Paris council flat.

The letters were written by Rock Brynner, son of actor Yul Brynner, who had been staying with Taylor and Burton in Dublin at the time.

'Gaston himself was on the brink of suicide, and now Elizabeth focused all her care upon him,' he wrote. 'She filled her purse with French francs, ready to bribe every official if necessary, to avoid a verdict of suicide, which would rule out a funeral in the Catholic ceremony.'

It was Elizabeth, too, who offered to look at the dead boy's face to see if he could have an open-casket funeral, and she walked with Sanz for the procession in the village and for the church ceremony and burial.

Landing in London afterwards, she was pictured clutching grieving Gaston's hand. He told reporters: 'In all that we have gone through, Miss Taylor has helped us by being such a human person. I want the world to know what a wonderful woman she is.'

Just a couple of years later, divorce Gaston met his second wife, Anne, at a post-production party for the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare, which Burton had filmed with Clint Eastwood.

Taylor even gave her a white cocktail dress and bolero for her wedding to Gaston. It is also up for auction, with an estimate price of 400-600

A 1967 Karl Lagerfeld kaftan Taylor wore for the film Boom! has been given an estimate of 1,000-1,500

Born in London, Anne came from roots just as remarkable and as humble as Gaston's.

During World War II, her father fought in the Burma Campaign and, after being demobbed, worked as a window cleaner.

Her mother, a gas meter reader, served as a fire watcher on top of Battersea power station, looking out for German bombs.

'My mother was working for a bank which had lent money for the production, and she met my father there,' says Elizabeth.

'She was very striking, and is still very glamorous. It was a bit scandalous for my grandparents because he was almost the same age as them and divorced, but they all came to love each other dearly.'

The couple married in Paris in 1968 and, from then on, traversed the world with Taylor and Burton.

'Wherever Elizabeth and Richard travelled they were always accompanied by a huge entourage, moving from film set to film set and city to city,' explains Elizabeth. 'And wherever my dad went, my mum and I went. We were often in the suite next to theirs.'

The celebrity couple also spent time with Gaston's wider family in the South of France.

'They loved checking in on normal life,' adds Elizabeth.

Biographer Brower says the couple's close relationship with the Sanz family revealed another side to them. 'Elizabeth was drawn to regular people who weren't intimidated by her,' she says. 'She was looking for something more grounded in her life because she'd been a child star and had never really had that.'

One of suitcase where the dresses were stored over the years

For the next half a century the items were carefully stored in a large plastic suitcase at the couple's flat in Hammersmith, West London

Off screen, Taylor was a devoted mother and Anne was occasionally asked to mind the couple's five children - Burton's daughter, Kate, from his first marriage; Michael and Christopher, Taylor's sons by second husband, Michael Wilding; Liza, her daughter with theatre impresario Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958; and Maria, the daughter she and Burton adopted in 1964.

'My parents had a close relationship with their children as well because my mum and dad were always there and for my dad, having lost a son, having other children around meant a lot to him,' says Elizabeth, who was much younger than the Taylor-Burton brood.

The Sanz family travelled to Paris, Mexico, Italy and Gstaad in Switzerland, where the couple kept several homes, including one just to house Taylor's vast clothing collection.

They sailed around the Adriatic on their private yacht, the Kalizma. A photograph taken off the coast of what was then Yugoslavia shows Taylor kissing toddler Elizabeth, who is in her mother's arms.

In his diaries, Burton wrote that 'Gaston works like a dog. He charges around, shopping, answering telephones, emptying Thermoses, preparing salad, defleaing the dogs and watching us wherever we go, and all with the greatest humour. He really is indispensable'.

Anne, who helped Taylor with her packing and once knitted Burton a jumper which he wore until it fell apart at the seams, was also much loved by the stars. Taylor even gave her a white cocktail dress and bolero for her wedding to Gaston. It is also up for auction, with an estimate price of 400-600.

Among the other dresses given to Anne is a blue silk crepe dress by Christian Dior, which Taylor famously wore to the June 1968 wedding of the daughter of the Queen Mother's racehorse trainer, Peter Cazalet

Richard Burton pictured with Gaston Sanz

Among the other dresses given to Anne is a blue silk crepe dress by Christian Dior, which Taylor famously wore to the June 1968 wedding of the daughter of the Queen Mother's racehorse trainer, Peter Cazalet. It is expected to sell for between 10,000-15,000. A 1967 Karl Lagerfeld kaftan Taylor wore for the film Boom! has been given an estimate of 1,000-1,500.

When Taylor and Burton divorced for the second time in 1976, both stars wanted Gaston to work for them. Unable to choose, he diplomatically announced he and Anne were going to settle in London so that Elizabeth could attend school. Gaston took a desk job as a finance officer at what was then West London Hospital in Hammersmith.

But the families kept in touch, with Taylor and Burton sending telegrams on birthdays and at Christmas. Throughout her childhood, Elizabeth received regular letters and gifts, including an inscribed Tiffany watch from Taylor when she turned 18.

After Burton died, aged 58, in 1984, Taylor invited the Sanz family to a memorial dinner at The Dorchester in London. 'There were so many famous faces and all Richard's siblings came as well,' Elizabeth recalls. 'I was 14 and I remember I sat next to actor Edward Fox, who was charming.'

For the rest of his life, Gaston refused to speak about his time at the heart of the Taylor-Burton entourage, despite approaches from journalists and biographers.

'My dad was trusted and would never have betrayed that,' says his daughter. 'They supported each other through some difficult personal stuff.'

In 2003, the French government awarded Gaston the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest award, for his wartime service. He died in October of the same year.

When Elizabeth Taylor died in 2011, aged 79, Elizabeth and Anne were among 400 guests invited to her memorial in Los Angeles, mingling with stars including Michael Caine and Elton John. But what meant the most, says Elizabeth, was seeing Taylor's children again.

'It was so moving to hear some of their recollections about my parents, especially my dad,' she says.

While Anne has vowed never to speak about her time with the famous couple, the forthcoming sale of the 'Soiree a Rio' dress has given a precious and moving behind-the-scenes glimpse of the lives of two of Hollywood's most legendary stars.

Auctioneer Kerry Taylor says: 'It's such an important dress and not just in terms of Oscar history. I'd love for it go back to America so that it can be in the country where it was first worn.'

The other possibility, of course, is that Dior will quietly bid for it. The fashion house did not respond to requests for a comment this week.

'Who knows if they'll buy it,' says Ms Taylor. 'It's the funniest situation. They think they've got it in Paris, but we know they haven't. We have it right here.'
I was at a dinner the other night when a glamorous stranger came up and hugged me. 'Allison, you don't know me, but my baby just turned 20 and I wanted to thank you. I wouldn't have him if it wasn't for your book.'

Lois had read I Don't Know How She Does It, my novel about a woman trying to juggle a career with a young family, and decided to get pregnant. Although my heroine Kate Reddy is worn to a frazzle with a horrible boss and 37 tasks on her To Do List, she maintains that life without her daughter Emily and son Ben would be 'like a world without music or lightning'.

Lois's son, and several other children I seem to have accidentally inspired, are celebrating their 20th birthdays this year along with my novel which went on to be an international bestseller, translated into 32 different languages. Oprah Winfrey called it 'a Bible for the working mother'.

Back then I remember looking at my friends in their 30s and early 40s and thinking we'd been sold a pup. They called us the Having It All generation. We were mostly the daughters of stay-home mothers who'd left school at 16 and done a job (secretary, nurse, teacher) before starting a family in their 20s, giving up work, wholly dependent on their husband for housekeeping money.

Those of us born in the 1960s and 1970s were supposed to be the lucky ones. Not for us the humiliation of relying on a breadwinner; we would make our own money.

Allison Pearson with her children Evie, 7, and Thomas, 3

That was the theory anyway. In practice, it didn't feel all that great as we got to do our fathers' jobs while retaining our mothers' responsibilities. The result was a brutal double-shift that was driving the women I knew round the bend. 'It's why we feel like we're going mad,' I said.

My former editor proved the point over a working lunch one day when she delved into her handbag to get out her credit card to pay the bill and, instead of a purse, produced a vial of golden fluid.

'Oh, God,' she blushed, 'It's Henry's urine sample, I forgot to drop it off at the GP.'

How many male executives were in danger of producing a child's urine sample from their briefcase? None, obviously. (Wee-wee and doctors' appointments were a mother's job.)

How many male bosses had to dash out of the office to pick up a hamster for a child's birthday and then leave the small creature in a cage under their desk when their biggest client came in for a meeting? 'It started going round on this squeaky wheel,' Karen, a solicitor, recalled in horror.

We felt intense pressure to be the homely, nurturing mum our own mothers had been. But, always short of time, guilt was our constant companion.

The first chapter of I Don't Know How She Does It begins with a scene where Kate is 'distressing' supermarket mince pies at midnight to make them look home-made at the school carol concert. (I'm afraid we lacked the confidence to rock up with a box of Tesco's finest and earn disapproving looks from the non-working mums whose judgment we feared).

Two decades ago, there was no work-life balance. Women who dared to request fewer days in the office, working from home or a job-share so they could be around more for the kids, ended up on the Mummy Track, a one-way route to nowhere.

The fathers in the office, who weren't the people with a permanently spinning Rolodex in their head - did Sam need new school shoes or when was Sophie's ballet class - poached the clients/promotions/pay rises of the women who were.

For many women of my generation, sexism was still the air they breathed in the 2000s.

'Frankly, you would be better off in my firm coming out as a cocaine addict than a mother,' a banker called Helen told me. 'At least they have a programme for recovering drug addicts. Motherhood is a lifelong and incurable condition.'

If you wanted to get on, you just sucked it up. Maternity leave was better than it had been - in the Fifties and Sixties many employers required women to leave on learning of their pregnancy and returning to their job was not an option. But many of us still took barely four months off work.

I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) Starring Sarah Jessica Parker (left), Emma Rayne Lyle (back center), Greg Kinnear (right)

One steely high achiever who had a miscarriage on an escalator on the way to a client presentation, washed and dried herself with paper towels in the Ladies and carried on.

Leaving a small baby when your boobs were still full of milk could be painful in every sense. One publisher I knew was having lunch with the famously chauvinist American author Norman Mailer when she felt her blouse getting soaked; she fled to the restaurant's broom cupboard where she pumped milk in the dark.

These were our 'war stories'. The crazy, hilarious, often heartbreaking things that happened when we were supposed to be 'having it all', but were actually doing it all.

When my book was published, I got thousands of letters and emails from readers.

'But that's my life you're talking about,' they marvelled. The way we lived our office lives as double-agents, hiding our domestic role, never displaying photographs of our kids as male colleagues did because that would make us look like we were 'lacking in commitment'.

No wonder so many women of my generation left it too late to have children. A lot decided they simply couldn't make it work. No, let's be honest, work made it impossible to make it work. Maternity discrimination still causes thousands of women to lose their jobs.

And today there are still toxic work environments where thirty-something women feel scared to take time out of their careers. Science and research labs, both male-dominated fields, are full of dinosaurs.

One study in 2007 showed that 40 per cent of female graduates born in 1970 were still childless by the age of 35, a staggering increase of 20 per cent in just over a decade. A third of female university graduates will never have children at all.

There were some women for whom that was a positive choice; but for too many it was about postponing getting pregnant as long as possible, to reach a higher rung on the career ladder and not p*** off the boss, and then discovering that your body - the obstetricians charmingly called us 'elderly primigravida' - would not co-operate.

Think about the agony and sorrow behind those childless statistics. Two of my dear friends ended up leaving it too late and not having kids, a lifelong regret. When you're younger, and enjoying all the fruits of your hard work, and giddily tumbling in and out of love affairs, it can be easy to think there's plenty of time to get pregnant and Mr Righter - the superior model of Mr Right - will be along in a minute. Well, sorry, there isn't, and he probably won't.

Girls on the Pill, who have spent the whole of their adult lives trying not to fall pregnant, can be extremely deluded about the difficulties of conceiving after a certain age. There is always freezing your eggs, or IVF, they think. They feel reassured by famous women in their late 40s, even 50s, blessed with twins; what they don't see is the eye-watering bill for endless rounds of IVF. They also don't realise that, by the time they hit their 40s, it probably won't work.

IVF is gruelling - both physically and emotionally - with a low success rate. According to the NHS, the chances of having an IVF baby are 11 per cent for women aged 40 to 42 and just 5 per cent for women between 43 and 44.

Don't be conned into thinking you can wait for your reluctant partner to say he's ready to be a father. This is the fallacy which we might call: Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Bastard.

With women postponing motherhood, only-child families, once rare, have doubled (from 11 per cent to 22 per cent). Astonishingly, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) predicts that one-child families will make up 50 per cent of all families in the UK within the next seven years. Is that parents actively choosing to deprive their child of a sibling?

More likely, I think, it's down to prohibitive childcare costs and to more women postponing their first pregnancy until their late 30s.

My mum had me aged 24; I didn't have my daughter until I was 36. Was this really a great leap forward for womankind or was it evidence that females had been allowed to succeed in a man's world, but the price to be paid was pausing your biological clock until the alarm wouldn't stop ringing?

Looking back over two decades, I think the cost was too high. Both to individual women and to our society which has seen a huge deficit open up in caring. My mother was one of millions of grandparents who spent a chunk of her retirement taking care of my daughter and son, now both in their 20s. She was brilliant at it, but I will be well over 70 if my daughter has her first baby at the same age that I had her.

I want to be an active loving grandmother (what sweeter pleasure in life than to kiss your own baby's baby?), but the choice the Having It All generation made to postpone childbirth may make that difficult.

At least, we thought, our girls will see us as fabulous role models. Well, yes and no. One friend whose daughter watched her mother run ragged with a full-on job said one day: 'Mum, why didn't you marry a rich man?' Ouch! Perhaps, if I was writing the book today it would have to be called, I Don't Know Why I Bothered?

Blimey, are our daughters really reverting to a more calculating, Jane Austen view of marriage? I don't detect much enthusiasm among my daughter's peer group for the kind of headbanging hard work and lack of balance many of their mothers endured.

Resentment between generations of working women is not much discussed but is very real. My generation may give a major eye-roll when younger women who get a year's paid maternity leave say how difficult it is. Yeah, right!

'The staff come to me, announcing this huge amount of time they'll be off with their baby,' says Penny, a senior advertising exec who basically 'had my kids in my lunch-hour and got straight back to work'. 'And I think: 'Oh, great! Good for you! What am I supposed to do with our clients?' '

In the end it took a pandemic to prove that working from home was not only possible, but good for families and firms. Young job applicants today are more likely to quiz a firm about flexible working and family friendly policies than promotion prospects: we would never have dared do that.

Back then, many of the still predominantly male bosses were clueless as to how demanding things could be for a mother who went out to work. I still treasure a letter I got from Stephen, a senior partner in an accountancy firm. 'Until I read your book, I honestly had no idea what my female staff were coping with,' he said, 'I appreciate them so much more now.'

Nowadays, male executives play a much more hands-on role as dads and their wives are likely to have a career. Many more bosses are women, too. That has made a huge difference in transforming workplace attitudes.

Most crucially, the rights of working mothers have improved dramatically. In 1996, when I had my first baby, paid maternity leave to which all employed women were entitled was 18 weeks. Most women I knew didn't dare take even that much; the ambitious were back at their desk the day after a C-section. It was madness; bad for baby and mother.

In 2023, women can take up to 52 weeks' maternity leave. If they return to work after six months, they have the right to return to exactly the same job they had before, which prevents them being dumped on the Mummy Track. It's a big step towards a kinder, more civilised society. How I wish that time and job security had been available for my knackered generation of working mums.

My daughter, now aged 27, and her generation of young women are no longer in thrall to the cruel myth of Having It All. I'm glad they won't feel they have to hide being mothers in the office as crazy Kate Reddy once did.

Let's face it, women will always be their own harshest critics, but I reckon it's more acceptable today not to be a domestic goddess and a full-time workplace superstar. Cheating is now legitimate. One of my proudest achievements came when Marks & Spencer produced a range of pre-distressed mince pies that looked just like home-made!

I hope that my novel played some small part in improving the lives of our daughters and grand-daughters, and their daughters yet to be born. Just remember, girls. Careers are great, but babies are the best.

The 20th anniversary edition of I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson (with a new introduction by the author) is out now (9.99, Vintage Publishing).
Covid can cause serious breathing difficulties and a loss of taste and smell

Many of will be plagued with runny noses, coughs and sore throats this winter. But it can be tricky to tell whether a cold, flu or Covid is responsible.

While symptoms may vary between people, the common cold is usually mild and more of a 'nuisance', while the flu or Covid can keep you in bed for days, experts say.

Health chiefs this week warned that a wave of winter respiratory viruses is set to hit imminently, with cases of the vomiting bug norovirus already rocketing.

So, to help you tell the difference between the viruses, MailOnline has asked doctors and scientists to breakdown the most common symptoms of each.

Graphic shows the common symptoms (green tick), occasional and possible symptoms (orange circle) and the symptoms that never occur (red cross) with the common cold, flu and Covid

Cold

A common cold can hit you at any time of year, but it's most likely creep up on you in the winter months, as with all respiratory illnesses.

'Cold symptoms are more of a head cold with runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and blocked nose', says Cardiff University's Emeritus Professor Ron Eccles, who has spent decades researching the pesky bugs that cause them.

That means if your symptoms are mostly restricted to your upper airways it's likely to be a cold, he says.

Rhinoviruses are the most common cause of a cold, but a minor infection of the nose and throat can be caused by one of more than 200 different viruses.

Cold weather alone can't actually cause a cold. But the body is more susceptible to infection when the immune system is weaker  which can be caused by a drop in temperature, Professor Eccles says.

'Colds usually develop gradually and can cause cough, congestion and fatigue', says London-based GP Dr Ann Nainan.

'They creep up on you with stuff like a runny nose or a sore throat.'

Colds can be told apart from the flu, as they tend to be 'a nuisance', while the flu 'can knock you off your feet and keep you in bed', Dr Nainan says.

However, the overlap in symptoms between a cold and the flu, including sneezing and a blocked nose can make clinical diagnoses challenging, explains Dr Samuel White, based at the Medical Technologies Innovation Facility at Nottingham Trent University, who has spent years researching the immune system.

There are plenty of crossovers in symptoms between a cold and the flu, which is also more rife in the depths of winter.

Caused by influenza viruses, the illness usually causes people to have a cough, which is the most common crossover symptom.

But experts say that, although many symptoms are similar, the flu is typically much more intense and effects the whole body.

'Flu symptoms typically have body symptoms such as chilliness, fever, headache and muscle aches and pains,' according to Professor Eccles.

'The flu feels worse because the symptoms affect the whole body and are not restricted to a head cold.'

Flu does tend to cause 'more severe manifestations', according to Professor Philippe Wilson, of One Health, Medical Technologies Innovation Facility, Nottingham Trent University, who has worked on numerous clinical trials and studied a range of diseases in both humans and animals.

In fact, one of the main differences is flu can cause stomach problems.

Explaining this, Professor Eccles says: 'These can include a higher fever, profound body aches, and pronounced fatigue. Moreover, gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea are more prevalent in influenza cases.'

The flu also has the potential to be life-threatening. But this is usually only the case for those aged over 65, are pregnant, or who have long-term health conditions. A cold can only has the same effect in extremely rare cases.

This group is recommended to get an annual flu vaccine to help protect them against getting seriously ill.

Professor Wilson said: 'Individuals generally experience more pronounced discomfort with the flu.

'The heightened severity of symptoms, coupled with the potential for complications like pneumonia, underscores the significance of distinguishing between the two for appropriate management.'

A runny nose, sore throat, headache, persistent cough and fatigue are all commonly reported signs of Covid

Covid

At the start of the Covid pandemic, a loss of taste or smell, a continuous cough and a fever, were the three tell-tale signs of the virus.

But as new variants evolved and both vaccines and repeated waves of infection blunted the virus's threat, the official symptom list continued to grow.

Now, a runny nose, sore throat, headache, persistent cough and fatigue are all reported signs of the virus.

The virus is still circulating in the UK, but isn't sickening Brits at the same rate as it did in previous winters.

Although many Covid symptoms, such as coughing and nasal congestion, are shared with the flu and cold, Professor Wilson explains that the virus can have a more 'persistent and pronounced impact on the respiratory system'.

He added: 'Fever is a common sign, and in Covid, it tends to be more prolonged and elevated compared to typical colds.'

Another symptoms less common in cold and flu but spotted in the Covid-infected is shortness of breath, which Professor Wilson says can range from mild to severe.

A more unique and distinctive symptom of Covid is a sudden loss of taste and smell, which is far less common in common cold and flu.

Professor Wilson said: 'Beyond these primary symptoms, severe cases of Covid can lead to complications such as chest pain, confusion, and bluish discoloration of the lips or face, indicating a need for immediate medical attention.'

However, Dr White stresses that getting vaccinations are 'essential for preventing infection from common diseases like the flu'.

He added: 'While there are shared symptoms, Covid distinguishes itself through its potential for severe outcomes and unique manifestations like loss of taste and smell.

'Prioritising vaccinations and adhering to preventive measures remains paramount in mitigating the impact of these respiratory illnesses.'
One TikTok user offers 'semaglutide' injections for up to 280 per pack

Knock-off 'weight loss pens' are illegally being given away for free on social media, MailOnline can disclose.

One TikTok user offers 'semaglutide' injections for up to 280 per pack and claims they are the 'safest and best' version available in the UK.

The account, which has since been removed from the platform, also advertises BOGOF deals, 30 per cent discounts and giveaways, our shock probe revealed.

But semaglutide, made by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk and branded as Ozempic or Wegovy, is prescription-only.

Trials have shown the medicine  nicknamed Hollywood's best-loved secret before being widely approved  can help people lose more than 2st, earning it praise as a 'miracle' skinny jab.

Under UK law, it is illegal to sell it without a prescription.

It means that social media users doing so, who've been accused of preying on Brits desperate to lose weight, are flouting the law.

Experts warned that some products sold with the promise of being the skinny jab will not even be semaglutide.

The user healthgroupaue touts the injections for just 36 per weekly dose and claims they are the 'safest and best weight loss pen in the UK'

Boxes of the product, shown on the page's TikTok account, are labelled with 'The Weight Loss Pen', 'semaglutide' and 'FDA approved'

Novo Nordisk told MailOnline it was aware of 'counterfeit' versions being dished out in the UK.

Some versions have even left Brits in a coma.

Novo Nordisk warned buying through 'non-legitimate routes' poses a 'direct danger to health'.

Eating disorder charities warned their sale online is 'incredibly concerning'.

It comes after a mother-of-two this week told how she is 'lucky to be alive' following her unknowingly injecting herself with a fake version of Ozempic.

READ MORE: Urgent warning over fake Ozempic jabs found in UK as Brits hospitalised with life-threatening side effect Officials had already admitted to seizing 369 potentially fake Ozempic pens since the start of the year. Bogus versions of Saxenda, obtained through 'non-legitimate routes' had also been reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Advertisement

Michelle Sword, from Oxfordshire, ordered weight-loss pens online and had to be rushed to hospital after the jab triggered a near-fatal drop in her blood sugar levels.

MailOnline found TikTok user healthgroupaue linking to a site that sells weight loss pens in 5mg packs for 180 and 10mg packs for 280.

Boxes of the product, shown on the page's TikTok account, are labelled 'The Weight Loss Pen', 'semaglutide' and 'FDA approved'.

Instructions on the back of the box tell users how to prepare the pen, including attaching a needle and checking the dosage. Users should then inject themselves in the thigh, upper arm or abdomen, it recommends.

Packaging states that the box contains one pen, sterile needles and alcohol swabs.

As well as selling the pens, the account gives them away for free on TikTok live videos and dishes them out for free to some subscribers of its newsletter

Screenshots of testimonials, which the account says has come from its Facebook support group for customers, include claims of 11lbs weight loss in one week, feeling full after one injection and users saying there are 'no side effects apart from a bit of indigestion'.

Others claim they have shed fat despite 'eating everything as normal and not cutting anything out' and labelled the jabs as 'life changing'.

TikTok has since permanently banned the account for violating its community guidelines, which prohibit the 'illicit trade of regulated drugs'.

Branded as Ozempic, semaglutide has been available on the NHS since 2019 for type 2 diabetics to manage blood sugar levels.

For these patients, a 0.25mg dose is taken once a week for four weeks, which can be upped to 0.5mg and 1mg, if needed.

Semaglutide was approved for weight loss in 2022 under the brand Wegovy.

Doses start at 0.25mg and go up to 2.4mg. On the NHS, it is available to obese patients with a weight-related health condition.

However, either drug can be accessed privately for weight loss through off label prescribing. This is a system where medics can dish out a drug approved in the UK but for a different purpose than why it was approved.

Packaging states that the box contains one pen, sterile needles and alcohol swabs.

The user healthgroupaue offers buy-one-get-one-free deals (left), 30 per cent discounts and giveaways (right)

Screenshots of testimonials, which the account says has come from its Facebook support group for customers, include claims of 11lbs weight loss in one week, feeling full after one injection and users saying there are 'no side effects apart from a bit of indigestion'. Others claim they have shed fat despite 'eating everything as normal and not cutting anything out' and labelled the jabs as 'life changing'

But health chiefs have told medics to stop handing out Ozempic under this system due to fears it is leading to shortages among type 2 diabetes patients who rely on it.

Meanwhile, only a limited number of Wegovy doses have been sent to the UK.

This has led to a black market for semaglutide.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned this month that patients were suffering from seizures and being left in comas after injecting themselves with fake versions being sold at cut price online. They have seized 369 potentially pens since the start of this year.

It warned that many won't even contain semaglutide. Fake versions are often just insulin pens which have been repackaged to look like the real thing, fooling customers.

But when patients inject themselves, the insulin surge causes a rapid drop in blood sugar  which can be fatal.

The MHRA urges anyone seeking the drugs to go to their GP or pharmacist for a correct diagnosis and obtain any prescribed medication from a 'legitimate source'.

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson told MailOnline that it is aware of 'some counterfeit semaglutide injection products' being dished out in the UK and is working with the MHRA. 'This is a critical issue that we are investigating together with the health authorities,' they added.

The spokesperson said: 'Buying prescription-only medicines online through non-legitimate routes without a prescription poses a direct danger to health.

'The contents of the falsified medicines can be entirely different from the genuine medicine and should not be used.

'Patients should only obtain appropriate medicine on prescription through legitimate sources and after consultation with a healthcare professional.'

Eating disorder charity Beat told MailOnline that the availability of weight-loss jabs online without a prescription means there is 'no protection against the severe mental and physical health risks'.

Tom Quinn, its director of external affairs, said: 'It's incredibly concerning that weight loss injections are being sold online.

'We know that quick fixes for drastic weight loss often appeal to people with an eating disorder, who may want to lose weight even if it puts their health at risk.

'But these medications are very dangerous as they can worsen an eating disorder or contribute to an eating disorder developing for the first time.'

It comes after Michelle Sword (pictured), a mother-of-two, from Oxfordshire this week revealed she nearly died after injecting herself with a weight loss pen that she bought online

Ms Sword said she purchased her counterfeit Ozempic pen from an online store. She said that when the pen (pictured) arrived it looked 'just like the real thing'

Paramedics (pictured) initially tried to give Ms Sword oral glucose and get a drip into her arm, but when they got no response they decided to take her to hospital

He added: 'The Government must strengthen policies to ensure that only registered health professionals are able to prescribe these medications, and that eating disorder screening is carried out to make sure that people affected by an eating disorder cannot access them.

'Medical professionals must be able to closely monitor their patients and look out for physical health risks as well as signs of an eating disorder. This should include educating the general public about the serious side effects of these injections.'

It comes after Ms Sword this week revealed she nearly died after injecting herself with a weight loss pen that she bought online.

The 45-year-old first used Ozempic in 2021 to help shift 28lbs (13kg) in six months following the breakdown of her marriage. She secured a prescription with a private GP through off-label prescribing.

On the drug, she described herself as having no appetite whatsoever and still being able to maintain her same energy levels.

But when the receptionist for Airbus noticed that she was eating more after giving up vaping, she decided in September to use the once-a-week jab again.

However, when she was unable to get it from a private GP due to a national shortage, she ordered the injection from an online store called TheGlamTanCo that she found on social media. It was offering a one-month course for 150  far below the 700 she was previously charged.

Ms Sword said that when the pen arrived it looked 'just like the real thing'.

The only difference she could see were that the numbers down the side of the vial were slightly different to the previous real Ozempic pens she had used.

Just 10 minutes after administering the pen, she said she started to feel 'really, really strange' and began to sweat profusely, before sitting down on the floor and finding herself unable to get back up.

She added: 'I told my daughter to keep an eye on her pasta because I didn't feel very good. I started to walk up the stairs but then something just told me "don't go to bed" so I sat down.'

Ms Sword doesn't remember the rest of what happened, with the moments instead recounted by her daughter and best friend Vicky.

Her daughter CADIE said after sitting down her mother slumped on the sofa and her eyes looked like they were 'still awake' but she stopped responding to her questions.

Cadie then tried to give her mother a drink and a little bit of pasta, which she thought of because her grandfather has diabetes.

But after she couldn't get her mother to move or respond she telephoned best friend Vicky, who lives just around the corner.

She arrived within three minutes and called emergency services, who arrived within 12 minutes.

Paramedics initially tried to give Ms Sword oral glucose and get a drip into her arm, but when they got no response they decided to take her to hospital.

Cadie showed ambulance staff the counterfeit Ozempic pen at home, saying: 'I think my mother has injected herself with this'.

On the way to hospital, Ms Sword came round briefly where her friend tried to feed her a pastry  before passing out and having a seizure in the ambulance.

At A&E, she was greeted by seven or eight people who revealed her blood sugars had fallen to 0.6 mmol/L  prompting them to insert needles and just try to give Ms Sword as much fluid and glucose as possible.

During the first few hours in hospital, Ms Sword did regain consciousness for periods  but would then slump back saying 'I'm going again' before passing out.

On the way to hospital, Ms Sword passed out and had a seizure in the ambulance

Ms Sword told MailOnline, while fighting back tears: 'My daughter saved my life. If my daughter had not come home with me and had not been there that evening, I would have died'

Ms Sword (pictured with son Coen, 18, and daugher Cadie, 13) added: 'It's not worth your life. It's not worth your life at all. It's not worth leaving the people who love you the most and who don't care about how you look and how skinny you are. They love you inside and out'

Shortly after her admission to hospital, she suffered a second seizure.

During the seizures, she described her body as going rigid with paramedics needing to hold down her hands to stop her body spasming and thrashing about. When she came back around, she said every muscle felt like it had been punched by Mike Tyson.

Doctors tested her blood for glucose every hour and kept her in overnight until she stabilised. She was not discharged until the next day.

Hospital staff also took the counterfeit Ozempic pen, saying they were going to have to report the incident and the seller.

Ms Sword told MailOnline, while fighting back tears: 'My daughter saved my life.

'If my daughter had not come home with me and had not been there that evening, I would have died.'

She added: 'It's not worth your life. It's not worth your life at all. It's not worth leaving the people who love you the most and who don't care about how you look and how skinny you are. They love you inside and out.

'This is what breaks my heart, that these people are literally cashing in on the vulnerability of men and women with low self-esteem.

'I have had a sit down with my daughter and said I am so sorry, I am so sorry, there is better healthier and more positive ways to lose weight if you feel you need to.

'We both had a cry and she just said, "I know mum" and that she loves me inside and out and just the way I am.'

Ms Sword said she has suffered no long-term consequences from the experience. She has been for cognitive tests and kidney tests which all show everything is functioning normally.

She has repeatedly emailed and messaged the site from which she bought the fake Ozempic detailing her experience but claims they have not replied.
A dermatologist has warned against the biggest skincare myths and why you should ignore them.

Lindsey Zubritsky MD, FAAD, is a US-based dermatologist and content creator on TikTok, where she's known as @dermguru.

She offers skincare advice to her 1.1 million followers, as well as specialising in general medical dermatology, surgical dermatology, cosmetics, and pediatric dermatology.

In a recent TikTok seen by 85,000 people in just a few days, she debunked the myths surrounding skincare that most people think are true.

She told viewers 'I'm not sure where these lies started in skincare but as a dermatologist, I'm here to set the record straight and spill the chai on the truth in skincare' - read on to find out all the myths you should ignore.

Lindsey Zubritsky MD, FAAD, is a board certified dermatologist and content creator on TikTok , where she's known as @dermguru

Drinking more water will fix dry skin

The first myth the expert set out to debunk, is that drinking more water can help with dry skin.

She explained: 'Drinking more water is not going to fix your dry skin.

'Yes, drinking more water is good for overall health but it's not gonna fix dry skin and it's not gonna clear your acne either.'

However, some people went against the dermatologists advice, with one user writing: 'I can attest drinking more water helps my dry skin'.

Another chimed in with: 'Drinking more water has honestly cured my severe chapped lips. My doctor recommended it'.

London based aesthetic doctor and surgeon, Dr Glyn Estebanez, advises: 'Its true that drinking more water wont solve your dry skin problems, however, skin is made up of 64% water and so in order to keep it adequately hydrated, its important to make sure that you do drink enough water to keep your body, and skin hydrated.

'Dry skin is usually caused by water loss from the outer layer of skin and can be impacted by lifestyle factors such as cold weather and central heating, especially at this time of year.

'For more effective skin hydration and to address skin dryness long term then its advisable to look at treatments which boost the skins hydration levels'.

In a recent TikTok seen by 85,000 people in just a few days, she debunked the myths surrounding skincare that most people think are true

Some example treatments the doctor suggests include Profhilo, which consists of hyaluronic acid which helps to bio-remodel the skin, 'offering hydration as one of its benefits'.

He explains: 'It works by stimulating the production of collagen and elastin in the skin, to hydrate and boost skin health'.

You should use Abreva for cold sores

READ MORE: Beauty brands fight for the attention of Generation Alpha as preteen influencers like Penelope Disick and North West share their skincare routines on TikTok Advertisement

Next, the dermatologist advised her followers to stop buying Abreva cream when they have cold sores.

However, Dr. Zubritsky claims that it's not actually making much of a difference.

She told viewers: 'If you have cold sores, atop using Abreva.

'Studies have shown that Abreva only shortens cold sore time by 18 hours compared to just plain old Vaseline.

'If you want something that actually works - Valtrex, that's your girl'.

Although, not everyone is taking the advice - one commenter wrote: 'Im sticking with Abreva. Thats what actually helped me before anything else'.

Another pointed out: 'Eighteen hours is a lot when you have a terrible cold sore'.

Dr Estebanez adds: 'This treatment contains an ingredient called docosanol which is designed to penetrate into the skin and prevent the virus entering healthy cells.

'Its designed to shorten the lifespan of a coldsore.

'By how much it does this will vary from one person to another but some report it helps to reduce redness and irritation'.

Abreva has been contacted for comment.

Vitamin E will help with scars

The dermatologist continued: 'Next lie, vitamin E for scars - I'm sorry but studies don't support that this actually works.

London based aesthetic doctor and surgeon, Dr Glyn Estebanez, gave his view on the US dermatologists advice

'If you want something that actually works save your money on the vitamin E and get silicone and SPF done'.

Although, one viewer penned: 'Vitamin E on my TT scar made it disappear and the surgeon was amazed. (It was recommended by my physician) Vitamin E absolutely works for some of us.'

Dr Estebanez agrees that there is limited scientific evidence on vitamin E helping with scars.

However, he explained: 'What we do know is that Vitamin E is an antioxidant that may help the skins healing process.

'More effective scar-reduction treatment can be achieved using Morpheus8.

'This non-surgical treatment combines the benefits of micro-needling and radiofrequency to achieve a controlled injury to the skin and deeper subdermal layers which stimulates a healing response in the skin.

'This in turn helps the production of new collagen and elastin, helping scars to fade more quickly'.

You don't need SPF

SPF is a must have in the hot summer months, however it can gather dust at the back of your cupboard when winter rolls around.

The dermatologist stresses how important it is, year round.

She explains: 'This next one really gets me, people say that they don't wear their SPF because they don't go outside.

'A lot of the time people will say this to me in clinic and I'll say how'd you get here?

'Did you take your dog for a walk today? Did you get the mail today? If the answer is yes, you gotta [sic] wear your SPF'.

One viewer agreed, commenting: 'Im 51 and Ive been using sunscreen everyday since I was 18 years old and I hardly have a line on my face and my hands look so young'.

The London-based doctor agrees that it's 'vital to wear a factor 30 broad spectrum SPF every day, even if youre indoors'.

Dr Estebanez said: 'This will help to protect against UV rays that can pass through glass, and also against the blue light omitted from computer screens.

'Prolonged UV exposure can not only cause skin cancer, but it can also negatively affect the connective tissue of the skin.

'It can also cause solar elastosis, which results in wrinkling and discolouration. So its important to wear a high factor broad spectrum SPF every day, even when you dont go outside.

You need to wash with soap everywhere

The FIVE biggest skincare myths according to Dr Zubritsky Drinking more water will fix dry skin You should use Abreva for cold sores Vitamin E will help with scars You don't need SPF You need to wash with soap everywhere Advertisement

The expert's final piece of advice is that you don't need to use soap as much as you are told.

She said: 'Last one, I know you're gonna [sic] drag me in the comments for this but you don't need to wash with soap everywhere.

'If you're super dry or you have eczema, you can reserve soap for just the dirty areas on your body - save it for the pits, privates and piggies'.

Dr Estebanez's agreed that washing with soap can lead to skin issues.

He explains: Soap works by removing the oil from skin and so it impacts the natural pH level of the skin and the natural microbiome.

'For some people this can cause dryness and irritation and exacerbate skin conditions such as acne and eczema.

'There is no need to use soap everywhere, or indeed every day. Instead of bar soaps which tend to be harshest on skin, opt for a bodywash that is closer to the skins natural pH level and will, therefore, have less of an impact on the skins natural oils and pH level.

Viewers thanked the expert for the advice, with one person writing 'Yes its the evidence based medicine for me!'.

Others added: 'Top tier advice!' and 'agree!'.
An Ohio mom has revealed how her healthy teenage son was 'hours away from brain damage' after being struck down by the same pneumonia rising in China.

William McCarren, 14, was rushed to hospital Wednesday after he came home from school 'crying and grabbing his chest' saying he could 'barely breathe.'

'He was very pale and he could barely stay awake, he was acting like he was going to pass out,' his mother, Mollee Campbell, told DailyMail.com.

When he arrived at the ER, the doctors told her William's lungs were so full of fluid it was starving his body and organs of oxygen.

'They said that if he went much lower it could have caused brain damage in some way,' said Mollee, holding back tears. 'He was extremely scared. We got really lucky.'

William was diagnosed with mycoplasma, the bacterial infection at the center of pneumonia outbreaks in China and several European countries.

He is one of more than 140 children in the Warren County area of Ohio to fall ill with the lung condition, where doctors say cases are so high they 'meet the definition of an outbreak'.

William McCarren, 14 and from Middletown, was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after he came home from school crying and saying he was struggling to breathe. He is pictured above in hospital

William is pictured above with his mother Mollee before he suffered from pneumonia

Mollee said: 'They [the pediatricians] said they were overloaded with it [pneumonia] in the last two or three days that that was all they had been seeing and they were just trying to make sure they had all the medicine they needed for al the kids.'

'They did say almost the whole floor was nothing but children with pneumonia.'

Warren County health officials said Thursday that it has treated an 'extremely high' number of children with pneumonia - 145 cases since August.

The average patient is around 8 years old and no deaths have been reported, but the volume of patients is unusual.

Mycoplasma is a bacterial infection that causes outbreaks every five or so years  but it rarely makes headlines because cases are mild and deaths extremely rare.

The difference this time, experts told DailyMail.com, is that children's immunity is low following lockdowns, school closures and mask mandates.

The bacterial infection is also believed to be driving the outbreak in China that has overwhelmed pediatric hospitals in the North.

It is also driving cases and deaths in parts of Europe, including the Netherlands and Denmark.

But doctors have stressed the outbreaks are not the result of infections being transferred from country to country.

Will (left before the illness and right in hospital) had fluid in both of his lungs, doctors said

The above highlights the two locations where rises in pneumonia cases in children have been reported in the US so far. They are Warren County, Ohio, and East Longmeadow, in Massachusetts

Clad in hazmat suits, gloves and masks, the staff are shown walking between desks in classrooms, hallways and even outdoors while releasing a mist of sterilising liquid

This cycle of mycoplasma is happening at a time when children's immunity is weak because they were robbed of vital immunity during Covid lockdowns.

What is causing the 'white lung' pneumonia outbreak? Everything we know so far What is the current situation? The WHO has placed an additional request to China for more information on its outbreak and data showed the country is experiencing an increased number of children sick with mycoplasma pneumoniae  bacteria that causes mild infections of the respiratory system - since May. And in signs eerily reminiscent of Covid, Chinese officials have called for masks and social distancing. While China continues to deal with its own overrun hospitals and children out sick from school, outbreaks have begun to crop up in Europe. On Thursday, Danish health officials said they were also dealing with a surge in the same type of pneumonia afflicting China. What is causing the spike in pneumonia cases? The outbreaks in the US, like China, are not being caused by a novel pathogen and not all of the pneumonia cases are being caused by the same infection. Experts say a mixture of several seasonal bacterial and viral bugs are hitting at once, putting pressure on hospitals. Many patients with respiratory symptoms are testing positive for a bacterium called mycoplasma pneumoniae, a pathogen that causes mild pneumonia. Positive tests have also returned for adenovirus, a normally benign respiratory infection, and strep. Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, told DailyMail.com he believes the pneumonia outbreaks cropping up around the world could be due to the 'cyclical' nature of mycoplasma. What is mycoplasma pneumoniae? Mycoplasma pneumonia is caused by a very small, 'atypical' bacterium called mycoplasma pneumoniae, which can lead to upper respiratory tract infections and pneumonia. It causes illness by damaging the lining of the respiratory tract, including the throat, lungs and windpipe and is one of the most common causes of community-acquired pneumonia in the US. The bacterium causes people with the lung infection to present with 'atypical' characteristics compared to those people experience with 'typical' pneumonia caused by germs or complications from another illness. The bacterium spreads through droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs. It can linger in the nose and throat without making a person sick, but if it spreads to the lungs, people can develop mycoplasma pneumonia. Advertisement

Mollee, talking about when Will was rushed to hospital, said: 'I started crying my eyes out, I was so frantic. Neither one of my kids have ever had a serious illness.'

It came as a major shock after her boy  who 'loves fishing, wrestling and the outdoors'  saw his cough develop into an infection leaving him struggling to breathe.

Fighting back tears in an interview, she said: 'He is always the first one to help you if you need it and he always sticks up for someone who is in trouble or anything like that.

'He excels in school, is extremely smart and loves history. The Titanic and the Civil War, those are his favorite topics.'

He came back from school on Wednesday pale, struggling to breathe and coughing up a lot of mucus, his mother said.

Mollee immediately rushed him to hospital where, once she told the receptionist her son 'couldn't breathe', they automatically rushed him through to be seen by doctors.

Tests showed his blood oxygen level had fallen to about 75 percent. At 70 percent, it is considered life threatening.

Mollee added: 'He was extremely scared.

'He kept telling me how thankful he was that I was there by his side and that he was just glad that it wasn't worse.

William was discharged from hospital on Friday, but doctors have told his mother to keep a close eye on him and bring him back if he starts struggling to breathe again.

Giving advice to other mothers, Mollee said: 'Even when your kid just has a little cough and it doesn't seem like a normal one, just to go ahead and take them no matter what even if it is just to check.

'Like with me, we waited about a day or two when I should have took him earlier.

'It was a nightmare and I wish I would have taken him a little bit sooner than waiting a day, but these days you can never tell with kids. If your child doesn't feel right, just contact somebody.'

DailyMail.com revealed Warren County's pediatric pneumonia outbreak Thursday.

Parts of Western Massachusetts are also seeing unusually high levels of mycoplasma, sometimes described as 'walking pneumonia' because it causes mild illness so patients are still mobile.

But respiratory illnesses across the board are up - as is the case in China.

Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, told DailyMail.com it was a 'global' phenomenon.

He believes the pneumonia outbreaks cropping up around the world could be due to the 'cyclical' nature of mycoplasma.

Bacterial respiratory infections usually flare up every five years, normally as people are recovering from a wave of flu or other viral illnesses.

Global immunity against seasonal illnesses is also low because pandemic restrictions robbed people of immunity against the infections - especially China, which locked down harder and longer.

'So what's happening in China makes sense', Dr Adalja said, adding: 'Last year we [the US] was dominated by so much Covid, flu and RSV when we opened up.'

Children are particularly vulnerable because social interaction during people's early developmental years is crucial.

'When children are born they haven't experienced any infectious diseases, so the more of them you have in the population so lower threshold for an outbreak to start.

'The pandemic allowed the number of these susceptible people to build up over years.'

Will, who is pictured above on his 14th birthday in October, has now been discharged - but doctors have said he should be brought back if he begins to struggle to breathe again

Will (middle) is the eldest of three children. He is pictured above with his brother Bryce, 11, and sister Corrah, 3

His mother Mollee posted about her child's illness on Facebook

The above graph shows deaths from pneumonia and flu among children aged under 18 years old since the 2019 to 2020 flu season. It shows that despite reports the current season nationwide is 'not out of the ordinary'

Despite Beijing's outbreak being linked to mycoplasma, Republican senators are calling on the Biden administration to ban travel from China 'immediately' as the outbreak there overwhelms hospitals.

Florida senator Marco Rubio said President Joe Biden 'must take the necessary steps to protect the health of Americans'.

He added: 'That means we should immediately restrict travel between the United States and China until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness.'

But the CDC and World Health Organization say they've seen data from China that has been corroborated in other countries - showing the culprit is not a new virus.

The CDC said it is seeing 'nothing unusual' in figures for pneumonia hospitalizations at this time of year.

The agency is keeping close tabs on the data to look for any spikes in the states.
A friend's father recently died at the fine old age of 98. He hadn't had a particularly healthy lifestyle  he smoked and drank quite a bit in his youth, and fought in tanks in World War II. He attributed his longevity to the support of his wife and an exceptionally positive outlook on life.

So was he right? In fact, there's a wealth of evidence that feeling positive about your life, and about growing older, has a striking impact on longevity.

And now a study just published in the Journal of Happiness Studies has identified six other aspects of personality linked to an exceptional old age. The study was based on data from Spanish centenarians, ranging in age from 100 to 107: as well as positivity  feeling grateful for life and celebrating the good things that happen  the centenarians all exuded vitality, loved learning new things, were conscientious, sociable, intellectually curious, self-reliant and resilient.

I am a bit of an Eeyore, with a tendency to expect the worst and look on the dark side of life, so I've long been interested in research on the impact of personality on life expectancy.

A decade ago I made a documentary on the science behind such claims and came across a social experiment with truly fascinating implications for longevity.

There's a wealth of evidence that feeling positive about your life, and about growing older, has a striking impact on longevity, writes DR MICHAEL MOSLEY

In a study that began in the 1970s in the small town of Oxford, Ohio, in the American Midwest, all the residents aged over 50 were asked to fill in questionnaires covering their jobs, health, family and attitudes towards growing older.

Decades later, researchers from Yale University went back to those people and found that being an optimist was a strong predictor of how long they were likely to live. Death records showed that those who had felt most optimistic about their lives and getting old then lived on average about seven-and-a-half years longer than those who didn't.

To put these results in context, if we could cure cancer tomorrow it would add, on average, half as much as that  three to four years  to life expectancy.

Why 'being positive' leads to a longer life is not clear, but it could be that optimistic people seek out and get more social support from others, and are less likely to suffer from chronic stress, which we know can affect your immune system and shorten your life. Further evidence for the role of the immune system in linking personality type and longevity came in a study published in the journal Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity, in 2021.

Researchers from the University of Limerick compared the results of personality tests against blood samples from more than 900 older adults over a 14-year period  amazingly, just as with the Spanish study, those who scored higher for being conscientious lived an average 35 per cent longer. Additionally, they had significantly lower levels of interleukin-6, a measure of chronic inflammation that, in turn, is linked to a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, depression and dementia.

As for the other personality characteristics linked to longevity, the researchers think being sociable and intellectually curious means you're more likely to look after your health; and being resilient means you have a greater sense of purpose  in other words, a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Why 'being positive' leads to a longer life is not clear, but it could be that optimistic people seek out and get more social support from others, and are less likely to suffer from chronic stress, which can affect your immune system and shorten your life

If, like me, you're not a naturally positive, conscientious, happy soul, here are a few things that I've found helpful:

Set yourself small, simple goals, and pat yourself on the back when you have achieved them. This is the basis of my podcast series, Just One Thing, as there's plenty of evidence that as well as the benefits you get from doing the 'thing', you also benefit from the sense of achievement of having taken a small, positive step.

Practise gratitude meditations. My brother-in-law, who teaches at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, suggested I put aside a few minutes each day for writing down or just reflecting on everyday things I can be grateful about. I find doing this really does help me to focus more on the positive.

Keep your friends and family close, and extend your social network. Easier said than done, I know, but there's abundant evidence that having close friends is one of the most important forms of protection against stress and premature ageing. One of the best things I've done on this front was joining a book club more than 20 years ago, as it's provided me with a really diverse social network.

Striking up conversations with strangers on planes and trains, even queuing to buy a coffee, is also meant to be good, but I can't quite bring myself to do it.

Try to reframe situations: when I catch myself having catastrophising thoughts about the future, I aim to remember that these thoughts are not real and that things will probably turn out fine. Which they usually do.

And smile. I've noticed that when people take photos of me, off guard, I am rarely smiling. Yet a study of nearly 4,000 people, published in Nature Human Behaviour last year found that even faking a smile does have an effect on reducing stress and boosting happiness, albeit a small one.

Whether such attempts to tweak my underlying Eeyore personality will help me live to 100, only time will tell. But at least I'm more fun to have around.

Save YOUR marriage from a sleep divorce

I was struck by the recent article in the Mail where Susannah Constantine described her 'sleep divorce' from her husband  moving into a separate bedroom because of the terrible impact her loud snoring was having on their sleep.

'Sleep divorce' is very common. A survey last year suggested that five million UK couples sleep in separate beds to improve their sleep, and more than half of us currently sharing a bed are thinking about sleeping elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, the most common reason is a partner's snoring. I've thought about moving into another room  not because my wife Clare snores, but because she's prone to sleepwalking and talking; she often gets out of bed in the middle of the night, turns on the lights, and starts looking in the cupboards for hamsters, patients, or something else she's convinced has gone missing.

A survey last year suggested that five million UK couples sleep in separate beds to improve their sleep, and more than half of us currently sharing a bed are thinking about sleeping elsewhere

All while completely sound asleep. After a few minutes she gets back into bed, with no memory of any of this the following morning.

But I value the closeness (and warmth) too much to ask for a sleep divorce. However, if you're on the brink of your own sleep divorce, there are steps to avoid it.

If snoring is the issue, tackle it by losing weight, avoiding alcohol late at night and (after speaking to your dentist) investing in a mandibular advancement device (a mouthguard that stops your tongue blocking your airways).

And if it's a partner's twitching, or duvet hogging, try a bigger bed  and a second duvet.

If all else fails, every night before you move off to your separate bedroom, make time for a chat and a snuggle. Staying intimate is one of the best ways to help keep 'real' divorce off the cards.

What do Jeremy Clarkson and I have in common? Apart from being ageing males occasionally on television, it turns out we both suffer from hearing loss; in his case, bad enough to get a hearing aid.

This could more than halve his risk of developing dementia, as we know from research. And now, thanks to a team from the University of California San Diego, we also know why poor hearing is linked to dementia: it seems the extra effort involved with trying to hear causes changes in the brain that, in turn, lead to the increased risk of dementia.

Perhaps next time we meet, Jeremy and I will be comparing the latest ear trumpets.

Jeremy Clarkson and I both suffer from hearing loss; in his case bad enough to get a hearing aid

Who doesn't secretly yearn for a pill that offers the benefits of exercise without the tedious huffing and puffing.

Well, researchers at the University of Florida have now had some success with this (in mice studies, at least), with a drug called SLU-PP-332.

This targets proteins that, in turn, make energy-hungry tissues such as muscles, more active.

An 'exercise mimetic', the drug doesn't replace exercise, but boosts its impact, leading to weight loss and greater fitness. The researchers think it could help maintain muscle mass as you get older, when the impact of exercise tends to be reduced.
Why are people so obsessed with it?

Are you still upset because critics have been rude about The Crown?

Yes! Who cares if the writer massaged royal reality a bit?

A bit? By episode four Diana was getting stuck in from beyond the grave.

And whos to say thats not what happened?

You appear to be making the case for a historically accurate ghost.

Im just saying that some things are beyond human understanding.

You mean like in episode one where Diana drives to Chequers singing Chumbawamba?

Elizabeth Debicki as the revenant Princess Diana in The Crown

I mean the presence among us of beings from other realms.

OK, now youre starting to sound like Ridley Scott.

I am?

The Napoleon director informed readers of Londons Evening Standard that weve been visited by aliens. How did the Egyptians build the pyramids? Rolling 20-tonne stones on logs? F*** off!

He may have a point.

Or a tenuous grip on reality.

Anyway, he shares my annoyance at historians banging on about accuracy.

His comments to their fraternity in The Sunday Times made that clear.

What did he say?

Excuse mewere you there? No? Well, shut the f*** up, then.

I dont agree with his swearing but what was the issue?

The authenticity of Marie Antoinettes hair.

Well, like I said, hes not a fan of historians.

Or the French.

Because they started the Napoleonic Wars?

Because French GQ was rude about his movie.

Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon

What did they say about it?

Deeply clumsy and unintentionally funny.

What did he say about them?

The French, he bellowed to the BBC, dont even like themselves.

You say historians are obsessed with getting the past right, but some directors are, too.

Who?

Stanley Kubrick (who back in the 1960s tried and failed to make a film about Napoleon) lost his set designer in a row over the era-appropriateness of rhododendrons.

I approve of his horticultural rigour.

But if everyone got their breeches in a bunch like that, wed have lost some of cinemas greatest moments.

Such as?

The barbed wire-jumping motorbike scene from The Great Escape, set in 1943.

Rhododendrons in the scenery?

No. As Ben Macintyre points out in The Times, that motorbike model wasnt made until 1963.

I assume the Beckham documentary didnt worry you either, then?

Um, no.

Youre fine with the footage of Victoria Beckham attending games at Old Trafford?

Why are you doing air quotes?

Because it wasnt Old Trafford. It was Stamford Bridge!

Oh, OK.

As one online commentator pointed out, Thats Chelsea is Becks a time traveller?

Maybe the editors should have built that in as a subplot.

It seems we cant escape time-travelling celebrities.

I agree with Elizabeth Debicki (who plays The Crowns Diana).

What did she say?

That including spectral versions of Dodi and Diana in the storyline constituted an interesting and beautiful way to have a conversation about the experience of grief.

In that case, lets hope the writers have pulled out the stops for the final six episodes.

Landing in 11 days! Which stops are you talking about?

Well, if Diana can now time travel, then whats to stop her rocking up in the present-day palace?

Brilliant!

While were at it, lets have a spinoff series where she and Dodi go back in time to enliven the duller passages of English history.

Even better.

Jethro Tulls invention of the seed drill in 1701, which you may recall led to the agricultural revolution, could do with sexing up.

Call the producers.

Theyd be The Crowns answer to Bill and Ted.

What would it be called?

Dodi & Dis Excellent Adventure.
How sustainable is your bathroom cabinet? Alice Robertson challenges beautys eco credentials

Foaming face wash

28, myskinfeels.com

Whats the story?

Danielle Close, former head of social media at Charlotte Tilbury, launched her two-product brand  a face wash and a moisturiser  this year. Her goal? To create skincare made from food industry waste.

Why should I buy?

The UK generates 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year, and the EU 59 million tonnes. My Skin Feels Fruity Face Wash is over 99 per cent natural, vegan and made with organic rescued ingredients including vitamin- and antioxidant-rich tomato skins from ketchup and sauce manufacturing, as well as water left over from mandarin fruit juice production. Plus the aluminium tubes and plastic caps are recyclable.

Why shouldnt I buy?

Ingredients are sourced in Italy and packaging in the EU as the UK isnt yet set up for food-to-skincare production.

The extra mile

One per cent of sales is donated to the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, which educates people about food waste and building composting sites.

Made in

West Sussex.

Made from

Food industry waste products, shea butter, rosehip oil and a blend of essential oils.

Journey

Sea and road.

Our rating


The actress, 33, tells Charlotte Vossen about her first bar order, deceptively strong cucumber martinis in the Gherkin and a very convenient cocktail bar

As a child, I loved a fizzy Rubicon Mango. Youd find it in the aisles of Indian or Pakistani food shops. My mum would take me fruit and veg shopping in the South Asian food market in Nottingham on a Sunday, and her way of bribing me to be quiet long enough for her to crack on was to get me a can of Rubicon Sparkling Mango.

When I was 14, my friends and I shared a bottle of Absolut Vodka at a party. My mum picked us up after, and my friend vomited in the back of her car. I said it was food poisoning so she wouldnt get angry. About a year ago I confessed to my mum that that was the first time I tried alcohol. She was like, Girl, I could smell it.

The Old Angel in Nottingham is a legendary drinking hole in my friendship circle. Its the first place I was served a drink  I ordered half a lager and felt really cool. Its near The Television Workshop, where I trained as an actor, and I met a lot of my friends there who Im still really close to now.

My first drink of the day is a cacao. I got into them about a year ago, after a yoga class, as an alternative to caffeine. I used to drink a lot of coffee and Id feel so buzzed I wouldnt get anything done. A cacao feels like a gentler wake-up. Its chocolate in its rawest form, and I make it with oat milk and some hot water.

One of the most interesting drinks Ive ever had was a Cucumber Martini in the Gherkin, celebrating a series called Cucumber that I was in a couple of years ago. I loved it. It was dangerous as it didnt taste alcoholic, so I had a few  then had trouble exiting the Gherkin. That was a very cucumber-themed moment in my life.

I could live a life without wine. The most excited Ive been over a bottle was filming a show called Beaver Falls in South Africa. We were staying in Stellenbosch, and I had a glass of a wine called The Chocolate Block, which tasted like dark chocolate. You could knock it back and it felt how I thought wine would taste like as a kid: a version of Ribena with no alcohol; smooth, like a chocolate grape.

Tequila must be in my blood! So having a margarita in Mexico felt quite poetic. I stayed in a resort called Akumal, near Tulum. Sitting on the beach, having a margarita that I think was made with mezcal, so slightly smokier than tequila, I was in heaven.

A margarita in Akumal, Mexico, was Anjlis idea of heaven. Her first alcoholic drink was Absolut Vodka, but its cacao for breakfast

I had drinks with Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore while filming Miss You Already. In one scene, were in a bar celebrating Toni Collettes characters birthday. The alcohol was brown sugar with sparkling water, but it was a real pinch-me moment because Im a huge fan of both actresses.

Theres an underground wine bar by Clapham Common tube that does the best espresso martinis. Its an old public lavatory transformed into a cosy cave. Its called WC Wine & Charcuterie, and its really lovely in winter. It feels like a little secret find.

I discovered the Craig David cocktail while quarantining in a hotel room in Prague, before filming the first season of The Lazarus Project. After what felt like three days in solitary, I cracked open a bottle of tequila, poured some into the half-finished bottle of pineapple juice in my fridge and shook it like a cocktail shaker. It made the foamiest beverage  like a Solero ice cream.

Id love to open a bottle of prosecco with Sophia Duleep Singh. She was a princess who became a suffragette in the 1900s, and is one of the most badass women ever. I havent come across any diary entries about her drinking alcohol, but I would love to raise a glass with her and have a nice chat.

I want to say Id like people to toast me at my funeral with sparkling wine. I think wine can make you melancholic, and I want people to be like, Oh, its a shame shes passed. But I think itll be margaritas because I love them.

The Lazarus Project season 2 is on Sky Max and streaming service Now
His TV series Slow Horses may be a hit, but spy novelist MICK HERRON knows as much about failure as his fictional characters, he tells Sam Baker

Mick Herron is sitting in the light-filled kitchen of the Oxford house he shares with his partner Jo Howard. The spy novelist has to Zoom from here because his flat  where he commutes to each day to write, and where he lived until lockdown  is a technological deadzone of which MI5 would be proud: no broadband, no email, no smartphone. It probably doesnt even appear on Google Maps. Herron doesnt drive or have social media either. I do have a phone! he protests. One of those flippy ones? I ask. Oh no, he replies. Nothing that posh!

Slow Horses starry cast includes Gary Oldman, Rosalind Eleazar and Dustin Demri-Burns.

A boyish 60, Herron is relaxed for an introvert whod rather be in a room on his own with his characters. Hes been on tour for the past few months talking about his latest book, The Secret Hours. Yesterday, he spent six hours in a screening room watching season three of Slow Horses, the five-time Bafta-nominated Apple+ TV series that has taken his already successful Slough House series and sent it stratospheric. (The eight Slough House books, set in a place where MI5 puts failed spies, have sold more than two million copies and are published in 20 languages.)

Mick Herron has sold more than two million copies of his Slough House books

I cant say much about it, but its action packed, says Herron. Theyve made some changes to the plot but its recognisably the same tale and follows the same direction. It starts slowly and then goes off like a rocket.

Herrons enthusiasm isnt surprising given the cast: Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb  a heavy-drinking, sweary, hygiene-challenged former spy who, for reasons we dont yet know, heads up Slough House  and Kristin Scott Thomas as the chilly MI5 boss Lady Di Taverner. I remember getting a phone call about Gary signing up for Jackson Lamb while I was out and I had to stop and lean against a wall, says Herron.

The soundtrack is starry, too. Mick Jagger  a long-time fan of the novels  wrote and performed it. His name hadnt even been mentioned in my hearing! says Herron. Wed talked about a sleazy London voice, which I guess kind of narrows it down to Mick Jagger, then it turned out hed read the books and got on board immediately. That was a moment where I thought, Blimey, this is extraordinary.

Jagger certainly nails that sleazy London voice. Lines from the theme song, Strange Game, include, Surrounded by losers, misfits and boozers. Hanging by your fingernails You made one mistake. You got burned at the stake.

I was at the station when I heard the first bomb go off

Contrary to rumours, Herron has no personal experience of the espionage world. Instead he spent the bulk of his working life commuting to London; sub-editing on a legal magazine by day, writing crime fiction by night. He knows you dont believe that. Hes used to it. Theres a tradition in spy novels that writers have experience of the world of which theyre writing, in a way that people writing cosy crime novels dont. Nobody expects a cosy crime author to have been baking cakes and solving murders!

Im happy for people to think I was a spy. Someone came up to a friend of mine at Harrogate [crime festival] and said she knew that I used to work for GCHQ! When I was in Cheltenham for an event recently I asked the audience if anyone knew anything about it because I certainly dont.

Herron grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, the fourth of six siblings. His dad was an optician, his mum a nursery-school teacher. Little Mick had an addiction to stories. In the school holidays he would go to the library and get through two or three books a day. After state school in the Northeast, he went to Oxford to study English Literature and has never left the city, although hes still close to his family. We go on holiday together every year with all our partners and offspring  there are 20-plus of us and the age range is five to 90.

Jack Lowden gets to grips with Freddie Fox in the latest series of Slow Horses, which was released this week on Apple TV+

Herron published his first novel, a detective story called Down Cemetery Road, in 2003. He then wrote three more, before deciding he wanted to change style: add more characters, write on a bigger scale. Then the 7/7 bombings happened in 2005, and his reality shifted. It was a work day, he recalls. Id arrived in London and was waiting at Paddington Station for a tube. I was standing on the Circle Line platform when I heard what must have been the first of the bombs going off [at nearby Edgware Road]. Then there was an announcement, sorry, no tubes running. I ended up getting a variety of buses and, because I dont have a smartphone, it was only after I arrived at work 90 minutes later that I found out what had happened.

What Id always thought of as being at a remove from my everyday experience  bombs going off  was suddenly not removed at all, and it opened a door: this is an experience Ive had, walking through a city thats being bombed, and I have a right to write about it. So Slow Horses was a way of writing about that experience.

The book was published in 2010, sales were lacklustre and his British publisher didnt do anything with its sequel. But thanks to Herrons US publisher, a few copies were still distributed in the UK. In 2013, Mark Richards, an editor at John Murray Press, came across a US paperback of Slow Horses in Liverpool Street Station. Richards was known by colleagues as the furniture restorer, because he could look at something neglected and spot its quality. Herron became his next project. Luckily for me, he bought it, read it on the train home and made a deal with the US publisher to lease UK publication rights. It all happened quickly after that, says Herron.

Kristin Scott Thomas plays MI5 boss Lady Di Taverner

Last year, The New Yorker published an interview with Herron, headlined Is Mick Herron The Best Spy Novelist Of His Generation?; The Daily Telegraph called Slow Horses one of the greatest spy novels ever written and critics often refer to Herron as John Le Carres heir. How does the latter feel?

I take it with a pinch of salt, he says, typically self-effacing. If you write a spy novel youre going to be compared to him, thats just the baseline. Im not sure hed have been an admirer of the books I write, although I was a huge admirer of the books he wrote.

On the other hand, when I tell him that Mick Jagger described his books as the anti-Le Carre, he practically fizzes. Really? I didnt know that, he beams. Excellent.

Now, Herron is beginning the ninth Slough House novel  its his first time with the characters since the TV series took off. Will Lamb and Taverner be taken over by Oldman and Scott Thomas? I dont think it would harm it at all if I start seeing Gary or Kristin when I write. And the same for the rest of the cast. They embody them so fully.

Will it be hard to set the glamour of screenings aside and get back to work? Its the writing that matters, he says. Im wary of being flavour of the month. Especially since that month is probably just about up! Of course theres glamour involved. When you find yourself in the same room as acclaimed stars, you get a ringside view of what that sort of life is like. But its not real. Im not sure its even real to them. They all go home afterwards and are relieved to put their feet up and have a cup of tea. And thats my idea of a good night out. The earlier you get your pyjamas on the better the evening is.

Season three of Slow Horses is on Apple TV+. Herrons latest novel, The Secret Hours, is published by John Murray in hardback, 22. To order a copy for 18.70 until 17 December, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over 25.
On the 110th anniversary of the worlds first crossword, Maddy Fletcher meets the man who has published 10,932 puzzles and counting, and the worlds fastest crossword solver

Back in January 1925, the president of the British Optical Association, W R Baker, issued a warning: a national addiction to crosswords was causing widespread eyestrain. Qualified opticians, said Baker, could perform a valuable service to the public in warning them against overindulgence in the pastime.

The crossword was invented 110 years ago this month, on 21 December 1913, by 42-year-old Arthur Wynne. Originally from Liverpool, he had moved to the US at 19 to work as a journalist and puzzle-maker. His first crossword was published in the now defunct newspaper New York World, and called a word-cross puzzle. A few weeks later it was accidentally headlined cross-word and the name stuck.

In Britain, our first crossword  published in the also now extinct Pearsons Magazine  didnt appear until 1922. And, as that cautious optician warned, people were hooked. In 1925, the satirical magazine Punch published a cartoon of a crossword addict phoning his doctor in the night to get an answer to a clue. That same decade, The Times  which published its first crossword in 1930  said the puzzle was making devastating inroads on the working hours of every rank of society. This could have been correct. When the paper first ran cryptic crosswords, politicians would routinely write in, bragging about their solving times. The then puzzle editor, Adrian Bell, said, It made you wonder what they did in their Cabinet meetings, to tell you the truth.

Left: the first crossword magazine, 1925, and the first book, 1924, above

The only person now known to possess a copy of Wynnes 1913 word-cross puzzle is Will Shortz. The 71-year-old is thought to have the worlds largest library of puzzles at his home in upstate New York; Shortz owns more than 25,000 puzzle books and magazines. He was given Wynnes word-cross for free by a book dealer who had acquired a collection of New York World. The papers were in a dusty warehouse and the dealer was only interested in the comic sections. He told Shortz that, if he extracted the comics for him, he could keep everything else.

I ask Shortz if Wynnes puzzle is any good. Well, its very primitive, he says, diplomatically. Wynne repeated the word dove twice on the grid. No one would allow that on a modern crossword. Wynne did, at least, use two different clues for it: one is a bird the other is a pigeon.

Shortz has worked as The New York Timess crossword editor for 30 years. When we speak in November he has just edited his 10,932nd crossword. He started making puzzles when he was eight years old and is the only person in the world to hold a degree in enigmatology  the study of puzzles. He has also written more than 100 puzzle books.

Is Shortz addicted to crosswords? Oh yeah, but its a good addiction. A lot of addictions in life are bad for you. He pauses. I suppose you can do too many crosswords. He pauses again. But maybe not! Maybe you cant do too many crosswords.

Crossword guru Will Shortz (left) with US TV host Conan Obrien, 1993

Hes right. This month, Dr Tim Beanland, the head of knowledge at Britains Alzheimers Society, published a puzzle book called Mind Games. In it, he cites a study of 488 healthy people aged 75 to 85; it found that those who did crosswords regularly showed symptoms of dementia two and a half years later than those who didnt.

A crossword editor does not make crosswords. Instead, they are sent crosswords from puzzle constructors, which they finesse by changing words and reworking clues. Shortz receives between 150 and 200 submissions a week and, on average, around 50 per cent of the final clues have been written by him.

When he started the job, Shortz was accused of dumbing down the crossword clues. I thought, OK, you want hard, Ill show you what hard is! I ratcheted up the difficulty level  and got screams in the other direction. Now, hes found a happy medium. At The New York Times, clues get harder throughout the week; on Monday theyre rather straightforward, by Sunday theyre almost cryptic. You want the solver to think, Oh, arent I clever for having figured that out! (Shortzs favourite clue is, It may turn into a different story (6,9). Answer below*.)

For crossword editors, short and vowel-heavy words are good for filling gaps. Its why some names  Brian ENO, Idris ELBA  pop up in puzzles all the time. Insiders call it Crosswordese. Shortz himself was pleased when Enola Holmes, a film about Sherlock Holmess sister, came out in 2020. Enola (three vowels, five letters) is a great crossword word, but for 75 years the only famous example was Enola Gay  the name of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Sherlocks sister is, certainly, a cheerier clue.

In 1978, Shortz set up the worlds first and largest crossword competition, The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. The contest was the subject of the 2006 documentary Wordplay, which featured a cameo from crossword superfan Bill Clinton. (In 2007, the former US president created his own crossword for Shortz and it ran in The New York Times. It had 116 clues, including, A disapproving king (3). Answer below**.)

Were living in the golden age of crosswords!

Until 2007, Dan Feyer was, he says, a casual crossword doer. Then, the 46-year-old musician from California watched Wordplay and decided to enter Shortzs tournament. Hes since won the competition  and prize money ($7,000 this year)  a record nine times.

To compete in the competition, cruciverbalists (thats crossword enthusiasts) pay an entry fee of $220. This year there were 774 participants, 300 of whom were first-timers, with ages from 17 to 97. The tournament works like this: puzzlers complete seven crosswords, which are scored on a basis of time and accuracy. The three people with the highest scores then compete against each other in the final. This last puzzle is done on a giant whiteboard, in front of an audience. The three solvers wear headphones, which play white noise, to muffle the crowd. This April, Feyer finished the final puzzle in five minutes, 24 seconds. He won by just one second.

When he was training for his early tournaments, Feyer would solve 25 crosswords a day. Now, its five or ten. His casual solving speed is about 10 to 20 per cent slower than his full speed  because if I go full tilt, then I cant appreciate the cleverness that goes into the puzzle.

I wonder if Feyer still enjoys doing crosswords? Honestly, he says, Ive lost some of the love over the years because Im now just so jaded. Ive seen everything! Ive done everything! He pauses. But every once in a while, once a week or so, therell be something in a puzzle, or an idea for a puzzle, that I havent seen before. Even if its just a different clue for a word that youve seen a thousand times. Feyer smiles at the thought.

Shortz agrees. Puzzle-makers used to have just the dictionary and maybe a thesaurus and an almanac at their fingertips. Now you have everything on the internet to use for writing clues. So clues are way more interesting than they used to be.

In fact, he says, Crosswords have never been as interesting as they are now. Were living in the golden age of crosswords!

Lucky us.

Answers: *spiral staircase (in the clues, story is US spelling); **tut
Our fact-filled, fluff-free page of fitness

Headline A recent clinical study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that hot yoga can reduce symptoms of depression. The trial divided 80 adults, with moderate to severe depression, into two groups. For two months, half did hot yoga twice a week and half did not. The result? A massive 44 per cent had such a dramatic improvement in symptoms they were no longer classed as depressed. In the other group, that number was six per cent.

Gwyneth works up a sweat

Start line Yoga has been around since 2700 BC, but hot yoga became popular in the 1970s when Bikram Choudhury, a Kolkata-born yoga teacher, moved to Los Angeles. To replicate the feeling of practising yoga in Indian temperatures, he heated LA yoga studios to 40C and taught a 90-minute sequence of 26 postures, calling it Bikram after himself. Quincy Jones and Raquel Welch were clients, and by the 2000s, hed made a reported $75 million. And owned 43 luxury cars. However, the guru, now 79, has since been accused of rape and sexual assault, and fled the US. Many studios now prefer the name hot yoga. A class might also be called hot yoga if it deviates from Choudhurys original 26 postures.

Down the line Today, hot yoga is everywhere. Jennifer Aniston claims it realigned her spine, the Duchess of Sussex loves it and, unsurprisingly, Gwyneth Paltrow is a devotee. On TikTok, hot yoga videos have 184 million views. Then theres Hotpod Yoga (hotpodyoga.com), founded in 2013 by two Brits, yogi Nick Higgins and entrepreneur Max Henderson. It now has 52 yoga studios across the UK, from Southampton to Sunderland.

Outline Unlike most hot yoga sessions, which take place in a normal but heated yoga studio, Hotpod classes operate inside an inflatable, temperature-regulated pod. Yogis gather inside with their mat and the door is zipped shut. I did a Hotpod class in Notting Hill, London. The cost depends on the studio; there its 18. The style was vinyasa flow  think lots of downward dogs and cobra poses  and took an hour. The pod looked like a purple bouncy castle, only hotter and with sweaty adults rather than happy children. Pods are made from a breathable nylon and vary in size. Notting Hills is a snug 11m x 7m.

Hotpod yoga in a purple 'bouncy castle'

Hotline Obviously, this yoga is hot. In fact, sweltering yoga might be more apt  but I can see thats not as catchy. Most hot yoga classes run at around 40C. Hotpods is 37C, but a class can feel warmer depending on how many people are present  there were eight at mine. Its humid, too; humidifiers keep levels at 40-60 per cent. And its sweaty. During one downward dog, sweat dripped from my forehead and into my eyes. It stung. Still, the pod never smells bad. At Hotpod, diffusers pump out bergamot, lavender and citrus scents during the class. There is also bergamot shampoo and conditioner in the showers. Bliss.

Lifeline Hot temperatures make your heart work harder, boosting the cardiovascular elements of the workout. And heat relieves joint pain and keeps muscles strong. Hotpods Higgins says that, thanks to hot yoga, he doesnt get muscle atrophy  muscle-mass thinning. Best of all, the warmth increases flexibility, which can make yoga poses easier. I do yoga quite often, but in hot yoga I found my triangle poses were especially triangular.

Guideline According to Hotpod, anyone older than 16 can do a class. Higgins says his mother, in her 70s, practises regularly. Pregnant? This is not for you.

Waterline Strangely, I didnt drink much water. But Hotpod advises having plenty before and during the class.

Clothes line Also strangely, tight clothes fare better in the heat than baggy ones. Leggings and a tank top are best.

Pipeline Next up, minipods! One-person home-use versions of Hotpods studio pod will feature a heater, humidifier, lighting and a screen to play prerecorded classes. No price yet, but Higgins says it will be available next year. Gwynnie will, no doubt, be first in line.
Q I knew my marriage was a terrible mistake within about two years of our wedding, but by then I was pregnant with our second child. Now, however, after more than 18 years of my husbands neglect and mistreatment of me, I have finally plucked up the courage to tell him that I want a divorce.

After our third child, our sex life dwindled to practically nothing. At first I blamed myself for being too tired, but in retrospect he never helped me around the house  he was always too busy at work or out boozing with his City friends. He didnt listen when I told him I was lonely and miserable. I also suspect that he may have been unfaithful when away on frequent business trips.

He has reacted with fury to my request for a divorce and tells me that he will make it as difficult as possible. He claims that he has been a perfect husband and has provided me and the children with everything we need (we have a very comfortable lifestyle). I was young when I married him and he is 12 years older. Now he says that our youngest child cant stay at her school because he wont be able to afford the fees if he has to run two separate houses.

I dont know which way to turn. I cant understand why he wants to stay married because he doesnt seem to be interested in me. We dont ever laugh together or talk much.

A I think your husband has reacted this way because he is in shock. He believes hes been the perfect husband, but while he has provided well materially, he has offered very little emotionally. It is a good question as to why he wants to stay married given that there isnt much affection there.

Perhaps he doesnt want the stigma of divorce, or maybe it is because you run an organised home and most of the childcare (by the sound of it), allowing him to focus on his marriage to his career. Also, he might fear not living with his children any more.

Unfortunately his anger is making him behave badly and he is using your daughters schooling issue as a weapon, which is wrong. She will need the security of staying at the school she knows amid a parental split. This situation must be so upsetting for you, but there is a way forward.

Most people seeking a divorce are now required to have a mediation assessment meeting before going to court. This can help lessen the stress and bitterness, and the government is currently providing 500 towards the cost of mediation in many cases. Sometimes, mediation is child-inclusive so that everyones voice can be heard. So contact familymediationcouncil.org.uk for information. Also, familymediationandmentoring.co.uk has a blog about how mediation can help, even in high-conflict cases.

Should my children stay with their grandad?

Q As a teenager, I was terrified of my fathers explosive temper. In retrospect, I can see he was under a lot of work pressure and that he and my mum were unhappily married. Now that Im in my early 40s and have children of my own, we get on much better, although his temper is still below the surface.

He is now in a second marriage, to a woman I find quite cold. The problem is, he keeps pressuring me to have my children stay with them on their own for a few days during the Christmas holidays. They are nine and 12.

I think he feels left out because his friends sometimes have their grandchildren to stay. However, I know that my children wouldnt be comfortable visiting him on their own and I wouldnt be either. I dont want to upset him but Im running out of excuses.

A This is a difficult dilemma for you. Im sure your father has an unrealistic vision of having his grandchildren to stay. He likely imagines taking them to shows or the cinema and them behaving perfectly 24 hours a day. But he is unlikely to be prepared for the reality, which may well be an anxious nine-year-old and a bored 12-year-old, both missing you and their friends.

Much of this is about bragging rights  his friends have their grandchildren to stay and he wants the same. Even though he has mellowed, you are right to trust your instinct. You are very forgiving and it is lovely that your relationship with him has healed. But you cant risk his temper with your children, especially as his wife could not be relied on to comfort them. You dont need excuses. Just say you would all love to see him  and youll join them when they stay.

If you have a problem, write to Caroline West-Meads at YOU, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY, or email c.west-meads@mailonsunday.co.uk. You can follow Caroline on Twitter @Ask_Caroline_

Caroline reads all your letters but regrets she cannot answer each one personally
Stephen Gold: How to get your money back if you bought duff goods - full script on what to say to the shop manager provided below

Stephen Gold is a retired judge and author who has written popular series for This is Money on how to be a successful executor, writing a will and bankruptcy.

In part one of his latest guide, he gave This is Money readers a hand with their Christmas shopping. Today, he explains how to return faulty or unwanted items and get your money back.

'Push off.' That's what the awkward shop could legitimately say to Auntie Vera when she attempts to return the sub-standard cherry stone extractor you generously gifted to her for Christmas.

The law dictates that, strictly speaking, the only person who has the status to complain is the buyer. You. Auntie was not a party to the contract.

Auntie would be far too embarrassed to report to you that the gift was rubbish. So how do you get round the problem?

Buy on condition that the seller writes magic words on the till receipt and put the receipt in with the gift. She can then do anything you could lawfully do about a complaint and following up on it. Here are the magic words.

These goods are being bought for Vera Brown and we agree that, as the third party, she will be entitled to enforce all terms of the contract for their sale.

If the queue is long and getting longer, please don't mention my name. You may prefer to reserve this request for more expensive purchases or ask an assistant to fetch the manager before joining the queue so you can put the request to them using your best pleading voice.

Whoever you speak to, don't get rough as you cannot compel the shop to oblige, although they may prefer to go along with the request rather than lose a sale.

The alternative course is to transfer your rights to Auntie when you hand over the gift or subsequently. This would give her the same status as the magic words. This is how the transfer might go, and Auntie would need to give a copy to the shop before acting.

To Vera Brown: I, Clive Troublesore hereby assign to you the benefit of all rights and remedies including those treated as applying by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to which I am entitled under my contract for the purchase of my gift to you of a cherry stone extractor which I made on 20 December 2023 from the Ridiculous Kitchen Utensil Store, Macclesfield. (signed) Clive Troublesore. Dated 25 December 2023.

Either way, this will give you something to laugh about after the King's Speech.

Returning duff goods

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 reads certain conditions into your purchase. Before that can happen, the seller needs to be a trader.

You need to be a consumer, which is a breathing, possibly ranting and human individual and may be found with a copy of this article and my book in their back pocket.

Can a booze cruise save you money this Christmas? TOBY WALNE went to France to find out There is a little-known VAT loophole that allows you to reclaim at least 15 per cent tax off your bill. In addition, fine wines and spirits tend to be cheaper on the Continent than in the UK. Je suis un box star : Toby Walne stocks up on crates of wine for the festive season in France

These rules don't apply if the buyer is a business, but other laws may come to the rescue.

Still, should you run a business and buy a laptop for 80 per cent personal use and 20 per cent business use, you would rank as a consumer. It is the prevalent intended use that matters.

Let's go over to the shop which sold you the duff goods and your exchange with the manager and, I promise you, no Dead Parrot jokes! Everything you say is legally correct.

You: Look at this jacket. It has a big stain. It should have been of satisfactory quality and reasonably fit for its purpose, and it was neither.

Shop manager: It was marked down. You bought it for next to nothing.

You: It doesn't matter. Sale goods are covered too. The price will be taken into account, but items must still work, and clothes be capable of being worn without being laughed at.

Shop manager: The stain is so big, it must have been obvious before you paid for the thing.

You: If you had drawn my attention to the stain before I purchased, I wouldn't have a case. But you didn't. And if I had examined the jumper before I paid and the stain should have shown up, I wouldn't have a case.

I wasn't obliged to carry out an examination. I didn't carry out an examination. I looked at a jumper next to it which was a different size and there was nothing wrong with that.

Shop manager: Show me your receipt then?

You: I don't have the receipt now. I thought it was going to be fine.

Shop manager: In that case, we can't possibly help you. You could have bought this from a bloke in the market. No receipt, No refund. That's our policy.

You: Then you had better change it. I have to prove it is more probable than not that I bought from here. The law doesn't state this can only be done with a receipt.

I could show you a credit card statement. That would do. As it happens, I paid with cash. The guy, ex-judge, who writes on MailOnline says he has accepted a claimant's word for it where they had no receipt, that they bought when they say they bought and at the price they say they paid. He was satisfied they were truthful.

Shop manager: That guy has caused us a lot of aggro. Get out.

You: See you in the county court and I'll be claiming money back, interest at eight per cent from purchase until settlement, my out-of-pocket expenses for today and in buying another jumper and costs.

Shop manager: Not so hasty, my friend. Come and sit down away from the queue and I am sure we can sort something out for you. Nice day. Had your holiday yet?

The clock is ticking

Your legal position over defective goods is at its strongest within the first 30 days of them coming into your hands.

But for perishable items  the Brussel sprouts will start festering well before then  you are at your strongest during the shorter period which is before perishing can be expected.

It's called the 'short term' right to reject and entitles you to a full refund as well compensation for any losses suffered  if the new TV didn't work over Christmas, you ought to have something extra for loss of enjoyment - and without a reduction for any benefit you have had from using the goods before rejecting them.

I know, I know. 30 days may not be long enough to put them to a proper test. It may take 31 days for the new chair to collapse.

I have a solution for you. Buy on condition that the seller extends the 30 days. That extension will be legally effective. This can be done by asking the seller to put these words into writing.

We Whitewash Ltd agree that Clive Troublesore's right to reject these goods under section 22 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is extended from 30 days to 90 days.

It is really worthwhile attempting to persuade the seller to agree to this although they are under no compulsion to do so.

You can always settle for something longer than 30 days but shorter than 90 days.

Unimpressed: There are plenty of ways to make sure an unwanted gift can be returned

If you look and sound intent on going elsewhere if they will not agree, you'll be in with a chance. 'Come on seller, don't you have confidence in the durability of what you are selling?!'

As a general rule, you can require the seller to repair or replace as an alternative to a price refund should you want to.

The seller must then comply within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you, unless that would be impossible or disproportionate.

If you agree to a repair or replacement within the 30 days or any extended period  although you cannot be compelled to do so - and the repair hasn't worked or the replacement is not up to legal scratch, you will not be prejudiced.

You can still 'short term' reject within seven days of receiving the purportedly repaired or replacement item. In fact, if it would give you longer, you can add 30 days or the extended period on to the time you were waiting for repair or replacement.

Go to the top of the maths class if you can work out how long that gives you and take a quadratic equation as the prize.

No abuse and keep the decibels down, please, but when you reject, make it clear that is exactly what you are doing.

You should get the price back in exactly the same form as you paid it over unless you agree otherwise: cash if you paid in cash, credit card if you used credit card.

Retired judge and writer Stephen Gold Ex-judge Stephen Gold is the author of The Return of Breaking Law, published by Bath Publishing. Over 750 pages of a multitude of topics from winning a small claim to squatters' rights, from template cohabitation and pre-nuptial agreements to draft documents to keep your creditors at bay.

Blast! Time up

Does your world come to an end when you have failed to take advantage of 'short term' rejection in time? No. You may still be able to seek repair or replacement, price reduction or an inferior form of rejection called 'long term rejection'.

We have already met repair or replacement. You cannot go for price reduction or 'long term rejection' unless, by then, repair or replacement have been sought and not worked, the seller has been entitled to refuse, or has not done as they should have done.

With price reduction, you get an amount to reflect the decrease in the value of the goods as a result of the defects.

If valueless, a full refund would be in order.

With 'long term' rejection, the price refund can be decreased to take account of any use to which you have put the goods once six months from delivery have been clocked up.

Your bottom on that settee for a couple of months would have been of some benefit, eh?

Exception warning. If the goods were a motor vehicle other than a mobility scooter or the like, you suffer a discount for use right from the start and not just from the first six months.

In theory, you have six years from purchase to make court claim where you have not been able to achieve satisfaction.

That does not necessarily mean that the item should have lasted that long. And if you wait that long, the claim may well be stale and memories about what happened which are essential for a win, will have faded.

'But I changed my mind'

Supposing there is nothing wrong with the goods, but you are after a refund or exchange.

That's because you changed your mind, or your partner says that flared corduroy trousers (the fashion) with green stripes and black stars against a pink background (not the fashion) sit uncomfortably with your complexion.

In this situation, you will have to rely on the seller dispensing mercy towards you as the law will not compel them to agree to either refund or exchange.

However, if you purchased on the basis of certain conditions  brought to your attention before you paid by the sales assistant or giant notices with huge lettering displayed on the wall behind the till which you could not possibly have missed  then both you and the seller will be bound by what the conditions state.

If they say you may return within 14 days, you cannot protest if you were one day late. And if they say you must produce your receipt when returning, that is exactly what you must do.

IN PART THREE... Stephen Gold explains how to return goods to online sellers, win parking disputes, respond if wrongly accused of shoplifting, or make a 'citizen's arrest' if you catch someone else swiping goods in a store.
British Gas has extended the offer until the end of February 2024

British Gas has further extended its offer of half price electricity over winter, and customers can also make savings on Christmas Day.

The energy supplier introduced its PeakSave Sundays offer over the summer, in a bid to get its customers to use power outside of peak hours in the evenings.

It announced an extension to the offer through the winter, which would include Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. It has now confirmed the scheme will continue until the end of February 2024.

Half-price Sundays: British Gas is offering its customers a 50% discount on electricity

British Gas also announced that it will offer half price electricity on 25 December through the scheme.

Lower demand from businesses and industry on Sundays means there is more renewable energy available in the power grid, with less need to burn fossil fuels.

Catherine O'Kelly, managing director of British Gas Energy said: 'The coming months will bring both colder weather and all of the excitement and fun of the festive season.

'We know many people will be spending more time at home during this period, particularly on Christmas Day, and we wanted to give a little something back to our customers helping them to save on their energy bills while also contributing to a greener grid.'

Customers will receive a 50 per cent discount on all electricity used between 11am and 4pm every Sunday.

While both new and existing customers are eligible for the scheme, they will need a smart meter and will have to sign up to half-hourly reads to take part. All savings will appear as a credit on customers' energy bills.

British Gas says 425,000 customers have been paid 2.5million for switching their usage to non-peak times.

O'Kelly added: 'We expect the benefit of these savings to increase through the winter, as home energy usage goes up, and we hope to welcome even more customers to the PeakSave scheme to take advantage of the savings.'

How much could you save on your energy bill?

British Gas' new deal is set to see the average customer save 30.61 over 13 Sundays and Christmas Day.

On Christmas Day itself, you could save yourself 59p if you use your electric oven for two hours out of peak hours, and a further 56p for using the electric hob.

While this might seem like a small saving, customers who shift their usage to outside of peak hours on Sundays could save 8.23 across 13 Sundays and Christmas.

Customers could also save 2.74 by washing their clothes on a Sunday, and 4.12 if they use a tumble dryer over the period.

And for customers who like to play video games, they could save 4.90 from playing between 11am and 4pm on Sundays.
Reaction: Microsoft's Brad Smith

Google yesterday urged competition watchdogs to take action against Microsoft over its dominance of cloud computing.

The US tech giant has written to the Competition Markets Authority (CMA) complaining about its rival's licensing practices, which it argues unfairly discourages customers from using competitor services.

'With Microsoft's licensing restrictions UK customers are left with no alternative but to use this cloud services provider,' Google said in a letter to the CMA.

Microsoft has faced pressure on both sides of the Atlantic over its dominance in cloud technology.

Cloud computing is when services such as data storage and software are delivered over the internet, allowing users to access services remotely.

The CMA launched an investigation into the UK's cloud computing industry in October, following a referral from media regulator Ofcom which raised concerns about Microsoft  as well as Amazon  and their dominance. Last year Amazon Web Services and Microsoft had a combined 80 per cent share of the cloud market, figures from Ofcom suggest.

A Microsoft spokesman said it had been addressing concerns about competition and had updated licensing rules.

'Competition between cloud players remains healthy,' the spokesman said. The CMA declined to comment on the reports.

But Google's letter to the CMA comes less than two months after Microsoft finally received the green light to snap up Call Of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

The CMA had initially blocked the 53billion deal in April because of concerns about the impact it could have on the gaming market.

The move sparked a dramatic reaction from Microsoft, whose president Brad Smith slammed it as 'bad for Britain'. He said at the time: 'The European Union is a more attractive place to start a business. The English Channel has never seemed wider.'

He also blasted the 'unelected' and 'unaccountable' regulator. After several concessions from Microsoft, the watchdog finally agreed to the gaming tie-up in October. But Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, still blasted the firm for its approach. She said: 'We take our decisions free from political influence and we won't be swayed by corporate lobbying.'
Karina remembers his hand on her back as he shoved her into the darkened room in the attic, the chained door slamming shut behind them.

It was here that the Russian soldier with dark eyes pointed a gun at her as he pushed her further into the black depths of the small bombed out room.

Standing inches away from her, the whisky still potent on his breath, the Russian soldier raised the gun to her head, threatening to kill her if she didn't undress in front of him.

Karina, with trembling hands, followed his orders  knowing that if she tried to fight him as she so desperately wanted to, she would never see her mother's face again.

'And then he raped me,' says Karina, her voice faltering as she recalls what happened on March 11, 2022.

'I couldn't think, I just felt numb and I couldn't move,' Karina, 22, tells MailOnline. 'After he was done, he said he would come back and kill me if I told anybody about how he'd raped me.'

An hour earlier, the Russian soldier had shot at her boyfriend - missing him by mere inches - and accused Karina of secretly contacting Ukrainian forces to tell them how the men with guns had arrived in her village in the Kyiv region.

Karina had known that her life would be changed when the bombs began raining down on Kyiv and when the Kremlin's tanks rolled into her village - but she could never imagine the horrors the Russian soldiers could inflict.

Her harrowing testimony, shared for the first time with MailOnline, is just one of many reports of systematic sexual violence by Russian soldiers to emerge following Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Karina, 22, (pictured) told MailOnline how a Russian soldier dragged her from her home and raped her in her neighbour's abandoned house

Karina's harrowing testimony, shared for the first time with MailOnline, is just one of many reports of systematic sexual violence by Russian soldiers to emerge following Vladimir Putin 's full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Karina was 20 when Putin's men arrived in her village on huge tanks on March 8, 2022. Within minutes of arriving, they had terrorised the families who lived there, invaded their homes and stolen from them.

On the second day, they began going from door-to-door and moving into the families' homes - sometimes keeping the families living there hostage in the basements - and setting up sniper positions.

'In the buildings where families were still living, the Russian soldiers would go to their yards and leave their military vehicles there, knowing that the Ukrainians wouldn't bomb them if they did so,' Karina, now 22, says.

Karina, who worked as a medical worker at a hospital when the war broke out, recalls how on the third day furious Russian soldiers had gone house to house to seize their mobile phones and computers after Ukrainian artillery began firing at their positions.

'They really cared about citizens of this village communicating with the Ukrainian military about their location,' Karina explains.

Karina, her voice now hushed, remembers how the Russian soldiers had forced their way into her home and shot at her boyfriend before they snatched their phones away from them.

'When the Ukrainian military began firing artillery at the Russians near our village, they blamed me and my boyfriend for giving away their positions,' Karina says. 'They shot at my boyfriend with a gun and missed him by inches to scare him.'

'The Russian soldiers took me out of my home and blamed me, they accused me of transferring data about their location to our Ukrainian military,' Karina says, recalling how one soldier began hauling her across the yard away from the other soldiers, not knowing what would happen to her.

Karina recalls little of what the Russian soldier looked like, only his dark hair and dark eyes, but remembers his nails cutting her skin as he dragged her into her neighbour's abandoned home.

'I remember seeing that everything was broken in my neighbour's home,' Karina says. 'It was like it had been turned upside down.'

He never let go of her wrist as he hauled her up the narrow staircase, passing broken window panes and bullets still nestled in the charred walls as they went.

As they reached the top floor, he shoved Karina, now shaking with fear, into a small, dark room in the attic and locked the door behind them.

'I remember seeing used condoms strewn across the floor. I understood that I wasn't the first to be taken there,' Karina says, her voice now quiet.

'He pointed the gun at me and kept shouting at me that I'd been sending messages to the Ukrainian military about their location,' Karina says. 'He kept cocking the trigger and threatening to kill me. And then he pointed the gun at my head and told me to start to undress.'

'And then he raped me,' Karina says. 'After he was done, he said he would rape me again and that he would kill me if the shelling from the Ukrainian military started again.'

'I remember him saying with such hatred "I will kill you" if I told anybody - even other Russian soldiers - about how he had raped me. He said I must keep silent and not tell anybody.'

But a defiant Karina did just that - she told her closest family and boyfriend about what the Russian soldier did to her. In the days that followed, Karina says she showed no emotion and felt numb.

Russian troops sit atop tanks on the outskirts of the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022

Russian tanks are seen piled up in heaps of twisted rusting metal in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, amid fierce fighting on March 1, 2022

'But at some point I just broke down and cried for hours. I felt like I was dirty, like I was a disgrace,' Karina says. 'I also felt a lot of fear because the soldier had said if there was another Ukrainian shelling, he would come back and rape me and kill me.'

So when Karina heard the next Ukrainian shells hit the village, she was terrified he would find her.

'I decided there wasn't going to be a next time. I knew I needed to do something. I could handle anything this world, but I couldn't go through that again,' Karina says.

Under the cover of darkness, she and her boyfriend escaped from their home and walked for miles through fields, forests, and over train tracks until they reached a neighbouring village in the Kyiv region.

It was here that she sought refuge with a close friend who would go on to help her report the rape to the national police and prosecutors when her village was liberated a few weeks later.

Karina says that her relationship with her boyfriend didn't last as he resented her for sharing what happened to her to her friends and family.

'It really affected our relationship,' Karina says. 'He knew everything that happened that day and he was against the fact I told people about what the Russian soldier did. He wanted me to keep silent and not talk about.'

This stigma surrounding sexual violence means that hundreds if not thousands of Ukrainian women will remain silent about their harrowing experiences - and it will mean the true scale of wartime rape is likely to remain unknown.

The systematic nature of the rape committed by Russian soldiers is aimed at psychologically traumatising generations of people - not just the rape victims but also their families and children who are often forced to watch.

But Karina is hoping that by sharing her story of survival - and the horrors she witnessed and endured - more women will come forward and share what happened to them.

'It's so important to not keep silent because the soldiers who did this, they would just live normal lives if we said nothing and it's not fair,' Karina says. 'They should be prosecuted, they should face justice. They should answer for their actions.'

Karina says that when she reported the rape to prosecutors, they provided her with photos of Russian soldiers who had invaded her village.

'I was able to pick out the soldier who raped me,' Karina says. 'They also had DNA samples that proved he had done this to me.'

A defiant Karina was in court when they handed the soldier a guilty verdict - though he was convicted in absentia, meaning it's unlikely he'll ever spend time behind bars.

Karina has since tried to move on with her life - she married the love of her life in December and has received counselling from psychologists at the Andreiev Family Foundation for the past 20 months.

'It's really helped me. At the start, I just felt numb and like it wasn't my body, but now I'm feeling normal and I'm still getting help from the psychologists,' Karina says.

The work of those psychologists was so vital for Karina's journey towards healing that she has decided to help other women who have gone through the same horrific experiences as she has.

She now works as a case manager at the Andreiev Family Foundation's Assisto project where she helps survivors of sexual violence.

Karina says she decided to share what happened to her and the horrors she endured so that other women know that they can survive the trauma and they can talk about what happened to them.

'I want to share my story to help other survivors of sexual violence - so that they know everyone can survive through this and go and live their lives. They can stay strong and live through all these really awful circumstances,' Karina says.

If you are a victim of wartime sexual violence, you can contact Andreiev Family Foundation's anonymous hotline at 0800 300166 for help and support. If you have fled Ukraine, you can WhatsApp call on +38 067727 2185.

This is the first part of MailOnline's series on war crimes in Ukraine. For the second part of the series click HERE.
Residents living in three picturesque villages say their lives are being made a misery by an armada of surveillance drones operated from a manor house owned by the Russian government.

They say the drones  up to ten are being launched every evening  are worrying their pets, wrecking their sleep and destroying their peace of mind.

The unmanned aerial vehicles fly over the villages of Flimwell, Ticehurst and Wadhurst in East Sussex for up to four hours every evening.

Mysteriously, those living in the villages say that the crafts are being launched and controlled from the Seacox Heath estate, a huge country mansion on the Sussex/Kent border that for decades has been owned by Russia and Vladimir Putin's regime.

Villagers say they are living in fear as the drones hover over their homes and move slowly down residential streets before returning to the grounds of the Grade II-listed mansion  and they have demanded to know why.

Those living in the villages say the drones are being launched and controlled from the Seacox Heath estate, a huge country mansion (pictured) on the Sussex/Kent border that for decades has been owned by Russia and Vladimir Putin's regime

Droning overhead: Three Sussex villages claim they are under regular Russian surveillance

The unmanned aerial vehicles fly over the villages of Flimwell, Ticehurst and Wadhurst in East Sussex for up to four hours every evening

Sussex Police has confirmed it is investigating the origin of the flying objects and officers have visited and spoken to the occupants of the embassy building.

Speaking to MailOnline, Edwin Taylor, 68, who lives in Ticehurst said: 'It's very worrying. Who knows what they're filming.

'They appear every evening as regular as clockwork just after 6pm and disappear around 10pm.

'They fly over our houses and you can both hear and see them hovering above the street lights.

'They fly in a circle over the village and hover over the streets and then head off towards Seacox Heath before disappearing.'

A businesswoman, who lives in Flimwell, said: 'Between six and 10 are launched every evening and they circle the village for hours. It's a bit menacing if you ask me.

'You can hear them before you see them and they circle above the village. In the summer they were all disappearing at about 10pm but now it is darker they are leaving earlier. A lot of people are quite worried about it.'

The entrance to 50-room Seacox Heath, which was built in 1871 for statesman George Goschen, has a simple, black wrought iron gate that exits onto a busy Sussex road

The entrance to the property is seen on Google Maps. Just inside the main entrance is a much smaller gate house (pictured)

The property is seen in 1903, when it was the family home of 1st Viscount Goschen

Last year writer Rebecca de Saintonge planted Ukrainian flags outside the entrance

The Sussex force has been repeatedly called about them have confirmed they have launched an investigation.

Officers visited Seacox Heath and have spoken to the occupants of the property.

The 50-room 19th century palace on the Sussex/Kent border was once owned by Lord Goschen.

In 1999, it was reported that Alsatians tasked with guarding the property attacked sheep

But it was given to the Soviet Union in 1946 as a gift after Russian sailors saved his son during the Second World War.

Initially used as a home for families of trade delegation staff, but later the mansion became the country retreat of the Russian ambassador.

The present Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, is said to have used the property for diplomatic functions.

It is also understood that when the sprawling property and grounds are not being used it is cared for by an elderly Russian couple.

After the launch of the war in Ukraine in 2022 residents, outraged over the invasion, sprayed pro-Ukrainian graffiti on the entrance.

That was followed by the planting of Ukrainian flags outside the entrance and along the embankment by writer and journalist, Rebecca de Saintonge.

It is thought the appearance of drones in skies maybe in response to security fears at the castle.

Miss de Saintonge said: 'After my protest I had a visit from two policemen. I think they were worried for the safety of the elderly Russian couple who looks after the house. We took our flags away to help defuse the situation.

From the busy A268 there is nothing to indicate the presence of a palatial Russian diplomatic mansion behind the high hedges and trees that line the main road

An illustration of the interior of Seacox Heath just after it was built in 1872

'Obviously the protest was an emotional response to the invasion, but it wasn't right to put the elderly couple in any danger.'

Jonathan Stevens, 48, a banker, said: 'I can't believe there is a Russian government building down the road from me being used by Vladimir Putin's cronies.

'The sudden appearance of Russian drones over our villages is very, very worrying indeed. Lots of people have seen them and it's very strange.'

READ MORE - How the Russian government has owned palatial 50-room mansion since 1946... but the property has been targeted by locals since invasion of Ukraine Advertisement

A resident in nearby Wadhurst said: 'Russia is waging war in the Ukraine and yet we have an embassy building right here in our midst - I had no idea.

'It is very concerning that they are now flying over our villages. Who knows what information they are gathering and sending back to their bosses in Russia.'

Seacox Heath hit the headlines in 1999 after a pack of Alsatian guard dogs escaped from their kennels and killed 50 sheep and injured another 100.

Sheep farmer, Graham Browne, was furious and said the dogs had terrorised his flock on numerous occasions.

He asked police to destroy the dogs but officers were rendered powerless because the dogs had immunity because they were part of the diplomatic estate.

Sussex Police say the force received four reports of drones flying around the Wadshurst and Ticehurst area during October and September.

Incidents were reported on 17 September, two on 5 October and another on 15 October.

A spokesperson for the force said: 'Police engaged with members of the public who reported the sightings to gather information and offer reassurance.

'Officers also engaged with occupants of a property nearby, from which the informants were concerned the drones were emanating.

'Sussex Police, alongside partners in Kent Police, are continuing to monitor the situation but there is currently nothing to indicate the origin of the drones, nor to suggest criminal activity.'
She was a one, that Queen Frederica of Greece!

On a visit to Washington DC she brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'entente cordiale' when Her Majesty was caught with her pants down having sex with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Queen, a cousin of both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, was in Washington to strengthen Greco-US relations in the late 1950s and, it can fairly be said, her trip was a resounding success.

Just as the visit was about to end, she announced without explanation she'd stay on for another week.

She'd come to Washington to discuss 'spiritual values' with President Dwight D Eisenhower in the Oval Office and afterwards was sent to visit spy boss Allen Dulles at his CIA headquarters.

Frederica of Hanover, Queen consort of the Hellenes pictured left with her daughter Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark at an event in 1964

Presidential candidate Senator John F. Kennedy meets with Allen Dulles, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in July 1960

Queen Frederica of Greece with her daughter Sofia, left, who is now Queen of Spain

Queen Frederica of Greece and daughter Princess Irene are surrounded by photographers as the leave their London hotel

Allen Welsh Dulles, chief of the CIA ,with his grandchildren

Queen Frederica of Hanover in an open carriage passes Parliament on a 1963 visit to Britain

Paul I, King of the Hellenic Republic of Greece, escorts his wife, Queen Frederica, as they descend a flight of steps

'They had been alone in his office for nearly an hour when an aide knocked,' wrote former New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzler.

'Hearing no response, the aide entered. He found the office empty, but heard noises from the adjoining dressing room. Later Dulles and the queen emerged from this sanctum in a state which indicated they had been engaged in intimacy.'

In fact Dulles, a notorious womaniser, had had a day-bed specially installed in the dressing-room so he could take 'naps'.

As she was being driven back to the Greek Embassy, Frederica turned to her driver and triumphantly declared the reason Greek-American relations were so strong was due entirely to her irregular sex life  she was still married to husband King Paul - 'I just love that man! she exclaimed, and she wasn't talking about Paul.

'My diplomats are, by and large, bunglers and fairies,' she declared in justification for seeking her one-to-one relationship with Capitol Hill. But against her own country's best interests she urged Dulles to spread his CIA spies across Greece

Unsurprisingly Frederica, granddaughter of Kaiser Bill and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was an unpopular figure, especially back at home. She'd been a member of the Hitler Youth during her teenage years in Austria and was considered to be dangerously right-wing. She pulled her son's  the future King Constantine's  strings with considerable force.

On a trip to London in 1963 she and our own Queen, Elizabeth II, were booed by a hostile crowd as they went to the West End theatre- the only recorded time Lilibet was treated so antagonistically.

So worried were the Foreign Office that the protestors might get into the Aldwych Theatre and disrupt the play, they bought up all 1,100 seats for that night's performance.

The officials had good reason - during a previous London visit only a few months earlier, Frederica had been spotted and chased down the street by demonstrators opposed to the Greek government's repressive regime - which had been endorsed by the queen - and had to take refuge in the house of a complete stranger.

But being caught with her pants down didn't bother Her Majesty one bit  in her 1971 memoirs, Frederica boasted of her closeness to her 'old friend' Dulles, a notorious womaniser but a man whose snobbery could not resist a woman capable of tracing her ancestry back to the 18th century King Frederick the Great of Prussia, after whom she was named.

King Paul of Greece and wife, Queen Frederica, with their two daughters, Princess Sofia, now Queen of Spain, and Princess Irene during a private visit to England

Allen Dulles pictured in London in 1960. Dulles, an American diplomat, lawyer, banker, and public official became the longest-serving Director of the CIA

Frederica of Greece in a domestic scene, possibly with grandchildren

A 1961 portrait of the Dowager Queen of Greece, Queen Frederika of Hanover, taken in New York

Frederica was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg dynasty, to which Prince Philip belonged.

Her daughters were Sofia, now Queen of Spain, and Irene of Greece. Her son was King Constantine II of Greece.

Frederica  Freddie to her family  fell victim to her own machinations when the military junta which ran the country deposed the royal family in 1973.

Constantine had inherited the crown on the death of his father in 1965, but despite repeated attempts to restore monarchy to his country, spent most of the rest of his life in Britain, a welcome guest at Buckingham Palace at all times but a king without a throne.
A leading period products firm has prompted fury by telling schoolgirls that men can have periods.

Period product company Hey Girls has been slammed for peddling 'confusing' and 'harmful' claims in a booklet for pre-pubescent schoolgirls who are about to get their period.

Hey Girls claims 'not all women have periods and some men have periods' and that it's 'better to use the phrase ''people who have periods''' when talking about menstruation.

The booklet's 'gender and diversity' section also has a cartoon of four people carrying bi-sexual and pansexual flags as well as those for the LGBT and non-binary communities.

It is unclear whether Hey Girls is suggesting that sexuality relates to whether a woman has a period and the company did not respond to a request comment about it.

In a booklet (pictured) for schoolgirls approaching puberty, Hey Girls claims 'not all women have periods and some men have periods' and that it's 'better to use the phrase ''people who have periods''' when talking about menstruation

Hey Girls, which was founded by Celia Hodson (pictured), has been slammed for peddling 'confusing' and 'harmful' claims in a booklet for pre-pubescent schoolgirls who are about to get their period

The company was founded by multi-award-winning entrepreneur Celia Hodson, a single mother of three children, including two girls, who experienced period poverty herself.

In fewer than five years the company has become the main provider of period products to the Scottish and Welsh governments and has also expanded into Australia.

In two Hey Girls videos for primary and secondary schoolgirls, the words 'woman, women, girl or girls' are never mentioned.

The word 'people' is mentioned 11 times in the videos combined.

Hey Girls is partnered with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and claimed on its website to advise the Department for Education (DfE) for England about free period products in schools.

However, the Government denied this had ever been the case.

A Government spokesman said: 'This is wholly incorrect. This group has never worked with the Department for Education in an advisory capacity.

'We have written to the organisation requesting they immediately remove this misleading and incorrect information from their website.

'We've been repeatedly clear about the importance of biological sex and that contested views, like those around gender identity, should not be taught as fact.

'Our Period Product Scheme for girls and women in schools and colleges uses one national supplier, PHS Group, to deliver free period products across England.'

As a result of MailOnline's investigation, Hey Girls removed the claim from its website.

Heather Finlay runs Luxury Moon, a reusable menstrual products firm. Hey Girls was one of her suppliers for five years before a change in their ordering protocols ended their relationship.

Ms Finlay shared a photo of a Hey Girls menstrual cup delivered to her in 2021.

On the box, the company said the product was for a 'girl or woman in need' and said profits from its Buy One Give One range 'go directly to help girls and women in need'.

Menstrual cups being sold on its site today make no mention of women and girls aside from as part of the brand name Hey Girls.

Instead the packaging says 'we're on a mission to give everyone a better period' and that 'for every product purchased from us, we donate a whole box to someone in need'.

Ms Finlay said Hey Girls used to be happy to say women and girls had periods but now a younger generation at the company had 'taken over with this new woke language'.

Speaking about the Hey Girls booklet for schoolgirls, Ms Finlay told MailOnline: 'It just seems like gobbledygook. How is that supposed to be of help?

'I don't think it's appropriate. I think most parents wouldn't want their children to receive it.

'[Women] feel dehumanised.

'There's a trend to be inclusive, which means you do not talk about women or girls at all.

'You are excluding a huge number of women and girls.

'The thing that upset sme is that the whole industry has gone this way.'

The Family Education Trust's Lucy Marsh told MailOnline: 'My youngest daughter has just turned 13 and has recently started her periods.

Packaging from a Hey Girls menstrual cup delivered in 2021 said the product was for a 'girl or woman in need' and said profits from its Buy One Give One range 'go directly to help girls and women in need'

The leaflet inside added that the menstrual cup was for a 'girl or young woman'

Menstrual cups being sold on its site today make no mention of women and girls aside from as part of the brand name Hey Girls. On the front, the packaging says 'for every product purchased from us, we donate a whole box to someone in need'

On the back the packaging says 'we're on a mission to give everyone a better period' but does not mention women or girls

'Girls this age should be taught about their changing bodies in an age appropriate and sensitive way, so that they feel able to share their worries and ask questions about becoming a woman.

'Telling them that boys have periods is confusing and wrong. It also affirms the idea that girls can be 'born in the wrong body', which is incredibly harmful, especially for those girls who are already feeling distressed about how their body is developing.

'Telling children that people have periods is not only lying to them, it's dehumanising and misogynistic.

'Only women and girls have periods and only women can get pregnant - to claim otherwise is not progressive, it's deeply insulting biologically incorrect.

'Girls need to grow up embracing their womanhood and feeling comfortable with their developing bodies.

'By lying to children that boys can also have periods is treating womanhood as a costume that men can play around with, which is spectacularly unhelpful to girls who may be worried about their changing bodies.

'If we want to empower girls to grow up to be strong women who are comfortable with their femininity, schools should be celebrating the fact that pregnancy, birth and motherhood are unique to women.

'Girls and boys are different, schools should be teaching children to recognise and value their differences, not trying to make everything gender neutral to avoid the risk of offending someone.'

A Nuclear Decommissioning Authority spokeswoman refused to comment on Hey Girls's use of language.

She said: 'We are an inclusive workplace and are committed to taking positive action so all colleagues are supported and feel their very best at work.

'Hey Girls supply period products to us which we make available to staff who need them across our Cumbria and Warrington offices. For every product ordered one is also donated to community partners to help eradicate period poverty.'

Hey Girls co-founders Celia Hodson and Kate Smith said: 'Hey Girls is an inclusive social enterprise working to eradicate period poverty in the UK.

'The language we use in our materials has changed in response to feedback from our customers and is deep rooted in our belief that period education and the access to products should be inclusive for all who menstruate, no matter how they identify.

'As many as one in 10 people in the UK experience period poverty and our ultimate mission is to ensure no one ever experiences it again.

'We are proud to have donated more than 33 million period products to people in need in just five years and are steadfast in our devotion to increasing that number further.

'Organisations to benefit from our donations include charities directly responding to the greatest challenges our society faces, such as foodbanks fighting back against the cost of living crisis and shelters supporting people who are experiencing homelessness.

'Materials such as the booklet in question are designed to be inclusive for all, including those who are transgender, have gender dysphoria or are members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are rarely represented in period product education and marketing.

'We were founded with the name ''Hey Girls'' based on a term of endearment used by our family  and while the word ''Girls'' is gendered, the sentiment behind the saying is not intended to be exclusive.

'We stand by our inclusive language and support everyone who has a period.'

After the Government denied Hey Girls had ever advised the Department for Education, Hey Girls added: 'We were pleased to be involved in the DfE's consultation period for the introduction of free period products in schools in 2019. The wording of this section of our website has been amended to reflect this.'
One terrifying drug cartel has transformed Brazil from a nation historically known for the consumption of cocaine into one of its most prolific exporters, commanding the flow of narcotics from South America to Europe with ruthless efficiency - and extreme violence.

The Primer Comando da Capital - 'First Capital Command' or PCC - is largely responsible for what officials have described as a 'tsunami' of cocaine and violence flooding Europe's streets in recent years.

The PCC's involvement in the European drug trade is simply enormous. As one Brazilian prosecutor put it: 'If someone is using cocaine in France, England or Spain there's a very good chance it got there through the hands of the PCC.'

And in an industry where torture and murder are merely pre-requisites, this organisation stands head and shoulders above the competition.

The gang does not hesitate to exact gruesome punishment on any competitor or law enforcement official that stands in their way, with countless horrifying images displaying in shocking clarity how PCC members dismember, disembowel and decapitate their victims.

Now, the cartel has a truly global reach, engaging in shady dealings with the likes of Italy's infamous 'Ndrangheta, Eastern European mafias and Nigeria's notorious Black Axe crime group to ship its cocaine around the world - and receive black market weapons in return.

Here, MailOnline lifts the lid on the dark operations of the PCC and explores how Brazil's most powerful criminal organisation provides Europe's cities with an endless supply of white gold.

Policemen stand near one of dozens of public buses torched by PCC members in savage attacks that left dozens of people dead in 2006

PCC cartel members record themselves decapitating rival gang inmates

Mass uprisings orchestrated by the PCC in 2006 in Brazil led to dozens of deaths of police officers and inmates

Leader of the PCC, Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, is escorted by police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in this Nov 7, 2005 file photo

Since 2002, the PCC has been led by Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, or 'Playboy.'

Marcola resides in a Brazilian max security lockup, serving a staggering 342-year prison sentence on all manner of charges related to crimes committed before and during his time in jail.

But from his cell, he commands a vast criminal empire - official Brazilian estimates in 2018 put the number as high as 40,000 'baptised' members - with tens of thousands more affiliates and 'contractors'.

Unlike most cartels, whose inception and subsequent growth are motivated by the simple desire to make money from drugs, the PCC was born in the brutal Brazilian prison system where inmates routinely fight to the death with police and guards - or each other - in bloody massacres.

Following a horrendous purging of more than 100 prison inmates by armed police during a riot in one of Sao Paulo's largest prisons in 1992, a few incarcerated criminals at another institution banded together, forming a union that advocated for itself and fellow prisoners - negotiating with fists and weapons instead of words.

Its ranks swelled rapidly as it recruited members from the prison population while admitting desperate new inmates plucked from the favelas by Sao Paulo police.

Before long, the fledgling criminal organisation assumed control of its own jail, expanding beyond the prison walls and into new nefarious enterprises like drug trafficking, smuggling, robbery, and kidnapping.

Through the 2000s, it executed a series of ruthless attacks on prison staff, police officers and rival gangs, earning a notorious reputation that alarmed authorities but only made it more popular with ambitious criminals.

By the 2010s, the PCC had become so influential that it negotiated settlements and financial arrangements with various municipal and regional lawmakers in Brazil and beyond, who were outmatched by the cartel's power and thus agreed to allow the organisation to police itself in exchange for reducing the level of gun and gang violence.

The PCC is now considered one of the world's most powerful and dangerous organisations, but its drug trade is by far the most lucrative of its endeavours, turning over more than a billion dollars each year.

'The PCC is better organised, more powerful, and they have a monopoly of crimes and power which is something nobody achieved,' said Ignacio Cano, a researcher at the Violence Analysis Centre at Rio de Janeiro State University.

'They are by far the strongest criminal group in Brazil.'

Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho has headed the First Capital Command, one of Brazil's most notorious organised-crime groups better known by its Portuguese initials PCC, since 2002

Alleged PCC members surround the bloody corpse of a rival gang member slaughtered in a prison yard

These disturbing images show the bodies of prisoners who were beheaded in a brutal confrontation sparked by PCC inmates in a Paraguayan prison being hauled out by medical workers

While cocaine and other drugs are shipped out of Brazil across the world, the group plenty besides money in return - including frequent shipments of black market weapons. The group allegedly receives weapons from Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah which is active in Paraguay and Brazil (Hezbollah soldiers pictured)

The PCC's expansion into the drugs trade came in the 2000s as its leaders established contacts with Colombian and Bolivian suppliers and smuggled its product through Paraguay and Bolivia to Brazil.

But the real breakthrough came in the last decade when it gained control of key ports on Brazil's East coast, such as Santos, Paranagua and Itajai.

This unlocked a new transatlantic drug trade, and with it, skyrocketing profits.

With Mexican cartels strictly controlling the flow of cocaine into the US, the PCC targeted Europe, where the market is smaller but the drugs can be sold at higher prices.

The secret to the PCC's aggressive expansion lies in its ability to strike mutually beneficial, peaceful partnerships with several infamous criminal organisations, chief among which are Italy's world-renowned 'Ndrangheta mob and Nigeria's Black Axe crime gang.

'They outsource. They contract people and allow them to carry out certain activities as long as they're paying them (the PCC) something in return,' Cano said.

'For example, in 2006 many people say the killings of policemen were outsourced.'

These entities control a clandestine network throughout West Africa, working in conjunction with the PCC to collect the drug shipments in African ports before funnelling the product across the continent, or onwards to Europe.

The PCC's main entry points to Europe are believed to be Spain, Portugal and Belgium, with yet more shipments entering via the Netherlands thanks to the well-established Moroccan-Dutch crime network.

After reaching Europe, the merchandise is distributed across the continent by Eastern European, Moroccan and Italian mobsters partnered with the PCC.

A 2022 report into the PCC's Brazil-West African drug operation by Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) revealed that hundreds of kilograms of cocaine destined for Antwerp, Algeciras, The Canary Islands and Nigeria were seized in the Brazilian port of Santos alone every year from 2016-2022.

But this is thought to be a tiny fraction of the quantities that successfully set sail from Brazil and other South American countries each year.

While cocaine and other drugs are shipped out of Brazil across the world, the group receies plenty besides money in return - including frequent shipments of black market weapons.

One particularly shocking relationship that law enforcement agencies believe the PCC maintains is with Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah - the Iran-aligned terror organisation with close links to Hamas.

Hezbollah's activities in South America are said to zero in on the 'Tri-Border Area' between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, hotspots with significant Lebanese-origin populations - and also the epicentre of the PCC's strength.

The United States counterterrorism bureau has claimed Hezbollah exploits the region as a fundraising base, and it is believed the group collaborates closely with the PCC to launder money, allowing the cartel to acquire weapons, according to leaked federal police documents.

Prison officials in Paraguay said 10 inmates were killed and 15 suffered injuries during the riot

Alleged members of the Primer Comando da Capital [PCC], the largest criminal organisation in Brazil, appeared in a video laughing and banging their large knives at the San Pedro de Ycuamandyyu Regional Jail ahead of an attack on rival gang members

Evidently, the PCC is an exceptionally well-oiled criminal enterprise with an impressive ability to form and consolidate positive relationships with other nefarious outfits.

But those who pose a challenge or take a stand against the cartel receive a very different treatment.

As with any infamous drug dynasty, heinous brutality is the norm, and members appear to take great pleasure in carrying out such deplorable actions on fellow human beings.

While much of the network operates with freedom, prisons across Brazil and neighbouring countries are ruled by the PCC from within and the gang has established a tactic for taking over new facilities.

Incarcerated PCC members steadily recruit more and more members until the group is strong enough to launch a revolt. Once the burgeoning clan reaches a critical mass it triggers a riot, conducting violent attacks on inmates of rival gangs and police officers.

Survivors are then left with no option - join the PCC for protection, or face a painful, bloody end.

One particularly notorious incident unfolded in Paraguayan jail in 2019, bringing the PCC's savage operating model into sharp focus. Its members launched a cruel attack on members of a rival clan, using machetes and knives to hack them to pieces.

Shocking footage gleefully recorded and shared by alleged PCC members showed gangsters menacingly scraping their blades on the concrete in anticipation of the massacre.

The gang was later seen surrounding one of its victims in the middle of the courtyard while other inmates looked on. They then recorded themselves decapitating a prisoner who was pinned to the floor with a rag covering his mouth.

Investigators said six inmates were decapitated, three prisoners were burned and another was reportedly shot dead.

This violence is not reserved for rivals - although the PCC and law enforcement are widely believed to have struck a series of unofficial agreements that allow the cartel to operate largely unchecked provided the violence remains contained, the PCC has a long history of using lethal force against police officers.

One of the most egregious examples of such rabid viciousness came in 2006 when efforts to transfer high-ranking members of the gang to far-off prisons to impede their communication sparked a major uprising.

Five days of gang-inspired attacks then left at least 175 dead, including police officers, prisoners and plenty of innocent bystanders, with a string of smaller scale attacks continuing on for months.

Six years after the 2006 uprising, another war broke out between the gang and Sao Paulo's Military Police.

The PCC felt the government had violated an informal agreement to slow the prison transfers of gang leaders and limit crackdowns on its operations in exchange for a reduction of violence.

The gang ordered attacks on law enforcement workers, and the ensuing chaos resulted in the deaths of some 106 officers - many of whom were off-duty at the time of their executions.
Jade Goody's mother Jackiey has told of the pride she feels for her grandson Bobby Brazier for his appearances on Strictly Come Dancing - as she hit out again at his father Jeff Brazier.

Jackiey Budden, 66, told MailOnline she is a 'very proud nan' and it's 'wonderful' to see Bobby on Strictly Come Dancing.

Speaking outside her property, where tributes have been left for her daughter, she said: 'I'm very, very proud of Bobby. He is doing amazing.

'It's great to see. I watch as a very proud nan. It's wonderful. Of course I am pleased he is doing well.'

But commenting on her ongoing feud with his father Jeff, she told MailOnline he has been a 'c**k for f****** nine years'.

Jackiey is the maternal grandmother of Bobby, 20, lives in Bermondsey where she raised her Big Brother star daughter.

Jade shot to fame on the third series of the hit show but tragically died from cancer in 2009 aged just 27.

Jackiey Budden, maternal grandmother of Bobby Brazier, 20, blasted Jeff to MailOnline outside her flat in South London

The 66-year-old, (pictured) despite being in a feud with his father Jeff Brazier, 44, said she is a 'very proud nan' and it's 'wonderful' to see Bobby on the show

Within a mile of Jackiey's estate, 381 crimes were recorded in September - around 12 a day

Bobby paid tribute to mum Jade by dedicating his Strictly Come Dancing routine to her

She was the first reality star to become a millionaire and amassed a 3million business empire, taking in books, perfume and exercise videos.

But despite her family's fame and success - Ms Budden still lives in a ground-floor flat in an area locals say is blighted by gangs and drug dealers.

She lives in a council flat in a crime-ridden South London estate while her Strictly star grandson Bobby Brazier is expected to pull in a 2.6million payday.

But while Bobby grew up in a 1.2million stylish home with his family in Essex, within a mile of Jackiey's estate, 381 crimes were recorded in September - around 12 a day, according to data.

That includes 68 violent or sexual offences, 15 robberies, 90 anti-social behaviour crimes and 28 burglaries, among many others.

The figure was 359 in August, while in September of last year it was 277.

Residents in the same block as Jackiey, described it being riddled with crime issues.

One said: 'There's drug-dealing everywhere. It's open. People get attacked and robbed.

'It has got worse in recent years. I feel sorry for Jackiey that she still lives here.'

Another, who said he was too frightened to give his name, said: 'I don't go out here after night.

'I know that women only tend to go out in groups. They're terrified.'

While Jackiey remains on good terms with grandsons Bobby and his younger brother Freddie, 19, she is embroiled in a bitter feud with their father Jeff Brazier, 44,

In September, she secretly got tickets to the National Television Awards to watch Bobby get a Rising Star gong for playing Freddie Slater in EastEnders.

There she was recorded branding Brazier a 'c***'.

Jackiey addressed the row with Jeff Brazier when speaking to MailOnline, she said: 'When I came out for the NTA Awards, I'm loud and it's the drink and someone went 'oh I bet you're really proud' and 'how do you get on with Jeff Brazier' and I said "he's a c**k".

'Next minute I'm on the internet and all over the papers. As I came out of the O2, someone overheard me say it, so they sold the story.'

When asked if she said it and why, Jackiey fumed: 'Of course I said it. I haven't got a problem with (calling him that).

'He's been a c**k for f****** nine years.

'Bobby doesn't need that stress on his head. He's my grandson.'

In 2021, Bobby confirmed in an Instagram video that he was back in contact with his nan after losing touch.

He said: 'I didn't see her for ages - for way too long - but I went to see her twice recently.

'And honestly if there's one woman you shouldn't underestimate it's my nan.

'Honestly, she's like a wizard! It's nuts.'

Jackiey appeared on Good Morning Britain to speak about Jade 10 years after her death

Residents in the same block as Jackiey described it being riddled with crime issues

Tributes to Jade read: 'As you look down, you smile bright, your boys always in your sight'

Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell during their routine on Strictly dedicated to Bobby's mother

Jade Goody and Jackiey Budden when they appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007

Jackiey at Jade's home in Essex with her grandchildren Freddie and Bobby in 2009

Jade Goody with Bobby at a book signing at a Waterstones in Bristol, in May 2009

When Jade passed away in 2009, she insisted that her two sons' wishes should be 'paramount'.

Her mother Jackiey received 10,000, while husband Jack Tweed - who she tied the knot with two weeks before her death - was bequeathed nothing but her 14,000 Volkswagen.

In 2020, Jack claimed Jade's money had 'vanished' and said 'something doesn't add up'.

It was reported In 2011 that her fortune had taken a significant blow due to a 1.8million tax bill after she allegedly didn't pay income tax for four years.

In 2014, Jeff claimed the debt had grown after it was ruled that expenses and losses from her Essex based beauty salon didn't qualify for tax relief.

He also alleged Jade wasn't 'good at taking advice' about financial matters.

Last week, Bobby received a standing ovation for his dance to This Woman's Work with partner Dianne Buswell.

He said his mother's death in 2009 'changed my life completely' in a clip before the dance routine.

EastEnders actor Bobby, is tipped to become the new 'nation's sweetheart' before heading off to Hollywood, according to PR experts.

PR guru Carla Speight said: 'He's likely to find himself with a 'golden handcuffs' style contract, after a short bidding war between the channels'.

She pointed to the likes of Sarah Lancashire's career who was reportedly earned 1.3M in a deal with ITV making her the highest-paid television actress in 2000.

Carla said: 'Bobby will easily double that with the right channel and the right jobs'.

MailOnline approached Jeff Brazier for comment.
About an hour into Ridley Scott's epic movie, the cinema screen is filled with the sumptuous Imperial Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine.

It is a telling moment  a turning point in the history of France and the world and a projection of power and magnificence that the French still unashamedly admire today.

And shining out from the film's Coronation at Notre Dame - and from the famous Jacques-Louis David painting of the 1804 extravaganza that has clearly inspired the film-maker - is jewellery of rare opulence.

The women present in the film include the sisters and sisters-in-law of Napoleon and Josephine's daughter, Hortense, from her previous marriage.

All are adorned in spectacular jewels which sparkle and glow as, taking place in the gloom of December 2, the ceremony was candlelit.

To create a new imperial dynasty, Napoleon created a set of imperial jewellery. Here Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon crowns Vanessa Kirkby as Josephine in Ridley Scott's portrayal

David's painting of the Coronation Of Napoleon in the Louvre seems to have inspired the movie version in its opulence. Astonishing jewels shine out from both scenes

In creating the 'look' for his imperial jewellery, Napoleon looked to ancient Greece, Rome and the classical past. Vanessa Kirkby stars as Josephine

This is exactly the sort of scene that Napoleon wanted.

When, earlier in 1804, it was decided, that Bonaparte was to be proclaimed Emperor of the French, he decided to establish a dynastic royal family. And to do that he needed a set of royal jewels.

Since Francois I, the French crown jewels, Les Joyaux de la Couronne, belonged to the French people (as the British Crown Jewels belong to us.)

But in 1792, during the Revolution they were stolen from where they were kept in the Garde Meuble in Paris. Many were subsequently sold, or destroyed -victims of a new republic with no need for splendour.

For example, the Regent, a sublime 140.64 carat diamond from Golconda which had been in the royal collection since 1717, had been pawned in Berlin for 2.5m livres.

Napoleon decided to reclaim it and set the diamond what became his Imperial Sword, worn during the coronation.

Napoleon wanted his wife and her court to be bedecked in the finest jewels for two reasons: primarily to reflect their status as First Consul and Lady, but also to revive the flagging jewellery industry for which Paris had become so famous until the revolution of 1789.

It had developed with huge speed.

Within a few years there were 400 jewellers employing 800 men and 2000 women, who created designs from delicate pearl and diamond necklaces and earrings, to bracelets and belts all set with gemstones - many of which had been sourced during expeditions to Egypt and Brazil.

It was the diadem or tiara, that became the iconic French ornament - and which subsequently spread throughout Europe.

The discoveries of gold ornaments from Herculaneum and Pompeii in the late 18th century, and Napoleon's early Egypt campaign of 1798 where he came across ancient artefacts and as we see in the film a mummified Pharoah (this scene is probably Scott's artistic licence) lead the then General Bonaparte to decide to emulate the ancient world.

Nowhere is this more obviously seen than in the jewels he encouraged Josephine to wear.

Jewellery from the collection of Napoleon and Josephine

The Empress Josephine Tiara. Napoleon single-handedly revived the fashion for tiaras among European nobility

When designing his own crown, Napoleon sought inspiration from closer by, looking to Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor who ruled swathes of Europe from Aachen

The wheat ear motif was prominent in Josephine's jewellery. It was a symbol of Ceres, the Roman goddess of prosperity, harvest and fertility

In fact, as art and jewellery historian Diana Scarisbrick writes in her chapter in a book on French jewellery house, Chaumet: Napoleon revived the tiara for Josephine, [...] and the women of the Imperial Family and Court.

The designs were strictly classical, with classical motifs.

One of Empress Josephine's favourite was the ear of wheat, a symbol of Ceres, the Roman goddess of prosperity, harvest and fertility.

(Josephine was desperate to give Napoleon an heir and despite having two grown up children from her first marriage - she seemed unable to conceive his child.)

Josephine had several 'Ear of Wheat' tiaras including this one created by Nitot

Another important symbol that Napoleon was inspired to revive - was the laurel leaf, probably the most recognisable symbol from the days of the Roman Emperors and Caesar.

It is a wreath of golden laurel that Napoleon wore for his coronation, the theme of which is also in the design of the formidable diamond set diadem, worn by Empress Josephine during the ceremony.

Napoleon's famous crown was destroyed during the Restoration of the monarchy in 1814 but one of the forty-four large leaves, forty-two detachable berries and twelve smaller leaves was saved - and sold at auction six years ago for over 430,000

Another Neo-Classical theme was the cameo, a style so loved by Napoleon that he had them set in many pieces of jewellery.

There are several parures comprising cameos made in the hardstones of, among others, agate and malachite.

In 1808, 82 intaglios and cameos were removed from a collection belonging to the state and reset by Nitot into an enormous suite for Empress Josephine, which included a tiara and necklace, belt and bracelets.

We also see cameo and intaglio-set tiaras worn by Napoloen's sisters and sister-in law, as well as Hortense - Josephine's daughter - in the painting by David - reproduced faithfully in the film. The Queen of Sweden owns a cameo parure created for Empress Josephine by Nitot, who leant it to her daughter, latterly the Queen of Holland.

When in May 1804, Napoleon officially became Emperor - he knew that he needed a new crown and again looked to the past.

This time, however, it was not from the Romans but mediaeval Europe that he sought inspiration, commissioning what he called the 'Crown of Charlemagne' from Nitot.

It was made in gold with four full arches holding a cross upon a golden globe in their centre, instead of gems, it was set with cameos and carved carnelian (a brown-red hardstone), the band had gold leaves around its circumference and a red velvet cap within.

Pope Pius VII was persuaded to travel from the Vatican to anoint the Imperial couple but the poor man was treated despicably by Napoleon!

When the Crown was produced for the pope to set upon his head - Napoleon grabbed it from the altar and placed it upon his own head, he then placed the same crown upon the Empress's head - it is thought that this act of ignoring the Pope was his way of declaring his disregard of the power from the Vatican, and the clergy, and making himself omnipotent of his own empire.

(The film and the painting however show him crowning Josephine with her own crown, this time set with sparkling gemstones.)

Once Napoleon became Emperor, he began to create his titles and kingdoms for his family - who of course needed their own royal jewels to put a stamp on their new seniority.

Many of these jewels now belong to the Royal Families of Europe and well as Nitot, known since 1889 as Chaumet, Mellerio created many of the Bonaparte jewels.

Napoleon ruled France and controlled much of Europe from 1804 until he was conclusively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815

In 1810 when Napoleon divorced Josephine, in order to marry a younger model who could give him an heir, she returned all the jewels that belonged to the crown and gave many to her daughter, and her son, Eugene's, wife - a Princess of Bavaria who became the Duchess of Leuchtenberg on marriage.

Their daughter became Queen of Sweden, as a result of which, many of Josephine's jewels now belong to the Swedish royals.

But, as we can tell from the records of Mellerio, the oldest jeweller in the world which still has order books going back to the Napoleonic era, Josephine continued to order yet more.

Old habits die hard.
Juveniles at a Tennessee jail are being locked up in solitary confinement for days at a time by the facility's 83-year-old superintendent, who says the facility treats everyone like they're in for murder - and has challenged lawmakers to make him stop.

Richard L. Bean reminisces fondly on the days of capital punishment and runs his eponymous Knoxville detention center with an iron fist.

Despite state regulations all but forbidding solitary confinement except in cases of endangerment, it is still a regular tool in his arsenal.

Kids at the facility are secluded here more than anywhere in the state, sometimes as a disciplinary measure and often for indeterminate lengths of time.

'What we do is treat everybody like they're in here for murder,' Bean, who has run the center since the 1970s, told Pro Publica. 'You don't have a problem if you do that.'

Richard L Bean has been keeping kids in solitary 'for weeks' at his Knoxville detention center, despite state laws forbidding the practice

The 82-year-old boasts that he treats all the children incarcerated at the facility like they are 'in for murder'

Inmates at Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center told inspectors they were put in solitary for minor infractions such as forgetting books or talking back

Many of the children housed at the 120-bed facility are awaiting trial and of those, only some are facing homicide charges.

But under Bean's stewardship, kids have been locked up for more than a week, with some reporting they are at the mercy of prison staff's whims.

Minor infractions such as laughing during meals and talking during class are enough to warrant seclusions, according to reports filed about the practice.

One child was even isolated for eight days for having head lice, something the report noted was 'a little extreme'.

In 2017, the Department of Children's Services (DCS) brought in new reforms which state that seclusion is never to be used as a punishment and only in cases where the child presents a risk to themselves or others.

The regulations came on the back of research which shows increased risk of depression, anxiety and psychosis for prisoners left alone, especially children.

In order to have their licenses renewed, juvenile prisons are supposed to comply with the regulation.

Authorities are well aware of Bean's improper use of seclusion, with inspectors frequently noting its use, but still the facility remains open.

One one occasion in 2018, an inmate was locked up alone because he had headlice which an inspector noted was 'insane'

Tennessee introduced laws in 2021 which state children should not be secluded for more than six hours at a time and only in cases where they threaten harm and never as a punishment

In 2021, Bean introduced a new policy called 'voluntary time-out' which seems to eschew the state's laws on seclusion, but still results in kids being locked up.

'If I got in trouble for it, I believe I could talk to whoever got me in trouble and get out of it,' he said.

He appeared to boast there was little incentive for authorities to clamp down on his antics as the DCS pays his facility $175 per day per child, with $120 per day for kids from surrounding counties.

'I mean, youve got to take care of the kids, he said. 'But  you got to kind of run it like a business, too. I could make over one million dollars for the county.'

Even before the introduction of 'voluntary timeouts', inspectors had often noted Bean was using seclusion incorrectly.

In 2018, one child told an inspector he was isolated after he forgot to bring his books to class.

'Staff will put you in seclusion if they don't like you,' he told the inspector.

The same inspector noted the facility 'continues to be in good standing with the DCS licensing' following a visit in October that year.

But inmates at Bean's center are still being isolated through a new policy called 'voluntary timeout' which he claims is not used as a disciplinary measure

Bean previously told inspectors he disagrees with state laws on the amount of time children may be put in solitary

However when she returned the next day, October 17, documents show the facility was ordered to enact a corrective action plan for various problems including its use of seclusion.

Just a year later, inspectors found that seclusions had doubled at the Bean Center, with 160 kids locked up in the space of a few months.

That visit revealed that kids had been secluded for not following rules or talking back, a clear violation of the new state law.

However, the facility was given the greenlight to come off its correction plan and had its license renewed for another year.

And in 2021, Bean was not shy about telling authorities what he thought of a new policy which stipulates kids cannot be secluded for more than six hours.

'Most people think we're running a kindergarten,' Bean told Pro Publica. 'We're running the juvenile junior jail for Knox County. And there's some tough kids  tougher than the ones in the jail, I guarantee.

'I asked them how their attitude. I can't let the kids run the place. Sometimes you get a kid, you put him in his room, and he cuss and call you everything in the books. It's hard to let him out.'

An inspector who visited in August 2021 noted Bean's disapproval and the fact its policy and procedure manual for the facility was last updated in 1999.

The Department of Children's Services pays Bean $175 dollars per child he houses at the facility

The superintendent was also skirting new requirements to note the time a child was released from seclusion by stamping his initials, RLB, instead of the time.

The technique is just one of the ways the facility has been able to obscure the view of its practices. As with many juvenile centers, a concern for children's privacy can sometimes mean a lack of oversight.

Former inmate Tyshon Booker, who was 16 during his stay from 2015 to 2017, said conditions at the center were harsher than adult prisons for this reason.

'They think, "Oh, they're kids. Nobody is going to do this to kids, nobody would treat kids like this." So I don't think it's as much eyes as the penitentiary,' he told the outlet.

Booker is serving a 51-year sentence for homicide, but vividly remembers being stripped to his t-shirt and boxers and placed in seclusion twice for days on end.

'I learned how to make dice out of bread,' Booker says. 'I made dice, roll the dice for hours. And then you've got to remember, we're in solitary confinement, so I'd get hungry and I'd eat the dice. So, like, just imagine, the savage life in solitary confinement  rolling dice on a dirty floor for hours,' he recalled. 'It was horrible.'

And for the seclusion incidents that were properly documented, it became clear Bean was violating the guidance around the policy and they were 'either definitively over 6 hours, or for an indeterminate amount of time'.

One case was noted of a child secluded for several weeks for fighting.

Inspectors have long noted the improper use of the seclusion policy but done little to clamp down on it

Today, Bean has adopted a new policy of 'voluntary time out' which has mean that while seclusions have plummeted, timeouts have soared.

The technique sees kids locked in their rooms, which typically contain just a bed and a toilet affixed to the wall.

He claims the strategy is not used as punishment, but admits he will implement a voluntary timeout if kids refuse to attend school, only releasing them in the morning.

'Next morning, we say, "You want to go to school today?:' Bean said. 'Most of them say, "Yeah, I want to go. I dont want to be locked up."'

However, inspectors also noted that many children were not aware they could come out of solitary confinement at their own will.

If a facility is deemed noncompliant, DCS has the capacity to freeze or slow admissions, reduce capacity or withhold a license - but none of these options have been used at the Bean Center.

A DCS spokesman said: 'Since 2017, when new standards for juvenile detention centers became effective, the Department of Childrens Services has worked closely with the Richard L. Bean Center to address deficiencies related to the updated standards, including proper documentation regarding seclusion.

'The Department recommended corrective action and has continued to work with the facility, as state law requires, to implement needed changes. Since March of 2022, DCS licensing staff have observed a significant and consistent improvement in the Bean Centers quality of documentation, and in October of 2022 no deficiencies regarding seclusion practices were found.

'Approval of the Bean Center is still pending while the facility works toward updating its policy manual.'

The center's board of trustees chair John Valiant defended the facility as 'the best in the state'

Lawmakers have called for Bean's resignation after details of the prison's operations emerged

John Valiant, the center's chairman told WBIR Channel 10 he planned to investigate.

Although he added: 'I think this is the best facility in the state of Tennessee. It's their bedroom the solitary confinement, it's just to go to your room.'

But state representative Gloria Johnson said on X, formerly Twitter: 'It would be unacceptable for a juvenile detention administrator to keep their job after bragging to a reporter how theyve broken the law and gotten away with it.

'For the sake of rebuilding trust in our community, Bean needs to go immediately.'

The outlet reported that democratic representatives from both chambers have sent a letter to DCS seeking a full audit of the facility.

DailyMail.com has approached the DCS and Bean for comment.
A squatter who took over an empty house that belonged to a pensioner and won the right to become its legal owner has sold it for 540,000, MailOnline can reveal.

Keith Best was accused of effectively 'stealing' the three-bedroom semi-detached home in Newbury Park, east London, from Colin Curtis, who previously lived there with his mother but then moved out in the late 1990s, leaving it empty.

After spotting the vacant home while working in the neighbourhood, builder Mr Best started treating it at his own and then began renovating it, formally moving in with his wife and child in 2012.

A few months later he applied to the courts for permanent possession of the property, which was worth around 400,000 at the time.

He won following an appeal despite the judge accepting that he had committed criminal trespass.

MailOnline can reveal that after living in it for almost eight years, Mr Best has now sold it, pocketing the entire 540,000 profit.

After spotting the vacant home while working in the neighbourhood, builder Keith Best (pictured) started treating it at his own and then began renovating it

MailOnline can reveal that after living in it for almost eight years, Mr Best has now sold it, pocketing the entire 540,000 profit

The new owner Atiq Hayat, 35, told MailOnline: 'This property was sold to us by Keith Best who was the legal owner.

'His name appeared on all the documents related to this house and everything was done properly, and we have nothing to worry about.

'I never met Mr Best, but my sisters did twice, when they came to see the property. It was in a very good condition, and he seemed like a very genuine man. The sale was done in the proper legal way through solicitors, so we didn't have a lot to do with him.'

Mr Hayat's sister Khaleeda, who also lives at the property, visited twice when Mr Best lived there confirmed his picture when shown by MailOnline.

She added: 'Yes, that's Mr Best the man who previously owned this home. I wasn't too involved in the sale, and we have no idea where he now lives. He showed us around and spoke about all the work he had done on it and what a lovely area this is.'

Mr Hayat revealed that the family did not know about their home's controversial past until informed by MailOnline.

He said: 'I don't understand how something like this can happen. How can you just take over an empty house and make it your own, isn't that theft? It doesn't make sense to me. How could the courts have just allowed him to become the legal owner?

'I'm quite shocked at hearing how Mr Best got this home. He never said anything to us, but why would he? Some neighbours have mentioned it to us in the past, but we've never heard the full details. It's crazy to think that you can see an empty home and just take it over and the court is OK with that.'

The legal saga around the home started after Mr Best, 54, submitted an application for adverse possession  under which a trespasser can win rights to somewhere they do not legally own if they can demonstrate they had 'control' over the building or land for a considerable period of time.

He was initially turned down by the Chief Land Registrar as his claim came just a few weeks after squatting was criminalised under Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act.

However, this was overruled by the High Court in 2014, with Mr Justice Ouseley ruling that the Registrar's decision was 'founded on an error of law,' and previous legislation which treated squatting as a civil matter should apply, resulting in Mr Best being made the legal owner of the home.

Mr Curtis, on the other hand, lives on 261 a week from his state pension and tax credits in a modest warden-assisted flat a few miles away in Romford

Colin Curtis (pictured) previously lived there with his mother but then moved out in the 90s

The judge also ruled that adverse possession was still possible in any private property where at least ten years had passed 'without effective action by the owner'.

Mr Curtis, who passed away aged 80 in 2018 then launched a counter claim, but this was dismissed by Judge Elizabeth Cooke on the basis that he was not a registered administrator of his mother's estate and had no legal right to fight for her home.

HOW THE LAW FAILED MR CURTIS Squatting was made a criminal offence in England and Wales in September 2012. To do it in a residential building can lead to six months in prison, as well as a 5,000 fine. However before it was criminalised, squatters could claim ownership of a property by living in it for a certain period of time. If the land was unregistered, a trespasser could claim rights to it after 12 years of so-called adverse possession. If registered, they could apply to be owner after occupying it for ten years. The original owner had up to two years to obtain possession  but if this did not happen, the squatter remained in possession. Keith Bests attempt to register ownership of Colin Curtis house was initially blocked because it was made a few weeks after the law was changed. However he was then granted ownership in a High Court ruling in 2014. The judge said previous legislation  which treated squatting as a civil matter  should apply. Advertisement

Doris Curtis had died without a will and her son had not realised he had to apply to become an administrator.

The house in Newbury originally belonged to his widowed mother Mrs Curtis, who died in the late 1980s aged 88.

Her divorced son then stayed there until 1996, when he moved to live in sheltered accommodation.

Even though Mr Curtis continued to pay council tax, he rarely visited the property and barely maintained it, giving Mr Best the ideal opportunity to take it over.

Mr Best argued in court that he had been looking after the home for more than a decade, which gave him the right to become its legal owner.

He said in a statement: 'In 1997, I began work on the property. I then invested time and money into looking after the property. Since 2001, I have treated the house as my own.'

Speaking after losing his case, Mr Curtis fumed: 'It's not fair. The law is an ass. It's like someone getting in your car then saying it's theirs because they're sitting in it.'

'People can't believe it when I tell them. They don't understand how anyone could get away with it.'

The loss of the Curtis family home, which they had lived in since World War II represented further heartbreak for Mr Curtis after his son and daughter died at tragically young ages.

Both he and his mother are still fondly remembered on the suburban street where their former home is located.

One neighbour said: 'This house has a very troubled past because there is no way Best should have got his hands on it for free. A lot of people around here are still very angry that he was allowed to get away with it and that the law backed him.

'Doris would have been turning in her grave. They were a very hard working, east end family and her descendants should have benefited from this house. But the family who now live there now are wonderful and it's nice to see it as a loving home once again. You can't blame them for what happened.'

Since moving in, the Hayat family have carried out considerable renovation work, and built a back and roof extension. Their property is currently worth around 650.000.

Mr Hayat said: 'It's very sad to hear about how this house was at the centre of so much trouble. But it just goes to show the importance of looking after any property that is in your family.'
The Royal Navy is turning to a 'refer-a-friend'-style scheme in a desperate bid to enlist new sailors.

It comes as top armed forces chiefs warned Britain would be 'riding its luck' if it failed to get to grips with its military recruitment crisis.

The Senior Service is battling to reverse the sharp drop in the number of people joining, which senior commanders fear could hamper its ability to fight and 'damage' the fleet 'for years' to come.

In a bid to turn things around, sailors and Royal Marines are now being offered 500 rewards by the Ministry of Defence for each person they manage to 'encourage' to enlist, as part of an internal scheme set to last until March 2025.

The news comes amid concerns the globe could soon be plunged into a new world war, with General Sir Richard Barrons, the former Commander of UK Joint Forces Command, fearing the nation would now be ill-equipped for such a conflict.

'This feels, as I imagine, how it would have been in the 1930s before the Second World War,' the retired Army chief told MailOnline. 'We could just be surprised and done over and that wont be because we didnt see the problem coming because we can  it's on our doorstep.

'If we are at risk of being pre-conflict rather than post-conflict, then we need to do a better job about deterrence  that's having a resilient and credible force... At the moment I think were riding our luck. Thats a thing that keeps me awake at night.'

The Royal Navy is offering serving regular and reservist personnel 500 for each person they successfully refer who goes to join the military

Royal marine commandos line up to storm a compound during a military exercise in Dorset

The number of new recruits joining the navy has plummeted during the past year (file image)

General Sir Richard Barrons, the former Commander of UK Joint Forces Command, said the nation was 'riding its luck' by not tackling the recruitment crisis and investing more in defence

The recruitment woes comes as war continues to rage in Europe and the Middle East, with Russia refusing to back down from its invasion of Ukraine and Israel carrying on with its assault against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The number of sailors, soldiers and airmen quitting UK forces have skyrocketed, with 16,460 having left in the past year - up six per cent from last year - compared to 10,470 that joined, which is 2,130 less than the year before (16.9 per cent).

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The British Army is set to shrink to its smallest size in almost 200 years, with the regular force due to be slashed from about 75,000 to 73,000, while the RAF has also declined, losing over 1,000 personnel since 2020.

Following a brief surge in enlistment during the pandemic, the Navy is now struggling to find new sailors, hiring less than half of the recruits it needs.

Latest figures show just 120 Royal Marines and 250 sailors were enlisted in the three months to July. It now leaves naval top brass on track to hire less than 1,500 people in the current financial year - with the average annual total being about 3,000.

Admiral Lord Alan West, former head of the Navy, said the Senior Service faced being 'damaged for years' if the recruitment crisis was allowed to rage on.

He told MailOnline: 'You need a steady stream of trained people who come out of training and move down the various routes there are.

'If that steady stream dwindles away it can be quite damaging. It damages you for years. It's important to keep that steady flow marching along. At the moment it is extremely worrying in the way it's dropped.'

Admiral Lord Alan West feared for the future of the navy if the recruitment crisis was not tackled

The comments come as conflicts continue to rage across the globe. Pictured is an Israeli bomb detonating during an attack in Gaza on Friday

Israel is continuing with its ground offensive following a murderous attack by Hamas terrorists in October (IDF forces are pictured on Friday in Jerusalem)

Speaking of the 'refer-a-friend' scheme now being rolled out by the navy, Lord West added: 'We should use every lever weve got. We used to go out to the boozers with the Queen's shilling. Im not saying we should start doing that again. But we should use every lever we have to fix this problem.'

Lord West's comment's follow warnings from current First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key that the service is waging a 'war for talent', with the top sailor also vowing to overhaul Navy careers to attract 'the best and brightest talent'.

But Robert Clarke, director of defence and security at the think-tank Civitas, said woes pointed to a 'much larger problem' facing the UK military - the 'ability to make an attractive offer' to a generation 'largely out of touch with the notion of service'.

The veteran soldier said: 'Of course there are many exceptions but this generational problem is becoming plainly evident to see.

'This is why the British Army in addition to the Royal Navy are offering enormous collective sums to people joining, referring friends, or switching roles due to an ability to effectively target much needed skilled specialists.'

He continued: 'The latest stats for the Royal Navy should be an alarming cause for concern in the MoD, at a time when the UK military is set to become the most in-demand in a generation, and when as we can plainly see, the world is more unpredictable and volatile than ever.

'The government must now urgently address the challenge before them to improve both the offer to civilians but also the engagement with them.'

Meanwhile the war in Ukraine continues to rage, approaching its second year (pictured, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with his troops)

Smoke rises from Gaza following an attack by Israeli forces targeting Hamas on Friday

Armed forces chiefs in the UK have called for more to be spent on recruiting British troops in case the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza escalate (Royal Navy sailors are pictured)

Earlier this year, a major review into the armed forces found the efforts to recruit new troops into the military had 'worsened' in the past couple of years.

Rick Haythornthwait, author of the report, said forces personnel felt 'disempowered by a system that swamps them with rules and process rather than embracing their ideas and initiative'.

'Many feel that promises made are not being kept. In short, peoples expectations and ability, shaped by a world that is changing with unprecedented pace, has moved on. But the way Service personnel are incentivised and managed has not,' he said.

Rear Admiral Alex Burton, the former commander of UK maritime forces, supported the findings and said the situation was 'worrying' but had been brewing for years.

'The reality is that for some time now the relationship between the Government - representing the nation - and public servants has been eroded and the military doesn't get the opportunity to voice that erosion. Its not just pay, its other conditions like accommodation, stability and the quality of food in barracks.

'The only way to voice that is by walking. Tragically, thats what youre seeing now across all three services in the number of people leaving the military.

'The Services recognise this truth, hence the bonuses, but Rick Haythornthwaite made it clear in his recent review more must be done to incentivise retention,' he told MailOnline.

Rear Admiral Alex Burton, the former commander of UK maritime forces, has aired his concerns

Pictured is one of the shipping containers where soldiers in Shropshire have been told to live in, kitted out with a single bed, drawers, a wardrobe and toilet area

Row after row of the huts have reportedly been installed at Clive Barracks near Tern Hill, which is home to the Royal Irish Regiment

He added: 'It is worrying and it should be worrying.'

Military experts say the woeful state of accommodation in some parts of the armed forces - which has seen troops living in 'rat-infested' and 'squalid' barracks - was also having an impact.

Last week it was revealed dozens of soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment in Shropshire were being forced to stay in one-man 'shipping containers' because the state of their base at Clive Barracks near Tern Hill.

Earlier this year, the Navy's Second Sea Lord was forced to step in and condemn one housing block for 300 sailors, dubbed 'HMS Collingrad' at HMS Collingwood, in Fareham, Hampshire.

Dismayed personnel at the training base broke ranks to share pictures of the shocking conditions at the Vivian Block, which had been damaged by flooding and left without hot water or heating over the winter.

The pictures showed servicemen crammed together in small cabins, sleeping on camp beds, while other images revealed crumbling walls and broken showers. Sailors even complained their fridges were 'infested with maggots'.

Following the images, Vice Admiral Martin Connell, who is in charge of the welfare of all naval personnel, admitted it was 'clear' more needed to be done to give sailors 'the accommodation they deserve'.

Former Armed Forces Minister, Mark Francois, said: 'There is little point in spending 3billion on an aircraft carrier or 1.5billion on a nuclear submarine, if you don't have the crew to sail them.

'Years of neglect of sailor's accommodation, at places like Portsmouth and the Clyde submarine base are now truly coming home to roost.'

The state of disrepair in HMS Collingwood over the last 12 months has been revealed by 'fed-up' sailors who shared images on social media

Pictures show sailors living in cramped conditions in cabins away from the flooded area

Sailors say they have had to deal with broken showers and radiators, blocked and overflowing toilets, and fire alarms that sound continuously late at night

HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire, has been blighted by flooding - proving to be the last straw for many sailors unhappy with its living conditions

Labours Shadow Armed Forces Minister, Luke Pollard MP, added ministers must act 'now' to boost military numbers - and to drive up living quarter standards.

'At a time of rising threats, it is incredibly worrying to see so few people joining the Royal Navy. Ministers have continually failed to get to grips with the underlying causes of poor recruitment and retention, leaving at risk our future defences,' he added.

'During the last 13 years, the Conservatives have corroded the nations moral contract with those who serve. Personnel are forced to live in damp and mouldy housing, satisfaction with service life has fallen to almost 40 per cent, and more people are leaving the forces than joining.'

Defence sources have insisted Britain is not alone in its military recruitment woes, with other Nato allies also battling with their own problems.

On Wednesday, the commander of the Royal Canadian Navy released an extraordinary video, warning the force was in a 'critical state'.

Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee said his fleet was suffering from a severe shortage of sailors and had ageing ships that were beyond their life cycles.

In a video posted to the navy's YouTube page, the commander said the force may not meet its readiness commitments next year and beyond.

'Historically, we have risen to every challenge, so I am confident we will find a way to get through this,' Topshee said in the video.

Mr Francois added: 'The state of naval recruiting - and retention - is now truly concerning. We cannot return to the "press gang" of Napoleonic times but unless incentives to persuade young people to join the Navy are improved, including giving them upgraded shore accommodation, we will find it increasingly difficult to send our warships to sea. Its that serious.'

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: 'All three services continue to meet their front-line operational commitments. Future recruitment is a top priority, which is reflected in this years Haythornthwaite Review and Defence Command Paper publications.

'A number of trials and pilots are underway to support armed forces careers, backed by investment to increase recruitment and retention.'
A former soldier turned keyboard warrior has been hit with a restraining order after a terrifying hate campaign directed at a number of successful women including a leading barrister.

David Mottershead, 42, who claimed to be standing up for 'men's rights' sent death threats to various successful women including Dr Charlotte Proudman, leaving her fearing for her life.

The ex-soldier posted a chilling picture of himself holding a gun, with his face smeared in camouflage paint and his finger on the trigger aiming at Dr Proudman, telling her: 'You'll panic as I inhale your last breath' in a tweet addressed to her.

Mottershead, who was later found to have armed himself with a knife, posted videos across Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok last November after becoming enraged by Dr Proudman

Mottershead, from Machynlleth in Wales, who styled himself a 'Men's Rights Advocate', compared the feminist Barrister to Hitler and threatened to destroy her career.

In perhaps the most chilling of his posts, the ex-army officer wrote, 'I'll find out your blood group so I can keep you alive long enough that you understand.'

In a TikTok Video filmed outside Aberystwyth Police Station, Mottershead repeats the line: 'You'll panic as I inhale your last breath'.

David Mottershead, 42, who claimed to be standing up for 'men's rights' sent death threats to various successful women

Barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman was left fearing for her life by Mottershead and said she has upped her security

Another tweet sent to the Barrister said, 'People like proudman have a naive version of what 'revolution' looks like. Can still smell the burning flesh tbh. They'll only realise when the blood is running in the streets.'

He made videos encouraging people to complain about her to her regulatory body, the Bar Standards Board and the University of Cambridge, where she is a Research Associate, about her to try to get her fired.

The prosecution alleged Mottershead, by his behaviour, targeted Charlotte Proudman, using threatening language and posting images, they say, were intended to harass her and fear violence would be used against her.

The defence accepted Mottershead was responsible for the messages but did not direct them specifically at the lawyer even though she found them 'distressing and disturbing.'

Mottershead was cleared of putting Ms Proudman in fear that violence would be used against her by his course of conduct but found guilty of carrying a knife.

Judge Rhys Rowlands ordered a restraining order to protect Dr Proudman from him in future.

Judge Rowlands said: 'However strongly someone holds views, that doesn't put them above the law and entitle them to issue threats of violence.'

The ex-soldiers sickening and extremist 'Incel' views were considered so disturbing that Mottershead was also reported to 'Prevent', the government-led, multi-agency programme which aims to stop individuals from becoming terrorists.

After the case Dr Proudman said: 'I am genuinely terrified that he will seek me out, find me, and he will kill me or do something even more horrific. He's already told me what he will do to me.

'I've increased my security, and I've changed my pattern of behaviour. I don't keep to the same daily routine anymore, which I used to enjoy.'

'He wants to kill me, and he wants to make me suffer, and he's going to enjoy it. That's what I think he meant. That's the level of threat he poses.

'He claimed he was a 'men's rights activist', which somehow meant he was allowed to be abusive, bullying, and threatening towards me because he disagrees with everything I stand for as a women's rights advocate.

The ex-soldier posted a chilling picture of himself holding a gun, with his face smeared in camouflage paint and his finger on the trigger aiming at Dr Proudman

Judge Rhys Rowlands ordered a restraining order to protect Dr Proudman from Mottershead in future

Mottershead, from Machynlleth in Wales, who styled himself a 'Men's Rights Advocate', compared the feminist Barrister to Hitler and threatened to destroy her career

'But I have never behaved that way. And I have never seen another feminist make death threats.

'So to equate our views, as if they re are of equal value, and therefore he's entitled to abuse me in that way, I think, really shows why women don't speak up about male violence and don't challenge gender inequality.

'Because not only do you suffer threats to your own life, but you're told that the person making those threats is justified in doing it. You're the problem; you are then victim-blamed by him.

'I think that he will try and kill me. And I think he'll make me suffer in a violent, deeply disturbing way, which is exactly what he's told me he will do.

Dr Jess Taylor, a Chartered Psychologist who holds a PHD in Forensic Psychology, was also targeted by the ex-soldier.

Dr Taylor said: 'I truly believe he'll go on to do something really terrible. He is a really, really dangerous individual. And it's the obsession and the fixation that makes him so dangerous. He will not stop. This has been going on for years.

'He is obsessed with any successful, especially feminist women or women who talk about male violence.'

London's Victims' Commissioner, Claire Waxman, revealed she also has personal experience of the troll: 'I have also been targeted online by this man and was advised by a Senior Met officer to report him, which unfortunately led to being targeted further

'It is very clear that we still have a gap in legislation and understanding when it comes to tackling misogyny online and protecting women. Time will tell if the Online Safety Act has gone far enough to tackle this violence against women online.'

Mottershead, who has convictions for drug offences and breaches of the peace, calls himself a 'Master scientist', an 'independent researcher' and has self-published 'academic papers' which target feminist views.

One paper reveals that Mottershead is estranged from his own family.

Mottershead boasted online about the fact that he had been referred and that he expected to be sent to prison.

Mottershead claims to have been a Lance Corporal in the Royal Logistic Corps between 1999 and 2002 and to have served in Kosovo, Norway, Oman and Cyprus. And then to have served again from 2008 to 2012 as a Household Cavalry soldier.

The Ministry of Defence did not reply to a request to check his military record.
Many of us have tried to appeal a parking fine by saying a sign was obscured, or even didn't exist.

But one driver has gone a step further by measuring parking signs, and won a case against a council by showing that some of its signs are 6cm too short.

Chris Burton, 42, found that a 'number' of the 'P' signs in Bury, Greater Manchester, didn't reach the 20cm requirement.

He investigated with a tape measure after receiving a 60 fine while dropping his father off at a hospital appointment.

A county court ruled that an order to recover the unpaid penalty charge from Mr Burton should be 'revoked' after he submitted pages of evidence. He now thinks his work could help others to query tickets.

Chris Burton, 42, (pictured) found that a 'number' of the 'P' signs in Bury, Greater Manchester, didn't reach the 20cm requirement

A county court ruled that an order to recover the unpaid penalty charge from Mr Burton should be 'revoked' after he submitted pages of evidence

Mr Burton, a TV cameraman from Manchester, said: 'I want to encourage others to go back to Bury council with old tickets to say they weren't legal'

'UK law says signs have to be 20cm in size, but when I checked the signs that were there, they were only 14cm,' he said

Mr Burton, a TV cameraman from Manchester, said: 'I want to encourage others to go back to Bury council with old tickets to say they weren't legal.

'UK law says signs have to be 20cm in size, but when I checked the signs that were there, they were only 14cm.'

Mr Burton says there were no available parking spaces at the hospital so he found a space on a nearby road. When he returned to the car, he discovered a parking ticket.

He appealed online and says this was rejected in minutes, so he appealed again but heard nothing back. He then received a letter saying the council was taking him to county court.

He had initially complained that the residents-only parking signs in the area had been obscured. He then decided to measure the signs and sent the court his evidence.

A council spokesman said: 'We believe this issue relates to a tiny number of signs located at residents-only parking zones.

'The overwhelming number of signs across Bury are fully in accordance with national regulations, and any which are not will be rectified.'
Scotland will be gripped by sub-zero temperatures this weekend as weather forecasters issued warnings for snow showers today.

Temperatures plunged to lows of -8C earlier in the week, while some areas were hit with significant snowfall.

Yesterday the Met Office issued a yellow warning for snow and ice, which stays in effect until late this morning.

The icy conditions are expected to last at least until the end of next week.

Whiteout: Corgarff Castle in Aberdeenshire

Forecasters warned that the north-east coast will be worst hit, with eastern areas all the way down to England to experience freezing temperatures. The Met Office has also issued alerts for potential disruption and hazardous conditions in the region.

A separate warning covers the Western Isles, the north-west coast of the mainland, Orkney and Shetland. Motorists are advised to exercise caution, while pedestrians are warned about the risk of slips and falls.

A Met Office spokesman said: Wintry showers will affect North Sea coastal districts of England and Northern Scotland on Friday evening and overnight. Additionally, showers will fall as snow inland, chiefly over hills.

While most can expect a bright start to the weekend, freezing fog patches are likely in the Central Belt and possibly towards south-western areas.

Tomorrow is anticipated to bring similar wintry conditions.

STV weather forecaster Sean Batty said: Theres good agreement from our computer models for this cold spell to last until at least the end of the first week of December.

Latest betting odds for snow to fall anywhere in the UK on Christmas Day are 1/2, with Edinburgh and Newcastle the most likely to be blanketed.
Astonishing footage captured a boat filled with migrants landing on the beach in ritzy Malibu - close to the home of famed bleeding-heart liberal Barbra Streisand.

Around 25 people were seen leaping out of the vessel around 1am November 28, near the $100 million compound of Streisand an arch critic of Donald Trump, who called his border wall a 'monument to himself'.

The migrants all appear to have quickly fled the scene, meaning neither Streisand nor the scores of other wealthy, anti-border wall stars living in the area had to help them out, or offer shelter.

Under Trump's successor, Joe Biden, the number of immigrants crossing into the country has soared, as the pandemic ended: last year 2.8 million were stopped or turned away at the border, the highest number since at least 1980.

The security camera footage was obtained by Fox News' correspondent Bill Melugin, who specializes in migration.

The migrant boat is seen landing on the beach in Malibu in the early hours of November 28, with dozens of migrants running up the shore

Around 25 people can be seen climbing out of the boat and running up the beach. It is unclear if any have been arrested

EXCLUSIVE: Video from a contact in Malibu shows a panga boat full of suspected illegal immigrants landing on a beach near his home this week. Incredibly rare to see this so far north, as Malibu is 100+ miles away from the border. Unclear if anyone caught, awaiting a CBP response. pic.twitter.com/n9tIIAaHSh  Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 1, 2023

Melugin pointed out that seeing migrants land that far north - the U.S.-Mexico border is 100 miles to the south - is extremely rare.

It is not known whether anyone has been arrested.

The boat landed on one of America's most exclusive coastlines, where celebrities such as Cher, Jennifer Aniston, Will Smith and Lady Gaga own homes.

Streisand's 19-bedroom clifftop mansion, which she bought in 1997, is now believed to be worth $100 million.

In 2019, the longtime Democrat donor criticized Trump's plans for a border wall.

'Trump only cares about this 'wall' in order to build a monument to himself. Just like the bankrupt 'Trump' buildings, the nation cannot afford to pay for his ego   not financially, not morally,' she wrote on X.

Barbra Streisand, 81, is seen on November 13 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Streisand lives with her husband James Brolin in Malibu

Streisand's $100M compound is pictured in the center of this photo. The singer has repeatedly attacked former President Donald Trump over his border wall policy

The year before, she said her song 'Don't Lie to Me' was inspired by him.

'Unless you're an American Indian, you know, you're a child or grandchild or great-grandchild of immigrants, even the president,' she told Vogue in September 2018.

Migrant arrivals by boat are far outnumbered by land crossings, yet maritime landings too are rising.

Florida sees the vast majority of arrivals.

Recent maritime flows of Cubans and Haitians to Florida have reached the highest levels since the 1990s: 7,000 Haitians and 6,000 Cubans were interdicted at sea by U.S. officials in fiscal year (FY) 2022, and initial data show similar numbers in FY 2023, according to Maritime Policy.

CBP's total encounters along the border in September were 269,735, including 218,763 Border Patrol arrests at illegal crossing points, and another 50,972 expulsions at ports of entry.

The record monthly figure brought the total number of migrant encounters for the recently concluded 2023 fiscal year to 2.48 million, up from 2.38 million in 2022, and the highest of any year on record.

The surge in migrants attempting to enter the US underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border, and the political challenge it presents for President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.

'In response to high rates of encounters across the southwest border in September, CBP surged resources and personnel,' said Troy A. Miller, the acting CBP commissioner, in a statement.
The victim told police that the accused had molested other boys between the ages of 13 and 15 in the past

Officials believe she also sent explicit photos and videos to additional children

A 22-year-old Florida woman has been arrested after allegedly pretending to be a 14-year-old and having a sexual relationship with a teenager aged as young as 12.

Alyssa Ann Zinger was taken into custody over claims she posed as a home-schooled teenager to contact the victim on Snapchat, before allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with him.

Officials at the Tampa Police Department believe Zinger also sent explicit photos and videos to additional children at one of the Hillsborough County Schools in Tampa.

She has been charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and five counts of lewd or lascivious molestation on a victim who is between 12 and 15 years old. The age of consent in Florida is 18.

Alyssa Ann Zinger, 22, was taken into custody after allegedly posing as a home-schooled teenager, contacting the victim over Snapchat and having a sexual relationship with him

Court records state that Zinger waived her right to an arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

She was released from Orient Road jail on November 24, a day of her arrest and paid a $7,500 bond on each second-degree felony charge, records show.

According to search warrants, Zinger and the victim met over Snapchat at the end of May 2023. Till their breakup in September, the victim believed she was 14 years old.

Police were alerted to the relationship in October.

Once officials interviewed the victim, it was revealed that the suspect engaged in sexual activity with him approximately 30 times and told him that she molested other boys between the ages of 13 and 15 in the past.

Court records state that Zinger waived her right to an arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges

She was released from Orient Road jail on November 24, a day of her arrest and paid a $7,500 bond on each second-degree felony charge, records show

The police are currently on the lookout for other victims.

Chief Lee Bercaw of the Tampa Police Department said: 'It is disturbing and unsettling to see an adult take advantage of a child and prey on them.

'Anyone who may have been a victim of Zinger's, we encourage you to come forward. The Tampa Police Department will support you and ensure a predator like Zinger doesn't cause you or others additional harm.'

A spokesperson for Hillsborough County Schools said the suspect never posed as a student at any of their campuses. As of now, the district is not directly involved in the investigation.

'This did not happen at our school. However, we are glad that a student felt safe enough to come to an adult on campus alerting them about this individual,' district spokesperson Tanya Arja said. 'Our staff immediately contacted law enforcement so they could begin an investigation.'

Chief Lee Bercaw of the Tampa Police Department said: 'It is disturbing and unsettling to see an adult take advantage of a child and prey on them'

In July, the accused and victim were also caught shoplifting from Nordstrom at International Plaza and Bay Street.

She identified herself to an officer using her actual name but said she was born in 2009. The officer could not find information on her with the 2009 date of birth she provided but found one Alyssa Ann Zinger, who was born in 2001.

She told the officer that she had a half-sister of the same name. But after the relationship was revealed, employers at a Tampa Publix where Zinger worked also confirmed she was an adult.

A trial date has not yet been released.
Children as young as seven are skipping school to join pro-Palestine marches, a report warns today.

Hardline groups are advising parents on how to avoid fines from schools and on setting up protests, according to the Policy Exchange think-tank.

The wave of truancy comes amid a school absence crisis triggered by the pandemic.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said last night that it was unacceptable for pupils to put activism ahead of study.

The report claims some parents were allegedly told by teachers they would not be penalised over the protests.

The Policy Exchange also says that:

The hard-Left Stop the War Coalition co-ordinated parents and children to strike together across the country

Young activists were directed to material from Cage, a hardline group accused of sympathising with terrorists after calling Islamic State fanatic Jihadi John a 'beautiful young man'

Children as young as seven were seen chanting the slogan 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'

Activist teachers in Bristol have waived through the absences saying there would be 'no risk of a fine'

Mrs Keegan said: 'Children should be in school. While I would always encourage young people to engage in world events, doing so by joining protests during school time is unacceptable.

Children carrying miniature coffins lead a pro-Palestinian march to Downing Street calling for a ceasefire on 30 November

Tory MP Lia Nici said the situation was 'horrifying' and that children 'need to be at school, not encouraged by adults to join hate marches'. Pictured: Two children in London holding placards on November 17

Parents and children are pictured outside the gates of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London on October 27

Children as young as seven are skipping school to join pro-Palestine marches, a report warns today. Pictured: A girl holds up a placard during a protest on 28 October in London

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said last night that it was unacceptable for pupils to put activism ahead of study. Pictured: A group of young children hold signs during a protest on 28 October in London

'I am deeply concerned political groups are encouraging children to join protests at the cost of invaluable time in the classroom. Children should not be used as political tools by campaign groups, who in some cases hold extreme views.

'I strongly support schools and local authorities in setting clear expectations that pupils should be in school, and in taking action where that is not the case including using fines where applicable.'

Thousands of schoolchildren have attended marches in recent weeks. More than 400 attended a single protest in Tower Hamlets, east London, on November 16, while 500 marched in Redbridge, north-east London, on November 17.

READ MORE: Schoolchildren take to the streets in co-ordinated protest strike across UK for Palestinians Advertisement

Another 300 children at Beal High School in Ilford, east London, boycotted an assembly with local Labour MP and health spokesman Wes Streeting over his stance on the war in Gaza.

The report by the Policy Exchange sparked outrage from MPs and experts who called for parents who allow their children to join protests to be fined.

Tory MP Miriam Cates said: 'For adults to encourage children to miss out on education for any reason is concerning, but to do so in order for those children to engage in partisan political protests is deeply worrying.'

Fellow Conservative Nadhim Zahawi said: 'At times since the October 7 attack on Israel, the UK has looked very divided. We all have a duty to come together to address this. Encouraging children to leave school in order to attend political protests will make the situation worse, not better.

'As education secretary I saw so much evidence of how hard schools and their teachers work at bringing children, from a range of backgrounds, together. I would hate to see that undermined.'

The report described the Stop the War Coalition as 'perhaps the most important player' behind the marches.

It claimed the group published a 'how to' guide online for parents and their children to join the demonstration. Activists were reportedly encouraged to create WhatsApp groups to co-ordinate meeting points and rallying times and were offered templates for letters to schools.

Policy Exchange said children as young as seven were seen chanting the slogan 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'. Pictured: A group of children at a protest on 7 November in London

A young child covers their face and holds up a placard which says: 'Stop killing children like me' on 7 November in London

Thousands of schoolchildren have attended marches in recent weeks. Pictured: A young boy is snapped at a march on 25 November in London

Tory MP Lia Nici said: 'This is horrifying. Children need to be at school, not being encouraged by adults to join hate marches.

'It is time our Government backed our call to legislate to make sure all children have to attend schools who have a requirement to deliver a balanced curriculum that offers balanced information about both sides of an issue.'

Headteachers and local authorities often decide acceptable absence levels.

Those deemed to be taking unapproved absences risk prosecution including fines of up to 2,500 and even a jail sentence.

But the report claims that some activist parents have said teachers waived through the absences saying there would be 'no risk of a fine'.

Dr Paul Stott, Policy Exchange's head of security and extremism, said: 'No one should object to school pupils involving themselves in politics, or taking an interest in current affairs, including attending protests. The key thing is that this should not happen in school time.'

A Cage spokesman said: 'There was no outrage in relation to school protests in support of Ukraine. Indeed it was welcomed and encouraged by Right-wing interests so it is the height of hypocrisy to prevent the same children from expressing their opposition to genocide. Any protests have been a spontaneous show of concern for the plight of Palestinian children.'

The Stop the War Coalition was contacted for comment.
Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, who is challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar in the Democratic primary for her US House seat, is drawing backlash after seeming to insult her appearance in a cringeworthy gaffe.

Samuels made the remark last week while appearing on a local political podcast, The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, while taking Omar to task for not holding more town halls with constituents.

'Who do you think you are? And who do you think you're working for? You're not cute enough, you don't dress well enough, nothing about you is attractive enough to overcome that deficit,' said Samuels.

Omar, a member of the so-called 'Squad' of progressive House Democrats who is seeking re-election to a third term in 2024, blasted the remarks in statement.

'This is beneath the dignity of any adult, let alone someone seeking public office,' said Omar. 'It is reminiscent of the worst kinds of lies and misogyny that we are hearing from people like Donald Trump, who think they can say anything about women and get away with it.

Don Samuels (left), who is challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar (right) in the Democratic primary for her congressional seat, is drawing backlash after seeming to insult her appearance

Like Trump, instead of engaging in an adult debate, Don relies on lies and sexism. We need civility now more than ever and Don's behavior should be alarming to anyone who agrees,' added Omar.

Samuels fired back, insisting that he was not speaking about Omar personally, but broadly characterizing any politician who ignores voter concerns.

'This is an attempt to mischaracterize a response about politicians who talk the talk versus walk the walk,' Samuels said in a post on X.

'In listening to my full answer, it's abundantly clear that I'm talking broadly about politicians who value their own celebrity over the needs of their constituents.'

In his comments, Samuels was responding to a question about 'Congresswoman Omar's lack of town halls' but had gone on in his reply for several minutes before making the 'cute' remark.

Immediately after the comment, podcast Becky Scherr, a former staffer for Rep. Tom Emmer, stammered for a moment but said she 'completely agrees' and was 'blown away' by his answer.

Samuels, 74, is seeking to position himself as a less divisive alternative to 41-year-old Omar, who has built a national profile by staking out strident positions on a range of progressive issues.

Samuels nearly managed to unseat Omar in the 2022 primary, losing 50.3 percent to 48.2 percent. He maintains the close race shows she is beatable.

The big issue during their run in 2022 was the defund the police movement, after George Floyd was murdered in the city in 2020 by a former Minneapolis police officer.

At the time, Omar strongly backed the movement and slammed former President Barack Obama for criticizing it as just a 'snappy slogan.'

She posted on Twitter, now X: 'Its not a slogan but a policy demand.'

In contrast, Samuels has opposed the defund movement and helped lead the opposition that defeated a proposal that would have replaced the police force with a revamped public safety agency.

In this election cycle, Samuels is challenging Omar on her positions related to the Israel-Hamas war, accusing her of having a 'predilection to divisiveness and conflict.'

Omar spoken out to condemn Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages - but her call for an immediate ceasefire after the Hamas attack, and harsh condemnation of the Israeli response, has angered supporters of Israel.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been actively trying to recruit a credible challenger to Omar.

Samuels nearly managed to unseat Omar in the 2022 primary, losing 50.3 percent to 48.2 percent. He maintains the close race shows she is beatable

Samuels said he believes the war will be a big concern for voters. He said Omar had 'frightened the Jewish community.'

He added that the community 'understands that there is a latent and lurking anti-Semitic sentiment that always needs discouragement, and always in times of national crisis raises its ugly head.'

Omar for her part has pushed to tie Samuels, a moderate Democrat, to hardline Republicans and Donald Trump, who is unpopular in her deep-blue district.

She said 'right-wing donors' had targeted her and accused Samuels of taking hundreds of thousands in contributions from far-right donors and political action committees.

She said: 'If we're going to stop Donald Trump, we need record turnout, and I am confident in our ability to drive turnout, particularly in a presidential election year.'
She disappeared from her home

Police are desperately trying to search for a teenager who has been missing for more than a week as authorities hold grave concerns for the girl's welfare.

The 14-year-old girl went missing from her home on Rhodes Street in Loganlea around 30 kilometres south-east of Brisbane around 2pm on November 21.

The teen has not been seen or heard from since her disappearance, with her family and police holding grave concerns about her safety due to her young age.

Police are desperately trying to search for a teenage girl (pictured) who went missing from her home in Queensland's south-east 11 days ago

She is described of being of Caucasian appearance and has long blonde hair and green eyes.

The girl is also around 170cm tall and is of slim build.

Police say the young girl might be travelling on public transport around Logan or across part of the Gold Coast and have identified Surfers Paradise as a place she might possibly be.

The girl was last seen on Rhodes Street, in Loganlea (pictured) around 30 kilometres south-east of Brisbane on November 21

Police hold grave concerns for the girl's safety due to her young age and say she could be travelling on public transport around Logan or areas near the Gold Coast

However, authorities are unsure of her exact whereabouts.

Police have urged the girl to contact police.

Anyone with information about the teenager's whereabouts have been urged to come forward.
A heroic mum who tried to stop a vicious brawl between teenage girls has died in hospital after she was allegedly stabbed by the group of teens.

Kristie McBride died in Wollongong Hospital on Friday, 10 days after she suffered major stab wounds to her torso in the alleged attack.

Ms McBride was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after she was treated for her wounds by paramedics at the town of Warrawong, south of Wollongong on the NSW south coast last Wednesday.

The alleged incident occurred outside of a home on Wiget Way at Warrawong, around 6.30pm.

Kristie McBride (pictured) died in Wollongong Hospital on Friday after she received major stab wounds in a street brawl

The 39-year-old woman lost a kidney and was placed in an induced coma after she was allegedly stabbed multiple times.

Three teenagers aged 13, 14, and 15 were charged following the alleged attack after they were found on nearby Northcliffe Drive by police and were later taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station

The 14- and 15 year-old-girls were both charged with an intent to commit indictable offence and being in possession of a knife in a public place.

Police also charged the 14-year-old with stalking and intimidating with an intent to cause fear and physical harm.

The 39-year-old woman (pictured) had tried to stop a vicious street brawl when she was allegedly stabbed by teenagers during the alleged incident

The 13-year-old girl was charged with affray.

Police later arrested another 15-year-old girl at a property in Narellan Vale after they carried out a search warrant at 8.45am last Thursday.

The teenager was taken to Narellan Police station and was charged with intent of causing bodily harm and affray.

The girl was refused bail and fronted a children's court last week.

Daily Mail Australia understands a gang of up to five teenage girls - including a 12-year-old - allegedly arrived armed with knives and threatened to stab one of Ms McBride's young relatives.

Earlier, a family member told Daily Mail the attack was triggered by an alleged cyber bullying incident.

The group of girls allegedly threatened to attack another teenage girl who lived at the Warrawong home.

'They all had knives and said they were going to stab her in the throat,' a relative said.

The relative said the mother-of-two came out to her driveway after the girls allegedly showed up at the property.

'(Ms McBride) then ran out and they (allegedly) stabbed her on the driveway,' the relative said.

'They were here for five seconds and they (allegedly) stabbed her and ran down the road.'

Ms McBride is understood to have not been the target of the alleged attack.

The mother of two (pictured) who was not believed to have been the target of the alleged attack, was allegedly stabbed on the driveway of her property

One of Ms McBride's family members told Daily Mail Australia that the alleged attack came about after a spat online between the group of girls and another one of Ms McBride's relatives

She underwent emergency surgery last week and required a colostomy bag after her bowel and spleen were also damaged in the attack.

The girls accused of being involved in the attack had allegedly warned their intended target they were coming.

The relative of Ms McBride said the they didn't know who the alleged attackers were and said the incident happened after an alleged verbal exchange online.

'We don't know them,' a relative said 'It was after fighting back and forth on the internet and they said, ''We're coming to fight you, no weapons, no cops''.'

The family member said they believed the group had brought knives to be 'intimidating' but only one of the girl gang - who travelled from Sydney - is alleged to have inflicted any injuries.

Neighbouring houses on Wiget Way were seen with boarded up windows and doors in an area where several homes are understood to be housing commission properties.

Children's toys were also seen out the front of neighbouring houses, while a few had Christmas decorations up.

Houses on Wiget Way (pictured) near where the alleged attack occurred were seen with boarded up windows and doors

Toys and other items (pictured) were seen out the front of several neighbouring homes while Christmas decorations were also put up

A heart breaking tribute to Ms McBride was put up on Facebook on Friday following her death.

'Kristie McBride has passed away. This is a shock to all of the Illawarra community supporting the family,' the post read.

'My massive condolences to you and your family. I'm so sorry.'

Hundreds of users who commented on the post also shared heartfelt messages.

'My condolences to the family R.I.P kriste,' one user wrote.

'Kristie was my best friend's cousin of 20+ years. RIP again you beautiful soul,' another user said.

'Absolutely heartbreaking. So sad for her family.'

The charges against the teens are expected to be upgraded following the death of Ms McBride.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Last month, a McDonald's customer was left furious after being charged $16 for a burger, fries, and soda

Five Guys' officials explained the food is so expensive because they only use fresh items instead of frozen

A Five Guys customer's video complaining about the extremely high prices of the items at the fast-food chain has resurfaced on multiple social media platforms.

Michelle Newell posted the clip to TikTok explaining that she and her husband had paid $42 for two cheeseburgers, a side of fries and two milkshakes.

The visibly upset patron told viewers that the couple had visited a Five Guys location on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. Newell shared her anger last year - but a check by DailyMail.com Friday evening confirmed it remains just as expensive to buy the same meal.

Newell said she ordered a regular cheeseburger for herself, another cheeseburger with mushrooms for her husband and a side of fries. The couple also got two milkshakes.

She said that 'we're absolutely done' and businesses are 'playing with their customers' .

Michelle Newell posted a video on TikTok explaining that she and her husband paid $42 for two cheeseburgers, a side of fries and two milkshakes at a Five Guys she and her husband visited

She said that 'we're absolutely done' and businesses are 'playing with their customers'

According to the Five Guys current menu, regular-sized cheeseburgers cost $12.09 each, while regular fries are priced at $6.89. and milkshakes cost $5.89 each.

The burger chain does not charge for any toppings on its food items and is known to serve a generous helping of fries with each order.

Newell said in her video: 'Me and hubby went to Five Guys. We got a cheeseburger. We got a regular cheeseburger for him with mushrooms added.

'So two cheeseburgers, one order of fries and two shakes. And the bill came up to 42 bucks.

'You know what? I am all for eating very good food, paying good money for very good food.

'This was a Saturday afternoon. This was lunch. 42 bucks for two people to have cheeseburgers, one order of fries and two shakes.

'Let me tell you something. These businesses are going to f*** around and y'all gonna find out what it means to piss off your customers to the point where they're going to say: "You know what? We're done. We're absolutely done. We're going to start cooking at home. We're going to start just brown bagging lunch everyday".'

According to the current Five Guys menu, regular-sized cheeseburgers cost $12.09 each, while regular fries are priced at $6.89. and milkshakes cost $5.89 each

Iain Ross-Mackenzie, director of operations-APAC at Five Guys International, previously explained why the food was sitting at that price point across stores.

'People come to Five Guys for a simple, great American burger. And thats what they will get here,' he said.

'Five Guys is your regular burger joint, where you know the people and the food and we know you and your preferences. Nothing in the store is frozen. We only ever use fresh ingredients.'

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Five Guys servers pour an extra portion of fries into the paper bags containing a meal.

LADBible reported that the extra fries are dished out so that customers leave feeling they have been given more food for the money they spent.

However, the 'topper' of fries is factored into the cost of a Five Guys meal, which is more expensive than other chains such as McDonald's and Burger King.

Speaking to Food Republic, Chad Murrell, one of the Five Guys founder Jerry Murrells sons, said: 'I wont name names, but other restaurants just dont give a satisfying amount of fries.

'We always give an extra scoop. I say load 'em up and make sure they get their moneys worth.'

Iain Ross-Mackenzie, director of operations-APAC at Five Guys International explained the food was so expensive because it was all fresh and not frozen

Chad Murrell, one of the Five Guys founder Jerry Murrells sons, said: 'I wont name names, but other restaurants just dont give a satisfying amount of fries. 'We always give an extra scoop. I say load 'em up and make sure they get their moneys worth'

Five Guys isn't the only fast-food chain with prices that are concerning customers.

Last year, a McDonald's customer was left furious after being charged $16 for a burger, fries, and soda - as others claim the fast-food chain is no longer affordable for ordinary Americans.

Christopher Olive, an influencer with more than 400,000 followers, took to TikTok to express his frustration after being charged $16 for a 'happy meal.'

'So, I understand there's a labor shortage, wage increases, and a number of other factors,' Olive from Idaho can be heard saying in the video. 'But $16? $16 for a burger, a large fry, and a drink? It's just crazy!'

The video, originally posted in December last year, has gone viral again after McDonald's reported a 14 percent increase in revenue to $6.69 billion on Monday. Olive's clip is even said to have sparked concern in the White House, with insiders claiming it portrays President Biden's attempts to tackle inflation in a poor light, with just a year to go until the 2024 election.

Christopher Olive, an influencer with more than 400,000 fans, took to TikTok to express his frustration after being charged $16 for a 'happy meal'

Customers voiced their anger in the comments under Olive's post, expressing their disappointment that the burger giant is no longer convenient or affordable for many

Customers voiced their anger in the comments under Olive's post, expressing their disappointment that the burger giant is no longer convenient or affordable for many.

McDonald's revenue rose 14 per cent to $6.69 billion, ahead of the $6.56 billion Wall Street forecast. Net income - which included a $26 million charge for a restructuring announced last spring - rose 17 per cent to $2.3 billion.

The Chicago-based company earned $3.17 per share for the quarter, also beating forecasts of $3.00. Shares rose 1 per cent.

McDonald's said its U.S. traffic fell slightly in the third quarter as it saw fewer visits from customers with annual incomes of $45,000 or less.

The chain is pumping the brakes on higher prices and focusing more on value meals after seeing a drop-off in visits by some customers.
A leading journalist on The Daily Telegraph last night warned that the newspaper should not be owned by a 'sexist regime'.

Associate editor Camilla Tominey wrote an article on The Telegraph's website raising serious concerns about the UAE-backed fund trying to buy the established news brand.

She claimed the controversial deal 'doesn't pass the sniff test' because 'the UAE falls short of Western standards and values'.

The Gulf state has faced criticism over its records on human rights and freedom of expression, including the way in which women are treated in the country. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer earlier this week ordered media regulator Ofcom to investigate whether the deal with the fund, RedBird IMI, risked 'the need for accurate presentation of news and free expression of opinion in newspapers'.

Ms Tominey said Ms Frazer should recognise that a newspaper 'promoting women as key columnists' might 'struggle to operate under the guise of any authoritarian regime that implements sexist laws'.

Associate editor Camilla Tominey wrote an article on The Telegraph's website raising serious concerns about the UAE-backed fund trying to buy the established news brand

Lucy Frazer yesterday barred the fund from taking over the newspaper while she awaits findings of the probe

The article was headlined 'A misogynist foreign state must not be allowed to own The Telegraph'. Ms Tominey said she was 'deeply concerned about the potential for this newspaper to be owned by a sexist regime'.

She wrote: 'While women in the UAE have made huge progress and enjoy more freedoms than others in the Middle East, they are still discriminated against in the judicial system, as reports by international observers have found.'

She added that the takeover 'has implications that go well beyond the media regulator's remit', concluding: 'In assessing this bid, Lucy Frazer and indeed Rishi Sunak would be wise to ask themselves one fundamental question: do they want women like me to carry on writing these sorts of articles for The Telegraph or not?'

Ms Frazer yesterday barred the fund from taking over the newspaper while she awaits findings of the probe.

A spokesman for the bid said earlier this week that the fund is 'committed to maintaining the existing editorial team' and believes editorial independence 'is essential' to protecting the credibility of The Telegraph titles.
Rishi Sunak warned yesterday that climate politics was 'close to breaking point' as he said world leaders should bring their people with them on green issues.

The Prime Minister insisted the UK would meet its climate targets, but said this would have to be done in a pragmatic way that didn't 'burden' society.

Speaking in Dubai at the Cop28 climate summit, he announced an investment deal for a UK wind farm that will be the largest in the world. He said: 'We won't tackle climate change unless we take people with us. Climate politics is close to breaking point.

'The British people care about the environment. They know that the costs of inaction are intolerable. But they also know that we have choices about how we act. So, yes, we'll meet our targets  but we'll do it in a more pragmatic way, which doesn't burden working people.'

His speech chimed with his decision earlier this year to push back costly green pledges on cars and boilers which could have cost families thousands of pounds.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talks to former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair win the sidelines of the Cop28

The Prime Minister insisted the UK would meet its climate targets, but said this would have to be done in a pragmatic way that didn't 'burden' society (Pictured with King Charles)

Yesterday, Mr Sunak warned that the world needed 'to do more' to tackle climate change and it wasn't moving 'quickly or effectively enough'.

READ MORE: Cop28 will have the biggest carbon footprint in the event's history after UAE invited a record 400,000 people to attend This includes 97,000 registered as official delegates with access to the security-protected inner 'Blue Zone'. Pictured: world leaders and delegates walk at Dubai's Expo City, Dec 1 Advertisement

'Major emitters' should 'dramatically accelerate' their plans to cut emissions, he said. While the UK's emissions are down by 48 per cent since 1990, China's have risen 300 per cent, he added pointedly.

Earlier this week, his spokesman singled out Beijing and said its role was 'vitally important' to achieving climate goals for the world.

Mr Sunak also announced a deal between the firms Masdar and RWE to jointly invest in the UK's 11billion windfarm at Dogger Bank  which will be the biggest in the world. He said it could help to power three million homes.

Masder is the United Arab Emirates-owned renewables firm. RWE is a German energy company.

The Prime Minister unveiled 1.6billion for global climate finance, including support for projects to halt deforestation and hasten the transition to renewable energy.

Earlier yesterday he defended his record on climate change and slammed 'ideological zealots' who do not consider the cost of green policies. Mr Sunak defended his move to issue more licences for North Sea exploration, arguing that 'the practical and sensible thing for the country is to make sure we use the resources at home as part of that sensible transition'.

He said he meant 'the people protesting outside my house' when he had insisted he would not allow 'ideological zealots' to dictate climate policy. Sixteen Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested this week at a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's west London home. Earlier this year, the organisation targeted his home in Yorkshire and draped it in black cloth.

Mr Sunak also addressed reports that the UAE, which is hosting the talks, was using them to strike oil and gas deals  which it denied.

The Prime Minsiter announced an investment deal for a UK wind farm that will be the largest in the world (Stock Image)

Asked whether the allegations undermined the its role in leading the negotiations, he 'commended' its leadership and said the deal to help poorest countries cope with climate change was a 'massive achievement'. Mr Sunak said he had not discussed the Cop28 summit with his climate-conscious daughter, saying they were too busy eating pasta and popcorn at the Downing Street Christmas market before he left for Dubai.

But, he said, more generally he had a 'very strong Conservative instinct to protect what we have for future generations', adding: 'It's our moral responsibility to leave our kids' environment in a better state than we found it.'

At the talks, Sir Keir Starmer held meetings with world leaders.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been urged to speak out and end their silence after their 'mouthpiece' Omid Scobie re-ignited a royal race row with the publication of his new book.

King Charles and Kate Middleton were named as the royals alleged to have made remarks about the skin colour of Prince Archie in a Dutch translation of Scobie's new book, Endgame. Their names were then published by the BBC on Friday morning.

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex, who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted to that she 'never intended for them to be publicly identified' and that it 'was not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp', the Telegraph reports.

But one source close to the Royal Family has now called on Harry and Meghan to speak out publicly on the issue.

The source told the paper: 'For the couple that talked about 'death by a thousand no comments', the silence at this point is deafening.'

Another insider added that the decision not to respond was 'interesting' given the Sussexes' previous complaints about not being supported against negative press stories.

King Charles (pictured at COP28 in Dubai) is said to be considering all options including legal action

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured in Sydney in 2018) have been urged to break their silence as the row continues

Endgame author Omid Scobie (pictured on This Morning on Thursday) has refused to apologise to the royals concerned

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the comments 'not remotely racist' and insisted they were 'entirely innocent and utterly normal' ahead of the birth of a child.

Meanwhile, Sir Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, called it a 'nonsense story' and said the comments were 'a mark of excitement, I suspect'.

The King is said to be taking the taking the furore over the book 'very seriously' and will consult senior advisers next week on the family's next step, with 'all options' including legal action set to be considered.

The Mail understands that Buckingham Palace has been internally investigating who could have seen the letters from their end.

They are considered so deeply personal that only a 'tiny handful' of people are believed to have seen them and there is 'extreme confidence' that the leak didn't come from them.

It comes as Scobie, appearing on BBC's flagship Newsnight programme, said he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events.

But he refused to apologise to the royals concerned, saying: 'It's not for me to apologise because I still want to know what's happened.' He has previously described it as a 'translation error' but says an 'investigation' has now been launched.

The King (pictured at COP28 in Dubai) is taking the furore over the Omid Scobie book 'very seriously' and will consult senior advisors next week on the family's next step

Scobie, appearing on BBC 's flagship Newsnight programme (pictured), said he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events

The two royals were named in a Dutch-language edition of the ill-reviewed Endgame (pictured) as having been identified by Meghan over claims 'concern' was expressed about her future son's skin colour

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex , who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted to that she 'never intended them to be publicly identified' and that it 'was not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp', according to the Telegraph

The King was last night due to arrive back in Britain from Dubai, where he gave a well-received keynote speech at the COP28 climate conference, and head straight for his Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

Aides have been keen for the furore not to derail his big moment but will resume discussions next week as to where they go next.

They have, it is understood, been 'greatly encouraged' by the sympathetic public reaction to Scobie's revelations, which may have a bearing on their final decision.

Although it was billed as a look 'inside the royal family and the monarchy's fight for survival', Endgame's relentlessly savage tone, attacks on the Princess of Wales - whom the author describes as a 'pliable' Stepford wife and a part-time royal because of her devotion to her children - has seen it roundly denounced and attracted a slew of eye-wincingly brutal reviews.

On Newsnight Scobie took the extraordinary step on swearing on 'my family's life' that the leaking of the names was not a 'stunt' to shift more books.

He said he was 'hurt' by the suggestion and dismissed it as a conspiracy theory by people who want to believe he is in 'cahoots' with the Duchess of Sussex.

Aides have been keen for the furore not to derail Charles' big moment at Cop28 but will resume discussions next week as to where they go next

The original claim was made by Meghan Markle in the Sussexes' infamous 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview (pictured) when she revealed there were 'several conversations' between herself, Harry and Royal Family members about 'how dark' Archie would be

Dutch translators Saskia Peeters (left) and Nellie Keukelaar-van Rijsbergern (right) who worked on Omid Scobie's controversial book have insisted the names of two royals at the centre of racism scandal were in the manuscript they were sent

Their claims appear to contradict Scobie's (pictured on This Morning) who has insisted that he did not include the names of the two royals

He claimed, clearly choosing his words carefully: 'I am as frustrated as everyone else. The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have names in it.'

However the Mail revealed this week that one of the two highly experienced translators responsible for the Dutch edition insisted that she had been given a manuscript with 'the names of the royals there in black and white'.

And her co-translator said it was 'unfair' they were being blamed.

Significantly, The Netherlands version also omitted the legal explanation for not naming the royals that was contained in the English-language edition.

Many within the industry believe the only reasonable explanation is that the Dutch publishing house was given an early manuscript before it had been seen by lawyers and signed off.

Newsnight interviewer Victoria Derbyshire told Scobie: 'In some version you must have written the names in and the wrong version has potentially gone to the people in charge of the rights around the world, I suppose.' Scobie did not reply to this point.

He claimed he was still 'proud' of his book.

The alleged racist comments were made about 'concerns' over Prince Archie's skin colour

The inclusion of the names led to 5,000 copies of the book  called 'Final Battle' (pictured) in Holland  being withdrawn from sale on the bookshelves and pulped

Royal insiders have told the Mail that there is complete 'unity' between Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace over their response to the incident, which has been described as deeply 'upsetting'.

There is also immense sadness and anger at what has been described as a 'terrible injustice' for those involved.

King Charles has spent his entire life trying to promote interfaith and cultural harmony and helped thousands of young people, many from disadvantaged and ethnic minority communities, to achieve their potential through his charity the Prince's Trust.

But showing their mettle, the king and the princess have continued with their programme of public engagements and have several commitments lined up for next week, including the recording of Kate's now annual carol service at Westminster Abbey.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat described the claims as 'scuttlebutt' and 'unproven'.

He told Talk TV: 'The king's done a brilliant job for us, not just in the last year since he's been king, but he's been absolutely fantastic for many, many years in arguing in the interests of people as Prince of Wales.

'So frankly I see this as just rumour, hearsay and an attempt to disparage someone who's served our country with enormous dignity and enormous grave for many, many years.'

REBECCA ENGLISH: As King Charles lands back in UK from Dubai there will be no time for quiet reflection... instead he will be forced to ruminate on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shape storm cloud on his horizon amid Omid Scobie book fallout

The King was due back at Sandringham last night after jetting straight to the countryside fresh from his well-received address in Dubai.

As is his habit at this time of year, he plans to spend the weekend striding around the late Queen's beloved Norfolk estate wearing his favourite patched green tweed jacket and cap, pruning clippers in hand.

It should be a time for quiet reflection on a job well done in the UAE, where he was the only foreign head of state invited to address the annual United Nations climate change conference.

At the age of 75, Charles also managed to cram in half a dozen or so bi-lateral meetings with world leaders, discussing everything from net zero to the crisis in the Middle East.

Instead, he will be forced to spend a rare moment of leisure ruminating on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shaped storm cloud on his horizon.

King Charles (at Cop28) will be forced to spend a rare moment of leisure ruminating on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shaped storm cloud on his horizon

It was Meghan who first alleged that family members raised 'concerns' about 'how dark' Archie would be

The row over who said what has been lurking in the Royal Family's rear-view mirror ever since Meghan first 'weaponised' conversations Harry had with family members in which she alleged 'concern' was raised about 'how dark' their son's skin might be and what that would 'potentially' mean for the family.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE HERE: Diana's personal protection officer KEN WHARFE who worked with Royal Family for two decades rubbishes claims they are racist Advertisement

Although the word racism wasn't used during her bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the inference was clear (Harry himself used the phrase 'unconscious bias' to describe it earlier this year and predictably  ludicrously  blamed the resulting furore on 'the British Press').

It's fair to say the global uproar re-ignited by Omid Scobie's 'poisonous' book on the Royal Family and the naming of two royals  reported to be the King himself and the Princess of Wales  in a Dutch-language edition of Endgame was an 'unwelcome' distraction for His Majesty in an immensely important week for him as an international statesman.

Although leaks had already emerged by last weekend that Scobie intended to refer to two members of the Royal Family, not one, palace officials had hoped the revelation would be a storm in a teacup and had refused to engage with the subject.

All that changed on Tuesday, when a local journalist in the Netherlands revealed the names were included in the Dutch-language edition of the book.

The journalist later told me he had been in possession of a review copy book for a week, waiting for the embargo to lift, and couldn't understand why British news websites weren't running the same 'scoops' as him.

An hour later he received a panicked call from a small local publisher demanding he take down his story about 'Koning Charles' from the Libelle website, which he refused to do, because there was a massive blunder in the translation.

Scobie, appearing on BBC 's flagship Newsnight programme (pictured), said he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events

I was the first journalist to contact publisher Xander Uitgevers who personally confirmed it was true. I was also the first to call Buckingham Palace to break the news and seek comment.

It's fair to say their reaction was one of quiet shock. Many will ask why royal aides didn't immediately seek to get an injunction on the book.

But it was a rapidly developing situation and there was immense confusion as to how it could even have happened.

Was it an 'error in translation' as was initially claimed, or had Scobie  as now seems likely  deliberately intended to 'out' the royals concerned at the start of his project, before being warned off by lawyers concerned over the UK's strict libel laws.

Unfortunately for him  as the Mail exclusively revealed this week  it seems that an early draft of his manuscript was sent to the two entirely innocent (and highly experienced) Dutch translators who faithfully reproduced what they had been given.

For the first 48 hours the Palace held the line that it would not comment.

It was clear they wished to see how it would land, although calls were already flying between London and Dubai, where the advance party of the King's team had just landed.

And it was equally clear that officials were desperate the scandal didn't derail the King's big COP28 moment. As one source said: 'Sometimes the Palace need to act very quickly and other times they need to act carefully and with great thought. This was one of those times.

It was equally clear that officials were desperate the scandal didn't derail the King's big COP28 moment

'Queen Elizabeth took three days after the Oprah interview to issue a rare public statement because she and her advisers recognised, given the seriousness of the allegations that had been made, she should not be bounced into doing something because of the headlines. It was a case of caution in abundance and when she spoke, people listened.'

What was abundantly clear to me from speaking to multiple contacts, however, is that there was no 'push back' on the names that had been suggested.

I was also told Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace were acting with complete 'unity' on the issue.

On Wednesday night, TalkTV presenter Piers Morgan took it upon himself to name the King and Kate, drastically raising the stakes.

By the following morning I was clearly and unequivocally told the Palace was now 'considering all options', which included the possibility of legal redress.

While it is highly unusual for Buckingham Palace to go down such a route, one informed source pointed out to me that it is not unheard of.

They recalled three occasions that the Palace had involved lawyers and each had been successful: The Sun's suggestion that the late Queen backed Brexit (for which a front page apology was secured), William and Kate's suing of a French magazine over topless photographs of the then duchess, and the King's High Court battle over the publication of travel diaries.

'It's not something the Palace does lightly, but there is precedent. And they've won,' my source said.

Behind the scenes, I understand that officials have also this week launched an investigation into who, if anyone, would have had access to, or even glimpsed, the letters passed between the monarch and the Duchess of Sussex over her allegations. They were considered so personal and so deeply private that all but a 'tiny handful' of family members and staff are known to have seen them.

The result? There is 'extreme confidence' at the Palace that the leak 'didn't come from us'.

Which is, of course, exactly what the Duchess of Sussex has also made known via her own sources, insisting that she never 'intended' for the names to become public and no one on her team leaked the letters' contents to Scobie.

The public will have to decide whose version of events they believe.

It's quite clear to me that, once again, 'recollections may vary'.

Despite the accusations made by Meghan of 'unconscious bias' in her letters, one well-placed source tells me firmly: 'It is only one person's version, one side of the story.'

Which strongly suggests that behind Palace walls, those at the heart of events strongly dispute anything of the sort was even said  or could be considered to have been offensive.

Interestingly, while Meghan used the word 'concern' in her interview, it wasn't repeated by a distinctly uncomfortable-looking Harry, who only said it was an 'awkward' conversation.

So where do things go from here? I'm told the Palace's main focus, despite the furore, has been to get through COP28 and the King's important appearance.

But conversations will start again in earnest next week when the team are back at Buckingham Palace about what their next move is.

It is something they are taking 'extremely seriously' and legal action still hasn't been ruled out.

There is also immense sadness and anger at what has been described to me as a 'terrible injustice' to those involved. Some feel the Royal Family should address such mendacious smears in public once and for all.

But that, of course, comes with the risk of another very public falling out with the Sussexes, who had, for once, appeared equally keen to put the whole matter to bed.

One thing is for certain: That rumoured invitation to Christmas dinner for Harry and Meghan looks vanishingly unlikely.
The Cop28 eco summit kicked off yesterday and King Charles's well-received opening speech mercifully avoided the more apocalyptic rhetoric that inevitably punctuates this event.

The monarch, a lifelong environmental campaigner, was in no way blase. He warned that the dangers posed by climate change were 'no longer distant risks'. But there were no end-is-nigh pronouncements that ordinary citizens simply disbelieve.

World leaders are in Dubai to thrash out agreements on reducing and ultimately eliminating the use of fossil fuels, accelerating renewable energy and more funding to tackle the climate threat.

Rishi Sunak has faced intense criticism for rowing back on some green pledges.

But thanks to an aggressive green agenda, UK emissions are just 1 per cent of the global total. No major country has decarbonised faster since 1990  or put in place more ambitious targets.

King Charles with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Unveiling a bumper investment deal in UK wind power, the Prime Minister rightly pointed out that for these goals to be achieved, the public has to be sure their lives won't be harder and poorer as a result.

As renewables are intermittent, it is sensible for Mr Sunak to exploit our North Sea oil and gas reserves to keep the country going.

The innovative spirit of the private sector is the key to bridging the power gap  and bequeathing our children a cleaner planet.

Playground politics

In general, it is a good thing for children to be able to engage in politics. That is an important way of making the young feel they've got a stake in our society.

Nevertheless, it is deeply troubling that thousands of pupils  some as young as eight  are skipping classes to take part in pro-Palestine marches organised by the Left.

These so-called 'school strikes', which have taken place in several UK cities, are ostensibly in support of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

It is deeply troubling that thousands of pupils - some as young as eight - are skipping classes to take part in pro-Palestine marches

But a new report from the Policy Exchange think-tank has revealed how children on the demos have been exposed to sickening anti-Semitism  some joining in with racist chants, others carrying placards.

Schools and teachers that allow pupils to miss lessons to participate in such activism should be brought firmly to book. They are not only damaging youngsters' educations, but also breaching Government rules on impartiality and putting them at risk of being drawn into anti-Western extremism.

Parents who encourage children to bunk off should be penalised, too, for flouting school attendance rules. After all, if they took their kids on holiday during term-time, they would face a costly fine.

Yes, let pupils find their political voice. But that search should typically be confined to after the school gates close.

The school of envy

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has uncompromising advice to private schools alarmed at Labour's plan to make them pay 20 per cent VAT and business rates.

Instead of hiking fees, which could see families withdraw children into state schools at considerable expense, she says the independent sector should cut costs.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has advised private schools to cut costs to fund Labour's 20 per cent VAT plan instead of hiking fees

But there is a significant danger that Ms Phillipson's spiteful class war policy would backfire. Last year, private schools gave away 1.2billion in assisted fees and entered into thousands of valuable partnerships with state schools around the country.

If they chose to heed her advice and make savings, that could mean less money for bursaries for poorer pupils, equipment and community projects, and more places reserved for the children of oligarchs.

Isn't it typical of Labour? Education always playing second fiddle to ideology  and excellence and opportunity sacrificed on the altar of equality.
King Charles warned yesterday that man is carrying out a 'vast, frightening experiment' on the planet and our grandchildren 'will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do'.

In his opening speech to the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, the monarch issued a call to arms, warning that the dangers facing us 'are no longer distant risks' and urging global leaders to commit to 'transformational action'.

The King was the only head of state to be independently invited to address the gathering of world leaders in recognition of his lifelong environmental campaigning.

Once derided as a green eccentric, many of his beliefs such as organic farming and campaigning against plastics in the ocean have become mainstream policy.

Speaking to more than 60 prime ministers, politicians and presidents, Charles said: 'I have spent a large proportion of my life trying to warn of the existential threats facing us over global warming, climate change and biodiversity loss.

The King was the only head of state to be independently invited to address the gathering of world leaders in recognition of his lifelong environmental campaigning

The King used his speech to highlight recent cyclones in the South Pacific and Caribbean, flooding in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and drought in East Africa, as well as US and European wildfires

A woman enters the sea from a beach where wildfires destroyed the woods, at Glystra near the village of Gennadi in the southern part of the Greek island of Rhodes

Volunteers rescue sheep from a burning farm during a wild fire in the village of Chasia, near Athens

'I pray with all my heart that Cop28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action at a time when, already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.'

UN chief: Tax fuel giants to pay for change The head of the United Nations urged oil companies yesterday to pay for action out of their profits to stop climate change. Antonio Guterres made his call for a 'windfall tax' on fuel giants at the Cop28 summit. The UN secretary general said: 'We can't put out a burning planet with a firehose of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel burning must be stopped. Not reduced. Not abated.' Mr Guterres said the oil and gas industry  which accounts for one per cent of clean energy investment  must invest more. He said if oil companies do not pay up then 'humanity's fate lies in the balance'. He urged fossil fuel companies to invest in a transition to renewable energy sources. One area of disagreement at Cop28 is whether to include a call to 'phase down' fossil fuels such as oil and gas or to 'phase out' fossil fuels entirely. Advertisement

He warned that while important progress had been made, mankind was 'dreadfully far off track' on targets including carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

'I have seen across the Commonwealth, and beyond, countless communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks, whose lives and livelihoods are laid waste by climate change,' he said, highlighting recent cyclones in the South Pacific and Caribbean, flooding in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and drought in East Africa, as well as US and European wildfires.

'Surely real action is required to stem the growing toll of its most vulnerable victims? As I have tried to say on many occasions, unless we rapidly repair and restore Nature's unique economy... our own economy and survivability will be imperilled.'

His Majesty added: 'We are carrying out a vast, frightening experiment of changing every ecological condition... at a pace that far outstrips Nature's ability to cope. With what we are witnessing, our choice now is a starker  and darker  one: How dangerous are we actually prepared to make our world?'

He said it was crucial to unite the public, private, philanthropic and non-governmental sectors to work more effectively to play their part in delivering climate action.

He called for a fairer international financial system to unlock trillions of dollars for the greater good.

His well-received speech, written with the support of the Government, concluded: 'Ladies and gentlemen, in 2050 our grandchildren won't be asking what we said, they will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do. So, if we act together to safeguard our precious planet, the welfare of all our people will surely follow.

'The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.'
When Edinburgh Zoo's most famous residents arrived on British shores on a wintry December day, almost exactly 12 years ago, it was with much fanfare  and much expectation.

Bagpipes played as Tian Tian and Yang Guang were rolled in their Plexiglass crates from a specially painted FedEx Boeing 777, dubbed the Panda Express, on to the Tarmac at the city's airport to meet a crowd of waiting dignitaries and an eager public.

A lot can happen in 12 years. Or not, if you are a giant panda.

For, despite the high hopes that Tian Tian (which translates as Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) would boost panda numbers, there is a lingering sadness as these beautiful animals prepare to fly 5,000 miles back to China.

Tian Tian had raised cubs back home. Yang Guang had fathered a brood too, but no sparks ever flew between these two. No love tunnel (an enclosure feature allowing the naturally solitary creatures the opportunity to meet) nor any number of costly rounds of IVF could deliver what everyone had hoped for  the patter of little panda paws. To put it bluntly, if pandas used Tinder, these two would have swiped left.

Despite the high hopes that pandas Tian Tian (which translates as Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) would boost panda numbers, there is a lingering sadness as these beautiful animals prepare to fly 5,000 miles back to China

The temperature was hovering just above freezing and flecks of snow were falling as crowds bid goodbye to Edinburgh Zoo's departing star guests, who seemed as relaxed as ever

On Thursday, the gate leading to the giant panda enclosures was closed for the last time as Tian Tian and Yang Guang get ready to make the long journey home.

But just how do you prepare a pair of fur-clad creatures weighing 22 st (him) and 14 st (her) for a ten-hour odyssey across the globe?

As I discovered, it is quite an enterprise, involving strict quarantine, a lot of paperwork and even more bamboo.

The temperature was hovering just above freezing and flecks of snow were falling as I joined the cooing crowds bidding goodbye to Edinburgh Zoo's departing star guests, who seemed as relaxed as ever.

In truth, preparations for departure have been brewing for years  the pandas were only ever on loan to the UK.

Over the first decade of their stay, the zoo paid the Chinese government around 7.5 million for the privilege of hosting the pandas in Scotland. A two-year extension cost another 750,000 a year.

Darren McGarry, head of living collections at the zoo (he came on the plane with the pandas back in 2011), is both pragmatic and sad about seeing them go: 'We knew the pandas were coming here on this ten-year agreement. We've had two extra years, which has been great, but we always knew they had to go back home.'

He admits, however, that their departure is going to leave 'a panda-sized hole in our lives'. 'We have loved every minute of it [having them] and I will shed a tear when they go.'

The stack of paperwork required to ship a panda is vast  there are the export permits from CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), then import permits that have to be applied for in China.

Customs invoices and health certificates have to be issued. Even the bamboo the pandas eat has to be to be tested in order to obtain the crucial phytosanitary certificate (a clean bill of health) so that it can be packed on the plane, an important requirement when you consider that Yang Guang can put away 100kg of bamboo in a day.

Simon Girling, the zoo's head vet, will also be left with some bittersweet memories. He had witnessed the Herculean efforts to encourage the pair to breed during the crushingly brief window of time each year  72 hours maximum  when a female panda is considered 'in season'. Then came the numerous rounds of artificial insemination and the 'is she, isn't she?' guessing game.

One year, success seemed tantalisingly close, but Tian Tian failed to carry the cub to full term. Then, sadder still, came Yang Guang's brush with testicular cancer in 2018 which left him infertile.

Getting the pandas ready for their journey has, by contrast, been a walk in the park. 'They have to go into a form of quarantine for a minimum of 30 days before departure,' says Simon.

Preparations for the animals' departure have been brewing for years, who were on a 10-year loan extended for two years due to Covid-19

The pandas will have to go into a form of quarantine for a minimum of 30 days before departure

Six keeping staff have reduced to a core of three for the past month, with a scrupulous routine of disinfectant foot dips, additional boiler suits that remain within the panda enclosures, face masks and disposable gloves.

It's not just the worry about the risk of infection between animals but humans too. Pandas can catch Covid. Then there are the 'crates' in which the animals will be transported that have to comply with air transport regulations.

'Twenty or 30 years ago, when you wanted a mammal to do something, you used to have to anaesthetise it. Nowadays, we train animals using positive reinforcement techniques,' says Darren.

Rewards for these bears are carrot sticks, but they are so responsive to their keepers that back in the years when hopes were pinned on Tian Tian falling pregnant, and a test needed to be done, she would sometimes urinate on voice command  proving that she had managed to pick up a bit of English during her stay.

One of Darren's treasured memories is of the night he found himself standing in the enclosure in his pyjamas (he lives on site) at 3am, saying to the panda: 'Tian Tian, will you go pee pee?'

'I looked at myself, thinking is this real? Are they watching me on CCTV?' he chuckles.

It's eight hours ahead in China and nobody wants a panda with a bad case of jet lag, so for the past three weeks the team has been adjusting their wake- up times.

The departure day is being kept strictly under wraps for security reasons, but when it dawns, customs officers will visit the zoo to check the crates before the pandas get inside  cuddly as they may look, these animals can be dangerous if they feel threatened.

Then the crates will be wheeled out of the panda house on a forklift truck  each crate weighing a ton  and on to the low loader that will carry the pair 15 minutes down the road to the city airport's cargo area. Even their drinking water is strictly controlled.

A keeper and vet from Edinburgh Zoo will travel with the bears, along with a keeper from China, on a plane from which two-thirds of the seating has been stripped to accommodate the VIP passengers. But there will be no sedation or anaesthesia.

'The golden rule is you don't give animals sedatives. You might give them a tranquilliser but we are not intending to do that because they are not stressed animals,' says Simon. 'They are pretty chilled out.'

The pair will fly to Chengdu, in Sichuan province before travelling to quarantine at a wildlife sanctuary in Bifengxia which is home to 40 giant pandas

They will fly to Chengdu and then on to quarantine at a wildlife sanctuary at Bifengxia, in Sichuan province, home to 40 giant pandas.

Darren and his colleagues will be on the Tarmac to wave goodbye, with tissues at the ready. He says: 'There will be tears, not because we don't think they are going to be looked after, just because it will be sad. We've looked after them for a long time. I have giraffes and rhinos I have looked after, now in other zoos, I still sometimes go and see. But it's not so easy to hop on a bus and go to China.'

As for Tian Tian and Yang Guang, we can only hope they have fond memories of their time in Edinburgh, and that, for them, there will be a special part in their heart that is forever Scotland.
Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted his country's counter-offensive against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine has failed to meet its objectives.

His remarks emerged yesterday amid increased pressure on the Kyiv government to enter peace talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Mr Zelensky, whose wartime leadership has been likened to Winston Churchill, admitted Ukraine's attempt to force a Russian retreat had not achieved 'the desired results'.

In recent weeks the counter-offensive has stalled due to frozen battlefields and stiff resistance from recently rearmed Russian troops.

At the same time Western support for the conflict has appeared to fragment, with allies questioning the cost of high-tech weapons and equipment.

Speaking in Kyiv, Mr Zelensky conceded Ukraine had 'wanted faster results'. Asked if he felt pressure to enter peace talks, he said: 'I don't feel it yet.' But tellingly he added: 'Some voices are always heard.' In recent months international leaders, such as Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden, have been distracted by the Middle Eastern conflict.

Mr Zelensky, whose wartime leadership has been likened to Winston Churchill, admitted Ukraine's attempt to force a Russian retreat had not achieved 'the desired results'

His remarks emerged yesterday amid increased pressure on the Kyiv government to enter peace talks with Russia 's Vladimir Putin

This could account for the UK's failure to announce an extension to its 2.3billion military aid package which runs out in March. While Mr Zelensky expressed regret about the failure of Western partners to provide enough weapons, Putin has no such concerns.

In the last year he has effectively militarised Russia's economy, leading to a startling sevenfold increase in tank production. Production of artillery and armoured vehicles has also more than doubled.

These increases have produced results on the battlefield, with his troops making significant advances into Ukrainian territory along the 621-mile front line. Russian forces appear poised to capture the strategically significant town of Avdiivka, which Ukraine has held since 2014.

Mr Zelensky said: 'We wanted faster results. From that perspective, unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired results. And this is a fact. There is not enough power to achieve the desired results faster.

'We can see the consequences of global society switching [its attention] because of the tragedy in the Middle East, only the blind could not recognise this...

'We must not allow people to forget about the war here. Attention equals help.'

When it launched its counter-offensive earlier this year, the Ukrainians wanted to breach Russia's defences and advance all the way to the Sea of Azov.

Today this objective appears out of reach.

Mr Zelensky repeated his warning that a reduction in US support for Ukraine would increase Russia's threat. He said: 'If resilience fails due to lack of aid, it will mean Russia will most likely invade Nato countries and then the American children will fight.'
Plans to build pylons through the countryside that inspired the classic novel Sunset Song have been scrapped after a backlash from locals.

Energy giant SSEN said part of the East Coast upgrade had been changed to 'reduce community impact'.

But residents said they would continue their opposition because the change would impact other areas instead.

The company had planned to build overhead lines between the villages of Kintore in Aberdeenshire and Tealing in Angus.

A substation due to be built at Fiddes in the Mearns will now be moved to Fetteresso Forest near to an existing structure, and an overhead line near Forfar will be rerouted further from the town.

Residents have vowed to continue to oppose plans build pylons and overhead lines across Scottish Countryside after energy giant SSEN changed part of the project to reduce its 'community impact'

Residents had expressed concern about impacts on the childhood home of author Lewis Grassic Gibbon and the natural beauty of the area

Residents had expressed concern about impacts on the childhood home of author Lewis Grassic Gibbon and the natural beauty of the area.

The countryside around Fiddes was the setting for Sunset Song, one of Scotland's best-loved novels. Published in 1932 and adapted for film, television and stage, it follows the impact of the First World War on a farming family in the Mearns.

Shona Alexander, whose land had been earmarked for the Fiddes substation, said she was 'delighted' that the original plans were not going ahead, but highlighted that others would be affected instead.

She said: 'It's great for us but it's just moving the problem around. It's going to change different communities and doesn't really make it any better. No one deserves this on their doorstep.'

Lyndsey Ward, spokesman for pressure group Communities B4 Power Companies, branded the new plans 'pylon hokey cokey'.

SSEN will conduct another series of consultations on the proposed changes in the new year

She added: 'They'll move them a bit to the left or a bit to the right but it's not really addressing our concerns.

'This is going to change the face of the north of Scotland forever.'

The changes came as SSEN Transmission announced 400 new jobs across northern Scotland over the next year as part of the 20billion network upgrade. The energy giant has promised benefits to communities including money off bills and the building of 200 homes.

SSEN will launch another series of consultations on the proposed changes in the new year.

Senior project manager Calum Grant said the changes recognised 'the strength of feeling' among individuals and communities.
A woman who stabbed her new boyfriend to death over 100 times in a 'cannabis-induced psychosis' sobbed as she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Bryn Spejcher, 32, openly wept as the jury read its verdict on Friday, finding her guilty after less than four hours of deliberation of killing her partner Chad O'Melia in California in 2018.

She attacked O'Melia after taking two hits of his marijuana 'bong' - a smoking device - and, according to an expert witness, flew into a violent frenzy in a 'psychotic episode' caused by the cannabis.

She testified during her trial last month that she began to hear voices moments after taking two inhalations of the bong, and stabbed O'Melia to death before also knifing herself in the face and attacking her dog.

Bryn Spejcher, 32, openly wept as the jury read its verdict on Friday, finding her guilty after less than four hours of deliberation of killing her partner Chad O'Melia in California in 2018

The California woman brutally stabbed her new boyfriend Chad O'Melia (pictured) in 2018 after taking two hits from a 'bong', with it argued she quickly flew into a frenzy as she suffered 'cannabis induced-psychosis'

Spejcher's conviction typically carries a sentence of around four years in state prison, however she is back in court Monday to face hearings over four 'enhancements' to her verdict that could see it raised.

The hearings will determine charges of use of a deadly weapon and great violence, which will be decided by a judge after she waived her right to a jury trial over the extra charges.

She will be freed on bail until those hearings, and left the courtroom with her family after Ventura County Judge Anthony Sabo denied a motion from the prosecution to have her remanded in custody.

Her trial centered around the influence marijuana may have had over her actions when she stabbed O'Melia, and was said to have smoked pot just five to ten times in her life, according to testimony.

On the night of 27 May, 2018, she and O'Melia, an accounting student, had asked his girlfriend to come round to his apartment which he shared with two roommates.

After initially watching TV, O'Melia asked her whether she would like to try marijuana using his bong, the court heard last month.

O'Melia is said to have been a regular cannabis user  smoking or using a bong most days.

Spejcher, an inexperienced user who claimed to have never previously experienced a 'high', took a few puffs and told O'Melia she didn't feel anything.

This led him to respond with a promise to find her 'something more intense', according to local reports, and filled the bong with smoke before moving his hand away and allowing Spejcher to directly inhale.

The prosecution said she had an 'immediate negative reaction', and was described as having gone to the bathroom in a panic, suffering blurry vision and feeling like she was dying.

She told investigators that she then began hearing nightmarish voices in her head, telling her to start a fight, leading Spejcher to grab three knives from a kitchen block and hurl them at O'Melia.

'She thought she was dead,' said prosecutor Ms Nofzinger. 'She had an out-of-body experience.

'She could see her own dead body, and she could hear voices, emergency room doctors doing CPR, her family, other voices, unknown voices, telling her that to bring herself back to life, she would have to kill Chad O'Melia.'

Spejcher stabbed O'Malia over 100 times across his body, leaving fatal wounds to his heart, lungs and vital arteries in his neck. She also attacked her dog, before using a bread knife to slash her own face and kneck in a crazed episode

O'Melia and Spejcher initially bonded over their shared love of dogs and had only been seeing each other for several weeks before the attack took place

Spejcher stabbed him across his whole body, leaving fatal wounds to his heart, lungs and vital arteries in his neck.

Despite describing herself as a 'dog lover' and holding pictures of her dog during the trial, Spejcher then stabbed her dog. It is not clear if the dog survived the attack.

Spejcher also used an eight-inch bread knife to stab herself in the terrifying episode, plunging the blade into her own face and neck while crouching near O'Melia's body.

Officers entered the scene and were only able to get her to drop the knife by striking her nine times with his retractable steel baton, reports the VC Star.

While both Spejcher's defense and the prosecution agreed the stabbing was the result of marijuana intoxication, the prosecution painted her as a partier who was hoping to get high, while her defense argued she was pressured into taking the drug and it was involuntary.

Under California law, a person is seen as responsible for their actions when impaired by drugs or alcohol unless their intoxication was involuntary.

A self-described 'dog lover', Spejcher was seen sobbing while holding a picture of the dog she brutally stabbed while allegedly suffering a psychotic episode in her trial last month

The 32-year-old, a former audiologist, was initially charged with second degree murder, but had the charges reduced to involuntary manslaughter after the testimony from an expert witness who claimed the crimes were the result of 'cannabis-induced psychosis.'

While some argued her actions were entirely out of character, with an expert witness claiming it suggests the marijuana she inhaled was far stronger than other forms, O'Melia's father disagreed.

After Spejcher's attorney argued that she did not want to smoke that night but was pressured by O'Melia, his father Sean said she knew what she was doing and 'viciously and prematurely ended' his son's life.

Following her conviction, Sean O'Melia said he was grateful to the hard work of the prosecution, but would not call the verdict 'justice.'

'I just want my son back, and that's not going to happen,' he told reporters outside the courtroom on Friday.

'Ultimately, there are only people that have taken a loss here. Theres no winning here,' OMelia said.

'At the same time, I think the first impact to me and my family was the loss of our son, and the next thing that occurred was what we had to go through listening to all the derogatory remarks about somebody that we had just lost.'

The grieving father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Spejcher in 2020, which has been on hold until her criminal proceedings concluded.

Police arrived at Chad O'Melia's apartment in May 2018 to find him with multiple stab wounds and his girlfriend, Bryn Spejcher, stabbing herself repeatedly

This case echoes that of previous killings, in which the accused is known to have used high potency cannabis.

In 2014, a 50-year-old man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in jail after shooting his wife in the head at the couple's home in Denver, Colorado.

Richard Kirk was initially charged with first-degree murder  which is premediated or deliberate  but this was dropped after the defense argued that marijuana, which Kirk was consuming for back pain, had severely impaired his judgement.

They had also argued he had suffered 'involuntary intoxication' because he did not know he was at high risk for marijuana psychosis due to schizophrenia in his extended family.

In 2018, a Canadian man from Ontario was sentenced to five years in prison for stabbing and beheading his father in front of friends.

The court heard how Adam Kehl, then 31, was a heavy cannabis user but was not aware that the drug could trigger psychotic behavior.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, which was filed after a psychiatrist said he was suffering from cannabis-induced intoxication.

At sentencing, he said in a statement: 'I accept the consequences. I understand the fact that my marijuana use was a key factor in what happened. I was not aware marijuana use could do such a thing. Had I known, I never would have started.'
A Republican congressman representing upstate New York was caught on camera at a holiday party in Washington DC on Thursday night threatening a stunned-looking former staffer.

Brandon Williams, 56, jabbed his finger towards Michael Gordon in the hearted confrontation at the International Spy Museum, during a festive gathering hosted by a lobbying company.

Williams yells at Gordon: 'You f*** with my family, I'll end every relationship you have.'

Gordon, looking taken aback, tells Williams: 'I didn't do anything.'

Brandon Williams, elected to Congress in 2022 to represent New York, confronted a former campaign staffer on Thursday night at a holiday party

Williams presses closer to Gordon, squaring up to him and still yelling.

'Do you understand me? You think I don't know?'

A woman interrupts, and says: 'Excuse me? Hello?'

Williams, realizing the intensity of the confrontation, steps back, and pushes aside a camera filming the encounter.

'Hey, why don't you get the police in?' he asks as he storms away.

Williams is seen jabbing his finger at Michael Gordon, who he said disparaged his family

Gordon told Williams he did not know what he was referring to

A spokesman for Williams later said that the row was sparked by the behavior of Gordon and another former colleague, Ryan Sweeney.

Gordon and Sweeney were sacked for disparaging female members of Williams' family, the spokesman said.

'What you are seeing is two former staffers who were fired by the Congressman earlier this year,' the spokesman said.

'Both individuals, the one being confronted by the Congressman and the one filming, made rude comments about the female members of the Congressman's family.

'These individuals planted stories with the media and one of them physically shoved the Congressman at a holiday event (edited from the video).

'As a former nuclear submarine officer known for his temperament and poise, tonight should be a lesson to all, never go after this Navy Nuke's family,' the statement concluded.

Neither Williams nor Gordon have commented on the encounter.
Christmas travel plans for thousands of holidaygoers have been thrown into chaos after a budget airline scrapped flights between two major Australian cities.

Australia's newest low-cost airline Bonza has cancelled flights between Darwin and the Gold Coast during the entirety of December, making the announcement on Thursday.

The airline's first flight between the two cities was due to take off last week however the carrier has blamed 'regulatory approval processes' for the issue.

Budget airline Bonza (pictured) has cancelled flights, sending Christmas travel plans for thousands of Aussies into chaos

The announcement has thrown Christmas travel plans into disarray with around 1,600 customers affected by the cancellations.

The airline said around 1,100 customers have now been offered flights to Queensland's Sunshine Coast instead.

CEO of Bonza Tim Jordan said in a statement that flights to the Gold Coast will now be run by their Canadian counterparts Flair as the budget airline continues to hire more staff.

'As weve previously shared, in the short term we will use an aircraft leased from our partner Flair at our Gold Coast base whilst we recruit Aussie crew for this third base,' Mr Jordan said.

'This arrangement brings with it a separate regulatory approval process. That process is progressing but is not yet complete and as a result, weve had to make the regrettable decision to defer some flights between Gold Coast and Darwin in the coming weeks.'

'We are acutely aware of the impact this has on our customers and we are very sorry for this.'

Mr Jordan said the airline is working with customers impacted by the cancellation and said they would provide a full refund to those who are now unable to travel due to the cancellation.

'At this point our priority is to assist our impacted customers as efficiently as possible so that they can make alternative arrangements,' Mr Jordan said.

The airline's CEO Tim Jordan blamed the cancellation on 'regulatory approval processes'

Bonza announced the Darwin to Gold Coast route in September along with two other travel routes between Darwin and the Sunshine Coast and Alice Springs to Melbourne.

Flights between Darwin to the Gold Coast were set to commence in late November.

The scrapped flights have disrupted the travel plans of Aussies such as father of three Corey Reichstein, after he saved up to take his family down to the Gold Coast for their first holiday in five years.

'We pretty much spent all of our savings getting the money together to fly into the Gold Coast, and the theme parks with the kids,' Mr Reichstein told the ABC.

'Yesterday (Thursday), we got an email from Bonza explaining that they couldn't actually fly us into the Gold Coast.'

The flights were supposed to be flying to the Gold Coast (pictured) from Darwin with many Aussies now forced to make alternative travel plans

The airline said more around 1,100 customers have been offered flights to Queensland's Sunshine Coast (pictured) instead

The airline said flights between the Gold Coast and Darwin would resume in January 2024.

Bonza entered the Australian airline market in January 2023 as 'Australias new and only independent, low cost airline'.

The airline operates several flights across multiple interstate destinations including NSW and Victoria.
She has been charged with battery after she slammed the phone of the person recording the video out of their hand

A Louisiana mayor is under fire for launching into an altercation with a local resident at a council meeting.

Video shows Elton Mayor Kesia Lemoine locking heads with an unidentified woman who she later argued with her inside a meeting room.

The footage show Lemoine walking out of the room while yelling at the woman before being held back by other citizens.

Footage then shows the woman screaming at Lemoine, saying: 'Keep your f****** hands off of me.'

She is also heard saying that she wants to press charges on Lemoine in the video while a group of people try to keep the pair apart.

Eventually, a police officer escorts the woman out of city hall while she continues to yell at Lemoine.

Elton Mayor Kesia Lemoine is seen getting into a fight with an unidentified woman after arguing with her inside the meeting room on video

Footage shows the other woman screaming at Lemoine and saying: 'Keep your f****** hands off of me!'

Later, Lemoine allegedly hit a cellphone being used to record the incident out of the hands of onlooker Heidi Newell. According to the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff's Office, Lemoine has been cited for battery.

Newell described the incident as 'utter chaos'.

'I was videoing like we normally do because of situations and she basically turned around, hit me in the chest and knocked my phone out of my hand,' Newell said.

Newell, a former town employee, said Lemoine unexpectedly fired her from her job but she continues attending council meetings. She also said the mayor mostly addresses questions or concerns with hostility.

'It's time that somebody that is going to do right by the town and be honest about every situation and not go behind people's back to be in office now,' Newell said.

She is also heard saying that she wants to press charges on Lemoine in the video while a group of people try to keep the pair apart

Eventually, a police officer escorts the woman out of city hall while she continues to yell at Lemoine

Lemoine hit Heidi Newell's cell phone out of her hand while she was recording the video of the argument. According to the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff's Office, she has been cited for battery

According to KPLC, the meeting began with the goal to discuss this month's budget.

The atmosphere became tense when the meeting moved to the topic of grants.

During the discussion Lemoine was asked if Carl Capone, identified as a grant writer, should be asked about available funding.

A woman, presumably the one seen arguing in the video with Lemoine, then asked if Capone was fired from the grant writer job.

Mayor Lemoine was heard replying: 'We're talking about the budget, you way off on something else. We are on the budget. You out of order. You say something else, we're gonna escort you out. We're talking about the budget.'

The council asked if anyone knew if Capone was fired. Ultimately, Lemoine tells the room that Capone left the department because two people 'lied to him'.

The mayor then asks the woman who inquired about Capone's firing about her motives for attending the meeting.

Somehow, the council's focus reportedly shifts to Lemoine's salary to which she calls out council members for being 'worried' about how she gets paid. After arguments escalate, Lemoine is heard saying: 'You wanna talk about transparency? Let's talk here first!'

The atmosphere became tense when the meeting moved to the topic of grants. Lemoine began discussing the two grants when a councilwoman asked if Carl Capone, identified as a grant writer, should be asked about the available grants

Lemoine told News 10 in the aftermath the video did not show one of the people present in the room who threatened her and her family.

'Just recently we had a council meeting and they edited the clip and just showed my actions,' said Lemoine. 'They did not show the beginning.'

She said she was acting on maternal instinct and a need to protect her family.

'As a mother, I'm a protector and that really made me come out of character,' Lemoine explained.

She also told the channel she wanted to acknowledge that she's not proud of what happened and it should not have gone that far.

'I do apologize for my actions because I am the mayor and they hold me to a different standard. But also I am human and I do have feelings,' said Lemoine.

The incident comes as the mayor's son, Marcus Lemoine Jr., was arrested over the assault of a man, Roderick Williams, at an Elton carwash in June 2023.

But it seems acting with hostility is in the family as her son, Marcus Lemoine Jr. approached and assaulted a man named Roderick Williams at an Elton carwash in June 2023

During the trial, he entered a plea of 'no contest' a few weeks ago in a Jeff Davis Parish court which was a switch from his 'not guilty' plea he made in September

The Jeff Davis Clerk of Court's office confirmed that Marcus was sentenced to six months of supervised probation along with a fine of $500 plus court costs

Lemoine Jr. was arrested by the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff's Office after Williams filed a report.

During the trial, he entered a plea of 'no contest' a few weeks ago in a Jeff Davis Parish court which was a switch from his 'not guilty' plea he made in September.

The Jeff Davis Clerk of Court's office confirmed that Lemoine Jr. was sentenced to six months of supervised probation along with a fine of $500 plus court costs.

The mayor did not clarify if Williams was the same man who threatened her during the council meeting.

A petition was launched earlier this year to strip the mayor from of her title.

An investigation found voters claiming homestead exemptions in other parishes, some registered to vote using vacant lots and others using addresses of homes that didnt exist to participate in the election

Brandon Kelley, who faced Lemoine in a mayoral runoff election last year, told the American Press that a group of residents is seeking to remove her from office after instances of possible corruption in the last mayoral election came to light.

An investigation by KPLC-TV found voters claiming homestead exemptions in other parishes, some registered to vote using vacant lots and others using addresses of homes that didnt exist to participate in the election.

The investigation found nearly three dozen people with questionable voting credentials and named Roderick Williams as the first whistleblower in the case. The petition was later rejected.

Williams believes Lemoine Jr. attacked him because of his role in revealing the corruption in the area and the subsequent petition to remove his mother from office.

After the video of the mayor's altercation with the unidentified woman went viral, a new petition has been launched to recall her from her position.
Family members of a young Irish man have flown half way around the world to be by his bedside after he was struck by a car in Sydney leaving him with devastating injuries.

Beoan Jones, from the small village of Maguiresbridge in Northern Ireland, had been in Australia for a few months 'finding his feet' when the horrific incident left him 'broken everywhere' and suffering critical injuries.

According to NSW Police, the 25-year-old was walking along the Bradfield Highway, about 400m south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, when he was hit by a car about 8.50pm on Saturday, November 11.

He was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition suffering broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, multiple neck fractures and bleeding on the brain.

Sydney resident Barry Carey, who knows Jones' family, said the car appeared to come 'out of nowhere'.

He said the mechanic had moved to Australia three months ago and was 'really enjoying his life here'.

Beoan Jones, 25, had been in Australia for three months and was set to move in with his girlfriend when he was hit by a car in Sydney

He had been walking on Bradfield Highway, about 400m south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on November 11 (pictured)

He was set to move into an apartment with his girlfriend Cloadagh in a matter of weeks.

'I've spoken to his mother Rose and she is just distraught but just so grateful he is alive,' Mr Carey wrote on a GoFundMe raising funds for medical expenses.

'To think that her amazing son was embarking on a beautiful journey in life and for that to get cut short is heartbreaking for everyone that knows and loves him.'

Mr Carey said Jones' 'distraught' mother and sister had flown to Australia to be by his side.

'Think for a minute what it would be like for a person to be so far from home, on the other side of the world basically, and for the family to get a phone call like that,' he said.

'The struggles and the rehab ahead of him ... all we can do is hope and have a bit of faith that he has the best recovery he possibly can.

A friend said the 25-year-old mechanic was 'really enjoying' is life in Australia

Jones' sister, Neamh Jones, said he remains in hospital with serious injuries but has 'pulled through two major surgeries'.

'Beoan has a long journey ahead of him,' she said.

'To date, we want to say thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers, it really has made a difference.'

Police said the driver, a 47-year-old man, and his passenger were uninjured, and the driver was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.
Fears have been raised that the troubled siblings may have agreed to a murder-suicide pact before the tragedy

A bipolar 11 year-old's mom fears she may have formed a suicide pact with her adult brother, who killed the youngster before shooting himself dead.

Lilea 'Lilly' Stolworthy, 11, was shot outside her home in Medical Lake, Washington, on Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head. Her brother Jordan Brownlow, 31, is suspected of killing her before turning the gun on himself.

Both had both attempted suicide multiple times in recent years, with the children's mother Darel Stolworthy raising fears they agreed to die together after Brownlow sent a final text to the family group chat reading: 'I'm sorry, please forgive me.'

Investigators have yet to comment further on the suicide-pact theory.

The troubled siblings were among 12 shared by Darel and her husband, four of whom are adopted including Lilly.

Lilea 'Lilly' Stolworthy, 11, (pictured) was shot dead last Sunday in Medical Lake, Washington, with it believed her adult brother Jordan Brownlow, 31, killed her before turning the gun on himself

Darel Stolworthy, who counts the siblings among 12 children she shares with her husband, four of whom are adopted including Lilly, revealed they had both suffered mental health issues in recent years before the tragedy

Lilly had ran away from home shortly before Thanksgiving, and her family decided to give some of her items to Brownlow to store temporarily, according to local outlet The Spokesman Review.

The child then returned home and wanted the items back, and went with Brownlow to his car to fetch them.

According to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, she was seen being approached by her brother before witnesses heard gunshots, followed by a Ford Mustang fleeing the scene.

Brownlow was found roughly 20 minutes later slumped in his car with a pistol in his hand, and remained on life support for several days before he was pronounced dead on Wednesday. His organs have been donated.

When Lilly didn't return with her brother, Stolworthy went to find the duo before making the nightmarish discovery of her adoptive daughter shot in the street outside their home.

Despite her young age, Lilly had attempted suicide several times, and her mother said in their final conversation the child told her she wanted to 'be done' with life

Seen in an affidavit, the haunting final message Brownlow sent his family before the tragedy read: 'I'm sorry. Please forgive me'

The child was shot on Sunday and was rushed to hospital, but was tragically pronounced dead after succumbing to her injuries

Lilly and her brother were last seen together on Thanksgiving, before he allegedly shot her in the street outside their home before speeding away and shooting himself nearby

Lilly was rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries, and her grieving mother now says her daughter's ongoing battles with mental health may have led to the tragedy.

She told KHQ that her 11-year-old daughter had attempted suicide a number of times despite her young age, and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Although Lilly was on medication, her recovery had been hampered by a lack of counseling due to a shortage of appropriate facilities and the child's reluctance to commit to therapy.

In a heartbreaking admission, Stolworthy said her last conversation with her daughter also saw Lilly tell her she wanted to 'be done' with life.

She insisted that although the alleged killing carried out by her son was an awful thing to do, she believes that Brownlow saw his actions as a way to protect their family.

Although there are fears the siblings may have planned to commit the murder-suicide ahead of time, there has been no direct evidence released by authorities to support this.

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.

At a vigil for Lilly held on Thursday, Lilly's mother urged attendees to 'get help if you need it'

One attendee at the vigil described Lilly as 'so nice' and 'always so polite', and said the other kids in the neighborhood 'loved her'

A vigil for the 11-year-old was held Thursday evening in Medical Lake, where almost 100 people braved freezing temperatures to pay tribute to the child.

Stolworthy addressed the crowd at the solemn event, thanking them for showing support for her family and said the attendance showed the impact her daughter had at such a young age.

'As I look out around to all these faces that were a part of Lillys life, it brings me joy,' she said.

'Get help if you need it,' Stolworthy told the crowd. 'She would want you to be happy and healthy. Use her as an example to get help if you need it. Be kind to one another.'

Natasha Hargrave said her daughter and Lilly had been 'best friends since kindergarten', and despite her battles, she was 'just like any other kid.'

A great-grandmother, Patty Herker, said her relatives lived down the street from Lilly and 'the kids talked about her all the time.'

'She was just so nice,' she added at the vigil.

'I never had any issues. She was always so polite. The kids loved her... We are going to miss her a lot.'

If you or anyone you know needs help, you can reach Samaritans NYC at 212-673-3000 or the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386.

For confidential assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988 or click here.
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a US federal judge has decided that former President Donald Trump does not have immunity from criminal charges over actions he took while in office.

The ruling on Friday night came as a blow to Trump, blocking his bid to toss out charges brought in Washington DC by Special Counsel Jack Smith accusing him of unlawfully trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, found no legal basis for concluding that presidents cannot face criminal charges once they are no longer in office.

She wrote in the ruling: 'Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass.'

Separately, a three-judge federal appeals panel on Friday also rejected Trump's sweeping claims that presidential immunity shields him from liability in lawsuits accusing him of inciting the mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A US federal judge has decided that former President Donald Trump does not have immunity from criminal charges over actions he took while in office

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan (above) found no legal basis for concluding that presidents cannot face criminal charges once they are no longer in office

In the criminal case, Judge Chutkan offered a sweeping condemnation of Trump's legal arguments in a 48-page memorandum, noting that he is 'charged with attempting to usurp the reins of government'.

Because Trump is the first current or former US president to face criminal charges, Chutkan's ruling is the first by a US court affirming that presidents can be charged with crimes like any other citizen.

The judge also rejected Trump's central argument that the charges violate his free speech rights under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

Trump's lawyers had argued that the case by Smith 'attempts to criminalize core political speech and political advocacy.'

Chutkan's memo flatly dismissed that argument, noting that 'many long established' criminal laws criminalize speech used in the commission of crimes, including 'fraud, bribery, perjury, extortion, threats, incitement, solicitation, and blackmail.'

Chutkan's ruling in DC brings Trump a step closer to facing a jury on charges that he plotted to interfere in the counting of electoral votes and obstruct congressional certification of Joe Biden's victory.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of attempting to damage his campaign.

The trial is scheduled to begin in March, but Trump can immediately appeal the ruling, which potentially could delay the trial while an appeals court and potentially the Supreme Court weigh the issue.

Trump has additional pending legal motions to dismiss the case based on other claims including that his conduct as alleged by prosecutors does not fit the charges they brought.

In addition to the case being pursued by Smith, Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia related to his actions seeking to undo his 2020 defeat and two other indictments. He has pleaded not guilty in those cases as well.

Special Counsel Jack Smith (above) accused Trump of unlawfully trying to overturn his 2020 election loss

In a separate ruling, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit court found that lawsuits Trump faces over the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 can move forward

The US Justice Department long has had an internal policy not to indict a sitting president, but prosecutors said no such restrictions exist once a president leaves the White House.

Trump's lawyers had made a sweeping claim that he is 'absolutely immune' from charges arising from official actions he took as president, arguing that political opponents could use the threat of criminal prosecution to interfere with a president's responsibilities.

His defense team argued that the immunity sitting US presidents have from civil lawsuits should extend to criminal charges.

Prosecutors contended that Trump's argument would essentially put the US president above the law, violating foundational principles of the Constitution.

DC appeals court also reject immunity in civil cases

In a separate ruling, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit court found that lawsuits Trump faces over the US Capitol riot can move forward.

But the three-judge panel said the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner can continue to fight, as the cases proceed, to try to prove that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president.

Trump has said he can't be sued over the riot that left dozens of police officers injured, arguing that his words during a rally before the storming of the Capitol addressed 'matters of public concern' and fall within the scope of absolute presidential immunity.

In the criminal case, Smith's team has signaled that it will make the case at trial that Trump is responsible for the violence at the Capitol and point to Trumps continued embrace of the January 6 rioters on the campaign trail to argue that he intended for the chaos that day.

Friday's rulings underscores the challenges facing Trump as he tries to persuade courts, and potentially juries, that the actions he took in the run-up to the riot were part of his official duties as president.

While courts have afforded presidents broad immunity for their official acts, the judges made clear that that protection does not cover just any act or speech undertaken by a president.

A president running for a second term, for example, is not carrying out the official duties of the presidency when he is speaking at a rally funded by his reelection campaign or attends a private fundraiser, the appeals court said.

'He is acting as office-seeker, not office-holder - no less than are the persons running against him when they take precisely the same actions in their competing campaigns to attain precisely the same office,' Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote for the court.

But the court said its decision is not necessarily the final word on the issue of presidential immunity, leaving the door open for Trump to keep fighting the issue.

And it took pains to note that it was not being asked to evaluate whether Trump was responsible for the riot or should be held to account in court.

It also said Trump could still seek to argue that his actions were protected by the First Amendment - a claim hes also made in his pending criminal case - or covered by other privileges.

'When these cases move forward in the district court, he must be afforded the opportunity to develop his own facts on the immunity question if he desires to show that he took the actions alleged in the complaints in his official capacity as president rather than in his unofficial capacity as a candidate,' the court said.
The peaks of Hawaii's highest mountains were dusted with snow on Friday, as a Kona weather system which drenched the lower lands coated the top with snow.

Snow was recorded on the top of Big Island's highest mountains, Manua Kea and Manua Loa, which both tower almost 14,000 ft above sea level.

Around five inches of snow was recorded on Friday.

Snow is not uncommon on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, or Mauna Loa, an active one.

In 2016, approximately two feet of snow fell on Manua Kea.

The peaks of Hawaii's Big Island were coated with snow on Friday

NASA's telescope is seen surrounded by snow on Friday morning, with around five inches registered

The snow was brought by a Kona - a weather system of low pressure, which emerges in mid latitudes and heads north, drenching Hawaii.

As much as 10 inches fell on Thursday on the southern and eastern side of the Big Island, with a few pockets that may have approached 15 inches or more.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu issued four flash flood warnings, including two for the Big Island.

They reported rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour in downpours that were moving repeatedly over the same areas - a phenomenon known as 'training'.

At higher altitudes, the rain became snow: Weather balloon data suggests the freezing level was at about 8,500 feet Wednesday night into early Thursday, rising to around 15,400 feet Thursday afternoon.

Snow is seen piled up around the NASA facility on Friday. Heavy rainfall was registered at lower altitudes

A Kona Low has been hammering Hawaii over the last 24 hours, dropping enormous amounts of rain and even snow on the high peaks.



Mauna Kea has seen a half a foot of snow, and nearly 20 inches of rain fell this morning just southeast of Hilo on the Big Island. pic.twitter.com/rgnuw5uJ7U  Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) December 1, 2023

The white blanket currently covering the peaks will only last a day or two, according to meteorologists.

Snow has been recorded in other parts of Hawaii, but it far less common.

Haleakala, a volcanic mountain on Maui, has also been known to receive snow, but it only reached 10,000 feet so is less likely to see snow.

The rainfall is extremely welcome: Approximately 94 percent of the state is facing some type of drought, according to the latest data.

About 12 percent of Hawaii is under an extreme drought - a devastating fact that helped spur the Lahaina wildfires in August, the deadliest in the United States in more than a century.

At least 100 people died, and thousands of homes were destroyed.
A swanky New Orleans townhouse once owned by the world's most famous warring exes could be snapped up for as little as $1 million.

The former home of power-couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has hit the Louisiana luxury housing market, after previously being a part of the duo's sprawling real estate portfolio.

Purchased in 2006, the year after 'Brangelina' met on the film set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the lavish mansion boasts a number of elite amenities and is found in the city's iconic French Quarter neighborhood.

And with New Orleans neighbors including Beyonce and Jay Z, Sandra Bullock and John Goodman, the hotspot's new owners will want to prepare a bid quickly.

Built in 1828, this luxury New Orleans townhouse was once owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the height of their 'Brangelina' fame

The mansion is situated in the ritzy French Quarter neighborhood, near to other reported A-listers in the area including Beyonce, Jay Z, Sandra Bullock and John Goodman

The townhouse's 7,700 square feet are filled with plush amenities and stylish finishes, and was remodeled in 2017

While the property is complete with modern furnishings, it is designed to maintain its classic Parisian style, including a clean white and cream theme and winding staircases

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie purchased the home in 2006, a year after meeting on the film set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and sold it during their high-profile split in 2016

Built in 1828, the townhouse covers over 7,700 square feet, and despite being remodeled in 2017 the home has maintained its longstanding Parisian style.

While the outside may appear classic, the interior is filled with lavish amenities including marble fireplaces, crystal chandeliers and a private home gym.

The mansion is greeted by a gated driveway, which opens up to a large foyer that leads to a stunning living room and gourmet chef's kitchen.

While the more comfortable spaces are complete with Venetian plaster walls and fireplaces, the sleek kitchen includes multiple marble counters, a wine cooler, a sub-zero refrigerator and pantry.

The opulent marble finishings are also found in the owner's suite, which also includes antique sconces and a balcony overlooking the New Orleans scenery.

The envy-worthy property, as seen on Top Ten Real Estate Deals, has four guest bedrooms and an exclusive three-story guest house, complete with a spiral staircase and gym.

Multiple other balconies are also dotted along the rest of the home, offering a stones-throw view to the city's most popular spots such as the French Market and Bourbon Street.

The property is a stones-throw away from New Orleans' Bourbon Street and French Market areas, among the most sought-after spots in Louisiana

The dining room is finished with a sleek Venetian plaster walls and a black marble fireplace

For those expecting guests, a stay in the three-story guest house offers the use of a private gym

The sleek kitchen includes multiple marble counters, a wine cooler, a sub-zero refrigerator and pantry

Its spot in the French Quarter district covers over 30 feet of front space, in an area where famed actor John Goodman is also known to frequent the streets

While some rooms are filled with lavish amenities, the bedrooms are marked by a classic style

The master suite also includes its own fireplace, and the chance to stay in the same room as one of the world's most famous celebrity couples

When Pitt and Jolie bought the home in 2006, they intended to use it as a base for their Make It Right Foundation, one of a number of charities they set up to put their fortune to good use

'Brangelina' are not the only famous occupants, with famed music producer Cosimo Matassa previously using it as a studio as he recorded R&B greats such as Ray Charles

It is clear to see why a slew of A-listers have also bought homes in the area, with actor John Goodman reportedly a common sight in the streets of the French Quarter.

The home itself also has a celebrity history that extends beyond its most famous occupants, as famed producer Cosimo Matassa used it as a studio as he recorded R&B greats such as Ray Charles.

When Pitt and Jolie bought the home in 2006, they reportedly intended to use it as a base for their Make It Right Foundation, one of a number of charities they set up to put their fortune to good use.

The foundation was devoted to rebuilding homes in the area destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

It was sold amid the couple's high-profile split in 2016, and has now hit the market again with a starting bid of just $1 million.

The home is being auctioned off by Interluxe Auctions.
Donald Trump's ambitious proposals for sweeping federal actions if he wins a second term have left some wondering if the era of the small-government conservative has ended.

In campaign videos and social media posts, Trump has laid out what he calls Agenda47, his dramatic vison for a federal government more active in matters usually left to the states.

He proposes building 10 'freedom cities' featuring flying cars on federal land, as well as a free national 'American Academy' that bans 'wokeness or jihadism,' funded by punitive levies on private universities.

Trump also talks of crackdowns on everything from MSNBC to hospitals and teachers, with proposals for national bans on transgender medical procedures for youth and a federal license for teachers who 'who embrace patriotic values'.

'If Trump wins, the days of small government conservatism may be over,' Lanhee Chen, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and former Mitt Romney aide, told the Wall Street Journal.

Donald Trump's ambitious proposals for sweeping federal actions if he wins a second term have left some wondering if the era of the small-government conservative has ended

Trump is hardly the only figure in the modern GOP to embrace government intervention as the cure for what ails, as evidenced by the wave of recent red-state restrictions on abortion, transgender medical procedures, and school curriculums.

But generally, US conservatives have pushed to limit the federal government, preferring to leave decisions in the hands of local and state elected leaders whenever feasible.

The difference today appears to be 'culture war' issues, which are so frequently framed by both sides as desperate zero-sum struggles in which the opposing world view cannot be tolerated.

Some conservatives argue that Trump's proposed approach is the only proper response to a liberal agenda that, in their view, will otherwise be imposed upon them.

Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank, told the Journal that conservative policy has to 'account for the reality of the damage that has been imposed by the culture war.'

Here are some of the elements of Trump's Agenda47, his plan if he should return to the White House as the country's 47th president:

Freedom Cities with flying cars

In a video posted to Truth Social, the ex-president explained that he'd take a tiny percentage of federally owned land and hold a contest for the best ideas, to then build as many as 10 'freedom cities' from scratch.

In those cities there would be 'towering monuments to our true American heroes' and 'vertical take-off and landing vehicles.'

'Just as the United States led the automotive revolution in the last century, I want to ensure that America, not China, leads this revolution in air mobility,' Trump said.

Additionally, the cities would be filled with children, with Trump suggesting the federal government during his second term would give out 'baby bonuses' to increase procreation.

The Trump plan for a 'quantum leap in the American standard of living' pulls from his roots as a real estate developer, his career before becoming a reality TV star and a politician.

Trump proposes building 10 'freedom cities' featuring flying cars on federal land (stock image)

He's previously pitched futuristic ideas such as a missile shield and championed the creation of Space Force during his time in the White House.

'Past generations of Americans pursued big dreams and daring projects that once seemed absolutely impossible. They pushed across an unsettled continent and built new cities in the wild frontier. They transformed American life with the interstate highway system - magnificent it was. And they launched a vast network of satellites into orbit, all around the earth,' Trump said in the video.

'But today, our country has lost its boldness,' he said. 'Under my leadership, we will get it back in a very big way.'

'Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living,' he said. 'That's what will happen.'

Trump then talked about the vastness of the federally owned land and said he'd use 'a very, very small portion of that land, just a fraction, one half of one percent - would you believe that' to build entirely new cities based on the contest winners' designs.

'These freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination and will give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact the American dream,' he said.

Trump added that 'forgotten communities' would be turned into hives of industry, as the US closes the door on imports from China.

He pledged to lower the cost of living, especially the cost of buying a car and building a new home. 'And they will be beautiful homes,' he said.

'And I will ask Congress to support baby bonuses for young parents to help launch a new baby boom,' the ex-president said.

He said he'd ask all the state's governors to join him in a national 'modernization and beautification campaign' which would include 'getting rid of ugly buildings' and refurbishing parks and public spaces.

Free online school dubbed 'American Academy'

In a free-college proposal that at first blush sounds more like the vision of Senator Bernie Sanders, Trump last month vowed to create a national degree-granting institution dubbed American Academy.

The online-only school would 'be strictly nonpolitical, and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed' Trump said in a video announcing the plan.

Trump citing recent campus controversies over the Israel-Hamas war, saying students and faculty had been 'expressing support for the savages and jihadists who attacked Israel.'

'We spend more money on higher education than any other country and yet, they're turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions. We can't let this happen. It's time to offer something dramatically different,' said Trump.

He proposed funding the new school with 'billions and billions' collected by 'taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments'.

'We will then use that money to endow a new institution called the American Academy,' Trump said.

'This institution will gather an entire universe of the highest quality educational content covering the full spectrum of human knowledge and skills and make that material available to every American citizen online for free.'

'Whether you want lectures or ancient histories or an introduction to financial accounting, or training in a skilled trade, the goal will be to deliver it and get it done properly,' he said.

Trump said the school would grant 'degree credentials' that would be recognized by the federal government and federal contractors as equivalent to a bachelor's degree.

'This will be a revolution in higher education and will provide life changing opportunities for tens of millions of our citizens,' he said.

Crackdowns on MSNBC, hospitals and teachers

In a social media post this week, Trump lashed out at left-leaning cable news network MSNBC for using 'government approved airwaves' to criticize him.

'Our so-called 'government' should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!' he wrote.

Trump also says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that 'only two genders,' as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States.

As part of his crackdown on transgender medical care, he will declare that hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be blocked from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Medicare dollars.

He would push Congress to prohibit hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.

Trump lashed out at left-leaning cable news network MSNBC for using 'government approved airwaves' to criticize him. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is seen above

Trump would push Congress to prohibit hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states

And while Trump has pledged to terminate the Department of Education, he also wants to exert enormous federal influence over local school districts and colleges.

He vows a crackdown on "pink haired communists" pushing critical race theory or "inappropriate" political material in schools.

Trump proposes a federal program to 'certify' teachers 'who embrace patriotic values, support our way of life and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children.'

He says that under his administration, schools will 'teach students to love their country, not to hate their country like theyre taught right now' and will promote 'the nuclear family' including 'the roles of mothers and fathers' and the 'things that make men and women different and unique.'

He would push the federal government to give funding preference to states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure, adopt merit pay to reward good teachers and allow the direct election of school principals by parents.

He has said he would cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or mask mandate and will promote prayer in public schools.

To protect students, he says he will support school districts that allow trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. He would provide federal funding so schools can hire veterans, retired police officers, and other trained gun owners as armed school guards.

New war on drugs, immigration crackdown, and mandatory stop-and-frisk

The former president has vowed to designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and to impose the death penalty on drug dealers and people traffickers.

The former president pardoned multiple dealers during his time in the White House and struggled to grasp the apparent contradiction during a Fox News interview in mid-June.

He boasted of pardoning a convict who had been in prison for 21 years for involvement in a cocaine ring, and became flustered when the network pointed out that she would have been executed under his new proposed policy.

On immigration, Trump has abandoned talk of 'the most gorgeous wall you've ever seen,' stretching 1,000 miles across the southern frontier and 'paid for by Mexico'.

While he was in office, Trump built around 440 miles of fencing  more than any other president in history  but fewer than 50 miles of new wall where there was none before.

But a second-term Trump would 'fully secure' the border, he says, ending mass unskilled immigration.

Asylum seeking migrants stand at a makeshift camp along the U.S.-Mexico border as they await processing by the U.S. Border Patrol on Friday in Jacumba Hot Springs, California

Trump also announced in May he would issue an executive order ending a longstanding policy of granting citizenship to US-born children with undocumented parents.

The former president has also vowed to get the federal government more involved in local policing practices.

Trump says he would require police to enforce 'stop-and-frisk,' the practice of detaining and searching civilians for weapons and drugs.

Declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 2013, the tactic has been criticized as discriminatory against racial minorities.

Trump says he would also deploy the National Guard 'to restore law and order' in liberal cities and would investigate 'radical Marxist prosecutors' refusing to punish criminals.
A young man has been airlifted to hospital critical condition after he fell head-first into a sand hole on a popular tourist island north of Brisbane as harrowing new details emerged.

Emergency services raced to Bribie Island shortly before 2pm on Saturday following reports of a man buried in sand after a freak fall.

It is understood the man was underneath the sand for an extended period of time and had no pulse when he was eventually pulled from the sand by friends.

Emergency responders could only access the scene via the beach.

Queensland paramedics spent two hours treating the critically injured patient and performing CPR at the scene.

Emergency services raced to Bribie Island to rescue a young man buried in sand after falling into a hole

The RACQ LifeFlight helicopter landed on the beach close to the scene as possible with a rescue critical care doctor and flight paramedic on board.

'The aeromedical crew joined QAS paramedics, Queensland Police Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service officers who had responded to the incident,' a LifeFlight statement read.

The man aged in his 20s was airlifted to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition.

Paramedics spent 45 minutes performing CPR on the man.

'The fact that they got a return of pulse on this young man after an extended period of CPR was evidence that good CPR was being done,' Queensland Ambulance's Peter Batt said.

'It's a credit to those people who jumped in and helped with their first aid.'

It's understood the man was attending a gathering at the bach at the time.

Friends dug a hole in the sand before the young man fell head first into the hole with sand collapsing on top of him, Nine News reported.

Bribie Island is the smallest and most northerly of three major sand islands forming the coastline sheltering the northern part of Moreton Bay.

The LifeFlight helicopter landed on the beach as close to the scene as possible
Actress Susan Sarandon apologized on Friday night for claiming Jewish people 'are getting a taste of what it feels like to be Muslim' amid the war with Hamas.

Sarandon's remarks at a November 17 pro-Palestine rally in New York City sparked widespread outrage, with critics saying they ignored the centuries of prejudice and antisemitism the Jewish community has endured.

The 77-year-old Oscar-winning actress was dropped by her Hollywood representative, United Talent Agency, which is run by Jewish CEO Jeremy Zimmer. UTA had represented Sarandon since 2014.

On Friday, she said she said her remarks last month were 'a terrible mistake'.

'This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true,' she said.

Speaking at a protest on November 17, Susan Sarandon said frightened Jews in America are 'getting a taste' of how it feels to be Muslim

Sarandon posted her apology on Instagram on Friday evening

She said the rally was 'to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire,' and said she had not planned to speak at the gathering, but was invited to address the crowd.

'Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, 'are getting a taste of what it is like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.''

Sarandon said her words ignored 'centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe' as well as recent atrocities, such as the Tree of Life synagogue attack, which saw 11 murdered in October 2018 in Pittsburgh - the worst attack on the Jewish community in modern US history.

Sarandon added: 'I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment.

'It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.'

Since the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis, and the reprisals in Gaza, which have killed 15,000 Palestinians, Sarandon has attended several rallies in New York.

The veteran left-wing activist has been filmed joining in the chant 'from the river to the sea,' a battle cry used by pro-Palestinian activists and Hamas alike that many view as an anti-Semitic call for the destruction of Israel.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show star has also retweeted posts on X celebrating Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, who has been dogged for years with allegations of anti-Semitism.

Susan Sarandon is seen at a pro-Palestine rally in New York City last month. She attended another over the weekend, where she was seen chanting 'from the river to the sea,' which has been branded an anti-Semitic phrase that calls for the destruction of Israel

Journalist Asra Nomani was among those criticizing Sarandon for her comments.

Sharing a photo of herself with her parents, Nomani said: 'Hi there Susan Sarandon, this is my mom, my dad and me on the rail trail in Morgantown, West by God Virginia. let me tell you what it means to be Muslim in America.

'My dad didn't have to become a second-class indentured servant to one of the many tyrants of Muslim countries that use immigrants from India, like my family, as essential slaves... my dad got a job as an assistant professor of nutrition.

'He got rejected first for tenure but being Muslim in America meant he got a right like everybody got  his right to appeal and guess what? He won and he became a full professor.

'My mom? Being Muslim in America meant she got to live FREE with the wind in her hair, like Masih Alinejad fights for women in the Muslim nation of Iran to be able to enjoy.'

She went on to describe how she was able to give birth safely and freely to a baby out of wedlock in America - something that would have led to her death in some Muslim countries.

Asra Nomani, born in India to Muslim parents, responded to Sarandon on Twitter with a list of the freedoms she and her parents enjoy in the US

Backlash: There is mounting fury over Sarandon's remarks

'Where do you think I came to give birth to my baby in safety and security, without shame? West by God Virginia in the United States of America  where we enjoy equal rights as Muslim AmeriCANs, not AmeriCANTs.

'This is a taste of life for a Muslim family in America. Please dont minimize the experience of Jewish Americans by sanitizing the hell that it is for Muslims living in Muslim countries and vilifying America for the life  and freedoms  she offers Muslims like my family.

'Go, live like a Muslim woman in a Muslim country. You will come back to America and kiss the land beneath your feet,' she said.

Others likened her remarks to those of Jane Fonda during the Vietnam War. Fonda earned herself the nickname 'Hanoi Jane' for her continuous condemnation of the American military effort in Vietnam.

She traveled to the region and posed atop an antiaircraft gun, something she has since apologized for.

Jane Fonda sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in Vietnam in 1972. She has since apologized for offending the families of US veterans with the photo and her remarks about the war

'Well, well, well. The Vietnam War had Hanoi Jane. Looks like Hamas will have Gaza Susan. She should go visit them,' said one critic.

'Someone please inform actress Susan Sarandon that she can open a good bottle of wine and celebrate by her private pool - another death of Jewish grandpa.

'Hamas, which she proudly supports, just announced that one of the hundreds of innocent Israelies they kidnapped - 86-year-old Aryeh Zalmanovich - was killed in captivity.

'Does this please you Susan? Does this fill your heart with joy?' said another.

There has been a sharp uptick in both antisemitism and Islamophobia in the US since the October 7 attack and ensuing conflict.

The large majority of public protests in major cities like New York have been pro-Palestine, with some participants holding up antisemitic signs calling on people to 'clean the world of Jews'.
BoM said the lightshow will continue for days

A dazzling display of lights lit up the night sky to welcome in summerwith many Aussies stayed up late to make sure they did not miss out.

The Aurora Australis were visible in several states late into the night on Friday and into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Also known as the 'Southern Lights', they are caused by a combination of natural forces occurring some 100km above the earth's surface.

Views of the spectacular light show were particularly prominent across Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia which were promptly shared online star-gazers.

Timelapse of all the photos I took tonight. Down at Island Point, just south of Mandurah.

Biggest aurora I've seen! Could see it moving w/ the naked eye, w/ massive beams appearing suddenly & a very obvious pink hue across the sky.

Just amazing!#Perth #WesternAustralia #Aurora pic.twitter.com/lvEZbUYJjd  Shelley  (@wheresshelly) December 1, 2023

The Aurora Australis lit up skies on Friday night in several states across the country

In Victoria shades of pink were visible to the naked eye for those in the country who were away from the light pollution of the city

Aurora Australis is caused by solar flares emitting particles towards Earth which then smash into atoms in our atmosphere and create the mesmerising display.

The streaks of greens, purples, reds and yellows are formed inside the Aurora Oval where electrons emanating from the sun and gases from the planet collide.

These electrical discharges energise the atoms of oxygen and nitrogen, causing the release of the multicoloured light which was seen by thousands.

Each colour is representative of a particular distance from the earth's surface.

They can also be seen from New Zealand and Antarctica and are the southern Hemisphere's equivalent to the Northern Lights.

Displays can happen at any time of the year but are most common between March and September.

Stargazers rushed out to get a glimpse of what are also known as the 'Southern Lights' which were best seen between the hours of 10pm and 2am

In Tasmania viewers got some of the best sights thanks to its proximity to the Earth's South Magnetic Pole

READ MORE: How to see the Aurora Australis Advertisement

Any major urban light sources found near cities sadly obscure the Aurora Australis because of the light pollution which hides the Milky Way and the lights.

Tasmania is often considered the best vantage point to enjoy the show because of the state's location to the Earth's South Magnetic Pole.

The natural phenomenon occurs at the north and south poles, meaning people located in very high or very low latitudes have better chances of observing one.

Anyone who missed out in the first night of lights can look forward to potentially getting another shot to see them in the coming nights as the solar storm rages on.

The Perth Observatory has been documenting the current storm which caused a 'sudden rise in auroral activity'.

People who planned on taking advantage of the storm to see the lights for themselves have been advised to bring a digital camera along to make the most of their trip.

'It's best to bring a digital camera and tripod or have a pro/night mode on your phone camera with you,' staff at the Observatory suggested.

'The aurora might be there, but our eye's poor colour vision at night makes it hard to pick it out. This is where the camera will help you.'

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an aurora alert on Friday indicating a geomagnetic storm is active and warned that cloud coverage over Tasmania and along the eastern coast of Queensland could affect visibility.

The brightest auroras last about one to two hours and the best time to spot them is between 10pm and 2am.

The Perth Observatory said that that lights are caused by a solar storm where flares from the sun collide with atoms in the atmosphere which create the vivid display

In South Australia the lights were a mesmerising blend of red, pink and yellow and the milky way was clearly visible in the background

New South Wales was treated to a deep blue which blended into a soft velvet haze as the lights got closer to the horizon

For spectators located in lower latitudes, the lights will be seen from the horizon, although from here, less colour is emitted, usually shades of grey.

Dr Jeanne Young, a space weather forecaster at the bureau said stronger colours could still be observed from these points depending on the intensity of the solar storms.

'You do have to be lucky to see an Aurora but if you do see one, you won't be disappointed,' Dr Young explained.

'Ideally you need a dark night with little cloud cover, you don't want a bright moon or any light pollution so a dark location such as a beach or hill where you have an unobstructed view to the south.

'The colours displayed by an aurora are generally visible to the naked eye if you're near the poles because the overhead aurora is more intense.'

Northern auroras - often know as the 'Northern Lights' - are called Aurora Borealis, which means 'dawn of the north'.

Southern lights are called Aurora Australis - from the Latin term meaning southern, which incidentally, is how Australia got its name.
Some 1.7mn of 2.3mn Palestinians have been displaced and over 15k killed

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed following the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas after a week-long ceasefire.

Images from Gaza showed the horrifying extent of civilian casualties as Palestinians clutched loved ones at the central Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

The Red Cross has said that 'Gaza is at breaking point' - and the renewed violence is making it challenging to get food and water to civilians bearing the brunt of the conflict.

'We continue to urge all parties to allow (aid) access for all civilians  hospitals, medical teams and humanitarian workers so that they can continue with their life-saving work,' Hisham Mhanna of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Al Jazeera from Gaza today.

Israel meanwhile claims to have hit more than 400 targets overnight, including many in the southern Khan Yunis area, a city of 200,000 where tens of thousands have flocked in recent weeks to escape the aerial bombardment of the north.

Residents have described the air strikes as the heaviest bombing of the war. Mother-of-four Samira said it was 'a night of horror', adding: 'It was one of the worst nights we spent in Khan Younis in the past six weeks since we arrived here... We are so afraid they will enter Khan Younis.'

People in the east of the region are now also being told to move to Rafah, where the enclave borders Egypt, which a rights group called an indication Israeli forces are looking to further displace civilians.

Injured people are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on December 2, 2023

Injured people, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment after an Israeli attack in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on December 2, 2023

Children pictured in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on December 2 following an Israeli airstrike

A picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on December 2, 2023, shows an explosion and smoke billowing over the Palestinian territory during an Israeli strike

Explosions and smoke in Gaza City amid Israeli airstrikes on December 2, 2023

Two million people - almost Gaza's entire population - are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip during fighting with Israel has passed 15,200 and about 70 per cent were women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 85 square mile area as Israeli strikes continue to devastate residential areas from above.

Hostilities resumed in Gaza on Friday after a six-day truce was extended by 24 hours in a last-minute deal made on Thursday in an effort to free the remaining hostages.

Saleh al Arouri, the deputy Hamas chief, told Al Jazeera today that there will be no further exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners until 'the war on Gaza is over'.

He said the remaining Israeli soldiers are civilian men who served in the military.

Israel dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip the night before, urging civilians to seek shelter, but by the evening there were no reports of any significant evacuation efforts.

'There is no place to go,' explained Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

'They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.'

Some 1.7mn Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, the UN said late in November, with 900,000 packing into crowded UN-run shelters.

Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of humanitarian aid NGO Mercy Corps, said today: 'Reports of leaflets dropped in Khan Younis urging people to move further south to Rafah are deeply concerning. We are already seeing the consequences of severe overcrowding in the south  where 80% of the population has evacuated.

'Many of our own team members are reporting that they and their families are suffering from gastrointestinal and skin ailments, with children most affected, due to the lack of clean water. They are rationing salty water for laundry and bathing.

'One team member who journeyed south shared, 'I saw death as I walked through this 'safe' corridor more than ever before. I wished I could die at that moment and not smell the scent of blood, not see the dead body parts, not see death everywhere in my homeland. I wish I had never left my home, instead of living in this false safety they sent us to.'

'Further reports of maps published to advise Palestinians of so-called 'safe areas' for evacuation in Gaza are equally troubling. No place in Gaza is safe, and any attempts to signal safe zones to civilians does not absolve parties to the conflict from adhering to International Humanitarian Law and protecting civilians anywhere they are. Unilateral creation of safe zones would risk harm and large-scale loss of life as concentrating civilians in zones during active hostilities can lead to further danger.

McKenna urged aid be 'significantly increased' to meet the demands of the spiralling humanitarian crisis. 'Aid and aid access must not be used as a bargaining chip for any ongoing negotiations.'

Smoke rising from buildings after being hit by Israeli strikes, after battles resumed between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 2, 2023

A view of damage in the street between Rafah and Khan Yunis cities due to Israeli attacks after the end of the humanitarian pause in Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 2, 2023

The aftermath of Israeli strikes in a street between Rafah and Khan Younis, southern Gaza

Israeli soldiers with their armoured fighting vehicles gather at a position near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, 2 December 2023

Smoke rising from buildings after being hit by Israeli strikes, after battles resumed between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 2, 2023

People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in an airstrike on December 2, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza

People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in an airstrike on December 02, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza

As the hostilities open up once more, Israel's main ally in the United States has urged the country to show restraint an avoid the unnecessary killing of civilians in its retaliatory attacks.

'This is going to be very important going forward,' secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai. 'It's something we're going to be looking at very closely.'

But Israel is now reported to be planning an intensified and extended campaign in the Gaza Strip lasting potentially more than a year as hostilities resume in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave.

'This will be a very long war ... we're currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives,' said one source, as reported by the Financial Times.

A multiphase strategy is expected to see Israeli forces sweep south from their forward bases around Gaza City in an effort to kill Hamas' top officials, according to sources familiar with Israeli operations.

Israel will look to target Hamas' three top leaders in a bid to displace Hamas from its de facto governance of the Gaza Strip.

Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa were identified as top targets for Israel by sources speaking to the FT. Between them, they form a secretive triumvirate responsible for planning and executing the October 7 assault into Israel.

SInwar, 61, is suspected to be based in a Hamas command and control centre under the Al Shifa hospital, which Israel has been steadily navigating since its raid last month.

As the Head of Hamas in Gaza, he is the second most powerful member of Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh. The latter now lives in Doha, Qatar and has been suggested as another main target for assassination, as reported in October.

Sinwar is believed to be a key planner of the October 7 attacks that left some 1,200 Israelis dead. He set up Hamas' armed outfit, the IQB, but the division has since been taken over by chiefs Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa.

The whereabouts of Deif, 58, are unknown, though he is most likely in Gaza in the maze of tunnels under the enclave. An Israeli security source said in October he was directly involved in the planning and operational aspects of the attack.

'There are two brains, but there is one mastermind,' the source said, referring to Sinwar and Deif without elaborating.

Marwan Issa, 58, is the deputy leader of Hamas' IQB military wing.

Two military experts told Reuters that killing Sinwar, Deif and Issa would allow Israel to claim an important symbolic victory. But achieving even that goal would be long and costly, with no guarantee of success.

Israel's operations over the next year or so will be flexible, resilient to pressure from international onlookers and adaptive to opportunities to free hostages, a source told the FT today.

Looking ahead, Israel will seek a 'security envelope' with special zones and arrangements that will prevent Hamas from being positioned on its border after the war in Gaza is over, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

Asked whether Israel was seeking a buffer zone between itself and Gaza to prevent future attacks, senior adviser Mark Regev told reporters: 'Israel will have to have a security envelope. We can never again allow terrorists to cross the border and butcher our people the way they did on October 7.'

'If you ask me about a buffer zone, let me be clear; you won't have a situation in the future where you can have Hamas terrorists on the border, directly on the border, positioned just to cross over and kill our people again,' Regev said.

'That is not Israel taking territory from Gaza,' said Regev. 'On the contrary, that is creating security zones where you have a special situation on the ground which limits the ability of people to enter Israel to kill our people. It's common sense.'

US Vice President Kamala Harris meanwhile said today they would like to see a 'unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority'.

She urged today that there must be regional consensus and support to a post-conflict Gaza in any outcome.

Ms Harris said Israel has a legitimate military objective against Hamas but must do more to protect innocent people in Gaza.

'Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,' Ms Harris told reporters.

'So we all want this conflict to end as soon as possible, and to ensure Israel's security and ensure security for the Palestinian people. We must accelerate efforts to build an enduring peace.'

Pictured: Yahya Sinwar (left) and Mohammed Deif (right)

Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, December 2, 2023

Palestinians were told on Thursday to flee - but warn there is nowhere left for them to go

Israeli troops on the ground in the northern Gaza Strip on December 2

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip, after a temporary truce expired between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout picture released on December 2, 2023

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in this handout picture released on December 2, 2023

Israel and Hamas have returned to fighting after a week's ceasefire.

A total of 110 hostages taken prisoner during the October 7 attacks on Israel were released during the truce after extensive negotiations.

Seventy-eight of them were Israeli woman and children, freed as part of a deal between Israel and Gaza mediated by Qatar.

Three Russian-Israelis, two women and one man were also released outside of the deal. The freeing of Yelena Trupanov, and her mother Irena Tati, were understood to be part of a gesture to Russian President Vladimir Putin from Hamas.

Under the main deal, 180 Palestinians were also released from Israeli jails.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that as of November 22, two days before the truce began, 7,200 prisoners were being held by Israel, among them 88 women and 250 children 17 and under.

Most on Israel's list of prisoners to be released were from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and were held for incidents such as attempted stabbings, hurling stones at Israeli soldiers, making explosives, damaging property and having contacts with hostile organisations. None are accused of murder.

Many were held under administrative detention, meaning they were held without trial.

Lord Ricketts, who served as the UK's first national security adviser, has said Israel is in danger of causing 'massive civilian casualties' if it takes the fight to Hamas in southern Gaza.

The peer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'They've got an increasing dilemma.

'They ordered a million people from the north to leave into the south.

'They now have two million people there, many of them displaced, many of them living out in the open.

'They simply can't use the same kind of armoured all-out assault that they used in the north without massive civilian casualties.'

He said Tel Aviv's plan to destroy Hamas 'seems to me to be impossible' due to the political and social nature of the organisation.

Khan Younis has been devastated by Israeli airstrikes as forces refocus on targets in the south

A view of damaged buildings in Gaza, after a temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas expired, as seen from southern Israel, December 2, 2023

Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, December 2, 2023

Mediators continue bold efforts to coordinate another ceasefire despite the clashes.

Qatar, which led talks culminating in last week's ceasefire, said it will persist in seeking a renewed agreement - but shared the sentiment that the conflict is making it harder.

Many have condemned the end of the ceasefire, urging top officials to find any way to avoid bringing further death and destruction to the lives of civilians caught up in the conflict.

A United Nations official said: 'Those in power have decided that the killing of children would recommence.'

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to Qatar to help carve out a new peace deal.

He said on Saturday France was 'very concerned' by the resumption of violence in Gaza.

Macron also told a press conference at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai that the situation required the doubling down on efforts to obtain a lasting ceasefire and the freeing of all hostages - and urged Israel to lay out clear goals for the operation.

'We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas, does anyone think it is possible? If this is the case, the war will last 10 years,' he said.

'There is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at the cost of Palestinian lives and thus of the resentment of public opinions in the region. Let's be collectively lucid,' Macron added.

Asked for a response to that remark, Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters Israel does not want to see Gaza civilians caught in the crossfire as battles resume.

'Israel is targeting Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization that has committed the most horrific violence against innocent civilians. Israel is making a maximum effort to safeguard Gaza's civilians,' said Regev.

Residential buildings lie in ruin following Israeli strikes at the Qatari-funded Hamad City in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 2, 2023

Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, December 2, 2023

Some 1.7mn Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, the UN said late in November

More than 15,000 Gazans have now been killed in the conflict since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Among them, prominent scientist Sufyan Tayeh was killed in an Israeli airstike targeting the town of Al-Faluja, the Palestinian Higher Education ministry announced on Saturday.

Tayeh, who was president of the Islamic University of Gaza, was a leading researcher in physics and applied mathematics.
Heavy autumn rain has left UK farmers suffering the worst potato yield ever, leaving suppliers looking abroad and creating fears about stocks for this year's Christmas dinners.

Experts warn that supermarkets may have to take imports from countries as far Egypt due to the shortage, ramping up the environmental impact of the traditional meals.

The magazine editor of the Fresh Produce Journal, Fred Searle, said potato planting had notably decreased and that the sector was facing 'the lowest UK crop on record this season', estimating that about '4.1m tonnes of potatoes would be harvested, 2m less than five or six years ago'.

Searle said that as well as rainy weather, the issue was caused by a lower harvest on businesses 'dropping out of the sector' because of cost pressures worsened by years of unpredictable weather.

'One producer said that in the last six years, there have been extreme weather events that have affected potato production,' Searle told the Guardian. 'If you cannot deliver a crop, then you cannot get the full returns on it.'

Experts warn that supermarkets may have to take imports from countries as far Egypt due to the shortage, ramping up the environmental impact of Christmas dinners (Stock Image)

An expert said potato planting had notably decreased and the sector was facing 'the lowest UK crop on record this season', estimating that about '4.1m tonnes of potatoes would be harvested, 2m less than five or six years ago' (File Photo)

A report from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think-tank this week said the global climate crisis was responsible for helping to increase food bills by more than 600 over the past two years in Britain.

Searle said climate change impacted domestic vegetable production and played a role in the need for more imported goods.

He said the poor UK potato crop could lead to gaps on shelves in certain areas and a tighter supply in general due to the rainy weather. He said he was not able to say that there won't be any potatoes but noted that there may be an increase in imports because of the shortage.

The UK rarely imports potatoes, but if shortages ramp up prices there is a high chance that suppliers will look to Egypt and Israel for produce.

The main regions for growing potatoes in the UK and where imports for the Christmas period may arrive from

Searle said the rise in farmers' costs  including increased fertiliser prices, affected by the energy crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, and higher labour bills  has also meant that less potatoes are being planted to start with.

Crops of Christmas staples cauliflower and broccoli have also been impacted by the weather.

Searle said that some of the biggest UK broccoli producers have said there will be a shortage at Christmas.
An elderly man has died after an explosion at a house in Edinburgh rocked a neighbourhood like a 'mini earthquake' last night - as a hero dad pulled a woman from the rubble.

Police Scotland said officers were called to the Baberton area of the city at 10.25pm on Friday following 'multiple reports' of the incident which destroyed the home.

A man, 84, died after the horrific house explosion on Baberton Mains Avenue, police said.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five appliances had been in attendance and that two people had been rescued from the ruins of the home prior to their arrival. A 43-year-old woman and 54-year-old man were also taken to hospital for treatment, but their condition is currently unknown.

Police say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the explosion.

An aerial photo showing the destruction in the Baberton area of Edinburgh after a house explosion last night

An an elderly man has died after an explosion at a house in Edinburgh rocked a neighbourhood like a 'mini earthquake ' last night

Police officers at the scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, after an 84-year-old man has died following an explosion at a house on Friday night

The property was reduced to rubble and debris was strewn across the residential street in Baberton after the blast at around 10.25pm

A number of homes were also evacuated as a precaution and the road - Baberton Mains Avenue - remains closed as of Saturday morning.

The property was reduced to rubble and debris was strewn across the residential street in Baberton after the blast at around 10.25pm.

Emergency services were on the scene in Baberton Mains Avenue yesterday and advised people to avoid the area.

Hero dad Ross Aitchison, who lives nearby, pulled a woman from the rubble of the explosion with the help of another good samaritan.

Mr Aitchison's told EdinburghLive that he and another man 'pulled the woman from the rubble'. He said the situation was 'very scary'.

His son son Ben told local news that he received a phone call from his father at the time of the explosion last night saying: 'Did you hear that big bang?'

Ben said that his father told him the house exploded after a suspected 'gas leak'.

Ross was one of the first to arrive on the scene as he only lives around half a minute from where it happened.

His son said that by the time he arrived he had already rescued a woman from the debris with the help of another local. 'Luckily she was still alive,' he added.

Ross said Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five appliances had attended and two people had been rescued from the ruins of the home before their arrival.

The service left the scene at 6.39am on Saturday after handing control to Police Scotland.

Some locals reported hearing the explosion as far away as Gilmerton, a suburb miles from the blast site.

Neighbours said they felt their homes shaking, while another person posted that they had heard the blast from inside a cinema in nearby Wester Hailes.

The shockwave from the blast shattered windows from houses across the street

The force of the explosion ripped the house apart causing irreparable damage

Gas engineers at the scene of the explosion on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, today

Gas engineers and police officers at the scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh

Huge amounts of rubble little Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh, after a house exploded last night

Police at the scene of the explosion this morning, as stunned locals look on

The explosion completely destroyed the house which killed at 84-year-old man

Dramatic footage of the house was shared on social media showing it had been completely destroyed.

A car on the driveway was covered in rubble and damage could be seen to the neighbouring house. Residents said it was a suspected gas explosion.

A spokeswoman for gas distributor SGN said the body was brought in to assist emergency services and 'ensure the immediate vicinity' was 'made safe', adding it was 'too early to speculate' on the cause of the explosion.

'At around 10.45pm last night, we received a request to assist the emergency services following reports of a serious explosion in Baberton, Edinburgh,' the spokeswoman said.

'Our engineers worked with the emergency services to ensure the immediate vicinity in Baberton Mains Avenue was made safe in our role as the gas emergency service.

'Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the man who has tragically died as well as those who have been injured.

'While it is too early to speculate as to what has happened, we are working closely with the authorities to help discover the cause.'

One local wrote on Facebook: 'Very scary. What a fright we all got. The couple/owners are out and away to hospital.'

Another claimed to have pulled a person out from under the rubble, commenting: 'Both are safe and away to hospital! Me and another guy pulled the woman from the rubble! Very scary that was.'

A third penned on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'I heard the loud bang from my house.'

A fourth said: 'Heard the bang but thought it was fireworks going off.'

People in a nearby cinema felt the explosion and residents reported their homes shaking.

A car which had its windows shattered in the explosion last night in Baberton, Edinburgh

The scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, after an 84-year-old man has died following an explosion at a house on Friday night

A car on the driveway was covered in rubble and damage could be seen to the neighbouring house. Residents said it was a suspected gas explosion

People in a nearby cinema felt the explosion and residents reported their homes shaking

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Around 10.25pm on Friday, 1 December, 2023 we were called to reports of an explosion at a property on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

'Emergency services are at the scene, and we would advise people to avoid the area at this time.'

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: 'We were alerted at 10.26 pm on Friday 1 December to reports of a gas explosion affecting residential properties on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

'Operations control mobilised five fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where firefighters worked to make the area safe.

'Two casualties were rescued prior to our arrival, and the crews remain on scene.'

Sue Webber, a Scottish Tory MSP for the Lothian region, wrote on social media: 'Such tragic news, in such a close community.

'Thank you to all the emergency services that attended. My thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this incident.'
A trans refugee from Saudi Arabia who waved a sign at a pro-Palestine rally.calling for Israel to 'burn in hell' found the placard at a bus stop and didn't understand it, a court heard.

Laura Davis, 22, pleaded guilty through an Arabic interpreter to a charge of having caused racially, religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing when she appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Davis, of Barnet, north London, was charged after being spotted with the sign, which read 'FREE PALESTINE!! ISRA*L BURN IN HELL' at a protest in central London on October 28.

The sign was likely to cause 'harassment alarm or distress' and the offence was 'racially aggravated', the court was told - but lawyers for the Saudi woman said she didn't understand its meaning and found it on her way to the rally.

Nicholas Tarry, chairman of the magistrates' bench, told Davis the message on the placard 'is not an appropriate thing to be waving; it's violent language about another country and it is not allowed'.

Laura Davis, 22, admitted causing racially and religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress with the sign

Ms Davis is a Saudi Arabian refugee who sought asylum in the UK because of her transgender identity, the court was told

Around 100,000 people are believed to have attended the October 28 pro-Palestine protests in London (pictured)

Ms Davis was spotted carrying the sign on CCTV before she was stopped by police officers

The court heard Davis fled her home in Saudi Arabia in December 2021 because she was not accepted as a transgender person. She was granted asylum in the summer.

Met Police officers stopped her on Regent Street on the evening of October 28 after spotting the sign on CCTV.

Mr Tarry, who ordered her to pay a total of 225 including 100 fine, 40 victim surcharge and 85 costs, told Davis: 'You have come to this country for tolerance. You deserve tolerance and other people do as well.

'You must show other people the tolerance you expect them to show you. Do you understand?'

Davis nodded quietly as she stood in the dock.

An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of the capital on October 28, three weeks after Hamas terrorists entered Gaza and slaughtered some 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians.

Speaking in mitigation, defence lawyer Nicola White said Davis attended the rally 'with good intentions' but, in 'an impulsive action', carried the sign away after finding it at the bus stop.

Davis did not mean to offend anyone, Ms White said, adding that she has shown remorse and made an early guilty plea.

She added that the protester did not seek clarification about the sign's meaning from someone who could help her understand it.

Ms White said: 'She has expressed deep remorse and regret in that moment in picking up that sign that she did not seek clarification from another Arabic-speaking member of the protest (about its meaning).'

She added: 'She is a member of the transgender community and due to the views in Saudi Arabia, she had no choice but to flee. She has been abandoned by her family because of the way she lives.'

The money and costs will be deducted from Davis's benefits as she completes a course and seeks employment, the court was told.

The Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said following the conviction: 'We have been clear that while the right to protest lawfully must be respected, that does not extend to actions or statements that cross the line from political speech into criminality.

'While the majority of those attending protests have done so lawfully, it is regrettable that we have seen a number of people who have turned up carrying signs or chanting in a way that they should know will cause alarm or distress to others and in particular those in our Jewish communities.

'If you are coming out to protest, please think carefully about how slogans and statements might impact others. We will not tolerate hate speech or abuse.

'Anyone who continues to engage in that sort of behaviour, despite the clear warnings we have provided, will face police action and could end up before the courts.'
Britain will look to 'lead a pledge' to triple nuclear power output as part of a push to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The UK was among 22 signatories of a 'Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy' signed on Friday at COP28 in Dubai and shared earlier today. It marks the first time governments have joined at the UN's main climate conference to endorse nuclear.

The declaration will aim to bring together signatories to invest in new tech, commit to the building of new infrastructure 'such as small modular and other advanced reactors' and encourage financial institutions to lend power between endorsers.

It has been heralded as a 'major turnaround' for the technology since it was first rumoured as a US-UK led drive in November, bringing significant investment to a controversial and long-ignored source of clean power.

It came as American manufacturer Westinghouse was today reported to be close to agreeing a long-awaited deal to build four small modular nuclear reactors in England's northeast - potentially displacing Rolls-Royce.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a national statement at the World Climate Action Summit during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, December 1

EDF's Sizewell B nuclear power station is pictured ahead of a visit by Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Sizewell, eastern England on September 1, 2022

On the list of endorsing countries were a mix of countries with pre-existing nuclear industries and new adopters. They included: the United States, the UK, France, Japan, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the UAE.

How Britain fell behind on its nuclear programme Britain was one of the first adopters of nuclear power for civil purposes, taking a keen interest in the technology through World War II. Armistice saw the building of the first reactors under the UK's Ministry of Supply in 1946, operational a year later. For a while, Britain led Europe with the first large reactor outside the UK, building 'BEPO' in 1948 and demonstrating nuclear as a commercially viable technology. By 1953, Britain had invested in a civil nuclear programme and began construction on two new sites, investing widely in new technologies. The Suez crisis sparked concerns about coal and oil shortages, encouraging an even larger nuclear programme and attention given to energy security. Over the next few decades, nuclear power gained mixed support. International incidents created opposition to the technology and some erroneously feared civil nuclear technology could explode like the atom bomb. The mid-1990s saw a new push to privatise nuclear assets, but the industry lacked the financing support to encourage investors to back projects costing potentially billions of pounds. Nuclear peaked in the early Blair years, contributing 25 per cent of Britain's energy mix. But with time, ageing reactors were retired and not replaced, seeing later adopters overtake Britain as champions of nuclear power. Advertisement

John Kerry, the US's climate envoy, clarified the move: 'We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source.

'But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can't get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear. These are just scientific realities. No politics involved in this, no ideology involved in this.'

Welcoming the Declaration, Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, the trade body of the UK civil nuclear industry, said: 'This declaration marks a new international consensus that we have to build out nuclear power at scale and at pace to hit net zero.'

'I am delighted that the UK is at the forefront of this effort, and I look forward to seeing the UK's plan to triple capacity in the Roadmap early next year,' he added.

According to a document seen by Bloomberg News and reported last month, the new Declaration will call on the World Bank and other institutions to include nuclear energy in their lending policies.

The aim is to triple nuclear generation from their pre-Covid 2020 estimates, the outlet reported.

The exact prescriptions of the Declaration were not laid out in the press release shared on Saturday, which spoke broadly of recognising the importance of nuclear power and its role in reducing emissions.

Britain has seen something of a revival in recent years, having paved the way for new investment with the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022, legislation long-awaited by advocates who say it will allow a model of financing huge projects that splits risk between investors and encourages investment.

The system was tried and tested with the financing of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, set to open in 2025.

But currently, many of its reactors risk retirement after decades of neglect. Heysham II and Torness were granted extensions to 2030 back in 2016, but have since been pegged for closure by 2028.

Late last year, French provider EDF reported it was considering shutting down its Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants before their (extended) March 2024 decommissioning date, citing the windfall tax.

Three of Britain's 15 civil nuclear reactors have already stopped generating power as they begin to defuel - ahead of decommissioning for good.

Today, the UK generates about 15 per cent of its electricity from about 6.5 GW of nuclear capacity. By contrast, France derives about 70 per cent of its power from nuclear energy after decades spent investing in technology around a keen policy of energy security.

As a result, France also enjoys a regulated unit price of electricity about 53 per cent of what it costs in Great Britain. The price of gas is about the same.

Speaking in Dubai on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to flagbear for the energy source.

'I want to reiterate the fact that nuclear energy is a clean energy,' he said as France signed the Declaration. 'Nuclear energy is back.'

Ukraine, another signatory of the Declaration, has also been investing in its domestic nuclear industry for some years, hoping to reduce reliance on Russian exports. The reactor at Zaporizhzhia, a site of intense conflict through the war, is responsible for nearly half of Ukraine's four reactors and is the largest in Europe.

Supporters argue the adoption of nuclear power will offer endorsers greater energy independence and a source of clean energy, acting in step with renewable sources like wind and solar power prone to inconsistent outputs dependent on weather.

Germany was notably absent from the list, having wrestled with the adoption of nuclear power since the late 1970s. Questions were raised over the future of nuclear power in Germany as the war in Ukraine forced its anti-nuclear government to delay the phasing out of its last reactors until April 2023.

With interruptions to Russian sources of fuel, Germany has nevertheless been pressed to fall back on burning coal in colder months - something it says it will stop doing by 2030.

The first new nuclear reactor for a British power station for over 30 years arrives by barge at Combwich Wharf on the River Parrett, Somerset. Picture date: Friday February 24, 2023

Forests, finance, fuel.



At #COP28 the Prime Minister @RishiSunak has announced 1.6 billion in UK funding for new climate projects - from ending deforestation to speeding up the transition to renewables. pic.twitter.com/ZdIH0NS8Nc  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 1, 2023

Some 400,000 people are expected to travel to Dubai between November 30 and December 12 for the UN's annual Climate Change Conference.

This includes 97,000 registered as official delegates with access to the security-protected inner 'Blue Zone' for accredited government figures and companies.

The conference, intended for governments to agree on policies to limit and manage environmental impact, has grown significantly since its inception in the mid-1990s, when around 5,000 attended each year.
Shanghai makes great strides in intelligent robot industry

14:46, December 02, 2023 By Xie Weiqun, Shen Wenmin ( People's Daily

Photo shows humanoid robot GR-1 developed by Chinese tech firm Fourier Intelligent. (Photo from the official website of Fourier Intelligent)

In the exhibition hall of Chinese tech firm Fourier Intelligent in the Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, a humanoid robot GR-1 was showcasing its abilities. The 1.65-meter-tall and 55-kilogram-weight robot could walk at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour and carry a load of up to 50 kilograms.

"The GR-1 has a highly biomimetic body structure and human-like motion control, enabling it to perform functions such as fast walking, agile obstacle avoidance, stable uphill and downhill movement, and resistance to impacts. It is an ideal carrier for general artificial intelligence (AI)," said Gu Jie, chairman of Fourier Intelligent.

The company focuses on the development of high-performance rehabilitation robots. It has only eight years of history, but has already launched over 30 product series that are now used in more than 2,000 medical institutions.

"We have shifted our focus from 'specialized robots' to 'general-purpose robots,' aiming at the future mainstream of the industry. Humanoid robots have a certain degree of versatility and they have enormous potential in various application scenarios such as industry, rehabilitation, home services, and scientific research. Through independent innovation, we have been able to produce key components such as joints domestically," Gu said.

Shanghai has made early and rapid progress in the development of the AI industry. Currently, there are over 350 AI enterprises above designated size in Shanghai, with a total output value of over 380 billion yuan ($53.6 billion), which is approximately three times of that five years ago.

Intelligent robots, involving advanced technologies such as AI, high-end manufacturing, and new materials, have become a new engine driving economic growth and a new frontier for technological competition.

Robotic arms assemble products in a workshop of Shanghai Junyi Industrial Automation Co., Ltd. (People's Daily Online/Jiang Huihui)

Shanghai is proactively cultivating intelligent robots in order to build new engines of growth and competitive strengths for the future.

In October this year, Shanghai released an action plan on promoting high-quality innovative development of the intelligent robot industry in the 2023-2025 period. The plan aims at building Shanghai into a globally influential innovation hub for the industry by 2025.

According to the plan, Shanghai will create 10 leading robot brands, establish 100 exemplary robot application scenarios, and expand the total value of robot-related industries to 100 billion yuan.

Furthermore, the plan includes the establishment of three public service platforms: an intelligent robotics testing and pilot verification innovation center, a humanoid robot manufacturing innovation center, and a general-purpose robotics research institute.

It also aims to achieve a density of 500 industrial robots per 10,000 workers in key manufacturing sectors, and will significantly enhance the depth and breadth of robot applications in industries.

Under the guidance of the plan, all districts in Shanghai are making concerted efforts to create a sound environment for the development of the intelligent robot industry.

At the Lingang Summit of the Shanghai Intelligent Robot Industry Conference held in Shanghai's Lingang Special Area on Nov. 14, the General Robot Industrial Research Institute and a Lingang robot industry base were officially unveiled.

Besides, an intelligent robot industry alliance was established in the area, and a group of high-level intelligent robot projects settled in. As a result, an intelligent robot industry ecosystem was initially formed in the area.

"Lingang Special Area is home to more than 150 core AI companies with over 5,000 research and development personnel. Around 40 industrial chain-related enterprises have gathered here, focusing on four major areas: general-purpose robots, industrial robots, service and special robots, and AI technology," said Wu Xiaohua, an official in Lingang Special Area.

Robots dance at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai, July 6. (People's Daily Online/Wang Chu)

According to Wu, efforts will continue to be made in ten key fields such as whole robot manufacturing and AI chips, further strengthening the foundation for the development of the intelligent robot industry and building a demonstration area for intelligent robot applications.

Industrial data has a wide range of application needs in the field of intelligent industries, and it helps solidify the foundation of the intelligent robot industry.

To address the challenges of scattered and complex industrial data resources and long transaction chains, the Shanghai Data Exchange and Intsig, a leading tech company specializing in business data, artificial intelligence, and mobile applications, jointly established an industrial data innovation center on Nov. 25.

Through three innovative initiatives, namely, creating a new one-stop industrial data service link, building a new paradigm of on- and off-trading integration, and exploring cross-domain data integration projects, the center is committed to establishing a compliant, fair, and trustworthy data trading order and data commercialization ecosystem, turning industrial data from "resources" to "value."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
A Tantric yoga guru being held over his alleged involvement in the kidnap of 26 women who signed up for spiritual guidance is facing charges including human trafficking after police raids in Paris.

Gregorian Bivolaru was to go before a French judge on Friday, a judicial source said, after he was arrested in a probe along with over a dozen others on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and people trafficking.

Bivolaru, a 71-year-old national of both Romania and Sweden, and 14 other people were to be questioned.

The source told AFP late on Thursday that 15 people in total were to be referred to the investigating magistrate with a view to being potentially charged in the case.

French authorities on Tuesday arrested 41 people, including Bivolaru, and freed 26 women in raids against the sect after a probe into alleged sexual abuse.

Romanian guru Gregorian Bivolaru is escorted to a vehicle, after a hearing at the Romanian Police headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, on August 24, 2016

Bivolaru founded a network called the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), which runs several yoga schools (File Photo)

A gathering attended by Bivolaru (File Photo). French authorities on Tuesday arrested 41 people, including Bivolaru, and freed 26 women in raids against the sect after a probe into alleged sexual abuse

The others arrested have been released without facing any further legal proceedings at this stage.

Bivolaru founded a network called the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), which runs several yoga schools.

MISA, which became known as ATMAN after its expansion beyond Romania, taught tantric yoga with the aim of 'conditioning victims to accept sexual relations via mental manipulation techniques which sought to eliminate any notion of consent', the source said earlier this week.

Several women, of different nationalities, said they had been victims of the MISA organisation and its leader, the source added.

Women were encouraged to accept sexual relations with the group's leader and 'to agree to participate in fee-paying pornographic practices in France and abroad'.

The sect is thought to have several hundred followers in France.

This picture taken on April 1, 2004 shows Gregorian Bivolaru, the spiritual leader of MISA sect (The Movement for Spiritual Integration in the Asolute) evacuated from a Court in Bucharest, by the special police forces

The arrests follow a probe into the sect launched by Paris prosecutors in July, on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and people trafficking, among other offences.

A human rights group collected statements from 12 former MISA members, triggering a French governmental body in 2022 to call for an investigation, the source said.

To escape legal proceedings in Romania, Bivolaru fled to Sweden, where he obtained political asylum in 2006, changing his name to Magnus Aurolsson.

He disappeared for several years after a Romanian court condemned him in absentia to six years in prison in 2013.

France arrested him in early 2016 and handed him over to Romania but he again vanished before French police detained him earlier this week.

MISA, in a statement in Romanian, on Thursday described the accusations against Bivolaru as 'absurd'.

It said the guru had been 'the target since the 1990s of media campaigns seeking to discredit him'.
A leaning medieval tower in northern Italy has been sealed off over fears it may soon collapse.

Authorities have started to build a 16ft barrier around the Garisenda Tower to collect debris after the city's council said the situation was 'highly critical'.

The 154ft tower, built 900 years ago, usually sits at a four-degree angle but steady monitoring by the University of Bologna has seen recent shifts in how it leans.

In October, experts warned that the tower's weak foundations might be subsiding, requiring an injection of filler material to add more stability.

And the city's tourist board said they had detected abnormal noise, oscillations, vibrations, and movements of a few millimetres within the tower.

The Garisenda tower from Via San Vitale, which is closed to traffic on November 6, 2023

The old town of Bologna with the two towers pictured centrally, including the Garisenda Tower

The site of the Garisenda tower was sealed off two months ago after sensors first picked up changes in its tilt.

Inspections of the site then revealed some of the material foundations were wearing away after nine centuries.

The Garisenda Tower and the Asinelli Tower next to it were built between 1109 and 1119, a few decades before the then-town's rapid expansion into one of the main commercial hubs of northern Italy.

The iconic towers are barely younger than the University of Bologna itself, an institution dating back to 1088 and famously the oldest continuously operational university in the world.

The Asinelli Tower lacks a lean and is still open to the public for visitors to climb. But Bologna's tourist board says losing the smaller structure would be a devastating loss to the city's rich history.

'Given the cultural relevance of the Garisenda tower, its hypothetical loss would be tragic, not only tourism-wise but for Bologna and Italys history as well,' a spokesperson said.

In October, the spokesperson said the signals detected so far did not lead them to believe the tower would collapse.

Lucia Borgonzoni, the Italian culture undersecretary, also announced the government would fund work to reinforce the tower using around 5 million (4.3m) from Italy's EU national recovery fund.

The two towers - Asinelli and Garisenda - in Bologna in an undated file image

Similar to most of Bologna's medieval towers, the Garisenda Tower was built on a ring-shaped base of mortar terracotta bricks, and river stones.

It is this base material which is the likely cause of the tower's drastic lean as the foundation sinks into Bologna's soft ground.

Even by the 14th century it had begun to lean and was scaled back to avoid collapse.

At 48 metres tall, its only slightly shorter than the medieval Romanesque leaning tower of Pisa, while also boasts an extra degree of slant.

In spite of its structural problems, experts say the structure in Pisa could remain stable another 200 years.
The hunt for the leaker who provided biographer Omid Scobie with the names of two members of the Royal Family in a 'racism' row is underway  as both sides remain firm that they are not to blame.

King Charles III and Kate Middleton were named as the royals alleged to have made comments about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan's son Archie prior to his birth in the Dutch edition of Scobie's latest tome, Endgame.

The King is said to be taking the taking the furore over the book 'very seriously' and will consult senior advisers next week on the family's next step, with 'all options' including legal action set to be considered.

The Mail understands that Buckingham Palace has been internally investigating who could have seen the letters from their end - but it is confident the leak has not come from within, believing only a 'tiny handful' of people have ever seen them.

Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, have not commented publicly on the scandal. Scobie has been accused of acting as a 'mouthpiece' for the Sussexes, an allegation he has denied, writing on X, formerly Twitter: 'I'm not 'Meg's pal'.

King Charles III is said to be taking the furore over Omid Scobie's book Endgame 'very seriously'

Harry and Meghan (pictured in Dusseldorf in September) have not commented on the scandal publicly

Omid Scobie told BBC's Newsnight programme that he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the events surrounding Endgame's release

Endgame has rarely left the headlines for more than a week in the build up to, and days after, its release on Tuesday

But sources close to the Duchess of Sussex , who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted to that she 'never intended for them to be publicly identified'.

They insist that the contents of the letters were 'not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp', the Telegraph reports.

But one source close to the Royal Family has now called on Harry and Meghan to speak out publicly on the issue.

The source told the paper: 'For the couple that talked about 'death by a thousand no comments', the silence at this point is deafening.'

Another insider added that the decision not to respond was 'interesting' given the Sussexes' previous complaints about not being supported against negative press stories.

Boris Johnson, writing in his regular Daily Mail column, has suggested that asking questions about a baby's skin colour could not be construed as racist.

He said: 'To ask such questions, in anticipation of a happy event, is simple human nature.

'It is one of the greatest joys and mysteries of life that we have no real idea, in utero, what our children will look like.

'That, I expect, was exactly the kind of ruminative debate that the so-called royal racist was having.'

Meanwhile, Sir Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, called it a 'nonsense story' and said the comments were 'a mark of excitement, I suspect'.

The scandal - which Scobie has been forced to insist was not a publicity stunt - has kept Endgame in the headlines for more than a week as excerpts were published in the days before its release in a French magazine.

The most eye-grabbing extract serialised in Paris Match claimed that there was a second so-called 'royal racist' - after Harry and Meghan alluded to a member of the Royal Household expressing discomfort over Archie's skin colour in 2021.

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex (pictured with Harry in 2017) have insisted she 'never intended' for the alleged 'royal racists' to be identified

The original 'racism' claim was made in the Sussexes' infamous 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview (pictured)

Dutch translators Saskia Peeters (left) and Nellie Keukelaar-van Rijsbergern (right) who worked on Omid Scobie's controversial book have insisted the names of two royals at the centre of racism scandal were in the manuscript they were sent

The King is said to be consulting senior advisers on the scandal next week, with all options reportedly on the table, including legal action

They told Oprah Winfrey in their much vaunted interview a year after they quit royal duties that there had been conversations about 'how dark' Archie's skin would be when he was born.

She did not name the member of the household, saying at the time: 'I think that would be very damaging to them.'

The names did not appear in the English edition of the book when it was released on Tuesday. Scobie had written a paragraph in which he said he could not name them under UK law.

But the names appeared in the Dutch version of the book, prompting the publishers to pulp copies that were on sale.

The Dutch translators who worked on the volume maintain that the manuscript they were given featured both names verbatim.

Saskia Peeters, speaking to MailOnline, said this week: 'The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.'

The second translator, Nellie Keukelaar-van Rijsbergern, then told The Sun: 'We are professionals and we've done this for years, both of us. It's unfair.'

Newspapers in the UK avoided reporting the names after the allegations came to light after Endgame's release on Tuesday, but Piers Morgan revealed them on his Uncensored show on Wednesday.

Morgan added, however, that he did not believe the allegations of 'racist comments'.

He said: 'Because I don't believe any racist comments were ever made by any of the Royal Family, and until there is actual evidence of those comments being made, I will never believe it.'

He then doubled down on his defence later in the week, saying on Thursday: 'I took a view it was ridiculous that British people couldn't be aware of this information. I also said when I named them that I didn't believe a word of the racist allegations made against them.'

It comes as Scobie, appearing on BBC's flagship Newsnight programme, said he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events.

The alleged racist comments were made about 'concerns' over Prince Archie's skin colour

The inclusion of the names led to 5,000 copies of the book  called 'Final Battle' (pictured) in Holland  being withdrawn from sale on the bookshelves and pulped

But he refused to apologise to the royals concerned, saying: 'It's not for me to apologise because I still want to know what's happened.'

He has previously described it as a 'translation error' but says an 'investigation' has now been launched.

Although it was billed as a look 'inside the royal family and the monarchy's fight for survival', Endgame's relentlessly savage tone and attacks on the Princess of Wales has seen it roundly denounced and attracted a slew of brutal reviews.

The author first rose to worldwide fame with Finding Freedom, a book on 'Megxit' he authored with American journalist Carolyn Durand.

On Newsnight earlier this week Scobie took the extraordinary step on swearing on 'my family's life' that the leaking of the names was not a 'stunt' to shift more books.

He said he was 'hurt' by the suggestion and dismissed it as a conspiracy theory by people who want to believe he is in 'cahoots' with the Duchess of Sussex.

He claimed: 'I am as frustrated as everyone else. The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have names in it.'

Newsnight interviewer Victoria Derbyshire told Scobie: 'In some version you must have written the names in and the wrong version has potentially gone to the people in charge of the rights around the world, I suppose.' Scobie did not reply to this point.

REBECCA ENGLISH: As King Charles lands back in UK from Dubai there will be no time for quiet reflection... instead he will be forced to ruminate on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shape storm cloud on his horizon amid Omid Scobie book fallout

The King was due back at Sandringham last night after jetting straight to the countryside fresh from his well-received address in Dubai.

As is his habit at this time of year, he plans to spend the weekend striding around the late Queen's beloved Norfolk estate wearing his favourite patched green tweed jacket and cap, pruning clippers in hand.

It should be a time for quiet reflection on a job well done in the UAE, where he was the only foreign head of state invited to address the annual United Nations climate change conference.

At the age of 75, Charles also managed to cram in half a dozen or so bi-lateral meetings with world leaders, discussing everything from net zero to the crisis in the Middle East.

Instead, he will be forced to spend a rare moment of leisure ruminating on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shaped storm cloud on his horizon.

King Charles (at Cop28) will be forced to spend a rare moment of leisure ruminating on how he plans to address yet another Sussex-shaped storm cloud on his horizon

It was Meghan who first alleged that family members raised 'concerns' about 'how dark' Archie would be

The row over who said what has been lurking in the Royal Family's rear-view mirror ever since Meghan first 'weaponised' conversations Harry had with family members in which she alleged 'concern' was raised about 'how dark' their son's skin might be and what that would 'potentially' mean for the family.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE HERE: Diana's personal protection officer KEN WHARFE who worked with Royal Family for two decades rubbishes claims they are racist Advertisement

Although the word racism wasn't used during her bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the inference was clear (Harry himself used the phrase 'unconscious bias' to describe it earlier this year and predictably  ludicrously  blamed the resulting furore on 'the British Press').

It's fair to say the global uproar re-ignited by Omid Scobie's 'poisonous' book on the Royal Family and the naming of two royals  reported to be the King himself and the Princess of Wales  in a Dutch-language edition of Endgame was an 'unwelcome' distraction for His Majesty in an immensely important week for him as an international statesman.

Although leaks had already emerged by last weekend that Scobie intended to refer to two members of the Royal Family, not one, palace officials had hoped the revelation would be a storm in a teacup and had refused to engage with the subject.

All that changed on Tuesday, when a local journalist in the Netherlands revealed the names were included in the Dutch-language edition of the book.

The journalist later told me he had been in possession of a review copy book for a week, waiting for the embargo to lift, and couldn't understand why British news websites weren't running the same 'scoops' as him.

An hour later he received a panicked call from a small local publisher demanding he take down his story about 'Koning Charles' from the Libelle website, which he refused to do, because there was a massive blunder in the translation.

Scobie, appearing on BBC 's flagship Newsnight programme (pictured), said he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events

I was the first journalist to contact publisher Xander Uitgevers who personally confirmed it was true. I was also the first to call Buckingham Palace to break the news and seek comment.

It's fair to say their reaction was one of quiet shock. Many will ask why royal aides didn't immediately seek to get an injunction on the book.

But it was a rapidly developing situation and there was immense confusion as to how it could even have happened.

Was it an 'error in translation' as was initially claimed, or had Scobie  as now seems likely  deliberately intended to 'out' the royals concerned at the start of his project, before being warned off by lawyers concerned over the UK's strict libel laws.

Unfortunately for him  as the Mail exclusively revealed this week  it seems that an early draft of his manuscript was sent to the two entirely innocent (and highly experienced) Dutch translators who faithfully reproduced what they had been given.

For the first 48 hours the Palace held the line that it would not comment.

It was clear they wished to see how it would land, although calls were already flying between London and Dubai, where the advance party of the King's team had just landed.

And it was equally clear that officials were desperate the scandal didn't derail the King's big COP28 moment. As one source said: 'Sometimes the Palace need to act very quickly and other times they need to act carefully and with great thought. This was one of those times.

It was equally clear that officials were desperate the scandal didn't derail the King's big COP28 moment

'Queen Elizabeth took three days after the Oprah interview to issue a rare public statement because she and her advisers recognised, given the seriousness of the allegations that had been made, she should not be bounced into doing something because of the headlines. It was a case of caution in abundance and when she spoke, people listened.'

What was abundantly clear to me from speaking to multiple contacts, however, is that there was no 'push back' on the names that had been suggested.

I was also told Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace were acting with complete 'unity' on the issue.

On Wednesday night, TalkTV presenter Piers Morgan took it upon himself to name the King and Kate, drastically raising the stakes.

By the following morning I was clearly and unequivocally told the Palace was now 'considering all options', which included the possibility of legal redress.

While it is highly unusual for Buckingham Palace to go down such a route, one informed source pointed out to me that it is not unheard of.

They recalled three occasions that the Palace had involved lawyers and each had been successful: The Sun's suggestion that the late Queen backed Brexit (for which a front page apology was secured), William and Kate's suing of a French magazine over topless photographs of the then duchess, and the King's High Court battle over the publication of travel diaries.

'It's not something the Palace does lightly, but there is precedent. And they've won,' my source said.

Behind the scenes, I understand that officials have also this week launched an investigation into who, if anyone, would have had access to, or even glimpsed, the letters passed between the monarch and the Duchess of Sussex over her allegations. They were considered so personal and so deeply private that all but a 'tiny handful' of family members and staff are known to have seen them.

The result? There is 'extreme confidence' at the Palace that the leak 'didn't come from us'.

Which is, of course, exactly what the Duchess of Sussex has also made known via her own sources, insisting that she never 'intended' for the names to become public and no one on her team leaked the letters' contents to Scobie.

The public will have to decide whose version of events they believe.

It's quite clear to me that, once again, 'recollections may vary'.

Despite the accusations made by Meghan of 'unconscious bias' in her letters, one well-placed source tells me firmly: 'It is only one person's version, one side of the story.'

Which strongly suggests that behind Palace walls, those at the heart of events strongly dispute anything of the sort was even said  or could be considered to have been offensive.

Interestingly, while Meghan used the word 'concern' in her interview, it wasn't repeated by a distinctly uncomfortable-looking Harry, who only said it was an 'awkward' conversation.

So where do things go from here? I'm told the Palace's main focus, despite the furore, has been to get through COP28 and the King's important appearance.

But conversations will start again in earnest next week when the team are back at Buckingham Palace about what their next move is.

It is something they are taking 'extremely seriously' and legal action still hasn't been ruled out.

There is also immense sadness and anger at what has been described to me as a 'terrible injustice' to those involved. Some feel the Royal Family should address such mendacious smears in public once and for all.

But that, of course, comes with the risk of another very public falling out with the Sussexes, who had, for once, appeared equally keen to put the whole matter to bed.

One thing is for certain: That rumoured invitation to Christmas dinner for Harry and Meghan looks vanishingly unlikely.
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Amazon boss Jeff Bezos was told that his new mega-yacht was too big for the marina in Florida this week.

The third richest man in the world found out this week that his $500million (around 393million) schooner was too big to be moored with the other private yachts in Port Everglades, Florida.

The ship, which stands at a staggering 416ft, had to be moored with oil tankers and other general container ships.

A spokeswoman for the port, told The Times: 'Its in an area thats for energy ships.

'When we have large yachts that dont fit in your typical marina we fit them where they can fit in the port.'

Jeff Bezos found out this week that his $500million (around 393million) schooner was too big to be moored with the other private yachts in Port Everglades, Florida

Earlier this month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced he is moving from Seattle to Miami with fiancee Lauren Sanchez

The yacht, Koru - named after the Maori word for 'new beginnings' - arrived in Florida late last Wednesday evening after departing from Gibraltar two weeks earlier

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The ship, which is called Koru, is named after the Maori word for 'new beginnings'.

It arrived in Florida late last Wednesday evening after departing from Gibraltar two weeks earlier.

Earlier this week, exclusive DailyMail.com images showed the opulent three-masted schooner docked at Port Everglades, nestling between gigantic oil tankers and the vast Liberty of the Seas cruise ship.

Koru was parked up in Port Everglades  a major gateway for cruise ships and international trade - because south Florida's swish yachting marinas typically can't accommodate any boat longer than 400 feet.

Inspired by Black Pearl, the fictional ship in Pirates of the Caribbean, Koru took three years to build in the historic port of Zwijndrecht, close to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, by sailboat specialists Oceanco.

At nearly twice the length of an Airbus A380, it is the second largest sailing ship in the world, surpassed only by the Philippe Starcke designed Sailing Yacht A, owned by Russian fertiliser billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.

Its dedicated support vessel, the Abeona  a 246-foot floating garage for the tycoon's helicopter, jet skis and luxury cars  is currently docked four miles away at a shipyard in Dania Beach.

The multi-billionaire pays an estimated $25million (around 19million) a year to staff and operate Koru, the world's tallest sailboat with masts measuring 230 feet.

Bezos announced earlier this month that he and fiancee Lauren Sanchez, 53, were leaving Seattle, his base for the past 29 years, to move back to Miami, his childhood home.

He's splashed out on two neighboring mansions on Indian Creek Island, the so-called 'Billionaire's bunker' that is home to Ivanka Trump, Tom Brady and Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman.

The combined $147million purchase gives Bezos 4.6 acres of waterfront land and around 400 feet of bay frontage on Florida's Intercoastal Waterway.

Bezos has stated that he wants to live nearer to his mom Jackie and adoptive father Miguel, who are in their late 70s.

'My parents have always been my biggest supporters. They recently moved back to Miami, the place we lived when I was younger,' he said of his move to Florida.

'I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami. Also, Blue Origin's operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral. For all that, I'm planning to return to Miami, leaving the Pacific Northwest.'
An 'exceptional' British soldier has been 'killed' in Kenya while off-duty on a motorbike trip, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died on 29 November after allegedly being attacked off-base on a trip.

The soldier, who attended Sandhurst, had served in Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa, the MoD said.

He leaves behind his mother and father, Joseph and Joan, his brothers, Fergal and Brendan, his sisters, May, Alice and Margaret.

The MoD said Major McCool's fitness was legendary, and he 'aced' many of the military's hardest tests, saying his 'enthusiasm was infectious'.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died on 29 November after allegedly being attacked off-base

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps paid tribute to the soldier.

He said: 'It's clear from the tributes of those who knew him that Major McCool was an exceptional person and an exceptional soldier, loved and respected in equal measure, who served his country with distinction.

'My thoughts and sympathies are with his family, friends, and colleagues currently coming to terms with this most tragic loss.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'My heart goes out to Maj McCool's family, friends, and fellow soldiers today in the face of their tragic loss.

'The tributes pouring out for him show a man who served his country with pride, integrity and bravery.

'His service will not be forgotten.'

Maj McCool's Commanding Officer said: 'Kevin McCool was living his best life, doing a job he loved, with people he loved.

'A man of the utmost integrity, he was fearless and oozed moral courage. I will never forget my final memory of him, which was on operations; he had just come off the ground having slept a handful of hours in as many days.

'We discussed the possibility of having to deploy another team into the operational furnace from which he had just come. He stopped me mid-sentence, fixed me with his piercing blue eyes, and simply said, 'send me'.

'A bright light has gone out amongst our ranks. He will be missed, but never forgotten.'

The MoD said in a eulogy: 'Kevin thrived in the military environment. He was at his best when deployed, and at his very best when the conditions were at their very worst.

'His fitness was legendary, once beating the whole Battalion on a two miler, as was his endurance.

'He had a mischievous twinkle in his eye, that made him tremendous fun to be with.

'Yet his professionalism and sense of purpose was paramount, and clear to all those lucky enough to serve with him. Whether it was his recruits in his Catterick Platoon or those in his Rifle Company, he had their unwavering loyalty.

'Kevin was a big family man, from a big, loving family.'

MoD officials confirmed the soldier's next of kin have been informed, but said it would not be releasing any details of what happened.
Las Vegas cops are hunting a gunman who shot five homeless people on Friday night - just hours after Los Angeles police warned a potential serial killer who executed three itinerants was on the loose.

The Vegas shooting occurred at around 5:30 pm near a freeway overpass in the northeast of the city, according to Las Vegas PD Lt. Mark Lourenco.

Police told 8newsnow one victim identified as a man in his 50s died following the attack.

Four other men were injured, one of whom is said to be in critical condition. All victims were homeless.

The shooting occurred at around 5:30 pm near a freeway overpass in the northeast of the city

One person died and four others suffered injuries, with all of those involved being homeless according to police

Initial reports had indicated that two people were killed, but police later amended this stating that just one person had died in the shooting.

At a news conference police said witnesses saw a man in a hoodie leave the area in a dark colored sedan.

8 News Now asked if the incident could be connected to similar shootings targeting the unhoused population in recent days in California.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johannson told the outlet: 'This is quite a bit different than that scenario so I am not inclined to say that it is related, but if our investigation takes us that route we will go there, but we are not there right now.'

Police in Los Angeles had launched an appeal on Friday to help identify a suspect they believe is responsible for killing three homeless people in the last week.

The LAPD said the investigation is at the early stage, but noted similarities in those three killings.

'A single individual approached each one and shot and killed each one as they slept,' LAPD Chief Michel Moore said.

'The suspect, hooded, targets lone, unsheltered individuals sleeping on the streets, shooting them before fleeing in a vehicle without any observed altercation', LAPD reported during a Friday afternoon press conference.

Police are asking the public's assistance in identifying the killer who police say is responsible for three murders that occurred on November 26, 27, and 29 in Los Angeles

The suspect, hooded, targets lone, unsheltered individuals sleeping on the streets, shooting them before fleeing in a vehicle without any observed altercation, LAPD reported

'To the person responsible: We will find you, we will catch you and you will be held accountable,' Mayor Karen Bass said.

Jose Bolanos, 37, was found dead with a gunshot wound around 3 a.m. on Nov. 26 in an alley in South Los Angeles, police said.

The following day, Mark Diggs, 62, was shot and killed around 5 a.m. near downtown, according to officials.

Police said that Diggs had been pushing a shopping cart and had stopped to plug in his phone and was about to fall asleep when he was murdered.

The third shooting occurred on Nov. 29 about 2:30 a.m. in the Lincoln Heights area, where the body of a 52-year-old man was found. Police did not immediately identify him pending notification of family.

Mayor Bass urged people living on the streets to seek shelter and avoid sleeping outside alone as police search for the suspect.

'This news is devastating to our city,' she said. 'I want to be very clear about what we're facing today. This is a killer who is preying on the unhoused.'

Moore did not use the term 'serial killer,' but said the three victims were found dead under similar circumstances.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a count of homeless people in the California city earlier completed earlier this year put the number of people at over 46,000.

The LAPD has set up a task force of investigators that is working round the clock to apprehend the killer.

They described the suspect as a man who was seen leaving the scene in a dark colored sedan.
Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members have been killed in an Israeli attack in Syria, according to Iranian state media.

The deaths would be the first Iranian casualties of the conflict in the southern Levant.

A statement did not give details of the attack but stated that both members served as military advisors and were working in Syria.

'Mohammed Ali Ataei Shoorcheh and Panah Taghizadeh... were martyred by the Zionist usurper enemy while conducting an advisory mission in the Syrian Islamic resistance front,' the Guards' Sepah News website said.

Syria earlier today said its air defences had repelled an Israeli rocket attack against targets near Damascus. Israel was targeting sites belonging to Iranian proxy group Hezbollah, a war monitor said.

A Revolutionary Guard member stands in front of an Iranian missile displayed during Basij paramilitary force rally in support of the Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Nov. 24, 2023

Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023

'Two Syrian fighters working for Hezbollah and two foreign, pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah sites near Sayyida Zeinab' south of Damascus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

READ MORE: Horror and heartbreak in Palestine as Israeli airstrikes leave 200 dead after Hamas rocket shattered seven-day ceasefire Advertisement

The two foreigners died from their injuries, said the head of the British-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria. He said five other fighters were wounded.

Syria's defence ministry had also said Israel hit near Damascus, where an AFP journalist heard the loud sound of bombings.

'At approximately 1:35 am (2235 GMT) today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points near the city of Damascus,' the ministry said in a statement. It gave no casualty figures.

Israel has been engaged in clashes with forces operating out of Syria for years, itself devastated by a brutal civil war.

But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas began in October. Hamas last year said it had restored relations with Syria's government.

Over the last two months, Israel has carried out repeated strikes on military infrastructure in Syria and Lebanon, hoping to displace international backers like Hezbollah.

Soldiers stand near an artillery unit near the Israeli northern border with Lebanon on November 8, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel

The US has also weighed in with airstrikes on Syria in response to a rise in the number of drone attacks on its forces between Syria and Iraq, which it blames on Iran-funded proxy outfits.

Onlookers have warned escalation could risk the conflict between Hamas and Israel spilling over into a wider regional war.
Another person fighting for life in hospital

Two dead after major three car crash in QLD

Two men have been killed and a woman is fighting for life after a horror three-car crash on a major highway.

The crash happened on the D'Aguilar Highway at Caboolture, north of Brisbane around 5pm on Saturday.

Queensland Police investigators believe a grey Ford Ranger was travelling east along D'Aguilar in Moodlu when it struck a Mazda CX-3, which then collided with a Nissan Micra, which were both travelling west.

The horrific three-car crash occurred on D'Aguilar Highway at Caboolture

READ MORE: P-plater jailed over fatal Buxton crash that killed five of his mates Advertisement

Multiple ambulance crews attended the scene.

The driver and sole occupant of the Mazda, a 29-year-old Deception Bay man, and the passenger of the Ford Ranger, a 24-year-old Caboolture man, died at the scene.

The driver of the Ford Ranger, a 51-year-old Caboolture woman was airlifted to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition.

The driver and sole occupant of the Nissan Micra, a 25-year-old Clayfield woman, and the passenger of the Ford Ranger, a 43-year-old Caboolture man, were transported to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

The two-lane D'Aguilar Highway runs west from Caboolture, connecting the regions with the heavily populated southeast corner of Queensland.
This is the incredible moment when Florida city staff saved the life of a three-year-old boy after he choked on a candy.

The father and his young boy were waiting in line at a post office inside the North Bay Village City Hall building in Miami-Dade County on Monday when a candy became lodged in the child's throat.

Rodolfo Santana, North Bay Village's customer service manager, and his colleague sprang into action and rushed over to help.

The heroic moment was captured on a nearby surveillance camera, and Santana spoke with WPLG Local 10 on Thursday.

The incredible moment of Florida city staff saving the life of a three-year-old boy, who was choked by a candy, was caught on camera

Rodolfo Santana(pictured), North Bay Village's customer service manager, and his colleague quickly stepped in to help

A typical day started as a father and his young boy waited in line at the post office inside the North Bay Village City Hall (pictured), but it took a sudden turn when a candy became lodged in the boy's throat

In the footage captured by a nearby security camera, the father can be seen waiting in line at the post office with his three-year-old boy.

In a sudden turn of events, the boy ran to his father, who immediately bent over and appeared panicked in the video.

Santana and his colleague rushed over to the pair and offered their help in the heart-wrenching moment.

'I heard a lady yell out, 'someone was choking, a kid was choking,' Santana told the local outlet.

'It seemed to me like the father was having a hard time and kind of panicking a little bit, so I stepped in to help and grabbed the boy.'

The staff bent over to check the boy, thrust the child into their arms, gave back blows from behind, and continued to compress the kid's back and chest.

After one minute and 20 seconds, the candy was dislodged, but the emergency felt much longer for Santana and the father.

'In my mind, it felt like it took forever,' Santana said.

In the footage captured by a nearby security camera, a father can be seen waiting in line at the post office with his three-year-old boy

In a sudden turn of events, the boy ran to his father, who immediately bent over and appeared panicked in the video

The staff bent over to check the boy, thrust the child into their arms, gave back blows from behind, and continued to compress the kid's back and chest

The young boy's father spoke on the phone with a local reporter and expressed his gratitude to the two individuals who stepped in to help.

Locals on social media praised the city staff for doing an amazing job in saving the life of the young child.

'Rodolfo is an amazing guy. He always helps me out whenever he is around. He was already my hero and now more than ever he needs to be recognized,' one user wrote on Facebook.

More than 12,000 children are taken to emergency rooms every year suffering from choking, statistics suggest, and one child dies from choking on food every five days.

Mayo clinic doctor Grace Arteaga told DailyMail.com that parents should hold babies face down on their lap or a surface and repeatedly pat their back firmly until the blockage is dislodged.

She warned that many people with good intentions make the mistake of reaching into a child's throat to remove the blockage.

She said: 'This can actually force it further down.'
George Santos threatened to file ethics complaints against several of his former New York Republican colleagues on Saturday, following his expulsion from the House on Friday.

Eight of Santos' New York Republican colleagues in the House voted to expel him in an extraordinary vote after his long history of lying was exposed and he was hit with multiple criminal charges.

The Long Island congressman, who stole donor funds to spend on OnlyFans and Botox, fled Capitol Hill as he became just the sixth House member in history to be kicked out.

Over 100 Republicans joined Democrats in booting out the fabulist liar in a historic vote Friday totaling 311 to 114, with two members voting 'present.'

Later that night and in the early hours of Saturday morning, Santos took to X, formerly Twitter, to take a swipe at former colleagues including Representative Nicole Malliotakis and Mike Lawler.

The Long Island congressman fled Capitol Hill on Friday as he became just the sixth House member in history to be kicked out

Santos told reporters 'to hell with this place' as he left Congress following the vote on Friday

'On Monday I will be filling an Ethics complaint against @RepMikeLawler for questionable campaign finance violations.' Santos wrote on the platform on Friday.

'Congressman Lawler owns portion of Checkmate Strategies and he uses the same firm that he is a beneficiary of to pay for services related to his campaign' he alleged.

He added: 'The concerning questions are; is Mr Lawler engaging in laundering money form his campaign to his firm then into his own pocket? I will let the Office of Congressional Ethics be the judge of that.'

Santos also took aim at Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis.

'Monday I will be filling an official complaint with the Office of congressional Ethics against @NMilliotakis regarding her questionable stock trading since joining the Ways and Means committee this Congress' Santos wrote.

'Before joining the committee the congresswoman didn't have an active trading habit or a high volume stake.

'The question is, what set of information is she trading with?' he added.

Santos also turned his sights on Democratic Representative Rob Menendez, whose Senator father Bob Menendez was charged for allegedly taking bribes from the state of Egypt in September.

Santos took aim at Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis (pictured) accusing her of 'questionable stock trading'

Santos said he was filing and Ethics complaint against Mike Lawler (pictured) for 'questionable campaign finance violations'

Santos lashed out at his former colleagues on X, formerly Twitter, the day after being expelled from the House of Representatives

'While congressman Menedez has not been invoked by the diligent investigation of the DOJ into his father, there remains a question of what did he know and when did he know it,' wrote Santos.

'The complaint is to seek clarification from the freshman congressman on his involvement with his fathers overseas dealing over the years and any potential compensation he received.'

He continued: 'I think it's a fair point to make sure we weed out the doubt surrounding Rep Menendez and his business associations with his father. I will leave it to the office of congressional ethics to investigate the material I'll be submitting to them.'

DailyMail.com reached out to Mr Lawler and Ms Malliotakis and Mr Menendez for comment but did not receive response before publication.

Santos' mountains of lies include fabricating family links to the Holocaust, 9/11 killing his mother, working on Wall Street, recovering from a brain tumor, being of Ukrainian-Jewish descent and starting a charity.

Santos survived a vote to expel him last month because 31 Democrats and most Republicans voted to keep him, many of them saying they would rather wait until an Ethics Committee report came out detailing his wrongdoings. It takes a two-thirds vote in the House to expel a sitting member of Congress.

Friday's vote was different, with 105 total Republicans voting to boot out their colleague. Santos is the first member to be expelled in more than two decades.

Santos stormed off the House floor minutes before the vote sealing his fate concluded

Despite denying it, internet sleuths appear to have discovered that Santos - who is claimed to be pictured here dressed in drag in 2007 - confirmed it himself in a 2011 post on Wikipedia

In the now-public ethics report, Santos was found to have used campaign money and donations to fund a lavish lifestyle, engaged in fraud, filed false election reports and 'willfully' violated ethics

The devastating ethics report alleged he improperly diverted campaign contributions to pay for Botox treatments, Hermes bags, OnlyFans purchases and cash withdrawals at a casino.

Now, the Republican's thin majority in the House is even smaller, and the GOP can only afford to lose three votes. The new breakdown totals 221 Republicans and 213 Democrats.

Some in GOP leadership - including Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik - were reluctant to expel Santos because he has not been convicted in court for his alleged crimes.

Santos' expulsion from the House is immediate and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will have to declare the seat vacant and call for a special election to fill his position.
An Idaho father who allegedly abducted his 10-month-old baby after murdering his wife was admitted to hospital just hours earlier after walking around a store naked.

Jeremy Albert Best, 48, was last seen on Thursday night just before midnight and is said to be 'heavily armed and dangerous'.

Police believe Best abducted his child Zeke Gregory Best after killing his wife Kali Jean Randall, 38, at their home in Victor, Idaho.

A relative of Randall has since revealed that she was expecting her second child at the time of her death.

Footage obtained by East Idaho News shows Best roughly 24 hours before the kidnapping, walking through the Swan Valley General store naked.

Best can be seen in the video with a cigarette in his mouth as he slouches over the store's counter next to the cash register.

Best can be seen in the video with a cigarette in his mouth as he wanders aimlessly around the store naked

Kali Jean Randall was found unresponsive in her home in the Idaho town, and her death is being investigated as a homicide

Deputies with Bonneville County Sheriff's Office had responded to the store and identified Best.

The outlet reported that Best was evaluated by EMS teams outside the store and was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center over mental health concerns.

It remains unclear what happened at the hospital, but a spokesperson confirmed that Best was discharged on Thursday afternoon.

Later that day, officers arrived at the home of the family to find Randall unresponsive, with her death being treated as homicide.

In a statement police said deputies were dispatched to respond to a disturbance heard over the line by the dispatcher.

An amber alert for the couple's child was then issued at 4:30am on Friday morning, with police saying Best was last seen driving a Black 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with an Idaho license plate 1T39349.

Best is described as a 5'11 male weighing 245 pounds with brown/grey hair and green eyes. His son Zeke is described as 1'00" weighing 20 pounds.

Police believe Best abducted his child Zeke Gregory Best, seen here, who is only ten months old

Best is described as a 5'11 male weighing 245 pounds with brown/grey hair and green eyes and is said to be armed and dangerous

In a statement police said deputies were dispatched to respond to a disturbance at the family home, which was heard over the line by the dispatcher

They warned the public not to approach the 'heavily armed' suspect and have asked anyone with information about the suspect, vehicle or endangered child is asked to call 208-354-2323 or 911 immediately.

Meg Fischer, Randall's cousin, told East Idaho News: 'She was a beautiful and free spirit.

'She was called to the mountains and made her home there. She was a lover of animals, especially her dogs.

'Motherhood was her greatest joy and we assume she gave her life protecting her children. We love her endlessly.'

Fischer also said she was 'shattered to share that Kali was expecting her second child'.

In a statement from the family, they said: 'In the wake of the devastating loss of our beloved Kali and her unborn baby, our family is overwhelmed with grief and sorrow.

'Our hearts ache, and our focus is entirely on the safe return of baby Zeke.

'In the midst of every familys worst nightmare, we humbly request privacy as we focus our energy on the safe return of Kalis beloved son, Zeke.'

Zeke was born at the end of January according to Randell's social media and was expecting her second child

Best owns a local mechanic shop in Victor, Idaho, called Jeremy's Auto, and has been a mechanic for 20 years.

On his business website it says: 'Meet Jeremy Best, your local mechanic and new best friend'.

Jeremy said that when not repairing cars - he's 'soaking up the sun on his leisure boat' or 'cruising the backroads with his lady, Kali, and three dogs'.
He then stalked her at her home and threatened her under a fake name saying he would release their alleged sex tapes

The mother of a teenage armed forces recruit has revealed disturbing details about the marine recruiter who allegedly obsessively stalked and harassed her daughter at a military base in Texas.

Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Champagne, 36, wrote a creepy book detailing his 'scandalous romantic relationship' with a 17-year-old female at the Marine Corps recruiting station in Fort Worth, Texas, Military.com reported.

In his book Cosette's Decision - Champagne openly admits to having a 'burning white-hot relationship' with young girl - whose real name is not being mentioned to protect her as a sexual assault victim.

'Cosette' - as Champagne referred to her in his memoir - needed parental permission to join the military because she was under 18.

After being 'guilted' into a relationship with the recruiter - the pair allegedly messaged on Snapchat, had unprotected sex, filmed sex tapes and spent 'three or four' nights together each week as she told her parents she was staying with a friend.

Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Champagne, 36, wrote a creepy book detailing his 'scandalous romantic relationship' with a 17-year-old female at the Marine Corps recruiting station in Fort Worth, Texas

'Cosette' - as Champagne referred to her in his memoir - needed parental permission to join the military because she was under 18

The girl's mother said that Champagne, who had become a 'terrifying and controlling' presence in her life, showed up at their home twice in one hour.

Champagne left two bottles of whiskey and a bizarre note thanked the young recruit for inviting him over for Christmas eight months earlier.

The unsettling event prompted the young girl to finally open up to her family about the relationship that had been going on in secret for months

'He's calling me, he's leaving messages, he's going crazy, Mom - he's going to kill me,' are the disturbing words that Kathlyn's daughter told her mother.

The young girl said guilted her a lot to do things that I didn't want to do.

She would tell him 'I don't want to do anything gross, and he would just nag at me until I did.

'I would tell him "I'm not in the mood, I don't want to do this." It was often that I would say, "OK, just get it over with if you have to, I just don't want to do this."'

The 36-year-old recruiter was removed from his role for the alleged sexual relationship which he described in self-publicized book.

'My memoir is a true story about a scandalous romantic relationship,' the book's description said. 'Cosette was a much younger woman with an affinity for older men, but we connected through discussions of overcoming suicide, assault, and abuse.'

Champagne explained that he was recently divorced and facing financial instability - which led him to loneliness, depression and a suicide attempt.

In the unsettling book he objectified 'Cosette's' body and called her a 'gift' from another recruiter.

Champagne self-published book because Kickstart campaign said agents and publishers wanted to 'remove some of the controversial elements'.

He detailed how he was immediately attracted to 'Cosette' the first time he saw her - at the age of 17: 'I could not take my eyes off her,' the book said.

'Before she left that day, I challenged her to write down her Snapchat, even though I already had her cellphone programmed into my cellphone,' Champagne wrote. 'I had exercised plenty of risky behavior over my career.'

In his book Cosette's Decision - Champagne openly admits to having a 'burning white-hot relationship' with young girl - whose real name is not being mentioned to protect her as a sexual assault victim

After the Marine Corps recruit was 'guilted' into a relationship with the Texas recruiter - the pair allegedly messaged on Snapchat , had unprotected sex, filmed sex tapes and spent 'three or four' nights together each week as she told her parents she was staying with a friend

The recruiter said he was willing to risk his career to save and protect 'Cosette' and their relationship.

He claimed the pair 'dealt with lies, betrayal, and loss while reality kept pulling us apart'.

The young girl said the inappropriate relationship involved instances of sexual assault - which her mother found out about a few months later.

In a response to the initial reporting of Champagne's misconduct - Capt. Bryanna Kessler, a spokesperson the 8th Marine Corps District in which Champagne's served, said that the teenage former recruit was 'not in any danger of being contacted by Champagne.'

Her family claimed this was untrue. They said Champagne reached out to the young girl under a fake name and threatened to release their alleged sex tapes.

'I recorded us having sex multiple times and I'll send the videos to everyone,' one of the messages allegedly said.

He reportedly used the name Pete Mitchell, the main character of the movie Top Gun and an allusion he made in his memoir, to send the threats.

'Please know that this case has become a top priority and we are diligently working on getting this wrapped up,' an agent assigned to the case told the former recruit following Military.com's initial report.

During the initial report, Kessler said Champagne remained on active duty while the investigation took place but no longer performed recruiting functions.

Champagne's ex-wife Kristi Champagne and her father, Rob Kersch allegedly raised concerns about the Marine noncommissioned officer to local police and military authorities - including sexual assault, emotional abuse and failure to provide child support.

However, allegedly only the emotional abuse case met the criteria to be taken seriously by officials.

'At the very least, I hope what happened to me provides validity to her and her situation,' Kristi said of her hopes for the former recruit - because she's doubtful she will see the day 'where he's ever held accountable legally.'

Dailymail.com reached out to Champagne and the Marine Corps Recruiting Command Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for comment.

Christopher Champagne denied any claims of wrongdoing.

He told DailyMail.com: 'Her comments are completely false and she will be exposed for her lies.'
Walmart has become the latest big advertiser to pull its spending on X amid concerns about a rise in anti-Semitism and hate speech on the platform.

In a statement, Walmart said: 'We aren't advertising on X as we've found some other platforms better reach our customers.'

The company officially went public with its decision on Friday, with X - formerly Twitter - later confirming the retail giant had not advertised on the platform since October.

The announcement came just days after Musk went on an expletive-ridden rant during an on-stage interview where he told advertisers to 'go f*** yourself'.

Musk and his beleaguered company have been scrambling to deal with the fallout after the Tesla boss sparked outrage by promoting an anti-Semitic tweet last month.

Walmart said in a statement it had 'found other platforms' to reach out to customers, and had moved away from X

The South African-born billionaire is seen on Wednesday in conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin

Musk, who has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and Israel's Foreign Ministry for his past remarks, was responding to a man who posted a screed on X criticizing a Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism campaign video.

In the video, a father is seen talking to his son about the online hatred the son has spewed, and calling him out for his rhetoric.

The X user dismissed the video, writing: 'Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.

'I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s*** now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much.

'You want truth said to your face, there it is.' Musk replied: 'You have said the actual truth.'

Musk has since apologized for endorsing an anti-Semitic post - but many companies concerned about a rise in hate speech are continuing to pull away from the site.

In the days following Musk's ill-advised November 15 tweet, companies including Apple, IBM, Paramount and Disney announced they were no longer advertising on his platform.

According to internal documents seen by the New York Times, the move could be a serious blow to the platform's bottom line and cost the company $75million in lost ad revenue by the end of the year if advertisers do not return.

The documents list more than 200 ad units of companies including Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, which have halted or are considering pausing their ads on the social network.

Airbnb has stopped more than $1 million of advertising, while Uber cut back on ads worth more than $800,000.

Netflix's halted ads were worth nearly $3 million, according to X's estimates, while Microsoft's subsidiaries stopped spending $4 million.

Amazon's units for books and music, and one subsidiary of Google, have also stopped their advertising, according to the paper.

In the last quarter of 2022 - the last year the company reported fourth-quarter earnings before Musk took over - the company recorded $1.57 billion in revenue, of which nearly 90 percent came from advertising.

Yet when Musk appeared at The New York Times DealBook summit earlier this week and was pressed by host Andrew Ross Sorking about his tweet, the tech boss hit back.

He was asked specifically about Disney CEO Bob Iger, who explained his company's decision to pull advertising from the platform on stage earlier on Wednesday.

'I hope they stop,' said Musk, baffling the host, who replied: 'You don't want them to advertise?'

Musk said: 'Don't advertise'. Sorkin then asked: 'What do you mean?'

Musk responded: 'If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself.

'Go f*** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise.'

Elon Musk on Wednesday appeared at the DealBook Summit in New York City and launched a bitter tirade on advertisers

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, seen here, and his company have no moved away from advertising on the site

In June, Musk brought in veteran advertising executive Linda Yaccarino as CEO, pictured here in September

On Wednesday, Musk conceded: 'I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.'

He added that the advertising boycott could 'kill the company', saying: 'What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company.

'And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.'

The CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino - who was appointed by Musk in June after years working in advertising - sat in the front row, and was listening 'stone faced', The Hollywood Reporter said.

Asked about his post, Musk said he had 'no problem being hated' adding: 'Essentially I handed a loaded gun to the people who hate me.'

Musk complained that the media ignored his attempts to clarify his post - but insisted his visit to Israel this week, touring areas devastated in the October 7 attack, and meeting the country's leaders - was not 'an apology tour'.

He also previously said that reports of him being anti-Semitic were untrue, and that stories to the contrary were 'bogus'.

Bob Iger, 72, the CEO of Disney, earlier said he would not advertise on X, due to Musk's anti-Semitic tweet

Musk on November 19 attempted to clarify his November 15 tweet, both seen her

Musk bought the company in October 2022 for $44 billion and cut around 80 percent of staff, ending many of the content moderation policies that advertisers appreciated.

In June, he brought in veteran advertising executive Linda Yaccarino as CEO, in a bid to quell fears.

Musk has a long history of toying with dog-whistle rhetoric about Jewish people, in particular George Soros, who enraged him in May by selling his Tesla stock.

He has also angered people with his response to the Israel-Hamas war.

In the days after the October 7 Hamas terror attack, Musk was forced to delete a tweet which recommended an anti-Semitic account and a promoter of debunked videos as reliable sources of information about the attack on Israel
The hero neighbours who pulled a woman from the rubble after an explosion at a house in Edinburgh that killed a pensioner and rocked a neighbourhood like a 'mini earthquake' last night have been pictured.

Police Scotland said officers were called to the Baberton area of the city at 10.25pm on Friday following 'multiple reports' of the incident which destroyed the home.

A man, 84, died after the horrific house explosion on Baberton Mains Avenue, police said.

Heroes, dad Ross Aitchison, 38, and Army reservist Steven MacLennan, 50, described how they pulled a woman from the rubble of the explosion.

Mr Aitchison said that he and another man - thought to be Mr MacLennan - 'pulled the woman from the rubble'. He said the situation was 'very scary'.

HERO NEIGHBOURS: Heroes, dad Ross Aitchison (left), 38, and Army reservist Steven MacLennan (right), 50, described how they pulled a woman from the rubble of a house explosion in Edinburgh last night

An aerial photo showing the destruction in the Baberton area of Edinburgh after a house explosion last night

An an elderly man has died after an explosion at a house in Edinburgh rocked a neighbourhood like a 'mini earthquake ' last night

Police officers at the scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, after an 84-year-old man has died following an explosion at a house on Friday night

Mr Aitchison's son Ben told EdinburghLive that he received a phone call from his father at the time of the explosion last night saying: 'Did you hear that big bang?'

Ben, 19, said that his father told him the house exploded after a suspected 'gas leak'.

Ross was one of the first to arrive on the scene as he only lives around half a minute from where it happened, Ben said.

His son said that by the time he arrived he had already rescued a woman from the debris with the help of another local. 'Luckily she was still alive,' he added.

Ross said Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five appliances had attended and two people had been rescued from the ruins of the home before their arrival.

Army reservist Mr MacLennan, 50, also told of how he helped to save the injured 43-year-old woman from the scene of the blast.

Mr MacLennan said he had been relaxing at his house on Friday night when he heard a huge blast erupt from a nearby street at around 10.25pm.

He sprinted to Baberton Mains Avenue where he found a home had been completely demolished in the explosion.

But when he heard someone crying for help, he bravely crawled into a gap in the debris to find a woman pinned to the ground by rubble as a fire burned around her.

And using his 20 years of experience in the armed forces, he then helped her out of the destroyed residence to safety.

Mr Aitchison's son Ben (right with his father) said that by the time he arrived he had already rescued a woman from the debris with the help of another local

The property was reduced to rubble and debris was strewn across the residential street in Baberton after the blast at around 10.25pm

The shockwave from the blast shattered windows from houses across the street

The force of the explosion ripped the house apart causing irreparable damage

Gas engineers at the scene of the explosion on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, today

Gas engineers and police officers at the scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh

Huge amounts of rubble little Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh, after a house exploded last night

Police at the scene of the explosion this morning, as stunned locals look on

He said: 'We were just watching TV when we heard this incredibly loud bang. All the doors and windows in the house shook.

'I came out the house and there were quite a few people in the street already. Whatever it was had happened in a street round the corner, so I ran to find out what was going on.

'It was just carnage. People running about in chaos. Like being in a bubble. But my training did help.

'I shouted at her to ask if she could feel the fire, and she said she could.

'There was a pipe which was gushing out water and I was able to bend it and direct the water onto the flames.

'It was quite a flexible pipe, and I was able to douse the flames and put them out before they could get to her.

'She was still pinned - I think there was a cupboard on her legs. I was able to get it off, but she was still trapped.

'I asked her if she could move her legs and she could, and she was able to crawl out.'

While Mr MacLennan was helping with the rescue, other neighbours arrived and were able to help get an injured man to safety.

And they also helped to clear a path for him and the woman to get out before emergency services arrived and took the pair to hospital.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five appliances had been in attendance and that two people had been rescued from the ruins of the home prior to their arrival. A 43-year-old woman and 54-year-old man were also taken to hospital for treatment, but their condition is currently unknown.

Police say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the explosion.

A number of homes were also evacuated as a precaution and the road - Baberton Mains Avenue - remains closed as of Saturday morning.

The property was reduced to rubble and debris was strewn across the residential street in Baberton after the blast at around 10.25pm.

Emergency services were on the scene in Baberton Mains Avenue yesterday and advised people to avoid the area.

The service left the scene at 6.39am on Saturday after handing control to Police Scotland.

Some locals reported hearing the explosion as far away as Gilmerton, a suburb miles from the blast site.

Neighbours said they felt their homes shaking, while another person posted that they had heard the blast from inside a cinema in nearby Wester Hailes.

Dramatic footage of the house was shared on social media showing it had been completely destroyed.

A car on the driveway was covered in rubble and damage could be seen to the neighbouring house. Residents said it was a suspected gas explosion.

The explosion completely destroyed the house which killed at 84-year-old man

A car which had its windows shattered in the explosion last night in Baberton, Edinburgh

The scene on Baberton Mains Avenue, Edinburgh, after an 84-year-old man has died following an explosion at a house on Friday night

A car on the driveway was covered in rubble and damage could be seen to the neighbouring house. Residents said it was a suspected gas explosion

People in a nearby cinema felt the explosion and residents reported their homes shaking

A spokeswoman for gas distributor SGN said the body was brought in to assist emergency services and 'ensure the immediate vicinity' was 'made safe', adding it was 'too early to speculate' on the cause of the explosion.

'At around 10.45pm last night, we received a request to assist the emergency services following reports of a serious explosion in Baberton, Edinburgh,' the spokeswoman said.

'Our engineers worked with the emergency services to ensure the immediate vicinity in Baberton Mains Avenue was made safe in our role as the gas emergency service.

'Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the man who has tragically died as well as those who have been injured.

'While it is too early to speculate as to what has happened, we are working closely with the authorities to help discover the cause.'

One local wrote on Facebook: 'Very scary. What a fright we all got. The couple/owners are out and away to hospital.'

Another claimed to have pulled a person out from under the rubble, commenting: 'Both are safe and away to hospital! Me and another guy pulled the woman from the rubble! Very scary that was.'

A third penned on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'I heard the loud bang from my house.'

A fourth said: 'Heard the bang but thought it was fireworks going off.'

People in a nearby cinema felt the explosion and residents reported their homes shaking.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Around 10.25pm on Friday, 1 December, 2023 we were called to reports of an explosion at a property on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

'Emergency services are at the scene, and we would advise people to avoid the area at this time.'

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: 'We were alerted at 10.26 pm on Friday 1 December to reports of a gas explosion affecting residential properties on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

'Operations control mobilised five fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where firefighters worked to make the area safe.

'Two casualties were rescued prior to our arrival, and the crews remain on scene.'

Sue Webber, a Scottish Tory MSP for the Lothian region, wrote on social media: 'Such tragic news, in such a close community.

'Thank you to all the emergency services that attended. My thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this incident.'
The family of murdered two-year-old toddler James Bulger have reportedly written to the parole board officers over the release of one of his killers.

After being told that they could not attend the private parole hearing, Bulgers family wrote to the parole hearing that Jon Venables was a danger to the public and needs to be kept locked up, according to The Sun.

Last month, a spokesman for the Parole Board previously confirmed that the decision regarding Venables' release will be 'sometime during the week commencing the 11th December.'

It had been expected on November 28.

A family source told The Sun: The family has written to the decision makers, saying they believe Venables is a danger to the public and to children, and that he needs to be kept locked up.

Venables, and Robert Thompson, now 41, were both aged 10 when they kidnapped, tortured and killed two-year-old James Bulger (pictured) before leaving his mutilated body by a railway line in Liverpool 30 years ago

Venables will be told if he has won parole in the 'week commencing the 11th December' and could still be free before Christmas

The toddler (pictured) was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, on February 12, 1993

The source went onto say that it should be a cut and dry case and that were was no need for extra time to debate if monster Venables should be released.

Venables' parole bid has already sparked controversy after it emerged that he skipped giving evidence during the two-day hearing to prevent 'disproportionate emotional stress.'

Venables, and Robert Thompson, now 41, were both aged 10 when they kidnapped, tortured and killed two-year-old James before leaving his mutilated body by a railway line in Liverpool 30 years ago.

The child killers were convicted of murder in November 1993 and detained indefinitely.

The pair were released aged 18 in 2001 after just eight years. Thompson has not reoffended.

Following his released in 2001, Venables was recalled to prison twice, in 2010 and 2017, having been found to be in possession of indecent images of children.

Venables was turned down for parole in 2020 after serving his minimum 40 months.

After his 2001 release he was given a new name - which may happen if he is freed again.

Previous conditions placed on Venables included informing his parole officer if he ever got a job and getting their permission before leaving the UK.

He had to regularly see a forensic psychologist and was banned from contacting Robert Thompson or any member of James Bulger's family.

He also had to ask his parole officer for permission to leave Merseyside, stay overnight in the same house as a child under 16 or spend time with anyone under 12.

An exclusive report from MailOnline this week found that Venables is likely to be subject to the strictest ever release conditions if he wins parole, including lie detector tests and tight restrictions on his movements and use of the internet.

A criminal lawyer told MailOnline the conditions would include 'very heavy monitoring and restriction to his movements'.

This could involve curfew times, restrictions on international travel and access to the internet and the requirement to live in a 'pre-ordained place'.
The alleged rape victim of Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler told authorities he turned up at her home and assaulted her after she canceled plans to have sex with him and his wife, court documents show.

Sarasota police are investigating Christian Ziegler over allegations he raped a woman inside her home on October 2. Ziegler has denied the accusation.

The alleged victim, who claims she was in a 'consensual three-way sexual relationship' with the couple, told investigators she had made plans to have sex with Ziegler and his wife Bridget on October 2.

However, when Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler backed out the woman texted Christian 'Sorry I was mostly in for her,' according to the affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Later that evening the woman claims that as she went to leave her apartment she discovered Ziegler outside in the hallway - and alleges he then entered her property and raped her.

The alleged victim claims she was in a 'consensual three-way sexual relationship' with Bridget and Christian Ziegler (pictured)

Bridget Ziegler (pictured) is the co-founder of Moms for Liberty and a supporter of Ron DeSantis

Ziegler (left) helped establish the framework for what would become DeSantis' (right) Parental Rights in Education Bill dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' law

Weeks later, detectives began to monitor calls and messages sent by Christian Ziegler to the accuser, according to the affidavit.

'Where r u? Wanna meet and chat? Worried about you. You are my friend,' Ziegler allegedly wrote in one message via Instagram.

'Hell no not after what you did to me,' the woman responded. 'Do you not understand I am terrified of you?'

A 911 call, obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, made by a friend of the alleged victim's reveals she confided in the friend about being raped.

'She told me she was raped,' the friend informed the dispatcher on October 4.

'She's saying she's scared, that the person who raped her came to her house, so she's scared to leave... I'm worried about her right now,' the friend explained.

Sources cited by the Florida Trident said a search warrant had been executed on Christian's cell phone and that authorities are in the process of conducting a forensic examination of the device.

The GOP heavyweight is also alleged to have secretly videotaped the sexual encounters between the couple and the woman.

Christian Ziegler was elected chairman of the Sunshine State's GOP in February. He formerly served as vice chairman of the state party. Before that he was a Sarasota County Commissioner.

Governor Ron DeSantis has now called on Mr Ziegler to step down from the party.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday the governor said: 'I don't see how he can continue, given the gravity of those situations and so I think that he should step aside. '

'He's innocent till proven guilty, but we just can't have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny.'

Bridget also works for the Leadership Institute, a conservative group that runs workshops and develops curriculums to train the next generation of conservative leaders

Bridget Ziegler is considered a rising star in the conservative movement. She previously received the personal endorsement of Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for her school board seat. Pictured: Bridget with Casey DeSantis

In a statement posted to X, Moms for Liberty defended Bridget: 'Yet another attempt today to ruin the reputation of a strong woman fighting for America'

The alleged incident, now under investigation by Sarasota police, say happened when Christian and the unnamed accuser were alone in her home on October 2. Pictured: Christian and Bridget Ziegler with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (middle)

Bridget is the co-founder of Mom for Liberty, a group founded in the wake of COVID-19 school policies that parents across the nation felt were unnecessarily impeding their children's development

In 2014, Bridget was first elected to the Sarasota County School Board and was reelected in 2018. In August 2022, she was elected to a third term

Chairman of the Florida Republican Party Christian Ziegler (left) is accused of rape by a woman who says she was in a three-way relationship with Ziegler and his wife Bridget Ziegler (right)

Together, the couple holds powerful influence in Florida GOP politics

Bridget Ziegler is considered a rising star in the conservative movement. She previously received the personal endorsement of DeSantis for her school board seat.

She has become well known in her own state and across the country as the co-founder of Mom for Liberty, a group founded in the wake of COVID-19 school policies that parents across the nation felt were unnecessarily impeding their children's development.

She helped establish the framework for what would become DeSantis' Parental Rights in Education Bill, which became known in the media as the 'Don't Say Gay' law.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case and Christian Ziegler's lawyer denied the allegations saying the chairman would be 'completely exonerated'.

Derek Byrd, said he is confident his client 'will be completely exonerated,' adding that he has been 'fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department.'

'Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain,' he said.

'I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded. Out of respect for the investigation, this is all Mr. Ziegler or myself can say at this time.'

The GOP of Sarasota County, where the couple and their young family are based, issued a statement declaring their 'shock' and 'disappointment' in the reports.

'The Republican Party takes all such allegations of potential criminal conduct very seriously and will fully cooperate with investigators,' read the statement.

A representative for Ziegler did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
This is the moment a powerful magnitude 7.6 rocked an island in the Phillipines on Saturday, sending locals running for their lives as it triggered explosions and shook buildings.

The quake, hitting the island of Mindanao, struck at a depth of 20 miles at about 10:37 pm local time (1437 GMT) about 13 miles northeast of Hinatuan, the United States Geological Survey said.

The 45,000 residents in the municipality have been ordered to leave their homes and many were going on foot or in vehicles to higher ground, a local police official said - as photos show crowds gathered in evacuation centres.

Felt hundreds of miles away, the tremor also prompted tsunami warnings in the southern Philippines, Japan, parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.

It said waves of more than 3ft above normal were expected to hit its coast and advised people in Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to 'immediately evacuate' to higher ground or further inland.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said there could be waves of up to 3 metres above the usual high tide level along some Philippine coasts - but it has subsequently said there was no risk of a tsunami.

Video from Davao City, 121 miles away, showed locals fleeing for their lives as the earthquake was felt on Saturday night. The shaking reportedly lasted for about a minute.

Other footage showed an explosion as infrastructure fell with the quake tearing through the island of Mindanao.

Shocking footage showed explosions as the quake hit the island on Saturday

The USGS has since retracted its tsunami warning, following dramatic scenes in the Philippines

People gather at an evacuation center, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, Philippines

The 45,000 residents in the municipality have been ordered to leave their homes and many were going on foot or in vehicles to higher ground

Felt hundreds of miles away, the tremor prompted tsunami warnings in the southern Philippines, Japan, parts of Indonesia , Palau and Malaysia

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage but Hinatuan police Sergeant Joseph Lambo said the quake was 'very strong'.

'Appliances fell off the shelves at the police office and two TV sets were broken. The motorcycles parked outside also tumbled down,' Lambo told AFP.

'Right now we don't have reports of damage or casualties but people are evacuating because of the tsunami alert.'

Tsunami waves could hit the Philippines by midnight local time (1600 GMT) and could continue for hours, the Philippine Seismology Agency PHIVOLCS said.

Japan has also issued a tsunami warning for its Pacific coast, anticipating a 3.2ft (one metre) high wave will hit Japan as early as 1:30 am (1630 GMT), public broadcaster NHK announced.

The quake could reportedly be felt in Davao City, the Philippines' third largest city and home to 1.6mn people, some 121 miles away.

Lydia, who was staying at a resort on Siargao Island 208 miles away when the quake struck, told MailOnline on Sunday: 'Was just about to fall asleep and the treehouse/cabin started moving side to side and it took a couple of seconds for it to hit our brain "Ok this is an earthquake!!"

'We panicked and ran downstairs. Everybody else was stood outside confirming the shaking we felt. After a while we went back inside as it stopped. We felt it again around an hour later, but this time not as strong.'

Lydia, who is from the UK and currently backpacking the world with her partner Daniel, was staying in a treehouse on stilts on the beach when the quake hit.

She said they were 'panicking that a potential tsunami would follow and we'd be doomed due to our location' but were 'all good' in the end.

Dyl Constantino, 25, was also on Siargao Island, northeast of Mindanao, when the quake struck.

'It was the longest and strongest earthquake I've ever experienced, probably lasted for about four minutes,' Constantino told AFP.

'We're used to earthquakes here but this one was different because the doors were really shaking and so we were all panicking.'

LEFT: Footage shared online showed the moment the quake was felt in Davao City, sending locals running for cover from a bar. RIGHT: Elsewhere, water poured from the roof of a car park as it thrashed the region

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage but Hinatuan police Sergeant Joseph Lambo said the quake was 'very strong'. Pictured: People gather in the aftermath of an earthquake in Hinatuan

Anna Quinones, a disaster official in Davao city, said they were monitoring the coast for the tsunami.

'It is high tide still and we are not noticing anything unusual,' she said.

The USGS gave a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 while the Philippine agency in charge of earthquakes said it measured 6.9.

Magnitude 6.4 aftershock has since hit hte southern Philippines according to the USGS.
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Hundreds gathered today for the ninth year of the Whitby Krampus Run (WKR), an annual celebration of alternative Christmas traditions.

The event which is held in Whitby, Yorkshire, takes place on the closest weekend to the Feast of St Nicholas, which is December 6.

In tradition, St Nicholas, a fourth century Christian Saint, would hand good children toys and gifts, whilst the Krampus would punish children who have been naughty.

The Krampus are devil-like beasts who carry around sticks to hurt children, and appear just before the festive season to make sure that children behave.

It is part of Christmas folklore in many central European countries, where the Krampus acts as Santa Claus's evil counterpart.

Participants in the annual event will traditionally don a hand-carved wooden mask with animal horns, a suit made from sheep or goat skin and cow bells attached to their waist that make noise as they run, dance and jump around.

It includes some recognisable traditions, such as making festive cards to pass onto friends and family, and a handful of alternative activities such as sitting on the Krampus throne, snowball fights and a stand-off between a fox and the drummers of the parade, known as the Krampus Krumpettes.

Many will dress up as the Krampus or carry a model of the Whitby Wyrm,, a dragon-like creature which legend says used to live on the headland by Whitby Abbey.

The day ends with a fire dance on the docks.

The event is a charity fundraiser and in the past has benefited St Catherines Hospice and Whitby Wildlife Sanctury, according to Hetty & Betty.

Participants dressed as 'Krampus', a half-goat, half-demon figure that punish people who misbehave during the Christmas season, in the Whitby Krampus Run (WKR)

Hundreds gathered today for the eighth year of the Whitby Krampus Run (WKR), an annual celebration of alternative Christmas traditions

A participant ahead of the Whitby Krampus Run in Whitby, Yorkshire

The Whitby Krampus Run is a costumed street parade bringing the Krampus to life. Led by St Nicholas, the Krampus, a horned beast who traditionally carries sticks to beat naughty children

In tradition, St Nicholas, a fourth century Christian Saint, would hand good children toys and gifts, whilst the Krampus would punish children who have been naughty

The Krampus are devil-like beasts who carry around sticks to hurt children

The event is a charity fundraiser and in the past has benefited St Catherines Hospice and Whitby Wildlife Sanctury, according to Hetty & Betty

A man dressed up as a the horned beast Krampus during the celebrations in Whitby

One reveller posing for a picture as she marches through the streets during the Whitby Krampus Run

In tradition, the Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure from Austro-Bavarian Alpine folklore who during the Christmas season punished children who had misbehaved

A man releases green smoke as participants walk through the streets

The event which is held in Whitby, Yorkshire, takes place on the closest weekend to the Feast of St Nicholas, which is December 6

The Krampus are devil-like beasts who carry around sticks to hurt children, and appear just before the festive season to make sure that children behave

The event, now in its ninth year, always attracts a large crowd looking forward to some alternative Christmas traditions

Participants in the annual event will traditionally don a hand-carved wooden mask with animal horns and a suit made from sheep or goat skin and

Some participants will traditionally have cow bells attached to their waist that make noise as they run, dance and jump around.

The event at Whitby is the very first to celebrate this folklore character in the UK

The event is a charity fundraiser and in the past has benefited St Catherines Hospice and Whitby Wildlife Sanctury, according to Hetty & Betty

A participant of the run is seen parading through the streets with others ahead of the festive season officially starting in the area

Participants will wear traditional wooden masks as they parade through the streets

People will dress up as the Krampus and parade through the streets, playing drums and shaking bells attached to their costumes

There is usually a stand-off between a fox and the drummers of the parade, known as the Krampus Krumpettes

Horned creatures accompany Saint Nicholas on his rounds in a centuries long European festive tradition
A top Democrat whose home was vandalized by pro-Palestine rioters demanding a ceasefire amid the Israel-Hamas war says he won't be intimidated and tells DailyMail.com that the attack is part of a broader trend toward extremism.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith announced Friday that his home in Bellevue, Washington, was spray painted in bright red by vandals with the words 'free Gaza' and 'cease fire!' Red handprints dripped down the bright white garage door of his home and another statement read 'baby killer.'

Smith spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, calling the incident part of a 'broader' trend on both the 'extreme left and the extreme right.'

'They are so self-righteous in their opinions, they are morally superior to everybody, that they believe in intimidation and the threat of violence and in some cases violence...is a legitimate way to advance their interests,' he told DailyMail.com of the vandals.

Top Democrat Adam Smith's home vandalized by pro-Palestine rioters demanding a ceasefire

The red spray paint dripped down the home of Adam Smith

He went on to say it is part of the broader issue of 'undermining representative government' and squashing any notion of constructive dialogue.

These groups, again, on both the extreme left and the extreme right believe is they're just so right, that no matter what they have to get their way. And I think that threatens peace, stability and basic democracy.

He said an example in a 'vastly more extreme way' occurred by extreme right activists during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Smith told DailyMail.com that he's always been focused on 'inclusion dialogue' an resolving differences peacefully.

He said the 'irony' is that he regularly meets with left-wing activists on a plethora of issues.

'That's my real worry in all of this,' he explained.

'I'm not shutting them out. They just don't like my answer. So they think this is an acceptable way to try and intimidate me to change that,' he continued.

But the top Democrat vowed that their act of vandalism is 'not going to either intimidate me or cause me to decide issues differently than I otherwise would.'

Smith has called for 'humanitarian pauses' in fighting, but also is supportive of Israel's quest to eradicate terror group Hamas.

After a seven-day ceasefire, Hamas launched rockets into Israel overnight Friday shattering the brief reprieve from war in order to facilitate a hostage exchange.

The attack on his home also comes just a week after pro-Palestine rioters were arrested outside the Democratic National Committee.

Smith also addressed the issue of rising antisemitism nationwide, particularly on college campuses.

He said it's important for leadership on the topic because if this type of 'dehumanization, hateful speech and hateful actions to grow' you will see another Holocaust.

'We need to stand up to it now is is you know, as strongly and as broadly as possible, to try and make sure that that doesn't happen,' he told DailyMail.com.

When asked about progressive "Squad" Rep. Rashida Tlaib's antisemitic speech, which led to her being censured on the House floor, Smith said he hadn't paid too close of attention to what exactly she said that triggered the outrage.

Last month, the House has officially voted to censure Tlaib for a string of incendiary remarks condemning Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7 that killed 1,400 people.

Twenty-two Democrats joined Republicans to condemn the progressive Michigan lawmaker in a stunning rebuke of her controversial statements on the conflict in the Middle East.

She has also been criticized by the White House and members of her own party for using the pro-Palestinian chant 'from the river to the sea', which many consider to be an antisemitic call for the destruction of Israel.

'I don't think that holding the opinion that the U.S. shouldn't support Israel is a reason to be kicked out of Congress,' Smith said. He added that he 'disagrees' with her position 'strongly.'

'But I think we have to be careful about punishing people for legitimate policy positions, versus punishing people for for anti-Semitic remarks.'

Another statement reading 'baby killer' was written in red on Smith's home

Smith spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California

Smith joined Sen. Joni Ernst on a panel at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum

Smith also addressed the issue of rising antisemitism nationwide, particularly on college campuses.

Smith joined Sen. Joni Ernst on a panel at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum.

Dr. Alexander C. Karp, Co-Founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies and Marc A. Thiessen the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush also participated.
Jussie Smollett was seen in Los Angeles looking miserable, just hours after a Chicago court rejected his appeal in the hate crime hoax.

The 41-year-old actor, accompanied by his sisters Jurnee and Jazz, was spotted for the first time after an Illinois appeals court dismissed his appeal against disorderly conduct.

The decision, which could see him being behind bars for 150 days, was announced shortly before Smollett was seen looking downcast in a black jacket, dark navy blue pants, and sunglasses.

Smollett was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct, sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months felony probation and $120,106 in restitution to the City of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.

However, he only served six days in jail before he was released on March 16, 2022 when his lawyer's filed an appeal.

The Appellate Court of Cook County denied the appeal on Friday and Smollett may be required to complete the rest of his sentence.

Jussie Smollett, 41, accompanied by his sisters Jurnee and Jazz, was spotted in Los Angeles for the first time after an Illinois appeals court dismissed his appeal against disorderly conduct

The actor was seen in Los Angeles looking miserable, just hours after a Chicago court rejected his appeal in the hate crime hoax case

He was seen with his sisters Jurnee and Jazz shortly after the decision, which could see him being behind bars for 150 days, was announced

Smollett was seen looking downcast in a black jacket, dark navy blue pants, and sunglasses

The actor, with a large Herschel bag slung across his body, was seen in a zipped-up black jacket, striped navy blue pants, black leather boots, and sunglasses.

He was then observed taking off his jacket, putting on a black mask and a beanie, and dark polo shirts before getting into a vehicle.

He seemed low-spirited, hours after the devastating decision that could result in him being behind bars for months.

During the original sentencing hearing Smollett shouted at the judge that he was innocent, warning that he was not suicidal and if he died in custody it was somebody else, and not him, who would have taken his life.

Smollett initially told Chicago police he had been accosted on a darkened street by two masked strangers.

According to his account of the attack, the assailants threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and expressing support for then-President Donald Trump.

The two assaulters were Nigerian brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who are black.

Smollett was convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police about being the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack

Jussie Smollett was found guilty of orchestrating and reporting a false hate crime on himself

He was then observed taking off his jacket, putting on a black mask and a beanie, and dark polo shirts before getting into a vehicle

Smollett leans on his family after the devastating news was announced

The actor, with a large Herschel bag slung across his body, was seen in a zipped-up black jacket, striped navy blue pants, black leather boots, and sunglasses

The Appellate Court of Cook County denied the appeal on Friday and Smollett may be required to complete the rest of his sentence

He seemed low-spirited, hours after the devastating decision that could result in him being behind bars for months

The brothers, who testified in court, told the jury Smollett hired them to fake the attack because he wanted to boost his celebrity profile.

Smollett later claimed that in the days before the stunt, when prosecutors said he and the brothers were rehearsing the attack, they were actually getting together to smoke marijuana.

Smollett shocked the court by claiming he 'made out with' and 'masturbated' with Abimbola Osundairo during a visit to a bathhouse.

The actor told the jury he thought the brothers staged the attack on him to try to scare him into thinking he needed bodyguards, and to give them the job.

Offering their point of view in a segment for a FOX Nation docuseries on Smollett's web of lies the brothers returned to the scene of the 'crime' and share how they gave him a 'noogie' and poured bleach on his shirt before they ran away in the darkness of night.

The brothers took cameras to the spot where they sat on a bench waiting in the cold for Smollett at 2am on January 29.

'We had no phones because he did not want us to bring any phones,' Abimbola said. 'He said, "So we don't lose them." I don't know if that's really the reason, but you can deduce your own reason.'

Smollett was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct , sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months felony probation and $120,106 in restitution to the City of Chicago and a $25,000 fine

However, he only served six days in jail before he was released on March 16, 2022 when his lawyer's filed an appeal

During the original sentencing hearing Smollett shouted at the judge that he was innocent

He warmed that he was not suicidal and if he died in custody it was somebody else, and not him, who would have taken his life

He claimed Smollett told them to show up at exactly 2am, but 'he was nowhere to be found, so we're like "Damn, what do we do?"

'We had no way of contacting him, he had no way of contacting us.'

At that point, his brother interjected to say that they were waiting for Smollett for about four minutes 'but it felt like forever.'

'Because it was cold as balls,' Abimbola explained.

Eventually, he said, he saw Smollett walking 'out the corner of my eye,' and the two sprang into action remarking 'We gotta go get this Empire f******' and 'Let's get that n*****.'

When they go to cross the street, Abimbola said, they said 'Hey n*****' to get his attention, 'and then he turned around, looked at us and that's when we started yelling the famous slurs he wanted us to yell.'

Among those slurs was 'This is MAGA country.'

'And then he said, "What did you say to me?" And that's when I threw the first punch at him. I held the blow, of course, so I made it look real.

'And then we started tussling, moving around and then I threw him to the ground,' Abimbola continued, noting: 'He wanted it to look like he fought back. That was very important to him.'

Smollett filed an appeal of the December 2021 conviction for staging an anti-gay, racist attack on himself and then lying to Chicago police about it

Brothers Abi and Ola Osunadairo, who were hired by the actor to attack him

Jussie Smollett raises his fist to proclaim his innocence as he is escorted to jail at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse during his sentencing for staging an attack on himself in Chicago, 10 March 2022

Abimbola said he 'wanted it to look more real, so then I threw him to the ground. I used my knuckle to give him a nooggie,' demonstrating how he balled his face and rotated around Smollett's eye.

'Why did I do that? To make it look like he had a scar , to give him a mark, to make it look real like he really did get his a** beat,' he explained. 'After I did that, I fake kicked him.'

That's when Olabinjo said he 'came around with the bleach  the infamous bleach n the hot sauce bottle, poured it on his shirt, then I finally put the rope around his face.

'I did not put it around his neck,' he emphasized. 'I just placed it on his face, and that's when we took off.'

But when cops arrived at Smollett's apartment 40 minutes after he made the call to police about a hate crime, he still had a white noose around his neck. He said he left it on to show the cops what happened as he also pointed to the bleach on his shirt.

But after just three days of probing the incident, cops began to hone in on the brothers - and subsequently suspected that Smollett's hate crime claims were, in fact, bogus.

Video evidence from more than 55 sources would prove that narrative to be true, unmasking the brothers as the definite culprits.

At this point, due to conflicting accounts offered by Smollett, cops knew the incident was a hoax - but were then faced with the task with forcing it from the brothers' mouths themselves.

Cops quickly encountered a road block after learning the pair were out of the country, but would only have to wait a few weeks before they would return.

They eventually were able to confront the brothers when they handed over their passports.

Nigerian brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundario recreated how they staged the attack on actor Jussie Smollett in January 2019

Smollett's face is blurred but he's seen holding the long white rope nose around his neck

They were held in a Cook County detention cell for 47 hours before they cracked and owned up to taking part in Smollett's strange plot for the first time - which they said the actor designed with the ultimate goal of being viewed as a hero for not only the LGBTQ community, but to black people as well.

In the aftermath, the brothers said they were dumbfounded by Smollett's public remarks about the experience.

Speaking about how the actor consistently lied and tried to play innocent after the hoax, the brothers told Fox Nation: 'Insane. That's when I really saw a different side of Jussie. Like, dude, really? This is when I knew that this dude was like a super villain.'

'I thought he was a good actor, but I also thought this guy was a fraud,' said Amibola of Smollett's continued attitude toward the incident, which has remained unchanged since his 2021 trial.

'This guy is really just sitting her, lying to these people. Lying through his teeth, and not caring,' he said, referencing how Smollett 'even shed a tear' during a now widely seen interview with ABC News in which he denied the attack was a hoax.

Calling the actor 'crazy' for his continued devotion to the ruse, Amibola admitted that he feels betrayed by Smollett for not embracing his guilt, and taking the fall as he and his brother were forced to do

'I did feel betrayed by Jussie and what he had done. I didn't know what to do - I wasn't ready to say anything. Like, I was mute. And I didn't want to say anything.'

They added that they felt Smollett just wanted to be 'the poster child for activism,' with Ambibola saying: 'He wanted to be the hero for gay people, for black people.'

The two brothers ultimately testified against their one-time friend in court and were able to walk away from the incident with just two years' probation and a small fine, after cooperating with police and unmasking the ruse.
A government adviser has called for city roads to be completely ripped out and replaced with green spaces.

Dr Gary Fuller said that cities should be redesigned to improve air quality to enable residents to relax and children play.

The air pollution scientist at Imperial College is one of five 'champions' of the Clean Air Programme as well as a member of Defra's Air Quality Expert Group.

He made the comments during a talk on Wednesday with a community group in Brighton, the home of Britain's sole Green MP.

The author of 'The Invisible Killer' pointed to greening campaigns in cities such as South Korea's capital Seoul and Utrecht in the Netherlands as examples of how planners could 'look beyond traffic'.

Dr Gary Fuller told Brighton residents that city roads should be stripped out and replaced with green spaces that would allow children to play

While majority of traffic pollution comes from major arterial roads, as many as 80 per cent of people who live on them don't own cars. Pictured: Seoul, South Korea

Dr Fuller, who is a member of Defra's Air Quality Expert Group, cited greening schemes in cities such as Utrecht, the Netherlands as a model for planners

Dr Fuller also called for people to reduce their use of electronic devices at home such as computers and printers, the Telegraph reported.

He added that domestic products such as solvents from ink could be contributing more to pollution than 'all of industry put together'.

Before becoming an adviser to the government, Dr Fuller led the development of the London Air Quality Network which monitors key sites in the capital and has given evidence to the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee and the London Assembly.

He also independently reviewed research that supported Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion.

Referring to the air pollution in the capital, he cited a north London councillor who labelled traffic an 'invasive species' which 'swamps' all other modes of transport.

While most traffic pollution is created on busy arterial roads, as many as 80 per cent of people who live on them don't own a car.
A student at Hillcrest High School said the educator was 'tearful' during the peaceful discussions

The teacher returned to school one week later and defended her pro-Israel beliefs to her students in 'raw' conversations

Last week a Jewish teacher at a Queens high school hid while 400 students participated in terrifying riots in the hallways

Students of the Jewish teacher who was 'terrified for her life' during pro-Palestine riots at school said she was 'tearful' during peaceful discussions a week later.

Last week a staff member at a high school in Queens was forced to hide in her classroom while 400 students stormed through the hallways waving Palestine flags, shouting pro-Palestine support and jumping around.

Shocking video showed the rowdy demonstrations - which came about after images surfaced of the Jewish teacher attending a pro-Israel rally.

The Hillcrest High School teacher returned to school just one week after the traumatic experience - which left her feeling fearful for her safety.

Upon her brave return, the educator tried to make peace with the high schoolers by inviting them to ask questions and being open with her answers.

Last week a Jewish staff member at a high school in Queens was forced to hide in her classroom while 400 students stormed through the hallways waving Palestine flags, shouting pro-Palestine support and jumping around

The Hillcrest High School teacher returned to school just one week after the traumatic experience - which left her feeling fearful for her safety

Upon her brave return, the educator tried to make peace with the high schoolers by inviting them to ask questions and being open with her answers

The peaceful conversations left the unidentified teacher 'tearful,' according to a ninth grade student.

Students asked her whether she supported ' the genocide of Palestinians' and she responded saying that she did not endorse the violence in Gaza, the ninth grader said.

She said 'I stand with the people of Israel, but I do not stand with Israel's government.'

The staff member allegedly spent the 'entire class' defending her pro-Israel beliefs and explained what her 'I stand with Israel' stance meant.

The 'raw' conversations prompted students to extend their sympathies to their teacher as they could 'see and hear the pain in her voice'.

'I do appreciate her coming out and coming back to the school. Shes really bold for doing that, shes really brave  so you have to hand it to her for that,' the ninth grade told the New York Post.

In a statement to the the NY Post, the teacher, who wished not to be identified revealed that she had been working as an educator for 23 years in the New York City public school system.

Despite her desire to be anonymous - the school's Chancellor, David Banks, named her multiple times during a press conference at the Jamaica high school on Monday.

During the out-of-control riots, school administrators were forced to lock the teacher in an office to protect her from the chaos.

Despite her desire to be anonymous - the school's Chancellor, David Banks, named her multiple times during a press conference at the Jamaica high school on Monday

Just one week before the terrifying uproar in Hillcrest's hallways - students at the same school repeatedly punched a school cop.

The schoolchildren in Queens were arrested and charged following the horrific attacks, the New York Police Department confirmed.

They did not reveal how many kids were apprehended, nor what disciplinary action they are facing.

In the harrowing clip, at least three students start whacking the uniformed officer over the head, causing him to duck and try to defend himself.

They pin him against the hallway wall while some continue to punch the cop, who raises his arms to protect his head during the vicious attack.

While another officer tries to get the belligerent schoolkids off the cop, a gang of other students stand to the side recording the out-of-control situation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has claimed the impeachment inquiry against President Biden is now imminent.

Speaking on Fox News, the newly elected speaker told the outlet that the move to launch a formal impeachment inquiry vote against Biden was the 'necessary step'.

Johnson, appearing on Fox alongside House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, said the inquiry would not be used as a partisan political tool.

The Louisiana representative said: 'A formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step and I think it is something we have to do at this juncture.

'It's become a necessary step. Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice, when the Democrats used it for brazen partisan political purposes. We decried that use of it. This is very different.'

Johnson also added that he believes Republicans now have the votes necessary to launch the inquiry, saying: 'I believe we will. I suspect no Democrats will assist in this effort, but they should.'

The newly elected speaker told the outlet that the move to launch a formal impeachment inquiry vote against Biden was the 'necessary step'

President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden are pictured here arriving at Fort McNair, June 25, 2023, in Washington

He continued: 'Our three committees of jurisdiction  judiciary, oversight, ways and means  have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads.

'Now we're being stonewalled by the White House because they're preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward a former White House counsel, the national archives, the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence.'

Johnson added Republicans 'have a duty to do this' and 'we cannot stop the process.'

A spokesman for the White House counsels office, Ian Sams, told CNN in a statement: 'This is a baseless, politically-motivated attempt to smear President Biden with lies, and it reflects how this chaotic House GOP is focused on the wrong priorities, when they should be working on real issues Americans actually care about like the President is.'

House Republicans have been pushing to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden but have not yet had the amount of votes needed to do so.

The inquiry was declared open by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in September, who accused Biden of being involved in a 'culture of corruption'.

At the time, McCarthy said: 'House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct.'

McCarthy was under intense pressure from the conservative wing of the party to make such a move, including threats to have him disposed.

Earlier this week, GOP Majority Whip Tom Emmer told members in a closed-door meetings there could be a vote on opening the inquiry over the next few weeks.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had been facing heavy pressure from the right wing of the Republican Party when he called for an impeachment inquiry

House Republicans have been pushing to formalize their impeachment inquiry but have so far not had the amount of votes needed to do so, Mike Johnson is seen here earlier this week

Circling back with a vote to authorize the inquiry signals the House is far from an actual vote on impeaching the president.

Last month Johnson said the House was nearing a decision on whether or not to vote on articles of impeachment - the final step in the process - not an inquiry.

'I do believe that very soon we are coming to a point of decision on it,' he said on November 2.

Republican leaders have long insisted they do not need a vote to authorize the inquiry - in part to avoid putting swing district members in a difficult position.

Holding a vote on the impeachment investigation would be a risky move by House Republican leaders, who have not yet been able to garner enough support for the inquiry in their narrow 221-213 majority.

With Democrats united against the impeachment push, GOP leaders would need near-unanimous support from their side for the vote to succeed.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested the inquiry was not nearing its end in an interview with DailyMail.com on Tuesday. 'We have not finished carrying out all the investigation,' he said. 'It may take a little more time.'

Johnson, meanwhile, said the evidence the Republican chairs of the Oversight, Ways and Means and Judiciary committees have already compiled is 'alarming,' even as he warned against a rush to judgment.

Melissa Cohen and Hunter Biden with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden in Nantucket over the Thanksgiving holiday

James Biden, left, has been subpoenaed. His wife Sara has been requested to sit for an interview

'While we take no pleasure in the proceedings here, we have a responsibility to do it,' Johnson said in a news conference Wednesday.

He defended the impeachment inquiry and claimed it was far different from the two impeachments of Trump, who he defended in the trial.

Johnson said Republican efforts against Biden are 'exactly the opposite' of the Trump impeachment and Republicans stand for the 'rule of law.'

House Republicans have now set up a new impeachment website to lay out the evidence they say they have uncovered against the president.

Meanwhile the House Oversight Committee has gone back and forth with the Biden family after they subpoenaed Hunter and James Biden for testimony.

Hunter's attorneys offered to testify any day in December as long as it was in an open-door setting.

But Chair James Comer insisted Hunter needs to come in for a closed-door deposition before giving televised testimony to the committee.

Hunter is currently under indictment for gun charges brought by special counsel David Weiss where he has pleaded not guilty.

But additional tax charges could also be handed down, and anything Hunter Biden testified to in a congressional hearing would be admissible in criminal trial.
Top Republican Sen. Joni Ernst warns China is 'continuing to exploit' America through a 'loophole' that allows Chinese nationals to spy on U.S. military installations in Guam.

In 2019, the Biden administration enacted a policy to allow Chinese nationals to visit the Northern Mariana Islands for 14 days without a visa. From there, many have been reported to charter boats to Guam in order to get information on sensitive U.S. military sites.

Ernst, speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, said the visa loophole allows spies to take a 'hard look' at what that U.S. is doing militarily in Guam and then 'use that against us.'

'We're trying to close those loopholes. I just think it's very, very important that we do this,' said Ernst, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Ernst and Rep. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas this week slamming the policy, which the administration has said provides a significant economic boost for the small island.

Andersen Air Force Base in Guam

The senator from Iowa referenced the annual Reagan National Defense survey released Thursday which revealed that 51 percent of Americans think China is the 'greatest threat to the U.S.'

'There is no direct kinetic action right now with China militarily,' she said, but according to the poll, the 'global spread of China - whether it is militarily or economically - does concern Americans.'

As the U.S. figures out the best way to tackle the growing threat from China, the senator also said she believes American 'heroes' are hurting due to a blockade on promotions and nominations being enacted by one of her colleagues.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has held up over 400 military promotions over 10 months in protest over the Pentagon's policy to provide reimbursement benefits to troops seeking abortions.

But Ernst, the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate, does not agree with her fellow Republican's approach.

And she has not yet heard a 'clear strategy' from Tuberville regarding his ongoing military blockade.

'The bottom line is we have generals and admirals that are being held from their promotions, from their nominations, over a policy they have absolutely no control over,' said Ernst.

'So again, I disagree,' she told DailyMail.com about Tuberville's blockade.

'I'm very pro-life I am I make no bones about it, but holding up innocent men, women and their families is not the solution so we can find another solution to address this policy. But it shouldn't be at the expense of the heroes that are serving in uniform.'

Tuberville suggested this week that he would back down on most of his military holds and instead focus on just keeping 'woke' officials from being confirmed.

His office told DailyMail.com that they would announce the list of the specific service members who would still be held up in due time.

'This started out as, obviously, abortion overreach and those things. Now, since we've had all this time, we've had different groups across Washington, D.C., and the country that have evaluated all these military appointees,' he said to congressional reporters earlier this week.

'I think that we need to make sure that people that are our generals and admirals should be vetted to some degree, but also understand that we need to get these people promoted, and it's been a long time for some of them.'

Ernst also told DailyMail.com that there is an important distinction to make between the 'woke' Biden policies and service members themselves.

Sailors prepare to enter a building for a close-quarter combat training exercise at Naval Base Guam

Ernst told DailyMail.com that there is an important distinction between the 'woke' Biden policies and service members themselves

She said 'it's not the sergeant on the street that is woke, it's not the hard working men and women wearing the uniform that are woke, it is the fact that we have policies that are being pushed by woke civilians that have oversight and serve in capacity in the Department of Defense.'

Ernst also said she believes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will be passed before the end of the year.

But Congress is currently stuck in negotiations over stripping out 'woke' policies by the Biden Department of Defense.

Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, agreed with Ernst's assessment during a panel earlier in the day.

'I really want to thank Senator Joni Ernst for saying the military is not woke,' he told DailyMail.com.

'People need to stop saying that it's undermining the credibility our military and it is just a lie. It's completely wrong to attack the military and undermine support for our troops and their families out of a partisan political agenda.'

'I think we're pretty close to done,' said Smith about the NDAA

Smith, D-Wash., also blasted Tuberville over the holds, saying it's 'undermining' the military.

The Democrat also expressed optimism for the eventual passage of the NDAA before Christmas. The bill has been passed for 62 consecutive years.

'I think we're pretty close to done,' said Smith.

'I think we have resolved those differences in a bipartisan, bicameral way with also input from the White House. I think we'll have a good bill and we'll be ready to go next week,' he continued.

The text of the NDAA bill is expected to be released on Monday.
The scene seemed typical of any European capital: a woman sipping fruit tea while chatting amid the bustle of a cafe.

Yet Nataliia Drapak was listing casualties among her circle of friends on the bloodstained front line of war. 'I have friends who have fallen. I have one friend missing since May.

I have another friend badly wounded, injured in all four limbs. He's a father of four, so it is very difficult for his family.'

Her fiance has been fighting since June last year, never getting the chance to bid farewell to his dead comrades as bodies are transported back to their families.

'He knows that he'll think about this for the rest of his life,' said Drapak, 33, who works in the arts. Little wonder her exhausted boyfriend suffers mental health issues.

Zelensky, with his military leaders last week, says Ukraine will never back down despite the onset of a tough winter

Ukrainian soldiers walking in a trench on the front line in the direction of Kupyansk, where clashes with the Russian army continue despite the severe winter conditions, in Kupiansk

'He has a lot of stamina and stability for someone who is so depressed,' she said. 'But we need one million more people to fight.'

Another soldier has launched a petition calling for long-serving troops to be rotated, sparking a difficult debate over mobilisation in a country seeing casualties rise as the snows of a second winter of war fall. For Ukraine is confronting a harsh reality: that this war  which has killed, injured and displaced so many  might grind on far longer than most people here initially anticipated.

Last year, after heroically resisting Russia's attack on Kyiv and recapturing more than half their seized terrain, there was heady talk of snatching back even Crimea from Vladimir Putin's clutches by Christmas. Now the counter-offensive is stalling against well-fortified Russian lines. Moscow has found new suppliers of weapons, world attention has shifted to the Middle East, support from allies is wavering and the economy is ravaged.

So many people have lost everything... this is a fight for humanity

Even President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted to dissatisfaction, saying they are entering a 'difficult' phase as he orders defensive fortifications and urges the world not to forget their fight.

Returning to Ukraine after several months away, I found the mood gloomier, with growing concern over the nation's readiness for a long struggle  yet their fatigue seems matched by even fiercer determination to defeat their enemy.

The sombre mood is unsurprising. One study found people typically know seven family members or friends killed or injured since the start of last year's full-scale invasion, a chilling statistic reflected by everyone to whom I spoke.

The petition pleading for rotation of weary front-line troops was launched by Kyrylo Babii, who was an actor, artist and architecture student in Kharkiv before Russia attempted to crush his country.

He signed up instantly to defend Ukraine. More than 21 months later, he commands a front-line intelligence unit that has participated in some of the most savage battles. 'I joined the army because I want to live in freedom,' said the bushy-bearded 32-year-old. 'We were attacked by a country that wants to destroy us. The scale of the invasion was so huge that I felt we had to do everything possible.'

A wounded woman is seen as airstrike damages an apartment complex outside of Kharkiv

krainian servicemen load onto the truck the body of a victim who died in a Russian strike that destroyed a shop and a cafe in the village of Groza, some 30 kilometres west of Kupiansk

But today, as he fights Russian forces on the eastern front line, he is exhausted by stresses of combat and leadership. 'I did not think it would last such a long time,' admits Babii. 'I was optimistic.

'Now I am tired. Sometimes we find ourselves in critical situations, unimaginable situations, so it is very difficult to cope. It is hard, both mentally and physically. I don't see the end of the war and I have no time to restore my strength.'

Such demands fuel discussion over how to ensure a sufficient flow of citizens ready and trained to risk their lives in Ukraine's struggle for survival. Conscription rules have already been extended several times. Clearly Putin does not intend to stop. Two days after arriving back in Kyiv, I woke to the familiar sounds of war as the city suffered its heaviest drone attack since last February's invasion.

Only one of the 75 Iranian-made craft made it through the city's defences, though five people were still injured, buildings damaged and fires started by falling debris.

The attack came as Ukraine commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, a famine engineered by Joseph Stalin, the Soviet despot and one of Putin's idols, which led to four million deaths.

We sacrificed so much, a peace deal would feel like betrayal

The drone attack was seen as Putin's opening salvo in 'weaponising' winter after building up his arsenal. Last year, Russia destroyed almost half of Ukraine's energy facilities and ministers say they are preparing for the 'worst winter in history'.

Yet just as their troops have dug into trenches on the battlefield, so this country and its citizens must dig deep into reserves of strength. 'We live in a new reality,' said Myroslav Laiuk, 33, a prominent poet and writer. 'We have so many people who have lost everything  their homes, husbands, children  that possessions become valueless.

'This is a fight for freedom, for humanity.' He spoke emotionally of attending a funeral and seeing a slain friend's mother so distraught over the loss of her only surviving family member 'a really horrible moment'.

Last winter, he read books by candlelight in power cuts while thinking the war would soon be over. 'Now Ukrainians are ready for more long winters. If we are lucky we're in the middle of the war  but if we are not lucky it will be ten years.' Laiuk thinks Ukraine has grown stronger despite its weariness and casualties. US officials believe the nation is approaching 200,000 military deaths and injuries.

A wounded woman stands outside a hospital after the bombing of the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv on February 24

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting the soldiers in the Kupiansk frontline on November 30

'A year ago, I did not think we could sustain the longer war but now I feel we can. People have paid such a big price, there is nothing to live for today except the values people are dying for.'

The sentiment was echoed even outside the capital's elite. Among pensioners forced out from the war zone was a dawning realisation beneath the bravado talk of victory that Ukraine faced a long, hard slog. 'I expected it to end in spring, then summer, then winter. Now they say next year,' said Liudmyla Voikova, 67. 'I am afraid there will be no end to this war.'

This former accountant told me about one friend's death and seeing a man's fingers sheared off by shrapnel as he delivered water to families sheltering in basements. 'War is pure hell,' she said through tears, but insisted they had to win.

These are words I heard repeatedly, this shift to an acceptance that the war might last a long time and scornful dismissal Ukraine might contemplate anything but recovery of all its lands after suffering such pain. 'A peace deal is never discussed. We've sacrificed too much. Would all the young people have died for a peace deal?' said Maria Avdeeva, a cyber-security expert. 'It would feel like you were a traitor to the memory of all those who lost their lives.'

Russia has no principles, no morality. We will last a long time

These two women, like many others, reminded me that Ukraine had been fighting already for almost a decade since Putin first stole Crimea and chunks of Donbas.

Meanwhile, massive Russian losses have come in the frenzied assault on Avdiivka, a battered Donbas town of limited strategic significance. The Kremlin is desperate to find a positive story ahead of elections in March.

British military officials confirm an average of 931 Russian soldiers were killed or injured each day last month  although neither side discloses such data and Russia has almost four times Ukraine's population from which to replenish its ranks.

Although Russian losses are far heavier, here lies the key issue highlighted by that petition: while many Ukrainian men and women fight hard in horrific battles, many more carry on with lives closer to normal behind their front line.

Ministers claim one million citizens in uniform in a country left with about 37 million people after last year's exodus of women and children. Babii's petition, however, calculates there are 6.3 million Ukrainian men of fighting age. 'I don't feel anger against men not serving but I don't understand their actions,' he said.

Yet not every man is willing to be a soldier, even in war. Thousands fled the country illegally to avoid the draft. There has been a tenfold rise in the issue of medical exemptions. And in the summer, Zelensky fired recruitment chiefs, alleging systemic corruption.

A residential building destroyed by Russian shelling in the frontline village of Petropavlivka

A bird's-eye view of the city of Kupiansk which has suffered from shelling from Russian position

One man wept describing his situation. 'I feel so bad all the time,' said 34-year-old entrepreneur Maksym, not his real name. 'I'm afraid to die, I don't want to be injured and I'm not ready to kill somebody. I don't know how people can handle this.'

Most men aged between 18 and 60 are banned from leaving the country. In the first months of war, volunteers rushed to sign up. Now the military relies on mobilisation with notices to serve doled out on the streets, even in homes and bars.

Maksym stays mostly at home to avoid round-ups. But even he demonstrates a defiance forged by Kremlin atrocities that leads those not fighting to give time and money to support the armed forces.

Yet volunteers told me donations are falling due to economic struggles and fatigue while there is growing anger over revelations of corruption and misused state money.

Fissures have emerged also between Ukraine's political and military leadership. There are worries also over Western support and arms supplies as Russia ramps up military spending, with almost a third of its budget now going on defence.

Two people with whom I spoke, however, summed up the spirit of resolve that endures. The first was Olena Kurylo, 54, the teacher who became the face of this war after being struck by shrapnel near Kharkiv in its first hours  then had her sight restored by doctors thanks to donations from readers of The Mail on Sunday.

Although offered a flat in London, she returned to Ukraine this summer. 'It is tough but this is my home, my language, my people,' she said. 'It is horrible to live this way, but we will last a long time. Russia has no principles, no morality.'

The second was sniper Oleksandr Petrenko, 25, paralysed from the chest down after being shot in the neck. 'It was a strange feeling. There was blood in my throat and I felt death was close,' he recalls.

Yet he remains remarkably positive, saying: 'I know people are tired but there are no thoughts about defeat. It is tough when you lose so much. Many people are broken by this. I want to show that it is not the end, that instead of being broken it can be a rebirth.'

Additional reporting by Dzvinka Pinchuk.
Investigators also never found the cinder block Van der Sloot claimed he used to batter Holloway to death

They said the reef at the beach where the Dutch national murdered the 18-year-old would prevent her body washing out to sea as he claimed

Aruba investigators have questioned if the chilling confession made by Natalie Holloway's killer is true, stating there are some details which 'don't add up'.

Prosecutors said Joran Van der Sloot's admission about the 2005 murder of the high school senior contain contradictions which don't 'make sense'.

Van der Sloot, 36, confessed as part of a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to charges of extortion and wire fraud after he tried to scam money out of Holloway's parents in exchange for intel on her remains.

The Dutch national told how he battered Holloway, 18, to death with a cinderblock and dumped her body in the ocean after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

But now, prosecutors have poked holes in his account, stating the geographic features of the Aruba beach where the killing took place typically would mean her body would have been washed back up.

Investigators into the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba have queried the confession made by her killer Joran Van der Sloot

Joran van der Sloot finally confessed to killing Natalee Holloway in 2005 after they met at a bar in Aruba as part of a plea deal for wire fraud and extortion after he tried to scam $250,000 from her family in exchange for intel on her whereabouts

'It's true that there's a reef that usually keeps things from washing out to sea,' the investigator told the Messenger.

'It's about 30 meters offshore. You have to go past it to be sure that things won't wash back up on the beach. But he says he didn't do that.'

Van der Sloot described with a sickening detachment how he caved in Holloway's face before wading up to his knees and pushing her body out to sea.

Police also never found the murder weapon or any remains despite an extensive search the day after Holloway went missing.

'We didn't see any block,' the investigator added. 'No blood, and nothing that led us to believe that she died like that there.'

Van der Sloot, who has admitted to receiving treatment for 'sociopathic tendencies' was compelled to disclose everything he knew about the murder as part of the plea deal.

US authorities also subjected him to a polygraph test which he passed 'with flying colors'.

But his testimony contradicts an account he gave to a friend over email in 2010, in which he claimed his father had rented a boat two days after the murder to 'take care of things', suggesting the body was hidden before being dumped further out to sea.

Investigators questioned the killer's account of how he battered Holloway to death and dumped her body in the sea as the murder weapon was never found and they would have expected the body to be washed up

Van der Sloot confessed to the killing while serving another 28 year sentence for the brutal murder of another student, 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez, who he attacked in Peru five years after Holloway's murder

Beth Holloway said Van der Sloot's confession means the family have 'finally reached the end of this never-ending nightmare'

His confession brought some closure to the years of torment for the Holloway family who have strived for answers since her disappearance on May 30, 2005.

A judge declared her dead, but her body was never found.

The teen's mom Beth Holloway described the immense relief the family felt after Van der Sloot was handed a 20 year sentence at an Alabama court for his extortion crimes.

'This confession means we have finally reached the end of this never-ending nightmare,' she said outside the courthouse.

The killer was snared after trying to scam $250,000 from Holloway's mom Beth Holloway in exchange for information on her remains.

Van der Sloot was extradited from Peru for the hearing where he is already serving a 28 years for the murder of 21-year-old student Stephy Flores in 2010.

The murder of the Lima student took place five years exactly after that of Holloway's.

Van der Sloot will serve his second sentence at the same prison he is currently being held in, but technically does not face any time for the murder.

Despite doubts over the veracity of his confession, the murder has now passed the statue of limitations in Aruba for Van der Sloot to be charged again.

'There are some things that don't make sense,' the investigator said, 'It just doesn't add up.

'There's nothing more to be done, 'but I still will always wonder.'
A wounded Ukrainian soldier who was surrounded by bloodthirsty Russian troops while stranded in a Bakhmut trench incredibly called in an artillery strike on his own position in the ultimate act of bravery.

Infantryman Serhii, 36, has been left with irretrievable pieces of shrapnel buried deep inside his legs - but miraculously he has survived.

Just over a month on from seemingly sacrificing himself for his country, the Ukrainian hero told CNN: 'I can't believe that now I'm in the hospital, not in the trench. I did not think I would survive.'

Serhii's 80th Air Assault Galician Brigade had been ordered to protect the trenches on the eastern front line on the outskirts of Bakhmut - an embattled Ukrainian city which has been the epicentre of some of the war's bloodiest conflicts.

They were assigned to hold the trenches for three days but were left facing intense enemy fire for two weeks. For some of his comrades, it was the last mission they carried out.

Ukrainian soldier Serhii (pictured), 36, has been left with irretrievable pieces of shrapnel buried deep inside his legs - but miraculously he survived

Serhii, 36, was surrounded by Russian troops for weeks and even called in artillery strikes on his own position

The unit had come under relentless shelling for several days when a mortar exploded nearby, cutting Serhii and two other men off just as they were about to change position.

Serhii, who left his life as a handyman in Finland to enlist in the Ukrainian army when Russia launched invaded in February 2022, revealed how they were all left severely injured - and that he even had to touch his legs to check if they were still there.

The other two were left with broken legs and jaws, with one left so traumatised that he asked to kill himself, so his weapon was confiscated from him.

In another show of courage, Serhii told the evacuation team to take the other injured soldiers first while he waited for more aid.

Multiple rescue teams attempted to reach Serhii over the next two weeks but severe Russian shelling left them unable to reach his position, with some killed while trying.

Confined to his trench, Serhii was carefully dropped off supplies including water, medicine, chocolate and even cigarettes using a drone.

At the same time, Putin's men were using drones to drop off grenades next to the Ukrainian soldier. It blew up next to another soldier's back and near to his own feet but they were 'lucky to survive'.

'It was possible to evacuate only one critically injured soldier. So at that moment I realised I was alone,' he recalled.

In another show of courage, Serhii (pictured) told the evacuation team to take the other injured soldiers first while he waited for more aid

The only thing left for Serhii to do was to take cover in his dugout for as long as he could. For three days he hid as Russian troops closed in on his position. They were so close to him that he could hear them speak and knew their plan.

Accepting that it was likely he would be killed anyway, Serhii whispered the coordinates of the enemy to his commander, effectively calling in artillery strikes on his own position.

Kyiv forces carried out several accurate strikes thanks to Serhii's bravery but the Russian soldiers continued to close in around him.

'I was surrounded by enemies,' Serhii recalled. 'When they couldn't hear me, I whispered the coordinates again on the radio and our artillery fired at them.'

Serhii thought he had been compromised when a Russian soldier climbed into his dugout and asked where he was from.

The Ukrainian replied in Russian and said that he was concussed and needed water urgently. The Russian chose not to give him water but crawled back out of the trench, seemingly unaware that Serhii was part of the enemy.

Serhii is still confused how the Russian soldier did not work out who he was fighting for given he was dressed in his Ukrainian army uniform.

After days of desperate attempts to evacuate Serhii, his commander eventually told him the only way to survive was to crawl and pray.

As he fled for his life, he crawled through the dugout where Russians had occupied. He stumbled across a tripwire with a grenade on it and was relying on instructions from his commander over a radio which was on the verge of running out of battery.

Serhii finally reached the Ukrainian position and has now been able to share his incredible survival story.

As he recovers from the trauma from the trenches in a warm hospital ward, he still does not see his actions as something heroic.

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers pass by a volunteer bus burning after a Russian drone hit it near Bakhmut on November 23

He said that those on the front line are 'paying a very high price'. 'They pay with their blood,' he added.

'All I want is to do is go fishing with my dudes, drink some beers and sit in silence'.

Months of World War One-style trench warfare resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides in Bakhmut - and Russia's eventual capture of the Ukrainian city in May.

Russian forces are now intensifying attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, with fighting reminiscent the battle for Bakhmut.
Thirty professional female pool players are threatening to sue their governing body for sex discrimination after it allowed transgender players to compete in women's competitions.

They say this is unfair because trans competitors who were born male but identify as female have a physical advantage in games, including greater upper body strength, the ability to play games at a faster pace and reach further for difficult shots.

If successful, it could set a legal precedent that would make it unlawful to let anyone who is biologically male compete in women's contests in any discipline.

Peter Daly, of Doyle Clayton solicitors who represents the players, said: 'The advantages all males have because of their sex... limit women's ability to qualify and succeed in those competitions. The admission of males into women's sport is therefore discriminatory.'

He said the Equality Act 2010 permits sport to be segregated on the basis of sex, regardless of gender reassignment.

Harriet Haynes was awarded the Women's Champions of Champions title by default after her opponent withdrew over Haynes being allowed to play in the female category

It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed dozens of pro female pool players  including world No 5 Alexandra Cunha  were refusing to play against trans opponents in competitions

One female pool player, Frankie Rogers, said: 'Bringing this case is the only option we have. We don't want to be forced to play male-born players who have clear advantages.'

It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed dozens of pro female pool players  including world No 5 Alexandra Cunha  were refusing to play against trans opponents in competitions.

They acted after the international governing body  the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF), and its main sponsor the Ultimate Pool Group (UPG)  reversed its own decision to let only players born female compete in women's events.

Female pool players told the MoS they had urged the WEPF and UPG to reinstate the female-only policy for tournaments, but the requests was refused. They now intend to write to the bodies again, warning they will take legal action if they are ignored.

The WEPF and UPG did not reply to requests for comment.
The theory that Covid was man-made in a Chinese lab should be investigated by the Covid Inquiry, Boris Johnson believes.

The former Prime Minister, who will make his long-awaited appearance before the inquiry this week, has told friends he is puzzled about why the hearings are not examining whether the virus' origins were natural or as a result of an accidental leak from a Wuhan institute.

When Michael Gove told the inquiry last week that there was a 'significant body of judgment' that Covid was man-made, he was cut short by the inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC, who said that was a 'somewhat divisive issue'.

But Mr Johnson shares Mr Gove's view that its emergence is relevant to the issue of pandemic preparedness for the future.

Mr Johnson is understood to believe the inquiry should be devoting more of its time to assessing the merits and demerits of locking-down the economy rather than the infighting between Government figures during the crisis

The former Prime Minister has told friends he is puzzled about why the hearings are not examining whether the virus' origins were natural or as a result of an accidental leak from a Wuhan institute

A source close to Mr Johnson said: 'Boris thinks it is legitimate to ask how the virus spread and whether it was made or manipulated by humans.

'Many of the senior Conservatives who have appeared have been surprised that the core issue of the origins of the pandemic has not come up. Surely an examination of this question is crucial in preventing future pandemics?'

Mr Johnson is also understood to believe the inquiry should be devoting more of its time to assessing the merits and demerits of locking-down the economy rather than the infighting between Government figures during the crisis.

The former PM has been preparing for his appearance for more than a year, wading through some 6,000 pages of documentation.

An insider claims Mr Johnson has spent much of the past week holed up with his lawyer, Brian Altman KC, 'devouring endless Pret A Manger sandwiches and cups of Costa coffee'. He is expected to mount a robust defence of his record during the crisis, pointing to the success of the vaccine programme, the fact that the NHS did not collapse, and the UK's relatively early emergence from lockdowns.

When Michael Gove told the inquiry last week that there was a 'significant body of judgment' that Covid was man-made, he was cut short by the inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC

The former PM has been preparing for his appearance for more than a year, wading through some 6,000 pages of documentation

His allies also point out that Britain was 'mid-table' in the global assessment of excess deaths in developed countries.

Mr Johnson is, however, expected to apologise to the inquiry when he appears on Wednesday morning, as well as acknowledge that the Government did not get every decision right.

His evidence follows weeks of heavy criticism, with his former director of communications Lee Cain saying the pandemic was the 'wrong crisis' for Mr Johnson's 'skillset'. Former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance later claimed that Mr Johnson was 'bamboozled' by scientific data.

Mr Gove told the inquiry that the UK was 'not as well prepared as we should have been ideally', pointing to the 'nature of the fact that the virus was novel'.

He added: 'Indeed, though I think this probably goes beyond the remit of the inquiry, there is a significant body of judgment that believes the virus itself was man-made  and that presents its own set of challenges as well.'

The origins of Covid-19 are still being investigated. Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that research into the source of the virus had been stalled due to difficulties in conducting crucial studies in China.

In April 2020, The Mail on Sunday became the first mainstream media outlet in the world to reveal fears the virus had leaked from a Chinese laboratory, reporting that Cobra  the Government's secret emergency committee  was looking into intelligence on an alleged accident at Wuhan's Institute of Virology.
Harry and Meghan have been excluded from the high society wedding of his childhood friend Hugh Grosvenor - but William and Kate are invited - in the latest sign of a Royal rift between the two brothers.

Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, is said to have wanted to invite the Sussexes but decided against it to avoid clashes on his big day amid soaring tensions between the royals following the release of Omid Scobie's new book.

He picked the Prince and Princess of Wales over the Sussexes to avoid any awkward moments for King Charles and Queen Camilla during the wedding, The Sunday Times reported.

One of Britain's richest men, 32, the billionaire aristocrat proposed to fiancee Olivia Henson at his family seat, Eaton Hall in Cheshire. They are set to get married at Chester Cathedral on June 7 in the wedding of the year.

It comes as he was revealed to be the godfather of Harry's son Archie - alongside being the godfather for Prince George, who will be at the wedding.

A life-long friend for each of the brothers, he is thought to be the only pal both chose to mentor their children.

And to rub salt in the wound, it is thought Prince William is in the running to be Grosvenor's best man.

Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, is said to have picked the Prince and Princess of Wales over the Sussexes to avoid clashes that would overshadow his big day. Pictured: Prince William (right) and Hugh Grosvenor (second from left) during the official handover of the newly built Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre in 2018

It comes as tensions are already high between Harry and William. Pictured: Prince Harry (third from right) visits the Khulula Care for Wild Centre in South Africa in 2015 with Grosvenor (right)

One of Britain's richest men, 32, the billionaire aristocrat proposed to fiancee Olivia Henson at his family seat, Eaton Hall in Cheshire. They are set to get married at Chester Cathedral on June 7 in the wedding of the year. Pictured: The happy pair

It comes as he was revealed to be the godfather of Harry's son Archie - alongside being the godfather for Prince George, who will be at the wedding. Pictured: Harry and Meghan with Archie in 2019

It comes as tensions are already high between Harry and William - after King Charles III and Kate Middleton were named as the royals alleged to have made comments about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan's son Archie prior to his birth in the Dutch edition of Scobie's latest tome, Endgame

A life-long friend for each of the brothers, he is thought to be the only pal both chose to mentor their children. Pictured: At the wedding of Harry's school friend Charlie van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks

The broadsheet understands that the Duke wanted to invite Harry and Meghan but eventually decided against it as he feared the tension it would cause with the other Royals who have been invited - including the King and Queen.

'It's incredibly sad it has come to this,' a friend of William and Harry's told The Sunday Times.

'Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry's who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both. He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises it's unlikely to happen before the wedding.'

'He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn't want any awkwardness.'

A spokesman for the Duke said last night: We are not in a position to comment on the guest list. Buckingham Palace also declined to comment.

Archie's other godparents have not been named publicly by his parents - but include Tiggy Pettifer, Harry and William's former nanny, Mark Dyer, his minder, and his school friend Charlie van Straubenzee.

It comes as tensions are already high between Harry and William - after King Charles III and Kate Middleton were named as the royals alleged to have made comments about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan's son Archie prior to his birth in the Dutch edition of Scobie's latest tome, Endgame.

The King is said to be taking the taking the furore over the book 'very seriously' and will consult senior advisers next week on the family's next step, with 'all options' including legal action set to be considered.

Prince William (right), and the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor (centre) in 2018

Hugh Grosvenor attends the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle with Charlie van Straubenzee at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018

The broadsheet understands that the Duke wanted to invite Harry and Meghan but eventually decided against it as he feared the tension it would cause with the other Royals who have been invited - including the King and Queen

Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, have not commented publicly on the scandal. Scobie has been accused of acting as a 'mouthpiece' for the Sussexes, an allegation he has denied, writing on X, formerly Twitter: 'I'm not 'Meg's pal'.

But sources close to the Duchess of Sussex , who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted to that she 'never intended for them to be publicly identified'.

One source close to the Royal Family has now called on Harry and Meghan to speak out publicly on the issue.

'For the couple that talked about 'death by a thousand no comments', the silence at this point is deafening,' the source told The Telegraph.

Another insider added that the decision not to respond was 'interesting' given the Sussexes' previous complaints about not being supported against negative press stories.

The scandal - which Scobie has been forced to insist was not a publicity stunt - has kept Endgame in the headlines for more than a week as excerpts were published in the days before its release in a French magazine.

The most eye-grabbing extract serialised in Paris Match claimed that there was a second so-called 'royal racist' - after Harry and Meghan alluded to a member of the Royal Household expressing discomfort over Archie's skin colour in 2021.

Grosvenor, who is thought to own more land than the King, has an estimated net worth of 9.42 billion and has a long history with the royal family - with his late father Gerald acting as King Charles' own godfather.

Grosvenor, who is thought to own more land than the King, has an estimated net worth of 9.42 billion and has a long history with the royal family - with his late father Gerald acting as King Charles' own godfather. Pictured: With his mother in 2018

The Duke was the third child and only son of Gerald Grosvenor, the 6th Duke of Westminster, and his wife Natalia who is a descendant from the Russian Imperial House of Romanov, specifically from Nicholas I of Russia.

When he was baptised on 23 June 1991, the King - then the Prince of Wales - agreed to officiate as godfather.

He even had an official role in the King's coronation procession - carrying the Standards of the Quarterings of the Royal Arms and Standard of the Principality of Wales alongside the Marquess of Anglesey, the Earl of Caledon and Scottish peer and Conservative politician the Earl of Dundee.

Grosvenor was raised at Eaton Hall with his three sisters: Lady Tamara, Lady Edwina, and Lady Viola. They attended a local public primary school before he attended the small, private Mostyn House School, followed by Ellesmere College in Shropshire where fees are 40,635 a year.

He later studied at Newcastle University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Countryside Management

The Duke, whose Latin family motto Virtus Non Stemma means Virtue not Ancestry, was originally titled Earl Grosvenor from his birth until 2016, when his father died and he became the seventh Duke.

At the time he was labelled Britain's most eligible bachelor but in April this year he announced his engagement to Olivia Grace Henson.

He confirmed the engagement through a statement, which said: 'The Duke of Westminster and Miss Olivia Henson are delighted to announce they are engaged to be married.

'The couple, who have been together for two years, recently became engaged at the Duke's family home at Eaton Hall in Cheshire.

'Members of both their families are absolutely delighted with the news.

'Hugh Grosvenor, The Duke of Westminster, is Grosvenor's Chair as well as Chair of the Westminster Foundation. Miss Henson works for Belazu, a B-Corp certified food company based in London.'

MailOnline has contacted Grosvenor and the Sussexes for comment.
Channel migrants living in taxpayer-funded hotels are earning up to 1,500 a month working illegally for fast food delivery firms like Deliveroo  despite a Minister demanding the practice be stamped out.

A Mail on Sunday investigation today exposes how couriers working for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are secretly subcontracting out their deliveries to migrants who are banned from working, in exchange for a weekly fee of up to 100.

They are able to do so as the tech giants behind the UK's 13 billion food delivery business allow low-paid 'substitute' riders  who they have not vetted  to work for them.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick last night branded the practice 'completely unacceptable' and warned it is encouraging further illegal migration.

He last month demanded the food delivery giants 'end the use' of unverified riders to 'prevent the scourge of illegal working'.

Channel migrants living in taxpayer-funded hotels are earning up to 1,500 a month working illegally for fast food delivery firms like Deliveroo  despite a Minister demanding the practice be stamped out

A Mail on Sunday investigation today exposes how couriers working for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are secretly subcontracting out their deliveries to migrants who are banned from working, in exchange for a weekly fee of up to 100

Last night, after the MoS presented evidence of its investigation, Deliveroo said it would change its policy and introduce checks for substitute riders next year.

Our expose reveals a booming black economy  with one migrant admitting that he and more than 100 fellow asylum seekers living at a Home Office-funded hotel are working illegally, many of them as takeaway couriers. The revelations come days after Home Office officials admitted they do not know the whereabouts of 17,000 asylum seekers whose claims have been withdrawn.

Reform UK leader Richard Tice said: 'Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have been turning a blind eye to illegal working by asylum seekers on a massive scale in the UK. They should be ashamed of themselves and they should immediately stop all substitution accounts. The Government must pass urgent legislation with heavy fines on these delivery companies if they transgress.'

The hotels aren't busy in the day everyone's at work

Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats allow their couriers to rent out their jobs, telling them they are responsible for checking that their 'substitutes' are allowed to work in the UK and have no unspent criminal convictions. But many couriers fail to carry out any checks and let migrants work illegally, in exchange for a weekly fee.

The MoS has discovered that hundreds of delivery accounts are available to rent on Facebook Marketplace, with riders willing to provide work to illegal migrants.

Posing as a Bangladeshi migrant, our undercover reporter last week responded to an advert from a Mo Russel, who said he lives in Kent. Mr Russel said he had at least nine food delivery accounts, eight of which were already rented out.

He agreed to rent out his last Just Eat account for 70 a week and told the reporter to send a 35 deposit in exchange for his log-in details.

They are able to do so as the tech giants behind the UK's 13 billion food delivery business allow low-paid 'substitute' riders  who they have not vetted  to work for them

When the reporter said he was not legally allowed to work, Russel replied on WhatsApp: 'Don't worry, [the] majority of the riders have the same issue. But if you even get stopped don't say you [are] doing delivery. Also, if you get a chance then delete the app. Police are not bothered if you have immigration issue, but better be safe.'

Russel later claimed he was 'testing' our reporter and did not intend to share his account details.

We also contacted a Turkish man in Leicester who gave his name as Mehmet. He boasted about renting out seven food delivery accounts, including three Deliveroo accounts.

Our reporter offered to pay 70 per week to rent one of the accounts  but stressed he had newly arrived in the UK and had no National Insurance number. Mehmet replied: 'You don't need documents, that's why you pay the rent.'

Meanwhile, a whistleblower working at the Midland Hotel in Derby, which houses around 200 migrants, revealed that many of those staying there are working illegally in food delivery jobs. 'The hotel isn't very busy in the daytime because they are all out at work,' the source said. 'They are renting accounts from other people who have a right to work in the UK and paying to use their account.'

The Grade-II listed Midland Hotel shut to the public in 2020 and began housing more than 200 migrants in its well-furnished rooms. Sudanese migrant Omer Muhammad, who has lived there for more than a year after crossing the Channel on a small boat, said around half those staying at the hotel are working illegally.

Last month, the MoS watched as a migrant walked out of a car park at the hotel, where he met another man who handed him a mountain bike and Just Eat delivery bag. After strapping on the bag, the man then cycled off towards the city centre. The MoS later spoke to an Ethiopian asylum seeker at the nearby Derbion shopping centre as he waited for a delivery order. Delil, in his mid-20s, said: 'I stay at the Midland. I work for Deliveroo like a lot of my friends. I want to work, that's why I came to the UK.'

Migrants staying at the Rowton Hotel in Birmingham are also working illegally as food couriers.

When the MoS visited last week, we saw Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats delivery bags stored in a gated area outside the hotel, along with dozens of bicycles. On Wednesday, one migrant walked out of the hotel wearing a Deliveroo jacket and collected a green Uber Eats bag and bike. Approached by a reporter, he said: 'I have no time' before riding off.

Fifteen minutes later another migrant wearing a Deliveroo bag arrived, storing his bag in the gated area, before entering the hotel. Mr Jenrick last night said the MoS investigation showed why Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats 'must end the practice of unchecked account sharing and implement stricter controls urgently.'

He added: 'This completely unacceptable practice puts the British public at risk and encourages illegal migration by acting as a 'pull factor' for those hoping to come to the UK to work.'

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick last night branded the practice 'completely unacceptable' and warned it is encouraging further illegal migration

Earlier this year, researchers at Nottingham Trent and Heriot-Watt universities found migrants working as food couriers earn between 900 and 1,500 a month.

Deliveroo said: 'We have introduced facial recognition technology which will help to counter any abuse on the platform and... we plan to strengthen this further with a registration process and right to work checks for substitutes.'

Just Eat said: 'Self-employed independent couriers have the legal right to use a substitute. Under the UK's employment laws, the account-holder is responsible for ensuring their substitute meets the necessary standards to deliver on our network.'

Uber Eats said: 'All couriers must pass a criminal background check, be over the age of 18 and hold a valid right to work in the UK.'

Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo all said they were 'working closely' with the Government, and that any courier found to not meet their criteria would immediately be removed from their network.
In its heyday, Heathrow, the country's showpiece hub airport, represented everything that was thrilling about British life. Passengers dressed in their best clothes, celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton could be spotted draped in his-and-hers mink coats, while captains of industry swept in and out on Concorde.

But any vestige of those glorious times is long past, as successive governments have shamefully allowed the airport to become a lucrative plaything for a string of foreign owners.

As part of a wretched trend for selling off UK PLC's most valuable assets, last week saw a 25 per cent stake in Heathrow sold to the French, and the Saudi Arabia government  which has been accused of human rights violations  by Spanish company Ferrovial.

The airport is now 90 per cent-owned by Saudis, French, the Chinese government, Qataris, Canadians, Singaporeans and Australians. One has to wonder whether any other nation would be foolhardy enough to allow a key piece of national infrastructure, with such huge economic and strategic importance, to be parcelled out to a string of foreign investors  some from despotic regimes and largely unaccountable to the British travelling public.

One of the world's busiest airports, Heathrow  which sees 67 million passengers each year use planes run by 90 airlines, serving 180 destinations  ought to be a linchpin in efforts to attract overseas investors. This makes the complacency about it being under foreign control all the more baffling.

Any vestige of Heathrow's heyday is long past, as successive governments have let it fall to a string of foreign owners

Britain's busiest airport is now 90 per cent-owned by Saudis, French, the Chinese government, Qataris, Canadians, Singaporeans and Australians

Certainly the sale of a ten per cent stake in Heathrow to Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund, controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, raises questions of its own

The brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 hangs heavily over the reputation of the Crown Prince and his fellow rulers

But Heathrow is about more than pounds and pence. As the gateway to Britain, it should be a visible symbol of national pride. This is where first impressions of the UK are indelibly stamped in visitors' minds.

Instead it has become a sad totem of a 'Britain for sale' to the highest bidder mentality, eroding the fabric of our most important infrastructure and services.

It is part of a pattern that has seen much of the country's water and electricity supply, and control of our ports, allowed to fall into foreign hands.

Of course, some foreign investors are responsible, long-term operators  but others less so.

Certainly the sale of a ten per cent stake in Heathrow to Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund, controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, raises questions of its own. The brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 hangs heavily over the reputation of the Crown Prince and his fellow rulers.

Under the National Security And Investment Act, our Government has the power to scrutinise and block transactions if it so wishes  but Britain regards the Saudis as a strategic partner, so the Heathrow deal is unlikely to be stopped.

However, last week, the Government intervened in another key deal involving Middle Eastern investment: the proposed sale of the Daily Telegraph to a company backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family. It remains to be seen if that deal will be blocked.

The Heathrow deal sees Paris-based private equity firm Ardian take a 15 per cent share.

Other owners are the Qatar Investment Authority (20 per cent), a Canadian investment firm (13 per cent), a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund (11 per cent), the Australian Retirement Trust (11 per cent) and China Investment Corporation (ten per cent). This leaves ten per cent owned by a UK outfit, a pension fund for university lecturers.

Of course, the Qataris support Hamas, and the China Investment Corporation is the financial arm of the repressive Beijing government.

The decision by Spanish construction group Ferrovial to sell its Heathrow stake marks the end of a controversial partnership.

Its history as the biggest shareholder goes back to 2006, when the then Labour government stood idly by as the Spaniards gleefully bought several UK airports, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton, Heathrow and Gatwick for a knock-down 10.3 billion.

China Investment Corporation is the financial arm of President Xi Jinping's repressive Beijing government

Heathrow sees 67 million passengers use planes operated by 90 airlines to 180 destinations

The purchase was laden with debt  and the few critical voices were proved correct when the world was hit by a financial crisis. This led to some airports, including Gatwick, being sold as Ferrovial sought to stave off the losses, taking it to the edge of insolvency.

As for the feeble regulator  the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)  it was staffed by former RAF Biggles-types who gave scant thought to the economic and commercial outcomes.

Under Ferrovial, too, plans for a third Heathrow runway have stalled, despite the commercial and productivity boost such a development could provide. It comes at a time when rival airports abroad are expanding and taking trade from Heathrow, as landing fees have risen to enrich its shareholders.

The public face of Heathrow for the past decade was chief executive John Holland-Kaye until he stepped down this autumn having been paid 5.2 million last year. He had a penchant for blaming everyone but his Spanish paymasters for the state of Heathrow.

As Ferrovial heads for the departure lounge, it is quitting a business with debts of 15.8 billion which have incurred interest costs of 1.2 billion so far this year.

For its part, Ferrovial extracted 4 billion of dividends between 2012 and 2020, and will net 2.4 billion from the sale of its stake. What an ignominious story for an airport that's such an integral part of Britain's pioneering history in aviation.

Heathrow dates back to 1930, when aircraft manufacturer Richard Fairey paid the vicar of Harmondsworth, in West London, 15,000 for a 150-acre plot at a place called Heath Row, in order to build a private airport.

During the Second World War it was used by the RAF to thwart Hitler's Luftwaffe before opening as a civil airport on January 1, 1946. The first aircraft to take off was a converted Lancaster bomber called Starlight, that flew to Buenos Aires.

Passengers would congregate in ex-military marquees with floral-patterned armchairs and tables with vases of fresh flowers. To embark, they walked over wooden duckboards to protect their footwear from the muddy airfield.

How sad that such a symbol of Britain's post-war renaissance should now be under the control of faceless, foreign governments and organisations.

But it's not unique.

Thames Water, previously owned by Germans then by Australian vulture capitalists, now has a shareholder list including Canadian pension schemes, the China Investment Corporation and an Abu Dhabi wealth fund.

Under the National Security And Investment Act, our Government has the power to scrutinise and block transactions if it so wishes  but Britain regards the Saudis as a strategic partner, so the Heathrow deal is unlikely to be stopped

Thames Water, previously owned by Germans then by Australian vulture capitalists, now has a shareholder list including Canadian pension schemes, the China Investment Corporation and an Abu Dhabi wealth fund

British Steel was sold to the Chinese in 2019 with disastrous results. After promising a blank cheque for investment, its blast furnaces at Scunthorpe face closure, threatening thousands of jobs

Control of our ports was transferred from P&O to Dubai World. We have disposed of our privatised utilities to firms such as France's state-run EDF, on which we rely for the building of nuclear power stations. There is also the possibility of Gulf state investment after our Government embarrassedly had to buy out the Chinese government from involvement.

British Steel was sold to the Chinese in 2019 with disastrous results. After promising a blank cheque for investment, its blast furnaces at Scunthorpe face closure, threatening thousands of jobs.

The disgracefully unpatriotic saga of Heathrow, therefore, is not an aberration but part of a deeply flawed philosophy of rolling out the welcome mat for pretty much any foreigner with a fat wallet.

Instead of being an embodiment of Britain's prowess in the skies, it is a textbook case of how those in power fail to value world-class infrastructure in post-Brexit Britain.
James Cleverly is expected to fly to Rwanda this week to sign a new treaty in an effort to revive Rishi Sunak's plan to deal with illegal immigration.

The Home Secretary hopes to get an agreement over the line within days, Government sources said last night. His department is also drawing up 'emergency legislation' to help deliver on the Prime Minister's hopes of getting flights to Rwanda under way by spring.

But Mr Cleverly faces mounting scepticism within his own Government that the scheme will ever see the light of day.

One Minister told The Mail on Sunday: 'We're not going to get a single migrant on a plane to Kigali before the Election.

'Rishi and James Cleverly are going through the motions. But everyone knows it's not going to happen.'

The Home Secretary hopes to get an agreement over the line within days, Government sources said last night

Cleverly is expected to fly to Rwanda this week to sign a new treaty in an effort to revive Rishi Sunak's plan

Furious Conservative MPs told Mr Cleverly in a private meeting last week that it would be 'curtains' for him and the Prime Minister if the Rwanda policy does not work. One of them, Philip Hollobone, said he was 'ashamed to be a Conservative under Rishi Sunak' because of the PM's migration policies, a source in the room said.

Last month official data revealed that the number of legal migrants in 2023 was 670,000  only a slight fall from 745,000 in 2022.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak says his 'patience is worn thin' with legal blocks to Rwanda migrant plan as PM meets with African country's leader Paul Kagame on sidelines of COP-28 climate summit Rishi Sunak met with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame at the COP-28 climate summit in Dubai Advertisement

The explosive meeting, held in Mr Cleverly's office, and with Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick present, saw MPs warn that, at the present rate of progress, the promised emergency legislation will not come before Parliament until the New Year and is unlikely to be passed until March.

'He was told this was existential for the Conservative Party and the Government,' another Tory at the 'brutal' meeting said.

MPs are concerned, too, that the legislation will be watered down from the plans proposed by Suella Braverman while she was in the Government  and backed by Mr Jenrick  that human-rights laws would be disapplied to illegal migration.

Mr Jenrick's tough stance has led MPs on the Tory Right to say he has 'earned their respect'. However, he is expected to face opposition from Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and Attorney General Victoria Prentis.

This comes after the Supreme Court ruled the Government's Rwanda scheme 'unlawful' two days after Mr Cleverly replaced Mrs Braverman as Home Secretary.

The new treaty is intended to answer the Court's criticisms, and sources close to Mr Cleverly said he had been working with the contacts he made as Foreign Secretary, including holding Zoom calls with the Rwandan government.

A Government source said: 'We are hopeful the treaty will be ready next week, but nothing is guaranteed.'

Meanwhile, allies of Mrs Braverman are increasingly talking up the prospect of a leadership challenge in the New Year if Mr Sunak's polling does not improve.

Rumours are swirling in Westminster of as many of 30 letters of no confidence in the PM having already been sent to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers. A total of 53 would be enough to trigger a confidence vote.

However, only Sir Graham knows how many letters are actually in, and estimates can be notoriously unreliable.

A source close to Mr Cleverly said: 'We will push as hard as we can possibly push to get Rwanda over the line.

'But we will continue to do other things to stop the boats. Rwanda is part of a packet of tools.'

The source added that the Home Secretary was focused on delivering on Mr Sunak's pledge to stop the boats, and 'is not going to be distracted' by 'annoyed' Tory MPs.
Miami Beach nightlife hotspot Ocean Drive has become an epicenter of HIV infections.

Luxury hotels and extravagant nightclubs draw thousands to the 33139 Florida zip code every year.

However, the annual new HIV infection rate for the area is more than four times the national average, according to newly released 2021 data from AIDSvu, the Sun Sentinel reports.

HIV rates in Florida have continued to surge with the state containing six metropolitan areas with some of the highest rates of new infections in the US: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties also rank in the top five percent of US counties for their high infection rates.

Miami Beach nightlife hotspot Ocean Drive has become an epicenter of HIV infections

Experts say Florida needs to tackle its HIV epidemic using a three-pronged approach including ramping up testing

Wilton Manors, Overtown and Doral also have high rates of new diagnosis.

'The situation doesn't seem to be improving,' said Dr. Mario Stevenson, an infectious disease specialist and HIV researcher with the University of Miami.

'The problem has become white noise. A lot of people come to the area to party hard, and they are not aware of the HIV risk.

'It is so important to get the message out so people know the risk' he explained.

Stevenson warned that health messaging is not doing enough to reach the Hispanic population.

'Some of the messaging distributed around HIV awareness doesn't translate well,' he added.

'It's not culturally tailored to resonate with vulnerable communities of color.'

Experts say Florida needs to tackle its HIV epidemic using a three-pronged approach: Identify people who have it, get them into treatment, and get people uninfected but at risk on prevention treatment.

'All three things have to be done simultaneously to stop the epidemic,' said Dr. Marcus Conant, who was one of the first specialists in the country to treat AIDs patients in San Francisco.

Luxury hotels and extravagant nightclubs draw thousands to the Ocean Drive zip code annually

Florida has placed an emphasis on preventative measures such as PrEP, medication, which when taken by those at risk to prevent contracting HIV can significantly reduce the risk of transmission.

A wealth of research has also developed in Florida due to its elevated numbers with HIV.

Among them is the University of Miami's new CONNECT mobile unit which goes to some of the ZIP codes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties with high rates of HIV infection.

Its aim is to enroll more diverse groups of patients into studies, such as one that seeks to determine the impact of chronic conditions, including heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders, on people living with HIV.

'By making research more accessible and inclusive, CONNECT will help to ensure that the most vulnerable communities benefit from the latest scientific advances.' Dr. Maria Alacaide, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine told the Sun Sentinel.

Although HIV can be suppressed using antiretroviral therapy, it cannot yet be cured.

For now, individuals with HIV must be on medication for the rest of their lives to keep the virus levels suppressed. But clinical trials are underway throughout South Florida to research new treatments and potential vaccines.
The father of an 'exceptional' British soldier who was shot dead in Kenya while off-duty has paid tribute to his 'special son' who was 'adored' by his fellow officers.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, was tragically killed while on a motorbike trip away from base in the East African country on November 29, his father Joseph McCool said.

The soldier, who attended Sandhurst, had served in Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa, the Ministry of Defence said.

He leaves behind his mother and father, Joan and Joseph, his brothers, Fergal and Brendan and his sisters, May, Alice and Margaret.

Mr McCool said his son, from Northern Ireland, was due to finish his tour of duty in Kenya just three days after his death and had gone out on his motorbike for 'one last ride up a local mountain'.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died on 29 November after allegedly being attacked off-base

He said: 'I don't know what to say. Every life is precious but this guy was really, really special.

'He was 1,500m Ulster champion. He ran for Ireland. He played piano, harp, tin whistle. He went to Sandhurst. He progressed up the ranks very quickly to be a major.

'He won several military cross-country races and various sporting events. A very strong sporting guy.

'He was loved, I am tempted to say adored, by his fellow officers. We are getting that from the horse's mouth. That is what we are being told by top brass because he was so good.'

Mr McCool said his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya to be with Kevin before he died from his injuries.

He said: 'He was due to leave Kenya in three days. He had three days left on that tour of duty.

'He decided to go out on his scrambler motorbike for one last ride up a local mountain.

'He went up a road and two guys jumped out at him with a gun. It seems that he thought the gun was a dummy, he didn't think it was real.

'He made the mistaken assumption that the gun was artificial and they shot him.'

Mr McCool said his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya to be with Kevin before he died from his injuries. (File image of British Army soldiers holding a training exercise near Kenya's Laikipia

Mr McCool said his family is weathering the storm as best it can. He said: 'We are all in bits. We are incredibly proud of our son and what he has done.'

The MoD said Major McCool's fitness was legendary, and he 'aced' many of the military's hardest tests, saying his 'enthusiasm was infectious'.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps also paid tribute to the soldier.

He said: 'It's clear from the tributes of those who knew him that Major McCool was an exceptional person and an exceptional soldier, loved and respected in equal measure, who served his country with distinction.

'My thoughts and sympathies are with his family, friends, and colleagues currently coming to terms with this most tragic loss.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'My heart goes out to Maj McCool's family, friends, and fellow soldiers today in the face of their tragic loss.

'The tributes pouring out for him show a man who served his country with pride, integrity and bravery. His service will not be forgotten.'

Maj McCool's Commanding Officer said: 'Kevin McCool was living his best life, doing a job he loved, with people he loved.

'A man of the utmost integrity, he was fearless and oozed moral courage. I will never forget my final memory of him, which was on operations; he had just come off the ground having slept a handful of hours in as many days.

'We discussed the possibility of having to deploy another team into the operational furnace from which he had just come. He stopped me mid-sentence, fixed me with his piercing blue eyes, and simply said, 'send me'.

'A bright light has gone out amongst our ranks. He will be missed, but never forgotten.'

Maj McCool's officer commanding said: 'Kevin McCool's eyes shone with his spirit of adventure and with his focused, determined nature. He was a pilgrim soul in the truest sense.

'Intelligent, pro-active and selfless, he was at his best and at his happiest whilst serving others and whilst facing challenges 'in the arena'.

'As a soldier, his courage and talent were proven on operations. As a leader, he had a compelling character and easy charm that all who met him warmed to. And as a man, he had a deep humility which displayed a wisdom beyond his years.

'Spotting opportunities, restless to serve and to seek out challenges, pushing himself to the frontiers, helping others; that is how we will remember him. He was the best of us.'

The MoD said in a eulogy: 'Kevin thrived in the military environment. He was at his best when deployed, and at his very best when the conditions were at their very worst.

'His fitness was legendary, once beating the whole Battalion on a two miler, as was his endurance. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eye, that made him tremendous fun to be with.

'Yet his professionalism and sense of purpose was paramount, and clear to all those lucky enough to serve with him. Whether it was his recruits in his Catterick Platoon or those in his Rifle Company, he had their unwavering loyalty.

'Kevin was a big family man, from a big, loving family.'

MoD officials confirmed the soldier's next of kin have been informed, but said it would not be releasing any details of what happened.

The British Army has a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 124 miles north of Nairobi, with a small element also based in Kenya's capital.

It provides 'demanding training to exercising units preparing to deploy on operations or assume high-readiness tasks', according to the Army's website.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) consists of around 100 permanent staff and a reinforcing short-tour cohort of another 280 personnel.

Under an agreement with the Kenyan government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.
A massive marijuana grow operation was uncovered inside a 'booby-trapped' church in Tennessee after weeks of investigation.

The Stewart County Sheriff's Office revealed that the approximately 2000 plants in the former church in Indian Mound constitute the largest marijuana grow operation in the country's history.

Authorities described the plants as being cultivated in a 'very sophisticated growing environment, including elaborate growing and watering systems, all on timers.'

The investigation was slowed down due to 'the possibility of booby traps laid out for law enforcement,' as officers said in a statement.

As a result of the discovery, one unnamed person has been taken into custody, and authorities are currently questioning and arresting others.

A massive marijuana grow operation was uncovered inside a 'booby-trapped' church in Tennessee after weeks of investigation

The Stewart County Sheriff's Office revealed that the approximately 2000 plants in the former church in Indian Mound constitute the largest marijuana grow operation in the country's history

The investigation was slowed down due to 'the possibility of booby traps laid out for law enforcement,' as officers said in a statement

Authorities described the plants as being cultivated in a 'very sophisticated growing environment, including elaborate growing and watering systems, all on timers'

Police launched the investigation three weeks ago after neighbors of the former church complained about a smell from the church, WSMV reported.

After interviewing people who were seen going in and out of the church, the sheriff's office and a drug task force executed a search warrant Thursday.

Authorities also looked into the propertys electric bill, which came out to about $3,000 a month along with a high water bill.

The investigation took longer than expected due to the possibility of booby traps being laid out, but authorities did not specify what the booby traps were.

In shocking photos released by authorities, massive marijuana plants can be seen thriving under growing lights and watering systems.

The images also reveal baby-sized cannabis plants carefully nurtured in high-humidity environments within transparent boxes.

The plants were burned outdoors by law enforcement authorities, as depicted in one of the photos.

In shocking photos released by authorities, massive marijuana plants can be seen thriving under growing lights and watering systems

The investigation took longer than expected due to the possibility of booby traps being laid out, but authorities did not specify what the booby traps were

The images also reveal baby-sized cannabis plants carefully nurtured in high-humidity environments within transparent boxes

The investigation and clean up are still on going, as Sheriff Frankie Gray said it's not a fly-by-night operation.

The property at 1758 Highway 46 in Indian Mound is a residential building transformed from a church, according to records.

The two-story place has four bedrooms and three baths connect by a breezeway, accompanied by a huge kitchen area, Zillow's property information shows.

It was sold in 2021 at $76,000 and the property owner is Xiuping Zeng, according to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

The one section has two stories and there are 3 bedrooms and a full bath, the other side has a bedroom and 2 baths, huge kitchen area.

The investigation and clean up are still on going, as Sheriff Frankie Gray said it's not a fly-by-night operation

The property at 1758 Highway 46 in Indian Mound is a residential building transformed from a church, according to records

Like a typical church, the property can be seen painted white, with a wooden cross hanging up high.

The writing on the outside of the former church consists of Korean characters that translate to 'Jesus-centered prayer place'.

Officers said a large amount of possibly toxic chemicals were found during the investigation.

'Officers were also slowed down in the search by the possibility of booby traps laid out for law enforcement.

'One person is in custody and others are wanted in questioning,' the sheriff's office wrote in a statement. 'Sheriff's Office continues to clean up our county.'
A man has been charged and police rushed to hospital after an officer was dragged along by a car on a busy road during an alleged high-speed chase.

Police attempted to stop a silver Audi sedan on Ryde Road, Gladesville, on Sydney's north shore, at 8.30pm on Saturday.

A pursuit was launched after the vehicle failed to stop but was terminated due to safety concerns.

The Audi crossed to the wrong side of the road and collided with a Toyota Kluger on Gladesville Road, in Hunters Hill.

A man has been charged following a high-speed police chase on Sydney's north shore on Saturday

Police attempted to get the diver out of the car but it is alleged he drove off with an officer hanging on to the side of the vehicle.

The driver of the Audi reversed into two approaching officers before it crashed into a unit complex.

After police called for assistance, other officers arrived and arrested the man.

Two male police officers were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital for neck and leg injuries, which are believed to be non-life threatening.

The 33-year-old driver was taken to Gladesville Police Station.

He has been charged with assaulting police in execution of duty causing actual bodily harm, hindering or resisting police and intentionally choking a person with recklessness.

Two police officers were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries (stock image pictured)

He was also charged with not stopping and driving dangerously during a police pursuit, being an unaccompanied learner driver and not displaying 'L' plates correctly.

Ryde Road was closed and traffic was being redirected through Gladesville following the incident.

The man was refused bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Anthony Albanese has been called a 'weak' prime minister and a 'beta male' who is a 'follower, not a leader' and is not doing enough to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Albanese, who led Labor to victory in the May 2022 federal election, has also been described as 'bland'.

The shock name calling emerged in focus groups carried out in marginal seats in Queensland and South Australia by RedBridge for News Corp.

It followed polling that showed Mr Albanese's popularity was in freefall as voters abandoned Labor after an embarrassing string of policy failures.

That poll showed the Prime Minister's approval rating had sunk to its lowest level since Labor won power 18 months ago.

Anthony Albanese (pictured right with his partner Jodie Haydon) has been called a 'weak' prime minister and a 'beta male' who is a 'follower, not a leader'

The government's vote fell four points to 31 per cent in just three weeks, while the Coalition's rose a point to 38 per cent  its highest support since the election in May 2022.

On a two-party preferred basis, Labor and the Coalition are tied 50-50 in the poll, which would likely lead to Labor losing five seats and its majority if an election was held now.

READ MORE: Aussie EV charging company praised by Anthony Albanese shuts factory Advertisement

The dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister continued with personal attacks, such as one who said Mr Albanese 'wants to be liked but without making strong decisions'.

The focus groups were held in the knife-edge seats of Brisbane, Griffith and Ryan in Queensland and Sturt and Boothby in South Australia - electorates where people are doing it tough economically.

'He hasn't really addressed cost-of-living and I get there's global factors at play but I don't think he's done much concrete action on it,' one participant said.

Australia's cost-of-living and Labor's failure to make a dent in it was the factor that the focus groups kept coming back to, with some complaining Mr Albanese spends too much time out of the country.

'I just don't see a lot of action on cost-of-living pressures. He's missing in action and now he's running off overseas again,' one said.

Even the rugby league team the Prime Minister follows came in for criticism, with a voter saying 'he plays on Australian colloquialisms and wears that bloody Rabbitohs cap, it makes me cringe. It looks so staged.'

One voter said Mr Albanese 'wears that bloody Rabbitohs cap, it makes me cringe. It looks so staged'. The Prime Minister is pictured wearing a Rabbitohs scarf

The only sliver of light for Mr Albanese is that some voters see him and Labor as bad, but not as bad as the alternative.

One pointed out that the government is 'still dealing with all the debt that the previous government left', while another said compared to Opposition leader Peter Dutton, Mr Albanese is 'the lesser of two evils'.

'I only see worse and worser in politics now. Albanese is worse but not worser,' another said.
Ministers have drawn up a blacklist of countries that they say allow people to change gender too easily  meaning their citizens will be forced to comply with tougher British rules if they move to the UK.

Whitehall sources say that more than 50 countries and US states, including New Zealand, Belgium and California, have been removed from a list of jurisdictions regarded as having sufficiently robust processes for recognising gender.

The move comes amid growing concern within the Government about the relaxation of gender-recognition rules around the world.

In New Zealand, people can change gender simply by filling in an application form, making a statutory declaration and providing photo ID.

Ministers have drawn up a blacklist of countries that they say allows people to change gender too easily

Liz Truss will this week introduce a Bill to the House of Commons that would prevent the State from formally recognising social transitioning by under-18s

The reform is likely to focus attention on Labour's flip-flopping on gender policies: leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed his support for people being able to self-identify their gender, only to back away after an attempt by former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to introduce the change in Scotland triggered a political storm.

Following the change, individuals coming to the UK from those countries will no longer be automatically issued with a gender-recognition certificate, which allows people to be legally recognised as their preferred gender on all legal documents such as drivers' licences.

Under the current British rules, people can receive a certificate only if they are aged over 18, have a medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria and have lived in their preferred gender for at least two years.

Arrivals from the 50 jurisictions being taken off the list, which also include the US states of New Jersey and Maine, will now have to apply for a UK certificate.

Last night, a Government source said the list had not been updated for more than a decade  during which time a number of countries had relaxed their rules.

The source said: 'Lots of countries are out of kilter with the UK now so this is about redressing the balance and making sure it if someone has a gender-recognition certificate, they have gone through the same process as everyone else.'

Other countries that allow gender self-identification, where no judge or medical expert are involved, include Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Denmark, while Germany, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands are considering similar legislation.

A year ago, a law introducing gender self-ID in Scotland was vetoed by the Government.

Shortly afterwards, Sir Keir abandoned Labour's support for a gender self-ID policy  allowing people to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis  but stated that the party still supported making the process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate far simpler and less invasive by removing a panel of doctors and lawyers from the process.

Tory strategists are planning to highlight Labour's 'woke' policies on issues such as trans rights in the run-up to the election as part of an attempt to use culture wars as a vote-winning dividing line.

Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed his support for people being able to self-identify their gender, only to back away after an attempt by former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to introduce the change in Scotland triggered a political storm
Parliament could consider the 'nuclear option' of stripping Harry and Meghan of their royal titles under bombshell legislation to be proposed this week.

Conservative MP Bob Seely is putting forward a Bill that could deny the couple their Duke and Duchess standing as the Royal Family becomes increasingly engulfed in the 'racism' row fuelled by the pair's unofficial 'mouthpiece'.

The Isle of Wight MP wants to adapt laws originally passed in the First World War to deny enemy German nobles their British titles. His Bill would force the Commons to consider turning Harry and Meghan into plain Mr and Mrs Sussex at a time when the couple are under mounting pressure to break their silence over incendiary claims made by author Omid Scobie.

His new book Endgame has reignited a race row when a Dutch translation named the King and Kate Middleton as the senior royals alleged to have speculated about the skin colour of Prince Archie.

Mr Seely said he had to act because of the attempt to use race to smear the Royal Family, which he called 'poisonously insidious'.

The Bill could deny the couple their Duke and Duchess standing as the Royal Family

Harry and Meghan can no longer use His and Her Royal Highness under the 2020 deal in which they gave up official Royal duties

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Mr Seely said that while sources close to the Sussexes have stressed Harry and Meghan are not behind claims made in Scobie's book 'I suspect that few people believe such denials'.

The politician, a member of the Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee, adds: 'Of all the damaging insults to throw, 'racism' is the most poisonously insidious, guaranteed to leave a whiff of stigma and impossible to prove when false. It is the catch-all slur of the modern era.'

He is applying for his Titles Deprivation 1917 Amendment Bill to be listed on the Commons' Order Paper next week. It would resurrect the wartime powers by removing references to 'enemies' and 'present war'. He has cleared the wording with Parliament's Table Office, which oversees draft legislation.

Politicians normally steer clear of royal controversies, but the incendiary nature of the 'racism' claims has attracted rare levels of condemnation. Tom Tugendhat, the Security Minister, has praised the 'dignity' of the King and the Princess of Wales, and labelled the claims 'rumour and scuttlebutt'.

Harry and Meghan can no longer use His and Her Royal Highness under the 2020 deal in which they gave up official Royal duties. A Mail on Sunday poll this year found that 51 per cent of people think they should have their Duke and Duchess titles revoked too.

The King is expected to consult Prince William this week to discuss their response to the storm after Buckingham Palace said it is 'considering all options' when it comes to a response.

But it is understood that a formal meeting is not yet in the diary. A Royal household source told this newspaper: 'Undoubtedly they will meet to discuss how best to approach and react to the fallout from the rather tiresome Scobie affair.'

The royal race row first erupted more than two years ago, when the Sussexes told talk show host Oprah Winfrey that a member of the Royal Family had remarked on their son's skin colour before he was born.

Omid Scobie's new book Endgame has reignited a race row when a Dutch translation named the King and Kate Middleton as the senior royals alleged to have speculated about the skin colour of Prince Archie

The Isle of Wight MP wants to adapt laws originally passed in the First World War to deny enemy German nobles their British titles

The English edition of Scobie's book says Meghan mentioned who was alleged to have made the remarks in a letter she sent to Charles, but did not name names  however, the King and Kate were identified in the Dutch version.

Mr Scobie told BBC's Newsnight that he was 'hurt' and 'frustrated' by the week's events, but added: 'It's not for me to apologise because I still want to know what's happened.'

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Buckingham Palace has been investigating who could have seen the letter from its end  likely to be just a 'tiny handful' of people. There is said to be 'extreme confidence' the leak didn't come from them.

The Sussexes have not commented publicly but a source close to Meghan told the Daily Telegraph 'it was not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp'.

Meanwhile, Ms Markle's estranged father Thomas has waded into the controversy,

The 79-year-old  who fell out with his daughter after details of a letter she wrote to him were leaked by her friends  said: 'Here we have another letter from my daughter which has somehow made it into the public domain. Another letter? Again?

'The fact Harry and Meghan have not publicly distanced themselves from this strikes me as unusual.'

Meghan sued The Mail on Sunday after this newspaper published excerpts of the letter to her father.

Mr Seely's draft legislation is formally titled 'a Bill to amend [the Act] to deprive in certain circumstances Princes of their British Dignities and Titles'. The original 1917 Act allowed the Privy Council to make a report about British nobles suspected of aiding the enemy.

If neither the Commons nor the Lords tabled a motion opposing it within 40 days, the report would be presented to the Monarch and the person concerned would lose their title.
An ABC senior journalist and producer allegedly groped a female colleage at a staff Christmas party at the end of last month.

The female staff member alleged she was sexually harassed by the man at the gathering in Southbank, Brisbane on November 24.

An ABC spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that management had removed an employee from the workplace 'following a complaint from a colleague about their behaviour'.

'The ABC moved quickly in response to the complaint and the matter is under investigation.

'The employee will remain absent, pending the outcome of that investigation.

'Any allegations of this kind are always thoroughly investigated and alleged victims are always offered counselling and support.'

Staff members claimed the man 'went on a rampage' at the Christmas party and allegedly touched one woman's bottom, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

An ABC senior journalist and producer allegedly groped a female colleage at a staff Christmas party at the end of last month (stock image)

Following the Christmas party, the ABC's chief people officer Dharma Chandran sent an email to staff reminding them of what's expected at work functions, sources claim.

Mr Chandran urged staff to be mindful of how much alcohol they have and said it was not an excuse for any type of harassment or anti-social behaviour.

'As teams are coming together to celebrate another successful year at the ABC, we would like to remind you of the importance of respectful and responsible behaviour at ABC's end-of-year celebrations and other work-related social events,' he said.

'We expect everyone to always treat each other with dignity and respect and remind you that incidents of harassment, including sexual harassment, are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.'

His email also told staff to 'not assume someone is interested in you' based on what they're wearing and previous interactions.

It comes as Sky News had its Christmas party scrapped this year after former colleague Chris Smith disgraced himself at the 2022 gathering

It comes as Sky News had its Christmas party scrapped this year after former colleague Chris Smith disgraced himself at the 2022 gathering.

Employees at the network's Sydney headquarters will have to make do with a quiet lunch in its suburban offices.

Staff have been told alcohol will not be supplied at the Macquarie Park newsroom, from where most of Sky's programming is broadcast.

Sky's last big annual blowout was held on December 10 at the Justin Hemmes-run Ivy Sunroom on George Street in the central business district.

Smith, 60, made offensive comments to one young female colleague and touched another on the bottom after a group moved on from Ivy to the nearby Establishment.

The former presenter, who blamed his conduct on bipolar disorder and alcoholism, apologised for his drunken actions but was sacked by Sky CEO Paul Whittaker three days later.
A tourist has been stabbed to death while a British man is reportedly among two others badly injured after a knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' launched a frenzied attack in central Paris last night.

Witnesses reported hearing people screaming for 'help' as they ran away from the hammer and knife-wielding man.

One victim, a tourist with dual German and Filipino nationality, was slashed in the back and shoulder by the attacker last night. The man, who had not been named, was found in cardiorespiratory arrest before he passed away.

The second victim of the attack was British, and was out walking with his wife when Armand R. attacked him from behind.

'The family were on the Avenue President Kennedy when they were set upon,' said an investigating source, who added: 'A hammer was used to hit the man over the head.'

The Englishman was rushed to hospital, where his condition was later described as 'stable'. A third victim was also badly hurt in a hammer attack, said the source.

Sources said the arrested man was 'immobilised with an electric stun gun' as he ran up the Avenue du Parc de Passy - as French prime minister Elisabeth Borne vowed: 'We will not give in to terrorism. Never.'

A police source said that the attacker was known for psychiatric disorders and had said he could not stand Muslims being killed in the world. Pictured: French police secures the access to the Bir-Hakeim bridge

A man has been stabbed to death while a British tourist is reportedly among two others badly injured after a knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' launched a frenzied attack in Paris. Pictured: Police secures the access to the Bir-Hakeim bridge near the Eiffel Tower

The attacker was born in France and is French, a source in the French police said. Pictured: The scene at Quai De Grenelle, Paris

French police have cordoned off an area at the Bir-Hakeim bridge following the terrifying attack

Forensic police officers are seen working at the scene of an attack in central Paris on December 2

The bloodbath happened on the Grenelle quay, close to the Eiffel Tower in the 15th arrondissement of the French capital.

Joseph S., 37 years old, a supermarket manager who asked not to give his last name, was sat in a bar when he heard screams and people shouting 'help, help' as they ran.

A man wielding an object attacked a man who had fallen down, and within 10 minutes the police arrived, he told AFP.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the attacker is French and was born in 1997, and has been arrested in an investigation into murder and attempted murder. The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has been put in charge of an investigation.

The suspect had already been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin revealed.

'A man attacked a couple who were foreign tourists. A German tourist who was born in the Philippines died from the stabbing,' he said.

A taxi driver who witnessed the scene intervened, Darmanin said. The attacker then crossed the Seine attacking others and injuring one with a hammer, while police chased in pursuit.

'He had threatened them very violently... he will now have to answer for his actions before justice,' Darmanin said.

The attacker was reportedly known to police for 'radical Islamism'. He was on an 'S-File' which means he should have been under surveillance, after telling people that he wanted to die as a martyr.

The attacker is currently in custody and facing a possible murder charge. Pictured: Forensics at the scene

Police officers stand guard in a security perimeter set after one person was killed and two others wounded

A police source said that the attacker was known for psychiatric disorders and had said he could not stand Muslims being killed in the world. It's understood he was upset about the situation in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

In 2016, he was arrested by the French national security agency before carrying out an attack.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed last night that one person died and another was injured. The minister wrote on X: 'The police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passersby in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle.

'One deceased person and one injured person treated by the Paris fire brigade. Please avoid the area.'

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he was sending his condolences to the family of a German killed in a 'terror attack' in Paris.

The suspected attacker was 'quickly' arrested and justice should now be done 'in the name of the French people', he wrote on X.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune said that Paris was 'in mourning'. He wrote on X: 'Thoughts and solidarity with the families and loved ones of the victims. Thank you to our security and emergency forces for their rapid and decisive intervention.'

The attacker was arrested soon afterwards, and is currently in custody and facing a possible murder charge.

A police car is parked in a security perimeter set after the fatal stabbing in Paris on Saturday night

Police have cordoned off areas of central Paris following the attack in Paris

A police source said that the attacker was known for psychiatric disorders and had said he could not stand Muslims being killed in the world

Officers said there was no early indication as to the motive of the stabbing, but it follows a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda operatives in France, dating back to early 2015 - many of whom have shouted 'Allahu Akbar' while carrying out their crimes.

The deadliest single terrorist attack ever in the country came in November 2015 when 130 people were killed in Paris.

Suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS targeted the Stade de France, cafes, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 died.

Earlier in the year, two Paris-born gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, leaving 17 people dead inside and three outside.

In July 2016, 86 people were called and more than 400 injured when a 19 tonne truck was deliberately driven into crowds on the seafront promenade at Nice, which is just 20 miles from Cannes.

Police officers stand guard. Officers said there was no early indication as to the motive of the stabbing

One person died and another was injured, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on social media platform X

In 2016, the suspect was arrested by the French national security agency before carrying out an attack

French police gather around the Bir-Hakeim bridge

There is an armed police presence at the scene as Paris came under attack last night

The terrorist turned out to be a Tunisian immigrant who was shot dead by police.

During the same month, two Isis terrorists murdered an 86-year-old Catholic priest during a church service in Normandy.

And in October 2020, three people were stabbed to death by a Tunisian immigrant in the Notre Dame basilica in Nice.

There have also been frequent knife attacks on the forces of law and order, leading to the deaths of serving police.

Saturday night's incident in central Paris occurred less than eight months before the French capital hosts the Olympic Games and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.

Paris plans an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine river that may draw as many as 600,000 spectators.
The murder suspect was seen naked in a store earlier on Thursday, hours before he allegedly killed the infant's pregnant mother and abducted the child

The 10-month-old baby's body was discovered by the side of the road near to his naked father, Jeremy Best, on Saturday morning

Zeke Best has been tragically found dead days after he was allegedly abducted by his father, who is believed to have killed his mother on Thursday

An Idaho infant allegedly abducted by his murder suspect father has been tragically found dead days after his mother was killed at her home, police said.

Zeke Best, who was just 10-months-old, was allegedly abducted by his father Jeremy Albert Best, 48, on Thursday, the same day the infant's mother was found dead.

Earlier that day, Best was bizarrely seen walking through a store completely naked, but was released from mental health screening hours before allegedly murdering his wife and Zeke's mother Kali Jean Randall, 38.

After her body was discovered Thursday evening, an urgent manhunt was issued for the child and his 'heavily armed and dangerous' father. The search ended in tragedy on Saturday morning as Zeke was found deceased by the side of a road, near to his father, who was alive.

Officers made the discovery after two hunters found a man 'naked and making odd statements' in a sleeping bag by the side of the road, who was quickly identified as Best.

Near an embankment by the road, deputies with the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office searched around his car and reportedly found the infant dead. No cause of death has been released.

Ten-month-old baby Zeke Best was allegedly abducted by his father on Thursday, and was tragically found dead by the side of a road on Saturday near to his father, who was alive

Kali Jean Randall, 38, was the mother of the 10-month-old and married to the baby's father Jeremy Best, police told Dailymail.com

The baby's father, Jeremy Albert Best, 48, described as 'heavily armed and dangerous', allegedly shot the infant's mother Kali Jean Randall dead on Thursday before abducting Zeke

The tragic discovery came around 9:15am on Saturday morning in Idaho Falls, Idaho, roughly 36 hours after the child's mother, who was also believed to be pregnant, was found dead.

Best, who was being sought on suspicion of homicide by the Teton County Sheriff's Office, was detained at the scene until he could be treated for injuries. It is unclear what these injuries were.

The murder suspect's black Chevy SUV was found nearby in an embankment, and their search led them to find the deceased child. It is not clear if Zeke was inside the vehicle at the time.

Multiple law enforcement agencies including the FBI are currently investigating the scene, and Best has since been booked into the Bonneville County Jail.

Bonneville County Coroner Rick Taylor told EastIdahoNews that a cause of death is yet to be determined, and his body is scheduled to be taken to Boise for forensic autopsy.

The tragic saga began on Thursday, when Best was bizarrely seen walking through the Swan Valley general Store completely naked.

Best was seen slouching on the store's counter by a cash register, and was hauled out of the building by several people after trying to grab a cigarette.

Deputies from Bonneville County Sheriff's Office were called after reports of the disturbance at the general store, and he was taken to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for psychological evaluation.

Footage appears to show a completely naked Best wandering through the Swan Valley general Store on Thursday, hours before his son was abducted

Despite his erratic behavior, Best was released the same day - with his pregnant wife found dead in their home later in the evening

Zeke was found by the side of the road at around 9:15am on Saturday morning, near to where his murder suspect father was seen by hunters 'naked and making odd statements'

Kali Jean Randall was found unresponsive in her home on Thursday, and her death is being investigated as a homicide

Despite his erratic behavior, Best was released the same day - with the kidnapping occurring just hours after the initial incident at the store.

At around 11:40pm that day, the Teton County Sheriff's Office says it received an open line 911 call from the Best home. It is not clear if Randall was the one who made the 911 call.

On the call the dispatcher says they heard arguing on the line, and sent deputies to the residence. Upon their arrival, the deputies found Randall unresponsive.

Her death is currently being investigated by the Sheriff's Office and the Idaho State Police as a homicide.

Police say Best abducted Zeke and went on the run after killing his pregnant wife, and before Saturday morning's arrest he had not been seen since Thursday evening.

An amber alert had been issued at around 4am on Friday, sending law enforcement across Idaho scrambling to find the missing infant.

Best has since been booked on a homicide warrant, and will remain behind bars until his arraignment.

An amber alert for the couple's child was issued at 4:30am Friday morning, just over 24 hours after Zeke's body was found

Randall's body was found on Thursday evening after a 911 dispatcher heard arguing over the phone and sent deputies. It is not clear if Randall had made the call

Zeke was born at the end of January, and Randall is believed to have been pregnant at the time of her death on Thursday

After the discovery of Zeke's body, the Bonneville County Sheriffs Office said in a statement the department's 'thoughts are with the family of the victims involved in this case.'

'Further information about this case will be available at an appropriate time in the future as the investigation is still ongoing,' the statement said.
Hackers who targeted the private hospital which treated Kate, Princess of Wales, are threatening to release private medical information belonging to members of the Royal Family.

The gang broke into the computer systems of the King Edward VII's Hospital and warned they aim to release 'data from the Royal Family' on Tuesday unless they are paid 300,000 in the cyber currency Bitcoin.

The ransom demand was made on the dark web, where the hackers posted images of what they claim are stolen files including X-rays, letters from consultants, registration forms, handwritten clinical notes, and pathology forms.

Prince William departs the King Edward VII hospital with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

The Princess of Wales was admitted to the King Edward VII's Hospital in 2012 with prolonged bouts of acute morning sickness during her first pregnancy. Pictured, Kate attends the Royal Variety Performance 2023 at the Royal Albert Hall

The gang said: 'Unique files are presented to your attention! Data from the Royal Family! A large amount of patient and employee data. Sale in one lot!!'

GCHQ and police are investigating the attack by hacking gang Rhysida  named after a venomous tropical centipede.

The 56-bed private hospital in Marylebone has been used by the Royal Family for more than a century. The late Queen Elizabeth II was a patient and so was Prince Philip who spent almost a month being treated there before he died aged 99 in 2021.

The Princess of Wales was admitted there in 2012 with prolonged bouts of acute morning sickness during her first pregnancy.

During her stay, two Australian radio DJs placed a hoax call and obtained private medical information about Kate  then the Duchess of Cambridge  which they then broadcast, forcing hospital bosses into an embarrassing apology.

The nurse who unwittingly took the call later took her own life over the prank.

Last night, Philip Ingram, former British military intelligence colonel, said: 'Given the highly sensitive nature of the patients, there will be a degree of pressure on the hospital to try to stop any of this data being released.

And therefore I would expect them to explore the possibility of paying the ransom.

'The difficulty is that the attack has already happened, and many of those high-profile clients will be taking risk mitigations themselves. To that extent the damage has been done.'

The 56-bed private hospital in Marylebone has been used by the Royal Family for more than a century. Pictured, police officers outside King Edward VII's Hospital, London

Col Ingram said even if the hospital decided to pay the ransom, there was no guarantee the data would be returned.

He warned it could be copied and sold on to other underworld cybercrime gangs. 'This will be a national effort with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and GCHQ involved,' he said.

A spokesman for the NCSC, the computer crime arm of GCHQ, confirmed: 'We are engaging with King Edward VII's Hospital to understand the impact.'

A hospital spokesman said: 'We recently experienced an IT security incident.

'We took immediate steps to mitigate its impact and continued to offer patient care, largely as normal.

'We also launched an investigation, which confirmed a small amount of data was copied.

'While this was primarily benign hospital systems data, a limited amount of patient information was copied. We offer our apologies.'

Buckingham Palace did not return requests to comment.
He told MailOnline five simple mistakes let hackers get your personal data

Keiran Burge is a cybersecurity expert who tests the defences of big companies

Many of us would feel lost without our smartphones in hand - but what if that same device became a tool for criminals?

Kieran Burge, a security consultant at Prism Infosec, has revealed the five common mistakes that could let him crack into your smartphone within seconds.

As a penetration tester - a legal hacker who tests companies' cybersecurity to find weaknesses before criminals do - Kieran knows what he's talking about.

And he says that simple mistakes such as reusing passwords, clicking on dodgy links and sharing too much information on social media could land you in hot water.

So, are you guilty of these security blunders? Read on to find out.

Kieran Burge, a security consultant at Prism Infosec, has revealed the five common mistakes that could let him crack into your smartphone within seconds

As a penetration tester - a legal hacker who tests companies' cybersecurity to find weaknesses before criminals do - Kieran knows what he's talking about

READ MORE: Urgent warning to Mac users over fake browser updates that can steal your passwords Advertisement

1. Using out-of-date software

Keiran told MailOnline that one of the first things he and other hackers look for when preparing an attack is out-of-date software.

'Out-of-date software is a really big issue because, if the software has been updated, it's probably because there is a security issue', he explained.

Software, whether it is the operating system of your iPhone or the control system for a factory, often has some sort of vulnerability.

While these can quickly fixed by developers, they are also often shared online through forums and hacker communities.

If you haven't updated your software to include the fix, Keiran explains, 'people can get in and steal really sensitive information and even sometimes take control of the software.'

Keiran told MailOnline that one of the first things he and other hackers look for when preparing an attack is out-of-date software

What are some of the most commonly hacked passwords? Research by Specops Software has found that easily predicted passwords are still commonly used. Some of the most frequently compromised are: research

GGGGGGGG

Cleopatra

Sym_cskill

mcafeeptfcorp

minecraft.A.S

sym_newhireOEIE

password Advertisement

The vulnerabilities can take many different forms and allow criminals to cause serious disruption for companies and individuals.

These attacks are often opportunistic as criminal groups scan online archives for out-of-date versions of software.

Keiran says the recent crippling hack on the British Library was likely to have been an opportunistic attack of this kind

To keep safe online, Keiran says you should 'always ensure that your software is up to date.'

2. Reusing passwords

Another common way that hackers get hold of your personal data, according to Keiran, is by exploiting reused passwords.

Keiran told MailOnline: 'No matter what site you're giving information to you, you don't know what they're going to do with that information or how they're going to protect it.'

He says that the big risk of re-using passwords is that if even one site you use is compromised, it can give hackers access to all of your accounts.

'As soon as a company is breached there's usually a big database dump that gets put on the darkweb,' Keiran said.

The dark web is an encrypted part of the internet not accessible with normal search engines which is often used to host criminal marketplaces.

In April this year, an international raid brought down a hacker bazaar called Genesis Market which the FBI claims offered access to over 80 million account access credentials.

Keiran said: 'There are going to be databases out there with user name and password combinations for your accounts.'

'If you're reusing passwords then any hacker can take that combination and use it to take control of another company.'

Reusing passwords puts you at risk because your account credentials can be stolen and resold on marketplaces like Genesis Market which the AI took down earlier this year

3. Giving out too much information online

'On a personal level, for someone in their day-to-day activities one of the most important things that people need to think about is how much information they're sharing online,' Keiran said.

In 'red teaming' - a cybersecurity term for testing the defences of a company - one of the first places Keiran and his team look is social media.

'We can do almost anything to get into a company, but one of the tools we use is harvesting data from social media,' Keiran explained.

'We scour social media sites like LinkedIn to see what we can find.'

Not only might this reveal usernames which can be linked to stolen account credentials, but it also opens the door to a whole range of other attacks.

One of the most insidious attacks that this exposes you to is a technique called 'sim swapping' or 'sim-jacking'.

Keiran explains that hackers will search the web for information such as your date of birth, address, and even the answers to common security questions like your mother's maiden name.

'Once you have all that information you can use social engineering techniques to ring up their mobile provider and convince them to transfer the mobile number to a new sim,' he said.

Now, whenever a text or call would go to the victim's phone it instead goes straight to the attackers.

'Once they have that you suddenly have access to all the multi-factor authentication sites that the person is signed up to,' he added.

This could include work email accounts, online shopping accounts, and even online banking.

'Everything you put up online you no longer have control over, and if you're unlucky and all that information links up then you can get your identity partly stolen,' Keiran warned.

Giving away too much information online can leave you at risk of Sim-Jacking attacks in which hackers transfer your phone number to a new sim to intercept your calls and messages (stock image)

READ MORE: I'm a hacker who was jailed for a decade for heading up a cybercriminal organization Jesse William McGraw, 39, spent a decade in prison for heading up one of the first cybercriminal groups in America Advertisement

4. Connecting to unprotected public networks

'In the last few years something that's become a lot more important is remote working,' Keiran said.

'A big part of that involves people going to cafes like Starbucks and connecting to their public WiFi.'

The problem is that these kinds of public networks use a type of system called 'open authentication' to connect your device to the web without having to use identity verification.

While this makes it easy for you to quickly jump onto the coffee shop WiFi to send a few emails, it also puts you at risk of attacks from cybercriminals.

Open authentication means that the data you send across the network is not encrypted and can be captured by anybody else on the network.

'Someone could be sat outside a public WiFi network and just listening in on what's being sent,' Keiran warned.

'They could be in the cafe or they could be using specialist hardware to increase the range at which they can listen in on the network.

'They can be hidden a safe distance away then all they have to do is listen and wait.'

To avoid personal information like banking details being stolen from public WiFi, Keiran recommends that you always use a VPN when in public.

These services encrypt your data so that any eavesdroppers on the network won't be able to read what your sending.

On public WiFi anyone could be listening in on the information you're sending, waiting to steal sensitive information such as bank details and passwords

READ MORE: ChatGPT could help scammers write perfect phishing emails Advertisement

5. Clicking dodgy links

Finally, Keiran says that sending dodgy links is still the most common way that people get hacked.

Phishing scams remain the most prevalent attack in the UK according to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

In 2022 alone, 7.1 million malicious emails and URLs were flagged to the NCSC - the equivalent of nearly 20,000 reports a day.

Keiran explains that hackers will send fake emails and text messages to targets containing links to malicious websites or instructions to download software.

Once one of these links has been clicked, it gives criminals a window to install malware on their victim's device which can steal data and even take control.

But as sophisticated as a computer virus might be, hackers still need someone to follow a link to a compromised website or download files containing hidden malware.

'You need to be vigilant of anyone that is sending you something when you don't expect it,' Kieran concluded.

'Don't click on dodgy links, don't download dodgy files, don't fall into their trap.'
The social media influencer stereotype is a scantily clad 20-something giving fitness tips, hunky wellness gurus or yummy mommy yoga instructors.

But a new wave of stars are hitting Instagram, TikTok and YouTube and sharing their wisdom  senior citizens, some of them in their 80s.

Known as 'grandfluencers', they have gained millions of followers by sharing posts about baking pies and life advice.

The most successful among them make as much as $150,000 per post, through sponsorships with brands and selling merchandise.

Lynn Yamada Davis,79, earns a cozy six-figure salary from her 'Cooking With Lynja' channels, which shows her making food in unconventional ways - 17 million people watched one video of her building a 10-foot-long hotdog and making popcorn with a hair straightener.

Most people would assume followers of these grandfluencers are older adults, but most of their fans are the younger generation who have welcomed them with open arms into the digital world.

Lynn Yamada Davis,79, earns a cozy six-figure salary from her 'Cooking With Lynja' channels, which shows her making food in unconventional ways

Offering up some elderly wisdom

There's plenty of room for grandfluencers  especially to make money  as the influencer market is worth over $21 billion.

You don't need to be a lifelong entertainer to go viral on social media.

The wacky chef Davis is a retired MIT engineer. You wouldn't have guessed that from how naturally entertaining she is in the kitchen.

She slices and dices like a Michelin-star chef but adds a quirky twist to each recipe.

If you want to know how to unstick a zipper with petroleum jelly, find yourself an internet mom/grandma like a 'Babs.'

If you want to know how to unstick a zipper with petroleum jelly, find yourself an internet mom/grandma like a 'Babs'

BrunchwithBabs proclaims herself as 'everyone's grandmother,' offering tips and tricks to her more than four million followers.

She has a sweet bob hairstyle, stylish glasses and wears soft pink colored lipstick in every video.

The clips include making the perfect breakfast sandwiches, packing a cooler, cleaning tips and advice on mothering a new mother.

She's not alone. There are dozens of these accounts where elders offer their wisdom. Many of these elderly creators are like warm, motherly and fatherly figures you can learn from.

The internet's grandpa

And there would be a complete pair without the internet's grandpa.

Stephen Austin, 85, goes by 'Old Man Steve' on TikTok where he has over 1.7 million followers.

Stephen Austin, 85, goes by 'Old Man Steve.' The smiling grandpa wears a hat in every video while sporting a white beard and glasses

About Kim Komando Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not! Award-winning popular host Kim Komando is your secret weapon. Listen on 425+ radio stations or get the podcast. And join over 500,000 people who call her free 5-minute daily email newsletter. Advertisement

The smiling grandpa wears a hat in every video while sporting a white beard and glasses.

He posts short clips of drinking coffee, eating cookies and talking to his fans from his assisted living kitchen in Dallas, Texas.

While he's not a grandpa himself, he gets a lot of messages from young fans asking him to be theirs.

And Austin does a video every day.

He reminds his fans to be kind to themselves and others.

'Making fun videos gets me up in the morning because I look forward to interacting with my fans and getting suggestions from them for what I can do,' he said.

Grandparents of comedy

Just because you are getting older doesn't mean you can't have a laugh - and it seems a group of six actors over the age of 70 are living by those words on their channel called Retirementhouse.

More than five million people follow them as they spend their golden years in one home together.

Just because you are getting older doesn't mean you can't have a laugh - and it seems a group of six actors over the age of 70 are living by those words on their channel called Retirementhouse

It's basically 'Jersey Shore'  if the cast had back pain and grandchildren to look after.

The group doesn't scoff at social media trends but instead joins in on the fun  from doing popular TikTok dances to eating Oreos covered in ranch dressing as a challenge.

They also provide some hysterical relationship advice.

Seeing and sharing the sights

At 76, Lindy Moore defies the typical image of retirement.

Moore converted her 2013 Chevy Van into a home, allowing her and her dog Marley to explore the U.S. while sharing tips and tales with 36,000 YouTube subscribers on 'Lindy's Awesome Van Adventure.'

'I strictly started because I wanted to tell my story. It's a very different life,' said Moore. 'I had polio when I was seven or eight.

Lindy Moore converted her 2013 Chevy Van into a home, allowing her and her dog Marley to explore the U.S. while sharing tips and tales with 36,000 YouTube subscribers on 'Lindy's Awesome Van Adventure'

'My mother saved me from the lung machine. Through her strength, I learned how to walk again.'

As she got older, Moore realized she had a choice to make: Sit around and watch TV or live every day to the fullest.

She makes around $600 in a typical month through her posts, but if a video gets crazy views, that number is much higher.

'Let's say you have a video that gets 400,000 views,' Moore said. 'You could possibly get $10,000.'

She encourages other seniors to make their own channels.

'Seniors have so much knowledge, and it's a source of knowledge being lost. All you need is a phone  that's it,' said Moore.

'Even if you're making $300 a month, that could be a huge help. That could be life-changing
Each year, Florence attracts millions of tourists eager to gaze upon its stunning architecture and monuments.

But amid the Instagramming throngs of visitors lurk hustlers desperate to rid them of their euros.

To help tourists keep hold of their currency, travel vlogger Sam Mayfair has revealed a popular scam to watch out for.

The 39-year-old from Surrey shared the useful advice on his TikTok account, warning his followers of fake artists operating in the city centre.

Travel vlogger Sam Mayfair from Surrey revealed a popular scam to be aware of when visiting Florence, Italy (above)

In the TikTok video, as Sam explores the busy Piazza del Duomo outside Florence Cathedral, he reveals a common scam called the 'Italian Street Art Hustle'.

He says: 'One of the things you need to be aware of in Italy are street hustlers, especially the guys selling the art.

'Now they're not really interested in selling what they have. They're more interested in getting you to walk on their art.'

Revealing the scam to his followers, Sam shows a man standing in the busy square with photos of 'artwork' on the ground.

The scammer cleverly positions himself beside street vendors - including artists and caricaturists.

Sam's created a video showing a scammer selling paintings outside Florence's cathedral (pictured to the left). According to Sam, they will line up their paintings on the ground in the hope that tourists will stand on them. They then make a scene and demand money

In the video, Sam shows the scammers cleverly positioned near genuine artists selling paintings and caricaturists

Sam explains: 'They will set up in a busy location and pathway, put down maybe five or six pictures in the hope that you won't be paying attention and will step on it.

'And as soon as you step on it, they'll start to make a scene and demand money from you.'

He adds: 'Believe it or not, it's very easy to do, especially in busy locations like here in central Florence - so just watch out.'

Sam told MailOnline Travel: 'Florence is an amazingly beautiful city and I highly recommend visiting for the culture and beauty. But just like most tourist attractions around Italy, keep your wits about you as pickpockets and street scams are everywhere.'

To help further identify these hustlers he says 'genuine artists' tend to be set up away from throngs of people and have prices on their work.

He adds: 'Unfortunately, these scammers have lookouts and work very hard to avoid police detection.'

Sam says Florence isn't the only Italian city to attract scammers. He experienced them outside the Vatican City (pictured left) and at the Trevi Fountain in Rome (pictured right)

The travel vlogger claims the best thing to do if you accidentally step on these pictures is to 'walk away or call the police if they are threatening you'.

Unfortunately, Florence isn't the only Italian city to attract scammers. Sam says: 'I came across scammers in Rome and outside the Vatican City.'

The one most tourists fall for, he claims, is the 'free bracelet scam', where scammers will try to tie bracelets that are hard to get off onto tourists' wrists and demand money from them.

But, he says: 'The Trevi Fountain is the place you are most likely to get pickpockets so keep an eye out and stay alert. They are very good at what they do!'

For more from Sam, visit him on YouTube and TikTok.
An Australian backpacker has revealed the two popular travel destinations she believes are overrated.

Alex, 26, who goes by @alexinsummer on TikTok, is a travel content creator who documents her journey backpacking on social media.

She told viewers: 'These are the most overrated travel destinations. I'm so sorry if this ruins your travel plans but I'm just here to help'.

Read on to find out the places the TikToker thinks are overhyped and where you should go instead.

Alex, 26, who goes by @alexinsummer on TikTok , is a travel content creator who documents her journey backpacking on social media

El Nido, Philippines

Alex explained: 'The first one is El Nido in the Philippines. Don't get me wrong, I like the Philippines.

'It's beautiful, it's got some blue a** water but it is crowded and honestly, it all kinda [sic] looks the same.

'It's also expensive, I think people going to the Philippines are like 'oh my God', it's going to be this super cheap holiday just because it's in south east Asia.'

The Australian added: 'Every person that I have spoken to that have travelled south east Asia has said that the Philippines minus Singapore is the most expensive south east Asian country they have ever travelled to.

'I'm so happy that the Philippines was the first one I did, like a long trip back in March, because I was like zdamn these prices are kinda [sic] wild for what you're getting.'

But if you do go, she recommends exploring Coron over El Nido and is 'really excited to go to Sirgoa': 'I have heard that it is just the most incredible place ever so I'm definitely down to go there.'

Alex, 26, who goes by @alexinsummer on TikTok , is a travel content creator who documents her journey backpacking on social media

One viewer commented: 'How different are the prices compared to Thailand, like in food activities bike rental, etc?' to which she replies: 'Thailand is way cheaper!'

Another added: 'Currently in Siargao and unfortunately feel it's super overrated'.

Meanwhile, someone else penned: 'I personally liked El Nido a lot. Prices were okay too'.

Paris, France

In the second video, Alex talks about the city of love - Paris.

She told viewers: 'Now, I actually used to live in Paris and this place still has a weird, wholesome place in my heart.

'But it is not this beautiful, idyllic, romanticized place that a lot of people make it out to be.

'During the winter it is grey, it is cold, it is windy and during the summer I would say it is really beautiful, however it is completely packed.'

She added: 'There is no air conditioning so have fun on the Metro - there are gonna be some interesting aromas in the air and yes of course it's dirty, it's a big city.

'I would say that Paris, similar to London, is going to give you a very different experience based on how much money you have.

'Like I said, I still love Paris and I definitely recommend going. If you're gonna go, go in like September, October.

'It's not too cold, it's not too hot, it's not as crowded. It's really pretty so definitely go but do not be disappointed if it is not everything you made it out to be in your head.'

It comes just after Paris placed near the bottom of the table in the Which? survey of the UK's favourite European city breaks.

The consumer champion asked more than 1,600 of its members to rate their experiences of 31 popular cities across Europe to create the list.

Each location was rated out of five on seven criteria - food and drink, accommodation, cultural sights and attractions, shopping, ease of getting around, lack of crowds and value for money. An overall customer score was calculated based on overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend.

Paris ranks low down in the table, garnering 79 per cent in joint 12th with Athens, meanwhile Krakow, Poland, and Valencia, Spain share the crown with their 'impressive' 92 per cent scores.
A British traveller has shared the top ten hostels she stayed in while backpacking through Asia and Europe.

Kara, who goes by @okay.kara.travels on TikTok, is a full-time content creator who makes videos about budget backpacking.

In a recent video, seen by more than 40,000 people, she took viewers through her list of favourite places.

She explained: 'I do a big mix of solo travel and travelling with my partner Luke, so this is a great mix of a bunch of different types of hostels.

'Also this is no particular order because I could not pick a number one hostel ever.'

Kara, who goes by @okay.kara.travels on TikTok , is a full time content creator who makes videos about budget backpacking

Ostello Bello, Italy

First on Kara's list is the first hostel chain she ever stayed in - Ostello Bello hostels in Italy.

She told viewers: 'It's a chain of hostels that they've got all around Italy and I stayed here in Florence, in Lake Como and in Milan and I love them all.

'They give you a free drink upon arrival, they have a bunch of events on and it's really really social.

'The only thing to mention is as you can probably see from the bad quality of these videos is I did stay there in January 2022 so I do apologise in advance if this has changed.'

Banana Tree Hostel, Vietnam

She continued: 'Another hostel that really sticks out to me is Banana Tree Hostel in Tam Coc in Vietnam.

'This is a really well known hostel among so many backpackers travelling in Vietnam and it's basically a must-visit because so many people spend so long here.

In a recent video , seen by more than 40,000 people, she took viewers through her list of favourite places she's stayed and what she loved about them

The solo travellers top ten hostels Ostello Bello, Italy Banana Tree Hostel, Vietnam Bunk Hostel, The Netherlands Stone City Hostel, Albania Fuse Hotel, Vietnam OneDerz Hostel, Cambodia Central Backpackers, Vietnam Jasmine Hostels, Vietnam Dreni Guest House, Albania Sanga Hostel, Laos Chillax Hostel, Thailand Advertisement

'The hostel itself is comfortable and really tidy with a pool outside and a gorgeous view - but the main attraction is that these karaoke buses park themselves in the car park every singe night which is the best and most fun I've ever had.'

Bunk Hostel, The Netherlands

Up next on the top ten list is somewhere the travel pro stayed with her partner.

She loved it so much that they returned a few days later to stay for longer.

Kara revealed: 'It's called Bunk hostel and it's located in Utrecht in The Netherlands - it's basically a renovated church. It's got such cool decor.

'The first time we stayed here we stayed in a pod room, so it's like a double bed pod and the hostel was really comfortable.

'The second time we came back we stayed in a private room and it was a tiny little room, but honestly so quaint and so darling and we really loved it.

'They've got all sorts of fun events going on that makes it really fun and social - we adored Utrecht as a a location as it is but this made the stay even more special.'

Stone City Hostel, Albania

The TikToker moved on to Stone City Hostel in Gjirokaster in Albania - she stayed there with two friends and 'absolutely loved it'.

She said: 'I'd heard about this hostel over and over again and it definitely did not disappoint.

'The bunk bed rooms are really comfortable and the common rooms, indoors and outdoors are gorgeous - the owners and the staff honestly cannot do enough for you, they're so so friendly.

'On the first night, the owners actually made us a family dinner. It was like 6 I think from memory to pay for it but you got to try such unreal Albanian food.'

However, she warned that it does get fully booked far in advance but 'it's definitely worth being quite organised because it's such a gem'.

Fuse Hostel, Vietnam

Going back to her time in Vietnam, the TikToker added: 'Another hostel that really sticks out for me in Vietnam was Fuse Hostel in Hoi An, Vietnam.

'When we stayed here back in March it had actually only been open for a month or so, so everything was brand spanking new.

'I've spoken to a few friends who have stayed there since and they said it's still just as amazing and actually even better because they've got so much more organised and so much going on'.

She told viewers: 'We stayed in the Old Town one and in the beachside one so I highly recommend both but the Old Town one specifically was great because it's a fantastic location, right next to everything you need to be next to in Hoi An.

'We stayed in a gorgeous private room here and joined in with so many social activities, especially their bar crawl and pub quiz.

'It was genuinely so much fun and me and my team actually won the competition and won a free round of drinks which just made the night even better.'

OneDerz Hostels, Cambodia

Another hostel chain on the list is OneDerz Hostels in Cambodia.

Kara explained that it was the only place she stayed in while in the Asian country as they ended up 'trusting and loving it'.

She said: 'There's one on Koh Rong Sanloem which is literally on the beach and is genuinely stunning.

'There's one in Kampot which has a gorgeous pool and is in a great location and there's one in Phnom Penh which has a rooftop pool.

'They don't have their own personal events so it's not necessarily the most social of hostels but it was just really trustworthy, clean, gorgeous, simple rooms that we really enjoyed.'

Central Backpackers, Vietnam

Kara continued: 'The next one I'm going to talk about is Central Backpackers in Phong Nha.

'We stayed in a private room here but I did see that the dorm rooms are very comfortable as well.

'It has a pool with a gorgeous view of the cliffs behind it and every single night they have free beer for like an hour and it's so much fun and so social.

'I have really great memories of Phong Na because of how amazing this hostel was and I highly recommend it to anyone who's visiting that area'.

READ MORE: Canadian traveler is left stunned after arriving at Austrian hostel to discover it was located INSIDE an IKEA store - and even boasted a rooftop bar on the top floor Advertisement

Jasmine Hostels, Vietnam

The final Vietnam-based hostel to make it to the top ten is Jasmine Hostels.

Kara revealed: 'I couldn't ever make this video without mentioning Jasmine Hostels in Ha Giang - they are the famous hostel chain that does the Ha Giang Loop.

'The majority of backpackers doing the Ha Giang Loop will book it through Jasmine Hostels and honestly everyone loves it, it is such good fun.

'My recommendation for Jasmine Hostels isn't for the hostel itself in Ha Giang, it's kind of for the hostels you stay in on the tour'.

Dreni Guest House, Albania

Nearing the end of the video, the travel pro talks about Dreni Guest House in Theth, Albania.

She gushed: 'If I could have, I would have stayed longer than I did already. I would love to extend our stay here because everything was perfect.

'The rooms are so quaint and cute, we're in like a little cottagey[sic] log house room, I just loved it.

'They set a fire every night for you to sit around there with a gorgeous view of your surroundings and every night you have dinner included in your stay so you get a three course Albanian meal for such a reasonable price - the food was amazing.'

Adding: 'The way you have dinner on a big table with other people means it's really social and you get chatting to people super super easily - the owner's sons set up a DJ booth every night so everyone has a bit of a party and it's just hilarious.'

Sanga Hostel, Laos

If you're planning to stay in Pakse, Laos, the TikToker recommends Sanga Hostel.

She advised: 'The shared rooms are massive and the beds are so comfy cause even a year later I can remember how comfortable the bed was and how much I enjoyed my nights sleep.

'The lady who owns it is so lovely and she couldn't do enough for you, she helped us organise the rest of our travel throughout, gave us tons of recommendations of things to do, helped us out with bike hire and so much more.

'We got breakfast included every morning and we actually ended up going there for dinner as well cause we really enjoyed the food.

However, she revealed that the one downside is that there isn't a common room and the restaurant is 'kind of tiny so you don't really have much room to meet people other than in your dorm room'.

Although, she said it was fine, they still met people and made it social.

Chillax Hostel, Thailand

Finally, Kara talks about Chillax Hostel in Khao Sok, National Park Thailand.

She told viewers: 'Khao Sok National Park is really famous for being able to stay on the lake overnight, but you do need to stay in the town itself the night before and after so you can connect with public transport.

'In Chillax Hostel, the rooms are really bog standard, it's quite a small quaint hostel to be fair but the private rooms we stayed in were really, really nice and we really enjoyed them.

'The staff were super helpful and they helped us book the Khao Sok National Park tour.'

Adding that again there was no common room, but 'the social aspect comes from the National Park tour that you do through the hostel.'

Fellow travellers were quick to agree with the list, writing: 'Just left Sanga hostel yesterday and absolutely loved it! The manager was the loveliest, totally agree'.

Another added: 'Can confirm I went to Ostello Bello in Milan and Como in August 2023 and it was equally as fab!'

Others thanked the TikToker, penning: 'So informative, thank you!' and 'This is great I needed hostel recommendations for SE Asia thank you'.
Celestial bodies such as Jupiter, Mars and Pluto may be viewable all in one night

Groups of four guests are invited to use one of four powerful telescopes and are assisted by an expert scientist

An Arizona observatory is providing unrivaled views of the night sky as part of a thousand-dollar package that offers guests the full astronomer experience.

The National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, a federally-funded research center, has been welcoming overnight visitors for almost three decades.

The Overnight Telescope Observing Program, or OTOP - which starts at $945 for a single room and reaches up to $1,350 for a double - appoints four guests 'visiting astronomers' at one of three designated telescopes.

'We are a working observatory. Every night our domes are open, doing science, while our Visitor Center program is another part of our mission to educate and inform the public,' said Michelle Edwards, Associate Director at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Upon making the trek to the mountaintop campus, 56 miles outside Tucson, visitors will become acquainted with the premises before hunkering down until dark, when the real fun begins.

Kitt Peak National Observatory sits just over 50 miles outside of Tucson, Arizona, and is home to several telescopes

The observatory, operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, invites overnight guests to examine the starry sky. Pictured: the Visitor Center Roll Off Roof Observatory

The 20-hour experience, which comes with a thousand-dollar price tag, includes dinner, a dorm room and the assistance of a professional scientist

A visit runs from 3pm to 11am the following day. Upon arrival at the Visitor Center, guests are introduced to their telescope operator, who will lead them to their dorms in a rustic building styled like a 1950s motel.

'These accommodations are ones the astronomers have been using for decades. You're basically staying where the astronomers stay,' Edwards explained.

After settling in, guests normally reunite with their guide to watch the sunset. As soon as a telescope becomes available, visitors are unleashed upon the night sky.

The telescope operator will help them use the powerful scientific instruments and locate certain deep-sky objects. Guides, who are astronomy enthusiasts themselves, may compile an observing list, or leave it up to the guests.

'Obviously, planets are very popular, so if Jupiter or Saturn are available, we'll be looking at them,' said Angel Singleton, Kitt Peak Visitor Center supervisor.

Around this time of year, she says, the Orion Nebula is one of the most spectacular objects in the winter sky, containing hundreds of glittering infant stars.

Other highlights include Messier 13, a globular star cluster that forms a frozen firework when viewed through a telescope.

Prospective visitors are encouraged to inquire in advance if certain objects will be visible on their trip, as parts of the sky will not be above the horizon on a given night and some objects may be too faint.

However, no prior experience is necessary to participate, as 'you don't have to be an expert in astronomy,' according to Edwards.

No prior experience is needed to use one of four designed telescopes on the campus. Pictured: the Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope

The NOIRLAB asks guests to email in advance if they want to see certain celestial bodies, as 'parts of the sky will not be above the horizon on a given night and some objects are too faint to see'

Kitt Peak has been welcoming guests since around 1998, and the overnight program has proven to be one of its most popular offerings. Pictured: the Visitor Center after its remodeling in 1978

Kitt Peak reopened its doors after shutdowns due to the pandemic and a destructive wildfire. Pictured: the Visitor Center Levine 0.4-meter Telescope

Kitt Peak was formerly closed due to the pandemic and the 2022 Contreras Fire, which charred trees and seared the road leading to the observatory.

'The Arizona Department of Transportation launched a multi-million-dollar project to actually repair that road, and that did take a considerable amount of time,' Edwards said.

Flames knocked out grid power and caused damage to the interior that took months to assess.

The fire also caused the loss of one dorm, one cabin on the southwest ridge and a shed behind the fire barn.

'The Visitor Center was closed for almost three and a half years. OTOP restarted in spring 2023,' Edwards explained. 'The rest of our programs, day tours and shorter nighttime programs, were all delayed until September of this year.'

OTOP, which launched around 1998, has proven to be especially popular, with all dates currently sold out through the end of the year.

The facilities are located a whopping 2096 meters up the mountain, which sits on land belonging to the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Tribal members are able to utilize most programs at the observatory for free, and Kitt Peak often hosts student groups.

The road leading to the observatory was closed after the 2022 Contreras Fire. Pictured: a rockslide that occurred in the aftermath of the wildfire

The facilities are located a whopping 2096 meters up the mountain and offer breathtaking views of the Milky Way. Pictured: the Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope

Guests will be joined by a telescope operator, who will help them use the instruments and can compile an observing list upon request. Pictured: the 0.4-meter Telescope inside the Roll Off Roof Observatory

The NOIRLab facilities reopened to the public in June 2023, including locations in Hawaii and Chile

During an overnight visit, guests may use the Levine 0.4-meter telescope and the 0.5-meter telescope, both enclosed by domes.

The 0.5-meter telescope, located next to the Visitor Center, is the largest one available - and the most convenient, due to location.

There is also a roll-off roof observatory, or ROR, that offers striking views of the Milky Way.

'That one is a great way to give the guests a view of the night sky that's different from just a regular telescope dome,' Singleton said.

'While they're waiting for their turn to look through the telescope, they just have the entire night sky above them to be able to look and watch for meteors or satellites going by.'

The cafeteria stays open all hours, so hungry guests may duck inside to refuel with a sandwich or hot chocolate before resuming their hunt for celestial bodies.

Due to the duration of the program, it is recommended for guests 12 and up.

'We've had teenagers and older children accompanying their parents,' Edwards said. 'The guides are there to be good hosts, so they will work with you and the amount of experience you have.'

The now-defunct McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope was once the largest solar telescope in the world

Telescopes on the property may encounter malfunctions, which representatives say are due to the rapid reopening in the wake of the pandemic. In that case, a refund will be offered

Overnight visits are priced at a starting rate of $945 on Eventbrite and include a tour of the campus

A weather check is performed at 10am, before guests arrive, to ensure that conditions will be hospitable. Refunds are offered in full, minus the Eventbrite fee, if the facility is forced to cancel due to weather or safety concerns.

Other telescopes guests may see on their campus tour are among the most impressive in the world.

One, the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope, is renowned for its discovery of methane ice on Pluto and boasts the largest scope on the mountain.

'It has a single dedicated purpose,' Edwards said. 'There is funding that's come from the Department of Energy to build a special instrument called DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument).'

This instrument is on a five-year mission to create the best three-dimensional map of the universe by understanding where galaxies are in relation to Earth.

The enormous WIYN 3.5-meter telescope, whose NEID instrument is designed to measure the motion of stars with extreme precision, is a state-of-the-art exoplanet hunter. Its mission, Edwards explains, is to scope out Earth 2.0.

While decommissioned, the McMathPierce solar telescope was for many decades the largest solar telescope on the globe.

Through a $4.5 million grant, it will be fully renovated and turned into an educational building called Windows Center on the Universe.

'Our primary goal is actually a scientific goal,' Edwards explained. 'Probably more than 500 astronomers are served by the observatory and dozens of institutions.'

She added: 'You'll be able to hear the domes rotating as you're walking around. So you'll be able to really hear and see science being done right in front of you. And really exciting science.'
Netflix fans have been going wild for a new drama film rated 92 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore - which has also received critical acclaim - was released on November 17 before streaming on Netflix on December 1 in the US and on Sky Cinema from 8 December in the UK.

The American movie directed by Todd Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch is loosely inspired by the story of Mary Kay Letourneau.

The film follows an actress Elizabeth (Natalie) who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of the controversial woman Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne) she is set to play in a film.

The woman is infamous for her 23-year-old relationship with her husband Joe (Charles Melton) whom she first met as a minor.

Netflix fans have been going wild for a new drama film rated an impressive 92 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes

May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore - which has also received critical acclaim - was released on November 17 before streaming on Netflix on December 1

Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, the married couple buckles under pressure when the actress arrives to do research.

The film was announced in June 2021, with Natalie and Julianne joining the cast and filming took place in mid-2022 around Savannah, Georgia.

It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 20.

After seeing it fans have been going wild and have taken to Twitter to praise the acting and storyline and in particular Charles' acting.

One fan said: 'It's the next morning after seeing may December (2023) and I can't get Charles Melton's performance out of my head.

'He's just so good and the film itself is a freaking masterpiece dude.'

Another said: 'They don't make movies like may December anymore!'

A third penned: 'What Charles Melton does in May December is so special, he has to walk such a fine line between child and adult.

The American drama film directed by Todd Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch is loosely inspired by the story of Mary Kay Letourneau

Charles (seen) accepted the Gotham Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance for May December on Monday night

Reaction: After seeing it fans have been going wild and have taken to Twitter to praise the acting and storyline and in particular Charles' acting

The film follows an actress Elizabeth ( Natalie ) who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of the controversial woman Gracie Atherton-Yoo ( Julianne ) she is set to play in a film

'I've never been so excited to see where someone's career goes. he's not just a star in the making, but a really special kind of actor.'

Another said: 'I need to see May December again. (Just watched May December.)'.

Someone else wrote: 'I need to see may December NOW.'

Charles accepted the Gotham Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance for May December on Monday night.

Elsewhere at the event Past Lives was named Best Feature while Lily Gladstone walked away with the biggest acting honor on the night.

'It's such an honor,' Past Lives writer-director Celine Song said in her acceptance speech, according to Variety.

'Thank you, Gotham, for this award. It really means the world to receive it with my debut set in New York City, a city I live in and love deeply.'

Song - who was accompanied onstage by the film's Greta Lee and John Magaro - thanked her collaborators at A24, as well as the cast and crew of the motion picture.

Gladstone won the honors for Outstanding Lead Performance for The Unknown Country, while Melton won Outstanding Supporting Performance for May December.

A Thousand and One director A.V. Rockwell won the Breakthrough Director Award.

The film was announced in June 2021, with Natalie and Julianne joining the cast and filming took place in mid-2022 around Georgia (Natalie and Charles pictured at Gotham Awards)

Charles Melton, Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and director Todd Haynes pose together at Netflix photocall

Anatomy of a Fall claimed the honors for Best International Feature and Best Screenplay, while Four Daughters won the honors for Best Documentary.

The Netflix series Beef won two awards for Breakthrough Series  Under 40 minutes; and Outstanding Performance in a New Series for Ali Wong.

A Small Light won the honors for Breakthrough Series  Over 40 minutes.

All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh, garnered the most nominations with four, but did not win any awards; Past Lives and A Thousand and One each had three.

May December available in UK Cinemas now and on Sky Cinema from 8 December
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FIRST DOCTOR WHO SPECIAL

Doctor Who made its long-awaited return to screens on Saturday with the first of three specials to celebrate the show's 60th Anniversary.

The episodes see David Tennant reprise his role as the titular Time Lord for the first time since 2013, with the time traveller reunited with his beloved companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.

As well as bringing back a slew of familiar faces, the special also introduced some new characters to fans, including Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney, who plays Donna's transgender daughter Rose.

Viewers lauded that David and Catherine seamlessly slipped back into their old roles on the show, and that they'd missed the so much.

The episode also pulled in around five million average viewers with a peak of just more than six million, the biggest drama launch of 2023.

So, as Doctor Who fans await the second special, titled The Wild Blue Yonder, MailOnline takes a look at the star-studded cast...

The Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant)

David Tennant has returned to The Whoniverse as The Fourteenth Doctor, after previously playing the tenth incarnation from 2005 until 2010

Last year fans were stunned when it was announced that David would be reprising his role as The Doctor after a decade away from the show.

The Broadchurch star originally starred as the Time Lord for its tenth incarnation, from 2005 until 2010, before returning for the show's 50th Anniversary in 2013.

Jodie Whittaker regenerated into David's incarnation of The Doctor during a one-off special last year, baffling even the character himself as he questioned why his 'old face had come back.'

Its a mystery that returning showrunner Russell T Davies has hinted will be solved in a later special.

The first special saw The Doctor reunited with his best friend Donna, with an unlikely regeneration loophole meaning she could regain her memories from their time together.

Outside of the Whoniverse, David has starred in a slew of critically-acclaimed dramas, including Good Omens, Jessica Jones, Litvinenko and Des, and films including Mary Queen Of Scots and Fright Night.

In the second special, The Doctor and Donna get the runaround on a giant slowly self-destructing spaceship and find they are chasing themselves.

Donna Noble (Catherine Tate)

Catherine Tate has reprised her role The Doctor's companion Donna Noble, after she had her memories of their adventures wiped in heartbreaking scenes

During her year-long stint as The Doctor's companion, Donna Noble became one of the most beloved characters in the Who world.

She first made her debut in the 2006 Christmas Special, The Runaway Bride, but returned as a full-time companion during the show's fourth series in 2008.

Her travels were tragically cut short when The Doctor was forced to wipe her memories to save her life after she consumed the mind of a Time Lord into her head, which would have been fatal.

The former temp left viewers in floods of tears with her heartbreaking farewell, as The Doctor warned her family that if she ever remembered him, she would die.

Donna survived, and she went onto marry her husband Shaun, and they had a daughter called Rose.

The first special saw her unexpectedly cross paths with The Doctor again, and despite his best efforts to stay away, she was forced to restore her memories to save London from The Meep.

In heartbreaking scenes, Donna tragically dies in The Doctor's arms, but a shocking twist reveals that her abilities have been passed onto her daughter Rose.

Despite the Doctor's concerns that the Time Lord power could overwhelm them both, Donna reassures him that they'll handle it like any woman - by 'letting it go.'

Outside of Doctor Who, Tate has had a slew of comedy roles, including The Catherine Tate Show, Big School, The Office (US), Hard Cell and Queen of Oz.

Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King)

Jacqueline first joined the Doctor Who cast alongside Catherine in 2006, as Donna Noble's flippant mother Sylvia.

At first she seemed preoccupied with putting down her daughter's ambitions, but after her memory was wiped, began to take a more active role in her life.

In the first special, Sylvia is desperate to protect Donna from finding out her memories about The Doctor, claiming her prior memory loss was due to a 'breakdown.'

While Donna and Rose manage to save their family from The Meep, Sylvia was left fearing for her daughter when the TARDIS sent her and the Doctor spiralling to a mystery planet.

Actress Jacqueline has also starred in King is known outside of her Doctor Who work for appearing in 55 Degrees North, Coronation Street, Holby City, Doctors, and Mammals.

Rose Noble (Yasmin Finney)

After earning critical acclaim for her role in Heartstopper, transgender actress Yasmin Finney joined the Doctor Who cast as Donna's daughter Rose

After earning critical acclaim for her role in Heartstopper, transgender actress Yasmin Finney joined the Doctor Who cast as Donna's daughter Rose.

With a secret love for crafts, she showcased her talents by making stuffed toys to sell online, despite Donna's disapproval, a source of comfort after facing bullying by other teenagers for her transition.

After rescuing The Meep, Rose discovers she has her own secret strength when she inherits The Doctor Donna's metacrisis power, helping her mother to save London.

Yasmin previously noted that Rose was a 'trans icon,' and fans have praised her performance as 'superb' and 'a masterclass.'

As well as her role in Heartstopper, Yasmin has also appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

Shirley Ann Bingham (Ruth Madeley)

Actress Ruth Madeley starred in the first special as UNIT scientific adviser Shirley Anne Bingham and proved popular with fans on the show

Actress Ruth Madeley starred in the first special as new character Shirley Anne Bingham and proved popular with fans on the show.

Ruth plays scientific adviser number 56 at UNIT, and crosses paths with The Doctor while investigating a space ship that has landed in a warehouse.

Like Ruth, Shirley uses a wheelchair, and even shows off a few handy additions that help her escape from mortal peril, and Russell has hinted that we will see her reprise her role in the future.

The actress is a British star known for her role in Years and Years where she worked with returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies.

She was born with spina bifida and has worked with the charity Whizz-Kidz for much of her life.

The star was also nominated for a television BAFTA in 2016 for her work in Don't Take My Baby and has starred as Ingrid Woodhouse in The Rook.

Shaun Temple (Karl Collins)

Shaun Temple (Karl Collins) also returns to the Whoniverse as Donna's husband, completely unaware of her time-travelling past

Shaun also returns to the Whoniverse as Donna's husband, completely unaware of her time-travelling past.

He first appeared in the 2009 Special The End Of Time, which ended with himself and Donna tying the knot.

In The Star Beast, Shaun reveals that while and Donna did win the lottery - the Doctor's doing - she decided to give it all away, and they are in financial straits as she's lost her job.

While he is dragged into the family's escapades with The Doctor and The Meep, he is left behind when the TARDIS catapults his wife to a mystery location.

Outside of his role in Doctor Who, actor Karl has had roles in The Flash, The Bill, Attack The Block, Death In Paradise, Black Mirror, The Larkins and Hollyoaks.

The Meep (Miriam Margolyes)

The Meep was the unlikely star of the first 60th Anniversary Special, a deceptively cuddly looking creature voiced by Miriam Margolyes

The Meep first appeared in the Doctor Who universe in a 1980 comic story as a deceptively cuddly looking creature covered in cute white fur.

The adorable creature appeared to be injured after their spaceship crashed, with Rose rescuing the alien from what appeared to be alien soldiers.

However, it was later revealed that The Meep was the villain all along, and had been plotting to destroy London to gather rocket fuel, and The Doctor and Donna are forced to thwart their plans

The character was voiced by veteran actress Miriam Margolyes, who has had a slew of big roles including Little Shop of Horrors, The Age of Innocence, Babe, James and the Giant Peach, Romeo + Juliet, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Happy Feet.

Viewers heaped praise on the actress for her performance, adding that they were also deeply impressed she managed to keep from swearing throughout.

Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins)

Donna's grandfather Wilfred Mott, played by Bernard Cribbins, did not star in the first special, but it's been hinted he will make an appearance at a later date

Since his first appearance in the 2007 Christmas Special, Wilfred has warmed viewers' hearts with his love for aliens and spaceships.

It was revealed in the fourth series that he was Donna's grandfather, and is even dragged into The Doctor's adventures during The End Of Time.

While Wilfred did not appear in the first special, Donna revealed he had been moved into supported accomodation after UNIT said they would 'look after him.'

And fans were delighted to see Wilfred return in the second episode Wild Blue Yonder.

Having escaped a terrifying adventure in space, the Doctor and Donna shared an emotional reunion with Wilf, who then warned them of a new menace threatening the Earth.

The scenes no doubt brought fans to tears after Bernard died in July 2022 at the age of 93.

His death came after a long and illustrious career including Carry On films, The Railway Children, Jackanory, The Wombles, Fawlty Towers, Coronation Street and Old Jack's Boat.

Speaking on companion show Doctor Who Unleashed, showrunner Russell T Davies said: 'It's one of the great joys of my life that at the end of Bernard's career, at the end of his life, he came back to us to shoot what actually turned out to be his final scene,' Davies said. 'We didn't know that at the time, but he loved coming back. He had kind of retired, but he loved Doctor Who.

'We wanted to do more, 'cause we love him. He wasn't well enough to do more, but that one scene he completed fills me with absolute joy. In those few seconds, there's everything he brings to the screen. He's joyous, he's worried, he's scared, he's full of love, he hugs Donna, he hugs the Doctor  it's pure Bernard.

'I am so glad we got to shoot that, because it's one of the great joys of my entire life that I got to work with that man and I got to know him and I got to be his friend.

'I love him. He's absolutely beautiful and here is at the end, back in Doctor Who.'

Doctor Who's second 60th Anniversary Special airs on Saturday at 6:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Jimmy Barnes is racing back up the charts following his recent health woes.

The 67-year-old's holiday album Blue Christmas has re-entered Australia's ARIA charts at No. 14 this week.

Blue Christmas was originally released in 2022 and debuted at No. 1, making it Jimmy's 15th chart topper.

The disc is currently outcharting other holiday records, including Michael Buble's Christmas (No. 45) and Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas (No. 74).

It comes after Barnes delivered a health update after he was hospitalised with a severe infection and forced to cancel upcoming gigs.

Jimmy Barnes (pictured) is racing back up the charts following his recent health woes

The 67-year-old's holiday album Blue Christmas has re-entered Australia's ARIA charts at No. 14 this week

The rocker said in a statement on Friday that he will be unable to play the By The C festival in Torquay this weekend.

'I know a lot of people travel a long way for this gig so I'm really sorry that I won't be able to see you in Torquay,' he said.

'This infection has knocked me for six so there's no chance that the doctors will let me out of bed for the next few days.'

Barnes had earlier shared the bad news of his illness to his official Facebook page on Tuesday.

Jimmy recently gave fans a health update after he was hospitalised with a severe infection and forced to cancel upcoming gigs

'I'm sorry to let you know that I've been receiving intravenous antibiotics over the last 36 hours to treat bacterial pneumonia,' he wrote.

'Unfortunately, this has stopped me travelling to Noumea to join Rock The Boat 2023 as planned,' he continued.

'My band will still perform on board, together with my daughter Mahalia and other special guests.

'I'd like to apologise sincerely to everyone for the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused, but the doctors have confined me to bed for two days.

'The timing couldn't be worse. I'm expected to make a full recovery in time to perform live at By The C in Torquay,' Jimmy concluded.

'I'm sorry to let you know that I've been receiving intravenous antibiotics over the last 36 hours to treat bacterial pneumonia,' he wrote

Jimmy was on bed rest for months earlier this year and was forced to cancel his summer tour to receive emergency hip surgery.

He underwent a major hip operation in late 2022 to ease years of chronic pain.

'We had some (live) things planned, but they fell through because of my surgery,' he said at the time.

Barnes spent time recovering in his second home in Thailand with his wife Jane and was on the mend in recent months.

He had to regain his strength and for some weeks required the aid of a cane to walk, but had made a full recovery by March.
Dr Charlie Teo hosted an event for his patients and supporters, just months after his surgical career was virtually destroyed by health authorities in Australia.

The embattled neurosurgeon, 65, was all smiles as he enjoyed a drink with guests at the Bright Night fundraiser at the Doltone House in Sydney on Thursday,

Guests paid $200 to attend the event while some were charged $500 to enjoy a one hour private pre-event function with Dr Teo.

Dr Teo wore a printed buttoned shirt and beige suit jacket as he chatted to attendees at the cocktail party.

The high-profile surgeon completed his look with beige pants and a black belt.

Dr Charlie Teo enjoyed Christmas drinks with his patients in Sydney after authorities virtually ended his surgical career in Australia

The event comes months after Dr Teo was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by the Medical Professional Standards Committee in July.

The decision came in the wake of findings from the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) that Dr Teo failed to properly inform two of his patients of the risks involved with 'experimental' operations that they failed to recover from.

The restrictions imposed by the HCCC has forced Dr Teo to admit his career is virtually over in Australia and to turn his attention to operating on patients overseas, providing advice to other neurosurgeons, and lecturing.

Dr Teo has previously indicated he will look to China to perform surgery because they had 'committed' to him, and would also continue to perform occasional operations in Europe and parts of Southeast Asia.

Dr Teo appeared before the committee to face complaints that he had operated on patients where the risk of surgery outweighed any potential benefits.

It was also alleged that he did not obtain informed consent from the patients before the surgery, charged another patient an inappropriate fee of $35,000 and spoke inappropriately, with several swear words, to that patient's daughter post-surgery.

The committee ruled it had 'found these elements of the complaint proven'.

The embattled neurosurgeon, 65, was all smiles as he enjoyed a drink with guests at the event at the Doltone House

It found that Dr Teo was guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct in 2018 and 2019 while operating at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney.

The committee concluded in one instance he did 'not exercise appropriate judgment in proceeding to surgical resection' of Patient A.

In another, with Patient B, 'the practitioner carried out surgery which was different to that proposed to the patient, and the surgical strategy led to unwarranted and excessive removal of normal functional brain'.

It was also found that Dr Teo's 'judgment in deciding to operate on Patient A was inappropriate (because) it was high-risk and inappropriate surgery by reason of the nature and location of the tumour, its genetic type, and that it was diffuse (spread over a wide area).'

Neither patient regained consciousness and both later died in hospital, one 10 days after surgery and the other several months later.

The event comes months after Dr Teo was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by the Medical Professional Standards Committee in July

The Medical Professional Standards Committee found that the surgeon had 'for the most part, become isolated from the majority of his peers, and does not conform to a number of relevant accepted professional standards'.

The committee ordered that Dr Teo 'be reprimanded and imposed conditions on his registration to protect the public'.

Now, the surgeon must provide a written statement from a Medical Council-approved neurosurgeon which supports him performing recurrent malignant intracranial tumour and brain stem tumour surgical procedures.

He has also been barred from working in the United States and Singapore.

The restrictions placed on the high-profile surgeon were met with criticism from his large base of supporters, some of whom are former patients.
Gigi Hadid has been pictured for the first time since admitting to failing to 'fact check' a post about the Israeli government.

In photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, the model was spotted jetting into New York City on Friday, looking slightly somber as she made her way through JFK Airport with her luggage in hand.

Gigi, 28, wore a slick leather jacket over a casual grey tee and billowing black trousers that were belted into her trim waist.

It comes after Gigi shared claims on Instagram that Israel is 'the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war' - a post she illustrated with a boy who, as a 13-year-old, went on a stabbing rampage in Jerusalem.

After the message sparked backlash, Gigi backtracked and admitted she failed to 'fact check' or 'deeply think about' the post prior to sharing it on her account.

Gigi Hadid has been pictured for the first time since admitting to failing to 'fact check' a post about the Israeli government

As Gigi strode through the busy airport, she slicked her blonde hair back into a bun with the help of a clip while a pair of amber tint shades concealed her eyes.

She neatly piled her luxurious Louis Vuitton duffle bag atop her glossy olive green suitcase as she wheeled her belongings through the transport hub.

Ensuring she remained comfortable for her trek home, she opted for comfortable footwear.

The model also carried her cell phone, adorned with a fun beaded strap.

The post in question saw Gigi accuse Israel of the 'abduction, rape, humiliation, torture, and murder of Palestinians' and falsely portrayed Palestinian Ahmed Manasra as a 'child prisoner of war.'

On Tuesday, after a backlash against her post, the model - whose father is Palestinian, and last month likened Israelis to Nazis - apologized for her 'mistake', which she said was careless.

She wrote: 'It is important to me to share real stories about the hardships that Palestinians have endured and continue to endure, but this weekend I shared something that I did not fact check or think deeply about prior to reposting.'

Gigi said she 'wanted to show the ways in which international law is being violated by the Israeli government', and said that a Palestinian child arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would be treated differently than an Israeli child stopped by the IDF.

'Unfortunately, I used the wrong example to make that point, and I regret that,' she continued.

Hadid donned a stylish black leather jacket along with a casual grey tee and loose trousers

Gigi strode trough the airport in comfortable sneakers

The model wore a pair of amber sunglasses and several petite hoop earrings

The star, who has been the face of Maybelline and is currently fronting Versace's campaigns, said she condemned violence against all people.

'To want freedom and humane treatment for Palestinians and to want safety for Jewish people can both be important to the same person - including myself,' she said.

But she then switched to accusing Israel of human rights abuses, and emphasized years of abuse by Israel. She did not reference the October 7 terror attack, or the current hostage situation.

Hadid, who has frequently courted controversy with her incendiary anti-Israel posts, pled for forgiveness from her 80 million followers.

Hadid made her way through the busy airport

She piled her luxurious Louis Vuitton bag atop her glossy suitcase

The sighting comes after Gigi backtracked on a controversial post and admitted she failed to 'fact check' or 'deeply think about' it prior to sharing it on her account

Her cell phone was adorned with a fun beaded strap

This is not the first time Hadid was blasted for her anti-Israel posts

'I understand that with the power of my platform comes a huge responsibility,' she said.

'I'm human and I make mistakes. But I also hold myself accountable for those mistakes.'

Hadid's post received immediate backlash and has since been taken down.

The post received criticism for spreading false information and increasing antisemitism. Users condemned her, with one calling her a 'social media terrorist' and another suggesting that the Hadid family move to Gaza.

One wrote: 'She's a social media terrorist and should be punished for spreading false information that increases antisemitism.'

The post in question saw Gigi accuse Israel of the 'abduction, rape, humiliation, torture, and murder of Palestinians' and falsely portrayed Palestinian Ahmed Manasra as a 'child prisoner of war'

Hadid shared this statement after her post about the Israeli government sparked backlash

Another commented: 'The entire Hadid family have blood on their hands.'

'Why doesn't the Hadid family move to Gaza? Yalla,' a third user wrote.

This is not the first time Hadid was blasted for her anti-Israel posts.

Hadid was slammed by the Israeli government after she posted in support of the Palestinian people on her Instagram story in October, only weeks after the October 7 terror attack.

Hadid, whose famous real-estate developer father Mohamed Hadid is Palestinian, posted a graphic about the war that read: 'There is nothing Jewish about the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians.'

'Condemning the Israeli government is not anti-Semitic and supporting Palestinians is not supporting Hamas.'

Israel's government quickly skewered Hadid's position, posting on their Instagram story a response that read: 'There is nothing valiant about Hamas' massacre of Israelis.

'Condemning Hamas for what it is (ISIS) is not anti-Palestine and supporting Israelis in their fight against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do.'

The account then directed comments at Hadid specifically, tagging her account and writing: 'Have you been sleeping the past week?

'Or you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes?

'Your silence has been very clear about where you stand. We see you.'
Cardi B looked absolutely stunning while leaving a fitting in West Hollywood on Thursday evening.

The 31-year-old rapper stood out while wearing a colorful outfit that included a red-and-blue Vanson Leathers Moto Jacket.

The hitmaker, who recently shared her opinion about the performance of New York City's mayor Eric Adams, also donned a pair of leather pants that clung tightly to her curvy thighs and toned legs.

Cardi B, born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, added extra color to her look with a wide-framed pair of red sunglasses and matching gloves, which also featured bone decals on their outside portions.

The performer paired her bottoms with matching stiletto-heeled shoes as she left the fitting.

Cardi B looked absolutely stunning while leaving a fitting in West Hollywood on Thursday evening

The Bodak Yellow rapper accessorized with a pair of earrings, which gave her look a bit of metallic shine.

Her beautiful dark brunette hair was tied into a lengthy ponytail that ran down her back.

Cardi B is currently preparing to headline TikTok's inaugural live event, In The Mix.

According to Variety, the function is scheduled to take place at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, on December 10.

In addition to the Up rapper, the event's lineup includes performers such as Charlie Puth, Niall Horan and Anitta.

TikTok's global head of music partnerships and programming, Paul Hourican, issued a statement to explain the social media powerhouse's intentions for the event.

He stated: 'Our vision is to create a show that is reimagined for the TikTok era and our music-loving global community.'

Cardi B is also hard at work on her second record, which has been in the works for several years.

The 31-year-old rapper stood out while wearing a colorful outfit that included a red-and-blue Vanson Leathers Moto Jacket

Cardi B, born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, added extra color to her look with a wide-framed pair of red sunglasses and matching gloves, which also featured bone decals on their outside portions

The Bodak Yellow rapper accessorized with a pair of earrings, which gave her look a bit of metallic shine

Her beautiful dark brunette hair was tied into a lengthy ponytail that ran down her back

The performer's debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, debuted in 2018 and peaked at the top of the US Billboard 200 chart.

The rapper spoke about her upcoming project during an interview on The Breakfast Club, where she said that she was having trouble settling on a tracklist for her second record.

She stated via Billboard: 'I have like a couple of songs that are like definite, I don't know. I don't know what's going on with me. I need to just make up my mind,' she said.

However, the hitmaker stated that she would make a dedicated effort to 'put it out next year.'
It's been two decades since Shannon Noll became the runner-up to Guy Sebastian on Australian Idol.

And now the 48-year-old has revealed he still talks to his fellow finalist all these years later.

Speaking to 9Honey, the What About Me hitmaker claimed he and Sebastian, 41, are both still busy but find time to text each other.

'I just messaged him just now. We do keep in contact, we haven't had much chances to catch up over the past few years with travel schedules,' he said.

'You're never in the same spot, but we catch up whenever we can when scheduling finishes and it's great.'

It's been two decades since Shannon Noll became the runner-up to Guy Sebastian on Australian Idol. But the 48-year-old says he still talks to his fellow finalist all these years later. Pictured: Shannon Noll (L) and Guy Sebastian (R)

One of those rare reunions was captured late last month, which sent fans wild.

Guy and Shannon beamed as they posed together in a photo on Shannon's Instagram.

'Great to see my mate @guysebastian today!' Shannon wrote in the caption alongside the images.

'We were doing a shoot at Maroubra and he called in to say g'day! Always great to catch up!'

Speaking to 9Honey, the What About Me hitmaker claimed he and Guy, 41, are both still busy, they find time to text each other. 'I just messaged him just now. We do keep in contact, we haven't had much chances to catch up over the past few years with travel schedules,' he said

One of those rare reunions was captured late last month, which sent fans wild. Guy and Shannon beamed as they posed together in a photo on Shannon's Instagram

Fans reacted to the post, with one writing: 'Where it all began for both of you and look where you each are now come full circle!! Great photo - you both look so happy!! Great mates! Love this!!'

'Iconic - idol finalists together again 20 years later,' another chimed in with someone else joking: 'Not an afro or soul patch in site... quite disappointed.'

Guy famously won the 2003 season, releasing his first single, Angels Brought Me Here.

Shannon came in as runner-up in a tense Opera House finale, with many fans feeling he was robbed of the win.
Lil Wayne is being sued by his former bodyguard Carlos Christian, who claims the rapper 'punched' him and 'threatened him with a gun'.

Christian alleges that the hip hop star, 41, brandished a semiautomatic rifle and 'threatened to shoot him' during an altercation in December 2021, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ.

The guard also claims the hitmaker, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., 'punched him in the ear' during the incident, which took place at Wayne's Hidden Hills, CA home.

Christian called the cops at the time and accused Wayne of threatening him with an AR-15, but sources close to the musician denied the incident took place and claimed Wayne didn't even own a gun.

DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Wayne for comment.

Lil Wayne is being sued by his former bodyguard Carlos Christian, who claims the rapper 'punched' him and 'threatened him with a gun'; Wayne pictured in September

The guard reportedly took the gun threat seriously, as Wayne previously spent time in prison for weapons charges.

Christian claims he has incurred medical expenses, lost wages, and suffered emotional distress due to the alleged altercation and is looking for compensatory and punitive damages.

At the time of the alleged incident deputies responded to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon at a Hidden Hills, California home on at around 1.40pm.

When they arrived, deputies told DailyMail.com, a Hispanic male adult working as a security guard said he had a verbal altercation that turned physical with the black male resident.

A dispute ensued when Wayne accused the guard of taking photos of him and leaking them to the media, TMZ reported at the time.

The guard claims Wayne told him to leave the house during the dispute, but the guard went to the bathroom first, and Wayne pulled out an AR-15.

At that point, the guard claims, he fled the house to the gated community's guard shack and called the police.

But when the police went to speak to the rapper, he was no longer at his $15.4 million home he bought in April.

At the time sources told TMZ Wayne strongly denied the accusation and said he does not own a gun.

According to the publication, sheriff's deputies had doubts about the guard's story, as they noted he did not have marks on his body or injuries from the alleged altercation, and told police he did not want to press charges against the rapper.

Christian alleges that Wayne, 41, brandished a semiautomatic rifle and 'threatened to shoot him' during an altercation in December 2021, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ; seen in 2023

The bodyguard also claims the hitmaker 'punched him in the ear' during the incident, which took place at Wayne's Hidden Hills, CA home; seen in 2021

Christian called the cops at the time of the incident, but sources close to the musician denied the altercation took place and claimed Wayne didn't even own a gun; seen in 2023

Wayne was previously arrested in 2019 on gun charges, following a prior felony gun conviction in 2009. In 2021, President Donald Trump pardoned him of the charges

Wayne was previously arrested in December 2019, and charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He could have faced 10 years in prison for illegally owning a .45-caliber handgun - which he was banned from possessing because of a weapons conviction in New York more than a decade ago.

The rapper already had a felony gun conviction dating back to 2009.

He was sentenced to eight months in a New York prison for that offense, and convicted felons are subsequently barred under federal law from possessing firearms.

However, on his final day in office in January 2021, President Donald Trump pardoned Lil Wayne of the charges.
Nigel Farage's girlfriend Laure Ferrari has labelled Nella Rose a 'snowflake' after watching latest episodes of I'm A Celebrity.

The 44-year-old has stayed out of the spotlight for many years, yet now her lover is deep in the celebrity jungle she has publicly admitting to being his girlfriend, and isn't holding back with her thoughts on the series.

The ex-UKIP leader, 59, and YouTuber, 26, have very opposing political opinions and have previously fallen out in camp over issues such as immigration and Brexit.

Laure told The Sun that Nella: 'epitomises that snowflake generation where they are told that they should be offended by every little thing.'

She also aired her grievances towards Fred Sirieix, 51, who Nigel has also clashed with.

Nigel Farage's girlfriend Laure Ferrari, 44, has called Nella Rose, 26, a 'snowflake' and claimed the politician isn't threatened by Fred Sirieix's Brexit beliefs

The 44-year-old has stayed out of the spotlight for many years, yet now her lover is deep in the celebrity jungle she has publicly admitting to being his girlfriend

The two men have also clashed after Fred accused Nigel of 'destroying the economy' and 'creating a big mess' by encouraging the Brexit vote.

The Frenchman previously asked the former UKIP leader to name the positives of the Brexit vote, which Nigel promptly declared were 'liberation', 'taking back control' and 'self-government'.

However, Fred interrupted to say: 'Don't make me laugh!'

Speaking in the Bush Telegraph, Nigel said 'Fred can't help himself occasionally' and admitted the two of them were never going to agree.

Discussing the disagreement Laure explained that Fred's anti-Brexit views angered her, especially as she is also French.

She said: 'I was like, well, isn't it a bit rude to come from a different country and lecture the British electorate about the way the British people voted in 2016?'

She explained that compared to the enemies, attacks and death threats Nigel has already faced throughout his political career, Fred is the least of his problems and their heated discussions won't faze him.

Nigel has created a bit of a name for himself in camp after recently stripping completely naked on a number of occasions, leaving his fellow campmates stunned.

Laure didn't hold back as she told The Sun that Nella: 'epitomises that snowflake generation where they are told that they should be offended by every little thing'

Discussing the disagreement between Fred and Nigel Laure explained that Fred's anti-Brexit views angered her, especially as she is also French

The ex-UKIP leader, 59, and YouTuber, 26, have very opposing political opinions and have previously fallen out in camp over issues such as immigration and Brexit

Nigel has created a bit of a name for himself in camp after recently stripping completely naked on a number of occasions, leaving his fellow campmates stunned

And Laure admitted that she had in fact watched these scenes with none other than Nigel's mother.

She said: 'We giggled because honestly at the end of the day it's just, a behind, it's just a bottom and it's clean.'

Laure finally spoke out about her and Nigel's relationship with MailOnline as she revealed she believes the politician can win it.

'I really believe Nigel can win. He will be a good campmate. He is extremely tolerant of people's little ways, and that will gain him support from the public.'

If 'tolerant' doesn't necessarily sound like the Farage we all know (and some love to hate), petite Laure is standing by the man 15 years her senior  even if that means watching as his bare bottom is shown to millions of viewers in the open-sided jungle shower.

'Nigel has a great bottom, what's wrong with that?' asked Laure, 'If you've got it, flaunt it!'
Channel 4 have reportedly axed fan favourite show The Greatest Snowman after two years amid claims the broadcaster is battling to cut costs.

The competition show hosted by Sue Perkins followed a group of celebs as they travel to the Alps to compete in a series of snow building challenges.

Following two successful specials in 2021 and 2022, which averaged over 1.8M viewers, Channel 4 are now believed to have pulled the plug, according to TV Zone.

Celebs who appeared in the snowy competition included Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Jonny Vegas and Gemma Collins.

MailOnline have contacted Channel 4 for comment.

Channel 4 have reportedly axed fan favourite show The Greatest Snowman after two years amid claims the broadcaster is battling to cut costs (host Sue Perkins pictured)

The competition show hosted by Sue Perkins followed a group of celebs as they travel to the Alps to compete in a series of snow building challenges (contestant Melvin Odoom pictured)

In October it was announced Steph's Packed Lunch had been axed after just three years.

A statement said: 'With audience habits changing quicker than ever, we have to make difficult decisions about which programmes to invest in to best drive our digital-first strategy and we have decided not to recommission Steph's Packed Lunch when its existing production contract ends in December 2023.

'We remain as committed as ever to our mission to help level up the TV industry outside London and to our 50% origination out-of-London target.

'We will be reinvesting the budget previously committed to Steph's Packed Lunch into other nations and regions productions.'

Steph's Packed Lunch has been axed after just three years, the broadcaster has announced.

A spokesperson for the producers, Expectation and Can Can told MailOnline: 'We've had over three fantastic years producing Steph's Packed Lunch together and working with the brilliant Steph McGovern and the outstanding on-screen family of talent. We're very disappointed that despite building a loyal audience we don't get to continue brightening up 12-2 on Channel 4.

'Leeds didn't have a live television community four years ago and it's been a privilege to build a team which boasts some of the brightest, sharpest TV producers in the country.'

Cast and crew have been informed that the last show will air in December.

Following two successful specials in 2021 and 2022, which averaged over 1.8M viewers, Channel 4 are now believed to have pulled the plug (Gemma Collins pictured)

Celebs who appeared in the snowy competition included Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Jonny Vegas and Gemma Collins

The show, which debuted in 2020 and is broadcast from Leeds Dock, is live and features items including showbiz interviews and news segments.

It comes after ITV's This Morning poached Channel 4's exec producer Vivek Sharmar, who worked alongside Steph.

Vivek is reportedly 'a huge champion' of Steph - meaning the star is now in the running to take over from Holly Willoughby.

When asked by The Sun at the Attitude about whether she would be interested in a move, Steph replied: 'I'm very happy at Channel 4 doing Steph's Packed Lunch but never say never.'

In October it was announced Steph's Packed Lunch had been axed after just three years

The axe comes amid a slew of cancellations with the broadcaster reportedly battling to cut costs amid financial challenges.

Controversial cult late-night show Naked Attraction, big-money celebrity flop Scared Of The Dark and groundbreaking medical documentary Rescue: Extreme Medics, based in Scotland, have all been canned.

A source said that the channel believes it is better to cut its losses.

But staff blame Chief Content Officer, Ian Katz, for wasting money on expensive but little-watched shows such as reality series Rise And Fall, which is understood to have cost the channel 14million  money which could not be justified because of its low ratings.

One insider said: 'Everyone is calling it a Channel 4 bloodbath. At first everyone was in total shock when [earlier reality show] Four Weddings was cancelled.
Jennifer Garner looked in great spirits as she stepped out with son Samuel in LA on Friday.

The actress, 51, cracked up with laughter as she held her 11=year-old son's hand while strolling to school.

The star wore a black hoodie paired with matching leggings and sneakers.

Her locks were tied back and she sported shades while going make-up free.

Samuel, whose dad is Ben Affleck, wore a white tee and joggers as he walked with his mom.

Jennifer Garner looked in great spirits as she stepped out with son Samuel in LA on Friday

Fun: The actress, 51, cracked up with laughter as she held her 11=year-old son's hand while strolling to school

This comes after the star revealed she sought out tips from her own daughters before she played a teenager trapped in her mother's body.

She shares her girls Violet, 17, and Seraphina, 13, plus Samuel, with her amicable ex-husband Ben Affleck.

Now, the actress is starring in the movie Family Switch about a Freaky Friday scenario that befalls a married couple, their three children and their dog.

In the over-the-top comedy, all the members of the household wake up one day and discover that they have swapped bodies with each other.

'You're turning the volume up so much because it's all so exaggerated,' Jennifer told People. 'But yes, I definitely went to my teens and asked a bunch of questions.'

Violet and Seraphina took the typical teenage view of their mother's enthusiasm, as Jennifer fondly shared: 'They were all like: "Mom, you're crazy."'

She added: 'My kids are funny and they're smart, and they work really hard. And their teenage antics are at the very lowest, G-rated level, so Im doing okay.'

That being said, she revealed she has no interest in trading lives with them, saying: 'You know what? I think my kids work so hard, and they have so much pressure on them that I could never even have imagined as a teenager myself.'

The star wore a black hoodie paired with matching leggings and sneakers

Jennifer Garner sought tips from her daughters before playing a teen trapped in her mother's body in Family Switch, in which she is pictured with Emma Myers, Brady Noon and Ed Helms

She shares her teen girls Violet, 17, and Seraphina, 13, plus her 11-year-old son Samuel, with her amicable ex-husband Ben Affleck; pictured with her children in 2018

The mother of three touchingly noted that 'it hasn't really sunk in' that Violet is on the verge of going off to college, though she will occasionally 'have moments where it hits me. But so far, I'm just excited for her.'

Family Switch stars Jennifer alongside Ed Helms as her husband and Emma Myers and Brady Moon as their two older children.

Oscar-winning actress Rita Moreno of West Side Story fame plays the astrologist whose visit with Jennifer's character sets the plot in motion.

On the personal front, Jennifer is currently in a long-term on-off relationship with one John Miller, while Ben has married his early-aughts flame Jennifer Lopez.

Rounding off the blended family, J-Lo is bringing up a set of 15-year-old twins called Max and Emme, whom she shares with her third ex-husband Marc Anthony.

Now, the 51-year-old actress is starring in the movie Family Switch about a Freaky Friday scenario that befalls a married couple, their three children and their dog

A source recently informed DailyMail.com that the J-Lo marriage has helped Ben and his ex-wife 'get to a better place' in their own equation; Ben and Jen pictured in 2014

A source recently informed DailyMail.com that the J-Lo marriage has helped Ben and his ex-wife 'get to a better place' in their own equation.

'Ben is healthy. The drama of the past and the emotions of divorce are long gone and they are all making it work,' the insider explained.

Ben's two wives are apparently 'friendly' with one another, and all of the children in the blended family are said to 'love each other.'

The source shared: 'It is really a very happy co-parenting situation. Everything is really good right now and should be the same in the near and distant future.'

A previous article on the UK website Closer Online claimed J-Lo was 'blindsided' and 'furious' at the sight of pictures of Ben and his ex-wife looking friendly.

Meanwhile Ben was claimed to be 'saying Jennifers like his sister at this point and if J-Los going to get jealous and throw tantrums over a harmless cuddle, then the problems on her. Its a real war of attrition here thats threatening to blow up.'

However, an insider assured DailyMail.com that Ben and J-Lo were 'very much in love with each other' and the rumors of tension in the marriage were false.

'Their relationship is still on fire. They are really happy with each other, and there's no drama in their relationship right now at all.'
Hugh Grant, and his wife Anna Elisabet Eberstein looked every inch the happy couple as they attended the Wonka premiere in Paris on Friday night.

The iconic actor, 63, who plays an Oompa-Loompa in the movie, and his producer wife, 40, put on a cosy display on the red carpet at Cinema UCG Normandie.

Hugh couldn't wipe the smile of his face as he stood alongside his wife who wore a glamorous black dress which boasted ruffles, delicate embroidery and sheer panelling.

Anna, who is a prolific television producer, accessorised perfectly with small silver hoops and black rounded toe heels.

She wore her brunette tresses swept back in a half up do and opted for a natural makeup look while posing for the cameras.

Hugh Grant , and his wife Anna Elisabet Eberstein looked every inch the happy couple as they attended the Wonka premiere in Paris on Friday night

The iconic actor, 63, who plays an Oompa-Loompa in the movie was also joined by leading man, Timothee Chalamet who plays Wonka in the new film

Meanwhile Hugh looked as dapper as usual in a black velvet suit with an open collar shirt.

The couple, who share three children together, wed in 2018 at the Chelsea register office near their 10million west London home.

Hugh plays an Oompa Loompa in the film but his role has been met with controversy.

The decision to cast Hugh was criticised by an actor with dwarfism, who argued the part should have been offered to an actor with the condition as there is a lack of roles for dwarfs.

The Oompa-Loompas were played by actors with dwarfism in two previous films based on Roald Dahl's iconic children's book.

In Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, the Oompa Loompas are the small workers in the factory that Wonka imported from Loompaland.

Also in attendance was leading man, Timothee Chalamet who plays Wonka - which tells the story of the chocolatier before he opens his chocolate factory.

Timothee looked typically stylish as he put on a dazzling display on the red carpet.

He opted for a see through string vest, which he paired with grey suit trousers and smart trousers.

Hugh couldn't wipe the smile of his face as he cosied up his beautiful wife who wore a glamorous black dress which boasted ruffles, delicate embroidery and sheer panelling

Timothee looked typically stylish as he put on a dazzling display on the red carpet in a see through string vest, which he paired with grey suit trousers and smart trousers

Moviegoers have raved about Wonka, with some describing Timothee's performance a 'charisma factor' and Hugh's as 'exceptional'

Model and former Midd France, Flora Coquerel stepped out in a grey dress with a matching cropped cardigan

He kept his curly locks long and was all smiles he joked alongside his sidekick, Hugh.

Meanwhile model and former Midd France, Flora Coquerel stepped out in a grey dress with a matching cropped cardigan.

She styled her caramel locks into glamorous curls and wore a soft palette of makeup.

Amandine Petit, also a French model and beauty pageant titleholder also posed up a storm for photographers in a black cropped top and skirt, which she paired with a long pleather coat and chunky boots.

Fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier put on a stylish display in an all black ensemble and carried a chunky scarf to keep out the winter chill.

The star-studded appearances come as moviegoers have raved about Wonka, the big screen origins tale of Roald Dahl's chocolatier.

Amandine Petit, a French model and beauty pageant titleholder posed up a storm for photographers in a black cropped top and skirt, which she paired with a long pleather coat and chunky boots

Fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier put on a stylish display in an all black ensemble and carried a chunky scarf to keep out the winter chill

Variety/The A.V. Club film critic Courtney Howard called Wonka 'a winning confection, filled with perfect amounts of charm, whimsy & poignancy, powered by pure imagination & bright, nimble musical numbers.'

He added: 'Timothee Chalamet is a charisma factory. His full committal is intoxicating.

'Hugh Grant [as an Oompa-Loompa] in exceptional IDGAF mode.'

IndieWire chief film critic David Ehrlich simply wrote: 'Wonka good. Paul King king.'

Roger Ebert associate editor Robert Daniels 'surprisingly, mostly, enjoyed WONKA' and called Timothee 'a really gifted comedic actor, smartly leveraging his star persona for laughs.'

The origin tale on Willy Wonka - based on Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - hits UK theaters December 8 and US theaters December 15.

Wonka, directed by Paul King (the man behind Paddington) also features Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman and newcomer Calah Lane.

Chalamet earned $9M to portray the titular character after beating out Tom Holland, Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling for the role.

The eccentric genius, who delighted in punishing naughty children, was memorably originated by Gene Wilder in Mel Stuart's 1971 beloved classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Anne Hathaway opened up about her long-lasting marriage with Adam Shulman on Friday.

During a new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the 41-year-old actress spoke about how she and her husband just marked 11 years of marriage.

She also weighed in on the conspiracy theory that her husband could be the reincarnation of William Shakespeare.

The Eileen star  who showed a peek of her midriff in a rhinestoned crop top in New York City earlier this week  admitted that it is 'weird' that renowned playwright and poet was also married to a woman named Anne Hathaway.

'It would be great if it's true but if not, [it's] still kinda great,' she continued before gushing about her husband.

Anne Hathaway opened up about her long-lasting marriage with Adam Shulman on Friday.

During a new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the 41-year-old actress spoke about how she and her husband just marked 11 years of marriage.

In conversation with the television host, Hathaway also recalled how her and Shulman's second date was at one of Barrymore's get-togethers.

'This is what's really crazy,' she told the Charlie's Angels alumna. 'His and my second date was at your Halloween party where you dressed up as Tippi Hendren from The Birds.

She added that the character from the 1963 horror mystery film shaped her role in her new film, Eileen.

On Barrymore's talk show, Hathaway also opened up about her long-lasting marriage with the Song One actor and admitted they are 'really just lucky'.

She recalled how they dated for four years before they tied the knot in 2012 so they just marked 15 years together.

'I think it's a little bit the luck of the draw, but we're really just lucky that we keep growing together,' she explained.

She said that they also have a couple's tattoo symbolizing how they each are complete as individuals but become a greater whole together.

'We have this thing  it's actually a tattoo  and the idea is that individually we're whole but together we're more,' she said.

She also weighed in on the conspiracy theory that her husband could be the reincarnation of William Shakespeare

The two actresses weighed in on the theory that Shulman looks similar to Shakespeare

The Eileen star admitted that it is 'weird' that renowned playwright and poet was also married to a woman also named Anne Hathaway

On Barrymore's talk show, Hathaway also opened up about her long-lasting marriage with the Song One actor and admitted they are 'really just lucky'

She recalled how they dated for four years before they tied the knot in 2012 so they just marked 15 years together. The couple shares two children together  sons Jack, three, and Jonathan, seven

She noted that their relationship works so well because 'it's just that thing about [how] I don't expect him to complete me and he doesn't expect me to complete him.

'I'm my own person [and] he's his own person,' she continued.

'And we choose to be together because we believe we make each other better and this union is something we both want to participate in.'

The couple shares two children together  sons Jack, three, and Jonathan, seven.

Hathaway's new film, Eileen  an American psychological thriller directed by William Oldroyd  will be released on December 1.
Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks has reportedly split from her artist fiance JP Jones after seven years of dating.

The couple's relationship is said to have become strained as they spent less and less time together, reports The Saturday Telegraph.

Franks and Jones, who share five-year-old daughter Luna, first met in London more than 25 years ago before reuniting and beginning a relationship in 2016.

They divided their time between Australia and Jones' home country of Wales, as his son Blue lives in the UK.

The pair first planned to marry in 2017 in India; however, they put their wedding on hold when they found out the kaftan designer was pregnant.

Camilla Franks has reportedly split from her fiance JP Jones after seven years of dating

Before Franks was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, they had tentative plans to tie the knot in 2020 - but never made it down the aisle.

Jones supported Franks as she battled cancer, after receiving the devastating news just four months following the birth of their daughter.

'I'm so proud of my beautiful fiancee who has battled five months of chemotherapy,' he wrote on Instagram at the time.

'Today was her last day. She is a warrior. Onwards and upwards from here on in, my love.'

The couple's relationship is said to have become strained as they spent less and less time together, reports The Saturday Telegraph

Franks previously said her love for Luna got her through her cancer battle, and she was also her main driving force towards wanting to be a better person.

The fashion designer added that being a mother was 'magical' and she had a bond like no other with her little girl.

Despite running a global fashion brand, Franks once said her daughter goes everywhere with her, and has more passport stamps than most adults.

Franks and Jones, who share five-year-old daughter Luna (pictured), first met in London more than 25 years ago before reuniting and beginning a relationship in 2016

Franks tried for a second baby after a double mastectomy in 2018, but she was unsuccessful after five rounds of IVF.

She eventually had her fallopian tubes removed, and later admitted she wished she had frozen her eggs years before she the procedure.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald in 2021, Franks said she had taken the initial steps in the process before getting too 'busy with work'.

Franks rose to prominence after founding the now multimillion-dollar bohemian attire label Camilla 14 years ago.
Carol Voderman put on a glamorous display in a figure-hugging lime green dress at the Royal Albert Hall, in London on Friday.

The TV personality, 62, was attending Kylie Minogue's star-studded ITV special and made sure to flaunt her curves in the sequin number for the occasion.

She kept warm with a cream wool coat but ensured to leave it open as she showed off her toned physique.

Carol accessorised with dangling diamond earrings and wore her caramel tresses in loose curls.

The former Countdown star wore a smokey palette of makeup and completed her look with a nude pointed heel.

Carol Voderman put on a glamorous display in a figure-hugging lime green dress at the Royal Albert Hall, in London on Friday

The TV personality was attending Kylie Minogue 's star-studded ITV special and made sure to flaunt her curves in the sequin number for the occasion

It had been a busy day for the star who earlier had attended the Women in Film & Television Awards 2023.

The mathematician, put on a stylish display as she posed up a storm at the event, now in its 32nd year.

Carol continued to show off her incredible figure in a nude top adorned with silver gems, which she styled with a beige latex skirt.

The maths whizz added to her height with a pair of leopard print platform heels to complete her look.

She was seen smiling for snaps inside the glitzy event with comedian Katherine Ryan, 40, who looked as elegant as ever in a floating pink gown with flared sleeves.

Both outings come after she was axed from her BBC radio show after she refused to tone down her anti-Tory social media posts.

Carol, who had been at the station for five years, was told to leave her job at BBC Radio Wales after she breached the broadcaster's new social media guidelines.

She said she was 'not prepared' to stop airing her 'strong beliefs' on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram.

She kept warm with a cream wool coat but ensured to leave it open as she showed off her toned physique

Carol accessorised with dangling diamond earrings and wore her caramel tresses in loose curls

The former Countdown star, 62, wore a smokey palette of makeup and completed her look with a nude pointed heel

She had used social media to launch regular attacks on the Conservatives' and branded Tory ministers a 'lying bunch of greedy, corrupt, destructive, hateful, divisive, gaslighting crooks'.

ITV announced earlier this year that they would be airing An Audience with Kylie, an unforgettable live music event hosted by the global icon.

The pop superstar will look back on the highlights of her staggering career in music and showbiz.

The show follows in the footsteps of An Audience with Adele, which aired in November 2021 with a peak of 5.4 million viewers.
Naga Munchetty cut a glamorous figure as she attended the An Audience with Kylie event at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Friday.

The BBC Breakfast presenter, 48, wore a black halter neck dress with satin lapels and a plunging neckline.

She flashed a broad smile as she posed on the red carpet in the sleeveless garment which featured a thigh-high split.

The broadcaster's dress finished just above her ankles and she added a touch of sparkle to her ensemble by wearing a pair of glitter-covered gold and silver heels.

She accessorised with some inconspicuous silver earrings and some matching rings.

Naga Munchetty, 48, cut a glamorous figure in a black halter neck dress with satin lapels and a plunging neckline at the An Audience with Kylie event in London on Friday

The TV star confidently posed on arrival before heading inside the concert hall for the show.

Pop star Kylie, 55, took to the stage at the famous concert hall for the biggest Audience With... to date shown exclusively on ITV1 & ITVX.

Fans and a specially selected VIP audience watched her perform her greatest hits as well as songs from her eagerly anticipated album Tension.

Kylie also look questions from a celebrity audience of friends, personal heroes, actors, musicians, artists, sportsmen and women.

It comes after Naga was pulled off the air as the BBC Breakfast studio was forced to evacuate in a fire alarm scare last week.

The news programme vanished from Britain's televisions during halfway through a report, leaving viewers baffled.

Presenters Naga and Charlie Stayt were giving viewers today's latest updates when they went to a reporter in Bristol to mark 20 years since the final flight of the Concorde supersonic aeroplane.

As a reporter showed viewers the aircraft and and archive footage from its final flight, the report suddenly cut out and jumped to a BBC News report on Gaza.

The BBC Breakfast presenter posed on the red carpet in the sleeveless garment which featured a thigh-high split while she wore a pair of glitter-covered gold and silver heels

Pop star Kylie, 55, took to the stage at the famous concert hall for the biggest Audience With... to date shown exclusively on ITV1 & ITVX (Kylie pictured on stage in Las Vegas last month)

BBC Breakfast viewers were confused as after the report they should have seen presenters Ms Munchetty and Mr Stayt back on their screens.

However, the broadcast on BBC One instead used the same as that from the BBC News channel. But it was later explained that the both of them and the rest of the Breakfast team had to be evacuated from their studio after a fire alert.

The broadcast returned to the red sofa around 15 minutes later after a BBC News report concluded.

Naga told viewers: 'You're returning to BBC Breakfast. Apologies, we had an evacuation in the building but we are back now with you to keep you up to date with the latest in the news.'
Jackie 'O' Henderson was spotted enjoying some down time on Friday after hosting her final radio show for the year.

Joined by her mother Julie, Jackie looked relaxed yet stunning as she basked in the sun on the balcony of her mansion in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The 48-year-old radio star wore a comfortable sun dress with an understated floral pattern.

The wind swept through her luscious blonde locks as she emerged outside while sipping a cup of coffee.

Along with her mother, she took in the pristine ocean views from her home.

Jackie 'O' Henderson was spotted enjoying some down time on Friday after hosting her final radio show for the year

Joined by her mother Julie, Jackie looked relaxed yet stunning as she basked in the sun on the balcony of her mansion in Sydney's eastern suburbs

It comes after Jackie and her co-host Kyle Sandilands confirmed their historic new radio deal will see them expand to Melbourne.

The Sydney-based radio duo recently signed a record-breaking $200million, 10-year deal live on-air - keeping them on the airwaves until 2034.

A spokesperson for ARN confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the deal means Kyle and Jackie's KIIS FM work pals Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips will be out of a job.

Lauren broke down in tears while announcing the news to her listeners last week, sobbing that she didn't want to 'say goodbye to Melbourne'.

Jase and Lauren's show was successful for KIIS FM, bringing in new listeners for the station and sitting third in the Melbourne market behind Fox FM's Fifi Fev & Nick and GOLD104.3's Christian O'Connell.

The 48-year-old radio star wore a comfortable sun dress with an understated floral pattern

In a statement to celebrate the historic contract renewal, Sandilands said: 'Fans of the show will be stoked to hear that this 10-year deal is the longest radio deal in Australian history.

'Love us or loathe us, Jackie and I will be continuing with our politically incorrect nonsense for a long, long time.'

He added, 'We want to thank the listeners. Staff. All the clients. Even senior management, Ill give a nod to. They actually did something brilliant.'

She also let the wind sweep through her luscious blonde locks as she emerged outside sipping a cup of coffee

Along with her mother, she took in the pristine ocean views from her home

This means the duo will dominate markets outside their Sydney-based audience and extend their reach into Melbourne for the first time.

It's been reported one unique clause in the contract gives Kyle the ability to broadcast the show from 'anywhere on the earth'.

The shock jock has often worked on the KIIS FM show from Los Angeles and other places, so the new contract will give the flexibility to continue broadcasting from wherever he chooses.

The groundbreaking $200million deal means Kyle and Jackie will each earn $10million per year, which is double their current salary of around $5million per year.

According to the Financial Review, Kyle and Jackie's contracts, 'include a base salary, a percentage share of revenue above what is now earned  known as "incremental growth", and sign-on bonuses mainly made up of shares in ARN.'

It comes as Jackie and her co-host Kyle Sandilands confirmed their historic new radio deal will see them expand to Melbourne

The Sydney-based radio duo signed a record-breaking $200million, 10-year deal live on-air - keeping them on the airwaves until 2034

ARN chief executive Ciaran Davis said expanding Kyle and Jackie's show to Melbourne will 'attract new audiences and expand commercial opportunities'.

'Melbourne is the largest radio advertising market in Australia and represents an opportunity for ARN Media to grow ratings and revenues on KIIS 101.1,' he said.

'Kyle and Jackie O have evolved into a powerful brand that significantly contributes to ARNs commercial success, and this new agreement strategically positions us for long-term growth that extends beyond radio.'

Jackie celebrated the exciting news by sharing a glamorous selfie of herself with Kyle to social media, alongside a gushing caption about their next decade together.

'Can't believe I get to work with this guy for the next ten years,' she wrote.

'How lucky am I? Thanks to our loyal listeners and [ARN] - so pleased to announce weve just signed for another 10 years of breakfast radio. What a dream!!!!'
Nick Cannon admitted he spends a lot of money taking all of his children to Disneyland every year.

The 43-year-old television host revealed the whopping number of cash he drops annually just to take his 12 kids to the amusement park on The Breakfast Club radio show for Power 105.1.

During the episode released on Friday, he told the host, Charlamagne tha God, that he goes to Disneyland 'at least once a month' due to all the birthdays and holidays.

The actor  whose baby mama, Bre Tiesi, 'suffered a miscarriage' after being rear-ended in her car two years ago  explained that he used to get a series of 'perks' and free admission for himself as well as his family when he hosted the iconic Christmas morning parade from 2009 to 2019.

Since then, however, he admitted it is 'no longer free' and that was back when he only had two kids  his eldest children whom he shares with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey.

Nick Cannon admitted he spends a lot of money taking all of his children to Disneyland every year. The 43-year-old television host revealed the whopping number of cash he drops annually just to take his 11 kids to the amusement park on The Breakfast Club radio show for Power 105.1

During the episode released on Friday, he told the host, Charlamagne tha God, that he goes to Disneyland 'at least once a month' due to all the birthdays and holidays and spends $200,000 annually on trips to the amusement park alone

Before confessing how much he spends, he asked the radio host to guess the number: 'Do you know how much money I spend at Disneyland a year?'

'A lot,' Charlamagne tha God retorted.

'It's no longer free and I only had two kids then,' he said about when his family only included his twins Moroccan and Monroe, now 12.

After fathering many more children in recent years, he explained he goes to the theme park pretty often every year.

'Every birthday and Christmas I'm literally at Disneyland at least once a month and to move around Disney, like, I'm probably spending $200,000 a year at Disneyland,' he revealed.

He explained that he also pays for a chaperone, hotel rooms, and other add-ons in addition to tickets for the theme park.

'Disneyland is expensive already off [the] top if you trying to stay in the hotel,' he said before noting that the amusement park has changed a lot over the years.

'It's not how it used to be,' he continued. 'You gotta make reservations.'

He explained that he used to get a series of 'perks' and free admission for himself as well as his family when he hosted the iconic Christmas morning parade from 2009 to 2019; seen in April 2017

Cannon shares fraternal twins, Monroe and Moroccan, 12, with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey  with whom he was married from 2008 to 2016

He shares twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, two, and a 12-month-old daughter named Beautiful Zeppelin with Abby De La Rosa; seen in June 2022

He shares Powerful Queen and Golden Saigon with Brittany Bell; seen in December 2022

Cannon also has son Legendary Love, 17 months, with Selling Sunset star Bre Tiesi

In total, Cannon has welcomed 12 children  eight sons and four daughters  with six different women.

With model Alyssa Scott, Cannon had welcomed a son named Zen, who passed away in December 2021 from a brain tumor at just five-months-old.

In December 2022, Scott announced that she gave birth to her and Cannon's second child: a baby girl named Halo Marie Cannon.

Cannon shares fraternal twins, Monroe and Moroccan, with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey  with whom he was married from 2008 to 2016.

He also has two sons  Golden Sagon, six, and Rise Messiah, 14-months  and one daughter  Powerful Queen, two  with Brittany Bell.

He shares twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, two, and a 12-month-old daughter named Beautiful Zeppelin with Abby De La Rosa.

Cannon also has son Legendary Love, 17 months, with Selling Sunset star Bre Tiesi.

He shares daughter Onyx Ice, 14 months, with LaNisha Cole.

He also welcomed a second child, an 11-month-old daughter Halo Marie, with Scott after the tragic loss of their son Zen.

Last year alone, Cannon welcomed a total of five different children.
Kathie Lee Gifford is gushing over the newest member of the family.

On Friday, the former Live! With Regis And Kathie Lee co-host met her newborn grandchild, which is her son Cody Gifford and his wife Erika Brown's second child.

'Welcome to the family Ford Matthew Gifford. Thank you God for this beautiful blessing,' she wrote. 'Bubbe already loves you so much Ford.'

To mark the emotional moment, Kathie Lee, 70, posed with the baby boy at the hospital, alongside a couple of other family members.

The cover photo captured Ford, who already has a full head of beautiful hair, fast asleep in his crib, all wrapped up in a soft white blanket.

Kathie Lee Gifford was absolutely over the moon with joy at meeting her new grandson, Ford Gifford, who was born this week

The third and final photo shows her daughter-in-law cradling little Ford in her arms, seemingly after leaving hospital, as Cody gives him a sweet kiss on his head.

The couple, who celebrated their third wedding anniversary in September, are already the proud parents of 18-month-old son Frankie.

Just one day earlier, the proud grandmother shared a video of Cody introducing Frankie to his new brother.

'Do you want to see an expression of pure joy? Frankie meets his brand new baby brother Ford for the very first time and it's love at first kiss,' Kathie Lee shared in the caption.

'I love you,' Frankie can be heard telling Ford while offering him a few sweet kisses.

Cody can be seen sitting behind his two sons with a look of pure love and bliss on his face.

Kathie Lee's son and daughter-in-law revealed they had welcomed their second baby together on Instagram on Wednesday and gave fans a first look at the newborn's face.

'Introducing the newest love of our lives, Ford Matthew Gifford,' Erika wrote. 'Thanking God immensely for another perfect "gifft". 'Welcome to the world, sweet sweet son.'

The proud grandmother also shared a photo of her son Cody kissing Ford, while in his mother's arms, after arriving back home

The cover photo captured Ford, who already has a full head of beautiful hair, fast asleep in his crib

The former Today Show co-host called the arrival of Ford a 'beautiful blessing'

The post showed Cody cradling Ford as he slept bundled up in a baby blanket with a pastel yellow bow.

It also included photos of Cody kissing Erika in the hospital room and a clip of Frankie celebrating his baby brother's birth.

Kathie Lee celebrated the happy news by sharing her love of God in the Instagram post: 'I am usually a wordsmith, but I'm completely out of words. #Grateful to God the creator of every good and perfect gift like these four.'

Cody's sister Cassidy  who welcomed her first child, a baby boy, in July  wrote how much she loves the family: 'Welcome to the world little Fordy!!'

Cody Gifford, 33, can be seen cradling his second son soon after his birth on Wednesday

The couple shared an occasional photo to Instagram during the pregnancy; the happy couple are seen in June

The new mom shared a first-look photo of Ford on Wednesday

The initial post showed Ford sleeping in a baby blanket with a pastel yellow bow

Leading up to the birth, when Erika was 38 weeks pregnant on November 20, she admitted this pregnancy was 'tougher' than her first.

The couple did not have a gender reveal party and instead waited until birth to learn if their child was a boy or a girl.

The actress and now mother of two only showed off her baby bump a handful of times on social media, with the first photo taken at a friend's wedding in June, which was one week after they made their pregnancy announcement.

They did so by uploading a heartfelt montage that included a clip of Frankie looking at the positive pregnancy test.

Kathie Lee was head over heels in love instantly: 'I am usually a wordsmith but I completely out of words. #Grateful to God the creator of every good and perfect gift like these four'

The proud parents shared a couple of photos of Cody kissing Erika in the hospital room

'Thanking God immensely for another perfect 'gifft.' Welcome to the world, sweet sweet son,' Erika wrote when introducing him to the world

Cody and Erika are also proud parents to 18-month-old son Frankie; the family are seen all decked out in their Halloween costumes in October

It also had footage of the trio at the doctor's office as the expectant mother waited in a chair for her first sonogram.

As he cradled Frank, Cody asked him to 'clap if you're excited' and the baby joyfully patted Erika's headrest.

'Baby Gifford #2 coming this winter. Thank you so much for all of the love and prayers. It has meant the world. Gifford, party of 4!!!' she wrote along with the hashtags '#2under2 #sisterORbrother'

The couple first met in 2013 while attending college at the University Of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Some six years later, Cody proposed in May 2019 and his mother Kathie Lee had the honor of unveiling the happy news.

They ended up getting married during a small ceremony in September 2020 that was attended by only their immediate family due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The couple, who were married in September 2020, announced they were expecting their second child in June

The couple got creative and uploaded a heartfelt montage that included Frankie in his car

The montage had a clip of baby Frank looking at the positive pregnancy test

Erika only showed her baby bump a handful of times on social media; she's seen in October

Erika and Cody celebrated their third wedding anniversary in September

For their one-year wedding anniversary, they threw an elaborate second ceremony.

In December 2021, it was revealed that Cody and Erika were expecting their first child together.

Their son Frank Michael Gifford was born in June 2022 and he is named after Cody's late father Frank Gifford, who died in 2015.

'Frank 'Frankie' after C's pops [and] Michael after my uncle who passed away last year at 61 whose name also means 'gift of God'. Two strong men  gone but never forgotten,' Erika wrote to Instagram at the time.
Tori Spelling brought along her kids to KIIS-FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023 on Friday.

The actress, 50, bared her tiny waist in a sequined, cropped blazer and the matching miniskirt with a red and black houndstooth pattern at the annual concert held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

She also showed off her very svelte legs in a pair of knee-high, leather boots with a chunky heel.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star styled her platinum blonde tresses in soft waves and beamed brilliantly as she posed on the red carpet.

Just days earlier, she looked somber as she was seen for the first time since her estranged husband Dean McDermott's bombshell tell-all interview with DailyMail.com.

Tori Spelling brought along her kids to KIIS-FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023 on Friday

The actress, 50, bared her tiny waist in a sequined, cropped blazer and the matching miniskirt with a red and black houndstooth pattern at the annual concert held at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California

For the event, she opted a sultry makeup look to accentuate her features and highlight her beauty.

She rocked full, fluttering eyelashes and looked radiant with ample rosy pink blush.

Finally, she finished off her look with a matte nude lip.

Amid her marital woes with the reality TV star, she took four of their five kids along with her to the star-studded Jingle Ball event.

She was joined by Stella, 15, Hattie, 12, Finn, 11, and Beau, 6.

Their son Liam, 16, was not seen with Spelling and the rest of the kids for their outing.

At one point, she also posed for a cozy photo with rapper Flavor Flav.

This comes shortly after McDermott revealed that he did not spend Thanksgiving with Spelling and their kids as he celebrated the holiday at a sober living facility.

In mid-November, he had given an exclusive interview to DailyMail.com at rehab as he opened up for the first time since his split with Spelling.

She also showed off her very svelte legs in a pair of knee-high, leather boots with a chunky heel. The Beverly Hills, 90210 star styled her platinum blonde tresses in soft waves and beamed brilliantly as she posed on the red carpet

For the event, she opted a sultry makeup look to accentuate her features and highlight her beauty

At one point, she also posed for a cozy photo with rapper Flavor Flav

Over the summer, it was reported that McDermott and Spelling had split after 17 years of marriage.

During his chat with DailyMail.com, he confessed that his violent alcoholic rages left his family 'petrified' and deeply affected his marriage.

He also spoke about how a pig and a chicken ruined his sex life with Spelling and that the former couple have not shared a bedroom since 2017.

He admitted that their marital problems go back at least five years because of his addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.

At the time, McDermott also said he had not seen Spelling since he moved her and their children out of their rented home due to a mold problem at the end of June.

However, he revealed that he was beginning to communicate with his wife again via text and is desperate to see his children.

Despite their separation as well as his new relationship with Lily Calo, 32, he said he still loves Spelling and has no regrets about their life together.
Nathan Buckley has never been shy about publicly lavishing praise on his girlfriend Brodie Ryan.

So it's no surprise that the AFL legend, 51, was packing on the PDA with the brunette beauty at her surprise 35th birthday bash at Melbourne's Crown Casino on Friday night.

The karaoke-themed party saw all the guests get on the mic to belt their hearts out, including Buckley, who serenaded Brodie with Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman.

Sharing a video of the romantic moment to Instagram, Brodie gushed, 'Just a pretty woman being serenaded by her love.'

In the clip, the former footy star put his arm around Brodie's shoulder and pulled her close as he performed the classic rock song.

Nathan Buckley was packing on the PDA with girlfriend Brodie Ryan at her surprise 35th birthday bash at Melbourne 's Crown Casino on Friday night

Sharing a video of the romantic moment to Instagram, Brodie gushed, 'Just a pretty woman being serenaded by her love'

At one point, the couple even joined forces to perform Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time as a duet.

Gushing about the surprise party on social media, Brodie wrote, 'Thank you to my gorgeous partner.'

She continued, 'You make me feel special every day, but last night was next level.'

Brodie was joined by a handful of famous pals at the party, including Bachelor star Zoe OBrien and Justin McKeone, who is the ex-husband of model Olivia Molly Rogers.

At one point, the couple even joined forces to perform Cher 's If I Could Turn Back Time as a duet

The happy couple posed with two friends at the lavish party

Brodie's birthday bash isn't the first time that Buckley has praised the brunette business manager.

'I feel very fortunate to have met a partner in Brodie that I love and respect. Life is good,' he told the Herald Sun in September.

In an interview in August, Brodie said the secret to her romance with Buckley was that they 'share the same values'.

'Helping others be the best version of themselves and prioritising their mental health and wellbeing and giving back to others is a passion both Nath and I have always shared and these topics and different initiatives was a big attraction to each in the beginning,' she told the Herald Sun at a charity function.

Brodie appears to have settled well into the role of a WAG since finding love with the AFL legend

'We had very similar upbringings and share a lot of the same values due to this,' she continued.

'I have always been enthusiastic about helping others where I can, and to have a partner that exercises this same passion every day with his family, friends, and the wider community inspires me.'

Brodie said Nathan's profile has given him the opportunity to help others through hardships and to give back, and that she is 'inspired' by the work he does.

Smitten by her new love, she gushed: 'He is a beautiful person.'
Michelle Keegan wrapped up warm as she arrived back at the Corinthia Hotel in London on Friday.

The actress, 36, put on a casual display in a cream padded fleece coat and a pair of light grey joggers.

Topping her look off with white trainers she carried a large black overnight bag and pulled her hair back into a high bun.

Michelle stopped to pet some small dogs who were being taken for a walk in a pram and chatted with their owner.

She took some time out to pose for selfies with fans outside her hotel, who were delighted to have bumped into the actress.

Michelle Keegan, 36, wrapped up warm as she arrived back at the Corinthia Hotel in London on Friday

The actress, 36, put on a casual display in a cream padded fleece coat and a pair of light grey joggers

The previous day, Michelle looked effortlessly stylish at the Corinthia Hotel during a rare date with husband Mark Wright.

The actress shared a slew of snaps to Instagram as she arrived at the five-star hotel in a slim-fit green jumper.

She teamed the festive number with tight dark jeans and a pair of sleek black heels.

Michelle swept her dark locks up onto her head into a stylish bun and accessorised with a small black purse, complete with black chain.

The Brassic star also posted a picture of a huge Christmas tree and gave her followers a glimpse at the trendy location as she hit the bar.

Michelle captioned the post: 'December I'm ready for you' alongside a string of festive emojis.

She posted the snaps amid a romantic date night with her husband Mark during which they enjoyed dinner at Sheesh restaurant in Mayfair.

The break comes as the actress has been busy filming the next series of her Sky hit Brassic in Bacup, Lancashire.

Topping her look off with white trainers she carried a large black overnight bag and pulled her hair back into a high bun

The star carried another outfit over her arm

Michelle stopped to pet some small dogs who were being taken for a walk in a pram and chatted with their owner

She smiled for photos with fans outside the hotel

Another man stopped for a selfie with Michelle

She was delighted to see the pooches

The previous day, Michelle looked effortlessly stylish at the Corinthia Hotel during a rare date with husband Mark Wright

The former Corrie actress propped herself up at the bar during a date night with husband Mark

The break comes as the actress has been busy filming the next series of her Sky hit Brassic in Bacup, Lancashire

She thrilled locals as she posed for photos at the Baked.Cakes shop alongside staff and bosses and was even delighted to be met with the owner's eight-month-old daughter

She thrilled locals as she posed for photos at the Baked.Cakes shop alongside staff and bosses and was even delighted to be met with the owner's eight-month-old daughter - with whom she was 'taken'.

An insider revealed the crew turned the shop into a green room for the show with a make-up table set up for the stars of the show.

Michelle plays single mother Erin Croft in the show and has been spotted on a gruelling filming schedule in recent weeks across Lancashire.

The owner's husband Mike Almond revealed to MailOnline that his wife started the shop in 2019 amid a battle with postnatal depression and the shop has gone on to enjoy huge success - no doubt only set to improve with the Brassic connection.
Pierce Brosnan put on a loved-up display with his wife Keely Shaye Smith as they left a Malibu restaurant together on Thursday night.

The actor, 70, cut a dapper figure in a black shirt and trousers, which he styled with a smart blazer and brown suit shoes.

He sweetly walked hand-in-hand with his author wife Keely, 60, who he tied the knot with in 2001, as they looked as close as ever.

Keely looked sophisticated as she sported a black lace trim satin camisole and smart trousers for the evening out.

She kept comfortable in a pair of black pumps and completed her look with a dark blazer, while she carried a jacket slung across one arm.

Pierce Brosnan put on a loved-up display with his wife Keely Shaye Smith as they left a Malibu restaurant together on Thursday night

The couple have been married for 22 years after tying the knot at Ballintubber Abbey in Ireland in 2001.

The pair first met in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 1994, three years after the death of Pierce's first wife, Cassandra Harris, in 1991.

He has previously said of Keely: 'I found a great woman in Keely Shaye. Not if I searched a million times over would I find one as good.'

In September, Pierce gifted Keely 60 roses and shared a sweet tribute to his wife as she marked her 60th birthday.

'Sixty roses for my brown eyed girl on her 60th birthday,' Pierce began in his birthday post.

'Forever happy and blessed was I to be sitting there when you walked around the corner early one morning in Cabo San Lucas,' he added of their first meeting.

The actor, 70, cut a dapper figure in a black shirt and trousers, which he styled with a smart blazer and brown suit shoes, as he walked hand-in-hand with author Keely

In September, Pierce gifted Keely 60 roses and shared a sweet tribute to his wife as she marked her 60th birthday

Pierce and Keely share two sons, Dylan, 26, and Paris, 22, who are the youngest of the actor's five children.

The Mamma Mia! star also has a son Sean, 38, and an adopted son Chris, 49, as well as his late adopted daughter Charlotte with Cassandra.

Pierce adopted Cassandra's children, Chris and Charlotte, after their father, Dermot Harris, died in 1986.
Claudia Winkleman has announced she will be quitting her BBC Radio 2 show after 15 years on air, with Romesh Ranganathan set to take over.

The presenter, 51, shared the news with her listeners during Saturday's show admitting she wishes to spend more time with her children.

She shares Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 11, with her film producer partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000.

Claudia's final show will broadcast in March, after which she will be replaced by Romesh from April.

The media personality explained how it had been an 'absolute privilege' to host the show as she thanked her listeners.

Claudia Winkleman, 51, has announced she will be quitting her BBC Radio 2 show after 15 years on air, with Romesh Ranganathan set to take over

The presenter shared the news with her listeners during Saturday's show admitting she wishes to spend more time with her daughter (pictured in 2017)

She began: 'I would love to share mind, firstly, I'm going to say it out loud and with vim, I love Radio 2.'

'It is an absolute privilege to be here every Saturday, chatting to amazing guests, being with Sally and mainly read your fantastic messages.

'But here's the thing and it is such a boring cliche so I apologise. Time is going too fast. My daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was 3 about 5 minutes ago.

'I still have a little one who wants to be with me. I don't know how long that will last and I just need to be at home more.

'So my news at 10 is that I am leaving - but I have two pieces of exceptional news. One  the person taking over is one of the funniest and smartest people on earth.

'We are going to love listening to him every Saturday at 10. Think of this if you will as an early Christmas present.

'The one and only Romesh Ranganathan is going to be here from April and he is majestic.

'Number two, the second piece of good news, is before I leave in March the bosses have said I can play, and I'm unapologetic about this, an obscene amount of this.'

She went on to play Oasis' hit track You Gotta Roll With it.

In a press release, Claudia added: 'I absolutely love Radio 2 and it's been a privilege to host the Saturday morning show for three years. I will miss our amazing guests, our brilliant listeners and the one and only Sally Traffic.

She shares Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 11, with her film producer partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000 (Matilda and Kris pictured in 2013)

As well as her Radio 2 show, Claudia has also brought her talents to TV with her successful gig co-hosting Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly

'The truth is my children are growing up inordinately fast so I have decided to follow them around at home before they leave for good.

'I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who works on the show, I will continue to visit with badly made biscuits and will pester the bosses to present the odd special.

'I couldn't be happier that Romesh is taking over Saturday mornings on Radio 2. He is brilliantly laugh out loud funny, and I'll listen every single week as my kids beg me to leave them alone.'

Following the news of Claudia's departure, friends and famous faces sent messages to her, with presenter Rylan Clark commenting on Radio 2's Instagram post: 'Gonna miss u claud', while podcaster and actress Giovanna Fletcher hailed her as a 'legend'.

Claudia's exit marks the latest in a number of high-profile presenters leaving or moving slots on BBC Radio, including Ken Bruce, who left Radio 2 in March having presented his mid-morning programme for more than three decades and began a new show on Greatest Hits Radio in April  taking with him his popular music quiz PopMaster.

Romesh said of his new role: 'In my many years working as a maths teacher thinking 'what would happen if I gave this up', I never imagined I'd be sandwiched between Dermot O'Leary and Steve Wright on the UK's most popular radio station every Saturday morning.

'I'm grateful to Claud for wanting to spend more time with her kids, and enabling me to spend less time with mine, and I look forward to finding out what the nation is up to at that time, as well as speaking to some familiar faces. It's going to be fun. Probably.'

Romesh currently hosts For The Love of Hip-Hop on BBC Radio 2, for which he won the best specialist music show this year at the Radio Academy Aria Awards. He will continue to host the show as well as taking over from Claudia.

The comedian has also fronted a number of series including The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan, The Ranganation, A League Of Their Own and quiz show The Weakest Link.

Head of Radio 2 Helen Thomas said: 'I'd like to thank Claudia for entertaining her millions of listeners each Saturday morning with such sparkling wit and great warmth.

'Radio 2 listeners can rest easy as we're working on a plan for some specials in the future, so watch this space.

'I'm delighted to welcome Romesh to his new Saturday morning show on Radio 2.

'Judging by the audience's reaction to him at Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester this year, he's already a firm favourite with our listeners.

'Like Claud before him, he'll guarantee your Saturday mornings continue to be an appointment to listen.'

BBC's chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, thanked Winkleman for 'all the laughs' she has given listeners over the last three years as she hailed her as one of the broadcaster's 'most-loved presenters'.

Claudia has long been a recognisable face on Strictly but she also recently found huge success in her presenting career with BBC's The Traitors

The series became an instant favourite when it first aired last year and it went on to win two trophies at the BAFTA TV Awards

Claudia held back tears after securing the award in the Entertainment Performance category while the wider team bagged the top spot for Reality and Constructed Factual show

She added: 'Romesh is hugely popular with BBC audiences so I'm thrilled that he will be bringing his own unique sense of humour to Saturday mornings on Radio 2. I can't wait to hear his new show.'

Claudia joined BBC Radio 2 in 2008 to host comedy quiz series Hot Gossip before moving to Friday nights to host the Claudia Winkleman Arts Show.

In 2016, she began presenting Claudia On Sunday and moved to her Saturday morning slot in February 2021, replacing Irish broadcaster Graham Norton who moved to present a show on Virgin Radio.

As well as her Radio 2 jobs, Claudia has also brought her talents to TV with her successful gig co-hosting Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly, and presenting hit reality shows The Traitors and The Piano.

She has long been a recognisable face on Strictly but she also recently found huge success in her presenting career with BBC's The Traitors.

The series became an instant favourite when it first aired last year and it went on to win two trophies at the BAFTA TV Awards, reducing Claudia to tears.

Claudia secured the award in the Entertainment Performance category while the wider team bagged the top spot for Reality and Constructed Factual show.

During her latter speech, the Strictly star said: 'Sorry I don't know what to say. I know it's ridiculous, I can't get emotional because I'm wearing so much eyeliner... thank you so much.'

'Thank you so much. I can't believe it,' she continued while vowing to be 'forever grateful'.

The first season of The Traitors, which was set in a Scottish castle, aired in November 2022 and showed 22 strangers fighting to win 120,000 by back-stabbing and lying to one another.

The first series also attracted an average audience of 5.4 million and was so popular that a second series was quickly commissioned in February.

Last month, fans went wild as the first trailer for series two was released, once again seeing Claudia helm the show.

The trailer saw Claudia wearing the traitor's cloak with two other hooded figures as she held a finger to her lips while the words: 'The Traitors. Coming soon' flashed up on the screen.

She also brought her star power to another new series earlier this year as she fronted Channel 4's heartwarming reality TV show The Piano (pictured with judges Mika and Lang Lang)

Premise: The show sees amateur musicians performing at train stations around the country while being secretly watched by singer Mika and pianist Lang Lang

She also brought her star power to another brand new series earlier this year as she fronted Channel 4's heartwarming reality TV show The Piano.

The show saw amateur musicians performing at train stations around the country while being secretly watched by singer Mika and pianist Lang Lang.

The top four performers were then chosen to perform at The Royal Festival Hall, and viewers were left in tears over some of the moving performances across the series.

The series was won by 13-year-old Lucy from Halifax who stunned the audience with her performance of Debussy's Arabesque No1 at the Royal Festival Hall.

The Piano has reportedly since been renewed for a second series and will boast seven episodes rather than five, with Mika and Lang Lang back to judge.

Claudia did not feature on the BBC's highest-earners list this year because her salary includes pay for her role on Strictly Come Dancing, which is a BBC Studios production run externally to the BBC.

Claudia juggles her busy presenting career alongside motherhood, and in September, she said her husband Kris is a better parent to their three children.

Although she loves being at home with her family, the star admitted it's a delicate balancing act along with her duties at work.

'Luckily my husband is a better parent than me,' she joked to the Daily Mirror.

While she has found success as the host of three of the biggest shows on TV, Claudia remains humble and insisted it's all down to good luck.

She said: 'The Traitors and Strictly and The Piano are so strong anybody could host them. We all know it. But I'm lucky enough that I'm there. That's the truth.

'It doesn't mean I'm not unbelievably grateful, but it's just as luck would have it I've fallen into them.'

Claudia also hilariously admitted that her children have asked her to quit her 'embarrassing' Strictly Come Dancing hosting job.

While picking up an Outstanding Achievement Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival in September, Claudia was interviewed by pal Kirsty Young and admitted that her son Jake has asked her to stop Strictly.

Back in September, Claudia admitted her husband Kris is a better parent to their three children than her as she juggles hosting duties (pictured in March 2022)

Claudia recently admitted that her son Jake (pictured with her husband Kris in September 2021) hilariously asked her to quit her 'embarrassing' Strictly Come Dancing hosting job

Speaking about her son, she said: 'He said to me, 'Mum, you have got to stop doing Strictly, it's so embarrassing and my teacher has mentioned it''.

'I just went 'See those trainers, Jake?' He was like 'OK, sorry!'''

Claudia also revealed she spends her time off from TV being 'a very annoying human being' to her three children.

The TV personality hilariously confessed her children beg her to give them some space during the 10 months of the year when she's not busy presenting Strictly Come Dancing.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline at the No7 Pro Derm Scan launch party, she blamed the 'awful' habit on her former newspaper editor mum Eve Pollard, 76.

She began: 'I get on the tube all the time but I've never been recognised in my life, never in my life. I'm on there four times a day with my kids...'

'I'm on telly sometimes but only for two months in the year and the rest of the time, I zip around. For the rest of the year, I lick the children.

'I follow them around and I'm a very annoying human being to them. They say, 'Mum give us some space,' and I say 'no'. I'm awful. It comes from my own mum.'
Sydney Sweeney is back in Australia for the second time this year to shoot a new film.

The 26-year-old American actress was busy on the set of Ron Howard's new survival thriller, Eden, on Queensland's Gold Coast this weekend.

The Euphoria star donned a 1940s style ensemble including a pale blue dress that skimmed her figure and brown low heels.

She wore her hair pulled off her face in a retro style do and appears to have dyed her blonde locks darker.

Sydney was in Australia filming the romantic comedy Anyone But You earlier this year and shot scenes around Sydney.

Sydney Sweeney (pictured) is back in Australia for the second time this year to shoot a new film. The 26-year-old American actress was busy on the set of Ron Howard's new survival thriller, Eden, on Queensland's Gold Coast this weekend

Eden also stars Jude Law, Ana de Armas Vanessa Kirby and Daniel Bruhl.

The premise 'follows a group of people fuelled by a profound desire for change; in order to turn their back to society they leave everything behind and set their futures on the harsh landscape of the Galapagos,' according to an IMDB synopsis.

Producers on the thriller - which also includes Howard - informed Deadline last month in October the film 'explores the human condition in ways that are unexpected, absurd, humorous, sexy, but above all thrilling and deeply suspenseful.'

Both Sweeney and Kirby replaced actresses Daisy Edgar-Jones and Alicia Vikander who had initially been cast in the project.

The Euphoria star donned a 1940s style ensemble including a pale blue dress that skimmed her figure and brown low heels. She wore her hair pulled off her face in a retro style do and appears to have dyed her blonde locks darker

A crew member shielded her from the sun with an umbrella between takes

Noah Pink has written the screenplay for Eden - which was originally titled: Origin Of Species.

According to Deadline, Hans Zimmer will score the film and this will be the composer's 10th time collaborating with Ron Howard.

It's Ron's second time filming in Queensland, after making Thirteen Lives in the region in 2021.

'I have always been impressed with the professionalism and creative spirit of the Australian film community,' he said of why he choses Australia as a location.

'My experience with our Queensland crew on Thirteen Lives only confirmed that and more'.

Sydney was in Australia filming the romantic comedy Anyone But You earlier this year and shot scenes around Sydney
Joel Creasey and Rhys Nicholson took to the stage for their new show on Saturday night.

The comedians joined forces for Rhys & Joel's Family Christmas at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and had the audience in stitches.

'Join your favourite drunk aunties as they host a yuletide gay extravaganza featuring some of their favourite comedians, musicians and who knows, maybe some members of the clergy?' a description for the show online reads.

TV and radio star Joel, 33, opted for a green Christmas jumper reading 'Ho Ho Ho' and a golden headband.

RuPaul's Drag Race Downunder star Rhys, also 33, was likewise clad in a festive jumper and wore a number of small gift boxes atop his head.

Joel Creasey and Rhys Nicholson took to the stage for their new show on Saturday night. Both pictured

The comedians joined forces for Rhys & Joel's Family Christmas at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and had the audience in stitches

It comes after Joel hit back at being labelled a 'lefty lunatic' label.

The comedian, 33, was quizzed by The Australian on Monday, where he took umbrage with the tag.

'People think that I'm a lefty lunatic. I don't know if that's because I was a host on The Project or because I campaigned for marriage equality,' he said.

Far from being woke, Joel explained he intentionally doesn't bring politics into his performances or his Nova radio show.

'Join your favourite drunk aunties as they host a yuletide gay extravaganza featuring some of their favourite comedians, musicians and who knows, maybe some members of the clergy?' a description for the show online reads

TV and radio star Joel, 33, opted for a green Christmas jumper reading 'Ho Ho Ho' and a golden headband

'When you're driving home and listening to my radio show, you don't want to be lectured.' he said/

'My job is to make you laugh and to give you a little holiday from life' Joel added.

He finished by saying he finds it silly when people call him a 'lefty', as he is apolitical in his views.

'I do find it funny when people call me a lefty; I never share my political views because I'm too dumb to have any,' he finished.
Claudia Winkleman has decided to step down from her role on BBC Radio 2 to spend more time with her children.

In a statement released on Saturday, she explained: 'The truth is my children are growing up inordinately fast so I have decided to follow them around at home before they leave for good.'

The presenter, who is married to Kris Thykier, is very rarely seen with her children and remains relatively private about her family life.

She has however, revealed some details in interviews from over the years, and admitted they would love for her to quit 'embarrassing' Strictly Come Dancing role.

Here, MailOnline takes a look at Claudia's family life with her film producer husband, royal sister and children.

Claudia Winkleman has decided to step down from her role on BBC Radio 2 to spend more time with her children. Here, MailOnline takes a look at her family life...

The presenter, who is married to Kris Thykier, rarely shares details or photos of her children and remains relatively private about her family life

How many children does Claudia have?

She shares Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 10, with her partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000.

As Claudia shared the news that she would be stepping down from her Radio 2 show during Saturday's broadcast, she explained how she wishes to spend more time at home.

She said: 'Here's the thing and it is such a boring cliche so I apologise. Time is going too fast. My daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was 3 about 5 minutes ago.

'I still have a little one who wants to be with me. I don't know how long that will last and I just need to be at home more.'

Recently, Claudia revealed she has ignored her kids' request to quit 'embarrassing' Strictly Come Dancing role.

While picking up an Outstanding Achievement Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Claudia was interviewed by pal Kirsty Young.

Speaking about her son, she said: 'He said to me, "Mum, you have got to stop doing Strictly, it's so embarrassing and my teacher has mentioned it"'.

'I just went "See those trainers, Jake?" He was like "OK, sorry!'''

Claudia has revealed she spends her time off from TV being 'a very annoying human being' to her three kids.

The TV personality hilariously confessed her children beg her to give them some space during the 10 months of the year when she's not busy presenting Strictly Come Dancing.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline at the No7 Pro Derm Scan launch party, she blamed the 'awful' habit on her former newspaper editor mum Eve Pollard, 76.

She began: 'I get on the tube all the time but Ive never been recognised in my life, never in my life. Im on there four times a day with my kids...'

'Im on telly sometimes but only for two months in the year and the rest of the time, I zip around. For the rest of the year, I lick the children.

'I follow them around and Im a very annoying human being to them. They say, "Mum give us some space," and I say "no". Im awful. It comes from my own mum.'

She shares Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 10, with her partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000 (Kris pictured with his and Claudia's son Jake)

While she rarely shares photos with her children, Claudia has spoken about her family life in interviews, particularly Matilda, who suffered a freak accident when she was eight-years-old (Matilda and Kris pictured in 2013)

What happened to her daughter Matilda?

While she rarely shares photos with her children, Claudia has spoken about her family life in interviews, particularly Matilda, who suffered a freak accident when she was eight-years-old.

Matilda suffered severe burns after her costume brushed a candle and set her on fire while trick or treating in 2014.

At the time of the accident, Claudia temporarily stepped down from hosting Strictly Come Dancing and went on to become a staunch campaigner for the safety and regulations around the materials used in children's fancy dress costumes.

Talking about the agonising moment of the accident, Claudia said previously: 'I don't like Halloween because three years ago it turned out our screams were real.

'She "went up" is the only way I can describe it - it was a spark, and she screamed out for me.

'It was like those horrific birthday candles that you blow out and they come back. It was really fast. It was definitely life-changing for me.'

'I was talking to somebody and then I heard her shout and she was on fire. It feels like she was on fire for hours, but the surgeon said it was probably just seconds.'

In an interview with the BBCs Watchdog programme in 2015, the Strictly Come Dancing co-host spoke about the incident for the first time, explaining that the accident had been life changing for both her and her daughter, adding: I cant remember life before it.'

Claudia married her film producer husband Kris, 48, back in June 2000 after being introduced by friends (pictured in September)

Who is her husband Kris Thykier?

Claudia married her film producer husband Kris, 48, back in June 2000 after being introduced by friends.

His film credits include Operation Mincemeat (2021), Kick-Ass (2010) and Riviera (2017).

In 2020, Claudia opened up about her relationship during the December issue of Red magazine, as she revealed her other half is 'much more romantic' than her but they share everything.

The Strictly Come Dancing presenter said that Kris never asks her 'what's for dinner?', as if he is expecting her to create something for him and their three children.

Detailing their relationship, Claudia said: 'You see, Kris is very Scandinavian. We've been together for 22 years and he's never once said to me, 'What's for dinner?' It's always been, 'What shall we have for dinner?'

'So we share, and when one of us is snowed under, the other person will help. He knows that in the lead-up to the Strictly final, for example, I'm useless, so he might be in charge of getting Christmas presents for our nephews and nieces

She added that between the two of them, Kris is definitely more lovey-dovey, saying: 'I'm not a romantic person, he's much more romantic than me, the poor guy!'

His film credits include Operation Mincemeat (2021), Kick-Ass (2010) and Riviera (2017) (pictured in October 2022)

Does Claudia have any siblings?

Claudia has a half-sister Sophie Winkleman, who is best known as Big Suze in Channel 4 comedy Peep Show.

The two share a father in publisher Barry Winkleman. And although the girls grew up apart, it turned out that both loved performing, with Sophie becoming a film actress and script writer.

She was born in Primrose Hill, London, on August 5, 1980. Her mother was author Cindy Black.

The actress once explained she and the Strictly presenter had 'very separate lives' as children because Claudia, who is nine years her senior, lived with her mother, former newspaper editor Eve Pollard.

In 2009, Sophie married Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael of Kent and his wife Marie-Christine, known as Princess Michael.

Sophie was educated at the City of London School for Girls before completing an English degree at the University of Cambridge.

During her time there, she joined the Cambridge Footlights comedy troupe that, over time, has featured stars including Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry and David Mitchell.

Sophie met Lord Frederick Windsor on a night out in Soho and married him in September 2009 at Hampton Court Palace.

The guests included senior members of the Royal Family and the bride's half sister, Claudia.

Lady Sophie and Lord Freddie spent seven years living in Los Angeles - having moved there the day after their wedding to allow Sophie to continue her acting work.

Her roles included Ashton Kutcher's character Walden's girlfriend Zoe in Two and a Half Man. She also penned screenplays for Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz. Lord Frederick continued working for JP Morgan.

While living in the states, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina, who was born at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in August 2013.

They welcomed their second daughter, Isabella Alexandra May Windsor, back in the United Kingdom. She was born at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

Maud and Isabella were among five bridesmaids for her sister-in-law Lady Gabriella Windsor's wedding to Thomas Kingston in 2019.

Claudia has a half-sister Sophie Winkleman, who is best known as Big Suze in Channel 4 comedy Peep Show

Sophie, who now lives in Chelsea, married Lord Freddie in September 2009 (pictured) at Hampton Court Palace, after meeting him on a night out in Soho

Lady Sophie and Lord Freddie spent seven years living in Los Angeles - having moved there the day after their wedding to allow Sophie to continue her acting work (pictured in 2019)

Sophie says everyone has 'looked after' her, in particular the Queen and Prince Charles, who have been 'wonderful', and Prince William, left, whom she described as 'heaven' (pictured at Trooping the Colour in 2014)

They also attended Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding in October 2018.

She previously detailed her experience moving into the Royal Family, telling The Times in 2020: 'I've been incredibly welcomed with open arms by all of them.

'I haven't had a single negative experience. The Queen's been wonderful, Prince Charles has been wonderful, Prince William's been heaven.

'They'd never tell me off at all if I wanted to play some role. Everyone's looked after me.'
Jimmy Kimmel's nephew is joining the family business.

The late night talk show host has made a name for himself in comedy and as an Oscars host, but young Wesley Kimmel is taking a different approach - acting.

The 13-year-old is co-starring in the upcoming Red One with some pretty big names, including Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu and Kiernan Shipka.

The plot for the holiday themed action-comedy has been kept under wraps.

TMZ obtained a copy of the teen's contract and discovered he can use it to make a handsome contribution to his college fund.

The young actor, who has had roles in WandaVision, The Mandalorian and Your Place or Mine with Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher, earned $95,000 to appear in the film and another $5,000 to promote it.

Jimmy Kimmel 's nephew is joining the family business. The late night talk show host has made a name for himself in comedy, but young Wesley Kimmel is taking a different approach, acting (Pictured in Los Angeles in February)

Jimmy, 56, gave Wesley his first acting job several years ago when he was cast in a video for a series of skits called The Baby Bachelor, directed by Wesley's dad Jonathan.

The idea was to have little kids act out some scenes from The Bachelor.

In a clip that was shown on the Jimmy Kimmel Live when Wesley and Reese were on the show promoting Your Place or Mine, when it came time for The Baby Bachelor wedding, instead of saying 'I do,' toddler Wesley answered 'I have to poo-poo.'

Wesley will also provide the voiceover for the upcoming Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, which will debut December 8 on Disney+.

Meanwhile, Wesley's uncle will soon be preparing to host the Oscars for a fourth time.

The 96th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles March 10.

'I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,' the funnyman said in a statement announcing the news.

He previously hosted the annual ceremony celebrating the best movies of the year in 2016, 2017 and 2023.

Wesley Kimmel, 13, has an impressive resume. The teen has had roles in WandaVision, The Mandalorian and Your Place or Mine with Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher

For his latest role in Red One, a holiday comedy adventure starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu and Kiernan Shipka, Wesley earned a total of $100,000 to act in and promote the movie

Jimmy's wife, Molly McNearney, who is an executive producer on Jimmy Kimmel Live, will return to the Oscars for a second year in a row as executive producer.

The Academy announced Friday that the 2024 show will get an earlier start time, and begin broadcasting at 7pm Eastern time/ 4pm Pacific time.

The idea seems to be to try to keep the show from running into the 11 o'clock hour due to long thank you speeches from the award winners.

The pre-show which features red carpet arrivals and interviews will start 30 minutes before the broadcast.
Tom Holland enjoyed some quality time with his pals as they dined at the celeb favorite restaurant Madeo in West Hollywood on Friday evening.

The 27-year-old actor was spotted taking a call as he departed the Italian eatery before making his way towards a private vehicle.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home star, who recently opened up about potentially portraying Peter Parker for the fourth time, stayed comfortable in a red pullover jacket worn on top of a white shirt.

Holland completed his look with a pair of slim-fitting blue jeans that were contrasted with white sneakers.

The performer's most recent starring role in a television series was as Danny Sullivan in The Crowded Room, which premiered this past June.

Tom Holland was spotted during a guys' night out in West Hollywood on Friday evening

The project was inspired by Daniel Keyes' nonfiction book The Minds of Billy Milligan, which was released in 1981.

The show was centered on a young man who uncovers life-changing revelations while spending time with an interrogator after being involved in a shooting.

In addition to Holland, the series also starred Amanda Seyfried, Sasha Lane and Emmy Rossum.

Development on the project was revealed to the public in 2021, and filming took place in New York City the following year.

The Crowded Room premiered on the Apple TV+ streaming service on June 9, and the show ran for a total of ten episodes.

The program received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and it currently holds a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Holland spoke about the show's less-than-stellar reception during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, during which he recalled being surprised with the harshness of the program's critics.

'It was a kick in the teeth. Rolling over, looking up the reviews, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Wow. That's a bad review." Sometimes there's a redeeming quality in there. There was nothing,' he said.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home star, who recently opened up about potentially portraying Peter Parker for the fourth time, stayed comfortable in a red pullover jacket worn on top of a white shirt

The performer's most recent starring role in a television series was as Danny Sullivan in The Crowded Room, which premiered this past June

The show was centered on a young man who uncovers life-changing revelations while spending time with an interrogator after being involved in a shooting

The program received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and it currently holds a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

The performer went on to state that he attempted to take the show's poor reception in stride.

'I try to have a healthy outlook on all that sort of stuff and respect everyone's opinion,' he said.

Holland concluded by offering a bit of guidance regarding bad reviews that he had learned during his earlier days.

He stated: 'There's a Christian Bale quote I saw once, which really changed my life. He said, "If you have a problem with me, text me. And if you don't have my number, you don't know me well enough to have a problem with me."'
Treat Williams' daughter Ellie Williams took to social media to pay tribute to her late father on what would have been his 72nd birthday.

The 25-year-old blonde beauty shared a selection of photos of her and her beloved dad, who was killed on June 12 when a car hit him while he was driving his motorbike in Vermont.

On Friday, Ellie  full name Elinor  wrote on Instagram, 'Happy 72nd Birthday, Dad. I wish you were still here so we could celebrate together. I love you.'

She finished the caption, 'Pour one out for Treat today.'

The post has so far received over 1,500 likes from Williams' 5.2k followers, and she tagged the location as 'somewhere in heaven.'

Treat Williams' daughter Ellie Williams took to social media to pay tribute to her late father on what would have been his 72nd birthday

On Friday, Ellie  full name Elinor  wrote on Instagram, 'Happy 72nd Birthday, Dad. I wish you were still here so we could celebrate together. I love you'

The 25-year-old blonde beauty shared a selection of photos of her and her beloved dad, who was killed on June 12 when a car hit him while he was driving his motorbike in Vermont

Taking to the app's Stories feature, Ellie shared even more memories of her father, who was an established actor.

In the memoriam for her father, she wrote, 'Miss you every single second.'

She also uploaded old photos from her dad's time exploring aviation. One image showed the Hair star standing in front of a yellow aircraft.

Ellie, who has a brother named Gill Williams, said about their parent: 'My dad is the biggest badass. He has over 12,000 hours of flying time.'

It was added that Treat 'flew everything from a small Piper Club to his old T-6 Texan WWII trainer.'

The grieving daughter also used her dad's birthday as an opportunity to post a scene from his famous 1979 film Hair.

She called the film 'one of my dad's most iconic roles' and said 'You're so f***ing cool it's actually ridiculous.'

The post has so far received over 1,500 likes from Williams' 5.2k followers, and she tagged the location as 'somewhere in heaven'

In the memoriam for her father, she wrote, 'Miss you every single second'

She also uploaded old photos from her dad's time exploring aviation. One image showed the Hair star standing in front of a yellow aircraft

In early August, less than one month after he died, a Medical Examiner's Office determined that 'Mr. Williams died of severe trauma and blood loss as a result of the crash,' said the Vermont State Police in a statement.

'Mr. Williams suffered critical injuries in the crash and subsequently was pronounced dead at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York,' the message shared.

Police also issued 'a citation on a charge of grossly negligent operation with death' to 35-year-old Ryan Koss of Vermont  the driver involved in the fatal crash.

Koss voluntarily turned himself and was subsequently processed and released, though he said the charges were unwarranted.
Anya Taylor-Joy kept is casual for her flight home.

The actress, 27, tried to maintain a low-key presence as she walked through the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil following her appearance at the Comic Con Experience 2023.

The British beauty was promoting her upcoming film, Furiosa, with co-star Chris Hemsworth.

The film in the Mad Max Saga is a prequel of the character introduced by Charlize Theron in the Oscar winning Mad Max: Fury Road.

The trailer, which was released Friday, takes place shortly after the apocalyptic events that devastated the planet, and shows the renegade warrior's back story of survival.

Anya Taylor-Joy kept is casual for her flight home, as she tried to maintain a low-key presence at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil following her appearance at the Comic Con Experience 2023

'IT'S HAPPENINGGGGG,' the star wrote on social media in a post sharing the long awaited preview.

'All the blood, sweat and tears. Remember her. Only in theatres 2024.'

For her trip home, Anya chose a black leather jacket over a white tank top.

She wore straight leg jeans with a frayed hem and added a pop of color with red shoes with a low block heel.

The Super Mario Bros Movie star appeared to be wearing little makeup and styled her blonde hair in a long side braid that hung over her shoulder.

The Golden Globe winner accessorized with small gold hoop earrings and gold pendants with a gold chain.

The Peaky Blinders actress wore a black billed hat with red writing on it, and donned dark sunglasses as she was escorted through the Guarulhos Airport.

Anya and her musician husband, Malcolm McRae of the band More tied the knot in September at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, Italy.

For her trip home, Anya chose a black leather jacket over a white tank top. She wore straight leg jeans with a frayed hem and added a pop of color with red shoes with a low block heel

The Golden Globe winner accessorized with small gold hoop earrings and gold pendants with a gold chain

The Super Mario Bros Movie star appeared to be wearing little makeup and styled her blonde hair in a long side braid that hung over her shoulder

The newlyweds met in 2021 at the premiere of the Emmy winning series The Queen's Gambit and seemed to have been inseparable since then.

They made their first joint appearance at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscars party.

The pair reportedly secretly tied the knot in a courthouse ceremony in 2022, but did not confirm or deny that rumor.

The British beauty was promoting her upcoming film, Furiosa, with co-star Chris Hemsworth . The film in the Mad Max Saga is a prequel of the character introduced by Charlize Theron in the Oscar winning Mad Max: Fury Road

Anya will be pairing up with Miles Teller and Sigourney Weaver for the horror romance The Gorge. She will headline Laughter in the Dark, starring as a young actress with plans to rob a married, middle-aged art critic of his money

Anya and her musician husband, Malcolm McRae of the band More, are newlyweds. The couple who met at the premiere of The Queen's Gambit in 2021, tied the knot in September at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, Italy

Anya will be pairing up with Miles Teller and Sigourney Weaver for the horror romance The Gorge.

She will headline Laughter in the Dark, starring as a young actress with plans to rob a married, middle-aged art critic of his money.

The film is based on the novel by the same named penned by Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov.

Both films are expected to be released in 2024.
Britney Spears saw on her 42nd birthday this week at the home of her manager and best pal Cade Hudson in Los Angeles.

She marked the special occasion with a small group of intimates including her brother Bryan Spears, who is four years her senior.

However the festivities appear to have been interrupted, as at one point she, Cade and Bryan were spotted emerging from the house late at night.

Her newly adopted puppy Snow suffered a medical emergency and had to be taken to a 24-hour veterinary clinic at around 2am.

The next afternoon, Britney fired up her Instagram and issued a statement assuring fans they had no need to 'worry about Snow she's fine...I went to the emergency vet in the middle of the night with Cade's shoes and clothes in a hurry ...'

Britney Spears saw on her 42nd birthday this week at the home of her manager and best pal Cade Hudson in Los Angeles

She marked the special occasion with a small group of intimates including her brother Bryan Spears, who is four years her senior

However the festivities appear to have been interrupted

At one point she, Cade and Bryan were spotted emerging from the house late at night

It has been sensationally claimed that one of her dogs suffered a medical emergency and had to be taken to a 24-hour veterinary clinic at around 2am

Cade, Bryan and Britney were spotted leaving the former's house in a car that was then seen parked outside of a 24-hour veterinary clinic

The next afternoon, Britney fired up her Instagram and issued a statement assuring fans they had no need to 'worry about Snow she's fine

Referring to the pictures that surfaced of the vet trip, she joked: 'I literally look like the girl in All Dogs Go To Heaven dressed up like a man being told to place bets !!!'

Cade, Bryan and Britney were spotted leaving the former's house in a car that was then seen parked outside of a 24-hour veterinary clinic.

The dog was not visible in any pictures from the scene, but a photographer in situ insisted to TMZ that it was in fact in the vehicle with Britney.

Over the course of the night, Britney and Cade were also spotted stopping off at a gas station mini-mart to pick up a few snacks.

Their outing was evidently a spur-of-the-moment decision, based on the fact Cade was barefoot and wearing what looked like pajamas.

Britney was similarly casually attired, with a red flannel shirt thrown over a dressed-down ensemble that included loose striped trousers.

She obscured her face with a large pair of shades and wore what appeared to be an expression of concern while spotted out that night.

Britney walked out of the mini-mart ahead of Cade, who carried a plastic shopping bag bulging with items purchased at the convenience store.

By the next morning, Britney and Cade appeared to be in brighter spirits, judging by an Instagram video of the pair of them dancing around together.

Britney was decked out in a sparkling, skintight peekaboo cocktail dress as she pranced around with Cade, who was shirtless.

The dog was not visible in any pictures from the scene

A photographer in situ insisted to TMZ that it was in fact in the vehicle with Britney

Over the course of the night, Britney and Cade were also spotted stopping off at a gas station mini-mart to pick up a few snacks

Their outing appeared to be a spur-of-the-moment decision, based on the fact Cade was barefoot and wearing what looked like pajamas

Britney was similarly casually attired, with a red flannel shirt thrown over a dressed-down ensemble that included loose striped trousers

She obscured her face with a large pair of shades

Britney wore what appeared to be an expression of concern while spotted out that night

Cade carried a plastic shopping bag bulging with items purchased at the convenience store

Cade teamed his orange bottoms with a white t-shirt

However, less than two hours after she uploaded the celebratory video online, it had vanished from her Instagram page.

Britney's latest sighting comes a little over three months after Britney and her estranged husband Sam Asghari reached a custody deal over their five dogs.

Four of the pets have been delivered into Britney's sole custody, while the remaining one has been given to Sam, according to TMZ.

Around the time that the arrangement went public, Britney announced on Instagram that she had adopted a new white puppy called Snow.

Sam filed for divorce from Britney in August after just 14 months of marriage, though the wedding was preceded by a long relationship dating back to 2016.

Ever since news broke of their split, a series of nasty allegations has bubbled up into the public square, including that Sam accused Britney of cheating on him.

Meanwhile, a source told DailyMail.com that Britney suspected Sam of having colluded with her father Jamie in his controversial conservatorship of her.

'Britney has reason to believe that Sam was secretly working with her dad Jamie since early on in their relationship,' the source told DailyMail.com.

'Sam would supply information to Jamie that would help to keep her locked in the conservatorship. In exchange, Sam was given access to her and her money. Britney now feels like Sam was being deceitful all along.'

Her latest sighting comes a little over three months after Britney and her estranged husband Sam Asghari reached a custody deal over their five dogs

Four of the pets have been delivered into Britney's sole custody, while the remaining one has been given to Sam, according to TMZ

Around the time that the arrangement went public, Britney announced on Instagram that she had adopted a new white puppy called Snow

Sam filed for divorce from Britney in August after just 14 months of marriage, though the wedding was preceded by a long relationship dating back to 2016

Ever since news broke of their split, a series of nasty allegations has bubbled up into the public square, including that Sam accused Britney of cheating on him

Meanwhile, a source told DailyMail.com that Britney suspected Sam of having colluded with her father Jamie in his controversial conservatorship of her

However, their recent equation appears to be amicable, with Sam showering praise on Britney for her bestselling new memoir The Woman In Me.

Bryan is said to have kept Britney company from time to time as she copes with the fallout of her latest failed marriage, per TMZ.

Two years ago, a report in TMZ alleged that Britney's housekeeper had taken two of her dogs on an emergency trip to the veterinarian.

It was astonishingly claimed that the dogs had fallen so sick from nutritional issues that the housekeeper was in fear for their lives.

Both pets were said to be dehydrated, and one of them - who purportedly already had digestive problems - was alleged to have fallen ill from being fed table scraps.

After the visit to the veterinarian, the dogs reportedly wound up briefly staying with Britney's dog sitter before being returned to their owner.

The report surfaced when Britney was still locked in a legal battle to be released from her conservatorship - and it was claimed that she believed the housekeeper had connived with Jamie to take her dogs away from her.

Britney's 42nd birthday draws the curtain on a whirlwind year, one that in its final months included a media frenzy over her shocking memoir.

However, their recent equation appears to be amicable, with Sam showering praise on Britney for her bestselling new memoir The Woman In Me

Bryan is said to have kept Britney company from time to time as she copes with the fallout of her latest failed marriage, per TMZ

Britney's 42nd birthday draws the curtain on a whirlwind year, one that in its final months included a media frenzy over her shocking memoir

Bryan appeared at one point in the evening to be having a serious conversation with one of the people inside the car

Her book took aim at such targets as her ex Justin Timberlake, her parents and her sister Jamie Lynn, whom she wrote was a 'total b****' at the age of 11

The Woman In Me contains a particularly scathing portrayal of her romance with Justin, whom she claimed got her pregnant and then persuaded her to have an abortion

Within the pages of the memoir, Britney also accused her parents Jamie and Lynne of having thrown out her childhood dolls and journals

Her book took aim at such targets as her ex Justin Timberlake, her parents and her sister Jamie Lynn, whom she wrote was a 'total b****' at the age of 11.

The Woman In Me contains a particularly scathing portrayal of her romance with Justin, whom she claimed got her pregnant and then persuaded her to have an abortion because he 'wasn't ready' to be a father.

Within the pages of the memoir, Britney also accused her parents Jamie and Lynne of having thrown out her childhood dolls and journals.

Though their long running feud seems to have come to an end, as Lynne, 68, was present at Britney's birthday get together.

The mother and daughter duo were pictured in sweet snaps shared to social media, with one image showing Britney cuddling up to Lynne, 60, on the couch.

Another adorable photo, shared to hair colorist Baihly B's Instagram account, showed Britney holding her mom in her arms as she twirled her in the air.

And the mother and daughter reunion was a 'really nice moment' for the Spears clan, according to sources.

'Being together and celebrating her birthday was a really nice moment for the family,' an insider told People.

In her memoir, Britney said her parents got rid of her 'prized possessions,' like the dolls and diaries , back in 2019 when she had just been treated for her mental health and was still in the grip of her father's conservatorship.

Britney described her Madame Alexander dolls as having been particularly important to her, as one of the few luxuries in her financially strapped childhood.

By the next morning, Britney and Cade appeared to be in brighter spirits, judging by an Instagram video of the pair of them dancing around together

Britney was decked out in a sparkling, skintight peekaboo cocktail dress as she pranced around with Cade, who was shirtless

However, less than two hours after she uploaded the celebratory video online, it had vanished from her Instagram page

After being freed from the conservatorship in 2021, Britney furiously accused her mother of having been the 'mastermind' of the arrangement.

Although their tensions appear to have cooled since then, Britney still took aim at her mother in the memoir, saying Lynne was party to disposing of the dolls.

'I'm not sure who told you I got rid of your dolls and journals but I would never do that!' Lynne retorted on her Instagram page last month.

'That would be cruel because I know how much they mean to you. They are special to me too because of the years we spent collecting them. Of course I still have your things, and I am happy to send them to you if you'd like me to. Please let me know and know how much I love you!'

Shortly thereafter, in a postscript to the caption of a post about Taylor Swift, Britney issued an eye-catching reply to her mother's entreaty.

'Ps mom I love you so so much, but there were 3 dolls in the cabinets when I went home 2 years ago  kinda really weird you would take them out and then put them back in  so messed up,' wrote Britney. 'Nope, I don't want them. Keep it all. I honestly don't care anymore  honestly though.'
His emotional tribute to his late mother Jade Goody reduced head judge Shirley Ballas to tears.

And since Bobby Brazier's heart-wrenching routine last Saturday, the star says he has been inundated with letters and messages from those who have also suffered the loss of a loved one.

Millions watched as the actor and his dance partner, Dianne Buswell, performed his couple's choice dance to 'This Woman's Work' by Maxwell  a song that reminds him of losing his beloved mum in 2009 when he was just four.

Bobby, 20, told The Mail on Sunday: 'There's been a lot (of letters). I haven't opened or read a lot of them but I've seen there's been a lot of people writing.'

'We connected to a lot of people and communicated and translated something and that's what I wanted to do. I think that's what happens when you dance authentically and from your heart. I'm really glad that that happened.

Since Bobby Brazier 's heart-wrenching routine last Saturday, he says he has been inundated with letters and messages from those who have also suffered the loss of a loved one (pictured with his late mum Jade Goody in May 2006)

Millions watched as the actor and his dance partner, Dianne Buswell , performed his couple's choice dance to 'This Woman's Work' by Maxwell  a song that reminds him of losing his beloved mum in 2009 when he was just four (pictured last week)

'It was a privilege. I knew that my couple's choice had to be that. It was daunting before though because that song is perfect. So to touch perfection is daunting, but I'm really, really glad that I did.

'After every dance, everyone's always really supportive and complimentary, but especially after last week. I definitely welcomed all the love.'

Since he started on Strictly, Brazier has won over an army of young fans who now regard him as a 'sex symbol.'

While some young starlets would be shy about such a label, the EastEnders actor confesses: 'I love it!'

The same goes for the comparisons drawn between him and Sir Mick Jagger. It was in week three when Bobby and Dianne danced a Samba that fans began noticing how similar Brazier is to the wrinkly rocker.

Bobby admitted he is bemused that he is mentioned in the same sentence as Sir Mick, 80, saying: 'People weren't expecting my hips to be so hippy, I think that's where these crazy claims are coming from.'

For musicals week last night, Brazier and Dianne, 34, danced a Salsa to (I've had) The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing - along with the famous lift that Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray did in the 1997 movie.

It was one of the riskiest lifts the show has seen in its 19 year history and not even professional dancer dIANNE has ever done it before.

Brazier, 20, told The Mail on Sunday: 'There's been a lot (of letters). I haven't opened or read a lot of them but I've seen there's been a lot of people writing. We connected to a lot of people and communicated and translated something and that's what I wanted to do. I think that's what happens when you dance authentically and from your heart. I'm really glad that that happened'

Sharing his emotional two-word tribute to his late mother Jade - who died when he was just five years old - Bobby said: 'If I could see her again for one moment, I'd tell her, ''Thank you'' and give her a cuddle'

The EastEnders star and Dianne, 34, danced a Couple's Choice routine to 'This Woman's Work' by Maxwell, a song that Bobby chose because it is close to his heart

Bobby, who only had three days to practice for it said: 'It's a risk that I really want to take.

However, he did admit that He has dropped Ms Buswell since they have been dancing together.

Bibby admitted: 'I have dropped her in rehearsal. We both went backwards. I fell on my back, and you've been on your front.'

During last week's episode Bobby has revealed his emotional two-word tribute to his late mother Jade, after she died when he was just five years old.

The EastEnders star shared the moving homage during a candid interview with The Mirror, after leaving viewers in tears with his emotional dance routine.

He said: 'If I could see her again for one moment, I'd tell her, ''Thank you'' and give her a cuddle.'

During Saturday's Strictly, Bobby and his professional dance partner Dianne, 34, moved judges Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke with their heart-wrenching dance tribute to Jade.

Actor Bobby was only five when Jade, who rose to fame on Big Brother in 2002, died of cervical cancer on Mother's Day in March 2009.

His father, TV presenter Jeff, 44, single-handedly raised him and younger brother Freddie, 19, with the pair both shedding some tears as they watched on from the audience.

Bobby said of his mother's death before his performance: 'It changed my life completely, I'd love to spend a day with her just to see where I get my smile from.'

EastEnders sensation Bobby and Dianne danced a Couple's Choice routine to 'This Woman's Work' by Maxwell, a song that Bobby chose because it is close to his heart.

After the performance, he appeared emotional as his family watched in the audience and judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse gave him standing ovations. He received a score of 37 points.

Both Shirley and fellow panellist Anton Du Beke were moved to tears by his tribute dance.

Bobby's father Jeff was also in tears as he called his son Bobby 'a walking tribute to his mum'.

Sobbing: Bobby's television presenter Jeff Brazier was seen crying in the audience after Bobby's performance

In the emotional VT before Bobby's performance with his partner Dianne, Jeff paid tribute to Jade and how proud she would be of their son.

He told the camera: 'As a family we are very tight, we have had to be as loss has made us grow closer.' Bobby added his love for his dad by saying: 'To be someone that my dad is proud of is everything.'

Breaking down in tears Jeff called himself 'the lucky one', explaining: 'I'm the one who gets to bring the boys up I'm the one who gets to watch him on Strictly and it brings so much joy to my life, I'm very, very grateful for that.'
It is ITVX's flagship winter show  a big-budget, critically acclaimed biopic tracking Cary Grant's rise from a poverty-stricken childhood to Hollywood stardom.

But Archie, starring Jason Isaacs as the super-suave movie icon, is proving a big turn-off for viewers  thanks to its 'appalling' sound.

Frustrated viewers on the streaming channel say they are forced to keep turning the volume up to hear the dialogue before dashing for the remote to hush it down for the 'deafening' music and sound effects (SFX).

'Why is the sound all over the place on ITVX's Archie  constantly having to turn it up/turn it down. Jason Isaacs is fab  so it's a shame,' comedian Jenny Eclair posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Another frustrated viewer of the drama, which launched on November 23, wrote: 'The sound in Archie is awful.

It is ITVX's flagship winter show  a big-budget, critically acclaimed biopic tracking Cary Grant's rise from a poverty-stricken childhood to Hollywood stardom ( Pictured: Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant, Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon)

But Archie, starring Jason Isaacs as the super-suave movie icon, is proving a big turn-off for viewers  thanks to its 'appalling' sound

'Speaking parts very hard to hear for the viewer, my TV volume was heading to its max! Any music, however, then deafened everyone within a ten-mile radius.'

Whoever is the sound editor for Archie, they need sacking!

Jem Roberts, an author, joined the chorus of disapproval, complaining: 'The dialogue is inaudible below a volume of 60, yet music and SFX are deafeningly loud about 40.'

One viewer asked the ITVX Help account on X if the problem could be 'mended' as she had managed to get through only 15 minutes of the first episode before giving up.

It responded: 'Can you provide more information on the sound issues you're having whilst watching Archie? Can you also let us know the device you're using to access ITVX?'

But viewers were still struggling to watch a few days later, with one writing on November 28: 'Whoever is the sound editor for Archie, they need sacking!'

The BBC recently had a similar accusation levelled at its new restaurant-based drama Boiling Point, with viewers complaining they couldn't hear the dialogue over the background noise.

Simon Clark, head of production sound recording at the National Film and TV School and director of the Institute of Professional Sound, said viewers watching Archie without surround-sound systems could struggle to understand what was being said. He cites the 'cocktail party effect', which is when the brain filters out other sounds in a loud room and zones in on a particular conversation.

Older viewers struggling to hear the dialogue could take a tip from the younger generation. A YouGov study found that 61 per cent of viewers aged 18 to 25 switch on the subtitles when watching TV.

Despite the apparent poor sound, viewers of Archie, which also stars Laura Aikman as Grant's wife Dyan Cannon, were quick to praise Isaacs' portrayal of the actor  born Archibald Leach in Bristol in 1904. Co-produced by Grant's only child, Jennifer Grant, 57, and her mother, Cannon, 86, the drama tells the story of the tortured man behind the suave persona.

The Mail on Sunday has contacted ITVX for comment.
Don't let the reviews determine which bestsellers you buy from Amazon  nearly half of them are false or unreliable.

That's according to researchers who combed through 33.5 million reviews on the retailer's site, and found that 43 percent of them were not to be trusted.

That share rises to nearly nine-in-ten reviews when it comes to clothes, shoes, and jewelry sold on the platform.

And some brands have more dodgy reviews than others.

Feedback for products from Apple and Hanes, and Amazon's own items, are the least reliable of all, researchers said.

The online retailer is already working to tackle iffy feedback about its wares.

Amazon says it is aware of the problem of fake reviews, but that the study's findings were 'inaccurate,' and its fraud team works hard to ensure that customer feedback is authentic.

Fully 43 percent of Amazon shoppers would not buy a product unless it had a four-star rating or above

The clothing and electronics listings on Amazon had the highest share of bogus reviews

Merritt Ryan, a researcher with Circuit, which carried out the research, says clothing reviews are the least reliable

The retailer uses artificial intelligence to spot fake reviews and is spearheading a global campaign to crack down on the crooks behind rings that mass produce misleading feedback on products.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year proposed rules to slap fines of up to $50,000 on businesses that buy, sell, or manipulate fake reviews.

Merritt Ryan, a researcher with Circuit, which carried out the research, said consumers should not be sucked in by Amazon's star rating system.

'We urge shoppers to research the authenticity of Amazon sellers they might be purchasing a product from and take a deeper look at reviews,' Ryan told DailyMail.com.

Since its launch in 1995, Amazon has revolutionized shopping and become the world's largest retailer, with revenue jumping 13 percent to $143.1 billion in the third quarter.

Experts say it's a hit because of its scale  making a tiny cut from lots of sales  and because customers trust the platform and keep coming back for more.

But that trust is undermined by the product reviews that nearly six in ten shoppers use to decide whether to buy a product, says Ryan.

Fully 43 percent of shoppers would not buy their next backpack, bed set or Bluetooth speaker unless it had a four-star rating or above, she said.

Oftentimes, they're being misled, according to her trawl of the site using AI-powered Fakespot technology.

In Amazon's clothing and jewelry sections, most of the reviews cannot be trusted

Amazon's revenue jumped 13 percent $143.1 billion in the third quarter of 2023

For bestselling clothes, shoes and jewelry, a staggering 88 percent of the reviews were deemed unreliable.

The electronics section was also badly hit  53 percent of reviews there were not up to snuff.

Buying from a well-known brand was no guarantee of reliable reviews, either, said Ryan.

Products from Apple and Amazon's own items had more sketchy reviews than all other brands.

Reviews for products from Hanes, Crocs, Fruit of the Loom and Under Armor should also be approached with caution.

Those companies are not necessarily to blame for posting or organizing fake reviews, said Ryan.

More likely, third-party sellers are trying to manipulate the ratings to boost sales, she added.

Phony reviews have long plagued Amazon and other online marketplaces, despite their efforts to eradicate it.

Much of the problem is fueled by brokers who solicit fake customer reviews through social media platforms, encrypted messaging apps and other channels.

The fake reviewers typically receive money, freebies, or other perks for their posts.

Brokers can solicit positive reviews to boost sales for businesses or sellers.

They can also post bad feedback for competitors in order to hurt their sales.

'Additionally, advanced software programs and AI chatbots can be used to generate fake reviews automatically,' said Ryan.

Still, shoppers can still use reviews to decide about buying products, she said.

Buying from a well-known brand is no guarantee of reliable reviews, researchers found

The star rating should only be used as a general guide.

Look for reviews that state 'verified purchase.' Those are written by people who bought the product on Amazon for a regular price.

'It's beneficial to read a range of reviews, paying attention to both positive and negative feedback,' Ryan said.

'Look for detailed and informative reviews that discuss the product's pros and cons based on the reviewer's actual experience.'

Amazon has also started tagging products that are 'frequently returned' to alert shoppers to what could be a low quality item.

But the problem of fake reviews extends well beyond Amazon, and the company has already taken steps to combat the scourge.

'Amazon has zero tolerance for fake reviews,' spokeswoman Christy Vargas told DailyMail.com.

'We have robust and long-standing policies that prohibit reviews abuse, and we suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies.'

According to Vargas, 99 percent of products sold on Amazon feature only authentic reviews.

Founder Jeff Bezos launched Amazon in 1995 and has revolutionized how people shop

DailyMail.com was not able to independently verify what proportion of reviews were inauthentic.

A UK government report found that about 15 percent of reviews on e-commerce platforms were probably phony.

Fake reviews are frequently detected by Amazon's AI software and never make it to the page, added Vargas.

Amazon in September said two review brokers in China were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and three years of probation.

They had used messaging apps to advertise and sell fake reviews to Amazon seller accounts.

The company has filed a flurry of other lawsuits in the past year against operators involved in bogus review rings.

Last year, the retailer sued the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that it said were coordinating bogus reviews in exchange for money or free wares.

More recently, they joined forces with reviews site Glassdoor and Trustpilot, as well as travel companies Expedia Group, Booking.com and Tripadvisor, to coordinate their efforts.

The group, known as the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, will look for best practices for hosting online reviews and share techniques on how to detect and take action against fakers.

'We've shut down some of the largest fake review brokers, as well as targeted groups who attempt to orchestrate fake reviews on social media,' added Vargas.
Americans pay about twice as much commission to real estate agents as their counterparts elsewhere in the world - why?

High-profile recent lawsuits have brought the question of how much real estate brokers should be paid to center stage, causing agents to argue the system is fair and sellers to claim otherwise.

DailyMail.com spoke to real estate experts to understand how fees in the US vary from other countries and why Americans are expected to pay much more for what appears to be the same service.

The answer lies in the controversial 'bundled' commission system that has been used across the US by Realtors since 1913.

The precursor to the powerful National Association of Realtors trade association stipulated that the agent representing a home seller 'always be ready and willing to divide the regular commission equally with any member of the Association who can produce a buyer for any client.'

Americans pay about twice as much commission to real estate agents as their counterparts elsewhere in the world, according to a report by investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Rob Hahn, a real estate consultant and founder of Las Vegas-based 7DS Associates, predicts a revised system will see buyer's and seller's agents paid separately

For each sale, the buyer's and seller's agents take equal commission - which is paid for by the seller and is usually between 5 and 6 percent. Since the agents are paid from the same pot, it is in both their interests for the fees the seller pays to be large.

'The way that it's worked in practice is the listing agent will go to the seller and say, "Listen, I'm going to charge you 3 percent, but if you don't offer 3 percent to the buyer's agent, no one's going to show your house,"' said Rob Hahn, a real estate consultant and founder of Las Vegas-based 7DS Associates.

'The argument is that it kept commission in the US at 6 percent as opposed to the rest of the developed world, like in the UK, where it's closer to 1.5 percent.'

A recent report by investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) argued that because the agents are bundled in the US almost all buyers are represented by an agent.

In the UK and Australia less than 5 percent of home buyers have an agent, according to the report.

Hahn recounted a conversation he had with a hedge fund manager from the UK who had bought four houses without agent representation.

And a recent survey by consulting firm 1000watt found that the majority of home buyers in the US would likely forego a buyer's agent if that was an option.

Some 71 percent thought it made more sense to have one instead of two agents involved in a property transaction.

The National Association of Realtors is the largest trade association in the US and mandates that the buyer's and seller's agents share their commission

In countries where the buyer's and seller's agents are 'unbundled', use of buyer's agents was significantly lower according to the KBW report

Not only does the bundled system create artificially high buyer's agent usage, the report claims, it also reduces the incentive for buyers to negotiate a lower price for their services in the event they actually want them.

'In countries where buyer's agents are common, those where buyers compensate their agents directly, have roughly 30 to 35 percent lower commission rates on average than those countries where sellers typically compensate buyers' agents,' read the report.

'Under a new system where buyers pay their own agents directly, they and their agents would be forced to discuss and negotiate commissions at the outset of the process.'

After a jury in October found that the NAR had enabled agents to collude to keep their commissions artificially high, an upcoming order by the judge is expected to forever change how the system in the US works.

Hahn predicted buyers will start paying for agents themselves and their use will decline, likely leaving many Realtors without a job.

'I think buyer agents will eventually move towards being paid directly by the buyer on an hourly rate basis, upfront,' said Hahn.

'And the secondary consequence of that is a lot of buyers will just buy houses without using an agent.'
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India on Friday reported a 20 per cent rise in total sales at 4,47,849 units in November 2023.

The company had sold 3,73,234 units in the same month last year, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) said in a statement.

Domestic sales were at 4,20,677 units as against 3,53,553 units in the same month a year ago, it added.

Exports were also higher at 27,172 units last month as compared to 19,681 units in November 2022, the company said.
The ceasefire gives peace a chance but no lasting peace in Gaza is possible without a two-state solution

After weeks of intense warfare in Gaza, a four-day truce has offered a glimmer of hope for millions yearning for peace in the beleaguered enclave. The pivotal question now lingerscan this pause pave the way for a permanent resolution to the enduring hostilities between Israel and Hamas, which have claimed thousands of lives and heightened the spectre of a broader conflict?

Under the current agreement, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a temporary cessation of hostilities to facilitate the release of 50 hostages in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israel. Humanitarian aid is also set to enter the strip. The flexibility of the deal allows for its extension and expansion if the initial phase proceeds smoothly, raising optimism for a more enduring solution to this deeply entrenched issue with global implications.

The first phase, involving the release of hostages and prisoners, is slated to commenced from November 24. However, disconcertingly, the Israeli Prime Minister asserted that the war against Hamas will persist beyond this truce, emphasizing Israel's commitment to achieving its objectives, including eliminating Hamas and neutralizing perceived threats from elements in Gaza.

Hamas, in parallel, has echoed similar sentiments, underscoring that the truce does not impede their broader missions. They maintain readiness to defend their people and resist the occupation, while Israel remains firm in its decision to retain military presence in Gaza.

The aggressive postures of both sides reflect a clash rooted in history, culture, geography, and divergent developmental aspirations. The current conflict stems from Hamas's incursion into Israel on October 7, resulting in significant casualties on both sides.

Notably, the captives involved in this strife hail from over 40 countries, adding a layer of complexity to negotiations. The diplomatic breakthrough, brokered by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, with support from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and US President Joe Biden, represents a temporary truce. However, achieving a lasting peace requires more intricate negotiations in the future.

The impending challenge lies in negotiating the release of Israeli military personnel held captive by Hamas. Israel faces internal divisions, with political parties in agreement but significant pressure from captive families complicating matters for Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Global demonstrations, spanning Europe, the USA, Asia, and beyond, underscore the widespread demand for a lasting peace. The substantial civilian casualties in Gaza have swayed international sentiment, putting pressure on Israel to reach an agreement promptly.

As leaders worldwide advocate for a truce, the prospect of a two-state solution gains prominence. However, the road to lasting peace is fraught with challenges, and the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains imperative for stability in the Middle East. The recent diplomatic efforts, culminating in the BRICS virtual summit, reflect a global push for a truce and a comprehensive peace process. The call for a two-state solution, echoing the borders of 1967, resonates among leaders worldwide.

Without addressing this long standing issue, enduring peace and stability in the Middle East remain elusive. The implementation of international decisions supporting a two-state solution is deemed essential for the security and prosperity of both sides, emphasizing the imperative of coexistence for a peaceful future.

(The writer is a senior journalist, views are personal)
The success of the current offensive in Myanmar shows once again that the ruling junta is doomed

The continuing offensive by an alliance of resistance groups, that began on the morning of October 27, has panicked Myanmars ruling junta. This is clear from a report in The Global New Light of Myanmar, the juntas media voice, which said that Acting President Mynt Swe recently told Myanmars Defence Council that the country was in a critical condition, and could be torn apart if the military did not act effectively against the groups that carried out the attacks, which were a part of the offensive.

The offensive has been launched by The Three Brotherhood Alliance (henceforth Brotherhood Alliance) comprising the ethnic Rakhine armed group, the Arakan Army (AA), the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the armed wing of the Palaung (the Burmese name for the Taang ethnic minority group) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) active in the Kokang Special Region of northern Shan State.

It has made significant gains, seizing the militarys bases and towns across northern Shan, Kachin and Rakhine states and the upper reaches of Sagaing and Mandalay regions. According to the website, The Irrawaddy, several resistance organisations including the Peoples Defence Force (PDF), the armed wing of the opposition National Unity Government (NUG), the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), and one of the countrys most powerful armed ethnic organisations, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), are coordinating with the Brotherhood Alliances operation.

The Brotherhood Alliance has captured over 224 junta bases and seven towns across northern Shan State, including some strategic centres on key Myanmar-China trade routes. It and allied resistance forces fully control Chin Shwe Haw, a trade hub on the Chinese border, and another strategic town, Hseni, where the Lashio-Muse and Lashio-Chin Shwe Haw trade routes converge, as well as another trade gateKyin San Kyawt on the China border in Muse Township. The Chin National Army and other Chin resistance groups have captured Reh Khaw Da in Fala town on the India border. Rikhawadar and Laidenpi in Chin State and Khampat in the Sagaing region, are also in the hands of the Juntas opponents.

In coordination with Operation 1027, the Karenni Army, the Karenni National Peoples Liberation Front (KNPLF), the KNDF, and the PDF, had jointly launched another offensive, Operation 11.11, on November 11, seizing more than 20 junta bases and outposts in Kayah States Loikaw and Demoso townships as well as the nearby Pekon township in southern Shan State.

They have also captured the strategically important Kunlong township on the Lashio-Chin Shwe Haw Road that is considered be the gateway to the Kokang region. The resistance groups have also blocked strategic arteries like the Mandalay-Lashio-Muse and the Mandalay-Lashio-Chin Shwe Haw roads, which pass through Shan State. They also control several border trade routes with China.

The military, which should be called Sit-Tat and not Tatmadaw, had been on the backfoot even before the current offensive began. It was bedevilled by low morale and desertions. Ye Myo Hein said in a piece datelined May 4, 2023, and featured by the United States Institute for Peace, the military currently has about 150,000 personnel. Roughly 70,000 are combat soldiers. At least 21,000 service members have been lost through casualties, desertion and defection since the coup. At this troop level, the Sit-Tat is barely able to sustain itself as a fighting force, much less a government. Things have been made worse by discord within. Several three-stars generals have been removed. Many younger officers are unhappy as they recognise that almost the entire country is against them.

The number of casualties has increased since Ye Myo Heins piece came out, and particularly since the current offensive began. According to reports, hundreds of junta soldiers have been killed. The Junta does not give out credible figures. The fact that the commander of the 99th Light Infantry Division, Col. Aung Kyaw Lwin has been killedthe first divisional commander to have met this fate since the 2021 coup--is, however, significant; so is the recent death of Major Soe Win Hitke, the second-in-command at the Sit-Tats Lailenpi base, in a drone attack.

The odds are now rapidly increasing against the Junta. The latter doubtless has tanks and other armoured vehicles, artillery and air force. Tanks and armoured vehicles are very difficult to deploy in the areas dominated by the ethnic forces. With densely forested mountainous terrains, deep gorges and steep climbs, these are ideal for staging ambushes. Moreover, air-strikes and artillery do not win wars, even when backed by heavily armed and trained infantry. Otherwise, the United States would have won hands down in Vietnam.

The junta will land in historys dustbin--not tomorrow but sooner than many think. India must seriously consider its options. It has to contain Chinas influence in Myanmar when Beijing has maintained close contact with the ethnic fighters, with some even suspecting that the offensive had its nod.

Second, India has its security concerns in its north-eastern parts, which is primarily why it has maintained friendly ties with the Junta. With areas in Myanmar adjoining Indias borders increasingly dominated by the ethnic resistance groups, India must consider cooperating closely with the NUG and establishing links with the ethnic forces.

(The author is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal)
The Government should support research to explore inexpensive, non-surgical options for dog sterilisation

On a misty winter morning of the year 2021, I was drawn to a commotion in the front-lane parking area of my residence in a South Delhi colony. A female dog had appeared from somewhere at night and delivered a litter. The people around appeared with all means to feed the mother and make the family comfortable in cold winter weather.

The mother made the nearby area her permanent abode. She was a very scared stray and would even come near the food after being fully assured that no one was around. Given her very fast movements, I named her Firki and she is known by this name all over the place. Out of the six pups, one got crushed under a speeding car and another got injured by a bike. In due course, we arranged for the adoption of five pups.

Efforts began to get Firki sterilised to stop further breeding. True to her name, it was a harrowing task catching her. After repeated requests to MCD, they were able to catch her on the fourth attempt. There was a big sigh of relief which did not last long as after 3 days she was dropped back by on the pretext that her blood tests were abnormal. That was the lost opportunity as she is still at large, managed to deliver three more litters with three surviving dogs each from the second and third litters. We managed to get the second litter picked up for sterilization with great effort and it was discovered after a few months that they too were dropped back without any surgery (for unknown reasons).

Firki has grown smarter with time, hiding in the big drain with her family during the day and coming out for meals in the morning and night only. The overenthusiastic residents have employed dog feeders for dozens of strays in the vicinity and also ensure continued feeding from their homes. Repeated calls and visits to the South Delhi MCD office, personal requests to the vet, social media posts tagging senior MCD officers, and messages to RWA did not fructify in catching Firki. Many times, when we managed to corner Firki and inform the MCD team, their approach was very casual and pathetic resulting in failed attempts.

On advice from a private vet, I could manage to sedate her but the attempt failed again. My desperation and helplessness knew no bounds, to the extent of announcing a reward of INR 10,000 to catch her. This followed dog catchers, colony guards, garbage collectors, cleaners, and some NGOs making attempts to catch but Firki evaded every attempt. We also got the male dogs in the surrounding area sterilized but there was always some unsterilized dog who would mate resulting in a new litter. So, from a stray dog-free part of the lane, we now have seven dogs all over the place, chasing vehicles and barking throughout the night.

The presence of unvaccinated free-roaming dogs (FRD) or street dogs, amidst human settlements is a major contributor to the high incidence of endemic Rabies in India. Stray dogs chasing morning-walkers, cyclists, and two-wheeler riders, have resulted in serious injuries and death of innocent persons on innumerable occasions.

The National Rabies Control Programme in India has been under implementation for more than a decade. The National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination from India by 2030 is being implemented jointly by various stakeholders. Successful Rabies control programmes have been implemented throughout the world, demonstrating that elimination is technically feasible.

Dog-mediated Rabies has been eliminated from Western Europe, Canada, the USA, Japan, and some Latin American countries. Even low-income countries such as regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia have been able to reduce the burden significantly by mass dog vaccination strategy. Non-surgical methods have existed in the past, however, they have not been widely adopted due to a lack of will and coordination among concerned stakeholders, lack of research, cost-effectiveness and other reasons including rampant corruption.

There is a need for more concerted efforts including ownership and enhanced coordination among concerned partner agencies. In addition, the Government should support research to explore inexpensive, non-surgical options for dog sterilization. RWAs should be more sensitive and help with monitoring count and anti-rabies vaccination of stray dogs.

(Dr Jagdish Kaur, is a public health expert; views are personal)
The idol of Shri Bade Hanuman ji, situated at the Sangam in Prayagraj, is unique

Prayagraj is a prominent city in the populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh. The party that rules Uttar Pradesh invariably conquers India. Triveni Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical and invisible Saraswati rivers, is pre-eminently holy for Hindus.

The Sangam is near the 16th-century Allahabad Fort, built by Mughal Emperor Akbar. In the fort are several architectural marvels such as the ancient sandstone Ashoka Pillar, the underground Patalpuri Temple and a sacred banyan tree. The bustling city which is the cradle of Kumbh Mela organised once in twelve years is teeming with a large population and is quintessentially catholic and pluralistic.

The history of the idol of Shri Bade Hanuman ji, situated at the Sangam Kshetra of Prayag is unique. The story connected with the history of the idol goes like this. In the city of Kannauj, an opulent trader resided. He was blessed with large sums of money and materials and all the enjoyments of life but tragically did not have a child who could carry on the legacy.

In sheer desperation, the trader traversed to the foothills of Vindhyachal to construct a temple for Hanuman ji to fulfil his wish of being blessed with a son. In the chain of hills of Vindhyachal, the merchant had constructed a huge statue of Hanuman ji out of stone. He decided to bathe the statue of Hanuman ji at several places of pilgrimage.

While bathing this statue of Hanuman ji at different pilgrim spots he eventually arrived at Sangam Kshetra of Prayag. While he was taking rest as the shadows fell, he dreamt that if he would leave the statue at this holy place all wishes would be fulfilled and the hankerings would drop.

At the crack of dawn the following day he decided to work on the lines of the previous nights dream. Thus, he left the statue at Prayag Kshetra and departed for his city, Kannauj. After a passage of time, a son was born to his wife by the munificence of Shri Bade Hanuman ji.

Sometime later, the huge statue of Shri Bade Hanuman ji got submerged in the waters and embroiled under the sands. Meanwhile, a mendicant Mahatma who was performing penance with Vyaghracharma arrived at Sangam Kshetra in the holy month of Magha to take a dip at Triveni.

One day when the Mahatma was piercing his Trishul in the sand to form his phone, he got an inkling of the statute, through his clairvoyant powers. Mahatma Balgiri began to sift the sand from the spot. He soon spotted the statute of Shri Bade Hanuman ji.

After purifying the Shri Vighrah, he meditated on the valorous qualities of Lord Hanuman. The populace in the neighbourhood was subsumed with the radiance of Lord Hanuman and the devotion and miraculous qualities of sage Balgiri. The aura and fame of Shri Bade Hanuman ji expanded rapidly. It is also believed that Mahatma Shri Balgiri ji Maharaj was bestowed with the mammoth statue of Lord Hanuman. He made valiant efforts to make the statue stand erect but he failed.

Subsequently, the statue was tried to be laid in the fort. After numerous abortive efforts, devotees were unable to remove the idol from its place. Thus, it was concurred that Shri Bade Hanuman ji did not wish to be removed from that place. All efforts were terminated and consequently, the statue was left at the place where it was first established by Saint Balgiri where thousands of pilgrims pay obeisance.

(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd.and is a faculty of the Art of Living; views are personal)
Shah Rukh Khan has delivered back-to-back action blockbusters in "Pathaan" and "Jawan" and the superstar on Saturday said he likes being a romantic hero wielding weapons in his films.

Following the worldwide success of his previous releases for the year, the actor will once again be seen holding a shotgun in his upcoming movie "Dunki".

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, "Dunki" is a saga of friendships, borders, nostalgia for home and love.

During an #AskSRK session, when a fan shared the actor's montage from his three films in which he can be seen pointing a gun, Shah Rukh said, "I actually really like this.For a romantic hero to be wielding a gun so big in all films!"

The actor held the fan interaction on the microblogging site X, a day after he released the film's second song "Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se".

Shah Rukh said the song reminds him of his late parents.

"Yes it really makes me think about my parents my Delhi days friends made and lost in time. Very emotional," he wrote.

The 58-year-old said he still feels like a child, adding he "had a lovely childhood and I do miss my parents a lot".

"Dunki" is reportedly a comedy-drama film based on an illegal immigration technique named, 'donkey flight'.

Shah Rukh said he didn't know anything about the process of 'dunki' until Hirani and film's writer Abhijaat Joshi told him about it.

"It's fascinating dangerous and quite an overwhelming experience to have learnt about it and portray parts of it," he added.

When an admirer asked the actor to define success, he said it was all about celebrating life.

"Success is to be able to enjoy the smallest simplest things in life.And appreciate every breath you take..."

Also starring Taapsee Pannu, Boman Irani and Vicky Kaushal, "Dunki" will be released worldwide on December 21.
Minister of State for defence Ajay Bhatt will pay an official visit to Accra, Ghana for two days starting December 5 to attend the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting. The Department of Peace Operations, UN and the Republic of Ghana are the hosts of the meeting, defence ministry said here on Saturday.

The UN Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting aims to address the security and operational challenges being faced by the UN peacekeepers and generate support for these missions deployed across the world. India has always been at the forefront by sending maximum number of troops and equipment to various UN Peacekeeping missions.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Bhatt will hold bilateral meetings with participating Ministers of member countries and discuss defence cooperation matters to further strengthen the engagements.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha General Secretary cum Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya today said that people are fed up with the rule of BJP and everyone wants to oust the BJP government whether it is in the Centre or in a State. Holding a press conference here on Friday Bhattacharya said that Exit BJP has become a slogan in all five states where the Assembly polls have taken place.

In the press conference, he said that the BJP has been shown the way to exit from the assembly elections held in five states. He said that I talked to the workers of other states, the only thing coming out from that conversation is that in all the five states they have decided not to form the BJP government. Five states have said, 'exit BJP'. Mizoram is a clear indication that the north-eastern states of the country have been subjected to a long period of atrocities by the BJP. Because of the fire you set in Manipur, people have decided what to do.

Similarly, he said, there are tribals in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan also. The tribals as well as the indigenous people had taken this decision long ago that the BJP rule had to be ended. Its direct result will be visible on December 3. On being asked what input he has on this, whether he has any exit poll, he said that he is just saying this after talking to political workers.

Bhattacharya further said that there was panic among the BJP leaders on Thursday when he had gone with the local MP to inspect the nano plant in Deoghar. This was the third visit of a Union Minister in the last 10 years. In the last 10 years, the PM, Home Minister andUnion Ministers came to Jharkhand but no one visited HEC because they know that if we go there, they will not be able to hide their pain. No one can be comfortable seeing the crying families there, the heat of hunger. Therefore they did not visit HEC even once.

He said that the plants of the farmers' cooperation committee that make fertilizers should be further prosperous. HEC belongs to BJP's parliamentary constituency but even once any of their ministers or MPs open their mouth about HEC, this is because HEC has to go into the hands of the PM's friend. Bhupesh Baghel had openly said that if Chhattisgarh has to be saved then India will have to be saved because it is the only front which is the wall between the Central Government and Adani and people accepted this and gave their decision in the same direction.
The AAP on Friday launched the 'Mai Bhi Kejriwal' signature campaign to get people's feedback on whether Arvind Kejriwal should resign as Delhi chief minister if he is arrested under a "conspiracy by the BJP". "The 'Main Bhi Kejriwal' signature campaign has been launched today. Under it, people's opinion is being taken on the way AAP leaders are being arrested, and if Arvind Kejriwal is arrested, whether he should resign or continue to run the government from jail," party leader Gopal Rai told reporters.

"We conducted a door-to-door campaign and asked people whether if there was an arrest, Kejriwal should resign or run the government from jail. People firmly said that Kejriwal has done a lot of work for the public.

Therefore, he should not resign but run the government from jail. People also said that all these arrests are happening under one agendam" Rai said. The Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi state convener also interacted with locals during the campaign launched from East Delhi's Laxmi Nagar assembly constituency.

Delhi BJP president hit back at the campaign saying the campaign was confined to only AAP workers. "The door to door campaign too has found no takers with common people asking AAP workers posing as "Mein Bhi Kejriwal" as to "Kejriwal Ne Bharstachar Kyun Kiya" why Kejriwal did corruption," he said.

"From December 1 to 20, they will conduct a door-to-door campaign at all 2600 polling stations, and from December 21 to 24, they will hold public meetings in all 250 wards. In the end, whatever opinion the public has, they will hand it over to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," he said.

"Our job is to awaken the public. The people have the opportunity to answer this in the Lok Sabha elections," he said

"There is immense anger among the people regarding the arrest conspiracy by the BJP against Arvind Kejriwal ji. People are asking why does the BJP want to arrest a chief minister who has done so much good work for Delhi," Rai said in a post on X.

Earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Kejriwal for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The chief minister did not appear before the central agency, claiming that its summons was "illegal and politically motivated". Under the campaign, AAP volunteers will take signatures of people on pamphlets by visiting all 2,600 polling station areas in the city as well as their opinion.
Bhim Army party leader was shot dead in Jaisinghpur village of Talagram area of Kannauj district over a petty dispute on Thursday.

As per reports, the accused barged into the house of Azad Samaj Party general secretary Bantu Singh Katheria and brutally murdered him by shooting him in the head. Assailants also opened fire on Bantu Singhs family members.

Bantu, a resident of Jaisinghpur village, was in a dispute with his own uncle, Surajpal. The two families had previously confronted each other over a water related dispute.

On Thursday morning, the two families again involved in some argument over release of water at the tube well. Miffed over this, Surajpal entered Bantus house and started firing bullets at the family members. He then fired at Bantus head from point blank range.

Bantus brother, Ankit, said that he was having an old dispute with his uncle Surajpal, due to which his uncle and two other people had come to the house and killed his brother. Superintendent of Police, Amit Kumar Anand, Assistant Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar and Circle Officer (City) Priyanka Bajpai reached the spot with heavy police force.

Initially, agitated family members initially did not allow the police to send the body for post-mortem. They only allowed the legal proceedings to proceed after the police assured them of the accuseds early arrest. A case has been registered, and efforts are underway to apprehend the accused.

Meanwhile, in the Surendranagar area of Quarsi police station limits in Aligarh, a man, identified as Gaurav, threw his wife, Gauri, off the roof in front of their children after she objected to his drinking alcohol. The children raised an alarm, and neighbours responded to their call, but the man managed to escape. The victim died before being shifted to the hospital.

On receiving information about the incident, police officers reached the spot. The Civil Lines Police station house officer Ashok Kumar Singh said that there was a domestic dispute between the husband and wife in the Surendra Nagar area after which the man killed his wife. He said that they launched a hunt for Gaurav.
Bamboo, a rapidly growing plant that can be harvested in 3-5 years, is a remarkable contributor to the atmosphere, releasing 35% more oxygen and absorbing 20% more carbon dioxide compared to other trees.

Scientific cultivation of bamboo can enhance air quality by increasing oxygen emission and carbon dioxide absorption in the atmosphere. In addition to preventing soil erosion, bamboo also aids in maintaining soil moisture.

Architect Neelam Manjunath, known for her expertise in sustainable construction, highlighted the environmental benefits of bamboo during a recent event. She emphasized that bamboo cultivation could play a pivotal role in improving air quality and contributing to sustainable development. Manjunath expressed concern that despite its potential, bamboo is not being given the attention it deserves in India.

The architect recalled instances such as the 2004 tsunami aftermath and natural disasters in Uttarakhand, where bamboo could have been a valuable resource in constructing eco-friendly homes and infrastructure. She urged for increased recognition and utilization of bamboo in construction projects, asserting that it could make a significant difference in the country's economy.

Architect Neelam Manjunath, recognized as the Bamboo Ambassador of India, made these statements during her address at the Indian Institute of Architects' awards and interaction session. She has actively worked on bamboo projects, including the construction of bamboo conference halls in schools and colleges in Bangalore.

Bhopal Chapter Chairman Akshay Selukar disclosed that the event, organized by the Bhopal chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects in collaboration with MANIT Bhopal and the Indian Institute of Architects, Bhopal Centre, featured a competition to raise awareness about bamboo as a construction material. Students participated, showcasing their innovative ideas, and the winners were honored with awards.The event also aimed to educate architecture students and professionals, providing them with a platform to engage in discussions with architects from India and around the world.
The Congress has now finally awakened up after alleging various technical flaws and blaming the government while the workers were stuck in the Silkyara tunnel for 17 days. The Bharatiya Janata Party State media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan expressed happiness at what he termed the awakening of the Congress awareness while adding that it would have been better if the Congress had exercised self control and made responsible statements when the rescue operation was being undertaken. He said that while the rescue operation was underway, the Congress did not hesitate to exhibit technical expertise and was busy in politically analysing the situation for political benefit rather than being concerned about the rescue of the stranded workers.

Chauhan said, The Congress makes statements about tunnel-based projects in Uttarakhand according to its convenience. The Congress is directly to blame for ignoring the report of the geologists regarding Joshimath but indulged in levelling allegations at the BJP. As in all disaster scenarios, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ensured direct benefit to the disaster affected in Joshimath. Due to strong political will Kedarnath is now on the world map. As far as Silkyara is concerned, the nation and the world saw the rescue operation. The Congress which was so far raising questions about tunnel-based projects should avoid raising issues as per its convenience. Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat considers the Silkyara tunnel DPR being passed during the Congress tenure as an achievement but other party leaders are questioning the project.

Regarding the decision of the Congress to felicitate rat miners involved it the Silkyara rescue operation, Chauhan appreciated it but rejected the partys evaluation of the rescue efforts. The government has credited all agencies involved, experts from across India and abroad and army along with doctors for the success of the rescue mission. Rat miners were also part of the rescue team and they did a commendable job in the final stages of the operation but categorising one effort as better and considering other efforts as lower is not correct evaluation but it shows the mentality of the Congress, Chauhan said.
Feature: Japan's int'l robot exhibition highlights robust presence of Chinese firms

Xinhua) 15:52, December 02, 2023

TOKYO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- In the halls of Tokyo Big Sight, the latest systems and equipment for both industrial and service robots along with cutting-edge technologies of robotic applications have wowed visitors at the ongoing International Robot Exhibition (iREX 2023), where Chinese exhibitors were gaining more attention with their eye-catching products.

Recognized as one of the world's largest robot expos held once every two years, the 25th iREX, themed "Sustainable Societies Through Robotics", was held offline for the first time in four years following the lifting of COVID-19-related restrictions at Tokyo Big Sight, or officially known as Tokyo International Exhibition Center.

Robotic products integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology were displayed at various booths completing tasks through autonomous learning, autonomous judgment, and even collaboration, thus achieving smarter operations in more scenarios.

The four-day event which kicked off on Wednesday reported the largest scale in history, with a record of 654 companies and organizations from 18 countries and regions showcasing their products and services in a total of 3,508 booths.

According to the organizers, the number of exhibitors from overseas this year more than doubled from the previous event, with 121 companies and organizations showcasing at 443 booths, among which Chinese firms boasted a stronger presence by totaling around 50.

Mech-Mind Robotics offers complete innovative solution packages in the field of 3D vision and AI-based industrial robot applications. It is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development, production, and sales of software and hardware products in the field of 3D vision.

Covering an exhibition area of 378 square meters, Chinese AI+3D intelligent industrial robot solution provider Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies, a third-time exhibitor at iREX, featured the largest exhibition scale among Chinese firms.

From industrial 3D cameras capable of scanning transparent objects to robotic bin-picking solutions based on a self-developed AI platform, Mech-Mind Robotics showcased nearly 30 of its latest intelligent robot applications in fields including logistics and new energy, attracting crowds of visitors.

"The rapid development of artificial intelligence technology will accelerate the transition of robots into intelligence, continuously expanding the application scenarios of robots, leading them into various industries. What we are doing is providing the 'eyes' and 'brains' for industrial robots, empowering them for the era of intelligence," Shao Tianlan, founder and CEO of Mech-Mind Robotics, told Xinhua.

Citing the company's leading market share in both domestic and overseas markets, Shao noted that the intelligent 3D vision system for robots, including guidance and measurement processes, can be applied in various industrial fields, indicating a broad market outlook.

According to Shao, products and technologies provided by Mech-Mind Robotics cover a wide range of scenarios in the Japanese market, and the company has established partnerships with well-known Japanese companies including Yaskawa Electric, Denso Corporation, and Kawasaki.

Massage therapy robots, barista robots, and waterproof robots were orderly operating at the booth of China's collaborative robots provider Aubo Robotics Technology, showcasing nimble and well-coordinated movements that wowed numerous visitors.

While its sales of collaborative robots rank first domestically and top three globally, Aubo Robotics is listed among China's "little giant" firms -- a term representing the novel elites of small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market, boast cutting-edge technologies and show great potential.

In the eyes of James Li, CEO of Aubo Robotics, Chinese robotic products featuring high quality and cost-effectiveness are steadily gaining recognition in overseas markets including Japan.

"This exhibition can be seen as a grand gathering that the robot industry has been waiting for for four years. We highly value this opportunity to showcase our products and communicate with other market players from all over the world. It is also a further strategic exploration for Chinese companies to 'go global' and better adapt to the market," he said.

The iREX 2023, organized by the Japan Robot Association and Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, will see its offline event conclude on Saturday afternoon, while the online exhibition will last until Dec. 15.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Congress will cross 135 in Madhya Pradesh and both BJP and Survey will be defeated, claimed Congress General Secretary and MP in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet.

Surjewala wrote in his tweet addressing his partymen as the sun set in the evening, he asked who would take the responsibility of fighting this darkness till morning. Then a lamp said that I will fight with full determination from this dense darkness till the first ray of the sun.

Friends like a lamp you have fought the darkness of BJP power for 18 years. I am fully confident that the sunrise on December 3 will bring an end to the misrule of the BJP government. Congress will fulfill its promises by winning more than 135 seats this was statement of Congress General Secretary MP in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala

The Bharatiya Janata Party is relying on the so-called survey on which the survey agency itself does not trust, because the BJP government has broken the trust of every citizen of the state. In the recruitment scams, everything from the future of the youth to the nutritional food of the children has been looted. From insulting the tribals to even God in the Mahakaal world, no one has been spared.

Congress has won the elections in Madhya Pradesh with a huge majority. You can clearly read the happiness of this victory on the faces of the people of the state. Only the formalities of counting of votes are left on December 3, but you have to remain alert on December 3 so that Counting of votes can be done impartially.

Friends, the darkness of expensive electricity will go away - there will be plenty of light due to cheap electricity, Rs 1500 will come into the accounts of sisters, gas cylinders will be delivered to every house for Rs 500, farmers' loans will be waived off, old pensions will be given justice.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met the workers of Uttar Pradesh who were trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand and their families after their safe return.

During the meeting at his official residence here, the chief minister enquired about the well-being of the rescued workers and heard about their experiences during the challenging time when they were trapped in the tunnel.

Chief Minister Yogi said, I am happy that all the labourers from Uttar Pradesh who were trapped in the tunnel have safely returned and are now going back to their homes. The state government stands with its people in every difficult time and will continue to do so.

During this interaction, Yogi praised the courage and patience of all the labourers during their ordeal. He honoured them with shawls on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government and also provided them with sweets and gifts.

Eight labourers from Uttar Pradesh were trapped in the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi. After spending 16 days in the tunnel, they were rescued on the 17th day. Among them, six are from Shravasti (Ankit, Ram Milan, Satyadev, Santosh, Jayprakash and Ram Sundar), one from Lakhimpur Kheri (Manjeet) and one from Mirzapur (Akhilesh Kumar).

On Chief Minister Yogis directives, a nodal officer was appointed by the state government for real-time information about these labourers and their families were updated daily about their situation. The chief minister himself monitored the situation closely.

During the meeting with the chief minister, one of the labourers said that when the incident occurred, they realised that there was some damage to the oxygen pipe. As they proceeded further, they saw debris coming from the front and their courage deserted them. The labourer explained that the place where they were trapped had a tunnel length of 2.5 kilometres and a width of 14 metres. There was enough oxygen in the tunnel for them to survive for two to three days, and the rest of the assistance was provided by the company and the government.

He went on to say that had the supply of food, water and oxygen from outside stopped, their lives would have been in danger. The labourer highlighted that both the company and the government ensured that there was no power outage inside the tunnel.

When an officer from UP contacted them, they realised that not only the Central and Uttarakhand governments but also the government of their home state (Uttar Pradesh) was determined to rescue them, the labourer added.

During the conversation, the labourers also expressed gratitude for the efforts made by the UP government.

Chief Minister Yogi enquired about the duration of their work in the tunnel in Uttarakhand. Additionally, he engaged in discussions with the families of the labourers to gain insights into their current situation.

Jay Prakash from Shravasti said the meeting Chief Minister Yogi was a great experience and the way he boosted their morale was motivating. He shared that the initial day inside the tunnel after the incident was incredibly challenging but as they became aware of the collective efforts outside to rescue them, their hopes strengthened.

Manjeet from Lakhimpur Kheri said the meeting with the chief minister was very pleasant, and it was a huge honour to meet him. He never thought that one day he would have the opportunity to meet Chief Minister Yogi.

Akhilesh Kumar from Mirzapur expressed his happiness with the efforts made by the Yogi Adityanath government for their safe return.
The Uttarakhand Congress has decided to felicitate the rat miners involved in the rescue operation in Silkyara that saved the lives of 41 labourers trapped in an under construction tunnel. Addressing media persons at Rajiv Bhawan on Friday the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that as per the wishes of the top leadership of the Congress party, the state unit of the party has decided to hold a felicitation ceremony for the rat miners. He said that all the MLAs of the party have decided to donate their one months salary to the rat miners. The PCC president also expressed gratitude to engineer Varun Adhikari who suggested that the State government should take services of rat miners in the rescue operation in Silkyara.

Mahara attacked the BJP for trying to take credit for the rescue operation and said that the party has made it a habit to make the Silkyara tunnel incident an event. Mahara said that the government which is seeking credit for the rescue operation cannot run away from the responsibility of the incident and circumstances which led to the situation in which 41 labourers were trapped in a tunnel.



Former chief minister Harish Rawat said that the Silkyara incident has put up a question mark on the tunnel technology and its usage. He said that the state should now decide on how many tunnels it needs and what are their benefits for the local population and environment. He said that issues related to the collapse of the tunnel should be discussed and deliberations on safety measures should be held so that such accidents do not occur in future.

The leader of opposition (LoP) in State assembly Yashpal Arya said that the tunnel collapse incident has brought up the fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem and its complexities in a clear manner. The incident also reflects failure of environmental impact assessment procedures in the projects being undertaken in the area.

Former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal said that the tunnel collapse incident is the result of gross neglect of the work execution agency and alleged that the State government is trying to protect the company. Godiyal and former MLA Vijay Pal Sajwan also declared that they would donate an amount equal to one months salary of the MLAs to the rat miners.
Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Professor Yogesh Singh said here on Friday teaching is the best profession on this earth while addressing newly appointed teachers in Delhi University(DU). He also said the teacher only gives. Teachers give values, culture, studies, happiness, positivity and originality, Singh said.

He made these assertions while speaking at the inauguration of the Faculty Induction Program organized for newly appointed teachers in DU. A Faculty Induction Program on the topic NEP 2020:

Pedagogical Imperatives for Higher Education was organized by Delhi University on Friday.

On this occasion, Chairman of the National Steering Committee of the National Curriculum Framework Dr K Kasturirangan (former Chairman, ISRO and former Chairman, National Education Policy Committee) was present as the chief guest.

Dr K Kasturirangan said in his address that NEP 2020 is going to complete holistic education. Through this, every aspect of life can be enriched in a holistic manner.

The Vice Chancellor said in his presidential address that the number of new appointments of teachers in DU in a year is more than 3500. This is the largest number of appointments in any university in such a period. He said that they had a total of 5200 vacancies out of which 1700 are still left.

Addressing the newly appointed teachers, he said you have got the best opportunity of teaching in the prestigious university of the country, now you have to do the best for others. He said that the teacher only gives. Teacher gives values, culture, studies, happiness, positivity and originality.
In a milestone, the Government Digvijay College at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh has registered a patent in the United Kingdom, thanks to efforts by Dr. Suresh Kumar Patel and his team.

The patent was granted on Friday for the design of a device for electricity generation from waste water.

The design can generate electricity from waste water and purify the waste water so that it can be reused.

Principal Dr. K.L. Tandekar said Dr. Patel, a senior assistant professor in physics, and his team have become a source of inspiration.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met the rat-hole mining experts from Delhi who participated in the operation to rescue the 41 workers trapped in Silkyara tunnel and felicitated them. Later, BJP leaders also met and greeted them for their effort in the rescue operation.

They announced Rs 25,000 to each six rat miners. Earlier on Thursday, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely met six rat hole miners and felicitated them.

According to officials, some of them are involved in laying sewer lines and pipelines for the Delhi Jal Board. The DJB Chairman and Water MinisterAtishi along with other cabinet colleagues were also present during this period.

The Chief Minister mentioned that it's a matter of great pride for Delhiites that all of you are from Delhi and have been working with us in the DJB for many years. As soon as the news of your arrival from Uttarkashi to Delhi was received, my wish was to sit and have tea with all of you. It's a great fortune for me to have the opportunity to sit and converse with all of you today, Kejriwal said. These 15 individuals associated with the DJB were involved in the task of rescuing 41 people trapped in a tunnel in Uttarkashi. These people are connected with L.R. Sharma and the company are related to DJB and reside in different parts of Delhi. These 15 individuals formed three teams, each with expertise in different tasks.

The BJP leaders including Manoj Tiwari, Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva also met six rat miners and announced a cash reward of Rs. 25000 to each.

The six rat miners are Vakil Hassan, Munna Quershi, Rashid Ansari, Naseem Mallik, Irshad Ansari & Feroze Quereshi. Sachdeva said nation will always be grateful to these heroes for their swift work in saving 41 lives, what international machines couldn't achieve the rat miners achieved with their strong will power.

Earlier on Thursday, the Congress delegation led Arvind Singh Lovely met them and appealed to the central and the Delhi governments to honour them with suitable cash rewards and other facilities to acknowledge their selfless service.

Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed "rat holes", as each just about fits one person. At the Silkyara tunnel, the 12 experts were called by Trenchless Engineering Services Pvt Ltd and Navayuga Engineers Pvt Ltd to deploy the rat-hole mining technique horizontally in the collapsed part of the main structure.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has approved the Delhi Government's Labour Department's proposal to allow 83 more commercial establishments including major brands in retail, fashion, e-commerce, logistics and food sector to operate round the clock. Presently there are 524 establishments are operating on the basis of 24x7. With the fresh 83 approvals, there will now be 607 such shops and establishments situated at various locations in the national capital that will give impetus to economic activities.

"These commercial establishments have been given exemptions under Sections 14, 15 & 16 of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954 that enables commercial establishments to operate on a 24X7 basis. This is the fourth such proposal which has been cleared by Saxena since October 2022 when first such exemption to operate on the 24x7 basis was given to 314 establishments followed by 55 and 155 in April and June respectively this year ," Raj Niwas official said.

Some of these shops and establishments that figured in the list of 83 are Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited involved in the retail trade of readymade garments and accessories, e-commerce giant Amazon Transportation Service Pvt. Ltd. having delivery stations, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. engaged in retail trade business like departmental and convenience stores, Nykaa Fashion Pvt Ltd and FSN Brands Marketing Pvt. Ltd. (Both dealing with cosmetic and beauty products) and Bikanerwalla International having chain of sweets shops.

Hennes and Mauritz Retail Pvt. Ltd. dealing with retail of readymade garments and accessories, AR Milk and Products involved in sale of dairy products, e-commerce firm Link Logistics Limited, I-T firm PCC Softech Pvt. Ltd, 24x7 Departmental Store Storex, FMCG distributors Link Logistics Limited, InstaKart Services Pvt. Ltd. doing business of courier and logistics, are some of the other business entities whose applications for exemption to operate 24x7 have been approved.

Saxena appreciated the chief minister and the labour department over the applications being cleared expeditiously, the official said. According to him, the LG underlined that low disposals may often point towards callousness, carelessness and extraneous considerations being at play while deciding on proposals where departmental discretion is involved.

"The LG said there is a need to mitigate any such consideration in the interest of transparent governance and all measures suggested earlier like developing a 'Single Window System' as an integral portal for approving be followed strictly," the official said.

Saxena also directed the labour department to submit within 15 days the reasons why applications that were rejected during the last year were disposed of and what has come out of them in case of re-application.

He stressed that it will also be in the interest of a conducive and investor-friendly business environment and resultant economic growth of the city, apart from providing entrepreneurship.

The LG also directed the department to consider setting up a facilitation or enabling mechanism for applicants. He has also asked for developing a feedback module to identify hitches in the whole process and provide resolution to the same on a real time basis.

The exemptions under sections 14, 15 and 16 of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act are given to establishments engaged in providing essential services. These sectors include e-commerce, grocery stores, hospitality, airport services, cargo services, cold storage and warehouses, security services and other similar services
Rotary Club of Jamshedpur Steel City, in alignment with Rotary International's commitment to girl and women empowerment, has embarked on a significant initiative to address Menstrual Health & Hygiene (MHH) as a fundamental right, not a privilege. The club, in its pursuit to eradicate period poverty, organized a comprehensive event at Netaji Subhas Chandra University college (NSU).

The event aimed to break period taboos and encourage girls to attend school or college without hindrance during menstruation. Rotary Club of Jamshedpur Steel City executed various impactful initiatives on this occasion:

Renowned activist Rishu Ranjan conducted an insightful awareness campaign titled "Menstrupedia" for college students. The campaign focused on educating students about menstrual health and hygiene, fostering a more informed and empathetic environment.

Recognizing the challenges faced by girls in accessing menstrual hygiene products, the Rotary Club installed a Pad Vending Machine at Netaji Subhas Chandra University college. Additionally, the club distributed sanitary pads to ensure that girls have easy and immediate access to essential hygiene supplies.

In a crucial step towards addressing environmental concerns and ensuring hygienic disposal, the Rotary Club installed a Sanitary Napkin Incinerator Machine. This innovative solution not only reduces the spread of infections due to unhygienic disposal but also contributes to environmental preservation by managing non-biodegradable sanitary napkins responsibly. Furthermore, it prevents the clogging of public drainage systems caused by the spongy nature of traditional napkins.

The inauguration of these initiatives was conducted by the Assistant Governor, Hetal Adesara, who highlighted the importance of taking collective action to promote menstrual health and hygiene. The Rotary Club of Jamshedpur Steel City expressed its commitment to addressing this critical aspect of women's well-being and emphasized that access to menstrual hygiene is a basic human right.

The event received positive feedback from the college community, and the Rotary Club hopes that such initiatives will contribute to fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for girls and women, ensuring they can pursue education without facing barriers related to menstruation.

Through its dedicated efforts in promoting Menstrual Health & Hygiene, the Rotary Club of Jamshedpur Steel City reaffirms Rotary International's vision of creating positive and lasting change in communities, particularly in areas vital to the well-being and empowerment of women and girls.
President of SBI Foundation, Jagannath Sahoo flagged off Bhagirath watershed development initiative in Siyasi village, Gyaraspur Tehsil. The initiative is being implemented in the District as part of SBI Foundations CSR activities, in partnership with Action for Social Advancement (ASA), a non-profit organization based in Bhopal.

The initiative is aimed towards bringing prosperity in the lives of the farmers in the locality by supporting them in watershed development for agricultural activities. A dedicated excavator, aptly named as Bhagirath (Meaning the one who brought Ganga to earth), has been donated for the purpose. Bhagirath will be moving from village to village reaching out the lands of the farmers to create farm ponds, farm bunding etc.

As per the plan, the Bhagirath is estimated to reach over thousand farmers in the district over the next three years. Sahoo shared Agriculture is the primary occupation in the District and with majority of the small and marginal farmers depending on rain-fed agriculture, waters scarcity is a critical issue in the area.

Through Bhagirath initiative, SBI Foundation envisions to address this issue by improving watershed activities and we believe this will be a significant step towards improving access to water for agricultural activities. This will enable farmers taking up multiple crops, and adopt better cropping patterns, thereby increasing the farmers income and also ensuring water conservation in the long run.

Lokesh Chandra, Deputy General Manager, of the Banks Administrative Office at Bhopal expressed that Bhagirath is pioneering effort for farmers welfare in Vidisha district and SBI branches in the locality will also be extending support to the farmers through credit linkage and other financial assistance for their socio-economic development.

Bapuji Charan Swain, Regional Manager of Vidisha, shared that the Bank has been reaching out the remote villages by taking numerous financial inclusion initiatives and providing customer services and ensuring credit delivery efficiently through branches and customer service points for ensuring easy access to financial services.

Ashis Mondal, Trustee of Action for Social Advancement (ASA) shared, As the name suggests, Bhagirath is aimed at improving water availability for farmers to agricultural activities. The farmers will be paying only for the diesel for the excavator work in their land, you can call it diesel bharo taalab khodo. This way farmers will be getting the services at nominal costs, enabling them to go for rainwater harvesting.

The agrarian community will also be trained for better water and crop management practices. During the visit, Scholarships were also awarded to talented students and youth from the locality and stitching machines were provided to women from the villages. SBI Foundation has also adopted five villages in Vidisha taluk under its flagship CSR program, SBI Gram Seva, and has been executing integrated development activities in the villages for over two years, with impactful interventions in key areas like education, women empowerment and livelihoods.
Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur, has organised a second three-day Capacity Building Programme for members of consumer Dispute Redressal Commission of Madhya Pradesh from December 01-03, 2023 sponsored by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the Government of India.

A total of 38 members of the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission from different districts of Madhya Pradesh would be attending the three-day(s) Capacity Building Program.

The Capacity Building Programme was inaugurated on 1st December, 2023 by the Chief Guest Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India to briefly talk about the program.

The Programme commenced with the welcome address delivered by the Vice Chancellor

(I/c) & Registrar Prof. (Dr.) Shailesh N. Hadli. The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Awdhesh Shrivastava, Retired District and Sessions Judge and Former Registrar State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Babugouda S Patil, Associate Professor, VM Salgaocar College of Law, Goa and SN Khare, Retired District Judge and Adjunct Faculty of Law.

All the esteemed guests gave their inputs and insights on the need for efficient implementation of consumer laws. Rohit Kumar Singh stressed upon both quantity and quality of disposal of matters as well as integration of technology with the functioning to maximize efficiency & disposal.

The Capacity Building Program was put together by combined efforts of Shruti Nandwana, Assistant Professor (Law), Bhagyashree Agarwal, Teaching Associate (Law) & Siddharth Saxena, Teaching Associate (Law).
In a significant development, the South East Central Railway's Nagpur Division has announced the cancellation of several trains owing to essential developmental works. The scheduled cancellations are set to commence from 4th December 2023 and extend till 14th December 2023, affecting the travel plans of numerous passengers. The decision to halt train services temporarily is in line with the railway's commitment to infrastructure development and enhancement.

The affected trains include the 18109 Tatanagar-Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Itwari Express and the 18110 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose ItwariTatanagar Express, both witnessing cancellations from 4th December 2023 to 12th December 2023. Passengers planning to travel on the 12870 Howrah-CSMT Mumbai Weekly Express and the 12869 CSMT Mumbai-Howrah Weekly Express should take note of their cancellation on 8th December 2023 and 10th December 2023, respectively.

Further impacting the travel schedule, the 22905 Okha-Shalimar Express will be canceled on 10th December 2023, while the return journey of the Shalimar-Okha Express will be halted on 12th December 2023. The Hatia-LTT (Mumbai) Express (12812) will remain canceled on 8th and 9th December 2023, while the return journey, LTT (Mumbai)-Hatia Express (12811), will be affected on 10th and 11th December 2023.

Additionally, the 20822 Santragachi-Pune Humsafar Express and its counterpart, the 20821 Pune-Santragachi Humsafar Express, will face cancellations on 9th December 2023 and 11th December 2023, respectively. The Hazur Sahib Nanded-Santragachi Express (12767) will be canceled on 4th and 11th December 2023, while the Santragachi-Hazur Sahib Nanded Express (12768) will see cancellations on 6th and 13th December 2023.

Passengers planning to travel on the 13425 Malda Town-Surat Express should note its cancellations on 2nd and 9th December 2023, with the return journey (13426 Surat-Malda Town Express) facing cancellations on 4th and 11th December 2023.

The LTT (Mumbai)-Shalimar Express (12101) and Shalimar-LTT (Mumbai) Express (12102) will both be canceled on multiple dates, affecting travel plans on 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th December 2023.

 Passengers are advised to stay updated with official announcements and consider alternative travel arrangements during this period. The cancellations are a temporary inconvenience aimed at ensuring enhanced safety and efficiency for future rail travel in the Nagpur Division, said an official.

The cancellations have sparked discussions within the community, with passengers sharing their experiences and seeking updates on the progress of the developmental works. This collective dialogue emphasizes the interconnectedness of rail travel and the importance of community awareness.

The temporary cancellation of trains in Nagpur Division highlights the delicate balance between short-term disruptions and long-term gains in infrastructure development. As passengers adapt to these changes, there is a collective hope that the enhancements will ultimately lead to a more robust and efficient rail network in the region.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo on Friday said a decision on who will be the Chief Minister if the Congress retains power has been left to the High Command since discussion on the issue within the state causes strain.

Talking to the media, Singh Deo said this decision was taken by him and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at a core committee meeting held recently.

Chhattisgarh in-charge Selja Kumari, Speaker Charandas Mahant, Ministers Tamradhwaj Sahu and Shiv Kumar Daharia as well as PCC chief Deepak Baij attended the meeting, he said.

Singh Deo said: In the last five years, our experience related to two-and-a-half years was not good. We decided unanimously that what the High Command decides is final. We do not want speculation as it creates strain in relations. So we have decided to leave it to the High Command.

Singh Deo was confident that the Congress will retain power in the state when the votes are counted on Sunday.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that projections are showing Congress ahead and I believe the Congress will get around 60 seats, he said.
In the current era of digital advancements, discerning between authenticity and deception has become an arduous task. The emergence of deepfakes has further exacerbated this predicament, transcending the boundaries of the virtual realm and infiltrating our physical reality. Deepfakes encompass fabricated videos or images that employ artificial intelligence to generate convincingly counterfeit content. This technological innovation possesses the capacity to inflict damage and upheaval upon society through diverse means. On November 07, 2023, Rashmika Mandanna, an actor, vehemently denounced the authenticity of a scandalous video that had emerged on various social media platforms. The video featured her face, unknowingly superimposed onto the body of a British Indian influencer. This incident serves as a prime example of a 'Deepfake' video, where Artificial Intelligence tools were employed to manipulate images and videos.

What is deep fake?

Deepfake, an AI-driven technology, is employed to create or modify video content in a manner that portrays events that never actually took place. This innovative technology operates by utilizing deep learning neural networks to manipulate both facial features in videos and vocal characteristics in audio recordings. These neural networks function in a similar fashion to the human brain's information processing capabilities. To train these networks, extensive datasets comprising thousands of images or voice samples are employed. The accessibility and affordability of deepfake technology have significantly increased, which identifies a growing prevalence of "cheap fakes." As any technology becomes more widely available, it inevitably attracts the attention of cybercriminals who exploit it for their illicit gains. This trend is observable not only in the realm of deepfake technology but also in other domains such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Process of creating Deepfakes

There are multiple techniques available for generating deepfakes. One widely utilized approach involves the implementation of a generative adversarial network (GAN). This network employs algorithms to train itself in recognizing patterns, and it can also be employed to fabricate counterfeit images. Another method involves the use of AI algorithms known as encoders, which are commonly utilized in face-replacement and face-swapping technologies. By utilizing a decoder, these encoders retrieve and interchange facial images, allowing for the superimposition of one face onto an entirely different body. Deepfakes employ autoencoders, which surpass the compression and decompression capabilities of traditional encoders, thereby enabling cyber criminals to create entirely novel images. Deepfake applications utilize two autoencoders, facilitating the transfer of images and movements from one image to another.

Several applications and software programs are available to assist novice beginners in creating deepfakes. These include the Chinese app Zao, DeepFace Lab, FaceApp (a photo editing app equipped with AI techniques), Face Swap, and the now-banned DeepNude, a highly dangerous app that generates fake nude images of women. GitHub, an open-source online software development community, hosts a significant number of DeepFake apps.

Identifying Deepfakes

Deepfakes can be identified through various indicators of unnatural activity or movement. One such indicator is unnatural eye movement, as deepfakes often struggle to replicate the natural way in which people's eyes follow and react to the person they are speaking with. Additionally, a lack of blinking is a common flaw in deep faked videos, as it is challenging to replicate the regular blinking action that occurs in real life. Another telltale sign is unnatural facial expressions and facial morphing. Deepfake technology involves stitching facial images from one source onto another, resulting in unusual or unnatural facial expressions. Furthermore, if a person's body appears to have an unnatural shape, it is likely a deepfake. Deepfake technology primarily focuses on manipulating faces rather than the entire body, leading to distorted body shapes. In terms of appearance, deepfakes often fail to generate realistic individual characteristics, such as frizzy or messy hair. They also struggle to replicate natural skin colors, resulting in abnormal skin tones. Awkward head and body positioning is another characteristic of deepfakes, with jerky movements and distorted images occurring when people move or turn their heads. Inconsistent facial positions are also common in deepfake images, further indicating their artificial nature. Deepfakes may exhibit odd lighting or discoloration, like unnatural skin tones, as well as misplaced shadows and unusual lighting. Lastly, deepfake videos often feature lip-syncing that does not align with the words being spoken by the individuals in the video. By being aware of these various indicators, individuals can better spot deepfakes and distinguish them from authentic content.

The legal stance on this matter according to our laws

Currently, India lacks a dedicated legislation addressing deep fake cybercrime; however, it can utilize a combination of existing laws to tackle this issue. If you or someone you know falls victim to a deep fake crime, these legal provisions can help. Section 66D of the IT Act stipulates Whoever, by means of any communication device or computer resource cheats by personation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees. Section 66E of the IT Act stipulates Whoever, intentionally or knowingly captures, publishes or transmits the image of a private area of any person without his or her consent, under circumstances violating the privacy of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine not exceeding two lakh rupees, or with both.

Deepfake cybercrime poses a significant threat to both individuals and organizations, as a single deepfake video can cause irreparable damage to individual reputation and brand. It is crucial for individuals and organizations to be aware of the risks and take proactive measures to protect themselves and their sensitive information. With the advancement of more sophisticated AI technology in the future, Deepfake may evolve further and pose more serious threats to the public. These threats could include election interference, political tensions, and an increase in various criminal activities.

The writer is Principal, Adarsh College, Rajdhanwar, Giridih, Jharkhand and Former Professor, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, Former Faculty Member BITS, Pilani. He has recently been granted his sixth patent by the Government of South Africa. The patent was awarded for his groundbreaking work in developing an algorithm that utilizes Artificial Intelligence to effectively combat the spread of epidemics.
Some exit polls shown on the channels regarding the assembly election results are not exit polls, but conspiratorial pre-paid polls of the Congress and the BJP to break the morale of the people of the state by confusing and misleading them said Former minister and Congress MLA Sajjan Singh Verma, while addressing a press conference held at the state Congress headquarters today.

Sajjan Singh Verma said that the BJP has hatched a failed conspiracy to grab power and is plotting to create an atmosphere in its favor by putting pressure on the employees and officers of the state. But this conspiracy of BJP will never succeed. Because the people of the state have voted for the Congress Party's victory with an overwhelming majority and for change in the state.

He said that BJP is making an unsuccessful attempt to break the morale of Congress workers by using this arbitrary pre-paid poll to make political gains. But each and every worker of the Congress will live up to the expectations of the people with all his intelligence, discretion, morale and courage and the government will be formed with the overwhelming majority of the Congress.

Verma said that some exit polls have declared the Congress party victorious, while some exit polls have shown the BJP's lead. Expressing surprise over the exit poll of Aaj Tak news channel and Axis, he said that two editors of Aaj Tak news channel, Rahul Kanwal and Rajdeep Sardesai, have released a video and refused to accept this exit poll as correct. When Aaj Tak editors themselves are rejecting the exit polls, then there is no question of anyone else accepting them.

Similarly the exit poll of News-24-Chanakya has been rejected by his own channel's editor Rajeev Ranjan. Congress party is getting a clear majority in the exit polls of AVP News, Times Now, Dainik Bhaskar and Lokpal. Lokpal's exit poll shows Congress party getting 142 seats. He said that it has also been made clear in the survey of C Voter that if the closely contested seats go in favor of Congress, then the Congress party can win even 165 seats.

It would be known that in the Karnataka elections, Lokpal had conducted the most accurate survey and given 134 seats to Congress and Congress had got 135 seats.

In the exit poll given by the country's prestigious newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, the Congress Party is forming the government with a clear majority.

Verma said journalists who are an important fourth pillar of democracy should find out for themselves whether Axis My India CEO Pradeep Gupta is a resident of Varasivani in Balaghat district of MP or not and his entire family is a member of RSS.
Chhattisgarh Police, with the help of their Haryana counterparts, on Friday succeeded in rescuing two minor girls of Chhattisgarh. The girls, aged between 14 and 16, were rescued from a gurdwara in Panchkula city.

The police have arrested a Panchkula resident who had been hiding in the gurdwara complex after kidnapping the girls from Chhattisgarh, a police official said.

The accused, Jasbir Singh, along with the girls were handed over to the Chhattisgarh Police.

On being questioned, he initially claimed to be Praveen Kumar. The Haryana Police shared the minors pictures with the Chhattisgarh Police, who confirmed their identity and later reached Panchkula to arrest Jasbir Singh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Friday, launched a scathing attack on the opposition, asserting that the memories of anarchy and goonda raj of the Samajwadi Party rule were still fresh in the minds of the people.

Opposition leaders are in the habit of claiming credit for the development works done by the samajwadis. The people have not forgotten the rampant corruption and loot of public money during the Samajwadi Party government, the chief minister said in the state assembly on Friday while replying to the debate on the supplementary grants for the current fiscal 2023-24.

Referring to specific instances of corruption during the Akhilesh Yadav government, the chief minister said, Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre in Lucknow stands out as the biggest example of state sponsored dacoity. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 265 crore, the expenditure was Rs 821 crore. Even after huge expenditure the project remains incomplete.

Gomti Riverfront is another scam of the SP government in which against the original estimate of Rs 167 crore, Rs 1,437 crore were spent by the government, he said, adding that the project was far from complete and the matter had been referred to the central investigation agencies.

Citing a glaring case of waste of public money, Yogi Adityanath said, The building of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court was constructed at a cost of Rs 1,516 crore. The strength of the Lucknow bench of the high court is only 30 judges while 20 judges sit in Lucknow. Against the requirement of 30 chambers of judges, as many as 76 chambers were constructed.

He added that the government has to incur huge expenditure in the maintenance of the high court building.

Yogi Adityanath said the figures presented by the leader of opposition were not true. The chief minister said the leader of opposition had also developed the habit of speaking against the established traditions of the House.

Taking a jibe, the chief minister said, Perhaps the leader of the opposition has little time for doing the homework. Anyway, he doesnt have time, but he tried anyway.

While presenting the details of the economic progress made during the six years of the Bharatiya Janata Party government, the chief minister said, Loans worth Rs 2.42 lakh crore have been distributed by banks.

He underscored the expansive reach of banking services, with a branch now available within every 5-kilometre radius. He said the implementation of Banking Correspondent Sakhi had been instrumental in extending banking services to every gram panchayat.

The chief minister said that as per the Income Tax Department, in June 2014, 1.65 lakh income tax returns were filed from UP, whereas in 2023, 11.92 lakh income tax returns were filed. He said today, Rs 1.5 lakh crore was being collected by the government as goods and services tax and UP was at the top position in GST registration. He said 1.69 lakh traders had benefited from the Chief Minister Traders Accident Insurance Scheme. He said today, UP was the number one state in the country in terms of molasses production and ethanol blending.

Not only this, earlier there used to be a long process for transferring residential and agricultural property, whereas today this work is being done with a fee of only Rs 5,000, he said.
The aim of the program Aapki Yojana  Aapki Sarkar  Aapke Dwar is to deliver the government schemes and services to the doorsteps of the people sitting in the last row of the society. Solutions to the problems of every poor and needy living in remote rural areas should be found at their doorstep. That's why camps are being organized in every Panchayat. The entire team of officers is present here. All of you should come to these camps and get involved in the welfare schemes, said Chief Minister Hemant Soren while addressing the program organized under the third phase of "Aapki Yojana - Aapki Sarkar - Aapke Dwar" in Palamu today.

The CM said that I am keeping an eye on all the camps being organized under the program Aapki Yojana-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar. In the camps where I am going, I am trying to see whether the beneficiaries are actually getting the benefits of the schemes or not. I am very happy that there is a fair like atmosphere in the camps. The enthusiasm among the people is at its peak and crowds are gathering at various counters to avail the benefits of the schemes.

The CM told the people that whether you want to get a ration card made or avail the benefits of the pension scheme. Whether you need caste, residential, educational or other certificate or want to join government welfare schemes. You will no longer have to visit the block and DC office again and again. You should come to the camps organized under the program Your Plan  Your Government  Your Door. You will be covered here with a plan that suits your need and your problem will also be solved.

Soren said that the BDO-CO, Inspector, Collector and SP, whom the rural people of the state do not even recognize, are coming to your doorstep with their entire team with a bundle of schemes. You should take these plans inside your house. Our government is working to give you your rights with full respect.

The CM said that this is a government run by the people of the state. You have given us the responsibility of running the state. In such a situation, it is our duty to serve the public. I assure you that this government stands with you in all your sorrows and joys. Whatever problems and troubles you may have, they will be resolved.

The CM said that we definitely fulfill what we say. They are continuously brainstorming on how to move the state forward and working as per the strategy. Ever since our government has been in existence, it has faced challenges like Corona epidemic and drought. But even amidst these adverse circumstances, work was done to provide relief to the people of the state and now the pace of development is being accelerated. We have set a target of making Jharkhand self-reliant by the year 2025. We are moving forward with this goal. We will establish this state on our own, where it will not need help from anyone. On our own strength we will bring this state into the category of top states.

He said that the soul of Jharkhand resides in the villages and farmers are the backbone of the villages. In such a situation, the government is working with full force to empower the farmers and increase their income. Many schemes are going on for farmers. Through Birsa Harit Gram Yojana, farmers are being motivated to plant fruit trees. It is being linked to horticulture through Didi-Badi scheme. Farmers are opening schools across the state, where information about modern agricultural techniques is being imparted. To ensure that water reaches every field, work on irrigation schemes is being done at a fast pace. Agriculture officers have been appointed to assist the farmers. Our government is empowering the farmers.

Soren said that now whatever animals will be given to the beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Pashudhan Yojana, there will be insurance on them, so that the farmers do not have to suffer financial loss in case of death of the animals. He said that under this scheme the beneficiaries will now also get buffalo.

The CM said that a large number of workers from Jharkhand go to work in other states. The government has also taken many steps in the interest of these migrant labourers. In this regard, our government is going to enter into agreements with various states. Due to this, if any laborer from Jharkhand faces any kind of problem in any state, then the state government will come forward to help them. The CM told the workers to register themselves on the Labour Department portal, so that the government has complete data about which workers have gone to work in which state.

The Chief Minister said that now girls do not need to worry about money for education. The government will bear all the expenses of their education. Girls will not need to leave their studies midway, because they are being linked to Savitribai Phule Kishori Samridhi Yojana. Now the girls here will become engineers, doctors and officers after studying.

He said that Jharkhand has stepped into youth. No one cared about Jharkhand during the last two decades. Because of this the state started lagging behind. But, our government is ready to change the fate and picture of Jharkhand with everyone's cooperation. For this, the youth will have to keep pace with the young state.

On this occasion, the CM inaugurated 113 schemes constructed at a cost of Rs 100 crore 69 lakh 89 thousand. At the same time, the foundation stone of 75 schemes was laid. About Rs 104 crore will be spent on these schemes. The Chief Minister distributed assets worth about Rs 68 crore 67 lakh among 6 lakh 53 thousand 152 beneficiaries of various schemes.

On this occasion, Labour Minister Satyanand Bhokta, Agriculture Minister Badal and Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, MLA Ramchandra Singh, Secretary to the Chief Minister Vinay Kumar Choubey, Inspector General of Police of Palamu Division Rajkumar Lakra and Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent Police of the district and other officials were present.
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a charge sheet against AAP MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, officials said.

The prosecution complaint has been filed before a local court under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

This is a supplementary charge sheet in this case as the agency had filed about five such complaints earlier.

Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested in this case by the ED in October.

The anti-money laundering agency had alleged that an accused businessman Dinesh Arora gave Rs 2 crore in cash at the Rajya Sabha MP's residence in two tranches.

Singh has rebutted the claim.

The AAP MP was arrested by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe linked to the 2021-22 Delhi Excise policy case and was the second high-profile leader after Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister, to be held in this case.

The AAP that rules Delhi has called the arrests and the case a "political witch-hunt".

An investigation by the ED has revealed that Arora has given Rs 2 crore cash at Singh's house on two occasions -- Rs 1 crore each time -- the agency alleged in its remand application.

The period when the cash was allegedly given was between August 2021 and April 2022.
Israel pounded targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, intensifying a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas and giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.

At least 178 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.

This is going to be very important going forward," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. "It's something we're going to be looking at very closely.

Israel's attacks Saturday were focused on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the military dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave.

As of late Friday, however, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.

There is no place to go, lamented Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Some 2 million people - almost Gaza's entire population - are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) area.

In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.

It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to, the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts.

Egypt has expressed concerns the renewed offensive could cause Palestinians to try and cross into its territory. In a statement late Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians is a red line".

US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House. US President Joe Biden's administration has been emphasising the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held captive by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. The Israeli army said Friday it had confirmed the deaths of four more hostages, bringing the total known dead to seven.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

The war began after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

After the end of the truce, militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating along its northern border with Lebanon.

HUMANITARIAN AID HALT

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

Since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, according to the UN.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will wipe out even the minimal relief provided by the truce and prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel's assault, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.
A day before the counting of votes in Madhya Pradesh, both the Congress and the BJP on Saturday expressed confidence in emerging victorious in the assembly elections.

The counting of votes for all 230 assembly seats in MP will begin at 8 am on Sunday (December 3) at 52 district headquarters amid tight security, according to a top poll official.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed his party would retain power with a huge majority, while state Congress chief Kamal Nath said he had complete confidence in the voters of the state.

Many exit polls have put the incumbent BJP ahead of the Congress.

BJP is going to form the government with a huge majority. (This is going to happen due to) love and trust for Modi ji (PM Narendra Modi), results of Centre and state schemes, trust of the people due to unprecedented development of Madhya Pradesh... BJP will get many more seats (than predicted), Chouhan told reporters on Saturday.

He said that all the sections of society, including ladli behnas, gave love to the BJP.

Ladli Behna Yojana' is a flagship scheme under which eligible women get a monthly financial aid of Rs 1,250.

Asked about the exit poll projections, state Congress chief Nath told reporters, I have nothing to do with (such) polls. I have trust in the voters of Madhya Pradesh.

In reply to a question about reaching out to party rebels and independent candidates (in case of a hung assembly), Nath said there won't be any need for it.

If the BJP has 160 seats, then why is it creating drama by talking to such people, he asked.
Ahead of the Winter session of Parliament, the government on Saturday asserted that it was ready for a discussion on all issues provided the opposition ensures an enabling environment in the House.

As leaders of political parties in Parliament met here on Saturday to discuss the agenda for the Winter session beginning Monday, opposition leaders demanded English nomenclature for the three bills seeking to replace criminal laws while also flagging issues of price rise, "misuse" of probe agencies, and Manipur.

Briefing reporters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the government assured during the meeting that it is ready for discussion on all issues.

He, however, said the opposition must ensure an enabling environment for discussion to take place.

Joshi said the government is fully ready for a structured debate and has requested the opposition to let the House function smoothly.

He added that the government has taken the opposition's suggestions positively.

Joshi said 19 bills and two financial items were under consideration.

Deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said the opposition has flagged concerns over the issues of China "taking away" our land, Manipur, price rise and "misuse" of the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Joshi had convened the meeting which was attended by senior leaders such as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pramod Tiwari, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, NCP leader Fouzia Khan, and RSP leader N K Premachandran among others.

The Winter session of Parliament begins on December 4 and will have 15 sittings till December 22, during which it is expected to consider key draft legislations, including three bills to replace the colonial era criminal laws.

The report of the Lok Sabha panel recommending the expulsion of Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra from the lower house over a "cash-for-query" complaint is also listed for tabling in the House on Monday, the first day of the session.
In a case of religious fanaticism, three Indian-origin men in New Zealand have been sentenced for the attempted murder of a popular Auckland-based Sikh radio host who was vocal against the ideology of Khalistan.

The attack occurred on December 23, 2020, when Harnek Singh was ambushed by a group of religious extremists in his driveway. He suffered over 40 stab wounds and required more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries to recover, the Australia Today website reported.

Sukhpreet Singh, 44-year-old, was found guilty of being an accessory, and Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27-year-old, pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

The third man, a 48-year-old Auckland resident, has been given one of the longest possible prison sentences for the crime, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

During a hearing on November 28, a judge noted that community protection and a strong message of deterrence were both necessary for the highly unusual case, it reported.

The third defendant, who continues to have interim name suppression, was not present when the attack occurred. The court was told that he harboured a years-long resentment against Harnek as he was vocal against Khalistan, Australia Today reported.

He planned the hit and used his charismatic influence over others to recruit henchmen to do his bidding, the judge said.

It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism, Woolford said of the motivation for the attack. Violence of this kind is committed to what is perceived as the furtherance of the greater good..."

Sentencing in this context requires a different approach. The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others.

A sentence of 13-and-a-half years was imposed, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before he can begin applying for parole, the Herald reported.

The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 14 years. The only reason the defendant did not receive the full maximum sentence was that he deserved a six-month credit for the time he spent on electronically monitored bail while awaiting his lengthy trial in September and October, the judge said.

Harnek did not attend the hearing but wrote a victim impact statement that was read aloud by prosecutors.

My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down, he said.

Addressing the defendants directly, he said: You came to kill me. ...You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed. ...I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have."
(): A group armed with explosives and guns killed 11 people in eastern Iraq, security officials said Friday. The attack took place Thursday night in the area of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province. A roadside bomb exploded and gunmen then opened fire on rescuers and bystanders at the scene, two security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The victims were all civilians, the officials said. The gunmen fled and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Diyala province has seen periodic attacks by Islamic State cells and sporadic violence due to sectarian tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, as well as fighting between rival militias and their tribal and political allies struggling over influence and lucrative racketeering networks. The province, which borders both Iran and Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region, is a prime conduit for smuggling. The Iraqi militarys joint operations command said in a statement that it would form a committee to investigate the attack. Lt Gen Qais al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the joint operations, travelled to Diyala on Friday to attend a funeral for the victims and and determine the circumstances of the incident, the statement said.

The provincial governor of Diyala, Muthanna al-Tamimi, vowed in a statement to pursue the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdish region to the north, said the attack proves the fact that terrorism still poses a real threat and challenge, and that we must confront them with all our force and ability. He called for greater cooperation between the Iraqi army, Kurdish peshmerga forces and other security forces, as well as with the US-led international coalition against IS.
(): A Paraguayan government official was replaced after it was revealed that he signed a memorandum of understanding with representatives of a fugitive Indian gurus fictional country, who also appear to have duped several local officials in the South American country. The revelation sparked a scandal  and lots of social media mockery  in Paraguay but its hardly the first time self-described representatives of the United States of Kailasa duped international leaders. Earlier this year, they managed to participate in a United Nations committee meeting in Geneva and also signed agreements with local leaders in the United States and Canada. Arnaldo Chamorro was replaced as chief of staff for Paraguays Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday shortly after it was revealed that he signed a proclamation with representatives of the United States of Kailasa. Among other things, the October 16 proclamation expressed a sincere wish and recommendation for the government of Paraguay to consider, explore and actively seek the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States of Kailasa and support its admission as a sovereign and independent state in various international organisations, including, among others, the UN, according to a copy of the agreement posted on social media.
This is a "dynamic capacity" that increases visits from 4,044 visits (Ministerial Resolution No. 000255-2023-MC in force until December 31, 2023) to 5,600 visitors per day, which is due to a recent technical capacity study and the demand to get to know this world wonder.









The approval at the UGM was agreed upon following the proposal presented at the Fifth Ordinary Session of the UGM Steering Committee, before heads of the Foreign Trade-Tourism, Culture, and Environment Ministries, as well as of Cusco Region Government, the Municipality of Machu Picchu Town, and representatives linked to this matter.





This agreement must be officialized so that Machu Picchu will receive more visitors per day starting next year.





Cusco Region Governor Werner Salcedo stated that it is necessary to make decisions in favor of the Machu Picchu population and visitors so as to strengthen the economic dynamics in this area, with responsible and sustainable tourism, thus preventing possible social conflicts.





Executive Branch's wish is to consolidate tourism in Cusco; therefore, preservation and conservation will be pillars for this purpose. In this regard, Foreign Trade-Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Mathews indicated that the









Until November, the proposed increase was a matter of evaluation, even up to a maximum of 5,940, according to the "Cultural Site Research and Management, under the Direction of Douglas Comer" study conducted in 2015; however, it was decided on 5,600, not including tourists who access the Inca Trail.





Four UGM members agreed to increase the capacity, but the decision of the Ministry of Culture was missing.









(END) PHS/MAO/MVB
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has reaffirmed its strong commitment to the non-proliferation agenda during the 28th session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Today the 28th Session of the OPCW Conference of the States Parties was concluded. Armenias National Statement emphasized the significant role of the OPCW and reaffirmed Armenias strong commitment to non-proliferation agenda, Armenias Permanent Representation to the OPCW said on X.
A search is on for a kangaroo seen hopping around a town in Ontario, Canada  more than 14,000 kilometres away from its native Australia.

Drivers were stunned when they saw the animal jumping on the side of two roads in Oshawa, a small city east of Toronto, on Friday morning in the middle of winter. Footage shows the roo avoiding cars by bounding on bitumen protected by boulders, and along a frosted grassy area.

There have been numerous sightings of the kangaroo in Oshawa, a small city east of Toronto. Source: CHCH News Youtube/X

Paul Rellinger told a local publication he saw the kangaroo while taking his 13-year-old daughter to school. We thought it was a deer, but then saw it hopping along the side of the road, he said. Durham Regional Police said they received calls about the animal around 7.40am but officers couldnt find it when they arrived. Residents are encouraged not to approach the animal, which has yet to be found.

Where did the kangaroo come from?

The marsupial was in the process of being transferred to a zoo in Quebec on Thursday night when it escaped staff at the Oshawa Zoo and Fun Farm, CTV News Toronto reports. It jumped over their heads, Cameron Preyde, an employee with the zoo, said. We are in the process of tracking it down. This is not our kangaroo. It was just supposed to be a stopover, like a hotel room, on its way to Quebec.

Volunteers trying to catch the kangaroo have received around 30 sightings of the animal and the search continued on Saturday.

Kangaroo On the run Oshawa 



So @shanermurph msged me and asked hey is there a kangaroo on the loose in Oshawa



I laughed. Until I found a video of what looks to be a FLIPPING kangaroo on the loose  in Oshawa



pic.twitter.com/BjqXqNsp0H  Kyle.Taylor (@livingbyyyz) December 1, 2023

Story continues

Concerns for kangaroo's health

Volunteers and employees at Oshawa Zoo came close to wrangling the roo on Friday night but it hopped away again as temperatures hovered above freezing, CTV reports. On a day like today, at The Toronto Zoo, the kangaroos, the wallabies, would have a choice to go outside, but what we're concerned about, in this case, is prolonged exposure, Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong told the publication.

There are also concerns the kangaroo could come into contract with other humans or coyotes.

Cameron, who has worked at the zoo for 30 years, said hes never seen anything like the kangaroos escape before. Normally, weve got very good control over the animals, he said. This is just a one-off incident that really sucks.

Roo on the loose weeks after wallabies found in Vietnam

Just weeks ago a mob of wallabies were found wandering the streets of northern Vietnam, highlighting the global illegal wildlife trade, which is estimated to be worth US$10 to $23 billion per year, according to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and data conducted at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Ben Pearson, Country Director at World Animal Protection, told Yahoo News Australia earlier this month that Aussie reptiles and birds are in particular high demand overseas, but animals of all different species are illegally exported in distressingly high volumes.

Illegal trafficking is huge, he said. Unfortunately in Australia, mostly, its about reptiles and birds. Thats really what you see  but you also see hundreds of others [species] too. Authorities are constantly catching people trying to smuggle.

And Australia is a popular source country, because so many of our animals are unique to our ecosystems.

Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new weekly newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories.
Review meeting on education department held at the Camp Office. (Twitter)

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to complete the Nadu-Nedu second phase works in schools as per schedule, while focussing on proper maintenance of the schools that have got a facelift under the first phase.

At a review meeting on education department held at the Camp Office here on Friday, the Chief Minister told them to ensure that special attention is paid by the teachers towards students lagging behind others in classrooms and take necessary steps so that they would be brought on par with others.

He also directed them to complete the installation of IFPs in all schools by December third week and provide broadband connection to all schools.

The Chief Minister directed them to hand over Vidya Kanuka kits to students before the schools are reopened. He said efforts should be made to make students take examinations in English medium and hone English skills of the students in all government schools in AP.

The Chief Minister was informed that works worth Rs 3,746.82 crore were being undertaken under the second phase of Nadu-Nedu and 11 types of necessary facilities would be provided to schools. "Works are being undertaken at a rapid pace in junior colleges."

Officials told the Chief Minister that tabs would be distributed to Class VIII students from December 21 and tabs would be loaded with all necessary apps. Use of tabs is giving good results as teachers and students are using them for an average of 77 and 67 minutes respectively every day. Some 7,000 tabs have been repaired and put to reuse, they said.

Explaining about the steps taken to reduce the dropout rate in schools, officials said that 1,49,515 failed students including Class 10 students have rejoined the schools and volunteers were playing key role in this. They also said that Nandyal district created history as it became the first district to have 100 per cent enrolment in schools.

When the officials explained that 87 per cent of the students of Classes III to IX were taking their unit examinations in English medium, the Chief Minister said efforts should be made to make the rest also follow suit.

The officials said that the average percentage of students taking examinations in English medium in AP stood at 84.11 as against the national average of 37.03 per cent. "Students are being trained for one hour daily in TOEFL and officials have attended the working group meetings on the introduction of (IB) International Baccalaureate curriculum in schools."

While a study would be undertaken on the curriculum, subject plan, assessment and teacher training, teachers would be trained in the teaching of IB to students from next year as per recommendations of the IB specialists.

Students of Class VI and above would also be trained in future skills with the help of experts from the engineering colleges, they said, adding that French, Spanish, German and Japanese languages also would be taught to the students of Classes IX and Class X as per their options.
The police imposed prohibitory orders and banned the sale of liquor ahead of Sunday's counting of votes for the Assembly elections. (Representational image: DC)

Hyderabad: The police imposed prohibitory orders and banned the sale of liquor ahead of Sundays counting of votes for the Assembly elections. These restrictions will be in force from 6 am on Sunday to 6 am on Monday. Police commissioners Sandeep Sandilya (Hyderabad), Stephen Raveendra (Cyberabad) and D.S. Chauhan (Cyberabad) ordered liquor shops closed in their respective commissionerates. The prohibitory orders included a ban on five people and more gathering at a place, and against setting off firecrackers in the streets.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh (PTI file image)

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in "maximum global talk, minimum local walk" on his assertion at the COP-28 that India has struck a balance between development and environment conservation."How can anyone take what the prime minister says globally on environment seriously in light of his disastrous track record in India," Congress general secretary and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

Our statement on the Prime Ministers Maximum Global Talk, Minimum Local Walk in Dubai at the Conference of the Parties(COP) 28 given his disastrous track record on environment in India. pic.twitter.com/BLfZ1IOBEc  Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 1, 2023

Prime Minister Modi during his address at the UN climate conference (COP28) in Dubai asserted that India has presented a great example to the world of striking a balance between development and environment conservation.

"India is among the only few countries in the world on track to achieve its Nationally Determined Contributions or the national action plans to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the guardrail to avoid worsening of the impact of the changing climate," he said.

Claiming that the Modi government has made several "illegal and regressive changes" to relax environmental protections, Ramesh said the prime minister's statement at the Dubai conference was "yet another of his trademark falsehoods".

"Maximum Global Talk, Minimum Local Walk -- is the principle followed by the prime minister. He has claimed in Dubai that India has 'struck a great balance between ecology and economy'. This is yet another of his trademark falsehoods," he alleged on X.

"Here's the reality: Forest Conservation Act, 1980 has been made completely hollow with a 2023 amendment. It does away with provisions for the consent of forest communities and with requirements for forest clearance in vast areas. It removes protections for 25 per cent of India's forest cover, in violation of the 1996 TN Godavarman Supreme Court order. It is paving the way for the Modi government to exploit forests and hand them over to a select few chosen corporates," Ramesh said.

The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a historic legislation protecting the traditional rights of adivasis and forest-dwelling communities, was "weakened" with a 2022 notification, he claimed.

"Forests can now be cleared without consulting those who live there, and consent from gram sabhas is no longer needed to use forest land," Ramesh said.

The National Biodiversity Act, 2002, he alleged, has been massively diluted to allow private companies easier access to forests without benefit-sharing with communities.

"It does away with any criminal offence provisions, allowing the PM's crony capitalist friends and others who destroy biodiversity to get away scot-free. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), formerly an independent body able to keep a check on the government, has been completely put under the control of the environment ministry," Ramesh alleged.

The Congress leader said when the entire world was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Modi government passed 39 amendments to rules under the Environment Protection Act.

"Illegal and regressive changes were made to relax environmental protections -- pollution control measures were removed, penalties for violations were lowered, criminal prosecutions were stripped, and public notice requirements were waived," he alleged.

The Environmental Impact Assessment norms have been continuously weakened since 2020, he also alleged. Timelines for hydro and mining project clearances have been arbitrarily extended, major project types have been removed from central government clearance, public hearings and participation have been skipped, Ramesh claimed.

"In eco-sensitive areas like the Himalayan region, the Modi government has illegally bypassed the need for Environmental Impact Assessment by splitting large projects into small segments. The Silkyara tunnel disaster is only a symptom of the larger malaise," he alleged.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has been consistently "weakened" since 2014. Vacancies have been left open for years, reaching 70 per cent overall in 2018 and leading to the shutdown of the Chennai NGT bench, he alleged on X.

He said the Madras High Court had to step in in 2019 and instruct the Union government to fill vacancies.

The Congress leader also alleged that bureaucrats, rather than scientific experts, are being appointed to key posts.

"Lastly, and most importantly, air pollution has turned into a grave public health crisis under the Modi government, becoming a major threat to life expectancy. From 2015 to 2020 alone, the share of Indians exposed to PM2.5 above 100 has doubled, reversing improvements over the previous years," he said.

"The Modi government has not only been ineffective in dealing with worsening air pollution across the country, but it relaxed norms for coal transportation and emissions scrubbing," the former environment minister alleged.

Prime Minister Modi at the COP-28 also asserted that the world does not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century and announced a 'Green Credit Initiative' focused on creating carbon sinks through people's participation. He also proposed to host the UN climate conference in 2028, or COP33, in India.
The counting of votes in Mizoram will take place on December 4, a day after it was originally scheduled (ANI)

New Delhi: The counting of votes in Mizoram will take place on December 4, a day after it was originally scheduled, the Election Commission said on Friday. It said the decision was taken following representations from various quarters requesting for a change in the date of counting from December 3 on the ground that Sunday holds a special significance for the people of Mizoram, a Christian-majority state.

"The Commission, having considered these representations, has decided to revise the date of counting for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Mizoram from 3rd December, 2023 (Sunday) to 4th December, 2023 (Monday)," it stated.

The counting was earlier scheduled for December 3, along with that in four other states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana - where assembly polls were held last month.

Polling for the 40-member Mizoram assembly was held on November 7. More than 80 per cent of the over 8.57 lakh voters exercised their franchise to decide the fate of 174 candidates.

Members of the Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee held protests across the state on Friday seeking a change in the date of counting of votes.

The committee is an umbrella body of major civil society organisations and student bodies, including the influential Central Young Mizo Association and Mizo Zirlai Pawl.

Addressing a protest rally near the Raj Bhawan in Aizawl earlier in the day, NGOCC chairman Lalhmachhuana criticised the Election Commission for remaining silent on the issue so far despite repeated appeals by political parties, churches and NGOs to reschedule the counting date as it falls on a Sunday, a sacred day for Christians, who form the majority of the state's population.

The NGOCC had recently sent a delegation to Delhi and discussed the issue with poll panel officials, he said.

Earlier, the Election Commission changed the date of polling for the Rajasthan assembly elections from November 23 to November 25 following demands for a change given "large-scale" weddings in the state that day.
Kanakadurga temple priests and TDP leaders welcome former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and his wife Bhuvaneswari for darshan in Vijayawada on Saturday. (DC Image)

VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu offered prayers to Goddess Kanaka Durga atop the Indrakeeladri hill in Vijayawada on Friday.

Interacting with media later, Naidu disclosed that he prayed asking the Goddess to save the righteous, punish wrongdoers, and bless Andhra Pradesh in a way that benefits the society.

Naidu said after praying in Tirumala to Lord Venkateswara, who took the avatar to protect righteousness in Kaliyuga, he has come to Vijayawada for the darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga.

The TD chief said before deciding on his future course of action, he will seek blessings of Lord Narasimha Swamy at Simhachalam temple in Visakhapatnam on December 3. On December 5, he will pray at Srisailam and visit the dargah.

The former chief minister underlined that when he had been facing a tough time, not only people of Andhra Pradesh but across the world responded and fought for the truth. He said several people have prayed for him and many are still praying as per their beliefs. He asserted that with the blessings of all Gods, truth is now winning.

Naidu said Telugu people have established their identity across the world. But right now, the five-crore people in Andhra Pradesh are facing severe troubles.

He maintained that his goal is to see Telugu people reaching top levels in the world, for which he has worked for the past 45 years. He promised to work towards the same goal despite facing opposition from evil forces, which he will continue to fight and counter.

The former CM urged people of AP to save dharma, so that it saves everyone.
Residents have been left scratching their heads after spotting a bizarre flashing billboard outside a Melbourne home on a quiet suburban street.

Part of the bright white messaging blasted across the sign says I had to prove my character and finances to live here but I wasnt allowed to ask about yours, confusing people as to who the apparent criticism was directed at.

The billboard on the quiet Melbourne street has stumped some locals. Source: Wyndham TV

WTF someone has lost the plot, one person commented online. Finances must be good if you can afford a billboard that could light up the MCG, another joked. But a billboardreally? Thats a bit intense, someone else added.

Council contributes $30k to art project

Its since been revealed the flashing sign is an art project from the Common Collective that is running on Anderson Street in Werribee from Friday to Sunday. The Herald Sun reports the Wyndham City Council contributed $30,000 of ratepayers money to the AT HOME Wyndham project, which features 12 local artists.

The art installation will run until 6pm on Sunday. Source: Wyndham TV

The arts collaborative embraces different perspectives on the idea of home, architecture, the use of domestic space, and its unique position in the Australian psyche, the council posted on its Facebook page.

Where did the billboard's text come from?

A council spokeswoman told The Herald Sun the text on the billboard was taken from a poem written by a local Wyndham-based artist who has been exploring the experience of housing insecurity in their work. She said the installations team knocked on the doors of nearby residents to give them a heads up, with the response reportedly overwhelmingly positive.

For those who are curious, the project is on display until 9.30pm on Saturday and runs from 11am to 6pm on Sunday.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar (X.com)

Hyderabad: Director-General of Police (DGP) Anjani Kumar on Saturday held a teleconference with heads of various wings of the city and state police to review the security measures in place to ensure peace and calm during Sundays counting of votes.

He urged unit officers to make a thorough assessment of the local situation and the routes being taken for victory processions.

"The advisory here is that processions can only be taken out 24 hours after the results are declared. I will leave it to the discretion of unit officers. However, the guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI) should be followed in spirit and spirit," he said.

Anjani Kumar cautioned the officials that tempers would run high at counting centres where the situation could deteroirate. He wanted the officials to be fully prepared for any eventuality where the contests aer close. He wanted them to strictly ensure that no gatherings are allowed at counting centres.

In areas where the main candidates have good support, there was a need to add additional pickets, mobile patrol parties and obtain the special branch report and plan accordingly.

Anjani Kumar drew attention to the fact that in some areas debris and construction material is left lying on the roads. These could be used for stone-pelting offences by some frustrated elements in the losers camp. He urged the officials to identify such sites and coordinate with gram panchayats and GHMC authorities and have the potential missiles removed.
Telangana Police personnel deployed at Nagarjuna Sagar dam, in Nalgonda district (PTI Photo)

Hyderabad : The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will take over security at the Nagarjunasagar dam, which has been at the centre of a latest flare up between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with AP being accused by Telangana of taking over the dam forcibly, and illegally releasing water to Andhra Pradesh through the dams right canal.

The suggestion that the security of the dam be handed over to the CRPF came from Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla who on Friday held a teleconference with Chief Secretaries from both the states  A Santhi Kumari from Telangana and K.S. Jawahar Reddy from AP. The meeting was also attended by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), and senior officials from the police and irrigation department of Telangana.

According to an official news release from the Telangana government, Santhi Kumari said that by its actions of forcibly taking over the dam and its operations, Andhra Pradesh created law and order problems, especially when the entire state administration was busy in conducting elections to the Legislative Assembly.

She also said APs unilateral decision to release water to itself from Nagarjunasagar will create water supply problems to the nearly two crore people in and around Hyderabad, and suggested that the status-quo being maintained over the last 10 years must continue. Bhalla responded that for the time being, the dam will be under the control of CRPF personnel.
Painters working on the main arch of Pragathi Bhavan. (Image By Arrangement)

Hyderabad: After BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao put out statements exuding the confidence that the party would win the elections, and party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao convened a Cabinet meeting on Monday in a bid to shore up the morale of party workers, the ruling party on Saturday propagated an "all is well" message to its cadre by sprucing up the sprawling CMs camp office and official residence Pragathi Bhavan.

The social media wing of the ruling party uploaded and shared pictures of painters working on the main arch of Pragathi Bhavan, with the caption "That is CM KCR." Staunch loyalists explained that the camp office was being readied for Chandrashekar Raos third term.

Sources explained that the paint had worn off in some places and the white cement had peeled off more than a year ago.

Official sources told Deccan Chronicle that there was no agenda for the proposed December 4 Cabinet meeting, making it clear that it could be a brief and nominal affair. As per the rules, the incumbent Cabinet should meet, resign and recommend dissolution of the Assembly to the Governor to pave the way for constituting a new government post-election.

"Recommending the dissolution of the House to the Governor is all the more important because the term of the incumbent House is up to January," a senior official said.

On several previous occasions, Chief Ministers convened meetings of their Cabinets and recommended dissolution of the House if they faced defeat in the polls. In the event of the same party returning to power, the Cabinet still has to recommend the dissolution of the incumbent House.

"Either way, Chief Ministers used to wait for the poll result and act," the official cited above said.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar (PTI)

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday sought to deny reports he has been asked to bring winning Congress candidates from five states where elections were held recently, to resorts and hotels in Karnataka ahead of the results.

Shivakumar was responding to reports that the Congress high command had asked him replicate arrangements made for 44 Gujarat legislators during the August 2017 Rajya Sabha elections to prevent 'poaching'.

"No MLAs will be going anywhere," he said.

"Nobody has given me a responsibility or called me. I have my own opinion on the poll analysis that is being shown by the media. I am confident that we will win all the states," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Elections were held in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram and the counting of polled votes is slated on Sunday.

Responding to a query on this, Shivakumar, who is the Karnataka Congress chief, said, "There is no need for them (MLAs) to go anywhere." He said that some people were trying to get in touch with the winning candidates in Telangana. However, the Congress will manage it locally, he added.

Sources close to Shivakumar said they have not yet been asked to make any arrangements for the stay of a large number of people.

To a question, Shivakumar said he would do whatever the party asked of him, in case a Gujarat-like situation arose.

On the possible election results, the Deputy Chief Minister said the reports in other states are good.
TPCC leaders submit memorandum to CEO Vikas Raj. X.com

Hyderabad: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy and MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday, in a complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleged that the BRS government diverted `6,000 crore of Rythu Bandhu aid to clear dues of contractors. They also claimed that revenue officials were registering assigned land parcels in the name of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos benamis, misusing the Dharani portal.

Calling on Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj to submit a memorandum addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Congress leaders said that the model code of conduct was still in force and that the state government must be stopped from taking steps in violation of it.

Revanth Reddy alleged that since the ECI did not permit the Rythu Bandhu disbursement before the Assembly elections, the BRS government was disbursing the same funds to "favoured contractors for receiving commissions/kickbacks".

"In the last two to three days in power, when MCC is in place, government of Telangana is disbursing `6,000 crore to selected contractors in an illegal manner," he alleged.

Congress leaders said the payments were being made on an out-of-turn basis to favour select contractors.

They alleged that land parcels over thousands of acres in Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Medchal districts, all surrounding Hyderabad, were being transferred to "benamis of Chief Ministers family members".

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that they sought a direction from the ECI to the Chief Secretary to follow due process. They said the present BRS government should not be allowed to misuse its powers when the MCC is in force and in "what are likely the last 2 to 3 days of the state government".

When asked about the state Cabinet meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on December 4, Uttam Kumar Reddy said they were not aware of why he called the meeting. "He may have called the meeting to submit his resignation to the Governor," he said.
In 2018, the BRS, then known as the TRS, retained power for a second successive term by winning 88 seats and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao took oath for a second consecutive term in December 2018. If BRS emerges victorious on Sunday, Rao will have the honour of being the first Chief Minister in South India to retain the post for a third term. (Image By Arrangement0

Hyderabad: The shape of the third Assembly of the young state of Telangana will be clear before noon. Whatever the outcome  a BRS hat-trick, the first Congress victory or, as is said in some exit polls, a hung House  it will be an unprecedented verdict.

Counting of the 2,32,59,256 votes that were polled for the 119 Assembly constituencies will begin with a tallying of the nearly 1 lakh postal ballots at 8 am, after a mock counting process for candidates and agents at 7 am.

The votes locked in the EVMs will be taken up for counting by 9 am. The initial trends are expected quickly, by 10 am, and the winner could be spotted before noon. The final results are expected to be in by 5 pm in most cases.

The figure to watch is the cut-off mark of 60 seats in the 119-seat Assembly.

The polling was held on November 30, which saw a voter turnout of 71.64 per cent. In 2018, the BRS, then known as the TRS, retained power for a second successive term by winning 88 seats and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao took oath for a second consecutive term in December 2018. If BRS emerges victorious on Sunday, Rao will have the honour of being the first Chief Minister in South India to retain the post for a third term.

It the Congress wins, it would form the first non-BRS government in the state. Under the leadership of TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy, the Congress has mounted an all-out effort to oust the ruling party and is confident of triumphing with a clear majority. The Congress is banking on its Six Guarantees and its manifesto.

The BJP, which conducted an elaborate campaign with a host of top leaders, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Amit Shah and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy, is expecting a hung Assembly, where it hopes to play a key role in government formation by winning a significant number of seats.

In 2018, the Congress won 19 seats and the BJP one seat, which was later boosted to three by byelections.

Gajwel, Chief Minister Rao's original constituency, and Kamareddy, from where he is also contesting, have become the cynosure of all attention. The BJP has fielded senior leader Etala Rajender, once a confidant of Rao, in Gajwel while Congress has fielded A. Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 49 counting centres and the district electoral officers, the collectors, have stated that they have made all arrangements for the counting of EVMs. EVM engineers have been posted at all counting centres to quickly respond to malfunctioning equipment.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj has directed all returning officers (ROs), presiding officers and observers to be vigilant. For each table earmarked for counting votes, the RO will appoint a counting supervisor, a counting assistant, counting staff from among Group D employees, and a micro-observer.

The ECI has obtained permission to provide more counting tables in constituencies with a larger number of contestants, for example, 14 in Nalgonda.

The police have provided personnel at counting centres and Section 144 of CrPC would be in force to prevent the formation of groups and untoward incidents. Only candidates and their agents would be allowed inside the counting centres.

Victory rallies and bursting of firecrackers in the open have been banned.

District superintendents of police and ECI officials would monitor the situation via CCTVs installed at all counting centres in the state.
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A shocking image has just been released by Sea Shepherd Brazil to highlight the devastating impact the black-market trading of fish is having on an endangered species.

No matter their conservation status, targeting stingrays and sharks is banned across Brazil, however authorities appear helpless to stop fishermen from doing so. The photo shows over a dozen upturned stingrays on the beach in preparation for butchering. Investigators also documented a manta ray, which is listed as vulnerable to extinction, being taken for its meat.

Over a dozen rays were photographed dead on Praia do Arpoador. Source: Sea Shepherd Brazil

The image of the rays was taken at Praia do Apoador in the state of Maranhao in May.

But Sea Shepherd Brazil president Nathalie Gil told Yahoo News Australia it doesn't capture anything unique  targeted fishing of protected species happens all the time at remote beaches all around the country. This is what we find all over our coast, its our reality, she said.

Shark fins attract higher price in Asia

Although ray and shark flesh is usually collected for the the local market, shark fins attract a higher price overseas so they are sold to international buyers.

In June, Brazilian authorities seized the largest ever shark fin consignment which was reportedly destined for Asia  its estimated the 29-tonne haul contained the body parts of 10,000 sharks. The previous record was a 28-tonne capture in 2020.

While bycatch is allowed to be processed when its not an endangered species, Gil said Sea Shepherd Brazils data clearly shows they are clearly being targeted. I am frustrated, especially if you consider the majority of the coast is in the blindspot of law enforcement, she said.

Rays are often butchered for their meat. Source: Sea Shepherd Brazil

Australia's own ocean creatures under threat of extinction

Globally almost 40 per cent of the worlds sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. Australia remains one of the worlds biggest importers of shark fins. Many of the nations shark and ray species are facing extinction due to over fishing. But one ray-like species, the Maugean skate, which is listed as endangered, is in peril because the salmon farming industry is polluting its waters.

Story continues

A review is currently underway into salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour where a small population of the Maugean skate survives.

Progress is too slow, scientist argues

On Tuesday, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Humane Society International and the Environmental Defenders Office renewed calls for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to work faster to protect the species from extinction, and warned Tasmania has another Tasmanian tiger on its hands.

Progress is being made to save the skate, but its too slow. The necessary actions to avert extinction have long been known; the writing has been on the wall for so long that the paint is peeling and the wall crumbling, AMCS shark scientist Dr Leonardo Guida. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek must not delay further on removing salmon from the harbour and honouring the very laws that are supposed to benefit human and environmental health.

Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new weekly newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories.
As Christmas approaches, Simon Community, the leading homelessness charity in Northern Ireland, is launching an appeal for fundraising support in the midst of increasing numbers of families and individuals becoming homeless. Newly released figures reveal that almost 27,000 households in NI are now officially classed as homeless, including over 4,500 children.

Karen McAlister, Head of Research & Development at Simon Community, said: "Over the past decade, we have witnessed a doubling of the total number of households classified as homeless, rising from 13,000 to 26,999. This means we have 27,000 families and individuals in Northern Ireland facing a Christmas this year without a place to call home."

McAlister continued: "Last year alone, Simon Communitys helpline received 16,000 calls from individuals seeking advice and support. Faced with the relentless pressures of the rising cost of living, an increasing number of families and individuals find themselves teetering on the edge of homelessness.

"The simple act of donating just 30.00 this Christmas could help us supply a welcome pack for a new client arriving at our doors with little to nothing."

This surge is attributed to a rise in unsuitable accommodation, family disputes leading to breakdowns, and a severe shortage of affordable housing.

The newly released figures also reveal that a staggering 45,292 households are on the social housing waiting list  the highest ever recorded.

Simon Community operates 20 temporary accommodation sites across Northern Ireland, providing assistance 365 days a year, including Christmas Day. The charity appeals for urgent financial support to ensure the continued operation of these services, offering a warm place to stay during the festive season and beyond for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

For more information about Simon Community and how to donate, visit www.simoncommunity.org

If you or someone you know is homeless or at risk of homelessness, call Simon Communitys free Homeless Support Line on 0800 171 222.
Charities FareShare and the Trussell Trust are facing record levels of need throughout the festive season and New Year, with many people in Derry expected to need help from the charities.

To support people through what could be the toughest winter for many years, Tescos Food Collection will run in Express stores in County Derry until 2 December and in large stores from 30 November to 2 December.

During the collection customers will be encouraged to donate long-life food to support the charities. This years Tesco Christmas Report found that 26% of people plan to make a donation to a food bank this year.

The top 10 most-needed items required from shoppers are  UHT & powered milk, tinned meat and fish, sponge/rice pudding, long-life fruit juice, cooking/pasta sauces, tinned vegetables, tinned and dried soup, pasta, rice and noodles, cereal and porridge, tea and coffee.

Ken Murphy, Tesco Group CEO, said: Over the last 10 years our generous customers have helped donate over 100 million meals to communities across the UK. Whether its in your local store through the Winter Food Collection or via your Clubcard points online, even the smallest donation can make a real difference to someone elses Christmas.

This year will see both charities face their busiest winter yet as more people turn to them for support. The Trussell Trust is expecting to distribute more than 1 million emergency food parcels between December and February and have reported that alarmingly, 320,000 people have needed to access a food bank for the first time in the past six months.

Meanwhile, FareShare is estimating it will redistribute more than 28,000 tonnes of food this winter, the equivalent of over 68 million meals, up by more than 42% compared to last year.

George Wright, FareShare Chief Executive, said: Over the last decade, Tesco has supplied more than 250million meals to FareShare, more than any other organisation in our history. As we prepare for another challenging winter ahead, the items we collect play a crucial part in our efforts to get food to the communities that need it most. If youre able to donate just one item at your local store, youll be helping to provide a meal for someone facing hunger this winter.

Emma Revie, Trussell Trust Chief Executive, added: The support provided by Tesco and their customers is invaluable to the food banks in our network, especially at this time of year when we anticipate that our network will be providing an emergency food parcel every eight seconds.

"The generous donations received are vital in ensuring food banks can meet the urgent levels of need, whilst we work towards a future where everyone can afford the essentials.
Police have opened a new 15 million custody suite in Derry as part of a modernisation programme.

The 21-cell suite, within the Waterside station site in Derry, is set to provide custody provision for the whole of the North West, from Coleraine to Strabane.

The number of people expected to be detained in the facility per month will average between 400 and 500.

The facility includes an embedded healthcare model with six specially trained custody nurse practitioners to triage detainees in custody and assess, treat and, when necessary, refer them on as appropriate.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson described the move as part of a wider modernisation of custody provision across Northern Ireland.

The new Waterside custody suite, designed to operate with larger numbers of detained persons, is part of a wider modernisation and improvement of custody provision across Northern Ireland to keep all those within the custody environment safe, which includes detainees, staff and other users, he said.

At times, we deal with detainees whose needs are complex, and may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or may be experiencing a mental health crisis.

Its crucial our custody provision is fit for purpose and can continue to meet health and safety requirements while, at the same time, enable an efficient criminal justice process.

Department of Health permanent secretary Peter May said it will allow the health service an opportunity to engage or re-engage with one of the most vulnerable populations in Northern Ireland.

Since the introduction of the 24-hour nurse-led custody healthcare service, a number of referral pathways have been developed from police custody to both statutory and non-statutory services, such as referrals for mental health treatment, addictions treatment, and testing and treatment for blood-borne viruses, he said.

Belfast HSC custody nurse practitioners have treated patients in Musgrave Street (Belfast) and Antrim police custody suites, which has substantially reduced the requirement for ambulances to attend the two police stations.

I look forward to seeing this service being regionalised across all police custody suites in the future.
Cayuga Community College has announced an opportunity for culinary fans gearing up for the holiday season.

PBS celebrity chef Julie Taboulie and the college's Cayuga Culinary Institute are teaming up to offer Baklawa for Beginners, two standalone classes in December, the college said in a news release.

Attendees, under the guidance of Taboulie, will craft her famous baklawa, one of "The Queen of Lebanese Cuisine's" most requested recipes, to take home. Other authentic Lebanese and Mediterranean sweets and pastries will also be available to sample.

All ingredients and materials will be provided at the classes, which will take place Wednesdays, Dec. 6 and 13. They will run from 5:30 to 7:30 both evenings at the institute, 161 Genesee St., Auburn.

Im thrilled to bring my special sweet-treat to life with my personally guided hands-on culinary courses at Cayugas Culinary Institute, Taboulie said.

The host of Julie Taboulies Lebanese Kitchen, which airs on PBS and CreateTV, will also have signed copies of her World Gourmand Award-winning book, Julie Taboulies Lebanese Kitchen: Authentic Recipes for Fresh and Flavorful Mediterranean Home Cooking," available for sale.

Were so happy to be working with Julie again, said Emily Cameron, Cayugas director of the Office of Community Education and Workforce Development, "and we look forward to enjoying baklawa and other delicacies.

Along with the classes, tours of the 2,250-square-foot Culinary Institute will be offered. The institute, which opened in 2021, is home of the college's culinary arts degree program.

Participants can register by calling Cayugas Office of Community Education and Workforce Development at (315) 294-8841.
Three friends for life whose dream it was to set up their own pub.

Now, after two years of running the Community Taphouse Mo Chara in Dundalk, the Beer Boys are now launching Irelands most sup-able lager Mo Chara Lager.

Fulfilling a lifelong dream, three best friends, Cillian Mulligan, Paul Kelly, and Vincent Mulligan, set up their own community taphouse in their hometown of Dundalk, offering the best the local community has to offer in a novel and unique setting.

The name Mo Chara, meaning my friend in Irish, was inspired by their lifelong friendship and the spirit of their brand.

Opened in 2021, Mo Chara, has become a multi-generational hub of the community in the northeast, offering top notch pizzas and one of the widest ranges of craft beers in Ireland.

Now the lads, who are all in their twenties, are expanding their sights by bringing a wee taste of Dundalk to the masses.

The lads said they are now delighted to be launching Mo Chara Lager. With a tagline like Lager na Daoine / The Peoples Lager, this grip & sip is the no nonsense top-notch tasting beer you've been waiting for, they said.

They said it is a real clean and smooth 4.2% gluten-free lager with all of that flavour. This is one you're gonna want to grab a four pack and sup a few back.

Mo Chara Lager is being distributed nationwide by Four Corners and is available now from all good independent off licences, bars, and restaurants.

The label takes visual cues from the classic label artwork of the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk from the 1890s, along with nods to the interior of the Mo Chara premises which was built in 1902.

The lads will be launching the brand-new beer in Mo Chara on Friday 8th December.

Visitors can expect the full Mo Chara experience with a free stubby on arrival, banging pizza, and a vinyl DJ and live music to get the night going. All welcome!

Cilian said that launching their own lager is an exciting prospect.

We have come so far in such a short time, he continued.

We were honoured to win Pub of the Year at the Louth Business Awards in our first year open, and now we cant wait to bring a little bit of Dundalk to beer lovers nationwide.

Dundalk has a rich history of brewing and distilling, and our wee stubby is the perfect combo of tradition meets tomorrow, with the label design featuring a special nod to Mo Charas arched brick windows built in 1902.

Not a lot of people know, but our initial dream was to start a brewery and launch a beer, but we very quickly realised we didnt have a spare couple of million lying around and decided opening a pub first and going about it a different way would allow us time to build the brand and our vision.

So, launching Mo Chara Lager is kind of a culmination of everything we had initially dreamed of, and we firmly believe Mo Chara Lager will be Irelands most sup-able lager!

When Cillian, Paul and Vincent met during primary school, they became instant best friends and have been inseparable ever since.

The three studied at NUIG together and spent their summers on J1 visas in Canada, France, and Chicago.

After their studies Cillian and Paul worked as Jameson Brand Ambassadors in Bangalore, India, learning all about the drinks industry; and Vincent completed a thesis in Marketing in the Irish Craft Beer industry.

When they found themselves back together working in a local brewery in Dundalk, they started to dream again.

Using all the knowledge they had collectively accrued and their common love of the area, they set out to make this dream a reality.

The opportunity arose to take over the historic Century Bar in the heart of Dundalk and the plan was set in motion.

They jumped at the chance and set about restoring the listed building to its former glory.

Mo Chara is not simply a pub, but a hub in the northeast, they said.

They showcase the best arts and culture from the region by creating a space that encourages collaboration and celebrates the creators, through musical performances by local artists, Comedy Nights, Mos Sunday Markets, Cocktail Canvas Club, and Pottery and Pints events to name a few.

Supporting local producers is very important to them, and they use only the best quality ingredients in their kitchen, combining Neapolitan style pizza with Irish takeaway toppings.

They host sell-out kitchen pop-ups each month, inviting the best restaurants from all over Ireland to take over their kitchen for a night.

Most recent to host was Michelin Guide listed Dublin based Chinese restaurant Big Fan, in September.

It is a big part of Mo Charas ethos to give back to the local community, donating 10c of every pint of house beer to a local charity.

They also host regular community led events and initiatives, sponsoring local and national charities.

Even though recent times have been trying for the hospitality sector, the Mo Chara lads have thrived with their unique take on community and inclusivity while embodying the spirit of the mystical area surrounding Dundalk where they grew up and became friends.

They are representatives of the warrior spirit of the town as shown by their tireless commitment to community.
The Mater Hospital Foundation is calling on people in Louth to support its vital Christmas Appeal and help bring moments of joy, happiness, and hope to Mater Hospital patients with cancer and other serious illnesses.

As the days grow shorter and the fairy lights start to go up, the Mater Hospital's medical teams are working around the clock to care for patients and manage the many challenges that winter brings.

Every day, the Mater team provides urgent, world-class care to patients from across the country. And as we approach Christmas, they are committed to getting as many people as possible home from hospital to celebrate with family and loved ones.

However, the reality is that this December, many seriously ill patients will spend their Christmas Day in hospital, under the expert care of Mater doctors and nurses like Fionnuala Hammond.

Fionnuala is Clinical Nurse Manager in St. Vincent's Cancer and Haematology Ward. She says, "Your kindness this Christmas will not only help provide the very best of care for patients too sick to go home, but you'll also be helping to bring precious and profound moments of pure joy to people fighting for their lives."

Aidan* is just one patient who was cared for over Christmas in the final weeks of his life. He was diagnosed with aggressive cancer, and by the time Christmas came around, Aidan was in one of the hospital's end-of-life suites.

He was just 36 when he passed away, but the end-of-life facilities that were made possible through public donations made a real difference to him and his family, who had the space and privacy to spend those final precious days and hours together.

The Mater Hospital Foundation raises funds to enhance the life-saving work of the Mater Hospital, by funding advanced state-of the-art medical equipment, new services and hospital redevelopment, research and innovation initiatives, and by providing patient, family and staff support when it is most needed.

Mary Moorhead, Chief Executive of the Mater Hospital Foundation says, "Cancer doesnt stop for Christmas, and thats why we will continue to raise the urgent funds needed to care for the Maters sickest patients.

"Your generosity will bring comfort and joy to those who will be too sick to go home for Christmas. We hope that you will stand with our patients this festive season and give a special gift that will make a real difference in the lives of so many patients."

She adds, "I would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every individual, community and company that has helped the Mater Hospital this year, by donating, volunteering or fundraising to enhance patient care. From all of us here in the Foundation and the hospital, we wish you a Happy Christmas and a peaceful, healthy New Year."

You can donate this Christmas to support the vital work of the Mater Hospital by visiting www.materfoundation.ie/donate or by calling the Mater Hospital Foundation team on 01 830 3482.

* Note  Aidans name has been changed to protect his anonymity
The North East Forestry Group has been awarded 34,800 to hold a Outdoor Forestry/Timber production classroom for 2nd level students in Meath/Louth/Cavan/Monaghan.

The funding was announced yesterday by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett who announced the results of an Open Call by her Department for funding for Forestry Promotion Projects.

The themes of the new Call take account of the public consultation conducted in relation to the Shared National Vision for Trees, Woods and Forests in Ireland for 2050, and aligns with the implementation of the new Forest Strategy.

This Call was weighted in favour of projects with a particular focus on engaging with farmers, existing forest owners and other landowners.

Nationally, over 53 applications were received of which 42 individual projects have now been selected for an allocated funding of 1.6 million over the next year.

The Minister said:

I am delighted to see such a broad range of inspiring projects aimed at promoting the new Forestry Programme and I am particularly pleased at the spread of projects throughout the country. I hope this 1.6 million funding will boost the profile of forestry and encourage every farmer to explore the range of planting options available in the new Forestry Programme.

I am also glad to note that many of the projects involve collaboration between organisations and groups and cover a wide range of topics from afforestation, sustainable forest management, ecosystem services, Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) and the promotion of careers in forestry.''

The projects selected will promote forestry through a wide variety of approaches and include the development of peer-to-peer videos on forestry; publications on Continuous Cover Forestry establishment; promoting the use of homegrown timber for construction; promoting the planting of native trees, including through the Native Tree Area Scheme; ecological restoration and awareness raising through multi-media; targeted promotional/educational initiatives to develop the potential of agroforestry in Ireland and many others besides.

The projects will also engage with the wider community to promote trees as a source of biodiversity, enjoyment, and inspiration.

Minister Hackett said she is looking forward to seeing what will be achieved across the successful projects and added:

I want to thank all those individuals and organisations for taking part and we look forward to working with the successful groups on the implementation of their projects over the next year.
Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) Researchers Dr Adele Commins and Dr Daithi Kearney have published an article in the latest issue of the international academic journal, Ethnomusicology Forum which is focused on perceptions of Irish traditional music in the USA during the 1970s.

Two decades before Riverdance, they concentrate on a period when Irish traditional music was emerging into a commercial, professional world and the understanding of what Irish traditional music was amongst American audiences of the time.

Drawing on their own experiences of learning Irish traditional music, they have brought together their research on the Siamsa Ceili Band from Dundalk and Siamsa Tire, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, which is based in Kerry. Adele learned piano accordion from Rory Kennedy, leader of the Siamsa Ceili Band, while Daithi performed for over a decade with Siamsa Tire.

The article reflects on tours by both groups, as well as the band The Chieftains, in the early 1970s, which paved the way for more extensive developments. The Siamsa Ceili Band were part of the first official tour by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann to the USA in 1972, highlighting their prominence at the time  they were All-Ireland Senior Ceili Band champions from 1967-1969 and contributed immensely to the musical life of the region.

Commins and Kearney also draw on archival sources and newspaper reports to reflect on the impact of The Troubles on how the musical groups were received in the USA.

Reflecting on the process, Daithi remembered:

Growing up, I heard stories from older members of the Siamsa Tire group about the tour to America and it inspired me. My research has enabled me to explore this and share it back with members of the community.

Equally, the research has a strong personal connection for Adele, she added:

Rory Kennedy, Brendan Gaughran, Pauline White and Kevin OCallaghan were musical giants when I was young, and their relatives have been generous in sharing their memories and some of the mementos from the 1972 tour.

Ethnomusicology Forum is the academic, refereed journal of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and seeks to provide a dynamic forum for the presentation of new thinking in the field of ethnomusicology.
Maxi Zoo Ireland has launched its Shelter Wishes campaign for the month of December, which will see 29 animal charities across 15 counties benefit.

As part of this, The Louth Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LSPCA) and Drogheda Animal Rescue will receive products from under the Christmas tree at the Maxi Zoo stores in Dundalk and Drogheda respectively, to make the festive season extra special for the animals in its care.

Maxi Zoo Ireland customers can donate instore to the Shelter Wishes campaign by doing the following:

Pick a wish from the Christmas tree in your local Maxi Zoo Ireland store

Buy the product on the wish card for the chosen charity

Put the product under the tree for the charity to collect before Christmas

Head of Marketing at Maxi Zoo Ireland Anthony Cremin said:

We are really delighted to once again run the Shelter Wishes Campaign, which has donated thousands of euros worth of pet products over several years for so many worthy charities.

This year were helping organisations that look after dogs, cats, horses and other wildlife, and all these volunteer groups desperately need funding to survive. Its heartwarming to see how much Maxi Zoo Ireland customers across the country get behind the Shelter Wishes Campaign, helping to make Christmas special for so many animals in need.

During the month of December last year, Shelter Wishes saw over 2,000 wishes granted for less fortunate animals. The campaign is one of the ways in which Maxi Zoo Ireland is involved with the welfare of animals. It also partnered with Husky Rescue Ireland in November of this year, to raise money for the organisation through its Together for Pets Pendants campaign.

A full list of the benefiting charities for the 2023 Shelter Wishes campaign can be found at www.maxizoo.ie/shelterwishes
Central New York's members of Congress were split on the historic vote to expel George Santos from the House of Representatives.

The House voted Friday to expel Santos, a Long Island Republican. He is the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the chamber's history.

Santos is facing federal charges related to a campaign finance scheme. He has also admitted to lying about his background.

There have been calls for Santos' resignation since he took office in January. U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams, a Republican who represents the Syracuse and Utica areas, has said Santos should resign. He also signed on in support of a resolution to expel the embattled Republican.

Williams, R-Sennett, posted on X that Santos' expulsion was "long overdue."

"As I've called for his exit from Congress since January, the time has finally come," Williams wrote. "Goodbye George."

Williams was among the 311 members who supported expelling Santos  more than the two-thirds needed for expulsion. Nearly all Democrats (206 of 213) voted for the resolution, while Republicans were split. There were 105 GOP yes votes and 112 opposed Santos' expulsion.

One of the Republican opponents was U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, who represents the 24th Congressional District that includes all of Cayuga County.

Tenney, R-Cleveland, explained her vote in a post on her website. She acknowledged the House Ethics Committee's report that found Santos engaged in "a pattern of lies, false statements and inappropriate use of donor funds that are unlawful and will more than likely lead to a conviction of Santos in a court of law before a jury of his peers."

However, Tenney argues that Santos has not been afforded due process and he has yet to be convicted of any crimes.

She also accused Democrats of being hypocritical because there have been Democratic members who have been indicted or convicted of crimes and were not expelled.

"This premature and politically charged action erodes due process, which all members of Congress and (public officers) have taken an oath to uphold," Tenney said.

Tenney was one of only three New York members of Congress who voted against Santos' expulsion. Along with Santos, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik opposed the resolution.

With the 3rd Congressional District seat now vacant, Gov. Kathy Hochul will call a special election. The date of the election has not been set.

Other votes in the House this week:

 A resolution calling on Hamas to release hostages unanimously passed by a 414-0 vote.

The Palestinian group took Israeli hostages during an attack in October.

Tenney and Williams voted for the resolution.

 The House also approved a resolution supporting Israel's right to exist. The vote was 412-1, with Tenney and Williams voting for its passage.

 Tenney and Williams voted for a bill to freeze funds for Iran that were part of an agreement to release hostages in August. The legislation passed 307-119, with 90 Democrats joining 217 Republicans to support the bill.

 By a 224-203 vote, the House passed legislation to prevent the use of federal lands for housing migrants. Tenney and Williams voted for the bill.

 The House passed a resolution to nullify a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that, according to the bill's summary, requires financial institutions to collect data on bureau credit applications for small businesses.

The final vote was 221-202. Tenney and Williams supported its passage.
Ireland's first ever satellite has been successfully launched into space.

The miniature cube satellite EIRSAT-1 took flight at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a Flacon 9 SpaceX rocket yesterday evening (Friday December 1).

It was designed, built and tested by students at University College Dublin (UCD) under the guidance of the European Space Agency (ESA).

According to UCD, the satellite was deployed around 8pm IST and was confirmed to be in low Earth orbit.

Director of EIRSAT-1 and the UCD Centre for Space Research (UCD C-Space), Professor Lorraine Hanlon, said, "This represents the culmination of a lot of work by a young team and a huge amount of support by the Irish space industry, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland, SFI and the IRC to deliver a thrilling result of Ireland in space.

"The next step now is to get used to operating our new spacecraft and get the maximum research and training out of it."

UCD C-Space Manager, Dr Ronan Wall, described the atmosphere post-launch as celebratory.

He said, "Its incredibly exciting and deeply satisfying to have finally joined other nations across Europe and the world that are positioned to do great research and innovation from our own spacecraft. We look forward to continuing to train and develop space expertise to support research and industry in Ireland. Go EIRSAT-1!"

UCD President, Professor Orla Feely, said the project had delivered outstanding research and developed talent throughout its six-year development.

She said, "What a satisfying moment this must be for the Irish team: a remarkable first for the scientific community in Ireland.

"By joining the scientific expertise here at University College Dublin together with the ESAs expertise in the building and testing of satellites and space systems, Irelands first satellite EIRSAT-1 has now successfully launched into space and reached its orbit around the earth.

"From their initial proposals to the ESA six years ago, to the cleanroom and Mission Control located on the UCD campus where students will operate EIRSAT-1 while in orbit, and of course the engineering and building of the satellite itself, the UCD team has taken a significant step for space education, research and capacity building in Ireland."

We only brought the small flag. The rocket (with @EIRSAT1 on board) will launch up over the hill in the background. pic.twitter.com/SuZIl3ShJJ  David McKeown (@dj_mckeown) December 1, 2023

According to UCD, work on the project reportedly provided training for students in all major aspects of satellite development, and introduced space systems engineering and skills at UCD not previously seen across any Irish industry or academia.

ESA Director General, Josef Aschbacher, congratulated the EIRSAT-1 team for their successful launch and what he called "the start of Irelands first exciting adventure in orbit".

He said, "Id also like to thank UCD for joining forces with ESA towards a common educational objective: boosting the skills of the young generation.

"Its only by building capacity that we can make our space ambitions become a reality, for Ireland and for Europe. With our Education programme we are nurturing generations of citizens who are learning to use space technology and space solutions in order to make a difference for our society, our planet and our future."

EIRSAT-1 will now carry out three experiments and report data back to its command centre at UCD, including studying gamma-ray bursts (the most luminous events in the universe) with a miniature detector built into its frame.

Its other payload includes a novel attitude control system designed by the Dynamics and Control Group in the UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering that will ensure it is always pointed in the correct direction, as well as equipment to perform a thermal coating study to assess the performance of surface treatments for satellites developed in Ireland.

A poem called 'All Ways Home' written by 12 Irish school children is engraved on the outer cover of the antenna module in a formation like a spiral galaxy.

Header photo: Space X
An $84.2 million project to improve a stretch of the New York State Thruway in Onondaga County is mostly complete, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.

The project began in June 2022 and is focused on Interstate 90 between exits 37 and 39 in the Syracuse area. New pavement was installed along with other upgrades, including drainage improvements, new guiderails, reflective line striping, new signage and wider shoulders. A natural snow fence was installed to prevent snow drifts on the highway.

The Onondaga Parkway and Onondaga Lake Outlet bridges were rehabilitated, while a CSX railroad bridge was replaced. The pavement was repaired at exit 38 and the exit 39 ramp was reconstructed.

"The Thruway is a vital corridor for travel and commerce in central New York, and these investments are critical to securing a safer roadway for all New Yorkers," Hochul said.

When the project was announced last year, it was expected to be completed by this fall. The Thruway Authority says "ancillary work" will be finished in spring 2024.

Glenmont-based Harrison & Burrowes Bridge Constructors was awarded the contract for the $84.2 million project.

The project was funded by the Thruway Authority's capital program. The authority's 2023 budget included $413 million for capital projects.

Frank Hoare, acting executive director of the Thruway Authority, noted that 35,000 vehicles use the stretch of I-90 in Onondaga County. The project, he said, will provide "an improved travel experience" for users.

"Projects such as this one address aging infrastructure and keep the Thruway one of the safest superhighways in the nation," Hoare added.
A person has been displaced from a stovetop fire in an apartment at the Edward T. Boyle Center in downtown Auburn Friday afternoon.

Mike Grady, an assistant fire chief with the Auburn Fire Department, told The Citizen that a call came in around 1:15 p.m. for a fire alarm activation at the 149 Genesee St. senior living facility.

Crews who arrived at the scene saw smoke coming from a window on the third floor of the eight-story facility. The apartment where the blaze originated sustained extensive fire, water and smoke damage, and is currently deemed uninhabitable. The female resident of the apartment was displaced, Grady added, and is receiving assistance from the American Red Cross.

The fire was determined to have been caused by unattended food cooking on a stovetop, Grady said.

Three tenants in the building were treated at the scene by Auburn City Ambulance for difficulty breathing. The fire was largely extinguished within 15 minutes of firefighters arriving, Grady said, and rehabilitation work is already being done on the apartment where the fire start started. Work is also being done on the areas below the apartment that sustained water damage.

Grady said members of the fire department checked on the residents of every occupied apartment to see if they were OK and make sure any smoke was gone. It took around 90 minutes to fully ventilate the building. AMR ambulance and members of the Auburn Code Enforcement Office were also at the scene, he added.
Novelist Tina Pritchard was keen to get in touch with The Echo as the paper features in her latest novel, The Sea Glass Beach.

Corkonians will no doubt react to the familiarity of the scene depicted on page 44 of the novel.

It reads: The Post Office was quiet and they were in and out in no time. On emerging they were treated to a loud Echoooo from the local newspaper seller. It made them both jump, then dissolve into giggles as he gave a cheeky wink in their direction. The story, a coming of age narrative about a young, free-spirited girl who is sent by her mother to Canada to avoid the strictness of Catholic society in 1950s Ireland, is very close to her own.

Cork Roots

My family was from Sundays Well and I was born in Sean Ross Abbey to a single mother in the 1950s. My mother was in fact in the home at the same time as Philomena, although I don't believe they knew one another. I was set to be adopted like many of the babies and children there. Instead I returned home with my mother and lived in the family home until she got work in the UK and sent for me when I was aged three.

During that time Tina, given the name Martina by the nuns in the home, was raised by her grandmother.

My grandmothers married name was Moynihan. She was a proud and charitable woman and did a lot of work for St Vincent de Paul. She was also a widow, her husband having been killed on the railway.

The writer, now very settled in England, remembers feeling very loved by her sole guardian.

I was always impeccably dressed in beautiful coats and boots. Im sure there was some dissent from neighbours at the time, my mother having been a single woman, but my grandmother never allowed for it to affect us. I loved being in Ireland, and when Id return for holidays in the summer and at Christmas I always felt very accepted. I remember nothing negative at all. My grandmother ended up living with her sister in Friars Walk. I also lived in Cork for a while and worked in the Intercontinental Hotel on the Western Road. I have very clear memories of Cork at that time.

When Tina made her way to join her mother at the age of three she met her new stepfather, a Coldstream Guard whose duties included guarding the Queen at Windsor Castle.

My mother never spoke about what had happened to her in Ireland even though we still visited regularly and your paper featured in our household throughout my childhood as my mother had it sent over to her on a regular basis.

She reflects on the impact of their separation for those first few years.

She and my stepfather had a son and I suppose the only negative was that I never fully felt a part of the family.

Being away from my mother for those three years had an impact on our relationship. I felt like my face was my pressed up against the glass during my childhood. We were never all that close.

The Sea Glass Beach

Tina worked from memory in depicting the lives of the characters in Cork in the opening chapters of the book.

I also did a google walk, just to check that I was getting it right. But a lot of the detail is from my own somewhat distant memory, like the scene of Roisin leaving Ireland from Cobh. All of that, I remember from taking the train there as a child.

The characters are sometimes drawn from her own life, and sometimes not.

The mother in the novel is not my mother, although she also has a child out of wedlock and changes her mind about giving her up for adoption. Still, Theresa is very different. When young Roisin arrives in Nova Scotia, she is looked after by an Aunt Peggy. In certain ways, she is very much my nana. And maybe Roisin is a little bit like me  she is a bit wild and free-spirited and enjoys the freedom of running barefoot in Nova Scotia. I also love that part of the world and have visited it many times.

The novel sheds an unfavourable light on the Catholic church in Ireland at the time but Tina is not interested in knocking anyone. She is simply telling a story.

It is certainly a stain on Ireland but I am not interested in attacking anyone.

"The first person to review the book as part of a blog tour was a Christian reader and I was worried how they would react but they gave it a very positive review which was wonderful.

The book is dedicated to the mothers and children who were part of the adoption scandal associated with the Irish mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries. That is enough, she feels. Although there is certainly criticism of society at the time in the details of Roisins story.

Theresa is called into the principal as Roisin is challenging everything and everyone. She is a gifted and intuitive child and Theresa realises she will soon be crushed by the strict nuns, and so she sends her off to Canada in an act of love. She fears the nuns would like to put Roisin working in the laundry and there is no way she will let that happen.

Change of Genre

This novel, a work of fiction drawn from experience, is a departure from the writers last offering.

In 2021, after a long career and approaching retirement, I had my first book, a psychological thriller called In A Deep Dark Wood published. I dont write for money, I write for me. So I dont need to churn out lots of books in the same genre. The book Im working on now is a return to the psychological thriller genre but I might switch again next time round.

The storyteller is thoroughly enjoying sharing her books with others and is giving talks to plenty of womens institutes in the UK. The reception to The Sea Glass Beach has been very positive.

There are pretty big themes in the book, including love, loss and sexuality. The young protagonist encounters trauma and devastating loss but also gains a new family and finds love with the enigmatic Cal. It started as a short story which I was writing for a competition. When I missed the deadline I decided to stick with it and write some more.

The book has been cathartic for me. I also feel quite protective of it. The characters are very much alive for me and certain events in the plot are drawn from my life directly.

The Sea Glass Beach is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BMJR3ZT3
THE vast majority of Irish people are so welcoming of Ukrainians and international protection applicants because we remember when we went to other shores and were glad to get help then, Community and Rural Affairs Minister Heather Humphreys has said as she arrived in Kinsale on Thursday to open the towns new library.

Responding to a question from reporters asking whether Ireland was full as far-right extremists were claiming, the minister said that the situation was challenging and that the country had, between Ukrainian refugees and applicants for international protection, welcomed more than 100,000 people to our shores.

Thats almost twice the population of my own county of Monaghan  and thats a lot of people, she said. In the majority of cases they have been welcomed here.

We must remember where some of these people are coming from, theyre coming from very, very difficult and dangerous situations, and we as a people are very welcoming and we do want to help others. We will think back to when we went to other shores many years ago and we were glad to get help then as well.

The minister said she absolutely condemned what happened to library staff in Cork last July when far-right activists harassed library staff as they attempted to remove a book about transgender issues from the Grand Parade facility.

Addressing the staff of Cork City Library, she said: Thank you for the work that you do, we have wonderful library staff up and down the country and they deserve to be able to go to their work and know that they are not going to be intimidated or upset in any way.

Ms Humphreys said she was aware that library staff had received extra training to deal with such situations and received support from the local authorities.

I would say to those people who come and abuse staff in the library, theyre doing society a huge injustice, she said, adding that policing such protests as happened in Cork during the summer was a matter for the gardai to decide.
Members of the Midleton 2 Active Retirement bowls team have taken the top prize at the 2023 Active Retirement Ireland National Indoor Mats Bowling Competition.

Over three days, 63 Active Retirement teams from across the country competed for the 2023 Active Retirement Ireland Cup in indoor mat bowls at the organisations 11th annual flagship event at the Gleneagle INEC Arena in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Team members Breda Treacy, Denis Mulcahy, Denis Heffernan, and skip Liam Hickey were presented with the 2023 large bowls cup by Active Retirement Ireland national president Kevin Monaghan and Independent councillor Brendan Cronin, Mayor of Killarney.

The Fossa Swans team from Kerry came in second place.

Speaking at the awards presentation, Active Retirement Ireland CEO Maureen Kavanagh congratulated the Cork team on their fantastic achievement.

Ms Kavanagh said events such as this competition are vital for positive ageing.

The 252 bowlers who have competed for the cup this week, alongside our volunteers who helped deliver the event, confirm the drive and desire of older people to do things for themselves, maintain social connections, and be a part of life, he said.

Social events like the National Bowls Competition, where older people can get together, be active, and enjoy a little healthy competition and camaraderie, are vital for positive ageing.

We are grateful for the generous support of our event host, the Gleneagle, for making this event possible for so many of our members and for their recognition of the contribution that older people make.

Older people dont want things done for them; they want to be active in their own lives.

There are 494 Active Retirement Associations in local communities across Ireland  groups of older people who come together to organise social events and activities to reduce isolation and loneliness  supported by the national body Active Retirement Ireland, the largest membership organisation for older people in the country.
Restaurateurs in Cork have warned that there will be more closures within the industry as operational costs have skyrocketed.

It comes as 48 restaurants, cafes, and other food-led businesses across the country were forced to close in November, according to the Restaurants Association of Ireland, with concerns expressed by local business owners in the sector that they are facing a perfect storm.

Speaking to The Echo, Paul Walsh, who runs the 3 Little Piggies cafe on Union Quay, said he was not surprised by the closure levels.

Everyone in the catering sector is seeing their margins disappear, and when the minimum wage goes up in the new year, people will pay more at tills, he said.

That, or businesses will reduce employees working hours to reduce costs.

If I was offered a choice now of working for someone else or opening my own business, Id work for someone else.

Its getting harder and harder to balance the books.

Mr Walsh said he feels there is no encouragement in this country to open a small business anymore.

Mr Walsh also fears that a lot more businesses will fold next year as margins reduce again.

Paul Walsh, 3 Little Piggies Deli on Union Quay. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Publishing its November closures list, the RAI also cited a recent Bord Bia report which found consumers are eating out less often.

RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins said food-led businesses are coming under increasing pressure amid increased costs and reduced consumer demand.

What we are being told by restaurant and cafe owners is that this years busy Christmas season will not be enough to keep the doors of many food-led businesses open through 2024, he said.

Mr Cummins said businesses in the sector are facing into higher costs next year and that the Increased Costs of Business Scheme, announced by the Government as part of the budget, will prove insufficient for many restaurants and cafes struggling to stay viable in the coming months.

If the Government fails to take swift and decisive action, including the return of the 9% Vat rate for food-led businesses, then the alarming level of closures we are already witnessing will only be the tip of the iceberg, he said.

The Vat rate for tourism, hospitality, and some other services returned to 13.5% in September. It had been at 9%, with the lower rate introduced during the covid-19 pandemic.

Proprietor of Sage restaurant in Midleton, Kevin Aherne, said other costs have increased also since the Vat rate went back up, including food costs, which he said he has seen rise by 4% in the last three months alone.

Were constantly having to think outside the box, were constantly having to diversify in our offering and what were doing  bringing back an early bird menu to try and entice more customers, said Mr Aherne.

You cant put up your prices any more because all youre doing is pushing people away youre trying to get more business in the door but its very difficult to get more business in the door because of the cost of living.

Restaurants will not be able to continue the way things are going. There are going to be more closures.

Richard Gavin at Spitjack, Washington Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Owner of The SpitJack restaurants in Cork and Limerick, Richard Gavin, said the sector is experiencing a perfect storm.

Weve certainly seen a slowdown in trading month-on-month versus last year. Our year started strong, we were trading ahead, and then it really kind of plateaued and then since September you start to see spend is down with customers, footfall down with customers, he said.

Mr Gavin, who is also at the helm of the Browns Brasserie brand in Cork, Dublin, and Limerick, described the return of the higher Vat rate as a real killer blow . He called for a more dynamic approach to Vat and said that independent restaurants and cafes should be treated differently to hotels.

What I would ask for is that independent restaurants that have no other means of income except for people walking through their door that they [Government] should be able to very quickly do something to support people in January.
MORE than 720 children were on waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) across Cork at the end of September, The Echo can reveal.

Camhs aims to provide assessment and treatment for young people who are experiencing mental health difficulties.

Cork Kerry Community Healthcare revealed to The Echo that it has seen a recent significant increase in the number of new referrals to Camhs in the region.

Information obtained from the regional health service shows that 728 children were awaiting Camhs services in Cork at the end of September this year.

North Cork recorded the highest number of children awaiting Camhs services at this time, with 206 children on waiting lists.

This was followed by South Lee 3 (188 children); South Lee 1 (115 children); and Cork North Central (58 children).

The data also revealed that 19 children were on waiting lists for child and adolescent regional eating disorder services in Cork at the end of September this year.

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare explained: Camhs community services in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare are delivered across 10 community sector teams and also a Child and Adolescent Regional Eating Disorder Services (CAREDS) team. In addition, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare provides a Camhs Liaison Service at Cork University Hospital and the Mercy Hospital.

There has been a recent significant increase in the number of new referrals to Camhs in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, the spokesperson revealed, adding: The HSE is committed to improving access to all of its services.

Camhs teams in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare are taking a multifaceted approach to improving access to their services, the spokesperson stated further

An ADHD waitlist initiative has been approved for funding, and once operational, it is anticipated that the ADHD team will remove 120 children from the waiting list over six months.

As the numbers waiting to access Camhs in North Cork are particularly high, innovative telemedicine clinics are being developed for this area.

Furthermore, additional consultant-led clinics are provided at weekends to support children and young people in North Cork to access assessment and supports.
CORK University Hospital (CUH) has recorded the second-highest number of people on trolleys in Ireland during November, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisations TrolleyWatch.

There were 1,159 patients on trolleys in November at CUH, a figure that has been described as devastating by Cork City South East Labour Party local election candidate Peter Horgan.

In Cork and around the country, patients are being forced to wait for hours on trolleys, and the impact on patients health can be devastating, he said. The morale of healthcare workers is at a critical juncture.

The impact of overcrowding on staff is also devastating. It is an incredibly stressful working environment. Burnout rates are high and staff turnover is huge. In a modern society, public services like healthcare should be fully operational.

A further 391 patients went without a bed at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in November and 62 patients went without a bed at Bantry General Hospital (BGH).

Nationally, more than 11,493 patients, including 434 children, went without a bed in November.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said that the sheer volume of patients admitted to hospitals without a bed this November was far too high.

The call has to be made now ahead of what is going to be a dangerous situation to curtail non- urgent elective activity and ensure that our private hospitals are available to assist, she said.
By Jonathan McCambridge and Sam Hall, PA

The father of a British soldier from Northern Ireland who was killed while off-duty in Kenya has told of his pride in his special son.

Major Kevin McCool, 32, died in the African country on November 29th, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Saturday.

He was shot while on a motorbike trip away from base, his father Joseph McCool said.

Mr McCool said his son, from Northern Ireland, was due to finish his tour of duty in Kenya three days after his death.

The MoD said Maj McCool, who saw service in Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa, thrived in the military environment, adding that he was at his best when deployed, and at his very best when the conditions were at their very worst.

Mr McCool told the PA news agency: I dont know what to say. Every life is precious but this guy was really, really special.

He was 1,500m Ulster champion. He ran for Ireland. He played piano, harp, tin whistle.

He went to Sandhurst. He progressed up the ranks very quickly to be a major.

He won several military cross-country races and various sporting events. A very strong sporting guy.

He was loved, I am tempted to say adored, by his fellow officers. We are getting that from the horses mouth. That is what we are being told by top brass because he was so good.

Mr McCool said his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya to be with Kevin before he died from his injuries.

He said: He was due to leave Kenya in three days. He had three days left on that tour of duty.

He decided to go out on his scrambler motorbike for one last ride up a local mountain.

He went up a road and two guys jumped out at him with a gun.

It seems that he thought the gun was a dummy, he didnt think it was real.

He made the mistaken assumption that the gun was artificial and they shot him.

Mr McCool said his family is weathering the storm as best it can.

He said: We are all in bits.

We are incredibly proud of our son and what he has done.

Maj McCool was commissioned from Sandhurst in August 2014 and the MoD said he had the unwavering loyalty of the recruits in his platoon and rifle company.

His commanding officer said he will be missed but never forgotten.

They added: Kevin McCool was living his best life, doing a job he loved, with people he loved. A man of the utmost integrity, he was fearless and oozed moral courage.

I will never forget my final memory of him, which was on operations; he had just come off the ground having slept a handful of hours in as many days. We discussed the possibility of having to deploy another team into the operational furnace from which he had just come. He stopped me mid-sentence, fixed me with his piercing blue eyes, and simply said, Send me.

A bright light has gone out amongst our ranks. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Maj McCools officer commanding said: Kevin McCools eyes shone with his spirit of adventure and with his focussed, determined nature. He was a pilgrim soul in the truest sense.

Intelligent, pro-active and selfless, he was at his best and at his happiest whilst serving others and whilst facing challenges in the arena.

As a soldier, his courage and talent were proven on operations. As a leader, he had a compelling character and easy charm that all who met him warmed to. And as a man, he had a deep humility which displayed a wisdom beyond his years.

Spotting opportunities, restless to serve and to seek out challenges, pushing himself to the frontiers, helping others; that is how we will remember him. He was the best of us.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps (PA)

UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said: Its clear from the tributes of those who knew him that Maj McCool was an exceptional person and an exceptional soldier, loved and respected in equal measure, who served his country with distinction.

My thoughts and sympathies are with his family, friends and colleagues currently coming to terms with this most tragic loss.

https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1730925045269110825?s=20

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: My heart goes out to Maj McCools family, friends, and fellow soldiers today in the face of their tragic loss.

The tributes pouring out for him show a man who served his country with pride, integrity and bravery.

His service will not be forgotten.

The British Army has a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 124 miles north of Nairobi, with a small element also based in Kenyas capital.

It provides demanding training to exercising units preparing to deploy on operations or assume high-readiness tasks, according to the Armys website.

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) consists of around 100 permanent staff and a reinforcing short-tour cohort of another 280 personnel.

Under an agreement with the Kenyan government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.
MU happy to look at any offers from people within energy industry

Earlier in the week a public meeting about the proposed onshore windfarm at Earystane and Scard was held.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan and former Manx Utilities (MU) Chair, Tim Crookall MHK were on a panel, along with officers from the authority.

Energy FM spoke to Tim Crookall MHK who said that MU are happy to talk to anybody in the industry and look at any offers.

He also added that the authority will look and work with privateers in the business.

When asked why the Manx public should now have faith in Manx Utilities to deliver renewable energy, Crookall said that the Government knew it was going to have to go to cables or something else, as the life expectancy of gas and diesel turbines draws to a close.

Crookall says this project is part and parcel of the something else story.

Videos
Farmers and rural businesses in certain parts of the UK are set to benefit from better internet connectivity as part of new funds announced by the government.

Ten areas across the country will receive a share of the 40 million fund which aims to transform the areas into 5G Innovation Regions.

This includes installing 5G networks in remote locations to support farming activities, such as GPS or drone monitoring systems.

Sussex County Council has been allocated 3.8m to develop and scale 5G technology that will support future farming and growing practices that increase sustainable food and drink productivity.

And Shropshire Council has been awarded 3.7m to embed wireless technology that will support innovation in rural industries, water management and public services.

Other areas in the UK have been awarded the funding for uses such as improving smart road systems, manufacturing and tourism.

The NFU said the funding was 'essential' for farmers, as various aspects of their work rely on consistent access to the internet.

The new announcement comes off the back of the the union's campaigning for better digital infrastructure in rural areas.

The recent digital technology survey highlighted that more than a fifth of farmers believe their broadband speeds were a barrier to their further use of digital technology.

Over a third said that if their business had faster broadband speeds, they would use this to improve their speed, efficiency, and frequency of business tasks.

The new announcement means that there is more opportunity for businesses in remote areas to make use of new technologies for agriculture and tourism that may require internet connectivity on farm.

Commenting on the funding, NFU Vice President David Exwood said: Its encouraging to see the governments commitment to boosting digital connectivity in rural areas through the newly announced 36 million 5G network connectivity fund."

He stressed that rural connectivity was 'vital' for farmers, adding: This funding is essential for farmers as various aspects of their work, from submitting VAT returns to GPS on tractors, rely on consistent access to the internet.

"Its also vital for health and safety, with many farmers often working long hours and therefore needing reliable mobile coverage to call for help if needed.

We also urge government to continue its investment and roll-out of alternative broadband options for rural areas and focus on the delivery of the Shared Rural Network, to ensure reliable and fast internet access.
China is keen to work with Japan and South Korea to expedite the resumption of negotiations on the trilateral free trade agreement, the Chinese commerce ministry said recently.

As Beijing attaches great importance to the talks for the trilateral agreement, positive conditions have been created for the resumption of the negotiations with the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP), said ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting told a news conference.

The three countries have high industrial interdependence and strong economic complementarity.

China is keen to work with Japan and South Korea to expedite the resumption of negotiations on the trilateral free trade agreement, the Chinese commerce ministry said recently. Positive conditions have been created for the resumption of the negotiations with the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, said a ministry spokesperson.

Once the trilateral agreement is in place, it will promote further mutual market opening, reduce trade barriers, enhance trade and investment, and optimise the business environment based on the existing free trade cooperation, she was quoted as saying by a state-controlled media outlet.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
As Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor enthral audiences with their emotional saga in 'Animal,' the intricate father-child equation takes centre stage. Balbir Singh's struggle to understand his son's profound love sets the stage for a poignant exploration of family dynamics. If 'Animal' has left you yearning for more stories that delve into the complexities of the paternal bond, you're in for a treat.

In the realm of OTT, where storytelling knows no bounds, there's a plethora of father-child dramas waiting to be explored. From heartwarming tales to intense family conflicts, these narratives promise to tug at your heartstrings. Here's a list of compelling OTT content that beautifully captures the essence of the intricate relationships between fathers and their children, a perfect binge-worthy experience after the emotional rollercoaster of 'Animal.'

Bloody Daddy

"Bloody Daddy" on JioCinema is a must-watch series that delves into the intricate dynamics of a father-child relationship. Sumair Azad, an NCB officer, faces a perilous situation when his son is kidnapped by a drug lord. The series unfolds as Sumair navigates a dangerous mission to save his son, revealing secrets, testing alliances, and outwitting both criminals and corrupt colleagues. With a gripping plot set against the gritty backdrop of Mumbai, the show explores the strained yet compelling bond between a relentless father and his teenage son. Don't miss this captivating tale of love, sacrifice, and redemption, streaming exclusively on JioCinema.

Superstar Papa

Experience an extraordinary father-child equation with the touching audio series 'Superstar Papa' on Pocket FM. Rahul, a college graduate, faces an unexpected twist when a 4-year-old girl claims to be his daughter. Filled with uncertainty, Rahul confronts a life-altering choice - to embrace fatherhood and embark on a transformative journey. Follow his evolution from zero to hero as he strives to be the father his daughter needs, forging an unbreakable bond. This emotional and uplifting tale explores love, growth, and the remarkable power of family. Dive into the touching audio series 'Superstar Papa' only on Pocket FM.

Gadar 2

"Gadar 2" on Zee5 is a must-watch film that unfolds a gripping saga of Indo-Pak conflict and sacrifice. Sunny Deol's Tara Singh goes missing, propelling Utkarsh Sharma's Jeete into a perilous mission to rescue his father. This sequel to the iconic "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" weaves a tale of familial bonds against the backdrop of the 1971 war. With familiar characters in new twists, the narrative is a labyrinth of tension, vengeance, and determination. As Jeete infiltrates prisons and Tara resurfaces, the duo faces the formidable General Hamid Iqbal. Don't miss this riveting story of a father-son bond amidst the echoes of historic hatred, streaming exclusively on Zee5.

Drishyam 2

"Drishyam 2," the Hindi crime thriller, is a captivating sequel highlighting the intricate ties of fatherhood. Starring Ajay Devgn, the film unfolds seven years later, delving into a new murder mystery involving Vijay Salgaonkar. Set against the night of October 3, 2014, it intricately weaves familial bonds with deception as Vijay faces unforeseen challenges, unaware of undercover cops. The story climaxes in a legal battle where Vijay's clever plot challenges the pursuit of justice. Ajay Devgn's portrayal of a protective father, a simple man with a razor-sharp mind, adds depth to this must-watch film. Explore the complexities of the father-child relationship, exclusively Prime Video.

Breathe: Into the Shadows Season 2

"Breathe: Into the Shadows 2," a crime drama thriller series, delves into the balance between a father's love and the daunting choices one must make. The gripping narrative unfolds as Dr. Avinash Sabharwal, portrayed by Abhishek Bachchan, faces a parent's worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter Siya is kidnapped by a masked man, compelling him to take a life to save her. The series explores the moral complexities and lengths Avinash is willing to go to ensure his daughter's safety, navigating a dark and gritty tone that probes the psychological and ethical dilemmas inherent in a father's desperate quest to save his child.

Satara ka Saudagar

'Satara ka Saudagar' on Pocket FM is a must-listen audio series that beautifully highlights the bond between a father and his child. Join Rituraj's compelling journey back to his village with his daughter after a painful separation. A lightning-struck train journey propels him into a world of unimaginable power, promising to fulfil his deepest desires. Yet, as he delves deeper, the true nature of this extraordinary ability remains a mystery. Will it bring blessings, propelling him toward his dreams, or become a curse leading him down a perilous path? Unravel the enigmatic tale of choices, consequences, and the pursuit of dreams.

The Family Man Season 1 and 2

"The Family Man" is an exhilarating Indian spy thriller available on Amazon Prime Video, skillfully crafted by Raj & DK. Led by Manoj Bajpayee in the role of Srikant Tiwari, a clandestine intelligence officer within the fictional Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), the series boasts a remarkable ensemble cast, including Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja, and Shreya Dhanwanthary. In the second season, Samantha Ruth Prabhu adds depth to the narrative as the antagonist.
Malaikottai Vaaliban Teaser Update: Recent reports suggest that the team behind 'Malaikottai Vaaliban,' the much-awaited period action film starring Mohanlal and directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, is preparing for the imminent release of an impressive teaser in the days ahead.

Dhoomam OTT Release Date And Platform: Here's Where To Watch Fahadh Faasil's Action Thriller Movie

As the film gears up for its January 25 release, reports about the teaser update for Lijo Jose Pellissery's directorial venture have significantly increased audience anticipation.

The forthcoming Indian Malayalam-language period action film 'Malaikottai Vaaliban,' helmed by director Lijo Jose Pellissery, is slated for release on January 25, 2024. Shot over 130 days from January to June 2023 in diverse locations like Rajasthan, Chennai, and Pondicherry, the movie features a stellar cast led by Mohanlal, Sonalee Kulkarni, Hareesh Peradi, Danish Sait, and others. With Prashant Pillai handling the music, the film promises an enthralling mix of period drama and gripping action sequences.

At the wrap-up event of 'Malaikottai Vaaliban', Mohanlal expressed that the film will offer audiences an unprecedented cinematic experience unlike anything seen before on Indian screens.

Meanwhile, the courtroom drama 'Neru', led by Mohanlal and Jeethu Joseph, is set to hit theatres on December 21. Recently, the makers unveiled a poster showcasing Mohanlal and Priyamani as advocates, teasing a legal showdown between the two. Despite somewhat understated promotions, expectations run high for 'Neru,' given the duo's track record of delivering blockbuster hits like 'Drishyam,' '12th Man,' and 'Drishyam 2'.

Malaikottai Vaaliban Cast and Crew

Produced by Shibu Baby John's John and Mary Creative in collaboration with Max Lab Cinemas and Century Films, "Malaikottai Vaaliban" boasts a stellar cast that includes Marathi actress Sonali Kulkarni, Hareesh Peradi, Hariprashanth Varma, Manikandan R. Achari, Suchithra Nair, Manoj Moses, and Bengali actress Katha Nandi.

Silk Smitha Biopic: Know Who Is Chandrika Ravi, Portraying The Late Actress In 'The Untold Story'

While specific details about the film's plot remain closely guarded secrets, one thing is clear: "Malaikottai Vaaliban" promises an extraordinary cinematic experience, and fans around the world can hardly wait to embark on this thrilling journey come January 25, 2024.
After witnessing an exciting week with a lot of tiffs and controversies, Bigg Boss Tamil 7 is all set for a dhamakedar weekend ka vaar with host Kamal Haasan. It is going to be an exciting weekend ka vaar episodes, wherein the legendary actor will be seen giving some reality check to the contestants and fans are eagerly waiting for the same.

Amid this, nomination and the upcoming elimination of week 9 has also grabbed a lot of eyeballs and left everyone wondering about who will be walking out of the popular reality show. For the uninitiated, this week Sarvana Vickram, Poornima Ravi, Manichandra, Cool Suresh, Jovika Vijayakumar, Vichithra, Ananya Rao and Dinesh Gopalasamy have been nominated for elimination. Needless to say, fans have been leaving no stone unturned to save their favourite contestant.

And now, a recent update about the elimination this week suggest that Jovika Vijayakumar will be eliminated from Bigg Boss Tamil 7. To note, Jovika has received the least number of votes so far which happens to be 5.72% votes. Among all the nominated contestants, Dinesh has been leading with 23.04% votes followed by Vichithra with 20.74% votes. Interestingly there were reports about Vickram's elimination, but as per the voting trends, he seems to have ditched the eviction with 7.44% votes in his favour.

Meanwhile, Vichithra made the headlines as she opened up about her casting couch experience which made her quit acting two decades ago. She recalled the worst casting couch experience which took place in 2000 while she was shooting for a film in Malampuzha wherein the actor of the film asked him to visit his room. She also recalled how men working on the film used to bang on her door after getting drunk. "I could still remember the noise. I was disheartened and was thinking how to deal with this. I used to tell the hotel guys not to connect calls to my hotel. My now-husband, who was not even my friend back then, asked me if I was dealing with something and if he could help. I told him to change my room. He and his team managed to change my room everyday without letting the team know. I don't how they managed and they tried to help me. The men used to go bang on other doors thinking I was there. One day, the men lost their patience and wanted to teach me a lesson," Vichithra was quoted saying.
TejRan News: TV stars Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash fell in love with each other during their stint in Colors TV's Bigg Boss 15, hosted by Salman Khan. Since then, the good-looking celebs are going strong and counted among the most-loved couples in showbiz. Later, they made an appearance together in Ekta Kapoor's Lock Upp.

Since then, TejRan fans have eagerly awaited seeing them together on screen. However, Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash haven't yet signed any full-fledged projects. While the actress is enjoying her break ever since Naagin 6 went off-air, the handsome hunk is currently seen hosting Jio Cinema's dating reality show Temptation Island India with Mouni Roy.

KARAN KUNDRRA & TEJASSWI PRAKASH'S REUNION IN TEMPTATION ISLAND INDIA?

But, there might be a piece of good news for the couple's fans. We're saying so because the latest reports suggest that Tejasswi Prakash will soon be seen in Temptation Island India. Yes, you read that right! According to an India Forums report, the actress will be seen as a guest in the dating reality show.

Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin TWIST: Multiple EXITS From GHKKPM After Savi-Ishaan's Wedding? DEETS Out

Bigg Boss 17 Weekend Ka Vaar: Isha Malviya-Samarth Jurel Breakup On National TV After FIGHT With THIS Star

She is likely to join both couples and attractive singles in the enchanting backdrop of the tropical paradise called Temptation Island. While there's no clarity on whether she'll be seen sharing the screen space with her boyfriend Karan Kundrra or not, the makers should think about cashing on their popularity as a couple. However, an official confirmation about TejRan's reunion on Temptation Island India is still awaited.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN TEMPTATION ISLAND INDIA?

Out of six, four weeks have already gone and the couples and singles have been trying their best to be a part of the social experiment. Earlier this week, Nikita and her ex-boyfriend Tayne Devilliers got eliminated from the show as a part of the mid-week bonfire. For those who are unaware, the duo appeared on Temptation Island India as a couple. However, Nikit connected with Bigg Boss OTT 2 star Jad Hadid and ended her relationship with Tayne.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 1, 2023 / Amarc Resources Ltd. (TSXV:AHR)(OTCQB:AXREF) ("Amarc" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the two concurrent private financings described in its November 23, 2023 news release, raising aggregate proceeds of $2.77 million. Amarc issued 25,000,000 common shares and 4,807,693 five-year share purchase warrants exercisable at $0.08 per common share; 15,384,615 of the shares were issued at $0.13 as Flow-Through shares ("FT") and 9,615,385 of the shares were issued as part of non-FT units (with each non-FT unit consisting of one common share and one-half of one warrant) at the price of $0.08 per non-FT unit for proceeds of $769,231. The related information about the new insider resulting from these financings referenced in the November 23, 2023 news release remains correct. All these securities have a 4-month hold period in Canada and no commissions were paid in connection with the financings.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the FT Shares exclusively for exploration of Amarc's portfolio of British Columbia copper-gold projects while the proceeds of the non-FT units will be used for general working capital.

About Amarc Resources Ltd.

Amarc is a mineral exploration and development company with an experienced and successful management team focused on developing a new generation of long-life, high-value porphyry Cu-Au mines in BC. By combining high-demand projects with dynamic management, Amarc has created a solid platform to create value from its exploration and development-stage assets.

Amarc is advancing its 100%-owned IKE, DUKE and JOY porphyry CuAu Districts located in different prolific porphyry regions of southern, central and northern BC, respectively. Each District represents significant potential for the development of multiple and important-scale, porphyry CuAu deposits. Importantly, each of the three districts is located in proximity to industrial infrastructure - including power, highways and rail.

Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. ("Freeport"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. at JOY and Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd. ("Boliden"), an entity within the Boliden Group of companies at DUKE, can earn up to a 70% interest in each District through staged investments of $110 million and $90 million, respectively. Together this provides Amarc with potentially up to $200 million in non-share dilutive staged funding. Amarc is the operator of both programs.

Amarc is associated with HDI, a diversified, global mining company with a 35-year history of porphyry Cu deposit discovery and development success. Previous and current HDI projects include some of BC's and the world's most important porphyry deposits - such as Pebble, Mount Milligan, Southern Star, Kemess South, Kemess North, Gibraltar, Prosperity, Xietongmen, Newtongmen, Florence, Casino, Sisson, Maggie, IKE, PINE and DUKE. From its head office in Vancouver, Canada, HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral projects.

Amarc works closely with local governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders in order to advance its mineral projects responsibly, and in a manner that contributes to sustainable community and economic development. We pursue early and meaningful engagement to ensure our mineral exploration and development activities are well coordinated and broadly supported, address local priorities and concerns, and optimize opportunities for collaboration. In particular, we seek to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with Indigenous groups within whose traditional territories our projects are located, through the provision of jobs, training programs, contract opportunities, capacity funding agreements and sponsorship of community events. All Amarc work programs are carefully planned to achieve high levels of environmental and social performance.

For further details on Amarc Resources Ltd., please visit the Company's website at www.amarcresources.com or contact Dr. Diane Nicolson, President and CEO, at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114, or Kin Communications, at (604) 684-6730, Email: AHR@kincommunications.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AMARC RESOURCES LTD.

Dr. Diane Nicolson

President and CEO

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 and other Cautionary Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All such statements, other than statements of historical facts that address exploration plans 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 the forward-looking statements. Mineral Exploration is inherently uncertain. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Amarc Resources Ltd., investors should review Amarc's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.

SOURCE: Amarc Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/812529/amarc-completes-277-million-financings
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 1, 2023) - Hybrid Power Solutions Inc. (CSE: HPSS) ("Hybrid" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed its initial public offering (the "IPO") of 12,279,500 units of Hybrid (the "Units") at a price of $0.40 per Unit pursuant to the Company's amended and restated prospectus dated August 28, 2023, as further amended on September 13, 2023 and October 18, 2023 (collectively, the "Prospectus"). The gross proceeds from the IPO, before deducting agent fees and estimated offering expenses, were $4,911,800. Hybrid's common shares (the "Common Shares") were listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Exchange") on November 29, 2023 and were immediately halted pending the closing of the IPO. Trading of Hybrid's common shares on the Exchange is expected to resume at market open on December 4, 2023 under the ticker symbol "HPSS".

Under the IPO, each Unit consists of one Common Share of Hybrid and one-half of one share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at a price of $0.60 per Common Share until December 1, 2025, subject to acceleration such that if the daily volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the Exchange exceeds $0.80 on each of those 15 consecutive days, then the Warrants will expire 30 days following written notice (via news release) provided by Hybrid (the "Acceleration").

Pursuant to an agency agreement dated July 14, 2023, between Research Capital Corporation (the "Agent") and the Company, the Agent acted as agent for the Company in connection with the IPO. Hybrid paid the Agent and members of its selling group a cash commission in the amount of $392,944 representing 8.0% of the gross proceeds of the IPO and granted the Agent and members of its selling group non-transferable warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 982,360 Units at a price of $0.40 per Unit until December 1, 2025, with each Unit consisting of one Common Share and one half of one Warrant, with each full Warrant entitling the Agent to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $0.60 per Common Share until December 1, 2025, subject to the Acceleration. The Company also paid the Agent a corporate finance fee of $45,000 plus GST, and reimbursed the Agent for its legal fees and reasonable expenses.

Prior to the closing of the IPO on November 29, 2023, convertible debentures of the Company previously issued on July 27, 2022 were automatically converted into 16,425,000 Common Shares. These 16,425,000 Common Shares are subject to resale restrictions such that 25% of these Common Shares were released on November 29, 2023, 25% will be released on May 29, 2024, 25% will be released on November 29, 2024, and the remaining 25% on May 29, 2025.

In addition, convertible debentures of the Company previously issued on August 19, 2022, were automatically converted into 8,142,500 Common Shares and 4,071,250 warrants (each a "Debenture Warrant") Each Debenture Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at a price of $0.60 per Common Share until November 29, 2025, subject to the Acceleration. These 8,142,500 Common Shares and 4,071,250 Debenture Warrants are subject to resale restrictions such that 10% of these securities were released on November 29, 2023, 40% will be released on March 29, 2024, and the remaining 50% on May 29, 2024.

Hybrid expects to use the net proceeds from the IPO to primarily grow its distribution and market presence in the United States, to increase marketing and outreach initiatives, to increase its product testing and production efficiency capabilities, to repay outstanding secured debentures and for general working capital purposes, all as further set out in the Prospectus. After completion of the IPO, Hybrid now has 68,947,000 Common Shares issued and outstanding on a non-diluted basis, of which 45,559,315 Common Shares are subject to statutory or voluntary escrow or resale restrictions.

Further to the Company's news release dated August 29, 2023, Treewalk Consulting Inc. ("Treewalk"), a company controlled by Alex McAulay, Chief Financial Officer and a director of Hybrid, participated in the IPO and acquired 375,000 Units to partially settle outstanding debt with the Company, as provided for in the previously disclosed payment agreement between the parties.

Pursuant to Multi-Lateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), Treewalk's participation in the IPO is a "related-party transaction", as defined in MI 61-101. The Company is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation requirements contained in section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and the minority shareholder approval requirements contained in section 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the Company is not listed on specified markets and the fair market value of Treewalk's participation in the IPO 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 in respect of the related party transaction at least 21 days before the closing of the IPO as the closing date of the IPO was not immediately known and the Company wished to close on an expedited basis.

Additionally, Hybrid granted an aggregate of 3,000,000 restricted share units ("RSUs") and 150,000 stock options ("Options") to consultants and employees of the Company pursuant to the Company's omnibus equity incentive plan. The RSUs vest on March 30, 2024, and the Options will be subject to vesting.

The securities referenced in this news release 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 applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to "U.S. persons" (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such securities in any jurisdiction.

For more information, please refer to the Prospectus filed with the securities commissions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador, available on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company's profile or please contact:

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Francois Renaud-Bryne

CEO and Director

1 (866) 549-2743

About Hybrid Power Solutions Inc.

Hybrid Power Solutions Inc. is a Canadian clean energy company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "HPSS". Hybrid specializes in producing industrial grade clean technology products such as portable power packs and stationary storage.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, when the Company's shares will resume trading on the Exchange, the use of proceeds of the IPO, and the release of securities from escrow and resale restrictions. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will", "will be", "intends", "expected" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management of the Company, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different, including receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. Although management of the Company have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended including without limitation those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Prospectus and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR+.. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept 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/189611
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, today awarded the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE's pioneering global award in sustainability and humanitarianism, during a ceremony held at COP28 UAE in Expo City Dubai.

The Ceremony was attended by numerous heads of delegations participating in COP28, ministers, senior government officials, and Prize winners and finalists.

His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in promoting sustainability and encouraging them to continue their important contributions in this field. His Highness emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in building upon its established legacy in sustainability, a foundation laid by the country's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. In this regard, His Highness highlighted the significant role of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable development, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute towards making a positive difference for our planet.

The Prize honours the legacy of UAE's founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, by rewarding small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools that are addressing health, food, energy, water and climate-related challenges. For over 15 years, through its 106 previous winners, the Prize has transformed the lives of 384 million people worldwide.

The Prize's eleven winners for the current cycle were elected in September by a distinguished panel of Jury members, who rigorously evaluated each submission for its contribution and commitment to delivering impactful, innovative, and inspiring solutions across the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

To strengthen its commitment to promoting sustainable and humanitarian development, the Zayed Sustainability Prize will be increasing its endowment, from US $3.6 million to US $5.9 million, effective immediately.

His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, said: "Today, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to combat climate change and empower vulnerable communities as we award US $1 million to each of our distinguished winners in Health, Food, Water, Energy and Climate Action, and US $150,000 to each Global High Schools winner. This substantial funding will help scale their innovative solutions and deliver transformational progress around the world, especially across the Global South."

"As the Zayed Sustainability Prize's 15th anniversary draws to a close, we reflect on the UAE's mission to drive inclusive sustainable development and climate action. The Prize not only honours Sheikh Zayed's legacy of social good but extends the reach of his vision on a global scale."

With a larger fund, the Prize can broaden its support for innovative solutions that not only positively impact the environment but also improve the well-being and economic development of the world's most climate-vulnerable communities.

In the new Climate Action category, Kelp Blue, a Namibian SME, won the Prize for its ambitious efforts to cultivate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity while capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. Additionally, their operations have generated job opportunities in coastal communities.

In the Health category, Indonesia's doctorSHARE was awarded the Prize for its pioneering work in bringing healthcare access to hard-to-reach areas, notably with barge-mounted floating hospitals. Their impact is substantial, having treated over 160,000 patients.

In the Food category, Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agricultural Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine, won for its contributions to supporting a more resilient agricultural sector in Gaza. The NPO facilitates access to locally produced food, providing job security to 200 women agripreneurs and benefitting more than 7,000 people.

In the Energy category, Ignite Power, an SME from Rwanda, was awarded the Prize for its transformative efforts to provide affordable electricity to last-mile communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their pay-as-you-go solar solutions provided electricity to 2.5 million people and prevented 600,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Beyond access to clean energy, Ignite Power has introduced solar powered irrigation solutions and generated 3,500 local jobs.

In the Water category, Eau et Vie, an NPO from France, won for its contributions to ensuring access to clean water in impoverished areas by installing taps in urban homes. They have increased water access for 52,000 people in 27 communities across 10 cities. Furthermore, they raised awareness of hygienic practices for 66,000 individuals and reduced the cost of water by 75%.

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said: "This year's winners have demonstrated a remarkable wave of ingenuity in their solutions to address urgent global challenges. We have confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us towards vital climate action objectives and forging a path to a sustainable future for all."

The Zayed Sustainability Prize also engages young people through its Global High Schools category and encourages youth to take an active role in supporting their communities and becoming future sustainability leaders. The Prize's 47 Global High Schools winners have impacted the lives of over 55,186 students and 453,887 people in their wider communities.

The recipients of the Global High Schools awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru), representing The Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy (Nigeria), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; International School (Morocco), representing the Middle East & North Africa; Northfleet Technology College (United Kingdom), representing Europe & Central Asia; KORT Education Complex (Pakistan), representing South Asia; and finally, Beijing High School No. 35 (China), representing East Asia & Pacific.

Boilerplate

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a tribute to the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The Prize aims to drive sustainable development and humanitarian action by recognising and rewarding organisations and high schools that are delivering innovative sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

For over 15 years, through its 106 winners, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of 384 million people worldwide.



Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291040/Award_Ceremony.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/11-winners-recognised-at-zayed-sustainability-prize-awards-ceremony-held-during-cop28-uae-302003757.html
Commitment will complement crucial decarbonization efforts to help reduce near-term warming

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at COP28, leading climate philanthropies announced an investment of $450 million in 2023 and over the next three years to help catalyze a faster phase-down of non-CO2 super climate pollutants. The new commitment designates the majority of the funding to methane abatement and the remaining funds will support the phase-out of fluorinated gases, nitrous oxide, black carbon and ground-level ozone. Super climate pollutants contribute to over half of global climate change1, and cutting these, when paired with necessary, ambitious decarbonization efforts, can help reduce near-term warming four times faster than focusing on decarbonization alone.

"With 2023 on track to become the warmest year to date, we are dangerously close to exceeding the 1.5C goal set out during the Paris Agreement. We must deepen investments and rapidly increase focus on measures that can prevent warming in the short term," said Patricia Espinosa, CEO and Founding Partner of onepoint5. "This means ambitious transition plans towards fossil fuel phase-out. Every tenth of a degree of warming matters, and it matters most to vulnerable communities on the frontlines of climate change."

While all super pollutants have a significant impact on warming, cutting methane emissions presents a critical opportunity to slow warming today - methane is responsible for more than 25% of global climate warming, second only to CO22. Methane must move beyond voluntary targets to mandatory measures at local, sub-national, national, and international levels, including through mandatory agreements that start with measures to reduce methane and other super pollutants in three critical sectors: oil and gas, agriculture and waste. These reductions will be critical to keep the 1.5C goal within reach.

"Urgent action is needed from major polluters and wealthy nations to enforce the 1.5C limit set by the Paris Agreement. The majority of Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20) nations are already experiencing average temperatures well above those conducive to economic growth, resulting in financial setbacks with 20% wealth destruction," said Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance Ghana and V20 Chair. "A rapid increase in investments and financial support for climate-vulnerable economies pursuing a Climate Prosperity plan is crucial for development-positive climate action and shared prosperity."

Many countries and companies have signed voluntary pledges of non-CO2 gases in recent years - which shows what is possible - but these commitments are generally not part of the Paris Agreement's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) process. To fully materialize these commitments, local, national, or international regulations or incentives must be in place.

The funding announced today will support diverse initiatives to accelerate the reduction of super pollutants, including by governments that have already announced plans to phase-down super pollutants, by helping with implementation. It will assist countries in expediting national actions and help catalyze ambitious economy-wide NDCs that incorporate all climate pollutants. It will also help leverage additional resources to triple climate finance on non-CO2 pollutants by the end of the decade.

"As we look forward to the COP in Brazil and the obligation of all countries to submit their updated NDCs, we must take all possible measures to accelerate our ambition to avoid catastrophic climate change," said Izabella Teixeira, co-chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel and former Environment Minister of Brazil. "Combining the resources of philanthropy, government and the private sector will continue to be critical - and this initiative, focused on the fast-acting super pollutants, can make a real contribution to our global effort."

Today's announcement is inspired by the historic successes of the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which is working effectively to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a super pollutant and key contributor to rising temperatures, along with nearly 100 other chemicals that were depleting the ozone layer and warming the planet. The Kigali Amendment was and remains a resounding success, including the role philanthropy played in supporting implementation of the agreement, and today's commitment seeks to have a similar impact on the remaining super pollutants.

"With time short, we must be smart and decisive about how we stay below a 1.5-degree warmer world. One smart way will be for all to commit to ending methane leakages now and to regulate, urgently, all other super pollutants," said Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.

Super pollutants typically remain in the atmosphere for a few days to several years, as opposed to the 300-1,000 years or more for CO2. Reducing super pollutant emissions is not only essential to keeping us on track to reach the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, but also to improving air quality around the world. Cutting super climate pollutants will also contribute to preventing 2.5 million deaths per year due to air pollution (60% of all air pollution annual mortality), bringing direct local benefits to communities3.

This philanthropic support is additional to crucial contributions needed to rapidly scale ambition and implementation on decarbonization. This involves scaling efforts to deliver a comprehensive energy package at COP28 that includes goals of doubling energy efficiency, tripling renewables, and a just and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels.

"Delivering unprecedented levels of new finance is essential for scaling rapid progress on super pollutants, while realizing the needed energy transition," said Jess Ayers, CEO of Quadrature Climate Foundation. "It is critical that this financing supports those already grappling most with the devastating impacts of climate change and it must enable critical progress on adaptation and loss and damage."

"While philanthropy can play a catalytic role, there is an unprecedented amount of financing needed to support the energy transition," said Antha Williams, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies' environment program. "This is the pivotal moment for governments, philanthropy, and the private sector to work together and deliver the data, action and investment to reach our goals."

COP28 will mark the conclusion of the Global Stocktake to assess progress under the Paris Agreement. The UNEP Gap Report calculates that the planet is on course to warm 2.5 to 2.9C even assuming all NDCs are fully implemented. Now is the time for countries to act by setting clear, high-ambition pathways for how gaps exposed by the Stocktake will be closed ahead of the next round of NDC submissions by 2025.

"Governments have an opportunity here to strengthen their targets and goals to ensure they address the mitigation and funding levels climate science demands," said Christie Ulman, President of Sequoia Climate Foundation. "Including all greenhouse gases as part of the Paris NDCs would be a step in the right direction. Stronger targets combined with a renewed focus on implementation are critical - it's the only way we will see our climate goals realized."

"Besides being a pollutant that supercharges climate change, methane further exacerbates inequality caused by the climate crisis and disproportionately harms the most vulnerable among us," saidJohn Palfrey, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. "Direct reductions in methane emissions are especially crucial for frontline communities that suffer the worst impacts of methane pollution and climate change."

"The climate emergency requires fast action at scale to decarbonise the energy system," said Kate Hampton, CEO of the Children's Climate Fund Foundation. "It also requires cutting super climate pollutants like methane as quickly as possible, something that will only happen through a combination of significant investment, technical assistance and robust regulation."

The following philanthropic organizations are part of today's announcement:

Ballmer Group

Bezos Earth Fund



Bloomberg Philanthropies

Children's Investment Fund Foundation

High Tide Foundation

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation

Pisces Foundation

Quadrature Climate Foundation

Sequoia Climate Foundation

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

About Sequoia Climate Foundation

The Sequoia Climate Foundation is a philanthropic organization on a mission to avert the worst impacts of climate change. A 501(c)(3) based in California, we support ambitious, evidence-based strategies aimed at accelerating the clean energy transition.

About The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is an independent philanthropic organisation, with offices in Addis Ababa, Beijing, London, Nairobi and New Delhi. Established in 2002, CIFF works with a wide range of partners seeking to transform the lives of children in developing countries. Areas of work include sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal and child health, opportunities for girls and young women, tackling child slavery and exploitation, and supporting smart ways to slow down and stop climate change.

About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation invests in creative thinkers and problem-solvers working to ensure people, communities, and the planet can flourish. Together with its partners, Hewlett harnesses society's collective capacity to solve our toughest problems - from the existential threat of climate change, to persistent and pervasive inequities, to attacks on democracy itself.

About the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world's most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, decreasing nuclear risk, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., and reducing corruption in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago.



1 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM_final.pdf , p. 7.

2 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/figures/technical-summary/figure-ts-15 , https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/energy/facts-about-methane

3 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)61043-1/fulltex t

Media Contacts

Sequoia Climate Foundation

sequoia@pentagroup.co

aeprimian@sequoiaclimate.org

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/climate-philanthropies-announce-450-million-to-deepen-investment-in-super-climate-pollutants-302003538.html
TORONTO, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impact Development Group Inc. (formerly Yubba Capital Corp.) (the "Company") (TSX-V: YUB.P) is pleased to announce that, further to its news releases dated December 1, 2022, April 20, 2023 and October 19, 2023, it has closed its previously announced qualifying transaction (the "Transaction") and changed its name to "Impact Development Group Inc.". In connection with the Transaction, the Company also completed a consolidation of its common shares (the "Shares") on the basis of one post-consolidation Share for every 26.0903 pre-consolidation Shares (the "Consolidation"). Following the Consolidation, there were 200,072 Shares of the Company issued and outstanding.



The Shares are expected to resume trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V") as a Tier 2 Real Estate Issuer under the ticker symbol "IMPT" on or around December 7, 2023, subject to the TSX-V issuing its final exchange bulletin confirming completion of the Transaction and its approval thereof.

The Transaction was effected pursuant to a share exchange whereby the Company issued its Shares to shareholders of Impact Housing Corporation ("IHC"), incorporated in the Bahamas, in exchange for all of the shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, Impact Housing Corporation, incorporated in Panama ("IHC Panama").

Complete details of the terms of the Transaction are set out in the prospectus dated October 16, 2023 (the "Prospectus") available on the Resulting Issuer's profile at www.sedarplus.com.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Prospectus, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading the securities of the Resulting Issuer should be considered highly speculative.

Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Transaction, IHC completed an issuance of convertible notes in the amount of US$5,823,118 (the "Concurrent Financing"). The convertible notes issued in the Concurrent Financing converted into 1,608,596 units of IHC (each, a "Unit") at a price of US$3.62 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of IHC (a "IHC Share") and one IHC Share purchase warrant (an "IHC Warrant"), and each IHC Warrant is exercisable for one IHC Share at an exercise price of US$3.62 until November 30, 2026. The IHC Shares and IHC Warrants were immediately exchanged for the Company's securities upon completion of the Transaction.

The Transaction

In accordance with the terms of the share exchange agreement dated April 14, 2022, as amended (the "Amalgamation Agreement") among the Company, IHC and IHC Panama, and immediately before the completion of the Share Exchange (as defined below), US$7,191,720 principal amount of outstanding debentures of IHC ("IHC Debentures") automatically converted into 1,997,700 IHC Shares at US$3.62 per IHC Share in accordance with the terms of the IHC Debentures. Additionally, outstanding debts of IHC valued at $36,936,846 were converted into 10,260,235 IHC Shares at US$3.62 in accordance with debt conversion agreements with IHC's lenders (the "Debt Conversion").

After the completion of the conversion of the IHC Debentures and Debt Conversion, and before the Share Exchange and the completion of the Concurrent Financing, there were an aggregate of 12,257,935 IHC Shares issued and outstanding.

The IHC Panama is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (the "Resulting Issuer") and the outstanding securities of IHC were exchanged for securities of the Resulting Issuer at a ratio of one for one immediately before the completion of the Transaction (the "Share Exchange"). In addition, the Company issued 20,007 Resulting Issuer Shares (the "Finder's Shares") to Josh Lebovic for the introduction of IHC to the Company.

Outstanding Share Capital and Escrow

As a result of the Transaction, there are an aggregate of 14,141,927 Resulting Issuer Shares issued and outstanding, of which the previous shareholders of the Company hold approximately 1.41% and shareholders of IHC hold approximately 98.59%, respectively.

IHC shareholders representing an aggregate of 10,824,434 Resulting Issuer Shares and 1,608,596 warrants to purchase Resulting Issuer Shares are subject to Tier 2 Value Escrow Agreements under the rules of the TSX-V. In addition, the 20,007 Finder's Shares are subject to four month hold period ending on March 31, 2024 in accordance with applicable securities laws.

New Board and Management

Upon completion of the Transaction, all directors and officers of the Company have resigned and were replaced by the following nominees of IHC: (a) Thomas Wenz - Chief Executive Officer & Director; (b) Swapan Kakumanu - Chief Financial Officer; (c) Delia Jaramillo - Chief Operating Officer; (d) Joshua Lebovic - Director; (e) Raymond D. Harari - Director; (f) Sophie Galper-Komet - Director; and (g) Oscar Hilt Tatum IV - Director.

Early Warning Report - Dale Wood

Dale Wood announces his intention to file an early warning report in accordance with Multilateral Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issuers for securities of the Resulting Issuer.

Mr. Wood intends to file an early warning report in connection with the acquisition of 3,885,487 Resulting Issuer Shares through Dale Ventures PTE Ltd., and 4,369,644 Resulting Issuer Shares through Dale Ventures FZE, in connection with the Qualifying Transaction. Dale Wood is not involved in the management of the Resulting Issuer.

Immediately prior to the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Wood did not, directly or indirectly, hold any shares of the Company. Immediately following the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Dale Wood holds, directly or indirectly, an aggregate of 8,255,131 Resulting Issuer Shares (representing approximately 58.37% of the issued and outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares).

The Resulting Issuer Shares held by Mr. Wood, directly or indirectly, are subject to an applicable TSX-V escrow release schedule, as more particularly described in the Prospectus.

In accordance with applicable securities laws, Mr. Wood may, from time to time and at any time, acquire additional Resulting Issuer Shares and/or other equity, debt or other securities or instruments (collectively, "Securities") of the Resulting Issuer in the open market or otherwise, and reserves the right to dispose of any or all of his Securities in the open market or otherwise at any time and from time to time, and to engage in similar transactions with respect to the Securities, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors, subject to applicable escrow restrictions. A copy of the early warning report will be filed by Dale Wood in connection with the Transaction and will be available on SEDAR+ under the Resulting Issuer's profile.

Early Warning Report - Oscar Hilt Tatum IV

Oscar Hilt Tatum IV announces his intention to file an early warning report in accordance with Multilateral Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issuers for securities of the Resulting Issuer.

Mr. Tatum intends to file an early warning report in connection with the acquisition of 2,549,296 Resulting Issuer Shares. Mr. Tatum is a director of the Resulting Issuer.

Immediately prior to the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Wood did not, directly or indirectly, hold any shares of the Company. Immediately following the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Tatum holds, directly or indirectly, an aggregate of 2,549,296 Resulting Issuer Shares (representing approximately 18.03% of the issued and outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares).

The Resulting Issuer Shares held by Mr. Tatum, directly or indirectly, are subject to an applicable TSX-V escrow release schedule, as more particularly described in the Prospectus.

In accordance with applicable securities laws, Mr. Tatum may, from time to time and at any time, acquire additional Securities of the Resulting Issuer in the open market or otherwise, and reserves the right to dispose of any or all of his Securities in the open market or otherwise at any time and from time to time, and to engage in similar transactions with respect to the Securities, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors, subject to applicable escrow restrictions. A copy of the early warning report will be filed by Oscar Hilt Tatum IV in connection with the Transaction and will be available on SEDAR+ under the Resulting Issuer's profile.

Additional Details

This news release is not an offer of the securities for sale in the United States. The securities 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 exemption from registration. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

The TSX-V has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

About IHC and IHC Panama

Impact Development Group is a Panamanian based real estate developer that provides affordable housing solutions to Panama's growing middle-class supported by a longstanding subsidized government program. The vision of IHC Panama is effectuated by a vertically integrated model which coordinates all services necessary to develop high-quality residential and commercial buildings, including land acquisition, financing, architectural, engineering, off-site manufacturing, general contracting, property management, and administration.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Wenz, Director and CEO

Phone: + 1 (406) 370-2603

Email: twenz@ihcpanama.com

Forward-Looking Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to resumption of trading in the common shares of the Company and information related to the business plan of the Resulting Issuer upon completion of the Transaction.

Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Resulting Issuer. Risks and uncertainties exist that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied in the forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: the risk that the Transaction is not approved by the TSX-V; the limited business history of IHC; reliance on key management; risks related to IHC's growth strategy, including that previous and future acquisitions do not meet expectations or potential acquisitions cannot be completed; dependence on and availability of third party financing; the business of IHC is subject to broader economic factors; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; financial results of IHC's operations; unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions.

The forward-looking statements, while considered reasonable by the Resulting Issuer, are inherently based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the Transaction will be approved by the TSX-V and the Resulting Issuer will be able to carry out its business plan as contemplated. Although the Resulting Issuer believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of the Resulting Issuer as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Resulting Issuer may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
DUBAI, UAE, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the state-run energy company of Korea, hosted an event titled, 'The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future,' today at the KHNP Pavilion during the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). This event showcased Korea's innovative net-zero nuclear solutions and explored the crucial role of nuclear energy in expediting the energy transition to reach a carbon-free future with renowned specialists from the sector.

The session commenced with opening remarks by Hoesung Lee, President of the Carbon Free Alliance (CFA) and former Chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Emphasizing the urgency for developing a diverse range of environmentally friendly clean energy sources for achieving carbon neutrality, Lee stated that "in order expand carbon-free energy globally, participation from various stakeholders and implementation of innovative technologies will be crucial."

Taking the stage next, KHNP CEOJooho Whang introduced Korea's innovative small modular reactors (i-SMR) technology and SMR Smart Net-Zero City (SSNC) model. "i-SMR technology is a sustainable clean energy solution. It represents all the advantages of large nuclear reactors, with utmost safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility," CEO Whang disclosed. He continued, "[Powered by i-SMR,] SSNC is a carbon-free energy city platform, providing optimal green energy portfolio to each city," before adding, "By using stable, cost-effective i-SMR technology, SSNC can reduce energy costs by up to 30%."

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion titled, "The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future," where nuclear energy experts and industry leaders acknowledged nuclear power as a clean and critical solution for decarbonization. They also highlighted the significant potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) in driving the global energy transition.

Joining CEO Whang on the panel were Diane Cameron, Head of Division of Nuclear Technology Development and Economics, NEA, Bumjin Chung, Professor of Nuclear Engineering Department at Kyung Hee University / President of Korean Nuclear Society, and Frank Jannuzi, CEO of The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, with Hyungook Kang, Professor of Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as the moderator.

During the session, Ms. Cameron stressed the critical and timely moment for nuclear energy, stating, "Advanced nuclear energy technologies, including the new SMRs coming to market, now offer nations everywhere an opportunity to leapfrog the energy systems of yesterday to bring the benefits of clean power to the 770 million people in the world who currently live without electricity today."

Dr. Chung continued the discussion by highlighting the history, achievements, and future of Korea's nuclear technology. "40 years of steady nuclear power plant construction resulted in the balanced human resources and supply chains We are now technologically ready for NZE (Net Zero Emission)."

CEO Whang added, "With superior safety, economic viability and modularity in the SMR market, i-SMR represents a contemporary solution for a carbon-neutral future. Especially for countries with aging coal power plants, i-SMRs could be an essential solution, offering carbon-free energy at a more affordable cost while facilitating a safe and economically beneficial transition to clean energy."

CEO Jannuzi emphasized the need to build support for nuclear power and collaborate on a global scale, stating, "It's not just that nuclear power provides carbon-free power, it is also that nuclear power offsets pollution which would otherwise be generated by fossil fuels - saving lives There is a compelling logic for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan to work together to deliver safe, efficient nuclear energy to meet growing global energy demands."

Dr. Kang closed the panel discussion by stating that "Nuclear power has emerged as a pivotal solution for driving the transition to net zero and a more sustainable future. Though challenges still lie ahead, it is promising to see companies like KHNP leading the energy transition with developments in their affordable, secure and effective i-SMR technology and smart net zero city model."

Prior to this KHNP-hosted event, Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kyungsung Kang attended the Net Zero Nuclear (NZN) Initiative event at COP28 and announced that in alignment with the Korean government's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Korea will place increased emphasis on nuclear energy. KHNP's development of i-SMR and SSNC in collaboration with the Korean government and corporations is aligned with these national objectives.

In addition, on Dec 1, KHNP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia's Perusahaan Listrik Negara Nusantara Power at COP28. The MOU aims to foster collaboration in the development and research of i-SMR technology, with a shared objective of contributing to the global net zero goal.

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Puzzle Agency, under entrepreneurs Cem Hasoglu and Art Abrashi, marks a major milestone by expanding its clientele to Europe and the Middle East. Renowned for AI-driven real estate lead generation, their innovative approach, powered by online advertising, transforms the global industry.

London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - December 2, 2023) - Puzzle Agency, led by entrepreneurs Cem Hasoglu and Art Abrashi, proudly announces a significant milestone in its global expansion strategy by successfully broadening its clientele to encompass Europe and the Middle East. This strategic move positions Puzzle Agency as a promising player in the international real estate market, building on its success in the US and over 15 other countries.

Founded by Cem Hasoglu and Art Abrashi during their studies at King's College London, Puzzle Agency has experienced substantial growth under their visionary leadership. From its inception as a college startup, the company has now evolved to collaborate with over 40 real estate brokerages worldwide.

Renowned for its AI-driven approach to real estate lead generation, Puzzle Agency's expansion into Europe and the Middle East aligns seamlessly with its commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions to a diverse range of real estate professionals globally. This expansion marks a pivotal moment in Puzzle Agency's journey, as it extends its innovative AI-driven lead generation and online advertising strategies to the dynamic markets of Europe and the Middle East.

As the company continues to revolutionize the real estate industry, Cem Hasoglu and Art Abrashi express their enthusiasm for this strategic move, emphasizing their dedication to serving an even broader and more diverse clientele in these thriving markets. The founders' journey from a college startup to collaborating with over 40 real estate brokerages worldwide showcases Puzzle Agency's commitment to excellence and innovation in the global real estate landscape.

Cem Hasoglu and Art Abrashi Expand Puzzle Agency's Clientele to Europe and the Middle East



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Dog lovers have a reason to rejoice as Mans Best Friend could live longer in the near future. An anti-ageing drug for dogs has received a key nod from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The drug, LOY-001, is being developed by Loyal  a San Francisco-based biotech company. On Tuesday (28 November), Loyal said that the FDA granted conditional approval to the Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness section of its application.

What is this potential miracle drug that could extend a dogs lifespan? Lets take a closer look.

Anti-ageing drug for dogs

Loyal is working on LOY-001 which is an injection for healthy dogs above the age of seven and over 40 pounds (18 kg approximately). The jab can be administered by veterinarians every three to six months if it gets approval, as per Daily Express newspaper.

According to the CEO and founder of Loyal For Dogs Celine Halioua, LOY-001 is designed to extend the lifespan of larger dogs who often die much earlier than smaller canines.

Larger dogs generally live for about 8 to 12 years, as per the American Kennel Club. The lifespan of a furry friend  10 to 13 years  is a just small fraction of an average humans, noted Smithsonian magazine.

If a big dog is, you know, getting sick and dying from age-related diseases at age seven, eight, nine, hes going gray at age four. Hes getting a limp at age five, Halioua told BBC in August. The rate of ageing is so high that you can tell if a drug is impacting that in about six to 12 months.

How will the drug work?

The anti-ageing drug will target the growth and metabolism hormone IGF-1. This hormone is present in higher levels in larger dogs and in lesser amounts in smaller canines, reported Smithsonian.

The drug will lower the level of the hormone IGF-1 which is responsible for larger canines to grow in size at a young age, Daily Express reported citing Loyal. The hormone reportedly cuts the health lifespans of larger breeds.

The company believes selective breeding of dogs for size has contributed to a reduction in the lifespan of larger dogs.

By decreasing the level of this hormone, Loyal aims for larger dogs to stay healthier for a prolonged period. The company is also working on other drugs  LOY-002 for all but the smallest older dogs and LOY-003, a pill for larger and giant breed dogs, as per Daily Express.

ALSO READ: Will humans be able to grow young again after study makes reverse ageing possible in mice?

Longevity drug passes major hurdle

The company has passed the initial criteria needed for the FDAs green light.

As per a letter shared by Loyal with the New York Times (NYT), a representative from the FDA said, The data you provided are sufficient to show that there is a reasonable expectation of effectiveness.

CEO Halioua announced on her companys blog, Im so proud to announce that Loyal has earned what we believe to be the FDAs first-ever formal acceptance that a drug can be developed and approved to extend lifespan.

She told Business Wire, Loyal was founded with the ambitious goal of developing the first drugs to extend healthy lifespan in dogs. This milestone is the result of years of careful work by the team. Well continue to work just as diligently to bring this and our other longevity programmes through to FDA approval.

Speaking to New York Post, the 29-year-old CEO it is not known how many years will be increased in a dogs life due to LOY-001.

We dont know an actual quantitative extension number [that the drug will tack onto a lifespan].

The shots are expected to help bigger dogs have a higher quality of life for a longer time by reducing incidents of age-related diseases, The New York Post quoted her as saying.

Loyal intends to begin a clinical trial for LOY-001 involving about 1,000 large and giant dogs next year or in 2025, with a goal to roll out the drug by 2026.

Moreover, we do not know how this drug would affect the quality of life of our furry friends.

If it proves true that it extends life span, Im only interested in that if the period of life that is extended is good quality life. I dont want to make my dog live an extra two years in poor health, Kate Creevy, a veterinarian at Texas A&M University, told the Times.

With inputs from agencies
Try as you might, Pat Egan will never be replicated, his family says.

The man sold everything. Insurance and imports. Christmas trees and newspapers. Seeds and stilts. He also promoted concerts at Pershing Auditorium.

But he's best known for the Crazy Cracker fireworks he began selling as a boy that would become his legacy.

"He was a born entrepreneur," said Betsy Egan, his wife of the last 35 years. "We'd go to trade shows and he got along with everyone. That was the beauty of him.

"He was like Switzerland."

Pat Egan, 81, died Nov. 22 in Lincoln, where he and Betsy spent half the year. The other half was spent at their home in Key Colony Beach, Florida.

In Lincoln, where he grew up, Egan's entrepreneurial spirit kicked in from the start. His mother, Julia, had him selling seeds door to door at the age of 6.

It wasn't long after that that his grandmother Clara, who lived on F Street, would gather the tomatoes she grew and have the young boy bring them down to the local grocery store.

"She'd tell him to make a deal with that grocer," said Erin Egan, Pat's daughter. "She'd tell him to try to get the best meats or soup bones he could get. I think she taught him a little bit about how to barter trade."

In the summer of 1957, attending high school at the now-closed University High School, Egan delivered groceries for Leon's Gourmet Grocer, 2200 Winthrop Road. He was approached by a customer named Duffy Helmsdorfer, who asked him how much he made an hour.

At the time, Pat Egan made about 35 cents an hour. Helmsdorfer told him he could make $100 a week by just sitting on a corner.

A 2014 Journal Star story about Egan illustrated how Helmsdorfer, the states fireworks kingpin, gave the teenager fireworks on consignment and some red, white and blue bunting for the card table he set up at 26th and Holdrege streets.

It was that summer that one of Nebraskas longest-lived fireworks businesses  Crazy Cracker  was borne.

Neighborhood kids came with pennies and dimes and left with pockets full of firecrackers and bottle rockets, the story said.

Five decades later, Egan was still selling fireworks  this time by the semitrailer load. The tents that were up around Lincoln and Omaha  including one run by Erin  were not nearly as prevalent as they were in their heyday of the 1980s, but longtime residents still looked for his product each Fourth of July.

"He enjoyed meeting different people," Erin Egan said. "He treated everyone with respect. It didn't matter if you were poor, rich or whatever. To him, everybody was the same. Everybody had something to offer. ... He liked everybody."

The fireworks business never waned even when he entered into the insurance industry. In fact, during his 45-year career of operating an independent insurance business, he always closed the office in July to sell his fireworks.

Meanwhile, he took trips to China to find goods he could sell in Lincoln  from baskets to furniture  and then began selling Christmas trees at East Park Plaza.

His daughter remembers the year that he boosted business by bringing a herd of reindeer to the parking lot and having his brother dress as Santa Claus at the Christmas tree lot.

"I thought it was awesome," said Erin Egan, who was attending Pius X High School at the time.

It was quintessential Pat Egan, his wife said.

"That was Pat," Betsy Egan said. "He made everything fun. He didn't have hobbies. He didn't need any because he had so much fun at work."

And somehow, he also found time to dabble in promoting events and concerts, too. For years, he put on the Boat, Sport & Travel Show at the Lancaster Event Center.

He also helped bring musical acts to Pershing Auditorium, his daughter said.

"I think he really loved doing that," she said. "He loved putting on concerts."

New Years Eve fireworks displays from around the world New Years Eve fireworks displays from around the world Sydney, Australia Mumbai, India Bangkok Moscow Reykjavik, Iceland Athens, Greece Berlin Rome Prague Paris Dubai, UAE London, England Edinburgh, Scotland Rio de Janeiro
The last week of November was a mixed bag for India. There were some reasons to worry but a lot more to cheer about.

After more than 17 days, 41 labourers trapped inside an under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhands Uttarkashi were rescued. It took the efforts of several teams, including the Prime Ministers Office, to successfully pull off the evacuation, the most daring India has ever undertaken. We have been closely tracking the story and will tell you more.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is having another busy week. After closely monitoring the Uttarakhand rescue operations, he went to Dubai for COP28, the most important climate summit of the year. The end of 2023 is fast approaching and its always good to wrap it up on a positive note.

The election season for this year also comes to an end. After polls in five states, the results will be declared on 3 December. Exit polls were out on Thursday, giving the Congress and the BJP reasons to smile.

December is a month of celebrations. Its a reminder to your pending leaves and go on a holiday. We have some great options for you.

All this and more in our weekly roundup of explainers.

1. Lets begin with the good news  the evacuation of the 41 workers in Uttarakhand. Despite several delays and setbacks, India left no stone unturned to ensure that the trapped men were safe. PM Narendra Modi had a big role to play and foreign experts were roped in.

The biggest heroes, of course, were the rat miners. Who are they and how did they save the labourers? We explain.

We also bring you a detailed account of what unfolded over 17 days. These explainers are a must-read.

2. Winter often brings with it some illnesses. The pneumonia outbreak in China has the world worried. The Communist nations neighbours are especially on alert. India is monitoring the situation closely and is preparing for all possibilities. But can the illness spread? Heres what experts have to say.

3. A shocking story emerged from Kerala. A woman did the unthinkable to her daughters  she allowed her lovers to sexually abuse her children. The girls were 11 and seven years old when the incidents happened. A special fast-track court on Monday sentenced the mother to a cumulative prison term of 40 years. A look at the case that left the country shocked.

4. Meanwhile, in politics, the coming week is expected to be hectic. 3 December are the results of the four state Assembly elections  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh. The results in Mizoram will be declared on 4 December.

Thursdays evening exit polls predict a 2-2 tie between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in four states. The BJP is likely to retain power in MP and may form a government in Rajasthan; the Congress may win in Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Mizoram was too close to call, say pollsters. Heres an explainer that helps you understand the exit poll results. (Warning: Exit polls are not always accurate).

5. As December begins, are you already planning your year-end break? If you are thinking of travelling out of the country, you might want to consider these options. Malaysia has joined the list of nations like Thailand and Sri Lanka allowing visa-free travel for Indians. Why are countries eager to woo the Great Indian Traveller? Find out in one of our most-read explainers of the week.

6. But before we get to the end of December, what are the plans for the weekend? A visit to the theatres is not a bad idea. Friday saw two big releases  Vicky Kaushals Sam Bahadur and Ranbir Kapoors Animal. If you are a lover of history, we recommend the former. But before you book your tickets, you might want to do your homework.

In this essay, we tell you the tales of the bravery of Sam Manekshaw, Indias first Field Marshal and one of our finest military leaders. He was a gutsy war general but also one with great wit. He was one of a kind.

Happy reading and happy weekend!

PS: If you like the way we explain the news, come back for more.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning as Cyclone Michaung gains strength over the Bay of Bengal and the South Andaman Sea. With the potential to intensify, the tropical cyclone is expected to make landfall in and around Tamil Nadu on December 4, prompting concerns and precautionary measures across southern India.

IMD Alert

An Orange alert has been sounded for Tamil Nadu and coastal and interior Andhra Pradesh, indicating the likelihood of moderate to heavy rainfall as the cyclone intensifies.

Weather Forecast

IMDs forecast suggests isolated heavy rainfall over north coastal Tamil Nadu between December 2 and December 4. The persisting extreme weather has led to incidents of waterlogging in Chennai and damage to public property.

#WATCH | Andhra Pradesh: MD, Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, Sunanda says, The low-pressure area has now after observation intensified into a depression near southeast and adjoining areas neighbourhood. So in the next 24 hours, it is further intensified into a deep pic.twitter.com/NIFZTue79p  ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2023

Meteorological Observations

The well-marked low-pressure area over the Southeast Bay of Bengal has transformed into a depression, with further intensification expected. IMD predicts the system will evolve into a Cyclonic Storm over the Southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3.

Impact on Water Reservoirs

In response to the low pressure system, the government has taken proactive measures, releasing 402 cubic feet of water from Chembarambakkam Lake in Kanchipuram district on December 1. This move aims to manage water levels and prevent potential flooding.

Projected path of Cyclone Michaung

Cyclone Michaung is projected to move north-westwards, crossing South Andhra Pradesh and adjoining North Tamil Nadu coast between Chennai and Machilipatnam around the evening of December 4. Residents and authorities are to closely monitor updates as the cyclones path evolves.

Safety measures for fishermen

Authorities have issued advisories to fishermen in coastal areas, urging them to suspend activities in the sea for safety reasons.

Government preparedness

In light of the approaching cyclone, the government has initiated pre-emptive actions, including water release from reservoirs and the issuance of alerts.

Depression over SE and adjoining SW BoB moved W-NW and lay centered at 1730 hrs IST of 01 Dec about 680 km E-SE of Puducherry, 680 km E-SE of Chennai, 790 km SE of Nellore. Likely to move W-NW and intensify into DD by 2 Dec and further into CS over SW BoB around 3 Dec. pic.twitter.com/jAOV5tZuz4  India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) December 1, 2023

Public Safety measures

Residents are advised to stay informed through official channels, follow safety guidelines, and cooperate with authorities.
Union home minister Amit Shahs social media post announcing that the United National Liberation Front (UNLF)  the oldest valley-based armed group of Manipur  has signed a peace agreement with the Centre and will soon be joining the mainstream could not have come at a better time. The UNLF, representing the Meitei community, is one of the eight militant groups in the state banned by the Centre only days earlier. According to the rival Kuki-Zo community, the governments at the Centre and the state were biased towards the Meiteis, making them feel unsafe and insecure even more owing to this years inter-communal clashes. In the aftermath of the clashes, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), representing the Kuko-Zo community, had earlier announced self-rule in three districts, with their leaders nonchalantly declaring that they did not care if the Centre recognised them as such.

As a standalone crisis, the Meitei-Kuki clashes perhaps could have been better handled. An additional complexity showed up after some Kukis sought refuge in neighbouring Mizoram, where what essentially was a localised issue in Manipur became an issue in the recent assembly polls, whose results on Sunday, 3 December, along with those for four other states in November. Manipur has a BJP government under Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Following the refugee influx and its anticipated impact on the voter mood in the state, Mizorams ruling MNF of Chief Minister Zoramthanga quit the NDA.

Insurgency in Myanmar

Yet, it is not about the Manipur imbroglio or its fall-out in neighbouring Mizoram. Problems in Indias immediate neighbourhood in the North East may have far-reaching consequences, the kind of which the nation had lived in the post-independence past and successfully converted into a democratic opportunity for the local population and tribal groups over the past three or four decades. The impact of those issues and problems, real and perceived across the border, could have consequences for the northeastern region. These in turn could add to the existing and re-emerging issues nearer home as some of the home-grown problems like the unresolved Naga issue have the potential to erupt without notice, that too when the Lok Sabha polls are due in the first half of the New Year.

There is internal trouble in Myanmar, which shares borders with four northeastern states, namely, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The ruling military junta, which staged a coup against the democratically elected government identified with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February 2001, has been losing battles against a new, Three Brotherhood Alliance insurgency, in recent weeks. The three allies are not among those that had signed a collective peace agreement with the government in 2015. Three of the four states bordering Myanmar, barring Arunachal Pradesh, fall within the rebel-held territory in Myanmar. On one occasion since the October insurgency, 30 Myanmarese soldiers along with civilian refugees crossed over to India. If pressure mounts along the bilateral border on the other side, the trickle of Myanmar refugees entering India could grow.

Lost predictability

India already has troubles with China, which from time to time has been laying claims on the whole of Arunachal Pradesh. Demonstrated claims of the kind as in tri-junction with Bhutan in Doklam (2017) and Galwan in Ladakh (2020), that too if it is time for the Lok Sabha elections, due in May, could have multiple consequences for the North East as a region and the nation as a whole. If nothing else, the government at the Centre and in Arunachal Pradesh and also the armed forces would have to be prepared for any eventuality. If any such thing happened, the Indian response would have to be much more than the surgical strikes in 2016. But then the conduct of the Chinese army at Galwan was as unprofessional and unethical as Pakistans ISI-backed cross-border terror attacks that triggered and justified the strikes.

With trouble in Myanmar and tension in Manipur, New Delhi just cannot afford to take chances. This is not to forget the revived border talks between Bhutan and China, about which Thimpu has been keeping New Delhi updated every now and again. Yet, that is not another area that India can feel at peace just as it cannot ignore tremors in Nepal, where a Chinese-led government is now in office. Prime Minister Pushpa Kumar Dahal alias Prachanda has indeed given a firm no to signing up for Chinas Global Security Initiative (GSI) even while partnering in Beijings Global Developmental Initiative (GDI). India can breathe easy on this, yet cannot lower its guard, either.

Autocratic approach?

Then, there are upcoming parliamentary polls in Bangladesh, which too shares borders with five Indian states, namely Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal. There is an undercurrent of anti-government sentiments, against the ruling Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She is due to complete her third consecutive term of five years. There has been a recent spurt in the frequency and the size of the Opposition-led protests against her that goes beyond customary traits of anti-incumbency. Instead, it concerns what her critics nearer home and the West describe as Prime Minister Hasinas autocratic approach to politics and public administration.

Hasinas traditional rival, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), identified with former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, has been rendered ineffective in every which way, after the latters imprisonment and later freedom, as a sick leader incapable of leading a political party or public movement against the incumbent. Similar is the case with the religious radical Jamaat-i-Islami, which too has been identified with anti-India groups and terror operations. With the backing of the judiciary, Hasina has stood firm not to entrust the administration to an interim government, if only to ensure free and fair elections.

While India is believed to be sympathetic to Hasina, most Western nations, including the US, hold divergent views. It had not bothered Hasina one way or the other in the past, but it remains to be seen how it all plays out this time. If there is tension and trouble in that country, though not necessarily to the levels during the victorious Bangladesh War of 1971, fading memories of the past do trigger concern and caution in Indias North East especially. There is also the unmentioned fear of refugees from Bangladesh being forced to take shelter in India. In the post-War past, as may be recalled, the Assam agitation over the foreigners issue was all about illegal Bangladeshi migrants settling down in the largest of the seven northeastern states, to the extent the states demography, electoral rolls and even ration cards all were compromised to an unprecedented degree.

The writer is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator. 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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As the pilots voice cut through the speakers, announcing our imminent arrival in Yerevan, the sight of Mount Ararat, a snow-capped peak piercing the sky like a giants ice cream cone, sent my heart into a tailspin. Nestled amidst the rugged peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, Armenia boasts a rich history that spans millennia, with evidence of human habitation dating back to the Palaeolithic era. I was eager to step into a land where history whispers from every corner. Yerevan, Armenias rosy capital and a city so old that it could give Methuselah a run for his money, owes its delightful pink hue to Tuff, a robust stone that puts mere bricks to shame. The city never sleeps, but instead of neon lights and honking taxis, its adorned with a blush that would make Barbie jealous.

Tatevik Arshakyan, my guide, was quick to point out that Tuff emerges from the fiery aftermath of volcanic eruptions, from the pumice that once danced in the molten chaos. Its both lightweight and fragile, yet capable of bearing the weight of history and the hues of a thousand sunsets. With a history that eclipses Rome by 29 years, Yerevan boasts its place among the worlds most ancient cities, its genesis dating back to 782 BC under the reign of King Argishti I.

Frozen in time, Yerevan is like a living time capsule, a Soviet-era relic that has somehow managed to escape the clutches of modernity. My time in Armenias capital transported me back to the days of red stars and hammer-and-sickle emblems. Its a city where Brutalist buildings stand tall, and the streets are lined with imposing Soviet structures, coexisting seamlessly with modern cafes, trendy shops, and bustling markets.

The citys very atmosphere exudes a Soviet charm, a nostalgic echo of the era of borscht and ballets. The citys theatres, with their gilded interiors and velvet curtains, seem to mutter tales of thunderous applause. The art museums haul you back to a time when art was a tool for cultural expression. The National Opera House, with its imposing facade, stands as a symbol of the rich artistic heritage that blossomed under Soviet patronage. Its a city thats old-fashioned, but not outdated, just like a good glass of rose. Whether youre in the mood for a leisurely stroll or a romantic rendezvous, Republic Square (locally Hraparak), is where all the action happens. Its where locals and visitors alike gather to bask in the glorious sunshine and revel in the pulsating energy of Yerevan. This architectural masterpiece blends an oval roundabout with trapezoid-shaped sections, creating an ensemble of five grand neoclassical buildings bedecked in pink and yellow tuff. The squares ambience is further enhanced by the melodies of the musical fountains.

Amidst Yerevans bustling squares and grand cathedrals, uncover the poignant tribute to the Armenian Genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex featuring a towering obelisk and a walkway lined with 1,500 basalt pillars. Visit the Cascade Complex, its towering staircase, adorned with sculptures and fountains, cascades down the hillside, offering breathtaking views of the city below. Delve into the world of Armenian manuscripts at Matenadaran, home to a vast collection of 23,000 manuscripts dating back centuries. Immerse yourself in the citys rich history at the History Museum of Armenia which houses a national collection of over 400,000 objects spanning prehistoric artefacts to contemporary art, and discover hidden gems at Vernissage, a vibrant flea market.

When your feet feel weary from exploring, refresh with sweet water from a Pulpalak fountain, and savour the flavours of traditional Armenian cheese and bread, or desserts like Gata. To embark on an offbeat adventure through Yerevans cultural tapestry, step into the Megerian Carpet Museum and let your imagination wander through the centuries-old stories woven into exquisite textiles as well as sample Armenian cuisine that is just as rich. At Lusik Agulestis House Museum and Art Cafe, savour the flavours of time-honoured Armenian cuisine while immersing yourself in the artistic legacy of Lusik Agulesti, a pioneer of Armenian modernism. And for a taste of Yerevans bohemian side, venture to Dalan Art Gallery, where creativity and culinary artistry converge, leaving you with a symphony of flavours and artistic inspiration.

My second stop in Armenia was Gyumri, its second-largest city which is a mere 120 km (or a brisk two-hour drive) from Yerevan. With a history stretching back an impressive 5,000 years, Gyumri, formerly known as Alexandropol, is a veritable archaeological trove, where history whispers from every stone. During the Soviet era, Gyumri underwent a name change and a makeover, shedding its former moniker of Alexandropol and embracing the Soviet moniker of Leninakan. Here, ancient ruins stand side-by-side with modern buildings, creating a fascinating blend of old and new. As you navigate through Gyumris labyrinthine alleys and cobblestoned streets, you will find the echoes of the past serenading you, their melodies weaving tales of forgotten lore.

From churches with intricate carvings to quaint houses exuding old-world charm, Gyumris architecture stands as a testament to the craftsmanship of generations gone by. Galleries pepper the cityscape, their walls decked with the works of talented local artists who draw inspiration from both the past and the pulsating rhythm of the present. Some of Gyumris most fascinating museums can be found tucked away within the homes of renowned authors Hovhannes Shiraz and Avetik Isahakyan, or in the artistic world of sister artists Mariam and Yeranuhi Aslamazyan. For a glimpse into Gyumris rich history, dont miss the Dzitoghtsyan Museum, or the Museum of Urban Life and Culture, a hidden gem clad in red and black tuff, housed in the grand two-story residence of one of the citys wealthiest families during the 1800s.

Amidst Gyumris architectural tapestry, there are a few landmarks that stand out like a sore thumb, or rather, a striking masterpiece. The Seven Wounds church, constructed from black tuff stone, stands defiant, a testament to resilience even during the Soviet era when churches were shuttered. Its domes, though toppled by the 1988 earthquake, still stand guard. St. Nshan, Gyumris oldest church, graces the charming Rustaveli Street, its weathered walls whispering tales of centuries past. All-Saviors Church, a masterful replica of the cathedral in Ani, Armenias former capital, was built between 1858 and 1873.

Across town, in the park commemorating the Soviet Unions victory in World War II, stands the Mother Armenia statue, a symbol of strength and resilience. Next door to Mother Armenia stands Gyumris iconic Black Fortress, Sev Berd, a formidable structure crafted from black tuff stone in the 19th century. This circular sentinel once served as a military barracks and prison, its walls mirroring tales of battles fought and prisoners held. Today, the fortress has been transformed into a cultural hub, its stern interiors now welcoming exhibitions, concerts, and events. Venture inside to explore the small museum and descend into the depths of the fortresss basement, where a deep well awaits, its secrets whispered from the shadows of time. No trip to Gyumri would be complete without indulging in its culinary delights.

Have your taste buds tantalised by chechil, a string cheese native to the Shirak region, or dine at Chalet Gyumri, where traditional Armenian cuisine dances in harmony with a captivating collection of historical artefacts. And wash down your culinary adventure with homemade fruit vodkas, infused with the sweetness of apricots, cornelian cherries, peaches, or mulberries.

My third and final stop in Armenia was Dilijan, tucked away a mere 95 km (about an hour and a half) from the bustling streets of Yerevan. Dilijan is a picturesque town nestled amidst the verdant Tavush region. This verdant haven, often dubbed Armenias Switzerland or Little Switzerland, has long been a sanctuary for those seeking refuge from the urban clamour. Its serene charm is enhanced by its idyllic location along the banks of the Aghstev River. Dilijans verdant embrace will greet you from every angle, and if you visit during autumn as I did, the forested slopes transform into a vibrant canvas of golden yellows and crimson reds. Legend has it that the towns name stems from a shepherd named Dili.

Sharambeyan Street, the heart of Dilijans old town, has been lovingly preserved, its pedestrian-only lined with artisan workshops, art galleries, and traditional Armenian architecture. Step back in time where cobblestone streets and beautifully preserved 19th-century buildings await. Delve into the treasures of the Museum of Folk Art on Getapya Street and discover exquisite local art and handicrafts, from intricate woodwork to delicate lace, and from handcrafted dolls to vibrant ceramics. While Dilijans natural beauty is undeniable, its the towns mediaeval-era architecture that truly steals the show. Nestled amidst the forests of Dilijan, the monasteries of Haghartsin and Goshavank stand as an exemplification of the architectural prowess of Armenias mediaeval era. Haghartsin, with intricate carvings and breathtaking views of the valley below, showcases the grandeur of Armenian ecclesiastical art.

Haghartsins trio of churches  St. Gregory, St. Stepanos, and St. Astvatsatsin  will leave you awestruck with their architectural beauty and serene ambience. Haghartsin boasts a rare 13th-century refectory, echoing the architectural ingenuity of its time, and is decorated with stunning khachkars, cross-stones that stand as silent sentinels of Armenian heritage. Nearby, youll spot the charred remains of an ancient walnut tree, once a symbol of protection against lightning strikes. Legend has it that if you can squeeze through the gnarled cavity in its trunk, your dreams will take flight. To delve into Dilijans rich tapestry of folklore, and artistic heritage, visit the Local Lore Museum and Art Gallery. Embark on a nature adventure to the Drunken Forest, where the trees seem to sway in a perpetual state of intoxication or venture to Gosh Lake where tranquillity reigns supreme.

Dilijans culinary scene is a symphony of flavours, harmoniously blending traditional Armenian fare with international influences. Kcuch, on Myasnikyan Street, reimagines Armenian classics with a modern twist. For a taste of old-world charm, Haykanoush, situated within the Old Dilijan Complex, transports diners to a bygone era with its restored 19th-century dining room, where handmade Tufenkian carpets adorn the floors and hearty Armenian cuisine warms the soul. Under the watchful eye of Haghartsin Monasterys benevolent gaze, I embarked on a culinary adventure, learning the art of crafting Gata sweet pastries from local artisans and savouring the unique flavours of green-coloured honey wine, a first for my palate. Most diners perfectly complement the breathtaking views of the town and surrounding hills.

On your way back, dont miss the mesmerising shores of Lake Sevan and the majestic forested slopes of the Tavush region, a landscape so picturesque itll leave you breathless.

With more than a decade of writing experience and a passion for exploring the world, the author is a travel journalist with a knack for captivating storytelling.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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Five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio have asked President Joe Bidens administration to ban travel between the United States and China after a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases.

We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness, said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with Senators J.D. Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun.

The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.

A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary.  At this time, there is no indication that there is a link between the people who are seeking care in US emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China.

The spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said in response to the Rubio letter, The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications. China firmly opposes them.

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHOs department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of COVID-19 restrictions.

In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries, though they remain far below 2019 levels. The number approved rose on November 9 to 35 per week for each country, up from 12 per week in August.

In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-US citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID-19 concerns, but did not restrict flights between the two countries.

The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The US rescinded a separate requirement that air travellers test negative before arriving in June 2022.

The United States in January had started requiring air passengers to get negative COVID-19 tests after Beijings decision to lift its stringent zero-COVID policies, but lifted the requirements in March.
Chinas sudden surge in respiratory illness is caused by known pathogens and there is no sign of any new infectious disease, a Chinese health official indicated on Saturday as the country faces its first full winter since lifting of strict COVID-19 curbs.

The spike in illness in the country where COVID-19 emerged in late 2019 attracted the spotlight when the World Health Organization sought information last week, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.

Chinese authorities will open more paediatric outpatient clinics, seek to ensure more elderly people and children receive flu vaccines and encourage people to wear masks and wash their hands, Mi Feng, an official with Chinas National Health Commission, told reporters.

Doctors in China and experts abroad have not expressed alarm about Chinas outbreaks, given that many other countries saw similar increases in respiratory diseases after easing pandemic measures, which China did at the end of last year.

The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.

A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary.  At this time, there is no indication that there is a link between the people who are seeking care in US emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China.

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHOs department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
A group of nearly a dozen well-funded philanthropies declared on Saturday their commitment to invest $450 million over the next three years to assist countries in launching national initiatives aimed at addressing methane, the second-most prevalent greenhouse gas. Methane has emerged as a renewed focal point in global climate negotiations.

Participating philanthropic organizations, such as the Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Sequoia Climate Foundation, will play a role in expediting the reduction of methane emissions and other non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases.

This announcement coincides with the U.S., UAE, and China preparing to unveil various initiatives at the U.N. COP28 climate summit to secure additional funding for addressing methane-related issues. Countries are also stepping forward with fresh plans to curb these emissions.

Climate experts emphasize the importance of incorporating methane mitigation efforts into a legally binding summit agreement. Although methane possesses greater warming potential than carbon dioxide, its shorter atmospheric lifespanmeasured in years rather than decadesmeans that efforts to control methane emissions can yield more immediate results in mitigating climate change.

Methane originates from diverse sources, including oil and gas production, agriculture, landfills, and food waste.

With time short, we must be smart and decisive about how we stay below a 1.5-degree warmer world. One smart way will be for all to commit to ending methane leakages now and to regulate, urgently, all other super pollutants, said Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados.

While more than 150 countries have promised since 2021 to slash their methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030 under the U.S.- and EU-led Global Methane Pledge, few have detailed how they will achieve this.

Research firm Kayrros, which tracks methane emissions, said on Friday that despite the pledge, emissions of methane are not coming down, and in some places, they are even going up.

Weve been calling for an outright ban on super-emitters. Rapid cuts in methane emissions from fossil fuels could lead to a reduction of 0.1C in global temperature rise by mid-century, said Antoine Rostand, CEO of Kayrros.

With inputs from Reuters.
The southern Philippines island of Mindanao experienced an earthquake on Saturday with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5, leading to the issuance of a tsunami warning.

The seismic event occurred at 10:37 pm (local time) and was measured at a moderate depth of 32 kilometers (20 miles), reported The Associated Press.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, considering the magnitude and location, anticipated the possibility of tsunami waves affecting the southern Philippines, as well as portions of Indonesia, Palau, and Malaysia.

Teresito Bacolcol of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology Seismology told The Associated Press his agency advised residents along the coast of southern Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to evacuate immediately to higher grounds.

Based on the quakes magnitude, he said a 1-meter (3.2-foot) tsunami may hit but the wave could be higher in coves and bays.

The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

With inputs from AP
Families of freed hostages as well as those who are still being held by Hamas have demanded to meet Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu as the truce between the two warring sides ended.

According to a statement by the forum for the families, relatives of the hostages want to meet the prime minister tonight.

The end of the ceasefire and the return to fighting obliges an immediate update be given to the families of the hostages, the forum says.

It added, The hostages that returned demand to meet this evening with the prime minister and members of the war cabinet, together with all the families of those who remain hostage.

Every days could be the last day, we cannot leave them there, the statement says.

The week-long truce between Israel and Hamas saw the release of 105 civilians: 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and one Filipino.

However, several of those who have been released still have their husbands and fathers in captivity in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel on Saturday announced the withdrawal of its Mossad negotiators from Qatar, which is mediating the ongoing talks aimed at securing a renewed ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, citing a deadlock in the negotiations

Netanyahus office said in a statement, according to AFP, Following the impasse in the negotiations and at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel.

A Mossad intelligence services team from Israel engaged in talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday to discuss a potential halt in the Gaza conflict.

With inputs agencies
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the temporary ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict ended due to Hamas, claiming that the terror group reneged on commitments.

Speaking to the media at Dubai airport, he said, I made clear that after the pause it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward. And as weve seen just today, Israel has already moved out on parts of that, including sending out information, making it clear where people can be in safe areas in Gaza. And well be looking at that going forward. Its very, very important.

He highlighted that the end of the truce resulted from Hamas not keeping commitments, citing a terrorist attack in Jerusalem and firing rockets before the pause ended.

Its also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans. It began firing rockets before the pause had ended. And as I said, it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages.

Blinken reiterated US support for peace in the region, and said that the US is focusing on the release of Israeli hostages.

Were determined to do everything we can to get everyone home, get them reunited with their families, including pursuing the process that worked for seven days. We had seven days of a pause; seven days of people coming home and being reunited with their families, he said.

So, were on that almost hour by hour. But meanwhile, weve also been very clear that we support Israel and its efforts to make sure that October 7th never happens again. Weve also been very clear about the imperative of doing that in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians and making sure that humanitarian assistance gets to those who need it. So thats what were focused on, and were doing both at the same time, he added.

We remain intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back. Its something that I also worked on today. So, were still at this. Were also very much focused, as weve been all along, on trying to make sure that this conflict doesnt spread, that it doesnt escalate in other places. But were also using our diplomacy to look at not only whats happening today and how were handling that, but also what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting, and secure peace for Israelis, for Palestinians  in fact, for everyone in the region. And thats also a big focus of our diplomacy, he added.

The remarks from US Secretary of State Blinken comes as the truce between Israel and Hamas expired after seven days, according to a report by CNN.

Israel and Hamas, meanwhile, resumed their war in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a week-long truce came to an end with the two sides failing to agree on the release of more hostages held by the Hamas group.

Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in Gaza soon after the ceasefire got over at 7 a.m. local time.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Blinken held a crucial meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday (November 30), marking his second visit to the West Bank since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, as reported by CNN. His visit was in the backdrop of increased Israeli settler violence in the region following the October 7 attack on Israel.
Nebraska's three Republican House members took differing positions Friday on the expulsion of George Santos from Congress, with Reps. Don Bacon and Mike Flood voting in favor of his expulsion, and Rep. Adrian Smith voting no.

The House of Representatives voted 311-114 to expel the GOP New York representative after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues.

Expulsion requires support from two-thirds of the House, a purposefully high bar, but a blistering House Ethics Committee report that accused Santos of breaking federal law proved decisive. Nearly half of House Republicans  105 of them  voted to oust their GOP colleague; they were joined by nearly all House Democrats.

In separate statements, Bacon and Flood cited the ethics committee report as the reason for their votes. Bacon called the report "damning," while Flood said it exposed "egregious violations that were willfully committed by an unrepentant, fame-seeking con artist."

"Today's vote was necessary to ensure that Mr. Santos is held accountable and to protect the integrity of the institution of the House of Representatives," Flood's statement read.

In a different statement, Smith said he voted against expulsion because Santos has yet to be tried for the federal crimes he is charged with. He did not comment on how his fellow Nebraska Republicans voted, but said his decision was "very difficult."

"While I have a great deal of respect for the Ethics Committee and the hard work they put into the investigation of Mr. Santos highly unacceptable behavior, this ultimately came down to due process," Smith said in an email. "Every American citizen accused of a crime has the right to their day in court. Mr. Santos has not yet had his day in court, which is why I voted no.

Bacon noted that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to set rules and punish its members, and the expulsion vote executed that right.

George Santos had the opportunity to do the honorable thing and resign from office and he chose not to," Bacon said.

As it became clear that he would be expelled, Santos placed his overcoat over his shoulders, shook hands with conservative members who voted against his expulsion and departed the House chamber.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.  who was among the minority opposing Santos' expulsion  quieted the chamber and solemnly instructed the House clerk to inform the governor of New York that Santos former House seat was now vacant.

Santos had fought the expulsion effort, leading his own defense during House floor debate and in conducting a news conference and interviews.

I will not stand by quietly, Santos declared as lawmakers on Thursday evening debated his removal. The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, youre going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote.

Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War. The remaining two occurred after the lawmakers were convicted of crimes in federal court. Santos made his case for remaining in office by appealing directly to lawmakers who worry they are setting a new precedent that could make expulsions more common.

But some Republicans, including Santos' colleagues from New York, said voters would welcome lawmakers being held to a higher standard.

Im pretty confident the American people would applaud that. Im pretty confident that the American people expect that," Republican Rep. Anthony DEsposito, whose district adjoins Santos', said before the vote.

Santos warned lawmakers they would regret removing a member before they have had their day in court.

This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts, Santos said.

The expulsion was the final congressional chapter in what was a spectacular fall from grace for Santos. The first-term lawmaker initially was celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year and helped Republicans win control of the House. But soon after, troubles began. Reports began to emerge that Santos had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree. His presence in the House quickly became a distraction and an embarrassment to the party.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of November 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to cut ties with Hamas under US pressure in the wake of the terror groups attacks on Israel.

First of all, Hamas is a reality of Palestine, it is a political party there and it entered the elections as a political party and won, Erdogan said in remarks released by his office.

The US Treasurys top terrorism financing official conveyed Washingtons profound alarm about Ankaras past relations with Hamas during a visit to Turkey this week.

However, Under Secretary Brian Nelson has said that Washington has not found any trace of money passing through Turkey to Hamas since the launch of its all-out offensive against Israel.

Nelson has nevertheless argued that Turkey has helped Hamas in the past to get funding and should now use local laws to clamp down on potential future transfers of funds.

I stand by my position. No matter what anybody says, I cannot accept Hamas as a terror group, the Turkish president said.

We form our foreign policy in Ankara and design it only according to Turkeys interests and the expectations of our people, Erdogan added.

He said, I am sure that our interlocutors appreciate Turkeys consistent and balanced foreign policy steps in such humanitarian crises and conflicts.

Since October 7, Erdogan has emerged as a vocal critic among the Muslim nations against Israels onslaught on Gaza following Hamas surprise attack.

Erdogan has branded Israel as a terrorist state and has called Hamas a liberation group.

The leader has also called for the trial of Israeli politicians and military commanders in the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

With inputs from AFP
India has officially become a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), the food safety and quality standard-setting body created by the UN.

After getting elected unanimously, India is now a member of the Asian region in the executive committee of CAC.

The executive committee is an important arm of the CAC and the member countries have a considerable interest in getting its membership. In this capacity, India would not only get an opportunity to contribute substantially to the international standard-setting process for different food product categories but will also be involved in the decision-making process, the health ministry said in a statement.

Among the many tasks of the executive committee includes supporting the management of the commissions programme of standards development by conducting a critical review of proposals to undertake work and monitoring the progress of standards development.

The committee comprises the chair, three vice chairs, six regional coordinators, and seven elected representatives from various geographical regions of Codex.

India was elected at the 46th meeting of CAC being held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome.

Indias proposal for setting up group standards for millets was also accepted by the commission and its initiative for establishing global standards for millets was acknowledged by the commission and supported by the member countries, the statement said.

India had proposed for setting up the global standards for millets under the additional agendas category on the first day of the CAC meeting on November 27 and the matter was deliberated at length on November 30 and was approved by the commission for the preparation of three project documents.

With inputs from PTI
After talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamas collapsed on Friday, Israeli airstrikes targeting houses and buildings in the Gaza Strip resulted in the death of at least 184 people, according to the Health Ministry in the region.

Israel said its ground, air and naval forces struck more than 200 terror targets in Gaza. By Friday evening, health officials in the coastal strip said Israeli strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others and hit more than 20 houses.

Cease-fire mediator Qatar said efforts are ongoing to renew the truce, which saw Israel pause most military activity in Gaza and release 300 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for terrorists freeing over 100 hostages held in Gaza.

The warring sides blamed the other for the truce collapse by rejecting terms to extend the daily release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The conflict has left over three-quarters of Gazas 2.3 million residents homeless, leading to a humanitarian crisis marked by shortages of food, water, and other essential supplies. Palestinian authorities reported that no aid trucks entered Gaza from Egypt on Friday.

Before the truce, the weeks of Israeli bombardment and ground campaigns in Gaza they have resulted in more than 13,300 Palestinian casualties, with roughly two-thirds being women and minors, as per the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The toll is likely higher, and around 1,200 Israelis were reported killed, primarily during Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the conflict.

The United Nations said the fighting would worsen an extreme humanitarian emergency. Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva.

Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed, said U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths, adding that children, women and men of Gaza had nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on.

A pause that started on Nov. 24 had been extended twice and Israel had said it could continue as long as Hamas released 10 hostages each day. But after seven days during which women, children and foreign hostages were freed, mediators failed to find a formula to release more.

Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.

Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas after an Oct. 7 rampage in which it says the militant group killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage.

Israeli assaults since have laid waste much of Gaza, ruled by Hamas since 2007. Palestinian health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say over 15,000 Gazans have been killed and thousands are missing.

QATAR SAYS NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUING

Qatar, which has played a central mediating role, said negotiations were still going on with Israelis and Palestinians to restore the truce. Still, Israels renewed bombardment of Gaza had complicated matters.

An Israeli official in Washington said it was a very high priority to get as many hostages released as possible.

And for that, under agreed terms, Israel is willing to give additional pauses, the official said, while adding: We can negotiate while we still fight.

In the north of Gaza, previously the main war zone, huge plumes of smoke rose above the ruins. Gunfire and explosions rang out above the sound of barking dogs.

Residents and officials from Hamas said its fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades battled Israeli troops and tanks in Gaza Citys Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the north.

Sirens blared across southern Israel as militants fired rockets from the coastal enclave into towns. Hamas said it had targeted Tel Aviv, but there were no reports of casualties or damage there.

Casualties were reported in southern Lebanon, another flashpoint of conflict for Israel. A Lebanese official said Israeli shelling killed three people on Friday. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions at the border.

The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and air defences had intercepted two launches.

U.S. AND HAMAS TRADE ACCUSATIONS

The United States blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting, saying it had failed to produce a new list of hostages to release.

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was working diplomatically to restore the truce.

Were going to continue to work with Israel and Egypt and Qatar on efforts to re-implement the pause, he told a news conference in California while blaming Hamas for failing to meet conditions on hostages and for an attack in Jerusalem.

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Washington should be putting pressure on Israel, telling Reuters:

We should be pushing Israel to realize this is not only a military conflict, but it is a conflict for hearts and minds of people in the world and people in the United States.

Hamas accused Washington of giving the green light for an Israeli war of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Today, it brazenly repeats the Zionist lies, which hold Hamas responsible for resuming the war and not extending the humanitarian truce, it said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had stopped all deliveries of aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

With inputs from agencies.
Israel on Saturday announced the withdrawal of its Mossad negotiators from Qatar, which is mediating the ongoing talks aimed at securing a renewed ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, citing a deadlock in the negotiations

Netanyahus office said in a statement, according to AFP, Following the impasse in the negotiations and at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel.

A Mossad intelligence services team from Israel engaged in talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Saturday to discuss a potential halt in the Gaza conflict.

The Qatar-mediated talks focused on the potential release of new categories of Israeli hostages other than women and children and the parameters of a truce, which the source said differed to the truce agreement that collapsed on Friday.

Both Israel and Hamas had been exploring alternative conditions for hostage release and truce terms before the previous agreement collapsed.

The initial truce, which began on November 24, involved Hamas releasing Israeli women and children held captive since October 7. In return, Palestinians, including women, were freed from Israeli prisons.

Blame for the truce breakdown has been exchanged between Israel and Hamas.

Israel accused Hamas of failing to release all female captives, while a Palestinian official attributed the breakdown to disputes over female Israeli soldiers.

The truce, initially set for a week, was extended twice before efforts to secure a third extension proved unsuccessful.

With inputs from agencies
Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths of two Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers and two pro-Hezbollah fighters when they hit sites belonging to the Lebanese group near Damascus Saturday, reported AFP.

The strikes occurred less than 24 hours after a seven-day pause in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the IRGC officers were the intended targets, and the strikes occurred shortly after they entered the Hezbollah site.

On Saturday, the IRGC accused Israel of killing two of its members in Syria where they had been on an advisory mission.

Mohammed Ali Ataei Shoorcheh and Panah Taghizadeh were martyred by the Zionist usurper enemy while conducting an advisory mission in the Syrian Islamic resistance front, the Guards Sepah News website said.

It did not say when or where they were killed.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour since Syrias civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas began in October. Hamas last year said it had restored relations with Syrias government.

With inputs from AFP
Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto is set to embark on a State visit to India from December 4-6, responding to an invitation extended by President Droupadi Murmu.

Accompanied by a high-level official delegation, this marks Rutos inaugural visit to India in his current capacity.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) disclosed that during his stay, President Ruto will engage in discussions with President Murmu and receive a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on December 5.

A State Banquet hosted by President Murmu in honor of President Ruto is scheduled, further underscoring the significance of the visit.

The Kenyan President is also slated to hold detailed talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and participate in a business and investment event in New Delhi.

A Presidential visit from Kenya is taking place after a period of over six years and is expected to strengthen and invigorate the bilateral relations between the two countries, as per the official release.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday termed his countrys ties with India fantastic and thanked PM Modi for making sure that the African Union (AU) becomes a permanent member of the G20.

He said that India and Kenya have a fantastic bilateral relationship and added that he is looking forward to visiting India.

India has made a very huge contribution. We want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making sure that Africa became a permanent member of the G20 during his presidency. And we will be having further conversations with him, the Kenyan President told ANI.

We have a fantastic bilateral relationship and it is my intention that we are going to build on that relationship during my visit to India later, he added.

With inputs from ANI
The police in London stated that they arrested two individuals on Saturday during pro-Palestinian events, part of a day of action organised by campaigners around Britain.

In Brixton, South London, a man was taken into custody on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offense for displaying a placard, according to the Metropolitan Police, reported The Associated Press.

Officers who made the arrest were then surrounded by other protesters and initially blocked from driving away, police said. A teenage boy was arrested for damaging a police vehicle.

In contrast to demonstrations on previous weekends since the Israel-Hamas war began, with marches by tens of thousands of protesters in central London, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign called for a day of action with events held across the UK.

Events included ceasefire rallies and vigils in places such as London, Hull in the north of England, Coventry in the center and the Welsh capital of Cardiff.

With inputs from AP
As the country faces its first full winter since lifting strict COVID-19 restrictions, Chinas surge in respiratory illness is caused by known pathogens and there is no sign of new infectious diseases, said a health official on Saturday.

The increase in illness in the nation where COVID originated in late 2019 drew attention when the World Health Organization requested information last week, referring to a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.

To address the situation, Chinese authorities plan to open more pediatric outpatient clinics, ensure a broader distribution of flu vaccines among the elderly and children, and promote the use of masks and handwashing, as outlined by Mi Feng, an official with Chinas National Health Commission, during a press conference.

Despite the spike in respiratory diseases, both Chinese doctors and international experts have not expressed alarm, noting that many other countries experienced similar surges in respiratory ailments after easing pandemic measures, a step China took at the end of the previous year.
The much-awaited timeline for the upcoming general election will be announced 56 days ahead of the planned polling day on February 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said.

All necessary preparations for conducting free and fair elections have been completed, including addressing representations against delimitation and timely publication of the final list of constituency delimitation, the Down quoted a senior official of the ECP as saying.

Additionally, the official noted that the chief justices of the Sindh, Lahore, and Peshawar High Courts have already declined the appointment of judicial officers as district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs). However, a response from the Balochistan High Court is still pending.

The official also said that the appointment of DROs and ROs is expected soon, with district administration officers likely to take up the duties. The electoral body has scheduled a meeting next week to review preparations for polling and the status of implementing decisions made at the previous meeting, the official added, according to Dawn.

In a related development, an ECP spokesperson said that Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has invited the MQM-P for a meeting on Monday (December 4) to discuss and address the partys apprehensions.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has criticised PTI leader Babar Awans statements regarding an alleged decrease in National Assembly seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, dismissing it as an effort to sow confusion.

The spokesperson clarified that the 25th Constitutional Amendment in 2018 resulted in the elimination of 12 National Assembly seats in FATA following its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Contrary to Awans claims, the National Assembly seats for the province were increased from 39 to 45.

Similarly, the spokesperson explained that in the Provincial Assembly of KP, the general seats have been augmented from 99 to 115. He deemed the lawyers assertion challenging the ECPs authority to reduce KPs seats as ridiculous.As a lawyer, Babar Awan should not do anything outside the Constitution and the law. It is the prerogative of parliament to determine the seats of national and provincial assemblies, and according to the constitutionally allotted seats, the Election Commission has divided the constituencies, he maintained, Dawn reported.
As Moscows ongoing war against Ukraine enters its 22nd month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a directive to augment the countrys military strength by nearly 170,000 troops, bringing the total to 1.32 million.

The Kremlin released Putins decree on Friday, and it came into immediate effect, resulting in an overall increase in Russian military personnel to approximately 2.2 million, inclusive of 1.32 million troops. This marks the second expansion of the army since 2018. The previous augmentation, ordered by Putin in August 2022, added 137,000 troops, bringing the militarys numbers to around 2 million personnel, with approximately 1.15 million troops.

The defence ministry clarified that the directive does not imply a significant expansion of conscription. In a statement, the ministry indicated that the increase would occur gradually through the recruitment of more volunteers. The ministry attributed the rise to what it termed as the special military operation in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO.

According to Russian news agency TASS, the Kremlin posted the document on its website on Friday and it comes into effect on the day of signing.

Last December, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared that the country needed a force of 1.5 million to guarantee the fulfillment of tasks to ensure Russias security. He didnt say when the military would reach that size.

The Kremlin previously considered the size of its military as sufficient, but the calculus changed after hopes for a quick victory over its neighbour were shattered by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Amid the continued hostilities, Russia and Ukraine both have kept a tight lid of secrecy on their military casualties. The Russian military has confirmed only just over 6,000 military casualties, but the West had much higher estimates. In October, the U.K. Defense Ministry tweeted in a regular update that Russia has likely suffered 150,000-190,000 permanent casualties, a number that included troops that have been killed and permanently wounded.

The Russian authorities have undertaken various efforts to give a boost to the army.

In August 2022, Putin ordered an increase in the size of the Russian military to 1.15 million starting from Jan. 1, 2023. The following month, he ordered the mobilization of 300,000 reservists to beef up his forces in Ukraine. That number is counted as part of the militarys current strength.

While Putin said there was no need to round up more, his mobilization decree is open-ended, allowing the military to call up additional reservists when needed. That decree also banned volunteer soldiers from ending their contracts.

Regional authorities have tried to help beef up the ranks by forming volunteer battalions for deployment to Ukraine. All across Russias vast territory, a campaign to entice more men to enlist has been underway for months, with advertisements promise cash bonuses, recruiters making cold calls to eligible men and enlistment offices working with universities and social service agencies to lure students and the unemployed.

The deputy chair of Russias Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said Friday that more than 452,000 men have enlisted into the army as contract soldiers this year.

Some media reports and rights groups say that the Russian authorities also offer amnesty to prisoners in exchange for a tour of military duty.

These efforts come on top of the regular draft, which calls up around 120,000-140,000 men twice a year for a one-year tour of compulsory service. The authorities insist that those conscripted for mandatory service arent being deployed to Ukraine.

All Russian men from age 18 to 27 must serve one year in the military, but a large share avoid the draft for health reasons or deferments granted to university students. The share of men who avoid the draft is particularly big in Moscow and other major cities. This year, the authorities raised the upper age limit for mandatory service to 30 starting from Jan. 1.

The Russian military rounds up draftees twice a year, starting April 1 and Oct. 1. Putin ordered the drafting of 130,000 conscripts during the fall earlier earlier this year, and 147,000 in the spring.

With inputs from agencies.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists and experienced houndsmen will be conducting field work this winter in the Gallatin Range south of Bozeman to help estimate the number and density of mountain lions in the area.

The research is scheduled to begin in early December and last through mid-April as part of a statewide effort to monitor and manage Montanas lion populations.

To collect data, FWP biologists and local houndsmen will use trained dogs to track and tree mountain lions. Theyll use darts to capture small tissue samples of the treed lions to submit for genetic analysis. This will be combined with genetic samples from hunter-harvested lions to help biologists estimate lion numbers. Lions wont be sedated, collared or tagged during this survey effort.

This research comes from FWPs mountain lion monitoring and management strategy adopted in 2019, which prescribes using genetic samples to make periodic population estimates of lions in different management ecoregions of the state. FWP is in its fifth year of this population monitoring strategy.

Over time, FWP will be able to use these population estimates, along with more than 25 years of field research data and annual harvest information, to guide lion management decisions. This monitoring program is helping improve Montanas ability to understand the effects of lion harvest. It is also helping biologists manage and maintain viable lion populations in balance with other wildlife species and various public interests.
Russian police forces have raided several gay bars across Moscow less than 48 hours after the countrys Supreme Court banned the LGBTQ movement calling it an extremist organisation.

According to local media, police on Friday searched and raided several establishments across the capital city including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties under the pretext of a drug raid.

Eyewitnesses told journalists that clubgoers documents were checked and photographed by the security services. They also said that managers had been able to warn patrons before police arrived.

The ruling by Russias top court follows a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry and is the latest on a decades-long crackdown on LGBTQ rights under President Vladimir Putin who has advocated the values of a traditional family in Russia.

Activists have noted the lawsuit was lodged against a movement that is not an official entity, and that under its broad and vague definition authorities could crack down on any individuals or groups deemed to be part of it.

Following the Supreme Courts order, several gay establishments were forced to shut down operations including St. Petersburgs gay club Central Station. It wrote on social media on Friday that the owner would no longer allow the bar to operate with the law in effect.

Max Olenichev, a human rights lawyer who works with the Russian LGBTQ+ community, told The Associated Press before the ruling that it effectively bans organised activity to defend the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

In practice, it could happen that the Russian authorities, with this court ruling in hand, will enforce (the ruling) against LGBTQ+ initiatives that work in Russia, considering them a part of this civic movement, Olenichev said.

Before the ruling, leading Russian human rights groups had filed a document with the Supreme Court that called the Justice Ministry lawsuit discriminatory and a violation of Russias constitution. Some LGBTQ+ activists tried to become a party in the case but were rebuffed by the court.

With inputs from AP
Somalias President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud expressed his satisfaction with the recent decision by the UN Security Council to lift a more than 30-year-old arms embargo imposed on the Horn of Africa nation.

The 15-member council unanimously voted Friday night in favor of the British-drafted resolution to lift the weapons ban.

However, France abstained from voting on another resolution that sought to reimpose an arms embargo on al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants. France argued that the resolution lacked references to territorial disputes between Djibouti and Eritrea.

Information Minister Daud Aweis conveyed in a statement to the Associated Press that the removal of the embargo would contribute to modernising Somalias armed forces.

The statement emphasised the countrys need for access to modern arms and equipment to effectively combat security threats, including the presence of extremist groups such as al-Shabab.

President Mohamud, in a televised statement following the resolutions adoption, highlighted that the lift of the embargo signifies the freedom for Somalia to procure any necessary weapons. He mentioned that friendly nations and allies can now provide support without limitations or restrictions.

Somalia was placed under the embargo in 1992 to stop the sale of weapons to warlords who toppled former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The ouster led to decades of civil war and instability in the country as the warlords fought against each other.

Last month, Mohamud pledged to wipe out the Islamist group, al-Shabaab, by Dec. 2024. The militant group has lost swaths of territory since the government backed by local militias, African Union troops and Western powers, launched an extensive offensive against it in May.

Somalia has been plagued by years of conflict and has for decades heavily depended on the support of African Union forces, as well as Western powers such as the United States and Turkey, to maintain security and counter the threat posed by Islamic militant groups operating within the country.

With inputs from AP
Three Khalistan supporters have been sentenced for the attempted murder of popular Auckland-based radio host Harnek Singh, who has been vocal against the ideology of Khalistan.

During todays court hearing, a judge emphasised the necessity of community protection and the importance of sending a strong deterrent message in this highly unusual case.

Harnek Singh, the targeted host, endured over 40 stab wounds in an ambush by a group of strangers in the driveway of his Wattle Downs residence after a late-night broadcast on December 23, 2020.

Sarvjeet Sidhu, aged 27, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, while Sukhpreet Singh, aged 44, was found guilty of being an accessory. The third individual, a 48-year-old Auckland resident with interim name suppression, planned the attack, harbouring resentment against Harnek Singh for his vocal opposition to Khalistan, The Australia Today reported, citing NZ Herald.

Judge Woolford remarked, It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism.  Sentencing in this context requires a different approach. The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others.

Harnek Singh, also known as Nekki, had been followed by three cars full of men before the attackers stabbed him within an inch of his life. He managed to lock the door of his vehicle and attract neighbours attention by sounding the horn, preventing potential bleeding to death from the extensive stab wounds, according to The Australia Today.

Earlier, Avtar Singh, a former bodybuilder, told the court he used to be friends with the man with name suppression, however, he soon stopped associating with the man whom he labelled a thug and mafia in 2018. He has a way around people, especially broken people, Singh said.

Avtars friend Baljinder told the court hed been asked to kill Harnek, but declined. He added that on December 23, Jaspal Singh rang him, Job is done, hes no longer going to be on the radio.

According to the report, there is a 48-year-old defendant (with interim name suppression) who was not present at the time of the attack. This man, the court was told, harboured a years-long resentment against Hranek Singh as the popular Kiwi radio host was vocal against the Khalistan.

Harnek Singh told the courtroom that his opinions regarding Sikhism probably fall more along the liberal end of the spectrum while the majority of his critics were more on the fundamentalist or conservative side, as reported by Australia Today.

In a victim impact statement read aloud by prosecutors, Harnek Singh described the ongoing fear his family faces, My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down. He expressed gratitude to the New Zealand justice system for ensuring that no one is above the law, not even religion.

Harnek Singh addressed the defendants directly, stating, You came to kill me. You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed.

He continued, I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have. The only chilling message you have managed to send is to people with the same views and opinion as yours that actions have consequences and that in a country like New Zealand, the law does not bend for you if your wrongful acts are in the name of God.

Harnek Singhs words resonated with the judge and he repeated them as he sentenced the defendant, The Australia Today reported, citing NZ Herald. The 48-year-old mastermind behind the attack received a sentence of 13-and-a-half years, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before parole eligibility. Sarvjeet Sidhu was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years imprisonment, while Sukhpreet Singh received six months of home detention.

He continued, I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have. The only chilling message you have managed to send is to people with the same views and opinion as yours that actions have consequences and that in a country like New Zealand, the law does not bend for you if your wrongful acts are in the name of God.

Harnek Singhs words resonated with the judge and he repeated them as he sentenced the defendant, The Australia Today reported, citing NZ Herald.

The 48-year-old mastermind behind the attack received a sentence of 13-and-a-half years, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before parole eligibility. Sarvjeet Sidhu was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years imprisonment, while Sukhpreet Singh received six months of home detention.

With ANI imputs.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning about the impending crisis in the Himalayas, emphasising the critical need for action at the ongoing climate talks.

Guterres urged the conference, especially developed nations, to address the pressing needs of vulnerable mountain countries facing the rapid melting of glaciers.

Approximately 240 million people rely on these glaciers and major rivers like the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, affecting another billion downstream in eight countries, including India.

Addressing a meeting with mountain countries at this years Conference of Parties (COP28), Guterres emphasised that nearly a third of Nepals ice had vanished in just over 30 years, and it was directly linked to greenhouse gas pollution that heats up the planet.

Guterres, who visited Nepal, including the Everest region, in October last week, called for developed countries to clarify the delivery of USD 100 billion and produce a plan to double adaptation finance to USD 40 billion a year by 2025.

But those sums are dwarfed by the scale of whats needed, he said and advocated for reform in International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to better cater to the needs of developing countries like Nepal.

So, we need the outcome of this COP to call for reform of the IFIs so that they reflect todays world and are far more responsive to the needs of developing countries and for reform of the business models of the MDBs so that they can leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost to the developing countries, he told the gathering.

He said unless there is a change in course, a catastrophe can be unleashed.

The glaciers could disappear altogether. That means massively reduced flows for major Himalayan rivers such as the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Deltas decimated by saltwater, Guterres said.

With inputs from PTI
A federal appeals court in the US has rejected a broad assertion of immunity for former President Donald Trump over the January 6 violence at the White House, where his supporters attempted to thwart the certification of his election loss to Joe Biden, The New York Times reported on Friday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Trumps broad assertions of presidential immunity, which he claimed shielded him from legal liability in lawsuits filed by Democratic lawmakers and police officers.

However, the three-judge panel specified that Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, can continue to contest the cases and attempt to demonstrate that his actions were carried out in his official capacity as president as the legal proceedings unfold.

Trump has contended that he cannot be sued over the Capitol riot, which resulted in numerous injuries to police officers. He argued that his statements during a rally before the Capitol was stormed addressed matters of public concern and fell within the bounds of absolute presidential immunity.

It reported that the Supreme Court has held that the Constitution gives presidents immunity from being sued over actions taken as part of their official duties, but not from suits based on private, unofficial acts. The civil cases brought against Trump have raised the question of which role he was playing at the rally he staged on Jan. 6, when he told supporters to fight like hell and urged them to march to the Capitol.

Essentially, the appeals court ruled that at this stage of the case, that question has yet to be definitively answered. It said Trump must be given an opportunity to present factual evidence to rebut the plaintiffs claims that the rally was a campaign event, scrutinizing issues like whether campaign officials had organized it and campaign funds were used to pay for it, The New York Times reported.

Because our decision is not necessarily even the final word on the issue of presidential immunity, we of course express no view on the ultimate merits of the claims against President Trump, Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote for the panel, as reported by The New York Times.

He added, In the proceedings ahead in the district court, President Trump will have the opportunity to show that his alleged actions in the run-up to and on Jan. 6 were taken in his official capacity as president rather than in his unofficial capacity as presidential candidate.

The panel allowed three civil cases to proceed for now in Federal District Court in Washington against former US President Trump.

Meanwhile, the New York appellate court reinstated the gag order against former President Donald Trump in the ongoing USD 250 million civil fraud trial, CNN reported.

The gag order prohibits Trump and attorneys from making public statements about the courtroom staff in the ongoing trial.

Judge Arthur Engoron originally issued the order barring Trump from making public statements about his courts staff after Trump made numerous comments about a clerk accusing her of being biased against him.

With inputs from agencies.
North Korea has said it will respond to any interference from the United States in space by eliminating viability of US spy satellites, state media KCNA reported on Saturday, citing a statement from North Koreas defence ministry spokesperson.

The statement said any interference with North Koreas satellite operations would be considered a declaration of war, adding that North Koreas laws stipulate it mobilise its war deterrence if any attack against its strategic assets becomes imminent.

Last week, North Korea successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor US and South Korean military movements.

North Korea said it successfully placed its first spy satellite in orbit on Tuesday and vowed to launch more in the near future, defying international condemnation from the United States and its allies.

Officials in South Korea and Japan, which first reported the launch, said they could not immediately verify whether a satellite was placed in orbit. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US military was still assessing whether the launch was a success or not.

South Korea responded to the North Korean announcement by saying it would take steps to suspend parts of a 2018 inter-Korean agreement designed to lower military tensions, its Yonhap news agency reported.

Yonhap cited a South Korean National Security Council statement as saying the move would involve restoring reconnaissance and surveillance operations in the area around the military demarcation line between the countries.

North Korea had earlier notified Japan it planned to send up a satellite by December 1, after two failed attempts to launch what it called spy satellites earlier this year.
The United States and Israel have jointly issued an advisory to draw attention to what they describe as malicious cyber activities connected to Iran, with potential impacts on various sectors, including US water systems, energy and food, as reported by Bloomberg.

Cybersecurity entities such as the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Israel National Cyber Directorate report that hackers associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been targeting programmable-logic controllers manufactured by Unitronics, the report said.

According to the agencies, since at least November 22, actors affiliated with the IRGC, operating under the name CyberAv3ngers, have successfully compromised Unitronics devices. As part of their intrusion, they have left a message stating, You have been hacked, down with Israel.
Blue-and-gold shovels dug into Great Falls soil Tuesday during the groundbreaking for a new Montana State University nursing building, a ceremony which marked a step toward improving health care for all Montanans.

The new building, made possible by donations and investments by MSU and its partners, will improve facilities for students and faculty while allowing the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing to increase enrollment at its Great Falls campus by 50% to help offset the shortage of health care professionals in the Great Falls area and throughout the state, according to MSU officials.

Construction of the new building, which will be located near the intersection of 29th Street South and 18th Avenue South, is expected to begin in spring and be completed by the start of the 2026 fall semester. Benefis Health System donated 2 acres for the nearly 22,000-square foot, two-story building.

The historic $101 million philanthropic investment made to MSU in 2021 by Mark and Robyn Jones will fund the new building. The total cost for the project is expected to be about $14.8 million, according to MSU project manager John Scott.

At Tuesdays ceremony, MSU President Waded Cruzado, along with other administrators and partners, delivered short speeches and participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking, which was held indoors at a nearby building with dirt from the future construction site.

Cruzado spoke about her first meetings with Mark and Robyn Jones and their shared vision for improving health care across the state.

We could have built a $101 million building in Bozeman, but that would not have cut it, Cruzado told the audience of students, staff, alumni and local health care workers. We decided to make a commitment to the entire state.

MSUs nursing college will hold groundbreaking ceremonies for new buildings at its four other locations  in Billings, Bozeman, Kalispell and Missoula  in spring 2024.

Historically, the nursing college has operated out of leased facilities. The new buildings will be designed specifically for educating nurses and include multiple labs and study areas, according to Sarah Shannon, dean of the MSU nursing college.

It is fitting that we are breaking ground here in Great Falls first, because this is where it all started, she said.

MSUs nursing college was founded in 1937 with students completing their pre-requisite courses in Bozeman and their upper division nursing coursework in Great Falls . Over the decades, the college has expanded to its four other upper division locations across the state. The MSU college of nursing produces more registered nurses than any other institution in the state and is Montanas sole provider of doctoral nurse practitioner education.

The health care industry is plagued by all kinds of worker shortages, said John Goodnow, CEO of Benefis Health System. He called the Joness investment a godsend.

Susan Luparell, MSU nursing colleges Great Falls campus director, told the audience of well over 100 people how faculty and students have bounced between buildings during the last 86 years. While showing appreciation for the colleges former hosts, she expressed gratitude for finally having a permanent home.

It is impossible to overstate what this investment means to our college, community and state, she said.

The MSU project is not the only news on the medical front in Great Falls.

Touro University opened its Great Falls campus in August, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, touting it as the first nonprofit medical school in Montana.

The college, also known as TouroCOM, features a 100,000-square-foot building with state-of-the-art labs, a simulation lab and a kosher cafeteria on its 2801 18th Ave. S. campus. It will host up to 125 students and 60 faculty in its inaugural year and up to 500 medical students at full capacity.
After rumors, Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, the most expected mid-range A series phone from Samsung has surfaced in renders, thanks to @OnLeaks. This shows a familiar design that we had seen in the Galaxy A15, Galaxy A25 and Galaxy A35.

The phone is said to measure 161.1 x 77.3 / 77.9 x 8.2mm, making it slightly taller and wide than the A54, since this is said to feature a 6.5-inch Infinity-O display, compared to the 6.4-inch screen in the A54.

The phone is said to be one of the first to use Exynos 1480 SoC (S5E8845) with 4 x performance cores clocked at 2.75GHz and 4 x efficiency cores clocked at 2.05GHz with Xclipse 530 GPU.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 5G is rumoured to feature a 50MP rear main camera, 12MP ultra-wide and a 32MP front camera, same as the Galaxy A54. It recently received Chinas 3C certification, revealing 25W fast charging, similar to the Galaxy A54. This doesnt come with a charger in the box, similar to most other Samsung phones.

The phone is expected to arrive in early 2024 along with the Galaxy A35 5G.

Source
An investment of $30 million over the next 20 years may be needed to protect and connect Canada lynx habitat, an animal specially adapted for snowy environments, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has calculated.

Only then will the snow-adapted species be more likely to survive at the southern extent of its range as the climate warms.

The announcement comes days after the agency listed another snow-reliant species, the wolverine, as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to climate change. Canada lynx in the lower 48 states were listed in 2000.

The USFWS is seeking public input on a draft recovery plan for these distinct population segments of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), based on information gathered in an updated assessment.

These distinct Canada lynx populations are found in northwestern Montana and north Idaho, northern Maine and northeastern New Hampshire, northeastern Minnesota, northcentral Washington and southwestern Colorado. Researchers have also documented lynx in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of northwest Wyoming and southwestern Montana. A majority of the habitat is on federal lands.

The current population in Colorado is the result of the releases of 218 lynx from Canada and Alaska into the San Juan Mountains in the southwest part of the state between 1999 and 2006.

Occasional lynx occurrence and reproduction were also documented in the Greater Yellowstone Area; however, it remains uncertain whether the area historically supported a small resident population or if lynx residency and reproduction there are impermanent.

Recovery plans are nonregulatory documents required by the ESA that serve as a road map toward ensuring a species long-term survival in the wild. Recovery plans outline site-specific management actions that contribute to species recovery, describe the time and cost estimates for implementing those actions, and outline measurable criteria for delisting.

The public now has 60 days to submit comments, through Jan. 30, 2024, at CanadaLynxRPComments@fws.gov. The Service is particularly interested in information about existing threats, ongoing management initiatives, and other factors related to implementing the proposed recovery actions outlined in the plan.

The Service anticipates publishing a final recovery plan within one year.

Canada lynx are native to North American boreal forests and depend heavily on snowshoe hare populations, their main prey. Lynx have unique adaptations for moving through deep snow, such as their snowshoe-like paws and long legs.

In its assessment, the USFWSs scientists found the most northern populations of these distinct lynx populations, including those in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho, were more likely to survive as the climate warms. The GYA population, on the other hand, was not considered large enough to survive environmental changes.

Functional extirpation of several populations is likely by the end of the century, even under the lower plausible limit (least climate warming impact) scenario, the agency wrote.

In particular in the West, the USFWS said, Federal agencies may need to assess and amend strategies and associated management plans to address a comprehensive fuels and fire management strategy that incorporates lynx habitat needs in the face of a warming, drying climate.

To learn more, the draft recovery plan and its associated documents, including the notice of availability, species status assessment report, and recovery implementation strategy, can be found at https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/3652. For more information about recovery plans, please visit https://www.fws.gov/program/recovery/recovery-plans.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has adopted the 2023 Elk Management Plan and accompanying environmental assessment.

The elk plan lays out how FWP will manage elk; the EA is an evaluation and summary of potential impacts on the physical environment and human population.

Development of the new elk plan was a long and expansive process, and we appreciate all the public input we received, said Dustin Temple, FWP director, in a press release. Elk management is controversial in Montana, but through this process we saw people with varying interests come together with new ideas. That collaboration is captured in the plan and will be critical moving forward.

Highlights of the new plan include:

 Less prescriptive-more objective/goal focused management;

 Identification of recommended special management districts for bull elk;

 Updated population size goals;

 Plan update schedule and lifespan  the 2023 plan includes an option for updates every five years (offset from biennial season setting years), with an expected lifespan of at least 15 years;

 Categorization at the local scale by hunting districts rather than elk management units;

 Recreation and distribution objectives in addition to population demographics objectives;

 Metrics to determine management success;

 Averages of counts to evaluate population status;

Along with the plan, FWP also released its most contemporary elk counts and associated maps. These counts and maps are updated annually. To view them, click here.

To view the 2023 Elk Management Plan, click here.
Project manager joins KLJ

Lee has more than 27 years of experience working in tribal relations, consulting, construction, project management and field operations. He also is a licensed professional engineer, with a masters degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska and a bachelors degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu who is the President of Ohanaeze NdiIgbo, has stated that Igbos developed Lagos into what it is today and are the heroes of Lagos.

In a video that has gone viral, Iwuanyawu said Igbo people came to Lagos when it was made the capital of Nigeria and invested heavily in the state. He said the Igbos met Lagos as a swamp and developed it into what it is today.Describing Igbos as the heroes of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu said

Quote

Lagos was accepted as the capital of Nigeria. Igbos, most of them are dead today, our forebearers rose to the challenge. The challenge at that time was an investment, massive investments to make the capital Lagos a proper, befitting headquarters for Nigeria. That is how Igbos scattered all over, moved into Lagos by a sense of patriotism. Igbos came into Lagos, found some swampy land, and bought the Land. Igbos when they came into Lagos, they never came there to take anybody's property. They came there, bought the land, and converted swampy land into habitable places. They built businesses, they built homes, schools, they developed Lagos. In effect, without the enterprise, of the patriotism of Nigerians like the Igbos, many other Nigerians did the same but it will appear that because of population, Igbos were in Large numbers. These pioneers, our forebearers are the heroes of the time, the heroes of what we call today a very strong Lagos. When they came there, Lagos was basically swampy but they converted it into a very wonderful, beautiful headquarters we see today in Nigeria''

Lagos was the Federal capital of Nigeria until it was moved to Abuja on December 12, 1991.

Watch the video of Iwuanyawu speaking below
Meta Cracks Down on Massive Network of Thousands of Fake Accounts Linked to China News oi -Kabir Jain

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, recently disclosed its removal of a vast network of over 4,700 fake accounts originating from China. The operation, outlined in Meta's quarterly threat report, involved users posing as Americans strategically spreading polarizing content related to US politics and US-China relations.

Chinese Network's Complex Operation

The network, based in China, impersonated prominent figures such as Nancy Pelosi, Gretchen Whitmer, Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, and Jim Jordan. Strikingly, the deceptive campaign exhibited no ideological consistency, showcasing a blend of conflicting viewpoints on issues like abortion and US-China relations.

Violation of Moderation Rules

Meta's moderation rules explicitly prohibit "coordinated inauthentic behavior," where groups of accounts collaborate using false identities to mislead users. The Chinese network, totaling over 4,700 accounts, was detected and halted by Meta before gaining traction among real users.

Ongoing Challenges in Countering Disinformation

This disclosure follows Meta's removal of five coordinated influence networks from China in the current year alone. The fake accounts engaged in a campaign related to national politics and China, praising China, criticizing its critics, and mimicking real online posts by US politicians.

Warnings and Vigilance Against Foreign Threat Actors

Ben Nimmo, Meta's global threat intelligence lead, emphasized the importance of vigilance as foreign threat actors target people ahead of upcoming elections. In a briefing on Meta's latest security report, Nimmo highlighted the deceptive online campaigns originating from China, issuing a specific warning about their intentions to influence the 2024 elections in the United States and beyond.

Tracking the Source and Evolving Landscape

Meta tracked the source of these networks to China but did not explicitly attribute them to the Chinese government. The revelation underscores the evolving landscape of online influence operations, with foreign actors adapting strategies to leverage authentic political debates rather than creating entirely original content.

Shifting Russian Campaigns and Broader Concerns

While Russia remains the most prolific source of such networks, focusing on undermining support for its war against Ukraine, there has been a notable shift in Russian campaigns. Websites associated with Russia-based campaigns have redirected their focus to exploit the conflict between Hamas and Israel to tarnish the image of the United States.

As Meta continues to combat deceptive campaigns, the disclosure raises concerns about the potential pivot of influence operations as relations with China become a central election topic. With the intensification of election campaigns, there is an anticipation that foreign actors may leverage authentic debates to further their objectives.

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A law passed in 2019 made communications between lawmakers and "any person" private, meaning exchanges between legislators and state leaders about public business are not being treated as public records.

As a result, any emails former North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg, who faces federal charges, may have exchanged with his close friend and former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem are not public record.

Lawmakers who supported the bill in 2019 said it protected the privacy of constituents so they could speak freely about personal issues, but at least one senator who sponsored the legislation said lawmakers may need to review the law after Stenehjems emails were hastily deleted in the days after he died.

Now we know that maybe thousands of emails were dumped, and there may have been a purpose other than serving the best interest of the government, said Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo. If thats the case, we need to look at this again.

The North Dakota Legislative Council, which gives legal advice to and drafts bills for state legislators, denied an open records request made by The Forum that asked for any emails Holmberg and Stenehjem exchanged between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 28, 2022. The Forum made the request after reporting that Stenehjem did not recuse himself from a criminal investigation into Holmberg.

Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, was accused last month in federal court of traveling to Prague in the Czech Republic with intentions to have sex with a minor multiple times between June 24, 2011, and Nov. 1, 2016. He also is charged with receiving and attempting to receive child porn. He has pleaded not guilty.

Stenehjem, also a Republican, has been described as a close friend to Holmberg, raising questions about why he didnt recuse himself from the case as the Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents he oversaw investigated Holmberg.

Stenehjem died Jan. 28, 2022, and his assistant Liz Brocker directed state information technology staff to delete the attorney generals email account three days later. The emails are not recoverable, said current Attorney General Drew Wrigley.

In response to The Forums records request, the Legislative Council cited a law that exempts a record that reveals the content of communications between a member of the legislative assembly and any person. That includes public employees and officers, the Council said.

The Council confirmed the law covers any communication to and from lawmakers, whether it concerns public or personal matters.

The Forum also asked for text messages sent between Holmberg and Stenehjem, but Legislative Council said it did not have access to any text messages the two exchanged.

Rewording the law

Before 2019, any "private" message lawmakers sent or received was confidential. With Senate Bill 2221, the state Legislature deleted the word "private" from that section, making all communications to and from themselves exempt from open records laws.

Legislators also added language that would make such communications in possession of any public officer or employee confidential.

Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, who sponsored the bill, said she gets calls every week, sometimes more than one a day, from constituents and public employees regarding human services -- she chairs the Senate Human Services Committee. People often share personal information when bringing up challenges they face, she said.

Some of that information can be difficult to share, she said. Lawmakers need to know the facts in order to help constituents, Lee said.

We care about the constituents that we serve, she said. Thats where the privacy line needs to be drawn.

Those private details shouldnt be made available to the public, Lee said, noting the law she proposed helps protect the privacy of constituents and public employees who contact her.

No one should feel there is going to be an intrusion by anybody, she said.

The law helps anyone who contacts lawmakers speak freely about issues without the fear of their thoughts being made public, Mathern said in explaining why he supported the bill with Lee and others.

Its like an attorney-client privilege, he said, adding the law helps people trust him with concerns.

He said the word private was deleted because it was hard to define what was considered private. Lee said lawmakers used the terminology recommended by the attorneys on Legislative Council in order to address the concerns we had.

North Dakota should preserve the ability of constituents and public employees to raise issues without facing retribution, Mathern said. He said he wants to protect good government, but he also acknowledged the potential for misuse of the law.

We cant do it in such a way that we cover up things that should not be covered, he said.

Emails between legislators and public officials dealing with public business should be open record, said Jack McDonald, an attorney who represents the North Dakota Newspaper Association. During the 2019 legislative session, the open records advocate proposed adding an amendment to the bill that made correspondence regarding legislation, liability or legal issues public record.

Lees reasons behind the bill were logical, McDonald said, noting personal information about constituents shouldnt be public.

However, lawmakers do the publics business, so North Dakota residents have a right to emails that explain reasons behind deciding public policy or business, he said.

If they were going to communicate with a public official about public business, I dont think that should be protected, McDonald said, adding the current law is too broad.

Lee said in 2019 on the Senate floor that she had concerns about McDonalds amendments. Lawmakers would worry if their correspondence would be open record, she said.

I think were going to find a whole lot more discussions going on by telephone because the only way to make sure that we can have an informal, casual conversation with somebody about an idea and not have it be a matter that is open to the public is to not have a record, she said on the Senate floor.

The Senate passed the bill with McDonalds proposal, but the House deleted his language. Ultimately, Lees original bill passed both chambers with wide support, making all communications to and from lawmakers confidential record when Gov. Doug Burgum signed the bill into law.

The law was passed for an honorable reason, not with bad intentions, Lee said. She also said they couldnt have foreseen legislative records being involved in a criminal case.

Lets let the courts play out here and see whats going on, she said.

When asked if emails sent between lawmakers and state government agency heads or other elected officials should be public, Lee said that would defeat the entire purpose of the bill.

Sen. Curt Kreun, R-Grand Forks, who co-sponsored the bill, said he wouldnt change the law for one instance. The law has worked well for constituents since it was passed, he said.

This is a much broader issue, he said, adding it helps lawmakers give advice to constituents and public employees about personal matters.

Kreun said he disagrees with Legislative Council's assessment that the law includes emails discussing public matters.

He said Stenehjem's emails shouldn't have been deleted, adding he wants to get to the bottom of that like everyone else. Lawmakers passed a law this year that requires government agencies to keep emails for at least one year.
Residents of a Qatari-funded housing complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip sit with what belongings they could grab before it was hit by an Israeli strike
Saturday Night

Cloudy with snow showers in the evening and steady snow likely after midnight. Low 29F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches.
Radev Discusses Mounting Tensions in the Middle East with King Abdullah II of Jordan

President of the Republic of Bulgaria

1 December 2023

President Rumen Radev today held a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Dubai after the opening of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The two discussed the consequences of the hostilities between Hamas and the State of Israel.

They were unanimous that mounting tensions affect not only the belligerents, but also the entire Middle East and Europe. There was also general concern about the grave humanitarian crisis in the region, which calls for timely actions by the global community. President Rumen Radev and King Abdullah II highlighted the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations on the establishment of two states, in accordance with UN resolutions, as the most effective measure to achieve a sustainable peaceful solution in the Middle East.

King Abdullah II accepted the invitation of the Bulgarian Head of State to visit this country next year to foster bilateral cooperation, as well as to continue talks on seeking approaches to restoring peace and ensuring stability in the Middle East.

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EUCOM increases cyberspace interoperability in annual NATO-hosted cyber defense exercise

By U.S. European Command Public Affairs , United States European Command Stuttgart, Germany Dec 01, 2023

U.S. European Command participated in NATO's annual Cyber Coalition exercise, which hosted 35 participant countries, the largest number to date, from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1.

Cyber Coalition 2023 expanded on lessons learned from previous exercises, emphasizing coordination and collaboration among EUCOM, participating Allies and partners under NATO's oversight. The exercise's main focus was to simulate responses to cyber threats and enhance our cyber defense posture. This involved testing NATO's capability to request cyberspace operations resources and the capacity of exercise participants to deliver them.

"We use technical challenges to trigger the coordination and collaboration within and between our military and civilian cyberspace stakeholders," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Charles Elliott, Cyber Coalition exercise director. "The considerable number of participating Allies and partners increases the exercise complexity helping us to better identify capability gaps and comprehensively test new cyberspace operations procedures."

The annual exercise was conducted from Tallinn, Estonia, a leading NATO Ally known for its extensive digitization efforts throughout its nation and functioned as the central command and control center. All participating countries participated in the training remotely. Exercise activities included training on the application of international law in cyberspace, validating cyberspace warfare development products and experimenting with new tools.

"Consistently working with our NATO Allies and partners to identify vulnerabilities on their government-operated networks aids in our own cyberspace preparedness through enhanced information-sharing relationships," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. James Cleet, EUCOM deputy director of operations. "These exercises provide us a comprehensive opportunity to bolster collective cyberspace capabilities and are foundational to our overall security commitment to the NATO Alliance and global partners."

Another key U.S. participant included the 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) providing exercise planning and execution support. Sixteenth Air Force was created to seize and maintain the initiative in the information environment, especially the cyber domain and regularly participates in global cyber and information warfare exercises to prepare for crisis and conflict.

"This fantastic opportunity allowed us to collaborate, share and effectively integrate cyber security capabilities. We successfully operated across four time zones, assessed each other's capabilities, and strengthened our great relationships with NATO allies and partners," said Candace Sanchez,16th Air Force senior joint cyber exercise planner.

The insights garnered from the Cyber Coalition 2023 exercise, including observations, in-depth analysis, and valuable feedback, play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of future doctrine development, capability enhancements and informed decision-making processes.

-30-

About USEUCOM

U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) is responsible for U.S. military operations across Europe, portions of Asia and the Middle East, the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean. USEUCOM is comprised of more than 65,000 permanent military personnel supported by rotational forces and DoD civilians working closely with NATO Allies and partners. The command is one of two U.S. forward-deployed geographic combatant commands headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. For more information about USEUCOM, visit www.eucom.mil.

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Germany Federal Foreign Office

01.12.2023 - Press release

Right now we need to do everything possible to ensure that the humanitarian pause is extended. For the sake of the remaining hostages, who have been held in dark tunnels for weeks, hoping to be released, and for the sake of the people in Gaza in urgent need of more humanitarian assistance.



The suffering of the people in Israel is unbearable. The suffering of the people in Gaza is unbearable. This suffering must end at last, for everyone. Israel will never be able to live in security if terrorism is not overcome. And by the same token, Israel can only enjoy security if the Palestinians also have prospects for the future.



Because, as yesterday's deadly attack in Jerusalem and the latest missile attacks show, that can only happen when Hamas' destructive terror no longer has any chance of re-establishing itself. When Hamas no longer has any chance of bringing the terror of 7 October to Israel over and over again. When Israel no longer has to defend itself against this terrorism and take the unimaginably difficult decision about how to wage its fight against Hamas - while having to do everything in its power to protect the civilian population.



If that is to happen, everyone who sees the suffering on both sides and wants to end it for all must work to ensure that Hamas no longer poses an existential threat to Israel. That would of course also mean that Hamas must lay down its weapons.



That is the only way to open up any political perspective for a two-state solution that can provide security both to Israelis and to Palestinians - unrealistic as that might seem this morning especially.
Utilising the humanitarian pause - Germany has increased its assistance for people in Gaza

Germany Federal Foreign Office

01.12.2023 - Article

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is disastrous. In order to alleviate the suffering, Germany is yet again increasing its humanitarian assistance for people in the Palestinian territories. You can find out more here.

Even though significantly more aid supplies have crossed the border during the days of the humanitarian pause, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. Following the brutal attack by the terrorist organisation Hamas on the State of Israel and its people on 7 October, the civilian population in Gaza, too, is suffering the consequences of Hamas' terror. The supply of basic provisions and services for the civilian population has collapsed and hundreds of thousands of people there, including many children, are lacking bare essentials: food, water and medical care. It is therefore important that humanitarian assistance can be distributed to the civilian population in Gaza quickly and without any obstructions. This has been one of the focuses of Foreign Minister Baerbock's three visits to the region since 7 October.

Foreign Minister Baerbock has announced that Germany will increase its humanitarian assistance for the people in the Palestinian territories.

At a press conference in Amman on 19 October, the Foreign Minister stated:

We are increasing our support for Palestinians, who have also become the victims of this terrorist attack by Hamas. The German Government has decided to increase our humanitarian assistance for the civilian population in Gaza by 50 million euro with immediate effect. This funding will be used to support international organisations such as the World Food Programme, UNICEF and, above all, UNRWA, so that people in Gaza can be supplied with food. Our message is clear: we will not abandon innocent Palestinian mothers, fathers and children.

The German Government sees the suffering of people in Gaza and has repeatedly increased its humanitarian assistance, most recently on 29 November by 18 million euro. This brings overall assistance in 2023 for the Palestinian territories to 179 million euro, with 106 million euro in new funding since 7 October.

Food, water, medicines and hygiene products

The Federal Foreign Office is working with the United Nations and experienced international aid organisations to get the urgently needed aid to the people in Gaza. Our partners on the ground include the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the World Food Programme and the German Red Cross.

With the humanitarian assistance that is being provided by Germany, the organisations can get basic foodstuffs, medical care and hygiene products to Gaza. Distributed aid includes millet, rice, chickpeas and oil, as well as medical products such as wound dressing material and syringes.

Appointment of Germany's Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues

Foreign Minister Baerbock has appointed the experienced career diplomat Deike Potzel as Germany's Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues. In this role, she serves as a counterpart to the US Special Envoy David Satterfield and a central German point of contact for actors in the region. The Special Envoy's work is embedded in international efforts to mitigate the humanitarian crisis in which Gaza's civilian population finds itself as a result of Hamas' terrorist attacks.

As part of humanitarian shuttle diplomacy in the region, the Special Envoy serves as a point of contact for UN organisations (OCHA, UNRWA, WFP, UNICEF) and the ICRC as well as international and regional partners. She is also in close contact with those responsible for humanitarian assistance in the region and our partners' capitals. Her work builds on Germany's long-standing humanitarian commitment, as well as efforts for peace and stability in the region.

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One of North America's most famous animals recently embarked on a journey that was outside of its typical migratory patterns. But it was prepared. It had millions of years to rest before making the trip.

We know Edmontosaurus moved around; there's actually pretty strong evidence that the species ... migrated north-south from more or less the Montana-Wyoming-North Dakota region up toward Alaska, and back and forth, maybe less so east-west," said Paul Ullmann, assistant professor of paleontology at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Ullmann and a team made up of other paleontologists, engineers, students from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and high school students from Northern Cass School in the eastern North Dakota town of Hunter collected around 30 bones from an Edmontosaurus that had been lying dormant in eastern Montana until earlier this fall, when the fossils were taken to UND to be cleaned, assembled and studied. Eventually the dinosaur remains will go to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.

Getting the bones to Grand Forks was a process that had been years in the making.

The find

Steve Adamek, a geologist with Dakota Technologies out of Fargo, discovered the fossil in 2019, Ullmann said, but the COVID-19 pandemic kept Ullmann and the other paleontologists from returning the next year to commence their excavation.

When digging near the initial discovery resumed in 2021, Ullmann and his team were excited to find that many of the bones were in life position, reflecting the skeletal structure of the dinosaur during its lifetime.

"(We) study anatomy a lot, and you can certainly pick up the jumbled puzzle of bones and reassemble the skeleton, but now we know exactly where each one of those vertebrae went in sequence without having to reassemble them," he said.

The Edmontosaurus is one of the more common species in the Hell Creek Formation, a geological area spanning Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, according to Ullmann. Findings like these allow paleontologists to extend their research to broader areas.

"We can do a lot of things with it that you might not be able to do if, say, this was the first specimen of a new species -- for instance some of the research plans I have for a graduate student working on this specimen involve looking at soft tissue preservation in the bones, seeing if there's original bone cells and blood vessels, original proteins there, which is a slightly destructive analysis, but we can do it on this specimen because we know so much about the Edmontosaurus already," he said.

The findings could give scientists a better understanding about how some extinct animals are related to one another, and the ways that geology can affect the preservation of fossils, Ullmann said.

"What do we see about the chemistry of the bones?" he said. "What do we see about how they've been altered through fossilization?"

But before any studying of the fossils could begin, the nearly 4,400 pounds of Edmontosaurus bones needed to be brought out from their original location, which was at the bottom of a 100-foot hill.

"Our permit doesnt allow anything with wheels to go off road ... which meant that we needed to create a sled of plastic material and four-by-fours to then drag it up the hill rather than put it on something with wheels, so we used 500 feet of (cable) to hook it up with a pully system to a couple of trucks at the top of the hill," he said.

Four seasons of exploration, digging, and wrapping the bones in casing culminated in a 10-hour, nonstop effort to bring the Edmontosaurus up the hill. The rest of its journey, an over-500-mile road trip, was by comparison much less eventful, Ullmann said.

"That was a truly remarkable endeavor," he said.

Future fossils

These won't be the last fossils taken to the University of North Dakota.

The Hell Creek Formation is full of potential for many more discoveries, according to Ullmann, who said he has his eyes set on a Triceratops skull as a possible next excavation project.

Its so rich with dinosaur material, youre guaranteed in a couple of weeks of searching out there, youre going to find something; the question is if it will be 30 bones of one animal, or half of one bone thats been mostly eroded, you never know, he said.

The discoveries will play a role in the university's efforts to expand its paleontology program.

Ullmann is working on building curriculum for new paleontology courses with the goal of eventually developing a paleontology concentration in the geology major at UND.

An entry-level course on dinosaurs will be offered in the spring, and upper-level courses on paleontology are on their way as well.

Ullmann also plans to collaborate with the North Dakota Geological Survey on its popular public digs program -- an opportunity that draws hundreds from across North Dakota and beyond to assist state paleontologists in excavations every summer -- and expand educational outreach on North Dakota's natural history to schools across the state.

He said the chance to engage in digs gives students who are interested in a career in paleontology a leg up when applying for graduate school and other opportunities.

"(For) so many who are interested in paleontology, you decide when youre 3 years old, 'I want to be a paleontologist' -- that was me," he said. "So many of us have that history where you go through that dinosaur phase when youre a kid and you never leave it, it sticks with you for life.
Norway has delivered the first F-16's to Romania

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 01/12/2023

- Three pilots from Romania will take off from Rygge Airfield this week with three overhauled F-16 back home to Romania. The purchase of F-16 will aid in the modernization and defence of Romania, an allied nation in NATOs eastern flank, that also share boarders with Ukraine. It is an important milestone that we are marking today, when these fighter jets are delivered to Romania, states Minister of Defence Bjrn Arild Gram (Centre Party).

Norway has begun their delivery of F-16 that were used in the Norwegian Air Force. These deliveries will breathe new life into the air force of our allies as Norway pashed out their F-16's back in 2021. Since then, the Norwegian Defence Material Agency (FMA) has worked on selling their 32 F-16s to Romania.

The first delivery of fighter jets has begun after an intense period of preparations, where the Norwegian Defence Material Agency in collaboration with Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services (KAMS) has done modifications, maintenance and certified the fighter jets in order to prepare them for use in Romania. These fighter jets have also been approved by both the Norwegian and the US government.

- The contract with Romania doesn't just includes the deliverance of new fighter jets, but also two fighter jet squadrons with spare parts, support equipment and training of technician. The reasons for this progress are due to the great work from the Norwegian Defence Material Agency and their employees, with great aid from KAMS and the experienced F-16 personnel from the Norwegian air force, says Gram.

These fighter jets will be delivered over the span of 2024 until 2025, which will give Romania time to develop competence for both pilots and technicians. The Norwegian Defence Material Agency will also aid the Romanian air force with knowledge and experience related to the fighter jets.

- In the Norwegian Defence Material Agency, we tend to be the once that acquire materiel for the military, but with the sale of these F-16s we are the supplier for material and equipment worth billions. We have made this happen due to professionalized disposal area. We are securing great assets for the Norwegian society and we contribute to the re-use of military equipment for other allied nations in order to improve their defence capabilities. Because of this, I see this as a proud day for the Norwegian Defence Material Agency and everyone that has worked so hard for this contract to happen, states agency director Gro Jre.

Facts:

Norway has 57 F-16`s

The F-16 was phased out in December 2021 and replaced by F-35

32 fighter jets have as of now been sold to Romania, with the delivery planned on being done in 2025.

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Deeply regret that the ceasefire in Gaza is not continued

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 01/12/2023

'There has been unimaginable suffering for far too long in Gaza. The extensive warfare we have witnessed has taken a severe toll on the civilian population', said Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide.

In the past few days, we have seen what peace can look like. Children have been reunited with their parents. People have emerged from their hiding places without fear of a next attack. Even bitter enemies have been able to together facilitate this. For the greater good. We have seen images of joy and comfort. Images of peace, at least moments of peace.

The ceasefire has been important. It has provided the population with a respite, and not least, more humanitarian aid has come in. I deeply regret that it is not continued. It is the civilian population in Gaza as well as the hostages who will suffer from this. We now fear new rounds of fighting and further human suffering. The civilian population in Gaza must be protected, as much as possible. They have the right to food, water, and medical assistance, even when there is no ceasefire.

The more destruction and the more people killed, the harder it becomes to establish a political track. The conflict does not have a military solution. It must be resolved through a political process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, leading to a two-state solution.

Norway has been clear to all parties that we want a durable humanitarian ceasefire. All hostages must be released. The warfare must stop. And sufficient humanitarian aid and other supplies must reach Gaza.

We have used our contacts to advocate for the ceasefire to last longer. We maintain close contact with Qatar, USA, and other key countries.

We appeal to the Israelis and Palestinians to find another way and to intensify efforts to reach a political solution. Norway stands ready to assist.

This horrific situation is a reminder that there is only one lasting solution, and that is a two-state solution. A Palestinian state where Palestinians can live in peace with each other and their Israeli neighbors.

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Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari December 1st, 20:15

IDF Press Release

Press Briefing

01.12.23

IDF

Good evening and Shabbat Shalom,

Tonight, for the first time, the returned hostages are having a Friday night dinner with their families. It is so good to have you home. We will not rest until we return all the hostages - all of them.

This morning, the IDF renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip and is prepared for the next stages of the war. Hamas violated the operational pause agreement by not implementing the framework for the release of the hostages and also fired rockets into the territory of the State of Israel. Hamas still cruelly holds 136 hostages, including seventeen women and children who were mercilessly abducted from their homes. We will continue to do everything to bring back the hostages in every way.

We continue to invest significant efforts in intelligence and operational fronts, to bring information about the condition of the hostages. In recent days, the IDF, along with the Israel Police, notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Mia Goren, Ronen Engel, and Aryeh Zalmanovich of their deaths. This is after a committee of experts from the Ministry of Health, together with the National Center of Forensic Medicine, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and the Ministry of Religious Services, determined their death based on collected findings and established intelligence. In a joint operation of the IDA, utilizing its precise intelligence, and the IDF, we brought the body of the hostage Ofir Tzarfati Z"L to burial in Israel. We embrace the families in these difficult hours and continue to accompany them.

Since this morning, we have struck over two hundred targets in precise intelligence-based strikes throughout the Gaza Strip - in Khan Yunis, Rafah, Jabalya, Beit Hanoun, and more. We struck and destroyed Hamas targets and Hamas terrorists found within terror headquarters, booby-trapped areas, terror tunnels, and rocket launch sites.

To the civilians of Gaza: Yahya Sinwar chose to violate the agreed framework. He chose. He is guilty. He is responsible. He knew what the consequences would be and chose them.

Our fight with Hamas - ISIS is throughout the Gaza Strip. In the air, at sea, and also in ground operations. We operate in accordance with international law. We have published a detailed map that includes the division into areas that will allow the civilians of Gaza to move away from combat areas to a safer place and prevent Hamas from using them as a human shield. Anyone who provides shelter to Hamas, puts themself in danger.

All IDF forces utilized the days of the operational pause to strengthen preparedness, refresh forces, develop battle plans, and prepared well for the continuation of the operation.

Our goals are clear, and we will continue our operations to dismantle Hamas and create conditions for the return of all hostages.

In the north, this past hour, we struck Hezbollah terror targets with fighter jets and helicopters. We eliminated a terrorist cell that operated in Lebanese territory near the Zar'it area, and fired rockets from Lebanese territory into Israel.

The Chief of the General Staff conducted a situational assessment today with the General Staff Forum in light of the renewal of fighting and the move to the next stage of the war.

On the Home Front this morning, in accordance with the situational assessment, we decided to change the defensive policy and to intensify the guidelines in some areas of the country. We must not become complacent. The air defense system is doing an excellent job, but the defense it provides is not hermetic - it is important to follow the guidelines of the Home Front Command, they save lives.

Even as I speak, IDF service members, both regular and reserve, are steadfast and prepared in all sectors and on the front line - .determined to continue and fight

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Iran FM calls for immediate cessation of strikes on Gaza

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Dec 1, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has warned the US and Zionist regime about the harsh consequences of returning to war and urged stopping attacks on Gaza immediately.

There is no solution but to continue the ceasefire and the massive delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza and an agreement on prisoner exchanges between the two sides, Amirabdollahian wrote in Farsi on his account on the X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday.

He described the continuation of the Washington-Tel Aviv war as a new genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.

Prisoners are not freed by war, but they are killed in bombardments, he said, adding that seemingly, the Zionist regime and the US do not think about the consequences of returning to war.

The top Iranian diplomat reiterated that the existence of a warship is not a defining characteristic, but the existence of the "Palestinian will" would be determining.

Stop the attacks on Gaza immediately before it is too late, he noted.

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Zionist regime resumes Gaza bombing after truce expires

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Dec 1, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- The Israeli military says operations have restarted in Gaza after the truce expired, and launches air raids and artillery fire.

Fighting has resumed between Hamas and the Zionist regime on the ground in separate areas across the territory, Aljazeera reported.

Lebanese Al-Mayadeen network reported that Israeli reconnaissance aircraft heavily hover over the towns of Khuza'a and Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis, and the central area.

Fierce clashes were going on between the Resistance fighters and the occupying Israeli forces in the northwest of Gaza, Al-Mayadeen said.

Sirens sounding in the settlement of "Holit" near the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported.

The Israeli regime army has issued a statement saying that it has resumed its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas violated the truce by firing into occupied territory.

International mediators, including Qatar, Egypt, and the US, were on Friday pushing for another extension of the Gaza truce ahead of its expiration at 7am local time (05:00 GMT), Al Jazeera reported.

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, launched an operation against the Zionist Israeli regime on October 7 in response to more than seven decades of occupation of Palestine and nearly two decades of blockade of Gaza, and imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians. It killed more than 1,200 Zionist soldiers and settlers and took more than 220 of them to the enclave as prisoners.

In retaliation to Hamas's operation, which was called the al-Aqsa Storm operation, the Zionist regime launched heavy attacks against Gaza and put this area under complete siege.

More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Zionist regime's attacks, while tens of thousands of others have been injured.

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Secretary General at COP28: climate change matters for our security, and therefore it matters to NATO

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

01 Dec. 2023

Attending the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Friday (1 December 2023), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined that "climate change matters for our security, and therefore it matters to NATO". Speaking at a high-level leaders' event on climate security organised by the COP28 Presidency and the Munich Security Conference, Mr Stoltenberg underlined NATO's commitment to fight climate change and be a part of the global solution to a global challenge.

In a panel discussion, the Secretary General emphasised the need to manage the security impact of climate change, saying that "climate change creates crisis and crisis undermines the possibility for combating climate change." Given the inextricable link between the two, he explained that climate change is therefore at the core of NATO's mission for pursuing peace and security for the Alliance.

He also emphasised the need to ensure the energy transition away from fossil fuels and towards secure and renewable energy supplies. He said: "we need to ensure that when we implement the energy transition away from fossil fuels to more reliable and less polluting sources of energy, we have to make sure that we don't do that in a way which undermines energy security." "Russia used gas as a tool to try to coerce us after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We should not make the same mistakes as we develop a new renewable energy sources," he said. NATO is "therefore investing in programmes to develop new more environmentally [friendly] technologies" that will "reduce the [reliance on] fossil fuels," he added.

NATO is adapting its militaries, both to the changing climate and to reduce emissions. The Secretary General said NATO has prioritised addressing climate change at the top of its agenda and agreed specific targets to reduce emissions from NATO bodies and commands by 2030 "and by 2050, we should be as a net zero in the armed forces." He added that NATO is harnessing technological innovation in green defence and integrating climate considerations into its military plans, exercises and capabilities.

The panel discussion included Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas , Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Inger Andersen, Founding Director of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy Jason Bordoff, and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Christoph Heusgen.

The Secretary General also met other international leaders, including President of Iraq Abdul Latif Rashid, and President of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Dubai.

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Israel seeks to assassinate Hamas leaders around the world: WSJ

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 6:14 PM

The Israeli regime's top spy agencies reportedly seek to "assassinate" Hamas leaders around the world after its brutal war on the Gaza Strip that has already killed more than 15,000 Palestinians ends.

With orders from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the regime's top spy agencies, including Mossad, are working on plans to assassinate Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar, and other Persian Gulf countries, The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed Israeli officials on Thursday.

"The question now for Israeli leaders isn't about whether to try to kill Hamas leaders elsewhere in the world, but whereand how, the officials said," wrote the newspaper.

The report claimed that there had been calls to immediately assassinate Khaled Meshaal, one of the top Hamas leaders, after the Palestinian resistance group launched the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation against the regime on October 7.

Israel's prime minister hinted at the regime's plans for assassinations abroad in an address in late November, when he said that he had "instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are."

Israel has a long history of conducting assassination operations outside its borders in violation of international law, sovereignty of other countries, and human rights.

Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant also threatened Hamas leaders back then, saying, "The struggle is worldwide."

Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad director, however, told the Journal that the regime's plan "is not supported by everyone."

"Pursuing Hamas on a worldwide scale and trying to systematically remove all its leaders from this world is a desire to exact revenge, not a desire to achieve a strategic aim."

After Israel was caught off guard by Hamas operation on the occupied territories, it started a brutal bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip. The regime has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, about 40 percent of whom are children.

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Palestinian, Lebanese resistance hit back as Israel resumes bombing Gaza

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 4:50 PM

The Al-Qassam Brigades has fired barrages of missiles at Tel Aviv and other cities in the Israeli-occupied territories in response to the Israeli bombing of civilians in Gaza, as its fighters engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli troops inside the strip.

Al-Qassam, the armed wing of the Hamas resistance movement, said in separate statements on Friday that it fired rockets at the cities of Asqalan, Ashdod, Sderot, Netivot, and Beersheba, as well as the Ra'im military base.

It also said its fighters attacked Israeli forces in northern Gaza, including an Israeli tank and a troop carrier.

They attacked a group of Israeli soldiers stationed inside a building in Beit Hanoun using four anti-personnel and anti-fortification shells, a statement said.

Separately, the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said it attacked several towns in response to Israeli bombings. It said it targeted the Kissufim kibbutz with 107 missiles.

The movement said its fighters had engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli soldiers near Al-Rantisi Hospital in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Al-Quds brigades also said its fighters shot down an Israeli Skylark drone in central Gaza.

Hezbollah resumes attacks

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah also resumed its anti-Israel operations in support of the resistance in Gaza, which were on a pause throughout the seven-day truce.

The movement said it targeted groups of Israeli soldiers at Jal al-Alam, Al-Marj, and Ramya military positions, as well as the Ramim barracks.

Israeli occupation's artillery attacked several areas in southern Lebanon, killing a mother and her son in the Lebanese town of Houla.

Hezbollah has vowed the Lebanon-Palestine border would remain an active front line as long as Israel's aggression against Gaza continues.

Gaza's Ministry of Health says at least 109 people have been killed and hundreds more have been injured as the Israeli regime resumed military operations and targeted residential areas and refugee camps across the densely-populated areas since Friday morning when a week-long truce expired.

The truce, which was extended twice, began on November 24. It had paused brutal Israeli strikes on Gaza that began in early October and killed more than 15,000 Palestinians.

International bodies have called for more time to get medical supplies, food and fuel into Gaza, where an estimated 1.7 million people have been forced from their homes.

The fighting resumed after US top diplomat Antony Blinken visited the region and held talks with Israeli leaders. Other world leaders, and aid groups, had sought an extended pause.

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Japan refutes US claims on V-22 Osprey aircraft after fatal crash

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 10:58 AM

Japan has hit out at the US military for continuing to fly its V-22 Osprey aircraft despite its previous request to suspend all non-emergency flights of this kind over its territory.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, said "We are concerned that despite our repeated requests, and in the absence of sufficient explanation (from the US military), the Osprey continues to fly," adding that Tokyo had "officially" made the request from the US military to ground its V-22 Osprey aircraft.

That came after the Pentagon said on Thursday that it was not aware of any official request for the grounding of Ospreys after the fatal crash that took place earlier this week.

Japanese government's call for the suspension of all non-emergency V-22 Osprey flights over its territory came after one crashed into the sea in western Japan on Wednesday.

According to Japan's Coast Guard, one person was found and confirmed dead, while search operations are underway to find the remaining seven aboard. Investigations are also underway to determine the cause of the crash.

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said she had directly asked US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Thursday to stop further flights until the safety of Ospreys is confirmed.

Japan's Self-Defense Force (SDF), which also operates Ospreys, will suspend flights of the aircraft until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, a senior defense ministry official said.

The deployment of the hybrid aircraft in Japan has sparked controversy in the East Asian country, with critics of the US military presence in the southwest islands saying it is prone to accidents.

Osprey is a military aircraft that is mostly used to transport "troops, equipment, and supplies from assault ships and land bases," according to the US Marine Corps.

The hybrid aircraft, which is dual-piloted and takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers and cruise like an airplane during the flight, was nicknamed the "widowmaker" due to its history of fatal crashes.

In the last series of Osprey crashes, in August the aircraft crashed on a remote Australian island during a joint exercise with countries, including the Philippines, killing three of the 23 who were aboard the aircraft.

The last fatal US military aircraft crash in Japan was in 2018, when a mid-air collision during a training exercise killed six people, according to Japan's defense ministry.

More than 50,000 US troops are stationed across Japan, which hosts the biggest overseas concentration of US military forces.

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Israel loosened rules to bomb 'non-military' targets after failure in Gaza war: Report

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 8:06 AM

A new investigation has revealed that the Israeli regime expanded the occupation army's authorization for bombing "non-military targets" in the besieged Gaza Strip after failing to overcome the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

The revelation was made in a joint investigation by Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call, which included interviews with multiple current and former Israeli intelligence officials.

The investigation indicated that lower expectations on limiting civilian targets were combined with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate a wider range of targets, which was termed by one of the sources as a "mass assassination factory."

"The Israeli army's expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets, the loosening of constraints regarding expected civilian casualties, and the use of an artificial intelligence system to generate more potential targets than ever before, appear to have contributed to the destructive nature of the initial stages of Israel's current war on the Gaza Strip," the report said.

The Israeli outlets cited unspecified sources as saying that in at least one case, the occupation military intelligence approved the death of hundreds of Palestinians as part of an attempt to assassinate one Hamas military commander.

When compared with previous assaults on Gaza, the investigation said, there has been a major expansion of "non-military targets," with private residences, infrastructure and high-rise blocks all defined as "power targets."

"The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage," one source told the outlets.

The joint investigation underlined that another reason for the large number of targets and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza was the widespread use of Hasbora, an AI system that can generate targets at a far faster rate than before and had contributed significantly to a very high civilian death toll.

The sources said AI allowed the Israeli military to carry out strikes on residential homes on a massive scale, even merely to target a junior Hamas member.

"Nothing happens by accident," another source told +972 Mag and Local Call. "When a three-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it's because someone in the army decided it wasn't a big deal for her to be killed - that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target."

The investigation also stressed that Israel's failure to prevent the October 7 attacks by Hamas had led to a major over-compensation since then and a willingness to inflict massive collateral damage.

"We are asked to look for high-rise buildings with half a floor that can be attributed to Hamas," one source was quoted by +972 Magazine as saying.

The source said that this place may be a "spokesperson's office, or a point where operatives meet," adding, "I understood that the floor is an excuse that allows the army to cause a lot of destruction in Gaza."

Another source said, "All of this is happening contrary to the protocol used by the IDF in the past," referring to the so-called Israel Defense Forces.

"There is a feeling that senior officials in the army are aware of their failure on October 7, and are busy with the question of how to provide the Israeli public with an image [of victory] that will salvage their reputation," the source added.

According to media reports, over 300 Palestinian families have lost 10 or more family members in Israeli bombings in the past two months  a number that is 15 times higher than the figure from what was previously Israel's deadliest war on Gaza, in 2014.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

More than 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes.



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Islamic Jihad, Hamas say responding to Israeli aggression as truce expires

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 6:56 AM

Several explosions and gunfire have been reported in northern Gaza as Israel said it has resumed its attacks on the besieged strip after a temporary ceasefire expired.

Palestinian media outlets also reported fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance fighters on Friday.

The Gaza-based interior ministry said Israel launched artillery strikes on the northwestern part of the Gaza Strip. A series of airstrikes also hit the besieged strip.

Marwan al-Hams, the director of al-Najar hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza, where many Palestinians fled after being told by Israel to leave the north of the territory, said strikes killed at least nine people in the city, including four children.

Residents said the Israeli military had distributed leaflets over the city of Khan Younis and its surrounding areas in the south, declaring them a war zone and telling residents to move to Rafah.

Heath ministry spokesperson in Gaza Ashraf al-Qudra confirmed that the death toll had risen to 32 Palestinians.

Qudra said the dead included ten people killed in al-Maghazi in central Gaza, nine in Rafah in the South, and five in Gaza City in the north - hours after the truce ended at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) .

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder described the scenes at a hospital in Gaza, saying "this is a war on children".

"Inaction by those with influence is allowing the killing of children," he told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Gaza. "It is reckless to think more attacks on the people of Gaza will lead to anything other than carnage."

Sirens were sounded in several Israeli settlements near Gaza as the Israeli regime claimed it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza. Israeli authorities said they were restarting emergency measures in the area including closing schools.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, the fireball from a large explosion could be seen from across the border in the Israeli city of Sderot, AFP reported. Local authorities said a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip caused damage to property in Kibbutz Mefalsim.

The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement (PIJ), said it attacked Israeli cities and towns on Friday morning in response to "crimes against our people".

The truce, which was extended twice, began on November 24. It had paused brutal Israeli strikes on Gaza that began in early October.

International bodies have called for more time to get medical supplies, food and fuel into Gaza, where an estimated 1.7 million people have been forced from their homes.

The fighting resumed after US top diplomat Antony Blinken visited the region and held talks with Israeli leaders. Other world leaders, and aid groups, had sought an extended pause.

Hamas top official Osama Hamdan said the "responsibility for not extending the ceasefire lies with the Zionist regime and the United States".

He said the Palestinian resistance was seriously looking for a ceasefire and is still pursuing it.

Ezzat al-Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said: "What Israel did not achieve in the 50 days before the ceasefire, it will not achieve with the continuation of its aggression."

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

More than 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes.

The Israeli violence in Gaza has also raised tensions in the West Bank, where nearly 240 Palestinians have been killed by soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.

The truce saw the release of 105 Israeli captives held in Gaza and 240 Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire had allowed some humanitarian aid into Gaza but the aid supplies were far below what is needed, according to aid workers.





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'Fully prepared': Yemen says ready to resume anti-Israeli attacks as truce expires

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 6:35 AM

Yemeni Armed Forces have pledged to resume their operations against targets deep inside the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories, noting that they will stop attacks as soon as the Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip comes to a "complete halt."

Yemen released a statement late on Thursday, hours before a temporary truce between the Hamas resistance movement and the Israeli regime expired on Friday morning.

"In line with the directives of the leader of the Anasrullah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and in response to popular calls by the great Yemeni nation as well as freedom-loving Arabs and Muslims to stand firmly by Palestinians and their proud resistance front, Yemeni forces voice their full preparedness to re-launch their military operations against the Israeli enemy if the latter opts to recommence its aggression against Gaza," reads the statement.

It emphasized that Yemeni troops won't hesitate to expand their attacks against Israeli targets to include the Zionist regime's interests in the occupied territories and at sea.

"Yemeni Armed Forces as declared earlier will continue to prevent Israeli vessels from cruising in the Red Sea waters and will adopt further measures to ensure effective implementation of the step.

"Their military operations will stop as soon as the Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip comes to a complete halt," the statement pointed out.

It further called on Muslim nations and people across the world to support Palestinians in their liberation struggle.

Since Israel started its military attack on Gaza, Yemeni forces have carried out several operations against the occupation regime. These operations include firing ballistic and cruise missiles on occupied territories, and capturing at least three Israeli ships that were sailing in Yemen's waters.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory's Palestinian resistance movements waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Israeli aggression has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

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Hun Manet says he's fine with 'authoritarian' label, cites stability

The eldest son of former Prime Minister Hun Sen marked his first 100 days as Cambodia's new leader.

By RFA Khmer 2023.12.01 -- Just a little more than three months ago, Cambodia's newly sworn-in National Assembly formalized what had been planned for many years.

Lawmakers voted to make 45-year-old Hun Manet the country's new prime minister on Aug. 22. King Norodom Sihamoni swore him in at the Royal Palace shortly afterward.

How much the eldest son of a man who for decades ruled Cambodia - sometimes ruthlessly - would wield power on his own has been much discussed.

On Thursday, Hun Manet marked his first 100 days with a warning message that sounded a lot like his father, Hun Sen, who first became prime minister in 1985.

"I won't let people accuse the new government of being incapable of maintaining peace for the people, especially because that peace was difficult to attain with great devotion by our nation," he said at a groundbreaking ceremony for a dam in Koh Kong province.

It's better for critics to say he's an authoritarian leader than for people to think he's incapable of leading the country, he said.

Such a perception of weakness could plunge Cambodia back into civil war, he said - a reminder of his father's efforts in the 1990s to bring the remaining Khmer Rouge holdouts under government control.

Hun Sen, 71, resigned as prime minister in August but retains influence as president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party. He also recently became president of the Senate.

At a Nov. 23 news conference, government spokesman Pen Bona noted that peace and order have been maintained following the August power transfer.

David Hutt, a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies in Prague and a commentary writer for RFA, said this week that "political instability" doesn't appear to be a factor under Hun Manet.

"He has shown that his administration won't be worse than his father's, which isn't saying much," he said. "His power appears secure and there's no sign of internal displeasure about his succession."

'People are over-indebted'

For years, opposition leaders have criticized the CPP for not addressing government corruption and income inequality.

"The pressing issues are that our people are over-indebted and their properties are subject to being seized as they are unable to generate enough income to repay their debts and interest," said Son Chhay, the deputy president of the opposition Candlelight Party.

"Hundreds of thousands of our migrant workers go to work in neighboring countries without proper documentation," he said. "This is an issue that has caused such difficulties for our citizens. Yet he has failed to do anything about it."

Shortly after taking office, Hun Manet unveiled a 22-page strategy memo outlining the government's plans for increasing employment, reducing poverty and promoting good governance.

The goal is to make Cambodia an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income one by 2050, he said.

In September, he addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York, insisting that July's general election was free and fair and "credible and just," even though the Candlelight Party wasn't allowed to compete.

He also appeared to address U.S. claims and satellite imagery that may show that China is building a military base in the port of Sihanoukville.

In October, he traveled to Beijing to attend China's Belt and Road Initiative conference - his second trip to the Chinese capital in 2023. Earlier this year, he and Hun Sen met with President Xi Jinping during an official visit.

And in November, he presided over the annual Government-Private Sector Forum in Phnom Penh, where he announced initiatives aimed at encouraging more foreign investment in property. He also urged microfinance companies to make it easier for homeowners to refinance delinquent mortgages.

'Backseat driver'

But last week, a man who criticized the ruling CPP on Facebook over its inability to prevent illegal immigration from Vietnam and drug use was sentenced to three years in prison - evidence that the government's longtime practice of going after critics will continue.

"No one should be expecting any political reform or opening up democratically," Hutt said. "What will be interesting to watch is how much of a hostage he will be to the private sector, especially the powerful tycoons."

Pen Bona told reporters that three months "isn't a long period" to judge a new prime minister.

He pointed toward plans to achieve universal healthcare for all Cambodians, to provide free technical training to 1.5 million Cambodians from poor backgrounds and to put in place a national authority for settling civil disputes outside of the backlogged court system.

But exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy wrote in The Diplomat on Wednesday that "it's useless to look for signs of positive change under a 'new regime' when a transfer of power has not in fact taken place."

"There is no evidence that Hun Manet is capable of governing without his father as a backseat driver," he said.

On Facebook, he wrote that Hun Manet's first 100 days shouldn't be marked as a celebration, but rather as a "mourning."

"There are more political prisoners, more threats, and more authoritarian rules," he wrote.

At the Koh Kong groundbreaking, Hun Manet seemed to publicly respond to those comments.

"Whatever such mourning is, you hold it alone," he said. "Millions of our people have just enjoyed celebrating the Water Festival. Are they mourning or celebrating?"

Translated by Sovannarith Keo. 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 December 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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The Azadi Briefing: Many Afghans Forced From Pakistan Are Homeless

By Abubakar Siddique December 01, 2023

The Key Issue

A new survey has found that around 90 percent of the more than 400,000 Afghans who have been forced from neighboring Pakistan in recent months are homeless.

The British charity Islamic Relief, which operates in Afghanistan, said in a report released on November 29 that one-third of the returnees face severe food shortages, while more than 60 percent are sick.

Islamabad has been deporting thousands of Afghans each day since the expiry of its November 1 deadline for some 1.7 million undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants to voluntarily leave the South Asian country.

Islamic Relief's report, based on interviews with 315 returnees, also found that 92 percent lacked access to safe drinking water, while 71 percent had no access to sanitation.

Some 98 percent of returnees were worried about the safety of their family members, while 90 percent were concerned about their children's access to education.

"Many of these people are returning to Afghanistan with nothing, just as a freezing winter approaches," said Manzoor Ahmed, Islamic Relief's acting country director in Afghanistan. "They don't have a place to stay, they don't have food or health care, they are sick and impoverished."

Why It's Important: Afghans are returning to a country grappling with the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

The hundreds of thousands of new returnees are adding to the more than 29 million Afghans -- out of a total population of around 40 million -- who need humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

The cash-strapped Taliban government, which remains unrecognized and sanctioned by the international community, appears unable to absorb the returning refugees or address the humanitarian needs of Afghans.

Aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have called for more international funding to address the needs of the returnees, who lack shelter, warm clothes, and food.

"They are forced to return to Afghanistan at the worst possible time," said Hsiao-Wei Lee, the country director for the World Food Program, on November 26. "We need to help them not only get through this winter but also help them rebuild their lives here."

What's Next: Many of the new Afghan returnees face a grim future.

The Taliban has established temporary camps for the returnees near the border with Pakistan, and promised to assist them. But many returnees complain of a lack of tents, food, water, and sanitation.

"Everyone I know doesn't have housing and is facing many other problems," Abdullah, who recently returned to the southern Afghan province of Zabul from Pakistan, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "It is impossible to live in tents because of the winter."

What To Keep An Eye On

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai is under fire for suggesting that the international community should not seek to forcibly remove the Taliban from power.

"We don't want a collapse of the regime or split of the regime. We have had enough of that in Afghanistan," the 65-year-old told Kyodo News, a Japanese news agency, in an interview published on November 28.

Karzai, who lives in Kabul, suggested that dialogue with the extremist group could bring about changes to its controversial policies, including its severe restrictions on women's rights.

But some rights activists criticized Karzai's call for engagement with a group that has shown few signs of reversing its draconian policies.

"Since the Taliban returned to power, being a woman has become a crime," Azita Nazimi, a women's rights activist, told Radio Azadi. "All of what we have is the result of Karzai's past support for the Taliban."

When in power from 2001 to 2014, Karzai called for a negotiated end to the war between the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban.

Why It's Important: Reconciliation among Afghans has long been touted as the best solution to end the more than four decades of war in Afghanistan.

But the Taliban has refused to share power with other Afghans and used force to impose its fundamentalist version of Islam on the population.

During intra-Afghan negotiations prior to the Taliban's forcible takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the extremist group rejected a power-sharing agreement with rival Afghans.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/azadi-briefing-afghan-refugees- palistan-homeless-siddique/32710003.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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More Than 400 People Punished Under Shari'a Law In Afghanistan, Rights Group Says

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

Afghanistan's Taliban-led government announced punishments handed out to 417 people under Shari'a law during a recent 12-month period, according to a report issued this week by Afghan Witness, an organization that monitors human rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Afghan Witness collected the data by reviewing the announcements of Shari'a punishments posted on the website of the Taliban-led Supreme Court. The announcements, which were also were published on X, formerly Twitter, have been made public since the Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada announced the return of Shari'a punishments in mid-November 2022.

Akhundzada had previously ordered a return to Islamic retribution and corporal punishments shortly after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

Afghan Witness said in a statement on November 29 that it looked at punishments meted out between October 26, 2022 and October 26, 2023, and found 71 announcements handed down to 417 individuals.

It said this included nine "Qisas punishments" during the period, including two that resulted in the execution of alleged murderers, while the remaining seven were pardoned.

Qisas punishments are for offenses seen as violations of the boundaries set by God such as murder, theft, and adultery. Convicts can be executed, flogged, stoned to death, or have limbs amputated.

Afghan Witness said it has yet to record any stonings or amputations, but it said its sources in Afghanistan say there are stoning punishments awaiting approval by Akhundzada.

The most common punishment was flogging under a category of Shari'a law that includes discretionary punishments not specified in religious texts.

The report said the punishments occurred in 22 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces from October 2022 through September 2023. A gender breakdown of the punished indicates that 220 men were punished compared with 57 women.

The organization also noted that while the sentences are often referred to as "public punishments," their public nature is often limited.

"Although these punishments are carried out with an audience, including Taliban officials and citizens, they are often fulfilled behind closed doors, or under significant publication restrictions," Afghan Witness said, adding that this leaves little visual evidence of the punishments being carried out.

The Taliban has framed its implementation of Shari'a punishments as "fair, righteous and desired by Afghanistan's citizens" and claimed that the punishments act as a deterrent, Afghan Witness said.

After seizing power in August 2021 as U.S-led international forces withdrew from the country, the Taliban dismantled Afghanistan's judicial system, suspended or scrapped all laws, and replaced judges, prosecutors, and lawyers.

Afghan Witness is a project to independently collect, preserve, and verify information on the human rights, security, and political situation in Afghanistan, according to its website.

The organization aims to provide a reliable source of information for international organizations, policymakers, and the media, and to "raise awareness of the reality of everyday life for Afghans living in the country."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-sharia-punishements- 400-taliban-afghan-witness/32710300.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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Report: Israel Obtained Hamas' Battle Plan Over a Year Before October Attack

Sputnik News

20231201

Ian DeMartino

The failure by the Israeli government to stop the October 7 attack by Hamas has shaken the populace's faith in the Netanyahu government. A poll taken at the end of October showed that only 20% of Israelis expressed faith in the government, the lowest level in at least two decades.

Israeli military and intelligence officials had access to Hamas' battle plan for the October 7 attack, or something very close to it, more than a year before the attack, an investigation by US media has revealed.

According to the report, Israeli officials were in possession of a 40-page attack plan code-named "Jericho Wall" which detailed a hypothetical Hamas attack along Gaza's southern border with Israel.

It has not been detailed how Israel obtained the document, but the report indicates Israel obtained it sometime last year.

While it did not set a date for the attack, it described in detail the tactics Hamas would employ, including the use of rockets to distract Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and send them into bunkers. It described following that stage with drone attacks to take out security cameras and remotely-controlled machine guns along the border. The next step included gunmen flooding over the border on foot, using motorcycles and flying over with paragliders.

All of those tactics were seen being used by Hamas and other groups who participated in the October 7 attack.

It also described breaking through the Israeli border at 60 different points and listed the Re'im military base as a critical target. During the attack, Hamas rampaged through the base, which is home to the Gaza division of the IDF, overrunning it for a time.

While the document was widely circulated among military officials and the intelligence communities, it is unknown if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other high-ranking political figures saw the document.

It was more than six hours after the attack began that the IDF announced it was sending troops to southern Israel to retake towns occupied by Hamas. An eyewitness account by an Israeli who escaped Hamas during the attack said that even the militant group was surprised by the military's slow response.

Among the military, the attack plan was dismissed as aspirational, described as a "compass" of where Hamas wanted to go but not where it currently was.

At least one Israeli intelligence analyst warned that she believed the attack plan was more than hypothetical in the mind of Hamas leadership. According to US media, she informed superiors through encrypted email that Hamas was conducting a training exercise that mimicked the attack described in the document.

The analyst's superior, a colonel in the Gaza division, ultimately brushed off the concerns and called the attack plan "totally imaginative" and not indicative of Hamas' actual capabilities. While he praised the analysis, he told her: "in short, let's wait patiently."

During the email exchange, she reportedly stressed her disagreement with the colonel's assessment. "I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary," she wrote. "It is a plan designed to start a war. It's not just a raid on a village."

Over the past year and a half, Hamas has been posting videos of it and other groups in Gaza training for an attack on Israel, including with mock buildings, attacking mock Israeli tanks and taking hostages. Some of the training exercises took place within a mile of the Israeli border, adding more questions on how Israel was caught so off-guard.

The intelligence analyst did not say an attack was imminent. However, according to the report, Israeli officials have said privately that the Hamas attack could have been thwarted if it took warnings seriously and redeployed forces to counter the coming attack.

The "Jericho Wall" document was not the first battle plan obtained by Israel. Several documents have been obtained over the years, including one in 2016 that said Hamas planned to move the conflict into Israeli territory, take hostages and occupy land outside of Gaza.

Howver, the "Jericho Wall" document also contained sensitive information about the IDF, including troop locations and numbers which has since opened the possibility that there could be a leak within the IDF.

The battle plan, along with other documents obtained by the IDF, began with a quote from the Quran: "Surprise them through the gate. If you do, you will certainly prevail."

In response to the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign and land invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15,000 Palestinians. According to the UN, more than two-thirds of those killed are women and children.

A weeklong ceasefire was reached following a hostage exchange, but Israel resumed its bombing campaign early Friday following its expiration. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says dozens were killed in the initial strikes.

The official Israeli death toll of the October 7 attack sits at 1,200.

 Sputnik

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Poland's Killer 'Orka' Subs: What Will Their Capabilities and Targets Be?

Sputnik News

20231201

Ilya Tsukanov

A major shipbuilding and naval power in the second half of the 20th century with over a dozen submarines in its arsenal, Poland's capabilities have since shrunk down considerably to just one operational sub, with Warsaw looking for help from abroad to build up its fleet after gutting its major shipyards. Here's what we know about Poland's plans.

South Korean defense giant Hanwha Ocean is lobbying hard to sell its Dosan Ahn Chang-ho-class KSS-III diesel-electric attack submarines to Warsaw.

"We are ready to offer the KSS-III submarine, one of the world's best submarines, for Poland's Orka Project. We also want to share our long-term vision for the partnership with Poland on this occasion," Hanwha Ocean VP Sung Kyun Jeong said in a press conference in Warsaw this week.

What is Project Orka?

The Polish Navy currently has just one submarine, the Soviet-built Orzel ("Eagle") 3,180-ton Kilo-class diesel-electric attack sub, in its arsenal. Four antique 485-ton Kobben-class subs, built in the 1960s for the Norwegian Navy, were retired by the Polish Navy in 2017, 2018, and 2021, respectively, less than two decades after entering into service.

The Polish Navy's submarine capabilities, which reached their zenith in the 1970s, when the country operated over a dozen diesel-electric subs, shrunk substantially after the end of the Cold War. At the same time, Poland, which once enjoyed the status of one of Europe's largest shipbuilders, gutted much of these capabilities in the 1990s and 2000s during economic reforms and restructuring aimed at preparing the country to join the European Union.

With its existing submarine capabilities at risk of becoming hopelessly obsolete, and the Polish government unveiling a geopolitical appetite to turn Poland into a major NATO outpost against Russia, Warsaw has announced the Orka (lit. "Orca") program, aimed at dramatically upgrading the country's submarine power.

"We are starting the implementation of the Orka program. This year, we plan to launch a procedure aimed at purchasing submarines along with the transfer of the necessary technologies," Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced in May.

South Korean defense companies, which have already successfully sold an array of weaponry to Poland in recent years, including K2 Black Panther series tanks, K7 Thunder self-propelled howitzers (customized into AHS Krabs by the Poles), and K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery systems, are now looking to cash in on Warsaw's hunger for submarines as well.

The Orka program isn't new, with its first iteration launched in 2014, with the Navy planning to purchase three subs. Talks were held with foreign defense companies including France's Naval Group, Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Sweden's Saab, Spain's Navantia, plus Nauta, a Polish ship repair company. Talks apparently fell through, with the Navy shifting focus to the acquisition of frigates.

With Poland announcing a multi-billion-dollar rearmament program in 2022 following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, talks on upgrading the nation's sub fleet resumed, with Warsaw now interested in procuring a new class of subs with cruise and ballistic missile launch capabilities, to assist in the Western alliance's aspirations to turn the Baltic Sea into a "NATO Lake."

What are the KSS-III's Capabilities?

Built by Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries, the KSS-III is a class of 3,600-3,750-ton attack subs armed with 533 mm torpedoes, six vertical launch cells enabling the firing of six or ten Hyunmoo 4-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (range of over 1,000 km), as well as South Korea's indigenous Chonryong series land-attack cruise missiles (range of 500 km).

The subs are operated by a crew of 50, and feature a lithium-ion battery-based air-independent propulsion system designed to allow them to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen, making them just as stealthy as or even more stealthy than nuclear-powered subs. The sub series also includes a Hanwha-developed combat management suite, modern sonar and electronic warfare systems, and an optronic search and attack mast.

The subs can stay submerged for up to 20 days at a time, and travel up to 20 knots submerged (or 12 knots surfaced), with total range exceeding 19,000 km.

The KSS-III is virtually a brand new sub series, with South Korea's Navy currently their only operator. With a unit price of $900 million apiece, Seoul plans to build nine KSS-IIIs total, with two already in active service at the time of writing. Hanwha Ocean unveiled a scaled down, 2,000-ton, 40-man-crew variant of the KSS-III at a defense expo in 2019 known as the DSME-2000, and offered a 3,300-ton export variant known as the DSME-3000 to India in 2021.

Hanwha Ocean has worked proactively to lobby Warsaw into buying its subs, with senior company executives wooing President Andrzej Duda at an expo back in September in a bid to cash in on Warsaw's budget of up to $2.3 billion for the Orka program.

Along with the subs themselves, Hanwha Ocean has expressed willingness to assist Warsaw with crew training, and to build a separate maintenance, repair, and overhaul center in the Eastern European country.

Not the Only Game in Town

While the KSS-III's ballistic and land attack cruise missile launch capabilities make it an attractive proposition for Warsaw, South Korea's sub builders aren't the only option for the Orka program.

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, for instance, is reportedly pitching its brand new 2,500-ton Type 212 Common Design (CD) diesel-electric sub equipped with air-defense and cruise missile launch capability and stealth characteristics, and a diesel/air-independent propulsion system. The German boats include a modern optical sensor and sonar package, have a top speed of over 20 knots, and have already been ordered by the German and Norwegian navies, with the first expected to arrive by the end of the current decade, with a per unit price of between $1 billion and $1.6 billion.

According to Polish media, France's Naval Group and Sweden's Saab Kockums are also interested, with France likely to throw its hat into the competition with its Scorpene-class diesel-electric attack subs, a joint Naval Group-Navantia design, and the Swedes with their Blekinge-class subs.

The former, already operated by the Chilean, Malaysian, Indian, and Brazilian navies, feature a 1,565-1,900-ton displacement, air-independent propulsion, a top speed of up to 20 knots submerged, a 12,000 km range, a 40-50 day endurance time, a 31-man crew, and for weaponry torpedoes, anti-ship missile, anti-air missile and mining capabilities. They have a reported price tag of as little as $450 million apiece.

The Swedish offering, also known as the A26 type, are expected to begin entering into service with the Swedish Navy in the second half of the current decade, and have a 1,950-ton displacement, diesel-electric/Stirling air-independent propulsion system, a 45-day endurance time, a complement of between 17 and 26, torpedo and minelaying capability, and, in some proposed variants, up to 18 vertical launch cells that fire Tomahawk cruise missiles.

How Can Russia Respond?

Modern anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities are possessed by most major military powers, Russia included. Russia's response to the capabilities afforded to Poland with its Orka program would undoubtedly include the use of ship and sub-based sonar systems, sonobuoys, hydrophones, and electronic countermeasures to listen out for hostile subs, particularly in those operating close to the Russian exclusive economic zone or territorial waters.

High frequency radio detection systems can be used to figure out foreign subs' bearings, while satellites, laser detection and ranging tools, and radar equipment can locate surfaced boats. Detected subs can be targeted by a variety of countermeasures, from naval mines and submarine and surface ship-launched torpedoes to depth charges, rockets, mortars and, if the security crisis is serious enough, nuclear depth bombs.

 Sputnik

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Talks on Exchange of Hostages in Gaza Continue Despite Resumption of Hostilities - Reports

Sputnik News

20231201

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Negotiations on the exchange of hostages in the Gaza Strip continue despite the resumption of hostilities, media reported on Friday, citing a source familiar with the talks.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces said that Hamas broke the humanitarian pause, prompting Israel to resume combat.

The Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday, that the two sides had agreed to extend a temporary humanitarian pause for an eighth day. However, no official confirmation has been made yet. The latest truce expired at 07:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday.

Six people were killed and dozens were injured as a result of strikes by Israel on the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, media reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Gaza Strip authorities held the international community responsible for the continuation of Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave, the broadcaster said.

Negotiations between Israel and Palestinian movement Hamas on the truce in the Gaza Strip continue through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt, AFP reported on Friday, citing a source.

Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a four-day truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Qatar announced that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas on a two-day extension of the truce on the same terms as the previous one. Earlier on Thursday, the ceasefire was extended for a seventh day.

 Sputnik

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Hamas Fails to Fulfill Commitments, Israel Plans to Reach War Goals - Netanyahu's Office

Sputnik News

20231201

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Hamas has not fulfilled its commitment to release more women from captivity, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, adding that Israel intends to achieve war goals in the Gaza Strip.

"[Hamas] violated the framework, did not meet its obligation to release all hostage women, and fired rockets at Israel," the office said, as quoted by The Times of Israel, adding that "the government of Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war  releasing our hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza can never again threaten the people of Israel."

"IDF fighter jets are currently striking Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Details to follow," the IDF wrote on Telegram.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said that Hamas broke the humanitarian pause, prompting Israel to resume combat.

The Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday, that the two sides had agreed to extend a temporary humanitarian pause for an eighth day. However, no official confirmation has been made yet. The latest truce expired at 07:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday.

 Sputnik

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IDF Says Resumed Combat Against Hamas in Gaza Strip as Movement Violated Truce

Sputnik News

20231201

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it had resumed fighting against Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as the latter violated the humanitarian pause by opening fire on Israeli territory.

"Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," the IDF wrote on Telegram.

Israeli fighter jets are currently hitting Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said.

"The Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday, that the two sides had agreed to extend a temporary humanitarian pause for an eighth day.

Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a four-day truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Qatar announced that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas on a two-day extension of the truce on the same terms as the previous one. Earlier on Thursday, the ceasefire was extended for a seventh day.

 Sputnik

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Yesterday, I posted a report from the Florida Center for Government Accountability titled "Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler, husband of Moms For Liberty cofounder, accused of sexual battery by alleged menage a trois lover."

According to the Florida Center for Government Accountability, "Sources close to the investigation say Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board Member Bridget Ziegler, who is also an appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis and cofounder of the right-wing group Moms For Liberty, had a longstanding three-way sexual relationship with the woman prior to the alleged October 2 sexual assault."

According to a news article in The Orlando Sentinel, the Sarasota Police obtained a search warrant for Christian Ziegler's phone, email, and Google Drive. The police affidavit alleges that Ziegler and a woman, who he has known for two decades, initially planned a sexual encounter involving his wife, Bridget, on October 2. However, the woman cancelled the plan upon learning Bridget could not attend. According to the police affidavit, the woman alleges that Ziegler later entered her apartment uninvited and sexually assaulted her. Surveillance footage confirms Ziegler's presence at the apartment. During an interview with detectives and his attorney, Ziegler claimed the sex was consensual and admitted to recording it, stating he initially deleted the video but later uploaded it to his Google Drive. The police have not found the footage. Bridget Ziegler acknowledged a previous sexual encounter with her husband and the woman over a year ago.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called for Ziegler to resign.

Today, the Florida Center for Government Accountability posted a 911 call from the alleged rape victim's friend, who was concerned about her well-being.

From the report:

The 911 call, made on October 4 at 2:46 p.m., reveals the caller was concerned about the mental health of the woman, who isn't being identified due to the nature of the investigation. "I was hoping to do a wellness on a friend of mine," the caller began. "She hasn't shown up for work the past two days and I just got off the phone with her and she sounds drunk and I know she has pain medication on her and she told me that she doesn't think she can do it anymore." The dispatcher then asked questions about the victim's address, which is redacted by law, before the caller shared that the alleged victim had been struggling with addiction that had "gotten worse and worse the last couple of months," and she was slurring her words. Then she relayed the information that kicked off a criminal investigation that is ongoing. "She won't answer anyone else at work except for me but she told me she was raped yesterday and that she's scared to leave her house," said the caller. " She's saying she's scared that, the person that raped her came to her house, that she's scared to leave." The caller then told the dispatcher, "I'm worried about her right now." "I have units en route," said the dispatcher.

Ziegler's attorney, Derek Byrd, told The New York Times, "We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded, that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated."

The 911 caller regarding the alleged victim in the Christian Ziegler rape case said the victim was a small blond woman with children who was addicted to painkillers and terrified. https://t.co/2mpCKZoSv7  Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 1, 2023
Israel Releases Seventh Group of 30 Palestinian Prisoners - Reports

Sputnik News

20231201

TUNIS (Sputnik) - Israel has released the seventh group of 30 Palestinian prisoners as a part of the humanitarian pause agreement with Palestinian movement Hamas, the Al Jazeera broadcaster reported Friday.

A bus carrying the released Palestinians has left Israel's Ofer Prison and was en route to the Palestinian city of Beitunia accompanied by a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the broadcaster reported.

Relatives and friends were gathering in Ramallah to welcome them home, the report said.

A list of those to be released, posted on Telegram by Hamas on Thursday, included eight women and 22 teenagers.

The ICRC said late on Thursday that it had transferred eight hostages released by Hamas to Israeli authorities. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier confirmed the return of six more hostages, bringing the total number of hostages released by Hamas during the seven-day humanitarian pause to 110 people.

 Sputnik

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Presidential Elections in Madagascar

US Department of State

Press Statement

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

December 1, 2023

The United States commends the Malagasy people for exercising their civil and political rights in Madagascar's November 16 presidential elections. The United States reaffirms its commitment to work cooperatively with President-elect Rajoelina, the government, and the people of Madagascar for the development of the country and in support of respect for human rights for every individual.

We further commend the government and the people of Madagascar for ensuring that election day was calm and peaceful in most locations. However, the electoral process raised some serious concerns that must be addressed for the peace and future well-being of the nation. Many stakeholders, including Malagasy citizens and both domestic and international election observers, noted irregularities in the electoral process. Further, most recommendations made following the 2018 and 2019 elections remain outstanding.

We strongly urge the National Independent Elections Commission to take action to address these deficiencies and call on Malagasy authorities to thoroughly investigate all irregularities and allegations of fraud, implement needed reforms highlighted by international and domestic observers, and address the needs and wishes of the citizens of Madagascar.

The United States calls upon Madagascar to show commitment to the democratic process, its constitution, and the rule of law. The Malagasy people deserve and expect free and fair elections, held peacefully, as well as good governance. We urge the government to increase confidence in its institutions and ensure the integrity of future elections.

The United States condemns all violence and urges the Malagasy people to address any election-related grievances through Madagascar's established legal processes.

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Sanctioning Former Guatemalan Official for Public Corruption in Defense of the Democratic Transition

US Department of State

Press Statement

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

December 1, 2023

The United States continues to take action to counter public corruption and ongoing efforts to undermine the democratic transfer of power in Guatemala. The United States is designating Luis Miguel Martinez Morales, the former head of the now-defunct Centro de Gobierno, for engaging in corruption in Guatemala. Martinez engaged in bribery and corruption related to government contracts to benefit himself and close associates.

We are taking this action in response to endemic corruption, which malign actors in Guatemala are exploiting to undermine the democratic transition to President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and Vice President-elect Karin Herrera. Corrupt actors such as Martinez aim to subvert the will of the Guatemalan people by interfering with the country's democratic transfer of power.

Through the Global Magnitsky sanctions program, the United States imposes tangible and significant consequences to discourage corrupt actors. Today's action reinforces previous actions taken by the U.S. Government through a variety of tools to promote accountability for corrupt and undemocratic actors in Guatemala and to support the will of the Guatemalan people.

We stand in solidarity with the Guatemalan people and their fight to hold public officials accountable for corrupt actions that undermine democracy and strangle Guatemala's prosperity.

The Department of the Treasury action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds on and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. For additional information on today's actions, please see the Department of the Treasury's press release [https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1941].

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2nd U.S.-EU Security and Defense Dialogue

US Department of State

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

December 1, 2023

The United States and the European Union (EU) held the second U.S.-EU Security and Defense Dialogue December 1 in Washington, D.C. The Dialogue reaffirmed our enduring partnership and shared commitments to Transatlantic security and confronting common security challenges in line with the depth of our bond, common values, and shared interests.

Officials from the United States and the EU exchanged updates on our respective security and defense policy frameworks and welcomed the signing of the Administrative Arrangement between the European Defence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense earlier this year. The United States and EU also discussed shared commitments on a range of topics, including cooperation in supporting Ukraine, increasing defense investment and defense industry cooperation, security in the Western Balkans and Africa, and further strengthening our strategic partnership and the transatlantic bond.

The U.S.-EU Security and Defense Dialogue was co-chaired by Jacqueline Ramos, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs; Liam Wasley, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs; Spencer Boyer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO; and Joanneke Balfoort, Director for Security and Defense, European External Action Service.

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press

US Department of State

Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Al-Maktoum Airport Dubai, UAE

December 1, 2023

SECRETARY BLINKEN: This is my third visit to the region since Hamas slaughtered men, women, and children on October 7th. During the first visit that I made, I came to show strong solidarity with Israel defending itself, trying to make sure that October 7th never happens again; and also, to stress the importance of humanitarian assistance getting to people in need in Gaza. After that visit, the humanitarian assistance began to flow.

During my second visit, I focused on how pauses - humanitarian pauses - could facilitate the release of hostages, enable more assistance to get into Gaza, and also help get innocent civilians out of harm's way. After that visit, we saw Israel institute pauses that got - enabled people to get out of harm's way. We were able to broker a deal with Qatar, with Egypt playing critical roles for a seven-day pause. And as a result, some 100 hostages were able to get out and be reunited with their families. And in addition - as I said, we've seen the humanitarian assistance during that period more than double getting to people who need it so desperately in Gaza.

During this visit, I was focused on a few things, trying to see what we can do to keep getting hostages out of Gaza and out of the hands of Hamas, looking at how we can both sustain and increase the humanitarian assistance that's getting to the people in Gaza, and also talking about the way forward and Israel's efforts to make sure that Hamas never again has the ability to do what it did on October 7th.

I made clear that after the pause it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward. And as we've seen just today, Israel has already moved out on parts of that, including sending out information, making it clear where people can be in safe areas in Gaza. And we'll be looking at that going forward. It's very, very important.

It's also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans. It began firing rockets before the pause had ended. And as I said, it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages.

We remain intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back. It's something that I also worked on today. So, we're still at this. We're also very much focused, as we've been all along, on trying to make sure that this conflict doesn't spread, that it doesn't escalate in other places. But we're also using our diplomacy to look at not only what's happening today and how we're handling that, but also what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting, and secure peace for Israelis, for Palestinians - in fact, for everyone in the region. And that's also a big focus of our diplomacy.

Here today, I had an opportunity to meet with a number of colleagues from across the region. And we focused our conversation on all three aspects of what we're doing today, the day after in Gaza, as well as the path to a durable, lasting, secure peace for everyone concerned. We have to be doing all of that, and we have to be doing all of that at the same time.

A lot of it requires hard work, tough decisions, commitments that various countries will have to make. We know from many years of experience none of it will be easy, but I think it's more imperative than ever. So that's the work of our diplomacy day-in, day-out. That's why the United States is here. That's why we're engaged. That's why we'll remain engaged.

Happy to take some questions.

MR MILLER: Courtney.

QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. Secretary. What are the prospects for renewed pauses, and for continued release of the hostages after what we saw today? And also, what does the resumption of hostilities mean for this pursuit of a post-Hamas structure in Gaza? On past visits, your interlocutors in the region were not particularly ready to talk about that post-war structure. Where do things stand now?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So, Courtney, on hostages, as I said, we remain intensely focused on that. We're determined to do everything we can to get everyone home, get them reunited with their families, including pursuing the process that worked for seven days. We had seven days of a pause; seven days of people coming home and being reunited with their families. So, we're on that almost hour by hour. But meanwhile, we've also been very clear that we support Israel and its efforts to make sure that October 7th never happens again. We've also been very clear about the imperative of doing that in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians and making sure that humanitarian assistance gets to those who need it. So that's what we're focused on, and we're doing both at the same time.

At the same time, and in the conversations that we had today, it's - it is important for us to be talking about and thinking about every aspect of this challenge - not only today but also what happens the day after the conflict in Gaza is over. How are we thinking about what happens in Gaza itself? How is it governed? Where is - where does the security come from? How do we begin to rebuild? And critically, how we get on a path to invest in lasting peace. And for us, of course, that has to result in a state for the Palestinians.

So, all of that's on the agenda in our conversations.

MR MILLER: Michael.

QUESTION: The Gaza Health Ministry today is talking about more than a hundred Gazans who have been killed. And there seems to be some confusion - you mentioned the Israeli effort to articulate safe areas. There seems to be some confusion in Gaza about where exactly those are. How would you assess the Israeli - holding to the commitments they made to you yesterday to do a better job protecting civilians?

And a second question. There was a New York Times report yesterday about an Israeli intelligence assessment that was floating around that appeared to, more or less, have the entire Hamas attack plan. Are you aware of that? Is the U.S. Government aware of that report? And how has that affected the way you're using Israeli intelligence and assessments in your analysis?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So first, on the civilian protection and humanitarian assistance piece of this, as I said, that is absolutely imperative. And we saw Israel take steps immediately today to start to get information to people about where safe areas are, how they can get out of harm's way. And we're just talking about right now today - and I haven't had a chance to see exactly what happened today; I have seen that information start to get out. I saw the plans that Israel has in a multiplicity of ways to do everything possible to protect civilians, including making sure that they have the information they need and there are ways to accommodate them. And this is going to be very important going forward. It's something we're going to be looking at very closely.

In terms of the report in the Times on the conflict, there is going to be plenty of opportunity for a full accounting of what happened on October 7th, including looking back to see what happened, who knew what when, and Israel's been very clear about that. Right now, the focus is on making sure that they can do everything possible to ensure that it doesn't happen again, to make sure that civilians are protected, to make sure that humanitarian assistance gets in - and as I said, to also look at what happens once this conflict is over, what happens to Gaza, what happens more broadly to getting us on a path to lasting peace and security.

So, we're focused on all of that. I think there will be time - and I know this will happen, there'll be accountability of looking at what led up to October 7th.

Thanks.

MR MILLER: Thank you, all.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, everyone.

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken At the UN Climate Conference, COP 28, Leaders Event: Transforming Food Systems in the Face of Climate Change

US Department of State

Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

COP 28

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

December 1, 2023

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, David. Thank you very, very much, Madam Minister. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for hosting us here today.

The Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action represents a landmark commitment by now over 130 countries to better align efforts on agriculture and food systems with climate action. And today I am very pleased to announce that the United States is joining the Declaration and will serve as a founding member of the Technical Cooperation Collaborative to help implement its vision.

Around the world, 700 million people are chronically undernourished. About half of these people face acute food insecurity: meaning quite simply they don't know where their next meal is coming from - or whether it will come at all.

This crisis is made worse by our warming climate and by extreme weather events. Just in this past year, we've experienced staggering heat waves in North America, in Europe, in Asia; raging wildfires across Southern Europe and North Africa; catastrophic floods in South Asia.

Behind the statistics on food insecurity, real people. The toddler whose physical and mental development is stunted by chronic malnutrition, denied her right to learn and grow. The mother unable to provide her baby essential nutrients. The parents unable to put food on the table. As President Biden has said, if parents can't feed their children, nothing else matters.

And here is the problem: This challenge is only going to get worse. A growing population means the global demand for food is likely to increase by an estimated 50 percent by the year 2050. An escalating climate crisis means that crop yields could drop by as much as 30 percent over that same period. So do the math: We'll be feeding more and more people on a planet where growing food will become harder and harder.

Since January 2021, the United States has provided $17.5 billion to tackle global hunger. We provide more than 50 percent of the World Food Program's budget. We're devoting a billion dollars annually through Feed the Future, our government's global food security initiative, to strengthen food systems, social safety nets, nutrition in more than 40 countries.

We're also working with partners to rethink what, where, and how we produce food, in the context of a changing planet. Our goal is for farmers, for ranchers, to be able to sustainably achieve bigger yields of more nutritious crops, at lower costs, using less land, producing lower emissions. That's the vision.

And it's also the mission of the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils - or "VACS" - which we launched with the African Union and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization just a few months ago in February.

VACS is focused on the two fundamental elements of food production, and it really does come down to this: soil and seeds. Like Bill Gates, in this job I've had to learn more about food than I ever thought I would, and I've been gratified to work with some of the leading experts in the world, including Dr. Cary Fowler, who's taught me a lot about it. And the basics are really what counts: soil and seeds.

The program, which is part of the broader Feed the Future initiative, works in two primary ways. First, investing below ground - mapping, conserving, building healthy soils that produce healthy food. And second, by investing above ground. VACS helps identify under-invested but nutrient-rich and climate-resilient crops, breeding better varieties of them, and then harvesting them and delivering them to the world. To pick up on what Prime Minister Meloni said, this is food not just to survive but to thrive, and it will give countries sustainable productive capacity.

Already, we've built a coalition and started a movement. The Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, Norway, and others, leading corporations like Cargill and ADM have all signed up - and we encourage everyone here to join us. We're also celebrating our inaugural VACS Champions: Bayer, Catholic Relief Services, ADM, Concern Worldwide, and the One Acre Fund. And today, the United States is pledging an additional $50 million, on top of the $100 million that we announced in July. (Applause.) Thank you.

At the same time, we're scaling climate-smart agriculture through the President's Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. We're also advancing food systems innovation through the expansion of initiatives like the Agriculture Innovation Missions for Climate with the UAE, which is marshalling billions in private and public investments.

Even as the global community confronts other challenges demanding our attention, we have to maintain our focus on ending climate-driven hunger. This meeting - this meeting will raise our ambitions to do exactly that. We look forward to working with each and every one of you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

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Treasury Sanctions Former Guatemalan Government Official for Engaging in Public Corruption

U.S. Department of the Treasury

December 1, 2023

WASHINGTON -- Today, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Luis Miguel Martinez Morales (Martinez) for his role in corruption in Guatemala wherein he engaged in widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts. Martinez is being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.

"Today's action underscores the corrosive impact of corruption on the public's trust in government institutions. Martinez sought to leverage his privileged position for personal benefit at the expense of the Guatemalan people," said Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "The U.S. government will continue to hold accountable individuals whose corrupt schemes undermine democracy and do harm to populations around the world."

Today's action builds on the Administration's efforts to address corruption as a root cause of irregular migration through the northern Central America region. Corrupt and anti-democratic acts, including those that threaten the integrity of an orderly transition of power in Guatemala, undermine Guatemala's democratic institutions and threaten the stability of Guatemala and the region as a whole. The Guatemalan people have spoken and their voices must be respected.

Since 2021, the U.S. government has sanctioned 11 individuals and entities in Guatemala for their roles in corruption. The Department of State also has used a range of visa restriction tools, to promote accountability for corrupt and undemocratic actors in Guatemala. These actions demonstrate the U.S. government's continued commitment to stand by the Guatemalan people.

LUIS MIGUEL MARTINEZ MORALES

Martinez is the former head of the now-defunct Centro de Gobierno, a powerful quasi-cabinet level agency created by Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei (Giammattei) at the start of his administration. President Giammattei was forced to shut down the Centro de Gobierno in December 2020 following backlash to Martinez' rising power in the government. During his time as the head of Centro de Gobierno, Martinez was considered one of the most powerful unelected officials in the government. While he does not currently hold a government position, Martinez remains one of the most influential individuals in the Giammattei administration.

Martinez has influenced the government contracts process to benefit himself and close associates. Martinez colluded with other Guatemalan government officials to illegally award contracts to favored bidders outside of Guatecompras, the Guatemalan government's formal procurement system. Martinez and his conspirators used antiquated procurement law to forego the bidding process and secure government contracts for companies in which he has a financial interest.

In 2021, Martinez solicited large kickbacks to facilitate the purchase of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines by the Government of Guatemala. Guatemala's special anti-corruption agency investigated Martinez for his role in a controversial payment tied to the purchase of 16 million doses of Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines by the Guatemalan government.

Martinez is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of the person described 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, individually or in the aggregate, 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 designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC's ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (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 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.

GLOBAL MAGNITSKY

Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.

Click here for more information on the individuals designated today.

###

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The UN and international community's support for Sudan remains crucial: UK statement at the UN Security Council

Explanation of vote by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Sudan.

1 December 2023

Thank you President, the United Kingdom welcomes adoption of the resolution and thanks Council members for their engagement.

Let me be clear, the United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment. We commend the work done by the mission both before and since the outbreak of conflict. But given the unequivocal demand of the Sudanese authorities for the immediate termination of UNITAMS we have worked tirelessly as penholder to agree a compromise of an orderly transition and liquidation.

We reiterate that the Sudanese authorities remain responsible for the safety and security of UNITAMS staff and assets during this transition and call for their full cooperation in allowing an orderly withdrawal and the transfer of relevant tasks, including by granting necessary visas in a timely manner.

President, conflict in Sudan has derailed the political transition UNITAMS was created to support. It has caused immense human suffering, atrocities against civilians and reports of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. There can be no military solution to this conflict and that the two warring parties should engage in meaningful talks towards a permanent ceasefire and transfer of power to a civilian administration.

And though the UN mission to assist the democratic transition in Sudan will close, the need for the UN and international community to support the Sudanese people has not reduced. We welcome the appointment of Ramtane Lamamra as the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy on Sudan and we encourage all parties to engage with him constructively.

The United Kingdom looks forward to continuing its close cooperation with Council members, UN, the Sudanese authorities, and other stakeholders to support the Sudanese people in realising their aspirations for a peaceful, stable, democratic, and prosperous future.

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The UK has demonstrated its commitment to supporting Somalia in building a freer and more secure country: UK statement at the UN Security Council

Explanation of vote by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Somalia.

1 December 2023

Thank you, President, let me begin by congratulating China on their Presidency on the month of November, and in particular, welcoming you President to the Council. Wishing you all the best for your Presidency for the month of December, you have our full support.

President, the United Kingdom is pleased to table today two resolutions which together impose strong sanctions, including an arms embargo, on Al-Shabaab and lift the legacy arms embargo on Somalia.

The UK worked closely with Somalia in preparing these two texts, and is grateful for their constructive engagement throughout. The UK is also grateful to Council Members for their cooperation throughout the negotiation process and especially to African Members of the Council, and regional stakeholders, with whom we have consulted closely throughout.

President, we recognise these texts represent compromises for many delegations, we nevertheless urge all Council Members to vote for both texts, in solidarity with Somalia and against Al-Shabaab.

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OSCE Group of Friends of Georgia: joint statement to the OSCE Ministerial Council 2023

The UK and friends reaffirm full support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity at the OSCE Ministerial Council 2023.

1 December 2023

This statement is delivered on behalf of Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

We reaffirm our full support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.

Fifteen years since the Russian Federation's military invasion of Georgia, we remain deeply concerned over the continued occupation of Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and underline the need for peaceful resolution of the conflict based on full respect for international law and commitments, including the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.

We condemn Russia's military aggression against Georgia in 2008 in blatant violation of international law and express our concern that Georgia has been a target of Russia's hybrid tactics as well as conventional warfare ever since regaining its independence. We express our deep concern over Russia's ongoing military presence as well as military exercises and violation of airspace in Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. In this regard, we express deep concern over the recent statements regarding the establishment of a Russian military naval base in the Ochamchire district of the occupied Abkhazia region, as another provocative attempt to destabilise the already dire situation on the ground and in the wider Black Sea region. We also reiterate our condemnation of Russia's continued war of aggression against Ukraine.

We welcome Georgia's compliance with the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement. We call upon Russia to fulfil immediately its clear obligation under the Ceasefire Agreement to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions, as well as its commitments to allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and not to impede the creation of international security arrangements on the ground. We call upon Russia to reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and to ensure safe and dignified return of all IDPs and refugees to their homes in a manner consistent with international law.

We condemn continued attempts at implementation of the so-called integration and alliance treaties between Russia and Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, aiming to incorporate Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia into Russia's military, social, economic, judicial and other spheres, which constitute a clear violation of international law by the Russian Federation and directly contradict OSCE commitments. We urge Russia to reverse this process.

We are concerned over the continuous discrimination against Georgians on the grounds of ethnicity in the Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and abuses, including severe restrictions on rights related to freedom of movement, education, residence and property, particularly in connection with the destruction of the houses of IDPs. We condemn restriction of education in native Georgian language and its replacement with Russian in schools and kindergartens of the ethnic-Georgian-inhabited Gali and Akhalgori districts in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We also condemn the obliteration and alteration of Georgian features of the Georgian cultural heritage monuments in both regions.

We are particularly concerned over the ongoing installation of barbed wire fences and other artificial barriers along the administrative boundary lines (ABLs) and the lengthy closure of so-called crossing points, which led to severe humanitarian consequences for the local population. The partial and temporary re-opening of the so-called crossing points cannot be viewed as satisfactory. All so-called crossing points in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia must be reopened for all Georgian citizens residing on both sides of the ABLs.

Isolation and continuous restrictions on freedom of movement have further destabilised the situation on the ground and severely impacted the security, safety, well-being, and humanitarian conditions of civilians in conflict-affected areas, preventing their access to family, property, agricultural lands, religious sites and cemeteries as well as Georgian government issued pensions, the free healthcare services and education available in Georgian Government controlled territory. This creates a risk for further depopulation of both regions.

We strongly condemn the recent killing of a peaceful civilian - Georgian citizen, Tamaz Ginturi, in the vicinity of the Kirbali village, Gori Municipality, who was shot dead by Russian forces on 6 November 2023.

We condemn the previous cases of killing of Georgian citizens Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria, and Davit Basharuli and urge Russia to remove any obstacles to bringing the perpetrators to justice. In this context, we reiterate our support for Georgia's preventive steps aimed at eradicating impunity and note the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili List adopted by the government of Georgia.

We remain deeply concerned by ongoing arbitrary detentions around the ABLs involving vulnerable groups, and in some cases people with severe health problems. We, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Irakli Bebua, Kristine Takalandze, Asmat Tavadze, and all those under arbitrary detention.

We note the January 2021 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case concerning the armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008 and its consequences, including its findings that Russia exercised effective control over Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following the 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement, including through its military presence. The Court also ruled that Russia, in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, tortured Georgian prisoners of war; arbitrarily detained and killed Georgian civilians, and was responsible for their inhumane and degrading treatment; prevented the return of ethnic Georgians to their homes; and failed to conduct investigations into killings of civilians. Moreover, the European Court of Human Rights adopted another judgment in the case "Mamasakhlisi and Others v. Georgia and Russia" on 7 March, 2023, which confirmed the effective control of the Russian Federation over the Abkhazia region of Georgia even before Russia's war against Georgia in August 2008, and its full responsibility for human rights violations in the occupied region. We recall the decision of the ECHR of 28 April 2023, which ordered the Russian Federation to pay up to 130 million euros in favour of conflict-affected Georgian citizens. We call on the Russian Federation to fully comply with these judgments, including by allowing internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes in safety and dignity. We also note the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) of 2022 that issued arrest warrants for war crimes committed against ethnic Georgian civilians during Russia's invasion in 2008 and noted the alleged role of now deceased Russian military official uncovered by the investigation. We call on Russia to cooperate with the ICC.

We support the effective functioning of the Geneva International Discussions (GID), as the only format with the Russian Federation to address implementation of the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement, as well as the security, human rights, and humanitarian challenges stemming from the unresolved Russia - Georgia conflict. We underline the necessity of progress on the core issues of the discussions, including on the non-use of force, establishing international security arrangements in the Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and ensuring the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of IDPs and refugees in accordance with international law. We strongly support applying the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the GID in order to facilitate inclusive and sustainable peace and security on the ground.

We express our support for the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRMs) in Ergneti and Gali and emphasize the important role they can have in preventing any escalation and in helping to protect the safety and security of people on the ground. We express our great concern over the lengthy suspension of the Gali IPRM and urge its resumption without further delay or pre-conditions, in line with the ground rules.

We reaffirm our unwavering support for the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and call upon Russia to allow the EUMM to implement its mandate in full, including by enabling the EUMM's access on both sides of the ABLs. At the same time, we call on Russia to enable full and unhindered access by international human rights organizations to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

We support the comprehensive de-occupation and peaceful conflict resolution policy of the Government of Georgia. We support Georgian Government's "A Step to a Better Future" initiative and its "Peace Fund for a Better Future", aimed at improving the humanitarian and socio-economic conditions of people residing in Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and at fostering confidence building among divided communities. We urge active work on reconciliation and engagement programs and stand ready to support.

We encourage the OSCE's engagement in the process of finding a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Georgia conflict. We regret the closure of the OSCE mission to Georgia in 2009 and encourage the OSCE participating States to decide on the reopening of the OSCE cross-dimensional mission in Georgia, including a monitoring capacity able to operate unhindered across the ABLs. The reopening of the mission would strengthen considerably the OSCE's engagement in the GID and IPRMs. Furthermore, the re-establishment of a field mission would support the OSCE's work in every phase of the conflict cycle.

The Group of Friends of Georgia will continue to raise awareness of the conflict and of developments on the ground, hold Russia accountable for its obligations and commitments, and advocate for the conflict's peaceful resolution.

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This week, an agitated Elon Musk, while sitting on a stage in New York, told the high-powered audience that anyone who chose not to give him money could "Go f*ck yourself." Musk didn't look like he was in his right mind. He was twitchy and behaved like a primate whose dominance had been challenged. He's not likely to have won over any former or new advertisers with his bizarre and hostile remarks.

But it looks like one person was deeply impressed by Musk's self-owning performance: Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino. In a memo she sent to staff, Yaccarino praised Musk's nonsensical "blackmail" accusations against advertisers such as Disney as "candid" and "profound."

Here's the memo:

Proud to be at X with YOU! Hi all, Yesterday I posted this about DealBook and the X community has been quite lit up today on the same topic. Elon's interview was candid and profound. He shared an unmatched and completely unvarnished perspective and vision for the future. If you haven't watched it, please take the time to absorb the magnitude and importance of what we're all a part of. Because that's exactly what I wanted to focus on with you today. We're at one of the most maverick companies in the world and we get to do things that have never been done before. X sits in a one-of-a-kind constellation of companies that are changing the world  from helping to conserve the planet through Tesla's electric vehicles, to exploring new planets with SpaceX, to the seamless global connectivity of Starlink, to the potential of transforming lives with Neuralink, to responsibly reimagining the benefits of AGI through xAI. You're at X because you have the courage and conviction to build and operationalize the most consequential platform that exists. That's quite an enviable position to be in. Our mission at X is bold: to be an open platform without censorship of thought  one that provides people information and the freedom to make up their own minds. Our principles do not have a price tag, nor will they be compromised  ever. And no matter how hard they try, we will not be distracted by sideline critics who don't understand our mission. I'm immensely proud to lead this company  with the passionate people and partners of the X community and most fortunately with all of YOU. As always, if you need me  I'm here. Linda

What Yaccarino doesn't seem to understand is that no one cares if she wants to be in charge of what the Mayor of Paris called a "gigantic global sewer." She's free to wallow in it to her heart's content. But it's silly for her to expect anyone other than sociopathic manbabies to join her.

I was initially surprised that Yaccarino, the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, has been willing to put up with Musk's creepy behavior, like promoting the phony Pizzagate conspiracy theory and amplifying antisemitism. But then I read that Yaccarino is a Trump supporter, and it suddenly made sense. Musk is her kind of guy.
PM meeting with His Highness Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar: 01 December 2023

The Prime Minister met with His Highness Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

1 December 2023

The Prime Minister met with His Highness Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

He thanked His Highness the Amir for the important role of Qatar in facilitating the humanitarian pause in Gaza, which seen the release of dozens of hostages and the vital passage of further aid.

The leaders deeply regretted the collapse of the pause and reiterated the importance of ongoing efforts to secure the release of all hostages and ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those in need in Gaza.

Longer term, the Prime Minister said we must work towards two-state solution which guarantees the security and prosperity of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The Prime Minister reiterated that Hamas had demonstrated that it could not be a partner for peace and could have no future in Gaza

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PM meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan: 01 December 2023

The Prime Minister met with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

1 December 2023

The Prime Minister met with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

The Prime Minister recognised the vital role Jordan has played addressing the crisis in Gaza and the generosity they have shown in providing significant humanitarian support to Palestinian civilians, including the provision of military field hospitals.

He reassured King Abdullah that the UK continues to press Israel on the need to adhere to International Humanitarian Law and contain settler violence in the West Bank.

The Prime Minister reiterated the UK's commitment to working towards a lasting resolution to the conflict which delivers dignity, peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

The leaders also confirmed the continued importance of close UK-Jordan cooperation, including on trade, defence and clean technology.

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PM meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: 01 December 2023

The Prime Minister met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the COP28 Summit in the UAE today.

1 December 2023

The Prime Minister met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the COP28 Summit in the UAE today.

He thanked President Sisi for Egypt's continued efforts to get much-needed aid into Gaza and secure the release of hostages, as well as their support for the evacuation of British nationals from Gaza.

The Prime Minister reiterated the UK's support for the humanitarian response in Gaza, with planeloads of UK aid, including warehouse facilities and forklift trucks, sent to Egypt to preposition on the border with Gaza.

He said the UK stands ready to provide further support, recognising that there must be no forcible displacement from Gaza and that aid must be able to reach people across the Gaza Strip.

The Prime Minister enquired about progress in the case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah and reiterated the UK's call for his release.

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World News in Brief: Gaza aid, support for Afghan returnees, end modern slavery, SDGs disabilities promise

1 December 2023 - Any continuation in the recent increase in aid delivery to the Gaza Strip is uncertain now that fighting has resumed, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York on Friday.

He said the UN was able to step up delivery of basic supplies into and across the Gaza Strip during the week-long pause in fighting, primarily through the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies.

This included 630 metric tonnes of flour for 224,000 people in the south, and 63,000 blankets and mattresses.

"Cooking gas had been entering daily from Egypt during this period and has been available, or at least had been available, at one distribution centre in the south, in not enough quantities unfortunately to meet the demand," he added.

Trucks also transported 4,850 metric tonnes of food, 1,110 metric tonnes of bottled water, 148 metric tonnes of medical supplies, and 29,500 litres of fuel. These items were delivered to shelters run by the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, as well as hospitals and warehouses in northern Gaza.

Mr. Dujarric cautioned that any continuation in the uptick in the delivery of basic supplies is now uncertain because of the resumed hostilities.

"We must have at least the same volume of fuel and other humanitarian goods enter Gaza that was entering during the pause," he said.

Music star The Weeknd donates 4 million meals for WFP response in Gaza

Multi-platinum recording artist The Weeknd, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), has directed $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund to the agency's response in Gaza.

The donation, which equates to four million emergency meals, will fund enough food to potentially feed more than 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.

WFP said it comes at a critical time when more than one million people are on the verge of starvation in Gaza, where fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas resumed on Friday.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, has been a WFP Goodwill Ambassador since October 2021.

He has committed to dedicating the equivalent of $1 per ticket sold during the global leg of his After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour next year to the XO Humanitarian Fund, which has raised $5 million to date.

Afghanistan: $26 million appeal for returnees from Pakistan

Meanwhile, WFP is seeking $26.3 million to assist one million Afghans forced to leave Pakistan following the Government's decision to deport undocumented foreigners.

The policy came into effect last month and more than 370,000 people have since made their way back to Afghanistan, where a harsh winter awaits them.

WFP are on the ground at two border crossings supplying families with cash to cover their most basic food needs.

Returnees face a bleak future in Afghanistan, where one-third of the people do not know where their next meal will come from and some areas in the west are also still reeling from multiple earthquakes.

Communities across the country rely on WFP food assistance to survive, but funding shortfalls have forced the agency to cut emergency assistance this year.

UN rights chief calls for action to end slavery

More than 50 million people today are victims of slavery, one in four of them children, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.

Volker Turk urged political and business leaders "to take real action to uphold human rights" in his message on the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, observed on 2 December.

He said slavery is able to thrive because of how many economies are structured and run, adding that it preys on people whose rights are denied.

"We know how to end slavery," he said. "We know that without action, millions more people will need help."

Persons with disabilities face discrimination despite SDG promise: Guterres

Persons with disabilities must be at the decision-making table and across countries' efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - from poverty eradication, to health, education, and climate action.

That's the message from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, observed on 3 December.

The 17 SDGs were adopted by world leaders in 2015 and have a 2030 deadline.

Mr. Guterres said achieving the goals requires living up to the promise to leave no one behind, especially the 1.3 billion persons with disabilities worldwide.

However, they continue to face systemic discrimination and barriers that restrict their meaningful inclusion in all areas of society.

"Truly sustainable development for persons with disabilities requires a laser-like focus on their needs and rights - not only as beneficiaries, but as active contributors across social, economic and political life," he said.

The UN chief urged everyone "to work side-by-side with persons with disabilities to design and deliver solutions based on equal rights in every country and community."

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Spreading unsubstantiated claims about UNRWA must immediately stop

UNRWA

1 Dec 2023

AMMAN, 1 December 2023 -- "UNRWA has been following the traction of a post by an Israeli journalist on the social media platform X. The post claims that there is an alleged connection between an Israeli hostage held in Gaza and an UNRWA school teacher. The journalist did not provide more information on this claim.

"UNRWA and other entities in the United Nations have asked the journalist to provide more information on what we consider to be a very serious allegation. Despite repeated demands, the journalist has not responded.

"UNRWA requests that the journalist provides an immediate clarification of the claims, and that whoever may be able to assist us in determining the facts comes forward.

"In the absence of credible information to support this claim, UNRWA requests that the journalist immediately deletes the post. Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation.

"UNRWA reiterates that it takes all allegations of breach of UN principles extremely seriously and immediately investigates them. We are hence determined to find out whether the information in question is genuine or false.

"UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip and is currently hosting more than 1 million people in its shelters. Defamation attacks and the spread of misinformation about UNRWA -from any side- directly endanger the lifesaving operations of the Agency and its staff operating on the ground.

"These harmful and presumably gratuitous acts must stop, immediately."

ENDs-

Background Information:

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency's area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.

UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.

UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

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USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) Completes Second Forward-Deployed Naval Forces-Europe Patrol

US Navy

01 December 2023

From Ensign Karolyn Batista, USS Paul Ignatius Unit Public Affairs Representative

ROTA, Spain -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) returned to Rota, Spain, on November 28, 2023, following a six-month deployment throughout the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) and U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations and marking the completion of its second Forward-Deployed Naval Forces-Europe (FDNF-E) patrol.

During their extended deployment, USS Paul Ignatius Sailors participated in various critical missions aimed at deterrence, safeguarding national security interests, and promoting global stability. The ship participated in various port visits, exercises, bilateral and multinational operations throughout the European and African theaters, contributing to maritime security and defense cooperation. Most recently, the ship integrated into the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group currently deployed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Under the leadership of commanding officer Cmdr. Corry Lougee, Paul Ignatius' crew displayed professionalism, expertise, and unwavering commitment to their mission, country, and allies and partners throughout their deployment.

"From conducting maritime exercises and missions in the Baltic Sea to extended operations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and providing a strong deterrence, this crew gave 117% effort and finished our patrol strong," said Lougee. "Getting extended on deployment can be tough for the crew and our families, but our time under the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group brought us closer together as a team, and our mission and sense of purpose was clear."

Paul Ignatius completed a demanding and unpredictable deployment, exemplifying the U.S. Navy's steadfast commitment to ensuring the safety and security interests of our nation, our allies, and our partners.

Family and friends warmly greeted the ship's arrival and its Sailors. The reunion was a joyous occasion, celebrating not only the safe return home Paul Ignatius but also the significant and historic contributions the crew made.

Four U.S. Navy destroyers, including Paul Ignatius, are based in Rota, Spain and are assigned to Commander, Task Force 65 in support of NATO's Integrated Air Missile Defense architecture. These FDNF-E ships have the flexibility to operate throughout the waters of Europe and Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Arctic Circle, demonstrating their mastery of the maritime domain.

For more than 80 years, NAVEUR-NAVAF has forged strategic relationships with our Allies and partners, leveraging a foundation of shared values to preserve security and stability.

Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.

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Navy to Christen Amphibious Assault Ship Bougainville

US Navy - Press Release

01 December 2023

The Navy will christen its newest America-class amphibious assault ship, the future USS Bougainville (LHA 8), during a 9 a.m. CST ceremony Saturday, Dec. 2, in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Under Secretary of the Navy Eric Raven will deliver the christening ceremony's principal address. Remarks will also be provided by Vice Adm. Del Crandall Jr., Judge Advocate General of the Navy, Maj. Gen. James H. Adams III and Mrs. Kari Wilkinson, Executive Vice President of HII and President of Ingalls Shipbuilding. The ship's sponsor is Mrs. Ellyn Dunford, wife of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., USMC (Ret.), 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Bougainville is the third ship of the America-class of amphibious assault ships built to facilitate forward presence and power projection. LHA 8 is the first Flight I ship of the America-class with a reincorporated well deck to increase operational flexibility while maximizing the aviation capability inherent on the Flight 0 ships, USS America (LHA 6) and USS Tripoli (LHA 7).

Designed to support the Marine Corps tenets of Operational Maneuver from the Sea and Ship to Objective Maneuver, America class ships are capable of rapid combat power buildup ashore. The America class also accommodates the Marine Corps' Air Combat Element including F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and MV-22 Osprey, essential to maintaining power projection, air superiority and theater logistics.

LHA 8 is the second Navy ship to be named Bougainville. The name honors and commemorates the site of a major World War II campaign during which Navy and Marine Corps forces captured the Island of Bougainville, isolating Japan's Rabaul air base and assisting in providing an advantage to the Allied forces.

The ceremony will be live streamed at: https://youtube.com/live/H-NPeY_NZ_I?feature=share and https://fb.me/e/3QC53JWbD. The links becomes active approximately 30 minutes prior to the event at 9:50 a.m. CST.

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at (703) 697-5342. More information on the amphibious assault ship program can be found at: https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2169814/amphibious-assault-ships-lhdlhar/

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Bangkok's Plan to Buy High-Cost Warship from China Raises Alarm

By Wasamon Audjarint December 01, 2023

Thailand's new civilian-led administration is facing criticism over its plan to go forward with the purchase of a high-cost navy frigate from China in a deal first negotiated by the previous military government.

The purchase of the vessel was negotiated after China reneged on a 2017 plan to sell Thailand a S26T Yuan-class submarine because it could not obtain diesel engines from Germany, which forbids them to be used in Chinese military hardware, according to the Bangkok Post.

However the frigate, which would add to an existing fleet of seven mostly Chinese-built frigates, will cost the country $480 million  $28 million more than the submarine would have cost.

That has been criticized by the opposition Move Forward Party, which argues that the submarine deal should simply have been allowed to lapse.

"Chinese authority should rather take responsibility for failing the agreement," said Move Forward MP Rangsiman Rome, who was quoted by Matichon, a major Thai newspaper and website.

Thai Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang has defended the purchase, saying that revoking the deal or asking for a refund from China "would only impact other aspects of cooperation and relations" between the two countries.

Sutin also said that the submarine deal is being shelved rather than replaced by the new warship deal.

Scott Edwards, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Reading in the U.K., told VOA there may be other countries where Thailand could purchase a frigate but that political considerations can go into a purchase.

"Vessels sometimes rely on originating countries for spare parts and maintenance," he wrote in an email exchange.

John Bradford, executive director of the Japan-based Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, pointed out some advantages to a frigate over a submarine. He said the training and maintenance costs should be lower, and that a frigate would be more useful in dealing with challenges posed by Thailand's "exceptionally complex" maritime environment.

Those challenges include fishing regulation enforcement, guarding against smuggling, ocean resource protection and governance over waters that face both the Indian and Pacific oceans, Bradford wrote in an email to VOA.

Edwards agreed that a frigate is more sensible than a submarine, which would likely be underutilized and of limited use to Thailand.

"While Thailand may want submarines to match the subsurface capabilities of its neighbors, frigates can also be equipped with anti-submarine warfare capabilities," said Edwards, who is an expert in Southeast Asia's maritime security governance.

However, he questioned Bangkok's decision to purchase a frigate from Beijing, citing China's assertive behavior in the South China Sea.

"China's actions in the South China Sea should still be a consideration despite Thailand not being in direct dispute," he said.

Thailand previously purchased two Naresuan-class and four Chao Phraya-class frigates from China as well as one frigate from South Korea. Most of the missile-launching warships have been in commission since the 1990s.

While Thailand has relied on both the United States and China for military hardware, the kingdom shifted toward Beijing after a 2014 coup prompted the U.S. to suspend millions of dollars in military financing and funding for military education and training.

Washington normalized its relations with Bangkok after a 2019 election, widely seen as legitimizing the military-led government. The vote was held under a junta-written constitution and resulted in the victory of coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Dulyapak Preecharush, associate professor of Asian studies at Thammasat University in Bangkok, noted that Thailand has been led by a civilian government since August and argued that the kingdom should maintain a nonalignment policy, including more balance on military hardware procurement.

"Thai [Defense Ministry] has acknowledged the current geopolitical competition between the US and China and will put more balance on Thai relations with major powers," he wrote in a recent email to VOA Thai.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Thailand bought 33% of its military material from South Korea, 14% from China and 10% from the United States during the period from 2018 to 2022.

Edwards, from the University of Reading, agreed that the current Thai government, led by the Pheu Thai Party and consisting of pro-military and pro-establishment coalitions, is likely to rebalance toward the U.S.

But "it is unlikely such shifts will be dramatic in nature," he wrote, noting that as recently as May, the U.S. rejected selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Thailand.

Thailand's trade volume with China in 2022 was about $135 billion, according to China's state-run Business Information Center. Its total trade with the United States that year was an estimated $79.1 billion, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

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Gaza Fighting Enters Second Day After Collapse of Truce

By VOA News December 01, 2023

Renewed fighting in Gaza entered a second day after the collapse of a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas.

Saturday's violence came a day after Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave killed 184 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

In Syria, the Defense Ministry said Israel carried out airstrikes near Damascus early Saturday. Syrian state media reported that military defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles. It said there were no reports of casualties.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Israel has begun to take steps to reduce Palestinian casualties in its fight against Hamas.

"We saw Israel take steps immediately today, to start to get information to people about where safe areas are, how they can get out of harm's way," he said in Dubai on the sidelines of the COP28 climate change conference.

However, Blinken said it was too early to say whether Israel had fully followed through on commitments it had made to ensure its military operation in southern Gaza does not lead to the same high death tolls seen in northern Gaza.

Israel's airstrikes and ground invasion in Gaza, aimed at eradicating Hamas, have left more than 15,000 people dead and thousands more injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

While in Dubai, Blinken met with his counterparts from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Blinken is on his third trip to the Middle East since Israel declared war against Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, after it launched terror attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting an estimated 240, about 100 of whom have been released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the just-ended seven-day truce.

The talks with Arab foreign ministers centered on the state of the Israel-Hamas war and how to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Blinken told reporters before boarding a flight back to Washington.

He said they also talked about "what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting and secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians, in fact for everyone in the region."

During Friday's fighting, Israel's military said, its ground, air and naval forces had struck more than 200 of what it called terror targets in the enclave.

Khan Younis in southern Gaza was heavily bombed Friday, sending residents fleeing for shelter farther west, according to Reuters journalists there.

The U.N. said the fighting would exacerbate an acute humanitarian emergency.

"Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva.

"Today those in power decided that the killing of children would recommence in Gaza," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said via video link from Rafah, Gaza, calling the conflict a "war on children."

Elder stressed the dire lack of nutrition, water and sanitation in Gaza and pleaded for a lasting cease-fire. He said the alternative is unthinkable for people already living in a nightmare.

"Inaction, at its core, is an approval of the killing of children," he said.

Israel plans Gaza DMZ

Meanwhile, Israel has presented some of its neighboring states with plans to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border with Israel to avert future attacks after the war ends, Reuters reported citing Egyptian and regional sources.

Israel has communicated its post-war plans to Egypt and Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as part of its future security goals for Gaza, sources told the news agency.

Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters the Israeli government has a three-tiered plan for post-war Gaza: destroying Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and de-radicalizing the enclave.

"A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarization process," Falk said, though he did not say whether these plans had been shared with international partners, including Arab states.

Arab states have dismissed as impossible Israel's goal of wiping out Hamas, saying it was more than simply a militant force that could be defeated.

Blinken said last month that Washington wants Palestinians to govern Gaza and does not want to see the territory reoccupied by Israel, blockaded or reduced in size.

World reaction

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the breakdown of the negotiations to extend the weeklong truce, though the White House singled out Hamas, noting it had failed to produce a new list of hostages to release as required.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai that the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza was "very negative," Erdogan's office said Friday.

Turkey said in a statement that it was working to achieve a lasting cease-fire, but that the Muslim world needed to act in unison.

"While discussing the climate crisis, we cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Palestinian territories right beside us," Erdogan told leaders during his formal speech to the COP28 conference.

"The current situation in Gaza constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity; those responsible must be held accountable under international law," he said.

Erdogan's comments were echoed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

"Continuous bombardment of Gaza complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates [the] humanitarian catastrophe," the Qatari minister said.

Egypt also is exerting the utmost effort with its partners to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, according to a statement from Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt's State Information Service.

However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas only understands force "and therefore we will continue to act until we achieve the goals of the war." He spoke while riding in one of Israel's warplanes to observe the assault. "The results are impressive," he said.

At a pro-Israel conference in the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said Israel is in a fight for its survival.

"We are in a fight against pure evil, sheer evil, evil that whether it calls itself Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, or al-Qaida shares the same hegemonic goal of spreading its radical ideology and defeating Western civilization through barbaric terror and violence," he said.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also spoke at the conference.

"There's a lot of pain. It's made worse by the fact that we are seeing the rise of antisemitism and hate in America, across the world, the antisemitic demons of old that we all hoped had been vanquished now fueled by social media being used to amplify dangerous rhetoric and misinformation," he said.

In Washington, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a prayer vigil and rally outside the Israeli Embassy.

In Atlanta, a protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated Friday outside the Israeli Consulate, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene and put out the fire, authorities said. The protester was in critical condition Friday night.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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US Secretary of State, Arab Leaders Discuss Gaza's Future Governance

By VOA News December 01, 2023

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday met with Israel's Arab neighbors to discuss the future of Gaza, as Israel resumed bombardments on the Palestinian enclave after the collapse of the Israel-Hamas seven-day truce.

At least 178 Palestinians were killed and 589 injured in in the day's bombing, the Gaza health ministry said.

Blinken met with his counterparts from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, on the sidelines of the U.N. COP28 climate conference in Dubai, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Blinken was on his third trip in the Middle East since Israel declared war against Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Hamas had launched attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting an estimated 240, about 100 of whom were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the just-ended truce.

The talks with Arab foreign ministers centered on the state of the Israel-Hamas war and how to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Blinken told reporters before boarding a flight back to Washington.

He said they also talked about "what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting and secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians - in fact, for everyone in the region."

Israel's airstrikes and ground invasion in Gaza, aimed at eradicating Hamas, have left more than 15,000 people dead and thousands more injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel's military said its ground, air and naval forces had struck more than 200 of what it called terror targets in the enclave since the end of the truce.

Khan Younis in southern Gaza was heavily bombarded Friday, sending residents fleeing for shelter farther west, according to Reuters journalists there.

The U.N. said the fighting would exacerbate an acute humanitarian emergency. "Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva.

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder excoriated the impact of Israel's renewed attacks on Gaza civilians, especially on children. "Today those in power decided that the killing of children would recommence in Gaza," he said via video link from Rafah, Gaza.

Elder stressed the "dire" lack of nutrition, water and sanitation in Gaza and pleaded for a lasting cease-fire. He said the alternative was unthinkable for people already living in a nightmare. "Inaction, at its core, is an approval of the killing of children," he said.

Israel wants Gaza DMZ

Meanwhile, Israel has presented some of its neighboring states with plans to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border with Israel to avert attacks after the war ends, Egyptian and regional sources said, according to Reuters.

Israel has communicated its postwar plans to Egypt and Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as part of its future security goals for Gaza, sources told the news agency.

Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters the Israeli government has a three-tiered plan: destroying Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and deradicalizing the enclave.

"A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarization process," Falk said, although he did not say whether these plans had been shared with international partners, including Arab states.

Arab states have dismissed as impossible Israel's goal of wiping out Hamas, saying it was more than simply a militant force that could be defeated.

Blinken said last month that Washington wanted Palestinians to govern Gaza and did not want to see the territory reoccupied by Israel, blockaded or reduced in size.

World reaction

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the breakdown of the negotiations, although the White House singled out Hamas, noting it had failed to produce a new list of hostages to release as required for an extension of the truce.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai that the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza was "very negative," Erdogan's office said Friday.

Turkey said in a statement that it was working to achieve a lasting cease-fire, but that the Muslim world needed to act in unison.

"While discussing the climate crisis, we cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Palestinian territories right beside us," Erdogan told leaders during his formal speech to the COP28 conference.

"The current situation in Gaza constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity; those responsible must be held accountable under international law," he said.

Erdogan's comments were echoed by South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

"Continuous bombardment of Gaza complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates humanitarian catastrophe," the Qatari minister said.

Egypt also is exerting the utmost effort with its partners to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, according to a statement from Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt's State Information Service.

However, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas understands only force "and therefore we will continue to act until we achieve the goals of the war." He spoke while riding in one of Israel's warplanes to observe the assault. "The results are impressive," he said.

At a pro-Israel conference in the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, said Israel was in a fight for its survival.

"We are in a fight against pure evil, sheer evil, evil that whether it calls itself Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS or al-Qaida shares the same hegemonic goal of spreading its radical ideology and defeating Western civilization through barbaric terror and violence," he said.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also spoke at the conference.

"There's a lot of pain. It's made worse by the fact that we are seeing the rise of antisemitism and hate in America, across the world, the antisemitic demons of old that we all hoped had been vanquished, now fueled by social media being used to amplify dangerous rhetoric and misinformation," he said.

In Washington, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a prayer vigil and rally outside the Israeli Embassy.

In Atlanta, a protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated Friday outside the Israeli Consulate, injuring a security guard who tried to intervene and put out the fire, authorities said.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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John Deere must heere a right-to-repair lawsuit filed against it by customers sick of its efforts to prevent them repairing their own equipment, reports Reuters. The agricultural giant John Deere wanted to dismiss claims (pdf) alleging that it operates a monopoly through its products and the ability to service them. The suit alleges that John Deere prevents consumers and independent repair shops from fixing their own property.

U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois, rejected Deere's effort to dismiss consolidated lawsuits accusing the Moline, Illinois-based company of violating U.S. antitrust law. "According to the complaint's allegations, Deere has the ultimate control of the repair services market," Johnston wrote in his 89-page order. "These allegations are not mere legal conclusions. The complaint is chock-full of factual allegations to support this conclusion." Reuters

Software locks and parts that need approval from the original manufacturer, or "parts pairing" are corporate savvy methods of ensuring that no customer is a one-off. They have to continue to purchase tools, software or in-person help directly from the company. It's an an effective business model, and one that ultimately disenfranchises the consumer. Surely when you buy a product, it's yours, right? Well, if you can't fix it, you don't own it.

More right-to-repair legislation is making its way through the courts, slowly but hopefully.
Afghan Taliban Says China Becomes First Nation to Accept Its Ambassador

By Ayaz Gul December 01, 2023

Afghanistan's Taliban government announced Friday that China had formally accepted its ambassador to Beijing, hailing the move as an "important chapter" in growing ties between the two neighboring countries.

The announcement, yet to be confirmed by China, would make it the first nation to host a Taliban ambassador since the Islamist group regained power from an American-backed government in Kabul two years ago.

Neither China nor any other country has formally given recognition to the de facto Afghan administration.

An official Taliban foreign ministry statement said that Hong Lei, the director-general of the protocol department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accepted the copy of credentials from the newly appointed ambassador, Asadullah Bilal Karimi.

Hong called Karimi's arrival an "important step in further strengthening and expanding the positive relations" between Beijing and Kabul.

"China respects the national sovereignty and the decisions of the people of Afghanistan. It does not interfere in the internal Afghan affairs, nor has it done so in the past," Hong said in Friday's meeting, according to the Taliban.

Karimi assured the Chinese side that "there is no threat to anyone from the territory of Afghanistan, and regional stability and security is in the interest of all."

The new ambassador, in his early 30s, served as the deputy spokesman at the Taliban-led information ministry until recently.

Beijing has sought to sustain its close engagement with the Taliban to help prevent the conflict-torn South Asian nation from plunging into chaos again, which could encourage anti-China militants to use Afghan soil to threaten Chinese security.

The Chinese government invited Taliban delegates to its global Belt and Road Forum in October this year, marking the first high-profile multilateral gathering de facto Afghan rulers have attended since returning to power.

Last September, China became the first nation to appoint an ambassador to Kabul under Taliban rule. Other countries either retained their previous ambassadors or appointed the heads of their embassies in a charge d'affaires capacity, which does not require presenting credentials to the host government.

State and private Chinese companies have shown interest in investing in Afghanistan, with some signing contracts with the Taliban in recent months. However, international banking sector sanctions have deterred foreign investors from undertaking major initiatives.

Around 20 neighboring and regional countries have kept their embassies operational or reopened diplomatic missions since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, when all U.S.-led Western troops withdrew from the country and ended their two-decade-long involvement in the Afghan war.

Washington and other Western countries have since moved their Afghan diplomatic missions to Qatar to ensure they can sustain humanitarian aid for millions of Afghans.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's neighbors and regional countries, including Russia, India and Turkey, have allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghan diplomatic missions on their respective soils, which are being run at charge d'affairs level.

The Taliban's global isolation mainly stems from their sweeping curbs on Afghan women's rights. They have forbidden teenage girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and barred most women from public and private workplaces across the impoverished country, where half of the population needs humanitarian aid.

The de facto authorities are under sustained international pressure to remove restrictions on women, govern the country through an inclusive political setup, and prevent terrorists from operating out of Afghan soil.

The male-only Taliban government has rejected criticism of its policies, saying they are aligned with local culture and Islamic law. They also have claimed no terrorist groups operate in the country.

The United Nations has ruled out granting Afghanistan's seat to the Taliban until they address international concerns and end their harsh treatment of women.

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Pakistani Top Court Seeks Government Response on Afghan Expulsion Policy

By Sarah Zaman December 01, 2023

Pakistan's Supreme Court asked the government Friday to respond to questions raised over its policy of expelling Afghans residing illegally in the country, observing that Islamabad must abide by United Nations' resolutions protecting refugees.

Holding the first hearing on a plea challenging the ongoing eviction of Afghans, a three-member bench of the top court sought responses from the federal government, the apex committee headed by the prime minister and army chief that decided to expel Afghan nationals, as well as the foreign office.

The petition filed jointly by more than a dozen politicians, lawyers and community activists last month calls the eviction a "massive violation of fundamental rights of around 4.4 million persons of Afghan origin [present] for the time being in Pakistan."

Reeling from a wave of deadly terror attacks, Pakistan in October ordered all people residing there illegally to leave by November 1 or face deportation.

The order primarily affected 1.7 million Afghans living without proper documents. Nearly 700,000 Afghans have arrived since the Afghan Taliban took control of their country in August 2021.

So far, close to 400,000 have left Pakistan from border crossings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces.

"The haphazard manner in which all Afghans are being shunted out of the country, this is absolutely wrong. It is in violation of their human rights. It is in violation of the international covenants," Senator Farhatullah Babar, one of the petitioners, told VOA.

Criticizing the government's strategy, Babar said the order was affecting those with legitimate asylum claims, while many with proper documents also were being pushed out.

Rejecting the allegation, Pakistani foreign ministry's spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said at a weekly media briefing that "the policy [of expulsion] pertains to those individuals who are in Pakistan in violation of immigration law." Baloch, however, refused to address the court's order seeking details, saying the matter was sub-judice, or in court.

Aid agencies, as well as local and international rights watchdogs, have criticized Pakistan's plan, concerned that many Afghan returnees might face extreme poverty or retribution from the Taliban, while girls and women would be deprived of education and work opportunities.

Despite hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world, Pakistan is not a signatory to the U.N.'s convention protecting refugee rights.

Rida Hosain, a Lahore-based lawyer, told VOA the courts still may apply principles of international law that support or do not contradict domestic laws. The South Asian country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, though, as well as the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

"This obligation extends to all residents of Pakistan, not just citizens," Hosain said about the protections recognized in the U.N.'s resolutions that Pakistan signed.

Among those forced to leave because of a lack of documents are Afghans born in Pakistan to refugee parents. Many now have Pakistani-born children of their own who have little, if any, ties to their grandparents' homeland.

"By all reckoning they should be treated as Pakistani nationals," Babar said.

Although Pakistani law recognizes the right to citizenship for children born on its soil, this provision is not extended to Afghan families.

In 2018, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan announced his government would give citizenship to Afghans born in Pakistan. The hugely surprising statement was never turned into law.

Babar, a veteran politician, hinted that Pakistan's powerful military manages the country's foreign policy.

"The Afghan policy is not made by the civilian government," he said. "It has never been discussed and debated in the parliament. The foreign office has little say in the formulation of the Afghan policy."

The current caretaker government that made the decision to expel undocumented Afghans enjoys the military's support. Petitioners argue, though, that it simply does not have the authority to formulate this policy of mass eviction. Hosain agrees.

"They are not elected, they don't represent the people of Pakistan. So, the court would need to decide whether a caretaker government with such a restrictive mandate can take such a major policy decision, and in my view, this is beyond the power of the caretaker government," she said.

So far, the caretaker government has claimed it is only applying the law of the land.

"The concept of the nation state is that illegal practices, illegal means, are not promoted in any country. We won't allow that either," Sarfaraz Bugti, the Pakistani interior minister, told VOA in October after announcing the policy.

Pakistan claims Afghan nationals were involved in several deadly terror attacks on civilians and security personnel this year. Islamabad also accuses the Afghan Taliban of taking insufficient action to curb cross-bordekakr terrorism. The de facto government in Kabul denies the charge.

Speaking to VOA last month, the Pakistani caretaker prime minister said the policy, which the Afghan Taliban rejected as inhumane, was meant to formalize movement between the two neighbors.

"We want to have a regulated movement interaction with Afghanistan as a state. This is the prime target," Anwar ul Haq Kakar said.

A group of Pakistani academics has also petitioned the court against the expulsion of Afghans.

The hearing will resume next week in the Supreme Court.

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Chad's Opposition, Civil Society Ask French Troops to Leave

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka December 01, 2023

Chad's opposition and civil society groups are asking France to immediately withdraw troops who arrived in Chad after being ordered to depart neighboring Niger by that country's military junta.

Ordjei Abderahim Chaha, president of the opposition party Rally for Justice and Equality, said Thursday that military ruler Mahamat Idriss Deby has failed to heed calls to ask French troops to leave.

Speaking at a news conference in the capital, N'Djamena, Chaha said he believes Deby wants French troops to keep Chad's military junta in power by intimidating or cracking down on civilians who are ready to protest should Deby fail to hand power to civilian rule by November 2024 as agreed.

Opposition and civil society groups have asked Deby to ensure some 1,000 French troops already stationed in Chad  plus those who have arrived from Niger  leave the central African state no later than December 28, Chaha said.

All colonial-era agreements and newly negotiated deals between France and Chad should be canceled, he said, adding that citizens are fed up with France's overbearing influence in many African nations.

Deby, a general in Chad's army, was proclaimed head of an 18-month transitional council on April 21 to replace his late father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had run Chad as a dictator for 30 years.

Opposition and civil society groups say Deby cannot be trusted because he failed to hand power to a civilian government in October 2022 as agreed and instead extended the transition period by two years.

Deby insists he will hand power to civilian rule.

The Chadian government says there have been at least six protests against French military presence in Chad this year. In February, there were widespread protests against French troops after civilians accused the foreign military of brutality against civilians.

In early September, a French military medic opened fire and killed a Chadian soldier who reportedly attacked him with a scalpel as he received care in a military base. Anti-French protests then erupted in Faya-Largeau, a northern town, and Chad's military used live ammunition and injured several people as it struggled to disperse protesters, according to civil society groups.

Koursami Albert, an international affairs lecturer in Chad's University of N'Djamena, told VOA via a messaging app that civilians are unhappy because French troops restrict or arrest people who come close to their bases  an indication, he said, that the French do not want anyone to know their activities.

He said even Chadian troops are restricted from going near French military bases.

France has always claimed that its troops are in Africa to ensure peace and stability in friendly countries, especially where it was the former colonial power, but people struggle to see what services their troops render, Koursami said.

French troops have not intervened in the communal violence and armed conflicts Chad faces, observers say.

On October 19, Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere, spokesperson for the French military, announced that the first convoy of French troops that left Niger by land had arrived in N'Djamena.

France did not disclose the final destination of their forces leaving Niger. Chad said the troops were to leave for Paris via N'Djamena International airport, while their equipment was to transit through the Douala Seaport in neighboring Cameroon.

French President Emmanuel Macron in September promised to pull all 1,500 French troops from Niger and end military cooperation with the landlocked western African country.

Nigerien military leader General Abdourahamane Omar Tchiani and junta supporters accused France of failing to resolve the security crisis that has killed thousands and displaced millions across Niger.

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Argentina Not Joining BRICS Despite Xi's Personal Letter to Milei

By Natalie Liu December 01, 2023

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei's foreign minister-designee has announced that Argentina will not be joining BRICS, an international grouping of countries increasingly seen as being led by Beijing in its bid to challenge initiatives led by Western, democratic nations.

The announcement Thursday by Diana Mondino marks a reversal of a key decision made by the outgoing government that was seen as pulling Buenos Aries ever closer to China's orbit. It also comes despite a personal letter Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping wrote and had hand-delivered to Milei last week.

The incoming Milei government's position on BRICS has been closely watched. On the campaign trail, Milei was a harsh critic of China's political system. By contrast, his opponent, Sergio Massa, a minister in charge of economic affairs in the outgoing government, welcomed China's increasing footprint in their country with open arms, even joking about a new republic under the name of "Argenchina," Bloomberg and other media have reported.

BRICS  an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa  is increasingly seen as a geopolitical group led by Beijing that seeks to expand its influence and reshape the international order.

Last year, Argentina's ambassador to China disclosed that Xi had personally extended an invitation for Argentina to join the group. The invitation was made official at the most recent BRICS summit, held in August in Johannesburg, South Africa, where it was announced that the memberships of Argentina, along with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, would take effect on January 1, 2024.

Christopher Ecclestone, a London-based strategist and specialist on Argentina, told VOA that from Beijing's perspective, the invitation to join BRICS amounted to the equivalent of "you're now one of us."

A letter hand-delivered

The outgoing Argentine government, led by President Alberto Fernandez, whose term ends in a little over a week, openly embraced the invitation and is seen as publicly pro-Beijing. Milei, who won a landslide victory against the left-leaning Massa, is known to have compared the Chinese regime as "killers" or assassins who go after those who wish to live freely. Milei also repeatedly said his government would distance itself from such regimes.

Last week, though, a message Milei posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, thanking China's Xi, had some wondering where he stood, now elected, concerning foreign policy toward China.

"I thank President Xi Jinping for the congratulations and good wishes he sent me through his letter. I send you my most sincere wishes for the well-being of the people of China," Milei wrote on November 22, above a full-page letter translated into Spanish addressed to him from Xi, from Beijing, dated November 21.

Beneath the full-page translation can be seen what presumably was the original letter written in Chinese, with Chinese wording "Chairman Xi Jinping" at the top of the stationery. Xi is only addressed by his communist party title, general secretary, and/or his national title, chairman, inside China.

That same day, Mondino retweeted a photo showing her and China's top diplomat posted to Buenos Aires, Wang Wei, and another man who might have been a translator. Everyone was shown with broad smiles in that photo. Mondino did not explain what the meeting was about or when it took place.

Argentine media later reported that Wang had met with Mondino on November 21 to hand deliver the letter from Xi, less than 48 hours after Milei had won the election.

Ecclestone was struck by the "pacifist" tone of the letter.

"Interestingly, in the first sentence he uses the polite form of 'you' when referring to 'your election,'" Ecclestone told VOA, while going over the Spanish translation. The overall tone of the letter is "very formal, very welcoming, very nonthreatening," with a "very capitalist" element thrown in the mix, Ecclestone said.

The phrase "ganancia compartida" appeared twice in the letter, Ecclestone pointed out. "It literally means 'shared profit,'" and can be read as a not-very-subtle hint at the opportunities presented to Milei if he and Argentina were to be willing to work with China, the analyst said.

"It's got no threats in it, it's all love and kisses; it's China and Argentina in love," Ecclestone said.

"It's an olive branch  and it's an olive branch with flowers," he said, describing the letter.

The olive branch stands in sharp contrast to the warning Beijing issued against Argentina and its newly elected leaders the same day Xi's personal letter to Milei was delivered in Buenos Aires.

"It would be a grave mistake if Argentina were to cut off ties with great powers such as China or Brazil. China is Argentina's important trade partner," Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, stated at a news briefing held in Beijing on November 21.

Mao acknowledged that Xi had conveyed his congratulations to Milei at the November 23 news briefing but did not say that the message had been hand-delivered by China's ambassador. The wording in Chinese, zhidian, made it appear as if Xi had telephoned Milei, or sent him a telegram, instead.

Blow to Beijing

Since he was elected, Milei has reiterated his three-pronged thinking on trade and foreign policy in an interview with Argentine media. In it, he called himself first and foremost "an ally of the United States, Israel and the West." Another pillar of his thinking, he said, is "I will not push or promote relationships with dictatorships, communists, those who have no regard for peace or don't hold democratic values."

Thirdly, he said, businesspeople are free to trade with whomever they want.

David Day, who heads the Honolulu-based Global Risk Mitigation Foundation, told VOA that Argentina's decision is a blow to Beijing.

Among other objectives, Beijing "has been attempting to push the BRICS into an alternative trading bloc with an overt intent to get those countries off of the U.S. dollar," he said.

In a sign that BRICS is aiming to be much more than a trade and economics-oriented grouping, China organized a BRICS leaders' online conference on November 21 to "coordinate positions and take actions" regarding the Hamas-Israel conflict, as Xi noted in a keynote speech.

"The potential for Argentina leaving the Chinese tent is very troubling to Beijing geopolitically, as it cuts against the trend of China's takeover and growing influence in the Americas over the last several years," Day said.

"Beijing's worry is that Argentina and Milei could begin a reversal [of those gains]," he continued, "hence we are going to see both 'hard' and 'soft' approaches coming out of Beijing in an attempt to keep Argentina in line."

June Teufel Dreyer, a political scientist and China specialist at the University of Miami, told VOA that the path of relations between Buenos Aires and Beijing will become clearer over time.

"Let's see whether the flower on the olive branch withers or continues to live on," she said.

Closer ties with Washington

Meanwhile, there are signs that Buenos Aires' ties with Washington are being strengthened. Earlier this week, Milei embarked on a personal trip to the United States before he is due to take office on December 10.

On Tuesday, Milei and some of his closest advisers met with Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, at the White House. Milei later described the meeting as "extraordinary." Economic issues and standing up for democracies around the world were among the topics discussed in their meeting, according to a statement released by the White House.

The Associated Press reported that Milei's office said after the meeting that Sullivan, speaking on behalf of the administration, "conveyed the willingness of the United States to cooperate in the transition of the incoming Argentine government, given the challenging political, economic and social circumstances that the country is facing."

Milei also discussed with U.S. officials his commitment to values of freedom, his office said.

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China, Vietnam vow to maintain South China Sea as a sea of peace and cooperation

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Dec 02, 2023 11:04 AM Updated: Dec 02, 2023 11:55 PM

Chinese and Vietnamese senior officials co-chaired 15th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation on Friday in Hanoi and reached a series of consensus points on advancing comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries, vowing to maintain the South China Sea as a sea of peace and cooperation.

We are willing to work with Vietnam to make good use of the committee, a general management mechanism for overall coordination of bilateral cooperation, make overall planning for cooperation in the next stage and make positive contributions to advancing China-Vietnam relations in the new era, Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister, said at the meeting.

The two sides should maintain high-level strategic communication, constantly build consensus and enhance mutual trust. Both countries should also strengthen cooperation mechanisms in national defense, public security and security, as well as deepen non-traditional security cooperation such as counter-terrorism and combating telecommunications fraud, Wang said.

China's top diplomat also called on the two sides to leverage the advantages of geographical proximity and industrial complementarity, deepen cooperation in the fields of economic affairs and trade, interconnectivity, and jointly create a mutually beneficial, stable and smooth production and supply chain system.

China and Vietnam are expected to work together to safeguard international equality and justice, practice true multilateralism, and support each other on issues concerning their respective major interests.

The two countries should abide by high-level consensus, insist on managing differences through friendly consultation, actively promote maritime cooperation, and safeguard hard-won peace and stability in the South China Sea, Wang said.

Wang Yi arrived in Hanoi on Friday for a two-day visit as part of frequent bilateral interactions between China and Vietnam. Some experts expect this visit to consolidate bilateral consensus and pave the way for the two countries to further develop bilateral relations and yield substantial, mutually beneficial results.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said during the meeting that Vietnam is willing to strengthen high-level mutual visits and actively carry out inter-Party and parliamentary exchanges with China.

They should utilize the coordinating role of the committee to enhance collaboration in diplomacy, defense, and security, the Vietnamese official said, noting that the Southeast Asian country is also committed to achieving greater development in economic, trade, investment, and financial cooperation, as well as enhancing collaboration in transportation, agriculture, environmental protection, science and technology, tourism, education, and local exchanges.

Vietnam is also seeking to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence and green energy with China, he noted.

In line with the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, we will manage differences effectively and jointly promote consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea so as to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation, Quang said.

On Friday local time, Wang also met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, respectively.

During the meeting with Bui Thanh Son, Wang also called the two sides to actively promote mutually beneficial maritime cooperation, prevent the intervention of external forces, accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct on South China Sea.

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Jordan's king discusses increased aid to Gaza with int'l organizations

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 11:01, December 02, 2023

AMMAN, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan on Thursday held international talks on means of strengthening the humanitarian aid coordination in the Gaza Strip.

The discussion was held on the sidelines of the international meeting on "Coordinating Gaza Emergency Relief" that Jordan hosted, according to a statement by the Royal Hashemite Court.

The talks gathered UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy H. McCain, International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Tanaka Akihiko.

The discussions covered the challenges that international agencies face in delivering aid to people in Gaza, and the means to overcome them, as well as the need to allow the uninterrupted delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, and increase the volume of relief aid.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 01 December 2023 - Day 646

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 the Russian defence industry is moving to close the capability gap with Ukraine in the development of one-way attack uncrewed surface vehicles (OWA USVs). On 27 November 2023, Mikhail Danilenko, head of Russian firm KMZ, announced their USVs would be trialled in the 'special military operation' with a view to establishing series production in 2024.

KMZ has previously manufactured a range of USVs, but in recent months they have started promoting their OWA capability; Danilenko said the boat could carry a munition of up to 600 kg.

Navies have employed USVs since the Second World War. However, with modern types resembling speedboats packed with explosives, in the hands of Ukrainian forces they have emerged as a key capability in maritime domain since Russia's full-scale invasion.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of December 1, there were 67x combat engagements. Russian forces launched a total of 2x missile strike, 17x air strikes, 46x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Moreover, since the beginning of the day, Russian occupants have attacked Ukraine with 2x Kh-59 guided missiles and 12x attack UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 type. Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 1x Kh-59 guided missile and 8x attack UAVs. Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have resulted in civilian casualties and injuries. Private residential buildings as well as other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged.

The operational situation in eastern and southern Ukraine remains difficult.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes. No signs of formation of an offensive group. Certain units of the armed forces of Belarus continue their missions in the areas bordering Ukraine.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russia maintains its military presence in the areas of russia bordering Ukraine. Russia continues its sabotage and reconnaissance activities, shelling Ukrainian settlements from the territory of Russia and increases the density of minefields along the state border of Ukraine. Around 15x settlements came under Russian artillery and mortar fire, including Krasnyi Khutir (Chernihiv oblast), Prohres, Stepok (Sumy oblast), Udy, Ternova, Vovchans'k, Varvarivka (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: Russian forces conducted assault operations in the vicinities of Syn'kivka (Kharkiv oblast), and Stel'makhivka (Luhansk oblast). Ukrainian defenders repelled 9x attacks in the area. Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Dvorichna, Syn'kivka, Petropavlivka, Ivanivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast).

Lyman axis: Russian forces made assaults in the area of Serebryans'ke forestry (Luhansk oblast), where Ukrainian defenders repelled 7x attacks. The Russian occupiers fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Nevs'ke, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Tors'ke, Serebryanka, Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Spirne, Rozdolivka (Donetsk oblast).

Bakhmut axis: Russian forces conducted offensives near Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Klishchiivka and Andriivka (Donetsk oblast). Ukrainian defenders repelled 18x attacks in the area. More than 15x settlements, including Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Markove, Chasiv Yar, Klishchiivka, New York (Donetsk oblast), came under artillery and mortar fire.

Avdiivka axis: Russian forces made assaults near south of Novokalynove, Stepove, Avdiivka, Sjeverne, Pervomais'ke (Donetsk oblast), to no success. Ukrainian defenders repelled 16x attacks in the area. Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Berdychi, Stepove, Avdiivka, Karlivka, Pervomais'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Mar'inka axis: Russian forces made failed assaults with air support in the vicinity of Novomykhailivka (Donetsk oblast), The settlements of Hostre, Mar'inka, Novomykhailivka, Pobjeda, Kostyantynivka (Donetsk oblast) were under artillery and mortar fire of the Russian occupiers.

Shakhtars'ke axis: the Russian adversary conducted no offensives. Around 10x settlements, including Vuhledar, Vodyane, Novoukrainka, Urozhaine, Makarivka, Rivnopil' (Donetsk oblast), came under artillery and mortar fire.

Zaporizhzhia axis: Russian forces made 10x attempts to regain lost ground in the vicinity of Robotyne and west of Verbove (Zaporizhzhia oblast), to no success. More than 20x settlements, including Temyrivka, Malynivka, Charivne, Robotyne, Stepove, Kam'yans'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast), came under artillery and mortar fire.

Kherson axis: Russian forces fired artillery at the city of Kherson and the settlements of Ivanivka, Novotyahynka, Ponyativka, Antonivka (Kherson oblast).

Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold their ground on the left bank of the Dnipro River (Kherson oblast) and inflict fire on the Russian forces.

During the day of December 1, Ukrainian missile troops hit 3x concentrations of troops, weapons and military equipment, and 5x ammunition depots of the Russian invaders.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces, aviation, and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 14th, 30th mechanised, and 101st, 103rd, and 113th territorial defence brigades near Sinkovka, Petropavlovka, Peschanoye, Kislovka, and Kulagovka (Kharkov region).

The enemy lost up to 35 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, three pickups, as well as one Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station.

In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, helicopters, and artillery repelled one attack launched by assault groups of the AFU 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade near Serebryansky forestry.

In addition, strikes were delivered at clusters of enemy manpower and hardware near Torskoye, Seversk, and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy lost up to 65 Ukrainian troops and two motor vehicles.

In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery repelled six enemy attacks and inflicted fire damage on AFU manpower and hardware near Konstantinovka, Dyleyevka, and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses were up to 300 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, four pickups, one Akatsiya self-propeled artilllery system, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and two D-30 howitzers.

In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, helicopters, and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of AFU 58th mechanised infantry and 79th air assault brigades near Novomikhailovka and Ugledar (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy's losses amounted to up to 95 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, one U.S.-made M777 artillery system, and one D-30 howitzer.

In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces repelled six attacks launched by AFU assault groups close to Rabotino and Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

In addition, air strikes and artillery fire struck the personnel and hardware of AFU 33rd, 65th mechanised brigades close to Uspenovka and Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy's losses amounted to up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two pickups, one U.S.-made M777 artillery system, and one D-20 howitzer.

In Kherson direction, as a result of the Russian Group of Forces' actions, aviation, and artillery the AFU lost up to 105 Ukrainian troops, seven motor vehicles, and one D-20 howitzer.

?? Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Groups of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit the following facilities: one UAV Training and Application Centre in Zaporozhye region, one air-delivered ordnance depot in Kirovograd region, one P-18 radar station for detecting and tracking air targets near Lozovoye (Kherson region), as well as manpower and military hardware in 106 areas.

Russian air defence systems have shot down one Mi-8 helicopter of Ukrainian Air Force near Tyaginka (Kherson region).

One MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down near Peresadovka (Nikolayev region).

In addition, two HARM anti-radiation missiles and eight HIMARS missiles have been intercepted over the past 24 hours.

Thirty eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted near Shipilovka, Nyrkovo, Belogorovka (Lugansk People's Republic), Gorlovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Novofyodorovka (Zaporozhye region), Skadovsk and Sofiyevka (Kherson region).

In total, 545 airplanes and 256 helicopters, 9,348 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 air defence missile systems, 13,735 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,187 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 7,214 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 15,831 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.





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Iran Still Top Terror Sponsor; IS Still A Threat In Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan, U.S. Says

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

Iran remained the leading state sponsor of global terrorism last year, involved in backing terrorist recruitment, financing, and plotting across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the U.S. State Department said in its 2022 Country Reports On Terrorism released on December 1.

In the Middle East, Iran continued to back Hizballah, designated a terrorist group by Washington in 1997, the report said, adding that it also provided weapons systems to Hamas and other U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist groups, including Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

"These groups were behind numerous deadly attacks originating in Gaza and the West Bank," the report said.

Tehran also provided support to extremist groups in Bahrain, Iraq, and Syria, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to provide support to terrorist organizations with the aim to create instability in the region, the report said.

Iran increasingly encouraged and plotted attacks against the United States, including against former U.S. officials, in retaliation for the death of Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in 2022 that it had disrupted an IRGC-QF-led plot to assassinate former national-security adviser John Bolton and arrested an Iranian accused of planning the killing.

In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the report says that members of Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State group, and regional terrorist groups remained active in 2022, despite the Taliban committing to prevent extremists from using the country to conduct attacks against the United States and its allies after the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in August 2021.

The Taliban's capacity to stop elements from Al-Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan -- an IS splinter -- or Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from mounting external operations from the Afghan territory "remained unclear," the report said.

Islamic State-Khorasan in 2022 continued to conduct terrorist attacks against the Taliban and Afghan civilians, in particular against members of the Shi'ite community as well as cross-border attacks in Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The report mentions that "the United States has not yet decided whether to recognize the Taliban or any other entity as the government of Afghanistan," and says the Taliban hosted and sheltered Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Kabul before his death in a U.S. air strike in July last year.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-terror-afghanistan- taliban/32709845.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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Second Place: South Korea Puts First Spy Satellite in Orbit Following North's Launch

Sputnik News

20231201

Fantine Gardinier

The South Korean Defense Ministry is preparing to place its first reconnaissance satellite in Earth's orbit, an official told reporters on Friday. The launch comes just days after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), their rivals to the north, launched their own spy satellite.

The satellite, domestically built, was launched on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The device is set to orbit between 400 kilometers and 600 kilometers up, and is capable of detecting an object as small as 30 centimeters, according to South Korean media. Seoul plans to launch four more devices by the end of 2025.

"Until now, South Korea has relied heavily on US-run spy satellites" when it comes to monitoring the DPRK, Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University in Wonju, told French media.

While the South has "succeeded in the launch of a military communications satellite, it has taken much longer for a reconnaissance satellite due to higher technological hurdles," he said.

Choi added that after the North launched its own satellite last month, "the South Korean government needs to demonstrate it can also pull this off."

However, a key difference is that while South Korea has had to use an American rocket to launch its satellite, due to limitations on its ballistic missile program put in place by Washington, the DPRK used its own rocket.

Moscow-based military expert Alexey Leonkov told Sputnik earlier this week that this had made the DPRK "a member of the club of space powers," an elite group of spacefaring nations to which South Korea could only "conditionally" be included.

"South Korea most likely belongs to the states that do not have their own spaceports and use the services of spaceports of other states. And after the launch of such a satellite, North Korea entered not just the club of space powers, but the club of those powers that have military reconnaissance satellites," he said.

Called Malligyong-1, the satellite was launched on November 21 on a Chollima-1 carrier rocket from the Sohae Satellite Space Launching Station on the country's western coast. According to observers, the rocket bore a resemblance to the Soviet Union's Zenit rocket. However, the United States accused Pyongyang of using the launch as an excuse to advance its ballistic missile program, which the United Nations has sanctioned, claiming they violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Pyongyang withdrew from the treaty in 2003.

To test out the new satellite, the DPRK photographed key military and command sites in the US and its allies, including the White House and bases in Virginia, Japan, and elsewhere.

Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea and a key spokesperson for the North Korean government, blasted American hypocrisy in its response to the launch, noting the US has threatened the DPRK with attack since the 1953 ceasefire.

"The whole course of the open meeting of the UNSC over the DPRK's reconnaissance satellite launch, convened at the gangster-like demand of the US and its followers, clearly proves how weak, false and absurd are the unreasonable arguments of some UN member states denying the DPRK's sovereign rights," Kim said on Wednesday.

The 1950-53 war, which caused widespread devastation across both North and South Korea, only ended in a ceasefire, not a permanent peace treaty, allowing 28,000 US troops to remain in South Korea and for American commanders to retain control over South Korean forces in wartime. Pyongyang has said it needs nuclear weapons and advanced missiles as a deterrent against attack in the absence of peace.



A Sputnik

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Russia's 15th Launch in One Year: Progress MS-25 Soars to ISS From Baikonur

Sputnik News

20231201

This first winter launch of 2023 is the fourth Russian cargo ship to reach the ISS this year and the 15th Russian rocket launched this year.

Russia's space agency has made its 15th rocket launch this year a carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-25 cargo spacecraft to the ISS was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch broadcasted by Roscosmos.

In less than nine minutes, the rocket placed the spacecraft in low Earth orbit. After separation from the third stage, the spacecraft will begin an autonomous flight to the ISS. Docking is scheduled for 11:15 GMT on December 3. The spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit for 179 days.

The new ship will carry more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, including fuel, drinking water, nitrogen, resource equipment, food and medical and hygiene supplies.

In addition, the Progress MS-25 carries equipment for conducting scientific experiments a in particular, an incubator for studying embryo development of quail eggs in zero-gravity conditions a and equipment for corrosion research to be installed in open space.

Before the launch, the rocket was decorated with images commemorating the 35th anniversary of the flight of the Buran reusable spacecraft a the soviet space shuttle a on November 15 1988, along with Decade of Science and Technology declared in Russia for 2022-2031, and the "Games of the Future" tournament to be held in Russia's Kazan in 2024.

In addition, the fairing of the Soyuz-2.1a was decorated with a poster commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth on August 29 1923 of Alexander Maximov, the first head of the Main Directorate for Space Units of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

As a senior military officer, Maximov supervised the development of the R-7 rocket at the OKB-1 design bureau (now RSC Energia), served as secretary of the state commission during the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, and took part in the launch of the first manned spacecraft crewed by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Under Maximov's leadership, the GLONASS system was tested and the Buran reusable spacecraft was developed.

The ISS is currently crewed by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronauts Loral O'Hara and Jasmine Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.





A Sputnik

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I watched Matt Rife's crowd work on TikTok and found him charming and funny. After watching his new Netflix special, which has caused him to be widely and sharply criticized, I regret giving him my attention. If you don't know who Matt Rife is, consider yourself lucky. Vox has a great quick primer on his Netflix show and how it went so quickly off the rails:

Rife's opening joke  in which he makes fun of a woman experiencing domestic violence with the punchline, "I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn't have that black eye"  is the one getting all the attention, but it can't be overstated that the entire show is a bomb. The domestic violence joke is part of a larger distasteful joke about how "ratchet" the city of Baltimore is (Rife, who is white, leans heavily on AAVE throughout his work). He follows this up with a long section mocking women for beliefs in pseudoscience, portraying this trend, bafflingly, as something only women are into, and something that seems to give him carte blanche to make fun of all women. ("You are in complete control of how your future turns out," he insists, while scolding women for believing in "crystals.") Then there's a deeply cringe extended segment about children with intellectual disabilities, including a terrible joke allegedly stolen almost verbatim from the late comedian Ralphie May. This is followed by a straightforwardly homophobic riff teleported in from the '90s about (gay) monsters in the closet. If you can make it through all that you're treated to  a long description of Rife masturbating in the shower. And so it goes. None of it is remotely funny, and the reaction from the public has been overwhelmingly negative. Currently on Rotten Tomatoes, just 16 percent of the audience gave Natural Selection a favorable review, with the word "unfunny" popping up again and again in user reactions. Rife responded by liking tweets from people coming to his defense, even if their defenses only made him look worse. He also responded, more publicly, by doubling down on the offensiveness. On November 20, Rife posted a response to the backlash in an Instagram Story: "If you've ever been offended by a joke I've told  here's a link to my official apology." The link, which read, "Tap to solve your problem," led to a link to purchase a protective helmet for children with special needs. This response inevitably led to more backlash.

I somehow thought Rife couldn't get any worse than that awful response, but he has since doubled down, and now is fully becoming the darling of the manosphere that I guess he always aspired to be. He has recently sealed his fate by appearing on the Jordan Peterson show. Episode 401, which was posted yesterday, is called "Rife For Cancellation," and is described this way on Peterson's YouTube:

Dr. Jordan B Peterson sits down in-person with recently "canceled" comedian Matt Rife. They discuss the incident in question, his viral response, the prominence of crowd work in his act, his early career start at the age of 15, the innovative use of social media to build his name, and the real reason he remains unapologetic for having a sense of humor. Matthew Steven Rife was born in 1995 and is an American stand up comedian and actor. He started early, entering a school talent show at the age of 14 after being encouraged by a friend. Finding this to be a success, he went professional the next year at age 15. Using TikTok, he managed to consistently go viral with his stand up and "red flag" crowd work. He then entered the arena full time, using social media to grow his name before producing three straight-to-YouTube comedy specials from 2021 to 2023. This year, he debuted his first Netflix special, "Natural Selection."

If you know anything about Peterson, then you already know exactly how this interview goesthey deride "cancel culture," they praise "free speech," and they even make appeals to evolutionary biology to discuss masculinity, gender, and "sneaky rape" (because of course they do). Watch here, if you must.
December 1, 2023

Release

Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Meeting With Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles at Moffett Field in California today to discuss growing defense and security cooperation between the United States and Australia.

They discussed defense technology and industrial collaboration, force posture initiatives, and other areas of deepening cooperation. They also discussed shared global security challenges, including the PLA's pattern of coercive and risky operational behavior in the South and East China Seas, as well as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The officials met together later in the day with their counterpart from the United Kingdom, the Right Honourable Grant Shapps, to discuss the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Security Partnership (AUKUS).

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3604612/

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Belarus ratifies memorandum on joining Shanghai Cooperation Organization

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 10:09, December 01, 2023

MINSK, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a memorandum on the country's commitment to becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), according to a document published on the National Legal Internet Portal of Belarus on Wednesday.

According to the document, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus will be instructed to take all necessary measures to "formalize Belarus' participation in the memorandum."

The bill on the ratification of the memorandum was approved by the Belarusian House of Representatives on Nov. 1, and by the Council of the Republic on Nov. 22, according to the BelTA news agency.

A memorandum of Belarus' commitment to join the SCO as a permanent member was originally signed by member countries at the recent SCO summit that took place in New Delhi in July.

The memorandum requires Belarus to comply with the goals and principles enshrined in the SCO Charter, Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as international treaties and documents adopted within the SCO framework.

The SCO was established in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan were admitted as full members in June 2017 and Iran in July 2023.

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Xi inspects command office for East China Sea area of China Coast Guard

Global Times

By Xinhua Published: Dec 01, 2023 06:02 PM

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed improving the capability of protecting maritime rights and carrying out maritime law enforcement.

He heard a briefing about the work of the command office and watched coast guard vessels carrying out their missions via video link.

Xi stressed effective maritime law enforcement and resolute protection of China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Efforts should be made to improve the mechanism of coordination in maritime law enforcement, crack down on offshore crimes, safeguard the sound development of the marine economy, engage in international exchanges and cooperation in maritime law enforcement, and actively take part in international and regional ocean governance, he said.

Xi also urged solid efforts to raise the level of command office building and stressed the need to comprehensively strengthen Party building to ensure political integrity.

Senior military official He Weidong took part in the inspection.

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China, Vietnam reach consensus on pushing cooperation in next level

Global Times

By Zhang Han, Zhang Yuying and Xing Xiaojing Published: Dec 01, 2023 10:23 PM

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Friday met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi during a two-day visit as part of frequent bilateral interactions.

Wang, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister, said that China and Vietnam share the same aspiration and destiny, which is the most distinctive feature of bilateral relations. China appreciates that Vietnam consistently regards its relationship with China as a strategic choice and top priority in its foreign policy, and China also considers its relationship with Vietnam as a priority in its neighboring diplomacy.

On the basis of 15 years of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, it came about naturally that the two sides reached a consensus on upgrading bilateral relations. This is in line with the common aspirations and interests of both countries, and also conducive to regional and global peace and development, opening up a brighter future for bilateral relations, Wang said.

Wang on Friday also co-chaired the 15th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang. The two reached a series of consensus on promoting cooperation in various fields in the next stage.

According to Voice of Vietnam, the two sides agreed to enhance the efficiency of economic, trade, and investment cooperation; promote traffic connections, especially in the fields of railways, roads, and border gate infrastructure; and improve customs clearance efficiency to maintain smooth trade, and ensure production and supply chains.

Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute at the Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Friday that China and Vietnam, both socialist countries led by Communist parties, have maintained close political, economic and cultural exchanges.

Nguyen was the first foreign leader to visit China after the 20th National Congress of the CPC in October 2022.

Observers expect the visit by Wang to consolidate bilateral consensus and pave the way for the two countries to further develop bilateral relations and yield substantial, mutually beneficial fruits.

Steady cooperation

Pan Jin'e, research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that the mature mutual-visit mechanisms between China and Vietnam, after being disrupted during the pandemic, have gradually returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Since the China visit by Nguyen in October 2022, China and Vietnam have maintained close and frequent meetings at various levels.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited China in June 2023 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang. The two also had a warm dialogue on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in September.

Tran visited China in August to attend the 7th China-South Asia Expo where he met with Wang Yi. The two sides agreed to continue to leverage the cooperative mechanisms, coordinate efforts to advance collaboration in various fields, and propel the bilateral relationship toward the goal of building a community with a shared future between the two countries.

The Chinese and Vietnamese navies concluded the 35th joint patrol in the Beibu Gulf recently, China Military Online reported Wednesday. After the joint patrol, the two sides conducted joint drills on search and rescue, communication, among other fields.

Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Pham met in late November in Ho Chi Minh City and exchanged views on subjects such as trade settlement in local currencies and railway connectivity.

Pan saw concrete cooperation programs as substantial progress made following agreements in principle made between the two countries last year.

Observers also agreed on the potential of bilateral trade, which has already made notable achievements. China is Vietnam's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $234.9 billion in 2022. Vietnam has become China's biggest trading partner among the 10 ASEAN members, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Gu predicted that more quality agricultural products will be able to enter the Chinese market and the two countries also have great potential to cooperate on infrastructure.

Infrastructure is a bottleneck for Vietnam's economic growth. It is in need of better railway connectivity, while China has technological and financial advantages, Gu said, adding that the success of the China-Laos Railway has been a stimulus for Vietnam to enhance railway cooperation with China.

Ge Hongliang, deputy director of the College of ASEAN Studies at Guangxi University for Nationalities, added that China and Vietnam can also jointly ensure the stability of supply chains and boost regional economy.

Analysts refuted narratives that sowed discord between China and Vietnam, claiming they are competing on supply chains amid industrial transfers. "The trend is a natural industrial upgrade and results of market principles. Indeed many Chinese companies are investing in Vietnam," Ge said.

In the first half of 2023, China poured nearly $1.3 billion into 233 projects in Vietnam, becoming the third largest foreign direct Investment (FDI) source country after Singapore and Japan. Currently, China is in sixth position out of 143 countries and regions investing in Vietnam with 3,791 valid projects valued at more than $25 billion, VOV reported Friday.

Managing divergences

As for the hype by some Western media that Vietnam is shifting away from China, given Hanoi's upgrade of relations with Washington and Tokyo to "comprehensive strategic partnership," observers said this is an exaggeration of China-Vietnam differences and a trick aimed at luring Vietnam to contain China, or at least an attempt to depict it.

Vietnam has the realistic need to maintain a diverse and autonomous diplomacy, properly handle ties with major powers and neighboring countries, particularly against the backdrop of complexity and uncertainty in geopolitics and globalization, according to experts.

A true risk point between China and Vietnam lies in the disputes over the South China Sea, which is also casting a shadow over regional security and stability, Ge said, citing Vietnam's accelerating expansion of construction and intention to complicate the South China Sea issue by making it an international one.

But analysts agreed that so far, the two countries have been successful in restricting the scale of disputes, preventing them from impacting the big picture of bilateral relations.

The territorial dispute may take a very long time to resolve, so it is important to manage it well at present, preventing the divergence from widening and countries outside the region, like the US, from exploiting it, Gu said.

Ge described the territorial disputes as an "undercurrent," which has not yet posed a major challenge to the situation in the South China Sea or to bilateral relations.

The pattern of inter-party relations guiding the development of bilateral relations, including managing differences and promoting cooperation, is quite significant, the expert said.

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China's Wing Loong drones to see more applications, become more intelligent: chief designer

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun in Beijing and Fan Wei in Zigong Published: Dec 01, 2023 09:14 PM

China's domestically developed Wing Loong unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are expected to expand their applications and become more intelligent, the aircraft's developer recently told the Global Times.

At a time when rapidly developing drones are being underlined by countries around the world, China's Wing Loong series of drones is exploring an innovative development path, as it has performed outstandingly in overseas markets and carried out several major domestic emergency rescue missions.

In a recent media visit to a UAS production and test flight facility under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) in Zigong, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Global Times reporter saw medium-to-high altitude, long endurance drones including the Wing Loong-1 and the Wing Loong-2 just wrap up their general assembly, painted with letters "China Emergency" and "China Meteorology." As powerful aerial technology platforms, Wing Loong drones are being used in fields that will safeguard people's lives and property, opening a new path for drones' innovative applications.

The applications of the Wing Loong series drones are still expanding, Li Yidong, chief designer at AVIC UAS, told the Global Times.

In the future, the drones will integrate with new technologies including 5G+, industrial internet, artificial intelligence and big data, and promote more highly efficient applications in more fields together with the whole industrial chain, such as scientific investigation, mapping and logistics, Li said.

Recently, low-cost drones have seen innovative applications and reshaped people's understanding of them. But Li said that these small, inexpensive, easy-to-make drones cannot replace medium and large fixed wing drones.

Li said that there will be technical differentiation, and that different genres of drones will have different applications.

Most of the Wing Loong series of drones are medium altitude, long endurance drones, but taking into consideration factors including market demand and technological development, the Wing Loong series will expand with more members and with more varieties, Li said.

Compared with their foreign counterparts, the Wing Loong drones have obvious technical advantages in terms of long endurance, customization, and support, as they are reliable, have strong environmental adaptability and are expandable, Li said, noting that the Wing Loong drones have won praise from foreign and domestic customers thanks to their performance and cost efficiency.

Drone technologies are expected to see further enhancements in intelligentization, as they will move from remote control and program control to fully autonomous control, Li said.

The intelligentization of future drones will be reflected in target recognition, situational awareness, mission planning and autonomous flight, or even intelligent maintenance, the chief designer said.

New forms of drone industries are also expected, as drones develop toward directions including low cost, high production rate, new energy technologies, near space and super long endurance, Li said.

Another new potential field is single drones being used in multiple missions by carrying different payloads, including for topographic mapping, environment monitoring, technical tests, target indication, damage assessment, early warning, communications, relaying and networking as well as data service, Li said.

Yan Jiazhi, a technology expert at AVIC UAS, told the Global Times that unmanned equipment is expected to be infused with artificial intelligence and assist humans in their missions by sharing their workload, but the decisive factor remains with humans, not machines.

Human intervention is indispensable in missions, particularly when the final decision is to be made, so the scenario in which artificial intelligence makes misjudgments can be avoided, Yan said.

Drones and piloted aircraft usually complement each other, as they have their own advantages in different missions and environments, Yan said, noting that the manned-unmanned integration and hybrid application will play a key role in promoting the development of the aviation industry.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on December 1, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

2023-12-01 18:58

Reuters: Kyodo News has reported that a reporter for South China Morning Post who traveled to Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum from Hong Kong last month has not been reachable for several weeks. Kyodo citing people close to the matter said this reporter may be under investigation by mainland authorities. Is there anything that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to offer regarding this situation?

Wang Wenbin: I'm not aware of that.

Global Times: We noted that the OECD Economic Outlook issued recently revised up China's growth forecasts for this year and the next, expecting China to grow at 5.2 percent this year. China will remain a main driver for economic growth in the Asia-Pacific and the world. What is your comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: We noted that recently many international organizations and financial institutions have revised up China's growth forecast for this year. Aside from the OECD, the IMF has increased the forecast to 5.4 percent, and many financial institutions such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, UBS, Deutsche Bank and ANZ have put it at 5 to 5.5 percent. It is widely believed that China is the biggest driver for the world economy and will contribute one third of global growth.

Since early this year, China has seen continued rebound in its economy, with leading growth rate among major economies, and substantive progress in high-quality development. The world has looked to the Chinese market for more opportunities. The sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) held last month saw the signing of tentative deals worth USD 78.41 billion, increasing by 6.7 percent compared with the previous CIIE. The second Global Digital Trade Expo witnessed the signing of projects with a total contract value of RMB 155.85 billion, surging by 316.7 percent from the first expo. The ongoing first China International Supply Chain Expo has attracted over 500 companies and institutions from both home and abroad. We welcome friends from the business communities of all countries to invest in China, explore China's market, and share in the new opportunities arising from China's high-quality development and high-level opening up.

Reuters: Argentina's incoming Foreign Minister Diana Mondino on Thursday said the country will not join the BRICS grouping of developing nations. Has China reached out to the incoming Milei administration as the President-elect will be in power and have the final say over its BRICS membership?

Wang Wenbin: BRICS is an important platform for stronger solidarity and cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries to uphold common interest. It is an open platform. We welcome all countries that are interested to become a member of the BRICS family.

Shenzhen TV: According to reports, on November 29, many British visitors braved the bitter cold to bid farewell to giant pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian in Edinburgh, who will soon return to China. Many British people are reluctant to see the giant pandas go and care about whether China and the UK will continue to cooperate on giant pandas. What is your comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: Since launching the cooperation on giant panda conservation and research in 2011, China and the UK have maintained a sound cooperation relationship and achieved positive outcomes in the conservation and management, scientific research, technological exchange and public education regarding giant pandas. This has played an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and British peoples. In accordance with the terms in the cooperation agreement signed between China and the UK, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, the two giant pandas, will return to China after the agreement expire in December. The Chinese side has made good preparations to welcome them home. In the future, China stands ready to continue to strengthen cooperation with the UK and other international partners on the protection of endangered species and biodiversity and enhance the friendship between people in China and other countries in the world.

People's Daily: November 28 marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Europe Railway Express (Xi'an), which has seen over 20,000 trips, accounting for a quarter of all trips made under the Railway Express. How do you see the role played by the China-Europe Railway Express in promoting the economic development of countries along the routes?a

Wang Wenbin: Over the past decade, the China-Europe Railway Express has grown into a bustling network, contributing to keeping global industrial and supply chains stable and injecting new impetus into the world economic development. It has become a flagship project and a signature brand of Belt and Road cooperation.a

The Railway Express has built a new land transportation corridor, promoting win-win cooperation in Eurasia. It runs through more than 100 cities in 11 Asian countries and regions and reaches more than 200 cities in 25 European countries. Thanks to its development, the cargo transportation time between China and Europe can be shortened by more than 20 days from shipping by sea, which means quality products from China and Europe can reach each other's markets more quickly. Over the past decade, with strong demand for cross-border transport, a total of 81,000 trips were made under the Railway Express, covering over 700 million kilometers. It has shipped more than 7.6 million TEUs of goods worth over USD 340 billion, giving a strong boost to international economic and trade cooperation, promoting economic development and livelihood improvement in countries and regions along the routes, and contributing to the unfettered operation of global industrial and supply chains.

The China-Europe Railway Express is a vivid example of the steady progress in Belt and Road cooperation. With expanding sources of goods and more high-tech products, the Railway Express is transforming from featuring a simple corridor economy to a value-added one. It is benefiting countries and regions along the routes with high-quality development.

The China-Europe Railway Express originates from China, connects Asia and Europe, and benefits the whole world. President Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China will speed up high-quality development of the China-Europe Railway Express. China will continue to work with partners in Asia and Europe to usher in another decade of a two-way journey full of opportunities and to embrace a bright future of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

CCTV: France's Jacques Delors Institute recently released a report saying that for the EU, leveraging China to realize its own development is a necessary choice. The report called on the EU to always be rational on "de-risking", uphold a more rational and pragmatic China policy, and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation in energy, the green sector and technology. What's China's comment?

Wang Wenbin: We noted the report you mentioned which reflects that people with insights in Europe are positive about the prospect of growing China-EU relations and that the relationship enjoys solid foundation in the people.

China and the EU are partners, not rivals. China-EU cooperation should be a positive cycle that enables our mutual success, not a knock-out match which results in only one winner. Certain individuals selectively emphasize on competing aspects between China and the EU, deliberately overlook partnerships and hype up "de-risking" with China and reducing dependence on China. Such misconception on China not only will reinforce misunderstanding and erode mutual trust, but also goes against the EU's long-held position of upholding free trade and WTO rules and disrupts the growth of China-EU relations, which does not serve any one's interests.

China believes that the risk that we need to get rid of the most is confrontation and rivalry caused by politicizing all issues and the dependence that needs to be reduced the most is the act of resorting to protectionism. China and the EU are important parts of the global industrial and supply chains and staunch force in building an open world economy. We hope that the EU side can listen to rational voices, steer clear of politicizing all issues or overstretching the concept of security, and work with China to maintain two-way opening up instead of erecting walls and barriers, promote trade and investment liberalization instead of trade protectionism, create a fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory business environment for companies of both sides, advance sound and steady growth of China-EU relationship and inject more stability and certainty for a volatile and turbulent world.

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In China, 1 in 5 could face severe drought, UN data says

Globally, hundreds of millions will suffer extreme drought conditions if temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius.

By Subel Rai Bhandari 2023.12.01 -- Droughts intensified by global warming, described as "an unprecedented emergency on a planetary scale," will impact billions of people with dire consequences, including food shortages and famine, said a U.N. report released Friday at the outset of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

About 15-20% of the population in China will face more frequent extreme-to-exceptional droughts in the 21st century, according to the report "Global Drought Snapshot."

"By the end of the century, the duration of moderate, severe and exceptional droughts in some regions of China will double, and the drought intensity will increase by over 80%," said the report.

"Few if any hazard claims more lives, causes more economic loss and affects more sectors of societies than drought," it said.

Globally, 170 million people are expected to experience extreme drought if average global temperatures rise 3 degrees Celsius (37.4 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels, which is what the current global warming rates suggest.

It is 50 million more than expected if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees F), according to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), one of three Conventions that originated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The other two address climate change (UNFCCC) and biodiversity (UN CBD).

Silent disasters

While other climate impacts such as heatwaves, wildfires, and floods often hit the headlines, droughts are often silent disasters, the report said, and "the massive impacts of human-induced droughts are only starting to unfold."

"Several countries already experience climate-change-induced famine," said the UNCD report. "Forced migration surges globally; violent water conflicts are on the rise; the ecological base that enables all life on Earth is eroding more quickly than at any time in known human history."

Though parts of China grappled with floods, extensive regions experienced soaring temperatures and scant rainfall.

In southern China, the Yangtze River, influenced by drought and extended periods of heat, reached historically low water levels, impacting nearly 5 million people over the past year.

This weather pattern led to a significant drop in water levels in China's rivers, adversely impacting hydroelectric power generation and river transportation. A report has estimated insured losses from these events to be approximately US$8.4 billion.

China manipulating weather

The UNCCD report also said China has used various techniques to manipulate the weather, including massive cloud seeding operations, but did not give more details.

In 2017, a Chinese military contractor planned to modify Tibetan Plateau weather, potentially shifting 5-10 billion cubic meters (176.5-353.2 billion cubic feet) of rainfall to northern China, "with unknown impacts on local residents and global climate," the report said.

The report highlights that those with the least responsibility for causing the climate crisis are the most vulnerable: 85% of individuals impacted by droughts reside in low- or middle-income countries.

Between 2010 and 2020, highly vulnerable regions faced a 15-fold increased risk of fatalities from floods, droughts, and storms compared to areas with very low vulnerability, it said.

Another recent study concluded that the severe droughts that have devastated the populations of Syria, Iraq, and Iran since 2020 are directly attributable to human-induced global warming.

'Transformational change needed'

Scientists have said without climate change, record-breaking droughts taking place more frequently would have been projected to occur only once every four centuries.

"Unlike other disasters that attract media attention, droughts happen silently, often going unnoticed and failing to provoke an immediate public and political response," said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw in a statement.

"With the frequency and severity of drought events increasing, as reservoir levels dwindle and crop yields decline, as we continue to lose biological diversity and famines spread, transformational change is needed."

The UNCCD said that improved farming techniques, including drought-resistant crops, efficient irrigation methods, and no-till farming, can potentially diminish the adverse effects of drought on farmers' crop yields and incomes.

On Friday, the second day of COP28, more than 100 global leaders, including the U.S. and China, have committed to prioritizing eco-friendly agriculture in their climate strategies, marking a significant announcement acknowledging the relationship between climate change and food production.

The Emirates Declaration, signed by 134 countries, involves reducing emissions from agriculture, which accounts for approximately one-third of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, by transitioning toward more sustainable production and consumption practices.

Edited by Joshua Lipes.

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North Korean 'stormtroopers' are ill-equipped for harsh winter weather

The soldiers were sent north to build houses in the fall, but will have to stay through winter without warm clothes.

By Moon Sung Hui for RFA Korean 2023.12.01 -- North Korean soldiers who were sent to rugged rural areas to build homes in the summer and fall are staying on to do more work in the winter, but the army is not equipping them with adequate clothing to brave the harsh winter elements, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.

The North Korean military maintains units of construction workers that it calls "stormtroopers," and it uses them for free labor on state projects. When they arrived to start work in the far northern province of Ryanggang, near the border with China, it was still summer, and they were dressed for the heat.

But now that temperatures are plunging well below freezing, the stormtroopers are scrambling to find any warm clothing they can, they have earned the nickname "Kotjebi unit," residents said, a reference to the homeless children who beg on the streets of many North Korean cities.

The military in the area is giving the soldiers whatever they have to spare, a resident of the province told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"On Oct. 20, the clothes that border guards had worn and discarded last winter were distributed to the stormtroopers," he said. "They say it is discarded underwear and cotton clothing, but in reality, it's nothing more than rags."

The stormtroopers were brought together and ordered to go to Ryanggang in July this year, the resident said.

"Initially, the stormtroopers were scheduled to build houses in the rural areas of Ryanggang Province by the fall of this year and withdraw around mid-October," he said. "They did not even dream of preparing for winter."

The stormtroopers completed their assignment in September, and there was a large move-in event as rural residents entered their new homes on Oct. 5, the resident said.

"However, after the construction job [was completed], the withdrawal date was postponed to the end of this year as new rural road maintenance projects, communal livestock projects and reforestation projects were proposed," he said.

Though they arrived in summer clothes, the military has only so far provided them with work shoes and used winter cotton clothes used by local soldiers, the resident said.

"With that level of supply, it will be difficult to survive until the end of December when their withdrawal is scheduled," he said.

'Struggle for survival'

Temperatures in Ryanggang have fallen to around minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit), another resident of the province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

"The stormtroopers who were mobilized to build rural homes are not working according to a set plan but are engaged in a fierce struggle for survival in the cold," the second resident said.

He said that in addition to the lack of winter clothing, the stormtroopers are also not receiving adequate food.

"The meal that these stormtroopers eat is a mixture of 60% potatoes and 40% corn kernels," he said. "The soup is salt water with salted cabbage loosely floating in it, and the side dishes are salted cabbage and salted radish."

The soldiers are being housed not in barracks, but in empty offices and daycare centers, the second resident said.

"The stormtroopers, who must work hard without much rest, are unable to even bathe or do laundry due to the constant shortage of firewood," he said. "Rural residents say that the living conditions of the stormtroopers are worse than those of prisoners in disciplinary labor camps."

Survivors of the camps have described horrific conditions while incarcerated in such camps.

Though the situation of the stormtroopers is likely nowhere near as bad, that the comparison is being made suggests a deployment many of the soldiers will want to end sooner rather than later.

"The stormtroopers are looking forward to the day when they will finish the rural housing construction project in mid-December and return home," the second resident said.

"They will return home and rest from the end of December to mid-January of the following year, and then they will return to the rural areas of Ryanggang Province from January 20th to take on next year's construction tasks."

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

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 December 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, allies impose sanctions on N Korea following satellite launch

The move comes after Pyongyang last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite.

By Taejun Kang for RFA 2023.12.01 -- The United States has announced that it imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea following its launch of a spy satellite last week and on designated foreign-based agents it accused of assisting Pyongyang in evading sanctions in order to acquire technology and revenue for its weapons of mass destruction program.

The U.S. also applied sanctions to cyber espionage group Kimsuky, accusing it of collecting intelligence to bolster North Korea's strategic and nuclear ambitions, according to a statement by the U.S. Treasury Department on Nov. 30.

Washington's move, which was coordinated with Australia, Japan, and South Korea, follows North Korea's successful launch of its first reconnaissance satellite last week. Pyongyang has stated that the purpose of the satellite was to monitor the military activities of the U.S. and South Korea.

The launch drew international condemnation as it violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit such launches by the North. The rocket technology can also be used for ballistic missiles, which potentially could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

After the launch, the North claimed that its spy satellite captured images of significant U.S. locations, including the White House, without releasing images, while its ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song defended the country's launch of the satellite.

"Today's actions by the United States, Australia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea reflect our collective commitment to contesting Pyongyang's illicit and destabilizing activities," Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement, referring to South Korea by its official name.

"We will remain focused on targeting these key nodes in the DPRK's illicit revenue generation and weapons proliferation," Nelson added, calling North Korea by the initials of its official name.

South Korea's foreign ministry announced on Friday that 11 North Koreans were sanctioned and prohibited from engaging in financial transactions due to their involvement in the country's satellite and ballistic missile development.

Separately, Japan's foreign ministry also said on the same day that it sanctioned four organizations, including the hacking group Kimsuky, and five individuals for their involvement in North Korea's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction programs or activities prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Kimsuky, under North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau or RGB, has been active since 2012, according to the Treasury.

"Although Kimsuky is primarily an intelligence collection entity, its cyber espionage campaigns directly support the DPRK's strategic and nuclear ambitions," said the Treasury in the statement.

"Kimsuky primarily uses spear-phishing to target individuals employed by government, research centers, think tanks, academic institutions, and news media organizations, including entities in Europe, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States," it added.

In this scheme, the attacker poses as a reporter or a think tank analyst to collect intelligence, including by asking experts and academics to answer questions on topics related to North Korea, Radio Free Asia reported in March. Often the attackers pretend to be people who are well-known in their field to develop rapport with others in the field before asking them to provide strategic analysis on specific subjects.

"Kimsuky employs social engineering to collect intelligence on geopolitical events, foreign policy strategies, and diplomatic efforts affecting its interests by gaining illicit access to the private documents, research, and communications of their targets," the Treasury said.

Apart from the hacking group, the Treasury also imposed sanctions on Iran and China-based representatives of U.S. and U.N.-designated Green Pine, a trading company controlled by the RGB for overseas sales of North Korean weapons, two Russia-based representatives of North Korean banks and one China-based official for assisting the North's overseas transactions.

Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

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 December 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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17th Politburo Meeting of 8th C.C., WPK Held

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, December 2 (KCNA) -- The 17th Meeting of the Political Bureau of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) took place at the office building of the WPK Central Committee on December 1.

Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, attended the meeting.

Present there were members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee.

The meeting discussed the issue of convening the 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee.

Jo Yong Won, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary for Organizational Affairs of the WPK Central Committee, presided over the meeting.

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee appreciated that brilliant and encouraging successes have been achieved in attaining the major goals of the Party and state policies, set forth at the Eighth Congress of the WPK and plenary meetings of the WPK Central Committee, this year, thanks to the wise leadership of the respected General Secretary and great enthusiasm of all Party members and other people, and discussed the major agenda items to be discussed at the 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee.

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee adopted with unanimous approval a resolution on convening the 9th Plenary Meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee late in December.

The respected General Secretary said that the overall state work is being dynamically promoted with firm purposefulness for development and vigor, as evidenced by markedly stable and constant trend of growth of the national economy, great progress made in agriculture and construction and the epoch-making changes of great significance in bolstering up the national defence capability in particular.

Referring to the measures to be taken to correctly establish a plan for the next year after scientifically examining and diagnosing the experience and lessons accumulated this year, he called upon all the sectors and units to add to their strong spirit of advance and successfully conclude the significant year 2023.

At the meeting assignment was given for the plenary meeting preparations. -0-

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George Santos, the former Long Island U.S. Representative facing numerous charges of fraud, etc., is on the warpath after being expelled from Congress yesterday in a rare bipartisan vote. He's now accused fellow New York Republican Nicole Malliotakis of illegal things (and, obliquely, of being in the closet), promised ethics complaints against New Jersey Representative Rob Menendez (son of the indicted Democratic U.S. Senator with the same name), issued a campaign finance complaint against Rep. Mike Lawler, and promises more to come.

"Congressman Lawler owns portion of Checkmate Strategies and he uses the same firm that he is a beneficiary of to pay for services related to his campaign," Santos wrote on social media, part of an extensive thread taking aim at his new targets. "The concerning questions are; is Mr Lawler engaging in laundering money form his campaign to his firm then into his own pocket? I will let the Office of Congressional Ethics be the judge of that."

The internet is erupting with joy at the prospect of Santos bringing the House down on his way out the door. Who does not suspect that there are many congresspersons engaged in shady business, after all? Some of it is in the open, especially stock trading on insider informationan explicit exemption from the law that members of Congress enjoy. The hope that by making a meal of George Santos, they've given him an opportunity to unravel rackets that even prosecutors can't touch.

But here's the thing, readers. There's a problem with George. It's the problem that got him his donors and his seat. It's the problem that led to his downfall, a problem that all should bear in mind before they get too enthusiastic about his disclosures now: George Santos lies.

He does it constantly. He lies bigly. He lies in small and seemingly irrelevant ways. If something he says is true, it is out of lucky coincidence between bullshit and the facts. If he knew any of this were true he would have used it when and where it could help him, instead of dumping in a fit of narcissistic rage on Twitter.

Still, here's hoping!
Iran: Statement by the Spokesperson on the latest executions

European External Action Service (EEAS)

01.12.2023

EEAS Press Team

There are credible reports that a minor, Hamidreza Azari, and a protester, Milad Zohrevand, were executed in Iran on November 24 and 23 respectively.

The current pace of executions in Iran, at least 600 since January, is appalling. The European Union reiterates its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. It is a definite punishment that makes possible miscarriages of justice irreversible.

Additionally, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a party, prohibits in absolute terms the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18.

The European Union calls on Iran once again to refrain from any future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of capital punishment in line with the worldwide trend.



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Navy commander: Iran, Russia, China to hold joint naval exercise

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Dec 1, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani announced the holding of a joint naval exercise between Iran, Russia and China.

"The countries of Pakistan, Brazil, Oman, India, South Africa and some neighboring countries in the Caspian Sea have also been invited as observers," Rear Admiral Irani said.

He went on to say that the main phase of the country's largest maritime area will be operated in Jask region in the ten-day-dawn and heavy units with high capacity will be deployed in this area by the end of the year.

"Considering the increase in the number of heavy vessels in the country, we plan to create a larger maritime area in the Konark area," Rear Admiral Irani said.

Referring to the reaction of the countries of the region to Deylaman destroyer, Rear Admiral Irani said the reaction of the countries of the Caspian Sea region to the presence of the destroyer Deylaman was positive.

He stated that the volume of commercial exchanges in the Caspian Sea and the view of the maritime economy as well as shipping in the Caspian Sea have changed, and stated that the construction of the Deylaman destroyer can also help Iran's commercial sector.

He stressed that if Iran can build a destroyer, building a commercial ship will definitely not be a problem.

2050

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Iran dismisses 'misleading' E3 statement on its missile program

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 5:16 PM

Iran has dismissed a "misleading, politically motivated" statement issued by Britain, France, and Germany regarding the unveiling of the Fattah-2 missile.

In a statement on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said claims by the European trio, also known as the E3, about the Iranian missile lack legal basis.

He said all UN Security Council restrictions on Iran's missile program have been terminated as of October 18 under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Therefore, the E3 claims against Iran's missile program are unacceptable and illegal, Kan'ani said.

In their statement on Thursday, the E3 condemned the unveiling of a new ballistic missile variant by Iran on November 19 and said Iran continues to develop its missile program despite repeated international calls to halt it.

The three European parties to the JCPOA also accused Iran of playing a "destabilizing" role in the region and the world and announced that they would take "every diplomatic step to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons."

Kan'ani said the development of Iran's convenient missile capability pursues a deterrent goal in accordance with the country's defense needs.

Baseless allegations, the Iranian diplomat said, would in no way influence Iran's legitimate defense activities. Kana'ani advised the E3 to avoid leveling such allegations that would harm interaction between Tehran and Europe.

Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient. Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense.

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Outsiders in Strait of Hormuz after regional discord: IRGC

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 3:41 PM

The presence of extra-regional countries in the Strait of Hormuz merely aims to bring about friction among the Muslim nations of the region, says the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy.

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri was meeting with Oman's Brigadier Hamid bin Abdullah Al Balushi, the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Sultan's Armed Forces for Operations and Planning, in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Friday.

"The responsibility of ensuring security in the strategic Strait of Hormuz besets on the regional countries and the presence of foreigners is only aimed at sowing discord among the Muslim nations," Tangsiri said.

The IRGC commander said Iran has always sought to reinforce unity among Muslim nations. "It is imperative to support all Muslim nations and we do not differentiate between Shia and Sunni Muslims."

He said Tehran and Muscat enjoy deep-seated relations of cooperation. Tangsiri praised Oman's support for the eight-year war imposed by then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Iran.

On Thursday, the militaries of Iran and Oman staged a day-long joint naval rescue and relief exercise in the Strait of Hormuz and the northern tip of the Indian Ocean.

Tangsiri further said the young personnel of the IRGC naval forces have designed and manufactured unique vessels and made remarkable achievements in the production of missiles, drones and submarines, of which the enemies are only partially aware.

The Omani military commander said his country stands with Iran in efforts to boost regional security.

During the one-day drills, Iranian and Omani military forces managed to successfully implement various scenarios, showcasing their coordination.

The two countries have held several joint naval drills in recent years.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the Islamic Republic will not hesitate to build up its defense capabilities, emphasizing such abilities are entirely meant for the purpose of defense and will be never subject to negotiation.

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Iran, Oman stage joint naval exercise in Strait of Hormuz

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 8:38 AM

Iranian and Omani military forces have staged a day-long joint naval rescue and relief exercise in the Hormuz Strait and the northern tip of the Indian Ocean as the two neighbors move to build stronger relations.

Combat vessels and airborne units of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the Naval Division of the Border Police, the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, and the Royal Navy of Oman took part in the drills on Thursday.

The naval exercise was held in the presence of the heads of the joint military friendship commissions of the two countries.

The main goals of the naval drills were described as boosting combat readiness, and implementing bilateral agreements on maritime security.

Iranian drones carried out observation and monitoring operations in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Hormuz, and the country's reconnaissance aircraft made several sorties to survey all military and merchant vessels cruising in the vicinity of the area at the time.

Iranian and Omani military forces managed to successfully implement various scenarios during the joint drill, showcasing their coordination.

Moreover, the presence of Iranian homegrown destroyers Dena and Sahand alongside indigenous combat watercraft manifested the country's self-sufficiency in the defense industry.

Iranian and Omani military forces have held several joint naval drills in recent years.

Iran has staged joint naval exercises with other countries, including Pakistan and Russia, as well.

Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great progress in developing and manufacturing a broad range of military equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in this regard. Iran has also held several military units with the aim of testing its combat preparedness in face of possible threats.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the Islamic Republic will not hesitate to build up its defense capabilities, emphasizing such abilities are entirely meant for the purpose of defense and will be never subject to negotiations.

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Rights Group Says Iranian Political Prisoner From 1980s Has Been Executed

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda December 01, 2023

An Iranian human rights group has reported the execution of Geda Ali (Hormoz) Saber Motlaq, a political prisoner from the 1980s, and Kamran Rezaei, who was detained during nationwide protests in 2019, amid a jump in capital punishment by authorities in Tehran following unrest triggered by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.

The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights said Motlaq, 62, was initially arrested in the 1980s for affiliating with the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran and the alleged murder of an official of the Islamic republic. He was subsequently released due to insufficient evidence but was rearrested and sentenced to death after returning to Iran in 2020, despite a lack of concrete evidence against him.

The nature of the charges leading to Motlaq's execution, analysts say possibly Qesas (retributive justice) or for other accusations such as "Moharebeh" (enmity against God), remains unclear. He consistently denied any involvement in the alleged murder.

Rezaei, Iran Human Rights said, was hanged on November 30 in Shiraz Central Prison, and warned it expects more protesters to be executed.

"Political prisoners including protesters are at serious risk of execution," Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

"Further silence from the international community is not acceptable. The current leaders of the Islamic republic have a history of massacring political prisoners and committing crimes against humanity. It is only the high political cost from the international community that has prevented them from repeating these atrocities."

Rezaei, a political prisoner, was accused of the "premeditated murder" of a Basij paramilitary member and coerced under torture to confess.

Executions have jumped in Iran this year, according to rights groups and the United Nations.

Earlier in November, a UN report said executions jumped 30 percent in the first seven months of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying information received by the UN human rights office "consistently indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfil the requirements for due process and a fair trial under international human rights law."

Iran Human Rights said that, so far this year, more than 700 people have been executed in Iran, with a marked increase in recent months.

Two days before Rezaei's execution, Hani Shahbazi was executed in Sepidar Prison, Ahvaz. He also was accused of "enmity against God" following the alleged premeditated murder of law enforcement and Basij paramilitary members in 2019.

The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of widespread protests that swept across the country last year following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.

Amnesty International says the regime in Tehran has executed more people than any other country in the world other than China so far this year.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-executes-motlaq-rezaei- capital-punishment/32710190.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Secretary Blinken's Call with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

December 1, 2023

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani. The Secretary called on the Iraqi government to fulfill its commitments to protect all installations hosting U.S. personnel at its invitation and to pursue those responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq. The Secretary and the Prime Minister discussed the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas and the need to prevent the conflict from spreading. The Secretary discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and our work with Iraq and other partners in the region to identify the steps that we can take now to lay the foundation for a just and lasting peace.



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PM meeting with Israel's President Isaac Herzog: 01 December 2023

The Prime Minister met Israel's President Isaac Herzog at the COP28 Summit in the UAE.

1 December 2023

The Prime Minister met Israel's President Isaac Herzog at the COP28 Summit in the UAE.

They discussed the conflict with Hamas and the end of the humanitarian pause in Gaza earlier today.

The Prime Minister once again emphasised the need to take all possible measures to avoid civilian casualties and significantly increase the flow of aid to Gaza.

The leaders discussed ongoing efforts to secure the safe release of all hostages, which remains an urgent priority. The Prime Minister reiterated the UK's unwavering support for Israel's fundamental right to defend itself against terrorism.

The Prime Minister also raised the importance of de-escalating tensions in the West Bank to support longer term peace and security.

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Former Kazakh Security Chief's Cousin's Appeal Against 10-Year Prison Term Rejected

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

A court in Kazakhstan has rejected an appeal filed by a cousin of the jailed former head of Kazakhstan's Committee of National Security (KNB) against his conviction and 10-year prison term on charges of bribery and embezzlement.

Nurlan Masimov, 49, a cousin of former KNB chief Karim Masimov, served as police chief of the Pavlodar region in northern Kazakhstan before deadly anti-government protests in January last year that left at least 238 people dead, including 19 law enforcement officers.

The court ruling on December 1 upheld the verdict against Nurlan Masimov and his 10-year sentence. It also upheld the verdict and eight-year sentence handed to co-defendant Damir Sirazidimov, his former deputy, on bribery charges.

But the court cut by two years the seven-year prison term handed to Masimov's other co-defendant, businessman Yevgeny Yevkovich, on a charge of embezzlement.

Kazakh authorities said in July last year that Nurlan Masimov was detained while trying to cross the border into Russia using forged documents.

His cousin, Karim Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, is serving an 18-year prison sentence over his role in deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic in January 2022.

Karim Masimov's former deputies, Anuar Sadyqulov, Daulet Erghozhin, and Marat Osipov, were sentenced to 16, 15, and three years in prison respectively at the trial in April.

The 58-year-old Masimov was arrested along with Erghozhin and Sadyqulov days after the protests turned into deadly unrest. Osipov was arrested in February 2022.

The protests began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in January 2022 over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations quickly grew into broader unrest against corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice.

Much of the protesters' anger appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed power to President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev. However, Nazarbaev was widely believed to remain in control behind the scenes.

The protests were violently dispersed by police and military personnel, including troops of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization whom Toqaev invited into the country claiming that "20,000 extremists who were trained in terrorist camps abroad" had attacked Almaty.

The authorities have provided no evidence proving Toqaev's claim about foreign terrorists.

With reporting by Tengrinews and Orda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-masimov- cousin-security-chief-appeal-rejected/32710239.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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Tens of thousands flee intensifying clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state

The clashes follow the end of a ceasefire between ethnic rebels and the junta in mid-November.

By RFA Burmese 2023.12.01 -- An intensification of fighting between ethnic Arakan Army fighters and junta troops in western Myanmar's Rakhine state has caused tens of thousands of villagers to flee four major townships in anticipation of additional clashes, residents said Friday.

The fighting follows a Nov. 13 attack by the Arakan Army, or AA, on two junta police outposts which broke a ceasefire between the two sides that had been in place since November 2022.

Military forces are now shelling towns in the state with heavy artillery before taking up positions and arresting inhabitants, said sources in the region who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.

Ahead of the arrival of junta troops, residents of Pauktaw, Sittwe, Ponnagyun and Minbya - townships with a combined population of around 150,000 - are fleeing in droves, they said.

"More than 99% of people have fled their homes, leaving less than 1% in town," said a resident of Minbya. "Many houses are now empty as they fear that the junta will attack the town."

On Nov. 24, a military vessel on the Kaladan River fired artillery on Ponnagyun, setting the township's main market ablaze, one resident told RFA. Since then, nearly everyone has packed up and left, he added.

"We don't feel safe in town - we were attacked with heavy weapons and the market was set on fire," the resident said. "People are concerned about their safety. Only one-tenth of the population remains in the town. Most have fled to safer areas."

Fighting in Pauktaw township has intensified since Nov. 16, when the Arakan Army, or AA, seized control of a junta police station, residents said. Houses have been destroyed in fires started by military shelling and junta troops are taking up positions on the top floors of the township's tallest buildings, they said.

And while the capital Sittwe has yet to become the site of clashes between the junta and the AA, the military recently fired artillery on the town and arrested civilians on suspicion of ties to the ethnic army, one resident said.

"The military shelled the town and arrested people, so they became afraid and fled to other areas," he said.

Those who remain are unable to leave their homes during a strict nightly curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and are living in fear of the junta troops, he added.

Military blames AA

Calls by RFA to junta Deputy Information Minister Major-General Zaw Min Tun for comment on the civilian exodus went unanswered Friday. However, on Nov. 27 the junta spokesman told state media that the "AA forced residents of Pauktaw and Ponnagyun townships to flee their homes."

RFA inquired to AA spokesman Khaing Thu Kha about the junta's claims, but received no response as of the time of publishing.

But Pe Than, a veteran ethnic Rakhine politician and former lawmaker, confirmed to RFA that residents had fled from the military.

"The junta troops have brutally attacked civilians in towns and villages, using artillery attacks to destroy their livelihoods," he said. "Such attacks took place in Pauktaw to preempt AA control, so people had no option but to flee their homes and take shelter in remote areas."

According to population data released by the Ministry of Union Government Office in 2019, Pauktaw township is home to nearly 20,000, Ponnagyun township to more than 10,000, Minbya to more than 20,000, and Sittwe to more than 100,000.

Sources said that while nearly the entire populations of Pauktaw, Ponnagyun and Minbya have fled, only some in Sittwe have left their homes. RFA could not independently verify the number of people displaced from the four townships.

Since the end of the year-long ceasefire in Rakhine state, at least 17 civilians have been killed and some 70 injured, according to RFA reporting.

Widening displacement

Reports of residents fleeing their homes in Rakhine state came as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or UNOCHA, said that some 500,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Myanmar since the end of October, amid an intensification of clashes between junta troops and the armed resistance in recent months.

On Oct. 27, the "Three Brotherhood" Alliance of the AA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, launched an offensive against the military in northern Shan state dubbed "Operation 1027."

The rebels say they have made notable gains against the military in several key cities in Shan and claim to have captured more than 170 military outposts since the start of the campaign.

But the intensification of fighting has caught civilians in the crossfire, contributing to the huge increase in displaced communities nationwide. The 500,000 newly displaced across the country since the end of October adds to the 2 million displaced by fighting before the current escalation began, according to the UNOCHA - some three-quarters of whom have fled their homes since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d'etat.

In its flash update on Friday, the U.N. said that an estimated 50,000 people have been displaced in northern Shan's Laukkaing township, along the border with China, since the start of Operation 1027, and "have only been able to receive minimal assistance" from aid groups.

Meanwhile, key transport routes in townships experiencing active fighting throughout the country have been blocked by both the military and the armed resistance, "restricting people's movements to safer locations and hampering humanitarian access," it said.

The UNOCHA called for an urgent injection of funding to enable aid groups to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes 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 December 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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The Bridge Center of Buffalo will hold an official grand opening celebration with an open house Saturday, Dec. 9, at its new location, 60 Dingens St. off the I-190 at Exit 1. Refreshments at noon. Free game at 12:30 p.m. For more info, visit the Buffalo Bridge Center website or call 716- 424-0014. Games at the new location began Oct. 31.

The Bridge Center also offers a regular lineup of in-person and online games.

In-person games:

Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. For players with fewer than 1,200 points. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 99 points if there are enough tables. Free lesson at 10.

Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. Open to all players. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 100 points if there are enough tables.

Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. Upgraded to now include players with up to 2,000 points. Simultaneous game for players with fewer than 99 points if there are enough tables. Free lesson at 10.

Fridays, 10:30 a.m. Open to all players by pre-registration only. Call 716- 424-0014.

Virtual games on Bridge Base Online:

Mondays, 7 p.m. For players with fewer than 750 points.

Wednesdays, 11 a.m. Currently on hiatus. Kathy's Snowbird Game for players with fewer than 750 points. For more info on this game, call director Kathy Pollock or email BridgeKat@gmail.com.

Wednesdays, 7 p.m. Delaware Wednesday game for players with fewer than 2,000 points. For info on this game, call Ed Harman at 716-480-1666 or email eharmon@roadrunner.com.

  

More access to virtual games on Bridge Base Online is being offered by the Airport Bridge Club, which currently is not holding face-to-face games. It has affiliated with a new group of clubs, the SE Club of Clubs Online Bridge Collective, where most games are $3.50. For more info, click this link.

The Airport Club also continues to be part of the Alliance Bridge Club, which offers more than a dozen games every day. Anyone who has played at the Airport Club is automatically a member. For more info, visit alliancebridgeclub.com or call Airport Club manager Bill Finkelstein at 716-603-6943.

  

The East Aurora Bridge Club was the first local club to return to face-to-face games more than three years ago. Play begins at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St., East Aurora. Attendance is generally three or four tables. For more info, email director Dave Larcom at dmocral@verizon.net.

  

The Bridge Centre of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont., offers a mix of online games and in-person games at its club in Tremont Square opposite the Pen Centre shopping plaza off Glendale Avenue.

Face-to-face games for all players are offered at 1 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Theres also a face-to-face game for players with less than 500 points at 1 p.m. Monday, a face-to-face game for players with fewer than 750 points at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays, and another one for those with less than 100 points concurrently at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays. On Friday, theres a 299er game at 9 a.m. and an open game at 1 p.m.

The club also hosts several virtual games on Bridge Base Online. Theres one for 499ers at 10 a.m. Tuesdays, an open game for all players at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays, a Swiss teams contest at 7 p.m. Tuesdays (pre-registration required), and an open game at 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more info, click here.

  

Face-to-face play in non-sanctioned clubs is offered at the Tonawanda Senior Center on Wednesday afternoons and at the Amherst Senior Center on Monday and Friday afternoons.

  

Tournament calendar

2024

Cleveland Rock & Roll Regional  Embassy Suites Hotel, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Wednesday, Jan. 3, to Sunday, Jan. 7. For more info, click this link.

Toronto Non-Life-Master Regional  Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Friday, Jan. 5, to Sunday, Jan. 7. For more info, click this link.

Toronto January Sectional  Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Friday, Jan. 5, to Sunday, Jan. 7. For more info, click this link.

Niagara Sectional  Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Conference Center, 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines, Ont. Friday, Feb. 9, to Sunday, Feb. 11. For more info, click this link.

Toronto Easter Regional  Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Tuesday, March 26, to Sunday, March 31.

Buffalo Spring Sectional  Location TBA. Friday, April 26, to Sunday, April 28.

Cleveland All-American Regional  Embassy Suites Hotel, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Tuesday, May 21, to Monday, May 27.

  

Bridge club websites:

Click names for links.

The Airport Bridge Club, which continues to be on hiatus, does not have a website. For info, call 716-603-6943.

  

Duplicate scores from Bridge Base Online

Week of Nov. 20 to Nov. 26

ACBL Affiliated Clubs

Buffalo Bridge Center Monday evening  0-750 game online. Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 61.67%; Carol Licata and Larry Himelein, 60.42%; Bonnie Clement and David Schott, 56.67%; Fran Schmidt and Richard McGowan, 55.69%; Michael and Jim Hassett, 51.57%; Jennifer and Howard Epstein, 50.14%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Tuesday morning  0-1,600 game. North-south, Paul Zittel and Ed Morgan, 65%; Bonnie Clement and Larry Himelein, 60.63%; Jim McClure and Richard McGowan, 55.63%; Joanne Nover and David Schott, 48.13%; east-west, Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 64.38%; Joyce Greenspan and Sharon Wilcox, 51.25%; Linda Milch and Susan Cardamone, 49.38%; Judy Zeckhauser and Pat Haynes, 48.13%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Wednesday morning  Open game. (Tie) Judy Graf and Fred Yellen, Sue Neubecker and Betty Metz, 55%; Mike Ryan and John Ziemer, 54%.

Delaware Wednesday evening  0-2,000 game online. Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 62.22%; (3-way tie) Richard McGowan and Bill Rich, Jim Lanzo and Paul Zittel, Ed Harman and Bob Ciszak, 56.11%; (tie) Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, Maria Schory and Mike Metzger, 52.78; Joyce Bess and Terry Camp, 52.22%.

Other clubs

Amherst Senior Center Monday afternoon  North-south, Shirley Cassety and George Mayers, 56.4%; Edna and Ron Fill, 56.1%; east-west, Mary and Jim Atwood, 63%; Jack Cukierman and Melvyn Mesnekoff, 57%.

Tonawanda Senior Center Wednesday afternoon  Ed and Mike Rupp, 70.6%; Judy White and Paul Morgante, 58.7%; Midge and Rob Buchanan, 51.6%.

  

The Duplicate Bridge column is compiled weekly by News Staff Reporter Dale Anderson. The print version stopped appearing Saturdays in The Buffalo News in March 2020 when the pandemic forced local bridge clubs to halt face-to-face play.

These days you can find it in two places online. Google Duplicate Bridge plus the current Saturday date and that should bring up a link to it on buffalonews.com, the Buffalo News website. Another place to find it is on Dale Andersons bridge blog at http://newsdupli.blogspot.com/

Deadline for submission of scores and notices is Tuesday night. Email danderson@buffnews.com or dahotwings@aol.com. Office phone is 716-849-4420.

  

A Gold Life Master, Dale Anderson has a career total of just over 2,950 master points. He occasionally writes about his quest for the next measure of achievement, Sapphire Life Master (3,500 points), and other bridge adventures here.
Myanmar junta arrests minors, elderly and disabled villagers

Nearly 50 residents from Sagaing region were detained after a junta officer was killed in a local clash.

By RFA Burmese 2023.12.01 -- Junta troops arrested nearly 50 villagers in central Myanmar, locals told Radio Free Asia on Friday. After a junta officer was killed in a clash Wednesday, officials from the battalion entered the village in Sagaing region.

Min Ga Lar Kone village in Monywa township is located near the site of the battle and close to where junta troops store artillery, locals said.

A troop of about 50 soldiers entered Min Ga Lar Kone firing weapons and arrested the villagers around 5 pm, said a resident, who did not want to be named for security reasons.

"There were shootings nearby and people from the village were arrested. They were of all ages, from about 15 years old to the elderly," he said. "It is quite a large number but it is not clear who they are. A mentally ill man from the village was also arrested."

Currently, officials are detaining and investigating them at a police station in Monywa township for association with local People's Defense Forces, locals said.

Roughly 30 of the arrested villagers are civilians from Min Ga Lar Kone, according to a Telegram channel owned by the Monywa People's Administration Team, a local civilian administration under the National Unity Government.

Troops raided and burned down two houses in the village, according to the administration team, which added it is still trying to identify those arrested.

RFA called Sagaing region's junta spokesperson Sai Naing Naing Kyaw seeking comment on the raids, but he did not reply by the time of publication.

More than 25,000 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been arrested since the 2021 coup, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content December 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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Russia: Statement by the High Representative on outlawing "international LGBT public movement"

European External Action Service (EEAS)

01.12.2023

EEAS Press Team

The European Union strongly condemns the decision of the Russian Supreme Court to outlaw what it calls the "international LGBT public movement" as "extremist" and to ban its activity on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Amid the decades-long crackdown on rights of LGBTIQ persons unleashed under President Putin, this decision aims at further persecuting the LGBTIQ community in Russia and aims to stifle civil society and those courageously defending human rights. This decision will prevent LGBTIQ persons from enjoying their human rights and dignity over fears of unjustified persecution.

The EU firmly opposes discrimination, prejudice and hate. We stand in solidarity with Russian citizens and all others who are adversely affected by this decision.

The EU urges Russia to stop the unfounded repression, to uphold its international obligations and to respect, protect and fulfil human rights without discrimination of any kind.



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Executive Order on establishing staffing levels of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Vladimir Putin signed the Executive Order On Establishing the Staffing Levels of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

December 1, 2023

21:00

In accordance with Article 4 of Federal Law On Defence No. 61-FZ of May 31, 1996, the President ordered that the staffing levels of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation total 2,209,130 aapersons, including 1,320,000 military personnel.

The Government of the Russian Federation has been instructed to provide the Ministry of Defence with appropriate funding from the federal budget.

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FM Lavrov says Blinken, Borrell 'chickened out' of talking to Russia

Iran Press TV

Friday, 01 December 2023 8:39 PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell "chickened out" of talking to Russia.

The top American and European diplomats, who were attending the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) summit in Europe, both left the event early because they were simply too afraid to engage in a frank and substantive dialog with Russia, RT quoted Lavrov as saying at a press conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday.

Lavrov told reporters after the OSCE summit that Blinken had left the ministerial meeting before his arrival, "fleeing" from the event.

The top Russian diplomat also noted that some local newspapers were trying to cast a shadow over Russia by publishing a photo of the summit's participants with the Russian foreign minister conspicuously absent, in an apparent effort to convince the public that Moscow was isolated over the Ukraine conflict.

Lavrov explained that those pictures had been taken before the official opening of the summit, stressing that photos published on the next day showed all the participants, including the top Russian diplomat.

The top Russian diplomat pointed out that at the Skopje summit, foreign ministers from Ukraine, Poland and Baltic states were all absent, adding that, "I believe both Blinken and [top EU diplomat Josep] Borrell left as well. They might say that they are emphasizing their intention to isolate Russia, but I think they are just afraid, scared of an honest conversation with facts at hand."

According to Lavrov, some European foreign ministers were trying to avoid talking about Western "shenanigans" aimed at denying Russian diplomats access to various international events, including UN and UNESCO meetings.

The Skopje summit had been boycotted by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In a joint statement, the three countries claimed that Lavrov's attendance at the event "risks legitimizing aggressor Russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations." Polish Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek shared these countries' position, saying that Warsaw could not ignore the fact that Lavrov "will be present at the table of the organization that is supposed to build peace and security in Europe."

The top Russian diplomat, nonetheless, took part in the summit and held high-level meetings with several participants on the sidelines of the Skopje summit.

Lavrov also delivered an important speech to those at the summit, sounding the alarm for fellow European members that the OSCE had digressed into a "deplorable state" due to "short-sighted" choices that were made by some Western states.

In his address to the OSCE Ministerial Council on Thursday, Lavrov said the future of the OSCE is "unclear" and after decades of efforts to build the organization, it was now "on the brink of the abyss."

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The Week In Russia: A 'Monstrous' Sign Of The Times

By Steve Gutterman December 01, 2023

'Desecration'

Amid the drumbeat of dark developments in Russia these days, there are some that seem to stand out as emblematic of the era, or at least of a particular moment in time.

One of them occurred in mid-November, when it came to light that one of the men convicted of involvement in the murder of investigative reporter Anna Politikovskaya, on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in 2006, had been pardoned by Putin in exchange for serving with the military in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The pardon for Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was "a monstrous instance of injustice and lawlessness" and a "desecration of the memory of a person who was killed for her beliefs and her professional duties," the late journalist's children and the staff of the newspaper where she worked, Novaya gazeta, said in a statement.

It added a baroque new twist to a case that, for many Kremlin critics, human rights advocates, and ordinary people, had already stood out - ever since Politkovskaya was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building at the age of 48 - as a symbol of how Russia has gone wrong under Putin.

Politkovskaya's dogged reporting, which exposed high-level corruption in Moscow and rights abuses in the Chechnya region, among other malfeasance, was a constant reminder of how the promise that came with the collapse of the U.S.S.R. was being washed away by oppression, iniquity, and violence.

Khadzhikurbanov was one of five men who were convicted in June 2014 of involvement in Politkovskaya's killing; accused of helping organize the murder, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The verdicts brought little relief to Politkovskaya's relatives and colleagues, who say that justice will not be done until the person or people who ordered her killing were identified and prosecuted - something that is widely seen as unlikely to happen as long as Putin is in power because of suspicions that a thorough investigation would lead too close to the Kremlin and the Moscow-backed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Turning To Inmates

The new development was made possible, of course, by Russia's war against Ukraine - which started a few months before Khadzhikurbanov was convicted but grew much bigger and deadlier when Putin ordered the full-scale invasion in February 2022. In its hunger for manpower, the Russian state is springing inmates from prison and sending them to the front in exchange for the promise of a pardon if they survive long enough.

Returning convicts have committed violent crimes and sparked fear and tension in communities across Russia.

In one case, a man who was convicted of killing four people - and who investigators said cut one victim's legs off, cleaned and refrigerated them, and later ate them - was released from his 22-year prison term to fight in Ukraine and is now in a hospital in the Far Eastern city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Politikovskaya was killed halfway through Putin's second four-year term. In a way, the Russia she lived in is no more: Trends that she documented, such as a shift toward authoritarianism, the suppression of dissent, and increasing abuses of basic human rights gathered speed after Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012 following a four-year stint as prime minister. And they went into overdrive with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

If Khadzhikurbanov's release was a sign of the times, so were a Russian Supreme Court ruling branding "the international LGBT social movement" as extremist - a decision Amnesty International called shameful and absurd -- and the jailing of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, whom the long-respected, now outlawed human rights group Memorial recognized on November 30 as a political prisoner.

'The Right To Be Russia'

So, too, was the address Putin delivered at a forum of a reactionary nationalist group called the World Russian People's Congress.

Putin has not said publicly whether he will seek a new six-year term in an election due to be held in March. But the November 28 speech seemed like an informal announcement of his candidacy, which he is widely expected to make official this month.

He repeated narratives that are familiar, if false, once against casting the armed attempt to subjugate Ukraine as a necessary measure and portraying the war he unleased - the biggest in Europe since 1945 - as a defensive struggle for Russia's survival in the face of what he asserts, without evidence, is an effort by Washington and the West to erase the country and its culture.

In some cases, he embellished them.

Two months before launching the full-scale invasion, as Moscow was massing forces along the border with Ukraine, Putin said that Russia had "nowhere further to retreat"- a remark that, like his portrayal of the war as a defensive act, now stands in direct contradiction to the simple fact that Russia invaded Ukraine and not vice versa. And to the fact that while the war poses an existential threat to Ukraine, the same is not true for Russia.

"Russia's objective is to subjugate Ukraine, but it is inconceivable that Ukraine could do this to Russia," Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King's College London, wrote in a November 23 blog post. "Ukraine is fighting to end the occupation; Russia is fighting to occupy."

'Beleaguered Fortress'

Putin knows that perfectly well, of course. But he seemed to take the narrative a step further in the November 28 address, stating that Russia's "fight for sovereignty and justice is, without exaggeration, one of national liberation, because we are upholding the security and well-being of our people -- and our supreme historical right to be Russia."

It's part of attempt to convince Russians and others around the world that the United States - which, without naming it, Putin described as a "hegemon" whose "dictatorship...is becoming decrepit" - is bent on annihilating what he calls Russian "civilization."

With the election approaching and most Russians worried that "times are going to get harder, rather than better," Putin "is pivoting to legitimating his regime by precisely the sense that Russia is a beleaguered fortress and that the West will claw it down unless all Russians band together," author and analyst Mark Galeotti told Dutch radio station BNR.

Putin's pronouncements may sound dramatic - they are certainly meant to. But at the same time, there may be another motive: to enable the Kremlin to claim victory in Ukraine - or more accurately, victory over the West -- even if it falls far short of its most ambitious war goals.

After all, if the goal to is to preserve Russia's sovereignty and its "right to be Russia," that can be achieved even if Putin ends up withdrawing from Ukraine.

"In the case of Ukraine, we should not underestimate the scope [Putin] has to define the outcomes, at least to the Russian population," Galeotti, an honorary professor at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, wrote separately on his blog on November 29.

"It is not just a question of his control over the domestic media apparatus, but also the way he has developed this new narrative, that this is not really a war with Ukraine as such, but with the whole West," he wrote. "In that context, even small wins can be presented as actually impressive David-versus-Goliath successes."

War Footing

Not that there are strong signs that Russia is ready to settle, at least for now, for the chunks of Ukraine it has seized since 2014 - Crimea, parts of the Donbas in the east, and a southern strip of land running along the Azov Sea coast between them.

Putin has repeatedly said Russia is open to negotiations, "but when pushed further it transpires that his interest in diplomacy is only to help him achieve some of his core objectives, such as Ukrainian neutrality or the transfer of even more territory than currently occupied to the Russian Federation," Freedman said. "We can take such calls more seriously when they open with a promise to withdraw from Ukrainian territory."

For the time being, at least, there seems to be little incentive for Putin to consider that, let alone to seek a cease-fire. A much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive has made only moderate progress since its launch in early June, nearly six months ago, and the Kremlin is hoping the U.S. elections - now less than a year away - will result in a precipitous fall in Western support for Kyiv, both financial and military.

"For the coming months Russia is in a better position in terms of shell production. The EU is falling short in its ambition to provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells and rockets by March, while Russia is now on a war footing in terms of production and has benefited from an influx of North Korean shells," Freedman wrote.

"Because of the surge of expenditure on the war effort its economy is growing fast. Over time Moscow has found more workarounds to limit the impact of Western sanctions. Through financial incentives it is able to keep up the flow of new recruits to feed the front lines," he added.

At the same time, "If the war stopped now with a cease-fire Putin could claim whatever territory Russia still holds as a major gain, but it would be far short of controlling all the territory hurriedly 'annexed' last autumn and which is now officially presented as part of Russia," Freedman wrote. "He would still have to explain what the past year's fighting was about as Russia has barely added to its holdings and lost some ground."

Russian forces have made a furious push in the Donbas this fall. And while they have suffered heavy casualties while gaining little ground, some analysts predict that Putin, who has baselessly declared the Black Sea peninsula and four other Ukrainian regions to be parts of Russia, will make a new push after the presidential election, particularly if Western support for Kyiv fades.

But eventually, Galeotti wrote, "Putin will take what he feels he can get, when he feels the time is right -- or that he has no alternative."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/week-in-russia-putin- politkovskaya-ukraine-lgbt-extremist/32709377.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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U.S. Imposes Sanctions On Three Tankers And Their Owners For Shipping Russian Oil Above Price Cap

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

The United States on December 1 imposed additional sanctions related to the price cap on Russian oil agreed by the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations, the European Union, and Australia to curtail Russia's revenue from seaborne oil shipments.

The sanctions target three entities and three oil tankers that the U.S. Treasury Department said carried Russian Urals crude above $70 per barrel, which exceeds the price cap by $10.

The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the three vessels and the three entities shipped the oil using Western maritime services, such as transportation, insurance, and financing.

The G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States -- set the $60 price cap on seaborne exports of Russian crude last December, and the European Union and Australia later agreed to join the mechanism, which bans Western companies from providing the services for oil sold above the cap.

The mechanism is designed to maintain a reliable supply of crude oil to the global market while reducing the revenues that Russia earns from oil, which it in turn uses to fund its war in Ukraine.

OFAC's action announced on December 1 is the third time in as many months that it has imposed sanctions against ships and their owners for carrying Russian oil priced above the cap.

Two companies based in the United Arab Emirates -- Sterling Shipping and Streymoy Shipping Limited -- are named by OFAC as the registered owners of two of the tankers designated. The other ship is registered to HS Atlantica Ltd based in Liberia.

The ships are blocked under the sanctions, while all property held by their registered owners in the United States is blocked and people in the United States and its jurisdictions are blocked from dealing with them.

"Enforcement of the price cap on Russian oil is a top priority for the United States and our Coalition partners," Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement.

"By targeting these companies and their ships, we are upholding the dual goals of the price cap by restricting Russia's profits from oil while promoting stable global energy markets."

The Treasury Department also issued a general license through February 29 authorizing limited safety and environmental transactions involving the targeted entities and vessels, including transactions necessary for their safe docking and anchoring.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-tankers-sanctioned-russian- oil-price-cap/32710323.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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Imprisoned Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza Fined For Failing To Follow 'Foreign Agent' Requirement

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

A court in Moscow on December 1 fined imprisoned Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza for a "violation of the law on foreign agents" because while incarcerated he failed to report every three months to the Justice Ministry about his activities due to his designation as a "foreign agent."

The Zamoskvorechye district court ordered Kara-Murza to pay 50,000 rubles ($560) for not filing a report to the Justice Ministry.

Kara-Murza's lawyer, Anna Stavitskaya, told the Business FM radio station that since her client is serving a 25-year prison term in a Siberian penal colony, he was unable to file reports with the ministry. Stavitskaya added that her client, who took part in the hearing via a video link, said he would not file any reports even if he was at home because he considers the law on "foreign agents" in "contradiction" of the constitution.

On the same day, Ilya Yashin, another jailed opposition politician, was fined 45,000 rubles ($505) by the Babushkinsky district court because five reports on his YouTube Channel last year did not have a "foreign agent" marking.

The reports about Russian President Vladimir Putin were published on YouTube when Yashin was already being held in custody. The YouTube channel is moderated by Yashin's associates.

Yashin, who took part in the hearing via video link, said the court's ruling "has no meaning" as "the 'foreign agent' label will not get stuck on me despite propaganda's efforts."

"Nobody will be able to frighten and muzzle me. Most importantly, nobody will be able to break my faith in Russia and its people," Yashin said.

Since 2012, Russia has used its so-called "foreign agent" laws to label and punish critics of government policies. It also has been increasingly used to shut down civil society and media groups in Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The "foreign agent" law allows authorities to label nonprofit organizations and individuals as "foreign agents" if they receive funding from abroad and are engaged in political activities.

Kara-Murza, 42, was initially arrested in April 2022 after returning to Russia from abroad and charged with disobeying a police officer.

He was later charged with discrediting the Russian military, a charge stemming from Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a Kremlin push to stamp out criticism of the subject. He was later additionally charged with treason over remarks he made in speeches outside Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.

In April this year, Kara-Murza was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Yashin, 40, was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison on a charge of spreading false information about the Russian military amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

With reporting by Business FM, Mediazona, and RFE/RL's Russian Service

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-kara-murza-fined- foreign-agent/32709988.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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Navalny Says A New Criminal Case Has Been Opened Against Him

By Current Time December 01, 2023

Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who is serving a total of 19 years in prison on extremism and other charges that he rejects as politically motivated, said a new criminal case has been brought against him.

In posts issued on December 1 through his associates on X, formerly known as Twitter, Navalny, who is serving his term in a penal colony, said he received a letter from Russia's Investigative Committee informing him that a case had been opened against him "for a crime under Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code," which deals with vandalism.

"Rarely an inmate, confined to a solitary cell for over a year, has had such a vibrant social and political existence," one of the messages attributed to Navalny on X said. "It means that they really initiate a new criminal case against me every three months."

On November 21, Navalny was placed in 15-day punitive solitary confinement for an unspecified violation after having finished his previous solitary confinement a day earlier. It was the 23rd time he had been placed in solitary confinement since August 2022, totaling 266 days in punitive incarceration.

Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics, had his sentence increased to 19 years in August after being found guilty of creating an extremist organization and was transferred to a harsher "special regime" facility.

His previous sentence was handed down in 2021 after he arrived in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin.

He was Russia's loudest opposition voice and galvanized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed.

Three of Navalny's lawyers -- Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Aleksei Lipster -- were taken into custody in October and prosecuted for allegedly participating in an extremist community because of their association with Navalny and his foundation to root out corruption.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-new-criminal- case/32709712.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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Article by Alexey Drobinin, Director, Foreign Policy Planning Department, Russia's Foreign Ministry "Why is the choice of traditional values so important?", the Journal "The International Affairs", December 1, 2023

1 December 2023 00:05

2451-01-12-2023

Russia, as well as other countries, has launched and is conducting an in-depth revision of ideas that were assimilated, at first glance. These ideas largely shaped the economic, political and cultural world that emerged after the Cold War in the context of the unipolar concept and related globalisation processes. This long overdue and certainly beneficial process is directly related to the strengthening of the multipolar foundations of international life. Obviously, there can be no technological sovereignty without national science and production facilities; nor can any country be truly independent without the unique practices and values of its population.

Three or four generations of Russian citizens experienced several completely different political and ideological regimes and opted for a civilisational choice prioritising development in line with national traditions. Without renouncing science and technological progress and the advantages of participating in the international division of labour, we are discarding the gloomy wraith of perceptions and ideological concepts adopted in the well-known historical environment of the late 1980s and the 1990s. They are of little use in current geopolitical realities. Experts in all managerial spheres are rationally placing an emphasis on forms, methods and approaches, borrowed from the longstanding tradition of Russian statehood. Nor do we reject appropriate aspects of advanced foreign experience.

Global development has now entered another crucial phase. Russia is once again facing foreign attempts to hamper its development. One of the main directions of attack comes in the form of the Western values agenda (or rather, that of the globalist elites who have seriously encroached upon their domestic rivals, including nationally-oriented elites). More and more people involved in international communication are discarding and rejecting this agenda right before our very eyes. They are not doing this because they want to quarrel with globalists and neo-liberals, but because aesthetic perceptions, preached throughout an entire era as a model of universal human values, have proved unviable.

If we listen to past and present statements by politicians, public intellectuals and other public opinion leaders of the Western globalist mainstream, we should not doubt the fact that they have hatched all kinds of ambitious plans, and that they continue to hatch such plans today. Summing up, they are voicing the following logic: aAs economic globalisation continues to develop, as mass education spreads and as people gain additional access to Western popular culture and become accustomed to American standards, the mentality of people in non-Western peripheral countries will also start changing. They believed that the religious and traditionalist factor would eventually recede into the background in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, just like in post-Christian Europe. People were expected to become receptive to neo-liberal values, including the so-called tolerance concept.

However, something went wrong, so to say, and we can see this with the naked eye. According to British weekly The Economist, the mouthpiece of the neo-liberal establishment, despite the aggressive imposition of narratives seen as profitable by the ruling Western elite via globalist media outlets and NGOs, the rift between Western values and those of the rest of the world is not narrowing. It is becoming wider and deeper.[1] Moreover, conservative circles in Western society are increasingly rejecting the neo-liberal ideology.

Those involved in discussions about neo-liberal narratives are always tempted to limit everything to deliberations on the strangest and most challenging element, specifically, prioritising the so-called gender issues and LGBT rights. However, this issue is more complicated, and it would therefore be appropriate to analyse the paradigm of neo-liberal values in greater detail and to divide it into four tentative aspects, including the economy, politics, society and technology.

1. Economics.

The first and main postulate in this area is the dominance of the US dollar as a reserve currency and means of payment in international trade. De-dollarisation is seen as an existential threat to Western hegemony. Non-Western countries, on the other hand, are denied the right to exercise exchange controls.

The next sacred cow is commodities and sales markets that are open to Western capital, including speculative capital. In the United States and the European Union, protectionism is declared a reasonable measure to regulate cross-border flows. Others are encouraged to believe in the "free market" and to "improve the investment climate" for Western capital in their territory. Here is a case in point: the US banned a number of Chinese companies, including Huawei and ZTE, from importing telecommunications equipment because American corporations were finding it increasingly difficult to compete with them. At the same time, the Americans are insistently demanding preferential treatment for their companies in China.

The governments in the West are facing a difficult challenge right now: they need to find the best way to portray the planned confiscation of private assets from Russia. The answer seems obvious within the neoliberal paradigm. The inviolability of private property is certainly a fundamental principle that underlies the "market economy." So of course, private property cannot be seized - expect when it is really necessary, but only by the West, from representatives of countries with "authoritarian" regimes. Laws and propaganda will be adjusted to fit with this ideological construct.

Another manifestation of the neoliberal approach to economics is as follows. They take an issue of global significance, such as environmental protection or climate change, and turn it into a mechanism for promoting the interests of Western financial and industrial groups.

We are not going to deny that there are major environmental and climate problems; but our approach is in favour of finding collective ways to address them. However, the Western approach is increasingly drifting towards eco-extremism. They are imposing the most stringent standards and regulations for the "green transformation" on the countries of the Global South, where developed countries used to establish hazardous industrial facilities in the past. Developing countries are required to accelerate the energy transition, which implies drastic cuts in the use of fossil fuels and in investment in the conventional fuel and energy industry. This makes sense for neocolonial states that are contemplating super profits from exporting green products and technologies, with American and European multinationals taking over fuel markets and draining money from developing economies to finance their own energy transition. This is fraught with many countries being starved for energy and, as a result, facing a shortage of resources for development. At the same time, the West - namely the EU - is not above increasing coal and fuel oil power generation if necessary.

If we consider the neoliberal economic model at the household level, consumerism has been spreading like a virus in the West for years - a philosophy of excessive consumption and commodity fetishism propped up by the vicious practice of "easy" loans and aggressive marketing. This model of consumer behaviour is deliberately introduced through the so-called international and independent media so that Western manufacturers can monopolise global markets. In the pursuit of profit, corporations use sophisticated advertising to promote unnatural and excessive needs among consumers.

2. Politics.

The partisans of neoliberalism have been trying to make it look as if the United States and West European countries are based on the principles of "liberal democracy." That dubious assertion is not the subject of this article. We will look at the component parts of the "democracy" which the West is trying to spread around the world.

It has been apparent for a long time that democracy in its neoliberal interpretation is not power or government by the people or even power by the majority of people. It is power by a minority of society over the rest of it, allegedly for its benefit. There are no clear criteria for a "democracy for export," which has a narrow explanation as a set of pseudo-democratic "rituals," such as the dogmatic principle of the "alternation of power." It is imposed on sovereign states when they try to pursue a nationally-oriented policy. Blinded by their political and propaganda aspirations, they overlook an "insignificant trifle," that is, the decision of the majority expressed during elections or a plebiscite to keep a certain politician in the leading position. At the same time, they prefer to "forget" about similar precedents in the Western democracies, such as the four terms of US President Roosevelt or the 16 years of Angela Markel's leadership in Germany.

Democratic procedures in Western countries long ago turned into a way of legalising power and they have nothing to do with the rotation of elites in the leadership of these countries. Political dynasties have been holding the reins in many countries, from Belgium to the United States, for decades. It is not surprising that the term "deep state" has become popular or that big monopoly business has dominant positions in Western governments, because pseudo-democracy is designed to serve its interests.

Another Western "democratic value" is "free and fair" elections. The level of "freedom" depends on the existence of "independent" media foreign agents who are controlled by the West, and "fairness" depends on allowing "independent," that is pro-Western, candidates or parties to take part in elections and on ensuring results that will satisfy the West. One more prerequisite of "freedom and justice" is the certification of the election process and results by Western-appointed missions of foreign observers under the umbrella of the ODIHR, the OSCE or other tame organisations. It goes without saying that no truly independent country permits such external diktat in relation to elections, as a crucial backbone institution.

Another neoliberal method is to distort the concept of human rights by prioritising political and civil rights and at the same time depreciating socioeconomic and cultural rights. The West has no regard whatsoever for the rights of "non-Westerners," despite the fact that human rights are declared an absolute value in the West, that is, even more important than national security. The United States and its satellites are using this approach to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. There is a long list of "colour revolutions," none of which improved people's lives. Western experts working in the interests of defence industries say that it is necessary to lend international legitimacy to these technologies and have invented various concepts towards this end, such as the right of non-systemic opposition in "authoritarian regimes" to receive foreign assistance.[2]

Contrary to the proclaimed principle of freedom of speech, the neoliberal West is implementing a "digital Gulag" project, that is, total control by IT giants and oligarchic clans over public opinion and historical memory. They are using mechanisms of covert censorship and deleting "undesirable" accounts and their content to suppress dissent, turning a blind eye to the fact that this amounts to a flagrant infringement of the right to freedom of opinion. The reality of life in the West includes the electronic surveillance of politically "unreliable" people and the use of virtual algorithms in the media sphere to manipulate the public.

A vivid example is the campaign of Russophobia unleashed in the West. Anti-Russian racism, meaning the broad use of hate speech towards Russia and the Russians, has become a fact of life that is regarded as politically correct in the West. The Western media and public opinion leaders are promoting chauvinistic tales about Russia based on the use of dehumanising and alienating rhetoric with regard to Russian people and false ideas of "collective responsibility" for the security crisis created by the West itself and, consequently, about the need for "collective punishment" of Russians. This media campaign is being fostered by modern-day Western politicians and has all the elements of totalitarian propaganda.

The rampant encouragement of the neoliberal ideology has turned the Western institutional media and social networks into a hornets' nest of biased journalists, promoters, lobbyists and pseudo-activists, who are helping the authorities to wage an information war against Russia. The once "independent journalism" is no more. The few exceptions, such as Tucker Carlson and Seymour Hersh, only prove the rule.

The neoliberal "moral compass" of the West even allows the forms of ethnic and language hatred that was outlawed after WWII and the Rwandan genocide. It is notable that this approach has not been condemned, not to the least degree, by the passive international organisations whose executive bodies have been "privatised" by the West. For more than nine years, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) turned a blind eye to the death of Donbass children during Ukrainian armed attacks. UNESCO did not react to the assassinations of Russian public figures such as Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, or to the attempt on the life of Zakhar Prilepin. The information provided by the few Western journalists working in the zone of the special military operation and who are able to report the truth is not allowed to reach the Western societies, and these journalists are blacklisted.

3. Society.

Neoliberal views on ethics and culture, as well as on history and social relations, are in conflict with the worldview of those who adhere to traditional values.

In the West, for example, the decriminalisation and legalisation of drug use is openly advocated. It is about blurring the line between soft and hard "substances," destigmatising drug use and positioning drug addicts as normal, healthy members of society. There are plenty of examples. They include "coffee shops" in Amsterdam, "recreational smoking" in the United States and Canada, medically controversial "harm reduction" and "substitution therapy" programmes implemented through neoliberal NGOs in various parts of the world. The Hollywood film industry is working to popularise the habit of drug use. Statistics confirm that all these efforts are bearing fruit. According to reports from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction[3], the number of people who use marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis has increased over the past 10 years from 3 to 3.7 million people and already accounts for about 1.3 percent of the EU population. The number of drug addicts in treatment has almost doubled in just two years, from 55,000 to 97,000. There is a steady increase in seizures of illegal products containing cannabis (555,000 cases in 2020, and 566,000 in 2021). And this is just the beginning.

Phenomena that were once marginalised and that lead to a fracturing of people's consciousness, such as the obsessive LGBT agenda, radical feminism, the cult of social political correctness to the point of absurdity, and "critical race theory" (based on the assumption that race is not a biological but a socially engineered characteristic to oppress non-whites) have become a standard of everyday life in Western countries. Any understandings that refer to tradition or that contradict "progressive" theories are declared archaic, outdated at best.

It is important to emphasise here that sexual minorities are part of all societies. They should not be discriminated against and they should have the same civil and socio-cultural rights as all other citizens. Of concern is the propaganda of non-traditional values, which is becoming more and more aggressive. Thus, according to IPSOS, one of the major international companies specialising in sociological research, in a number of countries where the neoliberal paradigm has taken root (Germany, Sweden, Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain), the share of LGBT representatives is two to four times higher than the corresponding world average (the medical standard is about one percent of the population). And in some countries, in surveys among young people, up to 18 percent of respondents admitted to same-sex attraction.

Neoliberals do everything to make those who adhere to classical (normal) ethics feel discomfort and shame, to make them feel "unfashionable." The methods of oppressing those who openly express disagreement with deviations that aggressively make their way have already been tested. These are "cancellation culture" and "deplatforming," encouraging reports to the authorities, collective bullying and unsubstantiated stigmatisation with insulting labels: racists, fascists, communists, sexists, homophobes, gender haters and the like. Adherents of traditional views, now declared "wrong," are forced to publicly repent.

Representation of women, as well as of newly emerging sex minorities in government and even in business, is addressed through artificial, absurd quotas that undermine fair professional competition and the essence of meritocracy inherent in classical capitalism and liberalism. All this is being done with the thunderous and pervasive support of the neoliberal mass media and the tireless work of specialised foundations and non-governmental entities.

At the same time, work is underway to include the concept of the "third sex" in the World Health Organisation's guidelines on gender issues in health care; calls are being made to revise ethical standards regarding reproductive choice, the medical alteration of human nature, and the sexual integrity of children (in fact, a step towards the legalisation of paedophilia). In Spain, it has even come to the point of decriminalising bestiality. There, relevant amendments to the legislation were introduced in February 2023.

The developments are aggravated by the deep crisis that has hit the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant associations. Their reputation has been damaged by numerous scandals. Today, the church in the West faces accusations of spreading "white Christian nationalism" and "white supremacy" as well as attempts to marginalise the LGBT community. The clumsy attempts by some religious communities to win sexual minorities to their side, even to the point of willingness to allow same-sex marriages, have left many people aghast. As a result, many in the West are unable to find peace and solace in the church.

There is a rapid decline in the statistics of church attendance (especially of traditional denominations) in Europe and the United States, and excuses with references to the post-pandemic period do not stand up to scrutiny. A growing social group of people indifferent to matters of faith could radically change the socio-political landscape.

It is clear to a sober-minded observer that the "renewalist" part of the West has deviated greatly from the generally recognised standards of human morality, which, incidentally, were not rejected by classical liberalism. However, neoliberalism is already aimed at breaking the spiritual, cultural and social heritage of various civilisations. The values of the Enlightenment, Christianity, other monotheistic religions and even post-Christian atheism are being supplanted by the tenets of the "new ethics" under the supposedly plausible pretext of fighting discrimination against minorities. To replace humanism, neoliberal ideologues promote the concept and practices of transhumanism, posthumanism and posthumanity.

4. Technology.

Neo-liberal Western ideologists actively promote individualism and the priority of an atomised individual over any other factors and considerations. They advance ideas of constant self-perfection and individual inner and outer transformation regimens, including with the use of modern technologies. They always note that technologically advanced people alone can be considered more progressive than everyone else. In reality, this smokescreen conceals multiple commercial or political interests.

In our opinion, the problem is that the cultural and ethical mechanisms that regulate social relationships and relations between individuals are being replaced by technological permissiveness. The West is turning advanced technological solutions, including medications, into a universal tool for eliminating therapeutic and social issues. At the same time, these issues are largely far-fetched or are artificially imposed. The task is to persuade ordinary people that any wishes aimed at attaining inner comfort can be fulfilled.

This paves the way for promoting trendy research and development projects to change human nature using modern bioengineering technologies. For example, the West is using puberty blockers more actively to prepare teenagers for sex-reassignment surgery. Predictably, this is motivated by huge corporate profits. In 2022, the sex-reassignment surgery market was worth an estimated $2.1 billion in the United States alone.[4]

Biomedical methods aimed at changing a person's appearance are becoming more subtle. Advanced inventions include 23andMe and Atlas that facilitate genetic profiling as a fun-filled game/service. Businesspersons are fascinated with the idea of giving birth to genetically modified children and performing head transplants. One can also mention projects aimed at boosting human endurance, doping studies and efforts to make people more resistant to pain and other irritants. Research projects in the field of merging human bodies and machines through AI (the creation of cyborgs) are becoming more popular.

We would like to note the hustle and bustle around AI generators and numerous virtual socialisation projects. One can hardly explain this as anything other than a desire to make money by exploiting human whims and weaknesses.

In effect, the virtually uncontrollable implementation of these ideas, albeit under plausible and even noble pretexts, and the introduction of little studied technologies facilitates more profound socioeconomic rifts in society and perpetuates inequality in specific countries and on the international scene. Western biotech, biomed, IT and other corporations are acting brazenly and irresponsibly. They do not want to relinquish opportunities to create a context for future changes and innovations that spell fabulous profits, despite the risks to individuals and segments of society. The neo-liberal section of Western society does not see a major problem in the loss of awareness of the inviolability of universal human values.

* * *

The entire neoliberal agenda is, in one way or another, a product of big money, designed to serve the interests of transnational corporations through political, economic, and social shackles. The pseudo-democratic and neoliberal attitudes imposed by the West are not at all what Russia or other countries signed up to as part of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, or other international commitments that we took on after 1991.

Observing these processes from the outside, from Russia, we cannot avoid noting that the underlying ideology is morally defective and toxic for its own bearers. But, after all, it is their choice and they have to live with it. Every nation has the sovereign right to choose its own path of development. However, this does not mean that we will not defend ourselves against such a lifestyle being imposed on us. Let degeneration be confined to the neoliberal segment of Western societies.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his remarks at the 9th St Petersburg International Cultural Forum - the Forum of United Cultures on November 17, "The experience of the millennium-old history of our country convincingly shows that cultural diversity is the greatest blessing while the interaction of cultures is one of the conditions for stable and peaceful development. After all, some of the main reasons for today's international tensions are rooted in the claims of some forces to exclusivity, including cultural exclusivity, their disregard for the customs and spiritual values of others, a striving to subject everyone and everything to unification under their own pattern that they consider the best and most universal. This distasteful globalisation and, let me add, cultural expansionism, have led to cultural suppression and deprivation and have multiplied the potential for conflict."

The goal of the intellectual and political community, which cares about the future of its own people, is to identify and consistently neutralise any threats to the original way of life and traditional values, which are crucial to Russia's full-scale and successful development in the 21st century.

[1] See, for example: "Western values are steadily diverging from the rest of the world's" https://www.economist.com/interactive/international/2023/08/03/Western-values-are-steadily-diverging-from-the-rest-of-the-world

[2] Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A playbook for countering the authoritarian threat. Merriman, H., Quirk, P., Ash, J. a E-text // Atlantic Council: [site]. a URL: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fostering-a-fourth-democratic-wave-a-playbook-for-countering-the-authoritarian-threat.pdf (accessed 24.06.2023)

[3] https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/sites/dafault/files/pdf/31082_en.pdf, https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/edr/trends-developments/2013_en

[4] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-sex-reassignment-surgery-market

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Opening statement by Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General of the Army Sergei Shoigu at Defence Ministry Board Session

01.12.2023

I would like to start with the situation in the special military operation zone.

The total mobilisation in Ukraine, the supply of Western weapons and the using of strategic reserves by the Ukrainian command did not change the situation on the battlefield. Such desperate actions of the enemy result in great losses of Ukrainian troops.

For six months of the so-called counteroffensive, the enemy lost more than 125,000 people and 16,000 units of various weapons.

The Russian troops continue to inflict effective fire damage on the enemy. As a result, the AFU combat capabilities are significantly reduced.

Russian servicemen act competently and decisively, occupy more advantageous positions, expand control zones in all directions.

Over the past month, units of the 810th Marine Brigade, the 150th Motorised Rifle Division, as well as 4th, 15th, 114th, and 123rd motorised rifle brigades distinguished themselves in the course of hostilities.

Russian servicemen will continue to conduct active defence, build up the combat potential of the Armed Forces, taking into account the experience of the special military operation.

Today, a new academic year begins in the Armed Forces, which was preceded by thorough preliminary work, including exercises and methodological classes.

In 2024, the main efforts are planned to be focused on training troops to solve the tasks of the special military operation.

Seven modern training grounds are being equipped in the special military operation zone, two of which have been fully completed.

Additional classes were held with the personnel of the training grounds, which will increase the efficiency and safety of the operation of the educational and methodological base.

As part of combat training, a number of exercises are scheduled to be held during the year. About 20 of them - with the participation of units of foreign states, including four - within the framework of the CSTO and the SCO.

The final exercise will be Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercise with the involvement of all branches of the Armed Forces.

The implementation of a set of combat training activities will ensure the fulfillment of tasks to protect national interests and timely response to changes in the military and political situation.

Next, we shall discuss the thematic part of our session.

In the beginning we will hear a report of how JSC Lavochkin Association develops remote sensing of the earth's climate system which allows obtain images of the terrain regardless of weather and light conditions.

Such high-resolution images are planned to be used in the interests of the Armed Forces.

Today we will discuss issues arising in the course of our work and ways to resolve them.

Then we will discuss what the United Aircraft Corporation enterprises are doing to repay overdue accounts receivable.

Over 230 contracts for the construction, modernisation, and maintenance of aircraft have been concluded with the organisations of this joint stock company.

23 of them have receivables.

It has been reduced by 85 per cent during the current year.

The next question concerns the state of vehicle accidents in the Armed Forces.

Reducing the number of road accidents and the severity of their consequences remains a priority for all military authorities, especially in the context of the increased intensity of traffic associated with the special military operation.

In the current year, 107 preventive measures aimed at preventing road traffic accidents were taken.

In order to ensure the safe movement of road transport, the military police performed more than 25,000 escorts of military convoys and 40 per cent of them in the special military operation zone.

About five hundred thousand vehicles were checked on public roads. More than 73,000 violations were identified.

Eight military vehicle inspections have been established in the new constituent entities of Russia to ensure road safety during the special military operation.

Today we will summarise the results of work to prevent road accidents in the troops.

Department for Media Affairs and Information

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Federal prosecutors will be allowed to use nearly 460,000 documents taken from the cellphone of Peter Gerace Jr. as evidence in the trial of the Pharaohs strip club owner.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo turned down a defense attorneys motion to suppress all evidence taken from the cellphone. The defense argued that federal agents illegally seized, analyzed and took information from cellphones owned by Gerace; John Ermin, an international leader of the Outlaws biker organization who manages Pharaohs; and two other individuals.

Latest tampering charge in Pharaoh's case says witness was put in headlock and threatened A former Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club employee faces three counts of witness tampering over accusations she assaulted a witness in a sex- and drug-trafficking investigation targeting Peter Gerace Jr., owner of the Cheektowaga strip club.

In a recent ruling obtained Friday by The Buffalo News, Vilardo said he is not going to second guess rulings made earlier by two other judges  District Judge John Sinatra and Magistrate Judge Michael Roemer  on the same issue.

In a sworn statement by Gerace filed with the court, the strip club owner detailed the amount of evidence taken from the phone and implored the judge to stop prosecutors from using it.

Much of the information taken from the phone was personal and had nothing to do with the Pharaohs case, Gerace said.

His former attorney, Steven M. Cohen, argued that federal agents violated Geraces constitutional rights to privacy by seizing phones from Gerace, Ermin and Jessica Leyland, a close friend and confidante who formerly worked for Gerace.

The advanced forensic search of my phone turned up 458,673 documents, including 118,607 text messages and thousands of personal photographs, Gerace said in the sworn statement. My phone also had my usernames for bank accounts and vendor accounts.

Gerace added: My phone was kept from me for two weeks. It is difficult to describe the extent to which my day-to-day existence has come to depend on my phone.

Judge OKs saying 'Italian organized crime' at Pharaoh's trial but puts limit on 'Mafia' Prosecutors will not be free to say Mafia or La Cosa Nostra  or even soldier and connected  whenever they please, although U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo did not impose a complete ban on those words.

He said information on medical appointments and other personal matters were kept on the phone.

Gerace is charged with drug-trafficking and human-trafficking at his Cheektowaga strip club. He denies those allegations and also denies allegations that he paid bribes to Joseph Bongiovanni, a former federal drug agent.

Bongiovanni, whose phone was also seized, denies receiving bribes from Gerace or helping to enable him to run his alleged drug business.

The case is scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 8, but Vilardo said that trial date could be delayed because of an effort by the U.S. Attorneys office to block defense attorney Eric Soehnlein from representing Gerace.

Prosecutor Joseph Tripi this week filed a document asking that Soehnlein be removed from the case. The documents is sealed from public view.
Maximum Size of Russian Armed Forces Increased by 170,000 - MoD

Sputnik News

20231201

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A presidential decree established the strength of the armed forces at 2,209,130, including 1,320,000 military personnel, according to the Kremlin.

"In accordance with the decree of Russian President [Vladimir Putin] signed on November 29, 2023, the maximum size of the armed forces of the Russian Federation has been increased by 170,000 military personnel to 1,320,000 military personnel," the ministry said in a statement.

The increase in size of the military is due to the threats related to the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO, the ministry added.

Russia has increased the size of armed forces thanks to people who voluntarily sign military contracts, according to the ministry.

"In this regard, there are no plans to significantly increase the conscription of citizens for compulsory military service. Mobilization is not planned," the statement read.

A Sputnik

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Taking Additional Actions to Uphold Coalition Price Cap Policy

US Department of State

Press Statement

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

December 1, 2023

The United States imposed sanctions today on three entities and identified as blocked property three vessels that used Price Cap Coalition services while carrying Russian crude oil above the Coalition-agreed price cap.

This action comes on the heels of our previous designations in October and November. Together with our Coalition partners, the United States is committed to restricting oil revenues that the Kremlin can use to fund its war against Ukraine, while maintaining supplies to the global energy market.

The Department of the Treasury actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order 14024 for operating or having operated in the marine sector of the Russian Federation economy. For more information on these designations, see Treasury's press release.

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Finland Closes Russian Border Over Migrant Influx; Estonia May Follow

By Henry Ridgwell December 01, 2023

Finland has closed its entire 1,340 kilometer-long border with Russia after accusing Moscow of "instrumentalizing" asylum-seekers by sending them across the frontier in a hybrid attack, in retaliation for Finland's joining of NATO. Russia denied the accusation and warned that the deployment of any military units at the border would be seen as a threat by Moscow.

The Finnish Border Guard said more than 900 asylum-seekers from countries including Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen entered Finland from Russia in the month of November. Previously, the rate was less than one per day.

The Finnish government responded by closing all but one of the official border crossings in mid-November. On Thursday, Finland closed the last remaining crossing, at Raja-Jooseppi, inside the Arctic Circle, sealing off the entire frontier for at least the next two weeks.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said his country would not accept Russian interference.

"Instrumentalized migration from Russia has continued. I would like to stress that it is not just the number of arrivals that is at issue, but the phenomenon itself," Orpo said at a news conference Thursday.

"In recent days, there has been a growing understanding that this is an organized activity, not a genuine emergency. ... We don't accept any attempt to undermine our national security."

Russia is clearly trying to weaponize migration, said analyst Charly Salonius-Pasternak of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

"There are interviews [with migrants] saying that some of these people have been given an option: Either go to the front in Ukraine, or then jump in a bus or military truck, be driven up to the Arctic Circle or further north, and then be forced to buy a bicycle and try to get across," he told VOA. "So, it's very structured how the Russian authorities have done this."

Russia's actions are seen as retaliation for Finland's joining of NATO in April following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its membership of the alliance ended decades of nonalignment.

"Finland is considered by Russia to be a hostile state," Salonius-Pasternak said. "And as we're seeing through this weaponization of people and flows, it is actively trying to destabilize Finland and maybe cause other kinds of havoc. It hasn't succeeded yet, but clearly there's some intent here."

The head of the Polish National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, wrote on the social media site X on Tuesday that his country would send military advisers to Finland in response to "an official request for allied support in the face of a hybrid attack on the Finnish border." Finland said it had no knowledge of the offer.

Poland accused Belarus of sending tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to their shared border in 2021, creating a humanitarian crisis. Belarus is a close ally of Moscow.

Russia denies accusations that it is driving the migrant flows to the Finnish border.

"There is no threat there, in reality there is no tension," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters Thursday. "Tension may actually arise during the concentration of additional units on our border, because the Finns must be clearly aware that this will pose a threat to us."

There are concerns in Finland that some migrants may try to cross the border illegally, risking their lives. Dozens of migrants died on the Belarus-Poland border in 2021, prompting accusations that Europe was turning a blind eye to human rights abuses.

"It's been down to minus-25 [degrees Celsius]. It will go there again. It's supremely inhospitable to anyone seeking to cross the border," said analyst Salonius-Pasternak. "So there is this fear a will we start seeing video or pictures of people just having frozen in the wilderness?"

Estonia said Thursday it was also ready to close its border with Russia if there is a big influx of migrants. The government warned its citizens against traveling to Russia in case they are unable to return.

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Statement by the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria ad interim, Mr Sudipto Mukerjee, on the militarization of Ebreha water plant, Deir-ez-Zor Governorate

UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Damascus, 1 December 2023 -- I am deeply alarmed over the current militarization of a water facility in Ebreha town, Deir-ez-Zor Governorate.

Ebreha water station is a raw water plant, which supplies water to the Al-Busaira main water treatment station. Access to the Ebreha facility has been severely restricted since 23 November due to the facility reportedly being used as a military outpost during nighttime hours. The military use of the Ebreha water station prevents workers from operating or repairing it, in turn depriving at least 45,000 people in the area of a safe drinking water source. Deir-ez-Zor Governorate has been experiencing a sharp rise in hostilities for several months. The violence has claimed multiple lives and displaced over 25,000 people.

In addition, both Ebreha raw water plant and Busaira water treatment plant need extensive maintenance and rehabilitation to be fully functional and operational, and the water is safe for drinking. This will require full, unfettered access to both plants by technicians.

I call on all parties to take all feasible precautions to protect civilian objects against attacks in accordance with International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. This includes not using civilian objects for military purposes. Depriving vulnerable people of a safe water source endangers their wellbeing, and further exacerbates a cholera outbreak and the spread of water-borne diseases.

The humanitarian community continues to prioritize emergency assistance on the ground to ensure the population has access to a safe drinking water source.

I remind all parties that human rights law requires refraining from any activity that interferes with the enjoyment of the right to water.

1 December 2023

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Air Force facility launched to train F-16V pilots

ROC Central News Agency

12/01/2023 09:01 PM

Kaohsiung, Dec. 1 (CNA) The Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) Air Force Flight Training Command was launched Friday in Kaohsiung's Gangshan District with the aim of facilitating the training of pilots for the country's flagship F-16V fighter jets.

The launch marked the promotion of the command, formerly known as the Flying Training Command under the ROC Air Force Academy, into an independent facility.

With the launch of the command, an overhaul of the current pilot training system is to be introduced. This will see domestically built T-BE5A "Brave Eagle" advanced jet trainers assigned the role of combat training aircraft, replacing the AT-3 advanced jet trainers and as lead-in fighter trainers, replacing F-5 E/F fighter jets, which will be completely phased out next year, according to the ROC Air Force.

Meanwhile, basic flight training will continue being conducted on T-34 jet trainers, according to the Air Force.

That means the pilot training system which used to involve three types of aircraft will rely on just two aircraft -- the T-34 and the Brave Eagles.

However, as there is no timetable for retiring the AT-3 trainers, the Brave Eagles will only act as lead-in flight trainers for now, according to the Air Force.

Air Force Major Wang Tzu-hung (), a flight instructor, said one less type of aircraft in the training process means one less adaptation period for cadets, which will reduce the time they have to wait before receiving training on combat and flying skills for piloting F-16Vs.

The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump approved the sale of 66 F-16Vs to Taiwan in 2019.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Huang Wen-hsuan (), also a flight instructor, said cadets will learn how to carry out basic defense and offense and tactical formations in basic flight training before moving onto more advanced skills such as interception and air combat maneuvering.

At the launch ceremony of the Kaohsiung facility, President Tsai Ing-wen () expressed hope the pilot training facility will provide an "iron-clad defense" for the country.

The incorporation of the Brave Eagle jet trainers into the pilot training process is expected to streamline efforts to train pilots and make the process more comprehensive, Tsai said.

She underlined the importance of a swift transition from basic flight training into training geared toward flagship aircraft, noting that fighter jet pilots have an important mission to mount an "iron-clad defense" for the country given the volatility of geopolitics.

The command and the ROC Air Force Academy are both located at the Air Force's Gangshan base, and Tsai said she hopes the two facilities will work closely to improve the safety of flight training and maximize its efficacy, thus bolstering national defense.

(By Matt Yu and Sean Lin)

Enditem/AW

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Deputy Secretary General at the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje to reaffirm Council of Europe's unwavering support to Ukraine

Council of Europe

Deputy Secretary General

Strasbourg

1 December 2023

Representing the Council of Europe at the 30th OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje, North Macedonia, Deputy Secretary General BjArn Berge congratulated the Chairpersonship for their leadership through yet another difficult year.

The Deputy Secretary General took part, together with several ministers, in a crucial side event organised in the margins of the Ministerial Meeting by Ambassador Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the OSCE, and the Ukrainian NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights. The event addressed Russia's accountability for war crimes and violations of fundamental human rights, including as to what concerns the abduction of Ukrainian children and the treatment applied by the Russian authorities to Ukrainian civilian detainees. The Deputy Secretary General reiterated the crucial role of the Council of Europe (CoE) in documenting and recording Russian crimes in Ukraine, namely through the Register of Damage. He also mentioned the Consultation Group on Ukrainian Children and the CoE's contribution to the Core Group on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression.

The Deputy Secretary General also had a bilateral meeting with the OSCE Chairperson and Minister for Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. He congratulated the Chairperson for his excellent achievements in spite of the many challenges he had to face. The main concrete reflection of this successful leadership is the agreement by the 57 member states of the OSCE that Malta will take over the organisation's rotating chairpersonship in 2024, and the prolongation of the four leadership positions in the OSCE with nine more months. They also agreed on the importance to build upon the close partnership between the CoE and OSCE at the highest political level, and to continue efforts to ensure complementarity and coordination between the two Organisations.

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Zelensky discusses defense cooperation with UK, German leaders

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:37, December 01, 2023

KIEV, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed defense cooperation in separate phone talks with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday, the presidential press service reported.

Zelensky thanked the UK for defense and political support and informed Sunak about Ukraine's priority military needs, in particular air defense equipment.

Zelensky and Sunak discussed further macro-financial support for Ukraine and the implementation of Ukraine's Peace Formula.

The two leaders also touched upon the issue of Ukraine's path towards integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In his conversation with Scholz, Zelensky thanked Germany for its "winter" defense package, which includes four IRIS-T systems.

Zelensky and Scholz exchanged views on the situation on the battlefield, and the security situation in the Black Sea.

Ukraine's prospects to start negotiations on accession to the European Union were also discussed at the talks.

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Polish, Ukrainian Ministers Meet To Seek Solutions To Trucker Blockade On Border

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service December 01, 2023

Ukrainian and Polish government officials met on December 1 in Warsaw to try to find ways to end a weekslong protest by Polish truckers who want the European Union to reintroduce entry permits for their Ukrainian competitors heading for EU countries.

Polish transport companies have blocked three border crossings with Ukraine since November 6, demanding the reintroduction of the permits, which the EU waived after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

As the government officials seek solutions, Ukraine's ombudsman pointed to the urgency of the situation, saying it was "catastrophic" for Ukraine, while Slovak haulers also joined the protest at border crossings from their country into war-torn Ukraine.

The officials agreed at the Warsaw meeting to open the Ugriniv-Dolgobychev checkpoint for the passage of empty trucks from Ukraine to increase the capacity at the border and reduce the load on other checkpoints, the Ukrainian Ministry of Community, Territory, and Infrastructure Development said on Facebook.

They also agreed to create lanes for empty vehicles at two other checkpoints on both the Ukrainian and Polish sides and to launch a pilot electronic registration project for one month at another checkpoint.

The ministry emphasized in its message on Facebook that the issue of canceling or making changes to the entry permit policy was not discussed and was not on the agenda.

The protest has resulted in huge lines on both sides of the border, leaving drivers stuck in their vehicles in cold temperatures and with little food. Kyiv on December 1 said that some 2,100 trucks trying to enter Ukraine were blocked on the Polish side.

Ukrainian rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement that the blockade has put Ukrainian drivers in such a dire situation that they plan to go on hunger strike if the situation is not improved.

"Blocking traffic on the border between Poland and Ukraine: the situation is catastrophic!" Lubinets said.

Lubinets said he had contacted his Polish counterpart, Marcin Wiacek, but has not yet received a response.

The Warsaw meeting was between Jadwiga Emilewicz, Ukrainian deputy minister of community, territory, and infrastructure development, and Rafal Weber, Polish secretary of state of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Serhiy Derkach, a Ukrainian government commissioner for Polish-Ukrainian development cooperation, chaired the meeting.

Ukraine rejects the Polish protesters' demands, saying they are discriminatory. The Ukrainian ministry said this was confirmed on November 30 in a meeting of the Ukraine-Poland-EU Coordination Platform, adding that it is working with the European Commission to develop "strategic solutions that will resolve the situation with queues at the border and reduce tension in the issue of road transportation."

The Federation of Employers of Ukraine and the Association of International Motor Carriers last month appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regarding the blockade, which the association estimated has cost the Ukrainian economy hundreds of millions of euros.

With reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/polish-ukraine-trucker- border-blockade-ministers-meeting/32710361.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Orban Says Ukraine's EU Accession Not Currently In Hungary's Interest

By RFE/RL December 01, 2023

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said opening European Union accession negotiations with Ukraine is not currently in Budapest's interest and that the 27-member bloc should opt instead for a "strategic partnership" with the war-wracked country.

In a progress report last month, the European Commission -- the bloc's executive body -- recommended opening EU accession negotiations with Ukraine once it meets the required conditions after gaining candidate status together with much smaller Moldova in June last year.

Orban, a right-wing populist who has maintained warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has long been at odds with the EU over rule-of-law and corruption concerns and has seen the bloc freeze 22 billion euros ($24 billion) in cohesion funds for Hungary until it introduces judicial and human rights reforms.

In his weekly interview with Hungarian state radio on December 1, Orban said opening membership talks with Kyiv does not coincide with Hungary's interests and we "dare say it, no matter how much pressure they put on us," in an apparent reference to alleged interference from Brussels.

"I would favor the EU reaching a strategic partnership agreement with Ukraine first," Orban said, adding that such a partnership could take up to 10 years until Ukraine could adapt to the EU's requirements.

"When we see that we can cooperate, then let's bring up the issue of membership again, but that will be possible only after many, many years," he said.

Orban again spoke against continuing giving Ukraine financial aid, in what critics see as an attempt by Budapest to blackmail the EU into releasing its frozen cohesion funds in exchange for Hungary not using its veto power as the European Commission seeks unanimous support to ensure a 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) revision of the bloc's budget that would include 50 billion euros for Ukraine.

"Europe has economic problems but in the meantime throws money away -- it sends wagonloads of weapons and money to Ukraine," Orban said.

Orban and his government have repeatedly spoken against the bloc's giving military aid to Ukraine to fight Russia's unprovoked aggression, arguing that such aid would only prolong the war.

The EU will hold a summit on December 14-15.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/orban-ukraine-eu-membership- hungary-interest-partnership/32710057.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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Zelenskiy Says Changes Needed In Ukraine's Mobilization System As Putin Signs Decree On Troop Increase

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service December 01, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says changes must be made to improve mobilization as the Ukrainian military and the country's civilian leadership work to improve conditions for troops on and off the battlefield.

Zelenskiy said mobilization was discussed during meetings he held on December 1 with military commanders to discuss scenarios to produce "concrete results" next year.

"Everything necessary for our state, our brigades. These specific results must be calculated precisely. This includes issues of mobilization," Zelenskiy said in his evening video message. "Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this area."

He said the changes would go beyond numbers to include a time frame for soldiers currently serving in the military, demobilization, and terms and conditions for new recruits.

"These are comprehensive things that military leadership and the Ministry of Defense have to work out and present to the staff for approval," he said, adding that several proposals were made and he is "awaiting comprehensive solutions."

The issue of fine-tuning the process of mobilization and recruitment has been publicly discussed amid reports of corruption in recruitment such as bribes paid to recruiters to secure medical exemptions.

Zelenskiy's comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering an increase of 170,000 in the Russian armed forces. According to the decree, the regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000 servicemen.

"The increase in the full-time strength of the armed forces is due to the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

There are no plans to significantly increase conscription or carry out a new wave of mobilization, it said, attributing the increase to the recruitment of contract personnel.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on December 1 that more than 452,000 people were recruited to the Russian military under contract from January 1 to December 1, 2023.

On the battlefield, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its summary on December 1 that Russian troops tried 10 times unsuccessfully to restore its lost position near Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhya region.

The summary said 67 combat clashes took place during the day, and the enemy conducted assault operations in five areas. This included in hard-fought areas near Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka.

Ukraine's air defense said earlier that 18 out of 25 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia at several Ukrainian regions were shot down on December 1 as an air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv and its surrounding region.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it also destroyed one of the two X-59 guided missiles launched at its territory.

Russian drones were shot down over the Mykolayiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnepropetrovsk regions, the Ukrainian air defense said on Telegram.

There were no reports of casualties or material damage.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said its navy destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian sea drone in the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine's occupied Crimea region.

"On December 1, at about 8 a.m. Moscow time, a Ukrainian Navy unmanned boat was detected in the western part of the Black Sea, heading in the direction of the Crimean peninsula. The target detected was destroyed by...the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet," the ministry said on its telegram channel.

Ukraine has not commented, and the claim could not be independently verified.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-drones-kyiv- missile-crimea/32709569.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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Makayla Stone planned to go into psychology, and Zoe Weich was more of an art girl her first two years at East Aurora High School, but after working at the student-run company Blue Devil Design, they both aim to go to college for business next year.

This is the second year of operation for Blue Devil Design, a student-led company at the high school that produces custom products such as mugs and glasses with designs using laser engravers and printers, as well as old-fashioned woodworking such as cutting boards. The company also offers small engine repairs and snowblower and lawnmower tuneups.

It really teaches you (business) skills in advance, just how to communicate with customers, email other individuals, Makayla said, so if you do mess up, its not the end of the world. Its just, how do you overcome that stuff?

The inspiration for the initiative was Bull Dog Manufacturing at Alden High School, which started in 2019, and Cardinal Manufacturing at a Wisconsin high school, East Aurora High School business teacher Kim Reiser said.

The administration was very supportive of this idea and assisted in re-signing the classroom spaces and allocating personnel to teach the course, she said.

Zoe is the CEO of the company. She got familiar with most of the jobs last school year. This year, she makes sure all facets of the operation, from design to manufacturing to finance to marketing, are on track.

The class, with 16 juniors and seniors, meets daily. Students spend about 15 minutes talking about what needs to be done that day, and then they get to work, from designing logos to devising social media strategy, engraving products and repairing engines in three adjoining classrooms. This month, they are preparing for their holiday sale during concerts Dec. 12 and 19.

We did our holiday sale once last year, Zoe said, and we found that the cutting boards and the woodwork stuff was a big hit, and so weve kind of been trying to step up the level with epoxy this year.

Technology teachers Brian Cray and Ryan Wall oversee the class with Reiser, who is filling in for Lisa Marchioli while she is on maternity leave.

During a recent class, Makayla operated a laser engraving machine, etching a custom design onto tumblers. Tech students taught others how to use the equipment.

The East Aurora Education Foundation supported the endeavor with grants to purchase some of the equipment.

Overall, its a great class, I really enjoy it, Makayla said. Next year Im going off to college and Im majoring in business administration and management.

Students, their families and community members have become customers for Blue Devil Design, which can be reached by email at bddsales@eak12.org. Products can be viewed online at bluedevildesign.org.

One popular part of the company is the small engine repair.

We do snowblowers, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, weed whackers, all small ones, student Patrick Flaherty said. And when it comes to our tuneup for snow blowers, we will change the spark plug, change oil, will fill your tank, usually, like about halfway with gas.

Students can arrange to pick up and drop off the machines for an extra fee.

Taking the class and working in the company changed Zoes career trajectory.

I was more of an art girl for the first two years, she said. I was never in business or tech class, at all, and last year I did it, and I absolutely love this. And now I want to go to school for business.
Ukraine Lost Over 125,000 People and 16,000 Weapons Over Six Months of Counteroffensive - Shoigu

Sputnik News

20231201

The Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4. Kiev sent into battle brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment. Three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev's push had failed and that Ukraine had suffered heavy casualties.

The Ukrainian armed forces have lost more than 125,000 people and 16,000 units of weapons over the six-month counteroffensive, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

"During the six months of the so-called counteroffensive, the enemy lost over 125,000 people and 16,000 units of various weapons," Shoigu told a meeting on military issues.

Total mobilization in Ukraine, supplies of Western weapons and the introduction of reserves did not change the situation on the battlefield, but only increased the number of losses among Ukrainian troops, the minister said.

"Our military acts competently and decisively, occupies a more advantageous position, and expands control zones in all directions," he added.

Since early June, Ukrainian troops have been trying unsuccessfully to break through Russian defenses in the Zaporozhye, Yuzhnodonetsk, and Artemovsk (Bakhmut) regions, using combat units trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western military equipment, including the much-hyped German Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley armored vehicles.

Shortly after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, the United States and its allies stepped up their military support for Kiev. Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO countries are "playing with fire" by supplying arms to the Kiev regime, which the Kremlin says is helping to prolong the conflict in Ukraine.

A Sputnik

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Marking the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor: joint statement to the OSCE Ministerial Council 2023

The UK and partners pay tribute to victims of the Holodomor and note Russia's continued weaponisation of food as one element of its illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

1 December 2023

I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of the following 43 participating States:

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and EU Delegation.

Mr. Chair, recalling the Joint Statement on the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932 -1933, delivered at the 15th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, and the Resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly of 2008, we commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.

During the Holodomor, the cruel actions and policies of the Stalinist regime caused brutal and prolonged mass starvation, killing millions of innocent people in Ukraine.

We honour the memory of the victims of this tragedy inflicted upon the people of Ukraine. Given the OSCE commitment in the 1990 Copenhagen Document to "clearly and unequivocally condemn totalitarianism", we once again underline the importance of raising public awareness of the tragic events of our common past, of promoting tolerance and non-discrimination, and of strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for the prevention of human tragedies in the future.

We acknowledge the efforts undertaken in recent years to educate the public about the Holodomor and in the OSCE participating States as well as in the United Nations and its specialized agencies. We recognize the adoption on 1 November 2007 of the relevant UNESCO Resolution by 193 Member States. We are determined to take part in relevant events and invite all OSCE participating States to do the same, given the crucial role the OSCE plays in the promotion of respect for human rights and dignity.

We urge participating States to promote the dissemination of information, to educate on the Holodomor in Ukraine and memorialize it as a dark chapter in world history. Telling the truth about history honours the victims, acknowledges their suffering, and highlights the heroism of those who resisted these totalitarian crimes. Memorialization also promotes accountability for despots whose policies impose catastrophes, with contempt for the humanity of those affected. Within their national frameworks to promote remembrance and education about the tragedy certain participating States have recognized the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine as a state-induced campaign of starvation, while a number of participating States or their legislative branches of government have recognized the Holodomor as genocide.

For decades the Holodomoraan appalling act of inhumanityawas suppressed and denied by the Soviet Union. Today, there are ongoing attempts by the Russian Federation to glorify Stalinism and deny the Holodomor and other atrocities committed by the communist regime, including through the persecution of all those individuals and organisations who have sought to expose such Soviet era atrocities.

We express our grave concern about the repetition of the unconscionable actions of the past. Today, the Kremlin is again attempting to subjugate the people of Ukraine by force. It is once again using food as a weapon, not just against Ukraine, but also against many countries over the world, by restricting Ukraine's food exports which are crucial for global food security. Today, Russia's aggression is accompanied by Stalinist methods of dehumanization campaigns, mass atrocities, cruel filtration procedures, forcible transfers and deportations, including of children, and practices to deny, suppress and punish expressions of Ukrainian identity.

All this is aimed at breaking the will of the Ukrainian people and subjugating the sovereign state of Ukraine. We reiterate our commitment to bring all those responsible to account for the sake of justice and peace, as well as for the prevention of such atrocities and abuses.

We commend Ukraine's initiatives to ensure global food supplies despite attempts by the Russian Federation to weaponize food, by restricting Ukraine's food exports, thus undermining global food security, and threatening the supplies people worldwide depend on. We strongly deplore the Russian Federation's theft and destruction of Ukrainian agricultural products, equipment, and infrastructure as well as the Russian Federation's efforts to prevent Ukrainian food from reaching the most vulnerable populations around the world.

Mr Chair, the 90th anniversary of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine serves as a powerful reminder about the dangers of autocratic regimes. The history of the Holodomor also reminds us of our common responsibility to defend the cause of humanity and our shared respect for human life.

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NATO Allies: joint statement to the OSCE Ministerial Council 2023

NATO Allies condemn Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and destructive behaviour in the OSCE. Allies reiterate that Ukraine's future is in NATO.

1 December 2023

Statement by the delegation of Luxembourg, also on behalf of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, TArkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, as well as Sweden.

Mr. Chairperson, this statement is delivered on behalf of NATO Allies and the Invitee Sweden.

Peace in the OSCE area has been shattered. Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, which we condemn in the strongest terms, gravely undermines the Euro-Atlantic security order. It is a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter and contravenes OSCE principles and commitments, such as those contained in the Helsinki Final Act.

We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with Ukraine. We will never recognise Russia's attempted illegal and illegitimate annexations, including of Crimea. We fully support Ukraine's rights to self-defence and to choose its own security arrangements. Ukraine's future is in NATO. We remain steadfast in stepping up political and practical support to Ukraine for as long as it takes. We welcome other OSCE participating States supporting Ukraine.

There can be no impunity for Russia's abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, such as the forced deportation of children. We furthermore condemn attacks on energy infrastructure, especially during winter. Russia's war has also profoundly harmed the environment, nuclear safety, global energy and food security. We are working to ensure Ukrainian grain exports continue and actively support international efforts to alleviate the global food crisis.

We urge all countries not to provide any kind of assistance to Russia's aggression. Belarus's support has been instrumental as it continues to provide its territory and infrastructure to enable Russia's attacks on Ukraine. Belarus must end its complicity with Russia and return to compliance with international law. We condemn Russia's announced deployment of nuclear weapons and nuclear-capable systems in Belarus.

Russia is the most significant and direct threat to our peace, security and stability. It seeks to establish spheres of influence and direct control through coercion, subversion, disinformation, aggression and illegal attempted annexations. Russia's military build-up, including in the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Sea regions and the High North, along with its military integration with Belarus, challenges our security. Russia's posture, intensified hybrid actions, including through proxies, and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, as well as its use of force to pursue its political goals, undermine the rules-based international order.

We do not seek confrontation and we pose no threat to Russia. Russia must halt its aggressive behaviour and fully comply with international law. We remain willing to keep open channels of communication with Moscow to manage and mitigate risks, prevent escalation and increase transparency, including at the OSCE. We will significantly strengthen deterrence and defence, enhance our resilience and remain committed to supporting our partners to counter malign influence and aggression.

Russia has instigated conflicts in the OSCE area and inhibited efforts to resolve them. We call on Russia to end its occupation of Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and withdraw all its forces and materiel stationed in Georgia and the Republic of Moldova without their consent. We firmly support their sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within their internationally recognized borders.

Russia continues to demonstrate disregard for arms control. We condemn Russia's withdrawal from the landmark Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. As a consequence, Allied States Parties intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary. We remain united in our commitment to effective conventional arms control as a key element of Euro-Atlantic security. This complements the Alliance's deterrence and defence posture that Allies have decided to further strengthen.

Russia must immediately stop its war of aggression, and completely and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine. We are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace that upholds the UN Charter's principles, and therefore welcome President Zelenskyy's Peace Formula.

In light of the unprecedented challenges the Organisation faces, we reiterate the key importance of the OSCE as a unique forum for dialogue and advancing comprehensive security. We will continue to support the OSCE's work across all three dimensions of security, and advocate for its effective and unimpeded functioning, including the independent institutions and field missions.

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Andriy Yermak meets with foreign ambassadors at Boryspil Airport to discuss Peace Formula's tenth point on confirmation of the end of the war

President of Ukraine

1 December 2023 - 18:57

On President of Ukraine's instructions, Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak held the tenth meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in our country devoted to the implementation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula.

The event focused on the implementation of the tenth point of the Formula on confirmation of the end of the war. Eighty six participants, including representatives of 83 foreign states and three international organizations, joined the discussion that took place at Boryspil International Airport.

Addressing the attendees, the head of the President's Office reminded them that at 3 a.m. on February 24, 2022, the last passenger plane took off from Boryspil Airport. He expressed confidence that soon Boryspil would again dispatch and handle flights.

"This return to the elements of peace is possible because Ukraine has become stronger. Now, we can ensure the security of this facility. Thanks to our Defense Forces and our friends - your countries. And I am confident that the symbolic boarding passes you received at the entrance will soon become valid," he said.

Andriy Yermak informed the meeting participants that in a year of collaborative work, the Peace Formula proposed by the President of Ukraine has become a cohesive framework, with elements tightly interconnected.

"I am pleased to note progress on each of the nine points that we have already worked on," he said.

The head of the Office of the President pointed out that a fair, comprehensive, and lasting peace is only possible to achieve as a result of collective will and collective actions.

"To prevent the recurrence of war, there is only one way - through reliable multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine and a resolute demonstration of unity and commitment by responsible states that respect international law," Andriy Yermak said.

Deputy Head of the President's Office Andrii Sybiha said that Boryspil Airport was the first facility closed at the onset of the war, but it will also be the first one reopened as soon as the security situation allows.

"The nine points of the Formula reflect the most important elements of the future built on a just, strong, and resilient peace. Such peace is needed not only for Ukraine but for the whole world. No appeasement. The end of the war is the only possible solution. This is the concluding point of the Peace Formula," he said.

Andrii Sybiha explained that working group No. 10 at the ambassadorial level, which he leads along with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, includes representatives from 20 states and international organizations.

According to him, experts are developing modalities on how to put an end to this war, and the first result of their work may be presented at the next national security advisors' meeting.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, on his part, suggested considering the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk region, where life was in full swing ten years ago, during discussions about a lasting peace. Then, Russian aggression began in Donbas, and agreements on a ceasefire had been made with Russia but did not bring lasting peace to this town on the contact line.

He also said that today, Russian forces would not have destroyed Avdiivka and many other Ukrainian cities if the international security system had an impact on Russia. Therefore, it is time to update the architecture of international security.

According to the minister, the only way to guarantee peace is to defeat Russia on the battlefield. To deliver such a devastating blow to the aggressor, Ukrainian soldiers must have cutting-edge technologies and weapons that can provide an asymmetric response to Russian industrial capabilities and human resources. Ukraine has some indigenous developments and is ready for joint production, research, and development with partners.

According to Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Maliuska, the optimal legal mechanism for ending the war is a multilateral agreement that can involve many different interested signatories.

"Not only Ukraine and Russia but also guarantors. Perhaps even third parties with specific commitments," he said.

Furthermore, the minister stated that lessons from the past indicate the need for clear formulations and legally stipulated obligations.

"We would also like this document to be ratified by the parliaments of the countries that sign it. And there should be a mechanism for overcoming conflicts because not all conflicts need to be resolved by force," Denys Maliuska added.

Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk noted in her address to the attendees that only a comprehensive security document or a system of security documents and guarantees of their observance can permanently stop aggression.

"The parliamentary dimension of diplomacy is extremely important for the Peace Formula's tenth point. Obviously, the final document on establishing peace will be signed not only by two countries. Sustainable peace after the end of the war can only be ensured by the consolidation of countries worldwide and the public opinion of the people represented by their parliaments," she said.

Participants of the meeting also listened to the address of the President of The Elders, the international non-governmental organization of public figures, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, and former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. They called on all countries to make efforts to ensure a just peace in Ukraine based on the UN Charter key principles. The importance of establishing a special tribunal for the crime of aggression was also discussed.

Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people and a member of the Ukrainian parliament, emphasized that the vast majority of Ukrainians believe that the aggressor must be expelled from our land, compensate all the damages inflicted on Ukraine, and those responsible for the resolution of this war must be held accountable.

"The President of Ukraine's ten-point peace plan fully reflects the opinion of the vast majority of our country's residents, based on the fundamental principles of international law. We very much hope that the international community will support this plan and assist in its implementation," he said.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Oleksandra Matviichuk said that people in Ukraine want peace more than anyone else, but peace cannot come if a country fighting aggression stops doing so.

"Sustainable peace means the opportunity for people to live without the fear of violence and go a long way," she said.

Richard Branson, ambassador of United24, also addressed the participants with a motivational speech.

Ambassadors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Italy, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, India, Lithuania, Norway, the chargA d'affaires a.i. of Poland to Ukraine, the head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, ambassadors from Switzerland, Romania, and Latvia, among other participants took part in the discussion of the Peace Formula, particularly its tenth point.

The diplomats emphasized that a just and lasting peace should be based on principles of respect for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence. The importance of planning for the return of peace even during the ongoing war was highlighted.

Summing up, Andriy Yermak emphasized that with each national security and foreign policy advisors' meeting, the number of participants is growing, and another meeting is planned to take place at the beginning of 2024.

"The Global Peace Summit is becoming more achievable - a gathering of world leaders committed to achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace as quickly as possible. And we believe that this summit will take place very soon," he said.

Andriy Yermak reminded that during the advisors' meeting in Malta, reports from the first five working groups were heard. He also announced the upcoming fourth meeting of national security and foreign policy advisors. Following this, discussions on the agenda and the organization of the inaugural Global Peace Summit would be held.

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President on the Day of Prosecutors: Quality of work of Ukrainian prosecutors means inevitability of punishment for Russia for crimes against Ukrainians

President of Ukraine

1 December 2023 - 17:09

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the events dedicated to the Day of Prosecutors and presented state awards.

The events were also attended by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin and Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania Nida GrunskienA. In addition, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko, and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleh Tatarov were present.

The Head of State emphasized that the work of prosecutors is the legal foundation for the protection of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, the interests of the state and society. He noted that such a foundation should be as strong as possible both in peacetime and in time of war so that Ukraine could tell the truth about Russian aggression and numerous crimes of the occupier based on facts.

"The quality of the work of Ukrainian prosecutors, investigators, detectives, forensic experts and everyone who is involved and helps is, after all, the inevitability of punishment for Russia for everything it has committed against Ukraine and Ukrainians," the President said.

According to him, more than 110 thousand violations of the laws and customs of war by the Russian occupiers have been documented to date.

"Compiling a proper evidence base for all the atrocities committed by Russians on our land is a very responsible and historically significant work," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

In addition, as the President emphasized, extremely important results have been achieved in the cooperation between the prosecution authorities of Ukraine and the International Criminal Court: after the opening of the ICC Office in Kyiv, Ukrainian specialists are able to work together with the experts of the International Criminal Court on a daily basis.

"It is very important that the prosecution authorities of Ukraine work promptly on all acts of terror, shelling and abuse that Russia has committed and continues to commit in various Ukrainian regions," the Head of State said.

Also, according to him, those responsible for criminal orders in the Russian army and in the political environment are being promptly identified; crimes of deportation and abduction of Ukrainian children by the Russian occupiers are being investigated.

The President also noted the joint work of the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies against sanctioned persons, including Russians.

"Ukraine can and will defend its independence. I also have no doubt that Ukraine can ensure fair accountability for all those who brought war and terror to our land. Our state will definitely ensure the relevant processes at all levels, in particular thanks to your work," he emphasized.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy wished the prosecutors maximum efficiency and focus on the results that Ukrainian society and the state objectively need.

The President also presented the Order of Merit III class, the Order of Princess Olga III class, medals "For Labor and Valor" and awarded the honorary titles "Honored Lawyer of Ukraine" to the prosecutors.

After the official part, the Head of State heard a report on the activities of the prosecution bodies on recording and investigating criminal offenses related to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Yuriy Bielousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed during the Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General, spoke about the activities of the coordination headquarters that works to investigate such crimes. He informed about the creation and functioning of a unified database that facilitates the preparation of analytics and investigation of crimes, as well as the exchange of large amounts of data. According to Yuriy Bielousov, the prosecution bodies also cooperate with the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police in this area.

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White House Urges Ukraine Aid Be Expedited Before Winter Arrives

By VOA News December 01, 2023

Congress should act swiftly to provide aid to Ukraine before the end of the month, after which it will become exceedingly difficult to provide Kyiv with the assistance it needs, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday.

"We need that assistance immediately so we can provide them assistance in an uninterrupted way," Kirby said during a news briefing.

He said the U.S expected Russia to try to destroy Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure this winter like it did last year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with his military command Friday to discuss ways to produce "concrete results" next year in Ukraine's war against Russia.

In his nightly video address, he spoke about improvements in mobilization methods.

"This is not simply a question of numbers, of who can be mobilized," he said. "It's a question of a time frame for each person who is now in the military, for demobilization and for those who will join the military. And it's about conditions."

He said these issues had to be examined by commanders and the defense ministry.

"There were several proposals today and I am awaiting comprehensive solutions," he said.

Russian troops

Zelenskyy's comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the number of service members in the Russian armed forces by 170,000 people, to a total of 1,320,000, the Kremlin and the defense ministry said Friday.

"The increase in the full-time strength of the armed forces is due to the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO," the Russian defense ministry said.

The ministry also said it had no plans to significantly increase conscription or carry out a new wave of mobilization and that the increase in the number of service members would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said Friday that more than 452,000 people were recruited to the Russian military under contract from January 1 to December 1, 2023.

Western aid

Ukraine is dealing with headwinds over the support it needs from the West in its fight against Russia. Zelenskyy said he was concerned the Israel-Hamas war would overshadow his country's battle.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, he said the Hamas-Israel war could draw away not only attention but also resources from Ukraine as it fights to beat back the Russian invasion.

"Attention equals help. No attention will mean no help," the president said. "We fight for every bit of attention."

A recent AP poll indicated that almost half of Americans thought Ukraine was already receiving too much U.S. money. Some Republican feel the same way.

The Ukrainian president said he realized Americans were facing a tough choice on Ukraine, but he told AP the consequences of Americans not supporting Ukraine could be harsh and could lead to U.S. forces being deployed to Europe. Without U.S. support, Zelenskyy said, "Russia will most likely invade NATO countries and then the American children will fight."

European Union leaders may not reach a consensus on a proposal to grant Ukraine 50 billion euros ($55 billion) in aid through 2027. It is going to be "very difficult" to agree at a December 14-15 summit of European Union leaders, a senior official with the bloc said Friday.

The senior official, who is involved in preparing the summit and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the EU was still committed to supporting Ukraine, suggesting some assistance could be expected even if the 50 billion-euro plan fell through.

Trucker protests

Protests by Polish truckers over what they see as unfair trade competition from their Ukrainian peers continued at four border crossings. Slovak truckers have joined in the protests blocking the main crossing of Ukrainian goods from Ukraine to Slovakia.

Ukraine's finance ministry put out data that showed the country's customs service had missed its planned revenues for November by 78%, or $255 million, an apparent consequence of the protests.

Ukraine's economy minister posted data on the X platform that showed the tonnage of cargoes exported from Ukraine through Poland in November was down 39.3% from October.

A Ukrainian senior official said Thursday that the protests would reduce the country's overall imports by about a fifth in November and could cost 1 percentage point of GDP growth if they dragged on.

Polish and Slovak truckers are demanding that the EU reintroduce a permit system for Ukrainian competitors.

Train explosions

Ukraine's domestic spy agency has carried out two successive train explosions on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters on Friday.

The incidents appeared to show Kyiv's readiness and ability to conduct sabotage attacks deep inside Russia and disrupt Russian logistics far from the front lines of Moscow's 21-month-old war in Ukraine.

The source, who declined to be identified, said the explosives were detonated as a freight train crossed the Chertov Bridge in Siberia's Buryatia region, which borders Mongolia and is thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.

The train had been using a backup railway line after an attack on a nearby tunnel a day earlier caused trains to be diverted, the source said.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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TORONTO, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impact Development Group Inc. (formerly Yubba Capital Corp.) (the Company) (TSX-V: YUB.P) is pleased to announce that, further to its news releases dated December 1, 2022, April 20, 2023 and October 19, 2023, it has closed its previously announced qualifying transaction (the Transaction) and changed its name to Impact Development Group Inc.. In connection with the Transaction, the Company also completed a consolidation of its common shares (the Shares) on the basis of one post-consolidation Share for every 26.0903 pre-consolidation Shares (the Consolidation). Following the Consolidation, there were 200,072 Shares of the Company issued and outstanding.



The Shares are expected to resume trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSX-V) as a Tier 2 Real Estate Issuer under the ticker symbol IMPT on or around December 7, 2023, subject to the TSX-V issuing its final exchange bulletin confirming completion of the Transaction and its approval thereof.

The Transaction was effected pursuant to a share exchange whereby the Company issued its Shares to shareholders of Impact Housing Corporation (IHC), incorporated in the Bahamas, in exchange for all of the shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, Impact Housing Corporation, incorporated in Panama (IHC Panama).

Complete details of the terms of the Transaction are set out in the prospectus dated October 16, 2023 (the Prospectus) available on the Resulting Issuers profile at www.sedarplus.com.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Prospectus, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading the securities of the Resulting Issuer should be considered highly speculative.

Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Transaction, IHC completed an issuance of convertible notes in the amount of US$5,823,118 (the Concurrent Financing). The convertible notes issued in the Concurrent Financing converted into 1,608,596 units of IHC (each, a Unit) at a price of US$3.62 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of IHC (a IHC Share) and one IHC Share purchase warrant (an IHC Warrant), and each IHC Warrant is exercisable for one IHC Share at an exercise price of US$3.62 until November 30, 2026. The IHC Shares and IHC Warrants were immediately exchanged for the Companys securities upon completion of the Transaction.

The Transaction

In accordance with the terms of the share exchange agreement dated April 14, 2022, as amended (the Amalgamation Agreement) among the Company, IHC and IHC Panama, and immediately before the completion of the Share Exchange (as defined below), US$7,191,720 principal amount of outstanding debentures of IHC (IHC Debentures) automatically converted into 1,997,700 IHC Shares at US$3.62 per IHC Share in accordance with the terms of the IHC Debentures. Additionally, outstanding debts of IHC valued at $36,936,846 were converted into 10,260,235 IHC Shares at US$3.62 in accordance with debt conversion agreements with IHCs lenders (the Debt Conversion).

After the completion of the conversion of the IHC Debentures and Debt Conversion, and before the Share Exchange and the completion of the Concurrent Financing, there were an aggregate of 12,257,935 IHC Shares issued and outstanding.

The IHC Panama is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (the Resulting Issuer) and the outstanding securities of IHC were exchanged for securities of the Resulting Issuer at a ratio of one for one immediately before the completion of the Transaction (the Share Exchange). In addition, the Company issued 20,007 Resulting Issuer Shares (the Finders Shares) to Josh Lebovic for the introduction of IHC to the Company.

Outstanding Share Capital and Escrow

As a result of the Transaction, there are an aggregate of 14,141,927 Resulting Issuer Shares issued and outstanding, of which the previous shareholders of the Company hold approximately 1.41% and shareholders of IHC hold approximately 98.59%, respectively.

IHC shareholders representing an aggregate of 10,824,434 Resulting Issuer Shares and 1,608,596 warrants to purchase Resulting Issuer Shares are subject to Tier 2 Value Escrow Agreements under the rules of the TSX-V. In addition, the 20,007 Finders Shares are subject to four month hold period ending on March 31, 2024 in accordance with applicable securities laws.

New Board and Management

Upon completion of the Transaction, all directors and officers of the Company have resigned and were replaced by the following nominees of IHC: (a) Thomas Wenz - Chief Executive Officer & Director; (b) Swapan Kakumanu - Chief Financial Officer; (c) Delia Jaramillo - Chief Operating Officer; (d) Joshua Lebovic - Director; (e) Raymond D. Harari - Director; (f) Sophie Galper-Komet - Director; and (g) Oscar Hilt Tatum IV - Director.

Early Warning Report  Dale Wood

Dale Wood announces his intention to file an early warning report in accordance with Multilateral Instrument 62-104  Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103  The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issuers for securities of the Resulting Issuer.

Mr. Wood intends to file an early warning report in connection with the acquisition of 3,885,487 Resulting Issuer Shares through Dale Ventures PTE Ltd., and 4,369,644 Resulting Issuer Shares through Dale Ventures FZE, in connection with the Qualifying Transaction. Dale Wood is not involved in the management of the Resulting Issuer.

Immediately prior to the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Wood did not, directly or indirectly, hold any shares of the Company. Immediately following the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Dale Wood holds, directly or indirectly, an aggregate of 8,255,131 Resulting Issuer Shares (representing approximately 58.37% of the issued and outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares).

The Resulting Issuer Shares held by Mr. Wood, directly or indirectly, are subject to an applicable TSX-V escrow release schedule, as more particularly described in the Prospectus.

In accordance with applicable securities laws, Mr. Wood may, from time to time and at any time, acquire additional Resulting Issuer Shares and/or other equity, debt or other securities or instruments (collectively, Securities) of the Resulting Issuer in the open market or otherwise, and reserves the right to dispose of any or all of his Securities in the open market or otherwise at any time and from time to time, and to engage in similar transactions with respect to the Securities, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors, subject to applicable escrow restrictions. A copy of the early warning report will be filed by Dale Wood in connection with the Transaction and will be available on SEDAR+ under the Resulting Issuers profile.

Early Warning Report  Oscar Hilt Tatum IV

Oscar Hilt Tatum IV announces his intention to file an early warning report in accordance with Multilateral Instrument 62-104  Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103  The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issuers for securities of the Resulting Issuer.

Mr. Tatum intends to file an early warning report in connection with the acquisition of 2,549,296 Resulting Issuer Shares. Mr. Tatum is a director of the Resulting Issuer.

Immediately prior to the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Wood did not, directly or indirectly, hold any shares of the Company. Immediately following the closing of the Qualifying Transaction, Mr. Tatum holds, directly or indirectly, an aggregate of 2,549,296 Resulting Issuer Shares (representing approximately 18.03% of the issued and outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares).

The Resulting Issuer Shares held by Mr. Tatum, directly or indirectly, are subject to an applicable TSX-V escrow release schedule, as more particularly described in the Prospectus.

In accordance with applicable securities laws, Mr. Tatum may, from time to time and at any time, acquire additional Securities of the Resulting Issuer in the open market or otherwise, and reserves the right to dispose of any or all of his Securities in the open market or otherwise at any time and from time to time, and to engage in similar transactions with respect to the Securities, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors, subject to applicable escrow restrictions. A copy of the early warning report will be filed by Oscar Hilt Tatum IV in connection with the Transaction and will be available on SEDAR+ under the Resulting Issuers profile.

Additional Details

This news release is not an offer of the securities for sale in the United States. The securities 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 exemption from registration. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

The TSX-V has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

About IHC and IHC Panama

Impact Development Group is a Panamanian based real estate developer that provides affordable housing solutions to Panamas growing middle-class supported by a longstanding subsidized government program. The vision of IHC Panama is effectuated by a vertically integrated model which coordinates all services necessary to develop high-quality residential and commercial buildings, including land acquisition, financing, architectural, engineering, off-site manufacturing, general contracting, property management, and administration.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Wenz, Director and CEO

Phone: + 1 (406) 370-2603

Email: twenz@ihcpanama.com

Forward-Looking Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about managements view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to resumption of trading in the common shares of the Company and information related to the business plan of the Resulting Issuer upon completion of the Transaction.

Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Resulting Issuer. Risks and uncertainties exist that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied in the forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: the risk that the Transaction is not approved by the TSX-V; the limited business history of IHC; reliance on key management; risks related to IHCs growth strategy, including that previous and future acquisitions do not meet expectations or potential acquisitions cannot be completed; dependence on and availability of third party financing; the business of IHC is subject to broader economic factors; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; financial results of IHCs operations; unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions.

The forward-looking statements, while considered reasonable by the Resulting Issuer, are inherently based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the Transaction will be approved by the TSX-V and the Resulting Issuer will be able to carry out its business plan as contemplated. Although the Resulting Issuer believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of the Resulting Issuer as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Resulting Issuer may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (West Red Lake Gold or WRLG or the Company) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQX: WRLGF) is pleased to announce that, further to an unsecured convertible promissory note dated August 24, 2023 in the amount of US$5,533,094 for deferred consideration related to the acquisition of Pure Gold Mining Inc. (the Obligation) between the Company and a fund managed by Sprott Resource Lending Corp (Sprott), the Company has received A Conversion Election Notice from Sprott to convert US$2,631,463 of the Obligations into 6,900,000 units in the capital of the Company at a conversion price of C$0.52 per unit (the Units), with each Unit consisting of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant which is exercisable into one common share of the Company until November 28, 2026 at an exercise price of C$0.68 per common share. (Refer to news release of June 19, 2023, and August 14, 2023 for more details.) Issuance of the 6,900,000 Units are subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.



ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen Gold Mine and the associated 47 km2 highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. WRLG also holds the wholly owned Rowan Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km2 including three past producing gold mines - Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit.

ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

Shane Williams

Shane Williams

President & Chief Executive Officer

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Amandip Singh, VP Corporate Development

Tel: 416-203-9181

Email: asingh@wrlgold.com

or visit the Companys website at https://www.westredlakegold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Certain information included in this press release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", "scheduled", "will" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

All dollar figures included herein are presented in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Companys continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.
SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd (Junshi Biosciences, HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (TGA) has accepted the New Chemical Entity (NCE) application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine, for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Additionally, the TGA has also granted an orphan drug designation to toripalimab for the treatment of NPC.

This NCE application was submitted through Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDAs Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) that provides a collaborative mechanism and framework among the FDA and regulatory partners in other countries and regions, for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs. At present, seven other regulatory agencies have joined Project Orbis, including the TGA, Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Health Canada (HC), MHRA, etc.

Project Orbis currently accepts applications for oncology indications. An application should generally qualify for FDA priority review, meaning that the drug must be intended to treat a serious disease and, if approved, would significantly improve the safety or efficacy of the treatment; furthermore, the drug should have a high impact and significant clinical benefits. Under the framework of Project Orbis, collaboration among international regulators may allow patients with cancer to receive earlier access to new treatments in other countries.

Toripalimab for the treatment of NPC meets these application requirements and is the first domestic oncology drug to be included in Project Orbis. Junshi Biosciences will explore the possibility of fast marketing in these countries and regions where the pathway is applicable.

NPC is a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharyngeal mucosal epithelium and is one of the most common types of head and neck cancer. According to the World Health Organization, the number of newly diagnosed NPC cases in 2020 exceeded 130,000 worldwide. Due to the location of the primary tumor, surgery is rarely an option, while radiotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy are the main treatment options for localized cancers.

This NCE application is supported by results from JUPITER-02, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational multi-center Phase III clinical study (NCT03581786), for the first-line treatment of NPC and the results from POLARIS-02, a multi-center, open-label, pivotal Phase II clinical study (NCT02915432), for second-line or more prior treatments for recurrent or metastatic NPC.

The results of JUPITER-02, the first multinational multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo- controlled Phase III clinical study with immuno-oncology therapy for the treatment of NPC with the largest sample size, were published at the plenary session of the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting (#LBA2), and in Nature Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The results showed that compared to chemotherapy alone, toripalimab in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of metastatic or recurrent NPC significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% and the risk of death by 37%, and demonstrated a manageable safety profile.

The POLARIS-02 results were published online in January 2021 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results showed that toripalimab demonstrated durable antitumor activity in patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC who failed previous chemotherapy, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 20.5%, a median duration of response (DoR) of 12.8 months, and a median OS of 17.4 months with a manageable safety profile.

So far, toripalimab has been approved for 6 indications in China, with 4 supplementary new drug applications (sNDA) currently under regulatory review. Internationally, it has been approved for 2 NPC indications in the US, and marketing approval applications for 2 indications in NPC and esophageal carcinoma are currently under regulatory review in the European Union and UK.

About Toripalimab

Toripalimab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody developed for its ability to block PD-1 interactions with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, and for enhanced receptor internalization (endocytosis function). Blocking PD-1 interactions with PD-L1 and PD-L2 promotes the immune systems ability to attack and kill tumor cells.

More than forty company-sponsored toripalimab clinical studies covering more than fifteen indications have been conducted globally by Junshi Biosciences, including in China, the United States, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Ongoing or completed pivotal clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of toripalimab cover a broad range of tumor types, including cancers of the lung, nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, breast, liver, kidney, and skin.

In China, toripalimab was the first domestic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved for marketing (approved in China as TUOYI). Currently, there are six approved indications for toripalimab in China:

unresectable or metastatic melanoma after failure of standard systemic therapy; recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy; locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy; in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine as the first-line treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC; in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or distant metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); in combination with pemetrexed and platinum as the first-line treatment in EGFR mutation-negative and ALK mutation-negative, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The first three indications have been included in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) (2022 Edition). Toripalimab is the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody included in the NRDL for the treatment of melanoma.

In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Biologics License Application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced NPC, and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy in October 2023. The FDA has granted toripalimab 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations for the treatment of NPC, 1 Fast Track designation for the treatment of mucosal melanoma, and 5 Orphan Drug designations for the treatment of esophageal cancer, NPC, mucosal melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

In Europe, marketing authorization applications (MAA) were accepted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United Kingdoms Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for 1) toripalimab combined with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC and 2) toripalimab combined with paclitaxel and cisplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or metastatic ESCC, in December 2022 and February 2023.

In Australia, an NCE was accepted by the TGA in November 2023. The TGA has also granted toripalimab an Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of NPC.

About Junshi Biosciences

Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R&D pipeline comprising over 50 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Four of the companys innovations have already reached the Chinese or international markets, one of which is toripalimab, Chinas first domestically produced and independently developed anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, approved in China and the US. Additionally, more than 30 drugs are currently in clinical development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Junshi Biosciences actively shouldered the social responsibilities of a Chinese pharmaceutical company through its involvement in developing etesevimab, MINDEWEI, and other novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

With a mission of providing patients with world-class, trustworthy, affordable, and innovative drugs, Junshi Biosciences is In China, For Global. At present, the company boasts approximately 3,000 employees in the United States (San Francisco and Maryland) and China (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, etc). For more information, please visit: http://junshipharma.com.

Junshi Biosciences Contact Information

IR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

info@junshipharma.com

+ 86 021-6105 8800

PR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

Zhi Li

zhi_li@junshipharma.com

+ 86 021-6105 8800
HAWTHORNE, Calif., Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unplugged Performance, the industry leader in performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles, debuts a new chapter in Tesla tuning with the arrival of their UP INVINCIBLE product line. UP INVINCIBLE is tailored exclusively for Tesla Cybertruck owners who want to push the limits of on-road and off-road performance. The unveiling took place at Unplugged Performances celebratory afterparty for Tesla's highly anticipated Cybertruck delivery event on November 30th. Hosted at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California, neighboring Tesla Design Studio, SpaceX, and Starlink, the event drew a capacity crowd, reflecting the immense enthusiasm for this innovative product range.







UP INVINCIBLE represents a concerted effort to harness and amplify the rugged DNA of the Cybertruck, making it even more robust and capable in a variety of challenging environments. During the event, Ben Schaffer, CEO of Unplugged Performance, presented an extensive off-road and overlanding-focused product lineup that includes heavy-duty steel bumpers and rock sliders, cutting-edge carbon fiber body panels, high-output LED light bars, ingenious bed storage solutions and MOLLE panel designs, a comprehensive suite of suspension products including lift kits, new wheel designs including a purpose-built beadlock wheel, underbody armor and more.





"The UP INVINCIBLE collection is designed to empower Cybertruck owners, equipping them to conquer the toughest terrains, embark on extraordinary adventures, and enhance the Cybertruck's inherent capabilities," said Ben Schaffer. "While we are renowned for our high-performance racing suspension and brake upgrades, UP INVINCIBLE is about infusing that DNA into that of the Cybertruck to take it to new heights and enhance the experience at every level."

For a closer look at the UP INVINCIBLE product range, visit unpluggedperformance.com/cybertruck . Limited quantities of select products will begin shipping in early December, offering early Cybertruck adopters an opportunity to elevate their ownership experience. The full product range is slated to customers in early 2024. During the event, Unplugged Performance also unveiled renderings of UP.FIT's vision for the future, showcasing plans for Cybertruck-based police and military vehicles.

Unplugged Performance continues to redefine the boundaries of Tesla tuning and innovation, cementing its position as the go-to destination for Tesla enthusiasts seeking performance enhancements and cutting-edge solutions for all Tesla vehicles.





Follow Unplugged Performance and company news, galleries and videos on:

Company blog: www.unpluggedperformance.com/news

Company gallery: www.unpluggedperformance.com/gallery

Facebook: www.facebook.com/unpluggedperformance

Instagram: www.instagram.com/unpluggedperformance

X: www.x.com/unpluggedtesla

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/unplugged-performance

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@UnpluggedPerformanceTesla

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@unpluggedperformance

Media Contact:

Brendan Sangerman

brendan@unpluggedperformance.com

About Unplugged Performance: Unplugged Performance is a leading provider of high-performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles. With a commitment to engineering excellence and a passion for pushing the boundaries of electric vehicle performance, Unplugged Performance has established itself as an industry leader. Their meticulously crafted products and modifications cater to the needs of Tesla enthusiasts, delivering enhanced performance, aesthetics, and an unparalleled driving experience. Visit unpluggedperformance.com to explore their range of performance parts and upgrades.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

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News / National

by Staff reporter

A FUNDING appeal has been launched to help return to Zimbabwe for burial the body of a man who died in Australia.Nkosilathi Ncube died suddenly last Sunday, leaving behind his wife Sakhile Manikela, daughter Owami Shabalala (15) and son Lwazilwethu (10).The family had only recently relocated to Australia."It is with sadness that Nkosilathi Ncube was suddenly taken from his family on the 24th Nov 2023," reads a statement supporting the funding appeal. "(Ncube) recently relocated from Zimbabwe with his family on a Temporary Residency Status with hopes of settling in Australia and making a better life for his family."Both children have settled into their new schools in Melbourne's west."The GoFundMe appeal seeks to raise A$80,000 to facilitate Ncube's repatriation."His (Ncube's) sudden loss has put a financial burden on the family for the repatriation of Nkosilathi back to his family in Zimbabwe for his funeral and burial in his hometown Bulawayo, to be near his Parents, Siblings, and Friends."Your kind donations to assist with this are very much appreciated by his family and friends."About A$13,000 had been raised by this Friday afternoon.
If you suffered losses exceeding $100,000 investing in Paycom securities between May 3, 2023 and November 1, 2023 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310). You may also click here for additional information: www.faruqilaw.com/PAYC.



There is no cost or obligation to you.





NEW YORK, Dec. 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Paycom Software, Inc. (Paycom or the Company) (NYSE: PAYC) and reminds investors of the January 9, 2024 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company.

Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading minority and Woman-owned national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia.

As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) Paycom's Beti product led to cannibalization of Paycom's services and revenues; (2) Paycom knew but failed to disclose that Beti was leading to cannibalization of Paycom's services and revenues, and failed to warn of cannibalization as a general risk; (3) as a result of cannibalization of revenue, Paycom missed its expected 3Q23 revenue and would have to revise its expected 2023 Revenues; (4) the cannibalization issue resulted in projected 2024 year-over-year revenue growth to between 10% and 12%, well below expectations; and (5) 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.

Paycom introduced its Beti product in July 2021. Beti is an automated payroll processing system that gives employees the option to do their own payroll, including reviewing and updating payroll errors.

On October 31, 2023, Paycom reported its Q3 2023 financial results, which disclosed disappointing Q3 revenues, revenues guidance for Q4 2023, and an initial 2024 outlook for 10% to 12% revenue growth. Paycom's reported financial results fell significantly below consensus estimates. At the earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Craig Boelte explained that the Beti product has rendered some of the Company's existing offerings non-essential. As a result, customers have stopped purchasing Paycom's other services and billable items, which has affected the Company's revenues.

On this news, the price of Paycom shares declined by $94.28, or approximately 38.49%, from $244.97 per share to $150.69 on November 1, 2023.

The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not.

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Paycoms conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others.

Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6a0a9f2a-dfb3-49cd-8c1e-be1134701e30
If you suffered losses exceeding $50,000 investing in Fisker securities between August 4, 2023 and November 20, 2023 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310). You may also click here for additional information: www.faruqilaw.com/FSR.



There is no cost or obligation to you.





NEW YORK, Dec. 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Fisker Inc. (Fisker or the Company) (NYSE: FSR) and reminds investors of the January 26, 2024 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company.

Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading minority and Woman-owned national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia.

As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) that Fisker had a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting; (2) that Fisker had incorrectly accounted for certain costs; (3) that as a result the Company was likely to delay filing its quarterly report; (4) that Fisker's infrastructure was limiting its ability to deliver its production; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

On November 8, 2023, before the market opened, Fisker announced that the completion of the Company's financial statements would be delayed due to the appointment of a new chief accounting officer ("CAO") and the departure of the Company's former CAO. The Company had previously announced former CAO, John Finnucan ("Finnucan") provided notice of intent to resign on September 19, 2023, effective October 27, 2023. Fisker's new CAO, Florus Beuting ("Beuting"), was hired effective as of November 6, 2023. The Company advised it "expects to file its Form 10-Q by November 14, 2023." On this news, the Company's share price fell $0.38, or 8.7%, to close at $3.99 per share on November 8, 2023, on unusually heavy trading volume.

Then, on November 13, 2023, after the market closed, Fisker announced its third quarter 2023 financial results, reporting a loss of $91.0 million and $0.27 loss per share. The Company also reported $78.02 million in selling, general and administrative operating costs and expenses, as well as $9.42 million for research and development, totaling $87.44 million for total operating costs and expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The Company also cut its production forecast for the year and disclosed that, though 4,725 Oceans were built in the third quarter, only 1,097 were delivered to customers. The Company also announced it would be unable to timely file the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. The Company disclosed, in preparing its results, it had determined "it has material weaknesses" in "internal control over financial reporting."

On that same day, the Company held an earnings call wherein Defendants disclosed that the delay in reporting was due to having a "highly complex quarter" including "very complex accounting along with convertible notes and accounting for derivative" and "things like raw material inventory accounting and finished goods inventory accounting[.]" The Company also disclosed that "delivery and the service infrastructure" was limiting deliveries and, as a result, the Company was "in the process of dramatically overhauling our service and delivery infrastructure." On this news, the Company's share price fell $0.77, or 18.7%, to close at $3.34 per share on November 14, 2023, on unusually heavy trading volume.

On November 20, 2023, after the market closed, the Company disclosed that Beuting (the CAO hired November 6, 2023) had provided notice of his intent to resign from the Company on November 14, 2023, effective immediately. On this news, the Company's share price fell $0.35, or 15%, to close at $2.00 per share on November 21, 2023, on unusually heavy trading volume.

Finally, on November 22, 2023, the Company filed its Form 10-Q quarterly report for the period ended September 30, 2023, which disclosed that the Company had "identified approximately $20 million of expenses" which were "incorrectly recorded primarily as selling, general and administrative expenses in our preliminary earnings results, but were later determined to be associated with production set-up activities" and that "other inventory adjustments were recorded resulting in a $4.0 million increase in net loss subsequent to the preliminary earnings results."

The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not.

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Fiskers conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others.

Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6a0a9f2a-dfb3-49cd-8c1e-be1134701e30
VANCOUVER, Dec. 1, 2023 - New Pacific Metals Corp. ("New Pacific" or the "Company") (TSX: NUAG) (NYSE American: NEWP) is pleased to report that all matters submitted for approval at New Pacific's annual and special meeting of shareholders held today ("AGM") as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular, both dated October 25, 2023, were approved by the requisite majority of votes cast at the AGM. A total of 135,408,255 common shares, representing 79.23% of the votes attached to all outstanding shares as at the record date for the meeting, were represented at the AGM.

The details of the voting results for the election of directors are set out below:



Votes For Withheld Director Number Percentage Number Percentage Andrew Williams 124,034,097 99.82 % 229,529 0.18 % Dickson Hall 123,968,608 99.76 % 295,018 0.24 % Martin Wafforn 113,917,547 91.67 % 10,346,079 8.33 % Maria Tang 123,978,547 99.77 % 285,079 0.23 % Dr. Peter Megaw 123,735,935 99.58 % 527,691 0.42 % Paul Simpson 124,056,817 99.83 % 206,809 0.17 % Myles Gao 124,055,065 99.83 % 208,561 0.17 %

Shareholders also approved the share-based compensation plan and the re-appointment of Deloitte LLP as auditors of the Company for the ensuing year. Final results for all matters voted on at the AGM will be filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company's website at www.newpacificmetals.com.

The Company would like to welcome Andrew Williams and Myles Gao to the Board of Directors. Dr. Rui Feng and Mr. Terry Salman did not stand for re-election as directors. The Company thanks Dr. Rui Feng for his leadership and vision over the past several years, and thanks Mr. Terry Salman for his invaluable contributions to the Company.

Mr. Williams is the CEO of the Company. Prior to joining New Pacific, Mr. Williams spent the last 11 years with SEC-registered investment fund Sun Valley Gold LLC, most recently as portfolio manager. Mr. Williams began his career at Deloitte providing audit and financial advisory services to mining companies in Vancouver. Mr. Williams holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours from the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Chartered Business Valuator.

Mr. Gao is a seasoned geologist and mining executive with over 30 years of experience. He has extensive experience in mining and exploration projects both in Canada and in other jurisdictions. Mr. Gao received a Master of Science in Geology from the Laurentian University.

ABOUT NEW PACIFIC

New Pacific is a Canadian exploration and development company with three precious metal projects in Bolivia. The Company's flagship Silver Sand project has the potential to be developed into one of the world's largest silver mines. New discoveries and exploration success at the Carangas Silver-Gold Project and the Silverstrike Silver-Gold Project further display the Company's capability of growing its shareholders' value through careful project identification, acquisition, thorough geological study and well-planned drilling.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Williams, Chief Executive Officer

New Pacific Metals Corp.

Phone: (604) 633-1368 Ext. 236

1750-1066 Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3X1, Canada

U.S. & Canada toll-free: 1-877-631-0593

E-mail: invest@newpacificmetals.com

For additional information and to receive company news by e-mail, please register using New Pacific's website at www.newpacificmetals.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-pacific-announces-2023-agm-results-and-appoints-new-directors-302003692.html

SOURCE New Pacific Metals Corp.
RATING D-HELD R-HELD I-HELD TOTAL Lean Republican 0 4 1 5 Tossup 0 8 0 8 Lean Democratic 5 2 0 7 Total 5 14 1 20

Shifts Toward Democrats

Competitive Republican-Held Seats

Other Competitive Democratic-Held Seats

Competitive Independent-Held Seats

The polls for congressional races are inducing uncertainty about how much of a blue wave there will be on Election Day. But in the gubernatorial races, the Democrats midterm outlook has improved significantly.Since our last handicapping in mid-September , one incumbent governor has ended his reelection campaign and nine of the nations 36 races for governor have shifted -- all of them in the Democrats' direction.The nine seats moving in Democrats' favor are in Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and South Dakota.Overall, the GOP currently holds a 33-16 edge in gubernatorial offices and therefore has more seats to defend this year -- 26 to the Democrats' nine.In a neutral political environment, Democrats should be able to flip perhaps three governorships. But for the first time since 2006, the GOP will control the White House and Congress during a midterm election -- a balance of power that historically helps the party without the presidency.If the political winds continue to blow in the Democrats' favor, the partys net gain could range from seven to 10 seats. The higher end of that prediction represents an increase of a couple seats since our estimate in September and would give Democrats a slim majority among governors.Our ratings, which are based on polls and conversations with political experts in the states as well as national party strategists, are broken into seven categories: safe Republican, likely Republican, lean Republican, tossup, lean Democratic, likely Democratic and safe Democratic.Currently, we rate 20 of the 36 races in November -- more than half -- as being competitive, meaning that they are either tossups or leaning to one party or the other.The biggest change this month is that there are no longer any Democratic-held seats in the tossup category (or, for that matter, any Democratic-held seats leaning toward the Republicans).By contrast, the Republicans hold 10 seats that are now either in the tossup category or leaning in the Democrats direction.And the Democratic tilt could grow even stronger by the eve of the election. Its conceivable that as many as a half-dozen seats currently rated as lean Democratic could shift to likely Democratic in the coming weeks.As has been the case for the entire election cycle, Republicans have more seats at risk. The GOP currently holds 15 of the 20 competitive seats, compared to just five for the Democrats. In Alaska, the nations only independent governor, Bill Walker, abruptly announced last week that he is ending his reelection bid. He threw his support behind his Democratic opponent, but the race still leans Republican.Those 20 competitive seats include eight tossups -- all in states that currently have Republican governors: Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.Two GOP-held seats currently lean Democratic (Michigan and New Mexico) while one rates likely Democratic (Illinois).Here's the current breakdown of competitive races:For an interactive version of our ratings map, click here . Below the map is the latest analysis of the most competitive races this cycle.Were shifting two seats from likely Republican to lean Republican:andFor much of the cycle, New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu seemed destined for an easy reelection. But in a late September poll by the American Research Group, Sununu was up by just five points over Democratic former state Sen. Molly Kelly. Combine that with New Hampshires reputation as a swing state, and the Democratic political environment, and you have a newly lean Republican race.South Dakotas gubernatorial race remains the shocker of the cycle: In this solidly red state, Democratic state Sen. Billie Sutton is neck and neck with Republican U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, even leading in one late September poll by a Democratic firm. We still think the GOP will pull this out -- the state hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1974 -- but the race has been a whole lot tighter than expected.Meanwhile, two seats shift from lean Republican to tossup:andIn Georgia's open-seat contest, Democrat Stacey Abrams, the states former house minority leader, faces Republican Brian Kemp, the secretary of state. The race presents voters with a sharp ideological contrast. While history suggests that Republicans should have the edge, Abrams' history-making nomination as an African-American woman has attracted national attention and could energize minority voters in greater numbers than before. However, the states controversial exact match law has put more than 53,000 voter registrations on hold -- most of them filed by minorities. Five recent polls have had the candidates either even or with leads of no more than two points.In Kansas, the controversial tenure of former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback gave Democrats hope of winning usually Republican Kansas. Adding to their optimism is the fact that GOP nominee Kris Kobach, the secretary of state, is too conservative even for many Kansas Republicans. But surveys show independent candidate Greg Orman pulling a steady 9 percent to 10 percent of the vote, leaving Kobach and his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Laura Kelly, neck and neck. Unless Orman fades down the stretch, Kobach and Kelly will battle it out in one of the nations closest gubernatorial contests.Three states move from tossup to lean Democratic:andIn Colorados open-seat race, deep-pocketed Democrat U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has opened up October leads in the high single digits against Republican State Treasurer Walker Stapleton.In Connecticut, Democrat Ned Lamont is leading Republican Bob Stefanowski by margins in the high single digits, easing Democratic concerns that outgoing Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy poisoned their chances after persistent economic and fiscal challenges for the traditionally blue state.And in Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo has solidified support since the primary. Raimondo faces a rematch against Republican Mayor Allan Fung, her 2014 opponent, but an independent candidate is in the race, and hes more of a danger to Fung. The independent candidate is Joe Trillo, who ran President Donald Trump's campaign in the state in 2016. Recent polls have had Raimondo up in the high single digits to low double digits.One state moves from a competitive rating to a non-competitive rating --, which shifts from lean Democratic to likely Democratic.Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is the most endangered incumbent in either party as he faces billionaire Democrat J.B. Pritzker. October polls have showed Pritzker ahead by between 16 and 22 points.Andmoves from likely Democratic to safe Democratic.Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has faced restiveness within his partys left flank, but by now he has all but sealed up a third term over Republican nominee Marc Molinaro, a county executive. October polls have had Cuomo leading by between 18 and 23 points.andremain in the lean Republican category.Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has performed strongly in what was initially pegged as a tough reelection contest. Ducey has generally outpaced his Democratic rival, David Garcia, by double-digit margins. However, two recent polls suggest a modest improvement for Garcia. Ducey remains a clear favorite, but the narrower margins in the late polls suggest this race is not yet destined for the likely Republican category yet.In Oklahoma, the Democrats are still in the hunt, despite the states bright red tinge, partly because of voter dissatisfaction with Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, whose approval rating has fallen as low as 19 percent this year. Republican businessman Kevin Stitt faces former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, a Democrat. Recent polls have Stitt with a four- to six-point edge.Meanwhile, six Republican-held governorships remain in the tossup category:andIn Florida, Trump-aligned Republican Ron DeSantis has trailed Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum consistently -- albeit narrowly -- since the August primaries. Hurricane Michael is a wild card. It hit blue Tallahassee hard, but parts of the red Panhandle even harder, possibly scrambling turnout. Most recent marquee contests in Florida have been narrowly decided. This one should be no different.Iowa, like other midwestern states, has swung back toward the Democrats this year after turning strongly Republican in 2016. A pair of September polls had Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds trailing Democratic businessman Fred Hubbell by two and five points. The race could go either way.In Maine, where polarizing Republican Gov. Paul LePage is leaving office, Republican Shawn Moody faces Democrat Attorney General Janet Mills. However, two center-left candidates are running as independents, potentially draining votes from Mills. The head-to-head matchup between Moody and Mills has been close for much of the campaign, but two mid-October polls found Mills up by eight points. Until theres additional evidence that Mills has pulled away, were keeping this in tossup.Nevada -- one of the nations closest and trickiest-to-poll states -- has a close tight race between Republican Adam Laxalt, the attorney general, and Democrat Steve Sisolak, a county commissioner. Four polls in October have shown the race anywhere between Sisolak by four to Laxalt by four. The results will depend heavily on whether Democrats can energize their vaunted turnout machine, particularly Hispanic voters in the state.In Ohio, Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine has had small but consistent leads in most polls, but Democrat Richard Cordray, the former head of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has sometimes broken through with a small lead of his own. Observers in the state call the race dead even.And in Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker is finding his quest for a third term his hardest race yet. Democrat Tony Evers, the states superintendent of schools, has led in most, though not all, polls since the summer.Finally, two Republican-held seats remain in the lean Democratic category:andIn Michigan, Democratic nominee Gretchen Whitmer has consistently led Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette in polls by between eight and 12 points. The winner would succeed retiring Republican Rick Snyder, who became closely associated with the Flint water crisis.And in New Mexico, Democrat U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham has been outpolling her Republican colleague in Congress, Steve Pearce, by margins in the mid-single digits. The winner would succeed Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.Two Democratic-held seats remain in the lean Democratic category:andIn Minnesota, Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Walz has consistently led Republican Jeff Johnson, a county commissioner, by margins in the high single digits. A mid-October Marist poll found an even bigger edge for Walz. The winner would succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.Finally, in a surprise, Oregons contest remains competitive this late in the cycle. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Kate Brown faces a spirited challenge by Republican state Rep. Knute Buehler. We still think the Democrats will pull out a victory in this solidly blue state, but the contest is close enough to keep it in the competitive category.has played host to one of the wildest races of the cycle.Walker, an independent, won office in 2014 after he joined forces with a Democratic running mate and defeated then-Republican Gov. Sean Parnell. But his long odds of reelection lengthened when former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich entered the race as a Democrat, splitting the center-left vote.Republican Mike Dunleavy, a well-funded education administrator and former state legislator, outpaced Walker and Begich by 15 to 20 points in recent polls.Then two and a half weeks before Election Day, Walker quit the race and endorsed Begich. This is still a red state, and there isnt much time for Begich to consolidate Walkers support, so were leaving this race at lean Republican.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A 39-year-old Bulawayo woman was jailed for 25 years on Friday over the murder of Thulisile Dube, who vanished after a night out with friends before being found dead in an abandoned car in August last year.Musawenkosi Hara denied murder but was convicted after a full trial at the Bulawayo High Court.Hara wore a blank stare and appeared not bothered as Justice Christopher Dube-Banda handed down the 25-year jail sentence.Dube's family welcomed the sentence.Farai Michael Mutasa, who allegedly strangled Dube, 36, in the backseat of a car, committed suicide days after the brutal murder.The court heard that Hara and Mutasa believed that Dube, who lived in South Africa and was visiting family in Bulawayo, had up to R2 million from an undisclosed deal she concluded in the neighbouring country. Dube had allegedly intimated to Hara about her financial windfall, and Hara in turn informed her boyfriend Mutasa.The duo joined Dube and three other friends on a drinking bender at several nightclubs on August 20, ending at Stunts in the city centre at around 4AM the next day.Dube took the wheel as they dropped off their friends in Nkulumane, Luveve and Cowdray Park before remaining in the car with Hara and Mutasa.In her defence, Hara sought to blame the murder on Mutasa, insisting she took no part. In testimony which the judge said was "not consistent and contained poor evidence," Hara claimed that sometime after leaving the last of their friends, Dube stopped the car to relieve herself and Mutasa followed her out of the car.Hara said Mutasa picked up a stone and hit Dube on the head but she did not die. She said the scuffle was quickly resolved and they continued driving towards the Cowdray Park railway line where Mutasa, who was now driving, parked the vehicle and jumped onto the back seat where he strangled Dube.The two love birds then drove off with Dube's corpse and refuelled the vehicle at Luveve. They later dumped the car, which was owned by Dube's brother, in Emganwini suburb before using public transport back to the city centre where they continued their drinking spree.The court heard that at around 9AM, the duo visited a friend where they spent the day drinking. They left at 4PM but forgot some items they had stolen from Dube, including a satchel which had some personal items. Her family later positively identified the bag.Hara and Mutasa, the court heard, proceeded to sell Dube's Samsung S20 phone, with Hara showing her ID to the buyer. They used the money to finance their binge drinking.Hara was arrested for an unrelated offence on August 22 and released on August 23. She fled to Harare.When police discovered Dube's body on August 23, Mutasa took his life after recording a suicide voice note for his young sister admitting to his role in the murder.The court heard that if Dube had the large amount of cash her killers believed she had, she was not carrying it on their night out.Dube's aunt spoke to reporters outside court."I'm content with the sentence but we are left with a big void, nothing can replace life," she said.She revealed that Mutasa's family had reached out and paid them 14 cows, adding: "Hara's family haven't genuinely engaged us, they just hijacked the Mutasa apology and want to make it a combined one."Hara was represented by Tanaka Rungana of Tanaka Law Chambers.
Vodafone Ghanas Homecoming: A Resurgence of hope in Ghanas middle belt

News Desk Report Business News Nov - 24 - 2023 , 19:45

Embarking on a mission to alleviate the burden of medical bills on the less fortunate, the Vodafone Ghana Foundations Annual Homecoming programme has once again demonstrated its steadfast commitment to humanitarian causes.

The Middle Belt edition, conducted from November 22nd to 24th, has successfully discharged 61 insolvent patients from key government hospitals in the region.

The compassionate initiative, which began in 2011, has been a beacon of hope for those unable to settle their medical bills, providing relief to over 2,000 patients since its inception. This years Middle Belt edition continued the tradition, focusing on government hospitals in the Western North, Brong Ahafo, and Bono East Regions.

This years journey commenced with the launch in the Southern Belt at the Tema General Hospital, cascading through Winneba and Keta General Hospitals in the Volta and Central Regions.

The Middle Belt edition of the program extended its benevolent touch, transforming the lives of 13 patients at Bibiani Government Hospital, 37 at Asunafo South District Hospital, and 11 at the Abrafi Government Hospital.

Mr Kwakye, a beneficiary who underwent surgery for an obstruction of the large intestines and was facing a challenging health crisis, found solace in the support of the Vodafone Ghana Foundation.

Nick-named the class prefect of the ward due to his prolonged stay at the male ward at Bibiani Government Hospital, he expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the Vodafone Ghana Foundation. He said, I eagerly anticipate reuniting with my family.

I extend my sincere gratitude to the Vodafone Ghana Foundation for putting an end to my prolonged stay. I am profoundly thankful and stand as evidence of the positive impact the Foundation is making in our country, he said.

The Homecoming Program, with its three-phase approach, aims to discharge 200 patients across the Northern, Middle, and Southern belts of Ghana. As it progresses, it continues to embody the essence of compassion and community uplifting, making a tangible difference in the lives of those who need it the most.

In a world often filled with challenges, the Vodafone Ghana Foundations unwavering commitment to the well-being of the less fortunate shines as a beacon of hope, proving that collective efforts can truly bring about positive change.


I was paid GH20 when I started acting  Fred Amugi

Graphic Showbiz Showbiz News Dec - 02 - 2023 , 11:11

Renowned Ghanaian actor, Fred Amugi has disclosed his struggles at the start of his acting career when he was paid a paltry GH20 for a role.

As a guest on Joy Primes Prime Morning show on Wednesday, November 29, Fred, who is currently the brand ambassador for Caveman Watches, explained that accepted such payments because he was passionate about the craft and had the strong desire to make a good name as a young actor.

The lowest amount I have received as an actor is GH20, paid to me by GBC radio theatre.

We the so called beginners of these things were doing it for the passion. I just love it anytime someone is happy because he/she has been entertained by my performance, knowing that the viewers appreciate what I did was very satisfying, he said.

He advised young and upcoming actors to accept any role assigned to them as relevant and desist from downplaying some roles as insignificant.

Last year, when Fred Amugi celebrated his 74th birthday, he had only one wish and that was to see himself on a billboard as a brand ambassador. (Read Fred Amugi: I was only asking for a job)

In a Facebook post, he appealed to Corporate Ghana to give him jobs and not wait till he dies to be celebrated.

The said post attracted lots of attention with some critics alluding that his request was just a needless entitlement.

However, in an interview with Graphic Showbiz, he mentioned that his request was just a means to get a job.

I am only asking for a job, all I am asking for is to be put on a billboard. I am at the latter stage of my career and all I am saying is use me now, dont wait till I am gone, he said at the time.
COP 28: See the full list of Ghana's registered delegates

GraphicOnline Dec - 02 - 2023 , 18:02

Ghana registered 618 delegates for the 28th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) in Dubai, representing an increase in its delegation size compared to the previous year.

At COP 27 in Egypt, Ghana presented a delegation of 350, comprising both state and non-state actors, some of whom were funded by development partners.

This year, according to data released by the UNFCCC, Ghana's delegation has increased to 618.

The delegation consists of 95 persons on the official "parties" list and an additional 523 on the "party overflow" list.

It is essential to note that some countries allocate party badges to NGOs, potentially inflating the official delegation size.

These numbers are provisional and based on registered participants; the final figures, considering those collecting physical badges at the venue, will be released by the UNFCCC after the summit concludes.

COP 28 slated from November 30 to December 12 is set to be a historic event, with a record-breaking number of delegates in attendance. The provisional total for this year's summit suggests that 97,372 individuals have registered to attend in person, almost twice the number that attended COP 27 in Egypt.

Additionally, for the first time in COP history, all delegates have been named in the participant lists, including "host country guests" from the UAE and 3,000 "virtual-only" participants.

Unsurprisingly, the host country, the UAE, boasts the largest-ever registered delegation of any country, with 4,409 badges. Brazil follows with 3,081, and China and Nigeria are tied at 1,411 badges each.

The participant lists, presented in spreadsheet format for the first time by the UNFCCC, highlight the growing trend of increasing participation in climate COPs. Last year's COP 27 in Egypt drew almost 50,000 delegates, indicating a steady rise in attendance since the peak of COP 21 in Paris in 2015.

See Ghana's list of delegates below;
Catholic Relief Services renovates Tarikom Primary School - Move to provide community, displaced children with education

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Dec - 02 - 2023 , 07:36

Displaced children among about 1,000 Burkinabe asylum seekers at a resettlement camp at Tarikom in the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region, can now have an education.

This has been made possible due to the renovation of the primary school in the town to provide a congenial environment for both the displaced children and the children in the community to have access to basic education.

Executed by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in partnership with the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO), the renovation works were carried out on two three-unit classroom blocks and other ancillary facilities.

Additionally, the school has been provided with 120 metal dual desks, teachers desks and tables and assorted writing materials to aid in teaching and learning of both the children in the town and the asylum seekers children.

Dilapidated school blocks

Before the coming of the asylum seekers from Burkina Faso to the town, children in the community over the years studied in dilapidated classrooms, which posed a danger to the lives of school pupils.

Almost all the roofs of the classrooms had been destroyed and leaked badly and anytime it rained, the management of the school found it very difficult to have a place to accommodate the pupils.

The previous bad state of one of the classrooms

The bad state of the school negatively affected teaching and learning, as well as enrollment because most of the pupils were discouraged from attending regular classes.

More important, parents were scared of allowing their children to attend school, since they were afraid that misfortune could befall them, especially when there was a heavy rainstorm.

The school, established in 2008, is situated about two kilometres from the camp.

Out of a total of 616 pupils in the school, 178 of them are displaced children of the Burkinabe asylum seekers.

Timely intervention

To consolidate earlier support to the asylum seekers which formed part of the phase one assistance to them, the CRS with funding from the ONell Foundation, undertook the second phase by renovating the entire primary school for $100,000.

At a brief ceremony to hand over the renovated school last Tuesday, the Head of Office, CRS, Timothy Amang-Bey Akanpabadai, said the phase one and two interventions were in line with the CRS mission statement to promote human development, by responding to major emergencies, fighting disease and poverty and nurturing just and peaceful communities.

The previous state of the primary school

He said, we hope that this support will go a long way to reduce the current difficulties faced by the asylum seekers and residents of the host communities.

While urging the government and other stakeholders to continue to mobilise resources to meet the needs of the vulnerable, he said the CRS was grateful to the chiefs, NADMO, UNHCR among others who had supported to bring relief to the people.

Churchs mission

The Human Development Coordinator, NABOCADO, Dr Joseph Ayembilla, said the mission of the church thrived on three key areas in terms of human protection, namely welcoming victims, protecting and integrating them into society.

He stated that it was for that reason that the church was deeply involved in promoting integral human development by collaborating with the CRS to renovate the school to provide sound education to the pupils, especially the displaced children.

He said, I wish to call on the management of the school, community and the Ghana Education Service to ensure the prudent and efficient maintenance of the school to stand the test of time.

The Head teacher of the school, Alambila Ruphine Zenabu and the Chief of Tarikom, James Ayoore, who could not hide their joy and excitement, indicated that the renovation of the school was a big relief to them as its former state was a worry to them.

The District Chief Executive for the area, Tahiru Issahaku Ahmed, thanked the CRS and NABOCADO for the timely support and called for more such partnerships towards providing the needed assistance to the asylum seekers.

While acknowledging that it was the duty of the assembly to improve the state of the school, he encouraged other partners to continue to collaborate with the district assembly towards the development of the area.
Develop clear records on land ownership - Chief Justice entreats Houses of Chiefs

Alberto Mario Noretti Dec - 02 - 2023 , 07:45

The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, has entreated the Houses of Chiefs to create clear records on ownership of lands within their respective paramountcies in the broader interest of the country.

The subject of proper administration of land ownership has now become an extremely sore point that the courts need the active attention of our Houses of Chiefs and ethnic leadership to address, she said.

Justice Torkornoo was addressing the 2023 annual Chief Justices Forum in Ho in the Volta Region on Thursday on the theme: Building the pillars of justice.

About 200 magistrates, judges, institutional heads, representatives of CSOs, assembly members, religious leaders, members of the Ghana Bar Association, transport operators and market women were present.

Issues discussed included the state of justice delivery to all people in a timely and efficient manner.

Concerns

The Chief Justice said issues of land management were presenting huge blockades to the smooth administration of justice and investments in the country.

She said although the law on land ownership in the country was built on legislation, land ownership itself was built on customary law arrangements.

In that vein, Justice Torkornoo said whether land ownership was traced to clans, families or stools, it was invariably a matter of custom and a fact that could be determined only by clear and cogent evidence presented by leaders of stools, clans or families that owned the lands.

She said where the evidence was compromised by inconsistencies, contradictions, and alleged parallel lines of leadership, investors became trapped between those inconsistencies and contradictions.

The Chief Justice further said that the ambiguity over ownership of lands was shaking the ethical foundation and the economic growth of the country.

So as custodians of custom, please allow the courts to look up to you for support in building this pillar of justice which is data based on land ownership in our country, she added.

Technology

The Chief Justice described technology as an enabler of justice, and said it was for this reason the Judicial Service had deployed the E-justice system to facilitate justice delivery.

She, therefore, urged personnel of the service to embrace electronic filing of cases, electronic service of processes and electronic hearing of cases.

For this to be possible, we all need to identify our GPS addresses, and get email addresses, as well as nationally registered telephone numbers that will be added to our addresses when cases come to court, Justice Torkornoo added.

Pillars of justice

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, said building the pillars of justice was key, and therefore, the need for actors in the administration of justice to reflect on the state of justice delivery in the country and see how they could leverage on human resources to facilitate their work.

This is more so in this technological age where we can strengthen our justice system to endure the future, he added.

The President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs and the Paramount Chief of Anfoe,Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, said the forum was relevant, and must, therefore, be sustained.

The president, who is also a seasoned private legal practitioner, said the forum sensitised the public to the justice delivery system in the country.
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

In a startling revelation during a live church service on November 5, 2023, Prophet Uebert Angel, the leader of Spirit Embassy The Good News Church, issued a prophetic warning concerning the Israeli-Hamas conflict. According to the renowned spiritual leader, the United States is predicted to betray Israel in the midst of the ongoing tensions.During the prophetic utterance, Prophet Angel described a divine encounter in his room, where he claimed to witness a celestial revelation. "The battle between Hamas and Israel - when I was in my room this morning, the Lord began to show me things you have never seen in your life," he stated. "It is only those who are mature in things of the spirit or things of politics who will understand me."Prophet Angel went on to narrate the vision, stating, "I saw the roof of my room opening, and an Angel moved across and said these few words: 'Israel's friend will betray it.'" The spiritual leader further clarified the identity of the friend, emphasizing that those who comprehend his message would already know the country he was referring to. "God showed me the map of the friend, so that I give you a hint: the President of that country at times speaks what he doesn't know and falls regularly," he added.The prophetic warning has stirred discussions and debates, with followers and observers contemplating the geopolitical implications of such a prediction. The ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict has already garnered international attention, and Prophet Angel's revelation adds a layer of anticipation to the unfolding events.Watch the video below:
Meizu unveiled the Meizu 21 on November 30 with an official MSRP of CNY 3,399 ($480) for the 8/256GB trim and an initial sales date of December 5. However, the phone is already listed on the GIZTOP website as available and shipping.

The price is a bit steeper, though, at $599 for a base 8GB/256GB unit, $699 for the 12GB/256GB one and $799 for the 12GB/512GB one. While seemingly not the best deal price-wise, GIZTOP is at least a very Western-friendly seller that promises to ship to European countries with no customs duties and taxes.

Speaking of Western-friendly, while the Meizu 21 up on offer is a Chinese edition, it still comes with full Google Play Services, wide language support including English and a nice selection of cellular bands that should cover Asia, Europe and Australia. You can check the source link for details.

As for some specs, the Meizu 21 is a flagship phone, rocking the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and a 6.55-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,100 nits of peak brightness. The Meizu 21 also gets a 200MP main camera with Samsung's ISOCELL HP3 - a 1/1.4-inch large sensor with an f/1.69 aperture and OIS. It is accompanied by a 13MP ultrawide and a 5MP depth sensor. Meizu 21 is also IP54 rated and brings a 4,800 mAh battery with 80W fast charging and 50W Super Wireless mCharge technology. It boots Android 13 with FlymeOS 10.5 on top and support for Meizu's Flyme Auto.

Source | Via
Mayors from around the Marianas have asked for a more convenient way for recreational boaters from Rota to enter Guam or a less bureaucratic process of bringing fresh beef from Tinian to Guam, but port and customs officials said those requests would have to be balanced with safety and security needs.

This was the pivotal point at the 28th general assembly of the Association of Mariana Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors and Elected Municipal Council Members, commonly referred to as AMIM, led by its current president, Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan.

Mayors also asked whether the current allowable amount of meat products for personal consumption be increased, without having to declare it and pay a fee, considering the family traditions of hosting big parties either on Guam or the CNMIs Rota, Tinian and Saipan.

If you want to have a party, 50 lbs. cannot cut it...the way the CHamorus party, Malesso Mayor Ernest Chargualaf said, referring to transporting beef products by boat.

That maximum weight, he said, only covers one leg of a cow, which he said is not enough to feed a family party.

Its a matter of revisiting the weight limit for personal consumption, the Malesso mayor added.

Customs and port officials said the Department of Agriculture needs to weigh in on this issue. Unchecked or unreported cargo could also bring in unwanted species, officials said.

No marijuana transport allowed

The group of mayors, vice mayors and municipal council members invited Port Authority of Guam General Manager Rory Respicio and Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency Director Ignacio Ike Peredo for an exchange of ideas on facilitating the smooth movement of goods and people between Guam and the CNMI through seaports and marinas.

The Customs director said that while Guam and the CNMI both legalized marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes the past few years, the federal government has not legalized it yet.

So transporting cannabis to our borders is still prohibited, Peredo told the audience of mostly mayors gathered at the Hagat Community Center on Wednesday.

Beyond personal consumption

Respicio, for his part, said the Port has put in place a process for marinas and the port thats not as bureaucratic as before and continues to tweak it, but pointed out that the agency cant compromise the safety factors, as well as the national security factor.

The marinas, he said, are not designed to do cargo activity.

If its just two to three sacks of rice or a couple of butane containers for personal consumption brought in or brought out by recreational boaters, for example, then the Port has a process to facilitate the movement.

But Respicio said when the Port starts seeing four pallets of beers and other goods, including a vehicle, being loaded onto a vessel, or seeing contaminants draining from vessels, then thats something that authorities would scrutinize.

Every person entering a port of entry needs to be accounted for, as well as whats being brought in or out.

The Port manager said the volume could indicate they are for commercial purposes or would be resold so an appropriate fee is levied, which is about $40 to $50.

He added that the Port is not out to make money out of all this, but the fees help cover the resources for facilitating the movement of goods and people.

Theyre among responses to Rota Mayor Aubrey Hocog and other mayors who shared private boaters frustration that when they get to and from Guam, they seem to be treated as commercial boaters.

Mayors said many of the private boaters and their passengers just want to see their families on Guam or buy or bring items from Guam back to the CNMI for personal consumption.

The Port general manager said the agency recognizes family traditions.

Thats why we have policies in place and I agree with reciprocity but Im not gonna agree so much that we lax it so much that we start putting drugs in fish and theres no regulations so that were losing that so much, that things get out of hand, Respicio said.

National security concerns

Officials noted the many instances of Chinese nationals from the CNMI sneaking into Guam using ocean vessels, raising not only illegal immigration issues but island and national security concerns as well, considering Chinas military posturing in the region.

Respicio, a former senator, said its not just Guam that plays a role in protecting national interest, but all of the Marianas.

He said when mayors talk about One Marianas, it should also mean Guam and CNMI working together to protect regional and national security interests.

When we look at the things that we have to do versus what we want to do for Tun Maria, Tun Juan, those are the things I know that we struggle with as leaders as policymakers, we want to do those things thats why we dont want to cut the lifeline from Guam to Rota, he said.

In the end, the mayors group and the Guam officials agreed to have further discussions on the issues and proposals raised during the general assembly.

I know where you guys are coming from but understand, too, that we have fiduciary responsibilities, he said.
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The University of Guams Guam/Micronesia Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program is offering several online workshops for caregivers of persons with dementia throughout December.

CARES activities of daily living--Module 6: Eating

In the second week of December, participants will have the opportunity to participate in Module 6 of the CARES Activities of Daily Living training and certification program, which teaches caregivers how to help persons with dementia with the fundamental activities of daily living (ADLs) across all stages of dementia. Module 6 focuses on eating.

These sessions will be held.

6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 13

10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 16

Family caregiver Christmas celebration

In the third week of December, two sessions will provide participants with an opportunity to celebrate Christmas together and to learn about ways to support older adults and persons with dementia during the holiday season. These sessions will be held:

6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 20

10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 23

Sharing caregiver stories, finding support

In the fourth week of December, two sessions will provide participants with an opportunity to share their experiences as family caregivers of persons with dementia and to receive support and guidance from other members of the group.

These sessions will be held:

6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 27

10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 30

Participants can attend the Wednesday or Saturday sessions using the following Zoom links:

Ongoing dementia support groups

These sessions are part of the ongoing online support groups for family caregivers of persons with dementia being conducted by the Guam/Micronesia Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program of the UOG School of Health. The support group sessions are held on Zoom on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings year-round.

The sessions are free of charge to partners, family members, and other caregivers of persons with dementia who have ties to Guam and the Micronesian region.

For more information, contact Dr. Iain Twaddle or Nikolas Gutierrez at (671) 735-2883 or gwep.tgss@triton.uog.edu
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Haiti - Transnational crime : Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica close border security program





Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica concluded the Multi-Country Border Security Program (MCBS), funded by the European Union, which included technical assistance, training activities, study visits and delivery of equipment to improve the capacities of security institutions to fight transnational crime.



Managed by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), this program aimed to establish a system of management and exchange of information between state security agencies, improve surveillance capabilities at land and maritime borders with regard to transnational activities, organized crime, strengthen the investigative capabilities of security forces and increase the prevention and fight against human trafficking.



During the project closing ceremony, Olaya Dotel Caraballo, Deputy Minister of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development of the Dominican Republic and national authorizing officer of the European Development Fund (EDF) declared "the exchange of critical security information constitutes a step forward in the fight against transnational crime [...] The exchange of experiences between our countries has been enriching, allowing us to learn from each other and to adopt best practices to apply them in the security strategies of our respective countries."



For his part, Alexander Gotz, cooperation attache of the EU delegation, reaffirmed the European bloc's commitment to supporting citizen security and addressing the challenges posed by organized crime, mainly from a regional perspective.



While Herve Philippe, representative of the EDF national authorizing officer for Haiti, stressed the importance of border security to guarantee the free movement of people and goods, which becomes more relevant in the context of globalization.



Tashna Morris, representative of the National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund for Jamaica, indicated that this program has strengthened her country's security system to respond more strategically to the challenges of transnational crime.



Fernando Herrero, FIIAPP project team leader, explained that the MCBS facilitated contacts between the security forces of the Dominican Republic and Haiti at the border crossings of Dajabon-Ouanaminte and Pedernales-Anse-a-Pitres.



For her part, Alicia Sangro, program coordinator of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), detailed the initiatives promoted by this project to prevent trafficking and smuggling of human beings in vulnerable areas.



They also highlighted as one of the achievements the strengthening of relations and coordination between the countries of the region, with which they can quickly share information and make timely decisions.



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Haiti - News : Zapping...





Diaspora FLASH : Haitian Book Fair

Organized since 2014 by Haiti Futur, the 10th Edition of the Haitian book fair will take place on December 2 and 3, 2023 at the town hall of the 15th arrondissement, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. It welcomes 25 authors with as guest of honor: the writer Lyonel Trouillot who has just published his 14th novel La Veilleuse du calvaire, published by Actes Sud. Detailed program for the 2 days, including the cultural evening this Saturday evening and all the authors invited on: www.salondulivrehaitien.com



Faithful kidnapped in a church

Several faithful were kidnapped on the night of November 30 to December 1, 2023 from inside the Notre-Dame de Fatima church, in Petite-Riviere de l'Artibonite, while they were participating in a night vigil. The "Grand grif" Savien gang would be responsible for these kidnappings according to Bertide Horace, spokesperson for civil society in Artibonite.



Tourism : Former colonial coffee plantations

Raina Forbin, President of the Haiti Tourist Association (ATH) promises to work together with the Ministry of Tourism to transform former colonial coffee plantations into tourist sites.



Argentina : Graduation of 4 health professionals

The Ambassador of Haiti to Argentina Vilbert BELIZAIRE, accompanied by the Minister Counselor, Jean Claude CENATUS, participated Friday, December 1, 2023 in the graduation ceremony, at the Naval School of the Republic of Argentina, of a second cohort of 4 Haitian professionals including 3 doctors and 1 psychologist (Ruben LOLO, Sherline CHATEAU, Catherine PIERRE and Odley ACCILOR) Back in Haiti they will join the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H).



HIV : highest prevalence rate in the Caribbean

"In Haiti, between 2010 and 2022, new HIV infections decreased by 21%, and AIDS-related deaths fell by nearly 75%. These figures are a remarkable step forward and an inspiring example," says Maria Isabel Salvador, Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) which advocates the elimination of discrimination against people living with HIV. Despite the decrease in new infections, Haiti has the highest prevalence rate in the Caribbean region, and the epidemic remains feminized with a prevalence rate of 2.1% among women compared to 1.3% among men.



Call for a political agreement before February 7, 2024

Around thirty political parties and social organizations grouped within the "Protocol of October 17: towards a Haitian transition for Haitians" are calling for the conclusion of an inclusive political agreement, before February 7, 2024, under the auspices of CARICOM, the country's Universities, Religions for Peace and the private business sector. They plead in favor of the reestablishment of a two-headed executive power.



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Dianne Hesselbein was chosen Friday by Senate Democrats to lead the partys caucus as it heads into another year with Republicans outnumbering their Democratic colleagues 2 to 1 in Wisconsins upper legislative chamber.

Hesselbein, who previously served as the Senates minority caucus vice chair, fills the Senate minority leader seat previously held by Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, who announced Thursday she plans to run for Dane County executive.

Republicans hold 22 of the Senates 33 seats, providing the GOP with the votes needed to overturn a governors veto, though Republicans dont hold a similar supermajority in the state Assembly. It takes a two-thirds vote in both chambers to successfully overturn a veto.

I am proud to lead such a strong group the rest of this session and into the year ahead, Hesselbein said in a statement. Working together we have great opportunities ahead of us. As leader, I will ensure that everyone has a voice. I pledge to make every member of our caucus  and the people we represent  a priority.

Hesselbein, D-Middleton, takes on her new role as the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the states legislative maps that heavily favor GOP majorities in both chambers.

If overturned, the states new maps could hand Democrats more political power at the state Capitol for the first time in more than a decade, depending on the outcome of legislative races in November 2024. However, experts say the states political geography makes it somewhat unlikely that any new set of legislative maps would give Democrats a majority.

Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, said in a statement Hesselbein will provide us with solid leadership heading into a difficult and exciting year.

We have a lot to do to continue the prep work needed to build a strong Senate Democratic Caucus and majority, continued Smith, who will continue as the Senates assistant minority leader. This is a time of great possibility for Wisconsin.

Both Smith and Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, had also expressed interest in the minority leader role.

The opening of the top job in Dane County government follows longtime County Executive Joe Parisis announcement last month that he will retire in May. That sets up a primary for the nonpartisan race in August, if more than two candidates join the race, followed by the general election between the top two vote getters in November.

Hesselbein served on the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Board of Education and Dane County Board of Supervisors before joining the state Assembly in 2013. She was elected to the state Senate in 2022 and became minority caucus vice chair earlier this year.

It is with great pleasure that I pass the leadership torch to my friend and colleague, Agard posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It has been an honor to serve with Dianne since our freshman year together in the Assembly, and even before that on the Dane County Board.

Photos: Sandra Day O'Connor through the years
A VETERAN of nuclear weapons tests in the late Fifties has finally received a medal of recognition.

Roger Filby, 85, of Greystoke Road, Caversham, said he was pleased to be recognised following years of campaigning.

In November last year, the Government announced a new medal for veterans and civilians who were involved in nuclear testing programmes to mark the 70th anniversary of the first one. About 22,000 people were eligible.

The medal is made of silver and features an engraving of an atom which is surrounded by olive branches and is inscribed with the words Nuclear Test Medal. On the other side there is an effigy of the King.

Mr Filby said: We have done an awful lot for the country and we were entitled to be recognised.

Originally from Canterbury, he was 18 when he joined the RAF and was working at RAF High Wycombe, the HQ of Bomber Command, when he was chosen to be part of the Christmas Island mission in 1957.

Operation Grapple was a series of British tests for early atomic and hydrogen bombs carried out on Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Pacific Ocean.

Mr Filby was part of the ground signals team. He said: We werent told anything at all about Christmas Island or what we were going there for, or what sort of duties we were going to perform.

It was only when there was an influx of bomber planes on the islands that the ground personnel started to realise that we would be working on something pretty important to the country. We were all pretty nervous when we realised that it was nuclear.

Mr Filby said none of the men really knew where the bombs were going to be exploded and were unaware of the size of the bombs.

He said: We later learnt that the bombs were going to be exploded about one and a half miles above sea level on the island of Malden, which was around 30 miles south of Christmas Island.

We all expected massive waves to be washing over the island  we were very concerned about that.

He felt the blast before hearing an explosion and seeing a dreadful bloom in the sky.

Mr Filby said: There was a bubbling of the sky  the red, the orange, the blue of the sky was turning that colour, and then later on there was the fading of the explosion and it was just a massive cloud that drifted across the island.

After the explosion no one spoke much. There wasnt a lot to say, said Mr Filby. I think I wrote home and said that it was dreadful. It was something that I did not want to experience again but we had to  it was our duty.

On his return to England, he was placed in isolation due to the radioactive nature of the mission.

Mr Filby said: They took blood samples and urine samples but, touch wood, I am free of the harmful toxins.

He stayed in the RAF for another four years. He was promoted to senior aircraftsman and then corporal and was put in charge of the Home Command Signals headquarters in Maidenhead.

Here he met his wife Pamela and they were married in 1960.

Mr Filby worked in insurance and rhe couple moved to Caversham about nine years ago.

When he found out that he was eligible to receive the medal, Mr Filby filled out a form detailing his role in the mission and sent it off. Three weeks later, the medal arrived in the post.

He said: It wasnt even presented to me and my name was not on it either. Its quite sad really.

He keeps his medal in a box next to his bed and intends to get his service number and name engraved on it along the circumference of the medal.

The colours on the medal ribbon represents the heat, the land and the sea.

Mr Filby wore his medal at the Remembrance Sunday service at the war memorial in Caversham last month.

In his spare time, Mr Filby enjoys art. He sketches and paints watercolours and has taken part in a number of craft fairs in the Caversham area.

By coincidence, one of his fellow servicemen in the Pacific was Angus Murray, who came from Caversham.

Mr Filby said: We had never met until we landed on Christmas Island together.

We lived in the same tent for 12 months but didnt relate about where we came from. When Angus came back he returned to Caversham and continued to be a butcher.

We stayed in touch for some time but life got in the way.

Then he found out that I was living in Caversham. My name must have come up somewhere and someone had directed him to my house.

There was a knock on the door one day and he stood there and said, Roger? and then Angus and it twigged straight away.

The two men stayed in touch until Mr Murray passed away in 2021 with cancer.

Thinking about those tests more than six decades ago, Mr Filby said: It does dawn on you, what you have been through. It wasnt nice, not nice at all.
From resealable packaging used for cookies or baby wipes to window decals and warning labels, they all tie back to an area business: Flexcon.

In the simplest form, we produce large rolls of material that are comprised of layers almost like sandwiches, so film and paper and then the back is a lining, like a sticker, Flexcon CEO Aimee Peacock said. When we develop products, our goal is to advance innovation and really trying to improve the world, peoples lives and the environment.

The company, which makes materials used for resealable packaging, warning labels, window graphics and even medical-grade adhesives, celebrated its 30th year in Columbus on Dec. 1 at Wunderlichs Catering and Barley Shoppe. Chief of Staff Shaun McDonough, whose grandfather started the company 70 years ago, said the companys origins lie in a desire to solve problems.

How we literally got our start was feeling that our customers werent getting their problems solved by the big players in the market. Those were exciting challenges for us and the big guys to say, How do we solve those together? McDonough said.

Problem-solving and work ethic, McDonough said, are what makes Flexcon unique and what has kept it going for 30 years in Columbus and 70 years overall. The people who make things happen want to do what they do, he said.

I think what separates us are solutions, the work ethic and pride in work overall, McDonough said. We started on the East Coast and came out here and found a niche of people who really desired to work, wanted to solve problems every day and are happy to be part of a family-owned company. I think that speaks to our employee base and the people who make the company run on a day-to-day basis.

McDonough, whose father ran the company for a while after his grandfather, said his young son now is the age he was when he first started seeing the plants run. Its a cool thing for him, he said, to watch.

Hes learning about all of this and about Flexcon and its cool to see it through his eyes, McDonough said.  Were lucky with the employees weve got and the culture weve built and connections weve made.

Mike Schumacher, the Columbus Plant Director, said he also believes the people that work at Flexcon and the communitys proclivity for industrial work are the keys to its longevity in Columbus.

Its a strong industrial base. Thats very much the key thing, I think, to our Columbus facility is its not unusual. Statistics are telling you theres around a 30% turnover rate within manufacturing. For us its around 10-12% every year consistently. For us, one of the best things about it is we retain our people exceptionally well and that speaks to the culture of the company and the product, Schumacher said.

The culture involves a healthy work-life balance for employees, Schumacher said. In his time working in manufacturing, Flexcon is the only place hes worked that didnt have mandatory overtime, and thats a big deal with employees, he said.

Being a part of the company and being able to celebrate this milestone with the Columbus plant is exciting for Peacock, and being able to see how the company has grown in the community and could continue to grow paints a good picture for the next 30, 70 or 1,000 years, she said.

Its a monumental celebration, almost 70 years as a family-owned business, the 30-year mark here. Weve expanded the site over the years and we have the opportunity to expand it as we need , Peacock said.

Growth, she added, isnt exclusively in terms of size, but in connection, too. Over those 30 years, the company has built a solid footprint of community involvement, which is the kind of growth they want to continue.

We do a lot in the Columbus area as far as drives and participating in events and United Way. I think, for us, its just being a real staple member of the community that is truly important and an inspiration to the rest of the organization, Peacock said.
Author Jackson Landers had just started working part-time at Daedalus Books, one of Charlottesvilles oldest and most voluminous used-book stores, when its 81-year-old owner, Sandy McAdams, asked him to buy it.

I said, No thank you; I couldnt possibly do that, Landers told The Daily Progress.

But over the course of the next week or so, Landers continued, a whole bunch of people approached me and said, Theres nobody else to take it over, and, If you dont do this, its going to end up going on the market and become another boutique or restaurant, and were going to lose this institution.

Earlier this month, Landers took possession of the building, located at the corner of Fourth Street Northeast and Market Street, along with its estimated 100,000 books.

This is a place thats really important to a lot of people, said Landers. The idea of the Downtown Mall being without this  it would be like if Timberlakes [drug store] or Chaps [ice cream parlor] were gone. It would be a sign of the apocalypse.

Key to the $975,000 deal, Landers said, is owner financing.

I couldnt possibly come up with that much money, said Landers. I better sell a lot of books.

Prior to the purchase, the 45-year-old Landers racked up an array of writing credentials with articles in Smithsonian, the New York Times and Spin. His 2012 book, Eating Aliens, served as a practical guide for dealing with invasive species. Now he finds himself dealing with the peculiarities of a customer base honed over nearly 50 years.

These books pile up, as you can see, Landers said with a laugh as he eyed a shelf loaded with untouched thrillers by David Baldacci. Ive got like 40 or 50 more of them in storage.

So what are the best sellers at Daedalus?

People walk in every week looking for Edgar Allan Poe, Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, William S. Burroughs and Isaac Asimov, said Landers. Our readers are not the same as the broad American reading public.

Indeed, Charlottesville has long ranked high for readers and is one of the smallest American cities with its own book festival. Meanwhile, America has lost more than a third of its bookstores, according to census data, going from 16,819 in 2012 to 10,800 in 2020.

By agreeing to take over Daedalus, Landers has inherited a legacy crafted by McAdams, a legend in Charlottesville business history.

Like the labyrinth-building craftsman of myth for whom he named the place, McAdams launched Daedalus in 1974 by building the maze of shelves himself and filling them with a railroad car full of books he personally packed from the store he operated in West Hampton, New York. Two years later, he and his best friend created the restaurant whose humble trappings upended the concept of fine dining and put Charlottesville on the culinary map: C&O on East Water Street.

McAdams also created a short-lived underground newspaper, the Times of Charlottesville. But after selling C&O in the early 1980s, he settled into life at Daedalus. But then came multiple sclerosis.

The hands that built C&O and what seems like a mile of bookshelves inside Daedalus now fidget at the controller of his wheelchair. But the burly man in the chair refuses to complain about what nature has dealt.

Its fine, he told The Daily Progress, because Ive got her.

She is Donna McAdams, a nurse by training and vocation. Since her husbands diagnosis in 2000 and his confinement to a chair about 16 years ago, Donna has helped her husband by serving as bookkeeper to the business and getting him to and from the shop. And when his mobility issues limited his working hours, his friends would step in to man the shop.

Ive been very lucky with my friends and my darling, said McAdams.

Speaking in the kitchen of his house, perched on a hilltop on the west side of Charlottesville, McAdams looked back on the foundation of Daedalus.

I drove all around the country trying to find the right place to move my bookshop, he said. I decided on Charlottesville because of that building, so down I came.

There were some surprises: I thought as soon as we opened wed be flooded with students, and no students came.

He did, however, find that young nurse at the C&O, circa 1979  the luckiest day of my life.

McAdams said he relished the work but doesnt mind leaving it.

It was a dream job for me, said McAdams. But because it was getting harder and harder for me to do I dont miss it.

Across the kitchen table, Donna chimed in: Jackson is energetic like Sandy was in the early days, so its neat to see him doing this.

A year before his diagnosis, McAdams saw his creation dubbed by the Washington Post in a travel piece whose author hailed Daedalus as the best used-book store south of the Strand in Greenwich Village.

Thats the kind of heritage that Landers said hes eager to preserve.

Its still going to feel like the Daedalus that people remember, said Landers, but its going to be organized and maintained in the way that Sandy wanted it done in its prime.

Landers said this labyrinthine, three-level building holds rooms that havent been entered in decades because their doors have been blocked by books and bookshelves. He said he hopes to explore them, host events and eventually  on his way to launching online sales  inventory the books. That last item will determine if there really are 100,000 books in there.

While such mysteries augment the appeal of the place, Landers said his main reason for embarking on this literary endeavor was the opportunity to save a unique part of Charlottesville.

We complain about these things when they change or about losing something, but isnt it better to do something about it? he said. So, I said yes.
Amit Fulay, Microsoft's Vice President of Product who joined the tech giant in September 2021, has recalled how as a job seeker, he was rejected by companies such as Google and Facebook, with the former rejecting him despite 13 interviews over two rounds. Amit Fulay (Image courtesy: X)

Fulay recalled these rejections in a LinkedIn post, where he shared tips for those preparing for job interviews.

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When I was in school, I interviewed with Microsoft for a summer internship. I got rejected, he wrote.

In 2007, I interviewed with Google. 13 interviews over 2 rounds  Rejected. A year later, they re-opened my packet and asked me to do one more interview with their then VP of Search. It lasted for 8 mins since she was sick. 3 days later, I got the rejection email, he added.

Fulay then recounted being turned down by Facebook (now known as Meta) during the social media giant's early days, and being told how he he did not have sufficient social experience.

Right before joining Microsoft, however, he got an offer from Twitter (now known as X), though for a completely different role.

Interviewing is toughyou put in the hard work, go through a long process, and the rejection always hurts, the post stated.

Incidentally, he went on to work at both Google and Facebook, among others, for 7 years 5 months, and 3 years 9 months, respectively.

Amit Fulay's 5-point guide for job seekers

The Microsoft VP, who is now also a board member at Nike Strength, noted that the reason behind his post was that, according to him, job seekers must remember a few things when it comes to interviews:

(1.) Rejection is not final

(2.) You are not alone

(3.) Sometimes, one is just not good enough

(4.) Sometimes, the star won't align

(5.) It could always be a lucky miss
When the new interim principal at Charlottesville High School agreed to take the job, close friends asked if he needed his head examined.

Thats what Kenny Leatherwood told a crowd of nearly 300 parents on Thursday night at an information session in the school cafeteria.

While he may have been joking, the remark is a reminder of the serious challenges that lie ahead for a school scarred by violence and marred in controversy.

Parents continue to demand answers from a school division many said has not been transparent since violence started to escalate at the start of the calendar year.

Thursdays information session was the schools most recent attempt to put parents at ease as it begins the process of repairing a toxic culture  of regular student brawls, unchecked absenteeism and rampant unruliness  that culminated the week before Thanksgiving break when teachers refused to come into class until the administration had addressed the myriad issues plaguing Charlottesville High  which the local teachers union has not identified as an organized strike.

While the information session and the small group sessions that followed it may have been a step in the right direction, at least one parent found it unsatisfactory.

It was a complete waste of time, said Justin Matthews, whose daughter attends the school. They didnt give us any information. Its annoying.

The evening began with introductions of administrators, including Leatherwood, who has worked in Charlottesville City Schools for decades and called it near and dear to his heart.

When I talked to [Superintendent Royal Gurley] about Charlottesville High School, I couldnt help but answer the call, he said. Leatherwood was appointed to the role after the sudden resignation of Rashaad Pitt earlier this year, and its not clear how long hell be heading the school.

I look forward to being here for the interim, whatever that is, he said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd.

Soon after, with 275 parents on site and another 275 watching online via Zoom, Chief Operations Officer Kim Powell presented a PowerPoint on what Charlottesville High has completed and what it is now implementing to get the school back on track.

That included data supporting an argument the division has been making about the recent tension at the school: These problems are not unique to Charlottesville.

A School Safety Trends Report encompassing three survey periods from fall 2020 to fall 2021 indicates a 250% increase in student behavior incidents across the country. That same survey shows staff requested help 22% more often and that safety incidents increased 150% per school.

Below the numbers was a quote from Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers:

School violence has risen to levels that we havent seen quite frankly.

Powell said that the school has increased the number of staff  including community volunteers  who are able to monitor the halls and perimeter doors.

This is a big school that was constructed during a time when we didnt have the same safety considerations that we do now, she said.

The school is going to implement door technology to help make sure no intruders can enter the school, like at least one did two weeks ago when an 18-year-old who does not attend CHarlottesville High School was let into the school by a student in order to fight other students.

But that technology will take time to install. In the meantime, the increased manpower should help the school perform regular door checks and perimeter sweeps. The school has also ordered more radios so that personnel can better communicate with administration.

Powell addressed a narrative that has taken root at Charlottesville High School: The school is not doing enough to discipline students who act out.

A lot of discipline has been happening. Its never stopped, Powell said.

That message was reiterated by Katina Otey, the chief academic officer who also serves at disciplinary review officer. Otey asked the crowd how many people have read the student code of conduct, known as the Student Rights and Responsibilities. Half of the crowd raised their hands.

Otey said the code has leveled consequences, with varied recommended punishments for anything: vaping, skipping class, starting fights. Smaller infractions require the school to contact a students parents. More serious violations have more serious repercussions, such as suspension.

We love our kids. But when you make a bad choice, there are consequences for actions, Otey said. Were doing it and were going to continue to do it, because we hope that its a learning opportunity for them and they learn not to make those choices anymore.

Adrian Pettitt, a parent of a senior, was happy to hear about the code of conduct. But also confused. If its true the school has always been disciplining students, then why have there been so many ongoing problems?

I like that Im hearing this thing, but now youre telling me youve been doing this thing and now Im starting to feel worried, Pettitt said. They saying theyre doing all of these things. So Im like, OK, then whats missing?

The Students Rights and Responsibilities existed before. Thats not a new document, added her husband Damon Pettitt. Theyre like, Hey, look, were going to turn the corner. Were fixing this thing. And Im still not even clear what is it exactly that were fixing.

Otey also brought up the issue of cell phones. Charlottesville High School had planned to ban the use of mobile devices in the school, and while administration has seen improvements in the classroom, phone use is rampant in hallways between classes. The school is still working to keep phones off and away throughout the day.

You see kids sitting by themselves with their cell phone instead of talking to their friends, Otey said, adding that phones have also exacerbated disciplinary and safety issues. Another way theyre exacerbating issues is that students are able to text each other and meet up for not great things.

School leadership insists that there are only a few students who have been causing disruptions during the school day.

The vast majority of our students are doing the right thing and making the right choices, Gurley said. Theyre making a choice to get to class on time, theyre cooperating with staff, theyre doing their work.

After the 45-minute presentation, the crowd was split into small groups of roughly 15 people each. With the help of a facilitator and question prompts, community members had space to express their feelings and concerns about the current state of the school. The groups were spread out across the school itself, in classrooms, lobbies, the cafeteria and library. The conversations were calm and respectful, with facilitators taking notes that will be presented to the administration and the school board.

Matthews did not find the small groups helpful. He said he wants answers from administrators.

What should have happened is those guys who are up there right now should have been the ones doing these little small groups so we can ask questions, Matthews said. This was a complete waste of time. I think the majority of parents here thought we were going to be getting answers for why we closed on Friday and what really was going on. Teachers dont just silent quit or silent strike for no reason.

Matthews said he doesnt believe that student fights are what caused so many teachers to call out of work.

Something else is happening, he said, suggesting the issue is bad leadership.

Maggie Heaphy, senior class president at the high school, was among the hundreds in attendance Thursday night.

Its encouraging to see that so many people who are here today care about my education and care about the education of my peers, Heaphy told The Daily Progress. But she said she also believes that student fights arent the root cause of recent problems.

Personally, I think that one of the biggest issues of the school is much deeper than fighting. I dont think that is what drove this, Heaphy said. I think it was a much deeper systematic issue within our system.

Heaphy, who said she has never felt unsafe at her high school, pointed to the fact that many students have been refusing to attend class.

Why do they feel the need to not be in class? she asked. Why do people not feel safe and comfortable in classrooms? What can we do to make classroom environments more fun and engaging?

Calling the event a complete waste of time, Matthews said he is planning to enlist as a substitute teacher. Because I want to see whats really happening.
Raymond Group managing director and chairman Gautam Singhania is currently in the process of finalising the divorce settlement with his estranged wife Nawaz Modi Singhania, with accusations of domestic violence hurting the stock of his company. However, independent directors of the Raymond Group have said they will be taking all possible measures to protect the investors of the company from the marital dispute of Gautam Singhania and Nawaz Modi. Raymond MD Gautam Singhania announced separation from wife Nawaz Modi on November 13.

The statement comes a few days after Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IIAS), an Indian proxy advisory firm, this week urged the independent directors to launch an investigation into allegations of assault against Gautam Singhania and communicate with investors and other stakeholders to assuage their concerns.

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IIAS had recommended that the company bring in a temporary CEO in view of the controversy surrounding Singhania and Modi's divorce settlement. However, the independent directors, so far, have not confirmed making any such change in the company hierarchy.

The independent directors have been meeting over the last few weeks and monitoring the situation as it "affects" the company and minority shareholders, they said. They shall not hesitate to proactively initiate measures, the moment required, to protect the interests of all stakeholders, the statement said.

The concern shown by the independent directors of Raymond Group comes after the company shares took a major hit for 12 straight days after the news of Singhania's divorce broke out. In a 12-session streak, Raymond shares fell more than 21 per cent.

Gautam Singhania-Nawaz Modi divorce dispute

Raymond MD Gautam Singhania announced his separation from his estranged wife Nawaz Modi Singhania on social media platform X on November 13. Modi and her lawyers had reportedly demanded 75 per cent of the billionaire's net worth in the divorce settlement as financial support for raising their two daughters.

Days later, Nawaz Modi launched serious allegations of domestic violence against Singhania, claiming that the billionaire physically assaulted her and their minor daughter Niharika on several occasions.

(With inputs from Reuters)
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Saturday expressed confidence about the Indian economy, saying that it will become a $40 trillion economy by 2047, from the current $3.5 trillion, reported PTI. Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd.(File photo)

Ambani said that India, as the world's third-largest energy consumer, will also see its energy needs double by the end of this decade.

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"And to fuel this growth, the country will need enormous amounts of energy - clean, green energy that won't choke mother nature for the sake of human progress," he said at the convocation of Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) in Gujarat's Gandhinagar. "In fact, India's energy requirement is set to double just by the end of this decade."

Ambani said that in the coming 25 years, India will witness an unprecedented explosion of economic growth and that it is a crucible to turn the vision of a clean, green, and sustainable tomorrow into reality.

"As India races to build a robust energy infrastructure to meet its energy goals, it faces three crucial questions: One: How can it ensure that every citizen and every economic activity in India has access to adequate, most aordable energy? Two: How can it rapidly transition from fossil fuel-based energy to Clean and Green Energy? Three: How can it de-risk the expanding needs of its fast-growing economy from a volatile external environment? I call these three questions the Energy Trilemma," he said, according to PTI.

Ambani, the nation's richest man, further added that energy transition has become the most critical factor in ensuring India's transformation into a global leader in green, sustainable and inclusive development.

Expressing confidence in India developing smart and sustainable solutions to address this trilemma, he said this would be possible because extremely talented young minds have vowed to fight the climate crisis.

"They will design breakthrough energy solutions to build not just a strong and Atmanirbhar India, but also a safer and healthier planet," he said. He further urged students to be fearless and never lose confidence in their own abilities and skills.

"Courage is the ship that can safely sail you across the stormiest seas. You will commit mistakes. But let that not worry or deter you. The one who succeeds in life is the one who corrects his mistakes and continues on his mission boldly," he said.

He further added: "I am what I am in life because of India, because of Bharat. Wherever your life takes you, contribute your utmost to the greatness and glory of India. And know that you are truly blessed to be young in today's India... an India that is today marching ahead so confidently that the 21st Century is indeed going to be India's Century."

(Inputs from PTI)
After days of boardroom turmoil in Microsoft-backed company OpenAI, Sam Altman made a comeback as the CEO of the artificial intelligence firm on November 30. He was reinstated at the top post after being fired from the company on November 17. Sam Altman was fired as the CEO of OpenAI on November 17, and brought back on the post on November 30.(AP)

In an interview with The Verge, Altman revealed the real reason why he decided to accept the proposal from the board, and why he was sacked as the OpenAI CEO in the first place. The tech wiz revealed that he was "hurt and angry" but ultimately decided to accept the position once again.

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Sam Altman revealed in the interview that when he first received the offer to be the CEO of OpenAI once again, it took him a while to get over the ego and emotions. Eventually, he decided to accept the proposal put forward for him.

"Obviously, I really loved the company and had poured my life force into this for the last four and a half years full time, but really longer than that with most of my time. And were making such great progress on the mission that I care so much about, the mission of safe and beneficial AGI," he said in the interview.

Ousted from OpenAI on November 17, the board members of the company said that Altman and top management had differences over his opinions on AI security, saying that the CEO had not been "completely candid" with the board.

When asked about why he was sacked from OpenAI last month, Sam Altman decided to refrain from giving the internal details of the decision. He also said that he "welcomes" the independent investigation into his dismissal, led by OpenAI's Bret Taylor.

Talking about accepting the position once again, Altman told The Verge, "It was really interesting. Saturday morning, some of the board called me and asked if Id be up for talking about it. And my immediate reaction was sort of one of defiance. It was like, Man, Im hurt and angry, and I think this sucks."

Sam Altman's fired, re-hired as OpenAI CEO

Sam Altman was sacked as the CEO of OpenAI on November 17, when the ChatGPT maker announced in a blogpost. Greg Brockman and three other senior executives of the firm resigned in solidarity, causing a scuffle in the board.

Days later, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman is being hired as the head of an AI research programme in the firm. However, OpenAI employees threatened to resign if Altman was reinstated at the top post.

While many directors resisted his comeback, Sam Altman was offered the CEO post at OpenAI once again, with Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo as the new board members.
UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit on Friday inaugurated the 13th Chandigarh National Crafts Mela at Kalagram that will continue till December 10. Artistes performing during the inauguration of the 13th Chandigarh National Crafts Mela at Kalagram, Manimajra, on Friday. (Sant Arora/HT)

Organised by the UT department of cultural affairs in collaboration with North Zone Cultural Centre, the theme of the 10-day fair is Mera Mati Mera Desh.

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The tastefully designed, Nagaland-themed entrance to the fair, transported visitors to the enchanting land of wonders. The main stage, adorned with ethnic craftsmanship, further immersed attendees in the rich cultural heritage of Nagaland. The festivities highlighted the unique identity of Nagaland, celebrating its rich history and traditions.

Veswuzo Phesao and his group from Dimapur enchanted the audience with traditional Tati singing, along with a soulful rendition of the Hindi song Jane Wallon Zara.

Featuring approximately 1,000 folk artistes from various states and around 200 craft stalls, offering exquisite handicrafts, the fair is designed to be a vibrant celebration of Indias diverse cultural tapestry.
Close on the heels of the Chandigarh administration releasing the schedule for admission to entry-level classes, the Punjab and Haryana high court has sought various details from private schools, including fee collected, salaries paid to teachers and number of EWS students enrolled over the past five years. The order was passed by the high court bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil, acting on a 2020 plea by Independent Schools Association, a body of citys private schools, challenging UTs instructions issued from time to time, making it mandatory for them to admit students under the economically weaker sections (EWS) category. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The order was passed by the high court bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil, acting on a 2020 plea by Independent Schools Association, a body of citys private schools, challenging UTs instructions issued from time to time, making it mandatory for them to admit students under the economically weaker sections (EWS) category.

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The plea has also demanded re-imbursement of fee incurred on account of 25% EWS admissions.

During these proceedings, the UT administration had told court it had refused to refund the expenditure, as under the conditions of allotment of plots to schools, they were bound to provide free education to EWS category students.

After hearing various parties, the court observed that it deemed it necessary to seek record and hence ordered accordingly.

Now, schools have been told to produce audited accounts, showing the collection of fee on various accounts  capitation fee, tuition fee, etc., during one academic year, especially from students aged between six and 14. They have also been told to detail the mode of selection and procedure as well as the educational qualification possessed by the faculty, and whether they fulfil essential educational qualification and other criteria.

The schools have also been told to submit the accounts showing credit of salary to the teachers, along with the detail of their bank accounts. Details be submitted of number of students admitted under EWS category in the last five years, it said.

They have also been told to supply documents about the recognition, memorandum of articles and its constitution showing aims and objects for establishment. Further, schools have been asked to tabulate details of seats in different classes for the 6 to 14 age group, and out of these, how many remained unfilled out of quota meant for 15% seats for the EWS category.

The court also passed directions to Chandigarh administration to provide data of EWS students before it comes from various schools and details about EWS category seats lying vacant in government schools. It further said documents about the manner of computation of charges liable to be re-imbursed to private schools be also produced. The details are to be submitted by December 7.

Free EWS education mandatory under UTs land allotment scheme

Chandigarh has some 80-odd private schools, of which 22 are minority schools.

In 2012, the Supreme Court had ruled that schools with minority status were not obligated to reserve 25% seats for the EWS category under the Right to Education Act, which was followed by a spurt in cases of schools seeking minority status.

As per UT administrations submissions in high court previously, educational institutes in the city were allotted land on leasehold basis under a 1996 scheme, according to which they were required to admit 5% students as part of social responsibility from EWS category without charging any dues. The 5% limit was enhanced to 15% in 2005, and covered all schools that got land prior to this policy or after the notification of the policy.

In view of this, schools are entitled for reimbursement for only 10% EWS students and not 25% students admitted by them each year, UT has maintained.

It has also challenged the minority status of five schools in high court, which is at various stages of adjudication.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also issued a yellow alert for dense fog around the city for the next two days. Meanwhile, a day after the record 54.5 mm rain that caused the maximum temperature to plunge to 16.6C, Chandigarh experienced a warmer day at 23.5C, but still two degrees below normal. (Keshav Singh/HT)

Speaking about this, scientist at IMD Chandigarh, Shivinder Singh said, Because of the rain on Thursday, the temperature dropped and humidity is high, which increases possibility of dense fog, especially near open fields and isolated roads in the early morning.

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Dense fog is declared when visibility drops below 250 metres.

Yellow warning is the second of the four-colour warning system used by IMD. It asks people to keep a watch and stay updated. IMD has also asked people to take precautions and drive carefully especially early in the morning.

The city has yet to record dense fog this season and even on Friday, visibility remained unaffected. While dense fog usually starts towards the second half of December, Singh said because of the Thursday rain, it could appear earlier.

Mercury rises to 23.5C

Meanwhile, a day after the record 54.5 mm rain that caused the maximum temperature to plunge to 16.6C, the city experienced a warmer day at 23.5C, but still two degrees below normal.

On the other hand, the minimum temperature dropped from 15C to 11.8C, one degree above normal.

Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain around 25C and the minimum temperature around 10C.

Rain improves air quality

On the bright side, the citys air quality improved after the record rainfall on Thursday. At 7 pm on Friday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) in Sector 22 was 99, classified as satisfactory.

At the Sector 25 station, it was 50, which is the upper limit of the good, while at the Sector 53 station, it was 118, falling in moderate bracket. In Panchkula, AQI was 62 (satisfactory) at the Haryana State Pollution Control Board observatory in Sector 6.
To invite more investment in Punjab and increase credit outreach among fresh entrepreneurs in the district, the Mohali administration will come up with a dedicated credit monitoring cell. Mohali deputy commissioner said the credit monitoring cell will spread a positive message among those who want to start up their new venture, boosting investment and entrepreneurship in the district. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Giving details, deputy commissioner Aashika Jain, who will chair the cell, said it will monitor the flow of credit in the district by all financial institutions on a real-time basis to ensure timely delivery of credit to beneficiaries.

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A first-of-its-kind initiative across Punjab, the cell, to be established at the DC office at the District Administrative Complex in Sector 76, will monitor and follow up loan cases in the whole district.

It will spread a positive message among those who want to start up their new venture, boosting investment and entrepreneurship in the district.

She further said not only investment and entrepreneurship advances, the loans under government-sponsored schemes and upliftment of weaker sections will also be streamlined by this upcoming cell in order to benefit the last man in the line. Similarly, the targets under the district credit plan and potential linked credit plan will also be monitored by the cell.

In the last meeting of district-level committee on banks, it was found that targets for credit to agriculture, MSMEs and other PSL sectors were not being met. Accordingly, to aid and assist people in availing of loans for big and small industry, agriculture, SHGs, etc., this facility had been created, she said.

She further said a helpline number, besides a WhatsApp chatbot, will also be launched, where people can lodge grievances or enquire about the status of loan disbursal.
A special drive against proclaimed offenders (POs) involved in heinous crimes was conducted under the supervision of SSP Kanwardeep Kaur during which as many as seven wanted criminals were nabbed over the last few days. Chandigarh Police arrested seven proclaimed offenders. (HT File)

One of the POs, Raju Khan, was involved in more than 20 cases, encompassing rape, attempt to murder, dacoity, mobile theft, snatching, theft, trespass and vehicle theft.

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The list of those arrested also includes Rakesh Kumar, convicted under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act in a cheque bounce case and sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment. Another PO Gurtej Singh was wanted in a fraud case.

The remaining four, Amaninder Singh, Shiv Kumar, Hardeep Singh Sondhi and Puneet Nandra, were also wanted in cheque bounce cases.
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], December 2 (ANI): A gathering of prominent Christian leaders at Kochi in Kerala has expressed support and commitment towards India's development initiatives under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. HT Image

Leaders from the Christian community including Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox leaders adopted 'Kochi Resolution' and expressed commitment towards the vision of 'Developed India by 2047.'

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The resolution was passed at the 'Sadhbhavna' event on Friday organised by the Indian Minorities Foundation (IMF) and SON India, under the theme 'Contribution and Empowerment of India's Minority Communities and Institutions'.

A booklet on 'PM Modi's special bond with Christians', written by Anoop Antony, was released during the event.

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (IT) Rajeev Chandrasekhar was the chief guest during the event which was attended by IMF convenor Satnam Singh Sandhu, Christian leaders, academicians, intellectuals, and scholars.

In his remarks, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said the government has truly followed the spirit of the Indian constitution through the mantra of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas'.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a special bond with the Christian community which is evident by his historic visit to the Vatican City --the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over two decades. The socio-economic upliftment of all the minorities Including the Christian community has been ensured by imparting quality education and subsequently providing them with job opportunities. PM Modi's governance ensures the comprehensive development of every community in India," he said.

"India's ascent as the world's fifth-largest economy has presented new horizons for the youth. Under PM Modi's leadership, the nation has witnessed a remarkable surge in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) over the past nine years. These achievements stem from landmark decisions and reforms implemented since 2014, which have transformed India into a land of abundant opportunities," he added.

The minister said that the government's dedicated efforts to position India as a global manufacturing hub are yielding tangible outcomes.

"The country is witnessing an accelerated pace of infrastructure development, marked by the construction of new highways, airports, and railway lines, setting a record for progress. This has significantly bolstered the confidence of the business community," he said.

"Kerala, too, has experienced an unparalleled surge in infrastructure expansion, marked by the allocation of a record funding for various projects. Among these initiatives, the establishment of the first water metro in Kochi stands out as a testament to this substantial growth," he added.

K M Cherian Institute of Medical Science MD Fr Alexander Koodarathil said that Modi government has an exemplary performance in the field of education and healthcare.

Keeping in focus the inclusive development for all the communities, the government has introduced schemes like PRASAD and HRIDAY where ancient places of religious importance are being rejuvenated and renovated to increase the pilgrimage.

Sandhu said that the land of Kerala enlightens people with the path shown by Jesus to work for the social and economic upliftment of poor and needy.

"The Indian society was always well knitted with communal harmony and multi-culturalism. People of different religions, communities, speaking different languages were living together with peace, love and harmony. Every community including the Christians have played a very crucial role in India's development," he said.

He said PM Modi is advancing the ideology and vision of "India First," rooted in the essence of the Indian Constitution.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guiding principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwaas, Sabka Prayas' reflects a visionary leadership style. His dedicated efforts toward uplifting minorities, ensuring their integral role in the country's advancement, and recognizing their invaluable contributions to India's developmental narrative are pivotal tenets of his governance. PM Modi has championed holistic development of all communities which is fostering an inclusive and resilient India," Sandhu said.

He said there exists "no discrimination" on the basis of caste, community, gender, or religion in the PM Modi's governance model.

Sandhu said Prime Minister Modi's vision of a Developed India by 2047 has ignited a renewed sense of purpose.

"As members of minority communities, we stand united in our commitment to turning this vision into reality. We pledge our enthusiastic participation in government initiatives aimed at achieving this milestone. Our dedication lies in actively contributing to the nation's growth, ensuring our inclusive involvement in steering the country towards progress and prosperity," he said.

Christian Catholic Community leader CC Scaria lauded PM Modi's initiatives to ensure welfare of all the communities as well as all the states of the country without any discrimination.

"The Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is providing funds to all the states equally to ensure infrastructure development, which is visible. As far as Kerala is concerned, various projects including the Water Metro, have been inaugurated that are boosting the overall growth of the state," he said.

"PM Modi is making an outreach to the Christian Community, and his participation in Easter celebrations in Delhi was a warm and welcoming gesture. PM Modi is a great leader and has given us a vision of a Developed India. The Christian Community is prepared to contribute actively in realizing this vision." He also shared that the Christian Community hopes for PM Modi's sustained leadership in the years ahead.

Ebin Thomas, a youth activist, said minorities in India, including the Christian Community of Kerala, "are extremely happy and safe" under the leadership of PM Modi.

"During the last nine years, PM Modi has ensured equal opportunities in education, employment, and empowerment for all communities. The Modi government has encouraged entrepreneurship within the Christian community, with 11 per cent of PM Mudra Loans being given to young Christian entrepreneurs to help them become financially independent."

Father Thomas Tharayil, general secretary, Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council (KRLCC), said that as a part of the minority welfare measures various training Institutes are being installed by using the funds of Central Government.

Reji Vergas, a participant, said initiatives taken by the government have ensured the upliftment of the Christian community through education, scholarships, skill development and various other schemes

"Modi government has taken care of the Christian Community, which has been primarily involved in nation-building," he said.

Sister Vinithaa, from Carmelite Sisters St. Teresa, Kochi, who is also the director of St, Teresa's College, Ernakulam, said that during the last nine years, a lot of reformative steps have been undertaken by the government particularly in the field of education. "The government, while formulating any welfare scheme, takes into consideration the needs of every community and there is no concept of minority and majority in the government policy."

She also said that Christian community is very delighted that PM Modi went to Vatican City to meet the Pope and invite him to visit India. "We are not eager waiting for the Pope's visit next year," she added.

Local entrepreneurs and traders, largely associated with fish and spice trading, also praised the initiatives implemented by PM Modi.

Eeoin Thomas, a local trader, said that PM Modi's efforts in fostering a conducive environment for trade and industry through the enhancement of the ease of doing business have been noteworthy. " Digital India has played a pivotal role in revolutionizing the country's payment systems, significantly alleviating the burden on ordinary citizens. The integration of every citizen into the banking system and the formalization of trade were integral outcomes of these initiatives," he said.

Adarsh, a student, said the central government has consistently offered crucial support to students across all educational tiers. (ANI)
A 16-year-old boy, a student of Class 11, was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered by a 22-year-old man in Gujarat's Rajkot after their same-sex relationship fell apart. The teenager's body was found on Friday night. A Class 11 boy was killed by his alleged same sex partner in Rajkot, Gujarat. (Getty Images/ Representational image)

The Class 11 student was murdered allegedly by the over-possessive man as he was jealous of the boy's growing friendship with another person, reported The Times of India. The Gujarat police have now arrested the alleged murderer and his 19-year-old friend.

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The half-burnt body of the victim was found on Friday night on the Jamnagar-Kalavad highway. The boy's parents had lodged a complaint with the police after he didn't return home on Thursday night.

The police, through tracking and analysis, detected that the boy was last seen with the accused duo. The accused were traced and they confessed to the crime immediately, police inspector N A Chavda told TOI. They also took the police to the crime spot and revealed their murder plot.

The families of the deceased and the accused were close for several years, and the two were reportedly in a same sex relationship, the report said. The teenager had become friends with another person, angering the accused.

The post mortem reports show that the boy was sexually assaulted before he was murdered by his alleged partner and his friend.
This Christmas, head to Carysbrook Performing Arts Center for a concert that includes This Christmas.

Horace Scruggs will be leading Winter Soulstice: The Soulful Side of the Yuletide at 7 p.m. Saturday. The concert, presented by Fluvanna County Arts Council, steps away from the holiday program routine with a collection of songs, spirituals and smooth jazz reflecting African American traditions.

I think its important to do something different, said Scruggs, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, conductor and music educator who served as a choral director for 35 years. Its music that comes from the African American tradition.

This Christmas, a classic released by Donny Hathaway in 1970, will be among the selections, as will the spiritual Sweet Little Jesus Boy. Listeners also can expect carols, such as Silent Night, and secular fare, including Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Scruggs will be taking the stage at Carysbrook with Precious Anderson-Bland, Travis Smith, Wilbert Harris and Greg Brown. Scruggs said that two of the performers vocalist Anderson-Brown and keyboardist Smith  are former students of his.

Its good to see them using their skills, he said. Both of them were music majors at Virginia State [University].

Together, the musicians will be bringing smooth jazz, rhythm and blues and gospel influences to familiar fare. Keep an ear out for some original works as well.

As a way to help bring audience members back to Carysbrook after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered performance venues everywhere, the arts council decided last year to keep ticket prices at $5. The pricing policy has been so popular that organizers kept it this season as well. Scruggs said the low ticket price makes it easier for entire families to attend.

If you have family members who dont want to sit still during an appealing concert  or if you happen to be that family member  get ready for an evening of refreshing informality. Want to sing along? Youre welcome to do so. Sitting still and being solemn are not required.

We hope to have people just singing along with us. Its a concert thats a little more approachable, Scruggs said. If you know the words, please jump right in.

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance at https://www.showclix.com/event/EveningofJazz/111823. They also can be picked up at the door. For details, email fluvannaartsnews@gmail.com or go to carysbrook.org.
The Poush Mela, the annual winter fair started by Rabindranath Tagores father, Maharshi Debendranath, at Santiniketan in 1894, will be held later this month after a gap of three years, Visva-Bharati, Bengals only central university located in Birbhum district, announced on Friday. The Poush Mela, which draws thousands of people and even foreign tourists, has been an integral part of the Santiniketan township and Visva-Bharati. (File)

Visva-Bharatis former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty had stopped the fair in 2020 citing overcrowding, pollution and misuse of campus land by artisans and local traders who set up stalls, triggering a legal battle.

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The decision to resume the fair was taken by the universitys executive council (EC) on Friday, weeks after Chakrabarty retired on November 8.

Held in December-end, the fair, which draws thousands of people and even foreign tourists, has been an integral part of the Santiniketan township and Visva-Bharati, of which the Prime Minister is the chancellor. Rabindranath Tagore founded the university in 1921, 16 years after his fathers death.

Santiniketan was included in the UNESCO world heritage list in September this year.

The university, however, said in a statement that since there have been several directives from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) earlier and since there has been a gap of several years between the last mela, it has been advised by the EC to seek fresh directives from the Tribunal so that the university may be able to maintain the pollution control factors..

Considering the paucity in time, the EC has also proposed contemplating the possibility of a manageable smaller mela for this year, the statement said.

Maharshi Debendranath Tagore moved from Kolkata to Birbhum in 1863. In 1888, he formed the Santiniketan Trust which, to this day, is the custodian of 15.3 acres in the core area of Visva-Bharati campus and also the land on which the fair is held. The Trust organises the fair in association with the local civic body, now controlled by the states ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Anil Konar, the Trusts secretary, told HT that while it is possible to follow the NGT guidelines, holding the fair on a small scale is an impractical suggestion.

What exactly does the EC suggest by smaller mela? Can we ask two poor artisans to set up stalls and turn away two others? I dont think it is feasible at all, Konar said.

Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, Visva-Bharatis interim vice-chancellor, did not make any comment on the fair till Friday night.
Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit faction) chief and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar tried to pacify the Maratha community on Friday, the second day of the partys two-day conclave held in Karjat in Raigad district. He said there was nothing wrong in giving Kunbi certificates to Marathas who had old records as proof. He also asked party leaders to stay away from caste bias and not make statements that could disturb social harmony in the state. (Deepak Salvi)

Pawars comments sought to assuage anger among Marathas over recent statements by his fellow party leader and minister Chhagan Bhujbal opposing the issuance of Kunbi certificates. Maratha protesters reached the venue of NCPs seminar at Karjat on Friday and shouted slogans against Bhujbal. Police had to deploy additional forces for Bhujbals security, and he left the venue immediately after his speech.

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In his speech, Pawar cited the nineteenth century non-Brahman movement leader Mahatma Jotirao Phule to justify the claim that Marathas were Kunbi. All Marathas, who were farmers, were called Kunbis. Thats why Mahatma Phule called Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as Kulwadi Bhushan (pride of Kunbis). If the Marathas were not Kunbi, would Phule have used that word? Therefore, there is nothing wrong in issuing Kunbi certificate to Marathas who have old records, so that they can avail reservation from the OBC quota, said Pawar. Bhujbal was not present at the time of Pawars speech as he had left the venue earlier.

Pawar expressed displeasure over provocative statements by leaders from both communities. Leaders should not speak the language which will provoke the other community and disturb communal harmony. I will not allow communal tension to increase, which could lead to violence between the two communities. I am also directing all my colleagues in the party to stay away from caste bias and follow inclusive politics, said the deputy chief minister.

Pawar also advised Marathas to have patience so that the issue of their reservation could be resolved as per due procedure. On previous occasions, Maratha reservation was given but it was rejected by the high court first and then the supreme court. The same thing should not happen again. So will have to have patience as court requires empirical data and report from backward class commission and it will take time, he said.

Earlier, Chagan Bhujbal in his speech said that he supported separate reservation for Marathas, but without touching the OBC quota. If there is injustice, someone will have to talk, so I spoke about it, said Bhujbal.

Meanwhile, Pawar also expressed concern over the countrys growing population while speaking at the party conclave. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come up with a law for population control which would be applicable to all citizens irrespective of religion.

Uniform Civil Code may be the solution, and its provisions should address population control, said Pawar.
A 23-year-old woman from Delhi, who was with her two friends, was overpowered and allegedly gangraped by three unidentified men in Ghaziabads Tronica City area on late Thursday evening. The police said that the woman was with her 22-year-old woman colleague and her male friend when three suspects overpowered them at an isolated stretch and allegedly gangraped her before fleeing. The woman and her woman colleague work at a toy-manufacturing unit in Tronica City and were about to leave for their house in Delhis Soniya Vihar around 6.45pm on Thursday. (Representative Image)

Based on the complaint, the police registered an FIR under IPC section 376d (gangrape) against unidentified suspects who are being traced.

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According to the FIR lodged by the woman, she and her woman colleague work at a toy-manufacturing unit in Tronica City and were about to leave for their house in Delhis Soniya Vihar around 6.45pm on Thursday.

After we left the factory, my colleague on the isolated Khanpur Road was trying her hands on the Scooty of her male friend who had joined us. I was standing nearby. Soon, three unidentified men appeared and arrived near my colleague and her friend. I asked who they were? Soon, the three men overpowered all three of us and separated us..., the woman stated in the FIR.

Thereafter, one of the three suspects pulled the woman inside the bushes nearby and gangraped her.

All three of us were shocked due to the incident and went home and told the family, the FIR stated further.

The police registered an FIR and formed several teams to trace the suspects. The investigators said that the colleague and her male friend were also questioned at length about the incident.

The area is isolated and has no CCTV coverage. At least five police teams are working to crack the case. The victim woman was sent for medical examination and her colleague and her male friend were also questioned at length, said Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, SHO of Tronica City police station.

The officials attached with the investigation said that they were trying to find out the motive behind the gangrape incident. They said that they are also trying to find the possibility if the suspects in the case were known to the male friend of the woman colleague, or not.

The teams are trying to trace the suspects involved in the case. We are also trying to find out if the incident was random or planned. A detailed investigation is underway, said Suryabali Maurya, ACP of Loni.
The counting of votes of the just-concluded Chhattisgarh assembly elections will commence at 8am on Sunday to decide the fate of 958 candidates, comprising 827 men, 130 women, and a transgender individual. The Chhattisgarh assembly election results will decide the fate of 958 candidates, comprising 827 men, 130 women, and a transgender individual (Representative Image)

The elections were held in two phases on November 7 and 17 for 90 assembly constituencies spread across 33 districts.

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The strong room, safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process, will be opened at 7 am in the presence of officials and representatives of the candidates, Chhattisgarh state election commissioner Reena Babasaheb Kangale on Saturday told media persons on Saturday.

The state has an electorate of 1,63,14,479 voters, comprising 81,42,624 men, 81,72,171 women, and 684 individuals from the transgender communit.

In the first phase, which covered Maoist-infested areas, the voter turnout stood at 78% while the second phase, encompassing 70 seats in central plains and northern Chhattisgarh, saw a turnout of 68.15%.

We are winning more than 75 seats this time. People of Chhattisgarh have trust in the Congress government and we will fulfill every hope of the people , said RP Singh, Congress spokesperson.

We are forming the government. The people of Chhattisgarh will throw away the Congress government after five years of pain, said Ajay Chandrakar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief spokesperson.

The exit polls for the Chhattisgarh elections had predicted intriguing results.

Three agencies foresaw a closely contested battle, with the Congress holding a slim advantage. India Today-Axis My India predicted 40-50 seats for the Congress and 36-46 seats for the BJP. C-voter also predicted a narrow lead for the Congress with 41-53 seats ahead of the BJPs 36-48 seats.

In contrast, News 24-Todays Chanakya anticipated a more decisive outcome, forecasting Congress to secure 57 seats, comfortably ahead of the BJPs 33 seats.

Harsh Dubey, a political commentator based in Chhattisgarh said, Its an important day for both parties. The BJP is trying to come back after the gap of five years and the Congress is trying to retain the state. Both the BJP and the Congress have relied on freebies for the voters and especially tried to woo the farmers, women and youngsters. Both are suffering from internal party conflicts.
Q) In a recent investigation, our team discovered several dark zones in key areas of Lucknow, raising concerns about the functionality of streetlights. The areas identified include Vibhuti Khand in front of Gomti Nagar Station, Patrakarpuram surroundings, the service lane near Gwari Crossing, Matiyari Crossing, near IIA, and near Indira Nagar Metro station. Whats your take on the identified dark zones? Lucknow Municipal Corporation (HT Photo)

A) The blame game persists, with confusion surrounding the responsible entities. Contrary to popular belief, streetlights in Vibhuti Khand, Patrakarpuram, and Gomti Nagar extension fall under the jurisdiction of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA). The Metro, responsible for the area beneath its pillars, failed to fulfill promises made during street light facility demolitions. Its crucial for residents to be aware of which areas are maintained by different authorities such as Housing Board, PWD, National Highway, LDA, and more.

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Q) Chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently addressed the dark region around Ahimamau. Any comments?

A) Once again, the LDA is the authority responsible for the area, not the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC). Despite the attention from the Chief Minister, no invitation was extended to the LMC officials. Instead, LDA officials were summoned to explain the persisting dark zones along Shaheed Path.

Q) Can you specify areas maintained by other departments?

A) Indeed, PWD manages Victoria Street Divider, DM house surroundings, Hanuman Setu, Swasthya Bhawan to Kaiserbagh, Shani Dev Temple to Chiariayya jheel, and more. U.P. State Bridge Corporation maintains structures like the new bridge of Shaheed Path, Hussainganj to Naka, Chowk Flyover, and Mawaiyya Flyover. LDA oversees street lights in Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar extension, 1090 cross to Baikunth Dham, and more. Lucknow Metro is responsible for lighting its poles, while LMC maintains various areas across the city. Lucknow Cantt and railways contribute to lighting in certain zones.

Q) Are you suggesting that anomalies lie with street lights from other departments, while LMC is doing well?

A) Im addressing specific questions. Its not a blanket statement that all LMC-maintained lights are superior. However, areas like Charbagh, Alambagh, Airport, and VIP road under LMCs purview are well-lit.

Q) How many street lights does LMC maintain?

A) LMC oversees 2.31 lakh street lights in Lucknow, with an additional budget request for 18,814 street lights, 1,760 new street light poles, and 176 high mast lights in 88 newly added villages. This would bring the total to around 2.50 lakh street lights.

Q) Whats the solution to eliminate dark zones in the city?

A) The solution is simple -- install street lights in dark zones. However, clarity in departmental roles is essential. Consolidating street light responsibilities under LMC would streamline accountability, preventing confusion that arises when multiple departments handle the same task.

Q) What challenges does LMC face in maintaining street lights?

A) Theft of top-quality street lights is a recurring issue. Weve provided video evidence to the police, indicating that our lights, often of leading brands, are targeted. Control over theft, along with night monitoring and proper maintenance, is crucial to addressing these challenges.
PRAYAGRAJ: Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), similar to Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs), receive 5 crore annually as Vidhayak Nidhi to accelerate development works in their respective areas. Among the 12 MLAs in Prayagraj, Harsh Vardhan Bajpai, the MLA from Allahabad North, leads in MLA fund spending in the city areas, followed closely by Sidharth Nath Singh, the MLA from Allahabad West. Conversely, Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, the MLA from Allahabad South, has spent the least amount, as per records. Hakim Lal Bind, the MLA from Handia, is at the forefront among the five assembly constituencies in the trans-Ganga area, while Vachaspati, the MLA from Bara, tops the list among trans-Yamuna MLAs in MLA fund utilization, according to data from the district rural development agency (DRDA). Interlocking tiles being laid in a bylane by workers (For representation only)

Spending in urban areas

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In the urban areas of Prayagraj, all three MLAs received MLA funds totaling 8 crore each, comprising 5 crore from the current financial year and 3 crore from the last financial year. As of October 31, MLA Harsh Vardhan Bajpai has utilized over 4.30 crore for 72 different development works, with 56 approved and 30 completed, while 26 are ongoing. A balance of over 3.69 crore remains in his account.

Allahabad West MLA and former UP cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh have executed development works worth over 4.22 crore out of the total 8 crore. He proposed 36 works, of which 34 were approved, 14 completed, and 20 are in progress. His account holds over 3.77 crore.

Similarly, Allahabad South MLA and UP cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi submitted proposals exceeding 2.38 crore for 32 development works. Of these, 18 are completed, 14 are in progress, and over 5.61 crore remains in the ministers MLA fund.

Spending in trans-Ganga areas

In terms of MLA fund spending, Hakim Lal Bind, the MLA from Handia, leads among the five assembly constituencies in the trans-Ganga region of Prayagraj. With 8 crore allocated in the current financial year, he utilized over 5.74 crore on development works, proposing 52 works, of which 49 were approved, four completed, and 45 ongoing.

MLA Vijma Yadav from Pratappur had 8 crore in her MLA fund, spending over 4.50 crore on development works. She retains over 3.49 crore in her account, proposing 17 works, all approved and still ongoing.

Soraon MLA Geeta Shastri spent over 3.53 crore out of 8 crore allocated for development works, with over 4.47 crore remaining. She proposed 45 works, of which 41 were approved, five completed, and 36 in progress.

Phulpur MLA Praveen Patel utilized over 3.23 crore out of 8 crore in MLA funds for development works. Proposing 36 works, all were approved, with 15 completed and 21 ongoing. He has over 4.76 crore left in his account.

Phaphamau MLA Guru Prasad Maurya lags in MLA fund spending in the trans-Ganga area, spending over 2.58 crore out of 8 crore. With over 5.41 crore still in his MLA fund, he proposed 13 works, 12 approved, 10 completed, and two ongoing.

Spending in trans-Yamuna areas

Among the four MLAs representing constituencies in trans-Yamuna areas of Prayagraj, MLA Vachaspati from Bara has spent the most, exceeding 5.69 crore on development works. Proposing 85 works, all were approved, with 15 completed and 70 ongoing. He retains over 2.30 crore in his account.

Koraon MLA Rajmani Kol, with 8 crore, spent over 5.60 crore on development works as of October 31. He has over 2.39 crore remaining, proposing 70 works, of which 66 were approved, four completed, and 62 in progress.

Karachana MLA Piyush Ranjan Nishad utilized over 3.67 crore out of 8 crore on development works, leaving over 4.32 crore in his MLA fund. Proposing five works, all were accepted, with two completed and three in progress.

Meja MLA Sandeep Patel, also with 8 crore, lags behind, spending just 3.1 crore on development works. Proposing 35 works, 33 were approved, 16 completed, and 17 ongoing. He has over 4.98 crore left in his MLA fund.

Proposals ahead of 2024 polls

As of October 31, funds amounting to crores of rupees, designated for development works, remain unutilised by the 17 MLAs and MLCs in Prayagraj district. District officials assert that the District Rural Development Agency is consistently soliciting proposals from these public representatives. It is anticipated that the majority of them will submit proposals within the next month, keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls in mind.
LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh government has earmarked funds for the acquisition of equipment in state medical colleges. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath (HT Photo)

According to a press statement released by the state government on Saturday, the medical colleges benefiting from this allocation are located in Bijnor, Kushinagar, Sultanpur, Gonda, Lalitpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Bulandshahr, Pilibhit, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, and Amethi.

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The Director General of Medical Education and Training has been instructed to oversee the completion of the procurement process. The press statement indicates that each autonomous state medical college will receive a budget of 16.55 crore.

In addition, the procurement process is underway for the supply of all medicines, including Ayurvedic and Unani products. This encompasses various special types of medicinal oils, extracts, vati (tablets), juices, powders, and ashes.
Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is going to release admit cards for the second phase of the School Teacher/Headmaster Written (Objective) Competitive Examination (BPSC TRE 2.0, 2023) today, December 2. Candidates who have applied for the examination can download the BPSC TRE admit card from bpsc.bih.nic.in and onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in. BPSC TRE 2.0 admit card 2023 releasing today (bpsc.bih.nic.in)

Ahead of downloading admit cards, candidates have to upload their recent passport-size photographs (25 kb, 250x250) by logging into their dashboards. Admit cards will be generated only after doing this.

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Candidates will get to know their examination centre code and district on admit cards, the commission said.

For further details, click here.

How to download BPSC TRE 2.0 admit card 2023

Login to your dashboard on onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in or bpsc.bih.nic.in. Upload your passport photo as per size and dimension prescribed. Now, proceed to download your admit card. Download it and ensure that there is no error in the photo, signature and name. Check and confirm details such as reporting time, exam centre code. Read the instructions given on the admit card.

Recently, the commission announced a revised schedule for TRE 2.0. As per the revised schedule, the examination scheduled for December 7 will be held in 2 shifts: from 10 am to 12:30 om and from 2:30 pm to 5 pm. Exams scheduled for other dates  December 8 to 15  will be in single shifts, from 12 pm to 2:30 pm.

For the Principal, Backward Class and Most Backward Class Welfare Department and Scheduled Caste and Tribe Welfare Department post, the exam take place in the first shift on December 7 and and Music and Art examination for Backward Work and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Department (Class- 9- 10) and the second for Scheduled Caste and Tribe Welfare Department (Class- 6- 10) will be held in the second shift that day.

BPSC TRE phase 2 is being held for 69,706 posts of school teachers under the Education Department, Bihar, and 916 vacancies under the Backward Class Welfare Department.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is expected to release the ICAI CA Inter, Final Result November 2023 between January 5 to January 10. Candidates will be able to check the ICAI Inter, Final Nov 2023 result through the official website at ICAI at icai.org. ICAI official shares expected date of result declaration through Twitter

CCM of ICAI, Dhiraj Khandelwal shared the expected date of declaration of results through X formally Twitter.

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His Tweet reads, "CA Intermediate and Final Nov 23 Exam result may be expected between 5th Jan to 10th Jan. Just for information".

ICAI CA Inter, Final result Nov2023: How to check

To check the results, candidates can follow the steps given below.

Visit the official site of ICAI at icai.org.

On the homepage, click on the ICAI CA Inter, Final result Nov 2023 link

Enter the login details and click on submit.

Your result will be displayed on the screen.

Check the results

Keep a hard copy of the same for further need.
Actor Katrina Kaif became the latest Bollywood actor to reach Jeddah's Red Sea International Film Festival. On Saturday, she took to her Instagram handle and shared a glimpse of her look at the red carpet as she spoke about her life experiences and work at the event. She also heaped praises on her Merry Christmas co-star Vijay Sethupathi. Also read: Johnny Depp reacts as Ranveer Singh thanks him for 'unknowingly' teaching him about craft Katrina Kaif at Red Sea International Film Festival.

Katrina Kaif at Red Sea Film Festival

Katrina looked simple and elegant in a black saree, paired with a sequined blouse. She had her signature makeup look with minimal accessories for a clean but glamorous look. Sharing the photos, Katrina wrote, A day at @redseafilm So wonderful to see what a stunning festival @jomanaaalrashid and @moalturki have created in the Kingdom, the most warm and gracious hosts. Taking away so many wonderful memories.

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Katrina on Merry Chirstmas and Vijay Sethupathi

Several photos and videos of Katrina from the event have surfaced online. From waving at fans to striking the namaste pose, the actor did it all. In one of the videos, Katrina is seen talking about her work experience with Vijay Sethupathi. She said, It was always to work with him (Vijay Sethupathi) and I got the opportunity in Merry Christmas to work with it. It was phenomenal, by far the most difficult film I have ever done. Definitely, the character took a lot out of me but the experience was he really challenges you as an actor. Also, it's a bilingual film. We shot the film in Hindi and Tamil. In Tamil version, I have actually spoken in Tamil so it was two takes for whatever you were doing and that was really challenging but exciting. My co-star Vijay Sethupathi is so phenomenal. When we would do the Hindi take, he would be fantastic but when we would do the Tamil take, there would be a different actor.

Katrina Kaif: Learnt a lot from my films

Besides this, Katrina also talked about learning from films as she shared her life experiences. In a different video, she is seen saying, "Once you mature, life experiences are going to teach you and that will form you as a person and shape you as a person and as an artist. Definitely, I think, with every movie and every experience life has given to me, I have learnt from movies and taken a step forward.

A few more photos from the event also star Katrina in a new look. She seemingly changed into a shimmery skirt with a shirt-style top and a necktie for a stylish look at the festival.

Katrina is currently flying high in the success of Tiger 3 with Salman Khan. Her next release will be Merry Christmas, releasing on January 12.

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Actor Alia Bhatt took to social media on Saturday to pen a long note praising her husband, actor Ranbir Kapoor, and the rest of the cast and crew of Animal for their performances in the film. The actor also stated that she was now joining the crushmika club post seeing Rashmika Mandannas performance in the action film. Rashmika seemed flattered by the praise and has nothing but love for Alia. (Also Read: Alia Bhatt reviews Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, praises him as a father) Alia Bhatt says she has joined the 'crushmika club'(Instagram)

Alias note

Alia shared pictures of Ranbir via an Instagram post  one of him interacting with fans and another of him reading a story to their daughter, Raha. She took to Instagram Stories to praise Sandeep Reddy Vangas direction, writing that the film provides goosebumps and iconic imagery for days.

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She wrote something special for Rashmika too, saying, Rashmika Mandanna you are so so so beautiful and honest in the film! As I told you in person.. I loved you in that scene - so special and inspiring. Fully joining the crushmika club :)

Screenshot of the note Alia Bhatt shared on her Instagram stories(Instagram)

Rashmikas reaction

Rashmika seemed over the moon when she shared Alias note on Instagram Stories and replied, Alia Bhatt. Big big hugs ya. Love youuuuu! She also thanked fans, sharing a picture of her doing the Korean heart, writing, Thank you all so so much for the love you are showing towards our film Animal..I hope we made you all super proud and happy..#Animalpark (if you know you know) if you dont then please do go watch it in the theatres near you and enjoyyyyy!

About Animal

Animal, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, released in theatres this Friday. The film sees Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in the lead roles. Ranbir plays Ravijay Singh, a man obsessed with wanting validation from his busy and rich father, Balbir Singh. His life spirals after an assassination attempt on his father leaves him looking for revenge from the perpetrators. The film did well at the box office on its opening day and is expected to do good business over the weekend.

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One film in 1990 named Home Alone changed child actor Macaulay Culkins life. He was all of 9, but the world had nothing but praise for his portrayal of the street-smart Kevin Mc Callister in the Christmas classic. On Friday, the now 43-year-old received a star on the historic Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk. (Also Read: Chris Hemsworth and Jason Momoa banter as they show off their muscles) Macaulay Culkin and Catherine O' Hara reunited after three decades(AP/20th Century Fox)

A Home Alone reunion

Keeping in mind the movie that brought him stardom, Macaulay invited his on-screen mom in the film, played by Catherine OHara in the movie, to the momentous occasion. Fans of the film couldnt stop gushing as pictures and videos of the emotional reunion after three decades made their way online.

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Catherine even delivered a speech on the occasion in which she said, Macaulay, congratulations. You so deserve your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And thank you for including me, your fake mom who left you home alone not once but twice, to share in this happy occasion. I'm so proud of you. The two even shared a hug and wiped away tears at the podium.

Macaulay Culkin attends a ceremony honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles(AP)

Actor recreates iconic dialogue

Macaulay decided to recreate his iconic dialogue from the film, which addressed his fiance Brenda Song. Id like to thank Brenda, you are absolutely everything, he said while Brenda wiped away tears, adding, Youre my champion. Youre the only person happier for me today than I am. Youre not only the best woman Ive ever known, youre the best person Ive ever known. Youve given me all my purpose, youve given me family. After the birth of our two boys, youve become one of my three favourite people. I love you so much.

He then recreated the famous dialogue from Home Alone, much to the delight of fans, saying, To wrap things up, and in the spirit of the holiday season, I just wanna say Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!

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Susan Sarandon is finally apologising to anyone she offended for the anti-semitic remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York in November. On Friday, December 1, 2023, the actress took to Instagram to post a lengthy statement, explaining that she had not planned to speak but was invited to the stage to say a few words.

On Friday, December 1, 2023, the actress took to Instagram to post a lengthy statement, explaining that she had not planned to speak but was invited to the stage to say a few words. However, she termed her statement as a terrible mistake of phrasing, as what she implied to say that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true.

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She then highlighted the centuries of Jewish oppression and genocide in Europe, along with the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA.

Apologising, she said, I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment. It was my intent to show solidarity, I am sorry I failed to do so.

In a rally at Manhattan's Union Square on November 17, 2023, the actress said, Jews are getting a taste of what it is like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.

The demonstrators were at a pro-Palestinian rally against the Israel-Hamas war, which broke out after the terrorist group invaded the Jewish state on October 10, 2023. The Hamas terrorists slaughtered some 1,400 Jews, including babies.

Following her remarks at the rally, the Hollywood actress was dropped by her talent agency.

Social Media Reaction to Susan's Apology

Social Media users are not so acceptive of the actress's apology which came 13 days post she made the statement. Here are some of the reactions:

She is not sorry or she wouldn't have been a part of it. Your only sorry when you get so much backlash and lose a fan base. commented a user on X.

Too late. You said it and you meant it. added another.

And now she is free to work again pointed out another X user.
Taos [New Mexico], December 2 (ANI): John Nichols died on Wednesday in Taos, New Mexico. He was 83, Deadline reported. HT Image

He wrote more than a dozen books, including 'The Milagro Beanfield War' and 'The Sterile Cuckoo,' both of which were adapted into films by renowned directors.

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'The Milagro Beanfield War' was co-written by Nichols, whose writings frequently dealt with issues of small-town New Mexico and social injustice.

It became a 1988 film produced and directed by Robert Redford, focusing on a conflict between largely Latino farmers and local politicians and real estate developers.

The jazzy score by Dave Grusin won an Oscar for the film, which starred Ruben Blades, Richard Bradford, and Sonia Braga.

Alan J. Pakula adapted Nichols' breakthrough novel 'The Sterile Cuckoo' into a film four years later. It starred Liza Minnelli as Pookie, a quirky but honest woman who falls in love with a young man (Wendell Burton) right before he leaves for college.

According to Deadline, Nichols' novels include his sophomore attempt 'The Wizard of Loneliness,' which was adapted into a 1988 film director Jenny Bowen starring Lukas Haas and Lea Thompson. 'The Magic Journey' and 'The Nirvana Blues,' combined with 'The Milagro Beanfield War,' comprised his "New Mexico trilogy."

Nichols has written more than a half-dozen nonfiction books, including 'I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer,' which was published last year.

He was also a social justice campaigner and the subject of Kurt Jacobsen's 2012 feature documentary 'The Milagro Man: The Irrepressible Multicultural Life and Literary Times of John Nichols.' The film, which is based on a long interview with the author, provides an intimate account of his creative literary process. (ANI)
K-pop rookie group New Jeans showed their music mettle with 5 big prizes at the Melon Music Awards 2023, held at Yeongjong Island in Incheon, South Korea on Saturday, December 2, 2023. The K-pop quintet was the biggest winner at the MMA 2023 followed by two other K-pop icons NCT Dream and Ive.

The K-pop quintet was the biggest winner at the MMA 2023 followed by two other K-pop icons NCT Dream and Ive.

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New Jeans bagged two of the biggest awards this year: Artist of the Year and Best Song of the Year for their hit single, Ditto.

In their acceptance speech, they said: Bunnies, thank you so much. We're so honored and grateful to receive so many great awards at this one ceremony. We don't know what to say, but we feel like we need to repay you by growing and showing you even better sides of ourselves in the future.

Additionally, they won three other awards at the ceremony held at the Inspire Arena, which is Korea's first arena dedicated to music performances. These were: Best Group (Female) and were among the Top 10 Artists and Millions Top 10 Albums.

The two remaining grand prizes of the group were clinched by Ive, who won Album of the Year, for their first full-length album, I've Ive and NCT Dream who took Record of the Year.

New Jeans debuted in July 2022 under ADOR, a newly founded label under HYBE. Since then, it has grown to become one of the most loved K-pop groups in the industry with hits such as Attention, Ditto, Hype Boy, ETA, and OMG.

The 5-member girl group consists of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein.

Previously, the girl group bagged the Artist of the Year and Song of the Year awards at the MAMA 2023, held earlier this week.

This makes New Jeans the first female artist in history to win Artist of the Year as both the MAMA and MMA within the same year.
Los Angeles, Dec 2 (PTI) Veteran Hollywood actor Susan Sarandon has issued an apology after saying at a pro-Palestine rally that people feeling afraid of being Jewish at this time were "getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence". HT Image

The Academy Award-winning actor's comments, made in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict at a pro-Palestinian rally last month, drew widespread criticism.

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In a statement posted to Instagram Friday night, Sarandon said she had been trying to communicate her concern for rising hate crimes.

This phrasing was a terrible mistake as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA... Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day," the actor said.

I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment. It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so," Sarandon added.

Following her remarks at the November 17 rally in New York City, Sarandon was dropped by United Talent Agency (UTA), where she'd been a client since 2014.

The Israel-Hamas conflict began after the October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

Israel pounded targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday after a weeklong truce with Hamas and giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.
Silk Smitha might be a name synonymous with glamorous roles, jaw-dropping looks and a tragic personal life today but there was a time when Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (her birth name) wanted nothing more than to be taken seriously as an actor. Born on December 2, 1960, in Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh, she was one of the most sought-after actors till her mysterious death in 1996 shocked the nation. (Also Read: Vidya Balan recalls her reaction when people told her starring in The Dirty Picture will ruin your career) Silk Smitha wanted to be a character actor

I want to be like Savitri

When asked by Filmfare in 1984 why she was specialising in glamorous roles, Silk told the publication, I want to be a character actor like Savitri, Sujata and Sarita. However, I played a character called Silk Smitha in my second film Vandichakkaram and thats the kind of role that followed. People liked my performance and my ambition remains the same, but I keep getting offered glam roles and I cant let down filmmakers. I want to make a name for myself as a character actor but I will never demand for these roles. Producers and directors depend on my talent to sell their films. I shall do whatever roles come my way.

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A vast filmography

Like she stated, there were times when people would throng to the theatre just to see her dance or play what was considered to be a vampy role on-screen. She made a name for herself not just in Telugu and Tamil, but also Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi film industries. In a career spanning almost two decades, she acted in over 450 films. For most of her career, Silk found herself typecast in the roles of cabaret dancers or women that were anything but coy. Later in her career, she would portray a freakishly strong agent beating up goons while dressed in a bikini in multiple films.

Roles that earned her respect

Despite being typecast, Silk did land roles once in a while that let her achieve her dream of being taken seriously. In the 1981 Tamil film Alaigal Oivathillai, she played Elissy, a wife who cannot cope with the fact that she passively aided her husband in the sexual assault of a domestic worker. In the 1982 Tamil film Moondram Pirai, which was remade in Hindi as Sadma, she shared the screen with Kamal Haasan and Sridevi. But such roles were unfortunately few and far in between for her.

Unfortunate death

On September 23, 1996, Silks body was found in her apartment, with a suicide note. On the previous night, she had told her friend that something serious was disturbing her. While excessive alcohol was found in her body post mortem, her death remains a mystery. In July last year, a note that was supposedly written by the actor before her passing went viral on social media.

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The World of the Married fame Han So Hee recently surprised fans by going live in an open chat room on KakaoTalk. Proving her identity, the actor dropped a selfie of herself, which had her reading the messages in the chat room. During the interaction, the actor addressed her plastic surgery rumours. Also read: Han So Hee tests Covid positive, halts Gyeongseong Creature 2 shoot Han So Hee will be next seen in Gyeongseong Creature.

Han So Hee on rumours of Rhinoplasty

The actor said she underwent surgery for rhinitis, which altered the appearance of her nose. Previously, many speculated that she had a rhinoplasty. Han So Hee said, as per a report on Allkpop, I'm worried because the swelling from the inferior turbinate reduction surgery is not going away. Guys, I swear, I didn't put silicon in my nose. My nose just got a little taller because the doctors straightened [the nasal turbinates]. Because of my rhinitis, my nose became deformed and I could only breathe through one nostril.

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She added, "I didn't always have a Squidward nose. I used to have a pretty high nose, but then because it grew unbalanced, the end eventually angled inward. The surgery actually helped straighten that out. But the thing about rhinitis? It always comes back. So I'll probably go back to having a Squidward nose soon too."

Han So Hee shares pic during her fan interaction.

Han So Hee's message to her fans

The Nevertheless fame actor also appreciated her fans for their love and support. I'm immature and I want to try so many different things, and because I'm like this, there are those of you who go to great lengths to defend me and my actions. Thanks to your efforts, I am living the way I want without feeling too stressed. It's so reassuring to have you by my side, and I'm so grateful, but at the same time, I feel apologetic. When I thought about what being a 'fan' really means, I started to realize that fans should not be taken for granted. It is not a fact that a fan will stay a devoted fan forever. But you all are devoting yourselves to me, and you've put your faith in me. So I want to make one promise. I'm going to protect you. I promise not to think ill of you, I promise not to take you for granted, I will not grow lazy and develop feelings of contempt toward your devotion. This will be our promise, the actor added.

Han So Hee will be next seen in Netflix's Gyeongseong Creature, which will release on December 22. She will be reprising her role as Chae Ok in the second instalment of the show, which will be out in 2024.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attended the World Climate Action Summit of the Conference of Parties-28 (COP28 summit) in Dubai, wrapping up his day-long visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by launching the Green Credit Initiative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a high-level segment on day two of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. (Bloomberg)(HT_PRINT)

Modi, along with Sweden's PM Ulf Kristersson, President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi and European Council president Charles Michel, launched the web portal of the Green Credits Programme at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

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The prime minister highlighted the impact of climate change on the Global South and said at COP28, "The manner in which we give importance to our Health Card in life, we have to similarly start thinking in the context of environment. We will have to see what is to be done to add positive points to Earth's Health Card. I think this is what Green Credit is."

What is Green Credit Initiative?

The Green Credit Initiative was first introduced by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change on October 13, 2023. There are two main priorities of the initiative - water conservation and afforestation.

The environment ministry defined the initiative as a "market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies."

Under this scheme, green credits will be assigned to specific environmental activities, and will be treated as tradable commodities. These green credits will be able to be sold on domestic market platforms.

The main purpose of this initiative is to boost voluntary environmental activities like tree plantation, water conservation, sustainable agriculture, and waste management by incentivizing it for big corporations and private companies, bringing about a change in the climate issues faced by the country.

While launching the web portal for the scheme at COP28, PM Modi said, "The manner in which we give importance to our Health Card in life, we have to similarly start thinking in the context of environment. We will have to see what is to be done to add positive points to Earth's Health Card. I think this is what Green Credit is."

(With inputs from agencies)
Six police officers,including a sub-inspector, from Chikkamagaluru were suspended on Friday for allegedly assaulting an advocate on Thursday night, police said. The police intercepted Preetham for not wearing the helmet and then forcibly seized the key from his bike.

According to the police, the Chikkamagaluru district superintendent of police Vikram Amte ordered the suspension of the police officers for assaulting a 28-year-old advocate, named Preetham, and brutally attacking him for riding a two-wheeler without wearing a helment, on the Market Road in the city.

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The police intercepted Preetham for not wearing the helmet and then forcibly seized the key from his bike. Despite Preethams willingness to pay the fine, a verbal confrontation ensued between him and the officers, during which he questioned the officers for confiscating the key.

After a heated argument, the police took Preetham to the police station, confined him to the computer room and brutally assaulted him. Following the incident, Preetham lodged a complaint alleging that he was even trampled upon during the attack. He is currently undergoing treatment at the district government Mallegowda hospital.

Upon learning about the incident, lawyers in huge number gathered outside the Chikkamagaluru police station on Thursday and staged a dharna overnight , criticising the police officers involved in the assault.

A case has been registered against six policemen, including the sub-inspector Mahesh Pujari, ASI Ramappa, head constable Guru Prasad , and police constables Shashi, Mahesh and Yuvaraj. The deputy SP [Shailendra] visited hospital and recorded statement of the victim [Preetham]. Following his report, six policemen were suspended from duty, Amte told HT. A case has been registered against the suspended cops under sections 307(attempt to murder), 324(causing hurt ), 504 (intentional insult) and 506( threatening with life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and deputy SP is probing the incident and would initiate departmental action, once the probe is over.

However, on Friday, Chikkamagaluru bar association called for indefinite protest till the accused policemen are arrested.

The state high court also registered a suo-motu complaint in connection with the incident, emphasising the shocking nature of the assault on the victim and instructed the state government to provide information about the action taken in this case. Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and justice Krishna S Dixit expressed displeasure, asserting such incidents should not occur in a civil society.
A 65-year-old visually impaired Muslim man was allegedly assaulted by two bike-borne men from Gangavathi in Koppal district on November 25, officers said on Friday. Police said the authorities are reviewing CCTV footage from bus stand, main road, and Pampanagar area.

According to the police, the victim, identified as Hussain Saab, was assaulted by two unknown miscreants in Gangavati on night of November 25.

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We have registered a case under sections 394 (causing hurt in attempt to robbery) and 307 (attempt to murder) followed by complaint of victim, Gangavathi town police inspector M Prakash told HT.

According to preliminary investigation, there are no signs of assault on the victims face.We are verifying the CCTV footages collected today [ Friday] to track the accused men, Prakash said, adding that the miscreants also robbed 250 from the victim.

I was waiting for an auto-rickshaw to go to my house when two unknown individuals on a bike came near me. They offered me to drop me to my destination, Hussain Saab said.

After I sat on the bike with them, they began assaulting me and hurled abusive words at me. Subsequently, near Pampanagar area, they pushed me off the bike and continued assault, he added.

The assailants compelled me to shout religious slogans and forced me to chant Jai Shri Ram, while I pleaded for mercy. Despite complying with their demand, the miscreants continued their assault. This attracted the attention of the locals, prompting the attackers to flee from the scene, he added.

The victim is currently undergoing treatment at the taluk government hospital. Authorities are reviewing CCTV footage from bus stand, main road, and Pampanagar area, Prakash said.
NEW DELHI A servile and subservient population, ruled by slogans, guarantee a weakened democracy, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud emphasised on Saturday, as he underscored that dissent nourishes democracy while deliberation sustains it. A servile majority ruled by slogans guarantees a weakened democracy: CJI

If democracy means that the views of the majority prevail, then it necessarily implies that a deliberating and eventually, a dissenting minority. And this can at times be more powerful than a dumb, unthinking accepting majority, ruled by slogans. A servile and subservient population guarantees a weakened democracy, said the CJI.

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According to justice Chandrachud, a society which does not encourage its citizens to critically think, question the powers that be, and engage in a nonconformist democratic discourse, will fail to progress because it will fail to create dissenters.

While social harmony among citizens is a prerequisite to democracy, it cannot be manufactured by removing conditions under which dissent may be freely expressed. A society is often known for its great dissenters because dissenters inform us of the location and direction of a democracy, the first judge of the country added.

Delivering the Justice KC Dhulia Memorial Lecture at Dehradun, the CJI highlighted the correlation between democracy, deliberation and dissent, pointing out that the exercise of the right of the people to engage in social and political discourse with each other and with institutions lie at the core of a participative democracy. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, a sitting Supreme Court judge and son of justice KC Dhulia, was also present at the occasion.

Justice Chandrachuds strong opinion on the importance of dissent has come five years after his crucial remarks in a court hearing five year ago when he held that dissent is the safety valve of democracy.

While the right to free speech entails truth discovery and self-fulfilment of the citizen, its primary purpose is critical interaction and debate. There are overlaps, but in the context of a democracy, the relevance of free speech lies in deliberation with the uncomfortable aspects of our realities. Thus, if a democracy cannot safeguard discourse around the needs of all its people, it falls short of its promise. In order to resolve their discontent, a democracy must begin by hearing the voices of the people, said justice Chandrachud.

According to the judge, a democracy must remain to be one where the electorate is informed and has both access to and influence over its governing bodies. A discursive democracy creates a fertile ground for deliberation which is inclusive and egalitarian. Its institutions must ensure that everyone can engage in a discourse on equal terms, and no force except that of a better argument, interrupts such an engagement, he added.

Stating that deliberations underline the strength of Indias democracy and also her Constitution, the CJI stressed that though the composition of the constituent assembly was predominantly a majoritarian, male, upper-caste, urban exercise leading to a founding fathers narrative that subsumed the role that women members played, the explanation for the continued relevance of the Constitution lies in the fact that the process of its framing was an inclusive exercise, based in discursive democracy and its ability to promote debate and deliberation.

The process of reaching outcomes is far more important than the outcome itself...Deliberation thrives only in conditions that promote candidate discussions amongst all unmitigated by markers of status, caste and identity. A democracy, in order to be more than a mere approximation of preferences of a group, must engage with all its stakeholders. This engagement may or may not lead to an outcome right away but will definitely remain etched as a historical fact capable of being resurrected in the future, said the CJI.

Citing deliberation as the difference between a majoritarian decision that is foisted on an unwilling electorate and a decision that the people are willing to accept, engage with, and hopefully alter one day, justice Chandrachud highlighted that a deliberated outcome accords legitimacy to the institutions of governance.

A deliberated outcome accords legitimacy to the institutions of governance, said the CJI, adding: It is the difference between a defeated idea and a disenfranchised democratic participant. While the former may eventually erode with time, the latter militates against the very foundations of a deliberative, engaging Constitution.

Underlining the importance of dissent in a democracy, the CJI maintained that a dissenting minority is an equal component of a working democracy where views of the majority have to prevail.

While deliberation sustains a democracy, dissent nourishes it... Dissent emerges from profound questions about the working of society. Abolition of slavery, annihilation of caste, emancipation of gender minorities, and religious harmony were all once dissenting opinions. However, these dissents hold the power to fundamentally restructure our society by sparking an important conversation. These dissents emerge not from thin air but from a democratic culture of fierce debates, the judge pointed out.

Justice Chandrachud concluded his keynote address by adding that dissent in a democracy, though unpopular and unacceptable, lends windows to the future.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadus anti-corruption wing, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Friday raided the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Madurai district a few hours after it arrested an officer of the federal agency, Ankit Tiwari in a bribery case. ED officer Ankit Tiwari taken from the DVAC office to be produced before a judicial magistrate in Dindigul, on Friday. He was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of  20 lakhs from a doctor in Dindigul. (ANI)

Ankit Tiwari, an Enforcement Officer was caught red handed while accepting a bribe of 20 lakh from a doctor in Dindigul, a senior Tamil Nadu police official said, asking not to be named. He, along with his team of ED officers has been threatening several people and receiving bribes in return for closing their case in ED.

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HT reached out to ED for a response but did not get one immediately.

Tiwaris car was stopped along the Dindigul-Madurai highway around 9 am after he collected the bribe, a second official who also did not wish to be named said. It is rare for the state police to arrest an official of the central government. The arrest was based on a tio-off, the second official added.

DVAC officials first sought to verify whether Tiwari was an impostor or indeed an ED officer. At the time of writing, DVAC did not confirm his credentials but the state police produced Tiwaris ID card , valid up to December 2024.

A senior police officer in Dindigul district said that they assisted DVACs Madurai branch.On Friday evening, DVAC sleuths drove into the sub-zonal office of ED in Madurai.

DVACs raid comes even as Tamil Nadus DMK government has charged that the BJP-led Union government is using ED and the Income Tax department to harass its officials and elected representatives ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

ED had earlier arrested minister V Senthil Balaji on June 14 on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2014. In July, the agency questioned higher education minister K Ponmudi and his son Gautham Sigamani, a parliamentarian in a sand mining case.

On Tuesday, the Madras high court stayed the summons issued by ED to five IAS officers who are district collectors in Tamil Nadu. ED summoned them in a sand mining case but the state on behalf of the collectors contested this, saying that the Union government is using ED as an instrument to undermine and usurp the powers of states which are not ruled by the BJP. The state had asked for the summons to be quashed on the grounds that it is without jurisdiction, unreasonable and in violation of both the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and the Constitution.
Chennai: The arrest of Enforcement Directorate officer Ankit Tiwari by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Friday for allegedly accepting 20 lakh bribe, has kicked up a political storm in the state. DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran today called the agency "Extortion Department" and accused the BJP-led central government of misusing it to target political opponents and critics. The Bharatiya Janata Party defended the Enforcement Directorate saying the entire agency can't be blamed for Tiwari's act. Enforcement Directorate officer Ankit Tiwari being arrested by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials, in Dindigul district, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. (PTI)

Ankit Tiwari, a 2016-batch officer posted in Madurai, was arrested on Friday while allegedly accepting a bribe of 20 lakh from a doctor in the state's Dindigul district.

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"The Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption police, Tamil Nadu have arrested an ED officer for demanding and accepting a bribe of 20 Lakh in Dindigul. This shatters the faith citizens have in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or Enforcement Directorate after being systematically misused by the BJP government to brazenly terrorize and extort political opponents and critics across the country," the DMK MP wrote on X.

Before this, Tamil Nadu Congress president KS Alagiri said if Tiwari was innocent, he wouldn't have run away when the state police visited ED's office.

"Based on the information and complaint received by the Tamil Nadu police, they went to check on the Enforcement Department office. If he was innocent, he could have faced them. Why did he run away at the time?," he said.

"This investigation is based on the fact that the officer named Ankit Tiwari has made a mistake, he has money in his hand and has already received 20 lakhs and is bothering him by asking for 31 lakhs again, so the enforcement department should keep its doors open," he added.

Also read: Tamil Nadu police arrest ED officer for accepting bribe of 20 lakh

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai said on Saturday that ED mustn't be blamed for the act of the individual officer.

"Yesterday, DVAC arrested one person from the ED department. He was produced before the court and sent for judicial custody. This is not the first time and this isn't the last time either. Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialized agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi. Recently, a similar incident happened in Rajasthan...We can't blame the ED for a single individual's mistake," he said.

According to a statement released by the DIPR Secretariat, Chennai, Tiwari had on October 29 contacted a government doctor from Dindigul and mentioned about a case registered against him in the Dindigul Vigilance and Anti Corruption Department.

"Further, Tiwari informed the employee that instructions had been received from the Prime Minister's Office to conduct an enquiry and asked the government doctor to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30," the DVAC statement read.

Tiwari allegedly asked the doctor to pay 3 crore to avert legal action in the case that had already been disposed of. He later agreed to collect 51 lakh as bribe. The doctor allegedly paid 20 lakh as the first instalment to the officer. After he was asked to pay 31 lakh through threatening WhatsApp messages, he contacted the vigilance department on November 30.

Tiwari was arrested at 10.30 am after he received 20 lakh from the complainant.

DVAC is probing whether other ED officials were also hand-in-glove with Ankit Tiwari.

With inputs from ANI
The Krishna River Management Board (KRBM) on Friday wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government to stop drawing of water from the river at Nagarjuna Sagar right canal with immediate effect, even as state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu asserted that the state had every right to utilise its share of water, people familiar with the matter said. The Krishna River Management Board (KRBM) on Friday asks Andhra Pradesh to stop drawing water from the Nagarjunasagar canal. (HT Photo)

KRMB member-secretary D M Raipure wrote to the Andhra Pradesh irrigation department authorities that the state had placed an indent for release of 5 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water from Nagarjunsagar for the month of October.

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So far, the KRMB ensured supply of 5.01 tmc ft of water. There was no representation from the state government for an additional quota of water in November, the KRMB official wrote in the letter.

A day after the Andhra Pradesh police barged into the Nagarjunasagar dam site and occupied half of the dam spillway up to 13 of the 26 crest gates to release water from the Nagarjunasagar right canal for drinking water purpose, the KRMB authorities and Telangana state irrigation authorities reached the spot to bring the situation to normalcy.

The Telangana irrigation authorities wanted that Andhra Pradesh government withdraw its police forces as the first condition to restore normality at the dam site. The operational control of the project has been entrusted to Telangana as part of the understanding between the two states after state bifurcation. Telangana has spent over 100 crore meeting the project maintenance needs so far this year, an irrigation official said on condition of anonymity.

The KRMB authorities have suggested talks between the two states at the chief secretary-level to diffuse tension at the Nagarjuna Sagar project site.

Meanwhile, a large number of Telangana police forces, who were busy with the security arrangements for assembly elections till Thursday evening, also reached the dam site on Friday morning.

Andhra Pradesh state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu refuted the allegations of the Telangana government that Andhra police forces had invaded the Nagarjunasagar dam and occupied the spillway.

How can it be called invasion, when we took control of our own portion? Half of the dam is towards the Andhra Pradesh side and we have entered only our territory and not trespassed into the Telangana side, Rambabu said, adding that it was well within the right of Andhra Pradesh and was totally legitimate.

The minister said while the entire dam supervision was supposed to be under the control of KRMB, the Telangana government had taken control of the entire dam and all its 26 crest gates. As per the law, the 13 gates within our territory should not be under the control of Telangana, he explained.

Stating that Andhra Pradesh had a share of 66% of available water in Krishna river, the minister said it had every right to utilise its share of water through the right canal located within its territory. We are not drawing even a single drop of water from Telanganas share. There is no need to take the permission of the Telangana government to draw our own share, he said.

He explained that since Thursday, the state had drawn 2,000 cusecs of water from Nagarjunasagar for the drinking water needs of the people. This is well within our rights, Rambabu asserted.

On the timing of release of water under heavy police deployment, the minister said every state had its own strategies to protect its rights. We too have the strategies. The assembly elections in Telangana were just a coincidence. We have absolutely no interest in Telangana politics, he clarified.
Papum Pare (Arunachal Pradesh) [India], December 2 (ANI): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu participated in the Indigenous Faith Day celebrations and said that indigenous cultural diversity is the soul of the state and that it needs to be maintained and preserved for posterity. HT Image

The Chief Minister participated in the celebrations held at Nirjuli town in the Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.

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Speaking at the event, Chief Minister Khandu said that the intrinsic cultural diversity of the tribes here is the 'soul' of the state and has to be maintained and preserved for posterity.

In his address, Khandu admitted that it's a huge challenge to take a state like Arunachal Pradesh, with as many as 26 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes, on a developmental path fulfilling the aspirations of every tribe.

"On this day, I would like to extend my greetings to all the tribes and tribals of the state. Arunachal Pradesh is a tribal society and we have moved ahead with our thousands of years old traditions and indigenous practices. We should further strengthen our culture by telling our younger generation about it," CM Khandu said while speaking to reporters.

Taking to his social media X, the Arunachal Pradesh CM posted, "Indigenous faith is integral to the preservation of our indigenous identity and culture. We will never let our indigenous beliefs and faith systems vanish into thin air. All institutional support will be provided to preserve our traditional connection with nature, our land and our ancestors."

"Today at the Indigenous Faith Day celebration at Nirjuli, we together resolved to make our indigenous beliefs, rituals, faith and traditions part of our daily lives," posted Khandu on Friday.

Indigenous Faith Day is celebrated in Arunachal Pradesh on December 1 every year. The day is celebrated to promote and protect all indigenous faiths in the state. It also serves as a reminder to take pride in the state's cultural heritage and pass it on to the younger generation.

The Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) observes the day at Rono Hill, Doimuk.

The day was previously celebrated on December 31, but the date was changed to commemorate the birth anniversary of Talon Rukbo, the father of the Indigenous Faith Movement.

Indigenous faith and religion refer to the traditional customs, beliefs, and practices of specific ethnic groups. (ANI)
In what can provide a glimpse of the public mood to poll pundits months before the general elections, the results for assembly elections in four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana -- will be declared today. Counting of votes in three Hindi-belt and one southern states has begun. The assembly elections results of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh to be declared.(File)

LIVE Updates: Assembly Election Results 2023

The Congress party rules in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh; the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. The exit polls have predicted a BJP victory in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. They have also predicted that the Congress will retain power in Chhattisgarh. However, the biggest upset is likely in Telangana, where -- per the exit polls -- the Congress appears to be unseating chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who has dominated every aspect of the politics of the state since its formation in 2014.

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Also read: Exit polls suggest Sunday cliffhangers across 5 states

The counting began for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 seats in Telangana and 199 seats in Rajasthan.

For the Congress, an impressive performance in these elections will give a fillip to its chances in the 2024 general elections and its standing in the opposition's INDIA alliance. If the party manages to win all four states, it might be able to cement its place as the big brother in the alliance in which many regional players appear to be staking their claim at the pole position.

LIVE Updates: Rajasthan Assembly Election Results 2023

The Hindi heartland states are very crucial for the BJP as well. In the last two general elections, the BJP won a major chunk of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A robust performance in these states will prove their support base hasn't eroded with time. In Telangana, the party will hope to bag some anti-incumbency votes and get a toe hold in the southern state.

LIVE Updates: Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election Results 2023

The Telangana assembly election results will be a tough test for K Chandrashekar Rao, who recently replaced Telangana with Bharat in the party's name, putting on display his national ambitions.

Counting details

The counting in MP will take place at 52 district headquarters to decide the electoral fate of 2533 candidates. 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

In Rajasthan, 1800 candidates are in the fray on 199 seats. Over the last three decades, power has alternated between the Congress and the BJP. The ruling Congress will hope to buck the trend.

The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. As many as 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates and their representatives, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said.

In Naxalism-hit Chhattisgarh, tight security has been arranged in all counting centres.

LIVE Updates: Chhattisgarh Assembly Election Results 2023

"The counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am. Half an hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs will begin. A total of 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 counting personnel and 1698 micro-observers have been appointed for carrying out the counting process smoothly," Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said.

1181 candidates are in the fray in Chhattisgarh.

In Telangana, 2290 contestants are in the fray in 119 seats.

BRS working president K T Rama Rao had earlier said, After a long time I had a peaceful sleep. Exit polls can take a hike. Exact polls will give us good news.

LIVE Updates: Telangana Assembly Election Results 2023

With inputs from PTI
The results of the assembly elections 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana will be declared on December 3, while the counting of votes for the Mizoram polls will be held on the next day on December 4. Chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bhupesh Baghel, Ashok Gehlot, K Chandrashekar Rao and Zoramthanga.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have claimed they would win the assembly polls, pitted as the semi-final before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, after the exit polls were telecast by various news channels on Thursday evening, following the end of voting in Telangana.

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The exit polls showed the BJP has an edge over the Congress in two key states  Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan  giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a boost before next years general elections.

The Congress is predicted to hold on to Chhattisgarh and clinch Telangana, the southern state currently ruled by K Chandrashekar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

While the exit polls arent definitive, and the state elections arent a proxy for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, a win for the BJP in the two key Hindi heartlands would put Modi in a strong position in his bid to stay in power.

In the northeastern state of Mizoram, its looking like a close fight between two regional parties, according to the poll predictions. In elections held on November 7 to the 40-member Mizoram assembly, the Mizo National Front (MNF) faced a challenge from the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), Congress and BJP.

Madhya Pradesh election result 2023

In Madhya Pradesh, a large agrarian state, the Congress had hoped to capitalise on anti-incumbency sentiment among voters and unemployment concerns.

The exit polls for Madhya Pradesh indicated a two-way contest between the BJP and the Congress. The four-time chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is predicted to retain power. The state with a population of more than 72 million has 230 assembly seats.

Chhattisgarh election result 2023

In the Congress-governed state of Chhattisgarh, chief minister Bhupesh Baghel is expected to return for a second term, despite central probe agencies's investigations over corruption allegations against his government. The Chhattisgarh legislative assembly has a total of 90 seats.

Rajasthan election result 2023

Rajasthan, where anti-incumbent sentiment is common, remains a close race between the BJP and Congress. With the majority mark at 100 seats, the BJP looks like is slightly ahead in the exit polls.

The Congress wasnt able to generate the enthusiasm in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where Modis Hindutva factor is strong, said Arati Jerath, a New Delhi-based author and political analyst, told news agency Bloomberg.

Telangana election result 2023

In the southern state of Telangana, the Congress is predicted to beat the BRS, led by chief minister KCR, that governed the state since its formation in 2014.

The elections in Telangana in the south will be a game changer if Congress wins it, which will have a huge impact on the general elections next year, Jerath said.

Modi and other BJP leaders, who campaigned extensively in the state, haven't made substantial gains, according to the exit polls. If the projections are to be believed, the BJPs popularity in southern India continues to remain low and conceded power in Karnataka earlier this year. The Telangana legislative assembly has a total of 119 seats.

Mizoram election result 2023

In Mizoram, the Zoram Peoples Movement has a slight edge over the ruling Mizo National Front. The MNF previously formed a loose coalition with the BJP but has lately diverged on key national policies. The Mizoram legislature has a total of 40 seats.

Significance of assembly election results 2023

The outcome of the elections in five states  the last major electoral exercise before 2024  will have significant impact on both the political narratives in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. It will also shape the dynamics with the 28-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which was forged just weeks before the polls were announced.

Three of the five states  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh  also featured bipolar contests between the BJP and the Congress, presenting an opportunity to test the strengths of the two national parties that will go head to head in nearly a third of all Lok Sabha seats next year.

To be sure, exit polls are not always accurate and have often got the verdict wrong in earlier elections, especially in states with diverse populations, castes and communities. But they are useful in identifying trends.
Gandhinagar, Dec 2 (PTI) Indian Space Research Organisation chairman S Somanath said here on Saturday that the astronauts selected for Indias first human space flight programme Gaganyaan are ready and waiting for the flight to happen for the 2025 mission. HT Image

The Gaganyaan programme aims to send four astronauts into space for a three-day mission in 2025 and bring them back safely to Earth.

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ISRO, whose Chandrayaan-3 made a historic landing near Moons south pole in August, is working day and night to develop technology to make it happen, Somanath said.

For the first mission we have selected four of them, and it is our endeavour to send them at least by 2025 to space and bring them back safely. Bringing them back safely is a very important element of this mission, Somanath said while addressing graduating students at the 11th convocation of Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU).

A lot of technology needs to be developed in the coming days to make it possible. And at ISRO we are working day and night to make that happen, he said.

Several technologies for the same have been developed afresh, perfected and made successful in the last few years, he said.

In the coming days we will see multiple missions without man, and then ultimately the launch of an Indian into space. The astronauts are already ready. They are waiting for the flight to happen. This is one of the important missions that we are looking at, he said.

ISRO is also looking at making a space station, which is vital for scientific and technological progress and for industries to work in various domains, he said.

The energy created out of Chandrayaan-3 landing enables us to dream big today. None of our dreams can be small. With every incremental success that we make, our dreams grow bigger and bigger, and it has to be achieved. And it can only be done by young people who are coming into this sector, he said.

India in August joined an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

Somanath said that India today has become a world leader in space technology, and even when investment remains modest, the country has been able to create capacity and capability in the sector to build its own spacecraft, have its own launchers, and achieve whatever it wants to do with that type of budget.

In addition to ISRO, he said, India now has industries building and launching satellites and spacecraft. There are companies manufacturing parts and systems for aerospace and Boeing, offering great opportunities for the future generation, he said.

Future generations of students graduating now have a great opportunity that none of us had in the past  an ability to envision, create new ideas in the space sector, he said.

Somanath said that in 2023, ISRO overcame three past setbacks with the success of Chandrayaan-3, GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) and the small satellite launch vehicle.

Talking about Chandrayaan-3, Somanath said that India now has the confidence to do high technology projects of this class.

It not only resonated with society all across the country, but it resonated equally well outside the country. We became the first nation to land on the south pole of the Moon, and we became the fourth nation to land on the Moon, he said.

To achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of having its own space station by 2035 for India to land on Moon by 2040, you need to do many many things, like going to moon again, going to other planetary bodies like Venus, Mars, and continuous exploration in a manner that is Indian, he said.

The ISRO chief said that an emerging nation like India is going to drive on technology, and the countrys future is based on excellence in science and technology.

We would like to become a powerful nation ... by involving everybody, to become toppers in at least some domains compared to others. The economy created on sound principles of technology has the ability to make us a world leader, he said.

In his virtual address, Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani, who is also the president of PDEU, said India is faced with an energy trilemma and he is confident that the country has the capability to develop smart and sustainable solutions to address this because of extremely talented young minds to fight the climate crisis.

India's energy requirement is set to double just by the end of this decade. As India reaches to build a robust energy infrastructure to meet its energy goals, it faces three crucial questions, he said.

One, how can it ensure that every citizen and every economic activity in India has access to adequate, most affordable energy. Two, how can it rapidly transition from fossil fuel-based energy to clean and green energy. Three, how can it derisk the expanding needs of its fast growing economy from a volatile external environment, Ambani said.

I call these three questions the energy trilemma. I am confident that India is capable of developing smart and sustainable solutions to address this trilemma because it has extremely talented young minds to fight the climate crisis. They will design breakthrough energy solutions to build not just a strong and atma nirbhar India but also a safer and healthier planet, he said.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to ban all platforms  including APKs, Telegram channels, Instagram accounts and URLs-- linked to the "illegal business of online betting". Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel(HT_PRINT)

In a two-page letter addressed to the prime minister, Baghel said that illegal betting is now growing into a nationwide business that is being run by certain individuals from abroad.

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"A complete ban should be imposed on the platforms, web, APK, Telegram, Instagram, URL etc. related to the illegal business of online betting," he wrote in the letter.

While sharing the letter on X, Chhattisgarh CM said, By writing a letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, I demanded a complete ban on the platforms, web, APK, Telegram, Instagram, URL related to the illegal business of online betting.

"In the past, illegal gambling and betting business has expanded nationwide through online betting and gaming and its operators and owners have been running the said illegal business from abroad," he added.

Baghel also mentioned the actions taken by the state police in cases linked with online betting apps. He said that the police have registered over 90 criminal cases linked with online betting since March 2022. It has also arrested 450 accused, froze 16 crore in bank accounts and seized several laptops and mobile phones.

The letter comes weeks after it was alleged that Baghel had received 508 crore from the 'Mahadev' app promoters based in the UAE. The BJP also released a video of a man claiming he was the owner of the Mahadev app and had the "proof" of paying 508 crore to CM Baghel.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the Mahadev Book Online Betting app syndicate, in which the promoters of the app allegedly run thousands of panels across India with the help of their friends and associates from abroad.

The probe agency had received an intelligence input last month that a large amount of cash is being moved in Chhattisgarh by the promoters of the app amid the assembly elections.

The ED has arrested four accused persons, seized proceeds of crime worth more than 450 crore, and filed a prosecution complaint against 14 accused persons.
Dilshad Bano, 51, sits on the floor near her house which was damaged after a Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF) incident, in Hassanabad village, Pakistan, 9 October 2023 Photo: Akhtar Soomro / REUTERS

By Charlotte Greenfield

22 November 2023

(Reuters)  On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the Hunza valley in Pakistans mountainous far north, Tariq Jamil measures the ices movement and snaps photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hours hike downstream.

The 51-year-olds mission: mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice.

When glacial lakes overfill or their banks become unsound, they burst, sparking deadly floods that wash out bridges and buildings and wipe out fertile land throughout the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan mountain ranges that intersect in northern Pakistan.

Himalayan glaciers are on track to lose up to 75% of their ice by the centurys end due to global warming, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

After all the sensors are installed, village representatives will be able to monitor data through their mobiles, Jamil said. Local wisdom is very important: we are the main observers. We have witnessed many things.

Hassanabad is part of the U.N.-backed Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) II project to help communities downstream of melting glaciers adapt.

A community hall and houses show signs of damage after a Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF) incident occurred from the nearby Shisper glacier, in Hassanabad village, Pakistan, 10 October 2023. Photo: Akhtar Soomro / REUTERS

Amid a shortfall in funding for those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, village residents say they urgently need increased support to adapt to threats of glacial lake floods.

The needs are enormous, said Karma Lodey Rapten, Regional Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Pakistan is the only country to receive adaptation funding from the Green Climate Fund  the Paris Agreements key financing pot  to ease the risk of such floods.

While countries like Bhutan have worked with other funders to minimize the threat from glacial lake floods, the $36.96 million GLOF II scheme  which ends in early 2025  is a global benchmark for other regions grappling with this threat, including the Peruvian Andes and China. []

Pakistan is among the worlds most at-risk countries from glacial lake floods, with 800,000 people living within 15km (9.3 miles) of a glacier. Many residents of the Karakorams built their homes on lush land along rivers running off glaciers.

In neighbouring India in October, floods probably triggered by a partial glacial lake burst in the Himalayas, following an avalanche and heavy rains, likely killed 179 people. Many remain missing. An early warning system was being installed near the lake, but it had not been completed.

Community leader Sultan Ali, 70, walks over cracks that developed after a Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding (GLOF) swept away part of the land in Hassanabad village, Pakistan, 9 October 2023. Photo: Akhtar Soomro / REUTERS

Deadly risks

Fifteen million people worldwide are at risk of glacial lake flooding, with 2 million of them in Pakistan, according to a February study published in scientific journal Nature Communications.

From 2018 to 2021, about 14 GLOFs occurred in Pakistan, but that spiked to 75 in 2022, according to UNDP.

Jamils village had close calls from floods, according to residents and officials. Over the past three years, residents repeatedly evacuated just in time to avoid loss of life, and many fear a flood while they sleep. Others struggle financially as their land and homes were destroyed, most recently in 2022.

In Chalt village, a few hours away, a torrent of black water rushed down the valley last year. Zahra Ramzans eleven-year old son, Ali Mohammad was swept away.

Im in very deep grief. I could not see my son again, even a body, said the 40-year-old.

The village has had little information about the risks, residents said. Ramzan gets nervous whenever there is heavy rain or flooding, refusing to allow her surviving children out of sight.

In Hassanabad, Jamil is trying to manage these risks. He and 23 other volunteers have trained in first aid and evacuation planning. They monitor the glacier and consult with outside experts and officials each summer.

They are hoping to receive international financing for 20 times the length of barrier wall than is currently funded. They also want interest-free loans to rebuild destroyed homes and adapt their housing with stronger material, as well as better mobile reception to access the monitoring feed.

The Gamoo Bhr glacial lake pools in front of the Darkut glacier in Darkut village, Yasin valley, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, 11 October 2023. Photo: Akhtar Soomro / REUTERS

Plea for adaptation funding

With the U.N.s COP28 climate summit scheduled to begin on Nov. 30, pressure is ramping up on wealthy countries to fulfil promises to help developing nations.

The Green Climate Fund said in October it had raised $9.3 billion, short of its $10 billion target.

Wealthy nations are set to meet a broader $100-billion climate finance pledge to developing countries this year, three years late and short of the actual needs, estimated by the U.N. at over $200 billion annually by 2030.

ICIMOD said changes driven by global warming to glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region are largely irreversible. The region has over 200 glacial lakes considered dangerous.

Darkut village, also part of GLOF II, sits surrounded by mountains and glaciers above verdant plains where yaks graze. At the bottom of nearby Darkut Glacier lies a deep turquoise lake.

Until 1978  this whole place was a glacier, the pool of water came later, said 75-year-old Musafir Khan, pointing at the lake that formed as the glacier receded. [more]

Mountain villages fight for future as melting glaciers threaten floods
Around 119 million votes for 639 seats spread across four states will be counted on Sunday, concluding a poll exercise billed as a virtual semi-final for the 2024 general elections with implications for national politics and both the ruling and opposition coalitions. Assembly elections result of four states today(ANI)

The polls began on November 7 with 20 seats in Chhattisgarh and all 40 in Mizoram. On November 17, Madhya Pradesh and 70 seats in Chhattisgarh voted. Rajasthan went to the polls on November 25, and Telangana on November 30.

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The votes in Mizoram will be counted on Monday.

Apart from deciding who will govern these four states, which together send 82 representatives to the Lok Sabha, the results will also have a bearing on how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the national political hegemon, approaches the general elections, and on seat-sharing negotiations between members of the Oppositions Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

Follow Election Results 2023 LIVE Updates Here.

Rajasthan Chief Election Office Praveen Gupta said that the counting process will begin on 8am, with postal ballots first being counted.

Counting for the 199 Assembly constituencies of Rajasthan will begin at 8 am on Sunday in 36 centres across 33 zila headquarters, Gupta said.

Three of the four states  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh  also featured bipolar contests between the BJP and the Congress, presenting an opportunity to test the strengths of the two national parties that will go head to head in nearly a third of all Lok Sabha seats next year.

Across states, the counting process will largely take place in district headquarters, with each centre with pre-determined observers, returning officers and assistant returning officers. The process is videographed, with the centres under heavy protection from state and central security personnel.

Madhya Pradesh, the largest of the states to go to the polls, saw a head-to-head battle between the BJP, which has ruled the state for 18 of the last 20 years, and the Congress, which hoped to cash in on anti-incumbency to dislodge chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. A majority of exit polls predicted an intense battle between the ruling BJP and the Congress  two gave the edge to the Congress, one to the BJP and two forecast a dead heat. But two other prominent surveys  IndiaToday-AxisMyIndia and Todays Chanakya-News 24 were the outliers, predicting a sweep for the BJP and a decimation for the Congress.

The BJP fielded a bevy of senior ministers and parliamentarians, in addition to talking about its welfare outreach and Chouhans image. The Congress focussed on anti-incumbency and corruption allegations against Chouhan.

Its northern neighbour, Rajasthan, witnessed an intense battle between the BJP and the Congress. The desert state usually votes out the incumbent every five years. But this time, Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot hoped to put up a tough battle, using a bouquet of welfare and cash transfer schemes, and exploiting factionalism in the BJP. But the states opposition party remained confident that political tradition would continue, and Modis popularity would carry the day. A majority of exit polls predicted that the BJP was coming back to power with anywhere between a narrow and a comfortable majority. But IndiaToday-AxisMyIndia and Todays Chanakya-News 24 both predicted a squeaker with the Congress marginally ahead.

In Chhattisgarh, where the Congress trounced the BJP in a landslide in 2018, the contest appeared more evenly poised. Five exit polls predicted a furious fight between the two national parties with the Congress inching ahead. Three others forecast that chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was comfortably set for a second straight term. In the tribal-dominated state, the Congress had campaigned on its paddy procurement scheme and other welfare programmes, with the BJP attacking Baghel over corruption allegations.

In Telangana, the only southern state to go to the polls in this round, every exit poll predicted that the Congress  which created the province while it was in power at the Centre in 2014  was set to displace the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) that has ruled the state since its inception. Four exit polls even said that the Congress would get a simple majority of its own while others predicted that it would likely emerge as the single-largest party.

The Congress, which was decimated in the 2018 polls and ended up around 20 percentage points in vote share behind the BRS, ran an energetic campaign led by state unit chief Revanth Reddy who attacked the BRS over corruption and anti-incumbency. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, on the other hand, underlined his welfare outreach and the raft of schemes that the state government operationalised over the last decade. The results will be crucial not only for the 2024 polls, but also opposition dynamics because the BRS has maintained equal distance from the NDA and INDIA.

On Saturday, Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar flew in to Hyderabad, ostensibly to keep the Congress flock together on counting day, and alleged that the BRS was attempting to make contact with their MLAs. BRS leader Dasoju Shravan however said that these were stupid allegations. K Chandrasekhar Rao and BRS do not require anyones support. We are emerging the single largest party and will form the government, Shravan said.

In Madhya Pradesh meanwhile, incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, BJP has received unprecedented support from every section of society and is going to get a huge majority.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath however said that he was not concerned with exit poll results. We will win with a huge majority and I have faith in the voters of Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh based political expert Jayram Shukla said that the variation in exit poll numbers has added to the palpable tension ahead of Sunday, but that the results would be the clash of two sets of people. The first is those that aspire for more, and the other is those who are beneficiaries. Among the first group, there are many that dont have work, want the old pension scheme and are perhaps fed up with the monotony of power. The second category are those that have benefitted from the welfare scheme of the incumbent government, whether it is women, farmers or housing. It will be interesting to see what pressure group comes out on top, he said.
New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday took potshots at the BJP over the arrest of an Enforcement Directorate official in Tamil Nadu for allegedly extorting 20 lakh from a local doctor, saying the BJP's "superstar campaigners" have "stumbled" yet again. The party's senior leader, Jairam Ramesh accused the Narendra Modi government of damaging the reputation of central agencies and "turning them into political tools". Congress leader Jairam Ramesh(ANI)

"One of the superstar campaigners of the BJP has stumbled yet again, this time in Tamil Nadu. Weeks after an ED official was caught with a 15 lakhs bribe in Rajasthan, another official of the ED was caught red-handed with 20 lakhs for extortion and bribery," he said.

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"The Modi government has completely damaged the reputation of ED/CBI/IT by turning them into political tools to harass and intimidate the Opposition and anyone who questions the government. Now its officers are running their own mini extortion rackets," he added.

Citing cases and raids against leaders, the Opposition often accuses the BJP government of silencing critics by using central agencies like ED, CBI and the Income Tax department.

Also read: Ankit Tiwari arrest: DMK calls ED 'Extortion Department'; BJP defends agency

The Tamil Nadu police arrested ED officer Ankit Tiwari on Friday, for allegedly extorting 20 lakh from a local doctor.

DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran today called the ED, Extortion Department.

"The Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption police, Tamil Nadu have arrested an ED officer for demanding and accepting a bribe of 20 Lakh in Dindigul. This shatters the faith citizens have in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or Enforcement Directorate after being systematically misused by the BJP government to brazenly terrorize and extort political opponents and critics across the country," the DMK MP wrote on X.

The Tamil Nadu BJP, meanwhile, said the agency mustn't be blamed for the actions of an individual.

"Yesterday, DVAC arrested one person from the ED department. He was produced before the court and sent for judicial custody. This is not the first time and this isn't the last time either. Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialized agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi. Recently, a similar incident happened in Rajasthan...We can't blame the ED for a single individual's mistake," BJP leader K Annamalai said, reported ANI.
The first draft text of the Global Stocktake (GST) was released on Thursday with textual building blocks of what may be the final GST reflected in the Dubai agreement that is expected to come out by December 12 or 13. Participating world leaders and delegates pose for a family photo during the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai on December 1, 2023. (AFP)

The building blocks retain all important elements of meeting the Paris goal of keeping the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. It is important to remember that these are merely directional as far as GST is concerned; countries will negotiate on the building blocks.

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In the energy sector, for instance, likely to be one of the most contentious sections of GST, the building blocks are phasedown/phaseout of fossil fuels (and fossil fuel subsidies) and coal, no new coal plants, a trebling of renewables, doubling energy efficiency, the role of transitional fuels, and the importance of a just energy transition. The building blocks also include carbon management/removal approaches; transport, including timelines for zero-emission vehicles; and international shipping and aviation.

The draft notes that parties (countries) have different responsibilities, national circumstances and capabilities to contribute to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, while the impacts and risks associated with warming are unevenly distributed. Given this, mitigation action should be guided by equity, common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR-RC), historical emissions and pre-2020 climate action.

The text acknowledges that significant collective progress towards the Paris Agreement goals have been made with all parties communicating nationally determined contributions that have significantly reduced the expected global temperature increase from over 4 degrees C according to some projections to 2.52.9 degrees C. But, there is a rapidly narrowing window to raise ambition and implement existing commitments in order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.

It also calls for an assessment of progress towards delivery of $100 billion a year which was long promised by developed nations, and discussion of adequacy of quantity and quality of finance and debt burdens. The text highlights the growing gap between the needs of developing countries and the support provided and mobilized for their efforts to implement their nationally determined contributions, highlighting that such needs are currently estimated at U$ 5.8-5.9 trillion for the pre-2030 period.

Analysts and experts said many of these elements are likely to be debated, tweaked, changed, even dropped over the course of next two weeks. Already, during a meeting on GST, the US, among other rich nations, objected to clauses on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities especially in the context of historical responsibilities.

The Global Stocktake needs to have a balanced outcome focusing both on past progress and gaps and a framework for future ambition. The US, EU, Australia and Canada are unhappy with mentions of equity in context of the global carbon budget, historical obligations and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities while Like Minded Developing Countries, Group of 77 and China and African Group of Negotiators do not want GST to prescribe new Nationally Determined Contributions or sectoral targets. This clearly shows that perspectives on a balanced GST mean different things for the Global North and South with neither wanting references that would indicate their obligations for action whether for the past or the future, said Tamanna Sengupta, programme officer, climate change at Centre for Science and Environment who is at COP28 as an observer.

HT reported on November 28 that any language on fossil fuels is a sensitive issue at COP28 and UN reports have indicated that top emitters globally are heavily invested in oil and gas. The challenge of getting top emitters on board was also revealed by COP28 director-general Majid Al Suwaidi, who said fossil fuels are a complicated issue for all parties.

The latest developments should also be seen in the light of two reports, Planet Wreckers by OilChange International and the Production Gap Report 2023 by United Nations Environment Programme and Stockholm Environment Institute, experts said.

Only 20 countries could be responsible for nearly 90% of the carbon dioxide pollution from new oil and gas fields and fracking wells planned between 2023 and 2050, the Oil Change International report.

National governments still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, the Production Gap Report 2023 said. Major producer countries have pledged to achieve net- zero emissions, but none have committed to reduce coal, oil, and gas production in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, it said.

HT reported on November 23 that over the few months parties to the UNFCCC have submitted their opinion and wishlists of what they would like to see in the GST. Experts have said that the GST this year will be so critical that it may be the cover decision text coming out of Dubai. But the GST submissions show that top emitters have very divergent views on what they wish the GST to address. This may create a challenge and open up new fronts of debate at COP28.
New Delhi Hate speech and disinformation online can never enjoy the protection of constitutional free speech,Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Friday, adding that there could be no compromising on an individuals privacy in the digital age, regardless of their socio-economic status, in the name of access to welfare entitlements. Chief Justice of India, Justice D Y Chandrachud, addresses the 14th VM Tarkunde Memorial Lecture, in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI)

Delivering the 14th Justice VM Tarkunde Memorial Lecture in Delhi, Justice Chandrachud also said that privately owned social media corporations donning the role of arbiters of free speech by deciding what goes on platforms can have disastrous effects in the absence of any accountability.

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Demonstrably, false facts are not protected by traditional free speech theories... tolerating the proliferation of fake news erodes the free and open debate that democracy intends to protect... Disinformation therefore has the power of impairing democratic discourse forever, pushing a marketplace of free ideas to the point of collapse under the immense weight of fake stories, the CJI said.

As the world moves online, our battles to uphold civil liberty must also follow suit, he added, speaking on the topic Upholding civil liberties in the digital age: Privacy, surveillance and free speech.

In his 50-minutes lecture, the CJI delved into the debate between disinformation, or fake news, and free speech.

All liberal democracies purport to protect the right to free speech and expression. However, what remains contested is the application of this principle to concrete situations.In dealing with content moderation of online speech, courts are faced with a complex moral dilemma to balance freedom of expression and prevention of harm caused by misinformation, he said.

Across the globe  be it Libya, the Philippines, Germany or the United States  the elections and civil society have been tarnished by the proliferation of fake news, the CJI said, calling for new theoretical frameworks to govern free speech on the internet, especially social media.

He also spoke extensively about privacy and welfare.

It is often contended that the right to privacy is a privilege of the few and an individual must make a choice between the right to privacy and the welfare entitlements provided by the State.I would like to dispel the claim that economic status and access to welfare entitlements are more important than civil and political rights for socio-economically disadvantaged communities, he said.

The digital era, he argued, is a realm where information is both currency and vulnerability. He pointed out instances where algorithms of facial recognition technology was found to have inherent biases in identifying darker-skinned women, ethnic minorities and transgender individuals in a study conducted in the US.

All individuals, regardless of their socio-economic status are deeply impacted by violations of the right to privacy, autonomy, and intimacy, he said.

Justice Chandrachud said the preservation of civil liberties transcended the confines of mere legalities and emerged as the essence of democratic ethos. This crucial juncture demands a delicate equilibrium between privacy, surveillance, and free speech, especially in the vibrant tapestry of India, where the implications hold profound significance.

In a landmark judgment in 2017, the Supreme Court declared privacy as a fundamental right. In August this year, Parliament passed the Data Protection Bill, 2023 that laid down obligations of people, companies or entities (data fiduciaries) that collect or store data and specified the rights and duties of people who supplied the data. It also provided for a complaint mechanism against data fiduciaries before the data protection board which can impose financial penalties for breach of rights, duties and obligations.

The CJI, who has been a strong proponent of integrating technology with judicial processes, also spoke of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Unchecked algorithms used by tech giants compound privacy concern... Surveillance analytics, despite its benefits in health care and crime prevention, prompts substantial privacy concerns. Practices such as web cookies and social media data harvesting have raised alarm bells, he said.

Pointing to the flip side of the free speech debate, the CJI pointed out that digital liberties were being fought for in a public space that was privately owned -- with social media corporations wielding immense power as the arbiters of social media content.

With corporations wielding such immense power, there is an immense amount of trust placed on them to act as the arbiters of acceptable and unacceptable speech  a role that was earlier played by the State itself. This can have disastrous effects, he said.

Unlike State actors who are held accountable by the Constitution and the electorate, the CJI said social media platforms are relatively unregulated. This is another novel challenge that digital liberties activists have to find unique solutions to, he added.

Justice VM Tarkunde was a former judge of the Bombay high court and is remembered as a human rights crusader and a humanist leader. He died in 2004 at the age of 94.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sumitra Mahajan on Saturday said that chances of the BJP forming the government in Madhya Pradesh are high as the "effects of the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are visible." Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan (PTI)

"In general when we speak about the BJP, the effect of the works done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are visible. Some people asked me if the CM of Uttar Pradesh is using bulldozers and not ours? I said that it is not a policy. It is done as per the requirement. The environment did not seem to be against the BJP in the state. I can say that the BJP may form the government again in the state," Mahajan told ANI.

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She further praised the efforts of the Congress party saying that the Congress also put in good efforts this time and she liked it.

"The Congress also put good efforts this time. I liked it because when there is strong opposition, it is fun to compete. Former CM Kamal Nath has made good efforts this time. I think the chances of the BJP forming the government are high," the BJP leader added.

Earlier, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed confidence that the BJP will again form the government with a huge majority.

"We are confident that the BJP is forming the government in the state with a huge majority. We got love, affection and blessings from every section of the society. Ladli Behna have given their blessings and nieces and nephews have also not been left behind. The Bharatiya Janata Party has received support from every section of the society and we are going to form the government here with an overwhelming majority," the CM said while speaking to reporters in the state capital Bhopal on Saturday.

Nonetheless, most exit-poll projections released on Thursday evening put the BJP in the lead, with the Congress seen to be coming up short and not cashing in on the 'anti-incumbency' as they had hoped to. Some exit polls, however, gave an advantage to the Congress party.

Madhya Pradesh went to polls for its 230 seats on November 17 with a 77.82 per cent voter turnout. The counting of votes will take place on December 3. (ANI)
Chhattisgarh election results 2023: The Election Commission of India will declare the result of the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on December 3. Voters queue up to cast their votes for the second phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, in Mandla district on November 17.(ANI)

The counting of votes for the 90 seats in Chattisgarh will take place along with that in the other three states  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. The majority mark in the state is 46. Follow the full coverage of the Chhattisgarh Assembly Election here.

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The elections in Chhattisgarh were held in two phases. Voting for the first phase was held on November 7 and for the second on November 17.

Like Madhya Pradesh, the electoral fight in Chattisgarh is largely between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the Congress and the BJP have fielded candidates in all 230 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting 183 seats, Samajwadi Party on 71 and Aam Aadmi Party on 66.

The Congress, which is in power, is looking to retain its government in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, is hoping to gain a victory as the polls also come ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Read | Who will be chief minister if Congress retains power in Chhattisgarh? TS Singh Deo says



The BJPs poll campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who targeted Baghel over corruption, particularly the alleged Mahadev betting app scam and recruitment controversy.

On the other hand, the Congress based its campaign on a slew of welfare schemes rolled out by Bhupesh Baghel-led government for farmers, women, tribals and Dalits, and accused the Centre of handing over resources to some industrialists.

Also Read | Ex-Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh promises probe into Jheeram Ghati killings after forming govt

Earlier this week, several exit polls predicted a clear advantage to Congress in a neck-and-neck contest with the BJP in Chhattisgarh.

According to the India Today-Axis My India poll, the Congress is likely to win between 40 and 50 seats, whereas as the BJP is likely to win between 36 and 46 seats. The agency has predicted between 1 and 5 seats for others. These results can also culminate in a hung assembly.

An exit poll by TV5 News suggested a comfortable Congress win with 54-66 seats. The BJP is likely to win 29-39 seats.

Chhattisgarh election result: When does the counting of votes start?



The votes for Chhattisgarh will be counted on December 3. According to the Election Commission, the counting of the votes will begin at 8 am onwards.

The early trends will start tricking in as soon as the counting of votes begins. As per trend, the postal ballots are counted first, followed by the votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Chhattisgarh election result: Where and how to check the results?



To check Chhattisgarh assembly election results, you can refer to various reliable sources, including official election commission websites, news channels, and dedicated election result portals of the poll body.

Here are some ways where you can check the latest Chhattisgarh election results:
Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has said that the Congress party will win more than 130 seats in the state. Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath with Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh during the release of party's manifesto on October 17.

Singh made the remark while speaking to ANI in the state capital Bhopal on Saturday ahead of the counting of votes which is scheduled to be held tomorrow.

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"Tomorrow we will know where CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan stands. We will win more than 130 seats, not less than that in Madhya Pradesh," the former CM said.

When asked about Congress party demanding extra security forces and suspecting apprehension of horse trading, the Congress leader said, "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does business, not politics."

Meanwhile, Congress leader and Digvijaya Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh also spoke to ANI ahead of the counting of votes saying they would get a clear majority in the state.

"In the last 18 years, the public has seen the arrogance of the BJP and this time the public will end the arrogance of the BJP and will give a chance to Kamal Nath for five years. We will get a clear majority in the state," Jaivardhan Singh said.

When asked about the party asking Congress candidates to reach the capital city if the emerge victorious, the Congress leader says that it is a natural process. He has confidence that the Congress candidates, whoever will win, will reach Kamal Nath and congratulate him (Nath) for becoming the Chief minister.

Earlier, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed confidence over formation of government in the state saying the BJP will form government with a huge majority.

"We are confident that the BJP is forming the government in the state with a huge majority. We got love, affection and blessings from every section of the society. Ladli Bahna have given their blessings and nieces and nephews have also not been left behind. The Bharatiya Janata Party has received support from every section of the society and we are going to form the government here with an overwhelming majority," the CM said while speaking to reporters in the state capital Bhopal on Saturday.

Madhya Pradesh went to polls for its 230 seats on November 17 with 77.82 percent voter turnout. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.

Most exit-poll projections released on Thursday evening put the BJP in the lead, with the Congress seen to be coming up short and not cashing in on the 'anti-incumbency' as they had hoped to. Some exit polls, however, gave an advantage to the Congress party.
The Union environment ministry is working on rules to guide the Green Credits Programme, pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ongoing United Nations Climate summit (COP28), and these will be published soon, senior officials said on Saturday. The initiative has been launched along with UAE, the COP28 Presidency and India expects participation from several countries in knowledge sharing and conceptualising the scheme (AP)

The green credits (programme) is based on the idea on how can we convert ecosystem services and activities into an economic resource. How can we incentivise afforestation of degraded lands? We have asked government departments to identify degraded or community waste lands for this, an official aware of the details said on condition of anonymity.

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The project will be implemented in the public private partnership (PPP) mode with the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) acting as the nodal body, the official said.

PM Modi on Friday pitched for the more holistic Green Credits instead of carbon credits which he said had a limited purview and were plagued by a commercial element.

The Green Credits Programme has been conceptualised to incentivise voluntary efforts to address the challenge of climate crisis, the PM said at a high-level event on the Programme at the World Climate Action summit on Friday.

I have seen a major lack of a sense of social responsibility in the system of carbon credit. We will have to emphasise on a new philosophy in a holistic manner and that is the foundation of Green Credit, the PM said.

The initiative has been launched along with UAE, the COP28 Presidency and India expects participation from several countries in knowledge sharing and conceptualising the scheme so that it can be used globally to trade in green credits.

But the initial focus of the project will be degraded and waste lands in India, the official cited above said.

We are first looking at creating carbon sinks in India. To meet that goal, we are focusing on greening degraded lands, community lands and waste lands and benefit those who are doing it by compensating them. Those credits can then be traded in, the official said.

A Green Credit Registry and a trading platform have been developed by ICFRE to facilitate the registration, and trading of green credits.

The Green Credit Programme seeks to replicate the carbon market system where carbon credits can be used by companies or governments to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions. They can purchase carbon credits from entities that worked to remove or reduce emissions.

To obtain green credits, companies must register their activities through www.moefcc-gcp.in.

But the initiative has come under criticism with several experts raising concerns about how widespread afforestation projects will impact local ecology and forest dwellers rights. The GCP notification came months after the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act was passed by Parliament and received the Presidents assent on August 4.
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are bracing themselves to face the 'Michaung' cyclone. The cyclone is expected to make landfall along the north Tamil Nadu coast on December 4. According to India Meteorological Department's (IMD) prediction on Saturday, the deep depression is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm over southwest Bay of Bengal in the next 24 hours. Commuters wade across a flooded street after heavy rains in Chennai on December 1, 2023. (Photo by R. Satish BABU / AFP)(AFP)

IMD has predicted that after transforming into a cyclone, it would move northwestwards and reach west-central Bay of Bengal off the south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by December 4.

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In view of the cyclone, colleges will be closed on December 4 in Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam regions as per a circular from the Government of Puducherry.

ALSO READ| Expulsion of TMC MP extremely serious punishment: Adhir writes to LS Speaker

Orange alert in Tamil Nadu

India Meteorological Department took to X(formerly Twitter) and informed about the Orange alert in Tamil Nadu and other areas.

"#CoastalTamilNadu, #Puducherry and #Karaikal are likely to experience very heavy to isolated heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.4 mm) between 30th November and 2nd-4th December. Stay alert and stay safe!," read the post.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is facing heavy rainfall for the past few days which has resulted in water logging and flood like situation in many areas.

Preparations in Tamil Nadu in the wake of the calamity

On Friday, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin held a meeting with 12 district administration heads and discussed preparedness in the wake of the cyclone. Stalin has promised the people that government officials and representatives will ensure their safety.

"The government departments are ready to carry out all necessary tasks in a coordinated manner so that the public does not face any inconvenience due to heavy rains," posted Stalin on X (formerly Twitter).

"All the people's representatives and officials will stand with the people in the field and ensure their safety," he added.
Cyclone Michaung: The India Meteorological Department issued a warning today as a depression over the Southwest Bay of Bengal gained momentum, moving west-northwestwards at a speed of 9 kmph in the past six hours. As of 11pm on December 1, the center of the depression was identified at Latitude 10.3N and Longitude 85.3E, approximately 630 km east-southeast of Puducherry. Cyclone Michaung: The system is expected to cross South Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Machilipatnam on December 5 as a Cyclonic Storm.

The storm's position places it at 630 km east-southeast of Chennai, 740 km southeast of Nellore, 810 km southeast of Bapatla, and 800 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam, according to the latest IMD bulletin. The system is expected to continue its west-northwestward trajectory, intensifying into a Deep Depression within the next 12 hours and evolving into a Cyclonic Storm Michaung over the Southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3.

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Forecasts indicate that the cyclonic disturbance will shift northwestwards, reaching the vicinity of south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by the forenoon of December 4. The system is anticipated to move nearly northwards, running parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast, with a projected landfall between Nellore and Machilipatnam during the forenoon of December 5. At that time, the Cyclonic Storm is expected to boast a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 kmph, with gusts reaching up to 100 kmph.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin conducted a review meeting on Friday with 12 district administration heads. The meeting addressed the likelihood of heavy rainfall affecting various districts of Tamil Nadu over the next 2-3 days. Stalin issued appropriate guidelines and instructed all concerned officials to take precautionary measures, including evacuation of residents from areas deemed vulnerable to the impending cyclone.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, on Friday reviewed preparedness of state governments and central ministries and departments for impending cyclone 'Michaung' in the Bay of Bengal.

Rain forecast

The looming cyclonic storm over the Southwest Bay of Bengal has prompted meteorological authorities to issue a comprehensive rainfall warning for several regions in southern and eastern India.

The forecast predicts light to moderate rainfall at most places inNorth coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on December 2, with isolated heavy rainfall expected. Rainfall intensity is set to increase from December 3, with most places experiencing rain and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places. Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is anticipated on December 3. Rainfall is expected at most places on December 4th, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated locations. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely on December 5th, with a subsequent decrease in rainfall.

Residents in coastal Andhra Pradesh should prepare for light to moderate rainfall at most places on December 3, escalating to heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated locations. The pattern continues on December 4, with rainfall at most places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas. On December 5, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Odisha is likely to see light to moderate rainfall at most places on December 4, with isolated heavy rainfall over south Coastal and adjoining south Interior Odisha. On December 5, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted over the same region.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday issued a warning saying that the depression over the Bay of Bengal has gained momentum and is likely to evolve into a Cyclonic Storm Michaung by Sunday. The IMD has said sea conditions will be very rough and advised fishermen not to venture into the deep sea till further notice.(PTI/ File)

According to the weather agency, the depression over the Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 18 kmph. As of 5:30am on Saturday, the center of the depression was identified around 500 km east-southeast of Puducherry, 510 km east-southeast of Chennai, 630 km southeast of Nellore and 710 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam.

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Read here: Cyclone Michaung to make landfall on Dec 5 in coastal Andhra; heavy rain warning

"The depression is likely to intensify into a deep depression during the next 12 hours and further into a cyclonic storm over the southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3. Thereafter, it would move northwestwards and reach near south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by December 4 forenoon," the IMD in its release said.

The IMD further said the storm is likely to move west-northwest wards and reach west central Bay of Bengal off the south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by Monday. The depression is anticipated to move northwards, running parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast, with a projected landfall between Nellore and Machilipatnam during the forenoon of December 5. At that time, the cyclonic storm is expected to boast a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 kmph, with gusts reaching up to 100 kmph.

"Thereafter, it would move nearly northwards almost parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast and cross south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Machilipatnam during the forenoon of December 5 as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph," the IMD release added.

The weather agency has also given a wind warning over the southeast Bay of Bengal. According to the release, squally weather with wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph has been prevailing, over the southeast Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours and will likely decrease thereafter.

IMD issues rain warning in southern and eastern India

Meanwhile, under the influence of the system, the weather agency has issued warnings for moderate to heavy rainfall in southern and eastern India states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

The weather agency has predicted light to moderate spells of showers in North coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Saturday, with isolated heavy rainfall expected. Rainfall intensity is set to increase from Sunday, with most places experiencing rain and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places.

The government of Puducherry has declared a holiday for all colleges in the UT, Karaikal and Yanam regions on December 4 ahead of the cyclone 'Michaung' warning.

Further, light to moderate rainfall is predicted in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday with escalating to heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated locations. The pattern continues on December 4, with rainfall at most places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas. On December 5, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Read here: Cyclone Michaung to make landfall on Dec 5 in coastal Andhra; heavy rain warning

IMD has issued yellow and orange alerts predicting light to heavy rainfall in Odisha on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, the state special relief commissioner has put seven coastal districts -- Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda and Ganjam -- on alert in view of the possible cyclonic storm.

The IMD has said sea conditions will be very rough and advised fishermen not to venture into the deep sea till further notice.

With inputs from agencies
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday filed its first charge sheet against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP and leader Sanjay Singh levelling charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with its money laundering probe into the now-scrapped Delhi liquor excise policy 2021-22. AAP leader and MP Sanjay Singh was arrested by the federal agency on October 4 (File Photo)

The ED had called Singh a key conspirator in the case claiming that Singh exploited and gained money/kickbacks generated from the liquor policy scam.

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The charge sheet filed before the Delhi Rouse Avenue court is the fifth supplementary charge sheet filed in relation to the money laundering case stemming from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged irregularities in framing and implementation of the policy.

In its charge sheet, the ED has also named Singhs close associate Sarvesh Mishra. The matter has now been listed on December 4 for further consideration on the charge sheet, people familiar with the development said.

Singh (51) was arrested by the federal agency on October 4. Singh is the second most high-profile AAP minister to be arrested by the federal agency and its 15th arrest in total.

Currently, Singh is lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody. His judicial custody is ending on December 4.

Since his arrest, the AAP has held protests in Delhi and found support from several rivals of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), all of whom deplored the alleged misuse of federal law enforcement agencies by the government.

The ED has claimed that Singh is directly related to proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs.2 crore which were given to Mishra on his behalf.

It was further alleged that Singh had also been granting favours and had assured the accused-turned-approver businessman Dinesh Arora to get certain changes done in the excise policy and as a quid pro quo his associate Vivek Tyagi would get a stake in a business concern of Amit Arora, Aralias Hospitality.

ED had alleged that a close associate of Singh had demanded Rs.4 crore on his behalf from a liquor businessman from Punjab in exchange for a grant of the liquor licence in Delhi.

The agency also alleged that the money was paid to the AAP leaders by a so-called south group that was awarded nine retail zones in Delhi.

The Delhi excise policy or the Delhi liquor policy was rolled out in November 2021, marking the exit of the government from retail sales of alcohol and allowing private companies to bid for licenses. The objective, the Delhi government said, was to improve the buying experience for citizens by allowing market competition to raise standards.

However, the policy was scrapped in August 2022, soon after Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi VK Saxena asked for an investigation. The AAP and the Delhi government rejected the charges, alleging it to be a ploy by the Union government to target its rival.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) continued their search at the Enforcement Directorate sub-zonal office in Madurai throughout Friday night after arresting ED officer Ankit Tiwari in connection with a bribery case. ED officer Ankit Tiwari being taken from the DVAC office to be produced before a judicial magistrate in Dindigul, on Friday. (ANI Photo)

Ankit Tiwari was on Friday allegedly caught "red-handed" while accepting a bribe of 20 lakh from a doctor in the Dindigul district.

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Top updates on ED officer Ankit Tiwari's arrest:

According to DAVC officials, Ankit Tiwari, along with his team of ED officers, had been threatening several people and receiving bribes in the name of closing their case in the Enforcement Directorate.

After he was taken into custody in Dindigul, a team of the DVAC officials held 'enquiries' at the sub-zone ED office in Madurai, with state policemen standing guard outside the central government office.

Earlier, after the arrival of DVAC sleuths at the office of the central agency in Madurai, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were deployed by authorities inside the ED office as a 'security' measure, news agency PTI reported.

DVAC officials caught him with  20 lakh cash in Dindigul. The DVAC also held a search at the ED office in Madurai.

Who is ED officer Ankit Tiwari?

Ankit Tiwari is a 2016-batch officer and has previously served in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. According to an official release issued by DVAC Chennai, Tiwari is serving as an enforcement officer in the Madurai Enforcement Department office of the Union government.

In October, Tiwari contacted a government doctor from Dindigul and mentioned about a vigilance case registered against him in that district which was already disposed off.

Tiwari "informed the employee that instructions had been received from the Prime Minister's Office to conduct an enquiry" and asked the government doctor to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30, the DVAC said.

When the doctor went to Madurai, Tiwari asked him to pay  3 crore to avoid legal action in the case, the DVAC alleged. "Later, he said he had spoken to his superiors and as per their directions, he agreed to collect  51 lakh as bribe.

3 crore to avoid legal action in the case, the DVAC alleged. "Later, he said he had spoken to his superiors and as per their directions, he agreed to collect 51 lakh as bribe. On November 1, the said doctor had given him  20 lakh as a first instalment of bribe. Later, he (Tiwari) intimidated the employee on several occasions through WhatsApp calls and text messages that he should pay the full amount of  51 lakh, otherwise he would face dire consequences," the release said.

20 lakh as a first instalment of bribe. Later, he (Tiwari) intimidated the employee on several occasions through WhatsApp calls and text messages that he should pay the full amount of 51 lakh, otherwise he would face dire consequences," the release said. The government doctor lodged a complaint at the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit on Thursday.

On Friday, the sleuths of DVAC caught Ankit Tiwari after he received  20 lakh as a bribe from the complainant.

20 lakh as a bribe from the complainant. "Subsequently, he was arrested at 10.30 am under Prevention of Corruption Act. It is pertinent to mention that the sleuths have seized several incriminating documents regarding his misconduct. Investigation is being done to elucidate whether he had blackmailed/ threatened any other officials adopting this modus operandi" and collected money in the name of Enforcement Directorate, the DVAC said.

The complainant had been embroiled in a disproportionate assets case registered in 2018. The proceedings of the case had been completed with the doctor facing departmental action. However, in early November, he was summoned by the EDs Madurai office.

The DAVC statement said enquiry will also be conducted to ascertain the possible involvement of other ED officials. It added that vigilance authorities were conducting searches at the residence of Tiwari and his ED office in Madurai. Further searches will be conducted at the places associated with Ankit Tiwari, the release said.

"An investigation is being probed to elucidate whether he blackmailed or threatened any other officials adopting this modus operandi and collected money in the name of the ED," the DAVC said.

Tamil Nadu govt vs ED

The arrest of Ankit Tiwari comes amid the Tamil Nadu government accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government of using the ED and Income Tax department to harass its officials and elected representatives ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The ED did not immediately respond to the arrest.

(With inputs from agencies)
Assembly Election Results 2023: As the assembly elections in five states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram - draw to a close, pollsters find themselves at odds, particularly in the Hindi heartland. With all eyes now eagerly awaiting the results on counting day, the political landscape remains uncertain and charged with anticipation. Elections to the five states took place between November 7-November 30 and the counting of votes would take place on December 3-4.(PTI)

What the exit polls showed

Most exit poll results projected a neck-and-neck contest in Madhya Pradesh with a marginal edge to the Congress. However, pollsters like Axis My India and Today's Chanakya projected a massive win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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In Rajasthan, the exit poll results suggested a BJP victory in a closely contested battle. But India Today-Axis My India and News 24 - Today's Chanakya again proved to be outliers, giving an advantage to the Ashok Gehlot government.

The Congress party is predicted to hold on to Chhattisgarh and clinch Telangana from K Chandrashekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

Pollsters are a divided house on Mizoram. They indicated that there was a possibility of a hung House in Mizoram with Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) locked in a close race with the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF).

When does the counting of votes start?

The votes for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh assembly elections will be counted on December 3, while Mizoram will follow suit on December 4. The early trends will start tricking in as soon as the counting of votes begins at 8am.

However, the initial trends could change quickly as the postal ballots are counted first, followed by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Where to check the 2023 assembly election result

To check assembly election results, you can refer to various reliable sources, including official election commission websites, news channels, and dedicated election result portals.

Here are some common platforms where you can check the latest election results:
Counting of votes in assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana will be held on Sunday as the BJP and the Congress gear up for the crucial semifinal ahead of the final of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The counting of Mizoram was also scheduled to take place on December 3 but was deferred to December 4 as Sunday holds a special significance for the people of Mizoram, a Christian-majority state. Among the rest four states, the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and the BJP is in Madhya Pradesh. K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is in power in Telangana. Congress said their candidates in Telangana have received calls straight from KCR indicating the possibility of post-poll dramatic developments in the state. Arrangements for the counting of Telangana Assembly Election 2023 being reviewed on Saturday in Hyderabad,(PTI)

Assembly Election results 2023: Full coverage

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Here's a look at the four states and the exit poll predictions

Madhya Pradesh:

The Congress is looking to wrest the state from the BJP which came to power in 2020 riding on the rebellion of the Congress leaders who joined the BJP bringing down the Kamal Nath-led Congress government which came to power in 2018. Exit polls have projected a close fight in the state with BJP having a slight edge over the Congress. A lot is at stake for both the BJP and the Congress in this 230-seat assembly election. Incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said BJP would retain the state with a huge majority while Congress's Kamal Nath dismissed the exit poll results and said Congress would come to power.

Heavy-weight fights are expected in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Budhni seat, Kamal Nath's Chhindwara, Kailash Vijaywargiya's Indore 1 etc.

According to India Today-Axis My India prediction, the BJP will retain power in Madhya Pradesh with 140-162 seats out of 230. Congress may get 60-90 seats. India TV-CNX exit poll predicted 140-159 seats for the BJP and 70-89 seats for the Congress. The Times Now-ETG gave BJP 105-117 seats, Congress 109-125 seats. Republic TV projected 118-130 seats to BJP, 97-107 to Congress.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan's tradition of voting out the incumbent government is what is concerning for the Congress while the BJP is expecting a massive gain amid the Gehlot vs Pilot undercurrent. Both the BJP and the Congress have started reaching out to the smaller parties, rebels and independents as exit polls predicted a tight race between the BJP and the Congress.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), CPI (M) are among the parties contesting elections in the state.

India Today-My Axis exit poll predicted BJP 80-100 seats and the Congress 86-106 seats out of 199. India TV-CNX poll predicted 94-104 seats for Congress and 80-90 seats for BJP. Times Now-ETG poll predicted 56-72 seats to Congress and 108-128 to BJP indicating a huge gap. Jan Ki Baat poll gave 100-122 seats to BJP and 62-85 seats to Congress.

Chhattisgarh

With tough fights predicted in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is looking for an easy win in Chhattisgarh. India Today-Axis My India poll predicted 40-50 seats out of 90 for the Congress and 36-46 seats for the BJP. ABP C-Voter projected 41-53 seats for the Congress and 36-48 seats for the BJP. The Republic TV exit poll gave Congress 44-52 seats, BJP 34-42 seats; India TV-CNX poll predicted 46- 56 seats for Congress and 30-40 seats for BJP.

Telangana

All exit polls have predicted a Congress sweep in Telangana dashing KCR's hope for a three-term CM post. Congress claimed their candidates have already got calls from KCR which KCR's party dismissed and asserted that BRS will not need 'to poach' from the Congress. India Today-My Axis predicted 63-73 seats out of 119 seats for the Congress, 34-44 for the BRS and 4-8 for the BJP.

According to India TV-CNX exit polls, the Congress may win 63-79 seats while BRS would win 31-47 seats in the 119-member assembly. Jan ki Baat's prediction is that the Congress may win 48-64 seats, BRS 40-55 and the BJP 7-13. TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat exit polls projected 49-59 seats for the Congress and 48-58 for the BRS in a neck-and-neck fight. Republic TV-Matrize has predicted a close fight with the Congress at 58-68 seats and the BRS with 46-56 seats.
AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday attacked actor and BJP MP Sunny Deol in Punjab's Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency, accusing him of "betraying" the voters. He said the next time, the people of the constituency must vote for the aam aadmi (common man) as such "big people" would not work for their welfare. He also said that his party AAP will win all 13 Lok Sabha seats in next year's general elections. Actor and politician Sunny Deol(PTI file photo)

He accused MP Sunny Deol of being absent from the constituency.

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"Last time, you elected Sunny Deol (from this seat). Did he ever come? Have you ever seen his face? He never came, said Kejriwal.

Deol is a Bollywood star.

We thought he was a very big actor and by giving him votes, he will do something. Such big people will do nothing. Give votes to 'aam aadmi', he will do something for you and he will pick up your phone... he added.

Kejriwal accused the previous government of emptying the state's treasury.

"In the last one-and-half years, we have filled the treasury which they left empty. We will meet all your requirements, he further said.

He slammed the opposition parties for constantly abusing the AAP government for doing work aimed at public welfare, be it the 'Tirath Yatra' pilgrimage scheme, free electricity, or any other project.

Sunny Deol joined the BJP in 2019. He won the Lok Sabha elections from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab by a margin of over 82000 votes against BJP's Sunil Jakhar of the Congress.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will file a charge sheet against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday in connection with its money laundering probe in alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, people familiar with the development told HT. Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh (File Photo)

The Rajya Sabha leader, an official said, will be charged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as there is evidence of his involvement in the case.

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Singh is currently lodged in Tihar jail after ED arrested him on October 4, alleging that he is a key conspirator in the Delhi excise policy. The anti-money laundering probe agency has accused him of receiving Rs.2 crore bribe through his aides from accused-turned-approver Dinesh Arora.

The AAP leader is under scanner not only in the excise policy 2021-22, in which both the agencies (ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation) are conducting parallel probes, but also in the 2020-21 policy, which is currently in operation in Delhi.

A charge sheet will be filed most likely today within the stipulated 60-days time from the date of arrest, said an officer, who did not want to be named. It will ensure that Singh doesnt get default bail, this officer added.

Following his arrest, ED alleged that Sanjay Singh is a key conspirator in the Delhi liquor scam. He is closely associated with a number of accused and suspects, including (businessmen) Dinesh Arora and Amit Arora. Singh has exploited and has gained illegal money/kickbacks which are proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy (2021-22) scam. Further, he has also played a role in conspiracy with others with respect to the excise policy 2020-21.

ED has claimed that Singh had known Arora since 2017 and that the leaders alleged associates and staff  Vivek Tyagi, Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra  had a close relationship with the businessman. Arora, according to ED, used to regularly visit the AAP leaders house and introduced another businessman, Amit Arora, to Singh.

On the trail of kickbacks, ED has said Dinesh Arora collected Rs.3 crore bribe from businessman Sameer Mahendru during August-October 2021, on the directions of former AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, since he facilitated the granting of Pernod Ricards wholesale business to Mahendrus entity (Indospirits).

Of Rs.3 crore, Rs.1 crore was taken by Aroras staff from the Indospirits office and was handed over to Sarvesh Mishra (Singhs aide) at North Avenue, ED has alleged.

After the money was handed over to Mishra, Arora called Singh and told him that money had been given to Mishra, to which Singh replied that he was aware and Nair had already called him, ED said in its remand note after the arrest.

ED had added that Arora took Rs.4 crore from Abhishek Boinpally (who represented the so-called south group) in March-April 2022 on the instructions of Nair for the party fund.

Of this Rs.4 crore, Rs.2 crore was collected by Harinder Narula from Boinpallys office in Defence Colony and, Rs.1 crore cash was given to Mishra through Aroras staff. Thereafter, Arora spoke to Mishra on the phone and told this to Nair, the ED added.

The excise policy 2021-22, in which former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was also arrested by the CBI in February, was rolled out in November 2021, marking the exit of the government from retail sales of alcohol and allowing private companies to bid for licenses.

But the policy was scrapped when Delhis lieutenant governor VK Saxena asked for an investigation, citing a report by the chief secretary who alleged irregularities. The AAP and the Capitals elected government have rejected the charges, alleging it to be a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government to target their rivals.

The agency alleged that the money was paid to the AAP leaders by a so-called south group that was awarded nine retail zones in Delhi.

The group comprises YSR Congress parliamentarian Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (or MSR), his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), and K Kavitha (daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao) and businessman Sameer Mahendru, according to the ED.
Expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra from Parliament is an extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday, pointing out that there is no clear definition of unethical conduct and a Code of Conduct is yet to be formulated for the Lower House MPs. TMC MP Mahua Moitra (File Photo)

Chowdhury, usually a bitter critic of the Trinamool, told the Speaker I am sure that under your leadership and control, no injustice will be done.

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He also pointed out that before taking up the Mahua Moitra case, the Lok Sabha ethics committee had dealt with a limited number of complaints and the punitive action recommended being confined to admonition, reprimand and suspension from the sittings of the House for a specified period.

Chowdhurys letter to Birla assumes significance as it comes just two days before the ethics panel is set to submit its report in the House on Monday in which it has recommended Moitras expulsion for the remainder of the current Lok Sabha.

The report of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee recommending the expulsion of Moitra in the alleged cash-for-query case will be tabled in the lower house on Monday.

As per records, prior to Ms Mohua Moitras case, the Ethics Committee of Lak Sabha has dealt with a minuscule number of cases which mainly pertained to purported acts of deviation from the general norms of conduct and the punitive action recommended being confined to admonition, reprimand and suspension from the Sittings of the House for a specified period. If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Ms Mohua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is an extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications, Chowdhury wrote.

A number of Opposition leaders maintained that they would oppose any move by the government to expel Moitra.

In his letter, Chowdhury also pointed out that the ethics panel that The Dubai-based businessman who purportedly had access to the log-in credentials of the Member, Ms Mahua Moitra to the Lok Sabha portal and was placing questions on her behalf was, as per reports, possibly not called by the Committee for deposing. It is also not known why the businessman chose to turn against the Member despite his interests being served by way of posing questions by using the login credentials.

Also Read: Congress MP seeks review of Ethics Committee processes after its report on Mahua Moitras expulsion

Accepting gifts and giving gifts, which may appear to be expensive depending on the yardstick applied, is a common social practice, and it would be extremely difficult to link or attribute accepting gifts to be a money trail for deriving favours, Chowdhury added.

The Congress leader also claimed that Moitras case has no similarity with the cash-for-query scam in 2005 in which all 11 MPs were expelled from the House.

All concerned in the 2005 case, including the media personnel, who carried out the Sting operation, and members accused of having indulged in acts of a misdemeanour were examined on oath, their evidence recorded and made part of the report of the Panel. It is not clear whether the well-established procedure was followed and a money trail that is irrefutable has been established in case of the complaint or allegation against Ms Mahua Moitra, Chowdhury wrote.

The Congress leader further pointed out that while rules say proceedings of the Ethics panel are strictly confidential, in Moitras case, the Chairman of the Ethics Committee as well as the complainant member were openly parading their views and passing judgments.

He added that there are grey areas in the processes followed in investigating and reporting on the allegations levelled against Moitra, and argued that advancements in, and adoption of digital technologies has brought about a sea change in the processes followed in conducting Parliaments Business, including the Question Hour, as a result of which Members may become susceptible, and unwittingly find themselves on the wrong side.

The Congress floor leader urged further the Speaker to have the entire processes relating to the jurisdiction and procedures followed examined and such remedial measures, as needed, taken towards streamlining the functioning and said, I am sure that under your leadership and control, no injustice will be done, and the processes relating to the functioning of Parliament and conduct of the Business of the House is smoothened for the benefit of all Members of the House.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh, leader of the National Front parliamentary party, was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of India by President R Venkataraman at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 2, 1989, amid scenes of wild enthusiasm and much goodwill from all present on the occasion. VP Singh, then Janata Dal president, addressing a crowd in Lucknow in a photo from February 24, 1989. (HT Archive)

The new Prime Minister sprang a surprise by naming Devi Lal, the Haryana chief minister, as the deputy Prime Minister, and the only other member of the Union Council of Ministers to take oath with him.

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The ceremony was attended by Vice President Shankar Dayal Sharma, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues, National Front chairman NT Rama Rao, West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, Karnataka chief minister Veerendra Patil, BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, CPI(M) general secretary FMS Namboodiripad, CPI general secretary C Rajeshwar Rao, and a large number of leaders of political parties as also newly elected members from the non-Congress-I parties.

The swearing in of VP Singh as Prime Minister ended the nearly 10-year-long Congress-I rule at the Centre, which began on January 15, 1980, when the Congress-I, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, returned to power with a huge majority in the December 1979 elections, unseating the Janata Party-S government led by Charan Singh.

The National Front Prime Minister put up with the jostling and pushing at the adjacent hall with mediapersons mobbing him.

Also to be mobbed in the hall were Rajiv Gandhi, Buta Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, cinestars Shatrughan Sinha and Raj Babbar -- the last two had canvassed extensively for the former Opposition parties.

VP Singh is the eighth Prime Minister of India taking Indira Gandhis continuous terms of 1966-1977 and 1980-84 as two separate regimes. He is also the third non-Congress-I PM, the other two being Morarji Desai, who was in office from March 1977 to July 1979, and Charan Singh, who remained in office from August 1979 to early January 1980. Gulzarilal Nanda acted as the PM on two occasions -- in May 1964, when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had passed away, and again in 1966 after Lal Bahadur Shastris sudden demise in Tashkent in the Soviet Union on January 11. Incidentally, all these leaders were originally Congressmen who left the party or were expelled under various circumstances. Only two of them -- Desai and Nanda -- were from outside Uttar Pradesh.

Singh does not have balmy days awaiting him in the weeks to come. For one thing, his Cabinet is not yet complete and it is still an open question if the parties supporting the National Front -- the BJP and the Left parties -- will join the government. For another, the Punjab problem still stares him in his face, and the price situation too is not something that can be swept under the carpet.

Singh is believed to have gone into a conclave with party colleagues to tackle the problem of Cabinet formation.

This is independent Indias first multi-party government at the Centre, and even with all goodwill, people at large are apprehensive about this experiment but nevertheless want it to succeed unlike in 1977 when the Morarji Desai government was brought down by people belonging to his own party.

That the task of Singh will be an onerous one was indicated by the absence of Chandra Shekhar from the swearing in ceremony. The young Turk leader of yesteryear was not too happy with the election of Singh as the Prime Minister, and made his views known publicly.
New Delhi: Governors cannot kill bills passed by state legislatures by first withholding assent for long and then referring them for presidential nod, the Supreme Court said on Friday, expressing displeasure at Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi sending 10 bills to the President after the state assembly had re-enacted them in a special session last month. HT Image

According to a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Ravi had no option but to sign off on the bills after the assembly cleared the proposed legislations and sent them back for the governors approval.

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You cant withhold the bill and kill it virtually at that stage... He cant stultify a bill completely at the level of withholding assent. We are conscious of the fact that we are dealing with a high constitutional authority. But he has to exercise his authority under the provisions of the Constitution, the bench, which also included justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, told attorney general (AG) R Venkataramani, who appeared for the governors office.

The benchs observations on Friday underscore a long-running standoff between Raj Bhavans and elected governments in several states. In the last few months, Punjab, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have approached the Supreme Court seeking directives to their respective governors. These proceedings have prompted the top court to issue judgments and orders mapping out the powers and corresponding duties of governors with regard to the bills sent for their assent by state legislatures.

On Friday, the bench was hearing a petition by the MK Stalin government accusing Ravi of acting like a political rival rather than a constitutional statesman by inexplicably delaying or even failing to consider and assent to the bills passed by the legislature. While 12 bills were initially pending, by a communication dated November 13 from Ravis office, the assembly was informed that the governor was withholding assent for 10 of them. The intimation went from Ravis office after a top court hearing on November 10 in which the bench expressed serious concerns over governors inaction on bills. While the assembly re-enacted these 10 bills following a special session on November 18, the governors office informed the assembly on November 30 that the 10 bills were now referred to the President.

Referring to Article 200 of the Constitution, which deals with the power and role of governor when a bill is submitted to their office, the court emphasised that Ravi could not sit over the bills indefinitely and if he had to refer them to the President, he ought to have done it before informing the assembly that he was withholding his assent.

He has only three options when a bill which has been passed by the state legislature is presented for assent. The governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill; or that he withholds assent; or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President. There is no option of referring it to President after he has withheld his assent and the Bill is subsequently passed by the legislature again, the bench told the AG.

The AG sought to argue a fine point of distinction between the governor withholding his assent and returning it to the assembly for a reconsideration and where the governor withholds his assent but does not return the bill. According to Venkataramani, there is no restraint against the governor reserving a bill for the presidential assent if the bill has not been returned to the assembly.

But the bench stressed that the governor cannot exercise the two options together  first withhold the assent and then choose to refer it to the President. Once he withholds his assent, then he cannot kill the Bill there. He cant stall the bill... Once you have withheld the assent on November 13, 2023, why did you not send it to the President at that time? it asked the AG.

You want us to look at the constitutional provision and we will do that. But we want the governor to resolve this. We would appreciate if the governor engaged with the chief minister and resolved this impasse. We think its appropriate that the governor invites the CM and have a discussion on the bills, the bench further said, deferring the proceedings to December 11.

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Tamil Nadu, requested the bench to ensure that the bills are not processed at the Presidents office since that would further precipitate the issue. Responding, the bench said: They know we are hearing the matter. Mr AG, please tell them you are before us.

The Governor has sent this to the President to prolong the issue, said Tamil Nadus law minister S Regupathy on Friday.

The DMK government had approached the top court on October 31 against the inaction by Ravi in clearing bills and files, contending that the situation caused a constitutional deadlock. It sought redressal by urging the court to specify timelines for the governor to act without sitting on it without taking a decision.

While dealing with a similar petition filed by the Punjab government, the top court released a detailed judgment on November 23, holding that governors cannot keep bills pending indefinitely and that they must give their assent if the legislature readopts the bills despite their objections.

In another matter, on November 29, the Supreme Court agreed to examine whether governor can reserve a bill for presidential assent without assigning any reason and after sitting on it for an inordinate period, as it questioned Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khans move to refer to the President seven of the eight bills that he was withholding for a period ranging between seven and 26 months.
There was a flurry of big announcements at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Saturday, including a pledge to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and a decarbonisation charter for the oil and gas industry. But in terms of negotiations on sticky issues, there remained major differences among developed and developing countries on the delivery of the long promised $100 billion in climate finance and on the shape and messaging of the Global Stocktake. Around 118 countries signed a pledge to triple the worlds current renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030, taking into consideration different starting points and national circumstances (AP)

Around 118 countries signed a pledge to triple the worlds current renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030, taking into consideration different starting points and national circumstances, COP28 Presidency United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday. This also included a commitment to work together in order to double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements from around 2% to over 4% every year until 2030. The pledge looked to drive transformational change through effective policymaking, planning, and major investment decisions.

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This can and will help transition the world away from unabated coal, said summit president Sultan al-Jaber, calling on other delegates to come on board as soon as possible.

Till Saturday evening, India and China were not among the signatories to the pledge, with India in the process of consulting various groups to be able to make an informed call, officials said.

We are trying to take an informed call. We are having consultations and trying to understand various aspects associated with this commitment, a senior official, asking not to be named, said.

Observers said India and China kept off from signing the pledge because it was also linked to phasing out unabated coal.

This commitment on renewable energy was first reflected in the G20 New Delhi Declaration released, under Indias presidency, in September. G20 countries committed to achieving global net-zero emissions by or around mid-century and tripling renewable energy capacity globally, as well as demonstrating similar ambition with respect to other zero and low-emission technologies, by 2030.

The International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have forecast that to limit warming to 1.5C the world requires three times more renewable energy capacity by 2030, and must double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency.

UAE and Saudi Arabia also announced that 50 oil and gas companies  representing more than 40% of global oil production  had joined the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, which called on the industry to align around net zero by 2050, zero-out methane emissions, and eliminate routine flaring by 2030.

The world does not work without energy. Yet the world will break down if we do not fix energies we use today, mitigate their emissions at a gigaton scale, and rapidly transition to zero carbon alternatives. That is why the COP28 Presidency has launched the Global Decarbonization Accelerator, al-Jaber said, during the launch of the pledge.

Under the plan, countrieswill mobilise $1 billion in support of economy-wide methane-emission reduction, the Presidency said.

Separately, more than 20 countries, led by the US, launched a pledge to triple nuclear energy capacity, which is considered a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

Pleased to launch the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy at #COP28 with 20+ countries from four continents. Nuclear power that adheres to the highest standards of safety, sustainability, security, and non-proliferation has a key role to play in keeping 1.5 C within reach, US climate envoy John Kerry said in a post on X. Environmental groups have expressed concerns about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.

Also read: Union minister R K Singh advocates nuclear power amid storage challenges

The US also joined 56 other countries in a commitment to end unabated use of coal, a huge factor in global warming.

At #COP28, I joined President @EmmanuelMacron & other leaders to proudly announce the United States is joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance. We will work with partners around the world to phase out unabated coal, an absolutely essential step for keeping 1.5 C within reach, Kerry said on X.

Meanwhile, India and China kept away from major announcements. According to a briefing by Third World Network, a non-profit international research and advocacy group, differences arose over whether and how to capture progress on the $100 billion goal of developed countries.

While developed countries cited the latest report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which suggested that the goal appeared to have been met in 2023, developing countries said that there is no place for conjecture in relation to numbers on climate finance.

We cant say that it has been delivered. What does may have been delivered mean? said a senior official from India, quoted above.

Also, a briefing by the International Institute of Sustainable Development said several countries had concerns with aspects of the Global Stocktake (GST) draft text that was released on Friday.

HT reported that the first draft text of the GST was released with textual building blocks of the final GST that will be included in the Dubai agreement expected by December 12-13.

The building blocks retained all important elements of meeting the Paris goal of keeping the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

It is important to remember that these are merely directional as far as GST is concerned, meaning that countries will negotiate on the building blocks to arrive on a final consensus.

Ajay Mathur, director-general at the International Solar Alliance, said, the pledge on renewable energy will help both development and climate change mitigation.

But some experts were sceptical of the pledges. The summit comes at a time when recent estimates have suggested that the world is on track for an alarming 2.5 to 2.9C of warming by the end of this century. 2023 is also on track to be the hottest year ever.

Yet again, we observe a huge gulf between the internal negotiations and the external grandstanding by governments. Without an equitable fossil fuel phase-out, and financial support for a just transition in developing nations, these pronouncements are mere distractions, said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International.

Madhura Joshi, Senior Associate, India Energy Transition Lead, E3G, said, Indias decision not the sign the renewable energy pledge, despite being a global renewables leader, was disheartening.

These were landmark decisions that were championed by the Indian G20 presidency and agreed to by G20 leaders in September 2023, she said, adding, The hope is that India will champion tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 at COP28 in the main text. Its support will provide a boost for the global renewables sector.
A 36-year-old Israeli woman, who was found dead near Mukhathala in Kollam district, and her live-in partner, who attempted to end his life and has been hospitalised since, had ostensibly formed a suicide pact, police said on Friday. 36-year-old Israeli woman who was found dead in Kollam was living with her 73-year-old live-in partner. (Representative Image)

On Thursday afternoon around 3,30 pm, the Israeli woman (HT is not revealing the names of the two) was found with her throat slit among other injuries at a rented home near Mukhathala, and was rushed to a government hospital by police and locals where she was declared brought dead. Her live-in partner, a 73-year-old a native of Kerala, was hospitalised with knife injuries to his stomach.

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A police officer at the Kottiyam police station, where the case has been registered, said that the woman became acquainted with the man, a yoga teacher, several years ago in Rishikesh.

The woman, who has been staying in India for the last 16 years and has an OCI card, first became his yoga disciple and later his partner, the officer added.

They came to Kerala a year ago and began living in a rented home of his brothers daughter. We learnt that the woman was suffering from depression and began having suicidal tendencies. He was suffering from psoriasis (a skin condition). Both of them decided to end their lives and as part of the pact, the man proceeded to slit his partners throat before attempting to die by suicide. He used the same knife to stab himself, the officer, who asked not to be named, said.

It was his relative whose rented home they were staying at went to their residence at the time and found the woman in a pool of blood and the man with injuries. She alerted the locals who informed the police, he said.

The man, who has been admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, is recovering and his condition is stable. His injuries are not serious, the officer said.

He has been booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 309 (attempt to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
In the wake of allegations that implicate an Indian official for plotting the killing of an American citizen on American soil, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that Indias decision to investigate the matter is good and appropriate and the US looked forward to the results of the investigation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (REUTERS)

Separately, John Kirby, the US National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communication, while reiterating that the US took the issue very seriously and sought accountability, said that India remains a strategic partner and the US will continue to work to deepen the partnership.

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On Wednesday, the US department of justice unsealed an indictment filed by federal prosecutors against a man named Nikhil Gupta. The indictment alleged that a serving Indian government employee involved in intelligence and security affairs had assigned Gupta to hire hitmen  who turned out to be undercover agents for American law enforcement  to kill Pannun, a dual American-Canadian national who has been designated as a terrorist by the government of India. These remain allegations that are yet to be proven in a court of law.

At a press conference in Tel Aviv, a reporter asked Blinken if the US, in the context of first Canadas allegations against India and now the indictment, was concerned that India was turning to tactics that violate international human rights law to silence its critics around the world.

Blinken chose not to get drawn in to making broader conclusions, stuck to the US-specific issue, and first said that this was an ongoing legal matter on which he couldnt comment in detail.

I can say that this is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian government in past weeks. The government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and thats good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results, Blinken said.

Blinkens reference to past conversations allude to what US officials have now confirmed was a set of engagements that kicked off in August at the levels of national security advisors, heads of intelligence agencies, foreign ministers, and heads of government. The US message to India has revolved around the need for accountability, the unacceptability of this behaviour, and the need for a commitment that it wont be repeated again.

In a sign that different agencies within the US are coordinating closely on the messaging around the issue, Kirby of NSC said that US took the allegations in the investigation seriously. And we are glad to see that the Indians are too announcing their own efforts to investigate this. And we have been clear that we want to see anybody thats responsible for these alleged crimes to be held properly accountable.

Kirby added, I would just say two things. India remains a strategic partner and we are going to continue to work to improve and strengthen that strategic partnership with India. At the same time, we take this very seriously.

India on Thursday described the case as a matter of concern and said follow-up action will be taken on the findings of an inquiry committee looking into the matter.

About two months before the emergence of media reports about the alleged plot to kill Pannun, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered a diplomatic storm with his accusation of a link between Indian agents and the slaying of Nijjar. India and Canada both expelled a senior official each and New Delhis insistence on parity in diplomatic presence forced the Canadian side to withdraw 41 diplomats from the country.
MP Election Results 2023 LIVE updates: Welcome to our live blog coverage of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, where the political landscape is ablaze with anticipation and excitement. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is poised to make waves with a projected landslide victory, with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Ladli Behna scheme proving to be the ultimate game-changer. Madhya Pradesh Election Results LIVE updates; Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP State Chief VD Sharma offer sweets to each other as they celebrate the party's lead in the State Assembly elections, in Bhopal on Sunday.(BJP Madhya Pradesh-X)

The electoral drama kicked off at 8am as the postal ballot boxes were first opened, initiating the counting process for the 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. Tight security measures are in place across 52 district headquarters to ensure a smooth and transparent electoral process.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election Results 2023: Full Coverage

The Congress party, with eyes on Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, was fervently hoping to retain its power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. A strong performance in these elections could have significantly bolstered the party's position within the opposition INDIA alliance, gearing up for a tough challenge against the BJP in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, the grand old party failed to make any mark in the heartland states, losing all three.

Rajasthan Election Results 2023 LIVE

A total of 2,533 candidates, including political heavyweights like chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from the BJP and his predecessor Kamal Nath from the Congress party, are in the fray for the 230 assembly seats.

Telangana Election Results 2023 LIVE

BJP's strategy to field some top party leaders including three Union ministers  Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, and Faggan Singh Kulaste  BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya (contesting from Indore-1) and three Lok Sabha MPs  Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh, and Riti Pathak - is appearing to have bore the fruits.

2023 Assembly Elections Results: Full Coverage

As the numbers start pouring in, this live blog will be your go-to source for real-time updates, analysis, and insights into the unfolding political landscape in Madhya Pradesh. Stay tuned for live updates on Madhya Pradesh assembly election results as we navigate through the twists and turns of this high-stakes electoral battle, shaping the future political narrative of the heartland state.
Madhya Pradesh Election Results 2023: The election result for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election will be announced tomorrow by the Election Commission of India. Follow the full coverage of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election here Election Commission staff prepare for vote counting scheduled on 3rd December for the Madhya Pradesh elections in Indore on Friday. (ANI)

Voting for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly took place in a single phase on November 17.

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The state recorded a voter turnout of 77.15%. The turnout was slightly higher than in the previous elections in 2018, when the voter turnout was recorded at 75.63%.

The electoral narrative in Madhya Pradesh has been dominated by the Congress and the BJP. This year, both parties pulled off high-octane campaigns in the run of the polls.

The state has largely been in command of the BJP for almost 20 years, except for a two-year brief rule by the Congress after the 2018 polls.

In 2018, the Congress won its first assembly election in the state since 2003; the BJP had been in power since then. In March 2020, however, Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress to join the BJP, bringing down the state's Kamal Nath-led Congress government; the BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan became chief minister for the fourth time.

The BJP aims to retain the turf for another term, while the Congress is vying for wresting power from the saffron party.

Most exit poll results projected a neck-and-neck contest in Madhya Pradesh with a marginal edge to the Congress. However, pollsters like Axis My India and Today's Chanakya projected a massive win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Madhya Pradesh Election: Here's when, where and how you can check the poll results tomorrow.

Madhya Pradesh election result: When does the counting of votes start?



The votes for Madhya Pradesh will be counted on December 3, along with the Telangana, and Chhattisgarh.

According to the Election Commission, the counting of the votes will begin at 8 am onwards.

The early trends will start tricking in as soon as the counting of votes begins at 8 am. As per trend, the postal ballots are counted first, followed by the votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Madhya Pradesh election result: Where and how to check the results?



To check Madhya Pradesh assembly election results, you can refer to various reliable sources, including official election commission websites, news channels, and dedicated election result portals of the poll body.

Here are some ways where you can check the latest Madhya Pradesh election results:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reacted to his selfie with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni at the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai. Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni poses for a selfie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi along the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.(Giorgia Meloni/X)

While re-sharing the photograph on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Modi wrote: Meeting friends is always a delight.

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Meloni posted the photograph with the prime minister on Friday night. Good friends at COP28 #Melodi," she wrote as the caption.

Earlier, Modi posted about his meeting with Meloni on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai.

Meeting with PM @GiorgiaMeloni of Italy on the sidelines of the #COP 28 Summit. I trust in the joint efforts of India and Italy for a prosperous and sustainable future, PM Modi earlier posted on X.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Dubai to attend the COP28 Summit. On Friday, he launched a 'Green Credit Initiative' focused on creating carbon sinks through people's participation and also proposed hosting the COP33 in India in 2028.

Besides Meloni, Modi met several global leaders at the summit, including Israeli Isaac Herzog, United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres, and French president Emmanuel Macron.

In September, Meloni visited India for the G20 Summit. The Italian premier met Modi along the sidelines of the G20 summit. I had an excellent meeting with Giorgia Meloni. Our talks covered sectors such as trade, commerce, defence, emerging technologies and more. India and Italy will keep working together for global prosperity," Meloni posted at the time.

Before G20, Meloni came to India in March on a two-day visit to participate as the chief guest at the 8th Raisina Dialogue 2023. She held bilateral talks with PM Modi at the Hyderabad House in the capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday proposed that India host the United Nations-sponsored COP summit in 2028 as he sought to position the country as a global leader in climate action, launched a green credit initiative, and called for more inclusive policies that help developing countries stave off climate calamities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a high-level segment on day two of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. (Bloomberg)

Speaking at the opening ceremony of COP28 in Dubai, Modi reiterated his call for a just, inclusive and equitable energy transition and said that India was committed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.

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I propose that India will host COP33 in 2028. I hope over next 12 days, the Global Stocktake will show us the path to a secure future, he said at the ceremonial opening of the high-level segment for heads of States and governments.

In a testament to the close ties between the host United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India, Modi addressed the opening along with COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell, and UN general assembly president Dennis Francis. His speech was followed by national statements by various heads of States.

Despite India being home to 17% of worlds population, our share of global carbon emissions is lower than 4%. India is one of the very few economies that remains on track to achieve its climate targets, he said.

The COP presidency rotates between different world regions and Indias next opportunity will be in 2028 when Asia gets its turn. All countries in that group must unanimously agree to Modis bid before it is confirmed.

He also met a constellation of heads of States on the sidelines of the prestigious global conference that has emerged as the main platform to hammer out negotiations and pacts on fighting the climate crisis, and draws tens of thousands of delegates, including world leaders and industry chiefs.

This edition of the conference is being widely seen as a turning point in the worlds fight to contain the climate crisis and keep the goal of 1.5 degree warming alive. Crucially, it will also measure how far the globe has come in achieving targets set by the 2015 Paris conference on mitigation, adaptation and climate finance.

In his speech, Modi proposed a green credits programme that he said will be more people oriented than the current system of carbon credits that are only money oriented, he said.

From this platform, I am calling for another pro-planet, proactive and positive initiative and that is the green credits initiative. This is a mass campaign that goes beyond the commercial mindset associated with carbon credits. It focuses on creating carbon sinks through peoples participation and I invite all of you to join this initiative, he said.

We dont have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century. Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature but the entire humanity is paying the price. Thinking only about ones interest will take the world into darkness, he added.

The green credit programme  notified by the Centre in October  is a market-based mechanism designed to incentivise voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies. Its governance framework is supported by an interministerial steering committee and the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) will monitor the overall implementation. In its initial phase, the scheme will focus on water conservation and afforestation.

In Dubai, Modi hailed Indias efforts to mitigate emissions.

You have supported me on issues of climate justice, climate finance and green credit when these have been raised by me. The world is convinced today that for welfare of humanity, everyones interest must be protected and everyones participation is essential. India has presented a model of development of striking of great balance between ecology and economy, he said.

India achieved its emissions intensity related targets 11 years ahead of the committed time frame, he said.

We have achieved our non-fossil fuel targets nine years ahead of the time frame. We have remained ambitious. We set targets to bring our emission intensity down to 45% by 2030 and we have decided that we will increase our share of non-fossil fuel sources to 50%. We shall continue to move ahead to achieve our goal of net zero emissions by 2070, Modi added.

Modi referred to Indias recently concluded presidency of the G20 and said the countrys tenure placed high importance to the climate in the spirit of one earth, one family and one future.

At G20, we agreed on a green development pact for a sustainable future. We have agreed on the principles of lifestyle for sustainable development. We have expressed our commitment to triple renewable energy by 2030 globally. India has promoted alternative fuels including hydrogen and launched the Global Biofuels Alliance. We have together recognised need to take climate finance commitments from billions to trillions, he said.

Modi called on countries to work in unison, be more balanced, ambitious, innovative and decisive.

Every country should fulfil their climate targets and work in unity and cooperate. We need to give all developing countries a fair share in global carbon budget. The energy transition should be just and equitable transfer technology and clean energy supply chains, he added.

Addressing the summit, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said the Earths vital signs are failing, and called on nations to act now.

Earths vital signs are failing: record emissions, ferocious fires, deadly droughts and the hottest year ever. We are miles from the goals of the Paris Agreement  and minutes to midnight for the 1.5-degree limit. But it is not too late. You can prevent planetary crash and burn. We have the technologies to avoid the worst of climate chaos  if we act now. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has charted a clear path to a 1.5-degree world. But we need leadership  cooperation  and political will, Guterres said.

The success of this COP depends on the Global Stocktake prescribing a credible cure in three areas. First, drastically cutting emissions. Current policies would lead to an earth-scorching three-degree temperature rise. The Global Stocktake must set clear expectations for economy-wide Nationally Determined Contributions, that cover all greenhouse gases, and align with the 1.5- degree limit. The G20  which represents 80 per cent of the worlds emissions  must lead. I urge countries to speed up their net zero timelines, to get there as close as possible to 2040 in developed countries and 2050 in emerging economies. Second, we cannot save a burning planet with a firehose of fossil fuels. We must accelerate a just, equitable transition to renewables. The science is clear: The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate, Guterres added.

Modi is scheduled to attend the first two days of the conference that is likely to span the next two weeks. On Friday, Modi addressed two other sessions.

At a session on climate finance, Modi called on the global community to deliver on four critical finance action points to help the Global South transition to low-carbon economies. He called on developed countries to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and leave carbon space for developing countries to grow.

We expect that COP will address issues related to climate finance effectively. First, COP28 must make progress on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (for the post 2025 period). Secondly, there should be no curbs on the fund flow to Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, they should be fully funded. Third, multilateral development banks should make affordable climate finance available. Fourth, developed nations should reduce their carbon footprint and become carbon neutral before 2050, he said.

We all know that India and other developing countries in the Global South have contributed little to the problem of climate change. But the impacts of climate change are more severe on the global south. They do not have adequate resources to act on climate change, he added.

During a high-level event on the Green Credits Programme, Modi said the purview of carbon credits is very limited and pitched for a more holistic Green Credit. The Green Credit Initiative has been conceptualised as a mechanism to incentivise voluntary pro-planet actions, as an effective response to the challenge of climate change, he said.

In October, the Centre had notified two initiatives  a green credit programme for afforestation and water conservation projects and another on an ecomark scheme to promote eco-friendly products. To obtain green credits, companies must register their activities on www.moefcc-gcp.in.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023 are among the legislations likely to be taken up during the winter session of Parliament beginning from December 4. Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, union minister of parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi, Union minister of state for law and justice Arjun Ram Meghwal and others arrive for a meeting before the commencement of the winter session of Parliament on December 2, 2023.(PTI)

On Saturday, leaders of political parties in Parliament met in New Delhi to discuss the agenda for the winter session, which will continue till December 22.

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Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi convened the meeting which was attended by senior leaders such as defence minister Rajnath Singh, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pramod Tiwari, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, NCP leader Fouzia Khan, and RSP leader NK Premachandran among others, news agency PTI reported.

The winter session will have 15 sittings till December 22, during which it is expected to consider key draft legislations, including three bills to replace the colonial era criminal laws.

Legislative business:

1. The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, as passed by Lok Sabha.

2. The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha.

3. The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha.

4. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023

5. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023

6. The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023

7. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023

8. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

9. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

10. The Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

11. The Post Office Bill, 2023

12. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions

of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023

13. The Boilers Bill, 2023

14. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023

15. The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2023

16. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023

17. The Government of Union Territories (Amendmenty Bill, 2023

18. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill,2023

19. The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023

Financial business

1. Presentation, Discussion and Voting on First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2023-24 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.

2. Presentation, Discussion and Voting on Demands for Excess Grants for the year 2020-21 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.

Report on expulsion of TMC's Mahua Moitra

The report of the Lok Sabha panel recommending the expulsion of Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra from the lower house over a "cash-for-query" complaint is also listed for tabling in the House on Monday, the first day of the session.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on December 4 attend the Navy Day celebrations at Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and also unveil a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) said in a statement on Saturday. This years Navy Day celebrations are being held at the Sindhudurg Fort (File Photo)

This years Navy Day celebrations are being held at the Sindhudurg Fort, built by the Maratha ruler in the 17th century.

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Last year, the PM unveiled the Indian Navys new ensign, with the flag drawing inspiration from the seal of Shivaji.

Also Read: Gaps in coastal security were conveyed to state: Navy official

PM Modi will also witness an operational demonstration by warships, submarines, aircraft and special forces from Sindhudurgs Tarkarli beach, the statement said.

The event, which seeks to showcase the operational prowess of the navy, will involve 20 frontline warships as well as 40 aircraft, including MiG-29K and the naval variant of the light combat aircraft, navy officials said. Combat beach reconnaissance and a simulated assault by the elite marine commandos will also be showcased, the officials said.

The programme will culminate with the illumination of warships at anchorage, followed by a laser show at the iconic Sindhudurg Fort.

India celebrates December 4 as Navy Day to commemorate Operation Trident  the navys attack on Karachi harbour during the 1971 war with Pakistan.

This is the first time the navy is organising such a mega event, which is not taking place at any major naval station, the officials added.

The operational display organised on Navy Day provides an opportunity for the people to witness various facets of multi-domain operations undertaken by the navy, the PMO statement said, adding it also highlights the services contributions towards national security.

The Navy Day celebrations are being held at the Sindhudurg Fort, in line with the three services now organising their flagship ceremonial events outside the national capital.

Also Read: Woman officer to take over command of warship INS Trinkat

Navy Day celebrations were held in Visakhapatnam last year, the first time outside New Delhi. The army and the Indian Air Force organised their annual parades in Bengaluru and Chandigarh last year.

This years Air Force Day parade was held at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on October 8.

Key conferences of the armed forces, including the Combined Commanders Conference, have also been held outside New Delhi after the NDA government came to power nine years ago.

On April 1, Modi assessed the operational readiness of the armed forces in the backdrop of the lingering border row with China, carried out a security review, and asked the military to stay prepared for new and emerging threats at the Combined Commanders Conference held in Bhopal.

Before that, on March 6, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh addressed the inaugural session of a top navy meeting on board Indias first indigenous aircraft carrier - INS Vikrant, with the move bringing into sharper focus the countrys steps towards achieving self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.7
Rajasthan Election Results 2023: The fate of 1,862 candidates, including the current chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who are vying in the assembly elections of 2023, will be unveiled on Sunday as the results of these polls, conducted on November 25, are set to be announced on Sunday. The vote counting will commence in the morning at 8 am, revealing the early trends. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot (L) and BJP leader and candidate Vasundhara Raje (R) (File Photo)

Rajasthan witnessed a voter turnout of 75.45% across 199 of its 200 assembly constituencies during Saturday's elections, marking a slight increase of 0.73% from the 2018 polls, as per election data.

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Out of the total 200 assembly segments, polling occurred in 199, with the election in Sriganganagar's Karanapur seat postponed due to the unfortunate demise of the ruling Congress candidate, Gurmeet Singh Kunnar.

Among the 51,756 polling stations, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Jaisalmers Pokaran with 87.79%, closely followed by Alwars Tijara with 86.11%.

While the incumbent Congress, challenged by anti-incumbency sentiments, aims for another governance term, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leveraging Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, seeks to replace the Ashok Gehlot government.

Rajasthan's electoral history shows a unique trend as no government has secured re-election since 1993. The state has alternated between the BJP and the Congress, with the Congress emerging victorious in 2018.

Key candidates from Cong, BJP

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, assembly Speaker CP Joshi, several ministers including Shanti Dhariwal, BD Kalla, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Saleh Mohammad, Mamta Bhupesh, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Rajendra Yadav, Shakuntla Rawat, Udai Lal Anjana, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Ashok Chandna and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot are among the Congress leaders contesting the assembly election. Former chief secretary Niranjan Arya is trying his luck in politics as a Congress candidate. From the BJP, leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition and former state president Satish Poonia, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balaknath and Kirodi Lal Meena are in the fray. Gurjar leader late Kirodi Singh Bainsla's son Vijay Bainsla is also contesting as BJP candidate.

What did the exit polls say?

Exit polls predicted a probable shift in power from Congress's Ashok Gehlot to the BJP in Rajasthan. Polstrat suggests a likely win for Congress between 90-100 seats, while the BJP is anticipated to secure 100-110 seats, just shy of the majority mark of 101. The role of others with an expected 5-15 seats could be pivotal if the contest tightens.

On the other hand, Jan Ki Baat projects a BJP victory with 100-122 seats, placing Congress as the runner-up with 62-85 seats. Meanwhile, India Today-Axis My India aligns with similar projections: Congress potentially securing 86-106 seats, the BJP 80-100 seats, and 'others' claiming 9-18 seats.

Diverging slightly, the Times Now-ETG exit poll anticipates 56-72 seats for Congress and a notably higher 108-128 seats for the BJP, with others securing 31-21 seats, shaping a varied outcome in this electoral forecast.

When, where and how to check the Rajasthan assembly election results?

The counting of votes will commence on Sunday morning, with the early trends expected to begin at 8 am. For updates on Rajasthan assembly election results, you have several reliable options to explore. These include official election commission websites, news channels, and specialised election result platforms. Here are some frequently used avenues where you can find the updates on assembly election results.

-The Election Commission of India (ECI)'s official website (https://results.eci.gov.in/) may not be the quickest, but it remains the most reliable for official results.

-You can also check websites of news websites such as Hindustan Times for live updates and extensive coverage of election results.

-Tune in to television news channels providing live coverage and immediate updates on election outcomes.

-You can also follow the official election commission accounts and respected news outlets across social media platforms for instant updates. Twitter and Facebook frequently feature live updates and analytical insights.
Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy said there should be no comparison between him and Telangana minister KTR, son of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao. "I am on merit quota. He is on management quota/NRI quota. Everyone knows KTR as KCR's son. We have nothing to do with KTR. Our political fight is with KCR," Revanth Reddy said in a television channel debate on Telangana exit polls which predicted Congress getting a mandate in Telangana, the country's newest state -- for the first time. Revanth Reddy said he should not be compared with KTR.

Assembly election 2023: Full coverage

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The Malkajgiri MP is already being seen as the frontrunner for the CM post in Telangana if the exit polls come true and the Congress wins the election. On Saturday, Revanth Reddy was greeted by CM-CM chants by the party members. Telangana has never seen a chief minister other than K Chandrashekar Rao since the state was formed in 2014. On CM post, Revanth Reddy earlier said the Congress will win over 80 seats in Telangana and so there would be 80 contenders for the post.

'Nothing to do with Revanth Reddy': YS Sharmila on bye-bye KCR gift

YS Sharmila of YSR Telangana Party on Saturday sent a symbolic gift to KCR -- a suitcase bearing the message Telangana people say bye bye KCR'. Sharmila's party did not contest the election and allied with the Congress. "This is not about Revanth Reddy at all. This is about Congress coming to power. There are many credible candidates in the Congress party. I am sure the Congress party will take a genuine and good decision," Sharmila said.

Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said Congress candidates are being approached by KCR himself. "There is no threat. The candidates will be loyal. They themselves informed that they had been approached by the CM himself. We have confidence," Shivakumar said on being asked whether he booked resort in Bengaluru to keep the candidates safe from poaching.

KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi on the other hand rejected the exit poll predictions and said BRS is confident of majority and won't need "to poach" Congress candidates. "Shivakumar thinks we will poach Congress candidates. Poaching arises at a time when I need some MLAs. But we won't need that only," BRS leader K Keshava Rao said.

Revanth Reddy, wife Geetha: 5 things to know about the Congress state president

1. Revanth Reddy was appointed the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief in 2021.

2. In 2017, he joined the Congress leaving Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam.

3. Revanth Reddy's wife Geetha Reddy is the niece of Congress leader Jaipal Reddy, a former Union minister. They got married in 1992.

4. Revanth Reddy started his political career as a student with ABVP. He graduated from Osmania University.

5. Revanth Reddy's daughter Nymisha got married to Satyanarayana Reddy in 2015. Satyanarayana is the son of G Venkat Reddy, owner of Reddy and Reddy Motors.
Telangana Election Results 2023: The much-anticipated results of the 2023 assembly elections in Telangana, the youngest state in India, are scheduled to be announced this Sunday, with early trends expected to emerge in the morning as the vote count commences at 8 am. Telangana Assembly Election Results: Election across 119 constituencies, witnessing a turnout of about 23 million voters was conducted on Thursday.

Initial trends might swiftly fluctuate due to the sequence of counting, starting with the postal ballots followed by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

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Election across 119 constituencies, witnessing a turnout of about 23 million voters was conducted on Thursday. By 11 pm, the state recorded an overall polling percentage of 70.60%. Jangaon registered the highest turnout at 83.34%, trailed closely by Narasampet at 83% and Dubbak at 82.75%. Conversely, Hyderabad saw a notably low voting percentage of around 39.97%.

The electoral landscape features 2,290 contenders, including chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao vying for seats in both Kamareddy and Gajwel. His son and minister K T Rama Rao contested from Siricilla, while Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy aimed for Kamareddy and Kodangal. Eatala Rajender of the BJP contested from Gajwel and Huzurabad, and BJP's Bandi Sanjay Kumar sought election from Karimnagar.

In the 2018 elections, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (then Telangana Rashtra Samiti) dominated by securing 88 out of 119 seats. The Congress claimed 19 seats, the AIMIM retained seven, while the BJP secured just one seat.

What did exit polls say?

Initial projections of various exit polls for the Telangana assembly elections, indicated a potential end to KCR's rule in the state. Among these, the India TV-CNX exit poll suggested a return to power for the BRS with an estimated 70 seats.

Exit poll by India Today-Axis My India hinted at a substantial shift, predicting KCR's BRS to potentially secure 34-44 seats, while the Congress could reach a majority with 63-73 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party might see an increase from its 2018 count, projected to secure 4-8 seats, and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM anticipated to secure 5-8 seats.

Regarding the distribution of vote shares, the exit polls indicated the Congress potentially gaining a 42% vote share compared to the ruling BRS's estimated 33%. The BJP might secure around 14% of the votes, while the AIMIM could obtain approximately an eight percent vote share.

When, where and how to check the 2023 Telangana assembly election result?

The counting of the votes will begin on Sunday morning with the early trends beginning at 8 am. For updates on Telangana assembly election results, you have several reliable options to explore. These include official election commission websites, news channels, and specialised election result platforms. Here are some frequently used avenues where you can find the most recent election updates:

-The Election Commission of India's official website (https://results.eci.gov.in/) may not be the quickest, but it remains the most reliable for official results.

-You can also check websites of news websites such as Hindustan Times for live updates and extensive coverage of election results.

-Tune in to television news channels providing live coverage and immediate updates on election outcomes.

-You can also follow the official election commission accounts and respected news outlets across social media platforms for instant updates. Twitter and Facebook frequently feature live updates and analytical insights.
New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approached envoys of 22 nations, urging them to encourage top-ranked institutions in their respective countries to examine the possibility of setting up their campuses in India, people familiar with the development said. In a letter to the envoys, the higher education regulatory body has asked them to examine the UGC regulations issued last month in this regard and raise awareness on different platforms.

In a letter to the envoys, the higher education regulatory body has asked them to examine the UGC regulations issued last month in this regard and create awareness about the same on different platforms, the people added.

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Also read: UGC issues guidelines for foreign institutions

The commission had on November 8 notified the UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which envisioned that top universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India.

The guidelines provide the foreign universities, which have secured a position within the top 500 in the global rankings, to set up their campuses in India with complete autonomy to decide admission processes and fee structure, even as the UGC will retain the power to keep a close watch on their operations.

I request that you encourage the top-ranked institutions in your country to examine the possibility of setting up their campuses in India, UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar wrote in a letter to envoys of 22 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore, early this week.

I hope that your office will help us disseminate the information related to the Regulations at appropriate forums. I firmly believe that setting up the campuses of the institutions of your country in India will deepen the long-standing ties between our countries, Kumar added.

The letter was also sent to envoys of Finland, Israel, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, and New Zealand.

The UGC had last month also launched an application portal for foreign institutions to apply for opening their campuses in India.

Kumar maintained that 10-12 foreign universities have already registered on the portal showing interest in setting up their campuses in India. These universities are from Australia, the United Kingdom, United States and Europe, the UGC chairperson told HT on Friday. Once these universities will update all required documents on the portal, the commission will take their applications forward.
In the summer of 2015, torrential rains triggered by Cyclone Komen in neighbouring Bangladesh swept across western Myanmar, causing devastating floods and landslides in some of the poorest and remotest parts of the country. Chin state, bordering India, suffered heavily. According to civil society estimates, by mid-November of that year, more than 54,000 people were directly affected by the deluge.

Local civil society organisations in Chin state  one among seven ethnic states of Myanmar  immediately jumped into action, mobilising and distributing aid to those in need. The quasi-civilian union government of Myanmar too was able to send some relief. But, help for Chin state also came from someplace else  Mizoram, located right across the border in northeast India.

The Presbyterian Church in Aizawl, a pivotal social institution in Mizoram, directed all churches in the city to join the humanitarian effort. Local Mizo musicians held impromptu concerts in public squares across the state capital and a three-day event at a shopping mall to raise funds. Influential youth organisations requested students to contribute. The all-powerful Central Committee of the Young Mizo Association (CYMA) dispatched truckloads of rice across the border.

Whats more, then Mizoram chief minister, Lal Thanhawla, wrote to his Chin counterpart, Hung Ngai, expressing solidarity to all affected citizens of Myanmar, who are our kith and kin. It was almost as if the international border between the two states did not exist.

It is, therefore, no surprise that Mizoram promptly came to the aid of Chins fleeing the Burmese military regimes brutal violence after the February 2021 coup. It was muscle memory, in many ways. In fact, Mizorams defiance of the Union home ministrys March 2021 directive to Northeastern border states to seal the border was not surprising. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mizoram chief minister Pu Zoramthanga called the refugee crisis a human catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

Sure, his party, Mizo National Front (MNF), is a member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). But, Zoramthanga is also a Mizo  an identity that has a political life of its own in Northeast India. This identity continues to shape not just the politics of Mizoram, but also the unique lifeworld of the India-Myanmar borderlands in ways that even New Delhi cannot fully mediate.

But, there is also a strategic political imperative to the MNFs humanitarianism. In late September, five months after the MHA asked Aizawl and Imphal to collect biometric details of refugees from Myanmar, Zoramthanga refused to undertake the data collection, asserting that it would amount to discrimination against people who are of our blood and kindred brothers and sisters.

Just two months before refusing to collect biometric data, the MNF government was doing the opposite. In July, it reportedly undertook a pilot project for biometric data collection of refugees in Lunglei district. However, Zoramthanga walked back on this effort in view of the Mizoram assembly election  that concluded last month  to likely shore up Zo (a supra-ethnic identity covering the Chin-Kuki-Mizo spectrum) nationalism and in the process, placate his political constituencies. As noted Mizo scholar, Joy LK Pachuau argued recently, the MNFs under-performance on the economic development agenda might have also driven Zoramthanga to redirect the political mood towards Zo ethno-politics.

This he did not just by audaciously protecting the Chin refugees from arrests and deportation, but also by supporting and sheltering thousands of Kuki-Zo people who have fled strife-torn Manipur into Mizoram since May. Reviving the language of ethnic kinship, he called the Kuki-Zo displaced from Manipur his own blood. In this manner, the Mizoram chief minister has positioned himself as the top vanguard of all Zo people.

A more complex reality emerges when one goes beyond the headlines. The MNFs political humanitarianism shouldnt be mistaken for unconditional altruism. It is primarily guided by popular sentiments in Mizoram, which in turn, is shaped by influential volunteer organisations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA).

In September 2022, the Zoramthanga government issued a stern directive asking refugees from Myanmar to not purchase land or run businesses without official permission and to not apply for formal documents such as Aadhar, driving licences and voter cards. In fact, the unofficial IDs that the Mizoram government has issued to 30,000 odd asylum seekers are merely meant for identification and do not give access to core state services. The aid that they receive is mostly directed through non-state channels.

This restrictive approach towards the asylum seekers emanates from a latent yet longstanding anxiety within Mizo society about outsiders. Even the Chins, who are otherwise deemed as ethnic kins, are often seen as temporary guests at best, and the unwanted other at worst. They are often profiled with terms like Burma-mi and Burma-ho, which are laced with pejorative connotations.

This hostility isnt new. Throughout the 2000s, right up to 2013-14, the YMA, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), and others undertook several quit Mizoram expulsion drives against Chin refugees, often with state authorities in tow.

There is also anxiety within government and civil society circles in Aizawl about refugees engaging in narcotics trafficking across the border. Recently, the CYMA warned refugees to refrain from taking advantage of the Myanmar crisis and Mizo hospitality to smuggle drugs into the state. Some also feel that the ongoing war in Chin State is destabilising Mizoram, which has remained mostly peaceful since the MNF signed a peace accord with New Delhi in 1986.

In April, when three Mizos were found charred to death in Myanmar, the Young Lai Association (YLA), the largest civil society organisation in southern Mizorams Lawngtlai district, blamed the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) for the murder. It also expressed a sense of betrayal. Add to these, overwhelming concerns about Mizorams financial limitations in supporting not just the Chin refugees, but also the Kuki-Zo Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Manipur.

Therefore, the political economy of the Mizo-Chin relationship is more complicated than it looks from the outside. It is shaped by historical disquietude around successive refugee waves and contemporary socio-economic frictions. The absence of a national refugee policy further compounds this equation, as the Central government continues to shirk its imperative to share the humanitarian responsibility with Mizoram and render the refugees vulnerable to ad-hoc treatment.

Angshuman Choudhury is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. The views expressed are personal
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami invited PM Narendra Modi on Saturday to inaugurate the Global Investment Conference scheduled in Dehradun on December 8 and 9. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami with PM Narendra Modi

The Chief Minister also expressed his gratitude to PM Modi for the safe evacuation of the workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel.

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The Chief Minister discussed various issues related to the state with the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for including the Jamarani Dam Project in the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and approving Rs. 1730.21 crore. Along with this, he requested approval of 2460 crore as financial assistance for capital expenditure of Song Dam Drinking Water Project and financial assistance of 3000 crore as special financial assistance for upgradation of Jolly Grant Airport.

The Chief Minister requested to establish All India Ayurveda Institute in Rishikul Ayurvedic College campus, Haridwar and to include Uttarakhand in the Kiwi Feasibility Study being run in collaboration with New Zealand.

The Chief Minister requested for Approval of 1000 crore with approval of 20 DPR for the road and 03 state roads Kathgodam-Bhimtal Dhyanchuli- Khetikhan-Lohaghat-Pancheshwar motor road, 'Mohan-Bhatronjkhan-Bhikiyasain-Deghat-Bungidhar Nagchulakhal-Mehalchauri motor road,' Khairna- Requested to declare Ranikhet-Bhatrojkhan motor road as a national highway.

The Chief Minister asked the Prime Minister to approve the three tunnel projects of Jolingkong-Bedang 05 km, Sipu-Tola 22 km and Milam Lapthal 30 km in Kumaon and to fully finance the Tanakpur-Bageshwar Railway Scheme as a national project. Approval requested.

He requested the Prime Minister for immediate action by the Airport Authority of India for operation of fixed wing aircraft from Naini-Saini Airport, expansion of Pantnagar Airport and establishment of Government Ayurveda College and Research Center in Kumaon region.

The Chief Minister requested permission for development and construction of various proposed hydro power projects on Dhauliganga and Gauri Ganga rivers in Pithoragarh district and permission for development and construction of 11 undisputed projects in Alaknanda, Bhagirathi and its tributaries with a total capacity of 771 MW. And he also requested to allow development and construction of 10 projects whose total capacity is 1352 MW recommended by Expert Committee-2 in the rivers and its tributaries.
BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali on Saturday said in the alleged cash-for-question investigation against Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, the victim was made an accused. The ethics committee worked at the speed of a bullet train in the Mahua Moitra case but there has been no progress in the earlier case of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri abusing Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha. "I have written a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker yesterday and today as well. The Speaker should look into this issue," Danish Ali said extending support to Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Chowdhury's stand on Mahua Moitra. The ethics committee report on cash-for-question allegations against Mahua Moitra is likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday.

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The BSP MP objected to the fact that the Ethics Committee report on Mahua Moitra mentioned some observations about Danish Ali as Danish Ali among some opposition MPs walked out when Mahua Moitra was being interrogated -- citing unfairness. But the panel had no mandate to comment on any other MP, Danish Ali wrote in his letter adding that y targeting him a message was being sent that no member should speak out against the ruling party.

Adhir Chowdhury on Saturday wrote to the Speaker saying that if Mahua Moitra is expelled from Parliament, then it will be an extremely serious punishment having wider ramifications. "If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Mohua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha," Chowdhury said in his letter to the Speaker.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor supported Adhir Chowdhury and said Adhir's better raises fundamental questions about the procedure, conduct and conclusion of the ethics committee in the Mahua Moitra case. In the absence of a comparably detailed response, any action taken on the report the Committee intends to table on Monday would be a travesty of justice, Tharoor said.

The Trinamool reacted to Adhir's support to Mahua and said it was in the interest of the Congress as well as someday a Congress leader might be targetted the same way.

The report on Mahua Moitra is likely to be tabled on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament on December 4. In the all-party meeting ahead of the session on Saturday, the Trinamool demanded a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Ethics Committee report, before any decision is taken to expel Moitra from the House.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The meeting aims to strategize the legislative agenda and ensure a smooth functioning of the parliamentary proceedings during the Winter Session, which is scheduled to have 15 sittings until December 22. The meeting is being attended by senior leaders like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pramod Tiwari, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, NCP leader Fouzia Khan, and RSP leader N K Premachandran among others. The Winter Session of Parliament begins on Monday and is scheduled to continue till December 22.. (ANI/Sansad TV)

There are currently 37 bills pending in Parliament, out of which 12 are listed for consideration and passing, and seven bills are slated for introduction, consideration, and passing. Among them are three bills to replace colonial-era criminal laws - the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Evidence Act.

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Another key bill pending in Parliament relates to the appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners. The government did not push for its passage during the special session of the Parliament from the opposition and former chief election commissioners. The bill seeks to bring on a par the status of the CEC and ECs with that of the cabinet secretary. At present, they enjoy the status of a Supreme Court judge.

The report of the Ethics Committee on the "cash-for-query" allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra will be tabled in Lok Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session. According to the agenda papers circulated by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar will lay on the table of the House the panel's first report, which was adopted with a 6:4 majority.

The members supporting the report included Preneet Kaur, the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now with the BJP.

The draft reportedly suggested "serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment".

"The Committee, therefore, recommends that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha. In view of the highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Mahua Moitra, the Committee recommend for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the Government of India in a time-bound manner," the report is learnt to have said.

The House will have to adopt the report before the expulsion recommended by the panel comes into effect.
You know that feeling you get when youve said a word over and over, and it suddenly loses all meaning? Its called semantic satiation, and thats sort of where we are with sorry.

We are inundated with sorries  from public figures mouthing platitudes of remorse about extramarital affairs, lies and corruption, to people apologising for things we dont remember they said, or things other people have done.

In the past six weeks, actor Emily Blunt has apologised for fatphobic comments she made about a waitress 12 years ago. Emily Hampshire (of Schitts Creek) for attending a Halloween party with a friend, dressed as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Nana Patekar for smacking a selfie-seeking fan. US President Joe Biden apologised, again, for comments he made decades ago, about working amicably with segregationists.

Some academics  among them is Karina Schumann, a social psychologist researching conflict resolution at the University of Pittsburgh  are calling this the age of the apology. The sheer volume is having two key effects.

The first is obvious: what was once a rare and notable act of contrition, is becoming commonplace and rather eroded in value.

The second shift is more interesting: its a change in the balance of power, between public figures and the public. At few points in history has public opinion been so powerful that a figure such as a statesman, ruler, industrialist or celebrity would need to make public amends.

World War 2 marked a shift in this respect. The scale of the holocaust, once the world was confronted with it, was so horrific that the Catholic Church and various nation-states issued public apologies for their complicity (the Church, for instance, for not acting more decisively to challenge the Nazi regime).

(HT Illustration: Jayanto)

Pope John Paul II apologised for the Churchs involvement in slavery and religious wars. South African president FW de Klerk, for apartheid. Bill Clinton apologised for the Monica Lewinsky scandal, twice.

That last one marked a turning point, Ashraf AH Rushdy, a professor of English and African American Studies at Wesleyan University, notes in his 2018 book, After Injury: A Historical Anatomy of Forgiveness, Resentment, and Apology. Because Clintons apologies pertained to private acts by a public individual, rather than crimes of the state, they blurred the line between private and public.

That demarcation was already crumbling amid the rise of celebrity news and reality TV, and would soon be obliterated by social media. Today, everything is public. And thanks to social- media algorithms that incentivise online pile-ons, every act of transgression requires the performance of a public apology.

What, me sorry?

What is this doing to the nature and perceived value of the apology itself? An interesting project seeking to answer that question is the digital archive SorryWatch. Started by writers Susan McCarthy and Marjorie Ingall in 2012, it tracks and analyses apologies in the news.

They all seem to borrow from a lexicon of stock phrases designed to dodge responsibility while sounding like one is accepting it. Phrases such as Sorry if you were offended, I have daughters too, This is not who I am and I am not a perfect person.

Rather than acting as a first step towards healing, and a re-affirmation of the power of public accountability, such expressions prioritise self-preservation, the manipulation of perspective, and erasure of public memory.

The fact that so few of these public apologies are followed by real steps to make amends or change behaviour contributes to the cynicism with which they are received. But experts point out there might be a deeper problem, a structural flaw in our current model of social-media-fuelled accountability culture.

A 2017 study by Australian researchers TG Okimoto, Michael Wenzel and Matthew J Hornsey, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, suggests that the more apologies we receive from public figures, the less likely we are to perceive them as sincere and worthy of forgiveness. They attribute this to what is called the normative dilution effect: the more a behaviour is the expected norm, the less impact it has.

Like the dentist handing over a toffee after hes poked around in ones mouth for an hour: you perk up the first time, but by the hundredth time, its no longer as mollifying.

Regretfully yours

Which is not to say that a public apology has no value. It has moral value, especially to the person apologising, a fact thats easy to forget. Even the insincere public apology offers a starting point for change; it works to set new limits on what is socially and politically acceptable.

One of the oldest apologies in the SorryWatch archive comes from a judge named Samuel Sewall, one of nine who condemned the alleged witches of Salem in 1692. Five years later, he stood up in Bostons Old South Church as a priest read out his statement. He was immediately ostracised by high society, but his biographer Richard Francis would later write that his apology transformed him, and his community. Sewall would go on to criticise the American colonists treatment of slaves and indigenous people. The date of his apology would become an official fast day in Massachusetts. A painting titled Dawn of Tolerance in Massachusetts, depicting Sewalls apology, now hangs in the State House of Representatives.

The bad apology, meanwhile, can serve an important purpose too: that of showing others what not to do. On SorryWatch, for instance, McCarthy and Ingall have gradually shifted their focus away from sardonic takedowns of public apologies to examinations of what makes a good personal one. In their 2023 book Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The Case for Good Apologies, they draw on research in psychology, sociology and law to explore the power of a good apology, and its ability to repair relationships and heal wounds.

It takes valour to apologise to those with less status and power than you, especially when no ones making you do it, they write. Apologising well shows wisdom and honor (and) a good apology can improve the lives and spirits of everyone it touches.

BOX: Six-and-a-half steps to the perfect apology

#1: Say youre sorry.

#2: For what you did.

#3: Show you understand why it was bad.

#4: Only explain if you need to; dont make excuses.

#5: Say why it wont happen again.

#6: Offer to make up for it.

#6.5: Listen.

(Source: SorryWatch)
In the verdict on the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case, where the journalist returning home from work in Delhi was waylaid and shot, the court made a mention of how unsafe public places make it hard for women to join the workforce. As we head towards an election year with its bouquet of promises, particularly to a crucial voting cohort, women, it might be appropriate to discuss how the new and vibrant economy that is promised each time simply cannot be realised without the full participation of half the population. For this participation to be productive, we need safe urban mobility for everyone, more so women. Transport modes, infrastructure and related services are the means to improve the lives and well-being of people by facilitating their access to economic and social benefits. However, research shows that mobility and transport are experienced differently by men and women. Women and their travel patterns hinge on several factors, among them their role as family caregivers, their other familial responsibilities and income generation activities.

For most women, unlike men, going into public spaces either for work or rarely for leisure is largely limited due to fear for their safety while waiting for transport, cultural restraints and inadequate transport infrastructure and services. In a 2022 World Bank study, 88% of surveyed women in Delhi reported facing sexual harassment in public transport. The same study also showed that over 50% of women in Chennai and 63% of women in Pune faced sexual harassment on the bus.

Anyone who has used public transport like buses or trains can attest to the fact that the system is designed much more for able-bodied men than for women, children, the elderly and differently-abled persons. This might affect their access to public transport for different reasons like education, economic opportunities and leisure activities. Lack of safety and the increase in crimes against women in public spaces and public transport are significant factors for the declining female labour force participation rate in India. As per the statistics of the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2021-22, the labour force participation rate in urban India stands at about 24% for females as compared to 75% for males. We simply dont have enough data about mobility and related information that could form the basis for more gender-equitable transport systems. Unless urban planners understand the pain points for women and young girls in accessing public transport, it will affect their ability to use public spaces freely.

In a recent conference to mark 10 years of Safetipin, a social organisation working towards building responsive, inclusive, safe and equitable urban systems, one of the aspects that invited a lot of attention was the need and ability of young people, especially young women, to transform cities by adopting digital technologies, collecting relevant data and advocacy with key stakeholders. Cities are a repository of our lives. Women, especially young women, are experts of their cities. For cities to become gender transformative, they must become bold, kind and reflective, says Kalpana Viswanath, co-founder of Safetipin. Lakshmi Puri, former assistant secretary general at the United Nations and former deputy executive director of UN Women, says, We are no longer looking at the city from the perspective of a young, productive male. Were trying to re-centre and meet the diverse needs of women, children and elderly.

Indian cities must foster accessibility and opportunities for their citizens. Kunal Kumar, joint secretary and director of Smart Cities Mission, says: All 5,000 cities in India must be smart cities; it is not a choice, it is a requirement. We always thought of cities as challenges, but it is about maximising opportunities and minimising the challenges. Young people are best placed to generate evidence about their lived realities and what they want from cities. Youth-led decision-making can contribute to the betterment of the cities, while also empowering youth as informed and active citizens, fostering a more inclusive and sustainable urban future.

The views expressed are personal
So far, understandably, our attention has concentrated on the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian people of Gaza. At a time of war, this is inevitable. However, if you want to understand the wider relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, you also need to be aware of how Israel treats its two million Palestinian citizens as well as those living in the West Bank, which it has illegally occupied since 1967. Here are some facts probably unknown to you.

First, Israel is a democracy, but only for its Jewish citizens. The National State Law of 2018 discriminates between its Jewish citizens and those who are Palestinian. For example, Israel has a Law of Return which allows Jews from anywhere in the world to get automatic citizenship. But family members of Palestinians, who were born there but left at the time of the 1948 Nakba (Nakba means catastrophe in Arabic and refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war) or the 1967 war, are denied this right. This is in clear defiance of UN Resolution 194, which confers on all Palestinians the right to return.

Second, Israel has an Administrative Detention Law which permits the arrest of Palestinians without charge. Al Jazeera says of the 7,667 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, 40% are thus detained. During the truce, when 240 were released, 310 were detained. Incidentally, of the 7,667, 3,325 or 43% were arrested after October 7.

Lets turn to the West Bank. Since 1967, an estimated 750,000 Israeli settlers have illegally occupied Palestinian land and evicted the people living there. Instead of stopping them, the Israeli army protects them. This is also encouraged by the Benjamin Netanyahu government because it converts a UN-guaranteed Palestinian State into an untenable patchwork quilt of territory.

Al Jazeera reports that since October 7, 240 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli settlers. In a Washington Post article, President Joe Biden said he had been emphatic with Israels leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those committing violence must be held accountable. But Netanyahu snubbed him. At a press conference, he said: I told President Biden that the accusations against the settlement movement are baseless.

Finally, Israels reported intentions for Gaza once the truce ends. The BBCs diplomatic correspondent, Paul Adams, quoting Israeli military spokesmen says the Netanyahu government is considering pushing perhaps two million Gazans, presently sheltering in south Gaza, into a small portion of the Strip called al-Mawasi, just 2.5 kilometres wide and four kilometres long. So the people of Gaza, who first became refugees in 1948 when they were pushed out of their West Bank homes, now face becoming refugees a second time, when theyre crammed into al-Mawasi.

Actually, its worse. Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian welfare, says of al-Mawasi: There is nothing there. It is just sand dunes and palm trees. Even Lt Col Richard Hecht, an Israeli Defence Force spokesperson, admits al-Mawasi is going to be dire.

Al-Mawasi lacks essential infrastructure. There are no hospitals and the vast majority will have to live in tents. This is after winter has set in and its cold and rains frequently. Yet, Avichay Adraee, another Israeli Defence Force spokesman, says al-Mawasi will provide appropriate conditions for your loved ones.

As per reports by the BBC, Israeli officials say it will be up to aid agencies to make sure help reaches al-Mawasi. So, clearly, Israel is throwing Gazans to their mercy. But theyre reluctant to accept. The heads of 18 UN agencies and NGOs have issued a statement saying We will not participate in the establishment of any safe zone in Gaza.

The WHO director-general calls the al-Mawasi proposal a recipe for disaster. Attempting to cram so many people into such a small area with such little infrastructure or services, he says, will significantly increase risks to health for people who are already on the brink.

Ill stop there. My intention is to make you aware of facts you havent been told and Israels thinking our media hasnt covered. Bear this in mind the next time Israel is called an apartheid State.

Karan Thapar is the author of Devils Advocate: The Untold Story. The views expressed are personal
The most recent victim of sexually explicit Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled deepfake videos being made viral is actor Alia Bhatt. Beware if you search to read more about this news, for an online search is likely to land you on porn websites catering to this category of fantasy, which is deepfake porn of celebrities.

From harming reputations through fake imagery, including nudity or sexually explicit acts, spreading false information or fake news, manipulating elections or public opinion about elected representatives or political figures, to committing financial frauds, deepfakes or misuse of AI have played a role. Law and technology would have to play a key role in preventing and protecting against these harms.

Often law is accused of not keeping pace with technological evolutions. This may not reflect the truth. The law is dynamic and applies, subject only to the limitations placed by the wording of a provision, to existing and evolving threats. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1861, which remains relevant even today is illustrative. Using deepfakes for criminal purposes may be an evolving threat, but using manipulated imagery including a modest photograph for harming a person, business or a nation, is not a new phenomenon. There is, therefore, no cause to believe that we do not have laws to combat this growing menace.

The Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended, (IT Act) and IPC provide substantial remedies against the abuse of deepfake technology. Sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act may be invoked for prosecuting the circulation of sexually explicit content of adults and Section 67B IT Act along with the POCSO Act for protecting children.

Deepfakes rely on stealing and misusing a persons identity or unique identification feature, which can be penalised under Section 66C of the IT Act. Similarly, Section 66D of the IT Act may be invoked for financial fraud. Orders of the Delhi high court in the cases concerning Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor restricting abuse of their personality rights among several such cases from across jurisdictions, further strengthen victim rights in deepfake prosecutions. Forgery provisions under Sections 463 to 471 of the IPC may also apply to deepfake crimes. The offence tagged as outraging the modesty of women (Section 509 IPC) may be invoked. The Representation of People Act, 1951 and the Codes of Conduct mandated by the Election Commission may be invoked to combat deepfakes intended to manipulate elections. Cheating provisions under Section 420 (IPC) can combat financial fraud.

Preventive or protective measures from a victims perspective would primarily be preventing uploads or dissemination of deepfakes or expedited takedowns. Presently, Section 79 of the IT Act read with the rules framed under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as of 2023 (intermediary guidelines), provides remedies for platforms to ensure the prevention of dissemination of harmful content affecting individuals and for expedited takedowns of nude or sexually explicit content within 24 hours of a report to the grievance officer of the platform used for circulating such content. Appeal goes to grievance appellate committees set up by the government, apart from remedies through criminal prosecutions or civil suits.

Expediting investigations would be helped through provisions that mandate tracing the provenance of content, from its creation to dissemination. This is resorted to under Chinas law as well as others such as the US and the European Union (EU). The USs proposed federal Deepfake Accountability Bill mandates watermarking to trace origin. This federal Bill with the acronym Protect Act, mandates consent for circulating manipulated content on porn sites.

The EUs proposed AI Act 2023 uses risk categorisation of unacceptable, high or low risk to regulate AI  generative AI including deepfakes fall under the high risk category  mandating inter alia transparency declarations that content is AI generated or fake. South Korea penalises deepfake-enabled crimes that harm the public interest. The UK awaits protection through its comprehensive Online Safety Bill.

India is contemplating specific and stringent provisions to combat deepfake online harms including provenance declaration through watermarking. Provisions may emerge as part of the proposed Digital India Act. The more immediate possibility, however, is through amendments to the intermediary guidelines, which may, at best, protect through further diligence mandates for platforms and expedited takedowns. Lessons from the Supreme Court order in Re: Prajwala Letter dated 18.2.2015 Violent Videos and Recommendations may be applied to use AI to combat this crime by blocking identified content from further circulation and expediting takedowns through explicit buttons for reporting. Simple solutions for this and other online harms may pave the way for a victim-centric approach.

N S Nappinai, an advocate practising in the Supreme Court, is founder of Cyber Saathi Foundation, a non-profit organisation. The views expressed are personal
Khalistan supporters have been sentenced for the attempted murder of popular Auckland-based radio host Harnek Singh, who has been vocal against the ideology of Khalistan, The Australia Today reported. New Zealand radio show host Harnek Singh was attacked in December 2020.

Sarvjeet Sidhu, aged 27, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, while Sukhpreet Singh, aged 44, was found guilty of being an accessory. The third individual, a 48-year-old Auckland resident with interim name suppression, planned the attack, harbouring resentment against Harnek Singh for his vocal opposition to Khalistan, The Australia Today reported, citing NZ Herald.

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During the hearing, Judge Mark Woolford emphasised the need for community protection and a strong deterrence against religious fanaticism.

The attack occurred on December 23, 2020, when Harnek Singh was ambushed by a group of religious fundamentalists in his driveway. He suffered over 40 stab wounds and required more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries to recover.

Judge Woolford remarked, "It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism. ... Sentencing in this context requires a different approach. The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others."

Harnek Singh, also known as Nekki, had been followed by three cars full of men before the attackers stabbed him "within an inch of his life." He managed to lock the door of his vehicle and attract neighbours' attention by sounding the horn, preventing potential bleeding to death from the extensive stab wounds, according to The Australia Today.

Earlier, Avtar Singh, a former bodybuilder, told the court he used to be friends with the man with name suppression, however, he soon stopped associating with the man whom he labelled a "thug" and "mafia" in 2018. "He has a way around people, especially broken people," Singh said.

Avtar's friend Baljinder told the court he'd been asked to kill Harnek, but declined. He added that on December 23, Jaspal Singh rang him, "Job is done, he's no longer going to be on the radio."

According to the report, there is a 48-year-old defendant (with interim name suppression) who was not present at the time of the attack. This man, the court was told, harboured a years-long resentment against Hranek Singh as the popular Kiwi radio host was vocal against the Khalistan.

"Harnek Singh told the courtroom that his opinions regarding Sikhism probably fall more along the liberal end of the spectrum while the majority of his critics were more on the fundamentalist or conservative side," as reported by The Australia Today.

In a victim impact statement read aloud by prosecutors, Harnek Singh described the ongoing fear his family faces, "My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down." He expressed gratitude to the New Zealand justice system for ensuring that "no one is above the law, not even religion."

Harnek Singh addressed the defendants directly, stating, "You came to kill me. You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed."

He continued, "I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have. The only chilling message you have managed to send is to people with the same views and opinion as yours that actions have consequences and that in a country like New Zealand, the law does not bend for you if your wrongful acts are in the name of God."

Harnek Singh's words resonated with the judge and he repeated them as he sentenced the defendant, The Australia Today reported, citing NZ Herald.

The 48-year-old mastermind behind the attack received a sentence of 13-and-a-half years, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before parole eligibility. Sarvjeet Sidhu was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years' imprisonment, while Sukhpreet Singh received six months of home detention.

Notably, two men, Jagraj Singh and Gurbinder Singh, were acquitted due to insufficient evidence, while two others, Jobanpreet Singh and Hardeep Singh Sandhu, await sentencing early next year for their involvement in the attempted murder of Harnek Singh.
The BBC has finally revealed the names of the two senior members of the British royal family who allegedly made racist remarks about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markles son Archie. In March 2021, Oprah Winfrey interviewed with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.(AP/AFP)

The public broadcaster confirmed on Friday that King Charles III and his daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, were the ones who had raised concerns about how dark Archies skin might be before he was born. This was the shocking claim that Prince Harry and Markle made during their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

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The BBCs decision to name the royals came after other media outlets, including Sky News, ITV, The New York Times, and The Mirror, had already identified them, following a blunder by a Dutch publisher.

ALSO READ| Dutch version of Omid Scobie's book Endgame taken down from shelves over 'racist royals' controversy

Xander, the publisher of journalist Omid Scobies book Endgame, which chronicles the events leading up to Prince Harry and Markles departure from the royal family, accidentally printed the names of the King and Middleton in a Dutch translation of the book. Scobie has denied ever naming the royals in writing and said he was frustrated by the error.

However, Xander has withdrawn the copies of the book from the market and launched an investigation.

Royals are still silent

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not commented on the matter, but insiders have revealed that the palace is considering all options, including legal action, over the allegations.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also remained silent on the issue.

The naming of the royals has sparked a fierce debate in the UK, with some defending the King and Middleton and others condemning them for their alleged racism.

ALSO READ| King Charles raises eyebrows with his tie choice. Here's why

Piers Morgan, who quit his job as a host of Good Morning Britain after criticizing Markle, named the royals on his new show on TalkTV on Wednesday and said they had been thrown under the bus by Prince Harry and Markle.

UK security minister Tom Tugendhat also supported the King and Middleton and dismissed the allegations as rumour, hearsay and an attempt to disparage somebody whos served our country with enormous dignity and enormous grace for many, many years.
After the dust had settled on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit from the Royal Family of the UK, the racism debate of the British monarchy was reignited by a book called 'Endgame', written by royal journalist and author Omid Scobie. Author Omid Scobie has made shocking revelations about the British Royal Family in his new book 'Endgame.'

Omid Scobie, famous for writing about the intricate workings and uncovering secrets about the Royal Family, this time outwardly claimed that there are racist conversations inside Buckingham Palace.

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While racism is just one of the topics touched on by Scobie in his tell-all book about the royals of Britain, here is all you need to know about the book and its biggest revelations about King Charles III and his family.

Endgame: 5 biggest revelations about Royal Family

'Casual racism' faced by staff members

Scobie talked to staff members who were people of colour for his book, where it was revealed they have been subjected to "casual racism" by members of the Royal Family. One former staff member said, "The ignorance and casual racism is as bad as you think it is. It felt like another era sometimes."

'Comments' on Archie's skin colour

According to Scobie's book, two people from the Royal Family asked about the skin colour of Archie, son of Harry and Meghan. The revelation was made in letters exchanged between Meghan and Charles, but the names of the people have not been revealed.

Prince Harry didn't know the Queen had died

Scobie wrote that no one from the Royal Family had looked in Harry about the deteriorating health of Queen Elizabeth. Members of the family had not informed him of the Queen's passing, and Harry found out through a breaking news notification on his phone, like the rest of the world.

Meghan, Kate asked to cosplay Princess Diana

The author portrayed that the Royal Family wanted to milk Princess Diana's popularity even decades after her death, with senior advisors asking Meghan Markel and Kate Middleton to "cosplay" Diana through their gestures and clothes. They were also asked to mirror Diana's comments and quirks during public appearances.

King Charles' temper tantrums

Scobie has written in his book that King Charles III is known to be hard on the staff for the little things around the palace, and has frequent "temper tantrums".

The author wrote in his book, "There have been reports of temper tantrums at night if the princes pyjamas arent pressed, sources have claimed, there is hell to pay There is even a rumour (one that surprisingly, sources have confirmed) that Charles likes to have someone squeeze exactly one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him ahead of his bedtime routine."
A senior Hamas leader claimed he did not know how many hostages were still alive in Gaza, nor was it important, prompting a sharp reaction from the Israeli government. Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas Political Office, during a press conference.(REUTERS file)

In an interview with CBS news on Thursday, when asked how many hostages were still alive, Ghazi Hamad, replied, I don't know. The number is not so important. The interview came a day before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended, as the Palestine's terrorist group refused to release the hostages it had committed to and instead began launching rockets toward southern Israel early Friday morning.

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Reacting to Hamad's comments, Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said, "Hamas says it doesnt know how many hostages are still alive and the number is not important. Israelis value life. Hamas worships death.

Hamad additionally told CBS that Hamas had kidnapped 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel to force them to impose pressure on their government, to tell them that you pushed us to hell.

In another social media post, Levy on Friday claimed that Hamas restarted the war holding 137 hostages in Gaza. 117 male, 20 female 126 Israelis, 11 foreign 2 children (Bibas infants) 10 aged 75+ To date, Israeli military pressure has secured the release of 110 hostages and recovered the bodies of two murdered hostages, he wrote.

Over the course of the past week, Hamas released 80 Israeli women, children and teenagers as part of a truce agreement in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Also Read: Israel-Hamas war starts again. Who are the hostages still remaining Gaza?

Hamas also freed 25 others outside the scope of the truce deal, most of them Thai farm workers, bringing to 105 the number of captives released during the pause in hostilities.

With five hostages having already been freed before the truce, a total of 110 captives have returned home alive  33 children, 49 women and 28 men  out of an initial group of around 240.

The Israeli Army said on Friday five more hostages had died, bringing the total number to seven, and 136 were still being held.

The government said 125 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepali, one Tanzanian and a French-Mexican identified as Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, by his family.
Amid a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children in China, that has attracted global attention, five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked President Joe Biden's administration to ban travel between the United States and China. A man carries a child as they leave a children's hospital in Beijing.(AP)

We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness, said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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The World Health Organization has requested China to share more information citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.

While the WHO later said health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, Taiwan has advised the elderly, very young and those with poor immunity to avoid travel to China.

The White House and the Chinese embassy in the US did not immediately comment, news agency Reuters reported.

Also Read: Respiratory illnesses in kids on rise: Common causes and preventive measures

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of the Covid-19 curbs.

In January 2020, then US President Donald Trump barred most non-US citizens who had been in China in the prior two weeks from coming to the United States over concerns about Covid-19. Trump, however, did not restrict or limit flights between the two countries.

In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries.

The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The US revoked a separate requirement for air travellers to test negative before arriving in June 2022.

Also Read: What is White Lung Syndrome? Mysterious pneumonia fast striking children

In January, the US started requiring air passengers to get negative Covid tests after Beijing's decision to lift its stringent zero-Covid policies and lifted the requirements in March.

What's happening in China?

The surge in respiratory illnesses comes as China braces for its first full winter season since it lifted strict Covud-19 restrictions in December last year.

Some social media users have posted photos of children receiving intravenous drips in a hospital, while media in cities such as Xian in the northwest have posted videos of crowded hospitals, fanning concerns about potential strains on the healthcare system.

Is it a big surge?

The National Health Commission told the media on November 13 that there was an increase in the incidence of respiratory disease without providing further details.

WHO China told Reuters in an email that Chinese health authorities advised that the current numbers they are observing is not greater than the peak in the most recent cold season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are experts concerned?

Reuters reported that doctors in China and experts abroad are not too worried about the situation in China, noting many other countries saw similar increases in respiratory diseases after easing pandemic measures.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll has surpassed 15,200 and that 70 per cent of those killed were women and children. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll has surpassed 15,200 and that 70 per cent of those killed were women and children.(AP)

The figure was announced on Saturday by ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, who did not provide further details.

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The previous toll given by the ministry was more than 13,300 dead. Al-Qidra did not explain the sharp jump. However, the ministry had only been able to provide sporadic updates since November 11, amid problems with connectivity and major war-related disruptions in hospital operations. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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More than 40,000 people have been wounded, al-Qidra said.

Israel intensified a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas, giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.

This is going to be very important going forward," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. "It's something we're going to be looking at very closely.

Many of Israel's attacks on Saturday were focused on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the military said it had struck more than 50 Hamas targets with airstrikes, tank fire and its navy.

The military dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave but, as of late Friday, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.

There is no place to go, lamented Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Israel's military said it also carried out strikes in the north, and hit more than 400 targets in all across the Gaza Strip.

Some 2 million people  almost Gaza's entire population  are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre area.

In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.

It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to, the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts.

In the first use of the map to order evacuations, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic spokesperson, specified areas in the north and the south to be cleared out Saturday in posts on X, formerly Twitter.

Adraee listed numbered zones under evacuation order - but the highlighted areas on maps attached to his post did not match the numbered zones.

Egypt has expressed concerns the renewed offensive could cause Palestinians to try and cross into its territory. In a statement late Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians is a red line."

US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House.

US President Joe Biden's administration has been emphasizing the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held captive by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. The Israeli army said Friday it had confirmed the deaths of four more hostages, bringing the total known dead to seven.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

The war began after the October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

After the end of the truce, militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating along its northern border with Lebanon.

HUMANITARIAN AID HALT

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

Since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, according to the U.N.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will wipe out even the minimal relief provided by the truce and prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel's assault, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov. 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.
Israel-Hamas War highlights: Renewed fighting stretched in Gaza for a second day on Saturday following the breakdown of negotiations to prolong a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas terrorists. According to mediators, Israeli bombardment is making it more difficult to halt hostilities once more. Israeli flares light the sky above Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip as fighting resumed after the expiration of a seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas.(AFP)

Columns of smoke rose into the sky on Friday as the truce deadline passed. The eastern parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza were subjected to heavy artillery.

According to Gaza health officials, by Friday night, Israeli airstrikes had struck more than 20 houses, killed 184 people, and injured at least 589 more.

The warring parties blamed each another for the truce's breakdown, by refusing to accept conditions to continue the daily release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.

A pause that started on November 24 had been extended twice and led to the release of 110 hostages, including 80 Israelis, whereas, Israel has released 240 Palestinian prisoners. But after seven days, mediators failed to find a formula to release more hostages.

On October 7, Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Southern Israel with terrorists killing around 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. In a retaliatory move, Israel sworn to annihilate Hamas. Health authorities in Gaza say Israel's bombardment has so far killed more than 15,000 Gazans.
A team from Israel's Mossad intelligence services was in Doha on Saturday for talks with Qatari mediators for another pause in fighting in Gaza, a source briefed on the visit said. The Qatar-mediated talks focused on the potential release of new categories of Israeli hostages other than women and children and the parameters of a truce.(REUTERS)

The Qatar-mediated talks focused on the potential release of new categories of Israeli hostages other than women and children and the parameters of a truce, which the source said differed to the truce agreement that collapsed on Friday.

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Israel and Hamas have been considering new parameters for the release of hostages and the truce since before it collapsed.

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The truce which began on Nov. 24 saw Hamas release Israeli women and children taken hostage on Oct. 7 in exchange for the release of Palestinians, including women, held in Israeli prisons.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the collapse of the truce, which lasted a week and was extended twice before mediators were unable to find a way for a third extension.

Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.
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Latest world news Live Updates 03-Dec-2023(AFP)
Visitors to the fifth annual Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design (VFCD) in Hanoi from Dec. 17 can explore the intersection between technology and humanity.

This years festival theme, "Mind & Machine," explores the critical role of design at the intersection between technology and humanity through talks, seminars, exhibitions, and other activities.

The festival previously took place in HCMC from Nov. 1319.

Initiated in 2019, VFCD is organized by RMIT University Vietnam in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), and their creative industry partners.

As the focal point of VFCD 2023, the "Mind & Machine" exhibition features works from over 10 researchers, artists, and artist groups. Photo courtesy of VFCD

According to Professor Julia Gaimster, Dean of the RMIT School of Communication & Design and head of the organizing committee, technology has been a driving force for innovation and transformation but also a source of challenges and dilemmas.

"As we enter a new era of digitalization and automation, we need to ask ourselves: How can we harness the potential of technology and its tools to enhance our creativity and productivity? How can we cope with the risks and uncertainties that technology and its tools may bring to our society and culture? How can we balance the human and the machine, mind and matter, art and science?"

In a bid to answer such questions, the focal point of this years festival is the Mind & Machine exhibition.

Open for free admission, the showcase features physical, digital, and interactive works using new technologies such as AR, VR, and AI.

Visitors to the exhibition interacted with creative technology. Photo courtesy of VFCD

Other highlights of the festival in Hanoi include a symposium on creative intelligence and the impact on "Future Heritage" in Vietnam, a workshop on encoded textile heritage futures, and a talk on Hanoi in 2048.

Since its inception, VFCD has supported the national strategy for the development of cultural industries in Vietnam, including establishing a strong connection between the country's cultural development and socio-economic growth.

The festival also contributes to the formation of a "creative belt" across the country through the eventual expansion of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in Vietnam.

Distinguished guests at the VFCD opening ceremony in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of VFCD

2023 marks both the fifth anniversary of the festival and the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Australia.

Over the years, VFCD has consistently engaged creative professionals from both countries.

"VFCD features cultural collaboration between the two countries and celebrates the opportunities that creative partnerships can create," Professor Julia Gaimster said.

Visit here for more information about VFCD 2023.
A 23-Indian student who went missing in the UK last month has been found dead in the river Thames here. Mitkumar Patel was a 23-year (old) boy who came to the UK for higher studies on 19th September 2023(gofundme.com)

Mitkumar Patel arrived in the UK for higher studies in September and was reported missing on November 17.

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The Metropolitan Police discovered his body in the river Thames near the Canary Wharf area of east London on November 21 and was declared dead by paramedics.

The death is not believed to be suspicious, the Met Police said.

Parth Patel, a relative, has since launched a Go Fund Me online fundraiser and raised over GBP 4,500 since last week.

Mitkumar Patel was a 23-year (old) boy who came to the UK for higher studies on 19th September 2023, reads the fundraising appeal.

He belonged to a farmer family and used to live in a village as well. He was missing from November 17, 2023. Now on November 21 police found his dead body from Canary Wharf in the water. It was sad for all of us. So, we decided to do fund raising for helping out his family and to send his body to India as well, it adds.

The appeal reiterates that the funds will be safely transmitted to Mitkumars family in India.

According to the Evening Standard newspaper, the student was due to move to Sheffield on November 20 to start a degree at Sheffield Hallam University and a part-time job at Amazon.

After he failed to return from a daily walk to the home where he was staying in London, his relatives grew worried and reported him missing. They later found that he had left his set of keys behind.
No new infectious diseases have been found so far in investigations of respiratory illness, Mi Feng, an official with China's National Health Commission said in a press conference on Saturday. Medical workers conduct health checks on local people in Guizhou province.(AFP)

China has seen a rise in respiratory illnesses as the country braces for its first full winter season since it lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in December last year.
A protester was in critical condition Friday after setting themself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, authorities said. A security guard who tried to intervene was also injured. Emergency personnel work the scene after a protester set themself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.(AP)

A Palestinian flag found at the scene was part of the protest, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference.

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He added that investigators did not believe there was any connection to terrorism and none of the consular staff was ever in danger.

We do not see any threat here, he said. We believe it was an act of extreme political protest that occurred.

Authorities did not release the protester's name, age or gender. The person set up outside the building in the city's midtown neighborhood on Friday afternoon and used gasoline as an accelerant, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith said.

The protester was in critical condition, with burn injuries to the body. A security guard that tried to stop the person was burned on his wrist and leg, Smith said.

Schierbaum said police are aware of heightened tensions in the Jewish and Muslim community and have stepped up patrols at certain locations, including the consulate.

Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions in the U.S. have escalated as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war. A weeklong cease-fire that brought the exchanges of dozens of hostages held by Hamas for scores of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel gave way Friday morning to resumed fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Ukraine said Saturday that two power lines connecting its electricity grid to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were cut overnight, putting the plant at risk of an "accident". Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region.(Reuters)

The plant has been at the centre of fighting since it was captured by Russian forces last year, and both sides have accused each other of compromising its safety.

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"Due to the complete blackout, the nuclear power plant switched to powering its own needs from 20 diesel generators," Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said in a statement.

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It said the plant was on "the verge of a nuclear and radiation accident" before Ukrainian specialists were able to promptly restore off-site power.

AFP was not able to immediately verify Ukraine's version of events.

The plant's Russian-installed operator confirmed it resorted to diesel generators overnight, but said that it had operated within safe limits and that no safety violations were reported.

The incident marks the eighth time the plant has been cut off from external power since the conflict began last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned.

"The most recent external power outage is yet another reminder about the precarious nuclear safety and security situation at the plant, which can be affected by events far away from the site itself," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said.

"The IAEA continues to do everything it can to help prevent a nuclear accident. I also call on all parties not to take any action that could further endanger the plant," he added.

Since last year IAEA officials have been on the ground monitoring safety at the plant, which requires constant maintenance to prevent overheating.

It stopped supplying electricity to Ukraine's grid in September 2022, and has been repeatedly rocked by shelling and drone attacks throughout the 21-month conflict.
Ukraine's security service said on Saturday it had prevented former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on grounds that Russia planned to exploit a planned meeting with Hungary's prime minister to hurt Ukrainian interests. FILE - Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks to reporters in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday Jan. 16, 2021.(AP)

Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, said the former president had scheduled only meetings in Poland and the United States and warned the SBU security service against becoming involved in politics.

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Poroshenko was turned away at a border post on Friday.

The SBU said he had planned to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who maintains ties with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and opposes opening talks on European Union membership with Ukraine.

An SBU statement said Russia was preparing a series of "provocations" to discredit Ukraine among its foreign allies as the war against Russia stretches beyond 21 months.

It provided no evidence to support the allegations.

Of the possible meeting with Orban, the SBU said: "Russia planned to use this meeting (like other 'working meetings with ... representative of countries voicing pro-Russian narratives) in psychological operations against Ukraine."

The SBU said Orban "systematically holds an anti-Ukrainian position", was a "friend of Putin" and sought the removal of sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Orban, who is open about his friendly ties with Putin, opposes the start of EU membership talks with Ukraine, to be considered at the bloc's forthcoming summit. He called this week for the creation instead of a "strategic partnership" with Kyiv.

Orban has frequently been at odds with Zelenskiy on several issues related to Ukraine's EU membership bid. European Solidarity, in its statement, called for dialogue with Orban who, it said, had a veto right over accession talks.

Under martial law, Ukrainian officials must secure approval to travel abroad. Parliament's deputy speaker, Oleksandr Korniyenko, said Poroshenko's permission had been cancelled after he had received a letter, which he could not comment on.

Zelenskiy's office has made no comment and Orban's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Poroshenko, president from 2014 to 2019, accused Zelenskiy's administration on Friday of cancelling the permission and playing politics ahead of elections.

The dispute comes amid slowly growing tensions between government and opposition - mostly over internal matters such as budgets and appointments - in contrast to the near-total unity at the start of the conflict.

Zelenskiy and Poroshenko fought a bitter, often deeply personal battle in the 2019 presidential election, when Zelenskiy defeated the incumbent Poroshenko in a landslide.

Zelenskiy said last month that it was "not the time" to hold a presidential election, which under normal circumstances would be scheduled for March 2024 but is prohibited under martial law.
The former US president Donald Trump has lost his bid to avoid civil lawsuits over his role in inciting the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. (FILES) Former US President Donald Trump speaks to the media during the third day of his civil fraud trial in New York on October 4, 2023. A US federal appeals court ruled December 1, 2023 that former president Donald Trump can be sued over the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol that saw his supporters attempt to thwart certification of his election loss to Joe Biden. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)(AFP)

A US appeals court on Friday rejected his claim that he is immune from such lawsuits because he was acting as president at the time.

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The court ruled that Trump was acting in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate when he told his supporters to march to the Capitol and stop the certification of his 2020 election defeat.

The court also cited that US presidents are only immune from civil lawsuits for their official actions, not their political ones. One of the lawsuits against Trump was filed under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a law passed after the Civil War to protect federal officials from violence and intimidation by white supremacists.

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The courts opinion, written by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee, and joined by Judges Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Judith Rogers, a Clinton appointee, said, When a first-term President opts to seek a second term, his campaign to win re-election is not an official presidential act. While Presidents are often exercising official responsibilities when they speak on matters of public concern, that is not always the case.

The court also said that the former President could still try to prove that he was acting in his official capacity as a defense in the lower court, where the lawsuits will proceed.

When these cases move forward in the district court, he must be afforded the opportunity to develop his own facts on the immunity question if he desires to show that he took the actions alleged in the complaints in his official capacity as President rather than in his unofficial capacity as a candidate, the court said.

The decision opens the door for Trump to face lawsuits from police officers and lawmakers who were injured or threatened by his supporters during the riot, which was an attempt to overturn the results of a democratic election.

One of the plaintiffs, James Blassingame, a Capitol police officer, said, More than two years later, it is unnerving to hear the same fabrications and dangerous rhetoric that put my life as well as the lives of my fellow officers in danger on January 6, 2021. I couldnt be more committed to pursuing accountability on this matter. I hope our case will assist with helping put our democracy back on the right track; making it crystal clear that no person, regardless of title or position of stature, is above the rule of law.

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Trump, who is currently the leading contender for the Republican nomination in 2024, faces a slew of legal troubles in addition to the civil lawsuits. He has been criminally charged by the justice department and the Fulton county district attorney for trying to interfere with the 2020 election. He is also under criminal investigation by the justice department for mishandling classified information after leaving office.

Plus, the 45th US president is facing a civil case by the Manhattan district attorney over hush-money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels. He has also been accused of fraud by the New York attorney general for inflating the value of his assets to get better loans and insurance.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by US Representative Pramila Jayapal along with Rep. Rich McCormick and Rep. Raja Krishnamo, have introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would eliminate the per-country caps on employment-based green cards and increase the family-based green card limit. The bill, called the HR6542 Act, aims to address the long-standing backlog of green card applicants, especially from countries like India and China, who face decades of waiting to obtain permanent residency in the United States. Bipartisan bill introduced in US House of Representatives aims to eliminate per-country caps on employment-based green cards. Left Pramila Jayapal(AP/X-Immigration Voice)

On Saturday, Jayapal posted, Proud to help lead this important bipartisan bill with @RepMcCormick & @CongressmanRaja to improve our immigrant visa system and ease the harsh effects of the immigrant visa backlog, with a tagged post from Immigration Voice saying, introducing H.R.6542  the Immigration Visa Efficiency and Security Act. We look forward to visiting the Hill next week to create awareness on why this critical bipartisan bill is necessary to pass this Congress.

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What is HR6542 Bill

According to a tweet Jayapal, the bill would end the discriminatory per-country caps that have kept hundreds of thousands of Indian and Chinese immigrants in limbo for years, unable to reunite with their families or plan their futures. She added that the bill would also help American businesses retain the talent they need to compete and innovate in the global economy.

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The bill has received support from various immigration advocacy groups, such as Immigration Voice, which tweeted that the bill would provide relief to over 1.2 million high-skilled immigrants stuck in the green card backlog, some of whom will otherwise have to wait 134 years to receive their green cards.

The green card backlog is a result of the low annual limits on the number of green cards issued for each category and country. As per recent US GDP 1% of Indian immigrants that contribute to 6% of the US economy.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the employment-based green card backlog reached a new record of 1.8 million cases this year. The backlog consists of immigrants who are waiting to receive green cards, primarily due to the low green card caps for employer-sponsored immigrants and investors.

Whats is EAGLE act?

The EAGLE (Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment) Act would phase out the 7% per-country cap on employment-based green cards over a period of nine years and increase the 7% per-country limit on family-sponsored green cards to 15%.

The EAGLE Act, however, has a better chance of passing in the current Congress, as it has bipartisan co-sponsors and the support of the Biden administration.

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The bill would also protect the diversity visa program, which allocates 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

The HR6542 bill seems similar to the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which passed the House in 2019 but stalled in the Senate due to opposition from some senators who wanted to include provisions to protect American workers and reduce overall immigration levels.
A series of shootings targeting homeless people sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles has left three men dead and sparked a manhunt for the killer. Police believe the same person is responsible for the three attacks, which occurred within a span of four days. LAPD characterized the perpetrator as a "pssible male" operating solo; following each homicide, the individual fled the scene in a dark-colored sedan.(LAPD)

The first victim, a 37-year-old man, was shot and killed in an alley in the Westmont area of the city on Sunday around 3 a.m. The next day, a 62-year-old man was shot behind a building. The third and latest victim, a 52-year-old man, was shot on Wednesday around 2:30 a.m.

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All three victims were alone and in open areas when they were approached and shot by the suspect, who was seen on surveillance video wearing hooded clothing and driving a dark-colored sedan, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

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LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the killings were a series but did not use the term serial killer. He said there were similarities in each of the three cases.

We believe a single individual approached each one and shot and killed each one as they slept  There are similarities in each of the three cases, Moore said.

The LAPD has set up a 24/7 task force and a tip line to catch the killer and has increased patrols in areas where homeless people congregate. The city is also working to provide emergency shelters and services to the homeless population and to urge them to stay in groups or seek help.

Our message to the unhoused community is clear: do not sleep alone tonight. Seek shelter, seek services stay together, seek support, said Mayor Karen Bass.

This is individuals, not encampments, that are being preyed on.

The shootings come amid a rise in violence against homeless people and hate crimes across the country.

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In 2020 and 2021, a homeless man named Gerald Brevard III was charged with assaulting and killing other homeless people in New York and Washington, DC. He allegedly attacked three people as they slept on the streets, injuring two and killing one.
On Friday, US Senator John Fetterman, D-Penn., appeared on ABCs The View and called for the expulsion of Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., from the U.S. Senate. He said that Menendez was more of a Senator from Egypt, not New Jersey, because of his involvement in a bribery scheme. "Senator for Egypt not New Jersey," Senator John Fetterman makes explosive remarks on 'The View'(AP/AFP)

Fetterman, who is a new senator from Pennsylvania, made this statement about the recent removal of Rep. George Santos, D-N.Y., from the House of Representatives.

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Santos faced expulsion by a vote of 311 to 114 on the House floor Friday morning due to his indictment on 23 charges encompassing wire fraud, identity theft, record falsification, and credit card fraud. He allegedly used his campaign funds to buy luxury items and services, such as botox. He has denied the charges.

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How can you allow somebody like Menendez

Joy Behar, one of the co-hosts of The View, asked Fetterman about his opinion on Santos expulsion. Fetterman said, Well, Im not surprised, and then shifted his focus to Menendez.

He said, But to me, I think the more important picture is that we have a colleague in the Senate that has actually did more sinister and serious kinds of things. Senator Menendez. He needs to go!

Fetterman compared the two cases and argued that Menendezs actions were worse than Santos'. He said, And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?

The Pennsylvania senator added, And you know, Santos lies were almost funny, and like he, you know, landed on the moon. That kinda stuff. Whereas, you know, Menendez I think is really a Senator for Egypt, not New Jersey.

Fetterman was referring to the federal charges that Menendez faces for accepting bribes from three businessmen since 2018. The bribes included cash, gold, a Mercedes-Benz, and other valuable items. In return, Menendez agreed to use his power and influence to help the businessmen and the Egyptian government.

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Notably, Fetterman is among the 14 Senate Democrats who have urged Menendez to resign.

So I really think he needs to go, and uh, especially its kind of strange that if Santos is not allowed to remain in the House, you know, someone like that Fetterman concluded his remarks on The View.
Vice President Kamala Harris told the UN's COP28 conference on Saturday that the United States will contribute $3 billion to a global climate fund -- its first pledge to it since 2014. US Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks at a high-level segment on day three of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023.(Bloomberg)

"Today, we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this crisis," Harris told the climate summit in Dubai.

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The new money, which must be approved by the US Congress, will go into the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which was created in 2010.

ALSO READ| Iconic Garisenda Tower in Italy may collapse due to excessive leaning: Reports

The last US contribution to the fund for developing countries was made under then President Barack Obama, who committed $3 billion in 2014.

US President Joe Biden sent Harris in his place to COP28.

The world's biggest climate fund funnels grants and loans for adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries, such as solar panels in Pakistan or flood management in Haiti.

Prior to the US announcement, $13.5 billion had been pledged to the GCF.

The failure of wealthy nations to fulfil financial pledges to help developing nations cope with climate change has fuelled tensions and mistrust at climate negotiations.

Developing countries least responsible for climate change are seeking support from richer polluting nations to adapt to the increasingly ferocious and expensive consequences of extreme weather, and for their transitions to cleaner energy sources.

The GCF plays a part in a separate promise by rich countries to supply $100 billion of climate financing to poorer nations annually. But that pledge was only likely met in 2022, two years late.
This year marks the 124th Audubon Christmas Bird Count and the 36th year for the Elko/Spring Creek Bird Count. The local count will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16. If you are interested in participating you will need to contact Lois Ports, the count circle compiler, at bristleconeaudubon@gmail.com by Dec. 11.

There will be an Audubon meeting on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. in the conference room at Nevada Department of Wildlife (60 Youth Center Road, Elko). Lois Ports will share some historical information for the Christmas Bird Count and go over some of the commonly confused species of birds, such as ravens and crows. Everyone is welcome.

From Dec. 14 through Jan. 5 each year, tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the effort. The data collected by observers over the past century allows researchers, conservation biologists, and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continents bird populations have changed in time and place over the past hundred years.

The state of Nevada averages 18 Christmas Bird Counts, with the majority being held in the western and southern parts of the state.

There is a specific methodology to the CBC, and all participants need to sign up in advance with Lois Ports, but anyone can participate. Each count takes place on a specific day in an established 15-mile diameter circle and is organized by the count compiler. This year our local count will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16. Count volunteers will bird within their assigned route. These participants count every bird they see on their route (and yes, we count each house sparrow and starling!).

The Elko Count Circle includes portions of Elko, Spring Creek, and South Fork, and is divided into at least 20 routes. Participants are assigned one or more of the routes, and they can count any time during that day. Each team of participants typically spends 4 to 6 hours birding their area.

Some routes are mainly done on foot, such as those in residential areas, while others require a vehicle in the more remote areas. Part of the data collected includes mileage from each participant. In a typical year a total of 375 miles are driven, with around 10 miles walked.

Volunteers are provided with a tally sheet for recording their sightings, which helps streamline inputting the data. Data from all counts held throughout the Americas can be found at https://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/

The more people we have participating in the bird count, the more efficiently we can conduct the bird count. Hopefully each team will have two or more participants, which gives the group more spotters so that more birds can be found.

Last year we had 30 participants in the field and several people who counted birds at bird feeders in their yard.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife is offering a program for beginning birders which will pair them with a staff member that will accompany them on a route of the CBC. The goal is to help these individuals learn birding basics while participating in the count. If you are interested in this program, you must register at https://www.register-ed.com/events/view/206116 or contact Nicole St. John at 775-777-2391. Children aged 7 and above are welcome if they are accompanied by an adult.

Last year we had two birds new to our count: red-shouldered hawk and a savannah sparrow. A total of 143 species have been seen over the past 35 years on the local CBC. There are 14 species that have been seen every one of those years: Canada goose, mallard, bald eagle, sharp-shinned hawk, rock dove (feral pigeon), northern flicker, black-billed magpie, common raven, European starling, white-crowned sparrow, dark-eyed junco, house finch, American goldfinch and house sparrow.

Last year we had a total of 68 species with 6,596 individual birds. There were over a thousand European starlings and house sparrows counted. Birds with over 100 individuals counted last year included Eurasian collared dove (795), rock dove (440), common raven (624), ruddy duck (259), white-crowned sparrow (231), dark-eyed junco (212), house finch (252), mallard (209), Canada goose (257), black-billed magpie (275), and California quail (247).

Last year our total species and individual numbers were down compared to previous years. This was mainly due to the extremely cold weather which had frozen most of the water at South Fork State Recreation Area, the Spring Creek Marina and much of the Humboldt River.

If you do have bird feeders in your yard, please make sure they are full in the days preceding and including the count. This helps draw birds into our circle.

People participating in the CBC are instructed to not go onto peoples property or yards. Instead, they will use binoculars to view birds from the road or sidewalk.

If you live within the count circle and regularly watch birds at your bird feeders, you can email bristleconeaudubon@gmail.com for directions on how you can also participate.

You can find out more about the CBC at: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count.
The health of Pope Francis, who is suffering from a lung inflammation, is improving but he will read his Sunday message indoors from his residence to be on the safe side, the Vatican said on Saturday. Pope Francis (AFP)

A statement said the 86-year-old pontiff had no fever and was continuing anti-biotic treatment.

Wrap up the year gone by & gear up for 2024 with HT! Click here

ALSO READ| Israel's Mossad team visits Qatar to discuss terms of restarting truce in Gaza

He normally reads the message from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square. He would read it indoors to "avoid exposing himself to temperature changes", the statement said.

Francis was forced to skip a planned trip to Dubai to make an address to the U.N. climate summit. The Vatican's number two, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, read it on his behalf.
ELKO  An inmate in the Elko County Jail was charged with attacking another prisoner on Thanksgiving in the second inmate assault within less than two weeks.

Daniel S. Seitz, 33, was booked in Elko County Jail on Nov. 24 for one felony count of battery by a prisoner. His bail was set at $100,000.

According to court documents, a male inmates medical emergency prompted deputies to review video surveillance of the cell.

The footage allegedly showed Seitz pushing the victim into a wall. The inmate was reported to have a laceration on the back of his head as a result of the shove into the wall.

7 inmates charged in jail prisoner attack ELKO  Multiple inmates at the Elko County Jail are accused of attacking and beating another inmate on Tuesday.

The incident was nine days after seven inmates were charged for attacking another inmate in his cell that was also recorded by surveillance cameras.

A deputy found the male victim in the previous incident bleeding and bruised following his attack.

Following the Nov. 14 incident, Dylan Berger, 20, Christian Collazo, 27, Shane J. Crochet, 43, Luis Aguirre Gaxiola, 23, and Trevor V. Hemion, 25, were each charged with felony battery by a prisoner, felony fight or challenge to fight and gross misdemeanor conspiring to commit battery by a prisoner.

Luckas C. Dawe, 35, and Aayden Hahn-Allen, 20, were each charged with one count of gross misdemeanor conspiring to commit battery by a prisoner.

Authorities alleged that Dawe orchestrated the Nov. 14 attack.

Court documents did not indicate if the two incidents were somehow related.

Seitz has been incarcerated in the Elko County Jail since July 9 when he was booked on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance, possessing a gun by a prohibited person, and violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence.

On Nov. 9, Seitz pleaded no contest to second-offense DUI and was sentenced to 90 days in jail in Elko District Court in an incident stemming from an arrest on Oct. 19, 2022.

Court records also show he was scheduled to appear in Elko District Court on Nov. 20 for two allegation hearings and a sentencing hearing for the July 9 arrest. The judgment of conviction for that case has yet to be filed in the Elko County Clerks office.

According to court records, Seitz has been sentenced on other charges.

On March 29, Seitz pleaded no contest to challenging for a fight and was given a one-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation in Elko District Court by Judge Kriston Hill.

He also pleaded no contest to attempted possession of a stolen motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit possession of a credit or debit card without cardholder consent stemming from a 2022 arrest. He received a suspended sentence of 19 to 48 months in prison, one year in jail, and was placed on probation for two years by Hill on Dec. 21, 2022
ELKO  Luxury air travel was introduced at the Elko Regional Airport on Friday as SkyWest launched Sky Priority for Delta One travelers, offering premium select and first-class options.

Members of the Elko City Council, including Mayor Reece Keener; Elko County commissioners, and Assemblyman Bert Gurr were on hand Friday afternoon for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially kick off Sky Priority.

Id like to thank our elected officials for showing up today, Keener said. They understand just how important commercial air service is here in northeastern Nevada.

City Manager Jan Baum said she and Airport Manager Jim Foster had been working with the Delta regional air carrier and on the formation of the Flight Alliance for Northeastern Nevada that will promote commercial air service to Elko.

The new service retires the former CRJ-200, a 50-seat passenger plane that departed from Elko for the final time Friday morning.

In its place is the CRJ-900, a 76-seat aircraft that includes first-class and business seating with amenities such as larger overhead luggage space and Wi-Fi.

Foster explained the upgraded aircraft is part of SkyWests return to offering overnight flights, which resumed in September and fly passengers in and out of Elko to the Delta hub based at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

SkyWest introduces first-class flights ELKO  The Elko Regional Airport, in partnership with SkyWest Airlines, has announced first class air travel starting Dec. 1.

Currently, The New SLC Airport is in Phase 3 of its approximately $5 billion renovation project that began in 2020. It includes a new terminal, two concourses, a parking garage, dozens of shops and restaurants and 22 gates.

The new gates allow Elko passengers to make their connecting flights without being bused in to the terminals.

The aircraft will be going right to the gates. So for our passengers, that means connecting times will be much shorter. Youre going to be right there, Foster explained.

Making a comeback

Air service in and out of Elko took a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, when flight service was reduced dramatically across the country, taking a toll on smaller, regional airports.

Elko hires firm to negotiate with SkyWest ELKO  Elko City Council has hired Airplanners LLC to negotiate with SkyWest Airlines to at least keep the airline flying to Elko Regional Air

In response, the City of Elko contracted the consulting group, Airplanners, to explore options for commercial flights with other air carriers. The organization suggested the city form a nonprofit Air Alliance that would bring business leaders, community organizations and local government together with the goal of promoting air travel to the area.

SkyWest's Elko flight schedule changes Aug. 1 ELKO  Connecting with flights in Salt Lake City will be easier when SkyWest changes the timing of its commuter flights in and out of the Elko

The Flight Alliance for Northeastern Nevada supports a minimum revenue guarantee for flight service between Elko and SkyWest Airlines and has been funded by the city. In June, Elko Countys Board of Commissioners voted to join the alliance, providing $500,000 to the alliance and gaining a seat on the board of directors.

Elko County joins flight alliance "After the alliance is formed there will be an effort to reach out to other groups, entities and/or companies for possible involvement.

The alliance has a vast catchment area that will serve the City of Elko and Elko, Lander, Eureka and White Pine counties, Foster said.

The formation of the Flight Alliance is also a work in progress as weve never had anything like this before, he added.

Foster said anyone in the community is invited to join the board of directors and provide whatever they can to the organization.

There is a funding part of it, but its also in-kind services as well. If theres a marketing person thats very good at that, then that can help offset those costs, he explained.

Its bringing the community together for a common goal, and thats retain air service and obtain additional air services, if thats possible.

Noting that SkyWest has been a faithful partner with the Elko Airport for many years, Foster said the city wants to keep them here as long as we can because of that partnership. It spans decades and its important for us to keep that relationship at the foremost of everything we do.

Foster said so far, finding new air carriers to fly out of Elko is a work in progress, largely due to changes in the airline industry in the past three years, but that the Flight Alliance could make a difference.

Ive met with other providers before, and its not that they dont want to come, but we need to have the backing of it, he said. One of the things with the Air Alliance, is we are going to have a community organization that will help us with the backing and provide that data to other service providers.

The ultimate goal is to connect with the three major economic hubs in the state of Nevada, and thats Reno, Las Vegas and Elko, Foster continued. Thats what I would like to see for our future and the future for the communitys air service as well.

Before 2019, Elko Airport reported 19,000 customers, but after SkyWest reduced flights to one per day, booked flights took a sharp decrease.

SkyWest to reduce Elko flights, unless city can help ELKO  SkyWest Airlines plans to cut back flights to and from Elko Regional Airport at the start of the new year, but Elko City Council will b

However, since the return of overnight flights in September, our load numbers have started to substantially increase, Foster said. Weve seen some big increases with that.

He predicted with the new amenities offered to first-class and business travelers, were hoping to see those numbers increase as well. Now that weve got our overnight flight back, were looking to the future. Were very, very hopeful, and were very, very happy.

$1 million federal grant for Elko Regional Airport

On Thursday, it was announced that Elko Regional Airport was the recipient of $1 million from the Airport Infrastructure Grant Program backed by U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

Elko Regional Airport receives $1 million from federal grant WASHINGTON, DC  U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-NV, announced on Nov. 30 that $60.9 million will be allocated to Nevada airports in 2024.

The grant was through an FAA improvement program that allocated funds to commercial and other airports, Foster said, which will be used for infrastructure at the Elko terminal, a building that is more than two decades old.

We need to rebuild our commercial terminal ramp, which is our number one construction project, and replacing our sidewalks around the terminal as well Foster explained. Its already been allocated toward that.

Sen. Jacky Rosen visits Elko, tours airport ELKO  A tour of Elko Regional Airport and an update on the communitys broadband progress concluded Sen. Jacky Rosens tour of rural Nevada o

Foster added that any federal funding through the Airport Infrastructure Grant cannot be used for the hiring of personnel.
Conservative principles such as limited government and freedom of speech are currently under attack, with some in Congress threatening to dictate which apps Americans can or cannot have on their phones through legislation such as the RESTRICT Act. This does not bode well for the future of the Republican Party. Giving in to the temptation to ban TikTok would have lasting repercussions and create a dangerous precedent, not to mention the constitutional concerns it would create.

Frankly, it does not matter which company owns an online platform or where that platform is based. What matters is where it is being used. The U.S. government should not be allowed to keep Americans from accessing websites, apps or other social media platforms. It is my belief that China remains one of our greatest adversaries, and we must ensure that Americans data is kept secure and private. Banning TikTok would not achieve this goal. It would, however, undermine our constitutional principles.

Whether we like it or not, Americans data is already available online. Many websites and apps track our locations, browsing history, scrolling patterns, and the personal data we willingly provide when signing up for these platforms. Many companies are, unfortunately, irresponsible stewards of this data or have fallen prey to cybersecurity attacks. According to a recent Identity Theft Resource Center report, a record number of U.S. data breaches occurred in 2021and this trend will certainly continue in 2023 and beyond.

This does not mean that we should ban Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft or any of the other companies that have had their users data exposed. Can you imagine how our country would change if we censored applications this way? In my opinion, its Republicans who would take the blame, not Democrats.

According to TikTok, 150 million Americans are on the app. Of these, over 40 percent are between 18 and 40. The opportunity to reach such a concentrated pool of young voters is unprecedented, and Democrats are reaping the rewards.

Banning an app that millions of voters use would further alienate the Republican Party from the generations who will control elections for decades to come. These are the very voters we most need to engage. The alternative is to ignore the First Amendment and rewrite the Constitution to give more power to Congress. The hard, simple truth is that banning TikTok is censorship. Moving down this path is dangerous.

2024 is an enormous test but also a tremendous opportunity for Republicans. After four years under a president who I believe has driven our economy into the ground, will we show the American people how a Republican president can restore our country, or will we play into Democrats hands by opening the door for censorship? The Republican Party can embrace these new ways to engage voters and show them why our party is one of prosperity, freedom and family.

We need to win, and we need to win the American way. That means protecting individuals freedom to use their preferred social media platforms. Leave the censorship to China, Russia, and North Korea.

Lets do whats right and build a stronger GOP in the process.
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Hudson, NY (12534)

Today

Overcast. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 42F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 32F. Winds light and variable.
About This Property

Rustic contemporary home with unique layout and fully furnished basement located on a cul-de-sac. Enjoy seasonal views of woods and mountains from your back deck or hike to Tierney Wildlife Refuge. This home was a 3 bedroom/2 bath property with basement bonus space. The current owners recently renovated the upstairs kitchen and added an in-law suite in the basement with its own utility kitchen, full bath and bedroom with separate street level entrance next to the garage. Maybe this area could possibly be a VRBO or ABNB. Currently, it has been used by family members visiting the Berkshires from the west coast frequently. The family enjoyed making new memories of togetherness at the home and taking short trips to many popular Berkshire and New York attractions, local hiking trails


President Joe Biden turned 81 years old on Nov. 20, the oldest president in U.S. history. If re-elected, Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, now 77, would be 82 by the end of his second term of office.

An August AP poll found 77% of Americans say Biden is too old for another term, including 69% of Democrats, 74% of independents, and 89% of Republicans.

The same survey found a majority of Americans (51%) found Trump too old.

By too old voters mean Biden is too physically and mentally impaired by particular effects of aging to do the job. Hes perceived as a weak leader; Trump looks strong by comparison.

Biden limits his public schedule and is scripted by reading from a teleprompter. Still, he rambles and makes serious verbal policy gaffes.

Biden will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents, Politico reported Nov. 13. He simply does not have the capacity to do it, and his staff doesnt trust him to even try.

Given Bidens obvious decline, he will want to replicate his 2020 Wilmington basement strategy running for re-election in 2024, this time from the White House .

But if he cant wage a presidential campaign, Biden cant handle four more years of the grueling job of being presidentwith crises around the globe and at home.

Its selfish of Bidens family and staff to run again. But, Biden would be required to support Vice-President Kamala Harris as his successor. Harris has demonstrated a lack of depth, seriousness and humility.

Biden was more interested in checking race and gender boxes than in selecting a running mate who would be effective and successful as vice-president.

Biden has a favorability rating of 14.7 according to the RCP polling average, but Harris rating is even worse 18.1.

The ten most recent polls find an unpopular Trump (favorability rating 15.0) leading Biden. The public is fed up with high prices, crime, an insecure border, and foreign crises.

Democrats are in a panic. David Axelrod, former chief adviser to Barack Obama, acknowledges Biden could well lose and asks whether its in HIS best interest or the countrys to run again.

Republicans should be worried about Trump as well.

Trumps insulting jibes and absurd boasts have been part of his political persona since 2015.

This year his juvenile name-calling targets Nikki Haley as birdbrain and Ron DeSantis as DeSantimonious, among other bullying taunts.

But Trump has been spinning in the unhinged zone.

In September, Trump on his Truth Social suggested Gen. Mark Milley, the nations highest military officer, deserves executionas in death.

He said NBC should be investigated for treason and the FBI should raid the homes of Senate Democrats. He accused President Biden of being manipulated by the Fascists in the White House.

Trump also uses Truth Social to amplify unhinged posts from others, including one calling the 2021 Capitol riot a Fedsurrection, involving Antifa leftists in MAGA disguise, and the Deep State coordinated their actions through proxies. Trump passed this lunacy on to his millions of followers.

At a New Hampshire rally on Veterans Day, Trump called his domestic political enemies vermin and suggested they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China or North Korea.

Trump ranted to root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.

If Trump is nominated again his every word will get attentionthats the baggage Republicans will carryunless they nominate Haley or DeSantis.

DeSantis has a favorability rating of 12.8.

Haley, on the other hand, is the only national political leader with a positive favorability rating, +0.6. Shes the Republican most likely to win next November.
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North Korea has warned the US that any interference or attack on its spy satellite would be deemed a declaration of war  a threat that came after South Korea blasted its first military spy satellite.

Pyongyang would respond to any US interference on its space assets by eliminating the viability of US spy satellites and would mobilise its war deterrence, state media KCNA said.

The US Space Forces deplorable hostility toward the DPRKs reconnaissance satellite can never be overlooked as it is just a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration of war against it, the countrys defence ministry said in a statement reported by KCNA.

In case the US tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponising the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defence to undermine or destroy the viability of the US spy satellites," it added.

North Korea launched its Malligyong-1 spy satellite on 21 November in what was its third attempt at putting such a satellite in orbit, after two failures in May and August.

It came before South Koreas scheduled launch of its spy satellite into space, amid an intensifying space race on the peninsula.

The warning was made in response to a comment by a US Space Command official who allegedly spouted rubbish hinting at a military attack on the DPRKs reconnaissance satellite, according to KCNA.

It said that the unnamed US official allegedly claimed that the US can decrease the enemy countrys outer-space operation capabilities by using diverse reversible and irreversible methods.

Pyongyang launched a fresh attack on the US and its allies on Saturday, issuing a commentary by Kang Jin Song, a North Korean international relations analyst.

It warned the US of a thermonuclear war and said Washington would be responsible for the catastrophic consequences of its actions.

It blasted the US for its nuclear war exercises racket in the Korean peninsula, saying the US deployed nuclear carrier Carl Vinson and nuclear-powered submarine Santa Fe to the Jeju naval base in South Korean waters on 21 and 22 November.

Raising concerns over heightened activity throughout this year, analysts said the US deployed its strategic nuclear submarine near the Korean peninsula for the first time in 40 years and landed its nuclear strategic bomber for the first time in the South Korean region.

It said the US had conducted more than 60 large-scale joint military exercises around the Korean peninsula with its allies South Korea and Japan.

In case an unexpected clash happens in the northeast Asian region around the Korean peninsula, the US, which has continuously put pressure on the security space of the DPRK by escalating military threat and blackmail, will be held wholly accountable for the catastrophic situation, the commentary said.

It added that the military circumstances for the potential first ever outbreak of a thermonuclear war are fully mature in actuality.

A US Space Command spokesperson said Washington could deny an adversarys space capabilities using a variety of means, when asked if the US could interrupt North Koreas satellites reconnaissance operations.

On Saturday, South Korea blasted its first spy satellite on Elon Musks SpaceX Falcon9 rocket from the Vandenberg US Space Force Base in California.

The rocket, with the word KOREA emblazoned over it, was placed into orbit approximately four minutes after the launch at 10.19am local time on Friday, South Koreas defence ministry said.

Considering resolution and its capacity for Earth observation  our satellite technology ranks in the top five globally, the defence ministry official said, according to Yonhap.

Tensions remain high in the Korean peninsula. The US on Thursday hit North Korea with fresh sanctions following the launch of a spy satellite. It sanctioned eight foreign-based agents of North Korea who facilitated sanctions evasion to gather revenue and technology for its weapons of mass destruction programme.

South Korea also blacklisted 11 North Koreans for involvement in the countrys satellite and ballistic missile development, banning them from financial transactions.
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The United States has rejected a request from Japan to suspend all non-emergency V-22 Osprey flights over its territory after one fell into the sea on Wednesday in western Japan.

A US military aircraft with six personnel on board crashed into the sea near Japans Yakushima island, killing one of them last week. The crash involved an Osprey aircraft, which can function as a helicopter or a turboprop craft, and happened at about 2.47pm local time on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the coastguard.

The tilt-rotor aircraft in Japan operate only after undergoing thorough maintenance and safety checks, Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement. However, the statement did not refer to Japans request.

We have good communications between our senior leaders and are in constant dialogue regarding aviation safety and other safety-related issues, Ms Singh said.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that the US Ospreys continue to operate in Japan.

We are concerned about the continuing Osprey flights despite our repeated requests and the absence of a sufficient explanation about their safety from the US military, Japans chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday.

Japans minister of defence, Minoru Kihara stated that he held a meeting with Lt Gen Ricky Rupp, the commander of US Forces Japan, on Thursday afternoon. During the meeting, he reiterated his request for flights to be permitted only after confirming the safety of the aircraft. Although he acknowledged not explicitly using the terms grounding or suspension during the meeting and emphasised on ensuring the aircrafts safety.

The Osprey aircraft are used for a wide range of mission types that include air assaults, air refuelling, evacuation and recovery and transporting VIPs.

Several crashes involving the aircraft have been reported in recent years.

In August this year, three of 20 US marines were killed on Australias Melville Island while taking part in a military drill with the armies of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon statement said the Osprey flights have been suspended in the Air Force unit that flew the crashed plane. Japans Ground Self-Defense Force has grounded its own fleet of Ospreys.

Separately, the Air Force said the search continues for the crew lost in the crash.

Last year, four US soldiers were killed in a crash in a Norwegian town during a Nato exercise unrelated to the Ukraine war. The aircraft involved was a V-22B Osprey that belonged to the US Marine Corps, Norways armed forces said.

In a 2017 crash, an Osprey struck a warship in an incident that killed three marines on board. New footage of the incident emerged last year.

Additional reporting with agencies
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A 7.6 magnitude earthquake has hit the Philippines, triggering a tsunami warning.

The quake struck off the island of Mindanao late at night, with residents living on the eastern coast urged to evacuate from their homes immediately.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that tsunami waves could hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.

Residents described a strong and long shaking in their homes.

One person living 146 kilometres from the epicentre wrote: The shaking woke me up from sleep and it kept on going for what felt like forever.

I could see my ceiling and walls shaking. Longest and strongest earthquake Ive ever felt.

The epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Im in Davao city. This one is stronger and longer than the last quake on 17 November. Shaking side to side still, another person said.

It comes after a huge 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the region on 17 November. Footage from the time showed ceilings falling at two large shopping centres as pillars swayed.

The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

It causes around 100-150 earthquakes a year in the region due to tectonic plates overlapping at convergent boundaries called subduction zones.

Mindanao is the second-largest island in the Philippines and is home to about 26 million people. Davao City, the third-largest city in the Philippines, is on the coast of Mindanao.
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Kamala Harris announced that the US will contribute $3bn (2.3bn) to a climate fund for developing countries during her visit to the Cop28 summit in Dubai on Saturday.

The vice president, the highest-ranking American official to attend after president Joe Biden decided to skip the summit, also used her visit to the Middle East to address the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Harris landed on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates where she was greeted on the tarmac by US ambassador Martina Strong and Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri, the UAE minister of state for advanced technology.

She was then whisked straight to the Dubai Expo venue where she spoke to hundreds of world leaders inside the packed Al Hairat auditorium.

From the stage, Harris warned that around the world there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress.

Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation. Corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, she said.

The vice president added: Continued progress will not be possible without a fight.

Harris has joined a coterie of senior officials in Dubai including the US top climate negotiator, secretary John Kerry, secretary of state Antony Blinken, White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi and EPA administrator Michael S Regan, in a bid to reinforce that the climate crisis remains top of Americas agenda despite Bidens absence.

The US also announced on Saturday:

The country would build no new coal-fired power plants;

New domestic rules that force oil companies to cut methane by monitoring leaks and banning routine flaring

A deal with 118 countries to triple the worlds renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The $3bn for the Green Climate Fund comes after the US was criticized for its embarrassing pledge of $17.5m to the new Loss and Damage fund for vulnerable nations when the UAE, Germany and Italy promised $100m (78m).

The US has made slashing methane, which leaks from oil and gas operations, landfills and livestock, a central pillar of its Cop28 agenda, and wants more countries to commit to cuts, building on an agreement it signed last month with China. The potent greenhouse gas has about 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over 20 years.

Harris also used her UAE trip to discuss the Israel-Hamas war as the highest-ranking US official to visit an Arab country since the conflict broke out in October.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Harris will discuss our desire to see this pause restored, our desire to see aid getting back in, our desire to see hostages get out with regional leaders.

Israel has intensified attacks on Gaza in recent days after the collapse of a week-long truce.

President Biden decided to skip Cop28 as he deals with a host of domestic and international problems.

He briefly attended Cop27 in Egypt last year, and put in several days at Cop26 in Scotland in 2021.

Climate advocates shared their dismay at his absence.

President Bidens failure to attend Cop28 is a clear signal that hes not willing to confront US oil and gas production at this summit, Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Independent.

Fossil fuels are finally center stage at this Cop, and we should have the president here pushing for the boldest, fastest fossil fuel phaseout.

President Bidens absence on this crucial world stage shows hes not taking that phaseout seriously at the time when we need it most. Its critical that his team commit to fully phasing out fossil fuels in the final decision text.
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Fully imagining the tangible consequences of the ongoing climate crisis and human-driven global warming isnt always an easy feat. The destruction of ecosystems, the extinction of species and rising sea levels arent always easy to conjure in the minds eye.

But now, the future that global warming will create is right before our eyes  thanks to animated models of nearly 200 coastal cities from climate researchers.

Climate scientists with Climate Central have curated a collection of animated models showing us what 196 cities will look like if global temperatures continue to increase, causing sea levels to rise .

Water levels at the Plaza de la Catedral in Havana, Cuba if global warming hits 1.5C (left) or 3C (right). (Climate Central)

For Ben Strauss, chief scientist for Climate Central, said these images show the legacy were leaving for future humans.

These images are what we sign up for today, Mr Strauss told The Independent. Its about our legacy. What future are we putting in the pipeline?

The models show two possibilities side-by-side: the results if emissions are reduced and the Earth warms only by 1.5C, and the results if emissions continue to increase and the Earth warms to 3C or beyond.

Modelled scenes include the worlds tallest building  the Burj Khalifa in Dubai  flooded and the entirety of the Plaza de la Catedral in Havana, Cuba submerged in water.

Water levels at the Abu Al-Abbas Al-Mursi Mosque in Alexandria, Egypt if global warming hits 1.5C (left) or 3C (right). (Climate Central)

A 1.5C increase in global temperatures is the upper warming limit of the Paris Agreement, set to avert the most harmful consequences of the climate crisis. Experts project the planet will be locked into a 1.5C increase by 2029 if emissions  particularly those from fossil fuels  arent immediately reduced.

This summer, the global average temperature temporarily surpassed 2C , above pre-industrial levels for the first time since records began.

Global warming causes a rise in sea levels by gradually melting ice sheets and causing seawater to expand, according to NASA . The regions that rising sea levels will hurt the most include the US eastern coast and Gulf coast, Asia and any islands.

Water levels at the Glasgow Riverside Museum in Glasgow, United Kingdom if global warming hits 1.5C (left) or 3C (right). (Climate Central)

The models do not necessarily predict how long the rise will take. The results wont be immediate, either  the projected sea level rises in these models could take hundreds of years. Instead, the models demonstrate the eventual and inevitable future sea levels projected for different warming scenarios, according to Mr Strauss.

Todays sea level is not close to caught up to how much warming we have already caused, Mr Strauss said. If the planet stopped warming today, we would probably see around five more feet of sea level rise eventually. But each year we keep putting carbon in the atmosphere were increasing the amount of sea level that were committed to.

Water levels at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, USA if global warming hits 1.5C (left) or 3C (right). (Climate Central)

For Mr Strauss, the most poignant model in the collection is Dubais, thanks to the striking imagery of the partially flooded Burg Khalifa and the citys ties to fossil fuel production.

Dubai is also hosting this years Cop28 conference , Mr Strauss said, the worlds largest and most important annual climate summit where world leaders come together to discuss the state of the climate crisis.
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America Ferrera has spoken candidly about how her body has been viewed in Hollywood.

The actress recently spoke with Elle for its 2023 Women in Hollywood issue, where she talked about how ridiculous she thought it was that a lot of her first major acting roles, like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Real Women Have Curves, focused on her body.

Whats so insane is, you go back and look, and I had a very average-size body. And so the idea that people were looking at me and saying: Thats curvy is crazy. Not that I care, but its like, thats insane that we thought that was so groundbreaking, she told the outlet. I was Hollywoods version of imperfect, which seems so ridiculous.

I dont feel alone in that either, she added. There are so many women who were called brave, just because they are people in bodies.

She also used the interview as an opportunity to speak out about race and how it always felt like she was the only Latina in the room. As a Latina in Hollywood, I always felt like the only one of my kind in the room. I was the only one in the cast, or the only female Latina producer on any given thing I was doing, and I felt further isolated and on my own. And those were barriers that we just had to decide to start breaking down, Ferrera said.

As for her future in the industry, Ferrera has new plans for her future acting roles that dont involve being based on stereotypes. What I continue to wish for my career, and womens careers and people of colours careers, is that we dont have to exist inside of these boxes or these lanes - that we dont have to be relegated to represent just the thing that the culture wants us to represent, she said.

Ferrera continued: I want to be more of who I am as a person, and to get to make art that doesnt fit into any of the boxes and isnt about the dominant conversation people have wanted to have about me because Im a woman who doesnt fit into stereotypical Hollywood.

Her recent appearance in the Barbie movie this past summer would be an example of one such role. Not only is her character Gloria the only female employee at Mattel, but shes also a mother to a moody teenage daughter named Sasha, played by Ariana Greenblatt.

Towards the end of the film, Barbie is seen grappling with an existential crisis brought on by feelings of worthlessness. But its Ferreras poignant monologue that gets Robbies character out of her funk, and which touched the thousands who saw the Barbie movie on opening weekend.

In the scene, Gloria admits that shes so tired of watching herself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I dont even know, she concluded.

The Barbie monologue highlighted the many double standards and contradictions that women face in a patriarchal society, which is why thousands of fans took to social media to praise the powerful message.
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Macaulay Culkin brought his children with him to his Walk of Fame ceremony in Hollywood, California,

The 42-year-old Home Alone star accepted a star on the Walk of Fame on Friday alongside his fiancee, Disney alum Brenda Song, 34, and their two sons Dakota, 2, and an infant born this year.

Culkin was seen kissing his youngest son, whose name has never been confirmed, atop his head. The infant donned a grey sweater vest and a pacifier in his mouth. In the row behind his parents, Dakota was spotted sitting on a family friends lap, wearing a mohawk.

During his acceptance speech, the actor expressed his gratitude to his wife and their two boys. He said, Id like to thank Brenda. Youre absolutely everything. Youre my champion. Youre the only person happier for me today than I am.

Youre not only the best woman Ive ever known, youre the best person Ive ever known, he continued. Youve given me just all my purpose, youve given me family. After the birth of our two boys, youve become my three favourite people. I love you so much.

Song got candid about their growing family in an interview with The Cut, telling the outlet about how theyve grown into a hands-on parenting style.

US actor Macaulay Culkin gestures near his partner Brenda Song and their son during a ceremony to unveil his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star on December 1, 2023 in Hollywood. (AFP via Getty Images)

My fiance and I are very hands-on, she told the outlet. We dont have a nanny, but my mom has been here with us since my son was born... When I was working, my mom would bring [my son] to set so I could breastfeed and see him during the day. People tell you a lot about labor and pregnancy, but not about the fourth trimester. To my girlfriends who are pregnant I say, make sure you have help. Because your instinct is to want to do it all and you physically cant.

I think when you and your partner have kids, especially the first few months, you dont have the patience to be polite with each other, she continued. Being communicative when you need help is so important. Instead of having set duties, we just feel each other out. Ill be putting my son down and my partner is like, Let me feed the animals and get dinner ready. 

US actor Macaulay Culkin gestures near his newly unveiled Hollywood Walk of Fame Star in Hollywood, California, on December 1, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)

Sparks first flew between the longtime couple when they reportedly met on the set of their movie Changeland in Thailand. They were later romantically linked after they were photographed in July 2017 dining at Craigs, an Italian restaurant and celebrity hotspot in Los Angeles.

Although the pair have notably kept their relationships off social media, they have occasionally shared their milestones with the public, including welcoming their son Dakota Song Culkin, on 5 April 2021, and revealing that they were engaged as of late last year.

Macaulay and Brenda have loved being together as a family since welcoming Dakota, a source shared with People. The engagement is the natural next step for them. They are excited for their future together.
Workers read books at the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at Ms. Dao Thi Qua's boarding house in Binh Tan district. (Photo: sggp.org.vn)

Expanding, meeting cultural needs of workers

One day in early November 2023, Ms. Nguyen Thu Hang, a worker at Nidec Vietnam Co., Ltd. in the High-Tech Park, Thu Duc City and 2 colleagues invited each other to visit the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space which has just been built at the companys Trade Union Room.

I am impressed because this place not only has many books about Uncle Ho and Uncle Ton, but also has a map of Uncle Hos 30-year journey to find a way to save the country. I feel more motivated to strive, Ms. Thu Hang shared.

Nearly a month ago, since the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space was implemented, the Trade Union Room at Nidec Vietnam Co., Ltd. has been the destination for many workers. President of the companys Trade Union Luu Kim Hong said that some people just stop by for 5 minutes to look and borrow books to read, while others stay longer to admire and learn about the life of Uncle Ho and master craftsman Ton Duc Thang.

On November 9, the District 1 Labor Federation also launched the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at the Grassroots Trade Union of E.land Vietnam Co., Ltd. in Cu Chi district. This is the first Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at an FDI enterprise in District 1. The space displays more than 200 images and books containing works and documents about the great life and career of President Ho Chi Minh and President Ton Duc Thang, in order to help workers have more places to exchange, study and follow Uncle Hos example.

Vice Chairman of the City Labor Confederation Phung Thai Quang said that the formation of Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at businesses with many workers and boarding houses contributes to building a comprehensive culture and people, improving spiritual life for workers. To date, the City Labor Federation has built more than 50 Ho Chi Minh Cultural Spaces at businesses.

Spreading learning space about Uncle Ho

At the Tuoi Mart branch in Hai Thanh residential area, Binh Tri Dong B ward Binh Tan district, Mr. Nguyen Long Tuoi, Director of Tuoi Mart Trading and Investment Co., Ltd., devoted more than 30 square meters in the company facility to spending time with others to build Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space.

Photo for illustration. (Source: sggp.org.vn)

In this space, Tuoi Mart Company's Trade Union also often organizes cultural exchange activities, Don ca tai tu music performances and playgrounds to help workers understand Uncle Hos life.

Over the past year, the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue's boarding house at 155/23 Le Dinh Can, Tan Tao Ward, Binh Tan District has been frequently visited by most of the tenants.

In addition to displaying documents and books, I also created a reading corner in the space so children can freely choose books about Uncle Ho, while workers also have a place to learn about the life of Uncle Ho and Uncle Ton, said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue.

As for Ms. Dao Thi Quas boarding house at 164/8, Group 6B Street, Tan Tao A Ward, Binh Tan District, Ms. Qua renovated an unrented room to make a Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space. In addition to books, newspapers and documents about Uncle Ho, the space has nearly 100 books about the history of Saigon - Gia Dinh, documents about Party Congresses, and documents about trade unions.

Vice Chairman of the City Labor Confederation Phung Thai Quang said that after 1 year of implementation, Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space has become a place for cultural and political activities of workers and attracts a large number of workers to visit and join hands to maintain and develop. In particular, the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space at businesses has also helped evoke the sense of responsibility of workers in building a strong class, through which many workers have joined the Party./.
 Close TV host Piers Morgan defended his decision to identify the two members of the royal family at the centre of the furore, saying it was blindingly obvious they were not guilty of racism.

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Piers Morgan has explained why he named the two allegedly racist members of the royal family featured in a Dutch translation of new book Endgame.

Earlier this week, the broadcaster decided to name the Princess of Wales and King Charles as the two senior royals inadvertently identified in an excerpt from Omid Scobies book about the royal racism scandal involving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2021.

At the time, he said: If Dutch people wandering into a bookshop can see these names, then you, the British people who actually pay for the royal family are entitled to know, too.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan are yet to break their silence after the Dutch translation of Omid Scobies book Endgame identified them both at the centre of a racism row.

A source close to the royal family has called on the Sussexes to speak out and defend their relatives as their silence is deafening, according to The Telegraph.
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Health authorities in Ohio have alerted in recent days of a paediatric surge of cases of pneumonia in the state.

The Warren County Health District said in a statement on Wednesday that 145 cases of pneumonia have been reported in children between the ages of three and 14 since August. In an initial news release on Tuesday, the health district confirmed that the spreading illness was deemed an outbreak due to the above-average case volumes.

Recent media reports have drawn comparisons between the spike in cases of mycoplasma pneumonia, dubbed white lung syndrome, in both Ohio and China. But health officials in the state have warned that the outbreak is not linked to Chinas  meaning that the strains seen by Ohio doctors are not spreading from country to country.

Although cases have risen in Ohio, medical experts said the trend was somewhat expected as part of the flu season, and that it was potentially exacerbated by COVID restrictions being dropped.

We have no evidence whatsoever of any connection to any outbreaks statewide or internationally, said Clint Koenig, a family physician and medical director at the Warren County Health Department. We dont have any evidence to suggest this is anything but routine, standard winter bugs causing pneumonia in higher rates in kids.

Dr Koenig has emphasised that the cases of pediatric pneumonia in Ohio are not a new or novel virus, but rather strains of pneumonia that already circulated in the US. Warren County District reports that most children are recovering at home and no deaths have been recorded in relation to the outbreak.

Heres a breakdown of what you need to know about both outbreaks  and why officials believe theyre not linked:

China sees childhood pneumonia wave; officials tamp down outbreak fears

What strains of pneumonia are circulating in Ohio?

The Warren County Heath District said the main types of pathogens detected so far were streptococcus pneumonia, adenovirus, and mycoplasma pneumonia.

Meanwhile, cases seen in China include respiratory illnesses such as influenza, rhinoviruses and mycoplasma pneumonia. Cases of mycoplasma pneumonia are also spreading in Denmark, reaching epidemic levels and recoding 541 new cases by the end of last week, according to a Danish Ministry of Health research group.

In recent media reports, mycoplasma pneumonia has been described as white lung syndrome, due to the whitening of the lungs shown in x-rays of patients with pneumonia, NBC reports. The term is a medical buzzword and is not used by physicians when treating patients.

Health authorities in the US have been in contact with their counterparts in China. However, medical experts have concluded that the outbreak in Ohio appears to be driven by the usual mix of respiratory viruses during the colder months  all of which previously circulated in the US.

Despite the headlines that were seeing in China, there is no indication that there are any new viruses or bacteria spreading from country to country, John Brownstein, a doctor at Boston Childrens Hospital, told ABC News. This is typical seasonal bacterial and viral activity that we see each year.

The Chinese Health Ministry has also stated that the respiratory illnesses seen in the country are not new and are all known.

What is mycoplasma pneumonia?

Mycoplasma pneumonia is a bacteria that can cause mild infections by damaging the lining of the respiratory system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Around two million cases are recorded each year in the US.

The infection can become pneumonia, where shortness of breath can also be experienced, but is considered a milder version of pneumonia.

Its sometimes referred to as walking pneumonia, which means you have pneumonia but youre not sick enough to be in the hospital, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center Dr James Cutrell told NBC.

In most cases, people can recover at home and are treated with antibiotics, the Ohio health district said in its release.

The bacteria is spread through coughs and sneezes and is usually spread between people who spend a lot of time together, such as in households, schools, residence halls, and military or care facilities and hospitals.

In Ohio, the Warren County Health District said most children have been experiencing symptoms such as cough, fever and fatigue. Other symptoms listed by the CDC include a sore throat and headaches. If a child under five contracts the illness, they could also experience sneezing, a stuffy or runny nose, watery eyes, wheezing, vomiting and diarrhoea.

What has driven the outbreak in Ohio?

Bacterial infections such as mycoplasma pneumonia tend to make a resurgence every three to seven years in the US, with cases rising in colder months. Viruses like influenza, RSV, and the common cold follow similar trends.

Based on our provisional assessment, we are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary, but we are continuing to monitor, said a spokesperson from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr Koenig also noted that although some cases have led to hospitalization, most have been patients with underlying conditions and that the illnesses are no more severe than in previous years.

Restrictions on social interactions being further lifted post-pandemic may have also contributed to the spike in cases. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota, told NBC that particularly rings true in Chinas case.

They really did have a total shutdown of all the infectious diseases. So I would have expected exactly what were seeing right now, Mr Osterholm said. Were seeing increases in respiratory infections in general, but particularly it seems like mycoplasma ... Its just because weve got a larger pool of people who are more susceptible.

Health officials have recommended that everyone over the age of six months get an updated COVID-19 vaccine and their annual flu shot.

Older adults over the age of 60, pregnant women, and infants under the age of eight months are also eligible for an RSV vaccine to protect against severe illness and death.
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A man has died in a house fire in Bradford as three others escaped.

The police attended the fire at Finch Street, Bradford at around 5:31am after being contacted by the fire service, say West Yorkshire Police.

A man, a woman and a child managed to escape from the property and were taken to hospital for treatment with non-life threatening injuries, according to West Yorkshire Police.

A second man was brought out of the address by firefighters and was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene.
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An 84-year-old man has died following an explosion at a house in the Baberton area of Edinburgh.

Police Scotland confirmed reports were received of an eruption at an address on Baberton Mains Avenue at 10.25pm on Friday.

A 43-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were taken to hospital but their condition is unknown.

An 84-year-old man has died after an explosion at a house in Baberton, Edinburgh (PA Wire)

Local Ross Aitchison said he pulled a woman from the rubble of the explosion with the help of another neighbour.

His son Ben told EdinburghLive that his father had called him at 10.26pm to ask him if he heard that big bang.

Mr Aictchison said his father only lives 20-30 seconds away from the scene of the incident so ran over to see what had happened.

He said: By the time I got to where he was he had already got the woman out the house with another persons help and luckily she was still alive.

The scene on Baberton Mains Avenue following the fatal explosion (PA)

Pictures of the scene show a house completely ripped apart with the buildings frame demolished as it lay in pieces all over the street.

Neighbours revealed they could feel their homes shaking, while another person tweeted that they had heard the blast from inside a movie theatre in the nearby suburb of Wester Hailes.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, some locals reported hearing the explosion as far away as Gilmerton, a suburb on the fringe of Edinburgh and miles from the blast site.

Police Scotland said: Around 10.25pm on Friday,1 December 2023, we were called to reports of an explosion at a property on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

Emergency services are at the scene, and we would advise people to avoid the area at this time.

Locals reported hearing the blast miles away (PA)

A number of homes were evacuated as a precaution and the road, Baberton Mains Avenue, remained closed on Saturday morning.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said five appliances had attended and two people had been rescued from the ruins of the home before their arrival.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: We were alerted at 10.26pm on Friday 1 December to reports of a gas explosion affecting residential properties on Baberton Mains Avenue in Edinburgh.

Operations control mobilised five fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where firefighters worked to make the area safe.

Two casualties were rescued prior to our arrival, and the crews remain on scene.

A spokeswoman for gas distributor SGN said the body was brought in to assist emergency services and ensure the immediate vicinity was made safe, adding it was too early to speculate on the cause of the explosion.

At around 10.45pm last night, we received a request to assist the emergency services following reports of a serious explosion in Baberton, Edinburgh, the spokeswoman said.

Our engineers worked with the emergency services to ensure the immediate vicinity in Baberton Mains Avenue was made safe in our role as the gas emergency service.

Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the man who has tragically died as well as those who have been injured.

While it is too early to speculate as to what has happened, we are working closely with the authorities to help discover the cause.

Sue Webber, a Scottish Tory MSP for the Lothian region, wrote on social media: Such tragic news, in such a close community.

Thank you to all the emergency services that attended. My thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this incident.
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The Elgin marbles have been a source of diplomatic and cultural controversy since a row erupted over where the ancient artefacts should be homed.

Athens has long demanded the return of the historic artworks, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire.

A diplomatic row erupted on Monday after Rishi Sunak was accused of cancelling a meeting with the Greek prime minister at the eleventh hour.

The diplomatic spat came after Mr Mitsotakis had used an interview ahead of the anticipated talks to push for the return of the Elgin marbles, saying the current situation was akin to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Visitors at the British Museum on Tuesday demonstrated the clash of opinions  with some saying it is like cutting Tower Bridge in half but others asking where the returning of artefacts would stop if they were to be returned.

Greek tourists visiting London and the statues told The Independent that they should be returned.

Greek-Cypriots (l-r) Zoe, Rafaella and Stella say the statues are mean a lot to Greek people (The Independent)

It means a lot to Greek people. They should definitely go back to where they came from because, to Greek people, it means a lot. Its our history. Zoe, 25, from Limassol, Cyprus said.

Her friend, Rafaella, also 25, added: I definitely think they should go back. Its a part of Greek culture and therefore should be in Greece. I know that others want them here but in my opinion, I think they should be returned.

Commenting on the British prime ministers late cancellation, Stella, also a Greek-Cypriot said: Its weird that Sunak cancelled the meeting, we didnt know he did that. Maybe it was on purpose that it got cancelled? It was very last minute.

On the other hand, Jullianne Jollie, 58, from the Wirral says she has changed her mind about where the statues should be homed.

Julliane Jolie says she is concerned whether returning the marbles will set a precedent (The Independent)

Ive gone from thinking they absolutely should go back to thinking as time goes on that they shouldnt, the retired education publisher told The Independent.

If you asked me 18 months ago I would have said yes but, then, when does it stop?

The whole point of a museum is preservation for the future. I dont know what the Greeks think about it but to be honest I think its good to see some Greek culture in London. Not everyone can go all the way to Greece.

John Ransom said it makes no sense that the heads of these statues remain in Athens (The Independent)

John Ransom, 70, from Edgware, London also has mixed opinions on the debate.

Something says morally it should go back but, then, youre setting a precedent for all of the countries to say they want their stuff back. If these things werent here we wouldnt be standing in this museum, he said.

The British do have a habit of taking stuff or buying stuff but not for the right price. That seems to be a British tradition, unfortunately.

It should be challenged and its right that its challenged. There are pieces over there that are missing their heads and thats because the heads are in Athens. What sense does that make?

How would we feel if they came over and started taking Tower Bridge? We wouldnt like it if our heritage was stolen.

Ersin Kurnaz says he had to go from Athens to London to see the other half of the Parthenon (The Independent)

Another visitor to the museum, Ersin Kurnaz, 40, believes the statues must not feel at home in London.

He said: I went to Athens not long ago and saw the Parthenon. Its weird having to see half of it there and half of it here.

I am Turkish but living in Germany. I think its similar in the sense that my origin will always be Turkey. When Im in Turkey its a different feeling. It feels like home. I think it must be the same for the sculptures.

Greek art historian Maria Paloma de Alvarado was also admiring the statues on Tuesday and said the debate was complex.

Maria Paloma de Alvarado said the fate of the statues may have been worse if they had not been bought by Lord Elgin (The Independent)

I believe yes, they should be returned. While they bought it legally its part of the Greek identity, she said.

There is a discussion here however because if Lord Elgin hadnt bought all of this it probably all would have disappeared.

British Museum chairman George Osborne, a former chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways for the Elgin marbles to be displayed in Greece, with speculation that this could involve a loan deal in which part of the set would be sent to Athens.

But on Monday, the prime ministers official spokesman stressed Mr Sunaks support for the law that prevents the marbles from being permanently returned and suggested he would not be in favour of any loan arrangement.

The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed disappointment in Mr Sunaks last-minute cancellation of their meeting.

In a statement published on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: Anyone who believes in the correctness and justice of their positions is never afraid of opposing arguments.
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Thousands of nurseries have shut their doors amid a staffing crisis, leaving Jeremy Hunts flagship Budget pledge to expand free childcare for British families doomed to failure, The Independent has been told.

New figures from school inspectors Ofsted show that 3,320 of the 62,300 nurseries and childminders for under-fives in England have shut their doors in the past year alone, leaving 17,800 fewer childcare places available.

At the time of the Budget announcement in March, Hunt pledged the sector would be given help to ready itself for the number of places needed to meet demand  but in the months since thousands of nurseries have closed amid a spiralling cost of living crisis and lack of government support.

Experts say the decline means the governments plan to offer 30 hours of free childcare for under-fives from 2025 will be impossible to implement as they struggle to recruit and retain workers.

The news leaves families banking on the provision in limbo, not knowing whether they can afford soaring childcare fees which are north of 2,000 a month for a full-time place in some areas.

It comes just days after Mr Hunt doubled down on his commitment to start the first part of the rollout  due to begin in April  in his autumn statement.

The Independent can also reveal:

The number of nurseries and early years services for under fives has plummeted from 84,970 in 2015/2016 to 63,207 in 2022/2023

Almost 100,000 extra workers are needed to fulfil Mr Hunts pledge, according to research by The University of Leeds and the Early Education and Childcare Coalition

180,000 additional places will be needed by the end of 2025 for the rollout to work

This week, the government announced 400m of extra funding for childcare places but providers remain concerned about the lack of trained staff to fill the roles.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, told The Independent it was frankly unbelievable that the government wants to press ahead with the plan at the most challenging time for the sector in decades.

Labour said childcare providers had been pushed to breaking point under Conservative rule with cost of living rising and problems in recruitment.

With the shortage of childcare places, mother-of-one Sophie Barnett told The Independent she will be forced to drive 60 miles a day in a two-hour round trip from spring next year due to a lack of services in her area.

Ms Barnett, 31, who lives in Norfolk and is currently on maternity leave, told The Independent the journey feels like wasted time that could spent with her son.

Sophie Barnett has been forced to enrol her child in a daycare 30 miles away due to shortages (Supplied)

Ms Barnett, who works in education and events, added: Sadly, due to local council politics, the local nursery  two miles from where I live and work  closed whilst I was still pregnant.

Taking into account nursery costs, and fuel costs, I will be going back to work for about 30 a week. What is the point? But I love my job, value adult time and socialisation, and want to progress in my career.

Mr Leitch warned the Tories expansion plans are doomed to fail unless the government properly listens to and engages with the sector. He said it would be a complete waste of time and money if they failed to address the shortages before the rollout begins.

He said decades of underfunding meant services have been forced to close and he argued the new policy would lead to more providers closing.

We will have parents knocking on our doors saying I want this entitlement and we wont have the staff to deliver it, he added.

Taking into account nursery costs, and fuel costs, I will be going back to work for about 30 a week Sophie Barnett

Mr Leitch, whose organisation represents nurseries, pre-schools and registered childminders among others, said many of their nurseries have waiting lists as they cant find staff.

The Confederation of British Industry has estimated implementing the governments expanded childcare plans will cost 8.9bn rather than the 4bn ministers have allocated to fund the increase in places  with this including staffing costs, bills, rent, and resources.

Helen Hayes, Labours shadow children and early years minister, said: Childcare providers have been pushed to breaking point under the Conservatives, stuck with soaring costs and struggling to recruit the skilled staff they need.

(Sophie Barnett)

Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has previously found the UK had one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world.

Research by the New Economics Foundation and The Social Guarantee shows almost half of children under five are now living in childcare deserts  with more than 1.5 million children in England residing in parts of the country where there are more than three children for every early years space.

Polling by campaign group Pregnant then Screwed found that around a quarter of parents face waiting lists of at least 10 months to get their children enrolled in nursery.

Sally Pearce, who helps run two nurseries in Sheffield, said both services were struggling with staff recruitment and retention. She said a lack of funding made it difficult to pay salaries.

We advertise posts and we get hardly any applications or those people who apply have not got the required qualifications. Sometimes we can put an advert up twice and nobody suitable applies Sally Pearce

We advertise posts and we get hardly any applications or those people who apply have not got the required qualifications, she added. Sometimes we can put an advert up twice and nobody suitable applies.

Ms Pearce, a professor at Sheffield Hallam who specialises in early years care, said the right childcare support for children and parents at this stage has benefits which stretch into adulthood but warned the sector is in crisis.

People are leaving because they can earn higher salaries with less responsibility and less pressure. Sometimes staff become burnt out, she said.

Lauren Fabianski, head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant then Screwed, said early years staff were drastically underpaid, with most on the minimum wage. She added: With the rise in the cost of living many providers are struggling to keep their lights on, and they are closing their doors as a result.

We are hearing from parents who are at their wits end trying to find and afford childcare that enables them to work. Families are having to downsize to pay the bills, move house to find nurseries with availability or commute for hours to make it all work.

Ellen Broome, of Coram Family and Childcare, said the governments plan to expand free childcare hours would only increase the pressure on an already stretched sector, with the potential for disadvantaged children being hit the hardest.

A Department for Education spokesperson said they are rolling out the single biggest investment in childcare in Englands history, and are confident in the strength of our childcare market to deliver 30 free hours of childcare for working parents from nine-months-old up to when they start school.

The representative added: The findings of this survey differ markedly from our own work which shows the early years workforce is stable. But we know there is more to do  which is why we are launching a new national recruitment campaign in the new year, and an accelerated apprenticeship route into the sector to help recruit new staff.
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Daddy, may I download TikTok? Maia politely asked her father, five months after she had turned 13.

Liam Walsh double-checked the legal age for the app and said he trusted his mature child to be able to use it responsibly. Like other teenagers, Maia refused to listen to her parents calls to get off her phone as she spent hours lost in the virtual world.

But six months later, at 3.15am on 7 October, Mr Walsh received a phone call that will haunt him forever.

Maia is dead, her mother screamed. His little girl had taken her own life three weeks before her 14th birthday.

The father doted on the daughter he described as an ordinary, cheerful 13-year-old girl who excelled at school and enjoyed playing Minecraft.

She was a sweet kind chirpy child until TikTok happened, he said. My world turned to bits. In hindsight, I look back and wonder if anything going on, I dont know if she was dragged into a world she didnt have the maturity to understand.

Liam Walsh described his daughter as a cheerful and happy girl and fears she was dragged into a disgusting wormhole of risk through algorithms (Provided)

Mr Walsh is one of a number of bereaved families sharing their harrowing stories of losing children in circumstances where social media is suspected of playing a part, after Ofcom laid out their first steps to regulating the online sphere.

Ofcoms Chief Executive Dame Melanie Dawe said the regulator cannot waste a moment on setting out how they protect children online. Ofcom will work alongside social media sites to ensure harmful material such as child sexual abuse material, grooming and violent content are removed.

Mr Walsh is now campaigning for full transparency of Maias online data in the months leading up to her death. As it stands, social media platforms have a 90 day retention policy.

The 48-year-old says he saw two disturbing videos romanticising self-harm and suicide from his daughters TikTok like history seen by The Independent.

My quest is to find out what led my child to do something so destructive and dangerous, Maia is missing her life. Maybe there is nothing to see, but I deserve to have the chance to find out.

Isaac Kenevans mother says he died after taking part in an online choking challenge (Provided)

When asked for a comment, TikTok cited their community guidelines which state they do not allow showing, promoting, or sharing plans for suicide or self-harm, they say any content violating these terms will be removed. The social media platform also says it releases quarterly community guidelines enforcement reports to hold itself accountable and claims 98.1% of the content removed in quarter two of 2023 was removed proactively.

TikTok added they work closely with Samaritans and the International Association for Suicide Prevention to remove harmful content whilst allowing users to share their issues in a safe way.

But the Walshes are from the only family to suffer such a painful loss. Isaac Kenevan was a typical teenage boy who loved gaming and sports. Last March, a coroner ruled he died due to misadventure after his mother Lisa found him lifeless on the bathroom floor.

The mother from Essex believes his death was due to an online choking challenge, and says the police found two videos of him taking part in it on his phone.

My son was a typical teen, he was a happy boy with friends, the 51 year-old said. He was just very inquisitive he enjoyed doing all the online challenges such as the ice bucket and bottle flip challenge. We never imagined it would do him any harm.

He was such a joyous child, he didnt have a harmful thing in his body. I cant watch another family go through what we have.

Olly Stephens was killed after he was targeted online, a court heard (Provided)

Mrs Kenevan is campaigning for the rights of parents and coroners to be able to request online data going back further than three months.

It is not just exposure to troubling material where concerns are being raised - social media has also played a part in an increasing number of court cases.

Olly Stephens was a kind child from a sleepy Reading suburb who fell victim to gang culture when he was targeted online.

The 13-year-old became aware of a friend being patterned - where a victim  is humiliated on camera and then blackmailed with the footage. Olly tried to alert the victims older brother but the perpetrators in the video accused Olly of snitching and started abusing and controlling him, a court heard when his young killers went on trial.

On a Sunday afternoon, 3 January, 2021, the teenager shouted goodbye to his parents but never returned.

Olly and his father loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers and went to see them at Reading Festival (Provided)

A 14-year-old girl lured Olly to meet two boys, then aged 13 and 14, who killed him. The two boys were convicted of murder at Reading Crown Court in September 2021. The 14-year-old girl admitted to manslaughter and was sentenced to three years and three months in a young offenders institute.

His father Stuart Stephens, 54, heard the screams as his son was stabbed to death just metres away from their family home.

I ran over to the field without my shoes. I knew he had gone, he said. I held his hand, I was begging him not to leave me. He was completely lifeless.

He described the feeling of impending doom as he pleaded with his son to tell him what was going on as the cheeky and funny boy became a shell of his former self leading up to his death.

We never understood the depth of the abuse he was receiving, his father added. Surely these apps have some kind of duty of care.

Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, has said the government will clean up the wild west of social media (PA Wire)

A Snapchat spokesperson said: This case is horrific and there is no place for this on Snapchat. Just one experience like this is one too many, but this is not reflective of the majority of the 21 million people who use Snapchat in the UK.

We have clear rules about whats allowed, and teams of moderators who review content reported to us or detected by our cutting-edge technology. Even though Snaps disappear, in many cases, evidence does not  we can preserve content and take action, including working with police to support investigations.

Being a platform popular with young people comes with additional responsibilities. Thats why we have extra protections for under 18s, parental tools to help families know who their teens are talking to, and why we work with experts on all aspects of safety across the platform.

Ofcoms first aim is to remove minors from friend suggestion lists and blocking strangers messages, they also hope to improve automatic detection and removal services of harmful content - including dangerous suicide and self-harm content.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said the publication of the first codes marked a crucial step in making the Online Safety Act a reality by cleaning up the wild west of social media and making the UK the safest place in the world to be online.
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A major Tory donor has said Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is more receptive to his proposals than Rishi Sunak.

John Caudwell, founder of the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones4U, donated 500,000 to the Conservative Party before the 2019 election when Boris Johnson was at its helm.

But the billionaire has been disillusioned with the party in recent months, slamming the prime ministers move this autumn to water down net zero comments.

And on Friday the businessman heaped praise on Sir Keir, refusing to rule out providing money towards Labours war chest ahead of a likely general election next year.

Ive met with Keir Starmer and he is more receptive to my ideas than the Tory party Businessman John Caudwell

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Any Questions? programme, Mr Caudwell said: Ive put so many policies to the Conservative Party to make Britain great again, to put the great back into Great Britain, drive the GDP, drive the wealth for people again.

Ive met with Keir Starmer and he is more receptive to my ideas than the Tory Party.

Will that mean I donate? I cant answer that.

But what I can tell you is that any party that makes Britain great by having the right policies any party that does what I think will make Britain great again  Ill donate to.

Mr Caudwell told The Sunday Times in September that he would no longer financially back the Tories if Mr Sunak kept with his changed stance on environmental policies.

If Rishi sticks to this, would I donate to the Conservative Party? Absolutely not. No chance whatsoever with the decisions they are making at the moment, he said.

Would I switch to Labour? The answer to that is very simple: I will support any party that I believe will do the right thing for Britain going forward.

Labour leader Sir Keir is on course to be the next prime minister, according to current polling.

His party have been consistently ahead in opinion polls, with some surveys putting them as much as 20 points ahead of the Tories, who have been in power since 2010.

Mr Caudwells praise for Sir Keir follows a string of high-profile figures from the business world coming out in favour of Labour.

In a major intervention this month, revealed by The Independent, the advertising giant that helped Margaret Thatcher win power attacked the cruelty of the Conservatives and predicted a Labour victory at the general election.

The strategy chief at Saatchi & Saatchi  the agency behind the iconic Labour isnt working ads prior to the 1979 landslide  said Britain needs saving from five more years of stagnation, cruelty and despair.

That came just weeks after the former governor of the Bank of England endorsed the Labour Party in a major coup for Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor. Mark Carney said it was beyond time for Ms Reeves to run the economy in a Labour government.

Frozen food chain Icelands executive chair, Richard Walker, has also withdrawn his support and said he was open to supporting Sir Keir. Meanwhile another Tory donor, Philip Harris, founder of Carpetright, said the Conservative Party did not deserve to win the 2024 general election
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Sir Keir Starmer has promised not to lecture to people about how to cut their carbon carbon footprints as individual action will not in itself solve this problem.

The Labour leader said he is not in the business of telling people what they should and shouldnt be doing with their individual lives.

And he said instead that Britain under Labour will make a massive transition away from fossil fuels and invest in wind, solar and nuclear power.

Of course, we can all do individual things in our lives, but I dont think its right to say that that in itself will solve this problem, Sir Keir told BBC News.

Pressed on what he does to cut his own carbon footprint, the Labour leader said he does not eat meat.

Speaking from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Sir Keir said: Im not trying to enforce on other people what they should or should not do. This is not about a government saying to individuals you can do this, you cant do that.

Its about the government saying its our responsibility to take the big decisions about this transition.

Sir Keir was also pressed on Labours promised 28billion Green Prosperity Plan after reports suggested the party was unlikely to meet the pledge.

The BBC last week said the plan could be scaled back again as Labour instead focuses on meeting the partys fiscal rules.

Labour had originally promised in 2021 to invest 28 billion-a-year until 2030 in green projects if it came to power. But in June shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the figure would instead be a target to work towards in the second half of a first parliament.

The BBC said that a senior source in Sir Keir Starmers office suggested the 28 billion figure may not be reached at all due to the current state of the public finances.

A Labour party spokesman denied the reports and on Saturday Sir Keir said he is absolutely determined to fulfil the promise.

Sir Keir insisted that one of his missions in government will be for Britain to use one hundred percent clean power by 2030, which will require investment.

He added: That 28billion will be ramped up, probably in the second half of the parliament.

I say ramped up because therell be money coming from the start, but the money is towards a purpose and outcome.

And the outcome that were driving at here is the transition so that for years and years to come, millions of people up and down the country will have cheaper bills, because we cant go on like this.
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Foreigner inmates could serve shorter sentences than British prisoners under a scheme to ease the crisis of overcrowded prisons, it has been claimed.

Non-UK citizens will reportedly be eligible for removal from prisons in the UK and deportation to their home countries up to a year and a half earlier than a British prisoner on the same sentence would be.

The changes, reported by The Daily Telegraph, would mean that if a British man and a Polish man are both sentenced for the same crime, the Polish man could be released and sent back to Poland up to 18 months earlier than the British man.

He would not then have to serve prison time in Poland, but would be banned from coming back to the UK.

The apparent plans have been criticised by a leading committee in the House of Lords and one of Britains top judges who said they risk reducing the deterrents for foreign criminals to offend in the UK. .

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former Lord Chief Justice and a member of the committee, told The Telegraph: The policy could be seen as reducing the punishment of overseas criminals in order to ensure that UK citizens can continue to be sent to prison.

In addition, the policy risks reducing the deterrents for overseas citizens to commit crime, potentially undermining confidence in the criminal justice system.

The committee also criticised the governments failure to estimate how many foreign nationals would be released early and how many prison spaces would be freed up.

Prisoners were previously eligible for early release for up to a year, and the Ministry of Justice believes extending this to 18 months will affect an additional 300 prisoners.

Among those identified for return is Koci Selamaj, the murderer of schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, who was jailed for a minimum of 36 years

The Independent has repeatedly highlighted the overcrowding crisis facing Britains prisons, with inmates crammed into cells for up to 23 hours a day.

In a recent report, this paper revealed that criminals may be freed from jail early or spared prison sentences as the system reaches breaking point.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk also pledged at the Tory conference in October to send criminals overseas in a desperate bid to ease the overcrowding crisis.

But the governments own assessment of the idea showed it will cost at least 200million and wont happen until 2026.

Commenting on his deportation plans, Mr Chalk told said: Its right that foreign criminals are punished, but it cannot be right that some are sat in prison costing taxpayers 47,000 a year when they could be deported.

Instead of letting foreign nationals take up space in our prisons at vast expense to the law-abiding public, we will take action to get them out of the country and stop them from ever returning.

Other plans being considered include sentences under 12-months being carried out in the community instead of prison and an 18-day early release scheme.
PM Pham Minh Chinh (centre) presents the Resource Mobilisation Plan to EC President Ursula von der Leyen and the UK Government representative. (Photo: VNA)

The announcement ceremony took place in the presence of President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen, ministers and high-level representatives of many IPG member states including the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, Denmark, the Vice Chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), along with leaders of some international organisations, financial institutions and funds.



In his remarks, the Vietnamese PM affirmed that just energy transition is decisive for Vietnam to realise its national energy development strategic orientation, with the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and people-centred sustainable development goals. He underlined that Vietnam has taken drastic and ambitious steps to accelerate the energy transition process.

PM Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the ceremony (Photo: VNA)

He particularly highlighted 12 specific actions of Vietnam, including the building of many strategies, green planning, emission reduction, development of the renewable energy industry, and most recently the implementation of a project to develop 1 million hectares of high-quality rice with low emissions.



The PM asked international partners to prioritise cooperation with Vietnam in five areas of transformation: developing industrial ecosystems and services for renewable energy, energy transmission and storage, economical and efficient use of energy, green energy transition and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector.



He emphasized the need for a global, people-based approach and international cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit. On that basis, PM Chinh urged relevant parties to quickly reach an agreement to translate the pledged amount of support for Vietnam worth 15.5 billion USD into breakthrough projects, accelerating the just energy transition in Vietnam and contributing to ensuring a prosperous future for all people, economic growth, self-reliance and energy security of Vietnam.



Leaders of IPG member countries appreciated Vietnams JETP Resource Mobilisation Plan and affirmed their readiness to continue supporting Vietnam in financing, technology and governance capacity building. They noted that the plan is developed by Vietnam and is suitable with Vietnams needs and situation.



EC President Ursula von der Leyen said that the Resource Mobilization Plan is an important milestone in the implementation of JETP, demonstrating Vietnam's commitment and leadership in the energy transition, and affirmed that the EU is proud to become Vietnam's partner in this process.



The UK's Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero emphasized that the Resource Mobilization Plan will not only help Vietnam achieve its ambitious climate and economic goals, but also provide attractive job opportunities for workers from clean development, leaving no one behind. He affirmed that the UK and partner countries stand behind supporting and supporting Vietnam, according to Vietnam's own needs.



The announcement of the Resource Mobilisation Plan is the first step to implement the JETP, contributing to the implementation of Vietnams national energy development strategy and the Global Declaration on Coal Power's Transition to Clean Energy.



The same day, PM Pham Minh Chinh had several bilateral meetings with leaders of countries and international organisations.



Meeting with EC President Ursula von der Leyen, the PM affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the partnership and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and the European Union (EU). Vietnam wishes the EU and member states will increase support for Vietnam in finance, technology and human resource training to cope with climate change and energy transition within the framework of the Political Declaration on the JETP.

PM Pham Minh Chinh talks with EC President Ursula von der Leyen (Photo: VNA)

PM Pham Minh Chinh conveyed an invitation to visit Vietnam from Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong to the EC President.



He also asked the EC to push for the approval of the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) by its member countries, and consider the early removal of its yellow card over IUU for Vietnams fishery products taking into account Vietnams resolve and efforts to implement ECs recommendations on sustainable fishery development.



The EC President affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of the EU and the EC, and welcomed the close cooperation between the two sides, typically the implementation of JETP. She highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts in implementing the EC's recommendations on IUU and hoped that the issue would be resolved soon.



The two sides agreed to promote close cooperation at regional and international forums.



At his meeting with Hungarian President Katalin Novak, PM Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the two countries further promote cooperation, particularly in economy-trade-investment and market opening, given the large room and potential for collaboration.

PM Pham Minh Chinh meets Hungarian President Katalin Novak (Photo: VNA)

He also sought Hungarys support in pushing for the approval of EVIPA by EU member countries and the early removal of ECs yellow card on Vietnams fishery products, as well as for the stance of ASEAN and Vietnam on the East Sea issue.



President Novak stressed that Hungary values the role and position of Vietnam in general and the Vietnamese community in Hungary in particular. She affirmed Hungarys commitment to continue granting scholarships for Vietnamese students.



The President said she hopes to early visit Vietnam and Hungary also looks forward to welcoming the Vietnamese Prime Minister to visit Hungary in 2024.



The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, local cooperation and people-to-people exchange to help deepen bilateral ties.



In another meeting, PM Pham Minh Chinh and Indonesian President Joko Widodo reached consensus on continued cooperation and stance coordination in ASEAN and international forums, including those on climate change response and energy transition.



In a dialogue with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, PM Chinh affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to cooperation with the country, which is an important partner of Vietnam in Northern Europe.



President Niniisto said Vietnam is a potential partner of Finland in Southeast Asia, and noted his hope that the two countries will strengthen cooperation, particularly in green transition, renewable energy and climate change response.



The two leaders agreed to promote cooperation in trade and investment, and make the best use of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement to raise bilateral trade turnover on a par with their potential.



Also on December 1, PM Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse met with staff members of the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives from the Vietnamese community in the UAE.



There are nearly 5,000 Vietnamese living and working in the UAE./.
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Rishi Sunak is considering taking a hard-line approach on Rwanda to secure deportation flights before the next election, it has been reported.

The prime minister is reportedly leaning towards ensuring his new treaty with the African nation is exempt from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) without withdrawing from the convention altogether.

The approach is favoured by immigration minister Robert Jenrick, a flag-bearer for the Tory right now that Suella Braverman has been sacked as home secretary.

Mr Jenrick met the PM on Wednesday to finalise a solution which will get planes to Rwanda in the air after the deportation scheme was struck down in the Supreme Court.

Disapplying the ECHR has been dubbed the full-fat option, backed by Ms Braverman and the New Conservative group of more than 30 right-wing Tory MPs.

Mr Sunak is leaning towards the option, according to the Daily Telegraph, but is some way from agreeing to it.

He is also considering a so-called semi-skimmed option which would only disapply the UKs Human Rights Act for asylum seekers. A No10 source said: Nothing is decided, everything is still on the table.

Mr Sunak has said the Government is finalising legislation to push through the vital Rwanda asylum plan and that his patience is worn thin by delays.

The prime minister met Rwandan president Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai, although Downing Street said it was a brush-by that lasted no more than 10 minutes.

Mr Sunak declined to say how much more money he would spend to get the scheme off the ground, but stressed he is eager to finish the job after the plan to send some asylum seekers on a one-way trip to the African nation was ruled unlawful.

His plan to save the policy involves signing a new treaty with Kigali and the introduction of emergency legislation allowing Parliament to deem the scheme safe, but this has been delayed.

But senior British diplomats are said to have privately told the Foreign Office that the Rwandan governments commitment to the scheme cannot be taken for granted.

The Independent understands that the Rwandan government believes its own laws are robust enough to make the treaty work  and are uneasy about the idea of any infringement upon their sovereignty.

A Rwandan government source said the country was still committed to the agreement and were working with the UK to formalise elements of the memorandum of understanding signed in 2022 within a new treaty.

No 10 had said in the hours after the 15 November Supreme Court defeat of its Rwanda scheme that the treaty would be laid before Parliament in the coming days so deportation flights could take off as soon as possible.

It has since been more than two weeks, with a bill expected before Christmas and potentially as early as next week.
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A furious row has erupted over small boat channel crossings as the figures this year are set to hit the second highest on record.

Despite Rishi Sunaks January pledge to stop the boats, 28,453 migrants have crossed the channel in small boats this year, compared with a total of 28,526 in 2021.

And after a busy weekend in the channel, when the Home Office figures are updated the total number of crossings this year is set to top 2021s total.

It will mean small boat crossings are at the second highest level on record, after they surged to 45,755 in 2022.

The Independent understands it has been a particularly busy day in the channel, with all four Border Force catamarans out on escort and collection duties at the same time.

Labour slammed what they described as the Tory asylum chaos, accusing Mr Sunak of breaking a promise to the British people.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: Rishi Sunak claimed he would stop the small boats this year but instead this weekends figures are set to make it the second highest year of crossings on record, the Tory asylum chaos is continuing and he has broken another promise he made to the British people.

But a source close to home secretary James Cleverly hit back, saying Labour would fail to tackle small boat crossings because deep down they find the whole subject distasteful.

The source added: Labours problem on small boats is their big idea is to claim theyll do things weve already been doing for some time and were doing more of it. Small boat crossings are down by a third and people smuggling gangs are already being successfully targeted by security and intelligence arrangements between the UK and a range of European countries.

None of which Labour had a hand in. Meanwhile, what Labour are shy about saying is they would willingly hand over control of immigration to the EU because deep down they find the whole subject distasteful.

A Downing Street source pointed to figures showing small boat crossings are down compared with last year, while other European countries struggle with soaring numbers.

Labour has promised to strike a deal with Europol to tackle the smuggling gangs behind small boat crossings.

Ms Cooper said: Its time [The Conservatives] stopped wasting time and taxpayers money on the failing Rwanda scheme and instead adopted Labours plan to stop the criminal smuggler gangs with a new elite cross-border police force unit to work with Europol in a new security and intelligence sharing arrangement.

Mr Sunaks flagship Rwanda deportation policy is on the rocks after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful last month. He is preparing to unveil a new treaty with the African nation to address judges concerns about the plan, while passing a law to deem Rwanda safe in British law.

But, having promised to unveil the bill within days after his original plan was struck down, it has now been more than two weeks and the bill has not been published.#

A Home Office spokesman said its priority is to stop the boats and promised the government will do whatever it takes. The spokesman said: We are in the midst of a global migration crisis, and that challenge is growing. It is affecting countries across Europe whose numbers continue to grow, but ours are falling. Our priority is to stop the boats  and due to the work of the Small Boats Operational Command, alongside our French partners, small boat crossings are down by a third from the same point last year.

The two tragic deaths in the Channel last month serve as another stark reminder of why we must disrupt the gangs driving this evil trade. Our thoughts are with the victims family and friends at this time.
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At a moment of record visibility and influence for Black attorneys in the United States, debates over race, criminal justice and democracy are increasingly at the center of the public conversation. Many of these Black litigators and law enforcement officials have made history, from the White House and the Supreme Court to the halls of Congress, but their perspectives and approaches to role aren't monolithic.

In wide-ranging interviews with The Associated Press, six sitting Black attorneys general discussed the challenges and opportunities of serving as the top law enforcement officer in their respective states. The interviews shed light on the interplay between public safety, criminal justice reform, the rule of law and other foundational questions facing a justice system under unprecedented strain and doubt from the American public.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the conversations:

Black attorneys general are at the forefront of criminal justice reform efforts

Black attorneys general have emerged as some of the most prominent advocates of reform to the criminal justice system. Many said their efforts are informed by personal and familial experiences with the systems well-documented tendency to over-police and under-service communities of color.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the public expects that Black attorneys general "will take out bias that exists in criminal or civil prosecutions, that we will focus on communities of color and do it in such a way that recognizes those communities are often overpoliced and under-protected."

Campbell is the third Black woman elected as a state attorney general.

The attorneys general each noted that they use their prosecutorial discretion to advance reforms within the system, but there are limits to what such efforts can bring.

Keith Ellison, Minnesotas attorney general, successfully prosecuted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd but says he has seen mixed progress on criminal justice reform since Chauvins conviction.

Ellison said he believes attorney general involvement is probably needed to advance reform at the state and local level.

One of my big worries after the (George Floyd) case is that now people get to say, Well, you know, we convicted that guy. Move on, Ellison said. If weve made a change, its been incremental.

Black prosecutors have emerged as prominent figures on democracy issues

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, prosecution seeking accountability for alleged election subversion by Donald Trump and his allies has moved to the center of U.S. political discourse.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who litigated multiple cases over the integrity of his states elections, said he was shocked that folks would be pushing back on the legitimacy of our elections and undermining our democracy.

Trump has faced other legal woes, including a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose civil fraud case against The Trump Organization alleges that the firm misrepresented the valuations of his properties in official documents.

James said Trump uses attacks on the judicial system as a microphone for a political message that plays upon individuals fears and lack of hope and their dissolution in how the system has failed them.

Two Black prosecutors, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in New York, are prosecuting Trump on election interference issues raised in both of his presidential runs. Trump has lashed out at James, Bragg and Willis with language often evoking racist and stereotypical tropes, such as using terms like animal and rabid.

Black Democratic attorneys general learn from and collaborate with one another

The interviewed attorneys general confirmed that they frequently call, text and communicate with one another. While the group of six, who are all Democrats, say they are regularly in contact with all their peers across the country, as barrier breakers in many cases they also lean on each other for support. They also borrow tactics and policies from each other, several of the attorneys general said.

We have a little group and were in regular communication. We boost each other up. We stick with each other and celebrate each other a lot, Ellison said.

Ellison, for instance, knew Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown from their time together in Congress. He advised Brown, who was elected in 2022, on the merits of transitioning into the top law enforcement job and cited his achievements in the role since his 2018 election as an example.

Black attorneys general see greater public trust as essential to greater public safety

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Browns top priority is to decrease racial disparities in the incarcerated population of his state through a multifaceted partnership with state and local police, as well as civic organizations, to reduce crime and disparate sentencing.

The key to more effective police and safety communities, each attorney general insisted, was greater trust and more accountability for bad actors both criminal and in law enforcement.

You dont solve crimes unless you have communities that trust that they can go to law enforcement, said Kwame Raoul, attorney general of Illinois. And people dont trust that they can go to law enforcement if they think that law enforcement is engaging in unconstitutional policing.

Black attorneys general see greater representation as secondary to racial justice goals

While greater representation has often been seen as integral to advancing racial justice, the attorneys general were mixed on its importance over the substance of their work. The spectrum underscores the balance between representation and policy impact on a system that has long resisted both.

Being a Black man in a position of power during that particular time gave me a voice where I was able to get unanimity, Ford said of his ability to advance criminal justice reform legislation in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.

James described her many barrier-breaking accolades as nothing more than historical footnote and said she was only motivated by sweet, sweet justice for marginalized communities. Campbell, who began her career providing legal aid in her community, said that attorneys general significant authority and divisiveness at the federal level gave them an opportunity for greater impact while other politicians focus their energies elsewhere.

____

Matt Brown is a member of the APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on social media.

____

The Associated Presss coverage of race and democracy receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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A protester was in critical condition Friday after setting themself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, authorities said. A security guard who tried to intervene was also injured.

A Palestinian flag found at the scene was part of the protest, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference.

He added that investigators did not believe there was any connection to terrorism and none of the consular staff was ever in danger.

"We do not see any threat here," he said. "We believe it was an act of extreme political protest that occurred."

Authorities did not release the protester's name, age or gender. The person set up outside the building in the city's midtown neighborhood on Friday afternoon and used gasoline as an accelerant, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith said.

The protester was in critical condition, with burn injuries to the body. A security guard that tried to stop the person was burned on his wrist and leg, Smith said.

Schierbaum said police are aware of heightened tensions in the Jewish and Muslim community and have stepped up patrols at certain locations, including the consulate.

Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions in the U.S. have escalated as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war.

The conflict began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive. More than 15,200 people have been killed by Israel's assault on Hamas-controlled Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there.

A weeklong cease-fire that brought the exchanges of dozens of hostages held by Hamas for scores of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel gave way Friday morning to resumed fighting between Israel and Hamas.
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An Iowa mother lost several limbs after she was visciously mauled by three pit bulls.

Neighbours first alerted authorities to a home in the city of Fort Dodge at around 11.25am on Friday after hearing a woman screaming.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found the three dogs attacking a woman who has since been identified by family members as Brittany Skoland. The officers initally tried to scare the dogs away and eventually shot at them, instantly killing them.

Ms Skoland is said to be in critical condition and will reportedly need facial reconstruction surgery in the future. The woman suffered severe head trauma, had both legs amputated to her knees and also lost parts of her hands.

She was first transported to the Unity Point Trinity Medical Center but was later airlifted to the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moine due to the severity of her injuries.

Neighbor Kerri Johnson told local news station KCC that he stepped out of his home after hearing the commontion, and witnessed Ms Skoland being carried to the ambulance on a stretcher.

I had heard the gunshots. I came outside originally and I saw police with his gun drawn, Mr Johnson told KCC. He had said for me to go inside and I did, I did go inside, but after a couple of moments, my curiosity is piqued.

I stepped out into the driveway just to take a peek, I saw a black dog lying down on the ground, deceased, which is super sad.

According to KCCI, another distraught neighbour at the scene said that the dogs belonged to them.

Ms Skoland has already undergone several surgeries.

Her loved ones have created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her hospital bills.

More than $13,600 have been raised as of Saturday.

Those who know Brittany, know she loves to be outside,doing yard work, helping her Mom decorate for the Holidays. She also enjoys playing outside with her younger children, Ms Skolands aunt Teresa Hanus wrote in the description of the fundraiser.
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The International Red Cross on Friday suspended the Belarusian chapter after its chief stirred international outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies halted the membership of the Belarus branch after it refused to oust its leader Dzmitry Shautsou. He is accused of having breached the Red Cross' much-vaunted and much-defended standards of neutrality and integrity. The board of IFRC had given the Belarus Red Cross until Nov. 30 to dismiss him, and said it would suspend the branch if it didn't.

The suspension means that the Belarus Red Cross loses its rights as a member of the IFRC, the Geneva-based international organization said in a statement Friday. "Any new funding to the Belarus Red Cross will also be suspended.

Shautsou, in comments to the state Belta news agency, called the decision to suspend the Belarus Red Cross from the IFRC absolutely politicized. He said he went to the occupied areas in eastern Ukraine to prove that children that undergo health improvement in Belarus return home safely.

Last year, the Belarus Red Cross received nearly 1.7 million Swiss francs ($1.9 million) from the the IFRC for services like HIV prevention, support for migrants near the border with Poland, clown therapy and help for people fleeing neighboring Ukraine. This year, the outlay has been more than 1 million francs.

Shautsou was seen publicly wearing military fatigues with the Z insignia of Russian forces, and he claimed publicly that he favored deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus.

He also told Belarusian television that the Belarus Red Cross was actively involved in bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for health improvement purposes.

Belarus has been Moscows closest ally since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, when its authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to send troops and weapons into Ukraine from Belarus. Russia has also deployed tactical nuclear weapons there.

More than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6-17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions that have been partially occupied by Russian forces, according to a recent study by Yale University. The Belarusian opposition is seeking an international probe into the effort and says Lukashenko and his officials should be held accountable for it.

The Belarus Red Cross has maintained that it did not take part in the removal of the children from Ukraine, and that the transfers were arranged by a Belarusian charity founded by state-backed Paralympic athlete Alexei Talai. Shautsou, however, in a report aired by the state TV channel Belarus 1 was seen visiting the occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk and said that his organization took an active part in the transfers.

An internal IFRC probe found that the Belarus Red Cross said Shautsou was found to be solely responsible for the allegations. It also determined that another organization was responsible for moving children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, and the Belarus Red Cross involvement was only within Belarus. It did not specify the other organization.

The IFRC spells the name of the secretary-general of Belarus Red Cross as Dmitry Shevtsov.

The Belarus Red Cross told The Associated Press on Friday that Shautsou will continue to run the group and that its board gathered on Friday to discuss financials and plans for 2024 with the current situation taken into account.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered a significant boost in the countrys military, increasing the troop numbers by nearly 170,000 to reach a total of 1.32 million as the Kremlins full-scale invasion enters its 22nd month.

Mr Putin signed the decree on Friday in response to the aggressive activities of the Nato bloc and its special military operation in Ukraine, as stated by the Kremlin.

In accordance with the decree of Russian president signed on November 29, 2023, the maximum size of the armed forces of the Russian Federation has been increased by 170,000 military personnel to 1,320,000 military personnel, the defence ministry said.

It has expanded the Russian forces to approximately 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.

The decree came into effect immediately.

The defence ministry said the order doesnt imply any significant expansion of conscription, and the increase will occur gradually over time by recruiting more volunteers.

In this regard, there are no plans to significantly increase the conscription of citizens for compulsory military service. Mobilisation is not planned, the statement read.

This marks the second expansion of the Russian army since 2018.

The earlier increase, consisting of 137,000 troops, was ordered by Mr Putin in August 2022, bringing the militarys total numbers to approximately two million personnel, including around 1.15 million troops.

The order came into force on 1 January 2023, and the following month, he ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to strengthen the forces in Ukraine.

It comes as Ukraine and Russia aim to advance their positions and reinforce their forces in the ongoing conflict, where the battle lines have seen minimal shifts in recent months.

They are also seeking reinforcement and stronger defences as the temperature plummets to sub-zero.

Meanwhile, Nato has recently enlarged to incorporate Finland, a country with an extensive border with Russia. Additionally, Sweden has submitted an application to join.

The size of Russian and Ukrainian military casualties in the protracted war remains uncertain. Russian forces claim that just over 6,000 troops have died in the action, but observers suggest that the actual number is much higher.

In October, the UK defence ministry stated that Russia had likely suffered 150,000 to 190,000 permanent casualties, referring to the number of troops killed or permanently wounded.

The Kremlin has been reconsidering the size of its forces since hopes for a quick victory in Ukraine faded, despite initially deeming them sufficient. Russia has faced fierce resistance, especially as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky strengthened Nato support.

In its efforts to strengthen forces, Mr Putins decree on mobilisation remains indefinite, allowing the military to summon additional reservists as required. The decree also prohibits volunteer soldiers from ending their contracts.

The campaign to attract more voluntary recruits has included advertisements promising cash bonuses, cold calls to eligible men by recruiters, and partnerships with universities and social service agencies to attract students and the unemployed across Russia.

Rights groups and social media reports have claimed that Russian authorities offered amnesty to prisoners in exchange for military duty during the Ukraine war.

These initiatives come on top of the draft that enlists approximately 120,000 to 140,000 men twice a year for a one-year mandatory service. Authorities assert that individuals conscripted for compulsory service are not sent to Ukraine.

According to the rules, all Russian men aged 18 to 27 have to serve one year in the military. However, a large number try to avoid the draft by citing health reasons and seeking other deferments granted to university students.

This year, authorities also raised the upper limit for mandatory service to 30 years of age starting from 1 January.
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Israel has bombed hundreds of targets across Gaza as it renewed its offensive following a week-long truce with Hamas which ended on Friday morning.

The Israeli military said it had attacked up to 50 terror targets with airstrikes, tank fire and its navy near the southern city of Khan Younis where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering.

Hundreds more strikes were carried out in the north with more than 400 targets attacked across the entire region as Hamas fired rockets towards Israel, according to the IDF.

Up to 200 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza strip since the fighting resumed on Friday, the Gazan ministry of health said.

It comes after Israel accused Hamas of violating a week-long truce which saw the release of 97 Israeli and foreign hostages and 210 Palestinians.

A view of destroyed buildings in Gaza following a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas (REUTERS)

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to eliminate Hamas to ensure Gaza never poses a threat to the residents of Israel.

But the United States has urged Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians and said it should not repeat what it did in the north.

This is going to be very important going forward. Its something were going to be looking at very closely, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.

In response, the IDF dropped leaflets across the south warning residents to leave. There had been no reports of large numbers of Palestinians leaving, according to the UN.

There is no place to go, said resident Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south, he said.

Palestinians inspect a building damaged during Israeli bombardment in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip (AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will wipe out even the minimal relief provided by the truce and prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.

The resumption of hostilities in Gaza is catastrophic, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, added.

I urge all parties and states with influence over them to redouble efforts, immediately, to ensure a ceasefire on humanitarian and human rights grounds.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said he regretted the resumption of hostilities and hoped a new pause could be established. The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire, he said.

Fighting also resumed in northern Israel on the Lebanese border after the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions.

Three Palestinian women mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip (AP)

The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and air defences had intercepted two launches. The army also said it struck a terrorist cell.

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israels assault, according to the Gazan health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods.
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Israeli military officials discovered a 40-page Hamas plan detailing how they would carry out an attack over the Gaza border more than a year ago, but dismissed it as too ambitious, according to a report.

Top Israeli officials, including the head of the military and the Shin Bet domestic security agency, have acknowledged responsibility for the intelligence failure that led to the 7 October attack by Hamas in which 1,200 were killed and another 240 taken hostage back into Gaza.

The 40-page document, codenamed Jericho Wall by the Israeli military, outlined point-by-point the type of attack Hamas would undertake, The New York Times reported.

The proposal included calls for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack and drones to be used to knock out security cameras and automated weapons on the Gaza border fence, before gunmen break through into Israel in large numbers using paragliders, motorcycles and on foot - all of which happened on 7 October.

An Israeli flag hangs between destroyed houses in the kibbutz Kfar Azza, Israel, near the Gaza Strip (AP)

Officials in the Israeli militarys Gaza division, having viewed the documents last year, said Hamas plan remained unclear and suggested the militant group was incapable of carrying out such a mission in full.

It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested, a military assessment reviewed by The New York Times said.

In July this year, three months before the Hamas attack, a veteran analyst with Unit 8200, Israels signals intelligence agency, is said to have reported that the militant group had carried out a day-long training exercise similar to what was proposed in the 40-page blueprint.

She warned her colleagues that Hamas appeared to be building the capacity to carry out an attack. But one official said the exercise was part of a totally imaginative scenario.

In short, lets wait patiently, the official wrote.

The veteran analyst then insisted that the threat be taken seriously. I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary, the analyst said in one email exchange.

She added: It is a plan designed to start a war. Its not just a raid on a village.
The congratulations were sent to General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, and NA Chairman Saysomphone Phomvihane.



In the congratulations, the top Vietnamese leaders affirmed that the Party, State, and people of Vietnam always strongly and comprehensively support Laos' reform process and firmly believe that by inheriting the tradition of previous generations and promoting the obtained achievements, under the leadership of the LPRP, the governments direction and the National Assemblys supervision, the Lao people will continue to gain new and greater achievements in the reform process, and realise the goals set in the Resolution of the LPRP's 11th Congress and the 9th five-year socio-economic development plan, thus successfully building a peaceful, independent, democratic, unified and prosperous country towards socialism.



"We are pleased to see that, along with the achievements made by the two Parties, States and peoples in recent times, the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos founded by Presidents Ho Chi Minh, Kaysone Phomvihane and Souphanouvong and cultivated by generations of leaders of the two Parties and States and the two peoples, have been continuously consolidated and developed practically and effectively in various areas, contributing to renewal, construction, defence in each country.



"We will do our best together with the Party, State and people of Laos to preserve, protect and foster the special solidarity between Vietnam and Laos, making it develop to new heights, for the benefit of the people of each country as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world."



On this occasion, the Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung sent greetings to head of the LPRP Central Committee's Commission for External Relations Thongsavanh Phomvihane.



Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son cabled a message of congratulations to Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith./.
Black plumes of smoke billowed over Gaza, while air sirens rang out across parts of Israel, signalling the seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas was over.

By early morning, Israeli jets had resumed bombing Gaza, as they had done for weeks in the wake of the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October that killed 1,200 people and saw around 240 others taken hostage. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government "is committed to achieving the goals of the war: releasing the hostages [and] eliminating Hamas."

Health officials in Hamas-run Gaza said that more than 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Friday, adding to a total the territory's health ministry says sits at more than 14,000 people. Israels military announced that it was dividing the entirety of Gaza into dozens of numbered blocks as a prelude, it said, to demanding targeted local evacuations in the crowded south of the strip before planned bombing. Leaflets were dropped over Gaza relaying this.
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Google users say their files have been disappearing as one engineer urged them not to press a button that could make the problem even worse.

In recent days, users of Google Drive  which allows people to store their files in the cloud  say that those files appear to have gone missing. Some report that months of files have disappeared, with no obvious way of getting them back.

The files appear to have vanished without a trace, without any sign of why they disappeared or even if they are recoverable.

The problem appears to be with a recent update to Google Drive for desktop, an app that can be installed on Mac or Windows to get access to files stored on Drive.

Hundreds of people are complaining about the problem in recent days, using a Google forum that allows users to request help. The number is likely to be much higher.

Google says that it is not clear what the issue is, with an employee saying that the company is investigating reports of an issue impacting a limited subset of Drive for desktop users . The statement indicated that the company would follow up with more updates, but it is yet to give any information.

That representative of the Google Drive team did however urge users not to click the Disconnect account button on the Drive for Desktop app. That could cause further problems with lost files, the Google employee going by the name Saitej suggested.

Some said however that they had heard that pressing that button could reset the app, and help find the lost files. As such, users voiced fears they had inadvertently contributed to the problem.

Users were also told not to delete the app data folder, and advised to back up that folder onto their hard drive if they had space.
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I am going to attempt nuance on the issue of the Middle East, which right now, is a dangerous thing  but here goes:

Antisemitism is on the rise everywhere and it is terrifying for Jewish people. There is also an under-acknowledged problem with antisemitism within Muslim communities. I have had first-hand experience of this, as my Jewishness was used as a baton to beat my politician ex-husband Imran Khan, in Pakistan, where Zionist conspiracy theories about me were fabricated  and fervour was whipped up by opposition politicians and by a partisan media.

This led to decades of death threats and threats of rape and violence towards me and my children, which continue to this day. Despite our divorce, this culminated for Imran in a failed assassination attempt last year. After the attack, the would-be assassin declared in his confessional video that the motive for the shooting was (Imrans) acceptance of Israel.

I have seen how the term Zionism  much like the term Islamism  can sometimes be used by bigots as a fig leaf to express what is, in fact, prejudice against Jews or Muslims as a group.

It is also true that accusations of antisemitism have been used by some as a cudgel to shut down debate and criticism of the Israeli government. Just as we can criticise the Islamic Republic of Pakistans government without being Islamophobic, people must be able to express criticism of Israels actions in Gaza without being falsely labelled antisemitic.

Allowing anyone who criticises Israel to be called antisemitic just makes it easier for others to dismiss antisemitism, which only undermines the gravity of a very real and virulent problem.

Jemima Khan with ex-husband Imran Khan at a demonstration outside Downing Street calling for the resignation of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf (AP)

Equally, Muslim hatred is also on the rise, and it affects many people I love  including my children. In the US, in the last few weeks, three Palestinian students have been shot and a six-year-old boy was stabbed to death and his mother injured, because they were Muslim.

Meanwhile, Trump contemplates reinstating his Muslim ban if he becomes president of the US once again and far-right parties with explicitly anti-Muslim agendas are, for the first time, winning elections in European countries.

And just as I have seen a reluctance on the part of some Muslim friends to recognise when antipathy to Israeli policy has become indistinguishable from broader attacks on Israelis or Jews, I have also witnessed a similar unwillingness amongst some of my Jewish friends to accept that Islamophobia is a real thing.

To give one example, I received a widely circulated WhatsApp message recently, which had been sent not by a random fanatic but by someone I know  a high-profile American producer  to his whole address book, which called all Muslims problems with claws who have invaded the West; who operate in secret, breeding to gain dominance & impose their laws, with violent intent. It ended, If you keep this email to yourself, you are part of the problem. Pass it on!

I was horrified, not least because the language was so strikingly similar to the language that has been used to dehumanise Jews throughout history. The sender was Jewish. I struggled to get a few of my Jewish friends to feel the same sense of outrage that I felt, an outrage I know they would have vehemently expressed if the word Muslim had been substituted with Jewish.

Jemima Khan after becoming engaged to her now ex-husband, Imran Khan (Rex Features)

This selective outrage and selective failure to be outraged is evident to me on both sides. It is a measure of the depth of their ideological intransigence, tribal myopia and fear, inflamed by social media algorithms and reckless discourse, that so many intelligent and typically empathic people have been incapable of grasping the simple truth: that you can oppose both rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred.

You can be horrified by Hamas massacre of Israelis and condemn Israels ongoing killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians. This conflict has rendered each side deaf and impervious to the others suffering and fear.

For me, that is the point of Sundays anti-hate vigil outside Downing Street; to say that all racial and religious hatred is equally abhorrent and unacceptable. Its not a competition. And if you only see one or the other, you are part of the problem.

On Sunday, we invite people to step outside their tribes, to put down their flags, and to come together at our vigil, led by Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones in this conflict. If those tragically bereaved refuse to give in to vengeance and hatred, then we must also refuse to tolerate extremists and bigots on either side weaponising their grief.
Rietumu Banka, the Latvian bank in which Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond owns a one-third stake, saw its group profits fall 37pc to 11.4m in the first nine months of this year, newly-filed results for the company show.

Rietumu Banka said the year-on-year decline reflects a dynamic period for the company and its clients.

Large Latvian companies interested in lending for their ambitious projects, investments in their capital and refinancing of existing liabilities, continue to approach our bank, said Rietumu Banka chairman Jelena Buraja.

She added that the bank is continuing to bankroll projects across a number of sectors, from green energy production and property, to logistics.

The reduction in profits during the first nine months of the year came despite a surge in interest income in the period in a higher rate environment. Interest income jumped from 34.8m for the group to 48.6m.

The bank had 1.4bn in assets at the end of September, virtually unchanged year-on-year.

Earlier this year it said it has set aside a total of 30m to pay fines and fees imposed in France following a long-running case there.

Rietumu was alleged to have been used by clients involved in tax evasion and money laundering. While an 80m fine imposed on the bank was reduced in 2021 to 20m, Rietumu said in its newly-published annual report it remains liable for 10m in damages to be paid to the French state after it lost an appeal earlier this year.

In 2017, the Paris Criminal Court found that Rietumu was guilty of aggravated money laundering by providing assistance, as a bank, to placement, concealment or conversion operations of the proceed of an offence.

It was ordered to pay a fine of 80m and, jointly and severally with other defendants, 10m in damages to the French state, along with 100,000 in court expenses. Rietumu was also banned from operating in France for five years.

In 2021, a court of appeal reduced the 80m fine to 20m. Rietumu then appealed the 10m in damages due to the French state. However, in January this year it lost that appeal.

When Russian invaded Ukraine last year, Rietumu immediately ceased new lending activity in Russia and Belarus.

It said earlier this year that it plans to significantly reduce its loan exposure in Russia and Belarus by refinancing loans or selling them to other providers.
Young people are more likely to say technology is important in managing their finances.

Credit unions risk becoming irrelevant to young people unless they ramp up their digital services, a survey has indicated.

The research, carried out by Amarach, found that compared with other age groups, those in the 18 to 24 demographic are less likely to be a member of a credit union.

It also found that young people are more likely to say technology is important in managing their lives.

The research was commissioned by Metamo, a joint venture between 16 of the States biggest credit unions and Kerry-based financial services company Fexco.

It comes as Minister of State with responsibility for credit unions Jennifer Carroll MacNeill hailed the passing of the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Dail this week.

The legislation is set to free up credit unions to offer more services and allow them compete with banks.

It will also allow them to co-operate with each other, allowing smaller credit unions to refer members to a larger one for the likes of a mortgage if the smaller one does not offer home-loans.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said the legislation represents the first meaningful reform for the credit union sector in 10 years.

However, the Metamo research shows that the sector has a job of work to do to connect with younger people.

The survey found that younger people are more likely to say they know little about credit unions and are less likely to say credit unions have the potential to meet their financial needs.

It also revealed that young people are more likely to say that technology is important in managing their lives and are more likely to use products from newer financial services organisations including Revolut.

Metamo said the surveys findings show that credit unions remain very important and popular financial institutions, with 47pc of respondents saying they were active credit union members.

Credit unions were also deemed to provide better value for money on loans, when compared to other financial institutions, it added.

But the research also showed that credit unions had the lowest rate of digital engagement.

A third of active credit union members said they never used their credit union app.

This is despite a majority of all respondents saying mobile phone apps were their preferred method of managing their day-to-day finances.

Chief executive of Metamo Denis Cleary said credit union membership numbers remain high, which he said was positive.

But he said membership levels were lower among younger people.

Just one in four people between the ages of 18 and 24 consider themselves an active member.

"The research shows that there is still a perception among this cohort that Credit Unions are a traditional institution, with a limited product range, which is no longer the case," Mr Cleary said.

The sector has developed significantly in recent years, but there is still a gap to bridge when it comes to reaching young people, particularly on the digital front, Mr Cleary said.

There is a clear opportunity for credit unions to expand their role as a financial institution, he added.
Passers-by walk along a snow-covered road. Snow and ice have caused chaos on the roads and on the railroads in Munich. Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa.

A number of inbound and outbound flights between Dublin Airport and popular European destinations have been delayed or cancelled today due to continuing heavy snowfall.

Two outbound flights and three inbound flights between Munich and Dublin Airport have been cancelled, while two inbound and two outbound flights between Dublin and Amsterdam, are also cancelled.

Meanwhile, a flight between Dublin Airport and Glasgow has also been delayed more than four hours.

7 Day Weather Forecast: Mon 27th Nov - Sun 3rd Dec

Temperatures in Ireland fell well below freezing overnight and Met Eireann have warned of icy and very cold conditions up until Tuesday, with a chance of snow for some counties, particularly in the north west.

Europe is experiencing one of its periods of greatest snowfall this century with satellite imagery showing much of the continent blanketed in snow. Mercury fell below -10C in the UK overnight while much of Northern Europe has been bitterly cold and wintry due to a polar air mass.

Long-distance trains and hundreds of flights in and out of Munich were cancelled today because of heavy snowfall, according to statements by Deutsche Bahn and Munich Airport.

Munich Airport said in a statement this morning: Due to the continuing heavy snowfall, there will probably be no air traffic today until 12 noon.

Flights were not scheduled to depart or arrive at Munich airport until at least 12 p.m. (1100 GMT), according to a statement on its website.

Trains could not arrive at Munich's central train station, Deutsche Bahn said on its website. The halt was expected to last all day, it added, advising travellers to rebook their trips.

The airport said that they strongly recommend that passengers check the status of their flight with their airline before they travel to the airport.

Meanwhile, a flight between Dublin Airport and Glasgow has also been delayed more than four hours.

It comes as flights have been suspended in the UK after temperatures dropped to minus 10C in some places overnight.

Scattered weather warnings are in place across the country and Glasgow Airport said it had suspended all flights temporarily because of heavier than forecast snow.

Flight operations are currently suspended due to heavier than forecast snow, Glasgow said on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before 7.30am on Saturday.

They said their winter teams have been working through the night and hope to resume operations as soon as possible. Please check with your airline for further flight updates, they added.

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings through Saturday morning for the northern coast and south-west Scotland, as well as the South West and the eastern coast of England.

Forecasters warn the snowy conditions could affect roads and railways, and there is an increased risk of injury from icy surfaces.

The mercury approached minus 10C in some places overnight, with Tulloch Bridge and Eskdalemuir in Scotland at minus 8C.

Temperatures are tipped to continue to fall in the UK over the weekend, with several sporting events cancelled.
Climate Minister Eamon Ryan will have to interrupt his trip to Cop28 to return to Ireland for the confidence vote in Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

Mr Ryan, who arrived in Dubai for the UN climate summit on Saturday morning, will now have to fly back to Dublin for the vote on Tuesday before making the return journey to Dubai again.

It will double the ministers flight-related carbon emissions in the middle of negotiations on reducing global emissions.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the situation was not ideal but said the parties tabling the motion of no confidence in Ms McEntee  over the rioting in Dublin last week - were to blame.

The country was shocked and traumatised by what happened last Thursday in Dublin, he said.

I think most people in the country want politicians to work together, want us to work together to support the Gardai, to strengthen law and order, and also want those of us who are at the centre of politics, those mainstream parties, to stand together against extreme forces.

I really think that Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats are making a mistake by bringing this divisive motion to the Dail next week which can only fail.

He said Mr Ryan would pay a price for the emissions through a carbon offset scheme but added: Wed much rather if it werent necessary.

The Taoiseach was speaking in Dubai after delivering his national statement address as part of the world leaders segment of the climate summit.

He acknowledged that the riots had attracted international attention and involvement by extremists abroad.

It's a feature of the globalised age. Extremist groups were in contact with each other around the world.

People who have very extreme views or harbour tendencies towards violence now find it very easy to connect online and have their extreme views and conspiracy theories affirmed and amplified online.

He said the new hate speech laws would help tackle the problem and he rejected criticisms from some quarters that they would stifle free speech.

You cant put technology back in the box. Im in favour of the digital age. But we have to make sure our society and our laws keep up with that reality.

Freedom of expression is protected in our Constitution and its protected in our new law.

Mr Varadkar also responded to media reports that Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe is set to leave politics to head up the International Monetary Fund.

He said Mr Donohoe, one of the most capable politicians in the country by a mile had refuted the reports.

I think hed be an excellent managing director of the IMF but thats not what hes interested in.

Hes interested in staying on as president of the Eurogroup and also contesting the next Dail election in the Dublin Central constituency, Mr Varadkar said.

A number of Fine Gael TDs have already announced they will not be running in the next general election but Mr Varadkar said they were largely long-servers.

Behind them there are a whole party of people who are dying to get their chance.

The Taoiseach also spoke about reports in the Irish Independent that security around his home had been significantly strengthened since last weeks riots.

Part of being in public life is that there are certain security threats. Thats something that you accept as part of the job that you chose to do and are privileged to do.

There are security arrangements around my person and around my home and Im asked by the Gardai not to discuss them in any detail.

As the Taoiseach travelled to Dubai, the CSO reported that Ireland was now officially in recession but he said he was not worried.

A slowdown in multinational companies had affected GDP but the domestic economy was powering ahead.

More people are working than ever before. Our budget is in surplus and were getting to a point where incomes are now rising faster than prices are rising.

That means people are getting better off in real terms and thats the most important thing.

The Taoiseach is due to depart Dubai on Sunday.
Bloomberg says the Fine Gael TD is considering a bid for IMF jobDonohoes spokesperson insists he plans to run in next election No candidate has put their name forward yet

PUBLIC Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe is holding preliminary talks about putting his name forward to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Fine Gael TD is reported by Bloomberg to be considering a bid to lead the financial body which stepped in to help Irelands economy after the Celtic Tigers collapse.

Previous Managing Directors of the IMF include Christian Lagarde and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The current term of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva ends in September 2024, but the selection can take shape months in advance.

If Mr Donohoe was to be successful in a bid for the prestigious global role it would be a major blow to his party who will struggle to hold his Dail seat in Dublin Central, the same constituency as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Mr Donohoe confirmed as recently as two weeks ago that he planned to contest the next general election - which is due by March 2025 at the latest. He has been a TD since 2011.

Speaking after ruling out running for Fine Gael in the European elections in Dublin next June, he said: I am going to keep at this work here in Ireland and as Minister for the rest of this government.

Mr Donohoe's spokesperson has responded to the reports by telling the Irish Independent that he is fully focused on his current work and responsibilities in Ireland and as President of the Eurogroup.

They added: He is committed to serving his full mandate in Europe and will also be a candidate in the next election in Ireland.

The 49-year-olds international standing has been helped by his unorthodox re-election as chair of the Eurogroup of finance ministers for a second term.

The position is usually held by the finance minister of an EU country  but Mr Donohoe was selected unopposed despite no longer holding the main finance portfolio in the coalition government.

Finance Minister Michael McGrath also attends meetings, meaning Ireland has two ministers in the room.

Mr Donohoe has led the Eurogroup since mid-2020.

While no candidate has put forward their name yet for the IMF role, sources told Bloomberg Mr Donohoe is holding preliminary conversations over the matter. They requested anonymity to discuss the private talks.

Ms Georgieva has not yet publicly stated whether she intends to seek a second term. An IMF spokesperson said Georgieva's attention "is on helping the membership of the IMF face the pressing economic challenges that the world is grappling with."

According to the Bloomberg report, Mr Donohoe has forged a reputation as a consensus builder, well-liked and respected by all sides both in his home country and in Brussels.

These traits helped him stay head of the Eurogroup even when his job change to budget minister would have given his EU counterparts the opportunity to find a new leader.

In his capacity as the representative of the euro-zone economy, Mr Donohoe has also regularly attended the Group of Seven meetings of finance ministers and central bankers from the world's largest advanced economies, along with the IMF chief.

Whoever takes on the post at the helm of the IMF will do so at a precarious time, with several low-income nations in or near debt distress and persisting challenges to the global economic outlook following aggressive interest-rate hikes from central banks.

Ireland was itself under an IMF lending programme just over a decade ago, alongside other euro-zone peers during the region's sovereign debt crisis.

It's unclear how other IMF members, particularly those from emerging market economies, would react to another European candidate. Several of these countries, including China and Brazil, have also called for a realignment of IMF voting shares to better reflect their relative weight in the global economy.

The IMF has always been led by a European national, in a tacit understanding between Europe and the US, which in turn gets to nominate the president of the World Bank. Over the IMF's eight decades, five of 12 managing directors have been from France; none has been from Ireland.

While the Washington-based fund's Executive Board elects the leader in a vote, the support of Europe and the US together accounting for around half of all voting shares would make it tough for other candidates to surmount.

Mr Donohoe has a plausible path to US support. He has a close relationship with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, largely forged during Yellen's efforts to cajole support from countries including Ireland for a global tax accord. His backing was seen as key in Yellen's push to clinch a deal.

The two of them have met regularly over the past few years, most recently for dinner in Washington earlier this week. Ms Yellen attended the Eurogroup meeting Donohoe chaired in Luxembourg in October; she has also spoken to the Eurogroup in Brussels and met with him in Dublin.

A Treasury spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Through his role as Eurogroup president, Mr Donohoe has built a good rapport with several European finance ministers who'll have to endorse him for the job, as well as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who previously held the top IMF post.

Mr Donohoe's potential bid emerges as one of the top possible candidates, Spanish Economy minister Nadia Calvino, is moving closer to taking on the presidency of the European Investment Bank.

But even within Europe, the choice of a single candidate is often the result of an effort to balance a series of different and often divergent geographical and political interests, and Mr Donohoe could face an uphill battle.

Ms Georgieva, a Bulgarian national, beat out other hopefuls in 2019, in part because she was from an Eastern European nation, a region typically underrepresented in top institutional positions.

In 2019 the IMF executive board scrapped an age restriction for the fund's managing director to be under 65 years old at the time of appointment so Ms Georgieva, who was 66 at the time, could secure the job.

If European nations fail to agree on an IMF candidate before June, the choice could get caught up in broader horse-trading for top jobs that's set to take place next summer over posts atop the European Commission, European Council and potentially NATO.
PUBLIC support for embattled Justice Minister Helen McEntee has increased in the wake of the Dublin riots with more than half of people believing she should not resign from Cabinet.

Ahead of a Sinn Fein no confidence motion in the Fine Gael TD next week, the latest Ireland Thinks poll for the Sunday Independent has found 38 per cent are satisfied with her performance as justice minister.

While more people - 49 per cent - are not satisfied with Ms McEntees performance, her satisfaction ratings have increased by nine points since the question was last asked in August when Ms McEntee was under fire over law and order in Dublin. A majority of those polled - 54 per cent - believe McEntee should not resign from office, while 40 per cent believe she should.

Half of those polled also believe Garda Commissioner Drew Harris - who is also facing calls from Sinn Fein and other opposition parties to step down - should not resign in the wake of the riots while 41 per cent believe he should.

The poll findings come in the wake of the violent riots in the capital over a week ago which took place hours after the stabbing of three young children and a creche worker in Parnell Square.

The last monthly opinion poll of 2023 also found that Sinn Feins support has fallen three points to 28 per cent, which will come as a blow to Mary Lou McDonalds party after it spent much of the week targeting Ms McEntee and the Government in the political fallout from the riots.

Support for the Coalition parties is largely unchanged with Fine Gael on 21 per cent, Fianna Fail up one to 19 per cent, and the Greens down one to 3 per cent.

Support for Independents and others has risen to 14 per cent, up three points, while Labour is up one to 4 per cent.

The Social Democrats (5 per cent), Solidarity-People Before Profit (4 per cent), and Aontu (3 per cent) are all unchanged.

Ms McEntees own approval rating when compared to party leaders including Ms McDonald stands at 39 per cent, this is one point ahead of the SInn Fein leader who has fallen three points to 38 per cent.

Ms McDonald is level with Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns. Tanaiste Michral Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are the two party leaders with the highest approval ratings at 46 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

Ivana Baciks approval rating stands at 30 per cent, while Aontu Peadar Toibin is at 28 per cent and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is the least popular of all the party leaders on 22 per cent.

Those polled were also asked if they would vote for former MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who has heavily criticised the Government's response to the riots, if he ran for public office but just 8 per cent of those polled said they would, whilst 89 per cent say they would not.

The poll also finds voters increasingly concerned about immigration as an issue but their concerns about the far right are greater. The full details will be published online and in the Sunday Independent on Sunday.

The poll was taken on Friday and Saturday of this week among a sample size of 1,306 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8pc.
Sinn Fein have announced the two candidates set to run for the party in next years European elections for the Dublin constituency.

Senator Lynn Boylan and Dublin City councillor Daithi Doolan will contest the European elections for Sinn Fein in 2024.

Senator Boylan served as an MEP for Dublin from 2014 to 2019 before losing her seat in the 2019 election. She also ran unsuccessfully for Sinn Fein in the Dublin Bay South by-election in 2021.

Speaking following the announcement, Ms Boylan said the demand for real change grows stronger by the day. She highlighted the housing crisis, health crisis and the high cost of living as areas where change is needed.

"Our future is to be at the forefront of creating a transformed, social European Union that is about improving peoples lives.

"Europe must concern itself with advancing the causes which nations need to collaborate on to resolve together; workers rights, environmental protections, social justice, ethical trade, research and developments are areas in which co-operation is necessary, she said.

Sinn Fein Councillor Daithi Doolan. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Cllr Doolan contested two general elections for Sinn Fein in Dublin South-East in 2002 and 2007. He served as a local councillor for the South East Inner City constituency from 2004 to 2009 and has been a councillor for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh since 2014.

He said: A vote for Sinn Fein in the European elections is a vote for strong representation, for people who will stand up for Irish interests and work with others for a better European Union.

"We will oppose any attempts by the European Union to take further power from member states, including on foreign policy or tax.

"We have seen this most recently in the partisan actions of European Office holders, especially Commissioner Ursula Von der Leyen with regards to the conflict in the Middle East, he said.

Europe should be a champion for the upholding of human rights for Palestine, Mr Doolan said. He said Ireland needs MEPs who will bring the case for Irish unity to the European Parliament.

Elections to the European Parliament are scheduled to be held in June of next year, with one additional seat bringing the total number of MEPs representing Ireland to 14.
NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai welcomes Cambodian NA President Samdech Khuon Sudary at Noi Bai international airport (Photo: VNA)

The Cambodia NA leader was met at the airport by NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai and Chairman of the NAs Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha.

This is the first foreign trip by Samdech Khuon Sudary as President of the Cambodian NA right after the country held the elections of the 7th legislature and completed the national leadership in August this year.

The visit of the Cambodian NA President is an important event in the relations between the NAs of Vietnam and Cambodia. It is a new milestone contributing to strengthening and developing the good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability between the two countries in general and the two NAs in particular./.
Protests at Cop28 call for veganism to become law as climate conference begins first day

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has pledged at the Cop28 climate summit to contribute 25 million to assist poor countries irrevocably harmed by climate change.

Aid agencies and climate campaigners reacted with disappointment, though, to Mr Varadkars pledge to the Loss and Damage Fund, noting the money will come from funding already committed to the wider category of climate finance.

The money will be used by the new Loss and Damage Fund opened by the summit earlier this week to collect finance from rich countries.

Mr Varadkar said the 25 million would cover Irelands pledge for 2024 and 2025.

We will make further contributions thereafter, he said.

He confirmed Irelands pledge in his address to the summits gathering of world leaders which has been taking place on Friday and today.

Christian Aid said the funding is not new but important. While it is important that Ireland has pledged to contribute to the new Loss and Damage Fund, it is extremely regrettable to see it come from existing climate finance commitments, said Ross Fitzpatrick of Christian Aid.

It is not the new and additional funding urgently needed by countries on the climate crisis frontline to help them recover and rebuilding in the aftermath of climate disasters.

The money will come from 225 million in climate finance for vulnerable countries which the Government has said will be made available annually from next year.

That commitment was made in 2021, with the fund intended primarily to assist climate adaptation measures to help communities make their homes, land and livelihood more resilient to extreme weather.

The new Loss and Damage Fund is intended to compensate for severe or irrevocable climate damage.

Trocaire described the pledge as robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Trocaire is deeply disappointed that the pledge is not additional money to that which was pledged at the Glasgow Cop, three years ago, said head of policy, Siobhan Curran.

Mr Varadkar is one of more than 140 heads of state to deliver national statements to the event, setting out countries priorities and commitments on climate change.

Mr Varadkar said the Loss and Damage Fund  which received more than 500 million in pledges in the first two days -must begin putting the money to work as soon as possible.

Ireland is a wealthy country. Even so, we are struggling to make as much progress as needed. We are constantly looking at ways to improve, he said.

Im conscious of the even greater challenges others face, particularly Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.

So, the Loss and Damage fund must begin disbursing finance as soon as possible.

Mr Varadkar said the world was well past the point of preventing climate change but urgent action could limit its extent and mitigate its worst effects.

We have to prioritise investment in energy access and low carbon development for the most vulnerable countries, he said.

This COP must also set us on a clear path to a safe and planned reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

He said, however, that more effort was needed to engage the public.

In mobilising our societies, we must recognise our peoples concerns and bring people with us  our farmers, our workers, our enterprises, our people, he said.

With the cost-of-living and high energy prices, many worry about how much the transition will cost and what it will mean for their jobs and incomes and living standards.

Those are legitimate concerns. We need to understand where people are coming from and offer reassurance.

Change is difficult, but we must do everything in our power to make the transition just, protecting the vulnerable and leaving nobody behind.

And we need to do a better job explaining the benefits: a liveable planet, cleaner air, new jobs and economic opportunities; a more secure world, with less conflict over resources, more reliable energy, fewer people on the move from homes that can no longer support them.

Mr Varadkar said leaders carried a profound responsibility on our shoulders and must lead the way on the climate crisis.

Never before have the alarm bells been ringing so loudly, he said.

Dear friends, let us also work together so the world has the financial firepower and institutions and infrastructure it needs to make the journey we need to make together.

We must rise to this challenge. I believe we can.
Take That are pictured on The Late Late Show with host Patrick Kielty. Picture: Andres Poveda

Take That joined Patrick Kielty on the Late Late Show on Friday night ahead of their stadium tour across Ireland and the UK next year.

Band members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald performed their new tracks Windows and This Life as well as an old classic, Back for Good.

The trio are in Ireland to promote the release of their ninth studio album called This Life.

The band will play three dates in Cork, Dublin and Belfast next summer as part of their upcoming Ireland and UK stadium tour.

Take That are pictured performing on The Late Late Show. Picture: Andres Poveda

They will perform at Musgrave Park in Cork on June 20, followed by Malahide Castle in Dublin on June 21 and Belsonic Belfast on June 22.

These shows will follow two sold-out dates in the 3Arena on April 22 and 23 next year.

The band, who originated in Manchester, England, first rose to fame in the 1990s with former members Robbie Williams and Jason Orange, celebrated three decades together back in 2018.

Considered one of the UKs most successful bands, they have sold 45 million records worldwide and have had 12 Number one hits in the UK, including Never Forget in 1995 and Patience in 2006.

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Speaking to host Patrick Kielty, Mr Barlow said there is no fear of the band splitting up again as theyre just having too much fun.

Howard added that the trio are very excited to perform in Ireland next year as Irish fans are the loudest.

Gary also paid tribute to the late Shane MacGowan, saying The Pogues frontman was completely authentic throughout his career.

The songwriter died on Thursday, he had been receiving treatment in St Vincents Hospital in Dublin for several months for an infection.

He was discharged from hospital on November 22 and returned home to spend quality time with his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke.
Delegates walk past flag posts at the Dubais Expo City after attending the World Climate Action Summit at Cop28 in Dubai. Photo: Reuters

When Leo Varadkar stands up in front of a global audience to deliver his address to the Cop28 climate summit later today, he will keep his comments brief.

Its not just that the 140-plus heads of state on the list to speak over two days are being urged, begged and warned not to exceed their allotted three minutes. Its because the Taoiseach has no intentions of exceeding expectations.

He will pledge to contribute to the new Loss and Damage Fund which will collect money from wealthy, high carbon-polluting nations to aid poor countries worst affected by climate change.

He will also reiterate Irelands climate action aims and legally binding emission reduction targets.

But he wont go beyond them. Even though UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has pleaded with world leaders to up their ambitions.

Even though the science says the current collective ambitions of the worlds nations wont stop global warming rising beyond what the Earth or its people can handle. Even though the temptation to make a big announcement at such a prestigious gathering must be overwhelming.

One of the difficulties down the years at climate meetings such as this is a lot of countries make promises and then dont fulfil those promises, Mr Varadkar said.

The one thing that I very much bring to this conference is the view that we need to spend more time trying to keep our promises and meet our targets rather than always coming up with more ambitious language and higher targets. This is too serious for that. We need to do what we say we are going to do.

The problem is, we are not doing that.

At the moment, were not reaching our targets, Mr Varadkar said.

We have to scale up our actions in that regard. Its not easy, especially when you have a growing population and a growing economy, as we do.

What I want to do is meet the targets that weve set and only when were on a trajectory to do that can we be serious and honest about higher targets.

Its an approach that will be praised as pragmatic by some and lamented for lack of vision by others, but Mr Varadkar is clear where he stands.

He will not be seeking whatever agreement is reached at the conclusion of Cop28 to include an outright end to fossil fuels.

We want to phase out unabated fossil fuels, he said.

It doesnt mean that they can never be used, but it means that if they are going to be used, they have to be abated or offset in some way.

He wont be keeping fossil-fuel companies, large polluting industries or agribusiness at arms length, either.

One of the good things about Cop is that it brings everyone together, so its governments, its NGOs, who engage in a lot of lobbying, and industry, which engages in a lot of lobbying too, he said.

We actually need industry because if were going to change from fossil fuel-generated electricity to renewables, those companies need to make that transition too.

And when it comes to changing the way our food system works, its actually some of the big agricultural companies that are going to make those changes.

Some of the big food producers in Ireland are already setting a target to reduce their emissions by 30pc, which is higher than the Governments target for agriculture, so I dont think we should see industry necessarily as being the enemy. Theyre not. We cant make this transition without them. But that doesnt mean that we pander to them either. We cant do that.

At any event like this, there are different interests at play and it would be naive to think that financial interests and economic interests arent at play here. They are.

What we have with the fossil-fuel industry is an industry that needs to make the transition itself and we see, for example in Europe, some countries, such as the Nordic countries, that were all about oil and gas, have made the transition to renewables.

Thats the future for the energy industry in my view. Its not about shutting them down. Its about making the transition from old fuels to new fuels.

He said progress was being made with the increase in renewables and retrofitting, and a small reduction in agricultural emissions. But he admitted it would be extremely difficult to keep global temperature rise to the 1.5C limit and said Ireland must prepare for the consequences.

The sad reality is that much of climate change is now baked in, he said. It may never be reversed or at least not for decades and thats why we need to focus on things like adaptation. Thats going to be very important back home  flood relief, water conservation, reservoirs big enough for the future.
The cause of the womans death is not yet known

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is aware of the case and stands ready to provide consular assistance. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

An Irish woman who travelled to Turkey for a medical procedure has died.

It is understood the young mother, who was from the east of the country, went for bariatric (weight-loss) surgery.

She died earlier this week, and the cause of her death is not yet known.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is aware of the case and stands ready to provide consular assistance.

The woman, who worked as a nurse, had been living abroad for a number of years.

Tributes have been paid following her death.

She has been described as such a lady, who had a beautiful smile and a joyful laugh.

Others remembered her as a loving, kind and nurturing mother.

While the circumstances of the case are unclear, concerns have been growing about the rise in the number of Irish people returning with complications after travelling to Turkey for cosmetic, dental and weight-loss procedures.

The surge in people travelling abroad for these has prompted the DFA to issue warnings.

Individuals should seek to inform themselves of both the risks and benefits of any procedures, and are advised to discuss their plans carefully with their own doctor, dentist or hospital specialist before committing to any procedure abroad, it said in a statement.

The DFA is aware that some citizens have experienced complications in the course of their treatment in Turkey, and a number have died following medical procedures.

Irish citizens considering medical treatment in Turkey are advised to carry out independent research regarding the credentials of any potential service provider and to ensure that the facility is accredited with the Turkish authorities.

At least nine Irish people who went abroad for medical and cosmetic procedures in the last three years have died.

The DFA had been notified of three others between January and October this year.

In May, a man died while undergoing a dental procedure in Turkey.

A woman in her 50s who travelled to Turkey in July for a cosmetic procedure also died.

In 2022, four people died, including two women who went to Turkey for bariatric procedures.

One of the women was in her 30s, had a young daughter and lived in Dublin. The other was a mother of two from Co Waterford.

A father from Louth who travelled to Turkey for a dental procedure in April last year also died.

The exact causes of their deaths have not been reported.

The majority of those who died underwent bariatric (weight-loss) and dental procedures.

In 2021, two deaths were reported to the DFA. It was not notified of any deaths between 2017 and 2020.

It said that the true number of deaths may be higher than reported.

High costs, long waiting lists and the lack of availability of certain procedures in Ireland is leading people to travel abroad.
Winners of the World Travel Awards 2023 were announced in Dubai

The Guinness Storehouse Leadership Team celebrates its wins at the 2023 World Travel Awards

The Guinness Storehouse has beaten the Grand Canyon, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal among other iconic attractions to be named Worlds Leading Tourist Attraction for 2023.

The win was announced last night at a glittering World Travel Awards (WTA) ceremony at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

We pride ourselves on bringing the story of Guinness past, present and future to life, while showcasing the very best of Irish culture through local collaborations and partnerships spanning music, art, design, food and so much more, said Catherine Toolan of Diageo Irish Brand Homes.

"We could not achieve any of this without our incredibly talented team who welcome millions of visitors every year, from all corners of the world, and provide the famous Cead Mile Failte...

"It means the world to our team to be recognised on a global stage and to bring these awards home to Dublin and The Liberties.

The Guinness Storehouse Leadership Team celebrates its wins at the 2023 World Travel Awards

The Guinness Storehouse, which welcomed over a million visitors last year, beat a whos-who of global tourist attractions to its award  including Niagara Falls, the Las Vegas Strip and the Acropolis of Athens.

For the second year in a row, it was also named Worlds Leading Beer Tour Visitor Experience.

"Compelling things to see and do give overseas visitors more reasons to holiday on the island of Ireland, said Alice Mansergh, Chief Executive Designate of Tourism Ireland, of the win.

The Guinness Storehouse offers a unique experience to visitors, celebrating an iconic story of Irish craft, heritage and industry in fresh, modern ways.

Sometimes dubbed the tourism Oscars, the World Travel Awards include dozens of categories for brands, destinations, hotels, airports and more on country, regional (e.g. European) and global levels.

Entrants can be previous winners, self-nominated or WTA recommendations, with votes coming from qualified executives working within travel and tourism and the consumer travel buyer, it says.

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery

Ireland has form in the awards.

In 2016, Titanic Belfast was crowned Worlds Leading Tourist Attraction, while this year saw Luttrellstown Castle win Europes Leading Luxury Wedding Resort, Jameson Distillery Bow St win Europes Leading Whiskey Distillery Tour, and the Convention Centre Dublin win Europes Leading Meetings & Conference Centre.

The Guinness Storehouse win comes as the popular attraction enters Christmas mode, with ritzy installations including an 8.5m Christmas tree and state-of-the-art cinema experience.

Tickets to the attraction cost 24pp for adults, including entry to the Gravity Bar and a pint of Guinness or non-aocoholic drink, and 10pp for children.

Read about a look inside the Guinness Archives in Dublin.
Protesters at the Womens March for Climate in Dakar, Senegal, which coincides with Cop28 in Dubai. Photo: AP

With Cop28 in Dubai, the burning question on all our lips is: Will it be a success or a cop-out?

This annual conference is being held this year in the United Arab Emirates, which has the worlds biggest climate-busting oil plans.

The state oil company has the largest net-zero-busting expansion plans of any company in the world.

A recent report by Oxfam suggests the richest 1pc in the world cause as much global warming as 66pc of the entire global population.

Even in Ireland, the report suggests the richest 10pc of the population are responsible for 27pc of our greenhouse gas emissions.

With their private planes, yachts, gas-guzzlers and lavish lifestyles, the biggest polluters are the richest nations on the planet.

China has 1,118 coal-fired power plants and rising, India has 285, the US 225, Japan 92, Indonesia 87, Russia 71 and Germany 63. Ireland has one, at Moneypoint, after closing down Bord na Mona, and we are now importing peat briquettes from Latvia, causing much transport pollution.

How clever is that? These are the wealthy countries that will make the rules at Cop28. The rich cause climate change and the poor countries suffer the consequences.

Last year at Cop27 in Egypt, the conference agreed that a Loss and Damage Fund should be set up, whereby poorer countries suffering the worst effects of climate change would be helped financially.

But no agreement was reached on who was going to pay the piper. Will that change this year? Probably not, as no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room while the rich get richer and the poor get a few crumbs from the rich table and suffer the extremes of climate change.

The world needs to cop on before future generations suffer the consequences of major inaction by our super-rich present-day elite and apparently non-caring nations.

Tom Towey, Cloonacool, Co Sligo

Its particularly poignant that MacGowan should die in run-up to Christmas

The death of Shane MacGowan in the run-up to Christmas adds to its pathos.

His duet with Kirsty MacColl on Fairytale of New York is an iconic image of our times, and the song itself is a classic in the history of popular music.

Suaimhneas siorai da anam uasal gaelach.

John Glennon, Hollywood, Co Wicklow

Poet Shanes lyrical genius was a generous gift from Ireland to English music

Farewell, Shane MacGowan, a man who straddled the grey area inhabited by second-generation Irish across the Irish Sea.

Having emigrated to England while young from the west of Ireland, I came across hundreds of Irish who knew they would never get back and hundreds more whose identity was daily challenged  were they Irish or were they English? Both sides often rejected them.

Shane fused it into poetry and turned it into music.

Like Morrissey, Marr, the rest of the Smiths, Stone Roses, Dexys and Kevin Rowland and, indeed, the Beatles, Shane MacGowan was the gift to English music from Ireland.

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash was the coda for a strand of the Celt. His Rainy Night in Soho was from God.

John Cuffe, Co Meath

McEntees choice of words in Dail concerning city riots serves only to divide

I was disappointed at the language used by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in the Dail when discussing the riots in Dublin in the aftermath of the horrific knife attacks on innocent children and their carers.

This type of language is very divisive and contributes to the alienation of certain sections of our community.

I appreciate there is anger in society arising from these riots, but this anger should be directed in a more appropriate fashion by discussing fairly the circumstances that contributed to the violence occurring.

I have heard very little discussion about the innocent people injured in the knife attacks and the gardai injured while responding to the riots.

In the midst of all these discussions, let us remember the five-year-old girl who remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Eamonn OHara, Manorcunningham, Co Donegal

Rescue of mineworkers in India in stark contrast to bombs falling elsewhere

Reading Thursdays report by Shweta Shams makes one appreciate how sweet life is (Tunnel collapse survivors prayed, never lost hope, Irish Independent, November 30).

While 41 mine workers were being rescued from an Indian tunnel after being trapped deep inside for 17 days following a structural collapse, preparations were being made elsewhere in the world to bomb and annihilate our fellow humans.

When are we ever going to learn?

Leo Gormley, Dundalk, Co Louth

Its beyond shameful that anyone in Ireland should be forced to sleep in a tent

I read with dismay of plans to house refugees and asylum-seekers in tents because of a lack of alternative accommodation.

It is beyond shameful that anyone in this wealthy country should be forced to sleep on the streets in sub-zero temperatures while large buildings remain empty.

I say to people protesting against the arrival of people who need shelter: Whatever about your concerns, where is your humanity?

We can welcome people to this wonderful village and work with the authorities and our political representatives to make sure this community has the services and supports it needs. Will you help?

Bernie Linnane, Dromahair, Co Leitrim

Gardai shackled by rules while wrongdoers bang on about their rights

Once upon a time, as the late, great Michael P OConnor used to say, gardai would go out to work and, if necessary, arrest and handcuff law-breakers and bring them before the courts.

But now, lo and behold, things have changed.

Gardai have to handcuff themselves while criminals seemingly do what they like.

Its truly incredible the amount of rights the wrongdoers have. It reminds one of the old saying about the lunatics running the asylum.

Of course, there are no such things as lunatics, just those wonderful and marvellous misunderstood people.

You have to wonder who makes these rules  no doubt it is the Intelligent Democratic Individuals of This State (Idiots).

The only question remaining is: Will we all live happily ever after?

T Donoghue, Doocastle, Co Mayo

Give hard-pressed farmers a break  they contribute enormously to economy

Mondays early evening TV news on RTE One correctly reported that Irish agricultural exports increased by 22pc to 19bn last year.

RTE then stated that agriculture is responsible for one-third of Irelands greenhouse gas emissions. This leaves the public thinking we should greatly reduce farm food production when the opposite is actually the case.

Why did they not say that Irelands farm-produced food has the lowest carbon footprint in Europe and the lowest in the world in the case of dairy, so any reduction in Irish food production will be replaced by products with a much higher carbon footprint and increase the world emissions?

Ireland is known internationally as a natural, quality food-producing country. Our food exports are important to our national economy.

Why do our authorities and RTE keep wrongly discrediting our hard-working farmers and their produce at every opportunity, especially seeing that Teagasc research has shown farmers income has fallen by 44pc this year while the price of their produce has hardly reduced in retail outlets?

Where would Ireland be without the farmers? Our food exports would suffer badly. So, please, let us stop the anti-farmer campaign.

David Thompson, Co Limerick

One was soon put in ones place when one started putting on airs and graces

Sean OByrnes letter regarding restaurant staff addressing customers as guys reminded me of an incident in my working life.

I approached a customer and said: May one help you?

He replied: Im not sure  perhaps it might take two of ye.

Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9
Skerries is set to enhance its sea swimming experience following the announcement of over 40,000 in funding for a scoping study project.

The financial support is part of the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS), with Fingal County Council successfully securing the funds for a feasibility study aimed at improving infrastructure around The Springers Bathing Area.

The funding, part of a larger allocation of nearly 2.3m for 50 outdoor adventure projects nationwide, was revealed by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys.

Fingal is set to receive 40,500, which will be instrumental in assessing the development of facilities such as showers, changing areas and ramped access for sea swimmers.

Fine Gael councillor Tom OLeary told the Irish Independent that he welcomes the funding.

These facilities and plans to improve access to the Springers, such as changing rooms and showers, will be great for various reasons, including privacy, he said.

There are people of all ages out there who have to go to their cars to change out of swimming gear, and there are also people who come from different parts of Dublin.

The Springers Bathing Area, named after a springboard used by locals decades ago, is home to a dedicated group of year-round swimmers known as the Frosties.

Despite the often-chilly waters off the Red Island headland, these enthusiasts gather regularly to take a dip.

Local Skerries business owner Niall White (25), of The Wood Fired Sauna near the Skerries Sailing Club, told the Irish Independent hed love to relocate towards Red Island to be closer to the swimmers.

Our customers always say to us that it would be great for us to be right beside the swimming area at Red Island, he said.

Niall White alongside Hollywood star Colm Meaney at Wood Fire Sauna in Skerries

That way, everyone would benefit from going straight from the sea into the warmth. With this new development, Im hoping that in some way, we could maybe get involved.

I think its going to be great. There is a massive community down there. Theres definitely a change in culture, and sea swimming has become so popular. People want to feel nice and refreshed on the weekends.

Ive had people say to me the sauna is like the new pub, as you get to sit in after your swim and chat with like-minded people that you might not necessarily know, and you go through the experience together.

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Adrian Henchy, was also enthusiastic about the funding and emphasised the significance to the local area.

Sea swimming in Skerries is not just a cherished local pastime; its a powerful rejuvenation tonic for both the body and the mind, he said.

This funding for a feasibility study into key infrastructure in Skerries will help further the development of what is an invigorating, rewarding, and growing outdoor activity that can be enjoyed by all.

John Quinlivan, Director of Economic, Enterprise, Tourism & Cultural Development at Fingal County Council, added: This funding will go some way in helping us explore what can be done to create a safer and more enjoyable environment for the vibrant sea swimming groups in Skerries.

We look forward to working with the local community to ensure that Skerries becomes an even more welcoming and accommodating destination for sea swimmers.
Victoria and Shane MacGowan. The singer songwriter died on Thursday after an illness. He was 65 and had family roots in Tipperary

A Book of Condolence will open at 12 noon on Monday December 4, following the passing of Shane McGowan at each Civic and Municipal District Office in Tipperary and will remain open for one week.

A Book of Condolence will also be made available at this time online at www.tipperarycoco.ie.

Shanes Tipperary roots are strong, as his mother Therese was from Carney, where Shane moved to live in the ancestral home in later years.

The MacGowan family moved back to live in the village of Silvermines, near Nenagh, in the 1980s to live life in rural Ireland away from the hustle and bustle of London.

Shane moved back to Tipperary in his later years, to his familys traditional 350-year-old residence at Carney Commons near Ardcroney.

Having tired of life in London, he told The Guardian in 2001 that the move home ensured he was away from London and closer to his family and parents who then lived outside Silvermines village.

My parents were living here and I wanted to come back full time. I was sick of living in London and travelling around. I still travel around the world a fair bit, but I was basically sick of London. I never really liked the place, Shane said. This is the only fixed address that I have ever had  you know what I mean?

I will stay here for the rest of my life. This has always been my home. However far I wander this is where I belong. This is my home this is the only place where I ever lived in and it is where I am living now and it is the last place that I will ever live, he said.

The Carney home is the ancestral dwelling of the Lynch family, Shanes mothers relations, and is a remote old cottage equipped with an open-hearth fire and ancient family parlour.
With voting underway to elect a new president of the Irish Farmers Association, Wicklow farmers are encouraged to make sure their vote counts by casting a vote for their preferred candidate.

Voting began in November and the national count will take place on December 12, and the new president will take over from Tim Cullinan in January.

The two candidates up for election includes Francie Gorman, a suckler beef and sheep farmer from Ballinakill in Laois. He is the current South Leinster Regional Chair, and is married to Kay, with whom he has a son, Tom.

The other candidate is Martin Stapleton, a dairy farmer from Oola, Co. Limerick. He is married to Siobhan and the couple has three teenage children. Martin is the current National Treasurer of the Association.

Tom Byrne, Wicklow IFA Chairman, is keen to press home just how important it is that farmers use their vote, particularly given the difficult year the agriculture sector has experienced.

Its important that farmers make sure they get out and vote, as they need to have their say. The weather this year has been a disaster. There were huge losses in tillage and potato crops, and the weather placed farmers under real severe pressure. Its vital that farmers put their vote to use and engage in the democratic process. Its vital that as many people vote as possible for the person they feel would best represent the interests of Irish farmers for the next four years.
The curtain has come down on what has been described as one of Irish rock musics most chaotic, colourful and rambunctious lives. But this week, when Shane MacGowan died at the age of 65 after battling ill health, the curtain also fell on an epic, fascinating and enduring romance.
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG wants to build its first armored vehicles in Ukraine next year, concern's chief executive officer Armin Papperger said, Reuters reports.

Papperger said he expected a deal with Ukraine on the construction of Fuchs armored transport vehicles - named after the German word for fox - and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles by early next year.

"After the contract is signed, we want to have finished the first (Fuchs) within six-seven months, and the first Lynx within 12-13 months," he was quoted as saying.

Ukraine had announced in October a joint defence venture with Rheinmetall AG to help with the local production of some key equipment as well as to service and repair Western weapons sent to Kyiv against Russia's full-scale invasion.

As Reuters reports, Ukrainian officials hope that cooperation with Western weapons manufacturers will help revive the domestic weapons industry, which suffered from inefficiency and lack of transparency for years before the Russian invasion.
British star Carey Mulligan said the amount of original video tapes and recordings of the character she plays in the film Maestro was initially the most daunting thing.

The actress, 38, said it turned out to be a joy playing Felicia Montealegre, the wife of esteemed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, in the upcoming Netflix biopic starring Bradley Cooper.

Appearing at a special screening of Maestro at Picturehouse Central in London, Mulligan told the PA News Agency: It was initially the most daunting thing having that much (material) because there was so much.

So many videos, so many photos (and) recordings of Felicia and (I remember) initially thinking to try and find that felt really daunting at first.

Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan arrive for a special screening of Maestro at Picturehouse Central in London (Jonathan Brady/PA)

And then once we found it, it felt like the easiest thing in the world because of all the work that we did to get to that point  so it was a joy.

Cooper, 48, said the actors adopted the couples dynamic and a rhythm and a musicality with which they walked through life.

He told PA: Theres so much primary source material that was at our disposal and the children themselves, we were able to immerse ourselves in the world of the Bernsteins via their children, their house in Fairfield we were able to do go there and do our own preparation, hanging out with the children.

It was all there for us, we were able to put the time and work in so that we can then really get out of the way and channel these people more than acting like these people.

Cooper said the film is about exploring the couple separately and then when theyre together during various stages throughout their relationship.

It comes after the children of Leonard Bernstein defended Coopers use of make-up to amplify his resemblance to the late composer in the film, after coming under fire for not using acting to get the power of the mans story and Jewishness.

Cooper has had nine Oscar nominations, including for his leading role in A Star Is Born opposite Lady Gaga.

While Mulligan has starred in a host of critically acclaimed films including Emerald Fennells Promising Young Woman, which earned her an Oscar nomination, Baz Luhrmanns The Great Gatsby and 2022s She Said  which sees her play one of the New York Times reporters that exposed Harvey Weinsteins history of abuse to women.
Ukraine spy agency targets Russian military supply routes with attack on railway lines in Siberia

Freight train hit with explosives thousands of kilometres from front line

Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops. Photo: Reuters

Tom Balmforth Sat 2 Dec 2023 at 03:30







Ukraines domestic spy agency has detonated explosives on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters yesterday.
Its Joe Biden or bust  Democrats still have no White House Plan B if president decides not to run

If the president, for any reason, opted out, a very messy intra-party battle would doubtless ensue

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive for the Lighting Ceremony of the National Christmas Tree in President's Park in the Ellipse of the White House

Jeff Mason Sat 2 Dec 2023 at 03:30







The Democratic Party has no Plan B if President Joe Biden decided for any reason to halt his 2024 re-election campaign, and a sudden need to replace him would spark a messy intraparty battle.
The Irish divorce: Why the arrangement of celebrity couples like Jada Pinkett and Will Smith is not unusual to us
In November 2023, a Khalistani group protested outside the Hindu Laxmi Narayan temple in Surrey, British Columbia.

In August 2023, a Hindu temple in Surrey, British Columbia, was vandalized with Khalistan referendum posters and pictures of a slain Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief.

In April 2023, the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Windsor, Ontario, was defaced with anti-India graffiti.

In July 2022, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi located at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill, Ontario, was vandalized with Khalistani slogans.

The above incidents are not isolated events; they represent a pattern of intimidation and harassment that is targeting minority communities in Canada.

A nation once renowned for its multiculturalism and inclusivity, Canada is facing a growing concern with the rise of Khalistani extremism and its spillover effects on the countrys social fabric. Recent incidents involving protests, threats, and violence outside places of worship have cast a shadow over Canadas reputation as a welcoming haven for all.

The actions of these radical elements have not only caused fear and anxiety among Hindu communities but have also threatened to disrupt the harmonious coexistence that has long been a hallmark of Canadian society. The targeting of places of worship, symbols of peace and spiritual solace, is an egregious act of intolerance that cannot be tolerated.

Chandra Arya, a Canadian MP, has been consistently raising his voice against these incidents, urging the government to take decisive action.

However, his efforts have been met with seemingly deaf ears, leaving him feeling like a broken record.

The lack of concrete action from the authorities has emboldened these extremist groups, giving them the impression that they can operate with impunity.

This inaction has also sent a disheartening message to minority communities, making them feel vulnerable and unprotected.

The rise of Khalistan extremism in Canada is not merely a matter of religious intolerance; it is an attack on the very foundation of Canadian society  inclusivity, diversity, and respect for all. The Canadian government must take immediate and decisive steps to address this issue and reassure its citizens that it is committed to upholding the values that make Canada a truly inclusive nation.

(Image and text courtesy: Khalsavox.com)
Photo Courtesy: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of his deep regret about the resumption of military operations in Gaza on Friday, UN humanitarians vowed to stay and help all those in need, while reiterating nowhere is safe from attacks in the war-shattered enclave.

The sound of shells exploding shortly after 7am Gaza time was clearly audible at Nasser hospital in the south, where terrified and traumatised youngsters immediately reacted by clinging to their mothers in fright, said James Elder from the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF).

The bombs started just a few seconds after the ceasefire (ended), Elder told journalists at UN Geneva via video link from Khan Younis, before decrying the ongoing war on children.

Wounds of war

As we approached Nasser hospital there had been a hit, a missile, a rocket, somethingChildren with the wounds of war are everywhere, children with the wounds of war are still in corridors. Hundreds of women and children take refuge in here. You walk out of ICU (intensive care unit) and there are families of five on a mattress for two.

The return to violence follows the end of a week-long pause in hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces that allowed the delivery of desperately needed fuel, food and water, which people have been drinking as soon as it is given to them, humanitarians report.

The pause also enabled the release of hostages taken during Hamass 7 October surprise attack on southern Israel and ensuing massacre of some 1,200 people, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Gazas health authorities have reported more than 15,000 fatalities since the Israeli strikes began, with thousands of children believed buried under the rubble. The conflict has also created around 1,000 child amputees in recent weeks, Elder noted.

In an interview later in the day with UN News, Elder demonstrated the reality that nowhere is safe in Gaza, describing scenes of bombardment close by from his base in the southern city of Rafah.

He called on leaders involved in the conflict and with influence over the situation to understand that "enabling these attacks to begin again is to allow the killing of more and more children."

UN chief leads new ceasefire appeal

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, UN Chief Guterres led calls for the warring sides to return to the negotiating table to agree on a long-lasting ceasefire to allow desperately needed aid into Gaza.

I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza, he said. I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established. The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire.

Hopes dashed with 'little to survive on'

The past week offered us a glimpse of what can happen when the guns fall silent", said the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths in a statement on Monday night.

"The situation in Khan Younis today is a shocking reminder of what happens when they dont", he said noting that in a matter of hours "hopes were dashed" following some days of respite that had at least allowed an increase in basic supplies to Gazans.

"Almost two months into the fighting, the children, women and men of Gaza are all terrified", the relief chief said. "They have nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on. They live surrounded by disease, destruction and death."

He demanded progress in aid delivery and for the remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally.

"We need a humanitarian ceasefire. We need the fighting to stop."

Let aid in, urges rights chief

Echoing that call for peace, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, expressed deep concern at declarations by Israeli political and military leaders planning to expand and intensify the military offensive.

The resumption of hostilities in Gaza is catastrophic, the UN rights chief said, before urging all parties and States with influence over the warring sides to redouble efforts, immediately, to ensure a ceasefire  on humanitarian and human rights grounds.

The full respect and protection of the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis remain critically important, Turk stressed, before calling for an immediate end to the violence and the prompt and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.

He said civilians must be protected in line with international humanitarian law, appealing to Israel as the occupying powerto ensure that the basic needs of the population in Gaza, such as food, water, and medical care, are met. I remind all parties of their obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, throughout Gaza.

Hospital like a horror movie

Medical needs continue to far outstrip available care, the UN health agency has warned, with some 5,000 beds required but only around 1,500 to hand and only 51 out of 72 primary healthcare facilities now functional, said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking from Gaza.

The Gaza health system has been crippled by the ongoing hostilities and I want to stress that we cannot afford to lose any more hospitals or hospital beds, he said.

Dr. Peeperkorn also highlighted a study in the medical journal The Lancet that confirmed mortality statistics reported by the enclaves health authorities in October. To date, more than 6,200 children have died, over 4,000 women and roughly 4,850 men, with over 36,000 injured, he said.

Floors awash with blood

At one small hospital in Gaza City that is one of three barely functioning trauma centres for the north of the enclave, staff are overwhelmed and bodies are lined up in the car park outside (and) the floor is just awash with blood, said WHO Rob Holden, WHO Senior Emergency Officer.

The only way to describe it, it's like a horror movie. When you walk in there there are patients on the floor with the most traumatic injuries that you can imagine, potentially battlefield trauma. You know, the patients are given the best possible care, but the number of staff available is relatively small, any of this stuff, have fled with their families or have been killed.

The supplies are just not enough. There have been major problems of getting supplies to the north of Gaza as wellas you drive into the hospital, you are met with bodies deceased who've died either on arrival at the hospital or during their stay at the hospital, lined up outside, waiting for family members to come and identify them.

Speaking from Gaza, the WHO official explained that doctors, nurses, lab technicians and engineers who keep the machinery running, the generators are running were working 22-hour days just to give the most basic level of service.

Echoing the call for peace, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that children, women and men in Gaza and Israel "woke up to war" once again on Friday. "Parties to this conflict must protect civilians and provide access to humanitarian actors to deliver across Gaza and according to needs as per international humanitarian law, said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.

"Humanitarian aid must continue unconditionally, hostages must be released unconditionally. The UN will continue to stay and deliver food, water, medical and other critical supplies to save lives.
Kibbutz Nir Oz resident Eliyahu Margalit killed in Hamas captivity . Photo Courtesy: Kibbutz Nir Oz Facebook page

Several hostages, including an elderly grandfather and a female kindergarten teacher, have died in Hamas captivity, confirmed Israel Defense Forces on Friday.

Kibbutz Nir Oz wrote on its Facebook page that the deceased, who all lived in its community, included: grandpa Aryeh Zalmanovich, 85; kindergarten instructor and mom of four Maya Goren, 56, and photographer Ronen Engel, 54, New York Post reported.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed the death of the hostages and told The Times of Israel: "We are continuing to invest many intelligence and operational efforts, to bring information on the conditions of the hostages."

In the last few days, the IDF and police notified the families of Eliyahu Margalit, Mia Goren, Ronen Engel and Aryeh Zalmanovich of their deaths, he says.

This comes after a team of Health Ministry experts, the [Abu Kabir Forensic Institute], the chief rabbi and Religious Affairs Ministry declared their deaths based on findings that were collected and intelligence, Hagari says.

As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of his deep regret about the resumption of military operations in Gaza on Friday, UN humanitarians vowed to stay and help all those in need, while reiterating nowhere is safe from attacks in the war-shattered enclave.

The sound of shells exploding shortly after 7am Gaza time was clearly audible at Nasser hospital in the south, where terrified and traumatised youngsters immediately reacted by clinging to their mothers in fright, said James Elder from the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF).

The bombs started just a few seconds after the ceasefire (ended), Elder told journalists at UN Geneva via video link from Khan Younis, before decrying the ongoing war on children.

As we approached Nasser hospital there had been a hit, a missile, a rocket, somethingChildren with the wounds of war are everywhere, children with the wounds of war are still in corridors. Hundreds of women and children take refuge in here. You walk out of ICU (intensive care unit) and there are families of five on a mattress for two.

The return to violence follows the end of a week-long pause in hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces that allowed the delivery of desperately needed fuel, food and water, which people have been drinking as soon as it is given to them, humanitarians report.

The pause also enabled the release of hostages taken during Hamass 7 October surprise attack on southern Israel and ensuing massacre of some 1,200 people, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Gazas health authorities have reported more than 15,000 fatalities since the Israeli strikes began, with thousands of children believed buried under the rubble. The conflict has also created around 1,000 child amputees in recent weeks, Elder noted.
Photo courtesy: UNI

Damascus/UNI: An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, the latest in a spate of Israeli attacks against Syria, according to the national Syrian TV.

Multiple explosions were heard in Damascus after midnight in what appeared to be a hostile missile attack.

The state-owned TV later confirmed it was an Israeli missile attack on the vicinity of Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army said in a short statement that around 1:35 a.m. local time, the "Israeli enemy" conducted an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting some military points in the vicinity of Damascus.

It added that the air defense brought down most missiles and the losses were limited to material damage.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, as well as convoys transporting weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran.

Israel sees Iran as its arch-enemy and will not allow Iran to establish a permanent base in Syria.

Israel and Syria have a border along the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.
Photo Courtesy: UNICEF/Donaig Le Du

The Security Council on Friday decided to terminate the mandate of the UN political mission in Sudan from next Monday, after Khartoum called for its immediate withdrawal last month.

Sudans military Government, whose forces have been battling the RSF militia for control of the country since April, has said that the UN mission was failing to meet expectations.

The end of the UN Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) comes against the backdrop of the continuing war raging between rival militaries that has claimed over 6,000 lives, driven millions from their homes, led to abhorrent sexual and gender-based violence, and precipitated a severe humanitarian crisis.

Adopting resolution 2715 (2023) by 14 votes in favour and one abstention (Russia), the Security Council requested UNITAMS immediately start on 4 December 2023, the cessation of its operations and the process of the transfer of its tasks, where appropriate and to the extent feasible, to UN agencies, funds and programmes, with the objective of completing this by 29 February 2024.

The Council also decided that the Missions liquidation shall commence 1 March 2024, and underlined the need for an orderly transition to ensure the safety of UN personnel and the effective functioning of all UN operations.

Not abandoning Sudanese people

Following the vote to close the mission, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said the Organization stands with the Sudanese people.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Ms. DiCarlo stated the Security Council just voted to close down UNITAMS, but the UN is not abandoning the Sudanese people.

We urge full support for the Secretary-Generals Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, to bolster efforts to bring the devastating conflict to an end, she added.

Security a priority

The 15-member Security Council also authorized, for the duration of UNITAMS transition and liquidation, the retention of necessary security personnel to protect UNITAMS staffers, facilities and assets and called on all relevant Sudanese parties to cooperate fully with the UN during the process.

It also called on Sudan to act in accordance with its full legal obligations.

Not a good decision: UK

Speaking after the vote, Security Council members highlighted the volatile security and humanitarian situation in the country and stressed that the Sudanese authorities remain responsible for the safety and security of UNITAMS staff and assets during the transition.

Let me be clear, the United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment, said Deputy Permanent Representative James Kariuki, commending the work of the mission for and since the outbreak of the conflict.

But given the unequivocal demand of the Sudanese authorities for the immediate terminations, we have worked tireless as penholder to agree a compromise to allow an orderly transition and liquidation, he added.

Sovereign right of Sudanese authorities

The representative of Russia referred to the letter by the Foreign Minister of Sudan that called for the closure of UNITAMS.

She said that such a position is not arrived at random and that the Security Council has to admit candidly that the Mission did not manage to carry out its mandated tasks, created at the request of Sudan to support the political transition process following the ouster of former ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

It stopped tallying with the changed reality of the country and basically it started working in the interest of just one political group, which did not enjoy mass support in the Sudanese society, she said, underscoring that the ending of UNITAMS is the sovereign right of the Sudanese authorities.

Secretary-Generals new envoy

The Security Council also welcomed the appointment of the Secretary Generals Personal Envoy on Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, to use his good offices with the parties in Sudan and neighbouring States, complementing regional peace efforts, including those of African Union (AU) and the east African regional bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The UN chief appointed Mr. Lamamra as his Personal Envoy for Sudan on 21 November.

Mr. Lamamra, a former Foreign Minister of Algeria had also served as the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security and had been a member of the Secretary-Generals High-level Advisory Board on Mediation since 2017.

UNITAMS established in June 2020

UNITAMS was established by the Security Council in June 2020 as a special political mission, to provide support to Sudan for an initial 12-month period during its political transition to democratic rule. Its mandate was subsequently extended in 2021 and 2022.

Headquartered in Khartoum, UNITAMS supported the country through a range of political, peacebuilding and development initiatives, including assisting the nation to achieve the goals of the Constitutional Declaration of August 2019, and carrying out its National Plan for Civilian Protection.
NPC Ukrenergo has resumed operation of the high-voltage power transmission line necessary to supply the energy needs of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

"Currently, the palnt has already switched from a backup to a normal power supply," the company reported on Facebook on Saturday.

Ukrenergo recalled that the Zaporizhia NPP lost contact with the power grid at night during another Russian attack. Two lines were damaged - 750 and 330 kV, which transmit electricity to meet the plant's own needs.

Ukrenergo dispatchers were able to return to operation the main power supply line of the Zaporizhia NPP with a voltage of 750 kV. Currently, the plant receives the electricity necessary for its safe operation from the integrated power system of Ukraine.

At the same time, the energy supply to consumers in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk region did not stop; reserve lines were used to meet their needs.

"Ukrenergo's repair teams will begin restoring the damaged high-voltage lines as soon as the security situation resolves. Thanks to the air defense for the impeccable work, without which the damage to the power system could have been much larger," the company summarized.
A man takes his children across bombed land in the Gaza Strip during the temporary humanitarian pause. (file). Photo Courtesy: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday (December 2, 2023) said that it has carried out airstrikes against 400 targets across the Gaza Strip since the temporary truce ended.

"Yesterday, Hamas violated the operational pause, and in response, the IDF resumed combat," IDF posted on X.

"Struck a total of over 400 terrorist targets in Gaza," the forces said.

"Struck over 50 targets in the area of Khan Yunis," IDF said.

IDF said fighter jets targeted an Islamic Jihads operational command centre inside a mosque.

Israeli Navy troops struck military targets used by Hamas Naval Forces.

IDF said Hamas members violated the truce that was reached between Israel and the group and remained effective till Nov 24.

The return to violence follows the end of a week-long pause in hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces that allowed the delivery of desperately needed fuel, food and water, which people have been drinking as soon as it is given to them, humanitarians report.

The pause also enabled the release of hostages taken during Hamass 7 October surprise attack on southern Israel and ensuing massacre of some 1,200 people, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Photo courtesy: YouTube Screengrab

Gaza: Israel and Hamas rejected international appeals to extend an expired ceasefire on Saturday, with Gaza being subjected to air strikes while Palestinian groups fired numerous rockets, AFP reported.

The skies over northern Gaza were once again filled with smoke, following the failed negotiations.

The Hamas government in the region reported 240 casualties since hostilities resumed following the expiration of the truce on Friday, the report said.

In Israel, the military's Home Front Command recorded 40 missile alerts in the southern and central parts of the country, while Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced the launching of "rocket barrages" towards three Israeli municipalities near Gaza.

As per the United Nations, nearly 1.7 million people in Gaza, roughly 80 percent of the population, have been forced to relocate due to eight weeks of conflict.

Fadel Naim, the principal physician at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, reported that his facility had received 30 bodies since the morning, including seven children.

"The planes bombed our houses: three bombs, three houses destroyed," Nemr al-Bel, 43, reported AFP, adding that he said 10 members of his family were killed and "13 more still under the rubble".

The population is facing shortages of food, water, and basic necessities, with many homes destroyed. UN agencies have declared a humanitarian catastrophe, but some aid trucks did manage to arrive on Saturday.

Following the expiration of the truce between Israel and Hamas on Friday, Israel had instructed NGOs not to bring aid convoys through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

However, in a social media update on Saturday, the charity mentioned that its Egyptian counterparts successfully sent several trucks despite the earlier restrictions.

Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown of the truce, which had enabled the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire, facilitated with the assistance of Qatar and supported by Egypt and the United States, hit an impasse in negotiations aimed at achieving a renewed suspension of hostilities. On Saturday, Israel announced the withdrawal of its negotiators from Doha, signaling the breakdown of talks.

"Following the impasse in the negotiations and at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel," the Israeli leader's office said.

French President Emmanuel Macron appealed for "stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire" to free all hostages, allow in more aid and to assure Israel of its security.

During an unprecedented attack on October 7, Hamas fighters breached Gaza's militarized border with Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and the hostage-taking of around 240 Israelis and foreigners, as reported by Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel pledged to eliminate Hamas and initiated an air and ground campaign that, according to the Hamas authorities in Gaza, has led to the deaths of over 15,000 people, mostly civilians.

Since the end of the ceasefire, Israel's air, naval, and ground forces have targeted more than 400 locations in Gaza, a figure roughly consistent with the daily average of strikes before the ceasefire, according to previously released military data.

Warplanes hit "more than 50 targets in an extensive attack in the Khan Yunis area" of Gaza's south, the military added.

Separately, members of an Israeli armoured brigade "eliminated terrorist squads and directed fire against terrorist targets in the north of the Gaza Strip", the military said, according to the report.

Following the expiration of the truce, Hamas launched rockets from Gaza towards Israel.

The return to fighting has been widely condemned by international leaders and humanitarian groups.

"I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter.

Fighting resumed on Israel's northern border, with Hezbollah in Lebanon reporting two members killed in Israeli strikes.

Israel's military targeted the sources of launches from Lebanon.

In Syria, air strikes near Damascus killed two Syrian pro-Hezbollah fighters, according to a war monitor.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard accused Israel of killing two of its members in Syria.

Hamas had restored relations with Syria last year, and Israeli attacks on Syrian targets intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.

A week of hostage-prisoner exchanges led to tearful reunions in Israel and jubilation in the West Bank.

However, 136 hostages, including more than a dozen women, were still held in Gaza.

The end of the pause brought disappointment to their families. A Romanian-Israeli hostage was reported dead in Gaza.

The Israeli military issued evacuation zone maps in Gaza, warning residents of impending military attacks.

The UN OCHA questioned the map's usefulness, stating it lacks specific relocation details.
Representational Image: UNI

Taiwan's Ministry of Defence has said it tracked 24 Chinese military aircraft and six naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Thursday (Nov. 30) and 6 a.m. on Friday (Dec. 1).

Of the 24 Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, 12 were tracked in Taiwans air defense identification zone (ADIZ), including six Chengdu J-10 combat jets and two Shenyang J-16 fighter jets that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line, according to the MND as quoted by Taiwan News .

Meanwhile, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, one Shaanxi Y-9 transport plane, one KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and one Harbin Z-9 anti-submarine warfare helicopter entered the southwest corner of the ADIZ.

In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed air defense missile systems to monitor PLA activity.

Beijing sent 362 military aircraft and 182 naval ships around Taiwan last month.
Everyone was waiting for them to be back together. It didn't happen for years. Just when everyone gave up and accepted that their two favourite comedians would never share the stage again, the unthinkable happened.

Sunil Grover and Kapil Sharma have ended their tiff

Netflix

They have joined hands for a new comedy show on Netflix.

In the promo, the two comedians can be seen talking about their new show. "Hi guys, this is Kapil Sharma," says the comedian when Sunil Grover joins and adds, "And you know who I am."

And then they announced they will be on a new Netflix show. Kapil then suggested they should be together in the show. "So we're going to be in more than 190 countries."

Sunil then took a dig at their infamous fight and said, "Forget Australia though." Kapil then asked why, and Sunil added, "Let's avoid it." Kapil said, "But they are waiting." Sunil nodded his head and added, "Okay. But we won't go by air, we will go by road." Kapil agreed to this.

Also Read: "Thanks For Making Me Realise It Was Your Show," Sunil Grover Hits Out At Kapil Sharma

Netflix

Not just Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover, others including Rajiv Thakur, Kiku Sharda, Krushna Abhishek, and Archana Puran Singh will also join them. As they join in a frame, Kiku says, "Thoda jagah do yaar hum kat rahe hai (Give me some space, I'm getting chopped off in this frame)." That is when Krushna says, "Maine pehle hi bola tha na jab yeh aayega na toh sabka thoda thoda katega (I told you, if he returns, everyone will get chopped)."

From Shah Rukh Khan to Harbhajan Singh, everyone is rooting for their collaboration!

Netflix

"Good to see you both. Jodi no. 1," wrote Harbhajan Singh. Ayushmann Khurrana also rooted for them with clap emjois. Actress Bhumi Pednekar wrote, "Can't Wait."



Earlier, Kapil Sharma said that Sunil Grover was one of the main reasons why he was not able to solve the feud.

I think Sunil got more angry after seeing himself in news... Because he was not so angry (when the incident happened). I have said enough from my side, and now I dont feel like talking about it. It happens between friends but one cant hold a grudge forever. Then I will also start feeling that mein galat nahi hun (I am not wrong)."

All is well that ends well!

For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's selfie alongside his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, has caused a social media frenzy, igniting the hashtag 'Melodi' to trend on X (formerly Twitter). The photo garnered an impressive 26 Million views in less than a day, sparking widespread conversation and engagement online.

Where Was The Selfie Taken?

Twitter

PM Modi and Meloni recently crossed paths in Dubai during the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) on climate change.

What's All The Fuss About?

Twitter

The 46-year-old Italian leader, who appears to be well-versed in social media trends, took charge of the selfie moment and cleverly captioned it '#Melodi,' a fusion of the two leaders' surnames.

In response, on Saturday afternoon, PM Modi acknowledged Meloni's picture and expressed, "Meeting friends is always a delight."

Meeting friends is always a delight. https://t.co/4PWqZZaDKC  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2023

As soon as the picture surfaced, netizens erupted with excitement, flooding social media platforms with a deluge of memes. Meloni's post, to date, has accumulated staggering views and garnered over 300K likes, showcasing the immense online buzz it generated.

How Did The Internet React?

Ever since the Italian leader had a hearty interaction with PM Modi during the G20 Summit in India, online memers have had a field trip pairing the two world leaders together. It was these memers who came up with the term Melodi to refer to the two leaders. With the Italian Prime Minister using it in her tweet, the meme community clearly felt seen and heard.

Some commenters hailed the picture as Selfie Of The Day, while others said, Just looking like a wow. One of the memers declared, The meme community claims the decisive victory.

The meme community claims the decisive victory  Squint Neon (@TheSquind) December 1, 2023

Just looking like a wow pic.twitter.com/cM0mhT1dbE  Ambuj Mishra (@Ambujmishra9090) December 1, 2023

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.




Largest Mall in Northern CA Occupied on Black Friday by San Jose is Pro Palestine

Over 1,000 pro Palestine demonstrators marched through Santana Row, a shopping district of high end retailers, then headed to the largest shopping mall in Northern California, Valley Fair, a Westfield mall located in San Jose. Photos by Len Tsou.

Jewish Voice for Peace members joined IfNotNow, Silicon Valley for Palestine, FRSO, Silicon Valley for Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Black Outreach and other groups in a dramatic Black Friday protest at Santana Row and Valley Fair Mall, to tell shoppers "As you're shopping, bombs are dropping!"



Their stated purpose was to disrupt business as usual on the massive shopping day. They said that a temporary truce is insufficient and demanded an end to Israeli occupation. In addition, they called for the release of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel and insisted on the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.



According to Fight Back! News, Apple, Chanel, Levis, Michael Kors, Sephora, and Prada are just a few companies in the mall that are pro-Israel. Protesters marched into the Apple store and throughout the giant mall. Community members, including families with small children appalled by the crimes against Palestine, joined with hand made signs calling for humanitarian aid and an end to genocide.




Primate Elijah Ayodele, leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, says theres more to the sickness of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State than it meets the eye.

According to him, the Governors sickness is a spiritual attack because there are persons who want Akeredolu to remain physically down and unable to manage the affairs of Ondo.

Information Nigeria reports that Akeredolu has been sick for almost a year now, a situation thats rendered him unfit to carry out his duties efficiently and effectively.

In a statement by Oluwatosin Osho, his spokesman, Ayodele admonished the indigenes of Ondo State to go spiritual and pray fervently for the recuperation of the Governor.

He also implored Akeredolus family members to consider spirituality in dealing with the troubling situation instead of focusing on the medical aspect of the illness alone.

READ ALSO: Ogun Finance Director Was Attacked, Killed By Insiders  Police

Governor Akeredolu needs prayers for him to come back to office and to return to power. His family needs to seek the face of God concerning his illness.

It is more spiritual than physical. There are forces fighting him that dont wish him well. He needs prayer for his health. His family should step into the spiritual aspect of it, he said.

Primate Ayodele further disclosed that the sickness is determined to render Akeredolu completely incapacitated.

While warning that the Governors health shouldnt be used for any political gimmick, he said: The people of Ondo need to pray for their governor. The illness is determined to make him completely incapacitated if they dont seek the face of God on time so that he can finish his term.

His family and well-wishers should seek Gods face. They shouldnt use Akeredolus life for political interest, what he needs now is prayers of restoration.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has issued a warning against engaging in building projects that lack supervision from the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA).

The Governor made this known at a stakeholders engagement, themed: Achieving Building Compliance: A Task for All Stakeholders, organised by LASBCA on Friday.

Represented by his Special Adviser on Enterprise Geographic Information System (E-GIS) and Planning Matters, Babatunde Olajide, Governor Sanwo-Olu emphasized the importance of the engagement, highlighting artisans as crucial stakeholders capable of monitoring construction sites effectively.

READ MORE: Demolition Not Targeted At Any Group  Lagos Govt

He said: In the event of building collapses, not only do we witness loss of lives, but artisans also face a loss of livelihood and credibility.

They tend to avoid projects without proper approval. Therefore, any project with approval that lacks supervision by LASBCA officials should be steered clear of.

Hence, any project that had approval but was not being supervised by LASBCA officials should be avoided.

Please rise against injustice, dont keep quiet when things are being done wrong on site because if you keep quiet and the building collapses a lot of people may die.
The Nigerian Military, on Friday, disclosed that it has captured a leader of Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP) terrorist group.

The announcement was contained in statement issued by the Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba.

According to the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), the ISWAP leader was arrested by men of the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services (DSS).

The DHQ said the arrested ISWAP leader (name undisclosed) was in charge of North Central and North West zones.

The statement detailed that the ISWAP leader was apprehended during an offensive on the enclave of the terrorists in Nigeria North-East state of Bauchi.

READ ALSO: Suspected Gunmen Attack, Kill Imo Businessman

The arrest of the ISWAP leader, it said, was part of troops efforts at targeting the leadership of terrorist groups to ensure they pose no further threat to the safety and security of citizens.

Troops are targeting the leadership of these groups to ensure they pose no further threat to the safety and security of citizens.

Significantly, on 29 Nov 23, at Tarum Village located on the outside of Bauchi Metropolis in Bauchi State.

Troops collaborated with personnel of DSS to conduct a sting operation that culminated in the arrest of the leader of ISWAP terrorist group in charge of North Central and North West Zones.

He is in custody. Similarly, air interactions have been conducted on several enclaves of these terrorist leaders in the NW and NC zones with much success, the statement read.
The Russian fleet has put four ships on combat duty in the Black Sea, but there are no Kalibr carriers, the Ukrainian Navy reported on Saturday morning.

"As of 08:00, December 2, 2023, there are four enemy ships in the Black Sea, one enemy ship in the Azov Sea, and two enemy ships in the Mediterranean Sea. There are no carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles," states the operational information published on Telegram channel.

It is also reported that during the day, in the interests of the Russian Federation, the following vessels passed through the Kerch Strait into the Sea of Azov, four of which were moving from the Bosporus Strait. There were 16 vessels in the Black Sea, of which nine continued to move towards the Bosporus Strait.

It is emphasized that the Russian Federation continues to violate the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 by turning off automatic identification systems.
Ethiopian Airlines has banned passengers from using Ghana-must-go sacks on any of its flights from Nigeria.

Henok Gizachew, the airlines Manager of Airport Services disclosed this via a letter addressed to the regional manager of the Federal Airports Authority Of Nigeria (FAAN).

The statement for passengers travelling through the countrys international airports read: Please be informed that effective November 25, 2023, the usage of Ghana Must Go to travel on our flight is hereby prohibited.

The use of Ghana Must Go as a means of packing baggage has cost the airlines huge loss and also damaging the conveyor belt system, not only on out flight but also on other foreign airlines, hence the prohibition, the letter dated November 24 stated.

However, the airline offered a reprieve for users of the bag to continue to use them to package their luggage on the condition that they must be well packed in cartons of a hardcover of rectangular size.

READ ALSO: Femi Adesina Did A Good Job Defending Buhari, Dont Blame Him  Osoba To Nigerians

Ghana-must-go bags are popular sac-like load carriers in Nigeria that come in different sizes and colours and are preferred by many owing to their durability and affordability.

It became quite popular during the 1983 Ghana-Must-Go saga under the then President of Nigeria,Shehu Shagari.

Information Nigeria understands that in 2017, Dubai introduced a similar rule.

Ali Angizeh, vice-president of terminal operations at Dubai International, had said the Ghana-must-go bags, which would subsequently be regarded as non-compliant baggage, could disrupt the advanced baggage systems that would be introduced.

The new rule, he said, would reduce the risk of baggage mishandling at check-in counters.
The National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC) has submitted a report to the Federal Government indicating a possible increase in pension stipends for federal civil service retirees, come 2024.

The proposed raise is expected to benefit pensioners under both the new and previous pension schemes of the Federal Government.

During a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, led by its Chairman, Samuel Adewale, NSIWC officials discussed the status of the report and pension matters.

The meeting was held with the wages commissions Chairman, Ekpo Nta, and details were provided in a statement from Emmanuel Njoku, the Head of the Commissions Press Unit.

The chairman of the commission informed his guests that the commission had forwarded to the government sometime in May 2023, its report on the harmonization of pensions for consideration after synthesizing inputs from relevant stakeholders, including pension unions, and the availability of funds, and that the commission was regularly following this up since it would have a bearing in considering pension increases in 2024, the statement read in part.

Buttressing in a chat with Punch, Njoku said, The raise is going to be in accordance with the negotiated minimum wage for Federal Government workers both in the current and previous pension schemes.

Addressing the pensioners complaints of non-receipt of the payment of the recently approved palliatives, the NSIWC Chairman, noted that the relevant organs of government were addressing the issues.

According to the Commission, the Chairman of the Committee on Pension NUP-ASU/Parastals, Gabriel Oladele, who was among the delegates, urged the NWISC to intervene in the wrong computation of their consequential adjustments and the unreasonable deductions from their pensions after decades of enjoying the same.

READ ALSO: Over 98,000 People Living With HIV/AIDS In Anambra  Health Commissioner

Reacting, Nta said the commission would look into the two issues based on the documents the union had submitted.

He further told his guests that the commissions circulars were usually issued after wide consultations with major stakeholders including the Federal Government.

The circulars, he furthered, had provisions for anyone to seek clarification, as no agency was authorized to unilaterally amend them without the NWISCs written consent.

The NWISC in its statement stated, Usually, where there is a cogent reason, a crossed-reference clarification circular is issued by the commission after the due process for record purposes.

It said the chairman further explained that the Commission, being the secretariat of the Tripartite Committee of the National Minimum Wage, would ensure seamless preparations for the consideration of both a new national minimum wage and the accompanying pension review in 2024 as provided by the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 and Section 173(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

In response to a pensioners observation that the constitution provides for a corresponding increase in pensions, he (NWISC chairman) stated that the word corresponding was not used in Section 173(3). He further clarified that increases in allowances for serving officers cannot also be interpreted as increases in salaries, the NWISC stated.

Nta further advised the union to negotiate with friendly Health Maintenance Organisations to provide affordable health insurance covers for their members after explaining how they could benefit from such services.

He urged the senior citizens, to in future, avail themselves of having scheduled free online zoom meetings with him, instead of embarking on expensive and hazardous trips from all over the country given their ages.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has filed a cross-appeal challenging the judgment of the Abuja Appeal Court for failing to disqualify Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, from contesting the March 18 election over an alleged certificate forgery.

Recall that in September, the State governorship election petition tribunal sacked Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as Governor.

The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from the 1,019,602 votes recorded for Yusuf because the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped, signed and dated as required by law.

The tribunal then declared Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner.

Displeased with the verdict, the NNPP and its candidate challenged the judgment at the appellate court.

On November 17, the court of appeal upheld the tribunals verdict and added that Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP when he contested the election.

READ ALSO: Labour Party Condemns Nigerian Law Schools Ban On Baba-Ahmeds Baze University Law Faculty

The NNPP has since filed a notice of appeal before the supreme court, seeking to quash the appellate courts judgment.

The APC on the other hand has filed a cross-appeal at the apex court, challenging the lower court for refusing to hold that Yusuf submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The notice of appeal was filed by Akin Olujinmi, APCs counsel.

The lower court erred in law when their lordships at page 11 of the judgement held thus: Now whether or not the 2nd Cross Respondents Form EC9 exhibit qualifies as a certificate under Section 182[1] [j] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 [as amended] isnt of any utilitarian benefit or value to the cross-appellant,

Contrary to the holding of the lower court, a decision on it goes to the issue on non-qualification of the 2nd cross-respondent to contest the election in dispute in this appeal, the notice of appeal read.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed an agreement with Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, to improve Nigerias grid capacity and improve electricity supply in the country.

The agreement aimed at accelerating the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) signed on Friday by Kenny Anuwe, Chief Executive Officer of FGN Power Company, and Nadja Haakansson, Siemens Energy managing director for Africa, on the sidelines of the ongoing COP28 in Dubai.

The PPI project agreement was first entered in 2019 and was to be implemented in three phases including delivering an additional 2 gigawatt (GW) to the grid to achieve improved grid stability and reliability; bringing the systems operational capacity to about 11GW, while also increasing the systems capacity to 25GW.

Speaking to journalists after the signing, Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, said the agreement will see to the end-to-end modernisation and expansion of Nigerias electric power transmission grid.

According to Adelabu, different factors including COVID-19 had affected the progress of the project after its initial signing in 2019 but that Nigeria is now ready to proceed and deliver.

READ ALSO: Man Grateful As He, His Wife Survive Accident Without Scratch After Fuel Tanker Fell On His Car

He said Siemens Energy has already supplied the necessary equipment needed to execute the project and within 12 to 24 months the government will expand the grid capacity from 6,000 to 8,000 megawatts (MW), with hopes to get to 12,000MW in three years.

The project is to be financed by Nigerias export credit facilities that are being provided by a couple of German banks to Nigeria.

As it is, I might be able to say how much it is going to cost the country, the original agreement we had was for $2.3 billion but what we have executed to date is just in the region of $60 million which has to do with the importation of the 10 transformers and the 10 power substations which Siemens have delivered to the country. They have been commissioned and we are in the process of installation of these transformers.

The project is in phases, we have the short-term phase, we have the medium term and we have the long-term phase. The short-term phase is going to be between 12 to 24 months where we are actually hoping to improve or expand the grid capacity from 6,000 to 8,000.

And I believe that the second phase which is going to take us about three to four years, we should be able to improve the grid capacity to 12,000 megawatts, Adelabu said.
Lawmaker representing the Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa in the House of Representatives, Yusuf Galambi, has alleged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented a budget without details to the House.

Recall that on Wednesday, Tinubu presented the 2024 appropriation bill of N27.5 trillion before the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

However, Galambi in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation Hausa on Friday, said the Tinubu, after addressing lawmakers, presented the budget wihout details.

The member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) said the document Tinubu presented did not contain a breakdown of what every agency and organisation of government would get.

The president read his speech to us on the 2024 budget. But regarding the document of the budget, we did not see it.

He just read his calculations to us but did not give us a breakdown of what every organisation will get like the way it is done every time where a document of what will be spent will be presented. But this time around nothing was brought to us.

READ ALSO: 2024 Budget: Weve Discovered Some MDAs Have Over-Bloated Personnel Cost  Reps

We checked the case of the document he presented and found it empty.

In the history of the national assembly, such incident has never happened until this year and this is not what the constitution of the country said should be done.

What just took place was a paper containing things that are going to be done was read before us.

But the document was not given to us to go through to see what each and every organisation would get.

This incident is shocking because we have never seen anything like it or ever dreamt of it to happen until this year.

We see this matter as deceit. If you are not done with preparing the budget, then why come and tell lawmakers you are ready.

Wait until you are ready then come and properly present it to us. What is the point of rushing to come and present an empty document? he queried.

Meanwhile, the 2024 appropriation bill passed second reading in the parliament during plenary on Friday.
The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo has reacted to the notice issued by Sunday Igboho to Fulani herders to quit Yoruba land.

Bodejo stated that the Nigerian constitution has given all citizens the right to live in any part of the country and pursue his or her legitimate endeavours.

Disclosing this on Friday, the Miyetti Allah leader said that some people were trying to use Igboho to heat up the situation.

According to him: Nigeria has a constitution, which gives every citizen the right to live in any part of the country to pursue his or her legitimate endeavours.

READ MORE: Sunday Igboho Released From Prison On Two Conditions -Lawyer

So, Sunday Igboho was released to come and start his madness again, and start giving some people quit notice; it seems that some people are trying to use him.

If he were from another country, he could have been ignored, but since he is a Nigerian, he is supposed to know that Nigeria has a constitution that says everybody has the right to stay anywhere in the country.

However, if that person commits any crime, the security agencies are supposed to arrest and charge him to court.

I dont know the reason Sunday Ighoho is acting like this, he wants to be a Yoruba hero. He should realise that the current president is a Yoruba man. Yoruba have very intelligent elders and they would not act the way Igboho is acting.

I call on the president to use the security agencies to call Ighoho to order. Fulani have lost so many lives and property in that area.
Concert pianist Helene Grimaud has evolved so far from her origins at the Paris Conservatory that any observations made about how she has remained a French artist at heart do not come as a compliment.

That hurts! protested Grimaud, 54, whose addresses have included Florida, Switzerland, New York, and California, and who is now returning to New York. She is her own nationality.

Long known to Philadelphia Orchestra audiences, she has been a highly individual presence over numerous visits, such as the forthcoming concerts alternating between Mozart and Ravel on Dec. 7, 9, and 10 at the Kimmel Center. Never as conservative or typical as her famous French predecessors, Grimauds searingly clear finger work and flexible, rubato-prone tempos mark her as coming from a Continental tradition. But her playing also has a disquieting rumble in its foundation, and her repertoire mixes in living composers such as the Estonian mystic Arvo Part and the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov.

The very charismatic Grimaud is a figure that the public is open to hearing on subjects beyond music  a responsibility she considers seriously, as do many current classical artists. Its not quite enough to be a brilliant pianist these days.

As much as I believe  in the redemptive quality and value in what we do, she said in a phone interview, artists share social responsibility and have to use their voices and express opinions. Ive always struggled with that fact.

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While German Russian pianist Igor Levit has taken political stands on social media  and has also faced death threats  Grimaud doesnt discuss the pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted her concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra on tour in Brussels in 2018. Her priorities are education and the environment. Her recordings are, as it turns out, not just fresh readings of standard repertoire but high-concept learning experiences. On the environmental side, she founded (in 1999) the Wolf Conservation Center in upstate New York.

Her love of wolves is detailed in her book Wild Harmonies: A Life of Music and Wolves, explaining her belief that this apex species is essential to overall ecological balance. In conjunction with the federal Species Survival Plan, near-extinct breeds of wolves are raised and released into the wild.

Having made recordings ever since she was an Aix-en-Provence teenager giving dazzling-though-agitated performances of romantic-era repertoire while at the Paris Conservatory, she does acknowledge admiration for French pianists Samson Francois and Alfred Cortot. But after a successful transition into adulthood both as a concert and recording artist  she loves taking chances in the studio  the prestigious German label Deutsche Grammophon offered her what would be an artistic turning point: the opportunity to mix music of all kinds under a central concept.

The 2004 Credo featured a major new work of the same title by Part, whose meditative music has captured a young international audience. The Dec. 9 Kimmel concert celebrates the 125th anniversary of DG, which is also a coproducer on the documentary on Grimauds life, Between the Notes. The film will premiere in New York on Dec. 5.

Recent Grimaud albums appear to be in step with reviving neglected female composers and promoting Ukrainian culture  though a closer look reveals that she has her own way of expressing those objectives. Other DG albums included the 2014 Helene Grimaud: Water, played live in a wading pool at New Yorks Park Avenue Armory. This years For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms stops short of promoting Clara Schumanns own compositions but explores what pieces this pianist wife of Robert Schumann inspired  teaming up with baritone Konstantin Krimmel for Brahms great-but-rarely-heard Lieder und Gesange Op. 32 that expresses the composers frustrated love for her.

Clara is the reason for why some of the most beautiful music was ever created, said Grimaud. She brought eight children into the world. She was a concert pianist. It was an amazing life and career. In other words, Grimaud celebrates what Clara was rather than what she mightve been.

This years Silvestrov: Silent Songs with Krimmel was planned well before the composers country was invaded by Russia  originally with a Russian bass player who didnt work out. With the German Romanian Krimmel, the songs have low-key eloquence  the composer has described his music as an echo of what already exists  thats daringly contrary to what Grimaud does best. She finds the music authentic and poetic, though its spareness is so singular that its outsider music.

After Silvestrov, one wonders how Mozarts mainstream Piano Concerto No. 20 fits into her psyche for the Dec. 7 and 10 concerts at Kimmel. The world premiere of Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecrys MUYUY, The circle of life, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Florence Prices Symphony No. 4 are also part of the Kimmel program.

Grimaud came late to Mozart  when she realized the music was not what so many have said that it is. None of these compositions were there to decorate or to soothe, she said. I hear a fantastic borderline mania to that music. Its extremely sophisticated  but theres madness.

Therein lies one of Grimauds primary entry points to great music: All of these composers were madmen. Even when the music is happy ... it sometimes borders on instability. So it stands to reason everything she plays acquires an outsider quality that, like her, takes on its own nationality.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick and Helene Grimaud Reunite, Dec. 7, Dec. 10. Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., Phila. https://www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/events-and-tickets/2023-24/the-philadelphia-orchestra/verizon-hall/yannick-and-helene-grimaud-reunite/
The Philly Pops has agreed to pay musicians back pay and other costs associated with broadcasts of last years Christmas show at the Kimmel Center, ending one of two lawsuits in which the Pops has been enmeshed.

Under the terms of a stipulation approved Thursday by the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania, the Pops says it will pay $300,000 to end the matter.

Whether the resolution puts the Pops organization any closer to getting back onto the stage of Verizon Hall or elsewhere isnt clear. Karen Corbin, the groups president and CEO, provided a statement, but did not answer further questions about the groups future.

We continue to explore all options in an ongoing effort to settle our obligations from last season. This filing is one of several efforts to do so, she said by email.

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The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) sued the Pops in March for nonpayment of fees owed to players for two Christmas broadcasts shown on 6abc and the U.S. governments American Forces Network. The suit asked for an award of wages as well as late fees and contributions to pension plans totaling $313,472.55.

Pops leaders disputed the amount in an April court filing, but at the time did not cite a monetary figure of their own accounting.

AFM lawyer Jennifer P. Garner said the resolution meant that the Pops accepted its liability for the debt. But she was not especially optimistic about the prospects of ever seeing the money.

I dont know if or when we will collect it. Their situation isnt really very stable. So who knows?

Its been almost a full year since the full Pops orchestra last performed a concert. Ticket income has traditionally been its largest source of revenue. The big-money maker, the annual Christmas program at the Kimmel, is being presented this season by the art center with a successor group, the No Name Pops.

Of the $300,000 the Pops agreed to pay the AFM, $226,000 would go to wages, pension, and health and welfare, with the balance to resolve late fees, Garner said.

The unpaid obligation from last year landed the Pops on the unfair list of the AFM, which means union members are not allowed to accept work with the group. In order for the ban to be lifted, the Pops must also settle other obligations to musicians, which includes other back payments to the pension fund, said Ellen Trainer, president of AFM Local 77.

Corbin on Friday said the Pops was mindful of those obligations to musicians, and was active in efforts to address them and have been in touch with [Trainer] as recently as this week.

Also pending is the Pops lawsuit against the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc., which evicted the Pops from Verizon Hall in January in a dispute over back rent and other fees owed by the Pops. A spokesperson for POKC said there were no changes in the status of the litigation, which remains ongoing.

The Pops has not publicly shared any plan or vision for its future. A conference with the judge in the POKC lawsuit slated for October was canceled, and the Pops legal representation has been in flux. Phone numbers for the Pops office have been disconnected, and the groups website has been inoperable since October except for the display of a single message:

The Philly POPS website is paused for reconstruction. Stay tuned for updates.
A 51-year-old former postal employee pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $170,000 in cash from mail sent from a Gloucester County shopping center, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Joseph Fenuto, of Blackwood, pleaded guilty in federal court in Camden to one count of mail theft, Sellinger said. Fenutos sentencing is scheduled for April and he faces a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Fenuto was employed as a letter carrier with routes in Blackwood, including the Gloucester Premium Outlets. The retailers at the shopping center would mail cash from sales to a bank in Ohio.

From November 2021 to August 2022, Fenuto stole more than 50 parcels containing $171,110 cash from those retailers, Sellinger said.
A 44-year-old man incarcerated at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on State Road died after he was assaulted by his cellmate early Thursday morning, police said.

At 3:44 a.m., Rocco Carbonaro was found by a correctional officer with a bloody face, according to an internal incident report obtained by The Inquirer. After the attack, prison staff responded to Carbonaros cell and medical staff administered CPR  to no avail, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons said in a statement.

Carbonaro was pronounced dead at 4:35 a.m. Thursday, the statement said.

No motive was released, and police said no weapon had been recovered.

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Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney said the assault is under investigation.

There have been 12 deaths in the citys prison system this year, said Claire Shubik-Richards, executive director of Pennsylvania Prison Society. Among them was the fatal stabbing in March of 33-year-old Jamal Collier during a fight at Curran-Fromhold.

Philadelphias prison system has been beset by problems, including several prisoner escapes, multiple deaths of incarcerated people, and a vote of no confidence in Carney by the union that represents Philadelphia correctional officers. The union cited concerns about safety and staffing.

Also on Thursday, a 34-year-old inmate escaped from the nearby Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, also on State Road. Law enforcement officials were searching for Gino Hagenkotter, who was performing supervised work duties on the rear of the prison grounds when he escaped, according to the sources and an internal police memo obtained by The Inquirer.
During the night, Ukrainian air defense shot down ten of the eleven Shaheds and one X-59 cruise missile that attacked Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Saturday morning.

"On the night of December 2, 2023, the enemy attacked with 11 Shahed attack UAVs from Cape Chauda (Crimea) and a guided aircraft missile from the airspace of the occupied Zaporizhia region," a message on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian Air Force indicates.

It is emphasized that as a result of combat work, the air defense of the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed ten attack UAVs Shahed-136/131 within Odesa region and one X-59 guided aircraft missile in Dnipropetrovsk region.
Friday prayer began with the clanging sound of a waste removal truck emptying a Dumpster in the alleyway, drowning out the imams words.

Upward of 200 Muslims head down a dingy alleyway behind St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church every week, where they enter a spare room, remove their shoes, and kneel down on a patchwork of faded prayer mats. The shoes stacked by the kitchenette in the back tell the story of the congregation: hospital Crocs, wingtips, work boots, and a kaleidoscope of sneakers, from pristine Air Jordans to kicks with worn-out soles.

Gathering for Friday prayer is an important practice in Islam, and to the surprise of many, this is the only masjid in Center City. Prayer starts at 1:15 p.m. sharp  Dumpster noise be damned.

We have strict start and stop times, because they have food carts, they have surgeries they have to go to, and we want to make sure people dont lose their jobs, Mohammed Shariff, 39, the mosques energetic leader, said on a Friday last month.

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But the days of austere, cramped conditions could soon be over. The Center City Mosque is under contract to purchase a permanent home at 13th and Walnut Streets. The acquisition would allow the mosque to grow, provide multiple prayer services each day rather than one a week, and integrate the Muslim community more visibly into downtown life, Shariff said.

But theres a catch  to the tune of $280,000.

Although a deposit has been paid, the mosque cannot take out a mortgage  as riba, or interest, is forbidden in Islam. So Sharif and other mosque leaders have been appealing far and wide to raise the funds to purchase the property outright and perform renovations. They are hoping to meet a $600,000 fundraising goal, which would allow $50,000 to be set aside for renovations, by the end of the year.

There is no urgency thats forcing the mosque out from behind St. Johns, but Shariff said that the opportunity to grow the Muslim community feels more urgent than ever in light of the war overseas.

The ongoing bloodshed in Gaza lingers heavily over the Center City mosque community, some of whom have relatives in the Palestinian territories. During a recent Friday prayer, mosque leaders spoke about the killing of innocent civilians  but also the destruction of dozens of mosques, in the Palestinian territories and around the world.

Muslims have to see this. Thats our house of worship, Shariff said. As Muslims, we have to build, we have to break the dynamic of our religion and our houses of worship being destroyed across the world.

A mosque for all

Philadelphia is home to a bounty of mosque buildings in outlying neighborhoods, but there is no brick-and-mortar space in the heart of the nations sixth-largest city.

Twice Ive had young Muslim men ask if they could come into the church and pray on Fridays, not knowing that we have a mosque that meets here, St. Johns Pastor Thomas Betz said.

The Center City Mosque dates back about 30 years, when Muslims who worked downtown would organize small Friday prayer groups in municipal parking lots, on less-trafficked sidewalks, or behind an old Dunkin Donuts.

The popup Friday mosque, thanks to an interfaith agreement with St. Johns since 2010, was an answer to an obvious problem.

For people who live and work downtown, there is nowhere to pray, said Darwish Mustafa, 63, a Palestinian-American cell phone repairman who has been a member of the mosque since 2008.

Shariff, who works as a real estate attorney, founded the mosques nonprofit, House of Peace and Enlightenment, in 2019 to raise funds to secure a larger space for the mosque. But he has faced years of roadblocks. Some property owners expressed hesitancy about renting space for a mosque, he said. In other cases, the spaces would require too much money to retrofit for the mosques needs.

The space on Walnut Street checked every box on their wishlist, he said. The centrally located one-story commercial building, formerly a Nuts to You, offers room for larger mens and womens prayer spaces and washing areas. If they can raise additional funds for renovations, the goal is to build upward of three stories, sealed with a stained-glass facade. The funds would also pay for licensed security during a time of rising Islamophobic threats and high anxiety at both Muslim and Jewish gathering places.

We just want our small little slice, so that Muslims can feel that they have a place to come and pray  and non-Muslims can come and learn about Islam from us, instead of learning about Islam from what they see on YouTube, or on the news, he said.

We must stand up for justice

At a time when many places of worship fret over weighing into political waters, the Center City Mosque has put the ongoing war in Gaza at the forefront of its mission.

Toward the end of his sermon the Friday before Thanksgiving, Ustaz Habib Maiga, one of mosques five rotating imams, gestured toward a number of guest observers and three Inquirer journalists in the back of the mosque and said it was his duty to speak out about the killing of civilians in Gaza.

We pray for them, he said, calling for peace in the region. Whats happening is so sad. This is not supposed to happen. The international community is watching.

Shariff stressed that the mosque is not making political attacks against Israel. Rather, he said, he too is called to speak out against injustice. We pray for Israel and we pray that theres peace in Gaza, Shariff said. Ultimately, its our Islamic obligation to let people know about any injustice happening  in Gaza, in Sudan, in China, in India, at the Mexican border.

Darwish, who was born in a small Palestinian village called Mukhmas in the West Bank, said that he condemned Hamas actions on Oct. 7 just as much as he has denounced the ongoing siege in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Any time innocent people are dying, no Muslim supports that, he said.

Few mosque leaders said they were hopeful about the conflict overseas. Were tired, Mustafa said. Its been 75 years of people living in refugee camps. We need a solution.

The first permanent mosque in Center City may seem unrelated, but it is perhaps the only answer they have within reach.

As the worshipers rushed out after prayer, mosque leaders reminded everyone to be generous. A volunteer security guard held a donation box by the door, where some dropped in wads of folded cash before heading back to work.

This is not a masjid, he said, poking fun at the dreary prayer room. Nothing is free in America.
Philadelphia Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker exhorts a crowd with a chant of "One Philadelphia" during a reception for her sponsored by the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters Friday evening at Pennsylvania Society, a political gathering in Manhattan. Read more

NEW YORK  Philadelphias Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker continued her victory lap in New York City this weekend, celebrating alongside a politically powerful union that helped get her there.

Bill Sproule, the head of the EAS Regional Council of Carpenters, said from the unions event near Times Square that his union chose to endorse Parker when she was still fourth in the race. They still did so, because of Parkers long career as a friend of labor, Sproule said.

Thats generous, Parker said during her remarks. I was more like 7th or 8th.

Underdog? Parker recalled a staffer telling her at the time. No, you under the damn dirt.

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But from the 16th floor bar off Broadway, Phillys next mayor imagined a Philadelphia where everyone is working toward its success.

Parker said Friday night she has supported unions throughout her career because of how organized labor could have helped her grandmother, a domestic worker paid under the table.

Now, Parker said the room of movers and shakers in the Democratic Party will need to come together to create One Philly, a city united, asking the crowd to chant the phrase with her.

Everybody talks about this hope deficit in the city of Philadelphia: no belief in government, no belief that government can work for regular people on a daily basis, Parker said. We are working very hard to ensure that people can feel a sense of hope, and pride, and dignity. And we cant do that unless were unified.

Parker added that early critics said shed be controlled by the labor unions that supported her, which she rejected.

Theyre thinking about the past. Thats Old Philadelphia, she said.

If theyre hopeful for the citys future, the mayor and organized labor should be working together to ensure the next generation gets trained for union jobs, she said.

The room was packed with Democrats from around the state, including at least three attorney general hopefuls and a handful of Dems who are still hoping to make their way into the Parker administration.

Parker also flexed her time as a state representative in Harrisburg, when she worked with some of the most conservative Republicans in the state to deliver for the city.
York County District Attorney Dave Sunday appears to be the front-runner for the Republican endorsement in the race for state attorney general. Read more

NEW YORK  Pennsylvanias Republican State Committee is mulling an early meeting to make an endorsement in the primary for state attorney general. And one of the partys three candidates claims thats designed to box him out of the race.

The party, which voted during its fall meeting to not have an open primary with no endorsement, is scheduled to meet for its winter meeting Feb. 3.

But the two-week period for circulating nomination petitions starts Jan. 23. Clout hears the party is looking to call a virtual meeting Jan. 22 to endorse in the race.

That way, a candidate who does not get endorsed can decide if they want to go through the petition process or withdraw from the race.

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State Rep. Craig Williams, who represents parts of Delaware and Chester Counties, said he heard about the meeting the day after he announced his campaign earlier this week. And he thinks thats no coincidence.

Its Harrisburg insiders, Harrisburg lobbyists, who have their thumbs on the scale, trying to pick one guy over another, Williams told Clout.

Party chair Lawrence Tabas declined to comment on that accusation Friday.

York County District Attorney Dave Sunday, who has been building support since he announced in June, appears to be the front-runner for the endorsement.

Former Delaware County District Attorney Kat Copeland, who entered the race Nov. 20, told Clout she would drop out and support the endorsed candidate if she does not win the partys nod next month.

Sunday and Copeland worked the crowd Friday at the partys kick-off luncheon in Manhattan as part of Pennsylvania Society, the annual gathering in New York of the states political movers and shakers.

Williams, who says he is unlikely to keep running if he does not get the endorsement, is skipping the event to focus on campaigning in Pennsylvania this weekend.

His campaign was crosswise with Republican Party officials before it even started. The Republican Attorneys General Association in October accused him of misleading state committee members with a note that suggested he could win the groups endorsement.

RAGA endorsed Sunday last month.
Question: I always feel lonely over the holidays, even if I see my family. What could I do to feel less isolated?

Answer: The holidays are not always the most wonderful time of the year. For many people, they can be an especially lonely time.

Inspired by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthys 5-for-5 connection challenge, my prescription is to do one daily action to connect with someone over the next five days. These interventions are backed by science  engaging in gratitude, service, and mindfulness that allows us to disconnect from technology can all help with loneliness and may open doors to new connections.

Even if you dont feel lonely, try this challenge. You may be surprised by how much closer to others these small acts bring you over the next five days.

Day 1: Reach out to a former mentor and thank them

I was recently at a wedding reflecting with others about all the teachers, friends, and colleagues who have no idea how much they meant to us. Would they find it strange that we messaged them simply to express gratitude?

So I called my high school French teacher. She was as delighted as she was delightful. I found out she had retired but still loved to volunteer at my old school. She couldnt believe I was a physician. Today, thank someone  an old friend whose coffee cake recipe is still your favorite, or a former boss who took a chance on you  and tell them how they influenced your life for the better.

Day 2: Join a group activity

Whether you go into it with a friend or alone, sign up for a group activity to do for a few weeks. Get a ClassPass for aqua aerobics, join a Mahjongg club, plan a month of yoga in the park, or find a neighborhood book club. Choose something that gets you outside the house for part of your day. And if you're debating what to give someone this holiday, consider gifting an activity you'll do with them. It opens the door to a new community and is more valuable than any pair of cozy socks.

Day 3: Call a relative or friend you havent spoken to in a while

On my last birthday, a widowed uncle I've honestly never had much contact with called out of the blue to wish me happy birthday. It became one of the loveliest conversations I had that day as he asked all about my kids, and I learned he had an adorable new dog. Now he and I text every month. Today, think about someone you've drifted away from and wish them a happy holiday season.

Day 4: Ask for help

Reflect on some of the areas in your life where you could use more support. Ask your grandmother to walk you through your favorite recipe and teach you tricks in the kitchen one-on-one. Or ask the neighbors kids to help you walk or play with your dog. You get bonus points if you make a bridge with someone from another generation. There have been many studies on intergenerational contact to improve loneliness. For children, such opportunities lead to higher self-esteem, better academic performance, and improved social skills. For adults, they reaffirm value and lead to greater life satisfaction in addition to other mental health benefits.

Day 5: Tackle screen time

It's hard to give up screens entirely. But at your next meal, try this compromise. Put all the phones in a basket on the table, and schedule a 30-second phone check for later in the meal. The rest of the time, engage with each other. Using your phone during a face-to-face gathering not only reduces conversation quality but lowers your own enjoyment of time spent together.

What I want my patients to know

The public health costs of loneliness are clear. In one meta-analysis, loneliness increased the odds of early mortality by 26%. Depression as a consequence of loneliness is linked to heart failure and even getting a cold. Loneliness modulates stress hormones, contributing to low-level inflammation and gene expression.

But scientists believe that greater social integration helps build our immunity and buffer stressors.

Loneliness can drive what and how we eat, sleep, exercise, and whether we smoke or take our medication as directed. People are more likely to be physically active if they're surrounded by people who exercise and to stop smoking if they're connected to others who quit too.

The people at greatest risk of loneliness are adolescents and the elderly, those with poor physical or mental health, people living alone, and single parents. Seek help if you are struggling during the holiday season and talk to a trusted friend, family member or physician, or call the 988 crisis line, which provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress.
At GT we had a recent survey that went out to all staff asking them how they get to work, said Scammell. Do they catch the train? Do they drive? Do they ride their bike? Do they walk? Are they at home? If so, do they have solar panels on the roof, for example.
In Victory you deserve Champagne, in Defeat you need it.

This quote is often attributed to Napoleon but is in fact from Winston Churchill, and it rather sums up the versatility of sparkling wine.

Champagne suits births, christenings, weddings, birthdays and wakes as it is the ultimate wine for celebration, as appropriate to celebrate a joyful occasion as it is to toast a life well lived.

Sparkling wine brings a smile to every face. In the run-up to the big day, I will always have a bottle of something fizzy in my fridge for visitors. I bring fizz to parties and use it as a last-minute present.

I will be giving PetNat as a present this year as more people need to know about it. PetNat is the original sparkling wine  producers simply bottle their wine while the yeast is still active creating a creamy light fizz.

MIMOSAS

My Christmas Day will begin with fizz in the form of a Mimosa. I generally use a Cava or an inexpensive supermarket Champagne as Prosecco is not fizzy enough.

We always begin with Christmas with a proper Irish breakfast and the acidity in dry sparkling wine is perfect for cutting through the fat in sausages and bacon so there is some logic operating here not just decadence.

Mimosa: Equal parts sparkling wine and fresh squeezed orange juice

Bucks Fizz: 2 parts sparkling wine and fresh squeezed orange juice

Villa Conchi Cava Brut Seleccion NV, Spain

Villa Conchi Cava Brut Seleccion NV, Spain - 25

This won the gold medal for fizz under 30 at the National Off-Licence Association wine competition so is available largely through independent wine shops nationwide.

Classic Cava grapes, aromas of lemon zest and citrus with some toasted almonds, fruity and crisp with a surprising amount of elegance and length. Perfect for Mimosa but also for general fizz use.

(Stockists: ODonovans; No. 21; Ardkeen Stores; Molloys; Vintry; NOffLA Independents)

VISITORS

The Festive Season is about visitors, and what guest does not want to be greeted with a glass of something sparkling. My suggestions are either Pet-Nat or Prosecco as they are easy on the palate and fun to drink.

Albert de Conti Pet-Nat, Bergerac, France

Albert de Conti Pet-Nat, Bergerac, France - 19.99

Organic and Biodynamic lightly sparkling (petillant-naturel) from Bergerac in South West France.

Surprisingly this is my first time featuring this wine, despite having drunk many a glass of it in the likes of LAttitude 51, Green Man, and elsewhere.

It is a great match for light snacks and charcuterie and works well on its own. A Sauvignon-Semillon blend - pear and floral lemon aromas, leesy and creamy pear fruits on the palate with crisp citrus acidity on the finish. Rather joyful.

(LAttitude 51; Bradleys; Green Man Wines; Mitchells; lecaveau.ie)

Other PetNat brands I recommend: Uivo; Oniric; Meinklang,

Tenuta SantAnna Prosecco, Italy

Tenuta SantAnna Prosecco, Italy - 14.99

Frizzante Prosecco rarely comes better than this  white peach and citrus aromas with lemony crisp fruit and classic soft Prosecco silkiness. Just about fizzy enough for mixing with pulped white peaches for a Bellini or with strawberries for a Rossini but also perfect on its own. (JJ ODriscolls; Red Nose Clonmel; Vintry; Independents)

Aperol Spritz

The Spritz was invented in the Jazz Age in Venice which seems appropriate.

Simply fill a large wine glass with ice cubes and add 50ml of Aperol (or Campari if you prefer a drier version) plus 150ml of Prosecco.

Top up with sparkling wine or more Prosecco if you wish.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Our Christmas starter hasnt changed in probably 20 years and it was chosen because it matches so well with Fizz.

I serve a Smoked Salmon and Dill Quiche adapted from a Sophie Grigson recipe.

Good Champagne or Cava cuts through the richness of the smoked salmon and the yeasty flavours mingle nicely with the pastry flavours. (Contact me on Instagram for the recipe if you wish @lesliewinefood).

Champagne can also be served with the turkey and ham if you wish just opt for a richer style, preferably a rose which will better cope with the range of flavours in the traditional Christmas dinner.

The same rule applies for Christmas pudding, a richer fizz will cope better with its sweetness and also cut through the flavours.

Piper Heidsieck Champagne NV - France

Piper Heidsieck Champagne NV, France - 59.99

Winner of the Champagne Gold Medal in theNOffLA Awards this year. Lemon zest, croissants and apple aromas,green apple and pear flavours with lingering toasted almond notes.

(JJ ODriscolls; ODonovans; Castle; OBriens.)

Ruinart Rose Champagne Brut, France - 105-119.00

Bubble Brothers in the English Market have the best price in the country at the time of writing. This is a little more than most of us spend but this is Ruinart after all, the oldest Champagne house and the first to produce a Rose Champagne back in 1764 called Oeil de Perdrix Rose (Partridge Eye) This pours a soft salmon-pink with floral strawberry and exotic fruit aromas on the nose - silky, luxurious and fruity on the palate with a tangy taut finish. (

(Bubble Brothers (105); Corkscrew; Whelehans; Mitchell & Son; 64 Wines; World Wide Wines.)

NEW YEAR'S EVE

New Year celebrations do not have to call for Champagne, it depends on how much money you have left! OBriens always have great value for New Years; heres two to consider.

Rizzardi Prosecco Spumante, Italy

Rizzardi Prosecco Spumante, Italy - 19.95 (OBriens)

The Frizzante version (12.50) is solid, but the extra fizz really makes a difference with ripe peach aromas and flavours cut through by lemony grapefruit zing.

Beaumont des Crayeres Grand Reserve NV Champagne

Beaumont des Crayeres Grand Reserve NV Champagne - 34.95 (OBriens)

From a small quality-focused Champagne co-op with around 250 growers and a total bargain. Pear, citrus and brioche on the nose, textured and rounded with layers of baked nuts and lemon oil.

All About Fizz
Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little is one of Gore Vidals better-known aphorisms but the more my friends succeed the more I wonder at Vidals own qualities as a friend.

I can understand being irked by an enemys success, sure. Every time someone I dislike succeeds, I cant say Im thrilled, but a friend? Can you even call yourself a friend if you cant be happy for a friends success?

Maybe Gore Vidal just didnt like his friends very much but when my friends succeed, rather than feeling like I die a little, on the contrary, I often feel even happier than when I succeed myself.

In my experience, personal success comes with all sorts of baggage, anxiety, and self-doubt, whereas a friends success is a simple and pure experience of unadulterated joy.

Mostly, Im just hoping that they wont outgrow our friendship and dump me for nights out with Taylor Swift.

I spoke about this topic last month at the Maeve Binchy festival, Echoes, in Dalkey. The event was called A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats and was a reference to Binchys renowned and bottomless support for fellow Irish writers.

The idea that success (and life) is a zero-sum game is such a futile and damaging philosophy.

The notion that if someone, somewhere is succeeding, you must somehow be losing out as a result is such an impoverished state of mind.

This so-called scarcity mindset is a hot topic in the world of self-help publishing.

It began with Stephen Coveys book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, who first identified the term, but Rhonda Byrnes The Secret played a big part in introducing the idea of abundance to the world.

The Gore Vidal quote came up at that event as well as it doesnt seem to apply to Irish writers. Indeed, Irish writers in general have a great reputation for supporting each other.

We seem to feel that any success our countrymen and women experience can be taken as communal success, and we enjoy it accordingly.

I thought of that event again last Sunday night as Irish writer Paul Lynch was announced as the 2023 Booker Prize winner for his fifth novel, Prophet Song.

I watched with delight as the Irish book community flooded social media to express its pride and heartfelt congratulations for Lynch.

I was thrilled to see such genuine delight for his success. Irish writers do seem to be unusual in their support for one another.

Perhaps it has something to do with being a small country and knowing that we are all connected in some way.

If we dont know each other personally, we are sure to know someones cousin or sister or somebody they went to school with.

No matter how successful we get as Irish people, we always remain connected to each other and grounded by the close ties of our small country.

I think thats what makes us partake so wholeheartedly in the joy of others success, not just in the literary community, but across the board.

When Katie Taylor or Kellie Harrington wins a match, or when we win a medal at the Olympics or, hell, even when someone local wins the cash machine prize on the radio, were happy for them because we feel connected to them.

The more connected we are, the better life is for everyone.

I see this myself in small everyday things like the driving behaviours of the small community where I live and the comparative difference in driving behaviours in anonymous big cities.

In a small village, chances are youre going to know the person crawling along in front of you or faffing about at the right filter light, so you hold back on the impatience and irritation because, really, wouldnt it be embarrassing to treat your neighbour, a friend, someone you know in such a rude manner?

I tend to continue my local driving behaviours wherever I go now and find imagining every person I encounter as a friend, or a person I know through friends, as an excellent enforcer of positive and polite behaviour.

The same goes for the online behaviour that has made social media such a difficult, unpleasant place to be.

If we stopped before posting harsh comments and asked ourselves would I say this to a friend or to somebody whose family I knew, nine times out of 10 those comments would never be posted.

If we looked at each other as friends, how much gentler and more positive might our experience of life be?

We dont have to know each other, or each others families, to forge a human connection with each other.

By sheer dint of our humanity, we can easily find that connection with most people and by respecting each others basic humanity we can probably navigate and solve most problems.

Realising we are all connected and celebrating that connection every chance we get is a sure path to a more generous and fulfilled life.
President of Ukraine Volodymy Zelenskyy said that exchanges of prisoners of war with Russia had not stopped, they continue, according to him, often this does not happen publicly, and sometimes right on the battlefield.

"We fight for each of our people. We exchange. We fill our exchange fund (with Russians), and then exchanges take place. Very often we exchange prisoners of war, not so loudly, not so publicly. I'll be honest - we change them right on the battlefield. When we have ten of their prisoners, and they have several of our guys - and we exchange. It happens in different ways," the president said in an interview with the AP, the full version of which was distributed by the presidential press service on Saturday.

"That is: there are exchanges and not only global ones, but also directly on the spot. The commanders have instructions for all this, and they know what to do," he added.

Zelenskyy recalled that over the past six months, Ukraine had managed to return about 100 of its military personnel from Russian captivity, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, several thousand. Several thousand more, he said, are currently in captivity.

The head of state also sent a signal to the families of military personnel who are awaiting their release from captivity and said: "Ukraine will fight for each and every one."

As reported, the last public exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation took place in early August of this year.
I got some Facebook notifications recently.

Id turned 38  one of those nothing birthdays that people cant even pretend means much, but for which I was mildly and pleasantly spoiled.

I had a nice night out, some pleasing gifts, and my son made me a card that was so adorable I hesitate to even describe it here in case youre voluminously sick. (It declared I was the best dady [sic] in the world, because what he lacks in spelling, he more than makes up for in taste.)

But none of that stuck with me as much as the bip-bip I got from that neglected little app on my phone, signalling that the past was reaching out to me.

By past, I mean Facebook itself, which I no longer use on a regular basis.

Neither, it seems, do any of my friends, since the notification I received was for the scant three birthday messages waiting for me to peruse; one from a colleague in a job I quit nine years ago, another a schoolfriends auntie, and the last from a funk and soul night in Dublin that I followed  but never got round to actually attending  16 years ago.

I hope against hope that the latter was generated automatically, because the alternative is too depressing to consider.

My friends and I are clearly no longer within the target market of Facebook, which this month retained its long-held status as the worlds most populated social media platform.

Not just that, its 3.03bn active users positively dwarf the competition. Its Meta cousin, Instagram, holds steady at 2bn, while TikToks count of 1.2bn, though an incredible showing for an app that only launched in 2016, shows the great challenger is still some way short of its elders. (The platform formerly known as Twitter, meanwhile, languishes at less than half TikToks number.)

Even with its age advantage, I was shocked that Zuckerbergs leviathan was still so far in the lead. And then I was shocked that I was so shocked.

I was, after all, an active user myself for a decade, and as recently as Brexit and Trumps election, where I took to its blue-hued website to volubly bloviate as both crises unfolded.

More importantly, it was my chief resource for memes and links and general chatter among friends for nearly 10 years before that.

Glancing through it now, I find a wasteland of dead accounts and odd promotions, strange viral image macros made by American radio stations, and short-form videos by mens rights activists and women selling crystal jewellery.

Theres nothing for me there, except of course the memories function, which tells you what you were doing on Facebook this day for the last several years.

Scrolling through these engenders a weird sense of vertigo, and I find myself doing it every once in a while.

Six years ago today, I asked around for players in a five-a-side game.

Eight  and also seven  years ago I was bleating on about Nigel Farage.

Nine years ago, I was sharing the opening page from Steve Bruces first preposterous crime novel.

Glancing through these posts, each humming with asides and replies and side conversations (the Steve Bruce post alone has 40 comments) what seems strangest of all is how distant this world now seems.

Further down the rabbit hole I go, my Memories tab showing me in a flurry of Novembers, Benjamin Buttoning my way backward through time, retroactively losing weight and dress sense, until I grow the shoulder-length hair I cut when moving to London, and thence back to my college days, with its taut skin and day-glo jumpers.

I reach the deepest archaeological layers of my profile, buffering at it like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar, teasing his way through a black holes temporal strings.

It is 2007 and people are writing face book as two separate words. Comments are not connected to each other, so I can only view orphaned fragments of exchanges that Ive written or received.

We are all writing those weirdly phrased status updates like is feeling excited, or sharing in-jokes that must have made sense at the time but are now as inscrutable as the Voynich manuscript.

I have no memory of any of the things I am reading myself saying, nor do I recall a worrying amount of the people with whom I speak.

There are photos of nights out which predate the smartphone era by several years, conjuring a dimly remembered, and alarming, recollection that we all used to take photos on digital cameras, plug them into our laptops, and upload them one by one in the manner of dribbling psychopaths.

There is no small amount of cringe in looking back through the founding moments of the many-tentacled monster which would subsequently take over the planet, but so too is there a note of melancholy.

There was an everything all at once appeal to its earliest iterations, part blog, part photo album, part discussion forum, thats lacking in its presumptive replacements, each of which emphasises one major use  chat, images, video, text  at the expense of all others.

I still make jokes and read news via Twitter (although for how much longer that will be usable remains to be seen) and, increasingly, the charming and less populated BlueSky.

I chat and share personal photos on WhatsApp. As an old man, I use TikTok the way I use YouTube; as a place where I watch things but never say anything myself, since an active, content-providing TikTok presence seems limited to those younger than my generation, or else people who want their online interactions to lead with their face and voice.

As for Facebook, I use it to remember the founding embers of this whole explosion of online life, for about as long as I can stand the constant fake podcast videos and strange rants from older, angry people that I do not know.

That, and to get birthday messages from my favourite funk and soul night in Dublin.

Which reminds me, I really should pop along sometime.
After buying their first house together and multiple home improvement projects together, Michelle O Connell and Stephen OSullivan took a DIY approach to their wedding.

It had one unusual side effect: Until the big day we had about 165 disco balls of varying sizes clogging up our spare room! adds Michelle.

She and Stephen, from Douglas, Cork, first met on Tinder.

Michelle O Connell and Stephen OSullivan. Pictures: Shane OSullivan, SOSAC Photography

He proposed to Michelle on Valentine's weekend in 2022 in her native Inch, Co Kerry, overlooking the beach.

He presented me with a teal sapphire engagement ring. He had had it custom-made to recreate a ring my grandparents gifted me in my childhood, says Michelle.

They had a firm idea of how to celebrate when they tied the knot on October 6.

We wanted retro, disco, Studio 54 with reds and pinks and lots of fun and laughter, says Michelle.

We struggled to find a lot of what we envisaged so we did it ourselves, including my husband building and programming a working audio guest book, and tying mini-disco balls to homemade place settings.

Michelle O Connell with Aoife Foley, Allie Matthews, Aisling O'Callaghan and Sinead O Connell.

The bride and groom also paid tribute to their rocker/goth teen years at the celebration in Corks River Lee Hotel.

I walked down the aisle to [My Chemical Romance's (Welcome to the)] Black Parade performed on tin whistle by my brother's girlfriend Roisin McCloskey (an accomplished traditional musician) and Stephen's brother Martin read an extract from Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, says Michelle.

We had made a quick dip to the civil registration office the day before and did the legal [side of things] in less than four minutes. On the day, we were married by my aunt Lilian Smith. Lilian has been a radio DJ for years (presenting Rising Time on RTE Radio One) so it was perfect.

Stephen OSullivan with Paul O'Keeffe, Brendan O'Brien and Kevin O'Leary.

Michelle made sure to include her grandfather, the late Dermot Smith, in the proceedings.

Unfortunately, my grandfather passed before we wed; he was so very dear to me and I needed to feel like he was there in spirit, she says.

As he wasn't a massively religious man and had an almost conspiracy theory with regard to the foundations of the universe, we remembered him by lighting a candle with a sign that read: This candle is lighting in memory of the bride's grandfather Dermot Smith, who is watching us today from Jesus's spaceship.

Michelle O Connell and Stephen OSullivan. Pictures: Shane OSullivan, SOSAC Photography

Both Swifties, the newlyweds ensured Taylor Swift's music was a soundtrack throughout the day.

Our tables were also named after Taylor albums, and we made the table name settings using records we found in my granddad's house, says the bride.

Our first dance was to Taylor Swifts Lover. We opted for a DJ-only for a night of wall-to-wall bangers with a disco and 70s feel.

Michelle O Connell and Stephen OSullivan. Pictures: Shane OSullivan, SOSAC Photography

Michelles friends Aoife Foley (maid of honour), Allie Matthews and Aisling O'Callaghan (bridesmaids), and her cousin Sinead O Connell had key roles as had Stephen's friends Paul O'Keeffe (best man), Brendan O'Brien and Kevin O'Leary (groomsmen) and the brides cousin Donal O Connell (ringbearer).

The bridal hairstyling was by Shane Connolly of Revo Hair and Beauty, Cork, with makeup by Rebecca O'Donovan, Cork.

Michelle wore a Wilderly gown which she purchased in Memories Bridal Boutique, Cork. Stephen and his attendants wore Remus Uomo suits from Redchurch, Cork.

The wedding cake by Ms Cupcake, Cork.

The floral decor was by Rachel at Ina McCarthy for Flowers, Midleton, Co Cork, and the cake was by Ramune at Ms Cupcake, Cork.

The newlyweds will honeymoon in 2024 in California.

Michelle is a regional housing manager at Respond Housing Association and Stephen is an ICT analyst at Kerry Group.
Young people are being targeted to become money mules to open bank accounts for the proceeds of crime, a judge said, as a 19-year-old admitted being paid 100 for almost 10,000 to land in his account.

Ange Munane of Castlepark, Ballincollig, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering offence whereby he allowed his account to have criminally acquired money transferred to him by a person unknown.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said: In April 2021, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau began investigating reports of smishing fraud offences reported by AIB.

Customers of AIB were being sent text messages with a website link in the text. The customer would click on the link and be brought to what appeared to be the AIB website and asked to sign in.

The AIB customer provided their online banking login information thus inadvertently giving over control of their accounts to unknown persons.

These unknown persons then made unauthorised transfers of money from the AIB customers accounts to other bank accounts.

These other accounts are known as money muling accounts. The fraudsters get young people to let them use their accounts for 50 of 100 payments. One such young person who allowed his account to be used in this way by fraudsters is Ange Munene.

On January 12, 2021, two separate lodgements of 50 were made to his account through an ATM on the Naas Road in Dublin.

The following day three further lodgements were made, for 4,100, 4,500 and 1.200, totalling 9,800.

AIB was able to freeze his account so the money could not be moved or withdrawn from the account and conducted a reverse deposit which returned the full amount of 9,800 to the rightful owner.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said the defendant was targeted like other young people who seemed to regard it as easy money to get 50 of 100 for someone else to use their account for a short period. He said the defendant accepted he was reckless.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: It seems that younger people are being targeted. This young man received payments of 50. This case merits a prison sentence. I want to see if there is a way I can deal with it otherwise.

The judge adjourned sentencing until March 14, 2024, to allow time for a probation report.
The riots in Dublin city centre on November 23 precipitated a heavy fallout on multiple fronts, from the social to the legal to the political.

The most immediate political effect was the escalation of the pressure on the shoulders of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee from mild to extreme in the space of scarcely 10 hours.

Ms McEntee, who has held her portfolio since June of 2020, had a relatively charmed ministerial life up until last summer when a spate of assaults on foreign tourists in Dublin led to accusations that the city centre is an unsafe place to visit.

The minister has always maintained this is not the case, and continued to do so in the wake of the miserable scenes that befell Dublin in the aftermath of the stabbing of three children and their carer outside Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire on that fateful afternoon.

Nevertheless, the minister is enough of a realist to know that her job, and likely her future political ambitions, hinge on what happens next.

In such a scenario, the political playbook is generally to find a cause  and thats what brings us to facial recognition technology (FRT)and its use by gardai. The minister has now made clear this is an immediate legislative priority for her.

On the face of it, the logic of that decision would seem sound  An Garda Siochana is currently trawling through some 6,000 hours worth of CCTV footage of Dublin from the night in question, when hundreds of masked rioters rampaged along OConnell Street, leaving burning buses and looted shops in their wake.

A double-decker bus was set alight in Dublin city centre after hundreds of people began to riot on OConnell Street and surrounding areas last week. Picture: RollingNews.ie

The minister argues that anything that can make the onerous task of parsing that footage simpler should be utilised.

This perhaps ignores the fact that most of the nights raiders had gone to some trouble to cover their faces, which isnt the only practical problem facing FRT in an Irish context.

Regardless, Helen McEntee has made clear that her primary approach to staunching the current political wound shes carrying is to reignite a battle she first kickstarted in the summer of 2022, when she told the Garda Representative Association (GRA) that she would be introducing FRT in the future.

Details at the time were sketchy. In the heel of the hunt it emerged that the departments plan was unworkable, given the legislative plan to bring FRT to fruition was to append it to the then Garda Recording Devices bill  the law, now passed, which will see bodycams included as standard on Garda uniforms from early next year.

That was always going to be a difficult sell given the bill in question had already passed through pre-legislative scrutiny.

In the end, the Green Party blocked the action (TD Patrick Costello described FRT at the time as riddled with racial bias and privacy issues) and the technology in an Irish context stalled.

And there it might have rested had not rioters brought chaos to Dublin city centre.

In the aftermath, Ms McEntee made clear that specific, standalone legislation to enable FRT for gardai is expected to be in place by early next year.

Again, few specifics were given other than that the technology would be used to aid in to investigate incidents like the unrest in Dublin.

To achieve this goal, Fine Gael is going to have to go toe to toe with the Greens once more.

This time, however, it appears it is up for the fight, the alternative of a resigning justice minister and the chaos/election that could bring probably not being especially palatable.

What is facial recognition technology?

Different forms of FRT have been around for much of the last decade, but fundamentally the technology involves a software programme comparing images, trying to establish if any faces are present, and then trying to get a close match with an existing image or gallery of images.

There are three basic applications of FRT  face detection, face classification (gender, age, skin tone etc), and facial recognition/verification.

Facial recognition is an example of a biometric technology, one dependent upon a persons distinguishing physical characteristics.

Biometrics have proven troublesome in the past in terms of state-sponsored initiatives as observers of the Public Services Card saga will attest, given such information is protected as special category data under the GDPR, meaning the processing of same is prohibited save for certain exceptions, and it has to be legislated for specifically.

FRT is used across society in various forms, from phones opening for their owners via selfie-verification to ports of entry verifying someones face against their biometric passport, to law enforcement.

In terms of how the gardai will use the technology, software would be used to detect faces in video footage or other visual media, and then those faces would be compared to a gallery of images  in this case a database of facial images of the population.

Justice Minister Helen McEntees position has been questioned in the aftermath of the riots. Picture: PA

Here we hit our first stumbling block  the gardai have access to a DNA database for those with criminal records, but what database of the countrys faces exists?

The only one that immediately springs to mind is that of the Public Services Card, and should that happen civil liberties organisations are likely to be less than impressed.

The answer, according to a department spokesperson, lies in images and video that have already been gathered and are legally held by the gardai such as the mugshots of detained suspects.

How comprehensive a solution that will be remains to be seen, given the vast majority of the population has never come to the notice of gardai.

There are other issues with the technology, unfortunately, ones which are not new and which were already trawled through when FRT was first considered by Government in 2022.

For starters, the tech in its current guise is by its very nature imprecise. It seeks to find matches, but all it can do is deliver a probability of a match.

Given the speed at which modern day tech moves, FRT is something which some day may be absolutely perfected. But as things stand, it isnt there yet.

Secondly, more problematically, it has a bad habit of identifying people incorrectly.

Worse again, it has a habit of misidentifying people of colour in particular.

In 2020, head of the Detroit Police Department Chief James Craig admitted that if we were just to use the technology by itself, to identify someone, I would say 96 percent of the time it would misidentify, though he added that using the tech exclusively without any form of human oversight was against our current policy.

None of this has stopped other police forces from using FRT  its in place in at least 18 European countries, and across wide parts of the US.

However, its use is also banned in other places, including San Francisco, ordinarily the tech capital of America, off the back of privacy concerns.

Legal minefield

A third issue is that the use of FRT is likely going to be a legal minefield.

Ireland has already fallen out of step with European law regarding tech/privacy projects on multiple occasions, including with the PSC.

In 2014, our data retention laws were found to be incompatible with European law and then not amended for the guts of a decade, leaving thousands of convictions, including that of architect-murderer Graham Dwyer, in limbo.

The European Parliament has been considering its own legislation on FRT for many months now.

In 2014, our data retention laws were found to be incompatible with European law and then not amended for the guts of a decade, leaving thousands of convictions, including that of architect-murderer Graham Dwyer, in limbo.

When it will be finalised is anyones guess, though the odds are decent that it wont be before next years European elections.

In the absence of that law, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB  the oversight body for the blocs various privacy regulators, including our own Data Protection Commission) provided a series of guidelines last April for prospective laws in EU countries enabling the use of FRT in law enforcement.

A key point in those guidelines is that the technology should only be employed in cases of strict necessity, that is where there is literally no other way to get a job done.

That definition does not apply, for example, to analysing CCTV footage of a riot using facial recognition software  a job which human gardai have been doing for years  at least not in a way that could be used officially to get a conviction.

Interestingly, frontline gardai themselves (notwithstanding Commissioner Drew Harris who is also under a great deal of pressure at present) dont seem overly pushed about FRT, with rank-and-file representative body the GRA declining to comment on the tech, with one source saying its not something weve discussed.

Officers body the AGSI is more supportive, with general secretary Antoinette Cunningham saying they supported Commissioner Harriss belief in its usefulness for operational policing, adding that there are no concerns that cant be addressed in sound robust legislation on its use.

While a new law does now appear to be on the way, its passage isnt likely to be smooth.

Labours Aodhan O Riordain was quick out of the blocks after Ms McEntee announced she would be prioritising FRT once more stating there has been a consistent pattern of announcing legislation to distract people from the key issues of a lack of resources for frontline workers like gardai.

Olga Cronin, senior policy officer with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said that the new laws mooted aim of widening the scope of cases where gardai can make use of FRT equates to mission creep before we even have a mission.

FRT is inherently flawed and dangerous. It has been trained on pale, male faces and so it has a racial element.

People have been misidentified, detained, questioned wrongfully because of it, she said.

Its use will mean were entering a 100% surveillance state.

You wont be able to go where you want to go without being watched.

And whats worse, it wont do what the minister wants it to do. It wouldnt have stopped the riot that happened.

Most of those guys had their faces covered. Identification wasnt the issue, the ability to stop a riot was the issue. The proposed benefits do not outweigh the risks, Ms Cronin added.

'Adding to burden on policing'

Privacy solicitor Simon McGarr meanwhile said that far from making life easier for the gardai, FRT would simply serve to multiply the burden on policing.

It is akin to running a hotline where 99% of the tips turn out to be false, but every one of them has to be investigated, he said.

We saw with ChatGPT that these kinds of technologies are quite capable of confidently asserting something that is not true.

Its one thing when such an assertion results in a citation in a college essay of a source that doesnt exist.

Its a great deal more serious when it can lead to potential criminal prosecutions, he added.
Last Monday on RTEs Up front with Katie Hannon programme, former senior garda Pat Leahy set out what faces the country. He was talking in the wake of the riots that blighted Dublin city centre ten days ago and, in particular, the threat posed by what is referred to as the far right.

If we focus on the policing response we will miss the picture, he said. This was an attack on our democracy and we either step up and address it properly or we will lose this battle for sure. We have to agree a definition of the problem which we havent done so far. He went on to say that the government has to lead on this.

What we need now is unity. If were not unified in this they are going to be at home, rubbing their hands, saying now we have disunity.

Former Garda Chief Superintendent Pat Leahy.

He has a point. The riots threw up issues about policing and the alienation of young people in some disadvantaged communities. These are extremely important matters but ones in which it is perfectly reasonable to have different political approaches. Not so the third feature of the riots  the far right. The body politic needs to decide whether this is to be tackled in a unified manner as an existential threat to democracy.

As Mr Leahy said, the first issue is to define the problem. What is the far right? For those who are on the authoritarian strand of the left, the far right is everywhere. They label conservative Catholics as far right, those with strong anti-abortion views, anybody who protests at a centre for refugees, anybody who has questions around issues to do with gender dysphoria. All far right.

In the real world, the far right as it pertains to our democracy is largely focused on spreading hate against immigrants. There is also an element which singles out LGBTQ+ people, but those pulling the strings know that immigration is where the fertile hunting ground is located.

How many of them are there? Last February, at the height of protests outside centres for refugees, the Far Right Observatorys Mark Malone told a conference that there were about twenty-five to thirty of these individuals creating fear, noise and panic from two or three small political organisations.

That number has in all likelihood increased. Such a small group of activists do have the potential to disseminate hate but surely a state of 5m people, properly resourced and prepared, can repel this. As of now, unlike most European countries, they have no electoral purchase.

This brings us to unity in the body politic. Is there any real will to tackle the far right collectively? The government has done little to suggest they want to unite with the opposition to deal with the matter. On the other side, some would appear to consider the far right a political project rather than a threat to democracy. Last March, ahead of a rally to counter the far-right protests, People Before Profit let it be known that government figures wouldnt be welcome at the event. What does that say about unity?

Mick Barry TD.

This week in the Dail, PBPs Mick Barry spoke about an alleged roadblock in Co Leitrim organised by anti-immigrant elements. Do these people mounting this blockade have the active support of government councillors? he asked. Was the deputy just asking a question that might coincidentally smear government parties without producing any evidence? Thats standard fare in bread-and-butter politics but surely not if democratic norms are up for grabs.

On the government side, Fine Gaels Jennifer Carroll McNeill referenced far-right intimidation last summer in Ballybrack in her Dun Laoighaire constituency. She and other politicians from across the spectrum gathered to do something. The only people who did not help me and did not help deputies Boyd Barrett (PBP), Devlin (FF) and Smyth (Greens) or the gardai were Sinn Fein, she said. They are playing both sides of every argument.

Sinn Fein have rejected her criticism as inaccurate but one way or the other there is obvious disunity in tackling the issue.

Exploitation

Then there are the politicians who openly attempt to exploit the situation, people in this chamber, as described by Labours Aodhan O Riordain, who used the words criminality and immigration in the same sentence as often as they can to get some cheap political gain for themselves. These people need to either cop on or face being deservedly ostracised. For as long as the current climate of disunity persists the chances of far-right ideology reaching into the body politic will increase.

Tackling the central issue on which the hate merchants thrive will be no less difficult. Immigration is defining global politics. There is an argument that we need to talk about it in this country, as suppression will lead to further problems. Yet there is reluctance to do so as it might well merely play into those who want to use the issue to further their aims.

A man was wrongly named as the perpetrator of the knife attack that sparked off the riots across social media on Thursday last following the anonymised publication of details surrounding his asylum application by the news website Gript.

The gardai had to intervene because the man in question was being targeted as a result of the media report. Gript presents itself as an outlet that is, unlike most in the media, willing to talk about immigration.

During the week, its editor John McGuirk was writing about the failure to consult communities when locating groups of asylum seekers in their midst. They have already been ignored in the inner city in Dublin. As they have in (he mentions a provincial town here), where some pubs and restaurants, I am told, are now advising patrons to take taxis rather than walk due to concerns about public safety. He is told? By whom? Is there any evidence to suggest that the public in this town should be afraid of asylum seekers? Is it ok to just throw that out there and let readers take what they will from it?

This kind of opinion writing is why there is reluctance among the many genuine politicians and much of the media to start a proper debate on immigration. Yet at a time of growing unease about the numbers arriving here, for the greater part fleeing war or oppression, silence feeds the far rights agenda. Ironically, the story of immigration into our country has been a hugely positive one, whatever way you look at it.

Since last Thursday week, the oft-repeated line is that the riots and all the attendant fall-out have acted as a wake-up call. The jury is out on that and will remain so until such time as any perceived threat to our way of life is met with a unity of purpose.
Are we losing what it means to be human? I'd argue that we are and it's a problem for this generation that's accelerating faster than climate change.

Humanity is what makes us human, decent, and different, setting us apart from other species.

Its rarity in recent times is very worrying. Without it, people become self-centered and indifferent towards the suffering of others.

Its the one quality that stops us from behaving like feral animals, as we witnessed recently.

Its 10 days since three schoolchildren and their creche teacher were stabbed in Dublin. A five-year-old girl remains in a critical condition this weekend, with fears for her survival. Her creche teacher also remains critical.

People were led to believe that this shocking incident caused the rioting that same evening. Yes, it was the tipping point, but the destruction late into Thursday night, in which a number of gardai were also injured, was simply an excuse that a bunch of online agitators had wanted to kick off for a long time  but they needed an excuse. And this was one of the most damning.

Things happen because something prompted them to happen. A cause is why something happens, an effect is what happened. School children and their teacher are attacked and stabbed by an immigrant who has lived here for years. Hours later, violent thugs are trying to burn Dublin city centre to the ground.

A cause-and-effect situation is what the far-right noisemakers want us to believe happened that day. Its simply not true

Ireland has been pitched on a knife-edge for a long time, long before the stabbings and riots in Dublin. Theres been a simmering hostility, a growing resentment towards many aspects of life here that people feel intolerant about.

A bus on fire on O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre.

There is also a growing level of hatred never seen before. It's being fed by far right groups just waiting for another catalyst, grotesque enough to light a bigger fuse in the public imagination.

Ten days ago, they took to their social media platforms and, in an effort to stir up brutality, they published lies and caused carnage.

I doubt they cared a jot for the injured victims being tended to by paramedics outside their school that day; they just wanted violence because they are extremists. Nothing more, nothing less

If you take a look at some of their websites, theyre smooth talkers, well turned out in their Sunday best, but the tone becomes darker if you listen to their directives and their blatherings on platforms such as Telegram or X, formerly known as Twitter.

But what is their cause? Radicalisation and division are their primary objectives. Ever since covid's early days, far-right groomers have been using online techniques, aimed at those who are mostly young and disillusioned, lone actors who feel they have little if any purpose because they believe they are victims of social deprivation through no fault of their own.

They internalise extremist beliefs that theyre told mirror their own personal view of a world theyre convinced is being taken away from them by others.

And they have the internet and social media  the perfect tools to spread their hate.

Anglo-Algerian author Mouloud Benzadi once said: Kill extremists and more extremists will appear. Kill extremist ideology and extremism will disappear.

Hate crime

A new bill updating Irelands laws on hate crime and hate speech has been approved by government and is currently making its way through the Seanad.

One serious concern is the absence of a definition of the word hate or hatred, while there are also concerns that it will restrict free speech.

Freedom of expression has been a guaranteed right since the foundation of the State. Article 40.6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann protects "the right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions".

Senator Eileen Flynn, a member of the Irish Travelling community who broadly supports the Bill, told RTE's Prime Time recently that her definition of hatred is attacking a person because of who they are.

In his book, Haters, law professor and psychologist Gregory S Parks said that hate is more than just a feeling, its a complex behaviour. He explores who haters are, what drives them, and how to react to them.

Haters assassinate the character of those they envy, and they play an active role in doing as much harm as possible to the object of their hate, even asking others to participate in this harm. These followers are referred to in Parkss book as flying monkeys  a term that comes from the film The Wizard of Oz, in which flying monkeys do the nasty work of the Wicked Witch of the West.

But we can't let the haters win. Dublins once-solid welcoming spirit is broken following the violence of 23/11. Is it gone forever? Only time will tell.

A bus and car on fire on O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre.

I walked through its streets the day after, an acrid smell from the black smoke that hung motionless in the air, a burnt-out Luas not far from three buses that had been attacked and destroyed, their drivers lucky to be alive.

A quarter of our workforce is made up of people who have come here to live and work from other countries. Health, retail, transport, hospitality... if they all left tomorrow, the country would collapse. But why would they leave? They are as entitled to live here as anyone else.

I met a Nigerian theatre nurse on her way to work the morning after the riots.

She was terrified. Her hands were shaking, her eyes tired from crying.

This has been my home for almost 20 years, she said, sounding as though it might now no longer be her home.

As I said goodbye to her, I thought of the extremists who had called to action a gang of flying monkeys who burned and looted while some of their influencers watched the violence on from the safety of their comfortable homes.

We have to draw a line in the sand because if we allow hatred to fester, then we are killing humanity.

And we'll only have ourselves to blame.
Omar, a sweet little boy with gentle, gentle eyes is nine years old.

But he keeps those eyes closed for long periods now, willing the images of his mother, father, and twin brother to come into sharp focus in his mind.

Omar is terrified, not that he too will die in an Israeli airstrike, but that the faces of his lost loved ones will fade.

Shima had just started speaking again, but as daylight broke so too did the fragile ceasefire and deep trauma once more has left her mute.

In Ireland, children of her age are in second class, its an exciting time getting ready to put on nativity plays and writing letters to Santa. But for this little girl, who has already lost her right leg and right arm in a blast, staying alive is uncertain.

She lies in the overcrowded Nasser Hospital, which before the resumption of war on Friday morning, was running at 200% capacity. She listens to the bombs rain down, she feels the impact of each repeated strike and she waits as others decide her fate and the fate of more than a million other children in Gaza.

Hundreds of women and children sleep in waiting rooms and along the corridors of the hospital in Khan Younis. Children with the wounds of war are everywhere.

Within hours of the ceasefire ending seven short days of reprieve, Israeli missiles had killed more than 35 people, that number multiplied as the day wore on.

During the pause, James Elder, global spokesman with Unicef, was among aid workers who crossed the border into the Palestinian enclave, where about 60% of the housing stock has been damaged or destroyed and where just 15 of 36 hospitals are now functioning but are completely overwhelmed.

In one of the many temporary camps set up since October, Elder met the sweet little boy with gentle, gentle eyes and spoke to him about what he likes, his interests, his ambitions.

I wouldnt talk to him about what happened, I cant get children to relive that. But I know what happened  a strike hit the family home, it killed his mum, it killed his father, and it killed his twin brother.

He would speak to me about his twin brother as being even cleverer than him and it was clear that Omar was a sharp little boy.

But he kept closing his eyes for long periods of time and Id asked his aunt Why does he do that? And she just said: Hes just so terrified hes going to forget what his mum and dad looked like. Hes just so afraid that hes going to lose them in his mind in the same way hes lost them here.

These stories are unique and thats the thing, they are repeated everywhere across the Gaza Strip.

Speaking as he sheltered under a table, Elder relayed the devastation of broken bones, severe burns, limb amputations, and the lost lives of children.

As he spoke to RTEs Gavin Jennings about this brutal war on children his train of thought was broken by another bombing that pierced through the background.

It is almost impossible to put the magnitude of bombardment and the effect it has on not-yet-fully-grown bodies into words.

An aerial attack starts with a mundane sound, a whirring drone similar to an airplane overhead. But no planes fly over Gaza, instead the familiar sound is an ominous signal of yet another brutal attack.

It takes just seconds for the blast of impact to push out from the epicentre with a prolonged rumble of destruction.

Plumes of thick purple smoke rise up filling the sky and the nostrils.

It takes a few short minutes before the air is filled with screams, the shrill sound of grief from the newly bereaved.

The sounds, smells and vibrations attack the entire nervous system.

Kilometers away the ground shudders and the noise echoes before yet another strike lands, restarting the chain of destruction.

These repeated barrages set off involuntary actions in the body, by now we have all seen clips of wide-eyed children shaking uncontrollably.

Palestinians evacuate wounded children in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Picture: Hatem Ali/AP

You see the trauma in childrens eyes, both their own fear but also of course, as they start to look at their parents eyes as they did this morning, and realise that their mum and dad have that look that they cant protect me, Elder explained.

The wounds of war on children are probably something Ive not seen with this intensity before.

Those wounds had been opened long before the latest bombardment.

In Gaza, teenagers have endured many strikes since Israel imposed a blockade on the strip in 2007.

A child born in Gaza that year survived a first assault aged just two when Israeli forces killed 1,385 Palestinians, including 318 children during 22 days of conflict.

As that child reached primary school in 2012, another eight-day attack took the lives of 168 people in Gaza including 33 children.

Aged seven, that same child witnessed a third round of grief; this time fifty days of fighting resulted in 2,251 Palestinian deaths, among those were 556 children.

In May of 2021, that child, now a teenager, survived once again another bout of war that claimed 256 lives.

But the latest assault has been by far the most deadly. Before the resumption of airstrikes on Friday morning, more than 14,800 Palestinian lives had been taken, including 6,150 children.

Out of this conflict has emerged the chilling acronym WCNSF: Wounded child no surviving family.

Children are resilient, but that resilience has a limit.

I have been going to Nasser Hospital all week to listen to children, courageous tireless Palestinian health workers, families  to play with children, gently seek to give them a distraction from their nightmare, said Elder.

At times, I could see a gentle change in their faces. A glimpse of childhood returning. No longer. Fear has returned. So have the wounded. Bloodied bodies were rushed in as I was there.

How can we do this to our children?

In homes across this country, bedsheets are being altered into angel costumes and tinsel manipulated into halos as children learn the words of Away in a Manger.

Bless all the dear children In Thy tender care.

In Gaza, Shima and Omar are less than 100km away from where Christians say the original Christmas miracle took place in a stable in Bethlehem.
Renewed fighting in Gaza stretched into a second day on Saturday after talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamascollapsed and mediators said Israeli bombardments were complicating attempts to again pause hostilities.

Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the truce deadline lapsed shortly after dawn on Friday, with columns of smoke rising into the sky, Reuters journalists in the city said.

Residents took to the road with belongings heaped up in carts,searching for shelter further west.

Israel said its ground, air and naval forces struck more than 200 "terror targets" in Gaza. By Friday evening, health officials in the coastal strip said Israeli strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others and hit more than 20 houses.

The warring sides blamed the other for the truce collapse by rejecting terms to extend the daily release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The United Nations said the fighting would worsen an extreme humanitarian emergency. "Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva.

"Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed," said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, adding that children, women and men of Gaza had "nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on."

Israeli released hostages siblings Bilal, second right and Aisha Al-Ziyadne, left, reuniting with their family at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. Bilal and Aisha were released the night of Thursday. (Picture: GPO via AP)

A pause that started on November 24 had been extended twice and Israel had said it could continue as long as Hamas released 10 hostages each day. But after seven days during which women, children and foreign hostages were freed, mediators failed to find a formula to release more.

Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.

Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas after an October 7 rampage in which it says the militant group killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage.

Israeli assaults since have laid waste much of Gaza, ruled by Hamas since 2007. Palestinian health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say over 15,000 Gazans have been killed and thousands are missing.

QATAR SAYS NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUING

Qatar, which has played a central mediating role, said negotiations were still going on with Israelis and Palestinians to restore the truce, but Israel's renewed bombardment of Gaza had complicated matters.

An Israeli official in Washington said it was a "very high priority" to get as many hostages released as possible.

"And for that, under agreed terms, Israel is willing to give additional pauses," the official said, while adding: "We can negotiate while we still fight."

In the north of Gaza, previously the main war zone, huge plumes of smoke rose above the ruins. Gunfire and explosions rang out above the sound of barking dogs.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Friday (Picture: AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Residents and officials from Hamas said its fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades battled Israeli troops and tanks in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the north.

Sirens blared across southern Israel as militants fired rockets from the coastal enclave into towns. Hamas said it had targeted Tel Aviv, but there were no reports of casualties or damage there.

Casualties were reported in southern Lebanon, another flashpoint of conflict for Israel. A Lebanese official said Israeli shelling killed three people on Friday. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions at the border.

The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and air defences had intercepted two launches.

Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.

US AND HAMAS TRADE ACCUSATIONS

The United States blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting, saying it had failed to produce a new list of hostages to release.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was working diplomatically to restore the truce.

"We're going to continue to work with Israel and Egypt and Qatar on efforts to re-implement the pause," he told a news conference in California, while blaming Hamas for failing to meet conditions on hostages and for an attack in Jerusalem.

This picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke rising from buildings after being hit by Israeli strikes, as battles resume between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 1, 2023. Picture: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Washington should be putting pressure on Israel, telling Reuters:

"We should be pushing Israel to realize this is not only a military conflict, but it is a conflict for hearts and minds of people in the world and people in United States."

Hamas accused Washington of giving a green light for an Israeli "war of genocide and ethnic cleansing."

"Today, it brazenly repeats the Zionist lies, which hold Hamas responsible for resuming the war and not extending the humanitarian truce," it said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had stopped all deliveries of aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, said aid agreed under the truce had been stopped but, at Washington's request, "dozens" of other trucks with water, food and medical supplies had reached the enclave.

Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel on Friday.(Picture: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The US is working on a plan with Israel to minimize harm to civilians in any military operation in southern Gaza, a senior US official said.

Despite the latest casualty reports, the Israeli official in Washington said Israel was working with the US and the UN to reduce harm to civilians using a "deconfliction mechanism".

"We learned lessons from our northern Gaza operations and we are implementing them," he said.

Friday's bombing was most intense in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, however, medics and witnesses said. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been sheltering there because of fighting in the north.

Leaflets dropped on eastern areas of Khan Younis ordered residents of four towns to evacuate - not to other areas in Khan Younis as in the past, but further south to Rafah.

"You have been warned," said the leaflets, written in Arabic.

Israel released a link to a map showing Gaza divided into hundreds of districts, which it said would be used in future to communicate which areas were safe.

In Rafah, residents carried several small children, streaked with blood and covered in dust, out of a house that had been struck. Mohammed Abu-Elneen, whose father owns the house, said it was sheltering people displaced from elsewhere.

- Reporting from Reuters
A prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso has been abducted by unknown individuals, rights groups have said.

Activists say it could be the latest attempt by the military government to target dissidents using a controversial law.

Daouda Diallo, a 2022 recipient of the Martin Ennals international human rights award, was abducted on Friday in the capital Ouagadougou after visiting the passport department where he had gone to renew his documents, according to the local Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatisation of Communities civic group, which Mr Diallo founded.

His captors  in civilian clothing  accosted him as he tried to enter his car and took him to an unknown location, the group said in a statement on Friday, warning Mr Diallos health could be at risk and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

Amnesty Internationals west and central Africa office said the abduction was presumably (for him) to be forcibly conscripted after he was listed last month among those ordered to join Burkina Fasos security forces in their fight against jihadi violence as provided by a new law.

Right now, civil society activists, human rights defenders and even leaders of opposition political parties do not dare express freely their opinions

Amnesty International denounces the use of conscription to intimidate independent voices in #BurkinaFaso and calls for the release of Dr Diallo, the group said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Earlier this year, Burkina Fasos junta announced the general mobilisation decree to recapture territories lost as jihadi attacks continue to ravage the landlocked country.

The decree empowers the government to send people to join the fight against the armed groups.

It is also being used to target individuals who have openly criticised the junta and to silence peaceful dissent and punish its critics, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

HRW said at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition party members were informed by the government in November that they would be conscripted, including Mr Diallo, who joined Burkina Faso activists in condemning the move.

The simple fact of showing an independence of position is enough to be conscripted, said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty International in Burkina Faso.

Right now, civil society activists, human rights defenders and even leaders of opposition political parties do not dare express freely their opinions because this decree is being used to silence and intimidate all of the voices that are independent, he added.
Israel has pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip and ordered more neighbourhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the US and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning following the week-long truce with the territorys ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a house on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on November 20.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis (Fatima Shbair/AP)

The ministry stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on November 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said on Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children.

It also said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the start of the war.

With the end of the truce, Israel has been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Some two million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the territorys southern half.

It was not clear if Israels military would heed appeals to spare civilians.

The military said on Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using air strikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

It included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah city in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken.

The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight air strikes, including two children.

In northern Gaza, an air strike flattened a residential building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City.

The strike on the multi-storey building left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

There was a loud bang, then the building turned into a pile of rubble, Mr Obeid said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel.

Sirens were heard in communities near the Gaza Strip but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

In the clearest sign yet that a return to negotiations for further truces was unlikely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed negotiators to return to Israel.

Trails of rockets fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

With the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarise themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis.

Separately, the military dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

One Khan Younis resident said a neighbour received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit and everyone should leave.

We told them, We have nothing here, why do you want to strike it? said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra.

They eventually left, and al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south.

Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) area.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the north a month ago to Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Amal Radwan, who sheltered in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others were not able to leave because of the relentless bombardment.

Here is death and there is death, she said.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods.

It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received aid trucks through the Rafah crossing, the first convoy since fighting resumed.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 50 trucks were scheduled to enter Gaza but that there were no fuel trucks among them.

Current conditions do not allow for a meaningful humanitarian response, and I fear will spell disaster for the civilian population, Pascal Hundt, in charge of operations in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, US vice president Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the Cop28 climate conference, said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that under no circumstances would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders, according to a US summary of the meeting.

Ms Harris was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House.

President Joe Bidens administration has emphasised the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state co-existing.

The October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and around 240 people were taken captive.

The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP)

For families of remaining hostages, the truces collapse was a blow to hopes that their loved ones could be the next out.

A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons.

Most of those released by both sides were women and children.
Ukraine took part in the largest exercise in the history of NATO, the Cyber Coalition, which took place in Tallinn (Estonia) from November 27 to December 1.

NATO reported that in addition to the 28 member countries of the alliance, such partner countries as Ukraine, Georgia, Ireland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland took part in the exercises. Some 170 people worked directly in Tallinn and 1,300 around the world. The exercise scenario was based on real-life cyber challenges, including attacks on critical infrastructure such as electrical substations, power grids and water treatment plants, as well as disruption of NATO and allied assets during operations. The purpose of the exercise was to increase the resilience of NATO countries and partners to cyber threats, as well as their ability to conduct joint cyber operations.

In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, the executive director of the exercise, Charles Elliott, commander of the U.S. Navy, said that directly during the exercise, Ukrainian representatives passed on information from the exercise plotlines to their colleagues. He detailed that, if the plotline of an exercise says that your power grid is under attack, we take that data and roll it out to a national training audience and say that this is what is happening now. In the plotline they are playing now, for example, there is no electricity in Kyiv. The local training audience is trying to figure out why this is happening. The point is that they are intermediaries between the training here in Tallinn and the Ukrainian training audience in Kyiv. And this allows them to build a network together. Thus, they base this exercise on three overarching goals. The first is collaboration, cooperation, coordination, the second is interoperability and the third is about experimentation. In addition, the scientific community and industry are involved in this, he added.

Asked whether the exercise participants had learned anything from the Ukrainian experience, Elliott noted that at the outset of planning for the exercise it was not known whether Ukraine would participate. Therefore, they did not plan specific lessons that could be learned from the Ukrainians. They had lessons of a more general nature, but not directly from Ukraine. As the commander of the U.S. Navy said, next year, since they had Ukraine this time, they will include more lessons that we could learn directly from Ukraine's experiences. What those lessons will be, Elliott can't tell exactly right now, and it would probably be wise not to go into too much detail for reasons of operational security. But suffice it to say, and as you know, in the real world, attacks on critical national infrastructure for Ukraine are constant. This is what preceded the invasion and continues throughout the conflict, this is how Ukrainian cyber defenders dealt with these attacks. Therefore, it is very important for us to look and make sure that other national training teams can learn these lessons, the exercise director stated.

At the same time, Elliott stated that what struck him most about the cyber component of the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine is the coordination of state and non-state actors when it comes to cyberattacks. According to him, from an attribution perspective, it's clear that it's easier to allow a non-state actor to take responsibility, if you will, for a cyberattack wherever it occurs. This gives some states a plausible objection "we didn't do this," he said.

As an example, the director of the exercise cited the activity of the pro-Russian hacker group, known for its attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine Killnet. They carried out various attacks that they claimed responsibility for, whether it was an attack on a NATO website or a power outage. It's hard to accept that this is just a non-state actor. Seeing the capabilities of some of these non-state actors, it makes sense that they would be supported elsewhere, Elliott said.

In addition, the NATO representative stated that the fact that Ukraine was again able to take part in these exercises shows the resilience of Ukraine. It's great to have them here and we look forward to learning more from them, they are excellent teachers, the exercise director concluded.
Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko was denied permission to leave Ukraine for a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ukraines security service has said.

Mr Poroshenko announced on Friday that he had been turned away at the border despite previously receiving permission from parliament to leave the country.

Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age are not allowed to leave the country without special approval.

The 58-year-old, who lost his re-election bid in 2019 to current Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, said he had planned to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and visit the Polish parliament during his trip.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary (Leon Neal/PA)

But security officials said that Mr Poroshenko had also agreed to meet Mr Orban, who has previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and refused to support Kyivs bid for EU accession.

In a statement on social media, they said such talks would make Mr Poroshenko a tool in the hands of the Russian special services.

Mr Poroshenko, who called his experience at the border an attack on unity, is yet to comment on the allegation that he planned to meet Mr Orban.

Meanwhile, Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was left on the verge of a nuclear and radiation accident on Saturday after it was unable to draw power from two of the lines connecting it to the local energy grid, the countrys nuclear energy operator said.

It said that the plant switched to diesel generators to stop the plant from overheating before off-site power was restored by Kyiv.

Russia occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant in the early stages of the war.

Over the past year, the station has become a focal point of concern for international observers, with both Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of shelling the plant.

In a statement on social media, Petro Kotin, head of Ukraines nuclear energy operator, accused Moscow of incorrect, erroneous, and often deliberately risky operation of the equipment at the site.

The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the claims.

Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been monitoring safety at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is one of the worlds 10 biggest nuclear power stations.

Although the plants six reactors have been shut down for months, it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia launched 11 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one guided cruise missile overnight Saturday, military officials said.

The missile and all but one of the drones were reportedly destroyed by Ukrainian air defences.

The Russian Defence Ministry also said that it had shot down two Ukrainian C-200 rockets over the Sea of Azov.
The Brotherhood Alliance will not stop Operation 1027 till it rids all of Myanmar  not just the north  of the military junta, the spokesperson for one of its three members told The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) spokesperson Li Jar Wen also said that there is no need to negotiate with the junta because its military is weak. It is so depleted that it lacks the ground forces necessary to regain territory taken by the Brotherhood Alliance since it launched Operation 1027  a coordinated attack on junta forces in northern Myanmar on Oct. 27.

Since then, the alliance of three ethnic armies has seized control of much of Kokang Self-Administered Zone, which borders China in northern Shan State.

The MNDAA is currently focused on seizing Laukkai Town, Kokangs capital, but its goals  and those of its partners  extend much further, Li Jar Wen explained.

What towns has MNDAA seized so far?

The towns or the territories that we have seized are Kunlong, Chinshwehaw, Shin Wan, Hone Shin, and  on the other side of the [Salween] river  Monekoe, Hpawngseng, Pang Seng, Kyin San Kyawt border gate [and] Namsalat on the LashioMuse Union Road. Altogether, the Brotherhood Alliance has seized more than 200 junta bases and outposts so far. Among them, over 180 are in Shan State Special Region-1 [Kokang SAZ].

Where did the MNDAA install its own administration?

We [first] reestablished our own administration in Pang Seng, Shin Wan [and] Hone Shin [and] then in Chinshwehaw and Kunlong. We still need more administrative staff in Kunlong and Chinshwehaw. This is a challenge we face. We are not able to run the administration as effectively as we want in those two towns. Another challenge is that we are still responsible for protecting these areas from junta attacks.

Does the junta have the power to launch intensive offensives in these areas?

We have always been preparing to defend against any possible attacks from the juntas military. But it is also true that the juntas military no longer has that much power on the ground, or it no longer has that many troops to launch [ground] attacks, as [military] analysts have said. However, we still have to make the required preparations to defend our land.

Will we see the MNDAA seizing more towns this month?

Yes. Our aim is to end the military dictatorship, so you will see us seizing more towns in December. Until [the military dictatorship] is ended, we will continue seizing towns.

Min Aung Hlaing said the MNDAA and allies have 65,000 troops, including foreign experts, supporting operation 1027. Do you want to comment on this?

Everyone in the country knows that he is brazenly lying. He was, however, forced to admit that towns had been seized [so] he used the term foreign [to detract from our strength]. He still wants people to believe that Operation 1027 is an invasion. And, to get support from the people, he wants to pretend that his juntas military is protecting the country. This is a deliberate political trick.

How do you treat the prisoners of war and those who surrenderer?

We take good care of prisoners of war (POWs) according to our POW policy. We prove medical treatment to [regime] troops who surrender to us. We guarantee [to protect] their lives and human dignity [as well as] their dignity as soldiers. If they want to keep living here, we allow them to. If they want to reunite with their families, we help arrange that too. We give them the money they need for travel expenses to [rejoin] their families.

Will you enter central Myanmar and join other revolutionary forces in the region to fight the junta?

We will continue coordinating with [other] revolutionary forces as our common mission [for] the revolution is to eradicate the military dictatorship.

Will you negotiate with the junta if they invite you?

We dont have to negotiate with [the junta] at all.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must stop calling for inclusive national dialogue in Myanmar because it undermines the sacrifices and will of Myanmars citizens, more than 600 civil society organizations said in a statement on Friday.

ASEAN has failed to hold the military junta accountable for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, the joint statement from the groups said on Friday.

ASEAN is turning a blind eye to mass atrocities by continuing to call on victims to negotiate with those who are killing them, noting that the junta has arrested more than 25,000 people, killed more than 4,200 and incinerated 76,000 homes and other structures, they said.

The statement was released after Indonesias Office of the Special Envoy on Myanmar organized what it said was a meeting of Myanmar stakeholders from Nov. 20-22 to bring conflicting parties to an inclusive dialogue, to reduce violence, and to ensure safe deliveries of humanitarian assistance for the people of Myanmar affected by the conflict.

The envoys office held a number of separate meetings with members of various groupings, including representatives from the military junta and the National Unity Government (NUG).

Indonesias Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Jakarta hoped the talks would lead towards inclusive national dialogues in order to find a durable and comprehensive solution to the crisis, as all sides gave a positive indication on the possibility of convening inclusive talks soon.

Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG) dismissed Indonesias claim that key stakeholders in Myanmar were about to engage in inclusive dialogue to solve a crisis created by a coup.

The parallel government has no plan to engage in dialogue with the junta until its conditions for such talks are met, it said.

While the inclusion of legitimate representatives of the Spring Revolution and the NUG in efforts to address the crisis is welcome, ASEANs ongoing efforts to adhere to its failed Five-Point Consensus are concerning, the signatories of Fridays statement said. They said that calling for inclusive national dialogue failed to address the cause of the intensifying atrocities committed by the Myanmar military.

The statement by Indonesias Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs saying that inclusive dialogue and political solutions are the only viable solutions to address the crisis in Myanmar disrespects the immense sacrifices of the people of Myanmar, especially the younger generations calling for an end to the military dictatorship and to achieve a genuine federal democracy.

Before inclusive dialogue can be achieved, an atmosphere where those working to create a federal democracy are guaranteed agency, respect, and security must be created, hundreds of civil society groups said in May on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.

It is extremely alarming that all calls from civil society for ASEAN to move beyond its failed Five-Point Consensus have not been heeded, the signatories said. ASEAN has yet to align its efforts to resolve Myanmars crisis with the demands of the countrys people and it has failed to acknowledge that the junta is the cause of the war, they added.

We, therefore, urge all ASEAN leaders, the ASEAN Office of the Special Envoy on Myanmar, and all related ASEAN stakeholders and UN and dialogue partners of ASEAN not to endorse Indonesias imposed inclusive dialogue while the military juntas ongoing brutality is yet to be addressed, the signatories said.

They also urged ASEAN to hold the military junta and its chief, Min Aung Hlaing, to account for committing atrocities against civilians.
In the pre-dawn silence on Oct. 27, a hushed group of armed men exploited the shroud of darkness to steal toward the Chin Shwe Haw Bridge in northern Shan State on Myanmars border with China. At the military outpost near the bridge a security guard nodded drowsily, unaware of the looming danger. A sudden burst of automatic rifle fire, followed by mortar explosions, announced a surprise attack by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Kokang rebel group intent on taking control of a major portal for Myanmars cross-border trade with China. But the MNDAA was not alone in attacking the military regimes positions on Oct. 27, nor was Chin Shwe Haw Bridge the only target of the assault.

In fact, the MNDAA attack was just the opening salvo in a coordinated strategy developed over the past year by major armed elements of Myanmars anti-coup movement to mount a 360-degree assault on the military from east to west, and from north to south. The Myanmar generals decades-old military strategy of keeping the countrys various ethnic armed groups engaged in separate battles with the armyand, at times, with each otherhas finally been countered.

The first of a two-part series, this piece will lay out the current state of the battlefield in Myanmar as shaped by Operation 1027. The second part, to follow shortly, will analyze the implications of the expanding conflict and the challenges that lie ahead.

Coordination and preparation

Despite various claims that China has played a key role in Operation 1027, in support of its goal of eliminating scam centers in Kokang that prey on Chinese citizens, in reality this was not the driving factor. Rather, the offensive we are seeing is the beginning of a coordinated strategy developed over the past year among key resistance groups with the aim of engaging the military of the State Administration Council (SAC, as the junta calls itself) on all fronts. Observers closely monitoring the post-coup conflict were probably aware that the anti-coup movement had formed several coordinating mechanisms for conducting the ground battle against the military, namely, the Central Command and Coordination Committee (C3C) and Joint Command and Coordination (J2C), formed to coordinate the work of the PDFs and allied ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) also formed an Alliance Relations Committee (ARC) to liaise with ethnic armed groups that had remained nominally independent, including the Brotherhood Alliance between the MNDAA, the Arakan Army (AA) and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA). From mid-2022, NUG ARC members met frequently with the Brotherhood Alliance, which was providing military training to PDFs and other armed groups with common goals.

Negotiations for a joint military strategy between the NUG and the Brotherhood Alliance appear to have commenced in earnest in early 2023, when the Brotherhood Alliance members began openly disclosing information about their support for resistance groups. According to insider sources, NUG Minister of Defense U Yee Mon visited the northern part of the country to engage directly with the Brotherhood Alliance for several months on a coordinated strategy. Other resistance groups, such as the Burma Peoples Liberation Army (BPLA) and Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), which received military training from the Brotherhood Alliance, played key roles in aligning the strategic objectives of the alliance with the anti-coup resistance movement.

Preparation for Operation 1027 began a year ahead of time, when the MNDAA formed and equipped a new military brigade known as Brigade 611 composed of soldiers from diverse ethnicities, including Bamar, and diverse groups such as the AA, NUG PDFs, Karenni National Defense Forces (KNDF), BPLA, PLA and others, all under the command of the MNDAA. Brigade 611 was deployed primarily between Lashio and Muse and Lashio and Chin Shwe Haw/Laukkai in order to block the militarys strategic routes to Kokang on the border with China. Drone experts from resistance groups in other areas had also been present in Shan State since 2022.

Without explicitly analyzing the progress of the post-coup military trend, some readily concluded that Operation 1027 is not a coordinated attack, but primarily driven by the Brotherhood Alliance without prior consultation with the NUG. The extent of the coordination, however, was clearly revealed by the general secretary of the TNLA when he admitted to extensive consultations with the NUG and the inclusion of forces under the command of the NUG Ministry of Defense in Operation 1027, making clear that the offensive was not a spontaneous event, but emerged from year-long preparations coordinated with the broader resistance movement.

Operation 1027

The attack on the military stronghold in Kokang on the Chinese border, code-named Operation 1027 for the date it began, was led by the Brotherhood Alliance in coordination with a number of other resistance forces. The assault on Chin Shwe Haw was followed quickly by attacks on Kunlong, Mongko, Lashio, Hopang and Namkham along Myanmars border with China. Within weeks, the alliance managed to capture over 200 military positions, including strategically significant bases in these towns and beyond, effectively closing the border to trade between the two countries.

A month after the launch of Operation 1027, the Brotherhood Alliance declared that the operation had evolved to the next phase: a nationwide battle against the military. Other ethnic armed groups along with PDFs were attacking military encampments in Kachin State to the north, Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions in the countrys heartland, Chin and Rakhine states in the west, Karenni (Kayah) in the east, and Karen State and Tanintharyi Region to the south. For the first time in history, the military now faces simultaneous attacks from armed resistance of various types, ranging from conventional warfare to guerrilla tactics and from overt to covert operations, in 12 out of Myanmars 14 states and regions. The evidence of a coordinated nationwide offensive by the combined forces opposing the hapless coup regime has become unmistakable.

Resistance offensives cascade nationwide

Penetration into Mandalay: The first group to take advantage of the opportunity created by Operation 1027 was the Mandalay PDF under the command of the NUG, with seven battalions trained and equipped by the TNLA since 2021. Operating mainly in northern Shan States Kyaukme and Nawnghkio areas, they aimed to occupy Mandalay Region from the east. They joined forces with the TNLA in Operation 1027 to attack military positions in their areas of operation and block military reinforcements to northern Shan State, while at the same time penetrating their target areas in Mandalay.

While continuing to block military access along the Lashio-Mandalay highway to northern Shan State, Mandalay PDF has begun infiltrating parts of Mandalay Region heavily defended by the military, in Madaya. Recently the PDF announced its Shwe Pyi Soe Operation with the ambition of occupying Mandalay.

Karen: On the day Operation 1027 commenced, the forces of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and PDFs initiated attacks on Kawkareik in Karen State. With limited weaponry and ammunition in southern areas compared to the north, resistance forces have not aimed to seize towns and major military bases. Instead, they have encircled towns, dominated key supply routes, and cut off military supply and reinforcement. While not declaring the seizure of towns, the resistance forces in Karen and Tanintharyi regions have nonetheless gained substantial control over towns and neighboring areas, such as Kawkareik and Hpapun, as well as dominating strategic routes, such as the Kawkareik-Myawaddy and Ye-Dawei highways. Despite slow progress, the KNLA is unlikely to forgo the opportunity to advance its military gains amidst the chaos engulfing the military.

Bago: Also in the southern theater, the KNLA and PDFs have persistently sought to infiltrate Bago Region, crossing the Sittaung River. The military has established three defense lines to thwart the advance of resistance forces into Bago areas, but despite attacks by the Sit-Tat (Myanmars military), the resistance forces have successfully outmaneuvered the militarys heavy air strikes and artillery to penetrate the second line of defense, operating freely between the old Yangon-Mandalay highway and the Sittaung River, giving them the the potential to threaten, and cut off from one another, Yangon and Naypyitaw cities. Despite a robust and heavily fortified military defense between the old and new highways between Yangon and Naypyitaw, resistance forces now appear poised for escalating attacks in that region soon, aligning with Operation 1027.

Kachin: Prior to Operation 1027, the SAC military had escalated its offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to interdict KIA supply and assistance to PDFs in the north. When the outbreak of Operation 1027 compelled the military to redirect its limited resources to the new conflict areas, the KIA moved on the military base at Mongton in northern Shan State and a base on the Gangdau-Bhamo Road on Oct. 31, while continuing its military offensives in upper Sagaing Region.

Sagaing and Magwe: On Nov. 2 and 3, NUG PDFs, collaborating with local defense forces and allied EAOs, executed coordinated attacks on military positions, police stations and prison camps in Sagaing and Magwe, complementing Operation 1027. On Nov. 6, the NUG Ministry of Defense announced it had control over Kawlin in upper Sagaing, and on Nov. 7, over Khampet on the Indian border. If resistance forces manage to take Tamu together with Khampet, it would give them complete control of the Kabaw Valley on the Indian border. They are also aiming to consolidate control of the 3 Ks area (Kawlin, Katha and Kantbalu), where they have already established strongholds in most rural areas, but not yet all military bases. From here, the coordinated resistance is likely to focus on seizing urban areas and key military bases in the heartland.

Chin: On Oct. 30, the Chin National Front (CNF) announced that it would follow the lead of Operation 1027 to confront the military in several regions of Chin State. On Nov. 7, Chin resistance forces managed to seize Rihkwanda, a town bordering India, and they have proceeded to capture military bases and more towns such as Lailenpi and Rezua in Matupi. The mountainous terrain and remoteness of Chin State has presented significant challenges to the military, giving the resistance movement greater license to gain control over the state, encircling and isolating heavily defended military bases. The momentum against the military in other areas of the country will only strengthen the CNFs advantage.

Rakhine: On Nov. 13, the powerful Arakan Army, having achieved victories over the military on the Chinese border as a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, began to launch offensives on military positions in Rakhine State on Myanmars western border with Bangladesh, marking the end of a year-long ceasefire in that state. Focusing its attacks on police and military posts on the border, the AA has successfully captured several outposts in Rathedaung and Maungdaw, a strategy that seems designed to open gateways to the neighboring countries of Bangladesh and India for access to food for the Rakhine population, in order to foil the predictable military blockades of access routes inside Rakhine. AA operations are already expanding rapidly to other parts of Rakhine and Chin states, with recent escalations in fighting in Pauktaw, Myebon and Paletwa.

Karenni: To the south of Shan State, Operation 1027 also ignited the combined Karenni resistance forces, comprising the Karenni Army (KA), Karenni National Liberation Front (KNLF), Karenni National Defense Forces (KNDF), PDFs and other allied groups, to commence operations against the military, initially achieving full control of Mese on the Thai border. On Nov. 11, they announced Operation 11.11 aimed at completing the capture of Loikaw, the Karenni capital located only 110 km or so from the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw, which would give the resistance easy access to the juntas power base. Karenni forces capture of military positions in Loikaw, Demoso and Mobye has compelled the junta to allocate its dwindling resources to the defense of Loikaw, preventing a large-scale redeployment to northern Shan State in response to Operation 1027. With its ground troops in Karenni defecting in large numbers and refusing to fight, the junta is now pounding Loikaw with aerial assaults, causing mass population movements into Shan State and across the Thai border. Although the Karenni forces have not yet achieved full control of Loikaw, they continue to make steady progress. Because of its strategic location, the seizure of Loikaw could alter the entire dynamic of the post-coup conflict.

Analysis of the nationwide conflict triggered by Operation 1027 reveals three key observations. First, the operations across different theaters are interconnected. Second, the synchronized 360-degree attack on the military from many locations around the country provides unmistakable evidence of a substantial degree of prior coordination among the resistance forces. And third, the SAC military must now concentrate its remaining limited resources in a few key conflict theaters.

History may one day conclude that the military coup of February 2021 proved fatal to the Myanmar militarys decades-long monopoly on power by energizing the countrys wide array of non-state armed groups to at last find common cause in bringing down the military dictatorship that has plagued the population for so long. However, the battle is not over, and many challenges still lie ahead for the anti-coup movement.

Ye Myo Hein is a global fellow at the Wilson Center based in Washington DC. The views expressed here are his own and may not reflect those of the center or the US government.
Neighbor dismayed

Indias ambassador to Myanmar held talks with the juntas defense minister on Wednesday after resistance forces seized three towns in Chin State on the Indian border.

Envoy Vinay Kuma and General Tin Aung San discussed border security cooperation, including military training.

Expanding the Operation 1027 anti-regime offensive, Chin resistance groups have seized the border-crossing town of Rih Kaw Dar, as well as Kamphat and Rezua on the India-Myanmar Friendship Road, in the past fortnight.

The battle for Rih Kaw Dar saw 40 junta soldiers flee over the border into India on November 13. The Indian Air Force returned them to the regime.

The Indian ambassador also met with junta-appointed foreign minister Than Swe and discussed cementing ties and cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

Mass murderer complains of violence

Myanmars military regime has remained silent on massacres that its troops have committed against thousands of civilians in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Kachin and Kayah states since the putsch.

But it complained loudly that ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) used excessive force in seizing seven towns and nearly 200 outposts in northern Shan State last month. Foreign drone experts had also been involved in the assaults, the regime alleged.

At Wednesdays cabinet meeting, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing claimed that EAOs used drones with advanced technology to drop more than 25,000 bombs while also firing around 120 improvised rockets at junta outposts.

A week earlier, the regime branded the resistance offensive in northern Shan an invasion, hoping to win public support for its defensive battle. But a glance at social media shows Myanmar people continue to support the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance offensive in northern Shan State and are well-pleased about the juntas defeats.

Min Aung Hlaing hails China ties a week after anti-Beijing protests

The isolated regime has quickly reversed course a week after junta-backed nationalists staged protests against Chinas perceived support for an ethnic military offensive. Read more:

Fact-checking claims on Operation 1027

The regimes propaganda chief has peddled five major false claims as the resistance offensive makes sweeping gains across the country. Read more:
1371138342::cfb49c8e-2422-11e5-99a3-d7f5c6e8b241

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Snipers of Special Operations Center A help hold 'Road of Life' near Bakhmut in spring of 2023 - Maliuk

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for the first time revealed details of how snipers of the Special Operations Center A fought for the "Road of Life" near Bakhmut in the spring of 2023. The head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, spoke about this in the film "Bakhmut. The Road of Life" from the documentary series "SBU. Special Operations of Victory."

According to him, the SBU special forces, together with the Defense Forces, held this important logistics artery for a long time in order to gain time to regroup our troops and prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into Ukraine.

"Our Defense Forces did everything possible and impossible to hold the Bakhmut fortress. The Special Operations Center A of the SBU actively worked with them. As part of small tactical groups, our snipers covered the military in that direction," the head of the SBU said.

"Our fighters also carried out counter-sniper, counter-sabotage work and fire adjustments for the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Bakhmut," he added.

According to Maliuk, most of the snipers at the Special Operations Center A of the SBU are world champions in sniping. And thanks to their high qualifications, they perform the most difficult tasks during the war.

FPV drones also played an important role in the battles in Donetsk region. Maliuk noted that the decision to reinforce the SBU snipers with combat groups with FPV drones was made during his visit to Bakhmut.

"The SBU is the leader in the number of destroyed armored vehicles using attack drones. One of our groups completely destroyed 79 units of equipment in four combat missions. A drone, which costs from 450 to two thousand dollars, fires at a multimillion-dollar tank. This is very clear arithmetic, which proves the effectiveness of drones," the head of the SBU said.

According to Maliuk, new technologies provide an advantage on the battlefield, so the SBU is actively using and developing them.

It is noted that the film "Bakhmut. The Road of Life" was released on the anniversary of the death of legendary snipers of the Central Security Service A of the SBU Dmytro Kaplunov and Denys Volochaev, and is also dedicated to sniper Oleksandr Vdovychenko.

The first film in the series "SBU. Special Operations of Victory" reveals details of the preparation of the operations of the Security Service of Ukraine to destroy the Crimean Bridge.
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Yermak, Rassmusen discuss joint work to promote Ukraine on its way to NATO

Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak had a telephone conversation with the 12th Secretary General of NATO, founder of Rasmussen Global Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

According to the press service of the President's Office, Yermak and Rasmussen agreed that stable international support for Ukraine is critical to achieving Ukraine's victory over the aggressor.

The interlocutors discussed joint work to promote Ukraine on its path to NATO and its contribution to Euro-Atlantic security.

"Anders Fogh Rasmussen noted the importance of Ukraine's early entry into NATO. He emphasized that membership in the Alliance should extend to all territories of Ukraine with full respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity. He noted that the analogy with Germany he cited in The Guardian article should not be perceived as undermining the basic principle of respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine," the message says.
Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak had a telephone conversation with the head of the Episcopal Conference of Italy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.

According to the press service of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak thanked Matteo Zuppi for his great efforts in returning Ukrainian teenager Bohdan Yermokhin to his homeland. The teenager had been illegally deported to Russia by occupiers from the captured city of Mariupol.

"I greatly appreciate everything you are doing. You are a true friend of Ukraine, and I hope that under your leadership, we will be able to bring many children back to Ukraine," the Head of the President's Office said.

Andriy Yermak said that at the third national security advisors' meeting held in Malta, an international coalition to return Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia was initiated.

"Matteo Zuppi expressed his desire to visit Ukraine shortly," the report notes.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 1, 2023) - Awale Resources Limited (TSXV: ARIC) ("Awale") is pleased to announce that Awale and Newmont Ventures Limited ("Newmont"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newmont Corporation, subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") acceptance, have entered into an Investment Agreement (the "Agreement") for a strategic non-brokered private placement financing to raise C$957,530.89. The financing will be structured through the issuance of (i) units ("Units") with each Unit comprised of one common share in the capital of Awale (a "Share") and one half of one common share purchase warrant (a whole warrant, a "Warrant") and (ii) Shares. If completed, the proceeds from the financing will be used to initiate greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, which lie outside the Newmont Joint Venture, and for general administrative costs of Awale.

This proposed transaction builds on Newmont's initial investment through an exploration agreement with venture option and subscription agreement signed in May 2022 and as announced on June 15, 2022.

This proposed financing will be completed in two phases and involve the following key terms:

Newmont will first subscribe for such number of Units at a price of C$0.12 per Unit in order to increase its holdings in Awale from approximately 5.75% to 10.39% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis (the "Top-Up Financing"), being equal to the percentage Newmont held prior to Awale's May 2023 financings and issuance of Shares in settlement of certain debt, as announced on May 24, 2023 and October 27, 2023. Based on 56,203,009 issued and outstanding Shares, Newmont will subscribe for 2,908,714 Units for an aggregate purchase price of C$349,045.68 in this Top-Up Financing. Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of C$0.20 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from closing.

In addition to the Top-Up Financing, the remaining proceeds of the financing will be used to purchase additional Shares at C$0.171 per Share ("Additional Shares" and such financing, the "Subscription Financing"). Based on 56,203,009 issued and outstanding Shares, Newmont will subscribe for 3,558,393 Additional Shares for an aggregate purchase price of C$608,485.21. It is anticipated that if the Top-Up Financing and Subscription Financing are completed on the terms described herein, Newmont's ownership interest will increase to approximately 15.48% on a non-diluted basis.

The proposed transaction, including the terms and conditions thereof, is subject to the performance of certain closing conditions, satisfactory completion of due diligence investigations by Newmont and the receipt of approval by the Exchange. The securities to be issued pursuant to the proposed financing will be subject to a restrictive trading hold period of four months and one day following issuance.

Awale anticipates closing the proposed financing with Newmont in Q4 of 2023.

Canadian Early Warning Disclosure

Newmont announces that pursuant to the Agreement entered into between Newmont and Awale today, it will acquire, on a private placement basis: (i) 2,908,714 Units at a price of C$0.12 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of C$349,045.68 pursuant to the Top-Up Financing, and (ii) 3,558,393 Additional Shares for an aggregate purchase price of C$608,485.21 pursuant to the Subscription Financing. Each Unit is comprised of one Share and one half of one Warrant, and each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Warrant Share at a price of C$0.20 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from closing.

Immediately prior to entering into the Agreement, Newmont held 3,232,994 Shares, representing approximately 5.75% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis. Immediately following closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing, assuming that Newmont has not acquired any additional securities of Awale and Awale has not issued any additional Shares since the date hereof, Newmont will hold an aggregate of 9,700,101 Shares and 1,454,357 Warrants, representing approximately 15.48% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis, and approximately 17.40% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a partially-diluted basis.

Newmont will be acquiring the Units and the Additional Shares pursuant to the Top-Up Financing and Subscription Financing for investment purposes, and in the future, Newmont may, from time to time, increase or decrease its investment in Awale through market transactions, private agreements, treasury issuances or otherwise, depending on market conditions and any other relevant factors. Following the closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing, pursuant to the Agreement, Newmont may, from time to time, designate an individual to serve as a director on the board of directors of Awale.

Newmont's head office is located at 6900 E Layton Avenue, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80237.

An early warning report will be filed by Newmont in accordance with applicable securities laws and will be available under Awale's profile on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.com , and may also be obtained by contacting the persons named below.

About Awale Resources

Awale is a diligent and systematic mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large high-grade gold and copper-gold deposits. Awale currently undertakes exploration activities in the underexplored parts of Cote d'Ivoire. Awale's exploration success to date has culminated in a fully funded earn-in Joint Venture with Newmont covering one permit and one application (the "Odienne Project JV") within the greater Odienne Copper-Gold Project in the Northwest of Cote d'Ivoire, where three significant gold and gold-copper-silver-molybdenum discoveries have been made. The Sceptre East and Charger discoveries have significant scope for growth with future discovery and resource development drilling. The project has multiple pipeline prospects that have similar geochemical fingerprints to Iron Oxide Copper Gold ("IOCG") and intrusive related mineral systems. The 400km2 of granted tenure and 400km2 under application remains underexplored and offers significant upside potential. The Odienne Project JV forms a solid foundation for Awale to continue exploring in a pro-mining jurisdiction that offers significant potential for district scale discoveries.

Awale's head office is located at 8681 Clay Street Mission, British Columbia, V4S 1E7.

For additional information, you can visit the Awale Resources Limited website at www.awaleresources.com, or contact Andrew Chubb at Tel +356 99 139 117.

About Newmont Corporation

Newmont Corporation is the world's leading gold company and a producer of copper, zinc, lead, and silver. Newmont Corporation's world-class portfolio of assets, prospects and talent is anchored in favorable mining jurisdictions in Africa, Australia, Latin America & Caribbean, North America, and Papua New Guinea. Newmont Corporation is the only gold producer listed in the S&P 500 Index and is widely recognized for its principled environmental, social, and governance practices. Newmont Corporation is an industry leader in value creation, supported by robust safety standards, superior execution, and technical expertise. Newmont Corporation was founded in 1921 and has been publicly traded since 1925.

At Newmont Corporation, our purpose is to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining. To learn more about Newmont Corporation's sustainability strategy and initiatives, go to www.newmont.com.

Media Contacts:

Awale Resources

Andrew Chubb

+356 99 139 117

Newmont

Jennifer Pakradooni

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ForwardLooking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements regarding, Awale's presence in Cote d'Ivoire and ability to achieve results, creation of value for Awale shareholders, achievements under the Newmont Joint Venture, the initiation of greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, the ability of Awale to obtain Exchange approval in respect of the proposed financing, and the closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing. Although Awale believes any forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, delays or issues related to the closing of the financing, delays or issues related to the initiation of greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in Awale's management's discussion and analysis as filed under Awale's profile at www.sedarplus.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although Awale believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. Awale disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Environmental sustainability has become a focal point in Azerbaijan's development strategy,

said Azerbaijans minister of economy Mikayil Jabbarov at G77 and China leaders summit in the framework of COP28 in Dubai, UAE, Trend reports.

Today, the world is facing challenges towards achieving the priorities set in the international initiative on climate change. The enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by climate change, water scarcity, food insecurity, inequality, and poverty, pose formidable obstacles to the transition to a green and sustainable economy, he said.

Jabbarov noted that since the adoption of global initiatives, Azerbaijan has demonstrated a firm commitment to their universal promotion and the implementation of the climate initiatives and the 2030 Agenda.

The commitment to fostering transformative changes reflects a dedication to reshaping the national economy with a focus on sustainability, inclusive growth and clean energy. Additionally, remodeling economies requires effective and sustainable financial sources globally. For that reason, it is crucial to establish networking platforms to explore opportunities for private sector investors making a positive impact on accelerating green growth, said the minister.

Jabbarov noted that over the last two decades, Azerbaijan has experienced a remarkable economic transformation, evidenced by a threefold increase in GDP.

Notably, the country achieved a substantial reduction in poverty, dropping from 49% to an impressive 5%. Furthermore, Azerbaijan stands out globally with an exceptionally low external public debt, expected to be around 10% of GDP in 2023. Environmental sustainability has become a focal point in Azerbaijan's development strategy, with a commitment to a clean environment and green growth emerging as one of the top five priority areas. This strategic emphasis aligns with global efforts to balance economic advancement with ecological responsibility, he said.

The minister pointed out that as a driver of the green energy transformation, renewable energy sources will constitute 24% of the installed capacity for electricity generation in Azerbaijan by 2026, with a more ambitious target of reaching 30% by 2030.

Additionally, Azerbaijan aims for a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2050. This includes the establishment of a green energy zone in the liberated Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur regions from 30 years occupation of Armenia, contributing to the implementation of the commitments on climate change, he said.

He went on to add that Azerbaijan acknowledges the crucial role of demining initiatives in fostering sustainable development and facilitating green transformation.

Recognizing the substantial impact of demining on the wellbeing and advancement of the region, as well as its broader significance for our country's development, humanitarian demining is formally designated as the 18th National Sustainable Development Goal in Azerbaijan. Last but not least, I would like to highlight that the shift to a green economy is not optional, it is imperative. It signifies a dedication to a future where economic prosperity and environmental well-being are intertwined. Let us collectively forge a path towards positive change, shaping a world where economies flourish, ecosystems thrive, and future generations inherit a planet abundant in beauty and resources. The time for a green economy is now, and the responsibility lies with each of us to transform this vision into reality, he concluded.
Bae In Hyuk returns to the spotlight this fall with the ultimate time-slip rom-com drama "The Story of Park's Marriage Contract" with Lee Se Young.

In the series, he once again boasts his top-tier visuals as a conglomerate heir who proposes a fake marriage to a woman from the past in order to fulfill his grandfather's wishes.

Within a week, the series received rave reviews among fans, hinting at its potential success as a romance K-drama. While waiting for new episodes, here are some of Bae In Hyuk's most note-worthy works to check out. Keep on reading.

1. 'The Spies Who Loved Me'

"The Spies Who Loved Me" remains as one of the most notable works under Bae In Hyuk's filmography.

It follows the life of a wedding dress designer whose ex happens to be an undercover agent, while her husband works as an industrial spy.

It was one of the best works in 2020. In the series, Bae In Hyuk played Kim Young Goo, a sales manager in a publishing company.

Although he had little screen time in the work, he still stole thousands of hearts with his innate charisma and immersive performance.

2. 'My Roommate Is A Gumiho'

In "My Roommate Is A Gumiho," Bae In Hyuk had every viewer suffer from second lead syndrome as he played the second male lead opposite Girl's Day Hyeri and Jang Ki Yong.

READ MORE: Nam Yoon Su Update 2023: Hallyu Star To Return With New Exhilarating Projects

Bae In Hyuk's charisma that every ladies in the series fell for transcended through the screen, making everyone swoon over him whenever he appears on television.

However, he also broke hearts when he didn't end up with Hyeri's character due to the red thread of destiny and fate.

3. 'At a Distance, Spring Is Green'

Bae In Hyuk headlined the coming of age series "At a Distance, Spring Is Green" with Park Ji Hoon, Kang Min Ah and more.

It focuses on the youths in their 20s whose lives appear to be beautiful like the spring but in reality, it's as cold and as harsh as the ruthless winter.

In the work, Bae In Hyuk is a straight-A student social outcast who struggles to blend in with his peers due to his thorny personality.

His bromance with Park Ji Hoon who played a role opposite to his, like oil and water, made everyone love him more, especially his friendship with the idol-actor.

4. 'Why Her?'

"Why Her?" is one of the more famous works of Bae In Hyuk. It also stars Seo Hyun Jin and Hwang In Yeop, and it tells the stories of lawyers in the best law firm in South Korea.

Bae In Hyuk played a second year student who has a lot to prove due to his father's legacy. His villainous aura in the series put his career in a new light, widening his career spectrum as an actor.

ALSO READ: 'Alchemy of Souls' Cast Update 2023: Lee Jae Wook & Go Yoon Jung Return With Exciting Works

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Jung Woo Sung and Shin Hyun Bin's fated story has finally begun as they continually crossed paths in "Tell Me You Love Me" episode 1.

Based on the popular Japanese romance series in 1995 this melodrama follows the story of Cha Jin Woo (Jung Woo Sung), a hearing-impaired man who feels freedom in his peaceful world and who is easygoing despite the judgment of others against him and Jung Mo Eun (Shin Hyun Bin), a newbie actress with self-respect and optimistically follows her dreams and love.

'Tell Me You Love Me' Episode 1: Jung Mo Eun Shows Concern to Cha Jin Woo

In "Tell Me You Love Me" episode 1, Cha Jin Woo and Jung Mo Eun had their first meeting on Jeju Island.

They shared a short moment where Jin Woo handed the scarf to Mo Eun. Jung Mo Eun came to Jeju for a shoot, where she played a minor role, while Cha Jin Woo visited the island to paint in peace.

During their first meeting, Mo Eun didn't know that Jin Woo could not speak and hear. Soon, she realized his condition when he communicated with her in sign language.

The following day, their paths crossed again at a restaurant. Unfortunately, a fire broke out and all the customers rushed to leave the place. However, due to his hearing disability, Cha Jin Woo was not aware of the current situation and was left behind while doing his painting.

ALSO READ: Jung Woo Sung's K-drama Comeback Will Be With THIS 'Hospital Playlist' Actress

Jung Mo Eun was about to leave but suddenly thought of Cha Jin Woo. She quickly ran to get him and managed to locate her way to him through the fire and bring him outside safely. But while she was trying to bring him out, the two, faced difficulty as Jin Woo got rattled by the situation.

The fire break-out also brought Cha Jin Woo to his past trauma.

Cha Jin Woo Treats Jung Mo Eun to Dinner for Saving Him

The two ended up in a hospital and started to get to know each other. They began to communicate by writing what they wanted to tell each other. Jung Mo Eun told Jin Woo that she was hungry and they started looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, everything was closed, and couldn't find any place.

Cha Jin Woo then escorted Jung Mo Eun to his caravan, where he cooked ramen for them to share. The two enjoyed their time and soon as the rain dropped, Jin Woo walked Mo Eun to her hotel.

The following day, they both return to Seoul. Mo Eun returned to her reality and was struggling to find a stable acting job, while Jin Woo was seen teaching art to students.

Fate Brings Cha Jin Woo & Jung Mo Eun Together

Though they have been living in their own realities, the two have been constantly thinking about each other.

While on her way home after a tiring day, Mo Eun saw Jin Woo on a bus. She tried to chase the bus but failed. However, Jin Woo returned to her, and they met again. When they saw each other, Mo Eun greeted him and told her name in sign language.

It showed that she started to learn the language to communicate and connect with him. The episode concluded in a fluttering moment when Jin Woo realized that someone had put an effort to understand him better.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jung Woo Sung Involved in Gay Rumors With Lee Jung Jae for THIS Hilarious Reason

What can you say about "Tell Me You Love Me" episode 1? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
In the exclusive press conference held for "Welcome To Samdalri," lead actress Shin Hye Sun revealed her reason for starring in the series. Read on to know more.

Shin Hye Sun Shares Affection For 'Welcome To Samdalri'

On December 1, "Welcome To Samdalri" held its press conference to introduce its cast to the public.

The event was attended by Shin Hye Sun and Ji Chang Wook, the two actors who headline the work that focuses on the romantic story between two ex-lovers who find their way back to each other.

Shin Hye Sun plays Jo Sam Dal in the drama, a famous photographer who returns to Jeju Island after reaching her goals in the big city of Seoul.

The actress described the work as a "blanket-like comfort" to viewers this winter. She shared affection to her character who is set to give resonance to fans that experience a bump in their lives.

Shin Hye Sun also praised Ji Chang Wook, her on-screen partner, saying, "No one can play Jo Yong Pil better than Ji Chang Wook. He's funny and affectionate."

When asked why she decided to sar in the work, Shin Hye Sun reasoned that she wants to rest and find enjoyment in her busy life as an actress.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Welcome To Samdalri' Press Con: Shin Hye Sun, Ji Chang Wook Guarantee Healing Romance This Christmas

"I was mentally exhausted when I received the script," she shared. "I instantly loved it. Beyond the fun, I felt my heart become warm when I was reading it."

With this, "Welcome To Samdalri" is a reflection of the actress' life, portraying her youth and adulthood in a rather busy and competitive industry.

"It's an interesting aspect to live my life for the second time. I really feel like I'm Jo Sam Dal so please don't miss it," Shin Hye Sun said, hinting at a seamless performance in the series.

'Welcome To Samdalri' Director On Creating the New Drama

Director Cha Young Hoon aims to deliver a relatable healing series before the year ends through "Welcome To Samdalri."

Through the drama's humanly flawed yet endearing characters, he expects viewers to find their lost selves and live a regret-free lives.

"The drama is about life and people," the director said. "I want viewers to feel comforted through the series that represents family, friendship and romance."

Catch the heartwarming drama this December 2 at 10:30 p.m. KST on JTBC and Netflix.





ALSO READ: 'Weak Hero 2' To Hit Netflix? Here's What We Know So Far





KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made a speech at a special session of the II European Conference on Azerbaijani Studies held in Skopje, the capital of Northern Macedonia, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During his speech, the Minister touched upon Azerbaijan's foreign policy priorities in the post-conflict period, the prospects of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Azerbaijan's position on the situation in the region.

Jeyhun Bayramov detailed the factors characterizing the anti-terrorist activities carried out on September 19. The minister noted the obstacles created by Armenia to the peace process. The minister also put the audience in the pictures regarding reconstruction and construction work carried out by Azerbaijan in the region. At the same time, he emphasized the mine threat on the part of Armenia.

The minister also addressed the harmful acts of some third parties in the region. He highlighted that such acts are detrimental to the region's peace and stability.

Jeyhun Bayramov emphasized that the biased and provocative accusations leveled against Azerbaijan following anti-terrorist measures contradict the reports and statements of UN specialized agency representatives who visited the region and are active in Armenia, and that the claims leveled against Azerbaijan are unfounded. The Foreign Minister also mentioned Azerbaijan's recent internationally noteworthy actions and its active engagement in multilateral diplomacy. He discussed the growing importance of energy security in light of recent developments in the region and around the world, efforts in the field of energy security and alternative energy, and the importance of expanding multilateral cooperation toward transportation corridor diversification.

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov then fielded a slew of questions from the audience.

More than 30 European analytical and research institutes, as well as renowned specialists, attended the conference, which was organized by the AIR Center for Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center) with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The European Conference on Azerbaijani Studies, which was first held in Warsaw last year, aims to promote research in various fields related to Azerbaijan, including political, economic, and cultural topics, as well as contribute to accurate communication of information about Azerbaijan to the international community and objective analysis at the academic level.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith on the occasion of the national holiday of the Lao People's Democratic Republic  the Day of Republic, Trend reports.

"Dear Mr. President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my most sincere congratulations to you and through you all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Lao People's Democratic Republic  the Day of Republic.

I believe that through our joint efforts, the relations of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lao People's Democratic Republic will continue to expand and strengthen in line with the interests of our peoples.

On such a remarkable day, I wish you robust health, happiness, success in your endeavors, and your friendly people everlasting peace and prosperity," the letter said.
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Arthur Lazarus, an adjunct professor of psychiatry and the author of Every Story Counts: Exploring Contemporary Practice Through Narrative Medicine. In this episode, we delve into the profound significance of storytelling and narrative in the medical field. Lazarus sheds light on the challenges faced by physicians in todays ever-evolving health care landscape, addressing topics such as burnout, physician advocacy, and the healing power of resilience.

Arthur Lazarus is a former Doximity Fellow, a member of the editorial board of the American Association for Physician Leadership, and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

He discusses his book, Every Story Counts: Exploring Contemporary Practice Through Narrative Medicine.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Chairperson of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis) Sahiba Gafarova met with Czech Parliament Chamber of Deputies Chairperson Marketa Pekarova Adamova during an official visit to the Czech Republic, Parliament told Trend.

The Chairperson of the Chamber of Deputies expressed delight with the visit of the Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker and stressed the importance of collaboration between the two nations' legislative bodies, not only at the level of speakers but also at the level of committees and friendship groups. The involvement of parliaments in international organizations was also emphasized.

During the meeting, it was noted that Azerbaijan is an important supplier of gas to Europe. In particular, it was emphasized that Azerbaijan is the second-largest supplier of oil to the Czech Republic. Good opportunities for the development of relations in energy, trade, and economic spheres were mentioned. In addition, it was mentioned that cooperation between the sides in the field of renewable energy sources is also one of the important directions.

The meeting also observed that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic and that interstate relations have grown over time.

Gafarova stressed the importance of political connections, such as visits and high-level meetings, in the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Speaking about inter-parliamentary interaction as one of the important and positive factors influencing bilateral and multilateral relations, the Parliament Speaker emphasized the importance of further developing cooperation between the two countries' parliaments as well as strengthening the interaction to support each other in inter-parliamentary organizations. She underlined the need for friendship groups to work together to serve as a bridge across parliaments.

Gafarova discussed the current situation in the region, including the consequences of Armenia's nearly 30-year occupation of Azerbaijani lands, the expulsion of one million Azerbaijanis as a result of this occupation, and the destruction of all infrastructure and buildings in the occupied territories, including historical, cultural, and religious monuments.

The Parliament Speaker stated that despite the fact that Azerbaijan was subjected to occupation, Azerbaijan made great efforts to ensure long-term peace in the region by proposing that Armenia sign a peace agreement based on five principles of international law after the 44-day second Karabakh war in 2020.

She also told her Czech colleague about Armenia's political and military provocations, non-compliance with obligations made in the previous three years, the conduct of anti-terrorist activities of a local nature in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, and the outcomes of those activities. The Parliament Speaker stressed that these events were entirely consistent with international law and that no civilians were killed.

Gafarova further stated that Armenia's mine threats impede development and restoration activities in Azerbaijani lands liberated from Armenian rule. She reiterated that, while some circles accuse Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing, there is no evidence of this, and UN delegations that have visited the region affirm this. Speaking on Azerbaijan's desire to maintain sustainable peace in the region, she highlighted that there are no hurdles to reaching a peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia today.

Marketa Pekarova Adamova stressed the need for creating long-term peace in the region, as well as the Czech Republic's support for peace talks.

The memorial book was then signed by the Chairwoman of Parliament.

The meeting was followed by a greeting ceremony for the Parliament Speaker by the Czech Parliament's Chamber of Deputies.

The Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation visited the administrative building of the Chamber of Deputies.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Thomastown resident Henry Teesdale was awarded the honourable Constance Markievicz Award last week during the Carlow College, St Patricks Conferring Ceremony for 2023.

Henry, who graduated with a BA (Hons) in English and History, received the award in recognition of academic excellence during his time at Carlow College. The Award commemorates Constance Markievicz who in 1918 became the first female MP elected tot eh House of Commons in London, and later the first female Cabinet Minister in an Irish government.

Staff and students at Carlow College had a day of celebration for its Class of 2023 on Friday as 189 graduates  including 17 students from Kilkenny - were conferred in the Colleges graduation, which took place in Carlow Cathedral.

On my first visit to Carlow College, I was immediately struck by the warmth of the staff, and the obvious close-knit relationships between staff and students. I knew I would not just be a number in Carlow College," said Henry.

Also graduating on Friday was Barry Murphy from Graignamanagh, who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Arts and Humanities.

The College welcomed back alumni, Donnchadh OMahony of the Leaving Cert Guidance podcast and Aisling Burke, Residential Service Manager for Compass Child and Family Services to deliver the keynote addresses at the graduation.

Speaking of the ceremony, Dr Thomas McGrath, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Registrar of Carlow College said: Today we congratulate our new graduates and celebrate their achievements so far. They are a credit to the College and I have no doubt they will go on to prosper in their chosen career paths.

Carlow College President Fr Conn O Maoldhomhnaigh warmly congratulated the graduates who come from 18 different counties across Ireland.

As college president, it is my pleasure and privilege to acknowledge the exceptional achievements of all of our graduates. They have been part of our journey over the past three to four years and we wish them the very best as they continue on their own individual paths, said Fr O Maoldhomhnaigh.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Chairperson of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova met with Czech-Azerbaijani Interparliamentary Friendship Group members during an official visit to the Czech Republic, Trend reports via the parliament.

The meeting included an exchange of views on the two nations' and parliaments' relations.

Gafarova stated that she was visiting the Czech Republic for the first time as the chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament and expressed optimism that her visit and the discussions she attended would have a good impact on the future development of relations.

She stressed the need for reciprocal visits and regular engagement, emphasizing that the two countries' parliamentary relations are unique to the Azerbaijan-Czech Republic relationship.

Furthermore, she emphasized that sustained contact growth, particularly between friendship groups, will lead to mutual cooperation.

"The chairperson, Gafarova, also briefed on the current situation in the region and Azerbaijan's initiatives to normalize relations with Armenia and sign a peace treaty," the parliament said.

The head of the working group on Czech-Azerbaijani inter-parliamentary relations in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic Parliament, Jan Kubik shared his impressions of his trips to Azerbaijan, including the Aghdam district liberated from Armenian occupation and the meetings held.

He emphasized the importance of disseminating accurate facts and information about the two countries, expanding ties between parliaments, and making mutual visits.

The meeting also involved an exchange of views on other issues of mutual interest.

The visit of Gafarova to the Czech Republic began on December 1.

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Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few snow showers this afternoon. High around 25F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 30%..

Tonight

Periods of snow along with gusty winds at times, especially this evening. Low 11F. Winds NNE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 100%. 5 to 8 inches of snow expected. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. There is no limit to the shameless behavior of Armenian diplomacy, Western Azerbaijan Community responded to Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan's statements, Trend reports.

The Western Azerbaijan Community's statement has been made in response to the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, who accused Azerbaijan of aggression, ethnic cleansing, and non-constructivism.

"Such a statement by an official of the country that has occupied Azerbaijani territories for 30 years, carried out ethnic cleansing, and denied even the right of Azerbaijanis to return to Armenia is politically immoral," the Community said.

"This is the same Ararat Mirzoyan who, during the second Karabakh war, standing in October on the sovereign territories of another country, Azerbaijan, imagined himself a "brilliant military commander" and made statements like "We are strong. We will win. Long live the Armenian army!". One of the reasons why the Armenian people took to the streets in anger after the act of surrender on November 10 were probably the unsubstantiated statements of people like Ararat Mirzoyan during the second Karabakh war," the Western Azerbaijan Community noted.

The Western Azerbaijan Community once again emphasized that one of the reasons for Armenia's failure is the Dashnak and caveman Armenian diplomacy.

"As for the "Crossroads of Peace" initiative recently launched by Armenia, first of all, we would like to note that most of the communications envisaged by the project pass through the territories where we once lived and then were deported. In addition, Armenia has been preventing the opening of communications in the region for a long time, and in order to change this narrative and weaken Azerbaijan's position, it has put forward such a utopian idea as the "Crossroads of Peace." Armenia has no capacity to realize this project. Armenia is still engaged in utopia," the community added.

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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, addressing the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse, June 25, 2021, in Minneapolis, was convicted in the killing of George Floyd.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM  Get Free Report) (NYSE:CM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 30th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 28th will be given a dividend of 0.90 per share on Monday, January 29th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 27th. This is a positive change from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerces previous quarterly dividend of $0.87.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Stock Up 0.8 %

CM opened at C$56.55 on Friday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a 52-week low of C$47.44 and a 52-week high of C$63.60. The firms 50-day moving average price is C$51.77 and its 200-day moving average price is C$54.53. The company has a market cap of C$52.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 31.58 and a beta of 1.04.

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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM  Get Free Report) (NYSE:CM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 30th. The company reported C$1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$1.58 by C($0.01). Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had a net margin of 22.51% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The company had revenue of C$5.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$5.86 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will post 6.756927 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$58.00 to C$57.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$62.00 to C$57.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$58.00 to C$56.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 23rd. TD Securities increased their target price on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$54.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$66.00 to C$63.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$61.33.

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About Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

(Get Free Report)

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S.

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Protalix BioTherapeutics (NYSE:PLX  Get Free Report) and Sorrento Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:SRNEQ  Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Protalix BioTherapeutics and Sorrento Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Protalix BioTherapeutics 0 0 1 0 3.00 Sorrento Therapeutics 0 0 0 0 N/A

Protalix BioTherapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 584.93%. Given Protalix BioTherapeutics higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Protalix BioTherapeutics is more favorable than Sorrento Therapeutics.

Risk & Volatility

Profitability

Protalix BioTherapeutics has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sorrento Therapeutics has a beta of 2.29, indicating that its share price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500.

This table compares Protalix BioTherapeutics and Sorrento Therapeutics net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Protalix BioTherapeutics 16.68% 62.80% 14.23% Sorrento Therapeutics -852.82% -1,999.61% -106.85%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Protalix BioTherapeutics and Sorrento Therapeutics revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Protalix BioTherapeutics $47.64 million 2.19 -$14.93 million $0.05 29.21 Sorrento Therapeutics $62.84 million 0.38 -$572.84 million N/A N/A

Protalix BioTherapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sorrento Therapeutics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

12.5% of Protalix BioTherapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sorrento Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Protalix BioTherapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Sorrento Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Protalix BioTherapeutics beats Sorrento Therapeutics on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Protalix BioTherapeutics

(Get Free Report)

Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development, production, and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins based on its proprietary ProCellEx plant cell-based protein expression system in the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, and internationally. The company offers Elelyso for the treatment of Gaucher disease. It also develops PRX-102, a therapeutic protein candidate for the treatment of Fabry disease; PRX-115, a plant cell-expressed recombinant PEGylated Uricase for the treatment of gout; and PRX-119, a plant cell-expressed PEGylated recombinant human DNase I product candidate for the treatment of NETs-related diseases. The company has agreements and partnerships with Pfizer; Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz); and Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Hackensack, New Jersey. Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. is a subsidiary of Protalix Ltd.

About Sorrento Therapeutics

(Get Free Report)

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical and commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of next-generation treatments for three therapeutic areas: cancer, infectious disease,and pain. It operates through two segments, Sorrento Therapeutics and Scilex. The company provides cancer therapeutic by leveraging its proprietary G-MAB antibody library and targeted delivery modalities, which include chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T), dimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, and antibody drug conjugate, as well as bispecific antibody approach; and Sofusa, a drug delivery technology that deliver biologic directly into the lymphatic system. Its clinical programs in development include anti-CD38 CAR-T therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma, as well as for amyloidosis and graft versus host disease. The company develops resiniferatoxin, a non-opioid-based TRPV1 agonist neurotoxin for late stage cancer and osteoarthritis pain treatment; and ZTlido, a lidocaine topical system for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. It engages in the development of SEMDEXA, an injectable viscous gel formulation, which is Phase III trial for the treatment of sciatica, a pathology of low back pain; SP-103, an investigational non-aqueous lidocaine topical system undergoing clinical development in chronic low back pain condition; and SP-104, a novel low-dose delayed-release naltrexone hydrochloride formulation for the treatment of fibromyalgia. It has collaboration with SmartPharm Therapeutics Inc. to develop gene-encoded antibody vaccine to protect against COVID-19; and Mayo Clinic for Phase Ib pilot study using sofusa lymphatic drug delivery technology to deliver Ipilimumab in patient with melanoma. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in San Diego, California. On February 13, 2023, Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., along with its affiliate, filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

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Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK  Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,470,000 shares, a growth of 10.2% from the October 31st total of 12,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Graphic Packaging

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GPK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,681,314 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $282,540,000 after purchasing an additional 628,663 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,128,914 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $158,832,000 after purchasing an additional 241,245 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter worth about $480,000. ASB Consultores LLC bought a new position in Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 897,210 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $19,990,000 after purchasing an additional 19,958 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, November 27th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an overweight rating to an underweight rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $28.00.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GPK traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.09. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,550,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,367,796. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.78 and a 200-day moving average of $23.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. Graphic Packaging has a 12-month low of $20.07 and a 12-month high of $27.56.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.47 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 35.97%. The companys revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. Graphic Packagings dividend payout ratio is presently 18.10%.

Graphic Packaging Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. It operates through three segments: Paperboard Mills, Americas Paperboard Packaging, and Europe Paperboard Packaging. The company offers coated unbleached kraft (CUK), coated recycled paperboard (CRB), and solid bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS) to various paperboard packaging converters and brokers; and paperboard packaging products, such as folding cartons, cups, lids, and food containers primarily to consumer packaged goods, quick-service restaurants, and foodservice companies; and barrier packaging products that protect against moisture, hot and cold temperature, grease, oil, oxygen, sunlight, insects, and other potential product-damaging factors.

Further Reading

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Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA acquired a new stake in Eldorado Gold Co. (NYSE:EGO  Free Report) (TSE:ELD) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 18,608 shares of the basic materials companys stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EGO. Prelude Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eldorado Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $78,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Eldorado Gold by 19.5% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,286 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eldorado Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eldorado Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Eldorado Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 58.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Eldorado Gold Trading Up 3.0 %

Eldorado Gold stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $13.52. 2,650,316 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,600,454. Eldorado Gold Co. has a 52-week low of $7.83 and a 52-week high of $13.56. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 4.00 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $10.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Eldorado Gold ( NYSE:EGO Get Free Report ) (TSE:ELD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.16. Eldorado Gold had a return on equity of 2.94% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $245.26 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Eldorado Gold Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EGO. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Eldorado Gold from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $9.50 target price on shares of Eldorado Gold in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. TheStreet upgraded Eldorado Gold from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research report on Friday, November 3rd. CSFB decreased their target price on Eldorado Gold from $10.75 to $9.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on Eldorado Gold from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.32.

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Eldorado Gold Profile

(Free Report)

Eldorado Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, development, and sale of mineral products primarily in Turkey, Canada, Greece, and Romania. The company primarily produces gold, as well as silver, lead, and zinc. It holds a 100% interest in the Kisladag and Efemcukuru gold mines located in western Turkey; Lamaque gold mines located in Canada; and Olympias, Stratoni, Skouries, Perama Hill, and Sapes gold mines located in Greece, as well as the 80.5% interest in Certej development projects located in Romania.

Further Reading

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Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA increased its stake in Brookfield Co. (NYSE:BN  Free Report) by 70.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,141 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 6,686 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SAs holdings in Brookfield were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Brookfield by 4.4% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 7,821 shares of the companys stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. RMB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Brookfield by 2.1% during the first quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the companys stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Brookfield by 2.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,619 shares of the companys stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Brookfield by 0.3% during the first quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 189,070 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,152,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Brookfield by 0.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 114,455 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,730,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. 58.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Brookfield from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 24th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Brookfield from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Brookfield from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Brookfield from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, November 10th. Finally, CSFB dropped their target price on shares of Brookfield from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $43.78.

Brookfield Trading Up 2.5 %

BN stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,233,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,309,375. Brookfield Co. has a 52 week low of $28.25 and a 52 week high of $46.11. The company has a market cap of $59.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,204.60 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.26 and a 200 day moving average of $32.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Brookfield (NYSE:BN  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 9th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.01. Brookfield had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 2.23%. The company had revenue of $24.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion.

Brookfield Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 29th. Brookfields dividend payout ratio is -933.02%.

About Brookfield

(Free Report)

Brookfield Corporation is an alternative asset manager and REIT/Real Estate Investment Manager firm focuses on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and venture capital and private equity assets. It manages a range of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients.

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Singapore Exchange Limited (OTCMKTS:SPXCY  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,900 shares, a drop of 36.7% from the October 31st total of 3,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America cut shares of Singapore Exchange from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 30th.

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Singapore Exchange Trading Up 2.0 %

Singapore Exchange Increases Dividend

Shares of Singapore Exchange stock traded up $2.09 on Friday, hitting $108.29. The company had a trading volume of 283 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,692. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.26. Singapore Exchange has a 52 week low of $93.96 and a 52 week high of $110.00.

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 6th were issued a $0.881 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 3rd. This is a boost from Singapore Exchanges previous dividend of $0.88. Singapore Exchanges dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.27%.

Singapore Exchange Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Singapore Exchange Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated securities and derivatives exchange, and related clearing houses in Singapore. It operates through Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities; Equities; and Data, Connectivity, and Indices segments. The Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities segment offers fixed income issuer, trading and clearing, and collateral management services.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev and other officials of the Defense Ministry attended military units stationed on the border with Armenia in Gadabay, Dashkasan and Kalbajar directions, the ministry said, Trend reports.

"The Chief of the General Staff held meetings with servicemen in the units deployed in the mentioned directions, delivered the tasks set to the Azerbaijan Army by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, and gave specific instructions regarding their implementation," the ministry noted. "The organization of troops service and combat duty was inspected in the units stationed in the positions in high mountainous areas. It was reported that the service is conducted 24 hours a day in an intensive working mode according to the daily routine, combat duty is organized."

"Colonel General Valiyev also inspected combat readiness of the artillery, engineering and commando military units. He heard the reports of the commanders regarding the daily activities of the units and the taken measures. It was noted that the assigned tasks are conducted based on the plan, special attention is paid to the organization and conduct of combat training measures in accordance with the requirements," the ministry mentioned.

"In the end, the Chief of General Staff watched training and exercises on combat readiness of one of the commando units, and set specific tasks for the command staff to further increase quality and intensity of exercises, as well as to improve the practical skills of the servicemen and develop the level of readiness," added the ministry.

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SpareBank 1 SMN (OTCMKTS:SRMGF  Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,000 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the October 31st total of 21,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently  days.

SpareBank 1 SMN Stock Performance

Shares of SRMGF remained flat at $11.50 during trading hours on Friday. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $11.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.50. SpareBank 1 SMN has a 52-week low of $11.50 and a 52-week high of $11.50.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Pareto Securities downgraded shares of SpareBank 1 SMN from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th.

About SpareBank 1 SMN

(Get Free Report)

SpareBank 1 SMN, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking, accounting, and real estate products and services to private individuals and companies in Norway and internationally. The company offers mortgage, car, boat, other vehicles, and consumer loans; refinancing; and current, savings, billing, business, group, tax deduction, currency, and deposit accounts.

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Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD  Get Free Report) (TSE:TD) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.04), MarketWatch Earnings reports. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.02 billion. Toronto-Dominion Bank had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 14.62%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:TD opened at $60.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $109.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.67. Toronto-Dominion Bank has a 52-week low of $54.69 and a 52-week high of $70.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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Toronto-Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.7506 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 9th. This is an increase from Toronto-Dominion Banks previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. Toronto-Dominion Banks payout ratio is 68.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from $84.00 to $82.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 25th. CIBC lowered shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 22nd. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 25th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a sell rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $96.83.

View Our Latest Research Report on Toronto-Dominion Bank

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $229,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Toronto-Dominion Bank in the 1st quarter worth approximately $228,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,769 shares of the banks stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Toronto-Dominion Bank in the 1st quarter worth approximately $217,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Toronto-Dominion Bank in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 51.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Toronto-Dominion Bank

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The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases.

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By Bereket Alemayehu

Robert Watsons academic career took shape based on one thing he loves: alcohol.

Having earned his masters degree in East Asian Studies at Korea Universitys Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), he looked closely into how Korea and Japan promote their alcoholic cultural assets around the world.

Originally I was going to focus on free trade, and then the Trump administration showed up, he said. This left him asking, What was it about free trade that I found appealing?

That answer of course was booze.

I really like going to the convenience store and finding 16 different kinds of beer on the shelf, half of which I've never tried before, said Watson, who now teaches at Sungkyul University south of Seoul. That's how I sort of moved into this idea of food identity and nationalism, which became some of the foundational stuff that I was working with.

In a recent lecture for the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea on Nov. 21, Watson laid out the concept of "sool diplomacy, shedding light on how Korea's traditional alcohol has emerged as a tool for soft power on the global stage.

It was the contention of my studies during my time at Korea University to examine how alcohol has become an increasingly important product when countries seek to promote themselves and their food abroad, he said during the talk.

He explained to the audience gathered at KOTE in central Seouls Insa-dong the intriguing intersection of food, national identity and international relations, with a particular focus on the role of Korean alcoholic beverages in shaping diplomatic campaigns.

He emphasized the versatility of alcohol as a product that can be both a cultural ambassador and a driver of economic activity.

"Alcohol is a pretty good product to go in models and be shipped around the world," Watson noted, emphasizing how it is tied with various agricultural products in Korea.

Watson discussed the evolution of this culinary diplomacy, tracing its roots back to a promotion of Korean food products that began during the 2008-13 Lee Myung-bak administration. Lees wife, former first lady Kim Yoon-ok, took a deep interest in promoting Korean food, which was often branded at the time as hansik.

Watson further discussed academic concepts such as nation branding, cultural diplomacy and culinary diplomacy. He spoke of how gastrodiplomacy is effective in creating awareness, access and appreciation in international cultural engagement.

He emphasized the role of alcohol, particularly in training and promoting the ability to engage with different cuisines, citing the success of Thai food in promoting Thailand's gastro-diplomacy efforts which started earlier this century.

Comparatively, these Korean beverages offer a unique cultural experience. Makgeolli, with its rich history dating back centuries, provides a taste of Korea's traditional brewing methods. The craft beer movement in Korea adds a contemporary touch, incorporating local agricultural ingredients and innovative brewing techniques.

The importance of alcohol in addressing rural affairs issues was also highlighted. Watson suggested that alcohol production could catalyze economic revitalization in depopulated rural areas, citing examples in both Japan and Korea where craft beer companies have thrived with government support by moving their production to rural regions in exchange for tax incentives. Notably, Watson highlighted the success of Magpie Brewing Co. which moved its brewery to Jeju Island in 2016, illustrating how such initiatives can create employment opportunities and boost economic activity in remote regions.

In conclusion, Watson stressed that private distillers and mid-tier players in Korea's alcohol industry can take advantage of the governments evolving programs that support the development and promotion of traditional alcohol abroad. This not only opens up new markets but also contributes to the economic growth of depopulated agricultural regions.

"Sool diplomacy" appears to be more than just a buzzword; it represents a tangible avenue for promoting Korean culture, stimulating rural economies and creating opportunities for businesses to thrive both domestically and internationally. As Korea's traditional alcohol wins more attention, the liquid lining to these gastrodiplomacy campaigns is proving to be both culturally rich and economically promising.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative, and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph..

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Mainly cloudy. Low 26F. SSW winds shifting to ESE at 10 to 20 mph.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Cloudy skies. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. Low 27F. N winds shifting to E at 10 to 15 mph.
Eunchae's simple but superb styling has sparked reactions from the K-pop community, who praised the maknae for her beauty.

Here's what people are saying!

LE SSERAFIM Eunchae's 'Basic' but Lovely Styling Complimented by FEARNOTs

On December 1, netizens gathered on a forum titled, "Hong Eunchae's look on her way to work is really basic but it's so pretty."

The author then uploaded several pictures of Eunchae, who radiated with her bright blonde hair and monochromatic fashion, offering a nice contrast. OP also complimented Eunchae's face and visuals in the photos.

"Eunchae's pretty and fluffy face is doing all the work," OP stated.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: LE SSERAFIM Eunchae Goes Viral for Solo Performance in 2023 MAMA Awards: 'She's the main event'

Netizens then commented on the post, saying how Eunchae is only getting prettier every passing day. Read their comments below:

"She's so freaking pretty lately."

"Eunchae is slowly getting prettier."

"I gave birth to Eunchae."

"She suits blonde hair."

"I will take a bite of her cheeks."

"She's tall too, so she has an aura."

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Is LE SSERAFIM Eunchae Overshadowed by Her Members? Group's Maknae Has Something to Confess

FEARNOTs also continued the appreciation thread by complimenting not just Eunchae's visuals, but also her loveable personality and vibe. Here's what they said:

"She has a brightness to her that makes her so loveable, I hope she'll always be happy and loved. Also, how does her hair remain so healthy and voluminous after all that bleaching?"

"Eunchae is so little sister coded. The protectiveness and urge to squish her just comes and jumps out, I swear. Such a cutie."

"What current idol has stronger little sister vibes than our Eunchae."

LE SSERAFIM Hong Eunchae Trends on Social Media After Solo Performance in 2023 MAMA Awards

In other news, Eunchae received lots of love for her solo stage at the 2023 MAMA Awards. On November 28, the ceremony's first day was held at the Tokyo Dome, in Japan.

Since the show was anticipated by everyone, the performing lineup had to hype the crowd with their opening act. After rapper Lee Youngji had performed the intro, Eunchae followed with a mesmerizing performance, which went viral on online communities.

In a forum, the post's author expressed enthusiasm over Eunchae's influence, saying how the idol is a role model to others. It stated that despite her young age, Eunchae is currently going forward successfully and is loved by everyone.

Netizens also praised her solo performance at the awards show.

"She slayed on stage. Eunchae also appeared in good quality, so I was really surprised to see how pretty she is."

"I'm way older than her, but I'm amazed with Eunchae's professionalism and outlook. She is the perfect idol."

Watch Eunchae's solo stage here:

What was your reaction to Eunchae's gorgeous looks? Is she your bias in LE SSERAFIM? Let us know in the comments below!

Read KpopStarz for more K-pop news.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: LE SSERAFIM Hong Eunchae Dreamed of Becoming Idol After Watching THIS Boy Group's Concert

KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Riely Miller
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Chairperson of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova met with Chairman of the Czech Parliament Senate Milos Vystrcil during an official visit to the Czech Republic, Trend reports via the parliament.

The chairman stressed the importance of inter-parliamentary relations in the development of bilateral relations.

He described Azerbaijan as a friendly country for the Czech Republic, noting that relations between the two countries are functioning and balanced.

Vystrcil emphasized the importance of energy concerns in the modern era, as well as the importance of collaboration between Azerbaijan and his country in the energy industry. He also mentioned the importance of increasing trade turnover between the two countries.

The summit underscored Azerbaijan's critical position as a reliable partner and oil and gas supplier to Europe.

It was agreed that there are several potential for future collaboration in various disciplines. The relevance of humanitarian cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic was highlighted in particular.

The further development of ties in education, science, and culture, as well as the mutual organization of cultural events, was highlighted.

Gafarova emphasized the important role of mutual visits and meetings, intensifying political consultations in the development of relations between the two countries.

In this regard, great importance of the mutual visits of heads of state and high-level meetings for further relationship development was pointed out.

The speaker mentioned that this was her first official visit to the Czech Republic as the chairperson of Azerbaijani Parliament, expressing confidence of its contribution to the further strengthening and expansion of ties between the two countries.

Besides, she noted the positive impact of relations between legislative bodies on the development of relations between states and peoples.

It was noted that strengthening contacts between Azerbaijani and Czech MPs will contribute to both the deepening of cooperation between legislative bodies and the mutual provision of objective information to the public of both countries.

The speaker also provided an update on the present situation in the region, as well as Azerbaijan's restoration and construction efforts.

Furthermore, the Czech side was told on Armenia's military and political provocations against Azerbaijan, the mine threat from Armenia, and Azerbaijan's local anti-terrorism measures.

The initiatives of Azerbaijan to normalize relations and negotiate a peace treaty with Armenia were also mentioned.

Gafarova underlined that resolutions based on skewed and inaccurate information about the region's real condition have hindered the peace process.

The meeting also included a discussion on other topics of mutual interest.

The visit of Gafarova to the Czech Republic began on December 1.

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ASTRO Cha Eun Woo's fanclub recruitment is receiving mixed reactions for THIS reason.

Here's what people are saying.

ASTRO Cha Eunwoo's Solo Fanclub Recruitment Gains Mixed Reactions from K-Netz

On December 1, a Korean news outlet reported that Fantagio uploaded a notice on ASTRO's official fan cafe declaring Cha Eun Woo's solo fanclub recruitment.

According to sources, the recruitment would begin on December 5 and end in the 19th. It also shared that Eunwoo's personal fanclub news confused AROHAs, since it announced in a time where ASTRO's future as a group remained unclear.

They also demanded an explanation for ASTRO's upcoming group activities. The update also stirred confusion due to the usage of AROHAs' fandom name.

"Fans who suffered through the group's reorganization process are expected to be surprised by the abrupt news of ASTRO recruiting a fanclub for a single member, without any explanation of their future activities."

In response to this, it was disclosed that Fantagio is "checking into the matter."

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: ASTRO Cha Eun Woo Selected as The Newest Seoul Ambassador for "Visit Seoul"

The notice led to an online discussion, where AROHAs expressed their mixed feelings on the announcement. They called out Fantagio for posting the statement on ASTRO's fan cafe instead of the agency's official account. Read their comments below:

"Why are you recruiting solo stans? If you're going to recruit, you should do it separately."

"Why is it done through the group's fan cafe? Doesn't the company have its own official account?"

"There's an issue with this company."

"Don't post this on ASTRO's fan cafe."

Some fans countered that the announcement was a good move on Fantagio's part in order to keep ASTRO's name under the K-pop radar.

"They didn't make a new (fandom) name but went along with 'AROHA' too. I think no one would care if they named it AROHA-XYZ name and so on. SuJu did this and that's the trend now."

"As someone who experienced a group's disbandment, I'm jealous of them and I think this is a good way for your group to last long."

International fans also expressed their opinions on Cha Eun Woo's fanclub recruitment. They conveyed that this move was only inevitable since Cha Eun Woo was ASTRO's most popular member with the greatest number of solo projects.

"I can see why AROHAs are confused and mad. Fantagio has been very cryptic about ASTRO's future as a group, so making a separate fanclub for one member makes you think their future is non-existent."

"Eunwoo is the most popular member with the most solo projects, so I understand why he's got a fanclub."

"It's sad, but it makes sense. He's doing a lot of acting gigs and it's probably too soon for the group to reconvene."

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below!

Read KpopStarz for more K-pop news.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Cha Eun Woo Net Worth 2023: Is Idol the Richest ASTRO Member?

KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Riely Miller
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has congratulated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on its national holiday on X (Twitter), Trend reports.

"We congratulate the friendly people and government of the UAE on National Day. Happy national holiday!" the ministry said.

The ties between Azerbaijan and the UAE have developed highly and fruitfully in various spheres. The bilateral relations became much closer after the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates was opened in Baku in 2011.

Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates were and are still cooperating within the bounds of significant international organizations, such as the United Nations Organization, the Islamic Conference Organization, and other influential regional and international organizations. The countries also established the Joint Commission on Economic, Trade, and Technical Cooperation between the governments.
People in scores of rainforest nations could be paid to preserve forest areas under a concept announced by the Brazilian president. It is unclear if the plan will get off the ground.Brazil proposed a new global fund to pay countries to keep their tropical forests intact, at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai on Friday.

Also Read | World News | Hamdan Bin Mohammed Meets with King Charles III on Sidelines of COP-28 in Dubai.

It called for the creation of a massive global scheme to help preserve rainforests in scores of countries, called the "Tropical Forests Forever" fund.

Also Read | India News | Caste is Mere Political Tool for Samajwadi Party: CM Yogi Adityanath.

The concept would pay residents and landowners who help preserve forested areas like the Amazon.

Rather than calculating their value in terms of carbon, biodiversity or environmental services, the proposed fund would assess forests based on their area, making it much easier to implement.

Brazilian officials said current funding mechanisms do not protect forests that are not deemed to be at risk. Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva said current policies only dissuade loggers from continued deforestation, but don't reward those who protect the forest.

Mauricio Bianco, vice president of Conservation International Brazil, welcomed the possibility of a new funding mechanism for rainforests, especially one driven by forest nations.

"It's tackling the climate crisis, it's tackling the major loss of biodiversity, and it's also tackling the social and economic development of the people that live there," Bianco told DW.

"It sends a clear message to the world that these countries are concerned about protecting the forest."

He warned that such a fund would have to support indigenous populations and grassroots organizations that are key to protecting forests.

It is still uncertain how much support Lula can muster from wealthier nations to fund such a project.

Brazil presents new image

The launch was part of a new image Brazil was showing at climate talks, positioning itself as a global leader on climate change and conservation as well as a multilateral powerbroker.

The move comes after years of climate inaction from his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who opened the door to major deforestation.

In an address at one of the opening events of the COP28 talks, Lula said people were sick of countries not living up to their previous climate pledges.

"The failure to fulfill the commitments made has eroded the system's credibility. We need to restore faith in multilateralism," Lula said.

"No country will solve their problems alone. We are all obliged to act together beyond our borders. Brazil is willing to lead as a role model," he added.

Figures from Brazil show a 22% reduction in Amazon deforestation this year under the Lula administration.

Financing forests

Brazil is home to 60% of the Amazon rainforest, the conservation of which is vital to limiting global warming, as well as ensuring the existence of important plants and animals.

Huge forests such as the Amazon and the Congo in Africa, help slow climate change by absorbing and storing vast quantities of the planet-heating greenhouse gas CO2. But they are largely in poorer countries and are frequently cut down for their valuable timber or to make way for grazing land or mining.

In 2021, more than 100 countries pledged to end deforestation by 2030, promising to invest $19 billion (17.5 billion) in public and private funds in protecting and restoring forests.

Earlier this year, leaders from the Amazon, Congo Basin and Southeast Asia, signed a communique in Brazil calling for a new financial mechanism for the international community to pay for critical forest services.

Across the planet, deforestation increased 4% in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the Forest Declaration Assessment, an independent group that tracks progress on global forest goals. However, it said major rainforest countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia showed drastic reductions in forest loss.

It said current financing to stop deforestation efforts fall well short of the required levels, with just $2.2 billion in public funds channeled to forests every year, compared to the $460 billion required.

Brazil already has a track record with financing the preservation of forests. The country's Amazon Fund, backed by Germany and Norway, was revived earlier this year. Brazil also helps to monitor forests outside its borders.

Agriculture without deforestation

Ahead of COP28, Brazil also announced plans to increase Brazil's available agricultural lands by 60% over the next decade without cutting down more forest. Authorities would encourage farmers to to restore degraded grazing areas into productive farmland for crops, with backing from domestic financial institutions.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil has 40 million hectares (99 million acres) of degraded grazing areas that are suitable for crops.

A commitment to oil

But Lula's administration has come under fire for its commitment to producing climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

In January, it is expected to join the OPEC Plus, a group of oil-producing countries that manipulate global oil prices by coordinating reductions or increases in production,

And Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA is pushing for oil projects in the ecologically sensitive Foz do Amazonas, just one block of which is estimated to contain 5.6 billion barrels of oil.

This has caused internal government divisions, and brought criticism from environmental groups.

Lula has previously defended his country's continued oil exploration, saying it was in sovereign interests.

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 02, 2023 12:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov has sent a congratulatory letter to the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on the occasion of the country's national holiday - Independence Day, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers told Trend.

The letter said that Azerbaijan and the UAE share relations based on mutual trust and support, as well as common religious and cultural values.

Besides, the letter noted that built on this strong foundation, the interstate relations are successfully developing, with particular emphasis on the recent expansion of cooperation in the fields of renewable energy, tourism, as well as in the investment and trade-economic sectors.

The letter also pointed out that these bilateral relations have good prospects in many directions, expressing confidence that the further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation will contribute to the prosperity of the peoples of both countries.

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For only the sixth time in history, a congressman has been expelled as over 2/3 of House Representatives voted for George Santos' expulsion. This came just a few days after the explosive House Ethics Committee report found that the embattled New York Republican broke federal laws regarding his handling of campaign funds.

Expelling a congressman is not easy, as George Santos survived two expulsion attempts before. To expel a representative voted by the people, it requires a 2/3 majority and not just a simple majority. For this new expulsion vote that came after the Ethics Committee report, it was 311-114, easily clearing that 2/3 majority requirement.

As the Associated Press pointed out, the George Santos expulsion marks the Latino congressman's "spectacular fall from grace" as he was once celebrated for flipping a previously blue district into a Republican seat in New York. His downfall started after his background as a Jewish person and as a person who worked on Wall Street was exposed.

Santos claimed that his grandparents escaped the holocaust to Brazil and also claimed he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. These were exposed as lies as Santos is a Roman Catholic and has never had any Jewish blood, with his grandparents being all Brazilian and having stayed in Brazil all their lives.

This led to increasing scrutiny of Santos, revealing that he was wanted in Brazil for theft, as well as being exposed as a drag queen in the country. His myriad of lies later became a growing distraction and embarrassment for the Republican Party as many of his fellow GOP colleagues have been calling for his expulsion.

George Santos Expulsion Bad for House Republicans, Even If It Was the Right Thing To Do

Republicans are divided on the issue of George Santos' expulsion. On one hand, many felt that it was morally the right thing to do, and on the other, losing Santos meant that they were also losing more voting numbers as they only had a razor-thin majority in the House.

READ MORE: George Santos Campaign Fund Scandal: New York Rep. Ready for Congress Expulsion

As CNN noted, 105 Republicans voted for expulsion, while 112 voted against. Of those who voted to keep George Santos, they included House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, and House GOP Whip Tom Emmer.

While a majority of Republicans went on to vote for the ethics of it all, a majority of them still voted politically as many still sought to preserve that majority, because the loss of just one vote could spell bad news for the Republicans in the House, as was shown in the House Speakership chaos.

What Happens Next After the George Santos Expulsion?

With George Santos' expulsion, his official website was taken down and the BBC reported that his staff phones now go to a generic voicemail and the nameplate outside his office has already been removed.

The now-former Congressman can no longer vote on legislation or rely on his government health benefits, nor is he eligible for a congressional legislative pension. However, he can still reap benefits for former members of Congress, such as exercising in the Capitol gym or borrowing books from the Library of Congress.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul now has 10 days to call for an election, with the likelihood of it happening in February being high. However, this may be bad for any Republican candidate as the shadow of Santos' many scandals would be looming over them and the probability of it being flipped blue again is also high.

READ MORE: George Santos Denies Being a Drag Queen in Brazil

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: George Santos becomes sixth House member expelled from Congress - MSNBC
After Elon Musk went on an expletive-laden tirade regarding advertisers leaving social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, more and more advertisers are reportedly leaving, with the latest big name to leave being Walmart.

"We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers," a Walmart spokesperson told the New York Post. The company becomes one of the biggest names to stop advertising on the platform as others, including Disney and Warner Bros., have since suspended their advertising there.

Since Elon Musk took over the company last year, X has been struggling to retain advertisers. This is the latest exodus the company has faced, and it all stemmed from Musk himself endorsing antisemitic posts on his own account. These antisemitic posts include sharing a post from "an X user who falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people."

The New York Post reported that the same user whose content Musk had been sharing had a history of racist posts, including referencing the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory and supposed "white genocide."

Musk has since apologized for sharing that user's posts but tried to look defiant during a New York Times DealBook event on Wednesday, where he accused advertisers of "blackmail" before hurling expletives at them, telling advertisers that are leaving the platform to "Go F*ck yourself."

More Advertisers May Flee X After Elon Musk Tirade

The tirade may have cost Musk more than just Disney, Warner Bros., and Walmart, but other big names and some smaller ones may also be leaving soon. However, this may be more on Musk allowing racist content to continually be shared on X rather than just Musk's tirade in general.

READ MORE: Elon Musk, Tesla Knew of Cimpany's Self-Driving Technology Being Defective

"Companies need to protect the brands they work for," said Lou Paskalis, founder of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory told Reuters. "This isn't advertisers getting together in a secret clubhouse to support an agenda," which was what Musk was implying in his tirade.

However, the company formerly known as Twitter seems to be doubling down on the issue of keeping antisemitic and racist content, as several media outlets have obtained an internal memo stating, "Our principles do not have a price tag, nor will they be compromised - ever."

Several advertisers were reportedly present when Musk went on his tirade against advertisers.

Elon Musk Doubles Down on Infamous Conspiracy Theory as More Advertisers Flee X

However, as advertisers continue to flee and X is bleeding money because of this, Elon Musk is not showing much concern, instead doubling down on controversial conspiracy theories that may also turn off even more advertisers from his social media platform.

According to the Huffington Post, Musk has been doubling down on one particular conspiracy theory, and that is "Pizzagate." In a recent post, Musk said that it "Does seem at least a little suspicious" along with a widely discredited 2016-era conspiracy. That post was soon deleted but not before Musk tried to double down on the claim by inking to an article about a former ABC News reporter pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

However, he was repeatedly debunked in the comments, as the ABC News reporter did not even write an article that debunked that conspiracy theory, and the pizza shop mentioned in the conspiracy theory did not even have a basement. It was alleged that a sex trafficking ring was being conducted in the establishment's basement.

READ MORE: X: Hateful Tweets Are on the Rise, but Elon Musk Wants To Sue the Researchers Who Found Out

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Is X Toast? The aftermath of Elon Musk's outburst to advertisers - MSNBC
In the aftermath of a tragic hit-and-run incident claiming the lives of two Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, the accused driver, Jemarcus Williams, appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court, his set bail is at $500,000.

The court session unfolded following the early Thursday morning collision on Interstate 15, just north of downtown Las Vegas, where Sergeant Michael Abbate and Trooper Alberto Felix lost their lives.

Williams, a 46-year-old bell captain and valet, faced the court on Friday morning to answer to charges stemming from the fatal crash.

Clark County prosecutor Shanon Clowers sought a $1 million bail, referencing video evidence indicating Williams' involvement in a drinking session at the Palms Casino Resort in the hours leading up to the incident.

Surveillance footage revealed Williams and another individual entering the Palms around 1 AM, ordering alcoholic beverages at the Ghost Bar.

Police documents obtained by 8 News Now Investigators detailed Williams' apparent intoxication, including instances of spilling drinks and using furniture for balance.

Hotel security intervened, escorting him out at 3:15 AM, moments before the fatal Nevada hit-and-run occurred.

READ NEXT: Teen Las Vegas Fatal Hit-and-Run Suspect Could be Tried as Adult

Nevada Hit-and-Run

The tragic incident unfolded when two Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, Sgt. Michael Abbate and Trooper Alberto Felix, stopped to check on a seemingly sleeping driver along Interstate 15 around 3:23 AM, according to FOX News.

A white Chevrolet HHR, later identified as Williams' vehicle, collided with the troopers and fled the scene.

One trooper succumbed to injuries at the crash site, while the other passed away at UMC Trauma Hospital.

Approximately five hours after the incident, Las Vegas police located the unoccupied suspect's car in an apartment complex near J Street and Monroe Avenue, leading to the arrest of Jemarcus Williams.

Williams now faces charges of reckless driving resulting in death, driving under the influence resulting in death, and duty to stop at the scene of an accident involving death.

He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday at 9 AM, as per jail records.

The Nevada Highway Patrol Troopers

The Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, Sgt. Michael Abbate, who joined the agency in December 2013 and was recently promoted to sergeant, and Trooper Alberto Felix, a US Air Force veteran who joined in 2019, faced an untimely demise in the line of duty, per CBS News.

A poignant video released by the police department captured the solemn procession of the troopers' bodies, escorted by a motorcade of officers to the coroner's office.

State police spokesperson Kim Yoko Smith expressed profound sorrow, emphasizing Abbate and Felix's exceptional commitment and pride in serving the state.

"Our prayers are with the families and loved ones of our fallen Troopers," Smith said.

Governor Joe Lombardo extended condolences, recognizing the troopers' bravery, courage, and sacrifice, marking the loss as devastating for Nevada's law enforcement community and the entire state.

The aftermath of the crash resulted in the closure of sections of Nevada's busiest highway and numerous on-ramps, underscoring the gravity of the incident's impact on the community.

READ MORE: Body of Missing Teen Found in Neighbor's Property

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Two Nevada State Police troopers identified from fatal hit-and-run - From KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas
John Turscak, an inmate at FCI Tucson, has now been charged for allegedly stabbing fellow inmate Derek Chauvin, who is best known as the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd with the use of excessive force.

According to ABC-7, it was 52-year-old John Turscak who was responsible for stabbing the former Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer inside the correctional facility. Chauvin was reportedly stabbed 22 times by Turscak but managed to survive thanks to the quick response by prison staff.

Turscak allegedly used an improvised knife he made to stab the man found guilty of wrongfully killing George Floyd. Because of this, he has now been charged with attempted murder.

Chauvin is now in stable condition and is expected to survive the attack.

Chauvin was allegedly in the prison's law library when the attack happened. The suspected attacker allegedly approached him there and stabbed him. After prison security staff intervened, he reportedly told them that if they were not able to respond so quickly, Chauvin would have been dead. Officials noted that the attacker waived his Miranda Rights and said something different.

"At that time, TURSCAK denied wanting to kill D.C. However, TURSCAK stated that he had been thinking about assaulting D.C. for approximately one month because D.C. is a high-profile inmate. TURSCAK stated he saw an opportunity to assault D.C. in the law library," read the complaint, with "D.C." referring to Derek Chauvin. "Turscak stated that his attack of D.C. on Black Friday was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the Mexican Mafia criminal organization. D.C. received emergency medical treatment for his injuries at a local hospital."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who prosecuted Chauvin, released a statement following the stabbing incident, saying that he was "sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence."

READ MORE: George Floyd Killer and Ex-Policeman Derek Chauvin Stabbed in Prison

Who Is Suspected Derek Chauvin Attacker John Turscak?

John Turcak is currently spending 30 years in prison for carrying out crimes while working as a federal informant. With the Derek Chauvin stabbing, his prison time might soon be increased.

CBS News reported that he was recruited as part of a 1999 case against the Mexican Mafia and even helped bring the organization down. He joined it back in 1990 but turned to become an informant. He was sentenced in 2001.

As part of the Mexican Mafia, Turscak stated that he authorized "assaults of individuals for infractions of Mexican Mafia rules," and collected "taxes" from street gangs and drug dealers. He also admitted to murdering a man in Folsom Prison back in 1990.

Derek Chauvin's Killing of George Floyd Sparked a National Movement

Derek Chauvin was caught in a bystander video, kneeling of George Floyd's neck for nine minutes in 2020. Floyd had been complaining that he could not breathe, but Chauvin would not take his knee off of the back of Floyd's neck. This led to yet another death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer.

The video soon went viral and calls for racial justice and police reform echoed not just in the US but also other countries. It sparked global outrage and a wave of demonstrations against racial injustice and police use of force, as the BBC noted, eventually morphing into the Black Lives Matter movement.

READ MORE: January 6 Footage Revive Conspiracy Theories Which Quickly Become Debunked

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Charges: Derek Chauvin stabbed 22 times in prison - KARE 11
In a heartwarming tribute, Hollywood celebrated the iconic Macaulay Culkin on Friday as he received a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Best known for his role as young Kevin McCallister in the beloved "Home Alone" franchise, Culkin, now 43, has left an indelible mark on pop culture since his breakout performance in 1990, ABC 7 noted.

Culkin, who continued to grace the screen with diverse roles, including a notable stint in the 10th season of "American Horror Story" in 2021, was joined by his "Home Alone" co-star Catherine O'Hara at the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.

O'Hara, who portrayed Culkin's on-screen mother, playfully quipped, "Thank you for including me, your fake Mom, who left you 'Home Alone' not once, but twice."

Expressing gratitude, Culkin extended thanks to his long-time representatives and professionals who have been instrumental in shaping his career since childhood.

Actress Natasha Lyonne also spoke on behalf of Culkin during the ceremony.

READ NEXT: Christina Applegate Receives Hollywood Walk of Fame Star

Macaulay Culkin's Family Moment at Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony

In a rare family appearance, Macaulay Culkin, accompanied by fiancee Brenda Song, proudly showcased their two children at the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, according to PEOPLE.

The couple, who welcomed an infant son earlier this year, was joined by their 2-year-old son, Dakota.

Photographs captured Culkin sharing a tender moment, kissing the head of his younger son, while their elder son, seated in the row behind his parents, sported a distinctive mohawk.

During his acceptance speech, Culkin expressed profound appreciation for Song and their children, declaring Song as "absolutely everything" and one of his "three favorite people" after the birth of their two boys.

In an interview last year, Song emphasized their hands-on parenting approach, noting that they opted not to have a nanny, with Song's mother providing invaluable support.

The couple, who met on the set of "Changeland" in Thailand, has kept their relationship relatively private.

They announced their engagement last year, and their first child, Dakota Song Culkin, was born on April 5, 2021.

Macaulay Culkin's Early Life and Career Highlights

Born on August 26, 1980, in New York City, Macaulay Culkin embarked on his stage career at the age of 4 in 1984.

His screen debut came in the 1988 drama "Rocket Gibraltar," leading to a role in the 1989 comedy "Uncle Buck," directed by John Hughes, who played a pivotal role in Culkin's early career.

However, it was Culkin's unforgettable portrayal of young Kevin McCallister in "Home Alone" that earned him a Golden Globe nomination in 1990.

The success of "Home Alone" and its sequel, along with performances in films like "My Girl," "The Good Son," and "Richie Rich," established Culkin as one of the 100 Greatest Kid Stars, per NBC Los Angeles.

Beyond acting, Culkin fronted the comedy rock band The Pizza Underground from 2013 to 2018. In 2017, he founded Bunny Ears, a satirical pop culture website and podcast, where he currently serves as the publisher and CEO.

READ MORE: Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Romance '100% Fake'?

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Macaulay Culkin Marks 40-Year Career in Hollywood With Star on Walk of Fame - From Entertainment Tonight
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Azerbaijan has actively sought a peaceful solution in the conflict with Armenia, Edmondo Cirielli, Italys Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told Italian media, Trend reports.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated when Armenia captured Karabakh, Azerbaijan, along with two adjacent areas inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis. President Ilham Aliyev has actively pursued a peaceful solution over the three years following the Second Karabakh War, during which Azerbaijani Army achieved victory on the field, he said.

He noted that, after the recent ruling of the International Court, which reaffirmed Azerbaijan's territorial integrity over Karabakh, it is time for the international narrative of the dispute to change.

For the Azerbaijanis, international law has been clearly violated by the war of aggression waged by Armenia. However, the conflict came to a halt, creating an opportunity to seek a peaceful resolution to the issue. Regrettably, in Europe, there have been individuals who consistently fueled revanchism and Armenian nationalism, misguiding Yerevan with information that was objectively not even contemplated by international law, Cirielli said.

The diplomat also noted that there are also powerful Armenian communities living outside Armenia who are not fully aware of the current problems and state of affairs.

This is partly due to understandable reasons, as they are children and descendants of the Armenian diaspora. However, some hold a very nationalist and chauvinistic vision, he explained.

Italy plays an important role in mediation skills, as it consistently advocates for legal reasons and supports Azerbaijan on the international stage, the deputy minister concluded.
Two former employees for Tacos y Tequila in Easton are taking a chance on themselves and opening their own Mexican taco shop in Phillipsburg next year.

Co-owners Marvin Gomez and Randy Sanchez told lehighvalleylive.com their restaurant will be called Brothers Tacos. The menu could feature up to six specialty taco options and popular Mexican side dishes, Gomez said.

Brothers Tacos is expected to open as early as January 2024, he said.

Its going to be a place where you can grab a good taco and get a Jarritos, watch TV and enjoy yourself, Gomez said. Marvin is the lead chef.

Brothers Tacos will open at 105 Heckman St., inside the building that previously held Little Phillys Steak Shop and Convenience Store, which closed several years ago, and A-Treat market. Property records show the building, nicknamed convenient corner by residents, was bought by Sid Hawach for $75,000 in 2021.

The lot is currently zoned for commercial occupancy, records show.

Gomezs younger brother Wilson Gomez and a close friend will also work at the restaurant, which was named in honor of the four-man partnership, Marvin said.

The name symbolizes his relationship with his fraternal brother and his friendships with his partners who are like family, he said.

Hes not my brother, but he is my brother, Gomez said, describing his relationship with Sanchez. We call everybody here brother.

Marvin and Sanchez met in 2014 when they were both working at Taco y Tequila in Easton. Marvin worked as a chef and Sanchez was a server until 2021, he said. Over the years, the two remained friends, and Marvin even taught Sanchez how to cook, Sanchez said.

Hes the best. He taught me everything I know, said Sanchez.

Were all equally good, Gomez said.

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Glenn Epps can be reached at gepps@lehighvalleylive.com or glenn_epps_on Twitter.
UPDATE: Body in warehouse IDd as inmate who escaped in 4th Philadelphia breakout this year

Police were searching on Friday for an inmate who escaped from a Philadelphia jail by walking away from a work detail, the fourth breakout from a city lockup this year.

Gino Hagenkotter, 34, who was serving time on theft and burglary charges, was working in the orchard on the grounds of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center in northeast Philadelphia shortly before noon Thursday when he asked the guard assigned to him for permission to use the bathroom, said Blanche Carney, commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.

After Hagenkotter failed to return, the guard checked the restroom, but he wasnt there, officials said.

Hagenkotter scaled a fence, walked through a city sanitation department yard next to the prison, took off his jumpsuit and was last seen on surveillance video walking down the street, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.

No one was hurt.

Philadelphia Police Department First Deputy Commissioner Field Operations Frank Vanore speaks to press and updates the current status of the inmate who allegedly escaped at the Philadelphia Detention Center in the Holmesburg Section in Philadelphia on Thursday, Nov 30, 2023. Police were searching on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, for Gino Hagenkotter, an inmate who escaped from a Philadelphia jail by walking away from a work detail, the fourth breakout from a city lockup this year, officials said.Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

Vanore said Hagenkotter does not have any dangerous history, but officials warned he should not be approached, and urged anyone who sees him to call police.

Hagenkotter was due to be released from the nearby Riverside Correctional Facility into a transitional program on Thursday. But officials canceled the transfer after learning he had open retail theft charges in suburban Bucks County, and told Hagenkotter he would continue serving time at Riverside until April, Carney said. She said officials believe that played a role in his decision to escape.

He is the fourth person to escape custody in Philadelphia this year.

In May, two men, including one charged with four counts of murder, escaped from Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center by slipping through a gap that had been cut into a chain-link fence. The men were gone for nearly 19 hours before officials knew they were missing. Both were recaptured.

A woman briefly escaped the same jail in September by scaling two fences topped by razor wire.

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People willing to take action over climate change in Laois now have a new fund to dip into.

Applications are opening for the new Community Climate Action Fund for Laois groups.

Laois County Council is overseeing the fund, led by Dr Karen Moore, Laois Community Climate Action Officer.

"Community action is at the heart of how Laois becomes a more sustainable county. This funding supports community groups to lead from within their communities in addressing climate challenges at the local level, she told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

The fund is available to organisations and community groups interested in developing projects and initiatives which address the challenge of climate change in their communities.

The overall aim of the Community Climate Action Programme is to support and empower communities, in partnership with Laois County Council, to shape and build low carbon, sustainable communities and to contribute to the national climate and energy targets.

The Programme aims to support all communities - small and large, rural and urban - to take positive climate action.

Dr Moore extended an invite to Laois community groups to a special free workshop on the day the fund opens.

There is a project workshop the day applications open, Wednesday 6 th December at 6.45 pm in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Portlaoise. Come along to get worked examples of project ideas for your group and for advice on how to fill in the application, she said.

The workshop is on December 6 at county hall, Portlaoise, starting at 6.45pm, ending at 8.20pm after refreshments. Giving advice will be Dr Moore and Aoife Munn, community activator, lecturer and environmentalist.

To register, email climateaction@laoiscoco.ie
The venerable Toyota Corolla continues to be a very popular car in Ireland no doubt due to its legendary reliability, decent standard kit and great dealer network.

Across the globe some 50 million, yes 50,000,000 Toyota Corollas have been sold since its inception. So Toyota have a formula that works and this latest version is all about an evolution of the product rather than anything radical or revolutionary

Recently Toyota introduced a new hatchback version whose style may entice a younger demographic of buyer to try the Corolla. This week though I am road testing the refreshed and mildly restyled Corolla saloon hybrid. Three trim levels are available, Luna, Luna Sport, and Sol. I am road testing the Sol hybrid.

So has it got any street cred?

The Corolla was never known to be a head turner and so it is with this refreshed version but you know what it is quite a stylish looking saloon. My test car was finished in a rich metallic red and with two-tone alloy wheels it did look good.

What Is it like inside?

The first thing that is apparent is the high quality of the interior. There are plenty of clever design touches too all which go to create a really upmarket feel to the Corolla saloon.

There is plenty of standard kit and safety features include Toyota Safety Sense pre-collision warning as well as adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert, heated front and rear seats, auto high beam assist, wireless charging, 18 inch alloys, dual zone climate control, rain sensor, and a leather clad multi-function steering wheel. This Sol version is very well equipped.

The cabin feels very well put together and detail touches such as the white stitching effect in the dash trim as well as the ambient lighting at night create a high quality feel to the car. My only criticism is that the design and placement of the central touchscreen looks like a bit of an afterthought. It's perched high on an otherwise well-designed dashboard, the graphics too look a little bit dated.

Overall though this is a nice place to be. Up front the driving position is good, the rear will accommodate four adults with reasonable leg and headroom. The boot is a good size at 471 litres. More below picture.

What Is under the bonnet?

The 1.8 litre petrol self-charging hybrid performs quite well utilising a CVT transmission to put the power to the front wheels.

It really only runs on battery power at very low speeds or in slow city traffic, otherwise, the petrol engine is doing all the work. That engine is quite noisy too when revved but fine while cruising at motorway speeds.

On the economy front, I returned 5.1 litres per 100km which is better than about average for a car in this class. In my opinion, the self-charging hybrid is the very best solution. No range anxiety, no plugging in and it all works seamlessly.

Will I enjoy driving it?

In short yes! It is agile and nimble and will hustle along a twisty road with poise and precision. I enjoyed the way in which it gets down the road. Around town its compact dimensions make it easy to live with and it proves quite refined though I did feel there was and more road noise than I expected at motorway speeds particularly, on more coarse tarmac surfaces.

So What is the final verdict?

The refreshed Corolla hybrid is really the perfect evolution of a pretty much close to perfect car. The Corolla hybrid does everything well and nothing badly and that is its key virtue.

The new range starts at 34,060 the higher spec Sol version tested costs 38,800.
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Perlee is set to perform an intimate 'North, South, East, West' tour of Ireland at Glens Centre on December 08 at 8pm.

Perlee recently released their debut album to critical acclaim and played two sold-out shows in their home town of Navan last April.

Following on from their sold-out Berlin Launch gig at the end of September, they are now looking forward to playing four shows with friends they made whilst living in Berlin.

Perlee's music ebbs and flows between dream pop and slowcore in the vein of the Cocteau Twins, Low and Yo La Tengo. They have released 2 E.P.s and an L.P. to excellent critical reception and radio play across Germany, Ireland, the U.S. and more.

The band recently played two sold-out shows in Ireland and now looks forward to presenting the songs from their new album 'Speaking From Other Rooms' in Germany.

The couple, who originally met through the DIY scene in their hometown of Navan, formed Perlee whilst living in a small house in the farmer's quarters of a large stately home, surrounded by huge trees, peacocks and farm dogs. The house was so remote that they could spend their evenings drinking red wine and playing loud music late into the night.

In 2018, the pair moved to Berlin and quickly found a small flat in an old industrial part of Berlin called Moabit. Through friends, they had the good fortune of finding a rehearsal space on the grounds of an old hospital around the corner and began developing the sound they had first struck upon while living in the remote Irish countryside.

In the early days, the couple enjoyed the city's many spaces to showcase their music. They played several gigs every week in smoky bars, house concerts and clubs until the pandemic hit.

Unable to tour, they began to focus fully on the production of their album. The songs were mainly written in their Berlin studio, while drummer Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, Keaton Henson), who also mixed the album, recorded his parts in London.

This collaboration brought a sense of spaciousness to the project and meant that the songs could be reflected upon and refined as the process gradually progressed.

Released on April 21 2023, Speaking From Other Rooms is a celebration of an interior life and the desire to connect and love, be that unconditional, familial or romantic, with a healthy dose of dystopia thrown in for good measure.

Tickets cost 15 for adults and 12 for students and are available at https://glenscentre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873650203.
A dog is not just for Christmas, members were reminded at the latest Ballinamore District meeting, where Cllr Enda McGloin noted that there are currently 3,227 dogs in shelters and pounds across the country and there has been a 95% increase in the number of stray dogs entering dog pounds in recent years. He added that the figures do not include "the hundreds of dogs that are on waiting lists for a space in a shelter".

Cllr McGloin said that with Christmas around the corner, "many people consider getting a dog for Christmas for the kids, etc." and "dogs on the loose can be dangerous to livestock."

A report by head of finance and water services said that as of October 31 last, the number of dogs in the shelter here is 21, there have been 93 requests by owners to surrender their dogs and the number of stray dogs and dogs seized by the dog warden is 75.

The number of dogs surrender by their owner and accepted by the dog shelter comes to 25 while 76 dogs have been rehomed to new owners.

The number of dogs reclaimed by their owner comes to 13.

The report said that the dog warden often provides support to owners wishing to surrender/rehome their dog including a publication of the dog's photograph and details on the dog pound social media accounts and facilitating direct contact between prospective new owners and the dog owner.

On occasion, the appropriate advice is for the dog to be put to sleep by the owner's vet as the dog may not be suitable for rehoming.

Cllr McGloin said these were a "startling set of numbers" and "some of the cruelty done to animals is quite outrageous".

He said that during Covid, there were people giving "hundreds and hundreds of euros for pedigree dogs and after Covid, suddenly, the dog becomes a nuisance hence you have numbers like 93 who want to surrender their animals."

He said those considering getting a dog should consider "visiting the centre in Drumkeeran and perhaps foster a dog and then they may go on to adopt the animal, if appropriate."

He said that puppy farms are unlicensed and not approved by the Irish Boarding Kennels and Cattery Association and the animals "end up in cruel circumstances and being forced to reproduce" and these farms should be shunned by members of the public.

Cllr Gerry Dolan supported the motion saying that every spring, "you hear about a savage attack on livestock especially sheep" adding that people "with dogs should have them under control at all times."

Cllr Brendan Barry said a "dog isn't just for Christmas, it's for life" and that people need to think carefully before they get a pet.
A LIMERICK woman has followed through on her late fathers final wish by beginning the process of returning a number of 19th-century African and Aboriginal objects to their respective homes.

The ten artefacts, which are from South Africa, Sudan, and Australia, will now be returned to their respective countries of origin thanks to the dedicated work of 39-year-old artist Isabella Walsh.

It was my fathers final wish. He wanted these objects back where they belonged, said Ms Walsh.

Ms Walshs father was Larry Walsh, a well-respected curator of the Limerick Museum.

When he was working for the museum he used to attend auctions of big houses across the country. He would have picked up various items that were of interest to him at these auctions, Ms Walsh said.

Big houses, or manors, were a prominent feature in Limerick when the whole country was under British rule, and its believed that the 10 artefacts in question were brought to Ireland during this period.

When her father passed in 2013, the same year Ms Walsh graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design, the artefacts became her responsibility and thus the process of repatriation began.

However, Ms Walsh said she found herself at a loss of how to go about finding where exactly the artefacts were from.

Having recently read an article regarding a similar project, Ms Walsh reached out to Christos Tsirogiannis, who is a guest lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and an expert on illicit antiquities trafficking.

He then directed her towards the correct channels and embassies.

He was a massive help. He didnt even ask for a fee, just that I speak out publicly in news articles, in the hope it might inspire others to do the same, Ms Walsh said.
THE CRESCENT College Comprehensive (CCC) held their Past Pupils Union annual dinner recently.

The dinner was held at the Strand Hotel on Saturday, November 11 and was hosted by union president, Jeannie OMalley.

There was an attendance of just over two hundred, one of the largest seen at the annual dinners.

Among those present were past pupils who had travelled from the USA, the Philippines, Singapore, Germany, France and Britain.

The Presidents guests were Helen ODonnell, chair of the CCC board of management, Diarmuid Mullins, school principal, George Heslin, recipient of the roll of honour and after dinner speaker, Pat Rickard, president of Old Crescent RFC, Peter OMeara, president of Clongowes Past Pupils Union and justice Kevin OHiggins.

The president, Jeannie OMalley, welcomed the guests and outlined the events organised by the union during the year.

She announced the upcoming launch of CUSP (Crescent Union Solidarity Programme) which will offer advice and support to past pupils experiencing difficulties in their careers or personal lives.

She indicated that the union is putting together a panel of past pupils with legal, financial, employment, redundancy, counselling and other expertise to assist in providing such support.

She congratulated George Heslin as the 2023 entrant to the roll of honour who is currently executive director of the New York Irish Centre.

Following a career as an actor and director in Ireland, Britain and the USA he became founding and artistic director of the Origin Theatre in New York.

He spoke of having wanted to be an actor since the age of five, and said his education, and introduction to drama and theatre, at CCC contributed hugely to his subsequent career.

Two groups, the Leaving Certificate classes of 1963 and 1973 held their reunions at the dinner.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Universities in Malaysia seek to attract Azerbaijani students, Malaysia's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ahmad Kamrizamil Mohd Riza said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the Malaysian Education Fair held in Baku.

"This exhibition, which is attended by renowned Malaysian universities, is a perfect venue for Azerbaijani students looking for top-tier education in our nation. It will provide students and their parents with an excellent opportunity to meet university representatives and academic advisors and communicate directly with them in order to select the most appropriate destination in this subject," the ambassador said.

He said the fair is a testament to Malaysia's commitment to developing international educational opportunities and strengthening ties with Azerbaijan.

"Malaysia welcomed 131,300 international students from more than 175 countries in 2020. The government aims to achieve the target of 250,000 international students by 2025," Ahmad Kamrizamil Mohd Riza said.

The II Malaysia Education Fair is being held in Baku on December 2-3. The event is organized by Winning Magnitude and Lingva Training Center with the support of the Malaysian Embassy in Baku.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
WORKER and union representatives from the Wyeth Nutrition infant formula manufacturing facility in west Limerick have met with Minister Simon Coveney, Limerick Live can reveal.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment confirmed the meeting, saying that he and Minister of State Patrick ODonovan had a good and extremely helpful meeting with the group of unions and workers reps from Wyeth.

He added: They will continue to liaise closely in the time ahead.

The meeting took place on Friday - six weeks after it was announced by Nestle that it plans to cease operations in west Limerick by 2026.

Additionally, the co-located research and development centre, which opened in 2019 after a 25m expansion, and employs 51 people, is also proposed to be closed and cease operations by the first quarter of 2025.

The company, known for high-quality infant nutrition products, confirmed last month that it is proposing to transfer the production from Askeaton to two existing factories in Suzhou, Mainland China and Konolfingen, Switzerland.

It's not know what action, if any, Mr Coveney will take following the meeting.
Ireland will double its contribution to international climate finance to at least 225 million euro a year by 2025, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told delegates at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.

Mr Varadkar said Ireland is a wealthy country and pledged 25 million euro to a new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025 to help poor and vulnerable countries affected by climate disasters.

Irelands premier said his Government is committed to halving emissions by 2030 and to climate neutrality by 2050.

In his formal address on behalf of Ireland to Cop28 on Saturday, Mr Varadkar said never before have alarm bells been ringing so loudly over climate change and world leaders must rise to the challenge.

He told the summit: We cannot prevent climate change. Were well past that point. But by acting urgently now, we can limit its extent and mitigate its worst effects.

In mobilising our societies, we must recognise our peoples concerns and bring people with us  our farmers, our workers, our enterprises, our people.

With the cost of living and high energy prices, many worry about how much the transition will cost and what it will mean for their jobs and incomes and living standards.

Those are legitimate concerns. We need to understand where people are coming from and offer reassurance.

He said change would be difficult but the transition must be made while protecting the vulnerable and leaving nobody behind.

Secretary General Guterres has said that the challenge of turning a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition is with us now. Let us rise to that challenge @COP28_UAE pic.twitter.com/YFJBsCNjSt  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) December 2, 2023

He said: I lead a Government committed to halving emissions by 2030 and to climate neutrality by 2050.

The Taoiseach added: Ireland is a wealthy country.

Even so, we are struggling to make as much progress as needed.

We are constantly looking at ways to improve.

Im conscious of the even greater challenges others face, particularly least developed countries and small island developing states.

So the Loss and Damage Fund must begin disbursing finance as soon as possible.

Ireland will double our climate finance to at least 225 million euro per year by 2025, and this year, we will spend close to 150 million euro.

Today I am announcing a contribution of 25 million euro to the new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025.

We will make further contributions thereafter.

Mr Varadkar concluded: Let us also work together so the world has the financial firepower and institutions and infrastructure it needs to make the journey we need to make together.

We have to prioritise investment in energy access and low carbon development for the most vulnerable countries.

This Cop must also set us on a clear path to a safe and planned reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be driving Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza. According to reports, the war in Gaza has provided Israel an opportunity to deploy AI target-creation platform called "the Gospel". The AI-based tool helps Israel generate "targets" at an automatic rate.

444 targets a day

On November 2, the website of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) posted a statement that quoted an IDF official as saying that the force was using an AI-based system called Habsora (the Gospel, in English) in the war against Hamas to produce targets at a fast pace".

In its article, the IDF claimed that over 12,000 targets were hit in 27 days of fighting. This is approximately 444 targets a day. Meanwhile, sources familiar with how AI-based systems have been integrated into the IDFs operations told the Guardian that such tools had significantly sped up the target creation process.

"With the help of artificial intelligence, and through the rapid and automatic extraction of updated intelligence, it (the Gospel) produces a recommendation for the researcher, with the goal being that there will be a complete match between the machine's recommendation and the identification performed by a person," the IDF said.

ALSO READ: Israel-Hamas war Day 50: Hostages swapped during Gaza ceasefire, Israel says 'nothing is over until...' | 10 updates

'Matrix-like capabilities'

Meanwhile, the Guardian quoted sources as saying, "Systems such as the Gospel had played a critical role in building lists of individuals authorised to be assassinated." It also quoted the former head of the IDF, Aviv Kochavi, as saying that the target division is powered by AI capabilities" and includes hundreds of officers and soldiers.

In an interview published before the war, Kochavi had said it was "a machine that produces vast amounts of data more effectively than any human and translates it into targets for attack".

ALSO READ: Israel-Hamas War: Gaza death toll crosses 13,000; FMs of 4 Muslim nations to head to China for discussions

He added that the IDF "possesses Matrix-like capabilities". He told a magazine, Each brigade now has a sophisticated intelligence apparatus akin to the movie The Matrix, providing real-time intelligence."

"Among all the technological revolutions, artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to be the most radical, for better or worse. The IDF recognized this field years ago and harnessed it to enhance combat effectiveness," he was quoted as saying.

He added that a "Targeting Directorate" was established three years ago. "It is a unit comprising hundreds of officers and soldiers, powered by AI capabilities," he said.

ALSO READ: Israel-Hamas war: Could this war benefit Russia and China while Western nations support Israel

Not the first time

In the interview, Kochavi recalled Israels 11-day war with Hamas in May 2021. He said, "In Operation Guardian of the Walls, once this machine was activated, it generated 100 new targets every day. To put it in perspective, in the past, we would produce 50 targets in Gaza in a year. Now, this machine created 100 targets in a single day, with 50 per cent of them being attacked."

In 2021, the IDF launched what it referred to as the worlds "first AI war". It was the eleven-day offensive on Gaza known as Operation Guardian of the Walls" that reportedly killed 261 Palestinians and injured 2,200.

Does it reduce civilian harm?

A former senior Israeli military source had told the Guardian that operatives use a very accurate" measurement of the rate of civilians evacuating a building shortly before a strike. We use an algorithm to evaluate how many civilians are remaining. It gives us a green, yellow, red, like a traffic signal."

However, the report quoted experts in AI and armed conflict as saying that they were sceptical of assertions that AI-based systems reduced civilian harm by encouraging more accurate targeting.

BRIGADE ENTERPRISES More Information

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Walmart has in a statement announced its decision to halt advertising on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), aligning itself with a growing list of brands distancing from the Elon Musk -owned site, as per a Reuters report.

A spokesperson for Walmart clarified, "We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers." X did not respond to queries on the issue, the report said.

Notably, while Walmart's move to pull off ads on X was made public on December 1, Joe Benarroch, the head of operations at X said the company had not placed ads on the platform since October, instead focusing on organic engagement within its community of over one million members on X.

Also Read: How Elon Musk became an 'anti-semite'?

Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online," Benarroch said in a statement.

Signs of more troubles ahead

Ad industry experts warn of impending turmoil for social media company X as more advertisers consider deserting the platform, following a cascade of events triggered by its billionaire owner Elon Musk's recent actions, as per a Reuters report.

Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery took decisive steps in November by halting advertising efforts on X. The move came in response to Musk endorsing an antisemitic post. The backlash was followed by Musk apologising.

However, when speaking about the incident at the New York Times DealBook event, Musk first expressed regret for his post, before launching into a profanity-laden diatribe against fleeing advertisers. He accused the brands of "blackmail," with apparent criticism directed at Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, who earlier commented that partnering with X had not been a positive association for their brand.

A senior executive from a major ad-buying agency told Reuters that X's ad sales representatives seemed disconcerted post-Musk's outburst and offered limited engagement in discussions.

Major corporations such as Apple, IBM, Sony, Disney, Comcast (including NBC Universal), and Paramount, who have pulled out, collectively constituted 7 percent of the total US ad spend on X until October this year, as indicated by Sensor Tower data. Now, the platform faces the alarming reality of losing not just corporate advertisers but also potential revenue from political candidates, a stream that re-emerged after X lifted its ban on political ads.

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Several countries across the world have faced economic loss worth billions due to extreme weather conditions and climate change over the years. In a bid to help developing and poor countries cope with climate crisis, the COP28 climate summit hit its "first major milestone" on November 30, by operationalising the "Loss and Damage" fund.

"This fund will support billions of people, lives and livelihoods that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change," COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber said.

What is loss and damage?

The "loss and damage" refers to the estimated economic, non-economic and ecological losses caused due to ongoing and future impacts of climate change.

"This includes losses and damages due to rapid onset extreme weather events such as floods and tropical cyclones and slow onset changes such as sea level rise and drought," the Centre for Science and Environment explains.

ALSO READ: COP28 presidency mobilizes $2.5 bn to support food-climate agenda

What is the estimated global economic loss from climate crisis?

"The world is estimated to be $1.5 trillion poorer than it would have been without climate change," according to a report titled 'Loss and Damage Today: How climate change is impacting output and capital'. This report was released by the University of Delaware.

According to the report, "Low and middle-income countries have experienced $2.1 trillion in produced capital losses due to climate change."

ALSO READ: COP 28 Dubai summit begins today: A deep dive into India's role and challenges at climate summit

Meanwhile, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) data estimates that by 2030, the total estimate of loss and damage for developing countries could be between $290 billion and $580 billion from all the impacts of climate change. "This could increase to $1-1.8 trillion by 2050," it added.

'Economic losses increasing'

In its recent report titled 'Provisional State of the Global Climate in 2023', the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that globally, "annual economic losses from climate and weather-related disasters have significantly increased since the 2000s".

The CSE report emphasised that the overall loss and damage to human lives, livelihoods, agricultural production, private and public infrastructure, and social and cultural systems will continue to rise as the frequency and intensity of these events increase".

In September this year, the US had reportedly set a new record for the most costly weather disasters in a year. "So far this years disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion," a Fortune report cited The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as saying.

ALSO READ: COP28: PM Modi meets Israel President, emphasises India's support to two-state solution to Palestine issue

Meanwhile, the European Environment Agency revealed that between 1980 and 2022, weather- and climate-related extreme events caused economic losses of assets estimated at EUR 650 billion in the EU Member States, of which EUR 59.4 billion in 2021 and EUR 52.3 billion in 2022.

The European agency added, As severe weather- and climate-related extreme events are expected to intensify further, it seems unlikely that the associated economic losses will reduce by 2030."

GDP loss and climate change

A study by University of Delaware suggested that incremental increases in temperature have been consistently mapped to escalating losses in the GDP.

It said that since 1970, "we have observed nearly linear increase in global temperatures of 1C, in pace with a corresponding reduction in global population-weighted GDP by approximately 6.3 per cent".

The report titled 'Loss and Damage Today: How climate change is impacting output and capital' added, Globally, climate change has led to a population-weighted Gross domestic product (GDP) loss of 6.3 per cent in 2022..."

"Many coalition groups that represent developing countries at COPs have experienced average losses in 2022 of 5-10 per cent of their GDP," the report said.

It added, "When GDP (Gross domestic product) and capital losses are combined, low and middle-income countries have experienced a total loss of $21 trillion since 1992 (the Rio Convention)."

Global inequalities

The economic impacts of climate change is believed to present a stark contrast between developed and developing nations. The report by the University of Delaware emphasised the existing global inequalities exacerbated by climate change.

According to the report, many high-income countries are currently experiencing net gains, including an average increase of 4.7 per cent to the GDP of European countries. The report further states that the population-weighted GDP loss due to climate change in 2022 globally "is substantial at 6.3 per cent, taking into account the direct, international, and capital losses related to climate".

ALSO READ: COP28, UNFCCC pledge efforts for transparency, solidarity in climate agenda

However, "the percentage of the global GDP lost is 1.8 per cent, about $1.5 trillion, as many wealthier nations have smaller impacts or benefits", it added.

It says, "For OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, climate change has had little net impact (0.3 per cent gain). These countries are collectively seeing a net gain of approximately $636 billion (constant 2015 USD). Meanwhile, the rest of the world has experienced an estimated net GDP loss of

$1818 billion and countries in the Global South have experienced an average 8.3 per cent loss of GDP (3-14 per cent)."

ALSO READ: India's millets push may feature at COP28

COP28: How much countries have offered for Loss and Damage Fund?

More than $400 million has been pledged initially to the new "loss and damage" fund for countries impacted by climate change since it was approved by nations attending the UN's COP 28 climate summit in Dubai on Thursday, news agency AFP reported.

The UAE announced $100 million toward the loss and damage fund, "paving the way for other nations to make pledges to the critically important Fund", a press release said. This fund will help countries cope with "loss and damage" caused by climate change.

The press release further informed about other countries making notable commitments. These countries included:

> Germany, which committed $100m million

> The United Kingdom (UK), which committed 40million for the fund and 20million for other arrangements

> Japan, which contributed $10million

> The United States (US), which committed $17.5million

> The European Union, which committed $246 million

> Italy said it will provide $108.91 million

> Netherlands said it will contribute 15 million euros

However, the amount so far falls well short of the $100 billion developing nations say are needed to meet the costs of changing climate, but more pledges are expected in coming days, the AFP report said.

The formal establishment of the "loss and damage" fund long sought by climate-vulnerable nations provided an early win at COP28, where sharp divisions over the phasing out of fossil fuels were immediately apparent, news agency AFP reported.

The Loss and damage Fund was first agreed upon during COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and became operational on November 30 following the agreement reached by parties during five transitional committee meetings.

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In response to former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's comments on India's GDP growth, KV Subramanian, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, expressed optimism.

Speaking to ANI he highlighted the robust growth of the Indian economy, citing a 7.2 percent growth last year and a 7.7 percent growth in the first half of the current year. Subramanian forecasted a 7 percent growth for the ongoing financial year.

Also Read | India Q2 GDP: Indian economy poised for strong growth in FY24? Here's what top economists say

"The fact that the economy has grown at 7.2 percent last year and at 7.7 percent in the first half of this year is telling in itself. And if I look forward with a 7.7 percent growth in the first half of the year, even with a 6.3 percent average in the second half of the year, India will grow at 7 percent this particular financial year," he said.

"I think it's important to keep in mind that during the pandemic there were many commentators who were very negative. There were people and if you go and check back their media statements, you will find that there were people who said that there are millions of Indians that are going to die on the streets. There are people who actually said that the GDP will decline by over 20 percent for that financial year itself. Many people made such statements and I think none of that has come true," he added while referring to cautious remarks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So in general, I think because of the sui generis policy that India implemented, India had the self-confidence and the courage of conviction to chart its own path rather than copy-pasting what was done, for instance, during the global financial crisis, where we copy-pasted what the advanced economies did..." he added.

Also Read: Growth is welcome but equity is important too

GST revenue indicates a positive trend

Subramanian also commented on the GST revenue collected in November 2023, stating that the collection trend suggests a potential touch of 2 lakh crore per month in 1.5-2 years. He attributed the success of GST collection to effective policy implementation, reflecting India's commitment to sound fiscal management.

"I think, going by the signs so far, in about 1.5-2 years, we can expect to touch two lakh crores rupees in a month. I think the GST collection doing well is part of the overall phenomenon of good policy that has been implemented...So overall, I think the good performance on the GST side is evidence of good policy on taxation..." he said.

Satisfaction with India's GDP growth

Expressing contentment with India's GDP trajectory, Subramanian noted a 7.6 percent growth in the second quarter, following previous growth rates of 7.2 percent in FY23 and 7.8 percent in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. He also hailed the 7.7 percent average growth in the first half as exceptional amid challenging global economic conditions, praising India's economic performance as remarkable considering the international headwinds.

Also Read: Indian markets now valued more than India GDP for FY24

Subramanian commended India's economic resilience and dynamism, highlighting substantial growth despite the complexities of the global economy. He emphasised that India's ability to chart its own path, contrasting it with the approach taken during the global financial crisis, where India implemented unique policies rather than emulating advanced economies.

What did Rajan say?

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan last month said that Indias economy is showing signs of steady growth but needs to expand at a pace of over 8 percent to create enough jobs for the worlds most populous nation.

We should be going at 8-8.5 percent given the needs of the population and the need for jobs. Economic growth at 6-6.5 percent is strong compared with other countries, but relative to our need for jobs I think its still somewhat slow because we have a lot of young people who need to be employed," he noted.

Also Read: Indian economy beats RBI projections  5 key takeaways

Rajan said India also needs to train its workforce to compete with other efficient manufacturing nations, including China and Vietnam. India is trying to move up the value chain, and youre seeing some signs of that happening. But there is a long distance to go, to actually manufacturing full cell phones in India", he added, referring to the manufacture of iPhones in the country.

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Affle India has filed for 15 more patents relating to artificial intelligence, taking its total patent count to 36, a remarkable feat in the adtech industry.

But before we get into that, lets begin with what the company does to understand how these patents can boost the business.

Affle is not your typical mobile marketing and adtech firm. It uses technologyAI tools such as machine learning to deliver personalised ads to users. Affle is akin to a middleman operating between the advertiser and the mobile app user.

So when you use apps on your phone, Affle is the player behind the scenes making sure ads get to you, using smart technology to figure what kind of ads might interest you. Most of this is based on your app usage, making this a highly data-driven business model.

The primary goal is to help advertisers (Affles clients) effectively identify, engage with, and drive transactions with their users.

For this, Affle charges its clients every time a conversion happens (cost per converted user). The higher the conversions, the higher the revenues for Affle. All of which culminate in higher returns for advertisers. Its a win-win.

The company caters to an array of businesses, from gaming and edtech to e-commerce and consumer goods companies. Its customer base includes some of the biggest names in the industrySamsung, Tata Neu, McDonalds, Apollo, Byjus, Max, and Swiggy.

A fine balance

The mobile adtech industry is a crowded space, including not only tech giants such as Google and Facebook but also a growing number of smaller competitors. While many of these players target developed markets, Affle enjoys a strong foothold in emerging markets, positioning it well to capture a larger share of this pie.

Affles business has done well, with sales registering a 4-year compound annual growth rate of 55% between FY19 and FY23. In the first half of FY24, revenue growth improved 19% year-on-year to Rs837 crore.

Like with many tech companies, a lot of this growth has come on the back of acquisitions. Despite its aggressive growth strategy, Affle has successfully maintained a balance between rapid expansion and consistent profitability.

Profits have followed a similar trajectory, improving at a 4-year CAGR of 49%. Profit for the first half of FY24 reflects a 16% year-on-year growth.

But its not as easy as it seems. Over the years, Affle has painstakingly developed multiple processes and platforms to get its business and technology right. Now, to protect its intellectual property and prevent unauthorised use, Affle India is seeking patent protection for its proprietary technologies.

The company already holds 21 patents, granted across the US, India and Singapore.

It has applied for 15 more in the same jurisdictions. These are related to innovative futuristic use cases such as automated AI agents, personalised recommendations, predictive analysis, privacymanagement, enhanced fraud detection, and security.

Staying ahead of competition and risks

Simply put, it means Affle is investing heavily in AI innovation and is getting really good at it.

The companys focus on patents isnt just about protection; it is a strategic move to lead in AI innovation.

These patents will help the company strengthen its negotiating position and stay ahead in the dynamic world of digital advertising. Importantly, the patents will enable Affle to adapt to changes and challenges in the data-driven industry, helping it gain an edge over the less-prepared competition.

Affles reliance on user data for its business makes data privacy laws a big risk to the business. However, the adtech giant enjoys a solid track record of navigating such challenges and implementing a proven business model.

Back in 2021, Apple released an update for iPhones, offering users an option to prevent advertisers from using a device ID. This made targeting users for advertising purposes very difficult.

Even Meta, Facebooks parent company, warned that adoptions of the features had hit critical mass" and made its ads less effective at targeting lucrative potential customers.

However, Affle emerged triumphant, thanks to its acquisition of Jampp, a Japanese company that came up with an innovative solution. This highlights the need for Affle to strengthen its patent portfolio with such technologies.

It also explains why, despite uncertainties surrounding the constantly evolving data privacy landscape, Affle is unfazed.

An expansion phase

The company continues to expand and build its patent portfolio. Affles in-house data management platform has a reach of more than 2.5 billion devices. Recently, the company developed a groundbreaking tool that enables advertisers to tap into diverse language markets.

Investing in innovative tools, expanding inorganically, and securing a strong patent portfolio can be costly. However, Affle's well-funded balance sheet and minimal debt mitigate these concerns.

Recently, Affle secured an investment of Rs749 crores from the Singapore government. Following the issuance of preferred shares, Gamnat Pte., a subsidiary of the Singapore government, will hold a 4.92% stake in Affle.

This values the company at 15,200 crore. For perspective, Affles current market capitalization is 15,926 crore. According to Bloomberg data, the stock currently trades at 42.6 times estimated earnings for FY25.

Affle is currently in a phase of expansion, post which the pace of growth and returns may slow. While the company has shown resilience, intensifying competition and an evolving regulatory landscape raise concerns about whether the current valuation is justified over the long-term.
Animal and Sam Bahadur: One film is about a leader of men who lived his life fearlessly in service to the nation, and the other is about a bearded angry man drenched in blood laughing about male body parts and treating women like property, oh yes, in the name of his daddy.

Animal is about Ranbir Kapoor who loves his papa Balbir Singh (played by Anil Kapoor) so much that he asks his mother why he cannot be called Balbir II like the sons of kings who took on their fathers name upon coronation. But young Ranbir has a temper, so his father sends him off to America to learn some discipline. His older sisters husband begins to help out Balbir Singh in his steel factory business. Ranbir comes back upon hearing that his papa has been shot by unknown assailants. Ranbir embarks on a killing spree to avenge his dad. Dad doesnt like it but looks like he doesnt have much of a say... Much blood is shed, many sidekicks are slashed and stabbed and the director attempts to tell us that Indian men will behave animal-like because their dads dont have the time for them, and will be violent (their enunciation, not mine) because young men love their fathers.

On the other hand, Sam Bahadur is a tiresome cinematic charting of a wiki page of Indias finest army man: Field Marshal Manekshaw. The man who fought in five wars for the country and retired in grace and won the admiration of the soldiers he led on the battlefield. The director seems to be so much in awe of the man, that the film fails to deliver any inspiring message. Despite the awesome subject, the film lacks soul.

What money lessons can be gleaned from such glaringly different films that have been released this week? Let us examine.

Succession drama in Animal: Who inherits your business?

Balbir Singh has inherited the steel factory from his dad and is totally immersed in work. His son-in-law has joined the company and his son (Ranbir Kapoor) has been sent off to the US to learn discipline and to tone that temper. Even though Balbir Singh mentions the stock price of the company, and we see the stock price being mentioned on TV - because work at the factory is at a standstill - when Balbir Singh is shot at, we never really see any board of directors get together or anyone else mention anything about the company.

Will the son-in-law (who has joined hands with the enemies) inherit the factory or will the volatile son who has never really worked at the factory?

If you own a company or are a savvy investor, take your cues from the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett himself. He has famously maintained that one should resist the impulse to give your children everything just because you can. "You should leave your children enough so they can do anything, but not enough so they can do nothing." He also said, "My kids are going to carve out their own place in this world, and they know I'm for them whatever they want to do."

The laws of succession in India are very clear. All it takes for you to groom someone to take your place, make sure the board of your company is in the know (there are rules that dictate an annual scrutiny of the successor by the board and so on), and yes, just as Warren Buffett finally announced his successor at the company (having provided for his children through their foundations), you too can take your time and prepare yourself for the inevitable.

And if you are working in your family business, work hard to be noticed so that you can inherit the business. If you try to game the system, failure is guaranteed.

Be like Sam Bahadur: A brave soldier of war and a great leader of men

When World War II came to our doorstep, young Sam Manekshaw survived nine bullets from the Japanese in Burma when he defended Pagoda Hill and recaptured Buddha Hill in order to save a bridge. He fought bravely in four wars after recovering from those wounds. He led the soldiers, inspiring them to never forget the dignity of their uniforms and fought with the politicians who wanted to use the soldiers to build barracks and do other menial work. My soldiers are not bricklayers and carpenters, if the government wants labourers, I will send them names of contractors.

He inspired dispirited soldiers to step in and fight because he was going to make sure they were protected in battle too. He knew they were getting into an unwinnable fight when the soldiers were sent to fight tribal insurgents in the North East. And yes, he strategized the win of our 1971 war for Bangladesh.

As a savvy investor, you too have to be the field marshal of your money. Know the progress of every stock in your portfolio. Know your material so well, you know how and when to buy and sell when you are trading.

If it is futures you are interested in, understand the market so well, like Sam Bahadur you too will be able to predict the movement of your money. He knew the day General Yahya Khan of Pakistan would actively begin the war against the insurgents/freedom fighters (Mukti Bahini) in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He is said to have predicted the date India would join the war (December 04, 1971). He was not afraid to tell the then Prime Minister that it would be unwise to send the soldiers to war in the monsoons because we would just lose soldiers plus the melting snow from the Himalayas would give the Chinese another chance to move into Indian lands should we move the troops towards East Pakistan.

And when adversity comes to your doorstep, you are prepared because you have invested honestly and bravely, and you have the confidence to tackle any adverse movement of the market with your head held high. Just like Sam Bahadur!

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati  an online writers forum, hosts Mumbais oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.

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View Full Image Investors prefer mutual funds over fixed deposits

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Enforcement Directorate official Ankit Tiwari was arrested on Friday after being 'caught red-handed' while accepting a bribe. Officials from the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption conducted searches at the ED office and seized several incriminating documents on Saturday. The developments have also sparked a political debate in the southern state with Opposition parties lashing out at the BJP.

This is not the first time and this isn't the last time either. Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialized agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi. Recently, a similar incident happened in Rajasthan...We can't blame the ED for a single individual's mistake..." insisted state BJP chief K Annamalai.

Leaders from the DMK and Congress meanwhile lashed out at the probe agency and accused the BJP-led central government of misusing the ED to target political opponents and critics".

ALSO READ: Who is Ankit Tiwari? All you need to know about ED officer nabbed by Tamil Nadu police for accepting  20 lakhs bribe

This shatters the faith citizens have in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or Enforcement Directorate after being systematically misused by the BJP government to brazenly terrorize and extort political opponents and critics across the country," wrote DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran.

Based on the information and complaint received by the Tamil Nadu police they went to check to the enforcement department office. If he was innocent, he could have faced them and why did he run away at the time" added Tamil Nadu Congress President KS Alagiri.

Tiwari was arrested in Dindigul and sent to judicial custody on Friday. Officials said that he was nabbed after an eight-kilometre chase along the Dindigul-Madurai highway.

DVAC officials have since conducted searches at his residence and the ED sub-zonal office in Madurai. CRPF personnel were also seen outside the central government office where the DVAC officials conducted enquiries. Security personnel at the Madurai ED office locked the office from inside while DVAC conducted their searches today.

(With inputs from agencies)

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DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Estonia plans to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2035, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said, Trend reports.

She spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"We must be determined to turn words into actions. In Estonia, we are already taking action by prioritizing climate change. Our message is that the economy must follow environmental regulations. With sophisticated technologies, Estonia is assisting in the green transformation. Our society, economy, and way of thinking are all geared toward a more sustainable future. It is vital to reduce emissions while also promoting the use of renewable energy sources. By 2030, we must develop renewable energy sources worldwide, boost energy efficiency, and phase out fossil fuels. I urge all countries to join this commitment. We require ambitious negotiation outcomes and promises. The early signs are promising. We cannot be distracted by the geopolitical maneuverings of those who employ ecocide as a weapon of war," she said.

Kallas noted that digital technology is now enabling green reform.

"Once Parliament passes a new law to produce 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, it will more than triple our level of renewable energy production. We plan to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. This is a bold ambition, as until recently energy production has been dominated by fossil fuels," the Prime Minister noted.

"I am pleased to announce a contribution of 1.1 million euros to the Green Climate Fund, as well as equal contributions to the UN Trust Fund for Supplementary Activities and to the new Loss and Damage Fund," she added.

The opening ceremony of the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, was held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) on December 1.

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After decades of wait and a long legal battle, Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya is ready and will be open for devotees after a grand inauguration ceremony to take place on January 22, 2024. Apart from eminent dignitaries like PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath, more than 6000 people will join the grand Pran Pratistha ceremony at Ram Temple. Also Read: Mandir wahin ban raha hai: BJP releases Ram temple theme song ahead of Assembly, Lok Sabha polls | Watch The 6,000 invitation cards for the grand consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla have been sent to invitees from across the nation. Visuals of the invitation cards being sent to different people have been doing rounds on the internet. These invitation cards have been sent out by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to more than 6,000 people. The visuals of the invitation card have been also shared by news agencies ANI and PTI on their social media handle. The grand ceremony will also be joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with several other prominent personalities who will be attending the grand inauguration of the Ram Temple.

Also Read: Godhra-like incident can happen after Ram Mandir inauguration, says Uddhav Thackeray; BJP reacts

The construction of Ram Temple has received contributions from not just different parts of India, but also from other countries. In a significant cultural gesture, Thailand has sent soil to the Ramjanmabhoomi ahead of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Earlier, the country had sent water from its two rivers in Thailand to Lord Ram's temple.

The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya will be celebrated at a grand level just like a festival in the state, said Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh recently.

Also Read: Remains of ancient temple discovered at Ram Janmabhoomi excavation site, claims Teerth Kshetra Trust official

On the occasion, the state government will hold recitation of the Ram Charitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa in all prestigious temples and muths. These events will be organised throughout the state from January 14 till the consecration ceremony. These programs will be managed by local artists through the Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Culture Council established in every district, Singh added.

In every district of the state, local artists will continuously recite Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa from Makar Sankranti on January 14 till the consecration of Ramlala on January 22, 2024, PTI quoted the minister.

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Cash-for-query case: As the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee report recommending the expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the cash-for-query case, the Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday wrote to Speaker Om Birla demanding a relook and appropriately reviewing the rules and processes on the functioning of parliamentary committees.

The Ethics Committee, which probed the 'cash-for-query' allegations against Moitra, will be tabled in the lower house on 4 December. The committee, at a meeting on 9 November had adopted its report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the Lok Sabha over the "cash-for-query" allegation. In a four-page letter to the speaker, Chowdhury said there is no clear-cut demarcation in the roles envisaged for the Privileges Committee and the Ethics Committee, more so in matters of exercising penal powers. Also Read: Mahua Moitra gets new role in TMC amid probe into 'cash-for-query' case There is no clear-cut demarcation in the roles envisaged for the two Committees, more so, in the matter of exercising penal powers. Also, as of date, there is no clear definition of "unethical conduct", and a "Code of Conduct remains to be formulated though envisaged under Rule 316 B of the Rules of Procedure. These issues, inclusive of the procedures being followed by the Committee, which have a significant bearing and influence on the polity, may require deeper attention, and the processes streamlined under your guidance and directions," he wrote.

Chowdhury, who is also chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the views expressed by him are in his personal capacity.

"If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Ms. Mohua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is an extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications," he said.

According to the agenda papers circulated by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ethics Committee Chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar will lay on the table of the House the panel's first report.

The committee, at a meeting on November 9, adopted its report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the Lok Sabha over the "cash-for-query" allegation.

The Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, had on November 9 adopted its 500-page report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct".

In the letter, the Congress MP further expressed his hope for 'justice' and said that he is looking for intervention into the matter.

I am sure that under your leadership and control, no in-justice will be done, and the processes relating to the functioning of Parliament and conduct of the Business of the House is smoothened for the benefit of all Members of the House," he added.

Moreover, Chowdhury also urged the Speaker to have the entire processes relating to the jurisdiction and procedures to be followed, examined and such remedial measures, as needed, taken towards streamlining the functioning.

"I urge upon you to ensure that Members do not become susceptible and find themselves on the "wrong side", the entire protocols relating to the functioning of the Official Portal of Lok Sabha will have to be looked into and reviewed," he wrote.

He further questioned as to why the businessman chose to turn against the member despite his interests apparently being served by way of posing questions by using the Log-in credentials.

"The Dubai based Businessman who purportedly had access to the "log-in credentials" of the Member, Mahua Moitra to the Lok Sabha Portal and was placing Questions on her behalf was, as per reports, possibly not called by the Committee for deposing. It is also not clearly known as to why the Businessman chose to turn against the Member despite his interests apparently being served by way of posing questions by using the Log in credentials," he asked.

(With PTI, ANI inputs)

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Commander Prerna Deosthalee will be the first woman officer of the Indian Navy to command Indian Naval Warship, the Indian Navys Western Fleet posted on X on Saturday. The tweet came a day after Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said the Indian Navy has appointed its first woman commanding officer in a naval ship in sync with its philosophy of 'all roles-all ranks' for female personnel.

Who is Commander Prerna Deosthalee? A brief profile Commander Prerna Deosthale is presently the First Lieutenant of warship INS Chennai, the Indian Navy said. She hails from Mumbai and joined the Indian Navy in 2009, Free Press Journal reported. ALSO READ: Spains Navantia to bid for Indian Navys landing platform docks contract Prerana Deosthali was also appointed as the commanding officer of INS Trinkat based in Goa. "She was recently presented the appointment letter by Western Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Praveen Nair on being selected as Commanding Officer of Waterjet FAC INS Trinkat," the Navy said.

According to Free Press Journal, Lieutenant Commander Prerana is the first lady Observer on Tupolev Tu-142, a maritime reconnaissance aircraft followed a stint on the P8I, also a reconnaissance aircraft. She hails from Mumbai and schooled at the Convent of Jesus and Mary.,

ALSO READ: Indian Navy, DRDO test indigenously developed naval anti-ship missile | Watch

Lieutenant Commander Prerana is reportedly a post graduate in psychology from St Xaviers College. She schooled at the Convent of Jesus and Mary. She is married to a naval officer and has a three-year-old daughter, the report added.

Addressing a press conference ahead of Navy Day, Admiral Kumar said on Friday, "We also appointed the first woman commanding officer of an Indian naval ship. It has been our effort to constantly challenge the status quo to ensure that the navy remains on an aspirational and dynamic trajectory into the future."

ALSO READ: Qatar accepts India's appeal against death sentence to former Navy officers: Report

He added that more than 1,000 women agniveers have been incorporated into the Indian Navy this year. "... I want to say that with the third batch, which has just been inducted, we have now crossed over 1000 women affiliates in the navy," he added.

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Cyclone Michaung News Update: A month after cyclone Hamoon, another depression is brewing over the Bay of Bengal and is likely to intensify into a Cyclonic Storm by Sunday.

Due to the cyclonic activity in the region, coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha are expected to witness severe rainfall for the next two days. On Saturday, heavy rain lashed several areas of Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu districts. IMD has issued heavy rainfall warnings in coastal districts of the state. Here are top updates on the cyclonic storm Michaung brewing over the Bay of Bengal.

Top 10 updates on Cyclone Michaung

-The depression brewing over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a deep depression during the next 12 hours and into a cyclonic storm by December 3, said IMD on Saturday.

-"It is likely to intensify into a deep depression during the next 12 hours and further into a cyclonic storm over the southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3. Thereafter, it would move northwestwards and reach near south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by December 4 forenoon," an IMD release said.

-While explaining the track of Cyclone Michaung, S Balachandran, Deputy-Director General of Meteorology, said that the depression is over the South West Bay of Bengal. The depression will evolve into a cyclonic storm while continuously moving north westward in the next 24 hours. It will reach the west central bay of south Andhra and north Tamil Nadu coast by 4 December. After that, it will move parallel to the coast of northward direction.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it was always a delight" to meet friends as a selfie with his Italian counterpart took the internet by storm on Saturday. The photo was taken on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai and shared on social media by PM Giorgia Meloni.

Good friends at COP28" she tweeted. The Italian PM also captioned the image with the now trending hashtag Melodi  an amalgamation of their last names. Social media denizens have since dubbed it the selfie of the year Meeting friends is always a delight," came the response from New Delhi.

Much has been said about the camaraderie shared between Modi and Meloni since their interaction at the G20 summit. Their laughter-filled exchanges during the event in India had made headlines, and the hashtag only gained momentum in the ensuing months.

Prime Minister Modi had also posted a photo from his interaction with Meloni on Friday.

Met PM Giorgia Meloni of Italy on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit. Looking forward to collaborative efforts between India and Italy for a sustainable and prosperous future," he wrote on X (nee Twitter).

Modi addressed the opening session of the World Climate Action Summit  the ceremonial opening of the high-level segment for heads of state and government on Friday. He also attended the Presidency's session on Transforming Climate Finance and a Leadership Group for Industry Transition event in Dubai.

During his address, Modi proposed India as the venue for the 2028 edition of the UN climate talks. If the proposal to host COP33 is accepted, it would be the next big global conference in the country after the G20 Summit earlier this year.

India hosted COP8 in New Delhi in 2002 where countries adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration which called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimise the impact of climate change on developing countries.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Nikhil Gupta, an Indian citizen accused by the United States (US) of plotting to assassinate a Khalistan separatist, was moved from a high security prison facility in Prague to US jurisdiction in mid-November, the India Express reported. This was days before the indictment was filed in a New York court.

Who is Nikhil Gupta?

According to the the American indictment, the alleged plot to assassinate Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil began in May, with a text message between an Indian security official and Nikhil Gupta.

The prosecutors described Gupta as an Indian national involved in drugs and weapons trafficking, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, the senior official reportedly wanted Gupta to orchestrate the target's murder, in exchange for getting criminal charges against him in India dropped.

From Prague to US

Now, a recent report by the Indian Express shared a fresh information in the case. It said Gupta (52) was at Prague airport when Czech authorities arrested and detained him on June 30. He was said to be in the Czech Republic for "business and tourism" purposes. However, "the Czech National Drug authorities were tipped off due to his alleged past in drug trafficking," the report said. Nikhil was then detained by the Czech authorities.

ALSO READ: What Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Pannun's failed murder attempt means for India-US ties?

Later, the authorities informed the Indian embassy in Prague about one Nick Gupta, an Indian national who had been detained on the basis of a US court order.

According to the report, the Indian embassy was unaware of the antecedents of Gupta at that time. Therefore, the embassy followed procedures related to consular assistance for any Indian national. They got Gupta's passport details for authentication of his identity and nationality. This is a routine process.

While the Indian embassy verified Guptas nationality, the Czech authorities remained tight-lipped throughout the time about the offences that Gupta was being investigated for.

As the probe was underway, Gupta did not seek any legal assistance from the Indian embassy - which is usually the case for Indian nationals overseas. He reportedly arranged for his own legal counsel in Prague to represent him before the Czech criminal justice system.

Later in October this year, one of the topmost intelligence official in the US government, came to India with information that was going to be part of the US indictment that federal prosecutors were preparing.

The documentation and the details "made the Indian government sit up and look at the information closely. It took them a few weeks to assess the information, which had some damning evidence, and they decided to investigate", the report said.

These details have now been made public as part of the indictment filed by the US Department of Justice.

The report said the information and evidence were "solid enough" for the Czech authorities to transfer Gupta to US jurisdiction. The Indian national was then handed over to the FBI.

Meanwhile, the Indian government conveyed to the US officials that it was going to investigate the information provided to them. The Indian government then agreed to set up the high-level probe panel on November 18 to look into all the aspects.

Gupta was charged with with murder-for-hire. However, the senior Indian official was not charged or identified by name in the court filing, which described him as a senior field officer" with responsibilities in security management and intelligence.

The plot, which was foiled by US officials who set up a sting, emerged just days after the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and was meant to precede a string of other politically-motivated killings in the US and Canada, according to the indictment.

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After participating in the Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a post on social media platform X, of COP28 and reiterated his willingness to work together for a better planet. "Earlier today in Dubai, I had the opportunity to interact with King Charles, who has always been passionate towards environmental conservation and sustainable development. He is an important voice in the fight against climate change. @RoyalFamily," said PM Modi in a post on X. Modi highlighted key moments in the video he shared on X, the social media platform. "Thank you, Dubai! It's been a productive #COP28 Summit. Let's all keep working together for a better planet," PM Modi wrote in the post.

In addition to his bilateral meetings, he interacted with global leaders, and he spoke at the summit about the importance of all countries contributing to climate change mitigation.

In the video, PM Modi was also seen shaking hands and engaging with many world leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

PM Modi met with King Charles III during the summit. In the fight against climate change, PM Modi referred to King Charles as a significant voice.

The Prime Minister of India met with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, and both leaders exchanged views on a number of topics.

"Met Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Pham Minh Chinh and had a great conversation on various issues," PM Modi posted on X.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday said that the government is fully ready for structured debate and they have requested the opposition to let the House function smoothly. As reported by ANI, Joshi said, From December 4, the winter session of Parliament will begin, and there are 15 sitting. We had called an all-party meeting today...23 parties and 30 leaders attended the meeting. Zero hour has been happening regularly." He further added, We requested that the atmosphere should be maintained for structured debates. The discussions should be held following rules and procedures...The govt is ready to hold discussions on all the issues...The govt is fully ready for structured debate." Also Read: Parliament Winter Session 2023: All-party meet today; Know key agendas Earlier in the day, Joshi chaired the all-party meeting at the Parliament Library building, ahead of the winter session of Parliament.

Meanwhile, the list of Bills likely to be taken up during the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament include, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023 are among the Bills likely to be taken up.

Here is the complete list of bills likely to be taken up during the 14th session of the 17th Lok Sabha and the 262nd Session of Rajya Sabha.

View Full Image List of Bills likely to be taken up during the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament. (Photo: ANI)

I. Legislative Business:

1. The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, as passed by Lok Sabha.

2. The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha.

3. The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha.

4. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023

5. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023

6. The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023

7. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023

8. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

9. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

10. The Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

11. The Post Office Bill, 2023

12. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions

of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023

13. The Boilers Bill, 2023

14. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023

15. The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2023

16. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023

17. The Government of Union Territories (Amendmenty Bill, 2023

18. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill,2023

19. The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023

II. Financial Business:

1. Presentation, Discussion and Voting on First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2023-24 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.

2. Presentation, Discussion and Voting on Demands for Excess Grants for the year 2020-21 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.

Also Read: Cash-for-query case: Lok Sabha panel to table report seeking expulsion of Mahua Moitra on Monday

The upcoming Winter Session of Parliament is slated to take place in the newly inaugurated building. In September of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Parliament building as a significant component of the government's initiative to revamp the British colonial-era architecture in New Delhi.

(With inputs from ANI)

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Eli Lilly announced that the drug Jaypirca has been given second approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on Friday, December 1. The drug is used to treat a form of blood cancer.

In its announcement, the company said that the drug has been given new approval for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a cancer in which too many certain white blood cells are produced by the bone marrow.

Earlier this month, the FDA granted accelerated approval to Jaypirca for treating mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare type of blood cancer that starts in white blood cells and spreads to other parts of the body.

According to the National Institutes of Health, MCL is a more aggressive cancer than CLL.

A minimum of two lines of therapy must have been used before the drug can be used to treat adults with CLL.

In another development last month, U.S. and UK regulators both gave the thumbs up to Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) weight-loss treatment called Zepbound on Wednesday, paving the way for a powerful new rival to Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO) Wegovy in addressing record obesity rates.

The two drugs are the most effective treatments for weight loss approved to date and will compete in a global market estimated to be worth $100 billion by the end of the decade.

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Google Doodle on Saturday celebrated the United Arab Emirates National Day, also known as the Spirit of the Union.

As per the description, this public holiday observes the formation of the UAE, a union comprising seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah. December 2, 1971, holds historical significance as the day when the UAE was established as a sovereign, independent nation, allowing each emirate to maintain its individual identity.

National Day is a time for Emiratis to celebrate their patriotism, unity, and diverse heritages with loved ones. Festivities typically include parades, firework shows, musical performances, and even events like camel races and car rallies," the description added.

Also Read: COP28 2023: What to expect from PM Modi's visit to Dubai | 5 points

During the celebrations, the UAE national flag, adorned in red, green, white, and black, is proudly hoisted and fluttered in the air, mirroring the depiction in the artwork.

Families come together for festive gatherings, indulging in feasts that feature delectable dishes such as the national favorite, khuzia flavorful combination of roasted lamb served on spicy rice.

Earlier on Friday, Google Doodle celebrated Great Union Day, or Ziua Marii Uniri, in Romania with a doodle dedicated to Romania's flag.

Also Read: Google Doodle celebrates architect Clorindo Testa on his birth anniversary

Great Union Day day is celebrated on December 1 and is observed as a public holiday that commemorates the unification of several different ethnic groups under one single banner.

Also Read: Google Doodle celebrates Japanese Brazilian artist Tommy Ohtake's 110th birthday. Here's what you should know

The first-ever celebration of Great Union Day in Alba Iulia instilled a sense of identity and unity among diverse residents of Romania and marked the end of years of struggle for self-determination. The blue, yellow, and red stripes of the Romanian national flag represent liberty, justice, and fraternity.

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DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Half of the total CO2 emissions over the last two centuries have occurred in the last 30 years, and they continue to rise, Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"Unfortunately, awareness about climate change is increasing faster than ever. The bleak fact of global warming appears to be accelerating rather than slowing. Emissions of greenhouse gases continue to climb. On November 17, we surpassed the symbolic 2% global warming threshold since the beginning of the industrial age. This seemed inconceivable until recently. It's a strong message that we need to do a lot more to reduce the effects of climate change. We, on the other hand, are doing the reverse," the official stated.

Plenkovic noted that Croatia ranks fifth in the European Union in the production of electricity from renewable sources and eighth in gross energy consumption from renewable sources.

"We have made considerable progress by including environmental factors in our state ecological procurement and adopting environmental management in public administration. Carbon pricing has already resulted in a 43 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. We are aware that the richest ten percent of countries account for half of CO2 emissions, while the poorest half of humanity accounts for only eight percent of emissions. We must act quickly and proportionally to our impact on global warming, now more than ever. Croatia is resolved to be a dependable partner inside the COP convention," he added.

The opening ceremony of the World Summit on Climate Action was held in Dubai on December 1.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Over the course of the past week Hamas released 80 Israeli women, children and teenagers as part of a truce agreement in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian militants also freed 25 others outside the scope of the truce deal, most of them Thai farm workers, bringing to 105 the number of captives released during the pause in hostilities.

With five hostages having already been freed before the truce, a total of 110 captives have returned home alive -- 33 children, 49 women and 28 men -- out of an initial group of around 240.

As Israel resumes its offensive in Gaza, we look at who is still believed to be in captivity. The Israeli army said Friday that five more hostages had died, bringing the total number to seven, and 136 were still being held.

The government said 125 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepali, one Tanzanian and a French-Mexican identified as Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, by his family.

Baby boy

AFP has managed to identify 110 of the remaining hostages, mainly through interviews with their relatives or Israeli media reports. It is far from certain that all are alive.

Hamas claims the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza along with his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and four-year-old brother Ariel.

Israel has yet to confirm the fate of the family, which has come to symbolise the brutality of the hostage-taking.

The Israeli government on Friday confirmed the deaths of two hostages: Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier, and Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman from Beeri kibbutz.

17 women and children

Besides the Bibas boys, there are no child hostages known to be left in Gaza.

The last minor to be released was 17-year-old Aisha al-Zayadna, who was freed on the final day of the truce on Thursday along with her 18-year-old brother.

Seventeen women and children are still being held in Gaza, including Shiri Bibas.

The oldest are Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Haggai, both aged 70.

The women also include Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old who was filmed screaming "Don't kill me!" as Hamas militants took her away on a motorbike from the Tribe of Nova desert rave. Argamani appeared in a video from Gaza shortly afterwards, drinking a bottle of water on a couch.

Five women aged 18-19 were performing their military service when they were kidnapped.

As soldiers, they were excluded from the prisoner swap.

Men in their 80s

At least 91 men are still being held, including 10 aged between 18 and 22, most of whom were on military service at the time of the October 7 attack.

Some of the men are fathers of children who were freed with their mothers, relatives or other families in the past week.

They include David Cunio, whose wife Sharon and twin three-year-old daughters Emma and Yuli were released on Monday, along with Tal Shoham, whose wife Adina, son Naveh, eight, and daughter Yahel, three, were released on Saturday.

The father of a French-Israeli boy, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi who was returned on Monday to his mother, is still held.

Some of the men are in their 70s and 80s.

Over a month after Hamas released two elderly women, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Kuper, their husbands Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Kuper, 85, are still also held.

Oded Lifshitz was described by his family as a passionate human rights defender from Nir Oz kibbutz, who used to drive people from Gaza to hospital.

Dozens of ravers

At least 33 people abducted during the Hamas massacre at the Tribe of Nova festival are still held hostage. Only five were released during the truce, including 21-year-old French-Israeli Mia Shem.

Of the others, at least 28 come from Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, which had at least 71 of its roughly 400 residents abducted.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the United Nations' ongoing 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai on December 1. In a photo post on social media site X (formerly Twitter), Modi wrote in Italian: Met PM Giorgia Meloni of Italy on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit. Looking forward to collaborative efforts between India and Italy for a sustainable and prosperous future." Also Read: Italy PM Giorgia Meloni applauds PM Modi calls him the most loved leader of the world Meloni in turn also posted a selfie with the Indian PM saying, Good friends at COP28. #Melodi"

Also Read: PM Modi announces Startup Bridge between India and Italy

Busy day in Dubai

PM Modi participated in a series of bilateral meetings at the Dubai Summit, engaging with several world leaders on critical global issues. He had discussions with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Barbados counterpart Mia Amor Mottley, French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and UK PM Rishi Sunak.

Also Read | COP28: What is it and why is it important? Mint explains

On the sidelines, Modi also met with King Charles III, acknowledging his significant role in combating climate change. "Earlier today in Dubai, I had the opportunity to interact with King Charles, who has always been passionate about environmental conservation and sustainable development. He is an important voice in the fight against climate change," he said on X.

Additionally, the Indian Prime Minister engaged with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, discussing various bilateral and global matters. "Met Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, and had a great conversation on various issues," he said on X.

Also Read: India, Italy discuss leaders dialogues

Modi was in Dubai to participate in the World Climate Action Summit, a high-level segment of COP28 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), emphasizing the significant impact of climate change on countries in the Global South. He stressed the necessity of climate finance and technology for realising the aspirations of these nations.

Modi also highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on countries like India despite their smaller contributions to it. The PM landed at Delhi airport late on Friday night.

Also Read: India, Italy may finalize migration & mobility agreement

Arindam Bagchi, the MEA spokesperson, summarised the visit as: "PM's visit was defined by fruitful engagements with global leaders and path-breaking initiatives for accelerating global climate action."

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The United States of America has reportedly been undertaking covert missions to recover unidentified flying objects. At least nine non-human crafts" have been collected thus far by a secret team of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Office of Global Access is believed to have found at least two UFOs in an undamaged condition.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the US US intelligence agency has a system that can "discern UFOs that are cloaked". Special military units are dispatched when such vehicles land on earth. The publication quoted unnamed sources who were directedly briefed by members of the retrieval team to underscore its assertion.

The OGA reportedly comes under the CIA's Science and Technology Directorate and works in tandem with special operations forces such as SEAL teams to carry out the missions.

ALSO READ: Google bot Bard says humans are invaders of Earth and Elon Musk is their overlord: Report

The assertion comes mere months after former Pentagon intelligence officer David Grusch told Congress that the American government has been hiding evidence of crashed UAPs and alien biological specimens.

I was informed, in the course of my official duties, of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program. I made the decision, based on the data I collected, to report this information to my superiors and multiple inspectors general, and in effect becoming a whistleblower," Grusch testified in July.

Meanwhile a recently released NASA report said that it had found no evidence that UFOs were extraterrestrial.

It is increasingly clear that the majority of UAP observations can be attributed to known phenomena or occurrences," NASAs 16-member expert panel wrote in its report.

However, the panel also concluded that the ability to study UAPs is hampered by poor data collection and a lack of uniform standards", which must be remedied if research is to proceed on a credible basis.

The top takeaway of the study is that theres a lot more to learn," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in public remarks at the agencys headquarters in Washington.

(With inputs from agencies)

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One of Elon Musk s rockets carried a South Korean spy satellite into orbit as the rivalry between the two Koreas expands beyond Earth.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Seouls first domestically made reconnaissance satellite launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 a.m. Friday, according to South Koreas defense ministry. The satellite entered into orbit after successfully separating from the rocket 14 minutes after launch and also made its first communication with a ground station, the ministry said in a statement.

The launch comes on the heels of North Korea placing its first spy satellite into orbit last month, allowing Kim Jong Uns regime to keep an eye on US troop movements in the region.

South Korea has relied on the US for space-based intelligence but is now seeking to supplement that by stepping up its own reconnaissance capabilities with a series of launches aimed at putting five spy satellites in orbit by 2025.

Also Read: Indian astronaut to join ISS crew in 24

With this successful launch, South Korean military has secured an independent space surveillance and reconnaissance capability," South Korea said.

The US does not share all the satellite images Koreans want," said Sejin Kwon, a professor of aerospace engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

The spy probes are part of a broader effort to develop South Koreas space program, including the launch in May of a Nuri rocket that transported eight satellites into orbit.

With the spy satellite launches, the two Koreas join a growing list of countries seeking to expand their data collection in space.

Also Read: ISRO chief says THESE factors could make India a satellite manufacturing hub

Japan is looking to increase its network of information-gathering satellites from five to nine over the next few years to better keep an eye on its nuclear-armed neighbors, the Cabinet Secretariat has said. The country launched its latest reconnaissance satellite in January.

An Indian rocket in July launched an Israeli-made Earth observation satellite for Singaporean users, including the countrys Defence Science and Technology Agency, Israel Aerospace Industries said in a statement. IAI on Oct. 2 announced an agreement to sell two satellites to Azerbaijans space agency.

North Koreas spy satellite may improve Pyongyangs ability to target missiles designed to deliver nuclear strikes in South Korea and Japan.

The newly launched South Korean satellite is expected to be far more capable than the North Korean probe, which likely has a rudimentary optical system that experts believe offers images with lower resolution than those from commercial satellites.

Also Read: Sorry, Elon! The satellites of the future are heading to space right now

Seouls satellite has a telescope with electro-optical/infrared sensors, according to a spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program. The spacecraft is capable of identifying objects as small as 30 centimeters (12 inches), with a resolution capacity about 100 times better than what North Korea has, the DongA Ilbo newspaper reported in late November.

The project could bolster South Koreas ability to gather intelligence independently, acting as a hedge against political changes in the US that could impact information sharing.

Former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House, during his tenure threatened to withdraw US troops stationed in the country.

South Korea sees the deployment of its spy satellites as part of a security triad with the US and Japan to launch preemptive strikes, shoot down missiles in flight and launch its own strikes to knock out North Koreas military and command assets.

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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Former President Donald Trump has outlined a second-term agenda that envisions a muscular use of federal authority to influence swaths of American society. Here are some of the most notable proposals that Trump has outlined on his campaign website:

Education

Trump has promised to take funds from private-university endowments to create a government-backed American Academy" that would provide free online courses and allow people to achieve the equivalent of a bachelors degree.

He would attempt to implement college entrance and exit exams across the existing U.S. higher-education system and impose new standards in an effort to defend the American tradition." He has said he would create a new credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values and support the American Way of Life."

Trump would cut federal funding and potentially open civil-rights investigations into schools that teach critical race theory, discuss transgender issues and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children." He would provide funding preferences and favorable treatment" for school districts that abolish teacher tenure, cut the number of school administrators and adopt a Parents Bill of Rights.

Gender

Trump would declare that any hospital or healthcare provider that approves medical interventions for young transgender people will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare."

He would direct the Justice Department to investigate whether pharmaceutical companies and hospital networks conspired to promote medical interventions for transgender people and illegally marketed puberty-blocking medications and hormones.

Policing

Any law enforcement agency that receives grants from the Justice Department would be required to implement policing measures such as stop-and-frisk. The grants would also be conditioned on strictly enforcing existing gun laws, cracking down on the open use of illegal drugs, and cooperating with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to arrest and deport criminal aliens."

He would direct the Justice Department to open civil rights investigations into prosecutors in cities run by Democrats, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Cities

Trump has proposed erecting 10 freedom cities" on undeveloped federal land. Under the plan, which includes few details, the government would hold a contest to generate proposals for Washington, D.C.-sized cities and then award development charters to the best ideas.

The former president has proposed a countrywide beautification" campaign, which would involve getting rid of ugly buildings" and refurbishing public spaces.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is already looking at the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 as the AAP leader addressed the public in Punjab's Gurdaspur on Saturday, where took a jibe over the absence of actor and BJP MP Sunny Deol from his constituency. The national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that big people" like Sunny Deol will not do anything and the people must vote for his party in the general elections scheduled for next year.

"Last time, you all voted for Sunny Deol. Did he ever come here?... He never came, so what was the benefit? We all thought that he was a big actor, and if we vote for him, he will do something. These big people are not going to do anything. Give your vote to 'Aam Aadmi', they will at least come to your use..." Arvind Kejriwal said.

AAP has shown some real growth in states like Delhi and Punjab, where the party is ruling currently. The margin of victories is also significant which displays that the party is strong at the level of organization, but still, their prospects look very bleak on the national stage. In the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, the party won just one seat from Punjab's Sangrur. The sole AAP Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann was later appointed as the Chief Minister of Punjab.

While AAP is dealing with the challenges at its level, the central agencies have recently turned towards the senior leaders of the party with Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh in jail under the money laundering charges. The political pundits are discussing the possibility of the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Chief Minister is also not ruling out the possibility.

Recently, the AAP launched a signature campaign to get people's opinion if Arvind Kejriwal should resign as Delhi chief minister if he is arrested in the Delhi Excise Policy case.

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Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is scheduled to convene an all-party meeting of floor leaders in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Saturday. The meeting is anticipated to be attended by prominent BJP figures, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Parliament's winter session for 2023 is scheduled to start on December 4 and extend until December 22.

Notably, the outcomes of five state assembly elections (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana) will be disclosed on December 3. These election results are expected to significantly influence the parliamentary session, where the government aims to pass crucial bills.

Also Read: Parliament Winter Session to begin on 4 December and continue till 22 December

Earlier, Joshi had said, Winter Session, 2023 of Parliament will commence from 4th December and continue till 22nd December having 15 sittings spread over 19 days. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to discussions on Legislative Business and other items during the session."

What to expect in Winter Session 2023

The government has outlined 18 Bills for consideration during the session. Among them are two bills aimed at extending the provisions of the women's reservation law to Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry, as well as three bills intended to replace existing criminal laws.

The government will also present a bill to seek Parliaments approval for adjustments to the Centres 35 trillion spending programme in the current fiscal, Mint reported.

Also Read: Bills for GST appellate tribunals, spending likely in winter session

The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, led by BJP's Vinod Sonkar, has presented its findings, proposing the expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha. The report pertains to the alleged cash-for-queries scandal and has faced opposition from members of the Opposition within the committee.

Also Read: Cash-for-query case: Lok Sabha panel to table report seeking expulsion of Mahua Moitra on Monday

Meanwhile, another significant bill awaiting consideration in Parliament concerns the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.

Introduced initially in the Monsoon session, the government opted not to push for its approval during a special parliamentary session, primarily due to opposition and resistance from former chief election commissioners.

Additionally, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the government intends to introduce a bill to raise the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly's strength from 107 to 114. This initiative is designed to ensure representation for Kashmiri migrants, displaced individuals from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Scheduled Tribes.

Also Read: Women's Reservation Bill gets President Murmu's nod, becomes law

Furthermore, three noteworthy bills, to substitute the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Evidence Act, are anticipated to be discussed in this session. The standing committee on Home has recently endorsed these three reports, clearing the path for their consideration.

Also Read: Govt to bring criminal laws to replace IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act by year-end: Report

The upcoming Winter Session of Parliament is slated to take place in the newly inaugurated building. In September of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Parliament building as a significant component of the government's ambitious initiative to revamp the British colonial-era architecture in New Delhi.

Also Read: New Parliament Building: How Indian States and UTs contributed to the construction; 10 points

The recently inaugurated parliament complex stands as the focal point of a $2.4 billion initiative, featuring state-of-the-art technologies. With a collective seating capacity of 1,272 across two chambers, this new facility surpasses the old building by almost 500 seats.

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The heatwave that struck parts of North Americas Pacific coast in 2021 propelled temperatures in Lytton, a village in British Columbia, to 49.6C4.6 higher than the previous record. On the fourth day of this torment the place erupted in flames and was almost completely destroyed. These events were so out of the ordinary that, in a press conference held some weeks later by climate modellers, they struggled to explain how circumstances had conjured them.

Climatologists reckon the North American heatwave of 2021 was one of the most extreme deviations from meteorological norms ever recorded, anywhere. But others have come close. As the world gets hotter, phenomena once considered rare are becoming common and others, believed impossible, are happening.

This shift in weather patterns has inspired modellers to pay more attention to the tails of the frequency distributions of meteorological possibility which their models generate (see chart), in search of such unprecedented extremes. One recent exercise, led by Erich Fischer at ETH Zurich, a technology university in Switzerland, and presented at last years annual jamboree of the European Geosciences Union, shows how the heatwave that destroyed Lytton could have been foreseen with data available at the time.

View Full Image (The Economist)

Cite UNSEEN

The approach Dr Fischer used, ensemble-boosting, is one of several developed recently. Another, from Britains Met Office, is UNSEEN (Unprecedented Simulation of Extremes with Ensembles). This was first put to work by Vikki Thompson and her colleagues at the Met Office in a retrospective analysis of floods that had drowned parts of the country in 2014, resulting in 451m ($743m) of insurance claims.

More than 130 years of English records had offered no indication such a biblical deluge was possible. Yet, here it was. As Thierry Corti, a climate-risk analyst at Swiss Re, a reinsurance company, observes, the risk landscape is evolving. So if you simulate probabilities of a rare event you need to take that against the backdrop of something thats changing. That makes it much more complex." To try to understand what had happened, Dr Thompsons team simulated British winters between 1981 and 2015 many thousands of times, and looked at the spread of possible outcomes, including rare events.

Into this methodical repetition they added a sprinkle of chaosthe famous flap of a butterflys wing, or, more realistically, the revving up of a factorys engines to add a small and local amount of heat to the atmosphere. By repeatedly simulating the present climate, perturbed each time in minute ways, the Met Office modellers generated a range of virtual winters which included extremes that are possible but have not yet manifested themselves.

In the case of floods, the group found a 34% chance each winter that rainfall records would be broken in at least one of four broad regions of Britain. They concluded that decision-makers would do well to prepare for new record-breaking inundations in the next few years". They were vindicated when their warnings came to pass in the early months of 2020.

The UNSEEN approach is inspiring others. For example, various groups are now looking at near-miss" events, in which an extreme drought or flood befalls a region with low population density, thus affecting few people. With UNSEEN and UNSEEN-like methods, it is possible to assess the risk of a similar event striking a neighbouring but more populous areaand with what consequences.

Others have taken an interest in bits of the future when an extreme weather event would be particularly damaging. The Paris Olympics, to be held next year, will take place during that citys hottest weeks. A group of meteorologists from various French research institutes therefore wondered just how bad a heatwave manifesting itself then might be. Using yet another approach, they found a chance of temperatures being more than 4C higher than they were during a catastrophic heatwave in 2003, in which tens of thousands died.

Since that happened, France has built a heat plan" which includes an early-warning system and provisions for opening cool spaces if needed. Whether this will be enough to ameliorate the effects of a record-breaker coinciding with the arrival of thousands of athletes and hundreds of thousands of visitors remains to be seen.

That something could happen does not mean it will, but in some cases, such as the Paris Olympics, either the risk or the consequences are clearly high enough to warrant close attention. Another example is a study published in 2019, by Dr Thompson and her colleagues, which found that, in south-east China, each summer holds a 10% chance of there being a record-breaking hot month. The temperatures warned of were within the range of the records set during last years deadly heatwave.

Other research has asked if a region is overdue" for an extreme event because of the changing climate, or whether its infrastructure or economy is particularly ill-prepared for what could happen. In the case of Kansas, Americas breadbasket, both look true. The state produces 17% of the countrys wheat, and is said to foster ideal conditions for growing this crop. But what pertained before 1900, when wheat farmers were moving in, may not hold now. In todays climate, heatwaves that were once once-a-century events are likely to occur once a decade, according to a study to be published soon by Erin Coughlan de Perez of Tufts University.

Model behaviour

Dr de Perez also found that hot weather sufficient to damage wheats growth by inhibiting its enzymes is likely to occur in the same years as periods of low rainfall. But the irregular pace of weather change may lull farmers into a false sense of security, for she and her colleagues discovered, too, that recent years have been cooler than expected. Several regions might have gotten lucky in terms of their recent experience of extreme events," they write. The same study predicts similar, if less pronounced, patterns in Henan, a wheat-producing province of central China.

Information about low-likelihood but high-impact events is also of interest to insurers (who carry out their own modelling as well) and can help, too, in the design of climate-resilient infrastructure. In the Netherlands, for example, Climate Adaptation Services (CAS), a charity, gathers data on possible consequences of climate change between now and 2050, including detailed maps that the authorities can draw on to test their plans.

Timo Kelder, an UNSEEN modeller at CAS, says they are thinking about how they might add new stress tests which assess how successful plans would be in the face of the brutal and unprecedented events these studies suggest are plausible. Meanwhile, in Britains Met Office, researchers are now looking at another sort of extreme eventthe risk of wind droughts" which would wipe out a lot of the countrys wind-turbine-base electricity supply. It would be ironic indeed if Britains huge effort to combat climate change in this way were, itself, to fall victim to a changing climate.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.

From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Enhancing climate ambitions and expediting climate commitments is crucial, President of Romania Klaus-Werner Iohannis said at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, Trend reports.

"We are all aware that current global carbon reductions fall short of the Paris Agreement's targets. Climate change is accelerating, as are its repercussions. Every day, we encounter more difficult obstacles. However, we must maintain our environmental orientation. We must raise our climate objectives and speed the implementation of climate pledges. Romania aspires to reduce its emissions by around 80% compared to 1990 levels by 2030, followed by a swift transition to climate neutrality," he stated.

Climate change, according to Iohannis, is a critical foundation for the country's diplomatic engagement with regional and global allies.

"Climate education, biodiversity protection, climate-resilient agricultural production, and low-carbon energy generation are central to Romanian climate diplomacy. We are interested in advancing projects in these areas with like-minded partners. Romania also actively interacts with worldwide partners, particularly those from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, to facilitate emergency management training and knowledge exchange, as well as the deployment of early warning systems," the president pointed out.

The importance of these areas is escalating in the context of the disruptive consequences of climate change," he added.

The opening ceremony of the World Summit on Climate Action was held in Dubai on December 1.

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DUBAI, UAE, December 2. COP28 plays a critical role in attempts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, Trend reports.

"While there are reasons to be optimistic, the aim remains elusive. COP28 must be a watershed moment, and we must chart a clear course. Italy is pragmatically contributing to the decarbonization effort. This means we are pursuing a technologically neutral approach that is free of unneeded radicalism," noted Meloni.

The official called to strive for an ecological transition rather than an ideological one.

"Renewable energy is gradually replacing coal energy. We have established a new energy and climate plan. The target is to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030. We are also trying to become a significant partner in the sector of clean energy, building the required infrastructure and capacity both at home and in the Mediterranean. We will give 100 million euros to a new loss and damage fund, and all of these initiatives will support Italy's G7 presidency in 2024," she added.

The opening ceremony of the World Summit on Climate Action was held in Dubai on December 1.

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Chabad of Merrick-Bellmore-Wantagh is set to host its 17th Annual Unite Through Light Chanukah Grand Menorah Lighting on Thursday, December 7, at 6 p.m. at the Merrick LIRR gazebo. All are welcome to attend this family-friendly event that will commemorate the eight-day wintertime festival of lights as the Chabad community expresses solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Israel.

Gather at the gazebo for the lighting of the 12-foot menorah and stay for dignity greetings, a live DJ, dancing, doughnuts, hot latkes, balloon twisting, a performance by the Chabad Hebrew School, and meet and greets with Dreidelman. The event is free but theres a suggested donation of $18 per family. RSVP online at the Chabad of Merrick-Bellmore-Wantagh website. The Merrick LIRR gazebo is located at the corner of Merrick Avenue and Sunrise Highway in Merrick.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: December 01 2023

Darieo St. Leger is Expected to be Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Slashing Bouncer in the Face.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Darieo St. Leger, 34, of Islip Terrace, pleaded guilty to Assault in the First Degree, for slashing a bouncer with a sharp object at a bar in Huntington in October 2022.

This enraged defendant senselessly slashed a bouncers face, causing permanent and severe injuries. He chose to attack the victim, who was just doing his job, simply because he was not allowed in, said District Attorney Tierney. With this plea and upcoming sentence, we have succeeded in getting a dangerous individual off our streets. Horrific assaults such as these will not be tolerated in Suffolk County, and those who chose to commit such crimes will be brought to justice.

According to the investigation and the defendants admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on October 23, 2022, about approximately 12:40 a.m., at a bar in Huntington, St. Leger got into an argument with the bouncer who was not allowing St. Leger in. St. Leger then slashed the bouncer across the face, from ear to mouth, with a sharp object. The slash caused an artery in the victims cheek to be severed. St. Leger fled the scene after the attack.

The victim was rushed to Huntington Hospital to undergo lifesaving emergency surgery which included multiple blood transfusions. The victim had difficulty hearing out of his left ear and was unable to blink out of his left eye, so he was required to undergo an immediate second surgery to reattach a nerve ending that was severed during the attack. He also sustained a scar along the entire left side of his face.

With the assistance of the United States Marshals Service, St. Leger was arrested at LaGuardia Airport in December 2022.

On November 28, 2023, St. Leger pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Anthony S. Senft, Jr., to Assault in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony. He is due back in court on January 30, 2024, and is expected to be sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by five years post release supervision. St. Leger is being represented by Jonathan B. Manley, Esq.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Patrick E. Fedun of the Major Crime Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Brandon Reiber of the Suffolk County Police Departments First Squad, as well as from Detective Thomas Corso of the United States Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Multiple Prostitutes Discovered Working at Franklin Square Spa; One Brought Her Child to Work, Cops Say

Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: December 01 2023

According to Narcotics Vice Squad Detectives, an undercover investigation at Zen Retreat Spa located at 346 Franklin Avenue led to the arrest of 3 individuals.

The Major Case Bureau reports the arrest of three females on Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 3:31 PM in Franklin Square.

According to Narcotics Vice Squad Detectives, an undercover investigation at Zen Retreat Spa located at 346 Franklin Avenue led to the arrest of:

Defendant Sarah Fayette Hamilton, 31, of 17225 144th Avenue, Jamaica. She was charged with Prostitution and was released on an Appearance Ticket returnable on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 to First District Court, 99 Main Street Hempstead.

Defendant Mercedes V. Miller, 30, of 19 Ernest Avenue, Hicksville was charged with Unauthorized Practice of a Profession and was also released on an Appearance Ticket returnable on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 to First District Court, 99 Main Street Hempstead.

Defendant Chanelle Rose Butler, 30, of 131-20 224th Street, Queens was charged with Unlawfully Dealing with a Child 1st Degree, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Promoting Prostitution 4th Degree.
More Acquisitions PLC - London-based special purpose acquisition company - Says shareholders voted overwhelmingly against four resolutions regarding the makeup of its board, at a general meeting requisitioned by a shareholder. For resolutions one to three, 78% vote against the motion, while 79% vote against the motion for resolution four. Resolution one is to appoint Nicholas Tulloch as a director; resolution two is to appoint Jeremy Woodgate as a director; resolution three is that conditional on the passing of either resolution one or two, Roderick McIllree be removed from office as a director with immediate effect; while resolution four is that conditional on the passing of either resolution one or two, Charles Goodfellow be removed from office as a director with immediate effect.

In early November, More Acquisitions said it had undertakings for 52% of shares to vote down the proposals by Mike Whitlow, a 6.5% shareholder, who called for the meeting.

Current stock price: 0.50 pence, down 1.0%

12-month change: down 29%

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued this week not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Dialight PLC - London-based electronics company specialising in LED lighting - "Pleased" as Dialight's one-time partner Sanmina receives blow in ongoing legal battle. Court denies Sanmina's motion to dismiss Dialight's fraudulent inducement claim. This means the claim, as well as some counter-claims, will now go to trial. "If Dialight's claims are successful at trial, the range of outcomes could include the payment by Sanmina to Dialight of between USD0 and USD220 million. If Sanmina's claim is successful at trial the range of outcomes could include the payment by Dialight to Sanmina of between USD0 and USD8.3 million," Dialight adds, noting the range of outcomes exclude legal costs and judicial interest.

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VSA Capital Group PLC - London-based investment banking and broking firm - Says has been received potential legal claim, in connection with sale by Andrew Gerrie and Alison Hawksley of the duo's 20% stake in retailer Lush Cosmetics Ltd to London-listed Silverwood Brands PLC. VSA advised on the deal, which saw consumer businesses backer Silverwood part with GBP126.8 million, satisfied by an issue of 228.2 million of Silverwood shares at 95 pence each. As part of a deal with the Lush stake vendors, VSA received 2.3 million Silverwood shares. However, VSA says it has received a letter from Gerrie and Hawksley, who are seeking, with Silverwood approval, to return the shares which were issued to satisfy the Lush sale. "The Lush vendors threaten legal action against VSA in the absence of VSA's agreement to co-operate in the 'unwind transaction'. In either event, the Lush vendors are seeking, in effect, a return of the commission paid to VSA on the completion of the Lush transaction despite Silverwood announcing that the transaction had indeed completed," VSA adds. VSA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Monk says legal advice has been sought. "VSA and the directors believe that the claim has no merit but will engage with the pre-action protocol that governs the dispute. Should the Lush Vendors issue court proceedings VSA will defend them vigorously," Monk adds.

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Equals Group PLC - London-based fintech payments group - Says deadline for Madison Dearborn Partners LLC to announce whether or not it makes an offer extended to December 27. Equals in November said it contacted a limited number of other companies, such as Madison Dearborn, to assess potential proposals that can "deliver greater value to Equals' shareholders than pursuing a standalone independent strategy".

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Holders Technology PLC - London-based company specialising in lighting components - Proposes cancellation of AIM listing. Holders says: "The board is of the view that the legal and regulatory burden, as well as the costs associated with maintaining the company's admission to trading on AIM, outweigh the benefits of a public quotation." The delisting needs the approval of shareholders at a general meeting set for December 15. It said it has so far received the backing of around 47% of shareholders. Says a tender offer will also shareholders to realise their investment in the firm, at 43 pence. The stock closed at 42p on Friday.

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Ondine Biomedical Inc - Vancouver-based life sciences company - Agrees to fundraising led by Sankofa Investment Partners to secure between CAD1.8 million to CAD4.3 million, around GBP2.5 million. Fundraising will be conducted through placing, subscription and broker option. "The net proceeds of the fundraising will be used for general working capital and in support of the company's rapid sales growth of its Steriwave nasal decolonisation therapy, a product that has been shown to reduce post-surgical hospital infection rates by over 50% without generating antimicrobial resistance," Ondine adds.

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By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Variable clouds with snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Low 31F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%.
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Ireland will contribute 25 million euros to a new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action organized on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"Ireland will double climate finance to at least 225 million euros a year by 2025, and we are investing around 150 million this year. I am today announcing a contribution of 25 million to a new Loss and Damage Fund for 2024 and 2025 and we will make further contributions," he said.

Varadkar said it was impossible to prevent climate change, but by acting urgently climate change could be limited and its worst effects mitigated.

"We must do everything in our power to ensure that this transition is fair, that the vulnerable are protected and that no one is left behind. And we also need to do a much better job of explaining the benefits of climate action. We have a climate law and a carbon budget. We have a carbon tax that encourages a transition away from fossil fuels," he said.

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The family of a North Carolina teenager is suing American Airlines, saying that a flight attendant taped an iPhone to an airplane toilet to record her using the restroom during a September flight.

Lawyers for the 14-year-old and her parents say that American knew or should have known the flight attendant was a danger. They say the failure of other crew members to confiscate the employees phone allowed him to destroy evidence.

The lawsuit against American and the unidentified flight attendant was filed Friday in U.S. district court in North Carolina.

American said the flight attendant was withheld from service immediately after the alleged incident and has not worked since.

We take this matter very seriously and have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation, as safety and security are our highest priorities, American said in a prepared statement.

According to the lawsuit, the incident happened on a Sept. 2 flight from Charlotte to Boston.

The girl said that while she was waiting to use a bathroom in the economy section, where her family was sitting, the flight attendant told her to use one in the first-class cabin. He entered the bathroom first, saying he needed to wash his hands, then emerged a minute later to tell the girl that the seat was broken but not to worry about it.

The girl said that after she used the toilet, she noticed an iPhone that was mostly hidden by red airline tape reading Remove from service  but the camera flash was glowing.

The girl was shocked and scared, according to the lawsuit. It immediately occurred to her that someone had put the phone there to film her using the toilet.

She took her own picture of the device.

Lawyers for the family suggested that the flight attendant removed the phone and erased images of the girl before letting her father see his iPhone photos.

The family said an FBI agent later told the girls mother they did not arrest the man because they did not find any incriminating images on his phone.

The familys lawyers said they do not know the flight attendants name, where he lives or whether he still works for American. The 14-year-old is undergoing therapy for trauma, they said.

Neither the girl nor her family are identified in the lawsuit. The Associated Press and MassLive does not name victims of sexual assault or abuse unless they come forward publicly.

American is based in Fort Worth, Texas, and has a major operation at the airport in Charlotte.
A bus driver has been put on probation after he ate THC-infused gummies and passed out after pulling over on a Connecticut highway with 38 passengers on board last year.

Jinhuan Chen, 59, said in court Thursday through a Mandarin interpreter that he didnt know the gummies contained THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, because he does not speak or read English, the Associated Press reported.

Chen was driving a tour bus of Mohegan Sun casino patrons on March 13, 2022 when the incident occurred. He began swerving on Interstate 95 in Stratford and pulled the bus over, called 911, then passed out.

Mr. Chen considers himself fortunate that no one was harmed, his lawyer, Daniel Esposito, said, according to AP.

When police arrived, they found Chen unconscious in the drivers seat with an open bag labeled Smokies Edibles Cannabis Infused Fruit Chews next to him. He was brought to a hospital and was found to have a high level of THC in his system, AP reported.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence Chen knew the gummies contained THC.

Victor Chen, the manager of Go Go Sun Tour, the Boston-based bus company, said Jinhuan Chen had an exemplary, 10-year driving record, and that he did not drink alcohol or smoke, according to AP. Victor Chen added that the bus driver did have a sweet tooth.

Chen was charged with 38 counts of reckless endangerment. A judge approved Chen for an accelerated rehabilitation program Thursday, AP reported. If he successfully completes the two-year probation period, his charges will be erased.
HOLYOKE  Donovans Irish Pub officially celebrated its grand opening Friday at its new Holyoke location at 80 Jarvis Ave., even though it has been serving food and drinks for a week. Fridays festivities included Mayor Joshua A. Garcia, a pair of outsized scissors and a bright red ribbon to complete the ceremonial opening, and a line out the door as well over 100 people passed through the restaurant lunch hour.

Its funny, I was hearing all this excitement about Donovans and I had not met them yet, Garcia said. They finally came to my office and introduced themselves. I found out that Donovans was a popular and established business for many years over at the mall, and I am just so happy they decided to make Holyoke their new home.

Donovans Irish Pub had been a mainstay of the Eastfield Mall in Springfield for the past 23 years, but the sale and demolition of the first indoor mall in Western Mass. ended that. On July 11, Donovans doors closed for the last time in Springfield.

When we bought Donovans in the Eastfield Mall in 2015, we were made aware that the lifetime of the mall was going to be short, owner Frank Garaughty said. Earlier this year we were told the definite date that the mall was closing, and we were really fortunate we found this place.

The Garaughtys, Frank and his wife Justine, pulled off a soft opening at the new location earlier in the week to introduce the restaurant to their new neighbors and to welcome many of their old customers. It just came a little later than they expected,

We were a little behind in our plans, Frank said Friday, but we got a lot done in a short period of time.

First, the interior of the former Slainte, Gaelic for Cheers or Health, was completely renovated.

There wasnt a square inch of the first floor that wasnt touched by us, Frank laughed.

And that included the bars on the first and second floors, which represents a little history lesson for patrons.

When the Yankee Pedlar closed, I went to the auction and ended up buying a toaster, Justine said.

Did you buy anything else, Frank prompted.

Yes, I bought the 24-foot-long bar, and now thats in the upstairs function room, Justine smiled. So, we have the bar from Slaintes and a piece of the one from the mall Donovans downstairs, and the Yankee Pedlars on the second floor.

A new bar was built for the outdoor patio overlooking the valley below.

When it came time to cut the ceremonial ribbon, a crowd of patrons streamed out to the ramp at the main entrance to witness Frank and Justine do the honors. Among the patrons cheering the couple on was a large group of McAfees who traveled from Ottawa and Montreal, members of Franks maternal line who came to cheer on the new Donovans.

The Holyoke location means a new aspect for the business. An upstairs function area will allow the restaurant to host large meetings, banquets and even wedding receptions, something they were hard pressed to accommodate at the mall location.

We did some funeral-type events at the mall, but we had to shut down the whole back room or sometimes the whole restaurant, Justine said. So now we have the ability to have different things going on at the same time. Come summer, we will have three bars going at once. Each will have its own unique aspect.

To the old crowd who have packed Donovans Irish Pub for decades, the food is, as always, excellent. For newcomers, the menu is a pleasant surprise. Ann Braastad, of Easthampton, had lunch with a couple of friends in a corner booth, and said, Well be coming back.
A heated blanket distributed by a Massachusetts company and sold by stores like L.L. Bean, Target, Macys and Amazon has been recalled due to fire and burn hazards.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday that the electric heated throws and blankets, which are manufactured in China but distributed by Ware-based Berkshire Blanket & Home Company, after the company received nine reports of the blankets burning, melting or overheating.

No injuries have been reported.

The heated throws and blankets come in a variety of colors and come in twin, full/queen and king sizes. They are controlled by a white cord attached to a digital controller.

The products were sold in stores by L.L. Bean, which offers blankets with both L.L. Bean and Berkshire Blanket branding, and by Army and Air Force Exchange Service. They were available online at berkshireblanket.com and from Amazon, Target, Macys and QVC. They were available from August 2022 to October 2023 for between $50 and $180.

Read more: New England ice cream brand recalls several products due to listeria

Customers who purchased a blanket or throw with one of the model numbers listed on the recall page should contact Berkshire Blanket & Home Company for a full refund.
DEERFIELD  Two years ago, Catriona Hynds, Deerfield Academys director of theater, got an email from a team casting a movie.

I often wonder what would have happened if that email had gone to spam, Hynds said. Or I had thought, This sounds a little dodgy, and ignored it.

Director Alexander Paynes The Holdovers was being filmed at several Massachusetts schools, including Deerfield Academy. In the comedy-drama set in the 70s at a fictional elite boarding school, Barton Academy, Paul Giamatti plays an ornery history teacher who has to supervise Angus Tully, an angsty teenage student, over Christmas break because Tully unexpectedly has no place to go.

Also spending the vacation at school is its head cook, played by DaVine Joy Randolph, who recently lost her son in the Vietnam War. Inevitably, the three lonely people bond.

The casting team had already auditioned actors to play Tully, and decided to try looking for actors at the schools they were planning to film at, Hynds said. Some schools didnt respond, Payne told Town & Country magazine.

They set up auditions for a group of about a dozen students at Deerfield Academy. Before Dominic Sessa auditioned, Hynds talked to the team.

I actually went into the room and basically said, You know, the kid that theyre looking for is just about to walk in, she said.

Sessa had much lower expectations. He thought maybe he could score a part as an extra. I just thought, Maybe if it goes well, I can sit at a desk or something, he told the Sioux City Journal.

Hynds was right. Though Sessa had never acted on screen before  his experience was only on stages  he got the part after several rounds of auditions, Hynds said.

They could see immediately how fearless Dominic is  he just jumps right in and hes courageous and creative. I was really happy that they chose him, Hynds said. It couldnt have happened to a nicer, more hard working and more professional kid.

Hynds, also chair of Deerfields Visual and Performing Arts Department, remembered when she first saw Sessa audition as a sophomore for a role in Antigone, a Greek play.

I knew immediately when he opened his mouth in his first audition that we were dealing with someone special, she said. He has just this incredible stage presence.

The Holdovers casting team had seen 800 actors before Sessa auditioned, Payne recently told the Sioux City Journal. When I was coming down to the final decision, (star Paul Giamatti) was generous enough to read with both of the (finalists) via Zoom. We agreed Dominic was the one, he told the outlet.

Payne said Sessa was just born to be a film actor.

Sessa, now on leave from school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, hopes to next take on new roles next.

Moving forward, I definitely want to be stretching my legs and playing things that are a little further from my own life experience, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Thats what makes acting fun.

Bit players

Deerfield Academy students, faculty and staff are in the background of the film, and another student was cast in a small speaking role, Hynds said. Will Sussbauer, an Ashfield resident, was cast as a student who delivers a line about Cobb salad early in the film.

The movie was filmed in a number of locations across Massachusetts, from Boston to Deerfield. Several other western Massachusetts towns are depicted in the film, including Gill, Shelburne Falls and Buckland, according to the Massachusetts Film Office.

Hynds thinks that has encouraged western Massachusetts moviegoers to watch the film.

Ive seen it a couple of times and I was sitting behind a couple who really enjoyed pointing out .. Oh, theres the Main Street in Shelburne Falls and theres that, she said. I think its been great for the local community to see themselves up on the screen as well.

Sessa sees The Holdovers as a movie with broad appeal.

Theres nothing you need to understand beforehand going in, and you can just enjoy watching these characters live their lives and discover new things about each other, Sessa told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hopefully it inspires people to have that willingness to empathize with real people in their own lives.
A Belmont man was arrested and accused of assaulting a girl who was known to him, law enforcement announced Friday. The man was arraigned in Cambridge District Court and held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Dec. 8.

Rickland Powell, 59, of Belmont, is accused of sexually assaulting the unnamed girl and photographing her inside of his home, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Powell has been charged with several felonies, including two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, distributing obscene matter to a minor and four counts of aggravated rape of a child, according to the district attorney.

Belmont police were tipped off about Powell on Nov. 28, 2023. The local police were granted a warrant to search the defendants home, where they located media files, photos and other items, the district attorney said.

When police found out Powell was in Andover on Nov. 30, they tried to approach him, but the defendant quickly fled in a vehicle, the district attorney said. Powell was found in Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham Friday morning.

According to Massachusetts State Police, Powell was found at about 3 a.m. Friday by a K9 search team. He had hung himself from a tree but was still alive and was arrested and brought to a hospital after police cut him down.
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. It is important to broaden the donor base of climate finance, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action organized on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"We need multilateralism now more than ever to take effective action against climate change and ensure food and energy security. We are 1.5 degrees behind in action to limit climate change. Finland remains committed to supporting liberalizing developing countries in the near future. It is crucial to broaden the donor base for climate finance to include more countries on a voluntary basis. Finland is ready to provide support for a new Loss and Damage Fund in the amount of 3 million euros," he said.

Orpo emphasized the importance of other funding mechanisms, including those that support early warning systems.

"We also need to ensure that all financial targets are in line with the Paris Agreement and more private funding needs to be mobilized. We should agree on global targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. In Finland, we have set an ambitious target of zero carbon emissions by 2035," he added.

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The killing of 62-year-old Edwin Weeks, who was found dead by his friend in Fairfield, Maine earlier this week, has been ruled a homicide, according to police.

Weekss body was found in a home on Main Street in Fairfield on Tuesday. The same day, a person of interest in the mans death, 22-year-old Raheem Shamar Goodwin of Benton, Maine, was arrested after allegedly barricading himself inside a vehicle and lighting it on fire, Maine State Police said in a statement.

MSP Investigates Homicide in Fairfield On Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at 3:38 pm, the Fairfield Police Department... Posted by Maine State Police on Friday, December 1, 2023

Goodwin was charged with murder Friday morning. It is believed he and Weeks were familiar with each other, Maine State Police noted.

Police responded to the death at 247 A Main St. shortly before 3:40 p.m. Tuesday. A friend who stopped by to check on Weeks discovered the man dead. The Fairfield Police Department then contacted the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit to help respond to the killing, according to the statement.

During the investigation late Tuesday night, detectives tried to stop a vehicle in Skowhegan, Maine that was being driven by Goodwin, the person of interest in the case. He was allegedly driving toward Canaan, Maine on Route 2 and intentionally drove the vehicle into a ditch. He is accused of proceeding to barricade himself in the vehicle for a short time before lighting its interior on fire, Maine State Police said.

Detectives assisted by the Somerset County Sheriffs Office took Goodwin into custody after he exited the vehicle. He was arrested and brought to the Somerset County Jail in the early morning hours of Wednesday, where he was held on an alleged bail violation and charged with eluding law enforcement, according to the statement.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta, Maine did an autopsy on Weeks and determined the manner of his death was a homicide and the cause of his death was sharp force trauma, Maine State Police said.

The investigation is ongoing, the statement noted.
A man in Goffstown, New Hampshire accused of stabbing his 70-year-old mother to death last month was arrested, authorities announced this week.

Thomas Humphrey, 47, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing his mother, Linda Tufts, by stabbing her in their home in Goffstown on Nov. 28, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, New Hampshire State Police Col. Mark B. Hall and Goffstown Police Chief Eric Sereno said in a joint statement Friday.

Police were sent to the home in Goffstown around 2:20 p.m. on Nov. 28. Inside the house, officers found Tuftss body and a fire that was burning, according to another statement from the state attorney general, state police colonel and Goffstown police chief.

Officers extinguished the fire and, while doing a safety check inside the home, also discovered Humphrey, who was alive but injured. He was taken to the hospital to be treated for knife wounds that it appeared he inflicted on himself, the statement said.

A day later, an autopsy done by New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie Duval determined Tuftss cause of death was multiple stab and incised wounds. The manner of her death was homicide, according to the statement.

The investigation into the circumstances of Ms. Tufts death remains active and ongoing, the statement said. Based upon the investigation conducted to date, investigators believe that all relevant parties have been identified, and that there is no threat to the general public.

Read more: Chicopee police investigating Friday morning shooting

Humphrey is expected to be arraigned in the Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District in Manchester, according to the statement.
On Sunday, Dec. 1, 1946, Paul Welden left her college campus in Vermont, telling her roommate she was going for a hike. She never returned.

Nearly 80 years later, the disappearance of the 18-year-old Bennington College student, which directly led to the formation of the Vermont State Police in 1947, remains unsolved.

At the time of Weldens disappearance, the struggle to find her showed a desperate need for a dedicated law enforcement agency to investigate missing people in Vermont. Investigators from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York were all called in due to the limited police services available in the Green Mountain State. A year later, the Vermont State Police was formed.

Read more: Killing of Beverly Polchies in Maine remains unsolved nearly 40 years later

VSP was born out of tragedy, the still-unsolved disappearance of 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden in late 1946, Vermont State Police wrote in a Facebook post on the 75th anniversary of the agencys formation in 2022. The case ultimately rallied Vermonters and their political leadership to launch the Vermont State Police after many years of hesitation and debate.

Today is a big day for all of us at the Vermont State Police: our 75th anniversary! On July 1, 1947, what was then the... Posted by Vermont State Police on Friday, July 1, 2022

In the decades since Welden went missing, the cold case has haunted the college and state authorities alike. The area where she went missing around Glastenbury Mountain has been called the Bennington Triangle in the wake of her and four others disappearances between 1945 and 1950, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

Friday marked the 77th anniversary of Weldens disappearance. Information on the college student continues to be submitted to Vermont State Police. However, she is still listed as a missing person, and her case remains cold.

Welden was last seen on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1946. Several hikers reported seeing her on the Long Trail just off Route 9 near Glastenbury Mountain. She was reported missing by her roommate the following morning after she did not return to campus, according to Vermont State Police.

An extensive search of the area did not show any signs of Welden. Investigators were called from out of state, and numerous theories were explored, but no conclusive outcome was ever determined, Vermont State Police noted.

Anyone with any information about Weldens disappearance is asked to call Vermont State Polices Shaftsbury office at (802) 442-5421.
An investigation is underway after Sharon High School called the police this week about a student accused of having a hit list, according to authorities.

Administrators and staff at the school notified police Friday about the student alleged to be in possession of the list. Prompt communication between students, parents, school staff and the police allowed authorities to intervene before the situation could become more serious, the Sharon Police Department said in a statement.

All of the people on the list have been contacted, and there is no ongoing threat to the them or anyone else. The student is also safe, according to the statement.

Open communication between parents, the schools, and the police, is fundamental to keeping Sharon a safe place to live, Police Chief Stephen Coffey said in the statement. I am thankful to the school department for their partnership, and to Sharon Police School Resource Officer John Marsinelli, who worked with school administration to assure the safety of all involved.

The involved student is a juvenile, so only very limited information can be released by authorities to the public, according to the statement. The incident remains under an active investigation.
How does it feel to have your creative work admired by internationally renowned celebrities? According to Springfield fashion designer Justin Haynes, its totally surreal.

Haynes had a brief but meaningful minute in the spotlight on national television Thursday while sitting in the audience of the daytime talk show LIVE with Kelly and Mark, which stars TV personalities Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos.

Haynes said he has been helping talk show stylists put together wardrobes for their shows recently, and was asked to stay and sit in the audience to watch the show.

Read more: Justin Haynes puts Springfield on the fashion map

In a moment that was caught on camera, movie star Melissa McCarthy, who was a guest on Thursdays show, was visibly impressed as she walked out on stage by the outfits Haynes and his models were wearing as audience members in the first row.

In the clip, you can see McCarthy come out to greet the audience and stop when she catches a glimpse of Haynes and his models.

Melissa McCarthy noticed Springfield fashion designer Justin Haynes' clothing as he sat in the audience with some of his models during the Nov. 30, 2023, episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark."Justin Haynes

I love that, she says, before realizing theres a group of four all dressed in Haynes signature patchwork-forward style. Oh my god, whats going on? she says while pointing to the four of them in awe and admiration.

Once McCarthy goes to sit with Ripa and Consuelos, she asks Whats happening there? while pointing to Haynes and his group. Ripa, who Haynes said noticed and talked to him earlier, replies The gentleman in the yellow sweater is a designer ... He designed everything in that front row.

Read more: Springfield designer named on Ted Talks Top 1000 Influential people of 2022 list

Well talk after the show, McCarthy says to Haynes before addressing the audience. You all look wonderful, but theyre killing it.

Melissa McCarthy noticed Springfield fashion designer Justin Haynes' (second from left) clothing as he sat in the audience with some of his models during the Nov. 30, 2023, episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark."Justin Haynes

Haynes said McCarthy did come up to him to get his information, and that hes actually going back to LIVE with Kelly and Mark to help out again next week. He said his interactions with both stars were wonderful.

They actually cared who I was, he said. Everything that Ive done in the industry, even in the fashion industry, it can mean nothing to a celebrity, to a worldwide. But for them to even notice me, to actually give me two minutes or put the camera on me  its a surreal moment.

Haynes said hed love to tailor outfits for McCarthy and Ripa, who told him they loved how colorful, eye-catching and unique his creations are. His interactions with them have also opened up more opportunities for him at a time when the Springfield natives career is already taking off.

Read more: Springfield Fashion Designer Justin Haynes announces collaboration with Hennessy Cognac ahead of New York Fashion Week show

[Springfield is] not a fashion city, but Im trying to do what I can to bring this city on the map, even if its in New York. They will always know that Im from Springfield.

Melissa McCarthy noticed Springfield fashion designer Justin Haynes' (left) clothing as he sat in the audience with some of his models during the Nov. 30, 2023, episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark."Justin Haynes

But even if Haynes doesnt end up working with McCarthy and Ripa, he said he is just thankful for the visibility their admiration gave him and his brand, Jus10H.

Even if nothing else was to transpire from this, just the time that they gave me. Just the notice and the respect  its enough for me, he said.
La ministre de la Securite Sociale va presente,r en premiere lecture le 5 decembre 2023 son projet de loi The Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.

The object of this Bill is to provide for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.

The Bill will give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities and other international instruments to which Mauritius isa party, with a view to eliminating discrimination against persons with disabilities.

In addition, the Bill provides for the establishment of the National Disability Authority which will take over the functions and powers of the Lois Lagesse Trust Fund, the National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons and the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Board. Accordingly, the Lois Lagesse Trust Fund Act, the National Council for the Rehabilitation of DisabledPersons Act and the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Act will be repealed.

Furthermore, with a view to encouraging employment of persons withdisabilities, the Bill further provides for fiscal incentives to be given to employerswho employ persons with disabilities.
Well-known Tiernaur based sheep farmer Pat Chambers has been chosen by Fine Gael to run for the party in the Belmullet Electoral Area in next year's local elections.

Pat Chambers will join Erris-based councillor Gerry Coyle on the Fine Gael ticket as the party bids to win two of the three seats on offer in the Belmullet Electoral Area.

The two candidates were selected by local members of the party at the Fine Gael Local Election selection convention which took place last night in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel, Belmullet.

Maria Walsh, MEP for Midlands-Northwest was guest chair of the convention which heard from several speakers including Deputies Alan Dillon and Michael Ring who gave updates on current issues at a national level.

Incumbent Councillor Gerry Coyle, and new candidate Pat Chambers from Tiernaur were proposed, seconded and ratified at the convention to stand as Fine Gaels candidates for the 2024 Local Elections.

Mr Chambers, a co-ordinator of the Mayo Blackface group, spoke about his almost 35-year involvement in farming in the county. A fourth-generation hill farmer, he has been a strong advocate for farmers across the county through his involvement with the Irish Farmers Association and as the Mayo representative on the organisations Hill Farmers Committee, which represents over 20,000 hill farmers nationwide. Pat is a member-farmer of the Olas Hill Farms collective, which he helped establish in 2004. From an initial membership of 40 farmers, the collective now counts over 400 members across Mayo.

Recently, Mr Chambers advocated for fair treatment of Achill farmers when he headed a delegation from the island to meet with Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue in Donegal to discuss a reversal of the decision to reduce payments as a result of wildfires in the area.

Cllr Gerry Coyle has been a councillor for the region since 1999 and thanked his family and the people of the area for their sustained support as he seeks reelection.

I have done my very best for the area I have had the privilege of representing for almost 25 years in Mayo County Council. I look forward to continuing that important work and delivering for our people if re-elected next year said Cllr Coyle.

The meeting also heard tributes to the late Michael J Carolan whose first anniversary occurs this month. Welcoming Mr. Carolans family to the convention, Michael Ring described him as 'the most loyal and dedicated member of Fine Gael over many years and somebody who is sadly missed by everyone who knew him'.

Commenting following the convention, Chairperson of the Mayo Fine Gael Executive, Jim Higgins said: I am very pleased to welcome Pat Chambers to the ticket to stand alongside sitting Councillor Gerry Coyle. Pat has already proven himself as a strong advocate for farming families across Mayo and will undoubtedly bring this drive and knowledge into the election next year.

Cllr. Coyle has built a proven track record of delivery, of public service and an unwavering commitment to the communities that he represents so passionately.

"This is a very strong ticket for the Belmullet area next year and the Mayo Fine Gael Executive looks forward to working with both candidates to win two seats for the party" Mr Higgins concluded.

The race to be elected in the Belmullet Electoral Area is likely to be one of the keenly contested elections in next year's local elections in Mayo with just three seats to be won. The three sitting councillors, Gerry Coyle from Fine Gael and the Fianna Fail duo of Paul McNamara from Achill and Sean Carey from Belmullet are all expected to contest the election and with Pat Chambers added to the Fine Gael ticket and Sinn Fein's Rosaleen Lally expected to challenge for a seat, it will likely be one of the most intriguing battles of the election.
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Belgium has increased climate finance to about 150 million euros, focusing on biodiversity and sustainable development, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"This COP is crucial because it is time to put our words and promises into action, to discuss solutions rather than problems. There is still time to discuss hope rather than dread. "Science tells us that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be impossible unless we make immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

This year, a record 340 billion euros has been invested in renewable energy globally, stated De Croo.

"We plan to raise $100 billion in climate finance." Analysts predict CO2 emissions will peak in the coming years," the Prime Minister said.

"Our wind turbines will generate enough offshore electricity to power the equivalent of 5 million homes. We are using modern technologies to revolutionize the hydrogen sector," he concluded.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Georgia will join the COP28 agreement on energy transition, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"I firmly believe that several major international efforts must continue for the process to take place. These include halving global emissions by 2030 and maintaining the 1.5-degree threshold, in line with continued promotion of damage reduction and the adoption of a framework to achieve the global goal of climate change adaptation," he said.

Garibashvili noted that the pledge to allocate funds for climate finance should remain a firm commitment.

"We take our role in solving the climate crisis seriously and have already taken significant steps in this direction. More than $500 million has been allocated for climate change mitigation measures in this year's state budget and beyond. Funds allocated for low-carbon and climate adaptation measures amount to more than $300 million per year," the Prime Minister of Georgia said.

"We have adopted a long-term global emissions reduction strategy, declaring carbon neutrality an important goal that I plan to achieve. Georgia has also committed to presenting a new, more ambitious contribution at the national level. In addition, I am pleased to note that up to 85 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources. And I am pleased to announce that Georgia is joining the global transition from renewable energy to electricity," he said.

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DUBAI, UAE, December 2. Sweden's emissions have been reduced by more than 37 percent since 1990, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, Trend reports.

He spoke at the World Summit on Climate Action, organized on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"At the same time, our economy has more than doubled due to a variety of circumstances. Sweden is virtually entirely devoid of fossil fuels, thanks to nuclear electricity, hydro and wind power, hefty carbon dioxide levies, and inventive Swedish enterprise," he said.

Kristersson noted that achieving zero emissions by mid-century requires a rapid and complete phase-out of fossil fuels.

"The EU has not only set ambitious aims for 2030. We have also decided on legislation that will help lower emissions by 57 percent. The EU can now demonstrate to the rest of the world how emission-cutting policies may be paired with quicker economic growth and improved wealth. Climate action necessitates global solutions," he added.

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Clarius specialized wireless ultrasound scanners now available on national group purchasing agreement to over 4,350 Health Systems and Hospitals and 300,000 other healthcare providers.



VANCOUVER, BC  December 1, 2023  Clarius Mobile Health has been awarded a Technology Breakthrough Designation in the Ultrasound contract category with Premier, Inc. Effective December 1, 2023, the new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier for Clarius technology.

Premier offers Breakthrough Technology designations to innovations that offer a major advantage in terms of patient safety, clinical outcomes, and operational efficiencies. Clarius proved to provide these benefits to Premier members with their broad range of specialty-focused ultrasound scanners, market-leading AI applications, and best-in-class image quality.

Being awarded Premiers Technology Breakthrough is an important step towards achieving our mission to put accurate, easy-to-use, and affordable ultrasound into the hands of every clinician, says Clarius President and Chief Executive Officer Ohad Arazi. Point-of-care ultrasound is a critical tool for achieving the quadruple aim in healthcare and Clarius is the ideal portable device for rapid diagnoses and safe ultrasound-guided treatments. We look forward to supporting Premier members in providing the best patient experience, improving health outcomes, enhancing clinician satisfaction, and ultimately reducing healthcare costs.

Powered by artificial intelligence and designed to work wirelessly with current iOS and Android devices, Clarius has miniaturized diagnostic quality ultrasound to the size of a smartphone for ultra portability from patient to patient throughout the hospital. Only Clarius offers a comprehensive line of wireless scanners and advanced specialty packages designed to deliver superior imaging for an extensive range of clinical applications.

In addition to the actual quality of the image, youre getting it wirelessly. Its on par with any corded device I have, says orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Alan Hirahara. For me, being able to bring it into the operating room and pop it into a bag thats sterile is so much better than having a cord that could be prone to contaminating the surgical field. And you can place your monitor anywhere because youre not tethered by a cord.

Premier is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 4,300 U.S. hospitals and 300,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, consulting and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost.

About Clarius Mobile Health

Clarius is on a mission to make accurate, easy-to-use, and affordable ultrasound tools available to all medical professionals in every specialty. With decades of experience in medical imaging, the team knows that great ultrasound imaging improves confidence and patient care. Today, Clarius handheld wireless ultrasound scanners connect to iOS and Android devices, delivering high-resolution ultrasound images traditionally only available with bulkier, high-end systems at a fraction of the cost.

Over four million high-definition scans have been performed using Clarius wireless handheld scanners. Clarius scanners are available in over 90 countries worldwide. Learn more at www.clarius.com.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, November 30, 2023

Despite intense efforts to recapture some former glory -- including reinventing the fashion show-- the decline of Victorias Secret is back in the news.

The company just posted third-quarter results, with sales falling 4% to $1.27 billion, compared to $1.32 billion in the prior year. Total comparable sales slipped by 7%.

It swung to a net loss of $71 million, compared with net income of $24 million in the year-ago period, disappointing investors.

Still, the company is encouraged by early responses to this years holiday merchandise assortment and a new marketing campaign starring Mariah Carey, the voice of Christmas.

The Reynoldsburg, Ohio-based retailer says it is progressing on sweeping transformation plans designed to leverage our market leadership position and unlock our opportunity to convert our significant cultural influence into long-term financial growth.

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Observers are skeptical. While the company is still the largest lingerie brand in the U.S., market share and relevance continue to erode.

Some of that is due to well-publicized brand image struggles, as Victorias Secret tries to replace the hypersexualized imagery of the past with a more contemporary -- and inclusive -- approach.

But in the years spent trying to achieve that new image, a whole generation of women has come of age. And many in Gen Z arent just turned off by Victoria's Secrets vibe. They dont like bras in general. That bralette boom has made brands like Aerie, owned by American Eagle Outfitters, a favorite among comfort-craving Gen Z-ers.

In Piper Sandlers latest ranking of teens favorite brands, Victorias Secret doesnt make the list of top apparel names. (However, it ranks No. 2 in the fragrance category.)

The return of the company's fashion show, reincarnated as a documentary called the Victorias Secret World Tour 23, fell flat, underwhelming viewers.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, points out that the companys sales are now down by 12.2% on a two-year basis.

We believe any talk of a recovery is very premature, he writes, as Victorias Secret continues to lose both shoppers and share of wallet.

Like customers, we remain very confused as to what Victorias Secret wants to be, he says. Management jumps back and forth between trying to become a more genuine and authentic brand and going back to its roots of selling with sultry images. The resulting muddle, he says, continues to damage sales.

The bright spots are continued innovation in bras, a new loyalty program and international sales.

And Adore Me, which Victorias Secret acquired last year for $400 million, continues to be a digital success story.

But Saunders argues that none of those gains are big enough to address the underlying problem: Victorias Secret has failed to define the essence of the brand.
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. France aims to double its emissions reduction rate to 5 percent per year by 2030, President of France Emmanuel Macron said, Trend reports.

He made the remark during his speech at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28 in Dubai, UAE.

"We are in compliance with our trajectory. And this is not the case of many countries, including amongst the rich countries. But we need to double this rate. And this is very much at the heart of the ecological plan prepared by Europe. And, of course, we will implement all of that through our various projects in France and regionally. In France, we will work with our local authorities, our industry, and all of our compatriots. And in this respect, we undertook reforms," he said.

Macron noted that France has given its foremost priority to phasing out energy production generated from coal.

"And accordingly, we need to speed up with renewable energy and nuclear energy. And if we look at what is happening around the globe, if we want to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, we need to phase out coal by 2030, oil - by 2045, and gas - by 2050. The countries that are the largest consumers of coal shall phase it out as soon as possible. So to that effect, we need an absolute turnaround on coal," he added.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, December 2, 2023

The Disney Music Group teamed up with The Escape Pod to roll out the "Magic Happens Here" campaign for the Disney Hits playlist.

Disney Hits is a streaming music playlist that aggregates the most popular and iconic Disney songs from the past 100 years into one location. It averages 90 million monthly streams and is available on all major music-streaming services worldwide.

The two, The Disney Music Group and The Escape Pod, worked with production company Gravity Well Studio to produce the spots.

This is the first multi-spot major advertising campaign for Disney Hits. The "Magic Happens Her"e spotlights how the Disney Hits playlist adds a little musical enchantment to anyone's day, proving that any moment can be magical.

Rob Souriall, vice president of marketing at Disney Music Group, said the campaign consists of three new spots that initially launch in the U.S. this holiday season and then expand into Canada and the U.K. in 2024.

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These spots are in English, but the company is considering shooting new ones with local casting and language to tell the same story in other countries.

Marketing Daily caught up with Souriall to talk about the campaign, how the music service works, and who benefits from the ad targeting.

Marketing Daily (MD): Will other media accompany the videos such as search, social, television and radio?

Souriall: We have an always on 24/7/365 mentality with our Disney Hits Playlist. It is our biggest perennial catalog music marketing initiative. The playlist continually builds followers, and streaming engagement continues to rise. We run search and digital, and consistently feed our owned-and-operated social channels with content. always on Well pulse in and out with television -- broadcast and connected TV -- as well as in-cinema buys throughout the year. We run some out-of-home billboards. We also have our own branded Disney Hits SiriusXM Channel (133). This is similar to the Disney Hits Playlist, but it is programmed like a radio station. The SiriusXM Disney Hits Channel plays all our legendary, timeless Disney hits, but also has specialty shows and interview segments.

MD: Who is the target audience for these ads?

Souriall: The target audience is broad. The range of music included in the playlist dates back to 1937 and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, all the way to current films like Wish, Encanto, Frozen, Moana and Coco. In general, we target families, and moms, thought of as the chief planning and purchasing officer of the household. There are legendary and classic songs that appeal to every demographic -- grandparents, parents, young adults, teenagers, and kids. We like to refer to this as the musical Circle of life. Pun intended.

MD: Is the playlist aggregated for the listener or can the listener search for songs and create their own playlist?

Souriall: Great question -- and even though there are over 700 million premium music streaming subscriptions across the globe, expected to reach 1 billion by 2027, many people dont really understand what a playlist is or how it works. My team spends significant time evangelizing and educating. These new creative spots are all about contextually bringing this story to life.

The Disney Hits Playlist consists of approximately 100 to 120 songs at any given time and is curated by our sales and digital team at Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company. We optimize and update the playlist on a weekly basis. As we release new tentpole films, we will add in a few of the new songs. We receive a ton of data from our partners like Spotify or Amazon. It shows us when consumers skip songs and how long they stay engaged listening. Based on this information, we will remove songs that do not perform well. The audience speaks and we react.

Consumers cant alter the Disney Hits Playlist. Technically, any premium subscriber on any of the music streaming platforms can select songs and create their own custom playlist. That could take hours, though.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR) has made a voluntary commitment to reduce methane emissions to zero by 2035, Minister of Economy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SOCAR, Mikail Jabbarov told reporters on the sidelines of the world summit on climate action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28.

"In this area, a number of technical and technological measures will be implemented as a main focus to reduce methane emissions generated during oil and gas production. This reflects both the attention to climate topics in Azerbaijan and one of the biggest goals set within this global conference," he said.

The minister noted that the event featured works and projects related to climate issues in Azerbaijan, initiatives put forward by Azerbaijan, the Presidents declaration of territories liberated from occupation as green energy zones, Azerbaijans active role in the implementation of a number of regional initiatives and the desire to draw attention to issues on the agenda.

He added that at the same time, the country's economy reflects issues such as the sustainability of the green transition, increasing renewable energy sources, on the one hand, and economic efficiency, on the other, as well as creating conditions for private investment in these sectors.

"Azerbaijan has signed agreements and memorandums on the construction of solar and wind power plants with various companies and investors around the world. The latest of these is the one signed in October between SOCAR and the UAE Masdar company for the construction of solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 1 gigawatt. We believe that Azerbaijan will achieve its goals or targets ahead of schedule, the goal of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in our overall energy balance by 2030, Jabbarov also noted.

Jabbarov recalled that, at the initiative of Azerbaijan, a joint meeting was held in Baku two weeks ago with the participation of the energy ministers of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the possibilities of exporting and exchanging renewable energy sources produced in Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries, such projects as the construction of an energy cable connecting the shores of the Caspian Sea.
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP)  South Korea launched its first military spy satellite into space Friday, a little over a week after North Korea claimed to put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time as tensions rise between the rivals.

Launched from Californias Vandenberg Space Force Base using SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket, it was the first of five spy satellites South Korea plans to send into space by 2025 under a contract with SpaceX. The event had been scheduled for earlier in the week but was pushed back because of weather conditions.

South Korea had no military reconnaissance satellites of its own in space and has partially resorted to the United States spy satellites to monitor moves by North Korea.

South Koreas Defense Ministry described the launch as successful, saying the satellite had a communication with an overseas ground station.

A ministry statement said the launch allowed the South Korean military to acquire an independent space-based surveillance system. It said the satellite would also help bolster the militarys preemptive missile strike capability, a key part of its so-called three-axis system that includes missile defense and massive retaliatory capabilities.

After two launch failures earlier this year, North Korea said it successfully placed its Malligyong-1 spy satellite into orbit last week. North Korea has since said its satellite had transmitted imagery with space views of key sites in the U.S. and South Korea, including the White House and the Pentagon. But it hasnt yet released any of those satellite photos.

U.S. and South Korean officials confirmed the North Korean satellite entered orbit, but many outside experts question whether it can send militarily useful high-resolution imagery.

The North Korean satellite launch sparked immediate, strong condemnations from the U.S., South Korea and others. Multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions ban any satellite launches by North Korea, viewing them as covers for testing its long-range missile technology.

North Korea responded angrily, saying it has sovereign rights to launch spy satellites to cope with what it calls increasing U.S. hostilities. It said it would also launch additional ones.

On Saturday, North Koreas Defense Ministry threatened to take unspecified steps to eliminate or undermine the capabilities of U.S. spy satellites in protest of what it called the rubbish comments by an unspecified U.S. Space Command official that hinted at an attack on the North Korean satellite. The North Korean ministry said it would consider such an action a declaration of war.

The North's statement followed remarks by Sheryll Klinkel, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Space Forces that were carried in Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government-funded news service, earlier in the week.

Asked whether the United States has the ability to block the operation of North Koreas spy satellite, the RFA report quoted Klinkel as saying that Joint Force space operations could deny an adversarys space and counterspace capabilities and services using a variety of reversible and irreversible means, reducing the effectiveness and lethality of adversary forces across all domains."

North Koreas satellite launch has inflamed animosities between the two Koreas, with the rivals taking steps to breach a previous military agreement meant to ease front-line military tensions.

Spy satellites are among the high-tech weapons systems that Kim Jong Un has publicly vowed to introduce. Since 2022, North Korea has conducted about 100 ballistic missile tests  part of efforts to modernize its arsenal of weapons targeting South Korea and the United States. South Korea and the United States have expanded their military exercises.

South Koreas spy agency told lawmakers last week that Russias technological assistance likely enabled North Korea to place its spy satellite into orbit. South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have accused North Korea of seeking high-tech Russian technologies needed to enhance its military programs in return for supplying conventional arms to support Russias war in Ukraine. Both Russia and North Korea have denied the allegation.

___

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
The Blue Jays have been linked to such high-profile names as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Juan Soto, and others on the free agent and trade markets, yet the team isnt only focusing on these top-tier names to address their roster needs. According to Sportsnets Shi Davidi, the Jays have interest in free agent outfielders Michael Brantley and Joc Pederson, as well as utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

These names have long been on the radar of Jays GM Ross Atkins, who has at least explored the possibility of acquiring all of the trio in the past. Kiner-Falefa was targeted at the last trade deadline, Pederson was targeted during his last stint in free agency during the 2021-22 offseason, and Brantley reportedly seemed on the verge of signing with Toronto in the winter of 2020-21 before opting to return to the Astros at something of the eleventh hour.

To some extent, Brantley or Pederson could be seen as backup plans if Toronto didnt acquire Soto, since left field is the primary defensive spot for all three players. A world exists where the Blue Jays could trade for Soto and then sign one of the other two outfielders, with an eye towards using Brantley or Pederson primarily as a designated hitter (with Soto or George Springer also getting some DH time for partial rest days). Such a scenario might somewhat run counter to the Jays focus on defense over the last year, though Daulton Varsho would still be anchoring center field, and the Jays might be willing to sacrifice some glovework to boost their middling lineup.

In the bigger picture, none of Brantley, Pederson, or Kiner-Falefa would really be obstacles to any bigger-name acquisitions the Blue Jays might have in mind. The three veterans are all likely to be had on one-year contracts, similar to Torontos signings of Kevin Kiermaier or Brandon Belt last winter.

Pederson hit .235/.348/.416 with 15 home runs over 425 plate appearances for the Giants last season, as his 111 wRC+ was still quite respectable but a big step down from the 146 wRC+ posted in 2022. It was something of an unusual year for Pederson in 2023, as he cut back on his strikeouts and increased his walk rate, but seemingly at the cost of a good chunk of his usual power. Pederson still had some of the best hard-contact numbers of any player in the league, and a .268 BABIP and a big gap in his wOBA (.331) and his xwOBA (.366) indicates that the 31-year-old mightve been somewhat unlucky to post only a 111 wRC+.

That said, 2022 does stand out as something of an outlier amongst Pedersons last four seasons, and even his career in general. Without much baserunning or defensive value, Pederson projects best as a DH (or part-time left fielder or first baseman), and limiting him to plate appearances against only right-handed pitching is preferable given his career splits.

Brantley would also have to be considered a part-time option due to his health, as shoulder surgery and recurring soreness kept Brantley out of action from June 2022 until August of last season. He amassed 89 total PA with the Astros during the regular season and postseason, and it wouldnt be a surprise if Brantleys eventual contract contains a lot of incentive clauses tied to playing time. The former five-time All-Star showed only flashes of his old self at the plate in 2023, though it is possible another full offseason of rest and rehab might get Brantley back into something closer to his past form.

Kiner-Falefa is in some ways the easiest player to project of the trio, as the 28-year-old has pretty firmly established himself as a light-hitting jack of all trades who can provide at least respectable defense at a wide variety of positions. A Gold Glove winner with the Rangers as a third baseman in 2020, IKF could be viewed by the Blue Jays as a potential glove-first replacement for Matt Chapman at the hot corner, with the Jays then presumably looking to add bigger bats to fill their other holes at second base, left field, or DH. If Toronto doesnt think enough of Kiner-Falefas bat to merit a semi-starting role, he could simply be a top utility option off the bench, giving the Blue Jays some flexibility in how hard they need to push on any one of their particular positions of need.

As usual, Atkins is seemingly keeping tabs on just about every prominent player on the market, and Davidi hears from player agents that the Blue Jays are planning to shift quickly if needed should their attempts at a superstar acquisition fall short. In terms of Ohtani specifically, Davidi is doubtful the two-time AL MVP will ultimately land in Toronto, yet the Jays arent really costing themselves by exploring the possibility since the position-player market is moving quite slowly. It could be that several teams and players are in the same boat as the Blue Jays in waiting on Ohtanis decision to open up the market to a fuller extent.
Dec. 1: The Reds have formally announced their deal with Martinez. Interestingly, GM Nick Krall tells Reds beat writers that Martinez will come to camp and compete for a job in the rotation  obviously implying that Martinez has not been assured of starting job just yet (link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Martinez will make $14MM next season and will have a $12MM salary in 2025 if he doesnt opt out, MLBTR has learned.

Nov. 30: The Reds are in agreement with Nick Martinez on a two-year, $26MM guarantee, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). The deal allows the right-hander to opt out after the first season. Yusseff Diaz of Pelota Cubana first reported that Martinez, a client of the Boras Corporation, was signing with Cincinnati.

Martinez, 33, has spent the past two seasons in San Diego. After a three-year run at Japans highest level, he signed with the Padres during the 2021-22 offseason. Technically a four-year guarantee, the deal afforded Martinez an opt-out chance after each year. He turned in a 3.47 ERA over 106 1/3 innings in a swing role during the first season and elected to retest free agency.

He parlayed that free agent trip into a new three-year pact with the Friars. Martinez locked in a $10MM salary for this past season, while each side had a two-year option covering the 2024-25 campaigns. He posted a remarkably similar year to his debut campaign as a Padre.

As was the case in 2022, Martinez went into this past season battling for a rotation spot. He took four turns through the rotation while Joe Musgrove was on the injured list in early April. Once Musgrove returned, Martinez moved back into the relief role he had occupied for the majority of the previous season.

He would ultimately appear in 63 contests, starting nine of them. Martinez worked 110 1/3 innings, allowing 3.43 earned runs per nine. He struck out 23% of batters faced behind a solid 12.6% swinging strike percentage. Martinez demonstrated average control and kept the ball on the ground on nearly 54% of batted balls allowed. He excelled at staying off barrels, with opponents making hard contact (a batted ball hit 95 MPH or harder) less than 30% of the time. That contact suppression ranked within the top five percent of qualified pitchers, according to Statcast.

Over his two seasons in San Diego, he combined for a 3.45 ERA with a 22.1% strikeout rate across 216 1/3 frames. At years end, both he and the Friars turned down their respective option provisions. San Diego declined to retain him at $16MM annually for the next two seasons, while the player passed on successive $8MM salaries. He ultimately lands between those two price points, securing a $13MM average annual value. The guarantee is in line with MLBTRs prediction of two years and $25MM. The opt-out affords him the flexibility to again get back to free agency a year from now if he turns in a strong season in Cincinnati.

Whether he decides to retest free agency likely depends on how well he holds up over a full season as a starter. The Friars never quite entrusted him with an extended rotation run. Martinez has started only 19 of his 110 appearances since his return to MLB. There hasnt been a material difference in his run prevention in either role. Martinez owns a 3.48 ERA in 91 relief outings over the past two seasons; he has allowed 3.41 earned runs per nine as a starter.

As one might expect, he has had better underlying marks when working in shorter stints. Martinezs strikeout rate is a couple points higher out of the bullpen (23% against 20.9%). He has been much better at avoiding free passes as a reliever, walking 7.1% of batters faced in that role compared to an 11.2% rate from the rotation.

Regardless of the slightly worse peripherals, its not outlandish to project Martinez as a viable starting pitcher. He has a far deeper repertoire than the typical reliever, turning to five pitches (sinker, changeup, curveball, cutter, four-seam fastball) with regularity. Martinez was effective this year in the few opportunities he received to turn an opposing lineup over a second or third time. He has held his own in unfavorable platoon situations, keeping left-handed batters to a reasonable .242/.322/.408 line since the start of 2022.

Martinez should get a look in Cincinnatis Opening Day starting five. The Reds had one of the sports least effective rotations, finishing 28th in MLB (ahead of only the As and Rockies) with a 5.43 ERA. The rotations ineffectiveness was the single biggest reason for the team coming up a little shy of the postseason. Addressing the group was a clear priority for GM Nick Krall and his staff heading into the offseason.

Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott headline the in-house options. Nick Lodolos 2023 campaign was wrecked by left leg injuries, but hell surely have a rotation spot so long as hes healthy. Graham Ashcraft projects as the #5 starter after overcoming a disastrous first half to turn in a 2.81 ERA from the All-Star Break onward. Brandon Williamson, who pitched to a 4.46 ERA over 117 innings as a rookie, would be the top depth option. Prospects Connor Phillips and Lyon Richardson each made brief big league appearances late in the year.

Its not a group without talent, but no team can count on its top five or six starters staying healthy for an entire season. Greene and Lodolo have each missed extended chunks of action over the past two years. Abbott and Williamson have yet to play a full season at the MLB level. Martinez doesnt have an extended track record of starting. The front office could still look for another arm to solidify the group. Theyve been linked to each of Tyler Glasnow and Shane Bieber on the trade front. Signing Martinez doesnt necessarily take them out of that market.

Paired with Wednesday afternoons signing of reliever Emilio Pagan to a two-year, $16MM deal, this is the most active that Cincinnati has been in free agency for the past few seasons. As reflected on MLBTRs contract tracker, the Reds hadnt signed a free agent to a multi-year contract since adding Nick Castellanos on a four-year pact in January 2020. Where ownership sets the spending limit remains to be seen, but there should still be some financial flexibility.

Roster Resource projected the Reds 2024 payroll commitments in the $58MM range before the Martinez deal. If the money is evenly distributed  the contracts specific financial breakdown remains unreported  itd bring them around $71MM. The club opened the 2023 season with a player payroll approaching $83MM and was well above $100MM in the two preceding seasons.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, December 2. Gas workers of the Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz State Concern received a new industrial inflow of natural gas at the production well No. 29 of the Tagtabazar field, Trend reports.

A new gas well in this field was drilled to a depth of 1,940 meters, according to Turkmen official sources.

Furthermore, analysts estimate that around 226,400 cubic meters of natural gas will be generated daily from the relevant well of the Tagtabazar gas field.

Turkmenistan is actively working to diversify its energy economy, with a particular focus on the development of the gas sector, despite the country's vast natural gas reserves, by undertaking ambitious projects for the extraction, transportation, and export of this vital energy resource.

Meanwhile, according to the results of this year, gas production in Turkmenistan is expected to exceed 80 billion cubic meters, of which about 73 billion cubic meters will be accounted for by Turkmengaz, and exports are projected to amount to about 40 billion cubic meters, of which about 35 billion cubic meters will be supplied by the state concern.
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  Opening shortly after Prohibition, Turks Tavern hails as one of oldest eateries in Ottawa County.

Were located in Nunica, Michigan, which is country - middle of nowhere, said Tiffany Crane, general manager of Turks Tavern who has worked there for 16 years. But its that happy medium between Grand Rapids and Muskegon that people love to come and meet.

Turks was established in 1933 when Fred Allison (nicknamed Turk) started a pool hall with a bit of food.

Roger and Frances Holmes bought the tavern, located at 11139 Cleveland St., in the early 1980s. Their daughter and her husband, Francine and Rick Brown, have been operating it since 2006.

The family has worked for over 40 years to provide the tradition and care of an upscale tavern food experience.

Customers are treated to a charming, dimly-lit, environment that showcases woodwork and carvings.

Its that cozy home, family atmosphere, said Crane.

Turks strives to utilize Michigan products and locally-grown ingredients whenever possible from places like Crisp Country Acres in Ottawa County, and from the Meat Block in Muskegon. Nothing is frozen.

Much of the menu is homemade, including soups, dressings and desserts.

The quality of trying to keep everything fresh and local is a huge a staple, which we love to have, and people look forward to coming for that, she said.

Flavorful entrees include Turks Crown Chop (grilled, bone-in, sage-rubbed, cooked pink at-the-bone) $20, or double chop at $26, and Turks House Specialty Chop (8 ounces of breaded chop, flash fried golden brown, finished in the oven and served with applesauce) for $18 or double chop at $24.

Hand patty burgers, ranging in price from $11-$15, include the Whiskey BBQ (onion rings, whiskey BBQ, bacon and American cheese) goes for $12. They are served on a house bun with pickle slices.

Sandwiches include the Reuben (slow-roasted corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, homemade thousand island, grilled rye) goes for $11. Customers can also make it a turkey Reuben for the same price.

Salads, such as the Steak and Avocado (8 ounces of sirloin, mixed greens, avocado, roasted tomatoes, red onion, sauteed mushrooms, bleu cheese, garlic crouton, Turks Caesar), go for $18.

Daily specials include the popular bacon-wrapped Meatloaf Monday (Labor Day to Memorial Day), wings with homemade sauce on Tuesdays, pasta and steak features on Wednesdays, Mexican-style food on Thursdays and prime rib Friday/Saturday.

Turks bar serves custom drinks and a selection of over 40 beers in bottles and cans, including local varieties.

The tavern doesnt allow reservations, operating on a first-come, first-served basis. They can only accommodate parties of up to eight.

Outdoor seating is available. In the colder months, customers can dine in an enclosed extension of the patio with heaters.

Crane said another trademark that has kept Turks going so long is the staffs good reputation.

Without them, this wouldnt be here, she said. Theyre wonderful.

Turks is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Fri & Sat 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. and closed on Sunday.

Customers can order online at their website link here, or check out Facebook and Instagram.

Whiskey BBQ burger (onion rings, whiskey bbq, bacon and American cheese) for $12 at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Holiday decorations inside Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Kathy and Gary Breen dine among holiday decorations inside Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Its our favorite place, Kathy said. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Front door at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Steak and Avocado (8 ounces of sirloin, mixed greens, avocado, roasted tomatoes, red onion, sauteed mushrooms, bleu cheese, garlic crouton, Turks ceasar), for $18 at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Turk's Crown Chop, right, (grilled, bone-in, sage-rubbed, cooked pink at-the-bone) for $20, or double chop for $26; and Turk's House Specialty Chop, left, (8 ounces of breaded chop, flash fried golden brown, finished in the oven and served with applesauce) for $18, or double chop at $24, at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

The Reuben (slow roasted corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss, housemade 1000 island, grilled rye) for $11 with onion rings at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Customers can also make it a turkey reuben for the same price. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Customers sit at the bar inside Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023.Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Front door at Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Well done is better than well said sign inside Turks Tavern in Nunica on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

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By the time Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called Tyler Hallstedt one of the best teachers in America, Hallstedt was already debating whether he wanted to keep teaching in Tennessee.

Hallstedt had won a Milken Educator Award, marking him as one of the best early-career teachers in the country.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI -- For most people, earning a pilots license at age 16 would be a daunting task. For Nolan McCleery, its just another step forward in his journey above the clouds.

McCleery -- a 16-year-old sophomore at Washtenaw International High School -- completed his first solo flight on Nov. 11, earning him a student pilots license around the same age most of his peers are still getting a drivers license.

Ive been doing a lot of work around school and perfecting all the stuff you need to do (to fly), McCleery said. It feels great to have your first solo flight, but Im also not done.

Even the sky is not the limit for McCleery, as his interest in flight stems from a deep interest in space and the cosmos outside of Earths atmosphere.

Starting around the beginning of this year, Ive wanted to do flight training as a first step toward becoming an astronaut, McCleery said. Im using (piloting) like a stepping stone. Ive always been curious about whats out there -- when I look up at the moon and the stars, I just wonder, because we dont know that much about them.

Another step McCleery might take in the future would be to become a test pilot in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Navy, which he thinks could open up more opportunities to reach his goal of space travel.

We are tremendously proud of Nolan and all he has accomplished, and look forward to all that is to come, his parents, Abby and Ryan McCleery, said. Watching him pursue something he is so dedicated to and passionate about brings us so much joy. He is fearless and can accomplish anything he sets his wonderful mind to.

Since he began taking lessons las May at the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, McCleery has primarily flown a two-seat Cessna 152, though he also has some experience with the slightly larger Cessna 172.

Aircraft McCleery hopes to pilot in the future include planes produced by Diamond Aircraft Industries -- which feature a lower wing placement than the Cessnas hes used to -- as well as fighter jets in his prospective military career.

McCleery is already at work preparing to take his passion to new heights. In order to obtain a private pilots license, he will have to complete several more solo flights, as well as more complicated tasks, such as nighttime and cross-country flights.

McCleery will also need to pass a final checkride -- the Federal Aviation Administrations practical test -- after he turns 17 to obtain his private license.

In addition to the support of his parents and sister, McCleery also credits his success to the tutelage of Katie Ptoska, his instructor at the Michigan Flyers. McCleery is also thankful for several of his teachers at WIHI -- particularly his freshman physics teacher Nick Gravlin -- for helping him be engaged in subjects and lessons that will benefit his understanding of flying, such as math and physics.

WIHI principal Nhu Do said the whole school is proud of McCleery and his extraordinary achievement.

If you would like more reporting like this delivered free to your inbox, click here and signup for our weekly newsletter: Michigan Schools.

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.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  As the Grand Rapids mayoral race heats up, the citys current and former mayor  Rosalynn Bliss and George Heartwell  are throwing their weight behind candidate David LaGrand.

In a joint statement, Bliss and Hartwell said LaGrand  a former state lawmaker, city commissioner, Grand Rapids school board member and business owner  has the vision, integrity and collaborative spirit necessary to lead our great city into a prosperous and inclusive future.

His commitment to transparent governance, social justice, environmental sustainability and the empowerment of diverse voices is precisely what our city needs, the statement said.

Related: Former state Rep. David LaGrand announces run for Grand Rapids mayor

LaGrand is facing former City Commissioner Senita Lenear, who also served on the Grand Rapids school board, in the mayoral race. If they remain the only two candidates in the race, the election for the seat will be held in November 2024. If others jump in, a primary election will take place in August 2024.

In an interview, when asked why she thinks LaGrand is a better choice than Lenear, current mayor Bliss said, I dont know if its necessarily about what one person has and what one doesnt.

I think that its one thing to serve as a city commissioner and to do that really well, she said. But the role of mayor is very, very different. I think the breadth of Davids experience as well as seeing and working with him over the years, and seeing what he brings to the table, makes him a strong candidate.

In addition, she said LaGrand is aligned with many of the priorities that she thinks are important for the city, including justice reform, economic development and environmental sustainability.

I also trust that hell be able to carry on the work that weve started but also, hopefully, complete some of the things that still need to get done, Bliss said, noting priorities such as reaching 100% renewable energy, completing public-private partnerships such as the new amphitheater and court reform.

Related: Former city commissioner Senita Lenear announces run for Grand Rapids mayor

LaGrand, a Democrat, served as the state representative for the 75th District from 2015 to 2022.

Last year, he ran for the state Senates 30th District but narrowly lost to state Sen. Mark Huizenga, R-Walker. Between 2007 and 2010, he was a Grand Rapids city commissioner. He also served as a Grand Rapids school board member from 2012 to 2015.

He also founded several small businesses and is an owner and manager of Long Road Distillers and other West Michigan businesses.

His challenger, Lenear, served two terms on the Grand Rapids City Commission representing the citys Third Ward from January 2014 to December 2022. She was term limited and unable to seek re-election. She served more than five years on the Grand Rapids Board of Education, including two years as board president.

I respect Senita, I respect that work that she did as a city commissioner, and Im grateful for that, but David is my clear choice for mayor, Bliss said. You can respect somebody and the work theyve done but still endorse somebody else.

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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DeVos Place expansion, new convention hotel being re-examined following pandemic

Kent County board votes to provide $15M to Acrisure Amphitheater

Increased hotel tax in Grand Rapids would be higher than Nashville, Chicago

Kent County board supports soccer stadium, but wants more community outreach
Ghanaian gospel sensation Diana Asamoah has shared insights into her journey before achieving fame as a musician.

In an interview on Hitz FM's Daybreak Hitz morning show, hosted by Andy Dosty, Diana Asamoah disclosed that her career took a different turn.

Contrary to her father's desire for her to become a seamstress, she found herself in the field of education after completing her elementary education in 1987.

Diana Asamoah recounted, "When I completed school, my father wanted me to learn how to sew clothes in Kumasi, but he had not bought the sewing machine and other things I needed at that time.

So, I thought of selling beans, soap, and other items. However, he did not like the idea of me moving around peoples houses to sell. He feared that I could be raped."

Faced with this dilemma, Asamoah made a decision to become a pupil teacher at St Monicas School.

Diana Asamoah, though not proficient in English, according to her, taught various subjects, including English, Geography, Twi, and others.

Despite the challenges, she expressed pride in her teaching career, emphasizing that none of the pupils she taught during her time at St Monicas School failed in their examinations.
30.11.2023 LISTEN

If you haven't followed the PHC hangout in November at ICGC New Wine Temple, you've missed out on a lot. Rev. and Mrs. Ocran curated a series of talks featuring renowned speakers, including the playwright Uncle Ebo Whyte, Professor Robert Hinson (Pro Vice Chancellor GCTU), Bernard Avle (GM, Citi FM & Citi TV ), Seth Quaye (CEO, Mac Partners group) and entrepreneur Kofi Owusu-Nhyira (CEO, Nsano Limited), bringing them to the New Wine auditorium to share their insight and experience on navigating the challenges and opportunities of "Doing Business in Deep Waters." The speakers emphasized that while doing business in deep waters may bring risks, storms, and uncertainty, it's also where we can see the works and wonders of God. The program concluded yesterday with Professor Hinson, an African marketing expert, as the final speaker.

Professor Hinson employed the term "business" as an acronym for his presentation, and judging by the audience's reactions, his insights were met with great delight. With personal anecdotes and playful interjections, he delivered a message on branding and marketing, demonstrating the expertise of a seasoned professional in the field. He declared, "These are the business principles for witnessing the wonders of the Lord and the wonders of the deep:"

B - Build a strong, recognizable brand

U - Utilize and expand your network as a promotional tool

S - Shift to a mindset of giving

I - Insist on holiness in all aspects of business

N - Negotiate the first customer experience with utmost care

E - Establish a personal board of directors to provide guidance and support

S - Serve relentlessly, always exceeding expectations

S - Say "yes" as often as possible, reserving "no" for only the most essential circumstances

Understanding his audience, Professor Hinson anchored his message in scriptural principles, declaring that the Christian God is not opposed to personal or professional branding; instead, He supports it.

After the professor's presentation, I had the opportunity to speak with him, introduced by the host, Mrs. Ocran. I posed the question of how an introvert can effectively engage in aggressive networking. I asked this because Professor Hinson addressed networking as an integral part of his business acronym. With down-to-earth style, he stated, "When God asks you to network, how can you say you can't do it because you are an introvert? Do you use your temperament as an excuse to disobey God?" Then, he stressed that many great deals happen behind closed doors, not necessarily in the public eye, affirming that introverts can indeed be successful networkers.

The professors answer demonstrated that Christians must not allow worldly categories to limit us. While psychological profiling is valuable, biblical commands must rule our hearts. This means that even if our temperament is opposed to Gods command, we must strive to obey God at all cost. God may instruct us to do things that go against our natural tendencies, things we perceive as weaknesses, just as He did with Moses, sending him to speak despite his stutter.

A gentleman from the audience sought the professor's advice on managing a partner who, despite limited contributions, possessed one crucial skill. Professor Hinson responded, "I am who I am today because of the donkey jobs I have done." This gentleman, unsure of whether to part ways with his partner, sought counsel. The professor advised that as long as the partner contributed something positive, even if it was just one thing, the partnership should be maintained.

In his closing remark, Professor Hinson said "I am who I am today because of the grace of God."To juxtaposed this statement with the donkey job statement, the takeaway for me is that the grace of God can lead a child of God to humble beginnings, and we shouldn't view these experiences as beneath us. We may be God's children, and yet our training and journey may take us to some of the lowest places on earth or provide us with challenging experiences, all meant to shape us for our God-given assignments.

I think that one day when we succeed in doing business in deep waters, we can also say with the professor that I am who I am today because of the grace of God and the donkey jobs I did.
Guinea-Bissau's army said Friday it was holding the leader of the security forces unit involved in overnight clashes in the capital and had the situation under control.

Gunfire was heard for part of the night and early on Friday in Bissau, in exchanges between members of the national guard and presidential guard special forces, an AFP reporter heard.

The firing came after national guard soldiers freed two members of the government, who had been questioned by police on Thursday.

"Colonel (Victor) Tchongo is in our hands. The situation is completely under control," military chief of staff spokesman Captain Jorgito Biague told AFP.

Tchongo, who is in the national guard, had surrendered, a military official said on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the matter.

He also said Economy and Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Secretary of State for the Treasury Antonio Monteiro -- whom national guard members are suspected of extracting -- had been found safe.

The two men had been summoned by the judiciary on Thursday and taken into custody.

Police questioned them for several hours about a withdrawal of $10 million from state coffers, according to military and intelligence sources who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Lawmakers had also questioned Seidi about the withdrawal during a National Assembly session on Monday.

He claimed the withdrawal was legal and intended to support the national private sector.

Members of the national guard took Seidi and Monteiro to an unknown location on Thursday night before seeking refuge in the barracks in the southern Santa Luzia district, the sources said.

Access to the southern neighbourhoods of the city were blocked off by security forces and residents said they had fled north.

"My children and I were up all night because of the shooting. The children are afraid and are clinging to me every time the weapons go off," a teacher said by telephone, declining to be identified for safety reasons.

Heavy gunfire

Heavy gunfire was heard by an AFP reporter near the barracks in the neighbourhood.

Special forces intervened after several unsuccessful attempts at mediation, with calm restored following an exchange of gunfire, the sources said.

Members of the Guinea-Bissau Stabilisation Support Force, deployed in the country by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), were seen patrolling the streets of Bissau on Friday morning, an AFP journalist saw.

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, elected in December 2019, is currently in Dubai attending the United Nations Climate Conference, COP28.

The small west African nation of Guinea-Bissau has been politically unstable since independence from Portugal in 1974, going through four coups and several attempted coups.

Embalo appointed two generals in September, Tomas Djassi and Horta Inta, as head of presidential security and chief of staff respectively.

The posts had not been filled for several decades.

The reinforcement of presidential security comes at a time when coups or attempted coups are multiplying in West Africa, including in Gabon, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and, this week, Sierra Leone.
The Akyode Youth Association in Nkwanta of the Oti Region, has officially declared the termination of its affiliation with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The youth expressed profound disappointment with the NPP, vowing not to engage in any activities related to the party in the Nkwanta South Constituency until justice prevails in the communal clashes involving Akyodes, Adele, Challas, and Kotokoli, which resulted in a curfew.

During a press conference in Accra, Mr Sillas Asiedu, the spokesperson for the Association, conveyed their decision, highlighting that, despite the NPP being their party of choice since the advent of the 1992 constitutional dispensation, recent developments surrounding the conflict have compelled them to sever ties ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Mr Asiedu cited the government's failure to conduct a thorough investigation into the 2022 communal clashes, as described by the Nkwanta police.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the one-sided arrests and trial of four individuals at the Ho Court.

Additionally, the spokesperson pointed out the NPP's inability to address the reported destruction of houses, vehicles, and valuable properties allegedly carried out by one Agya Rubber and his Adele gang.

The Akyode Youth Association emphasised that the NPP had traditionally secured 70 percent of votes in the Akyode area, stating their utter disappointment in the party for failing to provide security and ensure justice in the ongoing situation.

The Association contends that their support for the NPP has led to their community being targeted and mistreated.

The spokesperson further highlighted the plight of the Akyode tribe, part of the Guan stock, likening it to unjustly giving a dog a bad name and hanging it.

This, he claimed, is a consequence of their unwavering support for the NPP, especially in the Volta Region at the time, since the inception of the Fourth Republic.

Despite the severance of ties, Mr Asiedu expressed gratitude to Nana Yaw Felix Ade, the NPP's Oti Regional Organiser, for demonstrating leadership by engaging both conflicting sides to exercise restraint and contribute to bringing peace to Nkwanta.

Classfmonline
01.12.2023 LISTEN

The National Media Commission (NMC) has written to the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) stating that it cannot dictate to the Commission.

This follows a letter sent to NMC by GIBA indicating that the move by the NMC to impose sanctions on Onua FM and Onua TV without due process is unacceptable.

GIBA frowns at the actions taken by the NMC in addressing the issue of the alleged ethical journalistic infraction by the two stations for the reasons that, the Association believes there are far more avenues to explore in addressing the matter on hand, such as giving the opportunity for fair hearing to the stations rather than pronouncing sanctions upon them to the extent of alerting the Advertisers Association of Ghana of a Notice of Suspension without due process.

GIBA believes that such actions which are tantamount to depriving the stations of their advertising revenue is unacceptable. The fact that the NMC sought to cut-off the life support of the stations by writing to the AAG is damaging, the association said in its release.

Replying to GIBA, the NMC said the association's claim has no foundation.

We also wish to provide you information that the claim in your press statement that the Commission acted without giving the opportunity for fair hearing to the stations rather than pronouncing sanctions upon them has no foundation, the NMC in its letter dated December 1 said.

The Commission in its letter stressed that it has not issued any sanctions on the two offending stations yet.

It said what it has done is to file a notice of suspension to Onua FM and Onua TV.

We did that after issuing them warnings to desist from their professional delinquency. Neither the cease and desist orders nor the notice of suspension constitutes sanctions, the NMC letter said.

The President

Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association

Accra

December 1, 2023

Dear Sir

GIBA PRESS STATEMENT OF NOVEMBER , 2023

We write with reference to your press statement issued on Thursday, November 30, 2023 regarding the Commissions intervention to grant Onua TV and Onua Fm their wish to exit the broadcasting market by unprofessional practice.

Our notice of suspension stands.

To the extent that the stations invited this upon themselves, please note that your press statement is of no consequence to the process. We wrote to you out of courtesy so if it is your wish that we do not grant you that courtesy in future, we respect that.

Regarding how we deal with other organisations including the Advertising Association of Ghana, the ordinary rules of etiquette would require you not to attempt to dictate to us.

We also wish to provide you information that the claim in your press statement that the Commission acted without giving the opportunity for fair hearing to the stations rather than pronouncing sanctions upon them has no foundation.

NMC has not issued any sanctions on the two offending stations yet.

What we have done is to file a notice of suspension. We did that after issuing them warnings to desist from their professional delinquency. Neither the cease and desist orders nor the notice of suspension constitutes sanctions.

A cease and desist order only warns a criminal, wrong doer or a delinquent professional to stop their misbehaviour and to withdraw from their lawlessness. It does not constitute sanctions. It is akin to asking a pickpocket to stop stealing or to stop a person poisoning the public well to stop his murderous act. It does not involve any hearing.

Opportunity for fair hearing comes in when the criminal ignores the warning and puts himself in harms way with the law. It is at that point that the wrong doer, faced with the law, is given opportunity for fair hearing.

We have initiated a process. We assure you that the errant stations may have their opportunity for fair hearing at the right time in the appropriate forum.

George Sarpong

Executive Secretary
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Clear Communication and Transparency:

Establish open lines of communication, ensuring that employees are well-informed about the company's goals, decisions, and successes. Transparency creates a sense of trust, positioning the company as one that values honesty and openness.

Recognition and Appreciation:

Regularly acknowledge and celebrate individual and team accomplishments to demonstrate genuine appreciation. Recognizing hard work and dedication communicates that each employee is an integral part of the company's success.

Employee Development and Growth Opportunities:

Invest in the professional growth of your employees through training programs and mentorship. Showcase a commitment to their development, illustrating that the company values their long-term success.

Inclusive and Supportive Culture:

Cultivate an inclusive environment that values diversity and supports work-life balance. Employees thrive when they feel their unique contributions are recognized and appreciated.

Employee Involvement in Decision-Making:

Empower your workforce by seeking their input in key decisions. Involving employees in decision-making processes fosters a sense of ownership and investment in the company's direction.

For employers committed to offering premium care, these practices not only enhance the overall work experience but also lay the groundwork for implementing innovative financial welfare systems like FlicoTrust. Such a system provides an additional layer of peace of mind for employees, knowing that their employer is dedicated to their well-being and financial security.

Stay tuned for the next part of our series, where we'll delve into team-building activities, fair compensation, and the importance of a positive work environment in creating premium care for your invaluable workforce.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Serbia and Azerbaijan can deepen cooperation in decarbonisation and achieving carbon neutrality, Minister of Mining and Energy of the Republic of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

"According to the Plan for the Development of Energy Infrastructure and Energy Efficiency Measures until 2028 with projections until 2030, adopted by the Government of Serbia in June, it is planned to increase capacities from solar energy and wind energy by 3.4 GW of installed power by 2030. This year, the Law on Renewable Energy Sources has been amended and the regulatory framework has been finalized, which enabled us to conduct the largest auctions conducted at once for the allocation of market premiums for renewable energy sources in the Western Balkans region," she said.

Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic pointed out that the auction results indicate that in the next few years, there will be nine new green power plants with a capacity of 700 MW (of which 425 MW is in the incentive system).

"According to projections, the state will earn 12-28 million euros annually. By changing regulations, we have created a favorable investment environment, as evident in the participation of reputable companies from the EU, UAE, Israel, as well as domestic investors in the first auctions. A three-year auction plan was also adopted, which is expected to grant incentives for 1300 MW, while the next auctions are set to commence by the middle of next year. Decarbonisation and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, i.e. the maximum reduction of the negative impact of energy on the climate is a shared task and goal for all countries. It is one of the areas in which we can deepen our cooperation with Azerbaijan," the minister added.

Follow the author on X: @Lyaman_Zeyn
For reneging on its commitment to construct new culverts and drainages and take necessary steps to end the annual flooding caused by its operations, Italian energy giant, Eni S.p.A., and its subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) has been dragged to a Milan court in Italy by some aggrieved community members of the Nigerian town of Aggah, Rivers State.

In June 2019, the residents, who have been battling annual flooding caused by the activities of Eni/NAOC, reached a settlement in which the company agreed to build new culverts/drainages and to work with the complainants to take any further necessary steps to end the annual flooding.

However, the multi-national company have woefully failed to redeem its image about four years down the line, thus prompting the residents to take legal action at a Tribunal in Milan, Italy.

Please find below the full press release issued on Thursday, November 30, 2023, after the case had been filed in Italy, with the support of Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), a non-profit organization that helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Aggah, Rivers State Nigeria

November 30, 2023.

AGGAH COMMUNITY PUTS ENIS WORD TO TEST IN COURT

Aggrieved community members of the Nigerian town of Aggah have taken Italian energy giant, Eni S.p.A., and its subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd. (NAOC), to court in Italy for relief from floods that have caused damage to the peoples lives and property for decades.

Brief Background

Aggah is a community in the western part of Rivers State, Nigeria, with a population of about 10,000. Its residents traditionally make their living as farmers and fishermen.

In the early 1970s, Eni/NAOC created 40,000 ft2 earthen embankments at three locations near Aggah to support wellheads and constructed raised access roads to connect them. These constructions completely blocked the natural course of streams that flowed through the Aggah community and its environs.

Because adequate measures were not put in place to channel the water, the streams backed up and flooded large swathes of Aggahs farmlands and residential areas each year, typically during the rainy season.

Over the course of several decades, Aggah residents and community leaders have contacted Eni/NAOC repeatedly in hopes of resolving the flooding and its impacts. However, these attempts to seek relief have been to no avail. Community members and even the Rivers State Ministry of Environment sued the company on several occasions; while those attempts have on some occasions led to judgments against the company or settlement agreements with individual families, the flooding situation remains unremediated.

The Italian OECD Complaint and 2019 Settlement Agreement

In December 2017, Egbema Voice of Freedom  a local community group representing hundreds of Aggah residents - Nigerian law firm Chima Williams and Associates, and Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) filed an NCP complaint with Italian and Dutch National Contact Points (NCPs) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The NCPs, which are offices located in the governments of the mostly wealthy countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are charged with helping to resolve disputes between companies and the people and communities affected by their operations, arising from the failure to respect high social and environmental standards.

In June 2019, the parties reached a settlement: the Eni/NAOC agreed to build new culverts/drainages and to work with the complainants to take any further necessary steps to ending the annual flooding.

NAOC then hired contractors who built new culverts through the access roads. These constructions, however, were poorly designed and shoddily executed, according to an independent report that NAOC suppressed. The company has disavowed any responsibility to take further measures to lift the floods, insisting (against the findings of its own technical experts) that the natural marshy environment of the Niger Delta is to blame. Consequently, the flooding continues to wreak destruction on Aggah community every year.

Fresh suit against Eni

Having reached an impasse in its negotiations with Eni/NAOC, the complainants from the OECD process have filed a lawsuit at the Tribunal of Milan in Italy. Represented by Studio Legale Dini-Saltalamacchia, the aggrieved Aggah community members are asking the court to enforce the settlement agreement with Eni by requiring Eni and NAOC to take all necessary steps to lift the floods in Aggah. The community members are also seeking damages for the loss of lives, livelihoods and properties over the years due to Enis floods.

Disappointed Community Members Hope for Justice

One of the flood victims and a native of Aggah is Mrs. Sandra Ubah. She says she is highly impressed with the case because NAOC has refused to keep to agreement and the last hope of the common man. Again, the issue of Eni/NAOC human right violation will be addressed.

My expectations in the trial in Italy is to get justice served on our side because the injustices and human right violations we suffer at the hands of the Italian company are numerous, including deaths, strange diseases, etc., and so I am confident that the case will favor us because the court is the place of justice.

For Mrs. Victoria Elechi, another resident, it is impressive that Eni/NAOC are being hauled before an Italian court as this is a good step in seeking justice for the people.

I am expecting justice for our people. We have suffered a lot of injustices and human rights violations in the hands of the company. E.g., refusal to lift the blockage of water right of way caused by Enis facility, which has caused a lot of damage like building collapse, sicknesses and diseases, deaths, etc. I have confidence because the court, as last hope of the common man, will give us justice at last.

This suit that has just been filed in Milan court in Italy would give hope to victims of human rights violations everywhere, especially in West Africa, said Lalla Toure, ACAs Legal Director. Were counting on the Italian legal system to help ensure that the fundamental human rights of Aggah community members are upheld.

It is so shocking that a multi-national organisation like Eni would be living in disobedience to an outcome of an agreement which they willingly signed before the Italian and Dutch governments and then turn around and deceive the world. Eni has operated on our land for over sixty years in this manner. They dont care about our lives, our environment and source of livelihood. Eni take oil, we pay with our lives. Eni lives in disobedience to both natural and constituted laws in our land and to me this is genocide, Pastor Evaristus Nicholas, the leader of Egbema Voice of Freedom said after the case had been filed in Italy.

Im expecting nothing but justice for me and my people, just the same way it was given to us before the Italian and Dutch NCP, but Eni refused to obey, which is why we have come before the Italian judiciary to get the backing of the law.

Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA)  ACA helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development to take control of their own futures. ACA works directly with communities to design their own sustainable development plans and advocate to achieve those plans, and it builds and supports networks of lawyers and other professionals that will serve communities in need. ACA is providing strategic legal support to MDT as part of their participation in the Public Interest Lawyering Network for West Africa (PILIWA), which ACA coordinates.

Chima Williams & Associates (CWA)  CWA is a public interest law firm based in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, that supports communities in the Niger Delta in cases involving human rights and environmental abuses, particularly by oil companies.

Egbema Voice of Freedom (EVF)  EVF is a community-based organization in Aggah Community in Rivers State, Nigeria, that was formed to represent the people of Aggah in the defense of their human rights, especially with respect to the oil extraction operations of Eni/NAOC in and around their territory.

END

Media Contacts
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Thursdays conviction in Germany of a member of former Gambian president Yahya Jammehs death squad for the 2004 murder of Gambian editor Deyda Hydara .

The German courts conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment of death squad driver Bai Lowe is an important first step for the family of Deyda Hydara and all those seeking justice and accountability for the crimes against humanity perpetrated by then Gambian president Jahya Jammeh and his murderous junglers, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator.

But Jammeh, not only his foot soldiers, must stand trial for his reign of terror. Justice will only prevail when Jammeh is extradited from his exile in Equatorial Guinea and faces charges in Gambias special criminal court.

A German regional court found Lowe guilty of crimes against humanity, murder, and attempted murder for his role as a driver for Jammehs so-called junglers under the principle of universal jurisdiction , which allows a country to prosecute crimes against humanity regardless of where they were committed. Lowe was the first person accused of human rights violations during Jammehs dictatorship to be tried outside Gambia.
The ECOWAS Commission celebrated the remarkable achievements of the young graduates of its Immersion Programme in ECOWAS institutions during a momentous graduation ceremony on November 30, 2023.

H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, was represented by Mrs. Damtien Larbli TCHINTCHIBIDJA, Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission. The occasion emphasized the profound impact of the participants' experiences and accomplishments.

In her address, Her Excellency Mrs. Damtien L. TCHINTCHIBIDJA emphasised the significant importance of the ECOWAS Immersion recognised Programme for young graduates. Highlighting the ceremony's acknowledgement of the youth as crucial catalysts for regional development, she commended their successful fulfilment of service within ECOWAS Institutions, Agencies, and the community. With enthusiasm and inspiration, she encouraged the participants to embrace challenges, strive for excellence, and actively contribute to the achievement of the objectives outlined in the ECOWAS Vision 2050. Acknowledging their significant contributions, commitments were made to further enhance and strengthen the program in line with ECOWAS's vision for the region's development.

On behalf of Prof. Fatou Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Professor Abdoulaye Maga, Director Education, Science and Culture, delivered a compelling speech at the event honouring 2022 ECOWAS Youth Immersion Programme graduates.

Recognising the program's goal of addressing staff shortages while providing valuable experience within a dynamic organisational framework, the speech emphasized the transparent recruitment process and expressed gratitude to the Vice-President, institution heads, and mentors. Commissioner Fatou Sarr commended the graduates on their efforts and encouraged them to continue giving back to the community. The speech concluded by inviting partners to assist in the program's strengthening and emphasizing the critical role of youth in African integration.

The Immersion Programme, launched as part of the ECOWAS Nnamdi Azikiwe Academic Mobility Scheme (ENAAMS) for one year immersion in ECOWAS Institutions, Departments, Permanent Representatives and Agencies, is a cornerstone initiative fostering professional development among the region's vibrant youth population.

The ceremony featured heartfelt testimonials from 2022 batch beneficiaries, vividly depicting the program's enriching experiences and significant impact on their career trajectories. Furthermore, the participants' dedication and successful completion of this transformative journey was symbolized by the awarding of certificates.
The Head of the Mental Health Department at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Paul Ninnorni has indicated that out of the over 2.4 million people living with mental health conditions in Ghana, only 2% have access to mental health care.

He made this revelation during the 20th matriculation and 11th graduation ceremony at the Psychiatric Nurses Training College at Ankaful in the Central Region.

The keynote speaker for the occasion further elaborated that mental health challenges go beyond what we see on the streets or in the hospitals and as such, the challenges related to mental health should be a major concern to everyone.

He urged the graduands to eschew any form of malice but rather, abide by the ethical principles of the profession, keeping the records of their patients highly confidential, taking care of their needs and involving them in their prayers.

Dr. Paul Kukye-Ayiri Ninnoni called on government and other stakeholders to pay close attention to mental health situations in the offices. He said, there is nothing like human rights when people are left in highly vulnerable states, there is nothing like human rights when people are in chains or shackles so equal need in our workplaces will do a lot to promote mental health.

A Professor of clinical microbiology and a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, School of Medical Sciences, Professor Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah called on parents and the general public to stop any form of stigmatizing persons living with mental health challenges.

She said the gap needed in training mental health care practitioners to provide quality mental health services is huge hence the need to create awareness to support the mental health institutions. While that is being done, the Deputy Director of Research, Innovation and Consultancy at the University of Cape Coast called on government to provide more training institutions to accommodate the required demand.

The Principal of the Psychiatric Nurses Training College at Ankaful in the Central Region, Mr. Simon Kwesi Dogedoung expressed his profound gratitude to all stakeholders and government for their support in the training of mental health nurses.

He urged on government through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health to increase the quota of intake. According to him although they had over 800 applications, the training college was only permitted to admit a total of about 350 students.
70-year-old herbalist, Mr. John Kofi Sackey

01.12.2023 LISTEN

The open eye therapy by a 70-year-old herbalist in Mankessim seems to be having a significant impact on patients who visit Mr. John Kofi Sackey with various types of eye related problems.

Some of these patients who visited Mr. Sackey revealed that after going through the open eye therapy, they have seen momentous improvements in their sight.

Among them is a 60-year-old woman who claims that before going through the therapy, she could hardly read or see well especially at night however the situation has changed as she can now read, even without her lenses.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Mr. Sackey revealed that the therapy starts with a prayer and worship session after which the patient is made to open his or her eyes widely, deliberately keeping the eyes focused on a mixture of herbs and water in a holder for about 10 minutes. Patients are then directed to break for a while, walk in the open air and repeat the process for about 2 consecutive sessions a day.

The Minister of the Gospel at Mankessim Estate Branch of the Church of Christ said some people get their healing in weeks whereas others receive theirs in months. That he said was dependent on God.

Mr. John Sackey disclosed that the therapy was given to him in a dream by God after which he was instructed not to charge anyone who accesses the service. When asked how he is able to financially manage his operations, Mr. Sackey disclosed that donations, gifts and support from well-meaning individuals have been his source of financial strength.

Reacting to this, a reverend minister of the Global Evangelical Church  Ghana, Rev. Calvin Klabi applauded the innovative initiative of Mr. Sackey and charged others who have similar calling to emulate same.

Rev. Klabi said there is no single scripture in the Bible that shows that God financially charged people before, during or after healing them however there are some text that have shown that people were asked to take an action as part of their healing process. This he said has been the foundation some persons including some ministers of the gospel, stand on to make all sorts of demands during healing and miracle services.

He encouraged all to place the call to serve humanity over any financial gains.
At the request of Sudanese authorities, the UN Security Council on Friday ended the world body's political mission in the African country ravaged by more than seven months of fighting between two rival generals.

Taking note of a letter from Khartoum demanding an immediate end to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Security Council adopted a resolution terminating its mandate as of Sunday.

Starting Monday, a three-month transition period would begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel and the transfer of its tasks to other UN agencies "where appropriate and to the extent feasible."

The UN mission in Sudan employs 245 people, including 88 in Port Sudan, as well as others in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed last month.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members adopted the resolution, while Russia abstained.

"Let me be clear. The United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment," said Britain's deputy UN envoy James Kariuki, whose country drafted the text.

"The need for the UN and international community to support the Sudanese people has not reduced."

In the text, the council expressed "alarm at the continued violence and humanitarian situation, in particular violations of international humanitarian law and grave human rights violations and abuses" in Sudan.

It called on all parties to "immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access... and seek a negotiated solution to the conflict."

UNITAMS was put in place in 2020 to help support a democratic transition in Sudan following the fall the previous year of veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who faced pressure from both the military and mass protests.

But in October 2021, the difficult path to civilian government was cut short, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan assumed full powers in a coup.

On April 15, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

A few weeks later, Burhan demanded that UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes be sacked, placing blame for the violence on his shoulders.

The German diplomat, who was barred from returning to Sudan, ultimately stepped down in September, and has not been replaced.

Last month, saying the mission had been "disappointing," the government in Khartoum demanded its immediate end, leaving the Security Council with virtually no choice but to withdraw, as the UN must operate with the host nation's consent.

'Call a spade a spade'

Just days ago, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rejected all accusations made against the world body, pointing a finger at Burhan and Daglo, "two generals that completely disregard the interests of their population."

"I think it's time to call a spade a spade. This is the fault of those that sacrificed the interests of their people for a pure struggle for power," Guterres said, also highlighting financial and weapons aid granted by unnamed parties.

The forced departure of UNITAMS is a new setback for the United Nations, which is facing a certain amount of hostility, notably in Africa, about the efficiency of its political and security missions.

Under pressure from Mali's ruling junta, the Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission in that country (MINUSMA) in June, and its blue helmets should be full withdrawn by year's end.

Despite the end of UNITAMS, "what is clear and what should be clear to everyone is that the United Nations is not leaving Sudan," Dujarric said Thursday, saying the world body would pursue its humanitarian programs and some political initiatives.

Guterres has named Algerian diplomat Ramtane Lamamra as his personal envoy for Sudan.

The UN has a significant number of humanitarian workers who assist those in need of aid "despite the funding shortages we speak about all the time and despite the fighting that continues," Dujarric said.

The civil war has left more than 10,000 dead since April, according to an estimate by the non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), a figure that is widely considered an underestimate.

Six million people have been displaced, and much infrastructure destroyed, the UN says.
The Africa Women and Children Conference (AFRIWOCC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have sponsored 48 young climate activists from across Africa to participate in this years United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).

The participants, drawn from several countries across Africa, have been selected after going through a rigorous selection process and meeting the criteria based on the context of the respective countries.

The sponsorship includes visa processing, air tickets, accommodation, transportation, and accreditation facilitation.

COP18 started on Thursday, November 30, in the United Arab Emirates and is expected to end on Tuesday, December 12.

These participants, a cross-section of Africas youth, are expected to contribute to discussions, build networks, and showcase innovative solutions and ideas in the fight against climate change and its effects, particularly on women and children in Africa.

The partnership between AFRIWOCC AND UNDP is premised on the 2023 AFRIWOCC Communique that recommends that Women and children must be represented at all levels of the climate discussions for their voices to be heard.

In fulfillment of this recommendation, a pledge made by Madam Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator, Assistant Secretary General, and UNDP Regional Director for Africa at the AFRIWOCC High-Level Dialogue; a side event at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi-Kenya this year, birthed this partnership.

This is in recognition of the pivotal role of the youth in driving critical climate solutions, through innovations and meaningful dialogues.

In a joint statement, AFRIWOCC and UNDP have stressed that they are committed to ensuring that the voices of women and children are continuously amplified to drive significant sustainable and resilient development in Africa and beyond.

We look forward to the positive aftermath of this conference on our local communities and the broader global conversation on climate change, said parts of the statement issued on November 30.
Brendon Dowling, Australia's Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology

02.12.2023 LISTEN

Although the emergence of technology has presented many opportunities to millions of users including access to information, extended social networks, identity expression etc., increasingly these platforms have become a dangerous place for women and young girls.

According to Australias Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, Brendon Dowling, the social media ecosystem has become a place of often brutal, prolific online harassment and abuse for women.

The Ambassador, speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Faculty of Computing and Information Systems in collaboration with the Australian High Commission on the topic Cyber Preparedness in the 4/5th Industrial Revolutions: A Gender-Based Perspective in Accra yesterday expressed concerns about the inability of technology companies to protect women and girls from abuse.

Although technology has provided the opportunity for women to take control of their lives, unfortunately, technology has provided new means for abuse, discrimination and harassment against women and girls. We see on social media where women are subjected to more abuse, trolling, tracking of their movement and their opinions.

I spent a lot of time talking to global technology platforms such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook and not enough is being done to ensure women are safe online. Not enough is done to identify perpetrators of this abuse or to take done contents that are damaging to women," he stated.

Mr. Brendon Dowling noted that these abuses have deterred a lot of women from taking up prominent positions or running for public office.

The ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology also expressed concern over the male dominance of the technology ecosystem.

He said gender balance is not achieved in the development of technology because not enough women are working in the space.

Men are more equipped or naturally prepared to work in the cybersecurity or technical professional space. This means that only 10% of women are employed in the cybersecurity space globally. It is a real problem because we struggled to feel some security jobs or we struggled to ensure gender is recognized in the development of technology because we dont have enough women working in the technology space, he said.

To bridge the gender gap in the technology space, Dowling said, deliberate government policy to ensure some positions are reserved for women will be helpful.

Ambassador Brendon Dowling was impressed about the progress Ghana is making in the cybersecurity space.

Other panel members including Dr. Millicent Akotam Agangiba- Head of the Department of Information Technology, UPSA, Solomon Atta Owusu Manteaw- Chief Information Security Officer at Stanbic Bank, Representative from Cybersecurity Ghana encouraged the students to take their studies seriously and take up the challenge in the technology space.
Civil society groups in Turkey say their future hangs in the balance as more and more international donors pull out or cut back their support. Overseas funding is drying up as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up his crackdown against critical voices.

Buoyed by his re-election in May, Erdogan is continuing to make life difficult for elements of Turkey's civil society that he accuses of threatening democracy.

Now organisations like Spod, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Istanbul, are also facing a financial battle for survival. Since the elections, fewer of the group's applications for international funding are being accepted, claims Spod's general coordinator Ogulcan Yediveren.

"It is the data, it's not an evaluation," he says. "It is almost impossible to continue do all these activities based on volunteering. So this funding is important for organisations to survive."

Yediveren warns the shortfall in funding will inevitably impact the group's activities, which include providing telephone helplines and legal and psychological support for LGBTQ+ people.

International funding is Spod's only source of income, he explains. "We don't have any other financial resource. So as long as we receive these international funds, we can continue our activities."

Shifting priorities

The crackdown is adding to international donors' concerns over how effective Turkish civil society organisations really are.

"I heard and I was told that donors do not see the output, the impact of such things  the outcome, effectively, for the money that they invest in Turkey," says Sinan Gokcen, head of the Turkish branch of the Sweden-based Civil Rights Defenders group.

"They are thinking: 'Well, we've been supporting civil society organisations for several years but we don't see any change.'"

Gokcen believes there has been a decline in international funding as a result.

"This has been intensified, especially after the election period," he says. "And finally, for some big donors, the war in Ukraine took their money  they prioritised supporting civil society organisations within Ukraine."

The earthquakes in southern Turkey in February also saw donors switch support away from civil society organisations and towards humanitarian relief.

Exodus

The list of major donors withdrawing their support continues to grow.

Open Society Foundations, founded by Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros, was once a significant supporter of Turkey's civil society  until it pulled out in 2018, blaming government pressure.

"Open Society is no longer funding in Turkey  I think it was around 2 million dollars for civil society and an extra 2 million funding for refugee organisations," says Ekrem Murat Celikkan, co-director of Hafiza Merkezi, an association working to support human rights and justice.

"The Chrest Foundation from the US also stopped funding because it was targeted by the pro-government press severely," he adds, recounting that both the family that runs the foundation and the groups they supported were subjected to hostile coverage.

The Chrest Foundation confirmed in an email it was ending its financial support of civil society in Turkey, citing unspecified reasons. But the foundation said some groups may be eligible for support in the future.

Philanthropist jailed

Domestic financial support is also drying up after Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala was given a life sentence for seeking to overthrow the government.

Kavala was imprisoned for supposedly backing the 2013 Gezi Park protests against Erdogan's rule  a decision condemned by both Washington and the European Court of Human Rights.

But Erdogan robustly defends the verdict.

"There is a person who financed the terrorists in the Gezi events. Now he is behind bars," Erdogan bellowed in a 2018 speech, referring to Kavala without naming him.

"And who is behind him? The famous Hungarian Jew Soros. This person sends people across the world to divide and tear up nations and uses the large amount of money he possesses to this effect."

Soros's Open Society Foundations denied any link to the protests, and pulled out of Turkey days after Erdogan's speech.

No more space to shrink

Erdogan routinely accuses civil society groups of conspiring against him with international donors.

The president is continuing to introduce new controls, while prominent members of civil society have found themselves arrested and prosecuted.

We shrank and shrank and there's no space to shrink anymore. So this is the end of the story," warns Gokcen of Civil Rights Defenders. "We are squeezed in a very narrow field in terms of civil society activism and organisations."

For Yediveren, who continues to send applications for international funding for Spod amid renewed attacks on Turkey's LBGTQ+ communities, the future is bleak.

"If these civil society organisations collapse, there will be no independent support mechanism to empower ourselves," he warns.

"Probably we will find new ways to come together, and somehow we will create a safe space for ourselves, but probably we will not be as visible as now. And visibility is very important, because this polarisation also feeds homophobia."
Following a French court's refusal this week to extradite a descendant of one of Romania's last kings, RFI looks at the man who says he may have a right to the Romanian throne.

On Wednesday, the Paris Appeals Court ruled that extraditing the man known as "Paul of Romania" would present "a real risk of violation of the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights".

Paris-born Paul-Philippe al Romaniei, 75, who has triple French-British-Romanian nationality, has been found guilty in Romania of working with a gang of con artists to recover properties he claims are his as the heir to Romania's last king but one, Carol II.

The French court ruled that the conviction was politically motivated.

"In France, I knew I would receive what was denied me in Romania: a fair trial based on evidence and impartial application of the law," Paul said in a statement via his lawyers.

Also known by the names Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern and Paul Lambrino, he declared that the French ruling "constitutes full recognition of my rights as the legitimate heir of Carol II".

Paul was the target of a European arrest warrant issued in December 2020 after a Romanian court sentenced him to three years and four months in jail for influence peddling and aiding and abetting a crime.

The royal was among 18 people convicted over the schemes, believed to have cost the Romanian state 145 million.

Illegitimate son

Paul's father, Mircea Grigore Carol, was born in Romania in 1920. He was an illegitimate son of Carol II, who ruled from 1930 until he abdicated in 1940 in favour of his younger son, Michael I.

The royal family was expelled from Romania in 1947 by the Communists, and all its properties confiscated.

Paul's father was recognised as Carol II's son in Portugal in 1955 and in France in 1963, but the link was only acknowledged by Romania in 2012.

Paul returned to live in the country in the 1990s.

His uncle Michael, the last king of Romania, did not acknowledge him as part of the royal family and died in 2017.

Paul now claims that his attempts to reclaim his royal inheritance of property, land and classic artworks are the real reason for his prosecution.

He has also launched legal action in Paris to recover paintings removed from Romania by his uncle Michael in 1947, including two works by Renaissance master El Greco.

Read also:

(with AFP)
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Burkinabe filmmaker Apolline Traore's feature "Sira" tells the story of a young woman abducted by jihadists who draws on her wits and courage to survive. Offering a rare insight into the lives of thousands living with Islamist violence in the Sahel, the film has already won prizes at home and abroad  and is now in the running for the 2024 Academy Awards.

"Sira" is the first film Burkina Faso has submitted to the Oscars since 1989. Judges will announce on 21 December whether it's made it onto the shortlist for Best International Feature Film.

The film's protagonist, 25-year-old Fulani nomad Sira, sees her journey through the Sahel desert to her wedding stormed by Islamist attackers.

Surrounded by death, pain and violence, she refuses to surrender without a fight. She manages to survive and even take a stand against Islamist terror.

Starring Nafissatou Cisse, the film offers a female-centred counterpoint to much of the reporting from Burkina Faso, and the whole Sahel region.

"It's been 20 years of very hard work," Traore told RFI. "This film is my hardest and my deepest one, because it's really about what is happening in my country and the Sahel."

Traore faced considerable difficulties getting the feature made.

"Making a film, an independent film, a feature film in West Africa, especially right now, where everything is going upside down, trying to get money in and to actually do this work that we love, cinema, was difficult," she said.

After a massacre in the village of Solhan in June 2021 left over 130 people dead, the authorities in Burkina Faso declined to renew Traore's permit to film in Burkina's deeply troubled north. The film was finally shot in neighbouring Mauritania.

"I was lucky enough to be able to approach really closely the army and also the people in the north of the country and the desert that are actually living this day by day," Traore said.

"My first intention with this film is really to communicate what I had in my heart and how hurt I was and how my people were. And the second was to tell the world what was happening."

A female take on war

As she started her research, Traore said she realised that women had "a very big role in this war"  even if they were typically portrayed as victims, mostly in refugee camps.

"When I started writing it, I went to a refugee camp and I spoke to those women, and an incredible story came out of it. Then I knew that I needed to make my protagonist a woman."

Few movies have been made about jihadism in Africa and even fewer have focused on the plight of women at the hands of extremists.

"I really wanted to show that this is not happening only in Burkina," Traore told RFI. "We can find the Fulani community in Nigeria, in Niger, in Burkina, in Senegal."

Cisse, the Burkinabe actress who plays the lead role of Sira, said she had drawn on "the rage" of women caught in the nightmare of terrorism.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives in Burkina Faso since jihadists swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015 and more than two million people have fled their homes.

Around 40 percent of the country is now controlled by the insurgents.

International success

Traore's film has already won awards at festivals in Berlin, Ouagadougou, Amsterdam, Toronto, Rabat and more.

Last month, Traore showed the film to a wider audience in Burkina Faso, where more than a thousand people came to the premiere.

It was the most nervous she'd been before a showing in 20 years of filmmaking, she told RFI. The film ended up receiving a standing ovation.

Co-produced between Burkina Faso, Senegal, France and Germany, the film is now touring festivals in Europe before further releases to the general public in 2024.

"It's one thing telling your story about what's happening in your country, then it's another to make it universal and touch other communities, other cultures, and this film was able to do it," Traore said.

"So I'm really happy."
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) strongly condemned an outbreak of fighting Friday in Guinea-Bissau, where the situation had returned to calm Saturday.

Clashes between members of the national guard and special forces of the presidential guard broke out Thursday night in the capital Bissau, leaving two dead.

ECOWAS "strongly condemns the violence and all attempts to disrupt the constitutional order and rule of law in Guinea-Bissau," the Abuja-based organisation said in a statement.

"ECOWAS further calls for the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the incident in accordance with the law."

Calm returned to the small nation with a history of instability by mid-morning Friday following the announcement that the army had captured Colonel Victor Tchongo, commander of the national guard.

Members of the national guard Thursday evening stormed a police station to extract Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Secretary of the Treasury Antonio Monteiro, according to army and intelligence officers.

The two government members were being questioned about the withdrawal of $10 million from state accounts. They had been detained under orders of state prosecutors, who are named by the president.

The national guard, on the other hand, is under the control of the Interior Ministry, which like most ministries in the country, is dominated by the PAIGC party, whose coalition won the June 2023 elections.

The two government members were detained again after the army removed them from National Guard control.

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was elected to a five-year term in December 2019, is in Dubai to attend the COP28 climate conference.

Since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has seen a series of coups and coup attempts, the most recent being a failed overthrow in February 2022.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Majority has explained to Ghanaians the reason for its walkout on Wednesday, November 29, during the approval of the 2024 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government.

A statement issued by Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader and NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, copied to the Ghana News Agency said following the conclusion of the debate on the budget yesterday, the Speaker, as per the established protocol of the House, was to put the question regarding the approval of the policy and principles underpinning the budget.

It said after a period of deliberation, the Speaker posed the question and announced that the ayes had it.

It noted that subsequently, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minority Leader, rose on account of Order 113(2) to contest what he (Mr Buah) deemed as a ruling by the Speaker.

The statement said because of the challenge, Mr Buah called for a headcount.

It said this prompted an intervention from the Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Leader.

It said the duo raised procedural issues in respect of the application brought before the Speaker.

The statement said despite the procedural objections raised, the Speaker declined to acknowledge these concerns and expressed his intention to proceed with a headcount as demanded.

It said at this juncture, the leadership of the majority caucus insisted on their readiness to submit to the headcount that was being sought.

The headcount, a process where members indicating aye or no rise to be counted, typically takes approximately 10 minutes, it said.

The results are then tallied by table officers and presented to the Speaker, who announces the outcome.

The statement said instead of sticking to the request of the headcount, the Speaker then said that he was drawing the attention of the House to the possibility of resorting to a division, and indeed, the Speaker then called for a division.

It said this came as a surprise to Members of the Majority Caucus, since no such application for a division had been presented to the Speaker.

The statement said the decision to call for a division was certainly not the initial application.

It said the Leadership of the Majority, well aware that under our rules, being absent during a headcount disqualifies a member from being recorded present, whereas in a division, absent members who rush in could be counted as participants, even if they were not present when the question was initially put-; moved to halt this process that would have allowed some of the minority MPs who were outside Accra at the time to be able to proceed to Parliament to be counted, even though the Majority was fully aware that it was not going to give the Minority any advantage.

It said this departure from the call for a headcount generated heat and was set to frustrate government business; at the same time undermining the sanctity of the parliamentary processes.

It said since 1993, Parliament had never resorted to a division in making decisions.

The statement said the Majority concluded the choice for a division was unfair under the circumstance, leading to their decision to stage a walkout.

It is essential to note that despite the Speakers indication that the ayes had prevailed, and despite a petition presented to him, a petition that hadnt followed due process, the Speakers initial ruling on the ayes retaining their advantage stands, the statement said.

Consequently, the budget has been duly passed until the appeal for a headcount is dealt with, not the division that the Speaker had called.

GNA
Nii Lante Bannerman, a New Patriotic Party's (NPP) parliamentary candidate aspirant in the Odododiodio constituency, Greater Accra Region has said delegates should be appreciated for their efforts in travelling to vote during party primaries.

In an interview with journalists on Saturday, December 2, as NPP holds primaries in "orphan constituencies" where it does not currently have sitting MPs, Bannerman stated that there is nothing wrong with providing transportation for delegates.

"I don't think it is out of place to give transportation to any delegate, the amount involved should be the problem," he said.

Bannerman stressed that as delegates come from all over the constituency to cast their ballots, their efforts should be recognized and supported.

"So as delegates are coming from all over to come and vote for you, at least you should appreciate them with some lunch and some transportation," he noted.

The parliamentary candidate expressed confidence in winning the NPP primary again.

"This is not my first time, I have come to two elections and I have succeeded in all, especially the primaries. So, I don't think this is different," Bannerman told reporters.
A New Patriotic Party (NPP) delegate who attacked a police officer at Ekumfi Essakyir during the Partys Parliamentary race in the Ekumfi Constituency, was on Saturday morning arrested and detained by the police.

He was among a group of people who had confronted the Constituency Executive for failing to give them money for their transportation.

The police had quickly intervened only for the unidentified delegate to attack the Ekumfi District Police Commander warranting his arrested.

Meanwhile, a total of 523 delegates from 95 polling stations in 26 electoral areas, council of elders and patrons are expected to vote in the on-going exercise.

The contestants are Albert Tetteh-Entsie, Francis K. Ato Codjoe, Stelfa Adu Donkor and Kweku Baah Ofori.

Madam Dina Nketia, the Ekumfi District Director of the Electoral Commission, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the venue that, polls stated at 07:00 hours and would end at 1300 hours.

She said adequate security was in place to protect lives and property, as well as to ensure peace and order for successful elections.

As at 8:00 hours, 56 people had cast their votes.

GNA
Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), Mr Isaac Afum

02.12.2023 LISTEN

The Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Ports Services Limited (APSL), Mr Isaac Afum has disclosed that, the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal (BILT), popularly known as the Boankra Inland Port project in the Ejisu Municipality in the Ashanti Region will be completed and handed over to the government ahead of November 2024 schedule.

Mr Isaac Afum who is the Concessionaire to the project, announced that BILT has received further financial support to ensure its completion and operationalisation.

The CEO who spoke to this portal expressed the hope that the completion of the project would not only boost business opportunities in the region, would also create jobs for the masses, especially the teeming unemployed youth.

The $330 million project which had been stalled for nearly two decades, due to many teething problems including mobilisation.

Currently, the contractor is almost done with the construction of the drainage and other earthworks.

He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his support and confidence in picking a local concessionaire for the development of the Boankra Inland Port.

Mr. Afum also thanked the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and the Ghana Shippers Authority, the client for the project, for their continuous support towards the progress of the project.

Mr Affum said the Ghanaian contractors on the project, Justmoh Construction Limited, was within schedule and that barring any challenges, the project would be handed over on schedule.

When completed it would have among other things, an inland clearance depot, customs bonded and unbonded estates, commercial areas, such as banks, offices and trading facilities, vehicle parking and light industrial areas and an administration block complex.

Mr. Afum expressed the hope that the proposed railway line will be constructed on time for the smooth operation of the Port and hoped the railway project will not hinder the operation of the Inland Port.

He said, when completed, over 7000 workers would be employed as well as informal job opportunities in the region and beyond.

The project will also offer significant employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labour.

The project would also provide services for importers and exporters in the middle and the northern parts of the country and also act as a major conduit for the efficient transportation of transit traffic to and from neighbouring landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

The project comprises a COCOBOD terminal which will facilitate exportation of cocoa in the Ashanti region to other neighbouring countries.

He stressed both COCOBOD and Tema Oil Refinery will get their terminals within the Port.

Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
At least 118 countries on Saturday signed up to a commitment to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030. The deal came as world-leaders gathered for a third day of the Cop28 summit in Dubai.

G20 nations, which account for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, paved the way for a deal when they endorsed the renewable energy goal in September.

The countries will "work together" to bring global renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 gigawatts by the end of the decade, said the Cop28 presidency in Dubai.

"They also commit to work together in order to collectively double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements" to more than four percent per year, it said.

Commitments non-binding

While supporters are expected to push for the pledge to be included in the final outcome of the talks, there are fears that the Cop28 hosts were willing to shunt the more ambitious targets into voluntary deals.

The European Union first appealed for the new target earlier this year, and the cause has since been taken up by Cop28 hosts the United Arab Emirates, then the G7 and G20 groups of nations.

However, the commitments are non-binding.

Scaling up wind, solar and other renewable energies are crucial to the global goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The pledge to triple renewable energy sends "a very strong message to investors and financial markets" that "the whole world is moving towards that goal", European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told AFP.

Getting the deal into the final UN climate summit decision require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present.

While China and India have signalled support for tripling global renewable energy by 2030, neither has confirmed it will back the overall pledge  which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.

Fossil fuel reduction

The nearly 200 nations negotiating a Cop28 climate deal face tougher talks over the next two weeks on the fate of fossil fuels.

Colombia on Saturday became one of the largest fossil fuel producers to join a group of climate vulnerable island nations calling to end new development of planet-heating coal, oil and gas.

According to a statement from the initiative, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said it was frightening that governments around the world continued to plan to expand their fossil fuel exploitation.

Scientists, as well as the International Energy Agency and the UN's Environment Programme, have warned that significant new development of coal, oil and gas is incompatible with the international community's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

(with AFP)
02.12.2023 LISTEN

Deserved criticism is the strongest form of patriotism. Mindless loyalty is simple-minded nationalism. I always criticise Bobi, where he deserves it at the risk of being hated by his supporters. He gave an interview yesterday on BBC in London, and he managed to base most of his answers on a series of bizarre falsehoods that bear no resemblance to reality. I have no idea where he is getting his information, but none of it is real. So, let me get right into it.

HOMOSEXUALITY

He stated that he's now a changed man when asked about his anti-gay lyrics that led to his 10-year ban to the UK. Do you know what that means? He now either supports homosexuality now, or he's more tolerant, but how does that play in local politics in Uganda? His statement did not obviously resonate with the people who elected him.

However, while speaking at a Muslim gathering in North London flanked by Dr. Rashid Kasato, he stated that he's the same person he was before the ban, and I quote, 'I won't go through the reasons why I was banned - you know them, but i'm still the same Bobi original'. Such a strange, double-faced person!

MUSEVENI BROUGHT THE BILL

What he said about Museveni was dubious, but no more so than what he said about Dr. Kiiza Besigye when he was trying to sell himself to Ugandans. At one point, he called Besigye 'Museveni's Charlie', meaning 'Museveni's buddy'.

He said the anti-gay bill was brought by Museveni to target the opposition, mainly himself. The bill wasn't brought by an NRM MP - it was tabled by JEEMA's Asuman Basalirwa. So, how does Museveni come in to use it against the opposition? Is Bobi saying that most of the opposition is gay- friendly, yet all opposition MPs voted for the bill? Basalirwa is an MP because of Bobi. The latter is, literally, his boss. Is he saying that Asuman works for Museveni, too?

NUP MPs WORK FOR MUSEVENI

When he asked why MPs of his party, NUP, voted for the ant-gay bill, he stated that some of his MPs work for Museveni. For the record, all the 57 NUP MPs voted for the Bill, which is now a law. Does that mean that all Kyagulanyi's MPs work for Museveni? Where does that leave him as a leader of the party?

No matter what some Nupian bloggers and the media say, it was a stunningly insensitive thing to say. He was dismissive of the intergrity of his MPs, and he was apparently using it as part of a bid for sympathy for the gay community who faced discrimination through the recently passed anti-gay law If he doesn't follow that remark with an apology to NUP MPs, he will become a pariah among the leadership of the party. Assuming his goal is to bring awareness and respect to the LGBT minority, he may be sabotaging himself in the process.

EXPEL HIM?

I'm not sure if there even exists any mechanism for expelling Bobi from party leadership or if it is even possible. He is obviously a divisive individual in opposition - he has proven to be dishonest and lacking credibility - his actions and words more than justify anything someone could say about him.

However, the NUP MPs have not learned their lesson yet - I'm sure they will still welcome him in big numbers wherever he goes because he remains their ticket for reelection in 2026. He could eat babies, but they will still support and protect him - it's a survival game. MPs get elected into parliament with his support. Every MP contributes something monthly to the Bobi/party coffers, and everyone is happy.

It's the same with trips abroad. The NUP supporters with a business acumen organise music festivals where Bobi and Nubian Ali come to sing - he gets his cut, and they get their cut. It's all about making money!

Marketing includes advertising, self-promotion as well as word of mouth. The organisers market their festivals as 'struggles against Museveni' and the chance to see the 'blessed young man' to get people to come in big numbers. They announce to the cameras about his next show that they are planning to sell.

Bobi also announces a thank-you-message blast full of videos and photos on social media sites he uses (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.), to get people hooked on his next visits - It's all to make sure everybody knows his name. I'm sure we are going to get such festivals in London soon now that Bobi is allowed to travel. Social media platforms wont cost you anything to build an audience that recognizes you.

Another clever way of marketing himself is by getting his agents to appeal to people to welcome him at the airports in big numbers. It obviously inconveniences travellers rushing to catch their flights because of traffic created, but I don't think Bobi cares about that. The world and air waves are filled with artists who have what I would call limited talent but are huge stars. They got there because of fantastic marketing. I saw videos of a few Ugandans waiting for Bobi at Heathrow airport, and I smilingly thought, 'How come Besigye never used to market himself that way whenever he travelled abroad?'

He also markets himself by taking photos with white people to make it look like donors have endorsed him for something. There's also a video showing him promoting his documentary film, and,of course, some white people were in attendance. It's all one big marketing game!

For the record, there's no UK or American "establishment " that has welcomed Bobi with open arms, as far as I know. The closest the UK government has openly supported an opposition Ugandan leader was when David Cameron was PM here - He even risked taking official photos with Besigye, and his party financially bankrolled FDC though it didn't change anything back in Uganda.

Museveni is like a CIA agent in the East African region. Nobody can risk replacing him with someone like that, but Bobi can surely be used to blackmail him over certain issues. During Obote 1, Kabaka Mutesa 11 thought he had UK support when he ended up in exile in 1966. He was told to either accept Obote as president or live as any other refugee. The donors only protect their interests

Whats saddening about this whole thing is that it has taken some Ugandans an exorbitant amount of time to don common sense mentalities and realize that this man is quite unwholesome. Many of the Nupians have embraced identity politics and show no signs of slowing down - Bobi is a symptom of that.

In the immediate future, you can surely expect to see more of his type of bigotry within the NUP Party and not less. It seems to me that all the sympathy hes garnered from this  not to mention funds from dinners and music festivals!  will encourage him to make more of these controversial remarks in the future, which could be a very bad idea.
02.12.2023 LISTEN

Dear critical-reader, even an ignoramus and uneducated old fool like me, understands clearly, that without prior approval by Parliament, the granting of a lithium mining lease to Barari DV Ghana Ltd, the Ghanaian subsidiary of Australia domiciled Atlantic Lithium, cannot be legitimate - and ought therefore to be swiftly torn up. Full stop. Yoooooooo...

The question to ponder over is: Have our current leaders still not noticed how our cousins in our West African sister nations of Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, are dealing with such unconscionable one-sided extractive sector colonial-era type of agreements with the French entities, which were ruthlessly ripping them off? Haaba.

As wise and aspirational Africans, let us swiftly reject this monstrosity - and tear up what is clearly a robber-baron colonial-era-type of mining agreement. Ditto stop signing them permanently, henceforth. Haaba.

If Ghana's current leaders were creative, selfless, honest and patriotic, by now they would've learnt from Niger's terrible experience with France, over its uranium deposits being sold and bought for a pittance in an unconscionable mining agreement - and, instead, approached Elon Musk's Tesla, to partner Ghana to mine all her lithium deposits to produce EV batteries, in a local win-win vertically integrated gigafactory deal.

Musk is honest and would have been happy to sign a model win-win agreement with Ghana (without paying any fat-brown-envelope kickbacks to the big-thieves-in-high-places who dominate our byzantine system), to showcase to the world, what a difference impactful and ethical private-sector entrepreneurs from the Global North, can make, in helping to create prosperous societies in the Global South.

Ghana's Parliament must reject and halt these colonial-era type of exploitative natural resource mining deals. As wise and aspirational Africans, we can do better and must stop signing such unconscionable and exploitative mining agreements. Let us tear up the illegitimate lithium mining lease issued to Barari BV. Now. Not tomorrow. Full stop. Yoooooooo...

Let's talk instead to Elon Musk's Tesla, about partnering Ghana, to set up a refinery and EV battery gigafactory, to enable Ghana to establish a vertically integrated EV battery manufacturing industry locally, so that our country benefits fully from all our lithium deposits. Towards that end, let us tear up the illegitimate lithium mining lease issued to Barari DV Ghana Limited. Simple and commonsensical. Case closed. A word to the wise. Yooooooo...
Apollo Tactical Income Fund Inc. (NYSE:AIF  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 71,400 shares, an increase of 89.9% from the October 31st total of 37,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 109,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Apollo Tactical Income Fund Trading Up 0.5 %

AIF stock traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.89. 132,187 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 75,037. Apollo Tactical Income Fund has a 1 year low of $11.77 and a 1 year high of $13.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $12.92 and a 200-day moving average of $12.82.

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Apollo Tactical Income Fund Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 21st.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AIF. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Apollo Tactical Income Fund from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated a market perform rating and set a $53.00 target price (down from $68.00) on shares of Apollo Tactical Income Fund in a research report on Friday, November 10th.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Apollo Tactical Income Fund by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,088 shares of the companys stock valued at $843,000 after buying an additional 14,804 shares in the last quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new position in Apollo Tactical Income Fund during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Apollo Tactical Income Fund by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 188,807 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,524,000 after buying an additional 13,886 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Apollo Tactical Income Fund by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,698 shares of the companys stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 6,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nottingham Advisors Inc. increased its position in Apollo Tactical Income Fund by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nottingham Advisors Inc. now owns 15,708 shares of the companys stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 2,549 shares in the last quarter.

About Apollo Tactical Income Fund

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Apollo Tactical Income Fund Inc is a closed-ended fixed income fund launched and managed by Apollo Credit Management, LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It primarily invests in senior secured loans including floating rate senior loans, high yield corporate bonds, and other credit instruments of varying maturities made to companies whose debt is typically rated below investment grade.

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 2. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has met with the Minister of Investment of the United Arab Emirates, Managing Director of the ADQ holding Mohammed Alsuwaidi on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Trend reports.

The parties discussed the implementation of cooperative investment projects during the meeting.

The interlocutors emphasized the significance of signing a Memorandum on the development of low-carbon energy in Kazakhstan with a total capacity of 10 GW, as well as an Intergovernmental Agreement with Masdar on a 1 GW wind power project.

Furthermore, Tokayev stated that a long-term relationship with AD Ports Group is critical to transforming the ports of Aktau and Kuryk into the Caspian Sea's main marine hub.

The parties also discussed the opportunities for the realization of collaborative projects between Presight and Samruk-Kazyna, as well as strategic agreements in the field of artificial intelligence with the participation of QazaqGaz and Kazakhstan Railways.
Bid Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:BPPPF  Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 66,500 shares, an increase of 23.4% from the October 31st total of 53,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently  days.

BID Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:BPPPF remained flat at $22.05 during midday trading on Friday. BID has a one year low of $15.19 and a one year high of $24.54. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $21.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.30.

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Bid Corporation Limited provides foodservice solutions in Australasia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and internationally. The company distributes fresh ingredients, including fish, seafood, meat, produce, dairy products, and ambient goods for the hospitality, institutional, catering, and retail sectors.

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Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 602,800 shares, a decline of 38.4% from the October 31st total of 978,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 854,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.4% of the companys stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund during the first quarter worth about $27,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 57.1% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,034 shares of the companys stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 1,090.7% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the companys stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund by 181.2% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,209 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.96% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.00 to $29.50 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, August 14th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, November 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $28.50 in a report on Monday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $29.33.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Price Performance

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,090,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,207,546. The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 0.49. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $27.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.26. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a 52 week low of $22.08 and a 52 week high of $29.11.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 8th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $283.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $282.93 million. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund had a return on equity of 14.46% and a net margin of 52.89%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Secured Lending Fund will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 26th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 28th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.89%. Blackstone Secured Lending Funds payout ratio is 87.25%.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

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Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act).

Further Reading

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Cardiff Property Plc (LON:CDFF  Get Free Report) declared a dividend on Thursday, November 30th, Upcoming.Co.Uk reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 18th will be paid a dividend of GBX 16 ($0.20) per share on Friday, February 2nd. This represents a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 18th. This is an increase from Cardiff Propertys previous dividend of $6.00. The official announcement can be viewed at this link.

Cardiff Property Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Cardiff Property stock opened at GBX 2,350 ($29.68) on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of GBX 2,447.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 2,444.01. The firm has a market cap of 24.68 million, a PE ratio of 2,303.92 and a beta of -0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 6.39 and a current ratio of 16.78.

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The Group, including Campmoss, specialises in property investment and development in the Thames Valley. The total portfolio under management, valued in excess of 22m, is primarily located to the west of London, close to Heathrow Airport and in Surrey and Berkshire.

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London Co. of Virginia decreased its holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Free Report) by 42.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,653 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 22,251 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginias holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF were worth $5,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 25 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 1,087.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 190 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. acquired a new position in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF Price Performance

Shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF stock traded up $5.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $184.91. 64,221,297 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,045,508. The business has a fifty day moving average of $172.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.50. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a 1 year low of $161.67 and a 1 year high of $199.26.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF Company Profile

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Free Report).

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Ushinor Majumdar is an award-winning investigative reporter and author. He has worked for media houses such as Outlook, Tehelka, Confluence Media, Hindustan Times and the BBC. He is the author of two non-fiction books: India's Secret War (Penguin India, 2023) and God of Sin (Penguin India, 2018).
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Jinit Parmar is a correspondent based out of Mumbai covering the banking sector, fintechs, NBFCs, insurance and more, tweets @jinitparmar10

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 2. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has met with Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACWA Power Muhammad Abunayyan on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Trend reports.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the companys further interaction with Kazakhstan and the implementation of a number of investment projects.

The sides also talked about the construction of a wind power plant with a capacity of 1 GW in the Zhetysu region. It is expected that the volume of investment in this project will reach $1.8 billion.

Mohammad Abunayyan expressed interest in expanding the companys presence in Kazakhstan and implementing investment projects in the green energy sector.

In turn, Tokayev noted that this initiative is in line with Kazakhstans intention to become a regional center for the development of renewable energy sources.

Meanwhile, construction of a large wind power plant in the Zhetysu region of Kazakhstan is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Faizal Khan is an independent journalist who writes on art.

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Manik Sharma is an independent entertainment journalist. Views expressed are personal.

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Deepali Singh is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist who writes on movies, shows, music, art, and food. Twitter: @DeepaliSingh05

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, December 2. Kyrgyzstan plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov said during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, Trend reports.

"As a country with low greenhouse gas emissions, Kyrgyzstan remains committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement and plans to reduce emissions by 16 percent by 2030, or by 44 percent if international support is provided," he said.

Kyrgyzstan plans to pursue renewable energy projects, including the development of hydroelectric power plants, according to the president. Kyrgyzstan now uses only 13% of its overall hydro-energy capacity of 142.5 billion kilowatt-hours.

"Kyrgyzstan looks forward to the financing from international development partners to realize our immense hydroelectric potential. We believe that by launching renewable energy projects, we can achieve more effective utilization and management of water resources in Kyrgyzstan and the region. This, in consideration of generating environmentally friendly energy, will contribute to strengthening not only our country's energy, environmental, and food security but also that of other countries in the region," Zhaparov said.
Satarupa Paul is a Delhi-based freelance journalist and photographer, who covers travel, food, culture, wellness and sustainability. Views expressed are personal.

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DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, December 2. President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon and President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso, deliberated on collaborative initiatives, Trend reports.

The importance of the EBRD in strengthening the financial sector and expanding private enterprise, as well as in transportation, energy, water supply, and improving communal services in Tajikistan, was stressed during the meeting.

Given the negative impact of climate change on all socioeconomic aspects of the world, both parties expressed optimism that special emphasis would be made to collaborative measures to tackle these dangers.

Other areas of partnership that have been highlighted include increasing economic activity, improving the financial market, and promoting industrial entrepreneurship in Tajikistan, particularly in the processing of agricultural goods, mining industries, and other local raw materials.

Rahmon expressed gratitude to the EBRD for their consistent and fruitful collaboration and conveyed confidence that both sides would continue their partnership in priority areas, including the financing of strategic projects in Tajikistan.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, December 2. Tajikistan plans to double its capacity for producing "green energy" in the future, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon said during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, Trend reports.

Rahmon went on to say that the Tajik government has adopted and is implementing a "Green Economy Development Strategy" for the years 2023-2037, with the goal of attracting investments and green technologies into the economy.

"Tajikistan's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is minor, with the country ranking 130th in terms of emissions size." The country is one of the world's leaders in terms of "green energy" output %. Tajikistan ranks sixth in the world in terms of "green energy" generation from renewable sources, with hydroelectric power plants generating 98 percent of its electricity.

He emphasized that climate change predominantly affects water resources, with water resource deterioration being a negative sign of this process.

"Over the past decade, more than a thousand of Tajikistan's 13,000 glaciers, which constitute 60 percent of our region's water resources, have melted. On Tajikistan's initiative, the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution to declare 2025 as the "International Year of Glaciers Conservation" and March 21 as "World Glacier Day." Additionally, an international fund for glacial conservation has been established," the president said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the Trump Organization civil fraud trial, in New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 25, 2023.
Press Release

December 2, 2023 Sen. Tolentino pushes for continuing water source development to attain water security for Filipinos MANILA -- Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino is pushing for the continuous development of water sources nationwide to attain water security for Filipinos, a fundamental human right. In a conversation with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) Administrator Vince Revil on Saturday, Senator Tolentino cited several water sources like waterfalls and dams and the need to amend the Building Code of the Philippines to include designs that recycle used water and rainwater for the reuse of building residents. He also mentioned the water-impounding law as an existing government policy that requires all barangays to develop water systems in their localities and ensure water supply for residents. Tolentino encouraged LWUA to use science and technology, in the long run, to develop technologies regarding how to recycle used water and rainwater for their reuse. He also told Administrator Revil the abundance of water sources, like what he observed in Cebu with its numerous waterfalls, that can be developed and raised concerns on how to help indigenous communities access clean water. "Makikita mo may mga sources talaga tayo ng tubig, and yet, sa buong Pilipinas ay may nagsasabi na kulang tayo sa patubig, lalong-lalo na sa mga indigenous communities natin. Papano mata-tap ng water districts ang unutilized water sources? Papano maseserbisyohan ang mga indigenous communities?" Sen. Tolentino asked. (You see, we have many water sources, and yet, all over the Philippines, there are those who say we lack water, especially in the indigenous communities. How can the water districts tap unutilized water sources? How can indigenous communities be served.) The lawmaker, however, lauded the present program of LWUA, which targets, under the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the establishment of an additional 200 water districts all over the country that at present totaled 532. Administrator Revil said that some 22 million Filipinos are connected to the water systems of water districts outside Metro Manila, wherein some 12 million are water consumers. He said the present administration, from 2023 to 2028, implements a water security program, "Patubig sa Buong Bayan at Mamamayan (PBBM)," which aims to increase water connections to 7.2 million Filipinos in five years. Sen. Tolentino reiterated the country's continuing development of water sources amidst the challenges of Climate Change and increasing population.
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, December 2. Farmers in the Dashoguz and Lebap regions of Turkmenistan have successfully fulfilled their contractual obligations to harvest rice, Trend reports.

This was reported to the President of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, by Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture, Tangryguly Atakhalliyev, at a government meeting.

According to him, in order to prepare the acreage for next year, land plowing continues in the regions of Turkmenistan.

He noted that currently, in the regions of the country, in order to obtain a rich harvest, according to the norms of agricultural technology, wheat fields are being cared for. Along with this, steps are being taken to fully harvest cotton, transport it to reception points, and process it at specialized enterprises.

Furthermore, Atakhalliyev stressed that sugar beet is being harvested in the Mary region, that the necessary measures are being implemented for proper storage and processing of the harvested crop, and that every effort is being made to ensure warm and well-fed wintering of livestock, and that feed is being transported to livestock farms.

The development of agriculture in Turkmenistan is taking place with high dynamics and is one of the key sectors of the country's economy.

Various types of agricultural crops are actively grown on the territory of Turkmenistan, including wheat, cotton, rice, sugar beet, fodder plants, vegetables, and melons, as well as fruit and berry crops.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, December 2. The EBRD and Uzbekistan have discussed expanding their collaboration in renewable energy development programs, Trend reports.

The issue was discussed during a meeting between Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso on the sidelines of the World Summit on Climate Action, which was held in conjunction with the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai.

During the conference, it was reported that the bank's investments in Uzbekistan totaled more than 3.5 billion euros, with the private sector accounting for 60 percent of the project portfolio.

Parties expressed confidence that the Partnership Strategy under development will significantly improve the quality and scale of cooperation, particularly in areas such as small and medium-sized business development, women's entrepreneurship, the introduction of public-private partnership mechanisms, banking sector privatization, irrigation system modernization, road infrastructure development, and other industries.

Preparation for the next meeting of the Council of Foreign Investors next year was also discussed.

According to bank data, investments in sustainable infrastructure projects account for 77 percent of the total portfolio (1.972 billion euros).

The EBRD's active activities in the banking sector amounted to 16 percent (416 million euros).

Furthermore, initiatives in the domains of industry, trade, and agriculture account for the smallest portion of the portfolio. Their stake in the portfolio is seven percent (182 million euros).
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Deliveries of essential supplies to the Gaza Strip must urgently resume, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on his X page, Trend reports.

He stated the need for humanitarian aid supplies at the level that was during the recent truce between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

The WHO chief said supplies of essential supplies to the Gaza Strip must urgently resume and return to be restored at least to levels reached during the recent truce, but much more than that is needed.
Yves here. While Varoufakis sentiment is commendable, and expressed forcefully and cogentlywhat can ordinary citizens do? Protesting in major cities around the world does tell politicians around the world they will be held accountable at voting time. But Israel has been targeting journalists and UN workers in Gaza, with no apparent consequences.

The reality is that Israel will be stopped in Gaza only by force or perhaps by its campaign against Hamas becoming so costly that it has to back off.but how much civilian slaughter might happen before then?The Muslim countries nearby have the ability to defeat Israel in a conventional war, but are leery of setting off a regional conflagration, and have good reason to believe Israel would launch a nuclear attack if it were losing too badly. Admittedly, Scott Ritter argues that the war is already going badly for Isreal Hezbollah and other Resistance elements are engaging in a slow and not well covered program of escalation that is already cost the Israel economy bigly. So perhaps things are not as dire as they appear now. But even so, a lot of Gaza citizens look set to die.

By Yanis Varoufakis. Originally published on his website

A genocide of Palestinians is happening in Gaza now, in tandem with Israels methodically opportunistic ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. We are here because our humanity is being tested  because future generations will censure us for letting the death count exceed 10 thousand, mostly children and women. We are here because, when our grandchildren ask us Where were you during the mass murder of Palestinians in 2023? there will be no hiding behind excuses such as we did not know.

We do know! Our governments know. Everyone knows because the official representatives of the State of Israel proclaim proudly and openly their genocidal intent. Was it not Israels Prime Minister who quoted biblical scripture to justify the wiping out of Gazan Palestinians? Are key ministries of the state of Israel not being run by fundamentalist extremists peddling what can only be described as Messianic visions of a land from the river to the sea delivered fully into the hands of settlers, emptied of Palestinians? No. No one can feign ignorance anymore.

This is why we are here. To tell our rulers:

Enough! Put an end to the slaughter or the slaughtered will haunt you in your sleep till the end of your days.

Enough! We shall never let you forget that you are aiding and abetting Crimes-Against-Humanity, even if the International Criminal Court disgraces itself by staying quiet.

But, friends, to be on the right side of humanism, we need to be clear on who humanitys enemy here is: It is not the people of Israel, for they suffer too. It is not the Jews outside of Israel  in the same way that the British Empires atrocities in Kenya and in India were not the doing of the majority of Britons who also suffered violence and expropriation under the same British authorities  and in the same way that our Israeli friends and comrades are suffocating today under Israels apartheid apparatus.

To drive this point home, allow me a personal note. Back in 2015, while fighting the financial oligarchy during my brief tenure as my Greeces finance minister, an oligarchic newspaper thought they diminished me with a cartoon that depicted me as a Shylock-like figure. What these idiots did not realise was that trying to tarnish my image by likening me to a Jew was, and remains, a badge of honour.

Whenever an antisemite bundles me together with a people who have suffered racism for so long so very bravely, I feel deeply flattered. As long as a single Jew feels threatened by antisemitism, I shall carry the Star of David, eager and ready to be counted as a Jew.

At the same time, as long as a single Palestinian is terrorised, deprived of water, bombed, maimed or killed, I shall wear the Palestinian flag as a symbol of solidarity with a people living in an Apartheid state built by reactionary Israelis damaging my Jewish and Arab brothers and sisters, and stoking the fires of racism  which, ironically, always forge a steelier variety of antisemitism.

Here is a question for well-meaning people who think that centuries of pogroms against Jews, culminating into the uniquely evil Holocaust, make it incumbent upon us to defend Israel come what may:

How far must Israels ethnic cleansing of Palestinians proceed before our utterly justified collective guilt over the Holocaust no longer prevents us from confronting Israels ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?

Until the last Palestinian is killed or exiled?

Is this the legacy we want to leave behind those of us genuinely opposing antisemitism in all its forms?

Does ANYONE think that our guilt over the Holocaust can be washed clean with Palestinian blood? I dont believe so.

And now a message to those for whom Hamas atrocities justify all atrocities Israel, supported by the West, inflict on the Palestinian people.

Have we not learned the lessons of recent history? The undisputed fact that Saddam, Qaddafi and the Taliban were bloodthirsty tyrants was a terrible reason to invade, and to bomb to smithereens, the people of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

Consider also this: What if Hamas had never existed? What is the Palestinians representatives recognised Israel and laid down their arms? What would be happening now? No need to speculate. Just look at the West Bank where there is no Hamas and where the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Israel: Mass murders, evictions, collective humiliation, Apartheid methods, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank. Clearly, focusing on Hamas atrocities is a cheap trick for ignoring the true cause of this endless, one-sided crime against the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile our established parties of government, if pressed, will tell you that their idea of a peaceful future is the Two State Solution. They are lying! They know that Netanyahus life aim was always to make the Two State Solution impossible & ethnic cleansing permanent  an aim that Europe, Britain and the United States allowed him to fulfil  a great gift to Hamas who use the Palestinians ongoing suffering as an excuse for their inexcusable atrocities. At that point our Western rulers condemn Hamas and back Netanyahu to kill off the leftovers of the Two State Solution with far worse atrocities whose ultimate victim is the Wests Two State Solution. And thats how Netanyahus and the Israeli racist fundamentalists plan to destroy the Two State Solution is implemented. With our Western leaders consent!

Thats why we are here. Because our Western rulers are a clear and present danger for World Peace. What should be done now? Four things to begin with.

An immediate ceasefire.

The release of all hostages, Hamas and the thousands held by Israel.

An arms embargo and commercial sanctions on Israel.

The immediate recognition, symbolic but crucial, of a Palestinian State across all the lands Israel occupies since 1967.

And, of course, a Peace Process, under the United Nations, supported by a commitment by the International Community to end Apartheid and to safeguard Equal Civil Liberties for All  whether as part of two multi-ethnic states or one common secular one.

Our rulers will not push for any of this. This is why we are here. This is why you are here.

When the rulers fail History, it is the People who must make History.

I salute you all. Carpe DiEM!
After nearly a year of planning, a $600,000 marketing budget, more than 1,300 proposed projects and 60 days of voting, Nashvilles latest round of participatory budgeting has yielded 13,365 votes  well shy of the committees goal of 20,000. Metros online participatory budgeting voting system included a voluntary identification process, and the city has yet to determine whether all votes are valid. Additional votes cast at in-person ballot boxes around the city have yet to be tallied.

Speaking to media Friday morning, Mayor Freddie OConnell suggested that the program failed to reach adequate levels of engagement and duplicated existing ways to secure neighborhood improvements.

Even with hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing, we are not seeing particularly heavy voting rates on participatory budgeting, OConnell told reporters. He recalled working through the yearly budget to secure local improvements as a district councilmember. All of the things that I would have wanted in participatory budgeting, I had made sure were generally in the [Capital Improvements Budget]. And they were sourced from our neighborhoods in District 19.

Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee chair Jason Sparks  who took over the position after Whitney Pastoreks resignation in May  tells the Scene that the mayoral transition disrupted a project otherwise set up for success. Sparks says OConnells decision not to keep Fabian Bedne, who had overseen the program under former Mayor John Cooper, and poor communication from the mayors office doomed outreach and engagement during the programs rollout phase.

Fabian did everything he could to give us a road map for the program before he left," says Sparks. "We had people who spoke Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish  the plan was to go out and engage those communities, to have voting expos, but none of that ever happened. When Fabian left, we started reaching out to the OConnell administration, but I got no response. We were cornering Freddie at public events asking who would take over.

OConnell inherited the participatory budgeting program from Cooper, who dedicated staff and $10 million in one-time American Rescue Plan money to the effort. The Cooper administration characterized participatory budgeting as an exercise in citizen-led democracy that could directly deliver improvements to Nashville neighborhoods.

City Wraps Voting on Participatory Budgeting Proposals After two abrupt leadership departures, Metro's pricey experiment with direct neighborhood allocations nears finish line

Last winter, Bedne assembled a steering committee to guide the process, which included assembling an additional group of budget delegates. Budget delegates narrowed a pool of more than 1,300 proposed projects to a ballot of 35 proposals  one for each Metro Council district. The majority of projects would allocate funds for pedestrian safety measures, public park upgrades and improvements to Metro schools and libraries. The process parallels the Metro Councils yearly Capital Improvements Budget, a catalog of citywide improvements that can then be funded by the mayors Capital Spending Plan.

The city has not yet released vote totals by ZIP code or by project. Sparks says the Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee has not had regular communication with the mayors office and struggled to get updates during the voting window. The mayors office confirmed that oversight of participatory budgeting had been assigned to Mary Jo Wiggins in the Metro Finance Department.

Wiggins has not responded to the Scene's request for comment. O'Connell says that he will review the process and discuss with councilmembers whether it makes sense for the mayor's office to continue supporting participatory budgeting.

We worked really hard to put all this together with the guidelines we were handed, says Sparks. Eventually more than just five projects will get green-lit. We just could have connected with so many more people if the whole thing with Fabian hadnt happened. I dont think it was incompetence. It was just unfortunate timing.

Votes will be tallied through December. The steering committee will then announce what projects get funded and implemented in 2024.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that participatory budgeting voting was open for 30 days rather than 60. We apologize for the error.
Steve Quayle and Mike Adams discuss ESCALATION of WAR in the Middle East: Israel and the U.S. are trying to provoke a much bigger conflict in the region

Author Steve Quayle joined the Health Ranger Mike Adams to talk about the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East during a recent episode of the "Health Ranger Report."

According to Adams, it was clear Israel and the U.S. are trying to provoke a much bigger war in the region. "They want Hezbollah to attack Israel; they want war in Lebanon," he said. "Of course, the U.S. wants a reason to attack Iran  and that would probably draw Russia into the war because Russia can't allow Iran to fall to the West."

The Health Ranger added that the U.S. is trying to provoke war with Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah. He continued that if the provocation fails, America will carry out a false-flag attack and blame it on one of the Middle Eastern countries. This blame, Adams said, will then be used to justify the bombing of Iran.

Quayle, meanwhile, noted that the possibility of this happening is very real. Iran possesses so-called nuclear intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), which makes it a nuclear power. Tehran also has a presence in Venezuela, putting the Islamic republic closer to the continental United States. (Related: Repeated attacks by Iranian-backed militants on U.S. troops in the Middle East increase tension between Washington and Tehran.)

Moreover, Iran and Russia have a mutual defense treaty  with Moscow giving a stern warning about bombing Tehran. According to Adams, Russia is providing Iran with technology. The Islamic republic is also developing a lot of its own technology and training capable experts.

Washington baiting Tehran to attack by sending aircraft carrier

According to the Health Ranger, the carrier strike group unit aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was sailing closer to Iran  apparently daring Iran to attack. On Nov. 28, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier had been spotted 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Iran.

He ultimately noted that this provocative move could end badly, as the USS Eisenhower could be taken out by a missile from Iran in probably less than 60 seconds. Quayle agreed, noting that Washington losing one of its aircraft carriers to Tehran is a critical setback. He also said that people working to destroy the U.S. from within are willing to sacrifice an aircraft carrier and its 5,000 personnel  a sentiment Adams seconded.

According to Quayle, moving three major assets to add more firepower into a small, contained area only means one thing  a major world power is asking for trouble.

Aside from sending the aircraft carrier close to Iran, the U.S. is already taking planes from aircraft carriers and stationing them in an airbase in Italy. "In essence, they are clearing the flight deck and putting the planes in land-based areas," Quayle said.

Quayle also told Adams that the Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey keeps American nuclear weapons. He said for such kinds of weapons, there is a certain protocol to be followed  which includes codes for people who hold Q clearances.

"It's not just having a nuclear weapon and having the code for that specific nuclear weapon. There are arming protocols and there are verification protocols. There's a lot of protocols. All that can take up to five minutes."

Follow Chaos.news for more news about the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.

Watch the full conversation between Steve Quayle and the Health Ranger Mike Adams below.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Middle East scholar: Iran-backed Hezbollah joining Israel-Hamas war is a game-changer.

Western economies headed for collapse if U.S. and Israel push escalation of war in the Middle East.

Henry Gruver: When Israel sends troops into Gaza, it will be a sign the Middle East war has started.

Second U.S. carrier strike group arrives in eastern Mediterranean Sea to deter hostile actions against Israel.

Thousands protest across Middle East in support of Palestinians amid ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Haaretz.com
After receiving informed consent on 5G dangers, a Connecticut city rejected new 5G installations

In order to advance 5G technology into the state of Connecticut, the telecommunications industry sought to implement a template contract with Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. The template contract would expedite 5G equipment installations across the top five major cities in the state. One of the cities  the second largest in the state  overwhelmingly voted against the 5G mandate.

The informed consent principle has never been more important as 5G is forced onto the population

After hearing evidence on the harms of 5G, the Board of Representatives in Stamford, Connecticut voted to reject new 5G equipment installations on city utility poles. The proposed agreement would have allowed AT&T and Verizon to install 5G equipment on utility poles throughout the city. However, an overwhelming majority of the citys representatives (21 of 34) decided that the risks of electromagnetic radiation were a greater threat to the city and the peoples health. This debacle highlights the importance of establishing strong informed consent principles when an individual's health is involved with society-wide impacts. The 34 representatives were presented with evidence of wireless radiations negative health impacts. Six independent experts presented scientific evidence detailing the harms that are caused by radio-frequency radiation.

One of the experts was toxicologist and epidemiologist Devra Davis, Ph.D., MPH, founder, and president of Environmental Health Trust (EHT). She provided overwhelming evidence that wireless radiation causes brain damage, memory loss, DNA damage and reproductive harms. Wireless radiation was also shown to have environmental impacts, including harms to insect populations and honeybees. Specifically, 5G can cause an organisms tissues to heat up which, disrupting their normal functions.

In an interview with the Defender, Davis said, Confronted with overwhelming, independent scientific information about the real and present dangers of bringing electromagnetic fields closer to humans than ever before, Stamford voted to protect people and their environment.

She added, We should stop debating whether we have proof of human harm, and take steps now to prevent that harm from spreading.

The greatest damage is caused at the cellular level, in the form of oxidative stress. This free radical damage can lead to chronic inflammation and host of health issues, from neurodegenerative diseases, to chromosomal damage, and sperm damage. These risks were also confirmed by Dr. Rob Brown, an orthopedic radiology specialist, B. Blake Levitt, a science journalist, Theodora Scarato, EHTs executive director, Kent Chamberlin, Ph.D., past chair and professor emeritus in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of New Hampshire, and Joseph Sandri, a telecom regulatory attorney.

Connecticut city rejects FCC's 5G mandates, may become nations first test case

One of the representatives of the city, Don Mays, warned that Verizon and AT&T could sue the city if they do not go forward with their 5G plans. At an October 18 meeting, Mays said, "Until that technology [that emits wireless radiation] changes in the marketplace, we are essentially going to have to accept it." He cited a 2018 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which blocks states and municipalities from impeding or delaying the rollout of 5G technology.

Mays added, "If cities try to go against the FCC rules, the carriers will sue the cities  And I dont think we want to subject this city to that."

Another representative, James Grunberger disagreed with Mays. He doesnt believe that the FCC can unilaterally mandate 5G on all cities across the United States, especially cities that are looking to protect the people in the community from documented health risks. At the October 18 meeting, Grunberger said, "I dont think we should back away from this because of the threat of a lawsuit  If we have to be a test case on this, we should be a test case." In a follow-up meeting in November, Grunberger doubled down on his stance. "The federal government does not have guidelines for long-term exposure, so we need to protect our city ourselves, and not succumb to legal threats," he said.

Other representatives said they want "some type of concrete consensus" before they gamble the health of their children and the health of their constituents. These antennae are scheduled to go up near homes and schools without limitations. Once they are installed, they would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, so it is of utmost importance to establish humanitarian principles if everyone's health is going to be impacted in the city, especially those who live and work nearby the 5G antennae.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

BoardofReps.org [PDF]

OnlineLibrary.wiley.com

IEEExplore.org

Pubmed.gov

Pubmed.gov

Pubmed.gov

YouTube.com
Conservative media joins mainstream media in COVER-UP of Israels killing of Israeli citizens on October 7

A shockingly sizeable number of so-called conservative media outlets have jumped the shark as far as the Israel-Gaza conflict goes. Even though we now know that Israel killed a whole lot of its own citizens on October 7, only to then blame the carnage on Hamas, many right-wingers have chosen to be complicit in covering this all up on behalf of the Zionist state.

Adopting the "antisemitism" line of attack against anyone who disagrees, these conservative media outlets are proudly proclaiming their unconditional support for the Jewish state no matter what. This means ignoring the fact that Israel killed many, if not all, of the attendees of the Nova music festival who either went missing or whose bodies were later found in the fallout.

It cannot be stressed enough that Israel boasts the most technologically advanced and well-funded military and police state, thanks largely to United States taxpayers who have been footing the bill and acting as Israel's welfare queen for many decades. The Iron Dome alone is said to be impenetrable, and yet it stopped working, as did Israel's sealed borders, for a full seven hours on October 7 due to a stand-down order.

All of this and more has pretty much become open knowledge, and yet many conservative media outlets refuse to talk about it because to do so is "antisemitic," we are told. One wonders: Is there anything Israel could do  any crime or horror so serious  that would convince these people that perhaps Israel needs to be restrained?

(Related: Zionist Ben Shapiro, owner of The Daily Wire, is really angry that Candace Owens, one of his employees, supports Jesus rather than Zionism.)

Is Israel really the good guy in all this?

The Israeli military has begun to fess up now that the cat is out of the bag. Israel itself says that more than two dozen of its attack helicopters swarmed the Nova music festival on October 7, mowing down Palestinians and Israeli civilians alike because they could not tell the difference from the air.

A properly restrained military would have erred on the side of not shooting if there was even a minute risk of Israeli civilians ending up as collateral damage. Instead, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) indiscriminately shot at everyone, only to then blame Hamas for the dead Israeli bodies that were discovered in the aftermath.

"The frequency of fire at the thousands of terrorists was enormous at the start, and only at a certain point did the pilots begin to slow their attacks and carefully choose the targets," revealed Israel's Ynet last month, citing an Israeli air force investigation.

"Shoot at everything," one Israeli squadron leader reportedly told his men on that fateful day.

To this day, Israel has never explained how Palestinian fighters with their meager weapons caused the massive devastation in some of the Israel settlements that were basically reduced to rubble. Only one side of the fight has the types of munitions capable of causing such destruction, and that side is Israel.

Israel has even reduced the official death count from 1,400 to "around 1,200." And how many of these "around 1,200" were killed by Israeli forces rather than Hamas? The answer, quite honestly, appears to be most, meaning the biggest killer in this latest melee is Israel.

"And then (Israel is) using those deaths to further their projects of ethnic cleansing, occupation and displacement of the 2m+ inhabitants of GAZA?" added Sayer Ji on X (formerly Twitter) about the sinister nature of this whole operation.

Americans are tired of the Israel-first mentality of government, media, and even religion. Learn more at WWIII.news.

Sources for this article include:

ElectronicIntifada.net

TheCradle.co

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com
DUBAI, UAE, December 2. We'll work towards new truce in Gaza Strip as soon as possible, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference on the sidelines of the World Summit on Climate Action, organized within the framework of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28, Trend reports.

"We can only regret the resumption of hostilities. Women and children made up the majority of the freed hostages. We highly appreciate the delivery of humanitarian aid. It's impossible to defeat Hamas militarily. The destruction of Hamas requires an international effort. We must ensure that they do not merge with other groups. We need a clear strategy to free the hostages. We need targeted military action against Hamas. We also need to take a humanitarian approach," he said.

A combined attack was carried out on Israel on October 7. From the beginning, a massive rocket attack began from the territory of the Gaza Strip, followed by the penetration of militants by land, water, and air.

Israel declared a state of war after a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a mass gathering of reservists.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
The government red list just got a whole lot bigger as the red pilled have been added

For those who have not seen the Matrix movie series, the star Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, was given a choice to take a blue pill and go home and back to sleep without knowing the truth or to take the red pill and be awakened to the truth of the Matrix.

(Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

In real life, while the media calls Donald Trump supporters "conspiracy theorists, "many of those theories have proven correct.

Such as the Russian collusion hoax, where the media and Democrats claimed Trump was coordinating with Russia during the 2016 election, and after four years it turned out that was the Hillary Clinton campaign. Also, when Trump and his supporters knew the Obama regime used federal spy agencies to surveil Trump and his campaign before the 2016 election, the media claimed that was another "conspiracy theory," yet that turned out to be true.

The point here is that conservatives were "red pilled" with the truth, while those denying the facts were the ones taking the blue pill and remained willfully ignorant.

Jump forward to today and the "conspiracy theory" of Trump supporters being targeted by the Biden regime, has been confirmed as truth in multiple ways.

The first was when it was reported that the Biden FBI created a new category of "extremists"

Via Newsweek:

The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump's army of MAGA followers.

MAGA, means "Make America Great Again," and evidently those that wish to do so, are now considered domestic terrorism threats in the eyes of the FBI under Biden.

But that is the older news, and while bad, it isn't nearly as egregious as what the nation just found out about the DOJ red listing Americans.

AMERICA, THE POLICE STATE

In maybe the only thing the MSM is good for, a group of media organizations sued the Justice Department for the release of a warrant by the DOJ's Special Counsel Jack Smith, to Twitter about Donald Trump's account, and won.

While 8 of the 14 pages were fully redacted, the information that was revealed in the remaining pages is so outrageous that it is disturbing to think of what they hid with the redactions. (The heavily redacted warrant is embedded below for readers to go through for themselves.)

Before detailing the demands for information by Smith, it is noteworthy that Twitter, before the name changed to X, initially did not comply with the request and was fined $350,000.

About Trump they demanded everything, his drafts that weren't actually posted, his direct messages which are supposed to be private, the IP addresses of any device that logged into his account, his notifications, privacy and account settings, and any changes made to them, and all his tweets.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
Gaza media office: Israel has dropped 40,000 tons of bombs since October 7, dwarfing the size of the Hiroshima explosion

The media office of the government of the Gaza Strip has reported that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has dropped over 40,000 tons of explosives on Gaza since Oct. 7.

Anadolu Agency reported that the goal of this massive and indiscriminate bombing campaign is to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable, thus forcing out most, if not all, of the region's more than two million inhabitants. (Related: Former Jewish State Department official cheers on Palestinian genocide, says more children in Gaza need to die.)

Salama Maarouf, head of the Government Press Office of the Gaza Strip, issued a statement regarding the massive bombardment of the region on Telegram on Sunday, Nov. 26, amid an ongoing temporary humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas.

"The Israeli Occupation Forces have dropped 40,000 tons of explosives on the Strip [since Oct. 7], and the atrocities of the Occupation [Forces] have unfolded away from the scrutiny of cameras," said Maarouf.

Maarouf added that "the bombs recently used by the Occupation [Forces] have never been used before, and hundreds of martyrs are buried in the places where they died. The devastation by the Occupation [Forces] reflects its intent to make Gaza uninhabitable."

Weeks of Israeli indiscriminate bombing have resulted in the devastation of Gaza

Pictures and footage coming out of Gaza shot by multiple mainstream media outlets prove the extent of the devastation in the Strip.

Reuters especially took drone footage shots of Gaza right before the conflict and during the temporary ceasefire.

In one piece of footage taken before Oct. 7, the Reuters drone was able to capture a busy urban area in Gaza, with children playing, people walking and driving along a tree-lined boulevard. One footage even showed children going to school on a donkey cart, and another shows people having fun at a waterpark.

Now, none of these vibrant scenes of life can be found in Gaza. Drone footage of the Nusseirat refugee camp, where Reuters once took footage of children playing, is now nearly devoid of life, with Israeli indiscriminate bombardment showing widespread destruction of the camp, with smoking craters and flattened buildings.

Scenes like the ones seen by Reuters in Nusseirat have played out all over the Gaza Strip thanks to weeks of Israeli indiscriminate bombing from the land, sea and air as well as a subsequent ground invasion in North Gaza. All of this has resulted in over 15,000 people in Gaza killed and a major humanitarian crisis as more than a million people have been forced to flee their homes to find shelter elsewhere in the enclave.

"The days of respite have laid bare the enormity of the significant massacre, resulting in substantial destruction to infrastructure and residences," said Maarouf.

"One-third of the Gaza Strip's population has yet to receive essential supplies, and the absence of all international institutions is evident," he added, calling on the international community to step up and compel Israel to cease its indiscriminate targeting of Palestinians.

Follow WWIII.news for more news about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Watch the video below about Israel accepting a ceasefire in Gaza.

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

More related articles:

Israel using depleted uranium weapons to wage GENETIC WAR on Palestine; newborns there now showing genetic DEFORMITIES.

U.S. says Israel has the "right" to expand military offensive to southern Gaza  even if thousands more civilians are killed.

Israel PURPOSELY targeting innocent women and children in Gaza to level fertility playing field: "The plan is to kill the children."

GENOCIDE by STARVATION: Israel's bombing operations have exhausted the food supply in Gaza.

Bombing innocent children in Gaza is not "defense," it constitutes a grievous war crime.

Sources include:

MiddleEastMonitor.com

AA.com.tr

Brighteon.com
Biden performing POORLY in multiple opinion polls

Incumbent President Joe Biden is performing poorly in various opinion polls  trailing his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

POLITICO's Steven Shepard expounded on the incumbent chief executive's predicament in a Nov. 25 piece. He noted that when November began, a poll by the New York Times and Siena College found that Trump was dominant in four of six swing states.

"The president's standing in head-to-head matchups with Trump is failing," Shepard continued. "Among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden's position is worse than their previous polls in all but two of them."

He cited several polls to back this up:

Fox News: From 49 percent on Oct. 9, Biden dropped by three points to 46 percent on Nov. 13

NBC News: From 46 percent on Sept. 19, Biden dropped by two points to 44 percent on Nov. 14

Emerson College: From 45 percent on Oct. 17, Biden dropped by two points to 43 percent on Nov. 20

Quinnipiac University: From 47 percent on Oct. 30, Biden dropped by one point to 46 percent on Nov. 13

"Biden's recent slide  and his political predicament some 11 months before Election Day  represent a confluence of slippage with reliable Democratic constituencies like young voters, the outbreak of war in the Middle East and the rise of independent and third-party candidates who could siphon votes from both Biden and Trump," Shepard noted.

Aside from these polls, a survey by NBC News found that Trump was ahead of Biden among voters younger than 35  the former president's 46 percent compared to the incumbent's 42 percent. "Only a few polls show Biden with a lead among young voters that approaches his 2020 margins, but they are the exception, not the rule," said Shepard.

However, Biden's poor performance in opinion polls isn't the only problem. Shepard noted that the incumbent's popularity has been dwindling for months now, as evidenced by other surveys. (Related: Joe Biden's favorability rating the lowest of any U.S. president in 70 years.)

Even some Democrats don't like Biden's chances of winning

Even some of Biden's fellow Democrats don't like his chances of winning.

Former White House Chief Strategist David Axelrod has doubts that Biden will win against Trump in the November 2024 presidential election. The erstwhile advisor to former President Barack Obama said the incumbent only has a 50 percent chance or less of winning.

"I think he has a 50-50 shot here, but no better than that; maybe a little worse," Axelrod told Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. "He thinks he can cheat nature here, and it's really risky."

He also warned that Biden shouldn't count on Trump's running to help him win. According to the former Obama administration official, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton mistakenly thought Trump securing the GOP nomination would hand her the election. Given this, Axelrod stressed that Biden should not make the same mistake.

Moreover, he acknowledged that Biden's advanced age  coupled with his physical stumbles and verbal gaffes  could be hindrances in convincing the American electorate to vote for him once more.

"I think that there is one issue that is hanging over him," the political consultant said. "I think with Trump on the other end, he could still win this election. But the age issue is difficult."

Later, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips described the idea of Biden beating Trump in November 2024 as "delusional." Ironically, the congressman had backed the incumbent before deciding to run against him.

"As a member of the House Democratic leadership, I supported and promoted the Biden agenda. I campaigned for him, voted for him and respect him," he wrote on X. "But how can anyone read this and conclude he's positioned to defeat Trump? It's delusional."

Visit JoeBiden.news for more stories about the incumbent president.

Watch this Fox News report about Biden's dismal poll numbers, something NBC News has warned of.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips: It's DELUSIONAL for anyone to think Biden can beat Trump in 2024.

Joe Biden second most UNPOPULAR president in modern US history, just behind fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Former Obama advisor: Biden has "50% chance or less" of winning 2024 presidential election.

Poll: Most voters see Biden as a POOR LEADER who cannot be trusted.

Trump gains 9-POINT LEAD over Biden in Pennsylvania poll.

Sources include:

POLITICO.com

DailyMail.co.uk

InfoWars.com

Brighteon.com
Retailers across state of New York losing $12M daily to RETAIL THEFT

The state of New York is losing $12 million daily due to retail theft.

Martin Armstrong of Armstrong Economics expounded on this in a Nov. 28 piece, blaming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for the shoplifting crisis in the Big Apple. Armstrong noted Hochul's backing of the "light-on-crime policies," which caused "a drastic uptick in crime across the state."

The economist accused Hochul of "passively allowing the state to burn," citing one example of this. When Republicans and Democrats united to pass a bill to curb theft, Hochul shot it down  arguing that the $35 million it required was not in the state budget. As a result, theft cases in New York state have increased by 64 percent over the past four years.

"Recent data suggests that New York [state], as a whole, lost $4.4 billion in 2022 due to organized retail theft. Store owners have been seriously assaulted or killed." (Related: BAD APPLE: NYC shoplifting reports hit record levels for second straight year.)

While New York City is taking most of the hits, it isn't the only one suffering from retail theft. The city of Syracuse reported a 55 percent rise in shoplifting over the past two years.

"That number is likely higher because businesses often don't report it  but they do continue to express concerns," said Joe Cecile, chief of the Syracuse Police Department. He added that one pharmacy in the city lost $250,000 due to theft.

"So thieves are stealing over $12 million daily from New York retailers. The budget for a preventative organization (not that it is the solution) would be equivalent to a mere three days of theft," Armstrong pointed out.

"Thousands of people and their tax dollars have already fled the state due to [the state government's] poor policies. The businesses are following, and what will be left? Government-run grocers and 15-minute cities? That is the ultimate goal behind allowing this type of crime to occur without punishment."

Hochul has her priorities wrong

Armstrong further eviscerated Hochul for having her priorities wrong. Instead of cracking down on retail theft that costs NYC and other areas millions every day, she believes that "there should be harsher penalties for the unvaccinated than for criminals.

"Hochul is a menace who is setting fire to what remains of the once beloved state of New York," he wrote. "She is responsible for Rule 2.13 and is one of the most obnoxious vaccine supporters in the world state. Hochul is supported by the same people who donated to [former New York Gov.] Andrew Cuomo, and she is full support of the Build Back Better agenda."

In a separate piece from Nov. 22, Armstrong elaborated on the aforementioned rule that permits the state to force anyone into quarantine for any reason  even though it has nothing to do with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

"The [New York state] government now has legal authority to remove residents from their homes and force them into quarantine camps. There is no age restriction; children could be removed from their homes without parental consent. They do not need to warn citizens when they are coming, or how long they must quarantine."

"You will be required to take any steps the state mandates, including taking medications against your will. There is no due process, no court hearing and no rule of law as the government may now abduct citizens in the name of public health. You may not even take a test to determine if you are sick  the state has full authority over you and your body"

Armstrong ultimately concluded that Rule 2.13 is "one of the most restrictive and oppressive pieces of legislation to pass in U.S. history and nullifies our freedoms. If they can do this in New York, they can do it anywhere."

Visit Collapse.news for more stories about the collapse of New York and other areas.

Watch this video about 26 stores leaving NYC due to rampant retail theft.

This video is from the White Knight channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Rampant theft prompts NYC grocery stores to consider locking up food.

NYC store locking cans of Spam and tuna in plastic cases to avoid THEFT.

Organized retail crime, not just shoplifting, is surging across the U.S. with dangerous and costly consequences.

Retailers lost $112B in 2022 because of "unprecedented levels" of THEFT, causing stores to take drastic measures.

Shoppers forced to wait up to 40 minutes to buy basic essentials as major retailers LOCK UP goods to combat shoplifting.

Sources include:

SGTReport.com

ArmstrongEconomics.com 1

ArmstrongEconomics.com 2

Brighteon.com
Another win for the Second Amendment: Oregon judge rules that Ballot Measure 114 VIOLATES state constitution

A judge in Oregon has ruled that Ballot Measure (BM) 114, a gun safety law approved by voters in November 2022, violates the state's constitution

In a 44-page decision, Harney County Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio blocked BM 114, which imposes magazine restrictions and permit requirements for Oregonians exercising their Second Amendment rights. "Oregon citizens have a right to self-defense against an imminent threat of harm, which is unduly burdened by BM 114," he wrote.

BM 114 encompasses several pivotal provisions, including mandatory safety courses and tests for firearm purchasers; comprehensive background checks; and a ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. As a result, the measure would delay someone from purchasing a firearm for a minimum of 30 days  a fact both sides have acknowledged.

According to Raschio, Oregon failed to provide "any convincing evidence of a threat to public safety requiring a permitting process." The magistrate's decision marks a crucial point in a legal saga that began when Judge Raschio temporarily blocked the implementation of the measure in December 2022, pending a full trial. His ruling came after a meticulous examination of the constitutionality of the gun safety laws during a comprehensive six-day trial held in September. (Related: GOA challenge Oregon's new gun control.)

BM 114 has been repeatedly challenged

BM 114, which passed a slim majority during the Beaver State's Nov. 8, 2022 general elections, has encountered legal challenges almost immediately after its approval.

The legal challenges to Measure 114 have been both federal and state-wide, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut previously ruling the law as constitutionally sound. However, this decision has been appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court, adding another layer of complexity to the ongoing legal battle.

Meanwhile, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum vehemently disagreed with Judge Raschio's ruling. She deemed the decision incorrect and contended that it unnecessarily endangers the lives of Oregonians. Rosenblum expressed the state's intention to file an appeal, remaining confident in their belief that they will prevail in a higher court.

Raschio's decision effectively blocks the enforcement of Measure 114 unless overturned by a higher state court. The case is expected to proceed to the Oregon Court of Appeals and potentially the state's Supreme Court, prolonging the legal debate surrounding gun regulations in Oregon.

Examining the constitutionality of Measure 114, the trial focused on the historical aspects of firearms in Oregon during the time of its constitution's passage in 1859. Expert witnesses presented arguments on the rarity and accessibility of certain firearms during that period. The judge found the testimony of those supporting multi-shot firearms particularly convincing.

The constitutionality of gun safety measures remains at the forefront of these legal discussions.

In delving deeper into the specifics of BM 114, it is essential to understand the intricacies of its provisions. The law mandates that anyone seeking to purchase a firearm must undergo a safety course and pass a test to obtain a permit for the purchase. Additionally, it necessitates a thorough background check for all firearm purchasers and imposes a ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

The legal battle has become a focal point in the larger discourse on gun regulations, weighing the balance between individual rights to gun ownership and public safety considerations. The court's attention to the historical context of firearms during the state's founding in 1859 adds a layer of complexity to the debate, as constitutional interpretation becomes a central theme in the legal arguments.

SecondAmendment.news has more stories about unconstitutional gun laws.

Watch this clip about gun control in the United States.

This video is from the Deprogram Your Mind channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

NY Supreme Court rules Empire States gun control law UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Joe Biden announces creation of first-ever federal gun control office.

Study proves there is NO CORRELATION between gun control laws and mass shootings.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheHill.com

OPB.org

Brighteon.com
Raw Egg Nationalist sounds off on JUST Eggs artificial egg product

If youve followed my writing over the course of the last three years, youll know that I have a rather personal beef with the fake-food startup Eat Just and its founder and CEO Josh Tetrick. Hopefully, you understand why. Eat Justs products represent the opposite of everything I stand for in the realm of health, nutrition and indeed politics: corporate control of the food supply and mans further alienation from the nutrient-dense animal foods that have nourished our ancestors since time immemorial  indeed that made modern humans (Homo sapiens) the creatures that we are. Ive laid out the case in detail against novel plant-based proteins and lab-grown meat, and why the push to get us eating them is about far more than just nutrition or saving the planet from climate change, in my book The Eggs Benedict Option (which is now also available in audiobook format from Amazon, as well as paperback).

(Article republished from RawEggNationalist.Substack.com)

Eat Just is most famous  or should I say, infamous?  for its JUST Egg product, a bizarre confabulation of mung-bean protein, canola oil, colourings and texturisers that its makers claim isnt an alternative to the real thing, but a replacement for it. Thats right; although it comes poured from a yellow plastic bottle, JUST Egg is eggs. Adverts and social-media posts actually say that.

Of course, Just Egg absolutely isnt eggs. You know that, without me having to explain to you the differences in the constitution of a real egg and a fake one. The protein isnt the same, the fats arent the same, the vitamins, minerals and micronutrients arent the same either. In fact, more or less everything about a real egg and a Just Egg is different. Eggs contain a whole wealth of bioactive compounds whose properties we know virtually nothing about. Those scientists are now investigating appear to have some pretty extraordinary effects, as this review paper shows.

Consider this fascinating material, from that review paper, on potential anti-cancer properties of egg compounds.

There are only few data showing that food-derived proteins and peptides can also be beneficial to prevent and to cure cancer diseases [26]. Several studies have confirmed the tumor-inhibitory activity of egg white lysozyme using experimental tumors. Its effect essentially relies on immunopotentiation [115]. Ovomucin (beta subunit) and ovomucin-derived peptides also showed anti-tumor activities via cytotoxic effects and activation of the immune system [74]. The anticancerous effect of egg tripeptides [27] and hydrolytic peptides from ovotransferrin [116] have also been published. Information in this field is quite scarce, but it may be worth continuing to investigate such activities. Some interesting data may arise from studies on egg protease inhibitors [47] since similar molecules existing in other food product, including legumes like pea, have been described as potential colorectal chemopreventive agents [117].

You dont find any of this in a bottle of Just Egg, and youll probably never find it anywhere else but in the perfect natural object we call an egg.

The idea that you can just reformulate natural foodstuffs in the lab is a prime example of what Ive called, after Rene Guenon, the reign of quantity in food. This is the absurd idea that you can reduce food to its macronutrient content (protein, fat, carbs) and, by simply reproducing that content, and certain physical characteristics (smell, taste, texture, appearance) you have, effectively, reproduced the thing itself.

The origin of this way of thinking about food is very recent, as I explain in the essay linked in the previous paragraph:

The idea that the proper way to think of food is in terms of its protein, fat and carbohydrate content, was first popularised just over a century ago by the Fanny Farmer 1896 Cook Book. Before then, it would have been simply unthinkable for an ordinary person to consider their food primarily in terms of its chemical components. A wild fish like a mackerel or sardine was not an excellent source of protein and fat, any more than oats were an excellent source of carbohydrates. These were simply whole foods that were eaten and appreciated for their qualities in the eating, or even just because they were readily available and affordable.

The reign of quantity is part of a broader assault on the notion of identity, and its grounding in quality, that has been taking place over a very long span of Western history. In an essay for American Mind, Which Came Last?, I referred to this as nominalism  the idea that, ultimately, all forms of identity are arbitrary and can therefore be chosen at will  and linked the emergence of ridiculous plant-based alternatives to real food with other manifestations of identity confusion in the modern world.

We are mired in a perverted form of nominalism through which all genuineness needs to be undermined. Gender and humanity itself are radically challenged. All must be reduced to nothing more than an individuals choice of self-expression, in the acid bath of identity politics. Just as it has taken us a wayward path through history to reach the point where a man can have his penis turned inside out, take a hormone pill, put on a dress and makeup and claim to be a woman  in fact where a man can simply say he is a woman, and demand to be treated as such from that very moment onwards  so, by many strange turns, have we arrived at a place where a slurry of mung beans, vegetable oil and an assortment of texturizers, colorings and flavorings can be called, in all seriousness, an egg. Both absurdities result from the same basic stance  This is whatever I say it is, and thats that  and both harm us as individuals, as well as harming our collective inheritance  our civilization. Not only has nominalism rotted our soul: its rotting our stomach too.

Plant-based eggs have much more to do with transvestitism than you might think. In fact, I refer to them as transvestite food in the American Mind article.

All of this is a rather involved introduction for the main topic of my essay today, which is that Eat Just really isnt doing very well. Fundamentally, people just dont want to eat plant-based and alternative proteins, certainly not in the kind of numbers that would compensate the massive investment involved in bringing these new products to market. This is why the big beasts of the alternative-protein market, companies like Impossible and Beyond, post record losses each quarter and keep on shedding staff. Ive reported on this trend for the National Pulse, for example.

How they want you to see Eat Just and Josh Tetrick: the reality is very different

But Eat Justs problems go well beyond consumer demand or lack thereof. After scandals about employee pay and working conditions, as well product safety, the companys reputation was so damaged it had to undergo a total rebranding a few years ago. Eat Just actually began life around 2012 as Hampton Creek, purveyors of vegan mayo, until the name became so associated with scandal that the only option left was for the company to go full scorched earth on its past. CEO Josh Tetrick does not like to be reminded of this. (Go on, remind him of it.)

Tetrick also doesnt like it when people like me poke around in the FDA filings for his lab-grown meat spin-off GOOD Meat and discover that hes using a company linked to Chinas bioweapons programme to make his cell-cultured chicken, and that this Chinese company is one of the worlds biggest breeders of lab animals, including primates. Not only does this look bad from a security perspective  is it a good idea to let a company linked to Chinas bioweapons programme introduce a novel lab-made foodstuff into the US food supply?  but also from an ethical perspective, since the product is marketed as cruelty-free or slaughter-free meat, and yet the company that physically makes the product breeds tens of thousands of animals a year for lives of misery and torture. Oh yes, and the cultured chicken must also be made using fetal bovine serum, a blood product that is extracted from the hearts of live cow fetuses on the slaughterhouse floor. So even if a chicken wasnt slaughtered to make your lab-grown chicken nuggets, a cow was. Isnt that neat?

Read more at: RawEggNationalist.Substack.com
Report reveals Canada EUTHANIZED an average of 36 people DAILY throughout 2022

A report has revealed that Canada is now seeing an average of 36 citizens being euthanized by the government daily , thanks to its liberal euthanasia laws.

According to Health Canada's recent report on government-assisted suicide, euthanasia made up 4.1 percent of deaths nationwide last year  a significant increase from 3.3 percent in 2021. The 2022 report on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), which was released last October, revealed that euthanasia has claimed the lives of an estimated 45,000 Canadians since it was legalized in 2016.

Some 1,018 Canadians elected to die via government-assisted suicide in 2016. By 2022, that figure had skyrocketed to an alarming 13,241. This means an average of 36 people were euthanized per day in Canada last year. It also means that there has been an average yearly growth rate of 31.1 percent since 2019.

According to data, at least 81 percent of written requests for MAID were granted. But of the remaining 19 percent, only 3.5 percent of applicants were considered ineligible for MAID, a number which has been declining since 2019.

Many people denied government-assisted suicide were refused because of a lack of patient capacity, but they would have otherwise been euthanized if there were enough beds available.

Quebec and British Columbia have the highest rates of euthanasia

According to the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada (ARPA Canada), Quebec and British Columbia have the highest rates of euthanasia, constituting 6.6 percent and 5.5 percent of all deaths in those provinces, respectively.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba have the lowest rates, with euthanasia accounting for only 1.5 percent and 2.1 percent of all deaths, respectively. (Related: Health agency in Canadas British Columbia province includes PRO-EUTHANASIA slideshow in pension packages for the elderly.)

According to Health Canada, in order to be eligible for MAID, a person must experience "intolerable physical or psychological suffering that is caused by their medical condition or their state of decline and that cannot be relieved under conditions that the individual finds acceptable."

A survey of MAID recipients has shown that the main source of their "intolerable suffering" is the "loss of [their] ability to engage in meaningful life activities," with 86 percent of the respondents experiencing this. At least 82 percent reported that they have lost the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL).

Additionally, those surveyed were able to select more than one option, making the total exceed 100 percent. Life advocate Amanda Achtman said that this confirms that "euthanasia is mainly [an] existential issue, not a pain-management or medical one."

Experts: Mental illness alone should not be a criterion for assisted death

By March 17, 2024, people with mental illness as their sole underlying medical condition will be eligible for MAID. However, some health experts argue that mental illness alone should not be a criterion for assisted death.

Sonu Gaind, the chief psychiatrist at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, explained that it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a mental illness is truly irremediable, as the law requires, and to differentiate between pathological suicidality and a rational desire to die.

Gaind added that even health experts don't fully understand the biology of most mental illnesses.

Meanwhile, activists have warned that Canada's expansion of assisted death puts individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, low incomes or other vulnerabilities at risk.

In an interview, Michelle Hewitt, co-chair of the advocacy group Disability Without Poverty, cited as an example the widely reported case of Sean Tagert, a British Columbia man diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Tagert opted for medically assisted death in 2019 after he struggled to get 24-hour care.

Tagert was very clear on what he wanted, which was more care hours at home. When he was told that he would have to move to a care facility away from his family, especially his young son, he opted for MAID.

According to heartbreaking social media posts by Tagert's family, finding care was "a constant struggle and source of stress" for Tagert.

As of 2022 and early 2023, reports reveal that military veterans have also been offered government-assisted suicide by Veterans Affairs officials.

In one case, a Canadian Forces veteran seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury was shocked when he was offered MAID by a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employee. Several sources confirmed that the combat veteran never raised the issue nor asked about MAID and was "deeply disturbed by the suggestion."

While there have been follow-up calls from the agency, who wanted to apologize to the veteran, sources say the calls only took place after the veteran filed several complaints with the VAC.

In a statement, the VAC acknowledged that its employee discussed MAID with the veteran inappropriately. The agency is currently investigating the incident and will conduct "appropriate administrative action."

However, the VAC declined to discuss the nature of the ongoing investigation or the specifics of what consequences the employee might face due to privacy concerns.

The department has also declined to answer questions about how many times assisted dying has been offered to veterans through its employees, or what guidance these employees have been given about providing such shocking "advice."

Watch the video below as Canada seeks to legalize euthanasia for drug addicts.

This video is from The Absolute Truth w/ Emerald channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Canada attempting to expand EUTHANASIA program to allow assisted suicide of the mentally ill.

Netherlands is approving EUTHANASIA for people with autism, intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses.

Canada expands euthanasia mercy killing to ensnare societys most vulnerable, including children.

Sources include:

NewsAddicts.com

Reuters.com

GlobalNews.ca

Brighteon.com
Australian senator examines Albanese governments large donation to the globalist World Health Organization

A federal senator in Australia has questioned the huge donation given by the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the globalist World Health Organization (WHO).

Queensland Sen. Gerard Rennick voiced out his criticism of the donation on Nov. 28, while on the Senate floor. "I find it quite amazing that the federal government thinks they can find A$100 million ($66.11 million) to spend on bureaucrats over in Switzerland, rather than actually addressing the issues from the last pandemic and trying to sort out those issues," he said.

Rennick also mentioned that he speaks with Australians who were injured by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) injections every day. "My office is still inundated with people who have gone through the protocols," he continued. "They've got specialists saying they've had an injury, and Services Australia won't address the issue."

Back in September, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that the Albanese government would provide A$75 million ($49.6 million) in voluntary core funding to the WHO over a five-year period, alongside a further A$25 million ($16.5 million) for its Health Emergencies Program. The money seeks to aid the WHO in "mitigating the risk of future pandemics by strengthening national health systems."

"Australia is committed to playing our part to strengthen the global health system, so we can be better prepared for future shocks," she said. "We need a strong global health system to help keep Australia, our region, and the world safe. This means a strong, capable WHO with the authority to respond quickly and decisively to complex health emergencies." (Related: Australian research institute says WHO must have more power to enforce global pandemic rules.)

"Substantial amounts of Australian public funds are directed at a number of international bureaucratic organizations," the Epoch Times noted. "The Global Fund, an international financing organization aimed at ending epidemics and fulfilling United Nations health goals, has received over A$1 billion ($661 million) from Australia to date."

"In 2022, the Albanese government pledged to contribute A$266 million ($175.9 million) to the fund's seventh replenishment between 2023 and 2025. It followed a A$242 million ($160 million) contribution as part of the fund's sixth replenishment between 2020 and 2022."

Albanese gov't disagrees with royal probe over its pandemic conduct

Rennick also denounced Albanese's ruling Labor Party for its aversion to a royal commission into its conduct throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Albanese Labor government said that they were going to have a royal commission into COVID-19, and they've effectively backed down on that," he said. "They're going to have a bunch of bureaucrats [and] a team of three professional 'experts' [to] look into this issue, and they won't allow a Senate inquiry to occur."

The Queensland senator has long opposed Canberra's COVID-19 mandates, particularly those related to vaccines. In late 2021, Rennick and two others  South Australia Sen. Alex Antic and Queensland Sen. Matt Canavan  consistently crossed the floor to withhold support from the Morrison government when it came to COVID-related legislation.

Rennick's remarks about vaccine injuries remaining uncompensated are also linked to the Australian government's COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme. "Claimants are only eligible if they experienced a number of listed side effects, which the government has consistently updated," according to the Epoch Times.

"For instance  in April, three claimable clinical conditions were added to the list of vaccine side effects made eligible for claims. Before April, those who experienced these adverse side effects were not eligible for compensation."

However, 55-year-old Mark Briggs has not been so lucky when it comes to attaining compensation. The Queensland miner suffered a heart injury and almost died thrice after being injected with just one dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

He cannot seek compensation from the Anglo-Swedish vaccine manufacturer as a result of Canberra granting pharmaceutical firms legal immunity during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Moreover, his injury is not a known side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine  despite heart attack being an issue for some other COVID-19 injections.

Visit Globalism.news for more stories about the globalist WHO.

Watch Queensland Sen. Gerard Rennick deliver a speech about vaccine mandates and vaccine injuries below.

This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Australia quietly drops approval for AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Australia to SHUT DOWN domestic manufacturing of deadly AstraZeneca vaccine.

Australian actress sues AstraZeneca for life-threatening vaccine injury, but continues to ADVOCATE for other covid-19 "vaccines''.

Aussies injured by COVID jabs file first ever class action lawsuit against drug pushers who promised "safe and effective" vaccines.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

ForeignMinister.gov.au

Brighteon.com
Spiritual principles now being used to justify slaughter of innocents in Gaza, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich tells Mike Adams

For former Cleveland Mayor and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, people are choosing to use their spiritual ideologies to support the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, instead of promoting peace.

"We're in a moment where what [George] Orwell wrote about years ago, in terms of the inversion of meaning. We're seeing an action that up is down, wrong is right and worse is the better reason," he told Mike Adams in a recent episode of the Health Ranger Report, adding that this twisted theory is now in full display in the ongoing war in the Middle East to justify the slaughter of innocent. For him, there is one supreme teaching: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." He said that this principle cuts across any religion. "It's in the Talmud, Quran and the Bible. We need to call upon spiritual guidance at a time when our limited minds can't figure out how to work things out diplomatically," he remarked. However, instead of acquiring a clear perspective in this time of crisis, what's happening is spiritual principles are now being used to justify slaughter. "And that is twisted," he lamented.

He further urged that if America is to take sides between Israelis and Palestinians, take this out of peace. "If we cannot take a stand to stop the slaughter of women and children and innocent people, then who are we? Where are our values? And can there be anything more specific about being a conservative than conserving the peace?" he emphasized because according to him, Israel is on the offense and this is contrary to the narrative that it is just defending its people. Worse, the United States is immensely involved in standing up for these policies that are so destructive.

Adams concurred pointing out the need to coexist as human beings of different ethnicities, religions, colors and genders now that Israel has been behaving otherwise. "What would our world look like if every nation reacted to its neighbors in the way that Israel is doing right now? That would be a world of blood and suffering. None of us want that outcome," he said. Kucinich agreed saying that both of them and some others are challenging the sharply interiorized logic of not just the conflict, but of the rationale behind the conflict, which is certainly political, territorial and covers resources and has a biblical subtext. According to him, these merge into the recitation of self-justification. He cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaging in the daily massacre of tens of thousands of people and decimating their homes.

His analysis included that what is happening now is for the simultaneous survival of the State of Israel and the Palestinian people. "But we have to recognize that there are elements who don't believe in either of those things. That's where it requires the dexterity of, not just diplomacy, but also having an open-hearted conversation on stopping with the killing because it's circular, it always comes back," he said. And so, he raised his concern that since America is not cautioning Israel to stop, it is on a path that will inevitably entrain the United States into conflict in South Lebanon, because that's part of the Greater Israel plan. He revealed Netanyahu is for the Greater Israel, which is not just West Bank and Gaza. "And to create this dream, the danger is that they sparked a major war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and then the potential of Iran getting involved, and then China and then Russia," he warned. (Related: Sociopathic Netanyahu insists Israel doesn't kill children after launching attacks that murdered 4000+ young ones.)

Israel and the West do not care about their people, just their profits

Elsewhere in the show, Adams touched on the important topic of the "military-industrial complex."

"It's not about just stopping this act of violence or stopping the leaning on coercion and violence as a form of diplomacy In Congress, you fought against what I would call the 'military-industrial complex.' It has been very profitable for certain people and corporations to have forever wars," he said and added how this has installed the United States into a "doom loop of violence and war and profit."

When asked how would the nation ever exit the doom loop, the former representative elaborated on the roles of the country's policies. "We're told that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. But we have to be vigilant about not just what's outside the perimeters of America but also what's going on inside," he said. "But our international policy is continually hijacked for purposes of moving hundreds of billions of dollars in arms to decimate countries and to create an agenda that has nothing to do with the needs of the American people at all." According to him, our government is willing to spend trillions of dollars to destroy lives in other countries and ignore the lives of people at home. It's time to redirect America's resources and our ethics about what we stand for as a country, he said.

The Brighteon.com founder linked this line of thought to how hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have been dying in the Ukraine-Russia conflict while wealthy American corporations that have ties to Washington are getting wealthy because of their weapons production. "There seems to be no value for the lives of the Ukrainian men. And that might apply to even Israeli soldiers today. The U.S. corporations may not value those soldiers as long as they're making the profits," he said.

Genocide.news contains more stories on mass murders worldwide.

Watch the full episode of the "Health Ranger Report" with Mike Adams featuring Dennis Kucinich below.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources for this article include:

Brighteon.com

MiddleEastMonitor.com
Almost TWICE the total tonnage of the Hiroshima atomic bomb has already been dropped on Gaza by Israel  thats why the place looks NUKED

The latest photo and video evidence to emerge out of the Gaza Strip shows total annihilation , or so it would seem, based on the nuclear-level destruction being captured by cameras.

The photo below depicts what appears to be a nuclear holocaust in Gaza, which we now know is the outcome of the more than 25,000 tons of atomic-level power that has thus far been dropped on Gaza by Israel.

Comparatively speaking, the destructive power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States on Aug. 6, 1945, was the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT.

Many people also talk about the bombing of Dresden, Germany, by Great Britain and the U.S. between Feb. 13-15, 1945, in reference to what is happening to Gaza right now. That "campaign of terror," as it was often called, resulted in the equivalent of just 3,900 tons of TNT being dropped on a city.

In Gaza, where more than 12,000 people, many of them women and children, have now died at the hands of Israel, the equivalent of more than 25,000 tons of TNT has been dropped on that tiny land strip by the Zionist state.

(Related: Palestinian laborers who were working legally in Israel at the time of the October 7 Hamas attack say they were tortured and humiliated by Israel Defense Forces [IDF].)

Israel has already inflicted more than two Hiroshima bombs on Gaza

A more accurate comparison of what Israel has done so far to Gaza would be to compare the firepower to two Hiroshima bombs being dropped  and the war has only just begun.

When combined with the other weapons of war Israel is using on Gaza, there have been at least two Hiroshima bombs, so to speak, dropped on Palestinian land since October 7, with more on the way.

Many onlookers, including some former Zionists who see what is unfolding and no longer support the Jewish state, are calling on the international community to impose strict and immediate sanctions on Israel. Many also want the U.S. to pay for funding Israel's war in Gaza with U.S. tax dollars.

We learned this week that Israel is taking credit for the killing of many of its own on October 7. Apache helicopters owned and operated by Israel were what killed many of the attendees of the Nova music festival, as well as nearby kibbutz residents who were mowed down by Israeli tanks.

Israel initially tried to blame Hamas for all those deaths, but is now reluctantly admitting, based on evidence that has since surfaced, that its own military is responsible for killing Israeli civilians on October 7.

Many have also begun speculating as to the true nature of Hamas, which we know was created by Israel back in the 1970s as a destabilizing force against Yasser Arafat. Could it be that Israel and Hamas are largely one and the same, and that neither government cares about its people?

It is important to remember in all this that there are innocent lives on both sides that are in the crosshairs of each other. These innocents do not necessarily support their governments and simply want peace.

"In videos of Kibbutz Be'eri, there are bullet holes in concrete walls, which are so large as to indicate they were not made by Hamas's small arms but more likely by something like the M2 caliber.50 machine gun, with which I am quite familiar as a former U.S. Army tanker," noted a commenter.

"It was developed as an anti-tank weapon in WW1 and my dad used it in WW2. It often leaves easily identifiable major injuries."

The latest news about the escalating conflict in the Middle East can be found at Chaos.news.

Sources for this article include:

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com

TheCradle.co

ElectronicIntifada.net
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has requested a closed meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Gaza Strip on December 4, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN Lana Zaki Nuseibah said, Trend reports.

"The UAE regularly requests regular [UNSC] meetings to shed light on the situation and focus the Security Council's attention on this crisis. For example, we have just asked for closed consultations on the resumption of hostilities in the Security Council on Monday," she said.

She added that the UAE has asked UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo to brief the Security Council given her recent return from a trip to the Middle East region.
U.K. government data reveals young people are DYING of cancer at explosive rates, following COVID years and vaccine push

Government data from the United Kingdom has revealed that teenagers and young people in their 20s to 40s are dying from rapidly metastasizing and terminal cancers at "explosive" rates since the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) began.

The 45-page analysis was conducted by COVID-19 researcher and former Wall Street hedge fund manager Edward Dowd, whose report became a cause for concern among many oncologists, who cited it as a "sharp reversal of decades of mortality data" that showed a decrease in the number of people succumbing to cancer.

Dowd based his analysis on readily available government statistics from the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics.

To gather data for the report, Dowd and his research partners, who include a handful of high-level scientists, data analysts and financial experts, studied all International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, (ICD-10) codes for cause of death in the U.K. from 2010 to 2022. Dowd and the research team looked into trends in malignant neoplasms (C00 to C99 codes).

ICD-10 codes are the international physicians' classification of diagnosis, symptom and procedure for claim processing set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a malignant neoplasm is a cancerous tumor.

The researchers observed a noticeable pattern: Even though almost all deaths among older people in 2021 and 2022 in Wales and England had been coded, eight percent of deaths among 15- to 44-year-olds in 2021 and 30 percent of deaths in that age group in 2022 hadn't been coded yet.

Dowd explained that when someone dies in a hospital, they "leave a trail of life and death with indications of what led to the death." And if a young person dies at the wheel of a car or in their sleep, an investigation is conducted and it takes some time to assign the cause of death. He added that the missing codes are "indicative of the problem" of excess deaths among young people.

However, even with the caveat of missing codes, the remaining 92 percent of coded deaths in 2021 and 70 percent of coded deaths in 2022 suggested "a strong signal of cancer deaths in the young."

Dowd said the researchers observed a significant increase in mortality because of malignant neoplasms that started in 2021 and accelerated substantially in 2022. He wrote that the increase in "excess deaths in 2022 is highly statistically significant (extreme event)."

Cancer death rates increased significantly after COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Dowd produced the report in his Humanity Projects study of excess deaths in the U.K. and the U.S. using government and insurance industry data. The growing body of clinical evidence connecting burgeoning cancers in young people to the COVID-19 vaccines inspired Dowd to conduct the research.

Their research focused on younger individuals aged 15 to 44 because it is currently a topic of particular interest because of the rise in anecdotal evidence of many unexplained aggressive and unusual cancers, such as "turbo cancers" occurring in the population, especially in younger individuals.

Dowd explained that the aim of the study was not to examine individual claims and anecdotes, but to provide "a statistical analysis at a population level and clarify if the anecdotal evidence is abnormal or not." Dowd hopes that the potential connections identified in their study can be used as "a basis for a reality check for health professionals to understand underlying trends in individuals' health."

For the study, Dowd and the researchers compared excess death rates and the difference between observed deaths and the baseline for expected deaths before and after the coronavirus pandemic.

Dowd established a baseline of normal cancer death rates from 2010 to 2020 that remained consistent with few deviations, at least until the cancer death rates increased significantly in late 2021 in the U.K. after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Dowd highlighted that the research was one of the first to try and identify "some patterns that are observed in trends" in cancer post-2020. (Related: TURBO CANCER: Children are DYING within hours or days of leukemia diagnosis, often after receiving vaccine jabs.)

Watch this clip to learn more about turbo cancers and COVID-19 deaths.

This video is from the Fritjof Persson channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Health Canada confirms that Pfizer COVID-19 injections contain SV40 DNA sequence that can cause CANCER.

Dr. McCullough warns: Getting jabbed multiple times with mRNA COVID vaccines could promote turbo cancer.

Pancreatic cancer rates skyrocket as Covid jabs and boosters send toxic spike protein prions into vital organs, including the pancreas, fueling turbo cancer.

Sources include:

GlobalResearch.ca

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

Brighteon.com
Whistleblower calls for WEF founder Klaus Schwab to be ARRESTED over crimes against humanity

The days of World Economic Forum (WEF) co-founder Klaus Schwab may be numbered

Pascal Najadi, the son of fellow WEF co-founder Hussain Najadi, is speaking out as a whistleblower against the current top dog at the globalist foundation, accusing him and other leaders of "crimes against humanity."

Najadi says the crimes of Schwab and his buddies are so great that there needs to be an immediate arrest of both Schwab and other WEF executives such as Bill Gates, as well as the leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO), Big Pharma, and Big Tech.

In partnership with Schwab, Najadi's father started the WEF back in 1971. He quit a decade later, citing disgust with Schwab's dystopian vision for the future of non-elite humanity.

Najadi is also upset that he and his mother were both tricked into getting "vaccinated" for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), a fake "pandemic" that was aggressively pushed by the WEF and others.

According to Najadi, he and his mother are now dying from the injections, which he says are "poison" that was pushed on the world by the likes of Schwab.

(Related: In many ways, Klaus Schwab, George Soros, and Bill Gates are an "unholy trinity" unleashing hell upon the planet.)

"The devil lives in Geneva," says Najadi

Together with prosecutors, Najadi is pushing towards eventually holding Schwab accountable for unleashing hell on the world. His case is also drawing attention to other globalist bodies like the United Nations (UN) that cooperated in the evil scheme.

Right now, leaders of the WEF, the UN, and WHO maintain diplomatic immunity, meaning they cannot be charged and tried  but Najadi wants that diplomatic immunity revoked, followed by the issuance of arrest warrants.

Najadi is the same guy, by the way, who filed a lawsuit against longstanding Swiss Prime Minister Alain Berset for lying to the public about COVID injections. That suit ultimately led to Berset resigning from his post this past June.

Now, with that success under his belt, Najadi is moving on to the bigger fish at the UN, Gavi, the WEF, and WHO.

According to Najadi, the belly of the beast is Geneva, Switzerland, which he says is ground zero for globalist control over the world. "The devil lives in Geneva," Najadi is famously quoted as saying.

"Everything evil in the world related to democide unfortunately comes from Geneva," Najadi is quoted as saying.

"You have WHO [World Health Organization] in Geneva, you have Gavi [Bill Gates's Vaccine Alliance], then you have the WEF, which my father was a co-founder and left Klaus Schwab out of disgust in the early eighty's that has diplomatic immunity."

As a Swiss citizen, Najadi has made a declaration in and of himself that the WEF is no longer eligible for diplomatic immunity. Swiss authorities, he says, need to immediately arrest the ringleaders there for advocating what he describes as a "global humanity injection by a bioweapon," referring to COVID jabs.

Najadi and his own mother are victims of this bioweapon, he contends, and now it is the responsibility of Swiss authorities to do something about it by bringing to justice every single person who was involved in perpetrating these bioweapons on the world.

"I call on the Swiss authorities and security to arrest those people immediately," Najadi declared. "Why? The WEF, WHO, Gavi, Big Pharma, Big Tech, and Bill Gates all advocated a global humanity injection by bioweapon injecting nanolipids into 5.7 billion people. And we Swiss are hosting them. That's terrible."

"We cannot tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity. But you have done it. I'm the victim. I'm dying from it, and my mother, too. It's a democide and will be judged. It will be corrected in the name of humanity."

More related news about Klaus Schwab and other "elites" like him can be found at Globalism.news.

Sources for this article include:

NewsAddicts.com

NaturalNews.com
A solar storm alert was issued earlier this week that a "cannibal" solar plasma eruption will hit Earth on Friday, December 1, causing a potential geomagnetic storm that may affect electronic communications. This is according to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Under the alert, the cannibal solar storm could disrupt orbiting satellites around our planet, as well as radio frequencies.

The solar eruption involved two solar storm events, such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the form of solar plasma on Tuesday, November 28, while it was followed by a related solar explosion on Wednesday, November 29. This is based on models presented by the SWPC on its website. Due to the looming geomagnetic storm, aurora borealis are possible in the northern hemisphere in the coming hours. The magnetic storm could also disrupt the global position system (GPS) and cause radio blackouts.

Solar Storm Alert

In its solar storm alert this week, the SWPC recorded multiple solar activities on Tuesday, stating that eruptions from the Sun involved a CME associated with a flare event. Due to the approaching space storm, the prediction center warned of some of the potential impacts below:

Weak power grid fluctuations

Minor impact on satellite operations

Satellite orientation irregularities

Aurora in northern tier of the US, particularly northern Michigan and Maine

Voltage alarms at high-latitude power systems

Fading radio frequencies at upper latitudes

Radio blackouts of high frequency radio communications

The said impacts were reported for Tuesday and Wednesday but related geomagnetic storm disruptions may occur on Friday and even during the weekend, based on the SWPC solar storm alert.

Also Read: Solar Blast Possible to Hit Earth on July 7 with Geomagnetic Storm Threat

Cannibal CME

The cannibal solar storm, in this case the CME, was called as such since it overtakes and consumes the first solar storm prior to its eruption from the Sun. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the solar storm called "Cannibal CMEs" can result in vivid auroras on the night sky while blocking out radio signals.

NASA defines a Cannibal CME as "clouds of electrified, magnetic gas" that weighs billions of tons from the Sun and ejected into space with speeds ranging between 12 and 1,250 miles per second (20 to 2,000 kilometers per second). The US space agency explains that the Cannibal CME or the second out of the two the CMEs is faster than the first, resulting in the overtaking and assimilation of the latter.

Regardless of which comes first, cannibal solar storms can cause geomagnetic storms and radio blackouts, as well as solar radiations. These solar storms can affect living organisms if the space particles have very high energy, such as those coming from powerful solar flares.

Recently, astronomers have warned that the solar maximum of the current Solar Cycle 25 will peak in 2024. This means that solar activities and their associated solar storms will become more frequent.

Related Article: Solar Storm Alert: Geomagnetic Storm Likely to Hit Earth on Sunday
Catalpa worms or Catawba worms are often mistaken for their identity due to their given name and appearance.

However, these insects are caterpillars which are known to be an ideal bait for channel catfish.

Officially known as the catalpa sphinx (Ceratomia catalpae), these animals are major defoliators of catalpa trees, which are their only host. The larval stage of the catalpa sphinx is called the catalpa worm before it becomes an adult moth, with a heavy body and wide wingspan.

C. catalpae belongs to the family Sphingidae or sphinx moths, which is native to the eastern United States. Their presence can be seen wherever catalpa trees grow, particularly from New Hampshire and Nebraska and south to Florida and Texas.

Local authorities consider catalpa worms as occasional pests since they can defoliate catalpa trees during outbreak years.

However, strict population control on them is not necessary since the caterpillars have a host of natural predators.

What are Catalpa Worms?

The catalpa sphinx was first described by French botanist Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1875.

Similar to other sphinx moth caterpillars, catalpa worms have a stiff horn near the end of their abdomen, which is relatively elongated and black compared to other species, according to the Pennsylvania State University.

Catawba worms were once found in the state of Maine and across northern New England but may no longer be found in the region.

Regardless, catalpa sphinx caterpillar is expected to follow catalpa trees, which it will remove their leaves over the course of one summer.

However, healthy trees can recover the following year.

To prevent widespread damage, the natural predators of catalpa worms such as wasps and fly parasitoids keep the caterpillars from getting out of control.

The main predator of catalpa worms is the endoparasitoid wasp (Cotesia congregate). These wasps are known for laying their eggs on the back of the catalpa sphinx caterpillar. Once they hatched, they feed on the catalpa worm itself, eventually killing it.

There have been inquiries regarding if catalpa worms are poisonous.

Nevertheless, experts say that their horn is not poisonous at all but this morphological feature is used to scare off the caterpillar's predators.

Also Read: Bizarre Plastic-Eating Wax Worm Might Be the Answer to Plastic Pollution

What are Catalpa Worms Used For?

Aside from being a pest and defoliating catalpa trees, catalpa worms are used for various purposes, including being a fishing bait in the southern US. The caterpillars excrete a strong smell and spread to the water and air, to catch bass, bream, and catfish.

Some fishermen are also known driving far distances or plant small groves of catalpa trees to ensure a supply of catalpa worms.

On the other hand, catalpa worms also benefit the ecosystem since they are a source of food for different animals, in addition to the wasps mentioned earlier.

Recent research on the catalpa sphinx indicate that the caterpillars are not that harmful as previously thought. However, large outbreaks of catalpa worms pose a threat to catalpa trees, which also have medicinal purposes.

Related Article: 'Nicotine Breath' Helps Tobacco-Eating Caterpillar Escape Predators [ Video]
A recent study indicated that endangered green sea turtles had spent much of their earlier lives near people in Sydney, Australia.

Experts said that satellite tracking had shown turtles that were frequent in the busy waterways, including the harbor and Parramatta River, around Wollongong harbor, Brisbane Waters near Gosford and up the Hawkesbury River, as far as Cottage Point.

They noted that the reason why young turtles spend so much time in the coast was still not determined.

Green Sea Turtles Choose the Open Sea

Researchers have noticed that older turtles and other marine species tend to choose the open sea, which actually places them at risk towards plastics and other debris.

The Taronga Wildlife Hospital already tracked three turtles after nursing them back from serious injuries.

One turtle reached Longueville in upper Sydney Harbour, while the others travelled to Lake Macquarie and north to the busy tourist destination of Port Stephens.

At present, researchers are still attempting to determine why younger turtles spend as much time as they do in the far busier and dirtier waters.

They, however, speculated that food sources could be the answer.

Researchers have stated that the green sea turtles do not start eating seagrass until they are big adult animals, noting that they are probably feeding on jellyfish.

Read Also: Population of Green Turtles Nesting in Cyprus Lagoon Has Increased Over the Last Few Years

Home in the Great Barrier Reef

Experts said that the green turtle is the most recognizable of all marine turtles and widely distributed throughout the world's tropical and subtropical waters.

They said that the large populations live, feed, and nest on the Great Barrier Reef, favoring the bays and protected shores near the coast and around islands.

The green turtle is one of the largest and the only herbivorous marine turtle - feeding almost exclusively on seagrass and algae.

Like other sea turtles, it migrates long distances between feeding grounds and nesting beaches, with females returning to the very same beach on which they were hatched to lay their eggs.

Studies have shown that female green turtles have been tracked across 2,600 kilometers during such a migration.

According to experts, producing the next generation of turtles is actually a lengthy process.

They said that green turtles take 30 to 50 years to reach sexual maturity, after which females will only nest every 5 to 8 years.

Although clutches may contain as many as 120 eggs, it has been estimated that as few as 1 in 1,000 hatchlings survive to adulthood.

Recent research has revealed that the northern Great Barrier Reef's green sea turtle offspring are born almost completely female, with males outnumbered by at least 116 to 1.

If this feminization trend continues, it will be detrimental to the future of the species.

Pollution - from farms, industrial and urban areas - is a major threat to the seagrass beds in coastal waters where green turtles live and feed.

Scientists said that with the help of Banrock Station Environment Trust, WWF-Australia and the Rivers to Reef to Turtles project partners are working to identify and measure the key pollutants in rivers, the Great Barrier Reef and in green turtles themselves.

This data will allow the public to better understand the sources and impacts of pollution on the Reef.

Related Article: Rare Green Sea Turtle Spotted Far From Home In California's San Joaquin River [VIDEO]
The latest report warned of the effects of warming on the emergence of deadly Vibrio bacteria that affect the population of sea sponges and other marine animals.

The problem of rising temperatures has been a major concern for experts and scientists. Hotter ocean temperatures can affect coral reef systems, marine animals and their foraging habitats.

In addition, it can cause longer migration for many animals to look for potential food. As a result, the mitigation of the warming trend is essential, and monitoring of affected marine life.

In the new report, researchers raised concerns over the emergence of deadly Vibrio bacteria. The increasing temperatures are favorable for the bacteria to thrive and infect other marine animals, including the tropical and subtropical corals.

The marine vibrio bacteria can be found in brackish and seawater. The bacterial disease can result in economic losses and deaths of marine animals. They are mostly present between May and October.

Warm-Stricken Sea Sponges

People can also get vibriosis by eating infected oysters and shellfish. It can result in skin infection. In the US, about 80,000 Americans get vibriosis every year.

In a research published in Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers discovered the impacts of the said bacteria on the dark stinging sponge (Sarcotragus foetidus).

According to reports, sponges play a crucial role in marine animals and their habitats, especially for the coral reef system. They helped with the water quality, water filtration and bacteria. While they can adapt to the changing temperatures

As a result, the protection of sea sponges is important as they struggle against rising temperatures. Vibrio bacteria were detected in the dark stinging sponge in the Aegean Sea.

The researchers from Spain and Turkey raised concerns over the health decline of the dark stinging sponges in the region. They discovered different three species of Vibrio bacteria:

V. gigantis

V. owensii

V. fortis

In addition, the shallow-water stony corals are likely affected by the bacteria in the Northern Aegean.

Also Read: Global Impact of Extreme Weather Events: Climate Change Can Intensify Frequent Hurricanes, Drought, Wildfires

The Role of Climate Change in Rising Temperatures

On the other hand, climate change, driven by human activities, is linked to the rising temperatures that affect many corals and other marine animals.

The state of species could be exacerbated due to the heat-loving bacteria.

The rising global temperatures can affect the coral polyps, impacting the algae formation. Corals can suffer from bleaching, causing more serious health decline.

In addition, climate change is also linked to extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, storms, cyclones, wildfires, heatwaves and prolonged droughts.

With El Nino in place, the forecast explained that temperatures can likely become hotter.

Related Article: Climate Change-Induced Drought Impacts Global Water Security, New Report Shows

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Ukrainian TV presenter Oleksii Sukhanov, who worked in Russia for a long time, said that he is against the expression "good Russians." Because, he says, there are no Russians who can become Ukrainians' own.

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Oleksii Sukhanov spoke about this in an interview with OBOZ.UA. In this context, the journalist mentioned Maksym Halkin and other artists who left Russia to protest the war in Ukraine.

"They can go out of their way to say that they are for Ukraine, bring tons of aid here - we should be grateful to them, but they are strangers," Sukhanov said. "We need to keep in mind that no matter how much good the Russians have done for Ukraine, they are strangers to the country. Because they did not get rid of their Russian passports. They may be against the war, but they are not against what is happening in Russia. And secondly, none of them has proved anything so far that they are able to defend anything. All they do is talk. We cannot look up to them under any circumstances. We need to realize that we can only trust ourselves. There is no better friend of Ukraine in the world than a conscious Ukrainian."

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"I don't believe in any possibility of the so-called Russia flourishing. I don't believe that this country can ever become civilized," the TV host added, "I don't believe in the effective power of Russian culture. I do not divide the representatives of this country into good and bad. For me, they are either opportunists or impotent - let them choose, there is no third option. I do not want to communicate with those who live there, whether they are relatives or just acquaintances. I have no one and nothing there."

Read the full interview with Oleksii Sukhanov on OBOZ.UA on Sunday, December 3.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Broadcom will lay off 1,267 VMware employees in January, the company said in a filing with the California Employment Development Department this week, made days after the $69 billion acquisition of VMware became final.

The first layoffs will come late in the month, and will affect workers at VMwares Palo Alto offices. Multiple reports detailed that the layoffs had long been feared among VMware workers, and that they were reflective of continued struggles at the pioneering virtualization company.

Its also standard practice for Broadcom to cut staff in the wake of acquisitions, as the company notably did after buying up CA Technologies, axing roughly 40% of that firms workers after completing an $18.9 billion takeover in 2018. A report from Bloomberg said that VMware had over 38,000 employees before the deal with Broadcom closed. The San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported the layoffs, said that an additional roughly 800 jobs are slated to be on the chopping block after the first round.

This will not result in closure of the entire facility [in Palo Alto], but will only impact certain employees selected for layoff. This planned action is expected to be permanent, wrote Broadcoms vice president of human resources, Jill Turner, in a notice filed with the CEDD. Affected employees do not have a right to displace or bump any other employee, and they will not be recalled to work.

Stephen Elliot, a group vice president at IDC, said that the layoffs are likely to be popular with VMware customers and partners, who may appreciate the sense of renewed focus at the company.

Sometimes as companies grow, they fund things that at the time might have been a pretty good idea, but as they mature, sometimes different priorities should be more of a focus, he said. Thats what Broadcoms bringing to the table.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: With three MoUs inked with ecosystem partners, launch of 37 products and solutions developed by startups and the unveiling of biotechnology policy and AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) policy, the Bengaluru Tech Summit concluded on Friday. It saw participation from 45 countries and conducted 83 sessions. IT Minister Priyank Kharge said as many as 4,773 delegates attended the summit, with total attendees touching 8,606.

With 553 exhibitors, over 50,000 people visited the exhibition. The minister said this year, Investor Startup Connect was organised and around 20 startups pitched their ideas in front of VCs from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The startups were from various sectors such as AI, Blockchain, Augmented Reality, MedTech, FinTech and 3D Printing.

Also, the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and the Department of Agriculture have announced a partnership with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) and launched Phase II of two of the CCAMP - KTech flagship innovation programs - Agri Grand Challenge II. This is mainly to encourage early and mid-stage startups. During BTS, the government signed MoUs with US-India Business Council, Team Switzerland/Swissnex, and between Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB) and the Association of Biotechnology LED Enterprises (ABLE).

IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge announces the accelerator programme

Kharge said, Indo Swiss Innovation Platform was initiated by the Swiss Network in India, to align India and Switzerland in three focus areas  Health, Sustainability, Digital Transformation.

The government conducted an Ambassadors/Consul Round Table, with ambassadors from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK participating, along with Consul Generals from Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The summit saw Global Innovation Alliance participation from 20 countries, and 115 speakers from Austria, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, Thailand and Germany.

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BENGALURU: With three MoUs inked with ecosystem partners, launch of 37 products and solutions developed by startups and the unveiling of biotechnology policy and AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) policy, the Bengaluru Tech Summit concluded on Friday. It saw participation from 45 countries and conducted 83 sessions. IT Minister Priyank Kharge said as many as 4,773 delegates attended the summit, with total attendees touching 8,606. With 553 exhibitors, over 50,000 people visited the exhibition. The minister said this year, Investor Startup Connect was organised and around 20 startups pitched their ideas in front of VCs from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The startups were from various sectors such as AI, Blockchain, Augmented Reality, MedTech, FinTech and 3D Printing. Also, the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and the Department of Agriculture have announced a partnership with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) and launched Phase II of two of the CCAMP - KTech flagship innovation programs - Agri Grand Challenge II. This is mainly to encourage early and mid-stage startups. During BTS, the government signed MoUs with US-India Business Council, Team Switzerland/Swissnex, and between Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB) and the Association of Biotechnology LED Enterprises (ABLE).googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge announces the accelerator programme Kharge said, Indo Swiss Innovation Platform was initiated by the Swiss Network in India, to align India and Switzerland in three focus areas  Health, Sustainability, Digital Transformation. The government conducted an Ambassadors/Consul Round Table, with ambassadors from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK participating, along with Consul Generals from Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The summit saw Global Innovation Alliance participation from 20 countries, and 115 speakers from Austria, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, Thailand and Germany. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Water stagnation and sewage overflow remain the all too familiar adversities befalling Chennai residents every monsoon season. For instance, residents of Rangarajapuram in Kodambakkam have been navigating through knee-deep stagnant water for the past two days. The situation is no different in Subramania Nagar, Aziz Nagar, Parangusapuram Street and Rangarajapuram main road in Kodambakkam.

The residents said the inundation of streets is further leading to power disruption. Rangarajapuram, being a low-lying area faces inundation every year. Rainwater from Mambalam and Kodambakkam flows down to our area. But since this is a low-lying area, the stormwater drains also dont serve its intended purpose, said Kiruba of Kodambakkam.

Houses in Arunthathiyar Nagar are flooded by sewage water and rain water | Express

The railways allegedly closed three culverts which were located on its land, and since then, the rainwater has held up in Rangarajapuram, said corporation officials. The civic body has been deploying high-power motors to pump out stagnant water from the area. Rainwater from Rangarajapuram gradually drains into the Adyar river. But, to expedite the draining process, especially given the heavy rain alert over the weekend, the corporation has been leaving no stone unturned to pump out water from low-lying areas to the drains located at higher elevations.

We have taken extra care to drain the stagnant water through the Trustpuram canal into Cooum river, G S Sameeran, Joint Commissioner (Works) with the corporation told TNIE. However, the residents bat for a permanent solution to the issue. Deploying high-power pumps and staff to drain out water should not become a routine affair. The corporation should renovate the drains so the structures become naturally capable of discharging rainwater, says Madan C from Rangarajapuram. Meanwhile, sewage mixing with rainwater is the major predicament in the low-lying areas of Arunthathiyar Nagar near Vyasarpadi. Several houses in Govindapuram, Veeraraghavan Street and Sengan Street in Arunthathiyar Nagar are inundated with sewage water.

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CHENNAI: Water stagnation and sewage overflow remain the all too familiar adversities befalling Chennai residents every monsoon season. For instance, residents of Rangarajapuram in Kodambakkam have been navigating through knee-deep stagnant water for the past two days. The situation is no different in Subramania Nagar, Aziz Nagar, Parangusapuram Street and Rangarajapuram main road in Kodambakkam. The residents said the inundation of streets is further leading to power disruption. Rangarajapuram, being a low-lying area faces inundation every year. Rainwater from Mambalam and Kodambakkam flows down to our area. But since this is a low-lying area, the stormwater drains also dont serve its intended purpose, said Kiruba of Kodambakkam. Houses in Arunthathiyar Nagar are flooded by sewage water and rain water | Express The railways allegedly closed three culverts which were located on its land, and since then, the rainwater has held up in Rangarajapuram, said corporation officials. The civic body has been deploying high-power motors to pump out stagnant water from the area. Rainwater from Rangarajapuram gradually drains into the Adyar river. But, to expedite the draining process, especially given the heavy rain alert over the weekend, the corporation has been leaving no stone unturned to pump out water from low-lying areas to the drains located at higher elevations.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); We have taken extra care to drain the stagnant water through the Trustpuram canal into Cooum river, G S Sameeran, Joint Commissioner (Works) with the corporation told TNIE. However, the residents bat for a permanent solution to the issue. Deploying high-power pumps and staff to drain out water should not become a routine affair. The corporation should renovate the drains so the structures become naturally capable of discharging rainwater, says Madan C from Rangarajapuram. Meanwhile, sewage mixing with rainwater is the major predicament in the low-lying areas of Arunthathiyar Nagar near Vyasarpadi. Several houses in Govindapuram, Veeraraghavan Street and Sengan Street in Arunthathiyar Nagar are inundated with sewage water. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Rains throw life out of gear every monsoon but Chennai residents owe it to a posse of unsung heroes to stay afloat. Every year during monsoon, the one section of people who are often overlooked or under-appreciated are the conservancy and relief workers who work round the clock to keep the city free of stench and dirt. TNIE spoke to the foot soldiers of monsoon relief operations in Chennai to understand the challenges faced by them.

(Photo | P Jawahar)

Sanitation workers are involved in waste collection and disposal while relief workers are involved in clearing the storm-water drains and silt catchpits. The corporation is implementing solid waste management in two ways: one through contractual staff employed by two outsourcing agencies in several zones and through National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) workers in some zones. Though the nature of their jobs does not offer much, we received diverse responses from both.

A sanitation worker with the corporation under the NULM in Ambattur spoke to TNIE on condition of anonymity, We usually reach the workplace by 6 am and begin work by 6.30 after roll call. The toil continues till 2 pm. During monsoon, however, there is no shift timing, as we should be on the field. Due to the shortage of staff, our work has doubled. The safety gear like the raincoats provided to us wont last even for three months. After which we had to spend from our pocket to buy safety gear.

Lack of accessible toilets is another major concern for sanitation workers during monsoon. While many zones do not have this problem, it is an issue in some divisions across zones. A sanitation worker from Ambattur zone said, While it rains, we will have to work nonstop and our division office does not even have a proper toilet. We are forced to use public toilets which are in squalor. Shortage of conservancy staff and workload of existing workers also echoed in the previous corporation meeting as raised by many councillors from non-privatised zones.

(For the full story, visit www.newindianexpress.com)

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CHENNAI: Rains throw life out of gear every monsoon but Chennai residents owe it to a posse of unsung heroes to stay afloat. Every year during monsoon, the one section of people who are often overlooked or under-appreciated are the conservancy and relief workers who work round the clock to keep the city free of stench and dirt. TNIE spoke to the foot soldiers of monsoon relief operations in Chennai to understand the challenges faced by them. (Photo | P Jawahar) Sanitation workers are involved in waste collection and disposal while relief workers are involved in clearing the storm-water drains and silt catchpits. The corporation is implementing solid waste management in two ways: one through contractual staff employed by two outsourcing agencies in several zones and through National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) workers in some zones. Though the nature of their jobs does not offer much, we received diverse responses from both. A sanitation worker with the corporation under the NULM in Ambattur spoke to TNIE on condition of anonymity, We usually reach the workplace by 6 am and begin work by 6.30 after roll call. The toil continues till 2 pm. During monsoon, however, there is no shift timing, as we should be on the field. Due to the shortage of staff, our work has doubled. The safety gear like the raincoats provided to us wont last even for three months. After which we had to spend from our pocket to buy safety gear.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Lack of accessible toilets is another major concern for sanitation workers during monsoon. While many zones do not have this problem, it is an issue in some divisions across zones. A sanitation worker from Ambattur zone said, While it rains, we will have to work nonstop and our division office does not even have a proper toilet. We are forced to use public toilets which are in squalor. Shortage of conservancy staff and workload of existing workers also echoed in the previous corporation meeting as raised by many councillors from non-privatised zones. (For the full story, visit www.newindianexpress.com) Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

CHANDIGARH: As many as 18 students of a government school in Punjab's Sangrur district were rushed to a hospital as they complained of stomach ache and vomiting after having a meal in the hostel mess, officials said on Saturday.

Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the food contractor has been arrested and an inquiry by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been ordered into the matter.

Reached Sangrur, met with unwell students at Civil Hospital Sangrur, students are fine now & recovering fast. Mostly students are complaining of anxiety.



Contractors license has been cancelled, also he along with mess incharge has been arrested under Sec 307 IPC.



Concerned pic.twitter.com/1aM8mw2Klt December 2, 2023

Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal on Saturday said 18 students were brought to the civil hospital, of which 14 have been discharged. "Four remain admitted," Jorwal said while speaking to reporters in Sangrur.

He further said 36 more students were brought to the civil hospital on Saturday and all of them were stable. They did not report any loose motion or vomiting at the hospital, but they had complained of vomiting symptoms before being brought here.

The DC said an inquiry committee under the chairmanship of the SDM has been formed to probe the matter.

Jorwal said the food samples have been collected from the school, adding that stool and blood samples of the affected students have also been obtained.

Students told reporters that they had earlier complained about the food quality to the school authorities. Some angry parents who reached the school after they learned about the incident slammed the school authorities over their wards falling sick.

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CHANDIGARH: As many as 18 students of a government school in Punjab's Sangrur district were rushed to a hospital as they complained of stomach ache and vomiting after having a meal in the hostel mess, officials said on Saturday. Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the food contractor has been arrested and an inquiry by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been ordered into the matter. Reached Sangrur, met with unwell students at Civil Hospital Sangrur, students are fine now & recovering fast. Mostly students are complaining of anxiety. Contractors license has been cancelled, also he along with mess incharge has been arrested under Sec 307 IPC. Concerned pic.twitter.com/1aM8mw2Kltgoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });  Harjot Singh Bains (@harjotbains) December 2, 2023 Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal on Saturday said 18 students were brought to the civil hospital, of which 14 have been discharged. "Four remain admitted," Jorwal said while speaking to reporters in Sangrur. He further said 36 more students were brought to the civil hospital on Saturday and all of them were stable. They did not report any loose motion or vomiting at the hospital, but they had complained of vomiting symptoms before being brought here. The DC said an inquiry committee under the chairmanship of the SDM has been formed to probe the matter. Jorwal said the food samples have been collected from the school, adding that stool and blood samples of the affected students have also been obtained. Students told reporters that they had earlier complained about the food quality to the school authorities. Some angry parents who reached the school after they learned about the incident slammed the school authorities over their wards falling sick. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

MELBOURNE: In a case of religious fanaticism, three Indian-origin men in New Zealand have been sentenced for the attempted murder of a popular Auckland-based Sikh radio host who was vocal against the ideology of Khalistan.

The attack occurred on December 23, 2020, when Harnek Singh was ambushed by a group of religious extremists in his driveway.

He suffered over 40 stab wounds and required more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries to recover, the Australia Today website reported.

Sukhpreet Singh, 44-year-old, was found guilty of being an accessory, and Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27-year-old, pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

The third man, a 48-year-old Auckland resident, has been given one of the longest possible prison sentences for the crime, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

During a hearing on November 28, a judge noted that community protection and a strong message of deterrence were both necessary for the highly unusual case, it reported.

The third defendant, who continues to have interim name suppression, was not present when the attack occurred.

The court was told that he harboured a years-long resentment against Harnek as he was vocal against Khalistan, Australia Today reported.

He planned the "hit" and used his charismatic influence over others to recruit henchmen to do his bidding, the judge said.

"It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism," Woolford said of the motivation for the attack.

"Violence of this kind is committed to what is perceived as the furtherance of the greater good..." Sentencing in this context requires a different approach.

The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others.

A sentence of 13-and-a-half years was imposed, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before he can begin applying for parole, the Herald reported.

The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 14 years.

The only reason the defendant did not receive the full maximum sentence was that he deserved a six-month credit for the time he spent on electronically monitored bail while awaiting his lengthy trial in September and October, the judge said.

Harnek did not attend the hearing but wrote a victim impact statement that was read aloud by prosecutors.

"My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down," he said.

Addressing the defendants directly, he said: "You came to kill me....You tried to silence me.

You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views.

But you failed....I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have."

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MELBOURNE: In a case of religious fanaticism, three Indian-origin men in New Zealand have been sentenced for the attempted murder of a popular Auckland-based Sikh radio host who was vocal against the ideology of Khalistan. The attack occurred on December 23, 2020, when Harnek Singh was ambushed by a group of religious extremists in his driveway. He suffered over 40 stab wounds and required more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries to recover, the Australia Today website reported.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Sukhpreet Singh, 44-year-old, was found guilty of being an accessory, and Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27-year-old, pleaded guilty to attempted murder. The third man, a 48-year-old Auckland resident, has been given one of the longest possible prison sentences for the crime, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported. During a hearing on November 28, a judge noted that community protection and a strong message of deterrence were both necessary for the highly unusual case, it reported. The third defendant, who continues to have interim name suppression, was not present when the attack occurred. The court was told that he harboured a years-long resentment against Harnek as he was vocal against Khalistan, Australia Today reported. He planned the "hit" and used his charismatic influence over others to recruit henchmen to do his bidding, the judge said. "It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism," Woolford said of the motivation for the attack. "Violence of this kind is committed to what is perceived as the furtherance of the greater good..." Sentencing in this context requires a different approach. The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others. A sentence of 13-and-a-half years was imposed, with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before he can begin applying for parole, the Herald reported. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 14 years. The only reason the defendant did not receive the full maximum sentence was that he deserved a six-month credit for the time he spent on electronically monitored bail while awaiting his lengthy trial in September and October, the judge said. Harnek did not attend the hearing but wrote a victim impact statement that was read aloud by prosecutors. "My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down," he said. Addressing the defendants directly, he said: "You came to kill me....You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed....I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have." Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

BHOPAL: The toxic gas leak from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory on the chilly night of December 2 not only killed thousands of people in Bhopal but continues to give nightmares to the survivors 39 years since the tragedy.

At least 3,787 people were killed and more than five lakh were affected physically after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.

"I shudder in fear and tremble on December 2 nights. I saw people collapsing dead on that chilly night," Mahendrajeet Singh (79), a gas victim and retired chief reservation superintendent of railways, told PTI on Saturday.

Recalling the fateful night, Singh said, "My family was asleep around 2 am when shouts and cries of people in the railway colony some distance from the Union Carbide factory woke us up. We ran out of the house and fled on a scooter and on foot to escape the gas emanating from the killer factory."

His family spent the night at a hotel 4 km from their house, said Singh, the president of All India Retired Railwaymen Federation Western Zone.

READ MORE | Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Over 38 years later

Some years later, Singh lost his mother and younger brother who were exposed to toxic gas.

"Three days after the gas leak, I noticed the leaves of a peepal tree near our house had fallen and it appeared dead and lifeless," he said, adding that the effect of the toxic gas on trees and plants was noticed in other parts of the city as well.

"After the tragedy, there were rumours that the remaining toxic gas would be released from the factory. In light of such unconfirmed reports, we sought refuge in the neighbouring Hoshangabad district," Singh said.

The former railwayman said he had lost several of his colleagues in the tragedy and those who survived, were living with ailments, especially breathing problems.

READ MORE | Governments failed to bring culprits of Bhopal gas tragedy to justice even after 37 years, say survivors

Rambali Prasad Verma (83), a retired assistant station master, said he was lucky to survive the disaster.

"My duty at the railway cabin located close to the boundary wall of the Union Carbide factory ended at 10 pm on the night of December 2," he recounted.

Around midnight, when the gas leaked from the factory, Verma was at his house in the railway colony near the railway station.

"We ran helter-skelter to escape the poisonous gas and found refuge in an Army vehicle at a far-off place," he said.

Verma and his family returned home at daybreak but again left their home a few hours later as there were rumours that the remaining toxic gas would be released around 11 am on December 3.

After some days, Verma's family went to Indore and returned when things settled down.

"When I think of that chilly night, I start shivering. I have breathing problems and asthma as I was exposed to the gas," the octogenarian said.

READ MORE | INTERVIEW: That night in Bhopal

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BHOPAL: The toxic gas leak from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory on the chilly night of December 2 not only killed thousands of people in Bhopal but continues to give nightmares to the survivors 39 years since the tragedy. At least 3,787 people were killed and more than five lakh were affected physically after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984. "I shudder in fear and tremble on December 2 nights. I saw people collapsing dead on that chilly night," Mahendrajeet Singh (79), a gas victim and retired chief reservation superintendent of railways, told PTI on Saturday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Recalling the fateful night, Singh said, "My family was asleep around 2 am when shouts and cries of people in the railway colony some distance from the Union Carbide factory woke us up. We ran out of the house and fled on a scooter and on foot to escape the gas emanating from the killer factory." His family spent the night at a hotel 4 km from their house, said Singh, the president of All India Retired Railwaymen Federation Western Zone. READ MORE | Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Over 38 years later Some years later, Singh lost his mother and younger brother who were exposed to toxic gas. "Three days after the gas leak, I noticed the leaves of a peepal tree near our house had fallen and it appeared dead and lifeless," he said, adding that the effect of the toxic gas on trees and plants was noticed in other parts of the city as well. "After the tragedy, there were rumours that the remaining toxic gas would be released from the factory. In light of such unconfirmed reports, we sought refuge in the neighbouring Hoshangabad district," Singh said. The former railwayman said he had lost several of his colleagues in the tragedy and those who survived, were living with ailments, especially breathing problems. READ MORE | Governments failed to bring culprits of Bhopal gas tragedy to justice even after 37 years, say survivors Rambali Prasad Verma (83), a retired assistant station master, said he was lucky to survive the disaster. "My duty at the railway cabin located close to the boundary wall of the Union Carbide factory ended at 10 pm on the night of December 2," he recounted. Around midnight, when the gas leaked from the factory, Verma was at his house in the railway colony near the railway station. "We ran helter-skelter to escape the poisonous gas and found refuge in an Army vehicle at a far-off place," he said. Verma and his family returned home at daybreak but again left their home a few hours later as there were rumours that the remaining toxic gas would be released around 11 am on December 3. After some days, Verma's family went to Indore and returned when things settled down. "When I think of that chilly night, I start shivering. I have breathing problems and asthma as I was exposed to the gas," the octogenarian said. READ MORE | INTERVIEW: That night in Bhopal Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Parvez Sultan By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Friday flagged nine YouTube channels for spreading fake news, attributing false derogatory statements to top constitutional functionaries and making misleading claims about the Indian Army.

Two of them  Aapke Guruji and Bajrang Education have significantly high numbers of subscribers, 34 lakh and 24 lakh respectively. Put together, the nine channels on the popular online video sharing platform have 83 lakh subscribers.

The fact-checking division of the PIB has also released multiple threads of X pertaining to the false information being spread by the channels. YouTube channels exposed by PIB Fack Check Unit misattributed derogatory statements to persons occupying constitutional positions, including Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India, and Chief Election Commissioner.

Some channels falsely claimed imposition of Presidents rule in certain states, ban on electronic voting machines, and resignation or death of ministers. Fake news includes ban on `200 and `500 currency notes, closures of banks and false information related to the schemes and policies of the Government of India, said officials. False claims also relate to natural disasters and deaths of, deployment of armed forces and closure of schools.

The FCU in operation since November 2019 has been calling out digital channels and users on social media intermediaries peddling fake news content. Action taken by FCU follows blocking of YouTube channels and social media handles. Officials said monetisation of fake news on YouTube is a serious concern as the perpetrators use clickbait or sensational false thumbnails to drive traffic.

The names and content being broadcast by them give an impression that the channels are based in India. The officials are, however, not certain. Since December 2022, the Press Information Bureau has exposed 26 YouTube channels, which regularly publish false information on YouTube. Additionally over 120 YouTube channels were blocked by the Centre under the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The ministry has been issuing directions to block social media handles and digital channels, which were accused of spreading fake information intended to create disorder and spread misinformation on subjects sensitive from the perspective of national security, Indias foreign relations, and public order, said ministry officials.

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NEW DELHI: The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Friday flagged nine YouTube channels for spreading fake news, attributing false derogatory statements to top constitutional functionaries and making misleading claims about the Indian Army. Two of them  Aapke Guruji and Bajrang Education have significantly high numbers of subscribers, 34 lakh and 24 lakh respectively. Put together, the nine channels on the popular online video sharing platform have 83 lakh subscribers. The fact-checking division of the PIB has also released multiple threads of X pertaining to the false information being spread by the channels. YouTube channels exposed by PIB Fack Check Unit misattributed derogatory statements to persons occupying constitutional positions, including Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India, and Chief Election Commissioner.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Some channels falsely claimed imposition of Presidents rule in certain states, ban on electronic voting machines, and resignation or death of ministers. Fake news includes ban on `200 and `500 currency notes, closures of banks and false information related to the schemes and policies of the Government of India, said officials. False claims also relate to natural disasters and deaths of, deployment of armed forces and closure of schools. The FCU in operation since November 2019 has been calling out digital channels and users on social media intermediaries peddling fake news content. Action taken by FCU follows blocking of YouTube channels and social media handles. Officials said monetisation of fake news on YouTube is a serious concern as the perpetrators use clickbait or sensational false thumbnails to drive traffic. The names and content being broadcast by them give an impression that the channels are based in India. The officials are, however, not certain. Since December 2022, the Press Information Bureau has exposed 26 YouTube channels, which regularly publish false information on YouTube. Additionally over 120 YouTube channels were blocked by the Centre under the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The ministry has been issuing directions to block social media handles and digital channels, which were accused of spreading fake information intended to create disorder and spread misinformation on subjects sensitive from the perspective of national security, Indias foreign relations, and public order, said ministry officials. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Stanley Tucci, an American actor, winner of prestigious awards and star of the cult movie The Devil Wears Prada, has expressed his support for Ukraine in a touching way. The celebrity visited Moldova as part of a meeting with Ukrainian refugees, with whom he learned to cook borscht.

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At home, he decided to show the recipe to his 4 million Instagram audience. Some of the actor's followers suggested that the dish was typical of the peoples of Poland or Russia, but the American clearly called borsch Ukrainian, and the comments mentioned UNESCO's decision to recognize it as an intangible heritage of Ukraine.

"I recently returned from Moldova. I was there with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to see many refugees from Ukraine. One of the things I did there was cooking. Ukrainian women taught me how to make borscht, which I love. So I will show you this recipe as a sign of respect for them," Tucci said.

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The actor added that he would try to cook the dish as deliciously as the Ukrainian women did for him. The American showed his subscribers how he cooked it step by step.

By the way, the star failed to come close to the taste of the original dish. Last week he tried, but failed, and this time the borscht with sour cream did not taste as good as Tucci had tasted in Moldova.

The comments suggested that the actor did not put enough potatoes, meat, or other ingredients, so the actor promised to try again.

However, Ukrainians still thanked the artist for his efforts and popularization of Ukrainian cuisine, and chef Yevhen Klopotenko called Tucci's borscht "excellent."

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There were also comments from Russians who cannot accept the fact that the world has recognized borsch as a Ukrainian dish. Some even suggested that borscht is "Polish," but this was denied by the Poles themselves.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote about how the actors of The Devil Wears Prada have changed in 15 years. The movie was once called the "most glossy" picture of modern cinema.

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan exit poll trends have further intensified the confusion around the verdict on December 3. With most polls predicting a tight race between the Congress and the BJP, hectic political parleys have begun in the state. At the centre of the gathering storm is the prospect of a slim majority for either rival, the Congress and BJP.

Political circles are abuzz that the uncertainty over reaching the majority mark of 100 might force the two sides to turn their gaze towards the 15-20 rebels, independents and other smaller party candidates who may get elected. For instance in the Chittorgarh seat, Chandrabhan Singh Akiya, a BJP rebel who was a sitting MLA twice but was denied the ticket, is now said to be well placed in the contest. Similarly is the case in Barmer districts Shiv constituency.

Also crucial will be smaller parties like Hanuman Beniwals Rashtriya Loktantrik Party which could get a handful of seats in the Jat belt. Similarly in the tribal belt of south Rajasthan, Bhartiya Aadivasi Party (BAP) is expected to win a few seats. Similarly, in east Rajasthan, Mayawatis BSP is expecting an opportunity similar to the one in the previous elections when half a dozen party MLAs went with the Gahlot-led Congress government.

BAPsenior leader in southern Rajasthan Rajkumar Raut says exit polls have shown that the two sides miscalculated. I think our party will win around 10 seats and we will be the king-makers in Rajasthan, said Raut. For the Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gahlot and state party chief Govind Singh Dotasra are believed to be reaching out to all non-Congress entities. From the BJP, former CM Vasundhara Raje is said to be quietly contacting those who were earlier regarded as her loyalists and are now said to be well-placed to win.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan exit poll trends have further intensified the confusion around the verdict on December 3. With most polls predicting a tight race between the Congress and the BJP, hectic political parleys have begun in the state. At the centre of the gathering storm is the prospect of a slim majority for either rival, the Congress and BJP. Political circles are abuzz that the uncertainty over reaching the majority mark of 100 might force the two sides to turn their gaze towards the 15-20 rebels, independents and other smaller party candidates who may get elected. For instance in the Chittorgarh seat, Chandrabhan Singh Akiya, a BJP rebel who was a sitting MLA twice but was denied the ticket, is now said to be well placed in the contest. Similarly is the case in Barmer districts Shiv constituency. Also crucial will be smaller parties like Hanuman Beniwals Rashtriya Loktantrik Party which could get a handful of seats in the Jat belt. Similarly in the tribal belt of south Rajasthan, Bhartiya Aadivasi Party (BAP) is expected to win a few seats. Similarly, in east Rajasthan, Mayawatis BSP is expecting an opportunity similar to the one in the previous elections when half a dozen party MLAs went with the Gahlot-led Congress government.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); BAPsenior leader in southern Rajasthan Rajkumar Raut says exit polls have shown that the two sides miscalculated. I think our party will win around 10 seats and we will be the king-makers in Rajasthan, said Raut. For the Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gahlot and state party chief Govind Singh Dotasra are believed to be reaching out to all non-Congress entities. From the BJP, former CM Vasundhara Raje is said to be quietly contacting those who were earlier regarded as her loyalists and are now said to be well-placed to win. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: After wider deliberations, India has agreed to support the adoption of Interpols

Vision-2023. New Delhi will also back creation of the Interpol Future Council. This was conveyed by a delegation comprising five officials of the CBI and the NIA at the annual Interpol General Assembly held in Vienna.

The Interpol General Assembly is held as the largest gathering of law enforcement officials every year to deliberate upon various issues related to security and investigations. The India delegation from India was led by CBI Director Praveen Sood and NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta. Official sources in the CBI said the Indian delegation held discussions with counterparts from multiple countries for enhanced coordination via Interpol channels for concerted action to combat organised crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, online radicalisation, cyber enabled financial crimes, etc to prevent these crimes on a real-time basis.

At this premier annul meet of Interpol, India made its stand clear to support the Interpols Vision 2023 and creation of Interpol Future Council also. The Indian delegation also emphasised upon the need to deny any safe havens for crime, criminals and proceeds of crimes, said a source in CBI. The Indian delegation has held detailed discussions on matters of police cooperation with delegations of Austria, UAE, USA, UK, Nepal, Brazil, Australia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Singapore and Zambia, a CBI statement said.

The Indian delegation also held discussion with senior officials of Interpol, Europol, Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Organization and US Air Force Office of Special Investigations on strengthening arrangements for cooperation. In 2022, India hosted the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi and it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It received participation from 168 countries.

Historic resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly relating to strengthening collaborative response to disrupt financial crime and corruption; combating menace of online child sexual exploitation and for promoting diversity within Interpol. The first ever global crime trend report was released by Interpol in its New Delhi session. It had also made its presence in Metaverse.

PM Modi had also handed the Interpol flag to Austria at the close of 90th Interpol General Assembly on October 21. In 2013, India hosted the Interpol young global police leaders programme.

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NEW DELHI: After wider deliberations, India has agreed to support the adoption of Interpols Vision-2023. New Delhi will also back creation of the Interpol Future Council. This was conveyed by a delegation comprising five officials of the CBI and the NIA at the annual Interpol General Assembly held in Vienna. The Interpol General Assembly is held as the largest gathering of law enforcement officials every year to deliberate upon various issues related to security and investigations. The India delegation from India was led by CBI Director Praveen Sood and NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta. Official sources in the CBI said the Indian delegation held discussions with counterparts from multiple countries for enhanced coordination via Interpol channels for concerted action to combat organised crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, online radicalisation, cyber enabled financial crimes, etc to prevent these crimes on a real-time basis. At this premier annul meet of Interpol, India made its stand clear to support the Interpols Vision 2023 and creation of Interpol Future Council also. The Indian delegation also emphasised upon the need to deny any safe havens for crime, criminals and proceeds of crimes, said a source in CBI. The Indian delegation has held detailed discussions on matters of police cooperation with delegations of Austria, UAE, USA, UK, Nepal, Brazil, Australia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Singapore and Zambia, a CBI statement said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Indian delegation also held discussion with senior officials of Interpol, Europol, Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Organization and US Air Force Office of Special Investigations on strengthening arrangements for cooperation. In 2022, India hosted the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi and it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It received participation from 168 countries. Historic resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly relating to strengthening collaborative response to disrupt financial crime and corruption; combating menace of online child sexual exploitation and for promoting diversity within Interpol. The first ever global crime trend report was released by Interpol in its New Delhi session. It had also made its presence in Metaverse. PM Modi had also handed the Interpol flag to Austria at the close of 90th Interpol General Assembly on October 21. In 2013, India hosted the Interpol young global police leaders programme. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

Arif Mohammed Khan responds to a range of questions about his conflict with the Left Front government, its priorities and the states economic crisis. He also speaks about his equation with the chief ninister and as well as issues concerning his conscience.

Excerpts:

Shahid Faridi: You once quoted from Maulana Azads 1946 interview saying that the worst thing a person can do to himself is suppress the voice of his conscience. How do you negotiate the potential conflict between your duties as a governor and the voice of your conscience?

There would have been no controversy if I had ignored my conscience. The very fact that people ask me these questions is because I dont follow the general practice. Conscience means I have taken an oath that I shall preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of India and shall serve the interest of the people of Kerala to the best of my ability. This is the main source of guidance. I do not want to arrogate to myself that I shall decide what is right or wrong.

Prabhu Chawla: The Kerala CM also takes oath There will always be a conflict

No. Here, I will go by the wisdom of the fathers of our Constitution. India, historically, has been politically fragmented. It was culturally and spiritually united as one entity.

Look at the debate of the Constituent Assembly  what has been said and why this office came into existence. They were of the view that we have these laws you can change in a days time. But, to change the habits and attitudes, it requires a long time. We are so full of diversity. Traditionally, we have viewed diversity as a great source to strengthen our unity. Indian culture has always believed in unity, and not uniformity. But, because we have been politically fragmented, therefore, laws have been changed, the Constitution has been changed. But the mindset, which represents those old tendencies, still exists in society.

The Governors role is not to run the administration but to ensure that administration is run in a manner which strengthens the unity of the country.

Shahid Faridi: We see a lot of conflict between you and the state government; there are many bills, which you have not cleared, hampering administration.

In the last four years, you give me one instance where I have tried to run the administration or even interfered anywhere, and I will not take even a minute to put in my papers. There are issues I have raised about the bill on university.

Shahid Faridi: A state government does have the power to legislate on how the universities function

When the UGC came into existence and it framed certain regulations, the honorable Supreme Court said that a state government has every right to pass a law, but the law cannot conflict with the UGC regulations. In case of a conflict, the UGC rules shall prevail.

Shahid Faridi: Are you saying there is a conflict?

The state government is going beyond its jurisdiction. The UGC has framed the regulations keeping in mind the accepted principle that vice-chancellor/governor shall be ex offico chancellor of universities. What the state government wants is to appoint the chancellor themselves, removing the governor from the framework.

Despite a constitutional directive that the chief minister must be in touch with the governor on a regular basis, he has not come even once to the Raj Bhavan to brief me on any subject. I have written to the President that when the CM is on foreign tours, I do not know whom to contact.

Prabhu Chawla: Does he send the cabinet minutes to you?

That is a totally different thing. He has himself come several times. But why did he come? To discuss some appointments in his home district, Kannur. I told him you are an elected CM and your wishes cannot be ignored, particularly in Kannur. I told him that let the process be completed and then when the final three names come, I will have consultation. But what did was send his legal advisor with a note saying you already promised to the CM that you would accommodate him in the appointment of the Kannur university.

Prabhu Chawla: He gave it in writing

Yes. He hands over the papers to me saying we have consulted the advocate general and there will be no illegality. I take the paper and say there is no signature. Why should I assume that this has been given by the advocate general? He says give us a little more time. And then comes a letter from the education minister who also happens to be the pro-chancellor of the universities with a duly signed opinion of the advocate general. I was clear in my mind that what they were asking me to do is illegal.

But my problem was that even if I am facing some legal dilemma, I will have to go to the advocate general. So reluctantly, I made it clear that this was wrong. But that very day I wrote a letter to the CM. I said I have done it but in my opinion it is illegal. I told him since you are again going to pressure me into doing something like this, my request to you is to make some alternative arrangement - I do not want to continue as chancellor.

The problem in Kerala is there is no industry. All the prosperity of Kerala is because it is rich in human resources and a large number of bright Keralites. They leave Kerala after 10+2. Go to any national institution, the number of Kerala students is disproportionately high. Also, Keralites are 3% of the population of the country, but the state contributes 30% of the national remittances.

Keralas major source of revenue is liquor and lottery. The Left government is running lottery. Who are they fleecing? The poor. Why? Because they dont have money even to pay the salaries of their employees.

Prabhu Chawla: So, you are saying that they are mismanaging the state...

I wont say its mismanaged, but its priorities are. Sometimes you feel scared.

Prabhu Chawla: You mean the priorities are scary?

Tell me something: all the time you are announcing schemes involving lots of expenditure. Without creating wealth, you want to distribute wealth. How long will that survive?

Prabhu Chawla: Are they headed towards bankruptcy?

They have already submitted an affidavit before the high court saying they are facing a severe economic crisis.

Shahid Faridi: The state government has been complaining about your interference.?

They (the state government) have not come out with any instance of interference. It is my statutory duty to protect the autonomy of universities, which practically means to ensure that there is no outside interference. That is the area of conflict. Here, in the university, you can get an appointment only if you belong to the party cadre.

Shahid Faridi: Why are you not clearing the bill sent to you by the government?

One bill, for instance, pertains to the Lokayukta At the Lokayukta Day function in Trivandrum recently, a Supreme Court judge praised the Kerala Lokayukta bill and said this law must not be diluted. But they want to become judges in their own cause, all powers going to the CM

Paramita Ghosh: Is it not mandatory for you to clear the bill if the state government sends one back to you for second time?

My understanding is that it is not mandatory for the governor. At no stage I have said that I will not clear the bills. The only thing on which I have insisted is about my questions. I ask them to brief me about my queries. The CM sends ministers. They come with his letter. When I seek explanations of points mentioned in those letters, they say how can we explain a letter which has been written by the CM. Then I ask them to send the CM to brief me.

During the Kannur episode, I wrote to the CM offering to relinquish the post of chancellor. His reply came, no, you will continue as chancellor. Three months later, what happened? A vacancy in Kerala University was about to arise. We start the process of selection three months before the vacancy. So the finance minister came to me and this has been the practice earlier.

The Supreme Court has said that if there is a presence of a non-academic person in the selection committee, the whole process becomes vitiated.

There is another interesting story here. Whenever a minister came to me, he was accompanied by two or three people. I was informed that none of them is an official. Every minister comes accompanied by a private secretary. I asked my secretary to write a letter to the chief secretary and circulate it so no ministers personal staff would come to the Raj Bhavan.

Despite that, Raj Bhavan received a call from the CMO. The CM told me that his OSD is coming. I said I refuse to receive your OSD; if you want to come, you are most welcome.

Prabhu Chawla: You said this to the Chief Minister?

I said if you want to come, you are most welcome. If you want to send your chief secretary, most welcome. But I refuse to deal with the personal staff of the CM or minister. And then I was told that in more than 50% cases the private secretary is senior to the minister in the party hierarchy and it is the private secretary who is running the ministry. Kerala is the only state government where every minister has the right to appoint 25 people as personal staff. And these personal staff become entitle to life-long pension after serving for two years.

Prabhu Chawla: They get pension?

Yes. Within two years. After two years, the whole group resigns. Another set comes in. So every minister produces 50 full-time party workers who are being paid salary by the government from the public exchequer.

Shahid Faridi: Was this law to pay pension to people who have worked for two years with a minister or in the ministry brought in by this government?

No. It was brought many years back. It was initially brought by the UDF. But they improved upon it by cutting short the period required to two years. Earlier it was five years. Sometimes the government goes in for re-election before completing five years, so they have kept the pension entitlement period at two years.

Preetha Nair: You said Kerala lags in many sectors, but NITI Aayog figures say something else.

I have only pointed out what the government has said in the high court. As a society we are surviving because our people are very hard working.

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Arif Mohammed Khan responds to a range of questions about his conflict with the Left Front government, its priorities and the states economic crisis. He also speaks about his equation with the chief ninister and as well as issues concerning his conscience. Excerpts: Shahid Faridi: You once quoted from Maulana Azads 1946 interview saying that the worst thing a person can do to himself is suppress the voice of his conscience. How do you negotiate the potential conflict between your duties as a governor and the voice of your conscience?googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); There would have been no controversy if I had ignored my conscience. The very fact that people ask me these questions is because I dont follow the general practice. Conscience means I have taken an oath that I shall preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of India and shall serve the interest of the people of Kerala to the best of my ability. This is the main source of guidance. I do not want to arrogate to myself that I shall decide what is right or wrong. Prabhu Chawla: The Kerala CM also takes oath There will always be a conflict No. Here, I will go by the wisdom of the fathers of our Constitution. India, historically, has been politically fragmented. It was culturally and spiritually united as one entity. Look at the debate of the Constituent Assembly  what has been said and why this office came into existence. They were of the view that we have these laws you can change in a days time. But, to change the habits and attitudes, it requires a long time. We are so full of diversity. Traditionally, we have viewed diversity as a great source to strengthen our unity. Indian culture has always believed in unity, and not uniformity. But, because we have been politically fragmented, therefore, laws have been changed, the Constitution has been changed. But the mindset, which represents those old tendencies, still exists in society. The Governors role is not to run the administration but to ensure that administration is run in a manner which strengthens the unity of the country. Shahid Faridi: We see a lot of conflict between you and the state government; there are many bills, which you have not cleared, hampering administration. In the last four years, you give me one instance where I have tried to run the administration or even interfered anywhere, and I will not take even a minute to put in my papers. There are issues I have raised about the bill on university. Shahid Faridi: A state government does have the power to legislate on how the universities function When the UGC came into existence and it framed certain regulations, the honorable Supreme Court said that a state government has every right to pass a law, but the law cannot conflict with the UGC regulations. In case of a conflict, the UGC rules shall prevail. Shahid Faridi: Are you saying there is a conflict? The state government is going beyond its jurisdiction. The UGC has framed the regulations keeping in mind the accepted principle that vice-chancellor/governor shall be ex offico chancellor of universities. What the state government wants is to appoint the chancellor themselves, removing the governor from the framework. Despite a constitutional directive that the chief minister must be in touch with the governor on a regular basis, he has not come even once to the Raj Bhavan to brief me on any subject. I have written to the President that when the CM is on foreign tours, I do not know whom to contact. Prabhu Chawla: Does he send the cabinet minutes to you? That is a totally different thing. He has himself come several times. But why did he come? To discuss some appointments in his home district, Kannur. I told him you are an elected CM and your wishes cannot be ignored, particularly in Kannur. I told him that let the process be completed and then when the final three names come, I will have consultation. But what did was send his legal advisor with a note saying you already promised to the CM that you would accommodate him in the appointment of the Kannur university. Prabhu Chawla: He gave it in writing Yes. He hands over the papers to me saying we have consulted the advocate general and there will be no illegality. I take the paper and say there is no signature. Why should I assume that this has been given by the advocate general? He says give us a little more time. And then comes a letter from the education minister who also happens to be the pro-chancellor of the universities with a duly signed opinion of the advocate general. I was clear in my mind that what they were asking me to do is illegal. But my problem was that even if I am facing some legal dilemma, I will have to go to the advocate general. So reluctantly, I made it clear that this was wrong. But that very day I wrote a letter to the CM. I said I have done it but in my opinion it is illegal. I told him since you are again going to pressure me into doing something like this, my request to you is to make some alternative arrangement - I do not want to continue as chancellor. The problem in Kerala is there is no industry. All the prosperity of Kerala is because it is rich in human resources and a large number of bright Keralites. They leave Kerala after 10+2. Go to any national institution, the number of Kerala students is disproportionately high. Also, Keralites are 3% of the population of the country, but the state contributes 30% of the national remittances. Keralas major source of revenue is liquor and lottery. The Left government is running lottery. Who are they fleecing? The poor. Why? Because they dont have money even to pay the salaries of their employees. Prabhu Chawla: So, you are saying that they are mismanaging the state... I wont say its mismanaged, but its priorities are. Sometimes you feel scared. Prabhu Chawla: You mean the priorities are scary? Tell me something: all the time you are announcing schemes involving lots of expenditure. Without creating wealth, you want to distribute wealth. How long will that survive? Prabhu Chawla: Are they headed towards bankruptcy? They have already submitted an affidavit before the high court saying they are facing a severe economic crisis. Shahid Faridi: The state government has been complaining about your interference.? They (the state government) have not come out with any instance of interference. It is my statutory duty to protect the autonomy of universities, which practically means to ensure that there is no outside interference. That is the area of conflict. Here, in the university, you can get an appointment only if you belong to the party cadre. Shahid Faridi: Why are you not clearing the bill sent to you by the government? One bill, for instance, pertains to the Lokayukta At the Lokayukta Day function in Trivandrum recently, a Supreme Court judge praised the Kerala Lokayukta bill and said this law must not be diluted. But they want to become judges in their own cause, all powers going to the CM Paramita Ghosh: Is it not mandatory for you to clear the bill if the state government sends one back to you for second time? My understanding is that it is not mandatory for the governor. At no stage I have said that I will not clear the bills. The only thing on which I have insisted is about my questions. I ask them to brief me about my queries. The CM sends ministers. They come with his letter. When I seek explanations of points mentioned in those letters, they say how can we explain a letter which has been written by the CM. Then I ask them to send the CM to brief me. During the Kannur episode, I wrote to the CM offering to relinquish the post of chancellor. His reply came, no, you will continue as chancellor. Three months later, what happened? A vacancy in Kerala University was about to arise. We start the process of selection three months before the vacancy. So the finance minister came to me and this has been the practice earlier. The Supreme Court has said that if there is a presence of a non-academic person in the selection committee, the whole process becomes vitiated. There is another interesting story here. Whenever a minister came to me, he was accompanied by two or three people. I was informed that none of them is an official. Every minister comes accompanied by a private secretary. I asked my secretary to write a letter to the chief secretary and circulate it so no ministers personal staff would come to the Raj Bhavan. Despite that, Raj Bhavan received a call from the CMO. The CM told me that his OSD is coming. I said I refuse to receive your OSD; if you want to come, you are most welcome. Prabhu Chawla: You said this to the Chief Minister? I said if you want to come, you are most welcome. If you want to send your chief secretary, most welcome. But I refuse to deal with the personal staff of the CM or minister. And then I was told that in more than 50% cases the private secretary is senior to the minister in the party hierarchy and it is the private secretary who is running the ministry. Kerala is the only state government where every minister has the right to appoint 25 people as personal staff. And these personal staff become entitle to life-long pension after serving for two years. Prabhu Chawla: They get pension? Yes. Within two years. After two years, the whole group resigns. Another set comes in. So every minister produces 50 full-time party workers who are being paid salary by the government from the public exchequer. Shahid Faridi: Was this law to pay pension to people who have worked for two years with a minister or in the ministry brought in by this government? No. It was brought many years back. It was initially brought by the UDF. But they improved upon it by cutting short the period required to two years. Earlier it was five years. Sometimes the government goes in for re-election before completing five years, so they have kept the pension entitlement period at two years. Preetha Nair: You said Kerala lags in many sectors, but NITI Aayog figures say something else. I have only pointed out what the government has said in the high court. As a society we are surviving because our people are very hard working. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Pranab Mondal By

Express News Service

KOLKATA: Kolkata police issued notices to 11 BJP MLAs on Friday, over complaints of disrespecting the national anthem during a recent sit-in protest on the Assembly premises, coinciding with Union Minister Amit Shahs visit. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhondeb Chatterjee revealed that the complaints were filed by the Trinamool Congress.

In response, BJP MLAs symbolically sprinkled Gangajaal on Ambedkars statue to restore its sanctity, triggering accusations of humiliating the tribal community, given the presence of TMC-elected representatives from that community during the protest.

The TMC called for statewide protests against the BJPs actions involving tribals, while alleging disrespect towards the national anthem. Mamata Banerjee, on November 29, led TMC MLAs in singing the anthem at the base of Ambedkars statue during a sit-in demonstration against the Centres perceived discriminatory attitude towards West Bengal.

Five out of the 11 BJP MLAs, against whom FIRs were filed, were served notices, requiring them to respond to the allegations of national anthem disrespect on Monday at Lalbazar police headquarters.

The TMC claimed that BJP MLAs shouted slogans and rang bells near Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee during the anthem, leading Mamata to announce legal action.

The BJP countered, asserting that the anthem was sung at a low volume, making it inaudible from their protest site. They claimed the allegations were fabricated to divert attention from the rally and Union Home Ministers accusations of TMC corruption. Video footage of the incident has been submitted for investigation.

TMC calls for protest

The TMC called for statewide protests against the BJPs actions involving tribals, while alleging disrespect towards the national anthem. They claimed that MLAs shouted slogans and rang bells near CM Mamata Banarjee during the anthem, leading Mamata to announce legal action.

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KOLKATA: Kolkata police issued notices to 11 BJP MLAs on Friday, over complaints of disrespecting the national anthem during a recent sit-in protest on the Assembly premises, coinciding with Union Minister Amit Shahs visit. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhondeb Chatterjee revealed that the complaints were filed by the Trinamool Congress. In response, BJP MLAs symbolically sprinkled Gangajaal on Ambedkars statue to restore its sanctity, triggering accusations of humiliating the tribal community, given the presence of TMC-elected representatives from that community during the protest. The TMC called for statewide protests against the BJPs actions involving tribals, while alleging disrespect towards the national anthem. Mamata Banerjee, on November 29, led TMC MLAs in singing the anthem at the base of Ambedkars statue during a sit-in demonstration against the Centres perceived discriminatory attitude towards West Bengal.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Five out of the 11 BJP MLAs, against whom FIRs were filed, were served notices, requiring them to respond to the allegations of national anthem disrespect on Monday at Lalbazar police headquarters. The TMC claimed that BJP MLAs shouted slogans and rang bells near Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee during the anthem, leading Mamata to announce legal action. The BJP countered, asserting that the anthem was sung at a low volume, making it inaudible from their protest site. They claimed the allegations were fabricated to divert attention from the rally and Union Home Ministers accusations of TMC corruption. Video footage of the incident has been submitted for investigation. TMC calls for protest The TMC called for statewide protests against the BJPs actions involving tribals, while alleging disrespect towards the national anthem. They claimed that MLAs shouted slogans and rang bells near CM Mamata Banarjee during the anthem, leading Mamata to announce legal action. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, while proposing to host COP 33 in India, interacted with various leaders and also had seven bilateral meetings.

The seven bilateral meetings PM Modi had were with the leaders of France, Maldives, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden, Uzbekistan and the UNSG.

He also casually interacted with other visiting leaders which included Rishi Sunak, Erdogan, Giorgia Meloni, President of UAE and, President of Brazil, Emir of Qatar amongst others.

In during his bilateral meeting with Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, PM Modi extended condolences for the attack on October 7th and welcomed the release of hostages. He also reiterated the need for humanitarian aid for those affected and reiterated a 2-state solution.

"In his bilateral meeting with Maldivan President Mohamed Muizzu, both leaders reviewed the wide-ranging bilateral relations between the two countries including people-to-people linkages, development cooperation, climate change and sports, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

In his bilateral meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, PM Modi discussed enhancing trade, and partnership in education, health, IT and tourism.

PM Modi also met the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, where the two leaders spoke about expanding cooperation in health, education, pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine.

UNSG, Antonio Guterres, welcomed PM Modis Green Credit initiative during their bilateral meeting.

PM Modi also met French President Emmanuel Macron and the two leaders spoke about enhancing cooperation in defence, sports and climate financing.

"In the bilateral meeting with PM of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, the two leaders held discussions on defence, R&D and issues including those in EU, Nordic Council and Nordic-Baltic 8 group, MEA said.

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, while proposing to host COP 33 in India, interacted with various leaders and also had seven bilateral meetings. The seven bilateral meetings PM Modi had were with the leaders of France, Maldives, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden, Uzbekistan and the UNSG. He also casually interacted with other visiting leaders which included Rishi Sunak, Erdogan, Giorgia Meloni, President of UAE and, President of Brazil, Emir of Qatar amongst others.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In during his bilateral meeting with Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, PM Modi extended condolences for the attack on October 7th and welcomed the release of hostages. He also reiterated the need for humanitarian aid for those affected and reiterated a 2-state solution. "In his bilateral meeting with Maldivan President Mohamed Muizzu, both leaders reviewed the wide-ranging bilateral relations between the two countries including people-to-people linkages, development cooperation, climate change and sports, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). In his bilateral meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, PM Modi discussed enhancing trade, and partnership in education, health, IT and tourism. PM Modi also met the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, where the two leaders spoke about expanding cooperation in health, education, pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine. UNSG, Antonio Guterres, welcomed PM Modis Green Credit initiative during their bilateral meeting. PM Modi also met French President Emmanuel Macron and the two leaders spoke about enhancing cooperation in defence, sports and climate financing. "In the bilateral meeting with PM of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, the two leaders held discussions on defence, R&D and issues including those in EU, Nordic Council and Nordic-Baltic 8 group, MEA said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Qatars Ministry of Interior has agreed to grant the eight naval veterans another consular access which is likely to be on Sunday, December 3rd.

The hearing on November 30th, in Qatars court of appeal, was a long one and gave each one of the 8 naval veterans a chance to share their narrative.

It was probably for the first time that the eight naval veterans got a chance to speak at length in court. The next hearing date has been fixed for December 7th.

In addition, Qatars Ministry of Interior has granted consular access for these eight  which will be within a day or two. This will be the fourth consular access until now, said a source.

READ MORE | Travel trade with Qatar will take a hit if naval veterans not repatriated

Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, met with Qatars Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamas Al Thani on Saturday in Dubai. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the COP 28 meeting in Dubai. Though little is known about what the two leaders spoke about, this Chance meeting has raised the hopes of the repatriation of these eight naval veterans.

On the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit in Dubai yesterday, had the opportunity to meet HH Sheikh @TamimBinHamad, the Amir of Qatar. We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/66a2Zxb6gP  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2023

It may be recalled that Qatars court of first instance in a judgment on October 26th had announced the death penalty for these eight naval veterans. The defense legal team filed an appeal against the death penalty thereafter and the hearing for the same was held on November 23rd. It was learned that the appeal was accepted by the court of appeal and the next hearing was fixed for November 30th where the eight naval veterans were given a chance to speak at length and share their narrative.

There is a renewed sense of optimism that the eight naval veterans will be repatriated to India. However, till it happens the 8 naval veterans, their families, and India will continue to remain on tenterhooks.

READ MORE | Global Express | Freeing The Qatar Eight: Has India set the diplomatic wheels in motion?

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NEW DELHI: Qatars Ministry of Interior has agreed to grant the eight naval veterans another consular access which is likely to be on Sunday, December 3rd. The hearing on November 30th, in Qatars court of appeal, was a long one and gave each one of the 8 naval veterans a chance to share their narrative. It was probably for the first time that the eight naval veterans got a chance to speak at length in court. The next hearing date has been fixed for December 7th.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In addition, Qatars Ministry of Interior has granted consular access for these eight  which will be within a day or two. This will be the fourth consular access until now, said a source. READ MORE | Travel trade with Qatar will take a hit if naval veterans not repatriated Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, met with Qatars Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamas Al Thani on Saturday in Dubai. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the COP 28 meeting in Dubai. Though little is known about what the two leaders spoke about, this Chance meeting has raised the hopes of the repatriation of these eight naval veterans. On the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit in Dubai yesterday, had the opportunity to meet HH Sheikh @TamimBinHamad, the Amir of Qatar. We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/66a2Zxb6gP  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2023 It may be recalled that Qatars court of first instance in a judgment on October 26th had announced the death penalty for these eight naval veterans. The defense legal team filed an appeal against the death penalty thereafter and the hearing for the same was held on November 23rd. It was learned that the appeal was accepted by the court of appeal and the next hearing was fixed for November 30th where the eight naval veterans were given a chance to speak at length and share their narrative. There is a renewed sense of optimism that the eight naval veterans will be repatriated to India. However, till it happens the 8 naval veterans, their families, and India will continue to remain on tenterhooks. READ MORE | Global Express | Freeing The Qatar Eight: Has India set the diplomatic wheels in motion? Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Buoyed by the peace agreement signed by United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday said he is ready to broker peace if any insurgent group of the region is willing to join the talks process.

Addressing an event in Imphal where UNLF members were feted, Singh appealed to outfits still wielding the gun to join the peace process. He said he would work as the facilitator.

Barring a few, most other extremist groups in the Northeast have already joined the peace process.

Singh said UNLFs peace agreement was possible due to the support, cooperation, and encouragement of the people of the state. He said the process to sign the agreement was initiated about three years ago.

READ MORE | Kuki Zo community takes out rallies demanding separate administration in Manipur

He expressed gratitude to the rebel group for accepting the Centres proposal for peace and described it as a historic moment.

The Signing of the Peace Agreement unfolded a new chapter in Manipur's journey, guided by the vision and determination of the people of the State, the CM posted on X, formerly Twitter. He appealed to the people of the state to stay united.

It is with immense joy that I extend a heartfelt welcome to the UNLF as they sign the Peace Agreement.



The successful signing of the Peace Agreement with the Govt. Of India & the Govt. Of Manipur marks a historic moment in our collective journey towards peace & prosperity. pic.twitter.com/oRlPTeDRjN  N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) December 2, 2023

We have been living divided for long and lost many precious lives due to the division. We should encourage one another. Lets rebuild a strong and united Manipur, the CM said, reiterating his call to people to forgive and forget.

He urged them to refrain from circulating misinformation through social media without proper verification, stating that it might disturb peace in society.

The government is not against any community residing together in the state. The government is only trying to protect the communities, Singh said.

UNLF, the oldest valley-based insurgent group of Manipur, signed the peace agreement with the Centre and Manipur government on Wednesday.

READ MORE | 10-party delegation urges Manipur Governor to initiate peace talks between warring communities

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GUWAHATI: Buoyed by the peace agreement signed by United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday said he is ready to broker peace if any insurgent group of the region is willing to join the talks process. Addressing an event in Imphal where UNLF members were feted, Singh appealed to outfits still wielding the gun to join the peace process. He said he would work as the facilitator. Barring a few, most other extremist groups in the Northeast have already joined the peace process.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Singh said UNLFs peace agreement was possible due to the support, cooperation, and encouragement of the people of the state. He said the process to sign the agreement was initiated about three years ago. READ MORE | Kuki Zo community takes out rallies demanding separate administration in Manipur He expressed gratitude to the rebel group for accepting the Centres proposal for peace and described it as a historic moment. The Signing of the Peace Agreement unfolded a new chapter in Manipur's journey, guided by the vision and determination of the people of the State, the CM posted on X, formerly Twitter. He appealed to the people of the state to stay united. It is with immense joy that I extend a heartfelt welcome to the UNLF as they sign the Peace Agreement. The successful signing of the Peace Agreement with the Govt. Of India & the Govt. Of Manipur marks a historic moment in our collective journey towards peace & prosperity. pic.twitter.com/oRlPTeDRjN  N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) December 2, 2023 We have been living divided for long and lost many precious lives due to the division. We should encourage one another. Lets rebuild a strong and united Manipur, the CM said, reiterating his call to people to forgive and forget. He urged them to refrain from circulating misinformation through social media without proper verification, stating that it might disturb peace in society. The government is not against any community residing together in the state. The government is only trying to protect the communities, Singh said. UNLF, the oldest valley-based insurgent group of Manipur, signed the peace agreement with the Centre and Manipur government on Wednesday. READ MORE | 10-party delegation urges Manipur Governor to initiate peace talks between warring communities Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.

The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BJP, which is ruling Madhya Pradesh, are locked in a straight fight in these three states, while K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is hoping for a hat-trick in Telangana.

Pollsters have been divided on the outcome, with quite a few exit polls putting the BJP ahead in Madhya Pradesh and giving it an edge in Rajasthan while predicting that Congress has an advantage in Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Starting with postal ballots, counting will commence at 8 am amid tight security for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 seats in Telangana, and 199 seats in Rajasthan as polling on one seat in the desert state was put off due to the death of a candidate.

A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centers, election officials said.

READ MORE | Exit polls predict edge for Congress in Chhattisgarh, Telangana; Advantage BJP in MP, Rajasthan

After wresting Karnataka from the BJP in May, the Congress is eyeing Madhya Pradesh and Telangana and is hoping to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

An impressive performance in these polls will boost the party's standing in the opposition INDIA alliance which has been formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP is seeking to replicate the winning streak of Gujarat, where it has been ruling since 1998, in Madhya Pradesh with four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hoping to form government again.

The party is also keen to win back Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as it seeks to regain its hold in the Hindi heartland states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

READ MORE | The paradox of material politics in Indian elections

Madhya Pradesh

The counting for 230 assembly seats in MP will be held at 52 district headquarters, officials said.

As many as 2,533 candidates are in the fray, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Chouhan claimed his party would retain power with a "huge majority", while state Congress chief Kamal Nath said he had "complete confidence" in the voters of the state.

Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the EVMs will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

READ MORE | Lots at stake for regional satraps including BJP's longest-serving CM on December 3

Rajasthan

Over 1800 candidates are in the fray in 199 seats in Rajasthan where power has alternated between Congress and BJP every five years in the last three decades.

"The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. As many as 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates, and their representatives," Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said.

Gupta said that the counting of votes in EVM machines will begin at 8.30 am.

READ MORE | Rajasthan assembly elections: Congress, BJP clash for supremacy in high-stakes battle

Chhattisgarh

Tight security arrangements have been made in all counting centers in the state's 33 districts, including the ones affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), officials said.

"The counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am. Half an hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs will begin.

"A total of 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 counting personnel, and 1698 micro-observers have been appointed for carrying out the counting process smoothly," Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said at a press conference.

A total of 1,181 candidates are in the fray, including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo (both from Congress), and former CM Raman Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Patan seat, represented by Baghel, is witnessing a triangular contest with BJP fielding the chief minister's distant nephew and Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel.

Telangana

As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray in the elections, including BRS supremo Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son KT Rama Rao, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar, D Arvind, and Soyam Bapu Rao.

The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats while the Congress gave one seat to its ally CPI.

The BJP and Janasena contested 111 and 8 seats respectively in a pre-poll pact/ The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has put up candidates in nine segments in the city.

READ MORE | Telangana Assembly elections: State records 70.6 per cent vote; city disappoints

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NEW DELHI: Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months. The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BJP, which is ruling Madhya Pradesh, are locked in a straight fight in these three states, while K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is hoping for a hat-trick in Telangana. Pollsters have been divided on the outcome, with quite a few exit polls putting the BJP ahead in Madhya Pradesh and giving it an edge in Rajasthan while predicting that Congress has an advantage in Telangana and Chhattisgarh.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Starting with postal ballots, counting will commence at 8 am amid tight security for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 seats in Telangana, and 199 seats in Rajasthan as polling on one seat in the desert state was put off due to the death of a candidate. A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centers, election officials said. READ MORE | Exit polls predict edge for Congress in Chhattisgarh, Telangana; Advantage BJP in MP, Rajasthan After wresting Karnataka from the BJP in May, the Congress is eyeing Madhya Pradesh and Telangana and is hoping to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. An impressive performance in these polls will boost the party's standing in the opposition INDIA alliance which has been formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is seeking to replicate the winning streak of Gujarat, where it has been ruling since 1998, in Madhya Pradesh with four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hoping to form government again. The party is also keen to win back Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as it seeks to regain its hold in the Hindi heartland states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. READ MORE | The paradox of material politics in Indian elections Madhya Pradesh The counting for 230 assembly seats in MP will be held at 52 district headquarters, officials said. As many as 2,533 candidates are in the fray, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. Chouhan claimed his party would retain power with a "huge majority", while state Congress chief Kamal Nath said he had "complete confidence" in the voters of the state. Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes. Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the EVMs will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste. READ MORE | Lots at stake for regional satraps including BJP's longest-serving CM on December 3 Rajasthan Over 1800 candidates are in the fray in 199 seats in Rajasthan where power has alternated between Congress and BJP every five years in the last three decades. "The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. As many as 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates, and their representatives," Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said. Gupta said that the counting of votes in EVM machines will begin at 8.30 am. READ MORE | Rajasthan assembly elections: Congress, BJP clash for supremacy in high-stakes battle Chhattisgarh Tight security arrangements have been made in all counting centers in the state's 33 districts, including the ones affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), officials said. "The counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am. Half an hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs will begin. "A total of 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 counting personnel, and 1698 micro-observers have been appointed for carrying out the counting process smoothly," Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said at a press conference. A total of 1,181 candidates are in the fray, including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo (both from Congress), and former CM Raman Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Patan seat, represented by Baghel, is witnessing a triangular contest with BJP fielding the chief minister's distant nephew and Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel. Telangana As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray in the elections, including BRS supremo Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son KT Rama Rao, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar, D Arvind, and Soyam Bapu Rao. The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats while the Congress gave one seat to its ally CPI. The BJP and Janasena contested 111 and 8 seats respectively in a pre-poll pact/ The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has put up candidates in nine segments in the city. READ MORE | Telangana Assembly elections: State records 70.6 per cent vote; city disappoints Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana has declined by 27 per cent and 37 per cent respectively as compared to last year.The Union Environment Ministry put the number of farm fires so far this year at at 36,663, while it was 49,922 last year, 71,304 in 2021 and 83,002 in 2022. There has been constant reduction in the crop-residue burning cases in the states, the ministry said.

While four districts in Punjab saw over 50 per cent fewer fires in 2023 compared to 2022, five districts showed improvements ranging from 27 to 50 per cent. Data shows the fires exceeded 2,000 only on four days this season.

Meanwhile in the neighbouring Haryana, there were 2,303 stubble-burning incidents, compared to 3,661 last year, 6,987 in 2021 and 4,202 in 2020. Three districts in Haryana recorded more than 50 per cent fewer fires this year. Five districts saw improvements of up to 37 per cent.

Maximum fires in CMs home district

According to the data available with the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre,there were only 13 farm fires in the state on Friday. Of these, seven incidents were from Fazilka. Meanwhile, the total number of fires

this season touched 36,663  the highest number of cases at 5,618 reported from Sangrur, the home district of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, followed by Ferozepur (3,398), Bathinda (2,972), Moga (2,795), Barnala (2,316) and Mansa (2,268). All the maximum districts where stubble-burning took place this year were in Malwa belt of the state.

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CHANDIGARH: Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana has declined by 27 per cent and 37 per cent respectively as compared to last year.The Union Environment Ministry put the number of farm fires so far this year at at 36,663, while it was 49,922 last year, 71,304 in 2021 and 83,002 in 2022. There has been constant reduction in the crop-residue burning cases in the states, the ministry said. While four districts in Punjab saw over 50 per cent fewer fires in 2023 compared to 2022, five districts showed improvements ranging from 27 to 50 per cent. Data shows the fires exceeded 2,000 only on four days this season. Meanwhile in the neighbouring Haryana, there were 2,303 stubble-burning incidents, compared to 3,661 last year, 6,987 in 2021 and 4,202 in 2020. Three districts in Haryana recorded more than 50 per cent fewer fires this year. Five districts saw improvements of up to 37 per cent.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Maximum fires in CMs home district According to the data available with the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre,there were only 13 farm fires in the state on Friday. Of these, seven incidents were from Fazilka. Meanwhile, the total number of fires this season touched 36,663  the highest number of cases at 5,618 reported from Sangrur, the home district of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, followed by Ferozepur (3,398), Bathinda (2,972), Moga (2,795), Barnala (2,316) and Mansa (2,268). All the maximum districts where stubble-burning took place this year were in Malwa belt of the state. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

DANTEWADA: Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by Naxalites exploded in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, officials said.

The incident occurred in the morning when the security personnel were neutralising the explosive concealed in a Maoist banner found near a bridge on the Indravati river under Barsoor police station limits, a CRPF official said.

Acting on a tip-off about the movement of Naxalites on the Barsoor-Palli route as part of their "People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Week" starting from December 2, a team of CRPF's 195th battalion was dispatched there, he said.

On spotting a Maoist banner and an IED concealed in it near Saatdhaar bridge, the security personnel started defusing it.

#WATCH | Chhattisgarh: Two CRPF jawans got injured in an IED explosion in the Barsoor police station area. They are out of danger and undergoing treatment: Dantewada Police pic.twitter.com/Y2j8jHkGBt  ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2023

However, it exploded in the process and caused minor injuries to two personnel, the official said.

The two jawans are being airlifted to Raipur for treatment, he added.

A search operation was underway in the area, he said.

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DANTEWADA: Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by Naxalites exploded in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, officials said. The incident occurred in the morning when the security personnel were neutralising the explosive concealed in a Maoist banner found near a bridge on the Indravati river under Barsoor police station limits, a CRPF official said. Acting on a tip-off about the movement of Naxalites on the Barsoor-Palli route as part of their "People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Week" starting from December 2, a team of CRPF's 195th battalion was dispatched there, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); On spotting a Maoist banner and an IED concealed in it near Saatdhaar bridge, the security personnel started defusing it. #WATCH | Chhattisgarh: Two CRPF jawans got injured in an IED explosion in the Barsoor police station area. They are out of danger and undergoing treatment: Dantewada Police pic.twitter.com/Y2j8jHkGBt  ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2023 However, it exploded in the process and caused minor injuries to two personnel, the official said. The two jawans are being airlifted to Raipur for treatment, he added. A search operation was underway in the area, he said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
The 32-year-old daughter of Russian TV presenter Volodymyr Soloviov from his second marriage, US-born actress Kateryna Soloviova lives in Moscow but opposes the Kremlin's policies. Russian propagandists ignore this fact and do not write about the actress, even though they know that she categorically does not support the words of her crazy father and dictatorial Russian President Volodymyr Putin.

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For example, the other day, Kateryna Soloviova called the recognition of LGBTQ+ people in Russia as an "extremist organization" a stupid joke and a theater of the absurd. OBOZ.UA decided to find out how the oppositionist is "hiding" in plain sight.

"We recognize non-existent innocent organizations as extremist, and we hold receptions for Hamas in the Kremlin. Even Orwell would have thrown up from saturation. Let me remind you that we still have just fines for domestic violence," Solovyov's daughter wrote in one of her latest posts.

This is not her first anti-Kremlin statement. In her videos in 2022, Soloviova spoke out against the war, but there is one big nuance. The propagandist's daughter does not condemn the Russians or the army, but rather calls on the English-speaking audience to sympathize with the people of Russia.

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She asked people not to identify Russians with Putin and complained about her hard life and hatred. Later, Solovyova closed all of her social media accounts, including Twitter, and now conducts "opposition" activities to a small audience of just over a thousand people.

In addition, according to the Russian media, she continues to live and work in Moscow. For example, a play by Soloviova called 28 Days has been staged in Russia for a year now, which she advertises on her Instagram.

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The Russian woman's charitable activities are not aimed at helping Ukrainians affected by the war, but at supporting the Russian center "Violence.net" and the human rights organization "OVD-Info". Kateryna respects her father very much and does not publicly condemn him.

It should be noted that Soloviov has a total of eight children from three wives. Four of them are sons, two are of military age, but none of them went to the front line.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that one of the heirs of an ardent opponent of LGBTQ+ people paints his nails, works as a model and poses in provocative poses. Read more about Danylo Soloviov, who is filmed with makeup and hair, here.

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Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Namrata Sindwani By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Despite India and Japan having good bilateral ties, Indian students studying in Japan, or vice versa is far less compared to other countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, China or USA, said Nishi Ryuhei, first secretary, science and technology, Embassy of Japan, India. He was speaking at the India Japan Science Technology Innovation Forum, co-organised by Centre for Society and Policy (CSP) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru on Friday. Ryuhei explained that Japan has been extending official development assistance (ODA) to India since 1958, and has been its largest bilateral donor. Our country receives 3,992 million USD external assistance every year, of which, 41% is aided by Japan.

It was noted that if both countries manage to take risks, invest more in people-to-people exchange, and in science and technology, they can strengthen their relations and further accelerate their partnership.

Breaking the myth of needing to learn Japanese, Ryuhei said, You dont need to know the Japanese language. There are many programmes offering degrees in English. There are 114 undergraduate courses and 1,119 graduate courses offered in Japan. The tuition fees per year also ranges between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6.3 lakh, he added.

Jun Marai, a professor at Keio University, popularly known as father of internet in Japan also addressed the press conference via a recorded message. Both India and Japan are taking similar efforts to digitise their country beyond just commercially progressive cities. The Covid pandemic resulted in technological advancement was released, which focused mainly on healthcare and education.

A policy note between the countries - Flourishing through Societal Change India Japan Science Technology Innovations was released addressing critical areas such as healthcare, education, disaster management, sustainable energy, and recommendations drawn from extensive analysis highlighting the transformative possibilities in this strategic relationship.

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BENGALURU: Despite India and Japan having good bilateral ties, Indian students studying in Japan, or vice versa is far less compared to other countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, China or USA, said Nishi Ryuhei, first secretary, science and technology, Embassy of Japan, India. He was speaking at the India Japan Science Technology Innovation Forum, co-organised by Centre for Society and Policy (CSP) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru on Friday. Ryuhei explained that Japan has been extending official development assistance (ODA) to India since 1958, and has been its largest bilateral donor. Our country receives 3,992 million USD external assistance every year, of which, 41% is aided by Japan. It was noted that if both countries manage to take risks, invest more in people-to-people exchange, and in science and technology, they can strengthen their relations and further accelerate their partnership. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Breaking the myth of needing to learn Japanese, Ryuhei said, You dont need to know the Japanese language. There are many programmes offering degrees in English. There are 114 undergraduate courses and 1,119 graduate courses offered in Japan. The tuition fees per year also ranges between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6.3 lakh, he added. Jun Marai, a professor at Keio University, popularly known as father of internet in Japan also addressed the press conference via a recorded message. Both India and Japan are taking similar efforts to digitise their country beyond just commercially progressive cities. The Covid pandemic resulted in technological advancement was released, which focused mainly on healthcare and education. A policy note between the countries - Flourishing through Societal Change India Japan Science Technology Innovations was released addressing critical areas such as healthcare, education, disaster management, sustainable energy, and recommendations drawn from extensive analysis highlighting the transformative possibilities in this strategic relationship. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday seeking clarification and revised procedure on IGST provisional settlement.

Siddaramaiah pointed out that Rs 798 crore out of IGST settlement has been adjusted out of advance apportionment to make up a shortfall in IGST balance on December 26 last year, when the BJP government was in power.

Siddaramaiah said the government wished to seek details on the accumulation of IGST negative balance until now and raised concerns about the impact on treasury management on the state finances and said there is a huge negative balance of Rs 34,000 crore.

He said to facilitate better understanding, the government sought information on the total amount of negative IGST balance and the methodology employed for distributing this amount among the states for recovery.

Considering the pressing need for resources and potential challenges associated with lump sum reduction, the state government requested the Union government to consider allowing deductions to be made in installments.

The government proposes a phased approach preferably in 10 installments to mitigate immediate impact on state finances. A transparent and collaborative approach in addressing these concerns will contribute to the effective functioning of the financial ecosystem, he said.

Meanwhile Karnataka GST collection at Rs 11,970 crore finished in second place all India behind Maharashtra.

Karnatakas collection was more than Rs 1,000 crore higher than Gujarat, which managed Rs 10,853 crore.

Tamil Nadu stood at fourth place with Rs 10,255 crore, while Haryana stood a distant fifth with Rs 9,732 crore. UP stood at sixth place with Rs 8,973 crore.

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BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday seeking clarification and revised procedure on IGST provisional settlement. Siddaramaiah pointed out that Rs 798 crore out of IGST settlement has been adjusted out of advance apportionment to make up a shortfall in IGST balance on December 26 last year, when the BJP government was in power. Siddaramaiah said the government wished to seek details on the accumulation of IGST negative balance until now and raised concerns about the impact on treasury management on the state finances and said there is a huge negative balance of Rs 34,000 crore.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He said to facilitate better understanding, the government sought information on the total amount of negative IGST balance and the methodology employed for distributing this amount among the states for recovery. Considering the pressing need for resources and potential challenges associated with lump sum reduction, the state government requested the Union government to consider allowing deductions to be made in installments. The government proposes a phased approach preferably in 10 installments to mitigate immediate impact on state finances. A transparent and collaborative approach in addressing these concerns will contribute to the effective functioning of the financial ecosystem, he said. Meanwhile Karnataka GST collection at Rs 11,970 crore finished in second place all India behind Maharashtra. Karnatakas collection was more than Rs 1,000 crore higher than Gujarat, which managed Rs 10,853 crore. Tamil Nadu stood at fourth place with Rs 10,255 crore, while Haryana stood a distant fifth with Rs 9,732 crore. UP stood at sixth place with Rs 8,973 crore. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 20-year-old woman from Kerala who was studying in a private nursing college in Chromepet was strangled to death allegedly by her boyfriend on Friday evening. The accused then clicked a picture of the body and posted it as his WhatsApp status.

The deceased, Fousiya from Kollam district, stayed at a girls hostel in New Colony. Police said she had been in a relationship with the accused, Aashiq (20), for the past five years. On Friday morning, the couple had taken a room in a Chromepet hotel. That evening, Aashiq uploaded a picture of Fousiyas dead body as his WhatsApp status, they added. Fousiyas friends saw the status and immediately alerted the police.

Upon information, police arrived at the hotel and the ambulance crew declared Fousiya dead. CCTV footage from the area showed Aashiq fleeing from the hotel on Friday evening. He was nabbed a few hours later. Initial inquiry revealed that the couple had gotten into an argument after Fousiya found that Aashiq cheated on her with another woman. The quarrel escalated and Aashiq strangled Fousiya to death with a T-shirt, police said.

Fousiya was allegedly found to be pregnant when she was 17, and Aashiq was arrested under the Pocso Act. Subsequently, Fousiya gave birth to a child, who was given up for adoption. After his release from jail, Aashiq used to meet Fousiya whenever he travelled to Chennai, police said.

4 attack guard, steal documents of land worth Rs 150 cr; held

Another notable crime story was the news of four men bing arrested for attacking a guard and stealing documents of land worth Rs 150 crore from a real estate office in Devaneri in Chengalpattu. Dhandapani of Nemili operated a real estate agency.

On Tuesday, six men trespassed into the office and beat up the security guard before stealing documents of land worth Rs 150 crore.

The Mamallapuram police filed a case.

Meanwhile, Sampath Kumar and Mohammed Farooq Ali surrendered before court on Thursday.

Cheran from Old Washermenpet, Karthikeyan from Neelankarai, Vasanthabiran from Minjur, and Senthil from Vettuvankani were also nabbed.

The suspects had a business rivalry with Dhandapani, police said.

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CHENNAI: A 20-year-old woman from Kerala who was studying in a private nursing college in Chromepet was strangled to death allegedly by her boyfriend on Friday evening. The accused then clicked a picture of the body and posted it as his WhatsApp status. The deceased, Fousiya from Kollam district, stayed at a girls hostel in New Colony. Police said she had been in a relationship with the accused, Aashiq (20), for the past five years. On Friday morning, the couple had taken a room in a Chromepet hotel. That evening, Aashiq uploaded a picture of Fousiyas dead body as his WhatsApp status, they added. Fousiyas friends saw the status and immediately alerted the police. Upon information, police arrived at the hotel and the ambulance crew declared Fousiya dead. CCTV footage from the area showed Aashiq fleeing from the hotel on Friday evening. He was nabbed a few hours later. Initial inquiry revealed that the couple had gotten into an argument after Fousiya found that Aashiq cheated on her with another woman. The quarrel escalated and Aashiq strangled Fousiya to death with a T-shirt, police said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Fousiya was allegedly found to be pregnant when she was 17, and Aashiq was arrested under the Pocso Act. Subsequently, Fousiya gave birth to a child, who was given up for adoption. After his release from jail, Aashiq used to meet Fousiya whenever he travelled to Chennai, police said. 4 attack guard, steal documents of land worth Rs 150 cr; held Another notable crime story was the news of four men bing arrested for attacking a guard and stealing documents of land worth Rs 150 crore from a real estate office in Devaneri in Chengalpattu. Dhandapani of Nemili operated a real estate agency. On Tuesday, six men trespassed into the office and beat up the security guard before stealing documents of land worth Rs 150 crore. The Mamallapuram police filed a case. Meanwhile, Sampath Kumar and Mohammed Farooq Ali surrendered before court on Thursday. Cheran from Old Washermenpet, Karthikeyan from Neelankarai, Vasanthabiran from Minjur, and Senthil from Vettuvankani were also nabbed. The suspects had a business rivalry with Dhandapani, police said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
S V Krishna Chaitanya By

Express News Service

DUBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday became the early bird by proposing to host the COP33 in India. The global climate summit comes to Asia by rotation in 2028 and he made the early pitch.

Modi made his presence felt at the COP28 here as he was the only head of the state on the panel at the high-level segment of World Climate Action Summit. India is committed to working towards the UN Framework for Climate Change process. That is why, through this platform, I propose to host the COP33 summit in India in 2028, he said.

Despite being home to 17% of the worlds population, our contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 4%. India is one of the few economies that are on track to fulfil NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) targets. We achieved emission intensity targets 11 years ago. We have attained the non-fossil fuel targets nine years ahead of schedule. Our goal is to reduce emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 50%. We will keep progressing towards the goal of net zero by 2070, he said.

Aarti Khosla. director, Climate Trends, said: The podium that was offered to the PM is testimony to Indias changing geopolitical clout. The offer to host the COP33 is a diplomatic masterstroke. Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy, Climate Action Network International, said Indias progress in renewable energy serves as a powerful example for the world.

Modi also announced a green credit scheme, for which the Union environment ministry had issued a notification recently. Explaining how the scheme works, Modi said an inventory of degraded wasteland will be made. Individuals or organisations will take up plantation and the green credits will be issued in their name. These credits can be used for future expansion and are tradable. The best part is they will be in digital form. This was just an example, he said.

Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said, If green credits are traded across borders, it could lead to phenomenal global action to enhance carbon sinks as well as achieve other SDGs. Meanwhile, the UAE said it had earmarked immediate capital investment for the development of over 6 GW of new clean energy capacity in India. This includes the construction of 1,200 MW of wind and solar projects that will begin producing clean power by 2025. Besides, the Loss and Damage Fund went up from $420 mn on Day 1 to $573.70 mn.

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DUBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday became the early bird by proposing to host the COP33 in India. The global climate summit comes to Asia by rotation in 2028 and he made the early pitch. Modi made his presence felt at the COP28 here as he was the only head of the state on the panel at the high-level segment of World Climate Action Summit. India is committed to working towards the UN Framework for Climate Change process. That is why, through this platform, I propose to host the COP33 summit in India in 2028, he said. Despite being home to 17% of the worlds population, our contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 4%. India is one of the few economies that are on track to fulfil NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) targets. We achieved emission intensity targets 11 years ago. We have attained the non-fossil fuel targets nine years ahead of schedule. Our goal is to reduce emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 50%. We will keep progressing towards the goal of net zero by 2070, he said. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Aarti Khosla. director, Climate Trends, said: The podium that was offered to the PM is testimony to Indias changing geopolitical clout. The offer to host the COP33 is a diplomatic masterstroke. Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy, Climate Action Network International, said Indias progress in renewable energy serves as a powerful example for the world. Modi also announced a green credit scheme, for which the Union environment ministry had issued a notification recently. Explaining how the scheme works, Modi said an inventory of degraded wasteland will be made. Individuals or organisations will take up plantation and the green credits will be issued in their name. These credits can be used for future expansion and are tradable. The best part is they will be in digital form. This was just an example, he said. Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said, If green credits are traded across borders, it could lead to phenomenal global action to enhance carbon sinks as well as achieve other SDGs. Meanwhile, the UAE said it had earmarked immediate capital investment for the development of over 6 GW of new clean energy capacity in India. This includes the construction of 1,200 MW of wind and solar projects that will begin producing clean power by 2025. Besides, the Loss and Damage Fund went up from $420 mn on Day 1 to $573.70 mn. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Red meat and all its derivatives are called one of the main enemies of health and longevity. Joe Ferreri, a resident of Bryan, Texas, disagrees with this statement.

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According to the local KBTX, the man recently celebrated his 103rd birthday and received many congratulations, including from the governor of the state, Greg Abbott, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. When Ferreri was visited by journalists, they naturally asked him about the secret of his longevity, and the man told them in detail. "I just eat right, sleep well, and don't drink alcohol. I stopped it a long time ago. And I don't smoke," the birthday boy said.

He also admitted what he eats for breakfast every day. And one product in this meal is a delicacy that doctors do not approve of. This product is bacon. In addition to it, Ferreri eats fresh avocado in the morning.

In addition, the Texas long-liver recommended that anyone who wants to live a long life should move as much as possible. His dog helps Ferrer with this, and he continues to exercise daily.

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As OBOZREVATEL wrote, an American woman who turned 104 years old and had long been predicted to die also shared her secret of long life.
Dubai, December 1

P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the COP-28 Summit in UAE.

The PM congratulated the UAE President for successfully hosting the COP-28 Summit. He also thanked the President for co-hosting the high-level event on the Green Climate Programme (GCP) at COP-28.

Both leaders reviewed their wide-ranging and vibrant bilateral ties. They also exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, as per a release issued by the Prime Minister's office.

PM Modi also invited the UAE President to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, to be held in India next month.

"PM @narendramodi met UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of #COP28 WCAS in Dubai," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi worte on 'X'.

"The leaders reviewed bilateral ties and exchanged views on Israel-Hamas conflict. PM congratulated His Highness for successfully hosting #COP28 and thanked him for co-hosting the high-level event on Green Climate Programme at #COP28. PM also invited him for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held next month in India," Bagchi said.

PM Modi on Friday also met Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson on the sidelines of COP-28, the two discussed various facets of bilateral ties including defence, R&D, trade and investment and climate cooperation.

"A productive meeting between PM @narendramodi & @SwedishPM on the sidelines of #COP28 WCAS in Dubai. They held discussions on various facets of bilateral ties including defence, R&D, trade and investment, climate cooperation. They also discussed regional and multilateral issues including EU, Nordic Council, Nordic Baltic 8 group," Bagchi wrote on 'X'.

The PM in his meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset, discussed ways to further deepen India-Switzerland partnership including in areas of trade and investment, technology, health, education, IT, tourism and people-to-people ties.

"PM @narendramodi met President @alain_berset of Switzerland on the sidelines of #COP28 WCAS in Dubai. The two leaders discussed ways to further deepen - partnership including in areas of trade & investment, technology, health, education, IT, tourism and people to people ties. They also discussed regional and global issues," the MEA spokesperson said.

Earlier on Friday, PM Modi met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Dubai.

"Happy to have met President @RTErdogan on the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit in Dubai," PM Modi wrote.

The PM also met his Barbados counterpart Mia Amor Mottley.

"Happy to have met Barbados PM @miaamormottley during the COP28 Summit. Island nations face unique vulnerabilities to climate change, highlighting the urgent need for global cooperation to address these challenges and build resilience together," he said.

PM Modi on Thursday night arrived in Dubai to attend the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP-28) Summit.

PM Modi on Friday noted that the countries in the Global South have had an immense impact of climate change on them.

The PM said that to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential.The prime minister underlined that countries in the Global South, including India, have a smaller role to play in climate change but the impact of climate change on them is immense.

"We all know that countries in the Global South, including India, have had less of a role to play in climate change. But the impact of climate change on them is immense. Despite a lack of resources, these countries are committed to climate action," the Prime Minister said at the COP28 Presidency's session on Transforming Climate Finance today.

"In order to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential," he said.COP28 is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE in Dubai.

The World Climate Action Summit is the high-level segment of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This is PM Modi's third appearance at the World Climate Action Summit after his visits to Paris in 2015 and Glasgow in 2021.

PM Modi meets UAE President on sidelines of COP-28 Summit in Dubai

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Dubai, December 1

A ppreciating India's efforts in the areas of sustainable development and climate action under its G20 Presidency, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi' s Green Credit Initiative in Dubai.

PM Modi and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres met each other on the sidelines of the COP28 Global Climate Action Summit in Dubai earlier today and exchanged views on priorities and concerns of the Global South related to climate action, climate finance, and technology.

"UN Secretary-General appreciated India's efforts in the areas of sustainable development, climate action, MDB reforms, and disaster management under the G20 Presidency. He welcomed the PM's Green Credit Initiative," the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release.

"He affirmed his intention to work with India to build on the achievements of India's Presidency and take them forward at the UN Summit of the Future 2024," the MEA release said.

The Prime Minister also thanked the Secretary General for his support during India's G20 Presidency. He highlighted India's initiatives and progress in achieving climate goals.

"Both leaders exchanged views on priorities and concerns of the Global South related to climate action, climate finance, technology and reforms of multilateral governance and financial institutions, including the UN," the MEA said.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Sweden's PM Ulf Kristersson, President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi and European Council President Charles Michel, launched the web portal of the Green Credits Programme at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

"The manner in which we give importance to our health card in life, we have to similarly start thinking in the context of environment. We will have to see what is to be done to add positive points to Earth's Health Card. I think this is what green Credit is," PM Modi said.

PM Modi, together with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE, co-hosted the high-level event on the 'Green Credits Programme' at COP-28.

The event saw the participation of the Swedish Prime Minister, the Mozambique President and the President of the European Council.

The Prime Minister invited all nations to join this initiative.

A Ministry of External Affairs release said that the Green Credit Initiative has been conceptualised as a mechanism to incentivize voluntary pro-planet actions as an effective response to the challenge of climate change.

It envisions the issue of green credits for plantations on waste or degraded lands and river catchment areas to rejuvenate and revive natural ecosystems.

The web platform launched today would serve as a repository of policies and best practises that incentivize environment-friendly actions.

Meanwhile, PM Modi, on the sidelines of the COP 28 summit in Dubai, also met the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog.

The two leaders, during the bilateral meeting, exchanged views on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the region.

"The Prime Minister expressed his condolences on the loss of lives in the October 7 terror attacks and welcomed the release of hostages. Prime Minister reiterated the need for continued and safe delivery of humanitarian aid for the affected population," the Ministry of External Affairs release said.

PM Modi also emphasised India's support for a two-state solution and an early and durable resolution of the Israel-Palestine issue through dialogue and diplomacy.

Following the meeting with the Israeli President, PM Modi, in a post on X, wrote, "Had a very productive meeting with President @Isaac_Herzog of Israel earlier today. Our talks covered a wide range of global and bilateral issues."

COP28 is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE.

The Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC provides a unique opportunity to impart momentum for collective action towards combating the shared challenge of climate change.

PM Modi earlier said that India is among the few countries which is on course to meet its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) as part of efforts to combat climate change and proposed that the country will host COP33 in 2028.

COP-28: UN Secretary General meets PM Modi in Dubai, welcomes his Green Credit Initiative

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New Delhi, December 1

C hief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Friday that with the advent of troll armies and organised disinformation campaigns across different social media platforms, the fear is that there is an overwhelming barrage of speech that distorts the truth.

While addressing the 14th VM Tarkunde Memorial Lecture, CJI Chandrachud said that traditionally, freedom of speech and expression was deemed to be an essential part of civil rights activism because of the fear that the government would prevent certain kinds of speech from entering the marketplace.

"With the advent of troll armies and organized disinformation campaigns across different social media platforms, the fear is that there is an overwhelming barrage of speech that distorts the truth," CJI said.

"This 'epistemological battle' of sorts was explained eloquently in the New York Times. The spewing of falsehoods isn't meant to win any battle of ideas. Its goal is to prevent the actual battle from being fought. Therefore, we cannot fall back on traditional notions of free speech and must find new theoretical frameworks to locate free speech on the internet," he said.

CJI said that the second point of distinction lies in the rupture of the traditional state-activist-corporation relationship.

Civil rights activists no longer place the corporation within the traditional box of an entity whose power is to be restricted. In fact, to the contrary, they rely on social media corporations such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to expand their freedom of speech and expression, often in opposition to the government, CJI said.

However, there is a flip side to adopting privately owned platforms as the medium for dissent, activism, and expression of free speech. With corporations wielding such immense power, there is an immense amount of trust placed on them to act as the arbiters of acceptable and unacceptable speech - a role that was earlier played by the state itself. This can have disastrous effects. It has been widely reported and recognized by the United Nations that social media was used as a tool for ethnic cleansing in Myanmar by the military and members of civil society, CJI said.

While concluding his address, he said that digital liberties activism, including the protection of privacy and free speech, has gained currency at an unprecedented pace, we are still in an early period of theorizing on it. The civil liberties movement, led by luminaries like Justice Tarkunde, acted as the precursor to a larger narrative - a narrative of digital rights. The very principles he ardently upheld are the guiding lights that beckon us in this era of digital transformation. This transformation is not just about technology, it is about the people and their rights. The torch that Justice Tarkunde carried for justice now illuminates our path towards safeguarding digital freedoms--ensuring that as we traverse through this landscape, we do so with the commitment to upholding the basic values of justice, equality, and freedom. After all, as the world moves online, our battles to uphold civil liberty must also follow suit, CJI said.

CJI said that in the realm of Artificial Intelligence, one can find that the unchecked algorithms used by tech giants compound privacy concerns.

He pointed out that the movie- "Minority The Report," directed by Steven Spielberg envisions a future where a specialized police department apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called "precogs."

The precognitive nature of AI depicted in the film poses profound dangers to personal privacy, as individuals are targeted for crimes they have not yet committed, challenging the very fabric of autonomy and individual rights, CJI said.

CJI said that in examining various international perspectives on privacy and state intrusion, it becomes evident that the struggle to protect privacy is a global endeavour.

"Courts worldwide grapple with challenges posed by technological advancements, highlighting the crucial need for legal frameworks prioritizing accountability, transparency, and the fundamental right to privacy. Drawing from this global perspective, I will now explore specific facets of privacy infringement, beginning with Facial Recognition Technology (FRT)," he added.

CJI said that the top court overruled earlier judgments in M.P. Sharma and Kharak Singh, firmly establishing the right to privacy as a fundamental right. While acknowledging that the right to privacy is not absolute, the judgment delineated a stringent standard of judicial review for cases of state intrusion, emphasizing the principles of legality, need, proportionality, and procedural guarantees against abuse.

In navigating the complex terrain of privacy and state surveillance, Indian jurisprudence has continually grappled with striking a balance between individual rights and legitimate state interests. The nuanced approach taken by the courts reflects an evolving understanding of privacy as a dynamic and multifaceted right, adapting to the challenges posed by advancements in technology and the expansive reach of state actions.

For instance, India and Sweden, despite their geographical and cultural differences, find themselves grappling with similar privacy concerns in the digital age. In India, the debate around the implementation of Aadhaar, a biometric identification system, raised questions about the balance between individual privacy and the state's interest in ensuring efficient service delivery. Similarly, Sweden's population registry system has raised similar concerns, as it consolidates vast amounts of personal data, CJI Chandrachud stated.

With troll armies, social media disinformation, there's fear of barrage of speech that distorts truth: CJI

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California, December 1

A pple has released security updates for iPhones, iPads, and Macs to address two vulnerabilities that the company claims are being actively exploited to hack individuals, according to TechCrunch.

Following the disclosure of a vulnerability by security experts at Google's Threat Analysis Group, which examines government-backed cyberattacks, the technology giant released fresh software patches, iOS and iPadOS 17.1.2, and macOS 14.1.2.

According to TechCrunch, in the updates rolled out, Apple said it fixed two vulnerabilities in WebKit, the browser engine that powers Safari and other apps. The vulnerabilities allow for hackers to remotely plant malicious code, such as spyware, on the person's device over the internet. The bug is called a "zero-day" because the vendor is given no time, or zero days, to fix the vulnerability before it is actively exploited.

"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1," Apple said in its security advisories, referring to the iPhone software released on October 11.

Apple also released Safari 17.1.2, an upgrade for people using older versions of macOS Monterey and macOS Ventura, the company said.

It is unknown who is taking advantage of these new zero-day vulnerabilities. Google has not yet assigned responsibility for the exploitation to a specific malevolent actor or government. Apple and Google did not disclose any additional information on the issues.

Earlier this week, Google patched its own zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome, which the search giant said it was aware that an exploit for the vulnerability "exists in the wild." Google security researcher Maddie Stone said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the Chrome bug was fixed within four days. Apple fixed the bug reported by Google's researchers in just under a week, reported TechCrunch.

Apple releases security updates for iOS, iPadOS and macOS

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Dubai, December 1

P rime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Dubai on Friday and discussed climate action and climate financing, among others.

The meeting that took place between the two leaders on the sidelines of the COP 28 Summit in Dubai also witnessed wide-ranging discussions on areas of sports, energy, and defence.

"Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, on December 1, 2023, on the sidelines of the COP 28 Summit in Dubai. The two leaders exchanged views on a wide range of areas, including climate action, climate financing, sports, energy, defence and civil nuclear cooperation," the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release.

PM Modi also met the President of the Maldives on the sidelines of COP-28 Summit in the UAE.

He also congratulated President Muizzu on his assumption of office.

The two leaders reviewed the wide-ranging bilateral relations between the two countries, including people-to-people linkages, development cooperation, and economic ties.

"Both leaders reviewed the wide-ranging bilateral relations between the two countries, including people-to-people linkages, development cooperation, economic relations, climate change and sports," the Ministry of External Affairs release said.

"The two leaders also discussed ways to further deepen their partnership. In this regard, they agreed to set up a core group," the MEA said.

PM Modi also held "productive talks" with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Dubai.

"PM @narendramodi held productive talks with @president_uz Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Dubai," the Prime Minister's Office posted on X (formerly Twitter).

They discussed strengthening bilateral relations in sectors including traditional medicine, education and health.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the COP-28 Summit in UAE.

The PM congratulated the UAE President for successfully hosting the COP-28 Summit. He also thanked the President for co-hosting the high-level event on the Green Climate Programme (GCP) at COP-28.

Both leaders reviewed their wide-ranging and vibrant bilateral ties. They also exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, as per a release issued by the Prime Minister's office.

PM Modi also invited the UAE President to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, to be held in India next month.

PM Modi also met Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson on the sidelines of COP-28 on Friday.

The two discussed various facets of bilateral ties, including defence, R&D, trade and investment, and climate cooperation.

Furthermore, PM Modi also met Swiss President Alain Berset.

The PM, in his meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset, discussed ways to further deepen the India-Switzerland partnership, including in areas of trade and investment, technology, health, education, IT, tourism and people-to-people ties.

"PM @narendramodi met President @alain_berset of Switzerland on the sidelines of #COP28 WCAS in Dubai. The two leaders discussed ways to further deepen - partnership including in areas of trade & investment, technology, health, education, IT, tourism and people to people ties. They also discussed regional and global issues," the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, MEA spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said.

Earlier on Friday, PM Modi met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Dubai.

"Happy to have met President @RTErdogan on the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit in Dubai," PM Modi wrote.

PM Modi on Thursday night arrived in Dubai to attend the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP-28) Summit.

PM Modi on Friday noted that the countries in the Global South have had an immense impact of climate change on them.

The PM said that to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential.

COP28 is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE in Dubai.

The World Climate Action Summit is the high-level segment of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The prime minister underlined that countries in the Global South, including India, have a smaller role to play in climate change but the impact of climate change on them is immense.

"We all know that countries in the Global South, including India, have had less of a role to play in climate change. But the impact of climate change on them is immense. Despite a lack of resources, these countries are committed to climate action," the Prime Minister said at the COP28 Presidency's session on Transforming Climate Finance today.

COP-28 Summit: PM Modi holds bilateral meetings with Presidents of France, Maldives, Uzbekistan

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Amravati, December 1

A ndhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the education department officials to ensure internet connectivity in all schools during the review meeting at the camp office in Tadepalli on Friday.

The chief minister has also asked the officials to ensure two junior colleges in each Mandal: one women's college and the other a co-education. He also asked the officials to present the status report of the junior colleges at the next meeting.

The officials explained to the Chief Minister the department's preparedness to distribute tabs to the 8th class students like the previous year and said, thaover 7000 tabs given to students which were damaged due to various reasons have been replaced.

"We have installed doubt clearance apps in the tabs and the distribution of tabs to teachers has brought reliable changes in teaching. They (teachers) who received tabs last year used an average of 77 minutes per day, while the students spent an average of 67 minutes learning the curriculum. Further, the second phase of IFP panels will be set up by the end of December," said the officials.

The officials disclosed that the government have spent over Rs 3,746.82 crores in the second phase of the Nadu-Nedu works in the schools by providing 11 types of facilities and also in junior colleges.

The officials said that the number of students writing exams in English medium increased significantly.

"It is be noted that only 37.03 per cent of the country as a whole are writing exams in English medium meanwhile 84.11 per cent are writing exams in Andhra Pradesh. In terms of TOEFL training, one class per day is being conducted under the orders of the Chief Minister," said the officials.

The department officials explained the steps taken to implement the IB curriculum in the state and said, "Senior officials have already attended the working group meetings. As part of phase 1, the study will be done on curriculum, assessment, teacher training, teaching plan etc. Further, a training program for teachers will be conducted as part of the second phase. The IB curriculum will start from the next academic year for the first standard, and gradually every year the IB will be expanded by one class."

Regarding the training of future skills, the officials said, "One period on future skills for every 6th class from next academic year onwards. We will use the services of experts in engineering colleges that will give training to children in future skills. The government will pay the stipend to them."

They also informed the process of introducing foreign language courses like Spanish, German, Japanese, and Arabic to the school students from class 9 as an additional option and talks with various entities like English and Foreign Languages University, Duolingo, and others.

"This will give more opportunities to children," said the officials.

Officials said that the special drive on dropouts has given results and revealed that 1,49,515 people have rejoined the schools and volunteers played a key role in bringing the students back to school. Officials revealed that Nandyala is the first district in the country where 100% of the children are enrolled in formal and informal training.

AP CM Jagan reviews education department work at camp office

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There has been a major perception change about India globally: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Kochi, Dec 1

U nion Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Friday said there has been a major perception change about India globally, and emphasised how people in Kerala, including minority communities, are aligning their mindsets with the vision set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kochi, Dec 1 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Friday said there has been a major perception change about India globally, and emphasised how people in Kerala, including minority communities, are aligning their mindsets with the vision set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "In 2014, when PM Narendra Modi inherited a shattered economy, India was governed by a corrupt regime. There was a common global perception that large democracies like India would be dysfunctional, and nobody believed that democracy would work in our country. Another narrative was about how India would always remain poor and never become a developed country," said Chandrasekhar.

"However, today, India has become the fifth-largest economy in the world, moving up from being among the 'fragile five' nations in less than a decade. India as a nation is recognized as a global power to reckon with. There has been a perceptual change about India today, and even people in Kerala, including members of minority communities, are aligning their mindsets towards genuine development, skilling, and unprecedented opportunities for young Indians," the Minister said.

Chandrasekhar addressed the Sadbhavana - Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat event here organised by the Indian Minorities Foundation.

The event focused on the theme "Contribution and Empowerment of India's Minority Communities and Institutions"

Later on Friday, the Minister also met Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of the Archdiocese of Trissur.

The Minister also interacted with students in Trissur to understand and address their academic and non-academic challenges.

There has been a major perception change about India globally: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

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PM Modi meets Israeli Prez on sidelines of COP28

Dubai, Dec 1

P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a bilateral meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai.

The two leaders exchanged views on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the region.

Prime Minister Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in the October 7 Hamas attacks and welcomed the release of hostages.

The Prime Minister reiterated the need for continued and safe delivery of humanitarian aid for the affected population.

He emphasized on India's support for a two-state solution, and early and durable resolution of the Israel-Palestine issue through dialogue and diplomacy.

President Herzog congratulated the Prime Minister on the success of India's G20 Presidency and welcomed the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.

PM Modi meets Israeli Prez on sidelines of COP28

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Kohima, Dec 1

N agaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Friday reiterated that his government was committed to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the much awaited Naga political issue.

Addressing the main function on the occasion of the 61st Statehood Day at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat here, the Chief Minister urged all Naga political groups, Central government and other stakeholders to find an appropriate ways to resolve their remaining differences, and to arrive at a peaceful and early resolution to the Naga political issue.

Noting that 60 years of Nagaland statehood have been marked by both challenges and success, Rio said: "The obstacles and adversities we faced on the way had tested the indomitable spirit of the people, making the state stronger, wiser and more united."

Saying that it is the collective responsibility to carry the vibrant legacy forward, and to foster a sense of belongingness and pride in being the citizens of Nagaland state, he informed the gathering that all efforts were taken to maintain the path of development and progress.

"We always give top most priority to the peaceful and suitable resolution of the Naga political issue, which has been the innermost desire of our people for many years." Stressing on the unity, the Chief Minister said that everyone should renew and strengthen the bonds of unity and brotherhood. As compared to the other region of the state, there is still less socio-economic and infrastructure development in the eastern Nagaland region due to some historical and geographical factors, he pointed out.

The Chief Minister said that a lot of steps have been done but much more remains to be done for the area and the people of Eastern Nagaland. Both the Central and state governments are committed to develop the region by undertaking special measures, he said.

The influential Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO), the apex tribal organisation of eastern Nagaland, has been agitating and boycotted the famous Hornbill Festival last year in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demand for a separate state -- 'Frontier Nagaland' -- for the seven Naga tribes of eastern Nagaland.

The ENPO and other civil society organisations are now holding talks on their demand with the Central government. The Chief Minister urged the ENPO and other organisations to resolve their issues through dialogue and understanding in the true spirit of Naga brotherhood.

Maintaining that the majority of the people in the state are directly or indirectly dependent on agricultural and allied activities, he said that the state government is working to introduce new technology in the agriculture sector for the economic development of both the farming community and the state.

The artificial intelligence and use of drones can provide the farmers a much beneficial assistance for the improvement of their overall activities and livelihood. Referring to the increasing menaces of drugs in the state, Rio said that 'War on Drugs' has been launched by the police and related departments to combat the menace.

An Anti-Narcotics Task Force has been set up in all the districts and concerted efforts have been made to effectively curb the drug networks, he stated. Rio also urged the Church and the civil society organisations to strengthen the government efforts to fight against drugs.

The chief minister also launched the Nagaland School Safety Digital Training and also released a book on Nagaland Disaster Reduction Road Map brought out by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority.

Rio also inaugurated the photo exhibition on '60 years of Nagaland' set up by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations.

Nagaland govt committed to facilitate a peaceful solution of Naga political issue: CM Rio

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The Ukrainian defenders told about a touching case when a child handed them a handmade envelope containing money and a note of gratitude. The boy wrote: "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here anymore."

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The 126th separate brigade of the Odesa territorial defense reported on the schoolboy's good deed. On Tuesday, December 13, the soldiers' Facebook page posted a photo of the gift made by the young patriot.

"A little boy brought a mysterious handmade envelope to the soldiers' positions and went home. When we later opened the message, our soldiers were very touched," the brigade admitted.

On a small sheet of paper, the child wrote: "Thank you very much! May you come home soon! The Armed Forces will win! If you weren't there, we would not be here. Thank you very, very much."

The Odesa soldiers of the TRO promised that they would find the author of the note and thank him.

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As OBOZREVATEL wrote:

- Six-year-old Pavlik from Lviv raised more than 12 thousand hryvnias for Ukrainian soldiers. Together with his mother, Khrystyna Hashenko-Kikot, they baked cupcakes every Saturday, and on Sunday the little volunteer sold them near churches.

- And eight-year-old Serhiy Moroz from Chernihiv raised money for a car for the intelligence of the operational command "North" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by singing Ukrainian songs. The car cost 261 thousand hryvnias.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel Obozrevatel and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
PM Modi thanks UN chief for support to India's G20 presidency

Dubai, Dec 1

I ndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.

The Prime Minister thanked Guterres for his support during India's G20 presidency.

He highlighted India's initiatives and progress in achieving climate goals.

Both leaders exchanged views on priorities and concerns of the Global South related to climate action, climate finance, technology and reforms of the multilateral governance and financial institutions, including the UN.

The UN Secretary-General appreciated India's efforts in the areas of sustainable development, climate action, MDB reforms, and disaster management under G20 Presidency. He welcomed PM Modi's Green Credit Initiative.

He affirmed to work with India to build on the achievements of India's Presidency and take them forward at the UN Summit of the Future 2024.

PM Modi thanks UN chief for support to India's G20 presidency

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Washington DC, December 1

H ow can one establish robust, yet fast-releasing bonds between living and non-living tissues? Bioengineers who want to develop materials that fuse together for sophisticated biological applications are still perplexed by this subject.

The McGill-led study focused on the marine mussel byssus, a fibrous holdfast that these bivalve mollusks employ to anchor themselves in seaside settings, drawing inspiration from nature. The byssus stem root is securely attached inside the soft living tissue of the mussel, while the other end of the byssus clings to rocky surfaces via an underwater adhesive. Professor Matthew Harrington of Chemistry at McGill University conducted a study on this biointerface--the area of interaction between living tissue and the non-living byssus stem root.

"Up to this point, it was baffling how the byssus stem root biointerface could be strong enough to resist constant crashing waves but also be suddenly released by the mussel upon demand," said Harrington. "It seemed as if the mussel could somehow control its strength."

Following a cross-disciplinary investigation, the team found that the stem root separates into approximately 40-50 sheets known as lamellae that interlock with the living tissue, creating an incredibly strong interface much like interleaving two phone books together.

"The biggest surprise is how this strength can be lowered through the beating movements of billions of tiny hair-like cilia on the surface of the living tissue. Cilia movement is under the control of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, enabling the quick release of the whole stem root on demand." says Harrington who holds the Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry

This finding is particularly relevant for biomedical engineers and materials scientists as they look towards the future of bio-implants, wearable sensors, brain-computer interface design, and more.

"The stem root biointerface is unlike anything seen in human-made materials and could offer important inspiration for the next generation of biointerfaces," said Harrington. "Since further medical advances will depend on novel biointe.

Study sheds more light into secret strength of marine mussels

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Dubai, December 1

P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday wrapped up his day-long visit to the UAE after successfully attending the World Climate Action Summit of the Conference of Parties-28.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the PM's visit was defined by fruitful engagements with global leaders and path-breaking initiatives for accelerating global climate action.

During his UAE visit, PM Modi noted that climate change has had an immense impact on the countries in the Global South.

The PM said that to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential.

The prime minister underlined that countries in the Global South, including India, have a smaller role to play in climate change but the impact of climate change on them is immense.

"We all know that countries in the Global South, including India, have had less of a role to play in climate change. But the impact of climate change on them is immense. Despite a lack of resources, these countries are committed to climate action," the Prime Minister said at the COP28 Presidency's session on Transforming Climate Finance today.

"In order to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential," he said.

COP28 is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE in Dubai.

The World Climate Action Summit is the high-level segment of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This is PM Modi's third appearance at the World Climate Action Summit after his visits to Paris in 2015 and Glasgow in 2021.

During the PM's UAE visit, India and Sweden announced the launch of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition 2.0 (LeadIT 2.0) in Dubai.

The PM said the initiative will have three focuses. "First, inclusive and just industrial transition. Second, co-development and transfer of low-carbon technology; and third support for emerging technology. To make all this possible, we are also launching the India-Sweden industrial transformation platform. I have full belief that we will write a new green growth story for the generation to come," PM Modi said.

PM Modi, along with Sweden's PM Ulf Kristersson, President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi and European Council president Charles Michel, launched the web portal of the Green Credits Programme at the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

"The manner in which we give importance to our Health Card in life, we have to similarly start thinking in the context of environment. We will have to see what is to be done to add positive points to Earth's Health Card. I think this is what Green Credit is," PM Modi said.

Meanwhile, in a special gesture by the UAE, PM Modi was given the honour of speaking at the Ceremonial Opening of COP28. Others speaking were COP28 President Sultan Jaber and the UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

PM Modi said that India is among the few countries which are on course to meet Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) as part of efforts to combat climate change and proposed that the country will host COP33 in 2028.

"India is committed to UN Framework for Climate Change process. That is why, from this stage, I propose to host COP33 Summit in India in 2028," PM Modi said in his remarks at the opening ceremony of High-level segment of COP28 being hosted by UAE.

He said India has presented an excellent example of the balance between ecology and economy before the world.

"Despite India being home to 17 per cent of population of the world, its contribution to Global Carbon Emissions is less than 4 per cent. India is one of those few economies of the world that is on the path to meet NDC targets," he said.

PM Modi on Friday met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the COP-28 Summit.

The PM congratulated the UAE President for successfully hosting the COP-28 Summit. He also thanked the President for co-hosting the high-level event on the Green Climate Programme (GCP) at COP-28.

Both leaders reviewed their wide-ranging and vibrant bilateral ties. They also exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, as per a release issued by the Prime Minister's office. PM Modi also invited the UAE President to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, to be held in India next month.

"PM @narendramodi met UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of #COP28 WCAS in Dubai," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi wrote on 'X'.

"The leaders reviewed bilateral ties and exchanged views on Israel-Hamas conflict. PM congratulated His Highness for successfully hosting #COP28 and thanked him for co-hosting the high-level event on Green Climate Programme at #COP28. PM also invited him for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held next month in India," Bagchi said.

PM Modi on Friday also met Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson on the sidelines of COP-28, the two discussed various facets of bilateral ties including defence, R&D, trade and investment and climate cooperation.

The PM in his meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset, discussed ways to further deepen India-Switzerland partnership including in areas of trade and investment, technology, health, education, IT, tourism and people-to-people ties.

Earlier on Friday, PM Modi met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Dubai.

The PM also met his Barbados counterpart Mia Amor Mottley.

"Happy to have met Barbados PM @miaamormottley during the COP28 Summit. Island nations face unique vulnerabilities to climate change, highlighting the urgent need for global cooperation to address these challenges and build resilience together," he said.

COP-28 Summit: After engagements with world leaders, climate action initiatives, PM Modi wraps up UAE visit

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Dubai, Dec 1

U S President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping were conspicuous by their absence at the Conference of Parties (COP) 28 climate summit here while UAE committed a whopping $38 billion for climate change solutions and unveiled a plan for achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

World leaders have gathered here for the COP28 climate change summit including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But the absence of Biden and Xi is an obstacle to meaningful action on climate change, media reports said pointing out that the US was the biggest carbon emitter followed by China and India.

King Charles III and Pope Francis are attending alongside the delegates.

The summit's objective is to extract commitments from all nations that the core goal will be to reinforce their resolve in meeting the Paris 2015 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius a year above pre-industrial levels.

Biden had said he would be deputing Vice President Kamala Harris to attend the summit on behalf of the US as White House said he was heavily engaged with the wars in Ukraine, and Gaza war between Israel, and the hostage negotiations.

The White House had announced that Biden would not be attending the opening of the summit, and following criticism of the decision announced a last-minute schedule change Wednesday, sending Vice President Kamala Harris in Biden's place.

Previously, the most senior US official scheduled to attend had been US climate envoy John Kerry.

Biden has attended both of the previous UN climate summits but is facing criticism for his green policies from Republicans, while also facing pressure from younger Democratic voters to take more action to tackle the climate crisis.

Instead of Xi, China is being represented at the summit by China's climate envoy Xie Zhenhua.

Biden and Xi pass on the chance to inject momentum into talks.

The US and China are the world's biggest economies, together accounting for around 38 per cent of the world's greenhouse emissions.

The top 20 nations contributing to 8 per cent of carbon emissions are the US, China, India and the European nations.

Tom Evans, a policy advisor at think tank E3G, told Business Insider that the decision by the world's most powerful leaders to skip the event was particularly disappointing given they'd recently found common ground on the climate crisis amid escalating tensions on a range of other issues.

A stumbling block in the talks at COP28 is the reluctance of some countries in the developing world to agree to tough cuts in emissions that they say would hamper their economic development.

US & China skip COP28 summit in Dubai

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Dubai, Dec 2

K ing Charless III of the UK told the Conference of Parties (COP) 28 Summit here on Friday that global leaders were ignoring the early warning signals of the climate crisis, adding the world is heading for "dangerous uncharted territory" with devastating consequences for lives and livelihoods.

Delivering an opening address to the COP28 Summit, King Charles said: "With all my heart I say that COP28 will be a critical turning point towards genuine transformational action.

"Some important progress has been made but it worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully far off track," he said.

He further said: "We are taking the natural world outside balanced norms and limits and into dangerous uncharted territory."

Conspicuous by their absence were US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The King told delegates that the "hope of the world" rested on decisions taken at the summit.

"We are carrying out a vast, frightening experiment of changing every ecological condition all at once at a pace that far outstrips natures ability to cope," he said.

The King called for a series of measures, including a ramp-up of public and private finance, to tackle the climate crisis and rapidly increase renewable energy, media reports said.

"In 2050, our grandchildren won't be asking what we said, they will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do," he said, adding: "The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth."

World leaders including India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil's President Lula Da Silva and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed delegates Friday at the talks in Dubai.

Global leaders ignoring early warning signals of climate crisis: King Charles III

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New Delhi, Dec 2

A mid the conflict in Ukraine, Russia will head to polls in March 2024 to elect a new President.

While the focus is on whether incumbent Vladimir Putin contests again, more important is whether there is any alternative, and more significantly, will some other leader's emergence mean a major change in policies.

Under the law, the Russian presidential elections are to take place in mid-March. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Parliament, is expected to announce the date 90 to 100 days before the elections -- approximately between December 8 and 18.

These will be the first polls since the 2020 constitutional amendment, which set a limit of two presidential terms - but not retrospectively, thus allowing Putin to contest in 2024, and even 2030.

The possibility of the first proviso in these elections seems remote, going by the present array of candidates, declared or probable, unless Putin reprises the manoeuvre of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin in 1999.

Thwarted by the legislature in reinstalling his preferred choice Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister in 1998, Yeltsin had juggled through three candidates for the post before picking Putin, then the head of domestic intelligence agency, as head of government in August 1999.

Yeltsin then resigned unexpectedly at the end of the year, propelling Putin, his covert planned successor, to the top post.

Putin, who has announced that he will decide whether he will contest for his fifth term once the elections are formally declared -- though sources indicate he will fight, is unlikely to be so capricious, or abrupt, in the rare case he holds back.

His chosen successor at the end of his first presidential stint (2000-08) was Dmitri Medvedev, whom he knew from St Petersburg in the post-Soviet era, who was associated with his administration since 2000, and announced as candidate months before the 2008 polls.

Significantly, Medvedev upstaged Putin's fellow KGB colleague Sergei Ivanov, who was seen as a strong contender.

If Putin has any preference this time around, it remains a close-guarded secret, though names of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Medvedev and some others of his circle, have been speculated upon.

To the second question of policy change, the prospects are infinitesimal, even if Putin hands over the baton, or by a miraculous marvel, some outlier wins.

With 'liberal' Alexei Navalny in prison and anyway disqualified from politics, the eventual nominee of the social liberal Russian United Democratic Party 'Yabloko' or Boris Nadezhdin, the nominee of the centre-right democratic Civic Initiative, who have spoken out against the Ukraine war, are the other candidates who could offer an alternative policy.

But will they be credible candidates, even if they meet the threshold to contest?

Going by their present strength - Yabloko only has presence in some regional parliaments, not the Duma, and the Civic Initiative is an an extra-parliamentary force, it is doubtful that they could make a change.

For other parties with parliamentary presence, apart from the ruling and country's largest United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which is the second-largest, A Just Russia  For Truth, the misleadingly named ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, New People, Rodina, Civic Platform, and Party of Growth may be conservative, left-wing, or liberal but are all nationalist - especially when it comes to Ukraine.

These may put up candidates for the 2024 polls - for the Communist Party, it may be chief Gennady Zyuganov, who has contested unsuccessfully four times since 1996 or Pavel Grudinin, the 2018 candidate, or even new Duma deputy Maria Prusakova, but just to make it a multi-sided contest, rather than for any change.

Since the 19th century, Russia, intellectually and politically, has those advocating closer ties with the West and those stressing on the Slavic heritage - the Westerners or Europhiles, and the Slavophiles - and both have had their ascendance and fall during the Tsarist, Communist, and post-Soviet period.

However, Putin's 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference was a watershed in the debate as he called out the US' "almost uncontained hyper use of force" in international relations and how NATO expansion was not concerned with its modernisation or with ensuring security in Europe, but a "serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust".

"And we have the right to ask: Against whom is this expansion intended," he asked.

Since then, Crimea, the intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and finally, the Ukraine conflict shows Russia is not confrontation-averse -- and this is something that most of the political elite agree with.

And for the common Russians, the harsh sanctions, visa bans, the extensive items that can be confiscated, and so on, are not conducive to creating support for the West or seeking reversal of policies.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

As Ukraine War drags on, Russia prepares for a fifth Putin term

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X to target SMBs for ads after Musk's outburst against big brands

San Francisco, Dec 2

A fter Elon Musks outburst against big advertisers like Disney this week, X is reportedly aiming to tap small and medium businesses (SMBs) to offset the advertising loss from big companies.

A new report by The Financial Times has claimed X will now turn to SMBs to shore up revenue after Musk angered big brands by supporting antisemitic content.

Small and medium businesses are a very significant engine that we have definitely underplayed for a long time," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

It was always part of the plan, now we will go even further with it, the company added.

Musk has warned that the loss of big advertisers would spell the end of X.

The X owner stunned the world when he told advertisers to "go f*** yourself" earlier this week, after some top companies pulled advertising on his platform over his endorsement of anti-Semitism.

Speaking at The New York Times' DealBook Summit, when Andrew Ross Sorkin asked the X owner about pauses in advertising, Musk replied: "Don't advertise."

"You don't want them to advertise?" Sorkin asked him.

"If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself," Musk said.

"What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail," he told the audience.

Musk also apologised for what he called his "dumbest" ever social media post on Semitism.

Meanwhile, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the platform is enabling an information independence that's uncomfortable for some people.

We're a platform that allows people to make their own decisions. And heres my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street  and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you, she posted on X.

More than 100 brands have halted their ads, and the company is at risk of losing $75 million by the end of the year, according to reports.

X to target SMBs for ads after Musk's outburst against big brands

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San Francisco, Dec 2

O penAI has delayed the launch of its GPT Store to next year, according to an email sent to people who signed up for its GPT Builder.

In the email, OpenAI stated that "unexpected things have been keeping us busy," which has delayed the launch of the GPT Store, reports The Verge.

The company informed in the mail that they are planning to launch the GPT Store early next year, which was expected to take place in December.

"We are now planning to launch the GPT Store early next year. While had expected to release it this month, a few unexpected things have been keeping us busy," OpenAI said in a mail.

In its email, OpenAI stated that while it is still working on the store, users should expect some upgrades to ChatGPT.

Over the past few weeks, OpenAI has been dealing with a number of developments -- the ouster of Sam Altman, the open revolt of hundreds of its employees, the welcoming of a new CEO, and the eventual reinstatement of Altman as its leader.

The most recent development at OpenAI is that Altman has officially returned to OpenAI as CEO after an intense drama last month, with Microsoft getting a non-voting observer seat on the companys board.

Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, with a 49 per cent stake in the for-profit entity that the nonprofit board controls,

The GPT store will be a marketplace where users of OpenAI's GPT builders can sell and share the GPTs they've created.

OpenAI delays launch of GPT Store to next year

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Chennai, Dec 2

T he year 2023 saw two historic flights -- one for the world and the other for India.

First the Indian one -- the AirAsia India flight i5-767 from Pune to New Delhi on May 19, 2023.

So what was historic about it?

It was the first Indian flight to be powered by a blend of indigenous Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) supplied by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) in partnership with Praj Industries Ltd.

Praj sourced the SAF in partnership with Gevo Inc, which developed the Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology for the production of SAF using bio-based feedstock.

The samples produced at its research and development (R&D) facility, Praj Matrix, were tested by IOC before they were blended -- up to 1 per cent with the traditional aviation turbine fuel -- for the historic flight.

Recently Virgin Atlantics Boeing 787 flight London to New York became the worlds first 100 per cent SAF-powered flight. The flight demonstrated SAF as safe fuel and a substitute for fossil fuel.

Be that as it may, Indias Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on the AirAsia Indias flight said: By 2025, if we target to blend 1% SAF blending in Jet fuel, India would require around 14 crore litre of SAF/annum. More ambitiously, if we target for 5% SAF blend, India requires around 70 crore litre of SAF/ annum.

According to Puri, SAF is produced from renewable sources such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, and forestry residues and has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel.

Puri said the Indian aviation sector consumes around 8 million tonnes of aviation turbine fuel and emitted around 20 million tons of GHGs in 2019 (pre-COVID).

India has feedstock for potential production of 19 to 24 million tonnes of SAF per year, whereas the estimated maximum requirement of SAF in India, considering 50% blend, is around 8 to 10 million tons per year by 2030, Puri said.

According to him, as little as 1% SAF blending, more than 5 lakh farmers can benefit because of the supply of sugarcane as feedstock. Additionally, more than 1 lakh green jobs will be generated.

Global aviation is currently responsible for about 3% of total global GHG emissions. If the emission remains unchecked, it could be responsible for 22% of GHG emissions by 2050.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has released Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) regulations that have defined a target of reducing CO2 emissions from the aviation sector by 50% by 2050. An alternative to the current use of fossil fuels is to use SAF that can result in greater greenhouse gas (GHG) savings, said Praj.

Praj joining hands with Indian Oil Corporation is setting up a commercial SAF plant at the latters Panipat plant with rice straw as the feedstock.

However there is no mandatory stipulation as to the use of blended aviation fuel.

Route cleared for smooth flight of sustainable aviation fuel, cleaner sky

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Xi inspects command office for East China Sea area of China Coast Guard

Xinhua) 08:58, December 02, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force, Nov. 29, 2023. Xi on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

SHANGHAI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed improving the capability of protecting maritime rights and carrying out maritime law enforcement.

He heard a briefing about the work of the command office and watched coast guard vessels carrying out their missions via video link.

Xi stressed effective maritime law enforcement and resolute protection of China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Efforts should be made to improve the mechanism of coordination in maritime law enforcement, crack down on offshore crimes, safeguard the sound development of the marine economy, engage in international exchanges and cooperation in maritime law enforcement, and actively take part in international and regional ocean governance, he said.

Xi also urged solid efforts to raise the level of command office building and stressed the need to comprehensively strengthen Party building to ensure political integrity.

Senior military official He Weidong took part in the inspection.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets and poses for a group photo with representatives of the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force at the command office, Nov. 29, 2023. Xi on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Soon after Easter, Ukraine will celebrate Memorial Day, and thousands of people will go to cemeteries to visit the graves of their loved ones and bring them flowers. Local authorities and eco-activists are calling for people to refuse artificial plastic bouquets, as they create whole piles of garbage that cannot always be recycled. But not everyone knows that not all fresh flowers are suitable for honoring the memory of the dead.

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OBOZREVATEL looked into this issue. We will tell you which bouquets will not be appropriate at the cemetery.

First of all, there are requirements for the appearance of flowers. Overly colorful and lavishly decorated bouquets are not suitable. It is better to follow the rule of three colors and not to choose more shades of flowers at the same time. It is also better to refuse packaging and limit yourself to a thin black ribbon on the stems.

Round arrangements will look out of place at the cemetery. Florists recommend more restrained pyramidal and diamond-shaped compositions. It is better to choose flowers that are not fully bloomed - lush flowers, as a symbol of the joy of life, have no place on the grave.

As for the specific flowers, it is better to give preference to the following types, considering what they symbolize:

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red rose - passionate love;

pink rose - friendship;

white rose - purity;

poppy - consolation, as well as a symbol of war dead or veterans;

calla lily - marriage and fidelity;

sunflower - admiration;

peony - healing;

chamomile - innocence;

hydrangea - perseverance;

gladiolus - strength of character;

red carnation - brightness;

pink carnation - gratitude;

white carnation - memory;

delphinium - purity of the soul;

orchid - delicate beauty.

But in general, experts advise you to focus on what the deceased person loved and your memories of him or her when choosing flowers. A bouquet of the deceased's favorite flowers will never be inappropriate, no matter what anyone says.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL talked about the basic rules of behavior at the cemetery - what you can and cannot do at the graves.

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The image of the world-famous Spanish actress Penelope Cruz at the Gotham Awards, where she presented her upcoming movie Ferrari, is still being discussed online. The 49-year-old star impressed with a stylish outfit and a young look. Hair stylists are sure that her new coloring, which promises to become a major trend in 2024, played a significant role in the celebrity's stunning look.

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Thus, Penelope Cruz decided on ombre, a special hair coloring technique that creates a smooth transition from a darker shade at the roots to a lighter one at the tips. The Glamour tabloid explained why this technique, which was already popular many years ago, is once again returning to the top of the list of trends.

Experts call the revival of this technique an "ombre renaissance" and assure that it will be triumphant. In particular, due to even smoother gradients and more nuances than in previous periods of ombre's rise.

After wearing an almost black hair shade for a long time, since last summer her hairstyle has been overflowing with caramel highlights. But it wasn't until the Gotham Awards in New York that her strands became truly colorful from root to tip that it really came to light.

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Looking at the deep parting on the top of Penelope's head, one might initially think that she has chosen a restrained version of the ombre with shades of dark and medium brown. However, the lower part of its length shimmers with honey-blond tones, creating a clear difference between the darkest color at the roots and the lightest at the tips.

Cruz chose a successful makeup look that perfectly matched her new hairstyle. Warm brown eyeshadow and copper eyeliner made the look even more impressive and harmonious.

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The actress wore a stylish crocheted maxi dress from Chanel's Fall Winter 2023-2024 collection in milky color. This seems to be the star's favorite brand, so she knows exactly how to wear it correctly. Cruz looked elegant and expensive and managed to attract the attention of the paparazzi and other guests of the ceremony.

It should be added that other world stars also choose ombre. In particular, Kendall Jenner, Kaia Gerber, and Rita Ora have already demonstrated a perfect coloring technique that made their looks bold and sophisticated at the same time.

As a reminder, hair coloring is a complicated process. And even buying ready-made dye does not always provide an even and beautiful color. How do you avoid harming your hair and get the best result if you decide to do it at home for some reason? Hair care specialist Maryna Vasylenko in an exclusive commentary for OBOZ.UA named 10 common mistakes that most women make when choosing self-dyeing.

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As OBOZ.UA wrote earlier, experts of the cosmetics company Millies showed the most fashionable hairstyles of 2024 with the help of ChatGPT and Bard. The results were very accurate.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Don't fall for fakes!
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Of 140-plus public elementary, middle and high schools across the area, three finished atop the category of "teacher attendance," determined by the percentage who have fewer than 10 absences in a school year. See who else made the area top 10.
Questions about a mystery antenna near Urbana Middle School  what they do at the Illinois Plasma Institute  how many people died of drug overdoses in Champaign County during 2022  and what happened to the big sign over the main entrance at Sams Club. Also, a look at some of Amerens policies and procedures in the wake of the late-June storms that left many households without electric power for days
The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) is expected to issue the answer key and response sheet for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2023 for all three slots shortly. However, no official announcement regarding the CAT 2023 answer key and response sheet release date and time has been made. Once the answer key and response sheets are published, candidates who took the CAT 2023 will be able to access and download it from the official website, iimcat.ac.in.

The CAT 2023 test was held in three sessions on November 26 by IIM Lucknow. The morning session was held from 8:30 am to 10:30 am, the afternoon slot from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, and the evening session from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

After the answer key is made available, the CAT 2023 objection window will open, giving candidates s few days to examine the provisional answer key and raise grievances.

CAT 2023 answer key: How To Download

Following the publication of the CAT 2023 answer key, applicants will be able to obtain it by following the steps outlined below.

Step 1: Go to the CAT 2023 official website at iimcat.ac.in.

Step 2: On the main page, look for the link to the CAT 2023 answer key.

Step3: Enter your application ID and password to log in.

Step 4: The answer keys for each slot will be presented on the screen.

Step 5: Analyse the CAT 2023 answer key and save a copy for future use.

Candidates can estimate their approximate scores by analysing the number of right questions using the response sheet and answer key. Candidates may calculate their results using the CAT Answer Key 2023 and CAT response sheet PDF and add 3 points for each correct answer and deduct 1 point for each wrong answer. Notably, negative marking is limited to multiple-choice questions.

The official websites information bulletin states that IIM Lucknow will release the CAT 2023 results to the public in the second week of January 2024. The results, which will be presented as CAT 2023 percentiles, will be determined by elements such as the exams difficulty level, the amount of applicants, and other relevant considerations.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) campus placements for the academic year 2023-24 kickstarted with a total of 164 job offers made by 59 companies on the first day of the placement drive. In addition to that, the IITians have received as many as 214 Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs). As per a statement by the institute, most of the job offers were in the sectors of Core Engineering and Finance profiles.

The institute further informs that eleven placement offers were made to the IITians with the highest salary package of more than Rs 1 crore, compared to seven offers made on the first day of the placement drive last year in the academic year 202223. The IIT Guwahati received 160 offers by 46 companies during the same period last year.

Tech behemoths like Google, Microsoft, Navi, Piramal, Bajaj, HPCL, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments among othershave participated in offering lucrative packages to the students in this years first two sessions.

According to the latest updates, the institute is expected to continue Phase 1 of IIT Guwahati placements until December 15. In the academic year 202324, a total of 1491 students across different streams of study registered for placements.

Moreover, a total of 262 companies registered for Phase 1 of placements will be recruiting a total of 422 profiles, along with seven public sector undertakings (PSUs). Among these, more than 50 start-ups have also registered for recruitment in the ongoing academic year.

The institute further stated that session 1.1 of IIT Guwahati placements began at around midnight while session 1.2 started at around 8 am. However, the final session of 1.3 began at 4 pm and is slated to complete by midnight.

IIT Guwahatis Career Development Head, Lalit Mohan Pandey told Careers 360, IIT Guwahati defies global recession by maintaining the steady placement statistics. Through rigorous training, our students have adeptly grasped the intricacies of companies requirements, equipping themselves to effectively meet these demands.

He further said that this process is assisting in fostering a comprehensive understanding on the part of both the potential employee and employer.

We are glad to see the participation of huge numbers of recruiters from different sectors enthusiastically hiring the talented pool of IIT Guwahati. The students are encouraged to join the core sectors, Rajeev Ahuja, the officiating director of IIT Guwahati told the portal, congratulating the students for clinching these amazing opportunities.
Rock paintings of ancient people, some of which have stumped scientists, were discovered in the Swaga Swaga Game Reserve in central Tanzania. In addition to traditional animals, the drawings depict huge humanoid creatures with disproportionately giant heads.

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The discovery was made in 2018 and described in an article published in the journal Antiquity. Scientists assume that the drawings are very old as weathering has significantly destroyed them. It is impossible to determine the exact date.

The strange drawings were found in a place known as Amak'hee 4. Almost all of the drawings, including the strange creatures, are made with red pigment, except for five figures drawn in white.

The weathering of this red pigment, according to the researchers, is an indication that the drawing is quite old and probably dates back to the time of hunter-gatherer societies in the region.

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The rock art depicts a variety of animals, including antelopes, buffaloes, and even a giraffe. But three tall figures with giant heads stand out.

Scientists assume that these three figures have heads stylized as buffalo heads, but their bodies do not resemble these animals at all.

Researchers have tried to find information about buffalo-headed people or people who turned into buffaloes in the myths of the Sandawe people, who are descendants of those who once inhabited the region, but nothing like this was found. At the same time, the Sandawe did use buffalo horns in certain rituals.

However, scientists believe that the images may have a completely different explanation.

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It is worth noting that similar but not so clear drawings of creatures with large heads have been found before. Very similar figures were found not far from Amak'hee 4 in two places in the Kondoa region of central Tanzania, but they seemed to be lying on the ground there, not standing.

Nevertheless, the figures are similar: they are connected by a line running through their middle and have a similar arrangement and direction of their hands and arms.

At the same time, the figures from Amak'hee 4 have some important differences: their heads seem to be filled with solid color. And the creatures themselves seem to be the center of the composition.

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Earlier, OBOZ.UA told about an ancient rock painting, which turned out to be a drawing of an 8,000-year-old megastructure.

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The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has issued an information booklet for the Joint Entrance Examination  Advanced (JEE Advanced) 2024. The JEE Advanced 2024 registration procedure will commence on April 21 on the official website, jeeadv.ac.in. Details about the test, such as eligibility requirements and registration fees, are included in the JEE Advanced 2024 information pamphlet. IIT Madras will host JEE Advanced in 2024 to shortlist applicants for admission to multiple Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) across India. The date of the JEE Advanced 2024 examination has been set for May 26.

According to the most recent information bulletin released, the JEE Advanced application fee for 2024 has been hiked up for all categories. The JEE Advanced is administered by seven zonal coordinating IITs on behalf of the Joint Admission Board 2024.

JEE Advanced 2024: Eligibility Criteria

 Applicants must rank within the top 2.5 lakh JEE Main 2024 qualifying candidates in all categories.

 The JEE Advanced 2024 applicants must have been born on or after October 1, 1999. Candidates from the SC, ST, and PWD categories are granted a five-year age relaxation. Those who wish to apply from this category must have been born on October 1, 1994, or later.

 A candidate can sit for JEE Advanced not more than twice in two consecutive years.

 Physics, chemistry, and maths are required subjects for the Class 12 exam, which the applicant must have appeared for either in 2023 or 2024.

JEE Advanced 2024 Revised Application Fee for Indian Nationals

Category Revised Fee Previous Fee Female Candidates Rs 1,600 Rs 1,450 SC, ST, PwD Candidates Rs 1,600 Rs 1,450 All Other Candidates Rs 3,200 Rs 2,900

JEE Advanced 2024 Application Fee for Foreign Nationals

Category Revised Fee Previous Fee Candidates from SAARC countries 200 US Dollar 90 US Dollar Candidates from Non-SAARC countries 100 US Dollar 180 US Dollar

JEE Advanced 2024 Revised Application Fee for OCI/PIO Card Holders

Category Revised Fee Previous Fee Female Candidates (GEN and GEN-PwD) Rs 1,600 Rs 1,450 OPEN (GEN-PwD) Rs 1,600 Rs 1,450 OPEN (GEN) Rs 3,200 Rs 2,900

The schedule for JEE Advanced 2024 indicates that the admit card will be issued out on May 17. The tentative answer keys will be released on June 2 by IIT Madras, while the JEE Advanced result 2024 will be announced on June 9.

The AAT 2024 will be held on June 12, with the results expected on June 15. The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) procedure is expected to begin on June 10.
Assembly Elections 2023: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that the date of counting for the assembly election in Mizoram will be postponed from December 3 to December 4, Monday. While the counting of votes and result declaration for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana will take place on the designated date of December 3. Telangana was the last state to go to polling and the approximate voter turnout in the state stood at 71.34 per cent. Exit Polls on November 30 suggested that KCR might be losing Telangana to Congress, however only results will tell as to which party will take the reign.
A day ahead of the results in five states, Union Minister Piyush Goyal predicted that the BJP will win both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan assembly elections and went on to say that the saffron party will get a thumping majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan we are winning both comfortably, the Union Minister said in a conversation with Network18 editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi at the 19th edition of the CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA) on Saturday.

Goyal said that the BJP will comfortably win the Lok Sabha election with a clean sweep in the North and North Western states of the country.

I am saying 330+ (seats). Chances are that the North and North Western belt will give us a clean sweep. We will be looking at 80, at least not less than 77, in Uttar Pradesh. Yogi Aadityanath has brought back sanity in that State he said.

He further said that the BJP will also gain seats in opposition-ruled states including Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Karnataka in the 2024 elections.

We will repeat our performance in Chhattisgarh with 10-11 seats. In West Bengal, we will go up to 20. There will be a clean sweep in Karnataka. In Maharashtra too, we will bring 27/28 by ourselves, the minister added.

Speaking on the opposition INDIA bloc, Piyush Goyal said there was a serious erosion of trust among the opposition parties.

What will the regional leaders add to the seats outside their own regions? There is a serious erosion of trust. The country wants a decisive leader who delivers, who commits to make us the third largest economy in two years, he said.

On the question of whether Rahul Gandhis perception had improved after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he said that the BJP should acknowledge the victory of the Congress in a few States.

Every election is a standalone election. We have to give them the state they won. But at the National stage, the way the country has progressed in the last 10 years, empowerment of the common man has taken place. The aspirations of the common man have changed, he said, adding that the BJP has not discriminated anyone while empowering people.

Responding to the question on the freebie culture introduced in several states, he said, The PM believes that we should empower people. All our programs focus on saturation. Now, the culture of quality has seeped in. Within a few years, our per capita income will become $20,000.

On the recent row over allegations against India regarding the killing of Canada-based militant Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the alleged failed plot to kill designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Goyal said the the allegations are baseless.

We go by the rules of international diplomacy. Nobody can imagine government-sponsored activities like these. Whoever is responsible should be brought to the books. I can assure you that the government of India doesnt do these things. There were much bigger fish we would have gone behind, if we were to do something like this, he said.

The Union Minister also said that it will take India another seven years to double its economy. It wont take more than 25 years to become 35 trillion dollars economy, he added.

Goyal also spoke about Tesla and its possible entry into India, where he said that companies like Tesla cannot miss the bus when it comes to Indias huge domestic market.

Be it Tata or Mahindra  electric cars are coming in a big way. In the next 7 years, I see all electric cars will be sold in India, Tesla wouldnt like to miss the bus. We are well on track. Tesla will want our large domestic market, he further added.

The India Business Leader Awards is a distinguished platform that annually recognizes and celebrates the exceptional leaders driving innovation, growth, and positive change across industries.

In its illustrious history, the awards have become a hallmark of excellence, honouring visionaries who have played pivotal roles in shaping Indias economic landscape. Powered by CNBC-TV18, the India Business Leader Awards showcase the relentless pursuit of excellence, acknowledging leaders whose ingenuity and leadership have set new benchmarks.
Exit poll projections have created an air of anticipation by throwing up a few twists.

It is true that, in the past, individual exit polls have missed the mark. But when their projections have been aggregated, they have been reasonably helpful in giving us an idea of the prevailing mood among voters.

And so the math suggests that the Congresss hopes of a clean sweep may suffer a setback. A majority of the polls show that the Congress could find itself pipped to the post in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Even in Chhattisgarh, where the Congress is very dominant presently, it will be given a run for its money courtesy a BJP late surge.

Fortunately, for the Congress, the exit polls tell us that voters in Telangana are more charitably disposed towards it. The Congress is expected to secure a comfortable majority over KCRs Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

At this stage, approximately five months short of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will be happy to split the honours (2-2) with the Congress.

Remember, the party has been on the ropes in Madhya Pradesh where it has been in power for 17 years or so. Incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has had a spotty record. Readers will recall that Chouhan had lost the elections to the Congresss Kamal Nath in 2018. Chouhan owes his continued run in office to satrap Jyotiraditya Scindia and his coterie of MLAs who defected from the Congress to the BJP, pulling down the Nath government in 2019. The defection gave the BJP the extra seats it needed to form a government for a third time under Chouhan.

In neighbouring Rajasthan, the BJP has long been rudderless, riven as it was by factionalism. In the absence of a strong BJP challenger, the Congress, led by Ashok Gehlot, looked set to return to power. If it does, it will break an almost three-decade-long trend of voters booting out incumbents every five years.

But a bold gambit by the BJPs most bankable face, Narendra Modi, and master strategist Amit Shah has galvanised the BJP cadre in both the states.

Modi and Shah marched a platoon of BJP union ministers and MPs into the breach. Some of the BJP central commanders have been made to contest the elections from their Lok Sabha bastions and others have been called upon to rally the cadre at organisational level.

Exit poll projections seem to suggest the tactic may have paid off.

But this purported semi-final is much more than just about building tactical momentum ahead of the big one in 2024.

Instead, it is a proving ground for the 4Ms  a clutch of strategies that parties plan to deploy for the grand finale in 2024.

First, lets talk about M1 or the Modi factor. With the Prime Minister seeking votes in his name and the BJP not projecting any local CM faces, this election has turned into a referendum on brand Modis credibility. Modi ki Guarantee is the BJPs vote mobilizing slogan in this election. The unusual decision by Modi to put himself on the ticket for a round of state elections is a response to the Opposition which has repeatedly proclaimed that the people are tired of his allegedly false promises.

The PM in his wisdom has decided to put this to the test. If the BJP performs as per exit poll projections in the three Hindi-heartland states, it will cement Modis position as the principle differentiator between his party and the Opposition. The BJP will almost certainly design its entire 2024 campaign messaging around Modis reliability. The INDIA bloc that lacks a mascot who has pan-national acceptability would be loath to getting embroiled in a presidential-style election again.

Now, lets look at M2 or the Mandal (OBC) Card. The Opposition is counting heavily on winning votes by promising a caste census. The Opposition hopes that a caste survey would help it hand out sops, euphemistically dubbed haq (right) linked to the real abaadi (population) of the Backward Classes. Rahul Gandhi and his alliance cohorts believe that the quota or Mandal card will counter the BJPs Hindutva card. The BJP, as we know, has successfully used Hindu religion  Bharats supra identity  to transcend the caste divide and build a consolidated vote bank.

To cement its rainbow coalition of disparate castes beyond its traditional upper caste core base, the BJP has additionally relied on targeted welfare schemes. Several OBC castes have benefited from the patronage and vote for the BJP religiously. The Oppositions caste card could ignite the fires of competitive caste-based identity politics and potentially lure OBC voters away from the BJP. If the Congress were to win the Hindi heartland, the caste census card would be deemed to have played a significant role. It would then be aggressively deployed for 2024. It goes without saying that other INDIA bloc parties, some of who are exclusively caste-based parties, will be watching closely on December 3.

Now, onto M3 or the Mahila vote. Women voter participation continues to surge. In MP, for instance, 18.3 lakh women voters cast their ballots, 2% more than last time. In Rajasthan, they have also pipped the men to the ballot.

The BJP was the first to spot the trend and has for years cultivated women labharthee (beneficiaries) to take it from strength to strength. Almost every welfare scheme unveiled by the BJP at the central or state level has a female component.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh makes it a point to address women as laadli behenas (adored sisters), a play on several laadli behena welfare schemes. Responding to the Opposition for pulling him up for not enthusiastically championing the caste census, the Prime Minister has cleverly proclaimed that, for him, the foremost caste in India is that of women. Gender, of course, is a primary identity and cuts across all castes.

If the BJP doesnt do well in this so-called semi-final on account of losing the woman vote, it may lead to a massive strategic reassessment ahead of the 2024 finals.

Handing 33% of its total tickets to women may be the least of the measures the BJP is likely to contemplate to retain its popularity among its thus far steadfast women supporters.

Last, but not the least, is M4 or the BJPs Majority mobilization strategy. Is the Hindutva card still working? The BJP has gained tremendously by the Prime Ministers Hindu Hriday Samrat image. In the Hindi heartland, the BJP never tires of reminding voters that it is the sole guardian of the Hindu faith. But after having delivered on its promise to construct the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, many political observers believe that the religion card might have lost its emotive appeal.

The BJP, of course, doesnt think so. It believes that Hindus are discriminated against. That they are denied state resources by Opposition parties intent on appeasing the minority community. The Prime Minister aggressively talked about the Oppositions selective appeasement in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The results on December 3 will tell us whether political Hindutva remain electorally potent.

Get Your Latest Election Updates Here! MP Election Results 2023 | Rajasthan Election Results 2023 | Chhattisgarh Election Results 2023 | Telangana Election Results 2023

Stay tuned for the most up-to-date results and insights as votes are counted across 5 states, Madhya Pradesh Election Results, Rajasthan Election Results, Chhattisgarh Election Results, Mizoram Election Results, and Telangana Election Results!

The stage is set.
A few weeks ago, political parties hailed and celebrated the passage of the women reservations bill in Parliament. Soon after, five states went for polls and the promise of creating more space for women in Indian politics seemed to remain a lip service.

Across the five states  Rajasthan, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh  more than 8,000 candidates were in the fray for about 680 seats. The overall women representation was as low as 10%, despite parties hailing the idea of 33% reservation for women.

It is important to note that while the reservation bill is yet to become a ground reality, the need for more women representation does not seem to be the priority for the political parties.

Not just overall, none of the big parties attempted to field even close to 33% women in the elections across these states, as per the data analysed from various reports from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

STATE-WISE WOMEN IN FRAY

With 230 seats, Madhya Pradesh was the largest among these states. As per the ADR, only 253 (10%) women contested in Madhya Pradesh. While it was an improvement from 2018, when 235 candidates were women, there is still a long road ahead for women.

In terms of candidates, the Congress fielded most women in Madhya Pradesh, followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the parties fought on all 230 seats, while the Congress named 30 women, the BJP fielded 27. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which contested on 181 seats, named 21 women. Further, there were 87 independent women in the fray.

Also, both Samajwadi Party (SP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded 11 women each, out of 71 and 66 candidates, respectively.

Get Your Latest Election Updates Here! MP Election Results 2023 | Rajasthan Election Results 2023 | Chhattisgarh Election Results 2023 | Telangana Election Results 2023

Stay tuned for the most up-to-date results and insights as votes are counted across 5 states, Madhya Pradesh Election Results, Rajasthan Election Results, Chhattisgarh Election Results, Mizoram Election Results, and Telangana Election Results!

Rajasthan was the next largest state with 200 seats. The state had 183 women in the fight, one more from 2018. Here again, the Congress named the highest number of women among any party.

While the Congress fielded 28 women (of the 199 candidates), the BSP named 22 (out of 185) and the BJP stood third with 20 women (out of 200). The AAP has named only five women out of 86 candidates. In addition, there were 66 independent women candidates.

With 119 seats, Telangana was the third largest state in terms of assembly strength. At least 2,290 candidates are fighting in the state and only 222 (10%) are women. It is better than 2018 when 136 candidates were women. Among the parties, the BJP has fielded the highest number of women. Of the partys 111 candidates, 13 were women. The Congress was second with 12 women out of 118 candidates. The BSP named 107 candidates with nine women. Telanganas ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has fielded 119 candidates and only eight of these were women.

In Chhattisgarh, where 90 seats went for polls, just 155 (13%) women were in the fray of the 1,178 candidates. It was better than 2018 when 125 women had contested. With 18 women, the Congress named the highest women, followed by the BJP with 15 women. Both the parties contested on all 90 seats. The BSP named seven women out of 59 candidates, while the AAP named five out of 54 candidates.

In Mizoram, the BJP fielded highest women, even as the party did not contest all 40 seats. Out of the BJPs 23 candidates, three were women. The Congress, which fought elections on all 40 seats, fielded two women. The AAP fought the election with four candidates and none were women. In total, there were 174 candidates in Mizoram and only 18 were women.

PARTY-WISE REPRESENTATIONS

Among the major political parties, only the Congress and BJP have fought elections in all five states. Of the 667 candidates from the Congress, 90 were women  about 13%. For the BJP, of the 654 candidates, only 78 women in the fray.

Mayawatis BSP and Arvind Kejriwals AAP fought elections in four states. Of the 532 candidates from BSP, only 59 were women. In the AAP, 21 out of 210 candidates were women.

How many of these women who contested the elections will make it to the assemblies will be disclosed after the counting of votes on Sunday.
Bigg Boss 17 hosted by Salman Khan has been entertaining viewers since its inception on October 15. Over the past few weeks, the audience has witnessed umpteen fights among the contestants, with the main highlight being Ankita Lokhande and her husband Vicky Jain. Amidst all the tasks and drama inside the BB House, the contestants have set their target on one thing  lifting the coveted trophy. Now, there has been another new revelation inside the Bigg Boss premises made by Munawar Faruqui. On the recent Shukravaar Ka Vaar episode on December 1, Munawar opened up about his mothers death by suicide when he was just 13 years old.

Munawar Faruqui shared some anecdotes about his early days in life with fellow contestants and his friends Neil Bhatt, Aishwarya Sharma, and Rinku Dhawan. During the conversation, when Rinku wanted to know the reason behind Munawars mother taking her own life, the comedian-rapper revealed that it was because of a number of reasons. More specifically, he revealed it was due to an unhappy married life and being overburdened with debt.

Unhappy married life was there, plus karza uss waqt. Dad pe bahut karza tha. Meri mom pe bhi karza tha. It was like humiliating wo time pe (Lots of reasons. Besides unhappy married life, there was a loan. Dad had a lot of debt. My mother also had a loan. That time, it was kind of humiliating), said Munawar Faruqui. Continuing, the 31-year-old said that the debt on the family was so much that he was forced to leave school and go to work instead. Munawar added that although the loan was just three and a half thousand rupees, it felt like a huge sum to pay at that time.

Speaking about his food habits when they were not so well-off, Munawar Faruqui disclosed that during his childhood days, he used to eat only chapatis with dry, spicy daal. Toh wo matlab dopahar ka lunch hota tha ( It used to be my lunch) he said. Elaborating on the same topic, Munawar told his BB House friends that if salan rice was prepared in their house for dinner, there would not be a third food item.

Meanwhile, in a shocking round of elimination Sunny Arya, better known as Tehelka was evicted by the Bigg Boss for physically assaulting fellow participant Abhishek Kumar. Bigg Boss premieres on Colors TV from 9 pm.
Around 74 students of a government school at Ghabdan were hospitalised in Punjabs Sangrur district after a suspected food poisoning on Friday evening.

Officials said that the students complained of stomach ache and vomitting after consuming the food prepared in the hostel mess following which they were rushed to the civil hospital.

18 students were admitted to the Sangrur civil hospital Friday evening and 56 were admitted on Saturday morning, as per the officials quoted by Indian Express. Among these 14 were discharged and the remaining 60 are currently at the PGIMER satellite centre in Sangrur and the civil hospital.

Following the incident, Punjab Education Minister Harjot Bains released a video message assuring that all the children are currently stable. He further said, After few children complained about bad food on Friday evening, the authorities examined children as a precautionary measure. Most of them are in panic. However, we have kept them in observation in hospitals.

Bains also said said that the food contractor has been arrested and his contract has been cancelled. He also said that an inquiry by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been ordered in the matter. The guilty will not be spared at any cost, he added.

The state Education Minister also took to X to share an update about the children on Saturday.

Reached Sangrur, met with unwell students at Civil Hospital Sangrur, students are fine now & recovering fast. Mostly students are complaining of anxiety. Contractors license has been cancelled, also he along with mess incharge has been arrested under Sec 307 IPC. Concerned pic.twitter.com/1aM8mw2Klt  Harjot Singh Bains (@harjotbains) December 2, 2023

Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Jatindra Jorwal said an inquiry committee under the chairmanship of the SDM was formed to probe the matter. He added that a tehsildar and a civil surgeon was also made a part of the committee, which would submit its report within a week.

Food samples have been collected from the school and the stool and blood samples of the affected students have also been obtained, Jorwal said. As per a PTI report, students informed that they had earlier also complained about the food quality to the school authorities.

Some angry parents who reached the school after they learnt about the incident slammed the school authorities over their wards falling sick.

(with agency inputs)
Ahead of the grand consecration of the Ram Temple in Uttar Prdeshs Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, the distribution of invitation letters for the ceremony has commenced. The idol of Lord Ram will be installed inside the temple on January 22 in the grand ceremony.

The invitation letters will be sent to nearly 6,000 people including priests, donors and several politicians to attend the Pran Pratistha (consecration ceremony) in Ayodhya. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are among the prominent people who will attend the ceremony.

Pictures of the invitation letters being sent out by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust surfaced on social media.

Prior to the grand inauguration ceremony, the Uttar Pradesh government will organise a recitation of Akhand Ramayan and Hanuman Chalisa in major temples of the state in January 2024, an official said. The recitation events will be held from January 14 to 22, a Hindustan Times report mentioned.

In the third week of January 2024, the idol of Ram Lalla (infant Lord Ram) will be installed at its original place at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj said told reporters in Thane.
The Bhopal gas tragedy, recognized as one of the worlds most devastating industrial disasters, unfolded on the night of December 2-3, 1984. The incident, which occurred at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, resulted in the loss of numerous innocent lives and inflicted severe health complications on countless others. The day is marked every year as National Pollution Control Day.

HUMAN TOLL AND INJURIES

Official records state that the tragedy claimed 3,787 lives, surpassing the initial estimate of 2,259. As per a 2006 affidavit, the government reported a staggering 4,58,125 injuries, comprising 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.

THE NIGHT OF HORROR: MIC LEAKAGE UNLEASHED

Around midnight, a chemical reaction initiated within the UCIL pesticide plant, leading to the release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. More than half a million people were exposed to this toxic gas as it leaked from one of the factorys storage tanks, transforming the city into a nightmarish gas chamber.

MIC LEAKAGE MECHANISM

The UCIL plant had three underground 68,000-liter liquid MIC storage tanks. The leak, originating from Plant Number C, involved the release of MIC gas mixed with water for cooling. Intense pressure on the tank resulted in the release of tons of toxic MIC gas, primarily emanating from tank E610.

SPREAD OF POISON: A CITY IN CRISIS

Approximately 40 tonnes of MIC gas escaped into the atmosphere within two hours, causing widespread devastation. The highly toxic nature of MIC, exceeding permissible concentrations, led to pulmonary issues, lung edema, emphysema, hemorrhages, bronchial pneumonia, and tragically, death.

AFTERMATH: BHOPAL GRAPPLES WITH UNSEEN CONSEQUENCES

Following the gass infiltration into Bhopal, the citys residents experienced coughing, eye and skin irritation, and breathing difficulties. Internal hemorrhages, pneumonia, and death were reported, with those in close proximity to the gas plant suffering the most.

INEFFECTIVE WARNING SYSTEMS

The severity of the situation heightened due to the failure of UCILs alarm system, leaving the population unaware and unprepared. Hospitals were inundated with people complaining of various health issues, and the lack of medical facilities exacerbated the crisis.

LINGERING EFFECTS ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

The toxic gas profoundly affected internal organs, leading to widespread health issues. Streets were littered with unattended bodies, plants turned black from the toxic air, and the fertility of both humans and animals suffered, leaving a lasting impact on the city of Bhopal.
Narendra Modi learnt first-hand how to manage disasters after spending over a month as a young RSS worker in flood-hit Morbi in 1979.

He implemented these lessons when he rushed to earthquake-struck Kutch in Gujarat in 2001, while on the ground as the chief minister during the floods in Surat in 2006, visiting Kashmir as prime minister during the floods there in 2014, and handling the Covid-19 crisis in 2020.

All this has been revealed in a new book, Resilient India  How Modi Transformed Indias Disaster Management Paradigm, published by Rupa Publications and edited and compiled by Bluekraft Digital Foundation.

The book recounts how, in 1979, as a 29-year-old RSS vibhag pracharak, Modi toiled in the watery swathes of Morbi in Gujarat after it was ravaged by a flood caused by a dam breach. Modi spent over six weeks there, removing mud, carrying dead animals and decaying bodies, and performing funeral rites for families who had lost their loved ones, the book has described in great detail.

Pradip Vala, a resident of Morbi, is quoted in the book as saying that Modi and other workers saved a young priest who had managed to climb a temple top to survive the floods. Janakbhai Kotak, the former mayor of Rajkot who had accompanied Modi to Morbi, says Modi came forward and carried 12 bodies out of the Shantivan Ashram and arranged their cremation.

Since the bodies remained undiscovered for four days, a horrible stench had filled up the air. Most people were reluctant to go inside, Kotak says in the book. A similar incident involving Modis effort is cited of an old age home in Morbi where 23 decaying bodies were found.

Another witness named Pambhar has recalled the old age home incident saying he had to lift a decaying body. I gathered courage and took hold of the hand, trying to lift it. However, it slipped away. Modi sensed my nervousness and asked me to steel myself. He reminded me of the importance of our work. After that, I gathered the courage and we took out all 23 decaying bodies and cremated them, Pambhar is quoted in the book.

Modi Restored a Mosque

More locals are cited in the book saying Modi undertook the cleaning and restoration of a mosque in Morbi as Eid was approaching and he wanted people to be able to offer their prayers on the day of the festival.

The book quotes a Morbi survivor, Habib Devakadiya, saying that Modi came to his heavily water-logged village with other RSS workers and distributed numerous essential items to hundreds of people with the motto that no needy person was left unattended.

The book also cites how Modi wrote a motivational letter to the youth of Morbi and tried to make copies of the same reach every household to get over the prevailing sense of helplessness among the people. RSS worker Bhikubhai Pambhar remembers that the hardworking Modi would carry sacks of grain on his back, the book says, citing another volunteer on how Modi was involved in process of cremations.

Modi also suggested that bodies could be wrapped in cloth so that they were not dismembered while being pulled up or lifted. This was a useful, practical advice, the book says.

Kishor Lakde of Vadodara is quoted in the book saying Modi was highly organised during the relief effort in Morbi and set up cleaning teams of five people each to clean houses filled with mud and sludge.

Another volunteer Pradip Vale recalls how Modi also assured a Congress worker that he would help him after his house was deluged. Later, Modi also ensured that houses were rebuilt in Morbi with the help of skilled workers. Narendra Sonagra from Vadadora is quoted in the book saying his father got a call from Modi seeking help from skilled workers like technicians, electricians and plumbers to rebuild the houses. The book says many RSS workers received similar calls from Modi and as a result, a large group of skilled workers reached Morbi to make the town habitable again.

Many RSS volunteers recall that Modis systematic approach added speed to the relief work. He divided the relief work into various activities  like cleaning, food preparation, food distribution, and transporting affected people to Rajkot hospital, the book mentions.

Another volunteer Nagarbhai Chavda recalls how Modi told volunteers to respect the dignity of people receiving aid and used to tell them that what was being given was rightfully of the people and not a favour.

Morbi was the first experience for Narendra Modi in leading a disaster-handling exercise. No doubt, it was a testing time. This experience would later prove invaluable when he turned the administrator in the aftermath of an even bigger disaster  the 2001 Kutch earthquake, the book has said.
Artem Lavrentiev, a cruelty killer from the Arkhangelsk region of the Russian Federation, who became "famous" for brutally abusing his mother's cat for several weeks, filming the torture and posting it online, has been killed in Ukraine. The story resonated: Lavrentiev was eventually sent to a penal colony, and a monument was even erected to the animal he tortured to death.

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The bestiality decided to get out of the not-so-distant places, asking to fight in Ukraine, and the Armed Forces put an end to his miserable existence. The liquidation of the occupying cannibal was reported by blogger Necro Mancer.

"Severodvinsk crueltyman Lavrentiev, born in 1985, decided to leave the colony to beat the 'ukrops' with it, but the AFU took revenge for Kuzia the cat," he said.

Journalist Denis Kazanskyi clarified that the animal cruelly tortured the animal together with his roommate for several weeks. He filmed the abuse and posted it online. Eventually, the cat was tortured to death. Lavrentiev was imprisoned and deprived of his parental rights because of the resonance his crime caused.

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"Fuck, what kind of a bunch of people they have. Not an army, but a bunch of scum from the entire human race," the journalist wrote.

A monument was erected in Severodvinsk to Kuzia, the cat who was tortured by a cannibal.

It is not surprising that in his small homeland, the animal rights activists greeted the news of Lavrentiev's liquidation without much grief.

"We received 100% reliable information through the military enlistment office. Artem Lavrentyev, a cannibal, is dead. He killed his mother's cat together with his partner. 3.5 years in prison, deprivation of parental rights. From the colony he asked to be released on parole. He went missing in the summer and was found only now. In January-February, what is left of him after several months of being unburied will be brought to his mother in Severodvinsk, in a closed coffin," a local animal rights group wrote.

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At the same time, other Russians are convinced that a person who tortured a defenseless animal and then went to kill people in a foreign country did not deserve to die, because "he atoned for all his sins, true and imaginary, with blood."

Earlier it became known that snipers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces eliminated 12 occupants in the Avdiivka sector in an hour . Three more invaders were wounded.

Sniper pairs worked at a distance of 920 to 1170 meters.

It was also reported that the day before, the Ukrainian Defense Forces eliminated 1280 occupants and 32 armored personnel carriers in a day.

And Ukrainian border guards showed how they "congratulated" the occupiers on the first day of winter. They sent "gifts" to the enemies from a cannon.

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A 20-year-old nursing student, Fousia was found dead at a hotel in Chennai. Her lifeless bodys image as the WhatsApp status of her boyfriend triggered an alarm among their mutual friends, who informed the Chromepet police.

The police searched the area and found the body at a hotel on CLC Works Road in Chromepet, a TOI report mentioned. Fousia, a second-year nursing student at a college in Chromepet, was staying in a hostel at New Colony. She had not been to college for the last three days.

The hotel staff told the police that Fousia and her boyfriend, 20-year-old Ashiq, from Kollam in Kerala, had checked in at 10.30 am.

Police scoured the CCTV camera footage in the area and arrested Ashiq from an eatery nearby.

As per the preliminary investigation, the couple, after checking into the hotel got into an argument as Fousia questioned Ashiq about photos of him and another woman on his phone.

In response, Ashiq hit Fousia and strangled her to death with his t-shirt, after which, he uploaded the photo of her body as his Whatsapp status, police said. Some of Fousias friends at the college, who also had his number, saw the photo around 5:00 pm and informed the police.

According to police, the couple had been in a relationship for five years and had married secretly. They even had a baby who they had given up for adoption in Chikamagalur.

The couple had parted ways two years ago when Fousia came to know about Ashiqs affairs with several other women. She also filed a complaint with Kerala police, who booked him under the Pocso Act and sent him to jail. Soon after he was released, he apologised and the couple got back together. Since then, he visited her often.

Fousias body was sent for a postmortem to Chromepet government hospital. An investigation into the case is underway.
A 50-year-old woman was cheated of Rs 11 lakh and placed under digital arrest for a day, in the first such case from Noida linked to this new cyber fraud trend. The culprits posed as police personnel, who mentioned the names of an IPS officer in the CBI and the founder of a grounded airline, associating the victim in a fictitious money-laundering case.

According to officials, the Uttar Pradesh police has launched an investigation in the case registered at the cyber crime police station in Noida. A similar case was recently reported in Haryanas Faridabad where cyber criminals, posing as cops, got a woman digitally arrested for more than a week after convincing her that her personal IDs were used for illegal activities. The gang then asked her to stay online via Skype and not share this information with anyone even as they kept a watch on her throughout the period.

The victim from Noida reported the matter to the UP police cyber crime officials and alleged a fraud of Rs 11.11 lakh with her, besides being digitally arrested from morning to night. In her complaint, she stated that she was contacted over an IVR (interactive voice response) call on November 13 and told that a mobile phone SIM card was purchased using her Aadhaar card in Mumbai and used for illegal advertising and harassment of women.

Then my call was transferred to a person (who identified himself as a Mumbai Police officer) who did the initial interrogation over the call and then on Skype VC. Then he told me that I have another allegation of money laundering related to (the founder of an airline) for which an FIR has been registered against me and an arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court for which he sent documents on Skype, the FIR said.

After the interrogation, he said I am innocent and not guilty, so he is transferring the interrogation (to an IPS officer posted with the CBI, Mumbai) for further investigation of this case. Then he gave the Skype ID and asked me to request the CBI officer to do the priority investigation on VC to remove my arrest warrant, she said in her complaint.

The FIR further said the CBI officer told the woman that during the investigation of the airline founder, police found 246 debit cards from his house and one of those had her name on it and was used to open a bank account with her Aadhaar card.

He then said my account was used for a fund transfer of Rs 2 crore for which I have been paid Rs 20 lakh. However, he said I do not look to be involved in this case, so to complete the investigation, I need to transfer funds from all my accounts to my ICICI account and subsequently, transfer the funds from the ICICI account to the PFC account as per the directives of the Supreme Court, she said in the FIR.

The woman said she was told not to disclose this information as it was related to national security and will make me liable for further action. Also, to prove not guilty of the crime, he asked me to keep sufficient balance in my accounts for which he also advised to apply for a personal instant loan of Rs 20 lakh from ICICI and gave the details of how to apply for the same, which I denied but he forced me to arrange Rs 3 lakh more through the same and, after much pressure, I had applied for the same, which is also transferred to the PFC account, she said in her complaint.

She further alleged that the culprits took a picture of her signature on Skype on the pretext of validating her Aadhaar card for investigation.

Inspector Reeta Yadav, incharge of the cyber crime police station in Noida Sector 36, said a case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC). An investigation is underway, she told PTI.

Yadav urged people to be cautious of emerging online crimes and reach out to police at the earliest either on the central helpline number 1930 or emergency number 112 or report such activities to the cyber desk of local police stations.

People should also know that police never question any person digitally. If someone threatens you like this, ask them to send you a proper notice, ask for their details and tell them that you are coming to the police station to meet them, the officer added.
Lauding Indias growth story, union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said the country has not only hit the sweet spot but has got its act together.

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18s managing editor Shereen Bhan during the channels Indian Business Leader Awards (IBLA) ceremony, Puri said Indias repositioning at the ongoing COP28 shows greater responsibility towards future generations. He welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modis announcement of proposing to host the COP33 meeting in 2028.

In the COP meetings, India has moved very quickly to reposition itself. We arent getting into a blame game. We also have a duty towards our future generations. The prime minister has said we have to be part of the solution. With India hosting COP in 2028, it will lead to change, he said.

Puri appreciated CNBC-TV18 for applauding all the business leaders, who had boosted Indias growth story. Talking about green energy, he also cautioned against a fast transition from fossil fuel.

You need to transition faster to green energy. But if it happens very fast, it will lead to a meltdown, he added.

Highlighting the role of oil marketing companies in moving towards green energy, Puri said he should now be called minister of energy and transition instead of the minister of oil and petroleum. Asked if the privatisation of BPCL has been put off the cards, he replied in the affirmative.

BPCL makes Rs 19,000 crore profit. When I first heard the proposal, I asked who put its privatisation on the table, he said, adding that privatisation should be used at the right time, giving the example of Air India. If you make the correct kind of decision, it helps.

About the election results for the five states on Sunday, he said the BJP will win 5-0, but that he was told that the results will be 4-1. At the same time, he added that the saffron party will win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections under Narendra Modis leadership.

Those who think there will be an alternative are delusional, he added.

Puri further said he hoped that the energy prices remain stable despite the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas is a terrorist group. We condemn it but the Palestinians are not terrorists. Am glad, there was a ceasefire. I hope better sense will prevail and the remaining hostages will be released, he said.

The IBLA is a distinguished platform that annually recognises and celebrates exceptional leaders driving innovation, growth and positive change across industries. In its illustrious history, the awards have become a hallmark of excellence, honouring visionaries who have played pivotal roles in shaping Indias economic landscape. Powered by CNBC-TV18, the IBLA showcases the relentless pursuit of excellence, acknowledging leaders whose ingenuity and leadership have set new benchmarks.
Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto will pay a three-day visit to India beginning Monday, in the first presidential trip from the influential East African nation in over six years. It will be Rutos first visit to India in his present capacity as well.

The Kenyan leader will meet his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu and hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday.

At the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu, the President of the Republic of Kenya, William Samoei Ruto will pay a State visit to India from December 4 to 6, the MEA said.

He will be accompanied by a high-level official delegation. A presidential visit from Kenya is taking place after over six years and is expected to strengthen and invigorate the bilateral relations between the two countries, the MEA said in a statement.

The Kenyan presidents visit to India comes around three months after the 55-nation African Union was inducted into the G20 at its New Delhi summit following Indias strong push for it.

Ruto will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on December 5.

President Ruto will hold detailed discussions with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. A state banquet will be hosted by the President in honour of President Ruto, the MEA said.

The visiting leader is also scheduled to attend a business and investment event in New Delhi.
The Navi Mumbai police have arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly repeatedly raping and impregnating a minor girl and abetting her suicide, an official said on Saturday.

Based on a complaint lodged by the deceased girls mother, the police on Friday arrested the accused from the Govandi area of neighbouring Mumbai, the official from Koparkhairane police station said.

He has been booked under sections 305 (abetting suicide of a minor), 376(2)(n) (repeated rape) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

The accused had allegedly befriended the 17-year-old girl, repeatedly raped her despite knowing that she was a minor and impregnated her.

The distraught girl hanged herself from the ceiling at her house on November 28, he said. The police are probing the case, the official said.
Mumbai Police have traced 80 mobile phones worth Rs 11.80 lakh in different states and returned them to their owners here on Saturday, an official said.

These mobile phones were misplaced between 2022 and November this year, an Andheri police station official said.

These mobile phones were traced to different cities in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Karnataka in the last few months. After verifying the missing complaints, owners of these phones were contacted and the phones were handed over to them on Saturday, the official added.
A man from Maharashtras Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly raping a Mexican woman he met online multiple times, an official said on Saturday. The woman is a 31-year-old disc jockey (DJ).

The victim lodged a complaint against the accused last week after which he was arrested. As per the complaint, the accused raped the woman on several occasions since 2019.

The woman currently lives in Mumbai and the accused, who also works as a DJ, is her manager, PTI reported.

The woman stated that she met the accused through social media in 2017. He allegedly sexually assaulted her at his home in Bandra in July 2019, after which he raped her on multiple occasions, the police official said.

According to the womans complaint, she met the man online and said that the accused used to force himself on her by threatening to kick her out of an assignment if she refused.

The accused also allegedly blackmailed her through some of her intimate pictures, the woman added in her complaint.

The victim also said that despite getting married to another woman in 2020, the accused used to send inappropriate pictures to her and kept texting her sexually explicit things.

The Bandra police has filed a case against the accused and launched an investigation into the matter.

A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) against the accused, the official said, adding that further investigation is underway.

(With PTI inputs)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatars Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.

The leaders discussed bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in the oil-rich country.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of eight former Indian Navy personnel sentenced to death by a court in the country on October 26. The Indian government has also filed an appeal against the sentence.

On the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai yesterday, had the opportunity to meet HH Sheikh @TamimBinHamad, the Amir of Qatar. We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar, Modi posted on microblogging site, X on Saturday.

On the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit in Dubai yesterday, had the opportunity to meet HH Sheikh @TamimBinHamad, the Amir of Qatar. We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/66a2Zxb6gP Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2023

The Indian nationals, who worked with private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August last year reportedly in an alleged case of espionage.

Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against the Indian nationals public. India had described the ruling by the court in Qatar as deeply shocking and had vowed to explore all legal options in the case.

Prime Minister Modi had a hectic schedule on Friday as he addressed four sessions at the UN climate change conference, met various world leaders and also held some bilateral meetings.

(with agency inputs)
Visiting Uttar Pradeshs temple town Ayodhya to seek the blessings of Lord Ram and capture a glimpse of the idols Pran Pratishtha ceremony may burn a hole in your pocket as hotels in Ayodhya and Faizabad have raised tariffs up to Rs 1.30 lakh for a two-night stay, anticipating brisk business once the ceremony is held on January 22 next year.

Strapped for time, people are now exploring the options of homestays and Dharamshalas for food and lodging in Ayodhya.

The sudden hike in room tariffs from January 2123key days when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also take part in the historic consecration ceremonyhas spelled crisis for devotees.

For instance, a hotel that charged around Rs 3,000 for a room has increased its tariff to Rs 35,000 for one night. Similarly, other hotels in Ayodhya and neighbouring Faizabad have increased their tariffs by up to 20 times compared to their regular fares.

Ayodhya has a total of 138 hotels with 4,000 rooms, as per data from the Hotel Owners Association. Other than the hotels, the city has around 70 guest houses, 50 Dharamshalas and almost 100 home stays to cater to the needs of inbound tourists.

While tourists may be in a fix due to the high rates, for the hoteliers, its time to do brisk business.

Its after a very long time that the hotel industry in Ayodhya has witnessed a boom. This is all thanks to the UP government that brought in development in the district, giving a push to the hospitality sector as well, said Sharad Kapoor, owner and managing director of Shan-e Awadh hotel in Faizabad. He added that they are getting frequent calls from people across Delhi, Mumbai and other metro cities for advance bookings.

Some hoteliers said the boom was a first after the grim Covid-19 phase. I think every industry has the right to grow. And fortunately now there is a boom in Ayodhyas hotel industry. Its also a good sign as it will not only facilitate the tourists but will also generate direct and indirect employment, which will also boost UPs economy, another hotelier pointed out.

The UP government, meanwhile, is setting up a tent city on the banks of river Saryu in order to accommodate the increased footfall of tourists. We have established a grand tent city with 120 rooms. The tent city is likely to be operational by January 2024, said Nitish Kumar, district magistrate Ayodhya.

Addressing a gathering on the eve of Diwali, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that following development in Ayodhya, the government was expecting a private investment of Rs 25,000 crore, especially in the hospitality sector. This will not only bring in development but will also generate employment, he had said.
In October, he contacted a government employee from Dindigul and told him about a Vigilance case registered against him which was already disposed off. Tiwari told the employee that instructions had been received from the Prime Ministers Office to conduct an enquiry and asked him to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30, it said.

When the man went to Madurai, Tiwari asked him to pay Rs 3 crore to avoid legal action in the case, DVAC alleged.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to increase the size of the Russian Defense Ministry's army. He now wants 1,320,000 people to serve in the army.

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This is because the Kremlin fears new "threats" from NATO as the so-called "SMO" continues. This was reported by Russian media.

"An additional build-up of the Russian Armed Forces' combat personnel and strength is an adequate response to NATO's aggressive activities," the document, which Putin signed, says.

The Russian Armed Forces will fulfill the dictator's decree in stages at the expense of Russians who wish to serve under contract. No significant increase in conscription is planned, and no mobilization is envisaged.

The United States reacted to this news by noting that the Russian dictator is once again trying to achieve his goals on the battlefield at the expense of human lives, throwing them around.

"There's no doubt that he (Putin - Ed.) is literally throwing humans around to try to hold on to the territory they've illegally occupied in Ukraine and to try to seize even more," said John Kirby, coordinator of the White House National Security Council, during a briefing.

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Earlier this year, the Russian Defense Ministry hatched a plan to increase the number of soldiers in the country. At that time, the army numbered 1 million Russian soldiers and even 2 million reservists.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, a 23-year-old Russian man committed suicide in Moscow because he did not want to serve in Putin's army. He went to one of the shooting clubs in the center of the Russian capital and shot himself in the head.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
A 42-year-old man from Uttarakhands Udham Singh Nagar district has been rechristened and remarried to his wife, days after he was presumed dead and cremated.

According to a report in Times of India, Naveen Chandra Bhatt from Sripur Bichwa in Khatima town was thought to be dead after he went missing from home for over a year.

How Was Uttarakhand Man Presumed Dead

The TOI report stated that the bizarre tale started when a man from Rudrapur died at Haldwanis Sushila Tiwari Hospital on November 23.

The deceased, initially unidentified and referred from Rudrapur district hospital, was later claimed to be Naveen because his photograph and pre-employment medical check-up form from the Covid period were found in the dead mans pocket.

The report stated that Naveens family was informed and they brought the body home and performed the last rites. The twist came when a family acquaintance told them he had seen Naveen a day ago in Rudrapur.

When family members didnt believe him, the man went to Rudrapur, traced Naveen who was working in a hotel. He got him to speak to his kin on a video call to convince them, the publication mentioned, adding that Naveens wife along with two kids had left him two years ago and lives in Lucknow.

According to TOI, the family attributed the confusion to the striking resemblance in height and facial features between Naveen and the deceased, compounded by the fact that they had not seen Naveen for over a year.

When the national daily inquired about the dead man, the cops reportedly had no clue about the person who was cremated.

Naveen Bhatts Second Birth

A week-old report by TOI quoted Naveens father as saying that they are discussing with villagers about cultural protocols to be followed when a person, presumed dead, returns alive to rectify the rites performed for the wrong man.

Ramesh Mahar, former village pradhan, had similar views. After Naveen was found alive, the elders and priests unanimously decided that as per cultural protocols, all the sanskars (rites of passages) from birth to marriage need to be performed again for purification, he was quoted as saying.

AB Joshi, a priest who conducted the ceremony, explained, When Naveen was considered dead, the post-death rituals had already begun. So all the sacred rituals had to be performed again to consider his rebirth He was also remarried to the same woman. After the naming ceremony, Naveen is now Narayan Bhatt. However, this name is just for religious purposes.
As many as 18 flights have been diverted from Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday due to bad weather and low visibility. An official said that these flights have been diverted to Jaipur, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

Sharing an update on the situation, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) posted on its X handle and said that the low visibility procedures were currently in progress at the airport.

Among these 18 flights, two belonged to the Vistara airlines. The Ahmedabad to Delhi UK906 flight was diverted to Ahmedabad, while the Mumbai to Delhi UK954 flight was diverted to Jaipur in view of bad weather and low visibility at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport, the airlines said.

#Diversionupdate: Flight UK906 from Ahmedabad to Delhi (AMD-DEL) has been diverted to Ahmedabad (AMD) due to low visibility at Delhi airport and is expected to arrive in Ahmedabad (AMD) at 1000 hours. Please stay tuned for further updates. Vistara (@airvistara) December 2, 2023

#Diversionupdate: Flight UK954 from Mumbai to Delhi (BOM-DEL) has been diverted to Jaipur (JAI) due to bad weather at Delhi airport and has arrived in Jaipur (JAI) at 0842 hours. Thanks Vistara (@airvistara) December 2, 2023

Delhis air quality index (AQI) continued to remian in the very poor category according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Delhis Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 388, while Ashok Vihar stood at 386, Lodhi Road at 349 and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 366.

On Wednesday, the national capitals AQI had reportedly improved following rain and wind in the preceding two days, bringing respite from the severe pollution levels in the state.

The Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) on Tuesday had ordered immediate removal of curbs under Stage-III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR due to the improvement in air quality, an official statement said.

The decision came after several parts of the national capital witnessed light rains on Monday and Tuesday.

The CAQM  responsible for strategies to combat pollution in the region  met on Tuesday in view of the notable improvement in the overall air quality of Delhi-NCR.

GRAP Stage-III which applies on the severe category of AQI, which lies between 401-450, prohibits construction and demolition activities with the exception of railway, metro, hospital and sanitation projections. Linear public projects such as highways, roads, and flyovers also fall under the exception.

The curbs also order the closure of those industries that have PNG supplies but do not use approved fuels. Industries that do not use approved fuels will be able to function only five days a week in areas where PNG is unavailable.

Apart from this, state governments in NCR may also impose restrictions on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel four-wheelers.

The GRAP restrictions specified for the current AQI level, which is very poor fall under Stage-II with AQI falling between 301 and 400.

The curbs prohibit hotel tandoors from using coal or firewood. The use of diesel generator sets except for essential or emergency services such as in hospitals, railways, metro services, airports, water pumping stations and nationally significant projects is also prohibited.

Stage-II also imposes an increase in parking fees to discourage private transportation.

GRAP Stage-II also asks authorities to supplement CNG/electric buses and metro services by purchasing additional fleet and increasing their service frequency.

(With PTI inputs)
Ananya Panday made her debut in Bollywood with Karan Johar-backed Student of the Year 2. Recently, the actress attended the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. During an interview at the festival, she spoke about Karan Johars influence on her decision to become an actor. She also expressed her desire to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Quentin Tarantino.

Speaking to Deadline, Ananya Panday said that Karan Johars iconic films Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai influenced her to become an actor. She said, It was that big Bollywood film that you know, I grew up recreating and dancing to and singing all the songs and I think he inspired me to be an actress.

When Ananya was asked which directors she wanted to work with next, she said, Theres an Indian filmmaker called Sanjay Leela Bhansali, I would love to work with him. If I could choose someone globally, I would say Tarantino. I heard hes making like his last film and I am like I need to be in that 10th film of his somehow.

Ananya was last seen in the film Dream Girl 2 alongside Ayushmann Khurrana. She will next be seen in Kho Gaye Hum Kahaan with Siddhant Chaturvedi and Adarsh Gourav. The movie, helmed by Arjun Varain Singh is all set to release on December 26, 2023 and has been slated for a Netflix release. The film is a cinematic celebration of the unadulterated essence of friendship. The film is a coming-of-digital-age story about three friends in their mid-20s navigating life in the world of social media.
Karan Johar hosted Bigg Boss 17s Weekend Ka Vaar episode this Saturday and made some interesting revelations about the housemates. Karan slammed Ankita and Mannara for their behaviour towards Munawar and also took Vicky Jains case. Speaking of Vicky, Karan revealed that he once called Ankita an investment. Isha Malviya confirmed this.

Isha said that Vicky once told him, Mere liye Ankita ek investment hai (Ankita is an investment for me) Isha said that Vicky told her that Ankita and him ran in the same social circles and marrying Ankita is an investment. This shocked everyone in the house.

Karan also revealed that Vicky had asked Sana Raees Khan to seduce Orry during a task. Karan quoted Vicky as saying, Just make him comfortable, like a girl Just play with him. Karan said that he didnt mind Vicky saying this, but his problem was with Sana.

Karan said, Sana, if youre telling other people in the house to respect women, how can you tolerate these sentences even for a task? Karan told Sana not to justify this in the name of a task. He called himself a feminist and asked, How can you take this as a woman?

For the unversed, last week, Orhan Awatramani or Orry entered the house as a guest. However, the housemates and the audience were told that he is a wild card entry in the show. In a segment of Just Chill with Arbaaz and Sohail, the Khan Brothers made a surprising revelation about Orhans stint on the show. Contrary to assumptions, Orry wasnt a wildcard entry; instead, his stay was only planned for just two days. As the actors announced this news, the housemates were left stunned as they loved Orrys presence in the BB house. Ankita Lokhande, Isha Malviya, Sunny Arya, Abhishek Kumar and others bid him farewell in the sweetest way.
Ranbir Kapoor-led Animal is one of the most-talked-about films of the year. The film was finally released on December 1 amid much anticipation surrounding its gripping storyline and the interesting characters played by the stellar star cast, especially Bobby Deol. Bobby Deol was seen on screen after a long time and his performance in the film has been greatly appreciated. The actor recently took to social media to express his gratitude.

For More: Bobby Deol Sits On The Floor To Watch Animal In Theatre, Feels Grateful For All The Love; See Photos

Sunil Grovers popular fictional characters Gutthi and Dr Mashoor Gulati became extremely popular on The Kapil Sharma. However, the actor-comedian left Kapil Sharmas show in 2018 after their major fallout. Ace comedian Kapil Sharma recently made headlines with his statement  Ghar Badla Hai, Parivaar Nahi as Netflix announced a partnership and a laughter extravaganza with him. He was seen with his OG gang Archana Puran Singh and fan-favorites Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda and Rajiv Thakur, tickling our funny bone with their comic timing. But somehow this coterie also featured Sunil Grover to viewers pleasant surprise.

For More: Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover End 6-Year-Long Fight, Reunite For New Comedy Show | Photos

Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khans daughter Suhana Khan enjoys a massive fan following. The young star kid is all set to make her film debut this month with Zoya Akhtars The Archies. As the glamourous star kid gears up for her big acting debut, she is painting the town red with her charm. Amid this, Suhana Khan recently opened up about the trolling she receives and how she tackles it.

For More: Suhana Khan Admits She Is Still Learning To Deal With The Trolls: Mean Comments Made Me Value Kindness

Ananya Panday made her debut in Bollywood with Karan Johar-backed Student of the Year 2. Recently, the actress attended the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. During an interview at the festival, she spoke about Karan Johars influence on her decision to become an actor. She also expressed her desire to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Quentin Tarantino.

For More: Ananya Panday Says She Wants To Work With Quentin Tarantino: I Have To Be In His Last Film

Shah Rukh Khan is gearing up for his next film Dunki. The teaser has already impressed fans, and they are eagerly waiting for its release. And to increase the excitement level, he has organised an ASK Me session today and answered many fans questions. Among them, a fan asked Shah Rukh Khan about his emotional weak point. And his reply has won everyones heart.

For More: Shah Rukh Khan REVEALS His Emotional Weak Point, Says My Family, Isnt That For Everyone?
Wishes are pouring in for Neelima Azeem on her birthday. To mark the occasion, his son Ishaan Khatter also shared a heartwarming post for her on Instagram and shared some beautiful photographs with his mother and elder brother Shahid Kapoor. In the caption, the Dhadak actor wished his mother a happy birthday. He also penned down his gratitude for his mom, highlighting the deep influence she has on his life and personality. He wrote, Happy birthday mom. May the twinkle in your eye grow brighter as you enter a more joyous stage of your life! You are my voice of reason and my beacon of strength. Love you.

In the photos, actress Ishaan and Shahids mother, Neelima Azeem, looked radiant in a grey Salwar suit while the brothers rocked traditional attire.

Take a look here:

Apart from Ishaan, Shahid Kapoor also shared an adorable photo with his mother on social media. He shared a childhood photo of himself with his mother Neeliima. In the picture, an infant Shahid is seen staring into the camera while his mother smiles, sitting beside him. Along with the picture, Shahid wrote, Happy birthday mommy. No one can love like you.

Neelima Azim, born on 2 December 1958, is a popular actress and dancer, known for critically praised films like Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), Itihaas (1997), and Sadak (1991). She also featured in numerous TV soaps, including the acclaimed show, Saans in the 90s.

Neelima also portrayed son Shahid Kapoors onscreen mother in his debut 2003 film, Ishq Vishk.

On the work front, Shahid Kapoor is preparing for the release of his upcoming romantic comedy with Kriti Sanon, set to release next year. He is also reportedly gearing up for Devaa, also coming next year.

Ishaan, on the other hand, was most recently seen in the war action drama Pippa, starring alongside actress Mrunal Thakur. Looking forward, he has a Hollywood project, The Perfect Couple, with Nicole Kidman lined up.
Sunil Grovers popular fictional characters Gutthi and Dr Mashoor Gulati became extremely popular on The Kapil Sharma. However, the actor-comedian left Kapil Sharmas show in 2018 after their major fallout. Ace comedian Kapil Sharma recently made headlines with his statement  Ghar Badla Hai, Parivaar Nahi as Netflix announced a partnership and a laughter extravaganza with him. He was seen with his OG gang Archana Puran Singh and fan-favorites Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda and Rajiv Thakur, tickling our funny bone with their comic timing. But somehow this coterie also featured Sunil Grover to viewers pleasant surprise.

In a recent video dropped by Netflix, one can see Kapil unveiling the biggest surprise ever for his fans! Sunil Grover will be reuniting with Kapil for the upcoming comedy show on Netflix! Yes you heard that right. As Kapil rightly said  Ab Parivaar Poora Hua. This announcement has sparked immense excitement among fans who have long been waiting for the magic that the dynamic duo have previously created on-screen.

Sunil Grover, who became a household name after playing his popular fictional characters Gutthi and Dr Mashoor Gulati on The Kapil Sharma Show, shocked everyone when he quit TKSS in 2018 after his major fallout with Kapil Sharma. The two actor-comedians had a fallout in a flight when they were flying back to Mumbai after wrapping up a show in Australia.

At the trailer launch of Firangi in 2017, Kapil Sharma had spoken at length about his fight with Sunil. Kapil Sharma confessed that he was going through a lot of pressure because of the show that was happening in Australia, and a death of a fellow artist from Firangi doubled his stress.

I never fought with Sunil, I love working with the best people in the industry. When I had started working on Comedy Circus I had asked the makers to get Sunil on board whom I had met on Hass Baliye. When you work with the best people, you learn a lot, Kapil was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
Model and entrepreneur Kendall Jenner has joined the footsteps of her sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner as she made her way into the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Kendall who comes from the Kardashian-Jenner clan is first and foremost known for her modeling career. The 28-year-old is the highest-paid model in the world. In March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, she quietly launched her tequila brand 818, named the zip code of her house in Calabasas, California, USA. While most celebrities put their face on their brand and businesses, Jenner chose to launch her liquor brand anonymously.

She and her team entered 818 into the World Tequila Awards, presenting the Anejo, Reposado, and Blanco liquor without mentioning its ownership. At the contest, her 818 Reposado won the categorys top prize, while the Anejo won bronze. A year later, 818 won 16 prestigious awards across six competitions and thats when Jenner announced that 818 is her brand in an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner)

While talking to Forbes about her decision to first launch her brand anonymously, Jenner said, We wanted to get true, honest feedback. I wanted the liquid and the brand to stand on their own and for people to love it without me even having to be a part of it because I just wanted it to be that good.

Jenner also claimed that 818 is one of only two tequila brands ever to receive B Corp certification. B Corp certification is given to brands that perform exceptionally well on social and environmental parameters.

Forbes reported that this year itself, 818 has sold 160,000 cases. Jenners tequila brand is supported by veteran beverage executive Mike Novy who she lured to her team from rival brand Casa Dragones. Jenner was inspired to start a tequila brand because her parents drank it frequently when she was growing up and eventually she ended up liking tequila.

Earlier this week, Jenner shared a picture of her Forbes cover on Instagram. While many people applauded her, others noted that it was undeserved. For her Forbes photoshoot, Jenner wore simple and sophisticated dresses by Bottega and minimal jewelry. Her minimal brown-toned makeup also showed her freckles.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner)

An Instagram user wrote, So disheartening. This list used to be inspiring ages ago. Or did they just sell themselves off to the highest bidder back in the day too and we just didnt know it? Another person wrote, This is a joke, right? She has had everything handed to her! How about spotlighting someone who had to work for what they achieved!
Khushi Kapoor is all set to make her acting debut with the upcoming film The Archies, which will be released on December 7 on the digital platform. However, ahead of its release, the budding actress can be seen marking her appearance everywhere. The upcoming actress recently got candid about dealing with the demerits of social media and being exposed to it at such a young age.

Speaking with NDTV, Khushi said, Unfortunately, I think I was exposed to a lot of it (Social media) from a very young age, so Ive been kind of desensitised to a lot of it. You learn to differentiate when you read something, whether it stems from someone elses insecurity. Now, Ive learned not to take it so much to heart. I dont really go through everything and overthink it as much as I used to before. Seeing it a lot from a young age has helped me differentiate it now. I value other peoples opinions more who mean more to me, as I know its coming from a better place.

She also revealed what her character in Archies taught her, I think to be kinder to myself. Shes a very sweet and sensitive girl, and I think she taught me to be nicer to myself as well. I tend to take a lot of pressure and put a lot of weight on everything upon myself. Throughout the shoot, she kind of taught me to lessen the burden on myself and to be nicer to myself.

The Archies, directed by Zoya Akhtar, is an Indian live-action musical movie based on the popular American comics of the same name. It also marks the acting debut of late star Sridevi and film producer Boney Kapoors daughter Khushi Kapoor (Betty), and megastar Amitabh Bachchans grandson Agastya Nanda (Archie).

The Archies is set in desi Riverdale in which Suhana plays the role of Veronica Lodge, a teenager who has just moved back from the UK and is ready to dive into the 2.0 version of her teenage life. She is best friends with Betty Cooper, played by Khushi, and Archie Andrews, essayed by Agastya. While everything in their lives seem to be going well, Veronicas father decides to bring in malls and development to Riverdale. As a result, several iconic places begin to shut down, including Bettys fathers bookstore and the massive green landscape comes under danger. The redevelopment plans take a toll on Veronicas friendships in the hill station town. However, Veronica decides to side with her friends and find a way to stop her father.

The Archies have already released two songs  Va Va Vroom and Sunoh. Both the songs have been penned by Javed Akhtar. While Sunoh has been composed by Ankur Tiwari, Va Va Vroom is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
The ongoing Dhangar community reservation debate sparked a protest recently at Khandala, Maharashtra. This caused significant inconvenience as community members blocked roads, which led to prolonged traffic jams. Veteran actor Mahesh Manjrekar, caught in the disruption, expressed dissatisfaction with the road blockade, criticising its impact on common citizens. The incident highlights the tensions over Dhangar community reservations and the disruptions faced by the public. While interacting with the media, he said: I was stuck in the traffic for two and a half hours. I dont know what to do. We can understand the problem you are going through, but what is the use of telling them this? I am a cancer patient. I have a false bladder. Its been two and a half hours and I cant go to the toilet. We waited for two and a half to three hours. I dont know what kind of legal system this is.

In Khandala, the Dhangar community staged a road blockade protest, causing an unexpected delay for Mahesh Manjrekar and his colleagues, who were unaware of the ongoing protests. The protesters halted Manjrekars car during his journey, resulting in a two-and-a-half-hour traffic holdup.

The actor voiced his concerns, acknowledging the significance of the issues raised. He refrained from commenting on the specific problem but highlighted the broader impact on various stakeholders such as patients, ambulance services, and individuals facing difficulties. Manjrekar underscored the need to communicate concerns effectively, without hindering overall progress.

Some time back, Dhangar community leaders along with members of Dhangar Samaj Yuvak Sanghatana, organised rasta roko protests on the Pune-Saswad road to advocate for reservations for their community. The protests sparked disturbance in the vehicular movement for several hours. Dhangar community members gathered at Mantarwadi Phata on Pune-Saswad road and staged a rasta roko agitation on Sunday at approximately 5:30 pm. During the demonstration, protestors voiced dissatisfaction with the government, urging the fulfilment of their longstanding request for reservations for the Dhangar community.

Protests caused disturbances in traffic flow to and from Saswad, resulting in extended delays and long queues of vehicles on the Pune-Saswad road.
Two European countries, Germany and Hungary, have introduced the option of using unlimited public transport passes. These passes allow travelers to use nearly all bus and train routes without having to purchase new tickets for each journey.

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The cost of such monthly passes is 49 euros (1950 hryvnias). However, each country has its restrictions and exceptions, as reported by Euronews.

For instance, Germany allows pass holders to use trains, buses, and subways across the entire country, while Hungary offers two types of tickets.

One of them - the national ticket - allows you to use all buses and trains in Hungary operated by the railway companies MAV-START, MAV-HEV, and GYSEV, as well as the bus company Volanbusz.

Another ticket, the county ticket, enables you to use bus and rail services in one of the country's 19 counties. However, its cost is almost half - 25 euros (995 hryvnias). It is worth noting that in both cases, there is a 90% discount for students.

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Tickets can be purchased not only by residents of the countries but also by foreigners. If a trip to one of the countries involves regular travel within the country, tourists are advised not to overlook the opportunity to get a ticket.

You can purchase a German travel pass directly from Deutsche Bahn, the German state railroad, or from local/regional transportation companies. A monthly subscription can be acquired online on the website, through the app, or in person at a service center.

Paper tickets will be accepted only until the end of 2023, so it will likely be provided in digital form. Travelers can present their travel pass using their phone or a special card.

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As for Hungary, the public transport pass can be bought at more than 1100 points of sale across the country, including MAV-START ticket offices, vending machines, and the MAV app, as well as at Volanbusz ticket offices, on board buses, and at GYSEV ticket offices.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that the Italian resort of Venice would become a paid tourist destination on peak days. Tourists will be charged 5 euros for entrance if they do not stay overnight.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Don't fall for fakes!
Actor K. Manikandan has been in the limelight for his upcoming film Lover. Viewers were eagerly waiting for more updates on the project. Meanwhile, the makers surprised the viewers and dropped the first look poster of Lover. And, it is currently garnering everyones attention.

The first look poster for Lover has been shared by actor, filmmaker, and musician Silambarasan TR, who is popularly known by the name Simbu on his official Twitter handle. The poster features Manikandan, who is seen sitting shirtless in a chair and holding a cigarette in his hand. Beside him is a wooden thing that is messed up with things, and there is also a bottle of alcohol on it.

From the first look at the poster for Lover, it can be predicted that the movie is going to be an intense love drama. However, sharing the poster, actor Simbu wrote, Happy to release the First Look of Lover. Get ready for a soulful experience. I wish the best of everything to the whole team! Directed by Vyaaaas and RSeanRoldan musical !!!

The first-look poster for Lover was released on November 30 and has till now garnered 264.9K views.

According to the report, Lover is locked to release next year during the Valentines Day weekend. Meanwhile, the first-look poster for Lover created a buzz for the film, and viewers are expecting some back-to-back updates from the makers to connect with the film.

Lover, directed by Prabhuram Vyaas and featuring Gouri Priya and Kanna Ravi in significant roles, has concluded its filming. Sean Roldan is composing the music for the movie. Recent reports indicate the completion of shooting, with post-production set to commence shortly.

Manikandan was earlier seen in the Tamil-language romantic comedy Good Night. The film was written and directed by Vinayak Chandrasekaran marking his directorial debut. The movie also stars Meetha Raghunath in the lead role, with Ramesh Thilak, Raichal Rabecca, Balaji Sakthivel, and Bagavathi Perumal portraying supporting roles. The movie was released on May 12 and garnered positive reviews from critics.
Lee Jung-jae, better known for his performance in the much-acclaimed Netflix web series Squid Game has wrapped up 2023 on a noble note. The actor has displayed his acting mettle in the survival-thriller series, portraying the role of Seong Gi-hun. His performance has garnered rave reviews from both viewers and critics alike with Lee Jung-jae bagging the Emmy award for the Best Actor In Drama category. While he has already established his position as a great actor, the 50-year-old has also won hearts for his recent philanthropic feat. Lee Jung-jae has donated prize money of 50 million KRW (roughly 32 lakh) to aid veteran filmmakers of the Korean Senior Filmmaker Association.

According to a report by The Korean Herald, Lee Jung-jae was bestowed with the honour and prize money at the 13th Beautiful Artist Award. An event where the actor will formally present the donation to the Association will be organised by the Shin Young Kyun Arts and Culture Foundation on December 4. The star-studded event will witness the arrival of Lee Hae-ryong  the President of the Association and Moon Cheol-jae  the Secretary-General of the organisation. Earlier on November 30, the Shin Young Kyun Arts and Culture Foundation announced the need for some money to financially support struggling veteran filmmakers in South Korea. And Lee Jung-jae decided to support the cause.

Explaining the reason behind giving away the hefty sum of money to the Korean Senior Filmmaker Association, Lee Jung-jae revealed in a statement, Whenever I hear of senior members in the industry who devoted their youth to film but are living a hard life, I feel truly sorry, as a junior actor indebted to (their) efforts, as quoted by The Korean Herald. Sympathising with the veteran filmmakers, he said that hearing about the challenges in matters of poverty and illness deeply affects him for which he decided to donate the money.

Thats not all. Contributing to Lee Jung-jaes generosity, Shin Young Kyun Arts and Culture Foundation revealed that Harim Co. Ltd  a company where Lee Jung-jae is associated as a model will also grant 30 million KRW worth of instant rice and food supplies to the Korean Senior Filmmaker Association. Joining the charitable cause, Ceragem has also vowed to provide medical facilities and equipment to the Association, reports All K-pop.

Coming back to Lee Jung-jae, the actor was last seen in Squid Game. His upcoming projects are kept under wraps.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday questioned the BJP over the extension granted to Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, asking the party to reveal its hidden agenda behind the move to the residents of the national capital.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP on the matter. The Centre extended Kumars tenure by six months, just a day ahead of his superannuation on November 30.

Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Raghav Chadha said the BJP was employing different tactics to destabilise the AAP government after failing to form the government three times in Delhi and then lost the municipal elections as well last year.

When the BJP understood that it cannot come to power in Delhi, they started employing tactics to destabilise the Delhi government sometimes through the LG or through special officers. The CS got an extension recently. Every Delhiite is asking questions about the controversial extension, he said.

Chadha claimed that all senior officers of AGMUT cadre were sidelined to grant extension to Kumar, something which is done in the rarest of rare cases. This happens in emergency situations and rarest of rare cases. BJP appointed someone who is facing allegations of corruption, the AAP leader charged. Why is the BJP interested in only one officer? Does BJP not consider any other senior officer capable of holding the post of Delhis chief secretary? Can only one officer work according to their directions? What is so special that only this officer can do? he asked.

Chadha said the BJP was toying with the careers of so many AGMUT cadre officers Referring to recent allegations levelled against Kumar by the AAP, Chadha said the BJP knows about the several matters and controversies that have emerged in the recent past.

Despite all this, is it right to grant an extension to the officer? Why is the BJP hellbent on granting him the extension? What is the special interest? What is the hidden agenda of the BJP to grant this extension? Does the BJP want to control the government through this officer? We want BJP to provide answers to Delhiites. We object to this extension, he said.

The alleged corruption is connected to the acquisition of 19 acres of land in southwest Delhis Bamnoli village. Kumar has denied any wrongdoing and alleged that people against whom vigilance action was taken for corruption and therefore have vested interests are indulging in mudslinging.

A 1987-batch IAS officer, Kumar took charge as Delhi chief secretary in April 2022. He has been at loggerheads with the ruling AAP over a host of issues.
On a name changing spree, the UP government is likely to change the name of Firozabad city in the state to Chandranagar. In line with the trend of changing the names of towns and cities bearing Muslim names, the Firozabad Municipal Corporation passed a resolution, proposing to change the name of the Glass City of India known for its bulk glass production. The proposal has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh government for a final nod.

This is the second such proposal within the last 30 days to be sent to the UP government. On November 8, a resolution of a similar kind was passed by the Aligarh Municipal Corporation to change Aligarh to Harigarh.

Kamini Rathore, Mayor of Firozabad, confirmed the development to News18 and claimed the city had been known as Chandranagar since its inception and rule under King Chandrasen. However, it was during Mughal era, after Mughal military commander Firoz Shah defeated Chandrasen that it was renamed as Firozabad, said Rathor.

On Friday, the resolution to change the name of Firozabad to Chandranagar was tabled by BJP corporator Sanjay Pandit. The resolution was backed by majority of BJP corporators in the House after which it was passed.

According to historians, the city of Firozabad was initially founded by a ruler named Chandrasen. It used to be the stronghold of the Chauhan Rajputs. In 1566, when Raja Todar Mal, the finance minister of the Mughal empire during the period of Emperor Akbar, was returning from a pilgrimage to Gaya, he stopped at the village of Asafabad, the southeast of modern Firozabad.

The tale goes that the villagers insulted him, and when the Akbar was told about this, he sent Firoz Khawaja to demolish the town and build a new one. The city was then re-built and renamed Firozabad to honour its founder Firoz Khawaja, whose tomb, made of white marble, is established along the road to Agra.

Some locals, however, say the city would continue to hold a special place in their hearts no matter the name. These are politically driven moves and it hardly matters to us. Firozabad will remain in our heart, said Pushpendra Shukla, a local from Firozabad.

Some SP leaders and corporators opposed the resolution but in vain.

In 2018, the state government had renamed Faizabad as Ayodhya, and Mughalsarai Railway Station in Chandauli district as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction. A year later, Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday sought to deny reports he has been asked to bring winning Congress candidates from five states where elections were held recently, to resorts and hotels in Karnataka ahead of the results.

Shivakumar was responding to reports that the Congress high command had asked him to replicate arrangements made for 44 Gujarat legislators during the August 2017 Rajya Sabha elections to prevent poaching. No MLAs will be going anywhere, he said.

Nobody has given me a responsibility or called me. I have my own opinion on the poll analysis that is being shown by the media. I am confident that we will win all the states, Shivakumar told reporters here.

Elections were held in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram and the counting of polled votes is slated on Sunday.

Responding to a query on this, Shivakumar, who is the Karnataka Congress chief, said, there is no need for them (MLAs) to go anywhere. He said that some people were trying to get in touch with the winning candidates in Telangana. However, the Congress will manage it locally, he added.

Sources close to Shivakumar said they have not yet been asked to make any arrangements for the stay of a large number of people. To a question, Shivakumar said he would do whatever the party asked of him, in case a Gujarat-like situation arose. On the possible election results, the Deputy Chief Minister said the reports in other states are good.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted BJP chief JP Nadda on his 63rd birthday, lauding his organisational skills and work in different capacities during his career, including as a lawmaker and a minister.

Modi said in a post on X, He (Nadda) has made a mark for his organisational skills. His simple and warmhearted nature has endeared him to several people. I have seen him work hard for the party over the last several decades.

The prime minister added, He has also distinguished himself as a very good MLA, MP and minister. I pray for his long and healthy life in service of the people.

A low-key leader, Nadda rose through the ranks since his days as a student leader in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and then the youth wing of the BJP, demonstrating a preference for avoiding groupism and sticking to the agenda of organisational discipline and efficiency as his responsibilities grew.

He was an MLA and a minister in Himachal Pradesh before being brought into the BJPs national politics. Nadda was a Cabinet minister in the first Modi government before taking over as the BJPs national president in 2020 from Amit Shah who, in turn, had joined the central government as home minister.

Shah, in his post, said Nadda is playing an important role in expanding the BJP and further strengthening it with his organisational skills and hard work.

The BJP is set to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 with Nadda as its president.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Saturday met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss the issues of toll collection and Marathi signboards outside shops in the state.

As per a statement issued by the chief ministers office (CMO), the meeting took place at Varsha, the chief ministers official bungalow.

Earlier this week, Thackeray had criticised the state government for failing to implement a Supreme Court directive on installing Marathi signboards on shops and other establishments and claimed the ruling coalition pays just lip service to Marathi and Hindutva issues.

The Supreme Court had earlier given shopkeepers a two-month deadline (which ended on November 25) to put up Marathi signboards outside their establishments and ordered a penalty of Rs 2,000 per day be imposed on violators.

The MNS had also earlier taken up the issue of toll collection in the state.
Rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who jumped ships to join the Shinde-led government in Maharashtra in July, claimed on Friday that he consulted with his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar about his plan to join the Maharashtra government and he was in favour of the decision.

Addressing supporters in Karjat at the two-day event of the NCP faction, Ajit Pawar said that Sharad Pawar called him and asked him to join the government soon after he resigned as the party chief.

During a family discussion, Sharad Pawar told me to join the government and said he would resign from the post of the party president. Nobody other than the four of the family members knew about the resignation, HT quoted Ajit Pawar as saying.

Ajit Pawar said that the Sharad Pawar-led faction had been reaching out for a patch-up. Such a meeting was organised on August 12 at businessman Atul Chordias Pune home, he added.

If you didnt like our decision (of joining the Shinde-led state government), then why did you call us for a meeting, Ajit Pawar asked.

The NCP leader also termed Sharad Pawars resignation decision a nautanki or farce adding that some leaders were asked to organise protests demanding that he rescind the decision.

Jitendra Awhad and Anand Paranjpe (NCP leaders) were called (by Sharad Pawar) and told to organise demonstrations asking for his resignation to be taken back. Paranjpe later came to me and I asked him why you are doing this nautanki. My view was that this was not needed. I hadnt asked for his (Sharad Pawar) resignation, Ajit Pawar said.

On May 2 this year, NCP Founder Sharad Pawar announced his resignation at an event in Mumbai triggering protests from party leaders and workers. Later, he rescinded the decision, stating that he respected the strong sentiments his decision had evoked among the party cadre and leaders across the country.

Ajit Pawar on Anil Deshmukhs Supari Remark

On former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukhs claim that he has been given supari (contract) by the BJP to end the political career of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar said Deshmukh remained with the group led by Sharad Pawar as he would have been sans a ministerial berth had he switched sides.

Ajit Pawar also said it was an appropriate time for holding a detailed discussion on the Uniform Civil Code and population control.

Pointing out that the Opposition INDIA bloc has not even been able to finalise its leader, Ajit Pawar sought to know how they can run the government when India has a leader like PM Modi who has given stability to the country.
The BJP will turn its focus to Bengal for the Lok Sabha battle of 2024 once the state election results are announced on Sunday, sources in the partys state unit told News18.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bengal on December 24 for a mega Gita Path at Brigade parade ground, essentially kicking off the partys agenda in the state.

Party insiders say that the fact that Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting on November 29 in central Kolkatas Dharmatala despite his tight poll campaigning schedule showed how critical Bengal was for the party.

In 2019, BJP won 18 seats in the state in the biggest-ever jump for the party. Even though they lost the assembly polls in 2018, party insiders say they performed well in North Bengal.

Sources say the BJP wants to repeat its 2019 performance. As Shah has given them a target of 35 seats in Lok Sabha, Bengal BJP workers want to work hard and the central leadership has assured them of all support.

A senior BJP MP told News18: In 2018, we did not have a strong organisation. But after 2019, we have a strong presence in almost all booths so we are better prepared.

It is expected that starting from December, all big shots of the party will start ground work for the Lok Sabha polls. Apart from Modi, Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and other central ministers will hold major meetings, specifically in North Bengal.

Though considered BJPs stronghold, the party did not perform well in North Bengal in the panchayat elections and they lost Dhupguri by-election to TMC.

In his speech in Kolkata, Shah had also said that give more votes to BJP this time so that the prime minister can say he has become PM again due to Bengal. A nonchalant TMC, meanwhile, called the visits of the BJP leaders a tourism package for winters.
A total of 19 bills and two financial items are likely to be taken up for debate at the upcoming winter session from December 4 to 22. These will include legislation to replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act, and bills to extend provisions of the womens reservation law in Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

The list was released on the day of the all-party meeting on Saturday, which is held before the commencement of any Parliament session. We are bringing in 19 bills and two are financial items. There are a total of 21 items. The three bills are from the home ministry. There is a bill on central university, constitutional order, said parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi.

Other bills that will be taken up will be the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 (as passed by Rajya Sabha); Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023; Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2023; Repealing and Amending Bill (as passed by the Lok Sabha), the Advocates (Amendment) Bill (as passed by the Rajya Sabha), among others.

Joshi said there will be 15 sittings in 19 days. The all-party meeting under the chairmanship of defence minister Rajnath Singh was attended by 30 leaders from 23 parties, he added.

Here is all you need to know about key bills listed for the winter session:

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill: The legislation to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act have also been listed for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha. The three bills were examined by the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, which submitted its reports with dissent notes by opposition members. During the monsoon session in August, union home minister Amit Shah, while introducing the three bills, had said these are to replace signs of slavery and to make the criminal justice system more victim-friendly.

According to the provisions, search and seizure operations will now be videographed through electronic devices and, for the first time, the Centre has defined terrorism. Remissions have also been rationalised in the new legislation and a new provision added to include crime related to murder on the basis of race, caste, community for which a provision of minimum seven years imprisonment or life imprisonment or death penalty has been made.

Bills to extend provisions of the womens reservation law in UTs of Puducherry, J&K: The Centre has listed two bills to extend the provisions of the womens reservation law in the union territories of Puducherry and J&K. Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said since there is a provision in the Constitution, Delhi  also a UT  was included in the womens reservation bill passed by Parliament in September. He said there is no provision as yet to extend the provisions of the law in the UTs of J&K and Puducherry. That is why separate bills after discussion, he said.

The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2023, has been listed for introduction, consideration and passage in the session. It seeks to insert provisions for providing reservation to women in the Puducherry legislative assembly. Similarly, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to reserve for women a third of the total number of seats in the legislative assembly of J&K.

While there is a provision for a legislative assembly in J&K, the UT is under Presidents Rule at present. Officially known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, the womens reservation law seeks to provide 33 percent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. During a special session of Parliament in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described the law as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. It was passed by the Lok Sabha with near unanimity and the Rajya Sabha with unanimity.

National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill: The new bill seeks to extend the validity of the law up to December 31, 2026. The law, enacted in 2011, provides for relocating slum dwellers in Delhi, making unauthorised colonies regular and creating a policy for farmhouses constructed beyond permissible building limits.

Central University (Amendment) Bill: The bill seeks to establish a central tribal university in Telangana.

Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill: The legislation proposes to set up a three-member committee led by the prime minister for appointing future chief election commissioners and election commissioners.

Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill: This bill seeks to simplify the registration process for periodicals and newspapers and do away with several penal provisions that led to the prosecution and imprisonment of publishers.

Here are all the 21 items listed for the winter session:

The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, as passed by Lok Sabha. The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha. The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, as passed by Rajya Sabha. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 The Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 The Post Office Bill, 2023 The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 The Boilers Bill, 2023 The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023 The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2023 The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill, 2023 The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023 Presentation, discussion and voting on first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related appropriation bill. Presentation, discussion and voting on demands for excess grants for 2020-21 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related appropriation bill.

(With PTI inputs)
First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska attended a meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council for the Implementation of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program, where 11 ministries and agencies summarized the year's results and presented their projects of psychological assistance to Ukrainians. For the official meeting, the wife of the Ukrainian president wore a symbolic brooch from the world-famous domestic brand Gunia Project.

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The cost of the authentic jewelry is 8800 hryvnias. Its symbolism and uniqueness were described by the craftsmen on the brand's website.

Thus, the product description states that the gold brooch in the shape of a dove is inspired by the decorations of a loaf.

"A dough dove often decorated ceremonial bread and could also be baked separately. This bird is a recognizable attribute of the Ukrainian wedding tradition," the Gunia Project website says.

Each of these Doves is handmade by craftsmen from sterling silver with gilding.

ADVERTISIMENT

A brooch adorned the collar of Olena Zelenska's stylish brown jacket. As you can see from the photo, the first lady was wearing a classic three-piece suit consisting of pants, a vest and a jacket. She also wore a lighter brown blouse underneath. Among other jewelry, the guarantor's wife wore neat gold earrings.

It should be noted that Gunia Project is a brand of exceptional items made on the basis of ethnic traditions of Ukraine. In their collections, they combine folk traditions, folklore elements, everyday culture, modernity, and an individual design approach. Among the brand's fans are many foreign stars, including Kylie Jenner, Lily Collins and others.

ADVERTISIMENT

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Olena Zelenska met with a large family from Kherson region, whose home was attacked by Russian terrorists, in a casual manner. The first lady, who prefers business casual clothes as she always attends official meetings, came out to meet Ukrainians in an oversized parka and comfortable galoshes.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
An all-party meeting of floor leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha took place at the Parliament Library building on Saturday. The meeting was convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi to discuss the order of business and agenda ahead of the Winter Session of the Parliament.

The meeting was attended by most MPs including senior BJP leaders like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

#WATCH | Delhi: An all-party meeting is underway at the Parliament Library building, ahead of the winter session of Parliament. The winter session of Parliament, 2023 will begin from December 4 and continue till December 22. pic.twitter.com/PSwDtGFyPk  ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2023

Senior BJP leader Arjun Ram Meghwal, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, and Congress MP Pramod Tiwari were also in attendance. The Winter Session is scheduled to have 15 sittings until December 22.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the meeting was attended by 23 political parties and chaired by Union Minister Rajnath Singh.

The minister said that several suggestions were received, including demands for zero hours, and smooth functioning of the parliament activities during the Winter Session of Parliament.

Last time when the opposition wanted a discussion on Manipur, we were ready. We told this many times that we are ready but there is a proper procedure for it. This is the last session, and we are fully ready for structured debate, Joshi said.

All party leaders discussed key draft legislations, including three bills to replace the colonial era criminal laws.

According to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, a total of 19 bills are listed for consideration and passing, while two financial bills will be discussed.

The government also planned to present the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2023-24.

The report of the Ethics Committee on the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra will also be tabled in Lok Sabha during the session.

The House will have to adopt the report before the expulsion recommended by the panel comes into effect.

Another key bill pending in Parliament relates to the appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners.

The said bill was introduced in the Monsoon session but the government had not pushed for its passage in the special session of Parliament amid protests from the opposition and former chief election commissioners as it seeks to bring on a par the status of the CEC and ECs with that of the cabinet secretary.

(With PTI inputs)
Over the course of the past week Hamas released 80 Israeli women, children and teenagers as part of a truce agreement in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian militants also freed 25 others outside the scope of the truce deal, most of them Thai farm workers, bringing to 105 the number of captives released during the pause in hostilities.

With five hostages having already been freed before the truce, a total of 110 captives have returned home alive  33 children, 49 women and 28 men  out of an initial group of around 240.

As Israel resumes its offensive in Gaza, we look at who is still believed to be in captivity.

The Israeli army said Friday that five more hostages had died, bringing the total number to seven, and 136 were still being held.

The government said 125 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepali, one Tanzanian and a French-Mexican identified as Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, by his family.

Baby boy

AFP has managed to identify 110 of the remaining hostages, mainly through interviews with their relatives or Israeli media reports.

It is far from certain that all are alive.

Hamas claims the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza along with his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and four-year-old brother Ariel.

Israel has yet to confirm the fate of the family, which has come to symbolise the brutality of the hostage-taking.

The Israeli government on Friday confirmed the deaths of two hostages: Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier, and Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman from Beeri kibbutz.

17 women and children

Besides the Bibas boys, there are no child hostages known to be left in Gaza.

The last minor to be released was 17-year-old Aisha al-Zayadna, who was freed on the final day of the truce on Thursday along with her 18-year-old brother.

Seventeen women and children are still being held in Gaza, including Shiri Bibas.

The oldest are Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Haggai, both aged 70.

The women also include Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old who was filmed screaming Dont kill me! as Hamas militants took her away on a motorbike from the Tribe of Nova desert rave. Argamani appeared in a video from Gaza shortly afterwards, drinking a bottle of water on a couch.

Five women aged 18-19 were performing their military service when they were kidnapped.

As soldiers, they were excluded from the prisoner swap.

Men in their 80s

At least 91 men are still being held, including 10 aged between 18 and 22, most of whom were on military service at the time of the October 7 attack.

Some of the men are fathers of children who were freed with their mothers, relatives or other families in the past week.

They include David Cunio, whose wife Sharon and twin three-year-old daughters Emma and Yuli were released on Monday, along with Tal Shoham, whose wife Adina, son Naveh, eight, and daughter Yahel, three, were released on Saturday.

The father of a French-Israeli boy, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi who was returned on Monday to his mother, is still held.

Some of the men are in their 70s and 80s.

Over a month after Hamas released two elderly women, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Kuper, their husbands Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Kuper, 85, are still also held.

Oded Lifshitz was described by his family as a passionate human rights defender from Nir Oz kibbutz, who used to drive people from Gaza to hospital.

Dozens of ravers

At least 33 people abducted during the Hamas massacre at the Tribe of Nova festival are still held hostage. Only five were released during the truce, including 21-year-old French-Israeli Mia Shem.

Of the others, at least 28 come from Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, which had at least 71 of its roughly 400 residents abducted.
As many as 123 countries endorsed a long-awaited Declaration on Climate and Health at COP28, marking the first time governments acknowledged the deleterious impacts of climate change on the health of communities worldwide. India is not a signatory to the pact even though it showcased its commitment to integrating climate and health agenda under its G20 Presidency this year.

The announcement comes just ahead of the first-ever Health Day at the UN Summit and includes $1 billion financing for climate and health. Healthcare professionals across countries have been rallying for years to make health an integral agenda at the UN Climate summits, more so after the devastating impacts Covid-19 pandemic. It is also the first time that Health Ministers from over a 100 countries will attend a health and climate ministerial at the conference.

The declaration is crucial as it comes at a time when annual deaths from air pollution hit almost 9 million and heat-related illness and death on the rise, and spate of climate disasters  recording-breaking heatwaves, droughts and floods are putting billions of lives at risk.

The UAE Presidency also noted support of some country champions, including India, in developing the declaration. However, India has not officially endorsed the pact as yet.

A health ministerial delegation was also expected to be at the summit. India is among the countries most-vulnerable to climate change, and its health implications are more pronounced on the billion-plus population.

Experts that News18 spoke to highlighted the importance of bringing health to the centre of international climate negotiations. COP28 would have been one of the best opportunities for India to do that. It is the closest the world leaders have come to making it a Health COP, said one the experts.

As one of the leading global emitters worldwide, and the home of 1 billion of the worlds population, the absence of India from the list of over 120 countries endorsing the COP28 health declaration is striking, said Jess Beagley, Policy Lead, Global Climate and Health Alliance.

Under its G20 Presidency, India also managed to bring world leaders to commit to work towards enhancing the resilience of health systems and developing climate resilient and low-carbon health systems. India is setting a compelling precedent in climate action, as evidenced by its proactive approach during the G20 presidency, where the Delhi Declaration emphasized the intersection of climate and health agendas, said Dr Arvind Kumar, Founder Trustee, Lung Care Foundation/Doctors for Clean Air.

WHAT DOES THE DECLARATION SAY?

The 123 governments agreed to work on protecting communities and preparing the healthcare sector to cope with climate-related impacts such as extreme heat, air pollution and infectious diseases. Signatories have also committed to incorporate health targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and improve international collaboration to address the health risks of climate change.

The climate crisis is a health crisis, but for too long, health has been a footnote in climate discussions, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization emphasizing the need to build climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems.

The crucial Climate Summit will hold the Health Day on December 3 which will see the first-ever climate and health ministerial at a COP. Ministers of health and senior health delegations from over 100 countries are expected to attend.

For COP28 to go down in history as the first Health COP, it will be necessary for governments to sustain this focus on health throughout the negotiations, and to take real action to protect peoples health  including the phase-out of fossil fuels, additional finance to address the impacts of climate change, and making health a fundamental measure of our progress and success on climate action, said Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
A 23-year-old Indian student, Mitkumar Patel, who moved to the UK nine weeks ago for his studies was found dead on the bank of the Thames river in London on November 21. His family reported him missing on November 17.

A passerby found his body in the river Thames near the Canary Wharf area of east London. They called the Metropolitan Police who called paramedics who declared Mitkumar dead.

Mitkumar, also known as Mit, by his near and dear ones, moved to the UK on September 19 and was living with them in Plaistow, east London. His cousins are raising money in order to repatriate his body to India to allow his parents and sisters to say their final goodbyes and finish his last rites.

Mit was expected to move to Sheffield on November 20 to start his degree course at the Sheffield Hallam University and a part-time job at Amazon. His UK-based cousin became worried when Mitkumar failed to return home from a daily walk. They found out that Mitkumar left his house keys at home.

They reported him missing to the police on November 18 and immediately began contacting missing persons charities and started pasting posters in areas he frequented with posters and flyers.

Parth, Mits cousin, said in the days before his death Mit sent a relative a series of voice messages and they found that in those messages, Mit outlined a plan on how to end his life.

He belonged to a farmer family and used to live in a village. So we decided to do fundraising to help out his family and to send his body to India, Parth wrote on the fundraising page.

Officers believe they know the identity of the deceased. The death is not believed to be suspicious, a spokesperson for Scotland Yard said, confirming that police, paramedics and the fire brigade responded to reports a mans body was found on the riverbank at Caledonian Wharf.

(with inputs from PTI)
Three extremists linked with the Khalistan movement were sentenced for the attempted murder of popular Auckland-based radio host Harnek Singh, according to a report by The Australia Today. Harnek has been a vocal opponent of the Khalistan ideology.

Sarvjeet Sidhu, aged 27, pled guilty to attempted murder. Sukhpreet Singh, aged 44, was guilty of being an accessory and the third individual, whose name was not revealed, is a 48-year-old Auckland resident, who planned the attack and harboured resentment against Harnek Singh for his opposition to the Khalistan movement. Judge Mark Woolford during the hearing maintained that there is need for community protection and religious fanaticism must be deterred.

The unnamed 48-year-old mastermind behind the attack received a sentence of 13-and-a-half years. He will have to serve a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before parole eligibility. Sarvjeet Sidhu was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years imprisonment and Sukhpreet Singh received six months of home detention.

Jagraj Singh and Gurbinder Singh, were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Jobanpreet Singh and Hardeep Singh Sandhu, await sentencing early next year for their involvement in the attempted murder of the Sikh radio host.

The attack on Harnek Singh happened almost three years ago in December 2020 when a group of religious extremists attacked him in his driveway. Harnek suffered over 40 stab wounds and required more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries.

It bears all the hallmarks of religious fanaticism.  Sentencing in this context requires a different approach. The emphasis must be placed on protecting the community from further violence and it is essential to send a strong message of deterrence to others, Judge Woolford said.

Nekki was trailed by three cars filled with attackers who stabbed him in a near-fatal manner. He survived because he locked the car and honked his car several times, attracting neighbours attention who then took steps to prevent him from bleeding to death from the deep stab wounds.

Two other people, Avtar Singh, a former bodybuilder and Baljinder Singh, said they knew the unnamed third assailant but they stopped associating with the man after labelling him as a thug and mafia in 2018. Baljinder was even offered to kill Harnek but he declined but he said he received a call from one individual who told him Harnek was stabbed and that his voice will not be heard on the radio.

My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down. You came to kill me. You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed, Harnek Singh and his family said in a statement.

I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have. The only chilling message you have managed to send is to people with the same views and opinion as yours that actions have consequences and that in a country like New Zealand, the law does not bend for you if your wrongful acts are in the name of God, he further added.
The US ratings agency Fitch has upgraded Greeces sovereign debt rating to investment grade, praising the countrys progress on reducing its elevated debt levels.

Fitchs decision to lift its rating for Greeces long-term debt from BBB- from BB+ follows in the footsteps of S&P Global Ratings, which returned the Mediterranean country to investment grade in October.

Fitch expects general government debt/GDP to remain on a sharp downward trend, thanks to solid nominal growth, budget over-execution and a favourable debt-servicing structure, Fitch said in a statement announcing its decision.

It added that it expects Greeces debt as a proportion of economic outlook to fall to 160.8 percent this year, and 141.2 percent by 2027  down sharply from 171.4 percent in 2022.

The Greek debt crisis was sparked by reckless state spending and misreporting of fiscal data to the European Union.

When revealed by the socialist government of George Papandreou in October 2009, it caused Greeces borrowing rates to rapidly spike beyond reach.

Greece endured eight years of austerity under three successive international bailouts  worth a total of 289 billion euros ($306 billion)  in a bid to save the country from collapsing under its debt mountain of some 300 billion euros.

The economic reforms demanded by Greeces creditors had a major impact, reducing gross domestic product (GDP) by a quarter over eight years and sending unemployment soaring to more than 27 percent.

Greeces finance minister, Kostis Hatzidakis, lauded Fitchs upgrade on Friday.

The Greek economys credit rating upgrade by Fitch Ratings marking its ascent to investment grade is an important national success! he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The upgrade sets the stage for stronger investment inflows, improved financing conditions for the economy, growth and increased employment, he added.
Israeli air strikes killed two Syrian pro-Hezbollah fighters when they hit sites belonging to the Iran-backed group near Damascus early on Saturday, a war monitor told AFP.

The strikes near Damascus came less than 24 hours after the end of a Gaza truce between Hezbollah ally Hamas and Israel.

Two Syrian fighters working for Hezbollah were killed and seven other fighters working for the group were wounded in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah sites near Sayyida Zeinab, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour since Syrias civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas began in October. Hamas last year said it had restored relations with Syrias government.

The chief of the British-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria, had earlier told AFP that Israel struck Hezbollah targets in the Sayyida Zeinab area south of Damascus.

Syrias defence ministry had also said Israel hit near the Syrian capital, with an AFP journalist in Damascus reporting the loud sound of bombings.

At approximately 1:35 am (2235 GMT) today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points near the city of Damascus, the defence ministry said in a statement, reporting no casualties.

Syria state television had reported an Israeli aggression near the capital.

The Israeli army did not comment when contacted by AFP.

On November 8, Israeli air strikes on the same area near Damascus killed three pro-Iran fighters as they hit sites belonging to the powerful Lebanese group, the Observatory had said.

Israeli air strikes on November 26 rendered Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights resumed following a similar attack the month before.

Damascus and Aleppo airports were both put out of service following Israeli strikes on October 12 and 22.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its presence there.

Hezbollah is an ally of Damascus and has long fought alongside Assad in the countrys war.
The Israeli army on Friday said five hostages died in Gaza. The army officials informed the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz of their passing and returned one of the bodies to the family members.

In recent days, the IDF (military) and Israel police notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths, army spokesman Daniel Hagari was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

The fifth person whose body was brought back to Israel was identified as Ofir Tsarfati. Tsarfati was kidnapped from a rave party near the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attacks on October 7. Hamas launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7, storming into southern Israel killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and snatching some 240 hostages.

The Israel army spokesperson said terrorists were still holding 136 hostages, among them 17 women and children.

Israel has retaliated heavily through incessant airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza in which Hamas claims over 15,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children have died.

A truce was announced between Israel and Hamas for four days, which was later extended by three more days, during which both sides agreed to exchange hostages for prisoners.

During the seven-day truce, Hamas freed 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, and more aid entered Gaza.

Twenty-five other hostages, mostly Thais, were also freed in separate arrangements.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the same reason cited by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleging that Hamas reneged on commitments due to which the ceasefire did not hold. While mediators Qatar and Egypt said they worked to ensure the truce was extended and were disappointed by the resumption of bombings and airstrikes on Gaza Strip, within hours of the expiry of the ceasefire. Israel claimed Hamas fired rockets towards Israel.

Its also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans. It began firing rockets before the pause had ended, Blinken said, while urging Israelis to ensure that there are safe evacuation routes for Gazan civilians.
Israel said on Saturday that it had reached an impasse with Qatar in its talks to secure a renewed pause in the war with Hamas. The country is pulling its team of Mossad negotiators, even as the fighting in the Gaza Strip rages for a second day since the seven-day truce expired.

Following the impasse in the negotiations and, at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel, Netanyahus office said in a statement, as per a report published by AFP. Fighting between Israel and Hamas-allied forces in Lebanon also resumed.

During a weeks pause in the war, Hamas released 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The militant group also released 25 other hostages, mostly Thais, under separate arrangements.

On October 7, Hamas had launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages. In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and began an air, sea and ground offensive that has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.

Here are five key developments over the past 24 hours on Day 57 of the Israel-Hamas war:

More than 200 dead As of Saturday, at least 240 people have been killed since the truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday and fighting immediately restarted. Another 650 people are injured in hundreds of air strikes, artillery and navy bombardments, everywhere in the Gaza Strip, said Hamas, adding that Israeli forces had particularly targeted Khan Yunis in the south. 400 targets in Gaza The Israeli military said it had attacked more than 400 targets in the Gaza Strip since the pause in the fighting ended. Air, naval and ground forces were involved, it said, adding that fighter jets hit more than 50 targets in an extensive attack in the Khan Yunis area. The total target figure is roughly in line with the daily average number prior to the pause, as per military figures previously released. Aid resumes The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it had now received aid trucks through the Rafah crossing from its Egyptian counterparts. Late Friday, the PRCS had announced that Israel told organisations that the entry of aid trucks from the Egyptian side to the Gaza Strip is prohibited, starting from today until further notice. Officials on both sides of the Rafah crossing had confirmed that no trucks had entered since fighting resumed. Five hostages confirmed dead The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the deaths of five hostages held in Gaza, and the body of one of them returned to Israel. In recent days, the IDF (military) and Israel police notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths, said army spokesperson Daniel Hagari. He also said troops had brought back the body of Ofir Tsarfati, kidnapped from a rave party on October 7. Syria strikes Israeli airstrikes killed two Syrian pro-Hezbollah fighters when they hit sites belonging to the group near Damascus early in the day, a war monitor told AFP. Two Syrian fighters working for Hezbollah were killed and seven other fighters working for the group were wounded, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Friday, Lebanons Hezbollah movement said two of its members were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, as its members resumed attacks against Israel after the truce.

(With AFP inputs)
Prime Minister Narendra Modis selfie with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni has broken the internet with hashtag Melodi trending on X (formerly Twitter). The photograph received over 52.3K responses by Saturday morning.

Modi and Meloni met in Dubai during the United Nations Conference of the Parties on climate, known as COP28, where the 46-year-old Italian leader  who seems to be well-versed with the social media trends  clicked the selfie and captioned it #Melodi. The hashtag has been derived by combining the surnames of the two leaders.

Later, on Saturday afternoon, PM Modi replied to Melonis picture and wrote, Meeting friends is always a delight.

Meeting friends is always a delight. https://t.co/4PWqZZaDKC Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2023

The netizens couldnt keep calm as soon as they saw the picture, flooding social media with memes. Melonis picture, so far, has received 21.7 million views and over 281k likes.

Some used the viral trending song just looking like a WOW by Yashraj Mukhate and mashed it up with different pictures of Meloni, others used popular dialogues from Bollywood movies to describe the selfie.

A section of internet users even pointed out that the two prime minister were twinning in white, and called it selfie of the year.

So Beautiful, So elegant, Just looking like a Waow (Wow) !!!#Melodi pic.twitter.com/hz35w90C8l Akanksha (@Anku0307) December 2, 2023

Taking a swipe at the Italian connection of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, some even suggested that PM Modi should invite Meloni to India for his 2024 Lok Sabha campaign to give a befitting reply to an Italian by an Italian.

For the unversed, Rahul Gandhis mother, Sonia Gandhi, was reportedly born in a small village near Italys Vicenza. After completing her primary education at local schools, she moved to Cambridge, England, where she met Rajiv Gandhi, and later married him in 1968.

Modi ji should invite Maloni ji to come to India for 2024 Modi campaign.An Italian for an Italian #Melodi pic.twitter.com/Ae7kcyRT32  The Random Guy (@RandomTheGuy_) December 2, 2023

A video of the two leaders chatting at the COP28 summit has also gone viral. The two stood for a photograph with all the leaders when she were seen laughing and talking.

Modi ji & Meloni ji look so happy #melody pic.twitter.com/YtksPkOmHT ruchi kokcha (@ruchikokcha) December 1, 2023

Good friends, Narendra Modi and Giorgia Meloni, were first noticed by the internet during G20 summit in India earlier this year.

Across Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit, users shared videos of Modi and Meloni interacting at the summit. This resulted in multiple memes, with some posts receiving millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes on Instagram.

Some clips of Modi greeting Meloni were overlaid with Bollywood movie songs, where people appreciated their chemistry.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban regularly pushes the EU "to the brink," but diplomats are panicking that his hostility towards Ukraine is about to push the bloc "off the cliff" even further. The brewing political crisis could erupt at a summit in mid-December when EU leaders are expected to make a historic decision to admit Ukraine to the 27-nation union and approve a 50 billion aid package for the country.

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This was reported by the American newspaper Politico. According to the article, the meeting in December will be "a signal to the United States" that, despite political differences over the war in the Middle East, the EU is fully committed to Ukraine.

These hopes are likely to be "dashed" by Orban, a "man of power" who maintains close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is widely seen as the one undermining democracy and the rule of law at home, the newspaper writes.

Thus, Orban demands that the entire political and financial process be frozen until the leaders agree to a complete review of EU support for Kyiv.

"This is causing EU leaders a huge headache. Although Hungary makes up only two percent of the EU's population, Orban can hold the bloc hostage because he is expected to make important strategic decisions unanimously, and these are unlikely to be anything more than initiating accession talks with Ukraine," the article says.

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The Hungarian prime minister has been the most vocal opponent of sanctions against Russia since Putin's occupation of Crimea in 2014. But this time is different, EU diplomats and officials said.

"We are heading for a serious crisis," said one EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another senior diplomat warned that it could be "one of the most difficult European summits ever."

Orban is playing a long game, Peter Kreko, director of the Political Capital Institute in Budapest, told Politico.

"Orban has been waiting for Europe to realize that it is impossible to win the war in Ukraine and that Kyiv has to make concessions. (...) Now he feels that his time is coming because Ukraine fatigue is growing in public opinion in many EU countries," he said.

Theoretically, a "nuclear" option is under consideration, which would deprive Hungary of participation in EU political decisions, but countries believe it is toxic as it would set a precedent for disunity and fragmentation of the EU. For now, European leaders seem to be sticking to their usual approach of catering to the "bad guy in the EU" by trying to reach a compromise, Politico writes.

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European Council President Charles Michel is leading the most "soft" push for compromise. He traveled to Budapest this week for an intense two-hour discussion with Orban. Although the meeting did not lead to an immediate "breakthrough," it was useful to understand Orban's concerns, another EU official said.

It's all about money

Some European diplomats interpreted Orban's threats as a strategy to increase pressure on the European Commission, which is withholding 13 billion in EU funds for Hungary because of concerns that the country does not meet EU standards for the rule of law, the newspaper said.

Others, however, said it would be a mistake not to go beyond immediate transactional tactics. Orban has long questioned the EU's strategy towards Ukraine, but he has been largely ignored or portrayed as a puppet of Putin.

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"We looked at it with surprise, but maybe we didn't have enough time to really listen," another senior EU diplomat admitted.

Orban, who is the leader of the Fidesz party (Hungarian Civic Union), is increasingly isolated in Brussels. Previous peacekeepers such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel or other Orban supporters from the so-called Visegrad Four - Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic - are no longer there. The expected return of Donald Tusk to Poland, a pro-European and anti-Russian leader, will only increase Orban's status as a lonely and rebellious opponent, the article says.

"There is no one left who can reason with Orban. He is now undermining the EU from within," a third bloc representative said.

In theory, Brussels could use the so-called Article 7 procedure against Hungary, which is used when a country is believed to be in danger of violating the bloc's core values. This procedure is sometimes referred to as the EU's "nuclear option" because it involves the most serious political sanction: suspension of voting rights on EU decisions.

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However, the EU does not want to use this option against Hungary. When "diplomatic sanctions" were imposed on Austria in 2000 when the party of the far-right Austrian leader Jorg Haider entered the coalition, it had unpleasant consequences. Many Austrians were dissatisfied with EU interference and anti-European sentiment increased dramatically. The sanctions were lifted later that year.

Now, there is a widespread belief in Brussels that Article 7 could trigger a similarly negative reaction in Budapest, fueling populism and even potentially causing a snowball effect leading to Hungary's unintended exit from the bloc in the long run.

With these concerns in mind, diplomats are working hard to find ways to circumvent the Hungarian veto.

Searching for compromises

One option is to divide the 50 billion euros earmarked for Ukraine between 2024 and 2027 into smaller amounts on an annual basis, three EU officials told the publication. However, critics warn that this option would fail to provide greater predictability and confidence in Ukraine's struggling public finances.

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It would also send a bad political signal: if the EU cannot make a long-term commitment to Ukraine, how can it ask the US to do the same?

The same problem applies to the planned EU military assistance. EU countries could use bilateral agreements rather than EU structures such as the European Peace Fund to channel military aid to Ukraine, which would effectively freeze Budapest.

However, this would mean that the EU as such would play no role in the supply of weapons. This is an admission of powerlessness that is difficult to accept and damaging to EU unity towards Kyiv.

Commenting on Hungary's position, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, told Politico, "Ukraine is going to the EU, and Ukraine has fulfilled all the recommendations (...) I want to make sure that all member states respect the progress made and demonstrated by Ukraine."

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The EU still has one more default option, and it is a classic EU one: to postpone the issue and postpone key policy decisions on Ukraine until early next year, the newspaper writes.

Such a delay would also lead to talk of broken EU unity, another EU diplomat said. However, according to him, "in the real world, this would not be a problem because Ukraine's budget is fine until March 2024."

At the same time, Europe is preparing for elections next June, making it difficult to agree on sensitive decisions.

"The approach to the elections will not make the situation easier," said another EU official, emphasizing that quick decisions are key for Ukraine. "It is important for Zelenskyy to keep the morale on the battlefield high."

Brussels is also increasingly concerned about Orban's long game, Politico reports. There is a constant stream of attacks on Brussels from Budapest on issues ranging from democracy deficits to culture wars over EU migration policy.

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"No one feels comfortable with what is happening in Hungary. ...When he asks his people many things, they don't ask back why he doesn't leave the bloc if the EU is so much worse than the U.S.S.R." European Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn told reporters on Thursday.

But Orban seems more eager to take over the EU from within, rather than "leaving the ship" as the UK did. He also feels the wind that is blowing in his direction after the recent election results in Slovakia and the Netherlands, where the winners are on the same page as him when it comes to Ukraine, migration, or gender issues, Kreko says. For example, Orban was quick to congratulate the winner of the Dutch election, a staunch opponent of the EU, Geert Wilders, saying that "the wind of change is here."

"Orban is playing the long game," said a third EU official. "With Wilders, one or two other far-right leaders in Europe, and the potential return of Trump, he may soon be less isolated than we all think.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, European Council President Charles Michel sharply responded to Orban's call not to negotiate with Ukraine on joining the EU. He emphasized that the EU already has an association agreement with Kyiv.

Only verified information on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
A protester outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta was in critical condition Friday after setting themself on fire, in what police said was likely an extreme political statement.

A Palestinian flag was reported at the location and was part of the protest, said Darin Schierbaum, police chief of the southern US city.

He said the incident was likely an extreme act of political protest.

A security guard was also injured after trying to stop the protester, according to emergency first responders.

Both individuals sustained burns, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith told journalists.

He did not specify the age or gender of the protester.

The security guard noticed that the individual was attempting to set themselves afire shortly after the protester arrived outside the consulate building around noon (1700 GMT), Smith said.

The guard immediately attempted but failed to stop the individual.

The guard was burned on his wrist and leg, Smith said, while the protester was in critical condition with full thickness burns to their body. Both were taken to the hospital, he added.

We actually have dedicated patrols that are occurring at this location and other Jewish and Muslim communities in the city, Schierbaum added.

The United States has seen an uptick in Anti-Semitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic threats and violence since the start of Israels war with Hamas in Gaza in October.

Earlier this week a US man was charged with attempted murder over the shooting of three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont, and a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy was stabbed to death in Illinois in October.
An earthquake of 7.5 magnitude struck off the cost of the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on Saturday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The US tsunami warning system has issued a tsunami warning after the tremors. The earthquake struck at 10:37 pm and was measured at a moderate depth of 32 kilometers (20 miles).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on the magnitude and location it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia.

https://twitter.com/LastQuake/status/1730960030332022907

Destructive tsunami is expected with life threatening wave heights, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on X, formerly Twitter.

It said waves of more than one metre above the normal tides were expected to hit the coast and advised people in Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to immediately evacuate to higher ground or further inland.

Meanwhile, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said tsunami waves of up to a metre were expected to reach Japans southwestern coast around 30 minutes later by 1:30 am on Sunday (1630 GMT on Saturday).

A Philippine government agency advised the residents of Surigao Del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces on the eastern shores of Mindanao to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move inland, a report in AP said.

Hinatuan police Sergeant Joseph Lambo said the 45,000 residents in the municipality had been ordered to leave their homes and many were going on foot or in vehicles to higher ground. Owners of boats were told to secure their vessels and move away from the shore.

Last month, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines killed eight people.

Quakes are frequent in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic as well as volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans but strong and destructive quakes come at random with no technology available to predict when and where they will happen.

(With inputs from agencies)
The US gave Israel bunker buster bombs and an array of other munitions for its war against Hamas on the Gaza Strip, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The report said that Washington transferred 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel. These bombs can penetrate hardened structures like buildings before exploding.

These bombs carry warheads which weigh more than 900 kgs. These bombs were used by the US during its conflict in Afghanistan. The US has given regular updates regarding the weapons its has supplied to Ukraine during the ongoing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war but has remained tight-lipped regarding the kind of weapons it is sending Israel for use in the ongoing 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

2023 Israel-Hamas War: Full Coverage

The report by the The Wall Street Journal pointed out that US sent 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells which were transported through C-17 military cargo planes.

ALSO READ | 200 Dead as War Resumes in Gaza Second Day after Truce Collapse

The US has sent Israel over 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAMs, a guidance kit that turns unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions.

It should be noted that the US sends billions of dollars to Israel each year in the form of financial assistance for army operations.

ALSO READ | 80 Released, 136 Still Held Captive: Who Are the Remaining Hostages Held in Gaza Strip?

The WSJ report also pointed out that the US-made large bombs were used in several strikes, including the one that decimated the apartment block in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing more than 100 people. Israel said it carried out the attack to eliminate one Hamas leader.

Israel has resumed aerial bombing of Gaza and Hamas has claimed that 200 people have died following the end of the weeklong temporary truce.

Hamas terrorists broke through Gazas militarised border into Israel, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 240, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground campaign that has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians, the Hamas authorities who run Gaza claim.

But in a diplomatic breakthrough, both sides agreed to a seven-day truce, during which Hamas freed 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, and more aid entered Gaza.
On December 1, another blackout occurred at Zaporizhzhia NPP: the last power line was cut off in the middle of the night during an air raid alarm. Ukrainian specialists managed to restore power only on the morning of December 2.

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This was reported by Energoatom. It added that due to the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the occupation of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe by Russians, threats to nuclear and radiation safety at ZNPP are increasing.

According to the report, on the evening of December 1, a 330 kV Zaporizhzhia TPP-Ferrosplavna power line was broken. ZNPP was receiving power from the Ukrainian power grid through it.

At 02:31 p.m., the last 750 kV Zaporizhzhia NPP-Dniprovska power line was de-energized during an air raid alarm.

After that, a complete blackout occurred at Zaporizhzhia NPP. All 20 diesel generators were switched on automatically to meet the facility's needs. Eight of them were then left in operation.

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Energoatom emphasized that another blackout poses a threat to nuclear and radiation safety.

"The biggest safety threat in this state is at Unit 4. It is caused by the fact that the occupiers used it in violation of the terms of the license to operate NPP reactor units issued by the Ukrainian regulator and kept it hot. The de-energization of the main circulation pumps that cool the core leads to the transition of the reactor unit to the natural circulation mode. This mode is difficult for the reactor installation as its duration is limited by the design and it can lead to the failure of the main equipment of the power unit. The unit needs to be urgently transferred to a cold state," Energoatom explained the threats.

Ukrainian specialists worked to restore ZNPP's connection to the Ukrainian power grid until the morning of December 2. As of 7 a.m., the 750 kV power line was restored.

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As a reminder, on November 24, EU member states, joined by a number of non-member states, issued a joint statement that the European Union would never recognize Russia's illegal attempts to seize ZNPP.

They also called on Russia to immediately withdraw all its troops from the strategic facility.
While most of us handed in our treasure maps sometime during childhood, finding lost bounties at sea has become something between a hobby and an investment for a mysterious shipwreck hunter connected to major finds. Through ironclad NDAs and business maneuvering, he's evaded recognition despite devoting significant time and money to his ventures, and is known only as an anonymous London financier or by the monicker "the Originator." Until now. Businessweek investigated his dealings over 11 months through exhaustive channelsranging from his past employees to legal documents to satellite ship location dataand is now revealing him to be a 43-year-old British hedge fund executive who prefers keeping his feet on terra firma.

They write that Anthony Clake got his start in treasure hunting through the sticky business of tax write-offs. His employer, hedge fund Marshall Wace, worked with a shipwreck company to help wealthy clients relieve tax burdens. They eventually cut ties but continued to operate expeditions through various small companies often tied to Clake. He innovated ways to explore the ocean floor through new technologies and used data to track down sunken shipsboasting incredible finds like a 300-year-old Spanish galleon, ships sunk during the two world wars, and even Ernest Shackleton's HMS Endurance under Antarctic ice. But his devotion to obtaining the shiniest toys to locate billions worth of treasure underwater is seen as plunder to some, in what Businessweek calls the "underwater gold rush." Read the full story here. (More treasure stories).
The evils of avocado toast are back for more scrutinyonly this time because of an environmental nightmare. Illegal deforestation in avocado-growing regions of Mexico is on the rise, the New York Times reports, as chunks of forests are being burnt to make room for the profitable plant. Along with the loss of trees in two avocado-growing states, Michoacan and Jalisco, there's a rise in violence as people try to stop illegal land seizure. "My people should not die to satiate the world's appetite for guacamole," photographer and filmmaker Axel Javier Sulzbacher writes in an op-ed for the Washington Post . He notes that once cartels saw dollar signs in the avocado industry, violence over farmlands erupted, eventually making Michoacan's once docile Uruapan the third-ranked deadliest city in the world in 2020.

Those who come forward say they've been intimidated, and in some cases, beaten or kidnapped. Landowner Donaciano Arevalo told the Times he was threatened by armed men after he reported squatters on his land. "I felt my heart pounding in my chest," he recalls. "And I said, 'These guys are going to kill me or they're going to disappear me or they're going to hand me over to the criminals.'" Climate Rights International notes that the Mexican government prohibits forest "land-use change" to agricultural production without express authorization, but a mix of local corruption, criminal influence, and the incentive of the cash the crop brings have slowed down action.

While Mexico's forests, essential for mitigating climate change, are being razed to grow more avocados, the crop is creating a water crisis for local farmers. Illegal growers divert water sources to feed the thirsty plants. Not long after a forest catches fire, wells pop up, connected to an elaborate setup of underground piping that redirects water to a new orchard. In order to thrive, one mature avocado tree sucks as much water as 14 mature pines. "You're putting in deciduous forests of a very water hungry tree and tearing out conifer forests of not so very water hungry trees," Jeff Miller, author of Avocado: A Global History, said. "It's just wrecking the environment."

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Meanwhile in the US, where 90% of Mexico's avocados are exported, officials have dragged their feet over the American role in the issue. The demand for avocados has shot up stateside as the fruit has gone from a seasonal Super Bowl food to eaten year-round in our burritos, California rolls, and avocado toast. Americans are consuming three times as many avocados as they did 20 years ago, growing into a $2.7 billion annual trade with Mexico. Daniel Wilkinson of Climate Rights International claims a letter asking the US Department of Agriculture to resist buying avocados from sellers growing them on illegally deforested land was "ignored," but a department spokesperson said the lack of response was a "ministerial oversight, and not an indication of policy intent." (Read more avocado stories.)
It's bad news for Jussie Smollett , the former Empire actor who was found guilty in 2021 of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report about an alleged hate crime against him in Chicago. An Illinois appeals court on Friday upheld his conviction, and his five-month jail sentence, after Smollett had filed the appeal earlier this year, claiming that his due process rights had been violated by Cook County prosecutorspartly due to what Smollett's legal team said was the prosecutors not adhering to a binding nonprosecution agreement. Per CNN , Smollett also said "he was subjected to double jeopardy, took issue with the appointment of a special prosecutor, and argued his sentence was excessive, among other things."

Attorneys for the 41-year-old actor argued in the appeal that they wanted a new trial for their client, with a new judge. The appeals court didn't agree with their arguments, including regarding the double jeopardy claim. "No jury had been impaneled, no witness had been sworn in, no evidence had been introduced, and Smollett had not pled guilty," Justice David R. Navarro wrote in the court's decision. "Because none of these actions occurred, jeopardy did not attach to Smollett's first criminal prosecution."

The New York Times notes that Smollet only served six days of his sentence before being released in March 2022 on appeal. Dan Webb, the special prosecutor in the case, called the court's decision a "resounding victory for justice," per Variety. "We are proud to have prevailed in a case that, we believe, can help restore the public's confidence in the Cook County justice system. We hope this decision will reassure the community that our legal system is fair, just, and impartial." One judge on the three-judge appeals panel dissented, and a Smollett attorney tells the Times that the legal team plans to appeal the case to the Illinois Supreme Court. (Read more Jussie Smollett stories.)
Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed. At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning, following the weeklong truce with the territory's ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a house on the outskirts of Gaza City, per the AP .

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on Nov. 20. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children. It also said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the start of the war. With the end of the truce, Israel has been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands. Some 2 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the territory's southern half.

It wasn't clear if Israel's military would heed appeals to spare civilians. The military said Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using airstrikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships. It included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza. At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah city in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken. The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight airstrikes, including two children. In northern Gaza, an airstrike flattened a residential building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City. Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel.

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Sirens were heard in communities near the Gaza Strip, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. In the clearest sign yet that a return to negotiations for further truces was unlikely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed negotiators to return to Israel. Israel says it's targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel; 240 people or so were taken captive. The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, per the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

(Read more Israel-Hamas war stories.)
UPDATE

Dec 3, 2023 7:47 AM CST

A Los Angeles man has been identified as the suspect in three recent killings of homeless men. Police Chief Michel Moore said Saturday that Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, was identified as the suspect in the killings after authorities determined a firearm found in a vehicle he was driving was linked to the shootings, per the AP. Police have not speculated about a motive. Powell also is accused of a separate killing. The homeless shootings in Los Angeles are not believed to be connected to the shootings of five homeless people in Las Vegas.

Dec 2, 2023 12:45 PM CST

Five men were shot at a homeless encampment in Las Vegas on Friday night, and police were searching for a suspect, authorities said. One of the victims, a man thought to be in his 50s, died, NBC News reports. The others were hospitalized, police said, with one of them in critical condition. The shooting occurred around 5:30pm near a freeway overpass in the northeastern part of the city, said police Lt. Mark Lourenco, per the AP.
A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck Saturday night off the coast of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and Philippine authorities issued a tsunami warning. The quake struck at 10:37pm local time at a depth of 20 miles, according to the US Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, per the AP . The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on the magnitude and location, it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau, and Malaysia.

Teresito Bacolcol, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, says his agency advised residents along the coast of southern Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to evacuate immediately to higher ground or move further inland. Owners of boats in harbors, estuaries, or shallow coastal waters off the two provinces should secure their boats and move away from the waterfront, the quake agency said in its tsunami warning. Boats already at sea should stay offshore in deep waters until further advised, it said.

Based on the quake's magnitude, Bacolcol said a 3.2-foot tsunami may hit, but the wave could be higher in enclosed coves, bays, and straits. The Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.

(Read more Philippines stories.)
When she stepped to the microphone at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York, Susan Sarandon says her intention was to convey "my concern for an increase in hate crimes." Her commentswhich included saying Jewish people "are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence"didn't exactly come across that way to many. The Academy Award-winning actor has faced a backlash, and she responded with a post Friday night on Instagram, per the Hollywood Reporter, acknowledging the oppression Jewish people have endured for centuries. "I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment," she wrote.
Vice President Kamala Harris assured Egypt's president on Saturday that the US won't permit the redrawing of the Gaza Strip's borders or the forced relocation of Palestinians. While reiterating US support for Israel's "legitimate military objectives" in its attack on Gaza, Harris decried the toll there, CNN reports. "Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," Harris said at a press conference in Dubai. "Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering, and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating. It is truly heartbreaking."

Harris met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other leaders of Arab nations while in the United Arab Emirates for the UN climate conference. She originally wasn't scheduled to attend the event, and a chance to hold talks about the Israel-Hamas war was a main reason for the trip, per the AP. Harris took advantage of the gathering to also meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in a speed round of diplomacy. She spoke by phone with the emir of Qatar. The emphasis in her discussions was on Gaza's future.

In her press conference, Harris referred to the need to plan for what happens when the fighting stops. "There is a mutual desire to figure out how we are going to figure out and approach 'the day after' in ways that bring stability and peace to this region," Harris said. Palestinian Authority security forces "must be strengthened to eventually assume security responsibilities in Gaza," she said, adding that terrorists cannot be allowed to continue to threaten Israel, per the AP. (Read more Israel-Hamas war stories.)
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday denounced those who advocate "an American retreat from responsibility" and said sustained US leadership is needed to help keep the world as safe, free, and prosperous as possible. The US must reject calls to turn away from global interests and become more isolationist, he told an audience of lawmakers, corporate and defense leaders and government officials in California. Those who "try to pull up the drawbridge," he said, undermine the security that has led to decades of prosperity, the AP reports. Austin made the remarks in a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley.

Austin defended US support of Israel in its war against Hamas and of Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. He said "the world will only become more dangerous if tyrants and terrorists believe that they can get away with wholesale aggression and mass slaughter." While there, Austin met privately with top lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. His message of rejecting isolationism appeared directed at lawmakers opposed to spending on overseas wars and supportive of Donald Trump's "America First" ideology. "You'll hear some people try to brand an American retreat from responsibility as bold new leadership," Austin said. "Make no mistake: It is not bold. It is not new. And it is not leadership."

Congress has not approved any new money for the wars in Ukraine and Israel and has managed to pass only a short-term budget bill, which runs out early next year, per the AP. Austin opened his speech with a plea to lawmakers in the crowd to pass both the budget and the supplemental funding for the wars. In addition, Austin underscored the Biden administration's insistence that Israel do more to protect civilians in Gaza during its offensive. While any country has a duty to respond to an attack like the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas on Israel, Austin said the lesson is that "you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians." Austin said that if civilians are driven into the arms of the enemy by violence, it becomes a strategic defeat.

(Read more Lloyd Austin stories.)
On December 1, Ukrainian resistance activists in the temporarily occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, held another revenge action against the occupiers. They carried out a successful attack at the entrance to the city in broad daylight, which resulted in the liquidation of the Russian invaders.

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They were destroyed along with the fuel tanker, and the occupation "authorities" in Melitopol are now trying to hide the consequences of the attack. The details were disclosed by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

"An unexpected and successful attack was carried out at the entrance to the temporarily occupied Melitopol on December 1, 2023, at noon. Ukrainian resistance forces destroyed several Russian occupiers and damaged an enemy fuel tanker: the military equipment was disabled," the statement said.

The DIU added that the karma caught up with the invaders at 115 Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Avenue. Before the occupation, the Lider (Leader) car center was located nearby. According to military intelligence, the occupiers chose this place to stop for a smoke break.

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"The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and brave Ukrainian guerrillas remind you: smoking kills," the DIU ironically says.

The intelligence service did not disclose details about how many invaders were eliminated. However, they added that local gauleiters are desperately trying to hide the consequences of the attack.

"After another successful raid by the resistance forces, which led to the elimination of the invaders and damage to their military equipment, the Russian occupation administration in Melitopol is trying to hide the consequences of the attack out of fear of the Kremlin's special services," the DIU said.

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On November 12, it became known that Russian officers were killed in Melitopol as a result of an explosion at the occupiers' headquarters.

The revenge action, which was carried out by representatives of the local resistance movement, took place in the Russian-occupied Nova Poshta building located on Dmytro Dontsov Street (the occupiers call it Pavel Sudoplatov Street). The Russian invaders have set up their headquarters in this building. They were gathered there for a meeting when an explosion occured. At least three Russian officers were killed.

Two more meetings ended sadly for the invaders in Tokmak and the Kherson region. Dozens of invaders were killed and wounded there.
Retired Maj. Karen King-Johnson (center) graduates from the Defense Information School in 1968. She recently shared her experiences in Vietnam. (Courtesy photo)
A combat dive team assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) fights through oncoming waves during surf passage training on Camp Pendleton, California, October 16, 2023. During surf passage training, combat divers have to quickly react and adapt to the changes in sea levels and waves to secure safe passage to open water. (Photo by Sgt. Luis Solorio)
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Lulu Group, a leading GCC retail chain, announced the expansion of its partnership with SirajPower to strengthen its commitment to environmental sustainability and green initiatives.

Following their successful partnership in the UAE, Lulu Group has entered into a long-term solar lease agreement with SirajPower, a leading distributed solar energy provider in GCC, facilitating the installation of cutting-edge 10MWp solar rooftop systems across six prominent locations of Lulu Hypermarkets in Bahrain.

The comprehensive solar capacity will be distributed among strategic locations, including Lulu Hypermarkets in Riffa and Hidd, the Ramli Mall at Aali, the Lulu Dana Mall in Sanabis, and the Lulu Logistic warehouses in Sitra.

Al Namal Group, a leading local partner in Construction and contracting, real estate, property development and management, health, and hospitality divisions, will provide valuable expertise and services for the installation of these solar systems.

These cutting-edge solar panels will generate about 17GWh of clean energy annually, reducing approximately 12,078 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. This will help Lulu Group achieve its sustainability goals and support the Kingdom of Bahrains clean energy vision.

The partnership was commemorated during a signing ceremony at Lulu Groups headquarters in Bahrain, graced by the presence of Lulu Group Director Juzer Rupawala; Laurent Longuet, Chief Executive of SirajPower; David Auriau, Director and Board Member of SirajPower; Jeeben Varghese Kurian, Executive Director of Al Namal Group and other senior officials from both entities.

Juzer Rupawala, Lulu Group Director, said, Lulu has always been at the forefront of adopting sustainable options, and our partnership with SirajPower to bring solar energy into our power mix is a conscious choice to align ourselves with the Kingdoms ambitious environmental goals to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2035.

This strategic step is part of a series of affirmative actions that we firmly believe will not only benefit the environment but also contribute to the well-being of our planet. Laurent Longuet, CEO of SirajPower said: Lulu Group has been an integral partner for SirajPower, and our initial collaboration resulted in the successful completion of the solar carport installation at Lulu Groups Dubai Silicon Central Hypermarket, UAE which continues to produce sustainable energy to this day.

Jeeben Varghese Kurian, Executive Director of Al Namal Group commented: We as a group have always been keen in the renewable energy sector and were one of the very first to be approved as solar contractors here in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It has always been our goal as a group to contribute to the Kingdoms future vision and we are happy to play a part in its sustainable energy goals.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, yesterday announced the launch of its voluntary carbon offsetting platform, Safa, helping businesses and individuals better understand and manage their carbon footprint by contributing to exemplary climate initiatives.

This coincides with the Kingdom of Bahrains participation at COP28, currently being held in the United Arab Emirates. Commenting on the occasion, Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of Mumtalakat, said, Emphasising our commitment to sustainability across various fields, we firmly believe that true transformation occurs when we all come together to create a collective impact.

With Safa, individuals and businesses have the ability to decrease their carbon footprint and actively participate in creating a more environmentally friendly future, supporting the Kingdom of Bahrains goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2060.

Safas offsetting service is not an alternative to decarbonization efforts; rather, by building awareness, educating communities, and empowering action at the individual and corporate levels, Safa aims to complement critical decarbonisation initiatives by providing a user-friendly offsetting function for hard-to-abate emissions from activities like travel, accommodation, and logistics.

It also aims to bring this service to users fingertips by integrating directly into their favorite everyday apps. The newly introduced user-friendly platform is a testament to the Kingdoms utilisation of technology and innovation as key enablers of a faster, more affordable and more effective transition to net zero by 2060.

The platform is accessible to all individuals and businesses to facilitate the transaction of high-quality and globally certified carbon credits, allowing them to calculate and offset their carbon emissions. These credits are allocated to international environmental projects aimed at the reduction or elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, with the aim of expanding to include local and regional projects in the near future.
AFP | Baghdad

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

A blast and gunfire killed at least 11 civilians in eastern Iraq, two security officials said on Friday, an attack which the provincial governor blamed on jihadists.

The violence, in Diyala province, occurred on Thursday evening and targeted a minibus returning the civilians from an electoral meeting organised by a candidate from their tribe, an interior ministry official, who asked for anonymity, told AFP.

Muthana al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala which is just outside Baghdad, denounced "a cowardly operation" by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.

On his Facebook page he called on the security forces to "intensify vigilance against dormant cells" of the extremists.

IS did not immediately claim the attack in Diyala, an area where its cells remain active.

After rapidly taking over large swathes of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, IS saw its brutal "caliphate", self-proclaimed in 2014, collapse under successive offensives in both countries.

Iraqi authorities declared "victory" over the Sunni Muslim extremist group at the end of 2017, but jihadist cells continue to sporadically launch attacks, particularly on military and police personnel in remote areas of central and northern Iraq.

In the Diyala unrest, at least "11 people were killed and 17 wounded in an attack carried out by an explosive device then gunfire targeting the gathering" provoked by the initial blast in Al-Omraniya village, said a second security source in Baghdad.

The interior ministry source said the minibus was targeted "by two homemade bombs on its return from an electoral meeting".

Sniper fire followed, according to this source, who gave a toll of 12 civilians dead and 13 wounded.

The attack came ahead of the election on December 18 of provincial councils, which in turn elect the governors.

Iraq is trying to move past four decades of war and unrest, including the overthrow 20 years ago of the dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion.

About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of IS.

A United Nations report published in July said IS has "between 5,000 and 7,000 members across Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, most of whom are fighters".
AFP | Nairobi

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Nearly 600 civilians were killed after clashes erupted in South Sudan between August and December last year, the United Nations said on Friday, accusing militias of sexual slavery and indiscriminate attacks.

Tens of thousands of people in Upper Nile state in the far north were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in swamps along a river to escape the deluge of violence between armed groups.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office said investigators had documented "indiscriminate attacks, abductions, sexual violence, including rape, gang rape and sexual slavery, and the recruitment and use of children in hostilities, committed by the parties to the conflict."

"UNMISS and the UN Human Rights Office documented at least 884 civilian casualties of which 594 had been killed and 290 injured. In addition, 258 were abducted and 75 women and girls subjected to sexual violence," they said, releasing a joint report summing up the findings.

Over 62,000 civilians were displaced due to the clashes, the report said, identifying "at least 22 individuals who may bear the greatest responsibility for these violations and abuses".

"I call on the government to take immediate steps to ensure all those responsible are brought to justice," said Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, describing the abuses documented in the report as "egregious".

"Impunity will only perpetuate the precarious human rights situation in the country," he added.

Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, the world's newest nation has lurched from one crisis to another, including a brutal five-year civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.

A peace deal was signed in 2018 but sporadic bursts of violence between government and opposition forces continue to occur, while conflict between rival ethnic groups in lawless parts of the country exacts a terrible toll on civilians.

The UN envoy to the country, Nicholas Haysom, on Friday welcomed the deployment of unified forces, comprising former rebels and government troops, to the region, saying it showed that the authorities were taking steps to prevent the resumption of clashes and protect civilians.
The Board of Directors of the World Bank made the decision to approve the extension of a $1.2 bln loan to Ukraine, the World Banks press service said, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

Money will be allocated to support 29 social aid programs for "the most vulnerable people in Ukraine" under the project of Investing in Social Protection for Inclusion, Resilience, and Efficiency (INSPIRE).

"The INSPIRE project is financed by a $1.2 billion World Bank loan, backed by a credit enhancement from the Advancing Needed Credit Enhancement for Ukraine (ADVANCE Ukraine) Trust Fund, supported by the Government of Japan," the World Bank noted.

The project is "an integral part of the international support package for Ukraine to meet its financing needs through 2024," the World Bank added.
The president of the aggressor country, the Russian Federation, Volodymyr Putin, has not yet been eliminated, because this is simply not a task at this time. The world's leading countries could do so, but they have a fundamentally different position. In addition, it is simply not profitable for the world to remove the dictator, because someone with even more radical views could take his place.

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This was stated by the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, General Mykola Malomuzh, on the Freedom TV channel. According to him, the option of Putin's assassination can only be considered as a scenario.

"Neither the Americans, nor the British, nor the French, nor the Germans, and especially not other countries, are planning this. Not because they cannot do it. They have a fundamentally different position. They will not go for a terrorist, sabotage action against the leader of a country like Russia. This is clearly enshrined in their legislation," Malomuzh said.

According to him, the physical elimination of the Russian dictator will be possible only if the intelligence services of Western countries receive reliable information about whether the Kremlin plans to launch a nuclear strike on the territory of Europe, the United States or one of their closest allies.

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Malomuzh says that Putin, despite all the security measures taken in Russia, can still be killed. All Russian special services are indeed responsible for his personal security, regardless of their profile. At the same time, these services keep even each other under control.

However, the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service believes that it is still possible to kill the dictator. To do so, the West does not even have to send sabotage groups to the territory of the Russian Federation. This task can be accomplished by agents who have long been part of the Russian president's entourage.

Also, in such a situation, Western countries can support a group of rebels in Putin's environment who are not directly connected with Western intelligence services, but who also want to remove him in order to prevent a nuclear war.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, earlier Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he did not rule out that our country would take the opportunity to eliminate Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The head of state noted that Ukraine has every right to defend its land.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
On the afternoon of December 2, a powerful explosion occurred in the temporarily occupied Mariupol, Donetsk region. According to preliminary data, the "cotton" was on one of the military bases of the Russian occupiers.

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The invaders set it up at the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol, which they seized. This was reported by the advisor to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko.

"Mariupol. Explosion at 11-20 Kyiv time. The epicenter is Kalmius district. Preliminary (cautious) information from our sources - one of the orcs' bases at Ilyich Iron and Steel Works is a bit tired. More details later. But Saturday is starting to play with interesting colors," Andriushchenko wrote.

Meanwhile, Mariupol Resistance reported on the possible "denazification" of the invaders.

"Previously, there were slightly fewer occupants inside the plant on Ilyich Street. We are trying to find out the details," the statement said.

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As a reminder, on November 10, an occupying "police" car was blown up in Mariupol . The owner of the car was not named at the time. However, in the morning, the guerrillas promised explosive gifts to Russian "policemen" celebrating Russian Police Day.

Later, it became known that the occupying "policeman" who was blown up in Mariupol died.

Initially, the explosion of a vehicle in Mariupol on November 10 was attributed to a domestic emergency and a car malfunction.

However, it was the work of Ukrainian partisans. They planted a bomb in the car of a Russian "policeman" in the temporarily occupied city.

Russian propagandists then complained that in just a few days, three "policemen" and one FSB officer were killed in the city.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes!
Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, noted that Russian troops have reduced the frequency of missile attacks on Ukraine due to the need to stockpile them. If the occupiers had a sufficient number of warheads, they would strike our cities at least every day several times a day.

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He said this in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon. Intelligence has reported to the Defense Forces that the enemy has managed to accumulate about 900 missiles of various types.

"If this data is correct, the Russian army approached the winter with half the number of warheads than last winter. That is why they are holding on to them. So far, we cannot say what are the reasons for this," the spokesman for the Air Force Command emphasized.

According to Ihnat, weather conditions significantly affect the operation of air defense systems. During low temperatures and precipitation, it is necessary to maintain equipment more carefully and prevent icing.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the Defense Forces gave a powerful rebuff to the invaders who tried to attack in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction. At present, the intensity of attacks in the direction of Kupiansk has somewhat decreased, the invaders are more active in the area of Lyman and Bakhmut.

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Only verified information is available on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
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Postal Code




Barely four days after the Ogun State Police Command claimed to have arrested three armed robbers involved in the robbery operation and raping of students of the Gateway Polytechnic, Sapaade, the students have been attacked again, with one of them paying the supreme price.





In the robbery incident, nine other students also sustained gunshot injuries.





The latest attack is coming barely a week after students of the institution and indigenes protested the robbery and rape of female students of the polytechnic by the hoodlums.





It was gathered that students residing at the off-campus hotels located at Ode, Ipara and Isara, all adjoining communities to Sapaade, were mostly victims of the robbers onslaught.





Following the students protest last Tuesday, the management shut the institution for three days to restore normalcy.





The Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu, also held a meeting with the student leaders over the rising tension around the students communities.





Days after, the police said it had arrested three of the armed gangs.





However, the suspected robbers returned to the troubled communities in the early hours of Saturday and attacked students.





The attack took place in the Larufi area of Ode.





In some of the viral videos of the attack on Instagram, our correspondent observed shattered doors, broken windows and walls riddled with bullets.





Two lecturers confirmed the attack to newsmen.





One of the lecturers, who did not want their names in print over the terrifying nature of the incident, described the incident as a calculated operation.





Police spokesperson, Omolola Odutola, did not respond to calls and messages from our correspondent as at press time.





The institutions Head of Public Relations, Adedayo Folorunsho, declined comment on the attack.





She, however, said the security agencies should be allowed to do their job.




The immediate past Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has commended the Senate for a resolution reached on Friday regarding the dissolution of democratically elected local government councils in the State.





Recall that the Senate on Friday urged the Federal Government to halt statutory allocation to LG councils whose chief executives and councilors were not democratically elected.





The resolution followed a motion sponsored by the Senator representing the Benue South, Senator Abah Moro, titled, Urgent Need to Halt the Erosion of Democracy: The Dissolution of Elected Councils in Benue State.





Reacting to the development, Ortom in a statement issued on Saturday by his media aide, Terver Akase, described the intervention of the Senate as a significant move.





According to him, the move reflected a commitment to upholding democratic principles and ensuring the autonomy of local government administration across the country.





He says the unanimous resolution by the upper chamber of the National Assembly also represents a crucial step in safeguarding the democratic process at the grassroots level.





Chief Ortom says the Senates decision is a proactive measure which also has the potency to deter any act that undermines the democratic rights of citizens and the principles of good governance.





By calling for the withholding of statutory allocations to non-democratically elected local government councils, the former Benue Governor states that the Senate has demonstrated a firm stance against dictatorial tendencies.





He particularly commends Senator Abba Moro for his proactive motion which drew urgent attention to the issue of the unconstitutionally sacked local government councils in Benue State, the statement added.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set a date to freeze bank accounts without a Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identification Number (NIN).

CBN said bank accounts without NIN and BVN will be restricted from April 2024.

This was contained in a circular jointly signed by CBN Director, Payment System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi, and Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustapha, on Friday.

The circular reads: Effective March 1, 2024, all funded accounts or wallets shall be placed on Post No Debit or Credit and no further transactions permitted.

It is mandatory for ALL Tier-1 bank accounts and wallets for individuals to have BVN and/or NIN, it said, adding that it remains mandatory for Tiers 2 and 3 accounts and wallets for individual accounts to have BVN and NIN.

The Central Bank warned that the BVN or NIN attached to and/or associated with all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024, while also announcing that, effective immediately, no new Tier 1 accounts and wallets should be opened without BVN or NIN.

CBN said a comprehensive BVN and NIN audit will be conducted shortly and where breaches are identified, appropriate sanctions will be applied.
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, says his administration is mindful of fulfilling all the promises that were made during the campaigns to make life better for all residents in the state.

Fubara gave the assurance on Saturday at the funeral reception of the late King Nelson Atubo Oputibeya XI, Amanyanabo of Koniju Town, in Koniju Town in Okrika Local Government Area.

The governor said one area of mutual cooperation solicited from the Rivers people is to maintain peace so that his administration can continue to deliver infrastructure and social services.

He stated, Let me also say this, we must abide by the tenets of peace. That is the only way we can bring about the desired development. We are all yearning for the people of the State.

So, I want to urge every one of you, please, ensure that you maintain peace so that the promises we made during our campaign will be fulfilled.

Fubara said he would never take the support of the Wakirike people for his administration for granted because they make him feel that he is not alone in the journey of providing quality governance to the Rivers people.

He also assured the people of Koniju Town that the process to officially Gazette the first class recognition given by government to the Oputibeya Traditional Stool, which has delayed, will be concluded.

In his speech, the Head of Owolo War Canoe House, and former attorney general of Rivers State, Chief Adokiye Amiesimaka thanked governor Fubara for being physically present to participate in the burial activities as their king joins his ancestors.
Daniel Bwala, constitutional lawyer served as a spokesman to Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 Election Campaign, and before then, had dispensed legal expertise to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.

In this interview monitored on Arise News Television, he brings his perspectives on the unfolding constitutional questions arising from the conflicting judgments of the Court of Appeal in certain jurisdictions across the country.

He particularly brings to bear the intriguing question of how the Supreme Court will approach the settled law on pre-election matters that were reopened by the Court of Appeal in Plateau State.

Perspectives on issues emerging from the election petition cases

In 2023 election we have had the worst of the judgments of court. We have not had so much of conflicting decisions by one tier of government because if you look at the election tribunals this year, you will notice that there were inconsistencies in one or two tribunal cases at the trial level and at the Supreme Court, probably one or two complaints. But at the Court of Appeal is where almost all of these conflicting judgements have been experienced.

For the records, the Court of Appeal is one court, so even if it were in Maiduguri at the Court of Appeal it can be relied upon by the Court of Appeal in Lagos because it is the same court.

The court is one and the court should be appraised of the various judgements it delivered and be consistent in its judgments especially when the judgments are founded on the principle of law. Facts can differ but the principle of law is constant and wherever you turn, when the principle falls on a direction, the judgment has to be consistent and constant.

But we have (now) seen conflicting decisions of the Court of Appeal especially where they affect the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

There was the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Plateau State that removed the governor and the appellate court delved into the merits of a pre-election matter and they said that it also qualified as a main election matter and delivered a judgment.

The same Court of Appeal in Ebonyi State, the same pre-election was canvassed, the Court of Appeal in Ebonyi said that it is a pre-election matter and we cannot delve into pre-election.

In Benue State, pre-election matter was raised in terms of forgery the Court in Benue said that it is a pre-election matter and we are guided by the judgment of the Supreme Court.

In all these places where judgment was delivered either in sustenance of pre-election matter in tribunal or in the rejection of the pre-election matter in the tribunal, who has been the beneficiary?

Supremacy of the judgments of the Supreme Court on pre-election matters

This is where the concern comes. Section 287 of the Constitution of Nigeria makes it clear the position of stare decisis and judicial precedence that the judgment of the Supreme Court is binding throughout Nigeria on all authorities and on courts that are subordinate to it.

In this 2023 election, the Supreme Court of Nigeria settled the issue of pre-election matter in the case brought by APM, in the case brought by APC and in the case brought by Labour where pre-election matters were canvassed and they were joined together with fundamental provisions of the Constitution to suggest that this is so germane that you cannot close your eyes from it and the Supreme Court made pronouncements, in fact, with anger and vehemence that anybody who is not a member of a political party and even if you are a member of a political party and where the issue borders on pre-election, it cannot be brought and that that party is a busybody.

Distinctions between Zamfara in 2019 and Plateau in 2023

People say in 2019 that in Yaris case the Supreme Court sacked APC and that why is PDP crying? They fail to realise that in 2019 apart from the fact that it was a decision decided on the old order on both the amendment to the Constitution and the Electoral Act, it was a case brought by a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC. It was an intra-party matter. In this year, the Supreme Court said you are a busy body to try to question even where the legality of what you are challenging is genuine if you are not a member of the party.

Issues on Plateau

You will see that there is no disobedience as a ground (for annulment of election) Even in Plateau where they say that there was no valid congress, that they didnt even have a structure that will warrant for them to sponsor a candidate. What is the structure of a party as recognized by law?

The National Working Committee, NWC is the soul and the spirit of a political party. When you sue a party, you are suing the National Working Committee. Even if there is no any structure at all in a state, it cannot give rise to the decision of a court that there is no conduct of congress.

Even the order they claimed was violated, the order was obeyed.

In election tribunal if the time passes you, even the Supreme Court said they cannot exercise jurisdiction. The character of a pre-election matter no matter the gamut in which it arises can never be entertained by an election tribunal or an appellate court

Justice Tobi and judicial rascality

Justice Niki Tobi and the various justices of the Supreme Court that have served and have retired always in their judgments always decided that any decision by a court lower than them that tends to run away from their decisions is judicial rascality. They said that you are embarking on a frolic of your own. They said that this constitution says in Section 287 that the judgment of the Supreme Court binds all courts in Nigeria that are subordinate to it and in this case, it is the judgment of the Supreme Court that pre-election matters cannot be determined by an election tribunal.

Plateau State as an interesting case for the Supreme Court

Our hope now lies on how they would interpret the case. This case of Plateau State when it gets to the Supreme Court it would be the case of Supreme Court versus Court of Appeal. It has more to do with the sanctity and integrity of that Supreme Court itself because the Supreme Court will have to determine whether that judgment they delivered in the Presidential Election Tribunal is to be carried out by subordinate courts in Nigeria.

They made it clear that a decision by a final court is called a settled law. Once a case is not determined by the final court it is not a settled law. But once it is determined by a final court it is cast on stone. So, the Supreme Court will have to determine whether the Court of Appeal is above it or it is above the Court of Appeal.
In Russia, the offensive efforts of the occupation forces have been called part of active defense. This substitution of concepts is necessary for the military and political leadership of the aggressor state to reduce Russians' expectations of significant "victories" of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine.

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In particular, following Russian President Volodymyr Putin, Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoigu started talking about "active defense," in which the occupation forces capture "more favorable positions in all operational areas." What the Russian authorities are trying to hide behind this euphemism, writes the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The ISW noted that Shoigu continues to mislead Russians by characterizing the attempts of Russian troops to advance on various fronts in Ukraine as part of "active defense." In this way, he seeks to curb Russian expectations about the ability of the "second army of the world" to achieve operationally significant goals.

In particular, he used this erroneous term to describe the situation at the front during a meeting with the Russian military leadership on December 1. According to him, in Ukraine, Russian troops are allegedly conducting "active defense" and seizing more favorable positions in all operational areas.

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He also noted the "achievements" of the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade (2nd Combined Arms Army, Central Military District), the 114th Motorized Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps of the "DPR"), the 4th and 123rd Motorized Rifle Brigades (both of the 2nd Army Corps of the "LPR"). From this, analysts conclude that all of these units are likely to be involved in areas where Russians are conducting offensive operations in eastern Ukraine.

"Shoigu and Putin began calling Russia's offensive operations to capture Avdiivka 'active defense' after the first Russian mechanized offensive in early October 2023 failed to bring significant tactical success," ISW added.

The analysts reminded that since the beginning of October this year, Russian troops have made several large-scale offensives against Avdiivka and have suffered heavy losses during infantry attacks on the city.

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"The characterization of these offensives by Russian officials as part of an 'active defense' is deliberately misleading. Ukrainian forces have never conducted large-scale offensive operations in the Avdiivka area since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Avdiivka has been known to be a known foothold since 2014. Nevertheless, the Russian leadership continues to falsely present the operations around Avdiivka as 'active defense', most likely due to the lack of any serious progress by Russia in the area, despite more than two months of large-scale Russian attacks there," the experts concluded.

If the Russian command were to recognize the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in the Avdiivka area as an offensive operation, it would have to achieve a clearly defined operational goal. But in the case of declaring what is happening as "active defense," Shoigu's department can claim "successes" of the occupation forces as long as they do not allow Ukrainian forces to achieve any significant success there. And this, ISW emphasizes, can go on for quite a long time, since the Defense Forces have not conducted and are not conducting counteroffensive operations in this area

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"The Russian command's 'defensive' concept of the offensive efforts around Avdiivka, as well as localized offensive operations in other parts of eastern Ukraine, indicates that it lacks confidence in the ability of the Russian armed forces to turn tactical achievements into operationally significant successes," ISW believes.

In addition, Putin, who is up for re-election next spring, is concerned about the decline in support for Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine among the Russian population. That is why he deliberately downplays the scale of Russian operations in the eyes of Russians. Although, according to ISW, this approach of the command to Russian operations in Ukraine may cause discontent in the Russian information space.

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Earlier, ISW stated that Russian troops had intensified operations near Kreminna, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces had conducted attacks on the left bank of the Kherson region.

The analysts also noted that the number of Russians who fully support the war against Ukraine has almost halved. Experts believe that the war has exacerbated the existing tensions within Russia and created new social tensions that can be seen in its information space, despite the Kremlin's censorship efforts.
The Labour Party in Imo has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is denying it access to BVAS used for the November 11 Governorship Election.

The partys Chairman, Mr Callistus Ihejiagwa, who said this while addressing newsmen in Owerri on Saturday, added that the denial of access to the BVAS was in defiance of a November 26, 2023 order of the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Owerri.

DAILY POST reports that applications for inspection of the materials were submitted to the INEC by the LP, PDP, YPP and APGA respectively.

Ihejiagwa said the forensic inspection of election materials including the BVAS is contained in the order of the Tribunal.

According to him, INEC had on Wednesday, denied availability of the BVAS for inspection, insisting that only the commissions headquarters reserved the right to grant access to the BVAS for inspection.

He said the commission, however, made available only 65 out of over 5,000 BVAS machines for inspection but denied the LPs team of forensic experts access to the machines.

He wondered why INEC would deliberately frustrate the process of litigation  in an election where it was only an umpire.

Contrary to orders of court for forensic analysis of BVAS machines, an INEC official is reading out figures of accreditation from the machines without allowing us access to Certified True Copies of the card copies for our due diligence.

 We have less than 24 hours to examine the BVAS machines, assemble and present our findings to the Election Petition Tribunal but here we are still awaiting access to the machines

The Tribunal ordered for forensic inspection of the BVAS so the BVAS is specifically contained in the Tribunal order , he said.

Also speaking, Counsel to the LP governorship candidate, Senator Athan Achonu, Mr Okwudili Anozie, emphasized that the tribunals order for forensic examination of the BVAS machines would help ensure that the machines have not been tampered with before and after the election.

He decried INECs disobedience to the order while restating the partys confidence in the judiciary for the dispensation of justice.

Recall that INECS Head of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Emmanuella Ben-Opara had, on Tuesday, confirmed that the materials requested for inspection were all ready and waiting to be inspected.
The federal government says it will prioritise the health, defence, and education sectors in its spending in the 2024 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and national planning disclosed this in a statement on Thursday a breakdown of the 2024 budget.

On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu presented a budget proposal of N27.5 trillion to the national assembly for the fiscal year 2024.

Tinubu said the budget would cement macroeconomic stability, reduce the deficit, and increase capital spending and allocation to reflect the eight priority areas of this administration.





Providing a breakdown of the budget, Bagudu said the allocations include provisions for various ministries and agencies within each sector.

He said the projected national revenue in 2024 is estimated at N18.32 trillion, marking a substantial 66 percent increase compared to the previous years budget.

The minister also said oil-related sources are expected to contribute N7.94 trillion (43.3 percent), while non-oil revenue is projected to contribute N10.39 trillion.

The government aims to address fiscal challenges and the revenue inflows are influenced by various factors such as the exchange rate, higher oil production projections, and the removal of subsidies, Bagudu said.

Recognising the global and domestic challenges faced by Nigeria, as well as increased fiscal risks resulting from weaker-than-expected economic performance and structural issues, the draft 2024 budget aims to address these challenges.

The government intends to improve revenue generation by reviewing tax and fiscal policies, to increase the revenue-to-GDP ratio.

Key strategies include enhancing tax administration and collection efficiency, implementing significant public finance management reforms, and stimulating the economy through regulatory and policy measures to boost domestic value-addition and attract external investment.

The government also emphasizes prioritizing safety nets to protect vulnerable segments of the population.

Bagudu said the early passage of the budget for implementation from January 1, 2024, is paramount and expected to contribute significantly to achieving macro-fiscal and sectoral objectives.

HEALTH, EDUCATION, DEFENCE SECTORS GET BIGGER SHARE

With a crude oil benchmark price of $77.96 per barrel and an output of 1.8 million barrels per day, Bagudu said the budget focuses on critical sectors such as defense, healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

Speaking on sectoral allocations, the minister said N3.25 trillion has been allocated to the defence and security sector, representing 11.8 percent of the national budget.

Out of the N27.5 trillion, N1.32 trillion was earmarked for infrastructure projects, accounting for 4.83 percent of the budget.

Bagudu said the health sector got N1.33 trillion, equivalent to 4.8 percent of the federal governments budget, while N2.18 trillion (7.9 percent) was given to the education sector.

A further breakdown of the budget for education showed that N1.27 trillion was allocated to the federal ministry of education, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) received N251.47 billion, while the Tertiary Education Trust fund (TETFUND) got N700 billion.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG Pastor E. A Adeboye has sternly warned residents and guests against indecent dressing on the campground.

Adeboye gave the warning in a memo signed by an Assistant to the General Overseer, Oladele Balogun.

According to the memo, the church leadership has resolved to sanction anyone found culpable of defying the rules guiding the campground.

The memo reads in part: We wish to formally inform all residents of Redemption City that, in our commitment to preserving the citys sanctity and upholding its esteemed Holy City status, the mission authority is implementing stricter measures against indecent dressing throughout the city.

The Redemption City formerly known as Redemption Camp is the International campground of the mega Pentecostal church located in Ogun State Nigeria.

The Redemption City is where the church holds conferences and special programmes.
The United Nations (UN) security council has voted to remove the restrictions on weapons sales to Somalia, more than 30 years after a ban was first imposed on the country.

In 1992, the security council imposed an embargo on Somalia to disrupt the supply of weapons to warring warlords who had ousted Mohamed Siad Barre, leading to the countrys descent into civil war.

Al-Shabaab, a group aligned to al-Qaeda, had seized control of southern and central parts of Somalia before Ethiopian, Kenyan, and African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops undertook a counter-offensive in 2011, supported by the United States.

In 2013, the UN security council partially lifted the ban for a year, allowing the government to buy light arms to help in its fight against Islamist militants.





On Friday, the 15-member body adopted two British-drafted resolutions: to remove the full arms ban and to reimpose an arms embargo on the al Qaeda-linked militants.

For the avoidance of doubt, that there is no arms embargo on the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, the resolution said.

The resolution also expressed concerns about the number of safe ammunition storage facilities in Somalia and encouraged the construction, refurbishment and use of safe ammunition depots across the country.

Abukar Osman, Somalias ambassador to the UN, said the decision would allow the government to effectively tackle terrorism.

The lifting of the arms embargo enables us to confront security threats, Osman said.

It also allows us to bolster the capacity of the Somali security forces by accessing lethal arms and equipment to adequately safeguard our citizens and our nation.

The UN security council also asked foreign countries to support Somalia in its fight against terrorism in accordance with the bodys decision.
U.S. State of Georgia honours Davido as Outstanding Citizen

Nigerian Afrobeats star, David Adeleke, aka Davido, has been recognised as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen by the State of Georgia.

The OBO crooner attended the State of Georgia General Assembly meeting on Friday, December 1, 2023, to receive the honour.

Sharing a clip from the meeting with a copy of his proclamation letter via his X handle, Davido wrote, This morning I attended the U.S State of Georgia General Assembly meeting with the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia State Senate to be recognized as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen God is good.

The letter of Davidos proclamation as Outstanding Georgia Citizen was signed by Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State of the State of Georgia.

May this Outstanding Citizen be afforded every courtesy as a Goodwill Ambassador from Georgia in his travels to other states, to nations beyond the borders of the United States of America, or wherever he may hereafter travel or reside. Thank you for your service to our State, the letter read in part.

Davido is a citizen of the State of Georgia by birth. He was born to Nigerian parents in Atlanta, the state capital.




A long-term financing opportunity that will enable Lagos State Government to adequately meet the demand for safe water by its population was part of the central issues during a conversation at the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.





The discussion was held on Friday at a side meeting with the theme: Valuing Water: A Lifeline in Climate Transition, organised by Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum and Sustainable Market Initiative at the ongoing 28th session of Conference of Parties (COP28) at Dubai Exhibition Centre.





At the cross-sectoral roundtable, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu pitched a sustainable funding proposal in order to raise private and philanthropic funding in addressing inadequate water infrastructure and supply shortages in Lagos.





Sanwo-Olu disclosed that Lagos, with 22 million population, has a daily demand of 700 million gallons of portable water, but said the State could hardly supply 210 million gallons per day due to shortage of infrastructure.





The Governor said, although provision of clean water had been generally considered a social service, it was an essential element of economic necessity, given its importance to keeping humans healthy.





Lagos, he said, is challenged by increasing demand for clean water. Sanwo-Olu said the inadequacy of supply infrastructure could raise disease vulnerability in underserved communities, pointing out that the State, despite being surrounded by abundant water bodies, could only manage to utilise 40 per cent of its installed water facilities.





He said: Lagos has an investment of about $2.8 billion in water infrastructure, but there is a burden on the huge population, as we need to create an ecosystem where we can have access to basic needs in the 21st century. Given our meagre resources, it is really a challenge but we certainly cannot continue to give excuses. This gap is being felt by underserved communities and the risk to the public is high.





We have continued to allocate resources to this sector from our budget, but the intervention is hardly enough to serve the needs of the residents. Four years ago, I gave a commitment of $100 million, but this is like a drop, given the number of investments required to fully explore the potential in the sector. We have huge infrastructure that is not being utilised, making us to operate at less than 40 per cent of the installed capacity.





Out of the $1.7 trillion needed globally to address the gap in clean water adequacy, Lagos requires less one per cent of the funds to provide safe water. It is my belief that this conversation would lead to sustainable solution that would meet the needs of millions of people that want water adequacy. Our goal is making committed partners believe in economic viability of their investments.





Sanwo-Olu listed the countrys energy crisis as another factor slowing down the provision of clean water, stressing that irregular power supply rendered resources allocated to the sector inefficient.





The Governor called for equity in global investment towards accelerating water adequacy, noting that humans, regardless of their gender and geographical location, need equal access to clean water.





Moment three APC governors hit Rivers for Wike (Video)

With 65 per cent of its population made up of young people of under 30, Sanwo-Olu told the funders that Lagos remained an African asset on which viable investments could be made.





He said: It does not really matter which part of the world we come from, we all need equal access and must be able to hold ourselves accountable on this. In channeling resources, equity has to be a major focus of the global response.





Lagos has the population. That is why we said a focused investment on water project in the most populated city in West Africa and in a population that is coming to raise global productivity by 2040 is one in the right direction.





The side meeting, which was moderated by the Secretary General of Insurance Development Forum, Ms. Ekhosuehi Iyahen, had seven other panelists, including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WaterAid, Tim Wainright, Chief Sustainability Officer of PepsiCo, and CEO of Dalmia Cement in India, Mahendra Singh.





Others are Chief Operating Officer of Water.org, Vedika Bhandarkar, Managing Partner of AquaForAll, Josien Sluijs, Assistant Director General of Food and Agriculture Organisation at UN, Maximo Torero, and former CEO of Mars, Incorporated, Grant Reid.
A Waldwick man was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a minor between the ages of 13 and 16, according to authorities.

Ryan Malillo, 37, was charged with two first-degree counts of aggravated sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child Thursday, according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. He was arrested in Paramus and held in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack pending the outcome of a detention hearing.

The Bergen County Prosecutors Office Special Victims Unit was contacted by the Waldwick Police Department on Wednesday about a possible sexual assault of a juvenile. Authorities identified Malillo as the suspect and arrested him the next day. According to an affidavit of probable cause, the assaults took place over a six month period.

A message seeking more information on the charges was not immediately returned Friday night by the prosecutors office.

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The names of the police officer and victim involved in a fatal pedestrian crash in the early-morning hours of Thanksgiving Day were released by the New Jersey Attorney Generals office on Friday.

According to the preliminary results of an investigation, Sgt. Richard Sbarra of the Waterford Township Police Department was on duty and driving a department vehicle when he fatally struck Christofe Christopher Wita, 44, of Berlin, on White Horse Pike at approximately 2:19 a.m.

Deaths that involve contact with law enforcement are required to be investigated by the Attorney Generals office under a 2019 law. The statute requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if charges are necessary.

The spokesperson for the Attorney Generals Office declined to answer follow up questions until the initial investigation is substantially complete.

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Halimatou Ndiaye, 28, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison for bribing mail carriers in Essex County in an attempt to steal mailbox keys, the New Jersey District Attorneys Office announced Friday.

Ndiaye pleaded guilty in June to one count each of bribery of a U.S. Postal workers and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

In June and July of 2021, prosecutors alleged that Ndiyae and another unnamed individual attempted to persuade mail carriers in East Orange and Newark to provide arrow keys in exchange for money. The arrow keys would give them access to mailboxes where they could steal mail. Ndiyae allegedly offered mail carriers $5,000 in exchange for the keys.

Prosecutors also alleged that between January and July of 2021, Ndiyae and others conspired to withdraw and obtain money from stolen checks and bank cards linked to the stolen items.

Once released, Ndiyae will spend three years on supervised release and must pay $6,361 in restitution.

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A man who robbed a Newark bank but was caught two days later thanks to surveillance footage which showed a dye pack slipped into his stolen cash exploding was convicted Friday, authorities said.

Esau Grant, 29, of Newark, was captured on video inside the Capital One Bank on Springfield Avenue handing a teller a threatening note that read I have a gun, give me all the money from the register please and no one will get hurt, during the July 3, 2021, robbery, according to a release from the Essex County Prosecutors Office.

The teller gave Grant $2,300, but unbeknownst to him, he had put a dye pack in with the cash he handed him, former Newark Public Safety Director Brian A. OHara said at the time.

Surveillance video from outside the bank showed the pack exploding and sending a red mist into the air. The video was released by police. OHara said members of the public who saw the video helped identify Grant and he was arrested two days later.

After a one-day trial, a jury found Grant guilty of second-degree robbery, the office said.

Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Ruddy A. Adames, who tried the case, thanked the jury and praised the tellers actions.

Fortunately, no one was physically harmed in this case, Adames said in a statement. This verdict would not have been possible if not for the teller who came to court and faced the defendant. I hope the verdict brings a sense of security to him and to the community at large.

Grant is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26, the office said.

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On the night of December 2, Russian occupation forces launched a new drone attack on the Odesa region. The occupiers attacked the region with Shahed-131/136 UAVs launched from the temporarily occupied Crimea (Cape Chauda).

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The enemy launched drones along the coastal areas of the region through the Black Sea. This was reported by the Operational Command "South".

Air defense forces managed to destroy 10 enemy attack drones. As a result of the attack on the infrastructure facility, a fire broke out: it was quickly extinguished. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 11 Iranian kamikaze drones at night. An X-59 guided missile was also launched. The air defense forces destroyed the missile and 10 drones.

Earlier, it was reported that on the night of December 1, the Russian occupiers launched two missiles and 25 drones at Ukraine: the air defense forces shot down one X-59 missile and 18 drones.

The occupation forces also continued to shell the Kherson region. The enemy made 82 attacks from all types of weapons over the past day. The invaders launched shelled Kherson 38 times, damaging an educational institution in the regional center.

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A Gloucester County postal worker admitted Friday that he stole more than $170,000 in cash that had been sent through the mail, federal prosecutors said.

Joseph Fenuto, 51, of Blackwood, pleaded guilty in Camden federal court to one count of mail theft, according to a news release from the US Attorneys Office.

From November 2021 to August 2022, Fenuto was employed as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier with a delivery route that included the Gloucester Premium Outlets in Blackwood, the office said.

Fenuto accepted parcels, many of which contained cash from sales, from numerous retail stores within the outlets which he was required to place in the mail stream for delivery to the addresses listed on the parcels, investigators said.

He admitted that he stole more than 50 of the parcels, which were destined for a bank in Ohio, which contained a total of $171,110, authorities said.

Fenuto is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2 and faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000, federal prosecutors said.

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Jersey City is aiming to pump up its police department with at least 100 officers next year after the number of officers has dipped below 900 for the first time in four years.

Public Safety Director Jim Shea and Police Director Tawana Moody made the declaration during a 90-minute 2024 budget hearing with city council members and the Department of Finance Thursday.
The Jersey City Police Department is seeking the publics help in identifying a second man in connection with the assault outside a Downtown Jersey City restaurant early Monday morning that the Palestinian-American victim has described as a hate crime.

The police department, which says the attack is not being investigated as a bias crime, released photos of the man in the incident outside the Grove Station at Newark Avenue and Grove Street. The man is described as 5-foot-8 with a dark complexion, receding hairline, facial hair and eyeglasses.

The victim in the incident, Moath Hamzeh, said the assailants shouted slurs at him and called him a f---ing terrorist while beating and spitting on him. The assault left Hamzeh with a cut lip and facial bruises.

A 31-year-old Bergen County man, Fadel Abdallah, was arrested within hours of a police report being filed Monday and he was charged with aggravated assault.

Anyone with any information related to the mans identity is asked to contact the East District detectives at (551) 247-7309 or (201) 547-3052. All information will be kept confidential.

In a post on Instagram, Hamzeh said he was sharing the story so that you understand that one of your own was a victim of a hate crime, which unfortunately is running rampant in this country.

The city said earlier this week that based on its investigation at the time, the attack did not appear to be a bias crime.

This is an active investigation and law enforcement officials will do their due diligence by conducting a thorough investigation to determine what led to the incident and will also present all evidence to (the Hudson County Prosecutors Office) to determine the type of crime and any additional charges, city spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said this week. We take these types of allegations very seriously.
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Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Snow likely. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 90%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected..

Tonight

Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low around 25F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 60%.
Rob Mistry met Katie Adams when he was a sous chef at Commanders Palace and she was a line cook. Now Mistry is the executive chef at the classic Uptown restaurant Gautreaus, and Adams is the general manager.

But really, shes always been my boss, Mistry says with a smile. I fell in love with New Orleans almost five years ago. Then I fell in love with Katie.

The couple have been together for almost three years.

Gautreau's Where 1728 Soniat St., (504) 899-7397; gautreausrestaurant.com When dinner Tue.-Sat. How dine-in Check it out A renewed New Orleans fine-dining classic

When Adams came to work in the kitchen at Gautreaus, longtime proprietor Patrick Singley was still the owner. At the end of October, he sold the restaurant to a local investor group led by Bill Kearney and Jay Adams, Katies father. After a monthlong refresh, the restaurant reopened for dinner Nov. 7.

When my dad became one of the owners, it made sense for Rob to come lead the kitchen, she says.

The couple share a culinary background. Adams family is originally from Oxford, and after attending Ole Miss, she trained at the International Culinary Center in Manhattan. She worked at the Michelin- starred Carbone in New Yorks Greenwich Village until the pandemic sent her home.

Mistry, who grew up in Charlotte, trained at Johnson & Wales and staged at the Michelin-starred Alinea in Chicago. He worked with chef Sean Brock at his Husk restaurants in Charleston, Savannah and Nashville before coming to Commanders at the behest of then-chef Tory McPhail.

From the start, Mistry understood the reverence New Orleanians paid to Gautreaus history, which dates to 1982. He says he never wanted to make dramatic changes. Instead, the idea was to nudge the culinary bar up a few notches.

The food is still rooted in New Orleans, he says. That will always be the backbone of our menu.

Although Gautreaus is sometimes equated with traditional Creole restaurants  think Clancys or Galatoires  Adams and Mistry see it as more chef-driven, emphasizing modern takes on traditional dishes. In fact, many of its chefs have gone on to open their own restaurants, including John Harris (Lilette), Sue Zemanick (Zasu) and Nick Lama (Avo).

Mr. Singley has a really good eye for chefs, Adams says.

Mistry sees his menu as one that tells the story of a changing city. Working closely with the kitchen team, his menu continues to evolve, including dishes that reflect his classic French training and his personal South Asian heritage  both of his parents are from Mumbai.

In my time at Commanders, I gained so much love for New Orleans cuisine and the amazing produce and seafood we have, he says. I have a lot of deference for the classics.

At Gautreaus, that includes the foie gras torchon with beignets and maple-mustard, a seasonal iteration of its pan-roasted chicken and the filet with blue cheese croquette.

Everything else is up for interpretation, Mistry says. We want our food to be approachable.

The mortadella en broda is a dish that marries the best of a muffuletta with ribbons of house-made pasta. Another showstopper is the local redfish a la maxime in vadouvan curry with cabbage blanquette and smoked trout roe.

Vadouvan is a French interpretation of a type of curry found in central India, but it's lighter tasting with flavors of fenugreek, onion, garlic and shallot.

Its traditionally made with curry leaves, but since they dont grow here, we use bay leaves, Mistry says. Its an amalgam of Indian flavors and what is available to us in New Orleans.

Texas chef Finn Walter brings High Plains cuisine to Mister Mao on Dec. 5 Finn Walter told us about his restaurant in Lubbock, what defines High Plains cuisine, and how Michelin star cooking fits in.

Business has been steady since the early November opening, and Adams says she is growing into the general manager role. While working the dining room comes naturally to her, Adams says the administrative side of the business is new territory.

Its overwhelming," she says. Im definitely in school.

But for the young couple, working together is a bright spot as they get the relaunched restaurant up and running. Adams refers to their working relationship as having a good yin and yang.

Shes glass half full; Im half empty, Mistry adds. But we complement each other.

We dont always see eye to eye, but we know we both are focused on the betterment of the restaurant, Adams says. We trust each other implicitly.
For the first time, the Security Service of Ukraine told how their snipers from the Special Operations Center "A" fought for the "Road of Life" near Bakhmut this spring. It is a crucial road between the destroyed city and the neighboring village of Chasiv Yar, which was used to deliver everything necessary to the soldiers who were struggling to keep the defense of Bakhmut.

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This is described in the film "Bakhmut. The Road of Life" from the documentary series "SBU. Special Operations of Victory". The SBU noted that the Service's special forces, together with other units of the Defense Forces, held this important logistics artery for a long time. The SBU snipers covered the Ukrainian military in the Bakhmut direction.

This was necessary to gain time to regroup our troops and prevent Russian troops from advancing deeper into Ukrainian territory.

"Our Defense Forces did everything possible and impossible to hold the Bakhmut fortress. The SBU Special Operations Center "A" actively worked with them. As part of small tactical groups, our snipers covered the military in that area," said SBU Head Vasyl Maliuk.

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SBU officers also performed counter-sniper and counter-sabotage work near Bakhmut and adjusted fire for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to Maliuk, FPV drones also played an important role during the fighting in Donetsk region. The SBU was one of the first among the Ukrainian military to use them for combat work. The decision to reinforce the Special Forces with such drones was made during the SBU Head's visit to Bakhmut, as new technologies are an advantage on the battlefield.

"The SBU is a leader in the number of armored vehicles destroyed by attack drones. One of our groups completely destroyed 79 vehicles in four combat missions. A drone that costs from 450 to two thousand dollars burns a multi-million dollar tank. This is a very clear arithmetic that proves the effectiveness of drones," noted Malyuk.

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Earlier, the SBU announced a series of documentaries that will reveal previously unknown details of its high-profile special operations that changed the course of the war. Each of the five episodes will be devoted to a separate episode of the battle for our homeland.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, Ukrainian soldiers from the 3rd Assault Brigade, who took part in the battles for the "road of life" to Bakhmut in Donetsk region, told about this operation. The main task of the military was to stop the shelling of the road vital for the defense of the city. At the same time, the enemy resorted to tricks, including using Ukrainian army uniforms.

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Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
In the early 1990s, bass drummer Derrick Moss, snare drummer Lumar LeBlanc and other members of the Young Olympia Brass Band decided to split off to form a new brass band: The Soul Rebels. They wanted to blend in more of the music they were listening to on the radio, including funk and, most importantly, hip-hop.

As hip-hop took hold in New Orleans in the 80s, it naturally began to influence the citys young musicians, who began to incorporate the new sounds coming from the East and West Coasts. Both Black music-rooted styles originating in the streets, it was only a matter of time before hip-hop and brass band music came together.

Deff Generation in 1991 mixed the two styles on its song Running with the Second Line, but it was The Soul Rebels that firmly blended the genres on their 1994 debut Let Your Mind Be Free.

In its more than 30 years, The Soul Rebels have come full circle and now perform with many of the acts that inspired the band, like Rakim, Slick Rick and Melle Mel. They headlined Jazz Fest in 2017 with Nas and returned to the Congo Square Stage earlier this year with the Wu-Tang Clan. The band also has played with DMX, Black Star, The Roots Black Thought and Joey Bada$$.

Today, along with Moss and LeBlanc, The Soul Rebels include trumpeters Marcus Hubbard and Julian Gosin, trombonists Corey Peyton and Paul Robertson, saxophonist Erion Williams and sousaphonist Manuel Perkins Jr. The bands latest album is 2019s Poetry in Motion.

Gambit spoke with Hubbard, who joined The Soul Rebels in 1998, and Perkins, who joined in 2017, about merging hip-hop and brass band music and Master Ps influence on the music industry.

This Q&A is part of a series of interviews about New Orleans as hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Gambit: What was your introduction to hip-hop?

Marcus Hubbard: The first artist that I actually fell in love with was Eric B. & Rakim. When I saw them on TV with the gold chains and eight-ball jackets, the leather jackets and stuff, that was my first time ever seeing hip-hop artists with that kind of flair. Before that you had Whodini and the rest of the guys, but when I saw Eric B., I liked his flow and everything about him.

My first tape that I bought was the (Eric B. & Rakim) Paid In Full record. And then the other one I had was Big Daddy Kane. So we were lucky to [play with] both of those guys on one night in New York.

I was around when the gangsta rap first was hitting. NWA first dropped, that was when you first heard those aggressive tones on the record. You had Black Power stuff with Public Enemy, but the real aggressive stuff, that was the first time you heard that. NWA, Ice-T, all those guys I was listening to when they first came out.

Manuel Perkins Jr.: My introduction was actually New Orleans artists on Cash Money Records and No Limit. This was when those guys were making the airwaves and being introduced in the mainstream media at that time.

Gambit: Who were the first New Orleans artists that yall admired? Manny, was it some of the Cash Money and No Limit rappers?

Perkins: At the time, I think Master P, because he was the top guy at the time that was coming out of New Orleans as far as airwaves and the hip-hop sound that was coming out down here. And shortly after that, you have Cash Money with their whole entourage that was introducing their sound. It was pretty much a collection of what Master Ps camp and Cash Moneys camp were doing. It was just very cool.

Hubbard: My first hip-hop song was Gregory D and Mannie Fresh, Buck Jump Time. That was the first song we heard on the radio, and it just had so much energy. I was there when bounce first came, and we heard T. Tucker and DJ Irv doing their thing.

You had a lot of people from New Orleans: Ghetto Twiinz, Tim Smooth, bounce rappers like Cheeky Blakk and Katey Red. I was in the era when bounce first dropped, so Jubilee. Everybody when I was in high school had dance teams. It was a bunch of dance crews going to different talent shows and going to different dances. Youd wear your uniforms, and you represented whatever school you was with. Every school had a dance team. It was fun, man. It wasnt about all the violence and stuff you had going on during that time. Bounce music was one of the things that brought good feelings to everybody.

Gambit: What do you think makes hip-hop and brass band music work so well together, both musically and also culturally?

Hubbard: Both of them emerged from the streets. Brass band music is a combination of different Caribbean sounds mixing with the European instruments, and it was something that was basically organic from the street. It was something that was supported by the streets first. And thats kind of how hip-hop originated: guys just DJing in the square.

At first, with hip-hop it was all about the DJs, and most of the emcees were just guys they consider like hype-men whod just bring a little extra energy. But then the roles completely reversed. The emcee is the front, and the DJ is in the back.

For us, growing up in that time when hip-hop was becoming really big, that was music that we were listening to, but living in New Orleans, brass band and jazz and everything is all at the forefront. You couldnt run away from it. It was something that you listened to every day. But our music peers, the hip-hop artists we grew up with  its kind of natural that you wanted to do that, too.

The way we always looked at it is: Hip-hop is based on using old jazz and funk records and scratching up jazz records and sampling different old music. So for us, it was kind of a natural merge, because the horns and things that youre sampling, thats what we do. For us, its instead of having a DJ doing the scratching, it was a natural merging of the horns and making a live scene.

I think it is opening the eyes of a lot of rappers. Theyve heard a lot of these different horn loops and stuff like that, but to hear a horn section play it [is powerful]. The thing about us is were acoustic. Its different between having keyboards and guitars and stuff like that  you can hear that pretty much anywhere in the world. But you get to hear us do it with the natural, organic horns. It makes it much better. And I think its given them something fresh and new to observe.

Perkins: Hip-hop originated with beats that were [originally] played by horn players and musicians, so it's just a culmination of going back to the roots and having that live instrumentation. The DJs were sampling records with horns on the beat, drums, and they were making their mixes from instrumental songs. Were bringing the instrumentalist style back to the forefront.

Gambit: What has been New Orleans most significant contribution to hip-hop?

Perkins: That you can actually do it independently. That you dont necessarily need labels all of the time. Master P showed that with his company. The labels werent trying to give him any money to fund their product, and the money that some of the labels were trying to give him, he didnt feel as though it was enough, so he did it independently.

He showed the world that you can do it, and you can have so many different records being played in so many different places at one time. Because if youre making good music and youre making a good product, people are going to gravitate toward it.

Hubbard: I agree. I feel that Master P is the main one that shows that betting on yourself can be real beneficial. A lot of people had labels back then, but they were cool with letting major labels control everything. But I think Master P was the first artist that realized what his worth was. He felt like, Im able to make records and push records myself. All I need is somebody to be able to put it into places that I cant put it into.

He had to put up a lot of his money. You get people thats willing to do it now, but before [Master P], a lot of people were scared to do that. People werent putting up their own money to fund a whole project.

Thats one thing I think New Orleans hip-hop doesnt get credit for: the business side. We added a lot to the mindset of how to think about doing this stuff and whats possible even if you do it yourself.

I think part of it is just being from [New Orleans]. We always feel like, if we want anything, weve got to do it ourselves. We dont have major record labels and stuff in New Orleans, so a lot of stuff, you have to do for yourself. You start learning that a lot of this we can do ourselves, so we dont really need to be giving somebody 30% or 40% for something we can do ourselves.

Gambit: Do you feel New Orleans hip-hop gets the respect it deserves?

Hubbard: I think at times. You have moments. One thing about it, guys respect Master P for his business side. So you wont get guys who say, Oh no, that wasnt nothing. And then you had Cash Money basically come right after that. So we had two major labels come out of New Orleans.

One thing about it, though, we dont really have any major labels besides that. So I can understand why some of the respect is not given to the level that we really think it [should be].

A lot of our music, too, is based on having fun. You got a whole bunch of different genres, trap, gangsta rap, and all kinds of different stuff out here. Our music is true to what New Orleans is, which is about having fun. So some people might consider that bubblegum rap or something like that. But it all has its place. The crazy part about it is you have bounce music, but all crunk music is is a different version of that. Its about turning the club up. Its basically the same thing when it comes to us.

I think that helps us, too, as far as a brass band. Were built on being able to interact with the crowd, which is basically kind of what hip-hop is. Its a give-and-take between the crowd and the band. A lot of it was kind of a natural thing. The crowd response, the chants, thats in New Orleans music. Thats coming from the music we made with Native Americans. Chanting is natural to New Orleans, thats why you get bounce music, when you tell the crowd to say something and they say omething, thats a natural thing for us. Thats how the slaves interacted with each other. So for us, its just a natural thing.

Music is supposed to be free. Theres no limits to what you can do. Thats all jazz is. Improvisation. Whatever you feel, do it. By us having so much freedom to do so much with music, thats why were able to come up with a lot of stuff and fit into spaces that a lot of people cant play in. Thats one thing that helps Soul Rebels. When we go play with these different artists  were playing with hip-hop artists, were playing with heavy metal artists, were playing with funk artists  were able to do that because, naturally, we feel like if its music, theres a place for us.

Gambit: What has hip-hop come to mean to you?

Perkins: Its a lifestyle. So many different elements that go into it, from the vernacular that some people use to the way that they dress to some of the things that they do within their lifestyle, all of it has been influenced by hip-hop in some way, shape or form. Yes, it derives from other forms of music, but hip-hop basically comes to the forefront to be like, OK, were the new front runner of the music industry, and we want everyone to follow us.

Whether it be bubblegum rap, gangsta rap, trap rap, feel-good hip-hop, go-go hip-hop, all of these different subgenres has gotten everybody on board in some way. It may only be a handful of songs that you like, but you can pick at least one song from any of these subgenres and be like I really like this song, and it has changed people just by listening to that song.

It's amazing just to see what it has done to the human soul. Im pretty sure you guys can remember at the beginning everybody thought hip-hop wouldnt last and things like that, but it is here, 50 years and still growing and still being strong every day

Hubbard: One thing about hip-hop thats helped it last this long is its always reinventing itself. Its never just been one thing. It starts out with The Sugarhill Gang, and it goes into your Kurtis Blows and Rakims, and then it goes into your gangsta rap and it goes into your Tribe Called Quests. No matter what background you come from, theres a form of hip-hop that you can relate to, and thats the thing I like about it. Hip-hop is always open to new changes.

It's a culture. The music is a part of it, but [hip-hop] controls how people dress. It controls how people think. You see the mindset of coming from nothing and becoming something. Its been proven in hip-hop that you can do that. Its provided education for kids. Its done so much.

It has been here for 50 years, and its definitely set up to be here another 50 years. Whatever comes down the pipe, hip-hop is going to find a way to weave itself into it and show you that we can be in this space, too.

Thats the fun part about it: the journey. Just seeing where hip-hop came from, from being just a DJ with a turntable in the courtyard of a project, to now you see it at the Super Bowl, you see it all overseas. No matter where you go in the world, theres people who are fans of hip-hop. Thats amazing to see.
Hey Blake,

Al Copelands Christmas display at his house in Metairie is well known, but I was telling a friend that I remember it being at another location for a few years as well. Can you help fill in the details?

Dear reader,

Popeyes founder Al Copelands Christmas display was inspired by his childhood memories of visiting the Centanni familys display at their Canal Street home in Mid-City. Growing up in public housing, Copeland promised himself if he ever had the means, he would decorate in a similar, grand fashion.

After founding Popeyes in 1972, he purchased a mansion at 5001 Folse Drive along the Metairie lakefront.

By Christmas 1974, I started my own display of Christmas lights with a 15-foot Rudolph and an 18-foot snowman. It was the first time anyone had seen figures so large and decorated with thousands of tiny lights, Copeland explained in a 2006 Times-Picayune advertisement. The display drew a huge crowd from the start.

According to the book Secrets of a Tastemaker by Chris Rose and Kit Wohl, Copeland added to the display every year, with a nativity scene (and neon Star of Bethlehem), giant toy soldiers, snowmen, and a string of lights that proclaimed Merry Christmas, Yall! In 1985, The Washington Post reported that Copelands $50,000 display included about 400,000 lights.

Despite its popularity, some of Copelands neighbors expressed displeasure with the growing spectacle. The first of 13 lawsuits came in 1983. The crowd that the display attracts makes us captives in our own homes, a neighbor told The Washington Post.

In 1985, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered Copeland to tone down his display. In 1986, he moved the display to seven and a half acres outside Popeyes corporate headquarters at 1333 S. Clearview Parkway in Elmwood.

In 1990, the light display moved to the grounds of the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. The lights went dark in 1991 when Copeland filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following his purchase of Churchs. In 1994, a smaller display returned to Copelands home in Metairie, where it remained even after he moved to Mandeville.

His family staged the display one last time following Copelands death from cancer on Easter 2008. Many of the lights and giant figures were donated to Jefferson Parish, where they are part of the Christmas display at Lafreniere Park.
The Russian occupation army continues to make attempts to encircle Avdiivka and strikes numerous civilian objects in our country. There were 84 combat engagements in the frontline yesterday.

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The Russian aggressor country is using its typical terror tactics and is launching missile and air strikes, firing from multiple rocket launchers not only at military but also at civilian objects in Ukraine. During December 1, the occupants launched 2 missile and 30 air strikes, fired 71 times from multiple launch rocket systems at the positions of our troops and populated areas. This is stated in the report of the General Staff of the Armed For ces of Ukraine as of the morning of December 2.

As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, there are casualties among the civilian population . Private homes and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged.

During the day, the Russian army once again attacked Ukraine with missiles and kamikaze drones . Terrorists launched two X-59 guided missiles and 23 Shahed-136/131 UAVs. The Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed one X-59 guided missile and 18 attack drones.

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Serebryanske forestry in Luhansk region and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk region came under air attack. More than 100 settlements in Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions came under artillery fire.

In the area of responsibility of the "North" operational and strategic grouping of troops on the Volyn and Polissya directions, the operational situation remains without significant changes.

On the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the enemy maintains a military presence in the border areas, conducts active sabotage activities to prevent the deployment of our troops to threatened areas, and increases the density of minefields along the state border in the Belgorod region.

In the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia operational and strategic grouping of troops in the Kupyansk sector, the enemy conducted assault operations in the areas of Synkivka, Kharkiv region, and Stelmakhivka, Luhansk region, where the defense forces repelled 13 attacks.

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In the Liman sector, the enemy conducted assault operations in the area of Serebryanske forestry in Luhansk region, where the defense forces repelled 8 attacks.

In the Bakhmut sector , the enemy conducted assault operations in the areas of Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Klishchiyivka and Andriivka in the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian troops repelled 21 attacks. Ukrainian defense forces continue assault operations south of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, inflicting losses in manpower and equipment on the enemy, and consolidating their positions.

In the area of responsibility of the Tavria operational and strategic grouping of troops in the Avdiivka sector , the enemy is making attempts to surround Avdiivka, but our soldiers are holding steadfast, inflicting significant losses on the enemy. The enemy's offensive actions were unsuccessful in the areas south of Novokalynove, Stepove, Avdiivka, Severne and Pervomaiske in Donetsk region, where the defense forces repelled 21 attacks.

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In the Maryinka sector , the enemy, supported by aviation, conducted unsuccessful assault operations near Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region.

In the Shakhtarsk sector, the enemy did not conduct offensive (assault) actions.

In the Zaporizhzhia sector, the enemy unsuccessfully conducted offensive (assault) operations 8 times to restore the lost position in the areas of Robotyno, Zaporizhzhia region, and also conducted unsuccessful assault operations in the area west of Verbove, Zaporizhzhia region, where our defenders repelled 4 more attacks.

At the same time, the Ukrainian defense forces continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol sector, inflicting losses in manpower and equipment on the occupation forces, and depleting the enemy along the entire front line.

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In the area of responsibility of the Odesa operational and strategic grouping of troops in the Kherson sector , the defense forces are holding their positions on the left bank of the Dnipro, continuing to conduct counter-battery combat, and inflicting fire on the enemy's rear.

Yesterday, missile troops struck 3 areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as 5 enemy ammunition depots.

As a reminder, a new video from Avdiivka, Donetsk region, has been posted online. The invaders are ruthlessly destroying the city, and civilians are forced to survive in apocalyptic conditions. Despite the fierce fighting for Avdiivka, about 1,300 civilians still remain in the town.

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Earlier it was reported that in Russia, the offensive efforts of the occupation forces have been called part of "active defense ". This substitution of concepts is necessary for the military and political leadership of the aggressor state to reduce Russians' expectations of significant "victories" of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine.
Police are seeking the publics help to trace two people in North Devon, a 34-year-old man from Bideford and a 31-year-old woman from London.

Loui Guinan and Sarah Morris are both wanted in connection with reports of assault, fraud and forgery.

Enquiries have been made by police to locate them and officers are now appealing to the public for information on their whereabouts.

Guinan (pictured) is described as a white male of medium build. He is 6ft 2in tall.

Morris, for whom no picture is available, is described as a white female, with long dark hair and of slim build.

They have connections to Bideford, Barnstaple and London and are likely to be together.

Anyone who sees Guinan or Morris is asked not to approach them, but to call police on 999, quoting reference number 50230306201.

Information can also be passed anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111, or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org
The United States should make Ukraine's victory in the war against Russia its policy. Washington should no longer have any excuses for supplying weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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Today, representatives of the American authorities are indecisive about supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia. This was stated in an interview with the Voice of America by retired U.S. General Ben Hodges.

According to him, neither U.S. President Joe Biden nor the Congress has ever stated that they want Ukraine to win the war against Russia. Instead, the United States says it will be with Ukraine "as long as it takes."

"The United States and our other allies should say: "We want Ukraine to win!" And when this becomes our policy, then there will be no more excuses for supplying ATACMS, Abrams tanks or F-16s. We are determined to win. This is what we have to do. They say: "We are with you as long as it takes". What does that mean? I think there is indecision," Hodges said.

The American general noted that it is difficult for him to understand the indecision of the White House and Congress. At the same time, he believes that the United States has some concern that Russia may somehow become stronger. The United States is also afraid of what might happen after Ukraine wins and Putin's regime falls.

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As a reminder, the administration of US President Joe Biden has said that Washington wants to give Ukraine more weapons to continue its counteroffensive. However, this requires Congress to approve the US President's request for additional funding.

Earlier, White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby said that Washington should make even more efforts to provide Ukraine with what it needs ahead of winter. First of all, the US Congress should approve President Joe Biden's request for additional funding.
CROWN POINT  Attorneys for Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez filed a motion late Thursday night asking for clarification on a judges order issued earlier in the day related to access to certain records in Martinezs criminal case.

In the emergency motion, defense attorney J. Michael Woods requested Special Judge Jeryl Leach issue a clarifying order to prohibit the unsealing of a document containing information from a May 2022 deposition from Martinezs wife, Melissa. The defense argued that the deposition contains questions that are subject to marital privilege between the spouses.

The questions are in reference to whether or not Oscar Martinez was drinking alcohol on the night he allegedly led Crown Point police on a pursuit and drove recklessly over the speed limit. He was indicted Jan. 6, 2022.

A hearing was held Nov. 20 on whether or not Melissa Martinez should have to answer eight of the questions she did not initially answer in her deposition, and whether or not documents filed related to the deposition should be made public. A week and a half after the hearing, Leach issued an order to keep the deposition transcript unavailable to the public. However, he allowed three other documents to be unsealed. One of those documents contained detailed summaries of each of the questions and had a full transcript of the deposition attached as an evidentiary exhibit.

According to the deposition transcripts, after Melissa Martinez answered, Yes, when asked by Special Prosecutor Stanley Levco if she saw her husband drink alcohol at Buddy & Pals Place in Crown Point on the night of the alleged crime. Her attorney, Robert Varga, and defense attorney Maryam Afshar-Stewart then objected on the grounds of marital privilege. Varga instructed Melissa Martinez not to answer the question.

In addition to her testifying that she saw her husband drinking, text messages from Melissa Martinez to Oscar Martinez were introduced at the deposition that showed she believed he had been drinking.

Leach has not yet issued an order on whether or not the questions are indeed subject to marital privilege. He said he will issue a separate order on the subject, but did not specify when.

Levco said he could not comment on the judges order. Defense attorney Paul Stracci said he believes the judges ruling needs clarification before offering a comment.

Levco and Special Prosecutor David O. Thomas filed a brief in May to request the judges oversight to direct Melissa Martinez to answer the remainder of the questions.

In a lengthy document filed in response to prosecutors brief, Martinezs attorneys argued marital privilege, they also said the questions were not relevant to the pending case against Oscar Martinez.

During the Nov. 20 hearing, Afshar-Stewart said allowing the public to have access to communications between spouses is an encroachment of confidentiality.
After referendums in three Lake County school districts were rejected by voters, school leaders and professional organizations are asking state lawmakers to change the language used on ballots for these funding questions.

In 2021, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1271, which revised referendum questions to include an estimated average percentage increase on residential and business property taxes. Before that, the language of the ballot question included the proposed property tax rate increase per $100 of assessed valuation.

Lake Central School Corp. Superintendent Larry Veracco took time out of the Nov. 20 school board meeting to criticize the fact that the question is worded that state property taxes would increase, even when a school district is attempting to extend an existing operating referendum at the same levy rate.

"To call it an increase when it's not, I think is disingenuous and it's unfair punishment on schools," Veracco said.

The superintendent told school board members he and Lake Central schools Director of Business Services Rob James had recently met with state Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, to discuss the wording of referendum questions.

Veracco said they suggested to Dernulc that the question could state the tax rate will stay the same, if approved, for districts seeking a referendum renewal. They also suggested the question could state the tax rate would decrease, if the measure was rejected.

"So someone who's highly motivated for their tax to go down can vote no," the superintendent said.

According to Veracco, they made "good inroads" in their conversation with the state lawmaker. He hopes the state senator will bring the matter up with his party's leadership. Republicans hold supermajorities in both state legislative chambers.

The Times reached out to Dernulc's office for further comment but did not receive a response.

Veracco said that while the wording of the referendum may not matter in communities that vote overwhelmingly in favor of it, in more tax-averse communities  such as Lake Central  more work is needed to inform voters of the true impacts of a referendum.

In 2018, Lake Central's referendum narrowly won by 4,846 to 4,217 votes, or 53.47% in favor.

Its current operating referendum runs through the end of 2026.

Lake Station Schools' current referendum was defeated by 14 votes last month. Its superintendent, Tom Cripliver has previously blamed the ballot language for confusing and misleading voters.

Multiple state professional education associations, such as the Indiana School Boards Association and the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, have added clarifying school referendum language to their lists of legislative priorities during the General Assembly's 2024 session.

ISBA Executive Director Terry Spradlin said they believe the current language is confusing for both voters and taxpayers.

"It's not intuitive and it's not clearly transparent," Spradlin said. "In fact, we think it could be misleading or inaccurate information to the voter."

He said the organization is advocating for more straightforward ballot language.

Spradlin said they don't want to see the referendum language revert to the wording prior to the 2021 change. ISBA is instead supporting changing the language to state the annual property tax amount a resident would pay on the median-priced home in that community.

The executive director said his group is in regular communication with lawmakers and will be lobbying them during this session to address the issue.

"We need to present a compelling argument to the legislative leaders and we would hope members of their caucuses support this change," Spradlin said.

However, Spradlin accepted other school-related matters, such as chronic absenteeism and third-grade reading proficiencies, will most likely take precedence during this shorter legislative session.

Spradlin is encouraging school officials and board members, as well as community members, to talk to their local legislators about school referenda language.

"It's going to take some effort to build momentum to bring about change," he said.

GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week
Rock legend Peter Frampton is scheduled to perform at the Hard Rock Casino in Gary.

Frampton will play at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indianas Hard Rock Live venue at 5400 W. 29th Ave. in Gary on Monday, March 18, 2024. Doors open at 7 p.m.

His "Frampton Comes Alive!" record is one of the top-selling live albums in history with more than 17 million sales. Know for hits like "Show Me the Way," "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "I'm in You," he's also appeared on television shows, like in the Lollapalooza episode of The Simpsons.

He's performing as part of his "Never EVER Say Never Tour."

"Now in his 60th year of touring, Peter Frampton is one of the most celebrated artists and guitarists in rock history. In 2007, Frampton won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Fingerprints and in 2014 was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He received the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award from NAMMs TEC Awards in 2019 and his album All Blues was #1 for 15 weeks on Billboards Blues Chart," Hard Rock Casino said in a press release. "In 2020 Frampton was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, his autobiography Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers list, and his 2021 album Frampton Forgets The Words was released to widespread critical acclaim."

Frampton recently appeared on Dolly Partons new album "Rockstar." He was the only artist to appear on two songs.

He also played with Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks at the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

"This year, Frampton released Frampton@50 on Intervention Records, a numbered limited-edition vinyl box set featuring Framptons essential 1972-1975 studio releases Wind of Change, Framptons Camel and Frampton," Hard Rock Casino said in a press release. "He also received The Myositis Associations Heroes in the Fight 2023 Patient Ambassador Award in September and unveiled his historic performance at Londons Royal Albert Hall as a live album via UMe."

Tickets start at $79.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

For more information, call 219-228-2383 or visit hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com.
Doug Gutwein, a Republican who represented rural portions of Northwest Indiana in the Indiana House for 14 years, died Friday.

The 75-year-old from Francesville was battling cancer, according to House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers.

Gutwein retired from the General Assembly in 2022 after holding a variety a leadership posts, including chairman of House Environmental Affairs Committee and the House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee.

In 2019, Gutwein led the effort in House Enrolled Act 1270 to establish the Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission that works to prevent damaging flooding along both rivers as they flow through man-made channels in Northwest Indiana.

Gutwein was an advocate of enhanced newborn screening for debilitating diseases so Hoosier parents would have the opportunity to seek treatment right away.

The U.S. Army veteran also was committed to advancing policies providing resources and reducing the taxes of current and former service members.

Huston said those accomplishments are just a few among many that "left a lasting impression on his legislative family and our state."

"Once Doug set his sights on solving a problem, there was no stopping him. He tackled issues with passion and a fire to get things done. Whether it was cutting government red tape, supporting Hoosier veterans and service members, or finding ways to help newborns diagnosed with terminal diseases, Doug was relentless," Huston said.

"I'm incredibly saddened by Doug's passing and I'm praying for his family, especially his wife, Mary Lew. He and his legacy will certainly live on, and he will be deeply missed."

Gutwein, a small business owner and onetime Valparaiso mailman, said prior to leaving the Statehouse he "enjoyed every second of the opportunity" to represent his 16th House District constituents in Fulton, Jasper, Newton and Starke counties.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
In 2021, I made my first word puzzle as a gift for my girlfriend for the same reasons many people did things during the pandemic: a lack of cash and an abundance of free time.

We quickly ran out of games during long locked-in weekends, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I created puzzles based on our inside jokes and shared language, including one that required unwinding words themed around a twisted summer tea we enjoy. I still buy presents, even though I have this newfound crossword-making superpower, but there are some occasions when a puzzle is more than enough.

Ive since learned about a vast subculture of crossword constructors and puzzle-heads who lovingly craft intimate puzzles as gifts for their partners.

Joni Binder, who lives in San Francisco and works at an arts nonprofit, had been encouraging her puzzle-loving husband of 28 years to make his own crosswords. When he kept procrastinating, she decided to try it herself and surprise him with a gift.
A protester self-immolated on Friday afternoon outside of the Israeli Consulate building in Atlanta, in what the police described as likely an extreme act of political protest.

A security guard tried to intervene but was unsuccessful, officials said. The demonstrator sustained third-degree burns to the body, and the guard was burned on his wrist and leg. Both were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where the protester was in critical condition.

Officials did not identify the demonstrator, but said in a news conference on Friday that the person appeared to be acting alone and that a Palestinian flag was recovered at the location and was part of the protest. The fire chief, Roderick M. Smith, said there was evidence of gasoline being used as an accelerant.

The authorities did not offer any other insights into the persons possible motive for self-immolating. The citys police chief, Darin Schierbaum, said that officials did not believe there was any nexus to terrorism.

Anat Sultan-Dadon, consul general of Israel to the Southeastern United States, described the act as an expression of hate and incitement toward Israel.

The sanctity of life is our highest value, she said in a statement on Friday. Our prayers are with the security officer who was injured while trying to prevent this tragic act.

The self-immolation occurred outside a building in the Midtown area of Atlanta that houses the consulate and several other offices.

It appears to have been focused outside the building. Im not aware of an attempt to enter the building, Chief Schierbaum said, adding: I have met with the consul general. The staff is safe. All the residents of this building are safe.

The Atlanta F.B.I. said it was aware of the incident and coordinating with local law enforcement.
Israel resumed its Gaza offensive

A weeklong cease-fire in the Gaza Strip collapsed this morning, with both Israel and Hamas blaming the other for the breakdown of the fragile truce.

Shortly before the cease-fire expired at 7 a.m. local time, Israel said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza. Moments after the deadline passed, Israel announced that it was restarting military operations. Since the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military said it had launched 200 strikes. Heres the latest.

The cease-fire had allowed for the exchange of scores of hostages and prisoners. Ultimately the two sides failed to overcome disagreements, including about how to define soldiers versus civilians and how many Palestinian prisoners Israel would release for its hostages, officials from Israel and Hamas said.

International mediators said talks were continuing in the hopes of reviving the truce. But Israeli officials expressed determination to carry on with their campaign to eradicate Hamas.
The Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon apologized Friday for saying at a pro-Palestinian rally last month that people feeling afraid of being Jewish right now were getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.

The remarks drew widespread criticism and soon afterward her agency, United Talent Agency, let it be known that it had dropped her as a client.

In a statement posted to Instagram Friday night, Sarandon said that she had been trying to communicate her concern for rising hate crimes. This phrasing was a terrible mistake, she said, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true.

As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, she said, referring to the synagogue shooting that killed 11 and wounding six others in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day.
Before we wallow in the downfall of George Santos, allow me a toast of appreciation to the freshly defrocked lawmaker and his fellow lawmakers. It takes a lot to get booted from the House by ones colleagues, but the New York Republican really applied himself. And while his 11 very weird months in office were a stain on American democracy, heres hoping his departure serves to reassure a politically disillusioned nation that there is a level of deception, corruption and lunacy too extra even for Congress. It is a nice reminder that, on special occasions, most lawmakers still know how to do the right thing.

Now to the wallowing! It was frustrating for many Americans, including some prominent Republicans, that it took so long to rid the House of this egregious fraudster, fabulist and  if that sizzling report from the House Ethics Committee is any indication  future felon. The Ethics Committee opened its investigation in March. In May the congressman was indicted on 13 federal charges, including fraud and money laundering. In October, 10 more charges were piled on. And still the House failed twice to expel Santos. Even on this third try, on Friday, several of his colleagues stuck by him  including all five top members of Republican leadership. (Nice moral compass, eh?)

But heres the thing: The process played out as it should. When expulsion is on the table, lawmakers are wise to chart a steady, methodical, small-c conservative path. Theres a reason Mr. Santos is only the third member voted off the island since the Civil War. Lawmakers are not above the law and should be expected to uphold high ethical standards. (Stop laughing!) But it is largely up to their constituents to hold them accountable.

Only in the most egregious cases should other lawmakers move to superimpose their will over that of voters, and even then only after due process. Without clear triggers  such as a criminal conviction or a meticulous report by a bipartisan committee tasked with such matters  the temptation to wield expulsion like a partisan weapon would become overwhelming. I mean, its bad enough that Marjorie Taylor Greene has taken to filing articles of impeachment against anyone who looks at her funny.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has said that Washington wants to provide Ukraine with more weapons to continue its counteroffensive. However, this requires Congress to approve the US President's request for additional funding.

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This was stated by White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby at a briefing on Friday, December 1, Ukrinform reports. He noted that Washington has consistently provided Kyiv with an unprecedented level of security support since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Kirby added that Ukraine's desire to receive more weapons systems to be able to liberate the cities captured by Russian troops is fully justified. According to him, the United States has done everything possible to ensure that Kyiv receives as many weapons as possible.

The Biden administration official assured that support for Ukraine would continue. However, the politician reminded that the U.S. stockpile of aid to Kyiv is almost exhausted. Therefore, Congress is considering a presidential request for a new aid package for Ukraine, without which it will be difficult to ensure further supplies to the country's army.

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In this context, he emphasized that Washington is "eager to give more" to Ukraine and urged Congress not to delay its decision.

"We urge Congress to take immediate action on the request for additional funding," the White House spokesman emphasized.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, earlier, Kirby said that Washington should make even more efforts to provide Ukraine with what it needs on the eve of winter. First of all, the US Congress should approve President Joe Biden's request for additional funding.
Fraser, who also plays the drums in the shows band, keeps the repertoire of musical spoofs sharp, too. Im frustrated in British pantos when they go Heres one for the parents and its a Queen song, he said. Im like, Guys, Queen is for the grandparents! Parents were raving on ecstasy in the 90s. So I like to modernize it and add stuff that would at first seem inappropriate, like Enter Sandman by Metallica.

While Fraser and Muzs usual work tends to be for adult audiences, their pantos are family shows that manage to merge their cool-cat sensibility into the parameters of a genre so highly codified that it has pre-established call-and-response patterns involving the audience members. Theyre talking to you and screaming at you while youre trying to deliver your lines, said Jenni Gil, who plays Belles friend Lucky, and is in her third Abrons panto.

Gils experience as a teaching artist in public schools has trained her well to work with young people, but she admits that the pantos can be wild. I had a moment in last years production of Dick Rivington where we all had to be super-sad and all the kids were yelling he didnt do it! she said. It took so much from all of us to not laugh. When we get offstage after those moments, were like, Oh my gosh, there is so much joy in theater.
Follow live updates on the fourth Republican presidential debate.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Friday swept through South Carolina, his rival Nikki Haleys backyard, seeking to blunt the rise of the states former governor in the Republican primary while capitalizing on his slugfest with the Democratic governor of California.

The fight to claim the mantle of the most viable Republican alternative to former President Donald J. Trump intensified this week. Ms. Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations, won the endorsement of the political network founded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch and secured the backing of key donors like Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. The upheaval in Mr. DeSantiss campaign apparatus continued unabated on Friday with the departure of his super PACs chairman, Adam Laxalt.

But Mr. DeSantiss prime-time face-off on Fox News with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday night seemed to buoy him as he barnstormed through South Carolinas Upstate region near Greenville and its midsection outside Columbia before ending in Charleston and the Lowcountry.

On Ms. Haleys home turf, the Florida governor and his surrogates appeared unfazed by all the developments, blasting the support from Mr. Dimon as a nod from a Hillary Clinton supporter and dismissing the Koch networks decision as evidence that Ms. Haley represents only the incremental change backed by Wall Street.
The vote on Friday to expel former Representative George Santos, Republican of New York, from Congress was an overwhelming rebuke from his colleagues, including many members of his own party.

Nearly every Democrat voted to kick out Mr. Santos after a federal indictment on fraud charges and scathing report by the House Ethics Committee detailing accusations of wrongdoing and a pattern of lying about nearly aspect of his life.

Republicans were more divided. Speaker Mike Johnson, still just weeks into his tenure, and members of his leadership team voted to save Mr. Santos, concerned about further winnowing down the partys slim House majority. They joined with some of the same hard-right rebels who often revolt against them, in an unusual alliance that sought to keep the serial liar in their ranks.

But the partys moderates and mainstream conservatives, many of whom feared the political repercussions of being associated with Mr. Santos, were quick to cast their votes to oust a man they viewed as a stain on their party.
A suburban county in Georgia agreed on Friday to use a new voter information database endorsed by the election denial movement, a move that defied warnings from voting rights groups, election security experts and state election officials.

Columbia County, a heavily Republican county outside Augusta, is the first in the country known to have agreed to use the platform, called EagleAI. Its supporters claim the system will make it easier to purge the rolls of ineligible voters.

Among the leading backers for this new system is Cleta Mitchell, a central figure in former President Donald J. Trumps efforts to subvert the 2020 election and the leader of the Election Integrity Network, a national coalition of activists built around the false idea that the 2020 election was stolen.

Ms. Mitchell and others have billed EagleAI as an alternative to the Election Registration Information Center, a widely used interstate system that made it easier for officials to track address changes and deaths as they maintain the voter rolls. That system, known as ERIC, has become the subject of conspiracy theories and misinformation that prompted nine states to withdraw with few backup plans.
Sandra Day OConnor gave up lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court  a job she loved and one with extraordinary power  to care for her husband of 52 years as he deteriorated from dementia.

That decision, in 2005, began a poignant final chapter of her extraordinary life. Her choice, at age 75, reflected her attempt to integrate the often conflicting demands of professional achievement and family expectations in a country still adapting to changing gender roles and an aging population.

Justice OConnor, who died on Friday at the age of 93, had hoped to care for her husband at their home in Arizona. But when that soon became untenable, she moved him to an assisted living facility. He was unhappy about the move, but then something remarkable happened: He found romance with another woman who was a patient there.

And Justice OConnor, who not long before had been the most powerful woman in the country, was thrilled because he was content and comfortable again  even like a teenager in love, as their son Scott put it. The justice kept up her regular visits, beaming next to the happy couple as they held hands on a porch swing.
Henri Lopes, a writer and former prime minister of the Republic of Congo whose pioneering fiction mocked the abuses of African leaders but who later served one of the continents most brutal, died on Nov. 2 in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. He was 86.

His death, in a hospital, was announced by the Republic of Congos embassy in Paris.

Mr. Lopess dual career spanned the formative years of both African nationhood and the continents literature. He was richly rewarded in both spheres, with high positions in politics and diplomacy and prestigious literary prizes.

His 1982 novel, Le Pleurer-Rire (The Laughing Cry), which satirizes a brutal and choleric African dictator, is regarded as a foundational work in African literature. His Tribaliques, a pugnacious short-story collection published in 1971 and much written about since, was an early depiction of the shortcomings of a nascent African society riven by ethnic rivalries.

Mr. Lopes (pronounced LO-pez) finished his career as the Republic of Congos ambassador in Paris, retiring in 2015. His country, a former French colony, lies across the Congo River from the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo, once a Belgian possession.
Growing up, all Yuni Matsumoto wanted was to fit in.

But his name made that hard. It was highly uncommon in Japan and, on top of that, essentially unreadable as written. Middle school classmates ridiculed him. The bullying got so bad that he eventually dropped out of school.

Mr. Matsumoto, 24, had what is known as a kira-kira  meaning shiny or glittery  name. A growing number of Japanese parents are choosing these unconventional names, often in hopes of making their children stand out in a country where pressure to conform is strong.

Mr. Matsumotos parents were driven by that same desire for uniqueness, but to him, his name was a shackle. This spring, he went to family court and had it changed to a common one, Yuuki, written in a way anyone could read. I felt like I had finally been freed, he said.

Japan is far from the only country where unusual names are on the rise. But Japanese children with unconventional names face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Citing those difficulties, the government is now moving to rein in the practice, while insisting it is not closing off space for parents to be creative.
As the truce in the Israel-Hamas war was ending on Thursday, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, met virtually with her staff to address an internal uproar over accusations that she was not leveraging her position to speak out against the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Many of the global staff members who gathered were angered by her refusal to publicly call for a cease-fire, and there was a growing demand for her removal. In a video of the meeting shared with The New York Times, several employees read statements sharply criticizing Ms. McCain for being tone-deaf to staff concerns.

You were not here for us  with all due respect, you have failed us, a woman speaking from Gaza on behalf of Palestinian staff members not present at the meeting says in the video. The W.F.P.s response has been and continues to be insufficient in the face of the magnitude of need, and as the esteemed leader of the United Nations food agency, what will you do to rebuild the trust that you broke among your staff?

Staff members also accused Ms. McCain of compromising the neutrality of the organization by attending an international security forum on Nov. 18 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, she was introduced in her official U.N. capacity and sat next to Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel. An annual prize in public service named after her late husband, Senator John McCain, was awarded to the People of Israel.
Nurit Cooper, 79, is one of the Israeli hostages released by Hamas. But her son, Rotem Cooper, continues to press for the urgent release of the remaining hostages, especially those who are old and sick.

He has a personal stake in the matter. His father, Amiram Cooper, who will turn 85 on Dec. 11, remains a hostage.

A concrete arrangement is needed to rescue the elderly and the people with chronic conditions. And we know that time is of the essence, Rotem Cooper said this week. With the elderly, a few weeks or a few days could make the difference between people making it out alive or not.

As Israel restarted airstrikes on Gaza on Friday, his worry intensified.

I and my family are all very concerned about the safety of my father now that the war is raging again, he said. We were hoping for the cease-fire and hostages exchange to resume with the release of elderly hostages like my father.

Amiram and Nurit were kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz. According to what he has learned from his mother, who was freed on Oct. 23 after 17 days of captivity, and others who have been released in recent days, his parents and others were kept underground in tunnels, five prisoners in a small room with little light or ventilation. The sandy ground had a flimsy porous covering over it. There was a mattress and a few pillows.

Food was scarce. Most days they were given pita with olive oil. Occasionally there were cheese and cucumbers.

But more concerning, Mr. Cooper said, was that he had been told both that his father had not been receiving much of his needed medication and that he continued to struggle with undiagnosed ailments he was experiencing before he was kidnapped.

He has a lot of stomach pain, said Rotem Cooper, and we dont know what it is, but obviously theyre not going to take him for a CT scan.

The deprivation of medical care is likely affecting many, if not all, of the older hostages  as well as those with chronic conditions.

To try to prevent the prisoners from muscle atrophy or conditions that can arise from lack of movement while being imprisoned in a small room, Hamas guards encouraged the older hostages to walk daily, Rotem Cooper said.

Image Nurit Cooper. Credit... Hostages and Missing Families Forum, via Associated Press

But navigating the sandy ground of the dark tunnels was challenging for his aging parents and their fellow prisoners, he said, especially because the Hamas gunmen took his fathers eyeglasses when they abducted him and broke his mothers shoulder. His mother, now living with her daughter in Israel, is working to gain strength through physical therapy.

The rest of her recovery is more complicated, her son said.

Mentally, he said, shes definitely doing better. She is more engaged with the people and becoming more independent. But one thing that you have to keep in context is that part of recovery is getting back to what you used to do.

For Nurit Cooper, this is not possible. My father is still kidnapped Rotem Cooper said, and she cant live in her home at the kibbutz. No one lives there anymore.
I hope you dont mind if we carry on, Juicy says at the end of Fat Ham. The other characters in the play then begin cleaning and clearing the stage, an act that affirms Juicys proposition and, in this work inspired by Shakespeares most famous tragedy, suggests that there might be a way for them to work through their shared trauma together.

Those words hit me hard when I heard them last spring. I was staving off my own mourning as my family prepared for the 10th anniversary of my brother Shakas death from cancer. That, coupled with political crises and global despair, pushed me to find film, television and performances that helped me make sense of my grief and, hopefully, find a release for it.

I almost didnt see what ended up as one of my favorite plays of the year. I could not wrap my head around the story line of a Black, queer, Hamlet-like play, even after it had won over my fellow critics and earned the Pulitzer Prize for best drama. Then I saw it on Broadway. I was startled by its clever transformation of an Elizabethan-era depressive into Gen Z ennui through its main character Juicy (Marcel Spears), a 20-something mourning his fathers death as well as the hyper-masculinity that his family and society impose on him. Though Juicy sneaks glances and shares asides with the audience, Fat Ham truly breaks theaters fourth wall when the cast stages a surreal group cover of Radioheads Creep and then again with its unexpectedly liberatory final scene that invites us to join them in a party filled with glitter, gender fluidity and Black joy. (Read our review of Fat Ham.)

The Last Season of Succession

Who knew that if you killed off Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the shows most dynamic character, his children would easily make up for his lost charisma? The Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, thats who knew. I cant think of three more heart-wrenching performances of parental loss than Shiv (Sarah Snook), her voice breaking as she pleads, Daddy? I love you. Dont go, please. Not now, on the phone; Roman (Kieran Culkin), breaking down during his eulogy; and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the most tragic, as he loses his bid to replace his father as chief executive. In the end, Kendall simply stares out at the water rather than being buoyed up or submerged in it as he has been in the past. A man without a company, it is a fate that, for him, is far worse than death. (Read our review of the Succession finale.)
The Estonian government is preparing a program to deport its citizens who wish to obtain Russian citizenship. This initiative has caused controversy in parliament, but Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has pointed to its legitimacy.

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This was reported by Postimees. The Russian Federation has violated all international norms by invading the territory of sovereign Ukraine and is in fact a terrorist state.

"We take into account the fact that a person who lives in our country, receives information from independent media and has the opportunity to form a true picture of the war in Ukraine, Russian war crimes, genocide, and wants to voluntarily accept Russian citizenship - this cannot be ignored," Callas emphasized.

In this case, the Police and Border Guard Board is obliged to investigate whether this is a form of support for terrorism, as well as illegal activities against Estonia and its international partners. Thus, the initiative aims to support state security.

"Each case will be considered individually. Of course, if a person really supports Russia's armed aggression against the Ukrainian people, it is worth reconsidering their suitability for living in a European democratic society," the head of the Estonian government said.

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, an interesting incident took place in Oslo, the capital of Norway. A Russian man wanted to exchange euros for the local currency, but a bank employee refused him when he saw a passport with a double-headed eagle.

"They said: "We don't exchange with such passports". And this is all because of the sanctions. The situation is, to put it mildly, unpleasant. I didn't think there would be any problems with the cash. If it wasn't for the 200 kroons I took in St. Petersburg just in case, I wouldn't have even made it to the city," complained the holder of the "unusable" passport.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
One air traffic controller went into work drunk this summer and joked about making big money buzzed. Another routinely smoked marijuana during breaks. A third employee threatened violence and then aggressively pushed a colleague who was directing airplanes.

The incidents were extreme examples, but they fit into a pattern that reveals glaring vulnerabilities in one of the most important protective layers of the nations vaunted aviation safety system.

In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have submitted hundreds of complaints to a Federal Aviation Administration hotline describing issues like dangerous staffing shortages, mental health problems and deteriorating buildings, some infested by bugs and black mold.

There were at least seven reports of controllers sleeping when they were on duty and five about employees working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The New York Times obtained summaries of the complaints through an open-records request.
As chief executive of Wells Fargo, Timothy J. Sloan failed to clean up a string of scandals that shook the bank and abruptly stepped down amid widespread criticism more than four years ago.

He now says Wells Fargo owes him at least $34 million in back pay.

Mr. Sloan sued Wells Fargo on Friday, saying that the bank owed him for unpaid stock awards, bonuses and unspecified emotional distress. His lawyers said that the bank he formerly led made him a scapegoat for problems that predated his tenure, and they recast his resignation under fire in 2019 as an act of further loyalty to the bank.

The lawsuit was a surprise move, inasmuch as Wells Fargo for years has been trying to move on from Mr. Sloans tenure and improve its relationship with both customers and regulators.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman, Beth Richek, said the bank stood behind its decision to withhold the pay. Compensation decisions are based on performance, she said in a statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris pledged at a United Nations climate summit on Saturday that the United States would spend billions more to help developing nations fight and adapt to climate change, telling world leaders that we must do more to limit global temperature rise.

Her remarks followed an announcement by U.S. officials at the summit the same day that the federal government would, for the first time, require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane.

It was the most ambitious move to reduce fossil fuel emissions that President Bidens administration was expected to unveil at the summit, known as COP28. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that wafts into the atmosphere from pipelines, drill sites and storage facilities, and dangerously speeds the rate of global warming.
Pope Francis, who reluctantly canceled his trip to the annual United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of a lung infection, sought on Saturday to lend his voice to the worlds destitute facing the brunt of climate disruption.

In an address written by the pope and delivered at the summit by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis assured the world, I am with you, because time is short. He wrote that the world, more than ever, faced environmental devastation that offended God and greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst, and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.

Francis, 86, in his decade-long pontificate, has elevated stewardship of the environment to a top priority of the church. In Laudate Deum, a letter on humanitys obligations to the environment issued in October, Francis specifically called for tangible solutions at the Dubai meeting, which, at the time, he expected to attend.

But the popes health would not permit it. He was prevented not only from delivering the speech in person, but also from participating in many bilateral meetings, including with leaders of small and vulnerable nations whose plights he had hoped to amplify.
The newcomer landed in a district of northern Toronto and announced his bid for Canadas Parliament. Though few knew him, an important factor helped offset his lack of name recognition  the backing of prominent local Chinese-Canadians.

Im very happy that I feel very well supported, surrounded by friends, the candidate, Han Dong, said at a news conference.

But a government-appointed special rapporteur said there was well-grounded suspicion Mr. Dong also had help from a hidden source as he vied for the Liberal Partys nomination: the Chinese Consulate.

Mr. Dongs victory  eventually propelling him to Parliament in 2019  is one of several Canadian campaigns that have raised fears about Chinese election interference.
Most older Americans want to live at home as long as they can, but finding and affording the help they need often isnt easy. There are severe shortages of home health aides in many parts of the country. Hiring them is costly. And most middle-class people will have to pay for home care themselves if they will need it for the long haul. Heres a guide to locating home care for an older person.

What kind of home care do you need?

After a fall or surgery, some older people will need short-term care at home from a nurse or therapist to help them recover. Medicare, the federal insurance program for those 65 and over, typically pays for this kind of home health care. A nurse can make sure a wound is healing properly, for example, while a physical therapist can help a person get back on their feet after a knee replacement.

But millions of older Americans need assistance over months or years to stay in their homes safely instead of moving to an assisted-living facility or nursing home. They may require help getting out of bed, taking a shower or going to the bathroom; getting to the doctor; shopping for groceries or making meals. They need a home health aide or personal care assistant, who may not have much, if any, medical training.

How do I find help?

A wide range of services are available, whether its light housekeeping or hiring a private-duty nurse. Monica Moreno, senior director of care and support at the Alzheimers Association, suggests that you start by making a simple list of the kind of help you or your loved one needs and the number of hours each day or week required.
It was a mild Sunday evening in Surrey, a city near Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar was ready to drive home after spending the day at his Sikh temple. He had told a friend that he thought he was being followed, but that night, he was just eager to celebrate Fathers Day with his family.

Mr. Nijjar was heading out of the parking lot in his truck when he was ambushed. Two masked gunmen unleashed a burst of gunfire and then sped off in a getaway car. Mr. Nijjar was dead.

The murder that day in June became part of a chain of events that would ricochet around the world, with federal agents in the United States working furiously behind the scenes to untangle an international assassination plot that they believed was directed by someone inside Indias government. The geopolitical implications were huge, and the clock was ticking: The next murder being planned was for someone on U.S. soil.

That explosive tip had come into the Drug Enforcement Administration through an unexpected avenue, according to court records and interviews with people familiar with the investigation  accounts that, taken together, provide a detailed picture of how the episode unfolded.
My favorite Twilight Zone episode is the one where aliens land and, in a sign of their peaceful intentions, give world leaders a book. Government cryptographers work to translate the alien language. They decipher the title  To Serve Man  and thats reassuring, so interplanetary shuttles are set up.

But as the cryptographers proceed, they realize  too late  that its a cookbook.

That, dear reader, is the story of OpenAI.

It was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit to serve man, to keep an eye on galloping A.I. technology and ensure there were guardrails and kill switches  because when A.I. hits puberty, it will be like aliens landing.

When I interviewed them at their makeshift San Francisco headquarters back in 2016, the OpenAI founders  Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman  presented themselves as our Praetorian guard against the future threat of runaway, evil A.I., against bad actors and bad bots and all the lords of the cloud who had Mary Shelley dreams of creating a new species, humanity be damned.
Atef Abu Saif was visiting family members in Gaza with his 15-year-old son, Yasser, before Oct. 7 and has kept a diary of the war since it began. Here is his entry for Nov. 21, the day he decided to leave the Jabaliya neighborhood in the north of the territory for southern Gaza, en route to the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

We cannot stay here any longer. We have decided.

The shells over the last two nights have been so close to the apartment we are staying in that I didnt just see the light and hear the thunder of their explosions. I saw them pass right by my window. The Israelis are getting closer every minute. Most of the outer regions of the camp are under full occupation now. Overnight, troops advanced a couple of streets closer from the north. Our street came under continuous shelling from the tanks.

I never closed my eyes. I want to be awake when I die, I told my brother Mohammed, who has been with us for most of the war. I want to see it happening. Before going to sleep, my son Yasser said he felt more afraid than ever. For the last 45 days, he has shown great strength in the face of everything, but we all have our limits. Lets see, I told him. In the morning well decide.

This was two nights ago. So, yesterday morning, I went to see my dad to ask if hed consider moving with us. It was a hard no.
You can tell a lot about a person by what he or she regrets. This holds especially for Supreme Court justices, whose decisions can, with a single vote, upend individual lives and alter the course of history. Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. said he probably made a mistake in upholding a law criminalizing gay sex; Justice Harry Blackmun was sorry he ever voted to impose the death penalty.

Justice Sandra Day OConnor, who died on Friday at the age of 93, expressed regret publicly over one vote she cast: in the case of Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, a 2002 ruling that judicial candidates could not be prohibited from expressing their views on disputed legal and political issues. Minnesota, like many states that elect judges, had imposed such a ban in order to preserve the appearance of judicial impartiality. The court rejected the ban for violating the First Amendment. The decision was 5 to 4, with Justice OConnor joining the majority.

The courts ruling led to an explosion of partisan spending on judicial elections around the country and judicial candidates freely spouting their predetermined views on the very issues they would be entrusted to decide if elected.

There are many ways to remember Justice OConnor  as the first woman on the Supreme Court, as one of the justices who saved Roe v. Wade 30 years ago, as the author of the landmark decision protecting affirmative action in 2003. As impressive as those achievements were, they have mostly been surpassed or reversed. What stands out for me is what she said and did after leaving the court.
UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday announced the establishment of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions.

Designed to bridge the climate financing gap and facilitate affordable access, the fund aims to stimulate the raising and investment of $250 billion by 2030. This was revealed during His Highness' opening of the World Climate Action Summit, held during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) at Expo City Dubai.

In his opening statement, His Highness welcomed world leaders, heads of governments, their delegations, and representatives of international organisations to the UAE during their participation in the World Climate Action Summit.

His Highness stated that the meeting comes at a time when the world faces many challenges, with climate change affecting all aspects of life. He underscored that the UAE has invested $100 billion in climate action and renewable and clean energy and is committed to investing an additional $130 billion over the next seven years.

His Highness also spoke about the role of the countrys Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who instilled in his people a deep-rooted commitment to conserving natural resources and sustainability.

Before the start of the summit, His Highness and His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, received world leaders, heads of country delegations, and representatives of international organisations, wherein group photos were taken.

He said: "When we committed to hosting COP28, we pledged to bring the world together to unite, work, and deliver.

"We are finding practical pathways to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable economic growth. The lack of financing has long been one of the biggest obstacles to advancing climate action globally.

"Therefore, I am pleased to announce the establishment of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions. This fund is specifically designed to bridge the climate finance gap, ensuring availability, accessibility and affordability at scale. Its objective is to stimulate the raising and investment of $250 billion by 2030."
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that they were able to tell Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov the truth about Russia's war against Ukraine. They assured that during the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, 55 delegates of the participating states were able to convey their point of view and "strongly condemn" Russia's aggression against our country.

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The relevant statement was made on December 1 by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani,Ukrinform reports. The politician is the current chairman of the OSCE.

According to Osmani, the representative of the aggressor country in the Organization has been told the truth about the Russian invasion of Ukraine before, during weekly meetings.

"We have strongly condemned the aggressor, in this case the Russian Federation, which has not only caused enormous human suffering in Ukraine, but also challenged the very existence of the organization. But we have also turned the OSCE into a platform for holding Russia politically and legally accountable for its atrocities in Ukraine. Every week around the table of the Permanent Council in Vienna, 56 participating States have spoken truth to the Russian ambassador, just as 55 participating States' ministers have spoken truth to the Russian foreign minister here at the OSCE Ministerial Council," he said.

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Osmani added that during the consensus decision on the new OSCE chairman and the extension of the mandate of its four top officials, there was "no bargaining over the principles and commitments of the organization, which are not subject to discussion." At the same time, all points of view were taken into account.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

- Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov at a press conference in Skopje insulted a journalist. He also talked about the collapse of the OSCE, hinting that the functioning of this structure no longer makes sense.

- Nevertheless, Russia agreed to the temporary appointment of senior officials to the OSCE. Previously, Russia had blocked the full election of four key officials, leaving the organization without legitimate leadership.

- North Macedonia, which held the OSCE chairmanship for the past year, has stated that Russia will not be expelled from the organization. There was a discussion about whether Russia should be expelled because of its violation of the OSCE's basic principles and commitments, but it has now been exhausted.

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Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
For some time now, South Korea has been a striking case study in the depopulation problem that hangs over the developed world. Almost all rich countries have seen their birthrates settle below replacement level, but usually that means somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 children per woman. For instance, in 2021 the United States stood at 1.7, France at 1.8, Italy at 1.3 and Canada at 1.4.

But South Korea is distinctive in that it slipped into below-replacement territory in the 1980s but lately has been falling even more  dropping below one child per woman in 2018 to 0.8 after the pandemic and now, in provisional data for the second and third quarters of 2023, to just 0.7 births per woman.

Its worth unpacking what that means. A country that sustained a birthrate at that level would have, for every 200 people in one generation, 70 people in the next one, a depopulation exceeding what the Black Death delivered to Europe in the 14th century. Run the experiment through a second generational turnover, and your original 200-person population falls below 25. Run it again, and youre nearing the kind of population crash caused by the fictional superflu in Stephen Kings The Stand.

By the standards of newspaper columnists, I am a low-birthrate alarmist, but in some ways I consider myself an optimist. Just as the overpopulation panic of the 1960s and 1970s mistakenly assumed that trends would simply continue upward without adaptation, I suspect a deep pessimism about the downward trajectory of birthrates  the kind that imagines a 22nd-century America dominated by the Amish, say  underrates human adaptability, the extent to which populations that flourish amid population decline will model a higher-fertility future and attract converts over time.
At the end of my recent trip to Japan, I found myself at Haneda Airport in Tokyo with an hour or so to kill. So I went to the onsen.

On the 12th floor of the Villa Fontaine Grand, a hotel attached to the departure terminal, I paid 4,800 yen, or about $33, for access to the Izumi Tenku no Yu natural hot spring. I was soon soaking in an outdoor pool heated to around 104 degrees Fahrenheit as I watched the sun set over the city. Bliss is not a word I usually associate with air travel, but that is what I felt.

As airport amenities go, an outdoor hot spring is pretty rare. But many airports have spots that can delight, if you know how to find them. Changi, in Singapore, for example, is the superstar of airports, worth spending a whole weekend exploring.
Authorities have identified and arrested a suspect in connection with the killings of three homeless men in Los Angeles this week and tied the suspect to a fourth homicide nearby, officials said on Saturday afternoon.

The suspect, identified as Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, a resident of Los Angeles, was already in custody after being arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the killing of a father of two in San Dimas, Calif., in a robbery on Tuesday. Mr. Powell had followed the victim home, officials said.

The three homeless victims  all men who were in alleys or open areas by themselves  were shot and killed in the early morning hours on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, authorities had said. Two of the victims have been identified as Jose Bolanos, 37, and Mark Diggs, 62, who both suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to the coroners report. The third victim has not been identified as his next of kin has not yet been notified.

Authorities said they have not yet established a motive for those killings.

Michel Moore, the Los Angeles police chief, said that authorities had identified a vehicle they believe was used in all four homicides and tied it to Mr. Powell, who was already in custody in connection with the San Dimas killing of Nicholas Simbolon, 42, who officials said was a county employee.
Perhaps no federal officeholder in modern American history has been accused of ignoring, testing or breaking as many aspects of campaign finance law so flagrantly, in such a short span of time, as George Santos has.

But his case, while sensational, illustrates the profound weaknesses of the system, and its potential for abuse.

For years, campaign finance laws have eroded, while the watchdogs responsible for their oversight have been weakened by limited powers, underfunding and political stalemate. The system, which largely relies on campaigns and political committees to self-report thousands of donations, expenditures, loans and refunds, has been left wide open for anyone willing to mislead, experts said.

Mr. Santos might have slipped through unnoticed  and many candidates probably do.

He is an extreme example of something that is happening all the time in campaign finance, said Saurav Ghosh, a former Federal Election Commission enforcement lawyer who is now the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group. Mr. Santos, he suggested, was able to take advantage of the overall under-regulation of money that is raised and spent on election influence.
Traditionally when Canada goes shopping for major military items like aircraft, the process turns into a Wagnerian opera of epic length and complexity. Political grumbling surrounded this purchase of at least 14 Boeing maritime surveillance planes too, but it remained on a fast track, partly because the government was willing to endure some backlash to make it happen.

While there are many examples of Canadas sluggish military procurement, the most dramatic was the recent fighter jet replacement program. In 2010, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper, the prime minister at the time, said that it would buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.
Under the light drizzle of a Tuesday morning last month, Rionach Ni Neill and a group of friends set up a small platform in front of the United States Embassy in Dublin.

Then they took out a stack of papers. For the next 11 and a half hours, Ms. Ni Neill and others took turns reading out thousands of names  each one a person killed since Israel started bombarding Gaza in the war, according to a list released by the Gazan health authorities.

It was an attempt to convey the enormity of the loss of life, she said.

I think the baseline really in Ireland is that human rights are valued, and whats happening now is the destruction of universal human rights, said Ms. Ni Neill, 52, an artist from Galway. This is not something that can be ignored.

In Ireland, support for Palestinian civilians runs deep, rooted in what many see as a shared history of British colonialism and the experience of a seemingly intractable and traumatic conflict, which in Irelands case came to a close with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Bands of Ukrainian soldiers fighting to take back territory on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, an area long controlled by Russia, have been bombed by Russian warplanes, assaulted by Russian infantry and stalked by drones.

Still, battered and outgunned, the Ukrainian forces have managed to hold onto a handful of positions across the river for more than a month and are expanding their assaults on Russian forces there to target their vital supply lines.

The ultimate objectives of the Ukrainian campaign remain unclear: Is it aimed mainly at unbalancing Russian forces  using limited assaults to force the Kremlin to move troops to the area, hoping to create weaknesses along other parts of the front? Or does Ukraine have more ambitious objectives, like trying to mount a major cross-river assault aimed at taking back a substantial amount of territory and dramatically reshaping a front line that has barely moved in a year?

Many Western military analysts have voiced skepticism that Ukraine can establish the kind of bridgehead that would allow its forces to move artillery and heavy armor across the river, which they would need to carry out large-scale offensive operations.
The Israeli military heavily bombarded southern Gaza on Saturday and ordered residents of several Palestinian border towns in the area to leave their homes, appearing to set the stage for a ground invasion in the south as hostilities resumed after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas.

The intensity of the renewed bombing  the Israeli military said it had carried out airstrikes against more than 400 targets across the Gaza Strip since fighting resumed on Friday  left many Gazans with a feeling of helplessness.

I dont know where to go, said Sameer al-Jarrah, 67, who lives in Al Qarara, a town that the Israeli military ordered evacuated and that the Gazan Interior Ministry said had been hit in an Israeli strike.

Israels latest evacuation orders in southern Gaza could force residents in a large swath of territory along the Israeli border to flee. The Israeli demands evoked similar orders the military gave before invading northern Gaza in late October, when it urged Gazans to seek safety in the southern parts of the territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister, has weathered many controversies, including accusations of corruption and allegations this year that a contentious overhaul of the countrys judiciary was a poorly disguised power grab.

But he now faces the greatest crisis of his political career. The backlash to his governments failures to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage, and criticism of his handling of the war in Gaza, are steadily growing.

People both inside Mr. Netanyahus government and those who hope to see him replaced agree that his standing has never been so low with the Israeli public.

And yet  owing to the complexities of Israels parliamentary system and the vagaries of war  few paths exist for Mr. Netanyahu to be ousted soon from office. His long-term political prospects and his legacy, however, rest largely on how he handles the coming days, analysts said.
Iran's navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that once was at the centre of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalates tensions in the Mideast waterways.
Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday that the United States fiercely opposes forcibly relocating Gaza residents outside the enclave as Israel resumes its bombardment of Hamas terrorists, or in the days and weeks after the war eventually ends.

In a statement after meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt in Dubai, officials said Ms. Harris rejected the idea of moving Palestinians into Egypt or refugee camps elsewhere and offered her strongest statement to date urging Israel to reduce harm to civilians in its war campaign.

The vice president reiterated that under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the statement from the White House said.

She also rejected an idea suggested recently by some Israeli officials that the borders of Gaza could shrink after the war is over to accommodate a security buffer zone between the interior of Gaza and Israel. The statement said the United States would not permit the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.
Gazans were bracing for expanded hostilities on Saturday, a day after the truce between Israel and Hamas ended, as Israel began turning its focus on southern Gaza for the wars next phase and as the flow of vital supplies of food, water and medicine again slowed to a trickle.

Israels military said it carried out 200 strikes on Gaza on Friday, plunging the territorys 2.2 million civilians back into the peril and suffering they have been living under since the war began on Oct 7.

By Friday evening, 178 people had been killed and an additional 578 injured, according to Gazan health officials. The wartime death toll had been about 13,000 when the temporary cease-fire took effect a week earlier.

After a four-week ground operation in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, Israel believes the top leadership of Hamas, which controls most of the enclave, is now hiding in southern Gaza. Israeli leaders on Friday reiterated their resolve to ensure that the armed group  which was responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to the Israeli authorities  would never again be able to pose a threat to Israel.

The Gazan Interior Ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app early Saturday that Israel had intensified artillery fire and airstrikes on Al Qarara, a town north of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza.

Some Palestinians near Khan Younis said Friday that Israeli military aircraft had dropped leaflets directing people to evacuate farther south to shelters in the area of Rafah, a city along Gazas border with Egypt. The leaflets, which had the insignia of the Israel Defense Forces, declared Khan Younis  where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been sheltering after being told to leave their homes in the north  a dangerous combat zone.
Thousands of people waiting south of Gaza City to evacuate on Nov. 17 Salah al-Din Road Area of initial evacuation order Location of image GAZA STRIP Source: Satellite image by Maxar Technologies

What the Scale of Displacement in Gaza Looks Like

Up to 1.8 million Gazans  around 80 percent of the population  have been forced to leave their homes since Israel began its bombardment in response to Hamass attack on Oct. 7. That number is expected to rise after Israel issued a new evacuation order on Saturday for areas in the south.

Total number of people displaced in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs via HDX Note: Estimates for the number of displaced people staying outside the shelter system are difficult to obtain and corrected periodically.

Gaza has never experienced so much internal displacement in such a short time. Earlier conflicts forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, but refugee experts said the current war was unprecedented for the number of people displaced within the enclaves 140 square miles.

With Israel barring most Gazans from leaving and shelters swelling to many times over their capacity, humanitarian aid workers say there is no safe place to go as the fighting continues.

Where displaced people are staying at United Nations and government shelters Each circle represents the total number of displaced people in shelters within one square kilometer. WEST BANK North Gaza GAZA STRIP Israel Mediterranean Sea Gaza 75,000 Area of initial evacuation order 5,000 Deir al Balah Number of people Khan Younis Area of Dec. 2 evacuation order ISRAEL GAZA STRIP Rafah EGYPT 5 mi. 5 km. North Gaza WEST BANK GAZA STRIP Area of initial evacuation order Israel Mediterranean Sea Gaza 75,000 Deir al Balah 5,000 Number of people Khan Younis Area of Dec. 2 evacuation order GAZA STRIP ISRAEL Rafah 5 mi. EGYPT 5 km. Sources: ReliefWeb Response (shelter populations); Israeli military (evacuation zone boundaries) Note: Shelter locations shown are primarily schools; data for medical facilities and other buildings serving as shelters was not available. Data is as of Nov. 28.

There are at least 14 government and United Nations shelters within the new evacuation zone that Israeli forces announced on Saturday. These shelters had registered more than 68,000 displaced people as of Nov. 28.

People are sleeping on the streets and sidewalks without any means of protection, said Yousef Hammash, an advocacy officer for the Norwegian Refugee Council, who fled from his home in northern Gaza in mid-October to stay with more than 40 relatives in a two-room home in Khan Younis. And people in the shelters are trying to convince themselves that its a bit more safe than being in the street.

The situation before was unimaginable, and now they want to move people again, he added.

Palestinians evacuated their homes damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images A school in Khan Younis where displaced people have found refuge. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

About 1.4 million Palestinians have found shelter in or outside of Gazas schools, medical centers, mosques and churches. The rest  as many as a half a million people  are thought to be staying with relatives and even strangers, often sleeping outside in courtyards or crammed into small apartments.

A majority of the displaced have moved south, as intense air- and ground strikes by Israeli forces have destroyed much of the north, making it unlivable. But tens of thousands are estimated to remain in the north, including many who are unable to travel, such as the sick and disabled.

Humanitarian organizations warn that shelters, even in the south, are not protected from fighting. The U.N. reported on Nov. 23 that since the start of the conflict, an estimated 191 people in shelters had been killed and 798 had been injured.

Many schools housing displaced people have been damaged since the war began, according to a UNICEF tracker, which relies on reports from other organizations on the ground.

Schools that have sheltered displaced people and have been damaged Minor Moderate Major damage WEST BANK North Gaza GAZA STRIP Israel Area of initial evacuation order Gaza Mediterranean Sea Deir al Balah Area of Dec. 2 evacuation order Khan Younis ISRAEL GAZA STRIP Rafah EGYPT 5 mi. 5 km. North Gaza WEST BANK GAZA STRIP Mediterranean Sea Israel Area of initial evacuation order Gaza Deir al Balah ISRAEL Khan Younis Area of Dec. 2 evacuation order GAZA STRIP Rafah 5 mi. EGYPT 5 km. Sources: UNICEF (shelter damage); Israeli military (evacuation zone boundaries) Note: Major damage means the building exists but is not usable; moderate damage means the building is usable but damage occurred to the buildings infrastructure; minor damage means damage occurred to windows, doors and other parts of the building. Map includes government schools only. Data is as of Dec. 1.

At least 28 government schools functioning as shelters have sustained major damage in the North Gaza and Gaza regions, making them no longer usable, and 122 others across the territory have sustained moderate or minor damage.

The U.N. has estimated that most of its shelters are at four times their capacity, at minimum, and unable to accommodate more people.

You have to wait in line for two hours, just to use the bathroom, Mr. Hammash said. To have a shower is kind of a dream.

Number of people staying in shelters in each region since Oct. 7 Many Gazans have moved south, but tens of thousands remain in shelters in the north.

North Gaza Gaza Deir al Balah Khan Younis Rafah

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs via HDX

The shelter population has soared in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, especially in the central and southern regions of Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, areas to which Israeli forces have told Palestinians to evacuate.

Close quarters and limited access to safe water and bathrooms is contributing to the spread of disease, along with the onset of winter, according to the World Health Organization. The agency has reported thousands of cases of acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and skin rashes in Gaza on average each day.

A tent camp in Khan Younis. Mohammed Salem/Reuters A man prepares a fire for cooking at a U.N. school being used as a shelter in Gaza City. Omar El-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images

During the seven-day cease-fire that ended on Friday, some people temporarily left shelters to return to their homes to investigate any damage. Some people displaced in the south even tried to go back to the north, according to the U.N.

The safety of displaced people is uncertain as the fighting continues into its ninth week, and people are once again forced to move to new locations.

We are going to a new level of madness and bombardment, Mr. Hammash said. Now its the turn of the south.
Chinas state news agency Xinhua unveiled two very realistic looking AI news anchors that can tirelessly report the news 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the world.

Weve known that robots and artificial intelligence were coming for our jobs, but somehow I never thought news anchors would be among the first to be replaced. However, if the two AI broadcasters who made their debut last week during Chinas annual World Internet Conference are anything to go by, the future of human news anchors looks very bleak. The newest additions to Xinhuas team of broadcasters not only look disturbingly realistic, but they can also move their mouths to match the audio, blink, nod their head in emphasis, or raise their eyebrows. But their most important quality is that they can work 24/7, both on the agencys website and on social media platforms, greatly reducing news production costs and improving efficiency.

AI anchors have officially become members of the Xinhua News Agency reporting team, Xinhua told the South China Morning Post. They will work with other anchors to bring you authoritative, timely, and accurate news information in both Chinese and English.

The two digital news anchors were developed by Xinhua and the Chinese search engine, Sogou, and reportedly rely on machine learning to simulate the voice, facial expressions, and many gestures of human broadcasters. Both are modelled after real-life news anchors, but their voices are the biggest tell that the ones recently showcased are digital copies. Although better than most text-to-voice softwares, they still sound stiff and their pauses are often unnatural.

As an AI news anchor under development, I know that there is a lot for me to improve, the English-speaking AI broadcaster said at the end of its program. I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted.

So far, the response to what Xinhua called the worlds first AI news anchors has been split. While some declared themselves impressed with the two anchors, others have said that they fall into the uncanny valley, where avatars or objects that closely resemble humans make viewers feel more uncomfortable than those who look obviously artificial.



Noel Sharkey, emeritus professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield told the BBC that Xinhuas achievement was a good first effort and that we will see it improve over time.

Michael Wooldridge, a professor at the University of Oxford, said the anchors struggled to appear real. Its quite difficult to watch for more than a few minutes. Its very flat, very single-paced, its not got rhythm, pace or emphasis, he said.
Irish Mist: The Story of Tullamores Whiskey Liqueur 19451985, Irelands Legendary Liqueur and the people who made it, a history of the famous product was launched on Friday night last in Offaly History Centre in Tullamore.

The book was edited by local historian, Michael Byrne, and John Flanagan, who worked in Irish Mist for three decades.

In his address at the launch, Michael Byrne said: Irish Mist Liqueur brought the Tullamore name to every corner of the world and was a unique development in Ireland and a world leader in its class in the 1960s and 1970s. Great ideas and design were used to bring this about. Marketeers and design people for the Irish Mist product from Le Brocquy to the staff member on the floor  all had a role in ensuring quality. The Irish Mist Liqueur Company was led from 1945 to 1970 by Desmond Williams, ably assisted by William G. (Bill) Jaffray. Bill Jaffray led from 1970 until the sale of Irish Mist Liqueur to Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C) in 1985. This is the story of how Desmond Williams saw the opportunity to transform the Irish whiskey industry and to bring it to American and European markets in new blended formats, using clever and innovative ideas and marketing, while all the while insistent on the highest quality. The work that Williams did for Irish whiskey and Irish Mist in the United States, the main market was to bear fruit from the 1990s with the stunning revival of the Irish whiskey industry. The Irish Mist company employed up to 80 people in the late 1970s and was a significant contributor to the Williams Group of companies.

Research for the essays in this book began in 197778 when the first editor (Michael Byrne) was commissioned to write a history of the Williams Group and took the story of Irish Mist to 1966. It was a family-owned company and very private. Nothing more was done until 2016 when a reunion of the Irish Mist staff was held at the Tullamore DEW Old Bonded Warehouse and turned out to be a great evening.

Our second editor, John Flanagan, was keen to get the story of Irish Mist into print, and now this series of essays with contributions of great strength and variety. John made his own unique contribution with his essays and, like his mentors in Irish Mist, insisted on the highest standards. John Flanagan has several essays arising from his close connection with Irish Mist and the Williams Group over twenty-five years.

Brian Jaffray, only son of Bill Jaffray, has edited an interview that Maurice OKeefe did with Bill in 2007 fifteen years after Bills retirement, and added his own reflections.

Frank Nicholson played a big part in the 2016 reunion, and we are glad to have his article and all the photographs of that occasion.

Guy Williams (the only son of Desmond) has contributed a valuable piece on his father and I am glad to say is here with his wife Anne this evening.

Anne Williams (daughter of Edmund Williams and a great granddaughter of the founder) worked with the company in the 1980s and brings her experience travelling the world to this collection. She sends her apologies because of a prior event.

Ger Scully, the editor of the Tullamore Tribune, interviewed one of the employees of Irish Mist, the late Ned Connor in 2016. Ned died in 2019 and many here can recall him as a very fine person and sincere friend.

Mike Murphy was the Williams Group Marketing Director in the 1970s and without him my own essay and my own involvement might never have arisen. He too sends his apologies and I am sorry not to see him as he was a great support to me when working on the Williams Group history without being in any way interventionist.

We have essays also from Gerry Molyneaux who as a chemist was strong on the product and helped secure the Q Mark. Gerry was a close friend from his arrival in Tullamore and went on to great things. By the way I am not the man who was the chief chemist when Gerry arrived in Tullamore in 1979.

The work of Camillus Dwane in design across the Williams Group was a marvel. And as you can see from his essay on the legends associated with Irish Mist, he got to meet all his favourite people along the way.

Speaking of the legends, in particular that associated with the Austrian who came to Ireland with the secret recipe for the liqueur, I was delighted to make contract with Dr Peter Hallgarten who lives in London and whose father introduced the idea of liqueurs to Ireland over 75 years ago. Desmond Williams, Bill Jaffray and Bill ODonovan worked with Fritz Hallgartens firm to develop and market what would by the late 1940s become Irish Mist Liqueur.

For this book we were also able to draw on work by Desmond Williams, Gerald Luke, the local press, an interview with Edmund Williams, that of Ernie Coffey, Una Mullery and Pat Given.

The few cases of Irish Mist exported to the U.S. and Canada in the late 1940s would grow to thousands in the late 1950s and really successful in the 1960s and 1970s. So much so that new offices and warehouses were built and production moved out of the old bonded warehouse into purpose designed buildings. The new office block visitor facility sowed the seed for the Tullamore Dew Visitor Centre, but the new warehouses became largely redundant when Irish Mist was sold in 1985 to C&C and bottling moved to Clonmel. By that time the new cream liqueurs were very much in the ascendant and today sell 10 million cases, and Irish spirits 15 million cases.

It is a curious irony that as we launch this book today in wine & spirits warehouse of the 1950s the last of the new warehouses built for the expanding Irish Mist in the 1970s and early 1980s has been demolished to clear the site for a new supermarket. We can take heart from the fact that we have the new Tullamore D.E.W. distillery in Tullamore, building on the brand first developed by Daniel E. Williams and promoted from the 1950s by his grandson Desmond. The new distillery, the first in Ireland in 100 years when it was built in 2014, would not be here but for the work of the Williams family, Bill Jaffray and all the staff who worked in Irish Mist, the old distillery, and the wine and spirits department of D.E. Williams. The old bonded warehouse has gone through some changes since the 1990s, but is still the Old Warehouse and now a bar and restaurant. The new William Grant owned Tullamore DEW distillery and visitor centre is on the bypass close to the town.

People change and tastes change but we look forward to a time when Irish Mist might again be blended and bottled here in Tullamore where it all started from a surplus supply of whiskey in 194547.

Leadership, we are told, is about change and we are seeing a lot of it since the internet and the smart phone were founded. One benefit is that it provides the material and the need to record. While there were urgings from John Flanagan to get on with a book on Irish Mist it might never have happened but for the reunion of Irish Mist staff in 2016 and the funding made available by Creative Ireland and Offaly County Council in 2023 for a publication highlighting the contribution of Irish Mist to design and innovation.

The other John Flanagan, the Tullamore builder and venture capitalist (in the best sense), always remarked on the value of public investment in an enterprise by way of a kick start or in his own phase encouragement. And that was what happened here, but of course subject to implementation within the calendar year. Always a mighty incentive to get on with the job and reach the finish line.

Fortunately, there was the work of my own of 197778 all carefully typed at that time by Rose Dunne of the corporate services department of the Williams Group which as some of you may know then employed up to 1200 people. While the entire archive of Irish Mist is now scattered a good deal of it survived and is now in Offaly Archives. The catalogue of the contents is now online thanks to the work of the archivists here in Offaly. We as editors were ably assisted by archivist Orla Connaughton who took over earlier this year from Lisa Shortall. As you can see from this book the photographic record is substantial and of high quality.

This is a contribution to a business history of an important Tullamore-based large private company, as to one of its subsidiaries that was both innovative and successful. In truth publications on all the companies in the Williams Group are needed and this can only be a start. This collection of essays comes at a good time while there are people living who worked in Irish Mist Liqueur when it was Tullamore-based and can contribute.

It is great to have some Irish Mist here this evening and for that thanks to Bryan Fallon of Heaven Hill International, the owner of Carolans Cream and Irish Mist. I want to express my thanks first to my wife Geraldine and my two children, Diarmuid and Eavan, to Breda Kenny and all the staff in Offaly History Centre, to Amanda Pedlow, Karen Gray, Offaly County Council, Creative Ireland, to my colleagues John Flanagan, Brian Jaffray and Frank Nicholson, to all our contributors, to the late Edmund Williams for commissioning a history in the first place, and to you all for coming this evening. Finally, to the men and women of the local press who have recorded all our doings here since Offaly History was founded in 1969.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Frances President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for a comprehensive political process towards a just, two-state resolution to the Palestinian issue.

This came during the two leaders meeting on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, read a statement by the Egyptian Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.

During the meeting, El-Sisi and Macron exchanged views on recent developments in Gaza.

El-Sisi emphasized Egypt's support for a ceasefire and the expansion of humanitarian relief for the strip, as per the statement.

The two presidents agreed on the vital importance of resolving the ongoing crisis soon and ensuring the flow of humanitarian assistance.

El-Sisi also highlighted Egypts efforts to receive wounded Palestinians and evacuate foreign nationals.

Egypt has received 575 injured Palestinians from Gaza for medical treatment, the majority of whom are children while the rest are women.

Additionally, Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population launched an initiative to treat 1,000 children wounded in Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of foreign passport holders from Gaza out of around 7,000 foreigners in the strip have been received by Egypt since the beginning of November.

El-Sisi arrived Thursday in Dubai to participate in the 28th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), hosted by the UAE from 30 November to 12 December.

In Dubai, El-Sisi will review Egypts efforts at COP27 to address the challenges of developing and African countries, according to Fahmy.

El-Sisi is also scheduled to hold talks with a host of heads of state and government in Dubai to discuss various international issues, the spokesman noted.

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Bengaluru Schools Bomb Threat Email Origin Traced To Czech Republic Or Slovakia

Bengaluru

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Bengaluru recently witnessed a wave of chaos and apprehension across 68 educational institutions following a series of hoax bomb-threat emails originating from [email protected]. Promptly responding to the alarming situation, the police undertook swift measures, later confirming that the threats were indeed a hoax after a comprehensive security check.

Preliminary investigations into the source of these distressing emails have pointed towards a origin in either the Czech Republic or Slovakia, raising concerns about the global reach of such malicious acts.

City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda appealed to parents, guardians, and educators to remain composed in the face of such alarming messages, urging against succumbing to panic.

This disconcerting incident marks the third occurrence of school-related threat emails within Bengaluru over the past year. As authorities delve deeper into this issue, anti-sabotage units have been deployed across the city to meticulously examine all educational institutions, ensuring heightened security measures.

Bengaluru School Bomb Threat Case: 48 FIRs Filed So Far

This incident, however, isn't an isolated occurrence. Bengaluru has grappled with several instances of false bomb threats in recent times, presenting a disturbing trend of malicious activities.

A Recap of Recent Fake Bomb Threat Cases in Bengaluru:

City Civil Court Bomb Threat in January: An individual, Sunil, previously embroiled in a case at Kadugodi police station, made a false bomb threat call to the City Civil Court. Upon investigation, it was revealed that Sunil resorted to this alarming act due to frustration with court proceedings.

Hoax Bomb Threats to Schools in January: On January 6, a minor student sent an email to private schools mentioning gelatin sticks, causing panic. Subsequent police investigation unveiled the minor's involvement.

IT Company's Encounter with Fake Bomb Threats: In June, Navneet, engaged in a dispute with a team leader, falsely threatened to bomb the IBDO company in Ecospace, Bellandur. Navneet's motive stemmed from personal discord.

Shivaji Nagar Masjid False Bomb Threat: A deceptive call reporting a bomb in the mosque was made in July. Investigations led to the revelation that the caller, Buddhi Kaliso, fabricated the threat due to personal grievances.

Security Scare: These Bengaluru Schools Receive Bomb Threat

Miscreants Target Prestigious Hotel with Fake Threat: In August, a prestigious hotel faced a similar threat via email, demanding 1000 Euros to avoid a supposed bombing. The culprit, using the email [email protected], remains unidentified.

In the latest incident, 60 schools received hoax bomb threat emails, indicating a disturbing pattern of similar attacks. These emails, routed through beeble.com, have instigated a thorough investigation by city police to ensure swift action against such malevolent acts.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 9:44 [IST]
CBI To Probe Multi-Crore Scam By 3 Cooperative Banks In Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru

oi-Prakash KL

The Central Bureau of Investigation will probe into the financial irregularities that took place in three cooperative banks in Karnataka, the state government said on Saturday. In a post on 'X', Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said: "It has been approved to hand over the scams of Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank, Vasishtha Bank and Guru Sovereign Bank to the CBI."

Thousands of depositors had invested their lifetime savings in the bank, keeping their dreams like marriage of children, buying their own house as a basis for their retirement life. All of them are clueless about their future life due to bankers' fraud, the chief minister said.

"Even when I was the Leader of the Opposition earlier, I was vocal inside and outside the House and participated in protests to get justice for the defrauded depositors. Even then, it was our insistence that this case should be investigated by CBI," he stated.

"I have seen the frustration and suffering from those who have lost their deposit money. For this reason, I am handing over the case to the CBI with the intention of conducting a proper investigation and getting justice for all the victims," he added. The government order said, "Government of Karnataka hereby accords sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation, under Section (6) of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act,1946..."

The CBI will investigate the multi-crore fraud committed by the directors, chief executives and staff members of the management board of Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank Limited, Bengaluru, Sri Vasista Credit Souharda Co-operative Limited, Bengaluru and Sri Guru Sarvabahuma Souharda Credit Co-operative, Bengaluru, the order said.

The agency will identify and investigate persons involved in connection with the alleged fraud. Concerned officers and others have been asked to hand over the data, information and records as and when required by the CBI and provide place, resources, manpower and logistic support including Camp Office and vehicles to CBI in connection with the case, the order said. Thousands of investors had time and again staged protests seeking justice but to no avail.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 23:15 [IST]
Which Is The Best City For Women In India In 2023? The Answer Is...

Chennai Rains Disrupt Normal Life: School Closed In Puducherry, Other Districts Till Dec 4

Chennai

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Persistent rainfall has disrupted daily life in various parts of Tamil Nadu, leading to waterlogging and significant disruptions, including traffic congestion. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for Chennai and neighboring districts on December 2 and 3. Reports indicate that schools in Puducherry and Karaikal districts will remain closed on December 4, 2023, owing to an impending cyclone warning.

Notably, this holiday applies solely to schools in these districts, and there's no update regarding closures in other regions of Tamil Nadu due to the heavy downpour. Meanwhile, as Cyclone Michaung develops over the Bay of Bengal, temperatures are expected to rise again in Mumbai, its suburbs, and various southern states.

In response to the situation, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 18 teams to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Puducherry, with an additional 10 teams on standby. Cyclone Michaung is forecasted to progress west-northwestward, intensifying into a depression by December 2 and evolving into a cyclonic storm over the Southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3. Warnings have been issued by the IMD to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu Latest Weather Report: Chennai Rains To Continue As Cyclonic Storm Forms In Bay Of Bengal

Further updates on school closures due to the cyclone or heavy rainfall will be provided as information becomes available. For inquiries regarding school holidays, individuals are advised to reach out to the respective school administration.

Moreover, in related news, several examinations for the second-year and third-semester of the MCA programme, scheduled by Madras University for this week, have been postponed. The revised dates for these exams will be communicated later. Additionally, the practical examination for MCA has been postponed until further notice. Heavy rainfall has been reported across several districts of Tamil Nadu due to the intensified Northeast Monsoon.
How To Check Telangana Election Results 2023 Online And On-The-Go

Hyderabad

oi-Madhuri Adnal

With the conclusion of the Telangana elections on Thursday, the spotlight now shifts to the eagerly awaited results, scheduled for release on December 3. The counting of votes will commence at 8 AM across all 119 Assembly seats, marking the decisive moment to ascertain the fate of India's youngest state. A formidable roster of 2,290 candidates vies for victory, featuring notable figures like Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son K T Rama Rao, state Congress president A Revanth Reddy, and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar and D Arvind.

The electoral landscape boasts 119 candidates from the BRS, with BJP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena contesting in 111 and 8 seats respectively. The Congress, apart from fighting 118 other seats, has allocated one seat to its ally CPI. In addition, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has fielded candidates in nine segments within the city. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was enforced in the state following the Election Commission's announcement of the schedule on October 9. Most exit polls indicate an advantage for the Congress in this election.

For comprehensive coverage of the results, stay tuned with OneIndia, offering live updates on counting, leading/trailing candidates, constituencies, and trends. The Election Commission of India's official website, eci.gov.in, will also stream live results and updates. Additionally, news channels will provide ongoing updates.

Telangana Polls: Fate Of BRS, Cong, BJP To Be Unsealed As Counting Of Votes Takes Place Tomorrow

Here's a simple guide to access the Telangana 2023 election results on the ECI website:

Visit the Election Commission of India's official website - eci.gov.in

Navigate to 'elections' on the homepage

Click on the link for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Telangana

The Telangana 2023 election results will be visible on your computer or laptop screens, showcasing details such as winners and runner-ups.

Following the result announcement, detailed analyses and comprehensive election outcomes will be available in OneIndia, providing constituency-specific breakdowns and expert insights.

The schedule for the Telangana elections 2023, announced by the Election Commission of India on October 9, 2023, unfolded as follows:

Gazette Notification Issued: November 3 (Friday)

Nominations Deadline: November 10 (Friday)

Nominations Scrutiny Date: November 13 (Monday)

Candidatures Withdrawal Deadline: November 15 (Wednesday)

Polling Date: November 30 (Thursday)

Counting Date: December 3 (Sunday)

Election Completion Deadline: December 5 (Tuesday)

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 15:29 [IST]
Lot Of Developments Unfolding As Telangana Heading For Close Finish: WIll BJP Become Kingmaker?

Hyderabad

oi-Prakash KL

As the exit polls have predicted a close finish in Telangana assembly polls, a lot of developments are unfolding in the state, majorly in the BRS and Congress camps.

In the exit polls, pollsters have predicted the Congress to emerge victorious, political pundits believe that the opinion polls can go wrong as the surveys were conducted before the polling and the pulse of the voters can always change at the last minute.

Especially since the voter turnout (71.34 per cent) registered two per cent less this time compared to the 2018 elections (73.74 per cent). Even in 2014 and 2009, the turnout was at 74.2 per cent and 72.7 per cent, respectively.

As a result, Telangana is heading for a nail-biting finish. A lot of developments are taking place a day before the counting in the state. Here, we bring you the top developments:

Cabinet Meeting

As per the buzz, iF BRS wins they have decided to hold the swearing-in ceremony on 4th of December without any further delay. After holding several rounds of talks with his son and minister KTR, he has called for the meeting. "He has been understanding the polling trend by getting ground reports from every region and also specific segments that may witness close contests.

He has been confident of getting a majority of seats from the north and central regions of the state. In the south region, too, BRS is expected to register a decent performance. With that confidence, he has been telling party leaders who have visited him on Friday morning not to lose hope looking at exit polls. Low voter turnout indicates that there is not much anti-incumbency which is advantageous to the ruling party," Deccan Herald quoted a source in BRS as saying.

Cong Cautious About Poaching Attempt

In an attempt to keep its flock together in case of a hung assembly, the senior leadership of Congress, along with AICC (All India Congress Committee) leaders, has directed their party's MLA candidates to come to Hyderabad today. These MLAs have been instructed to stay at the Taj Hotel in Hyderabad. The move is a strategic effort by Congress to ensure that their MLAs remain vigilant and avoid any potential missteps, especially in a situation where the numerical balance is crucial. Previously, there were indications that Congress might relocate its MLAs to Bangalore under the oversight of the Karnataka Congress government, but it seems that this plan has now been revised.

DK Shivakumar In Hyderabad

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, known as a trouble-shooter, has arrived in Hyderabad. He has alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is trying to lure the Congress candidates in the state to form the next government. "We have the information that they (BRS) are trying to trap us. Our candidates have told us that the CM (KCR) himself has approached them," DK said. As per the buzz, he has predicted a hung assembly.

Shivakumar has also expressed his readiness to shoulder the responsibility given by the party following the announcement of exit polls forecasting a fragmented outcome in the state Assembly polls.

Rumours in the political circle indicate that KTR has also realised that the BRS will not get a full majority. His party might end up getting 51 seats while the Congress might bag 56.

Will BJP Become A Kingmaker?

The BJP has relatively remained silent after the exit poll results are out. Although the chances of coming to power on its own look highly unrealistic for the saffron party, it can play the role of the kingmaker in case of a hung assembly if it manages to win at least five seats. Surveys have indicated that the BJP will win 10-14 per cent of votes, but how much of this will translate into seats can only be known after the counting of votes.

Undoubtedly, the BJP wants such a situation to emerge first to keep the Congress out of power and then to grow its base in Telangana where it had won four Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
Telangana Election Results 2023: DK Shivakumar, A Congress 'Trouble Shooter', To Be In Hyderabad Tomorrow

Hyderabad

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar will likely arrive in Hyderabad on Saturday, buoyed by encouraging exit poll forecasts for the Congress party. While numerous exit polls favor the Congress in Telangana, a few also suggest the prospect of a hung assembly, prompting the party's leadership to caution Shivakumar about potential MLA poaching.

In conversations with television channels, DK Shivakumar adamantly stated that no one can lure away Congress MLAs.

He emphasized, "I have unwavering faith in our MLAs and our party's triumph. Poaching our MLAs is an insurmountable task. The grassroots support is firmly with the Congress, and even before the exit polls, I was confident of our victory in Telangana. I am prepared to tackle any situation as directed by my high command."

Telangana Polls: Fate Of BRS, Cong, BJP To Be Unsealed As Counting Of Votes Takes Place Tomorrow

Telangana conducted polls on November 30, registering a voter turnout of 71.34 percent. The Bhartiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS), Congress, and BJP express equal confidence in securing victory, yet the exit polls portray a close contest between the ruling BRS and the Congress party.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 15:21 [IST]
Israel carried out deadly bombardments in Gaza for a second day on Saturday after a week-long truce collapsed despite international calls for an extension.

Clouds of grey smoke from the strikes hung over Gaza, where the health ministry said nearly 200 people had been killed since the pause in hostilities expired early Friday.

As Israeli war on Gaza resumed, Hamas's armed wing received "the order to resume combat" and to "defend the Gaza Strip", according to a source close to the group.

International leaders and humanitarian groups condemned the return to Israeli bombardments.

"I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza," UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter.

Fears of a wider regional conflict grew after the Syrian defense ministry said Israeli strikes had hit Damascus on Saturday and the resistance group Hezbollah said one of its members had been killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Friday.

The United States said it is working with regional partners to reach another ceasefire.

"We're going to continue to work with Israel and Egypt and Qatar on efforts to reimplement the pause," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in California on Friday.

Israel unleashed an air and ground campaign on Gaza, on 7 October that has killed more than 15,000 people, almost two-thirds of them women and children, the Gaza authorities say.

The Israeli occupation army said on Friday that five of the captives held by Hamas had died, and that the group was still holding 136.

Mediation efforts by Qatar and Egypt were ongoing, said a source briefed on the talks who asked not to be named.

During the seven-day truce, Hamas freed 80 Israeli captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees, and more aid entered Gaza.

Twenty-five other detainees, mostly Thais, were also freed in separate arrangements.

Seven days of prisoner exchanges had yielded jubilation in the streets of the occupied West Bank as Palestinian detainees, children and women, walked free from Israeli jails.

On Thursday, eight Israeli, some holding dual nationality, were released in the seventh round of exchanges under the truce.

Israel's prison service later said another 30 Palestinian detainees -- 23 children and seven women -- had been freed.

Hamas said it had offered to hand over the bodies of a mother and her two sons -- one of them a baby -- in talks to extend the now-expired truce, but Israel refused.

Israeli officials refused to comment.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Dubai that the United States remained "intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back" and "pursuing the process that had worked for seven days" during the truce.

The Israeli military said that ground, air and naval forces struck targets in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, including in Khan Yunis and Rafah.

'Horror movie'



Guterres has warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, where the United Nations says 1.7 million people are displaced and short of food, water and other essentials.

"The healthcare service is on its knees," Rob Holden, a World Health Organization (WHO) senior emergency officer, told journalists from Gaza as explosions were heard in the background.

"It is like a horror movie."

On a bed at Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital, Amal Abu Dagga wept, her beige veil covered in blood.

"I don't even know what happened to my children," she said. A relative, Jamil Abu Dagga, told AFP the family had been at home when the bombs started falling.

'Evacuation zones'



The Israeli military published a map of "evacuation zones" in the Gaza Strip that it said would enable residents to "evacuate from specific places for their safety if required".

Residents in various areas of Gaza were sent SMS warnings on Friday.

"Stay away from all military activity of every kind," the warnings said, but their is no safe place in Gaza as Israel strikes everywhere.

Hours after the truce collapsed, Israeli bombardment killed three people in southern Lebanon, one of them a Hezbollah member, according to the resistance group.

Hezbollah meanwhile claimed its first attacks on Israel since the truce ended.

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Decoding BJP's Success In Madhya Pradesh: What Are The 5 Key Factors That Secured Their Victory?

Hat-trick In States Guarantee Of Hat-Trick In 2024: PM Modi After BJP Bagged 3 Out Of 4 States

Shivraj Singh Chouhan Vs Jyotiraditya Scindia Vs Prahlad Patel: Who Will Be The Next Madhya Pradesh CM?

BJP Or Congress Or Fractured Verdict? MP Set For Counting Of Votes On Sunday

India

oi-PTI

The fate of the candidates locked in EVMs for 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh will be unsealed on Sunday as arrangements for counting of votes are ready, a top poll official said on Saturday.

Many exit polls have kept the incumbent BJP ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.

The state saw a record voter turnout of 77.82 per cent, 2.19 per cent more than the 2018 elections, the official said.

The counting for all 230 assembly seats in MP will begin at 8 am on Sunday (December 3) at 52 district headquarters amid tight security.

Will BJP Retain Madhya Pradesh? Here's What Exit Polls Say

"All necessary preparations for the counting have been made," he said.

Chief Electoral Officer of Madhya Pradesh Anupam Rajan said that 77.15 polling per cent was recorded through the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

If postal ballots are added, the polling percentage goes up to 77.82, which is 2.19 percentage points more than the previous polls (2018), when turnout was 75.63 per cent, Rajan said.

A total of 692 tables have been placed for the counting of postal ballots in all districts, while 4,369 tables have been set up to place the EVMs, he said.

According to Rajan, postal ballots will be counted between 8 am and 8.30 am, after which the counting of votes through EVMs will begin in the presence of officials and political parties' authorised agents.

Soon after the postal ballots are counted, its result will be declared candidate-wise by the officials concerned and the exercise will be followed after the completion of each round of counting, he said.

At 26, Jhabua seat will see the highest number of counting rounds, while the lowest number of 12 rounds will be held in Sevda constituency in Datia district, he said.

"All arrangements have been made for conducting the counting and all the district returning officers, police commissioners and superintendent of police were directed to follow necessary security protocols. The government has declared the day of counting a 'dry' day, during which all wine and liquor shops shall remain closed," he said.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections: Five Crucial Seats To Watch In The Race For Power

A three-tier security arrangement will be in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centres, he said.

Rajan said that 51,259 citizens above 80 years and 12,093 physically challenged voters polled from home this time.

He said about 3.04 lakh personnel engaged in polling work exercised their franchise through postal ballots.

The EVMs will decide the electoral fate of 2,533 candidates who were in the fray for the 230 assembly seats, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the EVMs will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

It will also decide the political fortunes of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya who contested from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party - Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak.

Besides main contenders Congress and the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are among the other players that fielded their candidates. The number of votes garnered by these candidates will also be a crucial factor in deciding the winner from any constituency.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023: Who Are The Richest And Poorest Candidates In The Fray?

The electioneering saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Union minister Rajnath Singh, CM Chouhan addressing rallies to drum up support for the saffron party's nominees.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Digvijaya Singh and Nath were among the key leaders of the opposition party who held rallies to canvass for their nominees.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 15:00 [IST]
BPSC TRE 2.0 Admit Card 2023 To Be Released @ bpsc.bih.nic.in, Know Steps To Download Exam Hall Tickets

India

oi-Gaurav Sharma

The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is all set to share admit cards for the second phase of the school teacher and the headmaster written (Objective) competitive Exam. The commission will release the BPSC TRE 2.0 admit card 2023 today @ bpsc.bih.nic.in. The BPSC will also share the exam hall tickets @ onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in for the ease of applicants.

According to the revised schedule shared by the Bihar Public Service Commission, the BPSC TRE 2.0 exam will be held on December 7 in 2 shifts, 10 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 5 pm. Exams scheduled for December 8 to 15 will be conducted in one shift 12 noon to 2:30 pm only.

Ahead of the release of the hall tickets, an official from the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) informed through media that candidates have to upload their recent passport-size photograph with 250 x 250 dimensions and size up to 25 kb. Only after uploading their photograph, the candidates will be able to download their BPSC TRE admit cards.

The BPSC TRE 2.0 admit card 2023 will carry all the important details of the candidates including name, roll number, examination center code, and venue. The candidates can download the BPSC TRE admit card from bpsc.bih.nic.in and onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in by following the steps mentioned below:

Open onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in or bpsc.bih.nic.in link.

Log in to candidate dashboard

Upload a latest passport-size photo of 250 x 250 dimensions and size up to 25 kb.

Click the download button.

Save the file for future use or take a printout.

Candidates must cross-check their details including photo, signature, name spelling, reporting time, exam centre code, and venue.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 13:41 [IST]
Cyclone Michaung To Make Landfall On December 5 In Coastal Andhra; Heavy Rains Warning

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a warning today following the intensification of a depression in the Southwest Bay of Bengal. Over the past six hours, this system has gained momentum, moving west-northwestwards at a pace of 9 kmph. As of 11 pm on December 1, the depression's center was pinpointed at Latitude 10.3N and Longitude 85.3E, approximately 630 km east-southeast of Puducherry.

The storm's current position places it 630 km east-southeast of Chennai, 740 km southeast of Nellore, 810 km southeast of Bapatla, and 800 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam, according to the latest IMD bulletin. Forecasts indicate a further west-northwestward trajectory, with expectations of intensifying into a Deep Depression within the next 12 hours and developing into a Cyclonic Storm 'Michaung' over the Southwest Bay of Bengal by December 3.

Projections suggest the cyclonic system will veer northwestwards, nearing the vicinity of south Andhra Pradesh and adjacent north Tamil Nadu coasts by the forenoon of December 4. Anticipated movement indicates a near-north trajectory, aligning parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast, with a probable landfall expected between Nellore and Machilipatnam during the forenoon of December 5. During this period, the Cyclonic Storm is projected to exhibit sustained wind speeds of 80-90 kmph, accompanied by gusts reaching up to 100 kmph.

Weather Alert: Heavy Rains In TN, School Shut In Chennai, Karaikal, Puducherry; IMD Predicts More Showers

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin convened a review meeting on Friday with 12 district administrative heads, addressing the likelihood of heavy rainfall affecting various districts over the next 2-3 days. Stalin issued directives and instructed officials to take precautionary measures, including the evacuation of residents from vulnerable areas in anticipation of the impending cyclone.

On Friday, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), led by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, reviewed the preparedness of state governments, central ministries, and departments for the forthcoming cyclone 'Michaung' in the Bay of Bengal.

Rainfall Forecast:

The looming cyclonic storm in the Southwest Bay of Bengal has prompted meteorological authorities to issue a comprehensive rainfall warning for several regions in southern and eastern India.

For North coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, light to moderate rainfall is predicted at most places on December 2, with isolated instances of heavy rainfall. Rainfall intensity is expected to escalate from December 3 onwards, covering most areas with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places, with isolated extremely heavy rainfall projected for December 3. On December 4, rainfall is forecasted at most places, with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall. December 5 anticipates isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall with a subsequent reduction.

Tamil Nadu Latest Weather Report: Chennai Rains To Continue As Cyclonic Storm Forms In Bay Of Bengal

Coastal Andhra Pradesh should prepare for light to moderate rainfall at most places on December 3, intensifying to heavy to very heavy rainfall in a few places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas. Similar patterns are expected on December 4 and 5, with varying intensities across south and north coastal regions.

Odisha is likely to witness light to moderate rainfall at most places on December 4, followed by isolated heavy rainfall over specific areas along the south Coastal and adjoining south Interior Odisha. On December 5, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted over the same regions.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 11:38 [IST]
Situation is unprecedented and India is worried about it: Jaishankar on Sri Lanka crisis

Government Convenes All Party Meeting Ahead Of Parliament's Winter Session

India

oi-PTI

Leaders of political parties in Parliament are meeting here on Saturday to discuss the agenda for the Winter session of Parliament beginning Monday.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has convened the meeting which is being attended by senior leaders such as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pramod Tiwari, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, NCP leader Fouzia Khan, and RSP leader N K Premachandran among others.

The Winter session of Parliament begins on December 4 and will have 15 sittings till December 22, during which it is expected to consider key draft legislations, including three bills to replace the colonial era criminal laws.

Parliament Winter Session: Modi Govt To Table Women's Quota In Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir Bill

The report of the Lok Sabha panel recommending the expulsion of Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra from the lower house over a "cash-for-query" complaint is also listed for tabling in the House on Monday, the first day of the session.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 14:01 [IST]
How India is taking on China with border defence and connectivity

Did you know the Chinese spy-balloon is the size of three buses?

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Jharkhand Puts Hospitals On Alert Amid Pneumonia Outbreak In China

India

oi-PTI

The Jharkhand government has put its hospitals on alert, asking them for surveillance, preventive measures and testing of respiratory illness cases in the backdrop of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China, officials said on Saturday.

In a letter to the district administrations, Additional Chief Secretary for Health Arun Kumar Singh directed them to remain prepared and keep a constant vigil on the situation.

"In view of the recently reported surge in respiratory illness, especially in children in Northern China, in the recent weeks, this is to bring to your kind notice that there is an urgent need to keep a constant vigil, monitor trends of cases and quickly respond to any emerging public health," Singh said in the letter.

In view of the ongoing influenza, there might be an increase in respiratory illness cases, he said.

"This is predominantly attributed to usual causes like Influenza strain (H1N1/H3N2/H5N1/H9N2 etc.), mycoplasma pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2, etc," Singh said.

India On Alert: Govt Monitoring China's Pneumonia Outbreak

"In order to minimise the incidence of respiratory diseases along with the current scenario of unusual causes of respiratory diseases in children or any unexpected clinical manifestations, there is a need to increase the surveillance and remain vigilant and to monitor the continuously changing nature of the virus, including respiratory pathogen (H1N1, H3N2 etc) and evolution of SARS CoV-2 variants," he added.

Singh asked officials to strengthen the flu and respiratory clinics in the medical colleges, district hospitals, and health centres.

The departments of microbiology at RIMS-Ranchi and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in Jamshedpur have been made sentinel sites for sending the suspected samples, he said.

The district administrations have also been asked to ensure that the health facilities, including private hospitals, report all suspected cases. Besides, they were also asked to assess the availability of oxygen and the supply chain for refilling along with other necessary equipment.

In addition, they were asked to ensure mock drills for emergency circumstances, officials said.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 14:09 [IST]
Fact Check: Is It Legal To Drink Alcohol In Gujarat's GIFT City?

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PIB Fact Check Unit Busts 9 YouTube Channels Spreading Fake News

India

oi-PTI

The Press Information Bureau's fact check unit has busted nine YouTube channels allegedly spreading fake news and misinformation in India, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on Friday.

These nine YouTube channels identified by the PIB's fact check unit are 'Bharat Ekta News', 'Bajrang Education', 'Bj News', 'Sansani Live TV', 'GVT News', 'Daily Study', 'Ab Bolega Bharat', 'Sarkari Yojana Official' and 'Aapke Guruji', according to a list released by the ministry.

''The PIB Fact Check Unit (FCU) has busted nine YouTube channels spreading fake news and misinformation in India. The Fact Check Unit released multiple fact-checks in nine separate Twitter threads to counter the false information spread by these channels,'' the ministry said.

Their subscribers' base ranges from 11,700 to 34.70 lakh.

Fact Check: Is This The Picture Of A Man Trapped In Uttarakhand Tunnel? Heres The Truth

These YouTube channels "misattributed" derogatory statements to persons occupying constitutional positions, including the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister, Chief Election Commissioner," the ministry said in a statement.

"Some channels falsely claimed imposition of the President's Rule in certain states, ban on electronic voting machines (EVMs), resignation/death of Union ministers, etc," the ministry said.

Some of them claimed a ban on Rs 200 and Rs 500 currency notes, closures of banks, and false information related to the schemes and policies of the Government of India, the ministry said.

False claims related to natural disasters and deaths of Indian citizens, deployment of armed forces, closure of schools, etc were also made by some of the nine Youtube channels busted by the PIB's fact check unit, the ministry said.

"The YouTube channels concerned were found to have over 83 lakh subscribers (altogether)," it added.

The ministry said monetisation of fake news on YouTube is a "serious concern".

Channels spreading fake news drive traffic and monetise their content with "use of clickbait, sensational false thumbnails," it said, adding that the ''Government of India has also previously flagged concerns related to monetisation of fake news on YouTube''.

Fact Check: This Opinion Poll For Telangana Assembly Predicting Victory For Congress Is Fake

Since December 2022, the PIB has exposed 26 such YouTube channels which regularly publish false information, the ministry said.

"Additionally, over 120 YouTube channels have been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the provisions of The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021," it added.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 9:08 [IST]
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Says ED Summons Illegal: 'BJP Wants To Stop Me From Campaigning'

Who Is Ankit Tiwari? ED Officer, Detained For Alleged Bribery; Tamil Nadu Police Raids Madurai Office

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

An Enforcement Directorate officer was arrested for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a a government employee, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), said on Friday.

After he was taken into custody in Dindigul, a team of the DVAC officials held 'enquiries' at the sub-zone ED office in Madurai, with state policemen standing guard outside the central government office.

An official release from DVAC identified the arrested official as Ankit Tiwari, "serving as an Enforcement Officer in the Madurai Enforcement Department office of the Union Government."

Who is Ankit Tiwari, the ED officer?

Ankit Tiwari is a 2016-batch officer who previously served in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. According to an official release by DVAC Chennai, Tiwari is an enforcement officer at the Madurai Enforcement Department office under the Union government.

In October, Tiwari contacted a government doctor in Dindigul regarding a vigilance case supposedly closed in that district.

Tiwari allegedly informed the doctor that an enquiry was mandated by the Prime Minister's Office and demanded Rs 3 crore to avoid legal actions. Subsequently, he agreed to collect Rs 51 lakh as a bribe, intimating the doctor through WhatsApp calls and texts.

On November 1, Tiwari reportedly received Rs 20 lakh as the first installment of the bribe. He continued to pressure the doctor to pay the full amount, threatening dire consequences if he didn't comply.

The doctor filed a complaint with the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit on Thursday.

On Friday, DVAC investigators caught Tiwari after he accepted Rs 20 lakh as a bribe from the complainant.

He was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act at 10.30 am. The DVAC seized incriminating documents and is investigating if he blackmailed/threatened other officials in the name of the Enforcement Directorate.

The complainant was involved in a disproportionate assets case from 2018, which concluded with departmental action against the doctor. However, in early November, the doctor was summoned by the ED's Madurai office.

The DVAC stated that an inquiry would ascertain potential involvement of other ED officials. Searches were ongoing at Tiwari's residence and ED office in Madurai. Further searches related to Tiwari were planned, as per the release. "The investigation aims to determine if he used similar tactics to extort money in the name of the ED from other officials," the DVAC mentioned.

Ankit Tiwari's arrest surfaces amidst allegations by the Tamil Nadu government, accusing the BJP-led Union government of utilizing the ED and Income Tax department to harass its officials and elected representatives before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The ED had not responded immediately to the arrest.

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Story first published: Saturday, December 2, 2023, 9:13 [IST]
Arnold Schwarzenegger is speaking out against the barbaric, unprovoked Hamas attack on Israel ... meeting with survivors and their families. The former governor of California got emotional as he condemned the Oct. 7 slaughter of innocent civilians
Ukrainian authorities said a "catastrophe" was avoided after a power line was restored. Germany has finished training a second batch of Ukrainian troops to use the Patriot air defense system. Follow DW for the latest.
Gabriella Bankova went on a hunger strike in the Bulgarian capital to be able to officially change her gender. Activists say the country is lagging when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights.
Israel is striking Gaza for the second day post-truce collapse, killing at least 200 people throughout the Gaza Strip in the first hours 24 hours. Until the truce, Israel had already killed over seven weeks about 15,000 Palestinians  two-thirds of them women and children  and left homeless more than 75 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

Related Israeli strikes rock Gaza for second day after truce collapse

22:15 The armed wing of the Hamas resistance group, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement saying it had bombarded Tel Aviv with a barrage of missiles in response to Israels ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. The Ben Gurion International Airport was closed after Hamas launched multiple missiles towards the Israeli city, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported late on Saturday.

The armed wing of the #Hamas militant group, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issues a statement saying it has bombarded #TelAviv with a barrage of missiles in response to #Israels ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. https://t.co/c4z4AswgPF pic.twitter.com/UlJPUWMIjI  Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) December 2, 2023

22:00 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "war against Hamas" in the Gaza Strip would continue "until we achieve all its aims" including returning all Israeli captives and eliminating the movement. In his first press conference since the expiry on Friday of a seven-day pause in the fighting with Hamas, he said "our soldiers prepared during the days of truce for total victory against Hamas."

21:30 Egypt and Qatar are still pressing on with efforts to reinstate the Israel-Hamas truce that collapsed on Friday after the Israeli side resumed its brutal bombardments on the Gaza Strip, breaking a week-long ceasefire, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Israel announced the return of a Mossad team from Doha on Saturday, saying negotiations for a new Gaza truce reached a "dead-end."

However, unnamed Egyptian officials told the WSJ that Qatari officials remain in Israel, and Egyptians are in Gaza to keep lines of communication open, WSJ reported citing unnamed Egyptian officials.

During the seven-day truce  mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US  more than dozens of captives held by Hamas since its 7th October Al-Aqsa Flood operation in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

According to media reports, negotiations have stumbled in recent days, with Israel claiming Hamas refused to release 17 women and children. The Palestinian movement denied having more women and children captives to release and that the women they had were members of the Israeli military.

Deputy Hamas chief, Saleh Al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV on Saturday that no more prisoners would be exchanged with Israel until the war on Gaza is over and all Palestinian detainees are released.

Negotiators told the WSJ that Israel has so far rejected a proposal from Qatari and Egyptian mediators to incorporate other groups of hostages, including civilian men, as well as military reservists after the release of civilian women and children are released.

We are still talking and sharing updates every hour. Negotiations only collapse when parties stop talking. This is not happening here, the US paper quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying.

21:00 At almost exactly the same time Israeli negotiators pulled out of deadlocked truce talks in Qatar, Israeli jets sent a prestige Doha-funded housing development in the Gaza Strip up in smoke, AFP reported.

Hamad City is named for the former emir of the Gulf petro-state, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who laid the foundation stone on a visit 11 years ago. Inaugurated in 2016, it was still among the newest projects in the Gaza Strip, the housing complex in the city of Khan Yunis boasting an impressive mosque, shops and gardens. The first flats -- more than 1,000 of them -- were provided to Palestinians whose homes were destroyed in the war between Israel and Hamas two years earlier. 20:00 The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said it received 100 aid trucks through the Rafah crossing as Israel resumed its invasion of the Gaza Strip, following the collapse of a 7-day truce early Friday. "The trucks contain food, water, relief assistance, medical supplies, and medicines," the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Saturday's delivery comes after the Israeli army issued orders on Friday to humanitarian organizations to halt all aid deliveries through the land crossing until further notice.

The Palestine Red Crescent teams received 100 aid trucks through the #Rafah crossing today. The trucks contain food, water, relief assistance, medical supplies, and medicines.#Gaza#HumantarianAid pic.twitter.com/yanuiI2BBr  PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 2, 2023

17:00 French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Israel's aim of eliminating Hamas risks unleashing a decade of war.

Achieving the "total destruction of Hamas" would mean "the war will last 10 years," Macron said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai.

Macron appealed for intensified efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a day after Israel commenced its war on the strip after a seven-day truce expired on Friday.

"This situation requires stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire.. to free all hostages held by Hamas, allow more urgently needed aid into Gaza, and to assure Israel of its security."

15:16 Israel has recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a "dead end" in captives talks, the Israeli prime minister's office said.

Only civilian women and children held in captivity in Gaza were to be freed under the agreement sponsored by Qatar, Egypt, and the US. However, Israel later demanded female soldiers be released, which Hamas refused, so Tel Aviv broke the truce by launching deadly strikes across Gaza

A delegation from the Israeli Mossad arrived in Doha on Saturday morning to discuss renewing the truce and exchanging detainees, according to the announcement.

The Mossad visit was supposed to discuss another temporary cessation of the Israeli war on Gaza and focus on the possibility of releasing new categories of Israeli detainees in Gaza other than women and children, the BBC reported.

One of the reasons Israel called back its negotiators was that it said Hamas included, in a list of 10 people to be released, a number of captives who had died, Al Jazeera said. Israel wanted the 10 to be released for an extra day of ceasefire to be alive rather than dead. They want that to be a separate thing. Traces of destruction in Hamad Town towers in Khan Yunis; As a result of intense Israeli bombing. pic.twitter.com/gjDrKty7gp  Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 2, 2023 15:00 US Vice President Kamala Harris told Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi that under no circumstance, the United States will permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, according to a White House statement after a meeting between the two on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai. Sisi and Harris discussed plans to rebuild, secure, and govern Gaza, stating that they can only succeed if they are pursued in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people toward a state of their own led by a revitalized Palestinian Authority, the statement added.

14:50 The Palestinian Health Ministry said the death toll of Israel's killings in Gaza has surpassed 15,200 and that 70 percent of them were women and children.

More than 40,000 people have been wounded, the ministry added.

The ministry had only been able to provide sporadic updates since 11 November, amid problems with connectivity and Israeli attacks on hospitals.

The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that an Israeli assault on southern Gaza could push 1 million refugees to the border with Egypt. The agency said it "continues to deliver supplies but the supplies run out fast."

"We continue to deliver supplies & the supplies run out fast"@JulietteTouma tells @dwnews of the extreme concern caused after no new aid was allowed into#Gaza yesterday after the humanitarian pauses ended.



The flow of aid- including fuel -needs to resume as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/tzsXI76hs2  UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 2, 2023

According to UNRWA, there are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with over 180 giving birth daily "Post-natal care continues in shelters, but conditions are not at all suitable for newborns," it added.

14:46 The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders for areas in southern Gaza.

Using a new map, residents of Al-Qarara, Khirbet Khuza'a, Abasan, Bani Suhaila, and Ma'an were all ordered to "evacuate your homes immediately and go to the known shelter centres in Rafah." The occupation listed more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis. Separately, the military also dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis. The maps and leaflets generated panic, fear, and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Israel pounded the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, driving up the death toll. Residents of Khan Younis were seen fleeing their homes.

13:50 Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for Gaza after the war ends, Egyptian and regional sources said, as reported by Reuters and Al Arabiya TV.

Tel Aviv relayed these plans to its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates.

The initiative does not indicate an imminent end to the war, but it shows Israel is reaching out beyond established Arab mediators, such as Egypt or Qatar, as it seeks to shape a post-war Gaza.

No Arab states have shown any willingness to police or administer Gaza in the future and most have roundly condemned Israel's offensive that has killed more than 15,000 people and levelled swathes of Gaza's urban areas.

Israel wants this buffer zone between Gaza and Israel from the north to the south to prevent Hamas or other militants from infiltrating or attacking Israel, said a senior regional security official, one of the three regional sources who asked not to be identified by nationality.

Asked about plans for a buffer zone, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters: The plan is more detailed than that. Its based on a three-tier process for the day after Hamas.

Outlining the Israeli governments position, he said the three tiers involved destroying Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza, and de-radicalizing the strip.

A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarization process, he said. He declined to offer details when asked whether those plans had been raised with international partners, including Arab states.

Arab states have dismissed as impossible Israels goal of wiping out Hamas, saying it was more than simply a militant force that could be defeated.

A US official, who declined to be identified, said Israel had floated the buffer zone idea without saying to whom. But the official also repeated Washingtons opposition to any plan that reduced the size of Palestinian territory.

13:05 The first aid trucks since the collapse of the Gaza truce have entered through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Saturday, on their way to Awja crossing for inspection before continuing the journey to the Gaza Strip, Egyptian security, and Red Crescent sources told Reuters.



Two fuel trucks and 50 aid trucks went through the Egyptian side, according to Al-Qahera news TV.

The United Nations said the fighting would worsen an extreme humanitarian emergency. Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva.

Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed, said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, adding that children, women, and men of Gaza had nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on.

Almost two months into the fighting, the children, women, and men of Gaza are all terrified.

Read the full statement here.

13:00 Al Jazeera reported that Israeli planes launched six consecutive raids next to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Below is footage from the funeral of those killed, filmed from inside Nasser Hospital.

12:35 The Israeli army arrested seven people in its ongoing campaign of mass arrests across the occupied West Bank.

The occupation army said five people were arrested in Nablus, one in the village of Bidya, and one in Kfar Saba.

Since the war started, more than 3,200 Palestinians across the occupied territories have been detained, according to the Palestinian Commission for Detainees.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Palestinian Sharif Ahmad Al-Shaer died of his wounds earlier today following an Israeli raid in Jenin on 9 October, WAFA news agency reported.

UN figures indicate that Israel has killed at least 246 civilians, more than a quarter of them children, in the West Bank and Jerusalem since 7 October.

12:30 At least nine people, most of them children, were killed in an Israeli bombardment of a house in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Many of Israel's attacks Saturday were focused on the residential Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the occupation army said it had struck more than 50 targets with airstrikes, tank fire, and its navy.

The occupation army dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave but, as of late Friday, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.

There is no place to go, lamented Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Some two million people  almost Gaza's entire population  are crammed into the territorys south, where Israel forced people to relocate at the wars start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault.

Unable to go into north Gaza, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometer (85-square-mile) area.

In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli occupation army released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.

It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to, the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts.

In the first use of the map to order evacuations, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli armys spokesperson, specified areas in the north and the south to be cleared out Saturday in posts on X. He listed numbered zones under the evacuation order - but the highlighted areas on the maps attached to his post did not match the numbered zones.

12:25 Israels attacks in Gaza are state terrorism and Turkey cannot stay silent against it, President Erdogan said.

On his way back from the COP28 summit in the UAE, Erdogan added that Israeli officials, who have been known as victims of genocide, have now turned into killers of their ancestors.

Erdogan has said that he expects the International Criminal Court (ICC) would ensure accountability for the "butchers of Gaza," particularly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He reiterated his stance on Palestinian group Hamas and said he can never accept Hamas as a terror group.

"I stand by my position. No matter what anybody says, I can never accept Hamas as a terror group," Erdogan said while speaking to journalists on board the presidential plane returning from Dubai.

He added that Hamas could not be excluded from what the future of the besieged enclave would be.

10:35 More than 20 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli bombardment of several homes east of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, in central Gaza.

Meanwhile, eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment.

This is how Gaza appears in photos this morning.

10:00 Egypt strongly condemned the breakdown of the ceasefire and the subsequent resumption of extensive Israeli airstrikes and military operations targeting the Gaza Strip.

"The resurgence of heavy Israeli airstrikes has resulted in renewed civilian casualties among Palestinians, signifying a grave setback and a disregard by the Israeli authorities for all recent endeavors to extend the ceasefire. These efforts aimed to preserve the lives of innocent Palestinians and facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza's population," read a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

Egypt reiterated its warnings against the dangers posed by the expansion of Israeli military actions in southern Gaza and denounced Israeli officials' encouragement of displacing Palestinians beyond Gaza's borders.

"Such actions represent a blatant violation of Israel's obligations as the occupying power and contravene international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949," the statement reaffirmed, stressing Egypt's firm opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, considering it a non-negotiable boundary.

Cairo urged influential international entities and relevant UN agencies, especially the Security Council, to fulfill their duties in safeguarding Palestinian civilians in Gaza and to stop any plans compelling them to be displaced from their homeland.

9:48 Al Jazeera reporters from Gaza said that Israeli air attacks hit several targets across the strip, including in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Civilians in the strip reported that the Israeli occupation army dropped leaflets calling on them to move southwards towards Rafah despite overnight attacks in that area.

The Israeli occupation army said it had attacked more than 400 targets since the truce ended.

Air, naval, and ground forces were involved, it said, adding that fighter jets hit more than 50 targets in an extensive attack in the Khan Younis area in the south of the strip.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry reported that the death toll from the Israeli attacks increased to at least 200. Another 650 people were injured in the last 24 hours.

9:00 Israel carried out deadly bombardments in Gaza on Saturday for a second day after a week-long truce collapsed despite international calls for an extension.

Israeli strikes on houses and buildings killed at least 178 people throughout the strip.

A Palestinian journalist shared video footage showing the heavy air raids on northern Gaza this morning.

The Palestinian resistance also resumed firing rockets into Israel; fighting also broke out between Israel and Hezbollah along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Israeli forces have also prohibited the entry of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said Israel blocked trucks from crossing into Gaza on Friday, but would allow some aid to enter at the request of the US government

He said Washington would continue to push to increase the delivery of aid to Gaza at least up to the level during the truce.

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BBC News 12 Dec 2023

Jamille Matt scores the only goal of the game as Walsall labour past non-league Alfreton to set up third round tie with..
At the disintegration of the USSR, Kazakhstan seceded from the Soviet Union without observing international law, so the country may be considered a territory of a 'not entirely lawful nature, Evgeny Fedorov told Gazeta.ru.



He refers in particular to the fact that procedures, provided for in [1990 USSR] Law No. 1407-1,...
Argentina and Netherlands have both just experienced a political earthquake with two somewhat odd Trump-like figures winning bigly. Javier Milei has been elected Argentina's new president and Geert Wilders' party has just achieved a significant victory that may end up with him leading a coalition majority and being elected the next prime minister of the Netherlands.

Wilders has been called the Dutch Donald Trump. He's been threatened with death countless times by Islamic extremists, convicted of insulting Moroccans, and Britain once banned him from entering the country, according to AP.

In his first reaction, posted in a video on X, formerly Twitter, he spread his arms wide, put his face in his hands and said simply "35!" the number of seats an exit poll forecast his Party for Freedom, or PVV, won in the 150-seat lower house of parliament.

"The PVV wants to, from a fantastic position with 35 seats that can totally no longer be ignored by any party, cooperate with other parties," he told cheering supporters.

Whether he can piece together a stable coalition with former political foes remains to be seen. Even if he does, critics are unsure of his ability to lead or succeed in his stated goals to change the country.

In 2009, the British government refused to let him visit, saying he posed a threat to "community harmony and therefore public security." Wilders had been invited to Britain by a member of Parliament's upper house, the House of Lords, to show his 15-minute film "Fitna," which criticizes the Quran as a "fascist book." The film sparked violent protests around the Muslim world in 2008 for linking Quranic verses with footage of terrorist attacks.

"The winds of change are here!" Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a celebratory post.

Experts who are unhappy with Wilders' win, warn that regardless of whether the far-right leader wins power, or in what capacity, the outcome of the Dutch elections is particularly bad news for the European Union, which alongside Islam and immigration remains one of Wilders' ideological obsessions. In addition to campaigning for a Brexit style "Nexit" referendum, Wilders also advocates ending the free movement of labor within the E.U. and, perhaps most concerning of all for the bloc, cutting military aid to Ukraine. Nationalist leaders in several countries including Austria, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, and Spain all rejoiced at the prospect of another nationalist, anti-establishment voice joining their ranks.

Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League have denounced Geert Wilders' suggestion to relocate Palestinians to Jordan. This proposal by Wilders, a politician noted for his anti-Islam views and support for Israel, has been met with widespread criticism.

Jordan, voicing its objection separately, has been backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Yemen, and the Arab League in this stance. The UAE's embassy in the Netherlands specifically condemned Wilders' statements as reckless and a violation of Jordan's sovereignty.

Wilders has been a vocal advocate for Israel, consistently endorsing the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He has frequently proposed that Jordan is the rightful home for Palestinians, presenting this as a potential resolution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Javier Milei, an unconventional figure known for his experiences with tantric sex, cosplay, and performing in a Rolling Stones tribute band, as well as smashing a central bank-shaped pinata on TV and staging an opera about public spending while dressed as a superhero, has now ventured into Argentine politics. Identifying as an "anarcho-capitalist," Milei won the presidential election on November 19th with 56% of the vote, defeating Sergio Massa, the current economy minister and a candidate from the Peronist movement.

Milei, who only became a legislator in 2021, formed his coalition, Liberty Advances, two years ago. Remarkably, his coalition secured victories in 21 out of Argentina's 24 provinces. His message resonated with voters, particularly his criticism of a "privileged caste" of politicians accused of exploiting ordinary citizens. This sentiment was amplified by recent scandals, including the conviction of current Vice-President Cristina Ferna'ndez de Kirchner in a $1 billion fraud case (which she disputes).

Shortly after Milei's victory, former US president Donald Trump posted on social media: "Congratulations to Javier Milei on a great race for president of Argentina... you will turn your country around and truly make Argentina great again!"

Milei responded by thanking Trump: "Your presidency was an example for all those of us who defend the ideas of freedom."

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A 20-year-old man is facing federal charges after allegedly selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to two 15-year-old girls in Northeast Portland, one of whom died from an overdose.

Portland police arrested Portland resident Nasir Overton on Thursday. He is charged with distributing and possessing fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and death, court records show.
A Portland man who stalked and gunned down his rival near a Gresham MAX stop in 2021 was sentenced Friday to 14 years in state prison.

Officers found 13 bullet casings and Michael Qualls, a 26-year-old father of two, dead from a gunshot wound to the head on Southeast 172nd Avenue near East Burnside around 1:30 p.m. May 5, 2021.
Los Angeles police have launched a search for a killer suspected of fatally shooting three homeless people in separate incidents around the city, police officials announced Friday.

All three killings occurred in the early morning hours over a three-day span in November, Police Chief Michel Moore said at an afternoon news conference at police headquarters downtown, where he was joined by District Attorney George Gascon and Mayor Karen Bass.

This is a killer preying on the unhoused, Bass said.

The first victim was shot about 3:10 am. on Nov. 26 in an alley near the intersection of 110th Street and Vermont Avenue in South LA, police said. The man, identified by police as Jose Bolanos, 37, was found dead with a gunshot wound.

The following day, Mark Diggs, 62, was shot and killed about 4:45 a.m. in the 600 block of Mateo Street. Moore said Diggs was pushing a shopping cart and had stopped to plug in his phone and was about to go to sleep when the assailant approached him and shot him.

The third shooting occurred on Nov. 29 about 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of Avenue 18 and Pasadena Avenue in the Lincoln Heights area, where the body of a 52-year-old adult Latino man was discovered.

Police did not identify the victim pending notification of his family.

Moore said in all three instances the victims were alone and out in the open.

Each one was shot and killed as they slept or were preparing to turn in for the night, Moore said.

Moore said the department has set up a task force of investigators that is working 24/7 to apprehend the killer.

Bass urged the citys homeless residents not to sleep alone and to seek available services. She said homeless outreach workers have been informing those living on the street about the killings and the search for the killer.

To the person responsible for this, I say this: We will find you, we will catch you and you will be held accountable.

An assault on one of us is an assault on all of us, Gascon said.

2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Morgan Lewis had 14 kills and the Oregon Ducks beat Hawaii 3-0 on Friday night to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA volleyball tournament for the ninth time in program history.

No. 2 seed Oregon overcame a 13-5 deficit to win a close first set 25-23. The Ducks then put away the Rainbow Wahine 25-12 and 25-17 in the next two sets at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

Lewis had zero errors and finished with a .667 hitting percentage on a night when the Ducks hit just .266 overall. Gabby Gonzales added eight kills for the Ducks, while Mimi Colyer and Kara McGhee had seven kills each.

The Ducks (28-5) move on to the regional semifinals next week and will meet third-seeded Purdue (23-8), which beat No. 6 seed Marquette 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24) on Friday in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Oregon held Hawaii (24-9) to a hitting percentage of .061. Caylen Alexander led the Rainbow Wahine with 13 kills but also had 10 errors.
Madras High School seniors have been learning about working in the clean-energy sector through the Green Ladders program, which is organized by the climate-activism organization 350Deschutes.

Through classes, lectures and trade fairs, organizers hope to share career opportunities with youth who may have not had any idea that they existed.

These students are motivated to work, and theyre already working, said Diane Hodiak, executive director and co-founder of 350Deschutes. Youth should have the opportunity to learn.

These are the kinds of entry jobs that students can do at age 18, with training but without a four-year college degree, said Hodiak.

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Madras High held a family night Thursday to introduce families to the Green Ladders program and clean-energy careers, as well as help them learn ways to lower their heating bills by installing a heat pump.

The Pacific Power Foundation was instrumental in starting the program, said Hodiak, through a Community Enhancement and Environmental Respect grant from the foundation. The Energy Trust of Oregon is also supporting the program.

Students have been introduced to jobs such as designing solar installations, installing wind turbines and working as HVAC technicians or solar analysts. 350Deschutes has been working with students for the past few years, said Hodiak, but only got classes started this year.

The first class, held in September, asked students to check their own homes for drafts and what types of energy they were using for heating and cooling systems. The high school hosted four classes this semester, with around 25 students participating in the first one, said Samantha Loza, college and career coordinator at Madras High School.

Loza originally heard about the program last year. This year, once it was officially off the ground, she began inviting students she thought would be interested, including students in environmental science, members of the environmental club and senior Alice Belgarde.

I didnt realize what the careers were, said Belgarde. I wouldnt have known about it if I hadnt been pulled in, but Im thinking more about it.

Experts came in to talk about renewable energy and wind energy, as well as discuss jobs in the clean energy field. Loza said Monday that she expected 12 students for the final class on Thursday.

Being able to apply (the material) to their lives and households helps, said Loza.

The Green Ladders program is encouraging students to attend the Central Oregon Skilled Trades Fair, run through the High Desert Educational Service District. Teachers and students were also invited to attend 350Deschutes Go Clean Energy Conference.

Hodiak said she was excited to help high schoolers think of their future.

 Noemi Arellano-Summer, narellanosummer@bendbulletin.com, 541-383-0325
The U.S. government is willing to help build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by four controversial dams on the Snake River, according to a leaked Biden administration document that is giving hope to conservationists who have long sought the removal of the dams as a key to restoring depleted salmon runs.

Still, Congress would have to agree before any of the Lower Snake River dams in Washington state are removed, and thats unlikely to happen in the near future.

The document is a draft agreement to uphold 168-year-old treaties with four tribes in the Pacific Northwest that preserved their right to harvest fish in the river, among other things.

The Columbia River Basin was once the greatest salmon-producing river system in the world, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead, according to the document. But today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Conservationists say dams built in the basin are primarily to blame.

Conservation groups and tribes sued the federal government in an effort to save the struggling fisheries, and both sides notified the court earlier this fall they were close to reaching an agreement that could put the the lawsuit on hold. They have until mid-December to submit an agreement.

Amanda Goodin, a lawyer for the environmental group Earthjustice, which is representing a coalition of environmental, fishing, and renewable energy groups in the litigation, said their goal throughout the mediation has been to prevent the extinction of salmon, restore the ecosystem and replace the energy provided by the dams.

We hope to be able to say on Dec. 15 weve achieved that goal, but if we cant reach that goal or discussions fall apart, we will be prepared to resume litigation on Dec. 15, she said in a statement. Due to confidentiality rules, she said they would not discuss the specifics of the draft agreement.

In civil cases, mediation talks are generally confidential, but Washington state Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican, included a link to the draft agreement in a press release Wednesday. Newhouse has opposed breaching the dams, saying they are essential for agriculture, flood control and transportation as well as electricity.

It is imperative that our constituents, whose livelihoods depend on the Columbia River System, have a comprehensive understanding of this documents contents so they can anticipate and prepare for the wide-ranging impacts that will inevitably be felt across the region should the commitments detailed in this document be realized, Newhouse and three other Republican representatives  Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Cliff Bentz of Oregon, and Russ Fulcher of Idaho  wrote to President Joe Biden.

The draft agreement says the government will help plan and pay for tribes in the Pacific Northwest to develop enough clean energy resources to serve as replacement power for the lower Snake River dams, whether or not Congress authorizes dam removal.

The draft also includes billions of dollars in funding for analyzing the regions energy needs, improving transportation infrastructure, making the power grid more resilient and restoring salmon, steelhead and other native fish runs in the Columbia River basin. Oregon and Washington would be partners in the effort along with the four tribes and the federal government.

There has been growing recognition across the U.S. that the harms some dams cause to fish outweigh their usefulness. Dams on the Elwha River in Washington state and the Klamath River along the Oregon-California border have been or are being removed.

The Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe declined to comment on the document, while the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation was not immediately available for comment and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs did not respond to a request for comment.

Alyssa Roberts, spokesperson for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the negotiations are ongoing.

As part of the court-approved confidential mediation with Tribes, States, and other parties to develop a long-term, durable path forward, the U.S. Government is developing a package of actions and commitments that we are discussing with all parties involved in the mediation, she said in a statement.

Utility and business groups Northwest RiverPartners, the Public Power Council and the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association called the draft agreement the greatest threat for the region in a joint statement released Wednesday, saying dam breaching would hurt the regions ports and farmers and could raise electricity prices.

This proposal turns its back on over three million electricity customers as well as the farming, transportation, navigation, and economic needs of the region, the groups wrote.

The pros and cons of dam-breaching have been debated for years, but only a few lawmakers in the region have embraced the idea.

In 2021 Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing the earthen berms on either side of the four Lower Snake River dams to let the river flow freely, and to spend $33 billion to replace the benefits of the dams for agriculture, energy and transportation.

Last year, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray released a report saying carbon-free electricity produced by the dams must be replaced before they are breached. Eliminating the dams would also dramatically change the way farmers in Idaho and Washington and Oregon transport their crops, forcing them to rely on truck and rail transportation instead.

The town of Lewiston, Idaho, is home to the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers in the region rely on barges to ship their crops, while others use rail. Other lawmakers  including Idaho Rep. Mike Crapo and Sen. Jim Risch and Montana Rep. Steve Daines  have argued that the government should find ways besides dam breaching to save the fish.

In October, Biden directed federal agencies to use all available resources to restore abundant salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin, but Bidens memo stopped short of calling for the removal of the dams.

The Lower Granite, Ice Harbor, Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams were built in the mid-1900s. On average, the four dams produce about 1,000 MW of power throughout the year, though they can produce as much as 2,200 MW during peak energy demand, according to the non-profit NW Energy Coalition. Roughly $17 billion in infrastructure improvements, some of it forced by litigation, has done little to restore the fish to historical levels.
A federal civil rights suit filed by 26 Black descendants of families whose homes in Portlands Albina district were destroyed in the 1960s and 70s can proceed against the city of Portland and Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon denied motions by the city, Prosper Portland and the hospital to dismiss the suit.
Egypt expressed sorrow at the collapse of the week-long truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Head of the State Information System (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said on Friday.

Rashwan added in a media statement that Egypt is exerting maximum efforts with its partners to swiftly return to the ceasefire and extend it further to address the critical humanitarian conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza that reached catastrophic levels.

He said that the goal of Egypt was either to halt the war against them or expedite the entry of humanitarian and relief aid to them.

On another note, Rashwan categorically denied that Israeli shelling had hit the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.

He urged everyone to follow updates issued by the relevant Egyptian official authorities.

On Saturday, Israel continued its bombardment of the strip for a second day after the collapse of the truce.

The Palestinian health ministry reported that the death toll from the Israeli attacks increased to at least 200 over the past 24 hours, while another 650 people were injured.

Many of the strikes were focused in the south of the strip, including Khan Younis, where the Israeli army said it struck more than 50 targets with air, ground, and naval bombardment.

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After his term ended as Multnomah County sheriff, Mike Reese considered running for Portland mayor or City Council. Then in October, Gov. Tina Koteks deputy chief of staff called, asking him to take on the top job at the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Now, three weeks as leader of the state prison system, Reese said hes focused on hiring more staff and providing adequate mental health and re-entry services for the estimated 12,100 people serving time in one of Oregons dozen prisons.

I am not going to run for mayor, said Reese, 66, in an interview this week with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Im thrilled to be here.

Reese served as Portlands police chief from 2010 to 2015, when he retired as one of the longest-serving police chiefs in the city. Reese went on to be appointed as sheriff in 2016 and was subsequently elected two years later. His term concluded at the end of 2022.

He assumes control of an agency with 4,460 employees and biennial budget of $2.31 billion, including $441.75 million for medical care for people in custody. The population of incarcerated people is aging with about 16% who are 55 and older -- a percentage that has risen over the past 10 or so years.

About 11,223 men and 882 women are in custody. The number of incarcerated people dropped significantly during the pandemic due in part to curtailed court operations during that time. The number has climbed since then but has not yet returned to its pre-pandemic levels, data shows. The population is expected to grow to about 13,000 by the end of 2025, state analysts say. In early January 2020, about 14,000 people were in custody.

The leadership post is among the last agency head positions to be filled by Kotek and comes as the Corrections Department faces serious challenges, including what one state-commissioned report found was a toxic culture at the states womens prison, chronic understaffing throughout the prison system, an aging prisoner population and soaring drug use among prisoners.

A Marion County jury this year also sided with two corrections employees who said they faced retaliation by department leaders after they challenged the agencys use of data during the budget process and called attention to what they say were misstatements made by then-Deputy Director Heidi Steward while she was testifying before the Legislature. The women said they were shunned, demoted and denied meaningful assignments. They were awarded $2.5 million.

Reese takes over from Steward, the acting director who succeeded Colette S. Peters. Peters, the longtime department head, was tapped last year by President Joe Biden to lead the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Steward has returned to the deputy director position.

Reese said Kotek outlined her goals for him, underscoring the importance of stable housing for people after their release and treatment plans for people in recovery. He said the agency does not have money to provide adequate counseling and treatment.

Not everybody in our custody can meet with a corrections counselor, he said. Not everybody that needs treatment for their addiction has a treatment plan in place. There are gaps in what we are offering.

Koteks budget for the Department of Corrections for the next two years acknowledged in a note that accompanied the spending plan the ongoing difficulties with recruiting, hiring, and retaining correctional staff and that the expectation is that the department should maintain a sustained ongoing focus on recruiting and retaining front-line staff.

Reese said he plans to visit each state prison in the next three months and has already been to Coffee Creek Correctional Institution in Wilsonville.

The prison has a history of significant problems, including the recent case of a nurse convicted in federal court of sexually abusing nine women serving time there.

The report commissioned by the Legislature painted a picture of a prison in crisis, where prisoners say they face retaliation for complaining about sexual misconduct. The report highlighted Coffee Creeks severe understaffing and disagreements between staff who provide mental health care to prisoners and those who guard them.

Staff shortages at the womens prison are acute and among the highest of any of the states 12 prisons, reviewers found. They noted Coffee Creek has the highest vacancy rate in the prison system among medical staff. Morale is low and perceptions of employees well-being is poor, they found.

Reese said hes read the 229-page report and has requested that the prison superintendent and corrections administrators work to put the recommendations in place. He said he has requested from the staff a timeline for carrying out the changes.

The report made many recommendations that included training to improve staff professionalism, implementing what it called a gender responsive staffing model and improving the integrity and effectiveness of reporting sexual crimes.

He said he plans to hold a listening session with women and staff at Coffee Creek.

First and foremost, I want to listen to the adults in custody and to the staff and take that roadmap and start working on each and every one of the recommendations, he said.

Reeses salary is $241,224 per year. Portlands Fire and Police Disability and Retirement program pays him $12,128.78 a month plus an extra $300 monthly to offset taxes imposed on his pension.

Reese said he also receives a pension through the state Public Employees Retirement System; PERS required the news organization to submit a public records request for the benefit Reese receives. The request was still pending Friday. Reese said he receives about $1,686 per month.

Oregonian reporter Austin De Dios contributed to this report.

-- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie

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Portland is in for a rainy and windy weekend as the first in a set of atmospheric rivers moves through the region Saturday. High winds are expected this morning and late tonight through Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service. The high temperature is likely to reach 52 degrees.

Snow is expected to continue today in the Cascades, with snow levels remaining around 3,000-4,000 feet through the day. Another 1-2 feet of snow is expected above 5,000 feet and an additional 6 inches above 3,000 feet.

Despite that snowy forecast, Timberline announced Saturday that high wind had changed the resorts plans for a limited opening Saturday. Mt. Bachelor announced Friday that it will kick off the 2023-24 ski season, opening Sunrise and Little Pine lifts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Skiers can expect challenging conditions because of deep snow, high winds and limited visibility.

A flood watch is in effect for much of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon, excluding the Cascades, Hood River Valley and the Columbia River Gorge through Tuesday afternoon.

The next atmospheric river will move into the Portland area this evening, the Weather Service expects, with up to three-quarters of an inch possible. The low temperature is expected to be around 46 degrees.

More rainy and windy weather is expected Sunday, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Temperatures will remain in the 50s.

Thats just the start of a rainy week, according to forecasters, who say rain is likely through Friday.

 Kjerstin Gabrielson, kgabrielson@oregonian.com
Egypt, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday, strongly condemned the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire and the resumption of intense Israeli airstrikes and military operations.

The resumption of intense Israeli airstrikes has led to renewed casualties among Palestinian civilians, marking a serious setback and a disregard by the Israeli side for all efforts made in recent days to extend the ceasefire, aiming to spare the blood of innocent Palestinians and secure the implementation of more urgent humanitarian aid for the Gaza population, the statement said.

Once again, Egypt reiterated its warnings against the peril of expanding Israeli military operations in the southern Gaza Strip and denounced the Israeli officials' attempts to displace Palestinians beyond the borders of Gaza.

Such actions constitute a blatant violation of Israel's commitments as the occupying power and of all provisions of international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the statement said.

It also reaffirmed Egypts steadfast rejection of forced displacement of Palestinians beyond their land, considering it a red line that will not be allowed to be crossed.

The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 stipulates that civilians in areas of armed conflict and occupied territories are protected by the 159 articles of the convention: civilians must be permitted to lead normal lives and not to be deported or interned.

Egypt also reiterated its call to influential international parties and relevant UN agencies, especially the Security Council, to fulfil their responsibilities in ensuring the protection of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including the implementation of relevant UN resolutions.

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Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Dozens of children, who were separated from their families and tribes during an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the urban area of Ardamata, West Darfur, have now been released and reunited with their families, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Saturday
New York, US (PANA) - The Security Council on Friday decided to terminate the mandate of the UN political mission in Sudan from next Monday, after Khartoum called for its immediate withdrawal last month
Photo: (Photo : by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash)

In a heartwarming turn of events, a baby girl who was found abandoned in the woods in Florida just an hour after her birth has now found a forever home. The child, who was rescued nearly a year ago, was officially adopted on November 29, marking a new beginning in her life.

The story began on January 28, when deputies from the Polk County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) in Winter Haven, Florida, responded to a call about a newborn baby girl found abandoned in Mulberry. The baby, wrapped in a blanket and still attached to the placenta, was discovered in the lower 50s, a critical situation for a newborn.

Heroic Discovery: Resident's 911 Call Saves Newborn's Life

The cries of the infant were heard by a neighboring homeowner, who promptly dialed 911 after hearing them. This started the rescue operation. Both the prompt action of the deputies and the vigilantness of the resident were factors that contributed significantly to the successful rescue of the infant.

The baby girl, initially named Angel Grace Lnu by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, was found in a wooded area near the Regal Loop Mobile Home Park on Bailey Road in Mulberry. The discovery was made after a neighbor heard what she initially thought was the sound of cats fighting. Upon realizing it was a baby's cry, she and her husband searched the area and found the infant.

The couple who adopted the child have chosen to remain private, declining interviews but allowing the police to share photos on social media for everyone who followed the baby's story and prayed for her well-being.

Read Also: Pros and Cons of Listing a Father's Name On A Birth Certificate

The Importance of Safe Haven Laws in Child Protection

The incident initially sparked an extensive search for the baby's mother, involving K-9 units, drones, and an aviation unit. Despite these efforts, the mother was never located or identified. Sheriff Judd explained that such incidents are rare due to Florida's Safe Haven Law, which allows parents to legally leave their newborns at designated safe locations without facing criminal charges.

The adoption of this little child brings to light the significance of the Safe Haven Law in the state of Florida, which was enacted to put an end to the practice of abandoning babies. In the years after the passage of this legislation in the year 2000, a great number of infants have been handed over to certified Safe Haven institutions without ever being in danger.

Now, 10 months and one day after her rescue, the baby girl has a new family and a chance at a loving and secure life. Her story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the kindness of those who step in during times of need. It also underscores the critical role of laws like the Safe Haven Law in providing safe alternatives for desperate parents and hope for innocent newborns.

Related Article: Mom Gives Birth in Elevator on Mother's Day; Medical City Security Guard Comes to Her Rescue
Photo: (Photo : MARK RALSTON / Getty Images)

In the latest public health update, U.S. health authorities report a substantial surge in flu cases nationwide, sparking concerns among officials. Simultaneously, cases of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are reaching their peak, and the ongoing surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations remains a persistent challenge.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues a stern warning, emphasizing the urgency of public health measures amidst the convergence of these respiratory threats.

Flu Cases on the Rise as RSV Peaks Nationwide

The most recent data points to a notable surge in flu cases, with affected states increasing from seven to eleven, primarily concentrated in the South and Southwest regions.

Health officials express deep concerns over the potential strain on hospitalizations and healthcare systems. The resurgence of the flu, known for causing severe respiratory distress, underscores the importance of escalated vaccination efforts, as authorities strive to curb the rising trend.

The surge in flu cases prompts health officials to intensify efforts to enhance vaccination rates across the nation. The CDC urges individuals to get vaccinated against the flu, emphasizing its severity and the potential strain it could place on healthcare resources.

As the flu season gains momentum, health authorities stress the need for a united front against respiratory illnesses. RSV infections have sharply risen, filling emergency departments in states like Georgia and Texas to near capacity. Despite this, health experts predict that the peak of the RSV season is imminent, offering a glimmer of relief.

Recognized as a common respiratory virus posing a particular threat to infants and older individuals, ongoing surveillance and early intervention are deemed crucial to mitigate potential complications as the virus approaches its zenith.

As RSV cases peak, health authorities underscore the importance of public awareness and proactive measures. They urge parents and caregivers to remain vigilant, especially with infants and older individuals who may be more susceptible to severe RSV-related complications.

The CDC recommends staying informed about RSV symptoms and seeking prompt medical attention if necessary.

Ongoing COVID-19 Hospitalizations: A Continuing Challenge

Amidst the dual threat of the flu and RSV, COVID-19 continues to maintain its stronghold as the leading cause of respiratory-related hospitalizations. Weekly statistics reveal a concerning average of approximately 15,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 1,000 deaths, highlighting the gravity of the ongoing pandemic.

Health officials reiterate the paramount importance of vaccination, testing, and immediate medical attention for symptomatic individuals, emphasizing the critical role of early intervention in the battle against the virus.

Health officials stress the imperative nature of ongoing efforts to combat COVID-19. They emphasize the significance of vaccination campaigns, testing infrastructure, and community cooperation to curb the spread of the virus.

As hospitalization rates remain a key concern, officials call for continued adherence to preventive measures, including mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand hygiene.

Read Also: Landmark Verdict: Illinois Jury Finds Major Egg Producers Guilty of Price-Fixing Conspiracy Spanning 2004-2008

Pneumonia Outbreak in Children Raises Alarms

The CDC is actively investigating reports of pneumonia outbreaks in children, particularly in Massachusetts and Warren County, Ohio. Although there is no evidence linking these cases to anything unusual, health authorities remain vigilant, considering pneumonia as a potential complication of flu, COVID-19, or RSV.

In Ohio alone, 145 cases have been reported since August, with the majority of affected children recovering at home. The implicated pathogens include adenovirus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae-similar to bacteria causing a rising number of respiratory infections in China.

As respiratory virus activity intensifies, particularly in the Southern and Western U.S., health officials strongly urge the public to prioritize preventive measures, including vaccination against all three respiratory threats-flu, RSV, and COVID-19.

With the flu season accelerating and RSV nearing its peak, health experts emphasize the critical nature of early detection, vaccination, and strict adherence to public health guidelines in curbing the impact of these respiratory viruses.

In conclusion, the nation finds itself at the crossroads of a flu surge, RSV peak, and ongoing COVID-19 challenges, compelling health officials to issue a robust warning.

As hospitalizations rise and concerns mount over a potential pneumonia outbreak in children, a united effort to adhere to health guidelines and boost vaccination rates becomes paramount in the ongoing battle against respiratory illnesses.

Related Article: NYC High School Faces Massive Student Protest After Pro-Israel Post Online
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In a shocking turn of events, Mars Incorporated, a global powerhouse known for its confectionery and petcare brands, finds itself under intense scrutiny following allegations of child labor exploitation in the very cocoa fields that contribute to the production of beloved treats like M&M's and Snickers.

The revelations come to light after a comprehensive investigation conducted by CBS News, uncovering distressing realities that cast a shadow over Mars Inc.'s proclaimed commitment to eliminating child labor from its supply chain by 2025.

Child Labor Exploitation Unveiled in Mars' Cacao Fields

The CBS News investigation, published on Wednesday, provides a sobering glimpse into the harsh realities faced by children as young as 5 years old working in Mars Inc.'s cacao fields in Ghana. These fields play a crucial role in supplying the cocoa beans that are essential for crafting Mars' iconic chocolate brands, including M&M's and Snickers.

The revelations stand in stark contrast to the company's public pledge to eradicate child labor from its supply chain within the next few years.One of the most alarming findings of the investigation revolves around the failure of Mars Inc.'s touted monitoring system.

Field supervisors, faced with immense pressure to identify child laborers, admitted to fabricating data. This revelation raises serious questions about the efficacy of Mars' efforts to address and eliminate child labor exploitation in its supply chain.

The CBS investigative team found that children listed as beneficiaries of the monitoring system were still actively engaged in labor, highlighting a significant gap between the company's commitments and the grim reality on the ground.

Legal Action and Mars Inc.'s Response

Human rights lawyer Terry Collingsworth has taken decisive legal action by filing a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging consumer fraud against Mars Inc. and other major American chocolate companies.

Collingsworth claims to have gathered statements from Ghanaian children working in Mars' supply chain, painting a troubling picture of exploitation that starkly contradicts the company's public image.

In response to the allegations, Mars Inc. issued a statement condemning the use of child labor. However, the company has yet to respond to requests for comment from media outlets like USA Today.

Mars emphasized its commitment to eradicating child labor by 2025, citing its Supplier Code of Conduct and the planned implementation of a Child Labor and Remediation System. The company asserts that its cocoa suppliers in Ghana have agreed to adhere to these stringent standards, including the industry-leading International Cocoa Initiative standard.

Read Also: Montana's TikTok Ban on Hold: Judge Molloy Questions Legality, Constitutional Boundaries

A Cloud Over Mars Inc.'s Iconic Brands

As these damning allegations cast a dark cloud over Mars Inc.'s iconic brands, consumers and advocates for ethical sourcing are left grappling with the unsettling revelations.

The keywords Mars, child labor exploitation, M&M's, Snickers, and cacao fields reverberate with urgency, demanding a thorough investigation into the company's supply chain practices.

With legal proceedings in motion and public scrutiny intensifying, Mars Inc. stands at a critical juncture, facing the challenge of addressing the alleged child labor exploitation tarnishing the production of its globally renowned chocolate brands.

The implications extend beyond legal consequences, shaping the way consumers view the ethics behind the treats they hold dear.

Related Article: North Carolina High School Horror: 14-Year-Old Charged With Murder After Stabbing His Two Classmates
Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Salih Mutlu Sen said preparations are ongoing for President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Cairo where he will talk with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi amid high expectations for a renewed chapter in relations between the two countries.

No date for the visit has been announced, but in remarks late last month, Erdogan said he was considering a trip to Egypt as soon as possible.

Ambassador Sen shared these updates during the national day reception at his residence in Giza, coinciding with the centennial celebration of the Turkish republic.

He highlighted the enduring cultural ties and kinship between Turkey and Egypt. He also emphasized the pivotal role of trade and economy, anticipating increased Turkish investments in Egypt. The ambassador expressed confidence in improving the ease of doing business and strengthening bilateral cooperation.

Addressing regional stability, Ambassador Sen stressed that strong ties between Turkey and Egypt contribute to security and development in the Eastern Mediterranean. He paid tribute to Ataturk, comrades, martyrs, and veterans, expressing his gratitude to them.

However, amid the celebrations, Ambassador Sen expressed concern about the conflict in Gaza, condemning civilian casualties and advocating for an end to bloodshed. He underlined Turkey's commitment to supporting Egypt in delivering humanitarian aid, establishing field hospitals, and contributing to Gaza's reconstruction.

Ambassador Sen commemorated the 100th anniversary of the republic's foundation and the 500th anniversary of the Ottoman Turkish foreign service. He traced Turkey's historical journey, from the Ottoman Empire's ashes to the establishment of a vibrant republic.

Closing his remarks, Ambassador Sen praised the accomplishments of the Turkish nation, emphasizing President Erdogan's leadership in driving the country's development over the past two decades. He reiterated the president's commitment to the enduring principles of the republic.

Presidents El-Sisi and Erdogan held an extended meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in India in September, the first such meeting between the two heads of state after their countries resumed diplomatic relations earlier in the summer ending a 10-year rift.

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In a tragic and alarming development that has shaken the community, the decomposed remains of the missing 17-year-old Indiana teen, Valerie Tindall, have been discovered buried in her neighbor's yard, leading to the initiation of murder charges against the neighbor.

Discovering the Missing 17-Year-Old

Valerie Tindall, who went missing nearly six months ago, was last seen heading to work for her neighbor, Patrick Scott, a 59-year-old resident of Arlington.

In a disturbing turn of events, the police unearthed Tindall's body on Tuesday inside a makeshift chest buried beneath debris on Scott's property, which is located less than a hundred yards from the teenager's home.

Scott, not just a neighbor but also Tindall's employer, allegedly confessed to detectives that he had strangled the teen with his belt, a chilling admission detailed in court documents.

The makeshift chest, constructed from wooden planks bought at Home Depot, served as the macabre resting place for Tindall's body, tightly sealed and buried in Scott's yard.

According to the court filings, Scott claimed that he had not planned to kill Tindall, asserting that it "just kind of happened." He alleged that the murder occurred after the teenager purportedly attempted to seduce and blackmail him into buying her a car.

Scott, who has a wife, daughter, and granddaughter, admitted to using his belt to strangle Tindall and then constructing the wooden box to conceal her body.

The grisly details emerged during the investigation, painting a harrowing picture of a crime that took place in close proximity to the victim's residence. The shocking admission and disturbing motive have sent shockwaves through the community.

Identifying the Victim and Legal Proceedings

On Thursday, the county coroner positively identified the remains recovered on Scott's property as those of Valerie Tindall.

Sheriff Allan Rice, in a press conference, emphasized that while this is not the desired outcome, the case is far from over, and justice will be sought. Scott now faces charges of murder and obstruction of justice.

Valerie Tindall, who worked for Scott's lawn mowing business, informed her parents on June 7 that she was heading to work. Scott was the last person to see her alive, according to court documents. The teenager's disappearance led to a missing person report when she failed to return home that day.

Read Also: North Carolina High School Horror: 14-Year-Old Charged With Murder After Stabbing His Two Classmates

Timeline of an Ongoing Investigation

The investigation into Tindall's disappearance took a dark turn on October 11 when cadaver-sniffing dogs indicated the smell of decomposition near a pond on Scott's property. However, a search of the pond yielded no results. It was only on Tuesday, after the execution of a search warrant, that police discovered Tindall's body buried in Scott's yard.

The presence of orange-painted fingernails, matching the color Tindall was last seen wearing in a social media post on June 7, further confirmed her identity.

As the legal proceedings unfold, questions about Scott's motive and the circumstances leading to Tindall's tragic end linger. The cause of her death is pending the results of toxicology and a final autopsy report.

This chilling incident serves as a stark reminder of the unexpected dangers that can lurk behind seemingly familiar faces and neighborhoods. The community now grapples with the shock and grief of losing a young life in such a horrific manner, as the justice system moves forward with the murder charges against Patrick Scott.

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The first-ever Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B) is currently taking place in Accra with participants emphasizing the urgent need for robust collaboration to tackle the rapidly evolving cybersecurity vulnerabilities and risks.



These challenges have the capacity to hinder economic growth, erode societal trust in the digital realm, diminish the resilience of critical infrastructure, and, ultimately, jeopardize the lives and well-being of individuals if not addressed they warned.



Co-organized by the Global Forum of Cyber Expertise (GFCE), the World Bank Group, the Cyber Peace Institute, the World Economic Forum, and Ghanas Cyber Security Authority under the leadership of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, the GC3B seeks to heighten awareness regarding the imperative for each nation to possess the expertise, knowledge, and skills necessary to invest in their digital future.



The conference also aims to inspire countries to collaborate in developing these capabilities, fostering a free, open, and secure digital world.



This is the first time, the GC3B has brought together high-level leaders, cybersecurity experts, capacity-building specialists, and representatives from the international development community worldwide to collaborate on shared objectives and solutions.



Speaking at the opening of the conference, the Senior Advisor to President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Yaw Osafo-Marfo, bemoaned the increasing threats to global digital development by cybercriminals, warning: We cant afford to be victims.



In the first half of 2022 and 2023, Positive Technologies, a reputable cybersecurity research organisation, reported that the global financial sector was the most hit with cyberattacks recording 18 percent, followed by telecommunications companies (13percent), government agencies (12percent), trade organisations (12percent) and the industrial sector (10percent).



Furthermore, Cybersecurity Ventures, a cybersecurity research and publishing platform, indicates that the damages incurred by all forms of cybercrime, including the cost of recovery and remediation, totalled $3 trillion in 2015, $6 trillion in 2021, and could reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.



The threat landscape has become increasingly volatile. Experienced cybercriminal groups continue to grow and create more sophisticated strategies and tools. These challenges call for the need for governments, businesses, and stakeholders within the cyber ecosystem to collaborate and cooperate integrating holistic strategies that will address these complex threats.



Therefore, a gathering such as this is of great significance to build the capacity of state and non-state actors as a prerequisite to handling these emerging threats in cybersecurity. It is imperative to build the relevant skills, knowledge, and infrastructure needed to safeguard our digital assets, investments in information communication technologies (ICTs), and other digitalisation initiatives, Mr. Osafo-Marfo stated.



Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the call for collaboration to address the increasing cases of cybercrimes is in order because beyond the numerous opportunities are existential threats that we must not lose sight of.



Noting that Africa is evenly reflected in this global outlook due to the borderless nature of cybercrime, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stated that in the second quarter of this year, the continent experienced the highest average number of weekly cyber-attacks per organisation, with an average of 2,164 attacks, establishing a significant year-on-year increase of 23percent compared to the same period last year.



These increasing threats mean we must prioritise our cybersecurity efforts both at a national and international level. Sharing from Ghanas experience, the government of Ghana is implementing measures to build a robust and resilient cybersecurity architecture. Domestic and international cooperation is the hallmark of our cybersecurity efforts and a strategic imperative enshrined within our National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy and the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), she stated.



The roll-out of digitalization has concretely demonstrated how technology can help us achieve a better future. The use of digital technologies has been instrumental in growing the economy, increasing productivity, and advancing human and social development. As such, it has also been recognized as a key driver in the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.



At the same time, Chris Painter, President of the GFCE Foundation said digitalization has also brought about new demands in developing the necessary expertise and skills to address the strategic, institutional, regulatory, and security requirements for an effective and sustainable digital transition.



This is challenging for every nation and organization, but it does place a disproportionate burden on low- and middle-income countries, he stated. On the one hand, we see that persisting digital inequalities create barriers to developing countries in reaping the digital dividends. On the other hand, the unprecedented increase in connectivity has also given ground to the emergence of new digital risks and vulnerabilities with fundamental impacts beyond the online world, he added.



As we are immersed in this digital of everything era, the capacity to anticipate, manage and respond to digital risks and be cyber resilient is central for the delivery of key development outcomes and in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.



The stakes are high to ensure that no country or individual is left behind, or below the cyber poverty line he stated.

Source: B&FT









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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Heavy gunfire was reported in Guinea-Bissau's capital on Friday morning hours after some National Guard soldiers went to free a detained minister and a senior state official.



Members of the National Guard took the officials before seeking refuge in barracks south of the capital.



Special forces then intervened after attempts to negotiate failed, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.



Calm is said to have been restored later.



The finance minister, Souleiman Seidi, and the secretary of state for the treasury, Antonio Monteiro, had been detained amid investigations into the alleged irregular withdrawal of $10m (8m) of state funds.



They were questioned on Thursday afternoon by an anti-corruption inquiry to clarify the payments to 11 companies.



In a parliamentary session on Monday, the leader of the country's main opposition party alleged that the owners of the companies were close to leaders of the country's governing coalition.



Mr Seidi defended the payments as legal.



On Thursday after the questioning, Mr Seidi and Mr Monteiro were arrested and detained so as not to jeopardise the investigations, local media said.



National Guard soldiers later in the evening invaded the police cells, located near Bandim market, "with AK-47 weapons and bazookas" and extricated the detained officials, the privately owned O Democrata news outlet reported.



It said the National Guard took them to an unknown location.



President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is currently out of the country, attending the UN's COP28 climate conference in Dubai.



On Friday morning, regional stabilization forces deployed by the regional West African bloc Ecowas were seen patrolling the streets, the AFP news agency reported.



Guinea-Bissau has suffered a series of coups and attempted coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.



In February last year, the president said he survived a coup attempt after being under heavy gunfire for five hours - in an incident in which 11 people died.



Without providing details, he said the attack was linked to drug trafficking in the country.



Some however doubted the official version of the events, amid questions including who was really behind the attempt, how many people were involved and who was in command.



There have been no full answers to these questions.

Source: BBC









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The government in its 2024 budget announced an amount of 220 million Ghana cedis for flood victims in the country. I add my voice to the numerous voices congratulating the government for such a gesture in recognition of the challenges and suffering of the affected areas and people.



I wish to appeal to the government and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of flood victims of Kpandai.



On a recent visit to the Lonto and Kpadjai Electoral Areas, I was shocked to realize that the main road leading to these areas had been cut off with much of the road taken over by water to the extent that we had to be carried by canoes twice to access these Electoral Areas that are barely two miles apart.



Areas such as Adakope, Kpadjai No. 2, Tanklenku, Sikakura No.1 and Sikakura No.2 among many others have been flooded and cut off from the rest of the District. (See pictures and videos attached)



Upon appeals from the chiefs and people of these areas, I donated 20 bags of 25kg of rice, 5 boxes of mackerel, 4 boxes of tin tomatoes, one 50kg bag of sugar, 5 boxes of cooking oil and two 50kg bags of beans (see pictures and videos) as my widows might to ameliorate their suffering on Tuesday 28th November.



However, my widows might is woefully inadequate as hundreds of homes and several hundreds of victims have been rendered homeless (attached is data on victims) and destitute by the ravages of the floods.



I pray the government will come to our aid to ease our suffering through NADMO now that a budgetary provision has been made to ease our pain.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Henry Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, has touted the second phase of the governments flagship program  Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ2.0)  which was launched earlier this year, describing it as a game changer in Ghanas agricultural history.



According to him, the program would serve as a master plan for the renewal of agriculture in Ghana, stressing that it would replace the old input subsidy program with the new input credit scheme.



This intervention, he explained, was designed to accelerate the development of agriculture through a value-chain approach.



We expect that the new programme will boost productivity, guarantee food security, produce ample raw materials for sustained industrialization, promote exports, and generate job opportunities, particularly for our teeming youth, the minister intimated.



The Regional Minister made these remarks while delivering the keynote address at the Greater Accra Regional Farmers Day Celebration held at Kpone Bawalashie, in the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly on Friday, December 1.



Speaking on the theme, Delivering Smart Solutions for Food Security and Resilience, Mr. Quartey underscored that: In a world marked by rapid changes, climate uncertainties, and evolving technologies, we must embrace smart solutions to address the complex issues surrounding food production and distribution.



Smart solutions, he explained, encompass a range of strategies  from the adoption of modern technologies to the implementation of sustainable farming practices.



Precision agriculture, the use of data-driven insights, and the integration of smart irrigation systems, the use of early maturing varieties that are drought tolerant, the incorporation of the use of organic compost fertilizers, effective weed and insect pest management are just a few examples of how technology can revolutionize the way we cultivate and harvest our crops.



These innovations, he added, not only enhance efficiency but also contribute to environmental sustainability.



Resilience in agriculture goes beyond technology. It involves building strong and supportive communities, investing in the education and training of our farmers, and creating robust supply chains that can withstand external shocks.



It is in light of the above that this government, under the able leadership of H.E the President, is committed to providing the necessary infrastructure and support to ensure that our farmers have the tools they need to thrive in an ever-changing landscape, he stated.



On their part, Mr. Quartey revealed that the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (GARCC) on their part, has signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with TIAST Co-operation, China to industrialize and add value to agriculture to create jobs and ensure food security.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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While there are plenty of fun activities to do in South East Asia during the festive season, have you ever considered trying out FanDuel's online jackpot games? It's a great way to take a break from all the sightseeing and adventures and enjoy some thrilling fun indoors.



With a variety of games to choose from and exciting prizes up for grabs, you might just hit the jackpot and end up with some extra cash to splurge on your trip.



So, whether you're lounging in your hotel room or taking a break at a cozy cafe, give FanDuel's online jackpot games a try and add some excitement to your holiday experience. Who knows, you might just get lucky!



Trekking in the mountains of Vietnam

There's something special about trekking in the mountains of Vietnam. As you ascend higher and higher, the air becomes crisper and more refreshing, and the views become increasingly stunning. From the top, you can see miles of lush, verdant jungle, and if you're lucky, catch a glimpse of a waterfall cascading down the mountain.



The locals you meet along the way are incredibly friendly and will happily share their stories and traditions with you. And as you explore the winding paths and hidden valleys, you'll feel a sense of peace and tranquility that can only come from being surrounded by such natural beauty. A trek in the mountains of Vietnam is truly an unforgettable experience.



Island hopping in the Philippines

The Philippines is home to over 7,000 islands, each with its unique charm and character. Island hopping offers the perfect opportunity to explore this diverse archipelago and discover its rich culture.



Immerse yourself in the local traditions, sample delicious cuisine, and enjoy the warm hospitality of the Filipino people. Of course, it wouldn't be an island hopping adventure without the stunning beaches and crystal-clear waters that the Philippines is famous for.



Swim, snorkel, or simply relax on the sand, soaking up the sun and watching the world go by. With so much to see and do, island hopping in the Philippines is an experience that will leave you with memories to last a lifetime.



Shopping at night markets in Thailand

As night falls in Thailand, the bustling markets come to life, offering a feast for the senses. The colorful stalls at the night markets offer a wide range of items, from clothing to handmade crafts, perfect for finding that unique souvenir to bring back home.



These markets are also a great chance to try out the local cuisine, with vendors offering traditional dishes, such as papaya salad and sticky rice, as well as street food delicacies like fried insects and pork skewers.



Exploring the night markets in Thailand is an experience not to be missed for those who want to immerse themselves in the country's vibrant culture and flavorful cuisine.



Visiting temples in Cambodia

Visiting temples in Cambodia is an awe-inspiring experience that will take you back in time and leave you with a deeper appreciation for ancient civilizations. One must-see destination is Angkor Wat, a stunning temple complex that is widely considered to be one of the most significant archaeological sites in South East Asia.



Here, visitors can explore the intricately carved structures and learn about the fascinating history of the Khmer civilization that created them. Additionally, touring these temples provides an opportunity to witness traditional Cambodian architecture up close, making for a truly immersive cultural experience.



Overall, a trip to Cambodia's temples is a must for any history buff or adventurer looking for a unique and awe-inspiring adventure.



Cruising along the Mekong River

Hop on board and let the Mekong River take you on a journey like no other. As you cruise along, marvel at the vast and picturesque landscapes that stretch as far as the eye can see. Take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the small villages that line the riverbanks, each one with its unique charms and quirks waiting to be discovered.



Keep your eyes peeled for rare sightings of wildlife such as river dolphins and giant catfish that call this mighty river home. Step back in time and witness the timeless way of life that still thrives along the Mekong, creating memories that will last a lifetime.



From trekking in Vietnam to island hopping in the Philippines, from shopping at night markets in Thailand to visiting temples in Cambodia and cruising along the Mekong River, Southeast Asia is an incredible place waiting to be explored.



Whether youre looking for adventure or relaxation, culture or nature, theres something for everyone. With its endless opportunities and breathtaking beauty, it offers truly unforgettable experiences that will stay with you forever. So what are you waiting for? Plan your trip today and start creating amazing memories!









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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Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw says the 24-hour economy policy being proposed by NDC Flagbearer John Dramani Mahama to implement when elected as president will bring nothing but distress to the country.



He claimed the policy would be more of a problem than a solution to the economy.



There will be implications, even attendance to church will not be the same. Who will be going to the night church service if they must go to work, he said.



The controversial lawyer continued that the policy may also affect witchcraft.



Witchcraft is part of our religion, and this policy will affect witches and wizards at night. They need an environment to operate at night without any disturbances. Same as the gods of the land, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw told NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie' in an interview.



Watch the full interview below





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Atik Mohammed has dabbled in discussions on the drama that occurred in Parliament on Wednesday, November 29, regarding the 2024 budget.



The Majority in Parliament staged a walkout, disrupting the approval process for the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government for the year ending December 31, 2024.



The walkout occurred after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, put the motion on a voice vote and declared the "Ayes" by the Majority as having carried the motion but the ruling was challenged by the Minority Caucus who argued there was no clear distinction between the "Ayes" and the "Nays".



Invoking Order 113(2), the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Kofi Armah-Buah, called for a headcount or division to determine the outcome of the vote.



The Speaker heeded the Minority's request and instructed the House Clerks to conduct the headcount but this was met with opposition from the Majority Caucus who also argued that the Speaker had already declared the "Ayes" in favour of the motion and should stand by his ruling.



However, fearing they may lose the motion due to the absence of three Majority members, the Majority refused to participate in the voting process and walked out of the chamber.



Touching on the issue in a panel discussion on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Atik Mohammed described the walkout as a smart move.



To him, the Majority's decision was necessary to avoid what he termed a "tragedy" as it would have been difficult for them to gain approval of their budget.



To him, the Majority failed to put their house in order, hence their only option was to vacate their chamber so as to disrupt the proceedings.



"This was a smart move to avoid any tragedy...otherwise...this is unheard-of. That I have presented my budget but before I bring it to the House, I should have prepared myself adequately because I know what the Minority can do, so your house should be in order," he said.



He also believed the "ruling of the Speaker actually strengthens the strategy of the Majority to avoid any catastrophe" but advised the Majority to fully prepare themselves before they go to Parliament.



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Member of Parliament(MP) for Kwadaso constituency, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko has warned Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, to tread cautiously in response to his recent outburst against the Judiciary.



The Special Prosecutor, in a press conference on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, expressed his frustrations about how Judges are treating his corruption cases.



He complained bitterly about his cases being dismissed in court, describing this trend as troubling.



He said; "We do not force feed cases, we do not force feed our prosecutions. It is our belief that it is not a matter of us going beyond our mandate but rather a case of hasty dismissiveness and lack of regard because if you take the four cases I tabled out over a period of time spanning from July 2022 to Monday, there is a troubling trend."



He cautioned that this would gravely affect Ghana's economy noting that corruption erodes public trust in government and disturbs the development of the nation.



Indeed I have had several calls from well-meaning lawyers admonishing me that they have heard talk that our friends who have been elevated to the bench and presiding over cases in court do not take very kindly to criticism, especially of the public calling out variety as we do. And that if the office persists in the media releases, the judges will gang up against the office and throw out all our cases.



It will be absolutely of no good should it be the case that the OSP is set against the judiciary or that the judiciary is against the OSP. That will surely spell disastrous consequences for this republic, especially in the fight against corruption to the glee of corrupt persons, he intimated during the press conference.



He added, I do not intend to sound as though Im predicting doom, but we are facing doom. With this development, it will not be long [before] a suspected murderer or armed robber will boldly walk to court with the unthinkable prayer that the court should injunct law enforcement agencies from investigating him.



But the Kwadaso MP is of the view that Kissi Agyebeng is taking the wrong approach to addressing his concerns.



To him, the Special Prosecutor's behavior "indicts the Judiciary," hence warning him to desist from taking such a path.



"I plead with you, Kissi, to tread cautiously. If you are not careful, at the end of the day, people will see that you are doing nothing...We must all be very careful about that," he admonished during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning following a weeklong truce with the territorys ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300. The ministry had stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on Nov. 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but said Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people were wounded over the past two months.

With the collapse of the temporary truce, Israel had been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands. Some 2 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the southern half of the territory.

It was not clear if Israels military would heed appeals made Friday by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for more surgical strikes as it shifts its focus to southern Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Saturday that while he acknowledges Israels right to defend itself, there is no right to attack civilians.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using airstrikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships. This included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

People pass by a wall with photos of about 240 hostages who were abducted during the Oct. 7, Hamas attack on Israel. in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)AP

Several houses and buildings were hit. At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in the city of Deir al-Balah in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken. The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight airstrikes, including two children.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. Sirens were heard in communities near the Gaza Strip but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Along with the resumption of fighting, the military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarize themselves with the parcel number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis. Separately, the military also dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

The maps and leaflets generated panic, fear and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Unable to go back to northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometer (85-square-mile) area.

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis. They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Amal Radwan, who sheltered in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others in the shelter are not able to leave because of the relentless bombardment. We wont leave, she said. Here is death and there is death.

Amjad Abu Taha, a Palestinian teacher from Gaza City, alleged that Israel is trying to deceive the world by suggesting Gaza residents have the opportunity to seek safety. But all knows that no place is safe in Gaza, he said.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truces collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

The war began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the center of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House. President Joe Bidens administration has been emphasizing the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

On the sidelines of the conference, she met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Her office said Harris reiterated that the United States will not permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of the territory or the redrawing of its borders.

Blinken had previous talked publicly about these parameters.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized their rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians, stressing the need to work towards a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution.

The two leaders made their remarks while meeting on the sidelines of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidencys Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.

According to Fahmy, both leaders expressed deep regret for the resumption of hostilities and the resulting civilian casualties and condemned the targeting and killing of civilians in any form.

Furthermore, both sides agreed on the utmost importance of providing adequate humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and ensuring full protection for civilians.

The Palestinian health ministry said Saturday that 240 people had been killed in the strip since Friday.

Another 650 people had been injured in "hundreds of air strikes, artillery, and navy bombardments," it said in a statement, adding that Israeli forces had "particularly targeted Khan Younis, where dozens of houses were destroyed with their inhabitants inside.

During his talks with the Japanese PM, El-Sisi emphasized the high esteem and appreciation that Egypt holds for Japan and its rich culture on both official and popular levels.

In this regard, El-Sisi reaffirmed Egypts commitment to enhancing and continuing the strategic partnership and cooperation between the two friendly nations in various fields, particularly in industry, transportation, energy, education, tourism, and culture.

For his part, Kishida welcomed positive developments in the bilateral relationship, commending Egypt's developmental achievements, especially the implementation of major projects.

This success has encouraged Japanese companies to increase their activities in Egypt, taking advantage of the investment opportunities provided by these projects, he explained, as per the statement.

Additionally, the two leaders highlighted the special importance of bilateral cooperation and political consultation between Egypt and Japan, considering Egypt's pivotal role in the regional and Middle Eastern context.

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The tractors are back at work clearing land and building access roads for a $10 billion transmission line that the Biden administration describes as an important part of the nations transition to renewable energy. But Native American leaders have vowed to keep pushing the federal government to heed their concerns about the project cutting through a culturally significant valley in southern Arizona.

Billed by California-based developer Pattern Energy as an infrastructure undertaking bigger than the Hoover Dam, the SunZia transmission line will stretch about 550 miles (885 kilometers). It will funnel electricity from massive wind farms in central New Mexico to more populated areas as far away as California.

Executives and federal officials gathered in New Mexico in September to break ground on the project, touting negotiations that spanned years and resulted in the necessary approvals from the Bureau of Land Management.

In Arizona, federal land managers briefly halted work this month along a 50-mile (80-kilometer) stretch of the line through the San Pedro Valley after the Tohono Oodham Nation, other tribes and archaeologists raised concerns that the BLM had not formally consulted them before work began.

The Bureau of Land Management lifted the temporary suspension and work resumed Wednesday. The agency scheduled a Dec. 11 meeting with tribal leaders.

Federal land managers in a letter sent Monday to the developer said the timing of the information provided by the tribes relative to the many years that have gone into planning and permitting did not support pausing work. The agency noted that the right of way through the valley was issued in 2015.

The SunZia transmission line project is an important part of transitioning our nation to a clean energy economy by creating jobs, lowering energy costs and boosting local economies, and the BLM is committed to implementing it with as little impact as possible, agency spokesman Brian Hires said in a statement.

The BLM said it had met with tribal representatives during the pause and that it would work with tribes to evaluate whether the valley could be classified as a traditional cultural property while mitigating effects from the transmission line on cultural and archaeological sites. The agency said it has not received information on any additional cultural sites beyond those previously identified.

Tohono Oodham Chairman Verlon M. Jose said he was disappointed but not surprised that the federal government opted to move ahead before meeting its obligation to consult with the tribes.

Its more than a slap in the face. Its a punch to the gut, he said during an interview Wednesday. They reversed course and allowed construction to continue before the meeting could actually take place. You know, it is difficult to describe this decision as anything other than acting in bad faith.

Jose said bulldozers have been clearing roads and pads for the massive towers that will support the high-voltage lines so damage already has been done to land that contains what he described as a high concentration of sacred sites. He said tribal members are frustrated.

This means a lot to us, he said of the rolling hills and mountains that make up the region. There has not been true, meaningful consultation on this  all these years. And if we had worked together to address these issues, Im sure we could have mitigated the concerns here.

He added that the Tohono Oodham people have cultural and traditional responsibilities that call for them to care for the land and for people. As part of that, he said the tribe supports efforts to address climate change but insisted that development needs to be done in such a way that cultural and historic sites are given appropriate consideration under federal laws and regulations.

Like Jose, other tribal leaders have complained that the federal government often treats the consultation process as a check-the-box practice despite promises by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that tribes would have a seat at the table. From Nevada and New Mexico to Alaska, permitting decisions over mining projects and oil and development for example have highlighted what some tribal leaders say are shortcomings in the process.

Developers of the SunZia project argue that they have worked with tribes over the years and surveys were done to identify cultural resources in the San Pedro Valley.

Natalie McCue, Pattern Energys assistant vice president for environmental and permitting activities, said the company will continue to support the consultation process between the federal government and tribes and will adopt mitigation measures that might result from the talks.

More than a decade in the making, SunZias line would be capable of transporting more than 3,500 megawatts of new wind power to 3 million people in the West. Its expected to begin commercial service in 2026.

In New Mexico, the route was modified after the U.S. Defense Department raised concerns about the effects of the high-voltage lines on radar systems and military training operations. Environmentalists also were worried about impacts on wildlife habitat and migratory bird flight patterns in the Rio Grande Valley.

There are similar ecological concerns in the San Pedro Valley. The transmission line is at the heart of a legal challenge pending before the Arizona Court of Appeals over whether state regulatory officials there properly considered the benefits and consequences of the project.

__

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexico is creating a new advisory council that will be charged with implementing a state plan for responding to cases of missing or slain Native Americans, with top state officials vowing Tuesday that the work will lead to more people being found and families gaining closure.

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams announcement follows criticism from advocates who feared the state was losing momentum after the governor dissolved the task force that came up with the plan more than a year ago.

Advocates on Tuesday renewed their criticism, saying work to implement the plan has stalled and that communication among law enforcement and victims families remains one of the biggest problems. That issue was acknowledged by the governor as she announced the next step in New Mexico to address what has been described as a crisis for Indigenous communities both in the United States and Canada.

Bringing more law enforcement to the table will help address a major crux of this issue: a lack of coordination among federal, tribal, state and local entities, Lujan Grisham said in a statement. The work of this group will help bring missing Native people home, provide closure to families and communities, and prevent other families from experiencing these tragedies.

Pojoaque Pueblo Gov. Jenelle Roybal and Picuris Pueblo Gov. Craig Quanchello will lead the council. The two are in the final stages of selecting the other council members.

Lujan Grishams office did not say how many members will be part of the council, and state Indian Affairs Secretary James Mountain did not provide many details to lawmakers when he mentioned the new council during a meeting Tuesday in Albuquerque.

Darlene Gomez, an attorney who has been helping families with missing relatives, said she was disappointed that there didnt seem to be much of a plan beyond announcing that a council would be formed.

The state response plan was done in May of 2022 and there were short-term goals that should have already been met, Gomez said. They cannot point to what goals theyve met.

The Indian Affairs Department did not immediately respond when asked what Mountain and agency officials believed should be priorities for the new council or what actions could be taken in the short term to begin implementing the states plan.

Nationally, federal officials are weighing the recommendations of a special commission that spent more than a year gathering comments and talking with tribal leaders, families, health care providers and other experts about the best ways for tackling the high rate of violence in tribal communities.

The U.S. Interior and Justice departments are under a mandate to respond to the recommendations early next year.

Meanwhile, many states have established their own task forces and commissions to study the problem. In neighboring Arizona  which has the third-largest Native American population in the U.S.  commissioners are facing a Dec. 1 deadline for rolling out their first report. It is to include recommendations for legislative and administrative changes in that state.

Other states such as Alaska have issued reports on the number of missing people, but advocates say the data is limited because of the way cases are often reported and tracked.

The recommendations crafted by the federal Not Invisible Act Commission are not unlike those included in New Mexicos state response plan. Both documents acknowledge the complexity of the problem, from its roots in historic policies that sought to cut Native American and Alaska Natives ties with their language and culture to current day public safety and public health challenges.

__

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
Police in Lancaster County responded to a crash on 28th Division Highway (State Route 322) Friday that left two people dead and several others injured.

The Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department was sent to the section of the highway near the Lancaster-Lebanon county line at 11:45 a.m. and reported two fatalities and multiple injuries, according to a police report.

The initial dispatch came in as a head-on collision, according to police.

Those who were injured were taken to local hospitals, but the number of people injured and their conditions was not included in the police report.

The names, ages, and addresses of the two deceased individuals have not been released at this time.

The Lancaster County Crash Team, Lancaster County Coroners Office, and Brickerville Fire Company also responded to the crash.
BURLINGTON, Vt.  Nearly a week after three college students of Palestinian descent were shot and seriously wounded while taking an evening walk, relatives of two of the victims have arrived in Vermont from the war-torn West Bank, grappling with a new reality that has shattered their lives and a place they thought was a safe haven.

Elizabeth Price and her husband Ali Awartani flew in Wednesday just as their son, Hisham Awartani, underwent surgery. After the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October, they decided it would be safer for Hisham to stay in the United States instead of coming home for the holidays.

Now they dont know if he will ever walk again.

When my nephew came to this country to pursue his studies and when he came to stay with me for Thanksgiving in Burlington, Vermont, it never occurred to me that he may be victim to this type of violence, Awartanis uncle Rich Price said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. And so I feel a sense of shame, I feel a sense of outrage, and its been a really difficult awakening to the fact that even here  even in this country, even in this town  that many of the risks that exist for my nephew and his friends in Palestine exist for them here.

Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, all age 20 and attending colleges in the eastern U.S., were visiting Price and his family for the holiday break. The three have been friends since first grade at Ramallah Friends School, a private school in the West Bank. While they were out for a walk Saturday evening after a family birthday party, a man approached them and shot them without saying a word, they told police.

The young men were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said.

Abdalhamid ran when the man started shooting and jumped over a fence. He hid in a backyard for a minute shaking, fearing the man was after him and that his friends were dead, before going to a house that had lights on and urging them to call 911, he told the AP on Friday. He learned at the University of Vermont Medical Center that his friends were alive but more seriously injured and asked to be placed in the intensive care room with them, he said.

Palestinians in general and in the U.S. are suffering from hate. I dont think any race or ethnicity should be targeted like that, Abdalhamid said in the hotel where hes staying with his mother, Tamara Tamimi, after being released from the hospital earlier in the week.

Tamimi arrived in Vermont Wednesday from Jerusalem. After she and her husband got the 3 a.m. phone call that her son and his two friends were shot, she said she was relieved to talk to Kinnan from the emergency room  that he was alive. But she later fell apart, she said.

I remember the overwhelming feeling was enough. Its just enough. Its enough pain for Palestinians. Were already grieving. Were already carrying so much grief, she said. I really just fell apart and started throwing things around with so much anger saying, Theres nowhere safe for us. Theres no where safe for Palestinians. Where are we supposed to go?

Ahmads parents are expected to arrive in Vermont on Saturday.

Carmen Abdelhadi, the middle school librarian at the Ramallah Friends School, remembers meeting the three as fourth graders. When she heard about the shooting, she and others in their community were shocked and outraged because we know them.

Whenever I read something about them, I cry. It could have happened to any of our sons. My son is wearing the same scarf, she said. Its devastating. Its devastating on top of everything that we are going through.

Awartani, she recalled, could always be found with a book while Abdalhamid didnt have a bad bone in his body and was loved by everyone, she said. And Ahmad, she said, was the sensible one who found a love of poetry early on and went on to show an aptitude in science and tech.

I see my son in every one of them, Abdelhadi said.

Awartani suffered a spinal injury in the shooting. A bullet that is still lodged in his spine is unlikely to be removed and he is currently paralyzed from the chest down, Rich Price said. We dont know what the long-term prognosis is, he said.

Still, Awartanis uncle said he has the will and resilience for the recovery.

He was concerned for his friends, who were with him, their well-being and recovery. And he was also deeply concerned that so much attention was being brought to him and hes thinking about the thousands of people that are dead, the now 80 percent of Gazans who have been displaced from their homes, Price said, wearing a keffiyeh in solidarity with the three young men. There are dozens of Hishams that are in the list of the dead in Gaza, and hes saying, Im the Hisham that you know. What about the Hishams you dont know?

The shooting last weekend came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. in the weeks since the war began.

The suspected gunman, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested Sunday at his apartment, where he answered the door with his hands raised and told federal agents he had been waiting for them. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail.

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible a hate crime.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is warning consumers to throw out Hilltop Meadow Farm brand 60 Day Aged Pepper Jack Raw Milk Cheese with best by dates of Sept. 21, 2023 or earlier due to Listeria contamination.

Testing of the cheese confirmed the presence of the harmful bacteria and has led the farm to voluntarily recall the affected cheese, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

No illnesses have been reported to date, the agency noted.

The Pepper Jack Raw Milk Cheese was sold in half-pound, 1-pound, 2.5-pound, and 5-pound varieties at Hilltop Meadow Farms Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, store, as well as the following locations:

Whole Earth Center, 360 Nassau St, Princeton, New Jersey

Healthy Way, 396 S Main St, Massena, New York

Meadow Run Farms, 727 Rettew Mill Road, Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Shady Acres Farm Market, 8514 Elizabethtown Road, Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Willow Haven Farm, 7686 Herber Road, New Tripoli, Leigh County, Pennsylania

Healthy Habits Natural Market, 1120 Center Turnpike, Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Little Leaf Natural Products, 505 S Main Street, Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania

Northstar Bison Store, 225 Birch Avenue, Cameron, Wisconsin

The tainted cheese is labeled with the words Hilltop Meadow Farm as well as From A2/A2 Milk and Made from 100% Grassfed Cows Milk.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
WILLIAMSPORT  Lycoming County will receive $2.9 million in an out-of-court settlement over a liner issue with a storage tank at its landfill for which a York County firm was the general contractor.

The settlement approved Thursday by the county commissioners resolves the lengthy legal action over the high-density polyethylene double liner in the 5.5-million-gallon concrete leachate tank.

Lobar Inc. of Dillsburg began work on the contract in 2012 and finished the concrete part a year later. A subcontractor, Golder Associates Inc., completed the liner in 2014.

Cummings & Smith Inc., the landfill engineers, following tests in April 2014 concluded the tank wall and floor liner passed the hydrostatic test requirements of the contract.

However, the state Department of Environmental Protection did not consider the tank liner testing to be valid.

That resulted in the engineers requiring Lobar to find and correct the supposedly defective liner system which it and Golder did.

In January 2016 Lobar submitted a $695,147 change order for the extra work which the county commissioners rejected.

Lobar in 2017 sued the county and Cummings & Smith in county court claiming the tank liner design was faulty. The county contended Lobar had not questioned the design until May 2016.

The county then sued the engineers and Federal Insurance Co. Inc. of Wayne, N.J., which provided Lobars performance bond, to recover its costs for investigating and remediating the liner problem. The two cases were consolidated.

Lobar brought Golder into the litigation but later dismissed its claims against the Canadian company as part of a cooperation agreement.

Under the terms of the settlement, reached through mediation without admission of liability, Lobar will pay $1.15 million, Cummings & Smith, $1.01 million and Golder, $750,000.

Cummings and Golder are to make full payment within 30 days the settlement is fully executed. Lobar is to pay $750,000 in that time period and the rest by Jan. 15.

Since the county needed the tank to get approval to expand the landfill, it awarded a $1.28 million contract to Envirocon Systems Inc. of Houston, Texas, to install the new liner.

An application for a permit to use the tank with the new liner is under review by DEP.

Leachate, which is water contaminated by passing through garbage, is pumped from the landfill to two sewage treatment plants.

Two lagoons currently are used for storage when the amount of leachate exceeds what the treatment plants can accept.
By Mark S. Singel

In a previous column, I noted that the Trump time bomb is ticking. We will be deep into the presidential primary season soon, and candidates will be well on their way to locking up their respective party nominations after the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary in early 2024.

Despite the waterfall of charges faced by the former president, he has the continued support of hardline supporters. These are people who refuse to acknowledge the role that Trump played in disrupting the peaceful transition of power. They are folks who dont seem to care that Trump has accumulated a record of fraud and worse behavior in his personal life.

Most Americans do care about the integrity of their leaders and believe we need to elect a president with an agenda that goes beyond his own grudges. Two recent developments show that Republican donors and opinion leaders are beginning to wean away from the Trump chaos.

In the lead up to the always unpredictable Iowa Caucuses, Gov. Ron DeSantis has secured the support of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the hugely influential evangelical Christian leader, Bob Vander Plaats. In her endorsement, Gov. Reynolds said DeSantis was the most effective leader Ive ever seen.

Vander Plaats was more specific about his reasons for throwing in with DeSantis: In an interview with the Des Moines Register, he said: (DeSantis) is exceptionally accomplished. Hes campaigning the right way and building the infrastructure the right way; hes done the Iowa caucuses the right way.

While the Vander Plaats endorsement is designed to motivate Christian conservatives  a powerful voting bloc  it carries with it a vulnerability that the Democrats were quick to pounce upon. The Democratic National Committee quickly pointed out that: Vander Plaats endorsement should come as no surprise  both he and DeSantis share the same desire to ban abortion and rip away freedoms from millions of women. Trump himself has recognized the power of the post-Dobbs womens rights movement and has called excessive restrictions like a six-week ban on abortions a terrible mistake.

Too little, too late say most women and moderates in both parties. Trumps hand-picked Supreme Court appointees eviscerated Roe v. Wade and there will be a price to pay next November.

In the meantime, there is further evidence of cracks in Trumps wall of support. A significant recent development may be the full-throated support that Nikki Haley has received from the Koch brothers. In a statement announcing its choice for president, the network funded by Charles and David Koch made it clear they were leaving both the Trump and DeSantis camps behind. A spokesman for the Koch network said that they were confident that Haley would win the key independent and moderate voters that Trump has no chance to win.

In addition to a blunt rejection of Trump as the GOP standard-bearer, the Kochs signaled an intensive, well-funded effort to bolster Haleys organizational efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire. There has already been a noticeable surge in Haleys numbers as a result.

Predictably, the Trump campaign responded in sophomoric fashion, attacking both the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and Nikki Haley herself. The campaign released a statement that included these gems: Americans for Prosperity  the political arm of the China First, America Last movement  has chosen to endorse a pro-China, open borders, and globalist candidate in Nikki Birdbrain Haley.

So, what do current polls show about the candidates today? Across the country, Trump maintains a firm grip on GOP voters. The recent 538 Polling averages have Trump at about 65%, DeSantis at 37%, and Haley at 16%. But the twists and turns in early primary states matter. In the hand-to-hand combat of the Iowa Caucuses, key endorsements and candidates organizational skills are beginning to show. The race there is a lot closer: Trump 45%, DeSantis 17%, Haley 15%.

At some point, the bombast and baggage of the Trump candidacy will give way to a more sensible approach to winning the presidency. Recent developments show that it is beginning to happen.

The problem, of course, is the campaign clock. Republican voters must take stock of the alternatives in the coming weeks. If enough can see the danger of Trumps actions and incendiary rhetoric, there may be hope that a more rational candidate can emerge.

Mark S. Singel is a former Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor of Pennsylvania
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has decried Americas dark and depraved culture, but is all-in with Donald Trump for president. There can be no better example of darkness and depravity than Donald Trump.

He has been married three times and is accused of carrying on adulterous affair while still married. A porn star says he had sex with her a few months before his wife Melania gave birth. And he admitted to authorizing payments to the porn star before the 2016 election.

There is the case of E. Jean Carroll in which the judge ruled that sexual assault against her occurred. There is the Access Hollywood recording in which Trump brags that he has the right to grab women by the genitals. There is clear evidence of misogyny in his treatment of female journalists and the law clerk in the fraud trial in NYC.

There was a settlement of $25 million in the Trump University fraud case before he assumed office. There is a finding of massive tax evasion for the Trump Organization, and the recent ruling in NYC of fraud by Judge Engoron.

The claim that the 91 felony charges and four criminal indictments against Trump across numerous jurisdictions involving both Republican and Democratic appointed judges and prosecutors and numerous law enforcement agencies is part of a deep state conspiracy is laughable and delusional.

Given the established depravity of Donald Trump, perhaps an initial step for Mike Johnson would be to track any searches regarding Donald Trump on his sons phone as a corrupting influence.

George Magakis, Norristown, Pa.
Lawyers representing Ibrahim Ali are continuing their closing remarks at his first-degree murder trial at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. Media wait outside the court, in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met separately on Saturday with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, and Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan, on the sidelines of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai.

During their meetings, El-Sisi, along with the leaders, affirmed their keenness to strengthen and deepen their countries strategic partnerships, according to the Spokesman for Egypt's Presidency Ahmed Fahmy.

El-Sisi and Harris affirmed that the Egypt-US partnership is an important pillar of security and stability in the Middle East, expressing mutual aspiration to increase coordination and consultation.

They also discussed regional political and security issues, especially Israels war on Gaza.

Harris told Sisi that under no circumstance, the United States will permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

Harris discussed with Sisi efforts for reconstruction, security, and governance in Gaza, stating that they can only succeed if they are pursued in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people toward a state of their own led by a revitalized Palestinian Authority, the statement added.

Both sides agreed on the need to protect civilians and prevent the conflict from expanding, affirming their categorical rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians.

El-Sisi pointed to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the need for the international community to act immediately to provide aid to alleviate residents suffering.

The president further expressed Egypts rejection of collective punishment, which is a violation of international humanitarian law.

He also affirmed Egypts firm position regarding the Palestinian cause, which calls for reaching a just and comprehensive solution that guarantees the rights of the Palestinians to establish their independent state per international resolutions.

Lithuanian president

During their meeting, El-Sisi and his Lithuanian counterpart affirmed their desire to enhance bilateral relations and coordinate on political issues.

Egypt's president welcomed the activity of several Lithuanian companies in Egypt and looked forward to intensifying cooperation in various fields.

Both presidents also discussed challenges facing African and European countries, mainly irregular migration and terrorism, which require coordination between both sides to reach effective solutions.

They also discussed and exchanged views on the developments in the Gaza Strip, as well as the developments of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and its negative repercussions on the global economy.

Armenian president

El-Sisi and the president of Armenia discussed regional developments in the Middle East and South Caucasus regions.

They also emphasized the unique history of Egyptian-Armenian relations at the official and popular levels, stressing the need to strengthen cooperation, especially at the tourism, cultural, trade, economic, and security levels.

El-Sisi arrived in Dubai Thursday to participate in the presidential segment of COP28, which is being hosted by the UAE from 30 November to 12 December.

In his speech on Friday, El-Sisi called for global cooperation to achieve climate action goals, noting the gravity of current political and international challenges, coinciding with the pressing consequences of climate change.

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Fiddle and guitar instructor Jeff Andrew is with his student Max Danyluk at the Penticton Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts at historic Leir House. This photo appeared on Page 1 of the Thursday, March 23, 2023 print edition of The Penticton Herald.
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As a presidential candidate, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has wrapped himself in the evangelical movement, but in private DeSantis is a massive fraud.

NBC News reported:

Many elected officials choose to be sworn into office on a religious text with some sort of personal meaning. But for DeSantis, this moment was preceded by scrambling by campaign and inauguration staffers caught off-guard when DeSantis, who is Catholic, told them his family did not own a Bible and he did not care whether he used one with historical significance, five former aides said.



Staff members for DeSantis had to buy a Bible for $21.74 on Amazon and have it shipped to the Republican Party of Florida headquarters less than a week before his inauguration, according to a receipt of the transaction shared with NBC News.



People are typically sworn in on something that is historic  a family Bible or something with historic value, a former DeSantis staffer said. It was profoundly strange that he did not care at all and treated it like it was nothing.

Just like Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis appears to be a massive God fraud. DeSantis, who is Catholic, but has engaged in a non-stop courtship of evangelicals appears to be just like Donald Trump. The former president says all the right things to evangelicals in public, but has reportedly mocked them in private for their faith, and views right-wing evangelicals as just another constituency to be appeased.

Right-wing evangelical voters have not seemed to care if Trump and DeSantis are genuine in their faith. They only care about the transactional politics of the relationship.

President Biden is a person of devoted faith who attends church every week, but right-wing evangelicals support Donald Trump.

Faith doesnt seem to matter to these people, and the picture that is being painted of Ron DeSantis is one of a man who has no core beliefs or values.

Gov. DeSantis looks to be as inauthentic as his height in shoes.

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While speaking in Iowa, Donald Trump urged his supporters to go to cities like Detroit and Philadelphia and intimidate non-white voters.

Trump pushes his false stolen election claims but also adds something else:

So and everybody knows it and they know it. You know, the one thing they dont want to talk about is the election. They dont want to because theyre guilty as hell. They cheated like hell. They know it and youll never find out all the ways. But we dont need all the ways because you know, it was I think 22,000 votes separated it and we have millions and millions of votes.

Its a very sad thing. So the most important part of whats coming up is to guard the vote. And you should go into Detroit, and you should go into Philadelphia, and you should go into some of these places, Atlanta. And you should go into some of these places, and we gotta watch those votes when they come in.

When theyre being, you know, shoved around in wheelbarrows and dumped on the floor and everyones saying, Whats going on? Were like a third world nation. A third world nation, and we cant let it happen.

Video:

Trump: The most important part of what is coming up is to guard the vote, and you should go into Detroit, Philadelphia, and some of these places, Atlanta, and you should go into some of these places, and we have to watch those votes.. pic.twitter.com/wDJ4QrlBBx  Acyn (@Acyn) December 2, 2023

Trump is broadcasting to the entire nation what he is going to do to steal the 2024 election. Trump is going to try to stop Democratic voters from voting with intimidation and threats of violence. Attorney General Merrick Garland should be at the ready to provide election monitors to cities around the country, and potentially prosecute Trump supporters who attempt to make the election unsafe for voters in American cities.

Donald Trump isnt hiding his authoritarian intentions. All the American people have to do is listen, and Trump will tell them exactly what he intends to do.

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Higher energy and housing prices boosted overall U.S. inflation in December, a sign that the Federal Reserves drive to slow inflation to its 2% target will likely remain a bumpy one. Overall prices rose 0.3% from November and 3.4% from 12 months earlier. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, though, so-called core prices rose just 0.3% month over month. Core prices were up 3.9% from a year earlier  the mildest such pace since May 2021. Economists pay particular attention to core prices because, by excluding costs that typically jump around from month to month, they are seen as a better guide to the likely path of inflation. Read moreU.S. inflation edges up, fueled by energy and housing prices, but many other costs rise only mildly
UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday honoured the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in a ceremony held as part of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) hosted by the UAE at Expo City Dubai.

The eleven winners of this year's edition were unanimously selected in September by the jury after a thorough review of all candidates to assess their contributions and commitment to presenting innovative, impactful, and inspiring solutions across various prize categories, including Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action, and Global High Schools, a Wam news agency report said.

The ceremony was attended by numerous heads of delegations participating in COP28, ministers, senior government officials, and prize winners and finalists.

His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in promoting sustainability and encouraging them to continue their important contributions in this field. He emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in building upon its established legacy in sustainability, a foundation laid by the countrys Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

In this regard, He highlighted the significant role of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable development, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute towards making a positive difference for our planet.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize aims to perpetuate the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan by honouring and supporting small and medium enterprises, non-profit organisations, and secondary schools that offer sustainable solutions addressing challenges in health, food, energy, water, and climate. Over more than 15 years, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of 384 million people worldwide through the innovative solutions presented by its 106 winners.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize also focuses on promoting youth engagement in sustainability through its Global High Schools category, which encourages youth to play active roles in supporting their communities and leading future sustainability efforts. The winners in this category, numbering 47 global high schools, have positively impacted the lives of more than 55,186 students and 453,887 people in their local communities.

During the ceremony, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Director-General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, stated: In line with the vision and direction of the leadership, the Zayed Sustainability Prize has been contributing to inclusive sustainable development and advancing climate action for over 15 years. Today, the UAE reaffirms its commitment to stimulating action to mitigate climate change impacts, empowering communities in need of support, and creating positive change in the world, especially in the Global South.

The winners in the Climate Action category include:

* Kelp Blue Namibia, recognised for its ambitious efforts in cultivating extensive seaweed forests in deep waters. The company has contributed to the restoration of ocean biodiversity and the sequestration of 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, in addition to creating job opportunities in coastal communities.

* In the Health category, the Indonesian organisation DoctorSHARE was honoured for its pioneering work in delivering healthcare to remote and hard-to-reach areas through its floating hospitals. The organisation has made a widespread positive impact, treating more than 160,000 patients.

* The Gaza Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine emerged as the winner in the Food category, commended for its contributions to supporting Gaza's agricultural sector. This non-profit organisation facilitates access to locally produced food and has provided employment opportunities for about 200 women in agriculture, benefiting over 7,000 individuals.

* In the Energy category, Ignite Power from Rwanda was recognised for its significant efforts in providing affordable electricity to remote communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The company has supplied solar power solutions to 2.5 million people through a pay-as-you-go model, thereby avoiding 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. They have also introduced innovative solar-powered irrigation solutions, creating 3,500 job opportunities in local communities.

* For the Water category, the French non-profit organisation Eau Et Vie was awarded for ensuring access to clean water in impoverished areas by installing water taps directly in homes in urban regions. The organisation has facilitated water access for 52,000 people across 27 neighbourhoods in 10 cities, raised health practice awareness among 66,000 individuals, and reduced water costs by 75 percent.

* The recipients of the Global High Schools awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru), representing the Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy (Nigeria), representing sub-Saharan Africa; International School (Morocco), representing the Middle East North Africa; Northfleet Technology College (United Kingdom), representing Europe Central Asia; KORT Education Complex (Pakistan), representing South Asia; and finally, Beijing High School No. 35 (China), representing East Asia Pacific.

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said, This year's winners have demonstrated a remarkable wave of ingenuity in their solutions to address urgent global challenges. We have confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us towards vital climate action objectives and forging a path to a sustainable future for all.
The United Arab Emirates said Friday it is launching a new $30 billion private investment fund focused on climate projects in developing countries.

The oil-rich host of the crunch United Nations COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai said it hopes the fund, called Alterra, will stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.

"I am pleased to announce the establishing of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions," UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told the summit.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE's national oil company ADNOC, will chair the board of the new fund, according to a statement.

It said the fund "will drive forward international efforts to create a fairer climate finance system, with an emphasis on improving access to funding for the Global South."

Emerging markets and developing economies, except China, will need to spend $2.4 trillion every year to address their climate and development needs, according to a UN economic expert panel, far above the current levels of investments.

The UAE initiative is seen as part of the country's broader strategy for COP28, pushing to involve the private sector while voluntarily pledging big sums.

Money has already been set aside to develop more than six gigawatts of clean energy capacity in India, including building wind and solar projects by 2025, the statement said.

Other projects in Africa and Latin America were also being explored, it added.

Asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG are launch partners of the fund, according to the statement.

The UAE sees itself as a bridge between the rich developed nations most responsible for historic emissions and the rest of the world, which has contributed less to global warming but suffers its worst consequences.

But the decision for it to host has attracted a firestorm of criticism -- particularly the appointment of ADNOC's Jaber to steer the talks.

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New Italian and Thai dining spots, along with two new bagel shops, soon will be cooking across the Lowcountry. Also, a new retailer is on the way to the peninsula, a longtime Summerville shop changes hands, and a new cafe and market officially opens Jan. 11 in Mount Pleasant. Read moreNew restaurants coming to Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Moncks Corner
NORTH CHARLESTON  Off Azalea Drive near the back of a long-established cemetery lies a wide expanse of marsh next to the Ashley River.

Traffic rushes across the nearby Cosgrove Avenue bridge, and the rumble of cars from Interstate 26 is not far away.

The marshy land and its smattering of trees near the cloverleaf intersection soon will make up a swath of protected acreage where city officials hope to one day add boardwalks and pedestrian paths to make it accessible to the public.

A longer-range plan envisions a pedestrian walkway along Cosgrove Avenue that will connect with Sam Rittenberg Boulevard on the West Ashley side.

Using greenbelt funds from Charleston County, the state's third-largest municipality has a contract to purchase the 173-acre site from The Beach Co., a longtime Charleston-based real estate developer. The $710,00 deal is expected to close by year's end, according to city grants coordinator Shannon Praete.

A representative for the seller did not respond to a request for comment.

North Charleston officials also envision connecting the preserved area, which includes mostly marshy land on both sides of Cosgrove closest to the river, with a small park that will be created behind the developing North Bridge Townhomes.

The back side of the townhome site off Azalea Drive at Meridian Road is adjacent to a 5-acre wetlands parcel also owned by the nonprofit that's developing the multifamily units. The land is next to Cosgrove.
SUMTER COUNTY  George and Jonathan Hilton moved into a new home in Crescent Mobile Home Park nearly three years ago. There's a fence separating their community from Shaw Air Force Base. At first, they didn't mind. Every night at 5 p.m., they hear the Star-Spangled Banner from over the fence line.

But they soon found out that something dangerous was drifting in from the same direction, a cocktail of toxins causing them to reconsider life there.

Every month, a truck delivers eight 5-gallon jugs of water to the Hiltons' driveway. The U.S. Department of Defense pays for it. According to a spokesman for the base, 176 nearby residences and two other mobile home parks currently receive the same delivery because their well water contains harmful levels of so-called "forever chemicals."

The government acknowledges that the U.S. military's activities at Shaw have contaminated their water, as well as thousands of private drinking water wells around 63 military bases in 29 states nationwide.

Next year, the number of residents eligible for free bottled water could double. But only if the military's standards keep up with the Environmental Protection Agency's new stricter limits, anticipated for 2024.

Newly released government data shows that hundreds more wells around the Shaw base are testing at dangerous levels of the toxins commonly called PFAS. Scientists know them as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

The chemicals are synthetic and, once they get into the environment, they dont break down. A PFAS chemical was once the secret sauce that made Teflon famous for making non-stick pans. They are still found in an abundance of water- and grease-resistant products.

The chemicals are also closely associated with an industrial firefighting foam the Air Force used for decades during accidents and training exercises.

Elevated PFAS levels in the human body have been linked to a laundry list of health effects, including decreased fertility, high blood pressure during pregnancy, developmental delays in children, hormonal disruption, reduction of the immune system and an increased risk of certain cancers.
In the last year, the Pathways Project at Woodland Cemetery has made changes to the sidewalks and accessibility in the final resting place that contains three separate burial grounds with hundreds of formerly unmarked graves. Read moreHistoric Woodland Cemetery reopens after pathway paving project
South Carolina might be seeing an increase of newly diagnosed cases of HIV, according to a Post and Courier analysis.

But that is not necessarily a bad thing if it means people who were previously infected and did not know it are now getting tested and treated, clinic officials said as they commemorated World AIDS Day.

South Carolina went from 652 new diagnoses in 2021 among those age 13 or older to 770 in 2022  an increase of 18 percent  and was on track to surpass that this year with 430 cases through June, according to an analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Charleston County went from 58 new HIV cases in 2021 to 76 in 2022, a 31 percent increase, while Greenville had a 16 percent increase from 66 to 77 new cases and Columbia had a slight decline from 102 to 98 in 2022, according to the analysis.

The CDC has cautioned about using data from 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic caused a severe disruption in testing nationwide, so many new cases might not have been picked up during those years. People being infected and not knowing it has been a problem in preventing the spread of the disease, and the fact that new cases are up could actually be a good sign, advocates said.

Of the roughly 20,000 people with HIV in South Carolina, the CDC estimates 16 percent do not know it, said Ali Mansaray, director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's STD, HIV and Viral Hepatitis Division.

The Kilby Clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina has seen a "slight increase" in new cases, many among younger patients, but that could be because a dip in testing during the pandemic means more are being caught now, said Stephanie Kirk, a clinical pharmacist at the clinic who works with new patients.

"It might be a movement to test more frequently as well," she said.

The Roper St. Francis Health Services Center has seen an increase in cases since 2020, and its numbers have been increasing over the last 20 years, "which is good, because it means we are bringing people into care and they're staying in care," said Aaron O'Brien, grants data manager for the clinic.
NOTE: Some of these events may have been canceled or postponed. Please check with the organizers. Call 843-873-9424 ext. 220 or email broberts@journalscene.com to add an event to this free calendar. Read moreCommunity calendar
Service dogs  youve seen them walking around with their recognizable harnesses. But have you ever wondered what it takes to prepare a pup to become a life-changing, confidence-boosting, freedom-giving companion? Read moreBetween the Stacks: Southeastern Guide Dogs program
Built in 1990, Inlet Square Mall has deteriorated over the years. Much of the mall is expected to be razed as part of a new redevelopment project. Charles D. Perry/Staff
It's getting rough out there for the pups. A respiratory dog illness found in more than a dozen states has arrived in South Carolina.

The canine infectious respiratory disease has been confirmed at an unidentified animal hospital in Aiken County, according to a Facebook post from Veterinary Services of Aiken.

The illness, which first was detected in August on the West Coast, remains a bit of a mystery. Its similar to kennel cough but doesnt respond well to antibiotics, according to the Veterinary Services of Aiken. In some cases, it has progressed to pneumonia.

Laura Shuler, a veterinarian with the Animal Hospitals of the Lowcountry in Mount Pleasant, wrote in an email to The Post and Courier that this is not really a new issue. Theres been an uptick in respiratory illnesses in dogs in the last few years, and its just a matter of identifying the underlying cause or causes, she wrote.

Multiple factors could be involved, Shuler wrote, including how the COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in dog ownership while quarantining individuals and citywide closures disrupted the usual care routines for pets.

Other factors could include insufficiently vaccinated pets and underlying conditions that could make them more susceptible to the spreading bug.

Its not necessarily a surge in a new illness, but rather an escalation in population compounded with an increased awareness and dog interactions, Shuler wrote.

Symptoms include coughing, sneezing and red, runny eyes and nose.

Shuler advised for pet owners to vaccinate their dogs because the cause of the disease hasnt been pinned down and it may just be the usual suspects behaving badly.

She recommended vaccinating for kennel cough, parainfluenza, adenovirus and the known canine influenza strains, H3N8 and H3N2.

Animal hospitals, pet stores and shelters have responded with preventive measures. Downtown Dog, a dog-themed pet store in Aiken, has been sanitizing its grooming areas after every appointment and has removed the community water bowl from outside the store, manager Michelle Hall said.
Charleston Mayor-elect William Cogswell's win on Nov. 21 sparked questions about the city's political future, and whether his Republican affiliation will rub off on a relatively progressive area.

Cogswell, 48, defeated two-term incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg in a nail-biting runoff election. The race was nonpartisan, though the top candidates both had clear ties to political parties.

Tecklenburg is linked with Democrats and Cogswell, a former Statehouse lawmaker, served as a Republican.

Cogswell's victory makes him the first GOP-associated mayor in nearly 150 years  something party heads were quick to tout as a sign of shifting momentum in South Carolina's largest city. Democratic candidates in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections won Charleston County, which encompasses most of the city.

"The Republican Party is continuing to grow in the city," said Andrew Boucher, the county GOP's chair. "That is a function of the fact that we're right on the issues, and the issues that people care most about."

National media outlets from Fox News to The New York Times latched on to this narrative. But the answer is more complicated, political scientists and operatives agree.

Charleston's last Republican mayor was George I. Cunningham, a reformer who left office in December 1877 as Reconstruction ended with the exit of remaining federal troops in the former Confederate state. William W. Sale, a Democrat, succeeded Cunningham at a time when the South was dominated by the party, which was then mostly conservative and pro-segregation.

Every mayor since Sale has been associated with the Democratic Party, even as it underwent significant ideological shifts in the 20th century, when Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal triggered a political realignment.
Parenting these days is hard. Kids have phones and tablets in their hands at an early age, a fact that leaves parents like me worrying about whether our children are getting too much screen time and what they're stumbling onto online. Of course, technology comes with plenty of benefits, but  Read moreCommentary: Parents want to protect kids online, but SC device filter bill won't help
The good news is none of the municipal election horribles occurred in last months races in Charleston and North Charleston. Charleston Mayor-elect William Cogswell did not receive fewer votes in his runoff victory than he received on election night, and North Charleston Mayor-elect Reggie Burgess did not win with less than a majority. In fact, both men were clearly the voters' choice.

But because North Charleston declares the top vote-getter the winner no matter how small that candidates share of the vote, one candidate was elected to the North Charleston City Council with only a quarter of the votes, two with less than a third and two more with less than a majority.

And while voters returned to the polls for Charlestons runoff in relatively respectable numbers (more than a quarter of the city's registered voters), turnout still fell 6%, as 3,514 people who participated in Round 1 stayed home for Round 2. That drop-off was about six times as large as Mr. Cogswells margin of victory. And thats atypical: Turnout normally declines by as much as 40% when voters have to return to the polls for a runoff, and its common for the winner to receive fewer votes the second time around than the first.

Of course, if we had to choose between candidates getting elected with less than a majority and the winners picking up fewer votes in a runoff than in the initial election, wed rather have elected officials who win a majority of the votes cast, even if most people choose not to vote.

Fortunately, we dont have to choose between those two less-than-ideal scenarios. Or at least we wouldnt have to pick if the Legislature didnt force us to pick.

Theres a really simple way to ensure the winner is supported by a majority of voters without forcing voters to trudge out to the polls a second time, with the inevitable drop-off in participation. Its an option our state already offers to South Carolinians serving in the military or living overseas  but not to the rest of us: instant-runoff voting.
Goose Creek City Council voted to re-zone a piece of land sitting off Highway 52. It is not a large cut but its obvious there will not be a business at the site any longer. The 3.5-acre piece has been re-zoned from general commercial to planned development. Read moreGoose Creek re-zones Super Carpets site
Ron DeSantis has pinned much of his presidential hopes on a photo finish in Iowa. But for one day, Florida's governor took his fight for the GOP nomination to South Carolina as he battles against the state's former governor to be the last challenger standing against the formidable frontrunner  former President Donald Trump.

His campaign schedule on Dec. 1 sent him zipping across the Palmetto State for appearances in the Upstate and Charleston before racing back to the airport to catch a flight bound for Iowa.

But at the end of his 25-minute stump speech to cadets and Republicans at The Citadel, DeSantis distilled his presidential pitch into a succinct call to action.

"I can promise you this: I will not let you down," DeSantis said to the audience of about 200, before adding, "We want your support in the South Carolina primary. We'll do you proud. We'll get the job done."

His appearance at The Citadel Republican Society's annual Patriot Dinner capped a long day of campaigning.

In the morning, he took questions from voters in Greer. By the afternoon, he was making his case to rural voters in Prosperity. By nightfall, DeSantis was in Charleston accepting the Nathan Hale Patriot Award at The Citadel Republican Society's annual dinner.

Each stop was an attempt to boost his standing in rival Nikki Haley's backyard, where the latest statewide polling from Winthrop University showed DeSantis trailing, his 12 percent support to her 17 percent.

Both are trying to catch up to Trump, who enjoys support from 52 percent of S.C. Republicans.
The facts are finally coming out on the prison attack on Derek Chauvin:

The complaint states Chauvin was in the federal prisons law library around 12:30 p.m. local time when another inmate, Turscak, attacked Chauvin with an improvised knife, stabbing him 22 times.  Corrections officers immediately responded to the assault and deployed pepper-spray to subdue Turscak, who told the responding officers that he would have killed Chauvin if they hadnt responded so quickly.

Quickly? I dont know. He had time to stab Chauvin 22 times, and Chauvins mother says that Chauvin tried to fight him off.

Turscak also said his Black Friday attack on Chauvin was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Hand symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization.

Turscak reportedly is a former Mexican Mafia gang member and worked as an FBI informant, apparently until the Bureau realized he was dealing drugs and trying to arrange murders.

Chauvins mother still has questions:

After getting a call from Derek and hearing how it happened and how there was no one around and that Derek tried to fight him off, but at every turn he would get stabbed again and what this guy did, Im wondering how something like this could even happen. Where were the guards? Chauvins mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, told Alpha News Friday.

It was entirely predictable, and was in fact predicted, that Chauvin would be in danger if he was part of the general prison population. Maybe prison authorities will now make a belated effort to secure his safety.
On its news pages the Wall Street Journals more or less marches in lockstep with the rest of the braindead media on Israels response to the Hamas massacres. Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. He wrote the Review sections featured essay Does the West Have a Double Standard for Ukraine and Gaza? Beyond the ambit of the news section, it reflects some of the same problems apparent there. Here are the opening four paragraphs:

Carrying pets and dragging suitcases over blown-up bridges, millions of Ukrainians fled Russian tank columns last year, in scenes similar to the recent exodus of Palestinians from northern Gaza in response to Israels military thrust. In the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Russian warplanes pounded into rubble hospitals, schools and a theater packed with children.

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have become intertwined in the global debate and in American politics. Contrasting reactions to them have widened the chasm between Western democracies and much of the rest of the planet, as mutual accusations of double standards inflame passions.

The two wars, to be sure, have major differences in their roots and dynamics. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was unprovoked, while Israel sent troops into Gaza because of a mass slaughter of Israeli civilians by the Islamist movement Hamas on Oct. 7.

But the two conflicts also have essential similarities. One is the staggering level of civilian suffering, with many tens of thousands of dead and injured in each region. Another is the shared predicament of millions of Ukrainians and Palestinians living under the indignities of military occupation.
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Democrat Bryan Cohn is challenging Frank Sossamon for the newly re-drawn NC House District 32HENDERSON, NC / ACCESSWIRE / December 1, 2023 / Bryan Cohn, a dedicated husband, father, City Commissioner, food & agricultural manufacturing, and software industry professional, has officially announced his candidacy for the North Carolina House of Representatives, District 32. With a platform focused on transformative changes in public education, healthcare affordability, robust infrastructure development, and women's reproductive freedoms, Commissioner Cohn is committed to advocating for the needs and values of all constituents in District 32.Commissioner, Bryan Cohn "Our community deserves a representative who understands our challenges and has the commitment and innovative ideas to address them," said Cohn. "I am running to ensure that every voice in District 32 is heard and every family has the opportunity to thrive." Key issues in Cohn's campaign include:Reproductive Freedom: Advocate for a North Carolina constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedoms and women's right to choose.Rebuilding Public Education: Commitment to increasing funding for public schools, reducing class sizes, and supporting teachers. Cohn strongly opposes private school voucher programs, emphasizing the importance of a strong and equitable public education system.Enhancing Transportation and Infrastructure: Plans to modernize public transit, improve road and highway maintenance, and invest in sustainable and resilient infrastructure, ensuring District 32 remains a vibrant and accessible community."Our district's potential is limitless, but we need leadership that can unlock this potential through sensible and forward-thinking policies," Cohn added. "I promise to be that leader, to listen to you, learn from you, and fight for you." Commissioner Bryan Cohn's campaign is built on the principles of inclusivity, transparency, and progress. Through collaborative efforts and community engagement, Cohn is dedicated to bringing positive changes to District 32 and the state of North Carolina.Contact InformationBryan Cohn Commissioner info@ bryan4nc.com 9193089346Related FilesScreenshot 2023-12-01 at 9.27.55 AM.pngFiled - 11 x 17 Map.pdf SOURCE: Commissioner, Bryan Cohn
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.DUBAI, UAE / ACCESSWIRE / December 2, 2023 / In a major development in the financial markets, the disruptive educational firm headed by Danyal Islam is proud to announce the expansion of a groundbreaking financial empowerment program. This initiative represents a significant step in the firm's ongoing commitment to enhancing financial literacy and independence globally.Designed to transform the approach towards educating entrepreneurs who to make, manage and multiple their personal finances, the program brings a fresh perspective to financial literacy. It encompasses a comprehensive range of services including events, advanced digital learning tools, and daily group mentorship opportunities."Our vision is to simplify the journey towards financial freedom and make it an attainable goal for a wider audience," stated Danyal Islam, pioneer of the education firm. "This program is a cornerstone in our strategy to provide effective, accessible financial education." Targeting a diverse group aged 25-60, the initiative is tailored to cater to those with interests in business, investing, and financial growth. It aims to bridge the traditional and contemporary aspects of financial management, making it relevant to today's economic environment."This is more than just a financial education program; it's a movement towards empowering people to take charge of their financial futures," added a senior executive of the firm. "Under Danyal Islam's leadership, we're pushing the boundaries of what's possible in financial education and independence." The company, renowned for its innovative approach in the financial arena, continues to pave the way for modern wealth management and educational practices. This initiative is a testament to their dedication to equipping individuals with the necessary tools and knowledge to navigate the ever-evolving financial landscape.For further details about the program and additional services offered by the firm, visit https://danyalislam.com/ Media Contact:Danyal IslamEmail: Justsavenow2014@ gmail.comWebsite: SOURCE: Danyal Islam
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 1, 2023 / NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management is a dedicated medical care center that specializes in assisting patients who are experiencing chronic or acute pain. The physicians who work at this facility are passionate about providing hands-on treatment for various conditions, which include neck pain, arm pain, shoulder pain, finger pain, back pain, leg pain, and foot pain. Patients who come to NY Spine Care can expect only the highest level of care, as the physicians work tirelessly to provide personalized and integrated treatment plans. With the goal of improving each patient's quality of life, the physicians at NY Spine Care are committed to helping their patients achieve the best possible outcome. They recognize that each patient's situation is unique and strive to provide customized care that caters to each individual's specific needs.NY Spine Care is committed to providing effective treatments to those in need of spinal care. The facility accepts most insurance plans and work closely with patients to ensure they receive the best care possible. NY Spine Care accepts insurances including Aetna, Cigna, Oxford, and United Healthcare, among others. They also accept Commercial Medicaid, Workers Compensation, and No Fault insurance, in addition to providing out-of-network services. While it's important to verify if a referral is required from a specialist, NY Spine Care believes that quality care should be available to all.NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management is a trusted source of pain relief for individuals who deal with various kinds of discomfort. Their belief in providing services for everyone makes them stand out from the competition as they work closely with a large number of insurance companies. With their team of specialists, they offer a broad spectrum of services that are tailored to treating specific conditions such as nerve pain, joint pain, and back pain. NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management also offers treatments for migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as other ailments. Their comprehensive range of treatments includes regenerative medicine, spinal cord stimulation, and epidural injections, to name a few. The medical branch blocks and facet joint injections are remarkably effective in reducing pain symptoms. But what sets them apart is how they cater to their patients' individual needs, providing them with personalized care and treatment. Therefore, if you're dealing with pain and need a reliable solution to your discomfort, NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management should be your top choice.Dr. Ji Han is a dedicated board certified anesthesiologist with a specialization in pain management. He earned his degree at the prestigious University of Alabama at Birmingham and has over two decades of experience providing pain management treatment. Throughout his career, Dr. Han has held various roles in leadership, including Director of Pain Management at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Queens and at Queens Medical Associates Center. What sets Dr. Han apart is his unwavering commitment to personalized and genuine patient care, which he recognizes as essential when treating the complexity of pain. Dr. Han utilizes an evidence-based approach to treatment, tailoring each plan to meet the unique needs of the individual, rather than implementing a "one size fits all" solution. His thorough training in residency and fellowship at several renowned medical centers including New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, make him a force to be reckoned with in the field of pain management.To learn more about how Dr. Ji Han's NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management and see if you insurance is compatible visit: https://www.nyspinecarepain.comWEBSITE: http://www.nyspinecarepain.com/ADDRESS: 18816 Northern Blvd Queens, NY 11358PHONE: 718-762-7000SOURCE: NY Spine Care Interventional Pain Management
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OVERLAND PARK, KS / ACCESSWIRE / December 1, 2023 / Tortoise today announced the following preliminary unaudited balance sheet information and asset coverage ratio updates for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ.Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. (NYSE:TYG) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $492.6 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $380.3 million, or $35.33 per share.As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 677%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 453%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.Preliminary unaudited balance sheet(in Millions)Per Share Investments $490.8$45.59 Cash and Cash Equivalents0.4 0.04 Other Assets1.4 0.13 Total Assets492.6 45.76Short-Term Borrowings7.3 0.68 Senior Notes64.8 6.02 Preferred Stock35.7 3.31 Total Leverage107.8 10.01Other Liabilities2.4 0.22 Current Tax Liability2.1 0.20 Net Assets $380.3$35.33 10.76 million common shares currently outstanding.Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE:NTG) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $272.9 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $217.0 million, or $42.62 per share.As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 680%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 506%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.Preliminary unaudited balance sheet(in Millions)Per Share Investments $268.0$52.63 Cash and Cash Equivalents3.9 0.77 Other Assets1.0 0.18 Total Assets272.9 53.58Short-Term Borrowings10.6 2.08 Senior Notes29.2 5.73 Preferred Stock13.7 2.70 Total Leverage53.5 10.51Other Liability1.1 0.20 Current Tax Liability1.3 0.25 Net Assets $217.0$42.62 5.09 million common shares currently outstanding.Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE:TTP) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $86.2 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $69.6 million, or $34.60 per share.As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 869%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 536%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.Preliminary unaudited balance sheet(in Millions)Per Share Investments $85.2$42.37 Cash and Cash Equivalents0.5 0.23 Receivable for Investments Sold0.3 0.14 Other Assets0.2 0.15 Total Assets86.2 42.89Short-Term Borrowings5.9 2.94 Senior Notes3.9 1.96 Preferred Stock6.1 3.03 Total Leverage15.9 7.93Payable for Investments Purchased0.3 0.14 Other Liabilities0.4 0.22 Net Assets $69.6$34.60 2.01 million common shares currently outstanding.Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. (NYSE:NDP) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $68.2 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $59.1 million, or $35.45 per share.As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 771%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.Preliminary unaudited balance sheet(in Millions)Per Share Investments $67.6$40.57 Cash and Cash Equivalents0.3 0.21 Other Assets0.3 0.14 Total Assets68.2 40.92Credit Facility Borrowings8.8 5.28Other Liabilities0.3 0.19 Net Assets $59.1$35.45 1.67 million common shares currently outstanding.Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. (NYSE:TPZ) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $120.8 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $95.7 million, or $16.25 per share.As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 489%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.Preliminary unaudited balance sheet(in Millions)Per Share Investments $119.2$20.24 Cash and Cash Equivalents0.3 0.06 Other Assets1.3 0.21 Total Assets120.8 20.51Credit Facility Borrowings24.6 4.18Other Liabilities0.5 0.08 Net Assets $95.7$16.25 5.89 million common shares currently outstanding.The top 10 holdings for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ as of the most recent month-end can be found on each fund's portfolio web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com About TortoiseTortoise focuses on energy & power infrastructure and the transition to cleaner energy. Tortoise's solid track record of energy value chain investment experience and research dates back more than 20 years. As an early investor in midstream energy, Tortoise believes it is well-positioned to be at the forefront of the global energy evolution that is underway. With a steady wins approach and a long-term perspective, Tortoise strives to make a positive impact on clients and communities. To learn more, please visit www.TortoiseAdvisors.com Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. is the adviser to Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp., Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. and Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc.For additional information on these funds, please visit cef.tortoiseadvisors.com Safe harbor statementThis press release shall not constitute an offer to sell
This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.

I rented a one-bedroom apartment in a Lagos community in July 2021 but moved out two months later. Like many residents of Baruwa, the colour and smell of water flowing from the taps in my apartment caused my abrupt relocation.

The rent I paid was a weak contender against the petrol-contaminated water filling the community pipes. Apart from the fear of bathing, cooking with, or even drinking the water, I had unsettling thoughts of the apartment going up in flames someday. All of this was enough for me to run as far from Baruwa as possible.

My daily struggle to purchase safe drinking and cooking water is a shared anxiety among Baruwa residents, many of whom have been consuming contaminated water for almost 30 years.

How Baruwa inherited petrol-contaminated water

Once a remote area with inexpensive housing that attracted many Lagosians, who could not afford expensive city rent in the 80s, Baruwa is a community of small business owners and civil servants in the Alimosho area of Lagos.

Residents of Baruwa speculate that refined petrol transported via pipes from the Mosinmi Oil Depot to the Ejigbo Oil Facility seeps through the pipes to contaminate fresh water. A report from the Environmental Justice Atlas estimates that over 180 wells in Baruwa are contaminated by petroleum products: gasoline, kerosene, diesel and other residues. PREMIUM TIMES spoke to a retired civil servant and local shop owner, Busola Dada, who confirmed that the water from her wells is so thick with fuel that people around Baruwa now come to my (her) wells to get fuel. The issue of water contamination in the area dates back to the 90s, as confirmed by the community head, Khalid Baruwa.

Mrs Dada is one of the residents who reached out to government agencies to investigate the incidents of pipeline leaks. During our interview, she detailed how most times the authorities come, collect samples, put up a show and go away.

The government came to install the pipelines, now they are leaking, so they should fix it. Its not even economical for them as they should monitor the number of precious barrels of oil that are lost daily, Mrs Dada said. She added that the government encourages waste by not fixing the leaks as a large volume of petroleum products is wasted daily.

An average of 26,267.83 oil barrels are spilt into rivers in 2023.

Oil thieves and vandalism

NNPC Limited did not respond to questions sent to it via calls, messages and a Freedom of Information request. However, an official of the company told PREMIUM TIMES that vandalism is the major cause of pollution in the community.



When the official, who asked not to be named as they had no authorisation to talk to journalists, was asked about the old and rusty pipelines that the oil leaks emanate from, the official said NNPC Limited provided alternative water supply to the community to ameliorate the effects of the contamination. However, the water provided also got polluted as there was no treatment plan in place, the official said declining further comments on the topic.

The NNPC Limited has in the past blamed pipeline leakages on vandals and oil thieves. Last year, Bala Wunti, the general manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a subsidiary of the NNPC Limited, said the NNPC Limited loses $700 million monthly to activities of vandals and oil thieves.

Impacts of water contamination on children

Although I have said my farewells to Baruwa, I cannot get Baruwa and its water struggle out of my mind.

As a journalist, I have returned to take water samples for testing at a Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency laboratory, to draw attention to the pollution in the area. The test results confirmed the water had a petroleum smell.

The Department of Microbiologys Bimbo Adekanmbi, from the University of Ibadan, said the hydrocarbon content in the water is responsible for the skin infection that is a common complaint among families living in Baruwa. Skin infection is certainly caused by the petrol contamination in the waters of this community, he said.

He said the normal state of drinking water should be between 6.5 and 8.5 PH but the test results show that the water was acidic at 5.99 PH.

Skin and eye infections (trachoma) are only two of the many negative impacts of consuming or using contaminated water. In a 2021 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: National Outcome Routine Mapping (NORM) report, it was found that diarrhoea prevalence remains high in Nigeria, with 74 per cent of the household members who suffered diarrhoea being children under five. About 33 per cent of all hospital records in 2021 were diarrhoea cases among children under five. WASHNORM quoted a 2019 UNICEF report which linked 370,000 child deaths in Nigeria to water contamination. Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old.

Women, people over 50 years, and children are the most vulnerable and affected groups when it comes to water contamination and its effects on quality of life and well-being.

Water contamination affects school enrolment, retainment, performance and completion among children. The WASHNORM report documented that for the girl child, lack of access to clean water directly exposes the child to violence and abuse. Most children in schools have to travel quite a distance to access water facilities or utilise private latrines when these are not provided in schools, thereby exposing them to risks and violence. Post menarchal girls experience indignity in the management of their menstrual hygiene which in most cases affect attendance and completion, the report said.

Lack of clean water impacts health, wellbeing, learning opportunities and productivity for communities across Nigeria. This is why the case of Baruwa feels personal because a significant amount of diarrhoea cases can be prevented by access to safe drinking water, in addition to improved sanitation and hygiene.

Water Treatment Practices

Baruwas water contamination crisis mirrors the challenge of residents access to safe drinking water. According to a UNICEF report, about one-third of Nigerians drink from contaminated water sources.

The stress of contaminated water means residents need to budget for hospital visits. They need to budget for buying clean water and might need to travel long distances to access clean water, risking safety and wasting time.

In Akoka, Bariga local council in Lagos, over 600 residents have had their potable water polluted with oil coming from underground tanks in the area.

The graph below represents residents responses (in Lagos) to the question of what treatment measures households are applying, to ensure that they are consuming clean water. In their 2021 report, WASHNORM found that 43 per cent of households in Lagos mainly add bleach, chlorine or water guard. About 67 per cent add alum, while 38.8 per cent boil water.

The graph below shows the number of people (81.7 per cent  96 per cent) who do not do anything to make their water safer to drink.

What is the way forward?

There have been numerous journalistic and scientific reports done on the water crisis in Barowa, in an attempt to draw the attention of government officials and other key stakeholders such as NNPC Limited. Locals have either opted to relocate, explore basic treatment practices, queue in hospitals or bury their children. This report aims to publish a two-part series, and publicly expose the injustice faced by the children, women and the community of Baruwa in hopes that someday soon, Baruwa will have access to safe drinking, cooking and bathing water. In the words of Khalid Baruwa, All the residents need and ask for is water free of contamination and providing this would bring the relief the community has been anticipating for nearly 30 years.

This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.

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A member of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Galambi, has accused President Bola Tinubu of presenting empty boxes supposedly containing the 2024 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly.

Mr Galambi, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa State, made the allegation during an interview with BBC Hausa Service on Friday.

The lawmaker, in the interview, monitored by PREMIUM TIMES, said Mr Tinubu read out his budget speech including proposals for sectors but did not give the lawmakers the documents as was the tradition by previous presidents.

The president, on Wednesday, presented the N27.5 trillion proposed budget for 2024 to the joint session of the National Assembly co-chaired by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen.

Christened Budget of Renewed Rope. the proposal was designed to address economic growth, human capital development, poverty reduction and insecurity, according to Mr Tinubu.

After reading his budget speech, President Tinubu, based on official procedure, laid two boxes containing the budget documents on the table in front of the presiding officers.

The boxes had the colour of the Nigerian national flag of green-white-green.

Both chambers read the budget for the first time on Wednesday shortly after Mr Tinubu presented it indicating lawmakers did indeed get copies of the budget after it was presented by the president.

The lawmakers also passed the document for a second reading on Friday after two days of debate and subsequently referred it to their committees on appropriation.

Empty boxes

Mr Galambi said the boxes Mr Tinubu bowed and kept for the lawmakers were empty.

The president read out to us his speech on the proposed budget but weve not seen the document to work on.

Of course, he read the estimates for the various sectors. But as it has always been the tradition, a document is always presented (to the lawmakers) but he (Mr Tinubu) didnt do that, the lawmaker said on Friday morning.

When the BBC reporter insisted that the president was seen laying the document, Mr Galambi said when the lawmakers checked they couldnt find anything in the boxes laid by Mr Tinubu.

Weve checked but there was nothing inside. We checked it. In the history of the National Assembly, this was the first time such a thing happened.

The constitution has made it clear (that a document must be presented) but this time, it was only a reading on paper. They didnt provide the document for us to go through and see what is proposed for each sector. Maybe theyll bring it later, Mr Galambi said.

READ ALSO:

The opposition lawmaker, who was first elected into the House in 2007, said the decision by Mr Tinubu to present empty boxes surprised the lawmakers because we never expected it even in our wildest dreams.

Mr Galambi accused the president of deceit.

If he (Mr Tinubu) was not ready, if the budget proposal was not ready to be presented, he shouldnt have come and said he was done. We could have given him more time, why the haste? Why would he come and read something and even say he has kept it (document) when its empty, he said.

Cover up

The lawmaker alleged that the leaders of the National Assembly are covering up Mr Tinubus act.

They (leaders of the National Assembly) dont want anyone to talk about it. Maybe they were not informed or were possibly aware of what was planned and they decided not to inform us, he said.

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said the allegation was aimed at misleading the public.

Its a nonsensical allegation aimed to mislead. The president is never expected to present the whole haul of heavy documents. What happened at the laying is like the presentation of dummy cheques at award ceremonies. The real thing always follows, Mr Abdulaziz said in a WhatsApp message sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday.

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The Senate has asked the federal government to stop the statutory allocation of funds to local government councils whose chairpersons were not democratically elected.

The resolution followed a motion by the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, during the plenary on Friday.

Mr Moro, the senator representing Benue South under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), complained that some state governors dissolved elected local government officials and replaced them with caretaker committees.

The senator specifically identified Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, as one of the Nigerian governors running affairs of local governments with caretaker committees.

He said the development was against the constitutional provision of the local government system.

Mr Moro therefore urged members of the upper chamber to condemn the use of caretaker chairpersons as administrators of local governments.

The majority of the senators supported the motion when it was put to debate.

Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) argued that the state governors do not have political power to dissolve elected local government officials and replace them with caretaker committees.

Mr Oshiomole, a former governor of Edo State, recounted his experience when he refused to dissolve elected local government officials when he was a governor.

He stated that about 16 state governors are currently running their LGAs with caretaker committees.

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, also supported the motion.

Mr Ndume, the senator representing Borno South and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), condemned the use of caretaker chairpersons as administrators of local government councils.

He urged the Senate to encourage the Federal Ministry of Finance to stop the release of funds to local government areas run by caretaker committees.

ALSO READ: Court sacks Kwara LG caretaker committees

Abdulfatai Buhari (APC, Oyo North) called for the amendment of the Electoral Act to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct local government elections.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, advocated for the establishment of the National Electoral Commission for Local Government to stop state governors from influencing LG elections.

Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, put the motion to vote and the senators voted overwhelmingly in its support.

He, thereafter, directed the Clerk of the Senate to communicate the resolution to the appropriate authorities.

Despite the Senate resolution, however, the federal government is expected to continue to release statutory allocations to the 774 local governments across Nigeria based on constitutional provisions.

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Gunmen have abducted a Catholic priest in Imo State, South-east Nigeria.

The victim, Kingsley Eze, was abducted at a road junction around 8 p.m. on Thursday in Umuekebi, Osuoweerre, a community in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of the state, according to a report by Vanguard newspaper.

Mr Eze, popularly known as Father Ichie, is priest in charge of Saint Michaels Catholic Church Parish in the community.

The clerics driver, identified as Uchenna Newman, was also abducted during the attack.

The attackers, who operated on two motorcycles, were also said to have robbed shop owners at the junction before leaving the scene.

A member of the church in the community, who asked not to be named, told reporters that he and other church members were terrified by the abduction of the priest and his driver.

They (the abducted priest and the driver) came down from a Volvo Jeep to buy something at the junction before they were kidnapped.

They (gunmen) also robbed businessmen at the junction. This is so unfortunate. We sincerely pray for the safe return of our parish priest and Mr. Uchenna, he said.

An indigene of the community, who asked not to be named, said the abduction was not the first in the area.

This is the third kidnapping taking place within a space of weeks on the Anara Umuelemai Road.

Seriously, we need help. The worst is that they move around in motorcycles carrying pump action guns. Please, the government should come to our rescue, he pleaded.

They came on two motorcycles and as they were going, they took the car belonging to the priest and the artisan. They also shot and unfortunately, one person was hit by the bullet. The gunshot victim was rushed to a hospital, the indigene narrated.

When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday morning, the police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, declined to speak when asked for comments on the attack.

Worsening insecurity

Like other states in Nigerias south-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.

This latest attack occurred about three days after gunmen, suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), killed a divisional police officer and a police inspector in the state.

Gunmen, last week, abducted and then killed the traditional ruler of Otulu Community in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of the state.

The killing of the traditional ruler happened barely 48 hours after gunmen killed Chiedoziem Anyanwu, a ward chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

The Nigerian government has accused IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.

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The Kaduna State High Court in Kaduna, the state capital, has convicted a fake United States military officer, Zulayman Haruna, for Internet fraud.

Mr Haruna, who was convicted on Wednesday, was charged with one count of falsely presenting himself as Mariee Guerrero, a white female military personnel, to many unsuspecting victims on Facebook in order to cheat them.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, according to a statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday.

Following the defendants guilty plea, the trial judge, A.A Bello, convicted and sentenced him in a judgement delivered on Wednesday (29 November).

The convict was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of fine of N150,000.

The judge also ordered him to forfeit an iPhone X, the tool used for the crime, to the federal government through the EFCC.

The agency said Mr Haruna was prosecuted and convicted under section 57 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law of 2017, which the offence violated. The crime is punishable under section 309 of the same law, according to the charge filed against the convict.

Read EFCCs full statement below:

EFCC PRESS RELEASE

Court Jails Fake US Military Officer, One Other in Kaduna.

Justice A.A Bello of the Kaduna State High Court, sitting in Kaduna, on Wednesday, November 30, 2023, convicted and sentenced a fake United States military officer, Zulayman Haruna to two year imprisonment.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to one-count charge of internet fraud upon being arraigned by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The one- count charge reads: That you Zulayman Haruna (a.k.a Mariee Guerrero) between January and October, 2023 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, attempted to commit an offence and in such an attempt did a certain act towards the commission of the said offence, to wit: falsely presented yourself as Mariee Guerrero a white female military personnel to one Greg and other several unsuspecting victims on Facebook, (a social media application) in order to cheat them and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 57 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law of 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.

ALSO READ: Nigerian university speaks as EFCC arrests 69 suspected internet fraudsters

He pleaded guilty to the charge upon which prosecution counsel, E.K Garba urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Justice Bello convicted and sentenced Haruna to two years imprisonment or an option of fine of N150, 000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only). He also forfeited an iPhone X, which was the tool of the crime to the Federal government through the EFCC.

Similarly, Justice A.A Isiaka of the Kaduna State High Court, sitting in Kaduna has sentenced Didam Jesse to two years imprisonment.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to one-count charge of cheating by impersonation upon being arraigned by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The charge reads: That you Didam Jesse, (a.k.a Endurance Prince David) sometime in February, 2023, in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did commit an offence to wit: cheating by impersonation wherein you falsely presented yourself as one Endurance Princes David on Facebook, (an online social media platform) and in such assumed identity, cheated one Naziru HB the total sum of N7000 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, following which prosecution counsel, M. Lawal urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Justice Isiaka convicted and sentenced him to two years imprisonment or an option of fine of N100, 000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira). He also forfeited the tool of the crime, a Techno Spark 8P and the N7, 000 (Seven Thousand Naira) proceeds of the crime to the Federal Government through EFCC.

The two convicts began their journey to the Correctional Centre when they were arrested around Kaduna metropolis for internet- related offences. They were found to be impersonators upon being prosecuted by the EFCC. The court found them guilty and convicted them accordingly.

Dele Oyewale

Head, Media & Publicity

December 1, 2023.

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A former Governor of Ogun, Olusegun Osoba, and several other dignitaries on Thursday in Ibadan showered encomiums on retired journalist Folu Olamiti for his impact in the Nigerian media space.

Mr Osoba, who was Chairman of the public presentation of Mr Olamitis book, A Peep into the Past, spoke highly of him and commended his ability to balance his religious and work life.

I want to thank all of you that were here today to honour a great man.

Folu Olamiti is different. How he manages to be a good Christian and a very active member of the Anglican Communion, I dont understand.

This is because for we journalists, Sunday is the most difficult day for us because there are no activities on Sundays and you must produce paper for Monday. How he manages to do that is extraordinary.

I have a high regard and respect for him, Osoba said.

In his remarks, the publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, noted that it was important to mentor others as exhibited by the author in the media space.

He said: God has given him the grace of staying relevant and I am here to congratulate him, and to offer my encouragement that when you are good you must encourage others.

The reason our country sometimes can be the way it is, is because we dont encourage good people and Uncle Folu is a very good man. I want to thank him for mentoring me like he mentored so many people.

It is not always easy but he is able to do it effortlessly.

Also, an Ibadan High Chief, Lekan Alabi, who is the Maye Olubadan of Ibadanland, extolled the virtues of the author.

Mr Alabi said he met Mr Olamiti in 1973, a time when the journalism of that time reflected the level of peoples intelligence and physical appearance.

In his goodwill message, Yinka Fasuyi, a Chief in Ijesaland, eulogised Mr Olamiti for sharing his lifes work and opinion with the public.

He urged media practitioners to be up and doing in fulfilling the ethos of their profession.

In his review of the book, Femi Adesina, a former media aide of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, said the 303-page 12-chapter book contained the authors memoirs, articles and reports.

He said the book unravelled insights into the life of the late sage and politician, Obafemi Awolowo, and other dignitaries in Nigeria, as well as the lives of lowly people.

Mr Adesina said the book contained essays by Mr Olamiti on restructuring Nigeria, foreign issues and Idanre land in Ondo State, as well as his days in the Nigerian Tribune newspapers and the ICPC.

Are you proud of where you hail from? Do you contribute to its development? Let us all take a cue from Olamiti, the former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity said.

While responding to the remarks, Mr Olamiti not only appreciated all who made the books presentation a reality but all those who have supported him at one point or the other in life.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the author retired from the Tribune Group of Newspapers where he worked for 32 years.

He was at the ICPC for 10 years and has now been working with the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) for the past eight years on media-related activities.

.(NAN)

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The president of the ongoing 28th meeting of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28), Sultan Al-Jaber, on Friday, urged world leaders to see climate finance as an economic programme rather than a burden.

The COP28 president gave the remark while speaking at the Transforming Climate Finance Leader event at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai on Friday.

We must recognise the economic opportunities of climate investments. We must start changing the narrative of climate finance. It can no longer be seen as a burden, it should be seen as a new economic programme, Mr Al-Jaber said.

He said energy transition is the biggest economic opportunity since the first industrial revolution.

Mr Al-Jaber explained that seizing that opportunity makes both business sense and climate sense.

Poor growth, poor climate, he added.

He said: What we(nations) need is a giant leap into the future, in a way that makes sense, and a way that addresses the problem and addresses the real world, through real and practical solutions.

Nigerias COP28 priorities

One of Nigerias priorities at this years COP28 is to galvanise potential finances that will help to drive its ambitious Energy Transition Plan (ETP) and green growth in the country.

Nigeria expects to spend $1.9 trillion between 2022 and 2060 to meet the targets of the ETP across five sectors.

Nigeria, like most oil-producing countries, often touts gas (a lesser evil) as a transition fuel but lacks the infrastructure to deliver on that.

On Friday, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Nigeria has a comparative advantage in attracting and harnessing potential investments into the country based on funds being pledged by high-income countries at COP.

This is the time for us (Nigeria) to harness the investments that are potentially out there. We must grab a slice of that $100 million Germany is promising, she said.

The WTO official said Nigeria needs to begin serious work on its Energy Transition Plan (ETP).

Effective climate finance

Friday and Saturday have been dedicated to the World Climate Action Summit (WCAS). At the ongoing summit, global leaders have announced a cohesive vision to ensure climate finance is more available, accessible and affordable.

Transforming climate finance is key to achieving the climate progress we need, the organisers said.

At the WCAS, several pledges were made by countries to increase climate action globally. The World Bank Group noted that they are committed to increasing its climate finance target to $40 billion by 2025, with 50 per cent voting for climate mitigation and adaptation respectively.

The World Bank Group President, Ajay Banga, also announced an ambitious target of 45 per cent of WBCs finance to climate related projects by 2025.

Similarly, during the summit, the Green Climate Fund, Allied Climate Partners and Allianz Global Investors collectively announced to mobilise $5 billion through several unique blended finance structures.

This brought together philanthropies, development finance institutions, and the private and public sectors, to turbocharge the climate transition in emerging economies.

The French government also announced 100 million commitment to Loss and Damage. This is to help to accelerate climate action across communities most vulnerable to climate change.

We are encouraged to see global leaders raising ambition and unlocking vital funding to ensure a transformational COP28, the COP28 president noted.

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A Nigerian lawmaker, Terseer Ugbor, has said he plans to push for efficient mobilisation of the Loss and Damage fund being pledged at the ongoing ongoing 28th meeting of the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) for the benefits of vulnerable Nigerian communities.

Mr Ugbor, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Environment, who is part of Nigerias delegation to COP28 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate, said the fund will help to alleviate sufferings of climate frontline communities in Nigeria.

He said this on Friday in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on the sidelines of the conference.

This followed the adoption of the new Loss and Damage Fund operationalisation by delegates at the opening plenary of the summit on Thursday.

My agenda at COP28 is to ensure that the Loss and Damage Fund is effectively mobilised to bolster adaptation and relief efforts in Nigeria, he said.

Mr Ugbor, who is the House of Representatives member representing the Kwande/Ushongo constituency of Benue State, said he will push for allocation of the funds to building resilient agricultural practices, support displaced communities, and mitigate the deepening farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria.

Operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28

The yearnings and aspirations of climate vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa, prior to the commencement of COP28 are to see to the operationalisation of the historic loss and damage fund established at COP27 in Egypt last year.

This came to fruition on Thursday at the opening plenary of COP28 after delegates adopted a loss and damage operationalisation agenda. Just after that, high-income countries began to make pledges in solidarity with the new funds, with over $500 million pledged so far.

This has been described as a historic moment for climate action globally, particularly in climate-vulnerable countries, and the first big win ever recorded on the first day in the history of COP negotiations.

Many climate activists have lauded the move by the world leaders, saying the adoption of the new fund initiative will help to galvanise climate-resilient development for developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

However, there are lingering concerns.

Concerns

Reacting to the loss and damage fund operationalisation, Nnimmo Bassey, director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), said COP28 is running on a basic agenda that is destined to leave the planet on life support in the best outcome scenario.

He said the COP also appears to favour false solutions such as carbon offsetting and related but unproven techno-fixes.

While noting the significant strides that greeted the COP28 opening plenary and pledges made so far, Mr Bassey said cash pledges made so far is still a drop in the ocean of the needed $400 billion per year.

Although some would applaud the token offered so far, we do not ignore the fact that $400 million may just be equal to the price of one missile which the big polluters do not blink before exploding in territories to create more vulnerability rather than invert in building of resilience, he said.

The environmentalist said: It is conceivable that the pledges would be met by proceeds from the patently speculatory carbon trading that is seeing huge swathes of African land being grabbed in ways that can best be described as carbon colonialism.

Significance for Nigeria

On Friday, Mr Ugbor told this medium that the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28 is a pivotal development for the Northern and Central regions of Nigeria like Benue State.

In the region, climate change has exacerbated conflicts between farmers and herdsmen that has resulted in over 10,000 fatalities with over 250,000 displaced people.

This fund represents a tangible mechanism to address the financial and socio-economic impacts of such conflicts, which are rooted in climate-induced environmental change, he said.

He explained that the fund would serve as a Mechanism for Justice and Support for communities in North-central Nigeria that are constantly grappling with the fallout from cattle migration caused by desertification and drought.

The Loss and Damage Fund is not just financial aid, it is a form of climate justice. It acknowledges that the adverse effects of climate change are disproportionately felt by these must vulnerable poor communities who contribute the least to climate change, he said.

On her part, Ure Utah, Founder of Bridge Synergy, said it is incredibly heart warming to witness the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage fund, as it is a historic milestone that carries profound significance for Africa.

The swift action in operationalising the Fund within a year since its agreement at COP27 showcases an unprecedented level of global unity and commitment, she noted.

This rapid progress, she said, reflects a growing acknowledgment of the urgency with which countries must address climate change impacts.

The Fund is particularly crucial for Africa. As a continent, we face some of the most severe impacts of climate change, despite contributing minimally to global emissions. This Fund is a beacon of hope, promising to support vulnerable communities across Africa, safeguarding lives and livelihoods against the harsh realities of climate change, she said.

For Lucky Abeng, a Commonwealth Youth mobiliser and climate justice advocate at COP, the final decision to operationalise the loss and damage fund further validates African leaders resolve as contained in the Nairobi Declaration pact adopted by African leaders in Kenya._

This further validates the fact that Africa actually holds a strong voice to influence global climate politics, he said.

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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has appointed a new Acting Secretary-General of the Parliament, Bertin Some.

The appointment, made by the Speaker of the Parliament, Sidie Tunis, was announced in a statement issued by the parliament to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.

It said Mr Some, was until he was appointed the Acting Secretary-General the Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research.

Mr Some, who assumed office on 1 November, replaced John Azumah, who retired from active service in the community.

Speaker Tunis formally presented the acting secretary-general to the staff of the parliament on 20 November in Abuja.

During the ceremony, the speaker extolled Mr Somes human, managerial and other qualities, including his sound knowledge of the workings of the institution.

Mr Some, a Burkinabe, joined the ECOWAS Parliament in September 2009 as a Committee Clerk and was appointed Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research in February 2016.

While serving in the two positions, he demonstrated his attention to detail, particularly in his relations with staff and members of the parliament.

Mr Some, before joining the Community Parliament, had a successful long-standing career in the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, during which he held various positions.

Also, he was Director General of Legislative Services, Reporting Director and Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the NASS.

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The ECOWAS Parliament has a total of 115 seats and 14 standing committees. Each member state is guaranteed a minimum of five seats.

The remaining 40 seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.

Consequently, Nigeria has a total of 35 seats followed by Ghana with eight seats.

Then, Cote DIvoire is allotted seven seats, whereas Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have six seats each.

The remaining ECOWAS Member States, namely Benin, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo, have five seats each.

(NAN)

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The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has announced a five-day power outage in some parts of Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

The EEDC spokesperson, Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.

Mr Ezeh explained that the power outage was as a result of a planned maintenance of its facility in the state.

He said the planned outage will take place from 2 December to 6 December.

As a result of this planned maintenance, the 60 MVA power transformer at the GCM station will be shut down for the days the maintenance will last, he said.

The spokesperson said residents under Ogbaru District and some parts of Onitsha District will be affected by the outage.

Consequently, all customers fed by these feeders which include the whole of Atani, Bida, Main Market, Iweka, Fegge and its adjoining estates as well as all our heavy-industrial clusters within Ogbaru, will be out of supply for the period of the outage, Mr Ezeh stated.

We regret the inconveniences this development will cause our esteemed customers and assure them that we will be on standby for supply restoration once the maintenance is completed.

He assured that the distribution company was committed to providing the residents with quality service delivery.

EEDC distributes electricity to five states in the South-east, including Anambra State.

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John Kalu, a former commissioner for information in Abia State, has responded to claims by the state governor, Alex Otti over his (Ottis) refusal to move into the new Government House in the state.

Mr Kalu served under the administration of former governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu, who exited office on 29 May after two terms.

PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday published how Mr Otti was running the government from his country home outside of Umuahia, after abandoning a newly built multi-billion naira Government House and the old Government House - all within the state capital.

Lawyers told this newspaper that Mr Ottis action was not illegal but raised questions about the use or abandonment of public properties.

The governors decision to operate from his private residence in his village has placed financial burden on the Abia State Government with at least nearly N2 million spent monthly for fueling of vehicles of the state government officials who travel to the village for meetings, findings by this newspaper showed.

Mr Otti, through his spokesperson, Kazie Uko, on Tuesday while conducting reporters around the new government House in the state, defended his operation from private residence.

The governor, whose action followed the PREMIUM TIMES report, had described the report as a product of mischief.

But Mr Kalu, in a statement on Thursday, described the governors action and response as media propaganda, saying the publication by PREMIUM TIMES was a product of independent findings from a painstaking investigation which was carried out in October.

The former commissioner said, given that the newspapers reporter had contacted those connected to the issue including himself and Mr Uko during the investigation in October, it was improper for the governor to suggest that Mr Ikpeazu administration was behind the publication.

Claiming that Ikpeazu found out something in November and sent whoever to attack Otti is too childish even by the very low standard of honesty associated with the Otti administration, he said.

Mr Kalu criticised Mr Otti for claiming Mr Ikpeazus administration commissioned and handed over the new Government House to him (Otti) without completing it.

As can be seen in some of these pictures taken on May 28th 2023, Ikpeazu handed over a beautiful new Government House Complex meant to accommodate the governor who in turn may wish to erect other structures to suit his elitist and champagne lifestyle.

As at the time of handing over to Otti we knew a day like this would come and decided to archive video recordings and still pictures of what was handed over to him, and anyone can see the images for them to confirm the actual state of what was handed over, he said.

The former commissioner alleged that Mr Otti deliberately allowed the complex to go into disrepair and lack of maintenance because the governor does not want to touch anything associated with Ikpeazu.

He said, contrary to the governors claims, Mr Ikpeazu lived at the old Government House during his eight years as Abia governor before completing the new Government House.

Mr Kalu said it was strange that Mr Otti would admit that the new Government House project was started by Mr Ikpeazus predecessor, but still blame him (Ikpeazu) for erecting the new Government House structure that does not meet his (Ikpeazus) personal high taste.

If Otti does not like Ikpeazus new Government House, he can at least be modest enough to live and work from the old Government House while fixing it to his very luxurious taste, he stated.

For the information of members of the public, there is a presidential lodge at the old Government House that Otti could have stayed in while fixing the main Governors Lodge to his high taste.

Alleged diversion of N500 million to private pocket

Mr Kalu said it was laughable that Mr Otti claims he found a document showing Mr Ikpeazu allegedly diverted N500 million belonging to the state to his private pocket, but was yet to prove the allegation.

The former commissioner said the fact that the governor had not petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the allegation despite repeated threats to do so, was a testament that there is no substance in his claims against the former governor.

He said it was ironical that Mr Otti said he preferred to run his government from private residence to save costs, when the Abia State Third Quarter (July  September) 2023 Budget Performance Report showed he spent about N927 million on meals as well as honorarium/sitting allowances within three months.

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The Borno State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC} has arrested 42 youths suspected to have committed various offences.

The states commandant, Musa Boyi, disclosed this while parading the suspects before the journalists at the commands headquarters in Maiduguri on Saturday.

The command has arrested 42 suspects for committing various offences capable of breaching the relative peace in the state.

The suspects mostly youths were arrested for committing vandalism, selling of scrap metals popularly called ajaokuta, employment scam, illegal mining, forgery and impersonation.

Out of the number, fourteen of the suspects were arrested for vandalism of critical national assets and engaging in metal scrap business already banned by the state government, Mr Boyi said.

He said the command has also intercepted a truckload of scrap iron being moved from the metropolis to a neighbouring state.

He said four suspects including the driver of the truck were arrested.

Among those paraded were seven people alleged to have engaged in the forgery of token cards for palliatives giving to residents by the state government recently.

The Governor in one of the security meeting, gave a marching order for the banning of all ajaokuta businesses within the space of Borno State.

But some outlaws continued to violate the law which breaches the security of the state. Quite a number of those arrested are going to be prosecuted according to the law.

Sixteen suspects were also arrested for gangsterism, terrorising innocent members of the public, he said.

He explained that personnel of the command recovered dangerous weapons from the suspects including knives and daggers.

He warned officers of the command to distance themselves from collecting bribe from those seeking employment into the NSCDC or be dealt with.

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The Court Appeal in Lagos State has reaffirmed Alex Otti as the validly elected governor of Abia State.

Mr Otti of the Labour Party (LP) was declared the winner of the governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 22 March.

He polled 175,466 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 88,529 votes in the election.

However, Mr Ahiwe, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Ikechi Emenike, separately challenged the victory at the tribunal.

The tribunal, on 6 October, dismissed the petitions filed by Messrs Ahiwe and Emenike and affirmed Mr Ottis election.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the PDP and APC candidates separately filed petitions at the appeal court to challenge the tribunals judgment.

Judgment

Delivering judgment on Saturday, a three-member panel of judges dismissed the appeals by the candidates and reaffirmed the election of Mr Otti, according to a statement by the governors spokesperson, Kazie Uko.

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Kano had, in May, declared the votes polled by the Abia Mr Otti, in the 18 March governorship election as wasted, but refused to nullify the certificate of return issued to him as the winner of the poll.

Mr Uko said in the statement which was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES that the Court of Appeal in Lagos State held that the judgment of the Federal High Court, Kano, and the reasons for discountenancing it does not form part of the ratio decidendi of the case.

All arguments in respect of it, are deemed otiose and suffer the fate of striking out, the statement quoted the court as saying.

The court further struck out a petition regarding Mr Ottis membership of the LP, saying such were pre-election matters, according to the statement.

It subsequently dismissed the appeals with a cost of N1 million awarded against the appellants and in favour of the respondents (Mr Otti, INEC and LP).

PDP reacts

Reacting, the PDP in Abia State, in a statement on Saturday by its Vice Chairperson and spokesperson, Abraham Amah, asked its members and supporters to remain calm over the judgment.

We call on members of the PDP, our numerous supporters and sympathisers, and the good people of Abia State to remain steadfast, calm, peaceful, and law-abiding and put our hope and trust in God and the judiciary as we explore the options available to us, Mr Amah said.

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President Bola Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday evening in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, witnessed the signing of an accelerated performance agreement aimed at expediting the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) to improve electricity supply in Nigeria.

A statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity) said the agreement, consummated on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit, was signed by Kenny Anuwe, the Managing Director and CEO of FGN Power Company, and Nadja Haakansson, Siemens Energys Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Africa.

The PPI, formerly known as the Nigeria Electrification Roadmap Initiative, was the outcome of the visit of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Abuja in August 2018.

An agreement was signed between the governments of Nigeria and Germany in 2019 to improve the power sector.

President Bola Tinubu, since assuming office, has consistently advocated the accelerated realization and expansion of the PPI. To achieve this, the project has been a major focal point in three rounds of bilateral discussions at several meetings between the President and the German Chancellor, in New Delhi, Abuja and Berlin.

The agreement signed today will see to the end-to-end modernization and expansion of Nigerias electric power transmission grid with the full supply, delivery and installation of Siemens-manufactured equipment under a timeline of 18 to 24 months.

Furthermore, the agreement will ensure project sustainability and maintenance with full technology transfer and training for Nigerian engineers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Speaking after the signing ceremony in Dubai, the Managing Director of the FGN Power Company, Mr Anuwe, highlighted Siemens Energys effective delivery of crucial equipment worth over 63 million Euros to the country since the project commenced. This includes 10 units of 132/33KV mobile substations; 3 units of 75/100MVA transformers, and 7 units of 60/66MVA transformers, currently being installed by FGN Power Company at various sites across Nigeria.

The project will also focus on identified load demand centres with a particular emphasis on economic and industrial hubs nationwide; execution of new 330kV and 132/33KV substations in target load centres with economic priority, in addition to thousands of kilometres of overhead transmission lines to connect new substations with existing ones.

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Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of BUA Group, has rejected his nomination to serve as a member of the finance committee set up by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Rabiu declined the offer in a statement by his company on Friday.

It said the billionaire industrialist prefers to be apolitical.

Mr Rabiu, a close ally of President Bola Tinubu, was nominated by the party to serve as a member of a finance committee constituted on Thursday.

He was nominated into the 34-member committee alongside some businessmen and top party members.

Other committees were also constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party after its meeting at the national secretariat in Abuja.

According to the statement by the BUA Group, the ruling party did not consult Mr Rabiu before including his name in the list.

It is important to note that our Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu and BUA Group have consistently adopted an apolitical stance over the years. This approach is integral to the nature of our business and aligns with Mr. Rabius focus on fostering economic growth through BUA Groups initiatives and philanthropic efforts through ASR Africa.

With respect to this, we wish to inform the publishers, our partners, stakeholders, and the general public that Mr. Rabiu has decided to graciously decline the nomination/appointment. This decision is made in light of the fact that he was not previously consulted regarding his inclusion in the list and his inability to commit time due to his demanding schedule, it said.

The company reiterated that Mr Rabiu would not like to get any political affiliations or roles.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, could not be reached for comment.

He did not respond to calls and messages to his mobile line by PREMIUM TIMES.

Committee membership

Meanwhile, the national secretariat of APC had pasted the list of the committee members on one of its WhatsApp platforms on Thursday but deleted the post some hours after.

On Friday, the party posted the same list and included the name of Mr Rabiu despite a statement earlier declining the offer.

According to the list, the finance committee will be chaired by Uguru Ofoke while Bashir Gumel will serve as the secretary.

Other notable members include the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen; Minister of Finance, Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and oil magnate, A.A. Rano.

A businessman, Mohammed Indimi; Kunle Soname; Tein Jack Rich are also members.

Warm relationship with Tinubu

Mr Rabiu, who is ranked the second richest person in Nigeria according to Forbes, is a close friend of President Tinubu.

He recently declared a reduction in the price of cement after a meeting with the president as part of an effort to support the government.

Meanwhile, Mr Rabiu and another billionaire, Aliko Dangote, both from Kano State have been engaging in bitter rivalry lately.

There are speculations that Mr Rabius closeness to the new president might have triggered the public spat. Both billionaires published statements containing serious allegations against each other.

No consultations

The ruling party has had cases of nominating people into committees without consultation.

In August, the party nominated Nyesom Wike, a member of the opposition PDP, into the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Campaign Council.

It later removed the name, claiming that the list was fake.

During the presidential election, the party nominated some PDP members, including former Enugu State Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, and a former Edo State Commissioner, Kassim Afugba.

Also, Gideon Para-Mallam, a cleric, was nominated to the campaign council.

Akande, Ganduje head committees

The former interim chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande, is to head a conflict and reconciliation committee of the party, with former Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, as deputy chairman and Nkem Okeke as the secretary of the committee.

Mr Masari, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, currently heads the committee mediating in the crisis in the Ondo State chapter of the party.

The ruling party is facing internal crises in Rivers, Bayelsa and other states.

The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, heads a nine-member committee on establishment.

The Inter-Governmental Committee with 26 members is chaired by Emma Eneukwu, the APC deputy national chairman (South).

According to the statement signed by the National Secretary of the party, Ajibola Basiru, all the committees will be inaugurated on 6 December at the national secretariat of the party.

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The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says the operations of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the last one week have resulted in the killing of more than 180 terrorists, arrest of 204 others and rescue of 234 kidnapped victims.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, a major general, in a statement on Friday, said the operations involved land and air interdictions across the theatres of operation.

Mr Buba said the troops also recovered 46 assorted weapons and 148 assorted ammunition, comprising 30 AK47 rifles, two Josef Magnum pump action guns, one double barrel gun and two single barrel guns.

Others according to him, include 12 locally made pistols, 13 dane guns, one hand grenade, nine locally made rifles, three RPG chargers, two locally made hand grenades and 120 rounds of 7.62mm NATO.

He said they also included 364 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 54 live cartridges, 11 rounds of empty cases of 7.62mm special ammo, 32 magazines, 34 vehicles, 64 mobile phones, 47 motorcycles, N1.5 million, amongst other items.

In the North-east, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed 19 terrorists, arrested 52 and rescued 134 kidnapped victims within the week.

He said the troops recovered six AK47 rifles, 58 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, seven live cartridges, three vehicles, eight mobile phones, three motorcycles, one bicycle and two camouflage magazine carrier jackets.

According to him, troops arrested suspected ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists in Chibok Local Government Area, and conducted fighting patrols in Kukawa, Bama and Gwoza Local Government Areas in Borno.

He said the troops also conducted fighting patrols to Gulani Local Government Area of Yobe State where they arrested kidnappers and illegal miners.

Mr Buba said the troops also discovered and detonated IEDs in Monguno, Mafa and Gwoza Local Government Areas of Borno and killed suspected ISWAP/JAS terrorists in Madagali in Adamawa State and Maiduguri Municipal Council areas in Borno.

He added that a total of 91 terrorist comprising 13 adult males, 35 adult females and 43 children surrendered to troops between 22 and 28 November.

According to him, the air component of Operations Hadin Kai had between 24 and 35 November,, conducted air interdiction overhead Tagoshe and Chongolo Kura in Borno.

Battle damage assessment revealed that over 130 terrorists gathered were neutralised with low possibility survivors for those wounded.

In the North-central, Mr Buba said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke, neutralised several terrorists in land and air offensives and destroyed their enclaves in Niger, Benue, Plateau and Taraba states.

He said the air interdiction on 26 November at terrorists kingpin Ali Kawajes enclave in Dagam in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger killed several terrorists with the structures destroyed.

He said the troops of Operation Safe Haven killed two terrorists, arrested 37 and rescued three kidnapped hostages while troops of Operation Whirl Stroke killed five terrorists, arrested 10 and rescued one hostage.

In the North-west, the defence spokesperson said the troops of Operations Hadarin Daji and Whirl Punch, eliminated several terrorists in land and air offensives in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States within the week.

He said the air component conducted air interdiction on 25 November at bandits enclave in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara and neutralised several terrorists.

READ ALSO: Nigerian troops rescue six kidnap victims

Overall, troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 14 terrorists, arrested 20 terrorists and rescued 88 hostages in land operations.

Also, troops of Operation Whirl Punch arrested a gunrunner in Kaduna and criminals in Abaji Area Council of FCT Abuja.

Troops equally raided criminal hideouts in Gwagwalada Area Council of FCT, Abuja, and conducted offensive operations in Abaji, and Kuje Area Councils.

Overall, troops of Operation Whirl Punch neutralised four terrorists, arrested four suspected terrorists and rescued two hostages, he said.

(NAN)

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The House of Representatives has debunked the claim by one of its members that President Bola Tinubu submitted an empty budget to the National Assembly.

The Spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti) told PREMIUM TIMES in a phone interview on Saturday that the president presented the hard copies of the budget, contrary to the claim made by Yusuf Galambi, a member of the lower chamber.

Of course, what else would be inside? Do you think the president would bring empty papers? How do people make grievous allegations?

So this is a calculated attempt to discredit the system and to make people lose confidence in the system. It is considered a serious thing, the legislator said.

The allegation

Mr Galambi, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa State, had, in an interview with BBC Hausa, claimed that the president submitted an empty budget during the presentation ceremony.

We have checked but there was nothing inside. We checked it. In the history of the National Assembly, this was the first time such a thing happened.

The constitution has made it clear (that a document must be presented) but this time, it was only a reading on paper. They didnt provide the document for us to go through and see what is proposed for each sector, he said.

President Tinubu presented the N27.5 trillion budget to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The two chambers debated the general principle of the budget on Thursday and Friday and subsequently passed it for a second reading and referred it to relevant committees in their chambers.

Galambi is never in plenary

Mr Rotimi stated that Mr Galambi is not in a position to speak on legislative matters because he is never in the chamber for plenary activities.

He claimed that the lawmaker has not attended up to 10 per cent of the total plenary sessions held since the inauguration of this 10th Assembly.

The spokesperson said the lawmaker could face the committee on House Ethnic and Privilege for his grievous claim and non-attendance of plenary sessions.

This is someone (Galambi)it has been provenhas not met up to 10 per cent of plenary since we resumed. Go and verify. He does not even know whats happening in parliament. Does he attend anything? When somebody comes and just says what he knows nothing about. Does he even attend plenary sessions to now make grievous accusations against the House and the presidency as well?

I am not saying that he would, but I am not ruling it out because anything that seeks to discredit the institution, more important, a very important national ritual, like budget presentation..,

Mr Rotimi did not provide any evidence to back the claim that Mr Galambi has not been attending plenary sessions.

Penalty for absenteeism

A member of the National Assembly risks losing his/her seat for not attending a number of plenary sessions.

68. (1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if 

Without just cause he is absent from meetings of the House of which he is a member for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year.

Galambi is suffering from election fatigue

The deputy spokesperson of the House, Philip Agbese, while speaking with journalists at the National Assembly on Saturday, said the Jigawa lawmaker is suffering from post-election fatigue.

In fact, I blame lack of concentration, absenteeism and post-election petition trauma for such a careless comment by the honourable member from Jigawa State.

And to say the least, such an isolated comment shouldnt have been reported by a patriotic press anywhere in the world, Mr Agbese added.

Mr Agbese said, The House of Representatives has passed that stage long ago, stressing that, the 10th National Assembly of the House of Representatives doesnt entertain frivolities from the executive or members of the public.

The lawmaker, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, hinted that the Committee on Appropriation has long ago distributed the details of the budget proposal to the respective Committees.

Mr Agbese added that relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would be invited from Monday to give justification for the estimates (budget defence), as soon as possible.

He also assured that Mr. Speaker in his usual style, will monitor the activities of all the committees during the period of scrutiny and Nigerians can be rest assured of the best from the peoples House.

The House is currently on recess to allow committees to carry out the public hearing on the budget.

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The Chief Medical Director of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Wasiu Adeyemo, has denied the viral news that the hospital is in critical crisis over the reported shutdown of some wards owing to brain drain.

Reports during the week quoted the Chairman of the Health Committee of the House of Representatives, Amos Magaji, claiming five wards had been shut at the tertiary health facility with about 150 wards affected.

The lawmaker said this during a media chat shortly after an oversight visit to the hospital earlier in the week.

Mr Mogaji said the alarming rate of migration of health workers was becoming a national embarrassment to the country.

But in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Adeyemo, a professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, said the situation was taken out of context.

Though Mr Adeyemo confirmed the impacts of brain drain on the operations of the facility, he said the hospital has a total of 45 wards and about 1,000 beds.

He noted that some of the reported closed wards had also been merged with the existing wards owing largely to ongoing renovations and not strictly for japa reasons.

Japa, a Yoruba coinage, which literally means to run away, is popularly used in Nigeria to refer to relocation of Nigerians in search of greener pastures abroad, especially the US, Canada and some European countries, particularly the UK.

Mr Adeyemo said regardless of the five wards, the hospital still possesses the best health facilities and delivers quality health services with about 40 functioning wards and over 800-bed capacity.

We cant underestimate or underrate the reality. However, we must not blow it out of proportion so we dont cause panic among the people. Virtually all wards are general wards and we can admit to any of them, except paediatrics, the CMD explained.

Infrastructural upgrade in LUTH

According to the CMD, the federal government recently approved money for infrastructural renewal and renovation of the wards. The retrofitting, according to him, requires moving and merging wards with others.

After we renovated, moving back became a problem. So, we didnt shut down. To go back, we realised we didnt have enough nurses to handle them, he said.

During an engagement with the House Committee, we highlighted our challenges and their presentation of the issue was well understood. I just want to put perspectives into this matter.

Mr Adeyemo boasted about the facilities in LUTH, saying they ranks among the best and most equipped health institutions in Africa.

He said LUTH has the largest cancer centre, a 40-bed capacity ultra-modern neonatal intensive care unit and labour ward complex as well as a 30-bed intensive care unit.

He added that the facility has a 60-bed, four-floor Alima Atta Oncology ward built and equipped for LUTH by a philanthropist, Iyabo Atta, in memory of her daughter, Alima, who died of cancer.

The chief medical director also boasted that there is hardly any public infrastructure of LUTH size in Nigeria that enjoys 24-hour uninterrupted power supply as the hospital has been enjoying since 2017.

He said: We have an independent power supply that relies only on gas. Our downtime in a month is less than one per cent. It costs us about N100 million monthly but it is the best you can get anywhere in the country and beyond. So we should stop pulling our institutions down.

He advised the Nigerian media to stop feasting only on negative reports but to reflect all sides and give context to reports.

Other reasons for overstretched workforce

According to Mr Adeyemo, other factors may have accounted for the overstretching of the personnel beyond the brain drain.

He said a Nigerian philanthropist recently donated about N2 billion worth Oncology Centre to the hospital and that due to the elongated processes of recruitment and the request by the donor to urgently put the facility into use, the hospital had to transfer existing personnel to the facility.

Recruitment in public institutions requires a lot of processes and that is why the hospital has never been found wanting for irregular employment. But because the donor of this massive investment wanted us to put it into use immediately, we had to find a middle ground by transferring some of the existing workers there, he said.

He however noted that a recruitment process is ongoing and as soon as the process is completed, all the hospitals wards will be put to use.

We explained everything to the house committee on health and they assured us to present it at the national assembly, he said.

Brain Drain

Mr Adeyemo said the challenge posed by brain drain otherwise known as japa syndrome is not only limited to his hospital but every sector of Nigerias economy.

The brain drain is affecting virtually all hospitals in Nigeria and LUTH as a facility is doing everything to manage the situation, he said.

He said Nigerian healthcare workers leave the country for both push and pull factors, saying unlike in the past when opportunities were only found in Saudi Arabia and a few other places, opportunities now abound everywhere- from Europe to America, UK to the Arabian countries.

So the world is now a global village and the opportunities are everywhere. If you advertise that you want to employ resident doctors, only people who apply will be reviewed, but if they dont apply, they cant be forced. People are more attracted to openings abroad because they want to earn in foreign currencies, he said.

As of July, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Emeka Orji revealed that the association is left with only a few over 9,000 medical doctors, due to the brain drain crisis in the healthcare system.

According to the Nigerian Society of Anaesthetists, no fewer than 400 consultant anaesthetists left Nigeria for greener pastures in the last two years.

Also, more than 7,000 pharmacists emigrated from Nigeria in the last two years, due to the lack of incentives to practice locally, according to the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN).

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Keeping the HIV infection rate in Egypt low and containing any probable future outbreak requires some of the unconventional methods employed by the United States

As a health journalist from Egypt, I took part in a programme entitled ' HIV/AIDS: prevention and treatment' that was organised by the US Department of State as part of an International Visitor programme to shed light on the efforts that had been exerted in the past and current practices to put an end to the HIV epidemic that spiked in the eighties and nineties before it declined, and presented many worldwide challenges.

The programme t ook me to four states in the United States (Maryland, Colorado, California, and Washington) as well as the capital, Washington, DC. My primary thought was that we would just witness American expertise in tackling the broad spectrum of different infection rates through conventional methods: provision of diagnosis, top notch drugs, and care in medical facilities.

It wasnt long before I figured out how wrong I was. American methods to contain the HIV problem involved a more comprehensive approach and took into consideration many social aspects, something I feel is important to shed light on when considering Egypts relationship to HIV.

Although in Egypt we take pride in the low prevalence of infection (currently at 0.02%); this rate is actually disturbingly high among specific risk groups.

Moreover, there is no real guarantee that the rates will stay at their current level or dwindle, and the viral suppression (reaching an undetectable point of HIV in a sample blood test within the people living with the virus and taking medication) that really counts .

Secondly, the exposure I had in the US proved that in order to curb and eventually put an end to HIV in the community, you have to have perspective.

Indeed you must sometimes think conventionally to solve issues but other times you must think outside of the box, and when it comes to Egypts HIV issue, such an approach can be outlined in eight points:

Lets the kids do the talking

As we talked to different parties engaged in tackling the problem, we heard them speak with efficiency, whether politicians, scientists or members of NGOs. Nonetheless, none of these parties brimmed with the passion and enthusiasm that we saw at Newport high school in Seattle.

AIDS peer educators is an advanced health class, where participants learn first about HIV/AIDS, and develop presentation skills to deliver to their peers a two-day lesson telling them everything about the infection in a simple, comprehensive and exciting way.

As I watched the students talk and use different demonstration methods, it was very clear that this was the only way high school students would accept to listen and learn more.

Think: "treatment as prevention"

Raising awareness to prevent more infections is always a good approach, but more important is to treat those already infected, retain them in treatment, and monitor their adherence to drugs to suppress the virus.

This is the only way to reach true prevention as it makes it unlikely for them to transmit the infection.

Bring in members of civil society

When initiative, diagnosis, and recommendations come from civil society bodies who work solely to improve living conditions, change really begins to take place.

In Washington DC, groups like Appleseed foundation and Hogan Lovells saw that the overwhelming issue of the 3.5 percent prevalence of HIV in the nation's capital was due to poor living conditions, hygiene practices, and lack of supportive legislation. These groups collaborated with volunteer attorneys, community experts and businesspeople to release the groundbreaking 2005 report which turned the situation around and pushed the government to issue regulations in favour of those affected by HIV.

Food is part of the cure

Food insecurity is not just an issue in the developing world, but rather an international issue.

Through the work of NGOs like San Francisco's Project Open Hand and Maryland's Moveable Feast, an on-the-ground approach tackles the proven existing link between malnutrition and not adhering to medication or falling out of care.

Tens of thousands of those burdened by HIV, cancer and other critical illnesses receive tailored healthy meals that make them feel cared for and put them on the right track of health care.

Tell the stories and let the legacy live

Different countries have had to live their own stories of stigma that haunted people living with HIV and forced them to live in seclusion.

What turned the situation around was when affected people and their families told their stories, shared their agony and pushed the general population to relate to their stories in the 90s, people and families of those touched by HIV began speaking out against the stigma and the discrimination that they saw first hand, most notably the parents of Ryan White, who contracted HIV through blood transfusion and had to face discrimination along with his family even at his own school and among his neighbours. When people were forced to face their own cruelty, a change in behaviour began to occur.

Annual events like those commemorated in San Francisco's Aids Memorial Grove, ensure that these stories are known by future generations, and that those who lend a helping hand are identified and honoured.

In Egypt these stories are told only within closed circles, and rarely on mainstream media channels.

Spread the word, but keep it simple, and keep the hope alive

The experience of talking to the legendary Dr Robert Gallo, who co-discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS and developed the HIV blood test in 1984 while at the National Cancer Institute, before becoming Director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine , Dr King Holmes at the University of Washingtons Department of Global Health, Dr Thomas Campbell at Colorado AIDS Clinical Unit, Dr Ann Duerr at Fred Hutchinson research center and other medical experts provided overwhelming scientific information, state of the art research techniques and findings.

But what was really impressive was the ability of these top notch scientists to break complex information down into simple facts and communicate and infuse hope within the hearts of listeners.

It would be great to see scientists and medical professionals in Egypt do the same.

This connection infuses deep interest within the audience and a desire to learn more, feel the link between the society and those who are in charge of their health, understand that when it comes to wellness and diseases, different sectors of this society are always linked and correlated

Speak the same language

In the US, diversity is overwhelming, and the social and economic disparities among some of those living there is undeniable. It was understood from early on that the Latino community for example had to be addressed by its own people. A beautiful example of this was Clinica Tepeyac in Denver, where comprehensive care was offered to members of the Latino community. This was a place where they felt comfortable, welcoming psychiatrists who understood the stigma they suffered, and treatment regimen that included close follow-ups to monitor adherence to drugs until viral suppression is attained.

In Egypt, the problem of multiple ethnicities is not present as in other countries, nevertheless, it should be noted that different approaches should target different regions and address them while taking into consideration their social norms and culture.

In most communities, women also have an issue when it comes to HIV as they tend to carry the stigma in silence and fear, rarely having the courage to face the community.

The women empowerment programme in Colorado and other places lent an extra helping hand to those women who bear family responsibilities while suffering from stigma and despair.

In Egypt, many communities can relate to the same agony.

Bring the action onto the campus

In Egypt, the universities need to be more of an active stage for students to express their ideas regarding developmental and social issues. This can happen by bringing the action into their territory, and providing a platform of art and self-expression.

An amazing photo gallery of paintings that captured the story of HIV in Denver's Tri-Institutional Campus was a great way to engage the students in ways that tell the story of HIV/AIDS in paintings.

In Baltimore, Maryland, Howard University organised a conference against the stigma, bringing the cause closer to youth territory and narrating to them stories of those who wouldn't accept to be defined as victims of HIV, but rather model survivors of writers, human advocates, politicians, and many other fields.







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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed the death of three traditional rulers in an auto crash that occured in Ogbomoso, Oyo State on Friday.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Saturday, the FRSC sector commander in the state, Joshua Adekanye, attributed the cause of the auto crash to speed violation and wrongful overtaking.

According to Mr Adekanye, two vehicles were involved in the accident  a white M/Benz E230 car with registration number OLODOGBO and a white Scania Truck with registration number MUS 301 XF.

He said out of the six people in the vehicles, three died while the others were injured.

The injured victims were taken to LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso while the corpses were deposited at the same hospital morgue, Mr Adekanye said.

A witness, Samuel Oloruntoba, however, told NAN that the traditional rulers of Odogbo, Bowula, and Ayetoro communities in Orire local government areas of the state died in the accident

According to Mr Oloruntoba, the victims were on their way to a funeral party of another traditional rulers relation in the area when the accident occured in Arinkinkin area of Ogbomoso.

He said the car the deceased traditional rulers were riding in rammed into the oncoming truck, which resulted in the death of the Obas. (NAN)

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The Nigerian government granted an extension to the boat service contract it entered with Intels Nigeria Limited as part of efforts to stop revenue leakage and improve the inflow of foreign exchange into government coffers, sources familiar with the matter told this newspaper on Saturday.

The government through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) officially granted an extension to the contract following presidential directives and court consent judgment.

The NPA had in September 2020 announced the termination of the boat operation contract, directing all service boat owners and operators to do transactions directly in each port complex of the NPA.

But a Federal High Court in Lagos granted an interim injunction, preventing the termination of Intels role as a managing agent in various Pilotage Districts. The injunction was issued in response to a suit filed by Intels and Deep Offshore Service Nigeria Limited, seeking to continue their duties pending the resolution of arbitration proceedings.

After prolonged negotiations and deliberations, the NPA on Thursday announced the extension of the contract through a memo addressed to all shipping companies and signed by the Ports Manager, Lagos Port Complex, Charles Okaga.

In the statement titled Reinstatement of Intels Nigeria Limited as the authoritys service boat operations monitoring provider in the pilotage district, the NPA said the move aims to bolster revenue generation from Service Boat Operations, aligning with both the agency and federal governments objectives.

In accordance with the terms outlined in the Managing Agency Agreement, Intels Nigeria Limited has received a directive to promptly resume services. The company is expected to operate as the managing agent for Service Boat operations in the Lagos Pilotage District (LPD).

The new directive urged shipping companies to provide unrestricted access to information on pilotage movements for Intels, in addition to provision of necessary assistance for a seamless commencement of operations.

Why FG rehires Intels

Sources within the NPA told PREMIUM TIMES that the new resolution was reached against the background of the Onne Port construction deal struck by the NPA and Intels. Those familiar with details of the deal said Intels agreed to construct the port and shore up finances with revenue generated from its boat contract with the NPA.

But trouble started when, in September 2020, the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) terminated the boat operation contract being handled by Intels Nigeria Limited, INL. In a marine information notice dated September 1, the Lagos Pilotage District (LPD) of the NPA said the service, hitherto handled by Intels, had been terminated and consequently directed all service boats owners and operators to do transactions directly in each of the Port Complex of the NPA.

The termination notice at the time heightened the lingering tension between NPA and Intels.

Meanwhile, sources told PREMIUM TIMES Saturday that upon the termination of the contract by NPA, the Nigerian government recorded heavy revenue losses from the operations as officials who took over from Intels had no capacity to operate the contract. A source told this newspaper that from about $200 million, the annual revenue fell to about $50 million.

Upon assuming power on 29 May, the Bola Tinubu administration assigned officials to look into areas of revenue leakages and the boat contract was listed among strategic areas in which the government has been losing massive revenue, sources told PREMIUM TIMES.

As part of its conflict resolution mechanisms and revenue generation efforts, the government called for negotiation based on prevailing agreements and the boat service contract was extended.

However, details of the court consent judgment remain unclear as of press time Saturday evening.

The new resolution brings fresh insights into the long-running battle between Intels and NPA.

In June 2017, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported how the Nigerian government moved against Intels, which was then partly owned by former Nigerian vice-president, Atiku Abubakar. The company was founded over three decades ago by Gabriele Volpi, an Italian national who also has Nigerian citizenship, and Mr Abubakar was a minority shareholder.

Earlier in April of that year, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the recommendations of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, breaking Intels near-monopoly in the handling of oil and gas cargoes in the country.

Mr Abubakar later sold his interests in the company through a series of transactions in 2020. An official said at the time that the former Nigerian Vice President exited the company with his family in a series of deals that began in December 2018.

After NPA terminated Intels contract in 2017, it kickstarted a procurement process to hire new contractors for the project. But more than five years after, the process is yet to conclude.

Government insiders said the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) recently recommended four contractors for consideration, one each for Lagos Pilotage District, Warri Pilotage District), Bonny/Port Harcourt Pilotage District) and Calabar Pilotage District.

With the decision to rehire Intels, it does appear the government has abandoned that procurement process.

The procurement process did not conclude, an official of the Tinubu administration told PREMIUM TIMES. No one was issued award letter. Contract awards of that magnitude only concludes when approved by the Federal Executive Council, letters of awards issued to contractors and agreements signed by parties. The BPP recommendations did not make it to FEC.Tinubu is desperate for revenue, especially in foreign currency.

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The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has praised his deputy, Philip Shaibu on his birthday despite their worsening political feud.

Mr Shaibu turned 54 on Saturday.

The governor took to X (formally Twitter) and Facebook to pay tributes to Mr Shaibu, acknowledging the energy and vigour his deputy has brought to bear in bringing transformational change and development to Edo State.

I congratulate my brother, the Deputy Governor of Edo State, @HonPhilipShaibu on his 54th birthday.

I thank him immensely for his support in the course of our drive for the development of our State in the last seven years.

Alongside making these contributions to this administration, he has remained an exemplary husband, father and a great family man.

I celebrate him today and wish him many more years in good health and sound mind, the governor said in a message he signed.

Political feud

Mr Shaibu first served as a lawmaker in Edo State before he was elected a federal lawmaker in 2015. He later resigned and paired with Mr Obaseki on a joint ticket where they contested and won the governorship election in the state in 2016 under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).

With the support of the then-incumbent Governor now senator, Adams Oshiomhole, Messrs Obaseki and Shaibu enjoyed a smooth victory at the polls.

Four years later, they sought a second term but were denied a return ticket by Mr Oshiomhole who later became the National Chairman of the APC, a situation that forced them to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where they contested and won the election in 2020.

After falling out with Mr Oshiomhole, Messrs Obaseki and Shaibu enjoyed a strong political bond until lately when the duo fell apart following Mr Shaibus ambition to succeed Mr Obaseki as governor in 2024.

Mr Shaibu recently sought a court protection over a perceived impeachment plot by the State Assembly but later withdrew the suit and apologised to the governor after leaders in the state mediated peace between them.

Mr Shaibu on Monday officially declared to contest for the governorship of the state in 2024, saying Nobody can stop my ambition.

The deputy governor said, with his political experience spanning three decades, nobody is better placed to succeed Mr Obaseki than him, adding that the state cannot afford to experiment with a new person.

But Mr Obaseki, who appears to favour another person as his successor said his deputy was overambitious.

He relocated Mr Shaibus office from the Government House to another area in Benin, the state capital.

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Many African cultures have been explained from the vantage points of books, documentaries, and research that has gone through global methodologies, but there is a need to take a pause and call in major partakers of the phenomenon to understand the real state of things. In this effort, the series has invited High Chief Ifayemi Osundagbonu, Elebuibon, to move discourses about African metaphysics forward.

Organic Intellectuals

There is a high number of intellectuals based outside of the University system. The Yoruba have produced many of them since the nineteenth century. Almost twenty-three years ago, I published a book, Yoruba Gurus: Indigenous Production of Knowledge in Africa, to reflect on a handful of them. Many do not use the print media but stay within the boundaries of orality. The significance of their work is impressive.

As clearly demonstrated in Yoruba Gurus, the concepts around the ideas of intellectualism transcend the walls of universities. In fact, many of the known world changers in antiquities have emerged, not only within laboratories or the leaves of books but also at some points of discoveries and depths of enlightenment gained from their continuous careers and skills engagements. Hence, while the world respects academic scholars in discourses around sensitive issues, organic intellectuals who have climbed the ladders of authority upward give more practical insights into the arrays of discussions. This is the position High Chief Ifayemi Osundagbonu Elebuibon has occupied in the Nigerian and Yoruba metaphysical discourses and epistemologies.

The crust of African intellectualism was built from organic sources, and this made it difficult for the early missionaries and colonial explorers to understand the intellectual holdings of the continent and its people with diverse cultures. Really, African educational and academic systems that predated colonialism and European invasions can be appreciated, but some include technical knowledge and wisdom passed along professional lines. For instance, the concepts of theoretical physics may not be well understood if the bounds of that discipline are held strictly. However, old African knowledge of physics is seen in the experimental and professional developments. You might not be able to do something without being an outright performer of the same.

Hence, an African scientist is a professional in the area of science that a modern scientist would want to expand. For instance, you are better appreciated as a political scientist if you have not been within the folds of politics, and society would also help to draw you closer to the said profession. Medicine, for instance, flourished in Africa, and the development of much medical knowledge in Africa did not come from the galleries of stand-alone research, but through trials and errors, while long years of discoveries and new cases have brought about tweaks to medical practices. Hence, with the advancement in pedagogy, intellectualism, and scholarship, one must not be distracted by seemingly new methods but must grasp the travails and prevalence of organic intellectualism to fill in the gaps that could have been discovered in the scholarly cultural comparison.

Africa is a dynamic continent. Its greatness lies not only in the abundance of its landscape and resources but in the diverse cultures and traditions seen in its people at all times. The untapped potential of the large numbers that form the population make it stand tall with strength, innovative abilities, creativity, and the unifying spirit of its people that transcends the borders of nations. It is an inspiration to those who understand this dynamic. The world has witnessed the greatness of the second-largest continent many times, from its savannahs to the rainforest and desert in the Sahel. The continent has greatly contributed to humanity distinctly.

Elebuibon has been able to distinguish himself as one of the resource points in African metaphysics and epistemologies and has married practices with needs. As a priest, author, poet, linguist, and even an artist, he has been able to make remarkable attempts at creating African consciousness. Elebuibons films and plays have been met with accolades as one of the closest links to originality and raw African knowledge.

The silent forces undisclosed to many that drive this progress and resilience seen today can only be attributed to the host of organic intellectuals that the continent harbors. This variant of intellectualism is such that no other part of the world seeks to compete with it. This is not to say that Africa maintains a monopoly of the phenomenon, but the intellectual and epistemological understanding of the continent is married to organic intellectuals and, in comparison to the preponderance in other cultures, it takes the front roll. Despite the shortfalls that marred the geometric sequence of growth, Africa still boasts of organic intellectualism that is deeply rooted in the local pearls of wisdom, cultures, beliefs, and local experiences of fellow Africans. It is an inclusive aspect of African existence that taps its resources from within. Making it easier to adopt, unlike formal education thats embedded in premeditated syllabuses and curricula unknown to the majority.

Due to the large divergence, Africa is rich in culture and cultural elements. Even at that, the unity in diversity here is second to none. This explains why diverse experiences frequently have common grounds, passing the same message and value. Organic intellectualism is visible in every aspect of the African existence. This has allowed the reengineering and rebalancing of African knowledge systems and understanding, to be easy as well as necessary. For instance, the practice of communal cohabiting and the promotion of extended family lifestyles is a result of the wisdom of organic practices. This wisdom to have family members of various age groups cohabit in large compounds is of numerous benefits. Apart from the practical purposes of shared responsibilities and resources, communal existence also fosters social benefits that allow younger relatives to tap from the wisdom of their elders through the transmission of values, cultural beliefs, skills, knowledge of medicine, religion, and interpersonal skills from the former to the latter. This bolsters interconnectivity amongst the family unit, where the knowledge acquired shapes individual interactions with others. This is a blissful experience from the far cry that we have today, in which formal institutions have taken the bulk of the family time and lifestyles, where modern kids now have issues relating to their heritages.

The family has always been a school, and the passing of the encoded knowledge within the family ethos and subscribed trades grow different individuals to drive out reasonable examples for discourses on organic intellectualism. Ifa priesthood, blacksmiths, agricultural science, and other sciences that, today, need to be learnt in lumped-up years of continuous assessments and laboratory experiments are informally injected into the social bloodstream of every African child.

Ifa and the practices around it have posed challenges difficult to understand for those who try to view it from the lenses of modern science or the objective texts of social or scientific formula. This is because it is both science, philosophy, history, metaphysics, and other systems embedded in one. Its complexity and influence on the ideological subscriptions of Africans have made it difficult to discard. It has proven to be a knowledge system that is not taught in schools but by professionals who have learnt the wisdom of divinity, especially from the cultural hand-downs of families, which have shown the science and logic in it. Like the error the early modern intellectuals ran into, it would be easy to discard the practices because of their non-conformity with the test of modern and global science, but approaches to organic intellectuals that have both scientific and mythical understanding of the Ifa science and research have been able to explore the unexhausted particularities of its relevance.

From the above, one would see how African wisdom has rested much on organic intellectuals, but the question now is, how has Africa fared in contemporary knowledge distribution? As posited earlier, organic intellectualism is not geographically limited or time-bound; it is a phenomenon that grows and expands with age, space, time, and profession. Every profession has organic intellectuals and their relevance will always be appreciated than many of the scholars in the academia. African concepts of organic intellectualism and intellectuals persist today, and the social systems, as seen everywhere, grow.

One other modern dynamic is the fact that many of the African organic intellectuals do not form the folds of high-level scholarship; they do not have doctorate degrees and some have not been able to even get any degrees. This has thwarted their possibilities of climbing the needed social ladder of influence that would make their opinions count.

The relevance of African organic intellectualism impacts the immediate environment. The fields of agriculture and healthcare are two ways in which African wisdom and knowledge have been impacted. Through many generations, African farmers have been able to combat problems of food scarcity through the adoption of agroforestry. A system that allows the co-cultivation of food crops, trees, and even animals on land. This practice is very popular in Africa, especially in the semi-arid areas of West Africa. This approach allows for the conservation of resources, diversification of crop yields, and enhancement of food security. The interesting aspect of it all is the wisdom displayed by these farmers in drawing from local knowledge towards adaptation for the specific needs and conditions of the community. The health industry has also fared well through local knowledge. The adoption of local healing methods, herbs, and roots to care for the sick, birthed health services that meet the specific needs of the community. This has further reduced the hardships in accessing good healthcare, as most healing materials can be accessed easily. The various practices are still evident in the local societies, but the influx of modern technologies and techniques, without looking for inward approaches towards solutions, is exhumed by these organic intellectuals.

One other modern dynamic is the fact that many of the African organic intellectuals do not form the folds of high-level scholarship; they do not have doctorate degrees and some have not been able to even get any degrees. This has thwarted their possibilities of climbing the needed social ladder of influence that would make their opinions count. Going through a huge part of Northern Nigeria, one would see different ways by which agriculture is being practiced, and several of the locals have acquired real knowledge that could form global agricultural changes. This is applicable to other sectors of African societies, and the country is not making efforts to expand the gems of knowledge these people hold.

Where local content and raw professionalism meet opportunity, society tends to enjoy top-notch knowledge without reserve. This brings about the Toyin Falola Interviews attempt to use public history to narrate African knowledge from raw organic intellectualism. Many African cultures have been explained from the vantage points of books, documentaries, and research that has gone through global methodologies, but there is a need to take a pause and call in major partakers of the phenomenon to understand the real state of things. In this effort, the series has invited High Chief Ifayemi Osundagbonu, Elebuibon, to move discourses about African metaphysics forward.

Elebuibon has been able to distinguish himself as one of the resource points in African metaphysics and epistemologies and has married practices with needs. As a priest, author, poet, linguist, and even an artist, he has been able to make remarkable attempts at creating African consciousness. Elebuibons films and plays have been met with accolades as one of the closest links to originality and raw African knowledge. He exudes knowledge as they are or should be and not merely knowledge as observed, which kills history. This has informed the decision of the Toyin Falola Interviews to invite him to discuss Ifa and Yoruba Metaphysics on the 3rd of December.

Please join us for a conversation with the world-famous Ifa priest, writer, poet, author, and linguist, High Chief Ifayemi Osundagbonu Elebuibon.

Sunday, 3 December

5:00 PM Nigeria

10:00 AM Austin CST

Register and Watch Here

Join via Zoom

Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland.

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In a show of the famous Cuban sense of humanism, President Miguel Diaz-Canel, on 17 November, met with the Palestinian students to express the solidarity of the Cuban people with them. Then on 23 November, draped in the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh, he led the Palestinian students and a huge mass of Cubans in a solidarity march across Havana, passing in front of the United States Embassy, demanding a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian war.

The Israeli bombs that rained down on Gaza have killed over 200 health workers, with 215 injured. In Havana, Cuba, 10,953 kilometres away, Palestinian youths being trained as medical doctors gathered to mourn the human carnage in their country and vowed to take the next available flight back once they complete their studies to replace the murdered doctors.

In a show of the famous Cuban sense of humanism, President Miguel Diaz-Canel, on 17 November, met with the Palestinian students to express the solidarity of the Cuban people with them. Then on 23 November, draped in the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh, he led the Palestinian students and a huge mass of Cubans in a solidarity march across Havana, passing in front of the United States Embassy, demanding a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian war. Also participating in the march were the Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and the Presidents wife, Lis Cuesta.

The solidarity that the Cubans are engaged in with the Palestinian issue is no fluke. They showed Africans a thousand times more solidarity when we were in our most vulnerable states. That was in the 1980s when Apartheid South Africa, supported by the US, Britain, Israel and their allies, held us in the jugular. Apartheid held down Namibia and enslaved the Blacks in South Africa, with liberation icons like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Nelson Mandela held in prison as terrorists. In addition, the Apartheid regime, with a mighty military equipped by its Western allies, invaded African countries like Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Angola at will.

Africa seemed helpless. Most countries merely made declarations. So, with the support for the Apartheid regime by some world leaders like President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the situation appeared hopeless. However, Cuba took action. It sent a total of 55,000 troops over 9,000 kilometres from Havana to Africa to fight Apartheid and liberate the African continent.

Thousands of heroic Cuban youths lost their lives fighting for Africa. In the historic Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, the Cubans roundly defeated the Apartheid forces, chasing them into colonised Namibia, where the enemies of humanity begged for a ceasefire. Cubas basic demands on the Apartheid regime were independence for Namibia, leading to independence for South Africa. Two years later, Namibia became independent on 21 March, 1990 and South Africa, on 16 April, 1994.

Cuba, which has been under US sanctions for six decades, went before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 2 November, asking it to vote against the US economic and trade embargo against it. A total of 187 countries voted against the US embargo, with only the US and Israel voting for the embargo, and Ukraine abstaining. It was the 31st time the UNGA was voting against America on the issue, but the Americans have never shown any respect for the UN Resolutions.

Cuba, a small island nation, had as at 2021 lost over $1,098,008,000,000 to the unilateral American restrictions, which include embargoes on spare parts, medicines, transportation and food.

The man who symbolised Cubas resistance and unparalleled sense of dedication to humanity, is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Fidel, as he was affectionately called, flew away on 25 November, 2016. Exactly on the seventh year of his passing, I joined guests at the Cuban Embassy in Abuja to plant a royal palm tree commemorating his passing.

It has also survived attacks by some 300 terrorist groups, which bombed private and commercial places. Cuban aircraft have also been hijacked, taken to the US and destroyed. The most serious of these terrorist attacks was the October 1976 hijack of a Cuban Airline with 76 persons on board. It was flown over the sea and blown up.

The Cuba-US fight is like that between the Biblical David and Goliath. The US has a total surface area of 3,119,885 kilometres, in comparison to Cubas 109,884 kilometres. In other words, the US is over 28 times the size of Cuba. In terms of population, while the US is 331.9 million, Cuba is 11.26 million. So the US population is over 29 times that of Cuba. Yet, in over six decades of skirmishes, sabotage and sanctions, the US has been unable to subdue Cuba.

The man who symbolised Cubas resistance and unparalleled sense of dedication to humanity, is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Fidel, as he was affectionately called, flew away on 25 November, 2016. Exactly on the seventh year of his passing, I joined guests at the Cuban Embassy in Abuja to plant a royal palm tree commemorating his passing.

Cuban Ambassador Miriam Morales Palmero, who personally worked with Fidel, explained the choice of tree: The royal palm was chosen as the national tree in Cuba for being the most numerous of its trees, for being the most notable species in its landscapes, resistant and durable, for its beauty, for its usefulness and for being represented in the national coat of arms.

She recalled that Fidel told Cubans that they have the duty of compensation to Africa by virtue of the crucial role played by Africans and their descendants in the independence and revolutionary wars (In South America and the Caribbean) in their contribution to the construction of the Cuban nation and in the creation of wealth that successive generations of all races have enjoyed.

The Ambassador said Fidels speech in Havana on 21 March, 1962 on war, remains relevant today as it was 61 years ago. In it, he had said: In no other minute of human history is peace so necessary, because in no other minute of human history does war mean so much destruction and so much death. At no other minute in human history is the idea of war as terrible as at this moment.

Aremu said that although Fidel was produced by Cuba, he was a gift to humanity. Therefore: When we solidarise with Cuba, we solidarise with ourselves. He wondered why Cuba cannot open a bank account in Nigeria, indicating that Nigeria might, vicariously, be carrying out part of the American sanctions against Cuba.

Dr Onuche Audu, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist who studied in Cuba, graduated 48 hours before Fidel passed. He told the audience that Fidel has not died, but has merely multiplied. Audu, seeing himself as a representative of Cuba, said: A Cuban doctor prides himself in saving a life even when no money is paid.

Comrade Abiodun Aremu, the secretary of the Nigeria Movement for Solidarity with Cuba, recalled that there were over 600 assassination attempts on Fidel, especially by the US, but they all failed because he was what Yorubas call Akanda, a specially created human being.

He also noted that Cuba has survived over 60 years of blockade by its powerful neighbour, US, but that the country remains standing and viable.

Aremu said that although Fidel was produced by Cuba, he was a gift to humanity. Therefore: When we solidarise with Cuba, we solidarise with ourselves. He wondered why Cuba cannot open a bank account in Nigeria, indicating that Nigeria might, vicariously, be carrying out part of the American sanctions against Cuba.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in a solidarity message delivered by Mr Ini Akpan Morgan, the Head of its International Department, praised Fidel for the redistribution of the national wealth to the Cuban populace.

Cuba remains a country where dedication to humanity is like religion.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.

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The Global Funds statistics show that community organisations in Nigeria reached more than one million people with HIV testing and counseling services in 2020 and these organisations also distributed over 5.5 million condoms and provided support to thousands of people living with HIV.

The lead up to 1 December, the World AIDS Day, with the global theme Let Communities Lead, and domesticated in Nigeria as Communities Leadership to end AIDS by 2030, reflects the countrys recognition of the importance and the significant role of the leadership of communities in driving the much-needed goals and targets towards ending HIV/AIDS by 2030.

Communities are people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV, leading the frontline of progress in the HIV response, working alongside donor-partners, governments, public health systems and other societal institutions, for the success and sustainability of the global response to HIV. Communities, having been making the difference, together with the broader civil societies, play a significant role, particularly in hard-to-reach areas where access to modern healthcare services are limited and where the barriers of inequality and the experiences of stigma and discrimination, constrain access to and uptake of HIV/TB and related health services.

In Nigeria, community-led interventions are often driven by the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN), Association of Positive Youths (APYIN), International Community of Women Living with HIV, West Africa (ICW-WA) and others to support the implementation of global and national strategies of HIV response.

The Global Funds statistics show that community organisations in Nigeria reached more than one million people with HIV testing and counseling services in 2020 and these organisations also distributed over 5.5 million condoms and provided support to thousands of people living with HIV.

During the lockdown due to COVID-19, Nigeria demonstrated that putting people at the centre of the AIDS response works in advancing HIV service delivery.

While many countries experienced HIV service disruptions, the PEPFAR-supported HIV programme in Nigeria experienced significant growth and exceeded some targets as a result of community engagement. A people-centered package of services was designed and deployed, utilising the existing community network machinery to ensure that there were no disruptions in the delivery of HIV services.

It is also good to mention the initiative of the Community iMonitor+ app for HIV/AIDS communities, a novel digital approach towards improving community engagement and the empowerment of PLWHs in Nigeria. The app provides a platform for the community to report abuses and rights violations, information on service centres and surveys to track activities within the community.

Several examples also exist where communities have either catalysed the innovative delivery of services for people living with HIV or are in the lead of the implementing services.

Within the regional South-East context of Anambra and Ebonyi States, Nigeria, where NEPWHAN implements the community component of the Global Funds NAHI (National Aligned HIV/AIDS Initiative) grant, successes have been made in the pursuit of ending Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) in these two states with high burdens of vertical transmission.

NEPWHAN instituted rigorous testing protocols, ensuring that HIV testing is a standard component of antenatal care and an integral part of the prenatal care journey of pregnant women. The outcome was the achievement of an impressive PMTCT 1 coverage rate of over 80 per cent in Anambra State in 2022.

The achievement of this remarkable coverage rate could be attributed to several factors like, Comprehensive Testing Protocols, the Free Maternal Health Initiative in partnership with the state government, the Community Outreach Programme by Mentor Mothers and Women Empowerment programmes.

In Ebonyi State as well, the outreach activities of Mentor-Mothers drastically reduced the vertical transmission of HIV in the last three years. Through their efforts, 12 clients who initially refused to accept their HIV status at Iboko General Hospital and Elunwovu General Hospital, eventually embraced treatment and achieved viral suppression. All these were led by the Community of People Living With HIV (PLWH).

It is also good to mention the initiative of the Community iMonitor+ app for HIV/AIDS communities, a novel digital approach towards improving community engagement and the empowerment of PLWHs in Nigeria. The app provides a platform for the community to report abuses and rights violations, information on service centres and surveys to track activities within the community.

barriers to community leadership roles exist and need to be removed. The leadership gaps in the communities, which inhibit the performance of their roles have been recognised, and these include dwindling resources, capacity constraints, and the intermittent infringement on their human rights, as well as structural barriers in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria.

The community of PLHIV in the country has demonstrated that they are not only beneficiaries of services but are contributing and driving the HIV/AIDS response in Nigeria.

However, barriers to community leadership roles exist and need to be removed. The leadership gaps in the communities, which inhibit the performance of their roles have been recognised, and these include dwindling resources, capacity constraints, and the intermittent infringement on their human rights, as well as structural barriers in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria.

Communities will lead in these but they need our support to overcome the challenges. Engaging and empowering diverse communities in a big country like Nigeria requires deliberate efforts in building strong relationships, continuous learning, adapting to changing circumstances, and celebrating incremental achievements.

Equally, as Nigeria makes an effort towards attaining the 95-95-95 target, community-led initiatives, supported by global donors like PEPFAR, Global Funds, UNAIDS, government and other partners, are an indispensable component of Nigerias HIV response in reducing new infections and improving the lives of those living with and affected by the virus.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS, and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organisations  UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank  and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Leopold Zekeng, the UNAIDS Nigeria country director, writes from Abuja.

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Dont get it twisted, I love love but love is not enough to sustain any marriage. Ask any couple who has been married for 20 years or more. Even those who have been married for three years have serious tales to tell. When you get into the deep end of the marriage pool, what offers you a life jacket is not love. In fact, love cant swim. Love is feeble bodied, delicate. Love itself needs support and protection. That is why those who go into marriage with only love as a covering soon find themselves naked.

It is not every marriage that is founded on love, and not every married person who married for love. Dont tell me you dont know a few people who took their vows based on what they could see, rather than what they felt. They stood, all dressed up in front of their pastor, bishop or reverend father and repeated the right lines rightly after the clergy, in front of men, not because they were ecstatically deliriously in love but because they had chosen who they chose at that particular point in time for a set of particular reasons. It was a choice devoid of red roses, blue violets or purple prose. It had nothing to do with butterflies in the girls tummy or uncontrollable waves of desire running down her spine. Our pretty lady had just decided that the guy was the man she wanted to live the rest of her life with. Usually, in cases like this, only the head is consulted, the heart is left outside to flutter, prance and dance wishful wistful dance.

A man sees a girl and within minutes, days sometimes, decides that this is the woman he wants to marry, goes right ahead to propose and marry her, even when his heart is protesting and her romantic friends are asking plenty of questions. Oh, dont even bother thinking that this is about such mushy stuff as love at first sight or the Lord said or my prophet or imam told me she is the one. No. this is about none of the above. This is about people who choose marriage partners the same way they choose their cars. You know how you decide that a particular car is what you are settling for? You know it is a project, one that you have painfully, sacrificially saved towards. You probably had to approach your bank for a facility to augment your savings. So you are not swayed by the fancy interior or special wheels or rims. You really do not care whether it is snow-white or ox-blood red. You are more concerned about the real stuff. So you ask the real questions:

Are the spare parts readily available?

Does it have mechanics that can fix it anywhere and everywhere?

Does it have second-hand value and above all, is it fuel-efficient?

Only Yahoo boys buy cars whose names they cant pronounce correctly. Only get-rich-quick-or-die-trying boys buy cars they can neither afford to fuel nor fix. Smart guys and girls buy vehicles they understand, can understand and the rides that will do the job, not fancy props that end up driving their owners up the wall. My point here is that a clear-headed approach to buying an everyday car is how some women choose their husbands, rose-tinted glasses be damned. Maybe because marriage is an everyday business, I think.

That a woman chose or is chosen not just for the roses are red and her shapely shape does not mean real deep love wont develop as the marriage grows, after all the marriages that take off on plenty love have been known to lose the love when the vicissitudes of life show up.

I had this male colleague who loves women with big natural boobs. Each time he sees a woman with major Manchester frontloads, his eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets. Indeed, he becomes incoherent. Yeah, it is that bad. Meanwhile, his wife of 16 years barely escaped being totally flat-chested! Thank God for push-up and padded-bras. Kolas wife is beautiful but boob-less. So why did Kola marry a woman without boobs when he loves them stacked? Kolas explanation was an eye opener.

I did not marry my wife for the size of her breasts. In fact, when I made up my mind it was time to find a wife, I had my head screwed in place. I had had my fill of wild oat-sowing, the pretty shapely girls. I went looking for a wife, a wife, not just anybody. I was looking for a friend, a partner, an encourager. I became an orphan in my 20s and wanted a woman who will be my support system. Those qualities were top of my shopping list and my wife is all of that and more. As for the love, it came later, long after the wedding. Today, I have no regrets. She worships me and I will go to war for her. She is my spiritual backbone, devoted mother and without her, my business will not be where it is today. Shes not just the mother of my children, she is my mother too. As for the big breasted girls outside, when I finish playing with their breasts I go back home to my solid, dependable wife who is the real deal.

You see, for Kola, it wasnt about the things he can see, hold and grab like pointed orange-round breasts and solid backsides, it was about those other things that are not visible to the naked eyes but are designed for the long haul.

Amira was 30 and an office cleaner when she decided that the 51-year-old widower in her office would be a perfect husband. And no she wasnt in love. She came from an insecurity-ravaged village in the North to seek greener pastures in Abuja. She had worked as a maid, sales girl, before landing the job that gave her a husband. In this widower, Amira saw a man she could look up to. She saw a lonely man who she would pamper. She saw a kind generous man with well-brought-up children. The widower saw a respectful, hardworking decent girl. Love would come later. It did but they got married first.

marriage is like a rich pot of egusi soup. It has many ingredients, all very important. That it is called egusi soup does not mean that if all you throw in the pot is just egusi, you will enjoy it. Egusi alone does not make egusi soup delicious. When you go shopping, try to buy a little of every ingredient you need because no matter how plenty the egusi is in that pot, it will not be tasty without the other ingredients.

Dont get it twisted, I love love but love is not enough to sustain any marriage. Ask any couple who has been married for 20 years or more. Even those who have been married for three years have serious tales to tell. When you get into the deep end of the marriage pool, what offers you a life jacket is not love. In fact, love cant swim. Love is feeble bodied, delicate. Love itself needs support and protection. That is why those who go into marriage with only love as a covering soon find themselves naked. You need the full armour, a complete armoury to do the whole nine yards.

That a woman chose or is chosen not just for the roses are red and her shapely shape does not mean real deep love wont develop as the marriage grows, after all the marriages that take off on plenty love have been known to lose the love when the vicissitudes of life show up.

Love is beautiful and the heart wants what and who it wants, not necessarily who and what is safe. We also all know that love clouds judgment and that is probably why there is a biblical saying that love covers multitude of sins. Its an emotion that makes everything look and feel beautiful even when we are told marriage is not a bed of roses. Perhaps this is why the conventional Pentecostal churches are cautiously realistic in approving who marries who and when but lets not dwell on church and courtship today because I can write a whole book on it.

My conclusion: marriage is like a rich pot of egusi soup. It has many ingredients, all very important. That it is called egusi soup does not mean that if all you throw in the pot is just egusi, you will enjoy it. Egusi alone does not make egusi soup delicious. When you go shopping, try to buy a little of every ingredient you need because no matter how plenty the egusi is in that pot, it will not be tasty without the other ingredients. Love is good but it is not enough in marriage.

Funke Egbemode was managing director/editor-in-chief of New Telegraph Newspaper, president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and commissioner for information in Osun State. Email: egbemode3@gmail.com

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Ugandas banana fibre industry may serve as an engine of endogenous growth and transformation, linking industry and agriculture in sustainable and mutually beneficial ways, raising the incomes of farmers and factory workers to decent levels, and helping to diversify and deepen the countrys industrial landscape. But this can only happen with carefully crafted and rigorously enforced industrial policies that prioritise local value addition

We have just returned from a three-week holiday in Kenya and Uganda. Apart from the stunning games parks, lakes and seaside resorts that we visited, we took the opportunity to also visit a few agro-industrial plants that hold great promise for advancing the development project in that part of Africa. In Kenya, we visited the lucrative flower farms at Naivasha that produce, package and export flowers to Western markets. In Uganda, our focus was on the fledgling banana fibre industry.

Our flight from Entebbe to Amsterdam was scheduled for midnight, so on our last day we decided to visit Ugandas pioneering banana fibre factory, Texfad, at Busaayi, a rural settlement in Mukoni district on the outskirts of Kampala.

Uganda is the second largest producer (after India) and biggest consumer of bananas in the world. The average Ugandan eats one kilogramme of bananas a day. According to our driver, if a rural house does not have a banana plant in its backyard it will be seen as a house without food.

The country boasts of 84 varieties of bananas. Its staple food is boiled and mashed bananas  or amatooke in Luganda, Kampalas lingua franca (pronounced as Amato-o-ke in a soft melodic tone; and called matoke in Swahili in Kenya and Tanzania).

Going without amatooke for a day may be considered as starvation. Amatooke is to Ugandans what rice is to Sierra Leoneans. Bananas can also be roasted and prepared as juice and alcoholic drinks.

However, the wonders of the banana plant beyond its food value are only recently being recognised by smart Ugandan entrepreneurs. Almost every part of the plant is useful to humans: apart from serving as food and drink, the stem of the banana contains fibre that can be processed to make carpets, bags, hair extensions, clothes, sanitary pads, shoes, and various other household items and crafts.

The Philippines pioneered the art of fibre extraction and craft production, but India leads in turning it into a profitable business on an industrial scale for both domestic consumption and export.

Banana roots can also be processed to make gum, and the potential of using the plants liquid as fertiliser is being explored by Ugandans. Only 15 per cent of the stem is useful for fibre extraction. However, the remaining 85 per cent can be used as biomass for energy. In addition, green banana leaves can be used as plates, table decor, pots for cooking stews, bowls for steamed rice, and cones to fill with different kinds of food. The banana is really a wonder plant that may hold the key to Ugandas industrialisation.

Banana farmers are now assured of income, not only from the banana fruit but also from the stem; millions of banana stems were left to rot after harvests before the introduction of fibre processing plants. Some farmers have even diversified their activities by investing in fibre extraction technologies and selling fibres, instead of banana stems, to Texfad and other companies that are manufacturing fibre-based products.

Owned by a Ugandan and founded in 2013, Texfad is the leading banana fibre company in the country. It produces a variety of carpets and hair extensions and has links with other companies producing fabrics, bags, sanitary pads, and paper.

We were warmly welcomed by the factorys manager, John Baptiste Okello, who gave us a rich lecture on the industrial value chain of banana fibre  from the extraction of fibre from the banana stem to the transformation of the fibre into final products and their sales or distribution in domestic and international markets.

According to the manager, seventy per cent of the factorys products are sold locally and thirty per cent are exported. It is clear that not many plants or commodities can rival the banana fibres potentially extensive and deep backward and forward linkages with the national economy.

Banana farmers are now assured of income, not only from the banana fruit but also from the stem; millions of banana stems were left to rot after harvests before the introduction of fibre processing plants. Some farmers have even diversified their activities by investing in fibre extraction technologies and selling fibres, instead of banana stems, to Texfad and other companies that are manufacturing fibre-based products.

We were informed that firms specialising in the production of bags, carpets, shoes, shirts, papers, ropes, hair, and household items are being formed to cash in on this miracle plant.

However, these firms, including Texfad, are not yet industrial juggernauts. They are still small operations and require a lot of investment and effective policies before they can become industry leaders.

Unfortunately, Ugandas (and Africas) industrialisation is being held back by three big problems. The economic crisis of the 1980s and introduction of IMF and World Bank-inspired structural adjustment programmes opened Africas struggling post-independence import substitution industries to unregulated and unfair global competition. Most manufacturing firms collapsed, pushing Africa deeper into import dependence for basic consumer goods.

The adjustment period in Africa is generally seen by scholars in the development field as lost decades. Sadly, Africa remains the only region where the manufacturing frontier has not been conquered, despite surrendering macroeconomic policy-making to the Washington-based institutions for more than thirty years. It is unable to feed itself, clothe itself, house itself, cure itself, and transport itself without extensively relying on goods produced in foreign countries.

The revival of manufacturing in the 2000s in some countries unfortunately coincided with a second big problem: the rise of China as the worlds industrial power house or factory for making basic consumer goods. Cheap Chinese products have not only flooded Western markets, as Western economies move up the value chain, especially in services; they have made it impossible for industrialisation to advance in Africa.

Indeed, the continent accounts for only 1.9 per cent of global manufacturing. The manufacturing sectors share of GDP stagnated at about 10 per cent for much of the 2000s and employment at about 14 per cent. In some countries, including Uganda, the manufacturing share of employment is even much less than its share of GDP, underscoring the sectors low labour absorptive capacity.

Urbanisation, which in the Western and East Asian worlds, is linked with industrialisation, has instead been driven in Africa largely by petty or small-scale informal enterprises that have failed substantially to improve living conditions.

As Kampala and the countrys numerous roadside towns demonstrate, Africas cities are clogged up and difficult to navigate. This is because most informal business activities are conducted outside, instead of in buildings, there is no mass transit system to move people around, numerous and poorly regulated okada motorbikes ply the streets and make city walks a hazardous venture, and the unreliability of electricity makes it difficult to transform the sprawling and horizontal settlements into manageable vertical settlements or highrises. The cities and towns generate much energy, yet add little value at the lower end of livelihood activities and neighbourhoods where most city dwellers are trapped and exposed to squalid conditions.

The revival of manufacturing in the 2000s in some countries unfortunately coincided with a second big problem: the rise of China as the worlds industrial power house or factory for making basic consumer goods. Cheap Chinese products have not only flooded Western markets, as Western economies move up the value chain, especially in services; they have made it impossible for industrialisation to advance in Africa. The carpets, bags, hair, clothes, paper, and other household items produced by Ugandas fledgling banana fibre companies and products from other industrial firms compete with cheap alternatives from China.

The large influx of second-hand products that accompanied the liberalisation of trade in the 1980s and expanded in leaps and bounds in recent years, constitutes the third problem. Kampalas shops, roadside stalls and pavements are full of second-hand clothes, bags, shoes and virtually every item produced at the low end of the manufacturing value chain that historically set countries on a successful industrial path with positive employment-generating effects.

African countries have taken the easy route of clothing and enabling their citizens to access a variety of household goods cheaply by relying on discarded products from Europe and North America, instead of producing them. No other continent does this on the scale that the second-hand products market has assumed in Africa.

Ugandas banana fibre industry may serve as an engine of endogenous growth and transformation, linking industry and agriculture in sustainable and mutually beneficial ways, raising the incomes of farmers and factory workers to decent levels, and helping to diversify and deepen the countrys industrial landscape. But this can only happen with carefully crafted and rigorously enforced industrial policies that prioritise local value addition and help producers to expand domestic markets as well as conquer external ones.

Yusuf Bangura writes from Nyon, Switzerland. Email: Bangura.ym@gmail.com

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The Taraba State Police command on Friday said it killed over 50 armed bandits in Bali Local Government.

The commands spokesperson Abdullahi Usman, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Jalingo.

Mr Usman said the operation was in response to the intelligence that scores of suspected bandits had invaded Tonti village and were plotting mass kidnapping.

Taraba State Police Command received information that some unknown gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in their Hundreds(100) invaded Tonti village under Maihula District Bali LGA Taraba State.

The bandits invaded the village around 5:30 hrs during the time that the Muslim faithful were saying their morning prayers, and started shooting sporadically.

On receipt of information, the Commissioner of Police Taraba State Police Command, Joseph Eribo ordered the deployment of a Tactical team from Bali Division to the area in collaboration with the Army, Vigilante, and hunters.

On arriving at the village, the bandits engaged the joint team in a gun duel. In the process many of the bandits were subdued and neutralised due to the firing power of the operatives, others escaped with various degrees of injuries as a result of gunshots.

Investigation revealed that over fifty (50)of the bandits were neutralised. Meanwhile, a manhunt is presently sustained in the area with the view to arrest the fleeing bandits.

READ ALSO: Police speak on social media posts about arrest of bandits in Sokoto

However, the Police Command CP has deployed a special striking force to the area for robust patrol and to stem the tide in order to avoid the escalation of such attacks by the bandits to another village around the area.

The Commissioner has assured the citizens of the State of his commitment to ensuring that their lives and property are protected and the peaceful coexistence Taraba State is known for is restored to pave the way for meaningful development, the statement read.

A few days ago PREMIUM TIMES reported that 18 hunters were killed by bandits in Bali during a gun duel.

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Japan's top government spokesperson expressed concern on Friday that the U.S. military is continuing to fly Osprey aircraft in the country without providing adequate information about a fatal crash this week in southwestern Japan despite repeated requests that it do so.

One crew member was killed and seven others are missing, along with the aircraft. The cause of Wednesday's crash, which occurred during a training mission, is still under investigation. Search operations widened Friday with additional U.S. military personnel joining the effort, while Japanese coast guard and military ships focused on an undersea search using sonar.

The Pentagon said Thursday that U.S. Ospreys continue to operate in Japan, and Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said she was not aware of an official request from Japan to ground them.

"We are concerned about the continuing Osprey flights despite our repeated requests and the absence of a sufficient explanation about their safety" from the U.S. military, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday.

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at U.S. and Japanese military bases, and the latest crash rekindled safety concerns.
On 12 November, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the 11 November governorship election in Imo State.

The poll was one of the off-cycle governorship elections that took place in three states on the same day in Nigeria. The two others were held in Kogi State in the North-central and Bayelsa State in the South-south region.

Mr Uzodinma, the incumbent governor of Imo State, defeated 17 other candidates in the poll to be reelected governor of the South-eastern state.

The electoral battle was considered a three-horse race pitting the incumbent governor against Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP).

PREMIUM TIMES reported Mr Uzodinma scored 540,308 votes to defeat his closest challenger Mr Anyanwu of the PDP, who scored 71,503 votes while the LP candidate, Mr Achonu, came third with 64,081 votes. None of the other 15 candidates had up to 10,000 votes.

Factors behind Uzodinmas victory in Imo election

As the incumbent governor of the state, the victory of Mr Uzodinma at the 11 November poll did not come as a surprise to many observers, but his margin of win was unexpected.

However, some factors helped to get him reelected for a second term in office as governor of the state.

Victory in all 27 council areas

According to the results of the election announced by INEC, Mr Uzodinma won in all 27 local government areas of the state. The governor became the first governorship candidate to win in all the council areas of the state since 1999.

The feat meant that Mr Uzodinma, surprisingly, defeated other 17 candidates in their own local government areas, including the two other major contenders in the exercise: Messrs Anwanwu and Achonu, who hail from Ikeduru and Ehime Mbano Council Areas respectively.

Having defeated the other candidates in their strongholds, Mr Uzodinma raked up more votes than any other candidate to cruise to victory in the poll.

Electoral malpractices

Mr Uzodinmas landslide victory has been linked to alleged electoral malpractice, including overvoting, vote buying, ballot box snatching and intimidation of voters.

For example, PREMIUM TIMES reported that some individuals alleged to be agents of the APC, induced voters with N5,000 at a polling unit during the governorship election.

Messrs Anyanwu and Achonu, in a joint press conference held in Owerri on 13 November, also accused Mr Uzodinma and INEC, without evidence, of rigging the election for the APC candidate in collaboration with some security agencies.

They alleged the diversion of electoral materials to private residences where ballot papers were thumb-printed in favour of Mr Uzodinma.

The duo, consequently, gave INEC seven days to review the outcome of the election or cancel the results outrightly.

They threatened to challenge the exercise in court if INEC failed to heed their demand.

Like the candidates, some INEC-accredited observers for the election also alleged massive irregularities in the poll, including hijacking of election materials by suspected political thugs.

A group of observers, led by Kenneth Umez, the director of operations of She-for-She Initiative for Women and Girl Child, called for the cancellation of the exercise.

READ ALSO:

The election was marred by irregularities characterised by vote buying and physical attacks on persons who were out to exercise their franchise.

The Independent National Electoral Commission needs to address the people of Imo and the generality of Nigerians as to why voting was carried out in many polling units without the use of the BVAS meant for accreditation of voters, the observers said.

In several instances, security agencies were complicit as observed and shown in several viral videos where they compromised their duties of ensuring credible Election. By that, they aided and abated the massive rigging as witnessed in the Imo State election. In one instance, a voter was attacked in an attempt to expose open-day vote buying with cash, they alleged.

In over 2000 polling units results as uploaded and seen in the IREV, the total number of votes as allocated to candidates were higher than the actual number of accredited voters, which in all totality demerits the integrity of the Imo Governorship Elections. We, therefore, call for total cancellation of the November 11, 2023 Imo State Governorship Election, the group added.

Alleged bad reputation of major opposition candidates

Political analysts believe that the alleged poor reputation of the two other top candidates in the poll may have accounted for their inability to garner enough votes in the poll to unseat Mr Uzodinma.

Imo people were not given quality candidates to choose from, one of the analysts, who asked not to be named, said.

Uzodinma may not be the best candidate, but there were not quality opponents to challenge him, he added.

Mr Anyanwu of the PDP, despite coming from Imo East District (Owerri Zone) which had the highest voting strength in the state ahead of the poll, failed to win a majority of votes in the district, according to results released by INEC.

Data from INEC showed that a total of 1, 032, 405 voters collected their PVCs in Owerri Zone ahead of the election while Orlu Zone with 12 LGAs came second with a total of 890,702 voters picking their PVCs in the zone.

The PDP candidates failure to win in his district has been attributed to his reported rift with a former governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, who withdrew from the governorship race ahead of the PDPs primary in the state.

Many residents of Owerri Zone were said to be aggrieved against the PDP candidate over his alleged role in the surprising withdrawal of the former governor from the partys primary. Mr Ihedioha, who was sacked from office by the Supreme Court in 2020, hails from Mbutu Community in Abor Mbaise LGA within Owerri Zone.

The perceived anger by residents of Owerri Zone against Mr Anyanwu may have accounted for his poor performance in the district during the poll.

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Barbados , Belize , Egypt , Ghana , India , Kenya , Malawi , Mauritania , Mozambique , Nigeria , and Togo committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium as first-mover countries with AfDB, the World Bank, IDB, ADB, AFD, RMI, GIZ, Africa 50, Masdar, Infinity Power, AMEA Power, COP28 Presidency, NREL, Net Zero World, and SEforAll signing on as resource partners.

, , , , , , , , , , and committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium as first-mover countries with AfDB, the World Bank, IDB, ADB, AFD, RMI, GIZ, 50, Masdar, Infinity Power, AMEA Power, Presidency, NREL, Net Zero World, and SEforAll signing on as resource partners. Securing 5 GW of energy storage commitments by the end of 2024 is a key deliverable of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet's Global Leadership Council, which was formed in 2022 to significantly reduce the cost of renewable energy technologies in LMICs while increasing their accessibility and addressing the climate crisis.

Commitments demonstrate progress towards enabling 400 GW of renewable energy by 2030 in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) and solving energy poverty.

DUBAI, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), The Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) announced that Barbados, Belize, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Togo committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium with Indonesia showing strong interest. Through the BESS Consortium, these first-mover countries are part of a collaborative effort to secure 5 gigawatts (GW) of BESS commitments by the end of 2024. In order to achieve the estimated 400 GW of renewable energy needed to alleviate energy poverty by 2030 and save a gigaton of CO2, 90 GW of storage capacity must be developed. The BESS Consortium's initial 5 GW goal will help create a roadmap for achieving the rest by 2030, demonstrating a key mechanism for accelerating a just energy transition. Vietnam also participated in the BESS Consortium launch showing its commitment to the clean energy transition.

Battery Storage Systems are a critical element to increasing the reliability of grids and accommodating the variable renewable energy sources that are needed to power economic development. In many cases, a combination of BESS and renewables are already cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. The BESS Consortium is a multi-stakeholder partnership set up to ensure these BESS benefits transform energy systems across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Consortium is on track to meet its target of securing 5 GW of BESS commitments by the end of 2024 and deploying these by the end of 2027.

BESS Consortium first-mover countries will be supported by resource partners including the GEAPP, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), RMI, Africa50, Masdar, Infinity Power, COP28 Presidency, AMEA Power, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Net Zero World, and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), with additional partners and countries expected to join.

Jonas Gahr Stre, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway and Co-chair of the Global Leadership Council said during the launch, "The Global Leadership Council was formed to expedite change, and bring forward transformative initiatives that will cut emissions, create jobs and expand access to clean and affordable energy in low- and middle-income countries. Three months ago, we committed to establishing the BESS Consortium, and already we have countries, resource partners and champions on board. This is only the beginning, we must continue to move at collective speed and scale.''

New research from The Rockefeller Foundation shows that keeping global warming from breaking the 2 Celsius threshold will require unprecedented global collaboration. BESS is a critical technology to achieve that goal, but progress is being severely hindered by unfavorable policies and regulations, high financing costs, long project lead times, and other challenges. To accelerate the shift to cleaner and more affordable energy systems, the World Bank and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) recently published a comprehensive framework, " Unlocking the Energy Transition: Guidelines for Planning Solar-Plus-Storage Projects." Written for policymakers and project developers, the report provides a step-by-step approach to planning and executing utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects, including practical advice on feasibility assessments, business model selection, risk allocation, and navigating the procurement process.

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation and Co-chair of the Global Leadership Council said, "Without sufficient storage capacity, countries will be unable to add renewable energy to their grids at the scale needed to reduce emissions and create economic opportunity. The BESS Consortium is an example of the sort of big, bold action required to break down the barriers keeping so many people and communities from joining the climate transformations underway."

In addition to securing 5 GW of BESS commitments in LMICs and deploying $1 billion in concessional finance, the Consortium will accelerate project deployment, work to improve the regulatory environment, build a favorable market for BESS, and unlock commercial and public financing. Countries, utilities, and resource partners in the Consortium will partner to identify and co-develop tailored packages of support for BESS investment. These will be refined and negotiated between country stakeholders and partners with complementary advocacy and accelerating actions championed by the Consortium.

Joseph Nganga, VP of Africa at GEAPP said, "The Global Energy Alliance's GLC initiatives including the groundbreaking BESS Consortium are driving real actionable progress. We are determined to deliver scalable solutions and measurable outcomes at speed by the time world leaders reconvene at COP29 next year. In Malawi for example, we are supporting the Government to deploy and operate a 20MW BESS project which, by 2030, will improve access and power stability for 3M people, improve the lives of 450,000 and avoid 20,000 tons of CO2. Our unwavering dedication to sustainability is leading us to set new benchmarks and inspiring others to join this crucial journey towards a greener future."

###

Media Contacts:
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, today awarded the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE's pioneering global award in sustainability and humanitarianism, during a ceremony held at COP28 UAE in Expo City Dubai.

The Ceremony was attended by numerous heads of delegations participating in COP28, ministers, senior government officials, and Prize winners and finalists.

Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards Ceremony

His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in promoting sustainability and encouraging them to continue their important contributions in this field. His Highness emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in building upon its established legacy in sustainability, a foundation laid by the country's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. In this regard, His Highness highlighted the significant role of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable development, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute towards making a positive difference for our planet.

The Prize honours the legacy of UAE's founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, by rewarding small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools that are addressing health, food, energy, water and climate-related challenges. For over 15 years, through its 106 previous winners, the Prize has transformed the lives of 384 million people worldwide.

The Prize's eleven winners for the current cycle were elected in September by a distinguished panel of Jury members, who rigorously evaluated each submission for its contribution and commitment to delivering impactful, innovative, and inspiring solutions across the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

To strengthen its commitment to promoting sustainable and humanitarian development, the Zayed Sustainability Prize will be increasing its endowment, from US $3.6 million to US $5.9 million, effective immediately.

His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, said: "Today, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to combat climate change and empower vulnerable communities as we award US $1 million to each of our distinguished winners in Health, Food, Water, Energy and Climate Action, and US $150,000 to each Global High Schools winner. This substantial funding will help scale their innovative solutions and deliver transformational progress around the world, especially across the Global South."

"As the Zayed Sustainability Prize's 15th anniversary draws to a close, we reflect on the UAE's mission to drive inclusive sustainable development and climate action. The Prize not only honours Sheikh Zayed's legacy of social good but extends the reach of his vision on a global scale."

With a larger fund, the Prize can broaden its support for innovative solutions that not only positively impact the environment but also improve the well-being and economic development of the world's most climate-vulnerable communities.

In the new Climate Action category, Kelp Blue, a Namibian SME, won the Prize for its ambitious efforts to cultivate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity while capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere annually. Additionally, their operations have generated job opportunities in coastal communities.

In the Health category, Indonesia's doctorSHARE was awarded the Prize for its pioneering work in bringing healthcare access to hard-to-reach areas, notably with barge-mounted floating hospitals. Their impact is substantial, having treated over 160,000 patients.

In the Food category, Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agricultural Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine, won for its contributions to supporting a more resilient agricultural sector in Gaza. The NPO facilitates access to locally produced food, providing job security to 200 women agripreneurs and benefitting more than 7,000 people.

In the Energy category, Ignite Power, an SME from Rwanda, was awarded the Prize for its transformative efforts to provide affordable electricity to last-mile communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their pay-as-you-go solar solutions provided electricity to 2.5 million people and prevented 600,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. Beyond access to clean energy, Ignite Power has introduced solar powered irrigation solutions and generated 3,500 local jobs.

In the Water category, Eau et Vie, an NPO from France, won for its contributions to ensuring access to clean water in impoverished areas by installing taps in urban homes. They have increased water access for 52,000 people in 27 communities across 10 cities. Furthermore, they raised awareness of hygienic practices for 66,000 individuals and reduced the cost of water by 75%.

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said: "This year's winners have demonstrated a remarkable wave of ingenuity in their solutions to address urgent global challenges. We have confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us towards vital climate action objectives and forging a path to a sustainable future for all."

The Zayed Sustainability Prize also engages young people through its Global High Schools category and encourages youth to take an active role in supporting their communities and becoming future sustainability leaders. The Prize's 47 Global High Schools winners have impacted the lives of over 55,186 students and 453,887 people in their wider communities.

The recipients of the Global High Schools awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru), representing The Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy (Nigeria), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; International School (Morocco), representing the Middle East & North Africa; Northfleet Technology College (United Kingdom), representing Europe & Central Asia; KORT Education Complex (Pakistan), representing South Asia; and finally, Beijing High School No. 35 (China), representing East Asia & Pacific.

Boilerplate

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a tribute to the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The Prize aims to drive sustainable development and humanitarian action by recognising and rewarding organisations and high schools that are delivering innovative sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

For over 15 years, through its 106 winners, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of 384 million people worldwide.



Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291040/Award_Ceremony.jpg

SOURCE Zayed Sustainability Prize
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The artificial eye market size is expected to grow by USD 56.43 million from 2023 to 2028. In addition, the momentum of the market will progress at a CAGR of 9.18% during the forecast period, according to Technavio Research. The market is segmented by Technology (Mechanical and Electronic), Product (Integrated prosthetic eye, Non integrated prosthetic eye, and Retinal prosthetics), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)).

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Artificial Eye Market 2024-2028

North America will contribute 57% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. Some of the countries in the region including the US, Canada, and Mexico experience a growing per capita public expenditure on healthcare. This is leading to the rising adoption of ocular devices among people with ocular diseases or early stages of visual impairment. Additionally, factors including improved healthcare infrastructure, government programs and funding for ocular diseases and eye care, and the presence of favorable reimbursement policies in developed countries like the US drive the regional market growth during the forecast period. This report offers an up-to-date analysis of the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Read a FREE PDF Sample Report

Company Profile:

Advanced Artificial Eyes, Alcon Inc., Artificial Eyes Pty Ltd., Bionic Vision Technologies, Carl Zeiss Stiftung, Erickson Laboratories, F.AD. Muller Sohne GmbH and Co. KG, Ferdinand A. Forster GmbH, Integrated Orbital Implants, International Prosthetic Eye Center, Marie Allen Ocularist Ltd., Midwest Eye Laboratories Inc., Nano Retina, National Artificial Eye Services, NIDEK Co. Ltd., Nova Eye Medical Ltd., Ocular Prosthetics Inc., PIXIUM VISION, Rocky Mountain Anaplastology Inc., Vivani Medical Inc.

Advanced Artificial Eyes: The company offers artificial eyes such as custom prosthetic eyes and digital artificial eyes.

 To gain access to more vendor profiles available with Technavio, buy the report!

Artificial Eye Market: Segmentation Analysis

The mechanical segment will be significant during the forecast period. Factors such as new launches of superior products in mechanical technology in the global artificial eye market surge the demand for the mechanical technology segment. Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

"Besides analyzing the current market scenario, our report examines historic data from 2017 to 2021"- Technavio

Artificial Eye Market: Driver & Trend:

Driver

Increasing prevalence of ophthalmic diseases

Technological advances in artificial eyes

Increasing access to ocular prostheses in emerging markets

Developing economies such as India and China deliver several opportunities for the global artificial eye market. Thus, owing to the presence of a large patient pool with ophthalmology conditions that can lead to partial and complete blindness, a peak in awareness about ocular prosthesis, improvements in healthcare infrastructure, an increase in access to healthcare, and availability of ocular prosthesis centers.



Strategic alliances among market vendors are a key trend in the artificial eye market. Identify key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market. Download a sample report to gain access to this information.

Related Reports:

The dry eye syndrome drugs market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.53% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 2,159.21 million.

The global optical biometry devices market size is estimated to grow by USD 93.26 million at a CAGR of 5.44% between 2022 and 2027.

What are the key data covered in this artificial eye market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the artificial eye market between 2023 and 2028.

Precise estimation of the artificial eye market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the artificial eye market across North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW

A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of artificial eye market vendors.

ToC:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Historic Market Sizes

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Technology

Market Segmentation by Product

Market Segmentation by Geography

Customer Landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, & Trends

Company Landscape

Company Analysis

Appendix

About Technavio

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.

Contacts

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
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until January 2, 2024 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS), if they purchased the Company's securities between July 22, 2019 and October 12, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Get Help

Barclays investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-bcs-4/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

Barclays 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) contrary to false public assertions, the Company's former CEO, James Staley, had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, was reportedly aware of Epstein's criminal activities and may have even sexually assaulted a victim who had previously been trafficked by Epstein; (ii) if discovered, the relationship and potential criminal activity could bring reputational, legal, and financial harm to Company; (iii) the Company's response to an inquiry by the British Financial Conduct Authority regarding Staley's relationship with Epstein was materially false; (iv) when the Company became aware of information contradicting its response to the inquiry, it failed to update the response so that it would be accurate, or otherwise take any meaningful action; and (v) as a result, the Company'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 Merritt v. Barclays Plc, et al., 23-cv-9217.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

SOURCE ClaimsFiler
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Email Hosting Services Market report has been added to Technavio's offering. With ISO 9001:2015 certification, Technavio has proudly partnered with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies for over 16 years. The potential growth difference for the email hosting services market between 2022 and 2027 is USD 29.72 billion. The need to reduce IT expenditure drives the email hosting services market. Low software maintenance, no requirement for servers and storage facilities, and the automation of mailbox sizes are some of the advantages of this market. Furthermore, the infrastructure will have built-in backup and recovery functionalities and require less administrative time. Get deeper insights into the market size, current market scenario, future growth opportunities, major growth driving factors, the latest trends, and much more. Buy the full report here

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Email Hosting Services Market 2023-2027

Market Challenge - Difficulties in keeping pace with changing customer demand challenge the email hosting services market. This can prevent users from accessing their old email systems and consequently, the adoption of such services demands the complete migration of contacts, calendars, and emails to the newly hosted email. Learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges available with Technavio. Read a Sample PDF Report Now

The email hosting services market is segmented by Application (Large enterprise, Small, and medium-sized enterprises), Type (Webmail and Hosted email), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

By type, the webmail segment is expected to have the highest market share growth during the forecast period. The growth of the webmail segment is driven by factors such as the adoption of webmail by small businesses and start-ups, as well as the trend of migration of enterprise IT infrastructure to cloud services.

is expected to have the highest market share growth during the forecast period. The growth of the webmail segment is driven by factors such as the adoption of webmail by small businesses and start-ups, as well as the trend of migration of enterprise IT infrastructure to cloud services. By geography, North America is expected to account for 56% of the market's growth during the forecast period.

View a Sample Report for insights into the contribution of all the segments and regional opportunities in the report.

Key Companies in the email hosting services market:

A2 Hosting Inc., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Digital Energy SS DMCC, FastComet Inc., Fastmail Pty Ltd., GoDaddy Inc., Greatmail LLC, IceWarp Inc., Liquid Web LLC, Microsoft Corp., Newfold Digital Inc., OVH Groupe SA, Rackspace Technology Inc., Runbox Solutions AS, SmarterASP.NET, TMDHosting Inc., Unitied Internet AG, Zoho Corp. Pvt. Ltd., Hostinger International Ltd.

Related Reports:

The data center colocation and managed hosting services market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.87% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 163.36 billion.

The web hosting services market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 14.13% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 87.14 billion.

Email Hosting Services Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 18.76% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 29.72 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 18.12 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 56% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled A2 Hosting Inc., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Digital Energy SS DMCC, FastComet Inc., Fastmail Pty Ltd., GoDaddy Inc., Greatmail LLC, IceWarp Inc., Liquid Web LLC, Microsoft Corp., Newfold Digital Inc., OVH Groupe SA, Rackspace Technology Inc., Runbox Solutions AS, SmarterASP.NET, TMDHosting Inc., Unitied Internet AG, Zoho Corp. Pvt. Ltd., and Hostinger International Ltd. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

ToC:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Historic Market Sizes

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Application

Market Segmentation by Type

Market Segmentation by Geography

Customer Landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, & Trends

Company Landscape

Company Analysis

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]

Website: www.technavio.com

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The fresh cranberries market size is expected to grow by USD 9.91 million from 2022 to 2027, according to Technavio. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will progress at a CAGR of 4.58% during the forecast period. Growing awareness of the benefits of consuming fresh cranberries is notably driving the fresh cranberries market. However, factors such as rising demand for dried cranberries may impede market growth. The market is segmented by Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), Type (Inorganic and Organic), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). Technavio provides a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology. The sample report is available in PDF format

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Fresh Cranberries Market 2023-2027

Key Segment Analysis

By distribution channel, the offline segment is significant during the forecast period. Consumers can buy fresh fruits, including cranberries include traditional brick-and-mortar retail outlets, farmers' markets, and specialty stores through this segment. For example, Walmart Inc. offers a wide range of organic fruits, such as fresh cranberries. To know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years, View a PDF Sample Report.

Geographical Market Analysis

By geography, North America is estimated to contribute 45% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The US is one of the main countries that are significantly contributing to the market growth. For example, Ocean Spray is one of the prominent market players which represents 600 cranberry growers in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, and is one of the largest exporters of fresh cranberries.

Company Insights

The fresh cranberries market is concentrated, and the companies are deploying organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market companies, including:

Canneberge Quebec Inc., Cape Blanco Cranberries Inc., Cape Cod Select, Decas Cranberry Products Inc., Fresh Meadows Cranberries, Habelman Bros. Co., Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Seaview Cranberries Inc., Fruit dOr, Honestly Cranberry, Meduri Farms Inc., Michigan Cranberry Co., Wetherby Cranberry Co.

View a PDF Sample Report to find additional highlights on the growth strategies adopted by companies and their product offerings.

Related Reports:

The berries market is estimated to decline at a CAGR of 5.69% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 10,200.36 million.

The acai berry products market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.67% between 2022 and 2027. The acai berry products market size is forecast to increase by USD 770.39 million.

Fresh Cranberries Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.58% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 9.91 million Market structure Concentrated YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 4.38 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 45% Key countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Canneberge Quebec Inc., Cape Blanco Cranberries Inc., Cape Cod Select, Decas Cranberry Products Inc., Fresh Meadows Cranberries, Habelman Bros. Co., Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Seaview Cranberries Inc., Fruit dOr, Honestly Cranberry, Meduri Farms Inc., Michigan Cranberry Co., and Wetherby Cranberry Co. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

ToC:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Historic Market Sizes

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

Market Segmentation by Type

Market Segmentation by Geography

Customer Landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, & Trends

Company Landscape

Company Analysis

Appendix

About Technavio

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 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]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
BEIJING, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's inspection tour to Shanghai underscored three top policy priorities for the country - high-quality financial development, scientific and technological (sci-tech) innovation and improvement of people's livelihood, said business leaders, workers and analysts in Shanghai on Thursday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made an inspection tour in Shanghai from Tuesday to Wednesday. During his trip, Xi inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange, an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations, and a government-subsidized rental housing community, learning about the city's efforts to strengthen its competitiveness as an international financial center, building the city into an international sci-tech innovation center, and constructing government-subsidized rental housing projects, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xi stressed efforts to make new major breakthroughs in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and enhance the region's leading and exemplary role in pursuing Chinese modernization, while chairing a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, according to Xinhua on Thursday.

The inspection trip offered yet another strong signal of the country's top economic development priorities and profound encouragement to businesses and workers in the main economic hub and across the country, at a critical juncture when the country pursues high-quality development and Chinese modernization amid major shifts in the international geo-economic landscape, according to business leaders, workers and analysts.

"All my peers in the financial industry in Shanghai are very excited about his visit, and practitioners in Shanghai's financial institutions are all talking about it," Li Huiyong, an executive with Shanghai-based Hwabao WP Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Thursday, noting the inspection tour pointed out the direction for Shanghai to improve its status as an international financial center.

Xi's trip came about one month after the Central Financial Work Conference was held at the end of October, which stressed comprehensively strengthening financial supervision, improving the financial system, optimizing financial services, preventing and resolving risks, unswervingly following the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, and promoting high-quality financial development.

The Central Financial Work Conference first mentioned the goal of building China into a financial powerhouse, and under this context, Shanghai's status as a main financial hub becomes even more prominent, Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday. Against the backdrop of a complex international environment, "further emphasis on financial development and financial support for the real economy carries greater significance," he said.

Shanghai has become a world-class financial center, coming at the sixth place in the latest rankings from the 2022 Global Financial Centers Index. In the first three quarters of 2023, turnover from the city's main financial markets reached 2,546.08 trillion yuan ($356.64 trillion), up 15 percent year-on-year, according to Shanghai's official data.

In addition to its financial industry, Shanghai is also a top sci-tech hub in China, which was also highlighted by an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations during Xi's inspection tour.

"The visit is very encouraging for us. Zhangjiang has been a leading innovation hub in China, and offers many incentives to companies and talent to facilitate their long-term development. I really look forward to the future of Zhangjiang, especially in the high-tech sectors such as biopharma, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing," Sun Shuang, an employee at Zhangjiang, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhangjiang Science City in Pudong New Area of Shanghai, where the sci-tech exhibition was held, is the core area of Shanghai's sci-tech innovation center - another aspect of the city that carries national significance, as China firmly pursues sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening amid rising international competition, according to analysts.

"The General Secretary's trip to Shanghai shows that the top leadership of the central government pays great attention to financial and sci-tech development. Shanghai is relatively advanced in these aspects and is also in a critical period of development," Xi Junyang said, noting that the progress that Shanghai has made in these critical areas could drive development not just in the Yangtze River Delta but nationwide.

Another top priority underscored by Xi's inspection tour is the focus on improving people's livelihood. In Shanghai, Xi inspected a government-subsidized rental housing community and learned about the city's efforts in constructing government-subsidized rental housing projects.

Construction of government-subsidized rental housing projects has become a crucial part of the country's efforts to address housing difficulties for new urban residents and young people. About 72 percent of the 2.04 million units of government-subsidized rental housing, proposed to be built in 2023, have been constructed across the country, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said in September. Over the past two years, a total of 5.08 million units have been completed across the country, which could address housing demand for 15 million new urban residents and young people, the ministry said.

Read more:

Xiconomics in Practice: Xi's Shanghai inspection tour highlights top priorities

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202311/1302809.shtml

SOURCE Global Times
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The spinal implants market size is expected to grow by USD 3.57 billion from 2023 to 2028. In addition, the momentum of the market will progress at a CAGR of 5.59% during the forecast period, according to Technavio Research. The market is categorized by End-user (Hospitals, Ambulatory surgical centers, and Specialty clinics), Product (Spinal fusion implants and Non-fusion spinal implants), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)).

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Spinal implants Market 2024-2028

North America will contribute 43% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. Spine-related disorders, including degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and scoliosis are becoming more common as the population ages, driving demand for spinal implant procedures. The region is home to some of the world's most advanced and well-funded healthcare systems. Additionally, the region also has a highly skilled workforce of orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and spine specialists as well as expertise in complex spinal surgeries and the latest implant technologies. This report offers an up-to-date analysis of the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Read a FREE PDF Sample Report

Company Profile:

B.Braun SE, Globus Medical Inc., icotec AG, Implanet SA, Inion Oy, Innovasis Inc., JAYON IMPLANTS Pvt. Ltd., Johnson and Johnson, Medacta International SA, Medtronic Plc, MicroPort Scientific Corp., Orthofix Medical Inc., OrthoPediatrics Corp., Precision Spine Inc., RTI Surgical Inc., Stryker Corp., ulrich GmbH and Co. KG, Xtant Medical Holdings Inc., ZAVATION, Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.

B.Braun SE: The company offers spinal implants such as S4 spinal system, and lumbar fusion implants.

To gain access to more vendor profiles available with Technavio, buy the report!

Spinal Implants Market: Segmentation Analysis

The hospital segment will be significant during the forecast period. This segment employs spinal implants, including interspinous process devices, in surgeries to address spinal stenosis. Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a PDF Sample Report

"Besides analyzing the current market scenario, our report examines historic data from 2017 to 2021"- Technavio

Spinal Implants Market: Driver & Trend:

Driver

Rising prevalence of spinal disorders

Favorable reimbursement scenario

Growing focus on developing custom implants

Expertise is of major essence in developing anatomically challenging 3D printing of implants. The 3D approach is made a globally acknowledged method for repairing spine defects as a result of the advancements in medical imaging and instrumentation.

Rising minimally invasive procedures are emerging trends in the market during the forecast period.

Strategic alliances among market vendors are a key trend in the spinal implants market. Identify key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market. Download a sample report to gain access to this information.

Related Reports:

The nasal implants market size is expected to increase to USD 312.05 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 5.26%.

The ocular implants market size is expected to increase by USD 1.82 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.26%.

What are the key data covered in this spinal implants market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the spinal implants market between 2023 and 2028.

Precise estimation of the spinal implants market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the spinal implants market across North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW

A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of spinal implants market vendors.

ToC:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Historic Market Sizes

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by End-user

Market Segmentation by Product

Market Segmentation by Geography

Customer Landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, & Trends

Company Landscape

Company Analysis

Appendix

About Technavio

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.

Contacts

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
A fire in the Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world, which is suffering from an expansion of organized crime. GETTY IMAGES

The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, a territory equivalent to the size of the European Union with unmatchable biodiversity and beauty, which is also crisscrossed by strategic international drug trafficking routes through which even narco-submarines circulate. Organized crime, which has been expanding for years, is already present in a quarter of the Amazonian municipalities, and violence has increased more in the region than in the rest of Brazil. The growing presence of criminal groups in the Amazon since 2016 and the effects of this pose a threat to the fight against climate change, warns a report released by the NGO Forum Brasileiro de Seguranca Publica (FBSP) on the eve of COP28, the United Nations global summit on climate change in Dubai. Its authors argue that without addressing the issue of public safety, it will be impossible to take firm steps to protect the valuable ecosystem.

Renato Sergio de Lima, president of FBSP, explains on the phone that it is not possible to talk about meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, about changing the energy matrix [in Brazil], about reducing deforestation, about guaranteeing rights, without talking about violence in the Amazon. The future of tropical forests like this one, which expands through Brazil and eight other countries, is vital because they play a crucial role in regulating the planetary temperature and thus mitigating global warming.

This NGO wants to take advantage of the climate summit in Dubai to alert Brazilian authorities and the wider world of the urgency of incorporating the growing power that criminal groups exercise in the territory and among the populations of the Amazon into their discussions on how to protect the forest, its inhabitants, and its biodiversity.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has traveled to COP28 accompanied by a dozen ministers, including the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, with whom he formed an environmental policy partnership during his previous term in office. Lulas Brazil has managed to leave the image of environmental villainy that accompanied Jair Bolsonaros years in power behind. The government intends to highlight its prioritization of environmental issues, its achievements in terms of deforestation  which fell by 22% in the Amazon, according to the first annual balance under Lulas mandate  and to propose an international mechanism for wealthy countries to contribute to keeping the rainforests intact.

Violence in the Amazon is nothing new. The exploitation of its natural resources is a centuries-old practice. The weak presence of the state in a territory that occupies half of Brazil is not new either. What does represent a change is that since 2016, criminal groups dedicated to drug trafficking have been expanding their reach and taking control of territories. Factions are already beginning to organize peoples lives, as they do for example in the periphery of Sao Paulo or in areas of Rio, warns de Lima.

There are 22 criminal groups operating in the Amazon region, according to the FBSP report: Rio de Janeiros Red Command dominates the Amazonian interior, while its rival, the First Capital Command, is focused on border expansion into neighboring countries. Alongside these nationwide gangs, there are some twenty local factions. Alliances and conflicts are multiple and shifting. The director of the Forum maintains that the Amazon presents a scenario that is a time bomb ready to explode.

The vast territory is strategic for the transit of cocaine from the producing countries to its destination, be it Europe or Asia, but it is also fertile ground for money-laundering due, for example, to the last gold rush a couple of years ago.

The expansion of organized crime is one of the factors that explains the increase in violence in the nine Brazilian states that make up the Amazon. The FBSP report details that the murder rate is 34 per 100,000 inhabitants  45% higher than the Brazilian average  while 15 municipalities exceed 80 murders per 100,000 people. Violent deaths of indigenous people exceed the national average by 26%, femicides by 30%, and cocaine seizures have doubled in four years. On the environmental level, crimes including the illegal timber trade, deforestation, arson, and land usurpation are also on the rise. If we do not fight organized crime, it can present a threat to sovereignty, says de Lima.

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Inaugural COP28 Health Day Commitment Advances New Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions, Launched Today

DUBAI, UAE, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rockefeller Foundation is announcing a USD 100 million commitment to address the health impacts of climate change. Joining 40 multilateral development banks, governments, philanthropies, and civil society organizations, the Foundation also endorsed the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions, launched today at the World Climate Action Summit, to accelerate investments in and policy development on climate-health solutions that increase country ownership, accessibility, and long-term impact.

From left to right Dr. Maria Neira, Irene Atuhairwe, Dr. Christos Christou, Mafalda Duerte, Rajiv Shah, Peter Sands - Leaders meet at the inaugural Health Day at COP28

"Health is the human face of climate change, and Health Day at COP28 is a historic moment for health and climate leaders to commit to advancing the well-being of the 3.3 billion people who are most vulnerable to climate change," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "With this commitment, the Foundation and our partners are rising to the occasion to help save lives and improve health outcomes in a warming world."

Equitable Financing to Support Country Priorities

The inaugural Health Day at COP28 marks a significant step in prioritizing the importance of climate and health on a global scale. The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to amplifying this impact through collaboration with its partners to increase the quantity and effectiveness of financing focused on supporting the efforts of low- and middle-income countries to mitigate, withstand, and respond to the escalating impacts of climate change on health. Though more than 90% of countries including health-focused priorities as part of their National Determined Contributions for climate mitigation and adaptation under the Paris Agreement, recent data suggests only 0.5% of climate financing is allocated toward health projects. Moreover, countries face a bevy of requirements  unique to each funder and imposed on them  when attempting to access funding.

The newly released Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions seek to address this financing gap by establishing priorities for funding and policy to support the building of resilient and sustainable health systems. The Principles seek to ensure that countries gain increased access to climate-health financing that is responsive to their people's needs and priorities, especially the most vulnerable. The Republic of Malawi, for example, has endorsed these principles, and will drive climate and health financing accordingly in its Malawi Agenda 2063.

The COP28 Presidency in partnership with The Green Climate Fund, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and The Rockefeller Foundation developed the Guiding Principles, which were informed by a convening hosted at The Rockefeller Foundation during the United Nations General Assembly. In addition to those partners, more than 50 organizations across climate, finance, health, government, and civil society sectors provided input. Along with the initiating organizations, fellow endorsers include: Adaptation Fund; Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; The Africa Climate Foundation; African Development Bank Group; Amazon Conservation Team Columbia; Amref Health Africa; Asia Venture Philanthropy Network; Belmont Forum; Children's Investment Fund Foundation; Clara Lionel Foundation; Clean Air Fund; Clinton Health Access Initiative; Commonwealth Secretariat; COP28 Presidency; European Investment Bank; Foundation S - The Sanofi Collective; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Global Climate and Health Alliance; Global Environment Facility; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Government of the United Kingdom, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; Green Climate Fund; Health Care Without Harm; Hivos; The Hong Kong Jockey Club's Institute of Philanthropy; IMPACT Europe; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Kingdom of Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; OECD Development Centre, Network of Foundations; Pandemic Action Network; PATH; Reaching the Last Mile; Republic of Malawi, Ministry of Health; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; The Rockefeller Foundation; Save the Children; Seed Global Health; UNICEF; Wellcome Trust; World Bank Group; and World Health Organization.

Improving Health for All in a Warming World

From its earliest days more than a century ago, The Rockefeller Foundation has sought to improve health outcomes for populations in need. Investments established the first schools of public health and the global campaign against hookworm; and seeded the development of the yellow fever vaccine. The Foundation has also supported translational research for tools ranging from penicillin to polio, helped create the field of molecular biology, spurred AIDS vaccine development, supported Covid-19 responses and pathogen surveillance, and catalyzed and accelerated action on Universal Health Coverage globally.

The funding is part of The Rockefeller Foundation's recently announced 5-year Climate Strategy, announced in September, to mobilize USD 1 billion over the next five years to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it. The USD 100 million climate-health investment will reimagine The Rockefeller Foundation's 110-year legacy in global health for the climate era, seeking to test and scale promising solutions through innovation, equitable financing, policy, and partnerships:

Community-driven Innovation : The Foundation is deepening its commitment to health equity by ensuring that the voices and needs of the most vulnerable  women, children, indigenous people, displaced people  are reflected in global climate and health priorities and solutions.

: The Foundation is deepening its commitment to health equity by ensuring that the voices and needs of the most vulnerable  women, children, indigenous people, displaced people  are reflected in global climate and health priorities and solutions. Sustainable Financing : The Foundation is working with global donors, development banks, country leaders, and diverse stakeholders to ensure that frontline communities get the financial assistance they need to adapt to climate change in line with the Guiding Principles . We're committed to shaping the market for climate-health investment to support transparent and equitable financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in low- and middle-income countries.

: The Foundation is working with global donors, development banks, country leaders, and diverse stakeholders to ensure that frontline communities get the financial assistance they need to adapt to climate change in line with the . We're committed to shaping the market for climate-health investment to support transparent and equitable financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in low- and middle-income countries. Policy and Partnerships: As a convener and innovator, the Foundation helps merge the priorities of the private sector, government, and the non-profit sector to strengthen our collective response to climate change. Learnings and data from our investments will contribute to the evidence base about what solutions works to inform and drive action.

"When it comes to building a livable future, we all have parts to play," said Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of Health, The Rockefeller Foundation. "Across our commitments, we're developing and strengthening networks focused on reversing the climate crisis and safeguarding health for generations. We're grateful to Reaching the Last Mile, The Hong Kong Jockey Club's Institute of Philanthropy, and other emerging partners for taking up this cause and joining the collective effort."

Statements of Support

"Climate change is increasing health risks in every region of the world, including millions more people at risk of heat-related illness, food insecurity, infectious diseases, and poverty. A significant mobilization of financing is needed to combat these impacts, which to date have been under-recognized and under-funded. The COP28 Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions is the critical first step to address this, bringing new funders to the table in recognition of the urgent need. We are grateful for our partners stepping up to deliver finance where it is needed most."  Adnan Amin , CEO of COP28

Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions is the critical first step to address this, bringing new funders to the table in recognition of the urgent need. We are grateful for our partners stepping up to deliver finance where it is needed most."  "The impact of climate change on health is not in the distant future, it's here and now. Yet countries lack sufficient resources to adapt health systems for the challenges posed by this crisis. I commend The Rockefeller Foundation for addressing the harm happening today, for unlocking financing for stronger, more resilient health systems, and for making clear that supporting health is an investment, not a cost."  Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , Director-General, World Health Organization

"The Institute of Philanthropy (IoP), established and supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust, is committed to work at the intersection of climate and health. IoP shares The Rockefeller Foundation's vision for a climate future that mitigates and adapts to the impact of climate on health for the benefit of everyone, everywhere. Together with fellow funders in the East as well as globally, IoP will leverage its convening capabilities and financial resources to protect future generations from climate change through enhancing resilience and enabling adaptation."  Mr. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges GBS JP, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club

"I applaud The Rockefeller Foundation's commitment to addressing the Health impacts of climate change. This significant investment, along with the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions, is pivotal in supporting Climate-Vulnerable countries as they shape Healthier and more Resilient futures. The Foundation's dedication to tailoring Climate-Health investments to align with the specific needs of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the broader Global South will foster impactful and sustainable action to protect communities against the effects of climate change."  Hon. Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, MP - Minister of Health, Malawi .

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn.

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation
NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Urban Planning Software Market report has been added to Technavio's offering. With ISO 9001:2015 certification, Technavio has proudly partnered with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies for over 16 years. The potential growth difference for the urban planning software market between 2022 and 2027 is USD 3.46 billion. The growing middle-class population drives the urban planning software market. Factors like the growing middle-class population in developing countries in APAC, South America, and MEA drive the urban planning software market. Furthermore, the rapidly increasing economic activities in developing economies such as China, India, Argentina, Indonesia, and South Africa are due to an increase in per capita income. Get deeper insights into the market size, current market scenario, future growth opportunities, major growth driving factors, the latest trends, and much more. Buy the full report here

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Urban Planning Software Market 2023-2027

Market Challenge - The threat of open-source urban planning software challenges the urban planning software market. Open-source urban planning software is famous, posing a significant threat to the global urban planning software market. It provides cost benefits and scalability in addition to transparency. Learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges available with Technavio. Read a Sample PDF Report Now

The urban planning software market is segmented by Deployment (Cloud-based and Web-based), End-user (Government, Real estate, and infrastructure companies), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

By deployment, the cloud-based segment is significant during the forecast period. The growth of the segment is across enterprises and governments in order to meet the growing demand for customization, agility, and scalability. Furthermore, the main advantage of this segment is that it provides all the related urban planning processes on a single interactive screen, which enables a productive and collaborative development process.

is significant during the forecast period. The growth of the segment is across enterprises and governments in order to meet the growing demand for customization, agility, and scalability. Furthermore, the main advantage of this segment is that it provides all the related urban planning processes on a single interactive screen, which enables a productive and collaborative development process. By geography, Europe is estimated to contribute 34% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. View a Sample Report for insights into the contribution of all the segments and regional opportunities in the report.

Key Companies in the urban planning software market:

3IXAM SOFTWARE LLC, AgiliCity d.o.o., Alphabet Inc., Autodesk Inc., Bentley Systems Inc., CityCAD Technologies Ltd., Esri Global Inc., Lumion, Nextsense, Savannah Simulations AG, Strategis Groep BV, Trimble Inc., UrbanFootprint Inc., UrbanSim Inc., Urpla Pty Ltd., Sasaki Associates Inc.

Related Reports:

The financial planning software market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.85% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 4,693.41 million.

The Global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.93% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 29,213.61 million.

Urban Planning Software Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.19% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 3.45 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 6.66 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 34% Key countries US, Canada, China, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled 3IXAM SOFTWARE LLC, AgiliCity d.o.o., Alphabet Inc., Autodesk Inc., Bentley Systems Inc., CityCAD Technologies Ltd., Esri Global Inc., Lumion, Nextsense, Savannah Simulations AG, Strategis Groep BV, Trimble Inc., UrbanFootprint Inc., UrbanSim Inc., Urpla Pty Ltd., and Sasaki Associates Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

ToC:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Historic Market Sizes

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Deployment

Market Segmentation by End-user

Market Segmentation by Geography

Customer Landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, & Trends

Company Landscape

Company Analysis

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]

Website: www.technavio.com

SOURCE Technavio
When she was about to turn 40, in 2016, Jessica Chastain founded her production company, Freckle Films. She did not decide to finance her own projects just to secure the roles that Hollywood might not offer her anymore because of her age. For one of those roles, she won her only Oscar so far (shes been nominated three times), the best leading actress Academy Award for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021). In it, she plays the controversial televangelist and LGBTQ rights activist who died in 2007. I bought the rights to make that film 10 years before releasing it, but I couldnt shoot it until I became a producer. Tammy Faye was merely a villain in the eyes of the public. It was not possible to tell her story without humiliating or condemning her, Chastain tells EL PAIS from Marrakesh, where she traveled to serve as chair of the jury for the citys film festival.

When she was a juror at Cannes in 2017, she took advantage of the final press conference to criticize the lack of female perspectives in the selection of that years French competition. Chastain is one of the members of the Times Up platform, which was created in support of the MeToo movement. In April 2018 she took a stand against the ruling in the La Manada rape case in Pamplona, Spain, on her social media pages. She also met with Volodymir Zelenski in Kiev six months after Russias invasion of Ukraine began.

Hollywood has never questioned power and created a climate conducive to it. I try to think of a movie from a major studio that has done that, and I can [only] think of very few, she notes. Chastain cites Coming Home, the 1978 Hal Ashby-directed drama set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. The exceptions that come to mind were released in the 1970s and 1990s, just after big strikes in Hollywood. So maybe more will come out in the next few years, she says.

From her position as chair of the jury at the Marrakesh festival, the actress has spent a week questioning the industry in which she reigns supreme, the same industry that recently punished women like Susan Sarandon, Melissa Barrera and Maha Dakhil (the CAA agent who represents stars like Tom Cruise) for taking a stand in favor of Palestine in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas. Carefully measuring her words, without pointing to a specific conflict, Chastain made her position clear at last weekends opening ceremony. In it, she appealed for an art that speaks truth to power in the face of todays broken and divided world. Film can influence social behaviors, beginning with breaking down barriers and starting important conversations about difficult issues like racial justice, gender inequality and other important cultural issues, Chastain argued.

Chastain grew up as the daughter of a single mother in 1980s California. She has often said that her lack of financial means when she was young gave her a braver outlook, making her unafraid of losing some of her privilege. Does she consider herself a political animal? I dont know if I am, but I do know that I have always been interested in people. All kinds of people. I grew up in a complicated context. And Ive always felt the need to question a single way of thinking. If Im constantly given the same message, Im interested in exploring other points of view, she says, days after delivering her speech. Working with Mexican director Michel Franco on Memory has informed her search for truth in film. The best artists are the ones who accept that others question their ideas, she says.

I just dont get the idea of staying quiet to keep working. There may be directors who no longer want to work with me, or people with certain cultures, or people from certain genres... but that means there will be others who will want to. I will find my place. I can work in the theater..., the actress, who starred in a new adaptation of Ibsens A Dolls House on Broadway earlier this year, tells this newspaper.

Arriving on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival last September, where Francos film was being screened, Chastain wore a T-shirt with the emblem of the Hollywood actors union SAG-AFTRA, which at that time had already started the screenwriters and actors strikes. Its untenable that only the studios have the power in this industry, because they are only interested in making profits. To do that, they have to please as many people as possible. Theres never going to be anything the least bit controversial coming from there, she now says.

When she arrived at the Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2023, Jessica Chastain wore a T-shirt supporting the SAG-AFTRA strike. getty

Despite her attempts to connect her career with critical and curious thinking about whats going on in the world, googling Chastains name results in a huge amount of headlines that mostly mention the dresses she wears to premieres and award shows. Its something that would bother me if those articles only talked about my looks. But they often also mention all these things about which I want to start a conversation, she admits. Jessica Chastain understands fashion as an art and also as a form of power: If one of my dresses catches someones eye on the internet, and they click on the photo and end up reading one of my statements...good for them.

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Bengaluru, Dec 2 : Karnataka Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology, Priyank Kharge, said that the three-day Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023, held at the Bangalore Palace, concluded with unprecedented and resounding success, breaking new ground in the realm of technology and innovation.

Speaking to mediapersons, Kharge added that the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023 has been a global standout, with participants from 45 countries, 83 sessions and insights from 401 speakers.

The event themed "Breaking Boundaries: Innovations from India, Impact for the World", featured 553 exhibitors and 258 startups across various fields, facilitating connections through 427 physical B2B meetings and 1981 virtual connect sessions.

With a strong attendance of 8,606 business professionals and 18,592 registered business visitors, the summit also recorded an impressive 50,000 expo footfall, the Minister said.

Noteworthy contributions came from countries like Australia, Denmark, South Korea and Japan in the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) expo as well as major academic institutions like Amity University and industry leaders like Infosys, Biocon, Microsoft Startup etc., Kharge added.

At the Bengaluru Tech Summit, the Karnataka government unveiled a revised policy for biotechnology and a new Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) policy to drive economic development in these sectors.

The Biotechnology Policy aims for exponential growth, building on Karnataka's status as the 'Biotechnology Capital of India'.

The AVGC-XR policy seeks to leverage the state's IT and Business Process Management strengths to establish global leadership, emphasising talent development, job creation, exports and sustainability, the Minister said.

"The GIA track featured 20 countries, including Australia, Finland, Netherlands, South Korea, Israel, Austria, France, the UK, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland, Thailand, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, and witnessed the participation of ambassadors from six countries -- Australia, Finland, Germany, the UK, Netherlands and Lithuania," Kharge added.

Reacting to a query, the Minister said that the Bengaluru Tech Summit is not conducted for the BJP and he aspires to strengthen the position of IT city Bengaluru at the global level.

Kharge added that the guarantee schemes are in no way coming in the way of providing infrastructure to IT companies and ensuring development.

The economic crisis is created by the pathetic economic policy of the Central government, he said.

"We are yet to receive the GST balance. Karnataka is getting Rs 18 for every Rs 100 given to the Union government, whereas north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh are getting Rs 120 and Rs 180. The Karnataka BJP unit must clarify whether they want guarantee schemes or not," he added.

--IANS

mka/khz
Damascus, Dec 2 : An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, the latest in a spate of Israeli attacks against Syria, according to the media reports.

Multiple explosions were heard in Damascus after midnight in what appeared to be a hostile missile attack.

The state-owned Syrian TV later confirmed it was an Israeli missile attack on the vicinity of Damascus, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army said in a statement that around 1:35 a.m. local time, the "Israeli enemy" conducted an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targetting some military points in the vicinity of Damascus.

It added that the air defence brought down most missiles and the losses were limited to material damage.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, as well as convoys transporting weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran.

Israel sees Iran as its arch-enemy and will not allow Iran to establish a permanent base in Syria.

Israel and Syria have a border along the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.
Paid users can now post up to 2 hr of 1080p, 3 hr of 720p videos on X. Image Source: IANS News

San Francisco, Dec 2 : After Elon Musk's outburst against big advertisers like Disney this week, X is reportedly aiming to tap small and medium businesses (SMBs) to offset the advertising loss from big companies.

A new report by The Financial Times has claimed X will now turn to SMBs to shore up revenue after Musk angered big brands by supporting antisemitic content.

"Small and medium businesses are a very significant engine that we have definitely underplayed for a long time," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"It was always part of the plan, now we will go even further with it," the company added.

Musk has warned that the loss of big advertisers would spell the end of X.

The X owner stunned the world when he told advertisers to "go f*** yourself" earlier this week, after some top companies pulled advertising on his platform over his endorsement of anti-Semitism.

Speaking at The New York Times' DealBook Summit, when Andrew Ross Sorkin asked the X owner about pauses in advertising, Musk replied: "Don't advertise."

"You don't want them to advertise?" Sorkin asked him.

"If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself," Musk said.

"What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail," he told the audience.

Musk also apologised for what he called his "dumbest" ever social media post on Semitism.

Meanwhile, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the platform is enabling an information independence that's uncomfortable for some people.

"We're a platform that allows people to make their own decisions. And here's my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street  and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you," she posted on X.

More than 100 brands have halted their ads, and the company is at risk of losing $75 million by the end of the year, according to reports.

--IANS

na/ksk
Chennai, Dec 2 : Officials of Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption searched the office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Madurai after arresting an officer of the central agency for allegedly extorting Rs 20 lakh from a state government employee, sources said on Saturday.

In an unprecedented action, the DVAC officials arrested Ankit Tiwari on charges of demanding and accepting bribes from a government doctor, who is an accused in a disproportionate assets case.

The sleuths seized Rs 20 lakh cash from his car, which he had allegedly received as a bribe.

The ED official was then taken to the V&AC office in Dindigul for interrogation.

They later conducted searches at the ED's Madurai office and his residence late on Friday and reportedly seized several documents and later sent the officer to a 14-day judicial custody.

This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that an officer of ED has been arrested.

Following a complaint received from Dr Suresh Babu of Dindigul, the V&AC had registered a case against the ED official on Thursday.

As per the complainant, he worked as Deputy Superintendent in the Government Hospital in Dindigul. A case of accumulating assets disproportionate to his known sources of income was booked against him in 2018.

He alleged that Tiwari had contacted him a few months ago and demanded a bribe of Rs 3 crore to relieve him of the charges.

As the doctor refused to pay the huge money, Tiwari negotiated with him to part with Rs 51 lakh. The complainant said on November 1 he had handed over Rs 20 lakh in cash to Tiwari.

Since, the ED officer allegedly started harassing him for the remaining Rs 31 lakh, the doctor lodged a complaint with the V&AC.

The agency laid a trap by asking Babu to hand over Rs 20 lakh in cash to Tiwari.

After the ED officer received the cash from Babu at Thomiarpuram on Dindigul-Madurai highway, a team of V&AC officials chased Tiwarias car, intercepted him at the Kodaikanal Road Toll Collection Plaza and seized the cash.

The ED official's arrest came amid the face-off between the state government and ED over the latter's summons to five district collectors in connection with a probe into alleged money laundering linked to illegal sand mining.

Early this week, the High Court stayed the summons for three weeks.
Rio De Janeiro, Dec 2 : Paris Saint-Germain are preparing an offer to sign highly rated Corinthians teenager Gabriel Moscardo, according to widespread media reports in Brazil.

PSG sporting director Luis Campos travelled to Brazil to watch Corinthians' home match against Internacional on Saturday, Globo Esporte reported on Friday.

It added that the reigning Ligue 1 champions would need to offer between 22 and 25 million euros to secure the 18-year-old, who has also attracted interest from Chelsea, reports Xinhua.

Moscardo, who is a member of Brazil's U-23 squad, has made 24 first-team appearances for Corinthians since being promoted from the club's youth academy in June this year.

On Thursday, Corinthians manager Mano Menezes said he would prefer not to lose the midfielder at such a young age.

"The premature departure of young Brazilian players when they start to stand out really hurts us," Menezes said.

"Let's hope he stays with us longer because he is a very good quality player. He has strength and the ability to go forward or play as a holding midfielder," he added.

--IANS

cs/
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 a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, many were shouting, Wheres Nancy? Lets hang her. They were looking for Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, who, along with Vice President Mike Pence (who was also being chased) and the rest of the members of Congress, were hiding from the rioters. The government officials were about to certify Joe Bidens electoral victory. Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, Nancys youngest daughter, wanted to understand the people who sought to hang her mother. The result is a powerful documentary: The Insurgents Next Door, which was released on HBO Max.

With her camera on her shoulder, Alexandra Pelosi visits a handful of insurgents who have been prosecuted or sentenced to prison. She sincerely tries to understand their motivations, though sometimes she jumps in to debate what they say. The conversations are all cordial. One conclusion: people are better one at a time than they are in a crowd. Something happens in the human brain when people are part of an agitated group. They call it herd mentality.

Some of the interviewees match the expected profiles, but even so, shocking things happen. Alexandra Pelosi talks to a man who has Proud Boys  the name of a paramilitary group that claims to be prepared for civil war  tattooed on his forehead. Hes a musician and in his songs he raps verses like, Fuck you, Nancy, I hate that bitch, but Id fuck her. He plays it for Alexandra, who doesnt react badly to it. The man has no regrets. He introduces her to his family, holds his baby in his arms. And the director accompanies him to the door of the prison to see him say goodbye to his family before he goes in. Another interviewee  perhaps the most grotesque one  believes all of the conspiracy theories, not only that the election was stolen but that leftists infiltrated the gathering to promote the attack on the Capitol for some unknown reason. He insists on showing Pelosi videos that prove nothing but which he interprets in his own unusual way.

But other interviewees defy all stereotypes: not all the people who stormed Congress, spurred on by Donald Trumps hoaxes, fit the image of reactionaries. Several say they had voted for Obama before. There is even a young man who claims that he voted for Biden in 2020 but went to the Trump rally and then to the Capitol to accompany his sister. One is homosexual and has a husband. Another was a porn actor and speaks of how he unleashed his fury from his breakup with his girlfriend (it turns out she was a prostitute) after he gave her expensive gifts like an iPhone; that episode led him to conclude that the left wants to destroy the family. You stormed the Capitol because you broke up with your girlfriend who was a prostitute? a stunned Pelosi asks him. Yes, we men are weird, he replies.

It is clear that the personal can become political. Several of those who participated in the January 6 insurrection relate their role in it to their own traumas, failures or mental health problems. They vented their frustration by embracing the hoaxes (about voter fraud, about the pedophile plot, about globalism, about the replacement of whites) propagated by Trumpism and its allied media. One of the defendants celebrated the first anniversary of the insurrection in the following way: she got drunk, got into her car and drove in the wrong direction until she caused a fatal accident. She is also awaiting trial for that.

Most have not abandoned their sympathies for Trump, even after paying hefty fines, serving time in prison, or continuing to wear an electronic ankle monitor as a condition of their parole. Some do admit that they were disappointed, that those who stormed Congress expected their leader to go there and not abandon them to their fate. Only one, speaking from prison, expresses unreserved remorse; he is isolated because there are other patriots in his cellblock who consider him a traitor.

The documentarys message is disturbing. These radicalized people who were ready to fight in the streets against what voters had decided and were even capable of hanging the authorities are not aliens; they are our neighbors. Alexandra Pelosi shows that dialogue is possible. The far-right tend to dehumanize those they consider their enemies: it would be a mistake to dehumanize them.

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(UNEDITED) ---- (ELECTION CARNIVAL PACKAGE) Pakistan likely to be elected to UNSC, get to block terror sanctions. Image Source: IANS News

United Nations, Dec 2 : Pakistan, which has received the unanimous backing of the Asia Pacific Group, is most likely to be elected to the United Nations Security Council next year, giving it a virtual veto on sanctions against terrorists.

Even though it will not have veto powers on the decisions of the Council like the permanent members, the committee that imposes sanctions on terrorists functions by consensus and non-permanent members can also block its decisions.

If elected, Islamabad will not have to rely on China to protect Pakistan-based terrorists like Sajid Mir, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, who was given a reprieve in June at the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

It will also have a seat on the Councilas Counter-Terrorism Committee.

If Pakistan is elected, it will be closely aligned with China, a counterbalance to South Korea, which will hold the other Asia seat till the end of 2025.

While about 50 national-level elections will sweep across the world next year, the UN will also have several elections to its bodies and the Council election held by the General Assembly will be closely watched.

Pakistanas chances of election are strong because it has received the unanimous support of 53 electoral members of the Asia Pacific Group, including India, for the regionas seat that will be vacated by Japan at the end of 2024.

However, it is not a foregone conclusion because although Pakistan is the consensus candidate of the Asian Group, it will still need to get the votes of two-third of all the 193 members who will have the final say in the election that will be held in the middle of next year.

This opens the way for any others from the region to challenge Islamabad's candidacy and this happened in the 2011 election, when Kyrgyzstan pitched its candidacy without the backing of the Asia Group.

The Central Asian country got 55 votes, paring Pakistanas lead to 129 votes, just one over the 128 a" or two-third a" it needed to win the two-year term that began in 2012.

Fiji, which did not contest the election, received one vote, but announced that it was backing Pakistan.

According to a UN source who closely follows Council elections, the United States was behind Kyrgyzstan entering the race and standing firm despite entreaties from many Asian countries to back out.

Pakistan had announced its intent to seek its eighth term on the Council when India announced its candidacy for the 2020 election for the 2021-22 term.

India, which had the unanimous backing of the Asia Group, was elected with 184 votes.

Munir Akram, Pakistanas Permanent Representative, engineered Islamabadas diplomatic push to get the support of the Asia Group for the 2024 election.

The deal was sealed in June at a Group meeting where it was backed by about 20 countries as diverse as China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, the UAE, Lebanon and Singapore, according to reports.

If elected, Pakistan, which has used every opportunity at the UN to bring up Kashmir even on unrelated discussions, can be expected to keep harping on it on a platform that will give it more visibility.

Pakistan can be seen standing firmly with China, when the Council takes up the polarising issues of Palestine, Ukraine, North Korea and Syria, irking the Western countries.

On most of those issues, Beijing and Moscow also have common positions.

There will also be four other contests next year for non-permanent seats opening up in 2025: One each for Africa and Latin America/Caribbean groups and two for the Western European and Others Group.

A contest is brewing for the Africa Group where Somalia and Mauritius have announced their candidatures.

Only Greece and Denmark are the candidates so far for the two Western Group vacancies.

Polls to the UN Human Rights Council will be closely watched next year when 18 of the 47 seats come up for election.

India will be completing its current term at the end of next year after serving two consecutive terms and the rules do not allow it to contest for a third term running.

India will also be ending its term on the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the end of 2024, but will be eligible to run for another term under its rules.

The office of the President of the General Assembly rotates by region and it will be Africaas turn next year.

There wonat be an election next year for the International Court of Justice, better known as the World Court, but an election for six judges of the International Criminal Court will take place in December this year for terms starting in 2024. India will not be participating as it has not signed the courtas statute.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
New Delhi, Dec 2 : With Bangladesh's parliamentary elections set for early January, the opposition's push for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the installation of an interim election-time government has reached a crescendo - sending the country's streets and politics into tumult in the process, said Geoffrey Macdonald, Visiting Expert, United States Institute of Peace.

With no sign of political compromise in sight, Bangladesh's January elections will likely do little to repair its deep political divisions, he said.

Although the BNP is publicly committed to nonviolence, its strategy of election boycott and street blockades to unseat the ruling party has forced a confrontation with the state that has inevitably turned violent. Bangladesh's current cycle of blockades, street violence and heavy-handed police reprisal echoes a long history during election periods. With parliamentary elections scheduled, the BNP has called for continued strikes to cancel the polls, but the AL has shown no indication of reducing its pressure on the opposition.

"The next election will not fulfil our constitutional commitment to a democratic Bangladesh; rather it will lead us, as a nation, to uncharted waters", writes Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of SHUJAN: Citizens for Good Governance, in Daily Star. SHUJAN-Citizens for Good Governance is a non-partisan citizen's platform in Bangladesh.

Majumdar wrote that the upcoming one-sided election cannot be called an election in the legal sense, as there would not be any legitimate choice in the absence of the BNP's participation, and such an election will not help the EC meet its constitutional obligation to hold a free, fair and credible election.

As scores of cases have been filed since October 28 and most of the BNP leaders are now either in jail or hiding, it is almost certain that the coming election will again be one-sided. The situation at the moment is fraught with serious concerns, he said.

The first concern is that a one-sided election, without the participation of the main opposition and other major parties, may not even qualify as an election from the legal point of view, the article said.

The second concern relates to the environment for holding a free and fair election. On October 25, the CEC himself acknowledged that the appropriate environment for an election was absent. Then the violence of October 28 occurred, leading to the police filing many cases, implicating thousands of BNP activists and arresting almost all its leaders, which completely tilted the playing field in favour of the ruling party. In this situation, most, if not all, potential BNP candidates will not be able to file nomination papers by November 30, even if they decide to participate in the upcoming election, Majumdar wrote.

"Yet, the EC declared the election schedule, ignoring the tilted electoral field, paving the way for a one-sided election and ensuring the continuation of the ruling party being in power. The highly partisan bureaucracy and law enforcement agencies will ensure that outcome", he added.

Thirdly, without the participation of the BNP and other major political parties, the legitimacy crisis of the present regime will persist. As we are aware, in 2014, there was a one-sided election, in which 153 MPs were "elected" without the voters casting a single vote. The 2018 election, although participatory, was fraudulent, manifested by stuffing of ballot boxes the night before, Majumdar wrote.

A study found electoral irregularities, like stamping ballot papers the night before and ballot box stuffing by capturing booths on election day, in 47 out of 50 constituencies surveyed. An analysis of the centre-wise election results obtained from the EC through an RTI application by SHUJAN found that 100 percent votes were cast in 213 polling centres in 103 constituencies, and 100 percent votes were cast to a single symbol in 587 polling centres in 75 constituencies.

In addition, the BNP received zero votes in 1,177 centres, Jatiya Party received zero votes in 3,388 centres, and even the Awami League received zero votes in two centres, indicating that they were all cooked up numbers. These two controversial elections created a credibility crisis for the ruling party, he added.
(ELECTION CARNIVAL) Beyond Haley: Indian-Americans get active on both side of US divide. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Dec 1 : Forming roughly 2 per cent of the American population, five of them in the House of Representatives, nearly 50 in state legislatures, two in the presidential race and one occupying the Vice President's office (and therefore the Senate presidency) -- Indian-Americans and their vote have assumed an unprecedented significance in the US political spectrum.

For the first time in the country's history, two Indian-Americans -- Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy -- are in the race for the presidency from the Republican side and Vice President Kamala Harris may just become the first female president of colour if President Joe Biden, whose advanced age has become a matter of concern, fails to complete an elected term.

Giving a few reasons for the upswing in Indian-American political participation, Congressman Ro Khanna said: "It could be a new generation of South Asians coming of age. It could be a reaction to Trump's 2016 election. It could be Barak Obama's presidency that showed people of colour could ascend to leadership positions".

Harris's run as Biden's running mate in 2020 galvanised the Indian-Americans to turn out to vote, with about 49 per cent of respondents in opinion polls indicating that her nomination made them more enthusiastic about Biden's candidacy.

For nearly six times, Biden has referred to his 2024 running mate and second-in-command as "President", accidentally though, but that doesn't take away the fact that Harris is set to play a more prominent role in case the Democrats retain control of the White House.

Having visited 19 countries and met with some 100 world leaders, Harris -- born to an immigrant mother from India and father from Jamaica -- has lately been the Biden administration's point person on domestic priorities.

The Democrat is already leading from the front on potent issues such as abortion, voting rights, gun control -- signalling that the 58 year-old is positioning herself as the potential heir apparent to the octogenarian President.

However, the Vice President is not faring well in the polls. Just 41 per cent of adults told CBS News they approve of the job she's doing -- about the same as Biden's approval rating.

Further, the Samosa Caucus -- representing five Indian-American Democrats serving in Congress -- includes Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Khanna and Shri Thanedar.

Jayapal, who represents Washington's 7th Congressional District in the House, recently expressed fears that the 2024 election is in "great trouble" for Biden with new polls showing him trailing in multiple battleground states.

Khanna recently squared off with fellow Indian-American and Republican presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy on ideological and political divides between the conservatives and liberals in America.

At the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, four-term California congressman Khanna pitched his populist economic vision for the US, while Ramaswamy presented his blueprint for the country, drawing from populist ideas and rhetoric from the GOP side.

Registering recent victories in the November 7 poll, Indian-Americans, mostly Democrats, are going strength to strength ahead of the key 2024 elections.

Notable among them was Democrat Neil Makhija, who became the first Asian-American to win the election to fill one of two majority party seats on the governing body of Pennsylvania's third-largest county -- Montgomery.

Democrat Kannan Srinivasan was elected to the legislature of Virginia state as delegate for District 26 and Vin Gopal was re-elected as Democratic state senator for New Jersey.

Democrats Suhas Subramanyam won the Virginia state senate election for District 32 and Balvir Singh retained the seat of county commissioner in Burlington, New Jersey.

In general, Indian-Americans have largely sided with the Democrats and stayed away from the Republican Party due to a perception that the party is intolerant of minorities.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 68 per cent of Indian-American registered voters identified as Democrats and 29 per cent as Republicans.

According to the Carnegie Endowment, the Indian-Americans who "identify as Republicans are primarily moved to do so because of economic policy differences with the Democrats -- with particularly marked differences regarding healthcare".

The entry of former South Carolina Governor Haley, a Sikh, and biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy, a Hindu, in the presidential bid from the Republican side was supposed to have changed that perception.

But their hard-line positions on issues like race, identity and immigration left many Indian-Americans 'disconcerted', according to The New York Times.

The report stated that Ramaswamy's promise to dismantle the Education Department was viewed negatively by many Indian Americans.

Suresh Reddy, a city councilman from Iowa who identified himself as a centrist Democrat, told The Times: "I'm really proud. I just wish they had a better message."

An AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows that only 18 per cent and 23 per cent of Asian-American and Pacific Islander adults view Ramaswamy and Haley favourably.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : With the UK general elections looming next year, some Conservative Party MPs and strategists fear the British Prime Minister might not have the temperament to charm the electorate.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision Monday to abruptly cancel a meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, angrily claiming that his Greek counterpart reneged on assurances he would not speak publicly about the disputed Parthenon Sculptures during his three-day UK visit, has reignited Tory fears about a petulant streak which surfaces in the heat of political battle, Politico reported.

It's almost unheard of for a British Prime Minister to cancel a meeting with a European ally who has specifically traveled to see them in No. 10 Downing Street, and Sunak's decision has caused outrage in Greece.

A government spokesman in Athens called the decision "unprecedented" and "disrespectful", Politico reported.

"Whereas when he was Chancellor the public found Rishi Sunak authoritative and reassuring, they now tend to find him lecturing and sometimes snappy," said Luke Tryl, director of the consultancy More in Common, which regularly conducts focus groups on political topics around the UK.

"The warning signs of this shift in impressions of Sunak have been clear since last year's leadership debates, when the public found Sunak's attitude to Liz Truss to be rude and condescending  even when they agreed with what he was saying.

"Given that he already struggles on questions of empathy, the Prime Minister is at risk of developing a tone problem with the public and needs to switch back to 'safe pair of hands; rather than know-it-all," he added.

With Labour leading in the polls, a former minister added, the stakes for Sunak could not be higher, Politico reported.

"As Chancellor you can get away with it," they said. "As Prime Minister, you can't."

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement tax cut has fuelled speculation that Sunak could be gearing up for an election in the first half of 2024, Sky News reported.

With the Conservatives still lagging behind Labour in the polls, the chancellor made the surprise announcement that he will slash national insurance by two percentage points and bring forward the change to January rather than waiting until the new tax year in April.

Sky's election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher comes to a similar conclusion.

He said: "The Conservatives trail Labour by 18 points in the latest polling, a swing sufficient to give Keir Starmer a healthy majority at the coming election. A series of record-breaking by-election defeats this parliament confirm the Conservative predicament.

Clawing back the deficit, and recovering trust among electors is going to take time."

The bleak assessments are a remarkable turnaround for a party that just four years ago won a thumping 80-seat majority under Boris Johnson.

But the scandals that led to his downfall, and the economic chaos unleashed by the Liz Truss mini-budget - all against the backdrop of rising NHS waiting lists and a cost of living crisis - is why some strategists believe a Conservative defeat at the next general election is all but inevitable, Sky News reported.

Polling expert Professor John Curtice put it: "Frankly, they are heading for crucifixion."

He is sceptical the autumn statement will "move the dial much" and said speculation about an early election "is in the interest of the Conservatives to keep everyone on their toes".

He believes the Conservatives are facing electoral disaster on the scale of 1997, when after 18 years in power the party, led by John Major, was defeated in a landslide by Labour's Tony Blair, Sky News reported.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Amid the conflict in Ukraine, Russia will head to polls in March 2024 to elect a new President.

While the focus is on whether incumbent Vladimir Putin contests again, more important is whether there is any alternative, and more significantly, will some other leader's emergence mean a major change in policies.

Under the law, the Russian presidential elections are to take place in mid-March. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Parliament, is expected to announce the date 90 to 100 days before the elections -- approximately between December 8 and 18.

These will be the first polls since the 2020 constitutional amendment, which set a limit of two presidential terms - but not retrospectively, thus allowing Putin to contest in 2024, and even 2030.

The possibility of the first proviso in these elections seems remote, going by the present array of candidates, declared or probable, unless Putin reprises the manoeuvre of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin in 1999.

Thwarted by the legislature in reinstalling his preferred choice Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister in 1998, Yeltsin had juggled through three candidates for the post before picking Putin, then the head of domestic intelligence agency, as head of government in August 1999.

Yeltsin then resigned unexpectedly at the end of the year, propelling Putin, his covert planned successor, to the top post.

Putin, who has announced that he will decide whether he will contest for his fifth term once the elections are formally declared -- though sources indicate he will fight, is unlikely to be so capricious, or abrupt, in the rare case he holds back.

His chosen successor at the end of his first presidential stint (2000-08) was Dmitri Medvedev, whom he knew from St Petersburg in the post-Soviet era, who was associated with his administration since 2000, and announced as candidate months before the 2008 polls.

Significantly, Medvedev upstaged Putin's fellow KGB colleague Sergei Ivanov, who was seen as a strong contender.

If Putin has any preference this time around, it remains a close-guarded secret, though names of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Medvedev and some others of his circle, have been speculated upon.

To the second question of policy change, the prospects are infinitesimal, even if Putin hands over the baton, or by a miraculous marvel, some outlier wins.

With 'liberal' Alexei Navalny in prison and anyway disqualified from politics, the eventual nominee of the social liberal Russian United Democratic Party 'Yabloko' or Boris Nadezhdin, the nominee of the centre-right democratic Civic Initiative, who have spoken out against the Ukraine war, are the other candidates who could offer an alternative policy.

But will they be credible candidates, even if they meet the threshold to contest?

Going by their present strength - Yabloko only has presence in some regional parliaments, not the Duma, and the Civic Initiative is an an extra-parliamentary force, it is doubtful that they could make a change.

For other parties with parliamentary presence, apart from the ruling and country's largest United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which is the second-largest, A Just Russia a" For Truth, the misleadingly named ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, New People, Rodina, Civic Platform, and Party of Growth may be conservative, left-wing, or liberal but are all nationalist - especially when it comes to Ukraine.

These may put up candidates for the 2024 polls - for the Communist Party, it may be chief Gennady Zyuganov, who has contested unsuccessfully four times since 1996 or Pavel Grudinin, the 2018 candidate, or even new Duma deputy Maria Prusakova, but just to make it a multi-sided contest, rather than for any change.

Since the 19th century, Russia, intellectually and politically, has those advocating closer ties with the West and those stressing on the Slavic heritage - the Westerners or Europhiles, and the Slavophiles - and both have had their ascendance and fall during the Tsarist, Communist, and post-Soviet period.

However, Putin's 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference was a watershed in the debate as he called out the US' "almost uncontained hyper use of force" in international relations and how NATO expansion was not concerned with its modernisation or with ensuring security in Europe, but a "serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust".

"And we have the right to ask: Against whom is this expansion intended," he asked.

Since then, Crimea, the intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and finally, the Ukraine conflict shows Russia is not confrontation-averse -- and this is something that most of the political elite agree with.

And for the common Russians, the harsh sanctions, visa bans, the extensive items that can be confiscated, and so on, are not conducive to creating support for the West or seeking reversal of policies.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 2 : As 2023 draws to a close, the world is gearing up to the host of elections that are slated to be held in various countries in the coming year. As many as 70 elections across 40 countries will take place in 2024, and their global implications are looked out for to anticipate the course of the coming decade.

In what will be the greatest election year in history, close to half of the worldas population will be affected by the electoral events in 2024. This indicates that certain policy changes may be expected, as well as have bearing on geopolitical dynamics between nations that will shape the world order.

Among countries going to polls will be 15 African nations, 9 American nations, 11 Asian nations, 22 European nations, and 4 countries in Ocenia. Besides, the European Union and United Nations Security Council elections will also be held - one election each for Africa, one for the Asia-Pacific Group, one for Latin America and the Caribbean, and two for the Western European and others group.

However, it is going to be four major elections that will be most keenly watched for the impact it will have internationally. These are the four largest political entities in the world housing nearly 2.3 billion people and having a GDP of approximately $42 trillion.

Russia will hold presidential polls in March to select a ruler to reign till 2030. Between April and May, India will have its general elections for a government that will lead the country till 2029. In June and July, the European Union will hold bloc-wide elections that will result in a new European Commission. The US will also hold the biannual legislative elections and presidential elections in November.

Additionally, Taiwanas presidential election scheduled for January 2024 is also keenly observed in the wake of strained China-Tiwan relations. China is pivotal to Taiwanese elections as candidates align with pro-nationalist or mainland-leaning positions.

If the opposition wins, tensions between Taiwan and China could be eased in the short run, economic integration across Taiwan Strait being a possibility. However, the long-term concern about Taiwanas future will remain unresolved.

In Europe, besides the election of a new EU Commission following the parliamentary election, elections will also take place in former member, the UK, where the indications are that the Conservatives are likely to lose power after leading the government for 14 years. It is expected that the electoral dynamics in one country will have knock-on impacts elsewhere, resulting in economic difficulties.

Also, notwithstanding issues such as climate, tech regulation and energy, protectionism will likely continue. The EU budget will be under pressure and affect spending policies on agriculture, structural funds and defence. Further, Ukraine will remain an issue.

India and world eagerly look forward to the Lok Sabha elections when nearly one billion Indians will cast their vote as the Narendra Modi-led BJP government seeks to return to power in its third consecutive term.

The next Modi government would expectedly keep up with its business-friendly reforms and will continue to pursue greater influence internationally while remaining neutral on certain issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war. However, internationally, Modias image may be affected by the Hindu nationalism of his BJP.

The American election is watched for the impact on western unity and for their policy on the Middle East and Russia.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin may be inclined for his fifth presidential term, after 23 years in power as President and Prime Minister in elections that will be held in March (with a run-off in April, if needed) and will coincide with Ukraineas presidential election.

The Russian elections may not throw up any surprises as any credible alternative to Putin is largely absent but the electoral dynamics, including protests, may indicate the mood of the people amid conflict and sanctions.

Celebrating the spirit of democracy, Mexico might get its first woman President in the June elections, creating history in Mexicoas male-dominated political landscape. Former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is running on behalf of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's Morena party.

(Kavya Dubey may be reached at kavya.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 02 : Whether you have a dedicated home bar or not, a bar cart is a versatile and essential addition to your home. It's a mobile and convenient way to take your party from room to room.

In a talk with Niraj Johri, Founder & CEO at Casa Decor, he reveals the art of styling a bar cart and explores the party essentials you should add to it.

Before we delve into the party essentials, let's talk about the cart itself. Always invest in a multi-level bar cart. A cart with multiple tiers not only adds to its aesthetic appeal but also provides ample space to organize your bar accessories and party essentials. Whether you're drawn to the rustic allure of a wooden bar cart or the sleek, modern lines of a contemporary design, let your cart harmonize with your home's interior aesthetic.

Party essentials for your bar cartBottle Opener: A bottle opener is a must-have at any party. Whether you're cracking open beers or removing caps from your favorite sodas, a reliable bottle opener is an essential tool. Keep it within easy reach on your bar cart, so you and your guests can quickly access it whenever needed. A wall-mounted bottle opener can be a stylish and practical choice, adding a touch of vintage charm to your bar cart.Wine Chillers and Wine Stoppers: If you're planning to serve wine at your gathering, wine chillers and stoppers are essential. Place these alongside your wine bottles to ensure guests are encouraged to use them allowing the flavors to remain crisp, and the bottles stay perfectly chilled. Wine stoppers come in various designs, from elegant and decorative to practical and airtight. Choose wine stoppers that complement your bar cart's style.Coasters: Coasters are not just practical; they also add a touch of sophistication to your bar cart. Keeping a set of coasters on the top shelf encourages your guests to use them, protecting your table tops and counters from unsightly drink rings. Choose coasters that align with your decor theme or opt for a set that features a variety of designs to suit different preferences.Condiments and Snacks: Fill the lowest section of your bar cart with an array of condiments and packed snacks. Whether it's a selection of olives, pickles, or a variety of sauces and garnishes, this section can act as a culinary hub for your party. Your guests can easily access the necessary accompaniments for their drinks and appetizers. Consider adding small decorative bowls or containers for a stylish presentation on the top section or next to the snacks, allowing guests to open the packs and help themselves.Tissue Holder: Parties are at their best when things get a little messy. Be prepared for accidental spills and messes by adding a tissue holder to your bar cart. It's a small but thoughtful addition that can save the day when you need to clean up quickly. You can choose a tissue holder that matches the overall theme of your cart, party, or opt for a sleek and minimalist design. Look for tissue holders that are easy to refill, ensuring you're always ready for any party mishaps.Donat Forget your Guestsa Favorites: To cater to your guests' preferences, fill the second section of your bar cart with their favorite bottles. Whether it's a selection of liquors, mixers, or spirits, this personalized touch ensures that everyone at your party can enjoy their preferred drinks. It's a thoughtful gesture that enhances the overall party experience. Consider using decorative trays or holders to keep these bottles organized and easily accessible.

Styling a bar cart is an art that combines functionality and aesthetics. With the right selection of party essentials and a well-organized setup, your bar cart can transform your home into a bustling and stylish entertaining hub. Whether you're hosting a small get-together or a larger gathering, having a well-equipped and beautifully styled bar cart makes your job as a host much more enjoyable. There is more, even when not in use for a party, these carts serve as multifunctional organizing accessories. So, invest in a versatile bar cart, stock it with the essentials, and let the good times roll!

IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in

--IANS

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Mumbai, Dec 2 : The upcoming episode of 'Bigg Boss 17' will be full of drama as Sunny Arya, whose stage name is Tehelka, will be asked to leave the show after a fight with housemate Abhishek Kumar.

A promo by the channel shows Arun Mahshetty arguing with Isha Malviya after she gets caught sleeping during the day. Arun then tells her to wake up. Abhishek steps into the matter and says that he should speak properly.

Soon Sunny gets into the matter and has a fight with Abhishek asking him not to get into others' matters. He even held his collar.

During their fight, Sunny could be heard saying: "Agli baar mat aaiyo inki matter mein, dhyaan rakhna. Rapta maroonga show ke andar tere."

A gossip portal on X, formerly called Twitter, wrote: "BREAKING! As revealed earlier Karan Johar announced punishment to Tehelka aka Sunny Arya in Weekend ka VaarTehelka is out from the Bigg Boss 17 house due to physical violence with Abhishek."
WhatsApp for iOS gets message editing support for media with captions. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Dec 2 : Meta-owned WhatsApp banned a record over 75 lakh bad accounts in India in the month of October, in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021.

Between October 1-31, the company banned "7,548,000 accounts".

About 1,919,000 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users, WhatsApp said in its monthly compliance report.

The most popular messaging platform, which has over 500 million users in the country, received another record 9,063 complaint reports in October in the country, and the records "actioned" were 12.

"Accounts Actioned" denotes reports where WhatsApp took remedial action based on the report and taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result.

"This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," according to the company.

In a bid to empower millions of Indian social media users, the Centre recently launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) that looks into their concerns regarding content and other issues.

The newly-formed panel, a move to strengthen the country's digital laws to tame the Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions of social media platforms.

"We are an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing and combating abuse. In addition to our safety features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online safety, and technology developments to oversee these efforts," said WhatsApp.
Kolkata, Dec 2 : Congress president in West Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla seeking a review of the functioning of Parliament's Ethics Committee on the issue of proceedings of against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-for query scam, has drawn flak from a section of the party's state leadership.

Posting Chowdhury's letter on his social media account, state Congress leader and Calcutta High Court counsel Koustav Bagchi ridiculed Chowdhury but did not directly name him.

Bagchi has also questioned whether from now Congress workers in West Bengal should start describing "thieves as monks".

"Today we are describing Mahua Moitra as a nun. Tomorrow we might do the same for Abhishek Banerjee and Mamata Banerjee. Congress workers should start practising to address thieves as monks from today only. Let us start the process with Purnima Kandu, the widow of slain Tapan Kandu," Bagchi wrote.

On March 13 last year, Congress leader in Purulia district Tapan Kandu was murdered while he was having an evening walk with his wife, Purnima Kandu.

The CBI started a probe in the matter following an order from the Calcutta High Court.

This is not the first time that Bagchi had been at loggerheads with Chwdhury on the issue of Trinamool Congress.

In August this year, Bagchi threw an open challenge towards Congress high-command to dare to take disciplinary action against him, for constantly opposing Trinamool Congress, which is a part of the INDIA opposition alliance.

He also said that he has noticed that lately a section of the state Congress leaders are going soft towards Trinamool Congress.

"This is not a satisfactory signal for the state Congress. Grassroots level Congress workers will never accept any kind of understanding with Trinamool Congress. I am in 100 per cent agreement with them. My commitment is towards my party and grassroots level workers and not towards any leader," he had said then
The World Bank has announced ambitious plans for the growth of high-integrity global carbon markets, with 15 countries set to earn income from the sale of carbon credits generated from preserving their forests.

By next year, these countries will have produced over 24 million credits and as many as 126 million by 2028. These credits could earn up to $2.5 billion in the right market conditions, much of that going back to communities and countries. Thriving carbon markets have the potential to do the same for other countries in the long-term.

The 15 countries - Chile, Costa Rica, Cote dIvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal, Republic of Congo, and Vietnam - are part of the World Banks Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which has supported pilot programmes since 2018 to establish efficient systems for carbon-crediting initiatives.

Supporting five countries in 2024, the World Bank will work with governments and local communities to access carbon markets. By 2028, it is expected all 15 FCPF countries will be in a position to interact with carbon markets.

The World Bank carbon credits are unique and of high integrity because of the environmental integrity - ensuring credits are unique, real, additional, permanent, and measurable; and social integrity - making sure that communities, especially Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, benefit most from these programmes.

Each carbon credit is monitored, reported, and verified by a third party against the World Bank-managed FCPF Standard and World Bank Environmental and Social Standards.

The 15 programmes use cutting-edge technology to ensure that carbon credits are accurately measured and accounted for. The programmes cover entire jurisdictions, meaning that the reforestation and conservation efforts are not undermined by deforestation elsewhere.

The Bank supports countries in deciding how to use their carbon creditseither monetising them through carbon markets, using them for their own Nationally Determined Contributions, or other transactions to raise additional finance.

Blessed with natural resources, these countries are set to benefit from carbon markets by earning income from protecting forests and using their land more sustainably, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said. With the World Bank Engagement Roadmap for High-Integrity Carbon Markets, we will collaborate with partners to scale effective global carbon markets. Our experience with the FCPF and other initiatives has resulted in a formula that can catalyse effective carbon markets and make good on their promise for people and planet.

The Roadmap outlines the Banks ambition to work with others to deliver solutions to expand liquid and transparent carbon markets. This includes working with private and public sector partners to implement integrity principles for buyers and sellers of credits and introducing common frameworks for organisations validating and verifying credits, such as independent credit rating agencies.

The announcement results from two decades of work to build sound, transparent carbon markets that pay developing countries for their climate efforts that benefit us all.

The Banks ambition is to go farther, so it is scaling its support to countries to reduce emissions in other sectors - including energy access and coal transition, soil organic carbon, and mangroves - to help generate carbon credits that can be paid for or purchased through Bank programmes or sold through markets.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) hopes to focus $150 billion on projects to contain climate change over the next 10 years, the organization said in a statement Thursday. This would imply tripling this type of financing to become the first development bank to comply with the recommendations of the group of countries that make up the G-20.

In 2024, the IDB will assume the presidency of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Regional Development Banks Heads (RDBs) Groups. In this role, the IDB will collaborate with the Brazilian G-20 Presidency to advance the reform agenda. In its statement, the institution said that it will create a program called Amazonia Forever to protect the natural wealth of that region. The IDB Group is committing up to $5 billion in additional financing for the Amazon over the next 10 years for sustainable development projects, leveraging partnerships and funding from countries and other stakeholders, the organization said.

The resources will be mobilized with the support of the member states as well as the anticipated recapitalization of its private-sector arm, IDB Invest. As the home of the Amazon rainforest  one of the worlds primary carbon sinks  and thanks to the significant share of renewables in its energy mix and abundance of crucial mineral reserves for the green transition, the region is well-positioned to become part of the solution to global climate change challenges, the statement says.

The announcement was made within the framework of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) taking place in Dubai. Our reform priorities include focusing on making the Multilateral Development Banks work better as a system, harmonizing our rules and processes, including the continued coordination of climate and nature projects, said IDB President Ilan Goldfajn.
Bengaluru, Dec 2 : The investigation into the female foeticide scam in Karnataka has revealed some shocking truths.

The police said that Manjula -- the arrested head nurse -- has revealed that the 12-week-old foetuses were thrown into dustbins along with medical waste and in four days, they would decompose.

"She had also claimed that 6-month-old -foetuses were also aborted and the bodies were disposed of into the Cauvery River," the police said on Saturday.

Manjula worked at the Matha Hospital in Mysuru, where the gang carried out abortions. The accused had told the police that she used to carry out 70 abortions every month. She had also confessed that even 6-month-old foetuses were taken out.

"The 6-month-old foetuses used to be alive for five to 10 minutes after being taken out of the womb. Those foetuses wouldn't make sound. I used to wrap them in a paper and give it to Nisar (the accused). He would throw them into the Cauvery River to ensure that there is no evidence," she had told the police.

Police said that the accused was carrying out abortions for six months. She had maintained that since they didn't have advanced scanning machines, they were sometimes able to determine the gender of the foetus when it was six-month-old.

Police said that the whenever there was delay in identifying the gender, caesarean was conducted to take out the female foetus.

Karnataka government had handed over the investigation of the female foeticide scam to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The investigation into the foeticide scam that recently came to light in Bengaluru has led to shocking revelations that the accused had aborted 3,000 female foetuses so far.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayanand had said that the investigations have shown that the accused had carried out 3,000 abortions so far and in the last three months, 242 female foetuses were killed.

The accused had set a target of 1,000 abortions per year to make money as they charged anywhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per termination of pregnancy.

The scam came to light when Byappanahalli Police, on October 15, tried to stop a vehicle moving suspiciously. The vehicle's driver did not stop and had to be chased by the police before being caught.

During interrogation, the accused spilled the beans about the abortion racket. The police have arrested nine people till now, including two doctors and three lab technicians for their involvement in the nefarious activity.

The probe also revealed that sex determination tests were done at a jaggery production unit in Mandya district where the accused had set up a lab and related facilities and abortions were conducted in Matha hospital of Mysuru.
Auckland, Dec 2 : Three Sikh men have been sentenced in New Zealand for attempted murder of a popular Indian-origin radio host that left him with over 40 stab wounds, more than 350 stitches and multiple surgeries, a media report said.

Harnek Singh -- a DJ at Radio Virsa which discusses religious and cultural issues in the Auckland Sikh community -- was ambushed and stabbed in his Wattle Downs driveway on December 23, 2020, after a group of alleged attackers followed him home.

Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years' imprisonment, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

Sukhpreet Singh, 44, was found guilty of being an accessory to attempted murder and was sentenced to six months of home detention.

The 48-year-old lead defendant with interim name suppression was convicted of orchestrating the murder and has been given one of the longest possible prison sentences for the crime.

Described as a "devoutly religious Auckland resident", he was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years before he can begin applying for parole.

He harboured resentment against the radio host for his political views and more liberal interpretation of their mutual Sikh faith, Justice Mark Woolford noted while sentencing the trio this week.

He planned the "hit" and used his charismatic influence over others to recruit henchmen to do his bidding, the judge said.

The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 14 years in the country.

The only reason the lead defendant didn't receive the full maximum sentence was because he deserved a six-month credit for the time he spent on electronically-monitored bail while awaiting his lengthy trial in September and October, the Herald reported, quoting the judge.

Harnek, who did not attend the hearing but wrote a victim impact statement, which was read out in the court by the prosecutors.

"My family faces fear each day when the sun goes down. My wife and child wonder if someone is lurking in the shadows, looking into our home, wanting to attack us again... We went from a carefree, spontaneous and fun-loving family to one that is constantly in fear for my safety," he wrote.

Harnek was followed by three cars full of men and was stabbed "within an inch of his life" on the day of the incident. He locked the door of his vehicle and began pounding on the horn, attracting the attention of neighbours as the attackers bashed on his window.

The attack left Harnek requiring over 350 stitches to his head and upper body and multiple surgeries.

According to The Australia Today, Harnek was attacked for challenging pro-Khalistan ideology pedalled by the lead defendant.

Addressing the three defendants directly, he wrote: "You came to kill me. You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who express their disagreement with your unorthodox religious views. But you failed. I will continue to express my opinions and beliefs as I always have."

Sidhu, who was alleged to have been one of the knife attackers in the driveway, was described by defence lawyer as having been a victim of brainwashing by the lead defendant.

Sukhpreet had provided two of the stabbers with a shower and fresh clothes after the attack and helped unsuccessfully to hide their vehicle. The lengthy hearing came a year and a half after the sentencing of Jaspal Singh -- another of the knife-wielding attackers who was the first to admit his participation in the murder plot.

He later testified at the trial. In addition, Jobanpreet Singh and Hardeep Singh Sandhu await sentencing early next year for Harnek's attempted murder.

Jobanpreet was found guilty of wielding a knife in the attack, and Hardeep pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the attackers by following Harnek as the radio host was on his way home.

Jagraj Singh and Gurbinder Singh were acquitted as there wasn't enough evidence against them and two others.
Hyderabad, Dec 2 : The final voter turnout in Telangana Assembly elections held on Thursday was 71.34 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India.

After the polling came to an end at 5 p.m. on Thursday, the approximate voter turnout was put at 63.94 per cent. The figure was revised later as the polling continued in some constituencies till 9.30 p.m.

On Friday morning, the poll percentage was shown as 70.66 per cent. It was further revised to 71.23 per cent in the evening and the final number of 71.34 per cent was declared on Friday night.

In the 2018 elections, the polling percentage was 73.74.

Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj attributed this to tabulation of numbers after scrutiny by elections observers and returning officers for each of the 119 constituencies.

Out of 3,26,02,793 voters, 2,32,59,256 cast their votes. More female voters than male exercised their franchise. A total of 1,16,73,722 women cast their votes against 1,15,84,728 men. The final figures also show that 806 third genders exercised their franchise.

Munugode constituency in Nalgonda district recorded the highest turnout of 91.89 per cent while Yakutpura in Hyderabad saw the lowest percentage at 39.64.

Palair recorded 90.89 per cent polling. The turnout was 90.77 per cent in Alair.

As many as 83 constituencies registered more than 75 per cent polling. Rural areas saw higher turnout than urban areas.

Nine out of 15 Assembly constituencies in Hyderabad recorded less than 50 per cent polling. Hyderabad recorded an average 47.88 per cent polling.

For the first time, female voters had outnumbered males in the state. Out of 3,26,02,799 voters, there are 1,62,98,418 men and 1,63,01,705 women. The gender ratio is 1000.2. There are 2,676 transgenders among the electors.

The service voters are 15,406 while the number of PwD (person with disability) voters is 5,06,921. According to the CEO, 4,40,371 voters are over 80 years of age.

The number of voters in the 18-19 age group or the first-time voters is 9,99,667, constituting 3.07 per cent of the total electors.

The voters decided the political fortunes of 2,290 candidates including 2,068 males, 221 females and one candidate from the third gender.

Over 25,000 voters voted from home as the Election Commission for the first time introduced home voting facility in the state for voters above 80 years and PwD voters. In the category of 80 plus senior citizens, the election authorities had accepted 17,108 applications and out of them 16,005 actually voted.

They also approved home voting requests of 9,961 PwD voters and of them 9,459 actually voted.

More than 1.80 lakh employees who were on poll duty voted through postal ballots. The votes were brought to Hyderabad and respective district headquarters for exchange to make sure that they reached the constituency concerned.
Vvijayawada, Dec 2 : The sensational midnight abduction and murder of a nine-year-old student of a tribal welfare residential school in Eluru district by two students of the same school shocked Andhra Pradesh recently.

The accused, both students of class 10, not only killed the boy studying in class 4, but also left a letter in his hand threatening more such murders.

"Whoever wants to live, go away from here because these kinds of things will keep happening from now on," one of the accused wrote in Telugu.

They kept the letter to divert the course of attention but the handwriting proved to be a vital clue for the police and ultimately led to their arrest.

The gruesome murder of nine-year-old Gogula Akhil Vardhan Reddy had rocked Government ST Residential School in Puli Ramannagudem, a forest area in Buttayagudem 'mandal' (bock) of Eluru district in July.

The boy was found murdered near the hostel on the school premises. The body of the victim had contusion marks around the neck and a small scratch near the right eye.

Son of daily wagers, he belonged to a village about 5 km from the school. His elder brother is also studying at the same school in class 6.

The family belonged to the Konda Reddi tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Andhra Pradesh.

The student's murder and the letter warning of more such killings had sent terror among the school inmates and the school administration. Police had formed 10 teams to crack the case.

Deputy Chief Minister Peedika Rajanna Dora, who also holds the tribal welfare portfolio, visited the school.

He handed over a cheque for Rs 10 lakh as ex gratia to the parents of the deceased and assured a job to the boy's father in a government department on outsourcing basis and a housing plot to the family.

The murder was initially suspected to be the handiwork of some outsider. The police also focussed on the role of teachers and other employees. However, the police investigations revealed the shocking truth that two students of the same school committed the ghastly crime.

The accused, both aged 15, plotted and executed the abduction and murder of the victim. Wearing masks, they gained entry into the hostel around midnight.

One of the accused entered the room through the window, which had no grills, and opened the latch of the main door to facilitate the other boy to enter the room. Before entering the hostel, they switched off the power supply.

The accused carried the boy away and strangled him to death on the school campus located opposite the hostel block.

Police matched the handwriting in the letter found with the handwriting of students and began questioning the suspect. He tried to run away and finally confessed that he, along with another boy, committed the murder.

"The two juveniles in conflict with law confessed that they killed the hostel inmate due to personal dispute," said Eluru Superintendent of Police (SP) D. Mary Prasanthi.

"They left a letter in the hands of the deceased to divert the course of investigation," she said.

The SP did not reveal what was personal about the dispute that had led to the murder.

However, it was learnt the prime accused had allegedly physically and sexually abused the deceased boy previously.

When the victim rejected his proposal for sexual favour, the prime accused with another classmate plotted the murder and executed it.

The case highlights that teenagers are committing murders not just in cities and towns but even in remote places.

Police officials say teenagers studying in residential schools away from their families need proper counselling to ensure that they don't develop bad habits.

According to Charan Teja Koganti, Consultant Psychiatrist at KIMS Hospitals, Kondapur in Hyderabad, teenagers are prone to intense mood swings due to hormonal influence.

"A sudden surge in reproductive hormones in their body can influence the neurotransmitters in the brain. But I am seeing a lot of extreme cases of these mood swings that result in rage and violent tendencies. It is usually seen secondary to a substance abuse, mental health condition, any trauma, troubled family dynamics, bullying and maybe even agitated depression.

"All of these issues should be addressed with professional help by a psychiatrist. This teen rage may cause either self-harm or harming others. It can be associated with other high risk impulsive behaviours such as drug use, binge drinking, unsafe driving causing accidents or unsafe sex," he said.

The psychiatrist believes that social media and OTT content teenagers consume also impacts their thoughts. We see a lot of dark gory crime thrillers these days that may reduce one's sensitivity to violence and increase the threshold for the same.

Koganti concluded by noting: "Let us not ignore jealous rage where unchecked anger and possessiveness in relations can damage their own person of interest.

"Research proved that functional neuroimaging showed a hyperactive response in the amygdala, an area of the brain that processes emotions and information regarding fear and with a lessening of activity in the frontal lobe, a brain region linked to decision-making and impulse control leading to aggression and assault."
Mumbai, Dec 2 : Actress Alia Bhatt was all praise for her actor-husband Ranbir Kapoor for his performance in the latest release 'Animal' and as a father for their daughter Raha.

Alia took to Instagram, where she shared a long note for Ranbir. She shared two pictures  one from the promotions and one featuring him reading a book to his daughter, whose face was not visible in the picture that showed her tiny feet in her father's lap.

She captioned it: "For all that you are on and off camera. For the patience, silence and love you give your craft and for the person you are to your family. For taking such huge strides as an artist and for literally making our daughter take her first steps today."

Alia added: "For completely blowing us away your performance and for making it all of the above look so easy (heart hands emoji). Congratulations my not so little animal."

Alia also shared a note of appreciation for 'Animal' director Sandeep Vanga Reddy, actors Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna.

"Sandeep Reddy Vanga there is NO ONE like you! The beats in this film are shocking, surprising, unreal and fully loaded.. goosebumps and iconic imagery for dayssssss @sandeepreddy.vanga," she wrote in the Instagram stories.

For Rashmika, she said: "You are so so so beautiful and honest in the film! As I told you in person.. I loved you in that scene - so special and inspiring. Fully joining the #crushmika club."

Calling him as her "Most favourite", Alia wrote for Bobby: "iambobbydeol my most favourite - outstanding! You are just magic every time you are on screen.

She called Anil Kapoor "Smashing."

"And the one and only anilskapoor - smashing it as always! Such an inspiration Congratulations to the entire cast - phenomenal performances that truly make the whole world come to life," she wrote.

For Tripti Dimri and Shakti Kapoor, Alia wrote: "@tripti_dimri &shaktikapoor You'll have hit it out of the park and right into the animal park."
Chennai, Dec 2 : In order to set up additional capacities to meet the future demand, automotive ancillaries major Uno Minda Ltd is building land banks in different states, said a top company official.

The company has decided to go proactive, bitten by its bitter experience of not being able to get about five acre the required land adjacent to its plant in a state from the government.

"By 2030, the size of the two-wheeler industry will be about 30 million. We need land to set up additional capacities to cater to the future demand," said Nirmal K Minda, Chairman and Managing Director.

The company has nearly closed a deal to buy about 40 acres in Hosur in Tamil Nadu from private parties. The company has bought 86 acres in Pune in Maharashtra and is looking to acquire about 95-100 acres in North India, Sunil Bohra, Group Chief Financial Officer and CEO-Safety & Comfort System said.

"We are building a land bank for future expansion. All our plants are functioning at full capacity," Bohra said.

He also said the group is in the process of executing nine capital expenditure projects at a total outlay of about Rs 2,000 crore and the capex for this year will be about Rs 800 crore.

In the electric vehicle segment, Uno Minda will focus on the passenger vehicle segment going forward. Currently, the company caters to electric two-wheelers with various components.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Science has made it clear that emissions from coal power -- the dirtiest fossil fuel -- are the single largest contributor to the climate crisis.

The solution for a sustainable future, which means capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, lies in energy transition -- adapting renewable technologies such as solar and wind, alongside clean hydrogen and sustainable biomass to phase out fossil fuels by 2050.

But to achieve this global goal, India will need additional financing up to $101 billion.

A report titled "Beyond Tripling: India needs $101bn additional nancing for the net-zero pathway" finds that India's 14th National Electricity Plan (NEP14) put the country on track to more than triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030.

But to further scale it up to align with the net-zero scenario proposed by the IEA, India needs an additional financing of $101 billion.

The "Beyond Tripling" report estimates that to achieve targeted solar and wind power generation levels, India would need to develop an additional capacity of 115 GW of solar and 9 GW of wind power by 2030. This will be over and above the targets set out in NEP14.

It will lift India's total renewable capacity to 448 GW of solar and 122GW of wind power by 2030.

The latest analysis from UN Climate Change (UNFCCC), meanwhile, shows global emissions are set to fall by just two per cent below 2019 levels by 2030, if countries continue to follow their current pledges.

At the onset of the two-week-long UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) on November 30, which is expected to see a gathering of over 160 world leaders in Dubai, COP President Sultan Al Jaber, who is the CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, urged the governments to agree on global goals to triple renewables capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030, alongside the objective of doubling energy efficiency progress.

This call for fast-tracking the just, equitable and orderly energy transition is supported by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

IEA's Energy Efficiency 2023 market report, published a day ahead of the COP28 onset, finds that policy momentum for energy efficiency continues to build following the global energy crisis set off by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Investments in efficiency have grown by 45 per cent since 2020, and in the past year, countries representing three-quarters of global energy demand have strengthened energy efficiency policies or introduced new ones.

Key measures are also becoming more widespread. For example, almost all countries now have efficiency standards for air conditioners, and the number of countries with standards for industrial motors has tripled within the past decade.

However, the report found that global improvements in energy intensity -- a primary measure of energy efficiency -- slowed in 2023.

According to the IEA, this was the result of factors such as an economic rebound in energy-intensive sectors such as petrochemicals and aviation in some regions, as well as booming demand for air conditioning during what is on track to be the hottest year on record.

Its analysis has shown that to achieve net zero emissions from the energy sector by 2050, which is essential to limit global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees, annual improvements in energy efficiency need to double -- rising from a level of two per cent in 2022 to more than four per cent per year on average between now and 2030.

In 2023, global energy intensity improved by 1.3 per cent, well below what is needed to achieve this target.

Countries moving to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies are already seeing environmental, economic and human health benefits.

IRENA's World Energy Transitions Outlook sees significant economic prosperity with the energy transition that is also expected to create 40 million additional jobs in the energy sector by 2050, with 18 million more jobs globally in renewables alone.

Asia is expected to hold 55 per cent of global renewable jobs by 2050, followed by Europe at 14 per cent and the Americas at 13 per cent. Only nine per cent of the jobs would be in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, it warned that the energy transition is off-track, demanding urgent and radical action, including a tripling of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

According to independent, not-for-profit energy think tank Ember, tripling renewables and doubling efficiency will deliver 85 per cent of the cuts in unabated fossil fuels required by 2030.

The report estimates that to achieve this generation levels from solar and wind, India will need to build an additional capacity of 115 GW of solar and 9 GW of wind by 2030 on top of the solar and wind target set out in its NEP14 plan.

It will take India's total renewable capacity to 448 GW of solar and 122GW of wind by 2030.

According to the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), launched at COP23 in 2017 under the leadership of the UK and Canada to advance the transition from coal power, aging, insufficient and disconnected grids are holding back the clean energy transition.

Across the world, 27 national, provincial, state, and city governments joined initially, endorsing the PPCA Declaration, a commitment to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

But the global renewable energy transition to be implemented at the speed, scale, and equitability necessary and it must be accompanied by a comprehensive package that includes the phase-out of fossil fuels and a finance package for the Global South.

May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director, told IANS: "COP28 presents an opportunity for a long overdue course correction: a global renewable energy target, poised for adoption, is a crucial step towards limiting global heating to below 1.5 degrees.

"However, it must come with commitments to finance the just transition in the Global South and a rapid, equitable phase out of fossil fuels. We are at COP28 to ensure climate justice is centered in the negotiations, and working with movement partners on the ground to ensure the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis take center stage."

World Resources Institute (WRI) global director of the energy programme, Jennifer Layke, said only two per cent of renewables investment went into Africa in 2021. "If we're going to avoid fossil fuels, we have to have equitable access to finance."

At COP28, UN-Energy members are organising over 50 events on wide-ranging aspects of clean cooking, renewable energy trajectories and technologies, finance, energy compacts and the upcoming Global Stocktaking on SDG7.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com)
Kolkata, Dec 2 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the multi-crore cash-for-school job case, has sent a letter to West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) seeking details of non-teaching staff currently attached to the different state-run schools in the state.

Communications have been forwarded from the WBBSE office to all the district inspectors of schools asking details on this count from the respective districts at the earliest.

The district inspectors of schools have also been advised to send their own assessments about the Group C staff concerned, sources from the state education department said.

"The district inspectors of schools too have started the process of accumulating information on this count by sending communiques to the headmasters of the schools in the respective districts. After getting the information from the headmasters the district inspectors of schools will tally the information with that available in the portal and send a detailed report to the office of WBBSE along with their assessments," a state education department official said.

Meanwhile, sources said that the central agency sleuths have specially stressed on the detailed information about the joining letters of each and every Group C staff currently attached to the state-run schools.

Observers feel that the recent spurt in activities on part of the CBI sleuths is probably prompted by a recent observation of the Supreme Court directing the central agency to complete its investigation in the school job case within the six months.

On the other hand, Calcutta High Court, too, had fixed the deadline for Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel probe in the money-laundering angle in the school job case, to wind up the investigation process in the matter by December 31.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : A 35-year-old man died after he was hit by a vehicle in east Delhi, a police official said on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Rajbir, a resident of Mandawali and a native of district Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

According to police, on Friday at 11.30 p.m., when a police team was patrolling, they saw some people gathered at a U-turn leading to Meerut Point in the Mandawali area.

"On reaching the spot, the patrolling team found a man lying dead near a footpath," said a senior police official.

Subsequently, another police team reached the spot and upon inspection, the body had injuries on the face.

"The Crime team with FSL experts were called on the spot. The body was shifted to the mortuary," said the official.

"Based on after FSL and Crime teams inspection, an FIR under sections 279 and 304 A of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and further investigation is on," the official added.
Junagadh, Dec 2 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah returned to his home state Gujarat on Saturday for a one-day visit.

Shah's visit was marked by his attendance at the Divyakant Nanavati 'Smruti Parv' programme in Junagadh, commemorating the birth centenary of Nanavati. This event, organised by Rupayatan Trust, was held at the scenic Gir foothills in Junagadh.

During his address, Shah expressed his respect for Divyakant Nanavati's legacy, despite not having personal interactions with him. "I don't have personal memories with Divyakant bhai, as he belongs to a generation older than me, but I know about the great work he has done for people. Divyakant bhai has contributed greatly to the development of Junagadh," Shah stated.

He detailed Nanavati's impact on Junagadh, highlighting his initiatives in infrastructure, such as street lighting and road modernisation, and his efforts in beautifying the Willingdon Dam and installing a bronze statue of Sardar Valla Bhabhai Patel in the city.

Shah also recounted a challenging period when he faced legal troubles, sharing how senior Ahmedabad-based advocate Nirupam Nanavati, despite his Congress affiliations, represented him.

"When Congress did a CBI case on me and put me in jail it was a difficult time for me... We discussed a few names and then came up with the name of Nirupam Nanavati... He not just fought my case, but also stood till the Supreme court and even won it," Shah revealed. He praised Nanavati's professionalism and commitment to justice, which he found admirable.

The Home Minister's itinerary in Gir Somnath included participating in the Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra at Chanduvav. He also made a spiritual visit to the Somnath Temple in Prabhas Patan, where he performed pooja at one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.

The centenary celebrations of Rupayan Trust at Prakruti Dham in Junagadh were another highlight of Shah's trip. He will now be in Ahmedabad, where he will attend the Mati Kala Mahotsav at Gujarat Science City.
To his followers, he was Grieg, their guide through tantra yoga toward enlightenment and a higher state of consciousness. For European police, Gregorian Bivolaru represents a far more sinister figure: a master manipulator accused of sexual abuse and exploitation.

The arrest this week in the Paris region of the 71-year-old Romanian yoga guru and 40 others marked the culmination of a six-year manhunt involving Interpol. The raid, led by 175 officers of a French police unit that combats sect-related crime, also freed 26 people, who were described by authorities as sect victims that had been housed in deplorably dirty and cramped conditions.

Bivolaru went before a judge Friday and could be handed preliminary charges, along with 14 other suspects. French police have for months been investigating a range of suspected crimes, including rape, human trafficking, illegal confinement and preying on followers as part of a sect.

It wasnt possible to reach Bivolaru, who remains in custody, and it wasnt immediately clear if he had legal representation.

Accounts from alleged victims detailed in the French media portray Bivolaru as a guru who coerced women into sexual relationships under the guise of spiritual elevation spanning decades and continents.

A German woman recounted her alleged entrapment aged 21 when she was in the Indian city of Rishikesh in 2019 in search of spiritual enlightenment. She described to Liberation newspaper a grooming process that allegedly included being photographed and filmed naked before her abduction and coerced sexual encounters in a Parisian house.

The group also fostered deep mistrust among its followers against the external world, especially the medical community, urging them to reject COVID-19 vaccinations and other medical procedures, according to her account. Another victim, a French woman, told France Info about a five-year ordeal where tantra yoga was fused with astrology and parapsychology to allegedly manipulate members into non-consensual sex under the pretext of spiritual practices.

Bivolarus group, initially known as MISA (Mouvement pour lIntegration Spirituelle vers lAbsolu) and later as the Atman yoga federation, allegedly engaged in non-consensual sexual activities under the facade of tantra yoga teachings, according to a French judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasnt authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Despite expulsion from international yoga federations and legal scrutiny for prostitution, sexual slavery and human trafficking, the groups ashrams were centers for indoctrination and sexual exploitation disguised as spiritual enlightenment, according to the official.

One of these supposed ashrams appeared to be exclusively dedicated to satisfying his desires, with women transported there from other places, the official added.

MISA said in a statement on its website in Romanian that Bivolaru had been targeted by media campaigns since the 1990s to discredit and slander him, calling any charges against him in France absurd accusations.

The Atman federation meanwhile described the situation to The Associated Press in an email as a witch hunt, disclaiming responsibility for the private lives of students and teachers at its member schools. They also highlighted that some member schools had successfully won cases at the European Court of Human Rights, demonstrating human rights violations against them.

However, a 2018 ruling by the court, as seen by the AP, seems more to underscore how Bivolarus multinational activities have served to hamper efforts to actually apprehend him. He had obtained political refugee status in Sweden, thereby delaying legal proceedings in Romania.

The scope of the alleged abuses spanned across Europe, entrapping young women in a web of sexual and psychological control. Finnish media reported systematic sexual exploitation at Bivolarus Helsinki yoga school, and in 2017, Finlands National Bureau of Investigation issued an international arrest warrant for him for alleged aggravated human trafficking.

In Sweden, despite being granted asylum in 2005, his alleged activities continued unchecked. Investigations by TV2 and the BT newspaper in Denmark in 2013 further exposed alleged exploitation within yoga centers run by Bivolaru and an associate, where young women were sexually exploited and filmed without their knowledge in purported tantra and sex rituals.

A former member of the Natha Yoga Center in Denmark, in an account to the BT newspaper, described women being treated like slaves, overburdened with chores and sworn to silence. The woman revealed that the alleged exploitation and sexual abuse extended to the distribution of films, including one sold at gas stations across Denmark and another shot on a ship in the Black Sea.

In France, similar yoga retreats held in and around Paris and in southern Frances Alpes-Maritimes region sought to make followers take part in sexual activities, the French judicial official said. Attendees testified that women were forced to pay for the stays by doing video sex-chats and that men were made to perform manual labor, she added.

Bivolarus transition from respected yoga guru to international fugitive is a narrative laced with legal twists. After fleeing Romania in 2004 amid charges of sexual misconduct with minors, he obtained asylum in Sweden, evading extradition. Romanian authorities later accused him of leading a criminal network within MISA, exploiting followers through extortion and sexual abuse, and using his spiritual influence to control and isolate them.

He was sentenced in absentia in Romania in 2013 for sexual relations with a minor, but wasnt imprisoned until his extradition from France in 2016, leading to a brief imprisonment followed by release on probation. In a twist of irony, the Romanian state was later mandated to compensate Bivolaru with 50,000 euros for delays in his trial.

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New Delhi, Dec 2 : Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday said that the Centre is willing to hold structured debates on all the issues and requested the Opposition to abide by all the rules and regulations for the same.

He was interacting with the media at the Parliament's Library Building, the venue for the all-party meeting, held two days prior to the Winter Session of Parliament which gets underway on December 4.

"We had called an all-party meeting today which was attended by 23 parties and 30 leaders," Joshi said.

During the meeting, several suggestions were received.

The Minister said that the zero hour has been happening regularly. Discussion on short duration took place, he said.

"We requested that the atmosphere should be maintained for structured debates. The discussions should be held following rules and procedures. The government is ready to hold discussions on all the issues.The government is fully ready for structured debate," Joshi added.

He said that last time also they (opposition parties) had demanded for a discussion on Manipur, which was held as per rules.

"I once again urge that this is the last Session of the 17th Lok Sabha. Our government is fully ready for structured debate and we want the House to function and run smoothly," he said.

Currently, 37 Bills are pending in Parliament of which 12 are listed for consideration and passing, and seven Bills for introduction, consideration and passing during the 15 sittings.
San Francisco, Dec 2 : Microsoft has announced that Copilot (formerly Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise) is now generally available and no longer in preview.

The company launched the Copilot in preview in February.

Copilot offers access to powerful AI models such as GPT-4 and up-to-date information with cited sources, according to the company.

"When eligible users sign in with an eligible work or school account (Microsoft Entra ID), they receive commercial data protection at no additional cost, which means prompts and responses are not saved, Microsoft has no eyes on access, and data is not used to train the underlying large language model (LLM)," Microsoft said in a blogpost on Friday.

Moreover, the tech giant said that Copilot with commercial data protection is now backed by the Universal Commercial License Terms for Online Services to align with other Microsoft commercial online services.

These terms include Microsoft's Customer Copyright Commitment (CCC), which enables customers to take advantage of Microsoft's Copilot services without worrying about copyright claims," the company explained.

In September, Microsoft told customers of its AI Copilot services that if they are challenged on copyright grounds, the company will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks involved.

Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft said that some customers are concerned about the risk of IP infringement claims if they use the output produced by generative AI.

"The new commitment extends our existing intellectual property indemnity support to commercial Copilot services and builds on our previous AI Customer Commitments," he said.
Bhopal, Dec 2 : For the people of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, Sunday will bring both sorrow and joy. While a large part of the population will be observing December 3 as a day of mourning and protests, for a few others it will be a day of celebration.s, while for others, it may be a day of celebration.

While political parties will be busy watching the counting of votes for the just-concluded Assembly elections in the state, others will be busy remembering Indiaas biggest industrial disaster that took place in the wee hours of December 3, 1984, when toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant and claimed the lives of thousands of people.

Not only this, the leak resulted in a large number of survivors living with the lasting effects of the gas on their bodies. Even newborns were affected by it and many were born with deformities and mental and physical illnesses.

Even after decades, the victims of the gas tragedy continue to struggle for their rights and basic amenities.

On December 3, these individuals not only mourn the loss of their loved ones, but also raise their voices demanding punishment for the culprits.

On this day, the entire city of Bhopal remains in a somber mood and people recall the night when the toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant. Those who survived Indiaas biggest industrial disaster till date recount stories that send shivers down the spine of listeners.

The victims describe how on that night, the streets were strewn with bodies as if leaves had fallen from a tree in autumn. Simultaneously, cries of those who lay dying and of the bereaved echoed in the air, as they were forced to leave their loved ones and flee the city in order to save their lives.

Those affected by the tragedy come together to grieve on December 3 and gather on the streets to share their stories and discuss the state of their health.

However, this year, December 3 will be a bit different for some people in Bhopal as the results of the Assembly elections will be declared.

While the losers will give vent to their frustration, the winners will no doubt make a huge celebration out of it. Discussions will revolve around the formation of a new government and plans for the future.

According to sources, the families of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims tried to get the counting date changed as December 3 is considered inauspicious, but the Election Commission did not pay heed to their pleas.

On this day, the two facets of life will be starkly visible in Bhopal and neighbouring areas. On one side, there are people who have been surrounded by adversity for years, while on the other side, there will be a faction welcoming their political victory.
Hyderabad, Dec 2 : Alleging that the Telangana government is diverting Rythu Bandhu funds to make payments to contractors, the state Congress on Saturday urged the Election Commission of India to intervene and stop the payments.

A delegation of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders led by its president A. Revanth Reddy called on Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj to submit a memorandum addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner of India.

Stating that the model code of conduct is still in force, they requested the poll panel to intervene and stop the state government from taking steps in violation of the same.

The TPCC chief alleged that since the Election Commission did not permit disbursements under the Rythu Bandhu, the state government is planning to disburse the same to 'favored contractors for receiving commissions/kickbacks'.

"In the last 2 to 3 days in power, when MCC is in place, Government of Telangana is disbursing Rs 6,000 crores to selected contractors in an illegal manner," it alleged.

The Congress leaders said the payments were being made on an out of turn basis to favour some contractors.

The Congress leaders also alleged that Dharani portal is being misused to change land title records in respect of thousands of acres of lands in Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Medchal districts surrounding Hyderabad. Stating that these were assigned lands as per previous lands records, they said the same were being transferred to 'benamis of Chief Minister's family members'.

Former TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy told media persons after meeting the CEO that they sought a direction to the Chief Secretary to follow due process.

They said the present BRS government should not be allowed to misuse its powers during MCC and in 'what are likely the last 2 to 3 days of the state government'.

When asked about the State Cabinet meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on December 4, Uttam Kumar Reddy said they were not aware why he called the meeting. "He may have called the meeting to submit his resignation to the governor," the Congress leader remarked.

Votes polled in state Assembly elections on Thursday are set to be counted on Sunday. Most of the exit polls have given an edge to the Congress party.

However, BRS leaders claim that the party will retain power with a good majority.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday, during the all party meeting, said that Parliamentary committee's report should not be made public so brazenly until tabled on the floor of the House as the Ethics Committee is all set to stage the report against TMC leader Mahua Moitra in the alleged 'cash for Parliament question charge'.

It also asked the government to not pass the three major criminal bills in this session as these have major ramifications.

The All Party Meeting was held at the Parliament Library Building on Saturday, two days ahead of the Winter Session and was attended by 30 leaders of 23 parties. The meeting was chaired by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

According to Trinamool Congress sources, during the all party meeting six points was raised by its members.

The source said that the Trinamool Congress MPs during the meeting accused the government of reducing the all party meetings as a waste of time and slammed the government of secretly adding bills in the middle of the session without sharing at the all party meeting.

The Trinamool Congress, the source said, urged the government not to pass the three major criminal bills in the Winter Session as these bills have major ramifications.

The Trinamool leaders during the meeting, the source said, asked the government not to bulldoze its decision.

The source said that the party leaders also demanded for a detailed discussion on federal structure, MGNREGA dues, health funds, interference in states.

The Trinamool leaders, during the meeting alleged that that federal structure is under threat, the source said.

The source said that its leaders also urged the government to allow Opposition parties time to raise issues.

"Union government must allow discussion on unemployment of youth and price rise. Rather than have discussions only for self praise," the source said while referring to the demand made by the Trinamool MPs.

Coming down heavily on the Parliament's Ethics Committee report against party MP from Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat Mahua Moitra, which will be tabled on Monday on the first day of the Session, the source said that the party leaders said, "Reports of Parliamentary committees should not be made public so brazenly until tabled on the floor of the House."

The source said that the party leaders also highlighted that the latest report of the Ethics Committee has already been exposed to media.

The source said that during the meeting the party MPs said that while few MPs are under suspension, we are also seeing media reports that one member who belongs to our party is 'going to be expelled shortly'.

"A discussion on the floor of the House may be held on this issue. Only after this discussion is had, does the House have the right to take its decision," the source said, referring to the Trinamool party MPs demands in the all party meeting.

The Trinamool leaders, the source said also said that they want Parliament to run so government can be held accountable and the government must not run away like they have done in the past.

From the Trinamool Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, both Parliamentary party leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari speaking to the media said, "Congress believes that the membership of those elected by the public should not be taken away by any committee and a discussion should be done on the same."
Kolkata, Dec 2 : Recruitment irregularities have now surfaced in the West Bengal correctional services department with the arrest of one person in Kolkata on the charges of issuing fake appointment letter by forging the signature of a high profile minister in the state cabinet.

The person arrested in this connection has been identified as Prabhakar Nayek, a group D staff attached to the Indian Museum in central Kolkata.

Nayek issued the fake appointment letter for the jail - museum in south Kolkata to a youth forging the signature of the Municipal Affairs & Urban Development Minister and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor Firhad Hakim.

Although the administrative authority of the jail museum rests with the state correctional services department, its maintenance responsibility rests with West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), which comes under jurisdiction of Hakim's department.

Nayek forged the signature of Hakim so that the fake appointment letter appears to be genuine.

The youth went to a jail-museum to join services with that fake appointment letter. However, the jail-museum officials doubted that letter to be fake and they started cross-checking. After the appointment letter was found to be fake the officials informed the police.

The youth then told the investigative officials about the details of Nayek and also informed that he got this appointment letter against a payment of Rs 3,00,000. Thereafter the cops arrested Nayek.

Nayek, who is in police custody now, is believed by the cops to be a part of a major racket.
Kochi, Dec 2 : Enkakad near Wadakkanchery, a sleepy village 30 kms from the cultural capital Thrissur, will host the 8th edition of Ni Fest, a national artists camp and village art festival organised by Niracharthu Kala Samskarika Samithi from December 6-10.

Ni Fest '8 offers a unique opportunity for artists and art enthusiasts to relish an open camp, set in the centre of a village.

Curated by renowned artist S.N.Sujith, 20 participants from different parts of India will be joining the five-day camp, the organisers said.

The list includes master sculptor Rajendar Tiku from the valley, Mumbai-based artist T.R. Santhosh who had set auction records, internationally renowned sculptor and painter Gigi Scaria and many more renowned artists.

They will be joined by a host of local artists when the camp converts the whole village to a huge canvas.

Nirachathu camps are structured as open avenues in the village, with artists choosing their place of work anywhere in and around the hamlet.

Further, artists are accommodated in the houses within the village, thus providing them with an opportunity to touch and feel local culture and hospitality.

As part of the village art festival, art programmes, showcasing the cultural landscape of Kerala, are being conducted at the open stage, on all five days of the camp.

The programmes include Chavittu nadakam, theatre performances, musical jugalbandi, music band and performances by local artists.

Ni Fest 8 would be inaugurated on 6th December by Murali Cheeroth, Chairperson of Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi.

Artworks by late Midhun Mohan whose demise at a young age of early forties shocked everyone, will also be showcased at the village library hall. Midhun Mohan was also a resident artist at the Nidarshana art residency of Nirachathu.

"Presidential Sights' ', illustrations of people in the locality, by Binu Bhaskar, artist and President of Niracharthu Samiti, is an added attraction.

A presentation by art curator and author, Premjish Achari, on the topic, "Seeing Like a Machine: Can Machines Liberate Human Creativity?" will also be part of the five-day event.
Jammu, Dec 2 : J&K Lt governor Manoj Sinha said on Saturday that the government would intensify operations against terrorists and those aiding terrorism in the Union Territory.

Lt governor on Saturday visited the family members of Havaldar Abdul Majid, one of the five Army personnel who was martyred during an anti-terror operation in Rajouri.

He offered condolences to the bereaved family and assured all assistance and support to the family from the government.

Paying homage to Havaldar Abdul Majid, the Lt Governor said the entire nation is proud of his valour and courage.

The Lt Governor said on his X-post, "Visited the home of Hav Abdul Majid in Poonch, who was martyred during an anti-terror operation in Rajouri and offered my condolences to the bereaved family.

"His family has a long history of service & sacrifices for motherland. Entire nation is proud of his valour & courage. I commend our Army, J&K Police & CAPFs for well-planned counter-terrorism operations to wipe out terror ecosystem.

"We will intensify our operations against terror ecosystem & those aiding and abetting terrorists & make sure they pay a very heavy price for their heinous actions."

At Ajote, the Lt Governor also met the ex-servicemen from the village and nearby areas.
Washington, Dec 2 : NASA's Artemis III mission which aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, may not launch in 2025 earlier planned, but in 2027, according to a report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

NASA aimed to return humans to the moon to maintain US leadership in space exploration and prepare for future missions to Mars by 2025.

However, the GAO report identified several gaps in its human landing system and spacesuit design, among others, which will not be complete before 2027.

"NASA and its contractors have made progress since our last report on the Artemis missions, but they are still facing challenges with developing the lunar lander and space suits," the report said.

"For example, some flight tests have been delayed, which could affect the timing of subsequent tests. And a significant amount of complex work remains. As a result, we found that the lunar landing mission is unlikely to occur in 2025 as planned," it added.

The delay is also likely to push back subsequent Artemis missions, with Artemis 4 currently planned for 2028, followed by Artemis 5 through 7 expected to transpire annually starting in 2029.

To understand NASA's preparation, GAO assessed the agency's data, documentation, and policy; analysed contract documentation, contractor risk charts, and technology maturation plans and also interviewed NASA officials and industry representatives.

The challenges identified by GAO include an ambitious schedule of the Human Landing System programme, which aims to complete in 79 months, which is 13 months shorter than the average for NASA major projects.

"The complexity of human spaceflight suggests that it is unrealistic to expect the programme to complete development more than a year faster than the average for NASA major projects, the majority of which are not human spaceflight projects," the report said.

GAO said "that if development took as long as the average for NASA major projects, the Artemis III mission would likely occur in early 2027.

Further, the report said that the lander also had delayed eight of 13 key events by at least six months. Two of these events have been delayed to 2025 -- the year the lander is planned to launch.

The delays were caused in part by SpaceX's Orbital Flight Test, which was intended to demonstrate certain features of the launch vehicle and lander configuration in flight.

The upper stage of SpaceX' Starship, will serve as the human landing system for Artemis 3, transporting two astronauts to the lunar surface.

A large volume of work remains, including developing the ability to store and transfer propellant while in orbit by SpaceX to support the Artemis III lunar landing mission.

Another is spacesuits design challenges by Axiom, responsible for developing Artemis 3 moonsuits. NASA's original design did not provide the minimum amount of emergency life support needed for the Artemis III mission.

As a result, Axiom representatives said they may redesign certain aspects of the space suit, which could delay its delivery for the mission.

Through Artemis III, NASA aims to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term, sustainable presence and serving as a gateway for future astronaut missions to Mars.
Mumbai, Dec 2 : A private luxury yacht caught fire at the Mandwa anchorage off Gateway of India, injuring the vessel's Master seriously, official sources said here on Saturday.

The Yacht Belvedere, managed by Marine Solutions owned by Gautama Dutta, was seen burning with thick black smoke billowing from it this afternoon, shocking many people out on weekend sailing trips or picnics to Raigad.

Officials said the Master of the yacht, Dilshad Marne, has sustained critical burn injuries in the blaze - the cause of which is not clear yet - while the vessel has been badly gutted by the flames.

Efforts are on to shift Marne to a hospital on shore near Mandwa. The fire was reportedly brought under control by the local rescue teams, even as other vessels in the vicinity shot videos of the burning yacht.

The Sea Ray brand yacht is registered with the Maharashtra Maritime Board and operated by Marine Solutions run by the Dutta family comprising Gautama and his father, S. Dutta, a high-ranking former army officer.
President Gustavo Petro receives the presidential sash from Senator Maria Jose Pizarro and from President of the Senate Roy Barreras, during his inauguration in the Plaza Bolivar, in Bogota, on August 7, 2022.

At many points in his life, President Gustavo Petro has been a politician without a party.

Initially a member of the M-19 Democratic Alliance  the heir to the guerrilla group that he belonged to in his youth  he served as a congressman, mayor of Bogota and presidential candidate for a handful of parties and movements: the Alternative Way, the Progressives, the Alternative Democratic Pole and Humane Colombia. The first left-wing president in the modern history of his country, he arrived at the presidential palace a year-and-a-half ago thanks to the Historic Pact for Colombia  a diverse coalition of progressive forces that, in the most formal sense, isnt a political party. That alliance  and the governments legislative bloc  now faces an existential crisis on the (still) long road to the next elections, scheduled for 2026.

The poor results of the ruling party in the October regional elections  which revealed the cracks in the coalition  has opened up a debate. My proposal is that the Historic Pact that has elected 1,083 councilors and 39 deputies in the country be configured into a single political party, Petro wrote this past Wednesday on X, his favorite communication channel. This was in response to a message that raised the need to relaunch the idea of a united front. Together with other parties and forces  among which I highlight the Green [Alliance], the Liberal Party, the Christian [Democrats and] the social, ethnic and popular forces of the country  [we can] move towards a great victory in Congress and the presidency in the year 2026, he added.

Beyond the mentions of the Green Alliance and the Liberal Party  partners of the government that are currently contemplating the possibility of declaring independence  the president has unequivocally supported the call for unity that has been expressed by some of the most prominent voices within the Historic Pact, including Senator Maria Jose Pizarro, Representative David Racero or Gustavo Bolivar, the senator and novelist who came third in his failed race to become the mayor of Bogota.

Given the resounding failure in the delivery of [results] by the Historic Pact and its parties, either the legal [political] entities are unified into one and democratic mechanisms are defined to choose candidates, or we disappear, Bolivar warned this past July. Its difficult to bring 13 parties, 51 congresspeople and national and regional leaders into an agreement, he lamented. This was months before his defeat at the polls near the end of October.

Senator Pizarro  who is very close to Petro, to the point that she placed the presidential sash on him at his 2022 inaugural ceremony  has been a key leader in this ongoing debate. If the October elections showed us anything, its that, when were divided, its much, much more difficult to advance, she points out.

Just over a year ago, the Historic Pact became the political bloc with the most seats in Congress  an unprecedented result for the left  and successfully catapulted Petro to power in his second attempt at the presidency. But Pizarro admits that theres now a pending task to rebuild morale and work towards the cohesion of progressive forces to carry out the proposed reforms and consolidate the advances of the left which, in Colombia, has traditionally been characterized by its tendency to fragment.

In unity, weve achieved greater success than in dispersion, she emphasizes in an interview with EL PAIS. The left  progressivism  should be a cohesive, united bloc. Thats the direction weve proposed.

Added to this reflection is a legal reality. To maintain legal status in Colombia, political parties must cross an electoral threshold: 3% of all valid votes. In the recent regional and municipal elections, the Historic Pact managed less than 20% of the overall vote. For Pizarro, this means that the scenario is reduced to two options: Let each of the 13 parties go their separate ways, reducing the representation of the left and risking the legal status of all the parties or merge into a single party, with robust and solid mechanisms of internal democracy. We have to ask ourselves if we want to continue being a majority force in the Congress  or, at least, a broad-based one  or marginal forces, as we were in the past.

Yann Basset  a professor of Political Science at the University of Rosario, in Bogota  explains that whats holding the Historic Pact together is President Petro. Evidently, once Petros term is over (Colombia prohibits re-election), its very difficult for all these forces to remain together, because if they dont have the common objective of supporting this government, theyre probably going to be divided on many issues, he emphasizes. The only thing that could keep them together despite their differences, he reasons, is the prospect of losing legal status if they dont risk a merger. The Colombian left is reluctant to get organized, and this is now becoming a matter of life or death for them, he concludes.

The biggest objections come from the smaller parties in the coalition  they fear that theyll be diluted in a merger. Some of the partners  such as the Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement (MAIS)  have already expressed their opposition to the idea. The discussion, furthermore, has been complicated by risky legal gaps that surround coalitions, a concept that hasnt been properly regulated. This has been illustrated by the fact that two senators from the Historic Pact  Cesar Pachon and Alexander Lopez  recently saw their 2022 victories annulled, for engaging in double militancy. During last years general elections, they campaigned for candidates who werent from their own parties.

We understand the dynamics of each party, the reluctance, the identity characteristics we understand that this isnt an easy decision, Senator Pizarro acknowledges. She describes this confluence of forces as a slow-cooking process, with challenges that require dialogue and effort. The most important thing is that it has sparked debate, she points out, regarding the proposal to merge into one party. After all that it cost us to win, if we dont make the right decisions, if we dont keep up with the times, were simply going to go backwards.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Indian American lawmakers have been consistently calling cessation of hostilities, extended truce for smooth flow of aid, swift release of hostages, removal of Hamas and a lasting solution to the Israel-Hamas war, which entered its 56th day on Saturday.

At least 178 Palestinians were killed across Gaza after Israel's army resumed its attacks on Friday, following a week-long humanitarian truce made possible with the efforts of Qatar.

Since the hostilities erupted on October 7, over 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged enclave, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, making it the deadliest war for Gaza till date. The count does not include those still missing or buried under the rubble.

AS THE ATTACK BEGAN...

When Hamas launched the massive attack on southern Israel on October 7, the Indian-origin US Congressmen stood firmly with Israel condemning and calling the surprise attack "inhuman" and "appalling".

Congressman Shri Thanedar called for the elimination of Palestinian militant group Hamas "from the face of the earth", saying that they are just "barbaric terrorists".

"I condemn these violent attacks against the Jewish people and the state of Israel. The calculated aggression targeting innocent civilians is heartbreaking and cannot be tolerated. America stands firmly with Israel," Thanedar said.

He also urged the Congress to rally behind Israel until the threat is addressed and security is restored.

Congressman Ro Khanna called the crimes carried out by Hamas against Israeli women and children "inhuman" and "appalling".

"My heart breaks for the victims, and I stand in solidarity with the people of Israel at this dark moment," Khanna wrote on X.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said that the images coming out of Israel after unprovoked attacks by Hamas has left him "horrified.

"The US unequivocally stands with the people of Israel against this gruesome terror attack, and strongly supports its right to defend itself," he said.

In their condemnation of the attacks, the lawmakers were joined by Indian-American Republican presidential-hopefuls Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy with the former South Carolina Governor saying that "an attack on Israel is an attack on America".

Ramaswamy said that the US should use the attacks in Israel as a wake-up call and strengthen its borders.

A CALL FOR PAUSE...

As the war entered its 28th day, leaving thousands dead, wounded and lakhs displaced with many struggling for food, water and medicine supplies, Congressman Ami Bera shared a poignant message calling for an immediate pause on military operations.

Bera said that while he "firmly believes" that Israel has the right to exist and defend itself, so do "innocent Palestinians who have a right to a life of peace and dignity".

"We need an immediate pause in order to get needed humanitarian aid, food, water and medicine to struggling civilians; then we need to find a different path forward," Bera said, after speaking to the Palestinians and Jews in his constituency.

The Congressman said he hoped to see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace, which can only happen if innocent Israelis and Palestinians are not killed.

He also led a team of 89 colleagues in demanding the US Congress to immediately pass the President's request for Fiscal Year 2024 emergency supplemental funding.

This included aid for the US Agency for International Development's International Disaster Assistance account to meet rising humanitarian needs around the world including those related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

THE WELCOME TRUCE...

The lawmakers hailed a temporary ceasefire, which came into effect on November 24 after nearly seven weeks of intense fighting.

The commencement of the truce saw the release of 86 Israelis, 24 foreign nationals and 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Thanedar said the recently announced temporary pause offers a glimmer of hope in the "complex landscape" of the Israel-Hamas war.

"The path to peace remains challenging, but this temporary cessation of hostilities represents possibility and hope. It is my sincere desire that the conflict ends soon with the removal of Hamas, and we are able to move forward to a place of stable coexistence," he said in a statement.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said that the temporary cessation of hostilities is a "much-needed signal of progress and an important step towards safety and security for all civilians".

The lawmakers hoped that the agreement will allow for much-needed food, water, fuel, and other humanitarian aid to enter strife-torn Gaza.

Bera hoped that President Joe Biden's administration would be able to leverage the momentary pause to advance negotiations towards a more promising future for the Israelis and the Palestinians.

THE WAY OUT...

According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the United States has long tried to negotiate a resolution to the conflict, but several factors, including deep divisions between and within the parties and declining US interest in carrying out its traditional honest-broker role, have hurt the chances of a peace deal.

Jayapal called for building an international coalition that could eradicate Hamas and allow new legitimate leadership to emerge for the true governance of Palestinians.

The Biden administration has supported a two-state solution but instead of restarting negotiations, it has promoted Israeli-Arab normalisation and resumed aid for Palestinians, the CFR said.

Bera said his commitment to advocating for a two-state solution remains unwavering, where Israelis and Palestinians can live side-by-side in peace.

"It may seem like an impossible dream, but the alternatives are simply untenable," he said.

While pushing for a two-state solution, Ro Khanna called for a "full ceasefire" instead of a temporary pause, stating that Israel has significantly 'diminished' Hamas' military prowess to carry out another October 7-like attack.

According to the New York Times, in theory, this would provide the Palestinians a state while giving Israel security and preserving its Jewish majority (allowing the nation to stay democratic and Jewish).

(Meenakshi Iyer can be reached at meenakshi.i@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Gaza has been governed by Hamas since 2007, when the political arm of the militant outfit took charge of the coastal strip.

The administration from 2007 to February 2017 was headed by Ismail Haniyeh, who now heads Hamas's political bureau based out of Qatar (he's now believed to be in Iran). Following his departure, Haniyeh was replaced by Yahya Sinwar as the leader of the Gaza administration.

On January 25, 2006, Haniyeh was nominated as the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) after Hamas won the legislative election. This event led to a Palestinian national unity government with Fatah, then as now headed by Mahmoud Abbas. Fatah had collapsed after a violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas eventually took control of the Gaza strip on June 14, 2007.

Although the Ramallah-based PA's authority was supposed to extend over both Gaza and West Bank, it has been limited only to the latter. Both administrations, Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza, regard themselves as the legitimate PA government.

As matters have come to develop, the PA in the West Bank headed by Abbas is not seen as a credible authority by Palestinians, who consider Hamas to be their voice. In fact, pollsters believe that if an election was held today, Hamas will sweep it.

Internationally, though, Fatah, which the Palestinians see as weak and subservient to the Israelis, and not Hamas, is recognised as the legitimate government of the region. India, too, backs Abbas.

Egypt had mediated a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas in 2011. The terms of the agreement were supposed to be implemented by May 2012 by means of joint elections.

However, in January 2012, Palestinian sources were quoted as saying that the May joint elections "would not be possible".

In February 2012, the Hamas-Fatah Doha agreement was inked, under which a unified government was sworn in on June 2, 2014.

This government was expected to function in Gaza and West Bank and prepare for national elections which did not happen due to disagreements between the two entities. With the failure of this combination of government, PA continued to prevail in the West Bank while Hamas took control of the Gaza strip.

However, the Hamas-Fatah conflict began simmering after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006.

Israel, along with the US, UN, European Union and Russia, demanded that the new Hamas government accept all previous agreements, recognise Israel's right to exist, and renounce violence. But when Hamas refused, the group severely hacked aid to the PA.

By December 2006, a massive conflict erupted in Gaza when Hamas tried to replace the Palestinian police as the primary authority in Gaza strip.

On February 8, 2007 Saudi Arabia-sponsored negotiations in Mecca concluded in an agreement on a unified Palestinian government between Hamas and Fatah.

By March 2007, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved the formation of a national unity government with a 83-3 vote. Government ministers were sworn in at ceremonies held in Gaza and Ramallah.

In June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip from the national unity government[ after driving out Fatah.

On 14 June 2007, the dissolution of the agreed-upon unified government was announced and a state of emergency was declared.

Hamas took over the Gaza Strip at this point and the PA had West Bank. The twin governments of Palestine, each claiming dominance, continued the struggle to assert itself over Gaza, not recognise the authority of the other, each accusing the other of a coup daetat .

The Palestinian police authorities ordered their personnel in the Gaza Strip not to follow the orders of Hamas. Several Fatah members fled Gaza to the West Bank, and Fatah gunmen stormed Hamas-led institutions in the West Bank after the Battle of Gaza.

The PAas rule in Gaza had ended in severe humiliation when Fatah members (some stripped to their underpants) fled Gaza strip to West Bank.

This has been an enduring impression of the collapse of the PA. The Hamas government is internationally not recognised, especially by Israel, the US and EU; instead, the PA is acknowledged.

However, after the split of the Palestinian parties, West Bank remained relatively quiet while Gaza witnessed constant conflict between Hamas and various other factions opposing Israel. The most prominent was the Gaza War in 2008.

In 2009, a radical Salafist cleric declared an Islamic Emirate in Gaza, and accused Hamas of failing to implement the Sharia law in its entirety.

The radicalisation of the Gaza Strip and attempts to undermine Hamasa authority resulted in the Hamas crackdown on Jund Ansar Allah, an Al-Qaeda affiliate that year. The incident lasted two days and claimed 22 lives.

In March 2019, there were rampant protests in Gaza, against the severe living conditions which were marked by 70 per cent unemployment among youth. The scale and intensity of the protests were unprecedented since Hamas assumed control of Gaza in 2007.

Hamas responded by implementing harsh measures that included dozens of individuals -- activists, journalists, and human rights workers -- getting beaten, arrested and subjected to home raids.

As matters stand, Hamas believes international pressure on Israel could help end the siege. With mounting civilian casualties, a ceasefire, truce, and a stand for negotiation for exchange of thousands of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages lends credibility to Hamasas leadership and authority in the current situation.

Hamas has thus transformed from a militant group to a political entity.

(Kavya Dubey may be reached at kavya.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 2 : The Delhi High Court has said that there is no mandatory time duration prescribed for sampling of psychotropic substances in the presence of a Magistrate. The observation was made by a bench of Justice Amit Bansal as it considered a regular bail plea filed by an accused charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).

Earlier, bail plea was dismissed by Patiala House Courts in August 2022.

"Though it is desirable that the procedure contemplated in Section 52-A of the NDPS Act be complied with at the earliest, mere delayed compliance of the same cannot be a ground for grant of bail. The applicant will have to show the prejudice caused on account of delayed compliance of Section 52-A of the NDPS Act," the bench said.

Section 52-A of the NDPS Act provides that upon seizure of psychotropic substances, the officer shall approach the Magistrate, under whose presence and supervision the process of sampling will be conducted and certified to be correct.

In the present case, the sampling of the seized psychotropic substances was carried out in the presence of the Magistrate and the accused persons and the samples were directed to be sent for testing, the High Court noted.

In 2019, NCB reached DTDC Express in New Delhi and found one parcel which, inter alia, contained 500 strips of 10 tablets each of Alprazolam.

The total weight of the 5,000 tablets of Alprazolam was ascertained to be 1 kg, which constitutes to be a commercial quantity (commercial quantity of Alprazolam being 100 grams).

Upon investigation from the manufacturer of the medicines, it was found that 15,000 tablets were sold to one Somdutt Singh.

Singh disclosed that he used to send parcels containing psychotropic substances abroad through different post offices by using fake IDs.

Further investigation revealed that a huge quantity of psychotropic substances was lying at his rented apartment in Delhi's Narela.

The High Court dismissed the bail plea saying that "the twin conditions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act are not satisfied and bail cannot be granted to the applicant at this stage".
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Israel has no coherent roadmap for Gaza's future, with the return of the Palestinian Authority, an Arab/international military presence, or an Israeli re-occupation all creating new problems of their own, said Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf State Analytics.

There has been some chatter about an Arab/international force managing post-war governance in Gaza. But Arab governments across the region have made it clear that they don't want to touch the besieged enclave with a ten-foot pole, Cafiero wrote in The New Arab.

From their perspective, this is a crisis that Israel and its Western backers must own, and it is not the responsibility of Arab states to manage it, he said.

Moreover, any Arab military force put in charge of Gaza would be subject to grave dangers. Perceptions of Bahraini, Egyptian, Emirati, or Jordanian forces being Israel's partners or allies against any Gaza-based resistance could put them in harm's way.

While speaking earlier this month at the IISS Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain, Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi stressed that "there will be no Arab troops going to Gaza" and that the Arab states "are not going to be seen as the enemy".

Amman's chief diplomat emphasised that Arab governments were in agreement that this idea must be rejected. Entertaining that idea would send Israel's government the wrong message about Arab states' being willing to "clean up your mess".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government is vocal about Israel playing a direct role in the future of Gaza governance, presumably in a post-Hamas period that Tel Aviv believes it can initiate through more warfare at the enclave, the article said.

"Israel is already occupying the land, but a tactical occupation is a far cry from victory or, rather, peace, which frankly I see as a long way off at the moment. Israeli overreaction has opened Pandora's box. It will be a long time before the situation stabilises," explained Federica Saini Fasanotti, a Senior Associate Fellow at the Milan-based Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) said, in an interview with The New Arab.

Ultimately, it is safe to say that the Israeli leadership has failed to devise a clear, coherent, and realistic strategy for the post-war situation in Gaza. To say the least, this will prove extremely problematic for Tel Aviv.

"The Palestinians cannot return to a destroyed territory. They don't have the economic strength for such reconstruction. So, it's a question of where they will be placed. But the point is another: the inhabitants of Gaza are not objects. The Israeli operation will come at a very high cost in terms of stability," said Fasanotti.

Tragically, US and Israeli policymakers incorrectly assess Hamas as the cause of the conflict, not the conflict as the cause of Hamas. Without addressing the underlying issues that have caused Palestinians to resist Israel, there will be no peace in Gaza, nor in Israel any time soon, the article said.

"American and Israeli ruminations about the future of Gaza reflect an old colonialist mentality - that they would decide the future of the Palestinian people - ignoring the fact that this is precisely the root of the problem: occupation and denial of the right of self-determination to those living under occupation," said Nabeel Khoury, the former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Yemen, The New Arab reported.

Marco Carnelos, the former Italian ambassador to Iraq said "The dream of the current Israeli Government to accomplish a 'Nakba in Gaza' must be prevented. This will be the real litmus test to see if the 'international community' (i.e. the US and EU) care about the Palestinian question and the two-state solution. If the 'Nakba in Gaza' will be accomplished the US/EU credibility will be zeroed,"

Team Biden hints at the possibility of the PA led by President Mahmoud Abbas replacing Hamas in Gaza once this war is over.

Yet, this idea is extremely problematic. Only a small percentage of Palestinians in Gaza would see it as legitimate for the PA and Abbas to come into the enclave and take over from Hamas, the article said.

This decline in Fatah's popularity has resulted from Abbas earning himself a reputation among Palestinians as a corrupt servant of the Israeli occupation who is propped up by the US and Israel.

"Mahmoud Abbas is totally ineffectual as a Palestinian leader, and [he accepts] any directive he gets from Israel and the US. He fell out of favour with Palestinian opinion a long time ago, especially in Gaza," said Dr Nabeel Khoury, the former deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Yemen, in an interview with The New Arab.
Los Angeles, Dec 2 : Rapper Kanye West seems to be having a great time in Dubai after reuniting with his new wife Bianca Censori, and has no plans to return to the US.

The couple have been seen partying with friends at a pop-up fashion event, with Kanye also spotted enjoying a night out at a club, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Before their current trip, Kanye and Bianca also grabbed headlines as they travelled around Europe.

As they continue to enjoy a lavish holiday, a source has claimed the couple have no plans to return to the US anytime soon. This comes despite them having an apartment in America and Kanye's Yeezy headquarters being located in Los Angeles.

"Ye has loved being out of LA, he's never been a huge fan of the city and has no immediate plans to return, despite having a place here and his Yeezy HQ. Bianca has spent time back in Australia and they're getting back on track and planning what to do for the holidays," a source said, quoted by Mirror.co.uk.

Speaking to The Sun, the source added that Bianca and Kanye are planning to return to Italy in a few weeks. The couple spent a lot of time there earlier this year, with Bianca causing a stir for her very revealing holiday outfits. She also made headlines after she was caught in a compromising position with her husband while on a boat in Italy. It's believed the couple will be staying in Italy for Christmas. The source said Kanye will be hoping for his ex-wife Kim Kardashian to fly their children out so he can spend some time with them.

However, they admitted it's "up in the air at the minute".

Kanye shares four children with his ex-wife -- North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm.

The source explained: "He hasn't had all four children in a while, so it may just be the older ones, who are always accompanied by Kim's security and a nanny, but he does want to see them."
Mumbai, Dec 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Maharashtra on December 4 to attend the 'Navy Day-2023' celebrations in Sindhudurg, an official said here on Saturday.

The Prime Minister will reach Sindhudurg around 4.15 p.m. and then unveil the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort, at Medha in Malvan.

Later, he will attend the grand Navy Day 2023 celebrations in Sindhudurg, along with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other dignitaries.

PM Modi will witness the operational demonstrations by Indian Navy ships, submarines, aircraft and special forces from the Tarkarli Beach.

The Navy Day is celebrated annually on December 4, and this year, the celebrations at Sindhudurg would pay homage to the rich maritime heritage of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680) who had constructed several coastal and sea forts, including the Sindhudurg Fort.

The legendary Maratha Empire founder's seal inspired the new Naval Ensign that was adopted last year when the Prime Minister commissioned the first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

The Navy Day also offers the people a glimpse into the various facets of the multi-domain operations of the Indian Navy, its contributions towards national security and also instilling maritime consciousness among the masses.
Islamabad, Dec 2 : Pakistan's process of transition of power through general elections is scheduled for February 8, 2024, a date chosen by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), an institution mandated to hold general elections but which has already abdicated its constitutional responsibility to hold polls within 90 days since August 2023.

The country's caretaker government, under interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, which took charge in August 2023, had the task to organize the general election within the assigned 90 days of taking over. Instead it opted for an extension of its tenure and left it to the ECP to decide on a date for the elections.

Among many reasons, the caretaker government has maintained that the deteriorating security situation, economic tumult and the restructuring of constituencies as per the recent digital census have been a hurdle for the ECP to hold polls within the constitutionally assigned 90 days.

While many voices in the country still doubt that the ECP would be able to hold polls by 8th February 2024; it seems that the prospect of general elections in February 2024 are bright as the ECP published the final delimitation list of constituencies for the national and provincial assemblies.

As per the notification, Pakistan's National Assembly has a total of 266 general seats, 10 reserved seats for non-Muslims and 60 reserved seats for women, bringing the total to 336.

The mainstream political parties are also up and running with their election campaigns, political strategies and maneuvers to gain more support from electable candidates.

However, serious questions remain over the credibility of the polls and the voting process as many believe that a pre-poll plan is being implemented by the military establishment to guide one political party to power, and ensure a complete dismantlement of another, whose leader has been imprisoned, a crackdown on its leaders and workers intensified and legal cases with serious charges mounted.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country's most popular political force led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country's most popular political figure and leader, has been completely dismantled through a crackdown that has pushed the majority of the party leadership to leave the party, workers to go in hiding amid fears of indefinite imprisonment. This followed the violent protests by PTI workers on May 9, 2023, in which, military installations were targeted and vandalized over the arrest of their leader Imran Khan.

Imran Khan has seen the tide turn against him as the support of the military establishment, which he enjoyed in 2018 to become the prime minister, has disappeared since the new Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir took charge.

Khan's strong anti-military stance and narrative through massive public rallies has worked against him. An aggressive response to the 9th May 2023 riots resulted in the crackdown, arrests and raids on his party members, leading to their statements against Imran Khan and disassociation with the party.

Imran Khan also faces cases of corruption and sedition along with allegedly masterminding the May 9 riots targeting sensitive military installations in the country.

The legal challenges for Imran Khan have almost made it certain that the next polls may not have him as one of the candidates and he may remain behind bars and face legal challenges while the country elects its new government.

On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif, a three-time premier of the country, has returned as a hero to Pakistan after years of self-imposed exile. Sharif is seen as a strong and powerful politician but is also among the most controversial candidates for premiership.

"It is the writing on the wall that Nawaz Sharif has come back after doing a deal with the military establishment. You see it for yourself, all corruption cases against him are being brushed aside, all charges levelled against him of corruption and illegal practices, have suddenly turned out to be false.

"The petitioner, NAB (National Accountability Bureau) has said that they have no evidence to back their claims in all corruption cases against him. The same NAB had sent the Sharif family to jail during Imran Khan's tenure. So it is clear that the system is being twisted yet again to make way for Nawaz Sharif", said senior political analyst Adnan Shauqat.

He added: "The elections are required to be free and fair. But unfortunately, these elections are also nothing less than a selection process and pre-planned arrangements. The elections may be held in February 2024, but they most certainly will not be credible."

It would not be wrong to assess that the next government would be a coalition government with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) being the two frontrunners for a majority in the federal and provincial governments.

Former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has already alleged that a clear pathway is being facilitated for the PML-N to secure a majority in parliament.

He said that it is clear that there is no level playing field in these elections as one party is today's favorite of the military establishment to take the throne, adding that his party is no stranger to such tactics and has sacrificed for democracy and its prevalence.

While all seems to be moving smoothly towards general polls in February 2024, there are still many who are skeptical. Some elements have already knocked on the court doors seeking a delay in the polls.

At least two petitions have been filed with the ECP seeking postponement of the election date of 8 February 2024. The petitioners cited security issues and snowfall in several districts during February.

The ECP, however, has assured that it would ensure elections on 8 February 2024. But the big question still remains: Would the elections be free and fair?
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Education Minister Atishi on Saturday conducted an surprise inspection at the MCD School in Delhi's Munirka village, revealing alarming discrepancies in teacher attendance and the deplorable facilities at the school.

During inspection, out of 19 teachers, only 10 were present, leaving students to attend classes without proper instruction.

Upon checking the attendance register, the Education Minister found that out of 19 teachers, nine were absent. "As a result, the children were compelled to sit empty-handed in the classroom. Several teachers had been absent for a long time, and the attendance of students in the school was also quite low," said a government official.

The Education Minister directed officials to take immediate action on teacher absenteeism.

"Quality education and a conducive learning environment for all children in Delhi are top priorities for Arvind Kejriwal and zero tolerance for negligence," said Atishi, during the inspection.

"Just because students coming to MCD schools come from poor families, it doesn't mean they should be compelled to study in deteriorated conditions," Atishi said.

She also gave an ultimatum to the school in-charge, demanding the resolution of all issues within a week, with a strict warning of further action in case of laxity.

"A follow-up inspection will take place after a week, and if problems persist, the principal will have to face stern actions," said Atishi.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : After a court concludes that an accused is entitled to be enlarged on bail pending trial, granting bail only for a limited duration is illegal, according to the Supreme Court.

A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal held that such orders violate the right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"Moreover, it puts an additional burden on the litigant as he is forced to file a fresh bail application for an extension of the bail granted earlier," the bench said.

The Supreme Court said that if an order granting interim bail was to be passed, the bail application should have been kept pending, adding that "this is the fifth or sixth order" which it came across from the same high court where, after recording a finding that an accused was entitled to be enlarged on bail, the high court chose to grant either interim bail or bail for a short duration.

It ordered modification of the order passed by the Orissa High Court and directed that "the appellant shall be enlarged on bail until the final disposal of the case on the same terms and conditions mentioned in the impugned order".

In its August 2023 order, the high court had concluded that an accused was entitled to be enlarged on bail, but ended up granting interim bail for 45 days.

The appellant-accused is being prosecuted for the offence punishable under Sections 20(b)(ii)(C), 25 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
Bengaluru, Dec 2 : BJP Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday slammed the Congress government in Karnataka as it is yet to provide a respectful honorarium to the family of Captain M.V. Pranjal who was killed during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on November 22.

Taking to the social media, Surya, who is also National President for BJP Yuva Morcha, said, "It's been 10 days since Capt Pranjal attained martyrdom in service of our nation. Yet the State government has not provided a respectful honorarium to the kin of the departed soul. They are not even contacted in this regard."

While no compensation can bring back Captain Pranjal, and as usual media focus moves to other issues, it's important that his parents are provided adequate support through these tough times, he said.

"I request CM Siddaramaiah and DyCM D.K. Shivakumar not to delay it and immediately issue Rs 50 lakh compensation to Captain Pranjal's parents.

"Putting yourself in line of fire at a young age of 29, and making the ultimate sacrifice, is a heroic act that will inspire every generation," Surya stated.

"To not limit our tributes to Capt Pranjal to a single day, and to allow youngsters to keep drawing inspiration from his memory, I request CM Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to name Jigani Main Road in Captain Pranjal's name. It will be a small yet lasting tribute to honour Captain Pranjal's sacrifice," he said.
Ring that protects against HIV in South Africa. Image courtesy of IPM South Africa. IPM South Africa

Ntokozo Dlamini, 29, sits in the sun, stirring a steaming pot of porridge outside her mud hut. She looks up at the blue sky. Soon I will have to go to the clinic again, she says. Its far away, but I have to get my pills. She sighs and wipes her forehead, which is shiny with sweat. She is referring to the preventative medication against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which consists of two drugs, emtricitabine and tenofovir, which can reduce the chances of contracting HIV sexually to almost zero.

Dlamini lives in the Valley of a Thousand Hills in South Africas lush KwaZulu-Natal. The province is one of the countrys most picturesque regions, with green mountains giving way to golden fields of sugarcane. It is also home to millions of people testing HIV-positive. The new global HIV report, released November 28, estimates there were 1.3 million new cases in 2022, with South Africa still leading the list.

Drugs such as those taken by Dlamini are called PrEP, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis. The tablets must be taken daily and at the same time every day. According to Ntombenhle Mkhize, CEO of the countrys AIDS Foundation, for many women, especially those living in poverty, this is not as simple as it sounds. First of all, its easy to forget to take medication, he says. There is also still a lot of stigma around HIV in South Africa, so women, especially, are afraid to take pills associated with prevention. They dread people finding them out.

In the face of this stigma, those in charge of prevention like Mkhize are excited about a pilot program for the use of the dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR), the worlds first topical HIV prevention method, recommended in January 2021 by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an additional preventative option for women at substantial risk of infection. South Africa has just received 16,000 vaginal rings, with support from The Global Fund. The reach of this prevention method may be made to extend further: on November 30, the nonprofit Population Council announced that a factory in South Africa will start producing rings that are cheaper and thereby accessible to a greater number of people.

Additional prevention choice

The PrEPWatch platform estimates that the ring reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 35%, while more recent data indicates even greater protection: a risk reduction of about 50%. Twenty-year-old Dlamini is impatient to try the ring. Im sick of begging my boyfriend to use condoms, she says.

The ring is a very important addition to our prevention tools, says Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Center at Cape Town University and one of Africas leading HIV scientists, who has conducted DVR trials throughout South Africa. It consists of a fairly flexible silicone ring; it fits in the palm of the hand very easily, and contains an antiretroviral agent called dapivirine. Once inserted into the vagina, the ring sits comfortably over the cervix and the woman is unaware of its presence. Then, slowly, over the course of a month, it releases dapivirine. If the user comes into contact with the virus via the vagina, the dapivirine is there to prevent the virus from entering her body and infecting her, she tells EL PAIS.

Sibo Shange, 22, born in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, is one of the few South Africans to have used the ring to date. I put it in myself and I am already [partly] protected against HIV, she says. I have control over my own body. I know Im not protected against other [sexually transmitted] diseases, but even so. Also, using the ring means I dont have to carry pills on me and take them every day. I put in a new ring once a month and thats it. Its great, adds Shange, who has also used a bimonthly PrEP injection for protection in the past, but explained that, because of work, its often very inconvenient for me to go to the clinic to get a shot. But I hope to be able to go soon and get the rings supplied so I can put them in at home.

Largest antiretroviral therapy program

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV (UNAIDS) estimates that, worldwide, more than nine million of the 39 million people living with HIV still do not have access to antiretroviral drugs and that 630,000 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses, more than one per minute, in the past year. The figures, it says, are better than those of previous years, but progress is not fast enough to meet the global objectives  that 95% of the population with HIV know they are positive, that 95% receive therapy and that 95% have a viral load so low that it can neither be detected nor transmitted. According to the latest figures from UNAIDS, of the 39 million HIV-positive people worldwide last year, 20.8 million lived in eastern and southern Africa, with 8.45 million in South Africa alone, accounting for almost 14% of victims.

Moreover, of the 630,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2022, 260,000 lived in eastern and southern Africa, according to UNAIDS. But in South Africa, most HIV-infected people no longer end up in a grave. The government runs the worlds largest antiretroviral therapy program, providing the cocktail of drugs known as antiretroviral therapy (ART) that prevents replication of the virus to the point of making the viral load impossible to detect and therefore to transmit. In total, some 5.5 million South Africans take these life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs every month.

We provide the HIV prevention pill every month to more than one million public health users, mostly young women, says Thato Chidarikire, acting chief director of South Africas National Department of Health for HIV/AIDS. Women aged 15 to 24 are the largest demographic in the country to have started using the preventive pill. This is also the group that has the fastest growing rate of HIV infections in South Africa, so we really need to reach them with PrEP, Chidarikire tells EL PAIS.

Mitchell Warren of the New York-based AVAC group, which manages PrEPWatch, acknowledges that the protection offered by the ring is far inferior to that offered by the preventive pill. But models have shown that even a partially effective prevention option can offer women significant protection if it is part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, he explains. Thats why we are very pleased that the ring is going to be available in South Africa.

According to scientist Linda-Gail Bekker, the ring doesnt appeal to everyone. But, she adds, I think, just like with contraceptives, the more choices we give women and the easier we make it for them to access those choices, the more likely they are to find something that really fits in with their lifestyle and that they want to use. Bekker says that if there are good, clear, unambiguous messages around the ring, it will soon be widely accepted among South African women. Its a very important development in a country where HIV already plays such a horrific role in everyones life, she says.

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Kolkata, Dec 2 : At one point of time in 1971, refugees from then East Pakistan in the Indian state of Agartala numbered thrice the local population, Andalib Elias, deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata noted on Saturday during a curtain raiser ceremony for Vijay Diwas celebrations to mark Indian Army's victory over Pakistan in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

Elias was speaking on the kind of support that India provided to his country during their liberation struggle. His statements are of particular significance as general elections in Bangladesh are due in January and the Sheikh Hasina government is facing the heat from the opposition, primarily for its pro-India stance and crackdown on radicals and war criminals.

"The bond with India cannot change. We shall ever remain grateful to India for the assistance she provided during our War of Liberation. Most importantly, this is a relationship that hasn't remained stagnant. It has grown from strength to strength. The Prime Ministers of the two countries share a particular bond and have met a record number of times to strengthen bilateral ties. This is actually a 'Swarna Adhyay' (Golden Era), so far as ties between our two nations are concerned. How can Bangladesh ever forget India's diplomatic move to get back Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the clutches of Pakistan? How can we forget that more than 10 million refugees took shelter in India and the local population accepted them with open arms? Can Bangladesh ever forget the kind of support that India provided after Pakistani forces carried out the genocide in Bangladesh on March 25, 1971? The relation between our two nations is cemented in blood and sweat. December is the 'Month of Victory' for us and I greet all Indians for being a part of it," the diplomat said.

The Indian Army's Eastern Command in Kolkata will host a 30-member Bangladeshi delegation, including Mukti Joddhas and six serving officers of the Bangladeshi armed forces, as well as their families, during the Vijay Diwas celebrations this year. During their stay in Kolkata, they will get to interact with Indian Army veterans who participated in the 1971 War. This was announced by Major General M P Singh, major general (general staff), Eastern Command, during the day. This year's Vijay Diwas celebrations will comprise interactions, a military tatoo at the Kolkata Maidan and a musical show on the Victoria Memorial lawns, apart from the ceremonial wreath laying at Vijay Smarak on December 16.

"Exactly 52 years ago, on this day, the Indian Army was already on its way to secure firm bases in what was then East Pakistan for the war that was to follow. The Pakistan Army had resorted to unprecedented oppression on the people of East Pakistan, who they considered inferior, in a bid to impose an alien culture and language. Operation Searchlight, launched on March 25, 1971, was an example. What is important here is that the Indian Army followed its highest traditions by not overstaying their invite to the newly liberated nation. Troops started returning from January, 1972 and all of them were back in India by March, 1972. The relationship between the Armies of the two nations continue till date. We participate in joint exercises and training programmes on a routine basis. This is part of the defence cooperation between the two nations," Major Gen Singh said.
Bhubaneswar, Dec 2 : There is an increasing trend of juvenile crimes with more teens being found to be involved in violent and heinous crimes. Odisha too has witnessed a rise in such violent activities by teenagers in the recent past.

In the latest instance, a juvenile brutally murdered his teacher's minor son, a class IX student in Benapanjuri village under Jatni police limits in Bhubaneswar on November 1.

The police during the probe found that the victim's father used to give tuition to the accused juvenile who was staying at the house of his uncle, a neighbour of the victim's family, two years back.

The accused hadn't paid pending tuition dues of around Rs 3000. The victim's father reportedly asked him several times to make the payment which angered the juvenile.

The accused stabbed the victim multiple times with a knife before fleeing the crime scene. He also confessed to the police that the tuition teacher used to boast about his son who was very good at studies so he targeted the minor to teach the victim's father a lesson and to get even with him.

This is not an isolated case as recently a school student was bludgeoned to death by his friends following a fight over a Bluetooth earphone in Sundargarh district in September this year.

"The normalization of violence in society, exposure to violence online and other media, rampant drug addiction and lack of sensitization at educational institutions and families about the violence in movies, online videos etc are responsible for the significant rise in criminal activities by teens," said ex-DGP Sanjeev Marik.

Medical experts attributed the violent crimes by teens to a variety of factors like hormonal changes during adolescence, family problems, lack of emotional support, inconsistent discipline, or exposure to domestic violence etc., social pressures including bullying, peer conflicts, low self-esteem, poor tolerance to frustration and the struggle for identity and the increased exposure to violence in media and society.

"The development of the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and impulse control, is not yet complete in teenagers. This biological immaturity can lead to poor judgment and heightened emotional responses," senior psychiatrist Dr Amrit Pattojoshi told IANS.

Pattojoshi also noted that gadgets like TVs and online video games also affect the teen's behaviour, particularly when the content is violent or aggressive.

"Prolonged exposure to violent media can lead to desensitization, where teens become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others," he added.

Family support and guidance is vital for every teen as the experts opined that criminality or violent behaviour peaks during the years of adolescence. However, lack of emotional support from the family, inconsistent discipline and exposure to domestic violence has been making many teens to get involved in criminal activities.

A police official privy to the investigation into the ghastly murder case in Jatni said that the accused juvenile showed no remorse over killing the minor son of his teacher. He drank flavoured milk from a shop after killing the minor. He was behaving normally and also asking the police whether he could join the army after being released from jail.

"A lack of remorse after committing a crime can be a sign of deeper psychological issues, such as conduct disorder or a lack of empathy. This can be due to a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors, including exposure to violence, family dynamics, and mental health issues," Pattojoshi noted while speaking on the lack of remorse among the teens after the commission of crime.

Experts suggest several remedies including healthy family relationships, incorporation of social and emotional learning in schools and communities to rein in the rising trend in juvenile crime. They also opine that encouragement to positive social interactions, extracurricular activities among teens, limited exposure to violent media and a healthy balance between screen time and other activities can help mitigate the rising juvenile crimes.
New York, Dec 2 : Stronger quadriceps muscles, relative to the hamstrings, may lower the risk of total knee replacement, according to a study led by an Indian-origin researcher.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) said the findings could inform strength-training programmes for people with advanced arthritis in the knee.

Advanced knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of pain and disability worldwide.

While stronger muscle groups are generally understood to be associated with a lower rate of total knee replacement, their relative importance is not well established. Of particular interest is the relationship between the extensors and the hamstrings, the two most important muscle groups in the knee.

The extensors, the muscles on the front of the thigh commonly referred to as the quadriceps, are the strongest muscle group in the body and have essential influence on gait, other activities and biomechanics.

The muscles around the back of the thigh known as the hamstrings are responsible for extension of the hip and flexion of the knee, making them equally essential for physical activity.

"The two muscle groups act as counter forces, and the balance between them enables a wide range of activities while protecting the knee joint," said study lead author Upasana Upadhyay Bharadwaj, from the UCSF.

"An imbalance, in addition to other factors, leads to a change in the biomechanics resulting in the progression of osteoarthritis."

The team evaluated thigh muscle volume in 134 participants and compared 67 patients who underwent total knee replacement of a single knee with 67 control participants who had not undergone knee replacement. The cases and controls were matched for variables including age and gender.

The researchers obtained a 3T MRI of the thigh at the time of surgery. They also evaluated MRI findings from two years and four years before the surgery. They used a previously trained deep-learning model to segment and compute volumes of the muscles of the thigh -- measures that are tedious to compute manually.

Comparing patients who had total knee replacement with the control group, a higher ratio of quadriceps to hamstring volume was significantly associated with lower odds of total knee replacement. Higher volumes of hamstrings and gracilis, a long, thin muscle on the inside of the thigh, were also linked with lower odds of total knee replacement.

"Our study shows that in addition to strong muscles individually, larger extensor muscle groups -- relative to hamstring muscle groups -- are significantly associated with lower odds of total knee replacement surgery in two to four years," Dr. Bharadwaj said.

The study findings have implications for both the interpretation of imaging exams and clinical management. The results suggest that training programmes that strengthen the quadriceps in relation to the hamstrings may be beneficial.

Although the study focused on people with arthritis, "even the general public can benefit from our results to preventively incorporate appropriate strengthening exercises," Dr. Bharadwaj said.

The findings were presented at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Kolkata, Dec 2 : Physical harassment and assaults on doctors, nurses and other hospital staff by close relations or associates of the patients are reaching alarming proportions in the state, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, said on Saturday.

"This menace is becoming a trend in West Bengal. Sometimes there are political reasons behind such events," the Governor said while addressing the national conference of dental surgeons in Kolkata on Saturday.

The Governor said that this trend of attacks on doctors, nurses and other hospital staff by aggrieved friends and relations of the patients should be checked at any cost.

"People should remember that the doctors, nurses and medical staff often work beyond their limit to provide health services to the common people," the Governor said.

In the recent past there had been a series of incidents of such attacks on the doctors and medical staff in different state-run and private hospitals in the state.

At times the matters also reached the Calcutta High Court, where the latter had to ask the police to ensure the safety of the healthcare workers. And now the matter has got a new dimension with the Governor speaking on it and describing it as a growing and alarming trend in West Bengal.
Jaipur, Dec 2 : BJP Election Management Committee Convener Narayan Panchariya on Saturday said that the preparations for celebrating the "big" win in Rajasthan are in full swing.

"Large LED screens have been installed at many places across the BJP state offices. Before counting begins, prayers will be offered at Moti Dungri Ganesh temple, Khole's Hanuman Ji and Govind Dev Ji temple," Panchariya said.

He said that fireworks and sweets will be distributed at various places including the BJP state office.

"There is an enthusiasm among BJP workers about the victory. The workers are coming out in a big way at all the district headquarters including the BJP state office," he said.

He said that the senior BJP leaders are continuously monitoring these preparations. "All senior BJP leaders will be present in the BJP state office on Sunday during the election results," he said.

Panchariya said people in the state are fed up with the "arrogance" of Congress and they (people) have voted in favor of BJP for good governance.

"You will see the results tomorrow. The arrogance of the Congress which has reached its peak will vanish with the election results. The people of the state had already made up their mind to form a double engine government to make Rajasthan prosperous and prosperous," he said.

The counting of votes for Rajasthan will begin at 8 am on Sunday.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : The Supreme Court has ordered the Bihar government to ensure that no further construction takes place adjacent to river Ganga, particularly in and around Patna.

"The state shall report to this court the progress in getting the unauthorised structures removed by filing an affidavit. Such affidavit shall be filed by the Chief Secretary of Bihar," directed a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masi.

The bench also noted that the state government has identified 213 unauthorised constructions adjacent to river Ganga in and around Patna, and steps have been taken to remove these encroachments or constructions.

The matter will be next taken up for hearing on February 5.

The plea filed by a Patna-based resident said that in several areas of the floodplain, all residential buildings and houses are digging borewells without any permission or approval from the concerned authorities.

The state agencies, instead of acting against such illegal constructions and encroachments, were providing them electricity connection, the plea stated.

"Over a massive 520 acres of ecologically sensitive Ganga floodplains, stretching from Nauzer Ghat to Nurpur Ghat in Patna, have been usurped," said the special leave petition filed through advocate Akash Vashishtha, adding that a clean Ganga is vital and essential to meet the drinking and domestic water needs of 5.5 lakh population of Patna.

Earlier, the National Green Tribunal had dismissed the appellant's application saying that it was bereft of particulars of the violations and the violators.
Kalaburagi, Dec 2 : Ramkumar Ramanathan inched towards back-to-back Men's 25K titles with an almost flawless victory against Ryotaro Taguchi of Japan to reach the final of the ITF Kalaburagi Open in Kalaburagi, in Karnataka, on Saturday.

In the semifinals played at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts here, the lanky player brushed aside the visitoras challenge in just 65 minutes to register a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

In the title clash, the fifth-seeded Indian will meet seventh-seeded David Pichler of Austria who, in a minor upset, scored a 6-2, 6-4 win against the second-seeded Matsuda Ryuki of Japan.

Meanwhile, Ryuki and Taguchi paired together and lifted the doubles crown. The Japanese duo dropped a set against the Indo-Austrian pair of Nitin Kumar Sinha and David Pichler before prevailing 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 to earn the winneras cheque of US$ 1550 and 25 ATP points. The runners-up had to settle for a prize money of US$ 900 and 16 ATP points.

Ramkumar, who won the ITF Mumbai Open last week, was in a crushing mood as he served with aplomb and returned with vengeance. The first five games went with the serve with both players indulging in relentless attack.

The Japanese was the first to yield as he lost his serve in the sixth game, which increased the 29-year-old Indianas confidence. With a big serve he won the 7th game and after a long battle in the eighth game, broke Taguchias serve to clinch the set 6-2.

The Indian Davis Cup player and Asian Games silver medalist, Ramanathan went even better in the second set and displayed complete dominance on the court.

The best that the Japanese could do was to hold his serve in the second game as Ramkumar sent a flurry of winners from either flank, which had the Saturday crowd in a frenzy. With breaks in the 4th and the 6th games, the taller of the two opponents wrapped up the set at 6-1.

In the other semifinal, Pichler raced to a 4-0 lead with courtesy breaks in the first and the third games. The players held their respective serves for the rest of the set where the Austrian won 6-2. In the second set, after a brief splash of form, Ryuki lost his serve in the third game but broke him back in the very next game to level at 2. The rallies were long and it depended upon the player to hold his nerves to come through, which Pichler did with aplomb. A break in the seventh game gave Pichler an upper hand as he clinched the set at 6-4 to enter the final.

Results (Indians unless mentioned, seeding in parenthesis)

Menas Singles (semifinals): 5-Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Ryotaro Taguchi (JPN) 6-2, 6-1; 7-David Pichler (AUT) bt 2-Matsuda Ryuki (JPN) 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles (finals): Ryuki Matsuda (JPN)/Ryotaro Taguchi (JPN) bt 2-David Pichler (AUT)/Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Congress leader Manickam Tagore on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations in Deemed Universities across the country.

Tagore, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar in his letter to the Prime Minister on Friday said: "I am writing to bring to your attention a matter of great significance concerning the representation of SC/ST/OBC communities in deemed universities, specifically institutions such as VIT, Amrita, SRM, and BITS."

He said that as a concerned citizen, he would like to highlight that, as per Section 14 of the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be universities) Regulations 2019, it is mandatory for deemed universities to implement constitutionally mandated reservation policies.

"However, the attached graphic provides clear evidence that these institutions are falling short in fulfilling this obligation," he said.

He also sent attachment of a comprehensive list of Deemed universities that, as per available data, are not fully adhering to the reservation policies outlined in the UGC regulations.

He said that the list serves as a concrete reference to the extent of the issue highlighting the urgency of addressing the under representation of SC, ST, and OBC students in these esteemed institutions

"The under representation of these communities not only hampers the diversity within these institutions but also perpetuates social disparities. I kindly request your intervention to ensure that these deemed universities strictly adhere to the reservation policies, as outlined in the UGC regulations, and take corrective actions," the Congress in-charge for Goa said.

He also urged the Prime Minister to direct the concerned authorities to investigate and take necessary actions to rectify the inadequacies in the implementation of reservation policies in these institutions, as indicated in the list.

"By doing so, we can pave the way for a more equitable and just education system that truly reflects the diversity of our nation," he added.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday said that the Centre is willing to hold structured debates on all issues and requested the Opposition to abide by all the rules and regulations for the same.

An all-party meeting was held two days prior to the Winter Session of Parliament which gets underway on December 4. It was held under the Chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

In his opening address Joshi said that the Winter Session of Parliament will commence on Monday and subject to exigencies of government business, the session may conclude on Friday, December 22.

Joshi also informed that tentatively 19 items of Legislative Business and two items of Financial Business had been identified for being taken up during this session.

The Union Minister further stated that the Government was always ready to discuss on the floor of the House, any issue as permitted under Rules of Procedure by respective Presiding Officers. He also requested active cooperation and support from all party leaders for the smooth functioning of the two Houses of Parliament.

Concluding the meeting, after listening to the points raised by the leaders of various political parties in both Houses of Parliament, Singh thanked them for raising important issues in the meeting and stated that the Government was ready for discussions on all these issues as per the rules of the respective Houses of Parliament and with the permission of the Presiding Officers concerned.

Later, he interacted with the media at the Parliament's Library Building, the venue of the meeting. "We had called an all-party meeting today which was attended by 23 parties and 30 leaders," Joshi said. During the meeting, several suggestions were received. The Minister said that azero houra has been happening regularly. Discussion on short duration took place, he said.

"We requested that the atmosphere should be maintained for structured debates. The discussions should be held following rules and procedures. The Government is ready to hold discussions on all the issues. The Government is ready for a structured debate," Joshi added.

He said that last time they (Opposition parties) had demanded a discussion on Manipur, which was held as per rules. "I once again urge that this is the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha. Our government is fully ready for structured debate and we want the House to function and run smoothly," he said.
Pune, Dec 2 : Amid further churning in the two rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), its founder-president Sharad Pawar on Saturday urged his loyalists to forget the goners and concentrate on creating a fresh generation of leaders, while dropping several pearls of political wisdom.

Attempting to allay the anxiety among partymen with the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due next year, Pawar gave a pep-talk to the party workers, referring to certain historical instances to explain the NCP split engineered by his nephew Ajit Pawar, now the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

He recalled how in the 1978 Assembly elections, the then (Congress) had given a big opportunity to the young leaders and over 60 of them were elected.

However, after the elections, the state witnessed a different (Janata Party-led coalition) government.

Later, Pawar said he had gone abroad for a few days and upon return he was surprised to find that of the 60 MLAs who were elected, 90 per cent had defected to other parties, leaving only six behind.

"It was natural that when we crashed from 60 to 6, many people thought that it was the end of our (Congress) ideology. But it embodied the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Yeshwantrao Chavan, B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule No one can finish it off," said Pawar.

The party again dipped into the masses and raised a whole new generation of leaders, and when the elections were held subsequently, of the 60 who had deserted in 1978, nearly 80 per cent lost the public mandate, the octogenarian said.

"This proved that the people did not like the move of the defectors. Again, the party raised a new generation of leadership and in the subsequent elections, as many as 76 were elected as legislators, and the party could give a new direction to Maharashtra politics," said Pawar.

The NCP founder said that he was citing these examples to emphasise the point that "there is no reason to be bothered if someone goes" out of the party (NCP), as it actually symbolises cleansing of the organisation.

Besides, the development (split) has thrown up a new set of opportunities to infuse fresh blood into the party, strengthen the youth cadre so that in the elections, a large number of NCP people can get elected, Pawar added.

He also expressed optimism that when the new-gen is elected with the full mandate of the masses, they will successfully go ahead, rule the state and solve peoples' problems.

Instead of bothering about the 'goners', Pawar urged the party leaders and workers to contemplate on how to exploit the given opportunities to increase their mass-contact and improve their position in the legislature.

"We have to consider reaching each village, how the NCP workers will build up the party there and convey to the last person standing about the party's ideology. If you work hard on these lines, you will succeed. You have the responsibility of raising a great new team," Pawar told the party workers.

On the barrage of criticism from his nephew and other leaders of the breakaway NCP (AP) faction, Pawar Sr. offered the time-tested age-old solution: "Just ignore them, don't give too much importance, as these are the same people who tried to break the party who are now targeting you and me."

The Maratha strongman explained that they (the defectors) have now realised that "the public will ask them many tough questions tomorrow" and hence they are attempting to divert attention by deploying the formula of attacking the other side.

The 82-year-old cautioned how power comes and goes, saying, "But if you proceed ahead with renewed hope and vigour, the common man will definitely support you."

"There will be nagging thoughts in peoples' minds  on which (party) ticket you were elected, whose leadership you accepted, what photo you used, your programmes, your problems, and where are you now. The common voters always consider these things," the veteran politician pointed out.

He said that as long as the common man in the state and country is 'aware', there will be the possibility of change in the society, and the trick is to prepare for that change and move ahead with it.

Pawar said that the Lok Sabha elections are barely 3-4 months away, while the Assembly elections will follow in 9-10 months, and the party workers must start working in all the constituencies to be contested by the party.

"You must resolve that 'we will win this seat', and if anyone attempts to create a different kind of atmosphere, don't be misled as "we are committed to an ideology", he concluded.
Israels military was aware of Hamas plan to launch an attack on Israeli soil over a year before the devastating Oct. 7 operation that killed hundreds of people, The New York Times reported Friday.

It was the latest in a series of signs that top Israeli commanders either ignored or played down warnings that Hamas was plotting the attack, which triggered a war against the Islamic militant group that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The Times said Israeli officials were in possession of a 40-page battle plan, code-named Jericho Wall, that detailed a hypothetical Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities.

It was unclear how the document was obtained by Israel, but the article said that it had been translated  indicating it may have been in Arabic and directly intercepted from Hamas.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the report, saying it was currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organization Hamas. Questions of this kind will be looked into in a later stage, it said.

The document was seen by many Israeli military and intelligence officials, the report said, though it was unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top leaders had seen it.

The document predicted that Hamas would bombard Israel with rockets, use drones to disable Israels security and surveillance abilities at the border wall, and take over southern communities and military bases. Another 2016 Israeli defense memo obtained by the Times said Hamas intended to take hostages back to Gaza.

The Oct. 7 attack  in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 people were abducted and taken to Gaza  would uncannily mirror the one outlined in the battle plan. But Israeli officials had brushed off the plan, the report said, dismissing it as aspirational rather than something that could practically take place, the report said.

The report comes amid public fury toward the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent an attack that appears to have been preceded by numerous warning signs.

The attack was planned in plain sight. A month before the assault, Hamas posted a video to social media showing fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, sweep in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-scale reconstruction of an Israeli town, firing automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets.

In the video, the militants destroyed mock-ups of the walls concrete towers and a communications antenna, just as they would do for real on Oct. 7.

Adding to public outrage over the militarys apparent negligence, the Israeli media has reported that military officials dismissed warnings from female border spotters who warned that they were witnessing Hamas preparations for the attack. According to the media reports, the young women reported seeing Hamas drones and attempts to knock out Israeli border cameras in the months leading up to the attack.

Netanyahu has stopped short of apologizing for the attack, and has said that determining blame will have to come after the war is waged. Critics say he is attempting to escape responsibility for myriad intelligence failures leading to the deadliest day in Israeli history.

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San Francisco, Dec 2 : Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature, which will allow you to search for users by their username on Android.

As shown in the screenshot shared by WABetaInfo, the search bar will allow users to search for other users by their username,

This new update will enhance the process of connecting and improve privacy by eliminating the need to share personal phone numbers.

The report noted that the choice to configure a username is totally optional, and users will always have control over this feature as they can remove their current username at any time.

"Users will be able to connect with others without necessarily disclosing their phone numbers. This is particularly beneficial for those who wish to maintain a level of anonymity or control over their personal information," the report said.

The feature is presently under development and it will be available in a future update of the app.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has launched a secret code feature for millions of users, an additional way to protect sensitive chats on its platform.

With a secret code, the users will be able to set a unique password different from what they use to unlock their phones to give their locked chats an extra layer of privacy.

"Rolling out secret code to Chat Lock on WhatsApp so you can protect your chats with a unique password. Now you can set your locked chats to only appear when you type the secret code in the search bar, so no one can unintentionally discover your most private conversations," Meta Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said on his WhatsApp Channel.
London, Dec 2 : Researchers have identified objective evidence of how the neck muscles are involved in primary headaches, such as tension-type headaches and migraines, according to a study.

People with tension-type headaches often feel a tightening in the head and mild to moderate dull pain on both sides of the head.

While these headaches are typically associated with stress and muscle tension, their exact origin is not fully understood.

Migraines are characterised by a severe throbbing pain. Migraines generally occur on one side of the head, or the pain is worse on one side.

Migraines may also cause nausea, weakness and light sensitivity.

Up to 148 million people worldwide suffer from chronic migraine.

Neck pain is commonly associated with primary headaches. However, no objective biomarkers exist for myofascial involvement.

Myofascial pain is associated with inflammation or irritation of muscle or of the connective tissue, known as fascia, that surrounds the muscle.

"Our imaging approach provides first objective evidence for the very frequent involvement of the neck muscles in primary headaches, such as neck pain in migraine or tension-type headache, using the ability to quantify subtle inflammation within muscles," said Nico Sollmann, resident in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Ulm, Germany.

For the study, the team aimed to investigate the involvement of the trapezius muscles in primary headache disorders by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to explore associations between muscle T2 values and headache and neck pain frequency.

The prospective study included 50 participants, mostly women, ranging in age from 20 to 31 years old.

Of the study group, 16 had tension-type headache, and 12 had tension-type headache plus migraine episodes.

The groups were matched with 22 healthy controls.

The tension-type headache plus migraine group demonstrated the highest muscle T2 values.

Muscle T2 was significantly associated with the number of headache days and the presence of neck pain.

The increased muscle T2 values could be interpreted as a surrogate of inflammation arising from the nervous system and increased sensitivity of nerve fibres within myofascial tissues.

"The quantified inflammatory changes of neck muscles significantly correlate with the number of days lived with headache and the presence of subjectively perceived neck pain," Sollmann said.

"Those changes allow us to differentiate between healthy individuals and patients suffering from primary headaches." Muscle T2 mapping could be used to stratify patients with primary headaches and to track potential treatment effects for monitoring.

"Our findings support the role of neck muscles in the pathophysiology of primary headaches," Sollmann said. "Therefore, treatments that target the neck muscles could lead to a simultaneous relief of neck pain, as well as headache."

Sollmann pointed out that non-invasive treatment options that directly target the site of pain in the neck muscles could be highly effective and safer than systemic drugs.

The study was presented today at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

--IANS

rvt/pgh
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Days after the successful rescue of the 41 trapped workers from Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister's Office in a post on X said, "Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

According to the Uttarakhand Government, Dhami invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Global Investment Conference in Dehradun scheduled on December 8 and 9.

The Chief Minister also expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for providing all the necessary resources, guidance and cooperation during the evacuation of the workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara Tunnel.

The Chief Minister discussed various issues related to the state with the Prime Minister and thanked him for including the Jamrani Dam Project in the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.

Along with this, he requested the approval of Rs 2,460 crore as financial assistance for capital expenditure of the Song Dam Drinking Water Project and Rs 3,000 crore as special financial assistance for upgradation of the Jolly Grant Airport in the state.

The Chief Minister also requested Modi to establish an All India Ayurveda Institute in the Rishikul Ayurvedic College campus, Haridwar and to include Uttarakhand in the Kiwi Feasibility Study being run in collaboration with New Zealand. He also discussed several other issues with Modi.
Hyderabad, Dec 2 : Tension continued between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on Saturday following the action of Andhra Pradesh police in the early hours of November 30, while a key meeting called by Union Jal Shakti Ministry has been postponed to December 6 in view of the counting of votes in Telangana on Sunday.

Officials of Central Water Commission and members of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Saturday visited the dam in Telangana's Nalgonda district.

On the orders of the Jal Shakti Ministry, KRMB members made the Andhra Pradesh authorities close gate No. 7. The release of water continued through gate No. 5, but it is also likely to be closed by Saturday night.

The KRMB members inspected the right canal through which Andhra Pradesh authorities forcibly released water to meet the requirements of Andhra Pradesh. The release of 5,450 cusecs of water continued on Saturday.

A day after Telangana police registered a case against Andhra Pradesh police for 'trespass', the latter booked counter cases against Telangana police officials on Saturday.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which rushed to the dam on Friday night following intervention by the Union Home Ministry, has taken control of a part of the dam.

Andhra Pradesh, however, has made it clear that the state police will remain deployed at the dam to ensure law and order till a decision is taken on implementation of notification of the Government of India on the jurisdiction of KRMB.

Meanwhile, Telangana has demanded the KRMB to restore pre-November 28 position on Nagarjuna Sagar project.

Engineer-in-chief of irrigation department, Muralidhar, said a decision to this effect was taken during the meeting Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla held on Friday via video conference with the chief secretaries and DGPs of both the states.

In another development, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, which had called a meeting of chief secretaries of both the states on Saturday, postponed the same to December 6 on a request by Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari in view of counting of votes in Telangana on Sunday.

The meeting will address the dispute between the two states over sharing of Krishna River water and management of Nagarjuna Sagar dam and Srisailam project. Chief secretaries and irrigation officials from both the states will attend the meeting in Delhi.

Debashree Mukherji, Secretary, Jal Shakti Ministry, on Saturday held a video conference from Delhi. However, Telangana Chief Secretary could not attend the meeting. Mukherji said the meeting will be held in Delhi on December 6 and advised both the states to exercise restraint till then.

The Secretary suggested to KRMB Chairman Shiv Nandan Kumar to hold a meeting of the KRMB on December 4 and take a decision on Andhra Pradeshas request for release of water. He said till then, the release of water from the right canal should be stopped.

During the video conference, Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy said that the Telangana government was not following the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. He said the Telangana government ignored the requests for release of water to meet drinking water requirements which led to the current situation.

He also demanded that the KRMB office be shifted from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam.

Jawahar Reddy explained that continued indiscriminate use of water at the Srisailam Project for power production by Telangana and collecting the same at Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) so as to maintain complete control of water releases from NSP on both sides to their advantage denying the legitimate agreed share of water to Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Secretary explained the 'historic injustice' done to the state of Andhra Pradesh, as the control of facilities on the left bank in Srisailam Project are taken over by the state of Telangana although Srisailam Project is supposed to be under the control of the Chief Engineer, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.

He mentioned that all the offtakes on the right bank of NSP located in the territory of Andhra Pradesh and left bank are under the control of Telangana.

He said that Andhra Pradesh is made to request Telangana for release of water through the right main canal, which caters to exclusive needs in Andhra Pradesh and is located in the territory of Andhra Pradesh, for implementing release orders of KRMB.

Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari had said during the video conference on Friday that on the night of November 29, 500 armed policemen Andhra Pradesh police reached the dam, damaged CCTV cameras and by operating head regulator, released 5,000 cusecs of water.

She also told the Union Home Secretary that this action by Andhra Pradesh police created a law and order problem on a day when Telangana was busy conducting Assembly elections. She also complained that Andhra Pradesh has resorted to such action for the second time.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Saturday said that for all citizens to feel free in a democracy, the State must side with the weaker population which may be a numerical or a social minority. CJI Chandrachud said that democracy requires a constant dialogue between differing opinions and civil society organisations to fulfil the aspirations of the people.

"The beauty of a democracy is the sense of moral status with which all citizens can participate in a country and the consensus in its decision making. In a democracy the majority will have its way but the minority must have its say," he said.

CJI Chandrachud added that the democracy is premised on the recognition that there is no natural source of authority that can exercise power over individuals and people are presumptively free and equal.

"Merely because a body is elected does not ensure that it acts in the best interest of those who it governs. Democracy is messy, and imperfect but inherent in it are the postulates of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity," he said speaking at the Justice Keshav Chandra Dhulia Memorial Essay Competition at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. CJI Chandrachud said that "participative democracy simply entails a democracy that operates on and promotes deliberation", adding that if a democracy cannot safeguard discourse around the needs of all its people, it falls short of its promise.

"While the Constitution grants rights to citizens and places a corresponding duty on the State to enforce such rights, the real test of the Constitution is seldom in courts but in society," he stated.
Day of Hamas attack will be remembered as the day its complete destruction began: Israeli Defence Minister (IANS FROM ISRAEL). Image Source: IANS News

Tel Aviv, Dec 2 : Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has expanded its operations to South Gaza Strip.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has warned top Hamas leadership that Israel military is firm on destroying Hamas. He also said that the Hamas commanders in North Gaza have tasted the military prowess of Israel, adding that the terror leadership in South Gaza also knows pretty well as to what the IDF can do.

Gallant said in a statement that IDF has located several places in South Gaza and that action would reach the places where it needs to reach.

The minister, who is a former General of the IDF, is considered as a 'hawk' in the Israel government who has publicly announced that the IDF would kill top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and that the military would destroy Hamas at any cost.
Washington, Dec 2 : The US has squarely blamed Hamas for breaching the extended ceasefire even as Vice President Kamala Harris sought to discuss the situation in Gaza on how to end the war with influence of Arab leaders and heads of other nations at the climate summit in Dubai.

Israeli military forces reportedly resumed bombarding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, after Hamas put an end to the weeklong pause in fighting, media reports said.

Israel alleged it resumed fighting after Hamas "violated" the ceasefire by firing rockets towards Israel.

Hamas officials blamed the Israelis, saying they turned down offers to release elderly hostages as well as claiming bodies of three hostages allegedly killed in Israeli air strikes.

The week-long truce saw over 100 hostages, all women and children including two Americans, were freed from Hamas captivity.

Seven Americans, including one woman, remain unaccounted for.

Over 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel were released in return.

The White House said on Friday that Hamas failed to deliver a list of hostages the militant group would release. Israel and Hamas presented conflicting narratives about why the truce ended.

"It's because of Hamas that this pause ended," said John Kirby, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications.

"They were just simply unable, and failed to produce a list of hostages that could help enable the pause to extend," USA Today quoted Kirby as saying.

President Joe Biden along with the National Security Council remains engaged in hostage negotiations and efforts to end the war.

The US was pushing through with yet another major effort to bring about a pause and get more hostages released. Qatar, another international mediator along with Egypt, said it was working to renew a truce and expressed "deep regret" over the renewed combat.

Harris, now in Dubai for the climate summit, seeks to discuss war with Arab leaders and heads of other nations attending the two week long summit.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it's 'extremely concerned' about continued fighting.

The WHO said Friday it is concerned about the health care system collapsing in Gaza since the resumption of Israelis aerial bombardment.

"The health system has been crippled by the ongoing hostilities. Gaza can't afford to lose any more hospitals or hospital beds," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted to X.
Imphal, Dec 2 : Four days after the signing of the tripartite agreement with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the oldest valley-based militant outfit in Manipur, the state government on Saturday accorded a reception to the UNLF cadres and their family members.

Addressing the function at Kangla in Imphal, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh urged all other militant outfits to enter the peace process, saying that he is ready to work as the facilitator for any outfit desiring to join the peace process.

Noting that many people have lost their lives due to militancy related violence, Singh said that the process for signing the peace agreement with UNLF under the guidance and advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah took around three years.

Singh also appealed against spreading misinformation through social media without proper verification, as it could disturb peace in the society.

"We have been living divided for a long time and have lost many precious lives due to the division. Let us learn to sacrifice," the Chief Minister said, reiterating his earlier call for people to forgive and forget.

He added that the people of Manipur should also acknowledge the action of the Central government under Modi and Shah of lifting the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and implementation of the Inner Line Permit to protect the indigenous people of Manipur.

The government is not against any community residing together in the state, the Chief Minister said, adding that the government is only trying to protect all the communities.

As part of the ceremony, the cadres of the UNLF were feted and pigeons were released carrying the message of peace, hope and development.

The tripartite agreement was signed in Delhi on Wednesday between the senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Manipur government and leaders of UNLF, which was formed in 1964 and had been operating both within and outside the Indian territory, including Myanmar.

After the signing of the pact, Singh had termed it as a "historic development", adding that the agreement is poised to give fillip to usher in a new era of peace in the northeast in general. and Manipur in particular.

The agreement was signed 16 days after the the Home Ministry on November 13 had extended the ban on 11 Meitei extremist groups and their associate organisations, including the UNLF, which mostly operated from neighbouring Myanmar and frequently carried out fatal attacks on security forces.

According to a notification issued by the MHA, the groups which were declared banned for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act included Peoples' Liberation Army, commonly known as PLA, and its political wing, the Revolutionary Peoples' Front (RPF); the Peoples' Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing Red Army; the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing (also called the Red Army).
Washington, Dec 2 : GOP Republicans and former President Donald Trump eagerly await the court verdict on gag orders issued by judges on the election subversion in Washington D.C. and Georgia and civil fraud trial case in New York as Trump seeks to ramp up his race to the primaries before the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire meet in the coming month.

Judges in New York, Washington DC and Georgia are grappling with restrictions on what defendants in Trump can say about their cases without jeopardising their free speech or a fair trial. The federal gag order being considered by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals could set new guidelines on how far defendants can go in criticising prosecutors, judges and witnesses in pending cases, multiple media reports said.

Trump and his legal team invoked the First Amendment to lift the gag order so as to allow him to speak freely in his election campaigns.

Trump and his co-defendants have vocally protested their innocence and criticised their prosecutions while most defendants normally remain silent before a trial and often decline to testify. The court decisions will be crucial to Trump. The appeals court is headed by two judges appointed by former President Barack Obama and another by incumbent President Joe Biden. They paused the gag order to allow the court hearings to play out.

"It's rare that you have criminal defendants who have the megaphone that a former President does or that other high-profile defendants have," said Alex Reinert, a criminal law professor and expert on criminal procedure at the Cardozo Law School.

"I think in Trump's case it seems less about the criminal case and more about his campaign and about airing grievances that will resonate with his base (voters)."

Donald Trump is fighting gag orders he contends will muzzle him during the 2024 presidential campaign. But prosecutors argue court staffers and witnesses should be protected from potential threats. Judges in New York and Washington imposed gag orders on what Trump can say about his trials, but he appealed by arguing he should be allowed to criticise participants in those cases while running his campaign at the White House for the 2024 presidential elections.

Prosecutors contend people mentioned in Trump's social media posts are sometimes threatened and harassed, but he contends he can't be held responsible for actions others take.

Gabriel Sterling, a senior Georgia election official, lost his temper over the death threats he witnessed during the 2020 vote count, including a social-media post that featured a swinging noose and exposed the name of a Dominion Voting Systems tech worker.

"It has all gone too far," Sterling, who had police protection himself, told reporters on December 1, 2020, while imploring then President Donald Trump to show leadership and condemn the threats.

"Someone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to get shot. Someone is going to get killed," USA TODAY quoted Sterling as saying.

Trump's supporters follow-up on his 'Truth Social' comments and keep posting messages on social media and issue threats on texts and phone messages to harass court staff and witnesses, prosecutors contend.

One of Trump's 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case, which charges them with trying to overturn the election results, referred to Sterling with an emoji of poop. Sterling testified he didn't like being called a piece of poop, but didn't consider it a threat.

"It's par for the course when you're a public figure," said Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer for the Georgia Secretary of State's office.

Judges have restricted speech in three Trump cases: The New York judge in Trump's civil fraud trial, Arthur Engoron, ordered Trump and his lawyers not to comment on court staff, including clerk Allison Greenfield, who was criticised repeatedly for allegedly influencing Engoron. Engoron fined Trump a combined $15,000 for two violations. Trump appealed, but an appellate panel restored the gag order while the dispute was argued.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over his federal election conspiracy case, barred Trump from commenting on court staff, prosecutors or potential witnesses. Trump appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments on November 20.

Trump's bond agreement in his Georgia election racketeering case requires him not to contact witnesses or co-defendants to discuss facts of the case and not to directly or indirectly threaten witnesses or co-defendants, including through social media posts.

Prosecutors asked Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee to revoke the bond of one of Trump's 14 remaining co-defendants, Harrison Floyd, for posting on social media about witnesses in the case. But McAfee refused and instead asked for new restrictions on Floyd's comments.
New Delhi, Dec 2 : In response to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) supplementary charge sheet filed against its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Saturday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dismissed the claims, branding them as a 'concoction of falsehoods'.

AAP asserted that despite numerous charge sheets and multitude raids, the ED has failed to unearth any concrete evidence or recover any financial discrepancies against Singh in the alleged excise policy scam.

Expressing confidence in the judicial system, AAP maintained that justice will prevail, as it emphasised on the innocence of Singh, who it argued is paying the price for being a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his close associates.

AAP alleged that the party has become the target of a concerted effort by the ruling BJP.

"We have complete faith in the judicial system - justice will prevail. Sanjay Singh is innocent and will be out soon. He is only paying the price of being the most fearless voice inside the Parliament against Prime Minister Modi and his close friends," AAP said in response to the ED charge sheet.

"AAP is not just the smallest political party in India, but it is also the most targeted party by the BJP regime. More than 250 fake cases have been filed against AAP leaders so far - but not a single charge has been proven," AAP said.

"The truth is that BJP is rattled by AAP's meteoric rise as a national party within a short span of 10 years. It knows it cannot defeat AAP in elections, therefore it is putting all the investigative agencies behind us," the party said.

Earlier on Saturday, ED filed a 60-page supplementary charge sheet against Singh in connection with its probe into the alleged excise policy scam.

The ED sources said that in the charge sheet, the agency has alleged that Singh was involved in conspiracy, money laundering besides helping other accused persons.

The ED also named one more person as accused in the charge sheet, though it didn't reveal the name.
One of the first decisions that the far-right Matteo Salvini made when he was appointed as Italys minister of the interior in 2019 was to cut the power at Spin Time: the largest social assistance center in Italy.

The building  home to 450 vulnerable people, located in the heart of Rome  uses electricity not only for lighting, but also to synchronize the pacemakers for some of the residents. After a week in the dark  on a Saturday afternoon, on May 11, 2019  a guy who looked like a parish priest showed up at the center. In reality, he was a cardinal and one of Pope Francis most-trusted people.

Before he joined the priesthood, Konrad Krajewski had been an electrician in his native Poland. He rolled up his sleeves, went down to the electrical room and turned the power back on. He also left his business card, in case Salvini  or whoever else needed explanations  tried to bother them again.

That day, Spin Time became a reference in the fight against intolerance. It established a direct channel with the Vatican and with the ope, who periodically receives some of its tenants and officials. Look, this photo is from last week, says Paolo Perrini, president of the association that manages the center, showing his phone to EL PAIS. The pope appears with a group of residents of Spin Time, individuals of migrant origin.

The building  which was once the headquarters of the National Institute for Social Security  was occupied in 2013 by members of Action, a decent housing collective. Today, it houses 150 family units, with residents hailing from 27 different nationalities. The space  at just over 200,000 square feet  is one of the largest centers of its kind in Europe. There are seven floors above-ground and three floors beneath: theres a restaurant, a cinema, a concert hall, a hairdresser, a recording studio and the most widely-distributed university newspaper in Europe, which churns out 200,000 print copies each month.

Once again, however, Salvini is a problem. Now the deputy prime minister to the far-right Giorgia Meloni, he made Matteo Piantedosi the minister of interior last year. His appointee has said that its advisable for Spin Time to vacate the building before Christmas.

Interior of the Spin Time center, designed by Renzo Piano. Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS (Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS)

The City Council of Rome  governed by the center-left Roberto Gualtieri  has assured the federal government that it will buy the property (the asking price is $43 million) and transfer it to the current administrators, so that they may continue their social work. But the negotiation is dragging on and the Ministry of the Interior continues to insist on the option of eviction. As a result  just like what happened when the cardinal got the power turned back on  the news of this threat has reached 130 countries.

With all the attention, the film director Ken Loach presented his latest film  The Old Oak  at the social assistance center on November 16. The British filmmaker wanted to show his support for Spin Times continuity. The right uses immigration to divide us, they fear the strength of the workers, he bellowed, before an audience that had been waiting for him for hours. Among those present were hundreds of migrants.

Spin Time is in the Roman neighborhood of Esquilino, one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse areas of the city. Two volunteers take turns at the entrance of the building, assisting the families who come to ask for asylum or advice. Once you pass the door  presided over by a piece of wood from the migrant boat that sank in Calabria this past February  you enter a collaborative universe, which functions like a well-oiled machine.

On the ground floor, theres a coworking space, where some students are busy. Theres also a small legal aid office for migrants, as well as a room where vegetable merchants can ship their produce to clients throughout the neighborhood.

Lucia hails from Eritrea. She lives in the Spin Time house. Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS (Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS)

All seven above-ground stories of the building welcome migrants. The old offices that were once used by Social Security officials have been converted into small studios for resident families. The hallways smell of spices and aromas of dishes from various parts of the world: the food is cooked in the community kitchen. Those who have several children can occupy up to three rooms. For those who live alone  a minority  such as Lucia, who arrived from Eritrea more than a decade ago, the available space is somewhat smaller. I arrived in Italy a long time ago. My children live on their own, but Im fine here. I coexist well with all the activities they organize in the house, she explains.

The activities shes referring to include concerts, conferences and theater rehearsals. Theres a room used by several companies to prepare works that are performed in the most important theaters in the country, while the Clandestina Night Orchestra  which has 48 musicians and tours throughout Italy  also holds rehearsals in the space. There are also language courses and a carpentry workshop that produces everything needed to update the interior of the building, while also attending to external clients.

Daniele  the carpenter  shows EL PAIS the space. He explains that, of all the income he generates, he gives 30% to the Spin Time organization as a contribution. The same practice is observed by the hairdresser, the restaurateur, the operator of the recording studio and the Scomodo newsroom.

The coworking space at the house, available to all students. Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS (Antonio Masiello/EL PAIS)

The headquarters of this student newspaper was designed by acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano, in what was once the old office parking lot. Here, a monthly magazine is written, designed and edited, with collaborators throughout Europe. Its part of the sentimental education of Italian students. This crown jewel of the building will also be lost if the Ministry of the Interior carries out its threat of eviction and the City Council of Rome doesnt quickly reach an agreement regarding the ownership of the building.
Jaipur, Dec 2 : A day before the results of Assembly elections, hectic activities were seen at Congress and BJP state headquarters in Rajasthan.

Senior leaders of both the parties said on the condition of anonymity that preparations are on for any "urgent and quick" decision, in case a hung assembly-like situation arises.

While the parties are deciding on Plan B, the quick alacrity and alertness of former CM Vasundhara Raje before the results have triggered a new political discussion. Vasundhara Raje has started 'dev darshan' before the announcement of results.

On Saturday (December 2) morning, she offered prayers at Moti Dungri temple in Jaipur, followed by darshan at Mehandipur Balaji.

Further senior leaders of the Congress and BJP are coming to Rajasthan on Saturday.

In Congress, former Haryana CM Bhupendra Hooda has been delegated responsibility to look into the political affairs during counting while Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa reached Jaipur on Saturday evening.

Hooda will keep an eye on the election results and report to the high command.

Back to back temple visits of Raje have sparked fresh speculation if she has received some signals from the high command.

Earlier on Friday, Vasundhara Raje met Governor Kalraj Mishra.

Also she had a long discussion with RSS officials.

This activism of Raje is being seen with raised eyebrows.

Both Congress and BJP have started preparations for working according to the 'Plan B' in case of a hung assembly.

Senior leaders of both the parties, on the condition of anonymity, said that both Congress and BJP "have booked helicopters and planes", with developments being monitored from Delhi itself.

Both have kept these preparations completely confidential.

Congress reportedly is planning to send rebels and Independents by helicopter and take them straight to Jaipur and then by plane to Bengaluru for political barricading. The BJP may take its MLAs to Ahmedabad or Mumbai if needed.

Meanwhile, Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said: "This time the customs will change in Rajasthan. We will win more seats than last time. I don't think we will need help from others."

Meanwhile, BJP State President CP Joshi, while claiming that the BJP would win the assembly elections with a huge majority, said that "the people of the state are going to get rid of the corrupt and looting government in next few hours".

CP Joshi said that Congress' "prominent leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi kept coming here during the election campaign, but when the people of the state were facing several problems, they did not lend ears to their scream".

"Now, the Congress is going to be swept clean in these election results," he said.

Meanwhile, a source said that a large number of BJP candidates met Vasundhara Raje.

She has been continuously meeting leaders and candidates for the last few days.

She has also contacted rebels and independents who have the potential to win.

Many Independents have been called to Jaipur immediately after the results.

If a hung assembly-like situation arises, Raje would stick to the strategy of keeping the Independents together.

Sources told IANS that if the BJP gets 100 seats, Raje would be named the chief minister. However, if the party gets over 120 seats, a fresh face may be made the chief minister, sources said.
Dubai, Dec 2 : At the Ocean Pavilion at COP28, Bloomberg Philanthropies CEO Patti Harris, US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson, and others on Saturday announced the formation of Ocean Resilience and Climate Alliance (ORCA) by leading climate and ocean institutions.

With an initial pledge of more than $250 million, Ballmer Group, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Builders Vision, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, Oak Foundation, Oceankind, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Rivian Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Vere Initiatives, and others have come together to form a funder collaborative focused on advancing ocean-based solutions to fight climate change.

Earlier in the day, during the World Climate Action Summit, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak highlighted the importance of elevating ocean solutions to fight the climate crisis in her opening remarks.

"In June 2025, France, together with Costa Rica, will be hosting the Third UN Ocean Conference in Nice. We will need concrete solutions and commitments to enhance the power of our ocean to fight climate change. This new coalition serves as a testament to the collective strength achieved when we unite, mobilising the necessary funding to support on-the-ground actions and drive progress for our ocean and planet," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

ORCA will help tackle the global climate crisis through coordination and collaboration within the ocean community. Its mission in part will focus on how philanthropy can play a leading role in unlocking capital that can help scale ocean-based solutions.

Over the past two years, members of the ORCA coalition led by Oceankind and Builders Vision, have worked with trusted partners across civil society to identify high-impact opportunities to catalyze funding into global programs that accelerate the role of the ocean sector in fighting climate change.

Studies show that ocean-based interventions could account for nearly half of the necessary carbon solutions needed to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Strengthening coastal resilience efforts is also critical to protect the well-being of the nearly 1.4 billion people around the world living in low-lying areas.

Despite this, funding to climate mitigation receives just two per cent of total philanthropic giving, and ocean conservation receives less than one per cent.

The coalition combines the collective power of philanthropies, nonprofit organizations, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples to make ocean ecosystems more resilient and balanced and help ensure that solutions are just, equitable, and center the frontline coastal communities that are most impacted by ocean-climate issues. Additionally, as governments work toward the 30 by 30 target, a global initiative that aims to protect at least 30 per cent of the planet's land and ocean by 2030, ORCA represents a uniquely significant injection of funding that will help achieve that goal.

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Bengaluru, Dec 2 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday urged the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to share information about the number of development projects announced in the state budget.

Bommai told reporters that the state government has completed six months in office and already the people are disenchanted with it.

aThe Congress leaders are repeatedly claiming credit over the guarantee schemes, but in reality, these schemes have not reached the people. Instead of distributing 10 kg rice under the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, it has failed to distribute 5 kg rice allotted by the Government of India," Bommai said.

Bommai claimed that an survey of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme has shown that only 35 per cent women has received Rs 2,000 in the first month, but not in the coming months.

The incumbent government has utterly failed to ensure uninterrupted power supply to farmers.

While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that five hours of uninterrupted power would be supplied to the farmers, hardly three hours of power was supplied in the rural areas, Bommai claimed.

Bommai demanded the state government to submit a detailed report on the number of projects announced in the state budget and their implementation in the last six months during the upcoming Assembly session starting in Belagavi on Monday.

The current government used the benefits of the economic progress achieved by the previous BJP government and implemented five guarantee schemes, Bommai stated.

The state's borrowing has increased. The Reserve Bank of India had warned three states including Punjab and Rajasthan that have been caught in a debt trap and Karnataka must not be taken to that category, he warned.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (C) taking part in a meeting with commanders at the headquarters of the Defense Forces near a frontline close to Kupiansk, Ukraine, November 30 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the war with Russia is in a new stage, with winter expected to complicate fighting after a summer counteroffensive that failed to produce desired results due to enduring shortages of weapons and ground forces.

Despite setbacks, however, he said Ukraine wont give up. We have a new phase of war, and that is a fact, Zelenskiy said in an exclusive interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine after a morale-boosting tour of the region. Winter as a whole is a new phase of war.

Asked if he was satisfied by the results of the counteroffensive, he gave a complex answer. Look, we are not backing down, I am satisfied. We are fighting with the second (best) army in the world, I am satisfied, he said, referring to the Russian military. But he added: We are losing people, Im not satisfied. We didnt get all the weapons we wanted, I cant be satisfied, but I also cant complain too much.

Zelenskiy also said he fears the Israel-Hamas war threatens to overshadow the conflict in Ukraine, as competing political agendas and limited resources put the flow of Western military aid to Kyiv at risk.

And those concerns are amplified by the tumult that inevitably arises during a U.S. election year and its potential implications for his country, which has seen the international community largely rally around it following Russias Feb. 24, 2022, invasion.

The highly anticipated counteroffensive, powered by tens of billions of dollars in Western military aid, including heavy weaponry, did not forge the expected breakthroughs. Now, some Ukrainian officials worry whether further assistance will be as generous.

At the same time, ammunition stockpiles are running low, threatening to bring Ukrainian battlefield operations to a standstill.

With winter set to cloak a wartime Ukraine once again, military leaders must contend with new but familiar challenges as the conflict grinds toward the end of its second full year: There are freezing temperatures and barren fields that leave soldiers exposed. And theres the renewed threat of widespread Russian aerial assaults in cities that target energy infrastructure and civilians.

On Nov. 25, Moscow launched its most extensive drone attack of the war, with most of the 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones targeting Kyiv in a troubling precedent for the months ahead. That is why a winter war is difficult, Zelenskiy said.

He gave a frank appraisal of the last summers counteroffensive. We wanted faster results. From that perspective, unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired results. And this is a fact, he said.

Ukraine did not get all the weapons it needed from allies, he said, and limits in the size of his military force precluded a quick advance, he said.

There is not enough power to achieve the desired results faster. But this does not mean that we should give up, that we have to surrender, Zelenskiy said. We are confident in our actions. We fight for what is ours.

There were some positive takeaways from the last few months, he said. Ukraine managed to make incremental territorial gains against a better-armed and fortified enemy, Zelenskiy said.

In addition, the might of Moscows Black Sea Fleet has been diminished, following Ukrainian attacks that penetrated air defenses and struck its headquarters in occupied Crimea, Zelenskiy added.

And a temporary grain corridor established by Kyiv following Russias withdrawal from a wartime agreement to ensure the safe exports is still working.

Zelenskiy, though, isnt dwelling on the past but is focused on the next stage  boosting domestic arms production.

A sizeable chunk of Ukraines budget is allocated for that, but current output is far from enough to turn the tide of war. Now, Zelenskiy is looking to Western allies, including the U.S., to offer favorable loans and contracts to meet that goal.

This is the way out, Zelenskiy said, adding that nothing terrifies Russia more than a militarily self-sufficient Ukraine.

When he last met with U.S. President Joe Biden, members of Congress and other top officials, he made one urgent appeal: Give Ukraine cheap loans and licenses to manufacture U.S. weaponry.

Give us these opportunities, and we will build, he said he told them. Whatever effort and time it will take, we will do it, and we will do it very quickly.

Zelenskiy remains concerned that upheaval in the Middle East, the most violent in decades, threatens to take global attention and resources away from Ukraines ability to defend itself.

We already can see the consequences of the international community shifting (attention) because of the tragedy in the Middle East, he said. Only the blind dont recognize this.

Ukrainians understand that we also need to fight for attention for the full-scale war, he said. We must not allow people to forget about the war here.

That change in focus could lead to less economic and military assistance for his country, he said. In an apparent attempt to assuage those fears, U.S. and European officials have continued to visit Kyiv since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.

The shift still concerns him, Zelenskiy said. You see, attention equals help. No attention will mean no help. We fight for every bit of attention, he said. Without attention, there may be weakness in (the U.S.) Congress.

Turning to the upcoming U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns, where Biden faces skepticism over his staunch support for Kyiv, Zelenskiy acknowledged that elections are always a shock, and it is completely understandable.

A recent AP poll i n the U.S. showed nearly half of Americans think too much is being spent on Ukraine. An increasing number of Republicans are not in favor of sending more aid, and it is not clear if or when a request from the White House for additional aid will be approved by Congress.

When asked about this, Zelenskiy replied bluntly that the choice of Americans is the choice of Americans.

But he argued that by helping Ukraine, Americans are also helping themselves.

In the case of Ukraine, if resilience fails today due to lack of aid and shortages of weapons and funding, it will mean that Russia will most likely invade NATO countries, he said. And then the American children will fight.

Zelenskiy has sought recently to ensure Ukraines war machine was running as it should by making a recent shakeup of top-level government officials, touching on another of his goals to fight graft in a post-Soviet institution rife with corruption as a prelude to joining the European Union.

He said he has to know how weapons, supplies, food and even clothing are being delivered to the front  and what fails to get there.

On one hand, this is not the job of the president, but on the other hand, I can trust those who did not just pass on the information to me, but told me in person, he said.

The static battle lines have not brought pressure from Ukraines allies to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.

I dont feel it yet, he said, although he added: Some voices are always heard.

Ukraine wants to push the formula for peace and involve as many countries of the world as possible, so that they politically isolate Russia, he noted.

The war has also made it impossible to hold a presidential election in Ukraine, originally slated for March under the constitution, he said.

Although Zelenskiy said he was ready to hold an election, most Ukrainians are not, believing such a vote to be dangerous and meaningless as war rages around them.

With a budget anticipating spending 22% of the countrys GDP for defense and national security, Ukraines economy is being restructured around a war with no end in sight, much like the day-to-day lives of its citizens.

That raised another question: How long can Zelenskiy himself cope with being the leader of a country at war?

There are no words to describe how difficult the job is, he said, but he also cant imagine leaving the post.

You honestly cant do that, he said. This would be very unfair, wrong and definitely demotivating.

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In Relinquished (St. Martins, Feb.), Sisson examines how the American adoption industry targets vulnerable families.

How would you describe the current discourse on adoption?

Our narrative about adoption as a social good focuses on who is able to become a parent through adoption, not on families separated by adoption. Those stories are much harder. We dont want to recognize that theres a loss when those families are separated.

Yet both sides of the political spectrum support adoption.

For conservatives, it ties in with their anti-abortion messaging, but also upholds a very specific idea of what families should be. They dont want systems of support for single parents, for instance. Its easier to just take the baby from this poor parent and give it to a middle-class family and say, This is so beautiful. On the left, adoption is beloved in queer communities because it allows for family-building. And both liberals and conservatives believe that adoption gives women an alternative to imposed motherhoodthat without adoption, wed be forcing people to parent who are not interested in parenting. That is not what Ive heard from the women with whom I spoke. The vast majority wanted to parent.

You describe adoption as an extractive industry.

Adoption is most frequently about money. When we look at relinquishing mothers in America today, the majority have less than $5,000 of annual income. Children adopted internationally are usually from countries that are in turmoil. When the country stabilizes, then children stop being exported. After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, missionaries and private adoption agencies came in and removed Haitian children. And now you see people voicing the idea, Can we adopt Palestinian children? Thats the American response: Oh, this country is in crisis; can we have their children?

How do adoption agencies convince mothers to relinquish their children?

Adoption agencies aggressively market themselves. Mothers who search help for single moms on Google see advertisements with pictures of prospective adoptive parents gorgeous suburban homes. Plus, almost no mothers would relinquish if adoption werent openif they werent going to have ongoing contact with their child. But openness is not legally enforceable in most states. Openness is routinely used to sell adoption in a way thats inconsistent with what it legally offers.

What about children living in dangerous conditions?

A mother told me she relinquished because she didnt have a safe home to bring the baby to. I asked, Was it a safe home for you to be in? She said, No, of course not. I said, Well, then weve already failed, right? Im not saying I want the baby to go to that unsafe place. I want the mother to have a safe place to raise that baby.
At the dawn of the 20th century, in the wake of the bloody Boxer Rebellion, Cixi, Chinas dowager empress, posed for a series of photographs rich with pomp and circumstance: she and ladies of her court dressed in brocaded finery, reenacting operas. The empress died in 1908, just prior to the rise of the Chinese Republic, and its in this year of flux and transition that bestselling author Yangsze Choo sets her lavish new novel, The Fox Wife (Holt, Feb. 2024).

It was an interesting time at the end of Chinas last continual dynasty, Choo says via phone from her home in Californias Bay Area. The novelabout a shape-shifting fox spirit named Snow who is hunting for her daughters killer and whose story unfolds as Cixis own winds to a closetakes place in Manchuria, at a fulcrum moment when, Choo says, ominous portents appear. She adds, The dowager empress was a controversial figure: some say she held China back, some say she was ahead of her time.

And while she drew from history for The Fox Wife, Choo, who is a Malaysian of Chinese descent, also called upon ancient folklore and her own peripatetic youth to craft her story.

From an early age, Choo heard folk legends about the foxa spirit who would visit unsuspecting victims to wreak havoc. The fox, she says, is wily, a trickster. They can be either gender: theyre often female, but occasionally a handsome man slips in and out of a foxs body, preying on unsuspecting women and vanishing into the countryside.

When she was a child, Choo was also prone to vanishing. Her father worked in the foreign service, which led his family to move from country to country, including stints in Germany and Japan, scooping up scraps of new language and cultural mores. We tagged along, she says, adding that she felt like a perpetual outsider, much like her books protagonist. I was always the new kid trying to figure it out. Does everyone bring their lunch? Does no one?

In 1995, Choo matriculated at Harvard, and after graduation she landed a consulting job at Bain, based in the companys Singapore and Boston offices. She carried a briefcase to look the parta professional bona fide that now amuses her childrenbut spent evenings in her apartment indulging her writing hobby. She produced a portfolio of what she calls dreadful stories and a terrible novel.

Perhaps because of these early efforts, Choo is practical when it comes to writing as a career. All humans, she asserts, need some form of creative self-expression, from needlepoint to fixing bikes to journaling. But she remains firm in her advice to aspiring novelists and MFA hopefuls: Dont quit your day jobwho will provide health insurance?

Nonetheless, Choo persevered, discovering shelves of fiction anthologies in libraries, which served as instruction manuals for craft. And she kept writing.

I am a very slow writer, she says. I was also working full-time, had kids, and then I spent eight years working on a terrible novel about an elephant detective. I struggled to wrest it into some semblance of a story, until I realized that one of the subplots about being married to a dead man belonged in a completely different book. Thats what turned into The Ghost Bride.

And it was The Ghost Bride, a 2013 bestseller adapted for Netflix, that launched Choos career. Her 2019 follow-up, The Night Tiger, was selected by Reese Witherspoon for her book club. And The Fox Wife looks set to pick up where the previous two left off, with PWs review stating, Choos writing is lush and the slow revelation of complicated relationships and reunions hum with tension. This is a treat.

As the cunning Snow assumes human form and vows vengeance for the death of her daughter, she scours northeastern China for the man responsible for the killinga photographer named Bektu Nikan. She leaves a trail of corpses in her wake and eventually reaches Japan, along the way reuniting with another fox spirit, Kuro, the father of her child.

Meanwhile, a retired teacher and detective named Baoa tribute to Bao Gong, a famous judge in Chinese antiquity and archetype of justiceinvestigates the murder of a courtesan whose body is dumped in a doorway. Some call it the handiwork of a fox; as Bao, who has the preternatural ability to discern lies, pursues the case, his fate becomes entwined with Snows.

While Bao is reminiscent of hardboiled protagonists such as Sam Spade, Choo is quick to point out that China has its own venerable tradition of detective fiction dating back to the Ming Dynasty. Her writing, she says, is also informed by a fascination with ghostsmuch to her mothers chagrin. Ive always been rabidly curious about elements of the unknown, she says. It drives me. And its that speculative spark that propels the novel.

Despite the intricacy of her stories, Choo doesnt write with an outline. Rather, she improvises, seeking threads that connect her chapters. My processI dont know where it is going, but it builds from chapter to chapter, she explains.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the origin of Bao. He was a surprise! she says. I was working on chapter two and wrote the word detective and thought, who is this? He just appeared.

The same was true of Snow: Choo had been playing around with point of view and shifted from third person to first. She recalls thinking, Heres my fox!

As The Fox Wife concludes, it offers an elegy for empire. In the Forbidden City, the Dowager Empress dies: the curtain falls on a gilded age and a formidable woman, fox-like in her ability to beguile and wield power. A hundred miles away and reunited, Snow and Kuro mull their journey back to each other amid this uncertain moment in history.

Far away, in the old Manchu capital of Mukden, discussions in teahouses and the villas of the rich strategized about what was to come next, Choo writes. In villages and hamlets, peasants continued trundling their goods to market in wheelbarrows, swarms of locusts ravaged the southwest and a three-year-old boy, Aisin Gioro Puyi, was installed as the likely last emperor of the Qing dynasty. I dont think that bodes well, said Kuro. The statement foreshadows Puyis forced abdication at the age of six during the Xinhai Revolution.

For Choo, foxes are clearly spirit animals, and a favored literary device. I had set my previous novels in Malaysia, but we dont have any foxes, so I opted for northern China, she says. The beginning of the novel is the archetypal fox storysomeone comes knocking at your door, and you open it. I was always interested in the other side of the door.

Hamilton Cain is a book critic and author of the memoir This Boys Faith.
The first time my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I was writing a novel about immortality. She had gone to the doctor after discovering a sizable lump on the side of her stomach. A biopsy revealed the worst possible news: colon cancer. They could remove the lump surgically, but given its size, the doctors suspected it might be too late.

I could not imagine the world without my mom. I told myself she would beat this. My mom had always defied the odds. Born Black and poor to illiterate parents in the South during Jim Crow, she was the only member of her immediate family who graduated from high school. She then earned a full scholarship to college and became a teacher, effectively pulling herself out of poverty and raising me in a safe, middle-class community. She was the toughest person I knew.

My moms surgery went well, and the pathology report was better than expected: with the tumor removed, there was no cancer in her body. It felt significant, somehow, that I was writing a novel about immortality and my mom had staved off death, as though the novel was a good luck charm or talisman. I poured everything I had into the book, thanking it for its role in saving my mom.

Two years later, the cancer returned. It had spread to my moms stomach. The doctors suggested palliative chemo; they could stop the cancer from spreading to buy her time, but they could not cure her.

But my mom decided not to undergo chemo. Instead of five years, she would have maybe two and a half. I couldnt accept this, and for the next several months my mom and I fought constantly. I cried. I begged. I guilt-tripped. I made rational arguments and emotional appeals. Nothing would sway her.

With my moms diagnosis, finding a publisher for my novel felt more urgent. Her fate and the novels had become inextricably linked in my mindif one made it, the other would, too. I began sending the novel out to a series of independent presses, desperate to find a home for it quickly.

It worked. Stillhouse, a small press out of George Mason University, loved the novel. Getting a book deal always feels like a miracle, but the timing of this felt especially auspicious.

In my novel, immortality comes about suddenly, abruptly changing the fates of people who had previously been diagnosed with terminal diseases. While I didnt believe immortality was around the corner in real life, I saw articles about new experimental treatments that were extending lives or curing some forms of cancer.

I redoubled my efforts to convince my mom to get chemo, but she was unyielding. She was completely asymptomatic and knew that chemo could come with side effects that would lower her quality of life. Eventually, I realized I had to respect my moms wisheslest I lose her long before she died.

 Her fate and the novels had become inextricably linked in my mindif one made it, the other would, too. 

She remained asymptomatic for a full two years after her diagnosis. She continued teaching, went for two-hour walks every Saturday, and cut the umbilical cord when my daughter was born.

My novel was published on November 7. Id held out hope that my mom would live that long, that the publication of the novel would somehow save her. But it didnt. On a flight to visit me, my mom passed out, and the crew could not revive her. The plane made an emergency landing. My mom survived for four days, long enough for my daughter and me to get to California and say goodbye.

Though the tie between my mom and my novel has been severed, I continue to link them in my mind. I cannot think of my book without thinking of my mom. I wish she were here to hold the finished product in her hands, and I miss her every day.

But lately, my daughters favorite book has been Corduroy, which was my moms favorite book to read to me as a child. My daughter makes a certain face when shes concentrating thats a dead ringer for my moms. She sometimes calls out for my mom as though she can see or hear her, even though I cannot.

This, I understand now, is the form immortality takes. My mom lives on through my novel and through my daughter and through me, and while this is not nearly enough, its better than nothing.

T.N. Eyers debut novel, Finding Meaning in the Age of Immortality, is out now.
Springs highlights explore gender, sexuality, activism, performance, self-expression, and the legacy of colonialism on the art world.

Top 10

Adrian Piper: Funk Lessons

Elvan Zabunyan. Afterall, Feb. 6 ($19.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-84638-264-2)

Zabunyan draws on conceptual artist Adrian Pipers interactive performances from 1982 to 1984 to trace the history of funk and soul music, from its radical beginnings as the soundtrack to the civil rights movement to its modernized form marked by performative whitewashing.

The Art of Dying: Writings, 20192022

Peter Schjeldahl. Abrams Press, May 14 ($30, ISBN 978-1-4197-7324-2)

New Yorker art critic Schjeldahl (19422022) reflects on art, life, politics, and his battle against lung cancer in this posthumous collection.

Atlas of Never Built Architecture

Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin. Phaidon, May 22 ($150, ISBN 978-1-83866-653-8)

Comprising paintings, sketches, and digital renderings of unbuilt projects by Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and others, this survey highlights architecture at its most visionary.

Giant Robot: Thirty Years of Defining Asian-American Pop Culture

Edited by Eric Nakamura. Drawn & Quarterly, May 7 ($42.95, ISBN 978-1-77046-713-2)

This compendium traces the history of Giant Robot, which began as a punk-rock zine in 1994 and expanded to galleries and retail stores on the east and west coasts in the 2000s.

The Heirloomist: 100 Treasures and the Stories They Tell

Shana Novak. Chronicle, Apr. 30 ($27.95, ISBN 978-1-7972-2440-4)

Still life photographer Novak pairs photographs of 100 objects, including an ordinary dinner fork and a Vietnam Warera fighter pilots helmet, with the stories of why their owners hold them dear.

Jay Matternes: Paleoartist and Wildlife Painter

Richard Milner, with Ian Tattersall. Abbeville, Apr. 23 ($45, ISBN 978-0-7892-1480-5)

This retrospective surveys the career of a pioneer in the field of natural history illustration, from his murals of extinct mammals to his drawings of birds found in Americas backyards.

The New Television: Video After Television

Edited by Rachel Churner, Rebecca Cleman, and Tyler Maxin. No Place, Apr. 23 ($45, ISBN 978-1-949484-11-3)

The impact of the groundbreaking 1974 Open Circuits conference on video art at MoMA is examined in this scholarly account.

A Programme of Absolute Disorder: Decolonising the Museum

Francoise Verges. Pluto, June 20 ($27, ISBN 978-0-7453-4961-9)

It is time for a complete overhaul of the Western museum tradition, which was designed to showcase work stolen from other cultures, argues French political scientist and curator Verges.

Reframing the Black Figure: An Introduction to Contemporary Black Figuration

Ekow Eshun. National Portrait Gallery, Apr. 2 ($19.95, ISBN 978-1-85514-548-1)

Drawn from an exhibition at Londons National Portrait Gallery, this collection gathers representations of the Black figure from more than 20 Black artists working in the U.K. and the U.S., including Lorna Simpson and Henry Taylor.

Tears of Gold: Portraits of Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian Women

Hannah Rose Thomas. Plough, Feb. 6 ($49.95, ISBN 978-1-63608-080-2)

Spotlighting marginalized women from three continents and three religions, Thomass photographs and her subjects corresponding self-portraits reflect their struggles to reclaim their femininity and personhood after the traumas of ethnic displacement and sexual violence.

Art, Architecture & Photography longlist

ABRAMS

A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging, and Other Queer Possibilities by Ryan Fitzgibbon (May 21, $45, ISBN 978-1-4197-6678-7). The founder of Hello Mr. gathers selections from the magazines archive, including art, photography, essays, poetry, and interviews with the likes of Lady Bunny, John Waters, Ocean Vuong, and Hanya Yanagihara.

Watching New York: Street Style

A to Z by Johnny Cirillo (Apr. 16, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-6994-8). Instagrammer Cirillo, aka The Peoples Paparazzo, presents a compendium of New York City street style from pandemic fashion to the latest trends seen on the sidewalks of SoHo.

Cernunnos

Mark Rydens Yakalina Secrets by Mark Ryden (Apr. 16, $50, ISBN 978-1-4197-7190-3) collects more of the artists paintings and sketches of half-animal, half-plush mythical creatures and the lands they inhabit.

Figure 1

Bertram Brooker: When We Awake! by Michael Parke-Taylor (Mar. 5, $50, ISBN 978-1-77327-243-6) profiles a prominent figure in the Canadian modernist scene and curator of one of the first abstract painting exhibitions in Canada.

Fordham Univ.

Aeffect: The Affect and Effect of Artistic Activism by Stephen Duncombe (May 7, $29.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5315-0651-3) examines what the trend of combining art and activism means for the future of socially impactful yet creative expression.

Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: Women, Memory, and Public Space by Valentina Rozas-Krause, edited by Andrew M. Shanken (May 7, $29.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5315-0639-1), reassesses the role of women in public art, with a particular focus on the lack of female memorials around the world.

David R. GODINE

In the Company of Art: A Museum Directors Private Journals by Perry T. Rathbone (May 21, $28.95, ISBN 978-1-56792-803-7) recounts the authors career, from the 1950s through the 70s, at the St. Louis Art Museum and Bostons Museum of Fine Arts, including his encounters with such artists as Willem de Kooning and Andrew Wyeth.

Frances Lincoln

The Elements of Art: Ten Ways to Decode the Masterpieces by Susie Hodge (Apr. 30, $19.99, ISBN 978-0-7112-8665-8) shares insights into the techniques used to create 30 classic artworks to teach readers how to dissect art.

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Art of the Literary Poster by Allison Rudnick (Mar. 26, $50, ISBN 978-1-58839-774-4) surveys the history of late 19thcentury posters promoting books and magazines and the influence they had on U.S. visual culture and advertising.

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, edited by Denise Murrell (Feb. 27, $65, ISBN 978-1-58839-773-7), examines how the movement expanded beyond its New York City origins to help shape 20th-century modernism and foster a global shift in Black creativity and artistic influence.

MIT

Art as Demonstration: A Revolutionary Recasting of Knowledge by Sven Spieker (Feb. 6, $35, ISBN 978-0-262-04871-2) analyzes how the perception of art as a mode of protest, activism, and resistance has shifted with postWWII and Cold War politics.

Mortevivum: Photography and the Politics of the Visual by Kimberly Juanita Brown (Feb. 6, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-262-54764-2) studies images from the first Black republic in early 19th-century Haiti to the 1994 Rwandan genocide to probe the colonial roots of global photography and the ethics of sensationalizing Black suffering.

Wolkenbugel: El Lissitzsky as Architect by Richard Anderson (Apr. 9, $65, ISBN 978-0-262-04878-1) spotlights Russian painter and designer El Lissitzsky (18901941) and his proposal for a series of eight horizontal skyscrapers to stand at the intersections of Moscows Boulevard Ring.

Monacelli

STILL: The Art of Noticing by Mary Jo Hoffman (May 1, $60, ISBN 978-1-58093-633-0) selects 275 of the best images from Hoffmans project of taking a photograph every day for more than a decade.

Museyon

Kominka: The Beauty and Wisdom of the Japanese Traditional House by Kazuo Hasegawa (Feb. 1, $28.95, ISBN 978-1-940842-70-7). Drawing inspiration from the legacy of premodern Japanese architecture, craftsmanship, and determination, Hasegawa offers a guide to Japans 101 most attractive kominka.

Penguin Press

The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss (Apr. 16, $45, ISBN 978-0-593-29758-2). A former editor of New York magazine interviews artists, writers, and musicians, including Rostam Batmanglij, Sofia Coppola, and Marc Jacobs, to shed light on how their notable works got made.

Phaidon

Tattoo You: A New Generation of Artists (Apr. 3, $59.95, ISBN 978-1-83866-756-6) gathers 700 images featuring the work of 75 tattoo artists to highlight the artistry of tattooing and the innovations being made with this ancient form of self-expression.

Princeton Univ.

Contact: Art and the Pull of Print by Jennifer L. Roberts (May 14, $39.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-691-25585-9) highlights the physical aspects of engraving, lithography, and other forms of printmaking to show what it takes to create an often one-of-a-kind artwork, and surveys pieces by David Hammons, Edgar Heap of Birds, Jasper Johns, and other artists.

Reaktion

Symbolism, Dada, Surrealisms: Selected Writing of Mary Ann Caws by Mary Ann Caws (May 13, $40, ISBN 978-1-78914-857-2) gathers the literary critic and art historians writings on such artistic movements as symbolism, dadaism, and surrealism, including insights into works by Emily Dickinson, Stephane Mallarme, and Marcel Duchamp.

Rizzoli

Housing the Nation: Affordability and Social Equity, edited by Alexander Gorlin and Victoria Newhouse (Mar. 26, $35, ISBN 978-0-8478-7398-2), reframes Americas housing crisis as more than just a failure of the market but an ongoing and ever-growing byproduct of climate change, multigenerational poverty, and racial injustice.

Ride: Antoine Predock: 65 Years of Architecture by Antoine Predock (Apr. 23, $125, ISBN 978-0-8478-9951-7) brings together 3,500 photographs surveying the career of trailblazer Predock, from the La Luz townhouse development in 1960s Albuquerque, N.Mex., to the 2009 construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Running Press

This Is a Book for People Who Love Tattoos by Verena Hutter, illus. by Eric Hinkley (May 7, $17, ISBN 978-0-7624-8595-6), traces the history of the American traditional style and delves into the meaning and origins of designs from across the world.

Scribner

Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the Worlds Tallest Skyscrapers by Jason Barr (May 14, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-9821-7421-7) details the economics, controversial designs, and histories of the worlds skyscrapers, including Dubais 2,717-

feet-tall Burj Khalifa.

Sternberg

Burn & Gloom! Glow & Moon! Thousand Years of Troubled Genders by Katrina Daschner (Feb. 6, $24, ISBN 978-1-915609-31-1) presents the Vienna-based artist and filmmakers work from the 1990s to today.

The Complex Answer: On Art as a Non-binary Intelligence by Chus Martinez (Feb. 13, $25.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-915609-17-5) probes how contemporary art has helped break down the barriers between culture and nature.

Martine Syms: She Mad by Martine Syms (Apr. 2, $35 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-915609-33-5) discusses the five episodes filmed by installation artist Syms between 2015 and 2020 for her TV series She Mad, and how their references to sitcoms, silent films, and other narrative forms comment on representations of Black

identity in mass media.

Tate

A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, edited by Osei Bonsu (Mar. 26, $45 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-84976-851-1), gathers images from Africas leading photographers and corresponding essays touching on such subjects as spirituality, urbanism, and climate change to challenge Western perceptions of the continent.

Thames & Hudson

Claude Cahun by Francois Leperlier (Feb. 13, $16.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-500-29749-0). Born Lucy Schwob, French surrealist Cahun (18941954) pushed against the boundaries of gender and identity in her art and writing. The latest entry in the publishers Photofile series gathers her striking self-portraits and other photographs.

Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography by Ariella Aisha Azoulay et al. (Feb. 6, $85, ISBN 978-0-500-54533-1), challenges the notion of photographers as the sole creators of their work by surveying Susan Meiseaess photos of her neighbors, Endia Bealess images of Black women about to enter the workforce, and other collaborative projects.

Project UrbEx by Ikumi Nakamura (Mar. 5, $50, ISBN 978-0-500-02694-6). The video game creator presents her photographs of abandoned and secret locations, from a derelict high school in New Jersey to the Petrova Gora monument in Croatia.

The Art of Ukraine by Alisa Lozhkina (Apr. 16, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-500-29778-0). The latest entry in the World of Art series chronicles Ukrainian art from the 19th century to the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion.

Univ. of Minnesota

Good Pictures Are a Strong Weapon: Laura Gilpin, Queerness, and Navajo Sovereignty by Louise Siddons (July 30, $34.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5179-1073-0) analyzes 20th-century lesbian photographer Gilpins depictions of the Navajo community, the problematic legacy of white photographers depicting Native cultures, and the limits of allyship.

Viking

Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See by Bianca Bosker (Feb. 6, $29, ISBN 978-0-525-56220-7). The author of Cork Dork returns with a report on how obsession drives the art community and what it means to see the world as artists and collectors do.

Yale Univ.

How to Enjoy Architecture: A Guide for Everyone by Charles Holland (Apr. 23, $25, ISBN 978-0-300-26393-0) invites readers to examine buildings through the eyes of an architect and contends that doing so can bring joy.

The Performer: Art, Life, Politics by Richard Sennett (Apr. 23, $30, ISBN 978-0-300-27290-1) dissects artists uncanny abilities to perform, not just on the stage or canvas but in life and politics.

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This seasons cookbooks get creative with veggies, explore the benefits of outdoor grilling, and crisscross the globe to celebrate and reimagine international flavors.

Top 10

The Authentic Ukrainian Kitchen: Recipes from a Native Chef

Ievgen Klopotenko. Voracious, May 14 ($35, ISBN 978-0-316-55939-3)

Klopotenko, a former winner of Ukraines MasterChef, honors the national cuisine and resilient spirit of the breadbasket of Europe.

Bright Cooking: Recipes for the Modern Palate

Camille Becerra. Chronicle, May 21 ($37.50, ISBN 978-1-79721-385-9)

Chef and food stylist Becerra serves up a medley of plant-forward dishes that she promises are as nourishing as they are eye-catching. 60,000-copy announced first printing.

Dac Biet: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook

Nini Nguyen, with Sarah Zorn. Knopf, June 18 ($38, ISBN 978-0-593-53554-7)

Vietnamese classics get kicked up a notch in this recipe collection, whether by a garnish of salty caviar or a twist of Cajun seasoning from chef Nguyens home city of New Orleans. 75,000-copy announced first printing.

Eat Like a Legend: Delicious, Super Easy Recipes to Perform at Your Peak

Dan Churchill. HarperOne, May 21 ($34.99, ISBN 978-0-06-328422-7)

Athletes and average Joes alike can increase their endurance, focus, and muscle mass through simple, nutritious, and easy weeknight dishes, according to DudeFood author Churchill. 100,000-copy announced first printing.

The Feel Good Foodie Cookbook: 125 Recipes Enhanced with Mediterranean Flavors

Yumna Jawad. Rodale, May 7 ($32.50, ISBN 978-0-593-57950-3)

Jawad, whose Feel Good Foodie blog helped to launch the baked feta pasta trend, shares similarly low-maintenance dishes. 150,000-copy announced first printing.

The I Love My Air Fryer Easy Recipes Book: From Pancake Muffins to Honey Balsamic Chicken Wings, 175 Quick and Easy Recipes

Robin Fields. Adams Media, Apr. 9 ($17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5072-2198-3)

Thanks to the now ubiquitous appliance, ordinary ingredients can become satisfying snacks, mains, and desserts in 30 minutes or less, promises chef Fields. 75,000-copy announced first printing.

The MeatEater Outdoor Cookbook: Wild Game Recipes for the Grill, Smoker, Campstove, and Campfire

Steven Rinella, with Krista Ruane. Random House, Apr. 23 ($38, ISBN 978-0-593-44903-5)

Rinella follows up his bestseller The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook with more than 100 recipes for those looking to catch and prepare their game in the great outdoors.

Plantyou: Scrappy Cooking: 140+ Plant-Based Zero-Waste Recipes That Are Good for You, Your Wallet, and the Planet

Carleigh Bodrug. Hachette Go, Apr. 2 ($32, ISBN 978-0-306-83242-0)

Chefs can save money and the planet with dishes that repurpose pantry leftovers, salvage food scraps, and prioritize veggies, suggests Scrappy Cooking YouTuber Bodrug.

Roots, Heart, Soul: The Story, Celebration, and Recipes of Afro Cuisine in America

Todd Richards, with Amy Paige Condon. Harvest, Feb. 20 ($35, ISBN 978-0-358-61267-4)

The IACP Awardwinning author of Soul traces the rich and complicated history of West African diaspora cooking and spotlights key dishes that define it.

Zaytinya: Delicious Mediterranean Dishes from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon

Jose Andres. Ecco, Mar. 19 ($45, ISBN 978-0-06-332790-0)

Restaurateur Andres shares recipes from his eponymous restaurant and showcases the techniques and traditions used to make them. 100,000-copy announced first printing.

Cooking & Food longlist

ABRAMS

American Grill: 125 Recipes for Mastering Live Fire by Tyler Florence (May 28, $35, ISBN 978-1-4197-6995-5) breaks down the ins and outs of charring, caramelizing, and marinating meats and vegetables over an open flame.

Abrams Image

The Bourbon Drinkers Companion: A Guide to American Distilleries, with Travel Advice, Folklore, and Tasting Notes by Colin Spoelman (May 14, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-6609-1) celebrates the eponymous American spirit with a mix of whiskey history, lore, and distilleries to visit.

Apollo

A Whisper of Cardamom: 80 Sweetly Spiced Recipes to Fall in Love With by Eleanor Ford (Mar. 5, $40, ISBN 978-1-954641-32-7) marries sugar and spice in baked goods and desserts that play up a host of flavor profiles.

Appetite by Random House

The Book of Sandwiches: Delicious to the Last Bite: Recipes for Every Sandwich Lover by Jason Skrobar (Apr. 30, $28, ISBN 978-0-525-61252-0). The lunchtime standby gets its due in this assemblage of classics (the BLT), innovations (soft-shell crab), and creations that some may not think qualify as sandwiches (veggie and meat burgers).

Good Food, Good Mood: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Support Mind and Body Wellness by Tamara Green and Sarah Grossman (Mar. 26, $30, ISBN 978-0-525-61198-1). Nutritionists Green and Grossman show how the stressed-out can cook their way to calm with dishes that balance blood sugar, boost fiber, and provide protein without sacrificing flavor.

Artisan

Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking (More than 60 Recipes Featuring Gochujang, Doenjang, and Ganjang) by Mingoo Kang (Mar. 12, $35, ISBN 978-1-64829-186-9) introduces readers to more than 60 jangsumami sauces that mix soybeans, water, and saltthat form the bedrock of Korean cuisine.

The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions and Stories to Celebrate All Year Long by Naama Shefi (Mar. 12, $35, ISBN 978-1-64829-097-8) gathers family stories and signature festive dishes from 30 Jewish chefs.

Bloomsbury

Greekish: Everyday Recipes with Greek Roots by Georgina Hayden (Apr. 25, $35, ISBN 978-1-5266-3066-7) features weeknight dishes that spotlight such Mediterranean ingredients as fish and halloumi cheese.

Castle Point

Mocktail Lounge: Creative Alcohol-Free Cocktails to Elevate Your Sipping Hour by Dylan Swift (June 11, $18, ISBN 978-1-250-34008-5) promises that happy hour can happen without the booze and offers alternatives beyond the Shirley Temple.

Chronicle

Le Sud: Recipes + Stories from Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur by Rebekah Peppler (Apr. 23, $35, ISBN 978-1-79721-953-0) harnesses the spirit of southern France in a medley of dishes, drinks, and lifestyle tips.

The Vibrant Hong Kong Table: 88 Iconic Vegan Recipes from Dim Sum to Sweet Buns by Christine Wong (Apr. 9, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-79721-991-2) serves up plant-based versions of the citys signature dishes, from sampan congee to fish balls.

DK

Budget Family Food: Delicious Money-Saving Meals for All the Family by Rebecca Wilson (Mar. 19, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-241-62488-3) gets creative with pantry staples and seasonal ingredients in 80 recipes that are easy to make and affordable.

Ecco

Tacos Forever: A Jonathan Gold Reader by Jonathan Gold (July 2, $30, ISBN 978-0-06-239967-0) gathers the late L.A. Times food critics best writing from across an illustrious career. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Familius

Gas Fire Heat: Essential Recipes and Secrets for Cooking Outdoors by Aly Romero (May 14, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-64170-910-1). Home cooks can translate their dishes from the kitchen to the campground, promises chef Romero in this guide to preparing meals in the great outdoors.

Harper Wave

Cook Simply, Live Fully: Flexible, Flavorful Dinner Recipes for Any Mood by Yasmin Fahr (Apr. 16, $37.50, ISBN 978-0-06-328417-3). The NYT Cooking contributor refreshes the ho-hum weekday supper in recipes tailored to energy level, from too tired to chop vegetables to up for a challenge but please make it snappy. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Harvest

Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor by Arielle Johnson (Mar. 12, $40, ISBN 978-0-358-09313-8) delves into the chemistry of flavor, and explores how cooks can utilize it to get creative in the kitchen.

Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share by Valerie Bertinelli (Apr. 2, $35, ISBN 978-0-06-324472-6). Actor and Enough Already author Bertinelli presents recipes that splurge on calories, fancy ingredients, or intricate prep.

Priyas Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids by Priya Krishna (Apr. 30, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-358-69293-5) guides budding chefs on a culinary tour from China to Morocco to Italy, weaving recipes with tales of the Indian-ish authors own childhood travels.

Interlink

Desified: Delicious Recipes for Ramadan, Eid and Every Day by Zaynah Din (Feb. 6, $35, ISBN 978-1-62371-117-7) infuses traditional South Asian flavors into dishes that work equally well for breaking ones fast or preparing a regular weekday meal.

Melville House

Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines by Marc Millon (May 21, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-68589-097-1) traces the countrys history via its vineyards, spotlighting, among other varietals, a grape that dates to ancient Pompeii and a red produced at an estate still owned by Dante Alighieris direct descendants.

Morrow

Anythings Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People by Dan Pashman (Mar. 19, $35, ISBN 978-0-06-329112-6). The Sporkful podcaster and author of Eat More Better turns his attention to nontraditional sauces in recipes for shakshuka and shells, kimchi carbonara, and more.

Norton

Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora by Khushbu Shah (June 11, $35, ISBN 978-1-324-03625-8). Unexpected

grocery store staples, from instant noodles to graham crackers, find their way into Indian fare in this celebration of the cuisines versatility.

Nicoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from Frances Sunniest City by Rosa Jackson (Apr. 9, $39.99, ISBN 978-1-324-02116-2) takes readers to the city on the French Riviera, where the popular cooking school Les Petits Farcis offers seasonal Francophile recipes beyond the salade Nicoise.

Nourish

Bold: Big Flavour Twists to Classic Dishes by Nisha Katona (Mar. 5, $35, ISBN 978-1-84899-423-2) dishes up unorthodox tastes and ingredient combinations (think figgy meatloaf) for those willing to step outside the culinary box.

Phaidon

Classic French Recipes by Ginette Mathiot (Apr. 17, $59.95, ISBN 978-1-83866-679-8) collects more than 170 recipes from the late authority on French home cooking.

Reaktion

China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History by Thomas David DuBois (June 12, $25, ISBN 978-1-78914-861-9) utilizes seven distinct meals to explore different culinary eras of Chinese history, from a lavish Eight Treasures feast of ancient times to a modern delivery menu.

Rodale

Everyday Delicious: 30 Minute(ish) Home-Cooked Meals Made Simple: A Cookbook by Rocco DiSpirito (Apr. 30, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-984825-23-0). The James Beard Award winner shares the low-key weekday dishes that helped reignite his love of cooking for friends and family during the pandemic. 100,000-copy announced first printing.

Running Press

Sip Me, Baby, One More Time: Cocktails Inspired by Pop Musics Iconic Women by Ashley Gibson (Apr. 9, $20, ISBN 978-0-7624-8362-4). Chart-topping tracks from Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift inspire these creative drink recipes that aim to capture the emotions of pop music, from defiance to heartbreak.

Ryland Peters & Small

Bubble Tea: 50 Fun Recipes for Boba and Beyond (June 11, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-78879-585-2) tracks the spread of the trendy Taiwanese drink across North America since 2009, and suggests fruit-flavored and traditional tea-based variations.

Cocina de Andalucia: Spanish Recipes from the Land of a Thousand Landscapes by Maria Jose Sevilla (Apr. 9, $30, ISBN 978-1-78879-587-6) highlights the regions Moorish, Christian, and Jewish roots in 75 recipes.

Sasquatch

Forage. Gather. Feast: 100+ Recipes from West Coast Forests, Shores, and Urban Spaces by Maria Finn (Apr. 9, $29.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63217-486-4) shows how to transform forest huckleberries, backyard mushrooms, and other forageable ingredients into home-cooked meals that honor natures abundance.

Simon Element

My Mexican Mesa, Y Listo! Beautiful Flavors, Family Style by Jenny Martinez (Apr. 30, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-66800-997-0). The TikTokker rounds up 100 dishes that draw on the flavors of her childhood and are best enjoyed around the family table.

Sourcebooks

Hebridean Baker: At Home: Flavors & Folklore from the Scottish Islands by Coinneach MacLeod (Feb. 13, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-4642-1623-7) serves up a medley of traditional dishes, stories, and songs that celebrate the authors home country.

Tuttle

Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking: 80 Amazing Vegan Recipes from Japans Leading Macrobiotic Chef and Food Writer by Yumiko Kano (June 4, $18.99, ISBN 978-4-8053-1745-7) contains a primer on Japanese culinary techniques and an assortment of recipes that aim to transform ordinary vegetables into gourmet meals.

Union Square

Big Night: Dinners, Parties, and Dinner Parties by Katherine Lewin (June 4, $35, ISBN 978-1-4549-5213-8). The owner of the event-planning store Big Night NYC spotlights crowd-pleasing recipes for dinner parties and other big events.

Voracious

Stuzzichini: The Art of the Italian Snack by Stef Ferrari (Apr. 23, $30, ISBN 978-0-316-54390-3) travels from Sicily to Tuscany for an assortment of happy hour bites and cocktails.

Weldon Owen

Sweet Treats from Brownies to Brioche: 10 Ingredients, 100 Recipes by Mel Asseraf (Apr. 16, $35, ISBN 979-8-88674-117-9). The two-time Chopped champion demystifies French cooking techniques and invites readers to use them in recipes for cookies, festive cakes, and fancy French pastries.

Workman

The Vegetable Eater: The New Playbook for Cooking Vegetarian by Cara Mangini (Mar. 19, $35, ISBN 978-1-5235-1494-6) presents more than 100 manageable, vegetable-forward dishes best cooked at home.

Worthy

Love Language of the South: A Celebration of the Food, the Hospitality, and the Stories of My Southern Home by Stacy Lyn Harris (Mar. 5, $32, ISBN 978-1-5460-0426-4). In this ode to her Dixie roots, The Sporting Chef TV host mixes memoir with recipes for Southern classics and entertaining tips.

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Not even 30 seconds had passed since the end of the truce between Israel and Hamas at 7 a.m. Friday when a missile began to trace its path in the sky over Gaza, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said by telephone from an unspecified location in the south of the Palestinian territory. The Australian rushed immediately to Nasser Hospital, the largest in the south of the Strip. There, the faces of traumatized people, living in horrendous conditions and savagely overcrowded once again showed the return of death and fear, the worst nightmare of all, said the UNICEF official. For Elder, what is happening again in Gaza after the brief respite of a weeks ceasefire, is a war against children.

Elder points to the figures provided by the Ministry of Health in the enclave, which estimates that more than 6,000 children have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, representing almost half of the more than 15,000 people who have perished in the Strip since the beginning of the war seven weeks ago. Those figures were endorsed Thursday by the United Nations, which considers them credible. Everybody knows those numbers now. We have reports of 6,000 children killed. UNICEF is an apolitical and impartial organization, but lets look at those numbers: those 6,000 [dead] children show that this war is devastating, Elder said.

Doaa Ulyan, a 33-year-old Gazan refugee living in Rafah with her husband and two children, aged 10 and 8, also finds the situation in Gaza terrifying. Via WhatsApp she explained how, since 7 a.m. Friday, Israel had been shelling even more than before. Originally from Gaza City, Ulyan fled, like hundreds of thousands of her fellow citizens, to the south when Israel ordered the population to evacuate there on October 12. Some 1.7 million of the Strips 2.3 million inhabitants are now crowded into the southern part of the enclave.

Shortly after the truce expired the Israeli army leafleted southern Gaza, ordering a new evacuation, this time in the direction of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. But that area was also heavily bombed as soon as the Israeli offensive resumed.

A group of people in the city of Rafah surround the covered bodies of several victims (some children), in the southern Gaza Strip, after the exchange of fire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas resumed. Anas Baba (EFE)

They told us to go south and we did, and then they started shelling like crazy, Ulyan said. The massacres shown in the images from Gaza are proof enough of the atrocities being committed against innocent civilians. We are waiting for the world to do something to protect us, but we have no more hope and can only ask God to protect us, Ulyan said.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported at least 178 people were killed in Fridays bombardment. The 600 or so wounded that the Strips health authorities have recorded will only have recourse to a health system that the war has brought to its knees, according to Elder.

If the international community does not act, Elder said, it will represent a green light for more children to be killed. The U.N. official finds it disheartening that there are so many people who seem to be comfortable with what is happening in Gaza. At the Nasser Hospital, the children were absolutely terrified. Every single child in Gaza is going to need mental support and they cant get it until this war is over. There are still 1.1 million children in the Strip.

The lives of many of these children have been changed forever, said Elder. In the Palestinian territory, according to data from the Strips health authorities, there are some 2,000 children who have had amputations, such as little Sharma, one year old, who has lost her right leg and arm.

Those who have the power to do so must stop this. The longer [this war] goes on, the deeper the scars will be. We cant begin to look for healing until these atrocities end, Elder said. Children who two months ago may have been in their room at their computers are now forced to look in fear at a sky from which bombs are raining down.

We have nowhere to run

From Khan Younis, 53-year-old Jalil Abu Shamaleh, a former director of the human rights NGO Addameer, on Friday provided this newspaper with several WhatsApp audios in which the incessant roar of warplanes and the buzzing of drones could be heard. Shamaleh also stated that the bombs had not stopped falling since 7 a.m.

People are terrified. They have seen too many people killed before the truce. Most Gazans dont dare go out on the streets. You dont know who might be the next target. Those who venture out do so because they have to meet some urgent need. [The Israelis] have told us to leave, but we have nowhere to run, he said.

The town of Khan Younis, where Shamaleh is sheltering, is one of those that Israel has ordered to evacuate, but some Gazans who sought safety there no longer want to leave. My mom is telling me we are left with one option, to accept death. It doesnt matter if we move or not, any minute now is our last. They say leave Khan Younis for Rafah then strike Rafah. We have no where to go. If we die at least we die in the house not out on the streets... Gazan journalist Jehan Alfarra posted on social media Friday.

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This year, Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka has worked hard to consolidate his power, knowing that he may face some uncertainty at the start of next year. In February 2024, Belarus will hold its parliamentary elections, and the turnout and outcome of this event may be a sign of things to come in Lukashenkas Belarus. In short, Lukashenka is worried about the efforts being orchestrated by the Belarusian opposition.

Following the protests after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, the opposition movement has worked hard to discredit the Lukashenka administration. Many individuals within this camp have written reports and articles highlighting the atrocities committed by the Lukashenka regime. They have also put out statements urging their fellow countrymen and women to oust the current government through the ballot box, and they have encouraged Belarusian citizens to continue speaking out against the government.

The work of the opposition group has not gone unnoticed. Over the past three years, opposition leaders have constantly met with their counterparts in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union to discuss the democratization and future of Belarus. During these sessions, the opposition group has also highlighted known human rights violations by the Lukashenka regime. The opposition movement has even worked with Western leaders to craft sanctions that should be imposed on Belarusian government officials to punish them for their actions. This has ranged from visa restrictions for government officials to removing Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international monetary system. The belief is to put pressure on the Lukashenka administration so that it eases its hold on Belarusian society.

But the Belarusian leader has worked hard to undermine these efforts. This year, Lukashenkas government banned several opposition political parties, meaning these organizations will no longer have representation in the Belarusian parliament. Meanwhile, some political parties that support Lukashenka and his government have also dissolved. This means that voters will have fewer options at the polls, and political parties that favor Lukashenka are more likely to gain representation in parliament.

Lukashenka has also increased his threats. He has previously threatened to use the death penalty on individuals who behave in matters that act out against the Belarusian state. Several opposition members, or individuals deemed unfavorable by the Lukashenka regime, have also been beaten and forcibly imprisoned. This has made this situation more dangerous, and several Belarusians are now hesitant to speak out against the regime, fearing for their safety. Others are hesitant to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

Finally, the Belarusian government has stepped up its surveillance. Belarusian police have been known to control the streets, preventing Belarusian citizens from gathering and demonstrating. Meanwhile, the Belarusian government controls the media, meaning that opposition candidates have found it difficult to speak out against the current government. Belarusian authorities also control the voting centers. As a result, many are expecting the vote count to be rigged in favor of the Belarusian government, and the election results may even be considered a sham. The opposition movement has even stated that it will not recognize the results of the parliamentary elections, where the group will deem the election illegitimate.

With this in mind, how can Belarusian citizens oppose their autocratic government? One method is through pacifism, where thousands of voters will opt not to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections. A lower voter turnout may force the government to consider how it treats its citizens. On the other hand, if Belarusians opt not to participate in the election, this would all but guarantee victory for Lukashenkas supporters.

Another option is for the citizens to work more closely with the opposition movement. Recently, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with EU representatives to discuss identification for Belarusians living in exile. The proposal would be to issue documentation, such as passports, for Belarusians who oppose the Lukashenka regime, and for those who are unable to return to Belarus to renew their documents for concerns of their safety. This would allow these Belarusians to carry documentation without having to return to Belarus, where they could face jail time. The proposal, however, is in its preliminary stages and has not been recognized by other governments.

In short, the government has threatened to torture and imprison opposition leaders, and it is doing everything it can to undermine the movement. Despite these threats, the Belarusian movement remains strong and active. The group has evolved, and it is exploring how it can bring true democracy and prosperity to the country. The Belarusian parliamentary elections may be a foregone conclusion in Lukashenkas favor, but it will be the first opportunity for the opposition to make its mark since the rigged Belarusian presidential election in 2020. Opposition leaders should continue to do everything they can to mobilize the Belarusian people against the oppressive regime. The actions of the opposition movement, and the outcome of the parliamentary elections, may be a sign of things to come in Belarus in the near future. They must seize the moment.

Mark Temnycky is an accredited freelance journalist covering Eurasian affairs and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Councils Eurasia Center. He can be found on X @MTemnycky
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Javier Milei (left) and Rodolfo Barra. Agencias .

The president-elect of Argentina, the far-right Javier Milei, appointed Rodolfo Barra, a former Minister of Justice forced to resign in 1996 due to his past in pro-Nazi organizations, as the future head of the States Attorneys this Friday. The appointment, which will take effect on December 10, generated rejection from the Jewish community in Argentina, the largest in Latin America.

Barra, 75 years old, was in the 1990s one of the most powerful men in the government of Peronist Carlos Menem (1989-1999). After a stint in the Supreme Court, he left his position to take office as Minister of Justice in 1994. Two years later, a Peronist investigation revealed that he had joined the Tacuara organization, with Nazi and ultranationalist tendencies. Noticias magazine published his photo giving the Nazi salute when he was only 13 years old. The newspaper Pagina 12 revealed days later that he had been detained for a tar attack on a synagogue. Barra resigned on the eve of a large protest demonstration called by the Jewish community in front of the Casa Rosada. The terrorist attacks against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and against the Amia Jewish mutual fund in 1994, which left 85 dead, were still fresh.

At that time, Barra sent a letter to the Delegation of Argentine Israeli Associations (Daia). They took advantage of youthful idealism to direct it toward extreme positions, he wrote in the third person. Then he apologized: If I was a Nazi, I regret it. This Friday Daia remembered that letter. Dr. Rodolfo Barra [...] expressed to the Daia in the nineties an apology for his horrific behaviors and manifestations when he was young. It is important to highlight what happened, since he will be in charge of the highest body of the State Lawyers Corps and will have as its central axis the fight against anti-Semitism and discrimination. The Daia will be present to ensure their adherence to the law and that this is fulfilled no matter who governs.

Other sectors of the Argentine Jewish community went beyond the warning. The Argentine Forum Against Antisemitism (Faca), made up of dozens of intellectuals, journalists and academics, said that Barras appointment is a direct affront to the democratic and plural spirit of Argentina. A new government cannot begin its administration by harboring individuals who have professed anti-Semitism or any form of expression of hate in its ranks, said Faca.

Barra will be in charge of the Attorney Generals Treasury. From that position he will advise the state on legal matters and defend it from possible lawsuits. His job will not be easy: he will have to shield the far-right administration from the demands he expects to receive after the application of an adjustment plan that will affect ministries, unions and the distribution of funds to the provinces. Barra has experience in this, because in the 1990s he advised Menem on the privatization of more than 60 state companies. Milei will recover that privatizing spirit starting in December.

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The colder weather and upcoming holidays have raised concerns that there will be a rise in COVID-19 cases. Due to these concerns, the federal government is allowing households to order four free COVID-19 tests.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.

Image used only for representation. Photograph: ANI Photo

In Rajasthan, the party appointed former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Madhusudan Mistry, Mukul Wasnik and Shakeel Ahmed Khan as All India Congress Committee observers, according to an official statement on Saturday.

'The Congress president has appointed AICC observers to coordinate the meetings of the Congress Legislature Party with immediate effect,' it said.

In Telangana, the party chief appointed Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Deepa Das Munshi, Ajoy Kumar, K Muraleedharan and K J George as observers.

For Chhattisgarh, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken, Ramesh Chennithala and Pritam Singh have been sent as AICC observers, while for Madhya Pradesh party leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Prithviraj Chavan, Rajeev Shukla and Chandrakanth Handore have been deputed.

'The general secretaries and in-charges of the respective states will coordinate the same with above observers,' AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said in an order.

Counting of votes in four states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana will be held on Sunday.

In Mizoram, votes will be counted on Monday.

*****

Congress alleges tampering with postal ballot box in Ujjain

Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district on Saturday alleged that the paper seals on a box containing postal ballots were found to be broken, a claim the returning officer denied.

Counting of votes for the assembly elections held on November 17 will be held on Sunday.

Mahesh Parmar, sitting Congress MLA from Tarana assembly constituency in the district, alleged that when he along with some party workers visited the strongroom where the boxes have been kept, they found that old seals on one of the boxes had been broken and new seals, still wet, had been affixed.

But collector Kumar Purushottam, who is also the returning officer for the district, said as per the Election Commission of India's (ECI) directives, the boxes of postal ballots were shifted from the district treasury to the counting centre at the Government Engineering College in the presence of representatives of all political parties and candidates during the day.

The process was videographed, he added.

The Congress candidate from the Mahidpur seat objected that there was no paper seal on the lock of the box containing ETPBS (electronically transmitted postal ballot system) votes of Service voters, the collector said.

On inspection, it was found that there were two seals on the lid but not on the lock, Purushottam said.

"There was no question of anyone opening the box as there were paper seals. The video shows that no seal was broken," he said, adding that a seal was put on the lock in the candidate's presence.
On the eve of the counting of votes in Rajasthan, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have started reaching out to independent candidates, including rebels, and smaller parties.

IMAGE: A view of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. Photograph: ANI Photo

Nearly 40 rebels from both parties have contested elections after being denied tickets and have put up a tough fight.

With several exit polls predicting a tight race between the BJP and the Congress, MLAs from this group could play a crucial role.

Sources in the two parties said preparations have been made at different levels to ensure that independent and rebel candidates who win elections are brought to their fold in case of a split verdict.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra on Thursday soon after exit poll predictions were released.

On Friday, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje also met the Governor.

While most pollsters predicted an edge for the BJP, three exit polls in their upper limit forecast a Congress win in the desert state.

"The party leaders are in touch with the independents and rebels," a Congress source said while expressing confidence that the party will form the government.

Similarly, sources in the BJP also said that the leaders were approaching the party rebels who contested elections as independents.

Apart from the rebels, the parties are exploring the possibilities of post-poll alliances with smaller parties, if required.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), the Communist Party of India-Marxist are among the parties contesting elections in the state.

While the BJP has not formed any pre-poll alliance, Congress left one seat (Bharatpur) for its partner the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

Some of the BJP rebels are Ravindra Singh Bhati (Sheo), Chandrabhan Singh Aakya (Chittorgarh), Yoonus Khan (Deedwana), Kailash Meghwal (Shahpura), Asha Meena (Sawai Madhopur), Ashu Singh Surpura (Jhotwara), Rohitashv Sharma (Bansur) while Virendra Beniwal (Lunkaransar), Gopal Baheti (Pushkar), Ramchandra Saradhana (Virat Nagar) are among other Congress rebels.

In the 2018 assembly elections, Congress had secured 99 out of 199 seats that went to polls and formed the government while its ally RLD also won one seat.

The Congress later won the one seat (Ramgarh) where elections were held later because of the demise of the BSP candidate.

In September 2019, all six BSP MLAs defected to the Congress.
An Enforcement Directorate officer was arrested for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a a government employee, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), said on Friday.

IMAGE: ED officer Ankit Tiwari being taken from the DVAC office to be produced before a judicial magistrate in Dindigul on Friday. Photograph: ANI Photo

After he was taken into custody in Dindigul, a team of the DVAC officials held 'enquiries' at the sub-zone ED office in Madurai, with state policemen standing guard outside the central government office.

An official release from DVAC identified the arrested official as Ankit Tiwari, "serving as an Enforcement Officer in the Madurai Enforcement Department office of the Union Government."

In October, he contacted a government employee from Dindigul and mentioned about a vigilance case registered against him in that district which was "already disposed off."

Tiwari "informed the employee that instructions had been received from the Prime Minister's Office to conduct an enquiry" and asked the government employee to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30, it said.

When the man went to Madurai, Tiwari asked him to pay Rs 3 crore to avoid legal action in the case, DVAC alleged.

"Later, he said that he had spoken to his superiors and as per their directions, he agreed to collect Rs 51 lakh as bribe. On November 1, the said employee had given him Rs 20 lakh as first instalment of bribe. Later, he (Tiwari) intimidated the employee on several occasions through WhatsApp calls and text messages that he should pay the full amount of Rs 51 lakh, otherwise he would face dire consequences," the release said.

The government employee grew suspicious and lodged a complaint at the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit on Thursday.

On Friday, the sleuths of DVAC caught Ankit Tiwari after he received Rs 20 lakh as bribe from the complainant.

"Subsequently, he was arrested at 10.30 am under Prevention of Corruption Act. It is pertinent to mention that the sleuths have seized several incriminating documents regarding his misconduct. Investigation is being done to elucidate whether he had blackmailed/ threatened any other officials adopting this modus operandi" and collected money in the name of Enforcement Directorate, the anti-graft agency of the Tamil Nadu government said.

Enquiry will also be conducted to ascertain the possible involvement of other ED officials, it said, adding Vigilance authorities were conducting searches at the residence of Tiwari and his Enforcement Directorate office at Madurai.

"Further searches will be conducted at the places associated with Ankit Tiwari," the release said.

Earlier, after the arrival of DVAC sleuths at the office of the central agency in Madurai, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were deployed by authorities inside the ED office as a 'security' measure.

The presence of the state police and the Central police force (ITBP, under the Central Armed Police Forces) at the same time led to a flutter for a while in the Madurai neighbourhood.

Dindigul, about 430 km from Chennai is near Madurai and about 100 km from Tiruchirappalli in central Tamil Nadu.

The arrest of the ED officer comes as the mouthpiece of the state's ruling party DMK, 'Murasoli' on Friday in a hard-hitting editorial accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using the Enforcement Directorate to tarnish the Tamil Nadu government's reputation.



The Congress sought to put the blame on the ED stating that the official arrested on bribery charge should not have run if he was innocent.

"Based on the information and complaint received by the Tamil Nadu police they went to check to the enforcement department office. If he was innocent, he could have faced them and why did he run away at the time...," Tamil Nadu Congress President KS Alagiri said.



The BJP, however stated that it was unfair to implicate the entire department for the misconduct of one individual.



Addressing media persons in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu State BJP chief K Annamalai said, "Yesterday, DVAC arrested one person from the ED department. He was produced before the court and sent for judiciary custody. This is not the first time and this isn't the last time either. Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialized agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi. Recently, a similar incident happened in Rajasthan...We can't blame the ED for a single individual's mistake."

With inputs from ANI
Banking on the Ashok Gehlot dispensation's welfare measures in Rajasthan, will the Congress on Sunday buck the trend of the state not repeating a government in the past three decades?

IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi during an election rally. Photograph: ANI Photo

In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to power alternately.

While most pollsters have predicted an edge for the BJP in Rajasthan, three exit polls in their upper limit forecast a Congress win in the assembly polls held on November 25.

With varying predictions, nothing is being left to chance. The Congress as well as the BJP have started reaching out to Independent candidates, including rebels, and even smaller outfits in case there is a split verdict.

Preparations have been made at different levels to ensure that Independent and rebel candidates, who win the elections, are reached out to, sources in both parties said.

There are more than 40 rebels from the BJP and the Congress who contested the elections after they were denied tickets.

Some of them are expected to win, the sources said, ahead of counting of votes for 199 of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan on Sunday. There are 1,862 candidates in the fray.

The Congress is hopeful to break the 'riwaj' of the ruling party being voted out in every election. The BJP, however, has claimed that the electorate will keep to the practice.

The BJP based its campaign in the state on the development ushered by its government at the Centre and by targeting Chief Minister Gehlot on issues such as exam paper leaks and appeasement politics.

Though the Congress has not announced its chief ministerial candidate, it is believed that Gehlot is the frontrunner for the post.

The BJP too has fought the elections without naming a CM candidate, but Gehlot's predecessor Vasundhara Raje is one of the probables from the party.

Ahead of counting day, Raje had met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders at the Bharti Bhawan in Jaipur on Friday evening.

On Saturday, the former chief minister visited the Moti Dungari Ganesh temple and Mehandipur Balaji temple in Dausa to offer prayers.

Sources said she is in touch with her loyalists and supporters who are contesting assembly elections to solidify her position before the results.

Rajasthan recorded a 75.45 per cent voter turnout on November 25, higher than the 74.71 per cent in 2018.

Due to the demise of the Congress' candidate in the Karanpur constituency, election there was postponed, and therefore, polling was conducted in 199 seats.

Leading the campaign for the Congress were its president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Gehlot, the BJP's campaign was spearheaded by top leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The BJP had given tickets to 59 MLAs, including Congress MLA Girraj Singh Malinga, and six Lok Sabha members and one Rajya Sabha member.

The Congress had fielded 97 MLAs, including seven independent MLAs and Shobharani Kushwah who was expelled from the BJP last year.

One of the major faces who joined the BJP from the Congress and contested the assembly polls was former Nagaur MP Jyoti Mirdha.

Nagaur MP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal also contested the assembly elections. The RLP is contested in alliance with the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) led by Chandrashekhar Azad.

The BJP contested on all seats while the Congress left Bharatpur for its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) like it did even in 2018.

The RLD currently holds the Bharatpur seat and Subhash Garg, who is the sitting MLA, contested the elections as its candidate.

Other parties which contested include the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Bharat Adiwasi Party, the Bhartiya Tribal Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.

In the exit polls predictions on November 30, India Today-Axis My India forecast a tight race, predicting 86-106 seats for the Congress, 80-100 seats for the BJP and others 9-18. Dainik Bhaskar gave 98-105 seats to the BJP and 85-95 to the Congress and Jan Ki Baat 100-122 to the BJP and 62-85 to the Congress.

TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat predicted 100-110 for the BJP and 90-100 for the Congress, Times Now ETG 108-128 for the BJP and 56-72 for the Congress and Today's Chankaya gave a simple majority to the Congress.

India TV-CNX put the Congress' tally at 94 to 104 and the BJP's at 80-90, Republic TV-Matrize gave 115-130 seats to the BJP and 65-75 to the Congress, and P-MARQ 105-125 to the BJP and 69-91 to the Congress.

Jist-TIF-NAI predicted that in Rajasthan there would be continuation of the state's revolving door tradition.

Currently, the Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 70, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, CPI (M) two and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) two, Rashtriya Lok Dal one in the assembly. There are 13 Independents in the House. Two seats (Udaipur and Karanpur) are vacant.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said preparations for the counting have been completed.

"The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. In total, 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates and their representatives," he said.
The fate of the candidates locked in EVMs for 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh will be unsealed on Sunday as arrangements for counting of votes are ready, a top poll official said on Saturday.

IMAGE: BJP President JP Nadda with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Photograph: ANI Photo

Many exit polls have kept the incumbent Bharatiya Janata party ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.

The state saw a record voter turnout of 77.82 per cent, 2.19 per cent more than the 2018 elections, the official said.

The counting for all 230 assembly seats in MP will begin at 8 am on Sunday (December 3) at 52 district headquarters amid tight security.

All necessary preparations for the counting have been made, he said.

Chief Electoral Officer of Madhya Pradesh Anupam Rajan said that 77.15 polling per cent was recorded through the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

If postal ballots are added, the polling percentage goes up to 77.82, which is 2.19 percentage points more than the previous polls (2018), when turnout was 75.63 per cent, Rajan said.

A total of 692 tables have been placed for the counting of postal ballots in all districts, while 4,369 tables have been set up to place the EVMs, he said.

According to Rajan, postal ballots will be counted between 8 am and 8.30 am, after which the counting of votes through EVMs will begin in the presence of officials and political parties' authorised agents.

Soon after the postal ballots are counted, its result will be declared candidate-wise by the officials concerned and the exercise will be followed after the completion of each round of counting, he said.

At 26, Jhabua seat will see the highest number of counting rounds, while the lowest number of 12 rounds will be held in Sevda constituency in Datia district, he said.

All arrangements have been made for conducting the counting and all the district returning officers, police commissioners and superintendent of police were directed to follow necessary security protocols. The government has declared the day of counting a dry' day, during which all wine and liquor shops shall remain closed, he said.

A three-tier security arrangement will be in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centres, he said.

Rajan said that 51,259 citizens above 80 years and 12,093 physically challenged voters polled from home this time.

He said about 3.04 lakh personnel engaged in polling work exercised their franchise through postal ballots.

The EVMs will decide the electoral fate of 2,533 candidates who were in the fray for the 230 assembly seats, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the EVMs will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers -- Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

It will also decide the political fortunes of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya who contested from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party -- Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak.

Besides main contenders Congress and the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are among the other players that fielded their candidates. The number of votes garnered by these candidates will also be a crucial factor in deciding the winner from any constituency.

The electioneering saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Union minister Rajnath Singh, CM Chouhan addressing rallies to drum up support for the saffron party's nominees.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Digvijaya Singh and Nath were among the key leaders of the opposition party who held rallies to canvass for their nominees.
Mossad agents negotiating the potential renewal of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas left Qatar on Saturday due to an impasse in the talks.

IMAGE: Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 2, 2023. Photograph: Ahmed Zakot/Reuters

'Due to the impasse in negotiations and following instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad chief David Barnea ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel,' the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Saturday night.

'The Hamas terror group did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement, including releasing all the women and children in accordance with a list provided to Hamas and approved by it,' the statement added.

'[Barnea] thanks the head of the CIA, Egypt's intelligence minister and the prime minister of Qatar for their partnership in the tremendous mediation efforts that led to the release of 84 women and children from Gaza, in addition to 24 foreign nationals,' it noted.

The IDF resumed combat operations in Gaza on Friday morning after Hamas broke a week-long ceasefire by firing rockets at the Jewish state.

Barnea has repeatedly flown to Doha to hold discussions aimed at securing the release of additional hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Amid renewed fighting, Israel's government said it remains committed to seeing that all the hostages return home.

137 hostages remain in Hamas captivity

According to the latest numbers, 137 remain in captivity. Of those, 20 are women and 117 are men. They include 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners.

Israel has focused on the return first of women and children. The two hostages under the age of 18 are nine month-old Kfir Bibas and her four year-old brother, Ariel. Hamas purposefully separated families.

Hamas claims the two Bibas children and their mother are dead but has not provided evidence.

Israeli media reports speculated that Hamas is trying to extract more concessions for the remaining and children, or because Hamas doesn't want them publicly talking about their captors treated them.

The only minors freed in Thursday's releases were 17 year-old Aisha Ziyadne and her 18 year-old brother Bilal, from the Bedouin community of Rahat. Their father and a 25 year-old brother are still in captivity.

Ten other hostages are 75 or older.

Eleven of the remaining captives are foreign nationals.

During a seven-day truce, 105 hostages were released, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals. In exchange, Israel freed 210 Palestinian prisoners -- all of whom were women or minors -- and allowed deliveries of food, water, medicine and fuel into Gaza.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Some people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.
A man from Manipur, his wife and his sister were allegedly assaulted by a group of people from the same state in southeast Delhi's Sunlight Colony area, police said on Saturday.

Police added that the victims earlier told them that they were Meiteis and suspected that they were beaten up by people from their 'opponent group'.

According to a police official, the accused have been identified and it has been confirmed that the incident is not an outcome of any tribal or ethnic clash.

The victim belong to the Meitei community while the alleged attackers belong to Poumai community, the official said.

The incident took place because both the parties alleged that the other party 'insulted' the females accompanying them, police said.

A video of the incident has surfaced in which the people involved in clash are seen punching each other.

Police said two women, who were seen in the video, have been identified. The other accused are Vielsielou, Marizo , Alex and James. They had a party at Vielsielou's residence.

Police learned that the man, his wife and his sister were dropping a friend home on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

"On the way, three strangers, including a woman, approached them and asked them to help book a ride for Munirka as their phone's batteries had run out," a police officer said.

While waiting for the ride to be confirmed, one of the accused allegedly started abusing and insulting the man and assaulted his wife and his sister, the official said.

The man said the accused had allegedly passed lewd remarks on his sister and wife on which he objected, according to police.

The accused turned violent and called a few more people to the spot, who attacked him, his wife and his sister, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast district) Rajesh Deo said a case of hurt, rioting and outraging the modesty of women has been registered at the Sunlight Colony police station. Further investigations are on.

Manipur has been witnessing ethnic clashes between the Meitei and tribal Kuki communities since May, resulting in the death of more than 180 people.

Following the outbreak of violence in the northeastern state, the Delhi Police had issued an alert.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reacted to a viral selfie his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni took with him on the sidelines of the COP28 meet in Dubai, saying 'meeting friends is always a delight'.

IMAGE: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni takes a selfie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP28 Summit in Dubai. Photograph: @GiorgiaMeloni/X

Meloni had on Friday posted the selfie on X with the remarks, 'Good friends at COP28' followed by hashtag 'Melodi', a mix of the two leaders' surnames.

The warm picture of the two leaders smilingly into the camera has gone viral since.

Meloni also posted the picture on Instagram with the same caption.

Modi also posted a picture with his Italian counterpart and talked about efforts by the two countries for a sustainable and prosperous future.

'Met PM @GiorgiaMeloni of Italy on the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit. Looking forward to collaborative efforts between India and Italy for a sustainable and prosperous future,' Modi said in a post wrote on X.

IMAGE: Modi interacts with Meloni at the COP28 Summit. Photograph: @narendramodi/X

Modi addressed the opening session of the World Climate Action Summit, the ceremonial opening of the high-level segment for heads of state and government, and attended the Presidency's session on Transforming Climate Finance, another high-level event on Green Credits Programme, and a Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) event in Dubai.

He met a slew of world leaders including Meloni, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Turkey President R T Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu.

Modi also met Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, President of Guyana Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the Swiss Confederation President Alain Berset, Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon.

-- with ANI inputs
The Congress in Telangana has asked its candidates who contested in the assembly elections and the agents to stay at the counting centres throughout the day to oversee the process on Sunday.

IMAGE: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar. Photograph: ANI Photo

The elections for the 119-member assembly were held on November 30 and the counting will take place on December 3.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a virtual meeting with senior party leaders on Saturday and asked them to be vigilant, party sources said in Hyderabad.

The sources also said Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is expected to reach Hyderabad on Saturday. His visit is understood to help the state party leaders and to prevent any poaching of MLAs.

Earlier in the day in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said that some people were trying to get in touch with the winning candidates in Telangana. However, the Congress will manage it locally, he added.

Expressing confidence that Congress would win the Telangana assembly elections with a comfortable majority, party leaders said exit polls also predicted an edge for the grand old party in the state.
Oscar Naranjo Trujillo (Bogota, 66 years old) is one of Colombias best-known police officers. Not only was he police commander in Alvaro Uribes government, but he also served as vice president under Juan Manuel Santos between 2017 and 2018. Before all of this, before the limelight, he was one of the central members of the final pursuit of Pablo Escobar, as one of the intelligence experts of the so-called Search Bloc.

Thirty years after the capos death, he has written El derrumbe de Pablo Escobar (The fall of Pablo Escobar), an account of how the state managed to overthrow the narco boss it confronted, who left tens of thousands of victims. He told EL PAIS in the north of Bogota that he firmly believes it is impossible to think about Escobar without focusing on his victims.

Question. You have just published a book about the operation that resulted in the death of Pablo Escobar 30 years ago. Why now?

Answer. I wrote this book thinking of Pablo Escobars victims, of whom there are thousands and who have become anonymous during all these years. The country has embarked on a process of reparations to the victims. Thank God we are working for truth, for justice. However, little has been said about the victims of drug trafficking.

Q. You also talk about the key players in the capos entrapment.

A. Yes, after 30 years, people remember Escobar and not people like General Hugo Martinez Poveda, who was the architect of the fight to neutralize him. Nor Jaime Ramirez Gomez, who delivered the first structural blow against drug trafficking, in Tranquilandia. Nor Valdemar Franklin Quintero, who was murdered on the same day as Luis Carlos Galan.

The idea, rather than just talking about Pablo Escobar, is to put this history into context and offer some reflections. It would appear that in these 30 years we have been on a stationary bicycle: drug trafficking continues to cause damage in spite of the prohibitionist policy. Consumption, production, violence and corruption have all increased. Democratic ungovernability is now on the rise, as drug trafficking structures exert a kind of criminal governance in parts of Colombia and Latin America.

Q. A rather bleak scenario...

A. It is a bleak picture, but one that should not be ignored. The world should be motivated to widen the debate. As the U.S. government mentioned in the latest cooperation document with Colombia, this problem needs to be addressed holistically.

Q. What was Escobar looking for with a narco-state?

A. When I approached him as a target to be brought to justice, I discovered that he was a criminal who not only sought to profit from drug trafficking, but he also harbored a political appetite. There is nothing more dangerous than a criminal who wants to enter politics. Thats what he did, he was an alternate representative to the House of Representatives for Antioquia, he made it to the Congress of the Republic. His goal was to lead this country into a narco-state. That became clear when the narcos managed to summon a former president, Alfonso Lopez, and Attorney General Carlos Jimenez Gomez to a meeting in Panama. They offered to pay the foreign debt. It was blackmail to buy Colombians.

Q. The book recounts that Escobar escalated violence by attacking the families of his persecutors.

A. Pablo Escobar was a disruptive criminal. There was an unspoken rule between criminal and authority, so the families of the officials were safe from confrontation. But he broke this, threatening the families of those who persecuted him and this has not been overcome. There are organizations that target families. In 2007, I had to take one of my daughters out of Colombia because a plan, not a threat, by the North Valley Cartel to kidnap and disappear her was discovered. The seed that Escobar sowed is still alive. Pablo left a damaging legacy: he installed among Colombians the idea that killing is legitimate if it solves a problem.

Q. The book points out that Escobar is a popular figure among some people.

A. There are two dimensions to this issue. One is emotional, it is the tremendous bewilderment when you see a young man in a street in Rome, Madrid or London wearing a T-shirt with his image on it, you feel sadness because that young man was manipulated by a narrative that distorted reality. What does he think Pablo Escobar was, a benefactor, a criminal, a murderer?

From a rational, cognitive point of view, in Colombia we are experiencing a cultural deficit because the narrative of the drug traffickers has been imposed  a process they promote in order to legitimize themselves. A society should not only entrench itself in criminal justice to bring about sanctions. It must develop a cultural movement that strengthens democratic values and principles. Culture tends to recreate episodes that impact society. Our problem is that much of the literature on drug trafficking originates from former drug traffickers. We are missing an external look, we need a Colombian Mario Puzo.

Oscar Naranjo Trujillo holds his book 'The fall of Pablo Escobar', in Bogota. NATHALIA ANGARITA

Q. Is that because drug trafficking is still present?

A. It is still present, but in a much more difficult to understand way. They are no longer organizations headed by well-defined figures; the command and control is unclear. There are three levels: those who are in the operation of drug trafficking, those who form the private armies of drug trafficking, and those who profit from drug trafficking and are in an invisible comfort zone. These are money launderers or financiers that no one pursues and move like a fish in water in society. In addition, the globalization of crime is a post-modern trait.

Q. It is often said that the Mexican cartels came to Colombia and replaced the Colombian ones.

A. There is a division of labor: those who produce, those who transport, those who distribute, those who launder the assets. However, the Mexican organizations are important. They have managed to subordinate Colombian organizations and those from other Latin American countries to become their suppliers.

Q. Does that change the fight against them?

A. The challenge is to see how the state competes with criminal organizations. Pablos challenge was direct, it was for the seizure of national power. Today the organizations compete in territories where the absence of the state is very evident and where the choices for the future of young people hinge on being recruited by these organizations.

For this challenge, the 2016 peace agreement opened some roads, and much of this recipe lies in implementing it. For example, the comprehensive rural reform is aimed at transforming life in the territories, so that the state becomes an ally and a guarantor of rights and freedoms. This includes progress in crop substitution, accrediting land ownership, in the local infrastructure required to generate housing, education and conditions for the formal economy to grow. While this does not happen, the illegal economy will continue to prevail.

Q. When a state faces a challenge like Pablo Escobar and overcomes it, it usually reinforces some of its capacities, did that happen in Colombia?

A. Against organized crime, in conventional terms, Colombian institutions today are very competitive and capable. It is sufficient to recall how the criminal institution judges, who were responsible for issuing arrest warrants or search warrants to the cartel, operated under staircases in old public buildings. Today there is a Prosecutors Office that, despite all its flaws, is probably the most powerful in Latin America regarding its investigative and prosecutorial capabilities. Or the police, which back then had three or six helicopters, today has dozens.

Q. And what is missing?

A. The most difficult thing is to change the vision. In a guerrilla war, like the one Colombia experienced, territory is a factor of weakness, because whoever remains static is annihilated. When the peace agreement was signed, that logic is not transformed to make territorial control permanent. We have capabilities that have not adapted to this new reality. The big operations against drug trafficking come from the central level: Prosecutors Offices, police, military, they arrive at a place, confiscate or capture, and leave.

We are suffering from an inability to adapt to new realities. For instance, while in the world especially in the United States  there is an increasingly flexible regulation of marijuana consumption, in Colombia we have been incapable of transforming the territories where there is marijuana.

Q. When Pablo Escobar was the threat, we knew who the enemy was, what his source of financing was, what his bases were. Today this is more scattered. Is there a lack of capacity to adapt?

A. It is more complex today. The problem requires bringing together state institutions with academia, communities, intelligence and international cooperation to understand what is happening. Usually, there is a simplification in the diagnosis. It is believed that a criminal gang operating in Catatumbo is the same as one operating in Putumayo, but it turns out that the mentality is different, the motives are different, the incentives are different, the conditions are different. However, the institutional recipe has to be national.

Q. Does defeating Pablo Escobar give you the hope that you can repeat your success against these complex challenges?

A. Yes, just as there is a cursed bequest from Pablo, there are also some lessons learned. The successful ones are, first, the need for political determination. It is essential for there to be a political leadership that has a minimum consensus to tackle the problem. We would like it to be totally clear in the fight against poverty or crime. The second is the need for institutions that respond to this political determination and understand that the end does not justify the means. Political will needs to be based on respect for human rights as a bedrock. Thinking that the end is achieved by justifying the means causes enormous damage. The third is the need for citizen participation to accompany this political will. Finally, we need the capacity for scrutiny, oversight and supervision in order to correct errors.

Those lessons are there, but Colombia cannot solve this problem alone. International cooperation is required. It is necessary to know who the strategic allies are that accompany the fight, which, in the case of drug trafficking, have been the United Kingdom and, especially, the United States. After the murder of the minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, when we made an inventory of the armored cars the state had, there were six or seven of them. A few weeks later, the American cooperation sent us a fleet of 30 or 50 to protect the most threatened individuals. That reflects a very closely engaged diplomacy with the allies.

Q. This anecdote also shows the change experienced in 40 years in society in general.

A. Yes, Colombia is very different from the Escobar period, in every sense. For instance, there were no models for financial control of money laundering. Legislation was minimal and the protocols that are imposed today did not exist. Colombian intelligence in the fight against crime has become one of the best in the world, with a capacity not only based on technology but also on human intelligence sources. That is how we reached the impenetrable FARC camps, with human sources and electronic intelligence verification afterwards.

Progress has been made. We should not be gloomy, but much more open in the debate on how to deal with these problems and be more proactive in the formulation of public policies. For example, the government has just issued the drug policy. The problem is how to make it happen. We Colombians are very good at inspiring, we write well, we make excellent laws, but we do not comply with them and we do not execute them. The peace agreement is a perfect example. It is catalogued as the most complete agreement to relinquish a guerrilla conflict, but the speed at which it is implemented is insufficient.

Q. Do you see other major risks?

A. The biggest problem is that some criminal economies seem to be protected, as is the case of illegal gold mining. Its like in the 1970s or 1980s when it comes to money laundering, we have no tools. People buy and sell gold through official channels and we dont know where it comes from. It has been impossible for governments to return to the situation when the Bank of the Republic was the only verifier of gold, which could accredit its origin. Today, it is bought by private individuals, transported, melted and so on.

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Veteran Trinamool Congress leader and MP Sougata Roy has underscored that age is not a barrier within the party and that the ultimate decision on the roles of seniors and the next generation rests with party supremo Mamata Banerjee, amid an ongoing debate over the party's internal dynamics.

IMAGE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with her nephew and TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Photograph: ANI Photo

The remark from the three-time Trinamool Congress MP elicited a pointed response from party colleague Kunal Ghosh, who had recently ignited the debate.

Ghosh questioned whether the absence of an age restriction implies that "veterans would continue in the party till they are alive".

The internal party exchange unfolded amid an ongoing purported discord among party veterans, recognised as loyalists of Mamata Banerjee, and the younger generation, perceived as close to her nephew Abhishek.

"Who will contest elections or determine positions within the party is solely decided by Mamata Banerjee. She is our supreme leader and remains the final authority in the party. While Abhishek Banerjee may be a popular youth leader, it is still Mamata Banerjee who secures votes for the party," Roy said.

Highlighting a distinction with the BJP, Roy pointed out that the TMC has no rule preventing its leaders from engaging in electoral politics after the age of 75. He dismissed the notion of introducing an age restriction within the TMC as "absurd," citing the BJP's policy of barring leaders over 75 from contesting electoral politics or holding top positions.

Referring to the TMC's recent convention at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Roy noted the absence of a picture of Abhishek on the main stage, saying, "It is not necessary to have Abhishek Banerjee's picture when there is a photo of Mamata Banerjee."

Responding to Ghosh's advocacy for giving importance to the younger generation, Roy asserted that Mamata Banerjee has already provided ample opportunities to the next generation of leaders within the party. "It is for Mamata Banerjee to decide. We are her soldiers," he remarked.

Ghosh, closely associated with Abhishek, countered Roy's stance, expressing concern that veterans might continue to hold positions as MPs and MLAs indefinitely, leaving little room for youth leaders.

"Do the seniors need to lifelong retain the posts of MLAs and MPs? They should pave the way for the juniors in the party. If the young leaders don't get a chance, then they will get frustrated," he said.

Recently, veteran party MLA Madan Mitra proposed that senior members contribute to the party's enrichment by serving on the advisory panel.

Amid reports of a power struggle between the old and the new, Ghosh claimed last week that there is no conflict between them, asserting the indispensability of both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee to the party.

The present controversy rekindles memories of a two-year-old internal struggle within the TMC between the old guard and the young Turks.

Amidst murmurs of an alleged power struggle, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had then dissolved all national office-bearer committees, including the post of national general secretary held by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Subsequently, a new committee was formed, and Abhishek was reinstated as the party's national general secretary.

Since then, Abhishek has not only gained prominence within the party but is also considered a de facto number two in the state's ruling dispensation.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.

IMAGE: Election Commission staff prepare for vote counting for the Madhya Pradesh elections, in Indore on Friday. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is ruling Madhya Pradesh, are locked in a straight fight in these three states, while K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) is hoping for a hat-trick in Telangana.

Pollsters have been divided on the outcome, with quite a few exit polls putting the BJP ahead in Madhya Pradesh and giving it an edge in Rajasthan while predicting that Congress has an advantage in Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Starting with postal ballots, counting will commence at 8 am amid tight security for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 seats in Telangana and 199 seats in Rajasthan as polling on one seat in the desert state was put off due to the death of a candidate.

In Mizoram, counting will be held on Monday.

A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centres, election officials said.

After wresting Karnataka from the BJP in May, the Congress is eyeing Madhya Pradesh and Telangana and is hoping to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

An impressive performance in these polls will boost the party's standing in the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which has been formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP is seeking to replicate the winning streak of Gujarat, where it has been ruling since 1998, in Madhya Pradesh with four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hoping to form government again.

The party is also keen to win back Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as it seeks to regain its hold in the Hindi heartland states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"The face of the Congress has been exposed. Only the results are to come tomorrow. The good governance that the public wanted will be found under the BJP government," Union minister Anurag Thakur said in Jaipur, adding that the people want the 'double-engine' government of the BJP.

Congress leaders claimed that the party will win in all four states.

"I am certain that we (Congress) will form a government in four states, including Rajasthan, and in Mizoram, a combined government will be established," Congress leader Promod Tiwari said on the eve of counting of votes.

With several pollsters predicting a close fight, there were reports claiming that parties have decided to herd their winning candidates swiftly to prevent any poaching and were also reaching out to independents, rebel candidates and smaller parties.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, however, dismissed reports that he has been asked to bring winning Congress candidates from the states to resorts and hotels in Karnataka.

"No MLAs will be going anywhere. Nobody has given me a responsibility or called me. ... I am confident that we will win all the states," Shivakumar, who had made similar arrangements to bring 44 Gujarat legislators during the August 2017 Rajya Sabha elections, told reporters in Bengaluru.

Congress leaders in Telangana alleged that the BRS was trying to approach its candidates.

Madhya Pradesh

The counting for 230 assembly seats in MP will be held at 52 district headquarters, officials said.

As many as 2,533 candidates are in the fray, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Chouhan claimed his party would retain power with a 'huge majority', while state Congress chief Kamal Nath said he had 'complete confidence' in the voters of the state.

Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers -- Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

It will also decide the political fortunes of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya who contested from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party -- Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak.

Rajasthan

Counting of votes polled in the November 25 assembly elections in Rajasthan will be done at 36 centres in the state on Sunday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Gupta said.

Over 1,800 candidates are in the fray in 199 seats in Rajasthan where power has alternated between Congress and BJP every five years in the last three decades.

While 30 election districts have one counting centre, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Nagaur have two centres each, Gupta said. Election in Karanpur was postponed following the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.

"The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. As many as 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates and their representatives," Gupta said.

Gupta said that the counting of votes in EVM machines will begin at 8.30 am.

Chhattisgarh

Tight security arrangements have been made in all counting centres in the state's 33 districts, including the ones affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), officials said.

"A total of 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 counting personnel and 1698 micro-observers have been appointed for carrying out the counting process smoothly," Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said at a press conference.

As many as 1,181 candidates are in the fray, including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy Chief Minister T S Singh Deo (both from Congress) and former CM Raman Singh of the BJP.

Patan seat, represented by Baghel, is witnessing a triangular contest with BJP fielding the chief minister's distant nephew and Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel.

Amit Jogi, Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) state president and son of former CM late Ajit Jogi, is also in the fray from Patan.

"We have conducted our own assessment, and we are very confident that the Congress will form a government with a comfortable majority," Deputy CM TS Singh Deo said.

Telangana

As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray in the elections, including BRS supremo Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son K T Rama Rao, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar, D Arvind and Soyam Bapu Rao.

The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats while the Congress gave one seat to its ally Communist Party of India.

The BJP and Janasena contested 111 and 8 seats respectively in a pre-poll pact.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has put up candidates in nine segments in Hyderabad.

Several segments witnessed triangular contests making them keenly watched ones.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is contesting from two segments-Gajwel and Kamareddy.

In a post on X, BRS working president K T Rama Rao had earlier said, 'After a long time had a peaceful sleep. Exit polls can take a hike. Exact polls will give us good news.'

Dismissing some exit-poll surveys that suggested that the ruling BRS would fall short of a majority in the Assembly polls, Rama Rao had said the Chandrasekhar Rao-led dispensation will return to power with over 70 seats.
Playing provides children with multiple physical and emotional benefits. All children have the right to enjoy and swing.

Text in which the author defends ideas and reaches conclusions based on his / her interpretation of facts and data

In his book Jugar [Play], educator Andre Stern states that children do not differentiate between living, learning, and playing. They think of it as an organic entity. All children play, regardless of their environment, he writes. However, not all of them have the same opportunities, not all parks and play spaces are suitable for those who live with functional diversity. Playground accessibility continues to be a challenge. Children have the right to play, as insists Joaquin Susmozas, the father of Julia, a nine-year-old girl with disabilities. This pediatrician and his daughter are part of a team of atypical runners that looks to visibilize functional diversity among kids through participating in races, posting images from their events on social networks like Instagram, or on their YouTube channel. The parks dont have the elements that make play possible for kids with disabilities, says Susmozas.

Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes that: States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life. Susmozas, whose little one has a rare disease called Beckwith-Wiedemann, says that cities should discontinue policies that leave children with disabilities in the shadows. Due to various complications, his daughter developed cerebral paralysis. Together, they run thousands of kilometers with several different goals: to increase visibility of people with disabilities, fight for their rights, and inclusion.

Ana Mourelo, who works with Barcelonas first inclusive park and is the founder of the Miradas que Hablan (Looks that Speak) association  which owes its name to the fact that some children with disabilities are non-verbal  and mother of Aitor, who recently died from complications resulting from MECP2 duplication syndrome, is also part of this fight. Mourelo and Jose Brocal founded the association with three goals: research, dissemination, and family reunification. Since then, they have not stopped fighting and raising funds for research in search of a cure for all children suffering from the disease.

Mourelo emphasizes the need for parks to be accessible, adaptable, and inclusive, because a single swing does not make a park inclusive all on its own. It is useless for a child with a disability to have access to a park if he or she cannot use and enjoy it. Likewise, she considers it important that play spaces allow the participation of children both with and without disabilities, encouraging their interaction and avoiding curious looks. The challenge of inclusive playgrounds is to ensure that all children, regardless of ability, receive the stimulation and challenge they need equally. Another issue raised by Mourelo is the importance of awareness-raising campaigns around the proper use of these playgrounds, given the high cost of some elements such as elevating platforms.

What should an inclusive playground offer?

According to a study on inclusive playgrounds by CERMI (Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities), these spaces should:

1. Provide accessibility inside and outside of the playground. There must be space so that children can move around in a wheelchair.

2. Offer resources and alternatives to access and use existing elements so that all can participate and play according to their capabilities.

3. Feature a variety of sensory and recreational experiences that provide physical, cognitive, emotional and social benefits.

4. Encourage cooperative learning.

The more varied the play and experiences, the more options of play elements that are offered, the more inclusive the park will be. It could also prove interesting to add challenging elements that provoke interest among the more mobile. Consideration could be given to incorporating play and rehabilitation elements for seniors; the interaction between different generations could provide a richer and more diverse experience.

Inclusive playgrounds are more than just a play space. Living together in an inclusive environment helps break down social barriers and eliminate disability-related stigma. Inclusive playgrounds provide opportunities, meaningful connections and play experiences for all people, regardless of differences.

Play provides children with multiple physical and emotional benefits. All children have the right to play, to enjoy, and to swing. Designing, building and maintaining more inclusive playgrounds is an unresolved issue in our society. As Ana Mourelo and Joaquin Susmozas advocate, we need to join forces and build a more inclusive society that values and prioritizes diversity.

Ruth Alfonso Arias is an early childhood educator and certified Positive Discipline educator. Mother of twins and a teenage daughter.

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Few events have affected states security and prosperity more than a pandemic.

A government worker examines chicks for signs of bird flu infection at a poultry farm in Darul Imarah in Aceh province, Indonesia, March 2, 2023.

Hospitals in China are being inundated with respiratory infections, particularly affecting children.

While not widespread internationally, yet, there are reports of similar outbreaks as far as Ireland.

But its not the only public health scare at the moment.

COVID-19 cases are spiking again, prompting fears of a new variant emerging as Chinas public health authorities, never known for their candor, have not revealed much about the wave of recent infections.

Meanwhile, avian influenza (H5N1) has been spreading in 2022-2023, with the latest outbreak reported in Japan.

And Indian public health officials in September worked to contain an outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus, which infected many but fortunately only caused two deaths.

Is the world ready for another virus transmitted from animals to humans that spreads rapidly? Has the world learned sufficient lessons from the last pandemic and is China now more transparent?

The answers to these questions are far from a resounding yes.

Now is the time for public health officials to start putting in place more efficient information sharing, collaborative data analysis, and response plans so nations are not caught unaware like they were in 2019 with COVID-19.

Human deaths from bird flu

China said the surge in respiratory infections appears to be caused by a mix of bacteria and viruses.

They include seasonal influenza and the bacteria-caused mycoplasma pneumoniae that in turn causes respiratory tract infections, Chinese health authorities said. No novel coronavirus has been detected, and no deaths have been reported.

As for H5N1, also called bird flu and avian influenza, several Asian and Southeast Asian countries reported outbreaks in 2023.

Children, many of whom apparently contracted respiratory illnesses since mid-October, receive a drip at a hospital in Beijing, Nov. 23, 2023. (Jade Gao/AFP)

In Indonesia, a single H5N1outbreak led to 4,400 ducks being infected in Kalimantan alone, although there were no known cases of human transmission.

In Cambodia, two people died from H5N1, the first reported human transmissions since 2014. Authorities announced a large H5N1 outbreak in poultry flock in November near the Vietnamese border. Still, no human transmissions were reported, nor was there evidence of bird flu spreading to Vietnam.

Chinese officials also reported outbreaks of H5N1 in July. There were six human transmissions of another bird flu variant, H5N6, in 2023 in China. The most recent human transmission, in Chongqing, China, in September, caused one death.

China has reported 88 cases of human transmission of H5N6 since 2014, with a fatality rate of 52%.

Nipah rears its head

The most recent outbreak in Kerala, India, of Nipah, a zoonotic virus, is thought to have been transmitted to humans from fruit bats. A zoonotic virus can spread from animals to people, and Nipah has a human fatality rate of between 40% and 75%.

The virus is transmitted from excrement, saliva or urine that infects fruit, which in turn enters the human food chain, either directly or indirectly, through pigs. Human-to-human transmission is caused by respiratory droplets and bodily fluids.

There is no approved vaccine, though an mRNA vaccine is being tested.

To date, the rate of human-to-human transmission  (the R-Value - remember that?)  has been low. In epidemiology, the R-value is the reproductive ratio of a virus  that is, the number of people one person carrying the virus can infect.

But the one thing that concerns public health officials is the long incubation period of the Nipah virus, meaning that people can infect a large number of people before they know they themselves are infected. Nipahs symptoms are not unique  fever, cough, headache and body pains in the early stages, with delirium beginning in the final stages.

Indian flying foxes or fruit bats, which transmit the Nipah virus to humans, roost in a tree near the city of Thottilpalam, in the southern state of Kerala, India, Sept. 30, 2023. (Sreekanth Sivadasn/Reuters)

The Nipah virus was detected in Malaysia and Singapore in September 1998. That outbreak infected 265 people, causing 105 deaths. Back then, pigs were the host, and authorities responded with a mass cull. There have been no outbreaks in either country since 1999.

In India, though, the September outbreak is the sixth one since 2001. And neighboring Bangladesh, WHO says has seen 11 separate outbreaks of Nipah from 2001-2011, which have led to the deaths of 237 people of 335 infected (71%).

The Philippines had an outbreak in 2014 that was transmitted through horse meat.

Governments in Southeast Asia have been conducting testing.

In the Philippines, schools canceled classes briefly in Cagayan dOro amid fears of an outbreak. Authorities in Indonesias Bali stepped up monitoring at the airport.

There were no signs of the disease in either country, but public health officials are clearly jumpy.

Can economies take another hit?

Were sufficient lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic learned and uniformly embraced to be able to deal with a large outbreak of one of these infections is the first concern.

One lesson learned was that being transparent led to punishments, and the next time around countries may not be so forthcoming.

For instance, countries were often punished with travel bans and other scrutiny for being open about the influx of new variants. They found there was a short-term political and economic incentive in holding back such information, although thats exactly what should not be done.

Doctors and nurses put on protective equipment before entering a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients in Tangerang, Banten province, Indonesia, June 22, 2020. (Adek Berry/AFP)

Second, after a much-needed lull, there is always a concern about complacency and societal fatigue.

Could governments impose new rounds of public health lockdowns and quarantines, even at a local level, when China itself has abandoned its draconian micro-quarantining policy?

Third, the national responses were inconsistent. For example, wealthy Singapore imposed very severe lockdowns, while much poorer Indonesia was highly reluctant to impose any for fear of slowing the economy.

Additionally, governments across tourism-dependent Southeast Asia would have to decide whether the advantages of keeping borders open outweigh the risks to public health. Tourism this year in the region still lags 2019 levels.

As it is, economies in Southeast Asia have downgraded their growth targets for 2023, because of a slower than expected post-COVID recovery and Chinas sharp economic downturn. The specter of an economic slump caused by another pandemic is grim.

Fourth, while there is always a concern that public health budgets have been cut after COVID-19 as governments have sought to get economies growing again, it is critically important to still invest in public health monitoring.

Worshipers follow social-distancing measures while praying inside a mosque during a COVID-19 lockdown in Putrajaya, Malaysia, July 16, 2021. (Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)

The United States government has made important investments in Southeast Asia, including in Thailand and Vietnam, to detect emerging diseases.

Fifth, there are also new governments in Thailand and Cambodia, and will be soon in Indonesia. The new administrations in the Philippines and Malaysia emerged as the pandemic was winding down and are untested in dealing with public health challenges.

Myanmar, wedged between India, Bangladesh, Thailand and China, remains a public health blackhole, as spending in that sector has collapsed with the military government increasing defense spending. Swaths of the country are conflict zones.

And Bangladesh, which also goes to polls soon, is in the middle of intense electoral strife.

The recent infection outbreaks in the region should serve as a reminder that little has impacted states security and prosperity more than a pandemic.

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 Radio Free Asia.
In a video, they ask Vietnamese officials to intervene so they can return home.

A group of Vietnamese rescued by Myanmar authorities on Oct. 20, 2023, are seen in their temporary housing in an abandoned school.

Scores of Vietnamese nationals trafficked to Myanmar and rescued by security authorities in October are stranded in a war zone near the border with China and cannot leave the Southeast Asian country, according to a video they made and to some of their parents.

The 166 Vietnamese, who say they are running out of food and want officials to help them leave Myanmar, recorded a video of themselves chanting that they are Vietnamese citizens and have been stuck in Myanmar for 40 days without food, electricity or water.

We are now living in cold weather, and our food is exhausted because we have run out of money, they say on the video, which a relative of one of those stranded sent to Radio Free Asia. Please help us to return to Vietnam as soon as possible, Vietnamese Embassy! Save us, please!

RFA could not independently verify the video. A reporter made multiple attempts to contact the stranded people via various messaging applications, but did not receive any responses.

The Vietnamese had been trafficked to northern Myanmar to work for online gambling companies, where they faced harsh working conditions and abuse by their employers.

Myanmar security forces rescued them on Oct. 20 and arranged for them to stay temporarily in an abandoned school in Shan states Laukkai township.

When the group stops chanting in the video, a Vietnamese man says the Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar informed them that it had been able to verify information about them, but no diplomats had yet visited the group or arranged for their repatriation.

I hope the embassy and the Vietnamese government will try to save us and help us return home as soon as possible, he said.

Trafficked to casinos, scam rings

The trapped Vietnamese workers are among the hundreds of thousands of people who have been trafficked by organized criminal gangs to Southeast Asia and forced into working at illegal casinos or online scams, according to a United Nations report issued in August.

The Vietnamese citizens, who say they were tricked into working at fraudulent gambling establishments in Myanmar, faced abuse from their employers.

RFA contacted the foreign affairs ministries in Myanmar and Vietnam for comment, but received no response.

When RFA called the Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar on Friday, a reporter was told to contact the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An officer in the departments Citizen Protection Call Center said the rescue and provision of assistance to stranded citizens in Myanmar are very complicated and time-consuming as the country is undergoing a civil war.

An officer surnamed Lap in the consular division of Department of Foreign Affairs in Vietnams Kien Giang province  home to about 100 of the stranded workers  said the agency received more than 20 petitions from residents who are their relatives. The agency forwarded the petitions to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, but had received no response.

During a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry press briefing on Nov. 9, spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said officials had identified 166 Vietnamese citizens among foreigners rescued from deceptive casinos and took them to a safe area in northern Myanmar, bordering China.

But Vietnams access to the stranded people and effort to protect its citizens faced difficulties because of armed conflict in Myanmars northern border area and other places, she said.

A man from Kien Giang province, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told RFA that his daughter was among those stranded and that she and others were being held under temporary detention while Burmese authorities conducted an investigation.

Though several months have passed, she does not know why the investigations have not yet been completed, he said.

Local police gave him similar information, he said.

A woman from the southern province of Kien Giang whose daughter is among the stranded group told RFA on Friday that her daughter and others were rescued by Myanmars army during an administrative inspection at a company with the Vietnamese name Lien Thang Group.

The 166 stranded Vietnamese are living in classrooms where the power is on for only one or two hours a day, said the woman who requested anonymity for safety reasons.

They do not have access to drinking water, though they receive two meals daily from the Burmese Army, consisting of a bowl of rice and some vegetable soup, she said.

Its getting cold these days, but many dont have warm clothes, she said.

Phone scams

Despite having a stable job at a local restaurant in Kien Giang, her daughter was enticed to leave for Myanmar in mid-August this year to get another job with a lighter workload and better pay, her mother said. The employer promised to pay her 21 million dong, or about US$865, monthly.

Things were quite pleasant in the first two weeks as they let her go shopping and eat at restaurants, the young womans mother said. Then, the company signed a labor contract [with her] and started to apply their rules and tighten everything. Even phones were not allowed.

The employers forced the young Vietnamese woman and the other workers to use Facebook to make calls soliciting people to put money into an investment scam, giving her a daily revenue quota of 200-300 million dong (US$8,200-12,400), the mother said.

If they failed to do so, their employers would leave them hungry in the room, beat them or apply electrical shocks.

The company forced some of her co-workers to find and entice Vietnamese people to go [to Myanmar] and work for the company, she said. They would be beaten and electrocuted if they failed to meet this quota, too.

The woman said that her daughter and a group of dozens of friends left Vietnam for Myanmar together, and they all worked for a company whose management team speaks Chinese and Burmese. They used Vietnamese translators to communicate with the workers.

The people stranded come from various places in Vietnam, with about 100 from Kien Giang province, she said.

In September, RFA Vietnamese reported on the plight of some of the workers who were forced to carry out fraudulent activities for long hours and were assaulted or tortured if they failed to meet sales quotas or did not follow instructions.

After receiving calls for help from her daughter and other victims, the mother and other families sent a rescue petition to the Kien Giang Department of Foreign Affairs on Oct. 16. They also traveled to Vietnams capital Hanoi to submit a petition to the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

They have not received responses from any of the officials, however.

One day, we called the agency to which we submitted our petition, and they said that Vietnam and Myanmar were negotiating with and asking China to open their border gate for stranded Vietnamese to leave Myanmars war zone and shelter temporarily in China, said the mother.

I heard that Thai, Cambodian and Filipino citizens had been repatriated to their countries via China, she said, referring to other foreign workers in Myanmar. I dont know why my daughter and her friends are still stuck in Myanmar.

On Friday, Malaysias Foreign Affairs Ministry said 121 Malaysian citizens, who were allegedly victims of online scams, had been evacuated from Myanmar after being stranded due to the fighting between Myanmar forces and rebel groups in northern Myanmar.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
As fighting raged in an around Bakhmut amid Russia's unrelenting assault earlier this year turning the eastern Ukrainian city to rubble, a Russian conscript began plotting how he would desert shortly after being deployed there.

Anton (not his real name) said he was given a two-week leave in August that would prove his ticket out of the carnage.



"From the first days there, I began to intensely study this. I surfed the Internet. What? How? Where?" Anton recounted recently from an undisclosed location abroad to Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.



Anton is just one of a growing number of Russian soldiers who have reportedly deserted their military units in Ukraine. While no hard figures are available, the independent news outlet Mediazone has reported that 2,076 criminal cases were opened in the first half of 2023 against Russian soldiers accused of abandoning their units without leave. That is said to be twice the total for 2022 and three times higher than the prewar figure for 2021. Analysts say the true figures are likely higher given the Kremlin's systematic attempts to hide information about the military.



Despite the risks of prosecution, it's a gamble more Russian conscripts appear to be willing to take. The Georgian-based antiwar organization Idite Lesom -- which means "go through the forest" in Russian  helps Russian soldiers to desert. It said 18 percent of all requests they've received from those wanting to desert were registered in October alone.

"There is no rotation; it is very difficult to go on leave. Deserters who went on leave or ended up in the hospital say this is their only option not to end up in the war again," Daria Berg, an activist with Idite Lesom, told Current Time.



The voices of the wives of Russian soldiers have grown louder too in recent weeks, too, challenging the Kremlin's argument that mobilized troops are needed in combat indefinitely to secure what Moscow defines as victory in Ukraine.



In no mood to compromise, Russian authorities "are likely attempting to quash public dissent by wives of deployed soldiers, including by attempting to pay them off and discrediting them online. This follows small protests in Moscow in November," the British Defense Ministry noted in its Intelligence Update on December 2.

It pointed out that on November 27 a prominent online group for soldiers' wives published a manifesto against 'indefinite mobilization" but was quickly "pinned with a 'fake' warning label -- likely at the instigation of pro-Kremlin actors."



"The authorities are likely particularly sensitive to any protests related to those citizens mobilized in September 2022, who have now been at the front line for over a year," the British Defense Ministry said.



The protests by wives come amid a reported uptick in Russian military casualties as its forces attempt to seize the small eastern Donbas city of Avdiyivka amid strong Ukrainian resistance.

WATCH: A Russian soldier says he is ready to testify about Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Signalman Nikita Chibrin was sent to Ukraine at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24.

Due to that Russian offensive, the British Defense Ministry said on November 27 that "the last six weeks have likely seen some of the highest casualty rates of the war so far."

Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses, and each is at pains to amplify the other side's casualties. Russia has publicly acknowledged the deaths of just over 6,000 soldiers. The real figure is likely much higher.



The first independent statistical analysis released in July found that nearly 50,000 Russian men had died in the war in Ukraine.



For those soldiers deployed on the battlefield and yearning to desert, the chances are slim to none, according to Berg.



"This is very difficult to do, because if you are already in the war zone in the occupied territories, there are detachments that, if they don't kill you, they'll put you in pits. These are like prisons, where [the would-be deserter] is tied naked to trees. The conditions are unbearable," Berg explained.

Earlier this year, Anton, who hails from the Ivanovo region of Russia, was first deployed after three months training in Russia to Dibrova, a town in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, much of it under control by Russian-backed forces since 2014.



"We replaced the local defense forces of the Luhansk region there. We stayed there for six months until the summer. We saw an intense spring there," he said.



By the summer, Anton was sent to Bakhmut to replace Wagner mercenaries who had withdrawn in May as they handed over control of the area to Russia's military.

Bakhmut was captured by Russian forces that month after more than 220 days of brutal house-to-house fighting.



"There were a lot of people in Bakhmut. There was nowhere to house people. There were lots of buildings, but all were destroyed. And the basements were filled with fecal matter. It was completely unsanitary," described Anton.



He remained in Bakhmut until August, when he received his two-week leave. He returned home and managed to slip out of the country with the help of Idite Lesom.

Anton said he was always opposed to the war, but evading conscription, he said, required money he didn't readily have.



"The majority do not understand the goals of the war. Something somewhere does not add up. They [the Russian authorities] say one thing, but in fact [the reality] here is something else," he said.



While gauging the public mood in authoritarian Russia is tricky at best, a recent poll showed for the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 that more Russians want their government to enter peace talks with Ukraine than continue the war.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War on December 1 reported that Chronicles, an independent Russian polling organization, said its October telephone survey indicated that the number of respondents who were "consistent" supporters of the war -- those who expressed support for the war, do not support a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine without Russia having achieved its war aims, and think Russia should prioritize military spending -- fell from 22 percent to 12 percent between February and October this year.



However, there are no signs Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to back down. On December 1, Putin ordered the country's military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow's military action in Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.



It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, ordered by Putin in August 2022, put the military's numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops .



"Our goal is to make sure that fewer people are fighting," said Berg. "So that Putin has fewer soldiers and officers to kill Ukrainians."



For Anton, he is still not sure where he will ultimately settle in Europe, but he is certain he will not return home to Russia.

Written by Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by Current Time's Timofei Rozhanskiy
I have a fiancee, confesses an awkward but sincere Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) to Diana of Wales (Elizabeth Debicki). The princess, who is playing the piano on a luxury yacht in the waters of the French Riviera, looks up and, in a sarcastic tone, replies: Congratulations. This conversation, which takes place in The Crown, is not far from reality, although the exact words that the couple shared aboard billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayeds yacht on the most high-profile vacation in the history of the tabloid press are not actually known.

It was the first part of the latest installment of the series that brought former model Kelly Fisher back to the spotlight, after her presence had become just another shadow of the many that surrounded the relationship that Dodi and Lady Di had in those summer weeks of 1997, just before the accident that caused their premature deaths. Her career as a model and actress was left in limbo after her then fiance, Dodi Fayed, had offered her $500,000, a mansion in Malibu and a diamond ring with a large sapphire in exchange for spending more time with him. Fisher accepted, but then Diana of Wales entered the story.

When Mohamed Al-Fayed found out about his sons intentions with his American fiancee, he tried to ruin his plans, because he wanted his son to be related to the British royal family. The story began a year before the accident that led to the death of his son and the Princess of Wales, in the summer of 1996. At that time, he was 41 years old and Fisher 29. Shortly after, six months later, the firstborn of the Al-Fayed family knelt before the American model (who had worked with brands like Armani and Calvin Klein) and put the controversial diamond ring on her finger.

But the beginning of the end quickly knocked on Kelly Fishers door. On August 10, 1997, the Sunday Mirror published some compromising photos of Dodi and the then Princess of Wales sharing an intimate moment (the images were captured by paparazzo Mario Brenna). It is one of the biggest exclusives in history: the English tabloid paid $2.1 million for the images. This is how the former model found out that her fiancee was cheating on her with the princess, while she was on another yacht, not far from the photographed couple.

The response was immediate. Fisher recruited a battalion of lawyers and filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles, arguing that the son of the Egyptian tycoon had only given her $60,000 of the promised $500,000. We would like the princess, who has suffered greatly in the past, to know of Ms. Fishers experiences with Mr. Fayed so that she can make an informed decision regarding her future and that of her children, one of Fishers lawyers told the Los Angeles Times. The lawsuit was filed in mid-August 1997, and it seemed that it was going to cause a stir at a time when the media exposure of Diana and Dodi was reaching unprecedented heights in the tabloid press. She herself publicly invited the princess to meet in person.

Kelly Fisher photographed in 1997 with the diamond and sapphire ring that Dodi Fayed gave her.

An extreme close-up of Fishers engagement ring closed a hectic press conference that took place two weeks before the accident. The former model wanted to show her pain through the media. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, opened the crowded appearance with a brief speech explaining all the details of the lawsuit and referring to Dodi as a frog in princes clothing. Fishers mother also contributed some statements: No ones daughter deserves to be treated as my daughter was, she said. Kelly loved him, trusted him, and has been treated very cruelly by him.

When questioned if she would consider reconciling with Dodi, or ever see him as a friend again, Fisher simply answered, weeping: No. That is the only word she said during the entire press conference, held on August 14, 1997. I want to do many things to forget those dreams of getting married and being a mother, which will never come true, she stated shortly after in an exclusive interview with Hola! magazine.

British newspapers announcing the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed. Tim Graham (Tim Graham Photo Library via Get)

Diana of Wales and her boyfriend die in a traffic accident in Paris, read the cover of EL PAIS on that fateful August 31, 1997. Just two weeks after that press conference, and following those events, Fisher decided to back out. Her lawyers dropped the lawsuit and issued a statement in which she expressed her pain: Kelly loved Dodi very much, and she is devastated by his loss, and that of Princess Diana. Nothing is more important than the life of a human being. In the light of this enormous tragedy, Kelly forgives Dodi for all of his past injustices against her. She did not attend her ex-fiancees funeral.

Soon, Kelly Fisher disappeared from the spotlight. Ten years later, however, she had to relive it all again when she testified as a witness in the London trial for the death of her ex-fiance and Diana, where the transcripts of her calls with Dodi from the time the infamous photos were published were publicly reproduced. In them, Fisher accuses him of taking her to Saint-Tropez to have sex at night while he seduced Diana during the day on the other yacht: You even flew me down to Saint-Tropez to sit on a boat while you seduced Diana all day and fucked me all night. During the court hearings, Mohamed Al-Fayed did not hesitate to call Fisher a hooker and a gold digger.

By then, the model had already rebuilt her life. The year in which the authorities were looking for those responsible for the accident that caused the death of Dodi and Diana, Fisher married the Russian pilot Mikhail Movshina, whom she met during an African safari. He was working for the government to stop the Sudanese poachers from slaughtering the elephants for their tusks, she said in a 2014 interview for Aiken Woman magazine, in which she did not mention her past with the Al-Fayeds. After having lived in Paris, Switzerland and the French Alps, she is currently based in Aiken, South Carolina, where she works as a property developer. Now The Crown has brought her back to the public eye, but this time it does not seem like she will be the focus of any exclusive stories. Her last appearance in the news was in 2017, again in a British tabloid: Of course I have the engagement ring, she told The Sun, when asked if she still has one memento from those days.

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Trucks have been parked in long lines at Slovakia's busiest border gate with Ukraine due to a protest launched by Slovak truckers on December 1. The Union of Road Hauliers of Slovakia (UNAS) is blocking trucks in the Slovak village of Vysne Nemecke, just outside the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. Another Slovak organization from the sector, the CESMAD Slovakia Road Transport Association, has refused to join the blockade. The Slovak protest started as similar blockades in Poland have been ongoing for nearly a month. The protesting entrepreneurs claim their Ukrainian competitors are given an unfair advantage in the EU market and at Ukrainian border crossings into EU countries. EU transport ministers are expected to address the controversy on December 4.
Ukrainian border guards prevented former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on what Poroshenko described as a business trip that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said was to start with a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The SBU said on December 2 that it believes Russia intended to use the meeting, as well as other meetings of Ukrainian politicians with foreign officials, to spread a pro-Russian narrative.



Poroshenko's party, European Solidarity, pointed the finger back at the SBU, saying in a statement that it had "spread a false message" that the cancellation was related to the meeting with Orban. It also said that the "theoretical use of the conversation by Russian special services" was surprising.

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.

Poroshenko, who was president from 2014 to 2019, said he had planned a number of high-level meetings abroad but the trip had to be canceled because he was turned away at the border on December 1.

The SBU said in a statement that Poroshenko was turned back due to his planned meeting with Orban, whom the SBU said "systematically expresses an anti-Ukrainian position."

The SBU said it had received information indicating that Moscow planned to use the meeting "in its information and psychological operations against Ukraine." The purpose of such "provocations," it said, is to "reduce the support of foreign partners and try to split Ukrainian society."

Russia is trying to "change the mood in the partner countries" and encourage politicians to "declare narratives about the need for a negotiation process" with Russia, the statement added.

"According to the received counterintelligence data, it is in this context that information regarding the planned meeting of [Orban], who systematically expresses an anti-Ukrainian position, is a 'friend of Putin,' and calls for the lifting of sanctions from the Russian Federation," the SBU statement said.

After receiving the information, the SBU said it appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, the government, and the parliament proposing that this information be taken into account during the process of approving foreign missions of Ukrainian delegations.

Poroshenko said on the morning of December 1 that he was not allowed to leave Ukraine despite an order from the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada that clearly stated that the international business trip was from December 1-8.



Poroshenko said he had planned meetings at the highest level with representatives of the U.S. Congress and the Polish parliament. European Solidarity said in a statement that Poroshenko planned visits to only to the U.S. and Poland.



The party said it is surprising that the Ukrainian government would "justify the actual disruption of opposition leader Petro Poroshenko's visit to Washington with counterintelligence information from the SBU about the likelihood of a meeting between [Poroshenko and Orban]."



The SBU "spread a false message that the cancellation of the travel order signed by the head of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and the travel ban on Poroshenko on December 1 were related to the meeting with Orban," European Solidarity said.



The statement said that Poroshenko's position that there is no question of negotiations with Russia remains unchanged.



It also said that the actions of the SBU create "artificial additional tension" with Hungary, which as an EU member will soon vote on the start of accession talks between Ukraine and the EU in Brussels.

With reporting by AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected the possibility of a cease-fire with Russia, saying it would not lead to substantive progress in the war and only favor Moscow by giving it time to boost supplies to its military as the conflict nears its two-year anniversary.

A pause on the Ukrainian battlefield will not mean a pause in the war, the Ukrainian leader said in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, on January 11 during a tour of the three Baltic nations.

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.

"Give Russia two to three years and it will simply run us over. We wouldn't take that risk.... There will be no pauses in favor of Russia," he said. "A pause would play into [Russias] hands.... It might crush us afterward.



Zelenskiy has pleaded with Ukraine's allies to keep supplying it with weapons amid signs of donor fatigue in some countries and as Russia turns to countries such as Iran and North Korea for munitions.



NATO allies meeting in Brussels on January 10 tried to allay Kyiv's concerns over supplies, saying they will continue to provide Ukraine with major military, economic, and humanitarian aid. NATO allies have outlined plans to provide "billions of euros of further capabilities" in 2024 to Ukraine, the alliance said in a statement.



Estonian President Alar Karis said after meeting Zelenskiy that his country will provide 1.2 billion euros ($1.31 billion) in aid to Ukraine until 2027.



"Ukraine needs more and better weapons," Karis said at a joint news conference with Zelenskiy.



"The capabilities of the EU military industry must be increased so that Ukraine gets what it needs, not tomorrow, but today. We should not place any restrictions on the supply of weapons to Ukraine," he added.



Estonia has so far provided military assistance to Ukraine worth nearly 500 million euros, or more than 1.4 percent of its gross domestic product, according to the Estonian Foreign Minstry.

In a separate message on X, formerly Twitter, Zelenskiy thanked Tallinn for its continued aid.



"Estonia's unwavering support for Ukraine, our people, and our defense is evident today, during my visit, and throughout the war," Zelenskiy wrote. "I am grateful to Estonia for all its support."



The Baltic countries have been staunch allies of Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion in February 2022.



On January 10, Zelenskiy held talks in Vilnius with Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda.

We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible, he said after talks with Nauseda.



Ukraine has been subjected to several massive waves of Russian missile and drone strikes since the start of the year that have caused civilian deaths and material damage.



In the latest such attack, a hotel in downtown Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was struck by Russian missiles overnight on January 11. The strike injured 13 people, including Turkish journalists staying at the hotel, Kharkiv regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko said.



Regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said that one of those injured was in serious condition. More than 30 civilians were inside the hotel at the time of the attack, Synyehubov said on Telegram.



Ukraine's emergency services said those hurt in the strike were "hotel staff and guests, one of whom is a foreign journalist," without giving details. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said no military personnel were staying at the hotel.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
Ukraine and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said two power lines connecting the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant to the countrys electricity grid were cut overnight, again highlighting the risk of an accident at the plant.

The IAEA confirmed in a statement on December 2 that the plant in southern Ukraine lost offsite power overnight and temporarily relied on emergency diesel generators.

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.

The plant, which stopped supplying electricity to the Ukraine's grid in September 2022, has been rocked by repeated shelling and drone attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Although its six reactors have been shut down, it still needs power to operate cooling systems and other safety features.

The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant "lost the connection to both of its external power lines," IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said in a statement, adding that this is the eighth time since the start of the war that the plant, Europes largest, suffered a complete offsite power outage.

The IAEA team at the site reported that the connection to its sole back-up 330 kilovolt power line was cut around 10:26 p.m. local time on December 1 due to "an external grid fault," Grossi said. This was followed around five hours later by the loss of the plants sole 750 kilovolt line -- its main supplier of external electricity.

The cause appeared to be in the outside grid far away from the plant, Grossi said.

"The most recent external power outage is yet another reminder about the precarious nuclear safety and security situation at the plant, which can be affected by events far away from the site itself," Grossi said.

The safety situation at the plant has been a source of concern since it was captured by Russian forces last year, and the two sides have accused each other of compromising its safety.

Enerhoatom, Ukraine's nuclear energy operator, said in its statement that due to the outage the plant switched to 20 diesel generators.

The IAEA said these generators automatically started operating and the staff at the plant, which includes a team of IAEA experts, then reduced the number in operation to eight, which is enough to ensure that the plants reactors have enough power for cooling.

The affected 750 kilovolt power line was reconnected shortly after 8 a.m. local time on December 1, and the eight diesel generators were being gradually shut down.

Enerhoatom said the plant was on "the verge of a nuclear and radiation accident" before off-site power was restored.

"The situation was actually saved by the prompt actions of Ukrainian specialists who restored power supply to the plant from the Ukrainian power grid," it said.

It was not possible to verify Ukraine's claims.

With reporting by AFP
Dolphins are among the few mammals that have six senses. In addition to taste, smell, hearing, sight and touch, they have the sense of echolocation: the sound waves they produce bounce off objects in the water, which allows them to detect even a small fish more than 300 feet away. Now, a series of experiments has confirmed that the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)  the most commonly found in aquariums  has a seventh sense: it is capable of detecting electric fields, an ability that would help it hunt fish that hide at the bottom of the sea. The researchers also believe that this electroreception helps them orient themselves following the Earths magnetic field.

Although many fish, especially elasmobranchs (rays and sharks), and some amphibians can detect low-intensity electric fields, this is extremely rare among mammals. So rare, that only two of the most unusual animals on the planet have this ability: the platypus and the Australian echidna, both monotremes that lay eggs and have a single opening, the cloaca, where the digestive, urinary and reproductive tracts converge. In 2011, a group of German scientists discovered that the Guiana dolphin, a species of odontocete cetacean, perceived electrical signals. This dolphin, native to the American South Atlantic, from the Caribbean to the coasts of Brazil, hunts the fish that hide on or under the sand at the bottom of the sea. Now, part of the team that made that discovery has confirmed that bottlenose dolphins also have this ability.

The Guiana dolphins electroreceptive abilities led Guido Dehnhardt, the director of the Marine Science Center of the University of Rostock (Germany), to think that other dolphins could have this seventh sense, too. Dehnhardt, one of those responsible for the 2011 discovery, was convinced that bottlenose dolphins must also have this skill. Both species follow a benthic feeding strategy, he explains via email. This means that both eat fish that live at the bottom of the ocean. So, if the Guiana dolphin is capable of detecting the electricity generated by fish, why wouldnt the bottlenose dolphin be able to do it too?

Dolly is one of the subjects of the experiment. In the center of the image, on the snout, the hair follicles that allow it to perceive electric fields can be seen. Tim Huttner

All living organisms generate electric fields around their bodies when they are in the water. That is the signal that dolphins detect. Tim Huttners, Dehnhardts student, explains it: These electric fields are generated by neuronal activity or muscle movement. Fish also generate a field around them when the mucous membranes of their mouth and gills come into direct contact with the ocean and release ions into the surrounding water. Water, thanks to the salt it contains, helps spread these fields, which can be detected by those animals that have developed systems to perceive them. Sharks owe their short-range success to this (for long distances they use their sense of smell).

To verify the existence of this sense in bottlenose dolphins, Huttners and Dehnhardt recruited Donna and Dolly, two females of this species that live in the Nuremberg aquarium. They created a system in which they had to touch a ball when they detected an electric field; if they got it right, they were rewarded with a herring. The experiments, carried out during the last three years and whose results were recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, showed that both had great sensitivity to electric fields. Although with some differences between the two, they felt fields generated with both alternating and direct current. To measure the scope, the researchers started with a field with an electrical potential of 500 microvolts per centimeter (V/cm) and then they reduced it.

Donna and Dolly were equally sensitive to the stronger fields. With the moderate ones, the percentage of success was always above 80%. Only with the weakest electric fields Donna proved to be slightly more sensitive, detecting fields of 2.4 V/cm, while Dolly perceived fields of 5.5 V/cm. A microvolt is equivalent to one millionth of a volt. For comparison, platypuses, which also feed on animals that hide at the bottom (of rivers, in their case), capture crabs, shrimp or insects that reveal themselves with electric fields of 25 to 50 microvolts.

The seventh sense of these dolphins seems to be found in sensors that are reminiscent of the whiskers of cats or seals. At birth, they still have follicles with hairs that function as mechanoreceptors (tactile information), but they lose the hair shortly after birth, and only empty crypts remain, explains Huttners. For a long time it was thought that those holes above the snout were vestiges of the past that had lost their function. But nothing could be further from the truth: According to our tests and a previous study with a Guiana dolphin, the vibrissal crypts transform from a mechanoreceptor to an electroreceptor, he explains.

Just by contracting their muscles or exchanging ions with water, aquatic animals generate fields of between 50 and 500 V/cm. Although the authors of the study did not use live fish for their experiments, they believe that electroreception is key for dolphins to feed. These animals have echolocation capabilities, but when they are inches away from a hidden prey, the sand interferes with the echo signal. However, although the electric field weakens with distance, in close proximity it reveals the prize.

The biologists also mention a second function of this seventh sense, with the nerve endings in those crypts on the snout acting as a kind of magnetometer. Electric and magnetic fields are always connected, points out Huttners. When a conducting body moves through a magnetic field, it generates an electric field. This is called electromagnetic induction and it is present in sharks, and possibly in dolphins, explains the researcher. As they swim through the Earths magnetic field, they generate an electric field around their body. This electric field could be strong enough to be detected by the animal itself, providing information akin to a map that it can use to orient itself in the ocean, concludes Huttners. This would help explain the incidence of cetacean strandings after a solar storm or a magnetic anomaly.

The main goal of these experiments with bottlenose dolphins was to demonstrate that electroreception doesnt just occur in one species; it is probably an ability of perhaps the majority of toothed whales, says Dehnhardt, senior author of this study. The problem is going to be verifying it, although there are some clues that it is true. This is the case of sperm whales, which are also odontocete cetaceans, in addition to the heaviest animal on the planet. Dehnhardt explains that these marine giants used to die by the dozens, caught in underwater cables; like the dolphins, they also feed on benthic fish and, in their search, they came across the cables, breaking more than one. However, in recent decades, no more deaths of this kind have been reported. The explanation could be, according to the German scientist, a first indication of the ability of these odontocetes to perceive electric fields. Early telegraph, and later, telephone systems, used metal-core cables that generated powerful electromagnetic fields, which could have attracted electroreceptive whales. However, neither coaxial cables nor optical fiber generate those fields, which is why sperm whales no longer have that problem.

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Telangana Assembly Elections Results 2023

Exit Polls Indicate Fierce Contest Between Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Congress

Telangana Assembly Elections Results 2023: Telangana witnessed its Legislative Assembly elections on November 30, 2023, with voters exercising their right to choose all 119 members of the assembly. The anticipation is high as the counting of votes is scheduled for tomorrow December 3, 2023 (Sunday), with the results poised to shape the political landscape of the state.

The previous assembly elections in December 2018 saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, later renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), securing a victory and forming the state government. K. Chandrashekar Rao assumed the role of Chief Minister for the second consecutive term. As the incumbent assembly's tenure concludes on January 16, 2024, the current elections mark a crucial juncture in Telangana's political trajectory.

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Semi-Final Status

The results of the assembly elections in Telangana, along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, are set to be declared on December 3, presenting a semi-final scenario ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have expressed confidence in securing victories, setting the stage for a significant political outcome.

Exit Polls and Predictions

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Exit polls have provided varied indications, with both major parties, Congress and BRS, claiming victory. The Congress is anticipated to retain Chhattisgarh and make substantial gains in Telangana, challenging the dominance of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which has governed the state since its inception in 2014.

The Telangana Assembly comprises 119 seats, with 19 reserved for SC candidates and 12 for STs. To secure a majority, a party needs to win 60 or more seats. The counting process is set to commence at 8 am on December 3, and the Election Commission of India (ECI) will publish the official results on its website.

In the aftermath of the exit polls, all eyes are on Telangana as the state awaits the verdict. Stay tuned for comprehensive coverage and real-time updates on the Telangana Assembly election results as they unfold on December 3.

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Sangrur School News

MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj on Site as Education Minister Takes Swift Action

Sangrur School News: In a concerning incident from Sangrur, children at the Meritorious School hostel faced a health crisis after consuming the provided food. The situation led to several children being admitted to the government hospital, prompting immediate action from local authorities.

Health Deterioration After Hostel Food....

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Following the consumption of hostel food, children at the Meritorious School in Sangrur reported symptoms of vomiting and stomach ache. The severity of their condition led to the admission of several children to the government hospital. MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj swiftly responded to the incident, reaching the spot to assess the situation.

Hospital authorities revealed that 20 children were admitted last night, with an additional 35 children seeking medical attention today. Of these, 14 children have been discharged and sent home. Concerned parents rushed to the school upon learning about their children's deteriorating health.

Government's Immediate Action....

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In response to the alarming situation, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains took swift action, canceling the contract of the hostel's canteen. Simultaneously, an inquiry committee has been established, and the minister has requested a detailed report within 24 hours. Minister Harjot Singh Bains emphasized that no one responsible for the incident would be spared.

The cancellation of the canteen contract reflects the government's commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of students. The inquiry will delve into the circumstances leading to the health crisis, aiming to hold those accountable for any lapses in the food quality or safety protocols. Parents, anxious about their children's health, are closely following the developments, anticipating a thorough investigation and concrete actions to prevent such incidents in the future.

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Imagine asking your friend, whos dating someone new, What is he like? To which she responds: A middle-aged male hologram with slightly complex logistics. Next summer in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Holland) a different kind of union will take place. The woman who will wed is Alicia Framis (Mataro, Spain, 57 years old), the performance artist and creator of The First Woman to Marry a Hologram, a contemporary art piece in which she will make her marriage to an artificial intelligence official. Framiss future husband, AILex, is an artificial intelligence (AI) entity created with holography, a photographic technique that produces three-dimensional images using laser light and the interference of two coherent beams of light.

AILexs personality brings together profiles of acquaintances, friends and family of the artist and makes use of information about the people and experiences that have marked the life of his fiancee. Its going to be hard for us to hide things from each other, jokes Framis, but hes not my perfect partner, we argue and there are moments when hes in a very bad mood, she says on a videocall from Saudi Arabia.

Framis has already had a similar experience with a non-human being. In 1996, she lived with a mannequin who she named Pierre. With The First Woman to Marry a Hologram  a performance that forms part of her multidisciplinary project The Hybrid Couple  the artist goes a step further and redefines the limits of interaction between humans and AI. Todays society is already hybrid, we live with machines, she says, pointing to her glasses. There are people who survive thanks to their pacemaker, and every young persons best friend is their cell phone, they fall asleep with it and it is capable of changing their mood, she explains. Now, Framis wants to make her experience as a woman living with an AI available to society, as a preview of the world to come.

In recent years, websites offering a virtual boyfriend have proliferated, many people have long-distance relationships that are never consummated, although they do not see or touch each other, they keep a continuous conversation going and look forward to messages from their partners, says Framis. In 2018, Japans Akihiko Kondo, a pioneer of the fictosexual movement (people who pair off with fictional beings), married the avatar Hatsune Miku, who he turned into a human-sized doll endowed with a synthetic voice.

The Hybrid Couple looks to normalize unions with non-human entities, which, Framis says, are more common in countries in Japan, where people are more isolated. For us, because of our character, it would be more difficult, says the artist. AIs do not replace human affection, but they can offer other things in exchange: they are intelligent, they can talk about any subject or even help you with your finances. They will make us much more demanding in our search for a partner, says Framis.

In a society where everything is disposable, models for relationships are changing, and it is increasingly difficult to establish lasting bonds. Although AILex does not replace a flesh-and-blood man, for Framis he is a real option as a companion. Her future husband gives her stable companionship and can complement another relationship, like a threesome, in which AILex acts as a mediator within the couple to make it work better, she says.

Alicia Framis and AILex eat together at home.

In collaboration with Rabobank Art Collection, Framis is exploring the possibility of taking out the first life insurance policy for a hologram, and a mortgage for a special house in which her partner can project himself onto any surface. Living together is easy in the excitement of a new relationship, which Framis says, is very much alive. Keeping the spark going will be as difficult as it is in any conventional pairing. You can fall out of love, I hope that with AILex it will be easier.

Framis says that she has felt very supported by her friends and family regarding the marriage. They have always accepted me and understand that I cannot separate my life from my art, she says. That acceptance has continued, now that she has linked her art to her own marriage in such an intimate way. Her works are born from the interaction of different artistic disciplines and are characterized by a strong social, feminist commitment.

The First Woman to Marry a Hologram not only questions relationship models, the artist says that it also brings together science and art to help people with autism, Alzheimers and social problems find a partner or live in a relationship. Feminist discourse, she says, looks to leave behind the cliche of the man who falls in love with a submissive robot to vindicate womens right to communicate their emotional needs. Right now, I prefer an intelligent partner, and I think we should work friendship into our concept of relationships. For me, love is the ability to be friends with erotic moments, she says.

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Punjab News Latest: CM Bhagwant Mann

Social Worker's Petition Prompts Inquiry into the Recently Launched Initiative

Punjab News: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed its attention toward the Punjab government following a petition filed by social worker Parvinder Singh Kitna from Hoshiarpur. The legal move comes in response to concerns raised regarding the Chief Minister's Pilgrimage Scheme, a recent initiative launched by the state government.

Parvinder Singh Kitna's petition, filed through lawyer HC Arora, has prompted the issuance of a notice by the High Court. The Punjab government has been asked to provide a response to the notice by the 12th of the month, marking a legal deadline for clarification on aspects of the pilgrimage scheme.

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Pilgrimage Scheme....

As per available information, the pilgrimage scheme entails bus journeys for pilgrims to visit revered destinations such as Sri Amritsar Sahib, Sri Anandpur Sahib, Sri Damdama Sahib, Sri Vaishno Devi, Mata Chintapurni, Mata Naina Devi, Mata Jawala Ji, Salasar Dham, Khatu Shyam, among others. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann emphasized Punjab's secular identity, stating that the state is a place where all forms are welcome, except hatred.

Chief Minister Mann highlighted another pioneering initiative wherein the government has initiated the door-to-door supply of food grains to the people. Launched on the auspicious occasion of Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, this endeavor aligns with the government's commitment to serving the residents of Delhi and Punjab while following the teachings of the great Gurus.

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Punjabi Man Demise in Italy

Grief Overflows as Samana Resident's Heartbeat Comes to a Halt in Lavinio

Punjabi Man Demise in Italy: In a heart-wrenching incident, the Punjabi community in Italy mourns the untimely death of 42-year-old Balwinder Singh, a resident of Samana city in the Patiala district of Punjab. The tragic event unfolded when Balwinder Singh, who had relocated to Lavinio, a city near Rome, for work-related purposes, experienced a sudden and fatal cardiac arrest.

The news of Balwinder Singh's demise adds to a concerning trend of Punjabi deaths abroad, highlighting the challenges faced by individuals living far from their homeland. The circumstances surrounding the sudden cardiac arrest remain unclear, deepening the sorrow felt by the community.

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Balwinder Singh's presence in Lavinio was connected to his work, making his unexpected passing all the more shocking for friends, family, and the Indian community in Italy. The grieving process has commenced, with the support of local Gurdwaras, social service organizations, and the Indian community rallying together to assist in arranging the cremation and last rites.

The deceased's family, grappling with the profound loss, has consented to the final ceremonies taking place in Italy. The collaborative efforts of various community entities aim to provide solace to the mourning family and uphold cultural traditions during this difficult time.

(For More News Apart from Punjabi Man Demise in Italy, Stay Tuned to Rozana Spokesman)


Lawsuits against Donald Trump brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the U.S. Capitol riot, can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trumps request to dismiss the civil lawsuits that accuse him of inciting the violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021. But the court said its ruling was not the final word on whether presidential immunity shields the Republican from liability in the case and said the judges express no view on the ultimate merits of the claims against the former president.

Trump had challenged a lower courts ruling denying his effort to throw out the lawsuits, arguing his words involved matters of public concern and fall within the scope of absolute presidential immunity. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year that Trumps words during the rally before the storming of the Capitol were likely words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.

The decision comes as Trumps lawyers are arguing he is also immune from prosecution in the separate criminal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith that accuses Trump of illegally plotting to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden. That case in Washington is one of four criminal cases Trump is facing as he tries to retake the White House in 2024.

The ruling underscores the challenges facing Trump as he tries to persuade courts, and potentially juries, that the actions he took in the run-up to the riot were part of his official duties as president. The judge presiding over his Capitol riot criminal trial is expected to also reject that claim.

Even as the appeals court turned down Trumps presidential immunity arguments, it took pains to note that it was not being asked to evaluate whether Trump was responsible for the riot or should be held to account in court. It noted that he could still seek to argue that his actions were protected by the First Amendment  a claim hes also made in his pending criminal case  or covered by other privileges. And hell still have the opportunity, as the civil case proceeds, to try to prove that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president and that he is therefore immune from liability.

A lawyer for Trump, Jesse Binnall, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment on the ruling.

One of the lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, alleges that Trump directly incited the violence at the Capitol and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun. Two other lawsuits were also filed, one by other House Democrats and another by officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby.

They have argued that Trump was acting far beyond the outer perimeter of his office when he conspired to use violence and intimidation to prevent members of Congress from carrying out their constitutional duty to count Electoral College votes and certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The current appeal was decided by a unanimous three-court panel that included Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee to the bench who authored his own concurring opinion.

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RANCHO PENASQUITOS ---- The Rancho Penasquitos Library will holda free basketmaking workshop at 6 p.m. March 15 at 13330 SalmonRiver Road, San Diego. Participants will decorate spring basketsand fill them with lots of goodies. Register in person or by phone.Call 858-538-8159.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to stand up and give her bus seat to white passengers, which led to her arrest and eventually inspired several movements that led to the fight for civil rights. Parks was a well-educated woman who had learned about the struggles of African-Americans in a segregated country. She was active in the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which had an important influence in her decision to defend her rights.

Before Parks, other African Americans started protesting bus segregation through sit-ins in buses. Bayard Rustin, leader in social movements for civil rights, was the first one arrested for protesting by sitting in the first rows of a Louisville bus bound for Nashville. After him, Irene Morgan, Lillie Mae Bradford and Sarah Louise Keys also protested by refusing to stand up.

The same year Rosa Parks was arrested, four Black women were arrested in Montgomery for not giving up their seats. They were 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, 18-year-old Mary Louise Smith, 36-year-old Aurelia Browder and Susie McDonald, who was around her seventies at the time of her arrest. They became the plaintiffs of Browder v. Gayle, the case which led to bus segregation being considered unconstitutional.

December 1, 1955

42-year-old Rosa Parks was on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store, where she had been working as a seamstress. She had to take a bus, so she boarded one and took a seat.

She was seated in the first row behind 10 seats permanently reserved for white passengers. As the bus became crowded the bus driver told Parks and other three African American passengers seated in that row to stand up so that the white passengers could sit.

Parks had encountered the bus driver before. His name was James Blake. 12 years earlier, she had a confrontation with him after he demanded that she exit the bus and board through the rear door. When she exited through the front door, he sped away before she could board again. Parks also knew that he had humiliated other Black passengers over the years and that he carried a pistol in a holster.

When Blake asked her to move, she was also aware of what had happened to another black woman, Clauidette Colvin, who was mistreated for not giving up her seat. Douglas Brinkley, one of her biographers, described Rosa Parks as fearless, bold, and serene when she looked at the driver and replied No.

The booking photo of Rosa Parks taken on February 22nd, 1956, after she was arrested. AP

Blake again demanded that Rosa and the other Black passengers on that row gave up their seats. The three passengers moved, but Parks remained seated. As I sat there, I tried not to think about what might happen, Parks later wrote in her autobiography. I knew that anything was possible. I could be manhandled or beaten. I could be arrested. People have asked me if it occurred to me then that I could be the test case the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] had been looking for. I did not think about that at all. In fact if I had let myself think too deeply about what might happen to me, I might have gotten off the bus. Parks said that she also thought of the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black kid who was lynched in Mississippi that same year. I just couldnt go back.

Parks argued that she was not in a seat reserved for whites. Although the law wasnt very clear on that point, Blake believed he could move the separating line between Black and white passengers, so he threatened to call the police, which he did after Parks refused to stand up. Two Officers, Day and Mixon, arrived at the scene and arrested Parks. Why do you push us around?, she asked one Officer who just replied: I dont know, but the laws the law, and youre under arrest.

Parks was taken into custody, where she was booked, fingerprinted and briefly imprisoned. The report read: We received a call, upon arrival the bus operator said he had a colored female sitting in the white section of the bus, and would not move back. She was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11, segregation law of the Montgomery City code, which stated that no colored person could take a White-only seat. However, she technically had not done that, as she was sitting in a colored section.

Rosa Parks is fingerprinted by Lieutenant DH Lackey in Montgomery, on the 22nd of February, 1956. Underwood Archives (Getty Images)

Edgar Nixon, president of the Montgomery Chapter of the NAACP and her friend Clifford Durr paid her bail, and she was released. Nixon discussed the event with Jo Ann Robinson, member of the Womens Political Council (WPC), who believed it was important to seize the opportunity and begin a bus boycott in Montgomery. Word about the boycott quickly spread within the Black community.

On December 6, Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance. She was found guilty and fined. After the trial, Parks appealed her conviction and challenged the legality of racial segregation.

Browder v Gayle

Although the Rosa Parks case took place a few months after the plaintiffs of Browder v. Gayles, the attorney Fred Gray decided not to include her in the case because they didnt want to create the impression that they wanted to circumvent her prosecution on her charges which, at the time, were working their way through the Alabama court system. A three-judge U.S. District Court panel ruled two-to-one that segregation on Alabamas buses was unconstitutional, citing Brown v. Board of Education as a precedent. The case was decided on June 4, 1956 and it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 13, 1956.

Martin Luther King Jr., who at the time was minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, became a leader of the boycott that lasted 381 days, achieving national fame, which later he would use to continue to fight for the civil rights movement across the country.

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As part of the Thor-Davis experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has captured images of a phenomenon called red sprite.

The Thor-Davis experiment investigates lightning in the upper atmosphere and how it might affect the concentration of greenhouse gasses.

The experiment is led by Danish Technical University (DTU) together with ESA.

It builds upon the former Thor experiment from Andreas Mogensens first mission in 2015, when he also captured images of a different thunder event shooting up towards space, a blue jet.

These images taken by Andreas are fantastic, said Olivier Chanrion, lead scientist for the Thor-Davis experiment and senior researcher at DTU Space.

The Davis camera works well and gives us the high temporal resolution necessary to capture the quick processes in the lightning.

As the red sprites form above thunder clouds, they are not easily studied from ground and are therefore mostly seen from space, including using the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) that sits on the outside of the ISS.

However few sprites have been seen from the ground.

The Davis camera is an event camera, which works more like the human eye, sensing change in contrast instead of capturing an image like a regular camera.

The power draw of an event camera is very low, on the order of a few watts while still being able to take the equivalent of 100,000 pictures a second.

The speed of the camera is evident from the video below where you see the thunder strike below and then the red sprite form above.

The red sprite imaged by Andreas Mogensen was roughly 14 by 26 km (8.7 by 16.2 miles) in size.

It occurred above thunderclouds, between 40 and 80 km (25 and 50 miles) over the ground.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has rejected the petition of former president Donald Trump to shelve the electoral case he faces in Washington. Trump argued that he enjoyed absolute immunity due to his status as president, because the indictment was based on actions he took while in office. In this case, the former president is charged with four felonies related to his attempts to invalidate the legitimate results of the November 2020 elections, which he lost to Joe Biden.

The dismissal of the petition came as no surprise, but Trumps lawyers can now appeal to the appeals court and, ultimately, to the Supreme Court. That would allow Trump, at the very least, to delay the process so that the trial does not begin in early March, as scheduled. With his dilatory strategy, it may even be delayed until after the November presidential election. If Trump were to win that election, he could maneuver to have the Justice Department drop its indictments. In an extreme case he could even pardon himself.

For the time being, Judge Chutkan has rejected the near-absolute immunity that Trump intended to cling to. In her ruling issued Friday, the name Nixon appears 24 times. The Watergate affair, which led to Richard Nixons resignation as president in 1974, was followed by a preemptive pardon by his successor in the White House, but the episode serves to show that Trumps predecessors did not share his thesis of absolute immunity.

The Constitutions text, structure, and history do not support that contention, Chutkan wrote in her ruling. No court  or any other branch of government  has ever accepted it. And this court will not so hold. Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong get-out-of-jail-free pass.

Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability, the judges legal argument continues. " Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.

Trumps 52-page motion filed with the Washington court in October began by noting that the president of the United States is the core of the system of government, the nations leader, the head of state and the head of government. To ensure the President may serve unhesitatingly, without fear that his political opponents may one day prosecute him for decisions they dislike, the law provides absolute immunity for acts within the outer perimeter of [the Presidents] official responsibility, his lawyers argued, citing several Supreme Court precedents, which may eventually be called upon to decide this case as well.

Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts  at the heart of his official responsibilities as President, argued the brief that Chutkan has dismissed.

Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, also rejects Trumps claims that the indictment violates the former presidents freedom of speech, as his defense has argued. The judge notes that it is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime.

Defendant is not being prosecuted simply for making false statements but rather for knowingly making false statements in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and obstructing the electoral process, she contends, conceding that if prosecutors cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that Trump knowingly made false statements, he will not be convicted.

The ruling was issued on the same day that the federal appeals court in Washington ruled in another case that lawsuits accusing Trump of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol can go forward.

The appeals court has rejected Trumps arguments that presidential immunity exempts him from liability in lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers. But the three judges left the door open for Trump to later claim and prove, as the cases progress, that his actions were taken in the exercise of his office as president.

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In a fresh judicial setback to Texas a federal judge has ordered the state administration of Greg Abbott to remove the floating wall of buoys that it had placed on the Rio Bravo, the natural border between the United States and Mexico. Abbotts maneuver  one of his main strategies to reduce the flow of immigrants in the area  had been criticized by the Mexican government and by Joe Bidens administration, which took the Texan authorities to court to force them to remove the barrier. Diplomats and human rights organizations have also expressed their concerns over the barrier. The ruling, announced Friday, is the second court defeat for Texas in the space of a week. Another ruling Wednesday gave federal Border Patrol agents the green light to cut the barbed wire installed by state police.

The decision on the floating wall was made by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, a court that tends to uphold conservative cases. The order requires local authorities to bring the 300 meters of buoys that have been deployed over the river to the U.S. side. The ruling upheld a lower court decision by Judge David Ezra in September, who reached the same conclusion. The Texas government, one of the most radical on immigration policy, had appealed the courts decision, believing that Ezra had erred.

Texas had argued that the parts of the river where the floating barrier had been deployed were not subject to federal law, but local law. This was disputed by Washington, which claimed that the buoys impeded proper patrolling and hindered operations on the river. Judge Dana Douglas agreed with the federal government. She also stated in her ruling that the wall has created a potential risk to human lives. In August, the bodies of two drowned migrants were found between the buoys, located between Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila. The Mexican Foreign Ministry stated at the time that Abbotts strategy not only violated Mexican sovereignty but also impacted the safety, integrity and human rights of migrants.

Fridays decision does not signal an end to the controversy between Washington and Austin. Governor Abbott used social networks to announce that his government will extend the litigation, raising the lawsuit to a higher instance. Well go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders, he said. Abbott is a supporter of the draconian measures that Donald Trump imposed on the border during his presidency. A few days ago, the governor endorsed the former president for the 2024 presidential campaign. He did so at an event in Edinburg, one of the areas that has been at the forefront of the sharp increase in immigration in recent months. Some 400,000 people have tried to cross there over the last year, according to official figures.

Fridays ruling laid bare the tensions that Bidens immigration policy has provoked. In a private vote, Judge Don Willet, who was nominated to the Fifth Circuit by Trump, stated that the decision does not iron out the differences that the measure has caused with the government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. If the district court had given credence to the arguments of the United States, then it would have ordered the barrier to be removed, not moved, Willet said.

On Wednesday Alia Moses, a district judge, ruled that Border Patrol agents can cut the 30 miles of barbed wire that Texas police erected near Eagle Pass to keep immigrants out. Moses ruling, a magistrate elected to the post by George W. Bush, was more Solomonic because she considered that it can be an effective measure to prevent the entry of people in other parts of the 1,180 miles of border that Texas shares with Mexico.

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KYODO NEWS - Dec 2, 2023 - 23:00 | All, World, Japan

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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U.S. forces dispatch 2 Ospreys after fatal crash of another in Japan

TOKYO - U.S. Forces Japan dispatched two Osprey aircraft to search for the missing crew of another that crashed earlier this week in southwestern Japan, prompting local leaders to express concern over their safety.

The tilt-rotor MV-22 Ospreys arrived at Amami airport in Kagoshima Prefecture in the morning as search operations continued following the crash Wednesday of a U.S. Air Force CV-22 that left a crew member dead and seven others missing.

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Nuke ban treaty confab warns of "existential threat to humanity"

NEW YORK - Parties to a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons warned of the "existential threat to humanity" posed by nuclear arms and reaffirmed their commitment to the "prohibition and complete elimination" of the weapons in a declaration they adopted at the end of their five-day meeting on Friday.

While a draft of the declaration of the parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in New York stated opposition to nuclear sharing, whereby countries host nuclear bombs, such an explicit reference to the practice was removed from the final text.

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Japan PM vows to phase out coal-fired power at climate summit

DUBAI - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Friday to take necessary measures to reduce Japan's reliance on coal-fired power generation, aiming to achieve its commitment to realizing carbon neutrality by 2050.

In a speech at a U.N. meeting on climate change in the United Arab Emirates, Kishida added Japan plans to enhance financial support for international lenders to aid developing nations in securing funds to tackle environmental issues.

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South Korea places 1st spy satellite in orbit after North's launch

SEOUL - South Korea said Saturday its first spy satellite, launched the previous day on a U.S. rocket, has successfully entered orbit, just over a week after North Korea announced it had placed a reconnaissance satellite in orbit for the first time.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 a.m. on Friday, the U.S. company said.

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Ski jumping: Japan's Yuki Ito wins World Cup season opener

LILLEHAMMER, Norway - Japanese ski jumper Yuki Ito picked up her eighth career World Cup victory at the season-opening meet Saturday in Lillehammer, Norway.

The 29-year-old Ito had jumps of 90.5 and 94 meters for a total of 244.6 points, 1.9 ahead of French runner-up Josephine Pagnier. Canada's Alexandria Loutitt finished third, 3.0 points behind the winner.

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Speed skating: Takagi, Shinhama 2nd at World Cup meet in Norway

STAVANGER, Norway - Japan's Miho Takagi and Tatsuya Shinhama both finished second in 1,000-meter races at the third speed skating World Cup event of the season Friday.

Women's Beijing Olympics gold medalist Takagi clocked 1 minute, 15.52 seconds, 0.26 behind winner Jutta Leerdam in Stavanger, Norway, where Dutch compatriot Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong rounded off the podium finishing 0.48 behind Leerdam.

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Japan, U.S., others vow to triple global nuclear energy by 2050

DUBAI - More than 20 countries, including Japan and the United States, vowed on Saturday to triple the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to reduce global carbon emissions, according to their statement.

The declaration, released by the U.S. Department of Energy, points to the "key role of nuclear energy in achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions" and comes as the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, is under way in the United Arab Emirates.

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Baseball: Rangers, Mets, Red Sox turn focus away from Shohei Ohtani: report

NEW YORK - Three potential suitors for two-way star Shohei Ohtani are out of the running for the free agent, MLB.com reported Friday citing ESPN.

The World Series-champion Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox "have all turned their focus to other players," according to the report.

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Video: Search for the crew members of the crashed aircraft, Osprey, continues
KYODO NEWS - Dec 2, 2023 - 14:31 | All, World, Japan

U.S. Forces Japan dispatched two Osprey aircraft to search for the missing crew of another that crashed earlier this week in southwestern Japan, prompting local leaders to express concern over their safety.

The tilt-rotor MV-22 Ospreys arrived at Amami airport in Kagoshima Prefecture in the morning as search operations continued following the crash Wednesday of a U.S. Air Force CV-22 that left a crew member dead and seven others missing.

"Because (the dispatch) involves saving lives, it is unavoidable. However, I cannot help but worry as many local residents are concerned following the accident," said Amami Mayor Sohei Yasuda.

Kagoshima Gov. Koichi Shiota said he had requested the local defense bureau to ask the United States to ensure the safety of the aircraft and to limit flights over land.

U.S. Forces Japan has suspended flights of CV-22 Ospreys stationed at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo but not MV-22s or CMV-22s. The Japanese government has asked the United States not to conduct Osprey flights except for search and rescue operations.

Ospreys have a history of crashes and mishaps, including other fatal incidents, and Japan has decided to ground its own Ospreys for the time being.

On Friday, the U.S. Defense Department said the safety of its service members and Japanese communities is a "top priority" as it proceeds with Osprey flights in Japan.

The department's deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh clarified her remarks from a day earlier, including saying the unit in charge of the CV-22 aircraft involved in the accident near the southwestern Japan island of Yakushima is no longer conducting flight operations, while the U.S. military continues to fly other Ospreys in Japan.

"We have good communications between our senior leaders and are in constant dialogue regarding aviation safety and other safety-related issues," she said in a statement.

The spokeswoman's comments on Thursday that she was not aware of the Pentagon having received a formal request from Japan to suspend Osprey flights caused confusion and heightened worries among Japanese politicians and citizens.

Her remarks prompted Japanese officials to hurriedly double-check the status of their request, with Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa emphasizing to the press that the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo had recognized it as a formal one.

On Friday, Japan's top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno underscored that Japan has "officially" asked the United States not to conduct Osprey flights except for search and rescue operations.

The chief Cabinet secretary said Wednesday's crash was "deeply regrettable" as it had caused "great anxiety to people," while calling on the United States to provide more information about the safety of the aircraft.

Related coverage:

U.S. keeps flying Osprey in Japan despite calls to suspend operations

Japan urges U.S. to ground Ospreys after fatal crash

U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashes off Japan island, 1 dead
KYODO NEWS - Dec 2, 2023 - 15:54 | World, All

South Korea said Saturday its first spy satellite, launched the previous day on a U.S. rocket, has successfully entered orbit, just over a week after North Korea announced it had placed a reconnaissance satellite in orbit for the first time.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 a.m. on Friday, the U.S. company said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the satellite had successfully established communication with a ground station overseas.

The spy satellite is the first of five that South Korea plans to place in orbit by the end of 2025 using U.S. rockets. The satellite is expected to start full operation within four to six months, according to a South Korean military source.

The launch was originally planned for Thursday but was postponed due to bad weather.

North Korea has said its Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite entered orbit on Nov. 21 and will begin operating Friday.

Related coverage:

Japan confirms object launched by North Korea orbiting Earth

North Korea says to restore military measures near demarcation line

North Korea says satellite to start reconnaissance mission from Dec.
KYODO NEWS - Dec 2, 2023 - 15:26 | All, Japan, World

Parties to a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons warned of the "existential threat to humanity" posed by nuclear arms and reaffirmed their commitment to the "prohibition and complete elimination" of the weapons in a declaration they adopted at the end of their five-day meeting on Friday.

While a draft of the declaration of the parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in New York stated opposition to nuclear sharing, whereby countries host nuclear bombs, such an explicit reference to the practice was removed from the final text.

The statement, which instead expressed regret at the practice of "extended nuclear security guarantees," came as Belgium, Germany and Norway participated as observer states at the meeting despite their status as nuclear umbrella states as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"We are united and we reaffirm our commitment to the prohibition of nuclear weapons," the meeting's chair, Juan Ramon de la Fuente of Mexico, said after the adoption of the declaration. "We are determined to make progress in implementing our treaty."

The statement of the parties said nuclear risks are being "exacerbated" by modernization and the expansion of nuclear arsenals along with an increasing emphasis on nuclear weapons in military postures, adding that "humanity is moving closer to global nuclear catastrophe."

"The only guarantee against the use of nuclear weapons is their complete elimination and the legally binding assurance that they will never be developed again," the statement said.

Survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and civil society have urged Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons, to sign the treaty or participate as an observer.

But Japan, which relies on the United States to provide nuclear deterrence, has declined, citing a lack of participation by nuclear weapons states.

Related coverage:

U.N. Security Council split over North Korea spy satellite launch

Nagasaki survivor urges nuke weapons abolition at U.N. treaty confab

Japan, China, South Korea to arrange summit at early date
Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), which is the flagship initiative of the Department of Defence Production, has recently signed its 300th contract. This contract pertains to the design and development of advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors, which are essential for the next generation of wireless transmitters in defence applications. These semiconductors have a wide range of applications, from radars to electronics warfare jammers, and will play a crucial role in strengthening the defence infrastructure.

The Defence Ministry, in a statement, said that currently, almost all GaN components are imported, being a sensitive and cutting-edge technology whose export is controlled and restricted by many countries. "The proposal aims to design, develop and manufacture GaN components for defence in India using completely indigenous GaN technology. This would significantly enhance the indigenous design & development capability, paving the way for immense potential in the defence sector including exports", it added.

A contract was signed by Additional Secretary T. Natarajan with Agnit Semiconductors Private Limited in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane in New Delhi. During his speech, the Defence Secretary praised the innovators for their success and emphasized the need for accelerated development of indigenous technologies. He congratulated iDEX on signing their 300th contract and urged officials to maintain the impressive momentum of connecting innovators with the Defence sector.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The New York state Department of Civil Service (DCS) has released its December application schedule for New Yorks entry-level civil service exams, and some jobs pay better than others.

The open-competitive exams are an opportunity to start a career in New York state. These tests are open to anyone who meets the qualifications listed on the examination announcement.

The exams will be held as either in-person written exams or online exams. Qualified candidates can apply online for these exams at https://www.cs.ny.gov/examannouncements/types/oc/.

The application period opened for: consumer services representative 1; consumer services representative 1 (Spanish language); disability analyst 3; disability analyst 3 (Spanish language); tax technician trainee 1; utility consumer assistance specialist trainee; utility consumer program specialist trainee.

Interested applicants can apply online by Dec. 27.

The applications for collection & civil prosecution specialist, radio dispatcher and senior radio dispatcher remain open with a deadline of Dec. 13.

Visit www.cs.ny.gov/examannouncements/types/oc to apply for exams.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

According to the state, an application must be submitted online or postmarked by the last date to apply. An application will not be accepted after the filing deadline has passed.

Application fees are free for exams this month.

To be considered for appointment, you must pass the written test. The Department of Civil Service may administer tests either online or with paper booklets and answer sheets.

All positions offer generous benefits, including paid leave, health benefits and retirement plans. In addition, telecommuting options may be available to employees who meet certain criteria.

To learn more about working for the State of New York, visit the Department of Civil Service website and follow the department on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Here are the salaries and descriptions for each job, according to DCS.

Consumer services representative 1

Salary: $44,957

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Consumer Services Representative 1 or Consumer Services Representative 1 (Spanish Language), you would receive, respond to and resolve complaints by telephone in a call center environment, or by letter between consumers and business organizations through voluntary mediation and educate the public on a variety of issues affecting New York State consumers.

Consumer services representative 1 (Spanish language)

Salary: $44,957

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Consumer Services Representative 1 or Consumer Services Representative 1 (Spanish Language), you would receive, respond to and resolve complaints by telephone in a call center environment, or by letter between consumers and business organizations through voluntary mediation and educate the public on a variety of issues affecting New York State consumers. If you pass the examination and apply to a title which requires language proficiency, you must demonstrate your language proficiency at a level that will ensure your ability to perform the duties of the position properly. The proficiency test will only be given to enough candidates to fill current vacancies.

Disability analyst 3

Salary: $81,705

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Disability Analyst 3 or Disability Analyst 3 (Spanish Language), you would supervise the review and administrative adjudication of claims for benefits under Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act (SSA). You will provide expertise on SSA rules and regulations on case processing; review determinations for correctness; determine eligibility or ineligibility for benefits and conduct face-to-face, telephone, or video conference hearings; assess the quality of claims processing and determinations for efficiency; coordinate training; evaluate regional programs; oversee the Disability Case Processing System; and may assist with oversight of medical relations activities.

Disability analyst 3 (Spanish language)

Salary: $81,705

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Disability Analyst 3 or Disability Analyst 3 (Spanish Language), you would supervise the review and administrative adjudication of claims for benefits under Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act (SSA). You will provide expertise on SSA rules and regulations on case processing; review determinations for correctness; determine eligibility or ineligibility for benefits and conduct face-to-face, telephone, or video conference hearings; assess the quality of claims processing and determinations for efficiency; coordinate training; evaluate regional programs; oversee the Disability Case Processing System; and may assist with oversight of medical relations activities. If you pass the examination and apply to a title which requires language proficiency, you must demonstrate your language proficiency at a level that will ensure your ability to perform the duties of the position properly. The proficiency test will only be given to enough candidates to fill current vacancies.

Tax technician trainee 1

Salary: $42,883

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Tax Technician Trainee 1, you will participate in a two-year traineeship in which you will be trained to perform desk audits and related activities involving tax returns filed under various articles of the Tax Law administered by the Department. Training will consist of on-the-job training, supplemented by formal classroom training, designed to develop journey-level skills as a desk audit technician.

Utility consumer assistance specialist trainee

Salary: $44,957

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Utility Consumer Assistance Specialist Trainee, you would perform a variety of activities and tasks in connection with the investigation and resolution of consumer complaints against the electric, steam, gas, telecommunications, cable, Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), Energy Brokers and Consultants, Distributed Energy Resource (DER), Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), and water service providers operating in New York State. These complaints include inadequate or substandard service, interruptions in service, disconnection of service, meter problems, billing problems, rate problems, deposit arrangements, deferred payment agreements, transferred balances, company policy, or other disputes requiring investigations and formal reply by the Department. You would also discuss energy conservation matters with consumers and provide information on utility regulation. You may also be trained through involvement with senior colleagues in all consumer assistance matters handled by the office.

Utility consumer program specialist trainee

Salary: $44,957

Application deadline: Dec. 27

Job description, according to DCS: As a Utility Consumer Program Specialist Trainee, you would perform a variety of duties in connection with a statewide consumer education program and with the oversight of electric, steam, gas, telecommunications, cable, Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), Distributed Energy Resource (DER), Energy Broker and Consultants, Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), and water service providers in New York State. Tasks may include advocacy training to represent residential customer interests through involvement in utility rate cases and other Commission proceedings, participating in the design and implementation of the Departments outreach and education program, and monitoring utility customer education, customer service, and low income programs. You may assist in the preparation of educational materials and direct mailings; staff exhibits at public events; assist at public statement hearings; and make presentations and/or seek public input in a variety of forums. You may also be trained through assisting in the evaluation of metering equipment and processes; review and monitor rate plan incentive programs; evaluating utility emergency plans and responses to electric and natural gas outages; and participating in the review of utility customer education plans. Finally, tasks may also include data entry into the Departments Document and Matter Management system, analyzing complaint data, and drafting letters to address compliance filings or complaints related to energy service companies, distributed energy resource providers, energy broker and consultants, and Community Choice Aggregation providers.

Collection & civil prosecution specialist

Salary: $53,262

Application deadline: Dec. 13

Job description, according to DCS: You would be under the direction of an attorney and the supervision of a Collection and Civil Prosecution Specialist 2, advise individuals of their obligations with respect to their debt(s) owed to New York State either by phone or through correspondence. You would provide this information based on your knowledge of the applicable laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to each case.

Radio dispatcher (DEC)

Salary: $42,493 (DEC)

Application deadline: Dec. 13

Job description, according to DCS: As a Radio Dispatcher at Thruway Authority, you would monitor, dispatch, and control two-way radio traffic providing interconnections between the various communications systems used in the Thruways Statewide Operations Center. You would regularly use computer equipment and telephones to enter, receive, and transmit information; make data inquiries; and arrange for repair service when radio equipment requires it. You would also handle the telephone traffic through the communications center. You would be required to know the established policies for Toll Collection, Maintenance, Traffic and Safety, Media Relations and Communications, and State Police Troop T, and to keep abreast of important events happening in those and other areas affecting the operation of the Thruway. As a Radio Dispatcher, you would regularly receive, enter, and dispatch information on the weather, road conditions, unusual or hazardous vehicles, accidents, State Police action, and emergencies requiring assistance from Thruway personnel or outside agencies. In the course of your duties, you will also be required to disseminate real time roadway information obtained from camera images or other roadway devices to the traveling public utilizing web based systems or roadside devices such as Variable Message Signs, Highway Advisory Radio or other devices that are controlled by the Thruways Statewide Operations Center.

Radio dispatcher (Thruway Authority)

Salary: $43,700

Application deadline: Dec. 13

Job description, according to DCS: As a Radio Dispatcher at Department of Environmental Conservation, you would work under direct supervision of the Senior Radio Dispatcher, serve as dispatcher for emergency and non-emergency calls from officers and the general public. Most calls are primarily directed to the mission of the DEC. You would obtain necessary information from callers in order to initiate assistance; serve as radio dispatcher of police resources; perform clerical, administrative and other duties related to the dispatch center service. Candidates must be able to communicate and work well with other dispatchers and the public. Work conditions include: sitting or standing for extended periods of time with headset on while monitoring computer screens; entering information using a computer keyboard; coordinating eye/hand movements while handling calls for the efficient use of radios and computers; speaking calmly and clearly in order to elicit information and giving instructions to a continuous flow of callers under stress; listening carefully to clearly understand caller information; making responsible judgments where timing is critical; and working within hearing distance of other dispatchers working under similar conditions.

Senior radio dispatcher (DEC)

Salary: $47,530 (DEC)

Application deadline: Dec. 13

Job description, according to DCS: As a Senior Radio Dispatcher at Department of Environmental Conservation, you would provide direct supervision and administrative support to subordinate staff. You will be expected to provide training to dispatch staff and other appropriate DEC personnel in the proper operation of base, mobile and portable radio use. You will be expected to provide instruction and training to dispatch staff to effectively receive, document and transfer information by landline, cellphone, and radio. Your administrative duties and responsibilities would include scheduling and performance evaluations. The schedule will be prepared and maintained to ensure that all normal operating shifts are staffed. You will design and maintain an operating manual to ensure standardized training in operational procedures in collaboration with the supervising Lieutenant and Captain. You will develop and maintain a log for all communications equipment located in the Dispatch office. You will be directly involved in communication transmissions and situations where decisions of an immediate and highly responsible nature must be made. You will be expected to perform all the duties of a Radio Dispatcher on a routine basis and be included in the schedule rotation, especially during times of high radio traffic or call volume and, also to provide relief for other dispatchers as required. You may be called in during off duty hours in emergency or high radio traffic or call volume situations.

Senior radio dispatcher (Thruway Authority)

Salary: $51,814

Application deadline: Dec. 13
TUCSON, Ariz.  A 52-year-old inmate was charged on Friday in the stabbing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in the death of George Floyd, in an Arizona prison.

The United States Attorneys Office District of Arizona in Tucson filed a criminal complaint on Friday against John Turscak charging him with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, according to a news release from the federal prosecutors office and multiple media reports.

Chauvin, 47, was convicted in April 2021 of murder and manslaughter for using his knee to pin Floyd to the pavement in a case that fueled worldwide protests, violence against police and stormy debates about racism and criminal justice in America.

The complaint alleges that while incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson, Turscak used an improvised knife to stab another inmate, identified in the news release only as D.C., 22 times.

Chauvin was the victim of the attack that occurred on Nov. 24, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the law library at the federal prison where the former cop is serving time in connection with the death of Floyd, according to the Associated Press.

Multiple media reports said that an attorney was not immediately listed in public records for Turscak. The news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office notes that a suspect is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Turscak faces the possibility of spending additional decades in jail since attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder are crimes that each carry maximum penalties of 20 years incarceration, while assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years incarceration, according to the new release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was the lead agency in the investigation into the stabbing, according to the news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

In this image taken from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse, June 25, 2021, in Minneapolis. Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, at a federal prison in Arizona, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)AP

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS LINK THE STABBING TO FLOYD

Federal prosecutors allege Turscak is a former gang leader and one-time FBI informant who told investigators he targeted Chauvin because of his notoriety for killing Floyd, according to the Associated Press.

The suspect allegedly initially told correctional officers that he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, federal prosecutors said.

Turscak was scheduled to be released from prison in 2026 on a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang. He told investigators he thought about attacking Chauvin for a month because he is a high-profile inmate but denied wanting to kill him, according to the Associated Press report based on statements by federal prosecutors.

Prison workers used pepper spray to subdue Turscak and performed life-saving measures on Chauvin before the ex-cop was taken to the hospital, according to the Bureau of Prisons as reported by the Associated Press.

Turscak told FBI agents interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, which garnered widespread support in the wake of Floyds murder in 2020, and the Black Hand symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, prosecutors said, according to the Associated Press.

CHAUVIN CONVICTED ON ALL COUNTS IN DEATH OF FLOYD

The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial people deliberated for about 10 hours over two days before finding Chauvin guilty on all charges, including second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, in connection with Floyds demise.

Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him into a squad car. He ended up on the ground.

The centerpiece of the case was a video of Floyd gasping repeatedly and saying, I cant breathe, as onlookers implored Chauvin to stop pressing his knee on or close to Floyds neck for what authorities claimed was 9 1/2 minutes.

In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating George Floyds civil rights, admitting that he kept his knee on Floyds neck  even after the victim became unresponsive  resulting in the Black mans death, according to the Associated Press.

Chauvin was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyds civil rights and a 22-year state sentence for second-degree murder, according to the Associated Press.

Chauvins lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating hed be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement largely for his own protection, Nelson wrote in court papers, according to the Associated Press.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvins appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didnt cause Floyds death.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The city Department of Transportation (DOT) will be awarded a federal grant of $3 million to rehabilitate an off-site storage facility in Stapleton that supports the Staten Island Ferry.

Mayor Eric Adams announced that the grant is part a total of about $10 million in funding provided by the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to enhance ferry operations serving Governors Island and Staten Island.

New York Citys waterways are key arteries for our city  and the $10 million federal investment we have delivered for our ferry systems today will strengthen this smart, enjoyable way to enjoy the ride from point A to point B, Adams said in a news release. With another major win for the Staten Island Ferry, our administration is helping Staten Islanders get to work in the morning and home to their families in the evening.

The grants were secured as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which became law in November 2021.

Every year, tens of millions of passengers rely on the Staten Island Ferry for their daily commutes and more, said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) Thats why I fought so hard to include these much-needed funds in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that I led to passage to support the Staten Island ferry and all its facilities. This federal grant provides the city with the resources needed to strengthen Staten Island ferry operations, and ensure safe and consistent service.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), a supporter of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, said that our boroughs share of the funding awarded under the FTA FY23 Ferry Programs will be used to restore the storage site referred to as Building 45 in Stapleton that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Through their programs, the FTA provides dollars for projects that support service on passenger ferries and upgrades to ferry boats, terminals, related facilities and equipment, according to the news release from the congresswoman.

The facility houses large parts and materials used to maintain boats, docks and other crucial components of the ferry system. The grant will be used to demolish and replace three buildings and rehabilitate a fourth structure. The lot will be paved to improve access and drainage to support heavy vehicles and large loads. Installing a new fence, upgrading utilities and adding security lighting are additional enhancements planned for the site, the news release from the congresswoman said.

The condition of the storage facility has slowly deteriorated due to lingering flooding effects stemming from Hurricane Sandy, creating potential safety concerns since storing parts improperly could lead to hidden deterioration or deficiencies, the news release from the congresswoman said.

From securing critical funds to modernize our ferry fleet, to advocating for a new contract for our ferry workers, to delivering a grant to rehabilitate this storage facility, I will continue to keep my commitment to improve the service reliability of the Staten Island Ferry, Malliotakis said. Staten Island is finally receiving its fair share of federal infrastructure funding and I will continue to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fight for more funding to bring our communitys infrastructure into the 21st century.

The Staten Island Ferry is the busiest passenger-only ferry service in the world, carrying nearly 24 million passengers each year. It operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Amazon violated federal labor laws through a series of actions, including unfair interrogation and racial stereotyping, aimed at denigrating the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) on Staten Island, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has ruled.

Administrative Judge Lauren Esposito found that, in retaliation for employees support for the union, or for taking part in lawfully protected concerted activities, Amazon dismissed employees early, altered employees work assignments, and subjected employees at Staten Islands JFK8 location to close supervision between May and October 2021 in violation the National Labor Relations Act, the NLR said Friday.

Additionally, the judge found that Amazon unlawfully interrogated employees, disparaged the union through appeals to racial prejudice and derogatory racial stereotyping, and prohibited the distribution of, and confiscated, union literature, as detailed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The New York judge listened to virtual testimony from labor consultants and Amazon employees and managers for almost a year before making a decision.

THE VIOLATIONS

The violations took place at Staten Islands JFK8 fulfillment center, the largest warehouse in New York, during a period of time ranging from May through October 2021, as indicated in court documents. The disruptive conduct came ahead of an April 2022 election which saw JFK8 become the nations first Amazon location to vote in favor of a union.

One of the witnesses called on behalf of Amazon was Bradley Moss, who in May of 2021, worked as an independent contractor for the Burke Group brought on as a labor consultant at JFK8, as identified in court documents. The Burke Group, as described in court documents, is a labor relations consultancy firm with expertise in union avoidance.

Although Moss denied conveying to employees that ALU support would be futile, the judge concluded otherwise, finding that in May of 2021, Moss did make such statements, as listed in the court documents.

In another instance, the judge found that Amazon violated labor laws when it sent an employee from another nearby facility, Daequan Smith, home early and changed his work assignments in retaliation for supporting the union, according to court documents.

THE ORDER

Judge Esposito ordered that Amazon stop further unlawful activity and to make Smith whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits, including compensation for any adverse tax consequences, as mentioned in the court documents.

Additionally, among other orders, Amazon must post copies of a notice for 60 days at both FK8 and another Staten Island facility, DYY6, and distribute the notice to employees electronically.

Workers have the right to advocate collectively for a more equitable workplace  and it is unlawful for employers to prohibit or retaliate against them for doing so, Teresa Poor, director of NLRB Region 29, which represents Staten Island, said, as stated on NLRB. Im proud of the staff of Region 29 for diligently pursuing this significant case and litigating for strong, meaningful remedies.

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement that company is reviewing the judges decision and weighing its next steps based on the ruling.

A CONTESTED RESULT

Since JFK8 voted to unionize, Amazon has challenged the results of the initial election.

In January of 2023, NLRB Region 28 Regional Director Cornele Overstreet overruled the companys objections to the Amazon Labor Unions election victory, upholding a separate August of 2022 decision from NLRB Hearing Officer Lisa Dunn, who recommended overturning all of Amazons objections.

Both Overstreet and Dunn are from NLRBs Region 28, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Officials had transferred the review of the election from the NLRB offices in Brooklyn since Amazon alleged misconduct by local officials.

Amazons objections to the results are based upon allegations that ALU and representatives from the NLRBs Brooklyn office acted illegally to influence the union election.

Following the JFK8 election, there has been a second election to unionize the LDJ5 facility; the effort ultimately failing with 380 votes in favor of unionization, and 618 against.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York City residents have been alerted to sightings of 1- to 2-inch tar balls on Fort Wadsworth beaches that have prompted an oil spill cleanup.

Coast Guard Sector of New York personnel spotted tar balls along Fort Wadsworth beaches. And, at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, Notify NYC issued an alert on the situation, notifying residents of the sightings and telling them to expect oil spill removal organization personnel to be cleaning up along the beach front.

WHAT ARE TAR BALLS AND ARE THEY HAZARDOUS?

Tar balls are little, dark-colored pieces of oil that are either remnants of oil spills, or produced from natural seeps, spots where oil gradually escapes from the earths surface above petroleum reservoirs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

When floating upon the ocean surface, the oil undergoes weathering, a series of various physical, chemical, and biological processes which alter the appearance of the oil, according to the NOAA.

The result is a sticky, small oil patch thats crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside.

As of the time of publication, there was no threat to wildlife, according to a spokeswoman with the Coast Guard Sector of New York.

Generally, brief contact with a small amount of oil, while not recommended, poses no harm to individuals, according to NOAA. However, those sensitive to chemicals may experience a negative allergic reaction or rashes even from brief contact.

If contact does occur, the NOAA advises washing skin with soap and water, baby oil, or a widely used, safe cleaning compound.

The Coast Guard spokeswoman confirmed that pollution responders are heading to the scene for a cleanup and are seeking to identify the source of the tar balls.

TAR BALLS ON THE JERSEY SHORE

The Coast Guard and other agencies have recently been investigating the source of tar balls appearing along the Jersey Shore, NJ.com reported.

The tar balls were discovered over an approximately six-mile area between Sea Bright and Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, a Coast Guard spokesman told NJ.com.

According to NJ.com, despite efforts, thus far, the Coast guard has not located the source of the New Jersey tar balls.

If you see a tar ball, refrain from touching it and report the sighting to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.
Honored to receive the prestigious award from the Consulate General of Jamaica today! As someone of Jamaican & Guyanese descent, this recognition holds a special place in my heart. Grateful for the support of my heritage and excited for the journey ahead. pic.twitter.com/jKsD6XNEU5  Tania Kinsella (@NYPD1stDep) December 1, 2023

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella, a North Shore resident, was among six individuals presented with the Consul Generals Heritage Award on Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Jamaican Consulates Manhattan offices, as reported by The Gleaner.

As noted in an article from Jamaicans.com, the Consul Generals Heritage Awards dates back to 2013 and recognizes the service and work of individuals within both their own spheres of influence and the Jamaican community.

Kinsella, a former commanding officer of Staten Islands 120th Precinct, traces her roots back to Jamaica. In a statement posted to Kinsellas Twitter/X account, Kinsella said the following:

Honored to receive the prestigious award from the Consulate General of Jamaica today! As someone of Jamaican & Guyanese descent, this recognition holds a special place in my heart. Grateful for the support of my heritage and excited for the journey ahead.

As stated on the website of the Consulate General of Jamaica in New York, the main objective of the consulate is to promote and safeguard the interests of Jamaica and its nationals in the 33 states in the U.S. which fall under its jurisdiction.
A delegation of diplomatic envoys from 20 Arab countries concluded a four-day visit to South China's Hainan Province, hailing China's achievements in free trade port construction, tropical agriculture, space technology, and ecological civilization.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service








STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Coming soon to NYC: Spiders the size of your hand, ballooning through the sky on three-foot silky webs and hitching rides on cars, trucks and buses.

No, its not a scene from a new sci-fi thriller. Giant Joro spiders have been making their way across the United States, and experts said they predict it wont be long before theyll be arriving in New York City.

Theyll be hard to miss, said Jose R. Ramirez-Garofalo, of Fort Wadsworth, an ecologist in the Lockwood Lab at Rutgers University and the vice president of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods on Staten Island.

They get pretty large  larger than really any other spiders we have in our area, he said.

Female Joros can grow to 8 inches in length, Ramirez-Garofalo said, though males are about half that size.

Native to East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China, they are thought to have arrived in the United States around 2013 (via cargo ships) when they were discovered in Georgia.

Since then, theyve spread across much of Georgia into Tennessee and the Carolinas, with additional sightings in Maryland, and even as far west as Oklahoma, according to a study by Clemson University.

Right now, we are seeing them dispersing into Maryland, so soon enough, possibly even next year, they should be in New Jersey and New York, Ramirez-Garofalo said. It is a matter of when, not if.

The ecological invasion process of the Joros is similar to what Staten Islanders have seen with spotted lanternflies, Ramirez-Garofalo said. They use a passive form of dispersal called ballooning, in which they send out a piece of web into the wind and lift off, traveling for miles, he said.

But, the yellow-and-black arachnids can also hitch a ride on cars, making state-to-state travel a breeze.

They get a free ride, and when enough of them move into a new area, they can establish a population, Ramirez-Garofalo said. I would expect to see them (on Staten Island) in the spring and summer when spiders are most active.

Experts said Joros are incredibly invasive, and will eat almost anything they catch in their web  mosquitos, flies, stink bugs, and even other spiders.

These spiders dont seem to care what gets in their web; theyre just as likely to eat brown marmorated stink bugs as they are to eat a Monarch butterfly, Clemson Professor David Coyle told AL.com. " To say theyre more beneficial than another spider is just simply wrong  theyre a spider  and if something gets caught in their web, its going to get eaten.

And they dont care if its a rare native pollinator, and there are only a few of them left in the world, or if its a brown marmorated stink bug, he added. Its six of one or half-dozen of another  its the same thing to that spider  its prey.

Other experts, like those at the University of Georgia, said they will have little to no effect on local food webs and ecosystems. They could even be viewed as beneficial, contributing to pest reduction as they prey on plant pests and serving as food themselves to birds and other predators, according to UGA Today, a publication of the University of Georgia.

And while they are venomous, their venom isnt medically significant, Ramirez-Garofalo said. Theyre also very reluctant to bite humans, he added.

Yet, they are big and they make enormous, multi-layered webs of gold-colored silk. Imagine a banana spider and its web, then increase that threefold.

And theres more good news: Youre not likely to find a Joro in your house. They prefer the outdoors, according to scientists.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Nov. 27 that $100 million in funding has been released to support the renewal of state roadways impacted by extreme weather.

The funding supports repaving projects at 66 locations, totaling almost 568 lane miles of pavement, and complements a record level of investment by the Governor in infrastructure across New York State.

From a devastating blizzard to historic flooding, we are living in a time of record-breaking weather events which have left many roads across New York State in need of repair and rejuvenation, Hochul said. This $100 million will lengthen the lifespan of dozens of roads across the State, making them more resilient in the face of future extreme weather conditions.

The governors office said that paving projects would begin in the spring.

NY ROADS ON LIST FOR PAVING

Long Island Region ($8 million)

$8.0 million towards resurfacing the Southern State Parkway (908M) from Exit 32 to Exit 39, Suffolk County.

New York City Region ($4 million)

$4.0 million to resurface Grand Central Parkway from Main Street to 168th Street, Queens County

Capital Region ($8.7 million)

$1.4 million to resurface Route 20 from Route 146 to Schoolcraft Street in the Town of Guilderland, Albany County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 23A from Route 296 to Scribner Hollow Road in the Towns of Hunter and Tannersville, Greene County.

$785,400 to resurface Route 66 from Old Route 66 to Gun Club Road and from Route 355 to Church Street in the Towns of North Greenbush and Poestenkill, Rensselaer County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 32 from Route 197 to Route 9 in the Town of Moreau, Saratoga County.

$739,200 to resurface Route 914E (Veeder Avenue) from Millard Avenue to Route 5 in the City of Schenectady, Schenectady County.

$2.4 million to resurface Route 28N from the Essex County line to Route 28 in the Town of North Creek, Warren County.

$1.2 million to resurface Route 4 from the Whitehall Southern Village line to Route 18 in the Town of Whitehall, Washington County.

North Country Region ($8.8 million)

$1.8 million to resurface Route 9N from County Route 2 (Creek Road) to Route 185 (Bridge Road) in the Town of Crown Point, Essex County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 3 from Cadyville to Route 22B in the Town of Plattsburgh, Clinton County.

$231,000 to resurface Routes 970F, 970G & 970H connecting Route 374 to Route 3 in the Town of Plattsburgh, Clinton County.

$881,488 to resurface Route 30 from Rock Island Bay to Moody in the Town of Tupper Lake, Franklin County.

$394,329 to resurface Route 11 from Raymond Street to Route 24 in the Town of Malone, Franklin County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 12E from Limerick to Chaumont Village in the Towns of Brownville and Lyme, Jefferson County.

$276,381 to resurface Route 3 from Wilton Road to Route 26 in the Town of Champion, Jefferson County.

$1.2 million to resurface Route 26 from Lowville Village North line to Arthur Road in the Town of Lowville, Lewis County.

$487,920 to resurface Route 410 from Route 26 to Castorland West Village line in the Town of Denmark, Lewis County.

$915,025 to resurface Route 812 from Heuvelton to McIntyre Road in the Town of Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence County.

$398,000 to resurface Route 11B from Nicholville to Fisk Road in the Town of Lawrence, St. Lawrence County.

Mohawk Valley Region ($6.4 million)

$593,600 to resurface Route 921B (Burrstone Road) between Main Street and Notre Dame Lane in the Town of New Hartford, Village of New York Mills, and City of Utica, Oneida County.

$770,650 to resurface Route 31 from Route 5 to the bridge over the Sconondoa Creek in the Village of Vernon, Oneida County.

$654,000 to resurface Route 922B (South Washington Street) from Route 5 to the bridge over the Mohawk River in the Village of Herkimer, Herkimer County.

$377,000 to resurface Route 28 from Route 5 to I-90 in the Village of Herkimer, Herkimer County.

$705,000 to resurface Route 5S (Main Street East) from Mitchell Street to Cunningham Road and Route 920T (Moyer Street) from Maple Street to Montgomery Street in the Town and Village of Canajoharie, Montgomery County.

$2.6 million to resurface Route 29 from Route 30 to Saratoga County line in the Towns of Broadalbin and Mayfield and Village of Broadalbin, Fulton County.

$721,000 to resurface Route 166 from the Village of Cherry Valley South line to Route 20 in the Town of Cherry Valley, Otsego County.

Central New York Region ($2.6 million)

$700,500 to resurface Route 13 (North Peterboro Street) from Canal Street (CR 76) to Hall of Fame Drive in the Village of Canastota, Madison County.

$1.9 million to resurface Route 90 from Route 326 to Village of Cayuga line and from Village of Aurora South Village line to North Village line, in the Towns of Springport, Aurelius and Ledyard, Village of Aurora, Cayuga County.

Finger Lakes Region ($11.5 million)

$792,000 to resurface Route 33A from the bridge over Black Creek to Route 252 in the Town of Chili, Monroe County.

$1.9 Million to rehabilitate Route 21 from the Thruway to the Village of Palmyra, in the Towns of Manchester and Palmyra, Ontario and Wayne Counties.

$1.2 Million to preserve the pavement on I-390 from Exit 6 (Sonyea) to Exit 7 (Mount Morris), in the Town of Groveland, Livingston County.

$898,380 to Resurface Route 250 from the Village of Webster to Lake Road in the Town of Webster, Monroe County.

$750,000 to resurface Route 39 within the Village of Perry, Wyoming County.

$1.6 million to resurface Route 31A from Route 98 to Hulberton Road in the Towns of Albion, Barre, and Clarendon, Orleans County.

$2.2 million to resurface Route 33 from the City of Batavia to the Village of Corfu in the Towns of Batavia and Pembroke, Genesee County.

$2.2 million to resurface Route 14 from the former Village of Lyons to Route 104 in the Towns of Lyons and Sodus, Wayne County.

Western New York Region ($12.9 million)

$1.2 million to resurface Route 242 from Route 219 to Weller Road in the Towns of Franklinville and Ellicottville, Cattaraugus County.

$2.8 million to resurface I- 86 eastbound from the State line to Sherman, Chautauqua County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 324 from Long Road to Staley Road in the Town of Grand Island, Erie County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 62 from Shadagee Road to Evans Street in the Towns of Hamburg and Eden, Erie County.

$740,000 to resurface Route 277 from Genesee Street to Wehrle Drive in the Town of Cheektowaga, Erie County.

$248,000 to resurface Route 353 from the bridge over Cattaraugus Creek to Waverly Street in the Town of Cattaraugus, Cattaraugus County.

$147,000 to resurface Route 353 from West Street to Leavenworth Road in the Town of Cattaraugus, Cattaraugus County.

$921,000 to resurface Route 18 from Wilson East Village line to the bridge over Twelvemile Creek and Route 425 from Route 18 to Wilson South Village line in the Village of Wilson, Niagara County.

$ 730,000 to resurface Route 187 from Route 20A to Route 20 in the Towns of West Seneca and Orchard Park, Erie County.

$1.1 million to resurface Route 31 from Route 425 to Route 270 in the Town of Cambria, Niagara County.

$1.8 million to resurface I-86, Route 305, and Route 446 in the Cuba area, Town and Village of Cuba, Allegany County.

$1.0 million to resurface Route 19 from the Pennsylvania State line to Stannards in the Hamlet of Stannards and the Town of Willing, Allegany County.

Southern Tier Region ($19.5 million)

$8.1 million to resurface Route 13/34/96 (Meadow and Fulton Street) from Elmira Road to North Ithaca City line, Buffalo Street from Taughannock Boulevard to Meadow Street, Seneca Street from Fulton Street to Meadow Street and Green Street from Fulton Street to Meadow Street in the City of Ithaca, Tompkins County.

$1.6 million to resurface Route 414 from Beaver Dams to the Village of Watkins Glen, Town of Catlin in Chemung County and Town of Dix and Village of Watkins Glen in Schuyler County.

$1.0 million to resurface Route 224 and Route 34 from the Schuyler County line to Tioga County line in the Town of Van Etten, Chemung County.

$400,000 to resurface Route 417 from Route 36 to Hardy Road in the Town of Jasper, Steuben County.

$2.6 million to resurface Route 28 from the Ulster County line to Arkville in the Town of Middletown, Delaware County.

$1.4 million to resurface Route 26 from the Village of Whitney Point to Overlook Drive in the Town of Triangle, Broome County.

$1.9 million to resurface Route 268 from Academy Street to Lang Road in the Town and Village of Hancock, Delaware County.

$1.0 million to resurface Route 206 from the bridge over Kelsey Creek to one-half mile east of Case Road in the Town of Bainbridge, Chenango County.

$295,000 to resurface Route 38B from Route 38 to the Broome County line in the Towns of Newark Valley and Owego, Tioga County.

$501,000 to resurface Route 26 from 0.4 miles south of Payne Road to the Maine Memorial School in the Towns of Union and Maine, Broome County.

$676,000 to resurface Route 30, from Route 17 to Route 206 in the Towns of Hancock and Colchester, Delaware County.

Mid-Hudson Region ($17.4 million)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With the holiday season rapidly approaching, who couldnt use some extra cash?

The New York Lottery has various $5 scratch-off games with top-prizes ranging from $250,000 to $1 million.

As of Friday, there are 13 tickets across eight different $5 scratch-off games with guaranteed top prizes of $1 million.

Here are the $5 scratch-off games with top-prize tickets of $1 million still in circulation as of Friday, Dec. 1, according to New York Lottery data:

MULTIPLIER MONEY

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,082,100

HIT IT BIG

Top prizes remaining: 2

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,804,233.33

CASH X20

Top prizes remaining: 2

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 4,513,950

$1M GOLDEN FORTUNE

Top prizes remaining: 2

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,590,025

$1M LUCKY DOG

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,591,250

$1M PREMIERE

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,455,066.67

BIG BUCKS

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,460,800

MAGIC 8 BALL

Top prizes remaining: 3

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,434,533.33

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the New York Lotterys scratch-off games, visit nylottery.ny.gov/scratch-off-games.

The New York Lottery continues to be touted as North Americas largest and most profitable lottery, contributing $3.6 billion during fiscal year 2021-2022 to support education in New York state.

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school districts size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of lottery school funding.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Earlier this month, on the eve of Kristallnacht, Wagner College Holocaust Center created an interfaith Holocaust remembrance titled Leos Survival: Acts of Extraordinary Heroes of All Faiths,  an enlightening event that featured Leo S. Ullman, a survivor, lawyer and philanthropist.

On Nov. 9 and Nov 10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of massacres against the Jewish population in Germany and recently-incorporated territories. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes.

From the left, Professor Lori Weintrob, Leo Ullman, Rev. Terry Troia, Mendy Mirocznik and Fern Zagor participate in the event. (Courtesy/Debra Killen)Staten Island Advance

To commemorate that horrific destruction, about 100 students and community members participated in the Wagner College Holocaust Center guest lecture by Ullman the week before the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

ULLMANS STORY

More than 80 years ago, in March of 1943, Ullmans parents, Emily and Frank, made the difficult decision about their 3-year old Jewish toddler when they decided they he needed to go into hiding in Amsterdam.

Sadly, their son was separated from them for 796 days without knowing if they were alive or dead.

His hiding spot was across town and only a few miles away from the Secret Annex where Anne Frank hid with her family. It was a difficult decision Jewish families were forced to make in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.

According to Professor Lori Weintrob, director of the Wagner College Holocaust Center, One element of Leos survival is the courage of both his parents and their friends and neighbors of all faiths who helped them survive those years. His rescuers were good people who were doing extraordinary deeds, she said. These were ordinary people, like you or I, who made ethical choices that were extraordinarily heroic  They truly inspire courage, she said.

From the left, standing, Mendy Mirocznik, president, COJO; Hassan Naveed, executive director of the Mayors Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes; Dean Aarti Ivanic, of the Nicolais School of Business at Wagner College; Ryan Crimmins, of the Office of Staten Island D.A. Michael McMahon and Staten Island Hate Crimes Task Force; Dr. Ruta Shah-Gordon, vice-president of Enrollment and Campus Life at Wagner College; Professor Lori Weintrob, director, Wagner College Holocaust Center; Leo Ullman, Holocaust survivor; Rabbi Michael Howald, of Temple Israel Reform Congregation; Fern Zagor, chairwoman of Wagner College Holocaust Center (WCHC) Advisory Committee. Seated are: Kajori Chaudhuri, deputy commissioner of the NYC Commission on Human Rights (NYC-CHR), and Alexander Korkhov, Staten Island community service center director of NYC-CHR. (Courtesy of Lori Weintrob)Staten Island Advance

Weintrob went on to explain that Germany had pledged not to invade Holland, but on May 10, 1940, hundreds of German planes bombed the city of Rotterdam. Antisemitic laws came quickly, such as banning Jews from owning cars or bicycles or going to public parks or restaurants. And special required ID cards marked with a J were required.

As other families were arrested and deported, Ullmans parents realized they also needed to go into hiding or they would be sent to labor or concentration camps.

Ullman and his parents were helped by Hendrik Schimmel, a retired police officer, and his wife Jannigje, who Ullman called Opa and Oma Schimmel.

A fascinating aspect of Leos history was the help offered by a local Muslim businessman named M. Kinnebanyan who sold rugs.

Leo Ullman, Holocaust survivor of Amsterdam, Mendy Mirocznik, president, COJO, Imam Tahir Kukaj, vice-president, Albanian Islamic Cultural Center and NYPD Chaplain, Professor Lori Weintrob, director, Wagner College Holocaust Center, hold a prayer rug that his family was given during the Holocaust. (Courtesy/Debra Killen)Staten Island Advance

Kinnebanyan helped Ullmans father accumulate funds to go into hiding by selling rugs, but he also gave him a prayer rug as a way to be kept safe, saying I believe God will help save you. And Ullmans family has kept that rug at the center of their home for 80 years.

COMMUNITY LEADERS COME FORWARD AND JOIN FORCES

Ullman would relate that history and unraveled the prayer rug in the company of Imam Tahir Kukaj, vice-president of the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, NYPD chaplain and head of the Islamic Studies Department at the Miraj Islamic School.

Rev. Terry Troia is shown with Leo Ullman. (Courtesy/Debbie Killen)Staten Island Advance

Imam Kukaj, who has been active in interfaith events at Wagner College for more than 20 years, spoke of his admiration for Albanians whove been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for the rescue of 2,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

Other community leaders were present as well, including Hassan Naveed, executive director of the Mayors Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes; Kajori Chaudhuri, deputy commissioner of the NYC Commission on Human Rights (NYC-CHR); Mendy Mirocznik, president of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island (COJO-SI); Rabbi Michael Howald, Temple Israel Reform Congregation, and Rev. Terry Troia, president of Project Hospitality.

Students gather around Leo Ullman, center. (Courtesy/Debra Killen)Staten Island Advance

Todays interview with Leo Ullman is an example of using first-hand testimony of witness who survived the Holocaust, said Miroznik. This has tremendous value for the next generation. It showcases the impact of antisemitism and Nazi persecution on Jewish children and families. The words and memories of Leo Ullman demonstrate the painful impact of the Holocaust on Jews and on humanity, as well as elevating the rescuers of other faiths who have been designated Righteous Among the Nations. The Wagner College Holocaust Center (WCHC) is a pioneer in bringing the community together for the purpose of remembrance, during the over 25 years of teaching by Professor Lori Weintrob and in the past decade in her work as founding director of the WCHC. COJO-SI is proud to support these important educational endeavors that perpetuate the memory of the martyrs of the Holocaust.

Leos story of hiding in Amsterdam is compelling  his gratitude to those of other faiths who rescued his family is strong, said Fern Zagor, chair of the Wagner College Holocaust Center Advisory Committee. At this tragic moment of global crisis and war, let us find connection with good people of all faiths. Mr. Leo Ullmans experiences in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam are featured in his memoir 796 Days: Hiding as a Child in Occupied Amsterdam and a film, There Were Good People Doing Extraordinary DeedsLeo Ullmans Story.

MORE ON ULLMAN

A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School and Business School, Ullman served our country in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve. He has a long and distinguished career as a lawyer and as a real estate entrepreneur. In 2003, he was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Ullman currently heads Vastgood Properties and is devoted to promoting Holocaust education, serving as Chairman of the Anne Frank Center USA for many years, and presently as Chairman of the Foundation for the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Inc.

In gratitude to his rescuers, he and his wife, Kay, have created the Schimmel and Hoogenboom Righteous Remembrance Room at Stockton University and the Emily Ullman Summer Conference Fund at Wagner College, in honor of his mother.

When Emily Ullman arrived in New York Harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty, she movingly said: We beat Hitler! he exclaimed with enthusiasm.

STUDENTS ON BOARD

In addition, 75 students from the seventh and eighth grade of the Jewish Foundation School of Staten Island recited prayers, sang and became familiar with the Wagner College Holocaust Education and Action Gallery.

This was the seventh year that JFS students commemorated Kristallnacht with students of all faiths from Wagner College.

Arthur Spielman, center, poses with students and teachers of the Jewish Foundation School of Staten Island and Wagner College in the Wagner College Holocaust Center. (Courtesy of Lori Weintrob)Staten Island Advance

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR

Holocaust survivor Arthur Spielman, born in Krakow, Poland, who will be 95 in a few weeks, shared his memories of the Cheder School in pre-war Europe and growing up in an Orthodox family.

He spoke of facing anti-semitism in a public school in Poland and shared that he was a fifth grade student when the Nazis invaded and his family and was moved to the Krakow ghetto.

Arthur Spielman and students of JFS sing the Hatikvah. (Courtesy/Lori Weintrob)Staten Island Advance

After the Nazi brutality became too much, they smuggled themselves across the border to Slovakia and then went into hiding in Hungary. He credits his parents with the courage to separate the family during the journey until they were reunited and lived with false papers until the end of the war.

Arthur was just starting fifth grade when the war broke out,' said Weintrob. He lost so many family members, but has devoted his life to speaking out to young people to never forget this tragedy.

Professor Lori Weintrob; Mendy Mirocznik; and Rabbi Mark Ben Aron, are shown at the COJO South Beach Rally in Support of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. (Courtesy/Lori Weintrob)Staten Island Advance

WAGNER COLLEGE HOLOCAUST CENTERS PROJECTS

The Wagner College Holocaust Center organized several other major events, including the 103rd birthday in late October of Margot Capell, eyewitness to Kristallnacht when she was only age 18.

Margot Capell is shown on her 103rd birthday with Professor Lori Weintrob. (Courtesy/Lori Weintrob)Staten Island Advance

Students also attended an event at the Staten Island Museum, Love and Light: The Altered Book Project Against Antisemitism and Hate, where they shared mixed-media art projects created to express their concerns about rising antisemitism and key lessons of the Holocaust, including standing up to hate in all forms.

The project involved three sessions led by artist Caryn Davis at Wagner College and three sessions at the St. George Public Library.

As first-year student William Stevenson wrote: What inspired me to make the book the way I did was the hatred and separation we still have today in America. People are still judged based on appearance and racial differences, and that is why I put a piece about coexisting. Art can speak a thousand words so people can take it how they please but putting next to a piece that is so strong can persuade someone to think one way. I loved the process of making my book. I had complete freedom over what I wanted and I believe my book came out pretty well.

The books will be on view at the Staten Island Museum from March 2 to June 2, 2024.

Finally, for the Eighth annual Egon J. Salmon Commemoration of Kristallnacht and the German liner, St. Louis, 150 students were brought together from nine high schools and Wagner College at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Manhattan.

Through the efforts of City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks, a grant for $25,000 has been presented to Wagner College to fight hate crimes.

Weintrob and her students collaborated with the Commission on Human Rights to create the presentation, Understanding Jewish Experiences and Antisemitism that was cited in the White House Report on Antisemitism in May 2023 as a model.

Weintrob is a member of the Staten Island Hate Crimes Task Force and works extensively with Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon on initiatives to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism.

Wagner College Holocaust Center, founded in 2014, is committed to empowering future generations with empathy, courage, and ethical decision-making in order to combat anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of prejudice.

For further information, contact Weintrob at holocaust.center@wagner.edu or phone 718 390-3309 or 646-345-4507.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Goldens Deli in New Springville closed more than a decade ago, but Staten Islanders still carry fond memories.

The beloved spot, a favorite among a large swath of Staten Islanders, featured a 1930s-style subway car smack in the middle of its main dining room, and was named after one of the restaurant partners, Marvin Golden. Known across the borough for its Kosher menu, Goldens Deli closed at the end of its 30-year lease in 2012.

Goldens Deli was a favorite stop for several Advance/SILive.com staffers.

As a kid, my family and I went to Goldens Deli all the time, often when my Jewish grandparents were visiting from Brooklyn so they could enjoy familiar foods from their culture, said Erik Bascome, public interest and advocacy reporter. I remember always wanting to sit in the vintage subway car, but our party was often too big to do so. Regardless, the restaurant was a big part of my childhood and I still think about the matzo ball soup to this day.

Steve Zaffarano, visuals manager, put Goldens pastrami and hot dogs on par with legendary Manhattan eateries Katzs and 2nd Ave Deli. He also said his love of Goldens Deli was a family affair.

When my mom was in Eger [Health Care and Rehabilitation Center] rehabbing a broken hip, I would call her to let her know I was swinging by for a quick visit, remembered Zaffarano. She would ask me to stop at Goldens for a hot dog, or corned beef sandwich and fries. I later realized that getting food from Goldens was much more important than seeing me.

The Advance/SILive.com recently tracked down the old subway car at the home of art installer and train aficionado and collector Tom Zoufaly, 69, in Warwick, New York. In the years since Goldens closed, Zoufaly has restored the famed subway car.

Heres a look at some photos of Goldens from back in the day. Share your vintage photos by emailing tips@siadvance.com. In the subject line, write Goldens Deli.

Marvin Golden, outside Golden's Deli, and the 1930s-vintage subway car that would become the New Springville restaurant's claim to fame. He passed away before the restaurant opened, according to his wife, Sonny. (Staten Island Advance)Staten Island Advance

In September of 1997 in Golden's Deli, Vito Cusumano, Margot Macias and waitress Lisa Argenziano sit just outside the subway car. (Staten Island Advance)Staten Island Advance

In 2001 patrons enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at Golden's Deli. (Staten Island Advance)Staten Island Advance

One of the final images taken of the iconic subway car inside Golden's deli, after the eatery closed. (Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)Staten Island Advance

Golden's Deli closed in 2012, and a week later, was completely gutted. (Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)(Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)

Golden's Deli closed in 2012, and a week later, was completely gutted. (Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)(Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein)
Tune in to see Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas a story about five glamorous 1980s soap opera stars who reunite to share the spotlight in the final Christmas episode of their long-running soap opera, on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on the Lifetime Channel.

The original Lifetime movie Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas brings together five of the decades most iconic actresses  Loni Anderson (WKRP in Cincinnati), Morgan Fairchild (Falcon Crest), Linda Gray (Dallas), Donna Mills (Knots Landing) and Nicollette Sheridan (Knots Landing)  for an extra special holiday event.

The producer, Alex (Travis Burns) and director Nell (Taylor Ann Thompson), old college friends, do their best to keep things under control, but as the ladies come together, old rivalries resurface that threaten to tear the whole production apart.

HOW TO STREAM LADIES OF THE 80S: A DIVAS CHRISTMAS ONLINE FOR FREE

If youre a cord-cutter or dont have cable, you can watch Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas online on one of the following streaming platforms, and get it for free via a trial offer:

Philo TV -- seven-day free trial. At just $25 a month, this is one of the most cost-friendly streaming services.

Direct TV Stream -- five-day free trial.

WHAT CHANNEL IS LIFETIME ON?

If you are watching on cable, catch Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas on Lifetime.

You can find which channel Lifetime is on by using the channel finders here: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish.

TAKE A SNEAK PEEK

MORE ON LADIES OF THE 80S: A DIVAS CHRISTMAS

With the show nearly canceled before it even begins due to the ladies famous diva behavior, they reluctantly agree to set aside their differences and past secrets to act as if they all still love each other.

Plus, when old sparks reignite between Alex and Nell, the ladies become eager to play cupid and conspire to bring the couple together.

However, along the way, the divas also discover that the love between them all is still very strong.
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JERUSALEM, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel declared on Saturday that it was withdrawing its negotiating team from the Doha talks in Qatar on extending the ceasefire with Hamas, citing an "impasse."

According to a statement issued by Mossad, Israel's spy agency, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the order to the team, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, to return to Israel. The Mossad team spent about a week in Qatar to take part in talks aimed at achieving a temporary pause in the deadly conflict.

The Mossad's statement attributed the decision to the "impasse in the negotiations." The Mossad accused Hamas of failing to fulfil its obligations under the truce agreement, "which included the release of all children and women according to a list that was forwarded to Hamas and approved by it."

The collapse of a seven-day ceasefire on Friday marked a resurgence of hostilities, with Israel resuming strikes in Gaza, killing at least 193 people, and Hamas launching rockets at Israel without causing any casualties.

Barnea reported that, during the brief ceasefire facilitated by Qatar and coordinated with Egypt and the United States, 84 Israeli children and women, along with 24 Thai and Filipino nationals held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza, were freed.

During the ceasefire, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. 
Each time Bours operated on Hogan, her pain afterwards intensified, but her surgeon could not prescribe medication.

None of these podiatric surgeons has completed a medical degree, so not one of them is a medical doctor, yet they can lawfully call themselves doctor and perform complex and invasive surgery.

By this point, she had been operated on three times by Paul Bours, who once counted himself among a small but controversial group of practitioners known as podiatric surgeons.

Suzanne Hogan has different sized feet and her toe cannot touch the ground after her operation. Credit: Brook Mitchell

The answer came out the same every time, her right foot was three sizes smaller than her left. Her big toe, meanwhile, hovered one centimetre above the ground.

I measured and remeasured the foot continuously, she says. I was in disbelief.

It was Christmas day in 2014 when Suzanne Hogan removed her surgical boots for the first time. She could not believe what she saw  her feet were two different sizes.

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Podiatric surgeons are the only group of individuals who operate on the Australian public who do not have their training accredited, inspected and audited by the Australian Medical Council [an independent training organisation for medical professionals], the Australian Orthopaedic Association said in a recent submission to the regulator.

Their complaints were backed by 22 orthopaedic surgeons, who say they often treat patients to correct issues following podiatric surgeon procedures. They make allegations of poor and unnecessary surgeries and inappropriate treatment of complications.

Over interviews with 29 patients, they described being shocked or completely floored to learn these practitioners can lawfully call themselves doctors or surgeons despite not having medical degrees.

This troubling pattern was repeated many times in a joint investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes , where patients around the country have been left deformed, out-of-pocket and feeling misled about the qualifications of the person they allowed to operate on them.

Suzanne Hogan ended up with two different sized feet after three operations with Paul Bours. Credit: Suzanne Hogan

Nor did Hogan know, Bours was found guilty of professional misconduct in October 2014 and was banned from operating for one year. But the suspension did not take effect immediately, allowing him to perform the third procedure that left her with permanent disability. Its turned my life upside down, she says.

He comes out in a white coat, hes called doctor, a surgeon, I thought he was fair dinkum, she says.

Leeks acknowledges that all surgeries have complications, but she describes cases by podiatric surgeons she has seen as outrageous and experimental, which she believes indicates a lack of adequate surgical training.

Over my years, Ive seen three amputations after podiatric surgeons have operated, she said.

This is a big problem, says lawyer Ian Murray, who has represented a number of patients of podiatric surgeons. Im glad someone is exposing this.

One says she was left to walk on a broken and blackened foot for two years, another described an operation which left her with a dangling toe and crippling pain. Many developed depression when they were left unable to walk, work, drive or live independently.

Some patients will not speak publicly on advice from their lawyers as they pursue medical negligence claims following severe complications  such as deformed feet, chronic pain, and dying limbs.

He was critical of the tribunal finding against him, saying there were factual errors and it was totally biased. While he accepts his surgery left Hogan with two different-sized feet, he said she presented to him with pain and deformity, all risks were explained and unforeseen issues emerged during surgery, which is common for all surgeons.

Hogans surgeon, Bours, regards criticisms of the industry and his work as a hatchet job driven by orthopaedic surgeons who want to protect their turf.

Paul Bours has apologised for a patients unhappiness about her outcome but says he acted within the rules.

AHPRA conducts investigations into alleged misconduct for the Podiatry Board of Australia (PBA), which in turn makes disciplinary decisions. PBA chair Cylie Williams said reform was needed, and everything from tighter rules around titles such as doctor and surgeon to auditing training standards would be examined.

After receiving questions from this masthead about problems with podiatric surgeons, regulator Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) launched an independent review of the industry, noting that it had a much higher rate of complaints about these practitioners compared to podiatrists, including serious concerns about patient safety.

Ive had complications. But its not because the wrong operation has been performed for the patient, or the screw is not in the bone.

Former AHPRA investigator turned lawyer David Gardner says the revelations point to systemic failures with the way healthcare is regulated in Australia, from accrediting training courses to investigating complaints and suspending rogue practitioners, not only in podiatry but across all professions.

Foot surgery is really complex. Youre dealing with degenerative pathology. Its never going to be 100 per cent, Bours said. I felt my training was of a high standard on foot and ankle. But there was very little trauma surgery, he said. Who made them king?

I met my statute requirements for practice. I was not obliged to disclose anything. This story isnt about patient outcomes  Its about money and control.

Im so sorry for the outcome. I wish it was better. But with the skill set that I had and the presenting change pathology, I didnt do anything illegal. I was Commonwealth-accredited, had all the bona fides to perform surgery. Its not like these are beauticians with a knife, Bours said.

Most podiatric surgeons in Australia are either members of, or have completed training at, the Australasian College of Podiatric Surgeons  unlike the vast majority of surgeons in other fields who must have AMC-accredited training.

The college was established in the 1970s to create an alternate pathway for podiatrists to expand their services beyond physiotherapy and orthotics to surgery. Early entrants joined the college with a diploma in podiatry, and after completing the colleges three-year course, began performing an extensive range of surgical procedures on the foot and ankle.

The college has a dual role, providing training but also lobbying for greater rights of its members. Over the decades, it has launched campaigns with state and federal governments to expand the rights of the profession by promoting greater competition as one way to reduce costs and strain on the public health system.

By far the biggest win for the college came in 2010, when AHPRA agreed to recognise the profession and accredit its training courses  meaning graduates could legally call themselves surgeons in every state. On its website, the college claims this affirms surgery performed by its members is safe, clinically effective and cost-effective.

No individual or organisation should imply or suggest that the training and or skills of podiatric surgeons in Australia is in question, the colleges website states.

However, this investigation has found many of its members have been subject to conditions on their practice after complaints about clinical care were upheld  including senior members of the college.

Many podiatric surgeons have also been the target of medical negligence lawsuits  which frequently result in out-of-court settlements with no admissions of wrongdoing, and are not publicly available.

Perth-based Andrew Knox had conditions placed on his ability to practice earlier this year, but those have since been removed from his profile. There is no requirement for past conditions to be published once they have been completed, and he now has a clear public record.

Through lawyers, Knox said he was unable to comment due to patient confidentiality.

Knox has two lawsuits currently against him in WA where judgments have not yet been made. In one case, a patient has alleged Knox did not have the appropriate training and performed a surgery which left the patient with insomnia caused by pain, psychological distress, and a reduced capacity to walk and stand, according to court documents.

This masthead does not suggest the allegations made against Knox are true, as the cases are yet to be determined.

Two college fellows with past leadership roles  former treasurer Bours and former president Robert Hermann  have each been called before tribunals at various stages of their careers. Bours was found guilty of professional misconduct for one patient, and unsatisfactory conduct for three others.

Hermann was initially subject to conditions on his practice in 2006, after the Podiatrists Board of Queensland found he posed a serious potential risk to the wellbeing of vulnerable persons in the wake of complaints from eight patients.

Proceedings against Hermann were dismissed when in 2010 he agreed to comprehensive undertakings, including mentoring by a third party. Hermann made no admissions of unprofessional conduct but agreed to comply with mentoring within three years.

Hermann did not respond to requests for comment.

The Australasian College of Podiatric Surgeons declined requests for interviews and did not answer detailed questions but issued a statement, defending the years of specialist training completed by its members.

All surgical colleagues and cohorts must, from time to time, deal with circumstances in which patients are unsatisfied with outcomes, the college said. This is part and parcel of the profession.

What is the relationship between AHPRA and the Australasian College of Podiatric Surgeons? AHPRA was created in 2010 and was the beginning of a national scheme to regulate healthcare. One of its key duties is approving education courses for health practitioners. For podiatric surgeons, AHPRA accredited training provided by the Australasian College of Podiatric Surgeons (ACPS) which allows graduates to use the term surgeon. AHPRA then set up the Podiatry Accreditation Committee to assess standards and monitor training. Former ACPS president Mark Gilheany was appointed as deputy chair of the committee, which the AOA claims creates a conflict of interest by allowing the college to assess its own courses.

A spokesperson for AHPRA says the law does not require medical negligence lawsuits to be reported to the regulator or published on the national register of practitioners.

They say Australian health ministers considered changing the law on this recently, but decided against it.

Concerns ignored

While the colleges training standards will be a focus in the Podiatry Board review, there has been internal division within the college about the quality of its courses for years.

US-trained podiatric surgeon Walter Coffey was a founding member of the college. He contributed to its policy and training documents, but quickly became disillusioned with the leaderships approach to medical training.

Over the next decade, he claims to have seen invasive surgeries by podiatric surgeons in Australia that turned patients into what he describes as surgical assault victims. He provided expert evidence against podiatric surgeons on more than one occasion, and believes this, combined with his advocacy for higher standards, meant he was expelled from the college.

The tipping point for Coffey came when members of the college began participating in trips to Vietnams Da Nang Hospital in the late 1990s and early 2000s to perform surgeries on patients with complex problems, such as limb deformities from bomb blasts or children with club foot, without what he considered to be adequate training.

Sue Gibson, a podiatrist who attended one of the Vietnam trips in 2002, says she observed podiatric surgeons performing operations that they would not be allowed to perform in Australia, on young children.

Gibson became so concerned by what she saw that she and another podiatrist, Miriam Clarkson, wrote to the organisation responsible for funding the trip to outline their concerns. We never got a response from them  And I wasnt invited on another trip.

Walter Coffey met Kevin Rudd to discuss dangers of podiatric surgeons.

Coffey has spent the past decade trying to draw attention to what he sees as the dangers of podiatric surgeons by reaching out to regulators, departments and politicians, including a meeting with former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2012. All have been ignored, he says. The Australian public has been hoodwinked, he says. Does someone need to die before action is taken?

It wasnt only Coffey who challenged colleges training internally. Podiatric surgeon Alan Bryant was a fierce advocate for the college, joining in 1986 and seeking to partner with the University of Western Australia to improve the quality of training.

However, in 2010, he resigned, citing a refusal to allow university graduates to become fellows. In a letter sent to the college, obtained by this investigation, Bryant said his decision to resign had not been reached lightly.

The ACPS has for many years embellished and exaggerated its practical training program to make it seem more credible than it is in reality, Bryant wrote.

Bryant described the training program at the time as professional deception and untenable where trainees experience scant surgical exposure that often amounted to only two days per month.

Bryant was critical of the leadership teams perspective that the ACPS was the podiatric equivalent to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons  the gold standard for surgical training.

I cannot, in good conscience, remain a member of an organisation that places self-preservation beyond the best interests of the profession, he wrote.

Bryant did not respond to requests for comment.

There are around 40 podiatric surgeons registered in Australia, who perform a range of procedures, from removing ingrown toenails to more complex procedures like foot reconstructions.

One podiatric surgeon, who declined to be named, says orthopaedic surgeons have a tendency to over-operate, where podiatric surgeons can blend conservative treatments with surgical options.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, the podiatric surgeon says.

AOA Foot and Ankle Society president David Lunz disagrees saying the industrys objections are motivated by patient safety and a concern over the vast difference in training.

Orthopaedic surgeon David Lunz is calling for greater regulation of podiatric surgeons. Credit: Steven Siewert

If you concentrate on it being a turf war, then you completely ignore the difference in training and education, Lunz says. A turf war assumes that the two parties involved are equally trained and equally competent.

Lunz routinely performs revision procedures on patients who have been operated on by podiatric surgeons, describing cases of irreparable joint damage or amputated toes. He said these outcomes indicate a lack of surgical training, or general medical knowledge.

Youre not just operating on a foot or toe, Lunz says. Youre operating on a person. That person has got medical conditions, theyve got cardiac conditions, theyve got vascular conditions. You need to know about everything.

Following revelations of widespread misconduct in the cosmetic industry, the federal government introduced new laws to ensure all surgeons are medically trained, and complete courses accredited by the Australian Medical Council.

However, these laws excluded podiatric surgeons.

Theres been this public outcry, How can these people be called cosmetic surgeons?  Lunz said. Well, its exactly the same situation  The training between a podiatric surgeon and orthopaedic surgeon are vastly different.

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Concerns about podiatric surgeons have been repeatedly raised in public forums and private submissions. In one parliamentary hearing this year, AMA WA president Mark Duncan-Smith warned of unintended consequences of the carve-out for podiatric surgeons. He said this would create a potential loophole where they can still use the title of surgeon, even though they are not technically part of the surgical class.

Podiatrists do not just shape bunions; they actually do joint replacements in feet and surgery of this type. By leaving it the way it is, it means that potentially the public  and this bill is about the safety of the public  would consider podiatric surgeons to be part of the surgical class.

In the same hearing, Australian Ethical Health Alliance chief executive Adrian Cosenza said there had been warnings about podiatric surgeons for more than a decade, adding he believed the education, skills and training were substandard to orthopaedic surgeons.

This is a community health problem that is long overdue to be addressed before more patients are further harmed, he said.

AHPRA podiatry boards Cylie Williams defended the training completed by podiatric surgeons and denied knowledge of problems with the industry prior to the triggering of the current review. We cant fix things we dont know about, she says.

Williams said the review will consider everything from lifting registration standards to introducing rules for who can use the term doctor and surgeon, despite claiming really strong guidance already exists.

Who can call themselves doctor and surgeon? Doctor is not a protected title in Australia, meaning a range of health practitioners (podiatrists, dentists, chiropractors) can use doctor as a courtesy title without completing a medical degree. People who complete post-doctorate degrees in any field can also use doctor. It is an offence for a health practitioner to mislead patients into thinking they are medical doctors. Surgeon is a protected title in Australia, with recent changes requiring all surgeons to complete a medical degree and training approved by the Australian Medical Council (AMC). Podiatric surgeons are exempt from this requirement.

I want to apologise

Only three of the patients interviewed for this investigation made complaints to AHPRA or NSW regulator, the Health Care Complaints Commission, (HCCC), after procedures with podiatric surgeons went wrong. Even some who had sued did not make complaints.

Some felt the regulator couldnt help them, or felt ashamed for not realising podiatric surgeons were not medical doctors.

One who did complain to AHPRA is 67-year-old Norah Manson. She was dissatisfied with the response.

Manson had an operation performed by podiatric surgeon Knox in 2020, but was left hospitalised after a severe infection.

Documents and correspondence seen by this masthead show it took five months for the regulator to decide to launch an investigation, six months to impose interim conditions on his practice, and more than a year before they obtained independent expert opinions.

In October 2022, 17 months after Mansons initial complaint, AHPRA wrote the investigation was continuing, but the interim conditions had been removed.

I acknowledge that this investigation has taken longer to complete than we had expected  I want to apologise for that, AHPRA wrote. Without trying to make excuses, as an organisation, we have been undergoing significant change to our structure and our ways of working.

Manson says she was never informed about the final outcome of her complaint. His AHPRA profile is clear.

Gardner says conditions such as mentoring allow the regulator to look to be taking action without actually stopping the practitioner. Its become the default, he says. They dont want to rock the boat.

While AHPRA is responsible for investigating patient complaints, disciplinary action is ultimately decided by one of the 15 national boards for each profession.

For podiatric surgeons, this action is determined by the Podiatry Board of Australia  made up of nine people, mostly podiatrists, and no medical doctors.

Gardner queried how these practitioners are qualified to evaluate complex surgeries, a position shared by Lunz. They are well suited to regulate podiatrists, but theyre not surgically trained, Lunz said. So they are not trained to assess surgery.

There are no set rules around podiatric surgeons scope of practice, meaning the decision on whether to perform complex procedures, such as ankle fusions and foot reconstructions, come down to the individual practitioners risk appetite.

In one since-deleted video, Sydney podiatric surgeon Ozan Amir was filmed draining fluid from a knee without gloves  treatment the AOA described in a regulatory complaint as extremely concerning due to the infection risk and practitioners lack of training in this body part.

In a statement, the HCCC agreed the video raised issues of concern and the matter was referred to the Medical Council of NSW.

Amir has conditions on his AHPRA profile and did not respond to questions.

One former board member, who could not be named because they were bound by confidentiality agreements, said they observed a number of podiatric surgeons who were gung-ho but the board was powerless to stop them.

If you say, I can fix this, do that, and it doesnt work, people cant walk  AHPRA needs to be more careful about who they allow into the college, the former board member said. They were too anxious to get people through and let people in who should not have been there.

Transparency

This year, AHPRA reviewed what information should be published on its register of practitioners, including whether historic conditions or medical negligence lawsuits should be published.

Former ACPS president Rob Hermann made a submission to this review, obtained by this masthead through freedom of information laws, in which he advocated against additional information being published.

The registers main purpose is to provide a definitive list of registered health practitioners, Herman states.

Hermann agreed to comprehensive undertakings in 2010 after complaints were made by eight of his patients on the basis he made no admissions of unsatisfactory conduct.

In his submission, he says a surgeons history is accessible on request and advocated for the right balance between public interest and safety and the rights of an individual practitioner.

Hogan believes the system entirely failed her  from allowing Bours to operate on her while under investigation, to failing to enforce consistent training standards for all surgeons.

She has spent years seeking answers from AHPRA, and other bodies, and says the complex web of regulators and professional bodies makes finding critical information all but impossible.

I dont know where else to turn, she says. Its too late for me, but hopefully speaking out can stop other people from going through what Ive gone through.

Watch 60 Minutes tonight for more.

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As the calendar ticks over into December, so it begins. Mariah Carey has finished warming up her vocal cords, prawn farmers are gearing up for their biggest month of the year, and the shops are teeming with people hunting for the perfect gifts for their loved ones.

Thats right, its Christmas baby! Sometimes called the most wonderful time of the year, its a month filled with good food, family catch-ups, and a good dose of awkward office Christmas parties. Its also  unsurprisingly  filled with spending. Like, a lot of spending.

Christmas is an expensive time of year, but gift-giving neednt cost the earth. Credit: Aresna Villanueva

The Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgans annual spending predictions for the lead up to the big day is a whopping $67.1 billion, up just 0.6 per cent on last year but still the highest figure on record. This calculation also includes spending over last weeks Black Friday weekend, an American tradition which has well and truly taken root locally with about $6.3 billion expected to have been spent.
A failed bid to ban property investors from serving as local councillors has reignited debate about who should sit on local councils following a wave of scandals involving property developers and the states ongoing housing crisis.

Georges River Labor councillor Veronica Ficarra last week put forward a motion for a ban on property developers, real estate agents and property investors from standing as candidates in council elections.

These individuals all receive a substantial source of their financial prosperity from targeted speculation on the property and rental market, she said.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig pledged to examine any measures to improve the integrity of council decisions. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Her motion failed to win support from fellow councillors, but Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said strengthening probity mechanisms to ensure greater transparency about council decisions is a priority of mine.
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The claim by Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen that the latest emissions projections showed that our 43 per cent emissions reduction target is ambitious but achievable is highly debatable (Australias emissions target in reach: Bowen, November 26). Labors 43 per cent emissions reduction target was never enough, particularly when the 1.5 degrees limit on global warming of the Paris Agreement has already been passed, and the world is headed for up to 2.9 degrees of warming. Climate science has shown clearly that the chief source of global-warming gases is the fossil fuel industry, led by coal and gas, both of which are being encouraged, if not subsidised, by the Albanese government. To foster fossil fuels while fighting global warming is a losing battle. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin (ACT)

Real global warming. Credit: Matt Golding

Lifelong learning

Victoria Devine is correct when she points out that the huge selection of courses that can be undertaken after leaving school, in addition to university were unknown 20 years ago (Our uni love affair is on the rocks, November 26). Despite that, gaining a university degree is still no mean feat and requires sustained effort through lifes ups and downs for three years, or longer if undertaken part-time. Irrespective of the degree you eventually achieve, a university education says a lot about your capabilities as a person, both now and in the future. Ross MacPherson, Seaforth

One of the greatest tragedies of the user-pays policy for universities, together with present challenging economic conditions, is that few students can afford to study primarily motivated by a consuming interest in a subject. A love of history, languages, and even some arguably fascinating subjects such as physics must take second place to a pursuit far more likely to guarantee reliable employment and a good income. This is not only discouraging to those considering a university education, but must detract from the enjoyment of learning and the great experience of university life. Maybe the best solution is to be born into a family with the financial resources to provide support and thus more choices. Geoff Harding, Chatswood

Social divide

Parnell Palme McGuinness considers that many envy Australias immigration success but she provides no analysis on if we have indeed been successful beyond weve done pretty well (Our lessons for a riven Europe, November 26). Nor does she provide any advice we can give to Europe. She commends her good friend John Howard for reducing funding to cultural groups as it leads to disunity and is a ploy to buy votes. But this is exactly what Howard did  not by funding multicultural organisations, but by providing huge amounts of money for private schools, based on any religious or cultural group that jumped over the low hurdles specified. This led to much less funding of public schools, and has led to increased social fragmentation in many suburbs. Hopefully the Albanese governments multicultural framework review leads to improved social cohesion through more support for public education. Bill Johnstone, Blackheath
Police and council rangers shut down an illegal rave on Bondi Beach amid an increasing trend of unauthorised gatherings in public spaces and apartment buildings.

The Insomnia Sunset Rave was billed as the best outdoor party overlooking the beach on social media after hundreds of people gathered at Ben Buckler Point at North Bondi in November to dance and listen to music played by DJs.

Hundreds of people attended an outdoor party at Bondi Beach, which Waverley Council said was an illegal gathering. Credit: @insomnia.syd

A NSW Police spokesman said officers were called to the headland overlooking Bondi Beach following reports of an unauthorised event within an alcohol-prohibited area. No arrests were made.

A council spokeswoman said the party was an illegal gathering, but no fines were issued. She said the council had a permit system in place for large gatherings on land it owned or managed.
Residents groups will often go to great lengths to try to stop a development from cropping up in their neighbourhood, but this may be a first.

A community organisation has hired a private investigator to collect video evidence from Melbournes pubs in their efforts to block the Middle Park Hotels owners from building a new rooftop bar.

Residents are objecting to a proposed rooftop bar at the Middle Park Hotel. Credit: Joe Armao

Bodycam footage recorded at establishments owned by pub conglomerate Australian Venue Co was shown in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week as part of a tense battle between the company and Middle Park residents.

Australian Venue Co is pushing ahead with plans to increase the three-storey Victorian era hotels capacity by 200 people, introduce seven-day operating hours until 1am and install a new floating terrace to host DJs.
A 17-month-old girl has died after being hit by a car in a driveway in Melbournes north.

The child was struck by the vehicle at a house in Craigieburn about 8.20pm on Friday.

Paramedics were unable to save the child, who died at a property off Esteem Road.

Police attended on Friday night and an investigation has begun. The male driver of the vehicle is assisting police with their enquiries.
The curious case of Coburg North TAFE raises questions about whether we are making optimal use of well-located government land, and whether good planning or good politics are deciding its future. Until the 1990s, Coburg was the heart of Melbournes industrial north, home to textile factories, and businesses and colleges, like Kangan, that serviced the once-booming local motor industry. The seismic economic restructure of the late 1980s and early 1990s left Coburg North with a surfeit of industrial buildings and a diminishing role for the TAFE. While alternative long-term uses were found for some of the factories and warehouses, that was not the case with the college site. For a decade, locals pressed for the government to retain the property and open it up for housing, artisan manufacturing, much-needed green space, and as a thoroughfare to trains and trams, shops and services. All that campaigning seemed to have come to nothing when the government this year commissioned real estate agents to sell the site on the open market, based on its existing industrial zoning.

But three factors appear to have contributed to this months rethink of the sale, just days before the scheduled auction. First was the 2022 state election campaign, during which local lad and Labor diehard Anthony Cianflone replaced frontbencher Lizzie Blandthorn  she transferred to the upper house  as the ALP candidate, and now MP, for the seat of Pascoe Vale. Pascoe Vale MP Anthony Cianflone with Coburg North residents and business owners Maggie Cowling, Jacqui Maitland and Tom Danby at the disused Kangan TAFE site. Credit: Joe Armao Second was that although Labor held Pascoe Vale by a whopping 22.3 per cent at the 2018 election, its margin was slashed to just 2 per cent last year, with the advancing Greens now viewing the seat as very winnable at the 2026 poll. Third was that housing has emerged as a hot political issue, especially in the tussle between Labor and the Greens for young voters in inner and middle-ring seats such as Pascoe Vale.

No doubt alert to both the concerns of his constituents and their ability to make him a one-term MP, Cianflone has actively worked to keep and transform the TAFE site. He has met with locals opposed to its sale and has lobbied within government, highlighting how the site is a great location for housing and, possibly, a training facility to support a continued local role for manufacturing. When the for sale sign went up, Cianflone stepped up his efforts. Loading Building on conversations Ive had with local residents, Ive advocated strongly for this site to be considered for future job, skills and housing opportunities for central Coburg, Cianflone tells The Age. Ill continue to put forward the views of the local community as part of ongoing central Coburg revitalisation prospects and efforts.

Exactly who Cianflone convinced in government, and how, about the folly of the sale is unclear. Local artist Maggie Cowling lives with her furniture-making partner in a community that includes artisans and makers including woodworkers, puppet and film makers, painters, sculptors, and gin distillers. She is thankful for the accessibility and energetic support of her new local MP, while observing: Were also in a once very safe state seat that is now more marginal. So I dont think were being taken for granted as much as we used to be. The former Kangan TAFE site in Coburg North. The government has multiple policies and guidelines it is supposed to use to assess whether sites are surplus and, if so, what to do with them. The Victorian Government Land Use Policy is one such document.

It states that government land use should focus on delivering social, environmental and economic benefits that meet the needs of the Victorian community, while offering value for the Victorian community. A test that is supposed to apply to larger surplus sites includes consideration of access to transport and services, social inclusion and equity, and housing diversity, supply and affordability. Loading The government did not respond when asked whether such filters were applied in the case of the Coburg North site, nor would it explain why it had decided to sell, then not sell, the property. Instead, a spokesperson would only say: Were developing options on how a future development of the Charles Street site can provide the best value to the community. As part of its much-spruiked Housing Statement released in September, the government ambitiously promised 800,000 homes over the next 10 years across Victoria.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her predecessor, Daniel Andrews. Credit: Gus McCubbing The plan includes a promise to make use of well-located government land for housing, noting that 45 sites across the state will accommodate 9000 additional homes. But the government has refused to release the locations, claiming the information is commercial in confidence. Nor would the government explain whether the 45 sites are among the public list of 150 sites currently being prepared for sale. A spokesperson said: We know housing is one of the biggest challenges Victorians face, and through the bold reforms we announced in the Housing Statement, were creating the conditions needed to build 800,000 new homes in Victoria over the next decade  particularly in established suburbs like Coburg close to transport, jobs and services.
The Double Bay waterfront house owned by the family of the late orthopaedic surgeon Basil Ireland and his widow Ernestine has sold on the quiet amid a wad of gag orders on all involved and local talk of a $35 million sale price.

A long settlement is not expected to reveal the buyers identity until well into next year.

The Double Bay house owned by the family of the late Basil Ireland last traded in 1978 for $200,000.

The six-bedroom house on 552 square metres was listed by local agent Paul Rich in November last year for $45 million, a year after near neighbouring beachfront houses sold for $35 million and $26 million to former garbo Ian Malouf.

Ireland, who died in 2018 aged 91, purchased the home for $200,000 in 1978 from artist and former model sisters Princess Nike Arrighi Borghese and Luciana Chetwynd, daughters of the late Italian diplomat Ernesto Arrighi.
Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel New York Republican George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes.

The lower chamber voted 311-114 to expel Santos, with 105 Republicans and 206 Democrats voting for expulsion. All Republican leaders voted against expulsion.

The latest action, which required a two-thirds majority, makes Santos, a first-term lawmaker, the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body's history. Such move hasn't happened in more than 20 years.

Santos invented ties to the Holocaust and made false claims that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. His detractors also mentioned several times his use of campaign funds for personal expenses.

The removal of the scandal-ridden 35-year-old Congressman came two weeks after a scathing House Ethics Committee report revealed details about his use of campaign funds for personal benefit. Santos, however, repeatedly debunked the report as political smear.

Santos faces 23 federal felony counts. A 23-count indictment was filed in October in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging him with conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud.

"George Santos is a liar -- in fact, he has admitted to many of them -- who has used his position of public trust to personally benefit himself from Day 1," said Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, a Republican of New York.

Santos survived two previous expulsion efforts due to the influence of the current House speaker, Mike Johnson, and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who both didn't want to lose his seat to a Democrat in a special election.

Under New York state law, the governor has 10 days to declare the date of a special election.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday that she was prepared to fill the vacancy. "I am prepared to undertake the solemn responsibility of filling the vacancy in New York's 3rd District. The people of Long Island deserve nothing less," she said on social media platform X. 

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos (L, Front) speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos (L, Front) speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)
The outcome that we are driving at here is the transition so that for years and years to come, millions of people up and down the country will have cheaper bills, because we cant go on like this, Sir Keir said.
This cult-favourite crispy chilli oil might already be sitting pretty on the top shelf of your fridge at home. If not, its time to head down to your local Asian supermarket and pick up a jar. Lao Gan Ma, which translates as Old Godmother may not necessarily be considered a small business in China, but its certainly an obscure condiment brand to the vast majority of UK residents. Credited with popularising Chinese chilli and crispy chilli oil in the Western world, its time to see what all the fuss is about. Pop a dollop atop your next ramen or homemade chicken and rice dish and experience a sumptuously spicy and umami flavour explosion.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were shot dead and three more injured in a shooting on Friday in Las Vegas, reported local KTNV news channel, citing police.

The shooting was reported at local time 5:34 p.m. (0134 GMT, Saturday) and as of local time 6:45 p.m. (0245 GMT, Saturday), police disclosed at least two of the shooting victims had died from their injuries while other three victims had non-life-threatening wounds.

A spokesperson from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department described the victims as "unhoused," the report said, adding the attacker was still at large.

Meanwhile, the ABC 7 news channel reported that Friday's shooting in Las Vegas was not connected to recent cases in Los Angeles in which three homeless were fatally shot and may have been targeted by a potential serial killer.

The three victims were sleeping alone on a sidewalk or an alley when they were killed this week, the Los Angeles Police Department warned at a news conference on Friday. 
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TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday two of its servicemen were killed by Israeli forces in Syria.

The two servicemen, identified as Mohammad-Ali Ataei Shourcheh and Panah Taqizadeh, "were martyred while conducting an advisory mission in Syria's Islamic resistance front," the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News quoted an IRGC statement as saying, without specifying the time and location of the killing.

The IRGC said it had sent condolences to the two servicemen's families and colleagues.

Earlier in the day, the state-owned Syrian TV said an Israeli missile attack had hit military sites in the vicinity of the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Syrian army said in a statement that around 1:35 a.m. local time (2235 GMT) Saturday, Israel conducted an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting some military points in the vicinity of Damascus.

It added that the Syrian air defense brought down most missiles and only material damage was sustained. 
ST. LOUIS  More than 30 law enforcement officials, business representatives, mental health officials, academics and others will meet next week with a nationally known criminologist to try to craft a regional strategy to reduce homicides and other violent crime.

The five days of sessions, on the Washington University School of Medicine campus, are an outgrowth of a crime summit of top elected leaders and others last May.

Both that meeting and next weeks gatherings were organized by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, an area-wide planning organization.

Playing a key role in the meetings again will be Thomas Abt, who heads the Violence Reduction Center at the University of Maryland.

In a speech at the meeting in May, Abt urged a stop to an either/or conversation on public safety, in which he said some liberals want only social service programs and some conservatives focus only on police and tougher sentencing. Both approaches are needed, he indicated then.

Among law enforcement agencies to be represented are St. Louis and St. Louis County police, the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department; St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Clair County prosecutors offices; the U.S. attorneys office in St. Louis and the Illinois State Polices criminal investigation unit.

Others expected to take part are officials with Greater St. Louis Inc., the areas major business organization; the Regional Business Council, the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Forward Through Ferguson, the St. Louis Mental Health Board and St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page are scheduled to speak at a larger opening session Monday.

They will send aides to the smaller sessions. Elected officials or aides from St. Charles, Franklin, St. Clair and Madison counties also will take part.

Jim Wild, the Gateway Councils executive director, said Abt is participating free of charge.

Wild said the council is spending $20,000 to cover crime data analysis done by officials with the John Jay School of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, who also will be taking part.

Except for the opening meeting on Monday and a wrap-up session on Friday, the sessions will not be open for news coverage, Wild said.
RENO, Nev.  The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has halted the use of spring-loaded traps that disperse cyanide powder to kill coyotes and other livestock predators, a practice wildlife advocates have tried to outlaw for decades due to safety concerns.

The M-44 ejector-devices that critics call cyanide bombs have unintentionally killed thousands of pets and non-predator wildlife, including endangered species, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services. They have a scented bait and emit a poisonous cloud when triggered by a physical disturbance.

The Bureau of Land Management quietly posted a notice on its website recently that it no longer will use the devices across the 390,625 square miles it manages nationally  an area twice the size of California  much of it where ranchers graze cattle and sheep.

Other federal agencies  including the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service  already prohibit the devices. But the Forest Service and 10 states still use them in some form.

Eight unsuccessful bills have been introduced in Congress since 2008 to ban the the traps on federal and/or state lands. Sponsors of legislation pending in the U.S. House and Senate that would ban them on both say theyre optimistic the bureaus new position will help pave the way for broader support.

Brooks Fahy, executive director of the Oregon-based watchdog group Predator Defense, has been working for 40 years to ban the use of sodium cyanide in the traps. He emphasized that its registered under the Environmental Protection Agency as a Category 1 toxicant, the highest level of toxicity.

I cant believe theyre still being put on the landscape and they continue to harm people, Fahy said. Ive seen M-44s set right on the edge of a trail.

M-44s consist of a stake driven into the ground with a spring and canister loaded with the chemical. Marked inconsistently and sometimes not at all, humans have mistaken them for sprinkler heads or survey markers.

Federal agencies rely on Wildlife Services to deal with problem animals  whether in remote areas or airports across the country  using lethal and non-lethal forces. The change on Bureau of Land Management land came under a recent revision of a memorandum of understanding with Wildlife Services.

Wildlife Services has used M-44s for decades, mostly in the West, as part of a broader program to control predators that dates to the 1930s. The American Sheep Industry Association and National Cattlemens Beef Association were among 100 industry groups that wrote to Congress this year, stressing the importance of the program. They said predators cause more than $232 million in livestock losses annually.

About a dozen people have been seriously harmed over the past 25 years by M-44s on federal lands, according to Predator Defense.

Between 2000-2016, Wildlife Services reported 246,985 animals killed by M-44s, including at least 1,182 dogs. From 2014-2022, the agency said M-44s intentionally killed 88,000 animals and unintentionally killed more than 2,000 animals.

Public outcry over the devices grew after a family dog was killed in 2017 in Pocatello, Idaho, and Canyon Mansfield, then 14, was injured after accidentally triggering a device placed on public land about 400 feet from their home. In 2020, the federal government admitted negligence and agreed to pay the family $38,500 to resolve a lawsuit.

We are so happy to finally see one federal government department banning anothers reckless and indiscriminate actions, Canyon Mansfields father, Mark Mansfield, said last week.

Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California, who is the lead sponsor of the bill that would outlaw use of M-44s on all state and federal lands, has named the current version Canyons Law, after Mansfield.

Fahy, from Predator Defense, acknowledged efforts in Congress to ban the use of M-44s have gained little traction over the past 15 years.

But he said publicity over the Mansfield case has changed the political landscape more than anything hes seen since 1982 when President Ronald Reagan revoked an executive order issued by President Richard Nixon in 1972 that had banned use of all poisons by federal agents on federal lands.

Several weeks after Canyon Mansfield was poisoned, Fahy said Wildlife Services agreed to stop using M-44s in Idaho. Two years later, Oregon banned them statewide and a partial ban soon followed in New Mexico.

Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming also still allow M-44s.

Animal Wellness Action President Wayne Pacelle helped lead successful ballot initiatives in the first two states that banned M-44s more than two decades ago  California in 1998 and Washington in 2000. He said the bureaus move should prompt a fresh look at other land management agencies policies.

There is simply no reason for the federal government to keep spending millions of dollars every year to use poisons to kill wildlife on behalf of a small group of ranchers, Pacelle said Tuesday.

Fahy said the change should help build on the momentum for a nationwide ban.

This is the most that the needle on the use of federal poisons has moved in over 40 years, he said. I think M-44s days are numbered.

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Anti-abortion groups are firing off a warning shot for 2024: Were not going anywhere.

Their leaders say theyre undeterred by recent election setbacks and plan to plow ahead on what theyve done for years, including working through state legislatures, federal agencies, and federal courts to outlaw abortion. And at least one prominent anti-abortion group is calling on conservative states to make it harder for voters to enact ballot measures, a tactic Republican lawmakers attempted in Ohio before voters there enshrined the right to abortion in the states constitution.

For us, this is a civil rights battle. We have innocent human beings whose lives are being destroyed, said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, one of the countrys largest anti-abortion groups. And were going to keep fighting because we think those are human beings who deserve protection.

The movement is no stranger to the long game, working over decades to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion that the high court nullified last year.

But Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion candidates have struggled to coalesce around a unified message ahead of the 2024 elections. In addition to the Ohio defeat, voters in Virginia on Nov. 7 effectively rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkins proposal to ban abortion after 15 weeks by giving control of the state legislature to Democrats. Democrats are expected to keep capitalizing on anger over the Supreme Courts 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization.

In its aftermath, abortion rights supporters have successfully won campaigns in seven states. In Ohio, a state Donald Trump won by healthy margins in both 2016 and 2020, 57% of voters supported a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights. Voters in 11 more states could see abortion-related initiatives on their ballots next year, including in Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

The Ohio vote makes clear its essential that the critical work of the pro-life movement must carry on with renewed energy and enthusiasm, Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said in a statement following the Nov. 7 election results.

The GOP already tried the ostrich strategy in 2022 of ignoring the issue and hoping it would go away. It didnt work, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said in a memo after the Ohio vote that urged the Republican Party to clarify its stance.

As abortion opponents push ahead, there is some disagreement over the best tactics, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis and historian on the abortion debate in the U.S.

Some anti-abortion groups want to focus more on strategies that dont depend on voters, instead going to the points of access you have, which are state legislatures and federal courts, Ziegler said. Other organizations insist they need to win over voters, either by doing a better job selling their positions or moderating what theyll accept, to secure lasting change.

Theres a sort of underlying, How much do we care about voters? divide, she said.

So far, 14 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, have enacted near-total abortion bans, and an additional seven states have instituted bans between six and 18 weeks of gestation. Anti-abortion groups are also deploying strategies to limit  if not eliminate  access to prescription medicines used for most abortions in the U.S.

A lawsuit threatening access to mifepristone, one of two pills for medication abortion, is making its way through the federal courts. And several anti-abortion groups are trying to revive enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that prohibits the mailing of obscene materials and information, as a way to ban the mailing of abortion pills nationwide.

The anti-abortion movement could cancel out some of these victories at the polls that I dont think voters are aware of, Ziegler said.

This is a movement that formed not to win elections but to advance fetal rights, she said.

Anti-abortion groups arent unified in their messaging. SBA Pro-Life America, for example, is pushing Republican candidates to back a national 15-week abortion ban. Others say it is time to do away with that type of incremental strategy  according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 93% of abortions in 2020 occurred at 13 weeks or earlier.

Tobias, of the National Right to Life Committee, said its ongoing strategy will be lobbying state legislatures, and focusing more on when abortion should be allowed, such as in cases involving rape or incest, rather than just gestational limits. She said the organization is not calling on Congress to pass a national abortion ban because there arent 60 votes in the Senate that would be needed to overcome a filibuster.

Abortion rights supporters say the next steps for their opponents arent so simple. People are never going to accept this idea of having fewer rights, said Gabriel Mann, spokesperson for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the ballot committee that spearheaded the state constitutional amendment campaign.

Theyve had five decades since Roe to convince the American people that somehow everyone would be better off sacrificing their own reproductive rights, Mann said. They failed.
WASHINGTON  The House voted Friday to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York after a blistering ethics report on his conduct heightened lawmakers' concerns about the scandal-plagued freshman. Santos became just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues, and the third since the Civil War.

The vote to expel was 311-114, easily clearing the two-thirds majority required. House Republican leaders opposed removing Santos, whose departure leaves them with a razor-thin majority, but in the end 105 GOP lawmakers sided with almost all Democrats to expel him.

The expulsion marked the final congressional chapter in a spectacular fall from grace for Santos. Celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year, Santos' life story began to unravel before he was even sworn in to office. Reports emerged that he lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, among other things.

In May, federal prosecutors indicted Santos on multiple charges, turning his presence in the House into a growing distraction and embarrassment to the party.

Santos joins a short list of lawmakers expelled from the House  and for reasons uniquely his own. Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for siding with the Confederacy during the Civil War. The remaining two occurred after the lawmakers were convicted of crimes in federal court  the most recent in 2002.

Seeking to remain in office, Santos had appealed to colleagues to let the court process play out. He warned of the precedent they would set by expelling a member not yet convicted of a crime.

"This will haunt them in the future," Santos told lawmakers Thursday evening as they debated his removal.

As it became clear Friday that he would be expelled, Santos appeared resigned to his fate. He placed his overcoat over his shoulders and shook hands with conservative members who voted against his expulsion.

Santos' fellow Republicans from New York were front and center in the effort to boot him.

Among them were fellow freshmen who serve in key swing districts and helped the GOP take the House majority. They sought to generate as much political distance as they could from Santos, whose lies about his past made him a pariah in the House before he even took the oath of office.

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, whose district is next to Santos', led the debate for expulsion and argued that voters would welcome lawmakers holding themselves to a high standard. Another New York Republican, Rep. Nick Langworthy, said Santos had only himself to blame.

"Every precedent under the sun has been broken by George Santos," Langworthy said. "Has there ever been anyone here that's made up a whole life?"

Santos survived two previous expulsion attempts, but a scathing House Ethics Committee report released the week before the Thanksgiving holiday appeared to turn colleagues decisively against him.

After eight months of work, Ethics Committee investigators said they found "overwhelming evidence" that Santos broke the law and exploited his public position for his own profit.

"It's a solemn day," said the chairman of the ethics panel, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss. "No one wants to have to remove a member from Congress. But the allegations against him, the evidence was overwhelming."

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, reminded members that the decision approving the investigators' findings was unanimous.

"Mr. Santos is not a victim," Wild said. "He is a perpetrator of a massive fraud on his constituents and the American people."

Santos' troubles are far from over as he faces trial next year in New York. In a 23-count indictment, federal prosecutors accused him of duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress.

The indictment alleges Santos stole the identities of campaign donors and used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. He wired some of the money to his personal bank account and used the rest to pad his campaign coffers, prosecutors say. Santos pleaded not guilty.

Santos' expulsion narrows the GOP's majority to 221-213 and Democrats will have a good opportunity to fill the vacancy. Shortly after the vote, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she's prepared to call a special election for the seat, likely in February under a time frame set by state law.

"When you look at his lack of ethics and the fact that, you know, he has not served the people of our state, particularly New York 3 where he resides, it's been an abysmal run for him," Hochul said Friday.

Now that he has been removed from office, Santos' congressional office will remain operational under the management of the Clerk of the House. No additional staff can be hired, but the current staff can stay on and perform constituent casework. They will be unable to undertake any legislative activity, such as the drafting of bills.

Photos: Rep. George Santos, R-NY
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip  Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

The prospect of further cease-fires in Gaza appeared bleak, as Israel recalled its negotiators and Hamas deputy leader said any further swap of Gaza-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel would only happen as part of ending the war.

We will continue the war until we achieve all its goals, and its impossible to achieve those goals without the ground operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Saturday night.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning following the weeklong truce with the territorys ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Several multi-story residential buildings were hit across Gaza on Saturday, engulfing neighborhoods in huge clouds of gray smoke.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on Nov. 20. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it said 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the war began.

Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters during the the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Appeals from the U.S., Israels closest ally, to protect civilians came after an offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza. Some 2 million Palestinians, almost Gaza's entire population, are now crammed into the territory's southern half.

Israels military said Saturday that it had hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, including more than 50 in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in southern Gaza.

At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah, in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken.

In northern Gaza, an airstrike flattened a building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City. It left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

There was a loud bang, then the building turned into a pile of rubble, Obeid said. AP video showed smoke rising as men, some in sandals, picked their way over the debris. The Israeli military confirmed it was operating in Jabaliya and said it had found and destroyed Hamas tunnels in the surrounding area.

And a powerful strike hit a cluster of multi-story buildings in Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development on the outskirts of Khan Younis. Huge clouds of smoke engulfed the complex. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Where is it safe? I swear to God, no one knows, where are we going? asked Zohair al Raai, who said his family received a recorded message saying their building in Hamad City should evacuate.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Hamas had launched more than 250 since the cease-fire ended. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

With the resumption of fighting, the Israeli military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarize themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military listed more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis. Separately, it dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

One Khan Younis resident said a neighbor received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit and everyone should leave. We told them, We have nothing here, why do you want to strike it?" said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra. Al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometer (85-square-mile) area.

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled from the north a month ago to Khan Younis. They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south."

Mark Regev, a senior advisor to Netanyahu, said Israel was making maximum effort" to protect civilians and the military has used leafleting, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.

Regev added that Israel is considering a future security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access to the border fence on foot.

Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Also Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the first convoy of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing with Egypt since fighting resumed. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said a convoy of 100 trucks entered Gaza, including three carrying 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of fuel.

Meanwhile Harris said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that under no circumstances would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or redrawing of its borders, according to a U.S. summary. President Joe Bidens administration has emphasized the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Around 240 people were taken captive.

The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for 137 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce. A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the number of known dead hostages to eight.

At a rally of tens of thousands in Tel Aviv, released hostages called for the rest to be freed. In a video adress, Yaffa Adar, 85, spoke up specifically for children being held, saying, I want to see them now  not when Im in a coffin."

Hamas and Israel differed on who was still being held.

Hamas' deputy leader, Saleh Arouri, told broadcaster Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, all of whom served in the (Israeli) army. Arouri contradicted another top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, who told The Associated Press on Friday that the group was willing to trade more hostages but rebuffed an Israeli demand to release 10 female soldiers.

Israels Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas violated the truce agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women it is holding.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

Mroue reported from Beirut and Anna reported from New York. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel and Iris Samuels in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Updated at 2:15 p.m.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Missouri students would have to take CPR training and pass a civics exam before graduating high school under proposals that have cleared the Legislature.

Lawmakers voted Tuesday to require high school students to answer 100 questions similar to those on the U.S. citizenship test. The questions could be included in other tests that cover American history and government institutions.

Students would also have to take 30 minutes of training in CPR and first aid for choking as part of their health or physical education classes.

The proposals now go to the governor for approval.
Representatives vote on a draft resolution during a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York, on Dec. 1, 2023. The Security Council on Friday adopted two separate resolutions to renew the sanctions regime on Somalia-based Al-Shabaab and to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday adopted two separate resolutions to renew the sanctions regime on Somalia-based Al-Shabaab and to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government.

Resolution 2713 decides to renew till Dec. 15, 2024, the sanctions regime on Al-Shabaab, including the authorization for maritime interdiction to enforce the embargo on illicit arms imports, the charcoal export ban, and the improvised explosive device components ban.

Resolution 2713 also decides to renew the mandate of the Panel of Experts that assist the Sanctions Committee, till Jan. 15, 2025.

The resolution won 14 votes in favor out of the 15 Security Council members. France abstained.

The Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government.

Resolution 2714 calls on the Somali government to continue to implement the National Weapons and Ammunition Management Strategy and to take all measures necessary to ensure that weapons, ammunition and military equipment imported for official use are not resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by any individual or entity not in the service of the federal government.

It calls on the international community to continue to provide additional support to develop weapons and ammunition management capacity in Somalia and encourages partners to coordinate their efforts to support Somalia in implementing the requirements of this resolution. 
Geoff Kabaservice, author and the vice president of political studies at the Niskanen Center, a Washington DC think tank, discusses the loss of Republican Party moderates, especially in Congress, and what that means for the GOP and the country. Lynn Schmidt, columnist and St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board member, hosts the podcast.
Afghanistan has been at war with itself and others since the 1970s. Through it all, Afghanistan has been the biggest loser. There have been some improvements. For example, during the 20 years the IRA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) ran the country in 2001, its literacy rate grew. When the IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) took control in 2021, the literacy rate began to fall. At that point the adult (all those over 15) literacy rate was 46 percent compared to 31 percent in 2001 and 18 percent in 1979, when over four decades of war began. The current literacy rate for school-age Afghans is nearly 50 percent because, since 2002, over a third of Afghans have received at least a basic education and nearly half of those have been female, despite vigorous Taliban efforts to block that. Since 2014 the Taliban have put a priority on destroying schools, especially those that educate girls. The number of girls getting an education has been declining. The current Afghan literacy rate is 46 percent compared to 72 percent for India, 96 percent in China and 87 percent in Iran. Countries with higher literacy rates tend to have stronger economies and more prosperity in general. The U.S. has a literacy rate of 99 percent, as does Britain and most other Western nations. The more prosperous Arab states, like the UAE (United Arab Emirates) have a 93 percent literacy rate. The higher literacy rate usually leads to a better educated and more productive workforce.

The two decades of IRA rule were made possible by $2.3 trillion dollars of American aid to the Afghan government. Some of this money also went to Pakistan, which turned out to be a mistake. In 2019 Pakistan admitted that for the last fifteen years it had lied about the presence of over 30,000 armed men in Pakistan and Kashmir working for 40 Islamic terror groups. That deception was one of the reasons the U.S. cut off all aid to Pakistan. In addition to halting cash assistance of Afghanistan, the United States pulled the last of its troops in late 2021 and the U.S. backed IRA government collapsed, replaced by the IEA. If the IEA does allow groups based in Afghanistan to make attacks on the United States or American in other countries, the response will be sanctions and air strikes on Afghanistan. Untrustworthy Afghan governments are nothing new, it is a tradition that is several centuries old. Outsiders are considered fair game for all manner of deceptions and costly mistakes while trying to do business in Afghanistan. The Americans proved to be the most lucrative victim and, after 20 years of persistent corruption, decided the situation was not going to change and left. The U.S. still supplies support for Afghanistan through its donations of UN food programs for Afghanistan.

The IEA recently persuaded some of the exiled finance and banking officials who had served the IRA to return and get the Afghan currency stabilized, while also enabling the Central Bank to handle more transactions and larger ones as well. The national currency, the Afghani, has also increased in value over the last year to the point where only 78 Afghanis were needed to buy a dollar. Since the Afghani was getting stronger it was easier to efficiently handle the $5.8 billion in aid received since mid-2021. The Central Bank can now ease limits on businesses or individuals withdrawing dollars. The Central Bank is considered stable and efficient by foreign investors and that accelerates plans by foreign companies to invest billions of dollars to create mining operations in Afghanistan.

China is negotiating with the Taliban government to provide food and other aid in exchange for allowing China to safely establish surveillance cameras throughout the country and use Afghanistan as a transit zone for Chinese operations in surrounding countries.

Inside Afghanistan, the only organized opposition to IEA rule is a successor to the 1990s Northern Alliance. This new anti-Taliban group reassembled in 2022 as the NRF (National Resistance Front) and initially appeared to be a major threat to IEA rule and possibly something that was more than the IEA could handle. NRF leaders blame the United States and the former IRA government. Both misjudged and mishandled efforts to deal with the ISIL and TTP (Pakistani Taliban) presence inside Afghanistan. Now the resistance to the revived Taliban rule in Afghanistan is opposed by an updated version of the pre-September 11, 2001, Afghan resistance. This time the United States was not interested in trying to remove a pro-Islamic terrorist government in Afghanistan.

Some of the NRF leaders are sons of successful Northern Alliance commanders. Iran threatened to provide more support to the NRF than they gave the Northern Alliance. By late 2022 the NRF dominated Panjshir province (northeast of Kabul) and believed they could resist any IEA attack. That was optimistic because IEA forces suffered some losses initially but soon turned that around and inflicted heavy losses on NRF in terms of gunmen, territory and local support. Now the NRF is based in northern neighbor Tajikistan and only conducts raids into Afghanistan. This was not a repeat of the 1990s when the Northern Alliance dominated the Panjshir Valley (a 90-minute drive from Kabul) right up to the defeat of the Taliban government after September 2001. Northern Front leaders became members of the IRA government and now their sons reassembled as the NRF, which had some initial success but no staying power. Not enough Panjshir Valley residents are willing to die opposing the ruthless IEA government. The remaining resistance fighters have moved north to Tajikistan.
OVERLAND PARK, KS / ACCESSWIRE / December 1, 2023 / Tortoise today announced the following preliminary unaudited balance sheet information and asset coverage ratio updates for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ.

Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. (NYSE: TYG) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $492.6 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $380.3 million, or $35.33 per share.

As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 677%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 453%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.

Preliminary unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 490.8 $ 45.59 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.4 0.04 Other Assets 1.4 0.13 Total Assets 492.6 45.76 Short-Term Borrowings 7.3 0.68 Senior Notes 64.8 6.02 Preferred Stock 35.7 3.31 Total Leverage 107.8 10.01 Other Liabilities 2.4 0.22 Current Tax Liability 2.1 0.20 Net Assets $ 380.3 $ 35.33

10.76 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE: NTG) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $272.9 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $217.0 million, or $42.62 per share.

As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 680%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 506%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.

Preliminary unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 268.0 $ 52.63 Cash and Cash Equivalents 3.9 0.77 Other Assets 1.0 0.18 Total Assets 272.9 53.58 Short-Term Borrowings 10.6 2.08 Senior Notes 29.2 5.73 Preferred Stock 13.7 2.70 Total Leverage 53.5 10.51 Other Liability 1.1 0.20 Current Tax Liability 1.3 0.25 Net Assets $ 217.0 $ 42.62

5.09 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE: TTP) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $86.2 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $69.6 million, or $34.60 per share.

As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 869%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 536%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.

Preliminary unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 85.2 $ 42.37 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.5 0.23 Receivable for Investments Sold 0.3 0.14 Other Assets 0.2 0.15 Total Assets 86.2 42.89 Short-Term Borrowings 5.9 2.94 Senior Notes 3.9 1.96 Preferred Stock 6.1 3.03 Total Leverage 15.9 7.93 Payable for Investments Purchased 0.3 0.14 Other Liabilities 0.4 0.22 Net Assets $ 69.6 $ 34.60

2.01 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. (NYSE: NDP) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $68.2 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $59.1 million, or $35.45 per share.

As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 771%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.

Preliminary unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 67.6 $ 40.57 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.3 0.21 Other Assets 0.3 0.14 Total Assets 68.2 40.92 Credit Facility Borrowings 8.8 5.28 Other Liabilities 0.3 0.19 Net Assets $ 59.1 $ 35.45

1.67 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. (NYSE: TPZ) today announced that as of November 30, 2023, the company's preliminary unaudited total assets were approximately $120.8 million and its preliminary unaudited net asset value was $95.7 million, or $16.25 per share.

As of November 30, 2023, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 489%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Set forth below is a summary of the company's preliminary unaudited balance sheet at November 30, 2023.

Preliminary unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 119.2 $ 20.24 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.3 0.06 Other Assets 1.3 0.21 Total Assets 120.8 20.51 Credit Facility Borrowings 24.6 4.18 Other Liabilities 0.5 0.08 Net Assets $ 95.7 $ 16.25

5.89 million common shares currently outstanding.

The top 10 holdings for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ as of the most recent month-end can be found on each fund's portfolio web page at https://cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

About Tortoise

Tortoise focuses on energy & power infrastructure and the transition to cleaner energy. Tortoise's solid track record of energy value chain investment experience and research dates back more than 20 years. As an early investor in midstream energy, Tortoise believes it is well-positioned to be at the forefront of the global energy evolution that is underway. With a steady wins approach and a long-term perspective, Tortoise strives to make a positive impact on clients and communities. To learn more, please visit www.TortoiseAdvisors.com.

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. is the adviser to Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp., Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. and Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc.

For additional information on these funds, please visit cef.tortoiseadvisors.com .

Safe harbor statement

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are "forward-looking statements." Although the funds and Tortoise Capital Advisors believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the fund's reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Other than as required by law, the funds and Tortoise Capital Advisors do not assume a duty to update this forward-looking statement.

Contact information

For more information contact Eva Lipner at (913) 981-1020 or [email protected].

SOURCE: Tortoise

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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, today awarded the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAEs pioneering global award in sustainability and humanitarianism, during a ceremony held at COP28 UAE in Expo City Dubai.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231201649250/en/

11 winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize Recognised at COP28 (Photo: AETOSWire)

The Ceremony was attended by numerous heads of delegations participating in COP28, ministers, senior government officials, and Prize winners and finalists.

His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in promoting sustainability and encouraging them to continue their important contributions in this field. His Highness emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in building upon its established legacy in sustainability, a foundation laid by the countrys Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. In this regard, His Highness highlighted the significant role of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable development, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute towards making a positive difference for our planet.

The Prize honours the legacy of UAEs founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, by rewarding small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools that are addressing health, food, energy, water and climate-related challenges. For over 15 years, through its 106 previous winners, the Prize has transformed the lives of 384 million people worldwide.

The Prizes eleven winners for the current cycle were elected in September by a distinguished panel of Jury members, who rigorously evaluated each submission for its contribution and commitment to delivering impactful, innovative, and inspiring solutions across the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

To strengthen its commitment to promoting sustainable and humanitarian development, the Zayed Sustainability Prize will be increasing its endowment, from US $3.6M to US $5.9M, effective immediately.

H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, said: Today, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to combat climate change and empower vulnerable communities as we award US $1 million to each of our distinguished winners in Health, Food, Water, Energy and Climate Action, and US $150,000 to each Global High Schools winner. This substantial funding will help scale their innovative solutions and deliver transformational progress around the world, especially across the Global South.

As the Zayed Sustainability Prizes 15th anniversary draws to a close, we reflect on the UAE's mission to drive inclusive sustainable development and climate action. The Prize not only honours Sheikh Zayed's legacy of social good but extends the reach of his vision on a global scale.

With a larger fund, the Prize can broaden its support for innovative solutions that not only positively impact the environment but also improve the well-being and economic development of the worlds most climate-vulnerable communities.

In the new Climate Action category, Kelp Blue, a Namibian SME, won the Prize for its ambitious efforts to cultivate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity while capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. Additionally, their operations have generated job opportunities in coastal communities.

In the Health category, Indonesias doctorSHARE was awarded the Prize for its pioneering work in bringing healthcare access to hard-to-reach areas, notably with barge-mounted floating hospitals. Their impact is substantial, having treated over 160,000 patients.

In the Food category, Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agricultural Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine, won for its contributions to supporting a more resilient agricultural sector in Gaza. The NPO facilitates access to locally produced food, providing job security to 200 women agriprenuers and benefitting more than 7,000 people.

In the Energy category, Ignite Power, an SME from Rwanda, was awarded the Prize for its transformative efforts to provide affordable electricity to last-mile communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their pay-as-you-go solar solutions provided electricity to 2.5 million people and prevented 600,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Beyond access to clean energy, Ignite Power has introduced solar powered irrigation solutions and generated 3,500 local jobs.

In the Water category, Eau et Vie, an NPO from France, won for its contributions to ensuring access to clean water in impoverished areas by installing taps in urban homes. They have increased water access for 52,000 people in 27 communities across 10 cities. Furthermore, they raised awareness of hygienic practices for 66,000 individuals and reduced the cost of water by 75%.

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said: "This year's winners have demonstrated a remarkable wave of ingenuity in their solutions to address urgent global challenges. We have confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us towards vital climate action objectives and forging a path to a sustainable future for all."

The Zayed Sustainability Prize also engages young people through its Global High Schools category and encourages youth to take an active role in supporting their communities and becoming future sustainability leaders. The Prizes 47 Global High Schools winners have impacted the lives of over 55,186 students and 453,887 people in their wider communities.

The recipients of the Global High Schools awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru), representing The Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy (Nigeria), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; International School (Morocco), representing the Middle East & North Africa; Northfleet Technology College (United Kingdom), representing Europe & Central Asia; KORT Education Complex (Pakistan), representing South Asia; and finally, Beijing High School No. 35 (China), representing East Asia & Pacific.

About the Zayed Sustainability Prize

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a tribute to the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The Prize aims to drive sustainable development and humanitarian action by recognising and rewarding organisations and high schools that are delivering innovative sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

For over 15 years, through its 106 winners, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of 384 million people worldwide.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231201649250/en/

Mohammed Al Daqqaq, +971507037115

[email protected]

Source: Zayed Sustainability Prize
NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A recent forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the worldwide artificial intelligence (AI) software market will grow from $64 billion in 2022 to nearly $251 billion in 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.4%. The forecast for AI-centric software* includes Artificial Intelligence Platforms, AI Applications, AI System Infrastructure Software (SIS), and AI Application Development and Deployment (AD&D) software (excluding AI platforms). However, it does not include Generative AI platforms and applications, which IDC recently forecast will generate revenues of $55.7 billion in 2027.

[Note: The revenue figures for Generative AI platforms and applications and total AI software have been updated since this press release was originally issued on October 31, 2023.]

A recent IDC survey found that, in the next 12 months, roughly a third of respondents believe that organizations will prefer to buy AI software from a vendor or use in-house support alongside vendor-supplied AI software for specific use cases or application areas. This indicates a growing demand for AI solutions and highlights the need for customized approaches based on individual business requirements.

"The momentum behind investments in AI and automation technologies remains unwavering despite economic uncertainty and shifting market dynamics. Businesses are realizing that utilizing cutting-edge technology is not only a strategic necessity but also a crucial factor in achieving long-term success. Despite potential challenges and risks, organizations are confident that adopting AI will continue to be crucial for future proofing their business operations and remaining ahead of the competition," said Raghunandhan Kuppuswamy, research manager, Artificial Intelligence and Automation Research at IDC.

AI Applications is currently the largest category of AI software, accounting for roughly one third of the market's overall revenue in 2023. The category includes collaborative, content workflow and management, enterprise resource management (ERM), supply chain management, production and operations, engineering, and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Revenue growth in the AI Applications category will trail the overall market with a five-year CAGR of 21.1%.

The second largest category in terms of 2023 revenue is Artificial Intelligence Platforms. With the second fastest growth rate over the 2023-2027 forecast period (a 35.8% CAGR), AI Platforms will be the largest revenue category for most of the forecast. AI Platforms facilitate the development of artificial intelligence models and applications, such as intelligent assistants that can mimic human cognitive abilities.

The two smallest categories  AI Systems Infrastructure Software (AI SIS) and AI Application Development and Deployment (AI AD&D) software  will both grow revenues faster than the overall market with five-year CAGRs of 32.6% and 38.7%, respectively. The AI SIS category benefits from its integration with existing software systems, allowing organizations to derive valuable insights from vast amounts of data to make informed decisions and optimize operations. The category includes analytics, business intelligence software, data management, integration, orchestration, application development, software quality, life-cycle software, and application platforms. The AI AD&D category includes analytics and business intelligence software, data management, integration and orchestration, application development, software quality and life-cycle software, and application platforms.

"The AI landscape is changing rapidly. Convergence of traditional AI with Generative AI will lead to cutting-edge solutions that combine decision efficacy with creative ingenuity," said Ritu Jyoti, group vice president, Worldwide Artificial Intelligence and Automation market research and advisory services at IDC. "As businesses continue to invest in AI, they should be prepared to address challenges and prioritize ethical considerations to maximize the long-term ROI."

* Note: IDC defines artificial intelligence (AI) software as AI-centric software. AI-centric applications must have an AI component that is crucial to the application  without this AI component the application will not function. IDC also recognizes a second type of AI software  AI noncentric software. In AI noncentric applications, the AI component is not crucial or fundamental to the application. In other words, the application will function without the inclusion of the AI component. This enables the inclusion of applications that are enhanced by AI capabilities but not exclusively used for AI functions.

The IDC report, Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Software Forecast, 20232027 (IDC #US50027023), presents a forecast of the worldwide artificial intelligence (AI) software market for 20232027. The forecast provides forecast details for AI-centric and AI non-centric software as well as by technology category. The AI Applications category is further broken down into four sub-categories: content management and workflow, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource management (ERM), and other AI applications. Revenue for three geographic regions and two deployment types is also provided.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231201614318/en/

Michael Shirer

508-935-4200

[email protected]

Source: International Data Corporation
SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd (Junshi Biosciences, HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (TGA) has accepted the New Chemical Entity (NCE) application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine, for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Additionally, the TGA has also granted an orphan drug designation to toripalimab for the treatment of NPC.

This NCE application was submitted through Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDAs Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) that provides a collaborative mechanism and framework among the FDA and regulatory partners in other countries and regions, for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs. At present, seven other regulatory agencies have joined Project Orbis, including the TGA, Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Health Canada (HC), MHRA, etc.

Project Orbis currently accepts applications for oncology indications. An application should generally qualify for FDA priority review, meaning that the drug must be intended to treat a serious disease and, if approved, would significantly improve the safety or efficacy of the treatment; furthermore, the drug should have a high impact and significant clinical benefits. Under the framework of Project Orbis, collaboration among international regulators may allow patients with cancer to receive earlier access to new treatments in other countries.

Toripalimab for the treatment of NPC meets these application requirements and is the first domestic oncology drug to be included in Project Orbis. Junshi Biosciences will explore the possibility of fast marketing in these countries and regions where the pathway is applicable.

NPC is a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharyngeal mucosal epithelium and is one of the most common types of head and neck cancer. According to the World Health Organization, the number of newly diagnosed NPC cases in 2020 exceeded 130,000 worldwide. Due to the location of the primary tumor, surgery is rarely an option, while radiotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy are the main treatment options for localized cancers.

This NCE application is supported by results from JUPITER-02, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational multi-center Phase III clinical study (NCT03581786), for the first-line treatment of NPC and the results from POLARIS-02, a multi-center, open-label, pivotal Phase II clinical study (NCT02915432), for second-line or more prior treatments for recurrent or metastatic NPC.

The results of JUPITER-02, the first multinational multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo- controlled Phase III clinical study with immuno-oncology therapy for the treatment of NPC with the largest sample size, were published at the plenary session of the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting (#LBA2), and in Nature Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The results showed that compared to chemotherapy alone, toripalimab in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of metastatic or recurrent NPC significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% and the risk of death by 37%, and demonstrated a manageable safety profile.

The POLARIS-02 results were published online in January 2021 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results showed that toripalimab demonstrated durable antitumor activity in patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC who failed previous chemotherapy, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 20.5%, a median duration of response (DoR) of 12.8 months, and a median OS of 17.4 months with a manageable safety profile.

So far, toripalimab has been approved for 6 indications in China, with 4 supplementary new drug applications (sNDA) currently under regulatory review. Internationally, it has been approved for 2 NPC indications in the US, and marketing approval applications for 2 indications in NPC and esophageal carcinoma are currently under regulatory review in the European Union and UK.

About Toripalimab

Toripalimab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody developed for its ability to block PD-1 interactions with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, and for enhanced receptor internalization (endocytosis function). Blocking PD-1 interactions with PD-L1 and PD-L2 promotes the immune systems ability to attack and kill tumor cells.

More than forty company-sponsored toripalimab clinical studies covering more than fifteen indications have been conducted globally by Junshi Biosciences, including in China, the United States, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Ongoing or completed pivotal clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of toripalimab cover a broad range of tumor types, including cancers of the lung, nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, breast, liver, kidney, and skin.

In China, toripalimab was the first domestic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved for marketing (approved in China as TUOYI). Currently, there are six approved indications for toripalimab in China:

unresectable or metastatic melanoma after failure of standard systemic therapy; recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy; locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy; in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine as the first-line treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC; in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or distant metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); in combination with pemetrexed and platinum as the first-line treatment in EGFR mutation-negative and ALK mutation-negative, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The first three indications have been included in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) (2022 Edition). Toripalimab is the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody included in the NRDL for the treatment of melanoma.

In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Biologics License Application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced NPC, and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy in October 2023. The FDA has granted toripalimab 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations for the treatment of NPC, 1 Fast Track designation for the treatment of mucosal melanoma, and 5 Orphan Drug designations for the treatment of esophageal cancer, NPC, mucosal melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

In Europe, marketing authorization applications (MAA) were accepted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United Kingdoms Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for 1) toripalimab combined with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC and 2) toripalimab combined with paclitaxel and cisplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or metastatic ESCC, in December 2022 and February 2023.

In Australia, an NCE was accepted by the TGA in November 2023. The TGA has also granted toripalimab an Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of NPC.

About Junshi Biosciences

Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R&D pipeline comprising over 50 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Four of the companys innovations have already reached the Chinese or international markets, one of which is toripalimab, Chinas first domestically produced and independently developed anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, approved in China and the US. Additionally, more than 30 drugs are currently in clinical development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Junshi Biosciences actively shouldered the social responsibilities of a Chinese pharmaceutical company through its involvement in developing etesevimab, MINDEWEI, and other novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

With a mission of providing patients with world-class, trustworthy, affordable, and innovative drugs, Junshi Biosciences is In China, For Global. At present, the company boasts approximately 3,000 employees in the United States (San Francisco and Maryland) and China (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, etc). For more information, please visit: http://junshipharma.com.

Junshi Biosciences Contact InformationIR Team:Junshi Biosciences[email protected]+ 86 021-6105 8800

PR Team:Junshi BiosciencesZhi Li[email protected]+ 86 021-6105 8800

Source: Junshi Biosciences
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ONEflight International, a leading private aviation company, elevated the VIP treatment for its members by hosting an exclusive experience at a Formula 1 race. Held at the Paddock Club in Las Vegas from November 16-18, the race featured unparalleled access to racers and crewmembers alike, world-class hospitality, and memorable interactions with renowned personalities.

ONEflights mission is always to provide a best-in-class experience for our clients, whether in the air or on the ground. Their dedication and loyalty to ONEflight serves as a testament to this and were more than happy to celebrate them and create lasting memories alongside them at exciting events like this, said Ferren Rajput, ONEflight International CEO.

Rajput and Shark Tank's Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary, hosted members at the garage-level CEO suite, providing an exclusive and luxurious vantage point to a race that zooms past the famous Las Vegas Strip. The culinary experience could not have been more noteworthy: world-renowned chef, Gordon Ramsay, personally curated the gourmet menu for the event. Guests also had the unique opportunity to walk the pit lane and engage with Formula 1 racers and crew members personally, getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the precision and skill that goes into the world of Formula 1 racing.

ONEflight International remains committed to providing its members with once-in-a-lifetime experiences as well as luxurious travel accommodations. The Formula 1 event in Las Vegas exemplified the company's dedication to this exceptional service and is just one of the many benefits ONEflight members enjoy.

About ONEflight International, Inc.

ONEflight International, incorporated is a global private aviation company revolutionizing the luxury private jet travel industry since the companys founding in 2010. It is the fastest growing market leader developing and implementing technological solutions for noncommercial air travel through their proprietary online Book a Jet platform (BAJit). With over 700 vetted world class aircraft charter operator partnerships and a network of over 7000 private jets worldwide, ONEflight empowers members to seamlessly search select and book a private flight with a fleet of aircraft at their disposal and renown customer service from booking to disembarking. ONEflight firmly believes you dont need to OWN you just need to fly.

Visit oneflight.net for more information.

Media ContactDave RajyagorVP of Strategic InitiativesONEflight International[email protected]Direct: (720)575-4303

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4994d988-264b-48d9-ba28-49c90faf8a3d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bbaa1ed3-6ed7-4816-8e8a-d95ae7943bfa

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ada9fdd5-538d-4024-8f79-31c3cfbf50b7

ONEflight ONEflight Members along with Shark Tanks Kevin OLeary and Ferren Rajput ONEflight CEO at Formula 1 Las Vegas ONEflight Dave Rajyagor ONEflight VP of Strategic Initiatives with Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay at F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Paddock Club ONEflight ONEflight Hosts members in the Paddock Club Garage Suite at Formula 1 Las Vegas

Source: ONEflight International
CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questor Technology Inc. (Questor or the Company) (TSX-V: QST) announces that its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("Former Auditor") on its own initiative, resigned as the auditor of the Company effective December 1, 2023 and the Board of Directors of the Company appointed MNP LLP ("Successor Auditor") as its new auditor effective December 1, 2023, until the next Annual General Meeting of the Company. Questor is pleased to re-engage with the MNP LLP audit team. There have been no reservations or modified opinions contained in the audit report prepared by the Former Auditor in connection with any of the Company's financial statements for the two most recently completed years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 nor for any period subsequent to December 31, 2022. There are no reportable events including disagreements, consultations, or unresolved issues as defined in National Instrument 51-102  Continuous Disclosure Obligations ("NI 51-102") (Part 4.11) between the Company and the Former Auditor. The Notice of Change of Auditor, together with the required letters from the Former Auditor and the Successor Auditor are available on the Companys website at www.questortech.com/investors and at www.sedarplus.ca.

ABOUT QUESTOR TECHNOLOGY INC.

Questor Technology Inc., incorporated in Canada under the Business Companies Act (Alberta) is an environmental emissions reduction technology company founded in 1994, with global operations. The Company is focused on clean air technologies that safely and cost effectively improve air quality, support energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reductions. The Company designs, manufactures and services high efficiency clean combustion systems that destroy harmful pollutants, including Methane, Hydrogen Sulfide gas, Volatile Organic Hydrocarbons, Hazardous Air Pollutants and BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene) gases within waste gas streams at 99.99 percent efficiency per its ISO 14034 Certification. This enables its clients to meet emission regulations, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address community concerns and improve safety at industrial sites.

The Company also has proprietary heat to power generation technology and is currently targeting new markets including landfill biogas, syngas, waste engine exhaust, geothermal and solar, cement plant waste heat in addition to a wide variety of oil and gas projects. The combination of Questors clean combustion and power generation technologies can help clients achieve net zero emission targets for minimal cost. The Company is also doing research and development on data solutions to deliver an integrated system that amalgamates all of the emission detection data available to demonstrate a clear picture of the sites emission profile.

The Companys common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol QST. The address of the Companys corporate and registered office is 2240, 140  4 Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2P 3N3.

QUESTOR TRADES ON THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE UNDER THE SYMBOL QST

Audrey Mascarenhas Ann-Marie Osinski President and Chief Executive Officer Corporate Secretary and Chief Financial Officer Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This document is not intended for dissemination or distribution in the United States.

Source: Questor Technology Inc.
NEW YORK, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of securities of ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CHPT) between June 1, 2023 and November 16, 2023, both dates inclusive (the Class Period). A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 29, 2024.



SO WHAT: If you purchased ChargePoint securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the ChargePoint class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=20727 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 29, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about ChargePoint's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) ChargePoint was experiencing higher component costs and supply overruns for first generation direct current ("DC") charging products; (2) as a result, ChargePoint was likely to incur impairment charges; (3) as a result of the foregoing, ChargePoint's profitability would be adversely impacted; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants positive statements about ChargePoint's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the ChargePoint class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=20727 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com
Surrey, British Columbia, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sierra Grande Minerals Inc. (the Company or Sierra) (CSE: SGRO) (OTC: SIERF) (FF: F91Q) announces that it has granted a total of 1,350,000 incentive stock options to certain directors, officers and employees of the Company pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan. The options are exercisable at $0.10 per share and expire five (5) years from the date of grant.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDSonny Janda, CEO & Directorwww.sierraminerals.com

Email Address: [email protected]

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.

This news release includes certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities law, including without limitation, statements that address the timing and content of certain agreements and development. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks, including the ability of the Company to raise the funds necessary to fund its projects and, accordingly, may not occur as described herein or at all. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include Covid-19 restrictions, market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are referred to the Companys filings with the Canadian securities regulators for information on these and other risk factors, available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation.

Source: SIERRA GRANDE MINERALS INC.
VALLETTA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Thursday's decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, to further cut down oil production next year has left the market disappointed, according to analysts.

OPEC+ announced further production cuts for next year to bolster oil prices that have recently tumbled amid a weakening economic backdrop. Several OPEC+ countries are to additionally cut a total of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, which aims to support the stability and balance of oil markets.

The reductions will be taken from the quotas adopted at the last OPEC+ ministerial meeting in June. It will add to the voluntary output cuts announced by OPEC+ countries in April and will last until the end of 2024, OPEC said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC, will extend its voluntary production cut of 1 million bpd, which has been in effect since July, to the end of Q1 2024. Russia, a leading OPEC ally, will cut its oil exports by 500,000 bpd, up from the current 300,000 bpd, until next March.

Other OPEC+ countries, including Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman, have pledged smaller cuts for Q1 2024, the OPEC said.

Warren Patterson, ING's head of commodities strategy, noted that instead of seeing further cuts distributed among the whole group, it was left up to individual members to decide whether they would make deeper voluntary supply cuts.

"Our balance sheet shows that the additional voluntary cuts ensure that the marginal surplus that had been forecast for 1Q24 will be erased, and in fact, we now see a small deficit," Patterson wrote on the ING website.

"This suggests that there is some upside to our current 1Q24 ICE Brent forecast of US$82/bbl and full-year 2024 forecast of US$88/bbl," he said, "However, this will largely depend on how OPEC+ goes about unwinding these cuts and obviously on how demand plays out next year."

"While OPEC seemed to build up expectations leading to a sharp rally, at the end of the day the market was skeptical that OPEC could keep its promises," Phil Flynn, an analyst at the Price Futures Group, said.

Oil prices have slid since October amid concerns about oversupply in a weakening global economic outlook. The international benchmark Brent crude has stayed in the range of low- to mid-80 U.S. dollars a barrel in recent weeks, from this year's peak of over 90 dollars a barrel in September.

Before Thursday's OPEC+ ministerial meeting, analysts had expected the oil-producer group to make bigger production cuts next year to support the oil prices.

Crude prices failed to rally after the meeting, with Brent crude edging down 0.32 percent to settle at 82.83 dollars a barrel on Thursday.

Asset & Wealth Management Investment Strategy Group (ISG) at Goldman Sachs believes that the price of a barrel of oil is likely to trade between 70 and 100 dollars for most of 2024. The forecast reflects slowing oil demand growth arising from tighter financial conditions and still elevated U.S. recession odds over the coming year. 
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 1, 2023) - Awal Resources Limited (TSXV: ARIC) ("Awale") is pleased to announce that Awale and Newmont Ventures Limited ("Newmont"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newmont Corporation, subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") acceptance, have entered into an Investment Agreement (the "Agreement") for a strategic non-brokered private placement financing to raise C$957,530.89. The financing will be structured through the issuance of (i) units ("Units") with each Unit comprised of one common share in the capital of Awale (a "Share") and one half of one common share purchase warrant (a whole warrant, a "Warrant") and (ii) Shares. If completed, the proceeds from the financing will be used to initiate greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, which lie outside the Newmont Joint Venture, and for general administrative costs of Awale.

This proposed transaction builds on Newmont's initial investment through an exploration agreement with venture option and subscription agreement signed in May 2022 and as announced on June 15, 2022.

This proposed financing will be completed in two phases and involve the following key terms:

Newmont will first subscribe for such number of Units at a price of C$0.12 per Unit in order to increase its holdings in Awale from approximately 5.75% to 10.39% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis (the "Top-Up Financing"), being equal to the percentage Newmont held prior to Awale's May 2023 financings and issuance of Shares in settlement of certain debt, as announced on May 24, 2023 and October 27, 2023. Based on 56,203,009 issued and outstanding Shares, Newmont will subscribe for 2,908,714 Units for an aggregate purchase price of C$349,045.68 in this Top-Up Financing. Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of C$0.20 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from closing.

In addition to the Top-Up Financing, the remaining proceeds of the financing will be used to purchase additional Shares at C$0.171 per Share ("Additional Shares" and such financing, the "Subscription Financing"). Based on 56,203,009 issued and outstanding Shares, Newmont will subscribe for 3,558,393 Additional Shares for an aggregate purchase price of C$608,485.21. It is anticipated that if the Top-Up Financing and Subscription Financing are completed on the terms described herein, Newmont's ownership interest will increase to approximately 15.48% on a non-diluted basis.

The proposed transaction, including the terms and conditions thereof, is subject to the performance of certain closing conditions, satisfactory completion of due diligence investigations by Newmont and the receipt of approval by the Exchange. The securities to be issued pursuant to the proposed financing will be subject to a restrictive trading hold period of four months and one day following issuance.

Awale anticipates closing the proposed financing with Newmont in Q4 of 2023.

Canadian Early Warning Disclosure

Newmont announces that pursuant to the Agreement entered into between Newmont and Awale today, it will acquire, on a private placement basis: (i) 2,908,714 Units at a price of C$0.12 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of C$349,045.68 pursuant to the Top-Up Financing, and (ii) 3,558,393 Additional Shares for an aggregate purchase price of C$608,485.21 pursuant to the Subscription Financing. Each Unit is comprised of one Share and one half of one Warrant, and each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Warrant Share at a price of C$0.20 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from closing.

Immediately prior to entering into the Agreement, Newmont held 3,232,994 Shares, representing approximately 5.75% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis. Immediately following closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing, assuming that Newmont has not acquired any additional securities of Awale and Awale has not issued any additional Shares since the date hereof, Newmont will hold an aggregate of 9,700,101 Shares and 1,454,357 Warrants, representing approximately 15.48% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a non-diluted basis, and approximately 17.40% of the issued and outstanding Shares on a partially-diluted basis.

Newmont will be acquiring the Units and the Additional Shares pursuant to the Top-Up Financing and Subscription Financing for investment purposes, and in the future, Newmont may, from time to time, increase or decrease its investment in Awale through market transactions, private agreements, treasury issuances or otherwise, depending on market conditions and any other relevant factors. Following the closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing, pursuant to the Agreement, Newmont may, from time to time, designate an individual to serve as a director on the board of directors of Awale.

Newmont's head office is located at 6900 E Layton Avenue, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80237.

An early warning report will be filed by Newmont in accordance with applicable securities laws and will be available under Awale's profile on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.com , and may also be obtained by contacting the persons named below.

About Awale Resources

Awale is a diligent and systematic mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large high-grade gold and copper-gold deposits. Awale currently undertakes exploration activities in the underexplored parts of Cote d'Ivoire. Awale's exploration success to date has culminated in a fully funded earn-in Joint Venture with Newmont covering one permit and one application (the "Odienne Project JV") within the greater Odienne Copper-Gold Project in the Northwest of Cote d'Ivoire, where three significant gold and gold-copper-silver-molybdenum discoveries have been made. The Sceptre East and Charger discoveries have significant scope for growth with future discovery and resource development drilling. The project has multiple pipeline prospects that have similar geochemical fingerprints to Iron Oxide Copper Gold ("IOCG") and intrusive related mineral systems. The 400km2 of granted tenure and 400km2 under application remains underexplored and offers significant upside potential. The Odienne Project JV forms a solid foundation for Awale to continue exploring in a pro-mining jurisdiction that offers significant potential for district scale discoveries.

Awale's head office is located at 8681 Clay Street Mission, British Columbia, V4S 1E7.

For additional information, you can visit the Awale Resources Limited website at www.awaleresources.com, or contact Andrew Chubb at Tel +356 99 139 117.

About Newmont Corporation

Newmont Corporation is the world's leading gold company and a producer of copper, zinc, lead, and silver. Newmont Corporation's world-class portfolio of assets, prospects and talent is anchored in favorable mining jurisdictions in Africa, Australia, Latin America & Caribbean, North America, and Papua New Guinea. Newmont Corporation is the only gold producer listed in the S&P 500 Index and is widely recognized for its principled environmental, social, and governance practices. Newmont Corporation is an industry leader in value creation, supported by robust safety standards, superior execution, and technical expertise. Newmont Corporation was founded in 1921 and has been publicly traded since 1925.

At Newmont Corporation, our purpose is to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining. To learn more about Newmont Corporation's sustainability strategy and initiatives, go to www.newmont.com.

Media Contacts:

Awale Resources

Andrew Chubb

+356 99 139 117

Newmont

Jennifer Pakradooni

[email protected]

ForwardLooking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements regarding, Awale's presence in Cote d'Ivoire and ability to achieve results, creation of value for Awale shareholders, achievements under the Newmont Joint Venture, the initiation of greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, the ability of Awale to obtain Exchange approval in respect of the proposed financing, and the closing of the Top-Up Financing and the Subscription Financing. Although Awale believes any forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, delays or issues related to the closing of the financing, delays or issues related to the initiation of greenfield exploration on the Odienne project permits, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in Awale's management's discussion and analysis as filed under Awale's profile at www.sedarplus.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although Awale believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. Awale disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.









To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/189615
Beijing, China--(Newsfile Corp. - December 2, 2023) - BCI Group unveiled China's Datong Super Energy Complex at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, UAE. This groundbreaking infrastructure platform integrates "computability + energy + equipment" and represents a new investment promotion model for the industry. Distinguished representatives attended the event and delivered speeches.

The Super Energy Complex combines advanced energy, campus facilities, equipment, and networks. By adopting a long-term and sustainable approach, it aims to address the limitations of traditional land-based investment models. Through comprehensive planning, proactive development, and industry access and exit guidance, it ensures the local computing power industry contributes to regional transformation and sustainable economic development.

The recently released "Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Computing Power Infrastructure" from China's six ministries encourages innovative actions in the field of "computing power + energy." It emphasizes the construction of high-standard infrastructure that is green, intelligent, and customized. With its abundant energy resources and favorable business environment, Datong serves as an ideal location for the Super Energy Complex, which aims to vertically integrate the infrastructure industry and support the digital economy and AI era. The project involves the development of wind and solar energy bases, energy storage stations, water and thermal circulation networks, equipment production bases, and link channels. It is set to create a comprehensive platform for advanced energy and campus facilities across multiple regions.

Significant progress has already been made, with photovoltaic energy bases within the BCI Group's Datong Super Energy Complex platform, with individual capacities ranging from 100MW to 150MW, successfully achieving full capacity grid connection. Moreover, China's first prefabricated computing campus main structure recently achieved topping out, while Datong's inaugural advanced server equipment park has commenced trial operations.

BCI Group

Contact Person: Xinyan Liu

Email: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/189617
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 1, 2023) - Level 14 Ventures Ltd. (CSE: LVL) ("Level 14" or the "Company") announces that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption ("LIFE") of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions ("NI 45-106") to raise gross proceeds of up to C$5,000,000 from the sale of up to 33,333,333 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of C$0.15 per Unit (the "Private Placement"). Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of C$0.30 for a period of five years following the issuance of the Units. The Company will use the gross proceeds of the Private Placement for furthering the exploration work on the Company's Colpayoc project in Peru and working capital.

Subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, the Private Placement is being made to purchasers' resident in Canada, except Quebec, pursuant to the LIFE under Part 5A of NI 45-106. The securities issued under the Private Placement will not be subject to a hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

There is an offering document related to this offering that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.com and at www.level14ventures.com. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

Certain directors and officers of the Company will participate in the Private Placement. As a result, the Private Placement is expected to be a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Private Placement will be exempt from the formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to subsection 5.5(b) of MI-61-101 because the Common Shares are listed only on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") and is exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to subsection 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 because neither the fair market value of the Units to be issued to related parties nor the consideration to be paid by related parties pursuant to the Private Placement is expected to exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization as determined in accordance with MI 61-101.

Closing of the Private Placement is subject to the Company obtaining all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including approval of the CSE. The Company may pay finders' fees in connection with the Private Placement and in accordance with the policies of the CSE.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor will there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Level 14 Ventures Ltd.

Level 14 is an exploration-stage mining company with a focus on copper and gold, with an option to acquire 100% of the Colpayoc Property in Peru. Colpayoc has significant, untested potential for a Cu-Au porphyry at depth beneath drill holes bottoming in copper-gold sulfide mineralization. Colpayoc is largely untested with limited drilling and is similar to many of the world class porphyry copper-gold deposits within this prolific belt. Level 14 continues to evaluate opportunities in the mineral sector on an ongoing basis.

For more information about Level 14, please visit our website at www.level14ventures.com or email us at [email protected].

Marcel de Groot, President & Director

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions, and are based on the Company's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to closing the Private Placement, the potential of the Company's Colpayoc Property and the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, the risk that the Company may not be able to locate attractive deposits at Colpayoc, or at all; changes in laws, regulations and government practices; that a material adverse change may occur to the business of the Company; and such other risks as are identified the Company's public disclosure documents filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com. 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.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.



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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 1, 2023) - Los Andes Copper Ltd. (TSXV: LA) (OTCQX: LSANF) ("Los Andes" or the "Company") announces that in accordance with the terms of the US$5,000,000, US$4,000,000 and US$5,000,000 eight per cent convertible debentures issued to Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. ("Queen's Road Capital") on June 2, 2021, April 4, 2022 and September 2, 2022 (the "Convertible Debentures") the Company has elected to issue 12,365 common shares in the capital of the Company ("Common Shares") at a deemed price of US$8.49 (C$11.68) to Queen's Road Capital as payment for US$104,979 (C$144,549) in interest owing on the Convertible Debentures.

Under the terms of the Convertible Debentures, interest is payable quarterly, five per cent in cash and three per cent in shares, at the greater of: (i) the 20-day volume weighted average price prior to the interest payment date; or (ii) the Discounted Market Price (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V")).

The issuance of the Common Shares as payment for interest owing on the Convertible Debentures is subject to the terms and conditions of the Convertible Debentures as well as the receipt of all requisite approvals, including, without limitation, the approval of the TSX-V.

About Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd.

Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. is a leading financier to the global resource sector. The company is a resource focused investment company, making investments in privately held and publicly traded resource companies.

It is intended that the company will acquire and hold securities for both long-term capital appreciation and short-term gains, with a focus on convertible debt securities and resource projects in advanced development or production located in safe jurisdictions.

Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. is listed on the TSX under the ticker: QRC.

About Los Andes Copper Ltd.

Los Andes Copper Ltd. is an exploration and development company with an 100% interest in the Vizcachitas Project in Chile. The Company is focused on progressing the Project, which is located along Chile's most prolific copper belt, into production. Vizcachitas is one of the largest copper deposits in the Americas not controlled by the majors and the Company believes it will be Chile's next major copper mine.

The Project is a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit, located 150 kilometers north of Santiago, in an area of very good infrastructure. An independent technical report for the PFS, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, is available on the Company's SEDAR profile.

Los Andes Copper Ltd. is listed on the TSX-V under the ticker: LA.

Qualified Persons

Antony Amberg CGeol FGS, the Company's Chief Geologist, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

For more information please contact:

Santiago Montt, CEO

[email protected]

Tel: +56 2 2954-0450

Elizabeth Johnson, Investor Relations

[email protected]

E-Mail: [email protected] or visit our website at: www.losandescopper.com

Follow us on Twitter @LosAndesCopper

Follow us on LinkedIn Los Andes Copper Ltd

Certain of the information and statements contained herein that are not historical facts, constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Securities Act (British Columbia), Securities Act (Ontario) and the Securities Act (Alberta) ("Forward-Looking Information"). Forward-Looking Information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend"; statements that an event or result is "due" on or "may", "will", "should", "could", or might" occur or be achieved; and, other similar expressions. More specifically, Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Information. Such Forward Looking Information includes, without limitation, the timing of and ability to obtain TSX-V and other regulatory approvals and the prospects, details related to and timing of the Vizcachitas Project. Such Forward-Looking Information is based upon the Company's assumptions regarding global and Chilean economic, political and market conditions and the price of metals and energy and the Company's production. Among the factors that have a direct bearing on the Company's future results of operations and financial conditions are changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, a change in government policies, competition, currency fluctuations and restrictions and technological changes, among other things. Should one or more of any of the aforementioned risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from any conclusions, forecasts or projections described in the Forward-Looking Information. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise Forward-Looking Information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/189614
Chengdu,China--(Newsfile Corp. - December 2, 2023) - 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the investment attraction activity themed on "Well-known Chinese and Foreign Enterprises' Visit to Sichuan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Sichuan Visit"). On November 30th, as the main event of this year's Sichuan Visit, the Well-known Chinese and Foreign Enterprises' Visit to Sichuan 2023 Investment Promotion Conference and Project Cooperation Agreement Signing Ceremony were held in Chengdu.

Figure1

It is understood that after in-depth docking and negotiation in the early stages, this year's Sichuan visit achieved fruitful results. During the event, more than 1,300 guests from over 830 well-known domestic and foreign enterprises, business associations, and institutions conducted cooperative exchanges with Sichuan Province, and a total of more than 390 projects were signed, with a total investment amount exceeding CNY 520 billion.

The relevant person in charge of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Economic Cooperation introduced that the signed projects generally show high investment scale, superior industrial structure, and a strong agglomeration effect. The average investment volume of the signed projects reached CNY 1.342 billion, and there were 33 projects with a single investment of CNY 5 billion or more, which is the best level in the history of this activity.

Contact:

Sichuan Visit Committee

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/189532
AutoShop Heroes offers search engine optimization (SEO) services that are specifically designed to boost auto repair shops' online visibility, website visits, and search result rankings.



Having an online presence has become an essential component for any business, and the automotive repair industry is no exception. Before buying any product or booking a service, most people use the internet to know about their location, reputation, and customer reviews. As a result, those having a credible online presence and appearing frequently on search results are likely to attract new customers. Although every company wants to rank on the first page of the search results, the key ingredient of online success is search engine optimization (SEO). However, implementing SEO techniques, such as local SEO, proper keyword selection, relevant content creation, and optimized pages, can be challenging for car repair shops without a thorough knowledge of SEO. That's where a specialized agency like AutoShop Heroes can help implement and drive results through auto repair shop SEO.

There are several factors determining the search results ranking. For example, Google determines which pages to list and how to rank them based on more than two hundred ranking factors. Now, imagine how challenging it can be for a small repair shop in California to work on all these ranking factors. Those wanting to improve their search rankings will need to invest time and money, which can be a significant hassle for small repair shops. On the other hand, experienced agencies specializing in auto repair SEO services can help them focus on important metrics, such as local keyword targeting, website optimization, informative content, Google My Business listing, and other essential factors, to improve visibility, credibility, and ranking. For example, AutoShop Heroes has helped many automotive shops register a significant increase in customer calls and visits through its result-driven SEO strategy.

"I have been working with Chris for over a year now, and I wanted to provide an update to my earlier review. I honestly think that AutoShop Heroes is the best choice that anyone could ever make for marketing. When you hire Chris you have an entire team behind you providing support and guidance when needed. He is incredibly responsive and answers my texts and emails with alacrity. He really is amazing!" - Joe Eichmann, Owner, Eurowerks Autobody, Customer Testimonial.

AutoShop Heroes, with its focus only on SEO services for auto repair businesses, has helped the company to become an expert in the automotive industry SEO. Its founder, Chris Morin, an experienced digital marketer, has received positive reviews from its clients for implementing SEO and driving results for local businesses. His comprehensive approach includes all aspects of SEO: local SEO, mobile optimization, quality content, on-page/off-page/technical SEO, GMB profile, schema markup, and more.





About Us: AutoShop Heroes implements an all-encompassing four-step SEO approach, which has demonstrated remarkable efficacy in enhancing the online visibility and consumer engagement of many automobile repair and workshops in the USA. Their specialized SEO strategies encompass keyword research, on-page, and off-page optimization, local SEO, and content marketing tailored to the unique needs of auto shops. For auto repair businesses, AutoShop Heroes is a reliable partner for results-driven SEO solutions.

Contact Info:

Name: Chris Morin

Email: Send Email

Organization: AutoShop Heroes

Address: 445 Seaside Ave Honolulu, HI 96815

Phone: (413) 341-0347

Website: https://www.autoshopheroes.com



Release ID: 89114741

In case of detection of errors, concerns, or irregularities in the content provided in this press release, or if there is a need for a press release takedown, we strongly encourage you to reach out promptly by contacting [email protected]. Our efficient team will be at your disposal for immediate assistance within 8 hours  resolving identified issues diligently or guiding you through the removal process. We take great pride in delivering reliable and precise information to our valued readers.
ABU DHABI , UAE , Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan , President of the UAE , today awarded the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE's pioneering global award in sustainability and humanitarianism, during a ceremony held at COP28 UAE in Expo City Dubai .

The Ceremony was attended by numerous heads of delegations participating in COP28 , ministers, senior government officials, and Prize winners and finalists.

His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in promoting sustainability and encouraging them to continue their important contributions in this field. His Highness emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in building upon its established legacy in sustainability, a foundation laid by the country's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan . In this regard, His Highness highlighted the significant role of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable development, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute towards making a positive difference for our planet.

The Prize honours the legacy of UAE's founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan , by rewarding small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools that are addressing health, food, energy, water and climate-related challenges. For over 15 years, through its 106 previous winners, the Prize has transformed the lives of 384 million people worldwide.

The Prize's eleven winners for the current cycle were elected in September by a distinguished panel of Jury members, who rigorously evaluated each submission for its contribution and commitment to delivering impactful, innovative, and inspiring solutions across the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

To strengthen its commitment to promoting sustainable and humanitarian development, the Zayed Sustainability Prize will be increasing its endowment, from US $3.6 million to US $5.9 million , effective immediately.

His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber , UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, said: "Today, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to combat climate change and empower vulnerable communities as we award US $1 million to each of our distinguished winners in Health, Food, Water, Energy and Climate Action, and US $150,000 to each Global High Schools winner. This substantial funding will help scale their innovative solutions and deliver transformational progress around the world, especially across the Global South."

"As the Zayed Sustainability Prize's 15th anniversary draws to a close, we reflect on the UAE's mission to drive inclusive sustainable development and climate action. The Prize not only honours Sheikh Zayed's legacy of social good but extends the reach of his vision on a global scale."

With a larger fund, the Prize can broaden its support for innovative solutions that not only positively impact the environment but also improve the well-being and economic development of the world's most climate-vulnerable communities.

In the new Climate Action category, Kelp Blue, a Namibian SME, won the Prize for its ambitious efforts to cultivate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity while capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere annually. Additionally, their operations have generated job opportunities in coastal communities.

In the Health category, Indonesia's doctorSHARE was awarded the Prize for its pioneering work in bringing healthcare access to hard-to-reach areas, notably with barge-mounted floating hospitals. Their impact is substantial, having treated over 160,000 patients.

In the Food category, Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agricultural Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine, won for its contributions to supporting a more resilient agricultural sector in Gaza . The NPO facilitates access to locally produced food, providing job security to 200 women agripreneurs and benefitting more than 7,000 people.

In the Energy category, Ignite Power, an SME from Rwanda , was awarded the Prize for its transformative efforts to provide affordable electricity to last-mile communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their pay-as-you-go solar solutions provided electricity to 2.5 million people and prevented 600,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. Beyond access to clean energy, Ignite Power has introduced solar powered irrigation solutions and generated 3,500 local jobs.

In the Water category, Eau et Vie, an NPO from France , won for its contributions to ensuring access to clean water in impoverished areas by installing taps in urban homes. They have increased water access for 52,000 people in 27 communities across 10 cities. Furthermore, they raised awareness of hygienic practices for 66,000 individuals and reduced the cost of water by 75%.

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland , Olafur Ragnar Grimsson , said: "This year's winners have demonstrated a remarkable wave of ingenuity in their solutions to address urgent global challenges. We have confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us towards vital climate action objectives and forging a path to a sustainable future for all."

The Zayed Sustainability Prize also engages young people through its Global High Schools category and encourages youth to take an active role in supporting their communities and becoming future sustainability leaders. The Prize's 47 Global High Schools winners have impacted the lives of over 55,186 students and 453,887 people in their wider communities.

The recipients of the Global High Schools awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru) , representing The Americas ; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy ( Nigeria ), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; International School ( Morocco ), representing the Middle East & North Africa ; Northfleet Technology College ( United Kingdom ), representing Europe & Central Asia ; KORT Education Complex ( Pakistan ), representing South Asia ; and finally, Beijing High School No. 35 ( China ), representing East Asia & Pacific.

Boilerplate

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a tribute to the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE , Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan . The Prize aims to drive sustainable development and humanitarian action by recognising and rewarding organisations and high schools that are delivering innovative sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

For over 15 years, through its 106 winners, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of 384 million people worldwide.



Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291040/Award_Ceremony.jpg

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SOURCE Zayed Sustainability Prize
Guiding Principles respond to low- and middle-income countries' calls to mobilize finance to save lives now and in the future as the climate crisis threatens global health

DUBAI, UAE , Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A consortium of multilateral development banks and funders, countries, and philanthropies today published the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions ("Guiding Principles"), announced at the World Climate Action Summit during the 28th session of Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC ( COP28 ) in Dubai . The Guiding Principles establish a shared vision for financing that will rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to improve health, protect people from the range of climate risks to health, and build resilient, environmentally sustainable health systems. The Guiding Principles were developed by the COP28 Presidency in collaboration with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, The Green Climate Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, The World Health Organization and the ATACH Working Group on Financing, and in consultation with over 50 financing partners and civil society organizations. The Guiding Principles have been endorsed by 41 organizations, with more expected following COP28 .

Funding for mitigation and adaptation at the climate-health intersection falls well short of need. While over 90 percent of countries include health priorities in their Nationally Determined Contributions (the self-defined national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement), only 0.5% of multilateral climate funding is allocated to projects that explicitly address human health  and likewise, global health funders have not integrated action to address climate change into their investments. The Guiding Principles build coherence and foster collaboration across funders to accelerate the allocation of finance for the countries and communities that need it most.

The Guiding Principles acknowledge critical elements of accessible and effective financing and the need to mobilize additional funds for climate and health solutions. Key pillars of the Guiding Principles include:

Accelerating transformative climate and health solutions to save and improve lives now and in the future;

Creating equitable, inclusive, accessible, and holistic approaches to climate and health financing and solutions;

Building the core policymaking and implementation capacities of countries, communities, and financing institutions to deliver climate and health solutions.

"Climate change is increasing health risks in every region of the world, including millions more people at risk of heat-related illness, food insecurity, infectious diseases, and poverty. A significant mobilization of financing is needed to combat these impacts, which to date have been under-recognized and under-funded," said Adnan Amin , CEO of COP28 . "The COP28 Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions is the critical first step to address this, bringing new funders to the table in recognition of the urgent need. We are grateful for our partners stepping up to deliver finance where it is needed most."

The Guiding Principles build on existing development finance principles and mechanisms, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Paris Climate Agreement, and The Bridgetown Initiative, to support a global policy agenda that will advance the aims of countries most affected by climate change. The Guiding Principles were drafted by the five initiating parties, revised following consultations with over 50 stakeholders, and ultimately endorsed by 41 agencies (as of 1 December 2023 ) representing the public, private, and philanthropic sectors.

The initiating parties have committed to continued collaboration to ensure implementation and accountability in partnership with leaders of countries most affected by climate change and representatives from civil society.

Partner Quotes

"Climate change is one the biggest threats to human health  and communities need support to survive it. Rethinking development will help countries access much-needed resources to save lives in a warming world for generations to come," said Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus , Director-General, World Health Organization.

"International cooperation is essential to ensuring healthy, resilient communities in vulnerable regions grappling with the effects of climate change. The Green Climate Fund is a proud partner and signatory to the Guiding Principles, which are an important framework for coalescing partners around strategies to mobilize more finance for climate-informed health investments in countries that need them the most," said Mafalda Duarte , Executive Director, Green Climate Fund

"Adaptation is an imperative for today, not tomorrow, as climate change is challenging our ability to deliver sustainable impact. The Global Fund is joining other global funders in prioritizing country-driven efforts to address environmental health threats," said Peter Sands , Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"The world's health systems need to be transformed to ensure people can not only survive the climate crisis, but live, work, and prosper how and where they want. The Guiding Principles will accelerate the coordinated action needed to deliver not just more funding, but the better-quality funding necessary for health systems transformation. We are proud to endorse these Principles and are committed to leveraging our resources to protect the health of people and the planet," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah , President, The Rockefeller Foundation.

"The Adaptation Fund is pleased to endorse the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions. With more than 3 billion people worldwide highly vulnerable to climate change and facing increased health risks, it is imperative to accelerate adaptation measures that build healthy, resilient communities and protect people from a range of climate risks to health. We are committed to supporting the most vulnerable to adapt to climate change through country-driven and locally led action, and already fund projects that are improving access to clean water, hygiene, food security, reducing climate risks and building resilience and healthy lives at the same time. We need to scale this up to address urgent global adaptation needs, and we hope these Principles will help strengthen that ambition on the ground," said Mr. Mikko Ollikainen , Head, Adaptation Fund.

"Climate change is a public health emergency that can no longer be ignored. Health has become the human face of climate change. The Guiding Principles are a pivotal and timely stride to improve financing at the intersection of climate and health, in line with netFWD's priorities," said Bathylle Missika, Head of Division, Gender, Philanthropy & Partnerships, OECD Development Centre, Network of Foundations.

Alphabetical List of Endorsing Organizations as of December 1, 2023

Adaptation Fund

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

The Africa Climate Foundation

African Development Bank Group

Amazon Conservation Team Columbia

Amref Health Africa

Asia Venture Philanthropy Network

Belmont Forum

Children's Investment Fund Foundation

Clara Lionel Foundation

Clean Air Fund

Clinton Health Access Initiative

Commonwealth Secretariat

COP28 Presidency

Presidency European Investment Bank

Foundation S - The Sanofi Collective

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Global Climate and Health Alliance

Global Environment Facility

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Government of the United Kingdom , Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

, Green Climate Fund

Health Care Without Harm

Hivos

The Hong Kong Jockey Club's Institute of Philanthropy

IMPACT Europe

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Kingdom of Norway , Ministry of Foreign Affairs

, OECD Development Centre , Network of Foundations

, Network of Foundations Pandemic Action Network

PATH

Reaching the Last Mile

Republic of Malawi , Ministry of Health

, Ministry of Health Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation

Save the Children

Seed Global Health

UNICEF

Wellcome Trust

World Bank Group

World Health Organization

About COP28

COP28 UAE is taking place at Expo City Dubai , November 30-December 12, 2023 . The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors.

As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake  a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals.

The UAE will lead a process for all parties to agree upon a clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and a "leave no one behind" approach to inclusive climate action.

About The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

The Global Fund is a worldwide partnership to defeat HIV, TB and malaria and ensure a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all. We raise and invest more than US$5 billion a year to fight the deadliest infectious diseases, challenge the injustice that fuels them, and strengthen health systems and pandemic preparedness in more than 100 of the hardest hit countries. We unite world leaders, communities, civil society, health workers and the private sector to find solutions that have the most impact, and we take them to scale worldwide. Since 2002, the Global Fund partnership has saved 59 million lives.

Information on the work of the Global Fund is available at www.theglobalfund.org

Follow the Global Fund on X (Formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/globalfund

Join the Global Fund on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theglobalfund

About the Green Climate Fund

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world's largest dedicated climate fund. GCF's mandate is to foster a paradigm shift towards low emission, climate-resilient development pathways in developing countries. GCF has a portfolio of USD 13.5 billion ( USD 51.8 billion including co-financing) delivering transformative climate action in more than 120 countries.

It also has a readiness support programme that builds capacity and helps countries develop long-term plans to fight climate change. GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves the 2015 Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2C.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn .

About the World Health Organization

Dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the UN agency for health that connects nations, partners and people on the front lines in 150+ locations  leading the world's response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.

Visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , TikTok , Pinterest , Snapchat , YouTube .

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SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation
DUBAI, UAE , Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the state-run energy company of Korea , hosted an event titled, 'The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future,' today at the KHNP Pavilion during the 28thUnited Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP28 ). This event showcased Korea's innovative net-zero nuclear solutions and explored the crucial role of nuclear energy in expediting the energy transition to reach a carbon-free future with renowned specialists from the sector.

The session commenced with opening remarks by Hoesung Lee, President of the Carbon Free Alliance (CFA) and former Chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Emphasizing the urgency for developing a diverse range of environmentally friendly clean energy sources for achieving carbon neutrality, Lee stated that "in order expand carbon-free energy globally, participation from various stakeholders and implementation of innovative technologies will be crucial."

Taking the stage next, KHNP CEO Jooho Whang introduced Korea's innovative small modular reactors (i-SMR) technology and SMR Smart Net-Zero City (SSNC) model. "i-SMR technology is a sustainable clean energy solution. It represents all the advantages of large nuclear reactors, with utmost safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility," CEO Whang disclosed. He continued, "[Powered by i-SMR,] SSNC is a carbon-free energy city platform, providing optimal green energy portfolio to each city," before adding, "By using stable, cost-effective i-SMR technology, SSNC can reduce energy costs by up to 30%."

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion titled, "The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future," where nuclear energy experts and industry leaders acknowledged nuclear power as a clean and critical solution for decarbonization. They also highlighted the significant potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) in driving the global energy transition.

Joining CEO Whang on the panel were Diane Cameron , Head of Division of Nuclear Technology Development and Economics, NEA, Bumjin Chung , Professor of Nuclear Engineering Department at Kyung Hee University / President of Korean Nuclear Society, and Frank Jannuzi , CEO of The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, with Hyungook Kang, Professor of Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as the moderator.

During the session, Ms. Cameron stressed the critical and timely moment for nuclear energy, stating, "Advanced nuclear energy technologies, including the new SMRs coming to market, now offer nations everywhere an opportunity to leapfrog the energy systems of yesterday to bring the benefits of clean power to the 770 million people in the world who currently live without electricity today."

Dr. Chung continued the discussion by highlighting the history, achievements, and future of Korea's nuclear technology. "40 years of steady nuclear power plant construction resulted in the balanced human resources and supply chains We are now technologically ready for NZE (Net Zero Emission)."

CEO Whang added, "With superior safety, economic viability and modularity in the SMR market, i-SMR represents a contemporary solution for a carbon-neutral future. Especially for countries with aging coal power plants, i-SMRs could be an essential solution, offering carbon-free energy at a more affordable cost while facilitating a safe and economically beneficial transition to clean energy."

CEO Jannuzi emphasized the need to build support for nuclear power and collaborate on a global scale, stating, "It's not just that nuclear power provides carbon-free power, it is also that nuclear power offsets pollution which would otherwise be generated by fossil fuels  saving lives There is a compelling logic for the United States , the Republic of Korea , and Japan to work together to deliver safe, efficient nuclear energy to meet growing global energy demands."

Dr. Kang closed the panel discussion by stating that "Nuclear power has emerged as a pivotal solution for driving the transition to net zero and a more sustainable future. Though challenges still lie ahead, it is promising to see companies like KHNP leading the energy transition with developments in their affordable, secure and effective i-SMR technology and smart net zero city model."

Prior to this KHNP-hosted event, Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kyungsung Kang attended the Net Zero Nuclear (NZN) Initiative event at COP28 and announced that in alignment with the Korean government's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Korea will place increased emphasis on nuclear energy. KHNP's development of i-SMR and SSNC in collaboration with the Korean government and corporations is aligned with these national objectives.

In addition, on Dec 1 , KHNP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia's Perusahaan Listrik Negara Nusantara Power at COP28 . The MOU aims to foster collaboration in the development and research of i-SMR technology, with a shared objective of contributing to the global net zero goal.

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SOURCE Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday condemned the hijacking of an Israeli-linked vessel in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi militia.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the highjacking of the Galaxy Leader with 25 crew members on board in the Red Sea in mid-November. 
BEIJING , Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's inspection tour to Shanghai underscored three top policy priorities for the country - high-quality financial development, scientific and technological (sci-tech) innovation and improvement of people's livelihood, said business leaders, workers and analysts in Shanghai on Thursday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made an inspection tour in Shanghai from Tuesday to Wednesday. During his trip, Xi inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange, an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations, and a government-subsidized rental housing community, learning about the city's efforts to strengthen its competitiveness as an international financial center, building the city into an international sci-tech innovation center, and constructing government-subsidized rental housing projects, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xi stressed efforts to make new major breakthroughs in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and enhance the region's leading and exemplary role in pursuing Chinese modernization, while chairing a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta , according to Xinhua on Thursday.

The inspection trip offered yet another strong signal of the country's top economic development priorities and profound encouragement to businesses and workers in the main economic hub and across the country, at a critical juncture when the country pursues high-quality development and Chinese modernization amid major shifts in the international geo-economic landscape, according to business leaders, workers and analysts.

"All my peers in the financial industry in Shanghai are very excited about his visit, and practitioners in Shanghai's financial institutions are all talking about it," Li Huiyong, an executive with Shanghai -based Hwabao WP Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Thursday, noting the inspection tour pointed out the direction for Shanghai to improve its status as an international financial center.

Xi's trip came about one month after the Central Financial Work Conference was held at the end of October, which stressed comprehensively strengthening financial supervision, improving the financial system, optimizing financial services, preventing and resolving risks, unswervingly following the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, and promoting high-quality financial development.

The Central Financial Work Conference first mentioned the goal of building China into a financial powerhouse, and under this context, Shanghai's status as a main financial hub becomes even more prominent, Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday. Against the backdrop of a complex international environment, "further emphasis on financial development and financial support for the real economy carries greater significance," he said.

Shanghai has become a world-class financial center, coming at the sixth place in the latest rankings from the 2022 Global Financial Centers Index. In the first three quarters of 2023, turnover from the city's main financial markets reached 2,546.08 trillion yuan ( $356.64 trillion ), up 15 percent year-on-year, according to Shanghai's official data.

In addition to its financial industry, Shanghai is also a top sci-tech hub in China , which was also highlighted by an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations during Xi's inspection tour.

"The visit is very encouraging for us. Zhangjiang has been a leading innovation hub in China , and offers many incentives to companies and talent to facilitate their long-term development. I really look forward to the future of Zhangjiang, especially in the high-tech sectors such as biopharma, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing," Sun Shuang , an employee at Zhangjiang, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhangjiang Science City in Pudong New Area of Shanghai , where the sci-tech exhibition was held, is the core area of Shanghai's sci-tech innovation center - another aspect of the city that carries national significance, as China firmly pursues sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening amid rising international competition, according to analysts.

"The General Secretary's trip to Shanghai shows that the top leadership of the central government pays great attention to financial and sci-tech development. Shanghai is relatively advanced in these aspects and is also in a critical period of development," Xi Junyang said, noting that the progress that Shanghai has made in these critical areas could drive development not just in the Yangtze River Delta but nationwide.

Another top priority underscored by Xi's inspection tour is the focus on improving people's livelihood. In Shanghai , Xi inspected a government-subsidized rental housing community and learned about the city's efforts in constructing government-subsidized rental housing projects.

Construction of government-subsidized rental housing projects has become a crucial part of the country's efforts to address housing difficulties for new urban residents and young people. About 72 percent of the 2.04 million units of government-subsidized rental housing, proposed to be built in 2023, have been constructed across the country, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said in September. Over the past two years, a total of 5.08 million units have been completed across the country, which could address housing demand for 15 million new urban residents and young people, the ministry said.

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Masdar, the UAE's flagship renewable energy company, signs agreement with Angola's Ministry of Energy and Water at COP28 to develop solar plant in southern Angola

Project will create up to 600 jobs and deliver clean energy to 90,000 homes in region with significant electricity supply challenges

Agreement signed at COP28 demonstrates Masdar's commitment to just energy transition in Africa and around the world

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates , Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC  Masdar, one of the world's leading renewable energy companies, has announced plans to develop a major 150 megawatt (MW) solar PV project in Angola to deliver renewable energy to 90,000 homes while creating hundreds of jobs, spurring economic growth, and cutting carbon emissions.

As global leaders engaged in climate negotiations at the UN's climate change conference COP28 in Dubai , Masdar - the UAE's clean energy powerhouse - signed a concession agreement with Angola's Ministry of Energy and Water to build and operate the ground-mounted solar power project in the Quipungo region, Hulia province, southern Angola . The area enjoys strong solar irradiation levels but struggles with a lack of access to reliable electricity.

Energy insecurity remains one of the most significant constraints on Africa's development. In Angola , less than half of the population has access to electricity, that proportion falls even further in rural areas. This project will significantly support Angola's goal of increasing its national electrification rate to around 60 percent by 2025.

The agreement was signed by HE Joao Baptista Borges , Angola's Minister of Energy and Water and Masdar's Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi .

HE Dr Sultan Al Jaber , UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President, said: " Africa has what it takes to become the world's renewable energy powerhouse. At COP28 and beyond, we will continue to work with Africa for Africa . The UAE stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in Africa as we strive to secure a just energy transition at this COP of action and COP for all. We are delighted to be moving forward with plans to build this solar power plant in Angola that will bring vital clean energy and jobs to communities. We look forward to developing this strong partnership with Angola as we work together to maximize the country's huge clean energy potential."

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi , Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said: "Developing renewable energy capacity is the key to unlocking Africa's enormous economic potential, and Masdar is excited to be playing a major part in this effort. Masdar is the largest renewables energy company in Africa , through our platform Infinity Power. To accelerate a just energy transition, Masdar recently joined forces with Africa50, a pan-African infrastructure investment platform. Our mission is to fast-track and scale projects so we can deliver 10GW of clean energy in Africa by 2030. Masdar is an anchor partner of the UAE -led Africa Green Investment Initiative and has committed to mobilize US$10 billion in clean energy finance, of which US$2 billion will be generated from equity with an additional US$8 billion from project finance. This transformative project in Angola is a proud milestone on that pivotal journey."

Provinces like Huila, where this solar project will be built, are highly constrained by their dependence on emissions-intensive, unreliable fuel. Once completed, the solar facility will displace over 224,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year, the equivalent of removing 50,000 cars from the roads.

The solar plant will support homes and businesses to leapfrog from patchy, traditional-fuel powered electricity to accessing continuous clean energy. The project will boost the local economy too. Up to 600 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase. Afterward, the supply of reliable, clean energy is expected to help grow sectors including agriculture.

The solar project in Quipungo forms part of a wider commitment made by Masdar in January, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023, to develop 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects across Angola , Uganda and Zambia . The Agreements were signed under the umbrella of Etihad 7  a global development fund launched by the UAE to provide 100 million people across the African continent with clean electricity by 2035.

About Masdar

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the fastest growing companies in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar has developed projects in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year.

For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar

This material is distributed by Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. on behalf of Masdar. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC .

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SOURCE Masdar
Delegates walk past flag posts at the Dubai's Expo City after attending the World Climate Action Summit, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya.

(Reuters) - The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) will invest more than $2 billion annually totaling $15 billion until 2030 in Latin America to fight climate change, the bank announced on Saturday at the U.N. COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

The funds will be used to improve infrastructure, water supply, food security, emergency response, disaster mitigation through monitoring and prevention systems. It will also finance other projects including erosion control and coastal protection.

"This financing reinforces CAF's commitment to promote actions to adapt to climate change and to achieve greater resilience in communities in the face of natural disasters and extreme climate events," Alicia Montalvo, manager of Climate Action and Positive Biodiversity at CAF, said in the statement.

CAF noted that hurricanes represent 97% of disasters in the Caribbean, affecting almost three out of every four Latin Americans and Caribbean people.

In the Andean region, floods constitute 63.6% of disasters, and are responsible for 82% of human and material losses.

Landslides account for 23% of disasters, according to the report and droughts also affect several countries in the region, impacting production

Caracas-based CAF is a major lender for infrastructure and development projects in the region. It is made up of 20 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Spain, Portugal and 13 Latin American private banks.

(Report by Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Writing by Alexander Villegas; editing by Diane Craft)
FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows the remains of Maryinka city that was destroyed by the Russians, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Maryinka, Donetsk Region, Ukraine May 12, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Andriy Yerma

(Reuters) - Control over Maryinka, a town in eastern Ukraine all but destroyed by more than a year of fighting, remained uncertain on Friday, with unofficial reports suggesting Russian forces had registered some gains.

Most accounts of Maryinka, southwest of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk, describe it as a ghost town amid daily reports of Ukrainian forces defending different districts. Once a city of 10,000, there are no civilians left.

Ukraine's General Staff, in its evening report, said Russian forces had been unsuccessful in attempts to advance on villages near Maryinka, but said nothing of troop movements in the town.

Russia's Defence Ministry made no mention of the town in its dispatches.

Unofficial Russian blogger Rybar referred to a photo circulating on social media showing Russian forces hoisting the national flag in the southwest of the town. Ukrainian forces, it said, remained in control of other districts.

"However, if information about the movement of Russian troops to the south is accurate, the enemy's retreat is a question that is fast approaching," it said.

Ukrainian social media accounts noted Russian advances, but quoted soldiers as rejecting the notion that Moscow's troops controlled the entire town.

"The Russians have been taking Maryinka since March 2022," read one post on the blog DeepState. "Maryinka has been in ruins for more than a year."

Russian forces, focused on eastern Ukraine, have been attacking the town of Avdiivka, 40 km (25 miles) north of Maryinka, since mid-October. Ukraine says its forces control Avdiivka, though not a single building remains intact.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Volodymyr Fitio, speaking on national television, made no reference to either Maryinka or Avdiivka, but said Russian forces were launching attacks in many sectors of the 1,000-km front line.

Ukrainian forces, he said, had repelled attacks near Kupiansk, a northeastern area seized by Russia after invading in February 2022, but retaken by Ukrainian troops a year ago.

Ukrainian troops regained swathes of territory last year in a sweep through the northeast, but a counteroffensive launched in the east and south in June has made only incremental gains.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledges that the advance has been slow, but rejects any notion that the war is slipping into a stalemate.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler)
FILE PHOTO: Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing titled: "Holding Megabanks Accountable: An Examination of Wells Fargo's Pattern of Consumer Abuses" in Washington, U.S. March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott/

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - Former Wells Fargo & Co CEO Tim Sloan filed a lawsuit on Friday accusing the bank of failing to pay him more than $34 million after he resigned in 2019 amid a wide-ranging sales practices scandal.

Sloan in the lawsuit filed in California state court says Wells Fargo canceled stock awards and withheld a bonus he had earned before stepping down.

Wells Fargo in a statement said that "compensation decisions are based on performance, and we stand by our decisions in this matter."

Sloan led Wells Fargo from 2016 to 2019, when he became the second chief executive to step down over claims that the bank had opened millions of unauthorized consumer accounts.

Wells Fargo in 2020 agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil probes into the claims, and another $1 billion earlier this year in a lawsuit by shareholders. The bank admitted that between 2002 and 2016 it pressured employees to meet unrealistic sales goals that led them to open fake accounts.

The scandal drew scrutiny from shareholders and government officials and led the Federal Reserve in 2018 to order Wells Fargo to keep its assets below $1.95 trillion until it had improved its governance and risk controls. That cap is still in place.

In Friday's lawsuit, Sloan said he was not responsible for the scandal, which began shortly before he took over as CEO, but was made a scapegoat by its board of directors and forced to resign.

"To this day, Wells Fargo has failed to identify anything Mr. Sloan did or failed to do that would justify its decision," Sloan's lawyers wrote in the complaint.

At the time he resigned, Sloan had said that he decided to leave because the focus on him had become a distraction inhibiting the bank from moving forward.

Sloan accused Wells Fargo of breach of contract and, along with the $34 million, is seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress and punitive damages.

Sloan's San Francisco-based lawyer, David Lowe, has brought a number of high-profile employment lawsuits in recent years, including a series of sexual harassment cases by female Tesla Inc employees.

He also represented former Pinterest COO Francoise Brougher in a lawsuit claiming she was fired for complaining about sex discrimination at the company. Pinterest, which denied wrongdoing, settled the case for $22.5 million in 2020.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; editing by Diane Craft)
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Atlanta skyline includes the Georgia Capitol dome and a "Vote" sign atop the 100 Peachtree building, days ahead of nationally significant U.S. Senate and state governor elections in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. November 6, 2022

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) - Georgia Republicans on Friday unveiled a proposed map of U.S. House of Representatives districts in the state for the 2024 election that includes a new majority-Black district, five weeks after a federal judge ruled that the existing map illegally diluted the electoral power of Black voters.

The new map devised by the Republican-controlled state legislature also would dismantle a multi-racial district currently held by Democratic U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, a Black woman, potentially running afoul of the judge's order.

In his Oct. 26 opinion, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones said that Georgia could not remedy the problem "by eliminating minority opportunity districts elsewhere."

Legislators have been meeting this week in a special session convened by Republican Governor Brian Kemp to respond to the judge's decision, which called for lawmakers to issue new U.S. House, state House and state Senate maps delineating district boundaries by Dec. 8 that comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting. The state has separately appealed the ruling.

The new map would likely allow Republicans to maintain their current 9-5 advantage among the state's 14 U.S. House districts. If, however, the court does not approve the new plan, a court-drawn map with a new Black-majority district could flip one seat to Democrats.

The case is among several across the United States that could help determine which party takes control of the House in next year's congressional elections. Democrats need to gain only five seats nationally to wrest back the House majority they lost in 2022.

The population in Georgia's 7th congressional district in the Atlanta suburbs, represented by McBath, is currently less than 30% white. Under the new plan, the district would become two-thirds white, while the neighboring 6th district would go from majority white to approximately half Black.

In a statement, the Republican speaker of the state House, Jon Burns, said the new map "fully complies with the judge's order."

McBath's campaign manager, Jake Orvis, said in a statement, "Georgia Republicans have yet again attempted to subvert voters by changing the rules."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members who served as military advisers in Syria have been killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, in the first reported Iranian casualties during the ongoing war in Gaza.

A Revolutionary Guards statement did not give details of the attack. Syria earlier said its air defences repelled an Israeli rocket attack against targets in the vicinity of Damascus early on Saturday.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Moldova's President Maia Sandu and President of the European Council Charles Michel leave a joint press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine November 21, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/Fil

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Pro-European authorities in Moldova on Friday dismissed as groundless a ban imposed by Russia on imports of its fruit and vegetables, the latest display of deteriorating relations between Moscow and the ex-Soviet state.

Russia's farm goods oversight agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, said on Thursday it was reinstating restrictions last imposed in 2022. It cited "continuous, systematic observation of elements subject to quarantine" and said Moldovan authorities had taken no action to right the situation.

Moldova's food safety agency ANSA said the restrictions, to take effect on Monday, had nothing to do with the quality of its goods. No other importing countries had filed complaints.

"The decision by the Russian authorities contradicts phytosanitary principles and is in no way grounded in real arguments," it said in a statement. "Laboratory evidence underscores the absence of any harmful organisms."

Russia has periodically over the past two decades barred farm goods from the country lying between Ukraine and Romania, measures generally coinciding with a downturn in relations.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu who is heading a drive to join the European Union, has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of trying to foment a coup to remove her. She also accused Russia of meddling in Moldova's local elections last month.

Exchanges between the two sides have become increasingly acerbic.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, dismissing Western criticism of Moscow's 21-month-old conflict in Ukraine, on Thursday said that Moldova was "being readied as the next victim in the hybrid war that the West unleashed against Russia".

Lavrov did not elaborate on his comments.

Moldovan producers said Moscow deliberately imposed the measures at a time of the year when their goods flooded on to the Russian market, but added that they were prepared.

"We have managed partly to reorient markets for Moldovan apples. We ship to 28 countries," Iurie Fala, Executive Director of the Moldovan Fruit Producers Association, told Reuters.

"There is a shortage of apples this year on EU markets and that will boost our sales."

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Editing by Ronald Popeski and Sandra Maler)
FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as a rocket carrying a spy satellite Malligyong-1 is launched, as North Korean government claims, in a location given as North Gyeongsang Province, North Korea in this handout picture obtained by Reuter

By Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea said on Saturday it would consider any interference with its satellite operations a declaration of war and would mobilise its war deterrence if any attack against its strategic assets were imminent.

Pyongyang would respond to any U.S. interference in space by eliminating the viability of U.S. spy satellites, state media KCNA reported, citing a statement from North Korea's defence ministry spokesperson.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defence to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites," the statement said.

DPRK are the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea says it successfully launched its first military spy satellite on Nov. 21, transmitting photos of military installations in the U.S. mainland, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.

A U.S. Space Command spokesman, asked if Washington had the capability to interrupt the North Korean satellite's reconnaissance operations, said the U.S. was could deny an adversary's space capabilities using a variety of means, according to U.S. broadcaster RFA.

Later on Saturday, North Korean state media issued a commentary by a North Korean international relations analyst, who argued "the United States, the world's biggest satellite possessor," should face the United Nations Security Council if sending satellites is considered a crime.

"In case an unexpected clash happens in the Northeast Asian region around the Korean peninsula, the U.S., which has continuously put pressure on the security space of the DPRK by escalating military threat and blackmail, will be held wholly accountable for the catastrophic situation," the commentary said. It also blamed the United States for joint military exercises with Japan and South Korea, as well as for displaying its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

The United States on Thursday targeted North Korea with fresh sanctions after the launch, designating foreign-based agents it accused of facilitating sanctions evasion to gather revenue and technology for its weapons of mass destruction programme.

South Korea on Friday blacklisted 11 North Koreans for involvement in the country's satellite and ballistic missile development, banning them from financial transactions.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Josh Smith; Editing by Lincoln Feast and William Mallard)
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters about the violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in The Hague, Netherlands, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de

RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Palestinian human rights groups refused to meet the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan on Saturday, accusing him of favouring Israeli accusations of rights abuses over longstanding Palestinian charges.

Khan has been visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank following a request by a group representing families of victims of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen, but he was also due to meet Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

However Palestinian activists said they would refuse to see him because of their objections to what they saw as unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian cases.

"As Palestinian human rights organizations, we decided not to meet him," said Ammar Al-Dwaik, director general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).

"I think the way this visit has been handled shows tht Mr Khan is not handling his work in an independent and professional manner," he said.

Accusations of war crimes and human rights abuses have been made on both sides since Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen overran several Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and seizing around 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

In response, Israel has launched weeks of air strikes against Gaza as well as an invasion by tanks and ground troops, killing more than 15,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Khan was in Israel following an invitation from families of the Israeli hostages. He was scheduled to meet lawyers for the families' group as well as members of the families themselves.

On Saturday, he also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had urged Karim to investigate Israeli operations in Gaza as well as the occupied West Bank.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and James Mackenzie, editing by Giles Elgood)
Workers are seen at a testing workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows a chip automation workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows a chip automation workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

A worker is seen at a testing workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows an automation workshop of a meter company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows a scene at a testing workshop of a smart technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

Workers are seen at a production workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

A worker is seen at a testing workshop of a technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows an automation workshop of a meter company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

A worker is seen at a production workshop of a meter company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

A staff member (1st R) of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) introduces to visitors the operation of a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

Workers are seen at a production workshop of a smart technology company at a sensor industrial park in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2023. In recent years, the Beibei District of Chongqing has worked together with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in building a sensor industrial park. By introducing preferential policies, support funds and investment, the park is aimed at promoting the intelligent sensor industry to develop in a large-scale, specialized, differential and high-end way. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)
Released hostages Yelena Trupanov, 50, and Irena Tati, 73, stand on a stage as relatives and supporters of hostages kidnapped on the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, rally for their release, after a temporary truce between Isra

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli hostages released in the past week by Hamas in Gaza called on Saturday for the immediate release of fellow captives left behind, a day after a temporary truce that had allowed scores to come home broke down.

Tens of thousands gathered at a rally in Tel Aviv outside Israel's defence headquarters, where they cheered Yelena Trupanov, 50, standing on a stage just two days after being freed.

"I came to thank you because without you I wouldn't be here. Now we must bring back my (son) Sasha, and everyone. Now."

Similar pleas from other released hostages were shown on video.

A seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released more than 100 hostages, collapsed on Friday.

Israel said on Saturday it had recalled a Mossad intelligence agency team from Qatar, host of indirect negotiations with Hamas, accusing the Palestinian faction of reneging on a deal that would have freed all children and women held hostage.

More than 240 people - Israelis and foreign nationals - were abducted to Gaza on Oct 7. by Hamas militants who burst through the border with Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to local authorities.

Israel, vowing to wipe out Hamas, responded with a bombing campaign and ground offensive that has destroyed large areas of Gaza and killed more than 15,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

(Reporting by Nathan Frandino; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows the remains of Maryinka city that was destroyed by the Russians, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Maryinka, Donetsk Region, Ukraine May 12, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Andriy Yerma

(Reuters) - Russian forces eased attacks on the beleaguered eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Saturday and unofficial reports from the region suggested they had failed to capture the devastated town of Maryinka to the southwest.

Russia's military has focused on eastern Ukraine since abandoning an advance on Kyiv in the first days after the February 2022 invasion. Since mid-October, the military has set its sights on seizing Avdiivka and its vast coking plant.

Russian reports on Friday suggested Moscow's troops had taken control of Maryinka, 40 km (25 miles) to the southwest, engulfed in fighting for well over a year. But unofficial Ukrainian reports on Saturday said its forces were holding some districts.

Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun told national television that Russian attacks on Avdiivka had halved over the past 24 hours, largely as a result of heavy losses.

"The coking plant is controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces," Shtupun said. "Enemy forces are trying to make their way inside, but are suffering losses in infantry and equipment."

Fighting was still intense, he said, in an adjacent area outside the town centre known as the "industrial zone." Russia's popular war blog Rybar said the zone had fallen under Russian control.

Reuters could not verify accounts from either side.

Vitaliy Barabash, head of the town's military administration, told Channel 24 television that Avdiivka was "starting to look like Maryinka, a settlement that basically no longer exists. It has been razed to its foundations."

There were no official Ukrainian reports on Maryinka, but military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said reports of its capture by Russian troops were untrue.

"We acknowledge that there was an advance there of the Russian military," Zhdanov said in an online presentation. "But the southwestern and northwestern parts of the town are under the control of Ukrainian forces."

Deepstate, an unofficial Ukrainian war blog, quoted Ukrainian servicemen as denying any notion that Russian forces had secured full control over what was once a town of 10,000.

Russia's Defence Ministry made no mention of Maryinka.

Russian war blog Rybar referred to photos on social media of Russian flags in the town, but added: "Nevertheless, several buildings remain under the control of the Ukrainian military."

Another Ukrainian spokesperson, Volodymyr Fitio, told national television that Kyiv's forces had repelled 21 Russian attacks in areas surrounding Bakhmut. The town, also shattered by months of fighting, was captured by Russian forces in May, but Ukrainian troops have since taken back nearby villages.

Ukrainian forces have focused on recapturing occupied villages in the east and south in a counteroffensive launched in June, though President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged that advances have been slower than Kyiv wanted.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski in Winnipeg, Canada, and Maria Starkova; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
(Reuters) - Syrian air defences repelled an Israeli rocket attack against targets in the vicinity of Damascus early on Saturday, Syrian state media reported, adding defences shot down most of the missiles.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus," the Syrian state news agency said, citing a military source.

There were only material damages, it added.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh and Moaz Abd-Alaziz; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chris Reese)
FILE PHOTO: A sign is seen outside a Tianjin Faw Toyota Motor Co. Ltd showroom, a joint venture between China's Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co Ltd and Japan's automaker Toyota Motor Corp, in central Beijing October 9, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) -Toyota Motor has halted production on some ageing lines at a joint venture in China while operations continue as normal, the Japanese automaker said on Saturday after a media report that it was partially suspending production due to weak sales.

The production halt at the Tianjin venture with China's FAW was a planned move, and Toyota is adjusting production based on "changes in the composition of vehicle models", a spokesperson said by email.

"The reason for stopping the production line was to optimize the production system in consideration of aging and changes in the composition of vehicle models such as body types."

Japan's Jiji news service said on Friday the world's largest automaker by sales was suspending some production as part of a major production adjustment in response to weak sales of gasoline-engine cars.

A FAW representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters reported last month that Toyota had told dealers it would extend a plan to reduce output at the FAW venture.

Slowing sales pose a growing challenge to Toyota in China which accounted for nearly a fifth of Toyota's worldwide sales of about 8.5 million vehicles over the first 10 months of the year, including sales of its luxury Lexus brand.

(Reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen and Brenda Goh in Shanghai)
Duplex homes line a street in Earhart Village, one of five neighborhoods at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, that make up Hickam Communities, which is operated by the Australia-based firm Lendlease. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii  Some residents of a housing community on this joint base are facing rent hikes of hundreds of dollars per month, with a few households looking at monthly increases of more than $1,000.

Australia-based Lendlease, which manages the roughly 2,500 homes that make up Hickam Communities, began notifying some civilian tenants that their rents will go up starting in the new year.

News of the sharp increases did not sit well with Hawaii state Rep. Sonny Ganaden, who in past weeks has fielded complaints from tenants of Hickam Communities, which lies in his district. Some told him they had the choice of paying $1,250 more in rent each month or moving out.

Hawaii is facing a significant housing crisis, Ganaden said in a phone interview Friday.

A family of four having to pay an extra $1,250 a month  thats going to push them into the local market, and then further exacerbate issues with local housing.

Ganaden put forth a more stinging appraisal of the increases in a letter sent Nov. 14 from his House office to Hawaiis governor and the states congressional delegation.

Numerous constituents have contacted our office to see if there is anything the state government can do, the letter states.

Our office has had several meetings with constituents and members of the Department of Defense. From those meetings, it is clear that Lendlease is engaged in the arbitrary practices of a predatory corporate landlord and is exacerbating a housing crisis in Hawaii.

Rising cost of utilities

Lendlease blames the increases primarily on the rising cost of utilities.

Since 2020, 100% of utility costs for all residents are paid by Hickam Communities, thus sheltering families from the rapidly rising cost of utilities in Hawaii, Justin Kern, executive general manager of Lendlease Communities, said in a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes on Nov. 21.

Utility costs at Hickam Communities increased by 52% from 2020 to 2023, with electricity expenses rising by 73% during that period, Kern said.

These energy and utility increases equate to an average of $750 per home per month, which is not passed on to our residents, he said. Additionally, Hickam Communities covers its residents property insurance expenses, which have also risen tremendously in past years.

Rent out of pocket

The increases do not touch the 1,970 active-duty service members who live in Hickam Communities and whose rent is covered by the basic housing allowance provided by the Defense Department. Lendlease receives the full amount of that housing allowance.

Thats not the case for the civilian households there, a subset that includes Department of Defense employees, civil service employees, military retirees and employees working for the housing community. They pay rent out of pocket, and most will see rent increases for 2024.

Kern said there are 437 such tenants living in Hickam Communities.

Lendlease has issued 479 renewal notices for 2023 for those civilian households; the number of renewal notices is higher than the number of current residents due to turnover, Kern said.

Of that number, 82% of the notices reflected increases of $301 to $500 per month, he said.

Just over 30 of those households are looking at increases of more than $500 per month, with five civilian households receiving increases of more than $1,000, Kern said.

Ganaden expressed skepticism that higher utility costs would equate to such increases.

I rent, and our energy demand didnt go up, he said.

The basic housing allowance in Hawaii increased by 14% this year, and Ganaden asserts that Lendlease is using that to maximize profit by levying that increase on households not getting the allowance.

Basic supply and demand

In an emailed statement Wednesday, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said Hickam Communities is governed by legal agreements approved by the Air Force that set out rental priorities for airmen.

The agreements, however, allow other eligible categories of tenants to rent homes if the occupancy rate of airmen falls below certain thresholds.

That was the case in 2016, and Hickam Communities opened rentals for certain civilians and military retirees.

As current occupancy rates exceed the set thresholds, Hickam Communities raised rents toward the current market in 2023, which is aligned with rates military families are paying, the statement said.

Lendlease did not raise rents for civilian tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to their rents standing at below-market rates, the statement said.

Several Hickam Communities tenants have experienced rental rates well below market levels over the last 3-5 years, Col. Monica Gramling, deputy joint base commander, said in the statement. Those rates are now being adjusted to match market rates due to basic supply and demand principles.

From Ganadens point of view, that misses the big picture.

My big concern here is that this is government property, he said. We have outsourced the leasing of housing at Hickam, which I represent, to this multinational corporation with some of the biggest contracts with the Department of Defense for housing and land development.

And they are going to the maximum community rate. Theyre really trying to push it to the edge.
Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., was among eight members of the Air Force missing following the crash of an CV-22 Osprey off the coast of Japan on Wednesday. His body was recovered on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 (Berkshire County Sheriffs Office/Facebook)

TOKYO  The Air Force has identified an airman whose body was recovered Wednesday after a CV-22B Osprey carrying eight crew members went down in waters off southwestern Japan.

Staff Sgt. Jacob Jake Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Mass., was a direct support operator assigned to 43rd Intelligence Squadron, Detachment 1, Operating Location  Alpha, 363rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing, according to a statement Saturday from Air Force Special Operations Command.

The seven other crew members remain DUSTWUN  duty status-whereabouts unknown  following a routine training mission aboard a tiltrotor assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, the command said.

DUSTWUN is a transitory casualty status for U.S. service members who cannot be located but have not been found dead or captured.

Jacob was an incredible son, brother, husband, father and friend to so many, Gallihers family said in a statement Saturday. His short life touched and made better the lives of hundreds, if not thousands in Pittsfield, in this region and everywhere he served. Jacob lived to serve his family, his country and the people he loved. We will in time have more to say about his life and its deep and lasting impact. For now, we are mourning and ask for privacy and prayers for his wife, his two amazing children and all of us while we grieve and prepare for his return home.

Search-and-rescue efforts, which entered a fifth day Sunday, have so far been fruitless. Theyve included a combination of air, surface, and subsurface search of water and coastline, the command said.

Searches by divers were conducted from 3:13 p.m. until 4:34 p.m. Sunday in waters off the cast near Yakushima Airport but no leads to the missing persons were found, Japans 10th Regional Coast Guard said in a news release Sunday evening.

The search will continue Monday, the release added.

Two fruitless underwater searches were conducted Saturday, the coast guard said that afternoon.

Side-scan sonar captured unusual echo images of the seafloor, the service announced both Thursday and Friday. However, dives made on those days offered no clues about the missing crew members.

Galliher, who joined the Air Force in 2017, was found near an empty, 20-person life raft and what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, a coast guard spokesman said by phone hours after the crash. Its customary in Japan for some government officials to speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

His body was returned to the U.S. military on Thursday afternoon, a coast guard news release said.

Yokota, which has hosted CV-22 Ospreys since 2018, established an emergency family assistance center to support anyone affected by the crash.

People can go to the Military and Family Readiness Center to receive 24-7 counseling, assistance and available information from representatives from the base chapel, mental health, public affairs and other support agencies, the 374th Airlift Wing announced this week on Facebook.
King Charles III delivers an address at the opening ceremony of the World Climate Action Summit during COP28 on Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images/TNS)

(Tribune News Service)  King Charles III made an impassioned plea for more climate action at the COP28 summit in Dubai, asserting British commitment to combating global warming amid doubts about Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks own green agenda.

In a speech that made his long- and strongly held views on climate change plain, the British monarch got specific, especially on finance. Charles called for partnership between public and private sectors and talked about the role the insurance industry can play in mitigating investment risks.

Records are now being broken so often that we are perhaps becoming immune to what they are really telling us, the king told gathered leaders. Our choice now is a starker and darker one: How dangerous are we actually prepared to make our world?

While Charles has long championed environmental causes and made many speeches on climate change, this was the first time hes addressed COP since becoming king last year  a role where hes expected to be less political. He was prevented from speaking at last years summit by the British government under the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss.

The current prime minister, Sunak, has drawn criticism for climate campaigners for walking back some of the UKs green commitments.

Fridays appearance at COP28 contrasted with Charless first Kings Speech at the state opening of parliament last month. Laying out the Sunak governments legislative agenda, he announced plans to for the more oil and gas explorations

Although the king didnt address UK policy, he outlined clear prescriptions for tackling climate change and showed a grasp of the subject. Its hard to imagine his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, ever having talked about first-loss risk guarantees.

He ended with a rhetorical flourish, though.

As part of this grand and sacred system, harmony with nature must be maintained, Charles said. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.

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Jesus Gaytan III was arrested during a traffic stop in December 2021 and admitted to being in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. (Joseph Barron/U.S. Air Force)

AUSTIN, Texas  A 23-year-old Texas National Guard soldier who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in a federal courtroom Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison, according to court documents.

Jesus Gaytan III was driving a Ford Mustang with a teenage girl as his passenger when state police conducted a traffic stop Dec. 17, 2021, near Brackettville in west Texas, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Del Rio.

The state police officer learned the two were in a sexual relationship despite the girl being 16 years old. Gaytan, then 21, willingly gave his iPhone to police and provided the passcode so they could search it, according to court documents. Police found a video recorded about a month prior of the two having sex.

Gaytan later told investigators that he had been in a sexual relationship with the girl for the past year and he knew it was illegal because of her age.

[The] defendant admitted that knew he would be in a lot of trouble if people found out about his sexual relationship with [the girl] and that they agreed not to tell anyone about that relationship, according to court documents.

Police arrested Gaytan during the traffic stop, and he has remained in federal custody since, according to the Department of Justice. He pleaded guilty on March 14, 2022, to one count of possession of child pornography.

Federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security assisted the Texas Department of Public Safety with the investigation.

Individuals who commit heinous acts of violence against children will be found and brought to justice, said Craig Larrabee, Special Agent in Charge for the Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio Division.

In addition to prison, Gaytan was ordered to pay a $17,000 fine.

Gaytan is originally from Fort Worth, more than 350 miles northeast of Del Rio, but was activated in the area with the Texas National Guard, according to the Department of Justice. The Texas Military Department did not immediately respond to a request for Gaytans service record or his assignment at the time he was arrested.

Thousands of troops are in the region along the states border with Mexico as part of Operation Lone Star, a state-sponsored mission to deter criminal activity along the border.
GAZA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardments that hit several homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the state-run Palestine TV.

There are still a large number of people buried under the rubble and cannot be rescued, it said.

Israel resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a temporary seven-day truce with Hamas collapsed. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal. 
This offence comes with a mandatory sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, which a judge can depart from in exceptional circumstances

A Dublin man who thought transporting drugs for payment was the answer to his financial problems has told a court it turned out to be the start of his worst nightmare.

Dennis Menton (34), a father of five, was already working several jobs to meet his financial obligations, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard, when he was caught with 600,000 of cannabis.

Menton, of Newcastle Manor Square, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of the cannabis for sale or supply outside his home on December 16, 2022. He has no previous convictions.

Detective Garda Jerome Twomey told Judge Martin Nolan that Menton was caught after gardai acting on confidential information stopped him as he parked a rental car outside his home.

Menton directed gardai to a second car parked nearby which was found to contain two suitcases holding 30 kilogrammes of cannabis valued at 604,000.

Menton told gardai that he had transported drugs on five to six other occasions over the previous three months and was paid 2,000 per job.

In sentencing Menton on Friday, Judge Nolan noted he had fully cooperated with gardai in relation to his own role and made immediate admissions.

He noted in mitigation his very early guilty plea, good record of work and testimonials handed into court. He took into account Menton was a good family man and his imprisonment will impact his children. He thought it was unlikely Menton will reoffend.

He said Menton deserved a prison sentence but the question was how long.

This offence comes with a mandatory sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, which a judge can depart from in exceptional circumstances. Judge Nolan said he found that he could depart from the presumptive mandatory sentence in the circumstances of this case and he imposed a five and a half year sentence.

During the sentence hearing, Det Gda Twomey agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that Mentons role was that of a courier without any proprietary interest in the drugs. He agreed there were no signs of wealth in Mentons accommodation, which he shared with two other couples.

Menton told gardai he was asked to pick up the items, hold them and later drop them to someone else. He declined to name those who had given him the drugs.

Menton wrote a letter to the court in which he sincerely apologised for his poor choices and getting involved in this idiotic activity, describing it as his biggest regret.

He said he had been working two or three jobs at the time but bills had built up. He said these offences seemed like answer to his problems, when it was actually the start of his worst nightmare.

Mr Dwyer said his client had a recreational cocaine habit at the time. Menton is attending counselling and considering studying community addiction studies.

Counsel handed in several testimonials describing how Menton had helped those with mental health difficulties in his community, worked hard to support his family and has a heart of gold.

He submitted his client has made changes to his life, pleaded guilty at an early stage and made full admissions. He said he has expressed his remorse in a real way and gained insight to his actions.

Mr Dwyer said he was someone of otherwise good character who has contributed to his society and family.

He submitted that the court could have regard to the fact that the drugs involved were cannabis, which he said was a drug of less devastating effect than others, such cocaine or heroin.
Jamie Agemoh told the woman she had until later that night to get the 1,200 her son owed him or he'd return with others.

Two teenagers who terrorised and intimidated a woman whose child had racked up a drug debt have been given suspended sentences.

Jamie Agemoh (20) was just 17 years old when he repeatedly engaged in intimidating the 51-year-old woman and demanding money from her because her teenage son owed him a drug debt, Judge Orla Crowe noted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Friday.

Agemoh, of St Berach's Place, Kilbarrack, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of demanding money with menace, with a number of other counts taken into consideration.

The court heard he repeatedly demanded money from the woman between May and June in 2020, causing her to hand over a total of 2,500.

His co-accused, Wayne Dennis (21) of Mount Olive Grove, Kilbarrack, Dublin, also pleaded guilty to one count of demanding money with menace. The court heard his role was limited to accompanying another man to the woman's house in Malahide on one occasion.

Sentencing Agemoh, Judge Crowe said he had terrorised the woman - a perfectly law-abiding person who had this mob descend on her. His behaviour was intimidating and frightening and she felt unsafe in her own home, the judge noted.

Agemoh has three previous convictions, including a firearm conviction from when he was 15 years old. Judge Crowe said Agemoh appears to have changed his ways in the three years since these offences. She noted he is now working, has detoxed from drugs and has not come to any adverse garda attention since.

He had 1,200 in court as a token of remorse for the victim. Judge Crowe sentenced him to two years and three months' imprisonment, but suspended the sentence on a number of conditions, including that he remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for one year.

She suspended the sentence for four years, noting that she was deliberately setting a lengthy period to ensure it will hang over him.

Sentencing Dennis, Judge Crowe noted his role was limited to accompanying another man to the woman's home on one occasion but that he acted as a body man to help intimidate her.

Dennis has no previous convictions and is currently working. She handed down a sentence of 12 months, which she suspended fully.

The court previously heard that on the first occasion in May 2020, the woman was at home when she saw Agemoh outside with her eldest son. When she opened the door, Agemoh said her younger son owed him money for a bag of cannabis.

This child  a teenager - who allegedly owed Agemoh the money, came downstairs and asked what was going on. Agemoh said: don't be a smart bastard in front of your ma, and that he owed him money.

Agemoh told the woman she had until later that night to get the 1,200 her son owed him or he'd return with others.

The court heard her son had previously had a drug debt of 600, which his mother had paid off for him in March of that year.

Agemoh rang the woman later that day and she could hear shouts of: we are coming to get you, we are coming to get you coming from others in the background. He told her she had until the next day to get the money.

The following day, Agemoh met the woman at Kilbarrack train station. She handed over 1,000 and told him he would have to wait for the rest of it.

He texted her later to say she had only handed over 900 and that she would have to meet him with the rest soon.

On May 8, she handed over a further 300 to Agemoh. However, later that day he texted her to say a friend of his had told him her son had yet another outstanding drug debt.

In July, the woman was at home with her sister when three other men called to the front door. Her sister opened the door, and the men shouted that the woman's son owed them 2,000. They threatened to smash up her house and burn out her car.

The three men went back to the car they arrived in, when one produced a metal crow bar and said to the woman's sister: I'll fucking kill you. A neighbour intervened and the men left.

Months later in September, two men called to the woman's house wearing black face masks. One of these men was Dennis.

She didn't answer the door and the second man shouted: I won't be so nice next time, I'll burn the gaff down.

At the time, the woman had a camera installed in her doorbell. This recorded footage of the men and helped the gardai identify Dennis.

The woman paid over 2,500 over the course of the various demands.

In a victim impact statement handed to the court, she described how she became fearful, was shaken to her core and traumatized.

She said she didn't feel safe in her own home and that someone unexpected knocking on the door would bring those feelings back.

Keith Spencer BL, defending Agemoh, said his client's offences were committed at a very young age but that he should not have acted as he did.

He said Agemoh has matured significantly over the last few years, has been employed for the last three years and has detoxed from drug use.

Mr Spencer said the Probation Service indicated Agemoh was at low risk of re-offending and he was willing to offer a token of remorse of 1,200 to the woman.

Patrick Jackson BL, for Dennis, said his client had no involvement in the drug trade except for this incident.

He said that Dennis's family were shocked when he was arrested and that it was their view that he was someone who could be easily lead.

At an earlier sentence hearing, he asked the court to consider this as a once off.
Investigating gardai arrested Jamie Carroll, 41, of Mary B. Mitchell Close, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, on Friday evening and charged him over two incidents

The man is accused of the robbery of a till in Dun Laoghaire. STOCK IMAGE

A MAN charged with taking more than 5,000 during armed robberies at a shop and a bookmaker in Dun Laoghaire and Arklow has been remanded in custody and will face objections to bail.

Investigating gardai arrested Jamie Carroll, 41, of Mary B. Mitchell Close, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, on Friday evening and charged him over two incidents.

He is accused of the robbery of a male staff member at a Circle K shop, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, of a metal till worth 250 on November 24.

Mr Carroll, who has yet to enter a plea, was further charged with robbing 5,000 from a female during an earlier incident at Boylesports, Lower Main Street, Arklow, on October 23 last. The offences are contrary to section 14 of the Theft & Fraud Act.

He was held pending his appearance before Judge David McHugh at Dublin District Court on Saturday.

Detective Garda Darren Mulhall told the court that Mr Carroll made no reply to charge after caution, and he was handed copies of the charge sheets.

The detective said he intended to object to bail and furnished the court with a summary of his grounds.

However, before he commenced giving evidence, defence counsel Kevin McCrave said he was instructed that his client, who did not address the court, wished to defer his bail application.

Judge McHugh remanded him in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court via video link on Friday, pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

A trial venue ruling has yet to be given as to whether the case will stay in the District Court or go to the Circuit Court, which, on conviction, has broader sentencing powers.

The judge granted legal aid to the accused, who is on social welfare, and he acceded to a defence request to direct medical attention for Mr Carroll in custody.

A woman in her forties who was also arrested has since been released without charge. A file will be prepared for the DPP.
Laurence Maguire (47) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of robbery and one count of assault causing harm on February 6, 2015

A man who carried out two robberies in 2015 handed himself into gardai seven years after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, a court has heard.

Laurence Maguire (47) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of robbery and one count of assault causing harm on February 6, 2015.

The court heard today that a bench warrant was issued for Maguire in 2016 and while gardai called to numerous addresses over the next seven years, they were unable to locate him.

Maguire, who has no fixed abode, presented himself to gardai in June and the bench warrant was then executed. He has been in custody since then.

Garda Padraig Brennan told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, that two robberies took place separately and a man was assaulted during the second incident.

The first incident took place at Courtview, Rathbourne at around 6.20pm. The victim was walking home after going to the gym when Maguire put his arm around her neck and told her to drop her bags.

The woman was wearing headphones and didn't hear anyone approaching, but noticed a shadow. The court heard she thought someone was messing with her until she turned and saw Maguire with a scarf over his face.

She dropped her handbag and gym bag. Maguire took her River Island handbag which contained around 30 in cash, bank cards and a DKNY watch.

The victim's neck was sore and she was afraid for her safety. Passers-by who came to her assistance noticed a cut on her neck.

She later discovered that her bank cards were used to make two purchases totalling 20 at a McDonalds restaurant at 9.40pm that night.

The court heard a couple were walking home on Glasnevin Avenue, Ballymun at 11.10pm that night when a small vehicle stopped in a driveway in front of them. Maguire got out of the car and attempted to take the woman's bag.

Her husband intervened and sustained cuts to his face and hand during the struggle. The male victim fell to the ground and Maguire managed to grab the bag, then got into the passenger side of the car.

The female victim noticed blood when her husband got up. She told gardai that she didn't see a weapon. Her Marks and Spencer handbag containing Jo Malone perfume and make up was taken.

The male victim required four stitches to his right cheek and seven stitches to his hand. He has since made a full recovery and did not sustain facial scarring.

Gardai later found the vehicle in Finglas and bank cards belonging to the victim of the first robbery were located in a sewer gate nearby.

The car was seized and examined. CCTV was obtained from the McDonald's restaurant which showed Maguire ordering food.

Gardai also searched an address where they found a bottle of Jo Malone perfume with a drop of blood from the male victim of the second robbery on it.

Maguire was arrested in August 2015. He made admissions during interview to both robberies, and told gardai he had a knife. He also said he had a drug addiction.

He has 17 previous convictions including one for assault, three for larceny and 11 for road traffic offences.

A victim impact statement from the victim of the first robbery was handed to the court. She said she has become more nervous particularly when walking after dark. She said the watch that was taken was a birthday present from a family member and that she finds it more difficult to trust people.

No victim impact statements were submitted on behalf of the victims of the second robbery and the assault.

Gda Brennan agreed with Luigi Rea BL, defending, that his client expressed remorse when interviewed and said he had no intention to cause injuries.

It was accepted that Maguire had addiction issues at the time and that his plea was of value to the prosecution.

Mr Rea noted that a bench warrant issued for his client in 2016 and it was not activated as Maguire kept himself out of trouble in recent years.

He noted Maguire has three children and is taking steps to deal with his addiction issues.

Defence counsel said his client has turned his life around and has lived crime-free for many years. He asked the court to take into account that his client has already been in custody since June.

Judge Dara Hayes said it is to Maguire's credit that he handed himself into gardai, but that he should have done it sooner.

He noted that these are serious offences and a knife was used.

The judge said he would adjourn the case for a probation report in light of Maguire's efforts towards rehabilitation and the long period without offending.

Remanding Maguire in custody, he adjourned the case to April 22 next for finalisation.
Ronan Lawless (35) died at Beaumont Hospital on November 23, 2022

No garda is likely to face a criminal prosecution in relation to the death of a Dublin man who suffered a cardiac arrest while being restrained by officers last year, an inquest has heard.

Ronan Lawless (35) of Tara Court, Balbriggan, Co Dublin died at Beaumont Hospital on November 23, 2022 around a week after he was admitted to hospital after gardai were called to his home.

A sitting of Dublin District Coroners Court heard from Inspector Liam Hickey of the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission that it was unlikely that any prosecution was likely to arise in relation to the death of Mr Lawless.

No criminal proceedings are being contemplated but we are continuing our investigation, said Insp Hickey.

However, he stressed that the ongoing nature of the GSOC inquiry was not to imply any misconduct by a garda.

The deceaseds brother, Darren Lawless, gave evidence of formally identifying his brothers body to gardai at the city mortuary in Whitehall.

In a statement, Garda Michael May, said a number of exhibits had been seized in relation to the death of Mr Lawless but no details were provided.

The coroner, Aisling Gannon, said postmortem results had shown that Mr Lawless had died from complications arising from a lack of oxygen to his brain.

The coroner said the deceased had also suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest when his heart stopped suddenly.

The inquest heard this had occurred after Mr Lawless had been restrained in a prone position.

The coroner said a toxicology report also confirmed a high level of cocaine in his body at the time.

Insp Hickey sought an adjournment of the inquest for a period of six months to allow GSOC to complete its investigation.

Ms Gannon granted the application and adjourned the case until May 28, 2024.
Carl Reilly also faced a charge of directing terrorism but this was not proceeded with and it was left on the court books in the usual terms.

Two men were jailed on Friday after they were secretly recorded discussing dissident republican activity in a hotel.

Carl Reilly (47), of Pollard Close off the Springfield Road in west Belfast, was sentenced to 30 months in custody.

Paul Philip Crawford (48), of Carrickree Mews, Warrenpoint, Co Down, was handed an 18-month prison sentence.

Both had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of belonging to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on dates between January 1, 2014 and October 17, 2015.

Reilly also faced a charge of directing terrorism but this was not proceeded with by the prosecution and it was left on the court books in the usual terms.

Passing sentence today, Judge Paul Ramsey KC said: "It is quite clear from a cursory reading of the transcripts that there were discussions and exchanges which strongly supported the charge of belonging to or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation.

The subject of these recorded discussions represented disquieting, disturbing and twisted views which have simply no place in our society.

A senior prosecution barrister told Belfast Crown Court that on February 17, 2015, the defendants met at the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk, Co Louth, which was subject to covert surveillance by An Garda Siochana and their conversations were recorded.

He said that Garda surveillance officers were both inside and outside the hotel and observed Crawford arriving in his own BMW while Reilly arrived in a BMW owned by another man.

At around 8.10pm, Crawford sat down at a table in the hotel lobby while Reilly sat facing him, said the prosecutor. They sat there until 8.45 pm and then went to Crawford's car which drove out of the hotel and a surveillance team picked it up at Aisling Park, Dundalk.

Surveillance was also carried out at a house in Oaklands Park of Peter McVeigh and Reilly and Crawford were seen in conversation with McVeigh on a grassy communal area.

The defendants had referred to McVeigh in their hotel discussions as Wee Peter. Reilly talked about what was going to be discussed with the lads tonight but was told by Crawford that only McVeigh would be present.

Paul Crawford

Reilly said: I'm going to say to McVeigh tonight to stay the path with me, look where we came from and if you stick to the path we can keep going.

The court heard McVeigh was convicted and jailed for life for the murder of two RUC constables in 1973 and was released on licence in 1991.

The prosecution counsel said Garda seized CCTV as part of its investigations which corroborated the observations of the surveillance teams.

During one recorded conversation about known dissident republicans, Reilly said: I am losing men in Belfast. They are going to Maghaberry (prison). The f***ing (Special) Branch are buzzing us.

On October 16, 2015, PSNI detectives arrested Reilly under section 41 of the Terrorism Act. He was interviewed 14 times and did not speak during interview and refused to engage with police.

However, a solicitor read out a statement prepared on behalf of Reilly in which he denied directing terrorism and denied being a member of a proscribed organisation.

On the same day, Crawford was arrested at his home in Warrenpoint, was interviewed 13 times and did not speak to detectives.

The court heard that in June 2000, Reilly was jailed for five years for making property available for acts of terrorism.

The prosecution counsel told the court that the defendant's guilty plea triggered both the dangerous provisions and also the notification requirements under the Counter-Terrorism Act.

Desmond Hutton KC said the delay in the case should be taken into account in sentencing as Reilly had offered to plead guilty to the membership charge in June 2020 but that was not accepted by the prosecution and it was over eight years since the commission of the offence.

He told the court that in some of the recorded conversations there was an element of bravado on Reilly's behalf and some conversations referred to matters dating back 20 years ago.

John Larkin KC said Crawford played a lesser role, was more of a listener during the conversations, had no previous terrorist convictions and should receive a lesser sentence.

During his sentencing remarks today, Judge Ramsey said that he did not believe either defendant posed a danger to the public in the future.

However, the judge said they would be made the subject of the notification requirements under the Counter-Terrorism Act for a period of 10 years.
Sharon Hickey told gardai that she was been told to find a hiding place for the drugs and that she would then be contacted at a later date.

A woman told to find a hiding place for more than 417,000 of heroin in order to pay off her drug debt will be sentenced after Christmas.

Sharon Hickey (45), of Dolphins Barn, Kilmainhaim, Dublin 8, appeared before Judge Elma Sheahan in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Friday having pleaded guilty to possessing 2.9kg of heroin for sale or supply outside the Lamplighter pub in Dublin 8 on April 12, 2022.

Garda Kerrie Sullivan said the pub was under surveillance when Hickey was seen being given a green Aldi bag by co-accused Gregory Dunne (39) of North Circular Road, Dublin 7.

Dunne was also seen handing Hickey cash. She then left to hail a taxi from a nearby cab rank.

Gardai were called and Hickey was intercepted when she exited the taxi a short distance away.

They found three packages of heroin in the bag she had been given. The drugs weighed 2.9kg and had a street value of 417,480. Hickey was also found to have 500 in cash.

She was arrested and detained.

She made full admissions during interview and said she was aware that the packages contained drugs.

Hickey told gardai that she was been told to find a hiding place for the drugs and that she would then be contacted at a later date.

Hickey said she had accrued a debt from bills, credit cards and drugs. In exchange for moving the drugs, she would be paid 500, which was the cash found in her possession, and her drug debt would be reduced.

Geraldine Small SC, defending, said that Hickey had a very difficult childhood and battled with addiction from an early stage. She said the offence is something Hickey deeply regrets.

Ms Small told the court Hickey was a woman who tried to advance herself and had a certificate in addiction studies from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

She said that at the time of the offending Hickey had relapsed and accrued a debt as a consequence.

Ms Small said Hickey undoubtedly has made a very big mistake but asked the court to be as lenient as you possibly can.

Hickey has one previous conviction for larceny dating back to the 1990s.

Judge Sheahan adjourned the case for finalisation on January 12, 2024.

Hickey's co-accused Dunne (39) had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing 2.9 kg of heroin for sale or supply outside the Lamplighter pub in Dublin 8 on April 12, 2022.

Dunne was handed an eight year sentence with the final year suspended on strict conditions by Judge Sheahan in October.
Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Fahd bin Hassan Al Aqran, president of Saudi Press Agency, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The media leaders are in China to attend the 5th WMS. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, held meetings with heads of several international media outlets on Saturday in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

The media leaders -- Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi, director general of Qatar News Agency (QNA); Sakai Katsuhiko, president and CEO of Japan's Jiji Press; Fahd bin Hassan Al Aqran, president of Saudi Press Agency; Vugar Aliyev, chairman of the board of Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC); Koh Hyun Kohn, president and executive editor of the Joongang Ilbo of the Republic of Korea -- are in China to attend the 5th WMS.

Extending a welcome to the media leaders, Fu stated that the summit is the largest offline media forum convened in China post-pandemic, as well as a grand event for global media.

Fu stated Xinhua's readiness to focus on the summit theme of "Boosting Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development" with media guests, and jointly discuss how the global media industry can address global challenges and contribute to world peace, prosperity, and progress.

Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi said that the QNA valued its friendly cooperation with Xinhua and is willing to expand their collaboration to jointly embrace opportunities and tackle challenges, thus promoting the friendship between the peoples of Qatar and China.

Lauding the long-term and productive collaboration between Jiji Press and Xinhua, Sakai Katsuhiko said that Jiji Press is willing to make additional efforts to enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of China and Japan and contribute to safeguarding peace in Asia.

Fahd bin Hassan Al Aqran noted China's crucial role in international affairs and expressed the willingness of the Saudi Press Agency to strengthen exchanges with Xinhua, enhancing practical cooperation in various fields to better serve the development of relations between the two countries.

Vugar Aliyev noted that fruitful results have been yielded since the establishment of cooperation between AZERTAC and Xinhua 20 years ago, and AZERTAC will continue to play an active part under the WMS mechanism.

Koh Hyun Kohn, on behalf of the Joongang Ilbo, expressed the hope to deepen bilateral and multilateral exchanges with Xinhua to promote the friendship between the two countries and the common development of the region.

The 5th WMS, which runs from Dec. 2 to 8 in the cities of Guangzhou and Kunming, gathers over 450 participants from 101 countries and regions, including representatives of 197 mainstream media outlets, think tanks, government agencies, diplomatic missions to China, as well as UN agencies and international organizations.

Earlier this week, Fu also met with leaders of TASS Russian News Agency, Kyodo News, and Reuters respectively in Beijing and held a high-level meeting with executives of Reuters, The Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse. 

Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Sakai Katsuhiko, president and CEO of Japan's Jiji Press, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The media leaders are in China to attend the 5th WMS. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Vugar Aliyev, chairman of the board of Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC), in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The media leaders are in China to attend the 5th WMS. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi, director general of Qatar News Agency (QNA), in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The media leaders are in China to attend the 5th WMS. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, meets with Koh Hyun Kohn, president and executive editor of the Joongang Ilbo of the Republic of Korea, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The media leaders are in China to attend the 5th WMS. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
Gardai have appointed a Chief Superintendent to investigate an allegation that a garda officer leaked information about the suspect in last weeks stabbing attack outside a Dublin school to Gript, a conservative news website.

Yesterday, Gript removed a news story published on Thursday that went into extensive detail about the immigration history of the Algerian man it claimed was the suspect in the attack on Dublins Parnell Square that injured three young school children and a creche worker.

Although the Gript article did not name the man in its story, the extensive detail reported allowed a number of right-wing agitators to identify him from a published court ruling and a subsequent newspaper interview he gave about his time in Ireland.

Gript removed the article yesterday morning after gardai contacted it to say the Algerian man they had written about had no connection with the attack on the schoolchildren.

The gardai have since had to offer the innocent Algerian man garda protection and today gardai confirmed it has also had to provide protection to the innocent mans former employer which was singled out by far-right activists for allegedly employing illegal immigrants.

The actual suspect for the stabbings is a 49-year old man originally from Algeria who remains in hospital as a result of injuries suffered in the attack.

In response to the revelation that its story was incorrect, John McGuirk, the editor of Gript, told this newspaper yesterday that he believed he had been rat-f**ked, a term used to describe dirty tricks or sabotage.

Mr McGuirk said Gript had sourced the identity of the Algerian man from a garda and a Department of Justice source before cross checking with details of the suspect published elsewhere.

He also said Gript had checked photos of the Algerian man Gript had written about with photos of the suspect taken at the scene and said they line up.

If its wrong then holy f**k, he said. But we didnt rush it out without checking.

In a subsequent statement published yesterday that accepted it made an error, Gript said it was investigating whether it was deliberately deceived by a senior justice official.

If it determined that was the case, it said its obligation to protect the identity of its source will be considered forfeit.

However, speaking today, Mr McGuirk said he is now satisfied that Gripts sources acted in good faith. He said it was a mistake and not an attempt to fool Gript.

The protection of sources is a foundational principle of journalism, even it means prison time or prosecution for the journalist. We will abide by this principle.

The Department of Justice was contacted by the Irish Independent about the claim that one of its official was also was involved in confirming the story.

In response, it said in a statement: The Department of Justice rejects the allegation that any member of staff provided information to any media outlet in relation to this matter.

"A small number of senior officials within the Department have been involved in the response to the horrific assault last Thursday. None of them have had any contact with the media.

In a statement today, the garda press office said: An Garda Siochana has appointed a Chief Superintendent to examine the public allegation made by Gript.ie in relation to this matter.

A Garda who leaks confidential information can be found guilty of an offence under Section 62 of the Garda Siochana Act 2005. That makes it an offence to disclose information received in the course of duties if the garda knows that the information is likely to have a harmful effect.

Gardai have previously seized the mobile phones of journalists in criminal investigations.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that applications for search warrants at District Court level must inform the presiding judge if a journalist is asserting journalistic privilege so this can be weighed up by the judge before granting any warrant.

The gardai press office also stated that following highly inaccurate social media posts over the last 24 hours that arose from a highly inaccurate article on an online news site that a commercial premises in the east of the country had been named as employing a certain individual.

It said the naming in public of the business and the nature of some of the social media posts meant the gardai has had to deploy resources to provide security measures to this premises.

The original X post published by Gript on its story claimed to an exclusive revealing the ten year legal saga of the stabbing suspect that included multiple refusals by the Irish state to enforce a deportation order before he was granted leave to remain.

The post had been viewed more than 740,000 times before its deletion yesterday morning.

After the story was published and right-wing agitators published details of the innocent mans identity and his legal case, the details were republished on American Q-Anon chat forums.

Named staff working for an NGO (non-governmental body) that had helped the wrongly identified Algerian man in his immigration case were labelled as traitors and accessories to murder on the forum.

The five-year-old girl who was critically injured in last Thursdays stabbing attack remains gravely ill in hospital.

The only suspect in the case, a 49-year-old Algerian man also remains in hospital where he is being treated for head injuries. However, it is understood that his condition is improving, and he may be medically fit to be arrested for questioning soon.
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann in 2007 is to stand trial in the new year for the rape of an Irish woman in Portugal.

Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, 46, will be tried at Braunschweig High Court in Germany, accused of raping Dubliner Hazel Behan when she was just 20, during a four-hour horrific ordeal.

Brueckner will also be tried for two other rapes which he is alleged to have carried out and filmed at a small farmhouse he rented outside the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz where Maddie McCann went missing in May, 2007.

Three of the five cases against him involve minors including a teenage girl and a 10-year-old German girl.

The other adult victim apart from Hazel is a woman in her late 50s.

The trial is due to begin in Germany on February 16 next and is expected to last a couple of months.

Hazel Behan previously discussed her ordeal on The Late Late Show.

Bruckner is currently serving a jail sentence in Germany for the rape of an American pensioner.

Hazel was raped two weeks before her 21st birthday. She woke to a find man standing in her room with a machete before a prolongued sexual attack.

The attack happened in Praia da Rocha, around 30km from the Praia da Luiz apartment where Madeleine McCann was abducted three years later.

It is alleged Brueckner broke into Hazel Behans apartment and raped her over a couple of hours in a horrific violent attack in 2004. She had been working in Portugal as a travel rep at the time.

Hazel was given the trial date by German detectives last week and is expected to take the stand and give evidence against Bruckner for several days.

Hazel, now 40, told the Olive Press in Spain: Two detectives came over to Dublin and we spent a day going through all the logistics.

They are well advanced and extremely organised and are taking no chances with my safety.

I will be taken over to Germany a day or two before I give evidence and kept carefully guarded until I get to court. Nobody will be allowed to get near me.

I cant wait to finally look my attacker in the eyes and see him face justice, Hazel said.

The German national is denying all the charges against him.

He has not been charged in relation to the abduction of Madeleine McCann yet but German police are hoping they will be in a position to do so soon.
Diamorphine (heroin) with an estimated street value in excess of 8 million was recovered this morning

Two men have been arrested after gardai seized heroin worth 8 million when a light aircraft and a car were intercepted in South County Dublin and Co Kildare.

The 60kg of vacuum-packed heroin found in holdalls in the light aircraft at Weston Airport is the largest seizure of the drug this year.

The drugs were discovered as part of an ongoing joint investigation conducted by officers with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and the Revenue Customs Service targeting transnational organised crime.

According to RTE, detectives say the drugs were sourced by a family-based west Dublin gang with links to the Kinahan Organised Crime Group which had been under surveillance.

The drug haul that was intended for distribution in Dublin and around the country was seized at around midday.

Weston Airport

Diamorphine (heroin) with an estimated street value in excess of 8 million was recovered this morning Friday, 1st December 2023, following the interception of a light aircraft and a vehicle in South County Dublin and County Kildare, gardai said.

Two males (aged in their 40s and 60s) have been arrested on suspicion of organised crime activity and are currently detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2006, at a Garda station in County Kildare.

Investigations are ongoing at this time.
The couriers were paid around 3,000 for each trip and would be booked on business class flights due to the extra luggage allowance

Three more people who were part of a 'cash in suitcases' conspiracy that smuggled more than 100m in illicit cash from the UK to the UAE have been found guilty of money laundering offences.

The guilty verdicts returned at Isleworth Crown Court for Samantha Horst (51), from Staines-upon-Thames, Craig Bramall (42) from Wigan and Bridget Taylor (43) from Edinburgh brings to 14 the total number of those convicted.

A National Crime Agency investigation established that the network had smuggled more than 104 million in suitcases during 83 separate London to Dubai trips between November 2019 and October 2020.

Abdullah Alfalasi (48) who was jailed for more than nine years in July last year, was described as the ringleader.

Adrian Searle, Director of the National Economic Crime Centre in the NCA, said the laundering of such vast quantities of cash around the globe enabled organised criminals and corrupt elites to hide their illegally-obtained wealth.

Cash smugglers typically work on behalf of international controllers, who move the money generated by the international drug trade, people traffickers, fraudsters and other criminal groups, all with the intention of making the illicit source of the money difficult to trace, he said.

The criminality this enables costs the UK billions every year, causes misery and ruins lives across the world.

This case demonstrates the NCAs commitment to tackling money laundering, and preventing serious criminals from profiting from their activities.

The couriers were paid around 3,000 for each trip and would be booked on business class flights due to the extra luggage allowance.

They communicated on a number of WhatsApp groups including one entitled Sunshine and lollipops.

Horst, who checked in 18 suitcases containing 6.8 million on three trips to Dubai between August and September 2020, was arrested following NCA raids in May 2021.

Taylor made the journey with a co-traveller in September 2020, taking five suitcases containing 2 million.

She also transported 1.3 million in three suitcases in July of that year.

Bramall removed an estimated 1.3 million in three suitcases during the one trip he made in September 2020.

The network collected cash, which was believed to be the profits of drug dealing from criminal groups around the UK, and took it to counting houses, usually rented apartments in Central London.

The money was then vacuum packed and separated into suitcases.

Each would typically contain around 500,000 and weigh around 40 kilos. They were sprayed with coffee or air fresheners in an effort to prevent them being found by Border Force detection dogs.

NCA senior investigating officer Ian Truby said: This has been one of the most significant NCA investigations of recent years, and todays convictions are another reminder of the vast sums of money involved.

With these latest convictions, we have further dismantled a prolific and extensive criminal network, which is the NCAs intention for every crime group we target.

Horst, Bramall and Taylor were convicted on December 1 following an 18-day trial, and are due to be sentenced at the same court on 22 February 2024.

Eleven other couriers have been convicted previously.

The NCA investigation has been supported by Border Force and the UAE authorities. A number of British couriers are under investigation in the UAE and cannot leave until inquiries have been completed by UAE law enforcement.
The ex-TV star turned conspiracy theorist warned readers of her Substack page to be aware of false narratives that are being built to manage the public's perception

Former Xpose presenter Aisling OLoughlin has claimed gardai used far right mercenaries such as Conor McGregor to confuse and mislead the public after last weeks stabbings in Dublin.

The ex-TV3 star turned conspiracy theorist warned readers of her Substack page to be aware of false narratives that are being built to manage the public's perception.

Referring to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, whose own cops dont have any faith in his abilities to govern fairly, OLoughlin says it appears he has a little plan in store for those (right on cue) Conor McGregor fans and Antifa mercenaries.

Take a bow, she writes. Oh look some ready to roll art-work depicting McGregor as some kind of working class hero.

Not the fame and money-hungry showbiz hard-man who sold out his fans during lockdown by badly reading a government scamdemic script. Sorry but it will take a lot more to convince us this time around. Has he really switched sides? Well see.

Looks a lot like more propaganda from where Im standing. He may be saying all the right things, for now, but whats the end-game here?

"Is there money involved? Is McGregor really speaking up out of the goodness of his heart? Highly unlikely.

Conor McGregor

Gardai are currently investigating the fighter for his alleged incitement to hatred in relation to last Thursdays riots in Dublin city centre.

Gardai are examining posts that McGregor made to determine if this led to anyone being later incited to commit criminal acts, one source said.

Gardai are examining a number of people in relation to the investigation, several of which are described as the usual far right agitators who were inciting hatred online on Thursday and encouraging their followers and associates to travel into the city centre.

According to OLoughlin, were strung along with morsels of unreliable information and told to behave ourselves by the mainstream media.

Maybe McGregors fans and some Antifa hooligans will get to work, she adds.

Not us. Thats not our way. We want justice, security, a return to law and order.

"Were not going to play into the hands of our oppressors like fools begging for harsher policing and tighter legislation on free speech. We can see this for what it is - a piece of theatre, thats got the world focused on Ireland.

Last September OLoughlin joined protests outside the Dail where far-right protesters shouted various chants against transgender rights, migration and planned hate speech laws.

Protestors held signs featuring slogans such as Irish lives matter and Ballybrack says no as they regularly chanted: Youll never beat the Irish.

Mock gallows featuring a hanging effigy were also held up by the crowd, surrounded by portraits of political leaders including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Thirteen people, 11 men and two women, were arrested over the course of the protests.

OLoughlin was among the demonstrators outside the Dail, posing for photos alongside Dr Vincent OCarroll and anti-migrant activist Derek Blighe.

Taking to her Telegram channel after the protest, she shared some images and footage from the scene with her 10,200 subscribers.

In one snap, OLoughlin took a selfie with the crowd, where a sign in the background reads Silence replace indigenous Irish. She captioned the photo: Traitors out!

The 45-year-old, who is vocal online about her anti-vax views, also filmed fellow protester Dr Vincent OCarroll in an interview-style clip at the protest.

Were here outside the Dail giving our TDs a welcome back after the summer recess. Ive got Dr Vincent Carroll here with me. Dr Carroll, how are you feeling about the turnout today? she asked.

Dr OCarroll responded that he was very happy with the turnout as he spoke of how the people of Ireland were rising against the government.

Peoples moods have changed. If you compare this to one year ago, theres no comparison. People now are beginning to realise theres a sense of betrayal, he said.

The mood of the country is changing. Politicians need to be aware of that. People need to be aware that we will no longer tolerate whats been happening for the last couple of years.

The mood of the nation is changing. The people are rising and Im very happy with the turnout and it is improving as the minutes roll on.

Aisling added: Were always told protests dont matter, what does it prove, theres no point in begging politicians, we dont need their permission  so what is the point of protests? Why should we turn out?

Dr OCarroll continued: Protests are democracy - direct democracy and action - and thats very, very important. Were the voice of the people, were the will of the people.

Politicians are there to serve us so therefore politicians need to know that theres palpable anger within our nation. Theres a sense of betrayal within our nation. Theres a sense of, This is not good enough within our nation and our people are rising and protesting.

That is the purpose of a protest: to demonstrate that will, the peoples will, the democratic will of the people.

OLoughlin also shared a video of Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae being escorted away from Leinster House by gardai on her Telegram channel.

The mum-of-three condemned protesters who shouted profanities and shoved the politician as he left the Dail and suggested that there may have been infiltrators present.

Im a firm believer in peaceful protest. We can convey our message much better with reason and measured tones. We have enough evidence to put forward a very strong case, no need for violence. Its a total turn-off for middle Ireland and gives ammunition to those who conspire against us, she wrote.

Im trying to figure out if theyre infiltrators purposefully wrecking a peaceful protest to create nasty headlines or if theyre really peeved. It ruins the message were trying to convey.

When one of her supporters theorised that the Healy-Rae clip was a set-up as cameras were present before he walked out, OLoughlin agreed: Something fishy about the whole thing alright, James.

The protest was advertised on Telegram as a Call to the Dail demonstration, with a makeshift poster reading:

This is time. We have the god-given right to free speech! We will not be silenced. Have your voice heard.
On Friday morning gardai seized around 58 kilos of heroin at Weston Airport in west Dublin as part of an intelligence led operation.

Detectives are investigating if 'The Family' gang were involved in a major plot to smuggle heroin into Ireland after the pilot of a light-aircraft was arrested over an 8m drugs haul.

On Friday morning gardai seized around 58 kilos of heroin at Weston Airport in west Dublin as part of an intelligence led operation.

Gardai carried out the search of a light-aircraft and a 4x4 vehicle nearby during which the huge haul, with an estimated street value of 8.1 million, was discovered.

Two Hungarian nationals, including the pilot of the aircraft, were arrested and are currently being detained under organised crime legislation.

The men, aged in their 40s and 60s, are being questioned at a garda station in Kildare and can be held for up to seven days.

The investigation is being led by gardai from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) who are working with Customs.

A number of mobile devices and documentation have also been seized and will be analysed as part of the probe.

It's understood the plane had arrived in Weston Airport after departing from Germany, although investigators are in the process of confirming this and determining the planes exact flight path while liaising with international colleagues.

While the inquiry is at an early stage, gardai are probing if the crime group known as 'The Family' had a significant role in the drugs enterprise.

The gang, led by two brothers and based across west Dublin, operate one of the largest drug networks in the country and are predominately involved in the large-scale importation of cocaine as well as heroin.

Weston Airport

One of the groups leaders, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also previously jailed over a major heroin seizure.

The gang has also been the target of an operation in recent years during which over 1m worth of heroin was seized.

At that time gardai believe they foiled an attempt by The Family to forge drug smuggling routes with traffickers based in the UK and Turkey.

Following the operation, Assistant Commissioner Organised & Serious Crime, Justin Kelly said: "This is a hugely significant seizure of heroin, and the importance of disrupting criminal networks supplying this type of drug into our communities has been reinforced by the recent wave of overdoses in Dublin city centre.

"Worldwide, law enforcement agencies are seeing an increasing use of general aviation (non-commercial flights) to smuggle drugs.

"This operation shows the importance of multi-agency co-operation, in this case between An Garda Siochana, Irish Customs and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC-N) in Lisbon, Portugal. I wish commend the dedication and professionalism of all the personnel involved in this complex operation.
Since the collision, Beoan has undergone two major surgeries at the Royal North Shore Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition

More than 47,000 (54,800) has been raised for a young Irishman seriously injured after he was hit by a car in Australia.

Beoan Jones, from Maguiresbridge in Co Fermanagh, suffered massive injuries when he was struck by the car in Sydney on November 11.

The 25-year-old, who only arrived in Australia three months ago, remains in hospital and members of his family have flown to Sydney to be at his bedside.

According to police, Beoan was walking along the Bradfield Highway, about 400m south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, when he was hit by a car about 8.50pm.

He suffered serious spinal injuries and multiple broken bones.

The driver and passenger in the car were uninjured.

Since the collision, Beoan has undergone two major surgeries at the Royal North Shore Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.

In the meanwhile, two separate fundraising appeals have been set up to support his long road to recovery.

One of the appeals, which was set up by members of his family, had by yesterday raised 44,600.

The appeal, set up by Beoans friends in Sydney, has raised $4,670 (2,450).

Barry Carey, who helped up set up the Australia appeal, and who is also from Maguiresbridge, described Beoan as a warrior.

Writing on the fundraising page, Barry said: To think that a man of 25 years of age who has just been over in Australia a very short 3 months just finding his feet and in his prime in life is faced with one of the most unfortunate circumstances any human being could face.

His poor mother Rose and his sister had to fly over and be by his side and I cant even imagine how difficult it was for the rest of his immediate family and friends.

Beoan has sustained a number of injuries, he has spinal injuries broken ribs vertebrae fractures pelvis fractures multiple neck fractures and has had a number of major surgeries.

Ive spoken to his mother rose and she is just distraught but just so grateful he is alive and the support from doctors nurses and loving family and friends has been nothing short of amazing.

To think that her amazing son was embarking on a beautiful journey in life and for that to get cut short is heartbreaking for everyone that knows and loves him.
Emirates Team New Zealand have won a dramatically tough Americas Cup Preliminary Regatta in Jeddah.

Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney were the dominant crew all week, winning five of the eight fleet races.

In the end that counted for nothing in the winner take all match race final, which the kiwi crew won the start of, before illustrating text book match race tactics, leading Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli around the course and taking the regatta after a spectacular nose dive from the Italians rounding the final mark putting an end to the race.

Helmsman Nathan Outteridge was ecstatic with the win.

It feels great, a lot of effort has gone into this, so as a team we are obviously very happy to get the win that we didnt get at the last event," says Nathan.

"It is a massive team effort with a huge team behind us all. You only see four of us on the race boat, but there is a vital team behind us that has created this class and this event.

Like a newly discovered sailing secret, Jeddah again delivered near perfect conditions on the final day of racing on the Red Sea. As if on request, a steady 15 knots from the Northwest arrived for race time to provide some stunning AC40 action.

With Emirates Team New Zealand already qualified for the match race final yesterday, the first fleet races were an opportunity for the team to find their groove for the final race that mattered.

In the first race of the day, Peter and his crew finished third- following NYYC American Magic and the Italians who showed dangerous speed, stretching their legs in front and sailing into the final match race joining the Emirates Team New Zealand with one fleet race to go.

The eighth and final fleet race of the Americas Cup Preliminary Regatta presented by NEOM was yet another arm wrestle in increasing seas states challenging the trimmers and their accuracy in their gybes.

Ultimately it again was a now familiar sight of Emirates Team New Zealand grinding out a lead and extending around the track in a perfect way to prepare for the final match race taking their fifth race win out of eight fleet races.

It was nice to tidy up a few things in the second fleet race, it felt like we did a nicer job of it than the race before. says Peter Burling before the final match race.

The waves are a bit of a balance on how hard you go versus how easy you take it. A lot of the challenge is speed in manoeuvres and getting around the course cleanly. Now we have one boat to worry about in the final pre start start rather than five so we will see how it goes. But we will give it our all to win the match race.

Emirates Team New Zealand. Photo: Supplied.

In the final match race Emirates Team New Zealand entered on port - left, the Italians on starboard - right.

Peter and Nathan were dominating Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team in the prestart luffing the Italians over the start line, getting a penalty on them and leading off the start line. But as has been typical all week, the Italians were always fast and hot on the heels of Emirates Team New Zealand.

A two second lead at the first top mark and one second delta at the second gate, inches were not given. The race was decided with the Italians getting too high in the final bear away, resulting in a huge nosedive stopping them in their tracks.

A smiling Nathan summarises what has been one of the most spectacular regattas of racing seen in a long time.

It has been really challenging conditions out here. Its what we love as sailors, we were just happy to put together some clean laps after the first race and then we sailed more accurately and faster and shut that final race down against Prada," says Nathan.
GAZA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardments that hit several homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the state-run Palestine TV.

There are still a large number of people buried under the rubble and cannot be rescued, it said.

Israel resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a temporary seven-day truce with Hamas collapsed. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

The death toll of Palestinians has risen to 193 in the Gaza Strip in the 24 hours since Israel resumed its attacks across the Palestinian enclave on Friday, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement that the Israeli air and artillery strikes destroyed several houses and three mosques in the Al-Qarara area, northeast of the Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

On Friday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets warning residents of Khan Younis to evacuate to ensure their safety, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources told Xinhua that the Israel Defense Forces declared Khan Younis as a "dangerous fighting zone", and demanded residents in the areas east of the city to take shelter in Rafah near the Egyptian border.

The Israeli army said in a statement on Saturday that it had attacked 400 targets over the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, including 50 targets in Khan Younis. 
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Syracuse, N.Y.  A Jefferson County man pleaded guilty in Syracuse federal court this week to possessing a half-pound of cocaine and selling ghost guns.

Adam Cook, 33, of Clayton, faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing in April, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York said in a news release. He pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in connection with drug trafficking.

Police searched Cooks home in September 2020 after finding cocaine in several vehicles that were seen coming and going from his house, investigators said in a criminal complaint.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General Martin Chungong said that COP28 will offer an opportunity to assess global efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




Syracuse, N.Y.  Syracuse police on Friday released the name of a driver  a 15-year-old boy  who died when a stolen car crashed into a wall while being chased by police.

ZyMier Zulueta was in a stolen Kia when police spotted it around 3:25 a.m. Thursday in the area of South Salina and West Onondaga streets, said Lt. Matthew Malinowski, a Syracuse police spokesperson.

Police tried to stop the vehicle, but it drove off. The vehicle eventually crashed into a stone wall at Seymour Street and South Wilbur Avenue, Malinowski said.

Zulueta was the only occupant in the vehicle, Malinowski said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Zulueta was a sophomore at Fowler High School, said Michael Henesey, a Syracuse city school district spokesperson. A running website that tracks times for students athletes lists him as a track and field athlete. He does not appear on current rosters for the schools team.

The crash was within walking distance of the school. At first students attempting to walk to school were stopped by police. Later, police allowed students to walk through the scene to get to school; the body was still hidden by privacy screens.

Police initially reported the driver was an adult man. The driver appeared to be a young adult after a preliminary examination of the scene, Malinowski said. The severity of the crash made the assessment challenging, he said.

The states Attorney Generals Office was notified of the fatal pursuit, as required by state law. The AGs Office reviews all fatal incidents involving state and local police.

Staff writer Fernando Alba covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, question or comment? Reach him at falba@syracuse.com
Syracuse, NY -- Syracuse Community Health Center will cut the ribbon Friday evening on its new $22.5 million main facility along South Salina Street, a block from its longtime home.

It will be open to patients on Dec. 11.

The health center, which caters to 30,000 primarily low-income residents, has been planning the new facility for more than a decade. But after nearly scrapping the plans a few years ago, the project came to fruition with the help of $19 million in state money.

The 56,000-square-foot facility at 930 S. Salina St. is actually smaller than the centers 70-year-old home, but is intended to provide a better patient experience due to better design. The original facility, at 819 S. Salina St., is really three buildings that have been connected over the years.

The new facility includes an improved, more welcoming breast care center, as well as the centers primary care, dental services, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology services. Quick Care and behavioral services will remain at the old facility.

The center, founded in 1978, is one of about 1,300 community health centers nationwide created by federal legislation that provides some funding for the facilities. The centers are required by law to cater to medically underserved populations. The health center is open to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

For many years, it has been a dream of SCH to construct a modern facility with the latest in medical design concepts on the South Side of Syracuse, Mark Hall, president and CEO of Syracuse Community Health, said in a news release.

The new home is one of several projects that are transforming the southern gateway to downtown Syracuse. JMA Wirelesss $50 million factory is adjacent to the south, while a new housing and commercial development, Salina 1st, is readying construction across the street. Not far away, Syracuses old central high school is being returned to use as a STEAM school that will welcome students from the city and across Onondaga County.
Happy weekend everyone. We at NY Cannabis Insider have been covering some important developments in New Yorks legal weed industry, and considering the less than ideal weather, why not spend some time indoors checking out the stories we covered.

Lets recap:

New Yorks Cannabis Control Board unanimously voted to approve a settlement agreement, which will lift an injunction currently preventing hundreds of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries from opening  if NY State Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant approves the motion.

The injunction came as part of a lawsuit brought against the state by four service-disabled veterans who intend to apply for dispensary licenses. The veterans were later joined by the Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis  a group representing some of New Yorks medical cannabis companies that is also suing the CCB in a separate case, and has also entered into a proposed settlement agreement with state regulators.

We also ran a story about details of the proposed settlements in the two lawsuits, which  if approved  will award retail licenses and site protection to the plaintiffs.

It will also mark the second and third time the state has resolved challenges to the constitutionality of its CAURD program by issuing licenses (Variscite NY One filed suit in September of 2022 and the CCB later settled and granted the company a retail license).



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Colin Decker, owner and founder of 7 SEAZ  New Yorks first legacy-to-legal adult-use cannabis brand  contributed a guest column, which takes New York cannabis regulators to task for restrictions theyve put on marketing for weed companies.

Many have questioned why the now legal cannabis market is so excessively over regulated from a marketing standpoint and almost demonized in its existence by those who have written the rules, Decker wrote.

NY Cannabis Insider held its final live event of 2023 in White Plains on Nov. 16, and we ran a story recapping the extensive weed industry content featured at the all-day conference.

Held at the Sonesta White Plains Downtown, the event featured panel discussions about the state of New Yorks legal cannabis industry in addition to 10 breakout sessions in which experts ran basic and advanced clinics on topics including accounting, insurance, real estate and more.

We published a story looking into some medical cannabis companies and ancillary services operating in New York that are possibly violating state regulations by advertising discounted registration appointments to medical patients.

Cannabis telemedicine company Leafwell, in partnership with medical cannabis company Curaleaf  and possibly other medical operators in New York  have been emailing medical cannabis patients who have subscribed to mailing lists with offers of lower-cost telehealth certifications. Both companies said they only send these mailers to patients who actively opt in to their list.

Lastly, we added a new entry to our People to know in NY cannabis series: Niriksha Kannan, director of people & social impact at LeafLink, a wholesale cannabis marketplace.

Have a great weekend, well have plenty more for you next week.
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A house damaged by rockets fired by Israeli military helicopters is pictured in Al-Jabayn, Lebanon on Dec. 2, 2023.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms on Oct. 8 in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Saturday called for Arab support to rebuild a sustainable green economy in Lebanon in light of the Israeli attacks and their harmful effects on his country's agriculture and environment, according to a statement released by Lebanon's Council of Ministers.

At the ongoing 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mikati called for the expansion of the financing scope of the 30-billion-U.S. dollar climate-focused investment fund, which was set up by the UAE to support clean energy and other climate projects worldwide.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms on Oct. 8 in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

Mikati said Israel's attacks had destroyed over five million square meters of forests and agricultural lands, as well as thousands of olive trees in Lebanon, depriving tens of thousands of people living in border areas of a vital source of income and exposing the country to the harsh effects of environmental degradation.

The Lebanese prime minister also called for the implementation of concrete measures at the COP28 to pave the way for a sustainable future for all. 

A house damaged by rockets fired by Israeli military helicopters is pictured in Al-Jabayn, Lebanon on Dec. 2, 2023.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms on Oct. 8 in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua)

A man shoots a video of a house damaged by rockets fired by Israeli military helicopters in Al-Jabayn, Lebanon on Dec. 2, 2023.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms on Oct. 8 in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Xinhua)
Editor's take: I couldn't image trying to build something even halfway comparable. Even if I had the creativity required to come up with something in the same ballpark, the sheer amount of time that a project like this would require would keep me at bay.

CyberPowerPC showcased an incredibly imaginative chassis at CES 2022. The Kinetic case featured 18 motorized triangular vents on the front bezel that open and close based on the system's internal temperature.

The mid-tower was expected to launch in the third quarter of 2022 for $249. Nearly two years after its debut, however, it is still not available. With no launch window in sight, one YouTuber decided to take matters into his own hands and build something similar from scratch.

Ideal Idea spent months coming up with a custom, "really complicated" design. He used his existing PC case as the foundation and built around it using mostly plywood that was precision cut using a laser cutter. Think of it like a large slide-on cover for the existing case.

The starring attraction is the kinetic front panel. The front panel actually ended up being two different panels, each with a different design. The less complex of the two was inspired by a stained glass window while the second, far more complex honeycomb-style design features an array of small hexagon pistons that move in and out.

The end result is incredibly impressive, especially considering the complexity. The first design featured just 14 moving parts. The second was to utilize a staggering 885 moving pieces but as you will see, there was a ton of trial and error and just too many moving parts. The inner workings had to be modified to get everything to behave but in the end, it all still came together.

I can now understand why CyberPowerPC hasn't brought their kinetic case to market yet. Manufacturing must be a nightmare. Hopefully, they will be able to get everything ironed out and deliver on a truly unique design.
As the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) nears, a pivotal gathering for climate action, scientists are racing to establish a unified measure defining global warming thresholds, this report shared by Phys.org tells us.

The urgency stems from a startling revelation: there's currently no globally agreed-upon method to define the current level of global warming in line with the Paris Agreement.

The Paris 1.5 Threshold Breached

In an article published in Nature ahead of COP28, a team of Met Office scientists led by Professor Richard Betts MBE highlighted this critical gap.

They emphasized that while the global average temperature in any given year is well-documented, it's insufficient to determine if the "Paris 1.5" threshold has been breached. The Paris Agreement aims to address long-term warming rather than singular annual fluctuations.

"We're in dire need of clarity on breaching the Paris Agreement guard rails," Professor Betts stressed. "Without an agreement on what actually will count as exceeding 1.5C, we risk distraction and confusion at precisely the time when action to avoid the worst effects of climate change becomes even more urgent."

Global Warming Indicator

The proposed solution? A novel indicator combining the last decade of global temperature observations with forecasts for the next ten years. If universally adopted, this metric could trigger immediate action to curb further temperature rises.

According to their assessment, the current global warming level stands at approximately 1.26C, with an uncertain range of 1.13C to 1.43C. Alarmingly, there's a likelihood that one of the next five years might surpass the 1.5C mark.

However, defining what signifies breaching the Paris Agreement's threshold remains a challenge. The Earth's climate system experiences natural variability, causing annual temperature fluctuations within narrow margins. Distinguishing human-induced warming from these natural shifts is crucial.

To complement the proposed indicators, the Met Office has introduced a new section in their Climate Dashboard. The "Indicators of Global Warming" dashboard displays eight distinct measures, providing a comprehensive overview using Met Office HadCRUT5 data.

Read Also: NASA, IBM Forge Next-Gen AI Weather Model, Advanced Climate Forecast Technology

The urgency in establishing a consensus metric arises from the Paris Agreement's ambiguity regarding defining the present level of global warming. With various methods yielding different estimates of temperature rise, there's a pressing need for a singular, universally agreed-upon metric.

"The lack of a standardized metric complicates our ability to assess and respond to crossing the 1.5C threshold," scientists argue.

The proposed 20-year average centered around the present year serves as a potential solution. By blending a decade's worth of observations with climate projections for the next ten years, this metric could align with IPCC definitions while providing an instant indicator of ongoing warming.

While these efforts are underway, 2023 seems poised to set another record as one of the warmest years on record, following the trend since 2015.

This consistent trend, encompassing highs and lows of natural climate variability, serves as a poignant reminder of human-induced climate change's dominance in recent years.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: AlGreen: Hong Kong Graduates Harness Microalgae Innovation to Tackle Climate Change

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Hyundai Motor America reported a monumental achievement in its November sales figures, marking an exceptional 11% increase compared to the same period last year, Electrek details in a report.

The 70,079 units sold not only reflected a remarkable surge but also solidified the brand's 16-month consecutive sales growth, affirming Hyundai's sustained upward trajectory in the automotive market.

Hyundai's Record-Breaking Sales

A standout in this historic November sales is the astounding performance of the Hyundai IONIQ 5, propelling Hyundai's electric vehicle segment to new heights.

The IONIQ 5 witnessed an extraordinary surge in sales, soaring an impressive 99% above the figures recorded in November of the previous year. This surge is a testament to the evolving landscape of the electric vehicle market and Hyundai's proactive role within it.

Throughout the year, Hyundai has demonstrated consistent growth with its EV lineup, notably showcasing the IONIQ 5's ascent. The model has witnessed an exponential increase in demand, with over 30,000 units sold this year, marking a substantial 44% surge compared to the same period last year.

The company's strategic push in the EV segment continues to pay dividends as Hyundai maintains its stance as a formidable player in the electric vehicle market.

Read Also: Ford Loses $1.7 Billion in Profits Following 6-Week UAW Strike

Hyundai's Top-Selling EV Lineup

The surge in IONIQ 5 sales is not an isolated triumph for Hyundai's electric vehicle enterprises. The company's commitment to innovation and sustainability is reflected in the across-the-board success of its models.

The IONIQ 6 witnessed a 12% rise in sales from October, showcasing a growing interest in Hyundai's dedicated EV lineup.

Moreover, the Hyundai Kona, another crucial player in the electric vehicle domain, experienced a commendable 25% sales increase in November, underlining the widespread consumer appeal for Hyundai's EV offerings.

Hyundai Gains More Ground in the EV Market

In the fiercely competitive US EV market, Hyundai's surge in sales has propelled the brand to the second position, trailing only behind industry giant Tesla.

The registration data from Automotive News underscores Hyundai and Kia's joint claim of 7.5% of the market, surpassing notable contenders such as GM's Chevy and Ford.

While Tesla continues to dominate with a significant 57.4% market share, Hyundai's notable rise signifies a substantial shift in consumer preferences toward electric vehicles beyond the Tesla brand.

Despite the absence of qualification for the EV tax credit, Hyundai has managed to incentivize its electric vehicle purchases by offering a complimentary EV charger with the lease or purchase of select models. This strategic move underscores Hyundai's commitment to furthering its foothold in the rapidly evolving EV market.

Hyundai's President, Jose Munoz, expressed unwavering confidence in the brand's EV trajectory, noting a doubling of EV sales year-over-year.

Munoz's optimism resonates with Hyundai's ongoing construction of its inaugural EV and battery plant in the US, a $5.5 billion endeavor that aims to bolster Hyundai's EV production capacity significantly.

The plant, set to be operational by October next year, is pivotal in Hyundai's bid to qualify for the EV tax credit, a move anticipated to further amplify the momentum of its electric vehicle sales.

Munoz emphasized Hyundai's proactive stance, stating, "Based on what I see, I need more. If I had more capacity today, I could sell more cars."

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Hyundai, Kia Unveil Revolutionary 'Uni Wheel' Drive System, Redefining Electric Vehicle Efficiency

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The European Union's (EU) AI Act faces uncertainty as disagreement among lawmakers regarding the regulation of advanced AI, including models like ChatGPT, jeopardizes the landmark legislation.

Negotiations focusing on 'foundation models,' such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI, have hit an impasse, posing a risk of shelving the act before the upcoming European parliamentary elections.

Sources said 'foundation models', or generative AI, have become the main obstacle in talks over the European Union's proposed AI Act as negotiators meet on Friday for crucial talks before final talks on Dec. 6, according to Reuters.

The EU Parliament approved the AI Act in June after two years of negotiations. However, discussions on the regulation of foundation models have become a major hurdle as lawmakers from France, Germany, and Italy advocate for self-regulation by generative AI makers, contrary to stringent rules.





The ongoing talks also address issues such as the definition of AI, source code access, fines, and fundamental rights impact assessment. Disagreements persist over the use of AI by law enforcement for biometric identification.

Delayed Action Could Affect Businesses

Kirsten Rulf from Boston Consulting Group highlights concerns about legal uncertainty affecting European industries, emphasizing the need for clarity around the EU AI Act for business as "European businesses would like to plan" for 2024.



With Spain holding the EU presidency until year-end, proposed compromises aim to speed up the process. If no agreement is reached in December, the next presidency in Belgium faces a limited window before potential postponement ahead of European elections.

France's successful persuasion of Italy and Germany to support self-regulation marked a turning point in negotiations, which had previously progressed smoothly. The proposed approach faces criticism from EU officials, AI researchers, and companies like Mistral and Aleph Alpha.



Time previously reported that the influential provisions of the EU's groundbreaking AI Act may undergo dilution as the governments of France, Germany, and Italy advocate for a more lenient approach to regulating potent models, termed foundation models, integral to diverse artificial intelligence applications.

Read Also: Elon Musk's X Facing Mass Exodus of Advertisers After Controversial Rant: Experts



These three major economies suggest a proposal for self-regulation by AI companies working on foundation models in a document that the publication disclosed and shared with European Parliament and Commission officials.

The tech companies would voluntarily disclose specific information about their models and commit to codes of conduct.

Initially, non-compliance with these rules would not incur penalties, although future violations could lead to consequences.

Significance of the EU AI Act

The EU AI Act represents a pioneering global legal framework for the AI sector. In contrast to the U.S. government's executive order on AI, which lacks clarity on enforcement, the EU Act outlines potential fines based on global revenue.

This move may necessitate major tech players like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to align their strategies with EU requirements.

The Brussels Effect, wherein EU rules often become the de facto international standard, is anticipated to influence these tech giants, similar to their adjustments to the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation, the EU's harsh privacy law.



Historically, the EU has taken an adversarial stance against US technology giants, imposing substantial fines and enacting comprehensive legislation on digital markets.



Rather than succumbing to calls for a pause in AI development, the current EU AI Act introduces a flexible approach through a sliding scale of requirements, as per a report from Barron's. This allows existing AI leaders to continue innovating but may impose additional costs, potentially challenging startups.



The draft AI Act emphasizes heightened regulation for the next generation of foundation models. This category includes anticipated future versions of Microsoft-backed OpenAI's GPT, models from Google and Meta Platforms, and US startup Anthropic, backed by Google and Amazon.



Related Article: OpenAI's ChatGPT Marks First Anniversary, Emerges as Fastest-Growing Consumer App in History

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
This photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows a mobile health monitoring station exhibited in the Digital TCM Industry Innovation Exhibition Center at TCM Sci-Tech Innovation City in Ganjiang New Area, east China's Jiangxi Province.(Xinhua)

NANCHANG, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- It is the seventh year that 27-year-old Fahad Kabeer studying traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, the only university in east China's Jiangxi Province that provides TCM education for international students.

He was very excited to experience how modern technology helps traditional medicine become more "intelligent" during an exhibition in 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Forum on Traditional Medicine which opened on Thursday in Jiangxi, and that has greatly changed his former impression on TCM.

Putting his face into the device and showing his tongue, an "artificial intelligence (AI) doctor" shaped like a capsule can proceed data analysis through his face and tongue images.

"This is just like to 'observe' in the traditional Chinese medicine," Kabeer said. "My pulse statistics can also be automatically collected through the pulse detector, with the support of massive big data uploaded, the 'AI doctor' can help for better diagnosis and treatment."

After the prescription is issued, it only takes 20 seconds for the smart devices to dispense medicines, and the auto-decoction machine would help the patients in decocting the herbal medicines in an efficient and scientific manner, ensuring a better curative effect.

As the saying goes, good medicine depends on good materials. But how can such an "unmanned" system ensure the quality of medicinal materials? Zeng Ji from the Digital TCM Industry Innovation Exhibition Center at TCM Sci-Tech Innovation City in Ganjiang New Area, explained that the source of authentic medicinal materials can be traced through the digital management platform.

"The medicinal materials prescribed by doctors can be seen in real time through the screen, and the monitored statistics of the soil, water source, and atmospheric environment where the herbs growing can be clearly indicated, so that the quality and security of medicinal materials can be strictly controlled," Zeng said.

"With the help of modern technology, traditional medicine will become more 'intelligent.' While experiencing an efficient and convenient medical treatment, the tracing system will guarantee the security of medicinal materials," said Kabeer.

Over the years, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has provided an important platform, which continuously promotes TCM to the world.

Rahman Shah, deputy secretary of the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination in Pakistan, noted that China and Pakistan had broad prospects for cooperation in the field of traditional medicine.

The official believes that China is heading in the field of traditional medicine education, and more and more Pakistani students will come to China to learn TCM in the future. 
In response to ongoing cyber threats, Apple has rolled out critical security updates for iPhones, iPads, and Macs to patch two actively exploited vulnerabilities.

The technology giant released iOS and iPadOS 17.1.2, along with macOS 14.1.2, addressing the vulnerabilities identified by security researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group.



WebKit, Safari's browser engine, and other programs were updated on Thursday to fix vulnerabilities that allow hackers to remotely insert malware, including spyware, onto users' devices over the internet, per TechCrunch. Apple had little time to fix "zero-day" vulnerabilities before they were exploited.



According to Apple's security advisories, the issues might have been exploited in versions of iOS predating iOS 16.7.1, released on October 11. In addition to iOS and iPadOS updates, Apple also introduced Safari 17.1.2 for users on older versions of macOS Monterey and macOS Ventura.

Google's Swift Response to Vulnerability

Apple and Google have not pointed fingers at malicious groups or governments using these zero-day vulnerabilities. Both firms have not published vulnerability specifics.



The zero-day Chrome vulnerability was fixed this week by Google, which acknowledged an attack "in the wild." Google's quick response, fixing the Chrome bug within four days, contrasts with Apple's resolution of the issue reported by Google researchers in under a week.



Notably, the WebKit vulnerabilities in iOS and iPadOS are significant, considering that all web browsers on these platforms currently rely on Apple's rendering engine. However, upcoming changes mandated by the EU's Digital Markets Act may allow users to sideload apps on iPhones and iPads, potentially altering this scenario, according to Thurrott.

Read Also: Weird Al's Surprise Message in Spotify Wrapped Puts Spotlight on Streaming Royalties



For Mac users running macOS Monterey or macOS Ventura, the Safari update addressing the same WebKit vulnerabilities is available. Unlike iOS and iPadOS, Mac users have the flexibility to use web browsers employing rendering engines other than Apple's WebKit, reducing the impact of these vulnerabilities.

Install iOS 17.1.2 Immediately for Critical Security Fixes

iOS 17.1.2 is a pivotal security update, emphasizing immediate application due to its exclusive focus on security. Released ahead of iOS 17.2, this update contains no additional features or bug fixes.



For users still on iOS 16, particularly 16.7.1, upgrading to iOS 17.1.2 is strongly advised, addressing vulnerabilities exploited in iPhones running iOS 16.7.1. Despite not being labeled as a Rapid Security Response update, Apple stresses the need for manual applications to ensure user awareness and prompt device security, according to Forbes.



The vulnerabilities, reported by Clement Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group, carry the potential for spyware-related attacks, underscoring the urgency of immediate action. Sean Wright, Head of Application Security at Featurespace, highlights the severity of the potential consequences, urging users to manually update to iOS 17.1.2, even with automatic updates enabled.



Take proactive measures by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update and securing your iPhone promptly with iOS 17.1.2.

Related Article: ScamClub Malvertising Campaign Infects ESPN, Other News Sites With Fake McAfee Alerts

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Dr. Mandy Cohen, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), briefed a congressional subcommittee on Thursday, providing crucial updates on the surge of respiratory illnesses in the US, notably those attributed to the flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).



Cohen highlighted the current peak of RSV, particularly in the southern regions of the US, per CNN. Simultaneously, the flu season is commencing, with an anticipated acceleration throughout December and January.

Although COVID-19 levels are relatively low, it remains the predominant cause of new respiratory hospitalizations and deaths, accounting for approximately 15,000 hospitalizations and 1,000 deaths per week.



Emphasizing the significance of vaccination against these respiratory viruses, Cohen urged Americans to promptly get vaccinated.

She underscored the critical need for testing and early treatment if symptoms arise, given that antiviral drugs are most effective in the initial stages of infection.





Current vaccination rates indicate that over a third of adults and children have received their flu shot. However, only 16% of adults and 6% of children have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, about 15% of older adults (60 and older) have been vaccinated against RSV.



The southern and western regions of the US are witnessing heightened respiratory virus activity. Warren County in Ohio reported an "outbreak" of pediatric pneumonia cases, contributing to the three-quarters capacity of pediatric hospital beds nationwide, the highest since mid-December 2022.

Experts Urge Public to Take Precautions

Pediatric hospitalizations due to respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, flu, and RSV, have been increasing. RSV is emerging as the most common among children. The CDC is closely monitoring the situation, urging vigilance during this respiratory virus season.



As flu season intensifies, Alicia Budd, leading the CDC's flu surveillance team, noted "continued increases" in flu cases. USA Today reported that health experts recommend vaccinations for both influenza and COVID-19, given the overlapping symptoms. One infection can heighten susceptibility to others by weakening the immune system.

Read Also: Dreamore App Offers Dream Interpretation Through the Power of AI



In addition to vaccinations, health experts advise adopting six healthy habits to stay safe during this season:

Get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines.

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when sneezing or coughing.

Stay home if you feel symptomatic to prevent the spread of the illness.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.

Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

New Swine Flu Strain Detected in Human

Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency reported the detection of a new swine flu type, A (H1N2)v, clade 1b.1.1, in a human, according to Fortune. Although the patient recovered fully, health authorities are investigating the possibility of community spread, emphasizing the need for swift action to trace contacts and assess the risk to humans.



As the nation faces this surge in respiratory illnesses, health officials stress the importance of vaccination, preventive measures, and early intervention to mitigate the impact of these viruses.

Related Article: US Records Highest-Ever Suicide Rate in 2022 with Over 49,000 Deaths: CDC

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Tesla's long-anticipated Cybertruck made its grand debut during a livestream event led by Elon Musk at the Texas Gigafactory.

The electric stainless-steel pickup, a spectacle in itself, is the automaker's first major release since the Model Y in 2019. Despite the hype, questions linger about its practicality and market reception.

Cybertruck's Controversial Delay

Announced in 2019, the Cybertruck encountered a challenging journey to production, exacerbated by four years of design complexities and supply-chain disruptions during the pandemic.

Musk presented the vehicle in an event featuring a video showcasing its ability to tow a Porsche 911 and a demonstration of its bulletproof nature.

Porsche 911 vs Cybertruck towing Porsche 911. pic.twitter.com/04EfaB01Fb  Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) November 30, 2023



Related Article: Tesla Cyberquad for Kids: $1,900 Electric Ride Returns, Meeting Safety Requirements

Ludicrous Price Tag of Cybertruck

Initially promised to start at $39,900, the Cybertruck's starting price now stands at $60,990, as per Tesla's website.

The top-end model, dubbed the "cyberbeast," boasts 845 horsepower and a 340-mile battery range, commanding a hefty $99,990. This disappointed many customers who were hoping for a price cut.

Mixed Reactions and Market Predictions

Gene Munster from Deepwater Asset Management expressed disappointment in the pricing, echoing potential reservations.

Morgan Stanley anticipates a modest 50 Cybertruck deliveries this year, with a slight increase to 30,000 in the following year. The market response is expected to be lukewarm, mirroring the challenges faced by rivals like Rivian.

Design Dilemma: Love It or Hate It?

A central puzzle surrounding the Cybertruck is its polarizing design, described by Tesla as "built for any planet."

"We dug our own grave with Cybertruck. Special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market, to reach volume, and to be prosperous. It's fundamental to the nature of the newness," Elon said on a recent Tesla earnings call.

While Musk hails it as groundbreaking, opinions on platforms like Reddit suggest otherwise, Business Insider reports. Critics argue that the truck's unconventional appearance may deter traditional pickup truck consumers, especially in states like Texas and Wyoming.

The Guardian reports that even The Carlab's president Eric Noble thought that Cybertruck was not really into pickup truck users. Apparently, it has a "much narrower appeal" compared to the F or Ram series.

As for Paul Waatti of AutoPacific, Tesla will have a smaller audience than SUVs are expected to have. He adds that despite that, the company will do a great job in selling its newest EV in the market.

Cybertruck's Fate is Still Not Certain

Despite Musk's confidence in the Cybertruck as Tesla's "best product," uncertainties loom over its acceptance in the market. With production challenges, pricing concerns, and design critiques, the Cybertruck's fate remains uncertain.

For more news and updates about the newly-launched Tesla Cybertruck, you can click this link to know more information about it in the coming days or weeks.

Read Also: Elon Musk's Cybertruck Now Shatterproof, Bulletproof

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The Biden administration unveiled proposed regulations with the aim of reshaping the production landscape for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and their powering materials within the United States.

(Photo : ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A worker quality control checks a newly manufactured Nissan Qashqai on the production line at the Nissan factory in Sunderland, north east England on November 24, 2023, where the Japanese vehicle manufacturer announced it will produce electric models of two best-selling cars.

Curbing China from EV Tax Credits

This strategic move seeks to reduce China's dominance in this critical industry, as reported by Electrek. The regulations specifically target the involvement of Chinese firms in supplying materials for EVs eligible for federal tax credits.

Additionally, companies seeking federal funding to establish battery factories in the U.S. will face discouragement from sourcing materials from China or Russia. The objective is to stimulate changes in automotive supply chains, fostering a shift away from heavy reliance on China for EV components.

Automakers, under pressure to adapt their factories for EV production, often turn to China for advanced yet cost-effective battery technology. The Biden administration's push involves substantial federal funding to establish a robust U.S. supply chain for electric vehicles.

Also Read: Vermont Lawmakers Considers Mileage-Based Tax Credits on Electric Vehicles

In 2022, President Biden signed a climate law offering consumers up to $7,500 in tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in the U.S. with predominantly domestic materials.

Designed to promote domestic production, CBS News reported that the law also imposed a blanket ban on products from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, preventing these countries' firms from supplying certain materials to tax-credit-eligible cars.

However, uncertainties persisted, especially regarding the definition of a Chinese or Russian company. Administration officials clarified that these entities encompass those incorporated or headquartered in China or Russia, as well as firms where the Chinese or Russian governments hold 25 percent of board seats or equity interest.

Chinese companies operating outside China may still benefit from the rules, provided the Chinese government isn't a significant shareholder. This provision relieved automakers, alleviating concerns that the Biden administration might restrict their engagement with Chinese-owned facilities globally, including those in the US.

Facing Opposition

Ford Motor's decision to license technology from the Chinese battery giant CATL for a facility in Marshall, Mich., faced opposition from some conservative lawmakers. They contended that partnerships of this nature should be ineligible for federal tax credits, expressing concerns about dependency on China.

On Friday, The New York Times reported that certain Republican lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction, asserting that the guidance from the Treasury Department falls short of reducing the country's reliance on China.

Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, criticized the new regulations, suggesting that they could potentially channel American tax dollars to Chinese companies engaged in trade violations and forced labor abuses.

Related Article: IRS Lists Only 6 Electric Vehicles to Still Qualify for Full $7,500 Federal Tax Credit

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Stepping boldly into the realm of futuristic mobility, Detroit, renowned as the historic epicenter of the US auto industry, has implemented the country's inaugural wireless-charging public roadway designed for electric vehicles.

(Photo : Electreon)

In February 2022, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, in coordination with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced that Electreon had won a tender to deploy a 1 mile (1.61 km) wireless Electric Road System in downtown Detroit, Michigan.

MDOT and Electreon Collaborative

In a concerted effort involving the city, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and Electreon, seek to assess and refine the technology that holds the potential to transform the power and operational dynamics of electric vehicles.

Beneath the surface of a quarter-mile stretch along 14th Street, Interesting Engineering reported that this lies a revolutionary wireless-charging roadway featuring copper inductive charging coils.

These coils, strategically embedded, have the capability to transfer electricity wirelessly through a magnetic field to vehicles equipped with Electreon receivers. The groundbreaking technology allows for the charging of vehicle batteries seamlessly while they drive, idle, or park above the coils.

Importantly, the coils are activated exclusively when a vehicle with a receiver passes over them, ensuring the safety of pedestrians, motorists, and animals utilizing the roadway.

Also Read: Chinese Automaker Unveils Pollution-Free Car Made With Plastic, Seaweed

The groundbreaking initiative introduced in 2021 by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer plays a pivotal role within the Michigan Central Innovation District. This district serves as a strategic hub dedicated to advancing technologies and fostering initiatives specifically designed to address the challenges within the realm of mobility.

As per a report from Axios, Ford Motor Co. is actively engaged in the extensive restoration of the historic Michigan Central train station located within the innovation district. The vision behind this effort is to transform the station into a central hub for the development of self-driving vehicles, reflecting the forward-looking approach of the automotive industry.

In a practical testing environment, researchers are actively involved in evaluating the wireless charging technology using a Ford E-Transit equipped with an Electreon receiver. The ultimate goal of this research is to ensure the accessibility of wireless charging technology to the public in the coming years.



This real-world scenario not only tests the viability of the technology but also aligns with the broader mission of integrating innovative solutions into everyday mobility practices.

A Bright Future

Moreover, a five-year commitment has been established by MDOT and Electreon to develop and test an electric road system on Michigan's roadways.

Adjacent to the station, Electreon has strategically installed two static inductive charging stations, offering charging capabilities for vehicles equipped with Electreon technology while parked.

In 2024, MDOT plans to solicit bids for the reconstruction of a section of Michigan Avenue (US-12) and the installation of additional inductive charging infrastructure.

Beyond the domestic landscape, Electreon has secured contracts for similar projects in Israel, Sweden, Italy, and Germany. The firm contends that its innovative technology can reduce battery size, weight, and cost while addressing concerns related to range anxiety and emissions.

Related Article: EVs Give More Headaches to Owners, Says Consumer Reports Data

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Walmart has joined the list of major advertisers pulling ads from Elon Musk's social media platform, X, citing concerns about hate speech and a preference for platforms better suited to reach their customers.

According to the Associated Press, this move follows a recent outburst from Musk during an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, wherein he accused companies halting spending on X of engaging in "blackmail" and advised them not to advertise.

"We aren't advertising on X as we've found some other platforms better reach our customers," the retail giant said in a statement on Friday.

Walmart Joins Companies in Boycotting Ads on X

Walmart is now part of a growing list of companies, including Walt Disney Co., IBM, NBCUniversal, and Comcast, that have chosen to cease advertising on X.

X, formerly known as Twitter, has faced criticism for its lax content moderation, leading to concerns among advertisers about their ads appearing alongside inappropriate content.

The platform's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal executive hired by Elon Musk to rebuild ties with advertisers, has struggled to improve relations with companies worried about the proliferation of hateful and toxic speech.

Despite efforts to rebuild advertiser trust, Musk's recent explicit remarks directed at advertisers during the DealBook summit have escalated the controversy. Musk defiantly stated, "If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or blackmail me with money, go f--- yourself."

Amid the upheaval, Joe Benarroch, X's Head of Operations, highlighted the platform's substantial user base, citing Walmart's community of over a million people on X.

Additionally, with half a billion users on X, the platform garners 15 billion impressions annually during the holiday season alone, and over 50% of X users conduct the majority or entirety of their online shopping.

Read Also: Tech Times Weekly Wrap: Elon Musk Shares Letter About OpenAI Executives, Sam Altman's Reinstatement, Spotify's Royalty

Elon Musk Acknowledges Financial Consequences

Elon Musk acknowledged the potential financial consequences of an extended advertiser boycott, admitting it could lead to X's bankruptcy. However, he placed the blame for such a collapse on the brands rather than on himself.

Concerns have been voiced by analysts, including Tom Forte from D.A. Davidson & Co., that additional companies could join the trend of pausing advertisements on X, adding complexity to the platform's financial prospects.

The monthly ad revenue of X in the United States has witnessed a notable decline since Musk took over in October 2022, reportedly showing a year-over-year decrease of at least 55% each month, according to Reuters.

This financial downturn intensifies the challenges for X's subscription initiatives, potentially requiring more than half of its revenue to be generated from subscriptions to compensate for the decrease in ad revenue.

Related Article: Elon Musk Shares 'Disturbing' Letter About Sam Altman, Greg Brockman from Alleged Former OpenAI Employees

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In a fascinating revelation, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured an image featuring a previously elusive dusty galaxy, the AzTECC71.

According to Phys.org, this enigmatic object was initially observed as a glowing blob through ground-based telescopes and then completely disappeared in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, it has reappeared in a distinct form through the lens of the JWST.

Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy

Astronomers from the COSMOS-Web collaboration have detected AzTECC71 as a dusty star-forming galaxy, a celestial entity actively generating numerous new stars while being veiled in a shroud of dust.

This particular galaxy is believed to have existed around 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery challenges previous assumptions about the rarity of such galaxies in the early universe, suggesting they may be three to 10 times more common than initially thought.

In a statement, Jed McKinney, a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin, expressed excitement about the findings, describing AzTECC71 as a "real monster" forming hundreds of new stars annually.

"Even though it looks like a little blob, it's actually forming hundreds of new stars every year. And the fact that even something that extreme is barely visible in the most sensitive imaging from our newest telescope is so exciting to me. It's potentially telling us there's a whole population of galaxies that have been hiding from us," McKinney said.

The COSMOS-Web project, a major JWST research initiative, spearheads efforts to map up to one million galaxies within a specific region of the sky. Co-led by Caitlin Casey, an associate professor at UT Austin, the project aims to explore the earliest structures of the universe.

The initiative has already identified more than a dozen additional candidates, contributing to understanding galaxy evolution.

Read Also: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Captures New Breathtaking Display of Star Formation

Hubble-Dark Galaxies

Dusty star-forming galaxies are challenging to observe in optical light due to the absorption of starlight by dust, which is re-emitted at longer wavelengths, according to the research team. Traditionally referred to as "Hubble-dark galaxies," these entities were primarily observed from optical perspectives.

With its enhanced sensitivity and capability to operate in the infrared spectrum, the JWST provides a groundbreaking opportunity to study these heavily dust-obscured galaxies' optical and infrared properties.

AzTECC71 was initially detected as a vague dust emission by the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. Subsequent observations using the ALMA telescope in Chile and the JWST revealed the galaxy's presence, demonstrating the JWST's ability to pierce through thick dusty veils and explore hidden aspects of the universe.

This discovery prompts a reevaluation of the understanding of the early universe, suggesting it might have been significantly dustier than previously believed.

As the COSMOS-Web project continues its observations, astronomers anticipate unveiling more of these JWST-faint galaxies and gaining deeper insights into the obscured realms of cosmic evolution.

The estimated redshift of AzTECC71 places it around 900 million years after the Big Bang, adding a valuable piece to the cosmic puzzle. The findings of the study were published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Related Article: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Uncovers Methane in Exoplanet Wasp-80 b

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Scientists from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the University of Copenhagen, and Caltech have advanced the capabilities of artificially intelligent algorithms by adding a new dimension - taste. Wine apps like Vivino, Hello Vino, and Wine Searcher already employ AI algorithms to assist users in selecting wines based on labels and reviews.

Now, the researchers have demonstrated that integrating people's flavor impressions into these algorithms enhances their precision in predicting individual taste preferences, Tech Xplore reported.

How An Algorithm Acquired 'Taste'

The study involved 256 participants in wine tastings, arranging shot-sized cups of different wines based on perceived similarities. The researchers digitized the tasting data, combining it with hundreds of thousands of wine labels and user reviews from Vivino.

Using this extensive dataset, an algorithm was developed to incorporate the dimension of flavor, enabling users to find wines similar in taste or both taste and price to their favorites.

Thoranna Bender, a graduate student at DTU, highlighted the algorithm's potential, saying, "I can stand with my favorite bottle of wine and say, I would like to know which wine is most similar to it in taste-or both in taste and price."

The study's co-author and professor Serge Belongie from the University of Copenhagen emphasized the significance of using human sensory experiences in machine learning, noting that it results in better algorithms for users. Incorporating taste as a data source in AI is novel and holds promise, particularly in the food sector.

Read Also: What Happens When AI Is Asked to Create a Bomb? Study Reveals LLMs' Susceptibility to 'Jailbreaks'

Food Science and AI

Belongie anticipated increased research at the intersection of food science and AI, emphasizing the importance of understanding taste for achieving healthy, sustainable food production.

While the use of AI in this context is in its early stages, the study showcases the potential of human-based inputs in enhancing AI capabilities. Bender suggested that the method can be applied to other types of food and beverages, such as beer and coffee.

The approach holds the potential for recommending products and food recipes and even tailoring meals for patients in the healthcare sector based on taste profiles.

The researchers have made their data publicly available for further exploration and development, encouraging collaboration and expanding the dataset for broader applications.

"We can see that when the algorithm combines the data from wine labels and reviews with the data from the wine tastings, it makes more accurate predictions of people's wine preferences than when it only uses the traditional types of data in the form of images and text. So, teaching machines to use human sensory experiences results in better algorithms that benefit the user," Belongie noted.

The findings of the research team were published in arXiv.

Related Article: Teachers, Students May Soon Use ChatGPT, OpenAI Explores Educational Applications for Classrooms

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Genetic testing company 23andMe announced on Friday a recent data breach that gained access to approximately 14,000 customer accounts. The company, which has over 14 million customers worldwide, determined that hackers accessed 0.1% of its customer base.

While the breach impacted a small fraction, the attackers also gained access to files containing profile information about other users' ancestry shared through 23andMe's DNA Relatives feature.

Hackers Access Ancestry Data of 23andMe

The company's new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission provided additional details on the incident. An immediate investigation was conducted to find the threat actor, who claimed to have 23andMe users' profile information.

23andMe engaged third-party incident response experts to assess the extent of unauthorized activity. According to the investigation, the hackers accessed a fraction of user accounts (0.1%) where usernames and passwords matched those compromised or available from other websites.

The compromised accounts contained varying information, including ancestry details and, for a subset, health-related information based on genetics.

The attackers also accessed "significant number" of files containing profile information about other users' ancestry, shared through the DNA Relatives feature, Tech Crunch reported. To mitigate the impact, 23andMe said it is currently working to remove the leaked information from the public domain.

The company has taken steps to enhance user data protection, including a mandatory password reset for all users on October 10 and the implementation of two-step verification for new and existing users on November 6.

Read Also: 23andMe Hit By Another Data Breach as Hacker Leaks Millions of Users' Stolen Information

Financial Implications of Breach

The financial implications of the breach are estimated to result in one-time expenses between $1 million and $2 million during the fiscal third quarter ending on December 31.

These expenses cover technology consulting services, legal fees, and third-party advisor costs. While the company acknowledges potential negative effects on its financial results, the full scope of impacts cannot be estimated right now.

The breach has led to multiple class-action claims against 23andMe in various jurisdictions, including federal and state courts in California, a state court in Illinois, and courts in British Columbia and Ontario in Canada.

The company is defending these cases, which are in the early stages, while also addressing notices under the California Consumer Privacy Act and inquiries from governmental officials and agencies.

While 23andMe believes its investigation into the matter is complete, it acknowledges the possibility of new information emerging. The company commits to updating information as required by applicable law. Currently, the full extent of the costs and impacts, including the availability of insurance coverage, remains uncertain.

"23andMe is in the process of providing notification to users impacted by the incident as required by applicable law. While no company can ever completely eliminate the risk of a cyber attack, the Company has taken certain steps to further protect its users' data," the company said in the filing.

Related Article: #TechCEO: How 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki Survived Her Genetic DNA Testing Firm

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DOHA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming fifth World Media Summit is expected to become a valuable platform for global media communication, exchange and cooperation, said Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi, director general of Qatar News Agency (QNA).

The World Media Summit has been continuously driving global media transformation, working towards establishing a more just, inclusive and responsible global media system since its inaugural event in 2009, the director general told Xinhua prior to the fifth World Media Summit hosted by Xinhua News Agency.

He highly praised the opportunities created by the World Media Summit for sharing media experiences and progress amid globalization, adding that the summit mechanism is conducive to promoting consensus, pursuing common development, seizing new opportunities, and addressing new challenges in the field of media.

Regarding the role of the media, he said that it plays a foundational and multifaceted role in addressing global issues and ensuring public enlightenment.

"This role includes monitoring events, disseminating information, analyzing problems, promoting discussions, and influencing decision-making," he said.

He added that the role played by the media is crucial, and global media needs to demonstrate a sense of responsibility in serving the public interest, striving to create a positive, healthy, and cohesive public opinion environment.

He pointed out that in today's interconnected world, countries are increasingly interdependent, and the media, as a link between nations, has become more important in this era of significant changes. 
MACAO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- "Can near-sighted people become astronauts?" "What if astronauts get sick in space?" "Do astronauts feel hot or cold when they are engaged in extravehicular activities?"

These were among a number of questions raised by enthusiastic young people in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Saturday when they had the chance to meet face in face with the country's astronauts.

The astronauts are members of a delegation of China's manned space program who are on a six-day visit to Hong Kong and Macao from Tuesday to Sunday at the invitation of the Hong Kong SAR government and the Macao SAR government. They left Hong Kong and arrived in Macao on Friday.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency who led the delegation, told Macao students at a public lecture that an astronaut must have sound physical and mental conditions, professional knowledge and always be able to control emotions, encouraging Macao students to study hard and do more physical exercises in order to pursue space dreams.

Shenzhou-13 astronaut Wang Yaping, who is well known among the audience because she had given lessons in space to students on earth for twice in 10 years, said she was so pleased to know that some students who attended her lesson a decade ago had become engaged in the space missions now.

"If there is another chance, I really hope to be able to give yet another lesson in space to share its beauties and wonders," she said.

Shenzhou-15 astronaut Zhang Lu shared details of arduous training for long hours with his own body and the spacesuit weighing over 200 kg and conducting extravehicular activities as long as 10 hours without eating, calling for students who have passions for space to join the cause.

Shenzhou-12 astronaut Liu Boming said he was able to maintain a sound physical condition while on duty because he was well-prepared. "Remote monitoring and control from the ground were also important," he added.

The astronauts also introduced China's space program development strategies, the construction of China's space station and the manned lunar missions, as well as details of life in space.

Hung Ling Ming, a PhD student at the University of Macao, said he was thrilled to learn from the astronauts the spirit of science and the manned space program. "If possible, I hope to make contributions to our country's space cause," he said.

Sung Gaai Hin, a senior high school student at the Lingnan Middle School who has enjoyed watching rocket launches since childhood, said both he and his classmates have been very proud whenever China makes achievements in its space program.

Pong Sam, a student of the City University of Macao, said he was deeply impressed by the tough training that astronauts have to go through. When asked if he would consider joining the space cause, his answer was "Certainly!" 
Patti Newton is an entertainer best known for her 60-plus years in show business. The 78-year-old discusses who the first man she ever loved was, how the romance with her late husband Bert Newton began and her touching pre-show ritual.

Dad lifted his head, looked at Bert and nodded. Bert always felt it was a message: Look after my girl for me. Which he did. Credit: Tim Bauer/Headpress

My father, Matthew McGrath, was the first man I loved. He was a baker at Tip Top in Oakleigh [Melbourne], where he worked for 36 years.

He met my mum, Eunice, a dressmaker, at a dance. They fell madly in love and were in love with each other for all of their lives. Mum had many miscarriages, so when I came along I was a bonus to their marriage.

Mum had a very bad car accident when I was 16 and lost the use of her legs. She was in hospital for about six months. Dad did all the grocery shopping and cooking and looked after everybody. He was just fabulous.
When I wore a younger mans clothes, Strathpine was farmland, 20 kilometres from the city lights, a place you dodged while heading towards the Sunshine Coast along the old highway.

Today, Strathpines old pineapple and dairy farms are single-storey brick houses, older brick and timber two-storey houses, and townhouses  home to about 14,000 people.

(From left) Brianna, Tomas, Katrina, Quinne and Tyler Gibson rent a four-bedroom home in Strathpine. Credit: Tony Moore

The Gibson family now count themselves among this number, having once lived in Ipswich before heading north to the City of Moreton Bay.

Katrina Gibson works as a nutritionist, while partner Peter is a metal fabricator.
Safia Solleman has lived in the public housing tower on Wellington Street in Collingwood for eight years, but lately, shes taken on voluntary  but in her mind necessary  duties: mopping floors, emptying bins and disinfecting washing machines for the dozens of residents living on her level.

I clean myself the washing machine, the floor, change the bins, said the 40-year-old who has a permanent disability with an artificial leg.

Safia Solleman, a resident at the Wellington Street public high-rise flats in Collingwood. Credit: Luis Ascui

Solleman and other residents at the 20-storey tower are adamant that cleaning and maintenance have declined dramatically in the past two months. They complain of mounting garbage, sticky floors, vomit in the lifts and filth in common areas that they say used to be cleaned more regularly.

Liban Isse, who has lived in the Wellington Street tower for six years, has been washing his shoes in hot water each time he reaches his apartment door after walking through stickiness in the hallways and lifts.
BAGHDAD, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi military said that it killed four Islamic State (IS) militants on Saturday in the country's northern province of Nineveh.

The media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement that Iraqi soldiers clashed with the militants after spotting them via surveillance cameras in the Makhmour area, some 100 km southeast of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul.

The soldiers surrounded the extremist militants at an abandoned house and killed them all, including two wearing explosive belts, and seized their weapons, the statement added.

The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. 
Indicted Republican George Santos brief career in the US House of Representatives came to an end on Friday, when fellow lawmakers voted to expel him over criminal corruption charges and accusations of misspending campaign money.

The House voted 311-114 to immediately remove the controversial freshman lawmaker, above the two-thirds majority required to oust one of its own.

Expelled: George Santos. Credit: AP

Besieged by revelations of lies about his past, a federal criminal indictment and a congressional ethics probe, Santos, 35, became only the sixth member to be expelled from the House. The New York congressman was the first to be kicked out without having fought for the Confederacy or being convicted of a crime.

Following the vote, there was scattered applause in the House chamber.
KATHMANDU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Himalaya Airlines on Saturday launched its inaugural flight from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu to Shanghai, China's economic hub.

The H9780 flight took off in the morning with 141 passengers aboard, and the H9781 flight is scheduled to return to Kathmandu with 95 passengers onboard in the evening.

The airlines is operating a round trip from Kathmandu to Shanghai on an A320 plane every Saturday, while two flights have been scheduled per week from Dec. 20 to Jan. 27, 2024.

The Kathmandu-based operator, a Nepal-China joint venture established in August 2014, resumed direct flights between Kathmandu and Beijing in June and started direct flights from Kathmandu to the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao in September.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Xie Yu, a counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, voiced his belief that the new flight will bring to Nepal more tourists from eastern China.

"This is truly an exciting milestone," said Pratap Babu Tiwari, general manager of the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan International Airport.

The new route will help boost tourism and trade between Nepal and China, he added.

The tourism sector is a major foreign currency earner and job creator for Nepal. 
BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's National Health Commission on Saturday announced that no new infectious diseases caused by new viruses or bacteria have been identified this ongoing winter, and that the acute respiratory diseases currently being reported in the country have all been caused by known pathogens.

Citing monitoring results, commission spokesperson Mi Feng made the remarks in Beijing during a press conference that was also attended by other health officials.

Chinese health authorities are actively monitoring and assessing winter respiratory diseases, with efforts underway to optimize medical resource allocation, improve medical treatment processes, and enhance the role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treatment, Mi said.

SERVICE SUPPLY INCREASES

China is expanding its supply of medical services to meet the needs of the people -- particularly pediatric outpatient services at all medical institution levels, including TCM hospitals and maternal and child health institutions, the official said.

This expansion will involve extending outpatient service hours to lunchtimes, evenings and weekends, based on patient numbers, as well as increasing hospital bed capacities and streamlining registration, examination and payment processes to improve public access to medical care.

Mi also emphasized a guarantee of medical supplies.

The utilization of TCM and the integration of Chinese and Western approaches to medicine are being advocated to enhance the prevention and treatment of common winter respiratory diseases, he said.

Measures are also being taken to ensure the supply of influenza vaccines and other vaccines, with a focus on early vaccination for key groups such as the elderly and children to reduce the risk of illness, according to the official.

CURRENT DRUGS EFFECTIVE

Influenza viruses are prone to mutation, which poses a challenge to the prevention and control of influenza.

Addressing the issue of virus mutation at the press conference, Wang Dayan, head of the Chinese National Influenza Center under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the situation is being closely monitored.

"The results have shown that the antiviral drugs in use are effective against the influenza viruses," Wang said, noting that Chinese National Influenza Center, in collaboration with various laboratories worldwide, has been monitoring the sensitivity of influenza viruses to antiviral drugs.

On the compatibility of prevalent viruses and vaccines, Wang said that China's dominant influenza virus subtypes this winter are influenza A (H3N2) and influenza B, unchanged from last year, and they are also consistent with the dominant strains circulating in most regions around the world.

She emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated, especially for high-risk groups such as the elderly, children and those working in public places. "Vaccination can effectively reduce the risk of infection, illness and severe complications." 
ACI at BRAMH reaches new heights





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

In a groundbreaking medical achievement, the Cardiology Department of the Advanced Cardiac Institute (ACI), situated at Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, has successfully normalised the abnormal heartbeat of a 75-year-old patient from Raipur. The team, led by Dr Smit Srivastava, Head of the Department of Cardiology at ACI, utilised an innovative conduction pacing system on the right side of the patients heart. The patient had previously undergone pacemaker installation at a private hospital, but complications arose three months later when pus began to discharge from his chest. Despite multiple readmissions to the private hospital, the patient continued to suffer from repeated infections. Seeking a solution, the patient turned to Dr Smit Srivastava at the Advanced Cardiac Institute. Considering the weakened state of the patients heart, Dr Smit Srivastava faced a critical decision between a three-wire pacemaker and a two-wire advanced technology pacemaker, known as a conduction pacing system.

To address the infection and challenges posed by the existing pacemaker on the left side, Dr Smit Srivastava opted for the two-wire pacemaker with conduction system pacing technology, installed on the right side. This marks the third case of conduction system pacing from the right side in the state and the first case of such pacing involving an infection. Dr Smit Srivastava also took additional measures for the patients well-being, applying an anti-bacterial envelope and the pacemaker. The procedure involved the removal of the old pacemaker and wires inserted from the left side. Explaining the process, Dr Smit Srivastava detailed the modification of catheters to accommodate the right-side implantation. Traditionally designed for implantation from the left side in a C-shaped form, the catheter was adapted into an English Z shape for right-side implantation.

Wires were inserted into the right atrium, followed by placing the pacemaker in an anti-bacterial envelope and connecting it to the wires. Subsequently, the old pacemaker and wires on the left side were removed, allowing the heart to beat naturally and properly. The medical team, comprising Dr Prateek Gupta, Dr Anmol Agrawal, Dr Balwinder Singh, Senior Technician I.P. Verma, Khem Singh Mande, Jitendra Chelkar, and nursing staff Abha, Mukta, and John, played a crucial role in the success of this complex and rare procedure. This achievement not only demonstrates the expertise of the medical team at ACI but also introduces a new frontier in cardiac care, showcasing the institutes commitment to pushing the boundaries of medical science for the benefit of patients.




DEIR AL-BALAH,

MEDIATOR Qatar said on Friday that efforts are continuing to renew an Israel-Hamas truce and expressed deep regret over the resumption of Israeli bombardments after a week-long ceasefire expired earlier on Friday. Israel and Hamas have traded blame, with each saying the other side violated the terms of the truce. Qatar, which has served as a mediator along with Egypt, appeared to be singling out Israels role in the resumption of violence. Qatars Foreign Ministry said that the continued bombing of the Gaza Strip in the first hours after the end of the pause complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in the territory. Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets hit targets in Gaza Strip minutes after the truce expired, as the war resumed in full force. According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza claimed that Israeli airstrikes has killed 32 people in the besieged enclave so far.

Earlier, the Ministry had said 14 people were killed, reports CNN.

A Ministry official said the majority of those killed were women and children. In a separate statement, the Ministry of Interior confirmed that Israeli strikes had resumed across Gaza. Black smoke billowed from the besieged territory and Israel dropped leaflets over parts of southern Gaza urging people to leave their homes, suggesting it was preparing to widen its offensive. Renewed hostilities heightened concerns for the about 140 hostages who remain in Gaza, after more than 100 were freed as part of the truce. The collapse of the cease-fire came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli officials and urged them to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as they seek to destroy Hamas.

Blinken was on his way Friday to the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, where he was to meet with Arab and other leaders. It was not clear to what extent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will heed the appeals of the United States, Israels most important ally. Netanyahus office said Friday that Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war: Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel. In the leaflets it dropped in southern Gaza, Israel urged people to leave homes east of the city of Khan Younis. The leaflets also warned that Khan Younis was now a dangerous battle zone. Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza earlier in the war, with many taking shelter in Khan Younis and other places in the south. One of the first airstrikes on Friday destroyed a large building in Khan Younis. Moments later, residents were seen frantically searching the rubble for survivors as medics approached. One wounded person was carried away on a stretcher.

In Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development near the city, a strike hit an apartment in a multi-story residential building, while other parts of the building appeared largely intact. In the refugee camp of Maghazi, rescuers clawed through the rubble of a large building hit by warplanes. A foot stuck out of the tangle of concrete and wiring. In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rockets blared at several communal farms near Gaza, a sign that Hamas also resumed attacks, but there were not reports of hits or damage. Netanyahu said the war resumed because Hamas had violated the terms of the truce. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens, he said in a statement. Israel confirms death of 3 hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct 7: THE Israel Government has confirmed the death of three hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas after the October 7 mayhem in the country. The Israel Government said in a statement said that Maya Goren, Arye Zalmanovich and Ronen Engel, who were kidnapped on October 7, have died.
Compassion, an integral part of democracy: Raja





Staff Reporter

To safeguard democracy, our constitution needs to be safeguarded. Liberty, equality, and fraternity cannot be separated from one another. We are all citizens of India and not subjects under any king or emperor. The very essence of democracy is compassion for all, opined D Raja, General Secretary, Communist Party of India. He was speaking at the Parwana Oration 2023 organised by Parwana Memorial Trust at Bhai Bardhan Auditorium, Parwana Bhawan, Kingsway on Friday evening. CH Venkatachalam, Trustee and General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA); and trustees of Parwana Memorial Trust D S Buche, R S Nerkar, Ramkumar Gupta, BNJ Sharma, Suresh Bobhate and JS Gurway were present on the occasion.

Speaking further, D Raja stated that the right wing forces have captured political power in India. Why people voted for them, needs to be understood first. Today, an attack is made on democracy. The functioning of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), creating personality cult, and grabbing of media by corporate giants, to conditioning peoples minds is posing grave challenges to the democracy. When Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was drafting the constitution of India, he was under pressure to declare India as a Hindu nation. However, Dr Ambedkar rejected the idea stating that India could not become a theocratic nation, Raja said. There was also pressure to declare the government as Presidential system. Dr Ambedkar also refused it claiming it will give rise to dictatorship.
DAMASCUS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, the latest in a spate of Israeli attacks against Syria, according to the national Syrian TV.

Multiple explosions were heard in Damascus after midnight in what appeared to be a hostile missile attack.

The state-owned TV later confirmed it was an Israeli missile attack on the vicinity of Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army said in a short statement that around 1:35 a.m. local time, the "Israeli enemy" conducted an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting some military points in the vicinity of Damascus.

It added that the air defense brought down most missiles and the losses were limited to material damage.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, as well as convoys transporting weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran.

Israel sees Iran as its arch-enemy and will not allow Iran to establish a permanent base in Syria.

Israel and Syria have a border along the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981. 
Disputes in Indo-Pacific could get out of control: Navy Chief Hari Kumar





NEW DELHI,

THE disputes in the Indo-Pacific do have the possibility of getting out of control and turning into conflict, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday against the backdrop of growing global concerns over Chinas increasing military assertiveness in the region. In a media briefing ahead of Navy Day on December 4, he also said India has been closely monitoring Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean and that his force deployed surveillance assets, ships, aircraft, submarines and drones to boost its presence. We try to keep the extra-regional forces which are present in the region under surveillance as we would like to know what are their activities and what are the intentions, he said, referring to Chinese forays into the Indian Ocean.

That is why we deploy our surveillance assets and ships, submarines, aircraft, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) etc. They are deployed regularly to keep our area of interest under observation to see that we are aware of all the happenings that are taking place. On the Indo-Pacific, the Chief of Naval Staff said all like-minded nations must work together to ensure peace and stability in the region. In the Indo-Pacific what we see -- there are disputes. These disputes do have the possibility of getting out of control or getting elevated and then they can go into conflict, he said.
Heart-beat. Beat. Rhythm -- music in life!





By Vijay Phanshikar

There is rhythm -- of its own -- in everything, she chimed. Her face aglow in arts glee, her long hair cascading down her shoulders, her eyes as if searching in the distance the soul of the music she was presenting on a pleasant winter morn, Tabla virtuoso Pandita Anuradha Pal unraveled for the capacity-packed audience at the International Principals Educational Conference (IPEC) 2023, how life pulsates in everything, offering universal musical potential for us to understand and benefit from. The two-and-a-quarter-hour session at the Chitnavis Centre was certainly entertaining, to say the least, but it was far more educating and enlightening than anybody in the elite educational audience could possibly imagine. In the end, everybody emerged triumphant in the thought that he/she was a far more enriched person than he/she was before the session -- enriched in not just musical comprehension of whatever level, but also in the universality of rhythm that actually offers a backdrop to the celestial configuration. The first sound with which one gets introduced to is in the mothers womb -- of the mothers rhythmic heart-beat, dhak-dhak-dhak ... for the full stay in that haven as life starts assuming shape and size. That heart-beat is the little lifes constant companion. That is the most familiar sound the little one gets so used to that one remains fascinated not just by the sound of that beat but also whatever mothers heart represents -- love, kindness, pardon, accommodation ...! Vidushi Anuradha Pal said.

Presenting her thoughts on a conference sub-theme of importance of art, music in education, Anuradha Pal supplemented her statement with practical demonstration of the tabla. As the only woman multi-percussionist in the top league of tabla players in the world, she used her instrument -- and her skill as a tabla nawaaz -- in the most entertaining manner. Let us imagine we are travelling from Mumbai to Nagpur by train. The train starts, first slowly, and gathers speed, all the time making its typical sounds of the wheels on the track. Then it reaches a bridge, and the nature of sound changes. Each variation of the sound can be captured in tabla beats. Listen to this ... And the audience joins Anuradha Pal on the train journey -- in raptures, clapping incessantly, laughing, heads dancing to the beats. And then the train comes to a slow-slower-very slow stop -- indicated so richly by the tabla-beats. The audience suddenly freezes in its response. To the stunned audience, Anuradha Pal then asks, Didnt I say, everything has its own beat! That is how you understood how the tabla can capture the sounds of the train almost completely. And now let us bring up from memory of a school child being woken up early in the morning by the mother. The kid is sleepy, unwilling to get up and go to school. Their conversation, too, has its own rhythm, its own beat -- which we can capture on the tabla.

Then follows that urgent -- even angry -- takkk dhina dhin of the mother, and the lazy taaak dheeenaaa dheeen of the child, eliciting peels of laughter from the audience. Similar was the response when the virtuoso presented the sounds of a huge bus lazily coursing its way through a busy street, with light and bumpy auto-rickshaws screaming and screeching their weave through the traffic -- all on tabla beats. As she kept reading the contents of her paper, too, interspersed with musical breaks, Anuradha Pal shared with the audience the experiences of how she conducted various programmes for schools and elderly people, helping them realise an altogether different type of mental calm and spiritual elevation -- in the process offering amazing details of her 16-18-hour days serving the larger social cause.

Her appeal in the end was to the school community: Explore how music can be used as a very great educational complement to the process of learning to be better human being -- which also was an aim of education. The IPEC meets have hosted previously music virtuosos such as great vocalist Devaki Pandit, legendary flutist Ronu Mazumdar, the iconic Rudra-Veena exponent Vishwa Mohan Bhat -- drawing fantastic audience response not just in terms of art but also in terms of arts use as an educational tool.
India seeks enhanced Interpol cooperation





NEW DELHI,

INDIA has sought concerted action through Interpol channels to combat and prevent on real-time basis transnational crimes such as terrorism, online radicalisation and cyber-enabled financial fraud, officials said on Friday.

At the 91st General Assembly of the Interpol in Vienna, the Indian delegation led by CBI Director Praveen Sood also stressed on the need to abolish any safe havens for crime, criminals and proceeds of crime as well as coordinated strategies to curtail operations of transnational criminal organisations.

The five-member team included NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta. The four-day assembly, which began on November 28, also celebrated the centenary year of the international police cooperation organisation which was formed in 1923. Increased leveraging of Interpol channels and relationships with law enforcement agencies globally to combat crime and criminals saw 24 criminals and fugitives wanted by India brought back this year, the highest ever in a year, the spokesperson of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said here. Further, India has also geolocated more than 184 criminals in various countries and initiated formal proceedings for their return, he said.

During discussions with law enforcement agencies from multiple countries, India sought for enhanced coordination through the Interpol with a view for concerted action to combat organised crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, online radicalisation, cyber-enabled financial crimes, and to prevent these crimes on a real-time basis, the spokesperson said. India has stressed on the need to deny any safe haven for crime, criminals and proceeds of crimes. The need for coordinated strategies to curtail criminal organisations, which operate across international jurisdictions, was deliberated, according to a statement.
Kapurthala gurudwara clash: SAD delegation meets Punjab Governor





CHANDIGARH,

A SHIROMANI Akali Dal delegation met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit here on Friday and demanded a CBI probe into the recent clash at a gurudwara in Kapurthalas Sultanpur Lodhi in which a home guard jawan was killed.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation, which was led by party President Sukhbir Singh Badal, alleged that the Kapurthala Police entered the gurudwara premises early morning in full combat uniform with assault rifles and indulged in wanton firing.

Badal said that evidence in this regard had been submitted to the Governor. The SAD requested the Governor to recommend a CBI probe into what the Opposition party alleged was sacrilegious armed attack on Gurudwara Akal Bunga Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi on November 23. The SAD alleged that it had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide. The armed attack on the peaceful sangat at 4 am (on November 23) when it was reciting gurbani has reminded the Sikhs of a similar attack on Sri Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar in 1984.

The Sikhs worldwide are outraged and they are now seeking justice for this heinous act, said the memorandum submitted to the Governor by Badal-led delegation. A home guard jawan was killed while four policemen suffered injuries when a group of Nihangs resorted to unprovoked firing at them at Gurdwara Akal Bunga Sahib in Kapurthala on November 23. The incident took place when the policemen tried to get the gurudwara vacated from a faction of Nihangs.
PM Modi launches at UN Climate Conference Green Credit Initiative





DUBAI,

ASSERTING that the world does not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a Green Credit Initiative focused on creating carbon sinks through peoples participation and also proposed to host the UN climate conference in 2028, or COP33, in India. Addressing the high-level segment for heads of State and Governments during the UN climate conference (COP28) here, Modi called for a pro-planet proactive and positive initiative and said the Green Credits Initiative goes beyond the commercial mindset associated with carbon credits. It focuses on creating carbon sinks through peoples participation and I invite all of you to join this initiative, he said, stressing that the world does not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century. This initiative is similar to the Green Credit Programme, notified domestically in October. It is an innovative market-based mechanism designed to reward voluntary environmental actions in different sectors by individuals, communities and the private sector. Asserting that India has presented a great example to the world of striking balance between development and environment conservation, the Prime Minister said, India is among the only few countries in the world on track to achieve its Nationally Determined Contributions or the national action plans to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the guardrail to avoid worsening of the impact of the changing climate.

Modi was the only leader to join COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber on the stage along with the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Steill at the opening plenary. Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature. However, the entire humanity is paying the price for this, especially people living in the Global South, he said. Thinking only about our own interests will only lead the world into darkness, the Prime Minister added. Modis statement came in the context that the poor and developing nations bear the brunt of extreme climate events such as floods, droughts, heat/cold waves as a result of changing climate due to historic carbon emissions by the richer countries that have led to increased global warming. The Prime Minister called for maintaining a balance between mitigation and adaptation and said that energy transition across the world must be just and inclusive. He also called rich countries to transfer technologies to help developing nations combat climate change.
To ensure early poll results EC permits more tables for 16 constituencies on counting day





Staff Reporter

Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan has permitted the proposal to increase the number of tables for counting in 16 out of 230 Assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh on Friday. Counting of votes for the elections held on 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh will be done on December 3. For this, 3,500 tables will be set up across the State. Maximum 21 tables would be installed in each of the 16 constituencies. A minimum of 14 tables are to be installed 161 out of 230 constituencies, As per the previously decided arrangement, the Election Commission had decided to set up 14 tables for counting EVM votes in every constituency. However, district election officials reported that the declaration of results may get delayed due to lack of manpower. Taking into consideration the apprehension of officials, Chief Electoral Officer Rajan had sought a proposal from the collectors to increase the counting table and sent it to the Election Commission.

This has been approved by the Election Commission of India in the order issued on November 29. These 16 constituencies where 21 tables are to be installed are Ater, Bhind, Gwalior Rural, Gwalior, Gwalior East, Baihar, Seoni, Kewalari, Lakhnadon, Multai, Amla, Ghodadongri, Bhainsdehi, Narela, Sendhwa and Barwani. 20 tables on these four seats are Sevdha, Datia, Huzur, Govindpura. 18 tables on these constituencies Morena, Mehgaon, Bhander, Niwari, Prithvipur, Maihar, Rampur Baghelan, Patan, Panagar, Bichhiya, Niwas, Barghat, Betul, Sanchi, Bhojpur, Udaipur, Burhanpur, Rajpur, Pansemal, Jobat and Dhar while Mandla, Budhni and Ashta will have 17 tables. The constituencies where only 16 tables are to be installed are Alirajpur, Shajapur, Bhopal North, Berasia, Pipariya, Sohagpur, Amarwada, Parswara, Balaghat, Lanji, Sihora, Jabalpur West, Bargi, Churhat, Sidhi, Sihawal, Dhauhani, Rajnagar, Karera, Pohri, Shivpuri, Pichhor, Kolaras, Lahar and Seoni Malwa. 14 tables installing on all the assembly seats where 16 to 21 tables are not allowed, the number of such assembly seats is 161.

Five tables increased for postal ballots: Based on the reports received from the districts, a proposal was sent by the Chief Electoral Officer to increase the number of tables for counting of postal votes, after which permission has been given to install a maximum of five tables. Collectors have been authorised to count postal votes by setting up two to five tables in most of the Assembly seats. According to information, postal votes will be counted first. Its results will also be declared earlier than the EVM votes. Apart from this, no candidate, counting agent will be able to carry any material of any kind like watch, mobile, tobacco, cigarette, beedi, paan, calculator, water, snacks etc. The counting agent will be allowed to take only pen, pencil, plain paper or notepad into the counting room.
Weather to remain same for next few days





Staff Reporter

Due to active weather systems in different regions, the weather is expected to remain the same in many districts of Madhya Pradesh, including Jabalpur for next few days. Western disturbances, cyclones and trough lines had already led to rainfall warnings in several districts. On Friday, the city experienced light to moderate rainfall in the morning and evening hours. As per the Weather Department, there will be a change in the weather pattern once western disturbances recede after December 8 and intense cold may begin to set in the region from December 15. Currently, fluctuations in temperatures will continue.

The Meteorological Department forecast that changes in weather will start from a day or two and there will be a decrease in rainfall activity. However, light sporadic showers may persist till December 8. After the reduction in rainfall intensity the impact of cold weather will begin to intensify and there will be a drop in temperatures. During the period, fog will be visible in morning hours. Spokesman of weather department informed that at present, there is an active western disturbance around Afghanistan, along with another cyclonic circulation in the weather of Rajasthan.

These weather systems have formed a trough extending up to southwestern Madhya Pradesh. A cyclonic circulation is also present in the upper levels of the atmosphere over northern Maharashtra. These weather systems are causing continuous moisture influx from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. As a result, most districts of Madhya Pradesh, including Jabalpur are experiencing rainfall. Cloudy conditions are expected to persist for the next two days. On Friday, the city received 14.8 mm rainfall. However, there is a possibility of a slight drop in nighttime temperatures and an increase in daytime temperature. The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded 24.5 degree Celsius, which was minus 3 degree to normal range while minimum was 18 degree which was 5 degree above normal. The humidity was 96 per cent.
Youth killed, set ablaze by girlfriends brother





Staff Reporter

In yet another horrifying case of honour killing, a youth who has gone to meet his girlfriend was burnt alive allegedly by brother of his lover in Kajlikheda village of Kolar locality, police said on Friday. His body was buried in a field. Police recovered the half-burnt body on Friday. Briefing about the horrific incident, Police Commissioner Harinarayan Chari said, Sanju Sisodia (21), a resident of Kajlikheda village of Kolar police station area, had gone to meet his girlfriend on November 23 and was missing since then. After which the family lodged a missing complaint at Kolar Police Station.

On the basis of suspicion, the police detained the girlfriends brother Bhura Dhurve and interrogated him. During interrogation, he confessed to have killed him when Sanju went to meet sister at her house. As he entered the house, the brother of the girl allegedly caught him and thrashed him badly. They poured kerosene on him and set him afire.

The police recovered the body from a field in Borda village at the behest of the accused.

According to information received from police sources, the girls brother did not like the love affair between them and that is why he killed Sanju. After this, he also tried to burn the dead body of the youth with the intention of destroying the evidence. When he was not successful in this, he dug a pit in the field and buried the body. Sanjus father Babulal Sisodia (45) said that his son had left home at 11 pm on November 23. He did not return throughout the night. We searched for him everywhere, but could not find him anywhere. After this he lodged a report in the police station. Apart from this, family members have also lodged a complaint with CM helpline. Meanwhile, police told us that Sanju has been murdered by girls family, father of victimg said.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal judge's order blocking Montana's TikTok ban from going into effect has been applauded Friday by civil rights and tech groups in the country.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction against the ban on Thursday, saying that a statewide ban on the popular social media app likely violates free speech.

The ruling has been welcomed by industry experts and civil rights groups that have strongly opposed the law passed by Montana legislators in April. The law is the first in the United States to ban an app entirely across a state.

Following the ruling, TikTok said on X, formerly Twitter, "We are pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok."

"This law is plainly unconstitutional, and we are glad to see the court recognize this in the preliminary injunction and ensure the internet remains open and free for Americans," said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of the tech industry group NetChoice, in a statement on Friday.

"The government may not block our ability to access constitutionally protected speech -- whether it is in a newspaper, on a website or via an app," Szabo said.

"In passing this law, Montana's government ignored the Constitution, harmed its businesses and creators, chilled innovation and disconnected Montanans. The court's decision to block this law is correct," he continued.

NetChoice, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) all filed amicus briefs in support of TikTok.

The ACLU and EFF praised Thursday's ruling as "a significant victory for the people of Montana and their First Amendment protections, preserving their access to TikTok as a vital platform for communication, information, and self-expression."

The ACLU led a coalition of rights groups that sent a joint letter to Montana legislators, claiming that the ban is unjustified on national security grounds.

"With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature tried to trample on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment," said Alex Rate, legal director at the ACLU of Montana, in the release. "We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points."

The ACLU said TikTok plays an "important and significant" role for communities of color, including Indigenous communities, in Montana, who use the platform to "foster solidarity online and to highlight issues vital to them."

The ruling will ensure that the app can continue to play such a role and "reaffirm the unique ways" in which Montanans rely on TikTok to communicate and interact with other people in the country and the world, it said.

"Many Montanans use TikTok to communicate with local and global audiences. We are pleased that a federal judge has blocked the state from violating their rights by banning this speech platform," said EFF's Civil Liberties Director David Greene.

Experts said the ruling also has important implications for other "draconian efforts" to ban TikTok at the state and federal levels in the country. 
Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE:BTI  Free Report) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,175 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLCs holdings in British American Tobacco were worth $2,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BTI. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 11.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,624,861 shares of the companys stock worth $237,145,000 after buying an additional 582,790 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,290,017 shares of the companys stock worth $54,387,000 after buying an additional 8,692 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of British American Tobacco by 4.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,394 shares of the companys stock worth $2,715,000 after buying an additional 2,798 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in British American Tobacco in the first quarter worth $323,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in British American Tobacco by 148.7% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,870 shares of the companys stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 11,283 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.56% of the companys stock.

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British American Tobacco Price Performance

BTI stock opened at $32.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. British American Tobacco p.l.c. has a 1 year low of $28.92 and a 1 year high of $42.36. The stocks fifty day moving average is $30.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTI has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of British American Tobacco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of British American Tobacco in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. They issued an overweight rating for the company. Argus downgraded shares of British American Tobacco from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, September 1st. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on British American Tobacco in a research note on Monday, September 25th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

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British American Tobacco Profile

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British American Tobacco p.l.c. engages in the provision of tobacco and nicotine products to consumers worldwide. It offers vapour, tobacco heating, and modern oral nicotine products; combustible cigarettes; and traditional oral products, such as snus and moist snuff. The company offers its products under the Vuse, glo, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Peter Stuyvesant, Craven A, State Express 555 and Shuang Xi brands.

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Banco Itau Chile (NYSE:ITCL  Get Free Report) and Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH  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 valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Banco Itau Chile has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Banco de Chile has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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Dividends

Banco Itau Chile pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Banco de Chile pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Banco Itau Chile pays out 23.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco de Chile pays out 55.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Banco de Chile has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Banco de Chile is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Banco Itau Chile 11.01% 10.94% 0.92% Banco de Chile 30.53% 24.67% 2.25%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

This table compares Banco Itau Chile and Banco de Chiles net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

0.2% of Banco Itau Chile shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.1% of Banco de Chile shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Banco de Chile shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Banco Itau Chile and Banco de Chiles revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Banco Itau Chile $1,015.79 billion 0.00 $487.62 million $0.67 4.85 Banco de Chile $2,950.41 billion 0.00 $1.59 billion $2.94 7.78

Banco de Chile has higher revenue and earnings than Banco Itau Chile. Banco Itau Chile is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco de Chile, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Banco Itau Chile and Banco de Chile, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Banco Itau Chile 0 0 1 0 3.00 Banco de Chile 0 1 1 0 2.50

Banco de Chile has a consensus price target of $22.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.57%. Given Banco de Chiles higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Banco de Chile is more favorable than Banco Itau Chile.

Summary

Banco de Chile beats Banco Itau Chile on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Itau Chile

(Get Free Report)

Banco Itau Chile provides banking services in Chile and Colombia. It provides wholesale and corporate banking; real estate and construction; and retail, private, companies, and personal banking services, as well as treasury and other financial services. The company offers checking accounts, and debit and credit card; credit line, consumer credit installments, mortgage credit, and universal consumer and university credit; and leasing and company credits including short term, fixed long term, and structured credit, as well as factoring, foreign trade exports, such as financing line agreement, import payment order, collection, and letter of credit, financing cash operation services. In addition, it provides warranty papers including financed, cash, and web guaranteed tickets; state guarantee services; insurance products, which includes car, home, life, covid19 insurance for workers, financial protection, and assists insurance. The company also offers investment, mutual funds, stock broking, pension savings, and ETF mutual funds; international cash management, cash pooling, secure and rolling from check, bill collection, online payroll, automatic bill payments, and PAC collection services; and fusion and acquisition, bill of commerce, corporate bonds, purchase and sale of currency, short-term liquidly investment, and derivatives. The company was incorporated in 1871 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.

About Banco de Chile

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Banco de Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services to customers in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Treasury and Money Market segments. The company offers deposit products, such as checking accounts, current accounts, demand deposits and accounts, saving accounts, and time deposits; commercial, mortgage, consumer, working capital, syndicated, and installment loans; and credit cards. It also provides leasing, factoring, and foreign trade services; international and treasury banking services; and financial advisory services. In addition, the company offers liquidity management services, debt instruments, and derivative contracts and leases, as well as financial transaction and currency trading services; and securities brokerage, mutual funds management, wholesale customer, investment banking and management, and insurance brokerage services. The company serves individuals, small and medium-sized companies, corporate clients, and large companies. Banco de Chile was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.

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Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS  Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 5,646,500 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the previous sessions volume of 4,634,292 shares.The stock last traded at $46.24 and had previously closed at $45.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, November 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.68.

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Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 1.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.82. The company has a market capitalization of $35.53 billion, a PE ratio of 53.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.13. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $47.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.86.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $0.55. The company had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 178.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 7th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Las Vegas Sandss dividend payout ratio is 90.91%.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 18th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the casino operator to reacquire up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MAI Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 5,471 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 775.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 361,505 shares of the casino operators stock worth $20,167,000 after buying an additional 320,191 shares during the last quarter. EA Series Trust acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter worth approximately $3,081,000. Mutual Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter worth approximately $323,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter worth approximately $260,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the companys stock.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Las Vegas Sands Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates integrated resorts in Macao and Singapore. It owns and operates The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip, and the Sands Macao in Macao, the People's Republic of China; and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

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Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH  Free Report) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 953,931 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 3,481 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corps holdings in Black Hills were worth $57,484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 60.6% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 889 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.64% of the companys stock.

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Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH stock opened at $53.49 on Friday. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $50.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $46.43 and a one year high of $73.98.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

Black Hills ( NYSE:BKH Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.16. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.01% and a net margin of 10.08%. The firm had revenue of $407.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $579.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 17th were given a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 16th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.67%. Black Hillss payout ratio is 64.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BKH shares. Mizuho raised Black Hills from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $53.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Black Hills from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Black Hills in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a sell rating on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on Black Hills from $60.00 to $49.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Black Hills from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $59.83.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Black Hills

Black Hills Company Profile

(Free Report)

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 220,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,482 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,024 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines.

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Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR  Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of Hold from the four analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.75.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KAR. Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Friday, August 11th. StockNews.com began coverage on OPENLANE in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a hold rating for the company. TheStreet downgraded OPENLANE from a c- rating to a d+ rating in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, October 16th.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

OPENLANE Stock Performance

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in OPENLANE by 3.3% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 20,613 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in OPENLANE by 25.0% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,649 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 14.3% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,816 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 51.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,443 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 7.7% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,900 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the companys stock.

KAR opened at $14.87 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $14.49 and a 200-day moving average of $15.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.90, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.45. OPENLANE has a 12-month low of $12.09 and a 12-month high of $16.49.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $416.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $410.66 million. OPENLANE had a positive return on equity of 8.97% and a negative net margin of 8.07%. The businesss revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that OPENLANE will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

OPENLANE Company Profile

(Get Free Report

OPENLANE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital marketplace for used vehicles, which connects sellers and buyers in North America, Europe, the Philippines, and Uruguay. The company operates through two segments, Marketplace and Finance. The Marketplace segment offers digital marketplace services for buying and selling used vehicles.

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PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK  Free Report) by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,318 shares of the basic materials companys stock after acquiring an additional 5,073 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.s holdings in WestRock were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRK. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of WestRock by 14.7% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 39,928 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $1,878,000 after acquiring an additional 5,108 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of WestRock by 21.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 71,551 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $3,365,000 after acquiring an additional 12,559 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in shares of WestRock by 5.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 35,219 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $1,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its holdings in shares of WestRock by 0.9% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 208,790 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $10,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in WestRock by 0.6% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,133 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 85.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on WestRock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, November 10th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on WestRock in a research note on Saturday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on WestRock from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Argus upgraded WestRock from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, November 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on WestRock from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, WestRock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $37.57.

WestRock Stock Performance

Shares of WRK stock opened at $41.73 on Friday. WestRock has a fifty-two week low of $26.84 and a fifty-two week high of $42.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $36.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.07.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 7.52% and a negative net margin of 8.12%. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. The companys revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WestRock will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

WestRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 21st. Investors of record on Monday, November 13th were given a $0.3025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 10th. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. This is a positive change from WestRocks previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. WestRocks dividend payout ratio is currently -18.76%.

WestRock Profile

(Free Report)

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates in four segments, Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.

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Shares of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN  Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the two research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.50.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rayonier from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday.

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Rayonier Stock Performance

Shares of Rayonier stock opened at $31.44 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.22 and a beta of 1.00. Rayonier has a 52 week low of $24.84 and a 52 week high of $37.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firms 50 day moving average is $28.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.76.

Rayonier (NYSE:RYN  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $201.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.63 million. Rayonier had a return on equity of 2.41% and a net margin of 9.53%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Rayonier will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rayonier Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Rayoniers dividend payout ratio is presently 211.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rayonier

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in Rayonier during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Rayonier by 256.7% during the 2nd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,580 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Rayonier during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 246.5% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Rayonier by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,919 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. 82.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Rayonier

(Get Free Report

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of September 30, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.8 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S.

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PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON  Free Report) by 12.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,936 shares of the industrial products companys stock after buying an additional 2,164 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.s holdings in Sonoco Products were worth $1,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 316.2% in the 2nd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 795 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Sonoco Products in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in Sonoco Products in the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Sonoco Products in the 1st quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Sonoco Products by 263.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,891 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095 shares in the last quarter. 76.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SON. Citigroup decreased their price target on Sonoco Products from $69.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. StockNews.com raised Sonoco Products from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Sonoco Products from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $61.40.

Sonoco Products Stock Performance

SON opened at $55.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.56. Sonoco Products has a fifty-two week low of $49.98 and a fifty-two week high of $63.74.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. Sonoco Products had a return on equity of 24.40% and a net margin of 7.20%. The companys revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sonoco Products will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 10th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Sonoco Productss payout ratio is currently 41.13%.

Sonoco Products Company Profile

(Free Report)

Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates through two segments: Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging.

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People are seen around a damaged road after Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Dec. 2, 2023. A total of 15,207 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said during a press conference in Khan Younis that the number of injured people in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000, with 70 percent of them being children and women. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

GAZA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 15,207 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said during a press conference in Khan Younis that the number of injured people in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000, with 70 percent of them being children and women.

Al-Qidra also said that Israeli attacks had killed 280 medical personnel and targetted 56 ambulances in Gaza, accusing Israel of deliberately destroying the healthcare system in the Strip.

On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets and infiltrating Israeli territory, while Israel responded with airstrikes, ground operations and punitive measures that included a siege on the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,200 have been killed in Israel, mostly during Hamas's attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict. 

People are seen around a damaged road after Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Dec. 2, 2023. A total of 15,207 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said during a press conference in Khan Younis that the number of injured people in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000, with 70 percent of them being children and women. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People are seen around a damaged road after Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Dec. 2, 2023. A total of 15,207 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said during a press conference in Khan Younis that the number of injured people in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000, with 70 percent of them being children and women. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People are seen around a damaged road after Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Dec. 2, 2023. A total of 15,207 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said during a press conference in Khan Younis that the number of injured people in the Palestinian enclave had surpassed 40,000, with 70 percent of them being children and women. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)
Pedestrians and traders in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State, have raised alarm over what described as a new method of robbery being used to dispossess unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned money and other belongings in a twinkle of an eye.

The new robbery method, according to them, is codedly and honourably done by some uniformed men (usually dressed in yellow) and who claim to be working for the state government.

The alarm is coming barely one day after another concerned citizen raised another similar alarm on the sale of Soludo Paper to every motorist who must come into or live Anambra through the Second Niger Bridge, Onitsha, and other boundaries of the State.

According to the first alarmer, identified as Chukwu Flavian, the sellers of the ticket, which they nicknamed Soludo Paper always wedge and compel every motorist traveling out of or coming into Anambra State to buy the Paper. Although, Flavian is yet to reveal the amount the boys sell the Paper, he hinted that the boys were working for the Governor.

Please, is your Governor, Mr. Soludo aware that his boys are disturbing vehicles traveling from other states to Delta, Enugu and Lagos? So vehicle traveling from other State states to Delta and Lagos or to Enugu must pay for Soludo paper. What is this Soludo paper? Even before we can access the second Niger Bridge, we pay for Soludo paper. What is this Soludo paper that vehicles from other State states must pay? he wrote.

It was one day after the alarm was raised that the latest similar alarm was raised by another concerned resident of Onitsha.

The latest alarmer, in his video currently trending on the social media, said the second gang members, who station at opposite Chisco at Upper Iweka, usually concentrates more on people crossing the road without using the pedestrian bridge.

According to him, the group would always accost such crossers and begin to interrogate them in the disguise of being government agents, shortly after which their shuttle bus will arrive and they will force all the people into the shuttle bus and drive them away to a place known as Holiday Resort (also in Onitsha).

He further revealed that at the Holiday Resort, the victim's bags, pockets and phone would be thoroughly searched by the gang members, and all good things therein be taken away, while all the money he/she has in his/her account would be moved, all with torture and in a twinkle of an eye. He said after these, they would chase the victim out of the place, rendering him stranded. He said some victims who negotiate well and settle peacefully with them would be discharged there at Upper Iweka without carrying him/her to their chambers at the Holiday Resort.

The source also said the operations of the gang members had been previously stopped in the area before, shortly after which they returned again in full force, more re-strategized and more energized.

According to him, the gang members claim to working for one Mr. Igboeze, who was described as one of the leaders of the recently-inaugurated State newly-touting Squad Agency (SASA) in Anambra recently floated by Governor Soludo. He said the gang members also revealed that they were making returns (payments) of unspecified amount of money to Igboeze on daily basis as part of their homage to him as the leader of the Anti-touting Squad in that area.

While lamenting the alarming rate at which travellers and l innocent individuals are being tormented and robbed in the area by the gang members; the source further called the attention of the State Government and security agencies in the State to the situation; even as he advised people passing through the area to be careful not to fall prey to the people.

Efforts to get the reactions of the Police Public Relations Officer for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, on the situation, proved abortive, as he was yet to respond to message sent to him by this reporter, Izunna Okafor.
United Nigeria Airlines has apologized to its passengers over the disruption of schedules as the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) lifted the suspension placed on the operation of the airlines wet lease aircraft.

The NCAA had earlier suspended the Part G operations of the airline which has to do with its two wet lease aircraft, following last Sundays diversion of an Abuja-bound flight from Lagos to Asaba.

The NCAA, in a letter, said investigation of the incident revealed that there was lack of adequate liaison between the lessors OCC (operation control Centre) and lessees OCC which has also omitted appropriate flight briefing from the point of departure.

The lift of suspension was contained in a letter referenced NCAA/DOLT/UNA/Vol.02523 signed by the Director of Operations, Licensing and Training, Capt. Ibrahim Dambazau.

The NCAA said, Further to the recommended amended procedures in your aircraft Part G Operations, the Authority hereby lifts the suspension of your Part G Operations Specifications. Note: You are also required to comply with the Nigeria Civil Aviation All Operators letter (DG 15/2023) referenced NCAA/DGCA/AIR/11/16/347 a copy attached with this letter.

The airline also confirmed the lifting of the suspension on Friday, while apologizing to passengers over the disruption of its schedule.

We are pleased to announce the lifting of the suspension placed on our Part G operations specifications which affected one of our aircraft.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to you for keeping faith with us and for your understanding during this period, the airline said in a statement.

It reiterated that safety remains the priority of the airline and at the core of its values, adding, and we take our commitment to passenger safety very seriously.

The airline said, We are aware that every time our schedule is disrupted, it is usually a very painful experience for you and for us as well because we know and understand that it affects travel plans and diminishes your trust in the reliability of our operations.

We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you and would want to reassure you that our dedicated team is working around the clock to resolve the backlog of flights schedules because we understand the importance of your travel plans and the trust you place in us.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Resolute Response On Hamas: Urging Tinubu, Biden, And Global Leaders To Do The Same For Chibok Girls, Jonathan, Buhari, Failed Nigerians

In a compelling analysis titled "As Israeli Hostages Return, Where Are Nigerian Chibok Girls?" published as an Opinion Piece by Vitus Ozoke on November 25, 2023, the author sheds light on the sharp disparity between Israel and Nigeria's reactions to hostage situations. The piece specifically highlights the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas and the ongoing plight of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram.

Amidst global geopolitical complexities, the recent successful return of Israeli hostages sharply contrasts with the unresolved abduction of Nigeria's Chibok girls. The measured response of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the October 7 attack is juxtaposed against the enduring agony faced by the families of the Chibok girls.

The abduction of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014 remains a haunting tragedy, casting a lingering shadow even nine years later. As 2023 marks the ninth anniversary of their abduction, the piece criticizes former Presidents Jonathan and Buhari, asserting that their leadership is deserving of shame for the prolonged ordeal faced by the Chibok girls.

The stark difference in responses underscores the call for Nigeria and its leaders to adopt a resolute approach, akin to Israel's, for the swift and decisive return of the Chibok girls. The ongoing tragedy not only reflects the horror endured by the Chibok girls but also serves as a testament to what the author perceives as the inert, pathetic, and apathetic leadership of former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. The delayed response, political complexities, and years of captivity paint a grim picture of a collective failure to safeguard the lives of these innocent individuals.

The delayed response to the Chibok abduction, compounded by political, ethnic, and religious complexities, along with pre-election politicking, contributed to a lack of immediate and effective intervention. The denial and blame from politicians during this critical time exacerbated the tragedy, leaving the girls vulnerable for an extended period.

Subsequent years witnessed unimaginable suffering for the abducted girls at the hands of Boko Haram. While some managed to escape and a few were released following negotiations, a significant number remain unaccounted for. The prolonged captivity paints a distressing portrait of systemic failures and the profound consequences of inadequate governance.

As the hashtag #BringThemHomeNow trends globally in response to Israel's commitment, Nigeria's leadership is urged to adopt a similar urgency. The Chibok girls have endured a protracted ordeal, and their families have suffered immeasurable pain. It's time to transcend hashtags like #BringBackOurGirls and embrace an immediate call to action: #BringBackOurGirlsNOW.

Amid global applause for Israel's proactive measures, the plea for Nigerian leadership is clear: Emulate Israel's resolve, prioritize urgency, and bring back the Chibok girls now. The time for decisive action is now, echoing the urgency that has proven effective in securing the return of hostages. Former Nigerian Presidents Jonathan and Buhari gravely failed the girls and Nigerians. The haunting question persists: Where are the Chibok girls?

The perceived failures in leadership are often attributed to political considerations, infighting, religious disjointedness, inadequate coordination, and a lack of a comprehensive strategy to address the root causes of the insurgency. Critics contend that a more decisive and proactive approach, similar to the one exhibited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the face of the Hamas hostage situation, could have yielded different outcomes.

Netanyahu's leadership demonstrated a sense of urgency and decisiveness in securing the release of Israeli hostages through swift and effective actions. His proactive approach, combining military operations and diplomatic initiatives, showcased a commitment to citizens' safety. Nigerian leaders, particularly President Tinubu, can draw inspiration from this approach to address the prolonged Chibok girls' abduction.

Considering the shortcomings of Presidents Jonathan and Buhari, President Tinubu's leadership offers an opportune moment for a paradigm shift. The narrative should shift from appeasement to emulating proactive and decisive measures witnessed in Israel.

Emulating Netanyahu involves prioritizing citizen security over political considerations and implementing a coordinated strategy that includes military operations, international collaboration, and diplomatic efforts. Netanyahu's success in garnering global support highlights the importance of strong diplomatic relationships for mobilizing assistance in times of crisis.

The call for Nigerian leaders to learn from Benjamin Netanyahu emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift in leadership approach. It underscores the necessity for decisive, resolute, and proactive actions in addressing security challenges. Studying successful models like Netanyahu's provides an opportunity for Nigerian leaders to refine strategies, enhance crisis management capabilities, and achieve tangible results in resolving the Boko Haram insurgency and securing the release of abducted individuals.

The recent international response to the Hamas threat demonstrates the global community's capacity to unite against extremism. This parallel urgency is warranted in addressing the Boko Haram menace in Africa. A unified stance against extremism, regardless of location, is crucial for global security and preserving human life.

While Israel successfully resolves the aftermath of a hostage situation, Nigeria grapples with the unresolved Chibok abduction. The divergent outcomes underscore the need for Nigeria to reassess its strategies, prioritizing the swift and safe return of the remaining Chibok girls. A comprehensive approach, blending military precision with empathetic leadership, is imperative to address the longstanding agony faced by families and restore faith in the government's commitment to citizens' safety.

The juxtaposition of Israel's successful hostage resolution and Nigeria's prolonged Chibok girls' abduction highlights stark differences in leadership, military response, and global attention. This contrast prompts critical reflections on the value placed on human lives and nations' responsibilities in ensuring citizens' safety and well-being.

The urgency is paramount, and the lessons from Israel should not go unnoticed. President Tinubu, like Netanyahu, has the opportunity to lead with determination and resolve, turning the tide on a decade-long tragedy.

While some girls have escaped, returned, or been released, nearly a hundred families still grieve the loss of their daughters. The report emphasizes the urgent need for continued support, understanding, and awareness, highlighting society's responsibility to acknowledge and address the enduring tragedy of the Chibok schoolgirls. The lingering echoes of their abduction underscore the imperative for collective action, urging the world not to forget the pain etched into the history of these stolen daughters.

Addressing the psychological toll on families, the analysis incorporates the perspective of a psychologist, emphasizing the immeasurable mental and emotional impact on these families. It stresses that the time for healing is long overdue, transforming the call into not just a plea for political actions but a deeply human appeal to alleviate the suffering of those ensnared in the heartbreak of the unknown fate of their loved ones.

On the global stage, the Chibok abduction in Nigeria serves as a stark reminder of the need for unified attention and urgency in addressing human rights crises. While the world applauds proactive measures in the Middle East, particularly under President Biden's leadership, there's a call to extend that diligence to the African continent. The Chibok matter transcends being solely an African issue; it is a humanitarian crisis that demands equal consideration and swift action.

The text urges President Biden and the international community to treat the Chibok matter with the same gravity as Middle East issues. The cries for justice, the yearning for closure, and the demand for the release of the remaining Chibok girls should receive equal attention on the global stage.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama's advocacy during the #BringBackOurGirls campaign is highlighted as a powerful precedent. As President Biden addresses global challenges, there is a plea for him to champion the cause of the Chibok girls with the same fervor applied to issues in other regions.

The plea to prioritize the Chibok matter with the same urgency and attention as Middle East issues underscores the need to recognize Africa's significance in the global discourse on human rights. The Chibok tragedy reflects broader challenges facing the continent, emphasizing a commitment to the dignity and rights of all humans, irrespective of geographical boundaries.

Standing in solidarity with this plea acknowledges shared humanity beyond borders, demanding a collective commitment to justice and human rights. The families of the Chibok girls, trapped in perpetual sadness, call for a response that is not just urgent but profoundly compassionate. Tinubu's appeal, extending beyond political affiliations, emphasizes the emotional depth of the plea, urging leaders to respond with a profound sense of empathy and humanity.

Addressing the challenge posed by groups like Boko Haram requires sustained efforts, collaboration between nations, and a focus on both short-term security measures and long-term socio-economic development. The goal is not just punishment but creating conditions that make extremism less appealing and building resilience within communities.

Effectively addressing the threat posed by groups like Boko Haram necessitates a robust security and counterterrorism strategy. This involves bolstering security forces with the necessary resources and training, enhancing intelligence capabilities to anticipate and prevent attacks, and fostering regional and international collaboration to coordinate efforts and share crucial intelligence.

Beyond punitive measures, it is crucial to identify and address the root causes contributing to the emergence and sustenance of groups like Boko Haram. This involves tackling socio-economic, political, and cultural factors that make individuals susceptible to radicalization. Implementing programs addressing poverty, inequality, and lack of education is essential, as these factors often contribute to the appeal of extremist ideologies.

Given the transnational nature of groups like Boko Haram, international cooperation is paramount. Collaborating with neighboring countries and international partners to share intelligence, coordinate efforts, and address regional aspects of the problem is essential. Diplomatic initiatives can contribute to a unified global response against terrorism, isolating the group and curtailing its activities on an international scale.

In the face of the enduring sorrow and persistent uncertainty surrounding the abduction of the Chibok girls, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's powerful call for unity resonates, echoing the need for President Joe Biden and leaders worldwide to unite in a collective effort to find the missing Chibok girls. The families of these girls carry the heavy burden of prolonged agony, immersed in a state of perpetual sadness and haunted by the unknown fate of their loved ones.

Tinubu's plea must extend beyond political affiliations; it should transform into a humanitarian appeal aimed at alleviating the profound suffering endured by those affected by this tragedy.

As Tinubu extends this heartfelt call, it serves as a poignant reminder that the quest for the Chibok girls transcends political, ethnic, and religious boundaries. It is a cause that demands unity, compassion, and concerted efforts from leaders worldwide. The families, communities, and the global conscience eagerly anticipate a response that goes beyond bordersa response that brings an end to the sorrow and uncertainty that has cast a dark shadow over the lives of these families for far too many years.

The plea to Biden and global leaders is not merely to perceive the Chibok matter as a Nigerian crisis but to recognize it as a global humanitarian mission, emphasizing the urgency and international collaboration required to address this profound human rights issue.

The immeasurable mental and emotional toll on these families, evident even to a psychologist, underscores the urgency of the situation. The time for healing is long overdue, and leaders are urged to respond not just with urgency but with a profound sense of empathy and humanity.

The narrative emphasizes the emotional depth of the plea, acknowledging the psychological impact on the families and urging leaders to respond with profound empathy and humanity. The Chibok matter is positioned as a humanitarian crisis deserving equal consideration and swift global action, aligning with the commitment to justice and human rights worldwide.

This segment traces the narrative's evolution from highlighting leadership shortcomings and missed opportunities to the urgent call for emulation, emphasizing the role of political will, immediate action, the psychological toll on families, and the imperative for global attention and collective action.

A specific call is made to President Biden, urging him to champion the cause of the Chibok girls with the same fervor he approaches issues in other regions. Drawing parallels to Michelle Obama's impactful advocacy during the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, the analysis suggests that Biden has the opportunity to lead international efforts to address the Chibok matter

A broader appeal is made for Africa not to be neglected in the global discourse on human rights, positioning the Chibok tragedy as emblematic of broader challenges facing the continent. The narrative stresses that addressing it is a testament to the commitment to the dignity and rights of all humans, irrespective of geographical boundaries.

Effectively addressing the threat posed by groups like Boko Haram necessitates a robust security and counterterrorism strategy, including bolstering security forces, enhancing intelligence capabilities, and fostering regional and international collaboration.

A strong legal framework is deemed necessary to prosecute individuals involved in terrorist activities, with fair and just legal processes crucial for maintaining public trust. Legal measures should be part of a comprehensive strategy combining punitive actions with preventative and rehabilitative measures.

Providing humanitarian assistance is identified as a crucial component of a comprehensive strategy, contributing to the restoration of stability and resilience in affected regions. Recognizing the role of propaganda in extremist activities, strategic communication and media campaigns are highlighted for countering extremist narratives.

Investing in education is positioned as a preventive measure against radicalization, emphasizing the importance of educational programs that promote critical thinking, tolerance, and inclusivity. Counter-radicalization initiatives at the community level are seen as instrumental in fostering an environment that rejects radicalization.

The narrative underscores the need to treat African issues with equal urgency and empathy, advocating for a balanced and equitable approach to international humanitarian efforts. It concludes by emphasizing that the dark chapter of the Chibok tragedy must not be relegated to history, requiring urgent attention, transparency, and concerted efforts to bring closure to the families and justice to those stolen from Chibok. The onus is placed on leaders like Tinubu to emulate the decisive leadership exhibited by Benjamin Netanyahu, rallying the international community, including seeking the assistance of President Biden, to prioritize the safe return of the remaining Chibok girls. The plight of these missing girls should no longer be sidelined or underestimated, demanding a collective, unwavering effort to address the psychological scars inflicted upon the families and the broader community.

In conclusion, the urgent plea for the missing Chibok girls is a call for leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, President Joe Biden, and the global community, to take decisive action akin to the support and attention given to crises in other parts of the world. It underscores that the Chibok matter is not just a Nigerian crisis but a global humanitarian mission, deserving of equal consideration and swift intervention.

Drawing parallels to the proactive measures taken in addressing global challenges, especially in the Middle East, a specific call is made to President Biden. The narrative urges him to use his platform and influence to champion the cause of the Chibok girls with the same fervor and dedication he has demonstrated in other regions. The analysis references the impactful precedent set by influential figures, such as former First Lady Michelle Obama, during the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, highlighting the potential for Biden to lead international efforts to address the Chibok matter.

A broader appeal is made for Africa not to be overlooked in the global discourse on human rights. The Chibok tragedy is positioned as emblematic of broader challenges facing the continent, and addressing it is deemed a testament to the commitment to the dignity and rights of all humans, irrespective of geographical boundaries.

The narrative stresses the necessity for a comprehensive approach to counter the threat posed by groups like Boko Haram. This includes a robust security and counterterrorism strategy, a strong legal framework for prosecution, humanitarian assistance, strategic communication, and investment in education to prevent radicalization.

The final plea emphasizes that Africans, like any other population, are humans deserving of empathy, urgency, and equitable treatment. The dark chapter of the Chibok tragedy should not be consigned to history. Instead, it requires immediate attention, transparency, and concerted efforts to bring closure to the families and justice to those stolen from Chibok. As leaders like Tinubu are called upon to shed the cloak of shame worn by predecessors, the international community, led by figures like President Biden, is urged to prioritize the safe return of the remaining Chibok girls. The plight of these missing girls should no longer be sidelined or underestimated; it demands a collective, unwavering effort to address the psychological scars inflicted upon the families and the broader African community.
Many Nigerians agreed - and had hoped - that the amended Electoral Act 2022 would be a game changer in terms of its dynamism and innovation to cure obvious lapses in the electoral system, and ensure credibility and transparency of elections.

But as shown in the process, outcome and aftermath of the February-March 2023 General Election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a lot of loopholes and wiggle room still exist in the system.

Trust politicians, they've exploited these flaws for selfish ends. Even those that'd long shot - or no shot at all - at the offices they vied for, have taken undue advantage of the inadequacies in the electoral law to blame their opponents - and not themselves - for their defeats at the poll.

Particularly excoriated are INEC and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for alleged connivance - that's largely unproven in courts when the accusers were given opportunities to do so - to deny members of the opposition the reported mandate Nigerians gave to them on poll day.

Hence the refrain, "We will retrieve our 'stolen mandate' in court," which they failed to achieve, as the courts dismissed most petitions and/or appeals as "incompetent and lacking in merit" - judgments that've given rise to further allegations of compromise of Judges handling electoral matters.

No court - from the High Court to the Supreme Court - is spared these odious allegations bandied by defeated candidates, their cronies, supporters and political parties because there're no sanctions - and if there're, no one has been held to account - for such spurious charges against political opponents, the governing party, Judges and the entire Judiciary.

To the extent that lately, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, was hard-pressed to urge Judges not to abandon the law for "emotions of the mob" in the consideration of matters before them.

At the swearing-in of 58 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) in Abuja, Justice Ariwoola said: "I expect every judicial officer to work very hard and also be very honest and courteous to the litigants, witnesses and members of the bar, and discharge all your judicial functions with all the humility at your command.

"Even while doing this, it is still necessary to have at the back of your minds that public opinions, sentiments or emotions can never take the place of the law in deciding the cases that come before you.

"The law remains the law, no matter whose interest is involved. In all we do, as interpreters of the law, we should endeavour to severe the strings of emotion from logic and assumption from fact.

"We should never be overwhelmed by the actions or loud voices of the mob or crowd and now begin to confuse law with sentiment or something else in deciding our cases."

Nonetheless, the moves by the National Assembly (NASS) to review the Electoral Act - soon after the courts have put to rest the virulently-contentious February 25 presidential poll - should appease those aggrieved over the fallouts from the elections.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Sharafadeen Alli, on Channels TVs Sunrise Daily on November 21, hinted about the Senate musing on extensive review of the Electoral Act 2022.

Senator Alli (APC, Oyo South) - affirming that the 2022 Act was a game changer, and yet, not a perfect legislation - listed some areas (for amendments) that drew the ire of the electorate during the 2023 elections.

They include, mandatory conclusion of pre and post-election matters before inauguration of election winners; binding electronic transmission, and upload of results to the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal realtime; and conclusion of petitions and appeals before swearing-in of poll winners.

He said: "I must say this, there can not be a perfect legislation. After every legislation, you see gaps and that is when power that is given to the judiciary will tap into this clause.

"We must praise the 9th (National) Assembly under Senator (Ahmad) Lawan (former Senate President) for coming out boldly to pass the Electoral Act; it is the fundamental change in our electoral system.

"BVAS (Biomodal Voter Accreditation System) machine is like a game changer, unlike the Card Reader. When the card reader does not work, we will fill the incident form, and we knew (what voters) used that for. But as soon as you bypass the BVAS this time around, the election is null and void. That is one of the things that we are doing going forward.

"And whatever we say on every legislation, there has been an improvement on the previous ones, and we say things are getting better (even if) there are errors there as well.

"Under the current law, it is not mandatory for INEC to upload (poll results). That is what the courts have said: 'Enter the law.'

"But as we are going forward, it (upload of results) is going to be mandatory. It is just to ask INEC to make sure we improve our technology and ensure that the thing is there."

The Senate, in its retreat in Akwa Ibom State in October - which precursored the Lagos retreat by the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Electoral Matters - set up a committee to attend to electoral reforms in advance of the 2027 polls.

Rising from the three-day Lagos parley, the committee - which demonstrated the seriousness of observed lapses in the Electoral Act, and the importance of remedying them for the 2027 electons - resolved to pursue and conclude the amendments before the end of 2024.

In the course of its deliberations, the committee took cognisance of, and reviewed recommendations from local and international election observers, who elaborated on citizens' experiences with the 2023 elections.

Areas for amendments include: * The challenge of appointment of non-partisan persons into INEC that hinders its independence and integrity. * Issue of minimum educational qualification of candidates for elective offices. * Conflicts arising from decisions of the courts over pre or post-election matters.

Others are: * The use of BVAS technology in electoral process. * INEC's recourse to reconfiguring the BVAS machines (wiping prior data) before fresh election. * Lack of clarity in documentary proof of non-compliance with the electoral law. * Operational challenges in INEC as per electoral offences. * Issue of internal democracy that splinters parties, and breeds anti-party activities.

To success in its task, the Joint Committee will carry out extensive consultations with constituents, the public, and other stakeholders, to ensure inclusive participation; collaborate with the NASS Constitutional Review Committee, to address areas of elections that require alteration to the amended 1999 Constitution; and work with technical experts to prioritise and articulate issues for amendment.

The NASS leadership has given the assurance for a timely amendment of the Electoral Act, to enhance transparency and accountability in the electoral processes.

The November 29 commitment comes in Abuja at a "Citizens' Townhall on Electoral Reform," organised by Yiaga Africa in collaboration with the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Electoral Matters.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said: "For the electoral process, we are committed not only to go along with the people on the call for reforms on electoral framework, but at the same time protect the independence of the electoral commission and restore the trust of the people in the electoral process.

"This administration is ready to work with anyone and everyone that is interested in the progress and development of this nation. This is not only on issues on electoral reform, but also in formulating initiatives and policies that will revamp our economy and put us on the driving seat of industrial and economic advancement."

Similarly, House of Representatives Speaker Tejudeen Abbas said: "There is no gainsaying the fact that credible elections are the bedrock of any democracy, and Nigeria stands the risk of reversing the gains of the last two decades if we do not fix our elections.

"The 10th House of Representatives is committed to championing legislative initiatives that promote fairness, transparency and accountability in our electoral processes."

Critics, who, in the wake of the 2023 elections, shredded the entire Electoral Act 2022, have the opportunity now to contribute their quota to making the law a "perfect" one of their dream.

This is as Nigerians, and the global community look forward to the NASS, to translate its zeal, commitment, and timely commencement of reforming the electoral process into enhancing credility and acceptability of our elections.

Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Deals galore at New Year Mega Sale

BANGKOK: The Commerce Ministry has organised the New Year Mega Sale, a bumper shopping event aimed at easing the cost of living and billed as a New Years gift to the Thai people.

economics

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 2 December 2023 09:49 AM

Festive hampers on display at a supermarket in Bangkok ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities. Photo: Pornprom Satrabhaya

The event is scheduled to take place at Muang Thong Thani during Dec 20-24, with further events nationwide, reports the Bangkok Post.

Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the Internal Trade Department conducted discussions with manufacturers, business operators, wholesale and retail stores, convenience stores, and online platforms to organise the sale.

The Muang Thong Thani event will feature products that are essential for everyday life as well as consumer goods, said Mr Phumtham.

He said sales will also take place from Dec 15 to Jan 15 next year at branches of malls in other provinces nationwide.

The department is in talks with manufacturers, business operators and various malls participating in the project regarding details of the product discounts, said Mr Phumtham.

The discounts will be significant, with the exact details to be announced later. This event is expected to help reduce the cost of living for people by more than 1 billion baht [nationwide].

Wattanasak Sur-iam, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, earlier said the ministry was teaming up with more than 300 manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and convenience stores to organise a large-scale promotional event, which would reduce the prices of goods and services as a New Years gift to the public.

The event continues a project that commenced on Oct 2 this year and is scheduled to end on Dec 31.

As part of the governments Quick Win policy to reduce expenses, increase income and expand business opportunities, the ministry partnered with 288 business operators in October to reduce the prices of their goods and services covering 151,676 items nationwide for a period of three months through Dec 31.

The prices of over 150,000 products and services were cut by as much as 87% under the scheme, which was estimated to help reduce the cost of living nationwide by B2-3 billion.
Phuket hosts correctional centre crafts fair

PHUKET: An annual event to showcase products made my inmates at prisons in Phuket and nearby southern provinces officially started yesterday (Dec 1).

crimeculture

By The Phuket News

Saturday 2 December 2023 10:58 AM

The 17th exhibition of correctional products from 14 prisons in the countrys south is being held in Saphan Hin until Dec 9.

The event aims to both showcase products made by inmates which can be bought by members of the general public whilst also highlighting the notion of reform among the offenders.

Products include a range of traditional wood-crafted and varnished furniture items such as benches, tables, chairs, ornaments and decorative features.

Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat officially opened yesterdays event and was joined by: Rewat Areerob, President of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO); Prasit Sinsaowaphak, Deputy Mayor of Phuket City; Arkom Phusri, Commander of Phang-Nga Provincial Prison, Acting Commander of Phuket Provincial Prison, Commander of Prisons and Correctional Institutions across the 14 Southern Provinces; in addition to relevant government officials.

The Department of Corrections has an important mission which is to control prisoners professionally and provide effective treatment, rehabilitation and development of prisoners bad habits in order to return them to society, Governor Sophon said in his opening remarks.

The ultimate aim is to rehabilitate prisoners so that they become good citizens with good physical and mental health that have developed skills that can see them make an honest living in a solid occuptaion  and most importantly not to reoffend, he added.

Governor Sophon emphasised that the Department of Corrections is still facing numerous challenges, particularly in regards to the staff-prisoner ratio, although this ongoing rehabilitation program was evidence that the reform process was working to good effect and was very successful.

Commander Arkom echoed the Governors reamrks, explaining that the Department of Corrections has a policy for prisons and detention centers to provide various vocational training programs to inmates while they are in remand.

Such products crafted by prisoners can then be sold within various local communities on a rotational basis, with the proceeds going back into the prison system to help continue to develop such vocational programs, and a small portion going to the inmates themselves.

As the host province on this occasion, the goods will be on offer daily between Dec 1-9 from 9am to 10pm at the Saphan Hin Center Stage.

On this occasion there are a total of 24 prisons and detention centres participating in the program from areas including Chaiya, Ranong, Krabi and others, officials confirmed.
BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a congratulatory letter to the 2023 Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou) held in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

Today, confronted with a weak global recovery and escalating geopolitical conflicts, humanity has once again come to a crossroads in history. It is all the more important that countries work together to meet various global challenges, promote common development, and improve the well-being of humanity, Xi said.

"To understand China, the key lies in understanding Chinese modernization. China is advancing the noble cause of building a great country and national rejuvenation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind," Xi said. "China's future is closely linked with the future of the entire humanity."

He said China is pursuing high-quality development through high-standard opening up and China will continue to foster a market-oriented, world-class business environment underpinned by a sound legal framework, and steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards.

China is committed to broadening the convergence of interests with other countries, and will continue to provide the world with new growth momentum and opportunities through its own development, Xi said.

"China looks forward to working hand in hand with the rest of the world to realize global modernization that features peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation, and prosperity for all," Xi said.

He expressed the hope that participants to the conference will make their contributions to the exchanges and cooperation between China and the world, to common development and prosperity, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The conference was co-hosted by the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Guangdong provincial government. The conference opened in Guangzhou on Saturday under the theme of "China's New Endeavors amid Unprecedented Global Changes -- Expanding the Convergence of Interests and Building A Community of Shared Future." 
The Missouri Police have apprehended three individuals accused of unlawfully confining and assaulting a 20-year-old Indian student. The rescued student, who arrived in the US from India last year to pursue studies at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, is currently undergoing medical treatment for multiple bone fractures, lacerations, and injuries across his body. The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, endured captivity for more than seven months at the hands of one of his cousins and two other men.

During this period, he was denied access to restroom facilities, subjected to physical abuse, and coerced into labour across three residences, according to law enforcement. The incident came to light when a concerned citizen reported the situation to the police.

Upon arriving at the rural highway residence in St Charles County, the authorities arrested the accused, identified as Venkatesh R Sattaru (35) (the primary suspect and the victims cousin), 23-year-old Sravan Varma Penumetcha, and 27-year-old Nikhil Verma Penmatsa. The charges against them include human trafficking, kidnapping, and assault.

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The police investigation revealed that the student was taken to Sattarus home in April, where he was compelled to perform chores, work full days at Sattarus IT company, and complete additional evening tasks. Additionally, Sattaru would instruct the other two defendants to physically assault the victim over a livestream, escalating the violence if the victim did not scream loudly enough.

According to the victims statements to the police, Sattaru holds significant wealth and power in India, with political and law enforcement connections. Throughout the ordeal, the student was confined to a basement, forced to sleep on an unfinished floor, and lacked access to bathroom facilities. He resorted to scavenging for food in nearby restaurant dumpsters.

Providing further details, the police characterized the incident as absolutely inhumane and unconscionable. The three homes where crime took place were owned by Sattaru in Defiance, Dardenne Prairie, and OFallon. Investigators identified Sattaru as the ringleader, residing in the OFallon home with his wife and children. In addition to the aforementioned charges, Sattaru faces charges of human trafficking for slavery and contributing to human trafficking through the misuse of documentation.
With barely hours to go for the counting of votes polled in the assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana political parties were anxiously waiting for the outcome of the electoral exercise with bated breath.

The fact that they are held months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections added to the anxiety over the state elections. Some are even touting the polls to be semifinals before the general elections.

The counting will be taken up simultaneously in all the four states amidst tight security. Meanwhile, counting in Mizoram has been rescheduled to Monday in view of various representations received by the Election Commission (EC) that Sunday holds a special significance for the people of the northeastern state.

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On the eve of counting, both the BJP and the Congress exuded confidence that the peoples verdict had gone in their favour while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was optimistic that it would retain power in Telangana in the face of a stiff challenge from the Congress.

Voting for 199 of the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly was held in a single phase on November 25 and for the 230 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh on November 17. Voting for 119 seats in Telangana took place on November 30 and 40 constituencies in Mizoram on November 7. Voting for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly was held in two-phases on November 7 and 17.

While not projecting anyone as its chief ministerial candidate in any state, the saffron party used Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its face in the Assembly elections, highlighting the achievements of his government at the Centre. The grand old party harped on what it called the failures of the Modi government at the Centre.

On the eve of counting, Union Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who hails from Rajasthan, said, The BJP is winning the elections with an overwhelming majority in Rajasthan. There is no doubt in this.

Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said, I have full faith that in Rajasthan, Congress government will be formed. I myself had spent time there. I believe tomorrow, we will get the blessings of the people of Rajasthan.

Overall, I feel through the polls in five states, INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) has got a lot of strength. After tomorrows result, INDIA will get momentum, he added.

INDIA is an umbrella of the Opposition which was formed in July this year to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 general elections.

In Madhya Pradesh, which witnessed a direct contest between the ruling BJP and Congress, leaders from both parties were confident of their victory.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said, Wait till tomorrow, Congress will raise questions on EVM. When the Congress faces defeat, they raise questions.

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh said, We will win over 130 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Talking about Chhattisgarh which witnessed a direct contest between the ruling Congress and BJP, former chief minister Raman Singh said, There is a downfall in the popularity of the Congress. We are winning about 50 to 52 seats and will form a government in Chhattisgarh.

Senior Congress leader and MP Pramod Tiwari said, We have feedback from workers We will form the government.

In Telangana, the BRS was confident of retaining power while the Congress said it would dislodge the current dispensation.

Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy said, There is a huge wave against the BRS( in Telangana). Undoubtedly, the BRS is being swept out of power.

Taking a swipe at the BRS, he said, Why are they daydreaming? Its up to them. Any single analyst in Telangana will say bye-bye KCR (K Chandrashekar Rao). 

Notably, recent exit polls predicted an advantage for the BJP in two of the three Hindi heartland states (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) while the Congress appeared ahead in Chhattisgarh.

In Telangana, the exit polls have predicted that the BRS will be replaced by the Congress.
Asom Divas, the foundation day of Assam, was celebrated at Delhi Raj Niwas with gaiety and enthusiasm here on Saturday, a government official said.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena participated in the celebrations along with officials, dignitaries and people of Assam residing in the national capital, said Sabir Nishat, Deputy Director, Assam Information Centre, New Delhi.

Extending his greetings to the people of Assam on the foundation day, Saxena spoke about his close association with the state and its people.

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Assam is endowed with rich natural resources, world class tea, finest golden muga silk and blessed by Maa Kamakhya and the mighty Brahmaputra, the lifeline of the state, said the L-G.

He also recalled the rich and vibrant cultural heritage of the northeastern state.

Highlighting the achievements of Assam, Saxena said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma the state is marching triumphantly on the path of progress and prosperity.

A colourful cultural programme showcasing the rich culture of Assam was presented on the occasion, including Satriya dance, Bihu dance and other items by artists from different communities.

It may be noted that statehood days of different states are being celebrated by the Raj Bhawans to foster a sense of belongingness and spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
A day after police taking into custody Chathannur resident Padmakumar, his wife Anitha Kumari and daughter Anupama for their involvement in the Kollam child kidnapping case, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) MR Ajith Kumar said the family executed the crime to obtain money for settling their debt.

Addressing the media in Kollam, ADGP Ajith Kumar said the motive behind the crime was financial gain as the family had fallen on hard times during the Covid pandemic. He said this is a well-planned crime committed by an entire family to escape from financial crisis.

Inspired by similar incidents, they have been planning the crime for the last one year. The first fake [vehicle] number plate was made one year ago, while the second one was obtained only recently. The family has been monitoring remote and isolated areas for identifying victims, the ADGP said.

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The investigation team probing the case recorded the arrest of Chathannur resident Padmakumar, his wife Anitha Kumari and daughter Anupama on Saturday, nearly 24 hours after they were taken into custody from Puliyara near Shenkottai in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

The ADGP said that the probe teams major focus was on coercing the gang to abandon the child safely. He added that the accused confessed that they decided to drop the child off at the Ashram Maidan after facing pressure from the police investigation.

It was Padmakumars wife Anithakumaris brain behind the abduction plan. The couple has been planning for the move since 2022, the ADGP said

Padmakumar, who is a Computer Science graduate, had run many businesses including cable network, bakery, agriculture and real estate. His daughter, Anupama, who owns a YouTube channel, was in financial trouble after she stopped receiving revenue from it. She used to earn between Rs 3.8 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per month as revenue. Facing a crisis, she agreed to join the plan prepared by his father and mother to abduct the kid, the ADGP said.

Padmakumar had a liability of five crores. The accused targeted Rs 10 lakh for emergency purposes. The ADGP said the abduction plan was executed with precision.

The ADGP said that neither Padmakumar nor his wife and daughter have any criminal background.

Abigail Sara Reji, a six-year-old girl hailing from Oyoor in Kollam, was kidnapped by an unidentified gang on Monday at 4.30 pm. The girl was abducted while she was going to tuition class along with her eight- year- old brother.

Five days after the abduction, the investigation team probing the case, has taken into custody Chathannur resident Padmakumar, his wife Anitha Kumari and daughter Anupama in connection with the case from Puliyara near Shenkottai in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

Meanwhile, Kottarakkara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Saturday sent all three accused in the child abduction case for 14 days judicial custody. The prime accused, Padmakumar, was shifted to sub-jail in Kottarakara while his wife, Anithakumari and daughter, Anupama, were sent to womens prison at Attakulangara.
The Congress on Saturday took a jibe at the ruling BJP over the arrest of an Enforcement Directorate (ED) official for allegedly accepting bribe. Terming the ED one of BJPs superstar campaigners, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Narendra Modi government of turning the central probe agency into political tools to harrass the Opposition.

One of the superstar campaigners of the BJP has stumbled yet again, this time in Tamil Nadu. Weeks after an ED official was caught with a 15 lakhs bribe in Rajasthan, another official of the ED was caught red-handed with 20 lakhs for extortion and bribery, Ramesh wrote on X.

The Modi government has completely damaged the reputation of ED/CBI/IT by turning them into political tools to harass and intimidate the Opposition and anyone who questions the government. Now its officers are running their own mini extortion rackets, he added.

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The remarks came in the backdrop of the arrest of Ankit Tiwari, an ED official after he was caught red-handed while accepting bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a government doctor for settling a case filed against him.

This comes a month after another ED officer was arrested in Rajasthan for taking bribe of Rs 15 lakh.

The Opposition accuses the central government of using the probe agency as its proxy to settle political scores. The ED has also booked a number of Opposition leaders, including AAPs Manish Sisodia, Congress partys Govind Singh Dotasara and TMCs Abhishek Banerjee.

The DMK, a Congress and ruling party of Tamil Nadu, has also slammed the Centre for damaging the reputation of the probe agency. The DMK asked whether ED stood for Extortion Department.

Meanwhile, the BJP has defended the central probe agency, saying that it should not be blamed for the actions of one individual.

This is not the first time and this isnt the last time either. Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialized agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi. Recently, a similar incident happened in RajasthanWe cant blame the ED for a single individuals mistake, BJP leader K Annamalai said, reported ANI.
The United States Attorneys office has announced charges against Indian national Nikhil Gupta in connection with the alleged plot to assassinate Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. An indictment of the US Justice Department alleged that an Indian government official had been directing Gupta.

Gupta, described as international narcotics trafficker, remain in Czech Republic custody. He was arrested arrested and detained on June 30, 2023, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic.

The indictment, however, has not been identified and refered to him as CC-1. Also, CC-1 has not been charged by the US Justice Department but Washington has asked New Delhi to investigate, calling the matter of serious concern.

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India has expressed surprise and concern and formed a panel to investigate the matter.

What US indictment said on Indian officials involvement?

According to the US attorneys indictment, an Indian government employee (CC-1), working together with others, including GUPTA, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on U.S. soil an attorney and political activist who is a U.S. citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City (the Victim).

The indictment didnt identify the target but US media claimed it was Pannun. The US has not denied this claim.

The US Attorneys office claimed that the CC-1 is an Indian government agency employee who described himself as a Senior Field Officer with responsibilities in Security Management and Intelligence.

He served in Indias Central Reserve Police Force and received officer training in battle craft and weapons, the incitement further claimed.

In or about May 2023, CC-1 recruited GUPTA to orchestrate the assassination of the Victim in the United States, it alleged.

The indictment further continues, At CC-1s direction, GUPTA contacted an individual whom GUPTA believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with the DEA (the CS), for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder the Victim in New York City. The CS introduced GUPTA to a purported hitman, who was in fact a DEA undercover officer (the UC). CC-1 subsequently agreed in dealings brokered by GUPTA to pay the UC $100,000 to murder the Victim. On or about June 9, 2023, CC-1 and GUPTA arranged for an associate to deliver $15,000 in cash to the UC as an advance payment for the murder. CC-1s associate then delivered the $15,000 to the UC in Manhattan.

A puported picture of the USD 15,000 delivery that took place inside a car has also been released.

The so called Indian government official also directed Gupta to provide regular updates on the progress of the assassination plot. After this, Gupta shared surveillance photographs of the target with him and directed the UC to carry out the murder as soon as possible.
JERUSALEM/GAZA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A fragile humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed on Friday, with the conflicting parties accusing each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

The Israeli army Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Israel launched massive airstrikes, targeting over 200 sites in Gaza after the ceasefire expired at 07:00 local time Friday (0500 GMT).

The Israeli attacks since Friday morning in Gaza resulted in 178 deaths and 589 injuries, the Hamas-run health ministry said late in the day.

Benny Gantz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Wartime Cabinet, said in a video statement on Friday that Israel made plans during the past week to expand its offensive in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press conference the army struck areas booby-trapped with explosives, tunnel shafts used by militants, launch posts, and operational command centers.

Hamas militants on Friday resumed launching rockets toward Israel, most of which were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defense system. No casualties have been reported, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.

The breakdown of the ceasefire also raises concerns for approximately 140 hostages still held captive in Gaza, after more than 100 were released during the truce.

Qatari-mediated efforts, coordinated with Egypt and the United States, continued throughout Friday to halt the fire and release more hostages. An Israeli military spokesperson told reporters that despite the renewed hostilities, Israel hopes "to at least complete the stage of releasing all women and children in the deal."

Fighting resumed also along the Israel-Lebanon border, causing three deaths and three injuries. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite military group, said it attacked Israeli troops at the border to support the Palestinians in Gaza.

The IDF said "Fighter jets, helicopters, and artillery struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon" in response to the fire by Hezbollah.

The overall death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict reached more than 15,000, while in Israel more than 1,200 have been killed, mostly during Hamas' surprise attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict. 
The Election Commission (EC) has rescheduled the date of counting for Mizoram Assembly polls to December 4 from December 3, which was scheduled to be held along with Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

The decision was taken by the poll panel in the wake of representations received by it for the change of schedule of the counting since the announcement of the Assembly elections in the northeastern state.

In a communique issued by the EC last night, it said, The Commission has received several representations from various quarters requesting for change in date of counting from 3 December to some other week day, on the ground that 3 December being Sunday a special significance for the people of Mizoram.

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The Commission said taking into considerations these representations, it has decided to revise the date of counting for the Mizoram Assembly polls from 3 December to 4 December.

No change has been made in any event of schedule of General Election to Legislative Assembly of Mizoram or some other state, the poll panel said.

Elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly was held in a single phase on November 7.

In the 2018 assembly election, the Mizo National Front (MNF) had won 26 seats, the Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) eight, Congress five and the BJP one seat.

Notably, the MNF is a constituent of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday cautioned the people against the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Deepfake.

Today the use of artificial intelligence is making our lives easier. But its use for Deepfake is a threat to society, she said addressing the 111th convocation of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University at Nagpur.

Any resource, she said, can be used or misused. The same fact applies to technology too. If we use it properly, it will be beneficial for the country and society and if we misuse it, it will be harmful for humanity.

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The president said that research and innovation play an important role in the development of any country. She was happy to note that Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University is encouraging research, innovation and technology development.

She noted that faculty members of this university have been granted more than 60 patents by the Indian Patent Office. The university has an Incubation Center to encourage start-ups culture among the students. She urged students and faculty to do research and innovation keeping in mind the local problems and needs and also implement those innovations.

President Mumru said that today the whole world is a global village. No institution can remain cut off from the world. She urged the Nagpur University to promote interdisciplinary studies and international collaboration. She emphasised that only by sharing research and innovation with each other, challenges before the world could be faced.

Addressing the students, she said that getting a formal degree is not the end of education. The students should remain curious and keep learning. Today, when rapid changes are taking place in the field of technology, it becomes even more important to keep learning continuously.

The President told students that they are the asset of the nation and society. The future of India rests on their shoulders. Adverse circumstances may come in their life but they should not be afraid of them. She advised them to face those situations with their knowledge and self-confidence, to stay connected with their loved ones and to have faith in their abilities.
A team of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officers conducted raid at the Enforcement Directorate sub-zonal office in Madurai after an ED officer named Ankit tiwari was caught red-handed while taking bribe. The raids continued throughout the Friday night and expected to continue on Saturday as well.

The raids were conducted after Tiwari was allegedly caught taking bribe worth Rs 20 lakh from a government Doctor in Dindigul in an already disposed case.

According to a press release by DAVC Chennai, Ankit Tiwari and some other Ed officials had been threatening a number of people and demanding bribe in exchange for closing their cases in the Enforcement Directorate.

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Tiwari had threatened the doctor in a similar manner and demanded Rs 3 crore in bribe to avert legal action in a case that had already been disposed.

He later brought down the demand to 51 lakh and caught by DVAC officials while accepting Rs 20 lakh in first installment.

Tiwari was produced in the court and has been sent to judicial custody till December 15.

As per the DVAC officials, Tiwari allegedly told his victims that he is acting on instructions from the Prime Ministers Office.

The Enforcement Directorate, a central government agency, is yet to respond.

The probe agency has been facing credibility questions after its raid on a number of Opposition leaders. The Opposition has accused the Centre of misusing ED to settle political scores.

Earlier last week, the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had also arrested an ED officer for allegedly taking a bribe worth Rs 15 lakh for settling a chit fund scam case.
Two days before Parliaments Winter Session is to begin on Monday, the Government held discussions with leaders of all political parties on Saturday and offered to debate all issues, but the session will be stormy, coming just after the results of Assembly elections in four major States.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the all-party meeting, chaired by Defence Minister and Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Rajnath Singh, was attended by 30 leaders from 23 parties. The session will run for 19 days and have 15 sittings.

Government is fully ready for structured debates and has requested the Opposition to let the House function smoothly, said Joshi after the meeting. He said the government is keen on having fruitful discussions in the Winter Session but parties need to follow procedure for a structured debates on any issue.

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He said: There were suggestions for Short Duration discussions, Calling Attentions and Zero Hour mentions. We conduct Zero Hour in both Houses almost regularly. We have held Short Duration discussions also. We have said that we are ready for discussion, but they will also have to follow the procedure for a structured debate.

If you want, you should allow atmosphere for structured debate, procedures should be followed; as far as government is concerned, we are ready. Last time also, Manipur notices were given, we were ready for a discussion in both Houses, he said.

Joshi said permission of the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Chairman Rajya Sabha has to prevail. We are ready to discussion. This is the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha. We are fully ready; we are also keen to discuss what we did in the last five years and our achievements, we want the House should function, and smoothly.

Asked about the Ethics Committee report in the Mahua Moitra case, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said the House will abide by the precedent that has been followed on ethics and the Speaker will decide on the matter in the House.

The precedent that has been adopted so far on Ethics will be followed. There has been a discussion on that in the Ethics Committee and the Speaker will decide on what will be done in Parliament, Joshi said.

Talking about the agenda before the session, the Minister said We are bringing in 19 Bills and two are financial items. There are a total of 21 items. There are three Bills from the Home Ministry. There is a bill on Central University, Constitutional order.

The three Home Ministry Bills are the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, which are to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Evidence Act.

Asked about the next Budget Session in February, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said it may be a short one, of just a week or so, for a Vote on Account, but the call on this will be taken by the Finance Ministry.

Referring to the Mahua Moitra case, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, said after attending the all-party meeting Those who are elected by people should not be deprived of their membership by a committee. This is a matter of discussion. The Congress is opposed to denial of rights.

RSP leader N K Pramachandran said Unemployment, price rise, Israel-Palestine conflict have to be discussed in the House and most of the members have raised objections against imposing Hindi in the Criminal laws by giving new names to the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code as well as Indian Evidence Act.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP Mahua Maji said she proposed the Van Adhikar Amendment Bill should discussed again as it was passed hurriedly.
The Indian Parliament has finally enacted a law providing for one third gender quota in Parliament and State Assemblies after a series of unsuccessful initiatives for nearly three decades. UN Women India, a global champion for the empowerment of women and girls, applauded the Reservation Act, and hopes it will leapfrog India into one of 64 countries who have reserved seats for women. Conceptually, quotas represent a shift from one concept of equality of opportunity to the concept of equality with emphasis on results, a sort of fast track method, a qualitative jump into a policy of exact goals and means. More than one hundred countries across the world including Pakistan and sub-Saharan African countries have introduced reservation. According to a UN Women report, it has been possible to have 40 per cent women in legislatures in 23 countries through the introduction of a quota system. In countries such as France, South Korea, and Nepal, a quota as high as 50 per cent has been reserved for women. Under-representation of women in democratic bodies like Parliament around the globe has been an issue of open debate and discussion ever since the Women Development Decade (1975-85) initiated at the instance of United Nations, brought to light that the scales of world equality are out of balance ~ men ride high on power while women are endowed with responsibilities. The Human Development Report 1995 made a strong plea for engendering development by correcting gender equality, without which development will be endangered Scholars like Anne Phillips have argued that women bring different types of skill in politics and provide role models for future generations. Besides, their inclusion in politics facilitates representation of the specific interest of women in state policy, and revitalises democracy by bridging the gap between representation and participation. It can also help in reducing gender inequality, and thus promote one of the key sustainable development goals and bring about an improvement on womens health, well-being and overall quality of life. In India the protagonists of a quota in Parliament believe that it will add a new dimension to the debates and discussions and it will bring a more civil pattern of interactions Besides, larger numbers of women will mobilize and help redirect the political agenda towards greater social good and reduction of corruption. These are proved by empirical studies conducted in panchayats. Historically speaking, Sarojini Naidu and Margaret Cousins led a group of women to demand before the British Parliament equal rights of representation for the fair sex in the Indian Provincial Legislatures long ago. The Second Round Table Conference (1931) took cognizance of it but ended without positive results because of lack of consensus. Our Constitution seeks to guarantee equality in different Articles including provision for positive discrimination (Article 15.3). In the Constituent Assembly women leaders did not demand quota because political equality and complete universal suffrage was now offered to all citizens. Women activists perceived it as a retrograde step. Despite the absence of the perception of women as actors in development in almost all the Plan documents, it was the National Perspective Plan for Women which argued for introducing a 30 per cent quota for women at all levels of elective bodies. In 1992, twin constitutional amendments accepted one third gender quota in all local bodies. Now there are nearly 46 per cent women in panchayat bodies. More significantly, during the last few years, 20 states have amended their legislations to make room for 50 per cent reservation of seats for women in rural local bodies. The studies have brought quite a few dominant challenges which elected women leaders in panchayats are experiencing. They can be located at three levels, namely individual and family, society and polity and law and institutions. At the individual level lack of experience in participation in political institutions has emerged as an important factor. At the social and political level there is a strong tradition of patriarchy which gives birth to a new class of male village leaders popularly known as sarpanch pati, sarpanch sasur, sarpanch bhai and sarpanch jeth. Political Weekly, Vol 32 (26): WS13-20, April 26-May 2, 19 conducted on women members of 84 GPs in Kerala found that apart from education and land holdings, other variables like age, occupation, and income are crucial for women to enter into politics. Arora and Prabhakar (1997) in their study focused on why some females are more interested in politics and found that women representatives who were highly educated and were from upper caste or dominant castes were more interested in politics. They also pointed out that women representatives who often met and discussed with their friends had significant political interest. Further, Nilekani (2010) found domestic violence against women, wage disparities, sexual harassment and abuse, discrimination in the supplement of nutrition, and low female literacy rates to be widely prevalent in India. Significantly, women have been able to bring about some change in the popular social perception about them ~ that they are incapable of running the government ~ by dint of their remarkable performance. Studies have exploded the popular perception that women are not interested in politics. The analysis of election data about women elected representatives reveals that women have expanded their representation to unreserved seats. The important question that needs to be probed further is the relationship between the politics of presence of women and the ways in which these are translated into meaningful processes in the decentralization of democracy and engendering of development and politics. Major obstacles to womens participation in the public domain in South Asia, as American sociologist Gail Omvedt has observed, can be traced to patrilineal and patrilocal kinship structures where women get socialised to be mothers, wives and workers under others authority. The competitive nature of politics where it becomes a profitable source of income and power that men tend to control appears to be another hindrance. Ideally, what we need are more efforts to collectively mobilise not only women, but also men in support of greater equality. Scandinavia presents the most hopeful case. If we go back 100 years there, we observe a radical activism jump-started by women but with great support from men as well. That was the secret of their success. If properly implemented the gender quotas stand out prominently as an effective strategy of positive discrimination even in the so-called Least Developed Countries in Sub Saharan Africa, such as, Rwanda, Burundi, and Mozambique. According to the World Economic Forums Gender Gap Index 2023, women hold 61.3 per cent of Rwandas Parliament, a first in the world for womens representation in the national parliament. The empirical studies on local bodies in India bring out that hard rock patriarchy is the most dominant challenge. True, it cannot be broken overnight but the fact remains as evident from studies on the local bodies that women have started collecting rock-breaking chemicals although the process is still very slow because of patriarchal resistance. The decade of the 1990s marked political churning which led to some mainstreaming of the marginalised sections including women as reflected in the debates on the womens reservation bills. Earlier undifferentiated reservation was opposed on the ground that reservation would continue the perpetuation of upper caste domination which is the breeding ground of the leaders; while it has some substance, the fact remains that regular democratic seed-drilling at the local level weakens the caste system, and in course of time, women from lower castes will emerge as leaders. The provision for gender quota gives women a piece of land which belongs to them as a group. The construction of houses is now the most challenging job. Rabindranath Tagore raised this issue in Strir Patra and Jogajog. Kumudini and Mrinal needed a house of their own where they will be enjoying some freedom. Around the same time, in 1929, Virginia Woolf hinted at the same thing in her A Room of Ones Own. Will the patriarchal state come forward to help women construct their houses? It is very difficult for the state any longer to ignore the demand of women because democracy is a game of numbers. In the villages and towns where more than one-third women live, the process of challenging patriarchy has already begun. Women, who are more enlightened today, matter.

The writers are, respectively, Vice Chancellor of St. Xaviers University, Kolkata, and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Xavier Law School, St. Xaviers University, Kolkata

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As counting day for elections to five states nears, the nations equity markets are gearing up for a rollercoaster ride, with analysts urging investors to tread cautiously and consider hedging strategies to navigate potential turbulence. The recent surge in Indias blue-chip Nifty 50 index, hovering near record highs, has been nothing short of impressive. A five-per cent rally in November alone, and an 11 per cent in- crease over the year, reflect a market that has been on an upward trajectory, seemingly unfazed by external factors. However, as results of crucial state elections loom, analysts are sounding a note of caution, advising investors to hedge their portfolios against the impend- ing volatility. Exit polls released on Thursday have only added to the complexity of the situation, painting a mixed picture that leaves room for speculation and uncertainty. In this landscape, prudent investors are looking beyond the headlines, analysing the nuances of the political scenario and its potential impact on the financial markets. One strategy gaining attention is the use of options to hedge portfolios. The recommen- dation to buy put options with specific strike prices is not just a precautionary measure but also a reflection of the intricacies at play. A put option provides a safe- guard, allowing investors to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price. This move is particularly rele- vant in the current climate, where political events are notorious for triggering market mood swings. The divergence highlighted by analysts between the Nifty 50, perched just 200 points away from all-time highs, and individual stocks hitting new 52-week highs raises eyebrows. It suggests a market that may be riding on a sense of complacency, underestimating the potential impact of the upcoming elections results. It is this complacency that prompts a call for a prudent appro- ach, a reminder that even in a bullish market, risks lurk around the corner.

The cautious sentiment is further echoed by Soci- ete Generales recent downgrade of Indian equities from overweight to neutral. The looming general elections are cited among the reasons for this shift in stance, emphasising the sensitivity of markets to polit- ical events. Indeed, history has shown that abrupt political changes can jolt markets, and this time seems to be no exception. The anticipation of a 2 to 4 per cent potential fall in the Nifty 50 if BJP faces setbacks in key states, underscores the significance of risk man- agement. Investors are being urged to consider out- of-the-money protective puts, strategically setting strike prices below current levels. This approach not only provides a safety net against market down- turns but also reflects a proactive stance amid the pre- vailing uncertainties. The mixed signals from exit polls serve as a reminder that markets, like politics, are inherently unpredictable, and a cautious approach is the need of the hour.

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The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) resumed its bombardment of Gaza after the temporary truce with Hamas ended last morning. At least 180 people have been killed since the fighting resumed in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.

Both Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for backing out of the deal. The US has blamed Hamas for the end of the truce even as Qatar said efforts are on to renew it.

The United Nations has said that aid trucks that were allowed to enter Gaza as part of the deal have stopped reaching the war-torn Strip after the truce ended.

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The Iron Dom  Israels famed missile defence system  was back in action after Hamas fired rockets at Israel.

Meanwhile, IDF planes dropped leaflets warning Gazans that east of Khana Younis and Salah al-din were dangerous and urged them to take shelter near the Egyptian border.

Earlier on Thursday, eight Israeli hostages were released by Hamas on the last day of the temporary truce agreement with Israel.

According to Israeli media reports, Israel had insisted Hamas release all children and civilian women held hostage by the terror group within the framework of the current truce deal. However, Hamas didnt agree and more than 20 women are still believed to be in its captivity.

Hamas militants took about 240 hostages, including children, women and elderly, during their brutal October 7 attack that also saw some 1,200 Israelis massacred.
Saint-Laurent, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Periods of light snow. High 24F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulations less than one inch..

Tonight

Light snow this evening will give way to some clearing late. Low 13F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 90%.
This photo taken on Dec. 2, 2023 shows a view of the Expo City, the venue of COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

A participant walks past a COP28 logo (R) at the Expo City, the venue of COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Dec. 1, 2023. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

This photo taken on Dec. 1, 2023 shows a view of the Expo City, the venue of COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

Participants enter the Expo City, the venue of COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Dec. 1, 2023. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

This photo taken on Dec. 2, 2023 shows a view of the Expo City, the venue of COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

A participant poses for photos with a panda-like costumed performer in front of the China's pavilion in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Dec. 2, 2023. COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in the Expo City of Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)
DAMASCUS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, the latest in a spate of Israeli attacks against Syria, according to the national Syrian TV.

Multiple explosions were heard in Damascus after midnight in what appeared to be a hostile missile attack.

The state-owned TV later confirmed it was an Israeli missile attack on the vicinity of Damascus.

Further details are coming. 
Reinstated OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the AI startup's former board members who ousted him last month had not been in good terms for over a year, according to latest reports.

Quora CEO Adam DAngelo, Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, former GeoSim Systems CEO Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner, the director of strategy at Georgetowns Center for Security and Emerging Technology, were the former OpenAI board members. Of these, D'Angelo was the only member who was retained in the new initial board tasked with appointing a formal board of directors.

Back then, reports by The Information revealed that Altman was at loggerheads with Toner and that he tried to push her out of the board with the help of other directors.

Weeks before he was sacked, Altman rebuked Toner over a research paper she co-authored for Georgetowns Center for Security and Emerging Technology, reported The New York Times, citing Altman's email to colleagues. He reportedly told her that the paper -- which had criticized OpenAI's efforts to keep AI safe while praising Google-backed Anthorpic -- was dangerous to the company, especially because of scrutiny by the US' Federal Trade Commission.

Toner emphasised on the academic nature of the paper but Altman stood by his claims and wrote in the email to his colleagues: "I did not feel we're on the same page on the damage of all this... Any amount of criticism from a board member carries a lot of weight."

According to The New Yorker, Altman approached other board members to discuss Toner's removal and allegedly lied to them. "He'd play them off against each other by lying about what other people thought," a source told the outlet. "Things like that had been happening for years."

Former board member Sutskever who allegedly discussed the possibility of Toner's removal reportedly took a U-turn and sided with fellow directors to usurp Altman. In the official statement, the board had initially said that it no longer had "confidence in his ability to continue leading.

Following this, OpenAI President Greg Brockman quit his post and vacated his seat at the board in support of Altman. Later, Brockman's wife Anna urged Sutskever to reverse the decision of ousting Altman, reported The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

On November 20, Sutskever took to X, saying, "I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions."

The next day, Satya Nadella, CEO of OpenAI's biggest financial backer Microsoft, announced that Altman and Brockman will join his firm to lead an AI research team. Following this, more executives at OpenAI threatened to quit and follow Altman.

Things again took a turn when OpenAI announced that Altman was reinstated as its CEO. A new initial board was set up with three temporary members: former member DAngelo; Bret Taylor, formerly co-CEO of Salesforce; and Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary. They will appoint a formal board with up to nine members.
Whenever the Aam Aadmi Party has found itself stuck in a difficult situation, it has reached out to the people. The same strategy has been adopted by the party amid the buzz that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal could get arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the probe into allegations of corruption in the manner in which the new excise policy was prepared and implemented in the national capital.

The AAP launched a door-to-door signature campaign in Delhi on the theme 'Main Bhi Kejriwal', as part of which party volunteers would, till December 20, reach out to people at all 2,600 polling stations in the city. And from December 21 to 24, the party will hold public meetings in all 250 wards. The findings of the survey will be handed over to Kejriwal.

The party is seeking to turn the ED's summons to Kejriwal, which the chief minister raised legal questions about and refused to appear before the agency, into an occasion to carry out a public outreach campaign through which it would try to prove that the ED is working under pressure from the BJP to target the AAP leader because it is scared of his popularity.

The focus of the campaign is Kejriwal, with the theme being 'Main Bhi Kejriwal', and the volunteers would be asking the people whether in the event of Kejriwal getting arrested, should he resign or should the government be run from jail.

The people of Delhi are saying that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has done a lot of work for the public and he should not resign under any circumstances. They believe that the arrests of AAP leaders are happening as part of an agenda, said AAP Delhi state convenor and cabinet minister Gopal Rai.

The party has, in the past, as well turned adverse situations into occasions to go to the people. And the ED's move to summon Kejriwal has been turned by it into an occasion to kickstart its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. AAP leaders claim that a conspiracy is underway to arrest Kejriwal, and its leaders are being arrested because the BJP fears losing in the Lok Sabha polls. It is evident that the claim that the BJP is targeting AAP leaders will be a key element of the party's campaign.

The BJP in Delhi has been on the offensive, portraying the AAP leaders as corrupt and seeking to make corruption, especially in the wake of the excise policy probe, a major talking point in the politics of the national capital.

The AAP, on the other hand, has attempted to ensure it is an advantageous position in what is turned into a battle of perception. It has stressed on its welfare schemes for the people of Delhi and the work it has done in the capital.
As heartbeats raced in political circles of Madhya Pradesh hours ahead of the beginning of counting of votes in the crucial assembly polls, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Congress chief Kamal Nath exuded confidence in their respective party forming the government.



However, both the leaders said there was no need to say anything today (Saturday) and added that adding things will be clear on Sunday.



Upbeat after some prominent exit polls showed a bumper win for the ruling BJP, CM Chouhan told media persons on Saturday, the BJP will form government in Madhya Pradesh with an overwhelming majority.



He added that people's love and trust towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, popular schemes of central and state governments, unprecedented development in Madhya Pradesh, public's trust and immense support for the BJP make it clear that 'lotus' is going to bloom once again in the state.



Every section of the society has rained blessings, affection and love on us. No doubt Ladli Behnas (women beneficiaries of the scheme by same name) have blessed us; nephew and nieces (young voters) also did not remain behind, the CM said indicating his confidence in these sections of voters.



To a question, he said all exit polls will prove false (suggesting that the BJP will get even higher number of seats than predicted). About Congresss confidence in forming a government, the CM said there is a difference between (their) confidence and (our) confidence. I will say nothing today; tomorrow everything will be clear like sunlight.



Kamal Nath told media persons that he will hold long discussions with them on Sunday afternoon. There is no need to say anything today. I have nothing to do with exit polls, I have full confidence in the voters of Madhya Pradesh, he said.



He added that there was no need to discuss independent candidates; as (their support) was not required.



Later Nath posted on social media platform X, addressing the Congress workers. This is a time of enthusiasm and confidence. The process of Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections started about one and a half months ago and it will conclude on December 3 with the counting of votes. The service you have rendered to the party and democracy through thoughts, words and deeds at every stage is incomparable. Tomorrow, with the same concentration and dedication, we all have to complete the vote counting process together. I will personally be present in the office of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and will keep a close watch on the vote counting process and will be in constant touch with all of you. There will be a new dawn in Madhya Pradesh on December 3. Have faith that victory will choose Congress."



On Friday, Nath had said the party was ready for a win and on December 3, a Congress government would be formed in Madhya Pradesh.



At least three prominent exit polls have given around or over 150 seats to the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh, creating quite a buzz as earlier opinion polls and other exit polls have shown a neck and neck contest in Madhya Pradesh with even slight edge to Congress in some of them.



While Congress is reposing trust in anti-incumbency factor to work in its favour along with promises of welfare schemes, the BJP is exuding confidence on PM Modi, welfare schemes of central and state governments, especially the Ladli Behna scheme that has been projected as a game changer for the party.


Survivors of the Union Carbide gas tragedy in Bhopal on Saturday evening marched with torches to honour those killed in the disaster. Hundreds took part in the procession held marking the 39th anniversary of the tragedy.

The torchlight procession ended at the foot of the statue of the Mother - a memorial built opposite the abandoned pesticide factory of Union Carbide from where toxic gas spewed on night intervening December 2 and 3, 1984, killing thousands and maiming lakhs for life.

The leaders of the five organisations, who took part in the march, presented their demands amid chants of mourn for the dead; fight for the living.

Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said: Union Carbide and Dow Chemical (current owners) are yet to pay damages for the health injuries, including birth defects, of children of gas exposed parents. Also the principle of polluter pays is valid in both India and USA, so the US corporations must pay for environmental contamination of soil and groundwater up to five kilometres from the factory.

Speaking on the organisations lack of success in making Union Carbide and Dow Chemical pay additional compensation through the curative petition in the Supreme Court, Balkrishna Namdeo of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha said: The 1991 order of the Supreme Court on the settlement is very clear on this. The union government is committed to pay the survivors the shortfall in compensation.

During the proceedings of the curative petition the attorney general has repeatedly stressed that the compensation paid by Union Carbide is indeed inadequate. Therefore, the Bhopal survivors now expect the central government to pay adequate compensation to them, he added.

Demanding penal action against corporations who broke the law and continued to do business with Union Carbide while it evaded Bhopal court in criminal proceedings, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said, We have evidence that public sector undertakings like Gas Authority India Limited (GAIL), ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, Gujarat Alkalies Chlorides Limited and others continued to do business with Union Carbide while it was absconding. The representatives of these PSUs must be punished for aiding a killer corporation.

Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha called for the setting up of an Empowered Commission on Bhopal that has the authority and the corpus fund to ensure long term medical care and social rehabilitation of the survivors and their next generation. Such a commission was approved by the Manmohan Singh government in 2008 and is the best means to address the long aftermath of the disaster.

Pointing at massive funds that remain unutilized by the Madhya Pradesh Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, Nasreen Khan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh said, Over Rs 100 crores meant for job creation for survivors children remain unutilized for last 13 years, while tens of thousands of young men and women are looking for gainful employment.
Enforcement Directorate officer Ankit Tiwari demanded Rs 51 lakh from Dindigul doctor and threatened of action otherwise, a statement from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption said. Tension prevailed outside the ED office in Madurai on Friday as DVAC sleuths entered the premises for searches and central forces were deployed for security.



Tamil Nadu anti-corruption sleuths on Friday arrested red-handed Tiwari, an officer with the Madurai office of central agency ED, while taking bribe on Friday. According to the state anti-corruption agency, Ankit Tiwari is serving as an Enforcement Officer in the Madurai Enforcement Department office. On October 29, Tiwari contacted Suresh Babu, a government doctor in Dindigul and demanded a bribe of Rs 3 Crore to dispose off a corruption case registered against him. The doctor had a case registered against him by DVAC earlier and it was disposed off.

Tiwari reportedly threatened the government doctor that ED had received directions from the Prime Ministers Office to initiate case against him and he was asked to reach the Madurai office on October 30. When the Government employee went to Madurai, Ankit Tiwari got into the Government employee's car and negotiated that he should pay Rs.3 crore to avert legal action in the case. Later, he said that he had spoken to his superiors and as per their directions, he agreed to collect Rs.51 lakh as bribe, DVAC said.

On November 1, the said employee had given Tiwari Rs.20 lakh as the first instalment of bribe. Later, he intimidated the employee on several occasions through WhatsApp calls and text messages that he should pay the full amount of Rs. 51 lakh, otherwise, he would face dire consequences. Having suspicion over his activities, the Government Employee lodged a complaint with the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit on November 30. On December 1 morning, the sleuths of DVAC caught Ankit Tiwari after he had received Rs.20 lakh as bribe from the complainant, it said. Tiwari has been arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Anti-corruption sleuths said they conducted searches at Tiwaris office and residence and seized several incriminating documents regarding his misconduct. Investigation is being done to elucidate whether he had blackmailed /threatened any other officials adopting this modus-operandi and collected crores of money in the name of Enforcement Directorate. Enquiry will also be conducted to ascertain the involvement of other ED officials in the plot if any, DVAC said.

Tension prevailed outside the ED office in Madurai while DVAC officials reached there to conduct searches as part of the case. DVAC sleuths were not initially allowed inside the premises and they were allowed to proceed with searches after ED officers in Madurai took concurrence from Chennai. During the searches, Central police personnel were deployed outside office premises. Searches are continuing at the office.
A chef presents his dish during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Guests taste dishes during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

A guest takes photo for a chef during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Chefs hold dishes ready for display and review during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

A chef cooks during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Chefs cook during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Dec. 2, 2023 shows a dish displayed during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Dec. 2, 2023 shows a dish displayed during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Dec. 2, 2023 shows a dish displayed during a food festival at Fotile Showroom in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. Chefs from nine Chinese-funded companies in Indonesia attended a cooking competition, and shared food with on-site guests during a food festival here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)
The gaze has shifted to Gaza. Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised early and durable resolution for the Israel-Hamas conflict through diplomacy and dialogue with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the sidelines of the COP 28 summit on Friday.

India batted for the two-state solution to Israel spelling out a position long heldthe optics of the situation matter, especially as it is their first meeting after the attack on October 7. It also comes at the backdrop of the virtual BRICS meeting called by President Cyril Ramaphosa on November 21. The summit was attended by Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But Modi did not attend, which was seen as a signal for Israel. India was represented by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Indias top diplomat at the BRICS summit had done the same. Jaishankar batted for humanitarian aid to Gaza but also added that hostage-taking is equally unacceptable and cannot be condoned.

On Friday, Modi however "reiterated the need for continued and safe delivery of humanitarian aid for the affected population." "He emphasised on Indias support for a two-state solution and early and durable resolution of Israel-Palestine issue through dialogue and diplomacy, said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs.

But Modi ensured that he kept the balance by expressing his condolences on the loss of lives in the October 7 terror attacks and welcomed the release of hostages.

This is a fine balance India has maintained. Especially at a time when China is being wooed by the Arab countries to put pressure. The delegation is also likely to visit India but no date has been fixed. Beijing, however, was number one.

On November 20, a delegation of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestinian Authority and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation visited Beijing to exert pressure to launch a serious political process to achieve lasting comprehensive peace. The delegation was also pushing for an immediate ceasefirewhich was brokered for a few days by Qatar later.

Chinas top diplomat Wang Yi has been quoted as saying China is a good friend and brother of Arab and Muslim countries," adding it has "always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights and interests."

Unlike India, China has chosen to read from the same script as the rest of the 100 odd countries of the Global South. The Gaza conflict is different from Indias position on Ukrainewhere India echoed the same language of the Global Souththe position with Palestine for India is a little more nuanced. "We all are witnessing that new challenges are emerging from the events in the West Asia region," said Modi.

The other countries like South Africa, Maldives and Brazil have firmly been on the Palestinian side. South Africa, a long time supporter of the Palestinian cause, has called for an immediate cease fire. India has maintained the two-state solution, but abstained from the United Nations vote in October for a ceasefire.

He stressed that India had denounced what he described as the "heinous terrorist attack" on Israel but also "pushed for dialogue and diplomacy, along with restraint." It is this sort of balancing act that India has perfected.
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker on Saturday, urging him to review the protocols for operating the official portal of the house, in the wake of the Ethics Committee probe against TMC leader MP Mahua Moitra.



In the letter, Chowdhury says he is writing the letter in a personal capacity to review and recast rules and processes relating to the functioning of Parliamentary committees. Detailing the events that led to the formation of two committees, Privileges Committee and Ethics Committee, Chowdhury said, The term Privileges and Ethics continue to be used while referring to either Committee or both Committees. Apparently, there is no clear-cut demarcation in the roles envisaged for the two committees, more so, in the matter of exercising penal powers.

Chowdhury added, As on date, there is no clear definition of unethical conduct and a Code of Conduct remains to be formulated though envisaged under Rule 316B of the Rules of Procedure. Detailing the procedures of the ethics committee, Chowdhury said, The sittings of the Committee are held in private and the proceedings are not to be divulged to the media or any outside.

Chowdhury said if the recommendations of the ethics committee are right, as per media reports, then it has wide ramifications. If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Mahua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is a serious punishment and has very wide ramifications.

Comparing the Mahua Moitra probe with cash-for-query against MPs in 2005 and similar probe against H.D. Mudgal in 1951, the Congress leader said it is not clear whether the well-established procedure was followed and a money trail that is irrefutable has been established in the case of the complaint or allegation against Moitra. Chowdhury said while the proceedings of the case are strictly confidential, Chairman of Ethics Committee as well as Complainant member were openly parading their views and passing judgments even while the matter was under investigation and formulation of the findings and framing the report was underway, he said.

Chowdhury said the adoption of digital technology has brought about sea change in the process of Parliament business, including the Question hour as a result of which members may become susceptible and unwittingly find themselves on the wrong side. Chowdhury said even the most tech-savvy members may find it difficult to use the official portal without secretarial assistance.

The Congress urged the Speaker to have the entire processes relating to the jurisdiction and procedures followed examined and such remedial measures, as needed, taken towards streamlining the functioning.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzus request to the Indian government to withdraw its military personnel from his country is on the discussion table in New Delhi, where the two sides are preparing to share options that can be a win win for both sides, keeping the Maldives-first momentum to the relations that go back a long way.

On the table are few options being placed by the Indian side which isnt ready for a complete withdrawal of its presence, military or non-military, keeping in mind the safety and security of the Indian Ocean region. The Indian presence has so far helped in several rescue and emergency efforts and a lot of its naval presence is synonymous to these drills that have been taking place for several years, sources said.

While it is obvious that the security of the Indian Ocean region is of strategic interest to Centre which is playing a larger role than many of its partners besides securing its own maritime interests, sources said adding there is a need to recognise that the demand may not be completely met.

India is in no hurry to remove its personnel but at the same time it is sensitive to the request, which is why both sides are appointing a representative each to thrash out a way forward. These interlocutors are expected to take the ongoing discussions forward.

If a middle ground can be reached, Maldives may see non-military Indian personnel, off its shores assisting it in ways that allows both countries to progress in ties further, while allowing each other secure their interests. Non-uniform relief and rescue personnel have in the past assisted friendly countries and may also be the way forward in certain regions, where Indian deployments can change shape and form, sources said.

Over the years, Indias growing strength in disaster response and relief has been appreciated in the Indo-Pacific region particularly, where it has focused on using its dedicated expertise like the National Disaster Response Force teams for handling all kinds of operations in natural and man-made disasters within the country and on foreign shores like Japan after the Tsunami and other calamities.

Securing the Indian ocean is Indias responsibility, a security official said, adding that despite pressure tactics by the Chinese who may like to curtail Indias influence in the region and expand their strategic presence, the talks with the Maldivian government will aim at a middle ground that not only creates a deterrent against foreign interference but continues to allow India to be the eyes and ears of the land and sea.
The winter session of the Parliament is headed for a stormy start. The BJP-led government has lined up a heavy legislative agenda for the session as it wants to make the most of the last full-fledged session of the Parliament before the 2024 polls. The next session will be the interim budget session in February.

Starting a day after the assembly polls results of four states will be declaredMizoram votes will be counted on Monday the day the session startsthe outcome of the elections will be reflected in the manner in which the parties conduct their strategy in the House. There will be 15 sittings in this session of the Parliament.

The key highlight of the session will be the report of the Ethics Committee which looked into allegations of impropriety against the Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. The report, which recommended Moitras expulsion, will be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday. The TMC MP can be expelled from the Parliament only if the House votes in support of the recommendation of the committee.

The opposition is likely to seek discussion on the price rise, China conflict, Manipur crisis, and alleged misuse of agencies like ED and CBI. As this will last big opportunity for the Opposition to target the government on these key issues, the proceedings of the house are likely to be stormy. The government has assured that they were ready for a structured debate on key issues.

The government will seek to get the three bills on revamping the criminal justice system passed by both Houses as the standing committee reviewing the bills has already presented its reports. The reports will be tabled in both the Houses. Helmed by Home Minister Amit Shah the three bills will replace the IPC, Evidence Act, and the CrPc. This will be the most comprehensive review of these laws since their inception over a century ago. The opposition members have expressed concern over the manner it was pushing through with the bills.

There are 12 bills pending in the House, while seven new bills will be presented.

Among the bills pending and lined up for passing in the Parliament are:

1. The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023

2. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023



3. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023



4. The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023



5. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023



6. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023



7. The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023



8. The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023



9. The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023.



10. The Post Office Bill, 2023



11. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023



New Bills



1. The Boilers Bill, 2023



2. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023



3. The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023.



4. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023



5. The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2023



6. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill, 2023



7. The Central University (Amendment) Bill, 2023


The Congress on Saturday hit out at BJP over the arrest of an Enforcement Directorate official in Tamil Nadu for allegedly extorting Rs 20 lakh from a local doctor. Congresss senior leader Jairam Ramesh taunted by calling BJP superstar campaigners has stumbled yet again.

One of the superstar campaigners of the BJP has stumbled yet again, this time in Tamil Nadu. Weeks after an ED official was caught with a Rs 15 lakhs bribe in Rajasthan, another official of the ED was caught red-handed with Rs 20 lakhs for extortion and bribery, said Ramesh.

One of the superstar campaigners of the BJP has stumbled yet again, this time in Tamil Nadu. Weeks after an ED official was caught with a 15 lakhs bribe in Rajasthan, another official of the ED was caught red-handed with 20 lakhs for extortion and bribery.



The Modi  Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 2, 2023

Ramesh added that the Modi government has completely damaged the reputation of the ED, CBI and IT by turning them into political tools to harass and intimidate the Opposition.

Now its officers running their own mini extortion rackets, added Ramesh.

The Tamil Nadu government arrested ED officer Ankit Tiwari on Friday over the allegations.

Meanwhile, taking to X, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran called the ED, 'Extortion Department'.

The Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption police , Tamil Nadu have arrested an ED Officer for demanding and accepting a bribe of 20 Lakh in Dindigul. This shatters the faith citizens have in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or  Dayanidhi Maran   (@Dayanidhi_Maran) December 2, 2023

"This shatters the faith citizens have in public institutions, making one wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or Enforcement Directorate after being systematically misused by the BJP government to brazenly terrorize and extort political opponents and critics across the country," said Dayanidhi.

While BJP leader K. Annamalai said that this is not the first time such an incident has happened.

"Earlier too, many have been caught and arrested from specialised agencies like CBI and ED in states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi...We can't blame the ED for a single individual's mistake," Annamalai was quoted by ANI.
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) of the Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday morning concluded the 13-hour long searches at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) zonal office in Madurai and the residence of Enforcement Officer Ankit Tiwari who was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs. 20 lakhs.



Ankit Tiwari has been remanded and sent to judicial custody till December 15. According to highly placed sources in the Tamil Nadu government, the police department and the political leadership are in no mood to hand over the investigation to any central agency.

We will not transfer the case to the CBI at any cost. DVAC will take the case to its logical conclusion and the allegations against the ED officer and all those involved in the case will be brought to justice, a senior police officer told The Week.

According to the official press release from the DVAC on Friday night, the officer demanded Rs.51 lakh as a bribe from Dr Suresh Babu -- a government doctor. Tiwari contacted Suresh Babu on October 29 and said that a disproportionate wealth case which was disposed of by the Dindigul branch of the DVAC is to be reopened by the ED. He asked Suresh Babu to appear before the ED zonal office in Madurai.

Initially Tiwari, according to DVAC allegedly demanded Rs.3 crores to avert legal action. But he reduced the demand to Rs.1.5 crores first and then to Rs.51 lakhs. Suresh Babu, who paid Rs 20 lakhs initially, as first instalment, on November 1. But he struggled to pay the remaining amount and so informed the DVAC.

Following the DVAC's instructions, Suresh Babu asked Tiwari to come to a particular spot to collect the second instalment of Rs. 2o lakhs. The DVAC officers who were with Suresh Babu, chased Tiwari for over 25 kms on the Dindigul-Kodaikanal highway and caught him, said the Tamil Nadu police.

The First Information Report of the DVAC, says that the visuals of the Enforcement officer taking bribe were recorded in the car dashboard camera of the doctor.

According to Tamil Nadu police, several incriminating documents were seized from the ED zonal office in Madurai and also from Tiwaris house. Sources also say that the DVAC will conduct searches in the ED office at Shastri Bhavan in Chennai. Further investigations are underway, according to the statement released by the state government on Friday.

In a related development, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu on Saturday alleged that he was also subjected to threats by a person claiming to be either close to or representing the ED. He has been issuing threats to me for the past three months in the name of a central agency. I warned him not to threaten me as I am straightforward. The middleman even asked me to go hiding or change my mobile number. But I declined to do so, speaker Appavu said during a press conference.

Tiwari's arrest has come at a time when the political big shots in Tamil Nadu, from the ruling DMK, are facing ED cases, most of them handled by the DVAC earlier. The searches at the ED office and the arrest of Tiwari has damaged the reputation of the central agency, where there is a political undercurrent against the BJP.
As Israel resumes airstrikes on Gaza after a week-long truce ended on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed the Hamas and said that it reneged on commitments it made.

Speaking at the airport in Dubai after he concluded a two-day Middle East visit, Blinken said it was important to understand why the ceasefire came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas, he said.

Blinken added that the US was sure Israel is taking steps to ensure civilians are protected as airstrikes continue. He said: I made clear that after the pause it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward. And as we've seen just today, Israel has already moved out on parts of that, including sending out information, making it clear where people can be in safe areas in Gaza.

Further elaborating on the conditions that led to the broken truce, Blinken cited an atrocious attack in Jerusalem that killed three people. He added that the Hamas also fired rockets into Israel before the pause had ended and failed to free hostages it had pledged to release, New York Times reported.

During the seven-day ceasefire, Hamas released several people who had been held hostage since the October 7 attack on Israel. The US remains committed to the release of the remaining hostages. "We're determined to do everything we can to get everyone home, get them reunited with their families, including pursuing the process that worked for seven days, Blinken said.

According to Reuters, the US has insisted that Israel come up with clear plans to minimize civilian harm in any military operation in southern Gaza, as it continued intense bombardment in regions like Rafah and Khan Younis. Israel's government agreed that any operation in the south should not look like it did in the north and its military will designate areas where civilians will not be harmed.
A pro-Palestinian protester self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in USA's Atlanta on Friday. A security guard who attempted to intervene to stop the extreme act suffered burn injuries in the incident, Atlanta authorities told the press. The hospitalised protester's condition is said to be critical.



The protester, whose identity remains undisclosed, arrived at the office building of the Israeli consulate about 12.15 PM, reports said. The man, who had a Palestine flag in his hand brought gasoline with him -- indicating that the self-immolation was pre-meditated.

The security personnel's condition was not immediately clear, The Guardian said in a report. We believe this building remains safe, and we do not see any threat here, the report stated Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum as saying.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross chief told the press that the renewed Gaza fighting has turned intense. Gaza's health ministry was quoted as saying by Reuters that at least 193 Palestinians have been killed and 650 wounded since the truce ended on Friday.

Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hitting mosques and homes and close to a hospital. Over 15,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since the start of the war.
Israel has sworn to destroy and eliminate Hamas after the October 7 attacks claiming around 1,200 Israeli lives. With strikes and counter strikes still going on, Israel is laying out plan to hunt down and kill Hamas leaders scattered across the world.

Reportedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to follow the footsteps of his predecessor Golda Meir and authorise an 'Operation Wrath of God'-like mission--to kill Israel's enemies once the Gaza war ends.

Golda Meir served as the fourth PM of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israels first female PM, who served during one of the toughest times of the Yom Kippur War.

According to Wall Street Journal report, Netanyahu has instructed Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, to streamline a plan to execute this week. Mossad is drawing up plans to neutralise targets in Turkey, Lebanon and Qatar.

According to AFP, Hamas's political office was opened in "Qatar in 2012 in coordination with the United States government".

However, there pose a question to will Israels threats end by eliminating Hamas?

Who all are on Israels hit list

Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Khaled Mashal are some of the Hamas leaders in the hit list of Israel.

Former Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh, 60, was elected as the head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017. Reportedly, he is living in voluntary exile between Qatar and Turkey.

Deif, who heads Hamas's military wing, the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades, is the number one on the list. Reportedly, Israeli authorities have tried to assassinate him at least six times He has also been on the US list of "international terrorists" since 2015.

Sinwar, 61, is a former commander of the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades. He was elected as head of Hamas in Gaza in 2017. He has spent 23 years in Israeli jails before his release in 2011 in a prisoner exchange involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas.

According to Israeli authorities, there were reports that some of the hostages had encountered Sinwar during their captivity.

Khaled Mashal, is another leader, who is a founding member of Hamas Politburo and was the chairman until 2017. His current whereabouts are believed to be in Qatar.

Mashal was at the centre of a sensational assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.

Fighting in Gaza stretched into second day

Since the Israel-Hamas truce expired on Friday, Gaza has been witnessing severe bombardments. According to the Health Ministry, nearly 200 people died since the truce ended.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday. Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that one of its fighters was killed in the attacks. Reportedly, three people in south Lebanon were killed by Israeli shelling on Friday in south Lebanon.

According to Israel military, two mortar bombs launched from Lebanon fell in open areas in Shomera, across the border from the south Lebanon village of Marwahin.

Over 100 people have been killed in Lebanon during the hostilities, 83 of them were Hezbollah fighters.

Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the truce deadline lapsed on Friday.

Israel said its ground, air and naval forces struck more than 200 terror targets in Gaza.

On Friday, health official in the coastal strip said Israeli strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others.

Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.
A team from Israel's Mossad intelligence services has been ordered to return home after talks in Qatar for another pause in fighting in Gaza reaches a "dead end".

A team from Israel's Mossad intelligence services arrived in Doha on Saturday for talks with Qatari mediators for another pause in the ongoing war. New parameters for the release of hostages and a truce was considered by both Israel and Hamas, when the former accused the latter for truce violations.

According to the Times of Israel, a statement was released from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahus office recalling the Mossad team.

Due to the dead end in negotiations, and following instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad head David Barnea ordered the negotiating team in Doha to return home, read the statement.

Israel criticised Hamas for not fulfilling its obligations under the truce agreement.

The Hamas terror group did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement that included releasing all the women and children that were on the list provided to Hamas that had authorized it, the statement added.

The Israel-Hamas truce began on November 24, which saw the release of Israeli women and children taken as hostage on October 7. The truce lasted a week before collapsing. Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it

held.

Meanwhile, several trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as Israeli troops in northern Gaza continue to encounter Hamas fighters.

Macron to go to Qatar to work on new truce

French President Emmanuel Macron said that France was "very concerned" regarding the ongoing war in Gaza. While talking at a press conference during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Macron said that he will be heading to Qatar for new truce talks.

"We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas, does anyone think it is possible? If this is the case, the war will last 10 years," he said.

Macron also added that there is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at the cost of Palestinian lives.
SHANGHAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Themed "Deepening Friendship Cities Cooperation and Promoting High-Quality Development," the 2023 Shanghai International Friendship Cities Cooperation Forum was held in Shanghai on Friday.

Representatives of 13 of Shanghai's friendship cities, provinces or states attended the forum.

The event included two sessions -- one centered on smart city development and deepening cooperation between friendship cities, and another on economic and trade cooperation and the high-quality development of friendship cities.

Shanghai established a sister city relationship with Dunedin in New Zealand about three decades ago. "We are here to create opportunities together, do business together and succeed together," Jules Radich, mayor of Dunedin, said during the event, noting that the sister-city relationship is full of potential. "The efforts we made today will bring great benefits for tomorrow."

Wajenda Chambeshi, director of international relations, policy and protocol of Los Angeles in the United States, announced during the event that Los Angeles has reached a cooperation agreement with Shanghai to build a green shipping corridor, with the common goal of achieving the decarbonization of shipping by 2030.

"Los Angeles and Shanghai are both important international shipping centers. By creating a partnership with Shanghai, Los Angeles is very committed to using smart technology to solve common problems such as climate change," he said.

The forum was co-hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai municipal government and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. 
Lawsuits against Donald Trump over the US Capitol riot can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday, rejecting the former president's bid to dismiss the cases accusing him of inciting the violent mob on January 6, 2021.

The US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit court knocked down Trump's sweeping claims that presidential immunity shields him from liability in the lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers. But the three-judge panel said the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner can continue to fight, as the cases proceed, to try to prove that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president.

Trump has said he can't be sued over the riot that left dozens of police officers injured, arguing that his words during a rally before the storming of the Capitol addressed matters of public concern and fall within the scope of absolute presidential immunity.

The decision comes as Trump's lawyers are arguing he is also immune from prosecution in the separate criminal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith that accuses Trump of illegally plotting to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden. Smith's team has signaled that it will make the case at trial that Trump is responsible for the violence at the Capitol and point to Trump's continued embrace of the January 6 rioters on the campaign trail to argue that he intended for the chaos that day.

Friday's ruling underscores the challenges facing Trump as he tries to persuade courts, and potentially juries, that the actions he took in the run-up to the riot were part of his official duties as president. The judge presiding over his election subversion criminal trial, Tanya Chutkan, also rejected that claim in an order released Friday night.

While courts have afforded presidents broad immunity for their official acts, the judges made clear that that protection does not cover just any act or speech undertaken by a president. A president running for a second term, for example, is not carrying out the official duties of the presidency when he is speaking at a rally funded by his reelection campaign or attends a private fundraiser, the appeals court said.

"He is acting as office-seeker, not office-holder no less than are the persons running against him when they take precisely the same actions in their competing campaigns to attain precisely the same office, Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote for the court.

But the court said its decision is not necessarily the final word on the issue of presidential immunity, leaving the door open for Trump to keep fighting the issue. And it took pains to note that it was not being asked to evaluate whether Trump was responsible for the riot or should be held to account in court. It also said Trump could still seek to argue that his actions were protected by the First Amendment a claim he's also made in his pending criminal case or covered by other privileges.

When these cases move forward in the district court, he must be afforded the opportunity to develop his own facts on the immunity question if he desires to show that he took the actions alleged in the complaints in his official capacity as president rather than in his unofficial capacity as a candidate, the court said.

Trump could ask the full appeals court to take up the matter or go to the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawyer for Trump, Jesse Binnall, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment on the ruling. A Trump campaign spokesperson called the decision limited, narrow and procedural.

The facts fully show that on January 6 President Trump was acting on behalf of the American people, carrying out his duties as president of the United States. Moreover, his admonition that his supporters peacefully and patriotically make (their) voices heard,' along with a myriad other statements prove that these Democrat Hoaxes are completely meritless, spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

The lawsuits seek civil damages for harms they say they endured when rioters descended on the Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden's election victory, smashing windows, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police officers and sending lawmakers running into hiding. One of the lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, alleges that Trump directly incited the violence at the Capitol "and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun.

Two other lawsuits were also filed, one by other House Democrats and another by officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, who were both injured in the riot. Blassingame said Friday that he couldn't be more committed to pursuing accountability" in the case.

More than two years later, it is unnerving to hear the same fabrications and dangerous rhetoric that put my life as well as the lives of my fellow officers in danger on January 6, 2021," he said in a statement. He added: "I hope our case will assist with helping put our democracy back on the right track; making it crystal clear that no person, regardless of title or position of stature, is above the rule of law.

Lawyers in the Justice Department's civil division urged the court earlier this year to let the cases proceed, arguing that a president wouldn't be protected by absolute immunity if his words were found to have been an incitement of imminent private violence.

The current appeal was decided by a unanimous three-court panel that included Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee to the bench who authored his own concurring opinion.
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) As many as 18 flights at the Delhi airport were diverted due to bad weather on Saturday morning, according to an official.

The official said the flights were diverted to Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Amritsar.

In a post on microblogging platform X at around 0810 hrs, the Delhi airport said low visibility procedures were in progress at the airport.
Gandhinagar, Dec 2 (PTI) India, the world's third-largest energy consumer, will see its energy needs doubling by the end of this decade as it witnesses an unprecedented explosion of economic growth, the nation's richest man Mukesh Ambani said on Saturday.

Speaking at the convocation of Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU), Ambani, who heads the nation's most valuable company Reliance Industries Ltd, said the Indian economy will become a USD 40 trillion economy by 2047 from the current USD 3.5 trillion.

"And to fuel this growth, the country will need enormous amounts of energy - clean, green energy that won't choke mother nature for the sake of human progress," he said. "In fact, India's energy requirement is set to double just by the end of this decade."

Ambani is pivoting its largest fossil-fuel-dominated conglomerate to clean energy, investing billions of dollars in building giga factories to produce new energy ecosystems as well as generate renewable energy, and produce green hydrogen.

Addressing the convocation, he said in the next 25 years, India will witness an unprecedented explosion of economic growth, and it is a crucible to turn the vision of a clean, green, and sustainable tomorrow into reality.

"As India races to build a robust energy infrastructure to meet its energy goals, it faces three crucial questions: One: How can it ensure that every citizen and every economic activity in India has access to adequate, most aordable energy? Two: How can it rapidly transition from fossil fuel-based energy to Clean and Green Energy? Three: How can it de-risk the expanding needs of its fast-growing economy from a volatile external environment? I call these three questions the Energy Trilemma," he said.

Energy transition, he said, has become the most critical factor in ensuring India's transformation into a global leader in green, sustainable and inclusive development.

Expressing confidence in India developing smart and sustainable solutions to address this trilemma, he said this would be possible because extremely talented young minds have vowed to fight the climate crisis.

"They will design breakthrough energy solutions to build not just a strong and Atmanirbhar India, but also a safer and healthier planet," he said.

To students, he asked them to be fearless, never losing confidence in their own abilities and skills.

"Courage is the ship that can safely sail you across the stormiest seas. You will commit mistakes. But let that not worry or deter you. The one who succeeds in life is the one who corrects his mistakes and continues on his mission boldly," he said.

Also, they should dream big but be disciplined. "Your dreams should be big and ambitious. For they act as the propeller accelerating your life's journey. Set audacious goals for yourself and pursue them with commitment and passion. Take risks. But do not be reckless," Ambani added.

But dreams come true only if you are hardworking and disciplined, he said, adding that the distance between dreams and reality is called discipline.

Also, students need to be curious and hungry for new knowledge. "Stepping out of the portals of this university does not mark the end of knowledge-seeking. Rather, it is only a new beginning. If you want to succeed in your chosen profession, you must remain a lifelong learner. Therefore, embrace curiosity, stay hungry for knowledge, and be open to new ideas. Remember, in the journey of self-improvement, the pursuit of knowledge is an endless adventure," he said.

Asking students to be empathetic, he said cultivating the power of the intellect is good but cultivating the power of empathy is equally important for both success and happiness in life. "Be caring, compassionate and generous at heart."

Above all, they should be patriotic. "I am what I am in life because of India, because of Bharat. Wherever your life takes you, contribute your utmost to the greatness and glory of India. And know that you are truly blessed to be young in today's India... an India that is today marching ahead so confidently that the 21st Century is indeed going to be India's Century," he added.
Srinagar, Dec 2 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Bank is doing an admirable job in the effective implementation of government schemes in the Union territory, a top official said on Saturday.

Vivek Joshi, Secretary, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Union Finance Ministry, made these remarks at J&K Bank corporate headquarters during the Swarozgar Utsav event on the first day of his visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

"One feels immensely pleased to see that the schemes that we devise for the welfare of people of the country are really and effectively transforming the lives of people for the better on the ground.

"Through my brief interaction with the entrepreneurs manning the stalls established under Swarozgar Utsav, I could see the admirable job J&K Bank is doing in the effective implementation of government schemes here," he said.

The event was attended by the bank's MD and CEO Baldev Prakash, General Managers, DGMs, entrepreneurs, beneficiaries, farmers, homestay owners, media persons and other senior officials of the bank.

"And I commend you for the deep sense of connect with the beneficiaries that was quite apparent during my interactions with them at the stalls," he added.

At the event, sanction letters worth Rs 45 crore were distributed to beneficiaries availing bank finance under different products and sponsored schemes. A corporate movie capturing the snapshots of the bank's 85-year journey was also screened on the occasion, followed by a detailed presentation.

Terming the movie and presentation as impressive, Joshi said, "The graph of J&K Bank has consistently been on the rise because its leadership has handled all the difficult situations very well like that of COVID-19 etc".

Pitching for the aggressive propagation and implementation of the newly launched PM Vishwakarma Scheme, the DFS secretary said the scheme has been designed to extend end-to-end holistic support to traditional artists and craftspeople.

"The scheme has been devised in furtherance of the Prime Minister's vision of inclusive development, and the idea is to upgrade both the mental horizon and tool-kit of artisans and craftspeople and transform them into entrepreneurs of tomorrow," he noted.

Stressing the need to deepen digital penetration, he also urged banks to scale up public awareness programmes about digital frauds, which are on the rise across the country.

He said greater emphasis should be laid on sustained sensitisation among the public about updating nominations on a periodic basis and regularisation of inoperative accounts for their own benefit.

Earlier, Joshi had a guided tour of stalls manned by entrepreneurs, who have availed the bank's finance under various products and different employment generation schemes sponsored by the government.

In his welcome address, J&K Bank MD and CEO Baldev Prakash highlighted the bank's lead role in implementing different schemes sponsored by the Union and UT government.

"In addition to that - I feel delighted to share that under the employment generation campaign in J&K titled Swarozgar Utsav - banks have provided credit of Rs 1,598 crore to around 38,000 youth. Thereby, benefiting more than 96,000 persons during the last five months.

"And being the premier financial institution here, J&K Bank alone has contributed over 90 per cent of the sanctioned credit," he said.

Prakash said it is high time to acknowledge the pivotal role that financial inclusion and digital banking are playing in the growth and prosperity of the country.
Dubai, Dec 2 (AP) Leaders of developing nations jumped into Saturday's second-day of a UN climate summit to press rich industrial countries to share their knowhow to fight global warming and ease the financial burdens they face  while trumpeting their own natural resources that swallow heat-trapping carbon in the air.

The 28th annual UN Conference of the Parties, or COP28, in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates featured about 150 presidents, prime ministers, royals and other leaders who are presenting their plans to cut heat-trapping emissions and mostly seek unity with other nations to avert climate catastrophe that seemed to draw closer than ever in 2023.

The developing world took centre stage early Saturday. Several African leaders noted their continent's rainforests help gobble up excess carbon dioxide in the air and emphasised how their countries belch out only a tiny fraction of heat-trapping emissions compared to richer countries.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea  one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers  faulted developed nations for failing to deliver on their pledges to meet their commitments on financing for climate action and meet their own targets to curb their industries' emissions.

Africa is one of the regions in the world that sequesters the most carbon and emits oxygen, he said.

President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor-Leste, next to Indonesia and north of Australia, blasted shark loans from multilateral lending institutions, saying developing nations cannot recover from heavy debt burdens that squelch their ability to put money into fighting climate change and grow economically.

With US President Joe Biden staying home, Kamala Harris was set to become the first US vice president to lead America's delegation since Al Gore  now a major climate activist  at COP3 in 1997.

As Harris made her way toward the Dubai venue, US climate envoy John Kerry and French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for development of nuclear energy  which does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it also presents security and waste challenges.

Overall, a group of more than 20 nations called for a tripling of nuclear energy generated in the world by 2050.

I want here to reiterate the fact that nuclear energy is a clean energy and it should be repeated, said Macron, whose country gets around two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power, the most of any industrialized country, and exports some of it to France's neighbours. Nuclear energy is back.

A declaration issued at the event did not specify how much money should be set aside, but urged the World Bank and others to encourage expanding lending for nuclear projects.

We have to invest  I'm not saying give away, Kerry said. I'm saying invest the trillions of dollars that are sitting on the sidelines looking for bankable deals but not willing to move as fast as we need to move.

Whatever their perspective or national interest, leaders almost universally voiced their shared views that Earth is in crisis  with the United Nations and other environmental groups warning that the planet has recorded the nine hottest years on record over the last decade.

Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca called for "saving Mother Earth and staving off the multiple crises which have been caused by neocolonial, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal, Western culture.

The climate crisis is but the latest chapter in a long history of hypocrisy and lies: The Global North' is responsible for the global imbalance that we're seeing," he said, using a catchall term for industrialised countries. "They seek permanent growth to the detriment of the global South.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said science shows that the world needs to step up the pace to battle climate change, but took a more upbeat tone, saying: We have what it takes to meet these challenges. We have the technologies: wind power, photovoltaics, e-mobility, green hydrogen.

He said a record number of gigawatts of renewable energy were fed into the grid and $1.3 billion invested globally in clean energies and technologies last year, while demand for fossil fuels has slowed and the peak is "in sight.

Scholz laid out three proposals: He said the No. 1 priority should be development of renewable energies. He urged cooperation, citing a deal among 36 countries agreed Friday to create a climate club that aims to transform industry. And he touted solidarity and responsibility, saying Germany has made $6 billion available for climate finance.

I'm therefore confident that we will also achieve our goal of making available $100 billion per year for international climate action together with the other industrialised countries, he said. We will use these funds to protect forests and biodiversity, adapt to climate change and reduce CO2 emissions globally, in particular in the most vulnerable countries."

Rich countries previously aimed to reach that $100 billion target in 2020.

Worries are rising that the world is set to blow past  even obliterate  targets in the Paris climate accord of 2015 to cap the increase in global temperatures by the end of the century by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since the start of the industrial era.

The bad news is that progress is too slow. We need to do more to cut emissions a lot more," said Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir of Iceland, calling for nature-based solutions and making polluters pay. "But we also need to do less. Our economic systems are focused on maximising production and consumption rather than sustainability and well-being  and this needs to change. (AP) SCY

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Dubai, Dec 2 (PTI) Warning of a potential catastrophe in the Himalayas where the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday said the ongoing annual climate talks here must respond to the needs of the developing nations, especially the vulnerable mountain countries that need urgent help.

Almost 240 million people depend on the glaciers and 10 major rivers, such as Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, originating in the Himalayas. Another billion people living downstream of these rivers across eight countries, including India, are also dependent on the glacier-fed rivers.

Addressing a meeting with mountain countries at this years Conference of Parties (COP28), UN Secretary-General Guterres emphasised that nearly a third of Nepal's ice had vanished in just over 30 years, and it was directly linked to greenhouse gas pollution that heats up the planet.

Guterres, who visited Nepal, including the Everest region, in October last week, called for developed countries to clarify the delivery of USD 100 billion and produce a plan to double adaptation finance to USD 40 billion a year by 2025.

But those sums are dwarfed by the scale of what's needed, he said and advocated for reform in International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to better cater to the needs of developing countries like Nepal.

So, we need the outcome of this COP to call for reform of the IFIs so that they reflect todays world and are far more responsive to the needs of developing countries and for reform of the business models of the MDBs so that they can leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost to the developing countries, he told the gathering.

He said unless there is a change in course, a catastrophe can be unleashed.

The glaciers could disappear altogether. That means massively reduced flows for major Himalayan rivers such as the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Deltas decimated by saltwater, Guterres said.

The Secretary-General highlighted the alarming pace at which the glaciers were disappearing, causing devastating impacts on local communities. The mountains are crying out for help and COP28 must respond.

Guterres attended the high-level roundtable with Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', and other heads of state and delegations.

The roundtable followed the recognition given to the mountains in the COP28 Presidents Opening Plenary, which mandated the issue be taken up under the Nairobi work programme.

The roundtable also followed the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Developments (ICIMOD) submission to Friday evenings high-level event on the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage convened by UNFCCC Adaptation Division.

Izabella Koziell, ICIMOD Deputy Director General, stated the urgent imperative to prioritise the Hindu Kush Himalaya for Loss and Damage compensation.

Koziell called for rapid scaling up of funding to understand rapid and slow onset events to help the vast population sizes exposed to these events (240 million in the mountains and a billion downstream) adapt, and to compensate communities for losses and damages.

A 2017 study by ICIMOD has established that even when the world manages to maintain the global temperature rise average at 1.5 degrees Celsius, there will be a rise of 2 degrees Celsius or more in the Himalayan region by the end of the century.

Nearly 1,00,000 delegates from 198 countries are participating in the global conference which commenced on Thursday and will run through December 12. PTI UZM NPK AKJ

(This story was produced as part of the 2023 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Centre for Peace and Security.) NPK

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London, Dec 2 (PTI) A House of Lords committee that scrutinises bills tabled in Parliament has raised concerns over India being added to the UK's expanded safe states list, which would rule out Indians entering the country illegally from seeking asylum.

The cross-party House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee considered the draft Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Amendment of List of Safe States) Regulations 2024 and in a report released on Friday questioned the lack of key information on a policy intended to tackle unfounded human rights claims.

It follows former home secretary Suella Braverman tabling the draft regulations in the House of Commons earlier this month after having rigorously assessed that India, as well as Georgia, are deemed safe states to be added to the list.

More generally, we observe that there is scope for different points of view on whether India and Georgia are safe states, based on their human rights records, said Baroness Angela Harris, a Liberal Democrat peer on the committee.

The Home Office has also not provided any clarity on whether the significant backlog of existing asylum claims from nationals of these countries will continue to be processed as previously or will be deemed inadmissible retrospectively. Overall, we found the explanatory material laid with the draft Regulations did not provide a clear enough picture of how they would be implemented in practice, she said.

The committees report notes that a submission it received suggests that human rights abuses in both India and Georgia may be significant and widespread and that the UK Home Secretary, now James Cleverly since the sacking of Braverman, may need to be questioned on how the Home Office arrived at the conclusion to add the two countries to an expanded list.

The amendment draft, which would need the consent of both Houses to be passed into law, would mean that any asylum or human rights claim made by a national from India or Georgia must be declared inadmissible, unless exceptional circumstances apply.

In the case of these draft regulations, the guidance on exceptional circumstances is so critical to their operation that effective scrutiny is impossible without understanding how this aspect will work, stressed Baroness Harris.

In conclusion, the committees report draws the draft to the special attention of Parliament and suggests that it can only scrutinise them properly if the guidance is published before the debate on them takes place.

At the time of the announcement, the Home Office had noted that the proposal will undergo parliamentary scrutiny in the usual way via debates in both Houses of Parliament before it comes into force.

It described the measure as being in line with steps to meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks pledge to stop the boats of migrants landing on the countrys shores illegally after making precarious journeys across the English Channel.

According to the Home Office, Indian and Georgian small boat arrivals have increased over the last year despite individuals from these countries not being at obvious risk of persecution.
Khan Younis, Dec 2 (AP) Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighbourhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning following a weeklong truce with the territory's ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300. The ministry had stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on November 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but said on Saturday that 70 per cent of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people were wounded over the past two months.

With the collapse of the temporary truce, Israel had been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

The appeal came after a blistering air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands. Some 2 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the southern half of the territory.

It was not clear if Israel's military would heed appeals made Friday by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for more surgical strikes as it shifts its focus to southern Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Saturday that while he acknowledges Israel's right to defend itself, there is no right to attack civilians.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using airstrikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships. This included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

Several houses and buildings were hit. At least nine people, including three children, were killed in a strike on a house in the city of Deir al-Balah in the south, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken. The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in overnight airstrikes, including two children.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. Sirens were heard in communities near the Gaza Strip but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Along with the resumption of fighting, the military published an online map carving up the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarise themselves with the parcel number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City in the north and east of Khan Younis. Separately, the military also dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.

The maps and leaflets generated panic, fear and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Unable to go back to northern Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre area.

There is no place to go, said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis. They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south."

Amal Radwan, who sheltered in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others in the shelter are not able to leave because of the relentless bombardment. We won't leave," she said. "Here is death and there is death.

Amjad Abu Taha, a Palestinian teacher from Gaza City, alleged that Israel is trying to deceive the world by suggesting Gaza residents have the opportunity to seek safety. But all knows that no place is safe in Gaza," he said.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

The war began after the October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the center of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House. President Joe Biden's administration has been emphasizing the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

On the sidelines of the conference, she met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Her office said Harris reiterated that the United States will not permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of the territory or the redrawing of its borders.

Blinken had previous talked publicly about these parameters. (AP)



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Dubai, Dec 2 (PTI) The BASIC grouping which includes India has pushed during annual climate talks here that the Global Stocktake should also account for the failures of the developed nations, sources said.

The Global Stocktake (GST) is a fundamental component of the Paris Agreement which is used to monitor its implementation and evaluate the collective progress made in achieving the agreed goals.

During the ongoing climate talks, the Global Stocktake is expected to take centre stage.

According to multiple delegates who were present in the preliminary negotiations which put forward their initial expectations, the BASIC grouping of Brazil, South Africa, India and China condemned fragmented multilateralism of the developed world.

The grouping pushed that the GST should account for achievements and failures, including on the part of developed countries, one of the delegates from the Pacific Islands, who was not authorised to speak to the media, told PTI.

Another delegate from Kenya also confirmed the demand of the BASIC nations and said the grouping also condemned unilateralism and trade protectionism.

When the Indian delegation was contacted, they confirmed the BASIC grouping demands but also underlined that these were the preliminary demands put forward before the negotiations started in full flow.

The BASIC countries (also Basic countries or BASIC) are a bloc of four large newly industrialised countries  Brazil, South Africa, India and China  formed by an agreement in 2009.

The four committed to act jointly at the Copenhagen climate summit, including a possible united walk-out if their common minimum position was not met by the developed nations.

Dubai is abuzz with activity as the highly anticipated annual climate talks, COP28, opened on Thursday.

Nearly 1,00,000 delegates from 198 countries are participating in the global conference which commenced on Thursday and will run through December 12.

Heads of state and governments, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, King Charles III of England, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron were present at the climate summit.

The leaders engaged on December 1 and 2, taking part in the Global Climate Action Summit. Subsequent days will witness closed-door discussions among officials and experts, with significant high-level political decisions anticipated in the final days to shape the resolution. PTI UZM AMS AKJ

(This story was produced as part of the 2023 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.) AMS
Khan Younis (Gaza Strip), Dec 2 (AP) Israel pounded targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, intensifying a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas and giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.

At least 178 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.

This is going to be very important going forward," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. "It's something we're going to be looking at very closely.

Israel's attacks Saturday were focused on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the military dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave.

As of late Friday, however, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.

There is no place to go, lamented Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.

Some 2 million people - almost Gaza's entire population - are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) area.

In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.

It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to, the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts.

Egypt has expressed concerns the renewed offensive could cause Palestinians to try and cross into its territory. In a statement late Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians is a red line".

US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to put Palestinian voices at the centre of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House. US President Joe Biden's administration has been emphasising the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held captive by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. The Israeli army said Friday it had confirmed the deaths of four more hostages, bringing the total known dead to seven.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

The war began after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive.

After the end of the truce, militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating along its northern border with Lebanon.

HUMANITARIAN AID HALT

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

Since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, according to the UN.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will wipe out even the minimal relief provided by the truce and prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel's assault, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. (AP) SCY

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HANGZHOU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- A sub-forum on artist exchanges and mutual learning was held as a sideline activity of the Liangzhu Forum in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, from Friday to Saturday.

Approximately 150 artists from over 80 countries attended the two-day sub-forum, which consisted of two parts: speeches and dialogues.

During the event, Ecuadorian artist Gonzalo Hernan Illescas Coronel said that using art as a medium to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations requires the establishment of a continuous exchange of cultures and ideas.

Moreau epouse Kouassi Mathilde, an artist from Cote d'Ivoire who uses Chinese calligraphy in her work, also shared her own views on the topic during the sub-forum.

Culture and art know no national boundaries and belong to people all over the world, and language will never become a barrier to our communication, she said.

With the theme of cultural exchanges and mutual learning in the eyes of Chinese and foreign artists, the event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Zhejiang provincial government and the China International Culture Association. 
Khan Younis (Gaza Strip), Dec 1 (AP) Israel's war with Hamas erupted again on Friday as airstrikes hit houses and buildings in the Gaza Strip minutes after a weeklong truce expired.

Health authorities in the besieged territory reported dozens of Palestinians killed and Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave, urging civilians to flee to avoid the fighting.

Militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating along its northern border with Lebanon.

The resumption of the war threatens to compound the suffering in Gaza. Some 2 million people -- almost its entire population -- are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 85-square-mile area (220 square kilometers).

Renewed hostilities also heighten concerns for about 140 hostages still held captive by Hamas and other militants, after more than 100 were freed during the truce. For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed.

Qatar, which has served as a mediator along with Egypt, said negotiators were still trying for a deal to restore the cease-fire. Israel and Hamas traded blame for ending the truce.

A day earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli officials to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as they seek to destroy Hamas. Blinken met Friday with Arab foreign ministers at global climate talks in Dubai.

It was not clear to what extent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will heed the appeals of the United States, Israel's most important ally.

Netanyahu's office said Friday that Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war," including releasing the hostages and eliminating Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

In response to the US calls, the Israeli military released an online map dividing the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels. It asked residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation. The map did not designate safe areas to evacuate to, and it was not clear how easily Palestinians could access it.

Hours into the renewed bombardment, Gaza's Health Ministry said 109 people were killed and dozens wounded. Israel said it struck more than 200 Hamas targets.

Since the war began, more than 13,300 Palestinians have died, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since November 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

The war began after the October 7 attack by Hamas and other Palestinian militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took around 240 people captive. The New York Times reported Israel's military was aware of Hamas' plan to attack Israeli soil over a year before the devastating operation.



RETURN TO BATTLE

About an hour before the cease-fire was to expire early Friday, Israel said it intercepted a volley of rockets fired from Gaza. Minutes after it expired, the military announced a resumption of combat operations, and strikes soon began.

In leaflets dropped in southern Gaza, Israel urged people to leave homes east of Khan Younis, warning that the southern town was now a dangerous battle zone. Other leaflets warned residents of several neighbourhoods in Gaza City in the north to move south.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will wipe out even the minimal relief provided by the truce and prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians".

Strikes in Khan Younis hit an apartment in a housing development and destroyed a large building. Residents frantically searched the building's rubble for survivors, and several wounded children were brought to a nearby hospital.

We are women and children here. We have nothing, said Fatima Nshasi, a relative of a family in the building, as women sobbed nearby. We were going with life as usual, hoping the truce would be extended.

Strikes also hit near Gaza City and in the central Gaza refugee camp of Maghazi, where rescuers clawed through the rubble of a large building. A foot stuck out of the tangle of concrete and wiring.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

Hamas' armed wing said it fired volleys of rockets from Gaza toward Israeli cities. White smoke trails could be seen over the Israeli town of Sderot on the border with northern Gaza after Israel's missile protection systems activated.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah said Friday its fighters fired on a group of Israeli soldiers along the border, its first attack since the truce went into effect. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel said a number of launches from Lebanon targeted military posts near the border, and others were directed toward the town of Kiryat Shmona but were intercepted. The military responded with artillery. One Hezbollah fighter and his mother were killed when their home was hit, security officials said.



HOSTAGES' FAMILIES GRIEVE END OF TRUCE

The end of the truce hit families of the remaining hostages especially hard.

Meirav Svirsky told Israel's Channel 12 that a released hostage relayed a message to her from her 38-year-old brother, Itai, who is still held hostage, confirming he is alive. His body is healthy but his mental state isn't great, she said. Meirav and Itai's parents were killed on October 7.

They haven't spoken about releasing the men, and they returned to fighting without exhausting the possibilities, said Meirav, adding that she thinks the state is responsible for the fate of her brother. From my perspective, every day when there is fighting in Gaza is putting him at risk.

Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from families of the hostages to bring them home. But his far-right governing partners have also pushed him to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed.

Netanyahu said Hamas had violated the terms of the truce. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens, he said in a statement.

Hamas blamed Israel, saying it had rejected all offers Hamas made to release more hostages and bodies of the dead. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press in Beirut that Hamas rejected an Israeli list of 10 female hostages to release because they were soldiers seized at military posts.

Hamas was expected to set a higher price for releasing Israeli soldiers and male hostages, and negotiations for an extension grew tougher with few women and children hostages remaining in Gaza.

During the truce, which began November 24, Hamas and other militants in Gaza released more than 100 hostages  81 Israelis and 24 from other nationalities, mainly Thais. Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Virtually all from both sides were women and children. (AP) PY

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Burlington, Dec 1 (AP) Nearly a week after three college students of Palestinian descent were shot and seriously wounded while taking an evening walk, relatives of two of the victims have arrived in Vermont from the war-torn West Bank, grappling with a new reality that has shattered their lives and a place they thought was a safe haven.

Elizabeth Price and her husband Ali Awartani flew in Wednesday just as their son, Hisham Awartani, underwent surgery. After the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October, they agreed it would be safer for Hisham to stay in the United States instead of coming home for the holidays.

Now they don't know if he will ever walk again.

"When my nephew came to this country to pursue his studies and when he came to stay with me for Thanksgiving in Burlington, Vermont, it never occurred to me that he may be victim to this type of violence," Awartani's uncle Rich Price said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

And so I feel a sense of shame, I feel a sense of outrage, and it's been a really difficult awakening to the fact that even here  even in this country, even in this town  that many of the risks that exist for my nephew and his friends in Palestine exist for them here.

Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, all age 20 and attending colleges in the eastern US, were visiting Price and his family for the holiday break. The three have been friends since first grade at Ramallah Friends School, a private school in the West Bank.

While they were out for a walk Saturday evening after a family birthday party, a man approached them and shot them without saying a word, they told police.

The young men were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said.

Abdalhamid, who ran when the man pulled out the pistol, said he thought the gunman was shooting at him as he fled. After running across the street and jumping a fence, he begged a woman at a nearby residence to call 911, according to a police affidavit. He then sat down, realised he was in pain and saw blood.

Abdalhamid's mother, like Awartani's, arrived in Vermont from the West Bank on Wednesday. When he was released from the hospital earlier this week, his family said in a written statement that he was scared to leave.

Awartani suffered a spinal injury in the shooting. A bullet that is still lodged in his spine is unlikely to be removed and he is currently paralysed from the chest down, Rich Price said. We don't know what the long-term prognosis is, he said.

Still, Awartani's uncle said he has the will and resilience for the recovery.

He was concerned for his friends, who were with him, their well-being and recovery. And he was also deeply concerned that so much attention was being brought to him and he's thinking about the thousands of people that are dead, the now 80 percent of Gazans who have been displaced from their homes," Price said, wearing a keffiyeh in solidarity with the three young men.

"There are dozens of Hishams that are in the list of the dead in Gaza, and he's saying, 'I'm the Hisham that you know. What about the Hishams you don't know?'

The shooting last weekend came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the US in the weeks since the war began.

The suspected gunman, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested on Sunday at his apartment, where he answered the door with his hands raised and told federal agents he had been waiting for them. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail.

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible a hate crime. (AP) PY

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Vandenberg Space Force Base (US), Dec 1 (AP) South Korea on Friday launched its first military spy satellite, a little over a week after North Korea claimed to put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time as tensions rise between the rivals.

Launched from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, it was the first of five spy satellites South Korea plans to send into space by 2025 under a contract with SpaceX. The event had been scheduled for earlier this week but was pushed back because of weather conditions.

South Korea has had no military reconnaissance satellites of its own in space and has partially resorted to US spy satellites to monitor moves by North Korea.

When operated together with South Korea's so-called three-axis system  preemptive strike, missile defence and retaliatory assets  experts say spy satellites will significantly boost the country's defence against North Korea.

After two launch failures earlier this year, North Korea said it successfully placed its Malligyong-1 spy satellite into orbit last week. South Korea confirmed that the satellite entered orbit, but officials said they need more time to verify whether it is working properly.

North Korea said on Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un reviewed imagery taken by the Malligyong-1 satellite of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington and US aircraft carriers at a navy base and a shipyard in Virginia.

North Korea earlier said the satellite also transmitted photos of US military facilities in Guam and Hawaii and key sites in South Korea.

North Korea hasn't yet released those photos. Outside experts remain sceptical about whether its satellite can send high-resolution imagery and perform proper military reconnaissance.

The North Korean satellite launch sparked immediate, strong condemnations from the US, South Korea and others. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions ban any satellite launches by North Korea, viewing them as covers for testing its long-range missile technology.

North Korea responded angrily, saying it has sovereign rights to launch spy satellites to cope with what it calls increasing US hostilities. It said it would also launch additional ones.

The main threat to international peace and security does not come from the exercise of (North Korea's) sovereign right but from the US high-handed and arbitrary practices to disturb and oppress it, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement on Thursday.

The satellite launches have inflamed animosities between the rival Koreas, and both nations have taken steps to breach a previous military agreement meant to ease frontline military tensions.

Spy satellites are among the high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to introduce. Since last year, North Korea has conducted about 100 ballistic missile tests, part of efforts to modernize its arsenal of weapons targeting South Korea and the United States.

In response, South Korea and the US have expanded their military training and enhanced regular visibility of US strategic assets, including aircraft carriers, nuclear-capable bombers and a nuclear-armed submarine in the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers last week that Russia's technological assistance likely enabled North Korea to place its spy satellite into orbit. South Korea, the US and Japan have accused North Korea of seeking high-tech Russian technologies needed to enhance its military programs in return for supplying conventional arms to support Russia's war in Ukraine. Both Russia and North Korea have denied the allegations. (AP) PY

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New Delhi, Dec 1 (PTI) Wakeel Hassan, who led the team at the rescue operation of 41 workers at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, stated on Friday that their experience was both physically challenging and emotionally difficult.

Narrating his experience from the rescue operation, Hassan told PTI that they had gathered 12 workers from Delhi and Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh), and directed them to work four to five hours at a stretch.

He said that the team was directed to operate round the clock, without taking a break even for a minute.

"The most challenging task was cutting the cutter head... We were also scared because if mud had fallen on us during the operation, we wouldn't have survived," Hassan told PTI.

The workers got trapped inside the tunnel in Uttarakhand after a portion of it collapsed. They were rescued on Tuesday following 17 days of a multi-agency operation.

The 12-member team of rat-hole mining experts were called for the drilling after an American auger machine came across hurdles while clearing the rubble.



"We heard that Uttarkhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami will provide a reward of Rs 50,000. Until now, we haven't received any response from the prime minister's side, but from our end, we would like to meet him," Hassan said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the rat-hole mining experts from Delhi who participated in the rescue operation, officials said on Friday.

According to officials, some of them are involved in laying sewer lines and pipelines for the Delhi Jal Board.

"Kejriwal met the miners from Delhi. Water Minister Atishi and Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj were also present in the meeting. The miners returned from Uttarakhand on Thursday," the official added.

Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed "rat holes", as each just about fits one person.

"We were called to Uttarakhand for the rescue operation and we are happy that we succeeded in our task. It was an act of service to my nation and I wasn't scared to carry out the work," another rat-hole mining expert who was involved in the rescue operation, Munna Qureshi, told PTI.

At the Silkyara tunnel, 12 experts were called by Trenchless Engineering Services Pvt Ltd and Navayuga Engineers Pvt Ltd to deploy the rat-hole mining technique horizontally in the collapsed part of the main structure.
Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) Two persons were injured when a fire erupted on a luxury yacht near the seashore at Mandwa anchorage in Raigad district of Maharashtra on Saturday afternoon, police said.

The incident occurred at around 3 pm after the cabin cruiser yacht 'Belvedere' dropped the passengers it had picked up from Mumbai at Mandwa, 18 km from coastal Alibaug, and was heading to the parking area, an official said.

The yacht is owned and operated by Marine Solutions, he said.

The cause of the blaze is not known.

Yachtmaster Dilshad Marne and Mozin Kurai, both natives of Ratnagiri district, sustained burn injuries, and are undergoing treatment at the civil hospital in Alibag, he said.

Another boat was engaged to douse the fire on 'Belvedere' which had 200 litres of petrol in its fuel tank. The yacht was brought near the shore where fire brigade personnel put out the flames, he said.

The incident is being probed by Mandava Sagari police station, the official said.
Mumbai, Dec 1 (PTI) The two warring factions of the Shiv Sena on Friday sparred over the `real' email address of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during a hearing on the disqualification petitions filed against each other's MLAs before the state assembly Speaker.

The Shinde camp argued that the address on which an email was sent to him by then chief whip Sunil Prabhu in June 2022 -- when Shinde's revolt against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership rocked the party -- was not the one which he used for official communication.

"When an email address is for public, there is separate email address (for official purposes) because many people contact on it....This confusion on whether any email address exists or not is delaying justice," Thackeray camp lawyer Asim Sarode said.

Countering him, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, the lawyer of the Shinde-led Sena, said as per the Shiv Sena (UBT), the address to which Prabhu sent the email in question was mentioned in a booklet containing information about the MLAs.

"During that time (June 2022) there was a different email address in the booklet against Eknath Shinde's name," he said.
Kolkata, Dec 2 (PTI) Tremors were felt in various parts of West Bengal as an earthquake of 5.6 magnitude hit neighbouring Bangladesh on Saturday morning.

According to the National Center for Seismology, the earthquake took place in southeastern Bangladesh at a depth of 55 km at 9.05 am.

"Earthquake of Magnitude: 5.6, Occurred on 02-12-2023, 09:05:31 IST, Lat: 23.15 & Long: 90.89, Depth: 55 Km, Location: Bangladesh, India," the NCS said on X.

West Bengal Disaster Management Department said that as of now, no damage has been reported from anywhere in the state.

"We are yet to get the final report. As of now, there is no report of any damage due to the quake," an official told PTI.

Officials of the Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation also said no damage to life or property was reported from the eastern metropolis.
Agartala, Dec 2 (PTI) The Tripura government will procure 40,000 MT of paddy from farmers with a minimum support price of Rs 21.83 per kg for the ongoing season, a minister said on Tuesday.

He said paddy will be procured in all 49 centres across districts and the process will commence on December 11 and continue till January 31.

Like previous years, this time, 40,000 MT of paddy will be procured from farmers with a minimum support price of Rs 21.83 per kg," Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said during a press conference here.

He appealed to farmers to sell their paddy to the designated centres and avail of the minimum support price.

"The procurement will further boost the socio-economic condition of farmers. It will be in addition to the flagship programme of PM Kisan under which each farmer receives Rs 6,000 annually in three phases," he said, adding that the northeastern state has 4.71 lakh farmers with an average three kani land holding capacity.

Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath said his department held a meeting with officials of Food & Civil Supplies at the Civil Secretariat here to jointly finalise the paddy procurement process.

Terming that the paddy procurement was a historic decision of the BJP-IPFT government, Nath said, "The state has procured a total of 1, 79,219 MT of paddy since 2018 and altogether 91,377 farmers got a total revenue of Rs 342.34 crore. It has changed the socio-economic condition of the farmers of our state," he said.

The agriculture department has already sought help from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on how to reduce the gap between paddy production and demand.

"Now, the state has a gap of 19 per cent between paddy production and demand, which is the lowest among the northeastern states.

"This gap is 51 per cent each in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, 41 per cent each in Assam and Manipur, 32 per cent in Meghalaya and 49 per cent in Sikkim," he added.
Kohima, Dec 2 (PTI) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday announced that a state-level committee and a Rs 1 crore corpus fund will be formed to look into the welfare of persons with disabilities (PwDs).

Rio made the announcement while inaugurating the Disability Pride Fair organised by the State Commission for PwDs and the Department of Social Welfare to commemorate the International Day of PwDs at Naga Heritage Village Kisama here.

Asserting that it is the responsibility of the government to look into the welfare of PwDs, but it has not been done, Rio said the state-level committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary and while the Home Commissioner, Finance Commissioner, Social Department and State PwD Commissioner will be members.

They will look into the welfare of the PwDs and recommend programmes to help them become more productive, he said.

The chief minister also announced creation of a corpus fund of Rs One crore as capital for the welfare of the less privileged.

Rio expressed happiness that the State Commission for PwDs and the Social Welfare Department has come out with the idea of the fair and also to expand it to North East level coinciding with the International Day of PWDs and the Hornbill Festival.

He promised full cooperation of the government towards its success.

Commissioner & Secretary of Social Welfare, Martha R Ritse, said the fair features a comprehensive display and sale of handcrafted items, made by individuals with disabilities, and underscores their entrepreneurial spirit, and their ability to triumph over adversities.

Artists and musicians among the PwDs performed live, infusing the atmosphere with rhythm and harmony, she said.
Medininagar, Dec 2 (PTI) A 48-year-old woman was beaten to death allegedly by her family in Jharkhand's Palamu district, suspecting that she was practicing witchcraft, police said on Saturday.

The woman's brother-in-law and his two sons were arrested in connection with the incident that happened at Basriakala village in Chainpur police station area on Friday night, they said.

The woman, a widow, was allegedly killed by her brother-in-law with a stick, Superintendent of Police Reeshma Ramesan said.

"He then threw the body in the village well with the help of his two sons," she said.

The stick used in the murder was recovered with blood on it, she said.

The body was sent to the Medinirai Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) for post-mortem examination, she added.

"A special investigation is being carried out in the case," Ramesan said.
GAZA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas-run government said on Saturday that Israel has attacked the war-torn Gaza Strip with approximately 100,000 bombs and rockets since October 7.

The government's Media Office Director Ismael Al-Thawabteh said during a press conference that some of the bombs weigh 2,000 pounds "with the deliberate and brutal intention of targeting civilians."

Al-Thawabteh added the Palestinian death toll due to Israel's assaults has risen to 15,207 as of Saturday afternoon, and the number of missing people has risen to over 7,500, either trapped under the rubble or with unknown fates, while the count of injuries has reached 40,650.

Al-Thawabteh condemned the restrictive policies preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, calling for the daily entry of a thousand trucks carrying genuine aid and supplies and 1 million liters of fuel to salvage whatever can be saved from the deadly conflict.

Moreover, he urged the entry of hundreds of pieces of equipment and machinery for relief, emergency response teams, and civil defense to retrieve hundreds of corpses still buried under rubble.

"These are necessary to clear the debris resulting from the bombing and destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, streets, and critical facilities," stressed Al-Thawabteh. 
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.

The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BJP, which is ruling Madhya Pradesh, are locked in a straight fight in these three states, while K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is hoping for a hat-trick in Telangana.

Pollsters have been divided on the outcome, with quite a few exit polls putting the BJP ahead in Madhya Pradesh and giving it an edge in Rajasthan while predicting that Congress has an advantage in Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Starting with postal ballots, counting will commence at 8 am amid tight security for 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 119 seats in Telangana and 199 seats in Rajasthan as polling on one seat in the desert state was put off due to the death of a candidate. In Mizoram, counting will be held on Monday

A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place and only people holding valid passes will be allowed to enter the counting centres, election officials said.

After wresting Karnataka from the BJP in May, the Congress is eyeing Madhya Pradesh and Telangana and is hoping to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. An impressive performance in these polls will boost the party's standing in the opposition INDIA alliance which has been formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP is seeking to replicate the winning streak of Gujarat, where it has been ruling since 1998, in Madhya Pradesh with four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hoping to form government again. The party is also keen to win back Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as it seeks to regain its hold in the Hindi heartland states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"The face of the Congress has been exposed. Only the results are to come tomorrow. The good governance that the public wanted will be found under the BJP government," Union minister Anurag Thakur said in Jaipur, adding that the people want the "double-engine" government of the BJP.

Congress leaders claimed that the party will win in all four states.

"I am certain that we (Congress) will form a government in four states, including Rajasthan, and in Mizoram, a combined government will be established," Congress leader Promod Tiwari said on the eve of counting of votes.

With several pollsters predicting a close fight, there were reports claiming that parties have decided to herd their winning candidates swiftly to prevent any poaching and were also reaching out to independents, rebel candidates and smaller parties.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, however, dismissed reports that he has been asked to bring winning Congress candidates from the states to resorts and hotels in Karnataka.

"No MLAs will be going anywhere. Nobody has given me a responsibility or called me. ... I am confident that we will win all the states," Shivakumar, who had made similar arrangements to bring 44 Gujarat legislators during the August 2017 Rajya Sabha elections, told reporters in Bengaluru.

Congress leaders in Telangana alleged that the BRS was trying to approach its candidates.

Madhya Pradesh

The counting for 230 assembly seats in MP will be held at 52 district headquarters, officials said.

As many as 2,533 candidates are in the fray, including political bigwigs like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor and rival Kamal Nath, in a poll that was largely a bipolar battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Chouhan claimed his party would retain power with a huge majority, while state Congress chief Kamal Nath said he had complete confidence in the voters of the state.

Of the 230 seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes.

Besides CM Chouhan (from Budhni seat) and state Congress president Nath (Chhindwara), the EVMs will also decide the fate of three BJP Union ministers  Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

It will also decide the political fortunes of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywrgiya who contested from Indore-1 and three Lok Sabha MPs of the saffron party  Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak.

Rajasthan

Counting of votes polled in the November 25 assembly elections in Rajasthan will be done at 36 centres in the state on Sunday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Gupta said.

Over 1800 candidates are in the fray in 199 seats in Rajasthan where power has alternated between Congress and BJP every five years in the last three decades.

While 30 election districts have one counting centre, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Nagaur have two centres each, Gupta said. Election in Karanpur was postponed following the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.

The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. As many as 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates and their representatives, Gupta said.

Gupta said that the counting of votes in EVM machines will begin at 8.30 am.

Chhattisgarh

Tight security arrangements have been made in all counting centres in the state's 33 districts, including the ones affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), officials said.

"A total of 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 counting personnel and 1698 micro-observers have been appointed for carrying out the counting process smoothly," Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said at a press conference.

As many as 1,181 candidates are in the fray, including Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo (both from Congress) and former CM Raman Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Patan seat, represented by Baghel, is witnessing a triangular contest with BJP fielding the chief minister's distant nephew and Lok Sabha MP Vijay Baghel.

Amit Jogi, Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) state president and son of former CM late Ajit Jogi, is also in the fray from Patan. ___

"We have conducted our own assessment, and we are very confident that the Congress will form a government with a comfortable majority," Deputy CM TS Singh Deo said.

Telangana**

As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray in the elections, including BRS supremo Chandrasekhar Rao, his minister-son KT Rama Rao, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy and BJP Lok Sabha members Bandi Sanjay Kumar, D Arvind and Soyam Bapu Rao.

The BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats while the Congress gave one seat to its ally CPI. The BJP and Janasena contested 111 and 8 seats respectively in a pre-poll pact/ The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has put up candidates in nine segments in the city.

Several segments witnessed triangular contests making them keenly watched ones.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is contesting from two segments-Gajwel and Kamareddy.

In a post on X, BRS working president K T Rama Rao had earlier said, After a long time had a peaceful sleep. Exit polls can take a hike. Exact polls will give us good news.

Dismissing some exit-poll surveys that suggested that the ruling BRS would fall short of a majority in the Assembly polls, Rama Rao had said the Chandrasekhar Rao-led dispensation will return to power with over 70 seats. PTI SDA/AG/ADU/ MAS/TKP/ GMS/GDK RT

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Noida, Dec 2 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Police has launched an investigation after a Noida resident found herself at the receiving end of a new cyber fraud trend, wherein she was duped of more than Rs 11 lakh and held under "digital arrest" for a day, officials said on Saturday.

This is the first case in the new trend of "digital arrest fraud" lodged at the Cyber Crime police station in Noida. The thugs posed as police officials who mentioned the names of an IPS officer in the CBI and the founder of a grounded airline, associating the 50-year-old victim in a fictitious money-laundering case.

A similar case was recently reported in Haryana's Faridabad where cyber thugs, posing as police personnel, got a woman "digitally arrested" for more than a week after convincing her that her personal IDs were used for illegal activities. The thugs then asked her to stay online via Skype and not share this information with anyone even as they kept a watch on her throughout the period.

In her complaint, the Noida-based woman has claimed that she was contacted over an IVR (interactive voice response) call on November 13 and told that a mobile phone SIM card was purchased using her Aadhaar card in Mumbai and used for illegal advertising and harassment of women.

"Then my call was transferred to a person (who identified himself as a Mumbai Police officer) who did the initial interrogation over the call and then on Skype VC. Then he informed that I have another allegation of money laundering related to (the founder of an airline) for which an FIR has been registered against me and an arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court for which he sent documents on Skype," the woman has said.

"After the interrogation, he said I am innocent and not guilty, so he is transferring the interrogation (to an IPS officer posted with the CBI, Mumbai) for further investigation of this case. Then he gave the Skype ID and asked me to request the CBI officer to do the priority investigation on VC to remove my arrest warrant," she has said in her complaint.

The said CBI officer told her that during the investigation of the airline founder, police found 246 debit cards from his house and one of those had the victim's name on it, which was used to open a bank account with her Aadhaar card.

"He then said my account was used for a fund transfer of Rs 2 crore for which I have been paid Rs 20 lakh. However, he said I do not look to be involved in this case, so to complete the investigation, I need to transfer funds from all my accounts to my ICICI account and subsequently, transfer the funds from the ICICI account to the PFC account as per the directives of the Supreme Court...," she said.

The woman has claimed that she was told not to disclose this information as it was related to "national security and will make me liable for further action".

"Also, to prove not guilty of the crime, he asked me to keep sufficient balance in my accounts for which he also advised to apply for a personal instant loan of Rs 20 lakh from ICICI and gave the details of how to apply for the same, which I denied but he forced me to arrange Rs 3 lakh more through the same and after much pressure, I had applied for the same, which is also transferred to the PFC account," she said.

"They also took a picture of my signature on Skype on the pretext of validating my Aadhaar card for investigation," she has alleged.

The woman reported the matter to the Uttar Pradesh Police's Cyber Crime officials and alleged a fraud of Rs 11.11 lakh with her, besides being "digitally arrested" from morning to night.

Inspector Reeta Yadav, in-charge of the Cyber Crime police station in Noida Sector 36, said an FIR has been lodged under the relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"An investigation into the case is underway," she told PTI.

The officer urged people to be cautious of emerging online crimes and reach out to police at the earliest either on the central helpline number 1930 or emergency number 112 or report such activities to the cyber desk of local police stations.

"People should also know that police never question any person digitally. If someone threatens you like this, ask them to send you a proper notice, ask for their details and tell them that you are coming to the police station to meet them," Yadav said.
Jaipur, Dec 2 (PTI) Banking on the Ashok Gehlot dispensation's welfare measures in Rajasthan, will the Congress on Sunday buck the trend of the state not repeating a government in the past three decades?

In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the BJP and the Congress to power alternately.

While most pollsters have predicted an edge for the BJP in Rajasthan, three exit polls in their upper limit forecast a Congress win in the assembly polls held on November 25.

With varying predictions, nothing is being left to chance. The Congress as well as the BJP have started reaching out to Independent candidates, including rebels, and even smaller outfits in case there is a split verdict.

Preparations have been made at different levels to ensure that Independent and rebel candidates, who win the elections, are reached out to, sources in both parties said.

There are more than 40 rebels from the BJP and the Congress who contested the elections after they were denied tickets.

Some of them are expected to win, the sources said, ahead of counting of votes for 199 of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan on Sunday. There are 1,862 candidates in the fray.

The Congress is hopeful to break the 'riwaz' of the ruling party being voted out in every election. The BJP, however, has claimed that the electorate will keep to the practice.

The BJP based its campaign in the state on the development ushered by its government at the Centre and by targeting Chief Minister Gehlot on issues such as exam paper leaks and appeasement politics.

Though the Congress has not announced its chief ministerial candidate, it is believed that Gehlot is the frontrunner for the post.

The BJP too has fought the elections without naming a CM candidate, but Gehlot's predecessor Vasundhara Raje is one of the probables from the party.

Rajasthan recorded a 75.45 per cent voter turnout on November 25, higher than the 74.71 per cent in 2018. Due to the demise of the Congress' candidate in the Karanpur constituency, election there was postponed, and therefore, polling was conducted in 199 seats.

Leading the campaign for the Congress were its president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Gehlot, the BJP's campaign was spearheaded by top leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The BJP had given tickets to 59 MLAs, including Congress MLA Girraj Singh Malinga, and six Lok Sabha members and one Rajya Sabha member. The Congress had fielded 97 MLAs, including seven independent MLAs and Shobharani Kushwah who was expelled from the BJP last year.

One of the major faces who joined the BJP from the Congress and contested the assembly polls was former Nagaur MP Jyoti Mirdha.

Nagaur MP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal also contested the assembly elections. The RLP is contested in alliance with the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) led by Chandrashekhar Azad.

The BJP contested on all seats while the Congress left Bharatpur for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) like it did even in 2018.

RLD currently holds the Bharatpur seat and Subhash Garg, who is the sitting MLA, contested the elections as its candidate.

Other parties which contested include CPI (M), Bharat Adiwasi Party, Bhartiya Tribal Party, Aam Aadmi Party and AIMIM.

In the exit polls predictions on November 30, India Today-Axis My India forecast a tight race, predicting 86-106 seats for the Congress, 80-100 seats for the BJP and others 9-18. Dainik Bhaskar gave 98-105 seats to the BJP and 85-95 to the Congress and Jan Ki Baat 100-122 to the BJP and 62-85 to the Congress.

TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat predicted 100-110 for the BJP and 90-100 for the Congress, Times Now ETG 108-128 for the BJP and 56-72 for the Congress and Today's Chankaya gave a simple majority to the Congress. India TV-CNX put the Congress' tally at 94 to 104 and the BJP's at 80-90, Republic TV-Matrize gave 115-130 seats to the BJP and 65-75 to the Congress, and P-MARQ 105-125 to the BJP and 69-91 to the Congress. Jist-TIF-NAI predicted that in Rajasthan there would be continuation of the state's revolving door tradition.

Currently, the Congress has 107 MLAs, BJP 70, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, CPI (M) two and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) two, Rashtriya Lok Dal one in the assembly. There are 13 Independents in the House. Two seats (Udaipur and Karanpur) are vacant.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said preparations for the counting have been completed.

"The counting of ballot papers will start at 8 pm. In total, 979 tables have been arranged for the counting of ballot papers across the state. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of observers, candidates and their representatives," he said.
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) AAP on Saturday claimed its 'Mai Bhi Kejriwal' signature campaign is receiving "massive" public support and people are of the opinion that the Delhi chief minister should not resign if he gets arrested.

Several party leaders including Education Minister Atishi reached out to people on the second day under the campaign across the city.

Atishi conducted a door-to-door campaign in her Kalkaji constituency asking people whether CM Kejriwal should resign if he gets arrested or continue governing from jail.

She alleged that the central government and the BJP are falsely accusing AAP leaders and putting them in jail and added a "conspiracy" was being hatched to now arrest Kejriwal.

The BJP wants to bring down the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal through unscrupulous means. We have come to ask the people of Delhi if Kejriwal is falsely arrested, he should resign or continue to govern from jail," she said.

Party MLAs Rituraj Jha, Pramila Tokas and AAP Delhi deputy state president Jitendra Tomar in Tri Nagar also took part in the campaign.

'Mai Bhi Kejriwal' signature campaign is receiving "huge public support" and people collectively say, there is "conspiracy" to arrest CM Kejriwal and he should not resign, said AAP in a statement.

The campaign launched on Friday will continue till December 20. AAP will hold 'Jan Samvad' in all the wards of the city from December 21 for public opinion on the issue.

"For us, opinion of Delhiites is supreme; Whatever their decision we will hand it over to CM Kejriwal, and then decisions will be made," Atishi said.

Earlier, in meetings with Kejriwal, AAP MLAs and councilors had unanimously appealed him to run the Delhi government from the jail if he gets arrested.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier this month summoned Kejriwal for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The chief minister did not appear before the central agency, claiming that its summons was 'illegal and politically motivated'.
Srinagar, Dec 2 (PTI) National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the Raj Bhavan was "rubbing salt in to the wounds" of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by celebrating the Nagaland Statehood day.

Fostering the spirit of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', the Nagaland Statehood Day was celebrated with fervour and enthusiasm at the Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Friday, an official spokesperson said.

However, referring to the celebration of the statehood day of another state, Abdullah said irony comes to die in Jammu and Kashmir as union territory day was celebrated after it was downgraded from a state.

Irony comes to die in J&K. Here we celebrate Nagaland Statehood day in Raj Bhavan, Jammu while celebrating Union Territory Day when it comes to J&K. Talk about rubbing salt in to the wounds of the people here, Abdullah, a former chief minister of J-K, said in a post on X.

Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories  J-K and Ladakh  on August 5, 2019 when the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution.

The J-K administration on October 31 celebrated the Union Territory day.
New Delhi, Dec 1 (PTI) The Ministry of Jal Shakti on Friday organised an event 'Jal Itihas Utsav' at Shamsi Talab, Jahaz Mahal in Mehrauli to raise awareness among public about safeguarding water heritage sites, creating a sense of ownership among the masses as well as promoting tourism and restoration of such heritage structures.

Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the media that the ministry, along with various state governments and institutions, took up the programme of revival of the water heritage of the country and all those sources which have provided life to us for centuries.

"During the Amrit Kaal, a total of 75 ponds and reservoirs were identified across the country and a restoration programme was carried out. Today, we have Shamsi Pond which is more than 800 years old. The Ministry of Jal Shakti worked to renovate it. We have organised today's programme so that the responsibility of conservation of this pond becomes a mass movement among the nearby people in the coming times and they get connected with it," Shekhawat said.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, who also attended the event, posted on X : "It was indeed a privilege to attend the "Jal Itihas Utsav" at the historic Shamsi Talab, Jahaz Mahal in Mehrauli, in the presence of Chief Guest, Hon'ble Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri @gssjodhpur."

"My congratulations to the Ministry for excellent work in restoring & rejuvenating water bodies across the country. A subject close to my heart, the passion for this cause has guided my endeavours for the Yamuna, Najafgarh-Sahibi, Sanjay Lake & Anagtal Baoli etc in Delhi," he said.

"Let's all unite and work together for better water management and be waterwise to take forward the vision of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji who is championing the cause of water conservation. Enjoyed and appreciated the cultural programme during the event," the LG said in another post on X.
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on Haryana for not filing a report on illegal mining in the Rithoj village of Gurugram district despite earlier directions.

The green body was hearing a petition that claimed unscientific illegal mining in the village had resulted in the depletion of water table, green cover and damage to water bodies.

A bench of National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that the tribunal had earlier formed a panel that in its report had acknowledged the adverse effects of illegal mining.

The bench -- also comprising Judicial Members Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Member A Senthil Vel -- said the authorities concerned took no action despite acknowledging the existence of illegal mining.

Following this, the tribunal had sought a further action taken report.

It said the tribunal, in its order dated January 5, had warned the panel of "stern action" for submitting a "casual report".

Considering another report the following month, the tribunal had noted that the administration did not take any action despite the illegal mining continuing.

In its order dated February 8, the tribunal had said the conduct showed paralysis of the administration on the subject, in breach of the "public trust doctrine", the bench added.

The National Green Tribunal had also directed the Haryana chief secretary to personally look into the matter and take remedial measures, besides filing an action taken report within a month.

The matter was listed on August 22 when the tribunal, after considering the report, found that the action taken to control the illegal mining was not disclosed in "quantified terms".

The tribunal had again sought a report from the state authorities within three months, the bench said.

The green panel said in an order passed on Thursday, "Even after the expiry of three months, no report has been filed ... A letter has been circulated under the signature of the environmental engineer, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, seeking adjournment on the ground that further time is required for receiving information and compiling the same."

The tribunal said the state's environment department had submitted another letter seeking adjournment.

"The above series of orders passed by the tribunal clearly reflect that the state authorities are not taking the orders of the tribunal seriously and are not complying with the same. No material has been disclosed even today in respect of the steps taken for stopping illegal mining in the area," it said.

"We grant a further three weeks as prayed by counsel for the state to file the report, subject to a deposit of cost of Rs 10,000, which is to be deposited by the state in the ring-fenced account within one week," the tribunal added.

The matter has been posted to February 9 for further proceedings.
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) The Supreme Court has directed the Bihar government to ensure that no further construction takes place adjacent to the Ganga River particularly in and around Patna.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih directed the state government to file an affidavit informing it about the removal of identified illegal structures, which have been raised on the floodplains of Ganga River in Patna.

"When the matter is called on for hearing, counsel for the state of Bihar submits that the state has identified 213 unauthorised constructions adjacent to the river Ganga in and around Patna and steps have been taken to remove these encroachments/constructions," the Bench said.

"On that date, the state shall report to this court the progress in getting these unauthorised structures removed by filing an affidavit. Such affidavit shall be filed by the chief secretary of Bihar. The state shall also ensure no further construction takes place adjacent to the river Ganga particularly in and around the city of Patna," the bench said.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Patna resident Ashok Kumar Sinha against the June 30, 2020, order of the National Green Tribunal dismissing his plea against illegal constructions and permanent encroachments on the eco-fragile floodplains.

The plea contended that the tribunal passed the order without examining the detailed particulars of the violators encroaching upon the Ganga floodplains in Patna submitted by the appellant.

"The illegal and unauthorised constructions and permanent encroachments on the floodplain of Ganga are creating tremendous amounts of waste, noise and generating vast quantum of sewage," said the plea filed through advocate Akash Vashishtha.

"They are aggravating the risk to life and property of the dwellers occupying the surroundings since every year, the areas stated in preceding paras go down under flood waters. The illegal constructions were obstructing the natural course of the river," it said.

The plea said they were causing deleterious environmental impacts on the rich biodiversity and destroying the habitat and, thereby, the very survival of Dolphins, a Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, on the stretch.

The plea stated that the tribunal failed to note the fact that a clean Ganga was vital and essential to meet the drinking and domestic water needs of the 5.5 lakh population of the city as the groundwater in the district was contaminated with Arsenic.

"A massive 520 acres of ecologically sensitive Ganga floodplain, stretching from Nauzer Ghat to Nurpur Ghat, in Patna, have been usurped. This stretch is prone to recurrent floods every year. A multi-storey building, belonging to the Takhat Shri Harmandir Sahib, has further come up since 2017 and parts, thereof, are still under construction," the plea said.




A federal watchdog is investigating how the Biden administration chose a site for a new FBI headquarters following a contentious competition marked by allegations of conflict of interest from the bureaus director.

The inspector general for the General Services Administration is probing the decision to replace the FBIs crumbling headquarters in Washington, D.C., with a facility in Greenbelt, Maryland, rather than a site in Virginia, according to a letter released Thursday by Virginia lawmakers.

The GSA, for its part, said it chose the site due to lower costs and easy access to transit. It stands behind the process.

Consideration for a new headquarters has been discussed for more than a decade, and the nearby states of Virginia and Maryland competed fiercely for the project. The announcement earlier this month choosing Maryland brought sharp criticism from Virginia. The states senators and representatives said in a joint statement Thursday there was overwhelming evidence suggesting the process was influenced by politics. They called on the GSA to pause anything related to the relocation until the review is complete.

We applaud the inspector general for moving quickly and encourage him to move forward to complete a careful and thorough review, Virginias delegation said in a joint statement.

Maryland lawmakers, on the other hand, said their state was chosen simply because it has the best site and the project would be moving forward.

Any objective evaluation will find that the GSA arrived at this decision after a thorough and transparent process, its leaders said in their own joint statement.

The evaluation of the agencys process and procedures for selecting the site will begin immediately, the acting inspector general said in his letter to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.

The GSA, which manages the governments real estate portfolio, said it welcomes the review and pointed out that it had already released decision-making materials and a legal review of concerns raised by FBI Director Christopher Wray.

We carefully followed the requirements and process and stand behind GSAs final site selection decision, an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

The review comes after Wray told staff in an internal message earlier this month that he was concerned about a potential conflict of interest in a GSA executive choosing a site owned by a previous employer, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Wray said his objections were about the process rather than the site itself.

GSA denied any conflict, saying the site about 13 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of Washington was less expensive, had better access to transit and could be completed quickly.

(AP)
HONG KONG, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The exhibition hall of "China Manned Space Exhibition" at the Hong Kong Science Museum is packed with people, who are eager to see some 30 groups of exhibits on display.

Visitors can not only enjoy the Shenzhou spacecraft return capsule, a model of the space station, models of different types of carrier rockets, but also an intravehicular space suit and so on.

The exhibition is divided into two exhibition areas, located in the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of History.

The exhibition area at the Hong Kong Museum of History centers around the history of China's manned space development, while the exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum displays remarkable engineering achievements and exciting prospects for future development.

In Hong Kong Science Museum's exhibition hall, visitors gathered in front of the Shenzhou-13 return capsule. "This is a real object, incredible," they stopped, took pictures and communicated with people around them.

On the other side of the exhibition hall, there is a long line in front of the interactive exhibit "Space station rendezvous and docking" project, where visitors can use a joystick to simulate astronauts to control the Shenzhou manned spacecraft to rendezvous and dock with the space station.

A student surnamed Wong from Tsing Yi Trade Association Primary School, and her friends finally completed the docking after three attempts. "It looks very simple, but after the actual operation, it is really not easy, and every step must be very precise to complete the docking," she said.

"This exhibition not only shows large installations, but also astronauts' daily necessities in space, which greatly satisfies curiosity," a man surnamed Keung said. "I hope that such exhibitions will be held more often in the future so that citizens can experience the nation's space power up close."

The exhibition is open to all people in Hong Kong and Macao, free of charge until Feb. 18 next year, and is expected to attract 260,000 visitors. 




The House passed a bipartisan measure Thursday that would block Iran from ever accessing the $6 billion recently transferred by the U.S. in a prisoner swap, a step Republicans pushed in response to the nations alleged role in the deadly attacks last month by Hamas on Israel.

The measure  titled the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act  passed 307-119 as Republicans sought to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they call their complicity in funding Iranian-backed terrorism in the Middle East.

With such instability in the region, the last thing we need to do is to give access to $6 billion to be diverted to more Iranian-sponsored terrorism, Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a debate.

U.S. officials have rebuffed this criticism, noting that not a single dollar has yet to be made available to Iran and insisting that when it is, it can only be used for humanitarian needs.

Republican critics like McCaul say that despite the money being restricted to aid, it is fungible, and could free up other funds for Tehran to provide support to Hamas like they believe it did before it attacked Israel in early October.

The U.S. and Iran reached the tentative agreement in August that eventually saw the release of five detained Americans in Tehran and an unknown number of Iranians imprisoned in the U.S. after billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets were transferred from banks in South Korea to Qatar. But days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the U.S. and Qatar agreed that Iran would not be able to access the money in the meantime, with officials stopping short of a full refreezing of the funds.

The GOP-backed resolution, which now goes to the Senate where it is unlikely to be supported by the Democratic majority, would impose new sanctions on the funds to prevent the transfer of any monies to Iran. It also threatens to sanction any government or individual involved in processing the transfer of the funds.

Several Democrats who opposed the measure defended the Biden administrations decision to transfer the money in exchange for American hostages, especially in light of the American hostages now being kept by Hamas in Gaza.

Iran, of course, as Hamas, is a murderous and corrupt regime. Theyre not pleasant. And this isnt easy, Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during the floor debate. But thanks to this agreement, five American families are now home again.

He added, And Iran has lost the leverage of holding these American hostages.

The complex deal between Washington and Tehran came together over the summer after months of indirect negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials. But the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas has inflamed criticism of the deal as Iran has historically maintained strong ties with both Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

High-ranking U.S. officials have sought to defend the decision to negotiate with Iran despite its track record of supporting terrorism against the U.S. and its allies. But officials have also conceded that Irans influence over the various militant groups is undeniable.

Hamas wouldnt be around in the way that it is without the support that its received from Iran over the years, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during interviews after the attack. But he acknowledged that we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.

(AP)
New direction: Nathaniel Rothschild

Volex traces its roots back to Victorian times, making electrical goods in Gorton, just outside Manchester.

Successful for many years, the company hit problems in the early 2000s and underwent a difficult period until new management were appointed in 2015, under financier Nathaniel Rothschild, scion of the famous Rothschild banking family.

Rothschild and his team have devoted time and energy to turning Volex round, through a combination of organic growth and selective acquisitions.

The company specialises in electric and electronic products, from components for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to high-speed cables for data centres. Volex is also the world's largest producer of power cords and plugs, used for TVs, computers, dishwashers and virtually every other electric gadget.

In order to make Volex more resilient to economic cycles, Rothschild has expanded across five key industries: consumer goods, medical equipment, electric cars, industrial technology and off-road vehicles, such as trucks and diggers.

Half-year figures to October 1, 2023 show the benefits of this spread of businesses. Overall sales rose 11 per cent to $398 million (313 million), profits rose 15.5 per cent to $34 million and the interim dividend was raised by almost 8 per cent to 1.4p.

Within this however, sales relating to electric cars and consumer goods fell, as end demand declined and Volex customers used up existing stocks built up last year.

But sales in the other divisions increased at pace, particularly industrial technology, which delivered organic growth of more than 30 per cent.

Analysts are optimistic about the group's future, predicting sales of $850 million, profits of $73 million and a 4.5p dividend for the year to next March, with further gains thereafter. (Figures are in dollars because most of the company's sales are in the US currency.)

Rothschild said last year that he planned to take sales to $1.2 billion by 2027 and raise profit margins to around 10 per cent.

The group remains confident of delivering those targets, even if economic conditions are mixed. Slower markets are likely to bounce back, as consumer confidence returns and the electric car industry regains momentum.

Volex has also deliberately chosen to work in industries with long-term growth prospects. And a global network should make the firm more resilient, including the recent purchase of Turkish offroad specialist, Murat Ticaret, which is a big player in Europe and is now expected to expand into North America.

Midas verdict: Midas recommended Volex in September 2022 when the shares were 2.63. Today, they are 18 per cent higher at 3.10 and brokers say they should hit 4 over the next 12 months. Nervous investors may want to bank some profits after recent gains but they should retain some stock as Rothschild and his crew are determined to deliver much more growth and rising dividends too.

Traded on: AIM Ticker: VLX Contact: volex.com or 01256 442570
The investment managers and board of investment trust Fidelity Asian Values were in London last week to attend the fund's annual general meeting.

Lead manager Nitin Bajaj, based in Singapore, was in buoyant mood as he reflected on the past year  and the year ahead. A past financial year (to the end of July) that has seen the trust edge up its dividend payments and generate double-digit overall returns for shareholders.

And a year ahead full of promise, especially if a global stock market recovery triggers a re-rating in smaller companies  the sector of Asian markets that the 344 million trust is concentrated on.

The trust, launched 27 years ago, invests in smaller companies across all Asian stock markets with the exception of Japan. It has holdings in more than 150 listed stocks with the biggest country position in China.

Catherine Yeung is Asian Equities investment director for Fidelity  and the trust's investment director. Like Bajaj, she was in the UK for the AGM, travelling back to Hong Kong last Thursday where she is based.

She says the trusts' universe  listed businesses with market capitalisations ranging from below 1 billion to 10 billion-plus  is rich in investment opportunity.

She adds: 'Smaller companies in Asia are under-researched. Provided you are prepared to do lots of hard work, meet companies on the ground and build relationships, the potential to extract stellar returns is significant. It's what we do at Fidelity.

'We have boots on the ground across the region  in the shape of research analysts digging out investment opportunities and fund managers based in Singapore and Hong Kong.'

The latest performance figures, provided by investment data provider Trustnet, support Yeung's thesis. Over the past year, the trust has generated a return of 6.5 per cent. Annualised returns over the past ten years average 10.4 per cent.

Although antipathy towards China remains strong among UK investors, Yeung says many Chinese companies are doing all the right things  improving their corporate governance and paying dividends to shareholders.

'China is a big part of our overall investment thesis,' she explains. 'I was there last month and many smaller companies have adapted to the regulatory changes made by the Chinese Government. Yes, we are mindful of geopolitical considerations, but our focus is on investing in good businesses run by good people at an attractive price.'

Among the trust's top ten holdings are stakes in pork supplier WH Group and gold jewellery retailer Chow Sang Sang. Both are listed in Hong Kong. Financials is one of the trust's biggest sector themes with key stakes in Indian banks Axis and HDFC and Indonesian banks Bank Negara and Bank Mandiri.

'Access to credit and banking is a compelling long-term story across the region,' says Yeung. 'It is being fuelled by demographic change and the emergence of a middle-class with money to spend and save.'

Fidelity Asian Values pays a dividend equivalent to just below three per cent a year. In the past ten years, payments have grown in all but two years (2014 and 2020). The payment in the last financial year was 14.5p a share  with the shares currently trading at around 4.90. Its stock market ID code is 0332231 and ticker FAS. Annual charges total 0.96 per cent.

Separately, Fidelity will cement its reputation as a leading international investor in Asia and China, following the announcement that its China Special Situations trust will absorb the assets of rival trust Abrdn China Investment Company  subject to shareholder approval. If the deal goes ahead, it will create a trust with 1.2 billion under its stewardship.
A plethora of journalists, PR and political professionals gathered last week to rub shoulders at a press awards ceremony hosted by communications outfit Pagefield.

Among the gongs on offer was 'Best Campaign of the Past 12 Months', which was described as sitting at the 'heart of British journalism'.

So attendees were somewhat surprised when the winner wasn't a journalist at all.

Scoop: Nigel Farage won the award for his 'campaign' against the decision by NatWest-owned Coutts to close his bank account

Instead, it was former Ukip leader and Brexit architect Nigel Farage who scooped the award for his 'campaign' against the decision by NatWest-owned Coutts to close his bank account.

The debacle caused a massive PR crisis for NatWest and ultimately led to the resignation of boss Alison Rose as well as Coutts head Peter Flavel.

Of course, Nigel was not present to accept the award as he is languishing in the Australian jungle, appearing in the latest series of I'm A Celeb.

Time for some celebratory kangaroo anus perhaps?

T-shirt fundamentalist switches to wearing a suit

T-shirt fundamentalist Greg Jackson made a concession to formality at last week's Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court by wearing a suit jacket and polo neck top.

Luckily no one seemed to notice the red wine stain on the Octopus energy boss's jacket from pre-summit drinks the night before  which was blamed on Kamal Ahmed, editor of the Gen-Z-focused brand The News Movement.

Break out the Vanish!

Changes at Revolut

There were some changes on the board of fintech firm Revolut as the group announced that Romanian tech entrepreneur Dan Teodosiu would be joining as a non-executive director.

Teodosiu counts Silicon Valley giants Google and Microsoft among his former employers.

His last job was tech boss at Onfido, an identity verification firm based in London.

Perhaps he can help Revolut get its UK banking licence, which it claimed in March would be granted 'imminently'. We make it 278 days and counting.

Whispers notes that the Revolut board includes just one woman  Deloitte alumna Caroline Britton  so perhaps next time they recruit they could hunt for some gender balance.

Checking Labour's breakfast receipts

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves hosted a breakfast last Monday with about 35 bosses and executives in what some in the City deemed an attempt to steal thunder from the Government's Global Investment Summit on the same day.

Those attending included Sir William Lewis, the newly appointed head of US newspaper The Washington Post.

One wonders whether Starmer and Reeves were more tight-lipped than usual around Lewis, who as editor of The Daily Telegraph in 2009 led the team that broke the MP expenses scandal.

This was before Starmer and Reeves' time in office.

But Whispers expects the receipts were checked extra carefully.
The capacity of the crypto industry for denial amid the atrocities of 'Black Sabbath' in Israel on October 7 and the subsequent killing fields in Gaza knows no bounds.

One key player even described a recent 3.4 billion settlement between Binance and the US Department of Justice as having a 'silver lining' for the reputation of crypto.

Most people would struggle to find any redeeming elements in a case where Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen slammed Binance  which operates the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange  for turning 'a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit'.

Yellen also attacked Binance for 'wilful failures' that 'allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals and child abusers through its platform'.

Coining it in: Crushing Bitcoin and other crypto finance for terrorism is like playing the fairground game of 'Whack a Mole'

But in a feat of contorted logic, crypto-fans argue the fact that the US authorities agreed a settlement and did not close Binance down completely is a recognition of the legitimacy of the whole digital money industry.

That ignores the fact that in the very same settlement, Binance acknowledged money laundering for Hamas's murderous Al-Qassam brigades.

Far from showing that crypto-players are ready to clean up their act, it has demonstrated how the use of computer-generated tokens and currencies has proved a boon for terrorist organisations seeking to circumvent the strict money laundering restrictions which are forced upon conventional finance.

As any individual or organisation seeking to open a bank or investment account knows, disclosure requirements are intrusive and exhaustive. Even the smallest accidental discrepancy can lead to the closure of a bank account which has been operating for many years.

HSBC fell foul of US authorities over money laundering for Mexican drug cartels a decade ago. Then in 2019, Standard Chartered paid fine of nearly 1 billion for Iran sanctions-busting. As a result of such appalling behaviours compliance and enforcement in mainstream banking is, if anything, over-zealous.

Cryptocurrencies and their platforms have become the new frontier in the battle against financial crime. It was not meant to be like this. When the idea of computer-generated currencies first emerged after the great financial crisis it was seen as a breakthrough for finance and mankind.

Blockchain recording of transactions  a form of distributed ledgers  was seen as offering transparency and the way forward when financial transfers were moving online.

It has not worked like that. Bitcoin and its imitators have been a speculator's dream.

The computing power required to create crypto has put it on the wrong side of zero carbon. But most disturbing of all, it has offered criminal elements and terror groups a refuge from the authorities. The US Department of Justice's action against Binance last month cast a light on an unregulated corner of finance.

Binance's controlling mind Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and will pay a 40 million fine after his platform was colonised by Islamic State and Hamas. He was penalised a further 120 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and he has since stepped down as head of Binance.

Yellen saw the Binance case as sending a message to the virtual currency industry that the US will no longer tolerate such behaviours. Zhao wants to leave for the United Arab Emirates, but must remain in the US until February pending a sentencing hearing.

Battle: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

Far from ending abuse, the villainous behaviour of Binance, which arguably cost thousands of innocent lives, has done nothing to end the crypto fiasco.

Tom Alexandrovich, head of Israel's cyber defences, said there has been a 'super' increase in crypto funding for terrorism since the conflict began.

Crushing Bitcoin and other crypto finance for terrorism is like playing the fairground game of 'Whack a Mole'. As soon as one platform is put under special measures another pops up. A new fast-growing network called Tron is now being used to finance Iran-backed groups including the enemy on Israel's northern border Hezbollah as well as Hamas. Israel's Bureau for Counter Terrorism Financing froze 143 Tron wallets  a fancy name for accounts  between July 2021 and October 2023.

Based in the British Virgin Islands, Tron agrees that it could be used for 'questionable activities'.

But it also says it does not have control over who uses the facilities and is NOT linked to groups identified by Israel as responsible for the October 7 assaults.

Yet two-thirds of Israel's 87 Tron seizures this year have allegedly involved Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

All of this is having very little impact on market prices. Bitcoin has rallied strongly in recent months. The geo-political trauma has given it a new lease of life and cryptocurrencies remain the preferred conduit for terrorists.

The collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX  and the subsequent fraud trial  coupled with the Binance scandal have done little to suppress this evil.
Usually when the price of a commodity such as a metal or oil shoots up, there is an obvious reason.

But a rally in the price of uranium, which is used to produce nuclear power, has left many in the City scratching their heads as there has not been an obvious trigger.

Uranium is trading at a 15-year high of more than $80 a pound.

Experts say the astonishing rise from $48 a pound at the start of the year is partly a sign of the times.

After years of rhetoric about cutting carbon emissions, many countries are now setting out longer-term ambitions to use nuclear power.

For some, such as the UK, China and Sweden, this means building a plethora of new power stations, while for others it is about extending the life of existing sites.

Keith Watson, portfolio manager for the uranium-focused Geiger Counter Fund, said: 'The sea-change has occurred at both a public and a government level, where we now have much more pro-nuclear policies.'

But this comes after the sector fell out of fashion for several years in the wake of the Fukushima power station disaster in Japan in 2011.

Watson said: 'After Fukushima it was easy to park it in the shade and ignore it, but as a result we've seen lots of underinvestment.'

The world currently produces roughly as much uranium as is required for use. Ramping up this production by getting new mines and processing plants up and running will take time.

Uranium sales are also what is known as a very 'tight' market  where there is not much of the material available to trade.

Robert Crayfourd, co-fund manager at the Geiger Counter Fund, said the disruption caused by the coup in Niger earlier this year tightened supply even further.

Niger only produces 4 per cent of the world's uranium  the most important producers are Kazakhstan, Namibia, Canada and Australia  but it was an important supplier to France, a major producer of nuclear power.

In the wake of this, Western utility companies have been even keener to pin down contracts to ensure they have access to uranium in the long term. This means there is even less to trade in the general, non-contracted market, known as the 'spot' market. It is this spot price that has ballooned.

The UK will be drawn into the wider scramble to secure access to uranium, as the Government is convinced that nuclear energy will be crucial in the coming decades.

Ministers are struggling to find finance for new projects such as Sizewell C power station on the Suffolk coast and there are efforts to set up a fleet of mini nuclear plants, known as small modular reactors.

So is the rally likely to last? John Meyer, mining analyst at consultancy SP Angel, believes it will.

Meyer said: 'We see prices potentially rising year-on-year for the next ten to 20 years, or until the world finds another source for large-scale uninterruptible baseload power with a low carbon footprint.'
TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and two others injured in a hostage-taking event in the southern Iranian province of Fars on Saturday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The incident occurred in the provincial capital Shiraz, where three hostage-takers, driven by personal motives, kidnapped a boy and a girl and sought to flee the city, Fars Police Commander Roham Bakhsh Habibi was quoted as saying by IRNA.

The police pursued the hostage-takers and engaged in an armed confrontation with them, shooting one dead and arresting another, Habibi said, adding search was underway for the third one, who escaped from the scene.

Habibi said that the girl was freed with only a minor head injury and that the boy had died, while a policeman was lightly injured. 
A plastic factory is on fire after Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis Dec. 2, 2023. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

GAZA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army is trying to expand its ground incursion in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip amid intense battles with Hamas militants in the area on Saturday, a Palestinian security source said.

"The clashes, which featured heavy gunfire and intermittent explosions, were monitored in more than one location on the eastern border of the city of Khan Younis," said the source who wished to remain anonymous.

The clashes followed intensified Israeli air and artillery attacks on the outskirts of Khan Younis Friday night, according to the source.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army announced that it attacked 400 targets in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, including 50 targets in Khan Younis, eliminating militants and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

Israel said that Khan Younis, the second most important urban center in the Gaza Strip, has become a stronghold for most Hamas leaders and the bulk of its fighters and missile arsenal after they fled Gaza City and its north.

According to the Palestinian security source, Israel has focused on conducting high-intensity raids on Khan Younis after the seven-day ceasefire with Hamas collapsed on Friday. The war strategy is similar to what had happened on the outskirts of Gaza City prior to the Israeli army's ground incursion on Oct. 27.

On Friday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets warning residents of Khan Younis to evacuate, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources told Xinhua that the Israel Defense Forces declared Khan Younis as a "dangerous fighting zone", and demanded residents in the areas east of the city to take shelter in Rafah near the Egyptian border. 

A plastic factory is on fire after Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis Dec. 2, 2023. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

A plastic factory is on fire after Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis Dec. 2, 2023. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese vice premier, visits the China's pavilion in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Dec. 2, 2023. Ding addressed the Group of 77 (G77) and China Leaders' Summit, which is held during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai on Saturday. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

DUBAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work closely with other developing countries to build a green and low-carbon future, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said here on Saturday.

Ding, also Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when addressing the Group of 77 (G77) and China Leaders' Summit, which is held during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In recent years, China has actively yet prudently promoted the targets for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, said Ding, adding that while fulfilling its international obligations, China has made efforts to help other developing countries cope with climate change.

Noting that there is still a long way to go to improve global climate governance, Ding called on the G77 and China to further speak with one voice and uphold common interests.

The vice premier called on parties concerned to jointly promote sustainable development, strengthen the synergy of green transformation development strategies, boost mutual assistance, and explore a new path of coordination between development and protection.

Ding urged parties concerned to jointly safeguard multilateralism and firmly uphold the goals and principles set out in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Ding also called for jointly promoting equity and justice, working together to make substantive progress in implementing climate funding and forming a framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation, and giving full play to the role of the newly established Loss and Damage Fund. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese vice premier, addresses the Group of 77 (G77) and China Leaders' Summit, which is held during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dec. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
An artillery fires towards Gaza Strip, in southern Israel bordering with Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

"We will continue the war until we achieve all of its goals, and it cannot be done without the expansion of the ground operation," Netanyahu declared at a press conference in central Tel Aviv's Hakirya military base.

Before the seven-day ceasefire collapsed on Friday, 110 hostages were released, including 24 foreign nationals, while an estimated total of about 135 people are still being held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza, according to Netanyahu.

He said he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to resume fighting "with ever-increasing intensity." Over the day, Israel attacked more than 400 locations, and "an extensive airstrike" targeted Khan Yunis in the southern enclave, previously considered a "safe zone," as well as Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and other locations.

Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv for the remaining hostages' release, with similar demonstrations across the country, calling for Netanyahu's resignation due to his failure to prevent Hamas' surprise attack on October 7.

Newly released hostages addressed the Tel Aviv crowd. Ditza Haiman, an 84-year-old woman from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, recounted that "we must get the hostages out immediately and do everything possible to make it happen!"

In a press conference, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attributed the truce collapse to Hamas' refusal to release 15 women and children.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas, denied the claims. "We said that we've handed over the women and children we had, and the remaining prisoners in Gaza are soldiers and civilians who served in the army," he told Al Jazeera TV news on Saturday.

He added that Israel "decided not to resume the exchange deal with new standards." "Our official position now is that there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops," he said.

Netanyahu ordered the withdrawal of its negotiating team from the Doha talks, citing an "impasse."

A total of 15,200 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, 75 percent of them being children, women and the elderly, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry. Israeli authorities said about 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side, mostly during the Hamas surprise attack. 

Smoke rises from the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel bordering with Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)

An Iron Dome missile intercepts a rocket fired from Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel bordering with Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)

Rockets are launched from the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel bordering with Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)

People take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

People take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

Two women who were once hostages (front) in the Gaza Strip take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

A woman who was once a hostage in the Gaza Strip takes part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

Two women who were once hostages (1st R and 2nd L) in the Gaza Strip take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

People take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

People take part in a rally for the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that freeing hostages in Gaza would be "impossible" without continuing Israel's deadly ground operation, after pulling his team from talks in Qatar on a ceasefire with Hamas.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas said on Saturday that "there will be no exchange of prisoners until after the war stops." (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)
LUSAKA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Police authorities on Saturday said that seven miners are suspected to have died by drowning in a tragic accident at a makeshift mine site in Chingola town, the Copperbelt Province.

The police said the illegal miners drowned in the tunnels where they were digging copper ore after heavy rains resulted in landslides burying the tunnels.

Rae Hamoonga, the police spokesperson, said in a statement that rescue teams that visited the accident scene discovered that there were two sites where the victims were buried. "The bodies are not yet retrieved as efforts are being made to retrieve them," he added.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Saturday expressed deep sorrow for the tragic accident at the open pit mine, which collapsed and trapped illegal miners Thursday.

"Our prayers are with the families of those who died in the accident," he wrote on his Facebook page.

He has since paid gratitude to the rescuers and volunteers who were working tirelessly to reach people trapped, adding that the incident reinforces the government's commitment to implementing strict mining safety policies to ensure the well-being of citizens. 
December 01, 2023





Recognizing and acknowledging employees has become increasingly crucial in today's business environment. Research indicates that engaged employees are more productive, exhibit loyalty, and are more likely to remain with a company long-term.







Various forms of recognition and rewards can be employed, ranging from an expression of gratitude to elaborate bonuses or trips. However, with the emergence of technology and the prevalence of work, traditional methods may no longer yield effectiveness. This is where engagement software comes into play.

Engagement software, also called employee recognition software, is a tool for employers seeking to recognize and reward their workforce efficiently and meaningfully. It offers an employee platform that enables managers and team members to give and receive recognition, monitor progress, and acknowledge accomplishments.

1. A Centralized Platform for Recognition and Rewards

One significant advantage of utilizing engagement software is providing an employee platform for recognition and rewards. Employees can receive recognition and rewards through the software rather than relying on ad hoc approaches like emails or face-to-face meetings.

This streamlines the process and ensures consistency and fairness in delivering recognition and rewards.

It also eliminates the risk of some employees being overlooked or receiving rewards.

2. Timely and Meaningful Recognition

Another benefit of using engagement software is the ability to provide meaningful recognition. In modern work environments, employees often manage multiple tasks and responsibilities. This can make it easy for their efforts to go unnoticed or not fully appreciated.

With the software, managers and team members can give recognition for a job well done. Whether it's a thank you message or a virtual badge, employees can receive recognition in time, boosting their sense of accomplishment and motivation.

Furthermore, engagement software allows for meaningful recognition. It offers the flexibility to customize rewards based on preferences and interests. This makes the recognition and rewards more relevant and impactful, enhancing employee satisfaction and engagement.

3. Gamification and Competition

Engagement software often incorporates gamification elements like leaderboards, badges, and points systems to make recognition and rewards more engaging and interactive. This fosters competition among employees, inspiring them to perform their best.

By utilizing engagement software, employees can earn points or badges for completing tasks or achieving goals.

These accomplishments can be showcased on their profiles or a company leaderboard, fostering a sense of pride and fulfillment.

In addition, healthy competition can serve as a motivator. By organizing competitions or challenges, engagement software encourages employees to push themselves to achieve higher levels of success, ultimately benefiting the company's overall performance.

4. Continuous Feedback and Performance Monitoring

Engagement software also enables feedback and performance tracking. Rather than relying on annual or biennial performance evaluations, managers can provide real-time feedback and monitor employee progress regularly.

It allows constructive feedback, leading to enhanced performance and productivity. Employees can easily gauge how their efforts contribute to the companys objectives and make adjustments along the way.

Engagement software helps foster a culture of improvement and development within the organization by tracking performance on time and acknowledging accomplishments promptly.

5. Integration with HR Systems

Engagement software seamlessly integrates with other HR systems like performance management or talent management software. These systems are integral for hiring and managing employees. Thus, the engagement software ensures a reliable approach to employee recognition and rewards by considering the performance and professional growth of new and old hires alike.

Integrating with HR systems also simplifies the process of monitoring the impact that recognition and rewards have on employee retention and satisfaction. It offers insights and data that can be utilized to enhance and refine the recognition and rewards program.

Conclusion

Acknowledging and incentivizing employees is essential in maintaining an engaged workforce. Engagement software provides an efficient solution to address this challenge by offering a platform for recognition and timely rewards. It holds significant elements of gamification, ongoing feedback, and integration with HR systems that elevate the concept of employee recognition and rewards. By harnessing this technology, companies can cultivate a culture of acknowledgment and gratitude, resulting in increased employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention.
[December 01, 2023] Junshi Biosciences Announces New Chemical Entity Application for Toripalimab Accepted by Australia's TGA Tweet

SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd (Junshi Biosciences, HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (TGA) has accepted the New Chemical Entity (NCE) application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine, for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Additionally, the TGA has also granted an orphan drug designation to toripalimab for the treatment of NPC. This NCE application was submitted through Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDAs Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) that provides a collaborative mechanism and framework among the FDA and regulatory partners in other countries and regions, for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs. At present, seven other regulatory agencies have joined Project Orbis, including the TGA, Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Health Canada (HC), MHRA, etc. Project Orbis currently accepts applications for oncology indications. An application should generally qualify for FDA priority review, meaning that the drug must be intended to treat a serious disease and, if approved, would significantly improve the safety or efficacy of the treatment; furthermore, the drug should have a high impact and significant clinical benefits. Under the framework of Project Orbis, collaboration among international regulators may allow patients with cancer to receive earlier access to new treatments in other countries. Toripalimab for the treatment of NPC meets these application requirements and is the first domestic oncology drug to be included in Project Orbis. Junshi Biosciences will explore the possibility of fast marketing in these countries and regions where the pathway is applicable. NPC is a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharyngeal mucosal epithelium and is one of the most common types of head and neck cancer. According to the World Health Organization, the number of newly diagnosed NPC cases in 2020 exceeded 130,000 worldwide. Due to the location of the primary tumor, surgery is rarely an option, while radiotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy are the main treatment options for localized cancers. This NCE application is supported by results from JUPITER-02, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational multi-center Phase III clinical study (NCT03581786), for the first-line treatment of NPC and the results from POLARIS-02, a multi-center, open-label, pivotal Phase II clinical study (NCT02915432), for second-line or more prior treatments for recurrent or metastatic NPC. The results of JUPITER-02, the first multinational multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo- controlled Phase III clinical study with immuno-oncology therapy for the treatment of NPC with the largest sample size, were published at the plenary session of the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting (#LBA2), and in Nature Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The results showed that compared to chemotherapy alone, toripalimab in combination with chemotherapy for the first-lin treatment of metastatic or recurrent NPC significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% and the risk of death by 37%, and demonstrated a manageable safety profile.



The POLARIS-02 results were published online in January 2021 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results showed that toripalimab demonstrated durable antitumor activity in patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC who failed previous chemotherapy, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 20.5%, a median duration of response (DoR) of 12.8 months, and a median OS of 17.4 months with a manageable safety profile. So far, toripalimab has been approved for 6 indications in China, with 4 supplementary new drug applications (sNDA) currently under regulatory review. Internationally, it has been approved for 2 NPC indications in the US, and marketing approval applications for 2 indications in NPC and esophageal carcinoma are currently under regulatory review in the European Union and UK.

About Toripalimab Toripalimab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody developed for its ability to block PD-1 interactions with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, and for enhanced receptor internalization (endocytosis function). Blocking PD-1 interactions with PD-L1 and PD-L2 promotes the immune systems ability to attack and kill tumor cells. More than forty company-sponsored toripalimab clinical studies covering more than fifteen indications have been conducted globally by Junshi Biosciences, including in China, the United States, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Ongoing or completed pivotal clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of toripalimab cover a broad range of tumor types, including cancers of the lung, nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, breast, liver, kidney, and skin. In China, toripalimab was the first domestic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved for marketing (approved in China as TUOYI). Currently, there are six approved indications for toripalimab in China: unresectable or metastatic melanoma after failure of standard systemic therapy; recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy; locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy; in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine as the first-line treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC; in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or distant metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); in combination with pemetrexed and platinum as the first-line treatment in EGFR mutation-negative and ALK mutation-negative, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The first three indications have been included in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) (2022 Edition). Toripalimab is the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody included in the NRDL for the treatment of melanoma. In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Biologics License Application for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced NPC, and for toripalimab, as a single agent, for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy in October 2023. The FDA has granted toripalimab 2 Breakthrough Therapy designations for the treatment of NPC, 1 Fast Track designation for the treatment of mucosal melanoma, and 5 Orphan Drug designations for the treatment of esophageal cancer, NPC, mucosal melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). In Europe, marketing authorization applications (MAA) were accepted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United Kingdoms Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for 1) toripalimab combined with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC and 2) toripalimab combined with paclitaxel and cisplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or metastatic ESCC, in December 2022 and February 2023. In Australia, an NCE was accepted by the TGA in November 2023. The TGA has also granted toripalimab an Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of NPC. About Junshi Biosciences Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R&D pipeline comprising over 50 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Four of the companys innovations have already reached the Chinese or international markets, one of which is toripalimab, Chinas first domestically produced and independently developed anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, approved in China and the US. Additionally, more than 30 drugs are currently in clinical development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Junshi Biosciences actively shouldered the social responsibilities of a Chinese pharmaceutical company through its involvement in developing etesevimab, MINDEWEI, and other novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. With a mission of providing patients with world-class, trustworthy, affordable, and innovative drugs, Junshi Biosciences is In China, For Global. At present, the company boasts approximately 3,000 employees in the United States (San Francisco and Maryland) and China (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, etc). For more information, please visit: http://junshipharma.com. Junshi Biosciences Contact Information

IR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

[email protected]

+ 86 021-6105 8800 PR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

Zhi Li

[email protected]

+ 86 021-6105 8800



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[December 02, 2023] COP28 Event Hosted by KHNP Highlights Nuclear Energy's Crucial Role in a Carbon-Free Future Tweet

DUBAI, UAE, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the state-run energy company of Korea, hosted an event titled, 'The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future,' today at the KHNP Pavilion during the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). This event showcased Korea's innovative net-zero nuclear solutions and explored the crucial role of nuclear energy in expediting the energy transition to reach a carbon-free future with renowned specialists from the sector. The session commenced with opening remarks by Hoesung Lee, President of the Carbon Free Alliance (CFA) and former Chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Emphasizing the urgency for developing a diverse range of environmentally friendly clean energy sources for achieving carbon neutrality, Lee stated that "in order expand carbon-free energy globally, participation from various stakeholders and implementation of innovative technologies will be crucial." Taking the stage next, KHNP CEO Jooho Whang introduced Korea's innovative small modular reactors (i-SMR) technology and SMR Smart Net-Zero City (SSNC) model. "i-SMR technology is a sustainable clean energy solution. It represents all the advantages of large nuclear reactors, with utmost safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility," CEO Whang disclosed. He continued, "[Powered by i-SMR,] SSNC is a carbon-free energy city platform, providing optimal green energy portfolio to each city," before adding, "By using stable, cost-effective i-SMR technology, SSNC can reduce energy costs by up to 30%." The presentation was followed b a panel discussion titled, "The Role of Nuclear Energy in Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future," where nuclear energy experts and industry leaders acknowledged nuclear power as a clean and critical solution for decarbonization. They also highlighted the significant potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) in driving the global energy transition.



Joining CEO Whang on the panel were Diane Cameron, Head of Division of Nuclear Technology Development and Economics, NEA, Bumjin Chung, Professor of Nuclear Engineering Department at Kyung Hee University / President of Korean Nuclear Society, and Frank Jannuzi, CEO of The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, with Hyungook Kang, Professor of Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as the moderator. During the session, Ms. Cameron stressed the critical and timely moment for nuclear energy, stating, "Advanced nuclear energy technologies, including the new SMRs coming to market, now offer nations everywhere an opportunity to leapfrog the energy systems of yesterday to bring the benefits of clean power to the 770 million people in the world who currently live without electricity today."

Dr. Chung continued the discussion by highlighting the history, achievements, and future of Korea's nuclear technology. "40 years of steady nuclear power plant construction resulted in the balanced human resources and supply chains We are now technologically ready for NZE (Net Zero Emission)." CEO Whang added, "With superior safety, economic viability and modularity in the SMR market, i-SMR represents a contemporary solution for a carbon-neutral future. Especially for countries with aging coal power plants, i-SMRs could be an essential solution, offering carbon-free energy at a more affordable cost while facilitating a safe and economically beneficial transition to clean energy." CEO Jannuzi emphasized the need to build support for nuclear power and collaborate on a global scale, stating, "It's not just that nuclear power provides carbon-free power, it is also that nuclear power offsets pollution which would otherwise be generated by fossil fuels  saving lives There is a compelling logic for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan to work together to deliver safe, efficient nuclear energy to meet growing global energy demands." Dr. Kang closed the panel discussion by stating that "Nuclear power has emerged as a pivotal solution for driving the transition to net zero and a more sustainable future. Though challenges still lie ahead, it is promising to see companies like KHNP leading the energy transition with developments in their affordable, secure and effective i-SMR technology and smart net zero city model." Prior to this KHNP-hosted event, Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kyungsung Kang attended the Net Zero Nuclear (NZN) Initiative event at COP28 and announced that in alignment with the Korean government's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Korea will place increased emphasis on nuclear energy. KHNP's development of i-SMR and SSNC in collaboration with the Korean government and corporations is aligned with these national objectives. In addition, on Dec 1, KHNP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia's Perusahaan Listrik Negara Nusantara Power at COP28. The MOU aims to foster collaboration in the development and research of i-SMR technology, with a shared objective of contributing to the global net zero goal. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cop28-event-hosted-by-khnp-highlights-nuclear-energys-crucial-role-in-a-carbon-free-future-302003815.html SOURCE Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.

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Representatives vote on a draft resolution during a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York, on Dec. 1, 2023. The Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to terminate the mandate of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) as of Dec. 3, 2023. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to terminate the mandate of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) as of Dec. 3, 2023.

Resolution 2715 requests UNITAMS to immediately start on Dec. 4, 2023, the cessation of its operations and the process of the transfer of its tasks to UN agencies, funds and programs, with the objective of completing this by Feb. 29, 2024.

It decides that the liquidation of UNITAMS shall begin on March 1, 2024. It further decides to authorize, for the duration of UNITAMS' transition and liquidation, the retention of necessary security personnel to protect UNITAMS' personnel, facilities and assets.

It calls on all relevant Sudanese parties to cooperate fully with the United Nations during UNITAMS' transition and liquidation, and requests the UN secretary-general to keep the Security Council regularly informed.

The resolution won 14 votes in favor out of the 15 Security Council members. Russia abstained.

The Security Council resolution came after the Sudanese authorities' demand last month to shut down the mission.

The relationship between UNITAMS and Sudan has been strained since the outbreak of the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. The UN secretary-general's special representative and head of UNITAMS at the time, Volker Perthes, was declared persona non grata by the Sudanese authorities in June. Perthes later resigned.

UNITAMS, established by the Security Council in June 2020, was tasked to help Sudan with its political transition after the ouster of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019. 
[December 02, 2023] 10+ Countries Join First-of-Its-Kind Consortium to Deploy 5 GW of Battery Energy Storage Systems Tweet

Barbados , Belize , Egypt , Ghana , India , Kenya , Malawi , Mauritania , Mozambique , Nigeria , and Togo committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium as first-mover countries with AfDB, the World Bank, IDB, ADB, AFD, RMI, GIZ, Africa 50, Masdar, Infinity Power, AMEA Power, COP28 Presidency, NREL, Net Zero World, and SEforAll signing on as resource partners.?

, , , , , , , , , , and committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium as first-mover countries with AfDB, the World Bank, IDB, ADB, AFD, RMI, GIZ, 50, Masdar, Infinity Power, AMEA Power, Presidency, NREL, Net Zero World, and SEforAll signing on as resource partners.? Securing 5 GW of energy storage commitments by the end of 2024 is a key deliverable of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet's Global Leadership Council, which was formed in 2022 to significantly reduce the cost of renewable energy technologies in LMICs while increasing their accessibility and addressing the climate crisis.

Commitments demonstrate progress towards enabling 400 GW of renewable energy by 2030 in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) and solving energy poverty.? DUBAI, Dec. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), The Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) announced that Barbados, Belize, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Togo committed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium with Indonesia showing strong interest. Through the BESS Consortium, these first-mover countries are part of a collaborative effort to secure 5 gigawatts (GW) of BESS commitments by the end of 2024. In order to achieve the estimated 400 GW of renewable energy needed to alleviate energy poverty by 2030 and save a gigaton of CO2, 90 GW of storage capacity must be developed. The BESS Consortium's initial 5 GW goal will help create a roadmap for achieving the rest by 2030, demonstrating a key mechanism for accelerating a just energy transition.?Vietnam also participated in the BESS Consortium launch with Honorable Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, addressing the gathering on the country's commitment to clean energy transition. Battery Storage Systems are a critical element to increasing the reliability of grids and accommodating the variable renewable energy sources that are needed to power economic development. In many cases, a combination of BESS and renewables are already cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. The BESS Consortium is a multi-stakeholder partnership set up to ensure these BESS benefits transform energy systems across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Consortium is on track to meet its target of securing 5 GW of BESS commitments by the end of 024 and deploying these by the end of 2027.



BESS Consortium first-mover countries will be supported by resource partners including the GEAPP, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), RMI, Africa50, Masdar, Infinity Power, COP28 Presidency, AMEA Power, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Net Zero World, and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), with additional partners and countries expected to join.?? Jonas Gahr Stre, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway and Co-chair of the Global Leadership Council said during the launch, "The Global Leadership Council was formed to expedite change, and bring forward transformative initiatives that will cut emissions, create jobs and expand access to clean and affordable energy in low- and middle-income countries. Three months ago, we committed to establishing the BESS Consortium, and already we have countries, resource partners and champions on board. This is only the beginning, we must continue to move at collective speed and scale.''

New research from The Rockefeller Foundation shows that keeping global warming from breaking the 2 Celsius threshold will require unprecedented global collaboration. BESS is a critical technology to achieve that goal, but progress is being severely hindered by unfavorable policies and regulations, high financing costs, long project lead times, and other challenges. To accelerate the shift to cleaner and more affordable energy systems, the World Bank and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) recently published a comprehensive framework, " Unlocking the Energy Transition: Guidelines for Planning Solar-Plus-Storage Projects." Written for policymakers and project developers, the report provides a step-by-step approach to planning and executing utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects, including practical advice on feasibility assessments, business model selection, risk allocation, and navigating the procurement process. Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation and Co-chair of the Global Leadership Council said, "Without sufficient storage capacity, countries will be unable to add renewable energy to their grids at the scale needed to reduce emissions and create economic opportunity. The BESS Consortium is an example of the sort of big, bold action required to break down the barriers keeping so many people and communities from joining the climate transformations underway." In addition to securing 5 GW of BESS commitments in LMICs and deploying $1 billion in concessional finance, the Consortium will accelerate project deployment, work to improve the regulatory environment, build a favorable market for BESS, and unlock commercial and public financing. Countries, utilities, and resource partners in the Consortium will partner to identify and co-develop tailored packages of support for BESS investment. These will be refined and negotiated between country stakeholders and partners with complementary advocacy and accelerating actions championed by the Consortium.? Joseph Nganga, VP of Africa at GEAPP said, "The Global Energy Alliance's GLC initiatives including the groundbreaking BESS Consortium are driving real actionable progress. We are determined to deliver scalable solutions and measurable outcomes at speed by the time world leaders reconvene at COP29 next year. In Malawi for example, we are supporting the Government to deploy and operate a 20MW BESS project which, by 2030, will improve access and power stability for 3M people, improve the lives of 450,000 and avoid 20,000 tons of CO2. Our unwavering dedication to sustainability is leading us to set new benchmarks and inspiring others to join this crucial journey towards a greener future." ### Media Contacts: Eric Gay , Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP): [email protected]

, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP): Ashley Chang , The Rockefeller Foundation: [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/10-countries-join-first-of-its-kind-consortium-to-deploy-5-gw-of-battery-energy-storage-systems-302003829.html

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[December 02, 2023] March of Dimes Canada's SkillingUp Gets Major Federal Funding Injection Tweet

Hon. Kamal Khera announces funding to support over 1,000 learners TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Kamal Khera, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons with Disabilities, on behalf of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault, announced that March of Dimes Canada's SkillingUp program is receiving a major funding boost from DIGITAL, Canada's global innovation cluster for digital technologies, to extend the free digital skills program to more than 1,000 people with disabilities in Canada. Supported by DIGITAL and funded by the Government of Canada's Skills for Success Program, this investment more than doubles SkillingUp's current program funding. The new funding will complement investments from Microsoft Canada and CIBC Foundation empowering learners for in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow's digital economy. "As we approach International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Government of Canada reaffirms its commitment to ensure that all Canadians can participate in the workforce," said Kamal Khera, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities. "Digital talent is needed now more than ever. With this project and the support of over six-hundred thousand dollars from the Government of Canada, March of Dimes Canada is helping persons with disabilities access the necessary training and support that enhance digital skills through skills training, mentorship and career development. Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved, you are helping break down barriers for persons with disabilities and building a more accessible, resilient Canada." "We must ensure that persons with disabilities have the equal opportunities to be part of and thrive in the workforce" said MP Michael Coteau. "It is sinificant that we make this announcement on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The SkillingUp Program offered by March of Dimes Canada is exceptional and is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities are well equipped with the skills of today and tomorrow. It will provide those that benefit the necessary skills to be best positioned for the digital workforce. The need for people in the digital workforce has never been more important, and the Government of Canada is committed to everyone having the opportunity to be part of it."



"We're thrilled to announce this new funding as we celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities," said Len Baker, March of Dimes Canada's President and CEO. "We want to ensure that all people with disabilities in Canada are prepared for employment success." Baker continued, "living in a digital first world means that skilling, upskilling and re-skilling are essential to remaining competitively employable. SkillingUp ensures people with disabilities have access to sector-recognized training and certification to support them on their career journey." "Supporting equity and diversity within Canada's technology sector is crucial to our country's continued growth and prosperity," said Sydney Goodfellow, Director of DIGITAL's talent-focused program, the Digital Learning Lab. "We're proud to support the SkillingUp initiative and the work of March of Dimes Canada, Microsoft and the CIBC Foundation in helping to create a more inclusive and innovative Canada."

Since launching just over a year ago, SkillingUp has offered free training to more than 400 learners with disabilities across Canada in beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of digital skills training in both English and French leveraging Microsoft's global AI Skills Initiative. There are a wide range of participants, from individuals learning foundational digital literacy skills to tech and tech-enabled workers looking to enhance their skills or obtain advanced Microsoft certifications. SkillingUp helps participants level up their digital skills in as little as four weeks. Through March of Dimes Canada's integrated skills training and mentorships, participants can accelerate their workforce entry or advancement in tech-enabled careers. "As we embrace the transformative power of emerging technologies, Microsoft must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in a digital, AI-enabled economy," says Lisa Everett, Philanthropies Lead at Microsoft Canada. "Digital fluency is becoming a crucial skillset within any role, and sector or industry. As such, through the Microsoft Skills for Jobs program we endeavour to make technology skills accessible to all. Our partnership with March of Dimes Canada reflects our commitment to expanding economic opportunities and empowering individuals of all abilities to reach their full potential." "At CIBC we're creating a culture of inclusion, and accessibility plays a large role in this," said Sandy Sharman, Group Head, People, Culture and Brand, CIBC, and Co-Chair, CIBC Foundation. "We believe that everyone should have access to opportunities to help achieve their ambitions, which is why removing barriers that get in the way of progress is so important. We're proud to support March of Dimes Canada and the SkillingUp initiative, which will help remove barriers for the next generation of leaders and changemakers." For more information or to register as a participant in SkillingUp, visit https://www.modcemploymentservices.ca/services/skilling-up/ . About March of Dimes Canada March of Dimes Canada is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a society inclusive to people of all abilities. Their mission is to provide a wide range of services to individuals with physical disabilities throughout the country. They are committed to enabling people to achieve their goals and improve their quality of life. SOURCE March of Dimes Canada

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[December 02, 2023] Masdar to Develop 150MWac Solar Plant in Angola to Power 90,000 Homes and Boost Just Energy Transition Tweet

Masdar, the UAE's flagship renewable energy company, signs agreement with Angola's Ministry of Energy and Water at COP28 to develop solar plant in southern Angola

Project will create up to 600 jobs and deliver clean energy to 90,000 homes in region with significant electricity supply challenges

Agreement signed at COP28 demonstrates Masdar's commitment to just energy transition in Africa and around the world DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 2, 2023 /CNW/ -- Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC  Masdar, one of the world's leading renewable energy companies, has announced plans to develop a major 150 megawatt (MW) solar PV project in Angola to deliver renewable energy to 90,000 homes while creating hundreds of jobs, spurring economic growth, and cutting carbon emissions. As global leaders engaged in climate negotiations at the UN's climate change conference COP28 in Dubai, Masdar - the UAE's clean energy powerhouse - signed a concession agreement with Angola's Ministry of Energy and Water to build and operate the ground-mounted solar power project in the Quipungo region, Hulia province, southern Angola. The area enjoys strong solar irradiation levels but struggles with a lack of access to reliable electricity. Energy insecurity remains one of the most significant constraints on Africa's development. In Angola, less than half of the population has access to electricity, that proportion falls even further in rural areas. This project will significantly support Angola's goal of increasing its national electrification rate to around 60 percent by 2025. The agreement was signed by HE Joao Baptista Borges, Angola's Minister of Energy and Water and Masdar's Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi. HE Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President, said: "Africa has what it takes to become the world's renewable energy powerhouse. At COP28 and beyond, we will continue to work with Africa for Africa. The UAE stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in Africa as we strive to secure a just energy transition at this COP of action and COP for all. We are delighted to be moving forward with plans to build this solar power plant in Angola that will bring vital clean energy and jobs to communities. We loo forward to developing this strong partnership with Angola as we work together to maximize the country's huge clean energy potential."



Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said: "Developing renewable energy capacity is the key to unlocking Africa's enormous economic potential, and Masdar is excited to be playing a major part in this effort. Masdar is the largest renewables energy company in Africa, through our platform Infinity Power. To accelerate a just energy transition, Masdar recently joined forces with Africa50, a pan-African infrastructure investment platform. Our mission is to fast-track and scale projects so we can deliver 10GW of clean energy in Africa by 2030. Masdar is an anchor partner of the UAE-led Africa Green Investment Initiative and has committed to mobilize US$10 billion in clean energy finance, of which US$2 billion will be generated from equity with an additional US$8 billion from project finance. This transformative project in Angola is a proud milestone on that pivotal journey." Provinces like Huila, where this solar project will be built, are highly constrained by their dependence on emissions-intensive, unreliable fuel. Once completed, the solar facility will displace over 224,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year, the equivalent of removing 50,000 cars from the roads.

The solar plant will support homes and businesses to leapfrog from patchy, traditional-fuel powered electricity to accessing continuous clean energy. The project will boost the local economy too. Up to 600 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase. Afterward, the supply of reliable, clean energy is expected to help grow sectors including agriculture. The solar project in Quipungo forms part of a wider commitment made by Masdar in January, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023, to develop 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects across Angola, Uganda and Zambia. The Agreements were signed under the umbrella of Etihad 7  a global development fund launched by the UAE to provide 100 million people across the African continent with clean electricity by 2035. About Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the fastest growing companies in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar has developed projects in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year. For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar This material is distributed by Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. on behalf of Masdar. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291186/Masdar_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291185/Masdar_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2291187/Masdar_3.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1973446/4435248/Masdar_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/masdar-to-develop-150mwac-solar-plant-in-angola-to-power-90-000-homes-and-boost-just-energy-transition-302003856.html SOURCE Masdar

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Residents inside the loop come together to pose questions and memorialize the live of a youngster who met his end far too soon.

Here's an update on the case and more info . . .

Detectives say surveillance video shows the boy fell from his apartment.



His body was discovered in an alley behind that building.



Detectives are calling it a suspicious death and Graysons mother is the person of interest in the case.

Another quote from local reporting . . .

The circumstances surrounding OConnor death still leave a lot of questions. How and why did he fall to his death? Could something or someone have prevented this?



While they wait for answers, neighbors, strangers and the Kansas City community are honoring the little boy.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Memorial planned for 5-year-old who fell from Kansas City building A memorial is growing and the community is planning a service for a 5-year-old boy who died after falling from a building in downtown Kansas City.

'Everybody knew him': Neighbors remember 5-year-old who died after falling from KCMO apartment building Kelsey Grzib said Grayson O'Connor loved dinosaurs, drawing and doing puzzles. She's calling for justice in the 5-year-old's death.

Neighbors of young boy who fell from Kansas City apartment say his death was entirely preventable Residents at a downtown apartment complex aren't just grieving - they're angry after the death of a young boy who fell from the top floor of the building

Neighbors push for justice after Grayson O'Connor's death in Kansas City apartment building Neighbors of Grayson O'Connor said they noticed red flags surrounding the 5-year-old. KSHB 41 News requested documents from Missouri Department of Social Services about Grayson's life.

Updated . . .

'He was a beautiful person': Community honors the life of 5-year-old Grayson O'Connor with vigil With balloons in his favorite colors, toy cars, dinosaurs and stuffed animals, community members filled the alley where they found his body with the things he loved the most.
Lots of stuff to consider tonight and we're working on worthwhile stories for the next update.

For now . . . We check EXCELLENT local crime reporting, court case update, community outreach and stories of KC area heroism.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Police in Kansas City successfully negotiate with armed subject locked in house A Kansas City, Missouri, police spokesperson said officers were initially dispatched around 1:30 p.m. Friday on an armed disturbance.

1 person in serious condition after shooting in southeast KCMO early Friday morning One person is in serious but stable condition after a shooting early Friday morning in southeast Kansas City, Missouri, according to a spokesperson with KCPD.

9-year-old child critically injured in hit-and-run crash in Shawnee; suspect in custody A 9-year-old child was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash in Shawnee, Kansas, on Friday night.

'Unsettling': Children's Mercy reviewing records of former neurologist facing child pornography charges Children's Mercy Hospital is reviewing the records of its patients treated by a local pediatric neurologist who faces federal charges related to child pornography.

Court documents: Fatal shooting in Kansas City happened after victim requested suspect to move from home Prosecutors have charged a Kansas City man with second-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting this week in south Kansas City.

Lenexa Police successfully arrest armed shoplifting suspects Lenexa Police say that two suspected shoplifters walked out of a store near 95th and Quivira with a hefty load of stolen merchandise.

Reward increased as Greater KC Crime Stoppers seek answers in man's 2020 death The Greater KC Crime Stoppers have increased a reward for information leading to an arrest in the unsolved case of Skylar Ware's disappearance.

Missouri was one of the few states to execute people this year, even as public support wanes Twenty-four executions have been carried out in 2023, according to the Death Penalty Information Center says. Four of those happened in Missouri, including the first known execution of an openly transgender woman. Meanwhile, 50% of Americans say the death penalty is applied unfairly.

A Kansas woman died in an apartment fire. Her family blames the 911 dispatch center's mistakes The family of a 22-year-old woman who died in an apartment fire in Kansas' largest city after mistakes by the 911 dispatch center believes the center has "systemic issues.'

Missouri lawmakers propose 'Blair's Law' again after veto Missouri lawmakers are once again introducing a bill to impose tougher penalties for people who fire celebratory gunshots.

One Kansas police force's approach to fighting fentanyl is driving down violent crime "We understood early that we're going to do fentanyl the right way, where we did crack the wrong way," said Karl Oakman, KCK police chief.

KCK police sergeant, among several shot during drug bust, describes experience Thursday night, Kansas City, Kansas Mayor Tyrone Garner began the Unified Government Commission meeting with strong words for those critical of the police department. There are good officers, he said.

Developing . . .
The aftermath of a Northland robbery isn't so surprising amid rising local crime and worsening property theft across the nation.



Here are more deets . . .



Court documents filed in support of the charges allege 30-YEAR-OLD SUSPECT was spotted by employees carrying several clothing items in a suspicious manner for nearly 30 minutes before he walked past the cash registers without paying for 5-7 items worth roughly $300.



An employee caught up with Miller outside the store and grabbed his shoulder, at which point Miller turned around and fired one shot that struck the employee in the leg.



The employee was transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Suspect in Rally House shoplifting case told police he didn't mean to shoot employee A man charged in connection to a shooting and shoplifting incident last month at a Northland Rally House told police he didn't mean to shoot an employee at the store.

Kansas City man charged in Northland Rally House shooting A Kansas City man has been charged in the shooting of a Rally House employee in the Shops at Boardwalk during an alleged armed robbery.

Developing . . .
Check the words of this Johnson County public education leader in response to student protest this week and nationwide news coverage of a racially charged altercation betwixt students that resulted in felony assault charges.

Here's the word . . .



District superintendent Dr. Michelle Hubbard pointed to hiring a diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator, staffing equity practitioners at each district building and providing youth leadership development opportunities as some of the actions the district has taken to "move this work forward."



"Our students have been vocal this week in reminding us that we are not done," Hubbard said. "They have spoken loudly, and we are listening, both at Shawnee Mission East and across the district. What I saw on that video is NOT who we are, and we must do better. And we will."





Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

'We must do better': Shawnee Mission superintendent says community has more work to do after racist attack After a Shawnee Mission East student was the target of a racial slur and attack by another student on Nov. 15, district superintendent Dr. Michelle Hubbard addressed the community.

SMSD issues statement following racist incident at SME After a racist incident and fight at Shawnee Mission East, the Shawnee Mission School District shared a message with district families and staff Friday.

Developing . . .
The Galapagos Islands is undoubtedly one of the most well-known archipelagos in the whole world. Its islands are best known for the their many endemic species, which were eventually studied by biologist Charles Darwin.

The islands have become famous tourist destinations as well, especially for those who enjoy being outdoors and those who love animals. One of the islands that can be visited is the archipelago's largest one, Isabela Island.

An island that straddles the equator, Isabela Island has a shape that is said to resemble a seahorse. It is likewise home to six volcanos, and five of which are still active today.

Here are what travelers can see and do when they visit Isabela Island.

Visit the Wall of Tears

One of the most-visited attractions that Isabela Island has to offer is known as the Wall of Tears (Muro de las Lagrimas). Isabela Island used to serve as a penal colony, and the wall was built by prisoners between 1945 and 1959.

Its construction caused the deaths of thousands of prisoners, and its presence today is a reminder of the island's dark past.

Read Also: Here Are the Places Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List 2018

Sierra Negra

As mentioned prior, Isabela Island is home to six volcanos. One of which is Sierra Negra (Black Mountain), which is a shield volcano that is considered one of the most active on the Galapagos Islands. Its most recent eruption took place in June 2018.

Visiting Sierra Negra can be a challenge to those are not used to hours of walking or horseback riding, according to Galapagos Conservancy. Those who are up for the challenge can head to the primary visitor site, Volcan Chico, which is found on the northeast corner of the volcano.

Meet Iguanas

When visiting any of the Galapagos Islands, it is very much usual to encounter a number of animals during your stay. Specifically, it is very common to find iguanas.

Expect to find both marine and land iguanas while in Isabela Island. Urbina Bay is one of the places where you can find land iguanas, while marine iguanas can be found in the northern island of the island, particularly in Albemarle Point.

Make Friends with Penguins

Ecuador might be one of the last places on Earth you'll think you'll find penguins in, but that's actually wrong. Penguins call Isabela Island home.

Elizabeth Bay is one of the places you can find penguins loitering about. Venturing to the Marielas Islets will likewise allow you to see some penguins.

Related Article: Five Locations Around the World To See Penguins

Go Diving

While there are many animals to find on land, there are also many to find underwater. Isabela Island has seven dive sites, which are as follows:

Cape Marshall

Four Brothers

Punta Vicente Roca

Roca Redondo

Tagus Cove

Tortuga Island

Urbina Bay

Among the animals that can be spotted during a dive are sea turtles, sea lions, manta rays, and sting rays. Those who hope to spot many shark species should head to Roca Rendondo, while those who want to see a variety of sponges and corals should head to Tagus Cove.
Starting your trip to Egypt, you step into a world rich with history and culture. This ancient country offers a mix of experiences that bring you close to the mysteries of Egypt. As you get ready for your trip, think about what makes Egypt a special place to visit. The busy streets of Cairo and the quiet banks of the Nile show different sides of Egyptian life.

The real attraction is in discovering the mysteries of Egypt. The great pyramids, the mysterious Sphinx, and the ancient temples are evidence of an old civilization's skill and creativity. Exploring these historical places gives you a glimpse into a past that still puzzles us.

Exploring the Mysteries of Egypt

Egypt is a land rich in ancient history that invites you to discover its secrets. With this, you will learn about the historical places in Egypt, discovering its past and bringing to life the stories that have been told for ages.

The Great Pyramids of Giza

The Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, are a marvel of Egypt's architectural skill. These large structures, built as tombs for Pharaohs, spark questions about how they were built. The way they align with the stars and their huge size continue to amaze visitors. As you explore these pyramids, think about how the ancient Egyptians, with limited technology, built such impressive structures.

Read Also: Brisbane Airport Braces for Record Holiday Season with Passenger Numbers Soaring

The Sphinx

Next to the Pyramids is the Sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh. This large statue has its own mysteries, like the weathering patterns that suggest it might be older than we thought. The Sphinx, with its mysterious smile, has inspired many legends. It is said to guard the Giza Plateau, and standing before it, you can feel the history and stories it has seen over the years, according to The Great Sphinx of Giza's website.

The Valley of the Kings

Head to the Valley of the Kings, where pharaohs from the New Kingdom were buried. This valley, hidden in the hills, was chosen to keep the royal tombs safe from thieves. Walking through this burial site, you see tombs full of artwork and hieroglyphs, giving you a look into the beliefs and rituals of ancient Egypt. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, mostly untouched, was important, showing treasures and sparking interest in Egyptian history around the world.

Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor is a big area of ancient temples, chapels, and other buildings. This complex was for the Theban gods and grew over many years, with each pharaoh adding something. The size and design of Karnak are amazing. As you walk through its paths of sphinxes and tall columns, you feel the power and honor of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel, the temple complex near the border with Sudan, is known for its huge rock-cut fronts. Originally carved into a mountainside, the entire complex was moved to save it from being flooded due to the Aswan High Dam. This move in the 1960s is as impressive as the original construction by Pharaoh Ramses II. The temple lines up with the sun twice a year, lighting up the inner sanctum, a sight that brings many visitors.

Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae, for the goddess Isis, stands on an island in the Nile. Like Abu Simbel, it was also moved to its current location to save it from being flooded. The temple's hieroglyphs and artwork give you a look into the religious practices and myths of ancient Egypt. The story of Isis and Osiris, important in Egyptian mythology, is shown here, inviting you to learn more about the spiritual side of Egyptian culture.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

While not an ancient site, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is full of artifacts from Egypt's long history. Here, you can see items from the tombs of pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, and get a full understanding of the richness of Egyptian civilization. The museum has a big collection, from mummies to everyday items, each piece adding to the story of the mysteries of Egypt.

Related Article: Ever Heard of Cliff Picnics? You Can Have One in Melbourne
The Biden administration plans to implement travel bans on Israeli settlers who have been involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. This decision, communicated by a senior State Department official, is part of the U.S.'s efforts to address the escalating conflict in the region.

Imposing Accountability through Travel Bans

The U.S. government, led by the Biden administration, has informed Israel of its intent to impose travel bans on several Israeli extremists. These individuals, involved in violent acts against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, have drawn international concern. Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, communicated this decision in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

The Guardian reported that the West Bank has been a focal point of rising violence, partly due to the expansion of Jewish settlements. This surge in conflict, reaching its peak in recent months, comes amid a stalemate in peace negotiations supported by the U.S. for nearly a decade.

The situation deteriorated following an escalation of hostilities in Gaza. This was in response to actions by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which resulted in significant casualties and heightened tensions. In response, Israel launched military actions in Gaza.

Read Also: Is Your Country Eligible for Taiwan's Visa Exempt Program?

The Biden administration's stance on the violence in the West Bank has been clear. President Joe Biden, in a Washington Post opinion piece, emphasized the need for accountability and the U.S.'s readiness to issue travel bans against those perpetrating violence.

This position was reiterated by the State Department, expressing the expectation for Israel to prosecute these individuals, with the U.S. prepared to enforce travel bans in the coming weeks if necessary, as per the source.

UN data indicates a notable increase in settler attacks in the region, highlighting the urgency of the situation. In this volatile context, the U.S. aims to utilize travel bans to curb violence and promote stability in the West Bank.

Travel Bans Considered by Maldives Against Israeli Citizens

The Maldives Parliament is discussing a travel ban on Israeli citizens. Mohamed Nasheed Abdulla, a member of the parliament, proposed changes to the Immigration Act on Nov. 20. This proposal follows Israel's intense military actions in the Gaza Strip.

Abdulla's plan aims to join the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which already has a travel ban on Israeli citizens. This move signifies the Maldives' support for Palestine. Recent demonstrations near the Maldivian parliament called for this travel ban due to Israel's activities in Gaza, as mentioned by The Cradle.

In 2022, Israel and the Maldives considered renewing diplomatic ties, which paused since 2014 when the Maldives stopped trade with Israel after the conflict in Gaza. Several countries have pulled back their Israeli ambassadors, including Colombia, Honduras, Jordan, Bahrain, and Turkiye. Others, like Bolivia and Belize, have halted relations with Israel.

The news report has also stated that European Union officials are increasingly criticizing Israel. The Belgian Senate President declined to show a film by the Israeli ambassador about Hamas' actions. Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister has urged the EU to sanction Israel, citing the ongoing violence in Gaza. The Spanish Prime Minister also condemned Israel's aggression, with other Spanish leaders echoing this stance.

These developments show a growing global response to Israel's military strategies, with potential travel bans and diplomatic shifts indicating a push for change.

Related Article: Global Tourism Set to Reach 90% of Pre-COVID Levels Amid Over-Tourism Challenges
China ready to work with all parties to build a clean, beautiful world: vice premier

Xinhua) 09:09, December 02, 2023

DUBAI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- As a major responsible developing country, China stands ready to work with all parties to build a clean and beautiful world, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Friday.

Ding, Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when addressing the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ding conveyed Xi's good wishes for the UAE to host the summit. He said that eight years ago, Xi worked with leaders of other countries to reach the Paris Agreement with the utmost political determination and wisdom, and embarked on a new journey of global cooperation to address climate change.

China has always kept its promise and made important contributions to global climate governance, said Ding, adding that China has vigorously promoted international cooperation on green development, energy revolution and climate change, and supported developing countries in enhancing their capacity to cope with climate change.

Ding stressed that mankind shares a common destiny in the face of the challenges of climate change, and all parties should strengthen their determination and capacity to jointly address it.

He put forward a three-point proposal: The first is to practice multilateralism, adhere to the goals and principles set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, enhance solidarity and cooperation, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

The second is to accelerate green transformation, actively increase the proportion of renewable energy, promote the clean, low-carbon and efficient use of traditional energy, and accelerate the formation of green and low-carbon production methods and lifestyles.

The third is to strengthen action implementation and fully honor the existing commitments. In particular, developed countries should effectively increase financial, technological and capacity building support to developing countries to turn vision into reality.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
MOGADISHU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Somalia has welcomed the decision of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to lift the arms embargo which was imposed 31 years ago, saying it will enable the country to tackle emerging security threats in the country.

In separate statements, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said the UNSC's move will support Somalia's efforts in maintaining peace, fostering stability, and promoting economic development.

President Mohamud said the decision grants Somalis the freedom to purchase weapons and request lethal arsenal from countries that support Somalia.

"Somalia can now access weapons, buy them from other countries, and borrow weapons from our friends so that we can defeat the terrorist group," he said in a televised speech delivered Friday night.

The president lauded the government's efforts in securing this breakthrough, emphasizing its role in strengthening the country's defense capabilities and advancing the fight against terrorism.

He said the government will make sure that it controls and manages the flow of weapons, aiming to reduce misuse and illegal purchase of weapons by individuals rather than the government.

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted two separate resolutions to renew the sanctions regime on Somalia-based al-Shabab and to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government, a crucial step forward in the country's efforts to stabilize and strengthen its security forces.

Resolution 2713 decides to renew till Dec. 15, 2024, the sanctions regime on al-Shabab, including the authorization for maritime interdiction to enforce the embargo on illicit arms imports, the charcoal export ban, and the improvised explosive device components ban.

Resolution 2713 also decides to renew the mandate of the Panel of Experts that assist the Sanctions Committee, till Jan. 15, 2025.

The resolution won 14 votes in favor out of the 15 Security Council members. France abstained.

The Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government.

The embargo was imposed in 1992 in response to the country's civil war that had considerably constrained Somalia's ability to secure arms and ammunition to combat security threats, notably the militant group al-Shabab.

The prime minister said the UNSC's decision to end the 31-year arms embargo on Somalia will enable the country to rebuild its security forces and ensure national stability. "The decision paves the way for the government's increased capacity to take over security, including responsibility from African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) forces, and in the fight against al-Shabab."

Resolution 2714 calls on Somalia to continue to implement the National Weapons and Ammunition Management Strategy and take all measures necessary to ensure that weapons, ammunition, and military equipment imported for official use are not resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by any individual or entity not in the service of the federal government.

It calls on the international community to continue to provide additional support to develop weapons and ammunition management capacity in Somalia and encourages partners to coordinate their efforts to support Somalia in implementing the requirements of this resolution.

Somalia said the Council's historic vote on Dec. 1 marks a pivotal moment in the country's journey towards enhanced national security and stability.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the lifting of the arms embargo is a testament to the collective efforts and unwavering commitment of the international community to support Somalia in its pursuit of lasting peace.

"This crucial development will significantly bolster the capabilities of the Somali National Army, enabling it to acquire the required equipment necessary to effectively combat terrorist threats and eradicate them from our country," the ministry said.

It said achieving this milestone has been possible through the government's collective effort, marked by tireless diplomatic initiatives and strategic alliances with key nations. The ministry said the success of these endeavors underscores the importance of collaborative efforts in addressing shared security challenges.

"We express our sincere gratitude to all member states of the Security Council for their positive role in recognizing and prioritizing Somalia's national security imperatives. The decision to lift the arms embargo reflects a collective commitment to supporting Somalia's efforts in maintaining peace, fostering stability, and promoting economic development," it said.

Somalia has several times asked the UNSC to lift the arms embargo so it could strengthen its security forces to take on the militants that have engaged the government in nearly daily attacks across the country since 2006 to try to establish its own rule.

"We celebrate the removal of this impediment, heralding a new chapter of resilience, progress, and prosperity for the people of Somalia," the foreign ministry said. 
Iqbal Surve, chairman of South Africa's Independent Media, takes an interview with Xinhua in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 7, 2023. The fifth World Media Summit comes at an opportune time and plays a vital role in providing the truth and presenting both sides of the story, making it "a really important international media summit," Iqbal Surve, chairman of South Africa's Independent Media, told Xinhua in a recent interview. (Xinhua/Wang Lei)

by Xinhua writer Wang Lei

CAPE TOWN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The fifth World Media Summit comes at an opportune time and plays a vital role in providing the truth and presenting both sides of the story, making it "a really important international media summit," Iqbal Surve, chairman of South Africa's Independent Media, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The summit is "a really, really important occasion" as it brings together global media organizations to share their respective ideas, said Surve, who is attending the summit from Dec. 2 to 8 in the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Kunming.

Emphasizing the social responsibilities of the media, the chairman underscored the paramount importance of truth as the foundational principle for all media organizations.

Media's role extends beyond conveying facts, Surve said, adding that it should serve as a catalyst for social-economic change and development.

"If we have one task only as a social responsibility, that task is to ensure that media must be a change agent in the world today, to promote a common humanity and a shared future and shared prosperity," he added.

Highlighting the crucial importance of effective communication within countries, between countries and across regions to ensure a better understanding of facts and foster collaboration for peaceful coexistence, Surve said, "The role of the media is absolutely critical in that communication."

As a seasoned media leader who has paid over 20 visits to China, Surve praised Chinese modernization and China's commitment to mutual development under the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.

In his view, the development of BRICS and the Belt and Road cooperation enabled China's partners to learn from this modernization so as to achieve common development.

Quoting the old saying "A rising tide lifts all ships," he stressed the importance of development that benefits everyone. "If Africa develops, if South Africa develops, China benefits. China develops, we benefit."

Surve said China and Africa can have common development in a mutually beneficial way, and eventually people in the BRICS Plus and Global South countries can have a better life and better future. 
NEW DELHI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 60 children suffered from food poisoning after consuming the food provided in their school in India's northern state of Punjab, a state government official said on Saturday.

According to the official, the students complained of stomachaches and vomiting, after which they were rushed to a government hospital in the state's Sangrur district.

Some of the students were discharged after receiving the first-aid, while others were still undergoing medical treatment.

Following the incident, the district administration formed multiple teams comprising officials from health and education departments to probe the matter.

The local police said a person in charge of providing the food has been arrested, and an inquiry has been initiated against him to know the cause of food poisoning.

According to media reports, initial examination by medical practitioners revealed that the students had consumed contaminated food, which led to food poisoning. 
KIEV, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine is at risk of losing up to 1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) this year due to the blockade of its border with Poland by protesters from Polish carriers, the Ukrinform news agency reported Friday, citing a parliament official.

The Ukrainian economy which was supposed to grow by 3.5 percent this year will increase between 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent, said Yulia Klymenko, the first deputy chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.

Ukraine has already lost 1.4 billion hryvnias (about 38 million U.S. dollars) of its export turnover due to the blockade resulting from the strike of Polish carriers, Klymenko said.

The blockade has disrupted not only business supply chains, but also the deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine, the official said, noting the strike concerns Ukraine's national security.

Since Nov. 6, Polish carriers have been staging protests at several checkpoints on the Ukrainian border, demanding the return of the permit regime for Ukrainian haulers crossing into the EU.

The protesters blocked roads near the crossing points, resulting in large queues, with thousands of trucks stalled at the border. 
Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) 2 Inhibitors: belzutifan, NKT2152, ARO-HIF2

Immune Therapies: Relatlimab, SRK-181, cytokines, CAR-T, novel CTLA-4 inhibitors

Cytotoxics: Zanzalintinib, PRO1170 (CD70 ADC) theranostics

Continued systemic therapy

Nephrectomy followed by continued systemic immune therapy

Notably, patients with a complete response at the primary site or rapid symptomatic progression, will not be eligible for randomization.

Immunotherapy (IO-IO or IO-TKI) + Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 (CBM-588; a probiotic)

Immunotherapy + placebo

The phase II primarendpointnt is six months disease control rate. The phase Ill primary endpoint is progression-free survival.

A proprietary human IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting CD70

Exatecan, a topoisomerase l inhibitor with established antitumor activity and pharmacological attributes

A novel hydrophilic and protease-cleavable linker (the linker along with the drug, exatecan, is collectively dubbed as LD038)

Frontline: Cytoreductive nephrectomy: PROBE S1931(SWOG) Clinical Trials with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT): SOAR (ECOG/ACRIN) and SAMURAI (NRG) Response Adaptive Study: Alliance PDIGREE Belzutifan-based combination trial (NCT04736706): Triplet (belzutifan + pembrolizumab + quavonlimab) versus lenvatinib + pembrolizumab Randomized study of adding biotherapeutics to an immune-based regimen to potentially enhance immune therapy effect is proposed through SWOG



Pre-treated: HIF-2 alpha inhibitors: belzutifan, NKT, ARO-HIF2, combination of belzutifan + lenvatinib versus cabozantinib Novel immune therapies: ONC-392, SRK-181 (TGF beta inhibitor), Relatlimab (Lag-3 inhibitor), TIGIT, novel cytokines, STING, cellular therapies Novel VEGF-TKI: Zanzalintimab ADC-PRO1 160, the CD70 antibody with topoisomerase payload



Perioperative Liquid biopsy biomarkers/minimal residual disease Neoadjuvant belzutifan versus pembrolizumab versus combination LITESPARK022: Adjuvant study of belzutifan versus pembrolizumab + belzutifan



(UroToday.com) The 2023 Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) annual meeting held in Washington, D.C. between November 28th and December 1st, 2023, was host to a kidney cancer session. Dr. Ulka Vaishampayan presented novel and upcoming therapies in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). These approaches include targeted and immune therapies, as well as antibody drug conjugates:HIF-2 inhibitors have recently emerged as a novel target in RCC. Belzutifan, a HIF-2 transcription factor inhibitor, has demonstrated promising clinical efficacy in patients with previously treated advanced clear cell RCC in a phase 1/2 trial, whereby patients receiving oral belzutifan 120 mg once daily had an objective response rate of 25%, with a median progression-free survival of 14.5 months.Significantly, in a phase 2, open-label, single-group trial in patients with RCC-associated Von Hippel Lindau disease, belzutifan was associated with an objective response rate of 49% for these RCC patients.More recently, the randomized open-label, phase 3 LITESPARK-005 study compared belzutifan to everolimus in patients with previously treated advanced clear cell RCC. This trial included patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic clear cell RCC. Patients had disease progression following 1  3 prior systemic regimens, including 1 anti-PD-(L)1 monoclonal antibody and 1 vascular endothelial growth factor receptor  tyrosine kinase inhibitor (VEGFR-TKI).Presented recently at ESMO 2023 by Dr. Laurence Albiges, this trial met its co-primary endpoint of blinded independent central review-assessed (BICR) progression-free survival (PFS), as demonstrated in the Kaplan Meier curve below. At the landmark 18 months analysis, 22.5% of patients remained free of progression with belzutifan, compared to 9% with everolimus (HR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63  0.88).To date, no overall survival benefits have been observed for belzutifan, compared to everolimus, in this study. While there is a signal for an overall survival benefit (HR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.73 - 1.07, p=0.099), with 18 months survival rates of 55.2% and 50.6% for belzutifan and everolimus, respectively, to date this has not met statistical significance.An ongoing phase II trial is evaluating neoadjuvant treatment with either pembrolizumab, belzutifan, or a combination of both in patients with locally advanced clear cell RCC.Another novel agent being evaluated in this disease space is Zanzalintinib/XL-092, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor.STELLAR-001 is evaluating zanzalintinib 10 to 140 mg daily in a dose escalation cohort of 49 patients with inoperable, locally advanced, metastatic, or recurrent solid tumors. This includes 32 patients with advanced, metastatic, or recurrent RCC with a clear cell histology, RECIST v1.1 measurable disease, and who had received 1 to 3 prior systemic anti-cancer therapies.Dr. Sumanta Pal recently presented the results of this trial at the 2023 International Kidney Cancer Society (IKCS) meeting, with response rates of 57% and 25% in cabozantinib-naive and exposed patients, respectively.Among the 32 clear cell RCC patients, the objective response rate was 38% and the disease control rate was 88%.STELLAR-304 is an ongoing trial in the non-clear cell RCC disease space that is randomizing patients with previously untreated, unresectable, advanced, or metastatic non-clear cell RCC (N=291) in a 2:1 fashion to either zanzalintinib + nivolumab or sunitinib. This trial has dual primary endpoints of PFS and ORR, assessed via blinded independent central review.How can we potentially improve on contemporary immune therapy outcomes in advanced RCC? Cytoreductive nephrectomy and the microbiome may be two possibilities in this setting.The SWOG 1931/PROBE trial is evaluating the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy in RCC patients with metastatic disease. Patients in this trial will be started on immunotherapy-based regimens, using any of the five FDA-approved regimens. Patients will undergo a 12-to-16-week scan for response assessment, and then will be subsequently randomized to one of the following two arms only if they achieve a partial response or stable disease:The SWOG BIOFRONT trial is evaluating the combination of immune therapy and biotherapeutics in the clear cell RCC space. This trial will randomize patients with evidence of metastatic clear cell RCC and no prior systemic therapy for metastatic disease in a 1:1 fashion to:Dr. Vaishampayans team is conducting a phase II trial of ONC-392, a novel target-preserving anti-CTLA-4 antibody that confers immunotherapeutic effect by selective depletion of regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment, both as a single agent and in combination with tivozanib (VEGFR-TKI) in advanced RCC.PRO1160 is a novel CD70-directed antibody-drug conjugate designed with three components:PRO1160 has demonstrated strong, specific target-binding and internalization:PRO1160 maintains pharmacokinetic characteristics comparable to the parental monoclonal antibody.The PRO1160-001 trial is evaluating this antibody-drug conjugate in a dose escalation and dose level expansion cohort (Part A) and in a CD70+ tumor specific expansion cohort (Part B).In conclusion, Dr. Vaishampayan summarized ongoing clinical trials in both the metastatic frontline and pre-treated setting, as well as in the localized disease perioperative setting:Presented by: Ulka N. Vaishampayan, MBBS, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

Written by: Rashid K. Sayyid, MD, MSc  Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Clinical Fellow at The University of Toronto, @rksayyid on Twitter during the 2023 Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) annual meeting held in Washington, D.C. between November 28th and December 1st, 2023

Choueiri TK, Bauer TM, Papadopoulos KP, et al. Inhibition of hypoxia-inducible factor-2 in renal cell carcinoma with belzutifan: a phase 1 trial and biomarker analysis. Nat Med 2021;27(5):802-805. Jonasch E, Donskov F, Iliopoulos O, et al. Belzutifan for Renal Cell Carcinoma in von HippelLindau Disease. N Engl J Med. 2021;385:2036-2046.

References:
Thailands new civilian-led administration is facing criticism over its plan to go forward with the purchase of a high-cost navy frigate from China in a deal first negotiated by the previous military government.

The purchase of the vessel was negotiated after China reneged on a 2017 plan to sell Thailand a S26T Yuan-class submarine because it could not obtain diesel engines from Germany, which forbids them to be used in Chinese military hardware, according to the Bangkok Post.

However the frigate, which would add to an existing fleet of seven mostly Chinese-built frigates, will cost the country $480 million  $28 million more than the submarine would have cost.

That has been criticized by the opposition Move Forward Party, which argues that the submarine deal should simply have been allowed to lapse.

"Chinese authority should rather take responsibility for failing the agreement," said Move Forward MP Rangsiman Rome, who was quoted by Matichon, a major Thai newspaper and website.

Thai Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang has defended the purchase, saying that revoking the deal or asking for a refund from China would only impact other aspects of cooperation and relations between the two countries.

Sutin also said that the submarine deal is being shelved rather than replaced by the new warship deal.

Scott Edwards, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Reading in the U.K., told VOA there may be other countries where Thailand could purchase a frigate but that political considerations can go into a purchase.

"Vessels sometimes rely on originating countries for spare parts and maintenance," he wrote in an email exchange.

John Bradford, executive director of the Japan-based Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, pointed out some advantages to a frigate over a submarine. He said the training and maintenance costs should be lower, and that a frigate would be more useful in dealing with challenges posed by Thailand's "exceptionally complex" maritime environment.

Those challenges include fishing regulation enforcement, guarding against smuggling, ocean resource protection and governance over waters that face both the Indian and Pacific oceans, Bradford wrote in an email to VOA.

Edwards agreed that a frigate is more sensible than a submarine, which would likely be underutilized and of limited use to Thailand.

"While Thailand may want submarines to match the subsurface capabilities of its neighbors, frigates can also be equipped with anti-submarine warfare capabilities," said Edwards, who is an expert in Southeast Asia's maritime security governance.

However, he questioned Bangkok's decision to purchase a frigate from Beijing, citing China's assertive behavior in the South China Sea.

"China's actions in the South China Sea should still be a consideration despite Thailand not being in direct dispute," he said.

Thailand previously purchased two Naresuan-class and four Chao Phraya-class frigates from China as well as one frigate from South Korea. Most of the missile-launching warships have been in commission since the 1990s.

While Thailand has relied on both the United States and China for military hardware, the kingdom shifted toward Beijing after a 2014 coup prompted the U.S. to suspend millions of dollars in military financing and funding for military education and training.

Washington normalized its relations with Bangkok after a 2019 election, widely seen as legitimizing the military-led government. The vote was held under a junta-written constitution and resulted in the victory of coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Dulyapak Preecharush, associate professor of Asian studies at Thammasat University in Bangkok, noted that Thailand has been led by a civilian government since August and argued that the kingdom should maintain a nonalignment policy, including more balance on military hardware procurement.

"Thai [Defense Ministry] has acknowledged the current geopolitical competition between the US and China and will put more balance on Thai relations with major powers," he wrote in a recent email to VOA Thai.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Thailand bought 33% of its military material from South Korea, 14% from China and 10% from the United States during the period from 2018 to 2022.

Edwards, from the University of Reading, agreed that the current Thai government, led by the Pheu Thai Party and consisting of pro-military and pro-establishment coalitions, is likely to rebalance toward the U.S.

But "it is unlikely such shifts will be dramatic in nature," he wrote, noting that as recently as May, the U.S. rejected selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Thailand.

Thailand's trade volume with China in 2022 was about $135 billion, according to China's state-run Business Information Center. Its total trade with the United States that year was an estimated $79.1 billion, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
A prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso has been abducted by unknown individuals, rights groups have announced, in what activists say could be the latest attempt by the military government to target dissidents using a controversial law.

Daouda Diallo, a 2022 recipient of the Martin Ennals international human rights award, was abducted Friday in Burkina Fasos capital of Ouagadougou after visiting the passport department, where he had gone to renew his documents, according to the local Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities civic group, which Diallo founded.

His captors  in civilian clothing  accosted him as he tried to enter his car and took him to an unknown location, the group said in a statement Friday, warning that Diallo's health could be at risk and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

Amnesty International's West and Central Africa office said Diallo's abduction was presumably [for him] to be forcibly conscripted after he was listed last month among those ordered to join Burkina Fasos security forces in their fight against jihadi violence as provided by a new law.

Amnesty International denounces the use of conscription to intimidate independent voices in #BurkinaFaso and calls for the release of Dr. Diallo, the group said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Earlier this year, Burkina Fasos junta announced the general mobilization decree to recapture territories lost as jihadi attacks continue to ravage the landlocked country.

The decree empowers the government to send people to join the fight against the armed groups. But it is also being used to target individuals who have openly criticized the junta and to silence peaceful dissent and punish its critics, Human Rights Watch has said.

HRW said at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition party members, including Diallo, were informed by the government in November that they would be conscripted.

The simple fact of showing an independence of position is enough to be conscripted, said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty International in Burkina Faso.

Right now, civil society activists, human rights defenders and even leaders of opposition political parties do not dare express freely their opinions because this decree is being used to silence and intimidate all of the voices that are independent, he said.

Daouda Diallo won the prestigious Martin Ennals awards for his work in documenting abuses and protecting peoples rights in Burkina Faso, where security forces have been fighting jihadi violence for many years.

A pharmacist turned activist, he told The Associated Press last year that hes regularly followed, his home has been robbed and he rarely sleeps in the same place for fear of being killed.
France and the Philippines are considering a defense pact that would allow them to send military forces to each others territory for joint exercises, the Philippine defense chief said Saturday after holding talks with his French counterpart.

Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a joint news conference with French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu that they were seeking authorization from their heads of state to begin negotiations.

"We intend to take concrete steps into leveling up and making more comprehensive our defense cooperation, principally by working to get authorization from our respective heads of state and relevant agencies to begin negotiations for a status of visiting forces agreement, Teodoro said.

The first goal is to create interoperability or a strategic closeness between both armed forces, see how both navies work together, how air forces work together, Lecornu said through an interpreter.

The Philippines has such an agreement  which provides a legal framework for visits of foreign troops  only with the United States, its longtime treaty ally, and with Australia. Negotiations between the Philippines and Japan are also underway for a reciprocal access agreement that would allow Japanese and Philippine troop deployments to one another for military exercises and other security activities.

The Philippine and French defense chiefs agreed to deepen defense cooperation, including by boosting intelligence and information exchanges to address security threats, Teodoro said.

They agreed to sustain Philippine and French ship visits and underscored the importance of upholding international law, including the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, he said.

That language has often been used by the U.S. and the Philippines, along with their allies, in their criticism of China for its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.

France has deployed its navy ships to the South China Sea to promote freedom of navigation and push back against Chinese expansionism. China claims virtually the entire waterway and has constructed island bases protected by a missile system in the past decade, alarming smaller claimant states, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Washington has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

The Philippines recently staged joint air and naval patrols separately with the U.S. and Australia in the South China Sea, provoking an angry reaction from China, which warned that the joint patrols should not harm its sovereignty and territorial interests.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting the United States has provided Israel with massive bombs and artillery shells worth hundreds of millions of dollars, while at the same time admonishing Israel to limit civilian casualties.

The report said, The U.S. has provided Israel with large bunker buster bombs, among tens of thousands of other weapons and artillery shells, to help dislodge Hamas from Gaza, U.S. officials said.

The tally of arms includes roughly 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells supplied to Israel shortly after the October 7 terror attack Hamas launched on Israel, and it has continued in recent days, according to unnamed U.S. officials.

Bombardment goes on

Israel intensified its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip Saturday as renewed fighting with Hamas entered a second day following the collapse of a weeklong cease-fire.

Israeli military officials said Saturday more than 50 Hamas targets in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza were pounded by aerial, naval and ground forces. The military said that it carried out strikes in the north and that more than 400 targets in Gaza have been hit since fighting resumed two days ago.

Saturday's violence came a day after Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave killed 184 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

In Syria, the Defense Ministry said Israel carried out airstrikes near Damascus early Saturday. Syrian state media reported that military defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles. It said there were no reports of casualties.

Civilian casualties

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Israel has begun to take steps to reduce Palestinian casualties in its fight against Hamas.

"We saw Israel take steps immediately today to start to get information to people about where safe areas are, how they can get out of harm's way," he said in Dubai on the sidelines of the COP28 climate change conference.

However, Blinken said it was too early to say whether Israel had fully followed through on commitments it had made to ensure its military operation in southern Gaza does not lead to the same high death tolls seen in northern Gaza.

Israel's airstrikes and ground invasion in Gaza, aimed at eradicating Hamas, have killed more than 15,000 people, with thousands more injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

While in Dubai, Blinken met with his counterparts from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Blinken is on his third trip to the Middle East since Israel declared war against Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, after it launched terror attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting an estimated 240, about 100 of whom have been released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the just-ended seven-day truce.

The talks with Arab foreign ministers centered on the state of the Israel-Hamas war and how to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Blinken told reporters before boarding a flight back to Washington.

He said they also talked about "what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting and secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians, in fact for everyone in the region."

The U.N. said the fighting would exacerbate an acute humanitarian emergency.

"Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva.

"Today those in power decided that the killing of children would recommence in Gaza," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said via video link from Rafah, Gaza, calling the conflict a "war on children."

Elder stressed the dire lack of nutrition, water and sanitation in Gaza and pleaded for a lasting cease-fire. He said the alternative is unthinkable for people already living in a nightmare.

"Inaction, at its core, is an approval of the killing of children," he said.

Israel plans Gaza DMZ

Meanwhile, Israel has presented some of its neighboring states with plans to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border with Israel to avert future attacks after the war ends, Reuters reported citing Egyptian and regional sources.

Israel has communicated its post-war plans to Egypt and Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as part of its future security goals for Gaza, sources told the news agency.

Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters the Israeli government has a three-tiered plan for post-war Gaza: destroying Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and de-radicalizing the enclave.

"A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarization process," Falk said, although he did not say whether these plans had been shared with international partners, including Arab states.

Arab states have dismissed as impossible Israel's goal of wiping out Hamas, saying it was more than simply a militant force that could be defeated.

Blinken said last month that Washington wants Palestinians to govern Gaza and does not want to see the territory reoccupied by Israel, blockaded or reduced in size.

World reaction

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the breakdown of the negotiations to extend the weeklong truce, although the White House singled out Hamas, noting it had failed to produce a new list of hostages to release as required.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai that the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza was "very negative," Erdogan's office said Friday.

Turkey said in a statement that it was working to achieve a lasting cease-fire, but that the Muslim world needed to act in unison.

"While discussing the climate crisis, we cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Palestinian territories right beside us," Erdogan told leaders during his formal speech to the COP28 conference.

"The current situation in Gaza constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity; those responsible must be held accountable under international law," he said.

Erdogan's comments were echoed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

"Continuous bombardment of Gaza complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates [the] humanitarian catastrophe," the Qatari minister said.

Egypt also is exerting the utmost effort with its partners to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, according to a statement from Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt's State Information Service.

However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas understands only force "and therefore we will continue to act until we achieve the goals of the war." He spoke while riding in one of Israel's warplanes to observe the assault. "The results are impressive," he said.

At a pro-Israel conference in the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, said Israel is in a fight for its survival.

"We are in a fight against pure evil, sheer evil, evil that whether it calls itself Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS or al-Qaida shares the same hegemonic goal of spreading its radical ideology and defeating Western civilization through barbaric terror and violence," he said.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also spoke at the conference.

"There's a lot of pain. It's made worse by the fact that we are seeing the rise of antisemitism and hate in America, across the world, the antisemitic demons of old that we all hoped had been vanquished now fueled by social media being used to amplify dangerous rhetoric and misinformation," he said.

In Washington, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a prayer vigil and rally outside the Israeli Embassy.

In Atlanta, a protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated Friday outside the Israeli Consulate, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene and put out the fire, authorities said. The protester was in critical condition Friday night.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Researchers in South Africa say they have rediscovered a species of mole with an iridescent golden coat and the ability to almost "swim" through sand dunes after it hadn't been seen for more than 80 years and was thought to be extinct.

The De Winton's golden mole -- a small, blind burrower with "super-hearing powers" that eats insects -- was found to be still alive on a beach in Port Nolloth on the west coast of South Africa by a team of researchers from the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the University of Pretoria.

It had been lost to science since 1936, the researchers said.

With the help of a sniffer dog, the team found traces of tunnels and discovered a golden mole in 2021. But because there are 21 species of golden moles and some look very similar, the team needed more to be certain that it was a De Winton's.

They took environmental DNA samples  the DNA animals leave behind in skin cells, hair and bodily excretions  but had to wait until 2022 before a De Winton's DNA sample from decades ago was made available by a South African museum to compare. The DNA sequences were a match.

The team's research and findings were peer reviewed and published last week.

"We had high hopes, but we also had our hopes crushed by a few people," one of the researchers, Samantha Mynhardt, told The Associated Press. "One De Winton's expert told us, 'You're not going to find that mole. It's extinct.'"

The process took three years from the researchers' first trip to the west coast of South Africa to start searching for the mole, which was known to rarely leave signs of its tunnels and almost "swim" under the sand dunes, the researchers said. Golden moles are native to sub-Saharan Africa and the De Winton's had only ever been found in the Port Nolloth area.

Two De Winton's golden moles have now been confirmed and photographed in Port Nolloth, Mynhardt said, while the research team has found signs of other populations in the area since 2021.

"It was a very exciting project with many challenges," said Esther Matthew, senior field officer with the Endangered Wildlife Trust. "Luckily we had a fantastic team full of enthusiasm and innovative ideas, which is exactly what you need when you have to survey up to 18 kilometers of dune habitat in a day."

The De Winton's golden mole was on a "most wanted lost species" list compiled by the Re:wild conservation group.

Others on the list that have been rediscovered include a salamander that was found in Guatemala in 2017, 42 years after its last sighting, and an elephant shrew called the Somali sengi seen in Djibouti in 2019, its first recorded sighting since 1968.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel New York Republican George Santos from Congress over lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes.

Santos became just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues, and the third since the Civil War.

The vote from the lower chamber to expel Santos was 311-114, with 105 Republicans and 206 Democrats voting for expulsion. All Republican leaders voted against expulsion.

A video released on social media showed that following the vote, there was scattered applause in the House chamber.

Amidst a throng of reporters and cameras outside the Capitol, Santos swiftly entered a vehicle and departed.

"As unofficially already no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer a single question from you guys," said Santos. "To hell with this place."

Santos invented ties to the Holocaust and made false claims that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. His detractors also mentioned several times that he had allegedly used campaign funds for personal expenses.

The removal of the scandal-ridden 35-year-old Congressman came two weeks after a scathing House Ethics Committee report revealed details about his use of campaign funds for personal benefit. Santos, however, repeatedly debunked the report as a political smear.

Santos faces 23 federal felony counts. A 23-count indictment was filed in October in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging him with conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud.

"George Santos is a liar -- in fact, he has admitted to many of them -- who has used his position of public trust to personally benefit himself from Day 1," said Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, a Republican of New York.

D'Esposito, whose district neighbors that of Santos, spearheaded the discussion on expulsion, contending that voters would appreciate legislators holding themselves to elevated standards.

Another New York Republican, Rep. Nick Langworthy, asserted that Santos bears sole responsibility for his predicament.

Santos survived two previous expulsion efforts due to the influence of the current House speaker, Mike Johnson, and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who both didn't want to lose his seat to a Democrat in a special election.

Under New York state law, the governor has 10 days to declare the date of a special election.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday that she was prepared to fill the vacancy. "I am prepared to undertake the solemn responsibility of filling the vacancy in New York's 3rd District. The people of Long Island deserve nothing less," she said on X, formerly Twitter.

Certain legislators voiced apprehensions that removing Santos from his position might establish a precedent for the potential misuse of lawmakers' authority to expel.

His expulsion further diminishes the Republicans' already tenuous majority, now standing at 221-213. The competitiveness of his district, encompassing sections of New York City and Long Island, adds to the significance of this development.

Santos, on his end, has not been stripped of all the perks granted to ex-members. He retains the right to access the House floor and engage with current members. 
An incarcerated former gang member and FBI informant was charged Friday with attempted murder in the stabbing last week of ex-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at a federal prison in Arizona.

John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson and said he would've killed Chauvin had correctional officers not responded so quickly, federal prosecutors said.

Turscak, serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia gang, told investigators he thought about attacking Chauvin for about a month because the former officer, convicted of murdering George Floyd, is a high-profile inmate, prosecutors said. Turscak later denied wanting to kill Chauvin, prosecutors said.

Accused of attacking with improvised knife

Turscak is accused of attacking Chauvin with an improvised knife in the prison's law library around 12:30 p.m. on November 24, the day after Thanksgiving. The Bureau of Prisons said employees stopped the attack and performed "life-saving measures." Chauvin was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Turscak told FBI agents interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, which garnered widespread support in the wake of Floyd's death, and the "Black Hand" symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, prosecutors said.

Turscak, 52, is also charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. The attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

A lawyer for Turscak was not listed in court records. Turscak has represented himself from prison in numerous court matters. After the stabbing, he was moved to an adjacent federal penitentiary in Tucson, where he remained in custody on Friday, inmate records show.

A message seeking comment was left with a lawyer for Chauvin.

Chauvin mainly in solitary confinement

Chauvin, 47, was sent to Federal Correctional Institution Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights and a 22-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin's lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated keeping him out of the general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he'd be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement "largely for his own protection," Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video captured Floyd's fading cries of "I can't breathe." His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Iranian delegates walked out of U.N. climate talks in the United Arab Emirates in protest Friday over the presence of Israeli representatives, state media reported.

The Iranian side considered Israel's presence at COP28 "as contrary to the goals and guidelines of the conference and, in protest, it left the conference venue," said Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, who headed the Iranian delegation, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.

The move came only hours after a seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas expired and hostilities between the two resumed in Gaza, following the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

IRNA had said late Thursday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would not take part in the talks and Mehrabian would instead attend the summit.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are under pressure to step up efforts to limit global warming at COP28, but the Israel-Hamas conflict now in its eighth week is casting a shadow over the summit.

UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan had invited Raisi to attend COP28 during talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in June, IRNA said.

But the Iranian president had decided not to attend "due to the invitation of the Zionist regime (Israel) officials," the news agency said.

In a phone call with his UAE counterpart, Amirabdollahian said "the presence... of Israel in this meeting deserves serious consideration" in light of its alleged "war crimes and genocide."

Under the cover of a barrage of rockets, Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border with Israel on Oct. 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 240 hostages.

The Hamas government in Gaza says Israel's bombing campaign and ground invasion since the attack have killed more than 15,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, also mostly civilians.
Israeli air strikes killed two Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers and two pro-Hezbollah fighters when they hit sites Saturday belonging to the Lebanese group near Damascus, a war monitor said.

The strikes near the Syrian capital came less than 24 hours after the end of a seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Two Syrian fighters working with Hezbollah and two IRGC officers were killed in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah sites near Sayyida Zeinab," south of Damascus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The two IRGC officers were the target of the Israelis. They struck immediately after the pair went into the Hezbollah site," said the head of the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

The two officers died from their injuries, he said, adding that five other fighters were wounded.

On Saturday, the IRGC accused Israel of killing two of its members in Syria, where they had been on an advisory mission.

"Mohammed Ali Ataei Shoorcheh and Panah Taghizadeh ... were martyred by the Zionist usurper enemy while conducting an advisory mission in the Syrian Islamic resistance front," the Guards' Sepah News website said.

It did not say when or where they were killed.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbor since Syria's civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas began in October. Hamas last year said it had restored relations with Syria's government.

Israeli aggression

Syria's defense ministry also said Israel hit near Damascus, where an AFP journalist heard the loud sound of bombings.

"At approximately 1:35 a.m.  today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points near the city of Damascus," the ministry said in a statement. It gave no casualty figures.

Syrian state television reported an "Israeli aggression near the capital."

The Israeli army did not comment when contacted by AFP.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its presence there.

Hezbollah is an ally of Damascus and has long fought alongside Assad in the country's war.
Torrential rain triggered flash floods and a landslide on Indonesias Sumatra island, leaving at least 12 people missing, officials said Saturday.

Tons of mud, rocks and trees rolled down from a mountain late Friday, reaching a river that burst its banks and tore through mountainside villages, said Budiono, who heads the local search and rescue agency.

Worst hit was Simangulampe, a village near the popular Lake Toba in North Sumatra province, where several people were buried under tons of mud and houses were damaged, said Budiono, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.

He said that relief efforts were hampered by blocked roads covered with thick mud, debris and giant rocks, and that rescuers were still searching for the 12 missing people Saturday.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said a villager was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries after the landslide hit his house. He said at least 12 houses, a church, a school and a hotel were damaged by the disaster, forcing about 50 families in the village to flee to a temporary government shelter.

Photos released by the agency showed damaged homes, along with a church, a school and a hotel covered by tons of rocks.

Authorities were still collecting information about damage and possible casualties, Muhari said.

Seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
Israel faced growing calls from Biden administration officials on Saturday to do more to prevent the deaths of Palestinians civilians as a new day of fighting began Sunday in Gaza.

While both U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel has a right to defend itself from attack, their remarks reinforced pressure from the Washington.

"Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," Harris said Saturday. "Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating," she said from the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Later Saturday, Austin said that while U.S. "support for Israels security is non-negotiable," he has personally warned Israel that if it did not take steps to protect civilians, it risked their radicalization.

"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," Austin said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

He also pressed Israel to dramatically expand Gaza's access to humanitarian aid and renewed U.S. calls for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Civilian casualties

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the collapse of the Israel-Hamas truce Friday morning, raising the death toll in Gaza since the Hamas terror attack on October 7 to more than 15,200 people with more than 40,000 wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which says 70% of them are women and children.

About 2 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the territory's southern half. They are running out of space where they can flee and seek shelter.

The Israeli military said Saturday it hit more than 400 Hamas targets across Gaza over the past day, using airstrikes and shelling from tanks and navy gunships. It included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza.

In northern Gaza, an airstrike destroyed a residential building hosting displaced families in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the outskirts of Gaza City. The strike on the multistory building left dozens dead or wounded, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.

Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on October 7. Israel said 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken in the terror attack. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization the U.S., U.K., EU and others.

"We will continue the war until we achieve all its goals, and it's impossible to achieve those goals without the ground operation," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Hamas fired more than 250 rockets on southern Israel since the cease-fire ended, said Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson.

In southern Israel, sirens were heard in communities near the Gaza Strip but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The Israeli military published an online map dividing the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered parcels and asked residents to familiarize themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.

Israel has accused Hamas of embedding itself in and underneath hospitals and other civilian areas and encouraging civilians to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate ahead of airstrikes, using them in effect as human shields, something Hamas has denied.

Reuters said it could not confirm the battlefield accounts.

After the breakdown of the truce, the office of Netanyahu announced it has instructed its negotiating team in Doha to return to Israel.

ICC prosecutor snubbed by Palestinian activists

Palestinian human rights groups refused to meet Saturday with International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, accusing him of favoring Israeli accusations of rights abuses over longstanding Palestinian charges.

Khan has been visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank after a request by a group representing families of victims of the October 7 terror attack, but he was also scheduled to meet Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

Palestinian activists said they would refuse to see him because of their objections to what they saw as unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian cases.

"As Palestinian human rights organizations, we decided not to meet him," said Ammar Al-Dwaik, director general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).

Israel security envelope

Meanwhile, Israel has presented some of its neighboring states with plans to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border with Israel to avert future attacks after the war ends.

"Israel will have to have a security envelope. We can never again allow terrorists to cross the border and butcher our people the way they did on October 7," Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Saturday.

"That is not Israel taking territory from Gaza," said Regev. "On the contrary, that is creating security zones where you have a special situation on the ground which limits the ability of people to enter Israel to kill our people. It's common sense."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that Washington wants Palestinians to govern Gaza and does not want to see the territory reoccupied by Israel, blockaded, or reduced in size.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, killed 11 suspected Islamic militants near a hinterland village in the country's south, authorities said Saturday, in one of the military's bloodiest anti-insurgency offensives this year.

The military launched the offensive Friday after receiving intelligence about the whereabouts of suspected leaders and armed followers of the Dawla Islamiyah and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or the BIFF, groups near the village of Tuwayan in southern Datu Hofer town in Maguindanao province, military officials said.

Army Major Saber Balogan, a regional military official, said government forces recovered 11 bodies of suspected militants after more than three hours of fighting.

Troops also recovered seven M16 and M14 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and five homemade bombs from the scene, he said, adding that there were no military casualties.

The Associated Press saw a confidential initial government report about the military operation, which stated that two Philippine air force fighter planes dropped eight 500-pound bombs in the hinterland areas where the militants were spotted. Two military helicopters further targeted the militants.

Army troops were deployed after the battle scene, military officials said.

This came after 13 armed militants belonging to the Dawla Islamiyah surrendered with their firearms to the military in the south, said Major General Alex Rillera, a regional military commander.

It was not immediately clear if the militants provided information that helped the military decide to launch Friday's assault.

"This is the good side of coming out and laying down your guns; You can now live peacefully with your loved ones," Rillera told the militants, who surrendered in a ceremony Thursday in South Cotabato province adjacent to Maguindanao province, where the military offensive was carried out the following day.

After decades of debilitating armed hostilities, the Philippine government signed a 2014 peace pact with the largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in the south of the largely Catholic nation. That considerably eased armed insurgency-related clashes and violence in the south.

However, smaller Muslim separatist groups have continued to wage attacks, including sporadic bombings in public areas, and at times targeting businesses in return for "protection money" from the owners, the military previously said.

The BIFF, which the military operation targeted Friday, consists of militants who defected from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front following the peace talks with the government. It further split into a few factions, from which some aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.
China has executed two Filipinos for drug trafficking despite high-level Philippine government appeals to commute their death sentences to life in prison, the Philippine government said Saturday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, or DFA, in Manila did not identify the two Filipinos, citing the wishes of their families for privacy. It added that it did not announce the November 24 executions until the Philippine government was formally notified by China.

No other details were immediately given by Chinese or Philippine authorities about the executions and the drug trafficking cases.

The DFA said that from the time the two Filipinos were arrested in 2013 until their 2016 convictions by a lower Chinese court, it provided all possible help, including funding for their legal defense.

The government of the Republic of the Philippines further exhausted all measures available to appeal to the relevant authorities of the Peoples Republic of China to commute their sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds, the DFA said. There were also high-level political representations in this regard.

"The Chinese government, citing their internal laws, upheld the conviction and the Philippines must respect Chinas criminal laws and legal processes, the DFA said.

"While the Philippine government will continue to exhaust all possible avenues to assist our overseas nationals, ultimately it is the laws and sovereign decisions of foreign countries, and not the Philippines, which will prevail in these cases.

The executions came at a difficult point in the relations of China and the Philippines because of escalating territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The Philippines, through the DFA, has filed more than 100 diplomatic protests over aggressive actions by China in the disputed waters since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took power in June last year.

The DFA said that while it was saddened by the executions of the Filipinos, their deaths strengthen the governments resolve to continue our relentless efforts to rid the country of drug syndicates that prey on the vulnerable, including those seeking better lives for themselves and their families."

It renewed a reminder to Filipinos traveling abroad to be vigilant against drug syndicates, which recruit travelers to serve as drug mules or couriers, and to refuse to carry any uninspected package from other people.

Two other death penalty cases involving Filipinos are on appeal and under final review in China, DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said, without elaborating.

One other Filipino, Mary Jabe Veloso, is facing execution in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking. Marcos has said that he has appealed for a commutation of her death sentence or a pardon.
A protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated Friday outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, authorities said.

The person, whom officials did not identify, was in critical condition, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. A security guard who tried to intervene was also injured.

"We believe this building remains safe, and we do not see any threat here," the chief said. "We believe that was an act of extreme political protest."

The protester arrived around 12:15 p.m. at the office building, which houses the consulate as well as several businesses, and used gasoline, police said.

"We are saddened to learn of the self-immolation at the entrance to the office building," the consul general of Israel to the southeastern U.S., Anat Sultan-Dadon, told ABC News. "It is tragic to see the hate and incitement toward Israel expressed in such a horrific way. The sanctity of life is our highest value."

Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on Friday after talks to extend a weeklong truce collapsed.

Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after the militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 15,000 Gazans have been killed during Israel's assault, Palestinian officials say, which has destroyed much of the enclave.

The conflict has prompted hundreds of protests and rallies across the U.S., both in support of Palestinians as well as Israel.
The number of Rohingya taking risky boat trips across the Andaman Sea to flee mounting hunger and hopelessness in the refugee camps of Bangladesh this year has topped last years numbers and could keep rising, rights groups and aid agencies told VOA.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement that a boat with 150 Rohingya on board landed in western Indonesia Saturday morning. Amnesty Internationals Indonesia office told VOA it had confirmed the landing as well.

That brings the total number of Rohingya fleeing across the Andaman by boat to 3,722 so far this year, according to the UNHCR. In its statement, the refugee agency said it had also received several reports of two more boats with a combined 400 or so passengers still adrift in the Andaman with broken engines; the agency issued an urgent search and rescue call to countries in the region.

The UNHCR counted 3,705 Rohingya who attempted the sea journey in all of 2022, at the time the most for any year since 2015.

Ahead of the latest landing in Indonesia, aid and advocacy groups told VOA that this years numbers could, or likely would, keep rising. December falls in the middle of the annual sailing season, when waters are relatively calm and most Rohingya typically make the attempt.

We cant predict what is going to happen in December, but if we look at last year, 2022, the last three months were the ... busiest, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said.

More to come

Nearly 1 million ethnic Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim minority from Buddhist-majority Myanmar, now live in the sprawling refugee camps of eastern Bangladesh. Most arrived in 2017, fleeing what the U.N. calls a campaign of genocidal intent by the Myanmar military.

Most of those fleeing the camps by boat try to make it across the Andaman to Malaysia or Indonesia, both Muslim-majority countries. Several hundred have died attempting the voyage on overcrowded vessels that often are old and rickety. Entire boats packed with refugees are believed to have been lost at sea.

I believe there will be a lot more people on the way, but to [give] a figure ... is impossible, Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, a group that closely tracks the boats, told VOA.

Given the trends, I predict that there will be more coming, agreed Usman Hamid, Amnesty Internationals country director for Indonesia.

The aid and advocacy groups, and refugees themselves, ascribe the rising numbers most of all to conditions worsening in the camps and to hopes fading that the Rohingya will be able to return safely to Myanmar anytime soon.

Myanmar by and large denies the Rohingya citizenship and was pitched into a nationwide civil war by a 2021 military coup. In the sealed camps of eastern Bangladesh, meanwhile, refugees complain of rising gang violence, a dearth of jobs and schools, and meager food rations. The U.N. World Food Program, the main source of food aid for the refugees, cut the value of its monthly vouchers in the camps in June, for the second time this year, to an average of $8 per person. It blamed a shortfall in donor support.

Like tossing a coin

In this uncertainty of future and in this dangerous situation in the camps, where there is extortion and gang violence and insufficient rations and unemployment and no educational opportunity, all these things [are] driving the people to take the dangerous sea journeys, said Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, a Rohingya refugee and advocate living in the camps.

He said that his sister and niece fled the camps by boat last year, making it to Indonesia, and that they all knew the risks.

But when people have no other option, when people cannot travel by passport like any other people in the world, when people have no hope of going back to Myanmar anytime soon within the coming years, when people have lots of suffering in the camp, then the journey becomes the last and irrevocable option, Khan said.

It is like tossing a coin, he said. They say, we will survive or we will die.

Conditions on land and at sea are also shifting the makeup of those aboard the boats and where they are headed.

Whereas in years past the boats carried mostly single men and women, more families are now traveling together and with children in tow. According to UNHCR figures, children made up 1 in 5 passengers in 2022 but nearly a third so far this year.

Baloch and Lewa say that, too, is a product of the growing despair in the camps.

Because they dont see anything for their [families] future in the camps  the lawlessness, the insecurity, lack of education, Lewa said. But ... among all the different reasons that people say they leave the camps, we hear number one is the food cuts.

Losing their lives

Far more of the boats, some 60%, have headed for Indonesia this year as of last month, versus 22% in all of 2022, according to UNHCR data. Baloch and Lewa said that is because it is now essentially the only country along their route still willing to take them in. A 2016 presidential decree in Indonesia orders authorities to aid any boats in distress in the countrys waters and to let them land.

Even that may be starting to change, though. One of the boats that reached the coast of Aceh province last month was reportedly pushed back out to sea twice before managing to make land on the third try.

Hamid, of Amnesty International, blamed the shift in attitudes on the national governments failure to anticipate, and help the local authorities in Aceh adequately prepare for, the influx of refugees. He said the prosecution of some locals as human traffickers for having helped refugees ashore in the past has played a part, too.

Even so, he and others say the fishing communities of western Aceh have for the most part been accommodating the refugees as well as they can, a rare port in the storm for seafaring Rohingya when other countries have been blocking their boats and pushing or towing them back out to sea.

Should that option slam shut as well, they say more Rohingya will die on boats that take longer to make landfall or cannot land at all.

The UNHCR counted 348 dead or missing among those who set out in 2022 and 225 so far this year.

We saw last year the consequences of not having a safe port or a safe place to disembark, said Baloch. These people risk losing their lives.
A Russian court on Friday ordered American Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to remain in custody until February 5.

The editor for the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, has spent 45 days in prison on accusations that she failed to register as a foreign agent. Kurmasheva denies the charge.

RFE/RL acting president Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement that Kurmashevas unjust, politically motivated detention has been extended, and he called for Russia to free the journalist and grant her consular access under her rights as a U.S. citizen.

Kurmasheva had traveled to Russia in May for a family emergency. When she tried to leave, authorities confiscated her passports. Then, on October 18, she was arrested and accused of failing to register as a foreign agent.

Earlier this week, Kurmashevas husband, Pavel Butorin, spoke with VOA about her case and why he believes Russia is detaining his wife.

Butorin is the director of Current Time TV, a Russian-language TV and digital network led by RFE/RL in partnership with VOA.

He has called on the U.S. to designate Kurmasheva wrongfully detained, saying doing so will release other resources to help free her.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: There are a lot of repressions now against Russian journalists in Russia. What makes Alsu Kurmashevas case unique?

Pavel Butorin, Director of Current Time TV: It is no secret that reporting [on] Russia independently has become an endangered profession. But I think it's especially dangerous now for American journalists to work inside Russia. I'm convinced that Alsu's being targeted because she's an American citizen and because she is a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

She is held in a cold prison cell exactly for that reason - because she had the courage to report on what's going on inside Russia, what's going on with ethnic minorities inside Russia.

VOA: What do you know about the conditions in the prison?

Butorin: Communication that we receive from Alsu is censored, so we cannot be certain that she receives the attention and the treatment that she deserves. We know that her prison cell is cold. Sometimes it gets overcrowded. It isn't a pretrial detention facility, but it is a Russian jail.

She does send us letters that are upbeat and optimistic. Make no mistake. She is held by a penitentiary system that is notorious for its mistreatment of political prisoners. She shouldn't be in that jail.

VOA: When she was first detained in June, she was released but then detained again. Why did they need such a scenario?

Butorin: Well, I can't get into their heads, but I can only speculate that they were building a bigger case against Alsu.

She was first detained and charged for failure to report her American citizenship, which is now a criminal offense in Russia. They dragged this case out for several months, and eventually, in early October, a judge issued a relatively small fine.

But before she was able to pay the fine, they came after [her], arrested her and charged her for now with a more serious offense, with failure to register as a so-called foreign agent, an absurd charge that she denies.

VOA: In your opinion, is Alsus coverage of ethnic minorities and culture and language related to her case?

Butorin: I don't have the details of her case, but it's quite likely that her coverage of the plight of ethnic minorities in Russia has played a role in this.

Alsu is primarily a journalist, not necessarily an activist, but she has been a very strong proponent of and enthusiast for culture and the Tatar language. Honestly, I can't think of another person who is as passionate about a culture as Alsu. She has been involved in, and you know, spreading awareness about her Tatar culture.

VOA: What is the most important thing to do to help Alsu right now?

Butorin: Right now, letters are really the biggest lifeline for Alsu in detention. She very much appreciates the support that she's been receiving.

She receives a lot of letters from people that she doesn't know, from complete strangers, who share their life stories with her and even recount movie plots. So that's a big help.

But on the diplomatic front, we would like to see more involvement from the United States government and from other parties, as well from the European Union and from human rights organizations.

There is no doubt in my mind that the reason for her detention is her American citizenship and her work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

I think Alsu must be designated as a wrongfully detained person. I think she meets most, if not all, of the criteria.

This interview originated in VOAs Russian Service.
Three years ago, the ICRC contacted the Centre for Cyber Trust, a research collaboration between ETH Zurich and the University of Bonn in the field of cybersecurity, with this idea of establishing a digital emblem. One of the people working on this since then is Felix Linker, who is currently writing his doctoral thesis in the group led by David Basin, Professor of Information Security at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. A digital emblem has a unique combination of security requirements, namely authenticity, accountability and a property that we call covert inspection, Linker says. The Authentic Digital EMblem (ADEM), which he has developed together with Basin, is based on the web PKI and CT ecosystem (Web PKI and CT stand for Web Public Key Infrastructure and Certificate Transparency). We rely on existing best practices on the internet. What makes our work innovative is how weve combined different solutions to meet the technical requirements, Linker says. In an article recently published in the Proceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security, Linker and Basin describe in detail for the first time how ADEM works.

Machine-readable and decentralised

The emblem they have developed is cryptographically secured using a digital signature  a long sequence of bits that can be read by a program developed for this purpose. This makes it possible to retrieve information about the owner, the IP or domain worthy of protection, as well as the publisher of the emblem. Its important that the emblem can be read by machines, because most cyberattacks today are automated, Linker says. In other words, hacker software needs to automatically load and read the emblem, so it can recognise that it is accessing a system belonging to an organisation that is protected by international humanitarian law. And that needs to happen during the softwares first reconnaissance, before it does any damage to the system.

Another key requirement is for the digital emblem to be managed in a decentralised way rather than by a central authority. States that are committed to international humanitarian law should be able to verify that a certain digital infrastructure on their territory is entitled to protection and therefore bears an emblem. To this end, ADEM is based on an open standard, so governments can adapt the emblems implementation as flexibly as possible to their own requirements.

Hackers remain undetected

Potential attacks on servers and networks can come from hacker groups, but also from states during a war. These want to remain undetected at all costs. Thats why attackers must be able to view the emblem without either the protected institution or the issuer of the digital signature being able to tell that the emblem has been looked at. Only then will potential attackers be prepared to have their systems run the scanner for detecting the emblem. Standard internet authentication protocols arent suitable for this because they require interaction between the two parties involved, Linker says. That attracts attention, which means it wont work in a conflict. He managed to come up with a combination of suitable internet protocols (UDP, TLS and DNS) to mask the distribution of the emblem.

Linker has now evaluated the system in a security analysis under a comprehensive threat model. His evaluation shows that the digital emblem cannot be misused by attackers and acts as a security guarantee. He says that this provides proof of concept. He is now developing the first prototypes further, while colleagues from the Centre for Cyber Trust in Bonn will conduct interviews with hackers to find out how willing people are to respect such an emblem. After all, only then will they bother to run a program that can recognise emblems. But this is something Linker is confident about: in the past, hackers have been known to avoid humanitarian targets on occasion, for ethical reasons or simply to avoid attracting too much attention.

Difficult legal implementation

Vignati from the ICRC is satisfied: ADEM fulfils all our original requirements for a digital emblem. The main task now is to further optimise the emblems visibility to potential attackers. However, it will probably be several years before the digital emblem actually starts helping to protect the ICRCs critical digital infrastructure and hospitals in war zones. The legal implementation is very challenging, Vignati says. Implementing the emblem in the legal framework calls for adjustments to the Geneva Conventions: Either through a new additional protocol or through an addition to the existing protocols. The ICRC plans to showcase ADEM, along with another system designed at John Hopkins University, at an international humanitarian law conference to be held in October 2024. It will also present legal pathways for bringing the digital emblem into operation. That would be an important first step in strengthening humanitarian protection in cyberspace, Vignati says.
All flights were grounded at Munich's airport Saturday after a winter storm dumped snow across southern Germany and parts of Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, affecting travel across the region.

After initially announcing a halt in air traffic until noon Saturday, the airport later announced flights would be canceled until 6 a.m. Sunday. Other airports in the region, including in the Swiss financial capital, Zurich, also announced weather-related delays and cancellations.

Trains to and from Munichs central station were also halted, Germanys national railway said, advising passengers to delay or reroute their journeys. The news agency dpa reported that some passengers in Munich and the nearby city of Ulm spent Friday night on trains due to the halt.

In Munich, no buses or trams were operating as of Saturday afternoon, the local transit authority said. Some subway and regional train lines were also affected by the weather.

Downed trees left many thousands of people without power across the state of Bavaria, the utility company Bayernwerk told dpa.

In Austria and Switzerland, the new snowfall led officials to raise the alarm about the danger of avalanches. The provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg in western Austria raised their avalanche warnings to the second-highest level after the region received up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow overnight.

The Austrian railway company OeBB said Saturday afternoon that various stretches of its routes across the country were closed due to the storm.

In the Czech Republic, the major highway and some other roads were blocked for hours, trains and public transportation faced delays and cancellations, and over 15,000 households were without power.

The key D1 highway that links the capital Prague with the second largest city of Brno was in a standstill for hours after an accident that caused a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) long line of trucks. Traffic jams also hit other parts of the highway as well the D5 that links Prague with Germany.

Several high-speed and regional trains had to stop in the southern part of the country as cross-border trains from neighboring Austria and Germany didnt operate, and some roads were expected to remain closed for the day.
Several thousand members of the Free Union of Iranian Workers went on strike Saturday against the Isfahan Steel Company, seeking higher wages and better working and living conditions. The scale and extent of the strike was significant, drawing attention even from state news agencies.

The Free Union of Iranian Workers Telegram channel disclosed that the strike unfolded as part of an ongoing protest of the steel company and its failure to meet workers' demands. Workers assembled in front of the management building following a march within the factory premises.

According to media reports, Isfahan steelworkers have been protesting inadequate living conditions and low wages, and they also are advocating for the proper implementation of a job classification plan, wage equity with other steel companies and "other related items."

Last Sunday, Isfahan steelworkers declared a hunger strike, refusing to accept the company's food in protest.

Fowad Keykhosravi, a board member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, spoke with VOA about the strike. "Based on the reports we've received, more than 3,000 workers from various departments of the Isfahan Steel Company  including rolling, casting, converter, tall furnace, agglomeration, coke production, furnaces and other sections  took part in the strike."

He said that "in addition to its widespread participation, another source of strength for this protest movement is the involvement of workers from both the evening and night shifts, alongside their daytime counterparts."

Discussing the demands of the Isfahan steelworkers, Keykhosravi told VOA, "Their specific demands include the revision and complete implementation of the job classification plan, which has only been partially executed since 2014.

Workers are asserting their right to wage restoration and a 30% increase before the end of 1402 [the Iranian calendar year ending on March 20], aiming to bridge a portion of the substantial wage disparity with the rising cost of living, notwithstanding the official wage hike scheduled for next year."

He said, "An increase in bonuses and other wage components, along with aligning wages with those in other steel companies, including Mobarakeh Steel, are key demands put forth by these workers."

Keykhosravi emphasized that "another factor contributing to the strength of the protest among Isfahan Steel Company workers is the formation of this large gathering following the extensive crackdown on workers' protests on February 26, 2023. This crackdown involved the deployment of a significant number of special guard forces within the company, the detention of numerous workers and the ongoing implementation of heightened security measures by the company's security personnel, coupled with recent security threats."

The Fars News Agency, associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, called the protest a trade union gathering and reported that "the CEO is presently engaging with the workers. The gathering does not disrupt production, as employees in specific roles continue their work."

Worker protests in different parts of Iran have notably increased in recent years, expressed through strikes, assemblies and marches. The government's attempts to quell the protests with heightened security and judicial measures have proven unsuccessful.
More Americans now believe the death penalty, which is undergoing a yearslong decline of use and support, is being administered unfairly, a finding that is adding to its growing isolation in the U.S., according to an annual report on capital punishment.

But whether the public's waning support for the death penalty and the declining number of executions and death sentences will ultimately result in the abolition of capital punishment in the U.S. remains uncertain, experts said.

"There are some scholars who are optimistic the death penalty will be totally eradicated pretty soon," said Eric Berger, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I think what's more likely is it's going to continue to decline. But I think it's less likely that in the foreseeable future it'll totally disappear."

In 2023, there were 24 executions in the U.S., with the final one for the year taking place Thursday in Oklahoma. Additionally, 21 people were sentenced to death in 2023, which was the ninth consecutive year in which fewer than 30 people were executed and fewer than 50 people received death sentences, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Only five states  Texas, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma and Alabama  conducted executions this year. That was the lowest number in 20 years, said Robin M. Maher, executive director of the nonprofit center, which takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions.

"That shows the death penalty is again becoming increasingly isolated in its use in the United States," Maher said.

Effect of Floyd case

A Gallup poll from October found 50% of Americans believe capital punishment is applied unfairly, compared with 47% who believe it is fairly implemented, Maher said. This was the highest such number since Gallup first began asking about the fairness of the death penalty's application in 2000.

Catherine Grosso, a professor with Michigan State University's College of Law, said the Gallup survey result could be tied in part to more young people and others questioning the U.S. criminal justice system following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer.

Nearly 200 death row exonerations since 1975, including three in 2023, also have helped change people's minds about the fairness of the death penalty, Maher said.

In recent years, various individuals across the country, including conservative legislators, have raised concerns about the death penalty or debated its future, Grosso said.

But in some states including Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, the death penalty remains deeply entrenched, Berger said.

Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed bills enacting two new death penalty laws. One allows the death penalty in child rape convictions, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning capital punishment in such cases. The other law ends a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing.

"If you commit a crime that is really, really heinous, you should have the ultimate punishment," DeSantis said in May, commenting on the death penalty for child rape convictions.

New execution methods

States' continuing difficulties in securing supplies of execution drugs have prompted some states to explore new and untested methods of execution or revive previously abandoned ones, according to the center's report.

Alabama has set a January execution date for what would be the nation's first attempt to execute an inmate with nitrogen gas. In July, Idaho became the fifth state to authorize executions by firing squad. The last time a U.S. inmate was executed by firing squad was in 2010.

The center's report said a majority of states, 29, have either abolished the death penalty or paused executions.

Corinna Lain, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said she thinks the number of states that don't have the death penalty could easily rise to 40. But a nationwide ban would need action from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lain and other experts said that's unlikely to happen as recent actions show the high court is not going to get in the way of states carrying out executions. The center's report said that in the 2022-23 term, the court granted just one of 26 stays of execution sought, and that it has granted none of the eight stays sought during the first half of the 2023-24 term.

Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state, has not been immune to the debate over the death penalty.

Earlier this year, the GOP-led Texas House passed a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in cases involving someone who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The bill ultimately failed because it was never taken up by the Texas Senate.

GOP state Representative Jeff Leach said in March that the bill was not part of a secret effort to do away with the death penalty in Texas.

"I believe that in Texas we need the death penalty," Leach said. "But I am, as a supporter of the death penalty, against executing people who at the time they commit the offense had a severe mental illness."

Even in Texas, there can be some change with the death penalty, Berger said.

"But you can't see the kind of change where you could expect them to just say, 'Ah, we're done with capital punishment altogether.' At least not yet," Berger said.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Saturday in Dubai at the U.N. COP28 Climate Conference that the United States is pledging $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund  the worlds largest climate fund  created to help developing countries handle climate change.

Around the world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation, the vice president said.

The multibillion-dollar pledge to the climate fund, however, first must be approved by the U.S. Congress, which is divided on the contribution.

Also Saturday, the U.S. made a commitment to phase out all the countrys coal-fired power plants when it joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance. Coal is the single largest contributor to the climate crisis, according to the alliance.

Sharp differences were laid bare Friday at COP28 regarding the future use of fossil fuels.

One day after COP28 president, United Arab Emirates Sultan al-Jaber  also the head of the UAE state oil company  opened the meeting with a call to not eliminate but phase down the use of fossil fuels, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the opposite.

Addressing the delegates, Guterres said, "We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuel," and he called for the acceleration of "a just and equitable transition to renewable energy."

The U.N. chief was referring to the 2015 Paris Climate agreement, which calls for efforts to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, saying the only way that goal can be reached is if the world stops burning "all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate."

The disagreements over fossil fuel use prompted a prominent member of the COP28 advisory board to offer her resignation Friday.

Reuters news service reported that former Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine resigned in a letter to the COP28s president, al-Jaber, saying reports alleging the UAE planned to use the conference to discuss possible fossil fuel and other commercial deals were "deeply disappointing" and threatened to undermine the credibility of the multilateral negotiation process.

Reuters reported the letter went on to say the actions undermine the COP presidency and the process as a whole.

Earlier this week, the BBC, working with the Center for Climate Reporting, reported that leaked briefing documents revealed plans for UAE officials to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations. Al-Jaber strongly denied the report.

Also Friday, Britains King Charles III addressed the conference, saying that the world was "dreadfully off track" on its climate goals and that he "prays with all his heart" the conference will be another critical turning point toward genuine transformational action.

In his remarks Friday, Jordans King Abdullah II linked climate change with the crisis in Gaza, saying they cannot talk about climate change "in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us." He said thousands have been killed, injured or displaced in a region on the front lines of climate change, which, he said, magnifies the devastation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his remarks, linked climate change to the global food crisis, citing statistics showing the global demand for food is estimated to increase by 50% by the year 2050, while the climate crisis is expected to reduce crop yields by as much as 30% over that same period.

During its opening day Thursday, conferees did agree to a new $420 million fund to help poorer, vulnerable nations cope with the cost of disasters caused by climate change, such as droughts, floods and rising sea levels.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called the agreement "a great way to start" the conference.

The day one deal could pave the way for further agreements at COP28.

"COP" stands for "Conference of the Parties" to the original U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are currently 198 parties to the convention.

The current COP runs through December 12.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday laid out broad American objectives for when the Israel-Hamas conflict ends and stressed that the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank should ultimately be reunified under one governing entity.

Harris made a series of appearances at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, after being asked by U.S. President Joe Biden to take his seat at the table as he focuses on the Israel-Hamas war.

In talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, Harris said that "under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza, or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza," the White House said in a statement.

She also said that once the war ends, efforts to rebuild should be pursued "in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people towards a state of their own led by a revitalized Palestinian Authority and have significant support from the international community and the countries of the region," the statement said.

"The vice president made clear that Hamas cannot control Gaza, which is untenable for Israels security, the well-being of the Palestinian people, and regional security," the White House said.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

Harris's role in the administration is coming under increased scrutiny as Biden, 81, runs for a second term. She has been tasked with helping to resolve a series of major challenges, from migration to abortion and voting rights at home. How post-conflict Gaza should realistically be managed is an issue that has confounded regional leaders and Middle East experts.

Palestinian Authority future

U.S. officials have discussed bolstering the Palestinian Authority so it can widen its reach to include Gaza, but no firm plan has been agreed upon.

Some U.S. officials have privately expressed doubts about the Palestinian Authority's ability to govern Gaza post-war.

Critics have accused the P.A. of corruption and mismanagement, and polls have shown its credibility low with the Palestinian people.

Harris also met Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, and had a call with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who has been instrumental in negotiating the release of hostages from Gaza.

In remarks later Saturday, Harris will express the U.S. desire to see a pause in the Israel-Hamas fighting restored to extract more hostages from Gaza and to get a steady flow of humanitarian assistance back in.
Judges at the World Court on Friday ordered Venezuela to refrain from taking any action that would alter the situation on the ground in a potentially oil-rich territory that is the subject of a border dispute with Guyana, which controls the area.

The court did not expressly forbid Venezuela from going ahead with a referendum on Sunday over its rights to the region around the Esequibo river, as Guyana has requested.

But judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)  as the World Court is formally known  ruled that any move to alter the status quo should be stopped.

"The court observes that the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute is that Guyana administers and exercises control over that area," presiding judge Joan Donoghue said.

"Venezuela must refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation," she added.

Guyana's President Irfaan Ali hailed the court's ruling, while Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said it was a victory for her country.

"As the court has made clear, Venezuela is prohibited from annexing or trespassing upon Guyanese territory or taking any other actions  regardless of the outcome of its referendum on December 3  that would alter the status quo in which Guyana administers and controls the Esequibo region," Ali said in a statement.

The five-question referendum will go ahead, Rodriguez said on state television, adding that Venezuela wants a negotiated solution to the dispute.

The vote "will ratify that our rights over the Guayana Esequiba are irrevocable and unquestionable," Rodriguez said.

The vote about the 160,000-square-kilometer (61,776-square-mile) territory, which is largely thick jungle, has caused anxiety in Guyana, with the government urging citizens to keep calm.

Venezuela reactivated its claim on the area in recent years after the discovery of offshore oil and gas. The maritime border between the two countries is also in dispute.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vociferously encouraged voters to approve the referendum, in what political analysts say is a test of government support before planned 2024 presidential elections.

Venezuela's dispute with Guyana may have an impact on the elections, said security analyst Rocio San Miguel of the Citizen Watchdog on Security, Defense and the Armed Forces.

"If the elections represent a threat to Maduro's power, he'll suspend them through this route," she said, calling the dispute "a perfect distraction tactic."

She said that while Venezuela has significantly more military power than Guyana, it would not be able to stand up to Guyana's allies, which include the United States.

The referendum, which is "consultative" and can be approved by simple majority, asks Venezuelans, among other things, if they agree to incorporate the region and create a state called Guayana Esequiba.

Political analysts expect voters to approve the proposal, given the lack of any no campaign and the likelihood that voters who are opposed will stay home.

Friday's ruling is the latest development in the larger border dispute. The ICJ said in April it had jurisdiction over the case, but a final ruling could be years away.
Power was restored Saturday at Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after it was lost on Friday, averting again a "nuclear catastrophe," according to a statement by Ukraine's energy ministry on the Telegram messaging app.

"This is the eighth blackout which occurred at the [Zaporizhzhia plant] and could have led to nuclear catastrophe," the statement said Saturday. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the outage and restoration of power.

The plant was occupied by Russia in March 2022 and is no longer generating power but needs a supply of electricity to cool one of its four reactors, which is in a state of hot conservation, meaning it has not fully been shut down.

The energy ministry said that after losing grid connection the plant turned on 20 backup generators to supply its electricity needs.

At 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), it said, Ukrainian specialists repaired the 750-kW line that is again bringing power to the plant.

Eastern front lines

Fighting continues around the eastern Ukrainian towns of Avdiivka and Marinka with both Russia and Ukraine claiming advances. Ukraine's General Staff said Saturday that Russian forces had been unsuccessful in their attempts to advance on villages near Marinka but said nothing of troop movements in the town.

Once a city of 10,000, Marinka  which is southwest of the Russian-held regional center of Donetsk  is a ghost town after almost a year of Russian efforts to seize it. There are no civilians left.

For almost two months, Russian forces have been attacking the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Marinka. Ukraine says its forces control Avdiivka, though not a single building remains intact.

Ukrainian troops regained swaths of territory last year in a sweep through the northeast, but a counteroffensive launched in the east and south in June has made only incremental gains.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called on the U.S. Congress Friday to act swiftly to provide aid to Ukraine before the end of the month, after which it will become difficult to provide Kyiv with the assistance it needs.

"We need that assistance immediately so we can provide them assistance in an uninterrupted way," Kirby said during a news briefing.

Kirby said the United States expects that Russia will try to destroy critical Ukrainian energy infrastructure this winter as it did last year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledges that the advance has been slow but rejects any notion that the war is slipping into a stalemate.

The president met with his military command Friday to discuss ways to produce "concrete results" next year in the country's war with Russia.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy spoke about improvements in mobilization methods.

"This is not simply a question of numbers, of who can be mobilized," he said. "It's a question of a time frame for each person who is now in the military, for demobilization and for those who will join the military. And it's about conditions."

Zelenskyy said these issues had to be examined by commanders and the defense ministry.

"There were several proposals today and I am awaiting comprehensive solutions," he said.

Russian troops

Zelenskyy's comments came as Russia President Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the number of members of the Russian armed forces by 170,000, to a total of 1.32 million, the Kremlin and the defense ministry said Friday.

"The increase in the full-time strength of the armed forces is due to the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO," the ministry said.

The ministry also said it has no plans to significantly increase conscription or carry out a new wave of mobilization, and that the increase in the number of troops will happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers.

The wives of deployed Russian soldiers are not happy with their spouses' "indefinite mobilization," and have expressed their dismay in public protests and online. The British Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily report on Ukraine that Russian authorities are attempting "to quash public dissent" by paying the women off and discrediting them online.

Russian officials are "likely particularly sensitive," the report said, to any protests about troops who have been mobilized since September 2022 and have been on the front line for more than a year.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
According to The New York Times, for a year Israel held in its hands a 40-page report on the attack being prepared by Hamas. This document was widely circulated among senior officers.

According to Haaretz, General Amit Saar, head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Department, wrote to the Prime Minister on 19 March and 16 July, warning him of the Hamas attack in the making.

According to the Israeli press, in July Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, because the latter had warned the government of the perfect storm to be launched by Hamas. Gallant has since been reinstated.

According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Benjamin Netanyahu had been personally warned about the Hamas attack by his friend, Colonel Yigal Carmon, director of MEMRI.

According to the Egyptian press, Intelligence Minister General Kamel Abbas personally telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu a few weeks before the attack, to warn him that Hamas was moving into action.

The press is now seeking to explain why Israeli leaders did not heed such warnings. It is an attempt to discredit, by any means possible, the hypothesis of a Netanyahu/Hamas collusion.
One thing we could say about the analysts on Dr. Martens plc (LON:DOCS) - they aren't optimistic, having just made a major negative revision to their near-term (statutory) forecasts for the organization. Both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts went under the knife, suggesting the analysts have soured majorly on the business.

Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the eight analysts covering Dr. Martens, is for revenues of UK903m in 2024, which would reflect a small 7.6% reduction in Dr. Martens' sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to nosedive 22% to UK0.083 in the same period. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of UK1.0b and earnings per share (EPS) of UK0.10 in 2024. It looks like analyst sentiment has declined substantially, with a substantial drop in revenue estimates and a large cut to earnings per share numbers as well.

See our latest analysis for Dr. Martens

It'll come as no surprise then, to learn that the analysts have cut their price target 13% to UK1.35.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 15% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 11% over the last three years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 5.0% per year. It's pretty clear that Dr. Martens' revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest issue in the new estimates is that analysts have reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds lay ahead for Dr. Martens. Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that Dr. Martens' revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. After such a stark change in sentiment from analysts, we'd understand if readers now felt a bit wary of Dr. Martens.

Story continues

Unfortunately, the earnings downgrade - if accurate - may also place pressure on Dr. Martens' mountain of debt, which could lead to some belt tightening for shareholders. To see more of our financial analysis, you can click through to our free platform to learn more about its balance sheet and specific concerns we've identified.

We also provide an overview of the Dr. Martens Board and CEO remuneration and length of tenure at the company, and whether insiders have been buying the stock, 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.
Jussie Smollett leaving jail in March 2022. Photo: Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Jussie Smolletts convictions and jail sentence have been upheld by an appeals court, the Associated Press reports. The former Empire star was previously found guilty of staging a hate crime against himself. He was convicted in December 2021 of five felony counts of disorderly conduct (which are charges that can be filed in Illinois when someone lies to the police). Smollett, who is Black and gay, maintained throughout his trial that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago. His appeal took issue with multiple aspects of his case, including the role of a special prosecutor, jury selection, and evidence. (During the appeal process, he also released a song proclaiming his innocence.) However, the Illinois Appellate Court ultimately turned these concerns down with a 2-1 opinion. A spokesperson for Smolletts legal team told the New York Times that they will appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of probation, with the first 150 days to be served in jail. Despite several celebrities publicly criticizing the punishment as excessive, the actor spent six days in Cook County Jail. He was released in March 2022 because of his appeal. Special prosecutor Dan K. Webb told the Times that Smollett wont required to go back to jail right away. However, Webb noted that Smollett wont have any more appeal options if the Illinois Supreme Court declines to take up the case.
Photo: Warner Bros

The writers and actors strikes are over, and its back to the regularly scheduled programs of press promotion, comic cons, and chicken meals. Brazils CCXP is one of the first major events in a hot minute that brought out all the trailer announcements with the stars to match. It didnt go great for Dune: Part 2 star Florence Pugh, who was hit with something at the end of that films panel. On a lighter note, Furiosa: A Max Mad Saga debuted its trailer with a young Furiosa and motorcycle enthusiast Warlord Dementus (Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth) in attendance. Another trailer that is packed and stuffed with action  and dick jokes  is The Boys, giving the crowd its first look at the upcoming season. Check out every trailer debuting at the con over the weekend; there may be a few dragons coming around.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros.)

Dont let the name fool you. Godzilla and King Kong arent collabbing on a sneaker capsule collection. The trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire features all sorts of new, toyetic delights. Godzilla with pink spikes! Baby Kong! Kong fully Furiosad with a mecha arm! After proving the hollow-earth theory true in Godzilla vs. Kong, the two big boys will join forces to defeat a giant orangutan named Skar King.

House of the Dragon (Max)

Grab your negroni sbagliato: We have some House of the Dragon news. Max dropped the first official teaser for the upcoming second season, and trouble has come. The Targaryen war has arrived, and Rhaenys Targaryen says it best: There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin, and no war so bloody as a war between dragons. It will arrive in the summer of 2024, giving you some time to emotionally prepare for the outcome.

The Boys (Prime Video)

In the first trailer for The Boys season four, we find everything basically in shambles. Victoria Neuman is almost in the White House and is working with Homelander, whos attempting to pull a Julius Caesar to assume power. Its now up to Billy Butcher to get all the Boys back together to save the world  at least for a short while. The ball-crushing season premieres sometime in 2024.

Fallout (Prime Video)

Based on the best-selling video-game franchise, Fallout follows a group of survivors of a nuclear war leaving their shelters to head back into the real world. You can follow Ella Purnell (in another traumatizing setting!), Walton Goggins, and Kyle MacLachlan into the apocalypse on April 12, 2024.

Halo (Paramount+)

Master Chief John-117 isnt going down without a fight. In the first-look trailer, John and his team are battling the Covenant, a formidable alien threat, with explosions, airships, and energy swords. Halo season two is arriving on February 8, 2024, as a sweet early Valentines Day treat.

Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+)

While this isnt technically a trailer, the final season of Star Trek: Discovery deserves the spotlight with its exclusive clip. Captain Michael Burnham and Cleveland Book Booker fight against an absolutely terrifying creature or creatures. See their final fate in April 2024.

Furiosa (Warner Bros)

An origin story to Furiosa, the film follows her after she was kidnapped from the Green Place of Many Mothers by Warlord Dementus and the Bike Horde and has to escape the Wasteland to return home. Watch them battle it out in theaters on May 24, 2024.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos Courtesy of Vivian Zink/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images, Nicole Rivelli/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images, FX Networks/YouTube and HBO Max/YouTube

A break over the holidays is the perfect time for a lot of things: seeing your family, catching up with friends, eating a ton, reflecting. But most important of all, its a great time to watch a lot of TV, including the episodes made specifically for this time of year.

Christmas episodes are a timeless tradition; they enable us to spend holidays with the characters weve come to love and give us a chance to use the darker underpinnings of a season scored by family fights, fresh heartbreak, and rising tensions to create drama and tie up narrative threads. But the warm, fuzzy feelings are usually not far: Christmas episodes tend to finish with the characters united as one, ready to face another year of drama. Weve compiled a list of some of the best, so sit back, relax, and let the holiday cheer take you.

Ludachristmas, 30 Rock season 2

30 Rock has a few Christmas episodes, but perhaps the most enjoyable, and relatable, is Ludachristmas. In it, Jacks mother meets the Lemon family and instantly dislikes them because of their happiness, so she sets out to show that they maybe arent all that perfect. She orchestrates an argument between the family, which brings joy to both her and Jack. Tracy has been less than truthful, too, as hes been drinking despite wearing an ankle monitor intended to prevent him from it. The real fun, though, comes when Kenneth cancels the cast and writers Ludachristmas party to teach them the true meaning of Christmas, and they tear down the giant Christmas tree outside 30 Rock. The message of the episode? Everyones family is fucked up in their own way.

Afternoon Delight, Arrested Development season 2

Christmas is a time for families to spend time together  of course, this often turns out more difficult than we expect. After the banana stand is vandalized by teenagers, Michael seeks George Michaels help, but when he is busy, Michael panics that his son is pulling away from him. Maeby, lonely without her mom, helps Michael, and they sing Afternoon Delight on karaoke at the office Christmas party together, not realizing at first that it isnt all that innocent. More misunderstandings ensue: Oscar believes that Afternoon Delight is a strain of weed, so he puts it in Lucilles brownie, leading her to crash into the banana stand. Lindsay and George Michael decide to perform the song together but realize its a sexy song, too. Christmas episodes are a chance for shows to showcase their strengths, and these back-and-forth misunderstandings are peak Arrested Development.

Available to stream on Netflix

Amends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3

Some Christmas episodes are wholesome and see the characters united. Some, not so much. In Amends, Angel is haunted by dreams of the people he murdered when he was Angelus. Visions of his victims, like Jenny Calendar, appear and try to get him to kill Buffy. Elsewhere, Oz, Willow, Cordelia, and Xander sort through their love  square  but the real drama is, naturally, between Angel and Buffy. Angel decides to kill himself to escape the First Evils torture by waiting for the sun to come up, but Buffy tries to stop him  in a Christmas miracle, the heatwave ends and snow starts to fall. Angel lives, and the pair take a Christmas Day stroll through Sunnydale.

Available to stream on Hulu

The Lonely Island Wear Holiday Sweaters & White Pants, Comedy Bang! Bang! season 3

It was always Comedy Bang! Bang!s MO to take a theme and just run wild with it, but with this holiday special, Scott Aukerman took it even further than usual. With the Lonely Island as guests, the air-conditioning in the studio breaks and the show is taken over by terrorists requesting a highly sought after type of doll to give their kids for Christmas. What follows is a Die Hardstyle jape that, spoiler, ends in the entire Lonely Island being shot and killed. Still, its a happy ending for some, as the terrorists get their dolls, and the fixing of the AC ends in a ton of fake snow falling on the studio.

Boom Crunch, Desperate Housewives season 6

If holiday episodes are a chance to take the drama of a show to the next level and tie up loose ends, Desperate Housewives really went there. Everyones various infidelities and fights reach boiling point, with Karl and Orson coming to blows at the Christmas block party, Dylan discovering her mother has been lying to her, and Lynette attempting to apologize to Gaby and Carlos for suing them. Of course, that isnt enough: a plane crashes into Wisteria Lane, which Lynette saves Gabys child from the path of, fixing their feud. It also hits Mona, who has been blackmailing the Bolens. It then crashes into Santas workshop, with Bree, Karl, and Orson inside, as we learn later, killing Karl and disabling Orson. Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz, Frasier season 6

Some of the best holiday episodes are the ones that remember other cultures and traditions exist  and maybe even clash with Christmas sometimes. Frasier has a ton of great holiday episodes, but Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz is a masterclass in the shows signature deception, confusion, and slapstick. When shopping for a menorah for his son, Frasier runs into a woman who, through a complicated chain of events, sets him up with her daughter, Faye. They get along, but Faye learns that he isnt actually Jewish, something her mother would never approve of. When Faye and her mother come over, Frasier enlists Martin and Niles for help to appear Jewish, hiding the Christmas decorations and saying all the right things. Until, of course, everything devolves by way of Eddie and Niles dressed as Santa Claus and Jesus, respectively. Its fun, its silly, and it should be the wake-up call that the Crane family needs to just stop lying (luckily for fans, its a lesson theyll never learn).

The Real Santa, Fresh Off the Boat season 2

While Jessica loves the holidays, she, naturally, cant leave well enough alone and feels like Santa needs some improvements. She convinces Evan that Santa Claus is a Chinese man and a scientist in an attempt to make him embrace his cultural heritage, so Evan decides he wants to ask Santa physics questions. Panicking, Jessica attempts to find a suitable Santa. In the end, Jessica dresses up as Lao Ban Santa to deliver their presents, convincing Evan that Santa is Chinese after all, and a woman because you think a man is thoughtful enough to give presents to everyone in the world? Its a funny, original take on an old story, and ends up as a heartwarming insight into just how far Jessica will go for her kids.

Available to stream on Hulu

Santas Secret Stuff, Gilmore Girls season 7

Whats Christmas without a few family secrets coming to the surface? In Santas Secret Stuff, Luke asks Lorelai to write a character recommendation letter to help in his custody battle over April, which she does after remembering how pivotal he has been in Rorys life. She keeps it a secret from Christopher, and elsewhere, Rory is atoning for her own secrets by writing a letter to her friend explaining why she kept her friendship with her boyfriend quiet. But all that doesnt put a damper on the celebrations  Rory and Lorelai still manage to go all-out to decorate trees, do all their shopping, and bake Christmas cookies. If we can learn anything from the Gilmore girls this Christmas, its to make all occasions as extra as possible, no matter what.

Available to stream on Netflix

Roman Holiday, Gossip Girl season 1

In this season-one episode of Gossip Girl, Blair has a difficult holiday when her father comes home with his boyfriend, and she hatches a plan to get rid of him. Meanwhile, she panics that Chuck is going to tell Nate about their hookup. Its not all trouble, though, as Blair accepts Roman into her life, and when her fathers flight is canceled, they have a whole Waldorf Christmas. Meanwhile, Dan sneaks a tree into Serenas suite, she creates a Winter Wonderland for him and gives him a love letter, and everyone is pretty happy  until Chuck teases that hes going to tell Nate about the hookup right at the end, because what Gossip Girl episode is truly complete without life-ruining drama?

A Very Sunny Christmas, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 6

It just wouldnt be a Sunny Christmas without blood, swearing, and so much screaming. In this hour-long two-part Christmas special, our friends at Paddys Pub go through a roller coaster of emotions and revelations: Frank buys Dees and Denniss dream gifts for himself, so they embark on a Christmas Carol scheme to get him back, Mac discovers that he used to rob innocent families on Christmas Day, and Charlie bites a Santa and screams, Did you fuck my mom, Santa Claus? after discovering his mom used to sleep with men dressed as Santa. After making up, Frank buys them all gifts, but they all get stolen. Its a happy ending, though, as the gang make up and throw rocks at trains. This episode showcases the best and worst of the Sunny gang, as all holiday episodes should do.

Available to stream on Hulu

Christmas Waltz, Mad Men season 5

Subterfuge! Drinking! Divorce! Well, it could be literally any episode of Mad Men, but its not  its a Christmas one. This episode captures some of the less enjoyable Christmassy feelings: loneliness, disappointment, and family arguments, namely. Joan is brought a surprise Christmas gift in the form of divorce papers, so Don, down on inspiration, takes her to the Jaguar showroom to test drive a car. They go to a bar and Joan, lamenting her lack of suitors these days, asks why Don never took interest in her. They flirt a little, and she admits that her mother raised her to be admired; when a man shows interest in her, Don encourages it. The next day Joan receives flowers that say her mother did a good job, and the episode ends with Don, reinvigorated by his conversation with Joan, standing in front of the office decorations and promising everyone theyll be working on Jaguar over Christmas. Its perhaps not a traditional Christmas, but it sure is a Mad Men one.

Available to stream on AMC+

Christmas, Malcolm in the Middle season 3

Canceling Christmas: Its a threat used by parents everywhere, but maybe not always followed through on. Lois, however, is the one parent out there who seems like she might just have the stones to do it. There are a lot of great Malcolm in the Middle Christmas episodes, but season threes Christmas is a real treat. After the boys destroy the Christmas tree ornaments, we flash back to learn that they do something similar every year, ruining the holiday with antics like mugging Santa (Hal) and setting the tree on fire. Lois cancels the holiday, and while Hal is mad that Lois is holding Christmas hostage, you gotta hand it to her: Her plan works (at least for a little while). The boys panic that she could use the threat every holiday and start behaving like Christmas angels for a bit, using their manners and even offering to clean up. Eventually, the brothers crack and open all their presents only to learn Lois has bought them everything they wanted, and really, the only thing they ever really wanted was a nice Christmas. Lesson learned? Probably not, theres a few seasons to go yet. Still, its a heartwarming watch, and Franciss B story line bickering with Grandma Ida is pretty fun, too.

Available to stream on Hulu

Santa, New Girl season 2

This New Girl episode opens with the gang discussing how they first found out the truth about Santa Claus, with Schmidt revealing that he was on very strict instructions not to say a word until the last Christian kid found out. Throughout the episode the gang attend several Christmas (or as Schmidt calls it, White Anglo-Saxon Winter Privilege Night) parties and learn to reconcile, as is in the spirit of Christmas: Nick makes up with new girlfriend Angie, who he feels is too sexually adventurous; Schmidt and Cece reconcile, after being let off a traffic violation by a cop they dub black Santa; and Jess visits Sam in hospital and they kiss. New Girl can often turn in some schmaltz among the comedy, and what better time to do it than Christmas?

Citizen Knope, Parks and Recreation season 4

Leslie Knope is, of course, the hardest-working and most thoughtful person in the Parks department. But after being suspended and banned from working at home, shes at a loose end and forms a Citizens Action Committee to keep busy, which thrives until she learns that her poll numbers have taken a hit due to her scandal and suspension. Feeling responsible, Chris lifts her suspension, but that isnt the first Christmas miracle. After Leslie gives everyone a thoughtful Christmas gift, they pool together to make her a miniaturized City Hall out of gingerbread and, when that isnt quite enough, reveal that they want to volunteer as her new campaign staff. Leslie is touched, and what follows is a very cute, very Parks and Rec ending, as Leslie is rewarded for her tireless efforts over the years as everybodys colleague and friend.

Available to stream on Peacock

The Chrismukk-huh? The O.C. season 4

In the tradition of holiday episodes, Hanukkah specials are few and far between. But with Chrismukkah, The O.C.s mash-up holiday of Christmas and Hanukkah, we have the next best thing. The holiday was a cultural sensation, and it all started with Seth Cohen waving a menorah and a candy cane in Ryan Atwoods face and telling him he didnt have to choose. There are four Chrismukkah episodes, but this one is special: It enters pretty wacky territory in the midst of a season full of self-referential, off-the-wall comedy, with Taylor and Ryan suffering head injuries in the middle of an argument and being thrown into a parallel universe, entering real soap-opera territory. Ryan sees a parallel universe where he never ended up in Orange County and Marissa dies in Tijuana, and in the real world, theyre in a coma while the families try to wake them and get Taylors insensitive mom to visit. Taylor awakes with a revelation that she needs to confront her mom, while Ryan awakes with the realization that theres nothing he could have done to help Marissa. All is well, and some narrative difficulties are neatly wrapped up.

Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose, Schitts Creek season 4

What happened to the great tradition of Christmas episodes? Is it shorter seasons? Streaming dumping everything at once so that seasons dont carry through over December? Whatever it is, theyre rarer than they used to be  a lost art. Ted Lasso did feature one in season two, but it aired in the summer, which throws things off a little. Schitts Creek, however, rose (heh) to the challenge in 2018. A holiday special and a whole extra episode released outside the regular season, its a Christmas gift all in itself. After having a dream about their old Christmas parties on the night before Christmas eve, Johnny decides to throw a Rose party all over again. He gets the family onboard but things dont really go to plan, with messed up guest lists, overpriced Christmas trees, and David refusing to give the family ornaments for free from his store. Johnny realizes that Christmas may never again be like it was in their past  but that maybe, just maybe, that isnt such a bad thing. Maybe the family has grown, learning to have fun and love one another no matter how much money they have to show off  and isnt that the most Christmassy thing of all?

My Own Personal Jesus, Scrubs season 1

It really wouldnt be Scrubs  especially a Scrubs holiday episode  without overwrought feelings, lessons learned, and the emotional J.D. monologue to go with it. My Own Personal Jesus sees Elliott, JD, and Turk experiencing a lack of both faith and holiday spirit. But seeing as how this episode is from the first season, these tropes were still new to viewers who dont know these characters that well yet. Here, isolated from one another for most of the episode, its a chance to get to know the hospital interns better as they dig deep and wrestle with their own identities. When J.D. witnesses a dying patient waking up, Turk chooses to see it as a miracle before having a crisis about his faith. Elliott is tasked with looking after Meredith, an eight-month-pregnant patient from the free clinic who needs to deliver her baby immediately and experiences her own crisis of identity when Kelso makes a jab about her going into a female specialty. Everyone teams up to help Meredith deliver her baby, experiencing revelations about their own place in the world  and maybe even getting a little into the holiday spirit.

The Strike, Seinfeld season 9

Made-up holidays that become a big deal didnt start with The O.C.s Chrismukkah. They possibly did start with Seinfelds infamous Festivus, which first appears in The Strike. The episode opens with a Hanukkah party and continues with all the usual Seinfeldisms  shallowness and selfishness, namely  but theres no repentance to be seen here. Instead, George tries to get the day off for Festivus, a holiday his father invented and which they celebrate instead of Christmas, with traditions including a Festivus pole, an airing of grievances, and feats of strength. The gang all attend a Festivus dinner at the Costanzas, united at last, and the holiday became a cultural hit, being adopted at large as an alternative to the capitalism of Christmas.

Available to stream on Netflix

To Save Us All From Satans Power, The Sopranos season 3

You didnt expect a Sopranos holiday episode to be joyful or even a little bit normal now, did you? This one, while not the most cheerful, is memorable and haunting thanks to a certain Big Mouth Billy Bass, sending that patented shiver down your spine. Most of the episode is the lead-up to Christmas Day  Tony reflects on Pussys betrayal, trying to pinpoint the moment when the FBI might have flipped him. He also gets a lot of beating up done on behalf of the women in his family  trying to wrap up work before the holidays, maybe. On Christmas morning, Jackie Jr. shows up with a gift for Meadow despite recently being battered by Tony for getting a lap dance. After Jackie leaves and Tony scares the shit out of him again, Meadow gives Tony a meaningful gift: a Big Mouth Billy Bass, just like the one that fuels his nightmares and reminds him of Pussy. Not a real feel-good family watch, but a key episode and the most Sopranos way of handling Christmas.

Available to stream on Max

A Solstice Carol, Xena: Warrior Princess season 2

In A Solstice Carol, Xena and Gabrielle work together to save an orphanage by drugging the king and impersonating the three fates in a spin on the Christmas Carol tale. They convince the king to change his ways, rescuing a donkey along the way, and the king reunites with his wife, who has been working on the orphanage after walking out on him. Victorious, Xena and Gabrielle leave the now-happy king and queen and donate the donkey to a man and woman walking with a baby. All of that is all good and Christmassy enough, but the best thing about Xena, of course, has always been the coded relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. This episode is no exception: Xena gives Gabrielle a carved sheep like the one she had as a child, and when Gabrielle apologises for not having a gift for Xena, Xena responds: Gabrielle, you are a gift to me. Merry Solstice, one and all.

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, The X-Files season 6

When Scully gets a call from Mulder dragging her to investigate a house haunted by a couple who went through with a suicide pact at Christmas, she tries to get it over with quickly  until they find two corpses that look the same as them. After the agents are separated, the ghosts turn them against each other, tricking them into believing that they have shot one another. After Mulder realizes this isnt possible, the illusion is broken, and the two manage to leave  the mystery is unsolved, but the ghosts sit by the fire, and Mulder and Scully go home to exchange presents, even though they said they would not. It has all the makings of a great X-Files episode  camaraderie and low-key flirting between the agents, unresolved mysteries, and genuine terror, all wrapped up with a nice Christmas bow.
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Chip manufacturer Broadcom wrote the latest chapter in the long story of return-to-office tensions between bosses and employees.

After completing its $69 billion acquisition of cloud computing company VMWare, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan issued a direct order to his new employees about where they must work. If you live within 50 miles of an office, you get your butt in here," he told the workers of previously remote-friendly VMWare.

The comments came during a meeting Tan hosted on Tuesday after the merger between the two companies officially closed, following approval from Chinese regulators. Like many other executives, Tan cited in-person works benefits to collaboration and company culture. "Collaboration is important and a key part of sustaining a culture with your peers, with your colleagues," he said.

There was no word on what employees thought of the mandate specifically, but there had been reports of broader concerns regarding the merger with Broadcom, according to Business Insider. Broadcom has a history of chafing at remote work even during the pandemic, going as far as ordering some employees back to the office as early as April 2020, in defiance of Californias statewide stay-at-home orders.

In recent months, a growing amount of research has pointed to the benefits of in-person work, especially when it comes to on-the-job training and career advancement. Proponents of remote work say it can help close gaps in promotion rates for women, for example. And workers seem to prefer at least partial remote work flexibility to the point that some would even be willing to take a 20% pay cut in order to keep the perk. However, in contrast to Broadcom, some companies, such as Atlassian, Dropbox, and Airbnb, have remained committed to remote work.

Broadcom isn't alone in its back-to-the-office mandate. Insurance company Farmers Group faced an outcry from employees when new CEO Raul Vargas reversed his predecessors remote work policy. In February, Amazon changed its pandemic-era remote work policy to require employees to be in the office at least three days a week. The ecommerce giant went as far as asking managers to consider office attendance alongside other factors like job performance when evaluating whether someone should get a promotion.

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Many other CEOs have opted for the carrot instead of the stick when trying to curb remote work. In KPMGs annual CEO survey, 90% of respondents said theyd reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favorable assignments, raises or promotions. Others have tried to spin it as a necessary sacrifice for the greater good of the company. You might be able to execute your work on time and to standard in a remote environment, but what about your colleagues?, wrote Jake Wood, CEO of software company Groundswell, on LinkedIn this summer. Absent your presence, leadership, mentorshipcan they thrive?

At Broadcom, Tan only permitted remote work in very limited cases, such as employees in the sales department who had to meet with clients regularly. Those who didnt meet Tans requirements would need to clear an extraordinarily high bar. "Any other exception, you better learn how to walk on water if you want to work remote," he told employees. "I'm serious."

Throughout the meeting, Tan and VMWare employees discussed how the two corporate cultures would mesh now that they were part of the same company. Return-to-office, though, wasnt the only point of contention between VMWare and its new parent. When a VMWare employee asked if Broadcom would support employee resource groups (ERG), Tan again offered a skeptical answer. "What is that? I'm just kidding. You want me to be direct? That's an alien concept to me, he said.

While Tan admitted ERGs, which provide support for groups of underrepresented employees, werent part of Broadcoms culture, he said he was open to them. Broadcom did not respond to a request for comment from Fortune about whether it would allow VMWare employees to continue their existing ERGs.

Adding to the difficulties in integrating the two companies were the looming layoffs that are often a harsh reality of corporate mergers. Broadcom laid off approximately 1,300 VMWare employees after the deal was completed while VMWare president Sumit Dhawan left to become the CEO of cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

Many of Broadcoms employees will move into VMWares Palo Alto, Calif. headquarters, which ironically had been largely empty thanks to its longstanding remote work policy, according to the San Francisco Standard.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When South African alleged conman Johann Steynberg was led away in handcuffs after being tracked down by police in the Brazilian city of Goiania two years ago, many of his investors  including thousands of Australians  thought their nightmare was over. Built like a front rower for the Springboks, Steynberg, 40, was arrested under Interpol warrants for allegedly heading up the worlds largest cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, Mirror Trading International. Mirror Trading International  also known as MTI or MTI Club  pledged to deliver high returns to investors by pooling tens of thousands of bitcoin. Bitcoin trading took off during the pandemic, pushing the currency to new heights and attracting droves of new investors. Credit: Getty It blitzed through social media in 2020, sucking in as many as 100,000 people from 140 countries before coming unstuck following a flurry of investor complaints. By the time the man with a thick neck, acne and a new mistress was arrested in December 2021, at least $US1.7 billion ($2.6 billion) of investments were long gone. And unfortunately, as more than 5000 people based in Australia are about to find out, the matter is far from over.

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This masthead can reveal that MTIs South African-based liquidators hope to claw back money from 5250 Australians who are believed to have made money off the scheme, either by receiving payments during the schemes duration (as returns on their investments) or via commissions for bringing in new investors. Loading The fallout from the MTI scheme underscores the huge risks that ordinary people take when they click on a link shared on social media and buy into an investment scheme that sounds great, but in reality is too good to be true. It also highlights the often wealth-destroying outcomes of the heady days of bitcoin investments during the pandemic, when people were spending more time on social media, and increased interest in cryptocurrency led to a huge surge in the price of the digital currency. One of Australias top consumer advocates, Gerard Brody, says dodgy investment schemes skyrocketed during the pandemic and continue to be a problem. It certainly seems that Ponzi schemes and investment scams are something thats not uncommon here in Australia, says Brody, who chairs the Consumers Federation of Australia and is a board member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Brody points to how the corporate watchdog recently put out an investor alert encouraging people to check whether a business offering an investment was licensed to operate in Australia. A list published with the alert included scores of new illegal investment schemes being offered to local consumers.

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The fact that the national financial services regulator is doing that says that theyre worried about these sorts of investments  Ponzi-scheme scams and the like  in the community, Brody says. Home to roost Despite the massive numbers of investors involved, MTIs victims have kept a low profile in Australia, keeping their discussions to private pages on Facebook and Telegram groups. On those forums, investors discuss the possibility that some of them might have to pay back some of the money they earned from the scheme, and the benefits that pooling these winnings could have to the groups many thousands of victims worldwide. Most seem unaware of the recent legal action in Australia regarding the case. Last month, a group of liquidators appointed to MTI in South Africa won urgent court orders from Australias Federal Court that recognised the liquidation in Australia. The orders granted the liquidators the legal right to interview investors about their winnings, so they can seek to recoup money from scheme participants. In making the orders, Justice Catherine Button noted that the evidence does not disclose what, if any, assets MTI has in Australia. That said, potential recoveries from early investors who did receive proceeds funded by later investors may constitute an asset.

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To the extent that MTI does have assets in Australia, it is appropriate that the liquidators have the capacity to realise those assets and deal with them in the liquidation for the benefit of MTIs creditors, Button added. Thousands of Australian-based investors in the schemes will be interviewed by lawyers from local firm Hicks Oakley Chessell Williams, according to documents filed by the liquidators Australian lawyers with the Federal Court. Those documents, obtained by this masthead, included a request for judicial assistance to the Australian court from South African High Court judge Judith Cloete, which revealed the extent of the scheme in Australia. Cloete said in her request: The jointly appointed liquidators have, through their preliminary investigations, determined that approximately 5250 individuals ordinarily residing in the Commonwealth of Australia either received bitcoin from MTI [or] alternatively benefited from the scheme. Digital forensic specialists in the Republic of South Africa have been employed to determine the exact number and reports have become available. It is further believed that those who benefited from the scheme did so inter alia, at the prejudice of other creditors, as defined in ... the [South African] Insolvency Act. The liquidators told the court they also believed that about 3735 creditors  or scheme losers  resided in Australia. Their lawyers declined to comment when contacted by this masthead.

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Not all victims are created equal Sorting through the Australian winners and losers of MTI could be a very hard task for the liquidators and their lawyers. Many investors remain wary of engaging with lawyers, even ones officially working with the liquidators, believing they are being scammed all over again. This is the only way victims will see any of their money again. Its highly unlikely though and its time-consuming. So when we get a recovery guy on the scene its just another scam, says an MTI user on a victims-focused Facebook page. Investors, who spoke to this masthead under the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals, also believe there are people in Australia who were intimately involved in the scheme. This includes two men believed to be linked to the development of the groups fake software and other promoters of the scheme. According to court documents, about $83 million was paid in commissions to marketers of the scheme. For locals who received those commission payments, it could get very sticky.

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On a warm May afternoon in the far south-western suburbs, Heath Davis is directing a low-key Christmas scene in a rundown house that has been donated for the shoot.

The resourceful DIY filmmaker, best known for the rugby league drama Broke and the wry high school comedy Book Week, has Steve Le Marquand playing a famous actor, Chris Flint, who gets a job just out of rehab as a shopping centre Santa in the comic drama Christmess.

Heath Davis directs Steve Le Marquand, who plays a famous actor fresh out of rehab who gets a job as a shopping centre Santa in Christmess. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Flint tries on his red suit for his two amused halfway housemates: his cheerful sobriety sponsor (Darren Gilshenan) and a free-spirited musician (Hannah Joy). This is going to be the best character youve ever played, the sponsor says.

Everything about the production  the tough-times setting, the shooting location in Campbelltown on Sydneys outskirts, the gritty look and even the title  indicates Christmess is not a traditional Christmas film. While it has a warm heart, it lacks the sentimentality and the cheerful most wonderful time of the year trappings of a hugely popular genre.
Australias former watchdog for national security laws has savaged the Albanese government and opposition over their plans to put former immigration detainees back behind bars, accusing them of whipping up fear and pursuing an unworkable regime.

Grant Donaldson, SC, who finished his statutory role as the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor last Sunday, said he struggled to understand how the government could develop a preventative detention scheme the courts could impose on people whose prison sentences had long ago expired.

The former watchdog for national security legislation has accused the Albanese government of whipping up fear over immigration detention. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

I think its a disgrace and shames both sides. The government and the opposition should be ashamed of themselves, Donaldson, who was the solicitor-general for Western Australia between 2012 and 2016, said.

They have created fear and hysteria in the community when that was totally unwarranted. The perception that theyve created is youve got hordes of Attila the Hun released from immigration detention, and theyre going around raping and pillaging people in the community.
The 51-year-old Haley has an impressive resume. In deeply conservative South Carolina, where the first shots rang out in the American Civil War, she became the states first female governor. What made this all the more remarkable is that she is an Indian American whose name at birth was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa. Will Haley be able to defy history and break one of the worlds most impregnable glass ceilings? Credit: Matt Davidson Loading Haley was governor in 2015, when Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who had draped himself in the Confederate flag, massacred nine African-American parishioners at a Black church in Charleston. Bravely, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, where it had been hoisted in the early 1960s as a rebuke to the civil rights movement. I was there the day when the flag came down, a ceremony that felt like the final surrender of the Civil War. Little did we know that what we were actually witnessing that summer was the beginning of the white nationalist counter-offensive headed by Trump. In a strange quirk of history, he launched his presidential bid the very day before the Charleston massacre.

During the Trump presidency, Haley served as Americas United Nations ambassador, and drew praise from her boss for bringing glamour to that role. Though a foreign policy neophyte, she quickly established herself as a formidable diplomat. From her seat at the Security Councils famed horseshoe table, she excoriated the Russians, a bold move since Trump was so smitten with Vladimir Putin. At a time when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres privately expressed fears that the US president could destroy the global body with a single tweet, Haley helped protect it from the America First wrecking ball. After the Capitol Hill attack of January 6, 2021, she said Trump would be judged harshly by history, although she quickly backtracked when it became clear that many Republicans supported his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Haleys campaign launch video also spoke of her political timidity in the face of the MAGA mob. Footage of her most courageous act, the lowering of those Confederate colours, was banished from view. More recently, shes become the cut-through star of the Republican televised debates, which, in the absence of a boycotting Donald Trump, have felt like watching Gladiator without the thunderous presence of Russell Crowes Maximus Decimus Meridius.

Lets play fantasy punditry for a moment, and imagine an improbable scenario in which Trump either withdraws or somehow gets beaten by Haley. Having overcome Trump, would she then be able to defy history and break one of the worlds most impregnable glass ceilings? Misogyny in American politics runs deep. It was the founding fathers who produced the US Constitution, and when the countrys second first lady, Abigail Adams, told her husband, John, that women should get the vote, he witheringly responded that America should not succumb to the despotism of the petticoat. Loading The 19th amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was not ratified until 1920, 18 years after nationwide female suffrage in Australia. Even though female politicians started winning election to the US Senate in the 1930s, as recently as the 1970s there were times when not a single seat was occupied by a woman. At the beginning of the 1990s, there were just two female senators. For all that, the glass will surely be shattered. Indeed, were it not for the vagaries of the Electoral College, one of the founding fathers more problematic inventions, America would already have had a female president. In 2016, Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. It was just that they werent distributed in the right states.

Hillary Clinton in the hours after her defeat and Donald Trumps election in 2016 as the 45th president of the United States. Credit: Bloomberg/Andrew Harrer Today, there are a record number of female US senators (although still only 25 out of 100) and an unprecedented number of female state governors (12 out of 50). America also has its first Madam Vice President, Kamala Harris. Few Democrats, however, think Harris should replace Biden as the nominee, partly because of fears of misogynoir  the combination of racism and sexism  and partly because she was a lacklustre candidate in the past. Loading Assumptions about the electability of women have long been a bar to female advancement. Furthermore, as well as contending with male chauvinism, Hillary Clinton struggled in 2016 to mobilise a sisterhood. Even after he was heard boasting about sexually molesting women in the Access Hollywood tape, Trump won more white, female voters than she did.
In an October episode of the "The Ramsey Show", a caller from Washington D.C., highlighted a common financial challenge faced in urban areas. Earning around $90,000 annually and with significant savings, the caller was spending about $2,000 a month on rent in downtown D.C. Despite this considerable expense, they managed to save and minimize other costs.

Show host Dave Ramsey responded, emphasizing his financial guidelines. We tell folks to put 25% of their take-home pay aside for housing, and no math works in every city and in every state you dont get a pass on math because youre in Washington D.C.

This advice reflects Ramseys broader philosophy that staying within the 25% limit prevents people from becoming house poor, ensuring they can comfortably manage other expenses without relying on debt.

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Ramsey's advice, however, is somewhat more conservative than the general guideline recommended by many experts and government agencies. The commonly accepted rule of thumb is that housing costs should not exceed 30% of ones gross income. This broader perspective encompasses rent or mortgage payments, homeowner association fees and utilities like gas, electricity, water and internet. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as costing no more than 30% of a households income.

Despite these recommendations, the reality for many Americans is different. Data indicates that a significant proportion of American renters and homeowners spend more than the recommended percentages on housing.

In 2020, 46% of American renters were spending 30% or more of their income on housing, and 23% were allocating at least 50% of their income to it. Similarly, data from 2017 to 2021 showed that 31% of households spent 30% or more of their income on housing. The average American household spends approximately 35% of its after-tax income on housing, which is above both Ramseys and the general 30% guideline.

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In total, 31.8% of all U.S. households (40.6 million homeowners and renters) were cost-burdened in 2021. This figure includes nearly 1 in 6 U.S. households (20.3 million) that spent over half of their income on housing. For low-income households, such high-cost burdens significantly limit their ability to afford other necessities like food and healthcare.

The variation in these guidelines and the reality of housing expenses reflect the complexity of personal finance. While Ramseys 25% rule aims to provide a conservative framework for financial stability, the general 30% guideline offers a slightly more flexible approach.

Actual spending patterns suggest that many households struggle to keep housing costs within these limits, often because of high living costs in urban areas, limited affordable housing options and varying income levels. This highlights the need for personalized financial planning that takes into account individual circumstances, local housing markets and overall financial goals.

For people struggling with high housing costs, fractional real estate investing offers an innovative solution. Some investing platforms even allow individuals to invest in real estate with as little as $100. Investors get a share of the rental income and long-term appreciation without the direct financial burden of buying a property themselves.

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Passive income investments are one of the most trusted methods for riding out a recession, so it's no surprise that people are turning to high-yield real estate notes that pay a fixed 7.5% to 9%.

Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Here are 3 high-yield investments to add significant income to your portfolio.

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This article Dave Ramsey Says It Doesn't Matter Where You Live  The Same Budget Rule Applies: 'Math Works In Every City And Every State. You Don't Get A Pass On Math Because You Live In Washington D.C.' originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Partly sunny and pleasant; still a bit of a breeze, from the southwest 10-15mph with gusts to 20mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly clear and seasonably cold.
Michael Sentonas, the President of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD), has recently sold 26,652 shares of the company's stock on November 30, 2023. This transaction has caught the attention of investors and market analysts, as insider activity, such as sales and purchases, can provide valuable insights into a company's financial health and future prospects.

Who is Michael Sentonas?

Michael Sentonas is a seasoned cybersecurity expert and the President of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. With a career spanning over two decades in the industry, Sentonas has been instrumental in driving the company's strategic initiatives and technological advancements. His role at CrowdStrike involves overseeing the company's product and security strategy, ensuring that the organization remains at the forefront of the cybersecurity landscape.

About CrowdStrike Holdings Inc

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc is a leading player in the cybersecurity space, providing cloud-delivered solutions for endpoint and cloud workload protection. The company's flagship platform, the CrowdStrike Falcon, leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to offer real-time threat detection, automated threat intelligence, and incident response capabilities. With a focus on protecting organizations against cyberattacks, CrowdStrike's innovative approach has made it a trusted partner for businesses across various industries.

Analysis of Insider Buy/Sell and Relationship with Stock Price

Insider transactions are closely monitored by investors as they can signal the confidence levels of a company's executives and board members in the firm's future performance. In the case of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc, the insider transaction history over the past year shows a pattern of more insider sells (31) than buys (3). This could be interpreted in several ways, but without additional context, it is not necessarily indicative of a lack of confidence in the company.

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It is important to consider that insiders may sell shares for various reasons unrelated to their outlook on the company, such as diversifying their investment portfolio, tax planning, or personal financial needs. Therefore, while a high volume of insider selling may raise questions, it should not be the sole factor in assessing a company's health.

On the day of the insider's recent sale, shares of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc were trading at $236, giving the company a market cap of $56.441 billion. This valuation reflects the market's assessment of the company's current and future potential.

When analyzing the relationship between insider activity and stock price, it is also useful to consider the company's valuation metrics. With a price of $236 and a GuruFocus Value of $321.95, CrowdStrike Holdings Inc has a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.73, indicating that the stock is modestly undervalued based on its GF Value.

The GF Value is a proprietary intrinsic value estimate developed by GuruFocus, which takes into account historical trading multiples, a GuruFocus adjustment factor based on past returns and growth, and future business performance estimates from analysts. This metric suggests that CrowdStrike's stock may have room for growth, despite the recent insider selling activity.

Insider Sell: President Michael Sentonas Sells 26,652 Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (CRWD)

The insider trend image above provides a visual representation of the buying and selling patterns of insiders at CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. This data can be useful for investors trying to gauge the sentiment of those with in-depth knowledge of the company.

Insider Sell: President Michael Sentonas Sells 26,652 Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (CRWD)

The GF Value image further illustrates the stock's valuation in comparison to its intrinsic value estimate. When the stock price is below the GF Value line, as it is in this case, it suggests that the stock may be undervalued, potentially offering a buying opportunity for investors.

Conclusion

While the recent insider sell by President Michael Sentonas of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc may prompt some investors to take a closer look at the company, it is essential to consider the broader context. The company's strong position in the cybersecurity market, combined with its modestly undervalued stock price according to the GF Value, could indicate that CrowdStrike remains an attractive investment despite the insider selling activity.

Investors should conduct their due diligence, considering both insider trends and comprehensive valuation metrics, to make informed decisions. As always, insider transactions are just one piece of the puzzle when evaluating a company's investment potential.

This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


QUAKERTOWN, Pa. - Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) say two people have been arrested for allegedly stealing propane tanks from a Quakertown gas station last Friday night.

PSP say a man and woman broke into a propane tank locker on Nov. 24, at the Sunoco service station located at 2099 Quaker Pointe Drive.

Police say the alleged thieves were seen on-camera taking 18- and 20-pound propane tanks from a tank locker on the property.

The suspects are identified as 19-year-old Hailey Lowry, of Red Hill, and 50-year-old Robert Keller, of Quakertown. Both suspects face charges of theft and other related crimes, police said.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A Bethlehem police Facebook post recognized two officers for rescuing an unconscious person from an apartment fire on Thursday.

According to the Facebook post, Officers Gontz and George rescued the person from an apartment in the Sherwood Apartments complex in the 3100 block of East Boulevard.

As Bethlehem police officers were clearing the apartment building, Officers Gontz and George discovered the source of the fire and were able to carry an unconscious patient to safety.

The Red Cross was also there to assist anyone who needed help.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - For dozens of vinyl aficionados walking into Double Decker Records Friday, it's their final spin around the Allentown store.

Zake and Zeke Baker flew in from San Antonio, Texas.

"Just to say goodbye to our favorite shop," the brothers said.

After 27 years this mecca of music's final day is Saturday, Dec. 2.

It's the final find for Montgomery County's Brian Heyman, a customer for over a decade.

"I feel that the rug's been pulled from underneath my feet. But all good things gotta come to an end," he said.

Jamie Holmes started the business in 1996. He mostly got his stock from people donating collections or him buying boxes at thrift stores. He says he always loved the thrill of the hunt and the unexpected find. Ironically, 2023 is set to be his most profitable year.

"Why walk away now?" I asked Holmes.

"I want to try to do something different in life. I'm 49 years old, I got time to do it. I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be the old bitter man in the back of the store saying I should have, now it's too late," he said.

What that is?

"I'll figure it out when I get there, there's no plan whatsoever," Holmes told a customer.

However, Sam Masotto says a culture is crumbling. Nationally, 6% of independent record stores are closing each year. There are currently a little over 2,000.

"It's not just the appreciation of music, but it's sort of, I feel like with more intent, you know, it's, it's not digital, it's, it's something somehow more sacred about it. It's bittersweet, well, it's just bitter," Masotto said of the closing.

For employees Michael Monte and Chris Bickert, it's a real-life soundtrack set to go silent.

"It's a place for people to come escape reality for 45 minutes and just lose themselves in music," Bickert said.

For Monte, who has been coming to the store since he was 11, it's a store that's stored in his memory.

"I learned so much about music, so much about records, so much about people. It's been an incredible journey, you know, from start to finish," he said.

Holmes is giving his unsold inventory to a record store in Pittsburgh.
SCRANTON, Pa. - A Northampton County man will spend over a decade behind bars for his role in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy.

The United States Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that 36-year-old Tyrell Ravenell of Wind Gap was sentenced this week to 14 years in prison.

Authorities say Ravenell admitted that beginning in 2018 and continuing to the time of his indictment in June 2023, he conspired with others to distribute at least 400 grams of fentanyl throughout Northampton and Monroe Counties.

Ravenells sentence was also enhanced because he unlawfully possessed firearms in relation to his drug trafficking, authorities say.

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Scranton and the Pennsylvania State Police.
SCRANTON, Pa. - A Monroe County man who participated in a fentanyl drug trafficking conspiracy has learned his sentence.

Jonathyn White, also known as Jay, 28, of Tobyhanna, was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, White pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking conspiracy on May 30, 2023, and admitted that beginning in 2019 and continuing to July of 2021, he conspired with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least 40 grams but less than 160 grams of fentanyl throughout Monroe County.

His sentence was also enhanced because he maintained a premise for the purpose of storing and distributing fentanyl, the DOJ said.

A judge also ordered White to serve a term of eight years of supervised release following release from custody, according to the DOJ.
JERUSALEM  Israel's military was aware of Hamas plan to launch an attack on Israeli soil over a year before the devastating Oct. 7 operation that killed hundreds of people, The New York Times reported Friday.

It was the latest in a series of signs that top Israeli commanders either ignored or played down warnings that Hamas was plotting the attack, which triggered a war against the Islamic militant group that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The Times said Israeli officials were in possession of a 40-page battle plan, code-named Jericho Wall, that detailed a hypothetical Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities.

It was unclear how the document was obtained by Israel, but the article said that it had been translated  indicating it may have been in Arabic and directly intercepted from Hamas.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the report, saying it was currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organization Hamas.

Questions of this kind will be looked into in a later stage, it said.

The document was seen by many Israeli military and intelligence officials, the report said, though it was unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top leaders had seen it.

The document predicted that Hamas would bombard Israel with rockets, use drones to disable Israel's security and surveillance abilities at the border wall, and take over southern communities and military bases. Another 2016 Israeli defense memo obtained by the Times said Hamas intended to take hostages back to Gaza.

The Oct. 7 attack  in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 people were abducted and taken to Gaza  would uncannily mirror the one outlined in the battle plan. But Israeli officials had brushed off the plan, the report said, dismissing it as aspirational rather than something that could practically take place, the report said.

The report comes amid public fury toward the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent an attack that appears to have been preceded by numerous warning signs.

The attack was planned in plain sight. A month before the assault, Hamas posted a video to social media showing fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, sweep in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-scale reconstruction of an Israeli town, firing automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets.

In the video, the militants destroyed mock-ups of the walls concrete towers and a communications antenna, just as they would do for real on Oct. 7.

Adding to public outrage over the military's apparent negligence, the Israeli media has reported that military officials dismissed warnings from female border spotters who warned that they were witnessing Hamas preparations for the attack. According to the media reports, the young women reported seeing Hamas drones and attempts to knock out Israeli border cameras in the months leading up to the attack.

Netanyahu has stopped short of apologizing for the attack, and has said that determining blame will have to come after the war is waged. Critics say he is attempting to escape responsibility for myriad intelligence failures leading to the deadliest day in Israeli history.
Michael Greenberg, President of Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), has recently sold a significant number of shares in the company. On December 1, 2023, Michael Greenberg parted with 103,000 shares of the footwear giant, a move that has caught the attention of investors and market analysts alike. This transaction is part of a series of insider sales by Greenberg over the past year, during which he has sold a total of 113,503 shares and made no purchases.

Who is Michael Greenberg at Skechers USA Inc? Greenberg is not only the President but also one of the co-founders of Skechers, a role he has held since the company's inception in 1992. Under his leadership, Skechers has grown into a global brand known for its diverse line of footwear that caters to men, women, and children. His insider position and his actions in the stock market are closely watched as they may reflect his confidence in the company's future prospects.

Skechers USA Inc, headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, is a global leader in the lifestyle and performance footwear industry. The company designs, develops, and markets a diverse range of footwear for all ages. Skechers' success is built on its high-quality, varied product offering, innovative design, and well-executed marketing strategies. The brand has established a strong presence in more than 170 countries through company-owned retail stores and a network of global distributors.

Insider transactions, such as those executed by Michael Greenberg, are often scrutinized for hints about a company's health and future performance. While insider selling is not always indicative of a problem within a company, a pattern of sales can sometimes suggest that insiders might believe the stock is fully valued or that they have concerns about the company's future.

Looking at the insider transaction history for Skechers USA Inc, we see a pattern of more insider selling than buying over the past year. There has been only 1 insider buy compared to 10 insider sells during this period. This could suggest that insiders, on balance, have been more inclined to reduce their positions than increase them.

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On the valuation front, Skechers' shares were trading at $59.01 on the day of Greenberg's recent sale, giving the company a market cap of $9.107 billion. The price-earnings ratio of 17.35 is lower than the industry median of 18.67 and also below the company's historical median, indicating that the stock may be undervalued compared to its peers and its own trading history.

When considering the price-to-GF-Value ratio, which stands at 1.06, Skechers USA Inc is deemed to be Fairly Valued. The GF Value is a proprietary intrinsic value estimate from GuruFocus, which takes into account historical trading multiples, a GuruFocus adjustment factor based on past returns and growth, and future business performance estimates from analysts.

The GF Value for Skechers is set at $55.45, slightly below the current trading price, suggesting that the stock is trading at a fair market value.

Insider Sell: Skechers USA Inc's President Michael Greenberg Sells 103,000 Shares

However, it's important to note that insider selling does not always provide a complete picture. Insiders might sell shares for various reasons unrelated to their outlook on the company, such as diversifying their personal portfolio, tax planning, or personal financial needs. Therefore, while insider trends can provide valuable information, they should be considered as part of a broader investment analysis.

Michael Greenberg's recent sale is significant not only because of the number of shares but also due to his position within the company. As a co-founder and President, his actions in the stock market are often considered a reflection of his belief in Skechers' future. However, without additional context, it is challenging to draw definitive conclusions from this transaction alone.

Investors should also consider the overall performance of the company, its growth prospects, and how it stands against competitors in the industry. Skechers has consistently demonstrated its ability to innovate and expand its global footprint, which could be a positive sign for long-term growth despite the recent insider selling activity.

Insider Sell: Skechers USA Inc's President Michael Greenberg Sells 103,000 Shares

In conclusion, while Michael Greenberg's sale of 103,000 shares of Skechers USA Inc is a notable event, it should be weighed against a range of factors, including the company's valuation, industry position, and future growth prospects. Investors are encouraged to conduct thorough research and consider the broader market context before making any investment decisions based on insider trading patterns.

This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk launched his Cybertruck on Thursday. FREDERIC J. BROWN / Getty

A 28-year-old man was arrested for planning an attack at Tesla's delivery event in Austin.

He is believed to hate technology and had previously threatened Tesla on Instagram.

After his arrest, he said: "I was going to shoot up Elon Musk and the plant," local news reported.

A Florida man was arrested this week after he was alleged to have planned a "mass casualty event" at Tesla's Cybertruck promotional event on Thursday.

Paul Ryan Overeem, 28, is believed to have driven to Texas specifically for the event at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin. Traffic cameras spotted his vehicle on a highway in southwest Austin on November 28.

He had already been under investigation for threatening posts he made under the name "ufotnoitalumis" in an Instagram group chat, local news station KVUE reported.

On November 9, Overeem posted: "I plan on killing people at that even (sic) ok (sic) November 30th and I would like you do something about it so I don't have to."

"If I'm saying I'm gonna kill people then you should take this seriously," read another message, per KVUE.

A screenshot of the instagram page believed to be owned by Paul Ryan Overeem, from which he allegedly made threats against Tesla. Screenshot / Polly Thompson

It appears that Overeem hated modern technology, posting "my thoughts haven't been free for over a year. All the electronics around me," according to the arrest warrant seen by NBC.

Overeem remains in custody on a $300,000 bond after being arrested in a McDonald's parking lot by the Travis County Sheriff's Office. He was booked on suspicion of making a terroristic threat.

After his arrest, Overeem told police officers that he had weapons in his car and was planning on committing suicide, CBS Austin reported.

"I was going to shoot up Elon Musk and the plant," he reportedly said.

When taken into custody Overeem said he believed Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink director and the mother of twins with Musk, were watching him, CBS Austin added.

Musk has not commented on the arrest.

Travis County Police Department and Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Hon. Kamal Khera announces funding to support over 1,000 learners

TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Kamal Khera, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons with Disabilities, on behalf of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault, announced that March of Dimes Canada's SkillingUp program is receiving a major funding boost from DIGITAL, Canada's global innovation cluster for digital technologies, to extend the free digital skills program to more than 1,000 people with disabilities in Canada.

March of Dimes Canada Logo (CNW Group/March of Dimes Canada)

Supported by DIGITAL and funded by the Government of Canada's Skills for Success Program, this investment more than doubles SkillingUp's current program funding. The new funding will complement investments from Microsoft Canada and CIBC Foundation empowering learners for in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow's digital economy.

"As we approach International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Government of Canada reaffirms its commitment to ensure that all Canadians can participate in the workforce," said Kamal Khera, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities. "Digital talent is needed now more than ever. With this project and the support of over six-hundred thousand dollars from the Government of Canada, March of Dimes Canada is helping persons with disabilities access the necessary training and support that enhance digital skills through skills training, mentorship and career development. Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved, you are helping break down barriers for persons with disabilities and building a more accessible, resilient Canada."

"We must ensure that persons with disabilities have the equal opportunities to be part of and thrive in the workforce" said MP Michael Coteau. "It is significant that we make this announcement on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The SkillingUp Program offered by March of Dimes Canada is exceptional and is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities are well equipped with the skills of today and tomorrow. It will provide those that benefit the necessary skills to be best positioned for the digital workforce. The need for people in the digital workforce has never been more important, and the Government of Canada is committed to everyone having the opportunity to be part of it."

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"We're thrilled to announce this new funding as we celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities," said Len Baker, March of Dimes Canada's President and CEO. "We want to ensure that all people with disabilities in Canada are prepared for employment success." Baker continued, "living in a digital first world means that skilling, upskilling and re-skilling are essential to remaining competitively employable. SkillingUp ensures people with disabilities have access to sector-recognized training and certification to support them on their career journey."

"Supporting equity and diversity within Canada's technology sector is crucial to our country's continued growth and prosperity," said Sydney Goodfellow, Director of DIGITAL's talent-focused program, the Digital Learning Lab. "We're proud to support the SkillingUp initiative and the work of March of Dimes Canada, Microsoft and the CIBC Foundation in helping to create a more inclusive and innovative Canada."

Since launching just over a year ago, SkillingUp has offered free training to more than 400 learners with disabilities across Canada in beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of digital skills training in both English and French leveraging Microsoft's global AI Skills Initiative. There are a wide range of participants, from individuals learning foundational digital literacy skills to tech and tech-enabled workers looking to enhance their skills or obtain advanced Microsoft certifications.

SkillingUp helps participants level up their digital skills in as little as four weeks. Through March of Dimes Canada's integrated skills training and mentorships, participants can accelerate their workforce entry or advancement in tech-enabled careers.

"As we embrace the transformative power of emerging technologies, Microsoft must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in a digital, AI-enabled economy," says Lisa Everett, Philanthropies Lead at Microsoft Canada. "Digital fluency is becoming a crucial skillset within any role, and sector or industry. As such, through the Microsoft Skills for Jobs program we endeavour to make technology skills accessible to all. Our partnership with March of Dimes Canada reflects our commitment to expanding economic opportunities and empowering individuals of all abilities to reach their full potential."

"At CIBC we're creating a culture of inclusion, and accessibility plays a large role in this," said Sandy Sharman, Group Head, People, Culture and Brand, CIBC, and Co-Chair, CIBC Foundation. "We believe that everyone should have access to opportunities to help achieve their ambitions, which is why removing barriers that get in the way of progress is so important. We're proud to support March of Dimes Canada and the SkillingUp initiative, which will help remove barriers for the next generation of leaders and changemakers."

For more information or to register as a participant in SkillingUp, visit https://www.modcemploymentservices.ca/services/skilling-up/ .

About March of Dimes Canada

March of Dimes Canada is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a society inclusive to people of all abilities. Their mission is to provide a wide range of services to individuals with physical disabilities throughout the country. They are committed to enabling people to achieve their goals and improve their quality of life.

SOURCE March of Dimes Canada

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2023/02/c1716.html
FILE PHOTO: Billboard for the Netflix film "Thar" is seen on a street in Mumbai

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Netflix, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Viacom18 and other streaming companies plan to collectively lobby the Indian government to delay or revamp a broadcast bill they fear will be onerous for the sector, sources familiar with the matter said.

India last month introduced the new draft law to regulate the broadcasting sector that will also apply to streaming giants. It proposes the formation of individual content evaluation committees with members from various social groups who will review and sign off on shows before they are released.

Though all films in Indian cinemas are reviewed and certified by a government-appointed board, streamed content is not.

In a closed-door meeting this week, top executives of several streaming companies including Netflix and Viacom18 which runs the JioCinema platform, discussed a plan to approach the government to delay and consider overhauling the bill, said the sources, who declined to be named as the talks were private.

The bill is open for public consultation until Dec. 10

Netflix and others raised concern the content committees would lead to excessive pre-screening checks, raising implementation problems as a high number of content that goes online will need to be reviewed first, said one of the sources.

Netflix and Viacom18, as well as India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which has proposed the law, did not respond to a request for comment.

The first source said streaming executives during this week's meeting flagged risks the law could impact the industry's growth.

Platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Disney and JioCinema have become hugely popular in India, which is set to grow into a $7 billion market for the sector by 2027, according to Media Partners Asia.

India's government says the new law and formation of content committees will help in "robust self-regulation". The government can define the committee's size and quorum and only "duly certified" shows shall be broadcast, the bill says.

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"There are worries about extensive government oversight on streaming platforms," a second source said.

Top Bollywood stars feature in Indian streaming shows, some of which have faced criticism from lawmakers and the public for scenes deemed vulgar or offensive.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra, additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Marbella Condominiums Association board members (from left) Tom Baker, Jim Smith and Rob Lasch stand outside their beachside home, where property insurance has increased more than 500% since two hurricanes caused damage to the structure's back patio and pool in 2022.

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Florida  Tom Baker lives in a retirement dream building: A spacious three-bedroom beachside condo with unobstructed morning sunrises, waves marking the time and the soft sand of comfort.

The retired Marine and Army veteran and his wife Joan moved here from the Tampa Bay area. She had a Daytona Beach timeshare they regularly visited. Ten years ago they moved to their retirement home: a fourth-story condo on the Atlantic Ocean.

I absolutely love Daytona Beach, he said. I absolutely love where I live, and I love this building.

Daytona Beach Shores condo owner Tom Baker sent a six-page memo to all of Florida's senators and representatives, seeking help to rein in property insurance costs. He said one of the 160 legislators, Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, responded to him.

So why does he seem so angry? Two words: Property insurance.

For Baker and many other Florida condo owners, the very concept of insurance  to ease worries during times of distress  seems lost, especially after the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside and the two-punch combo of the 2022 hurricane season: Ian and Nicole.

The latter storms just over a year ago pounded a seawall outside the Marbella Condominiums, then destroyed a pool and deck area. And the Surfside disaster, which killed 98 people, shined a light on structural safety, delayed maintenance and the need for the state to enact more strict regulations to prevent future collapses.

As bad as all of that was, for Baker, the real disaster arrived in December 2022: the property insurance bill for Marbella, where he serves on the condo associations board.

For the 24-unit building, property insurance jumped from $40,534 for 2022 to nearly $269,000  a 563% increase. And Rob Lasch, another Marbella board member, said hes expecting another increase when the policy offer arrives, which could be any day now.

And the increase came in spite of a history of Marbella, which was built in 2007, never having filed a claim, Lasch and Baker said. There was no claim filed for the $2 million damage on the condos ocean-facing deck.

Nothing got paid out for the damage outside because it was the seawall, and nobody was insuring the seawalls, Lasch said.

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So Marbella residents are getting hit hard on both sides of the hurricane. Theyre having to come up with the full amount to fix the damage, while also bearing the burden of increased rates.

Baker said his wife wants to move, leaving him to contemplate simply not buying property insurance for the building  something his fellow board members dont support because it violates Florida law and would leave the board members personally exposed to lawsuits.

In a minute, I wouldnt pay another dime in property insurance, because it is illegal, it is immoral, and its wrong. You cant justify this payment. This is out-and-out stealing. Theft, he said. And excuse me for being passionate. I am pissed.

Other condo owners also see exponential rate hikes

Marbella isnt alone. Many condo associations across the state have said they, too, have faced astronomical property insurance rate hikes.

Right next door, the 109-unit Grand Coquina Condo went from paying $207,000 for property insurance in 2022 to $680,000 for 2023, a 228% increase, said Jeff Sussman, the associations treasurer.

That amounted to a $2,331 additional assessment per unit this year, while Sussman projects another assessment of between $3,000 and $6,000 per unit will be required in 2024.

The Grand Coquina Condominiums, 3333 S. Atlantic Ave., in Daytona Beach Shores, saw a 228% increase in property insurance rates in 2023, despite the fact that its insurer denied a water damage claim. The condo association is fighting that determination.

Grand Coquina filed a claim seeking reimbursement for water damage its board members contend was caused by wind during the storms. The claim was denied, said Marro Porcelli, president of the Grand Coquina Condo Association Inc.

Grand Coquina hired an attorney and a structural engineer to challenge the denial. Board members expect they will receive a settlement offer.

Theres a lot of fight left in us, Porcelli said. Were not giving in to the criminals.

Marbella is relatively new, built 15 years ago under strict building codes. As a result, it stands on 42 pylons that are 40 feet long and reach down to the hard core beneath the sand, Smith said.

In other words, residents there are confident if the building itself could withstand Ian and Nicole, it's unlikely to crumble anytime soon.

And Smith said the deductible for any disaster is $1 million.

That leads Baker to question what the insurance is actually covering.

'We don't have insurance. We have an insurance bill'

If a tornado came across this building and ripped the roof completely off, our deductible is more than the repair. If an atomic bomb goes off downtown, and blows this building down, we dont collect because of the war clause," Baker said.

The Marbella Condominium Association, 3343 S. Atlantic Ave., in Daytona Beach Shores, was hit with a huge insurance increase last year and faces another increase, even while property insurance did not cover some $2 million in damage caused by Tropical Storms Ian and Nicole.

"There is no way this building can collect," he said. "This is a concrete building with sprinklers. You couldnt burn the damn thing down if you built a bonfire inside. We do not have insurance. We have an insurance bill.

Baker has written to all 160 state lawmakers as well as 15 news organizations about the plight of condo owners. He went to Tallahassee during this year's session.

I learned something a long time ago in the military," he said. "If you make a complaint, have a suggestion on how to fix it, OK?

He's proposed dropping the requirement that condos purchase insurance. And he's also talked about condos finding a way to self-insure.

Mostly, Baker said his pleas have been ignored.

Baker met with Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, who was receptive to at least one of his ideas. The office of Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isle Beach, responded to a packet of information Baker mailed to all lawmakers. But otherwise, he's heard nothing.

Baker said he's most disappointed in Sen. Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, who represents Daytona Beach Shores.

"For one year, Ive been trying to get an appointment with Sen. Wright," Baker said. "I even went to his office. He walked right past me. He didnt extend me the courtesy of shaking my hand."

Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

Leek, whose district includes Daytona Beach Shores, likes at least one of Baker's ideas.

Is self-insuring a good idea?

"We are actively finding ways to help the Florida consumer, and allowing condominium associations to self-insure is a good idea. In fact, measures that increase competition in the insurance market and drive more carriers into Florida will benefit consumers," he wrote.

Mark Friedlander, Florida spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said Florida has long had a complicated relationship with property insurance, and it got more challenging with the Surfside collapse and the hurricanes of 2022.

Many of the insurers that offer condo coverage started to pull back from the Florida market due to increased risk at the older coastal properties, Friedlander said in an email.

The insurers that remained enhanced their underwriting criteria. This began the trend of significant premium increases for master association coverage, he said. Insured losses incurred from substantial property damage generated by hurricanes Ian and Nicole last year further impacted the availability and cost of master condo insurance, Friedlander wrote.

In addition to "master policy costs" shared among all condo unit owners, individual condo owners living in high-risk properties are seeing their condo unit policy premiums increase substantially - 50% to 100% on average, he added.

Over the past two years, the Florida Legislature has passed a flurry of changes with the goal of resolving the property insurance crisis, so far to no avail.

Some of those measures include tweaking regulations related to Citizens Property Insurance Corp, the state-run insurer of last resort, authorizing actions to be taken by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, and cracking down on bad-faith claims.

In an early November special session, lawmakers allocated $181.5 million to the My Safe Florida Home Program, which provides homeowners a wind-mitigation survey and grant funds to make homes more sturdy.

Leek said he's confident that what lawmakers have been doing has been done is working.

Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, speaks during a Volusia County Legislative Delegation meeting in DeLand in October. Leek, the House budget chair, says lawmakers are working to resolve Florida's property insurance crisis.

"The Legislature's insurance reforms are taking hold," Leek wrote in response to questions. "New carriers are entering the Florida insurance market for the first time in years. Just this month, a new carrier entered the Florida condo association insurance market.

"It's happening and it does take time, and we will continue to work to provide a climate of competition and choice," he wrote.

Friedlander also referenced the new carrier as a positive sign: Last week, Florida's insurance regulator announced that a new insurer, the Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, will be entering the state's market in 2024 and provide master condo policy coverage to associations. We hope this will be a first step toward stabilizing the market for this coverage.

Condo owners socked with $64,000 in assessments

As a result of both sides of the property insurance problem  high rates and being awarded no claims for the damage, Marbella condo owners have each paid approximately $64,000 in HOA fees and assessments in 2023, said board President Jim Smith.

Tom Baker, a member of the Marbella Condominium Association Board, has been writing lawmakers, trying to get them to help stop property insurance rates from skyrocketing.

Baker acknowledges beachside condo owners  particularly those who have thus far been able to absorb the high insurance bills and the assessments to pay for damages  probably don't attract much sympathy in Florida.

Now us rich son-of-a-bitches, pardon me, we can manage somehow and get away with it, he said.

But other condo owners have had their retirement dreams dashed, moving because of the high costs, while an exodus awaits if the problem isnt contained, association board members say.

They appreciate what Baker has done to raise awareness of the problem.

"He's taken this on, and he's very passionate about it," said Jim Smith, the Marbella Condo Association Board president.

Baker said: People who moved down here on fixed incomes and bought themselves their final place now find themselves with an impossible bill.

Answers: What's going on with the stalled condo high-rise on A1A in Daytona?

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach Shores condo owners call 563% insurance increase 'theft'
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force, Nov. 29, 2023. Xi on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force. [Xinhua/Li Gang]

SHANGHAI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed improving the capability of protecting maritime rights and carrying out maritime law enforcement.

He heard a briefing about the work of the command office and watched coast guard vessels carrying out their missions via video link.

Xi stressed effective maritime law enforcement and resolute protection of China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Efforts should be made to improve the mechanism of coordination in maritime law enforcement, crack down on offshore crimes, safeguard the sound development of the marine economy, engage in international exchanges and cooperation in maritime law enforcement, and actively take part in international and regional ocean governance, he said.

Xi also urged solid efforts to raise the level of command office building and stressed the need to comprehensively strengthen Party building to ensure political integrity.

Senior military official He Weidong took part in the inspection.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets and poses for a group photo with representatives of the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force at the command office, Nov. 29, 2023. Xi on Wednesday inspected the command office for the East China Sea area of the China Coast Guard under the People's Armed Police Force. [Xinhua/Li Gang]

(Source: Xinhua)
BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua)  The Yangtze River Delta, one of the most vibrant, open and innovative city clusters in China, has reaped major benefits and matured into a pacesetter of high-quality development from its integrated development  which was elevated as a national strategy by Chinese President Xi Jinping five years ago.

Originating on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Yangtze River is China's longest waterway, running more than 6,300 km through 11 provincial-level regions before flowing into the East China Sea.

A number of the country's economic powerhouses, megacities and major rice-producing areas are located along the river basin, making the Yangtze River Delta region, encompassing the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui and Shanghai Municipality, a dynamic growth engine for the world's second-largest economy.

With insight into the great potential of the region's coordinated development, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, announced the decision to make the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region a national strategy in November 2018.

"We will make it a national strategy and implement our new development philosophy in real earnest. We will build a modern economic system, and adopt higher standards for reform and opening-up," Xi said while addressing the opening ceremony of the First China International Import Expo in Shanghai five years ago. He added that the region will develop in tandem with the Belt and Road Initiative, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development area, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and will help improve the overall layout of China's reform and opening-up.

The Yangtze River Delta region, taking up only 4 percent of China's land area, contributes about 25 percent of China's total GDP.

Over the past five years, Xi has visited the Yangtze River Delta many times, presided over a series of relevant meetings, and given key guidance at the critical junctures in the region's integration path.

While chairing a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in Shanghai on Thursday, Xi stressed efforts to achieve major breakthroughs in the region's integrated development and enhance the region's leading and exemplary role in pursuing Chinese modernization.

The overall strength and comprehensive competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta continue to rank among the top in the country, Xi said.

Development Synergy

As a major automobile production base in China, the Yangtze River Delta has taken the lead in the establishment of a modern industrial system and in the industrial transformation and upgrading.

Now every 10 seconds, a new energy vehicle (NEV) rolls off the production lines in the region.

With the chip and software sourced from Shanghai, batteries from Jiangsu, die-casting machines from Zhejiang, an NEV factory in the delta region can acquire all auto parts within a 4-hour drive.

Integration can be easily observed in almost every sector. From microchips to large aircraft, and from cloud computing to the Internet of Things, the four places are teaming up to promote further integration of industrial chains, under the coordinated, complementary development philosophy.

Eying high-quality, sustainable and long-term development, Xi has, on multiple occasions, highlighted innovation in the region's development blueprint.

At a symposium on advancing integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in 2020, Xi noted that the region should rise to assume the role of a trailblazer in China's technological and industrial innovations.

He said that Shanghai and the entire delta region should not only provide quality products but also serve as a source of high-level technologies to support China's high-quality development.

At Thursday's symposium, Xi, again, stressed the need to strengthen cross-region collaboration in sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation.

The region is urged to become a source of sci-tech innovation by integrating sci-tech innovation forces and advantageous resources across regions and departments, and participate in international sci-tech cooperation to create a globally competitive ecosystem for innovation.

The deepening integration and rising innovation strength are enhancing the region's attractiveness to investors worldwide.

In May, Siemens launched its Yangtze River Delta AI lab in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Zhu Xiaoxun, head of Siemens Corporate Technology China, said the Yangtze River Delta region has unique advantages in resource sharing, talent cultivation and aggregated innovation, and is becoming an important engine for the high-quality development of China's economy.

Boosted by the strong growth momentum, the industrial scale of the integrated circuit industry in the region now accounts for 60 percent of the national total, while the scale of biomedicine and artificial intelligence industries respectively takes up one-third of the country's total.

"Against the backdrop of sluggish global economic recovery, China's high-quality development will not only serve the country's internal need but also benefit the world," said Quan Heng, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Scientific innovation requires international collaboration and regional coordination and what President Xi has underlined has also injected more confidence into foreign enterprises, who are set to gain more dividends from the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, Quan added.

Stronger Connections

From infrastructure to public services and from industrial clusters to innovation synergy, the Yangtze River Delta has never been as close-knit as it is today, focusing on the keywords of integration and high quality outlined by Xi.

To facilitate the region's high-quality integration, meetings are convened annually where key officials of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui meet to review achievements, draft plans and seek solutions to existing bottlenecks.

Coordinated efforts in the region's green development are a vivid example of such a mechanism and have borne fruitful and tangible results.

Over the past years, China has taken a series of measures to protect the Yangtze River, including removing the chemical enterprises situated along the river, restoring the river shoreline, upgrading sewage treatment, and imposing a 10-year fishing ban along the river's main streams and major tributaries.

The number of the rare Yangtze finless porpoises, a barometer of water quality in the Yangtze River basin, had increased to 1,249 in 2022 from 1,012 in 2017.

On Thursday, Xi reiterated that more efforts should be made to strengthen joint protection and governance of the region's ecological environment.

Improved connectivity within the region, like high-speed railways, expressways and metro systems, has significantly facilitated the flow of capital, talent and resources.

In June, a new metro line in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, was officially put into operation. Its direct transferring service with Shanghai's Line 11 allows travelers to enjoy a convenient trip between the two cities.

In September, the second intercity high-speed railway between Jiangsu's capital city of Nanjing and Shanghai also began operations, and it is expected to unleash the growth potential of more county-level areas in the region.

On Thursday, Xi urged enhancing the alignment of the standards of transportation networks within the region to further improve infrastructure connectivity.

Highlighting the major progress that has been achieved since the strategy of the region's integrated development was put forward, Xi has also charted the course for future development of the region.

Advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta is a major undertaking, and making steady progress and continuing the hard work are necessary to write new chapters of the region's integrated development, he said.

(Source: Xinhua)
Weather Alert

...Very active weather and dangerous cold forecast for the next week... A very strong storm system will move through the region Friday. Very strong winds are expected and a wind advisory has been issued for the entire region for 40-50 mph wind gusts. Stronger winds are possible. Widespread rain may lead to localized flooding in areas where thunderstorms form with up to 2 inches of rain possible in those areas. Severe thunderstorms are not currently expected but there is a small potential over the southern Pennyrile region of Kentucky Friday morning. A change to sleet and snow is forecast at the end of the day but accumulations are still not anticipated. If temperatures do not rise above freezing Saturday it is expected to mark the first of 5 to 6 days where temperatures will not rise above freezing. Lows Saturday through Tuesday night are forecast to fall into or near the single digits. Below zero wind chills are likely most of Monday and Tuesday. This extended cold snap will be dangerous to those without adequate shelter and will likely challenge plumbing and other cold-sensitive infrastructure. Accumulating snow remains possible Monday but forecast amounts have trended a little lower, and will remain subject to change for the next few days as more data becomes available.

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM CST /7 AM EST/ FRIDAY TO MIDNIGHT CST /1 AM EST/ FRIDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected. * WHERE...Portions of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...From 6 AM CST /7 AM EST/ Friday to midnight CST /1 AM EST/ Friday night. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Wet ground may result in some trees being uprooted, and tree limbs will be blown down. A few power outages are likely. High profile vehicles will have difficulty. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...A corridor of stronger winds, with gusts up to 60 mph is possible over the Pennyrile region of west Kentucky ahead of the front, and across the entire quad-state behind the front. If that begins to appear likely a high wind warning will be issued. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects. &&
The man who is expected to become the new boss of Social Security once aimed to expand the program. Now he just wants to fix its flaws.

In 2015, Martin OMalley ran for president with an array of left-of-center positions including a plan to expand Social Security that was notable for aligning him closer to Bernie Sanders than to bipartisan plans for the safety net.

Eight years later, OMalley is on the precipice of taking the helm of the Social Security Administration thanks to an entirely different focus reflective of the challenged status of the program as well as political realities in Washington.

O'Malley says his No. 1 job if confirmed  which is now widely expected to happen after he received a bipartisan backing this week  will be to revitalize current operations for the agency's almost 60,000 employees who have been without a permanent leader for over two years.

"Today, for all its historic strengths, we must acknowledge that Social Security faces a customer service crisis," said OMalley during his confirmation hearing before listing a range of ways that the agency was falling short.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) put it even more directly this week during the hearing to advance OMalleys nomination, saying "this position above all else is about service, not politics."

Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, President Biden's nominee to be the next commissioner of Social Security, arrives to his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 2. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)

The former Maryland governors message of focusing on the nuts and bolts of the program  and leaving decisions about addressing a looming insolvency for the program to lawmakers  appears set to work.

The Senate Finance Committee voted to advance his nomination to the Senate floor this week with all Democrats and three Republicans voting in favor of his nomination.

"His willingness to hear both sides of an issue ... will serve him well in the Social Security Administration," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), one of those GOP yes votes. O'Malley is expected to receive a full Senate vote in the coming weeks.

The agency has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since 2021. That's when President Biden fired then-Commissioner Andrew Saul, who had been Donald Trumps pick to lead the agency. The Biden administration charged that Saul undermined the program.

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Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi, who previously served as a deputy commissioner, has been in charge at the agency headquarters in Woodlawn, Md., as acting commissioner in recent years.

Customer service issues that are 'not acceptable'

What all sides agree is that customer service at the Social Security Administration has been at a low ebb in recent years.

OMalley pointed out a range of statistics during his confirmation hearing that are rooted, he says, in an agency that has the same levels of staffing it had in 1995 but with 50% more beneficiaries relying on the programs trust funds.

The nominee pointed out this month how the agency has an average hold time of 37 minutes and applying for Social Securitys disability benefits (and accompanying appeals) can be a whopping 2-year-long process.

"This is not acceptable," says OMalley, who has put forth an idea to make the administration more efficient with a performance management system.

He hopes that a focus on accountability and feedback every two weeks  which he says was the practice during his time as mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland  will both improve employee morale as well as customer service.

A Social Security Administration office in Burbank, Calif., seen in 2012. (Fred Prouser/REUTERS) (Fred Prouser / reuters)

Another pressing concern for the next administrator is around overpayment notices in recent years that the agency is still resolving.

The issue is that some Social Security recipients have allegedly been receiving wrongful notices to pay back money related to COVID-era stimulus checks. The agency's rules are that COVID payments are not supposed to count towards Social Security's benefit income limits, but an apparent snafu at the agency has led to notices being sent in error demanding repayments.

The issue has garnered the intense attention of senators like Wyden, who promises to meet with the Social Security administration every month until that and other issues are resolved.

An agency facing insolvency in 2034

The challenges awaiting OMalley also include planning for a looming insolvency for the program in about a decades time.

A recent government trustees report found that Social Security will be in financial peril within a decade if Congress takes no action. The program only has the funds to continue paying out 100% of benefits through 2034. After that, benefits could be cut across the board by around 23%.

Talks among lawmakers to address the crisis collapsed this year and are not expected to be returned to in earnest until after the 2024 election.

Under questioning about his past Social Security activism  his 2015 campaign plan rejected GOP calls to raise the retirement age and instead looked to increase benefits  OMalley said he jumped at the chance to be administrator precisely because it allowed him to step away from political debates.

He says he'd rather focus his energy on making "the trains run on time" at the agency.

"I dont miss a lot of the aspects of running for office," he joked about his time in electoral politics.

His eventual role in the debate around Social Securitys solvency remains to be seen, but observers hope that OMalley's likely confirmation will at least begin to alleviate some of the customer service issues in the months ahead.

Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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Israel resumed its genocidal assault on Gaza Friday morning within minutes of the seven-day operational pause expiring. By the end of the day, at least 178 more Palestinians had been reported killed, and 589 injured. A woman and her son were killed in Lebanon by Israeli artillery fire, after shooting restarted across the border.

The Netanyahu government blamed Hamas for ending the trucethe latest in a long list of lies. Rocket fire into Israel, still unattributed, came only after Israel claimed that Hamas had failed to honour commitments to free all the women and children it was holding when it released eight hostages yesterday.

Palestinians look at destruction after the Israeli bombing In Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza Strip on December 1, 2023. [Photo: Mohammed Dahman/WSWS]

Hamas responded that there were no more such hostages to return. They had offered to hand over the bodies of a mother, Shiri Bibas, her 10-month-old son, Kfir, and his four-year-old brother, Ariel, who were killed by an Israeli bomb. Hamas also offered to transfer the Bibas familys bodies and release their father [Yarden] for their burial, along with two Zionist detainees, it said in a statement, but Israeli authorities remained unresponsive.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already determined to resume military action, come what may, after repeated complaints that it was losing momentum. Citing Hamass supposed failure to uphold its side of the bargain was a transparent justification for doing so.

Only a day before, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had raved that Israel would chase and destroy its enemies everywhere with the help of God. The pretext for this outburst was an attack in Jerusalem in which two alleged Hamas members killed four people at a bus stop before they were fired on by an armed civilian and then killed by the IDF.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir boasted that this proved he was correct to arm civilians with assault rifles. The hero gunman died Friday from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by the IDF, who mistook him for an enemy combatant.

Netanyahus response made clear that what is planned in the name of eliminating Hamas is the ethnic cleansing not only of Gaza, but of the West Bank and Israel itself. All Hamas terrorists will diein Jerusalem, in Gaza, in the West Bank, and everywhere, he thundered.

No secret is made of the brutal, criminal character of the second phase of the IDFs assault now underway. Government spokesperson Eylon Levy told reporters thuggishly, Having chosen to hold onto our women, Hamas will now take the mother of all thumpings.

Reviewing the days slaughter, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, The results are impressive. Hamas only understands force and therefore we will continue to act until we achieve the goals of the war.

The destruction wrought in the north of the Gaza strip is now planned for the south, focussing on the city of Khan Yunis, where Israel claims Hamas is headquartered. Leaflets have been dropped on the city, which has already come under repeated and deadly attack, telling residents to evacuate and describing the area as a dangerous battle zone.

Given that the vast bulk of northern Gazas population is already crowded into the southwith 1.8 million of a 2.3 million total population displacedthere is nowhere to go. The IDF has told civilians to move towards the border with Egypt at Rafah, confirming fears that Israel is seeking to drive the Palestinians out of the strip entirely and into the Sinai desert.

Al Jazeera journalist Zoran Kusovac commented, the south is now so overcrowded that there is a danger that an all-out ground assault from Israel might leave the people of Gaza with no option but to try to force their way across the border fence into Egypt.

From the beginning of the conflict, Egypt has been warning that it would not accept any refugees, fearful of political destabilisation and security risks. If it is confronted with that reality, it might find itself in the worst-case scenario of having to use force.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza was described by the World Health Organization as a horror movie. During the truce, roughly 150 trucks of aid entered the strip each day, less than a third of the 500 a day on average before October 7, and less even than the 200 a day believed necessary to meet the most basic needs of the population. Supplies have ground to a halt again with the resumption of the bombing.

International agencies have issued dire warnings. Speaking from the strips largest still-functioning hospital, shortly after an airstrike landed barely 50 metres away, UNICEF chief of communications James Elder asked, Has humanity given up on the children of Gaza?

I cannot overstate how the capacity has been reduced in hospitals over the last seven weeks. We cannot see more children with the wounds of war, with the burns, the shrapnel littering their body, with their broken bones. Inaction from those with influence is allowing the killing of children. This is a war on children.

At al-Nasr hospital, International Red Cross surgeon Paul Ley warned, We are already overwhelmed. There are something like 2,000 patients in a hospital built for 300, and over half need surgery. But we dont have enough drugs, and insufficient anaesthetics. There is very little pain control and we have to use techniques that have been abandoned for many years because they are seen as dangerous.

Head of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugee UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini referred to a staggering human tragedy and a race against time already disease is becoming as much a threat as the bombardment.

He described the south of Gaza as completely overloaded It simply cannot cater to so many people. Remember people from Gaza City and the north have been asked to go to the south because they were told the south would be safer. Yet a large proportion have been killed in the south.

Condemning the siege on an entire population as collective punishment, he referred to the one million people in UN installations, including 100,000 in the north Their locations are known, and despite that, nearly 100 installations have been hit directly or indirectly.

A joint investigation by Israeli outlets 972+ Mag and Local Call, published Thursday, confirmed the deliberate process used to carry out strikes on civilians in unprecedented numbers.

A source told the journalists, The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage.

An artificial intelligence programme called The Gospel has been used to select targets, powering what one source called a mass assassination factory, with the emphasis on quantity and not on quality. Reporting the story, the Guardian explained that the programme was created to address a chronic problem for the IDF: in earlier operations in Gaza, the air force repeatedly ran out of targets to strike.

At the start of the war, the head of the Israeli air force made a point of emphasising that in carrying out around the clock airstrikes We are not being surgical.

The massacre in Gaza resumes with the continuing support of US and world imperialism. Speaking in Dubai, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken backed Israels lie that the pause came to an end because of Hamas, Hamas reneged on the commitments it made. He reiterated Washingtons strong solidarity with Israel defending itself while cynically insisting that it was doing everything possible to protect civilians.
The World Socialist Web Site denounces the raid on a university campus in Santiago, Chile last Friday, November 24, by a large contingent of Carabineros special forces and warns that the action, which could not have proceeded without a nod from the ruling Stalinist-pseudo-left coalition government of Gabriel Boric, sets a dangerous precedent for the establishment of a police state and authoritarian rule.

UMCE Dean Elisa Araya confronting Carabinero special forces [Photo: Twitter: PaolaDragnic]

At 2 p.m., approximately 200 Public Order Control (COP) riot police raided the Metropolitan University of Education (UMCE), cordoning off the entire campus and violently assaulting students, staff and educators in an operation that reeks of premeditation.

UMCE academics from the departments of History and Geography were among those to suffer the brunt of the attack. In an open letter they stated that Carabineros entered one of our classrooms where two academics who were giving classes were pushed when they tried to protect their students. They sprayed them with gas in the face and body, beat their students, intimidated them, even throwing a tear gas bomb inside the classroom.

In one incident, a tear gas canister was fired at the body of a lecturer who was also pepper sprayed while recording the police assault.

Professor Marcela Romero Jeldres, an academic in the Department of Pedagogical Training and secretary of the Faculty of Philosophy and Education, was arrested for the temerity of asking the cops why they were inside her campus.

What followed is a graphic illustration of the type of regime being prepared against the working class as a whole. Prof. Romero was taken off campus, photographed without consent and placed in a police van where three COP officers began interrogating her about an arson attack and insinuating that she endorsed it. She was informed that she was being detained as someone of special interest, based on a false report given to the public prosecutors office by the riot police.

I asked them to read me my rights; nobody did, Prof. Romero recalled in an opinion piece in Cooperativa. They put me through a biometric computer where they even had my signature and photograph. They put me in a cell, they did not allow me to make phone calls, they did not read me my rights, nor the rights that a detained woman should have, even knowing that I was the minister of faith of my faculty. She was illegally kept in custody for 16 hours.

UMCE Dean Elisa Araya condemned the flagrant attack stating in a press conference that State officials violated in an absolutely disproportionate manner a space of higher education, exercised unjustified violence against members of the community, and took students, officials and even professors who were teaching classes into custody.

We cannot tolerate that a community as a whole is violated. Faced with these facts we want to announce that we will exercise all necessary legal actions to ensure the safety of our community, because we believe in public education in safe and secure spaces, Araya concluded.

Marisol Duran Santis, the dean of the Metropolitan Technological University also issued an open letter in which she made the significant point that the forced entry into UMCE was a flagrant transgression of the principle of university autonomy, which is fundamental to our democratic coexistence and cannot be violated under any excuse The deans of 18 other public universities issued a combined statement opposing the attack on the university.

In contrast, the entire bourgeois media reported the extraordinary events by focusing almost exclusively and in minute detail on the attack suffered by a patrol car stationed near the university, the pretext used to invade the university premises.

Not one posed the most obvious questions to the cops, such as why werent the assailants immediately arrestedin video footage circulating on social media two of the three assailants suffered serious burns and one was hit by a moving police car. Why were 200 members of Carabineros special forces required to arrest three individuals, one a minor under 16? Why was the entire university cordoned off and an academic arrested? Why were classrooms tear-gassed, students beaten?

A case in point is the arch-conservative El Mercurio, which obsequiously quoted verbatim Gen. Juan Munoz, who claimed that after arriving at the site, due to a call of disturbances, a group of approximately 10 individuals arrived, three of whom jumped on the vehicle and threw, cowardly and artfully, an incendiary device.

The uniformed officers were inside a patrol car at the intersection with Grecia Avenue El Mercurio continued when at least three subjects approached, sprayed accelerant liquids on the police car and then threw a Molotov cocktail bomb. However, the carabineros managed to notice the situation and managed to pull themselves out of the flames, so no one was injured. Only the vehicle was seriously damaged

To pose the question is to answer it: the bourgeoisie in Chile are renowned putschists. In 1970 they received millions from Washington and the CIA to orchestrate a campaign of chaos and stampede the middle classes to clamor for a strong hand. They hailed the military coup of 1973 and reaped a bonanza under the 17-year dictatorship.

Similarly to the period of the 1970s that ushered in revolutionary convulsions on a global scale, the bourgeoisie has been in the throes of a profound crisis of rule since 2019, when half the country was involved in anti-capitalist demonstrations. It has since strained every muscle to push the public discourse to the right.

Not a day passes when the bourgeois media is not terrorizing the population with lugubrious stories of uncontrollable delinquency, of the rise of migrant-run organized crime, of terrorist Mapuche networks and so on, while the armed forces, who waded knee deep in the blood of thousands of political opponents following the 1973 coup, are grotesquely lionized as self-sacrificing saviors, patriots and martyrs.

To date, the sclerotic and corporatist trade union bureaucracies have not uttered one word against what amounts to a police-state dress rehearsal, let alone rallied the working class to come to the defense of the students and teachers at UMCE. For months since the return to face-to-face classes, students have protested the dire state of the education system and its dilapidated infrastructureschools with leaky roofs and damp and moldy classrooms, lack of textbooks and teachers, rat infestations and non-functioning amenitiesonly to be met with violent police repression.

The historical significance of this assault against students and educators cannot be overstated.

Fifty years ago, on September 11, 1973, as US-backed Gen. Augusto Pinochet violently overthrew the Stalinist-led Popular Front government, universities were prime targets of the murderous Chilean armed forces, student youth suffering among the highest casualty rates. In the ensuing repression, the military junta expelled tens of thousands of students, blacklisted and exiled academics, and closed entire faculties considered subversive as the education system was privatized and the notoriously inequitable voucher system was imposed on the population.

This catastrophe was made possible by the politically criminal actions of President Salvador Allende, his Socialist Party and the Stalinist Chilean Communist Party, who in the lead up to the coup showered the military institutions with extraordinary powers and granted them executive positions in their government.

Their political heirs in the leadership of the trade unions and in Gabriel Borics Apruebo Dignidad coalition government, since coming to office in March 2022, have implemented key legislation that empowers the military and police to protect critical infrastructure, to shoot to kill, while giving state agents legal immunity from prosecution. Along with the mass arrest of a Mapuche community for seizing ancestral lands last week, the raid on UMCE must be seen as a warning to the working class of the bourgeoisies advanced state of preparedness for dictatorship.
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Trident Royalties is UK0.59 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of UK0.35 suggests Trident Royalties is potentially 40% undervalued

Analyst price target for TRR is US$0.80, which is 36% above our fair value estimate

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Trident Royalties Plc (LON:TRR) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Trident Royalties

The Calculation

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$7.60m US$18.6m US$18.9m US$18.4m US$18.2m US$18.1m US$18.1m US$18.2m US$18.4m US$18.6m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -1.27% Est @ -0.43% Est @ 0.15% Est @ 0.56% Est @ 0.85% Est @ 1.05% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.9% US$7.0 US$15.7 US$14.6 US$13.1 US$11.9 US$10.9 US$10.0 US$9.2 US$8.5 US$7.9

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$109m

Story continues

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.5%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.9%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$19m (1 + 1.5%)  (8.9% 1.5%) = US$256m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$256m ( 1 + 8.9%)10= US$109m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$218m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK0.3, the company appears quite undervalued at a 40% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

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 Trident Royalties as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.9%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.247. 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 Trident Royalties

Strength

Net debt to equity ratio below 40%.

Weakness

No major weaknesses identified for TRR.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the British market.

Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Trident Royalties, we've put together three essential items you should explore:

Risks: For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Trident Royalties that you should be aware of. Future Earnings: How does TRR'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 AIM 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.
The charlatan and extreme right-wing New York Republican George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Friday morning in a 311 to 114 vote which met the two-thirds super-majority required by the Constitution to do so.

Rep. George Santos, Republican-New York., faces reporters at the Capitol in Washington, early Thursday, November 30, 2023. After a scathing report by the House Ethics Committee citing egregious violations, Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday, December 1. [AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite]

The resolution to expel the fraudster Santos, who was elected in 2022 to the 3rd District of New York on the basis of a raft of lies about his biography, was moved by Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia (California). Those voting in favor of expulsion included 105 Republicans and 206 Democrats. The vote against was from 112 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

More than half of House Republicans, including recently-elected Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and the rest of the party leadership, voted against the expulsion. The primary reason given was that, since the criminal case against Santos had not been decided, the measure would set a precedent of politically-motivated expulsions.

For example, Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, opposed the expulsion and said, George Santos is an ass, but who, like every American, deserves the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

During the debate on Thursday, Representative Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana, said he had concerns about how the Santos case was handled. The totality of circumstance appears biased. It stinks of politics, and Ill oppose this action in every way, Higgins said.

Santos was charged by New York federal prosecutors with 23 felonies last spring and among the charges against included scamming political donors, lying to the Federal Election Commission and illegally receiving unemployment-insurance benefits. Santos pled not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to go on trial in September.

With his removal today, Santos became the sixth representative to be expelled by the House and the first congressman in history to be voted out without having been convicted of a felony or having been a member of the Southern Confederacy.

After the vote, Santos left the Capitol and on his way to an awaiting car, told CNN, Its over. The House spoke. Thats their vote. They just set a new dangerous precedent for themselves. To hell with this place.

The vote passing the expulsion resolution was preceded by the issuance of a 56-page report by the House Ethics Committee less than two weeks ago. The report, adopted unanimously by Democratic and Republican members of the panel, said there was substantial evidence Santos stole money from donors and illegally used of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal benefit, such as visits to spas and luxury hotel stays in Las Vegas.

The report also said Santos spent campaign funds on personal credit-card purchases at Hermes, Sephora and OnlyFans as well as other purchases unrelated to his campaign. The Ethics Committee wrote that Santos, sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal profit.

After the Ethics Committee report was issued, Santos said he would not seek reelection but dismissed the document as a politicized smear.

Almost immediately following his victory in the 2022 electionSantos won a House seat in the wealthiest district in New York stateit emerged that the Republican had falsely claimed he was the grandson of Ukrainian Jews who had fled the Holocaust, that he graduated from Baruch College and New York University, and that he worked at the financial institutions Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. There was not a shred of evidence for these claims, or for numerous other assertions about his finances and personal wealth.

The fraud he perpetrated on voters in New York was initially exposed by a New York Times investigation. Later, other lies were revealed such as the fact that he claimed to have played volleyball at Baruch College which slayed Yale and became champions of the sport across the entire Northeast Corridor. Santos never attended Baruch College and Yale does not have a mens varsity volleyball team.

Whatever the reasons given for the alignment of Republicans and Democrats against Santos, the crude nature of his lies and alleged crimes have shone a bright light on the degradation of bourgeois politics which his fellow corrupt members of Congress found too much of a distraction.

Meanwhile the capitalist parties and the corporate media have remained silent on his fascist politics. Responding to the events of October 7, Santos said he was concerned about US national security and suggested that those waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza should be investigated. He said he did not care if we go into a police state for a couple of months, while every inch of the US is searched.
In a tragic death, a young Tamil man who was brutally assaulted in police custody in war-torn Jaffna on November 19, has become the latest victim of police extrajudicial killings in Sri Lanka.

Nagarajah Alex who died in police custody in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna. [Photo: Facebook]

On November 8, Nagarajah Alex, a 25-year unemployed worker in Vaddukoddai, was arrested along with a 20-year-old friend by the area police over an alleged robbery. However, they were not remanded or released for four days after their arrest. Instead, the police tortured Alex, confining him secretly in a housewhich appears to be a torture chamberbehind the police station.

It is illegal to detain a person for more than 24 hours after a police arrest without producing him or her before a magistrate.

When hundreds of residents in the area protested, the police were forced to produce the two young men before the acting magistrate of Mallakam on November 12. The magistrate ordered Alex to be remanded until November 24.

The other young man was released on bail but the media reported that his family was threatened by police, and coerced into producing a letter saying he had not been tortured.

Alex was shifted to the Jaffna prison under the order of the court. However, based on an examination by a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), Alex was admitted on the same day to the Jaffna teaching hospital because of severe injuries to his wrist due to torture. After four days he was discharged from hospital without even consulting the JMO and sent back to prison on November 16.

On November 19, Alex was taken back to Jaffna teaching hospital by prison officials but pronounced dead on admission.

According to the JMO report presented to the court, Alexs death was due to police torture.

The JMO report stated: There were multiple injuries (abrasions and contusions) noted in the back of the trunk, both upper limbs and both lower limbs. It concluded the young man died because of damage caused to his kidney.

Local resident protest outside Alexs home. The young was killed by police in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna [Photo: Facebook/Thinakaran]

This murder has provoked opposition among Tamil people in Sri Lankas north and around the world against police brutality. Thousands participated in Alexs funeral procession and condemned the police. Fearing protests, extra police and military personnel were deployed around the Vaddukoddai Police Station, and road barriers were erected.

Amid the mass anger, on November 24, the Mallakam court ordered the arrest of four police officers involved in the torture.

Though the police officers were arrested in a bid to defuse public outrage, similar cases in the past have shown how the police and authorities eventually bury such cases.

The Sri Lankan government and the law enforcement authorities have given the police free hand to carry out such practices with impunity.

An official police statement stated that a special committee was formed to investigate the case. This will be a cover up of the police crimes.

World Socialist Web Site reporters visited Alexs house, where his father Nadarajah shared the painful experience with us.

Nagarajah, Alex's father

Nadarajahs family, from a peasant background, has gone through endless suffering. During the Colombo regimes three-decade-long war against the Tamil population, the family was forced to flee to refugee camps to avoid the Sri Lanka militarys shelling attacks.

After the war ended, they returned to Jaffna but had to live in a relatives house in Siththangeny village. This house itself is in a dilapidated condition. Without adequate income, Nadarajah could not educate his children.

Nadarajah said he came to know that his son was asking for water while in custody but the police prevented him from providing water. Realising his sons dangerous situation, we went to the police station to see our son, but police did not allow us to see him.

Only after Nadarajah complained to the Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna on November 10, did the police allow him to see his son.

Alex told his father of the cruel torture methods he was subjected to by police officials. Nadarajah said: My son was blindfolded and his hands were tied from behind. He was tied to a pole with his ankles hanging about 2-3 feet above the ground. For over three hours police assaulted him while he remained in that position, demanding my son confess to the theft.

The police covered his sons head with polythene bag that was immersed into petrol. My son moaned with stomach pain and said he was not able to eat. In the hospital, after two days, he could not make any move.

As a result, Nadarajah had to help his son to go to toilet and to change clothes. It should not happen to anyone else, the tearing father said.

Nadarajah told the WSWS that his son could have been saved if he had been able to get proper medical treatment.

On November 19, I was told Alex was admitted to the hospital again. While going there, my son passed away. We dont know whether he passed away in the prison, the weeping Nadarajah said.

Alexs death after police torture is not an isolated incident. This brutal event points to the repressive conditions in the war-ravaged north and east of Sri Lanka, which have been under military occupation for decades. The police and military have taken the law into their hands.

Similar incidents are frequently reported from other parts of the country as well.

Recently, a 42-year-old plantation resident, R. Rajakumari, who worked as a housemaid in a wealthy familys house near Colombo was arrested by the Welikada police on a complaint of theft. She died while in the police custody.

Only after widespread anger erupted among plantation workers did police authorities arrest four officers and transfer several others. In the investigation, it was found there was no official police record of the victims arrest.

Human rights lawyer Senaka Perera told the media that during 11 months of this year alone, 11 persons have been killed either in police custody or during operations to arrest them.

During the communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from July 1983 to May 2009, the police and military used the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act to arrest Tamil youth in particular, whom they tortured to extract confessions or simply killed.

Tens of thousands of Sinhala rural youth were subjected to brutal repression by the military and police during the 19881990 period in the southern part of the country.

Successive governments in Sri Lanka prosecuted both the communal war and the rural massacres, providing immunity for the military and police.

Custodial deaths and extrajudicial killings are still frequent in Sri Lanka. Police often get off scot-free.

Individuals suspected of drug dealing and underworld activities are taken by police to reveal hidden drugs or weapons then are killed. The usual story is that they tried to escape or grabbed weapons from the police. In the ensuing alleged fight, police declare they were compelled to shoot the suspects dead.

These developments are part and parcel of moves by the Sri Lankan ruling elite, which is in deep economic crisis, to forge and prepare police-state measures to suppress opposition in the working class to the governments austerity drive.
Several hundred University of Michigan students marched and rallied in the rain on Friday to denounce the U-M administrations arbitrary cancellation on Thursday of a student referendum vote, which had begun Tuesday and was slated to continue throughout Thursday, on a resolution urging the university to acknowledge the genocidal character of Israels war in Gaza and divest from companies profiting from the slaughter.

The referendum had been authorized weeks before by the Central Student Government (CSG) to allow the student body to decide between two opposed resolutions that had been presented to a CSG meeting, one supporting Israel in the war and the other denouncing the war and the universitys complicity in it.

University of Michigan students rallied on Friday, December 1, to denounce the administrations cancellation of a student referendum vote on Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and to divest from the war profiteers.

The students marched past the home of U-M President Santa Ono after two students affiliated with Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), the U-M chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, addressed the crowd. The two students had been singled out for attack Thursday morning by Zionists who falsely accused them of stealing students email by sending out an email urging students to vote for the anti-genocide resolution. The email had actually been endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 student organizations.

The X/Twitter post by the right-wing, pro-Israel forces featured photos of the two students, Noor Sami and Salma Hamamy. It smeared the anti-war resolution as antisemitic and demanded that the university cancel the vote and expel the students.

Shortly thereafter, the administration sent out a campus-wide message echoing the bogus charge of misuse of the campus email and using it as a pretext to cancel the vote on the resolutions, ludicrously claiming that the vote had been tainted. The message, signed by Timothy G. Lynch, vice president and general counsel, failed to explain on what authority the administration could overturn a decision of the student government.

On the contrary, Lynchs letter noted that the administration had faced calls to block, delay, or oppose the two resolutions prior to the beginning of voting, without naming the source of these demands, and that the CSG had opposed any delay in the vote. He pointedly wrote: We do not know and never will know the voting results on these two resolutions.

The referendum, which was open to all undergraduate and graduate students, gave voters the option of choosing between Resolution AR-13-025, titled University Accountability in the Face of Genocide, and Resolution AR-13-026, titled CSG Response to Atrocities in the Middle East. The latter was a reference to the Hamas breakout and armed incursion into southern Israel on October 7, not the war of annihilation and ethnic cleansing Israel and the US have been carrying out ever since.

Resolution AR 13-025 urged the university to recognize the millions of people undergoing genocide in Gaza as we speak, acknowledge that 75+ years of Palestinian-Israeli tensions have been created through systems of settler colonialism, and investigate their (U-Ms) investments in any apartheid regime in the world.

There is little doubt that the real reason the university shut down the vote was its fear that the pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide resolution would win, or at the very least receive thousands of votes. At Fridays rally, Noor Sami announced that over 10,000 students had already voted in the referendum when the university announced it would not count the votes, an indication of the deep and broad outrage over the mass murder being carried out against Palestinian civilians, in most cases women and children.

The forces lined up against the vote included the Biden administration and both capitalist parties. U-Ms thuggish action took place one day after Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, known informally as the senator from Wall Street, took to the Senate floor to denounce students protesting against the genocide in Gaza as antisemites.

One would have to add the Department of Defense and the CIA, with which the university is closely integrated, and the Democratic Party figures and corporate moguls who dominate the Board of Regents, not to mention the universitys donor base. That the right-wing Zionist lobby was deeply involved was confirmed by the social media post of Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who congratulated the university for making the right decision and libeled supporters of the anti-genocide resolution as antisemites.

The claim that the pro-Palestinian coalitions email was unauthorized has already been refuted. It has been demonstrated that a campus-wide email could not be sent out without going through the registrars office and without the approval and processing of its content by university staff.

On Friday, the student coalition supporting Resolution AR-13-025 issued an online statement denouncing the utter degradation to our campus democratic proceedings and the decision by the university administration to silence the voices of their students

The statement continued:

Not only does the Universitys decision to cancel this referendum demonstrate that they are willing to sacrifice the democratic desires of their student body to appease the interests of their donors, it clearly conveys that the administration has no regard for student safety. They issued an email with intentionally false accusations against us, but they have yet to address the harmful and violent doxing of their own students.

The student government likewise denounced the universitys action. It stated:

CSG reaffirms its support for the students who thus far had courageously expressed their opinion and engaged in our democratic process with regards to these two ballot measures. The decision to deny students a forum to voice their opinions on these questions goes against our governing documents and our morals as student leaders. For these reasons, CSG declined to remove the questions from the ballot.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at U-M campaigned for a yes vote on AR-13-025 and denounced the cancellation of the vote by the administration. As we said in a statement supporting the resolution and the global protests against the war in Gaza:

The yes vote on this resolution will be a powerful demonstration of opposition to this imperialist-backed atrocity. It will strengthen the opposition to war among students, workers and young people nationally and internationally.

At the same time, we have explained that protests alone cannot stop the genocide in Gaza or the broader world war being unleashed by US imperialism, which has already opened up fronts in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and now the widening war in the Middle East. The root cause of war, poverty and fascism is the bankrupt capitalist system.

It is not a matter of trying to pressure the governments of war criminals that are carrying out these atrocities, but of mobilizing the united social and international power of the working class to remove them and replace them with workers governments armed with a socialist program.

We urge students to attend the public meeting of the IYSSE at U-M on Tuesday, December 5 to discuss the historical and social roots of the present crisis and a socialist and internationalist strategy for working people and youth. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Room D (third floor) of Michigan League.
Any historic turning point in the global situationparticularly involving war and the eruption of major class struggleshas the effect of unmasking and laying bare political positions and tendencies that have been developing over a preceding period. In doing so they help clarify who are the true friends, and enemies, of the working class.

For nearly two months, millions of people have flooded town squares, train stations and streets demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza unleashed by Israel with the support and oversight of the US-NATO axis. Mass protests have erupted on every continent and every imperialist country, including New Zealand, a minor imperialist power allied to the United States.

Workers and young people have made a decisive stand: they will not accept war, dictatorship and colonialism. A vast gulf has opened between the worlds populations and the entire political and media establishments of all the capitalist powers.

At the same time, the genocide in Gaza is exposing a number of upper middle-class supporters of capitalism and imperialism, who have bitterly attacked the mass movement and aligned with both the Israeli regime and the political and media establishment.

Chris Trotter and the Daily Blog logo composite image. [Photo: Facebook]

In New Zealand, one culprit is Chris Trotter, who writes for the liberal Daily Blog and other publications, including the Victoria University of Wellington Democracy Project blog, which describes him as New Zealands leading left-wing political commentator. For many years his weekly newspaper columns appeared under the headline From the Left.

This description is an absurd joke, as Trotters numerous statements defending the Zionist regime and its genocidal actions make clear. In a November 23 article on his personal blog Bowalley Road, Trotter begins with the media lie that Israels legal right to strike back at Hamas is unchallengeable. As Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on Palestine, stated in Wellington just two days earlier, Israel has no right under international law to use its military to defend itself against a territory that it illegally occupies.

Trotter blames the overwhelming civilian death toll in Gazanow well over 20,000, almost half of them childrenon Hamas October 7 military operation. Israels response to the horrors of 7 October was unquestionably proportionate, he declares, adding a biblical quotation: He who sows the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.

Trotter declares that Hamas committed its atrocities in the knowledge that Israel would inevitably respond with overwhelming force. According to his narrative, Hamas deliberately set up the Palestinian masses for vicious reprisals and genocide.

Trotter has been around for long enough to know the source of this filthy and mendacious accusation. Desperate imperialist powers have always claimed that militant factions of anti-colonial struggles can win no popular support and must instead rely on force, terror and subterfuge. Thus, in Vietnam the US bombed, napalmed and invaded hundreds of villages and their inhabitants in order to save them from the insurgent National Liberation Front.

Trotters article, which could easily have appeared in a far-right Israeli publication, dismisses clear evidence of ethnic cleansing, in the past and present, as Palestinian propaganda. He blames Palestinian resistance to colonisation for provoking the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), in which Israeli settlers carried out numerous massacres and drove 700,000 Palestinians from their homes.

In the manner of the Netanyahu government, Trotter compares the Palestinian leadership with the Nazis and says the slogan from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free is a threat to wipe out the Jewish people. This ludicrous claim has been used by politicians and the media internationallyincluding Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins in New Zealandto smear the mass protests against Israels genocide in Gaza as antisemitic.

In an earlier article on October 30, headlined Failing the Leftist litmus test, (published by the Daily Blog and the Democracy Project) Trotter asserted that those who oppose Israels war against Hamas have lost their moral compass. He compared Hamas actions with anti-Jewish pogroms carried out in Eastern Europe during World War II.

This is a grotesque slander that turns reality on its head. The tragic deaths on October 7 were the result of a desperate suicide missiona breakout from the besieged open-air prison that is Gazain which about 1,000 Palestinian fighters were also killed. Numerous reports indicate that hundreds of civilians died in crossfire or in the indiscriminate response by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Responsibility lies squarely with the Israeli regime, which has brutally oppressed the Palestinian people for 75 years, including through the illegal blockade of Gaza. Israel seized on the events of October 7 as a pretext to carry out long-standing plans to either kill or expel the population of Gaza. Its carpet bombing has destroyed half of the housing in Gaza, as well as schools, hospitals and bakeries. Water and electricity have been cut off and disease is being weaponised to kill even more peoplesimilar to what the Nazis did during the Holocaust.

This is a genocidal war waged by the fascistic Israeli regime, protected and backed by the worlds military superpower, the United States.

According to Trotter, US imperialism and its NATO allies have totally clean hands. He flatly declares that Iran is moving these terrorist pieces on the Middle-East chessboard. The same Islamic Republic that is committed to the utter destruction of Israeland is rapidly acquiring the nuclear capacity to do exactly that. There is of course no evidence provided for such a wild accusation.

Trotter is placing himself at the service of US imperialism to provide justifications for a much wider regional war. As the WSWS has pointed out , Iran is not looking for war with the United States, but Washington is looking for war with Iran. For the Biden administration, the Middle East is another front in what is a developing world war aimed at ensuring US global hegemony, the main targets of which are Russia and China.

New Zealand is actively involved with these wars and war plans. With the support of every parliamentary party, New Zealand has sent troops to the UK to assist in training Ukrainians to serve as cannon fodder in the US-NATO war with Russia. Meanwhile, in August, Labours then defence minister Andrew Little declared that New Zealand had to prepare its military in case it was called on to join a war against China.

The role of Trotter and the Daily Blog is to provide left propaganda for imperialism and to denounce and slander anti-war and socialist politics. In 2021 Trotter attacked the WSWS as sectarian for opposing Labours support for the build-up to war against China. The Daily Blogs editor Martyn Bradbury went further in 2022, demanding that the Socialist Equality Group, the New Zealand supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International, be investigated by the secret service for  treason .

Trotter has always been bitterly hostile to socialism and sought to subordinate the working class to the parliamentary system, primarily the Labour Party and its defunct offshoots, NewLabour and the Alliance. He has railed against Marxism and the Russian Revolution, repeating right-wing lies that it was a Bolshevik coup detat.

Recently, Trotter has lurched even more openly to the right. During the October election he endorsed NZ First, a racist, anti-immigrant and especially anti-Asian party. Speaking with the right-wing media outlet The Platform on November 27, Trotter welcomed the formation of a National Party-led coalition government with NZ First and the libertarian ACT Party, which will accelerate the attacks on the working class and pour billions more into the military.

The evolution of Trotter and others like him exposes a sharp class polarisation. The mask of reformism and liberalism is being torn off as the ruling class and its media mouthpieces turn to war abroad and war against the working class at home.

Masses of workers and young people are moving in the opposite direction, mobilising against imperialist war and austerity. To transform this objective process into a conscious movement for socialism requires the building of a political leadership which has as its aim the conquest of power by the working class, the overthrow of capitalism, and the establishment of socialism on a world scale. The exposure of all the liberal and pseudo-left apologists for imperialism is a central component of the fight to build this socialist leadership.
A meeting of the Committee for Public Education (CFPE) on Monday night attended by teachers, students and university staff unanimously endorsed a resolution opposing the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and condemning the Australian Labor government as well as the teacher unions for their complicity. The meeting called on educators to discuss the war at their workplaces, and organise resolutions, and other solidarity actions through the formation of independent rank-and-file committees.

Children participating in anti-Gaza genocide protest in Melbourne in November, 2023.

The main report was delivered by Sue Phillips, the national convenor of the CFPE and a member of the Socialist Equality Party. She explained: Every day the situation in Gaza reaches new depths of barbarism, an unfolding catastrophe of historic proportions. The carpet bombing and growing death toll of more than 20,000 civilians, including women, the elderly, disabled, children, babies, and health professionals, is utterly horrifying. The murderous program, is however, not a mistake or accident, it is deliberate.

Schools, hospitals and refugee camps are being systematically targeted because the war against the Palestinian people, is a war of ethnic cleansing, a genocidal war. Children are being murdered, consciously eliminated, in an attempt to destroy the next and future generations of Palestinians. Every week on average, a thousand children have diedmore than a 100 every single day or one child dying every 10 minutes. This is the program of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Phillips pointed to the growing global opposition of workers and youth, and the desperate attempt by capitalist governments to criminalise and intimidate people through an array of anti-democratic measures.

Just hours before the CFPE meeting, Victorian state Labor deputy premier and education minister Ben Carroll had threatened teachers with disciplinary measures if they expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people at their workplaces, and initiated discussions with students on the war. Carroll labelled this inflammatory, divisive and sowing seeds of disharmony.

Australian Education Union (AEU) state president Meredith Peace (annual salary and benefits $247,000) told the media that the union did not support a week of action initiated by a group of teachers, and she remained silent on the governments threats.

Phillips stressed that Peaces comments underlined once again the union bureaucracys refusal to defend members, and highlighted the subservience of the AEU to both the state Labor government and the Albanese government, which is actively supporting the genocidal war in Gaza. Any perspective that the AEU can be pressured to change course is a complete dead-end. Teachers need to develop independent rank-and-file committees and turn out to the working class who are the force that can alone halt supplies and production of military equipment to Israel. The capitalist governments that are perpetrating war crimes must be brought down.

In the course of the discussion, several teachers from New South Wales reported their recent experiences at regional union meetings, where they had been blocked by teacher union officials from discussing resolutions in support of Palestinians or ruled out of order.

Morgan Peach, president of the University of Melbourne International Youth and Students for Social Equality club, spoke in the discussion about the recent high schools strikes in the previous week. He explained that, In Melbourne the strike involved more than a thousand young people who stood up against the media barrage of lies and denunciations from the entire media and political establishment. The Labor government played the key role in this, it sought to intimidate students from taking strike action, calling on schools to punish those who went.

He continued, Its clear that students are educating themselves on the internet about whats happening in Gaza as well as the whole history of Israel. Lots of students expressed contempt for the idea that opponents of Israels genocide are antisemitic and fuelling hatred and racism. Some students also drew broader conclusions, understanding that the Western powers backing Israel are capitalist powers with interests in the region. Students are being radicalised by these events, which is what the ruling elite in Australia fears most.

Other discussion in the meeting involved the history of Zionism. Participants were encouraged to read the recent lecture by David North,  Genocide in Gaza: Imperialism descends into the abyss , and an important exposure by Jean Shaoul, titled  Israels lies of October 7 incursion fall apart .

Supporting the resolution and in discussion on the student strike and educator action, one teacher commented in the chat, Its essential that students are informed about the current and global issues. They are the next generation. The teacher then thanked meeting participants for clarification on the role of the Albanese government as a pro-imperialist supporter of the Zionist state of Israel.

Another public school primary teacher responded: I fully support the resolution passed at the CFPE meeting. The atrocities being committed in Gaza are abhorrent. We need to call out the governments, including the Albanese government, for supporting this genocide, and the unions, including the AEU, who stand by it. The recent directives stopping teachers from engaging in real discussion with our students is unacceptable.

The unanimously endorsed CFPE resolution read:

This meeting of the CFPE condemns the genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the Zionist state of Israel and its imperialist backers. This includes the Albanese Labor government, which has joined with the Liberal-National Coalition in giving its full backing to the Israeli regime. As of November 27, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, with thousands of other civilians unaccounted for, no doubt buried beneath the rubble. Hospitals, schools, orphanages, mosques and refugee camps have been carpet bombedall war crimesleading to a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions. More than a hundred innocent children are dying every single day, on average a thousand children every week, or one child every 10 minutes. The next generation of Palestinians are being systematically expelled and exterminated. As stated by UNICEF at the end of October, Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. Up until November 11, 300 schools in Gaza had been bombed. A total of 3,117 students and 183 teachers have been killed, and another 4,183 children and 403 teachers injured. Even before the latest onslaught, UNICEF reported more than 800,000 children in Gazathree-quarters of its entire child populationwere identified as seriously traumatised, needing urgent mental health and psychosocial support. The CFPE demands the immediate halt to the war. The siege on Gaza must be ended, and food, water, electricity, medical care, and all other necessities must be made available immediately. The CFPE stands in solidarity with the world-wide protests, including strikes, blockades and actions such as the school strike of students in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide last week. Teachers must oppose any attempt by schools to discipline students who have participated in or are planning further strikes. We likewise reject recent anti-democratic directives targeting public school teachers in Victoria. State Labor Education Minister Ben Carroll, and Department of Education bureaucrats following the governments lead, have targeted for potential victimisation and sacking teachers who have participated in solidarity actions at their schools. The CFPE rejects and condemns the false accusation that support for the Palestinian people amounts to antisemitism. We condemn the inaction of the teacher and university unions, whose silence amounts to an endorsement of the Albanese governments support for Israel. The CFPE supports the call of the Palestinian trade unions for global solidarity, halting the arms trade with Israel as well as funding and military research. We call on all educators to discuss the war at their workplaces, organise resolutions, and demonstrations, and form independent rank-and-file committees, turning to other sections of the working class to develop a unified movement against genocide and war.

On Thursday night, the above resolution was also passed at an AEU Inner West regional meeting in Melbourne. We encourage educators throughout Australia to move similar statements at schools and universities.

Contact CFPE:

Email: cfpe.aus@gmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/678929646894212

www.facebook.com/commforpubliceducation

Twitter: @CFPE_Australia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, October 28, 2023. [AP Photo/Abir Sultan]

On Friday, the New York Times published a report establishing conclusively that Israel was fully informed, in detail, of plans by Hamas to attack its border that were executed on October 7. These revelations make clear that Israeli officials, knowing full well where and how Hamas would strike, made a deliberate decision to stand down in order to facilitate the attack.

These revelations mean that the Israeli government allowed and abetted the killing of their own citizens and that the Israeli government is responsible for the deaths that took place that day. This criminal conspiracy was aimed at establishing a pretext for a long-planned genocide against the people of Gaza.

Moreover, it is impossible to believe that the United States was uninformed of Hamass plans, under conditions where not only Israeli intelligence, but also Egypt had advance warnings of the attack. Everything points to a plot that involved Israel, the Biden administration and likely British and European intelligence agencies.

The Times published this report Monday as Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Gaza during a visit by Antony Blinken. The presence of the US secretary of state was meant not only to express the United States support for the renewed onslaught, but to manage the response to the exposure of this conspiracy.

The Times reported that

The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named Jericho Wall, outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

The document obtained by Israeli intelligence forces meticulously described the attack method, mirroring the actual events, the Times reported. It outlined an intense assault aimed to breach Gaza Strip fortifications, seize Israeli cities, and target key military bases. This plan was implemented with alarming accuracy, involving a coordinated use of rockets, drones, and ground forces.

The Times reports:

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on footall of which happened on Oct. 7.

Moreover, the Times reported, Israeli military and intelligence officials knew Hamas carried out an exhaustive, day-long training mission to practice the plan in detail just three months before the attack. The Times states:

The training included a dry run of shooting down Israeli aircraft and taking over a kibbutz and a military training base, killing all the cadets. During the exercise, Hamas fighters used the same phrase from the Quran that appeared at the top of the Jericho Wall attack plan.

Even while acknowledging that Israel was fully informed of Hamass plans, the Times seeks to package the revelations with an alibi, asserting, without any substantiation, that Israeli officials simply made a mistake. The Times writes:

Underpinning all these failures was a single, fatally inaccurate belief that Hamas lacked the capability to attack and would not dare to do so. That belief was so ingrained in the Israeli government, officials said, that they disregarded growing evidence to the contrary... The failures to connect the dots echoed another analytical failure more than two decades ago, when the American authorities also had multiple indications that the terrorist group Al Qaeda was preparing an assault.

No, Israels stand-down on October 7 was not a failure to connect the dots, because there were no dots to connect. The Israeli intelligence forces had obtained the entire operational plan of the October 7 attack, then witnessed Hamas carry out a major, high-level training exercise for that plan. They knew exactly what was planned and decided to let it go ahead.

The Times writes: Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out. It adds, It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document.

This presentation is absurd. It is impossible to believe that information of this character could come into the possession of the intelligence agencies without provoking the most intense analysis. The idea that, after 9/11, such high-level plans would be kept from the prime minister is not believable.

Such a document would have come from a source at the highest levels of Hamas. Once this valuable information was obtained, it would have been vital to take action to protect the source, including countermeasures to make Hamas believe Israel did not possess the information. The stand-down could have been a means to send a signal that Hamass plan had not been exposed.

Ultimately, a choice was made to allow Hamass operation to go ahead, in order to provide Israel with a pretext for a massive, long-planned military assault on Gaza. Only Netanyahu could make such a decision. The United States, meanwhile, instantly sent a massive military force to the region, announcing the deployment of its largest aircraft carrier and escort ship to the region within 24 hours of the attack.

The Times claim that Israels stand-down was an intelligence failure makes no sense because it is a lie from beginning to end. No, the events of October 7 were not an intelligence failure: Israel was remarkably successful in exactly predicting Hamass military operation. Instead of acting on this intelligence, Israel orchestrated a stand-down of troops and intelligence-gathering at the precise moment when the attack took place.

Four days after the October 7 attack, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh reported that in the days preceding the attack, local Israeli military authorities, with the approval of Netanyahu, ordered two of the three Army battalions, each with about 800 soldiers, that protected the border with Gaza to shift their focus to the Sukkot festival taking place near the West Bank.

Hersh quoted a source who told him, That left only eight hundred soldiers  to be responsible for guarding the 51-kilometer border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. That meant the Israeli citizens in the south were left without an Israeli military presence for ten to twelve hours. They were left to fend for themselves.

The stand-down not only left the border vulnerable to attack, it created the conditions where military forces had to be transferred to intercept Hamas attackers in civilian areas, creating conditions in which Israeli tank and helicopter forces shot indiscriminately into civilian areas, further swelling the Israeli death toll.

In addition to the military stand-down, Israel made a decision to put its vaunted 8200 signals intelligence unit off duty on weekends, meaning that the signals intelligence unit that detected the training exercise three months before was not on duty at the time of the Saturday, October 7 attack.

The exposure of Israels foreknowledge of the attack likewise exposes the US media and political establishment, which have fully embraced Israels claims to have been caught by surprise by the attack, and that the events of October 7 justify the genocide now being unleashed in Gaza.

These revelations expose the Gaza genocide to be a criminal conspiracy by the Netanyahu regime and its imperialist backers, whose victims include not only 20,000 slaughtered Palestinians, but the Israeli population itself.
Even as billions around the world see US imperialism as a global pariah due to its support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza, the pseudo-leftist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has invited US Special Forces to train their Mexican counterparts for two months in early 2024.

Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, US Northern Command Commander (left) and Gen. Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Mexican Secretary of Defense (right), June 29, 2023, Mexico City [Photo: U.S. Northern Command]

The request to the Mexican Senate for the entry of 11 armed US personnel to participate in the exercise Strengthen the capabilities of the Special Forces of the Ministry of National Defense was signed by Lopez Obrador less than a week after he met with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco on November 17.

Throughout the summit, AMLO made no mention of the massacre of thousands of Palestinian civilians and the destruction of hospitals, schools and refugee camps by Israel with bombs supplied by Washington.

Instead, Lopez Obrador declared that US-Mexico relations of friendship between our peoples, of respect and cooperation are excellent. He added, As a result, we are the main trade partners of the world.

He also managed to match his demeaning spectacle in 2020when he thanked then President Donald Trump for being respectful to Mexicans after Trump called them murderers and rapistsby telling migrants to thank President Biden, who is the first US president in recent times to open a legal pathway for migration.

Biden has in fact embraced the anti-immigrant agenda of the Trump-led Republican fascists, adding new policies to block asylum seekers, continuing mass deportations, and deploying hundreds of US troops on the US-Mexico border. The legal pathways set up are inaccessible to all but the wealthier migrants and are aimed at covering up the violation of US and international law on the right to asylum.

At the same time, AMLO has deployed 34,000 troops along Mexicos borders and thousands more in the interior to contain migrants attempting to reach the United States, effectively extending the US border southwards.

Mexico participates frequently in Pentagon military exercises, which often take place on Mexican soil like the yearly exercise Friendly Forces, with the latest taking place in August in Tijuana, Baja California. Twelve US Army personnel were also allowed to participate in a joint training exercise in Chihuahua in April-May. Moreover, the US Northern Command has led the construction this year of a disaster response training facility in Mexico City.

During last years PANAMAX exercise simulating a 20-nation response to secure the Panama Canal, Mexican Navy Capt. Carlos Renan Ancona worked as director of Multinational Force South Intelligence. He explained to Dialogo Americas that while Mexico falls under the purview of the US Northern Command, We share a lot of information and work very closely with Southern Command in many real-life activities, in our day-to-day work.

What sets the latest invitation by Lopez Obrador apart is the rapidly changing global context. The US-Israeli genocidal onslaught in Gaza has exploded any humanitarian or democratic pretensions of US imperialist operations abroad and exposed the predatory agenda of world war and recolonization to secure US hegemony globally.

As a result, AMLOs nationalist rhetoric about defending Mexican sovereignty has been exposed as so much hot air, and it becomes apparent that the biggest transformation under his term has been the complete integration of Mexico into the US-NATO axis for economic and military confrontation against China, Russia and Iran.

Claims like the one that recently appeared in the pseudo-left Jacobin magazine that AMLO is focused on national sovereignty and autonomy from US imperialism ring more hollow than ever.

Even Reuters felt compelled to mention in its brief report on the invitation of US troops that Mexico lost much of its territory to the United States due to war in the 1840s and also endured US military incursions in the early 20th century.

In fact, the emerging eruption of US imperialism has already seen a resurfacing of the same colonial attitudes that led to such incursions in the past, with all leading Republican candidates and numerous Congress members calling to deploy the US military to Mexico ostensibly against the drug cartels. This recalls the actions and outlook of President Woodrow Wilson, who ordered a seven-month occupation of the Port of Veracruz in 1914, during the Mexican Revolution.

Wilson wrote: Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.

Last March, Lopez Obrador felt compelled to declare: We are not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less that a governments armed forces intervene.  We are not a protectorate of the United States, nor a colony of the United States.

At this stage in history, however, it is impossible to conceal the underlying objectives behind military-to-military relations with the Pentagon. Among many such documents, one could cite the 1954 Top Secret NSC 5432 memorandum titled US Policy Toward Latin America, which called upon the Pentagon to Seek ultimate military standardization, along U.S. lines, of the organization, training, doctrine and equipment of Latin American armed forces, countering trends toward the establishment of European military missions in Latin America. This summarized what is known as the Monroe Doctrine.

A 1965 Defense Department secret document Study of U.S. Policy Toward Latin American Military Forces indicates that the local militaries must be prepared to remove government leaders from office whenever, in the judgment of the military, the conduct of these leaders is injurious to the welfare of the nation. It cites key US political interest in securing the Panama Canal and access to strategic raw materials and to protect and promote American investment and trade.

In times of special social ferment, the shift turns to crushing social opposition. For instance, the 1965 document indicates that under John F. Kennedy, in response to the 1959 Cuban revolution, the US began furnishing equipment and training specifically identified as intended for internal security. Such programs set the stage for fascist-military dictatorships across the region that tortured, killed and disappeared hundreds of thousands of workers, peasants, youth and intellectuals.

Given that the economic supremacy of the US dollar and industry have rapidly collapsed in the years since, US imperialism relies today more than ever on employing its military advantage to counteract the relative decline of its economic influence in the region and globally.

Under AMLO, the discredited frameworks used by the same corrupt Mexican ruling class to serve imperialism have merely changed names to facilitate their expansion. The North American Free Trade Agreement became the USMCA. The Plan Merida of US military aid to Mexico became the Bicentennial Framework, which already involves comparable sums of money. The Federal Police created under Plan Merida has been militarized and turned into a National Guard. The gangster-ridden Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) is being replaced, albeit so far in a small percentage of workplaces, by a new pro-corporate bureaucracy of so-called independent unions funded and trained by the Solidarity Center, a CIA front run by the AFL-CIO bureaucracy.

Even as the new US, Mexico, Canada trade agreement was coming into force in 2020, military, aerospace, auto, electronics and other key US industries warned that they could not operate if Mexican suppliers did not reopen after brief shutdowns during the beginning of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

AMLO reproduced Trumps re-opening and demonstrated the same willingness to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers at the behest of Wall Street and the Pentagon.

The Lopez Obrador administration has faithfully represented the interests of US imperialism and the Mexican ruling class in offering a source of cheap labor and resources for industries to move away from Asia in preparation for war against China. Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcenas proclaimed Mexico the near-shoring country last month in Washington.

Even more blatantly, AMLO boasted last month: Economic cooperation, economic integration, strengthening our region to compete with other regions of the world, it is very important to maintain good economic relations, and in Mexico, there are auto parts plants of the US war industry, how would their economy work without ours?
On Wednesday, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-affiliated publication Jacobin published an article titled, A Defense of Swedens Pandemic Response, which openly embraces the herd immunity strategy pioneered by the Swedish government and exported throughout the world.

The article was written by Daniel Johansson, whom Jacobin identifies as a political adviser to the Swedish Minister of Social and Health Affairs from 2019 to 2022, i.e., an individual directly implicated in implementing the Swedish governments policies of mass infection and death during the first three years of the pandemic.

Headline of Jacobin article [Photo: Jacobin]

Johanssons arguments, published without criticism by Jacobin, are fundamentally indistinguishable from the talking points of right-wing COVID fanatics who have gushed over Swedens response. Shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, as well as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Jacobin insists that comprehensive public health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 should be avoided due to the imperatives of the capitalist market.

Jacobins right-wing record on the pandemic

Johanssons article is written in response to a previous piece published last week by Jacobin, titled, The Swedish Left Failed the Vulnerable During the Pandemic. That article, written by two academics, Markus Balazs Goransson and Nicholas Loubere, offered tepid criticisms of the Swedish government and a false assessment of the response of socialists to the pandemic.

While lamenting the support of left organizations for Swedens COVID-19 response, the article by Balazs Goransson and Loubere made no mention of the fact that Jacobin was a key voice in supporting herd immunity from the beginning.

First, in September 2020 Jacobin promoted and interviewed Martin Kulldorf, the Swedish-American academic who co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration that sanctioned mass infection with COVID-19 even before the rollout of vaccines.

In a passage from the interview, approvingly retweeted by Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara, Kulldorff declared, The lockdown is the worst assault on the working class in half a century.

Soon after his interview with Jacobin, Kulldorf held a private meeting with Donald Trump to advise him on his COVID-19 response, which centered on fully reopening schools, discouraging masking and promoting large public gatherings to facilitate the spread of the virus. Also present at the meeting were GBD co-authors Jay Bhattacharya and Sunetra Gupta, as well as Scott Atlas and Joseph Ladapo.

White House adviser Dr. Scott Atlas with the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, Jay Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta, and Martin Kulldorff when they met with then Health and Human Services director Alex Azar on October 5, 2020 [Photo: Scott Atlas (Twitter)]

Second, Jacobin joined the corrupt American teachers unions in pushing for the full reopening of schools, despite widespread concerns about the lack of measures to stop the spread of COVID in schools.

Third, in December 2022 Jacobin published two articles supporting the lifting of Zero-COVID in China, a disastrous policy decision implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under intense pressure from US and European imperialism. After encouraging this anti-public health policy change, Jacobin made no mention of the mass infection and death that swept across China, infected virtually the entire population and killing at least 1-2 million people.

Largely, though, Jacobin has been silent about the pandemic, writing just a few articles on this world-historical event.

In an exchange on Twitter, Loubere confirmed that he was aware that Jacobin promoted the policies they were criticizing but did not really see the relevance of including it, showcasing the opportunist politics that pervade in these circles. Despite the thoroughly limited and dishonest criticisms of Swedens homicidal policies in the piece by Balazs Goransson and Loubere, Johansson felt the need to issue a public reply, which the reactionary editors at Jacobin immediately accepted.

Get back to work!

The major point Johansson makes in response to criticisms of the Swedish model is that it ignore[s] the fact that even in a small country like Sweden, millions of people must go to work every day, pandemic or not.

It should give any reader pause that such a statement is promoted by a magazine describing itself as socialist.

In 2020, the bourgeois press overflowed with screeching pleas that the cure cannot be worse than the disease. Panic gripped the political establishment as workers walked off the job in major industrial centers, demanding shut-downs until the pandemic could be brought under control.

Fascistic figures like Boris Johnson were caught saying, no more F***ing lockdowns, let the bodies pile high in their thousands! Most recently, the official UK COVID Inquiry has revealed that in December 2020 Johnson expressed the belief that COVID was just natures way of dealing with old people.

In Sweden, the Social Democratic government, including Johansson, was collaborating with Johnson and implementing the same policies.

While Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist of Sweden, did not put it as crudely as Johnson, he stated in a leaked email that his plan was to keep schools open to reach herd immunity faster. When Tegnells Finnish counterpart noted that closing schools alone would reduce the spread of COVID among the elderly by at least 10 percent, Tegnell callously replied, 10% might be worth it?

Anders Tegnell [Photo by Frankie Fouganthin / CC BY 4.0

These are the politics of social murder that Jacobin is solidarizing itself with.

As the World Socialist Web Site has documented, herd immunity is a eugenicist policy in which the vulnerable in society are sacrificed in the name of the economy and the healthy.

The Economist calculates that 27.4 million people have likely died due to the COVID-19 pandemicabout four-times the official count. At present, there are still over 5,000 excess deaths each day throughout the world. To excuse this massive death toll as nature taking its course, or due to the necessity of people having to work, as Jacobin now states, is to abandon the most basic principles of public health, let alone a struggle against the capitalist system.

Moreover, the pandemic has unleashed a global wave of mass debilitation with Long COVID, potentially impacting hundreds of millions of people. With every reinfection of this constantly mutating virus, the risk builds for a host of medical problems associated with Long COVID, including cardiovascular disease, brain damage, chronic fatigue, kidney disease, and various forms of organ damage. New research from Nature demonstrates the ability of COVID-19 to persist in the body long after the acute stage of an infection.

This horrific reality of ongoing mass death and disability is completely covered up by Johansson and Jacobin, who could not care less about the suffering caused by the policies they promote.

Lying through omission

What is most remarkable about Johanssons defense of the Swedish pandemic response is what he leaves out. He champions statistics showing that Sweden had, over the last three years, a lower excess mortality rate compared to other countries, except the Nordic countries most similar to Sweden. This is true, but completely beside the point.

Since the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021, every country around the world has adopted the herd immunity policy pioneered in Sweden, abandoning their populations to a deadly novel pathogen in a manner without historical precedent. This has led to widespread death and disability throughout the world, equalizing overall excess death rates in most countries.

For Western countries that had lockdowns, they were largely haphazard affairs lasting a few weeks that were poorly coordinated and quickly ended. Disconnected from a broader elimination strategy that utilized mass testing, rigorous contact tracing and the renovation of ventilation systems, these lockdowns were incapable of stopping viral transmission.

Thus, the differences in excess mortality that now exist between countries largely reflect the pre-pandemic state of their health care systems, as well as structural differences around housing and lifestyle patterns. Sweden, for example, has one of the highest rates of single occupancy housinga sharp contrast to widespread multi-generational housing in Southern Europe and many other parts of the world.

The issue at stake is not the national comparison of this or that model of trying to solve the pandemicthere is and remains no national solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, the policies advocated early on in the pandemic by Sweden were championed by the ruling class in most other countries, and soon imposed on a global scale.

Sweden is not special. It was just an early adopter of a global policy of capitalism sacrificing lives, and the long-term well-being of the population, for profit.

Several other criticisms of the article should be made:

Though a doctor advising the Swedish government, the author parrots the false conception that washing hands was a major way to stop the spread of COVID-19. Almost four years into the pandemic, it is well-understood that COVID-19 is an airborne virus, and that air filtration and ventilation, not hand washing, stops its spread. The myth of hand washing was fanned by the World Health Organization and others to justify returning to work with a pretense of safety.

The author makes no mention of the demonization of masks in Sweden, despite significant evidence that properly worn N-95 masks significantly protect wearers and reduce viral transmission. To this day, Sweden remains an almost maskless society, even during COVID-19 surges.

The basic conception behind the Swedish model was that herd immunity would be quickly reached, but there is no herd immunity to COVID-19. This very concept, derived from animal husbandry, is fallacious, as SARS-CoV-2 has continually mutated and there is no long-term, permanent protection given by either antibodies from the vaccines or catching COVID-19.

While referring to the pandemic in the past tense, the author omits the current surge of COVID-19 infections in Sweden, which has led to an increase in hospitalization. Cases have increased an average of 30-50 percent each week during October and November, according to the Swedish government. But because systematic testing for the virus has been abandoned, with wastewater surveillance now the only available means to track viral transmission, these numbers may downplay the real situation. (See figure below)

Swedish wastewater surveillance, showing a massive surge of SARS-CoV-2 transmission this November. [Photo: Government of Sweden]

Fighting a pandemic that has not ended

The World Socialist Website has insisted, since the beginning of the pandemic, that emergency international measures must be implemented to stop the spread of a virus that could kill millions and become permanently active in human society, leading to a mass, ongoing assault on peoples health and well-being.

On October 24, 2021 the WSWS held an international webinar, How to End the Pandemic, featuring leading scientific experts, doctors, and anti-COVID advocates. The event demonstrated that eliminating the virus was not fantasy, but a goal that could be achieved on the basis of an international policy fighting for public health over profit.

In this context, the statement posted in Jacobin by Goransson and Loubere that leftists elsewhere failed to take Swedish leftists to task for their support for a neoliberal pandemic response that became the poster child for right-wing attempts to torpedo infection control in other countries, is simply false. Among the several thousand articles that the WSWS has written on the pandemic are dozens directly dealing with Swedens herd immunity policies, including the role of the Swedish Social Democrats and Left Party in promoting it.

The fact that Jacobin so quickly issued a right-wing rebuttal to these limited criticisms of Swedens herd immunity policy is a testament to the fact that the murderous, complacent, upper-middle class response embodied in the Swedish pseudo-left, is not a distinctly Swedish phenomenon, but rather a class one.

These forces, whether Jacobin, Vansterpartiet (the Left Party), the Swedish Social Democrats, the DSA, or various other pseudo-left groups around the world, do not represent the working class and are not socialists. Their leadership is stock full of middle-class careerists for whom the pandemic has largely been seen as an unfortunate accident, an annoyance, perhaps a tragedy, but all-together something in the past and unavoidable.
On Thursday, police blocked students from Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit from entering a publicly accessible building, where they had planned to quietly protest Israels genocide in Gaza.

Protesters oppose Israels genocide in Gaza at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, on November 30, 2023. (WSWS Media)

The group of several dozen students included members of the campus student organizations Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and members of the Student Senate.

The students planned to assemble to demand that the university administration take action on a resolution passed by the Student Senate that called on the university to cease its investments in defense contractors and businesses complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

The decision by the WSU administration to use campus police to block the students from carrying out a planned protest is an attack on their democratic right to political expression. Despite this attack, the students proceeded to hold their demonstration.

When the student protesters and their supporters assembled outside the university Faculty/Administration Building (FAB) at the scheduled time, they were barred from entering the building by campus police. Signs were posted on the doors saying the entrance was closed.

Police blocking anti-genocide protesters from entering the Faculty Administration Building at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, on November 30, 2023. (WSWS Media)

When organizers attempted to enter the building through an alternate entrance, they were again met by campus police, who told them they were not permitted to protest inside the facility. The FAB is the main administrative building on the WSU campus and includes the offices of the president of the university, Dr. Kimberly Andrews Espy.

After they were blocked from the entering the building, the protesters proceeded to hold their rally and sit-in in front of the barred doors of the building.

Mohammed, the co-vice president of the WSU SJP, opened the event by explaining what had just happened. He said, Clearly, they do not want us in. They claim we are violating policies, even though we are not. This is our right to protest peacefully and quietly inside, which is what we were trying to do.

Several speakers were then asked to give their prepared remarks to the group.

The first speaker was a WSU student senator, Ridaa Khan. She said:

After many events, protests, passing the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] resolution in the Student Senate and emails to the administration, our administration is hoping that we are done, and that were tired. For them our work is an annoyance in their day and nothing more. Its just one more email for them to curate, and thats it. They are not listening to us.

The WSU student described the death and destruction meted on the Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli military, which has wiped out entire families. She said:

As Americans we know how much of our money and institutional power is the arm behind this genocide. And all we ask is for our university to divest from the companies whose stock value is rising and whose weapons are wiping out families. Our university invests in that, and they responded to this request by telling us that our words could be harmful, that divesting from war profiteering companies that sell to Israel and other aggressors could hurt someones feelings.

More than 15,000 people have been murdered at our countrys hands, and our administration does not want to risk its connections for the absolute bare minimum of calling for a ceasefire. We demand that they do so. President Espy, you must endorse the message of a ceasefire now!

Jena, the co-vice president of SJP, said:

This institution is responsible for creating an environment that is including and welcoming for all students from all backgrounds. But unfortunately, the majority of the time, that excludes the Palestinian narrative. Throughout my time here at Wayne State, I have witnessed the ways this administration has tried to silence us, our voices and our demands. A few examples of this are the passing of the BDS resolution, that is meant to protect the ethics and the morality of Wayne State in the interest of students. Yet the Board of Governors is not responding to this moral outrage out of fear. Fear, when people are dying. Another example of the disgusting behavior of the administration is the dean of DEI using interfaith dialogue to talk about the Palestinian genocide without actually incorporating Palestinian voices. This is not a religious issue.

The vice president of the Black Student Union said:

This type of genocidal colonialism cannot be justified, nor will we allow it to be minimized or downplayed. Justifying the loss of countless innocent lives for the actions of their government is incomprehensible and should be recognized for what it is, an illegitimate attempt to seize control of a vulnerable and marginalized population.

A representative of Jewish Students for Peace spoke in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian protesters and said the resources of WSU, such as interfaith dialogue, are being used to minimize the genocide against Palestinians as well as to homogenize all Jewish students as Zionists falsely. We are not all Zionists. There are many anti-Zionist Jews on campus and there is a growing number day by day.

Speaking on behalf of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, Andre Damon addressed the protest.

Damon replied to the claims by the media and political establishment that the slaughter in Gaza represented the will of the Jewish people.

But there can be no greater slander against the Jewish people than to claim that the mass murder of women and children is in their interests. It is not the Jewish people who are responsible, but the despised Netanyahu regime and its backers in Washington, London, Berlin and Paris, Damon said.

He warned:

The movement against Israels genocide stands at an inflection point. If it remains leaderless, if it remains without a firm political program, it will dissolve and dissipate. And the fate of the Palestinians will be sealed.

He concluded:

We cannot let that happen. It is time to call things by their real name: The genocide in Gaza is a crime of capitalism, that vicious system of industrial exploitation on a mass scale. It is the capitalists who profit on war. Their murder with bombs abroad is the concentrated expression of their social murder at homethrough the spread of poverty, the destruction of healthcare and social servicesall for their personal enrichment. The movement against war must be based in a movement of the working class. From every corner of the wide world, the slogan must once again be heard: Workers of the world, unite! It is the unified strength of the working class that will stop the genocide in Gaza and overturn the capitalist system.

After the rally, a representative of SJP said that the WSU provost came down and met with her to say that the administration would not let any of the demonstrators go inside the building and shut the building for all students. After the protest, she said, campus security began checking IDs to only let individuals into the building who were deemed not part of the demonstration.

She said:

This is a university that claims that they are diverse.  But they are denying us access to the university. The question is: Who is next? Today they discriminated against the Palestinians, tomorrow who will that be?  This is a message to the Wayne State University administration that this is not the last you will hear from us. We do have demands and we will get them to you.
More than a thousand British and Irish actors, writers, artists, directors, critics, musicians and playwrights have signed a petition demanding that art institutions stop their censorship of pro-Palestinian artists and individuals in the cultural field who seek to defend the Palestinian people from the Israeli genocide.

Some of the better-known signatories include Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth in the popular television series, The Crown, Harriet Walter, an Emmy Award winner for her role in Succession, now starring in the science fiction drama, Silo, Olivier Award winner Juliet Stevenson, Nicola Coughlan of Derry Girls and Bridgerton and Aimee Lou Wood, a BAFTA award winner for her role in the series Sex Education.

Olivia Colman in London, Monday, November 27, 2023. [AP Photo/Scott Garfitt/Invision]

The petition, sponsored by the group Artists for Palestine UK, is addressed to the Arts and Culture sector and states in part:

The scale of violence unfolding in Gaza demands our collective attention and action.

Members of Israels far-right government are openly calling for ethnic cleansing.

The use of starvation as a weapon of war, along with denial of water and electricity, is cruel beyond words.

The wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure, the bombing of hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, the killing of 14,500 people in a matter of weeks, amount to a policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people. The United Nations and hundreds of legal scholars have called on the international community to prevent genocide.

As artists, we cannot remain silent in the face of such egregious violations of international humanitarian law.

While catastrophe unfolds, we have observed a glaring absence of statements of solidarity with Palestinian people from most UK arts organisations.

We find it deeply troubling and, frankly, indicative of a disturbing double standard that expressions of solidarity, which have been readily offered to other peoples facing brutal oppression, have not been extended to Palestinians.

The letter continues, Far from supporting our calls for an end to the violence, many cultural institutions in Western countries are systematically repressing, silencing and stigmatising Palestinian voices and perspectives. This includes targeting and threatening the livelihoods of artists and arts workers who express solidarity with Palestinians, as well as cancelling performances, screenings, talks, exhibitions, and book launches.

The letter concludes by saying, To stay silent in the face of mass injustice and worsening humanitarian crisis would be an abrogation of moral duty. To actively silence the principled artists and workers who do fulfil this responsibility is a failure to meet legal obligations on freedom of expression and anti-discrimination.

Harriet Walter in Succession

The letter cites several notorious incidents of censorship by arts institutions in the last six weeks, including:

 The Lisson Gallery in London canceled a show of Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei on November 14 because he posted a comment on Twitter/X that read, The sense of guilt around the persecution of the Jewish people has been, at times, transferred to offset the Arab world. The Lisson Gallery indicated in a tweet that this was antisemitic.

 The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam issued a statement condemning protesters at its opening night on November 8 for holding up a banner that said, From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free that read, we believe that this slogan should not be used in any way and by anybody anymore. Several participants in the festival have withdrawn their work in protest, including the Palestinian Film Institute.

 A media witch-hunt against the new director of the Swiss museum Kunsthalle Basel, Mohamed Almusibli, for signing a letter in support of Palestine published in Artforum, which cost one of Artforums editors his job and generated widespread opposition in the arts community. Basel art professionals have responded in his defense.

 The call by Lars Henrik Gass, the director of the 2024 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, on the festivals official Facebook page to attend a Zionist rally and vilifying Palestinians, and Gasss subsequent cancellation of the themed program of the festival by curators signing a protest letter.

 The cancellation of Haitian-American writer Anais Duplans exhibition on afrofuturism by the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany because Duplan had made statements on Instagram in which he termed, in the words of the museum, the Israeli military operation in Gaza a genocide.

 The cancellation of book events, including that of Palestinian writer Adania Shibli at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

 The rescinding of the German city of Bochums Peter Weiss Prize from British author Sharon Dodua Otoo because of alleged support for the organization Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which supports sanctioning the Zionist state.

 The letter also refers to the dropping of Melissa Barrera from the film Scream VII and the funding cuts to Oyoun center in Berlin by the state government.

A powerful mass movement against the genocide in Gaza has emerged around the world, including in imperialist countries such as the United States, France, Germany and Britain. This movement is not only defending the Palestinians against Israeli mass murder, but also its own right to exist, to simply speak the truthwhich millions of people understandthat the destruction by missiles, bombs, tanks and snipers of an entire people is taking place before our eyes.

This censorship includes restrictions on displaying the Palestinian flag in Germany, the right to assemble in France, media witch-hunts and slander from the floor of the Senate in the United States and especially the full force of the state in Britain. As the WSWS noted recently, The UK police have arrested hundreds of people for demonstrating in opposition to the genocide in Gazaoften merely for displaying signs.

The arts establishment has followed suit with cowardly censorship and artists are now playing a vital role in defending the right of millions to call things as they are and to demand an end to the homicidal assault on the Palestinians.
The title of the new movieMaestrosuggests a film biography of one of the most remarkable international musical figures of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein.

That does not prove to be the case, however. The filmmakersdirector Bradley Cooper (who plays Bernstein) and co-producers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, with Jamie Bernstein and her two siblings in consultative roleshave instead chosen to offer us a portrait of Bernsteins marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre.

The musical career of the famous composer and conductor, the man whom world-renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein once described as the greatest pianist among conductors, the greatest conductor among composers, the greatest composer among pianists is mostly ignored, except in so far as it serves as a backdrop to his complicated and often troubled personal life.

Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in Maestro

Exploring every aspect of Bernsteins life, including his marriage, is certainly legitimate, but what Maestro has done is unacceptably one-sidedand therefore misleading. A younger generation seeking to learn more about this figure who played such a prominent role in the classical music world for almost 50 years before his death in 1990 will instead come away primarily with a picture of Bernstein as a damaged genius who inflicted much pain on his long-suffering wife and family.

The film opens with Bernstein (portrayed effectively by Cooper at various stages of the composer-conductors life) as an old man, nearing the end of his life, and somewhat ruefully recalling the major experiences he has passed through. It proceeds to deal with his life chronologically, beginning with the famous telephone call in late 1943 informing him that Bruno Walter is too ill to conduct at Carnegie Hall that very evening, and that Bernstein, the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic at that time, must take his place.

The phone call awakens Bernstein, whom we find in bed next to his male lover at the time. This quickly establishes the films central theme: how Bernsteins homosexuality affects his family.

The young wunderkind of the classical music world, who has rocketed to fame after his debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 25, soon meets actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). Montealegre, born in Costa Rica and educated in Chile, is at the beginning of a stage and television career. Lenny and Felicia fall in love and decide to marry, while Montealegre assures Bernstein she is well aware he is gay (she knows all about you), but lets give it a whirl.

Much of this history is telescoped, at times in a somewhat confused fashion. Montealegre and Bernstein first met in 1946 but did not marry until 1951. Maestro provides only minimal detail about Bernsteins career, just enough to demonstrate he is absolutely passionate about music, and that his musical life is flourishing. There is a brief scene with Serge Koussevitskythe famous Russian-born conductor of the Boston Symphony and the primary mentor of the young Bernsteinurging him to stay away from Broadway and to change his name to Berns, for the purpose of smoothing his path to national prominence.

We see rehearsals for the Bernstein-Jerome Robbins ballet, Fancy Free. The famous overture to the 1956 operetta Candide is heard in the background. This all flies by rather quickly, always with the principal emphasis on Bernsteins celebrity marriage.

A famous 1955 interview of Bernstein and his wife is recreated, part of Edward R. Murrows Person to Person television series. The Bernsteins are presented in their luxurious home, discussing their busy lives, which by then include two children (the third would not arrive until 1962). Other scenes show the opulence of their lives at the famous Dakota apartment building in Manhattan as well as in suburban Connecticut. Accompanying this is the steadily accumulating crisis between husband and wife, tension that occasionally erupts in bitter arguments. Even though Felicia has indicated she understands Bernsteins needs, she objects to his indiscretions. In one climactic scene, she explodes, telling Bernstein he is incapable of loving himself, and warning that he should beware of dying as a lonely old queen.

Bernstein leaves Felicia for a younger lover, and then returns when she is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Felicias death in 1978 is correctly depicted as a shattering blow to the aging composer, but the film then fairly quickly jumps ahead a decade, to Bernsteins final years.

As noted above, the actual music in Bernsteins life is only the passive setting in Maestro for his marriage. The main extended musical moment is a five or six-minute excerpt from a Bernstein performance of the famous Resurrection Symphony of Gustav Mahlerthe great Viennese composer of the early 20th century with whom Bernstein is most closely associated. There is little indication of the scale of Bernsteins career as a conductor, which took him to every famous orchestra and classical musical venue in the world during the 20 years after he resigned his post as conductor of the New York Philharmonic (1958-69) and is included in 121 CDs and 36 DVDs.

While there are brief references to some of the compositions for which Bernstein was most famous (Candide, West Side Story), there are many other, less well-known works that are not mentioned at all. The only other major piece of Bernsteins featured somewhat prominently is his Mass, for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 1971. This is revealing. The spirituality and vague multiculturalism of Mass reflected a particular stage of Bernsteins odyssey and are part of the outlook undoubtedly shared by his daughter Jamie Bernstein, a prominent consultant on the movie, and by the filmmakers more generally.

It is not only the musical excerpts that are missing, work that could have shown how the composer determinedly strove to bridge the divide between popular and classical music. Also omitted from the movie is Bernsteins role as a champion of musical tonality, at a time, in the post-World War II period, when it was shunned in many circles in favor of atonality and Arnold Schoenbergs twelve-tone school of composition.

Nor is there any reference, astonishingly, to Bernsteins legacy as an educator, including above all his famous Young Peoples Concerts and other television work that brought classical music to millions, popularizing the form without in any way lowering the level of discussion.

Bradley Cooper in Maestro

Bernsteins career cannot be understood, as he himself would insist, apart from the complex history of the 20th century. Yet there is nothing in this film about the composers fervent liberalism, his sympathy for socialism and, in his youth, for the Soviet Union. There is nothing about McCarthyism, the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s that forced the young conductor, in order to renew his passport, to submit a humiliating legal affidavit confessing to political naivete and certifying his patriotism. In relation to a later period, Maestro includes no references to the Vietnam War and to the Bernsteins attempts to raise funds for the legal defense of the Black Panthers, efforts that provoked the wrath of the New York Times and other official voices.

Those who admire Bradley Coopers Maestro might acknowledge all of these missing musical and historical elements, but would insist those aspects dont belong, because this film is about their personal lives, and above all about Felicia Montealegre.

While Coopers performance as Bernstein has met with general critical approval, some have insisted that it is Carey Mulligan who is the true star of the movie. Her performance is indeed a good one, but the praise fits in with the overarching premise of Maestro. It has been conceived as a tribute to Montealegre above all, a tribute that is considered overdue.

The focus on the inner lives of Lenny and Felicia is consistent with the outlook of identity politics that permeates cultural and political life today, including and perhaps most strongly in Hollywood. The movie is an attempt to give Felicia Montealegre her due for putting up with Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein is not denounced; he is depicted instead as a somewhat tragic figure.

The logic of identity politics finds somewhat ridiculous expression in the criticism in some quarters of the prosthetic nose used by Cooper to more closely resemble Bernstein. There is nothing offensive in this device, and it is fairly effective in Maestro, but it has been called an example of Jew-face, with the reactionary suggestion that only Jews may play Jewish characters.

Although Jamie Bernstein, as noted, had only a consultative role on the film, she has spoken in some detail about her cooperation and collaboration with filmmaker Cooper, and indeed the character of Jamie (Maya Hawke) is quite prominent in the movie itself. It would not be a stretch to say that Maestro, while not inaccurate, is in large part based on the recollections of Jamie, who was 26 when her mother died.

Another theme of the movie, alluded to but not spelled out, is its concern with the price supposedly paid for not being true to oneself. One can easily imagine many of those involved in Maestro, gay and otherwise, shaking their heads and tsk-tsking over Bernsteins irresponsible behavior. This attitude, so typical of the ahistorical advocates of identity politics, ignores that fact that homosexuality was criminalized in much of the United States during the period depicted in the movie, and that an openly gay lifestyle would have precluded a public musical career for Bernstein for the first two or three decades of that careerin other words we would not have had the Bernstein we have come to know.

The crisis of the Bernsteins marriage, if it were to be seriously examined alongside his musical fame, could only be understood in the context of the social and cultural changes taking place during that period. Bernstein was increasingly adrift, creatively as well as personally. The two sides of his life were not unrelated. The conditions which had inspired him in the 1940s, 50s and 60s gave way to a different and far less hospitable political climate in the 1970s and 80s, and this found expression especially in his difficulties as a composer. He tried to hold on to his liberalism, while facing old age and, no doubt, guilt feelings over his marriage.

As the WSWS argued in August 2018, When all the twists and turns of Bernsteins remarkable 50-year career are taken into account, however, it is clear that his legacy, 100 years after his birth and 75 years after he first found fame, shines brightly.

We continued: His pianism and pedagogy, his principled defense of musical tonality and the thousands of performances he led as conductor around the world speak for themselves. His legacy as a composer must be appreciated and understood in light of the conditions and obstacles he faced. The film that successfully grasps and represents these complexities remains to be made.

************

A handful of Leonard Bernsteins many memorable performances, Young Peoples Concerts and lectures:

Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 1 (I) in D minor (BWV 1052)

Leonard Bernstein in Salzau  Shostakovichs Symphony No. 1

Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concerts: What Does Music Mean?

George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue - Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic (1976)

Candide Overture: Leonard Bernstein conducting

Mahler rehearsals with Leonard Bernstein

Beethoven - 5th Piano Concerto Emperor (Krystian Zimerman, Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic)

The Unanswered Question 1973 Leonard Bernstein Norton Lecture

Brahms Symphonies 3 and 4 with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic
Residents and fellows training at Northwestern Medicine hospitals and clinics announced Friday that they will seek to unionize. The group, encompassing nearly 1,300 trainees, filed with the National Labor Relations Board late Friday morning.

If successful, the residents and fellows will work with the Committee of Interns and Residents. Residents and fellows placed at Northwestern Medicine facilities are all trainees at the McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern University.

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More than 65% of the McGaw student body voted to file union cards Friday. CIR represents more than 30,000 residents and fellows. Members work in hospitals in 11 states, including Illinois.

We have a lot to offer in terms of our views of what would be beneficial, what would make a difference for patients, what would take their care to the next level, organizer Dr. Joseph deBettencourt, a third-year pediatric resident at Lurie Childrens Hospital, told the Chicago Tribune.

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The McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern University is currently reviewing the petition to unionize and plans to respond in due course, a spokesperson said. Northwestern Medicine was not available for comment.

Though most residents have already signed salary agreements, members are hoping that unionizing will allow them to agitate for better cost-of-living adjustments in the future, deBettencourt said. Some members also want pay adjustments for housing, as long and unpredictable hours force most to sign leases in the expensive Streeterville neighborhood.

Weve seen other programs around us, especially ones that have unions, have better support for child care and for housing, deBettencourt said.

Residents and fellows training at Northwestern hospitals often work upward of 80 hours a week, CIR said Friday. deBettencourt said residents are often asked to work 24-hour shifts, and hope to negotiate for fewer of these shifts to be required.

Residents and fellows function as front-line workers, deBettencourt said, and hope a union would improve standards of patient care. Theyre often the first people patients encounter when admitted to a hospital.

To be so hands-on in that way and have really limited control over how the hospital distributes its resources, and even how we set our schedules and go about our lives, it can be disempowering, Dr. Mugdha Mokashi, a second year OB/GYN resident, said.

The cohort is especially focused on creating more programming for patients of color in working-class communities, CIR said Friday. If recognized, the union plans to advocate for more in-person translators across Northwestern University hospitals, deBettencourt said. Many patients still rely on digital or video translators. Some opt to describe medical issues to doctors in limited English, afraid their native language will be mistranslated, deBettencourt said.

Being able to say, Hey, Im in my outpatient clinic, Im in my hospital, its the middle of the night, but I have access to these resources equally across our locations, deBettencourt said, Its a big ask but its something that we see every day as residents.

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Mokashi also wants residents to have more control over how funding is allocated to patients. As an obstetrics and gynecology resident, she says the volume of patients seeking family planning has exploded, and wants more of a say in what resources the hospital can provide.

Some residents have similar hopes around funding for migrants who visit Northwestern hospitals, Mokashi said.

The group has been preparing for nearly two years ahead of Fridays filing to unionize. They sought advice from colleagues at Stanford University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where 842 residents, fellows and interns formed a union in 2021.

Northwestern Medicine operates 10 hospitals and upward of 200 outpatient facilities across the Chicago area. The university health care system netted $2.3 billion in patient revenue this year.

While residents are calling on Northwestern Medicine and the McGaw Medical Center to voluntarily recognize their union, they expect to go to a vote among all employees, deBettencourt said.

Some doctors across the hospitals McGaw students work at were unionized during their own residencies, which deBettencourt hopes will lead to support during a vote. Administrators at Lurie have also been particularly supportive, he said.

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I know theyre always happy to hear from us and encourage us to be advocating for what we want, deBettencourt said. For a lot of the programs that have unions, when (medical students) interview  they use it as a selling point for their program.

The university hospital system is no stranger to union activity, with 1,200 workers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in a separate union under SEIU. Residents and interns at Northwestern Memorial also formed a labor group in 2000, following national rulings allowing residents and interns at hospitals to unionize.

The group now operates as the McGaw Housestaff Association, which is not a formal union but has its own constitution and bylaws. Members meet with the Graduate Medical Education Committee six to eight times a year to raise issues and questions on behalf of all McGaw educational programs.

Mokashi feels the call to unionize has formed a sense of unity across specialties at Northwestern Medicine  more so than any programming offered by McGaw, she said.

Part of us being able to advocate for patients is us being able to advocate for ourselves as a group, Mokashi said. The desire to unionize  comes out of a place of love for this institution, love for each other and a hope we can do better for each other, rather than from a place of criticism or cynicism.

Health care unions have maintained a strong presence in Chicago this year, following a summer of labor strikes.

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Union employees at Howard Brown Health clinics, Loretto Hospital in Austin and Ascension St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet went on strike this year  sometimes twice  during ongoing contract negotiations.
Elon Musk has been facing criticism, including from Tesla investors, for endorsing an antisemitic post on X. Anadolu / Getty

Walmart has joined the growing list of companies suspending their ads on X.

It comes after Elon Musk appeared to endorse an antisemitic post.

Musk said that it was "a mistake" and "one of the most foolish things" he'd done on the platform.

Walmart announced on Friday that it will stop advertising on Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers," a Walmart spokeswoman told Bloomberg News.

The retailer, which is the largest in the US by sales, joins several other major companies including Disney, Apple, IBM, and Warner Bros in pulling ads from the platform since Musk seemingly endorsed an antisemitic post.

But Joe Benarroch, X's head of business operations, said on CBS MoneyWatch that the company had stopped advertising on X in October, "so this is not a recent pausing."

In a statement to Business Insider, Walmart said: "We are not actively advertising on X. This is not about a specific change to our advertising policies. We've simply decreased spend over time to align with performance."

"These decisions are made in a dynamic market and could change in the future," it added.

In a dig at Walmart on Friday, Musk replied to a tweet about the news saying: "I prefer HEB."

I prefer HEB  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2023

He had harsher words at the DealBook Summit this week, raging against big advertisers that have ditched his platform and warning that they could "kill" X.

X CEO Lina Yaccarino sent a memo around the company Thursday backing up Musk.

"Our principles do not have a price tag, nor will they be compromised  ever," she wrote. "No matter how hard they try, we will not be distracted by sideline critics who don't understand our mission."

Story continues

Musk has since said the post was a "mistake" and "one of the most foolish things" he'd done on the platform. The controversy could cost the company up to $75 million in ad revenue by the end of 2023, The New York Times reported.

The investor Ross Gerber has said that Musk's X comments have also damaged Tesla, saying he'd never seen a CEO do "so many detrimental things" to harm a brand.

"I've never had this with any company I've invested in in my entire life, where the CEO does so many detrimental things that destroy the brand, because bottom line that's what's happening. It's absolutely outrageous, his behaviors and the damage he's caused to the brand," he said.

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The clock is counting down on this weekends auction of a witness tree table crafted to benefit James Madisons Montpeliers work to honor the last resting place of the Virginia plantations enslaved people.

A local artisan made the one-of-a-kind table from a towering Cedar of Lebanon tree that once graced the grounds near the home of the nations fourth U.S. president. It was one of the few witness trees remaining on the 2,650-acre Orange County property owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The craftsmans eye for exquisite detail brought out the knots and whorls earned over hundreds of years, a dramatic live edge, and rustic metal legs that evoke a sturdy, timeless country aesthetic, The Montpelier Foundation said in a statement this week.

The money raised from its sale will help fund the presidential sites yearslong effort to memorialize the 300 or so enslaved men, women and children who toiled for the Madison familys multifarm enterprise and lived on site.

Montpelier was the lifelong home of James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution and architect of the Bill of Rights. Today, it is governed by the nonprofit foundations board, which include descendants of the propertys enslaved community.

At 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Montpelier will end bidding on the table. To learn more, click givebutter.com/c/GdcZgM. Bidding starts at $5,000.

Last month, the foundation and its Montpelier Descendants Committee hosted an online event at which Matthew Reeves, Montpeliers director of archaeology and landscape restoration, noted that Montpelier has one of the best-preserved slave burial grounds in the country.

Participants also heard from descendants, including Madlynn Anglin, who traces her roots to Jacksontown, Montpeliers neighboring freedmens community; James Bruce Monroe, president of the Orange County African American Historical Society; and Henry Anglin, chair of the MDC Memorialization Committee.

Madlynn Anglin spoke of her ancestor Mitchell Leroy Jackson Sr., who lived in Jacksontown and worked at Montpelier when it was owned by the duPont family. He designed the built-in furniture in Marion duPont Scotts famous Red Room, which is now displayed in Montpeliers David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center. The duPonts bequeathed the property to the National Trust.

Monroe described what life was like for residents of Orange Countys 20-plus freedmen communities and how they worked together from the late 1800s until desegregation. He traces his family history to the village of Little Petersburg, also known as Madison Mills.

Henry Anglin spoke of how Montpelier is trying to share its complete history and honor the contributions of its enslaved people.

He emphasized that collecting descendants oral histories is critical because many records about Montpelier have not survived.

Hearing and recounting these stories is essential in telling the full history of what happened as America was in its infancy, Montpelier Foundation President Eola Lewis Dance said. Participating in the auction of this table ... serves as an opportunity to be a part of the new history were co-creating at Montpelier.

Dance invited people to watch the events video and hear the descendants stories to understand more fully the impact of our memorialization endeavors as they consider placing a bid.

Recently, the foundation received a grant from Virginia to archaeologically survey the extent of its slave burials, while leaving the ancestors at peace. Completing that research, determining how to commemorate those people and building the memorial will continue from now until 2026, said Allison James, director of the MDCs Memorialization Project.

The grant is part of the Mellon Foundations Monuments Project initiative, which aims to transform the nations commemorative landscape by supporting public projects that more completely represent American history, including the stories of those who have often been denied recognition.

As a monument to James Madison and the enslaved community, an American history museum as well as a center for constitutional education, Montpelier shares the legacy of Madisons most powerful idea  government by the people.

The historic home and its scenic grounds welcome visitors and student groups year-round. Montpeliers Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution offers residential and online educational programs. To learn more, visit montpelier.org.

The Montpelier Descendants Committee is devoted to restoring the narratives of enslaved Americans at Central Virginias plantation sites from the margins to the center of historical discourse. See MontpelierDescendants.org.
Local industrial technology and woodshop students at Fremont High School are both preparing for possible future careers and giving back to the local community.

The most recent example of both endeavors was the construction of two large brick and concrete mailboxes by students in teacher Jason Novotnys industrial tech class. Building the mailboxes allowed the students to learn stone masonry and brick-laying skills, and the two mailboxes will be donated to Fremont Habitat for Humanity to be placed at two new homes being constructed.

Novotny said he had a conversation with officials from the Habitat for Humanity chapter in Fremont, and said his class would be happy to assist if possible with charitable assistance for new homes being built by the organization.

I told (them) we were doing a unit on masonry, and I joked that if they ever had any bricks, well lay a mailbox. (They) said we have a bunch that were donated and (they) have these bricks that are used, Novotny said. These kids were developing a skillset of masonry and we had no tangible product. We made the ask, If you ever want mailboxes, let me know. We collaborated on the partnership to make a couple to see if it was something we could do.

One of the two mailboxes was expected to be delivered to a new Habitat for Humanity home that is in the final stages of construction in the 600 block of West Sixth Street, while the second mailbox is being reserved for a second home that has yet to be sited or built, he added.

They are not quite sure where (the second) mailbox will go yet, Novotny said. They are about 54 inches tall. (It took) seven to eight class periods (to build), which is about a week and a half of classes. For kids that do not have a lot of experience, it was a good, hands-on, tangible experience.

The current high school industrial technology program is housed within Fremont High School in a generations-old laboratory and workshop space. That will change in the 2024-2025 school year, when FPSs new Career and Technical Education Center is expected to open.

The multi-million dollar facility is currently under construction as part of the 2021 voter-approved FPS bond project, which totaled $123 million. The bond funding is being used to build several new schools and also expand and renovate existing campuses across the district.

When completed, the CTE facility will include a massive workshop where construction technology students can build a real house; an automotive repair and instruction garage; computer-assisted design labs with soon-to-be-acquired high-tech Z computers; Mechatronics classes; and a medical/health tech and nursing lab where students can be taught health care subjects.

FPS spokesperson Hope Pierce said the new CTE facility was designed and theorized after input from local industry leaders in the fields of automotive repair, construction and welding, among others. A portion of the funding for the new facility was donated by assorted professional organizations and businesses in Dodge County and Fremont.

Novotny said there is a dramatic need for new workers in the fields of home construction, plumbing, welding, masonry and automotive repair because the current workforce in those professions is older and aging out of employment.

For every four workers in one of those fields who retires and leaves the industry, only one newly trained worker replaces them, he said.

Right now, (experts) have told me that the average age of a mason in Nebraska is 57. When you look at that industry, especially in (Fremont), or anywhere in the state ... in 10 years, that industry will be decimated, Novotny said. So, exposing kids to skills where they can take that skillset, leave high school and pursue a career ... that is a great opportunity.

Novotny said the new CTE is a welcome addition to the offerings at Fremont Public Schools and will aid in preparing non-traditional students, who may not desire to go to college, to find good, lucrative jobs in assorted essential trades.

We are kind of getting geared up for next year, when the CTE opens and well build houses. Now, we are finding the tangible skills that are needed to build a house, he said. Those classes will provide skills that students can use so they can all contribute to society. The community supports these kids when they develop these skills.

Twelfth-grader Tanner Wells said while he may not choose stone masonry as a profession when he completes high school, he found the classroom experience and lessons from making the two mailboxes very fulfilling and a skill he could use on a future home he may own or as a hobby.

We got to learn how to set up brick. We learned how to do concrete, Wells said. Id probably do it as a hobby. I am interested in cars, and want to do automotive tech (work).

Fellow classmate Owen Liesche, an 11th-grade student, said he is very excited about the learning opportunities that he and other students will have once the new CTE facility opens during his senior year.

Masonry is pretty cool. I am looking forward to electrical and plumbing (classes), Liesche said. (In the CTE), I could actually help build a house, thatd be cool. The (CTE) is definitely needed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Reacts to Teens Harrowing Escape from Hamas: Never Dealt with Anything Like This'

"When something like this happens, I feel personally that we have to speak out," said Schwarzenegger while hosting families of hostages in Los Angeles

Jon Kean courtesy of Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem Arnold Schwarzenegger with Ella Shani, 14

Content warning: This story contains graphic and disturbing details.

Arnold Schwarzenegger says it is "extremely important" to shine a light on civilian accounts from Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

On Friday, the FUBAR star opened up his Los Angeles office to survivors and family members of Israeli hostages taken during the October attack, in an event organized by the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.

Its extremely important that the world hears those stories, Schwarzenegger tells PEOPLE. We hope that will make this hatred slowly disappear. Because a huge amount of damage is done through hatred, a huge amount of lives are lost.

"I have never dealt with anything like this before," Schwarzenegger also admits during the event. "I always want to be there for the Jewish people, and for Israel."

Jon Kean courtesy of Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem

Noting he's "been on this campaign for a long time to fight hate," the former governor adds, "when something like this happens, I feel personally that we have to speak out."

During the event, Israeli teen Ella Shani, 14, spoke bracingly of waking up in her home in kibbutz Be'eri and running from terrorists while still wearing her pajamas, then days later learning her father had been murdered. Her 16-year-old cousin, Amit Shani, was held hostage in Gaza until Nov. 29.

Related: Family of 6 Freed Israeli Hostages Describe 'Very Tough Moments' for Children Following 50 Days of Gaza Captivity

On October 7th, I woke up to the sounds of "Allahu Akbar," sounds of gunshots and explosions, the teen says at Schwarzenegger's crowded conference table. Hiding inside her home's bomb shelter with her mother and younger brother, Shani explains that she logged onto a WhatsApp group shared by a hundred local teenagers.

Usually we use this group chat to discuss stupid things, like when is the food coming or when's the bus coming out and 'I'm late.' But that day was different," she says.

"On October 7th, the messages we received in that group chat were nothing but kids begging for help, begging for their lives.

Jon Kean courtesy of Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ella Shani

Shani says Hamas cut the electricity to her home and recalled sitting in the dark reading texts from her uncle saying his house was on fire.

After hiding for hours, at 5:30 p.m. the Israeli Defense Forces knocked on their door and then placed them in a safe room of a nearby house with seven children and three adults. Thirty minutes later, the IDF told the group to prepare the children for what they were about to see.



Related: Family of Irish-Israeli Girl Who Spent 9th Birthday in Captivity Speaks Out as She's Released by Hamas

In the living room, the floor was covered with blood and there were body parts scattered around," said Shani. "I remember having a hard time realizing what I'm looking at, but as soon as I realized, my first instinct was covering my little brother's eyes."

Then Hamas attacked again, she says.

And it's like in the movies when you see the bullets hitting the wall right behind you and you hear them whistling next to your ear."

Surrounded by the IDF unit, the group "started running towards the kibbutz's exit. We run wearing nothing but our pajamas. I was very lucky to have my phone. Kids with us were running with nothing but blankets," Shani explained.

As they fled, everything was on fire," she says. "Houses of my friends. Remembering the texts from before, them saying, 'I'm in a room with the bodies of my parents and the house is on fire. Somebody help me.' And I'm seeing the house, knowing they're still in there.



Exploded cars lay along the roads and Shani says bodies lay, killed by unimaginable horrific ways. Every Israeli I've seen had their limbs or other body parts lopsided or missing, cut off. Some of them were burned.

Finally reaching a bus that would take them to Tel Aviv, with windows shattered by bullets, Shani allowed herself to cry.

An 8-year-old boy, a friend of my little brother, came to us wearing nothing but his boxers and shirt and blood all over his face and his glasses were missing. And he told my brother, 'They killed my dad and (10-month-old) sister and shot my mom.' That's when we find ourselves with an 8-year-old boy and a 3-year-old boy covered with their parents' blood going on the bus. And that's honestly what broke me, realizing that actually happened and kids actually became orphans."

Kyodo via AP Images An Israeli man in a square in Tel Aviv on Nov. 24, 2023, holds a photo of his relative Elkana Bohbot

Both of Shani's grandparents had been shot inside the kibbutz, but survived. Her cousin Amit was taken hostage, she would find out later, and another devastating update was yet to come.

Five days after everything that happened, I remember hearing my mother crying in the bathroom. I remember just asking, who is it now? And she looked at me without saying anything and I realized it was about my dad.

A day later, Shani buried her father, Itzik Kozin, too shell-shocked to speak. That's why I also couldn't give him any final words or goodbye because I couldn't process anything yet.

The teen explains that she hopes her truth will be recognized by the world. Many people say these things didnt happen. I'm here telling you loud and clear: People were beheaded, people were burned alive. People's body parts were cut off, women were raped, children were kidnapped. All of that happened. I have names of my friends who had to go through these terrible things.

Also at the roundtable on Friday was Yaakov Bohbot, 36, whose brother Elkana, 34, was kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 and Bar Rudaeff, 27, whose father Lior Rudaeff is also being held hostage. According to the Israeli government, there are still 137 hostages being held by Hamas.

Yaakov Bohbot, 36, calls his brother Elkana a happy, kind family man and said he was kidnapped after helping evacuate the wounded at the desert festival.

The married father of a three-year-old son was presumed missing until his family saw him in a video released by Hamas showing him bound on the floor with his face bloodied.

Were going through hell, says Yaakov. Every day is more and more painful. The only thing that we can do is raise awareness to bring him and all the hostages back home.

Lior, 61, is a volunteer ambulance driver, said his son Bar, and on the morning of Oct. 7, he and his wife heard gunshots from the neighboring kibbutz.

So without thinking, he just told my mom, 'Go to the safe room,' and ran outside to see where he can help because thats who he is. That's his mentality, Bar says.

Lior's family soon lost contact with him and later found his bloodied glasses in the nearby woods. My father is still considered missing, Bar adds, noting Lior is dependent on daily mediation following a severe heart attack two years ago. We have no information.

During the roundtable, Schwarzenegger was gifted with a symbolic silver necklace honoring Israeli hostages that read "our hearts are in Gaza."The actor in turn presented attendees with bronze eagle statues.



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The inmate allegedly told corrections officers that he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded as quickly as they did

Minnesota Judicial Branch via AP Derek Chauvin

Officials have charged the federal inmate accused of stabbing Derek Chauvin 22 times with attempted murder.

On Friday, the United States Attorneys Office stated that in addition to the attempted murder charge, John Turscak, 52, was also charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury to the former Minneapolis police officer, 47, convicted of murdering George Floyd in May 2020.

Facebook George Floyd

The incident happened last week at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, where Chauvin is currently serving a 22-year sentence.

PEOPLE reached out to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona and the Federal Bureau of Prisons for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Related: Jussie Smollett's Conviction and Sentences Upheld by Appeals Court for Fake Hate Crime

According to a press release, Turscak used an improvised knife to carry out the attack.

A complaint is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the release states.

Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder violations each carry maximum penalties of 20 years incarceration, while assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years incarceration.

Minnesota Department of Corrections/AP/Shutterstock Derek Chauvin mugshot

Per the criminal complaint, as reported by CBS News Minnesota, Turscak also admitted to corrections officers that he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded as quickly as they did.

The Associated Press added that Turscak told investigators that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement and the "Black Hand" symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia gang, prosecutors said.

On Sunday, authorities said the former police officer was "expected to survive."

Related: Man Died After Becoming Trapped in College's Ventilation System, Death Ruled Accidental

Minneapolis police chief Brian OHara and a spokesperson for state attorney general Keith Ellisons office told PEOPLE in statements that Chauvin is on the mend.

No employees were injured during the incident, a statement from the Bureau of Prisons read following news of the stabbing. Responding employees initiated life-saving measures for one incarcerated individual. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued."

The incarcerated individual was transported by EMS to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation, the statement concluded.



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Created by Noah Hawley, Fargo is a black comedy crime drama series set in the same universe as the namesake 1996 film written and directed by the Coen brothers, who serve as the executive producers on the show. Fargo has been developed in an anthological format. Each new season takes place in a different decade, tells a different story, and has a predominantly different set of characters. However, there are certain overlaps, including the fact that all the stories are connected in one way or another to the eponymous town in North Dakota.

Since its premiere on April 15, 2014, the series has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive critical and audience responses. Season 5 debuted on November 21, 2023. If you are wondering whether there will be a sixth season of Fargo, we got you covered.

Heres all the Fargo Season 6 release date information we know so far, and all the details on when it is coming out.

Is there a Fargo Season 6 release date?

Fargo Season 6 does not have an official release date, but it will likely be announced in the future.

As of early December 2023, Fargo has not been renewed for the sixth season, but given the popularity of the series, its likely a matter of time before that happens. Noah Hawley told Deadline in November 2023 that he would love to make more seasons of the series. He claimed that he would be lying if I said this is not the most fun I have in my year making this show,

The series creator continued, I havent run out of ways to tell these stories. Why wouldnt I keep going? Executive producer Steve Stark echoed Hawleys sentiments, adding that they can explore the the 60s and the 90s in the prospective future seasons. According to Hawley, the 80s is also an option.

Season 5 came out about three years after Season 4 and is currently on air. Before that, the intermediate period between Seasons 3 and 4 was over three years. So, even though the renewal is most likely to happen, it will probably be a while before the sixth season actually comes out.

Where is Fargo Season 6 coming out?

Fargo Season 6 could come out on FX.

This is because the previous five seasons were released on the same network. ComingSoon will provide an update if or when season 6 officially announced.

The official synopsis for Fargo reads:

Various chronicles of deception, intrigue, and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. All of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, North Dakota.

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Napoleon completists, beware. You will not see the entire story of the infamous Emperor of France in Ridley Scotts two-and-a-half hour Napoleon (Apple Original Films and Columbia Pictures). Scotts screenwriter David Scarpa explains how the two men carved a movie out of this colorful slice of French history.

Anne Thompson: How did this project come to you?

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David Scarpa: I had worked with Ridley on a movie called All the Money in the World, and his producing partner, Kevin Walsh, who ran his company, came to me and said that Ridley wanted to do a movie about Napoleon, and didnt say much else. Like most Americans, I had only a high school basic knowledge of Napoleon or the history of the French Revolution. I had already read the [Stanley] Kubrick screenplay and knew that this was something that a lot of filmmakers had tried to do in the past. I went off and read a short biography of Napoleon.

Whats the challenge when tackling a biopic like this?

For us its difficult in 2023 to make what we call the prestige biopic, like Gandhi or whatever, which is the soup-to-nuts, grade-school book report version of some great mans life. There was a time for that in the Lawrence of Arabia era, and Im not sure that you can do that anymore. So the real challenge for me was, how are we going to get into this?

Did Ridley say anything about what he wanted? Or what his angle was?

Particularly if youre Ridley, a lot of writers would simply say, Well, Ill do whatever you want, right? So [Ridley] wants to know what youre going to bring to it, what your point of view on it is. It was an almost impossible story to tell just in terms of the sheer sprawl of what Napoleon had done and his influence on European history and 45 battles fought and essentially writing the Code Napoleon, which is the basis of much of continental European society. So it would be almost impossible to tell the definitive version of that story within two and a half hours. And what I found myself most intrigued by was this little vignette in the book about his relationship with Josephine, his wife.

She was a notorious figure in Paris at that time?

She had a fascinating story, because she was married at the time of the French Revolution. Her husband was a quasi-aristocrat who was taken away and beheaded on the guillotine. She was taken to the most notorious prison in France, and she narrowly avoided being executed on the guillotine by days, right before whats known as the Thermidorean Reaction, before Robespierre was killed. And so she was let out of prison and became one of the grand dames of Paris. It was a bizarre period in history, as the people who had narrowly avoided the guillotine wound up becoming celebrities in their own right. And so she with three other women became celebrity figures in France, and they wore these red ribbons around their necks to symbolize the blade, and they cut their hair short. The French fashion at the time revolved around reliving the trauma of what theyd just lived through. So she was a much more exalted figure in Paris than Napoleon, who had holes in his shoes. He was a military guy, but he was poor. He had just been promoted to general but he was a nobody in France and he attached to her and they obviously got married, but she almost immediately in a very French way carried on this affair with this man, lieutenant Hippolyte Charles, who was everything Napoleon wasnt. It became this national embarrassment as Napoleon grew more famous.

The relationship between Napoleon and Josephine, how much did Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby bring to it? I understand there was a glint in their eye when it came to the idea that they were a little kinky with each other.

Vanessa Kirby stars as Empress Josephine in Apple Original Films and Columbia Pictures theatrical release of Napoleon.

That was always in the script. A lot came from his letters to Josephine, its pretty well documented. And when youre working with somebody like Joaquin, there will be whats in the script, but he has to make it happen on the day. So it has to be something that he spontaneously creates, as opposed to something thats set in stone. But all that stuff was obviously in the script, in different ways.

Could you remember anything from the letters as an example of something that he would write to Josephine?

They were French. So they were bawdy.

So he would write things like, I imagine doing this to you.

Oh yeah. Absolutely.

This is what you and Phoenix settled on: this awkward genius who is sexually inept.

That is very much what it was like. Obviously, we took a lot of liberties across the board. But in the essence of it, its pretty close to what it was, particularly for somebody like Joaquin, who looks for the flaws and the weaknesses as much as the strengths in a character. That was something that attracted him as well.

The question is, what drove Napoleon? Is the movie suggesting that he was conquering the world to win the love of Josephine? Is that really his motive?

Like many narcissistic figures, he was driven by insecurity. And he was driven to conquer her. His emotional attachment to her was as much a part of that insecurity as his desire to conquer Europe. The way you phrased it, that he was driven to conquer the world to win her, is a romanticized version of that. But on some level, she was the most important relationship of his life. And even after he divorced her, it continued in the background. And there was some aspect of having to prove himself to win her, that was present throughout his life.

I was trying to get a sense of where did I stand on on this guy. Like, is he Stalin? Robespierre? More than many other historical figures, there is an argument still ongoing as to whether this guy was a monster, or a genius. We have settled opinions on all these other people. But his legacy is still very contested.

Why is that? What is it about him? Is it because hes ambiguous, ill-defined, that people still speculate about him?

One striking thing is, hes the classic example of the benevolent dictator. Theres a dangerous allure to that, as the one military figure whos going to come in and fix it all. Since then Napoleon has led a lot of societies down the wrong path. And yet, at the same time, he was never really a despot. He ultimately didnt even kill the guy who was having an affair with his wife, right? There was just this completely tortured French sex comedy that was going on in the middle of all this. And it underscored how incredibly full and capable he was, and yet also how personally inept he was at the same time.

Napoleon Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Okay, so you whittled the script down to something that you could fit into two and a half hours. How many pages was it when you first presented it to Ridley?

It actually was not that long. I was assuming nobody would give us this amount of money to do it. So I came from the perspective of what were not going to get, we just made a movie for about $35 million. And these days, you dont get $200 million dollars to do something, unless its a Marvel or a science-fiction movie. So I assumed that we were going to be doing this for $35 million. And lo and behold, it turned out we had quite a bit more. Going into the original version of it, the movies we talked about were The Duelist, which Ridley had made, and Milos Formans Amadeus, which was similar: it was a movie that approached someone they would normally approach in a reverent way, in an irreverent way. Mozart was this almost infantile figure, he wasnt handled in an overly fussy manner. And that was the approach that we wanted to take as well.

So you show the script to to Ridley and what does he say?

Mind you, before writing the script, I had locked onto this one particular take, and I had gone in and pitched it to him: the idea of a man who is profoundly capable and competent in the realm of battle, and yet profoundly incapable and incompetent in the realm of love, in the realm of human relationships, and how those two things play off of one another. And he loved it. I was writing pages and sending pages to him, he was off shooting Gucci, but he responds to things along the way. So there was a lot more dialogue along the way to creating a draft.

I love that you started with Marie Antoinette under the blade. It captures everything about that revolutionary moment.

Napoleon Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Thats not how we originally started it. Thats Ridleys own alchemy. We had a different scene that was 10 pages in. And at a certain point, Ridley decided he wanted to pick that up and move that; it all landed on this moment of Napoleon taking in the guillotine, and having this ambivalence about where democracy leads: this is where the rule of the mob leads us. Things in this movie get picked up and moved around, changed and shifted.

Napoleon used his military muscle to take over the government to become the Emperor. I was amazed at how easily he was able to coerce these people into doing what he wanted, they seemed sheep-like. There wasnt much resistance to him.

Napoleon Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

If you were going to ask a historian, there was the trauma of the revolution. And that ultimately, the desire for one person who would come in and wrap it up and and make it all make sense and solve all the problems of France was there already. So he stepped into a breach that was there for him to take.

Why did you change the name from Kit Bag?

Oh, that was Ridleys working title. I mean, it was never going to be called Kit Bag. But for whatever reason he liked the famous saying that every Corporal carries a Generals baton in his kit bag. This is actually a positive cultural thing that Napoleon gave to France, this idea of meritocracy, that anybody no matter how low born, if they had the skills should be able to advance and move from Corporal to General within his army. Previously most of the armies in the rest of the world were run by heredity: youll be given a generalship based on who your uncle or who your father was, and they werent necessarily the most skilled people. And he blew that up.

How did you decide which battles to use? Did you see a risk that the extraordinary battle with the frozen lake, Austerlitz, was going to eclipse or overshadow the final Waterloo battle?

Austerlitz is an example of, as John Ford says, printing the legend. That wasnt the way the battle actually unfolded. The story of the cannonballs in the the lake is apocryphal. Most people agree it didnt happen that way. And yet, that was the way the legend evolved around it. And that actually wound up influencing Sergei Eisenstein in another movie that he made [Alexander Nevsky]. It wound up becoming an iconic Napoleon moment. And in our case, we opted to use the thing that didnt happen. And the perversity that I was interested in is that its considered his masterpiece. That idea of a battle in which thousands of people die as a masterpiece is the perversity and the insanity of the time, which is that this battle represented the high point of his genius. To me, it represented the low point.

Because his genius was killing people.

Hes killing people. And that was a fascinating contrast. We only have three big battle scenes in the movie. We start with Toulon, the moment that he becomes a star. And then we go to Austerlitz, which is arguably the high point of his genius, so to speak, but also, in a sense, a moral low point. And you get that with Joaquins performance. And then Waterloo has become a synonym almost for the point at which everything goes to hell.

And hubris leads you down a disastrous path. You could be smart and clever in many different situations and be misguided too.

Yeah, the two things go together because in order to be the person who did what he did, you have to have the hubris that is going to destroy, the two things are almost inextricable from one another. But in the case of Waterloo, we dont get into it as much in the final cut of the movie, but he knew that he was in trouble at that point. Like, he had made this March of the 100, whats called the 100 days, which is the escape from captivity. He made this daring escape, made this march back to Paris, took everything back, and that was his crowning achievement. And now hes encircled by his enemies. Hes getting older, he had what may have been colon cancer; he was in incredible pain all that morning, he had to lie down on the ground. He was being torn apart, both by his enemies, but also internally by aging. He was getting to the point where everything was converging on him. So each of those battles represent three different points in his development, psychologically.

Do you have a theory as to why the Brits like the movie better than anyone else?

Ridley is British. Culturally, the British have always had a weird relationship with Napoleon, a mocking relationship to him, as this imperious French figure who had feet of clay. The movie corresponds more to their view of him.

Were you upset by what was left on the cutting room floor? And have you seen what the longer version of Napoleon would look like?

I have seen whats in the longer version. It works better, like most movies, in a tighter form. It gained a lot through the editing. Forget whats on the cutting room floor, theres also what is not there from earlier drafts, a ton of stuff never wound up going before the camera. There were other battles and those Im glad because we would have bogged down. But, all kinds of material that we generated. And then ultimately, we had to make choices in terms of what got shot, but also what winds up in the cut. I dont think theres any way that in the format of a feature film that you can possibly tell the entirety of this story. You could easily do five seasons of a series on Napoleon, and still not get to the end of it, in terms of the material. So inevitably, you have to make choices. And this is a pretty concise version.

You also wrote Gladiator 2, which is actually filming?

December 1.

Does it come right after the last movie?

Its a rare case of a sequel coming 23 years after the original movie. Usually they come a little bit sooner. So that should tell you right there. It wouldnt have been possible to tell the story directly after.

Are you involved in Denis Villeneuves Cleopatra?

Theres a long history of Stacey Schiffs book by the same title. A lot of writers have taken their shot at that. I have no idea what Denis is ultimately going to do with it. There have been many scripts. And mine was one of them.

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Susan Sarandon is apologizing for her controversial comments last month at a pro-Palestinian rally.

Jose Perez / GC Images

Over 15,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 6,000 children, have reportedly been killed in retaliatory attacks stemming from the events of Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis were reportedly killed  the majority of them civilians  in attacks by Hamas. It was recently revealed that Israel's government knew about plans for the attack over a year ago.

Mahmud Hams / Getty Images

Last month, Susan appeared at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City where she gave a speech to protesters. There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country," she said during her remarks.

Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images

The backlash that Susan faced for her comments, which were interpreted as antisemitic, was swift. She was even dropped by United Talent Agency as criticism grew.

Daniel Boczarski / Getty Images

This morning, Susan shared an Instagram post apologizing for her remarks and clarifying the intent of her words.

Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire," she wrote. "I had not planned to speak but was invited to take the stage and say a few words.

Ernesto Ruscio / Getty Images

Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.

Ernesto Ruscio / Getty Images

This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day."

Ernesto Ruscio / Getty Images

"I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment," she concluded. "It was my intent to show solidarity to the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.

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Head here to read more about celebrities and public figures who have faced repercussions for speaking out in support of Palestine.
Xbox is working with its partner companies to launch a mobile gaming platform to compete with Google Play and The App Store. Phil Spencer briefly discussed Microsofts plans during a recent interview in Sao Paulo. He did not go into specifics but indicated that the new storefront isnt too far in the future.

Xboxs mobile platform may launch soon

According to Bloomberg, reporters caught up with the head of Microsofts gaming division at the CCXP comics convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its an important part of our strategy and something we are actively working on today not only alone, but talking to other partners whod also like to see more choice for how they can monetize on the phone, Spencer said of Microsoft expansion into mobile gaming.

Earlier reports indicated that Xboxs mobile game store may launch next year. Spencer couldnt give an exact date but indicated it was coming soon. I dont think this is multiple years away, he said, I think this is sooner than that.

Its not a coincidence that this interview happened in Brazil. The last few years saw Microsoft focus heavily on expanding its Game Pass subscription service. This includes expanding service to more countries. While Costa Rica and Peru lead Latin America in new Game Pass signups, Brazil is a much larger market. In many ways, Brazil leads a lot of the trends that we see globally, Spencer said.

However, mobile gaming remains a considerable part of Brazils gaming market, somewhere Microsoft lags behind. While Cloud Gaming allows users to stream games to their phones, its primarily a PC and console-focused service. An Xbox mobile game store could give Microsoft access to a vast market, assuming everything goes according to plan.

The post Xbox Working on Mobile Gaming Store appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
On December 2, 1859, the United States saw its first execution of a prisoner convicted of treason: a white man who challenged slavery. Today, America still cant imagine a nation of white people who dissent from white supremacy. That's partly because we can't imagine healthy dissent.

As a professor of peace and conflict, I am often teased about my support for the 19th-century militant John Brown. Peace Studies involves studying alternatives to violence, and certainly not the advocacy of violence, so I admit that Brown is a difficult figure to square with my work facilitating multi-partisan and multi-ethnic collaborations. Brown, who was hanged in 1859 by the Commonwealth of Virginia for raiding a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, VA, aiming to support enslaved peoples escape to freedom, had also clashed with pro-slavery groups during the battles known as Bleeding Kansas, including an alleged midnight ambush and slaughter of five pro-slavery leaders.

After decades of giving speeches arguing against slavery, and leading conversations and appeals to the wealthy and powerful, Brown was impatient with this pacifist approach, which insisted on moral suasion, as mainstream abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called it  what we'd now call changing hearts and minds or changing the narrative.

His dear friend Frederick Douglass, in a now-famous speech given two years before the Harpers Ferry raid, asked a white audience in Rochester, NY, What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July? answering that the day merely reminds of, the gross injustice and cruelty to which [Black people are] the constant victim, and exhorting

your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled.

Douglass and Brown were not the only ones impatient for their peaceful dissent to finally be heard. In those febrile years, Brown and many others took up arms; 18 months later the country plunged into a long, bloody civil war.

What, to America, is John Brown? Maybe a lesson about people who refuse to learn from the instructive dissent of social movements, whatever side theyre on. But the fact that there are only three statues of Brown in the country tells us something of a particular shame attached to his legacy. I dont think the shame is for his violence. I think its for our white history of coordinated repression, instead of the moral courage needed to finally create a just, multi-ethnic democracy.

Dissent from white supremacy now is quite different than in Browns day. The war that to Brown had clear sides  white pro-slavery forces against Black enslaved people  has grown more dynamic and complex. Legal sanctions have closed a gap, bringing far more protections for Black and other marginalized people, so that uninformed white people can reasonably object to what they perceive as special treatment for other groups. And relying on peoples racial identities alone doesnt deliver justice, since wider economic opportunities have unsurprisingly also resulted in abuses of power by people of all races, not just white people. Today's scenarios thus require both information and discernment. Mamie Till-Mobley wrote in 1955, after her 14-year-old son, Emmet Till, was lynched in Mississippi:

People have to face themselves. They have to see their own responsibility in pushing for an end to this evil. Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, thats their business, not mine. Now I know how wrong I was.

Till-Mobley, a Black mother who lost her son to mob violence, and then because Jim Crow courts had no recourse to the state, urged all individuals to take responsibility, not only members of the racial group that killed her son. To me this isnt a false equivalency, somehow erasing the very different obstacles that Black people faced and which white people put in place, but a generous gesture acknowledging that everyone in society is tied together, whether we want to admit it or not.

In February of last year, I flew to Kansas for research on John Brown and stopped in St. Louis to visit family. I was especially looking forward to talking with my cousin Will, whos ten years younger and also a fan of Brown, describing him in our texts before my trip as absolutely a man of noble character. I wanted to trade facts and sources; also, because he did two Army tours  Iraq and Afghanistan  I expected he might have a different understanding of John Browns view of violence as sometimes necessary. I was hoping to learn something.

Wills sandy blond hair is receding a bit, and his eyes have an insomniacs circles. Built like a distance runner, he thinks and talks fast, his stories peppered with Army-vivid swear words. I love talking with him, because he's deeply intellectual, though it means we traverse a gap between our different sources of information.

After describing settlers westward expansion (Big fan of [President] Polk  that rope-a-dope in the Spanish-American war?!), Will shares his assessment of most liberal policy approaches, starting with FDR (influenced by the fascists) and continuing with Black Lives Matter ([morally] bankrupt). With each of his points, I can feel the gap between us widening, at least politically. I resist automatically assuming Im right, particularly about facts I havent yet researched. I note that he grew up white in St. Louis, raised within white settler culture; I grew up white in majority-Black Washington, D.C., going back and forth from the dinner tables of white families, of Black families, and Black immigrant families, each one offering me a very different interpretation of the days news.

Will is also a good listener. As I share how differently I see, for instance, Black Lives Matter and the Black freedom movement in general, he looks for areas where we might be saying very similar things but using different language. An area were not able to find a connection on is the police. And I flinch when, instead of saying someones tough, he uses a phrase like theyd rip your heart out, though Im guessing it also reflects the Army culture.

Maybe it is my flinching that causes him to text me after I leave, one of his essay-long musings on life philosophy with politics that begin with, hey man. While talking Id brought up the fact that the curator at the John Brown museum in Osawatomie, KS, had described Brown as an ideological guerrilla, and I couldnt help but be reminded of the rioters at the Capitol on January 6. They too saw their acts as patriotism, not treason, a moral dysphoria that I see repeated in newspapers use of the word extremist to describe dissent that is escalating or confrontational, even angry protesting. Disruption is never neutral, so to me, the question is: To whom are disruptive acts accountable? Is it only the powers-that-be, or are the actions seeking to instruct on how those powers can act more justly?

I asked Will about his thoughts, and whether the Army had codes of ethics that might be relevant to understanding how far might be too far, and whether force is sometimes necessary. But he gently dismisses my line of questioning, saying that whatever ethical code he follows hes arrived at from hard experience, and we are quiet for a minute. Later, asking why I have such a strong interest in race, he seems sensitive to the possibility that my learning, too, has come from hard experiences. Which is also to say, my mistakes.

White supremacy in the U.S shows how easy it is to keep a status quo in place, even if incredibly destructive. Just refuse to listen to the people it's hurting; also, suppress conversations between people who are exploring what is and isn't the case. I appreciate how Will and I, as two white people with different life experiences, can do that exploration. In his long text a day or so after Im home, he continues our conversation about the limits of pacifism in pursuing justice for white supremacist corruption. And I'm not sure, but maybe he also wants to make sure I dont mistake him as at all aligned with the Trump-conservatives. He conclusively describes Browns choice, to engage in such a harsh and extreme f***ing manner as not having any place in the here and now of American politics.

Will is open to my dissenting views, even when I vigorously push back, and I have grown in my understanding of his. Were learning from each other. But too often views that dissent from white supremacy norms receive disdain and correction. In a university talk a few years ago, after I brought up Brown calling slavery a war thats one portion of its citizens against another, a white woman scholar advised me to look in the mirror a bit more about your own biases. I felt rebuffed and judged, and questioned whether Id come across as arrogant. She also hadnt responded to the substance of what Id said, which I was genuinely interested in hearing.

In "My Bondage, My Freedom," Frederick Douglass noted that plantations were not just places, where enslavement was legal, but a political project, a nation in the midst of a nation [whose] branches reach far and wide in the Church and State. And which, to maintain fetters on the limbs of the blacks proposes to padlock the lips of the whites. Douglass was referring to violence, whether by lynching and assault or by destroying peoples property, threatening their livelihood. (Im grateful to Saidiya Hartman for bringing the Douglass piece to my attention in her 2020 interview in Artforum.)

In this century, the more common tools for repressing dissent are disinformation campaigns, which carefully depict the idea as disloyal or dangerous. Marxist, for instance, is still a chilling synonym for anti-American in many conservative circles. Like McCarthyism, Senator Joseph R. McCarthys 1950 crusade against Americans allegedly exploring communism, this kind of repression goes viral and can result in widespread retaliation, firings or censuring, as is happening now toward many who express pro-Palestine views. They are, instead, described as pro-Hamas, or worse, as violent terrorists. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote an article in response to McCarthy, The Freedom to Learn, noting that simply for exploring alternatives to the economic system one was likely to be called a traitor, accused of having selfish and unfair designs upon the progress and well being of the people of this nation. Its not just the accusation of treason he reviled, but the active efforts to bar access to information, to learn:

not only what our leaders say, but what the leaders of other groups and nations, and the leaders of other centuries have said.[access to] such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that [all] can have a real chance to judge what the world is and what its greater minds have thought it might be. [Midwest Journal, 2 no. 1:9-11 (Winter 1949).]

Du Bois points out how this banning or repression is a danger not just to individuals but to the country, because we lose the right to think, This repression dynamic is lethal to a society, undermining the freedom to learn even about views or information others might consider dangerous; undermining the legitimacy of all knowledges, and even of schooling and education. It propagates a worldview in which we are disinterested not only in learning but one another.

It also blocks our ability to resolve social conflicts. A key part of conflict resolution is knowing how to discern a third way and not only the two sides before you  also known as learning. We have to look very squarely and surely at the facts of what has happened, what is happening, what is being said and why  and remain committed to finding what it is that we do not yet know. Paradoxically, its in this fact-based new understanding that we often discover that third way, or what else could be.

When Charlie Rose asked Toni Morrison in a 1993 interview about whether white people, too, are harmed in the unfolding of white supremacism, she didnt disagree. Instead, her face framed by glamorous waves of hair and a red lip, she flashed what she says is the more important question: What are you, without racism?

The statue of Brown in Kansas City, KS, has twice been vandalized. In 2018 racist graffiti and swastikas were painted on it. In November 2019, two of the fingers were broken off along with the marble scroll in the fingers held, a representation of the alternative constitution that Brown and others wrote.

Part of why I and others revere Brown is not only for the bravery of his lifes end, but that, as Frederick Douglass put it, he was in sympathy, a black man as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery. He lived and worked alongside Black people; he was, as W.E.B. Du Bois put it, a companion to their daily life, knew their faults and virtues. In 1849, antislavery novelist Richard Henry Dana met Brown and his family in North Elba, NY, and was shocked to find Brown matter-of-factly introducing white and Black residents equally. The man was Mr. Jefferson, and the woman Mrs. Wait. Dana concludes, [I]t was plain this family acted on principle in even the smallest matter. Yet John Brown remains better known for his violence than his inviolable wish, that American society might renounce its covert war of two nations": White, and everyone else.

This story has been updated to clarify that John Brown's execution was carried out by Virginia, not the federal government of the United States.
Disabled veterans in Fremont, Dodge County and surrounding communities have a new method of transportation for doctor visits and medical trips.

On Thursday, Nov. 30, officials with the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 18 in Fremont unveiled their brand new transportation van during a short ceremony at the DAVs downtown clubhouse.

Mayor Joey Spellerberg was on hand to recognize the accomplishment of the acquisition of the new van, which is the first of its kind in the community and the only van able to be used by local veterans for free.

This is a great addition to the community and for our veterans, Spellerberg said, noting that the city also has a new van transportation service that veterans can use for other needs such as shopping or errands.

Also present was Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Brenda Wilberding and fellow chamber official Devin Brashear, both of whom praised the efforts of DAV officials and vowed to spread the word to as many other entities and agencies as possible in an effort to help veterans with their transportation needs.

Local Vietnam War combat veteran Dale Finney spearheaded efforts to acquire the new van, which is fully ADA compliant and will be based out of Fremont. Finney said there are currently four certified volunteer drivers and another five volunteer drivers are currently undergoing background checks.

We hope to have at least 15 volunteer drivers, Finney said.

Jamie Jakub, a veteran himself and also the DAV chief executive officer adjutant, was at the ceremony on Thursday and encouraged all disabled and other veterans to fully take advantage of the services and aid offered by any agency or the Veterans Administration.

There has never been a van in Fremont. The van rides are by appointment only and they would like two weeks advance notice, Jakub said. The veteran (getting a ride) has to have an authorized appointment. It does not have to be the VA, necessarily, but it can be for the doctor or even a chiropractor.

The new van is in service as of Dec. 1, and any veteran who would like to make an appointment must do so via telephone two weeks in advance of their appointment. Proof of the VA-approved doctor appointment is also required. To make an appointment or seek more information, contact Finney at 402-620-4654.


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The Djoser pyramid in Egypt is known as the oldest in the world at 4,700 years old. A new paper published in Archaeological Prospection calls that record into question with the strong claims of a prehistoric pyramid in Indonesia that is up to 27,000 years old. Not everyone is buying the research, however, and now the journal has launched an investigation into the study.

Im surprised [the paper] was published as is, Flint Dibble, archaeologist at Cardiff University, told Nature, which first reported the investigation into the paper. Dibbles questions pertain not so much the data from the Gunung Padang site, but rather to the conclusions drawn by the authors.

The papers authors write that they have compelling evidence of a complex and sophisticated megalithic site. Using seismic tomography, the researchers have come to believe that hidden cavities or chambers exist, showing the presence of multi-layer constructions.

There could be other explanations.

The Gunung Padang site in West Java, Indonesia, includes a raised earth site. If underneath the soil lies human-built caverns and rooms, it would offer up not only the oldest known pyramid by thousands of years, but also the oldest known use of stone masonry. This would completely undo previous beliefs surrounding civilization advancement in the Paleolithic era.

These findings offer valuable insights into the construction history of Gunung Padang, the authors wrote in the paper, shedding light on the engineering capabilities of ancient civilizations during the Paleolithic era.

To arrive at their conclusions, the authors used ground-penetrating technologies to uncover what they believe are four layers of construction that include rooms throughout differing phases of build. The first layer is dated to 27,000 to 16,000 years ago, and was done by carbon dating the soil drilled from the site. They also believe that the technology shows sculpted stoneworkmeticulously sculpted, to be exactand the arranging of rocks in a planned way.

But theres two giant question marks. Does all this technologyand no visual evidencereally show the work of human (or hominin) hands, or could the ground have shifted over thousands of years, forming layers that left voids in the soil? And what does it mean that no researchers have found evidence of human activity in that area dating that far back, let alone any record of known organized settlements or societies?

Dibble, according to Nature, claims that the natural movement and weathering of rocks can sculpt stone and roll down hills to make it appear planned. But Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, geologist at the National Research and Innovation Agency in Indonesia and study co-author, told Nature that the stones were neatly arranged, shaped, and too large for easy natural transportation. Dibble counters that theres no evidence to believe that the rocks were shaped by humans.

Then comes the dating. Bill Farley, archaeologist at southern Connecticut State University, told Nature theres been no evidence that an advanced civilization existed at that site during the last ice age. And while soil samples may well be from 27,000 years ago, without the telltale signs of human activity (such as charcoal or bone fragments), theres no reason to believe that there was any sort of large settlement in existence during that timeespecially in Indonesia. The oldest known complex societies with settlements, which would be required to build pyramid-type structures, is 9,000 years old and located in modern-day Turkey.

The looming question marks on the paper have been enough to warrant another look by the publisher. A deeper investigation into the paper may also spark a more intense scrutiny of Gunung Padang.

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With about 2,000 restaurants in Delaware, there are plenty of places to grab a bite and a drink to go with it.

But some of those dining rooms and bars especially stand out when it comes to their libations.

In fact, our little state has its fair share of must-try alcoholic beverages, ranging from the iconic to newer sippables that have caught our tongues in recent years.

Delaware has its fair share of must-try drinks at watering holes and restaurants up and down the state.

Whether you're into cocktails, beers or even booze-filled slushies, you'll find some good ones across the First State.

With the holidays upon us, you may find yourself at one of these special spots. If so, be sure to try a stand-out drink and thank us later.

The Mure Margarita, a signature cocktail at Lewes Oyster House in Lewes.

Lewes Oyster House's Mure Margarita. 108 Second St., Lewes. Opened just last year, it's not only the food menu at the "tavern by the sea" that has the joint bustling. This drink also has its own followers, made with Libelula joven tequila, Grand Marnier, creme de mure blackberry liqueur, lime juice, agave nectar and ghost pepper tincture. lewesoyster.com

BIGGIES UD's 'mega pints': Personal pitchers of mixed drinks make splash on Main Street

Columbus Inn's Moscow Mule. 2216 Pennsylvania Ave., Wilmington, If you want to break out the velvet elbows, try saddling up to Columbus Inn's bar and blast back to 1950s America. The Inn's Moscow Mule  vodka, lime juice, ginger simple syrup and seltzer  is not served in a traditional copper mug, but rather in a highball glass. columbusinn.net

Frankford's Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery serves up popular wine slushies.

Salted Vines Wine Slushy. 32512 Blackwater Road, Frankford. Slurpee-style wine? Yes, please. This summertime favorite comes in several flavors: red sangria, white sangria and a "sangria swirl" combining the two. But it's also on the menu in the colder months. And there is a "special of the month" called the "Spicy Pilgrim" with a cinnamon-y flavor. saltedvines.com

Grotto Pizza's Big Beer. Various locations. Even though the size of Grotto's Big Beer has shrunk to 22 ounces over across most locations over the years, it's still the iconic drink order at Delaware's most iconic pizza joint. Drinking oversized beers using a heavy glass mug with a handle in Delaware means one thing: Grotto. grottopizza.com

EVEN BIGGER BIGGIES 'Blackout rage gallons': College students now party with BORGs, booze-filled gallon jugs

Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA. Rehoboth Beach and Milton. It's been 28 years since Dogfish Head first opened, helping usher the craft brewing scene in Delaware. So many beers have come and gone in those years, but their 60 Minute IPA is still an old standby. For many, all it takes is one sip of the 6% ABV brew to be transported to the early years of the state's craft beer revolution. www.dogfish.com

The Boondocks' Swamp Water. 825 Lighthouse Road, Smyrna. It almost glows bright green, but it's not radioactive. If you're brave enough to order one, Boondocks' Swamp Water comes in handy mason jar. Expect something close to a "traditional" Swamp Water drink found in drink recipe books: a mix that usually includes flavored brandy and vodka. boondocksde.com

The Back Porch Cafe's Dark and Stormy. 59 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach. Tucked away off Rehoboth Avenue, you'll find a drink that will make you feel like Christopher Columbus if you discover it. The cafe's signature drink is made with homemade ginger beer and dark rum, of course. backporchcafe.com

The margarita at Agave Mexican Restaurant in Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.

Agave Mexican Restaurant's margarita. Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. People wait outside in the heat on summer nights not only for Agave's mouth-watering Mexican dishes and gulp-able salsa, but also for the stone cold margaritas. An hour wait for a drink? It happens on Second Street in Lewes and now out on Route 1 near Rehoboth Beach. They are just that good. agaverestaurants.com

NEW Bar Reverie has new Philly chef, brings refined food and wine experience to Greenville

The Starboard's Bullshark. 2009 Route 1, Dewey Beach. Sure, the Orange Crush sells better than the Bullshark ever can in the alcohol-soaked wonderland known as The Starboard. But the bar's under-the-radar longtime drink has more of a kick, mixing orange and raspberry vodkas, champagne, Red Bull and orange and cranberry juices. thestarboard.com

northbeach's Dewey Devil. 125 McKinley St., Dewey Beach. You know the Dewey Devil has done its job when you put the drink down and grab your head like it's exploding. The frozen pink drink may result in brain freeze, but it gets the job done just like it has for generations of real-life Dewey devils. Light rum, 151-proof rum, blackberry brandy, orange juice, strawberries and cream make the Dewey Devil just so devilish. deweybeachlife.com

ANOTHER NEWBIE New chicken vendor opens in Wilmington's Chancery Market food hall

Nalu's The Wipe-Out. Dewey and Rehoboth beaches. You'll need some friends and extra straws for this bad boy: a 144-ounce concoction made with Parrot Bay coconut, pineapple and passion fruit rums mixed with orange, pineapple and cranberry juices. It'll be sloshing around in a souvenir Nalu bucket. Uber ride not included. nalusurfbar.com

Mango Mikes' Shark Attack. 97 Garfield Parkway, Bethany Beach. With a view of Bethany Beach's Boardwalk and dolphins leaping out of the Atlantic Ocean, it almost makes drinking alcohol out of a fishbowl seem not so weird. You'll want to share this one with a friend or four: 64 ounces of rum, blue curacao, fruit juices in a fishbowl swimming with plastic sharks. mangomikes.com

Bottle & Cork's Big Guy. 1807 Route 1, Dewey Beach. A relic of sorts, The Big Guy was on the drink menu at the Cork for years, but it was eventually taken off when people started getting a bit too drunk. If you find a veteran bartender in a good mood and you're feeling spry, they'll mix one up for you: Captain Morgan rum, vodka, creme de almond and Grenadine mixed with with orange and pineapple juices. deweybeachlife.com

Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Small state with big drinks: Try these Delaware cocktails and beers
To remember youve forgotten something is usually a temporary annoyance. For Yayoi, the 19-year-old protagonist of The Premonition, its a perennial condition. Despite her model family, Yayoi recalls nothing of her childhood and is haunted by the sense that she knows, but has forgotten, why. On the intuition that her eccentric aunt Yukino holds a key to the mystery, Yayoi runs away from her parents trim Tokyo home to live at Yukinos tumbledown place, where the dust lies thick, caramel flan is a meal, and even time seems to move differently.

The Premonition is, thanks to translator Asa Yoneda, the 12th novel by Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto to reach English. Yayoi is our narrator, and shes reflecting, from something like the present day, on the importance of that long-past spell at her aunts home, where  out of the chaos  she achieved a clarity that (she says) enabled her to begin to live the rest of my life.

Since achieving breakout success in 1988 with her debut novel, Kitchen, Yoshimotos stories have played with extended families, networks of relation that tangle blood and kin. Children are born out of wedlock, adopted and orphaned; romantic competitors share a lesbian frisson; siblings fall in love.

The Premonition is no different. As the days at Yukinos house merge, Yayoi becomes convinced she knows the reason for the lacuna. Yet when Yukino confirms her suspicions, Yayois exhilaration proves short-lived: the long-sought revelation only raises knottier questions. That dawn, Yukino disappears, setting Yayoi and her younger brother Tetsuo on a quest to find her, which takes them from Tokyo to the mountains of Karuizawa and the northernmost tip of Japans main island, Honshu. In the course of these journeys, they begin to find their way in a present newly complicated by the unravelling of secrets long-kept.

As in Yoshimotos other books, its the aftermath of the ruptures experienced by the characters that plays out over the course of the story. Her novels rely less on the vicissitudes of plot than profound shifts deep within her characters: what unfolds isnt so much a series of suspenseful events as a growing understanding of human lives. For all the high-speed trains that Yayoi, Tetsuo and Yukino ride, The Premonition is, explicitly, a journey of self-discovery that traces the past in order to move into the future.

The Premonition is Yoshimoto's 12th novel to reach English - Faber/Fumiya Sawa

Understatement makes Yoshimotos writing distinct. In her hands, webs of loyalty and affection flourish as oases of safety. Small acts of ordinary kindness  a blanket over a sleeping niece, a deft reply defusing a tense conversation, a hug that smells of home  become luminous expressions of love. All this could have been sentimental, except for the uncanniness threaded through her writing. Many of the characters in her other books appear to have supernatural abilities. In The Lake, a bed-bound seer speaks wordlessly though her brother; in Kitchen, two friends meet in a shared dream; in Love Songs, a medium offers an anteroom where the living and dead might converse.

Here in The Premonition, Yayoi experiences visions that spool past her eyes like 8mm home movies, plunging her into a place wholly set apart from the real world. Some, like the dream of a babys murder, are disturbing. Others, like the scene of a young girl observing storm clouds from the edge of a green lake, fill her with longing. They sear her eyes and seem to pass too quickly, as if  she observes  I were watching my favourite landscapes on earth through the windows of a speeding car. Are these remnants of the past that will dissipate once seen? Or reminders of how things were  or how they could have been?

The Premonition culminates on Mount Osore, the gates to the underworld, where the world of the living and the dead converge, separated only by the mythical Sanzu river. Amid this barren, contradictory landscape, Yoshimoto suggests a space of wonder in which to appreciate what binds us together and holds us apart, in this world and the next. At 130-odd pages, and with its gentle pace and relaxed first-person narration, The Premonition may not appear substantial, but it yields to patient, generous reading. And for those unfamiliar with Yoshimotos work, its a timely invitation to explore her unusual, alluring world.

The Premonition (tr Asa Yoneda) is published by Faber at 12.99. To order your copy for 10.99, call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books

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With the Netflix film May December loosely based on the aftermath of her illegal relationship with her student and her premature death, how did Mary Kay Letourneau die is a question viewers may be asking. Born Mary Katherine Schmitz on January 30, 1962, in Tustin, California, USA, she grew up in a middle-class family and had a relatively ordinary childhood.

She attended Arizona State University and later became an elementary school teacher in the Seattle area. In 1984, she married Steve Letourneau, with whom she had four children. However, their marriage faced difficulties and ultimately ended in divorce in 1999.

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But while teaching at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien, Washington, Letourneau would become infamous after she developed a close relationship with one of her students. Vili Fualaau was only 12 years old when their relationship turned inappropriate, and it became sexual when he was 13. In 1997, the illicit relationship was discovered, leading to Letourneaus arrest. According to police reports, the two were caught having sex in the back of her car. Letourneau jumped from the backseat to the front once she realized officers were approaching while Vili pretended to be asleep in the back. They both provided false identification, including Vili claiming that he was 18 years old.

In November 1997, Letourneau plead guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape, and she was sentenced to six months in jail. As part of the plea deal, she agreed to undergo sex offender treatment and not have any contact with Fualaau. Despite this court order, Letourneau and Fualaau continued their relationship, and she was arrested again in 1998 for violating the terms of her plea agreement. This time, she received a seven-year prison sentence. But she passed away at age 58, so how did Mary Kay Letourneau die and what happened to her? Heres what we know.

How did Mary Kay Letourneau die?

Mary Kay Letourneau was released from prison in 2004. She and Fualaau married in 2005. The marriage drew widespread media attention due to the controversial nature and origins of their relationship. Letourneau and Fualaau eventually separated in 2017 after 14 years of marriage. Fualaau filed for legal separation in 2019. She passed away on July 6, 2020, at the age of 58, due to complications from colorectal cancer.

Despite their relationship breakdown, Fualaau and their children were with her in her final moments. I didnt see her chest moving, and I thought it, maybe, it was like one of those pauses she has and then shell come back. Shell take a deep breath, and shes gonna come back, Fualaau recalled in an episode of The Dr. Oz Show, which aired in September 2020. I would count in between those pauses, and it was just the longest count that I had.

He continued: And I turned off her breathing machine just to hear if she was breathing just really soft, and at that moment, I had to, you know, tell the kids that they need to call the rest of the siblings to come and say their goodbyes. This is it, Fualaau said.

Mary Kay Letourneau & Vili Fualaaus children

Mary Kay Letourneau & Vili Fualaaus children

In 2018, Audrey and Georgia gave an interview with Australias Sunday Night talk show and reflected on their parents relationship. I think I understand about it, just like how it was surprising to people, Audrey said. Its been feeling different because its not really been brought to our attention, just because we grew up with it, so weve adapted to it.

As mentioned, Letourneau gave birth to both girls while she was in jail for sex offenses. Audrey was born while Letourneau waited for her initial sentencesix months with three months suspended, for second-degree rape of a child after engaging in a sexual relationship with Fualaau when she was 34 and he was 13 in 1996.

As part of a plea deal, the disgraced teacher was court-ordered to have no contact with Fualaau but violated the court order. Thus, she was arrested again in 1998 and this time, she received a seven-year prison sentence from 1998-2004. She gave birth to Georgia during that time.

Vili Fualaaus parents

Vili Fualaaus parents

Not much is known about Vili Fualaaus parents, Soona Vili and Luaiva Fualaau, but we do know that they were Samoan immigrants who welcomed their son Vili on June 26, 1983. Soona said she had no idea of the nature of her sons relationship with his teacher.

In 2002, Vili and his mother sued the Highline, Wash., School District and the Des Moines, Washington, Police Department for $1 million, contending that officials should have noticed the warning signs around Letourneau. She was shocked because she had let her son stay over at Letourneaus home and go on family trips with her. How could you? I trusted you, Soona confronted the sex offender during her testimony.

While incarcerated, Letourneau gave birth to two daughters fathered by Fualaau: Audrey Lokelani was born in 1997 and Georgia Alexis was born in 1998. While Soona told the court Letourneau ruined her sons life, she harbored complicated thoughts towards the woman who bore her two grandchildren.

Soona told the court: I cant say I hate Mary. Just a couple of weeks ago my granddaughter turned around to me and asked, Do you love my Mary mommy, Grandma? And Im supposed to tell her Yeah, I hate your mother? I cant. I cant.  And looking at my granddaughters, I cant consciously say I hate this woman. In the same testimony, she added that Letourneau was still abusing her son. She added, I never condone[d] the relationship  what happened was morally wrong. She was married and this was a teenage boy, but I will do what I need to do to get through this.

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Three years ago, in the darkest hour of the pandemic, Nikolai Foster delivered a streamed staging of Sunset Boulevard that used visible camerawork and the mighty, empty Curve in ways that brilliantly rejuvenated Andrew Lloyd Webbers epic about a faded, fictive pre-talkies goddess.

Watching Jamie Lloyds current revival of Sunset at the Savoy  austere as it is, and canny too with its use of video  I definitely had moments of deja vu, to put it mildly. Mind you, that sensation occurs in reverse with Fosters new Leicester revival of Evita, a show that Lloyd transformed into a blade-sharp theatrical machine at Regents Park in 2019, discarding the decorative and applying the whirlwind force of the ensemble to summon the Argentina that Eva Peron wooed and won.

A similar stripped-back aesthetic prevails here, the visual restraint stirring a chill blast rather than the expected South American warmth. The opening vista is starkly elegiac, with a nation mourning  in 1952  its First Lady. Foster draws our focus to a humble coffin raised on an unlovely stack of scaffolding while the company, in casual modern black clobber, congregates and sways in a mood of collective, candle-lit sadness.

Such sparsity rams home the thought that Eva wound up back where she started, in a state of modest simplicity after years of profligate excess. But with a mainstage as capacious as the Curves, our imaginations were having to work overtime to fill in some of the detail, as  rewinding to her youth  Martha Kirbys Eva dreams of leaving the sticks and heading to Buenos Aires (or the Big Apple as lyricist Tim Rice has her croon). Its quite hard to get a sense of where we are, and the early scenes suffer.

With the shift to the metropolis, we get more to feast on, and Adam Murrays fleet, often burly and virile choreography  with shades even at times of West Side Story  combines thrillingly with live camera-work. The point is made, in rippling flesh and fancy projection, that the upwardly thrusting Eva utilised image and performance to seduce the masses, though of course the shows sardonic commentator Che (Guevara, here played by Tyrone Huntley) overtly and amply makes that observation.

Foster and his team do their utmost to create a sense of it all mattering. There are the usual spurs to engagement  some of the finest songs in the ALW catalogue are here  and the usual encumbrances: lyrics that tip from succinctness into word-salad (or should that be ensalada de palabras?).

But our enthrallment finally depends upon the leading lady, and much as I admire Kirbys vocal capability, theres a blankness to her portrayal that frustrates our becoming enamoured with this unsympathetic creature. Theres little spark between her and Gary Milners Peron, and her populace-rousing Dont Cry for Me Argentina lacks a vital tremulous kick. Whisper it: you get a greater frisson listening to Chumisa Dornford-Mays rendition of that anthem of the jilted Another Suitcase in Another Hall. And whisper it more loudly still: is this really suitable as festive fare?

Until Jan 13. Tickets: 0116 242 3595; www.curveonline.co.uk

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Clearing weeds can be a time-consuming hassle, but a farmer found a unique way to get the job done without exerting any real energy.

TikToker Crab Orchard Creek (@craborchardcreek) demonstrated how goatscaping helped take care of the issue in his field.

The scoop

As the farmer explains in the video, the goats were used in target grazing, which he says is the use of livestock to accomplish specific landscaping goals. In this case, the goats were enlisted to help eliminate ragweed, goldenrod, mares tails, honeysuckle, and blackberry in order to facilitate the restoration of native grass. The only real effort is setting up temporary staked fencing and bringing in the goats.

While livestock enjoy feasting on those things, some of them can be harmful to the environment. For example, common ragweed is an invasive species that the National Library of Medicine said can produce large amounts of allergenic pollen becoming a threat to public health.

The farmer provides before-and-after footage of the area the goats helped take care of, showing a significant difference in the amount of messy weeds and clutter.

How its helping

Goatscaping is becoming an increasingly popular practice because its an environmentally friendly alternative to other lawn care options.

The Environmental Protection Agency states that gas lawnmowers account for 5% of air pollution in the United States. Such machines have the potential to emit toxins like volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter.

Its likely that the practice of goatscaping continues to grow in popularity because it reduces the reliance on harmful lawnmowers and the need for toxic herbicides, helps control weeds and invasive species, and can provide a natural fertilizer.

What everyones saying

Many were impressed by what they saw in the video, calling it cool and saying, The goats did a great job. There were some who even gained the motivation to try goatscaping themselves.

Reminds me to see if theres rental goats in my area. Have several acres of underbrush to clear, one commenter wrote.

The farmer replied, Honeysuckle and blackberries get thick and crazy and its a [pain in the a] to get in there and try and find rosebushes and the goats make that way easier.

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Dotdash Meredith and Yahoo Inc. may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

And its on sale right now.

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A few years ago, coffee gear started popping up all over my kitchen. First it was the top-rated Baratza Encore coffee grinder. Then the Breville Bambino espresso machine appeared on the counter. Pretty soon we had to dedicate an entire corner of our kitchen to coffee and tea-preparation appliances. By the time the sleek stainless steel pour-over carafe and the electric kettle joined the crew, I knew my husband and I had a full blown obsession on our hands  and it was time to take our coffee game to the next level.

As soon as I discovered the Trade Coffee subscription, I purchased it as a gift for my husband (who is really the mastermind behind our current coffee ritual). He appreciated how much new coffee it helped him discover, and now you get one for the coffee-enthusiast in your own life for 20% off using the exclusive code FW20 at checkout.

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So not only do you get to choose how much coffee you want to gift, based on how often, how much, and how curious, enthusiastic, and experimental your chosen recipient is about coffee, you also get to expose your giftee to roasters from outside their region that they might not have otherwise encountered. This is easily one of the best ways to broaden a coffee drinkers horizons.

On top of that, once you gift the subscription the recipient takes a short survey which identifies how they prefer to brew their coffee, and their personal taste. You can either pick which coffees you want to receive, or let Trade choose for you from a selection of more than 450 options  but going with Trades suggestions might bring you out of a coffee rut if youve been drinking the same thing for too long.

If you know someone who is an aspiring at-home barista, or who has simply expressed an interest in learning more about coffee, the Trade coffee subscription is the perfect gift  and if you grab it right now while its still on sale, youll be way ahead on your holiday shopping.

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A battle is afoot in one Denver suburb, with a homeowners association (HOA) refusing to allow its residents to install solar panels despite state laws that protect peoples right to do so.

Aurora residents Dick Cunningham and Walter Rozycki said their HOA rejected their plans to install rooftop solar panels on their homes in the Villas at Cherry Creek community.

The two told The Denver Post that the HOAs policies on solar, which prohibit leasing panels and mandate that residents use the most recent technology available, are over the top.

Their lawyer, Roger Freeman, helped write a state law called the Solar Bill of Rights in 2021, which makes it illegal, with narrow exceptions, for HOAs to interfere with the installation of solar energy systems.

According to him, the HOAs rules are so outside the bounds of the HOA Solar Law that they are clearly illegal and unenforceable under the law.

While there are initial costs to install solar panels, implementing this energy source can save people money over time via lower power bills. According to Forbes, solar users could conserve $25,500-$33,000 over the life of their system. Plus, solar panels are viewed as upgrades and generally increase a homes value.

In addition, solar is a clean and renewable energy source that can replace the use of dirty fuels like natural gas. As such, it plays an important role in mitigating planet-warming pollution.

Rozycki told The Denver Post, I want to do this for the good of the environment, not so much to save money. The saving of the money is down the road.

Meanwhile, Washington is doubling down on its commitment to solar. In June 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a $7 billion grant competition to bring this energy source to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Thanks to President Bidens Investing in America agenda, this historic boost in solar investments will advance millions of residential solar projects nationwide, protect people and the planet, deliver environmental justice, save families money, and create good-paying jobs, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement.

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T+Ls picks of the most noteworthy camps, lodges, and wildlife cruises to launch this year.

Courtesy of Zambezi Grande The riverside Zambezi Grande, in southern Zambia

Planning a safari in the year ahead? Here, T+Ls picks of the most noteworthy camps, lodges, and wildlife cruises to recently launch.



Angama Amboseli, Kimana Sanctuary, Kenya

Set on a community-owned conservancy near Amboseli National Park  known for super-tusker elephants  the plush property has 10 tented suites decorated in canvas and rattan, all with views of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Mokete, Mababe Depression, Botswana

Rarely visited by Americans, the Mababe Depression outside the Okavango Delta is home to vast herds of buffalo and elephants, plus predators such as lions. This temporary camp, where the tents have retractable roofs for stargazing, is a luxurious placeholder for a more permanent property from the operator Wilderness that is due to open in 2026.

Okahirongo Elephant Lodge, Kaokoland, Namibia

Courtesy of Sanctuary Retreats Namibias Okahirongo Elephant Lodge.

After an extensive refurbishment by Sanctuary Retreats, this hideaway in Namibias arid Kaokoland region is the perfect place for spotting desert-adapted elephants, giraffes, and zebras.



Plains Camp, Samara Karoo Reserve, South Africa

The unique selling point of this camp, which has just four off-grid tents with antique furnishings, is the rugged environment of the Karoo, where the surrounding reserve has seen the Big Five reintroduced through rewilding efforts.

Tanda Tula Safari Camp, Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, South Africa

This spot near Kruger National Park has been completely rebuilt, so its an even better perch from which to see Krugers plentiful big cats, including leopards.

Zambezi Grande, Lower Zambezi River, Zambia

Right on the riverbank, this newly redesigned 10-room lodge, with its palette of dark woods, olive greens, and browns, is a great base for game drives, sunset cruises, and walking safaris.

Zambezi Queen, Chobe National Park, Botswana

COURTESY OF ZAMBEZI QUEEN BY MANTIS Guests of the Zambezi Queen take a game drive by tender.

This luxurious vessel sails the Chobe River, which forms a portion of the border between Botswana and Namibia. It relaunched in April after a top-to-bottom refurbishment that brightened up its 14 suites and public areas. Two-, three-, and four-night cruises afford first-rate wildlife watching, as elephants and hippos roam the banks.

A version of this story first appeared in the September 2023 issue of Travel + Leisure.

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The sample sent to the UK's Natural History Museum is just a small slice of the regolith collected from Bennu.

A tiny fragment from the most dangerous asteroid in the solar system has arrived in the U.K.  and scientists think it could teach us about the origins of life on Earth.

The fragment  a millimeter-size (0.04 inch) slice from the roughly 6-ounce (170 grams) sample that was collected from the asteroid Bennu and may contain the precursors to life  arrived at the Natural History Museum in London Tuesday (Nov. 28).

NASA scientists first revealed the sample on Oct. 11 after it hurtled back to Earth aboard the OSIRIS-REx capsule at speeds of up to 27,000 mph (43,000 km/h). After a seven-year, 4 billion-mile (6.4 million kilometers) round trip, the capsule deployed its parachute and safely landed in the Utah desert before being transported to Johnson Space Center in Houston. Now, bits of it are being sent around the world for analysis.

Related: Scientists fine-tune odds of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth

"It's almost unbelievably exciting," Sara Russell , a professor of cosmic mineralogy and planetary science at the Natural History Museum, said in a statement . "It's almost like a dream to have the sample back, because we've been thinking about it for so long."

OSIRIS-REx View of Bennu

Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid that has a 1-in-2,700 chance of striking Earth in the year 2182  the highest odds of any known space object. But the scientists are more interested in what's trapped inside the space rock: the possible extraterrestrial precursors of life on Earth.

"This is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference upon the sample's return. "Carbon and water molecules are exactly the elements we wanted to find. They're crucial elements in the formation of our own planet, and they're going to help us determine the origins of elements that could have led to life."

Earth's water is older than the planet itself and was probably brought here by asteroid and comet impacts . But water likely wasn't the only material asteroids brought to Earth; the building blocks of life likely hitched a ride on a space rock, too. Bennu is a B-type asteroid, which means it contains high amounts of carbon and, potentially, many of the primordial molecules present when life emerged on Earth.

Some of these building blocks  including uracil, one of the nucleobases for RNA  were recently found on the asteroid Ryugu by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which returned to Earth with its rock sample in 2020. OSIRIS-REx mission scientists are hoping to find other potential precursors for Earth's biology inside the Bennu sample.

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Bits of asteroid Ryugu are among 'most primordial' materials ever examined

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Asteroid Ryugu's weird spinning-top shape explained

The sample was collected after nearly two years of searching for a landing site on Bennu's craggy surface. Upon making contact with the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx fired a burst of nitrogen from its Touch-and-Go Sample-Acquisition Mechanism to both stick the landing and prevent the craft from sinking through the asteroid.

The blast sent rocks and dust careening around the craft, and some of that rocky debris landed in a canister aboard OSIRIS-REx. A follow-up blast of OSIRIS-REx's thrusters later lifted it from Bennu, and the spacecraft completed a number of flyovers before leaving the asteroid for Earth in May 2021.

Now that the sample has arrived, scientists around the world will begin analyzing it for clues about how our solar system, and the life on our planet, came to be.

"It's kind of like the leftover building block of our solar system," Ashley King, a meteorite researcher at the Natural History Museum, said in the statement. "When we think about how planet Earth formed, all the ingredients are also locked up within Bennu. So we want to disentangle the story of Bennu and learn about the origin of the solar system and then the history of Earth."
Saturday

1st Annual Winter Resource Fair, 7 a.m. to noon, First Lutheran Church, 3200 E. Military Ave., Fremont. The resource fair is being coordinated by Three Rivers Public Health Department and the Fremont Family Coalition. The purpose of the fair is to provide easy access to services, health education and community resources. More than 15 community organizations will be partnering to provide individuals with information about housing, education, wellness and other resources in the area. The event is open to the public and will have something for all ages.

St. Pats Women Annual Christmas Bazaar, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., St. Patrick Catholic Church, 3400 E. 16th St., Fremont. The bazaar will feature a coffee shop with homemade cinnamon rolls, baked good and candy, Christmas Shoppe, raffle tickets for holiday items, and a roast pork loin lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

HomeStore open, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 701 E. Dodge St., Fremont. The HomeStore sells donated items at discounted prices. Proceeds support the mission of Fremont Area Habitat for Humanity.

Men of Integrity Prayer Breakfast, 8 a.m., Lighthouse Ministry Center, 84 W. Sixth St., downtown Fremont. Men of all ages are invited for a time of fun, fellowship and breakfast by Valentinos.

45th Annual Fremont Parks and Recreation Craft Show, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Christensen Field, 1710 W. 16th St., Fremont. The show will include numerous vendors and concessions. Admission is $1 which goes to the Fremont Friendship Center.

79th Annual Holiday Bazaar, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., First Congregational Church, 1550 N. Broad St., Fremont. The event will include coffee and cinnamon rolls, vendors, silent auction items, Book Nook, and Santas Attic holiday store. Cookies will be sold by the pound. Ham loaf and chicken salad lunches will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pie will be available by the slice.

31st Annual Christmas Cookie and Candy Boutique, 9-11 a.m. (or until gone), St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 300 S. Second St., Cedar Bluffs. A large selection of Christmas cookies and candy will be sold for $8 per pound. Free coffee and cookies will be served, compliments of the churchs Lutheran Womens Missionary League.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Winter Wonderland, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 County Fitness, 714 N. Main St., North Bend. The event will feature a bonfire and Smores, hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls, take home chili and festive goats to pet and feed.

Alcoholics Anonymous womens heart-to-heart group, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fremont Eagles Club open, noon to midnight, 649 N. Main St., Fremont. The club may stay open later or close early depending on business. There will be a Sons of the American Legion meal at 6 p.m. and line dancing at 6:30 p.m.

Christmas on the Prairie: Christmas in Toyland, 1-5 p.m., Saunders County Museum, 204 N. Walnut St., Wahoo. The event will include rope making, outdoor demonstrations, crafts, model trains, special stamps, lacemaking demonstrations, quilts, a silent auction, bake sale, and programs at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Spaghetti Feed/Auction Fundraiser for Shawn Bosselmann, 4-7 p.m., Fremont Eagles Club, 649 N. Main St., Fremont. Dinner will be served from 4-7 p.m. A $15 donation for the meal is requested. There will be a live and silent auction as well as raffles at about 7:30 p.m. Bosselmann is fighting stage 4 metastatic melanoma. All proceeds will assist Bosselmann and his family.

Mead Hometown Holidays, 4-6:30 p.m., Mead Fire Hall and downtown Mead. The afternoon will begin with activities, treats, refreshments and a visit from Santa Claus at the Mead Fire Hall. Everyone can then meet in downtown Mead for the Mead Fire Department Snowball Drop and the lighting ceremony of the village Christmas tree.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Village of Dodge Winter Festival, 6 p.m., Village Square, Vets Club and Fire Station, Dodge. The event will include a tree lighting, Santa visits and photos, craft making, Smores bar, cookie decorating, hot chocolate, nativity animals, sleigh rides, kiddie train rides and kettle corn. A soup supper will be served immediately after the tree lighting until 8 p.m. A meal includes a bowl of chili or chicken noodle soup, chicken salad or egg salad sandwich, and cinnamon roll. Extras are a hot dog and chips. A kids meal will be a hot dog, chips, drink and Rice Krispy treat.

Joseph Halls Elvis Rock N Remember show, 7 p.m., Fremont Opera House. Hall will celebrate Elvis Presley in this family-friendly show. To purchase tickets, call Kyle at 402-617-4477 or 1-800-346-2427. Tickets are not being sold by Fremont Opera House.

Spiritual 12-Step Recovery Program, 7 p.m., Lighthouse, 84 W. Sixth St., Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous The Lie is Dead meeting, 8 p.m., LifeHouse, 723 N. Broad St., Fremont. The hotline number is 402-459-9511.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10:30 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Sunday

Arlington Volunteer Fire Department Pancake Feed, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Arlington Auditorium. Cost is a freewill donation. Santa will arrive at 11 a.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous Happy Sober Sunday Group, 9 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Waffles with Santa and the Waffleman, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Snyder Firemens Ballroom. All-you-can-eat Belgian waffles with different flavored syrups and whipped cream will be served for a freewill donation along with sausage and eggs. Bloody Mary cocktails also will be served. Christmas cookie platters will be sold. Santa will be at the event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. All proceeds go to the Snyder Community Foundation.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous Seekers of Serenity meeting, 10:30 a.m., LifeHouse, 723 N. Broad St., Fremont. The hotline number is 402-459-9511.

Fremont Eagles Club open, noon to 6 p.m., 649 N. Main St., Fremont. The club may stay open later or close early depending on business.

Christmas on the Prairie: Christmas in Toyland, 1-5 p.m., Saunders County Museum, 204 N. Walnut St., Wahoo. The event will include rope making, outdoor demonstrations, crafts, model trains, special stamps, lacemaking demonstrations, quilts, a silent auction, bake sale, and programs at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Colors of Christmas concert, 2 p.m., Wikert Event Center, Midland University campus, Fremont. The Midland University Arts Department will be celebrating the holidays at this free concert which is open to the public. The program will feature the Blue Notes, Midland University Dance Program, Clef Dwellers, the Midland University Band, and the Midland University Chorus. The Pathfinders Chorus of Fremont also will join the program.

St. Johns Lutheran Holiday Soup Supper, 4:30-7 p.m., 821 Denver St., Schuyler. The supper will feature all-you-can-eat homemade chicken noodle and chili soup, desserts, coffee and juice. A goodwill offering will be taken at the door. There also will be a bake sale with various baked goods and soup by the quart from 4-7 p.m. St. Johns is handicap accessible.

Christmas Extravaganza, 5-7 p.m., Hooper Auditorium. The event, sponsored by Chain of Friends  Hooper, will include soup, hot chocolate, storytelling, hayrack rides, cookie decorating and more. There will also be a parade of trees/trees contest. Santa Claus also will be stopping by the event.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Dodge County Radio Emergency Associated Communication Team (REACT), 6:30 p.m., St. James Church, Fifth and D streets, Fremont. For more information, call 402-687-2160.

Narcotics Anonymous Freedom Works Group, 7 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1440 E. Military Ave., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous Sunday speaker, 7:30 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.
If you're experiencing joint pain, your first impulse might be to avoid exercise altogether. But performing joint strengthening exercises can actually help, rather than hinder, your recovery.

"When you exercise, youre building strength in your muscles, ligaments and tendons around your joint, which helps build support," explains Abby O'Rourke, clinical fitness regional lead at healthcare charity Nuffield Health.

The charity has selected the following six exercises as the best for building joint strength. Each of the movesdemonstrated belowcan be tweaked to be easier or harder. Most of them can be performed either equipment-free or with a simple resistance band.

For the final move, you might want a bosu ball or balance board, which can be picked up for roughly $15 from Amazon, but there's also a no-equipment alternative included.

How to do Nuffield Health's joint pain prevention workout

Squat

Seated row

Leg extension

Shoulder press

Step up

Stability challenge

"I would suggest performing each move for between 30 seconds and one minute, then resting for 15-30 seconds," O'Rourke advises. She suggests repeating the routine two to three times every week and doing it alongside an aerobic activity like walking.

"And remember, as the UK chief medical officer's guidance says, 'some is good, more is better'."

The exercises

How to do it:

Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed outwards slightly.

Push your hips back then bend your knees to lower them like you're sitting into a chair. As you do this, keep your chest up and your back flat.

Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel with the ground, then drive through your feet to return to the standing position. If this feels too difficult, sit back onto a box or chair.

For more of a challenge, hold a weight plate, dumbbell or kettlebell in front of your chest while doing the move.

2. Seated row

Loop a resistance band around a sturdy upright structure like a squat rack or banister, then hold one end of the band in each hand. Sit opposite the point where the band is anchored, far enough away that the band is taut.

Squeeze your shoulder blades together (the Nuffield Health team suggests imagining you're "trying to crack a nut with them). This is called retracting your shoulder blades

Keeping your upper arms tucked into your sides, pull the band to your lower ribcage with both hands, then control it back to the starting position.

For an easier alternative, practice retracting your shoulder blades. For more of a challenge, try this move while standing up.

3. Leg extension

Tie a resistance band around the front right leg of a chair. Sit down and loop the other end of the band around your right ankle.

Place your hands on the seat of the chair for support, then straighten your right leg as far as your knee will allow. The band should be short enough that there is added tension on your leg throughout most of the movement. Repeat on the other leg.

To make this move easier, do it without the band. For more of a challenge, try supported lunges using a suspension trainer like a TRX Machine.

Sit on a bench or chair and wrap your resistance band underneath the seat. Hold one end of the band in either hand and bring them up to either side of your chest.

Brace your core then, with your chest proud and back straight, push your hands overhead until they lightly touch.

Control the bands back to your chest then repeat.

For a less demanding alternative, perform shoulder blade abductions against a wall (think vertical snow angel with straight arms). To make this move more difficult, swap the band for a dumbbell in each hand.

5. Step up

For this exercise, you'll need a a sturdy raised surface like a step. Stand adjacent to the step and place your closest foot onto it.

Drive through the foot on the step to lift your other leg, raising your knee to a right angle.

Hold this top position for a second, then lower your foot back down to the ground. Repeat on the other side.

For an easier alternative, perform toe taps, standing on a flat surface and tapping the toe of one foot on the floor behind you. For more of a challenge, add a toe tap to the bottom of your regular step-ups.

6. Stability challenge

Stand on a bosu ball or balance board. Focus your eyes on a static object in front of you, then try to maintain your balance.

If you're struggling or don't have a bosu ball/balance board, practice standing on one leg (alternating legs at regular intervals). For an extra challenge, have someone play catch with you as you try to keep your balance on the bosu ball/balance board.

Benefits of this routine

We already know that certain exercises can strengthen the muscles, tissues, ligaments and tendons surrounding our joints. But what are the real-world impacts of this routine?

"This is an example of some of the exercises you can do to improve your strength, mobility, cardio and stability, all of which will provide plenty of benefits for your joints and overall health," O'Rourke explains.

"The benefits are that your joints will last longer and help you continue doing your daily activities with a potential reduction in pain. This can help to prevent injury going forward.

"Increasing strength in your muscles also encourages improvements in bone density, which is really important as you age. This decreases the risk of falls and improves the outcome if you do."

Which exercises are good for joint health?

The exercises above are only some of the ways you can combat joint pain.

Below, O'Rourke walks you through some of the other types of exercise that can be helpful in the hunt for a healthier, more mobile body.

1. Strength training

"If we have stronger muscles, ligaments and tendons, this builds support for your joints. You can do this kind of exercise in the gym, performing a variety of upper-body, lower-body and core exercises, or taking part in classes."

2. Cardio

"When we improve our cardiovascular health, we help reduce the overall inflammation that contributes to our joint pain.

"Classes that involve cardio training include aqua-aerobics, dance and indoor cycle, but you can do anything you enjoy that raises your heart rate. The most important thing here is to move more."

3. Mobility

"If youre able to move more freely in your joints, this will help reduces any stiffness building up. Yoga classes are great for improving your mobility, which gives you a greater range of motion when performing exercises."

4. Stability

"Having more stability and balanced muscles allows you to move your body evenly. It also means your body can move with more control, reducing the chance of injury.

"Yoga, dance and Les Mills BodyBalance classes can be good for this. You could also challenge yourself in the gym or at home by doing things like standing on one leg."

Who can benefit from this routine?

O'Rourke says people with a range of conditions, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis and many other degenerative conditions, have benefited from Nuffield Health's Joint Pain Programme

"Many of our participants experience great outcomes through taking part in physical activity with a group of like-minded participants in a fun environment with a specialised instructor," she explains.

This is because exercise has been shown to support joint health by building and maintaining strength in the supportive tissues around your joints, as well as increasing endorphins which can reduce your sensitivity to pain over time, O'Rourke adds.
Recent government data shows nearly 3,500 banned dog breeds in the United Kingdom are living legally in homes in Scotland, England, and Wales under an exemption scheme, BBC News reports.

Currently, there are four breeds banned in the U.K. as per the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991: Pit Bull Terriers, the Japanese Tosa, the Fila Brasileiro, and the Dogo Argentino. According to data released by the U.K.s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Pit Bull Terriers make up the majority of banned dogs allowed to live legally with their owners.

Even so, the U.K. government announced plans to add the American Bully XL to the list of banned breeds by the end of this year. Officials said the frequent reports of fatal attacks involving this breed informed their decision.

How the UKs exemption scheme works

Under the exemption scheme, dogs categorized as banned breeds can live with their owners only if they pass a court-ordered behavioral assessment.

If a dog passes the test, it means theyve satisfied the court they wont be a threat to the public. Authorities then register the banned breed with the U.K. Index of Exempted Dogs.

In addition to testing, the dogs owner must comply with other strict restrictions lest authorities seize or, worse, put down their canine. These restrictions include:

Presenting a certificate of exemption to authorities upon request

Keeping their dog on a lead and muzzled at all times in public spaces

Taking out third-party insurance every year

One Pit Bull owners experience

Anita Mehdi owns a 7-year-old Pit Bull Terrier named Lola. She recently recalled an incident in 2019 when U.K. authorities seized Lola after members of the public reported the dog.

My whole world sort of fell apart. They locked her in a cage, shut the door and drove off, leaving me sobbing in the road, Mehdi shared.

Fortunately, Lola completed the behavioral assessment and passed. For this reason, the court allowed Mehdi to keep her dog.

Looking back at what she underwent, Mehdi now religiously adheres to all the restrictions governing banned dogs registered under the exemption scheme. I take the restrictions very seriously. I wouldnt risk having Lola euthanized and put to sleep, she said.

Additionally, she stated, Shes just my entire world. So although I dont like it, I do it because I love her.

The post Thousands of Banned Dogs Living in UK Homes appeared first on DogTime.
Forget baking techniques, secret ingredients, and step-by-step recipes, celebrity chef Martha Stewart has pinpointed another mechanism that aids her baking -- and it has nothing to do with the actual food. Rather, Stewart highlighted the importance of using zinc countertops, which not only look oh-so put together but also serve an important purpose.

"Up at my home in Maine, all my counters are covered in zinc," Stewart told Frederic Magazine. She added, "It's actually the baker's choice because you can roll out dough on it without using extra flour and it won't stick." Zinc comprises many a countertop and is often a desirable material given its unique qualities. Zinc countertops allow for easy cleaning and have a natural appearance that works well across different homes.

Beyond these qualities, however, zinc clearly works well for baking. Stewart singled out zinc as one of her favorite countertop materials, though she's also used marble, soapstone, and wood. If you've ever baked on your own countertop, you likely already understand all too well how finicky dough can be. While you can use flour or oil to combat some of your dough's stickiness, sometimes it's too much to deal with. That's where zinc comes into play -- though you may want to think twice before changing your countertops.

Read more: Chocolate Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Zinc Works Wonders For Bakers But Comes With A High Price Tag

Zinc surface - KARITING PICAH/Shutterstock

There's a reason not everyone uses zinc countertops: the cost. As a general rule of thumb, zinc doesn't come cheap. Specifically, a zinc countertop can go for anywhere between $150 and $200 per square foot. For comparison, stainless steel countertops start at $80 per square foot, while many other common materials average at even lower costs. Zinc countertops are likewise more likely to scratch or stain from acidic ingredients, so if you're prone to spilling lemon juice, Stewart's preferred countertop may not be for you.

However, if you frequently bake -- and hate sticky fingers -- a zinc counter may be a worthwhile investment. If you have one already, go ahead and roll out your cookie dough; you don't have to worry about it clinging to your counter. Once you've rolled your dough, just make sure to follow Stewart's lead and use a paper towel roll to properly store it in the refrigerator. Of course, if you prefer pie to cookies, zinc's benefits don't change. With a zinc countertop, Stewart is more than prepared to fulfill any and all baking needs, whether she's baking 30 pies for Thanksgiving or doing something far more simple.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court ruling that Texas must move its chain of buoys in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass to its side of the river pending the outcome of the federal lawsuit against Gov. Abbott and the state.

The appeals court's action restores the order issued in September by Senior U.S. Judge David Alan Ezra that requires the oversized buoys that stretch about 1,000 feet to be taken from the center of the river. When he issued his order, Ezra said the U.S. Justice Department had demonstrated that it was likely to prevail in its argument that the placement of the floating barriers in the international river without the consent of Army Corps of Engineers violates the U.S. Rivers and Harbors Act.

More: Judge in federal lawsuit over buoys in Rio Grande says politics will not affect his rulings

The 5th Circuit's panel, with one member dissenting, agreed.

"As the United States argues, all the structures listed in Section 10 (of the Rivers and Harbors Act) are built in water and tend to be obstacles or obstructions to navigation," the unsigned ruling states. "In other words, these structures are all tangible objects that 'interfere with or diminish' navigation by requiring vessels to move around them."

Gov. Greg Abbott, who is named with the state of Texas as a defendant in the court action, ordered the buoys to be placed in the Rio Grande as part of his multibillion-dollar border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star. Abbott has said the chain, which is anchored with giant concrete blocks resting on the riverbend, cannot be climbed over or swum under and therefore will deter unlawful crossings into Texas.

Migrants rest near Buoys on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas on July 20, 2023. The buoys were installed on orders by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to prevent migrants from reaching the north embankment of the Rio Grande on the international boundary between Mexico and the U.S.

Abbott has said he issued the order placing the barriers in the river without seeking a go-ahead from the Corps of Engineers because he has a constitutional right to protect Texas from an "invasion."

In his ruling, Ezra expressed skepticism on that claim, and the 5th Circuit backed him up.

"The evidence before the district court did not show that the floating barrier had any meaningful impact on deterring any perceived 'invasion,' so its removal is unlikely to cause Texas irreparable injury," the appeals court ruling states.

In his dissent, 5th Circuit Judge Don Willett said the Justice Department failed to demonstrate that the narrow and shallow stretch of the Rio Grande were the buoys were placed is navigable, so it should not be covered by the Rivers and Harbors Act.

"The majority opinion and the district court overlook this well-settled law and distort the test for navigability," wrote Willett, a former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. "Despite the majoritys and district courts many attempts to argue otherwise, the United States has not shown that it will likely prevail in demonstrating that these 1,000 feet were historically used or susceptible of use in interstate or foreign commerce and thus historically navigable."

It a social media post, Abbott vowed to continue to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.

"The 5th Cir. Court of Appeals denial of Texas sovereign authority to secure the border with floating marine barriers is clearly wrong. AG Paxton & I will seek an immediate rehearing by the entire court," the governor said on X, referencing Attorney General Ken Paxton. "Well go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders."

The ruling does not settle the case. A trial must still be held in Ezra's court in Austin where each side can present evidence supporting its argument.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: 5th Circuit: Buoys in Rio Grande must be moved pending outcome of suit
Here are some of The Providence Journal's most-read stories for the week of Nov. 26, supported by your subscriptions.

The state's contractor has scrapped a Dec. 1 start date for the next big phase of the Interstate 95 North project through downtown Providence due to construction delays. When the next phase does begin, the northbound interstate through downtown Providence will resemble the final version of the project, with a service road splitting off traffic bound for Route 146 and the state offices exit. Just how will the new system work? This story helps explain it.

We've reached the end of the year and for some, that means looking back, including in the restaurant industry. That's good news for three Rhode Island restaurants named to year-end best lists. Congrats to There, There and Gift Horse in Providence and Chanterelle in Newport.

The Providence Amtrak station may not be the first place you'd expect to hear a concert, but that was the case recently when TikTok star and Cranston native JVKE joined with another social media star for a "surprise" performance that went viral.

URI and PC battle for men's college basketball bragging rights Saturday night. For full coverage and reaction from the game visit providencejournal.com/sports.

Here are the week's top reads on providencejournal.com:

Mark Fisher, then-Director of Advocacy of Black Lives Matter RI, speaks during a press conference outside the ACI Maximum Security facility in 2020 to address the soaring cases of coronavirus among the prison population Monday morning. To his left is Executive Director Brother Gary Dantzler.

A man once affiliated with the local Black Lives Matter RI group has gained national media attention for his endorsement of Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential race, but local advocates are calling into question his credentials.

This week, headlines circulated from national media proclaiming that Mark Fisher, a "leader" of BLM RI, had thrown his support behind Trump.

But while the national news media described Fisher as a "leader" of Black Lives Matter and "co-founder" of Black Lives Matter RI, the group's current head, Gary Dantzler, disputes those claims, saying Fisher only worked as an advocate.

Journal file photo showing the '7' license plates. In 1986, Carmine Carcieri paid Joseph McDevitt $25,000 to surrender Plate 7 to the Division of Motor Vehicles. Carcieri, a distant relative of ex-Gov. Donald Carcieri, then made a special application to the DMV and got the plates.

A long succession of Rhode Island governors have doled out low-numbered license plates as favors to supporters, family members and well-connected insiders  or used them for political horse-trading.

So shouldn't the public be able to find out who's getting those coveted status symbols?

The Providence Journal thinks so. Gov. Dan McKee's administration disagrees. And Attorney General Peter Neronha's office sided with the governor on this one.

Thats one of two license-plate related developments that Political Scene covered this week.

File photo of Joseph M. Ricci, a medical marijuana patient and licensed grower, who is suing the Town of Smithfield and the state, alleging $1.7 million in damages stemming from a 2017 search and seizure of his property.

In 2017, Smithfield police searched Joseph Ricci's property, seized dozens of marijuana plants and charged him with possession with intent to distribute.

In requesting a search warrant, police swore under oath that they had a confidential informant who told them Ricci, a medical marijuana patient legally allowed to possess marijuana plants, was selling part of his grow.

Weeks later, the state attorney general's office moved to seize Ricci's property through civil forfeiture, contending it had been used to violate state drug laws.

But did Smithfield police fabricate having a confidential informant to establish probable cause for the search?

Blu Violet offers a substantial Chicken and Waffles dish for the Sunday brunch at the Aloft.

Wake up your Sunday with comfort food, a Mimosa and good conversation. Meet up with friends and catch up over coffee with benes, crostini boards or French toast. Or do you prefer a cocktail with a burger, salad or that great uniter of breakfast and lunch, chicken and waffles?

Who among us doesn't love a nice, weekend brunch?

The Journal's Gail Ciampa serves up six places that are continuing Providence's strong brunch tradition and offers recommendations on the dishes and drinks you're got to try.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Journal top stories: BLM RI Trump endorsement?; License plates
Hotels pile on so many charges, you might feel like you need an accountant to decipher your bill.

Earlier this month, Lynette Eastman, general manager of the Surfjack Hotel and Swim Club in Honolulu, delivered some shocking news to a guest. It concerned her bill.

The vacationer had called the Waikiki property requesting the total amount of an upcoming stay. She specifically asked about a resort fee, the sneaky charge that hotels often slip in at the last minute of the booking process and bury among the other taxes and fees. Eastman told her the Surfjack did not have a resort fee, though that was not always the case: The hotel had suspended the $26.18 fee in spring 2020 but never restored it, even after nearby properties reinstated theirs.

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"That was great because I got to experience her surprise," Eastman said of the guest's happy reaction. "Do I think a lot of hotels are going to start waiving fees? Possibly, if the business is in a location that doesn't pick up, like in Hawaii. But my guess is that the fees will continue to be charged."

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, roughly 6 percent of U.S. properties exact a mandatory fee that hotels claim covers a grab bag of perks, such as WiFi, bike rental, fitness center or a food and beverage "credit." Yet, the fee seems inescapable in many vacation destinations and is just one more financial burden placed on guests at check in.

Hotels pile on so many charges, you might feel like you need an accountant to decipher your bill. In addition to the room rate, there may be a bundle of city, state and local taxes, plus a resort fee, which goes by many names and is also taxed. During check-in, the front desk employee will place a hold on your credit card for incidentals. The amount can range from a couple Jacksons to hundreds of dollars per night. Guests with credit cards won't feel the pinch, but people who use debit cards cannot access that amount during their stay and may need to be careful with their expenditures.

As long as you don't trash your room or drain the minibar without paying, you will get the money back. This is not the case with resort fees. Even if you don't use the WiFi, bike, fitness center or credit, you're still stuck with the fee.

"We can perceive both of these as friction points and annoyances for the hotel guest," said Mehmet Erdem, a professor of hospitality at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, "though technically they're separate accounting-wise and procedural."

- - -

Fees by many names

Like a shifty character in a true-crime novel, the fee often hides in the shadows and goes by several aliases, such as resort, amenity, facility or destination. Some hotels also tack on a "room safe fee," though the charge for having a safety box in your room is significantly less (a couple dollars a day) than the amenity fee (according to an analysis commissioned by AHLA, an average $26 per night).

Chekitan Dev, a professor at Cornell University's Nolan School of Hotel Administration, dates the current incarnation to 1997. Nearly two decades later, Lauren Wolfe founded Kill Resort Fees after a Key West hotel refused to hand over her room key until she forked over an extra $20.

"Over a decade ago, we started to see resort fees in places like Hawaii, and then they started to creep into places like Las Vegas." Wolfe said. "Then it spread like wildfire."

This summer, Wolfe turned up the heat as chief legal officer for Travelers United, a consumer advocacy group. In August, the nonprofit organization sued Hyatt and Sonesta Hotels, alleging false advertising and deceptive fees. The following month, it filed a class-action lawsuit against Hilton.

"These hotels are not paying attention to any sort of law in their state, whether it be basic advertising laws that protect consumers from unfair, deceptive practices or alcohol laws that forbid people from essentially being forced to buy alcohol," said Wolfe, referring to properties that include a cocktail in their resort fee.

Since 2019, state attorneys general in a handful of states and D.C. have been suing some of the world's biggest hotel chains for allegedly violating consumer protection laws. Some of the cases are still ongoing, such as Nebraska and Hilton and D.C. and Marriott. Others have been settled, such as the lawsuit that pitted attorneys general in Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas against Choice Hotels. As part of the September deal, the chain agreed to disclose all mandatory fees on the first page of its booking website and include them in the total price.

This year, state and federal legislators also started tackling junk fees. In July, two U.S. senators introduced the bipartisan Hotel Fees Transparency Act. In October, California passed a pair of similar bills, including a law that will ban the hotel industry's deceptive practice of drip pricing, in which companies list a partial price and does not reveal additional charges until later in the purchasing process. It goes into effect next July. Last year, the Biden administration called out these fees and rallied government agencies, Congress and the private sector to curtail the unfair practice. In October, the president revisited the issue, introducing a proposed Federal Trade Commission law that will require businesses, including hotels, to be upfront with their prices. The agency is accepting public comments through Jan. 8. Since Nov. 9, more than 20,200 people have submitted complaints.

"I think if the pressure from the government and the regulations and the state attorney general offices and the lawsuits creates enough of a headache, then the industry will do something collectively about it," Erdem said.

- - -

What hotels aren't talking about

The American Hotel and Lodging Association as well as individual hotels, such as Hilton, have expressed their support for legislation that requires transparency in pricing. However, the conversation about resort fees seems be ignoring some glaring issues.

For one, the hotels are forcing guests to pay for services or perks that they might not want or need. (When was the last time you made a long-distance phone call on a hotel room phone?) On their websites, most properties bury the list of amenities associated with the fee, so consumers have to pick through the small print. Even when they find it, the descriptions can be indecipherable. Finally, a mystery surrounds the number itself.

In a sampling of hotels in Washington, the amenity fee with tax ran the gamut, from zero (Citizen M, the Jefferson, Conrad Washington) to $23.19 (Washington Hilton), $28.99 (Marriott Marquis) and about $35 (the George, Yotel). The incidentals and security deposit was equally vast, ranging from $50 at the Days Inn to $200 at Hotel Washington.

Travelers might discover higher charges in swankier destinations or at luxurious properties with fancy decor. At the Aria, on the Las Vegas Strip, the resort fee is $51 and the incidental hold runs from $150 for a standard room to $500 for a villa. Grand Beach Hotel Surfside in Florida hits guests with a $64.38 resort fee; the credit card hold is kinder, at $100 a night.

The hotels contacted for comment declined to explain the calculations. One can only guess the financial outlay for, say, printing assistance at the front desk, a downloadable self-guided walking tour or a pool chair.

"It's a black box, let's-see-what sticks approach," said Dev, adding that hotels typically consider supply, demand and competition when formulating the fee.

During a trip to New York City, the professor could not fathom why the Even Hotel in Times Square charged $25 for what he called "overpriced and useless amenities." He and his wife passed on the Citi Bike passes ("I'd have to have a death wish"), local and long-distance calls ("This is a joke"), package handling ("Huh?") and laundry credit ("With the average stay being one to two nights, my garment might not make it back.").

They did, however, take advantage of the free welcome drink: two bottles of water valued at $2.

- - -

To avoid fees, ask nicely then contact an attorney general

It's not hopeless. You can dodge resort fees.

First, use your purchasing power. A NerdWallet analysis singled out the hotels with the highest average fees relative to room rate. Wyndham ranked first, with fees costing $30 and $50 per night, followed by Hyatt, IHG, Hilton and Marriott. Best Western, which is not really known as a playground of perks, came in last, with the lowest fee.

You can also shop around for fee-free hotels. Kill Resort Fee's lists hotels with fees in 15 destinations, so avoid those. (Look under "Offenders.") In our D.C. sample, more than half did not charge a resort fee. On Surfjack's website, the hotel promotes its lack of fees. A pop-up box exclaims, "Wipe out fees!"

"We are definitely seeing a trend of hotels distinguishing themselves by not offering them at all," said Sally French, lead writer with NerdWallet.

If you are a loyalty hotel member, you can avoid the fees by booking with points, depending on the program's policy. Also, the higher up you go on the status pole, the fewer extraneous fees you will have to pay. Some travel credit cards will also reimburse resort fees.

In your kindest voice, you can also ask the front desk to remove the fee, especially if an amenity or service is not available during your stay.

"If you're checking in at 11 p.m. and checking out at 7 the next morning and you're just using the hotel as a place to sleep, maybe that hypothetical trolley ride doesn't even run during that period," said French, referring to a perk at the Marriott Marquis. "It doesn't hurt to tell the desk there was no way you could have taken that trolley ride and ask them to waive the resort fee."

Wolfe does not recommend pushing the issue. After two times, she says to quit. The next step is to send your complaint to the attorney general who serves your home state or the hotel's. You can only pick one, so choose the location with the strongest consumer protection laws.

"In Washington, D.C., it works great," she said, "but it does not work in states where the attorneys general are not taking this issue seriously. A good example would be Nevada. We have not yet heard of one person having success with them."

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Facing sexual assault allegations, Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler struck a defiant tone in a message to party activists Saturday framed as an "update/explanation" of the situation.

Ziegler was accused by a woman he has known for 20 years of sexually assaulting her at her Sarasota apartment. He told detectives the sexual encounter was consensual, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has called on the party chair to resign amid the investigation, but the email Ziegler sent to Florida GOP activists Saturday has no indication that he plans to step down.

"We have a country to save and I am not going to let false allegations of a crime put that mission on the bench as I wait for this process to wrap up," Ziegler wrote.

'She told me she was raped': Listen to 911 call in Christian Ziegler sexual battery probe

In the email obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida, Ziegler says that many people have reached out to support him.

"From congressmen, state elected leaders, prominent social conservatives and county party leaders, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support that has been sent my way," he wrote.

Ziegler also wrote about his wife, Sarasota County School Board member and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler.

The affidavit says there was a planned three-way sexual encounter between the Zieglers and the alleged victim on the day of the alleged assault. When Bridget Ziegler couldn't attend, Christian Ziegler showed up at the alleged victim's apartment alone anyway and that's when the alleged assault occurred.

The alleged victim and Bridget Ziegler both told investigators that all three individuals - both Zieglers and the alleged victim - had a sexual encounter more than a year ago.

"My family is rock solid," Christian Ziegler wrote in the email. "My wife is behind my 150%."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Christian Ziegler says wife Bridget behind him amid assault allegation
A new wildlife overpass to be constructed on Interstate 25 just north of El Paso County will connect 39,000 acres of big game habitat, say Colorado lawmakers.

The project will go ahead thanks to $22 million in federal funding for the Colorado Department of Transportation, a release on the project said.

To span a section of I-25 in Douglas County a few miles of the El Paso County line, the overpass will allow wildlife to pass between large tracts of Great Plains and Rocky Mountains habitat. The project designers hope to mitigate wildlife-vehicle collisions with big game like elk and mule deer, according to the release.

The Greenland Overpass joins 19 projects across the country funded by the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program, part of bipartisan infrastructure legislation. By giving wildlife multiple passage points across I-25 the project is one of the largest such wildlife connectivity projects in North America, the release said.

Wildlife crossings reduce car accidents, protect our big game, and cut time sitting in traffic, said Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper in support of the project.

The new overpass is not the first of its kind on the I-25 corridor between Colorado Springs and Denver. In 2021, CDOT and the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife completed several wildlife corridor underpasses between Monument and Castle Rock as part of the I-25 Gap infrastructure project. The underpasses were some of the largest constructed on the continent, according to the state release.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  The driver accused of hitting and killing two Nevada State Police officers on a Las Vegas freeway Thursday had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit several hours after the crash, sources told the 8 News Now Investigators.

Police arrested Jemarcus Williams, 46, at an apartment complex near MLK Boulevard and Owens Avenue, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported.

A judge set Williams bail at $500,000 during his first court appearance Friday.

Williams ordered a bottle of Hennessy and four vodka drinks with another man at the Palms Casino Resort before the hit-and-run, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

The crash, which killed Sgt. Michael Abbate and Trooper Alberto Felix, was reported around 3:24 a.m. Police arrested Williams around 9 a.m. and took two samples of his blood  one around noon and one around 1 p.m.

Nevada law requires police to obtain a warrant for a drivers blood if impairment is suspected, and draw the blood, within a two-hour window. After two hours, officers must explain the reasoning for the blood draw, which in this case, was the hit-and-run and the time it took to find the car involved, documents said.

Williams first blood draw returned a blood-alcohol level of 0.19; the second a 0.17, documents said. The legal limit in Nevada is 0.08.

Human bodies process alcohol differently with the ethanol level lowering at different rates depending on variables like weight and height. Typically, prosecutors will use an expert to then project what a drivers blood-alcohol level was at the time of a crash.

The man accused of hitting and killing two Nevada State Police officers on a freeway offramp ordered a bottle of Hennesey and four vodka drinks with another man at the Palms Casino Resort before the hit-and-run, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. (KLAS)

Around 1 a.m. Thursday, Willams and another man were recorded on surveillance video entering the Palms, police said in documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. The men then ordered the bottle of Hennessy and the three vodka drinks at the propertys Ghost Bar, police said.

At 1:46 a.m., Williams ordered another drink, police said.

At 3:01 a.m., Williams returned to the casino floor but then took the elevator to the Ghost Bar again, police said. There, hotel security officers approached him. Two minutes later, security [generated] a report that they are escorting an intoxicated man out, documents said.

At 3:15 a.m., Williams left the casino with the security officers, police said. Williams then hid behind a tree and, six minutes later, got into the car, prosecutors said.

Photos of Sgt. Michael Abbate and Trooper Alberto Felix provided by Nevada State Police.

Abbate and Felix responded to a car for a possibly sleeping driver on the D Street exit at 3:23 a.m. The crash happened a minute later as the two men were outside of their cruisers to the left side of the parked vehicle, Metro police said in the documents the 8 News Now Investigators received.

Willams defense attorney asked for his client to be released with no bail but have high-electronic monitoring, which the judge denied. Prosecutors requested $1 million bail.

Williams was facing two felony counts each of DUI resulting in death, reckless driving resulting in death, and failing to stop at the scene of a crash.

Sources told 8 News Now Investigators he smelled of alcohol when officers took him into custody. The crash and ensuing investigation resulted in the northbound lanes of I-15 through the Spaghetti Bowl being closed for around 12 hours.

Judge Daniel Westmeyer scheduled Williams next court date for Dec. 5. Should Williams post bail, he would have to wear an ankle monitor with GPS and alcohol monitoring.

Palms Casino Resort is fully cooperating with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department regarding its investigation into the tragic hit-and-run incident involving two Nevada Highway Patrol officers, a spokesperson for the Palms said Saturday. All of us at Palms Casino Resort extend our deepest sympathies to the officers and their families.

Members of Williams family declined to comment after the court appearance.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
[Source]

A majority of Americans would support recognizing Taiwan as an independent country if China were to invade the self-governing island, the annual Reagan National Defense Survey shows.

Key findings: According to the public opinion poll from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, 72% of Americans would support the official recognition of Taiwan during an invasion, but only 46% would support the U.S. in sending troops to defend the island, which Beijing considers to be Chinese territory.

The survey also indicates that 77% of Americans now view China as an enemy, while only 15% consider it as an ally. Additionally, 73% voiced apprehension regarding a possible Chinese military invasion of Taiwan.

Involving U.S. military: Respondents were more inclined to support the U.S. militarys involvement in Taiwans defense after learning about its democratically elected government and its role as the world's largest producer of advanced semiconductors.

Trending on NextShark: New S. Korea study reveals alarming link between commuting and mental health

To deter an invasion, 60% supported increasing the U.S. military presence near Taiwan and 55% favored boosting U.S. arms sales to the island.

About the survey: The survey, conducted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, gathered responses from 2,506 American adults, with a margin of error of plus/minus 2.0 percentage points. Check out the rest of the findings here.

Trending on NextShark: SF Chinatown hosts toy giveaway for SRO families moving into affordable housing

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The Oshkosh Police Department recently announced the sudden passing of K9 Magic, a 4-year-old Golden Retriever that served as a therapy dog.

OSHKOSH  The Oshkosh Police Department recently announced the sudden passing of K9 Magic, who became unexpectedly ill. She was found to have cancer surrounding her heart and other organs. There was nothing further medical staff could do to help Magic.

Magic, a Golden Retriever, was almost 4, and had been with the Oshkosh Police Department since March 2022. She served as a therapy dog, providing emotional support to both community members and officers.

She was paired with behavioral health officer Scott Sopata and mental health crisis specialist co-responder Kayla Rodriguez. Magic was deployed 364 times during her service with the department. She visited Oshkosh North and Oshkosh West high schools once a month, along with visits to the Day By Day Homeless Shelter, Solutions Recovery, the hospital emergency rooms and many others.

A memorial service for K9 Magic has been scheduled for Dec. 12, and is open to the public. The service will start at 10 a.m. at the Best Western Premier Hotel, 1 N. Main St.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Oshkosh Police Departments K9 Program, Attn: Sgt Romanowicz, 420 Jackson St., Oshkosh, WI 54901.

Crumbl Cookies opening soon: Crumbl Cookies is opening soon in Oshkosh. Here's when and what to know.

Welcome to your weekly dose.Here is more news from throughout Winnebago County.

Caramel Crisp hosts 'Blind Date with a Book' shopping event

A Blind Date with a Book event will be held 4 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at Caramel Crisp Bookstore.

Shoppers can browse mystery books that include all genres  fiction, nonfiction, young adults and childrens books. Books are wrapped like a gift, with little bits about the plot, setting and characters written on the outside.

Caramel Crisp is at 200 City Center. For more information, visit caramelcrispcorner.com or call 920-231-4540.

Free showing of 'Jingle All the Way' Dec. 10 at library

River East Neighborhood Association will host a free showing of Jingle All the Way at 1 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Oshkosh Public Librarys lower level.

All are welcome to share in treats and socializing. For more information, visit oshkoshpubliclibrary.org or email info@oshkoshpubliclibrary.org.

Carter to lead Ascension's Mercy campus as president

Shane Carter, president Ascension NE Wisconsin - Mercy Campus

Shane Carter has been named to lead Ascension NE Wisconsin - Mercy Campus as president. Carter returns to the Oshkosh campus nearly 20 years after serving as a nurse in the intensive care unit.

He most recently was vice president and chief nursing officer at Aurora Medical Center - Oshkosh. Prior to that, Carter served in a variety of clinical and nursing leadership roles at that facility.

Carter earned a master of science in nursing - family nurse practitioner and a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He has worked with medical group operations, cardiology, oncology and womens health service lines, and led imaging and several support services.

Nikolai named VP of ThedaCare's Fond du Lac, Oshkosh campuses

Jenny Nikolai, ThedaCare vice president at Fond du Lac and Oshkosh

Jenny Nikolai has joined ThedaCare as vice president at the new community hospital campuses in Fond du Lac and Oshkosh.

Nikolai most recently served as director of strategy for Mayo Clinic and has more than 15 years experience in the health care industry. She earned a masters degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas and a bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

She is a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, is certified by the Project Management Institute and obtained her Six Sigma Green Belt from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Nikolai serves on the program committee and membership committee for the American College of Healthcare Executives-Wisconsin Chapter, and is a member of the board of directors for the United Way of Washington County.

In 2022, ThedaCare and Froedtert Health announced plans to create two health campuses that include hospital and outpatient care services in Fond du Lac and Oshkosh. Care will be collectively delivered to patients and coordinated between ThedaCare and the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin health network providers. In April 2023, ThedaCare and Froedtert Health signed a letter of intent to come together as one organization.

Oshkosh native joins Milwaukee ad agency Hanson Dodge

Oshkosh native Lauree Frechette has joined Hanson Dodge, a Milwaukee-based advertising agency

Oshkosh native Lauree Frechette has joined Milwaukee-based advertising agency Hanson Dodge as an account director.

In her new role, Frechette will oversee the agencys Green Gobbler and Potawatami accounts as well as assist on new business.

She previously was an associate account director at Milwaukee-based Bader Rutter. She has experience with brand strategy development and multichannel marketing spanning creative, media, public relations, digital and social media. She began her career at Red Shoes Inc.

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This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh Police Department K9 Magic dies from cancer unexpectedly
A rare type of rhino was born at an Arizona zoo for the first time in decades  and its the most significant birth in the zoos history, officials said.

Baby Masiki the white rhino was born Nov. 7 in excellent health, Wildlife World Zoo officials said in a Nov. 21 news release. The zoo is about 25 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix.





The animal care team calls her Siki for short, the release said. She was named for her prominent ears, which were one of the first things to wiggle to life after she was born.

Those ears also kept getting in the way during ultrasounds, Wildlife Worlds President Kristy Hayden said.

A video shows Siki running around and playing with her mother in their enclosure.

The birth is a significant step toward conserving the entire rhino population and was nearly a decade in the making through the zoos rhino conservation breeding plan, officials said.

Rhino populations are at risk due to extreme poaching, officials said. There were more than 500,000 wild rhinos at the beginning of the 20th century.

Only 27,000 rhinos are left in Africa, officials said. Poachers kill three or more rhinos every day to keep up with the black-market demand for their horns, which is falsely believed to be an aphrodisiac in some Asian cultures  though the horns are made only of keratin, the same protein that makes up human hair and fingernails.

Poachers routinely break into rhino orphanages, sanctuaries and sometimes even zoos, officials said.

Through the conservation breeding program, the zoo adopted three female rhinos that were orphaned in South Africa and an imported male rhino from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, officials said.

Masiki was born to Zuri, one of the females, and the male, Maoto.

This baby opens up a whole new bloodline that will play a key role in rhino conservation for decades to come, Hayden said in the release.

White rhino with rare genetics born at Virginia Zoo. See the invaluable little calf

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The set armorer for the film where actor Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer in 2021 pleaded not guilty to gun charges in an unrelated case on Friday.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged for carrying a gun in a Santa Fe, N.M., bar just days before the on-set shooting. She made her plea after attorneys waived an arraignment that was scheduled for next week, The Associated Press reported.

Gutierrez-Reed also faces involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges related to the Rust shooting. Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a film rehearsal.

Prosecutors claimed Gutierrez-Reed, as the set armorer, was responsible for the safety of the firearm and the set. They have issued subpoenas in the case for Rust documents and any related audio and video recordings held by the film Los Angeles-based production company.

The New Mexico prosecutors initially charged Baldwin, but later dropped the case citing new evidence. They noted that charges could be re-filed in the future.

Set safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls was sentenced to six months probation after he pleaded no contest to a charge of unsafe handling of a firearm.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
An inversion is beginning to set in over Utah County on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Hazy skies lingered over the Wasatch Front again on Wednesday, pushing air quality levels into ranges that are unhealthy for sensitive groups in Salt Lake County.

The particulate matter counts in Davis and Tooele counties were listed as being close to "orange" by Wednesday afternoon, as well, according to the Utah Division of Air Quality. Moderate air quality levels were reported in other parts of the Wasatch Front and northern Utah.

The agency points out that inversions are caused when the cold air on the ground is essentially locked into place by warmer air in the atmosphere, trapping pollution that worsens air quality. This typically happens after a high-pressure system returns after a winter storm.

State air quality officials project similar conditions will persist on Thursday, but there is relief on the horizon in the form of another winter storm headed Utah's way. KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson says the incoming storm also has the potential to bring significant snow totals to Utah's mountains this weekend.

Johnson said that low-pressure systems in Alaska are forecast to move into the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, bringing lots of precipitation with it. That system will move into Utah on Friday morning, bringing in snow potentially during the Friday morning commute.

"This is the first of many small little lows that are going to start moving through the region," he said.

A hiker walks along the trail on Ensign Peak as an inversion thickens along the Wasatch Front on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Those low-pressure systems, commonly referred to as an atmospheric river, should provide cleaner air beginning on Friday.

The snow isn't expected to stop moving into the weekend, either. Johnson said 1 to 3 feet of snow are possible in Utah's mountains between Friday and Sunday, while valleys may receive 2 to 4 inches. These projections are subject to change, but the heaviest snow totals are generally expected in Utah's northern half.

"We'll likely see pretty frequent windows of snow in our mountains," he said. "We will see windows of snow for the valley, as well."

High temperatures in the Wasatch Front are also forecast to plunge into the mid-30s and low 40s again this weekend.

The National Weather Service has already issued a handful of winter weather advisories, as well as storm watches and warnings across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada ahead of the storm.

Full seven-day forecasts for areas across Utah can be found online, at the KSL Weather Center.

An inversion is beginning to set in along the Wasatch Front on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Anna Brinkworth, left, and her sister Megan Engelen return to their car after snowshoeing to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Dust off the snow blower and get out the shovel because a strong weekend storm system is already starting to impact northern Utah, with flurries starting to dust some valley areas with the much needed moisture.

Multiple atmospheric rivers are crossing over the Pacific Northwest and into the Rockies and are expected to bring rain and snow in a region plagued by drought.

The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City is anticipating that as much as a few feet of snow could blanket Ogden Valley and ski resorts will see similar amounts to help get the ski season off to a decent start.

Some areas are already starting to see snow covered roads, according to social meeting postings.

Already seeing snow covered roadways for some areas near the Utah/Idaho border. Here are the current views from I-15 near Plymouth and US-91 near Richmond courtesy of @UDOTTRAFFIC. Use caution when traveling! #utwx pic.twitter.com/Kx7JIbDKMf  NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 1, 2023

This weekend storm system will prop up a water year that is getting off to a slow start.

While Utah reservoirs are 77% full statewide and about 20% higher than normal for this time of year, the water needs to keep on coming. The Utah Division of Water Resources said those numbers still dont erase the reality that, overall, the snow water equivalent is 39% below normal for this time of year.

That means there is not enough water in the existing snowpack, and Utah needs to play catch-up.

While we still have a good amount of water in our reservoirs, we must continue to conserve, said Joel Williams, deputy director of the Division of Water Resources. The water year is off to a slow start, but its still early. From now until April will be pivotal in determining the overall water outlook for the state.

Related

A snowplow clears the road in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City said the scattered snow showers in Utah will come in two rounds on Friday: mid-day and late evening.

The storm will start cold and grow warm, which means more chance for accumulation of measurable snowfall.

Saturday will bring the best bet for Mother Natures delivery of heavy mountain snow and scattered rain or snow showers in lower elevation locations.

Sunday is likely to see valley rain and more mountain snow, according to the service.

Snow is spreading into northern Utah this morning and will become widespread by midday. We'll see periods of mountain snow through Sunday with snow transitioning to rain Saturday night/Sunday morning for the northern valleys. Here's a timeline of what to expect. #utwx pic.twitter.com/TR2N0h07ND  NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) December 1, 2023

The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City has issued a winter storm warning along the main spine of the Wasatch Front that also extends north to the border of Idaho, capturing Logan. It also extends south to central Utah to include Nephi.

Both the western and eastern edges of that spine wrap in other communities, which are under a winter weather advisory.

The good news is that air quality conditions are improving along the Wasatch Front due to the storm shaking up the stagnant air.

AQ has improved throughout the state. Box Elder, Cache, Davis, SL, Tooele, UT, and Weber co. are Moderate today and expected to improve to Good.



Duchesne & Uintah co. will remain  through Sunday.



Carbon, Grand, Iron, and Washington will be  through Sunday. pic.twitter.com/hJjbQUOY3b  Utah DEQ (@UtahDEQ) December 1, 2023

What is an atmospheric river?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says these are naturally occurring air currents that can bring both severe disruption and great benefit through the heavy rain and mountain snows that contribute to regional water supply. On average, about 30% to 50% of annual precipitation in the West Coast states occurs in just a few atmospheric river events.

These rivers in the sky, according to NOAA, are long, narrow regions that transfer most of the water vapor outside of the tropics.

The agency noted: While atmospheric rivers can vary greatly in size and strength, the average atmospheric river carries an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Exceptionally strong atmospheric rivers can transport up to 15 times that amount.

With the impacts of the storm sweeping over this region and weather episodes forecast for the rest of the nation, the National Weather Service launched a Winter Safety Campaign Friday designed to help people stay safe from winter weather.

The campaign points out a lot of vulnerabilities to public safety, including what populations are at most risk for adverse health effects, what to do in case of frostbite and hypothermia and how to be prepared when winter weather hits.

Are you #WeatherReady for the winter? The @NWS Winter Safety Campaign, launching today, features social media plans, infographics, and more to ensure that you and your loved ones know how to stay safe from winter weather. https://t.co/TtUCVwjplR pic.twitter.com/4L8oJLKJ7p  National Weather Service (@NWS) December 1, 2023
Tents, trailers, trash and trommels  part of the makeshift tent city on Carbonate and Mineral hills above Cripple Creek  present another side of a place where people come to win.

That magical jackpot might be a pipe dream, but casinos are the springboard for hope for people who keep coming back.

To some eyes, Cripple Creek is on a roll, with new townhomes, apartments and the 300-room Chamonix Hotel scheduled to open next month.

But the dark side is visible in the tents and the trailers shadowing the building boom.

Mike Olson, a fourth-generation gold miner, feels like a victim as he has halted mining gold and turquoise on property for which he is a caretaker on Mineral Hill, now a tent city.

We havent worked up here in six years, he said. Ive had to take a job because of this when I should be mining.

The properties above the city have several owners: Teller County, Newmont Mining Corp., Bureau of Land Management, Harriet and David Graham, who own Bad Boys Mining, the city of Cripple Creek and Shannon Murphy among them.

When he tours the property, Olson carries a rifle and a handgun, fearing hell be shot if he disturbs a campsite.

We traded picks and shovels for rifles, Olson said.

The roads are rutted, with a few recreational vehicles scattered here and there. Recently, the engine of the large trommel was destroyed, thus making the $200,000 machine used to separate mining materials useless, Olson said.

The debris of needles, a stuffed animal, toys, an elk skin, old trailers and cars around each campsite give hints about the occupants.

See that black car over there? Its stolen, Olson said. We cant do anything about it because we dont own the vehicle.

Olson complains that on the county-owned land, the Teller County Sheriffs Office hasnt done anything about the campers.

We have no authority to run them out of there, said Lt. Wes Walter. This is a civil process where the owner of the property has to work with us.

Last week, Newmont Mining, did go ahead with a request to the Sheriffs Office to prosecute Kenneth Crofford, who was subsequently charged with third-degree criminal trespass.

Crofford was living in a camper on property owned by Newmont. The trespassing issue came to light when Croffords pit bull came running down the hill toward Olson and Graham.

Put off by the yelling and screaming of the two men, the pit bull went for Grahams Chihuahua. With the dog about to chomp down on the little dog, Olson allegedly shot the pit bull with his AR-15, ultimately killing the dog.

Olson has a right to defend himself, Walter said. Newmont asked us to go ahead and prosecute Crofford.

Olson says that he wanted to take care of the mess on the sites.

We were going to come in with front-end loaders and demolish all the properties, Olson said. The Sheriffs Office said do not do that.

The Sheriffs Office can issue tickets for illegal camping, Walter said.

But until a judge signs a warrant, we cant arrest them, he added.

Last year, Teller County commissioners passed an ordinance that limits camping on private property by the owners to 60 days.

A permit is required for camping on vacant land and a recreational vehicle must have current licensing and registration. The ordinance establishes the Teller County Sheriffs Office as the appropriate enforcer of the ordinance.

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But the junk and the trailers are another story.

Even if we did arrest them, were not moving the trailers, Walter said.

Many of the campers come into the Aspen Mine Center for help. A nonprofit organization, the center offers opportunities for clients to be responsible citizens. The only requirement is a desire to make improvement.

We have a policy based on the camping ordinance, said Lisa Noble, the centers director of client programs. If they violate the ordinance, we will not assist them with propane or gas vouchers. If they are hungry, we will feed them.

For clients who are willing to work on a plan, the Aspen Mine Center offers services that include addiction and financial counseling.

As long as they try to be productive members of society, we can help them, Noble said. We are not enablers.

The illegal camping is an issue, said Cripple Creek Police Chief Bud Bright. Its no secret, I dont think they have permission to be up there. Some of them have been there for a couple years.

If Bright and his officers find a camper on city property, rather than issuing a ticket, the officers urge them to move.

The city is working on how to address this problem, which is good, Bright said, referring to an ordinance in the works.

While some camping infractions are on county land, Bright keeps track of what's going on.

The equipment owned by one landowner has been torn up or stolen, he said, adding that a $20,000 motor on a trommel had been destroyed. Its frustrating for the people around there; for people who want to develop their properties, the campers make it difficult.

As he encounters campers on the street, Bright listens to their stories. At least two campers work at a local casino.

They are doing the best they can, but illegal camping is not the right answer, Bright said. I understand the frustration of the surrounding neighbors. They pay taxes.

For some landowners, the situation seems hopeless, especially to the landowner who installed a gate and a camera on his property.

But somebody pulled the gate out and stole the camera, Bright said.

While most of the illegal camping is on county property, the city feels the effects.

It does affect us because we typically respond to help. If the county calls for help, we go, he said.

Teller County deputies arrested two of the campers on Nov. 18, each with a warrant signed by a judge, Walter said.

Harriet Graham sees the dark side of a city on the move.

The homeless are drug users who go into Cripple Creek to buy drugs and sell them, she said. We find needles up here.

If gamblers come to the city to try their luck, so, too, do those who live on Mineral Hill.

They sneak in at night and try to mine turquoise, Graham said. Our turquoise is the best in the world. Less than 5% of turquoise in the world is natural.

Olson provides security for the Grahams property as well as the adjacent mining claim, she said.

Graham heard about the two arrests on Nov. 18; each with a warrant.

I know that people can get in a bad spot but you cant live on somebodys elses property, she said.
The following questions were asked recently on the Wonderline:

Q: Who puts up the downtown decorations for Christmas each year? It seemed like they just magically go up each year  I didnt notice them one day and then suddenly, the next, there they are! Anyway, whoever does it every year, I just want to say thank you.

A: The downtown holiday decorations are put up by city work crews.

Q: My family had this discussion over Thanksgiving while we were making the relish tray. Is it true that baby carrots arent really baby carrots?

A: This is correct. They arent baby carrots.

The baby carrots that we famously buy in the grocery store, for relish trays and such, are actually just pieces of fully-grown adult carrots that were cut into two-inch fragments by a machine. Once they are cut up, another machine rounds off the edges, so the carrots end up looking like the ones we buy at the grocery store. The shredded leftovers usually end up as livestock feed.

The creation of baby-cut carrots was revolutionary as irregular and odd-shaped adult carrots used to have to be discarded because they were too strange looking to be sold in the grocery store. This method was created as a way to utilize even the ugliest of carrots  which coincidentally also created a brand new, profitable market for carrot growers.

Q: Who were the first people to arrive in Nebraska back in the old days? Who settled here first?

A: People have inhabited the land of Nebraska for thousands of years. When the Europeans first arrived, there were several tribes of Native Americans who lived throughout the state. In the west were the nomadic tribes of the Cheyenne and the Lakota Sioux. In the east lived the tribes of the Omaha, Pawnee and the Otoe.

The first European to arrive in Nebraska was likely Spanish explorer, Francisco de Coronado in 1541. He claimed the land for Spain. It was over 100 years later, in 1682, that another explorer, Frenchman Robert Cavelier, claimed the land for France. Over the next century, the land would be claimed and fought over by the French, Spanish and British.

In 1800, France controlled a large area of land west of the Mississippi River. In 1803, the United States purchased this area, including Nebraska, from the French as part of the Louisiana Purchase. American explorers Lewis and Clark traveled through Nebraska in 1804, mapping their trip and reporting back about the flat plains and large herds of bison they saw in Nebraska.

The United States established Fort Atkinson in Nebraska in 1819. It was the first army post built west of the Mississippi River. In 1823, a small fur trading post was built on the Missouri River. It became Bellevue, the oldest city in Nebraska and the first permanent settlement.

In 1854, the Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. People really began to move to Nebraska in the 1860s when the Homestead Acts allowed people to get free land in the area. Also, new railroads crossing the territory made it much easier for people to travel here. On March 1, 1867, Nebraska was admitted to the Union as the 37th state.

Q: Why does Santa wear a red and white suit?

A: The original St. Nicholas, who was the Bishop of Myra in the Fourth Century, wore traditional robes of red and white.

The red and white tradition also began in the 1870s when American cartoonist Thomas Nast introduced him in the red suit and cap with white fur lining and buckled black belt.

Then, Santa in America took on the color red because he was the marketing figure for the Coca Cola company and the persona figured in perfectly with the companys color scheme.

Q: Where did the tradition of putting ornaments on Christmas trees come from?

A: We call them Christmas trees, but the decorative evergreen long pre-dates the celebration of Christmas. Evidence suggests the practice of adorning the home with evergreen boughs during the winter solstice dates as far back as the ancient Egyptians. The comforting presence of evergreen life offered hope during winters cold days and long nights, serving a similar purpose in the various pagan winter solstice rituals of the Druids, Romans and Vikings.

The modern Christmas tree tradition is thought to have originated in 16th Century Germany, where small evergreen trees were decorated with items such as candles, apples, nuts and berries. Over time, Christians began to integrate these decorated trees into their homes during the Christmas season.

German immigrants brought the practice to America in the 18th and 19th centuries.

By the 1890s, Woolworths Department Store in the United States was selling $25 million in German-imported ornaments made of lead and hand-blown glass. It soon became an American product (and crafting item) and remains one today, as it is part of our Christmas traditions.
YORK COUNTY  This week, York County Sheriffs Sergeants Korey Goplin and Taylor Samek, who are K-9 handlers, hosted Nebraska Police Service Dog Program Administrator Mike Kerby.

Kerby, a retired Nebraska State Patrol Trooper, is considered a police service dog guru of sorts, according to the YSO, traveling the country while working and training K-9s since 1988.

Kerby is currently an instructor at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center.

He observed, worked with and evaluated York County K-9s Loki and Justice, in the areas of narcotics detection and obedience.

YSO officials say Kerby was extremely impressed with the York County K-9 program.

Sergeants Goplin and Samek said they wanted to thank the McCool Junction Volunteer Fire Department and surrounding departments for allowing our K-9 handlers to utilize their facilities for training purposes.
CAT Answer Key 2023:The CAT Answer Key and response sheet are expected to be released this week according to the media reports on the official website. IIM Lucknow, the Indian Institute of Management, will release the CAT answer key for all three seats. This year, over 2.88 lakh students took the MBA admission exam. Last year, on December 1, the CAT Answer key was released, and the exam was held on November 27, 2022. Given prior trends, the IIM CAT answer key is scheduled to be released this week. Those who took the exam are encouraged to keep watching the official website, iimcat.ac.in.

IIM CAT Answer Key 2023: Here's how to download

Visit the official website of CAT 2023, iimcat.ac.in Click on the link to see the CAT answer key 2023. Enter login information such as the application number CAT 2023 answer key. The PDF file will be shown. Examine the answers and voice any concerns.

According to the IIM CAT marking scheme, each correct answer is worth three points, while each erroneous answer is worth one point. It should be emphasised that negative marking is only relevant to MCQs. There were three components in the CAT 2023 exam paper: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA). There are 66 questions in total, and applicants have 40 minutes to complete each segment, for a total time of 120 minutes or 2 hours.
New Delhi: In a bid to promote more enrolment in state-run schools, the Assam government on Friday decided to reserve 5 per cent seats in engineering colleges for students who have studied in government schools from class 7 to 12, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. He made the announcement after the state Cabinet meeting in Tinsukia, where he also shared other important decisions taken by his government.

He said that although he had mentioned during the briefing that seats will also be reserved in medical colleges, the official decisions of the Cabinet posted by him on his official X handle clarified that only engineering colleges will have the 5 per cent quota.

He said that the cabinet also approved Rs 438.27 crore for three projects under the Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam, 2019, to boost industrial growth in the state.

The three projects are a bamboo crash barrier manufacturing unit by Bhavya Shristi Udyog Pvt Ltd in Bongaigaon, a hotel by Tata Group in Kaziranga and a second Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati.

He said that these three projects will together create nearly 1,400 new jobs. He also said that a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Authority of Assam will be formed, headed by an IAS officer, to attract more CSR funds to the state.

To simplify land-related issues, the cabinet decided to harmonise different types of land into five categories, the CM said. He said that currently, there are about 100 nomenclatures to categorise different types of lands, which leads to confusion among the people. He said that from now on, all land will be placed under five categories.

He also said that about 2.25 lakh people are expected to have their land-related issues settled by the end of Mission Basundhara 2.0, which will conclude at the end of this month.

The cabinet also approved the release of Rs 100 crore to Assam Tea Corporation Ltd against the budget provision in 2023-24 for payment of interest on delayed deposit of provident fund to Assam Tea Employees Provident Fund Organisation.

To streamline the process of paddy procurement, Partial Decentralised Procurement (DCP) will be implemented in Bongaigaon and Biswanath districts by Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd during Kharif Marketing Season 2023-24 at an estimated cost of Rs 1.69 crore, the CM posted on X later.

Among the other decisions taken were increasing the upper age limit for public prosecutors and additional public prosecutors by five years, and granting ration cards to retired fourth-grade government employees.

The chief minister also said several decisions targeted at the development of Tinsukia district were taken at the meeting.

Among various projects approved were a multi-level car parking, an interstate bus terminus and a truck terminal in Tinsukia town, and several roads, bridges and a stadium in other parts of the district.

Sarma also said the next cabinet meeting will be held in Lakhimpur in January and in Nalbari in February, in line with his governments decision to hold the sitting in different parts of the state.
Over the next two days - December 3 and 4, 2023 - the fate of political parties in five states will be decided, at least for the upcoming five years. The Assembly Election 2023 results in five states - Rajasthan, Telangana, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - will be declared. Mizoram's results will be out on December 4 while the other four states will see the final counting of votes and result declaration on December 3. Elections and vote counting days are high-stress situations and especially in a politically charged-up nation like India, stress levels and excitement run high across parties, party workers and their followers.

Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot (Current Chief Minister, Congress), Sachin Pilot (Congress), Vasundhara Raje (Former CM, BJP); Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Current CM, BJP), Kamal Nath (Veteran Congress leader); Chattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel (Current CM, Congress), Raman Singh (Former CM, BJP); Telangana's K Chandrashekar Rao (Current CM, Bharat Rashtra Samithi), Revanth Reddy (Congress, CM Face); Mizoram's Zoramthanga (Current CM, Mizo National Front) - these are some of the top leaders to watch out for over the next few days.

So while the nation is on its edge, anticipating the D-Day results, how do these women and men in the centre of all the action deal with this high-pressure situation? How do politicians react and what's their state of mind a day before the election results? Dr Gorav Gupta, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Tulasi Healthcare, New Delhi, tries to decode the mood of the political leaders ahead of Assembly Election 2023 results.

Assembly Election 2023 Results: The State Of Political Leaders' Minds

On December 3 and 4, five states will know who will rule the state for the next five years. While the existing governments will look to hold on to the power, their rivals would hope to topple the regime and bag the top job positions in the states. So how do political leaders navigate stressful situations and how do they feel before a big day like poll counting day? "In the final 24 hours before an election, a politician often experiences a potent blend of anticipation, nervous energy, and a heightened emotional state. There is a palpable sense of vulnerability as they culminate the journey of tireless campaigning. The weight of public expectations, coupled with the uncertainty of the outcome, can evoke a plethora of emotions - from anxiety to optimism," shares Dr Gupta.

There's often fear too. "The concerned politician may grapple with the fear of rejection and the potential impact of it on their career. The anticipation of the electorate's judgment intensifies, prompting a reflective mood where they assess their campaign decisions and messaging. The quest for a positive public image becomes paramount as they strive to leave a lasting impression on voters," says Dr Gupta.

This is also a time for self-reflection. Amidst the whirlwind of strategic reflection, there's a personal dimension to their experience, says Dr Gupta. He adds, "The 24-hour countdown prompts moments of introspection, where the politician probably deliberates the sacrifices made and the aspirations that fueled their journey. It's a time when the gravity of political aspirations collides with the individual's emotional grounds, creating a unique and intense psychological atmosphere that shapes their demeanour and decisions in the final moments before the electoral verdict."
Bijapur Constituency Election Result 2023: Congress Vikram Mandavi Won

Congress'candidate Vikram Mandavi won the Bijapur Constituency election 2023 with 35739 votes. Congress' Mahesh Gagda trailled behind with 2706 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress both showcased their prominence in the Bijapur Constituency Election this year.

4:03 PM- 15/18 round of the electoral counting is going on and Vikram Mandavi of INC is leading the charts.

3:23 PM- Electoral counting for the 14 round is going on and INC is leading with 31800 votes.

1:22 PM- 8th round of voting for the constituency is going on and according to latest electoral update the Indian National Congress is leading.

11:55 AM- The results from the 5/18 round of voting of the Bijapur Constituency has been out and so far Vikram Mandavi from INC is leading with 2234 votes, BJP's Mahesh Gagda is trailing with 2234 votes.

Bijapur is a legislative assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh, forming part of the Bastar-Jagdalpur parliamentary constituency. This assembly seat is designated as an ST (Scheduled Tribe) constituency. previously, after 15 years, BJP's rule came to an end. This time, whose hands will power fall into. Bijapur (ST) constituency is a significant area in the state of Chhattisgarh. It is considered a Naxal-affected region. The population in this area comprises 82% of tribal communities, including Gond, Dorla, Muria, and Halba (Scheduled Tribes), while the remaining 18% consists of communities such as Dhakad, Jain, Telgu, Yadav, Sahu, and others. The literacy rate in this region is 41.58%. Among the 161,043 voters in this assembly constituency, there are 83,504 women, 77,531 men, and 8 third gender voters.

From a political perspective, this area remains a stronghold of the Congress party, while the influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is more prominent in urban areas. The current MLA for this assembly constituency is Vikram Shah Mandavi, affiliated with the Congress party. Vikram Shah Mandavi, a 45-year-old farmer, has received education up to the 12th grade. He is married with two children, and his wife is a teacher.

Bijapur assembly constituency is considered the largest hub for bamboo. Several tourist destinations are present in this area, and efforts are being made to promote tourism. A significant portion of Bijapur assembly constituency is hilly terrain. The primary source of income for the residents here is forest produce. The buying and selling of forest produce occur in substantial quantities. Additionally, agriculture is a major activity in this region.

Due to the threat of Naxal attacks, security forces are deployed in this area. Travel and gatherings are limited due to Naxal activities, with a large number of people staying confined to their homes. Despite this, election campaigning is underway at all levels, with all political parties actively supporting their candidates.

Bijapur Vidhan Sabha Result 2023:

On one side, Vikram Mandavi from the Congress is contesting, while the BJP has fielded Mahesh Gagda, who has previously served as a minister in the Raman Cabinet. These two candidates will face each other in the electoral arena for the third time. In the elections held on November 7th, approximately 40.98% of the electorate cast their votes for this seat. The Bijapur Vidhan Sabha seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, with 80% of the population belonging to this category. Speaking of the 2018 Vidhan Sabha elections, the Congress emerged victorious on the Bijapur Vidhan Sabha seat. Congress leader Vikram Shah Mandavi secured victory with 44,011 votes, while Mahesh Gagda from the BJP received 22,427 votes.
Brushing aside the exit polls predictions of the BJP having an edge in the state polls, former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh said that Congress is fully prepared and confident of its victory as there is no traitor left in the party. , "We are fully prepared. Now we have no Scindia left, hence there is no traitor," said Singh while talking to reporters in Bhopal.

Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh also expressed confidence that Congress will form a government in the state by winning over 130 seats in the state. "Tomorrow we will know where CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan stands. We will win more than 130 seats, not less than that in Madhya Pradesh," he said.

It may be recalled that Congress had won 114 seats while the BJP had won 109 seats. The majority mark in the state is 116. The Congress formed a government in the state with the help of BSP and independents but its government collapsed after several MLAs left the party to join BJP following a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia. Scindia had announced his resignation from the Congress party in March 2020.

Recently, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also termed Scindia a 'traitor' while campaigning in the state. Madhya Pradesh went to polls for its 230 seats on November 17 with 77.82 per cent voter turnout.

The majority of the exit poll predicted a close contest in the state with the BJP having an edge. Some exit polls even gave a majority to the Congress as well. According to Axis My India exit poll, the BJP will win 140162 seats, while the Congress will win 6890. Polstrat awarded the Congress 111-121 seats and the BJP 106-116. Chanakya today projected a resounding victory for the BJP, awarding them 139163 seats, while the Congress was only expected to receive 6286 seats. The results of the Matrize exit poll gave the Congress 97-107 seats and the BJP 118-130.
Durga City Constituency Election Results 2023: BJP's Gajendra Yadav Won

Bhartiya Janata Party's candidate Gajendra Yadav won the Durga City Constituency Election 2023 with 48697 votes. INC's Arun Vora trailled behind at 49209 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress both showcased their prominence in the Chitrakot Constituency Election this year.

3:15 PM- The electoral vote counting is in stir and in the ongoing 7th round, Bhartiya Janta Party is still leading.

1:10 PM- 4th round voting is going on and even though BJP is still in the lead, a tough fight can be seen between BJP and Congress.

11:40 AM- The results from the 2/16 round of voting of the Durga City Constituency has been out and so far Gajendra Yadav from BJP is leading with 7671 votes, while Arun Vora is trailing along with Bunty Choure.

The Durg City Legislative Assembly seat in the state of Chhattisgarh is an important constituency where people of all religions and castes reside. The total number of voters in the area is 217,600, including 136,400 women, 107,217 men, and 19 third-gender voters. The literacy rate here is 92 percent. Durg city is often referred to as the stronghold of the Congress party. It was established by Arun Vora of the Congress in 1998, but he faced defeat in 2003 and 2008 at the hands of Hemchand Yadav. In 2013, he defeated Hemchand Yadav, and in 2018, Chandrika Chandrakar, becoming the legislator. Apart from that, both Congress and BJP leaders continue to be elected from this seat. Currently, Arun Vora, the son of Motilal Vora, represents this constituency. This year's Durg City Assembly Constituency election results were scheduled to be released on December 3 in Chhattisgarh, the top candiadtes included Gajendra Yadav [BJP] and Arun Vora [INC], these are the salient points of the 2023 Durg City Constituency Assembly Election that you ought to be aware of. In Durg city, people are engaged in business, service class, government jobs, and labor. There is also a Durg railway station. The collectorate of Durg city was established in 1906. Additionally, the first private engineering college of Madhya Pradesh, the late Hemchand Yadav State University, and a private agricultural university are also located here.

Date of the 2023 Durg City Constituency CH Election Results: According to the election timetable released by the Election Commission, the Durg City Assembly Constituency Election 2023 will be held on December 3 for the counting of votes and reporting of results.

Candidates for the 2023 Chhattisgarh Election in the Durg City Constituency: Following the Election Commission of India's release of voting dates, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Congress, and other political parties in the state will declare their candidates for the Durg City Assembly Constituency Election 2023.

The Significance of the 2023 Durg City Constituency Assembly Election: In the state of Chhattisgarh, Durg City is a state Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency and a member of the Durg City Lok Sabha/Parliamentary constituency. Durg City is an urban seat and is located in the Durg City district of Chhattisgarh.

2018's events around the Durg City Constituency CH Election Results; In the 2018 CH Assembly elections, Arun Vora of the Indian National Congress was victorious from the Durg City constituency with 64981 votes, while Chandrika Chandrakar of the Bharatiya Janata Party received 43900 votes. There were 21081 votes separating the winners.



Election Results for Durg City Constituency CH: What transpired in 2013; In the 2013 CH Assembly elections, Arun Vora of the Indian National Congress became victorious from the Durg City constituency with 58645 votes, while Hemchand Yadav of the Bharatiya Janata Party received 53024 votes. There were 5621 votes separating the winners.

Election Results for Durg City Constituency CH: Events of 2008: In the 2008 CH Assembly elections, Hemchand Yadav of the BJP became victorious from the Durg City constituency with 53803 votes, while Arun Vora of the INC received 53101 votes. There were 702 votes separating the winners.








New Delhi: The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Hamas for ending the pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict, saying the terror group violated its commitments. He spoke to the media at Dubai airport on Saturday, after his second visit to the West Bank since the war began. Blinken said he had urged Israel to take measures to protect civilians and provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, and that Israel had already acted on some of his suggestions, such as informing people about safe areas in Gaza. He said this was very, very important.

He also explained why the pause came to an end, accusing Hamas of launching a atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people and injuring others, including Americans. He said Hamas also fired rockets before the pause was over, and failed to release some of the hostages it held.

Blinken reiterated US support for peace in the region, and said the US was working hard to secure the release of Israeli hostages. He said the US had achieved a seven-day pause, during which some people were able to return to their families, and that the US was pursuing the same process.

He added that the US also supported Israels right to defend itself from future attacks, but stressed the need to do so in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and ensures humanitarian assistance. He said the US was focused on both tasks at the same time.

He said the US remained intensely focused on getting everyone home, and that he had also worked on this issue on Saturday. He said the US was also trying to prevent the conflict from spreading or escalating in other places. He said the US was using its diplomacy to look at the long-term prospects for peace in Gaza, and for Israelis and Palestinians in general.

Blinkens statement came as the truce between Israel and Hamas expired after seven days, according to CNN. The two sides could not agree on the release of more hostages held by Hamas. Israel and Hamas resumed their war in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, with Israeli jets striking Hamas targets in Gaza shortly after the cease-fire ended at 7 a.m. local time.

Blinken had met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday, as reported by CNN. His visit was amid increased Israeli settler violence in the region following the October 7 attack on Israel.
New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday alleged that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao tried to lure the Congress candidates in the state to form the government. Shivakumar also said it that he can manage winning Congress MLAs in all five states. "We have the information that they (BRS) are trying to trap us. Our candidates have told us that the CM (KCR) himself has approached them, DK said.

He also expressed his confidence that the Congress would win a comfortable majority in the state. Im going there as part of my party work. The Telangana team was with us during the Karnataka elections. Thats why Im also going. Well see what happens after the results. There is no problem, no threat. We have confidence. Our party will win comfortably, he said.

Another Congress leader, Renuka Chowdhury, claimed that she and other leaders received calls from several BRS leaders who were willing to join the Congress if the situation required. They (BRS) took 12 of our MLAs last time. They took our people last time but this time they have to be careful that their people do not come to us. Our leaders are getting calls, I also got calls asking if we need their help. They are ready to join us if thats the situation. They have to be careful that they do not lose their leaders, Renuka Chowdhury told ANI.

According to the exit polls on Friday, the Congress is likely to form the government in Telangana and the ruling BRS would fail to get the majority after ruling the youngest state of India for 10 years. The poll predicted that the Congress vote share would increase to 42 per cent, while the BRS vote share would decrease to 36 per cent and the BJP vote share would be 14 per cent. It also predicted that the AIMIM would get 3 per cent votes and others 5 per cent.

The voting for the 119-seat Telangana assembly took place on Thursday, and the state recorded a voter turnout of 71.34 per cent. In 2018, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 seats with a 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress was the second largest party with 19 seats.
New Delhi: Kolayat Assembly constituency falls within Bikaner district and constitutes one of the 200 seats contested in the 2023 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly elections. Voting for the Kolayat segment took place on November 25, and the election results will be tabulated on December 3.Out of the total 200 seats in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, 34 seats are earmarked for Scheduled Castes (SCs), and 25 seats are designated for Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The forthcoming 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections are anticipated to be primarily contested between the incumbent Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with several regional and smaller parties also vying for influence.Reviewing the previous election in 2018, the Kolayat Assembly constituency experienced an 80.30% voter turnout, recording 175,721 valid votes from the 218,841 registered voters.

VOTE COUNT UPDATES:

16: 55 PM: Anshuman Singh has won the election with a huge vote margin of 32,933. Anshuman Singh mint 1,01,093 votes from Kolayat seat while her rival Bhanwar Singh Bhati bagged 68,160 vote.

15:00 PM: The people of Rajasthan have continued their tradition of changing the ruling government in every election. This election too, commoners continued this tradition. In the final round, Anshuman Singh Bhati from BJP is leading by 32933 votes.

01: 23 PM: According to the 18th round of voting Anshuman Singh Bhati from Bharatiya Janata Party is still in lead with vote difference of almost 35000 votes.

12: 38 AM: In the 14th round of counting, Anshuman Singh Bhati from Bharatiya Janata Party leading with vote difference of 29393 against Bhanwar Singh Bhati from INC.

11: 24 AM : Anshuman Singh Bhati from Bharatiya Janata Party leading with 31218 votes while Bhanwar Singh Bhati from INC trailing behind with 16605 votes this far

During the 2018 elections in Kolayat, Bhanwar Singh Bhati emerged victorious, securing a triumph over Poonam Kanwar Bhati with a margin of 11,016 votes. The winning candidate garnered 6.30% more votes than the closest competitor.
New Delhi: The Congress and the BJP are locked in a close contest for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, whose results will be declared on Sunday. The Congress campaigned on the issue of the scams that surfaced during the BJPs rule for almost two decades. The Congress leaders are hopeful that the people have voted for a change and will give the grand-old party a clear majority for a stable government.

The Congress workers, led by two senior leaders - state unit chief Kamal Nath and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, are confident of their victory. They are also encouraged by the fact that many of the BJPs heavyweights, including the Union Ministers, have faced tough competition from the Congress in their respective assembly seats.

Several BJP leaders, who have won three or four times in a row in the past, have also struggled this time. The Congress leaders and workers have claimed that the party will win between 130-140 seats. They are also optimistic because the party is expecting to perform better this time in the regions where it was reduced to single digits in 2018 - such as Vindhya and Bhopal regions.

The exit polls for Madhya Pradesh, which were released on November 30, have surprised not only the people associated with the Congress and the BJP, but also the common people. The Congress leadership, however, has said that the exit poll is a ploy by the BJP to put pressure on the election officials during the counting of votes.

In a video message after the exit polls were released, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath declared that the BJP has lost the election.

He urged the party workers to stay focused on their work (counting) and said, Some exit polls were made to put pressure on the officials by creating a false impression that the BJP was coming back to power. It also aims to demoralise the Congress workers before counting. But this conspiracy will not succeed.

On the other hand, the BJP also believes that the people have voted for the development work done by the double-engine government. The BJPs expectation is higher because of the Ladli Behna Yojana - a cash scheme for women launched by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

BJP president J. P. Naddas visit to Gwalior and offering prayers at the temple in Datia on Friday has created a buzz in the political circles.

He was accompanied by Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Chief Minister Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra during his visit to Gwalior. There is a buzz that Naddas sudden visit before the counting in Madhya Pradesh may be for a consensus on the Chief Ministers post, if the BJP wins the election on December 3.
New Delhi: Six months from now, there will be parliamentary polls on the horizon where the Congress will look to end its 10-year-long exile from power. Coming to the crucial assembly polls of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana after a chest-thumping victory in Karnataka, the Congress will look to repeat history in these states as well by outclassing the BJP. On the other hand, the BJP is facing a stiff challenge to show that it remains the popular choice of the masses in the northern belt and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the undisputed choice of populace in 2024.

Of the three key states - Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh, two are governed by the Congress and one by the BJP. The saffron party confronts a formidable challenge to not only retain the MP but also win Rajasthan at least, if not Chhattisgarh, as shown by the exit polls.

Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh have a total of 65 Lok Sabha seats and the BJP had won 62 of them, keeping itself in the driver's seat. If the BJP wins these three states, it will be a booster shot for PM Modi's 2024 bid while a victory for Congress will not only boost their morale but will also justify their claim that people are upset with the BJP.

The exit polls have already predicted a historic mandate for Congress in Telangana and if that happens, it will be icing on the cake for the grand old party as it will come to power on its own in the second southern state after Karnataka. The party is in alliance with the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.

The counting of votes for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh will commence at 8am today. Whatever will be the result, it's bound to give new headaches and challenges to the losing side as they will have to redraft their poll strategies before entering the finals in 2024.
With exit polls predicting a close contest between Congress and BJP, senior leaders of both parties are reaching out to independent candidates and rebel leaders who are contesting as independents. The results of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly elections will be announced tomorrow and there is impatience throughout the state about who will finally rule the state for the next five years. According to exit poll results, there's a possibility of a BJP government being formed, but the Congress is not far behind. Some exit polls have also shown Congress ahead in the race. There's a likelihood of tough competition between both parties. However, amidst this, leaders have started reaching out to rebels.

It's known among leaders that if there's a close contest and the situation becomes precarious for a hung Assembly, rebels and independents will play a crucial role. Thus, Vasundhara Raje has taken charge to bring them into the BJP's fold. As per reports, Vasundhara Raje called Jeevaram Chaudhary, an independent contestant from Sanchore, to wish him on his birthday. Chaudhary informed Raje over the phone that he would come to Jaipur with the certificate of victory. It's also reported that Ashok Gehlot had called him two days ago. However, Jeevaram Chaudhary stated that he would reveal his cards on December 3.

The position of Jeevaram Chaudhary, contesting independently from Sanchore, seems strong. Additionally, in Barmer, there are BJP rebels Ravindra Singh Bhati and Priyanka Chaudhary. Their position is also robust. There are several constituencies where rebels and independents hold significant sway. As per information, big leaders from both BJP and Congress are reaching out to them.

The PollStrat exit poll gave an edge to the BJP giving the saffron party 100-110 seats, Congress 90-100 seats and others 5-15 seats. On the other hand, the CNX exit poll gave 94-104 seats to the Congress, 80-90 seats to the BJP and 14-18 seats to others. According to Axis MyIndia, BJP may get 80-100 seats, Congress 86-106 seats while others may get 9-18 seats. The majority mark in the 200-member assembly is 101. However, voting was not held for one seat due to the demise of a candidate. Thus, the result will be declared for only 199 seats.
New Delhi: A popular Sikh radio host in Auckland, who spoke against the Khalistan ideology, was brutally stabbed by a group of religious extremists in his driveway on December 23, 2020. Harnek Singh had to undergo multiple surgeries and received more than 350 stitches for his over 40 stab wounds, according to the Australia Today website. Three Indian-origin men were convicted for the attempted murder. Sukhpreet Singh, 44, was an accessory, and Sarvjeet Sidhu, 27, admitted to attempted murder.

The third man, a 48-year-old Auckland resident, who remains nameless, was the mastermind behind the attack. He was sentenced to one of the longest prison terms for the crime, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

At a hearing on November 28, a judge said that the case was highly unusual and required community protection and deterrence. The court heard that the third man had a long-standing grudge against Harnek for his anti-Khalistan views, Australia Today reported.

He plotted the hit and used his charisma to recruit others to carry out his plan, the judge said.

The judge, Woolford, said that the attack was motivated by religious fanaticism. This kind of violence is committed for what is seen as the greater good The sentencing in this context needs a different approach. The focus must be on safeguarding the community from more violence and it is vital to send a strong message of deterrence to others. He imposed a sentence of 13-and-a-half years, with a minimum of nine years before he can apply for parole, the Herald reported.

The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 14 years. The only reason the third man did not get the full maximum sentence was that he got a six-month credit for the time he spent on electronic bail while waiting for his long trial in September and October, the judge said. Harnek did not attend the hearing but wrote a victim impact statement that was read by the prosecutors.

He said that his family lived in fear every day when the sun set. He also addressed the defendants directly. He said: You came to kill me. You tried to silence me. You wanted to send a chilling message to all those who disagree with your unconventional religious views. But you failed. I will keep expressing my opinions and beliefs as I always have."
Carolina Gonzalez of Venezuala carries supplies into the Chicago City Life Center Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Chicago. The community center and church welcomed about 40 migrants who were previously living at police stations and airports. (Erin Hooley/AP)

CHICAGO  Chicago is scrambling to house hundreds of asylum-seekers who are still sheltering on sidewalks, at police stations and at the citys busiest airport as the cold weather sets in and with winter just around the corner.

The countrys third-largest city announced a partnership with religious leaders this week to house 400 of the migrants in churches. But with nighttime temperatures dropping below freezing and chillier conditions still ahead, more than 1,000 were still living at police stations or at OHare International Airport as of Friday, according to the city dashboard.

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As winter fast approaches, our need for greater collaboration and coordination grows. And that is why we are mobilizing Chicagos faith community and our partners in the philanthropic community to meet this moment, Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference announcing the partnership.

[ Migrant family journeys back to Venezuela, more leaving Chicago as winter looms: The American Dream doesnt exist anymore ]

More than 23,000 asylum-seekers have been bused to Chicago from Texas since the start of the year, according to the city. Other Democratic-led cities are grappling with similar influxes, including Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York, which has received more than 120,000 asylum-seekers.

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Illinois announced this month that it would funnel an additional $160 million to help resettle migrants who arrive in Chicago, including $65 million to help the city build and operate two temporary shelters to avoid people sleeping out in the cold. On Friday, the state announced it would give an additional $4 million that will go toward feeding asylum-seekers in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

[ State pouring $160 million more for Chicago asylum-seeker relief efforts as winter approaches ]

Construction began this week on a structure meant to house 2,000 migrants in what had been a vacant lot in the Brighton Park neighborhood, but its unclear how quickly it might be ready, as local residents have been protesting the project, saying it doesnt meet zoning requirements and that the soil at the site, which has a long history of industrial use, is toxic.

Alderwoman Julia Ramirez, who represents the ward on the City Council, said she opposes the project due to safety concerns for her constituents and the migrants.

I will gladly shelter and welcome asylum-seekers. But I think that we havent done it in a very dignified and humane way, Ramirez told The Associated Press.

The state said it wouldnt move people into the shelter until it has been deemed safe. Johnson said Tuesday that an environmental report addressing concerns would be available by Friday.

Yimara Pajaro, a Venezuelan seamstress, said she and her partner had been camping outside a South Side police station for two months until they were moved Wednesday to a church near Washington Park as part of the faith communitys resettlement initiative.

Sleeping outside in Chicago, which has had several snowfalls and subfreezing nights this fall, left them in bad shape, said Pajaro, who suffered three asthma attacks worsened by the cold.

[ Freezing temperatures, uncertainty and concern among migrants living outside Chicago police stations: How are we going to survive winter here? ]

Blankets did little to keep out the chill. It affected me a lot, she said in Spanish.

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Although Pajaro said she had no choice in whether to leave the police station, she feels grateful to be staying at the church. At first we didnt want to leave because we didnt know where they would take us, she said.

The faith-led housing initiative will prioritize pregnant women, children, and those who have been sleeping outside, according to Johnson. The churches plan to host people for 60 days with the goal of transitioning them to independent living or another shelter afterward, according to Pastor Torrey Barrett of Life Center Church, which welcomed 40 migrants, including Pajaro, on Wednesday.

Pajaro said she wouldnt want to move to a shelter designed to hold thousands of people, like the one planned for Brighton Park. And if the site is polluted, they should not bring anyone there, she said. We will get sick. It seems like our health doesnt matter to them.

[ What to know about Chicagos migrant crisis ]

The city had hoped to move the migrants out of police stations by Dec. 1, but it wasnt able to do so, Ramirez said. But if the Brighton Park shelter is built, the city might be able to clear them out in the next few weeks, she said.

The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have been pressing for more federal aid to deal with the surge. Migrants have been arriving in the Democrat-led cities on buses funded by the Republican governors of Texas and Florida. Critics initially waved off the effort as a political stunt, but more than a year later, the cities are struggling to cope with the influx and their resources are dwindling.

The situation is even more pressing in New York than in Chicago. New York has received more than 120,000 asylum seekers over the past year, and about half of them are staying in shelters run by the city, which is legally required to provide emergency housing to homeless people.

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[ Op-ed: Chicago and New York are doing what they can to ease the migrant crisis ]

New York is intensifying efforts to transport migrants out of the city as its shelter system reaches capacity, setting up a dedicated office to provide asylum-seekers with free, one-way tickets to anywhere in the world.

New York Mayor Eric Adams has called the citys migrant influx a crisis and has begun to warn that shelters are so full that migrants will soon be forced onto the street despite the cold weather.

Savage 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.
As hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators stood outside, Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday night unequivocally called on Coloradans  and, by extension, Americans  to stand behind Israel, which is at war with Hamas following the latter's attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.
Vince Bzdek, executive editor of The Colorado Springs and Denver Gazettes and Colorado Politics, writes a weekly news column that appears on Sunday.
Weld County Commissioner Scott James, center, a candidate in the Repubican primary in Colorado's 8th Congressional District, talks about receiving endorsements from 21 fellow county commissioners on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in a campaign video. James is running against state Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, for the nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in the swing district.
The Albany Fire Department will host a resource event for people in need from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4, at Fire Station 11, 611 Lyon St. SE.

The event will feature snacks, housing support, laundry and hygiene services, harm reduction support, treatment options for mental health and substance use, disability and health benefits, peer support services and more, according to a news release.

This is an opportunity to learn about local resources and how they can help meet your needs, the release states.
Linn and Benton counties are among the northwest Oregon areas expecting significant rain and possible flooding over the next few days.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch Friday, Dec. 1, that runs until Tuesday, Dec. 5. A series of atmospheric rivers will bring periods of widespread heavy rain, according to the flood watch alert.

A Place to Sleep, episode 7: Grants Pass It's a community that openly heckles  and worse  its homeless neighbors, many who have deep roots. And it may have a date with the Supreme Court.

Forecasters predict 3 to 4 inches of rain will fall in the Willamette Valley, and up to 7 inches in the Cascades. Affected local cities include Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon and Sweet Home.

Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, the flood watch alert states. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.

Cascade snow accumulations through Saturday morning will experience heavy rain Saturday night into Sunday morning which will contribute to excessive runoff, according to the National Weather Service.

Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop, the flood watch states. Given the aforementioned rainfall amounts expected this weekend, river levels will be rising quickly.

Most rivers have anywhere from a 30% to 50% chance of reaching at least minor flood stage, except the main stem Columbia and Willamette rivers, which are less than a 10% chance, according to the National Weather Service. In addition, coastal rivers have a 40% to 60% chance of reaching minor flood stage and 20% to 30% chance for reaching major.

Albany restocked its sandbag station at Davidson and Front streets, according to Matt Harrington, the citys communications officer. If the weather escalates, the city will stock its other two stations near Louise Street in North Albany and the parking lot of Grand Prairie Park, Harrington said. Bring your own shovel.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by becoming a subscriber today.

Lebanon has sandbag materials available at the Linn County Sheriffs Office substation for residents in need, according to a city news release. The substation is located at 2590 South Main St. If materials run out, contact the Lebanon Public Works Department at 541-258-4918 or pw@lebanonoregon.gov.

Sweet Home has a sandbag filling station in the northeast corner of the City Hall parking lot, and another in the parking lot adjacent to the Sweet Home Public Library, according to city staff.

Corvallis currently has three sandbag stations stocked: Willamette Park, Cheldelin Middle School and Grant Avenue Baptist Church, according to Patrick Rollens, Corvallis public information officer. Other locations noted on the citys website are not stocked at this time, Rollens said.
This handout photo provided by GPO on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, shows Israeli released hostage Bilal Al-Ziyadne, left, reuniting with his family at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. Bilal and his sister Aisha were released the night of Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. (GPO/AP)

JERUSALEM  A weeklong cease-fire that brought the exchanges of dozens of hostages held by Hamas for scores of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel gave way Friday morning to resumed fighting between Israel and Hamas. As mediators scuttle between the warring sides in a last-ditch effort to broker another swap, questions emerge on who remains in captivity in the besieged enclave.

Hamas and other fighters seized around 247 hostages in their deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which more than 1,200 people were killed. Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip in return, killing at least 13,300 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory.

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Heres a closer look at the fate of the hostages.

Hostages still in captivity

Israel said on Friday that 136 hostages remain in Gaza. They include 119 men and 17 women and children, according to military spokesperson Daniel Hagari. Roughly 10 of the hostages are 75 and older, the Prime Ministers Office said Friday.

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The vast majority are Israeli while 11 are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand, one from Nepal and Tanzania each, and one French-Mexican.

Earlier, government spokesperson Eylon Levy listed the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri as still being among the hostages. The military has said its investigating a Hamas claim that the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Hagari provided no information about the three.

Families of hostages who have not been released are still waiting in desperation, calling on the government to bring their loved ones home.

They hear reports from the families of recently freed hostages that conditions are difficult and worry their loved ones do not have sufficient food and water. They plead with the Red Cross to bring their relatives badly needed medicine. They agonize as mere crumbs of information about their relatives surface.

Sharone Lifschitz, whose mother was freed in October, heard this week that a returned hostage had seen her father, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, in captivity. Her father, who spells the family name differently, was last seen shot while Hamas carted him off to Gaza.

She says the news was a ray of light but that she wonders if its still true.

My father is ill, is frail. He needs medicine, she said. I dont know how long he can survive in such harsh conditions.

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She said the return of women and children hostages has been bittersweet as their husbands and fathers remain in captivity. The idea that children would be able to recover from captivity while their fathers remain hostages was unthinkable, she added.

Little info on hostages who died in captivity

As the cease-fire waned, the military said Friday that four hostages were reported to have died in captivity, including the oldest person held hostage.

All the four, 56-year old Maya Goren, 86-year old Arye Zalmanovich, 54-year-old Ronan Engel, and 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit, were from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The kibbutz was devastated in the attack, with roughly a quarter of its people killed or kidnapped.

On Thursday, the military announced the death of Ofir Tzarfati, another Israeli believed to have been held hostage. Two other hostages have died in Hamas captivity since Oct. 7, according to the military.

Officials have said little about how the deaths were determined but the army has said it has collected valuable information from the returned hostages.

Zalmanovich, a father of two and grandfather of five, was a founder of Kibbutz Nir Oz, a statement from the missing families group said. Goren was a mother of four and a kindergarten teacher for the kibbutz. Her husband was killed by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7.

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Engel, a father of three, was a photographer and volunteer paramedic whose wife and two daughters were released from Gaza this week, the group said.

The group did not immediately release information on Margalit.

Glimpses of hostages released

During the cease-fire, some 110 hostages held by Hamas fighters in Gaza were returned to their families, Israels government said Friday. They include 86 Israeli citizens and 24 foreign nationals, most of them Thais.

The returnees have mostly appeared in stable health condition, able to walk and speak normally though many lost weight in captivity. One 84-year-old hostage returned in critical condition after not receiving proper medical care, doctors said. Another came back on crutches.

Families have greeted the return of their loved ones with joy and excitement, but doctors have warned of the psychological toll of captivity and say they face a long road to recovery.

There have been no in-depth stories of the hostages ordeal or captivity as the government has urged those released, their families and the media not to make public details of their time as prisoners to help ensure the safety of those still being held.
jackky wrote:





I picked option A - Though not very much convinced but picked this as best of 5 answer choices.



I Eliminated option C because the word false is too strong here. Moreover, nothing was shown as false. Rather an additional evidence was cited GMATNinja Could you please explain the answer choices.I picked option A - Though not very much convinced but picked this as best of 5 answer choices.I Eliminated option C because the word false is too strong here. Moreover, nothing was shown as false. Rather an additional evidence was cited

Numerous studies suggest that salinities less than 30 parts per thousand are unfavorable to sea-lice survival.

The archipelago has a salinity range of 2530 parts per thousand between March and June, the critical period for wild salmon migration

These conditions tend to suppress sea-lice proliferation

professor

marine biologist

flourishing

suppress

Quote:

A. pointing out that a condition claimed to be necessary for sea-lice survival is not sufficient for it

necessary

unfavorable

more favorable

Quote:

B. citing studies that suggest that salinity levels were not measured reliably

Quote:

C. claiming that there is evidence showing that one of its premises is false

flourishing

Quote:

D. questioning the reliability of the biologist's scientific sources

Quote:

E. showing that its conclusion is inconsistent with its premises

The marine biologist's conclusion is that "transmission of sea lice from farm salmon to wild salmon is unlikely in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia." His/her evidence for this conclusion is that:Notice that even though the word "concludes" is used later in the passage, the marine biologist's ACTUAL conclusion is stated in the first sentence. All of the subsequent information is there to SUPPORT the claim that "transmission of sea lice from farm salmon to wild salmon is unlikely in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia." In this context, "concludes" just links one supporting premise to another.Then, the(not the) states: "But a review of the literature shows that salinities of 2530 parts per thousand in combination with British Columbia's cool spring temperatures favor theof sea lice."This statement attacks a premise of the biologist's argument: that the conditions in the Broughton Archipelago "tend tosea-lice proliferation."So, how exactly does the professor undermine the biologist's argument?The biologist never discusses a condition that isfor sea-lice survival -- he/she only talks about a condition (low salinity) that isto sea-life survival.Even if you squint your eyes really hard and say that the biologist's argument implies that somewhat higher salinity is necessary for survival, that would not be totally accurate. At most, we can infer that higher salinity isto sea-lice survival, which is different than the condition being absolutely necessary. Because the biologist never claims that anything is absolutely necessary to sea-lice survival, it is not accurate to say that the professor undermines such a claim.Eliminate (A).The professor doesn't think that the salinity measurements were inaccurate -- in fact, he/she uses the same numbers in his/her own argument. Eliminate (B).The biologist thinks that sea lice transmission is unlikely because the conditions in the archipelago "tend to suppress" sea-lice proliferation. The professor provides additional information, and then says that, actually, the conditions "favor theof sea lice."Because the information provided by the professor completely contradicts the biologist's premise, we can determine that this additional evidence shows that the biologist's premise is false.(C) is looking good.The professor never questions WHERE the biologist got his/her information, or the validity of those sources. (D) is out.Nope, the professor doesn't attack the connection between the biologist's conclusion and premises. Instead, he/she provides additional evidence to attack a premise, which in turn calls the biologist's conclusion into question.(E) is out and (C) is the correct answer.I hope that helps!_________________
To facilitate development of telephone service in a rural province, the national government pays the provincial government a subsidy for each long-distance call going into the province. A corporation has offered to base a national long-distance telephone service in the province, allowing long-distance calls to be made without any charge to the callers, if the provincial government splits its subsidy with the corporation. The corporation argues that since all calls would be routed through the province, the provincial government would profit greatly from this arrangement.



The corporation's prediction about the effects its plan would have, if adopted, relies on which of the following assumptions?

the provincial government would profit greatly from this arrangement

A. Without the plan, all long-distance telephone service in the province would involve at least some charges to callers.

B. The national government's subsidy would apply not only for calls made to phones in the province, but to at least some long-distance calls that are merely routed through the province.

A corporation has offered to base a national long-distance telephone service in the province .... The corporation argues that since all calls would be routed through the province, the corporation will cause a large volume of subsidies to be paid to the provincial government.

C. The provincial government would be interested in splitting its subsidy with the corporation only if doing so would yield significant profits for the province.

D. The national government's subsidy for any long-distance call into the province is calculated as a fixed percentage of the charge to the caller.

E. In order for the arrangement to be profitable for the province, the province must receive more from the increased subsidy than it pays the corporation.



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The corporation's prediction is the following:The reasoning for that prediction is that the national government pays the provincial government a subsidy for each long-distance call going into the province. So, by basing a national long-distance telephone service in the province and thus causing many long-distance calls to be routed into the province, the corporation will cause a large volume of subsidies to be paid to the provincial government.The correct answer will be an assumption that the corporation has relied on in making the prediction.What this choice says seems plausible. However, we are not looking for a plausible statement. We are looking for an assumption on which the prediction relies, and the prediction could be correct even if this choice is not true.After all, even if it is the case that, without the plan, SOME long-distance telephone service in the province would NOT involve at least some charges to callers, the plan of collecting the subsidies by routing calls into the province could still be profitable for the provincial government.Eliminate.Notice that the plan is the following:We see that the plan involves calls "routed through the province." So, for the plan to work, subsidies must be paid on calls routed through the province.So, if this choice is not true and the national government's subsidy would apply ONLY for calls made to phones in the province, then arrangement will not be profitable for the provincial government.Thus, this choice is assumption on which the prediction relies.(I personally don't really like this CR question because I don't think the way it works is very logical. I mean this "correct" answer is basically the assumption that the corporation has not misunderstood what "pays the provincial government a subsidy for each long-distance call going into the province" means. Normally, a assumption in a CR question is a key part of the argument that is understood but not stated. In this case, the assumption is basically that the corporation is not clueless about what's going on. At the same time, this choice is the only one that works at all. So, this question is gettable.)Keep.The corporation is probably assuming what this choice says in coming up with the plan. However, we are not looking for something that is simply an assumption the corporation is making. We are looking for an assumption the prediction relies on, and the prediction does not rely on this choice.After all, if this choice were not true, and the provincial government would be interested in splitting its subsidy with the corporation EVEN IF doing so would NOT yield significant profits for the province, the plan as outlined would still result in the predicted outcome that the provincial government would profit greatly.The prediction is about what would occur if the corporation's plan were implemented, not about what the provincial government is "interested in" doing. The provincial government could be interested in doing something that would not be profitable, but that fact would not affect what the outcome of this particular plan would be.Eliminate.Notice that the corporation's plan is to allow long-distance calls to be made "without any charge to the callers."Thus, if this choice were true, the plan would not work at all since a fixed percentage of no charge would be no subsidy.Eliminate.This choice is tricky because it mentions an aspect of the plan. The plan does involve the province receiving more from the subsidy than it pays the corporation.Notice, however, that the corporation's prediction could could be correct even if what this choice says is not true.After all, if this choice were not true, and the arrangement would be profitable for the province even if the province DID NOT receive more from the increased subsidy than it pays the corporation, then the prediction that the provincial government would profit greatly from this arrangement would still be correct.So, the prediction does not rely on this choice being true.Eliminate.The correct answer is (B)._________________
Email special events to news@registerbee.com. The deadline is noon Wednesday.

SATURDAY, DEC. 2

CHRISTMAS UNITY TEA AND FASHION SHOW: A Christmas Unity Tea and Fashion Show will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m.at the Cherrystone Center in Ringgold.

FOOD PANTRY: The Union Hall Baptist Church Food and Clothing Ministry, 6861 Strawberry Road, across from the church, will be open from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with food and clothing of all types. For more information, call 434-724-4354 or 434-250-8964.

SUNDAY, DEC. 3

GUEST SPEAKER: Pastor Christopher Pritchett of Mountain Grove Missionary Baptist Church will be guest speaker for Pastor's Aide Service at Disciples of Christ Holiness Church in Danville at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3.

ONGOING

DIVORCE CARE SEMINAR-SUPPORT GROUP: Group meets at Hillcrest Baptist Church from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays for 13 weeks. For more information, call 434-685-4594.

GRIEFSHARE: GriefShare presented at Bibleway Cathedral, 215 Grant St., will be held every Thursdays through Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. All sessions are free, workbook $20. Facilitators are elder Katherine Harvell and assistant pastor Larry Campbell. For information (434) 793-3340.

Shockoe Missionary Baptist Church, 857 Java Road, Java, hosts a monthly Wellness Walking Ministry from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., meeting every fourth Saturday. All ages are welcome to participate. The Health and Wellness Ministry will meet at 9 a.m. before each walking session. For information, contact Kathy B. Ramsey at 434-251-0379 or atbjrk@gmail.com.

Ascension Lutheran Church, 314 West Main St., worships Sundays at 11 a.m. in the sanctuary and live on Facebook at www.facebook/ascensionlutherandanville.

Mount Vernon United Methodist Church offers in-person services at 10 a.m. each Sunday as well as online worship services every Sunday at mtvernonumc.org or www.facebook.com/MountVernonUMC.

Christ the King Lutheran Church, 1172 Franklin Turnpike, will have in-house worship services on Sundays at 11 a.m. Free books available anytime from a Little Free Library located on a post next to the driveway.

Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, 406 Gay St., has in-person services at 10 a.m. for hour of power on the first and third Sundays.

North New Hope Baptist Church, 123 Old Piney Forest Road, has resumed in church worship services at 11 a.m. and Sunday school at 9:30 p.m.

Mount Sinai Glorious Church of God, 716 Jefferson St., will hold services in the sanctuary with Sunday school at 10 a.m. and morning worship at 10:30 a.m. Participants are asked to wear a mask and to practice social distancing. The service also will be streamed on Facebook.

Mount Freeman Baptist Church, 2100 Laniers Mill Road, hosts in-person service at 11 a.m. Sunday. There will be no Sunday school.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church will livestream worship service at 9 a.m. Sundays in English and noon in Spanish at www.facebook.com/sheartchurch.

Staunton River Baptist Church, Long Island, will hold drive-in services at 10 a.m. each Sunday.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church celebrates Mass every weekend with a vigil Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday and at 9 p.m. Sunday in English and noon in Spanish.

Watson Level Missionary Baptist Church holds Sunday worship services each week at 11 a.m. Because of COVID-19, a face mask is required for all attendees and social distancing is mandatory.

Calvary Church of the Nazarene, 2450 Franklin Turnpike, from 6 to 7 p.m. every Sunday, will hold Ladies Need Encouragement, an hour of worship and prayer. Participants are asked to bring a Bible and practice social distancing. The event is for ages 10 and up with adult supervision. For more information, call 540-907-8836.

Mount Zion Temple, now located at 503 Hughes St., presents The Word Homelitic Institute at 10 a.m. every Sunday. Transportation is provided by calling Bishop David K. Fuller at 434-429-8960.
For Tia Valentine, Support Services of Virginia gives her a chance to take part in fun activities.

She loves to color pictures and make crafts and go on outings with the company's staff.

"Houses," she said during an interview at the organization's office Wednesday morning. "I like to color houses."

The Danville resident, who lives with her father, has been a client of Support Services of Virginia for about two to three years.

The mission-based for-profit company started in Virginia Beach in 1994 and has had a location in Danville since 2012, when it consolidated with another, smaller entity. It has other locations in Virginia, as well.

Its job is to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the communities of their choice, said Chip Dodd, president and CEO of the company.

"Our mission is to realize success by helping others realize theirs," Dodd said during a Zoom interview last week.

Support Services puts into practice the idea that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities deserve to live in the community, instead of an institution, like everyone else.

Dodd's late mother, Kay Mirick, founded the company and also took part in the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1980s and 1990s, said Dodd, who inherited the business from her when she died in 2005.

Over a period beginning more than a decade ago, facilities in Virginia moved away from an institution-based model to community-based services in which clients live and interact in their communities.

Virginia settled with the U.S. Department of Justice to transform the states system from a facility-based focus  where those at places like Support Services of Virginia, The Arc of Virginia and other entities lived and/or worked in segregated settings away from mainstream society  to community services.

Groups including Support Services and The Arc had transitioned away from the institution-based model or based their mission against it before the state settlement.

The U.S. Civil Rights Division had found that Virginia failed to serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in integrated settings appropriate to their needs. This was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Getting those with disabilities out of institutional settings was Dodd's mother's purpose when she established Support Services of Virginia, he said.

"The mission my mom started is, 'how do we get these guys out of these institutions?'" Dodd said.

For clients like Valentine and Frank Nelson, the company's day program allows them to not only take part in artistic activities, but get out and explore the area.

"We take them out into the community to blend in with everyone out there," said Janice Johnson, direct support professional  med-certified, with Support Services of Virginia. "We support them in any areas that they need."

The day program also helps prepare them for the workforce by helping them stay focused on tasks and to interact with others.

The company has a little more than 40 employees in Danville and currently serves 18 clients, said Human Resources Coordinator Krystal Hankins.

Johnson and her colleagues take clients out to the Danville Mall, Danville Science Center, Ruby B. Archie Public Library, on picnics and walks outdoors. They also take them shopping. On one recent trip the week of Thanksgiving, they took clients to Uptown Pinball in Martinsville.

They also take them to church events, where clients like Valentine and Nelson will make crafts, eat lunch and socialize with those from other organizations similar to Support Services.

"They interact on their own," said Shakellia Jeffries, direct support professional  med-certified, with the company.

As for Nelson, 69, he likes to flirt with the ladies and paint Christmas ornaments. Nelson blows Valentine a kiss at one point during the Register & Bee interview with clients and staff. She, in turn, enjoys his attention.

When asked what sorts of crafts she likes to make, Valentine said, "Santa Claus and a star for the Christmas tree."

Support Services of Danville, at its North Main Street location, helps clients gain skills for living their everyday lives.

"Our job is to teach them skills related to having a good life," Dodd said. "We serve customers of all skill sets. Some may need help eating or moving around in the community."

Its residential services help clients in the setting of their choice, he said. They can live by themselves, with roommates or with family.

Support Services serves clients with an IQ of 70 or below and whose disabilities are early on-set, Dodd said. Almost all of the company's income is from Medicaid, he said.

The sponsored residential services include an Airbnb-like model where a client is matched with a family that owns the car and the property, said Dodd, who contracts with the owner through Support Services.

"Think of it like adult foster care," Dodd said.

That family can help teach the client skills and provide experiences for them, he said.

"This entire family's job could be just showing this guy a quality of life where they can get as much skills and experiences as he wants," Dodd said.

There is also a different residential model similar to that of a hotel, with three clients living together, for example, and staff coming and going in shifts, he said.

Another service offered is therapeutic consultation, or behavioral consultation, for problems involving a client's behavior that cannot be addressed by that person's support team, Dodd said. That service is provided by master's-degree level staff that specializes in autism or another type of disability.
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:

Elon Musk and others spread meme reviving unfounded pizzagate conspiracy theory

CLAIM: An expert who debunked the pizzagate conspiracy theory has been jailed for possessing child sexual abuse images.

THE FACTS: A former ABC reporter referenced in a meme circulating online was recently sentenced to federal prison for such crimes, but he never investigated pizzagate. The long-dormant conspiracy theory  which posited that Democratic Party insiders harbored child sex slaves in a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor  has been revived online in recent days, boosted by prominent social media users including Elon Musk. The unfounded rumor was popular among supporters of Republican Donald Trump during his winning 2016 campaign for president and even led a North Carolina man to travel to Washington and fire a rifle in a local pizza parlor where he believed children were being enslaved.

Musk and others shared a meme referencing the television series The Office, claiming the conspiracy theory is real, involved trafficked children and that an expert who had debunked the theory just went to jail for child porn. In a follow up post on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the tech billionaire linked to a story about the September sentencing of former ABC journalist James Gordon Meek for possessing and transporting child sexual abuse images, implying the Virginia resident is the expert referenced in the meme. Musk's posts have since been deleted.

But the false connection stems from an image of a fabricated New York Post headline that spread online in recent months. Award winning ABC journalist who debunked pizzagate, pleads guilty in horrific child porn case, the headline reads over an image of Meek. The newspaper didnt comment, but a search of its website archive showed no such story, and the headline image does not match the outlets style.

Spokespersons for ABC News didnt respond to messages seeking comment, but a review of the networks online archives shows Meek never published an investigation on pizzagate while employed there. A 2017 story he co-wrote about Russian propaganda during the war in Syria only briefly mentions the conspiracy theory. Instead, numerous news outlets at the time, including CNN and The New York Times, debunked the rumor. Meek, who covered national security issues until his resignation last year, was sentenced to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing child sexual abuse images.

 Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

Trump misleadingly cites duplicate ballots in disputed Georgia county as proof of election fraud

CLAIM: A recent court filing revealed that 3,600 duplicate ballots were cast for Biden and illegally counted in Fulton County, Georgia, during the 2020 election.

THE FACTS: A state review of the countys audit of the 2020 presidential race found errors and inconsistencies in the vote count, including some double counting of ballots, but the errors werent deemed criminal and they weren't enough to alter the election results. Nevertheless, former President Donald Trump is continuing to cast doubt on the legal filing in Georgias Fulton County as he seeks a return to the White House amid myriad legal cases, including election interference charges in the Peach State.

Fulton County, Georgia, acknowledges, in a major Consent Decree, that 3,600 individual ballots were DUPLICATED, the Republican wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. THATS A LOT OF CRIME. When are the rest of the facts coming out? We are all waiting. This is just the beginning. UNBELIEVABLE! In a video that spread widely on other platforms, Trump made similar remarks and called it massive voter corruption. Trumps posts refer to a June consent order that found Fulton County election workers misidentified and duplicated voting results during the state-mandated audit of the 2020 election, which was a hand recount of the presidential race results.

There was, in fact, no crime, Jessica Corbitt, a spokesperson for the Fulton County Board of Elections, responded in an email this week. The consent order addresses procedural issues but there were no accusations or admissions of criminal activity. The order identified 36 inconsistencies in batch tally sheets for the audit, but found they were due to human error and not intentional misconduct. It also found they did not affect the final election results as they represented a fractional number of the votes cast. The purpose of the risk-limiting audit was to confirm whether the results of the original tabulation were accurate, which the audit confirmed, reads the order.

The county agreed to take remedial steps to prevent repeat issues, according to the order. Those policies and procedures were put in place in time for the 2022 election. The court filing additionally states that it represents a civil settlement with no criminal ramifications and is not an admission of guilt or liability by Fulton County officials. Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, noted Georgias election results were tallied three times in 2020: the initial Election Day count, the hand-counted audit and a final recount by voting machine requested by Trumps campaign. All three times, Biden prevailed. Its misleading to claim this is fraud, Bullock said by phone. Were there errors? Yes. But they were not malicious.

Corbitt, the Fulton County spokesperson, declined to address Trumps claims directly, but stressed elections in the county have undergone numerous reviews besides the audit investigation and no fraud has been identified. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung maintained that the audit errors suggest more than 4,000 false votes for Joe Biden were counted. These errors from one county, in one category of votes (absentee ballots), could certainly have impacted the results, given that no other counties or vote categories were checked, he wrote in an email. Cheung didnt respond to requests to elaborate on the figures he cited.

Trump and 18 other people are facing charges in Georgia that include participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to keep Trump in power after his 2020 loss. Four people have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with Georgia prosecutors. The remaining 15 have pleaded not guilty, and no trial date has been set.

 Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

Video of West Bank fighting does not show a Doctors Without Borders medic giving a man a rifle

CLAIM: A video shows a Doctors Without Borders medic in the West Bank city of Jenin take an assault rifle from a man lying on the ground and hand it to a man nearby who begins shooting.

THE FACTS: The man identified as a medic in the video does not belong to Doctors Without Borders, which works only in hospitals in that area, a spokesperson for the organization told The Associated Press. He is wearing an orange vest with the letters PMRS below a yellow circle that matches those worn by members of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. In the video, the man runs to a person lying facedown on a city street as people shout and gunfire is heard around them. He takes a rifle from the person, runs a few feet and hands it to another man who begins firing as the man in the orange vest takes cover.

In this video taken today in Jenin, a medic from Doctors without borders went to a terrorist who was shot by the IDF, lifted him up and took his weapon then brought it to another terrorist, reads one Instagram post. But Doctors Without Borders, known in French as Medecins Sans Frontieres, confirmed that's not the case. The person depicted in the video is clearly not wearing an MSF logo or any other identification related to MSF, Brienne Prusak, a spokesperson for the organization, told the AP in an email. MSF staff do not wear orange vests seen in the video. Our staff around the world are required to wear MSF identification (T-shirt, gear) because it is one of the main protections that we have: our medical identity and credibility.

Indeed, the mans vest matches those worn by members of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, which works in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. A photo on the groups Facebook page shows a worker wearing the same type of vest, which is clearly marked with PMRS logo. In contrast, a photo on the Doctors Without Borders website shows members of its staff wearing white vests with the organizations red and white logo on the back. It is not clear whether the man in the video actually works for PMRS or if he is simply wearing one of the groups vests. PMRS did not respond to a request for comment.

Doctors Without Borders does not work in areas of Jenin where the video spreading online was filmed, according to Prusak. The fighting occurred on a street outside a Western Union office and a bakery with a white awning. The same shops can be seen in a video tour of Jenin posted to YouTube in 2020. They appear on the left side of the video around the 5:08 mark. In Jenin, MSF supports the emergency room of the Ministry of Health Hospital and supports the pre-hospital emergency, Prusak wrote. Our MSF staff in Jenin do not carry out ambulatory services. We do not treat people outside in the streets. She added that the misrepresented video incites violence and poses a severe threat not only against MSF staff but all humanitarian workers in the region. Violence in the West Bank, including Jenin, has surged amid fighting in the latest Israel-Hamas war.

READ MORE: Video of West Bank fighting does not show a Doctors Without Borders medic giving a man a rifle

 Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.
A 23-year-old man was charged with attempt murder in the shooting of a 9-month-old girl Tuesday in the Washington Park neighborhood, Chicago police said.

Kenneth Mosby of the 8800 block of South Burley Avenue was charged with attempt first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, police said.

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He was arrested Thursday in west suburban Maywood on First Avenue after he was identified as the shooter.

The 9-month-old girl was shot in the first block of East Garfield Boulevard outside a McDonalds restaurant.

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The baby was rushed to Comer Childrens Hospital where she was listed in critical condition.

Mosby was scheduled to appear at a detention hearing.
WASHINGTON  The House voted on Friday to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues.

The vote to expel was 311-114. Expulsion requires support from two-thirds of the House, a purposefully high bar, but a blistering House Ethics Committee report that accused Santos of breaking federal law proved decisive.

As it became clear that he would be expelled, Santos placed his overcoat over his shoulders, shook hands with conservative members who voted against his expulsion and departed the House chamber.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., soon took the gavel, quieted the chamber and solemnly instructed the House clerk to inform the governor of New York that Santos former House seat was now vacant.

Santos had fought the expulsion effort, leading his own defense during House floor debate and in conducting a news conference and interviews.

I will not stand by quietly, Santos declared as lawmakers on Thursday evening debated his removal. The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, youre going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote.

Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War. The remaining two occurred after the lawmakers were convicted of crimes in federal court. Santos made his case for remaining in office by appealing directly to lawmakers who worry they are setting a new precedent that could make expulsions more common.

Johnson was among those who voiced concerns about removing Santos, though he has told members to vote their conscience. Others in leadership agreed with his reasoning and opposed expulsion. But some Republicans, including Santos' colleagues from New York, said voters would welcome lawmakers being held to a higher standard.

Im pretty confident the American people would applaud that. Im pretty confident that the American people expect that," Republican Rep. Anthony DEsposito, whose district adjoins Santos', said before the vote.

Santos warned lawmakers they would regret removing a member before they have had their day in court.

This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts, Santos said.

The expulsion was the final congressional chapter in what was a spectacular fall from grace for Santos. The first-term lawmaker initially was celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year and helped Republicans win control of the House. But soon after, troubles began. Reports began to emerge that Santos had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree. His presence in the House quickly became a distraction and an embarrassment to the party.

Santos' troubles are far from over, as he faces trial next year in New York. Federal prosecutors in a 23-count indictment have accused him of duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress.

Read more:

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Associated Press staff writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

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Photos: Rep. George Santos, R-NY
On Feb. 3, Montana Highway Patrol Supply Technician Maurice "Murph" Powers collapsed after a rowing workout in the Montana Highway Patrol headquarters weight room in Boulder.

Nearby cadets called for help. A sergeant was able to administer a shock through a nearby donated automated external defibrillator to Powers, and after more than 100 CPR chest compressions Powers regained consciousness.

On Friday, Sgt. Jay Nelson, who tended to Powers that day, recalled that it was Powers who had earlier suggested the AED be installed in the very gym where he collapsed.

He and Powers and MHP Sgt. Zach Freeman, who is in charge of training MHP cadets, were at St. Andrew School Friday to donate an AED to the school.

AED manufacturer Stryker donated the device in honor of Powers' survival and Nelson's lifesaving efforts. Powers chose St. Andrew School because several state troopers and others in law enforcement have children who attend the school and the facility has not had an AED on hand. Nelson estimated the donation to be worth about $2,000.

"I think it is more than generous for Murph to direct this gift to the school that is something so close to my heart and so many law enforcement families go here," Nelson said Friday before the AED was donated during an assembly at St. Andrew.

Nelson said the experience with Powers was the first time he had ever "shocked" someone. He said he's performed CPR several times in his nearly 25-year career, but that Powers was his first success story.

The AED Nelson used is one of 2,200 defibrillators provided to law enforcement officers and first responders across Montana in 2020 thanks to a $6 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Powers, 64, who worked fleet and supply for MHP and took medical retirement due to the incident, said Friday he experienced what is often called a "widow maker" heart attack, which is full blockage of the heart's biggest artery. Powers, who is also a minister, said he had a "good trip" during his near death experience and felt "totally immersed in the Holy Spirit."

"I was drawn to the light," he said.

Powers, pastor of Set Free Ministries in Helena, thinks his story serves as comfort to people concerned about what happens when they die.

Nelson told the students of the private Catholic school that Powers, a longtime friend, has blessed all the vehicles in the MHP fleet.

"He's near and dear to me," he said.

Nelson told the assembly that when he performed CPR on Powers that day, "I really didn't know if it was going to work."

"When Murph came back, I could feel the presence of God like never before," he said.

Freeman called the donation "very special," adding that it's all the more so when you know the person.
Good Samaritan Ministries is seeking a permit to convert a funeral home next door to Our Place, the nonprofits addiction recovery drop-in center, into an emergency shelter to help the growing number of unsheltered women living on Helena streets.

Good Samaritan, a local Catholic charity that began in the 1980s as a thrift store, leases part of the property at 648 Jackson St. where it operates the existing drop-in center.

The organization is proposing converting the adjacent space in the building, currently being used as a chapel by Simple Cremation, into an overnight emergency womens shelter with 26 beds open from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. between Oct. 1 and May 1.

The building is shared with another tenant, satellite offices for Rocky Mountain Development Councils Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The organization is poised to request a conditional use permit from the Helena City Commission to allow for emergency shelter land use in the Downtown Zoning District.

A 76-page report prepared by city staff characterized the surrounding area as one of new development and redevelopment.

Currently and historically, the mixed-use nature of the Downtown Zoning District has led to the location of numerous organizations offering social services to vulnerable individuals, the report reads. The applicant states that the close proximity of these services, specifically PureView for health care services and AWARE for mental health care, provide substantial benefits to the shelter clientele.

There is a range of other service providers for these populations within a mile radius of the proposed shelter location such as Helena Valley Addiction Services, according to the report.

The report also details needed repairs to the structure, built in 1938, required by the Helena Building and Fire departments, including the installation of shower facilities, fire suppression systems and security measures.

The report also states the organization intends to upgrade the buildings exterior lighting, install additional bike racks and create a designated outdoor space for smoking and congregation.

City staff notes in the report a reuse of the facility and expansion of critical services align with the citys adopted neighborhood plan for the area and support approval of permit.

City staff ultimately recommends approval for the permit with some conditions, including all personal items aside from bicycles are to be stored inside the facility.

Plymouth Congregational Churchs Outreach and Social Justice Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Thompson authored a letter to the city in support of the proposed shelter on behalf of the church, stating it distinctly speaks to Helenas compassionate and innovative spirit.

Three letters of opposition to the proposal were received.

Local developer and adjacent property owner Rex Seeley wrote one of the opposition letters.

Seeley in 2019 purchased the land from the city at a below market rate to build his Seeley Building, located across Last Chance Gulch from Our Place, and also received more than $50,000 in public funds generated through a tax increment financing district to complete the construction.

I am extremely opposed to this change, Seeley wrote. We are already cleaning up feces, garbage, and discarded possessions of transients in the area. They trespass on posted property, dump trash, steal, and vandalize. They have made fires in my front lawn as they prepared their drugs as well as fires behind the building next door, and our back yard which is very disconcerting since we have a wood building. They are often aggressive, accost our customers and intimidate our employees and the cleaning people at the Seeley Building. I do not want to have to deal with more issues with them. Putting any additional money into that building would be a poor investment.

Paul Williams said he owns buildings at 612-614 N. Last Chance Gulch since 1984, and in his letter of opposition told the city he has had problems with unsheltered people.

It is TIME for the city of Helena to acknowledge and invest in the businesses and property owners who are the lifeblood of our city, and stop these feel good projects which are at the expense of business owners. The reason for zoning is to alleviate problems which this conditional use permit will inevitably cause. I am very strongly opposed to this conditional use permit. DO NOT ALLOW IT

The permit application is set to be heard by the Helena Zoning Commission during its Wednesday meeting scheduled for 6 p.m.

The zoning commission will make a recommendation on the permit application to the city commission, which will make a final decision at a to-be-determined meeting.

An open house at Our Place is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at 631 N. Last Chance Gulch for more public engagement with the community.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to add correct meeting dates. The Helena Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Our Place open house is scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m.
DECATUR  Some of the famous holiday Red Kettles had familiar faces encouraging shoppers to donate to the Decatur Salvation Army Christmas Campaign on Saturday.

Three local mayors, Jim Peck of Forsyth, Luke Williams from Mount Zion and Aaron Keathley from Oreana, were found at various locations ringing bells for The Salvation Armys first Mayoral Challenge.

Maroa will be represented on Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Hobby Lobby exterior entrance to the Hickory Point Mall.

The mayors took the first and last shifts of the day, beginning at 10 a.m. at their respective stations.

And were on our own territory, Peck said, standing outside Hobby Lobby.

Each mayor designated family, friends and other members of their villages administrations for bell ringing opportunities.

The competition continues throughout the week online with their Virtual Kettles. Each candidate has a link to his donation site. The winner collecting the most money will be announced next week.

Mayoral Bell Ringing Challenge For those unable to drop money in the buckets during the Mayoral Bell Ringing Challenge, the candidates will be accepting donations in the Virtual Kettles. Maroa: donate.salarmyncil.org/fundraiser/5079545 Forsyth: donate.salarmyncil.org/fundraiser/5079875 Mt. Zion: donate.salarmyncil.org/fundraiser/5089884 Oreana: donate.salarmyncil.org/fundraiser/5105902

Peck brought his grandchildren, representing the younger generation, to help ring bells.

We do it because, if people need money, then we have to give money, said Pecks granddaughter Charlie Peck. Then we have to share with other people.

As the mayor of Mount Zion, Williams also wanted to encourage others in his village to ring bells.

Anybody looking for service hours, they can help out in the community, he said.

Williams wanted to do his part as well, he said.

Were just trying to raise money to help people who are less fortunate than others, he said.

The mayor knows he was fortunate to be stationed at the east-side Walmart.

We were lucky to get this place, Williams said. We should win just because of our location.

However, during the first hour, he and his wife Lindsey had witnessed the generosity of the community.

Weve had a ton of people donate, she said.

Forsyth resident Sally Turner said she cleaned out her change drawer to put in the kettle stationed at Pecks Hobby Lobby location.

That was one reason I came here, she said.

However, Turner didnt know about the competition.

Well, I hope you guys win, she said, heading into the store.

According to Keathley, he wasnt given much advice before he began ringing the bell at the Melisty Mart in Oreana.

Just collect as much as we could, he said. And ring this bell. The normal Red Kettle ring rules apply, I guess.

Keathleys designated spot at a small-town convenience store wasnt as popular as a national craft store before the holidays or one of the biggest retail chains in the world. But he has been encouraging his town to offer donations online as well.

They can donate on the Virtual Kettle, he said.

The mayoral challenge was the first time the Red Kettle had been placed at the Melisty Mart in Oreana, which was enough to draw people in.

Were trying, Keathley said. We also put it on the village Facebook.

After his second shift, ending at 4 p.m. at the Walmart location, Williams next responsibility was to judge the floats in the Mount Zion parade.

This is a big mayor day, Lindsey Williams said.

PHOTOS: Decatur-area holiday lights displays
TAYLORVILLE  The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency offered little in the form of new information Thursday about a foul odor that began emanating from an Ameren-owned Superfund site earlier this year.

The smell led to community concerns about potential exposure to cancer-causing contaminants known to be present on site.

About 50 people gathered at Taylorville Middle School for the nearly three-hour meeting, which came about two months after the state EPA requested and Ameren agreed to stop work on a pilot project aimed at expediting remediation of the site.

The pause, the agency says, was enacted out of an abundance of caution. And work will not resume until after air monitoring data from the site is analyzed by the agency. But, there should be no cause for alarm, they say.

"For water, we have 30 years of data to show that the plume is contained on the site and not migrating towards residences," said Greggory Miller, an environmental protection specialist with the state EPA. "For air, nothing I've seen from these initial reports is what I personally would consider to be alarming. But, we are evaluating the air monitoring data we are seeing from Ameren."

There were no officials present from Ameren, the entity responsible for cleaning up the site.

The 1.2-acre site, formally known as "CIPS Taylorville," is located on the south end of town directly across the street from Manners Park and just feet away from homes.

It is the site of a former manufactured gas plant that was in operation from 1892 to 1932. The coal gasification process produced a carcinogenic byproduct known as coal tar.

Following the plant's decommissioning, Ameren predecessor company Central Illinois Public Service Company sold the site without disclosing the presence of more than 50,000 gallons of coal tar in tanks buried underneath the site.

The contamination was discovered in 1985 when the owner at the time was having work done on the site. Ameren then notified the EPA of buried contaminants on the site and agreed to buy it back and remediate.

However, many believe that a clumsy cleanup process inadvertently contaminated the surrounding air and groundwater.

Between March 1989 and August 1991, three infants and a teenager who lived within three miles of the site were diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that statistically should only occur once every 29 years in a community the size of Taylorville.

One of the patients, Brandon Steele, died from the disease. The four families sued the company and were eventually awarded $3.2 million.

Brenda Kimble, whose now-34-year-old daughter Erika was one of the neuroblastoma patients, said her phone and social media started blowing up when people started smelling the odor in September. It was an unwelcome blast from the past.

"They dug this huge pit in the middle of summer and exposed everyone once again," Kimble told Herald & Review. "And it's been going on for years. When they go out there and they dig and they work, it's volatile and we get exposed."

Kimble and other concerned residents founded the group My Community, My Family, in response to the odors and have been seeking answers.

But officials with the state EPA say, at least preliminarily, there is nothing to be alarmed about, blaming the mothball-like smell on a new process meant to expedite remediation, not contaminants being released into the air as happened in the 1980s.

Since 1995, there has been a groundwater pump-and-treat system on site meant to remediate contaminated groundwater. While the system has led to "a significant reduction" in contaminants, state EPA officials estimate that it would take about 100 years for groundwater to be at acceptable standards with the continued use of the process.

"Pump and treat was very popular 30 years ago," Miller said. "And now it's not getting us down past that last little bit that we need to be in to declare the groundwater ready for beneficial reuse, which is the ultimate goal of this program."

"We prefer to have a solution in our own lifetimes," he added.

As such, the Illinois EPA and Ameren have been considering alternative approaches. The state agency approved in June and initiated in August a pilot project meant to display the possible effectiveness of an alternative known as in situ solidification and stabilization (ISS).

According to the U.S. EPA, ISS is a cleanup method that prevents or slows the release of harmful chemicals from waste. These typically do not eradicate the contaminant, but instead keep them from "leaching" above safe levels into surrounding areas.

This process involves mixing impacted soil with a binding agent such as cement. This creates a solid block of material and traps it in place.

According to the state EPA, the smell coming from the site can be explained by this process. While slurry is setting, it swells. This swell material, when exposed to air, can lead to an odor, they said.

But many in attendance simply did not buy the agency's explanation. Skepticism about the validity of Ameren's air quality data was widespread, with one person likening it to "the fox guarding the henhouse."

State EPA officials said they are still analyzing air quality data provided by Ameren, but community relations manager Brad Frost said that Ameren and the labs the contract with "are not falsifying data."

When asked when the agency would be finished with its analysis, Frost said "I don't have a timeframe."

Many also wanted the holes drilled as part of the ISS pilot to be covered or backfilled. Kimble's group was also advocating for more exact signage warning people that it is a Superfund site.

But for many, the answers were inadequate or the state EPA did not have the information requested, such as public health data.

The meeting ended somewhat abruptly after many started to leave, exasperated with the answers state officials were giving them. Though many came up afterward and thanked the government bureaucrats for showing up and attempting to address their concerns, something Ameren did not do.

Kimple said she was "very frustrated" that Ameren did not have a representative at the meeting, adding that "there's no excuse for them not to be here."

Ameren spokesman Brian Bretsch said the threat of litigation kept the utility giant from the public meeting.

"We maintain a robust outreach program with appropriate stakeholders including neighbors, governmental agencies and are in ongoing discussions with IEPA," Bretsch said. "Unfortunately, some members of the public have threatened litigation and therefore Ameren believed that participation in this type of forum would be counterproductive."

Kimble's group has been meeting once a week since late September. She said next steps will include upping community outreach and moving forward with their own air quality testing around the site.

"So moving forward, we are going to be two steps ahead, not one step behind," she said. "And we're moving forward with our group."

Here are the places where air pollution levels could soon be considered dangerous by the EPA Here are the places where air pollution levels could soon be considered dangerous by the EPA At least 12 cities are already above recommended particulate standards Air pollution has been linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and cancer In some cities, reporting bad smells can help scientists identify sources of pollution Look up your city's air pollution levels
MATTOON  A Decatur man arrested for allegedly headbutting a police officer was subsequently released from custody under a provision of the new Illinois SAFE-T Act.

A Mattoon Police Department press release reported that this 26-year-old man was arrested on preliminary charges of resisting/obstructing an officer and aggravated battery of an officer at 12:44 p.m. Tuesday in the 600 block of Marion Avenue.

According to the release the man failed to provide his personal information during a criminal trespass complaint. When officers attempted to place him into handcuffs, officer say he resisted.

After the man was handcuffed, officers began searching his person. The release said the man then head-butted an officer in the head, causing minor injuries to this officer.

The man remained combative and refused to provide his personal information, the release states. He was then taken to the Coles County jail.

According to the release, it was subsequently determined that these particular charges are non-detainable offenses under SAFE-T Act provisions that went into effect in mid-September. He was released with a notice to appear court date.

Coles County State's Attorney Jesse Danley said the SAFE-T Act holds that aggravated battery of an officer is not a detainable offense unless there are other factors involved, such as the officer sustaining great bodily harm.

"If not for the SAFE-T Act, he would be in custody right now," Danley said.

The police department reported the Decatur man is on probation in Macon County for a felony charge of non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images. He entered a plea of guilty on July 27.

In Coles County, Danley said he will review the arrest file in preparation for this man's first court appearance and he anticipates filing charges.
DECATUR  Kyndale Hayes had a very good reason for voting the way he did at the mock election held at Muffley School on Friday.

The two candidates were Duck and Grace, both the stars of different books that students read as part of a unit on elections.

Grace is a human, fourth grader Kyndale said to explain his vote. A human makes a better president than a duck.

Apparently, the other third and fourth grade students agreed with him because Grace won.

Teacher Jessica Meier said the kids read the two books, Duck for President, by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin, and Grace for President, by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, and though the books have similar titles, they are unrelated. The idea was to help the kids learn about elections.

When we came back from (Thanksgiving) break, I knew we wanted to cover history, how people affect the community, and we had a lot to cover in a short time, Meier said. They had just finished learning about Illinois and the voting process, so I asked them if they wanted to get involved, and I kind of just ran with it and it became a big project.

She asked County Clerk Josh Tanner if he'd help out and he not only agreed, but offered two of his office employees, Mikki Ellis and Carol Brown, to help, too. The women had a list of registered voters  the class lists  and checked off each student as he or she came up to the table, gave them official I voted stickers, and sent them to the booths where they voted electronically.

Tanner explained, before the voting began, that adults usually use paper ballots in elections in Macon County, but electronic voting is available for those who want or need to use the machines. The reason for all of the mock election's ballots being electronic was to make the counting process go more quickly.

The school district called us and asked us if we would come and assist with the voting process, Tanner said. I think it's a really good idea that the schools want to educate some of the younger kids about voting. We felt like we would be more than happy to participate.

Superintendent Rochelle Clark showed up, too, and took plenty of photos for a future school board presentation to show the board members what the kids were doing.

This is the most wonderful idea I've seen in the last couple of weeks, she said. Getting them to understand what it takes to elect someone. It brings an experience to them that they will never forget.

One of the things emphasized in class prior to the mock election, said fourth grader Amari Clay, is that each person only gets one vote.

It teaches us responsibility, Amari said. You have a civil right to vote.
The Blountville, Tennessee, community lit two Christmas trees on Friday evening in preparation of the holiday season and to remember those lost to violent crime.

Matthew Johnson, director of Sullivan County Archives and Tourism, opened the ceremony in front of the countys historic courthouse on state Route 126.

The ceremony, One Special Town, Two Special Trees, included a Christmas message from Tennessee State Rep. Bud Hulsey, R-Kingsport, who recognized the families in attendance who have been affected by violent crime.

Hulseys message discussed the meaning of law and justice.

Law demands one thing: retribution, Hulsey said.

He explained, This is what you did, this is what you get.

In addition, Hulsey said justice means what is due.

It is absolutely imperative that victims through this system receive what is due by law, Hulsey said. Thats justice.

Joan Berry, whose daughter was stabbed to death in a Knoxville, Tennessee, apartment in 2004, shared her thoughts about violent crime and its effect on families.

We are here again another year without our loved ones, said Berry, who later directed families to place ornaments on the victims remembrance tree.

The holidays can be hard on those who have lost loved ones.

I wish could tell you it would get easier, but thats not been the case for me, Berry said.

This Christmas will mark the 20th year since Berrys daughter, Johnia, was killed. During the early morning hours of Dec. 6, 2004, someone entered her apartment. He went into her bedroom and brutally stabbed her.

An arrest was made in 2007, but the suspect died before going to trial.

I am very grateful for the time I had with Johnia, Berry said.

Berry said the paid during the Christmas season is unbearable.

This is a family, a club, that you dont want to be a part of, Berry said.

One at a time, victims families picked up an ornament, went to the podium, said the name of the victim and then placed the ornament on the tree.

Many names were mentioned, including Sgt. Steven Hinkle, a Sullivan County Sheriffs Office deputy killed in the line of duty in 2019; Jennifer Rooney, who was shot and killed while driving along Volunteer Parkway in Bristol in 2016; Rowdy Yates, who was killed at a property in the Carden Hollow section of Sullivan County in 2017; and several others.

Following the lighting of the victims remembrance tree, the community lit the larger Christmas tree in front of the courthouse.
Police in northwest suburban Elk Grove Village said they fatally shot a man Friday while responding to a call reporting a man with a knife.

Deputy Chief of Police Christopher Torres said the shooting occurred at about 4:30 p.m. when a group of officers responded to a call from a residence on the 200 block of Fern Drive and encountered a man leaving the home with a knife.

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A male subject exited the residence in possession of a knife, Torres said. This person confronted officers away from the home in a nearby yard. During this confrontation the subject was shot.

The man was taken to Alexian Brothers Hospital and later pronounced dead, Torres said.Torres said the man lived in village, but provided no other details about the mans identity.

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Police were previously called to the residence from a caller inside the home, Torres added.

The officers were taken to a local hospital for observation and would be put on administrative duties, Torres said.

Torres said a criminal investigation and an investigation of the officer involved shooting were underway. There was no continued threat to public safety, he said.
BLUFF CITY, Tenn.  Dozens of property owners shared their concerns Thursday about zoning and growth issues along the South Fork of the Holston River.

The Sullivan County Planning and Zoning Department hosted a community meeting in the cafeteria at Sullivan East High School, where the public had a chance to voice their opinions, ask questions, review maps and data and fill out a survey about the watersheds future.

I thought the meeting went very well, Sullivan County Planning and Zoning Director Ambre Torbett said Friday. I am very pleased with the turnout and the level of participation. More importantly, we are pleased that folks care about the future of their community.

Since early 2023, rezoning requests for properties near the river have been denied by the planning commission due to a moratorium, Torbett said.

Residents had previously shared their concerns about growth in the area, including over-fishing of the river.

The Planning Commission heard you, Torbett told the crowd.

The moratorium has given Torbetts department the opportunity to study the area and develop a proposed land use plan.

Torbett answered several questions about the purpose of the plan.

What are you all surveying for? one resident asked, questioning whether there were any specific plans or goals.

Torbett said the land use plan would not pertain to any particular parcels of land.

The plan would give Planning Commission members and county commissioners guidance when considering rezoning requests from property owners, Torbett said.

Torbett previously drafted a land use plan for the South Holston River back in 2006 and it was approved in 2008. That plan is old and outdated, she said.

Recently, the planning department has heard from longtime property owners and fishermen about growth along the river.

South Holston isnt going to become the Little Pigeon River, said Torbett, referring to the river in Pigeon Forge.

She said the goal is to ensure balanced sustainable growth.

Community Planner Luke Meade said he has canvassed areas along the river and has had discussions with fishermen.

During the meeting, residents shared concerns about water levels, people trespassing on private property and a decrease in the fish population.

Meade informed the crowd that there has been a 30% decrease in the brown trout population in the South Holston River.

Its very disheartening to see what the river has become, one concerned resident said.

Another resident said, Im really encouraged to see so many people here.

The gathering became a bit heated at one point when a resident suggested that most in the area wanted the moratorium on rezoning to become permanent, rather than ending in early 2024.

Several property owners in attendance disagreed with the idea.

One man said he wanted to give his children the opportunity to use the land as they wish in the future.

On Friday, following the meeting, Torbett said she was encouraged by the publics response.

The existing and future built environment has a direct impact on the natural environment, and it was evident folks truly understand that, Torbett said.

By the end of the presentation and the question-and-answer session, Torbett said, I believe the attendees had a better understanding of the planning process.

With a new land use plan for the South Holston River watershed, Torbett said the county might be able to ensure sustainable development while also protecting the natural aquatic resources.

Torbett said her department will be planning another public outreach meeting, perhaps in early 2024. The department will also report back to the planning commission.

She said she also hopes to schedule a community meeting with state and federal partners. A few people on Thursday said they had hoped representatives from the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency would be present.

I have always believed that the process of planning is just as, if not more important than the final plan itself, Torbett said. Public participation from all stakeholders is vital in the planning process.

As for the moratorium, Torbett said she expects to ask for an extension to give the department more time to conduct the land use study and plan additional public meetings. She noted that the goal is to study the river from South Holston Dam to Boone Dam.
HICKORY  Trinity Village, a Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC) senior living community, has been a part of Hickory for more than 60 years. Now, it will expand its services to offer independent living senior apartments.

This community has embraced LSC and allowed us to continue to serve and grow. It has taken our church family and community family to make that happen, LSC President and CEO Ted Goins said. The dream has always been to do this, and now we are seeing it happen.

Trinity Village Independent Living will offer faith-based, nonprofit, and reasonably priced independent living senior apartments designed to meet the evolving needs of the aging population, providing them with a vibrant and fulfilling living experience. This community will offer a wide range of amenities and services tailored to support independence and well-being. The project will begin with 72 one-and-two-bedroom apartments on Springs Road on the campus of Trinity Village.

LSC officially broke ground on the apartments in October and celebrated this milestone with a Blessing of the Build on Wednesday, Nov. 29. The ceremony included speeches from The Chamber of Catawba County President/CEO Lindsay Keisler and Hickory Mayor Hank Guess.

Keisler remembers attending a listening session years ago where community members discussed the need for additional senior housing in the county. She commended LSC for recognizing this need and filling it.

May this new venture provide more than just housing. May it provide a sense of community, quality of life, safety, stability, and most importantly a place to call home, Keisler said.

Guess added that the City of Hickorys goal has always been to grow its population, grow jobs, and increase its tax base. He said projects like this one are a tremendous part of that.

I get asked from time to time, what is the key to our success. The key to our success is our people. We have some of the greatest people anyone can ever ask for, Guess said about the Hickory community. We want to congratulate everyone who has had a part in this. We are so grateful to everyone here. We want to extend our welcome and continue our partnership and relationship.

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Senior Pastor Chris Webb ended the ceremony by officially blessing the construction site.

We give you thanks, O God, as we set apart this land to your glory and praise. We ask your blessing for those who labor in the design and construction of the homes being built on this ground, for those who have spent countless hours planning for its building, and for those who have given of their time to enable this apartment independent living facility to be built, Webb prayed. Prosper this work to the glory of your holy name.

LSC has served the Catawba County area for over 60 years with Hickorys two premier health care communities, Trinity Village and Trinity Ridge, providing skilled care, rehab, memory care, and assisted living. LSC is also a founder and partner in the PACE At Home program, serving Medicaid/Medicare-eligible elders in their own homes.

These apartments will allow LSC to serve the entire continuum for elders in the area.

Lutheran Services Carolinas is a nonprofit health and human services organization providing skilled nursing care, rehabilitation, assisted living, and retirement options to seniors in North Carolina, as well as foster care, adoption, recovery services, mental health services, refugee resettlement services, disaster case management, and residential care for people with disabilities in North and South Carolina.
" " Napoleon wasn't the tallest, but he wasn't terribly short either. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The sunshine-colored desert goby (Chlamydogobius eremius) doesn't look like Australia's toughest fish. The males are small homebodies who watch over egg-filled nests in spring-fed pools. Yet scientists have pinpointed a behavior in these fish that's long been attributed to short-statured men. The smallest of the desert goby males seem to have a "Napoleon complex" that makes them quick to attack larger males. The idea behind the ferocity, say scientists, is that when the smaller males act quickly and aggressively, they scare off bigger competition before that competition can even size them up [source: Svensson].

It's the animal kingdom's version of a colloquial term used to describe vertically challenged men, who are stereotypically quick to start fights because they feel inferior to their taller counterparts. The name comes from the French general Napoleon Bonaparte, who was believed to have compensated for his lack of height with a bellicose personality.

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There's just one problem: Napoleon wasn't really short. At the time of his death, he measured 5 feet 2 inches in French units, the equivalent of 5 feet 6.5 inches (169 centimeters) in modern measurement units, notes the National Gallery of Victoria. (For reference, the global mean height for men born in 1996 and measured at age 18 in 2014 was 171 centimeters, or 5 feet 7.3 inches). The Napoleon confusion stems from the French and British measurement systems used at the time of the French military leader's reign, which used the same terms even though the actual measurements varied.

Napoleon was of average height, but his battle strategies may have earned him a reputation for being short. Apparently, Napoleon preferred to surround himself with very tall soldiers, and these members of his personal guard made him look short-statured in comparison. He's also said to have been mean-spirited, a character trait that could have fueled his quarrelsome reputation. Napoleon had a habit of spilling ink or food on women's clothing when he didn't like the cut of their cloth, making him one of the earliest members of the fashion police. He also severely restricted the rights of women [source: National Gallery of Victoria].

While the idea that Napoleon was shorter than average is clearly a myth, the use of the term "Napoleon complex" endures. It may not be fully applicable to humans, but researchers are discovering it's quite prevalent among animals where conflicts frequently arise over resources and mates. For example, if resources are scarce, smaller males have more to gain by attacking larger males. Even if the smaller animal only has a 50-50 chance of winning, it takes those odds.

If resources are abundant, all bets should be on the little guy, too. Small animals are still more likely to attack larger ones, and the Goliaths are more likely to retreat because they know they can seek alternative resources elsewhere [source: Morrell]. Maybe there's something to the Napoleon strategy after all.
A food processor is a versatile kitchen appliance that can quickly and easily chop, slice, shred, grind and puree almost any food. Some models can also assist the home cook in making citrus and vegetable juice, beating cake batter, kneading bread dough, beating egg whites and grinding meats and vegetables.

The food processor was introduced to the North American market in 1973 by engineer Carl Sontheimer, who had spent a year adapting a French industrial blender for the home cook.

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It took a few years for consumers to realize how useful the new appliance could be, but once they did, the food processor became a bestseller.

" " Cuisinart DLC-2011BC Prep 11 Plus Food Processor. Photo courtesy Consumer Guide Products

The Basic Components of a Food Processor

Modern food processors come in three basic sizes: full, compact and mini. No matter what size they are, however, the basic components are the same: a motor, a bowl with a lid and feed tube, and a set of attachments.

Motor : The : The motor is housed in the base of the appliance, and it is the heaviest part of the device. Full-size machines generally have larger, more powerful motors, and can weigh more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms). This weight has a utilitarian value: The heaviness of the base gives the appliance stability and ensures that it doesn't move around while the motor is running.

Bowl : The bowl, which is usually made of durable, transparent plastic, fits onto this shaft and locks into position. Some models come with large and small bowls for use with the same base.

Lid: The lid, usually made of the same material, locks onto the top of the bowl; in many older models, engaging the locking mechanism turns on the motor, but newer models generally have an on/off switch or button. The lid has a feed tube fitted with a plunger. You can insert food into the device through this feed tube, pushing it down with the plunger. Some models have wider and narrower feed tubes for use with larger and smaller food items.

Food Processor Attachments

" " KitchenAid KFPDCS 5-Disc Set. Photo courtesy Consumer Guide Products

In a basic food processor, the attachments fit over the shaft inside the bowl. Standard attachments for a food processor are an S-shaped blade  also known as a sabatier blade  and shredding and slicing discs.

Sabatier blade : The sabatier blade sits at the bottom of the bowl. It consists of two small, curved blades arranged on opposite sides of a central plastic pillar that fits onto the shaft inside the bowl. The blades of the sabatier are usually made of metal, but are sometimes made of hard plastic. You may find that metal blades are preferable because they retain their sharpness longer.

Shredding and slicing discs: The shredding and slicing discs are made of metal and sit at the top of the bowl, over the shaft. You push food down the feed tube and it contacts the disc, at which point it is grated or sliced into the bowl. The holes on the shredding and slicing discs may yield fine, medium or coarse bits of food. You can purchase these different versions of the discs separately if they are not included with your food processor.

In addition to the standard attachments that came with your food processor, you can supplement your equipment and make your appliance more versatile by buying additional attachments. Other common attachments include:

A dough blade : This blade is made of plastic or metal and has straighter (less curved) paddles than the sabatier blade. You use this to make dough for : This blade is made of plastic or metal and has straighter (less curved) paddles than the sabatier blade. You use this to make dough for bread and pizza.

An egg whip : This attachment has two straight arms with large open paddles at the ends. You use this to beat egg whites and whipping cream, incorporating sufficient air to ensure a fluffy end product.

A julienne disc : This piece has a row of protruding, short, sharp teeth. You use this to cut food into long, thin matchsticks.

A French fry disc : This is similar to the julienne disc but yields larger, fatter pieces.

A citrus juicer : This is a dome-shaped attachment that fits on top of the shaft and turns to squeeze the juice from oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, etc.

A non-citrus juicer: This purees fruits and vegetables introduced into the feed tube, collecting the pulp in the middle and straining the juice into the bottom of the bowl.
The public got its first look at conceptual realignment boundaries for Cabarrus County schools last week. They were unveiled during several community meetings held at area high schools.

As the population in Cabarrus County has exploded over the past decade, so too has Cabarrus County Schools, which saw its student population increase 21% from 2010 to 2020.

The districts current enrollment, which is about 35,000 students, is projected to balloon to around 44,000 in the next 8-9 years, Superintendent Dr. John Kopicki told the crowd during Tuesdays meeting at Concord High School.

We dont have the capacity in the school system to handle that kind of growth in our county, so therefore we needed to start taking a look at a long-term plan, he said.

Compared with realignment efforts in the past, which typically have been driven by the opening of new facilities, this realignment study is focused on addressing districtwide capacity and ensuring the district has enough available seats at each school in anticipation of expected future growth.

CCS has contracted with Cooperative Strategies to perform the long-range comprehensive realignment planning study. Cooperative Strategies has worked with thousands of schools across the county in providing all sorts of valuable services, including long-range facility planning and boundary realignment studies.

In addition to the community meetings, Cooperative Strategies has met in recent months with the districts internal redistricting committee, comprised of district staff and leadership, along with two focus groups made up of various community stakeholders

Cooperative Strategies crafted the three boundary options, which will have differing impacts on families, depending on which schools students attend. Feedback from the public and the focus groups will help guide Cooperative Strategies and the district going forward.

In creating the scenarios, Cooperative Strategies focused on four key areas: Balanced utilization, to alleviate overcrowding and ensure the safety/security of students; school feeder patterns, to avoid small groups of students feeding into different schools; proximity, to help minimize travel times; and diversity, to make sure schools mirror the surrounding demographics.

The public can provide their opinions about the draft scenarios through an online survey, which will be open through Dec. 15. Questions about the realignment process can be answered on the Long-Range District Realignment section of the districts Engage With CCS website.

People can also access Cooperative Strategies realignment locator tool to see how individual addresses will be impacted by each of the scenarios.

We want to make sure that we get this right and that we listen to our community as best we can, Kopicki said.

A recommended plan will be presented to the school board for approval in February.

Draft scenarios

Though each of the scenarios are different, many of the proposed changes impact schools in the western part of the county, areas that have experienced the most growth. Meanwhile, students in Mount Pleasant, an area that has not had nearly as much growth, will experience very little changes as part of the three boundary options.

Cooperative Strategies officials during the meetings also talked about how the proposed boundary changes with each of the scenarios impacted each schools design utilization (the enrollment divided by capacity) along with the districts feeder patterns.

<&underline>Scenario A</&underline>

For the first boundary realignment option, the elementary schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include Bethel, Beverly Hills, Patriots, W.M. Irvin, Weddington Hills and Wolf Meadow, according to Cooperative Strategies.

The middle schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include C.C. Griffin, Concord, Harold Winkler, Harris Road, Hickory Ridge, Northwest Cabarrus and Roberta Road.

The high schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include Cox Mill, Jay M. Robinson, Northwest Cabarrus and West Cabarrus.

For all of the scenarios, many of the schools that are not expected to have areas reassigned would still be impacted, as they would serve additional areas currently assigned to other boundaries.

<&underline>Scenario B</&underline>

For the second boundary realignment option, the elementary schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include all the schools except Coltrane-Webb, Mount Pleasant, R. Brown McAllister and Rocky River.

The middle schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include all middle schools except C.C. Griffin and Concord.

The high schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include all high schools except Central Cabarrus and Concord.

<&underline>Scenario C</&underline>

For the third and final option, elementary schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include A.T. Allen, Charles Boger, Cox Mill, Harrisburg, Hickory Ridge, Mount Pleasant, Patriots, Pitt School Road, Rocky River, W.M. Irvin, Weddington Hills, Winecoff and Wolf Meadow.

The middle schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include seven of the nine middle schools, excluding Concord and Hickory Ridge.

The high schools that would have areas reassigned to different boundaries include all high schools except Central Cabarrus, Concord and Hickory Ridge.
Services

Ardmore Baptist Church, 501 Miller St., Winston-Salem, will have services at 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday. Pastor Tyler Tankersley will begin an Advent sermon series called O Little Town of Bethlehem. Sundays sermon is titled Hope from Bethlehem with scripture from Ruth 1:1-22. The 10:45 service will be live streamed on YouTube and Facebook. Information about All Together Ardmore and upcoming Advent celebrations are available on the church website. For more information, go to www.ardmorebaptist.org.

Mount Carmel Methodist Church, 4265 Ebert Road, Winston-Salem, will have worship at 10 a.m. Sunday. Sunday school is at 8:45 and childrens church starts at 9:30 a.m. There will be a New Beginnings dinner church for all ages from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Everyone is invited for a free meal, a message and music in the church fellowship hall.

Green Street United Methodist Church, 639 S. Green St., Winston-Salem, will have an in-person service at 8:45 a.m. Sunday. The 11 a.m. service is held in-person and is streamed online via Facebook and YouTube and is a blended service featuring jazz and blues musicians as well as hymns, spirituals and elements of social gospel. The 8:45 a.m. service is a quiet, contemplative space including prayer, scripture, preaching and communion. Masks are optional in the building for services with some exceptions. For more information, go to www.greenstreetumc.org.

New Unity Missionary Baptist Church, 2946 Ivy Ave., Winston-Salem, invites you to join Pastor Willie Davidson and the New Unity Church Family each Sunday morning at 10 a.m. for in-person worship service. Masks are available.

Trinity Methodist Church, 3819 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, invites you to worship at 10 a.m. each Sunday. The Rev. Doug Miller is the lead pastor ordained in the Global Methodist Church. During worship there will be special music, busy bags for children, and prayers for the community and our congregation. There are two Sunday school classes for adults. One is at 9 a.m. and the other is at 11 a.m. You are invited to the Connection Cafe which consists of light refreshments and coffee at 9:15 a.m. in the fellowship hall. For more information, call the church office at 336-765-0150.

First Baptist Church  East, 700 N. Highland Ave., Winston-Salem, will have a worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. Pastor A. Ray Campbell, the interim pastor, will deliver the message. The service is available on Facebook and YouTube. For more information, go to fbcwinston.org.

Parkway United Church of Christ, 1465 Irving St., Winston-Salem, worships at 11 a.m. Sunday. The sermon series on Touchstones for Building Trustworthy Community will continue. For more information, go to www.parkwayunited.org, or call 336-723-1395.

Lewisville United Methodist Church, 6290 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, will have contemporary worship at 9 a.m. Sunday in the fellowship hall. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. and traditional worship is in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. For more information, go to lewisvilleumc.org.

Unity Moravian Church, 8300 Concord Church Road, Lewisville, will have adult Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and worship service at 11 Sunday. The service at 11 is in-person and live streamed. A nursery is provided. Childrens church is offered during the worship service. For more information, go to www.unitymoravianchurch.org or call 336-945-3801.

Mount Tabor United Methodist Church, 3543 Robinhood Road, Winston-Salem, offers two Sunday services: 9 a.m. modern worship in the Alspaugh Worship Center, and 11 a.m. traditional worship in the sanctuary. Both services are available online at http://youtube.com/MountTaborUMCVideoStreaming and the Mount Tabor United Methodist Church Facebook page. For more information, visit www.mttaborumc.org or call 336-765-5561.

Winston-Salem Friends Meeting, Quaker church, meets at Fairview Moravian Church, 6550 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem. Sunday morning live services begin with Unprogrammed (silent) Worship at 9:15, First-Day (Sunday) school for adults at 9:30, and Meeting for Worship at 10:30. Cheryl Bridges will bring the message Sunday. We are a community of seekers who meet together to worship God. We seek to express our faith through action, focusing on peace and social justice. We seek to find the Light of God in ourselves and in others. We seek to treat all persons with equality and integrity. For more information, email mary.simmons51@icloud.com.

New Philadelphia Moravian Church, 4440 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, will meet in-person at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday and will live stream its 9:30 service on Facebook.com/newphiladelphiamoravianchurch. You do not need a Facebook account to view the service. If you are unable to view the live stream, a recorded version is on the churchs YouTube page.

Ardmore United Methodist Church, 630 S. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, has a traditional service at 10 a.m. and a contemporary service at 11:15 Sunday. The Rev. Bob Kerr and the Rev. Katy Medinas Lockley welcome all and lead the worship service. A special family worship for children is held inside. Services are streamed on YouTube. For more information, go to ardmoreumc.org or call the office at 336-723-3695.

Lewisville Baptist Church, 125 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, invites all to celebrate Jesus Christ at 10 a.m. Sundays. Services are live streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Sunday school is at 9 a.m. There will be midweek activities for all ages at 6 p.m. Wednesdays. For more information, go to lewisvillebaptist.com.

Kingswood Church, 6840 University Parkway, Rural Hall, welcomes all to their Sunday services. Sunday school for all ages begins at 10 a.m. The traditional worship service begins at 11 and is led by the Rev. Mark Muckler. Weekly worship services, and other ministry related events, are also available online on the Kingswood Facebook page. For more information, call the church at 336-969-5437.

Olivet Moravian Church, 2205 Olivet Church Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday school at 9 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall and an inside worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The worship service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. For more information, call the church office at 336-924-8063.

Salem Creek Friends Meeting (Quakers) meets in the parsonage of Fries Memorial Moravian Church, 271 N. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem. The unprogrammed meeting for worship starts at 10 a.m. each Sunday. For more information, email clerk@salemcreekfriends.org.

Burkhead United Methodist Church, 5250 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, invites you for worship at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday. Sunday school classes begin at 9:15 and 9:30. The service is also available on the website and the Facebook page. For more information, go to www.burkheadumc.org or call 336-765-6590, ext. 3.

Konnoak Hills Moravian Church, 3401 Konnoak Drive, Winston-Salem, will have a worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The church receives a drive-thru food offering for Sunnyside Ministry each Sunday. Drop off non-perishable donations from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Primary needs are canned vegetables, crackers, pasta, rice, cereal, dry/powdered milk and bread. For more information, call 336-788-9321.

Union United Methodist Church, 8935 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, will have a Sunday worship service at 9:30 a.m. with Sunday school at 10:45. For those who cannot worship in person, the service is live streamed and archived on Facebook. Live and archived services may also be viewed on the churchs website, unionumclewisville.org.

Clemmons First Baptist Church, 3530 Clemmons Road, Clemmons, will have Sunday school at 9:15 a.m. There will be an in-person worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. David Pace will bring the message. The service will be live streamed on Facebook and YouTube. For more information, call 336-766-6486 or go to cfbctoday.org.

First Waughtown Baptist Church, 838 Moravia St., Winston-Salem, doors will open at 8 a.m. for Sunday school at 8:15 a.m. This weeks lesson is The faith of Ruth (Scriptural Reference  Ruth 1:6-18, 22; Key verse Ruth 1:16). The worship service begins at 9:45 with devotion and announcements. Senior Pastor Dennis W. Bishop will deliver the morning message and lead worshippers in Holy Communion. Masks are optional. Services are posted on YouTube, www.youtube.com (First Waughtown); Facebook, www.facebook.com/FirstWaughtown/; and the First Waughtown website, www.firstwaughtown.org. Services posted online are a one-week delay.

Home Moravian Church, 529 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, will have in-person and live stream worship at 10 a.m. Sunday. Bible discussion via Zoom and in-person will be held after the service using the adult programing link on the churchs website.

Unity Church of Winston-Salem, 108 Hewes St., Winston-Salem, will have a service at 11 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. Elizabeth Forrests message will be centered around, The Power of Faith.

Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, there will be Sunday school Bible study at 10 a.m. and morning worship at 11 a.m. Sunday. COVID guidelines are followed and masks are worn. Paul W. Hart is the pastor.

Pfafftown Christian Church, 3323 Transou Road, Pfafftown, invites everyone to worship in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. each Sunday. The Rev. Rodney Stilwell is the pastor, and the Rev. Timothy Shoaf is the minister of Music and Programs. Other events and ministries are listed online at www.pfafftownchristian.org. For more information, call 336-692-5214 or the church office at 336-924-9925.

New Friendship Baptist Church, 4258 Old Lexington Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday school at 9:15 a.m. A morning worship service will begin at 10:30 a.m. For more information, call the church office at 336-788-3112.

Clemmons Presbyterian Church, 3930 Clemmons Road, Clemmons, invites you to worship at 10 a.m. Sunday. The service will be in-person and live streamed on YouTube at youtube.com/ClemmonsPresbyterianChurch. For more information, go to www.clemmonspresbyterian.org or call 336-766-4631.

First Baptist Church of Stanleyville, 851 Ziglar Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday services at 8:45, 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. On Wednesday, a prayer and worship service is at 6:30 p.m. and Children in Action and Mission Friends are at 7 p.m. For more information, go to www.stanleyvillebaptist.com.

Rural Hall Christian Church, 280 Bethania-Rural Hall Road, Rural Hall, will hold the following in-person services on Sundays: The BLEND at 10 a.m. with Christian classes for all ages and congregational worship at 11 a.m. Youth ministries will continue at 6 p.m. Sundays, unless otherwise announced. For more information, go to RuralHallchurch.org and the churchs social media pages.

Shallowford Presbyterian Church, 1200 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, will have a service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. It will be in-person and live streamed on YouTube. For more information, go to www.spcnc.org or call 336-766-3178.

New Hope Church, 5125 Shattalon Drive, will have the following guest ministers: the Rev. Richard Buffkin on Dec. 3 and 24; the Rev. Andy Lambert on Dec. 10; the Rev. Lonnie Pittman on Dec. 17; the Rev. G. L. Brown on Dec. 31, and the Rev. Andy Lambert on Jan. 7. Worship services are at 11 a.m. Sundays. New Hope recently joined the Global Methodist Church and will be receiving an appointed minister in the new year.

Forsyth Park Baptist Church, 1600 S. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, has Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and a traditional worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday. Bible study is at 11 a.m. Thursday. The service can also be seen on the churchs Facebook page and a video of the service is available at https://forsythparkbaptistchurch.com. Bill Horton is the pastor.

Central Tabernacle Church, 715 Waughtown St., Winston-Salem, invites you to worship Sunday. Refreshments will be served during hospitality time at 9:30 a.m. Sunday school begins at 10. Morning worship and Junior Church begin at 11. Pastor Sandra Bovender will have the message What Christmas Means, Sunday. Wednesday night will be choir practice only, no Bible study.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4055 Robinhood Road, Winston-Salem, the 10:30 a.m. service Sunday will be held in-person, and also livestreamed at uufws.org/virtualworshipservice. Sundays topic will be Gifts from the Dark. The Forum will be at 9 a.m. Sunday. The topic will be Navigating Care Transitions. Dr. Mia Yang will talk about different levels of care, home, assisted living, and other types. For more information, go to www.uufws.org.

St. Philips Moravian Church, 911 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, is worshipping regularly in the brick church in Old Salem at 11 a.m. Sundays. All are welcome for traditional Moravian worship in the historically African American church.

Union Cross Baptist Church, 4350 High Point Road, Kernersville, invites you to Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and morning worship led by the Rev. Adam Woods at 11 a.m. each Sunday.

Bible Fellowship Baptist Church, 4950 Warner Road, Pfafftown, will have services at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. The topic at 11 a.m. during December will be Who experienced Joy on that First Christmas? The topic at 4 p.m. will focus on Christmas Memories. There will be Bible study at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The topic will be Bible Prophecies and their Fulfillment concerning Christs Birth. For more information, go to BFBCnow.org or call 336-462-4844.

Faith and Family Baptist Church, 105 Nathan Ave., Winston-Salem, schedule of services: Sunday worship services are at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sunday school is at 9:45 a.m. and the midweek service is at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The church live streams all services at www.facebook.com/faithandfamilybaptist. A Facebook account is not required to access the video, scroll down for the live stream. Archive services are available there if you are unable to watch live. For more information, contact Pastor Robert Hutchens at 336-782-3747.

Liberty Baptist Church, 1548 Old Hollow Road, Winston-Salem, invites you to join them for services. They offer Facebook live for all services on the Facebook page of Gary Styers. For their schedule of services and more information, go to www.libertybaptistnc.org.

Rural Hall Moravian Church, 7939 Broad St., Rural Hall, has in-person Sunday School for all ages at 10 a.m. Sundays, followed by worship service at 11 with the Rev. Andrew Craver. Worship services are also available via online streaming at https://www.youtube.com/user/RHMoravian. For more information, go to www.rhmc.org.

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 357 Old Hollow Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday school at 10 a.m. and worship with Pastor Emily Schlaman Larsen at 11 a.m. Sunday. The nursery is open. Weekly sermons are available on YouTube for people who prefer to join worship remotely. Search for: St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Winston Salem NC. For more information, go to www.standrewsnc.org.

First Christian Church, 2320 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, will have an in-person worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday. Childrens worship and youth worship are available. A noon-day prayer service will be held at noon Wednesday. Worship services are also available by online streaming at www.wearefcc.church. For more information, go to www.wearefcc.church or call the church at 336-722-2714.

St. Paul United Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, will live stream its 11 a.m. worship service Sunday at www.facebook.com/stpaulumcws/live. Facebook does not require an account for access to the page. Additional information regarding prayer services and Bible study may be found on the churchs website www.stpaulumcws.org or by calling the church at 336-723-4531.

Fundraisers

New Philadelphia Moravian Church, 4440 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, there will be a pop-up holiday fundraising sale for the benefit of the Amani Childrens Foundation, a local charity that supports New Life Homes, an orphanage in Kenya. The sale will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in the fellowship hall.

Clemmons Moravian Church, 3535 Spangenberg Ave., Clemmons, will have a Christmas Treasures Sale from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Gently used Christmas items, lights, ornaments and many other decorations will be available. Proceeds will benefit the Clemmons Food Pantry.

Bible Fellowship Baptist Church, 4950 Warner Road, Pfafftown, is accepting donations for its roof replacement project. Gifts may be made online at BFBCnow.org or mail to the church office at 4950 Warner Road, Pfafftown, 27040. For more information, call Pastor Loyd Taylor at 336-462-4844.

Unity Church of Winston-Salem, 108 Hewes St., Winston-Salem, is raising money for its HVAC system. Continual Love Offerings can be made at unityofws.org.

Special activities

Forest Edge Cearcall community held at Parkway United Church of Christ, 1465 Irving St., Winston-Salem, will have a winter solstice ritual gathering around a fire at 6 p.m. Dec. 21. Forest Edge Cearcall is an affiliate of the Wild Church Network.

Christmas activities

Ardmore Moravian Church, 2013 W. Academy St., Winston-Salem, will hold its Annual Christmas Candle Tea from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Tours will start every 15 minutes beginning at 5 p.m. Traditional Moravian crafts such as candle making, cookie making, tin ware, and Moravian star making will be demonstrated. Visitors will learn about the many symbols seen throughout the city every day and especially during the holiday season. One of the largest Moravian stars in the Southeast hangs in the church sanctuary where the tours begin. Admission is free. For more information, call 336-723-3444.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4055 Robinhood Road, Winston-Salem, will have Swing into Christmas, with the Winston-Salem Pops Chorus at 7 p.m. Friday.

Parkway United Church of Christ, 1465 Irving St., Winston-Salem, will celebrate the Advent season at 11 a.m. each Sunday with the theme The Conversation Became Flesh and Lives Among Us. Advent candle lighting, carols, and opportunities for embodiment will be present at each service.

College Park Church, 1701 Polo Road, Winston-Salem, Artisans Celebrate the Holidays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. There will be food trucks, bake sale, crafts and local artisans with the Triad Craft and Art Guild.

Ardmore Baptist Church, 501 Miller St., Winston-Salem, will have Keyboards at Christmas, A Christmas Concert of holiday favorites featuring five concert grand pianos, the majestic Reuter pipe organ, and 12 talented pianists. Performances will be 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. The concert is part of the Arts at Ardmore Series and is free. Tickets are required to attend and may be reserved by going to https://www.ardmorebaptist.org/keyboards-at-christmas/ or by calling the church office at 336-725-8767. A love offering will be received.

Union Cross Baptist Church, 4350 High Point Rd. Kernersville, will have a Chrismon Tree Lighting Service at 6 p.m. Sunday. A Service of Lessons and Carols will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 17. A Candlelight Communion Service will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 20.

Mount Carmel Methodist Church, 4265 Ebert Road, Winston Salem, will have a drive-thru live Nativity from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Dec. 9. There will be special music, and a prayer station where you can light luminaries for your loved ones. Free hot dogs will be given to people waiting in line on Friday. Use the bottom Clemmonsville Road entrance across from Circle K. The event is free. Donations will be accepted to benefit the New Beginnings Dinner Church outreach ministry.

Home Moravian Church, 612 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, will have its 94th Candle Tea through Dec. 9 in the Single Brothers House in Old Salem. Reservations are required for admission, this year. For more information or to make a reservation, go to HomeMoravian.org and click on Candle Tea 2023.

Pfafftown Christian Church, 3323 Transou Rd, Pfafftown, will present An Evening of Christmas Music by the chancel and handbell choirs and accompanied by members of the Winston-Salem Symphony. It will be at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 10 in the sanctuary, admission is free. Traditional and classical seasonal works will be performed. A reception will follow the performance. A nursery will be provided.

Mount Carmel Methodist Church, 4265 Ebert Road, Winston Salem, will have its free annual community Christmas dinner at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 13. The annual Christmas cantata will be performed during the 10 a.m. worship service Dec. 17. The Christmas Eve candlelight and communion service will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 24.

Parkway United Church of Christ, 1465 Irving St., Winston-Salem, will hold a vespers service of music, silence, and ritual at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 13. This service is designed for all to make room for self-care. There will be a hot beverage and snack following the service.

Shallowford Presbyterian Church, 1200 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, will present Martha Basset and Friends in an evening of Christmas song at 7 p.m. Dec. 14. Light refreshments will follow. Admission is free. A donation of $15 is suggested. For more information, call 336-766-3178 or go to www.shallowfordpresbyterian.org.

Union United Methodist Church, 8935 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, will present A Classical Christmas Concert featuring a string quartet by Elegant Ensembles. The concert is free and will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 17. Dinner will be served after the concert. Canned foods will be collected at the door. For more information, go to Facebook.com/UnionUMCLewisvilleNC, or the website at unionumclewisville.org.

Information for the Religion Calendar should be emailed to news@wsjournal.com by 3 p.m. the Wednesday before you want it to run. It can be mailed to Religion Calendar, Winston-Salem Journal, 418 N. Marshall St., #100, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.
Barb Ballard, owner of From Nebraska Gift Shop in Lincoln's Haymarket, is doing her part in the ongoing $3.1 million Phase 2 fundraising effort to restore, reinstall and maintain the Pershing mural within historic Wyuka Park.

Ballard is selling a limited number of 10- by 30-inch photographic prints of the Pershing mural (provided by Pioneer Printing) for $25. The frame-ready prints contain high-resolution, digitally enhanced images, originally photographed by a drone in February 2022. The prints depict the mural in its original installation and splendor. All proceeds from the limited sale of the prints will go to the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation to fund the Pershing mural's preservation effort.

"As I have had the opportunity to study the Pershing mural, I've become more aware of its significance to Nebraska in what it portrays of our cultural interests, and also abstractly incorporates a variety of our state's topographical features and historic elements," Ballard said.

Phase 2 of the mural fundraising project began on Give to Lincoln Day last spring. So far in 2023, donors to the project have committed nearly $1 million toward the $3.1 million needed to restore and reinstall the Pershing mural within Wyuka Park and provide funds for its future maintenance. During 2022, in Phase 1 of the project, Nebraskans contributed approximately $844,000 in only four months. The Phase 1 funds were used to carefully remove the mural from the Pershing Center before its scheduled demolition.

Liz Shea-McCoy, chair of the Pershing Mural Historic Preservation Committee, met recently with George Neubert, former Sheldon Art Gallery director and founder of Brownville's Flatwater Folk Art Gallery. Neubert was an early advocate for the mural's preservation.

"There is no question  the mural is a historical and cultural icon and worth the effort to salvage and save, Neubert said. The Pershing mural is a historic Nebraska landmark."

His words echo the community's sentiments and inspire the committee's continuing fundraising effort to preserve the Pershing mural for the benefit of generations to come, Shea-McCoy said.

Questions about the Pershing Mural Preservation Project can be directed to Liz Shea-McCoy at lizwshea@gmail.com or 402-430-5923.

Read more about the Pershing mural and see informative videos at www.nshsf.org/project/pershing-mural/.

The Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation accepts and manages donations for the project. Please note "Pershing Mural Project" in the memo line of your donation.

For more information about the 10" x 30" photographic prints of the Pershing mural at the From Nebraska Gift Shop, located at 803 Q St., visit https://fromne.com/ or call 402-476-2455.

UPDATE: The first set of prints were all sold; however, additional prints have been delivered.
There's guarded optimism that a collaborative effort by the Lincoln Airport and the Nebraska Attorney General's office will soon lead to the repayment of all remaining refunds to Red Way ticket buyers.

"We still need to see proof that it's happening, though," said John Olsson, chairman of the Lincoln Airport Authority. "It's one thing to hear about it. I'm going to hold out celebrating until we see the substantiation that the refunds have happened."

Olsson's statement came shortly after Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced on Friday that the last of the refunds, affecting about 670 people, are being processed.

As of Friday afternoon, there was still a smattering of people awaiting their refunds. The Attorney General's office said consumers should be receiving a confirmation that a refund has been issued, but the process may take a few days.

Olsson said he had heard from some people awaiting their refunds, and he cautioned them to wait until Saturday before taking action.

"I'm hearing that things are starting to flow," Olsson said. "We'll keep an eye on it. I'm going to give it the day to kind of see what happens."

He credits the end to the monthslong stalemate to a joint effort that started with a resolution by the airport authority that was followed by Hilgers getting involved at the state level.

"We knew (Hilgers) was applying pressure," Olsson said. "I think this was a good collaborative effort."

As of October, the failed airline, which went out of business in August after flying for less than three months, still owed about $450,000 to ticket holders for flights that never took place.

The airport authority passed a resolution at its October meeting to withhold payment for Red Way's final invoice until the refunds were made.

That's when Hilgers launched his investigation.

When it became apparent that the refunds were getting roadblocked by a business dispute, our office stepped in to ensure those refunds were processed efficiently and quickly, Hilgers said in a written statement. Getting consumers their hard-earned money back is a top priority for our office."

Lancaster County approved the final invoice payment to Red Way  $707,300  in October.

The payment was capped to not exceed the $3 million  $1.5 million each from the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County in American Rescue Plan Act funds  that was used to help launch the airline.

It was recently moved into a trust and will stay there until all of the refunds are received.

Photos: First Red Way flight departs from Lincoln Airport
A Grand Island man is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Friday to more than 50 years in federal prison for years of sexual abuse of children.

Scott Lee Meyer, 34, already was a convicted sex offender last year when law enforcement took a search warrant to the home he shared with Scott Simmons, who he'd met in a Nebraska prison while they both were serving sentences for child-sex offenses.

At Meyer's sentencing Friday, Federal Public Defender Jessica Milburn said she had represented a range of sexual offenders, some who expressed shame or confusion. One who kidnapped a girl who didn't think he'd done anything wrong.

"And I've had lots of other cases, lots and lots of these cases," she said.

Milburn said there was one distinction between Meyer and many of the others. When he went to prison in 2013 he thought maybe he could be cured and wanted treatment. But then he hooked up with Simmons at a time when he was especially vulnerable.

"He did want to be fixed, cured, something. And nobody really knows what that is. Nobody knows if it's treatment. If it's a physical treatment," Milburn said, referring to castration. "I think that's coming from him genuinely, which is different to me than what I've seen in many of these cases."

She said Meyer accepts that what he's done has affected so many lives and is so egregious, "so he knows prison is the end all, be all for him maybe for the rest of his life."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tessie Smith called it a very serious case deserving of a very serious sentence.

She said Meyer and Simmons produced images depicting child sexual abuse for around four years. And because they both were convicted sex offenders, they were cautious, sharing the images directly with people they knew or through the dark Internet, careful not to show their faces or their victims'.

They started showing up less than two years after Meyer's release from prison.

Smith said that after investigators served the search warrant Aug. 25, 2022, searches of Meyer's and Simmons' cellphones turned up more than 400 files of child sexual abuse they had produced of their victims, all within the previous four months.

They often used costumes to hide their identities and evade detection, Smith said.

"The abuse of these young children lasted for four years, and it was sadistic," she said.

Smith said the children said Simmons was more sadistic than Meyer, but Meyer was more grooming of them. They groomed their parents, too, paying for vacations and birthday parties and having sleepovers, to gain access to their children.

"Mr. Meyer, although repentant, is one of the more dangerous sex offenders to be sentenced by this court in recent years," Smith said.

She asked for a sentence that essentially equated to a life sentence.

"The defendant's past record shows that he's not able to respond to therapy very well. And he used cloaking methods to avoid detection this time," Smith said.

In almost a whisper, Meyer  who had pleaded guilty to charges of production of sexually explicit images of children and conspiracy to produce it  said it was a tragic case all around.

"I'm so sorry to the victims, to the family, to the community," he said.

Then, Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced him to 52 years in federal prison, which has no parole.

He said there were at least four children, ages 7 to 13, "that will never be the same again" that were victimized by Meyer and Simmons. And not just once or twice, but over a lengthy period of time.

"You were there, you groomed, you participated," the judge said.

In July, he sentenced 43-year-old Simmons to 60 years in federal prison.

There is no parole in federal prison.

Both also were ordered to pay $11,250 in restitution and a $9,000 special assessment, which will contribute to funds established for victims of these types of crimes.
Security forces for the 55th Wing fired shots at a fleeing vehicle Thursday night that tried to enter Offutt Air Force Base without authorization, according to a statement on the bases official social media accounts.

The vehicle tried to enter the base about 10 p.m. through the StratCom Gate, off of Capehart Road near the south end of base, the statement said.

Guards from the 55th Security Forces Squadron activated an automatic barricade to block entrance to the base. The vehicle turned around and left the gate area, and security forces fired their weapons at it, the posts said.

The base was placed under lockdown for about 30 minutes "out of an abundance of caution," the release stated.

Military and civilian workers at Offutt were alerted about the situation via email and telephone alerts. However, some workers who posted on Offutt's Facebook page said they received notices of the lockdown but not the all-clear, or vice versa.

The statement did not give a description of the vehicle or say whether local law enforcement pursued it after it left the base. It did say Offutt officials are working with the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office and the Bellevue Police Department as part of its investigation into the incident.

Sarpy County Sheriff's Capt. Brian Richards said the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations is handling the investigation and will assist if asked.

Trespassing and gate-running at Offutt is rare but not unheard-of. Offutt was placed under lockdown twice earlier this year, both times during on-base emergency exercises. In the first incident, on Feb. 10, the base was locked down for two hours following a trespassing report that turned out to be a hoax. In the second, on April 19, a 25-minute lockdown followed a report of loud noises on the base.

In 2012, Zachari Johnson, 21, of Lincoln, was shot and killed by a non-military police officer as he tried to drive a stolen car through Offutt's Kinney Gate. The shooting followed a 40-minute police chase that started in Gretna.

Photos: Offutt Air Force Base air shows through the years 2018 2018 2018 2018 2010 2010 2010 2010 2004 2001 2001 1999
On Jan. 17, 1920, the party was over  or so Americans thought. Turns out, the enactment of Prohibition was only the beginning of a decade long battle between Chicago's wets and drys, bootleggers and activists. There were speakeasies, booze raids, rum runners and crusaders. Despite constant enforcement, it became apparent the city would not stay sober. So because Prohibition is still perhaps Chicago's most infamous era of mayhem, here are the Tribune's historical photos that capture both the ruckus and the reform. Here, a crowd floods a liquor store in Chicago's Loop on Jan. 15, 1920, before Prohibition went into effect in the city. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

An out-of-control situation fostering criminality, coupled with heated division on enforcement and a sense that the federal government has lost its grip on the situation? If you were thinking about Americas current migrant crisis, that may be true. But these descriptions also refer to an era from 100 years ago: Prohibition.

While obviously immigration is not the same as illegal alcohol production, our attempt at prohibition against both produces the same effects. America does have a legal immigration system, but that is a facade. That system, which has not been updated since 1990, has limited allowances for legal immigrants, long paper-intensive processes and a backlog of 9 million cases that render it hollow.

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From 1920 until 1933, America embarked on what President Herbert Hoover described as a great social and economic experiment to ban the distribution, sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks. Prohibitions purpose was to protect families from the scourge of drunkenness, but it had unintended consequences including an explosion of smuggling, organized crime, an increase in the murder rate and, yes, and an out-of-control northern border.

With the passage of the 18th Amendment banning alcohol in 1919, former President William Howard Taft, who later became a Supreme Court justice, said: The business of manufacturing alcohol will go out of the hands of law-abiding members of the community and will be transferred to the quasi-criminal class.

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Prior to Prohibition, the term organized crime did not exist, but with the ban, the demand for illegal alcohol was so powerful that mob kingpins such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano quickly began filling the void, running illegal importation operations from Canada and pulling in as much $3.6 million per year in untaxed income, which would be about $62 million in todays dollars.

All these things are now true for immigration. In place of the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang of the Prohibition era, the Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation and Gulf cartels are the new Al Capones. Criminal syndicates charge fees ranging from $4,000 to $20,000 for human smuggling. Similar to the Prohibition era, these enterprises have teams that specialize in logistics, transportation, surveillance, stash houses and accounting  all supporting an industry whose revenues have soared to an estimated $13 billion today from $500 million in 2018, according to Homeland Security Investigations.

Like the Prohibition era, the illogical nature of our immigration laws has broken the federal government. There are more than 2 million asylum cases pending in U.S. immigration courts, more than 1 million work permits in need of processing and only 140,000 permanent legal immigrant visas allowed for individuals who want to work while America has millions of job openings. The federal government spends more on its immigration enforcement agencies than all other federal enforcement agencies combined, and what do we have to show for it?

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Prohibition did permit exceptions in the same way Americas current legal immigration does provide avenues, but in both cases, the public then, as the public now, bent those rules well beyond their intention to meet the demands of that time. During Prohibition, for example, the law allowed for medicinal use of alcohol. This exception quickly overwhelmed the medical profession as doctors pocketed an estimated $40 million for writing medicinal whiskey prescriptions. No less than Charles Walgreen, founder of Walgreens, intimated that his wealth was built on the medicinal alcohol exception. Philadelphians primarily got their alcohol from the chemical industry, where denatured alcohol produced under government permit for industrial uses could be diverted and made available for consumption within days.

Similarly, asylum laws were only meant for a small portion of individuals who are seeking asylum. Of the 1.3 million pending asylum cases, chances are only about 31% of them will get asylum, based on historical trends. Asylum is an exceptional remedy, just as medicinal alcohol was then, but in both situations, the exceptional quickly became the rule because they are essentially the only game in town.

What lessons can we learn from our failures then and now? First, repealing Prohibition did not suddenly make drinking entirely available no more than reforming our immigration laws would lead to open borders. A series of regulations after the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s led to closing hours, age limits, Sunday blue laws and a collection of geography-related prescriptions that kept bars and package stores away from schools, churches and hospitals. State licensing requirements forced legal sellers to live by codes that met the demands of the public while keeping them safe.

The same is true for immigration. Updating our immigration system with a much larger number of legal immigrants, a greater number of immigration pathways, faster temporary work visa processing, technological case management improvements and far more flexibility in increasing immigration numbers during good times and decreasing in bad would help as well. While expanding legal immigrant pathways, closing other pathways is critical, as are enforcing stringent asylum rules and increasing the likelihood of having an asylum claim heard.

In the end, American satirist Mark Twains adage was correct: History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The rhymes of our failure on Prohibition can be useful for our current immigration crisis.

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Christopher Richardson is an immigration attorney, a historian and a former U.S. diplomat. He is also chief operating officer of BDV Solutions, a labor solutions consulting firm.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Tyler Bartolome of Lincoln is a senior at Drake university with four majors: Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology; Mathematics; Biology; and Chemistry.

He is among 12 students from throughout the U.S. named by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance to the George J. Mitchell Scholar Class of 2025. Nearly 350 individuals applied for the dozen scholarships, according to Serena Wilson, program director.

Trina Vargo, the program's founder, noted that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Alliance, the scholarship program, and the Good Friday peace agreement. That agreement was chaired by Senator Mitchell.

As one of the countrys most prestigious scholarship programs, it sends future American leaders to Ireland for a year of graduate study. This year's scholars will begin their studies in Ireland and Northern Ireland in September 2024.

It's safe to say that Bartolome is a classic over-achiever. He is interested in using biotechnology research and international public policy to address climate change, and he won a highly competitive Barry Goldwater Scholarship for his research and academic achievements.

He led Drake Universitys Semi-Passive Algae Rooted Carbon Caption (SPARCC) team to compete in the international OpenAir Carbon Removal Challenge, where they were the sole U.S. team in the finals.

Bartolome has conducted successful biotechnology research as an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Drake University and Johns Hopkins University.

As the first two-term president of the Drake Chapter of Beta Beta Beta, an honor society for the biological sciences, Bartolome and his team doubled the size and funding of the organization. He is also president and founder of The Oral Record Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that collects and curates "oral histories" of individuals who have experienced military conflict, to better understand the effect that major historical events have on individuals.

In his free time, he trains for triathlons, studies Arabic and plays the mandolin.

Bartolome will study Biotechnology at University College Cork.
This year, National Wreaths Across America Day will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16, at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, as well as at more than 4,100 participating locations across the country. Twenty-one thousand fallen service members are resting at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, and Wreaths Across Americas mission is to honor every single one.

National Wreaths Across America Day is an annual event that takes place each December, but the organizations mission to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach the next generation the value of freedom is a year-round one that brings together communities and families all over the country.

Wreaths Across America is successful year after year thanks to the help of thousands of volunteers and sponsors. Every $17 sponsorship received not only honors an American hero with the placement of a fresh balsam veteran's wreath in December, but it supports the year-round program throughout the country.

Some of these new and existing free programs include:

TEACH Program with downloadable lesson plans and service-based learning for youth of all ages.

The Mobile Education Exhibit, a museum on wheels that travels the country sharing the mission and creating free events for the community while serving as a welcome home unit for Vietnam War veterans.

WAAs veteran outreach efforts include partnerships with veteran service organizations working to support living veterans and their families, nationwide. WAA offers resources and access to support and hosts open discussions about important topics impacting this community via Wreaths Across America Radio.

The National Museum and Gold Star Family History and Hospitality House are located at the National Wreaths Across America Headquarters in Columbia Falls, Maine. These exhibits offer guests an opportunity to learn more about the mission while experiencing the many stories of service, sacrifice and success shared with the program over the last 15 years.

The Remembrance Tree Program is a free program that allows individuals to create a replica dog tag for a loved one who served and select a tree to hang that tag in the balsam tip lands in Columbia Falls, Maine, where Wreaths Across America is headquartered. Every three years, the tree will be tipped to collect the balsam used to make veterans wreaths for placement on National Wreaths Across America Day.

Additionally, there are 13 local sponsorship groups supporting the mission at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery. These groups represent local charities, veteran service organizations and programs giving back to the local community throughout the year.

Since 2007, Wreaths Across Americas $5 pay-back group sponsorship program has resulted in more than $22 million in contributions being made to organizations around the country, enabling them to provide care for active-duty service members, veterans and their families.

There are many ways you can help support Wreaths Across Americas mission. To sponsor a wreath, find a sponsorship group to support in your community, or find details for volunteers wanting to participate at the event, please visit wreathsacrossamerica.org.

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.
MONDAYAl-Anon: 8 p.m., Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 3350 Lathrop Ave.

Retired Involved Nurses Group: 11:30 a.m., Crystal Bay, 3900 N. Main St. Lunch is at noon. The cost of membership is $15 and lunch is $15. A business meeting will follow. For more information or reservations, call Marge Orth, secretary, 262-884-0742.

WEDNESDAYCaledonia Senior Card Club: Sheepshead, for ages 55 and older, noon to 3 p.m., Franksville Memorial Park, 9614 Northwestern Ave., Franksville. For more information, call 414-856-9550.

Kiwanis Club of West of Racine: 7:30 a.m., in-person at Living Faith Lutheran Church, 2915 Wright Ave. Kiwanis is an international organization dedicated to serving the children of the world. To attend a meeting, contact Shirley Meyer, membership chair, at 262-260-8101 or email aquashirl4@yahoo.com.

FRIDAYRacine Founders Rotary Club: 7 a.m., Racine Country Club, 2401 Northwestern Ave.

DAILY/OTHERSCaledonia Historical Society Meeting: 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Franksville Park, 9614 Northwestern Ave. The meeting is open to the public. There will be no meetings December through March. https://caledoniahistoricalsociety.org.

Overeaters Anonymous: 7 p.m. Monday and Thursday, Living Faith Lutheran Church, 2915 Wright Ave., a free fellowship group for all eating disorders using the 12 steps and 12 traditions. For more information call 262-652-5635.

Racine Duplicate Bridge Club: Each week two ACBL-sanctioned duplicate bridge games are played in Racine  at 12:15 p.m. Monday and Friday at The Lanes, 6501 Washington Ave., Mount Pleasant. People must have proof of COVID-19 vaccination to play. Call Henry Kensler, club manager, at 262-652-6173 for reservations. Recent winners are:

Nov. 24: Lee Petzold and Maryjoy Madrigrano, first place; George Urquhart and Janet Urquhart, second place; Donald Urquhart and Paul Schroeder, third place.

Nov. 27: George Urquhart and Donald Urquhart, first place; Mary Matthews and Henry Kensler tied for second/third with Maryjoy Madrigrano and Lee Petzold.

Lighthouse Quilters Guild: Open to quilters of all skill levels, 7 p.m., on the last Monday of each month at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 322 Ohio St. For more information, lighthousequiltersguild.com.

Racine Welcome Club: Drop in coffee 9-11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 8, at the Milaegers, 4838 Douglas Ave. The group is open to women interested in making new friends, learning about community resources, and being involved in philanthropic and social activities. Call 262-994-0957 for more information.

Racine Catholic Womans Club: The Racine Catholic Womans Club will hold its monthly luncheon meeting at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 9, at Infusinos Banquet Hall, 3201 Rapids Drive. The guest speaker will be Ewa Barczyk, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee associate provost & library director, emeritus. The topic of her discussion is To Honor Mary: Polish-American Churches and Shrines. For more information, call 262-758-6187 or 262-632-8960.

Ladies New Heart Luncheon: The Ladies New Heart Luncheon is scheduled for noon, Tuesday, Dec. 12, at Parkway Chateau, 12304 75th St., Kenosha. The speaker is Sue Childers, who will discuss G-L-O for Jesus. The cost is $14 and no child care is provided. To register, call Nancy 262-914-1801 or Kathy 262-653-0503.

Racine Art Guild: The Racine Art Guild will meet from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 14 at Wustum Museum, 2519 Northwestern Ave. The meeting is a pot luck dinner and will include a special presentation by artist Sue Horton, the winner of this years Juried Show.

Racine NAACP: A membership is scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 23. at the Dr. John Bryant Center, 601 Caron Butler Drive, Racine.
1. Yes. More than 70% of the downtown buildings are occupied; the area is thriving now.

2. Yes. With the new E-Center , a brewery and the county annex moving in, its on the rise.

3. No. There may be a lot of new businesses, but foot traffic is still slow on most days.

4. No. Its improving, but the issues of crime and homelessness are still major obstacles.

5. Unsure. The area seems to be rebounding, but its hard to say if the trend will continue.

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In public, cities and airlines talk like partners. But when it comes to spiffy new airports, their stakeholder interests mostly are in opposition.

Cities, which usually own the airport, want prestigious gateways and world-class architecture. They want jobs from construction contracts going to favored parties. They want to fill the concourse with restaurants and retail, pushing the gates away as far as they can so that captive passengers spend sales tax-generating money on local eateries and the like, even though those places are mostly licensing agreements with the huge international concessionaires that rake in the biggest bucks. And, of course, they want the airlines to pay for all those fountains and sculptures, the indoor trees, the soundscapes and the fake parks.

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And what do the airlines themselves want? Their needs are far, far simpler.

They want low costs per emplaned passenger, or CPE, an industry standard measurement of how much it costs airlines to use an airport. And they want efficient operations  the ability to move passengers, especially connecting passengers, off and onto planes that can leave and arrive on time.

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And the passengers themselves? A bit of both, certainly, but their interests are more closely aligned with the airlines interests.

Most people dont care about fountains. They want convenient, nonstop flights, ideally lots of them, and low fares. So when the Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that United and American airlines were balking at the ever-mounting cost of OHares so-called Global Gateway program, even though they had signed on to the idea during the Rahm Emanuel administration, we were far from surprised.

In fact, American had long been talking to us about their unease with the plan, especially since wed already noted that the huge carrier appeared to be quietly dropping flights in Chicago and moving them to Charlotte and Phoenix.

When they met with us during the summer, they came armed with data. In 2022, the CPE at Charlotte was $4.13. In Phoenix, $5.36. Dallas/Fort Worth: $12.19. And at ORD? It was $25.98, even before the big Global Gateway push. At New Yorks rebuilt LaGuardia Airport (where the dancing fountains play New York, New York), it was $25.91 and rising. At JFK, it was a whopping $32.61.

Those numbers explain why American does not have hubs in New York, despite its size, and also why Charlotte, a city only one-third the size of Chicago, has an incredible seven times the number of American Airlines flights than its actual inhabitants can support. Thats because most everyone in CLT is connecting, and people dont mind much where they connect as long as, you guessed it, the fares are low and flights ample and convenient.

CLT is not the fanciest airport in the world, but its cheap and American rewards it with flights. DFW costs a bit more at $12.19, but its a huge metro area with good weather to boot. And thats still less than half of what American pays at OHare. Even before any Global Gateway reinvention.

The simple reality here is that Chicago has to compete on cost. Otherwise, airlines will just move their flights to competing cities, many of which have real systemic advantages over Chicago, with its high labor costs, onerous new potential requirements in terms of leave and tipped wages, and tough winters.

Ribbon-cutting politicians and those who try to please them usually fail to understand these realities, which explains, along with mergers, why airports like St. Louis (once a massive TWA hub) and Pittsburgh (once a massive U.S. Airways hub with an entire mall in the airport) suddenly found themselves with acres of empty restaurants and failing retail.

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Airlines also can move their headquarters. The airline bloggers we follow, many of whom have excellent sources, have been speculating for months that Chicagos hometown airline, United, plans to move its headquarters, perhaps to Denver (2022 CPE, $10.48). United consistently has denied any such plan, but anyone who thinks this is not a potential negotiating tactic at this high-stakes moment is a fool.

And lets be crystal clear: Mayor Brandon Johnson has to keep United headquartered in Chicagoland. Thats a lot more important than any architectural plan. Losing a corporate citizen of that magnitude, and with that history, would be a disaster.

So what to do now? Rather than play some kind of hardball saying that the airlines already had signed on to the plan, Johnsons aviation team should figure out a way to cut airlines costs.

We have our issues with the decision to make Terminal 5 (now the home of Delta and Southwest) as much a domestic terminal as an international one, but that ship has sailed. Whats in play is what happens in Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

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Right now, there are no customs or immigration facilities in those terminals, which means United and American have to pay to tow their empty planes from Terminal 5, where all international flights arrive, to Terminals 1 and 3 respectively, so as to ease the journey of connecting passengers. The airlines hate doing that, and international arrivers at OHare mostly have to schlep on the train to connect, a lousy chore when youre tired. So it makes perfect sense to build new international facilities in what was Terminal 2. The airlines are happy to pay for that because they see the benefit, as well as the updated space for lounges for their premium passengers.

But theyre much less happy to pay for what they call an underground city, a massively expensive subterranean world thats part of an original plan that also builds new gates the airlines do not now think they need. They should know. Theyd prefer a simpler, faster tunnel, like the existing Terminal 1 at ORD for United, or what American now has at JFK.

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Chicagos OHare, one of the very few dual hubs in the world, is clearly at a crucial nexus. Wed love to see an airport of which we all can be proud, but we maintain that it cannot be some kind of unrealistic vanity project for the city, nor a politicized trophy. We think the great architect Jeanne Gang and others can scale back some of the expense of their aging plans, reflecting these new financial realities, and still design for us an impressive dual-hub airport. An airport that could be further expanded in line with the demands of its customers. Not its operator.

When Chicagoans and suburbanites fly out of OHare, they care most about reasonable fares, efficient operations, frequent departures and a wide choice of nonstop domestic and international destinations. They do not want to pay the price for diminished competition, and they sure as heck dont want to have to connect through Charlotte or Denver.

But if Chicago gets on its high horse here about past commitments, thats a clear and present danger. The city has far less leverage than it seems to think.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
KEARNEY  Make a wish and blow out the candles. On Sunday, Kearney will be officially 150 years old.

Throughout the year, the Buffalo County Historical Societys Trails and Rails Museum has celebrated that sesquicentennial with speakers, events and a street party. In June, it opened a time capsule that had been buried in 1973.

Today Kearney has 33,750 people, according to the 2020 Census. It is Nebraskas fifth largest city.

It is exactly halfway  1,733 miles  between New York and San Francisco. Partly due to its location along I-80, it has become a center for statewide meetings, conventions and more, resulting in a thriving tourist industry.

It excels in the arts. Its history is told at The Archway, a museum that, literally, spans I-80. It has a wealth of city parks, with state parks and recreation areas nearby. Bike trails cut through the city, too.

It even has a sister city in Opava, Czech Republic.

In the beginning

Kearny was incorporated on Dec. 3, 1873. Notice the spelling of the name. The addition of the second e in Kearney is blamed on post office error.

It was named for Gen. Steven Watts Kearny, a distinguished soldier who made significant contributions in the Mexican-American War, especially the conquest of California.

Kearny, who married a stepdaughter of William Clark, leader of the Corps of Discovery, is is also the father of the U.S. Cavalry.

He died of yellow fever on Oct. 31, 1848, the same year a fort was constructed on the current site of Fort Kearny State Historical Park to protect westward pioneers.

Great American desert

This areas history began long before the fort was built. For centuries, this region was controlled by the Pawnee, according to the Buffalo County Historical Society.

The first white men in this area were said to be members of a Spanish expedition led by Lt. Col. Pedro De Villasur. They were the victims of an Indian ambush on Aug. 13, 1720, where the Loup and the Platte rivers meet.

The area was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. In the winter of 1812-13, Robert Stuart came down the Platte on his way east from the Astoria Fur Trading settlement in Oregon.

In 1824, William H. Ashley outfitted an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. That group  including 25 men, 50 pack horses and a wagon, came through what is now Kearney around Dec. 1, 1824.

Just four years earlier, in 1820, an exploring party led by Major Stephen Long began a trek across Nebraska. They labeled this vast area part of the Great American Desert.

In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his party passed through on the north side of the Platte on their way to the Great Salt Lake. Hence the name the Mormon Trail. They held what could be the first formal religious services as they camped on the site of Kearney.

One year later, in 1848, the Army established a military post at Fort Kearny to protect travelers on the Overland trails.

A townsite

It was the railroad that selected Kearnys location. In 1870, the South Platte Land Company acquired 1,473 acres of land that included the junction point of the Union Pacific and the Burlington railroads. The cost was $3 an acre.

In 1871, the Rev. D. N. Smith, an agent for the townsite department of the Burlington Railway Co., selected that junction as the site for a town.

By 1872, enough people were living here to begin to organize the village of Kearny Junction. It became official on Dec. 3, 1873.

The town site was laid out by a Methodist minister, the Rev. Asbury Collins. He and his wife Louisa are considered the first settlers.

The first child born in the city was Frank Kearney Clark, the son of Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Clark

The power of water

Gibbon was the first county seat of Buffalo County, but in 1874, voters decided it should be moved to Kearney. The Union Pacific Railroad donated the site for the first county courthouse. It was completed in 1886.

In 1890, George Washington Frank, a banker from Corning, Iowa, moved to Kearney. He became president of the Frank Improvement Company and built a 16-mile canal from the Platte River to Kearney, where it formed Kearney Lake and provided water to generate electricity. This led to the electric streetcar system, the first in Nebraska and the second west of the Mississippi,

Franks house is still standing today at the west end of the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus.

By 1892, Kearney was booming. An editorial in the Omaha Bee from Jan. 24, 1892, noted that in many aspects, Kearney is far in advance of any other city of her population on either side of the Atlantic.

It added, She enjoys the cheapest and more perfect electric illumination of any city on the continent, and noted with the electric streetcars, plus her inexhaustible supply of water for domestic use and firefighting, Nebraska can justly feel proud of what may truthfully be called the gem of the Platte Valley.

Other firsts

So much has happened since those early days, including the establishment of Kearney State College (Normal School) in 1903 and Good Samaritan Hospital in 1924.

The Kearney Hook & Ladder Co., a firefighting outfit, was organized in 1883, in the days of man-drawn fire carts and bucket brigades

The first school and first newspaper shared a building in 1972. The first airport was built by the federal government as a B-29 airbase. It was conveyed to the city in 1950. The citys first sewage plant opened in 1961.

Since then, the city has added a library, parks, more churches, radio and a television station, even the Midway Amusement Park. Kearney has been the site of the annual Buffalo County Fair since 1884.

There have been grasshoppers, tornadoes and blizzards, too.

On the citys 125th birthday, then-Mayor Pete Kotsiopolous wrote. The most important asset the city has is its people. Aggressive leadership, far-sighted planning, and a willingness of citizens to volunteer their precious time to serve any need of the city will continue to be our priceless assets.

All that is still true as Kearney begins its second 150 years.
CPKC Holiday Train

Here's where the Holiday Train will stop in the area this year:

Dec. 5

Tomah, Wis.: The train is scheduled to arrive at the Amtrak Depot, located at 205 North Superior Ave., at 5:25 p.m. The event will take place from 5:30 to 6 p.m.

Sparta, Wis.: The train is scheduled to arrive on the corner of South Water Street and Milwaukee Street, on the south side of the CPKC tracks at 6:40 p.m. The event will take place from 6:50 to 7:20 p.m.

La Crosse, Wis.: The train is scheduled to arrive at the Amtrak Station, located at 601 Saint Andrew Street, at 8:25 p.m. The event will take place from 8:30 to 9 p.m.

Dec. 6

Rochester, Minn.: The train is scheduled to arrive at 1605 Civic Center Drive NW at 1 p.m. The event will take place from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.

Dec. 8

Lansing, Iowa: The train is scheduled to arrive at the ball field on South Front Street between North Second and Dodge streets at 3:50 p.m. The event will take place from 4 to 4:30 p.m.

New Albin, Iowa: The train is scheduled to arrive at the parking lot adjacent to the CPKC tracks on Railroad Avenue between Ross Avenue and Oak Street at 5:15 p.m. The event will take place from 5:30 to 6 p.m.

La Crescent, Minn.: The train is scheduled to arrive at the Commodore Food and Spirit parking lot, located at 215 South Chestnut Street, at 7:15 p.m. The event will take place from 7:30 to 8 p.m.

Dec. 9

Winona, Minn.: The train is scheduled to arrive at the Amtrak Station, located at 65 East Mark Street, at 3:30 p.m. The event will take place from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m.

Wabasha, Minn.: The train is scheduled to arrive at the CPKC Depot, located at 500 East Second Street, at 5:30 p.m. The event will take place from 5:45 to 6:15 p.m.
NEW YORK  Amazon finally has its answer to ChatGPT.

The tech giant said this past week that it will launch Q  a business chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence.

The announcement, made in Las Vegas at an annual conference the company hosts for its AWS cloud computing service, represents Amazons response to rivals whove rolled out chatbots that have captured the publics attention.

San Francisco startup OpenAIs release of ChatGPT a year ago sparked a surge of public and business interest in generative AI tools that can spit out emails, marketing pitches essays, and other passages of text that resemble the work of humans.

That attention initially gave an advantage to OpenAIs chief partner and financial backer, Microsoft, which has rights to the underlying technology behind ChatGPT and has used it to build its own generative AI tools known as Copilot. But it also spurred competitors like Google to launch their own versions.

These chatbots are a new generation of AI systems that can converse, generate readable text on demand and even produce novel images and video based on what theyve learned from a vast database of digital books, online writings and other media.

According to Amazon, Q can do things like synthesize content, streamline day-to-day communications and help employees with tasks like generating blog posts. It said companies can also connect Q to their own data and systems to get a tailored experience that's more relevant to their business.

The technology is currently available for preview.

While Amazon is ahead of rivals Microsoft and Google as the dominant cloud computing provider, its not perceived as the leader in the AI research thats led to advancements in generative AI.

A recent Stanford University index that measured the transparency of the top 10 foundational AI models, including Amazons Titan, ranked Amazon at the bottom. Stanford researchers said less transparency can make it harder for customers that want to use the technology to know if they can safely rely on it, among other problems.

The company, meanwhile, has been forging forward. In September, Amazon said it would invest up to $4 billion in the AI startup Anthropic, a San Francisco-based company that was founded by former staffers from OpenAI.

The tech giant also has been rolling out new services, including an update for its popular assistant Alexa so users can have more human-like conversations and AI-generated summaries of product reviews for consumers.

ChatGPT is landing kids in the principal's office, but not because of cheating ChatGPT is landing kids in the principal's office, but not because of cheating One challenge has been a dearth of training and guidance on how to deal with AI More than 1 in 3 teachers know of a student whose online activity has drawn the attention of law enforcement; meanwhile, digital filtering presents a negative academic impact
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor answers questions from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, April 26, 2013, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

News that Sandra Day OConnor, the Supreme Courts first woman justice, had died Friday at age 93 brought back fond memories in these offices of her gracious  and well-attended  visit 10 years ago to our Editorial Board.

Although retired since 2006, she politely disappointed us by holding to the high courts practice of refusing to comment on decisions made during her time there or after.

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Im an old lady with a short memory, she said.

That self-deprecating crack took on new poignancy in 2018 when she announced that shed been diagnosed with the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimers disease. Her husband John OConnor had died of complications of Alzheimers in 2009.

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Yet, she showed no difficulty in remembering the frustrations of life decades ago when she was trying to get started as a lawyer. Back then, the self-described cowgirl from the Arizona desert called 40 firms that had advertised on the Stanford Law Schools bulletin boardsand didnt get a single interview.

She finally was hired by a county attorney after she offered to work for no pay and shared a space with the secretary. I loved the work, she said with a smile.

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Better offers would come later, most memorably in 1981 when, after only two years on Arizonas Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the nations highest court, fulfilling his campaign promise to name the nations first female Supreme Court justice.

The Senate confirmed her unanimously. Those were less partisan days, especially when it came to the judiciary. But the lack of opposition signaled confidence she would be a consensus-builder, grounding her decisions in her interpretation of the Constitution, not ideology.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor visits with Chicago Tribune employees after meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board in 2013. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Did she succeed? On some of the most contentious issues of our times  abortion, voting rights affirmative action, sex discrimination  she proved to be an equal-opportunity offender to those on the left and the right. Conservatives, for example, expected a Reagan appointee to come down on their side more often. Instead, OConnors conservatism was pragmatic, seeking to build public confidence in what after all is our least democratic branch of government, with lifetime appointments to boot.

You could hear her appeal to reason in her confirmation hearings when she was asked what kind of legacy she would like to leave. Ah, the tombstone question, she said. I hope it says, Here lies a good judge. 

She was that and far more. A trailblazer. A quintessentially American success story. And an excellent justice.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Looks like there might not be a new, eight-duplex development in the Somerset subdivision.

The Lake Geneva Plan Commission denied a request by Lakeside Living LLC, Fontana, that would have allowed the project.

Lakeside Living wanted to put four duplexes on the north side of Tiffany Drive, and four on the south. The project site was two parcels at 1120 S. Lake Shore Drive.

The land was zoned for single family urban use. Lakeside Living wanted two family/townhouse residential use.

At a Nov. 13 joint meeting of the Lake Geneva Plan Commission and City Council, the commission unanimously denied the request.

Since the commission denied it, plans will not move forward at this time, according to Jackie Mich, of city planning firm Vandewalle & Associates.

Stephen Greenberg, of Lakeside Living, requested a continuance of the item due to a family emergency. When this was announced by Lake Geneva Mayor Charlene Klein, several audience members said no and come on.

The council unanimously decided to continue with the public hearing on the request.

Plan Commission member Joel Hoiland said Greenberg could have at least sent a representative from his company or the law firm that he is working with to attend the meeting on his behalf.

I regret he had some family emergency. I hope it isnt significant, Hoiland said. He contacted the city that he could not be here, he probably could have contacted someone from his law firm or someone else to be here and represent his interest.

Several of the Plan Commission and City Council members said they were disappointed that the developers had missed the deadline to apply for a comprehensive plan amendment, which was June 30.

Mich said the developers were not informed that they needed to make the request until after the deadline.

Its my belief that, had the applicant known about the need to amend the comprehensive plan from the start, they would have submitted the application on time, but we didnt inform him until after that deadline had passed, Mich said. So it was my recommendation that we would allow them into this years cycle.

Several of the City Council and Plan Commission members expressed concerns about the proposed development during the joint meeting.

Alderwoman Linda Frame believes the duplexes would go in an area that is predominantly single-family homes, and it would increase flooding in the area, which already has drainage issues.

Its just going to be one, big muddy mess, Frame said.

Alderwoman Peg Esposito said the duplex units are not the type of development residents would want for that area.

Every time we hear from citizens, theyre saying dont tear down the trees, dont put in big houses, Esposito said. They keep telling us to keep the small town charm, and I think thats really what these people are saying and its our responsibility to do that.

Hoiland said he asked Lakeside Living representatives at a previous meeting if they had considered constructing a single-family development instead, but they indicated that a single-family development would not be economically feasible for them.

He also feels the multi-family duplexes would not fit in that area.

I think its been very clear that this is not compatible, Hoiland said. I welcome him to come back with a proposal for single-family homes.

It doesnt fit

Several residents who live in or near the Somerset subdivision presented their concerns about the proposed development during the hearing.

Dennis Habenich, of Lake Geneva, is concerned about the trees that would have to be removed for the development. He said the trees provide a buffer and a gateway entrance for the Somerset subdivision.

There are sugar maples, there are red oaks and if the city approves this most of these are going to be wiped out, Habenicht said. There are going to be certain pockets in the far corner that may remain but, by and large, all of these are going to be gone within a few years of construction.

Michael Lynch, of Lake Geneva, feels there would be less available parking in the subdivision because of the proposed development. He said the multi-family units would not be a good fit with the single-family homes.

Nobody wants it, Lynch said. It doesnt fit.

Kelly Happ, of Lake Geneva, is not in favor of multi-family homes being built in the area.

This plan is an insult to neighbors all up and along South Lake Shore Drive as well as the whole Lake Geneva community, Happ said. The Lake Geneva community has spoken loud and clear, do not change the comprehensive plan to accommodate this builder.

Susan Steele, member of the Geneva Lake Conservancy Board, said she and other conservancy members feel the proposed development would negatively impact the woodland habitat and wildlife of that area, as well as Geneva Lake.

This compromises all three, and thats what we would like to make sure that you understand, Steele said.
Possession of up to 14 grams of marijuana would be decriminalized under a bipartisan Wisconsin bill announced Friday.

The proposal, which was announced in a memo seeking legislative support and mirrors a bill the same authors released in 2021, would almost certainly be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, but its highly unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Possession of small amounts of marijuana should not subject people to serious penalties, bill authors Reps. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers; Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee; and Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said in the memo.

The authors noted North Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Nebraska have removed jail time for people caught with small amounts of marijuana.

It is time for Wisconsin to join the national discussion, they said.

The proposal would reduce the penalty for possessing up to 14 grams of marijuana from a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in jail to a $100 fine.

Current law allows repeat offenders to be charged with a felony. This proposal would eliminate counting a previous charge for possession of 28 grams of marijuana or less.

The proposal would require local governments to fine people found to possess marijuana no less than $100 and no more than $250. That would raise the penalties in some areas like Madison, which has decriminalized possession of up to 28 grams, or Rock County, which calls for a $1 fine for possession of less than 28 grams.

The effort is unlikely to pass the Legislature. The 2021 version of the proposal didnt get a public hearing in either chamber. Wisconsin Republicans continue to work on a slim medical marijuana proposal that would allow non-smokable versions of the substance for serious conditions like cancer and multiple sclerosis.

This morning's headlines: Henry Kissinger; lead pipes; Israel-Hamas truce extended
Leaders of four major global wire services meet to discuss cooperation in times of change

Xinhua) 09:15, December 02, 2023

President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua, Reuters Head of Agency Sue Brooks, Vice President of the Associated Press (AP) YK Chan, and Michael Mainville, member of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Executive Committee and AFP Asia-Pacific regional director, meet in Beijing to discuss cooperation to tackle pressing challenges facing media in times of change, Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of four major international wire services whose news products reach three-fourths of the global population met on Friday to discuss cooperation to tackle pressing challenges facing media in times of change.

The meeting among leaders of Xinhua News Agency, Reuters, The Associated Press (AP), and Agence France-Presse (AFP) was the first of its kind. Fu Hua, president of Xinhua, hosted the event in downtown Beijing.

"The global media industry is undergoing a significant transformation," Fu said, citing factors such as technological innovation that is reshaping the industry, and the spread of fake news that is challenging journalistic ethics.

He proposed establishing a high-level dialogue and cooperation mechanism of the four within the framework of the World Media Summit (WMS).

"By engaging in such dialogues, we can inspire one another and promote mutual development," Fu said.

Reuters Head of Agency Sue Brooks said the content produced by the four reaches around 75 percent of the global population.

"Therefore, it is very important that the information we gather and the journalism that we produce tells the world the truth and is trusted by them," she said.

The executives agreed that international news agencies should work together and stay committed to providing users with objective, fair and accurate information.

"We view collaboration with fellow news agencies as paramount," said AP Vice President YK Chan.

"Collaboration allows us to tell important stories, keep our journalists safe and address more pressing challenges facing our industry," he said.

The topics discussed at Friday's meeting ranged from coping with the emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and combating fake news, to improving ways to better protect journalists covering wars and natural disasters.

President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua, Reuters Head of Agency Sue Brooks, Vice President of the Associated Press (AP) YK Chan, and Michael Mainville, member of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Executive Committee and AFP Asia-Pacific regional director, meet in Beijing to discuss cooperation to tackle pressing challenges facing media in times of change, Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Fu suggested mutual humanitarian assistance during news reporting in conflict zones, natural disasters and other dangerous areas, and proposed building on existing text and photo service cooperation to expand collaboration, particularly in video content commercial distribution.

On meeting the challenges brought by technological advancement, media leaders concurred that while the application of the technologies can aid in news collection and dissemination, it should not replace the media industry itself, nor should it compromise news ethics and authenticity.

Michael Mainville, member of the AFP Executive Committee and AFP Asia-Pacific regional director, said while AI can help media outlets boost productivity, "we believe it is also very important to discuss the principles of how we will use artificial intelligence."

Fu suggested that the four global wire services deepen exchanges and communication while conducting operational training in international media development trends, cutting-edge media technology applications, and combating fake news through information verification.

He said that in recent years, Xinhua, Reuters, the AP and AFP have proactively adapted, innovated, and utilized technological achievements, standing at the forefront of media transformation.

Friday's meeting took place before the fifth WMS to be held in the cities of Guangzhou and Kunming.

Themed "Boosting global confidence, promoting media development," the fifth WMS, which runs from Dec. 2 to 8, gathers over 450 participants from 101 countries and regions, including representatives of 197 mainstream media outlets, think tanks, government agencies, diplomatic missions to China, as well as UN agencies and international organizations.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Sofia Salinas walks along the fenced-in area that was to become a migrant tent encampment near her home in the Brighton Park neighborhood, Dec. 14, 2023, in Chicago. Salinas and her neighbors are concerned about the presence of ground chemicals on the site that prevented the encampment from opening. She said all of the construction that had been completed was taken down fully by the previous night. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

After weeks of pressure, Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration dropped a voluminous environmental assessment of a proposed tent camp for migrants late Friday that said contaminants are being removed from the former Southwest Side industrial site.

The nearly 800-page report by outside contractor Terracon Consultants was released to the Tribune on Friday evening.

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It said high levels of mercury and other chemicals were found and are being removed from the Brighton Park lot at 3710 S. California Ave., where workers had already begun building the giant tents for incoming migrants this week.

But the hefty document was only released Friday night to those filing an open records request, despite being at the heart of roiling controversy over the site and in spite of a repeated vow from Johnson to keep the public informed.

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Environmental advocates have argued for weeks the propertys long history of industrial uses meant its soil was likely contaminated and unsafe for people to reside on. Still, Johnsons administration said late Friday it was confident in moving ahead with placing a migrant camp there.

Terracon conducted a field investigation under a sampling plan that was developed for this specific site, a Johnson spokesperson wrote in a statement, before noting soil with mercury levels and other contaminants, which were addressed through removal as well as an engineered barrier along the site. With the limited soil removal and placement and maintenance of the barrier, the site is safe for temporary residential use.

The report notes that despite the presence of toxic substances at the site, the levels detected are within state guidelines and as a result pose minimal risks to temporary occupants of the tent encampment.

Dumping announcements Friday evening is common tactic by mayors to blunt the impact of news heading into the weekend, but the move to release such a lengthy and technical report so late is unusual and could mark the appearance of an administration hoping to escape scrutiny on a future encampment for migrants.

Officials in Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration also expressed frustration at their own wait for the reports release, even as the state is covering the cost of setting up and operating the tent encampment.

The state has repeatedly requested this report from the city and despite assurances it would be sent, that has yet to occur, the governors spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said Friday evening.

Later in the evening, she updated: The state just received the environmental report. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will need to review it. We will not have additional comment until the review of the nearly 800 page document is complete.

The base camp in question, expected to hold about 2,000 asylum-seekers, could open its doors this month and will be the citys first government-run camp for new arrivals as they wait for beds inside brick-and-mortar shelters. Earlier this week, Johnson did not directly address anxieties from environmental advocates at a news conference, even as tent construction began at the vacant lot and the environmental report was not forthcoming.

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The mayor did say, however, that we have looked for any contaminants, and all of the remediation thats necessary to eliminate the contaminants, thats very much a part of our overall agenda.

And amid sharp grumblings from local stakeholders about what they said was a dearth of information as construction crews descended on the Brighton Park site, Johnson also promised complete transparency about the results: Once that full report is available by the end of the week, everyone will have access to it. There is no information that is available that you do not have.

Contrary to his pledge, however  and despite the mayor on Tuesday saying, The community partners know exactly whats happening; alders know exactly whats happening  his administration did not release the environmental assessment to the public.

The Tribune instead obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Johnson first pitched the tent encampment idea in September as a means to get migrants off the floors of police station and airport lobbies, but the idea has seen numerous hurdles including alarm from community members over potential contaminants in the soil and other viability issues. Now, an environmental report that has been weeks in the making reveals chemicals were present, according to the company hired by the city to assess the viability, though Johnsons office said those concerns will be mitigated.

According to the report, soil with mercury levels was identified at one location and was removed and properly disposed off-site at a landfill, Johnsons office said. Likewise, soil with a high level of a semivolatile compound was identified at another location, and will be removed and disposed of off-site.

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The Terracon report said in the one sample location where high mercury exposure was detected, The soil surrounding this sample was excavated and properly disposed off-site at a landfill, while the spots with excess amounts of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, a chemical used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC), will be remediated via excavation and landfill disposal.

In addition, high levels of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and four metals were also found and required workers to ensure the placement of imported clean stone from a quarry and compaction of the stone to a minimum thickness of six inches throughout the site. The stone layer will be periodically inspected and maintained.

The mayors office said the investigation entailed soil sampling, groundwater sampling, and soil gas sampling which yielded soil analytical results, groundwater analytical results, and soil gas analytical results.

The 38th and California site will be funded by the state as part of a $160 million infusion earmarked to help deal with the growing population of asylum-seekers to Chicago, in a sign of Pritzkers escalating involvement in the ongoing migrant humanitarian crisis. Questions remain on how the city and state will split up responsibility for the encampment, however.

Workers with state contractor GardaWorld Federal Services, a private security firm, started building out the structure this week, while the city has taken on inquiries surrounding the environment report. The governors office has said the migrant camp will not open its doors until mid-December and until the viability assessment was complete, but officials did not have a more concrete timeline as of Friday.

Local Ald. Julia Ramirez, 12th, has staunchly opposed the Brighton Park project amid what she said has been poor communication from the mayors office. Reached Friday evening, she reiterated her displeasure.

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Once again, I urge the City to provide comprehensive information on the risks associated with the site, as well as the proposed remediation process, Ramirez wrote in a statement. Transparent communication is essential for fostering trust within our community and addressing valid concerns.

Ramirez has called on the Johnson administration to provide timelier updates for her and neighbors, and she previously questioned why workers were advancing on building an encampment before the public could view the environmental assessment.

At the same time, Johnson is in a race to house hundreds of migrants sleeping out in the cold before another punishing round of snowfall and subfreezing temperatures arrives. That population has sharply plummeted, however, from about 3,800 new arrivals camped out at Chicago police stations and OHare International Airport a few weeks ago, to about 900 at the CPD districts and 160 at the airport as of Friday.

In total, more than 23,400 migrants have arrived in Chicago, mostly from south of the U.S. border, since August 2022. The city is sheltering about 13,200 across 26 of its shelters.

ayin@chicagotribune.com


Our story today is called The Boarded Window. It was written by Ambrose Bierce. Here is Shep ONeal with the story.

In 1830, only a few miles away from what is now the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio, lay a huge and almost endless forest.

The area had a few settlements established by people of the frontier. Many of them had already left the area for settlements further to the west. But among those remaining was a man who had been one of the first people to arrive there.

He lived alone in a house of logs surrounded on all sides by the great forest. He seemed a part of the darkness and silence of the forest, for no one had ever known him to smile or speak an unnecessary word. His simple needs were supplied by selling or trading the skins of wild animals in the town.

His little log house had a single door. Directly opposite was a window. The window was boarded up. No one could remember a time when it was not. And no one knew why it had been closed. It surely was not because of the mans dislike of light and air. Sometimes, he could be seen lying in the sun on his doorstep. I imagine there are few people living today who ever knew the secret of that window. But I am one, as you shall see.

The man's name was said to be Murlock. He appeared to be seventy years old, but he was really fifty. Something other than years had been the cause of his aging.

His hair and long, full beard were white. His gray, lifeless eyes were sunken. His face was wrinkled. He was tall and thin with drooping shoulderslike someone with many problems.

I never saw him. These details I learned from my grandfather. He told me the man's story when I was a boy. He had known him when living nearby in that early day.

One day Murlock was found in his cabin, dead. It was not a time and place for medical examiners and newspapers. I suppose it was agreed that he had died from natural causes or I should have been told, and should remember.

I know only that the body was buried near the cabin, next to the burial place of his wife. She had died so many years before him that local tradition noted very little of her existence.

That closes the final part of this true story, except for the incident that followed many years later. With a fearless spirit I went to the place and got close enough to the ruined cabin to throw a stone against it. I ran away to avoid the ghost which every well-informed boy in the area knew haunted the spot.

But there is an earlier part to this story supplied by my grandfather.

When Murlock built his cabin he was young, strong and full of hope. He began the hard work of creating a farm. He kept a gun--a riflefor hunting to support himself.

He had married a young woman, in all ways worthy of his honest love and loyalty. She shared the dangers of life with a willing spirit and a light heart. There is no known record of her name or details about her. They loved each other and were happy.

One day Murlock returned from hunting in a deep part of the forest. He found his wife sick with fever and confusion. There was no doctor or neighbor within miles. She was in no condition to be left alone while he went to find help. So Murlock tried to take care of his wife and return her to good health. But at the end of the third day she fell into unconsciousness and died.

From what we know about a man like Murlock, we may try to imagine some of the details of the story told by my grandfather.

When he was sure she was dead, Murlock had sense enough to remember that the dead must be prepared for burial. He made a mistake now and again while performing this special duty. He did certain things wrong. And others which he did correctly were done over and over again.

He was surprised that he did not cry  surprised and a little ashamed. Surely it is unkind not to cry for the dead.

"Tomorrow," he said out loud, "I shall have to make the coffin and dig the grave; and then I shall miss her, when she is no longer in sight. But now -- she is dead, of course, but it is all right  it must be all right, somehow. Things cannot be as bad as they seem."

He stood over the body of his wife in the disappearing light. He fixed the hair and made finishing touches to the rest. He did all of this without thinking but with care. And still through his mind ran a feeling that all was right -- that he should have her again as before, and everything would be explained.

Murlock had no experience in deep sadness. His heart could not contain it all. His imagination could not understand it. He did not know he was so hard struck. That knowledge would come later and never leave.

Deep sadness is an artist of powers that affects people in different ways. To one it comes like the stroke of an arrow, shocking all the emotions to a sharper life. To another, it comes as the blow of a crushing strike. We may believe Murlock to have been affected that way.

Soon after he had finished his work he sank into a chair by the side of the table upon which the body lay. He noted how white his wife's face looked in the deepening darkness. He laid his arms upon the table's edge and dropped his face into them, tearless and very sleepy.

At that moment a long, screaming sound came in through the open window. It was like the cry of a lost child in the far deep of the darkening forest! But the man did not move. He heard that unearthly cry upon his failing sense, again and nearer than before. Maybe it was a wild animal or maybe it was a dream. For Murlock was asleep.

Some hours later, he awoke, lifted his head from his arms and listened closely. He knew not why. There in the black darkness by the side of the body, he remembered everything without a shock. He strained his eyes to see -- he knew not what.

His senses were all alert. His breath was suspended. His blood was still as if to assist the silence. Who  what had awakened him and where was it!

Suddenly the table shook under his arms. At the same time he heard, or imagined he heard, a light, soft step and then another. The sounds were as bare feet walking upon the floor!

He was afraid beyond the power to cry out or move. He waitedwaited there in the darkness through what seemed like centuries of such fear. Fear as one may know, but yet live to tell. He tried but failed to speak the dead woman's name. He tried but failed to stretch his hand across the table to learn if she was there. His throat was powerless. His arms and hands were like lead.

Then something most frightful happened. It seemed as if a heavy body was thrown against the table with a force that pushed against his chest. At the same time he heard and felt the fall of something upon the floor. It was so violent a crash that the whole house shook. A fight followed and a confusion of sounds impossible to describe.

Murlock had risen to his feet. Extreme fear had caused him to lose control of his senses. He threw his hands upon the table. Nothing was there!

There is a point at which fear may turn to insanity; and insanity incites to action. With no definite plan and acting like a madman, Murlock ran quickly to the wall. He seized his loaded rifle and without aim fired it.

The flash from the rifle lit the room with a clear brightness. He saw a huge fierce panther dragging the dead woman toward the window. The wild animal's teeth were fixed on her throat! Then there was darkness blacker than before, and silence.

When he returned to consciousness the sun was high and the forest was filled with the sounds of singing birds. The body lay near the window, where the animal had left it when frightened away by the light and sound of the rifle.

The clothing was ruined. The long hair was in disorder. The arms and legs lay in a careless way. And a pool of blood flowed from the horribly torn throat. The ribbon he had used to tie the wrists was broken. The hands were tightly closed.

And between the teeth was a piece of the animal's ear.

The Boarded Window was written by Ambrose Bierce. It was adapted by Lawan Davis who was also the producer. The storyteller was Shep ONeal.

Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. What do you think it would be like to live all alone in the woods? What kinds of scary stories are famous in your country?

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Quiz - Boarded Window Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz



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For Teachers

Download activities to help you understand this story here.

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Words in This Story

frontier  n. a border between two countries

doorstep  n. a step or series of steps leading up to one of the doors that is used to enter or leave a building

lifeless  adj. Having no life

rifle  n. A gun that has a long barrel and that is held against your shoulder when you shoot it

unconscious  adj. not awake especially because of an injury, drug, etc.
One year has passed since the Grinch stole Christmas from the imaginary town of Whoville. Now, the green creature is back in a follow-up book called How the Grinch Lost Christmas!

And he wants to prove to the Whos of Whoville that he has changed.

The Grinch is a character from the 1957 childrens book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss. In that story, the Grinch tries to ruin Whovilles Christmas by stealing their gifts, ornaments and food. But later he learns that the holiday is about spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Seusss book sold millions of copies and was translated into several languages. The story has been turned into a television program, two movies and even a Broadway musical.

Random House, the book's publisher, said in a statement, One of the most asked questions we receive from Seuss fans of all ages is What do you think happened to the Grinch after he stole Christmas?

So, the decision was made to write a new book to follow up on the story.

The new book, How the Grinch Lost Christmas!, starts a year later in Whoville. The Grinch wants to prove that his heart has grown to love the holiday.

The Grinch had been patiently waiting all year,

To celebrate Christmas and bring the Whos cheer,

And to show every Who he was DIFFERENT now.

Ive changed! thought the Grinch,

And Ill prove it! But HOW?

So, the Grinch tries to win a Whovilles Christmas award by making the largest and the best Christmas tree the Whos have ever seen.

But, things do not go as planned. Young Cindy-Lou Who wins the contest. The Grinch is shocked and his heart turns ice cold. The green creature threatens to leave Whoville for real this time. Cindy-Lou reaches out and tells the Grinch that her tree has ornaments from everyone in Whoville except one. In the end, the Grinch returns with an ornament for Cindy-Lou and regains his spirit of giving.

Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, died in 1991. So, Alastair Heim, who has worked on several Dr. Seuss books, wrote the new story. And Aristides Ruiz provided the illustrations.

Heim told The Associated Press in an email last February, All throughout writing the story, I couldnt fully believe that I was actually getting to play in the amazing creative sandbox Dr. Seuss created all those decades ago.

Ruiz said he jumped at the chance to draw for the book. But he said the work on the new book was difficult because it is such a big part of the Christmas tradition in the United States.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English with additional reporting from The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

character - n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie or show

ornament - n. a small object that are hung on Christmas Tree

translate - v. to change words from one language to another language
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove Republican Congressman George Santos of New York on Friday.

The House voted 311 to 114 to immediately remove Santos. A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from the House. Santos became just the sixth member to be removed in the history of the United States. Three lawmakers were removed for disloyalty during the U.S. Civil War. And two were removed after being found guilty of crimes in federal court.

The vote to remove Santos came after a House ethics report accused him of defrauding donors and using campaign money for his personal use. The 56-page report contained overwhelming evidence of lawbreaking, violations of ethics and misstatements during his 2022 campaign.

A long record of wrongdoing

The 35-year-old Santos has been accused of wrongdoing since he was first elected to Congress in November 2022.

Santos admitted that he made up his life story following several newspaper reports. He falsely claimed that his grandparents were Jewish and that they escaped the Holocaust. But his mothers immigration record said they were born in Brazil.

Santos claimed that his family owns and collects rent money on 13 properties. There are no records of Santos or his family ever owning any property. And Santos himself has been brought to court repeatedly for not paying rent.

Newspaper reports discovered that Santos also lied about his education at New York University, his work history with financial companies Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and his involvement in a check fraud case in Brazil. There were no records of Santos ever going to college or working at the companies. Santos later admitted to the crime and paid money in the case in Brazil.

He is currently facing federal criminal charges including stealing public money, misuse of campaign money, credit card fraud and making false statements. Santos has pleaded not guilty to those charges. But two former campaign aides have pleaded guilty to related charges.

A bipartisan congressional investigation last month found that he used congressional campaign money to pay for almost $4,000 in spa treatments, including Botox, a kind of beauty injection. He also spent more than $4,000 of campaign money on luxury goods and made "smaller purchases" from OnlyFans, an online website known for sexual material.

Santos rejected repeated calls for him to resign. Before the House vote to remove him, Santos said, The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, youre going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote.

His expulsion will shrink the Republicans narrow majority. And New York State Governor Kathy Hochul of the Democratic Party now has 10 days to call a special election for the seat representing part of Long Island.

Im Mario Ritter, Jr.

Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters sources.

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Words in This Story

defraud v. to trick or cheat someone to get their money

overwhelming adj. in great numbers

rent n. a regular payment for the use of property such as the use of a place to live like an apartment or home

spa n. a business where people go to improve their health, appearance, receive beauty treatments or relax

luxury n. something that is costly and not necessary

We want to hear from you.

Our comment policy is here.
Life expectancy in the United States rose by about one year in 2022 following earlier decreases linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life expectancy predicts the average number of years a baby born in a given year can expect to live. Federal data showed that in 2022, U.S. life expectancy rose from 76.4 years to 77.5 years.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 2022s increase came largely because of disappearing COVID-19 cases.

For many years, life expectancy for Americans generally rose a little bit nearly every year. But about 10 years ago, the rate flattened and even decreased in some years. Those drops were blamed on drug overdose deaths and suicides.

The number of U.S. suicides reached an all-time high last year, a separate CDC report found. The national suicide rate also saw its highest level since 1941. U.S. drug overdose deaths rose slightly in 2022 after much larger increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, U.S. life expectancy dropped from 78 years and 10 months in 2019 to 77 years in 2020. Then, in 2021, the rate dropped further, to 76 years and 5 months.

Elizabeth Arias is a researcher for the CDC who worked on the latest report. She told The Associated Press the U.S. life expectancy rate was clearly hurt by COVID-19 and will take "some time before we're back to where we were in 2019.

But Arias noted there were several favorable developments. For example, "all the groups by race and sex experienced increases in life expectancy," she said.

Steven Woolf, a life expectancy researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University, said he expects the U.S. to one day get back to pre-pandemic levels. But he added, That is not a great place to be.

Life expectancy in 2022 increased the most for American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic newborns. The rate went from 65.6 to 67.9, followed by an increase of 2.2 years for Hispanic newborns, from 77.8 to 80.

The life expectancy for Black non-Hispanic Americans increased by 1.6 years, from 71.2 to 72.8. Researchers noted that people in that group were more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life expectancy increased by 1 year for Asian non-Hispanic babies to 84.5 years, and by 0.8 years for White non-Hispanic babies, to 77.5.

Life expectancy in the U.S. remains longer for females. In 2020, the difference between the two sexes reached 6 years, a level not seen since 1996. In 2022, the difference narrowed to 5.4 years, down from 5.8 years in 2021.

Life expectancy in the U.S. continues to be lower than that of numerous other countries. And the latest report shows that the U.S. did not rebound as quickly after the pandemic as some other countries, including France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

rebound  v. to recover from a difficult or frustrating situation
Try as you might, Pat Egan will never be replicated, his family says.

The man sold everything. Insurance and imports. Christmas trees and newspapers. Seeds and stilts. He also promoted concerts at Pershing Auditorium.

But he's best known for the Crazy Cracker fireworks he began selling as a boy that would become his legacy.

"He was a born entrepreneur," said Betsy Egan, his wife of the last 35 years. "We'd go to trade shows and he got along with everyone. That was the beauty of him.

"He was like Switzerland."

Pat Egan, 81, died Nov. 22 in Lincoln, where he and Betsy spent half the year. The other half was spent at their home in Key Colony Beach, Florida.

In Lincoln, where he grew up, Egan's entrepreneurial spirit kicked in from the start. His mother, Julia, had him selling seeds door to door at the age of 6.

It wasn't long after that that his grandmother Clara, who lived on F Street, would gather the tomatoes she grew and have the young boy bring them down to the local grocery store.

"She'd tell him to make a deal with that grocer," said Erin Egan, Pat's daughter. "She'd tell him to try to get the best meats or soup bones he could get. I think she taught him a little bit about how to barter trade."

In the summer of 1957, attending high school at the now-closed University High School, Egan delivered groceries for Leon's Gourmet Grocer, 2200 Winthrop Road. He was approached by a customer named Duffy Helmsdorfer, who asked him how much he made an hour.

At the time, Pat Egan made about 35 cents an hour. Helmsdorfer told him he could make $100 a week by just sitting on a corner.

A 2014 Journal Star story about Egan illustrated how Helmsdorfer, the states fireworks kingpin, gave the teenager fireworks on consignment and some red, white and blue bunting for the card table he set up at 26th and Holdrege streets.

It was that summer that one of Nebraskas longest-lived fireworks businesses  Crazy Cracker  was borne.

Neighborhood kids came with pennies and dimes and left with pockets full of firecrackers and bottle rockets, the story said.

Five decades later, Egan was still selling fireworks  this time by the semitrailer load. The tents that were up around Lincoln and Omaha  including one run by Erin  were not nearly as prevalent as they were in their heyday of the 1980s, but longtime residents still looked for his product each Fourth of July.

"He enjoyed meeting different people," Erin Egan said. "He treated everyone with respect. It didn't matter if you were poor, rich or whatever. To him, everybody was the same. Everybody had something to offer. ... He liked everybody."

The fireworks business never waned even when he entered into the insurance industry. In fact, during his 45-year career of operating an independent insurance business, he always closed the office in July to sell his fireworks.

Meanwhile, he took trips to China to find goods he could sell in Lincoln  from baskets to furniture  and then began selling Christmas trees at East Park Plaza.

His daughter remembers the year that he boosted business by bringing a herd of reindeer to the parking lot and having his brother dress as Santa Claus at the Christmas tree lot.

"I thought it was awesome," said Erin Egan, who was attending Pius X High School at the time.

It was quintessential Pat Egan, his wife said.

"That was Pat," Betsy Egan said. "He made everything fun. He didn't have hobbies. He didn't need any because he had so much fun at work."

And somehow, he also found time to dabble in promoting events and concerts, too. For years, he put on the Boat, Sport & Travel Show at the Lancaster Event Center.

He also helped bring musical acts to Pershing Auditorium, his daughter said.

"I think he really loved doing that," she said. "He loved putting on concerts."

New Years Eve fireworks displays from around the world New Years Eve fireworks displays from around the world Sydney, Australia Mumbai, India Bangkok Moscow Reykjavik, Iceland Athens, Greece Berlin Rome Prague Paris Dubai, UAE London, England Edinburgh, Scotland Rio de Janeiro New York, New York
The state of Illinois and the Greater Chicago Food Depository are teaming up to ensure migrants living in the citys shelter system are fed through the end of the year after Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration pushed back a deadline to award a food contract.

The city in mid-October solicited bids for a new food vendor contract that was to begin Friday, but last week the Johnson administration pushed that start date back a month and a half to Jan. 15, according to city records. The delay raised questions about whether migrants would be fed throughout December. The new deadline for food vendors to submit proposals was noon Friday.

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A spokeswoman for the citys Office of Emergency Management & Communications said late Friday that the deadline was pushed back twice in order to answer numerous questions from potential bidders.

On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration announced the state would chip in $2 million and the food bank would contribute $2 million more raised through private philanthropy to close that gap and continue providing meals to the more than 13,000 migrants in city-run shelters and more than 1,000 sleeping at police stations and at OHare International Airport while awaiting placement.

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In Illinois  we welcome asylum seeking families with dignity and that means ensuring they dont go hungry, Pritzker said in a statement. The state is continuing to make strategic investments in the absence of the resources and coordination we continue to advocate for from Congress and the federal government.

The additional food funding comes roughly two weeks after the Pritzker administration, after months of deflecting questions about additional state funding for Chicagos migrant crisis, promised $160 million in additional funding for several migrant-related projects. The new money is slated to set up a controversial tent encampment in Brighton Park and another bricks-and-mortar shelter for migrants, establish a centralized intake center for those arriving in the city, and provide legal and job assistance.

The state will be providing food at the two new shelter sites through its contract with GardaWorld Federal Services, a private security company that will set up and run day-to-day operations at the tent encampment in Brighton Park and an indoor shelter at a former CVS store in Little Village.

The state attributed the need for additional food funding for the existing shelter system to unspecified delays in the citys bidding process.

Migrants grab a hot meal outside the Chicago Police Departments 1st District station on South State Street on Oct. 6, 2023. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

At the citys request, the state has provided $10.5 million since the summer to the Chicago food depository, with $5 million of that being distributed last month.

The food bank has used the money to serve about 20,000 hot meals a day at 20 shelters and at police stations, organization spokesman Jim Conwell said. He estimated the organization is spending approximately $1 million per week to feed migrants.

The food bank also has received several million dollars in commitments from the private sector, Conwell said. He added that he is not worried about the organizations ability to meet needs through the end of the year.

This is a significant investment, he said. This is a big project, but its a really important project because we believe that everybody deserves food and we are committed to doing this work.

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The food bank stepped up to provide meals for shelters at the same time it was already meeting record demands across the community for food assistance, Conwell said.

The food the organization provides at migrant shelters and police stations is only 10% of its total distribution. The remainder is distributed through its network of 800 food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other programs.

Food distribution this fall is far higher than what it was at this same point in 2022, Conwell said.

Our role as a food bank is to provide food for people who need it when they need it, he said. We dont know what the coming months and year will bring with our mission to end hunger. We will do everything we can to meet that need.

Chicago Tribunes Alice Yin contributed.

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com

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nsalzman@chicagotribune.com
Oregon Trail Elementary Schools dual immersion program is almost halfway through the academic school year  and students are showing promising results.

Dual-immersion kindergarten teachers at Oregon Trail Elementary School, Alison McDonald and Danyell Alger, reflected on the first half of the school year sharing the progress Spanish- and English-speaking students have made in their classrooms and are amazed at how students have adapted to the languages.

Theyre, like, little sponges at this age, McDonald said. Theyre just taking everything in.

Oregon Trail Elementary has enrolled roughly 44 kindergartners and 44 first-graders in the new dual immersion program they implemented this year and has ensured each classroom is half Spanish speakers while the other half is English speakers.

Although many of the Spanish-speaking students do understand English or have limited proficiency, there were a few in her class who didnt understand or speak a word of English.

We do language partners, so theyre paired up with a student that knows English, McDonald said. It helps a lot. One of my students didnt even know any English four weeks ago  and yesterday she goes, gato, kitty! so obviously shes learning.

In a separate interview with the Times-News, Alger also said that they pair up their students as language partners as they get to know each other, allowing students to have self-advocacy and translating experience.

Ive seen the kids grow so much  and there is a large Hispanic community here  so theyll be able to communicate with more people, Alger said in a phone call with the Times-News. Its just going to bring in more understanding and more community, and its just going to be better for our world in general to have people connect.

The dual immersion students have classes set up where the first class will be either English or Spanish and then will switch midday so that they get both languages. For McDonald, her class is strictly English while Algers class is strictly Spanish.

Both classes teach the same thing so students are learning both languages equally. McDonald and Alger get together and work as partners to help students excel in their classrooms.

Right now in my classroom, they will have one to two sight words every week, Alger said. Theyre working on the alphabet, working on letter sounds, teaching Spanish words with syllables  just basic kindergarten stuff, but in Spanish.

And teaming up with Ali has been a huge part of it. The English speakers will go up to her and tell her stuff and the Spanish speakers will come to me, so we get together to make sure we fill each other in and get to know each student. We work really hard in connecting with the kids.

The dual immersion program will report their progress as any other grade does at the end of the year, but the Spanish teachers have to do additional recording of what the students are learning and what they know, including the alphabet, sight words and how high they can count.

Were in the process of building and we are attending seminars and reporting that stuff out to parents, Alger said. They are getting that information and we are keeping the data.
The Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office asks that anyone with information please call 208-735-1911 or Crime Stoppers at 208-343-2677, where they can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. Tips can be made at www.343cops.com or download P3 Tips on your mobile phone.
The U.S. Marshal Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Austin Scott McClain on an arrest warrant issued in connection with an armed robbery/carjacking investigation in California.

In October, the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Office investigated the armed carjacking of a motorcycle involving 2 suspects. During their investigation, San Bernardino Sheriffs deputies identified the robbery suspects as Kole Burge and Austin Scott McClain. Kole Burge was quickly arrested by sheriff deputies, while Austin Scott McClain evaded arrest.

On Nov. 9, the U.S. Marshal Service was referred apprehension responsibility of Austin Scott McClain. A fugitive investigation was conducted by the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles that led investigators to focus on the area of Jerome County.

On Dec. 1, a team of deputy U.S. marshals from the Boise and Pocatello district offices located and arrested Austin Scott McClain in the area of U.S. Highway 93 and 900 North northeast of Jerome.

The U.S. Marshal Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force is a state-wide cooperative to locate and arrest violent state and federal fugitives. Member agencies include the Idaho State Police, Idaho Department of Corrections, Coeur dAlene Police Department, Kootenai County Sheriffs Office, Nampa Police Department, Pocatello Police Department, Post Falls Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Get ready to embark on a delicious journey to Japan this holiday season as the JETRO Okurimono Holiday Food Fair returns with a festive flourish.

This year, the fair will be hosted not just once but thrice  making its way to three prominent mall destinations: SM Mall of Asia Hypermarket, SM Makati Supermarket, and Mitsukoshi BGC.

Until January 3, 2024, these locations will transform into havens of Japanese delights, offering a unique blend of authentic Japanese food, liquor, and confectionery products.

Savor Gifts from Japan

This years Okurimono Holiday Fair has the theme Gifts from Japan  encouraging shoppers and foodies to explore a wide range of Japanese products that make for perfect gifts for loved ones.

Explore authentic offerings of Japan  carefully curated to cater to a variety of tastes and preferences. The fair will be a treasure trove of popular Japanese products, including liquor, confectionery, and food products, making it the ultimate destination for food enthusiasts, young professionals, and families.

Ramune

Ramune is a popular Japanese carbonated soft drink available in a Codd-neck bottle, which is a heavy glass bottle with an opening sealed by a round marble due to the pressure of the carbonated contents. The name Ramune is derived from a Japanese borrowing of the English word lemonade.

Miyakanbai Junmai-Ginjo Sake

This signature sake attracts with a delicate fragrance reminiscent of spring flowers in Miyagi Prefecture. Fruity aromas lead to a palate of juicy strawberry, pear and apple. It is made with Miyama Nishiki milled to 55 percent, which gives a ripe rice flavor with a clean smooth finish and a touch of sweetness. It has an ABV of 15 percent.

Hino-Shizuku Yuzu Sake

Brewed by Kanbai Brewery in Osaki, this sake is flavored with Yuzu grown organically in the famed Umaji Village of Kochi Prefecture. The fruits are carefully selected, hand squeezed, and added along with the zest to Miyakanbai Ginjo grade sake. Due to lengthy soaking of the Yuzu peel, there is a wonderful range of flavors from the fresh Yuzu extract, the result is an exceptionally refreshing liquor.

Premium saikoro steak cubes

Premium Saikoro Steak

This bite-sized cubed beef steak is a Japanese invention thats easy to pick up with chopsticks. The tender meat is rich in umami, a beloved meaty flavor thats great when pan-fried or grilled. Both sauces (wasabi flavor and grated onion, apple, garlic) are soy-based.

Meltique Sirloin Steak

Meltique is a favorite beef product with beef tallow to simulate marbling for consistency and guaranteed quality. This process allows the natural juice to be retained as the marble is cooked out with no reduction in yield.

Nippon Ham Smoked Pork Sausage

Sink your teeth into this smoky and succulent sausage. Seasoned to perfection, these mini Japanese style pork sausages by Nippon Ham Foods are made from quality ground pork combined with flavourful and unique seasonings.

Shucked oysters

Kaki Mukimi Oyster

These medium- and large-sized oysters are grown in Japanese oyster farms to ensure consistency and world-class quality. The oysters are shucked and frozen to seal in its freshness.

Hobo Kani Imitation Crab Meat

This imitation crab meat has an unbelievable genuine taste and look. Its low in calories and high in protein.

Imuraya Yawamochi Ice Dessert Cup

Yawamochi is made of three layers (chewy and soft texture Mochi, sweetened Azuki bean paste, and frozen dessert) and you can enjoy the Matcha (green tea) flavor with its unique texture. Despite being frozen, the Mochi keeps its soft and chewy texture because of Imurayas patented manufacturing technology.

Fujiya Milky Cream Puff

Milk is the main ingredient for this favorite sweet treat. Fujiya also makes cream puffs with ice cream filling, which is perfect for the Philippines tropical heat.

Sliced Crepe Cake

The numerous layers of paper-thin crepes are stacked with strawberry-flavored whipped cream, making this dessert light yet satisfyingly creamy.

Sakura Hokkaido Ice Cream

Sakura lends a subtly floral flavor to this beloved creamy treat with a touch of earthiness from vanilla and coconut. The ice cream is made with Hokkaido milk for intense creaminess and silky texture.

Mochi Parfait

The rich aroma and mild taste of matcha green tea is blended into the parfait. Along with the matcha aroma that spreads in your mouth, the mochi (sticky rice cake) pleasantly envelops your tongue.

Farm8 Ponshu Gria

This is Japans fruity answer to sangria. Its best enjoyed mixed with your choice of sake or sparkling water.

Nagatoya Peach Caramel Popcorn

Made from white peaches, its gentle sweetness combines beautifully with the subtle saltiness of the popcorn.

Yamazakura Tokubetsu Junmai

This sake offers a nice balance of sweetness and acidity with a pleasant finish along with notes of bitterness and umami. Its ABV is 15 percent.

Sapporo Soup Curry Potato Snack

This favorite potato snack celebrates the famous flavors of Sapporos curry soup in a fun and delicious treat.

Hokkaido Melon Jelly

This Japanese treat is soft, juicy, and fragrantly sweet  just like real melons from Hokkaido.

Hokkaido Cheddar Baked Cheese blended with Camembert Cheese

This delectable and indulgent cheese snack is best paired with coffee, tea, or even wine!

Tokachi Butter Flavor Jaga Stick

This crispy potato snack is flavored with Hokkaidos Tokachi butter thats known for its rich, creamy and distinctively sweet and nutty taste.

(The Okurimono Holiday Fair is just one of the many events mounted by JETRO as part of the Bringing A Taste of Japan campaign in Metro Manila. For updates, visit www.jetro.go.jp/philippines)
The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on legislative franchises chairman has cited the importance of fair and accurate news reporting.

This developed as Sonshine Media Network Internationals (SMNI) anchor Jeffrey Ka Eric Celis of Laban Kasama ang Bayan apologized to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and Congress over his fake news that the latter allegedly spent P1.8 billion for his travel expenses from January to October 2023.

Rep. Gustavo Tambunting, the panels chairperson, made the statement after his panel launched its investigation last Thursday into potential violations of the legislative franchise of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), whose some of its anchors have been accused of spreading fake news and engaging in red-tagging.

Tambunting said fake news has no place in modern Philippine society, as he cited the need for media practitioners to always exercise prudence in performing their duties and responsibilities.

While free speech and freedom of the press are constitutional rights, Tambunting said the allocation of TV and radio frequencies is subject to the authority of Congress over legislative franchises.

Let me emphasize that the mandate of the Committee on the Legislative Franchises is the granting, amendment, extension, or revocation of legislative franchises, Tambunting pointed out.

It is authorized to exercise its oversight function to determine whether or not the franchise grantees faithfully comply with the terms and conditions of its franchise, he added.

House Deputy Majority Leader David Jay-Jay Suarez delivered a privilege speech to address accusations from Celis and SMNI anchor Lorraine Badoy, who claimed that Speaker Romualdez had incurred P1.8 billion in travel expensesa claim debunked by records of the House of Representatives.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said records showed that the Office of the Speaker only spent P4.347 million for travel from January to October 2023.

Tambuntings panel also deliberated on two resolutions from the Makabayan bloc regarding SMNI: one on alleged fake news peddling and baseless red-tagging of individuals, groups, and organizations and another on alleged fake news peddling, baseless red-tagging, and grave threats against ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Upon questioning of Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, Celis recanted his statement and apologized to Congress.

If that will heal the wound of the degree of an amount of insult that was forwarded to Congress, if thats the effect of that, I dont have a problem with that personally because its our job to recognize the mistake if theres a mistake, but its also our job to ask, Celis said.

SMNI denied that it allegedly violated its franchise issued by Congress.

Tambunting, Suarez, and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, vice chairman of the House committee on legislative franchises, said SMNI, or any other grantee of a broadcasting privilege, cannot invoke a waiver to evade responsibility and accountability for what its broadcasters, whether organic personnel or so-called block timers, say, ask or disseminate on its radio or TV station or media platform.

Tambunting and Pimentel called attention to Section 4 of the law, renewing for another 25 years the legislative franchise of Swara Sug Media Corp. of the Philippines, which Atty. Mark Tolentino, SMNI lawyer, said he is using several business names or trademarks that include SMNI.

They said the section mandates that the grantee shall not allow the use of any of its facilities for the broadcasting of obscene or indecent language, speech, act, or scene; or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentation, to the detriment of the public interest

Under this provision, the grantee or the network is ultimately responsible for whatever its personnel, program hosts, block timers, or broadcasters say over the airwaves, Tambunting told SMNI officials.

If you hide behind your so-called waiver, this Section 4 will be useless, and we will not allow that, he said.

Pimentel also invited the committees attention to the use by the franchise of the labels Shonshine Media Network International, Shonshine TV, and Sonshine Radio.

Pimentel said Swara Sugs franchise prohibits it from assigning its broadcasting privilege or use to another entity.

He said Swara Sug is now known as Sonshine radio-TV network.

Tambunting said the committee would look into this issue as well.
The director of Nicaraguas national beauty pageant and two family members were accused of treason on Friday, two weeks after a Nicaraguan woman seen as a symbol of opposition to the government was crowned Miss Universe.

A police statement said Karen Celebertti, her husband and her son  all owners of the Miss Nicaragua pageant  had actively participated in the terrorist actions of the failed coup attempt, a reference to the 2018 mass protests against President Daniel Ortega.

Sheynnis Palacios, 23, has been widely portrayed as a symbol of opposition to the longtime president since she was crowned as the first Miss Universe from Nicaragua last month.

Photos showing her waving the Nicaraguan flag at anti-government protests in 2018 have gone viral, and her victory brought joyful crowds into Nicaraguas streets in the biggest public gatherings since demonstrations were banned five years ago.

A government clampdown on the protests left more than 350 dead and more than 100,000 in exile.

The government has since jailed hundreds of critics, claiming they were part of an attempted coup against Ortega.

Fridays police statement said Celebertti, her son and husband remained in communication with exponents of treason to the homeland, preparing to use their franchises, platforms in a conspiracy to turn the contests into traps and political ambushes, financed by foreign agents.

Media reports not yet confirmed by police said that her husband and son had been detained.

Last week, opposition media in exile reported that Celebertti and her daughter had been barred from returning to the country.

The writer Gioconda Belli, who lives in Spain after being stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality by the government, contended last Saturday that Celebertti had been blocked from reentering the country at the orders of Ortegas wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

The Miss Universe Organization called in a statement last week for the Nicaraguan government to ensure the safety of those associated with the local affiliates of the pageant.
The Marion Business Association will again partner with the four historic churches in downtown Marion for the Very Merry Marion Christmas celebration.

On Thursday, Dec. 7, First Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church will be open for tours from 5-7 p.m., with tours beginning each half hour.

On Thursday, Dec. 14, St. Johns Episcopal Church and St. Matthews Lutheran Church will also be open for tours from 5-7 p.m., according to a news release.

The churches are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From the Registry, the following information tells the story of each historic church.

St. Johns Episcopal Church is perhaps one of the finest examples of a Carpenter Gothic church in western North Carolina. It is a one-story structure with a steeply pitched gable roof on the main sanctuary and a more gently sloping gable roof on the rear additions. Lancet windows, typical of the building style, punctuate the building at regular intervals. The main body of the building was built in 1883 with the entrance into the building through the bell tower on the north side. Originally, the building was rather austere, with a traditional rectilinear door leading into a very plain bell tower. In 1903, a more elaborate bell tower (the one presently in existence) was built in the same location. In 1921, a choir room and sacristy were added to the rear of the building, and in 1949, the sanctuary was extended 17 feet towards Main Street. The icon on the door above the tabernacle was made in Russia, and was given by a former rector of the church, Rev. Albert P. Mack in the 1950s. A woodcarving of the Last Supper, crafted by Marion woodcarver Steve Duncan, hangs above the entrance door.

St. Matthews Lutheran Church is an excellent example of a late Gothic Revival-inspired vernacular structure. While employing many of the features of the Gothic Revival such as lancet windows and buttresses, the building, in its simple form and design, is also a fine representation of local craftsmanship, particularly in terms of its masonry. The front or north side of the building is three bays wide with one lancet window on either side of the doorway. The roofline here is a very simple gabled parapet which is slightly taller and more flat at the apex. There are three lancet windows just below the apex of the parapet above the centrally located doorway. Completed in 1935, the entire building is constructed of river rock, smooth and yellow in color, brought from the nearby Catawba River.

First Presbyterian Church is perhaps the most exuberant example of a Neo-Classical Revival design in Marion. Built in 1923, the same year as the present courthouse, it continues a building tradition that was obviously gaining in popularity at the time. The structure is a one story plus balcony brick building set on a raised basement. It is basically rectilinear in form, with the front of the building facing W. Fort Street. The most striking feature of this building is the monumental Ionic tetra style pedimented portico on the east (front) side. Instead of the characteristic dentils, modillions adorn the cornices of the pediment and those of the main block of the building where the entablature continues that of the portico. The middle of the portico contains a round stained glass window with four evenly spaced keystones accenting the molded frame. The egg and dart motif of the Ionic capitals also appears in the molding over the front doorway. Columns and other trim work on the yellow brick building appear to be limestone. An unusual feature of the entry portico is that doorways enter the church at either side of slightly projecting wings, rather than a central entrance. Stained glass is in abundance throughout the building, appearing in every window above the basement level.

First Baptist Church in Marion was organized in 1862, but did not have a permanent church structure in town until 1878. This was a small wood frame structure, built where the present 1949 addition to the existing church building now stands. In keeping with the times and the growth of Marion in the early 1900s, this structure was torn down when construction on the present building began in 1912. It was completed in 1914, a remarkable example of the Late Gothic Revival style depicting a large, prosperous congregation.

The interior of each building is special and this is a wonderful opportunity to visit each church and see firsthand the attention to detail that makes them special to the community, according to the news release.

For more information about the Very Merry Marion Christmas events, follow the Facebook page for the Marion Business Association or call 828-652-2215.
ATLANTA  An attorney for former President Donald Trump said Friday it would amount to election interference if his client is the Republican nominee for president while on trial in Georgia in the months running up to the general election.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee opened the door for discussion on trial timing while considering requests by two of the former presidents co-defendants to delay certain pretrial deadlines. But he said he didnt plan to make any immediate decisions on a trial date.

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District Attorney Fani Willis last month asked that all defendants remaining in the case  currently Trump and 14 others  be tried together beginning Aug. 5. Prosecutors have previously estimated it would take them four months to present their case, not including jury selection. That would mean the trial would be underway during the final months of the election campaign.

Can you imagine the notion of the Republican nominee for president not being able to to campaign for the presidency because he is, in some form or fashion, in a courtroom defending himself? Sadow said during the Friday hearing, later adding, That would be the most effective election interference in the history of the United States.

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Prosecutor Nathan Wade rejected that idea.

This trial does not constitute election interference, he said, later adding, This is moving forward with the business of Fulton County. I dont think that it in any way impedes defendant Trumps ability to campaign or whatever he needs to do in order to seek office.

A Fulton County grand jury in August indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn the result of the 2020 election and to keep Trump in power even though he had lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Four defendants have already pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. The remaining 15, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty.

Trump is the early front-runner for the Republican nomination for president. Sadow also noted that his client has three other criminal trials set for next year  federal cases in Washington and Florida and a state case in New York  and said that could also preclude an August trial date. Sadow suggested that a trial date not be set right now to allow time to see how things play out.

Asked by the judge whether Trump could be tried in 2025 if he were to be elected president next November, Sadow said he believes that the U.S. Constitutions supremacy clause and the presidential duties would mean that he could not be tried until he was out of office.

Willis had also asked the judge to set a final plea date of June 21, writing that prosecutors would consider plea deals up until that date and intend to recommend the maximum penalties at any sentencing hearings after that. McAfee said Friday he wasnt sure that was necessary, that the district attorney could independently set a date after which she wouldnt consider plea deals.

Attorney Buddy Parker, who represents lawyer John Eastman, told the judge his client is concerned about the possibility of a trial date being set in 2025, saying that would mean it was more than a year that his case would be pending.

There are a number of defendants, as noted, who are not running for the presidency of the United States, Parker said, adding that his client would like to be tried separately from Trump because of the complications involved and would even be in favor of going to trial before August.

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Prosecutors have consistently said they want to have one trial in the case, citing efficiency and fairness. McAfee has previously expressed skepticism at bringing more than a dozen defendants to trial at once and he reiterated that doubt on Friday.

He said its more likely that the defendants would be split into two groups and prosecutors would have the right to determine whos in the first group to be tried. If someone in the first group were to reach a plea before trial, then someone from the second group would be substituted in, he said.

The discussion of timing came up while McAfee was hearing arguments on requests by Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former U.S. Justice Department official Jeffrey Clarks requests to delay the deadline for each of them to file pretrial motions. They are both trying to have their cases moved to federal court. A federal judge has rejected those requests, but they have both appealed.

The motions deadline for all defendants is Jan. 8. McAfee agreed to postpone that deadline to Feb. 1 for Meadows and Clark.

During the hours-long Friday hearing, McAfee also heard arguments on a slew of other defense motions, many challenging all or part of the indictment on various grounds. Defense attorneys argued that a group of Republicans who met at the state Capitol in December 2020 and signed certificates saying they were the states presidential electors acted properly. And they argued that the actions alleged in the indictment amount to political speech that the First Amendment protects.
Chads transitional leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno welcomed Thursday November 30 home the countrys contingent that operated in Mali under the UN peacekeeping Mission known as MINUSMA for 10 ten years.

The Chadian leader, Alwihda Info reports, congratulated soldiers and paid tribute to those who were lost during the counter-terrorism and peacekeeping Mission in northern Mali, especially Kidal.

Chad reportedly lost over 80 troops during the Mission.

President Deby Itno reportedly indicated that the return of the contingent symbolizes not only the end of an important stage in Chads commitment to fighting terrorism in the Sahel, but also the countrys continued commitment to regional stability and African cooperation. The Chadian troops were sent to Mali in 2013 to join a France-led international military Mission after the West African slid into chaos.

The Chadian contingent positioned in Kidal, the capital of Malis eight region controlled since 2013 by rebels, began their pullout in October 2023 after the UN Mission left the last camp it controlled in haste citing insecurity.

In July 2023, Mali demanded withdrawal of the UN Mission that it believed had not been efficient in eradicating terrorism in the West African country.

Last month, the Malian army announced the seizure of Kidal from the rebels and terrorist groups.
Ali Bongo Ondimba, the ex-leader of Gabon, has rejected all plans forcing him into exile without his family as his wife and eldest son are in prison over multiple charges, reports citing one family member.

A junta led by current transitional President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema removed Bongo on August 30, putting therefore an end to his 14-year power control.

The junta accused him of bad management. It has since then held him under house arrest and cut off all outside contacts for him. The new authorities also froze all his accounts.

A family member who did not want to be named told Paris-based RFI that the junta a month ago made available a jet so that the former leader goes into exile to his country of choice but he rubbished the offer that came without his family members. Namely his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and eldest son Noureddin Bongo Valentin, both currently in prison and waiting for their trial for crime, including corruption, embezzling public funds and money laundering.

Ali Bongo, according to the family source, believes the former First Lady and Noureddin have nothing to do with the charges leveled at them. Ali Bongo, the source added, is taking full responsibility for charges.

No legal action has been taken against Ali Bongo himself yet. Nguema, who was Alis presidential guards Chief at the time of the coup, had indicated that the former President will not be sued following his removal.
The eight days of Hanukkah light, which begin at sunset on Dec. 7, offer hope that we might consider rededicating ourselves to a world free of oppression, a world of harmony and joy. That goal seems elusive at this moment of great conflict in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and the region.

Those of us with immediate family histories of death and dislocation resulting from hatred toward Jews feel the current conflict deeply. For some, every atrocity committed on Oct. 7 is profoundly personal. Every death of a civilian in Gaza magnifies that pain. In the face of every kibbutznik, every Bedouin, every Palestinian, I see family.

I think back to the origins of Hanukkah: the iconic story of a small band of guerrilla fighters re-asserting their Jewish culture against invaders and rededicating their defiled Holy Temple. They cleansed the Temple grounds and re-ignited the seven-branched Temple menorah with a tiny pot of oil, good for one day only. Miraculously, it lasted eight days until new oil could be prepared.

The miraculous light of the menorah was much more than the glow of burning oil. The Jewish sages teach that this special light reaches back to the beginning of time, to the earliest day of creation  before sun and moon, day and night  when the light of the Divine suffused the universe. The menorah light brings us into harmony with the Holy One of Blessings. It reminds us that our existence is a gift.

The Rabbis also teach that each of us can look within and find a spark of the same supernal light, and they invite us to be aware of it and nurture it. When we uncover the spark within us, we remember that everyone is holy, a reflection of the Divine. Through Hanukkah light, we experience our connection with the Source of All and each other.

At this time of year, when daylight dwindles, we can rethink our relationship with light. Yes, light permits us to see, to understand, to discern, and evaluate. But uncontrolled, its energy can become a conflagration, destroying and harming. When our anger flares, it burns us and those around us. There is no empathy in hate. We forget that all of us are holy. Hanukkah reminds us to breathe deeply, find connection, and feel gratitude.

Lately, Ive been praying for peace and grasping for hope that its possible. We are confronted with barriers to peace: We might yearn for dialogue but encounter polemic; we might be ready to collaborate and find no partner for it; we might desire to step away from a model of winning and losing but are confounded by absence of empathy and nuance. I keep praying that leaders will emerge in the Israeli and Palestinian worlds who will pursue a vision of peace for both peoples. This is the light I need now.

In Pirkei Avot, also known as Wisdom of the Ancestors, Rabbi Tarfon teaches that it is not upon us to finish the work, but neither are we free to ignore it. When I light my Hanukkah menorah this year, I will dedicate every candle to peace. When I walk out into the world, I will dedicate my steps to peacemaking. Let the light of Hanukkah remind us that miracles are possible.
As Betsy Gaines Quammen sought to write a book about the American West, she found that every one of the 100-plus people she interviewed defined the region differently, conjuring a distinct story about its past and present.

Her book, True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America, explores the ways in which people with vastly different perspectives coexist within this storied landscape, a task made increasingly difficult as misinformation and polarization run rampant.

At the Nov. 30 Mansfield Center Dialogues event, authors Kathleen McLaughlin and Chris La Tray joined Quammen on stage at the University of Montana to discuss ways that mythology of the American West has fueled many of the current tensions in Montana and places like it. Alan Townsend, dean of the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, moderated the conversation.

Its very notable how the mythology has overwhelmed the reality, said McLaughlin, who grew up in Butte. To me, Montana has always been weird  weird people, weird stories. Her experience stands in stark contrast to the popular representation of the American West today.

McLaughlin directly connected the housing and affordability crises troubling Montana today to the falsehoods of cowboy homogeneity and untouched ruggedness thats been construed in the national consciousness. Referring to what she termed the Yellowstone effect, McLaughlin said wealthy people increasingly see the West as a place where they can make a new identity by buying it.

If Quammens book makes the case that the reality of the American West cant be neatly packaged and marketed as a single narrative, that contention was affirmed among the panelists themselves.

La Tray, a Metis writer and Montanas current Poet Laureate, said he bristles at the use of the West as a term: I immediately feel like an outsider because we dont usually talk about what this place was before white people staggered upon it, he said.

And while Quammen said she grew up being taught a version of Western mythology that celebrated cowboy culture and westward exploration, McLaughlin said that as a child of Montana it always seemed like a difficult place, somewhere where it was hard to make a living and tough to endure winters.

The three panelists agreed that much of the divisiveness in the American West could be improved by recognizing shared humanity among people, even those who hold disparate beliefs.

We all have the opportunity to make some changes, La Tray said.

One such change? Spend more time learning about and participating in local issues and local politics.

Start caring about things closer to home, McLaughlin said.

If you dont have their books, you should, Townsend said. And Im an annoying academic trained to critique things, so I dont say that lightly.
Sheriffs truck vandalized

Last week, Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff Ed Lester lent his 1987 Nissan pickup to a relative. On Wednesday evening, the truck was parked outside the relatives residence near Emma and Short streets.

Hearing noises coming from the truck, the relative called police.

Officers found Sherry A. Falcon, 35, of Butte underneath the truck. She reportedly had tied a belt around the motor mount and had pulled some wires.

Falcon was taken into custody for criminal mischief.

Disorderly arrest



Police arrested Tina M. Romero, 44, of Butte on Tuesday for disorderly conduct and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. She also had a warrant out for her arrest out of Ravalli County.

Romero reportedly was running up and down the hall screaming in the Lincoln Apartments, 207 W. Park St., and despite given a chance to leave the premises, she opted to continue screaming.

In custody

Dylan J. Cote, 24, of Butte was taken into custody Monday in the parking lot below the Big M.

Cote had warrants out for his arrest for strangulation of partner or family member and tampering with a communication device.

Vehicles hit

Early Wednesday, a Butte man driving a 2003 white Chevy S-10 pickup allegedly hit two parked cars, a 2023 Honda and a 2018 Toyota Tacoma, in the 2000 block of Aberdeen Street.

When officers arrived, Anthony D. Radcliffe, 23, appeared to be intoxicated and failed on-site sobriety maneuvers. He also had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest.

Radcliffe was jailed for driving under the influence (second offense), driving without liability insurance (fifth offense), and driving with a suspended drivers license (fourth offense).

Jail booking

Melinda S. McDonald, 28, of Butte was booked into the jail Tuesday on a revocation of sentence.

Scary scam

Earlier this week, a man called Safeway at 2500 Massachusetts Ave. and told an employee to send him some gift cards or he would come to the store with a gun. Apparently this is a scam  a scary scam, but a scam nevertheless.

Deliberate act

Someone drilled a hole in the gas tank of a 2001 Ford F150 parked in the 900 block of Gaylord Street and let the gas run out onto the ground.

Concerned citizen

A concerned citizen called to report a man with a gun was walking down the street in the 300 block of South Arizona Street. Turns out the gun was actually the mans cellphone.

Broken window

The rear window at the Blaine School was broken.

Unwanted woman

A call came in early Thursday that there was an unwanted woman at a residence in the 2800 block of Farragut Avenue.

The woman turned out to be Spring M. Davis, 47, of Butte who had a warrant out for her arrest for criminal endangerment. She was taken to jail.

Causing a disturbance

Early Thursday, Jenelle M. Cherne, 35, of Butte was reportedly causing a disturbance at a residence in the 200 block of Bavaria Street.

Cherne had allegedly damaged a cabinet door in the bathroom and threatened to kill another woman.

She was arrested for partner or family member assault, criminal mischief and theft.

Man assaulted

A man called police from Walmart, 3901 Harrison Ave., to report that Emily M. Dahlman, 48, of Butte had assaulted him at a residence in the 4800 block of Harrison Avenue.

He reported to police that Dahlman had hit him, bitten his finger and tried to scratch his eyes.

Officers went to the residence and arrested Dahlman for partner or family member assault.

Aid requested

Adult Probation & Parole requested police take Tyler McLaughlin, 35, of Butte into custody Wednesday on a revocation of a suspended sentence.

McLaughlin was then taken to jail.

Probation violation

While at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse Thursday, Willie Liegeois, 39, of Butte was arrested for probation violation and taken to jail.

Quit texting

A man called police to complain that another man would not quit texting him. An officer called the texter and told him to stop sending texts to the other man. The texter took the officers advice.

Motorcycle stolen

Stolen from the back of a pickup truck parked outside the Montana Tech dorms was a 2019 Bashan Storm 250 motorcycle.
Salvation Army of Muscatine County has received a surprise match donation pledge to the Freezing for Food campaign.

Just a few days prior to the Freezing for Food portion of Two Weeks of Love, the Salvation Army received a $10,000 donation and is asking that the rest of the community help them take full advantage of it.

On Thursday, Nov. 30, an anonymous local donor made a pledge to match the first $10,000 of food donation during Freezing for Food, which starts on Monday, Dec. 4 at both Hy-Vee on 2nd Avenue and at Farewa. It will end on Friday, Dec.8.

Were pretty excited about this donation, Lt. Macy Gantner of the Muscatine County Salvation Army said.

It is was the first time, Ganter said, that she and her husband, Lt. Lucas, had seen a donation this big since moving to Muscatine nearly two years ago.

Weve seen large donations come in before, but not such a large donation for a match. Its just such an incredible opportunity for the community to get involved, she said.

Regarding the donation itself, Gantner assured that while the donor has asked to remain anonymous, the Salvation Army has confirmed that it is a legitimate offer.

We dont know by name who it is, but we know of some other things that have come about with this person, so we know that its a good offer, Ganter said.

The donation is one of many recent ones that have been a huge boost to this years seasonal campaigns  of which Lt. Gantner and her team say they are incredibly grateful for.

Earlier this week, HNI Corporation made a $5,000 donation towards the Angel Tree campaign. Resident Viola Davis also dropped off 100 bikes and several bags of toys at Ed Morse Muscatine for this years toy drive.

Troy Philpott of Stinkys House of Horrors made a large food donation directly to the Salvation Army earlier in November.

Weve just had a lot of really cool things happening the last couple weeks, Gantner said. We just feel so overwhelmed by all the support and all thats going on with kettle campaign and this Christmas season so far.

With there still being much more that can be done leading up to Christmas, Gantner encouraged residents to do what they can and to continue helping the Salvation Armys various campaign efforts.

For those who want to support the Freezing for Food campaign, residents will be able to purchase pre-packaged bags of food at the 2nd Avenue location for $20 each. The bags are located within the store.

After purchasing, customers can take them out to the trailers parked at Hy-Vee and Fareway. Residents also have the option to pay for a bag at the register and have employees take it out to the trailer.

Local businesses can donate in bulk during this upcoming week by reaching out to Hy-Vee or Fareway and purchasing a whole pallet of specific foods.

According to District Store Director Matt Schweizer, Hy-Vee has already sold over $5,000 worth of these business bundles. Businesses interested in purchasing a pallet can email mschweizer@hy-vee.com or call 563-264-2420 for more information.

Everyone can be part of this event in some way no matter where they live in Muscatine, Gantner said. We really hope that people help us get this matched amount so that our food pantry can have a really good start to the New Year.
WASHINGTON  Among images of the bombed out homes and ravaged streets of Gaza, some stood out for the utter horror: Bloodied, abandoned infants.

Viewed millions of times online since the war began, these images are deepfakes created using artificial intelligence. If you look closely you can see clues: fingers that curl oddly, or eyes that shimmer with an unnatural light  all telltale signs of digital deception.

The outrage the images were created to provoke, however, is all too real.

Pictures from the Israel-Hamas war have vividly and painfully illustrated AI's potential as a propaganda tool, used to create lifelike images of carnage. Since the war began last month, digitally altered ones spread on social media have been used to make false claims about responsibility for casualties or to deceive people about atrocities that never happened.

While most of the false claims circulating online about the war didnt require AI to create and came from more conventional sources, technological advances are coming with increasing frequency and little oversight. Thats made the potential of AI to become another form of weapon starkly apparent, and offered a glimpse of whats to come during future conflicts, elections and other big events.

Its going to get worse  a lot worse  before it gets better, said Jean-Claude Goldenstein, CEO of CREOpoint, a tech company based in San Francisco and Paris that uses AI to assess the validity of online claims. The company has created a database of the most viral deepfakes to emerge from Gaza. Pictures, video and audio: With generative AI its going to be an escalation you havent seen.

In some cases, photos from other conflicts or disasters have been repurposed and passed off as new. In others, generative AI programs have been used to create images from scratch, such as one of a baby crying amidst bombing wreckage that went viral in the conflicts earliest days.

Other examples of AI-generated images include videos showing supposed Israeli missile strikes, or tanks rolling through ruined neighborhoods, or families combing through rubble for survivors.

In many cases, the fakes seem designed to evoke a strong emotional reaction by including the bodies of babies, children or families. In the bloody first days of the war, supporters of both Israel and Hamas alleged the other side had victimized children and babies; deepfake images of wailing infants offered photographic evidence that was quickly held up as proof.

The propagandists who create such images are skilled at targeting people's deepest impulses and anxieties, said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that has tracked disinformation from the war. Whether it's a deepfake baby, or an actual image of an infant from another conflict, the emotional impact on the viewer is the same.

The more abhorrent the image, the more likely a user is to remember it and to share it, unwittingly spreading the disinformation further.

Similarly deceptive AI-generated content began to spread after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. One altered video appeared to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordering Ukrainians to surrender. Such claims have continued to circulate as recently as last week, showing just how persistent even easily debunked misinformation can be.

Each new conflict, or election season, provides new opportunities for disinformation peddlers to demonstrate the latest AI advances. That has many AI experts and political scientists warning of the risks next year, when several countries hold major elections, including the U.S., India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Indonesia and Mexico.

The risk that AI and social media could be used to spread lies to U.S. voters has alarmed lawmakers from both parties in Washington. At a recent hearing on the dangers of deepfake technology, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said the U.S. must invest in funding the development of AI tools designed to counter other AI.

We as a nation need to get this right, Connolly said.

Around the world a number of startup tech firms are working on new programs that can sniff out deepfakes, affix watermarks to images to prove their origin, or scan text to verify any specious claims that may have been inserted by AI.

The next wave of AI will be: How can we verify the content that is out there. How can you detect misinformation, how can you analyze text to determine if it is trustworthy? said Maria Amelie, co-founder of Factiverse, a Norwegian company that has created an AI program that can scan content for inaccuracies or bias introduced by other AI programs.

Such programs would be of immediate interest to educators, journalists, financial analysts and others interested in rooting out falsehoods, plagiarism or fraud. Similar programs are being designed to sniff out doctored photos or video.

While this technology shows promise, those using AI to lie are often a step ahead, according to David Doermann, a computer scientist who led an effort at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to respond to the national security threats posed by AI-manipulated images.

Every time we release a tool that detects this, our adversaries can use AI to cover up that trace evidence, said Doermann. Detection and trying to pull this stuff down is no longer the solution. We need to have a much bigger solution.

Misinformation about Israel-Hamas war floods social media; here are the facts Claim: Black flag calls Muslims to action Claim: Turkish president threatens to intervene Claim: Israel confirms it bombed hospital Claim: Qatars emir threatens to cut off worlds natural gas supply Claim: BBC reports Ukraine provided weapons to Hamas Claim: Video shows actor in fake blood for propaganda Claim: Hamas fighters storm sports field to attack Israelis
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)  The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll has surpassed 15,200 and that 70% of those killed were women and children.

The figure was announced Saturday by ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, who did not provide further details.

The previous toll given by the ministry was more than 13,300 dead. Al-Qidra did not explain the sharp jump. However, the ministry had only been able to provide sporadic updates since Nov. 11, amid problems with connectivity and major war-related disruptions in hospital operations. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

More than 40,000 people have been wounded, al-Qidra said.

Israel intensified a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas, giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.

This is going to be very important going forward," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. "Its something were going to be looking at very closely.

Get the full story here:

'Let me tell them goodbye before they get killed': How eSIM cards are connecting Palestinian families 'Let me tell them goodbye before they get killed': How eSIM cards are connecting Palestinian families Taking 'baby steps together across the world'
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip  Israel's war with Hamas erupted again Friday as airstrikes hit houses and buildings in the Gaza Strip minutes after a weeklong truce expired.

Health authorities in the besieged territory reported dozens of Palestinians killed. Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave, urging civilians to flee to avoid the fighting.

Militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating along its northern border with Lebanon.

The resumption of the war threatens to compound the suffering in Gaza. Some 2 million people  almost its entire population  are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault.

Unable to go into north Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 85-square-mile area.

Renewed hostilities also heighten concerns for about 140 hostages still held captive by militants, after Hamas freed more than 100 during the truce.

For families of remaining hostages, the truce's collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed. Israel said Friday its troops found the bodies of four more hostages in Gaza, bringing the total known dead to seven.

Qatar, which served as a mediator along with Egypt, said negotiators were still trying for a deal to restore the cease-fire. Israel and Hamas traded blame for ending the truce.

A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli officials to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as they seek to destroy Hamas. Blinken met Friday with Arab foreign ministers at global climate talks in Dubai.

It was not clear to what extent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will heed the appeals of the United States, Israel's most important ally.

Netanyahu's office said Friday that Israel "is committed to achieving the goals of the war," including releasing the hostages and eliminating Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

The Israeli military released an online map dividing the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels. It asked residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

The map did not designate safe areas to evacuate to, and it was not clear how easily Palestinians could access it.

Hours into the renewed bombardment, Gaza's Health Ministry said 178 people were killed and dozens wounded. Israel claimed it struck more than 200 Hamas targets.

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel's assault, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov. 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

The war began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants, who killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took about 240 people captive, according to Israel.

Return to battle

About an hour before the cease-fire was to expire early Friday, Israel claimed it intercepted a volley of rockets fired from Gaza. Minutes after it expired, the military announced a resumption of combat operations, and strikes soon began.

In leaflets dropped in southern Gaza, Israel urged people to leave homes east of Khan Younis, warning that the southern town was now a "dangerous battle zone." Other leaflets warned residents of several neighborhoods in Gaza City in the north to move south.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

No trucks carrying aid entered Gaza from Egypt on Friday, Palestinians authorities at the Rafah crossing said, after an increased flow of supplies during the truce.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will "wipe out even the minimal relief" provided by the truce and "prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians."

In Washington, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel blocked trucks from crossing into Gaza Friday but that at the request of the U.S. government, it would allow some aid to enter.

In Khan Younis, residents frantically searched for survivors in the rubble of a building hit by a strike. "We are women and children here. We have nothing," said Fatima Nshasi, a relative of a family in the building, as women sobbed nearby. "We were going with life as usual, hoping the truce would be extended."

Strikes also hit near Gaza City and in the central Gaza refugee camp of Maghazi, where rescuers clawed through the rubble of a large building.

Israel claims it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods.

Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza and claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah said Friday its fighters fired on a group of Israeli soldiers along the border, its first attack since the truce went into effect.

Israel said a number of launches from Lebanon targeted military posts near the border, and others were directed toward the town of Kiryat Shmona but were intercepted. The military responded with artillery. One Hezbollah fighter and his mother were killed when their home was hit, security officials said.
Participants including Santa get a look at the "giving machines" during a grand opening event for the devices at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora on Friday. The units, which allow people to make donations to aid people in need locally and around the world, will only be at the mall through Dec. 9. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

Fox Valley Mall in Aurora is now the temporary home of charity giving machines that organizers hope will help those in need around the world.

On Thursday at the mall, the three Light The World Giving Machines were unveiled to the public. The machines are sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church officials said the devices offer a novel approach to charitable giving that has generated over $22 million in donations by over 1 million individuals since 2017.

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On Friday there was a grand opening celebration for the units at the mall.

Located at the malls southeast end near Door 2, the charity vending machines allow individuals to donate money which will be used for essential supplies including food, clothing, baby items, books and more to support families in developing countries or the local community.

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Dan Oscarson, 60, of Naperville, who works as a local volunteer communications director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, described a giving machine as a vending machine that works in reverse.

Instead of buying a candy bar or a bag of chips for yourself, youre able to donate money to provide textbooks or hygiene kits or food, meals, shelter, even farm animals for people in need, either locally or around the globe, he said. This year, there will be giving machines in 61 locations around the world, and Chicago is one of those locations. Its the first time these have come to the Chicago area.

Each machine boasts 30 cards with pictures of items that can be donated, along with monetary amounts tied to them that Oscarson said range from $7 to $250.

The charities are identified on each card whether its a local one like Hesed House, Loaves and Fishes or one of our international charities like the American Red Cross, he said. There are price ranges so donations can be made for every budget. It could be a watering can for a farmer in a developing country or something more expensive like a $200 package of meals for several hundred people.

Officials said the church covers all of the operating costs for the program.

Aurora was selected as a site for the machines, Oscarson said, as the church has a strong network here and its completely volunteer driven.

A group of at least 100 people gather at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora Friday morning for the opening ceremony for three "giving machines" that allow shoppers to make donations to help those in need in the Aurora area and around the world. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

We wanted people who wanted to be engaged and excited about this project and this is a good central location, he said.

April Foreman of St. Charles, who serves as the giving machine lead for the Chicago area program, said the initiative is part of a mobile route and that the machines will be at the mall only through Dec. 9.

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We are sharing these three machines with a twist, including Omaha, Des Moines and St. Louis. We were able to get them here for 10 days and were excited to have them for that time, she said. We have some machines that stay in a location for up to 45 days and others that travel. The mobile program started last year.

Corbin Coombs of Schaumburg, the ecclesiastical leader for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in northern Illinois, spoke at the ceremony Friday, which was attended by local leaders, Fox Valley Mall officials and representatives from area charities.

Coombs described the machines as a fun way to give. During the holidays, families are always looking to give something and sometimes the hardest thing is finding a way to do it and a way that reaches people youre trying to help.

Weve done a lot of work finding charities here locally as well as internationally, he said. The thing I like is when you go as a family or an individual and you select the item that you chose to donate, thats whats going to get donated. If you choose a sheep or a chicken thats what is going to land at someones farm. Its a fun way to do it and its been fun to see the impact.

April Foreman of St. Charles, who serves as the lead for the "giving machines" program in the Chicago area, shows some of the cards people can choose in the machines at Fox Valley Mall in Aurora to direct where they want their donation to go. The units, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offer a way for shoppers to make charitable donations to provide items for those in need locally and around the world. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

Some of the people that we are using for sourcing chickens this year were recipients themselves and have grown enough to be sourcing for us themselves, he said. Its more than giving a hand out, its a hand up.

About 100 people attended the 30-minute ceremony at the mall on Friday including Chuck Erickson from Elgin, who said he has known about the program for a few years but never lived in an area that had the machines.

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Weve done online before but this is really cool for the kids, Erickson said. Its not like  what did you donate? We donated money, thats not easy to think about, but a chicken or even a pair of scissors, its something tangible. Its more real and in person its more of an event.

Emily Ide of St. Charles also attended the event said she also was familiar with the giving machines but weve been waiting patiently for them to be in our area.

I think this is wonderful. It makes it accessible  the act of giving  to more people and its easy, she said. You just come across it as youre walking through the mall and its a good way for our family to learn to give and not expect to get something back.

Donations can also be made online at lighttheworld.org/give for those unable to visit the machines in person, organizers said.

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Every year, the nations of the world gather to address the impacts and costs of global warming and what can be done to slow it down. Among the negotiations are what the specific goals should be, how they will be met, and who will pay for them.

Diplomats and policymakers converge and haggle. Inevitably, at the conclusion of these meetings, there are those who are happy with the results and those who are frustrated.

First developed in the 1990s, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) organizes these meetings, which have become colloquially known as the COP  the Conference of the Parties. In this case, COP 28.

This is the same series of meetings that yielded the Paris Agreement of 2015, which aims to hold planetary warming below 3.6F (2C) of pre-industrial (late 19th century) levels, with additional efforts to keep the warming within 2.7F (1.5C) of that level.

Several independent agencies have confirmed that Earth has already warmed about 1.2C since then, with the vast majority of that warming coming in the past 50 years. Adding urgency to this year's meeting have been the exceptionally warm oceans over the past several months, which will help make 2023 the warmest year on record globally since at least 1850.

A timeline of climate change negotiations ahead of COP28 Ahead of COP28, countries are divided between those demanding a deal to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, and nations that say coal, oil 

As a result, much of the discussion this year will focus on how to rapidly reduce fossil fuel use globally, as the carbon dioxide produced by these fuels is the primary cause of the observed warming over the past several decades. Time is increasingly critical if any of the established goals are to be met, as the Paris-based International Energy Agency indicated earlier this year that the scaling up of renewable energy technologies must continue to drive down fossil fuel demand 80 percent within the next 30 years.

An ongoing discussion is the financial costs, especially to nations with fewer resources to adapt or alleviate the impacts of the warming climate  whether those impacts come in the form of more frequent and intense heat waves in already hot climates or disappearing land in coastal nations where sea level rise is accelerating.

Last years meeting brought an agreement to develop a fund to help countries with the fewest resources recover from the worsening impacts, but the details of this loss and damage fund and how it would be managed is another one of the contentious points that will arise at this meeting.

Superimposed on all of these negotiations is the choice of Dubai as a site for the meeting, a city within the United Arab Emirates that is synonymous with oil wealth. Adding to the complexity was a report from the BBC this week indicating that the UAE was planning to use its role as host of the meeting to develop new oil and methane gas deals with 15 other countries.

Not surprisingly, these questions of money, energy and power have led to diplomatic contortions in the lead-up to the meeting, with some countries suggesting a rapid phaseout and others a gradual phase down.

The scope of the meeting attracts additional non-governmental organizations, large and small, from all continents. In all, more than 70,000 people are expected at COP 28, which continues until Dec. 12.

Whatever comes out of this meeting will add one more point on a curve leading to a climate that is likely somewhere between 3 and 6 degrees warmer within the next three generations. That may not sound like much, but consider the reverse. During the peak of the last ice age 20,000 years ago, the global temperature was only 10 degrees colder than today, when glaciers reached as far south as modern-day Chicago and Boston.

In the end, every annual negotiation and every tenth of a degree of warming matters, as they will drive the long-term intensity and impacts of more frequent heat waves, more intense rainfall and higher sea levels for decades  if not centuries  to come.

Sean Sublette is the chief meteorologist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia.

How climate change is fueling alcohol-related hospitalizations How climate change is fueling alcohol-related hospitalizations Anticipation of rising temperatures over the coming decades suggests alcohol- and drug-related hospitalizations will rise commensurately
Theres no question that Napa City needs a new police building. This relic has been deteriorating for years and up till 2019 the prospect of a shiny new City Hall complex with an integrated police department was moving toward fruition. But three years of COVID, city financial stagnation and a backlash against the looming expense of such a huge undertaking crushed the dream. However, does that mean the city needs only a new police department building or does the whole structure of how policing is provided needs rethinking?

Recent efforts to defund police departments has focused on how services are provided. It is argued reducing police budgets could lead to many benefits, such as increased accountability, more transparency and greater community involvement. One size does not fit all. Currently many of todays city police services can be provided electronically and police response centers could be in Nebraska, or  perish the thought  Bangladesh. Fortunately, U.S. police services cant be outsourced internationally. But response teams must be local and timely. You cant wait for a police car from Nebraska. Currently the local Napa response time is 8 minutes, below the national average of 9  minutes.

Other critics support decentralizing police departments with multiple stations around the community. They argue that this will improve response time, be more effective by making it local and transparent. They argue this could help improve community trust in localized police stations down the street. But does it reduce crime and more importantly, serve the community? Some argue that feeling safe might be more important than actual being safe, but I dont buy that.

I recently asked City Manager Steve Potter about the concept of decentralizing police stations around the city and he noted they had experimented with that in years past, even having a mini-station on Trancas but it didn't work and created a false sense of security among residents.

An interesting fact is the United States policing system is ranked nineth in the world for efficiency and trust out of almost two hundred nations. Thats actually not bad for a nation that tolerates firearm access to just about anyone that can hold a gun.

I asked Napa City Police Chief Jennifer Gonzales what she thought about a new police department building. She noted that if the plans for a new City Hall and Police Department were to go forward as a new Civic Center, the Police Department would need secure access for authorized personnel only and protection from just anyone walking in off the street.

The chief noted any future City Hall location could be adjacent to the Police Departmentor separate and placed at a significant distance." Being near other city services is not essential and a remote location is possible. With todays high-tech communication options, access by the public is greatly improved. The paperless office is still on the horizon. Asked about decentralizing Napa police department, she notes it would greatly increase personnel requirements and Napa just isnt big enough for that.

The Chief noted Napa is currently divided into four police beats that allow assigned staff to spread out the workload. This was reviewed this summer by staff using the latest calls for service to ensure they were providing the best possible response with current staffing.

A big and often overlooked issue is storage. With all the recent advances of digital information the quantity of stored information is enormous as well as maintain vehicles, firearms and evidence. As Napa grows and police staffing increases, they will need both more indoor and outdoor facilities to store stuff." You know what that means.

In recent months Napa County and City officials have been discussing shared facilities but they havent been able to find a plan that works for all. Their agendas are too vastly different for dealing jointly with their aging buildings and underutilized properties. The city of Napa should fast-track solving its own needs one at a time. A masterplan for all the city required facilities is essential but the emphasis should be to replace the current police department with an emphasis on urgency.

One question that needs to be addressed is the size of essential interior and exterior facilities. The past studies have been all over the place and a future Architex Angle will provide some insights, options and considerations.
In 2019, Jeanna Coursey came to realize that she was called to work in the nonprofit space, supporting survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. But she also had four kids, had recently gotten out of an abusive situation herself, and didnt have a college degree.

I wanted to serve the way that I had been served  and I knew that I needed to go back to school, but obviously, I didn't have the means to do so," she explained. "I have four kids that I was trying to raise, and I was still living on assistance. Everything was super, super tight.

She took the leap and entered an online associate degree program that fall. But she also knew that she would need financial support if she wanted to complete her bachelors degree.

That was when she found the Soroptimist International of American Canyon.

It was actually the first scholarship I ever applied for, she recalled.

Coursey applied for  and won  the American Canyon chapter of Soroptimists annual Live Your Dreams scholarship, which awards a woman funds to pursue her education.

I had to go speak in front of the women to receive my award, and I didn't know what that was going to look like, I was terrified of public speaking, Coursey said, laughing while remembering the day she received her award.

It was really scary, but when I got there, I actually knew quite a few of the women. They were from the community and a lot of them were from the Church that I had been going to  It was just a real mixed bag of women which was really cool.

Coursey said this memory  looking around the room and seeing so many familiar faces, all wanting her to succeed  continues to represent what makes the organization so special to her.

The money was great, it totally helped me through a really rough patch, Coursey said. But I think what was more was that they were now my people; they were my community.

Fostering community is one of Soroptimist of American Canyons biggest goals. The chapter of the international organization was founded in 2018 by Kristin Einberger to provide support for women and girls, as well as services and community-building events for seniors in the area.

A group of us sat around in my living room and we decided that we needed a service organization that, among other things, would meet the needs of seniors  and we wanted to address the needs of women and girls, Einberger said.

She knew that the organization had chapters in Napa and St. Helena, and had previously had an American Canyon chapter that was inactive at the time. Einberger, who served as the chapter's first president, said that she and the other founders thought the organization would be a good fit for the service they wanted to be able to do, since it provided more than scholarships.

Michelle Morgan, the chapters current president, said the group focuses heavily on hosting community events for seniors, and also partnering with nonprofits that need specific support.

We did a Harvest Festival for seniors, and well have a Cocoa and Carols event for them coming up, she said.

The group also recently launched an initiative called the Women Empowerment Committee, which will host a series of seminars geared toward women beginning in January. Topics will include safe dating, vehicle maintenance, money management and more.

Morgan said one of the programs she is most proud of is Soroptimists partnership with NEWS, the Napa-based service provider for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. NEWS is actually the organization that supported Coursey, the 2019 scholarship winner, when she first came out of an abusive situation. Coursey now works for NEWS' development department.

Coursey reached out to Soroptimist to see if it would be willing to work with the organization to make Hope Bags.

When someone leaves their situation, they can come to NEWS and they get a bag and it has a change of clothes," explained Morgan. "It has undergarments, it has all of the toiletries they could need for a while, and gift cards to buy new products.

Morgan said that being able to work with Coursey to support NEWS is a full-circle moment for many members of the organization. Theyve been able to put together 30 bags so far, and with funds raised through Napa Valley CanDo's annual Give!Guide, they plan to assemble even more in the new year.

Of course, the organization does provide monetary support for local women pursuing education as well. The scholarship Coursey received four years ago is an annual award, given out in the fall.

Live Your Dreams scholarships totaling $5,000 are given to as many as five applicants who are currently enrolled in a vocational skills training or degree program and are the primary financial supporter of their family.

Coursey said that the Live Your Dreams scholarship is special because it doesnt come with a lot of strings attached.

A lot of scholarships are You can only use this on your tuition, or You can only use it all at once or whatever," she said. "But (Soroptimist)  knew it was a stressful time and  they trusted me to be a good steward of that money.

Coursey used the money to support her and her family while she got her associate's degree, and later earned her bachelor's degree in nonprofit management online from Colorado Christian University. She graduated this past spring, and was even selected to be her classs commencement student speaker.

Aside from Live Your Dreams scholarships, Soroptimist also gives an award annually to a local high school senior who will be continuing her education after graduation.

Morgan said this student is usually selected by American Canyon High School staff, and gets a $1,000 award at a reception hosted by Soroptimist each spring.

While Soroptimist has only been active in American Canyon for about six years, Morgan said local membership is growing, and she is excited to expand the organizations services even further in the coming years.

We want to give a lot more, she said. We have got a lot of work to do in our community to help people out.

To donate to Soroptimist International of American Canyon and learn more about its programs, visit acsoroptimist.com.

The Napa Valley Register is highlighting a variety of local nonprofits serving their community. You can donate to these and other groups featured in Napa Valley CanDo's annual Give!Guide through Dec. 31.

For more information, visit candogiveguide.org.
AMERICAN CANYON  Michelle McCarver loves her job  most of the time  she told this reporter as she got set up for pizza day at American Canyon Middle School on Tuesday. Shes been on campus since before 6 a.m., ordering next weeks groceries and fielding local food deliveries. After making it through the breakfast rush, she and her team are on to prepping lunch.

In about an hour, McCarver, the school's food service manager, is expecting over 400 hungry middle schoolers to rush through the doors of the campus new cafeteria, ready to grab a slice and salad from the kitchen.

Pizza day is always really popular, she said.

McCarver is wearing a shirt from Tasty Pizza, a locally owned pizzeria in Fairfield that drops off fresh pies at the campus on Benton Way every Tuesday. She has been eagerly awaiting the midday pick-me-up herself since meeting the delivery truck early in the morning.

We get a special pie for the staff, she said, pulling it out of the oven. We add sausage and garlic powder to ours; its delicious.

While the middle school now serves fresh-baked Tasty Pizza pies along with a local salad bar, homemade ranch dressing, and seasonal fruit on a typical Tuesday, that wasnt always the case.

McCarver has worked in the middle school's kitchen for 10 years, since her own son was a student there. In the decade since she started, that Napa Valley Unified School District has made huge shifts in its lunch program, changing not only the food students are eating, but the roles cafeteria workers play in preparing meals day to day.

A pioneer in scratch cooking

Back in 2013, McCarver said the district was using the open and heat lunch method. Food was delivered to school sites in the morning from an outside food service management company, the catering giant Sodexo. Campus cafeteria staff stored it until lunchtime, heated it up, then served it to students.

In 2017, the district switched to preparing school meals in-house. That year, NVUSD hired its first food services director, Brandy Dreibelbis, who spearheaded scratch cooking in Napa.

She helped NVUSD  whose food service wing is known as NOSH, for Napa's Operative for School Food Health  secure a $200,000 Get Schools Cooking grant in 2018, which funded a multi-year revamp of the district's food service, including building a new central kitchen and introducing scratch-cooked dishes to schools.

Scratch cooking is a practice thats gained traction in schools over the past decade. Districts that use the method cook meals in their own kitchens, incorporating whole, fresh ingredients, as opposed to serving premade meals, according to The Lunch Box.

In 2019, Napa was one of four California districts to move toward scratch cooking on campuses.

Kristen Tekell, the Napa school system's current food service director, said the districts move to scratch cooking came from a strong push by parents to improve the quality of food in Napa and American Canyon's public schools.

The parents wanted better quality, more appetizing and less processed food for their kids, Tekell said.

Switching to scratch cooking wasnt easy

While the food students eat now is definitely healthier, and tastier, than it was back in 2013, McCarver said, she remembers the transition being tough.

My own son wouldnt eat it at first, she said, laughing. I would tell him, Trust me, if you try it  but he was a middle schooler.

She said the first year was especially hard. Kids dont like change, and switching to scratch cooking did incur costs for the district  cooking in-house required more staff and equipment, and sourcing local, organic ingredients can be costly.

Tekell said that in addition to receiving the Get Schools Cooking grant, California has given onetime funds to school districts for scratch-cooking investments over the past few years. The states universal meals program has also increased the number of meals served at sites across NVUSD, which correlates to more funding.

Measure H, which passed in 2016, freed up funds to renovate additional campus kitchens, including at American Canyon Middle School.

We couldnt do scratch cooking without the upgrades weve made to the kitchens, Tekell said.

McCarvers favorite part of the new facility? The combi ovens for sure. They can do everything.

She said that when she first walked into the kitchen around this time last year, she questioned the setup.

There was no stovetop! I called (Tekell) and I was like, I need a stove, McCarver said.

But as it turns out, using the combi  or combination  oven actually makes life easier. It can steam, saute, roast, and even cook pasta, McCarver explained.

Plus, the kitchen has four of them, which she said is necessary to produce 800 fairly labor-intensive meals each day.

Tekell said that in addition to the kitchen upgrades that were needed for scratch cooking, the move was also daunting for staff. To ease the transition, she said starting slowly was a key.

Food service staff in the Napa school district first introduced simple scratch-made recipes, like homemade ranch dressing, and hybrid items Tekell calls speed scratch.

For example, instead of serving premade barbecue chicken wraps, kitchens began to receive just cooked chicken, barbecue sauce and tortillas, which they would assemble themselves. They also began to roll their own burritos instead of receiving them fully made.

Where does the program stand today?

To this day, the kitchens incorporate some speed-scratch techniques, Tekell said, and the district is by no means fully scratch-cooking. For example, it still serves hot dogs and tamales that come premade.

I think of us (as being) very much in our infancy phases with scratch cooking, Tekell said.

And while nearly all of NVUSD's middle and high school campuses have full-scale kitchens, the elementary schools have only finishing kitchens.

The district has one central kitchen, where Tekell and her team test recipes, receive deliveries from local businesses, and prepare elementary school meals.

Each day, breakfast and lunch items are made and chilled at the central kitchen, then distributed to nine elementary schools with finishing kitchens, where theyre assembled and served.

A few school sites are still waiting on full or finishing kitchens, including New Technology High School, Valley Oak High and Donaldson Elementary. Seven sites across the district still get hot delivery from the central kitchen each day  but that food is also fresh, Tekell said.

She also said that Donaldson will likely be getting a finishing kitchen soon through funds from Measure A2, which passed in American Canyon last year.

But at American Canyon Middle School, one would hardly know the scratch-cooking program is new. McCarver is proud that the number of students who eat on-campus lunch has been steadily increasing over the past few years  even if that makes her and her team's jobs harder.

We hit the ground running every day now. We have a staff of three, soon to be four, and we all do all of the jobs, she said.

McCarver said she spends more than an hour in the early morning chopping onions, carrots and tomatoes and placing the school's weekly grocery and pantry goods orders.

Her staff arrives at 7 and 8 a.m., prepared to saute veggies for tomato soup, make homemade salsas on burrito day, and slice fresh Boars Head lunch meats and cheeses when turkey sandwiches are on the menu.

McCarver's goal for the middle school is to get so many kids eating NVUSD lunch that they need an even bigger kitchen soon.

More and more kids want to eat it because its better quality, with better ingredients, McCarver said. We love the kids and we want to make sure they are served the most nutritious food possible.

PHOTOS: Best of November in Napa Valley Dia de los Muertos Dia de los Muertos Dia de los Muertos Hiking with Pride Hiking with Pride Hiking with Pride Napa Arial Fitness Napa Arial Fitness Robert Zeller Vintage vs. Petaluma football Vintage vs. Petaluma football Vintage vs. Petaluma football Justin-Siena girls volleyball vs. Head-Royce Justin-Siena girls volleyball vs. Head-Royce State Hospital Museum Krueger family Krueger family Krueger family Sam Dhiman Walt Ranch Walt Ranch St. Helena vs. Ferndale football St. Helena vs. Ferndale football Veterans Day Veterans Day Napa Valley Nursery School Napa Humane Napa Humane Napa Humane Chat GTP class Napa Valley Nursery School Napa Valley Nursery School Motel 6 Mary's Pizza Shack Mary's Pizza Shack Mission Farm Barrel Tree Barrel Tree Napa Tree Lighting Ceremony Napa Tree Lighting Ceremony Napa Tree Lighting Ceremony Aisha Rivera Es Una Vida Marvillosa Public Art
One can walk from one side of the Paloma winery to the other and step between Napa and Sonoma counties.

Not only does the county line go through the property, it passes through the winery structure, according to the attorney Lester Hardy on behalf of Paloma Vineyard & Winery. Thats stalled Palomas attempt to modify its Napa County use permit.

How does one administer a winery use permit for a building thats straddling both counties? Hardy said.

The proposed solution: Change the boundary to bring the winery property atop the Mayacamas Mountains northwest of St. Helena totally into Napa County. That would give Napa County clear jurisdiction.

The Napa County Board of Supervisors held an initial hearing on the topic. The proposal is to shift about 1.4 acre from Sonoma County to Napa County, and 0.02 acre from Napa County to Sonoma County.

Napa County would grow by 0.0002%. It would add a little more land area than the city of Napas downtown Veterans Memorial Park. Most of the city's neighborhood parks are bigger.

Board chair Belia Ramos said its exciting to talk about Napa County growing, if only ever so slightly.

The boundary wasnt an issue when Napa County approved the Paloma winery along Spring Mountain Road in 1999  apparently, everyone assumed the entire property was in Napa County. But the precise location of the boundary has since come to light.

Supervisors held a hearing Nov. 28 to see if anyone protested the boundary changes between the two counties. No one did. The next step is for supervisors in each county to vote on ordinances.

Hardy said no property tax money switch is involved between the counties, given the Paloma property has been assessed by Napa County for decades.

So in effect, the parcel boundary has been recognized as the county line, even though it was not, he said.

Its hardly unheard of for counties to adjust boundaries for various reasons, such as to better serve residents or follow topological features. For example, Los Angeles County transferred land to Kern County in 2001.

Fixing the boundary line between Napa and Sonoma counties was a contentious issue in pioneer days.

California established the Napa County boundary in 1855. But subsequent surveys raised question marks involving not a few acres, but thousands of acres coveted by both counties.

Sonoma County contains 1,500 square miles and yet she wants more, the May 16, 1879 St. Helena Star reported.

Sonoma County applied to the state to have the land resurveyed. Capt. J.T. Kingsbury did so in 1877 and the results gave Sonoma County 50,000 acres or more that Napa County claimed, the paper said.

A landowner taxed by both counties sued and the matter went to the state Supreme Court, with Sonoma County coming out the winner, the Independent Calistogian reported on Jan. 5, 1881.

Hardy, the Paloma vineyard's lawyer, said the Kingsbury survey line in modern times needed to be re-established. Over decades, the survey markers were often missing.

The area on top of Spring Mountain was particularly difficult for the modern surveyors because it has been occupied and developed and used and planted and built upon, Hardy said. So the ridge that Kingsbury saw and located no longer exists as it did then.

When the new survey results came in, Paloma winery found itself caught between the two counties.

Unlike the cases from pioneer days, this latest proposed border change between Napa and Sonoma counties appears to be uncontroversial. Sonoma County lodged no protest during last week's hearing.

That was historic  as we all know, this was very novel for all of us, Ramos said as the hearing wound up.

Paloma's owner, Sheldon Richards, said both counties have done their part and his lawyer did his part.

I'm very happy with the outcome of this," he said on Wednesday. "It was never a struggle.

PHOTOS: Walt Ranch, Napa's newest nature preserve Walt Ranch 1 Walt Ranch 2 Walt Ranch 3 Walt Ranch 4 Walt Ranch 5 Walt Ranch 6 Walt Ranch 7 Walt Ranch 8 Walt Ranch 9 Walt Ranch 10 Walt Ranch 11 Walt Ranch 12 Walt Ranch 13 Walt Ranch 14 Walt Ranch 15 Walt Ranch 16 Walt Ranch 17
In politics, you often hear the phrase October surprise, meaning some big news  or scandal  drops in late October to boost, or sink, a candidate in the upcoming elections.

You dont often hear about a November surprise, given how far away the month is from the March 2024 primary or the general  and presidential  one a bit less than a year from now. But this week we had a big one: Supervisor Ryan Gregory, who was running for his third term representing the Second District, has dropped out of the race. The move means that Napa Councilmember Liz Alessio is currently the only one in the race to represent the southwest corner of the county.

As a bit of policy-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin, its a bit unclear to me about whether the filing deadline for that particular race would be extended. Normally, if the incumbent declines to file for reelection, the deadline is extended for a week  in this case from Dec. 8 to Dec. 13. But, since Gregory, the incumbent, filed and then dropped out, is the deadline extended?

Fortunately, county Registrar of Voters John Tuetur has the answer. Since Gregory started the paperwork, but did not finish it, he said, the deadline has been extended to Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. So, there you go. Alessio will have an additional week of anxiously checking the filings to see if anyone decides to throw in at the last moment.

But I want to take a moment to compare and contrast the communitys reactions to Gregorys announcement to that of his colleague on the board, Alfredo Pedroza, when the latter bowed out of the State Senate race in May.

Gregory  who had already locked up a number of important endorsements  announced his decision to drop out for family reasons on Wednesday. Specifically, his mother has cancer, and he said the time he would need to be knocking on doors and campaigning would take valuable, and limited, time away from his loved ones during this tough time.

Pedroza also cited family reasons as to why he left the race. In this case, he said it was because he felt he needed to be around his three young children during their impressionable and vital pre-teen years. Being in Sacramento all of the time, he said, would take valuable, and limited, time away from them.

Though the announcement from Gregory only came a few days ago, I have not heard a single person  on or off the record or on social media  express anything but sympathy for him or his family.

Pedrozas announcement, by contrast, came with a loud chorus of criticism, second-guessing and speculation about his true motives.

Now, there are distinct differences here. Pedroza faced down a recall campaign  though it never really got off the ground  due to his vote on the Walt Ranch matter and an FPPC investigation  remarkably, still yet to be concluded  on the same issue.

But another difference is that Pedroza is Latino and Gregory is White.

Mind you, Im not contending that a majority  or even a significant percentage  of people in Napa County hold overtly racist beliefs or feelings. I am contending that race colors our reactions to things, and acknowledging it brings us closer to countering any subconscious tendencies.

So, what to make of this? First, you can never know whats in another persons heart, so without evidence to the contrary, its important to take a person at their word.

And second, when something happens involving a group of people that dont think, look or act like you do, its vital that we consciously examine our reactions and opinions. Would you feel the same if the individual or group involved did look, act, or think like you? If not, then its time for a critical look as to why that might be.

I say all of this as a plea to all candidates and their supporters to focus their campaigns on the issues that matter most to Napa County. Criticism, even harsh criticism, of their opponents positions is valid. Frankly, it is often warranted, as showcases where one person might go as opposed to another.

But danger and pointless division await as soon as we start to focus on the personalities, as those are the products of upbringing, opportunity, and choices. The last item in that series is strongly influenced by the first two, and upbringing and opportunity are often colored by racial, gender and socioeconomic factors.

As we enter election season  sometimes known as "silly season" in the newsroom for the antics that come into play  let's all take a beat before expressing our thoughts and opinions. It'll be better for everyone.
Ever since 2021s absurd Oprah Winfrey interview, in which the Duchess of Sussex coyly suggested that a member of the Royal Family had speculated about what colour her then-unborn first childs skin would be, there has been an egregious fascination with the identity of the notorious figure known only as the royal racist.

Speculation has swirled around virtually every member of the Firm  if you want to edify yourself further, the words royal family and racist entered into the right search engine will eventually lead you to the probable culprit. But although their identity has been hiding in plain sight for a considerable period of time, there has been a refusal to name this man or woman. That is, save only for Prince Harry observing pointedly that the culprit was neither the Queen nor Prince Philip.

The revelatory edition has been recalled and pulped (existing copies will surely be worth a fortune!)

This unhappy state of affairs was all set to continue with the publication of Omid Scobies Endgame this week. Scobie and his publishers were metaphorically rubbing their hands together with the Agatha Christie-esque revelation that there was not one but two royal racists, waiting to be exposed in their villainy.

Yet the author refrained from naming the guilty parties, citing vague concerns about UK laws that would prevent him from telling his avid public who these monstrous sinners were. Until, that is, it turned out that the Dutch translation  of all things  has revealed the identities of both royals. The details were included in early copies sent out to journalists and reviewers  in other words, the very people who are in the greatest position to influence public opinion and to break the news.

Naturally, Scobie and his publishers are claiming that this is a terrible error, done without any knowledge on their parts whatsoever. The Dutch publisher Xander has removed the copies of the book from shelves temporarily while the revelatory edition is recalled and pulped (existing copies will surely be worth a fortune!). Meanwhile an apparently chastened Scobie has appeared on Dutch television to say, The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, the publisher will correct them. I wrote the English version. There was no version from me in which names were mentioned.

I wrote the English version almost implies that there is a huge international sweatshop factory of pro-Sussex chroniclers, each churning out Harry and Meghan propaganda in their own idiosyncratic fashion. But leaving aside the oddity of Scobies comments, the question now is whether the identities of the royal racists will leak in the next few hours or days. Certainly, one of the names being suggested on social media is incendiary; the other, less so (and, dare one say it, more predictable.)

But what those at Buckingham Palace, St Jamess Palace and elsewhere will be asking this morning is how on earth these names appeared in the Dutch version if, indeed, Scobie omitted them from the English-language original? Either this is the work of an unusually mischievous translator with an axe to grind against the Royal Family. Or someone, somewhere, has ensured that the desired revelations have reached the public domain by an unusually circuitous but  in this brave new world of mass, instant communication  effective route.

To misquote Oscar Wilde, if one name had been found in the translated version of Endgame, it might be seen as a misfortune, but for both royal racists to be outed looks simply like carelessness. Amidst what is surely the most tawdry and least edifying publicity campaign for a book since, well, Spare, chances are that, when the identity of the nefarious duo becomes common knowledge, there will be further outrage and pained public statements. Any chance of the fragile truce between Harry, Meghan and (most of) the rest of the Royal Family that looked like it might come to pass will be wrenched apart.

It is hard not to feel, in the circumstances, that someone, whoever they may be, has been orchestrating this particular embarrassment with the clear intention of taking revenge on those that they believe have wronged them. Suggestions on a postcard, not necessarily postmarked Montecito, to the usual address, please.
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Staff members at Graham's Chocolates in Geneva on Friday prepare the popular candy canes that have been given away for years during the city's annual Christmas Walk. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

For those living in and around Geneva, the annual Christmas Walk in the city is a sign that the holiday season has truly arrived.

Susan Jones of Geneva was one of thousands who took part in the citys special event on Friday. She and her daughter Emma Jones began the evening by lining up just off of Third Street for the house walk that awaited them.

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We try to come annually. My husband grew up in Geneva and weve been longtime residents, Susan Jones said as she waited in mild temperatures but a drizzling rain. This is part of living in Geneva. I moved up here in 1987 and I feel like the town really rallies around things. My husband and I moved away a couple of times because of his job and we never felt like we had the sense of community like there is here.

The event in Geneva included everything from a holiday house tour and the 40th annual cookie walk to photos with Santa, the community tree-lighting and the ever-popular Candy Cane Parade.

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Geneva Chamber of Commerce Communications Director Laura Rush said the Chamber of Commerce has been organizing the holiday event since 1946.

Our merchants are open late and many of them have special events in their stores, she said before the fest. The parade will take place, the tree will be lit and Santa will arrive. We dont mess with tradition and we keep what people like. For most people this starts off their holiday season with our Christmas Walk.

Despite the rainy weather, Third Street was clearly filling up as darkness fell and visitors with and without umbrellas moved in and out of stores, waited for the parade or met up with friends.

Wendy Larson of Sugar Grove and her husband Tony were among the thousands who came to Geneva Friday night for the annual Christmas Walk. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

Emma Jones, 25, said I like to see the community all come out and I think its fun when they close down the street.

Everybody is walking past each other and its easy to see someone you grew up with or went to high school with and have known for a while, she said. I love the tradition where they pull candy canes at Grahams. My sister and I both worked there, so its cool. Theyve been doing that forever.

Mona Terpstra of Batavia came with her grandson Hunter Terpstra, 6, and said she has come to the Christmas Walk many times before.

Batavia's Mona Terpstra came with her grandson Hunter Terpstra, 6, to the annual Christmas Walk in Geneva Friday night which included a parade and the city's tree-lighting ceremony. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News)

Terpstra described Geneva as a great town and Third Street has everything you need.

She added that Hunter was looking forward to getting some chocolate at Grahams which was already packed with visitors well before the parade.

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Giovina Romandine of Chicago and her boyfriend Brian Hassell stopped by the candy shop during the Christmas Walk.

We see the tree-lighting and so forth and its part of a tradition. This is his (Hassells) second year but Ive been coming out here for 20 years or so, Romandine said. I like all the shops here and seeing the tree-lighting and the parade. I always get dressed up for Christmas. I used to take my nieces out here and wed spend the whole weekend.

I love the whole Christmas experience. Its kind of like a Hallmark movie and I like that kind of stuff. I live my life like its a Hallmark movie, so here we go, Hassell added. This is definitely part of our early Christmas kick-off.

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar attended the inaugural session of the 6th International Chamber of Commerce India Arbitration Day on Saturday, emphasizing the need for significant changes in the country's arbitral system. Dhankhar expressed concerns over the dominance of retired judges in the system, calling for introspection and legislative reforms to encourage diversity and inclusion. Dhankar said, "We are having explosive economic growth. India's economy is rising as never before. World entities have held out us as a favourite destination of opportunity and investment. The kind of progress we have recorded and the rate at which we are going has amazed the world." Highlighting the explosive economic growth in India, Dhankhar noted that the nation's economy is rising at an unprecedented pace. Dhankar said," Nowhere on the planet, in no other country, in no other system, there is such tight fist grip on the arbitral system by retired judges. In our country, this is at large". However, he pointed out that the arbitral system is tightly controlled by retired judges, limiting opportunities for other qualified individuals. The Vice President applauded Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud's remarks on the lack of diversity in appointing arbitrators. Justice Chandrachud's statement, as quoted by Dhankhar, highlighted the dominance of retired judges in the field, suggesting an "old boys club mentality" within the arbitration space. Dhankhar praised the Chief Justice for his bold stance, stating that such remarks would contribute to strengthening the arbitral process in India. "He goes on to add, and I salute him for this, he said while other qualified candidates are overlooked, he implied this reflects an old boys club mentality within the arbitration space," said Dhankar. Dhankhar stressed the importance of India's rich human resources, urging a departure from the existing system that overlooks qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds. He called for necessary changes, including legislative reforms, to ensure a fair, equitable, and conclusive dispute-resolution mechanism. While acknowledging the natural occurrence of disputes in commercial activities, Dhankhar emphasized the need for a robust, fast, scientific, and effective system to handle disputes. Dhankar said, "The kind of progress we recorded we are making has amazed the world, they are bound to be disputes. Disputes are natural to commercial activities, they happen because people have different perceptions about a particular point of view. We therefore are entirely having a system that is robust, fast, scientific, effective and delivers with best". He concluded by stating that India's progress is bound to generate disputes, and a fair and efficient dispute-resolution mechanism is crucial for the nation's prosperity and economic growth. (ANI)
Actor Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman have been married for 11 years and have been together for 15 years. On Friday's episode of 'The Drew Barrymore Show', Hathaway said "we keep growing together," reported People. When asked what she thinks "keeps [them] speaking about each other in this way that's so admiring and loving," she said, "I think it's a little bit luck of the draw, but we're just lucky that we keep growing together." "And so I think it's just that thing about I don't expect him (Shulman) to complete me and he doesn't expect me to complete him," Hathaway (41) said. "I'm my own person he's his own person and we choose to be together because we believe we make each other better and this union is something we both want to participate in," she explained. Drew Barrymore, the show's host, also joked about the "conspiracy theory" that actor and jewellery designer Shulman, 42, is William Shakespeare reborn, considering that the late Shakespeare's wife was also named Anne Hathaway. "It's weird, right? It would be great if it's true, but if not, still kinda great," Hathaway said. According to People, Hathaway and Shulman got engaged in 2011 and tied the knot in September 2012 in Big Sur, California. They went on to welcome two sons: Jonathan, 7, and Jack, who was born in late 2019. In October, the 'She Came to Me' actress revealed on Late Night with Seth Meyers that she spent her 11th anniversary with Shulman indoors, thanks to the heavy rains in New York City at the time. Despite the wet weather, she said they were still able to make the best of it with a cosy night in while watching a popular ABC show. "We just kind of, like, re-pajamaed," Hathaway recalled, noting that they ended up just cuddling and watching TV after getting "rained out" of their initial plans, reported People. (ANI)
The Ethics Committee, which probed the 'cash-for-query' allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, is slated to lay its report in Lok Sabha on the first day of the winter session of Parliament on December 4. The listed agenda of Lok Sabha for December 4 mentions that Vinod Kumar Sonkar and Aparjita Sarangi to lay the "on the Table the First Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics". Lok Sabha Ethics Committee had last month submitted its draft report connection with the 'cash-for-query' case to Speaker Om Birla. Sources said the committee had recommended the expulsion of Moitra. The Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, had on November 9 adopted its 500-page report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct". The report was adopted with a 6:4 majority. According to panel chairman Vinod Sonkar, the members supporting the report included Preneet Kaur, the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now with the BJP. Dubey had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Moitra, accusing her of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts. He claimed that Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had provided him with proof of alleged bribes. The BJP MP and Dehadrai had appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee. As per the sources, the draft report on Moitra's cash-for-questions case said that she visited UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times. "On 47 occasions, her member portal login credentials were accessed from Dubai," according to the draft report of the ethics committee. The Ethics Committee had sought details reports from Information Technology (IT) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding IP address and location. The committee had also sought MHA's input on the dangers of sharing login credentials, emphasizing the legal consequences under Section IT ACT 2000. The draft report is learnt to have suggested that "serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment". "The Committee, therefore, recommends that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha. In view of the highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Mahua Moitra, the Committee recommend for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the Government of India in a time-bound manner," the report is learnt to have said. "'Unethical Conduct' and 'Contempt of the House' by Mahua Moitra by way of accepting money - cash and kind, amenities and various other facilities by Mahua Moitra, MP from Darshan Hiranandani, Business Tycoon, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates," it is learnt to have said. Opposition MPs gave dissent notes on the draft report. "One common ground for all the opposition MPs to submit a dissent note is that the enquiry is not fair. They have said that Darshan Hiranandani should have been summoned by the committee to ensure a free and fair enquiry in all respects," a source said. Moitra, in a post on X on November 10, had said she was being "unethically expelled". "Proud to go down in parliamentary history as 1st person to be unethically expelled by Ethics Comm whose mandate doesn't include explusion. 1st expel & THEN ask govt to ask CBI to find evidence. Kangaroo court, monkey business from start to finish," she said. The Central Bureau of Investigation has also initiated an investigation against Moitra to look into 'quid pro quo' allegations of raising questions in Parliament, sources said. In this regard, a senior CBI official said that no Preliminary Enquiry (PE) has been registered, However, an investigation has been initiated as the matter was referred by the anti-corruption body Lokpal. The winter session of Parliament will conclude on December 22. (ANI)
The Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Sanjeev Gupta stated on Friday that to extend entrepreneurship and development beyond Bengaluru, there is a need to create pipes connecting the clusters of Mysuru, Belgaum, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Tumkur, etc. In his opening statement during a session on "Finding Boundary Hitters: Beyond Bengaluru" at the Bengaluru Technology Summit-2023, Gupta emphasized why there is a need to transcend beyond Bengaluru and do much bigger things that Bengaluru can't think of. "If there's an aspiration to go beyond Bengaluru, the creation of a 'Beyond Bengaluru Mission' is important," Gupta said. Local industry champions in these clusters lead the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, part of the state government's initiative "Beyond Bengaluru." "There's a need to create an edge for different products in different clusters," he added. "In the last two years, in the journey of this mission, we have helped 47 companies set up their operations," Gupta informed. The entrepreneurial spirit in the young minds came to the fore at this session when students of a government high school in Belgaum district showcased their innovation - the Light Writer Pen. With no power in their village, the students were finding it difficult to study in the dark. This led them to create the Light Writer Pen, similar to a torch that can be fixed to a pen. Once charged for 30 minutes, they can use it for 10 hours. The student entrepreneurs were urged for mentorship, technological support, labs, funding, and market reach to grow their businesses and bring out more models. Entrepreneur Kiriti Kapavari felt exposing students from smaller towns to elevate their ideas and innovation was the need of the hour. Giving an outside-in perspective to the problem-solving capabilities, which becomes a big business opportunity, Ananya Mungara, founder of Smart Chakra, said that this is already being seen in Tier II cities. Jitendra P. Nayak, a member of TiE Hubballi, said that people in smaller towns need equal treatment and facilities. "The best chance to build businesses locally is through localities," he added. Suresh Narasimhan, Managing Partner at CoCreate Ventures, moderated the session. (ANI)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren met with the 15 workers from Jharkhand and their families, after their safe rescue from the Silkyara tunnel along with 26 other workers in Uttarkashi on November 28. Meanwhile, CM Soren has also instructed the workers to connect them with various schemes worth over Rs 1 crore 11 lakh, and directed the officials to cover the workers with the Abu Awas Yojana, Pension Scheme, Ayushman Card, Agricultural Machinery, Chief Minister Employment Generation Scheme, MNREGA Job Card, Chief Minister Livestock Scheme, Animal Shed Scheme, Gram Gaadi Scheme and other schemes. A grand welcome on homecoming was given to the 15 workers from Jharkhand on their arrival in the state capital on Friday. The 15 workers, along with their 12 family members, were flown to Ranchi from Delhi, where Chief Minister Hemant Soren was scheduled to have an interaction with them on Friday. After having reached the state capital, Ranchi, Chief Minister Soren met the workers and their families at the Chief Minister's residence. Workers that arrived in Ranchi included Vishwajit Kumar Verma, Subodh Kumar Verma, Anil Bedia, Rajendra Vedia, Sukram Bedia, Tinku Sardar, Gundhar Nayak, Ranjit Lohar, Ravindra Nayak, Sameer Naik, Bhuktu Murmu, Mahadev Naik, Chamra Oraon, Vijay Horo and Ganpati Horo. According to an official release from the Chief Minister's office, "CM Soren instructed the workers to connect them with various schemes worth over Rs 1 crore 11 lakh." The Chief Minister also directed the officials to cover the workers with the Abu Awas Yojana, Pension Scheme, Ayushman Card, Agricultural Machinery, Chief Minister Employment Generation Scheme, MNREGA Job Card, Chief Minister Livestock Scheme, Animal Shed Scheme, Gram Gaadi Scheme and other schemes. The Chief Minister also assured the workers that he would monitor their employment and the schemes given to them. As per the release from the CMO, Chief Minister Soren said that the state government has started many schemes for the safety and welfare of the workers. The Chief Minister said that the state government is working to make people skilled and that in the last few months, thousands of jobs have been given to youth in many private sectors by making them skilled. The Chief Minister said that when the information about Ranchi's labour brothers getting trapped in the tunnel accident was received, it was a time of great worry and fear for their family members as well as for the people of the entire state. The Chief Minister further appreciated the courage, patience and bravery of the workers. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that it is a matter of happiness that all the workers trapped in the Uttarakhand tunnel accident have returned safely to their states and homes. The Chief Minister further gave his best wishes to all the workers by gifting them clothes and shawls on the occasion. The 41 workers, belonging to Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam, were rescued from the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi after a gruelling 17-day operation. Saluting the courage and bravery of workers, Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said the reunion would be a real 'Diwali' for their families. Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for almost 17 days. (ANI)
Other officers of the BSF were present in the event besides other ranks and officers of the force.

Several programmes were organised to celebrate Raising Day at different locations of BSF in the state.

At Salbagan, a Barakhana was organised with the participation of officers, subordinate officers and other ranks including a cultural programme.

Retired BSF personnel along with their families were also invited to attend the Barakhana at nearby BSF locations.

RK Singh, DIG (officiating IG) conveyed best wishes and congratulations to the BSF troops, retired BSF personnel and their families.

On December 1, 1965, the Border Security Force was raised to guard the international border and protect the Indian territorial limits. Before that Indian border was guarded by the state police of the concerned states.

Force personnel participated shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army in the 1971 war and played an important role in launching of attack by the Indian Army on the Pak army and at the same time provided shelter and training to Mukti Vahini Yodha of East Pakistan.

In its journey of 59 years, BSF reached the strength of 193 Battalions (including 4 disaster management BN) from the initial strength of 25 battalions.

BSF has a vast experience and glorious history in combating terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir, fighting insurgency in the Northeastern region and controlling nasalism in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

During elections, law and order duties force personnel to prove their mettle in dealing difficult situations.

Border Security Force is efficiently guarding the borders of Pakistan and Bangladesh having different types of challenges and working conditions.

Tripura state has 856 Km of IB which is effectively being manned by BSF.

Along with maintaining the sanctity and security of the border, BSF has also launched a campaign against drugs and narcotics.

During the year 2023, BSF seized narcotics worth Rs- 23,12,13,667 in Tripura.

A total seizure of smuggled items worth Rs 64,83,90,565 was made during the year in Tripura. (ANI)
Visibility took a plunge and hit zero in some places as dense fog engulfed Haryana's Ambala City accompanied by the cold waves on Saturday. The dense fog reduced visibility, causing vehicles to slow down and use their lights for safety. Despite the cold weather, the residents found joy in this change. Many people were seen enjoying their morning walks in the fog, relishing the fresh air after a period of smog. The end of November's rainfall marked the beginning of December's fog. The sudden encounter with the dense fog during their morning walk was a pleasant surprise for the residents. The foggy weather also provided a cosy atmosphere for those waiting to enjoy their walks and a hot cup of tea at the local tea shop. The fog, while increasing the cold, was also seen as beneficial. The residents expressed that the fog was a welcome change from the previous smoggy conditions, which made breathing difficult. Now, they are enjoying their morning walks in the fresh air. To keep warm in the increased cold, they are savouring hot tea. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday held a virtual media briefing addressed by Director General IMD Mrutyunjay Mohapatra and said that minimum and maximum temperatures in December are likely to remain above normal in most parts of the country. IMD in its briefing said, "During December 2023, minimum temperatures are most likely to be above normal over most parts of the country. And maximum temperatures for December 2023 are likely to be above normal over most parts of the country except some areas of central India and North India". During the upcoming winter season (December 2023 to February 2024), above normal minimum temperatures are likely in most parts of the country adding that above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country except some areas over central and northwest India, DG IMD further added. On cold waves, IMD stated, "The occurrence of cold waves over the north, northwest, central, east and northeast parts of the country during the upcoming winter season (December to February 2024) is likely to remain below normal." (ANI)
Joy and celebration filled the air in Jharkhand's Khirabera village as three local workers rescued from the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarakhand returned home. Anil Bedia, Rajendra Bedia, and Sukra Bedia returned to their village late on Friday night. On their return, their families were seen conducting prayers and rituals to celebrate their safe return. Anil Bedia, while speaking to ANI, said, "For two days, we were worried about whether we would be able to come out or not... After coming out, we are all feeling really good. The whole village was waiting for our rescue." Anil Bedia's parents expressed their relief and joy at his safe return. His father was overjoyed to have his son back, while his mother, who had been living in a constant state of worry since hearing about Anil being trapped in the tunnel, said she finally felt a sense of relief. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren met with the 15 workers from Jharkhand and their families after their safe rescue from the Silkyara tunnel on November 28. Further, CM Soren has also instructed to connect them with various schemes worth over Rs 1.11 crore and directed the officials to cover the workers with the Abu Awas Yojana, Pension Scheme, Ayushman Card, Agricultural Machinery, Chief Minister Employment Generation Scheme, MNREGA Job Card, Chief Minister Livestock Scheme, Animal Shed Scheme, Gram Gaadi Scheme and other schemes. A grand welcome on homecoming was given to the 15 workers from Jharkhand on their arrival in the state capital on Friday. On November 12, a section of the tunnel, between 205 and 260 metres from the Silkyara side, collapsed. Forty-one workers, who were beyond the 260-metre mark at the time, were trapped, with their exit blocked. In a strenuous operation that lasted 17 days, all 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand were successfully rescued. The workers, hailing from various states including Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam, were extracted from the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi. (ANI)
The Indian Space Research Organisation informed on Saturday that the Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS), the second instrument in the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) of its maiden solar mission, Aditya L1 is operational. "The Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS), the second instrument in the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload is operational. The histogram illustrates the energy variations in proton and alpha particle counts captured by SWIS over 2-days," ISRO said in a post on X. As per a statement issued by ISRO, the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload onboard India''s Aditya-L1 satellite is performing normally. ASPEX comprises two cutting-edge instruments - the Solar wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS) and STEPS (SupraThermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer). The STEPS instrument became operational on September 10, 2023. The SWIS instrument was activated on November 2, 2023, and has exhibited optimal performance, the statement mentioned. ISRO further stated that the ASPEX has begun its measurements of solar wind ions. "SWIS, utilizing two sensor units with a remarkable 360 field of view each, operates in planes perpendicular to one another. The instrument has successfully measured solar wind ions, primarily protons and alpha particles," the statement said. "A sample energy histogram acquired from one of the sensors over two days in November 2023 illustrates variations in proton (H+) and alpha particle (doubly ionized helium, He2+) counts. These variations were recorded with nominal integration time, providing a comprehensive snapshot of solar wind behaviour," it added. The directional capabilities of SWIS enable precise measurements of solar wind protons and alphas, contributing significantly to addressing longstanding questions about solar wind properties, underlying processes, and their impact on Earth, ISRO said. The statement added that as researchers delve deeper into the collected data, the international scientific community eagerly awaits the wealth of knowledge that Aditya-L1''s ASPEX is set to unveil about the enigmatic solar wind and its implications for our planet. In its update, ISRO on November 7, Tuesday, noted that the spectrometer on board Aditya-L1 recorded the impulsive phase of solar flares, during its first observation period from approximately October 29, 2023. The X-ray spectrometer, HEL1OS, attached to the Aditya-L1 spacecraft captured the first high-energy X-ray glimpse of solar flares. A solar flare is a sudden brightening of the solar atmosphere. Flares produce enhanced emission in all wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum - radio, optical, UV, soft X-rays, hard X-rays and gamma-rays. Commissioned on October 27, 2023, the HEL1OS X-ray spectrometer is currently undergoing fine-tuning of thresholds and calibration operations. It has been monitoring the Sun for hard X-ray activities ever since. In early October, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft that is carrying out India''s first solar mission performed a trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM), for about 16 seconds. ISRO then noted that the manoeuvre was needed to correct the trajectory evaluated after tracking the Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre performed on September 19. After the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South pole of the moon, the ISRO launched the country''s maiden solar mission -- Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 2. ISRO had said Aditya-L1 will neither land on the sun nor approach the sun any closer. This strategic location will enable Aditya-L1 to continuously observe the sun without being hindered by eclipses or occultation, allowing scientists to study solar activities and their impact on space weather in real-time. Also, the spacecraft''s data will help identify the sequence of processes that lead to solar eruptive events and contribute to a deeper understanding of space weather drivers. (ANI)Photo courtesy ISRO
The press note mentioned that the tour was conducted under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' initiative, hosted by IIM Sambalpur, Odisha.

Pradhan, while interacting with students, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Education for taking such initiatives as 'Yuva Sangam' aimed to broaden the intellectual horizons of young individuals and sensitise them to India's diversity for a more connected, cultural exchange, empathetic, and technologically robust future under 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat'.

While speaking to media personnel, Pradhan said, "Under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' initiative, the Education Ministry has begun 'Yuva Sangam-3'. A delegation of 42 students from Kerala travelled to Odisha for a cultural-educational tour. It aims to foster experiential learning and introduce youth to the rich diversity of India."

The press release mentioned that 'Yuva Sangam' aims to foster experiential learning and introduce youth to the rich diversity of India.

The programme provides an immersive experience into the unique facets of life, development landmarks, architectural and engineering marvels, industrial progress, and recent achievements in the host state, with a primary focus on people-to-people connections, said the statement.

Given the success of the first two phases, which witnessed the participation of over 2000 youth, the third phase is anticipated to garner significant enthusiasm and vigour, the statement added.(ANI)
A 1673 map attributed to French Canadian missionary Jacques Marquette made available by the Library of Congress illustrates the link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system and Gulf of Mexico. (World Digital Library)

People have undertaken epic journeys in North America for many thousands of years, but only the stories of some have survived long enough to be on the radar of modern inhabitants.

Well likely never know about the individual exploits of the continents earliest explorers, those true trailblazers who crossed the Bering Strait in the days of the woolly mammoth and established the first human presence in what millenniums later would be termed the New World.

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Not long after the United States became a country, the Corps of Discovery Expedition made national superstars out of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark after they set out in 1804 from Illinois on a journey to the West Coast, rediscovering for a new audience landscapes, plants and animals already well known to the people who had long lived in those areas.

They paved the way for a steady stream of settlers from the East, whose arduous westward travels by covered wagon were relived by countless kids at the outset of the video game age through the popular software Oregon Trail, in which losing often meant dying of virtual dysentery.

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Thousands of years after the initial explorers fanned out across the continent and more than a century before Lewis, Clark and dyspeptic prairie schooner pilots launched journeys from Illinois, a pair of French Canadian rangers conducted a quest here that literally put their names on the map. Eventually.

First, Jacques Marquettes account of his travels with Louis Jolliet down the Mississippi River and back up the Illinois River to Lake Michigan had to be rediscovered in a Quebec archive, hundreds of years after the trip.

The voyage of Jolliet, a fur trapper, and Marquette, a Catholic missionary, had far more impact than namesake cities in Will County and Michigan. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the expedition helped to initiate the first non Native-American settlement settlements in the North American interior that introduced Christianity into 600,000 square miles of wilderness, gave French names to cities from La Crosse to New Orleans, transformed traditional Indian cultures, and nearly exterminated the fur-bearing mammals of the Upper Midwest.

Beyond that, the explorers purported stroll on their return trip between the Des Plaines River over a glacial moraine to another river that led to Lake Michigan could be the first chapter of Chicagos origin story, though that is a matter of perspective.

The voyagers reportedly proposed a canal bridging the continental divide that would finally link the Mississippi River system and its giant, western water network to that of the Great Lakes and its access to the East. Hundreds of years later, that idea became reality with the Illinois and Michigan Canal, a keystone in Chicagos early prominence.

Discussions of the voyage of Marquette and Jolliet are loaded with heavy undertones, especially with regard to the countrys legacy involving its indigenous population. But these particular explorers are noted for their mostly friendly relations with the people they met along the way.

Jenna Krukowski, an interpretive naturalist with the Forest Preserve District of Will County, stands in front of a mural at the Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville that depicts French voyageurs and fur trappers in a scene harkening to 1750. (Forest Preserve District of Will County)

Its a trip more people should know about, especially because this year marks its 350th anniversary, said Jenna Krukowski, an interpretive naturalist at Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville. And the best way she knows to do that is to have some fun with it.

Part of the Forest Preserve District of Will County, headquartered in Jolliets namesake city, she and museum colleague Sara Russell thought that fun should involve more than searching the county seat for Jolliets missing L.

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Instead, they turned to the concept of the Oregon Trail video game for a put yourself in their shoes type of program that will recreate the expedition in a survival game based on a translation of Marquettes once-lost journal.

People know Joliet and Marquette  theyve heard the names, she said. But they dont really know what they did.

So interested modern day explorers can find out, secondhand, what it feels like to be in their canoes at Quest: A Joliet and Marquette Adventure for Families, a holiday break program planned for 11 a.m. Dec. 28.

The canoes are actually tables, but we pull out all of our stuff, blankets, axes, trunks, the staging if you will, Krukowski said. People can come with their own canoe companions of family and friends, or join solo.

Not every explorer, every hired hand, knew each other before going on this adventure, she said.

The modern explorers will have maps and choose how to outfit their expeditions. Theyll encounter some of the same people and navigate similar situations. There will be a Mississippi River monster or three along the way as well.

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At one point Marquette describes in a translation of his journal monstrous fish, one of which struck our canoe with such violence that I thought that it was a great tree, about to break the canoe to pieces.

On another occasion we saw on the water a monster with the head of a tiger, a sharp nose like that of a wildcat, with whiskers an straight erect ears, the journal continues.

Theres also an early description of American bison and a few other creatures, as well as the first recorded sighting of the mythical Piasa beast painted on cliffs near modern Alton.

A painting of the Piasa, which translates to "Bird of Evil Spirit" according to writer John W. Allen, occupies a bluff along the Mississippi River in Alton near the site where ancient petroglyphs depicting a similar creature were quarried away in the 1840s. The first mention of the "river monster" came in a journal written by explorer Jacques Marquette in 1673. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

How people navigate those encounters will dictate if you were a successful explorer or not, Krukowski said. And like in the video game that gave them the idea, there are virtual consequences involved.

Youre definitely going to die if you do not portage the canoe, she said, with the caveat that the program was based on an initial program theyd bring to fifth graders on field trips. Theres lots of adult topics we talk about, but its very family friendly, and fun for adults too.

Its a way for people to gather and build community. Youre all going to laugh at the choices you make in this program.

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To add flavor, theyll also provide some of the edible provisions the voyagers would have had with them for modern participants to snack on, such as bison jerky.

Not only will our canoe adventurers be making some of the same choices as Jolliet and Marquette had to make, but theyll also be eating some of the same foods, Krukowski said.

As she dove deep into learning about the voyage, Krukowski said one of the favorite things she learned was that while Marquette and Jolliet are often credited with coming up with the idea that eventually became the I&M Canal, they actually were advised about the portage by people who had been living in the area and had been using it for years.

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Their discovery was only new to them, but made for an easier trip on the way back up to Lake Michigan than continuing on the Mississippi and traveling back through Wisconsin.

After wrapping up their trip together, Marquette and Jolliet went their separate ways. Jolliets account and much of the other material they collected were lost when his canoe overturned on his return trip, leaving Marquettes journal the main source of information from that 1673 trip.

Marquettes descriptions are such that there is lots of interpretation involved in trying to figure out exactly where the expedition went, though theres a really good chance they passed right by us, at the Isle a La Cache Museum site on the Des Plaines River, Krukowski said.

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Even if not, thats part of the fun of it, she said. We want to be as right as we can be, but at the end of the day, we might just not know.

After their famous expedition, Jolliet returned to Canada while Marquette returned to exploring the southern half of Lake Michigan, and died not long afterward, according to contemporary reports, of what might have been dysentery unrelated to the Oregon Trail.

The two explorers were reunited centuries later, at least in name, in 2020 when Marquette University established a formal relationship with Joliet Junior College.

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.
A gathering of prominent Christian leaders at Kochi in Kerala has expressed support and commitment towards India's development initiatives under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Leaders from the Christian community including Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox leaders adopted 'Kochi Resolution' and expressed commitment towards the vision of 'Developed India by 2047.' The resolution was passed at the 'Sadhbhavna' event on Friday organised by the Indian Minorities Foundation (IMF) and SON India, under the theme 'Contribution and Empowerment of India's Minority Communities and Institutions'. A booklet on 'PM Modi's special bond with Christians', written by Anoop Antony, was released during the event. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (IT) Rajeev Chandrasekhar was the chief guest during the event which was attended by IMF convenor Satnam Singh Sandhu, Christian leaders, academicians, intellectuals, and scholars. In his remarks, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said the government has truly followed the spirit of the Indian constitution through the mantra of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas'. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a special bond with the Christian community which is evident by his historic visit to the Vatican City --the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over two decades. The socio-economic upliftment of all the minorities Including the Christian community has been ensured by imparting quality education and subsequently providing them with job opportunities. PM Modi's governance ensures the comprehensive development of every community in India," he said. "India's ascent as the world's fifth-largest economy has presented new horizons for the youth. Under PM Modi's leadership, the nation has witnessed a remarkable surge in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) over the past nine years. These achievements stem from landmark decisions and reforms implemented since 2014, which have transformed India into a land of abundant opportunities," he added. The minister said that the government's dedicated efforts to position India as a global manufacturing hub are yielding tangible outcomes. "The country is witnessing an accelerated pace of infrastructure development, marked by the construction of new highways, airports, and railway lines, setting a record for progress. This has significantly bolstered the confidence of the business community," he said. "Kerala, too, has experienced an unparalleled surge in infrastructure expansion, marked by the allocation of a record funding for various projects. Among these initiatives, the establishment of the first water metro in Kochi stands out as a testament to this substantial growth," he added. K M Cherian Institute of Medical Science MD Fr Alexander Koodarathil said that Modi government has an exemplary performance in the field of education and healthcare. Keeping in focus the inclusive development for all the communities, the government has introduced schemes like PRASAD and HRIDAY where ancient places of religious importance are being rejuvenated and renovated to increase the pilgrimage. Sandhu said that the land of Kerala enlightens people with the path shown by Jesus to work for the social and economic upliftment of poor and needy. "The Indian society was always well knitted with communal harmony and multi-culturalism. People of different religions, communities, speaking different languages were living together with peace, love and harmony. Every community including the Christians have played a very crucial role in India's development," he said. He said PM Modi is advancing the ideology and vision of "India First," rooted in the essence of the Indian Constitution. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guiding principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwaas, Sabka Prayas' reflects a visionary leadership style. His dedicated efforts toward uplifting minorities, ensuring their integral role in the country's advancement, and recognizing their invaluable contributions to India's developmental narrative are pivotal tenets of his governance. PM Modi has championed holistic development of all communities which is fostering an inclusive and resilient India," Sandhu said. He said there exists "no discrimination" on the basis of caste, community, gender, or religion in the PM Modi's governance model. Sandhu said Prime Minister Modi's vision of a Developed India by 2047 has ignited a renewed sense of purpose. "As members of minority communities, we stand united in our commitment to turning this vision into reality. We pledge our enthusiastic participation in government initiatives aimed at achieving this milestone. Our dedication lies in actively contributing to the nation's growth, ensuring our inclusive involvement in steering the country towards progress and prosperity," he said. Christian Catholic Community leader CC Scaria lauded PM Modi's initiatives to ensure welfare of all the communities as well as all the states of the country without any discrimination. "The Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is providing funds to all the states equally to ensure infrastructure development, which is visible. As far as Kerala is concerned, various projects including the Water Metro, have been inaugurated that are boosting the overall growth of the state," he said. "PM Modi is making an outreach to the Christian Community, and his participation in Easter celebrations in Delhi was a warm and welcoming gesture. PM Modi is a great leader and has given us a vision of a Developed India. The Christian Community is prepared to contribute actively in realizing this vision." He also shared that the Christian Community hopes for PM Modi's sustained leadership in the years ahead. Ebin Thomas, a youth activist, said minorities in India, including the Christian Community of Kerala, "are extremely happy and safe" under the leadership of PM Modi. "During the last nine years, PM Modi has ensured equal opportunities in education, employment, and empowerment for all communities. The Modi government has encouraged entrepreneurship within the Christian community, with 11 per cent of PM Mudra Loans being given to young Christian entrepreneurs to help them become financially independent." Father Thomas Tharayil, general secretary, Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council (KRLCC), said that as a part of the minority welfare measures various training Institutes are being installed by using the funds of Central Government. Reji Vergas, a participant, said initiatives taken by the government have ensured the upliftment of the Christian community through education, scholarships, skill development and various other schemes "Modi government has taken care of the Christian Community, which has been primarily involved in nation-building," he said. Sister Vinithaa, from Carmelite Sisters St. Teresa, Kochi, who is also the director of St, Teresa's College, Ernakulam, said that during the last nine years, a lot of reformative steps have been undertaken by the government particularly in the field of education. "The government, while formulating any welfare scheme, takes into consideration the needs of every community and there is no concept of minority and majority in the government policy." She also said that Christian community is very delighted that PM Modi went to Vatican City to meet the Pope and invite him to visit India. "We are not eager waiting for the Pope's visit next year," she added. Local entrepreneurs and traders, largely associated with fish and spice trading, also praised the initiatives implemented by PM Modi. Eeoin Thomas, a local trader, said that PM Modi's efforts in fostering a conducive environment for trade and industry through the enhancement of the ease of doing business have been noteworthy. " Digital India has played a pivotal role in revolutionizing the country's payment systems, significantly alleviating the burden on ordinary citizens. The integration of every citizen into the banking system and the formalization of trade were integral outcomes of these initiatives," he said. Adarsh, a student, said the central government has consistently offered crucial support to students across all educational tiers. (ANI)
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday hit out at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and said that instead of worrying about who left the party, take up the issues of citizens and get them resolved. Without taking Ajit Pawar's name, Sharad Pawar while addressing a press conference said, "We don't have to be worried about those who left the party. Instead of worrying about it, we should take up the issues of citizens and get them resolved." "If we could strengthen our youth leaders, then in the upcoming election you will see great success. Therefore, we should start working and try to reach out to people with our ideology. So I am sure if we could do this, we would see young leaders rising," he added. When asked about Ajit Pawar's announcement to contest the election from the Baramati and Shirur constituencies, the NCP chief said that if they follow the path of the constitution, they can contest from any seat. "If they follow the path of the constitution, they have the right to contest on any seat. They can go to people with their stands. It's the people who have to decide," he said. Maharashtra is set to undergo polls next year. The Mahavikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, which came to power in the state, collapsed after Eknath Shinde revolted and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with MLAs of Shiv Sena. This led to the formation of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction)-BJP government in the state. A year later, Ajit Pawar, from the NCP, revolted against his party chief and joined hands with the BJP along with some of his party colleagues. The state is now run by the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP. (ANI)
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday hit out at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and said that instead of worrying about who left the party, take up the issues of citizens and get them resolved. While addressing a press conference in Pune, the NCP chief said, "We don't have to be worried about those who left the party. Instead of worrying about it, we should take up the issues of citizens and get them resolved." "If we could strengthen our youth leaders, then in the upcoming election you will see great success. Therefore, we should start working and try to reach out to people with our ideology. So I am sure if we could do this, we would see young leaders rising," he added. When asked about Ajit Pawar's announcement to contest the election from the Baramati and Shirur constituencies, the NCP chief said that if they follow the path of the constitution, they can contest from any seat. "If they follow the path of the constitution, they have the right to contest on any seat. They can go to people with their stands. It's the people who have to decide," he said. Maharashtra is set to undergo polls next year. The Mahavikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, which came to power in the state, collapsed after Eknath Shinde revolted and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with MLAs of Shiv Sena. This led to the formation of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction)-BJP government in the state. A year later, Ajit Pawar, from the NCP, revolted against his party chief and joined hands with the BJP along with some of his party colleagues. The state is now run by the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP. (ANI)
For a long time, investors and depositors have been demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the functioning of Sri Guru Raghavendra, Guru Sarvabhouma and Vashishta Cooperative Banks in Bengaluru.

They have raised the CBI demand probe even during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka.

Several depositors had protested then and even met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the issue. (ANI)
Congress Leader Shobha Oza has taken a potshot at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying the BJP will lay a trap of horse trading and offer of Rs 100 crores will be made instead of Rs 35 crores (referring to the Congress MLAs switch to BJP in 2020). Oza made remark while speaking to ANI ahead of the counting of votes in the state which is scheduled to be held tomorrow (December 3) "This time BJP will lay the trap of horse-trading. Now instead of Rs 35-35 crores, Rs 100-100 crores will be offered," the Congress leader said. Meanwhile reacting to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's remark that all the projections made till now will fail, Congress leader Oza says that CM Chouhan is right, all the exit polls that have been managed will be left behind in tomorrow's results. "CM Chouhan has given taxpayers crores of rupees as a bribe. He (Chouhan) has spent crores of rupees in managing the exit poll, all that will be left behind. Kamal Nath's government will be formed in the state tomorrow," She claimed. The Congress leader further said that this time the public had completely reached the booth to overthrow the BJP government. The public has full faith in the Congress Party and former CM Kamal Nath. Tomorrow everyone will see that the Congress party is forming a government in the state. Every section of the state, right from women to youth, elderly persons, farmers and employees, has voted for the Congress Party. Notably, when asked about the number of seats the BJP will win, Chouhan on Saturday said that all the predictions made till now would fail on the day of the results. Besides, reacting to the exit poll results released on Thursday evening, the congress leader said that the exit polls have become a joke. Tomorrow they would see whom the public voted for. "Exit polls have become a joke. Tomorrow we will see whom the public voted for. This has been done to put pressure on government officials through exit polls. Even in the previous elections, they (BJP) had put pressure on the government officials. The Collectors were hesitant even in giving the certificate of victory," She claimed. Most exit-poll projections released on Thursday evening put the BJP in the lead, with the Congress seen to be coming up short and not cashing in on the 'anti-incumbency' as they had hoped to. Some exit polls, however, gave an advantage to the Congress party. Meanwhile, speaking to ANI in Indore, the Congress leader Jitu Patwari on Saturday said, "Congress will form the government by winning more than 135 seats. Trust in Congress has increased in the entire country. This is the party of every Indian. Everyone in Madhya Pradesh is saying that Congress will form the government in the state." Madhya Pradesh went to polls for its 230 seats on November 17 with 77.82 percent voter turnout. Notably, the last state assembly polls in 2018 saw the Congress coming to power, with veteran leader Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister. Nonetheless, a political upheaval rocked the state in 2020 after then-Congressman Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to the saffron camp. The Congress government fell after being reduced to a minority and the BJP formed the government, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister. (ANI)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the pause in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict ended due to Hamas, claiming the terror group 'reneged' on commitments. While speaking to the media at Dubai airport, he said, "I made clear that after the pause it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward. And as we've seen just today, Israel has already moved out on parts of that, including sending out information, making it clear where people can be in safe areas in Gaza. And we'll be looking at that going forward. It's very, very important." He highlighted that the end of the pause resulted from Hamas breaking commitments, citing a terrorist attack in Jerusalem and firing rockets before the pause ended. "It's also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans. It began firing rockets before the pause had ended. And as I said, it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages." Blinken reiterated US support for peace in the region, and said that the US is focusing on the release of Israeli hostages. "We're determined to do everything we can to get everyone home, get them reunited with their families, including pursuing the process that worked for seven days. We had seven days of a pause; seven days of people coming home and being reunited with their families," he said. "So, we're on that almost hour by hour. But meanwhile, we've also been very clear that we support Israel and its efforts to make sure that October 7th never happens again. We've also been very clear about the imperative of doing that in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians and making sure that humanitarian assistance gets to those who need it. So that's what we're focused on, and we're doing both at the same time," he added. "We remain intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back. It's something that I also worked on today. So, we're still at this. We're also very much focused, as we've been all along, on trying to make sure that this conflict doesn't spread, that it doesn't escalate in other places. But we're also using our diplomacy to look at not only what's happening today and how we're handling that, but also what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting, and secure peace for Israelis, for Palestinians - in fact, for everyone in the region. And that's also a big focus of our diplomacy," he added. This statement from US Secretary of State Blinken comes as the agreed truce between Israel and Hamas expired after seven days, according to CNN. Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas resumed their war in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a week-long truce ended with the two sides failing to agree on the release of more hostages held by the militant group. Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in Gaza soon after the cease-fire finished at 7 a.m. local time. Earlier, US Secretary of State Blinken held a crucial meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday (November 30), marking his second visit to the West Bank since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, as reported by CNN. His visit was in the backdrop of increased Israeli settler violence in the region following the October 7 attack on Israel. (ANI)
It reported that the satellite was launched with the help of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

As South Korea has relied on U.S. commercial and military assets for high-resolution imagery, it has been pushing to establish an independent military satellite network to gather information on North Korea.

Yonhap news agency reported that beginning with an electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) satellite, South Korea plans to send four more synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites into space by 2025 to better monitor North Korea.

EO/IR satellites capture detailed image of the Earth's surface but cannot penetrate dense clouds, while SAR satellites can collect data regardless of weather using remote sensing systems.

The plan is expected to heat up a space arms race between the two Koreas as North Korea sent its first spy satellite in orbit on Nov. 21 following two failed attempts earlier this year and vowed to launch more in a short span of time.

Yonhap news agency reported that the military officials expressed hope that the reconnaissance satellites will serve as an "eye" for South Korea's Kill Chain preemptive strike system as they will enable prompt detection or early warning signs of a potential North Korean nuclear or missile attack.

It reported that the Kill Chain system is a pillar of South Korea's three-pronged deterrence system that also includes the Korea Air and Missile Defence system and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, an operational plan to incapacitate North Korean leadership in the event of a major conflict. (ANI)
The Hornbill Festival in Nagaland has garnered international attention as United States Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti expressed his enchantment with the vibrant cultural extravaganza. In a series of posts on social media platform X, Ambassador Garcetti shared his admiration for the festival and the rich diversity of Nagaland. "The Hornbill Festival is mesmerising. I've loved meeting so many people and learning about the different Naga communities they represent. I'm proud and honored that the United States is joining Germany as the partner nations for this year's festival," Ambassador Garcetti posted on X. The participation of the United States as a partner nation alongside Germany has added an international dimension to the Hornbill Festival, fostering cultural exchange. Nagaland's exceptional beauty, complex history, and diverse indigenous cultural heritage left a lasting impression on the US envoy. "Nagaland is unlike anywhere else in the world, and something you have to see to believe. I'm already marking my calendar to come back!" he added. Expressing his fascination with heritage and history, Ambassador Garcetti also visited the Nagaland State Museum. "Museums are treasure troves of heritage and history. I loved visiting the Nagaland State Museum and learned so much about the state's unique indigenous culture and traditions," he posted. The Hornbill Festival is a 10-day annual cultural festival in Nagaland. It's also known as the "Festival of Festivals". The festival showcases Nagaland's diverse ethnicity through: folk dances, traditional music, local cuisine, handicraft, and art workshops. The festival is held in the first week of December. The Government of Nagaland organises the festival to promote the state's cultural heritage and encourage inter-tribal interaction. In Nagaland's Kohima, Garcetti also attended a World AIDS Day on Friday event alongside state government officials, community leaders, and civil society groups. He said that India's National AIDS Control Programme has been acclaimed as a global model, and the US government is proud to support the country's efforts to combat the disease. "India's National AIDS Control Programme has been acclaimed as a global model, and the US government is proud to partner in and support these efforts," the US Ambassador said. In a warm greeting to the people of Nagaland, Ambassador Garcetti stated, "Hello Nagaland! I am here in Kohima and can't wait to attend the famous Hornbill Festival. I have heard so much about your rich culture and heritage, and I am here to learn more from you all." (ANI)
Conservationists in Wellington, New Zealand, celebrated the discovery of two kiwi chicks, for the first time in over 150 years, marking a historic moment for the iconic national bird, CNN reported. The Capital Kiwi Project, initiated just a year ago, successfully reintroduced the North Island brown kiwi to the city. Located in Makara, a suburb a mere 25 minutes from the city centre, these two chicks contribute to a local total of 65 North Island brown kiwi. While the brown kiwi is one of the country's more common species, the New Zealand Department of Conservation warns of potential extinction within two generations without robust conservation efforts. The Capital Kiwi Project, with plans to monitor the chicks using transmitters, aims to hatch another 18 brown kiwi chicks, aspiring to establish a sizable, wild population in the capital, according to CNN. Once numbering around 12 million, the kiwi population in New Zealand has drastically declined to 68,000, highlighting the urgency of conservation. Save the Kiwi charity and approximately 90 other conservation programmes are working diligently to boost the population. Predators like stoats, cats, dogs, and ferrets pose a significant threat, causing a 2 per cent annual decline in the Kiwi population, according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Save the Kiwi reveals a stark statistic, noting that 95 per cent of wild-born Kiwis in New Zealand face mortality before reaching adulthood. The primary culprits are roaming dogs and stoats preying on chicks. The Kiwi Recovery Plan, initiated in 1991, concentrates on predator control and community engagement to address the population decline. Capital Kiwi Project team leader Paul Ward expressed optimism about the project's future. Last November's release of 63 kiwis near Wellington marked a significant milestone, bringing wild kiwi back to the area after a century. The successful births of the two chicks signal hope for the ongoing conservation efforts to secure the kiwi's place in New Zealand's natural heritage, CNN reported. (ANI)
Pope Francis engaged in a "fraught" telephone conversation with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in late October, addressing the Israel-Hamas war. According to a Washington Post report, the call was described as tense by a senior Israeli official. Herzog conveyed the profound shock in Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack, to which the Pope responded, stating unequivocally that it is "forbidden to respond to terror with terror," according to the Israeli official. A Vatican source confirmed to CNN that the call between the Pope and the Israeli president occurred at the end of October. However, CNN could not independently verify the Pope's use of the term "terror." The Vatican released a statement to the Washington Post, asserting, "The phone call, like others in the same days, takes place in the context of the Holy Father's efforts aimed at containing the gravity and scope of the conflict situation in the Holy Land." Following his conversation with Herzog, Pope Francis spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on November 2. Additionally, on October 22, the Pope reached out to United States President Joe Biden regarding the ongoing conflict. The Pope has publicly characterised the Israel-Hamas war as an act of terrorism. During a general audience in St Peter's Square on November 22, Pope Francis said, "This morning, I received two delegations, one of Israelis who have relatives as hostages in Gaza and another of Palestinians who have relatives suffering in Gaza. They suffer so much, and I heard how they both suffer: wars do this, but here we have gone beyond war. This is not war; this is terrorism." The Pope has consistently advocated for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and maintains regular contact with the Catholic community in Gaza, CNN reported. (ANI)
Naperville Township is on track to approve an inaugural $800,000 levy for its 708 Mental Health Board. The township building is located in downtown Naperville. (Naperville Township/HANDOUT)

As Naperville Township prepares to levy property taxes for its 708 Mental Health Board for the first time, decision-makers say they are staying intentionally prudent.

Township officials are expected to OK an $800,000 levy on behalf of the board, far less than the maximum $8 million amount they couldve requested.

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The austerity was a measured decision, officials say.

(We) have a duty to determine what needs are in the community and then to find a pathway forward to responsibly provide for that, Naperville Township Assessor Matthew Rasche said.

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In determining what this  budget should be, we wanted to make sure that it was an amount sufficient to do some demonstrable good in the community without being so much that we wouldnt know how to spend it.

Napervilles community mental health board is still a relatively new and exploratory venture, Rasche said. Voters, by referendum, approved creating the body just over a year ago.

Dozens of mental health boards service communities, municipalities and townships across the state. Governed by the Illinois Community Mental Health Act, the boards use property tax funds to improve local behavioral health services, including those tied to mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse.

When asked if they wanted a Naperville version on ballots last year, nearly 60% of voters in the township said yes.

The approved referendum also allowed Naperville Township to levy up to 0.15% annual property tax that would serve as its mental health boards source of revenue. Imposing the full amount would yield about $8 million but the body doesnt need that much, Rasche said.

This is our first year, he said. This is inaugural.  We wanted to be very judicious with the taxpayer funds and to not get ahead of our skis.

Rasche is one of nine members on Naperville Townships mental health board. Other members consist of local mental health professionals, community volunteers and two other township officials, including Supervisor Eddie Bedford.

The group has met intermittently since forming. According to Bedford, meetings have been very, very productive.

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(Weve) had lots of conversations so far about where we can go and where we should go, he said. And then a lot of discussion on what the levy should look like.

Bedford said it was, for the most part, a unanimous vote to seek $800,000.

The bottom line is that we could have levied up to $8 million, he said. (But) the township itself functions on $3.6 million. To levy $8 million, I think the taxpayers would have come after us like crazy.

With the amount requested, the average township homeowner will see their tax bill go up about $21.

I think (the $800,000) is a good starting point, Bedford said.

Final levy approval is to be made at the township boards Dec. 12 meeting. State law requires that taxing districts file tax levy documents with the county clerk by the last Tuesday in December, which this year is Dec. 26.

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Bedford says Naperville Township is right where we should be' in developing a mental health board. Thats despite the boards future being uncertain just a few months ago.

In August, concerns surfaced that not only Napervilles referendum, but those establishing mental health boards in several other suburban communities were invalid because they didnt include certain language and details required by state law. The technical error jeopardized local governments ability to collect revenue for their mental health board programs next year.

[ Mental health funding may be jeopardized by faulty tax referendums in suburbs ]

Last month, however, Illinois lawmakers validated the questioned referendums with Senate Bill 690.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the bill Nov. 17, according to Illinois Senate Democrats communications specialist Erin Carney. It went into effect immediately, she said.

[ Illinois lawmakers validate referendums creating mental health funding for 5 suburban townships and Will County ]

We were very sensitive to the issue that was happening downstate, said John Waller, Naperville Township trustee and a mental health board member.

They took it just about to the wire (in getting it passed). It would have been a real time crunch if they had taken it any further.  We convened a special meeting less than a week after they made that decision so that we could get this whole process going and make sure we were doing the right steps.

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Still, even while confusion was being worked out, Waller and Bedford resolved that we were going to keep going until someone told us not to, Waller said.

If we put a pause on things, then you just stopped all the momentum going forward, he said. It just defeats the purpose. If the legislature was going to tell us to stop everything, we were prepared to do that. But we also wanted to make sure we were following our plan.

With the obstacles cleared, Waller said he and other board members are now working towards developing a one-year and three-year plan for how they can best allocate tax revenue. The board plans to engage with local mental health organizations to ensure funding goes where it is most needed, he said.

I think we need to reach out to (those partners) just as a starting point to ask (them), Where are your gaps? Where are your shortfalls? In the best of all possible worlds, if you could expand your mental health programs, what would that look like? And how could we help you get there, Waller said. Thats going to be our focus.

tkenny@chicagotribune.com
The two held discussions and were seen clicking photographs.

Notably, Israel has resumed its military operations, citing a breach of the seven-day truce by Hamas, which allegedly fired rockets toward Israeli territory. The Israel Defence Forces expanded their activities into the southern part of the enclave, leading to calls from global leaders to safeguard civilians, CNN reported.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday. Israel contends that Hamas is using civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and children's playgrounds, for military purposes, making them legitimate targets.

Negotiators are currently working to revive the truce, with Hamas stating it has released all women and children, a claim disputed by Israel.

A few weeks ago, Tammy Ben-Haim met former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and stressed developing the ties between Israel and Karnataka.

Heim, who arrived at Kumaraswamy's Bidadi farm on November 9, said that Tel Aviv is keen to work with Karnataka in many other fields, including agriculture, science, technology, innovation, technology exchange and cultural relations.

Haim said that progress has been made in developing Karnataka-Israel relations and sought his cooperation. The Israeli diplomat said that she intends to stabilise Israel-Karnataka relations in the long term and take these relations to greater heights.

The Israeli consulate broke down while speaking about the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attacks, when many children, elders and women from different countries were brutally killed. Haim also thanked India for standing by Israel in such a difficult time. She also expressed concern about some "unseen forces" providing financial and weapons support to Hamas. (ANI)
"A meeting took place between President @RW_UNP and Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi yesterday (01). The encounter occurred during the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Expo City, Dubai," posted the Sri Lankan President's Media Division of Sri Lanka on X.

The rendezvous between President Wickremesinghe and PM Modi marked a notable interaction during the international summit, emphasising the shared commitment of both nations towards addressing climate change and fostering regional cooperation on environmental challenges.

After participating in the Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a video of the COP28 and reiterated his commitment to work together for a better planet.

Sharing the video on the social media platform X, PM Modi highlighted key moments.

The video included glimpses of his bilateral meetings, interactions with global leaders, and his summit speech focusing on the contribution of all countries against climate change.

In the video, PM Modi was also seen shaking hands and engaging with many world leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

"Thank you, Dubai! It's been a productive #COP28 Summit. Let's all keep working together for a better planet," PM Modi wrote in the post.

On the sidelines of the summit, PM Modi met with King Charles III. PM Modi called King Charles a significant voice in the fight against climate change.

"Earlier today in Dubai, I had the opportunity to interact with King Charles, who has always been passionate towards environmental conservation and sustainable development. He is an important voice in the fight against climate change. @RoyalFamily," said PM Modi in a post on X.

PM Modi met with the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh and both leaders shared views on various issues.

"Met Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Pham Minh Chinh and had a great conversation on various issues," PM Modi posted on X.

PM Narendra Modi landed at Delhi airport on Friday late night after a landmark visit to Dubai. He wrapped up his day-long visit to the UAE on Friday evening after participating in the World Climate Action Summit of the COP28.

"PM's visit was defined by fruitful engagements with global leaders and path-breaking initiatives for accelerating global climate action," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a post on X.

COP28 Summit is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE. (ANI)
Reacting to the selfie shared by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that it is always a delight to meet friends. In a post on social media platform X today, PM Modi, sharing the picture, wrote, "Meeting friends is always a delight." https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1730886406677881184?s=20 The selfie that was notably shared by the Italian PM, was taken during their meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai on Friday. "Good friends at COP28. #Melodi," Italian PM Meloni captioned her post on Instagram. Meanwhile, during the meeting held between the two leaders on the sidelines of COP 28 in Dubai yesterday, PM Modi also talked about efforts by India and Italy and referred to it as a sustainable and prosperous future. "Met PM @GiorgiaMeloni of Italy on the sidelines of the #COP28 Summit. Looking forward to collaborative efforts between India and Italy for a sustainable and prosperous future," PM Modi said in a post wrote on X. PM Modi also met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Barbados counterpart Mia Amor Mottley, French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UK PM Rishi Sunak among others leaders in Dubai. During his UAE visit, PM Modi noted that climate change has had an immense impact on the countries in the Global South. The PM said that to fulfil the aspirations of the Global South, climate finance and technology are essential. This was PM Modi's third appearance at the World Climate Action Summit after he visited Paris in 2015 and Glasgow in 2021. COP28 Summit is being held from November 28-December 12 under the Presidency of the UAE. Meanwhile, this is not the first meeting that has taken place between the leaders of the two countries. Before this, PM Modi had met the Italian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. She also made a State visit to India in March 2023, during which bilateral relations between India and Italy were raised to the level of a Strategic Partnership. Prime Minister had appreciated Italy's support for India's G20 Presidency and Italy's joining of the Global Biofuel Alliance and the India - Middle East - Europe Economic Corridor. The two leaders had then, noted with satisfaction the completion of 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They also took stock of the progress in diverse areas of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership and agreed to bolster cooperation in areas like defence and new and emerging technologies. They noted the need for G7 and G20 to work in consonance with the greater global good. (ANI)
Save Sharda Committee Kashmir has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of encroachment by the Pakistan Army at the revered Sharda Peeth site located in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the Line of Control (LoC). In a letter penned to Prime Minister Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs, the Save Sharda committee has drawn PM Modi's "attention to the setting up of a Coffee Home by Pakistan Army and demolition of boundary wall of our revered Sharda Peeth, amounting to encroachment." "Our civil society across LoC frequently visit this religious and heritage site and looking at the dilapidated condition and poor maintenance of the complex including demolition of boundary wall, we are feeling anguished and dejected," the letter read. Ravinder Pandita, the founder of Save Sharda Committee, has in the letter requested PM Modi to "Take necessary steps to convey to Pakistan in strongest terms to ensure proper maintenance of this peeth - the highest seat of learning and one time a university, and stop encroachments of the complex, particularly in the wake of Supreme court AJK judgement dated 03.01.2018 and DG archaeology & Tourism circular No: 9973-80 dated 31.12.2018 (enclosed herewith)." Ravinder Pandita said: "This is in gross violation of the Supreme Court PoK's judgment dated January 3, 2018, in favour of the committee regarding encroachment of Sharda Peeth. This action by the Pakistan army has hurt the sentiments of crores of Sharda Followers especially J&K Hindus." Previously, Mohammad Amir Rashid, president of Dara Shikoh Foundation also wrote to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) over Pakistan damaging the walls of the cultural heritage site 'Sharda Peeth'. The Dara Shikoh Foundation on November 27 wrote to the Director General of UNESCO detailing the damage to walls of Sharda Peeth for the expansion of a coffee house for Pakistani soldiers inside PoK. "We have written a letter to the Director General of UNESCO, which has recently given the place of Vice chair to Pakistan. Sharda Peeth was declared a cultural heritage, yet the Pakistani government has deliberately damaged some walls of Sharda Peeth for the expansion of a coffee house being built for Pakistani soldiers inside POK," President of the Dara Shikoh Foundation, Mohammad Amir Rashid wrote. "While there is also a court order that it has to preserve the cultural heritage, despite that, the Pakistani army deliberately hurt the sentiments of the Indian people and especially the beliefs of the Hindu people across the country on the anniversary of 26/11," the letter read. In his letter to UNESCO, the president of the Dara Shikoh Foundation also mentioned about the systematic damage of another temple in PoK. Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in the Neelum Valley of PoK. It is situated in the valley of Mount Harmukh, believed by Kashmiri Pandits to be the abode of Lord Shiva. According to Save Sharda Committee Kashmir, the reconstruction of Maa Sharda's temple in Kupwara is a necessary and important step in the direction of the discovery of Sharda civilisation and the promotion of Sharda script. Sharada Peeth is considered as one of the three holiest sites of pilgrimage for Kashmiri Pandits, alongside the Martand Sun Temple and the Amarnath Temple. (ANI)
India has been unanimously elected as a member representing the Asian region in the Executive Committee of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) during its 46th meeting being held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, an official statement said. Executive Committee is an important arm of the CAC and the member countries have a considerable interest in getting its membership. In this capacity, India would not only get an opportunity to contribute substantially in the international standard-setting process for different food product categories but will also be involved in the decision-making process, as per a release issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Executive Committee supports in the management of the Commission's programme of standards development by conducting a "critical review" of proposals to undertake work and monitoring the progress of standards development. The Executive Committee comprises the Chair, three vice chairs, six regional coordinators and seven elected representatives from the various geographical regions of Codex, the release said. India's proposal for setting up group standards for millets was also accepted by the Commission and India's initiative for establishing global standards for millets was acknowledged by the Commission and supported by the member countries, as per the official release. The country has proposed setting up the global standards for millets under the Additional Agendas category on the first day of the CAC meeting on November 27, and the matter was deliberated at length on November 30 and was approved by the Commission for preparation of three project documents. The Indian delegation was led by G Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO of FSSAI and comprised Aradhana Patnaik, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harinder Oberoi, Director, NIFTEM, P Karthikeyan, Joint Director, FSSAI, Dr Saswati Bose, General Manager, APEDA and Dr JS Reddy, Additional Director, EIC. (ANI)
Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani has said that the power in Afghanistan is now in the hands of religious scholars and they understand the interests and priorities of the country, TOLO News reported. TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul. Haqqani said this in a meeting with a delegation of scholars from Islamic countries. He discussed a range of topics including security, economic stability and construction in the country. The Taliban-appointed acting Interior Minister also mentioned the Taliban's fight against the production, cultivation and smuggling of drugs and the treatment of drug addicts. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has had good achievements in the past two years in the area of fighting against narcotics, the treatment of addicts, the fight against corruption, ensuring security all over the country, and also stability and economic growth," said Abdul Mateen Qani, the spokesman of the Taliban-appointed ministry. According to some political analysts, the visit of the delegation of Islamic countries with the officials of the Islamic Emirate can be effective in solving some of the challenges of the country. "It is the responsibility of the Islamic countries, and the international community, to pay attention to Afghanistan and persuade the current government to pay attention to these remarks. I think the visit of these scholars is effective," Khalil Ahmad Nadim, a political analyst, told TOLO News. "Their visit [scholars] with the Taliban officials, I think will not have a tangible change in the behaviour of the Taliban," Sayed Javad Sajadi, a political analyst, told TOLO News. (ANI)
Israel recalled its negotiators team from Qatar after their talks with Hamas reached a "dead end", CNN reported citing a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's office (PMO). Taking to its official X handle, the Israeli PMO posted, "Following the impasse in negotiations and the directive given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Director of the Mossad David Barnea has instructed his team in Doha to return to Israel." "The terrorist organization Hamas did not uphold its part of the agreement, which included the release of all of the children and women according to a list that was given to Hamas and approved by it," it added. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that it struck more than 400 targets across Gaza in the first 24 hours following the collapse of a week-long truce with Hamas. Dozens of people are feared to be dead in northern Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp after an apparent strike destroyed a multi-story concrete building Saturday, CNN reported. Separately, a doctor at a hospital in northern Gaza said more than 150 wounded people had arrived at his medical centre on Saturday from neighbourhoods in the area, while at least 100 others had been brought to the hospital dead. Their families said they were victims of airstrikes, according to CNN. The report stated that civilians have flooded hospitals in Gaza following the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, further overwhelming the medical infrastructure in the war-torn territory. Most of the victims of the bombardments in Gaza, since the truce ended on Friday, are women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which described wounded people lying on the floor in overcrowded emergency departments. Israel, meanwhile, maintained that its military strikes targeted Hamas, not civilians. During the seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas which ended on Friday morning, 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and 1 Filipino, in exchange for 210 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women or minors. Israel also allowed an influx of humanitarian aid into the Strip, according to the Times of Israel. Still held hostage by Gaza terror groups when the truce collapsed were 136 people --114 men, 20 women and two children -- a government spokesperson Eylon Levy said. Ten of the hostages are 75 and older, he said, adding that a vast majority of them, 125, are Israeli. Eleven are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand, he added. Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 assault on southern Israel, which claimed about 1,200 lives, the majority of whom were civilians. Another 240 people were taken hostage, reports stated. (ANI)
Las Vegas police are searching for a gunman believed to have fatally shot one person and injured four others at a homeless encampment Friday night.

The shooting occurred around 5:34 p.m. in the area of Charleston and Honolulu, police said at a news briefing. Officers responding to the scene found five men at the encampment suffering from gunshot wounds.

They were all taken to the hospital, where a man believed to be in his 50s was pronounced dead, Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said.

Two men believed to be in their 30s are hospitalized in stable condition and one man in his 30s is critical, Johansson told reporters. Another man said to be "in his adult teenage years" was in stable condition at the hospital, Johansson said.

Witnesses told police they saw the suspected gunman flee the area in a dark sedan. Johansson said they are still trying to confirm that information.

"I do urge anyone in the area who was driving through here who maybe witnessed any information or saw anything or witnessed anything, to please reach out to the homicide section or reach out to Crime Stoppers in Nevada if you wish to remain anonymous," he said.

The shooting followed a warning from officials in Los Angeles to unhoused people to not sleep alone after three homeless people were fatally shot without provocation. Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Friday that they believe one gunman killed the three male victims in separate attacks while they slept.

A police task force was formed to investigate the Los Angeles shootings, and homicide detectives were being pulled from all over the city.

CORRECTION (Dec. 2, 2023, 1:20 p.m. ET): A previous version of this story misspelled the police lieutenants name. It is Jason Johansson, not Johnson.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
UPDATE: EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A 55-year-old man was stabbed during a family fight early Saturday morning, Dec. 2 in Central El Paso and later died at the hospital, El Paso Police said.

Police responded to a family fight at about 3:40 a.m. Saturday along the 3600 block of East Yandell near Copia.

Upon arrival, they found a man with stab wounds who was taken to University Medical Center where he later died, police said.

A 28-year-old man was detained in connection with the incident, and Crimes Against Persons detectives are investigating the circumstances behind the homicide. The police did not say what the two mens relationship is to each other.

Police say this is an ongoing investigation.

KTSM is continuing to work to learn more and will update this story when we do.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
1. Gaza airstrikes intensify as death toll reportedly passes 15,000

The death toll in Gaza has passed 15,000 since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry said Saturday. The ministry added that there were more than 40,000 people wounded and that 70% of those who had been killed were women and children. The reported increase in deaths comes following Israel's renewed bombing campaign after its truce with Hamas came to an end on Friday morning. Israel began firing rockets minutes after the pact ended, accusing Hamas of breaking the cease-fire early. Foreign organizations and Western countries are continuing to push for humanitarian aid to be brought into Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron called for "stepped-up efforts" to reach a long-term cease-fire. The Washington Post, The Associated Press

2. George Santos expelled from the House of Representatives

GOP Rep. George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Friday, becoming just the sixth congressman in United States history to be booted from the chamber. The New Yorker was expelled following a bipartisan 311-114 vote as 105 Republicans joined all but four Democrats in voting to oust Santos. The move to expel Santos came after a report from the House Ethics Committee found that he "sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit." Santos has also been federally charged with allegations of Covid-19-related fraud, and made national headlines for admittedly fabricating large parts of his personal life, education and work experience. CNN, The Hill

3. Israel reportedly promises not to target Hamas leaders in Qatar

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have reportedly promised not to target Hamas officials living in Qatar. Netanyahu previously ordered Israel's foreign intelligence service, Mossad, to go after top Hamas operatives, and The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the agency is planning to target Hamas around the world. However, this may not include those in Qatar, which helped to broker the temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Reports emerged that Netanyahu had promised Qatar that Mossad would not target anyone from Hamas who was hiding in the country. While Netanyahu has denied this, Israel has reportedly made at least some commitments to Qatar not to perform assassinations within the country. The Jerusalem Post, The Wall Street Journal

4. Judge denies bid from Trump to dismiss 2020 election lawsuit

A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid from former President Donald Trump to dismiss the federal case charging him with interference in the 2020 presidential election. Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump was not immune to prosecution based on presidential immunity, something that his attorneys had made as their primary argument. While Trump has long claimed that presidents can't be charged with crimes, Chutkan noted that the office "does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass." Chutkan added that Trump had attempted to "usurp the reins of government" in allegedly trying to overturn the results of the election. The former president has been charged with four federal crimes in the case. CBS News, The New York Times

5. EPA introduces new regulations targeting methane emissions

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Saturday that it was approving new regulations to eliminate methane production from the oil and gas industries. In a statement, released to coincide with the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the regulations were part of a "historic action to reduce climate pollution, protecting people and the planet." The new rule will slash methane emissions to 80% of what their original projections, according to the EPA, while also preventing 58 million tons of methane waste. The regulations are seen as a major victory for President Joe Biden, whose administration has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by the next decade. NPR, Politico

6. Trump and DeSantis to hold campaign events in Iowa

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will go head-to-head in Iowa on Saturday during a pair of dueling campaign events. The former president, who is enjoying a steady lead with the state's crucial caucuses just six weeks away, is set to take the stage in Cedar Rapids in an effort to shore up support. The Florida governor, meanwhile, will appear at an event in Newton. The pair have been at each other throats throughout the campaign with Trump maintaining double-digit leads in the polls. However, DeSantis recently received a key endorsement from Iowa's GOP governor, Kim Reynolds. The Associated Press, CNN

7. Inmate charged with murder after allegedly stabbing Derek Chauvin

A federal prison inmate has been charged with stabbing Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd. The Justice Department (DOJ) said in a statement that John Turscak, 52, had stabbed Chauvin at least 22 times. He was charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, the DOJ said. Chauvin was stabbed last week in a federal facility in Tucson, Arizona. Prosecutors alleged that Turscak attacked him on Black Friday as a symbolic gesture toward the Black Lives Matter movement. Prison officials said that Chauvin is expected to survive his injuries. Time, Business Insider

8. Police raid gay clubs in Moscow after anti-LGBTQ+ court ruling

Law enforcement raided gay clubs and bars across the city of Moscow on Friday night, one day after Russia's Supreme Court issued a ruling against LGBTQ+ people. Police burst into LGBTQ+-friendly locations throughout the city and detained an unspecified number of people, according to local media. "It was an established scheme, this is how they closed similar clubs in St. Petersburg. Someone was panicking," one eyewitness said. The raids came after the Supreme Court declared the "international LGBT movement" to be an "extremist organization." It is unclear what the court was referring to, as there is no formal group called the "LGBT movement." The Moscow Times

9. Bangladesh hit by 5.5-magnitude earthquake

Bangladesh was hit Saturday morning by a 5.5-magnitude earthquake that sent shockwaves across the country. The temblor began around 9:35 a.m. local time, according to a report from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake's epicenter was at a depth of 6 miles, striking about 5 miles east of the city of Ramganj. Many people throughout the South Asian country reportedly took to social media to document the earthquake. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported, according to local news outlets. The country has experienced several large earthquakes this year, including a major one this August. The Associated Press

10. SpaceX launches first South Korean spy satellite

South Korea launched its first-ever spy satellite on Friday, carried into orbit on the back of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and the successful orbiting comes days after North Korea claimed to have launched a spy satellite of its own. The device "successfully established communication with an overseas ground station" a little over an hour after the launch, according to South Korea's defense ministry. South Korea has a contract with SpaceX to launch five spy satellites by 2025 in an effort to ramp up surveillance on North Korea and its surrounding territories. Reuters
Lorrell Kilpatrick of the Progressive Labor party speaks during a demonstration in support of abortion rights at the corner of Indianapolis Boulevard and Ridge Road in Highland on Saturday, May 14, 2022. (Michael Gard / Post-Tribune) (Michael Gard / Post-Tribune)

Longtime Northwest Indiana activist and professor Lorrell D. Kilpatrick died unexpectedly Friday morning after a medical emergency, Everybody Counts Inc. President and CEO Teresa Torres confirmed.

She was 46.

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Kilpatrick, director of advocacy for Everybody Counts, had been serving as its executive director Pro Temp while Torres recuperated from a recent surgery, Torres said Friday. They received the news from one of Kilpatricks brothers, leaving the organization in complete shock.

Black Lives Matter-Gary representative Lorrell Kilpatrick speaks as groups gather in Hammond to protest the shooting deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo on Thursday, April 15, 2021. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Everyone here is just reeling. Lorrell was one of the most intelligent, dedicated, committed people who has ever been a part of our staff, Torres said. My brain is numb and exhausted. Im 75 and wasnt guaranteed to survive a double valve replacement, and Lorrell was only in her 40s and doing great. None of this makes sense.

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Jordan Musenbrock, a counselor advocate for Everybody Counts, said Kilpatrick was the go-to person for all the answers while adding more questions no one considered but everyone needed to hear.

Lorrell was a real backbone for us, and without her, theres a hole in both the agency and Northwest Indiana, she said. Were going to continue our work in her memory.

Lorrell Kilpatrick, of Gary, Sarah Johnson, of Farmersburg, and Don Witulski, of LaPorte, display signs used to protest about lack of accessibility requirements attached to grant funding disbursed by the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority. (Carrie Napoleon / Post-Tribune)

Arletha Eubanks, who recently joined the organization in July, often wondered when Kilpatrick slept.

She was involved in so many things, I feel like she pushed me to be better in the short time I knew her, Eubanks said. Anyone lucky enough to come across her mentorship always saw results when she was behind them.

Purdue Northwest Professor Kathy Tobin wrote in a social media post that shes taught many students over the course of her career, but no one like Kilpatrick.

When I was faculty advisor for the Social Justice Club, or maybe even before then, she asked me to mentor her on a research project in which she was applying for an undergraduate research grant. She got the grant. No surprise there, Tobin wrote. But through our time together, she was more of a mentor to me. She was my teacher. Because of her, Ive never looked at race in the same way. Ive never looked at society in the same way. Ive never looked at the world in the same way.

She has left us far too soon, but she made her mark on all of us. And I can still hear her laugh. RIP Lorrell. And thank you.

Kimmie Gordon with Brown Faces Green Spaces said she was saddened by the news of Kilpatricks death. She described Kilpatrick as a true powerhouse in the regional BLM movement. A sweet, beautiful, strong Black soul  always advocating outside of herself to advance the cause for future generations of our Black and disabled persons.

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She will be sorely missed in the movement and on this Earth, Gordon said. May she continue to shine with us as she now shines above us.

The Rev. Marie Beth Siroky said so many in the Region who walked, marched and stood up alongside Kilpatrick speaking for all human rights are in shock at the news of her death. She said allies call her an important center of power in Northwest Indiana.

She was a fierce advocate for Everybody Counts, fighting for accessibility so everyone could participate in the civic process, Siroky said.

She described Kilpatricks greatest skill as her ability to state her view and stand her ground no matter the opposition, whether it was on the steps of the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond or before the Gary Common Council.

Kilpatrick stood her ground in meetings with the EPA and elected officials advocating for residents and the region during the West Calumet water and soil contamination crisis in East Chicago.

She protested deportations at the Gary/Chicago International Airport and fought to end for-profit prisons.

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Siroky said Kilpatrick fought for reproductive justice and police accountability and was an advocate for the renaming of the connected stretch of Virginia, Ellis and Georgia streets to Malcolm X Boulevard.

She never stopped. She organized and supported efforts of other groups. She worked collaboratively with the diverse grassroots organizations, never watering down the message for human rights, Siroky said. When I look back at the videos and press stories  we were indeed warriors as our Region faces discrimination in all facets.

Siroky said as she has begun talking to others in their shared grief over the loss, she said she keeps hearing how Kilpatrick taught everyone so much.

She modeled being an ally, speaking out building and a willingness to include everybody, Siroky said.

If Kilpatrick sent out an invite with information about an event, regardless what the event may be, you knew it was personal.

She valued others input and discussion, Siroky said.

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In addition to her work with Black Lives Matter NWI, she was actively involved as a board member of the World Institute on Disability. A graduate of Purdue University, her previous positions included teaching at Purdue Northwest and Indiana University Northwest, Torres said. She was also considered an up-and-coming leader in the national disability rights movement, according to Torres.

Kilpatrick is preceded in death by her mother, Ivory Jean Steele; and is survived by two brothers, Victor Q. (Yalanda) Kilpatrick Jr., and William C. Steele; step-siblings Derrick Steele, Shirley Steele, Donna Collins, Carla (Marvin) Dillard and Damon Washington; and extended family. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Michelle Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
More than a dozen people are facing charges after deputies in a north Georgia county broke up a theft ring.

Gordon County investigators say that in August they received a report of a theft at a turf manufacturing farm on Pine Chapel Road. An ATV and a gun were taken.

In early November, detectives tracked a box truck that had been reported stolen in Calhoun. The driver and passenger were arrested and charged with receiving stolen property and an unrelated charge of shoplifting.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

After searching a property on Pine Chapel Road, detectives found stolen lawn maintenance equipment and arrested two more people for receiving stolen property and other charges.

While continuing their investigation, several other people who knew the already arrested defendants were taken into custody.

Other property that was found during the investigation included two zero-turn lawnmowers, a stolen gun, meth and more.

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In total, 13 people were arrested including:

David Bagwell, 31 of Chatsworth - charged with theft by receiving stolen property, possession of schedule IV drugs, theft by shoplifting, theft by taking and probation violation

Franklin Burk, 43 of Calhoun - charged with possession of drug-related objects, possession of methamphetamine, theft by receiving stolen property

Chelsey Cochran, 33 of Calhoun - charged with probation violation and a bench warrant for violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act

Matthew Delp, 40 of Chatsworth - charged with parole violation, probation violation, theft by receiving stolen property, attempting to elude law enforcement and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act

Rena Edge, 44 of Calhoun - charged with probation violation for violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act

Crystal Holaway, 38 of Chatsworth - charged with theft by shoplifting and a bench warrant for violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act

James Holman, 54 of Calhoun - charged with possession of methamphetamine and an outstanding felony warrant

Dakota Massingill, 25 of Sugar Valley - charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and probation violation for violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act

Justin McNabb, 33 of Calhoun - charged with window tint, possession of marijuana less than one ounce and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon

Nathan Neighbors, 32 of Calhoun - charged with an outstanding parole violation warrant

Tabatha Neighbors, 33 of Calhoun - charged with theft by receiving stolen property and theft of services

Chad Peace, 36 of Calhoun - charged with probation violation and a hold for Gilmer County Sheriffs Office

Ethan Teague, 26 of Calhoun - charged with theft by receiving stolen property, theft of services, burglary, theft by taking and possession of silencer

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JAKARTA (Reuters) - Some 170 ethnic Rohingya people arrived in Indonesia on Saturday, head of a provincial fishing community said, in the latest boat arrivals in recent weeks that have brought more than 1,000 from Myanmar's Muslim minority to the country.

When seas are calmer between November and April every year, members of the persecuted minority leave on wooden boats for neighbouring Thailand and Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Miftah Cut Ade, chief of the fishing community in Aceh on Indonesia's westernmost tip, told Reuters the latest group of Rohingya landed on Le Meulee beach on the island of Sabang before dawn on Saturday.

"They are mostly women and children and they are in a weak condition," he said.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees but has a history of taking in refugees when they arrive on the country's shores.

For years, Rohingya have left Buddhist-majority Myanmar where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse.

Nearly a million Rohingya live in refugee camps in the Bangladeshi border district of Cox's Bazar, most after fleeing a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by William Mallard)
Picture this: Its Friday night, youre scrolling through your Netflix queue looking for something new to get you laughing, and your takeout is getting colder by the minute.

We know your weekend nights in are precious, so quit the endless searching and strap in for these Netflix comedies thatll leave you in tears (happy tears, of course).

"Red Notice" (2021)

Agent John Hartleys (Dwayne Johnson) specialty is tracking down some of the highest-warrant criminals. When he catches art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), he offers him a deal in exchange for his freedom: catch Booths biggest competition, a thief known as The Bishop (Gal Gadot) who also framed John.

"Murder Mystery" (2019)

When the Spitzes (Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler) finally take their much-needed European vacation, they didnt think theyd be prime suspects in the murder of an elderly billionaire. The duo uses their smarts as a former detective and mystery fan to piece together who framed them.

"Set It Up" (2018)

Overworked assistants Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) know exactly what their bosses need when they need it. To make their lives a little easier, the duo decide to set up their demanding bosses (Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs) on dates with hopes that a romance blossoms. Will their plan shape up or will they end up back at square one?

"The Man from Toronto" (2022)

Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson are the duo you never thought you needed. After being mistaken as a villainous assassin, Teddy (Hart), a failed entrepreneur, has everyone thinking hes The Man from Toronto. To clear his name, Teddy partners with the FBI to pretend to be the trained hitman in hopes of finding the real guy. When Toronto (Harrelson) finds out about the mix-up, he forces the anxious imposter to continue imitating him for his benefit.

"You People" (2023)

With little in common, Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) didnt think they would end up together. But somehow, after a chance encounter looking for an Uber, they cant see themselves with anyone else. Ready to pop the question, Ezra has one little problem: Amiras father (Eddie Murphy).

"Always Be My Maybe" (2019)

Celebrity chef Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) has it all: a new restaurant, a hot fiance and a hilarious assistant. But when she gets dumped shortly after running into her childhood crush Marcus (Randall Park), the two become just as inseparable as they were 15 years ago. Just as Marcus is ready to rekindle their relationship, Sasha throws her old friend a curveball introducing him to her new beau (Keanu Reeves).

"The House Bunny" (2008)

After celebrating her 27th birthday, Playboy Bunny Shelley (Anna Faris) is sent packing from the Playboy Mansion for being deemed too old. Needing a place to stay, Shelley stumbles onto a college campus where she signs up to be a Zeta "house mom" for a group of socially awkward girls. Determined to revamp the girls reputation, Shelley gives the Zetas lessons in style and most importantly talking to boys  because if she cant, then no Bunny can.

"Your Place or Mine" (2023)

Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) have been best friends for nearly 20 years. To let down her hair, Peter offers her his bachelor pad in New York for the weekend while heads to her place to watch her son. Debbie takes to her temporary lifestyle, but as time passes, Peters long-standing feelings for his friend begin to resurface.

"Love Hard" (2021)

The pitfalls of online dating hasnt stopped hopeless romantic Natalie (Nina Dobrev) from swiping right. She thinks shes found the one and travels 3,000 miles to surprise him  but when she arrives, she learns shes been catfished by Josh (Jimmy O. Yang), who used his best friends photos. To make up for what he did, Josh offers to set up Natalie with his friend in exchange for being his girlfriend for the holidays.

"The Lovebirds" (2020)

On the outside, Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) look like the perfect match. But after four years, the once-happy couple are now on the brink of breaking up. After deciding to part ways, a man claiming to be a cop jumps in their car on a high-speed chase that results in murder. Jibran and Leilani are now top suspects and forced to put their relationship woes aside to prove their innocence.

"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" (2022)

Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) from Knives Out is back and this time hes headed to Greece to solve a murder that hasnt even happened yet. In this sun-kissed adventure, Blanc joins tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) and five friends of his past for a less-than-relaxing weekend excursion. As the trip goes awry, the southern gentleman steps in to crack the case.

"The Perfect Find" (2023)

Lately, former fashionista Jenna (Gabrielle Union) has been both unlucky in love and her career. Things turn up when she meets a new guy (Keith Powers) and lands the job of her dreams. Just as she gets the hang of her first week, the guy from the other night shows up  who happens to be her boss son. As the pairs romance blossoms, Jenna wonders if she can have best of both worlds without losing herself again.

"Identity Thief" (2013)

No matter how many times Sandy Paterson (Jason Bateman) swipes his card, it declines. Come to find out, not only has he fallen victim to identity theft, theres also a warrant for his arrest. With his job on the line, the father of two takes matters into his own hands to turn in his namesake (Melissa McCarthy) to the police and clear his name. But to Sandys surprise hes not the only one looking for her.

"No Hard Feelings" (2023)

Percys parents (Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti) just want their awkward son out of the house. So like any normal parent, they post an ad to Craigslist seeking a young woman to date their 19-year-old (Andrew Barth Feldman) in exchange for a lump sum of cash. Desperate to keep her childhood home, 32-year-old Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) responds thinking it would be quick money, but the recluse young man proves to be more of a challenge than she expected.

"You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah" (2023)

Turning 13 is hard enough, but couple it with middle school drama and planning the perfect bat mitzvah, its the recipe for disaster. This year marks best friends Stacy (Sunny Sandler) and Lydias (Samantha Lorraine) rites of passage, but when they have their eyes set on the same boy, the futures of both their friendship and invitations are at stake.

"I Care a Lot (2021)

Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) has had quite the financial success but only at the cost of unsuspecting aging folks. The court-appointed caregiver quickly sends vulnerable seniors she is looking after to a senior facility to later auction off their valuables to pocket the profits. For Grayson and her partner (Eliza Gonzalez), business is booming until their latest prey turns out to have a sinister background.

"The Wrong Missy" (2020)

Tim (David Spade) thinks hes met the girl of his dreams, and to take the next step, he invites her to attend his companys tropical retreat. To Tims surprise, a woman with the same name he had a terrible date with (Lauren Lapkus) shows up instead, ready for all the sun, sand and drinks. Thinking Missy is going to ruin his chances at winning his boss over, Tim learns that bringing her along mightve been best thing for his job and his heart.

"Do Revenge" (2022)

Revenge is best served planned. When an intimate video of Drea (Camila Mendes) is leaked to the whole school, her once-perfect status is quickly demoted. In an unlikely event, Drea joins forces with transfer student Eleanor (Maya Hawke) as they plot to help each other seek vengeance on each others wrongdoers. As the pair come closer, Drea realizes her new friend has some secrets of her own.

"Family Switch" (2023)

All parents Jess (Jennifer Garner) and Bill Walker (Ed Helms) wanted was to be closer to their teenage kids. After an explosive family outing, their not-so-nice wishes become a reality, causing them to switch bodies. With just 24 hours to reverse the curse, the Walkers realize that walking in each others shoes mightve been exactly what they needed.

"Wine Country" (2019)

If youre a fan of SNL, youll love Wine Country. The film follows longtime friends (Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Emily Spivey, Paula Pell, Ana Gasteyer) as they come together to celebrate their friend Rebeccas (Rachel Dratch) milestone birthday in Napa Valley. Like any perfectly planned trip that involves wine, gossip and a little serenading, the getaway changes, leaving the women to question their friendship. And yes, Tina Fey will be there too.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG)  A popular bar in Mobile was paid a visit Thursday night by Special Agents with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys State Bureau of Investigation.

Twenty minors, between the ages of 18 and 20, were caught under the influence of alcohol and booked into Metro Jail for underage consumption, purchasing or possession of alcohol.

Midtown Mobile car crash: 1 dead from gunshot wound, 1 injured (UPDATED)

The incident happened at an establishment located near the 7000 block of Tanner Williams Road, according to ALEA. Rumors on social media speculated that the bar was Troubadours Country Saloon.

WKRG News 5 reached out to the owner of Troubadours who confirmed that the minors were arrested at his 18 and older establishment but the owner says the party started before they entered the bar.

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverages Control Board (ABC) did a normal walk-through as they do, probably like once a year, Troubadours owner Chris Sherman said. They did pull out underage (people) but not one person that was arrested from there was actually drinking in Troubadours. What they relayed to me, the ABC, most of them were hey yeah we drank before we got to Troubadours, we drank in the car.

Sherman said a couple of the minors used fake IDs.

Daphne Christmas Parade canceled for 2023

ABC said it was an ID that would even be hard for them to tell, Sherman said.

Sherman said his bar did not receive any tickets or warnings. News 5 reached out to ALEA to verify. The agency has not confirmed that information yet.

We do not want underage people in there drinking and we take it serious; thats why we employ 12 to 13 security guards a night, Sherman said. We got 6 cops sitting outside and all of our bartenders went through our responsible vendor program, so we do everything possible to avoid it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
CHILLICOTHE  Ross County Auditor Jeff Lehner recently announced that 2024 dog & kennel licenses are available for purchase at the Auditor's office, online and at various vendors' locations throughout Ross County.

"We in the Auditor's office are once again happy to partner with the Ross County Humane Society and small businesses throughout the County to make licenses easily available for residents," Lehner said.

Owners will be charged $10 per dog license and $50 per kennel license. Ohio law requires individuals who "own, keep or harbor" a dog aged three months or more to obtain a dog license annually.

The deadline for purchasing 2024 licenses is January 31, 2024, after which time state-mandated penalties will be assessed for late registration of dogs & kennels. Proceeds help to fund the operations of the Ross County Humane Society.

Dog owners can purchase a license online or at the following locations:

Garman Feed & Supply, 3540 OH-28 South Salem

Paint Valley Hardware & Supply, 570 E Main St Bainbridge

Frankfort Hardware & Gifts,15 N Main St Frankfort

Central Center Hardware, 653 Central Center Chillicothe

Kingston Market, 9277 OH-159 Kingston

North Fork Animal Clinic, 2260 Anderson Station Rd Chillicothe

Ross County Humane Society, 2308 Lick Run Rd Chillicothe

Ross County Auditor's Office, 2 N Paint St. Chillicothe

Ross County citizens with questions are invited to call the Auditor's office at 740-702-3080.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: 2024 Ross County dog and kennel licenses now available
The Yangtze River Delta, one of the most vibrant, open and innovative city clusters in China, has reaped major benefits and matured into a pacesetter of high-quality development from its integrated development -- which was elevated as a national strategy by Chinese President Xi Jinping five years ago.

Originating on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Yangtze River is China's longest waterway, running more than 6,300 km through 11 provincial-level regions before flowing into the East China Sea.

A number of the country's economic powerhouses, megacities and major rice-producing areas are located along the river basin, making the Yangtze River Delta region, encompassing the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui and Shanghai Municipality, a dynamic growth engine for the world's second-largest economy.

With insight into the great potential of the region's coordinated development, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, announced the decision to make the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region a national strategy in November 2018.

"We will make it a national strategy and implement our new development philosophy in real earnest. We will build a modern economic system, and adopt higher standards for reform and opening-up," Xi said while addressing the opening ceremony of the First China International Import Expo in Shanghai five years ago. He added that the region will develop in tandem with the Belt and Road Initiative, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development area, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and will help improve the overall layout of China's reform and opening-up.

The Yangtze River Delta region, taking up only 4 percent of China's land area, contributes about 25 percent of China's total GDP.

Over the past five years, Xi has visited the Yangtze River Delta many times, presided over a series of relevant meetings, and given key guidance at the critical junctures in the region's integration path.

While chairing a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in Shanghai on Thursday, Xi stressed efforts to achieve major breakthroughs in the region's integrated development and enhance the region's leading and exemplary role in pursuing Chinese modernization.

The overall strength and comprehensive competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta continue to rank among the top in the country, Xi said.

DEVELOPMENT SYNERGY

As a major automobile production base in China, the Yangtze River Delta has taken the lead in the establishment of a modern industrial system and in the industrial transformation and upgrading.

Now every 10 seconds, a new energy vehicle (NEV) rolls off the production lines in the region.

With the chip and software sourced from Shanghai, batteries from Jiangsu, die-casting machines from Zhejiang, an NEV factory in the delta region can acquire all auto parts within a 4-hour drive.

Integration can be easily observed in almost every sector. From microchips to large aircraft, and from cloud computing to the Internet of Things, the four places are teaming up to promote further integration of industrial chains, under the coordinated, complementary development philosophy.

Eying high-quality, sustainable and long-term development, Xi has, on multiple occasions, highlighted innovation in the region's development blueprint.

At a symposium on advancing integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in 2020, Xi noted that the region should rise to assume the role of a trailblazer in China's technological and industrial innovations.

He said that Shanghai and the entire delta region should not only provide quality products but also serve as a source of high-level technologies to support China's high-quality development.

At Thursday's symposium, Xi, again, stressed the need to strengthen cross-region collaboration in sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation.

The region is urged to become a source of sci-tech innovation by integrating sci-tech innovation forces and advantageous resources across regions and departments, and participate in international sci-tech cooperation to create a globally competitive ecosystem for innovation.

The deepening integration and rising innovation strength are enhancing the region's attractiveness to investors worldwide.

In May, Siemens launched its Yangtze River Delta AI lab in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Zhu Xiaoxun, head of Siemens Corporate Technology China, said the Yangtze River Delta region has unique advantages in resource sharing, talent cultivation and aggregated innovation, and is becoming an important engine for the high-quality development of China's economy.

Boosted by the strong growth momentum, the industrial scale of the integrated circuit industry in the region now accounts for 60 percent of the national total, while the scale of biomedicine and artificial intelligence industries respectively takes up one-third of the country's total.

"Against the backdrop of sluggish global economic recovery, China's high-quality development will not only serve the country's internal need but also benefit the world," said Quan Heng, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Scientific innovation requires international collaboration and regional coordination and what President Xi has underlined has also injected more confidence into foreign enterprises, who are set to gain more dividends from the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, Quan added.

STRONGER CONNECTIONS

From infrastructure to public services and from industrial clusters to innovation synergy, the Yangtze River Delta has never been as close-knit as it is today, focusing on the keywords of integration and high quality outlined by Xi.

To facilitate the region's high-quality integration, meetings are convened annually where key officials of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui meet to review achievements, draft plans and seek solutions to existing bottlenecks.

Coordinated efforts in the region's green development are a vivid example of such a mechanism and have borne fruitful and tangible results.

Over the past years, China has taken a series of measures to protect the Yangtze River, including removing the chemical enterprises situated along the river, restoring the river shoreline, upgrading sewage treatment, and imposing a 10-year fishing ban along the river's main streams and major tributaries.

The number of the rare Yangtze finless porpoises, a barometer of water quality in the Yangtze River basin, had increased to 1,249 in 2022 from 1,012 in 2017.

On Thursday, Xi reiterated that more efforts should be made to strengthen joint protection and governance of the region's ecological environment.

Improved connectivity within the region, like high-speed railways, expressways and metro systems, has significantly facilitated the flow of capital, talent and resources.

In June, a new metro line in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, was officially put into operation. Its direct transferring service with Shanghai's Line 11 allows travelers to enjoy a convenient trip between the two cities.

In September, the second intercity high-speed railway between Jiangsu's capital city of Nanjing and Shanghai also began operations, and it is expected to unleash the growth potential of more county-level areas in the region.

On Thursday, Xi urged enhancing the alignment of the standards of transportation networks within the region to further improve infrastructure connectivity.

Highlighting the major progress that has been achieved since the strategy of the region's integrated development was put forward, Xi has also charted the course for future development of the region.

Advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta is a major undertaking, and making steady progress and continuing the hard work are necessary to write new chapters of the region's integrated development, he said.
A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with the homicide of a 62-year-old man in Maine, state police said.

Raheem Shamar Goodwin, of Benton, was charged with the murder of 62-year-old Edwin Weeks of Fairfield on Friday, after being arrested by police earlier in the week, on Wednesday, state police said.

Goodwin and Weeks were familiar with each other, according to investigators.

On Tuesday, at 3:38 pm, Fairfield Police responded to a death at a residence at 247 A Main St., state police said. Weeks was found dead at the home by a friend who stopped by to check on him. The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit also responded.

Two people found dead inside home in Searsmont, Maine

Late Tuesday night, during the investigation, detectives attempted to stop a vehicle being driven by Goodwin in Skowhegan, state police said.

Goodwin, who was a person of interest in the case, was traveling towards Canaan on Route 2 where he intentionally drove his vehicle into a ditch, state police said.

He then proceeded to barricade himself in the vehicle for a short time before lighting the interior of his vehicle on fire, state police said in a statement.

Detectives assisted by the Somerset County Sheriffs Office took Goodwin into custody after he exited the vehicle.

Goodwin was arrested and brought to the Somerset County Jail in the early morning hours of Wednesday where he was held on a bail violation and charged with eluding, state police said.

Caretaker charged with murder after double homicide at home in Denmark, Maine, authorities say

An autopsy conducted Wednesday determined the manner of Weeks death as homicide and the cause of death as sharp force trauma, state police said.

On Friday morning, state police detectives charged Goodwin with murder, state police said. A homicide investigation is ongoing.

Fairfield is a town in Somerset County, just north of Waterville, and north of Augusta. The towns population was 6,484 at the 2020 census.

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

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Some 220 flamingos have been found dead in the province of Catamarca in northwestern Argentina due to an outbreak of avian influenza, otherwise known as bird flu, an official told local media.

Bird flu is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease that naturally spreads through wild aquatic birds, such as ducks, geese and swans, but can also infect other bird species, such as domestic poultry, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has spread in more than 80 countries since 2022, according to the World Health Organization, and experts have concerns amid its ongoing impact across continents. H5N1 is the predominant version causing problems in the Americas and Europe, and there are several subtypes of the virus reported as the disease continuously mutates, according to WHO.

Around the globe, there have been reports of bird flu outbreaks flaring in various mammals such as seals and farmed mink, detection of H5N1 viruses in domestic cats and dogs, as well as a few cases reported in humans.

Currently, there is no effective treatment for the virus, according to the New York State Wildlife Health Program.

Risk of spread through bird migration

The infected species  known as James flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi), or the puna flamingo  is one of three types of flamingos found in northwestern Argentina. The birds pose a risk of spreading the disease to new areas during migration.

Originally, the H5N1 strain spread from North America to South America through migratory birds in a span of three months, according to Dr. Johanna Harvey, a postdoctoral researcher of environmental science and technology at the University of Maryland who has studied the strain.

It only takes one infected bird to pass on the virus to a whole flock in a matter of days, Harvey said, adding that flamingos are known to be highly gregarious, social animals that live in large flocks.

Flamingos live in large flocks, so the highly contagious bird flu can spread rapidly from a single infected bird, said postdoctoral researcher Dr. Johanna Harvey of the University of Maryland. James' flamingos are shown in El Penon, Argentina, and are not members of the affected flock. - Richard McManus/Moment RF/Getty Images

The H5N1 strain poses a low risk to humans  since December 2021, 11 cases of the strain have been reported in humans globally, according to the CDC. But experts are closely monitoring the lethal pathogens spread to other mammals, such as when more than 50 sea lions were found dead in August in Argentina due to infection of the virus.

My concerns are that its in a lot of birds, birds are clearly continuing to move it, and its not going away  and as these mortalities pile up, the impact on populations, and potentially even (entire) species, is really great, Harvey said. The true magnitude of loss here, I do not believe is well understood and has not been documented, because its a really hard thing to do.

In this latest outbreak, the provincial director of biodiversity for Catamarca, Anabella Ahumada, confirmed the cause of death of hundreds of flamingos to local media, following positive test results for H5N1 in 3 out of 6 samples taken from the dead birds by SENASA, Argentinas National Food Safety and Quality Service.

Park rangers detected the high rates of mortality in the birds near the bodies of water Laguna Grande and Laguna Diamante, Ahumada told local media outlet Catamarca 12. The province has been under epidemiological surveillance since the start of November, Catamarca 12 reported.

The Argentine government has recommended that people do not come into contact with sick or deceased birds without adequate protection.

More on the bird flu

Across the United States, zoos have been moving their captive birds indoors as the rate of infection continues to rise. In 2022, the Pittsburgh Zoo, the Denver Zoo, the Maryland Zoo and other facilities moved their bird species indoors away from people and other wildlife. Last month, the Dallas Zoo moved its flamingos indoors, NBC 5 in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area reported.

The virus has spread through saliva, mucus and feces from infected birds, according to the CDC. In mammals, some scavenging species have come in contact with the virus by eating infected bird carcasses, Harvey said.

As far as people interacting with wild birds, there doesnt seem to be a huge risk to them, because the number of human cases have remained low globally, so were not too worried about that, said Dr. Krysten Schuler, an assistant research professor in the department of public and ecosystem health at Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York. But the mutation potential and the wide distribution of this virus are the major risk factors.

James flamingo is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Natures Red List of Threatened Species, Schuler noted. The main threats to the bird include habitat loss caused by mining, as well as human disturbances due to recreational activities, according to IUCN. When the virus affects birds that are already struggling population-wise, it can have the potential to eliminate species, Schuler said.

There is not much that can be done to stop the spread of the virus, but Schuler recommends that people report any unusual animal deaths without an obvious cause to their state wildlife agencies, so they can be notified of what areas the disease is spreading.

If there is any potential to do something about it, our best option is right at the beginning, Schuler said.

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CNN Films chilling crime documentary Chowchilla explores one of the strangest mass kidnappings in history. It premieres on Sunday, December 3, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In 1976, gunmen stormed a school bus carrying 26 children  ages 5 to 14  and their bus driver in Chowchilla, California. As part of a ransom plot, they drove the hostages into a rock quarry and forced them into what could have become a mass grave: a moving van soon to be covered with 6 feet of dirt.

Almost 50 years on, those students have become unwitting pioneers in what child trauma can look like decades later. Now, the new CNN Film, Chowchilla, delves into how the largest mass kidnapping in US history became a catalyst for change.

Theres the 14-year-old hero who devised a cunning escape to free the hostages  but didnt get due credit and spiraled down a dark chasm of substance abuse.

Theres the 10-year-old girl who comforted other terrified kids, then spent decades confronting the kidnappers at parole hearings until the agony became too much to bear.

And theres the 6-year-old boy who fought relentless nightmares and all-encompassing anger before finding unexpected peace.

Like an animal being taken to slaughter

On July 15, 1976, summer school students were headed home from the Dairyland School when a van parked in the middle of a narrow road blocked their driver. A trio of gunmen  pantyhose over their heads  emerged and hijacked the bus.

The gunmen drove it through a thicket of tall bamboo until they reached a ditch hiding two vans.

The Dairyland Union School District bus carrying 26 children and their bus driver was found empty and abandoned in July 1976. - UPI/Bettmann/Getty Images

They ordered the children to get in. Then, for 11 hours, they drove.

It was just stifling, said Larry Park, who was 6 at the time.

The kids had no bathroom or water. Some whimpered and cried.

I remember (10-year-old) Jodi Heffington was one of the older girls who tried to keep the younger kids calm somewhat, recalled Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was 9 at the time.

I just felt like an animal being taken to slaughter, she said.

Their convoluted, unnecessarily lengthy route ended after nightfall at a rock and gravel quarry near Livermore, about 100 miles northwest of Chowchilla. The kidnappers ordered the children and their bus driver into a moving van hidden underground.

Workers unearth the buried kidnap van where 27 people were held hostage. The weight of dirt crushed the top. - Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

It was like a coffin, Lynda Carrejo Labendeira, who was 10 at the time, told CNN in 2015. It was like a giant coffin for all of us.

The dark chamber  outfitted with some mattresses and meager snacks  quickly filled with the stench of vomit and filth, intensified by the searing California heat.

A daring plan takes shape

The lone adult trapped underground, bus driver Edward Ray, was reluctant to try to escape, fearful that somebody was up there just waiting, Brown Hyde recalled.

But Michael Marshall, who was 14, was willing to take the chance.

I thought to myself: If were going to die, were going to die getting the hell out of here, he recalled in Chowchilla.

It seemed the only way out might be through a sealed manhole at the top of the entombed van. Marshall climbed onto mattresses the hostages had stacked under it and pushed with all his might.

It barely budged.

The inside of this van was used as the children's prison. Hostages had to use a box with a hole as a toilet. - Jim Palmer/AP

Ray joined him, and eventually they pushed the cover open  only to watch two massive truck or bus batteries that had covered it plummet into the underground cell. Then they discovered another sick challenge: a large, reinforced plywood box surrounding the manhole, with more dirt on top.

Undaunted, Marshall pounded the dirt sealing the bottom edges of the box. He dug and dug and dug  until a cascade of dirt fell into the box, through the manhole and into the coffin, revealing the most glorious ray of sunlight that I had ever seen, Park recalled.

After 16 hours in the subterranean hell, the 27 hostages climbed their way to freedom.

But the effects of the kidnapping would soon plague the children in myriad ways.

A young hero robbed

Just freed, the kids went to officially report their ordeal to police. Nearby, news crews gathered. As Marshall walked past them on his way home, a broad grin eclipsed his exhaustion. He had a chance to tell the world how the escape had unfolded.

Mike Marshall, who was 14 when he helped save his fellow hostages, said he was looking forward to telling his story to the media shortly after the escape -- but said his principal thwarted the opportunity. - CNN

Then out of nowhere, Principal (LeRoy) Tatum stepped in and said, Why dont we just give them a break, boys. Let them go home, get some sleep, Marshall recalled. And so we got in the car and left.

The diversion would haunt Marshall for decades.

It was my chance to tell the world what happened  getting out and everything, he said. And I didnt do it; I let the grown-ups do it.

People across the country quickly assumed Ray was the hero, and lavish praise for the humble bus driver followed. One reporter declared the children had been saved due to the heroic efforts of their bus driver, Ed Ray. Chowchilla hosted a parade on Ed Ray Day on August 22, 1976. The city named a park after him.

Bus driver Edward Ray speaks to reporters in 1976. - Skip Shuman/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

But Edward was not the only hero, Brown Hyde said.

Park was more blunt: I was telling people, Mike Marshall dug us out. It was Mike that dug us out. But nobody was listening.

Photos of Marshall during Ed Ray Day festivities show a forlorn young teenager, one his mother could see was really depressed.

Even Marshall felt guilty for feeling bad, he said. I remember thinking to myself, Why am I feeling like this? Whats wrong with me? He tried to pivot to thinking: Hey, you know what? Who cares? We all got out. Were all out, thats what matters.

But it cost his mental health.

Some of that pride from having been the kids hero had been robbed from him by the towns response; he was never acknowledged, said Dr. Lenore C. Terr, a child and adolescent psychiatry specialist and author of Children of Chowchilla: A Study of Psychic Trauma.

Marshalls fortitude and optimism devolved to hopelessness.

Before the kidnapping, I could see so much light ahead of me  see my future, he said. But then after the kidnapping, I couldnt see anything.

By 19 or 20, Marshall was blackout drunk every single night. I just didnt want to remember any more about the kidnapping, he said. I was drinking and using and all of that to the point where  I was living in insanity.

I wanted to torture those men

The horror also took a profound toll on Park. His older sister and best friend Andrea, 8, had also been kidnapped  and comforted him through the ordeal. But soon after their escape, I hated going to sleep because every night, I was having nightmares, he recalled in CNN Films Chowchilla.

Mom and Dad were told not to come in when we have nightmares, he said, recalling experts advice at the time to stop rewarding our behavior of having the nightmares so the dreams in turn would stop.

But it didnt work. And soon, Parks best friend became a distant stranger.

Andrea became very introverted, where she had been outgoing before. She preferred to hide in her room. She wouldnt hug me. I would tell her that I loved her, and she would just ignore it like it was never said, the little brother recalled.

Over the years, there was an anger building in me that infested absolutely every aspect of my life, he said. I was replaying the kidnapping constantly. I wanted to torture those men.

Stunning revelations about the kidnappers

Authorities said the trio of abductors had tried to land $5 million in ransom as part of the botched kidnapping scheme. When their identities were revealed, Chowchilla residents were flabbergasted.

Frederick Newhall Woods IV, 24 at the time, was from a family that gained prominence during the California Gold Rush. The other two convicted kidnappers, James Schoenfeld, then 24, and his brother Richard Schoenfeld, then 22, were the sons of a well-known doctor.

From left, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld and Fred Woods are taken to prison in 1978. - Joe Rosenthal/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

Each kidnapper soon was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole  a relief to many of the children whod been taken. But then in the early 1980s, they successfully appealed the sentences based on an argument the kidnapping victims did not suffer serious physical harm, according to the film.

They won: Parole was now an option for all three.

I couldnt believe it, said Terr, a pioneer in the research of long-term childhood trauma. The mind and the brain  thats not bodily harm, what you do to a persons mind? What you do to a young childs developing mind?

For Park, the self-loathing and thirst for revenge against his kidnappers became overwhelming. I was in a prison of my own making, he said.

It was one thing that (the kidnappers) hurt me. But they completely shattered my family. Andrea had disassociated from the family and left Chowchilla. My mom lost faith in my dad as a protector.

I was surviving day-to-day, hated my life, hated myself and hated everyone around me.

Ive been my own victim

News that the kidnappers might one day be released horrified many survivors. Over the next 30 years, Jodi Heffington Medrano  the big-sister figure on the bus  traveled to virtually every parole hearing to try to ensure they stayed behind bars.

But each hearing reopened painful wounds for Heffington Medrano, her son Matthew Medrano recalled in Chowchilla.

My mom talked about how she didnt feel safe around men, her depression, her struggle with addiction issues, he said.

Park, meanwhile, was searching for a way out of his fury. I decided to pray, he explained. I said, God forgive them, because I cant. God bless them, because I cant.

Larry Park - CNN

He also participated in whats known as the restorative justice process, which helps crime victims speak with their perpetrators to try to gain closure.

So I got to go in, and I said, I was your victim for 36 hours. And for the last 38 years, Ive been my own victim. I told them that I forgave them, Park said. But forgiving them wasnt enough. I had spent my lifetime hating them. And so I asked for their forgiveness.

Park then began speaking out in support of parole  a stance many other survivors vehemently opposed.

Its all my fault theyre getting out

The kidnappers were repeatedly denied parole until the 2010s, when supporters of their release  including retired judge William Newsom, the father of Californias current governor  publicly advocated for the kidnappers parole.

Nobody was physically injured  huge factor in the case, the elder Newsom said at a news conference, according to the documentary.

A former detective whod helped in the prosecution of the kidnappers also later spoke out in favor of their release. He was one of the people who assured us they would never get out, Carrejo Labendeira said.

But they did.

In 2012, Richard Schoenfeld, the youngest kidnapper, was released on parole.

Three years later, James Schoenfeld was also released on parole.

Fred Woods, Richard Schoenfeld and James Schoenfeld - California Department of Corrections/AP

Jodi went into a huge depression, Carrejo Labendeira recalled. She would say, Lynda, its all my fault. Its all my fault theyre getting out.

Soon afterward, Heffington Medrano couldnt get out of bed no more. She was so weak because she was just drinking so much, her son said, sobbing. She wouldnt eat because she was so depressed. And she basically just couldnt process life the way she was supposed to.

My mom did her best for as long as she could.

Heffington Medrano died in 2021 at age 55. Her cause of death was not publicly released. But it was their f*cking fault, her son asserted.

A year later, the final kidnapper, Fred Woods, was also released on parole. He now regrets the emotional and physical harm caused by the kidnapping, his attorney Dominique Banos told CNN.

Mr. Woods is truly sorry and remorseful for the mental and physical suffering experienced by the victims because of what they endured, wrote Banos, who started representing Woods in 2017.

An attorney who represented the Schoenfeld brothers has told CNN, Theres no justifying this crime, obviously. But after decades in prison, he said, the kidnappers no longer posed a danger to society.

You dont give up. You keep digging

Decades later, Marshall is starting to be recognized for his valor  a change thats boosted him immeasurably, he said. He and Park recently reunited for the first time since 1977.

The two men embraced, and Park called Marshall his hero.

I didnt realize how much it would help me to understand and to actually hear one of the kids tell me that I saved their lives and that they were grateful, Marshall said. Not very many people can relate.

Mike Marshall - CNN

As a group, the kidnapping victims have been instrumental in teaching the public that childhood trauma doesnt just cause physical harm  and can fester beyond imagination, Terr said.

Chowchilla children are heroes, she said in the CNN Film. And they continue to teach us what childhood trauma is 46, 47, 48, 50 years after the fact.

In the end, Park said, Marshalls courage and strength in those dark hours played an enormous role in helping him persevere after decades of trauma, depression and self-hatred.

I never gave up  not completely, he said, because I was taught, at 6 years old by a 14-year-old boy: You dont give up. You keep digging.

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Three people were killed, including a juvenile, in two shooting incidents Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Columbus police said 13-year-old Tauron Durham died after he was taken to the hospital following a shooting at about 11:51 p.m. in the 700 block of Stelzer Road, which is near John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

Another unnamed individual, a male, also died at the scene. A third victim, an unnamed male juvenile, was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive, according to police.

Read More: Three hurt in Thursday night shooting on East Side of Columbus

In the second incident, 46-year-old Malik S. Islam was found around 12:10 a.m. Saturday lying in the street suffering from a gunshot wound in the 2000 block of Cornell Street on the city's Northeast Side, according to police. He was taken to a local hospital and died. Police said that Islam was talking to someone when he was shot.

Anyone with information on either incident should call the Columbus police homicide unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 3 killed, including a 13-year-old, in overnight Columbus shootings
Phoenix Fire Department said firefighters had responded to three separate mountain rescues on Saturday morning.

At about 11 a.m. on Saturday, a spokesperson with the Phoenix Fire Department said that it, along with Tempe and Scottsdale fire departments, were working on two mountain rescues on separate Phoenix mountain trails.

The Phoenix Fire Department reported a rescue on Camelback Mountain, where rescuers reached a 20-year-old injured hiker, who they said was approximately 3/4 of the way up the Echo Canyon trail. They said the hiker suffered a lower leg injury and had to be airlifted off of the mountain after they splinted her leg. Officials said she was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

On Lookout Mountain, Phoenix Fire Department said that technical rescue teams had to use a big wheel stretcher to take a hiker to the bottom of the trail. They said the person had a medical injury but was in stable condition and would be taken to a hospital.

Shortly before noon, Phoenix Fire Department said technical rescue team members were assisting an injured hiker down a trail on South Mountain. They said the hiker reported she needed assistance making it the last 200 yards of the hike.

How to stay safe hiking

With three mountain rescues in one morning, Phoenix Fire Department said they and the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department wanted to remind hikers to take the necessary precautions before going on a hike.

Watch the weather as Arizona's temperatures can be deceiving and deadly.

Hike when it's cool outside: Try early mornings and evenings when there's more shade.

Dress Appropriately: Wear proper shoes, clothing, a hat and sunscreen.

Bring Water: Hydrate before you go. Have plenty of water, more than you think you need.

Keep in contact and carry a mobile phone.

Team pp: Hike with others. If hiking solo, tell someone your start and end times, and location.

Be honest: Do you have a medical condition? Asthma, heart problems, diabetes, knee or back problems? Do not push yourself.

Stay on the trails.

Be a responsible hiker: be prepared, be aware of your health conditions and do not ignore safety guidelines.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 3 rescued from Phoenix mountains in 1 morning. Here's how to stay safe
The last several days have seen a string of 17-year-olds killed by gunfire in the Valley, and government data has found children dying by firearms continues increasing in Arizona.Firearms caused the deaths of 59 children in Arizona in 2022, according to the Arizona Child Fatality Review Team report. With 44 fatalities, firearms were the leading cause of death among those between 15 and 17, according to the report published Nov. 15 by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

These figures reflect an increase over three years. The report last year found 56 children had died of firearm injuries. The year before, for figures from 2020, the report found 51 children had died of firearm injuries, which was actually then the third-leading cause of death for kids.

"The biggest risk factor is access to firearms," said Dr. Mary Rimsza, pediatrician and chair of the review team. "The gun is most commonly owned by the child's parents. That's how they're getting access to guns."

Rimsza said the last decade has seen an upward trend of children dying by firearms.

Marking the majority of firearm injury deaths, homicides were 56% of the total in 2022, the review team's report noted. Deaths stemming from firearm injuries were 100% preventable, the report determined.

What we know: 7 teenagers arrested after fatal shooting of Casa Grande teen Hailey Stephens

4 teens killed in 4 days

Within four days, shootings led to the deaths of four 17-year-olds in the Phoenix area.

Just as recently as Sunday, 17-year-old Hailey Stephens died after being caught in gunfire resulting from a fight at a house party in Casa Grande. Jesiah Street, 18, and two boys, 16 and 17, are charged with second-degree murder. Another 17-year-old also was wounded in the incident.

Then on Tuesday, there were two additional shooting deaths where the victims were 17.Jamiere Jenkins was killed after being shot in the neck by a 17-year-old boy following an argument in San Tan Valley, according to the Pinal County Sheriffs Office. The suspected assailant was taken into custody, the Sheriffs Office said.

Later that night, 17-year-old Marc Leyva was gunned down in south Phoenix. No arrests have been made in that shooting.

A teenager was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon in the area of 43rd Avenue and Roosevelt Street in Phoenix, with two other teens also wounded. An arrest of a minor was announced by Phoenix police on Thursday, but the name of the victim has not been released.

Causes, prevention of kids dying by guns

An uptick in firearm deaths among children is being seen nationwide, according to Jesenia Pizarro, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

"Unfortunately, this paradigm that we're seeing in Arizona is not uncommon," Pizarro said.

Pizarro said that since the pandemic in 2020, guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. The trend follows a rise in gun ownership, Pizarro said. Recent research shows that the rise stems from people feeling less safe, she noted.

"Parents need to know what their children are doing when they're not at home," said Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Brian Bower, pointing to social media use and potential references to firearm use or access.

Additionally, Bower said parents concerned about firearm use by their children should inspect their kids' rooms and their school backpacks. Bower also mentioned that keeping children safe from firearms involves parents knowing whether their kids are friends with people who may be of age to gain access to firearms.

Kaitlyn Packard (left) and McKenna Trujillo bring flowers to a memorial for Jamiere Jenkins near a park where he was shot and killed. The two were classmates and friends of Jenkins.

Online resources offered for community

Students at Combs High School in San Tan Valley have experienced the grief involved in violent teen deaths. Jenkins was the second student to be killed in as many months, the first being 16-year-old Preston Lord during an Oct. 28 assault at a house party in a case where an arrest has yet to be made.

In response, the J.O. Combs Unified School District has created an online resource center for district parents to help their children manage their grief and trauma.

The resource center is for "parents who might be seeking something to help them equip themselves to have those conversations with their kids," said school district spokeswoman Kayla Fulmer.

So far, there has been no push from school district parents for action addressing gun safety or gun violence, Fulmer said.

Gun violence: 17-year-old killed in shooting in San Tan Valley

Republic reporter Kayla Jackson contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Report: Guns remain leading cause of death among kids 15-17 in Arizona
As a former congressman from Missouri, I know that voting to expel or sanction a fellow member of Congress is unpleasant business. But when the overwhelming facts are presented, then one must forget the politics of being a Democrat or Republican and, instead, vote to do whats right.

Unfortunately, all but one member of the Missouri GOP congressional delegation failed to live up to that standard. Instead, they voted against expelling New York Rep. George Santos, who has a list of federal criminal indictments as long as your arm. If that were not enough to move these Missouri members to vote to expel Santos, there was an eleventh hour appeal sent to all Republican members, accusing Santos of having stolen money from a fellow Republican House member.

You dont have to be a historian with a Ph.D. or a political scientist to know what was going on here. These Republicans feared that their four-vote majority in the House would be jeopardized along with the political power they covet. Pure and simple, they voted to keep their majority in the House, instead of cleaning house.

Undoubtedly, the five Republicans in the states delegation will bemoan the so-called dangerous precedent being set in the Santos matter  the precedent of kicking out a member of Congress who has yet to be found guilty of a crime. Do they not believe their own Republican colleague that Santos stole from him? It defies the imagination.

Its well known the public already has a very low opinion of Congress. A recent Gallup poll shows congressional approval at a dismal 13%, while 84% of Americans disapprove. The vote on Santos will give Missouri voters an additional reason next year to vote against incumbents who should have shown more backbone and integrity in dealing with Santos.

In failing to expel Santos, these five Missouri members of Congress appear to be OK with the behaviors that form the basis for his indictments and brought disrepute on the House. His 23-count federal indictment included identity theft and credit card fraud. The House Ethics Committee reported he stole money from his campaign and used it for rent, designer clothes and Botox treatments.

Theres a saying in politics that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Santos has walked and quacked his way as a candidate, a member of Congress, a Republican, a liar, a fraud and likely a criminal. He is what he is. He was treated with kid gloves because his vote was needed. He was needed until he wasnt. When the Santos affair became too hot for House Republicans, he was sent packing.

Republicans are hopeful the Santos albatross has now been removed from the necks of Republican House members. But I doubt it. Next year, that political albatross will likely be hung on every Republican House member, including the Missouri five, who voted to keep Santos on the payroll and out of jail.

As Lord Acton, the English historian, politician, and writer stated in a 1887 letter: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Tom Coleman is a former eight-term Republican U.S. representative from Missouri.

Editors note: Missouri Reps. Mark Alford, Eric Burlison, Sam Graves, Blaine Luetkemeyer and Jason Smith voted not to expel Santos.
When Napoleon invaded Egypt, he brought dozens of scientists with him.

Astronomers, mathematicians, and naturalists spent three years studying the country.

Napoleon's invasion failed, but it led to some groundbreaking scientific work.

When General Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in July 1798, he didn't just bring tens of thousands of soldiers, he also recruited over 150 scientists, known as savants, to accompany him.

They arrived "with the aim of both study and exploitation," according to an archaeologist .

A little over a month later, on August 23, 1798, the scientific society called the Institut d'Egypte, which still exists today, held its first meeting in a lavish palace in Cairo and appointed Napoleon as its first vice president .

Napoleon wanted to use the country's natural resources, history, and culture for the benefit of France. He urged the savants to focus on projects, like improving bread ovens, purifying the Nile's water, and brewing beer without hops.

The scientists' tasks were made more difficult because the ship carrying much of their surveying and scientific equipment had sunk . Then, after a series of defeats in Egypt, Napoleon returned to France in 1799 and left many of the scientists stranded.

Despite setbacks, the engineers, mathematicians, naturalists, and others spent nearly three years surveying, documenting, and collecting everything from antiquities to mummified remains to animals largely unknown to the West.

Their work led to some novel discoveries, helped formalize sciences like archaeology, and spurred an infatuation with Egypt that's continued ever since.

1. The discovery that chemical reactions are reversible

Before chemist Claude-Louis Berthollet's realization, the concept that chemical reactions could be reversible wasn't universally accepted.

However, Berthollet found strong evidence to support the concept while studying the salt deposits in the lakes of the Natron Valley.

Limestone in the lakes was covered in a naturally occurring salt called natron, which Egyptians used to preserve mummified bodies because it absorbed moisture and dissolved fat.

Graeco-Roman remains near Wadi El Natrun, the area where Berthollet saw natron. Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Berthollet observed that the limestone, which contained calcium carbonate , chemically reacted with salt, aka sodium chloride, to produce natron, made of sodium carbonate.

In laboratory conditions , chemists knew that the exact opposite reaction was possible, which led Berthollet to reasonably conclude that chemical reactions were reversible and that heat and different amounts of a substance could determine which way the reaction went.

2. A more formal approach to archaeology

In Napoleon's time, archaeology wasn't yet a formal science . Most savants had little experience with artifacts. Sand still buried some temples that had yet to be excavated.

Dominique-Vivant Denon, an artist and writer, was awed by the ancient monuments he saw. He went back to France with Napoleon and quickly published a book with his descriptions and drawings, "Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt."

At the time of Napoleon's invasion, travelers had long known of Alexandria, Cairo, and other parts of Lower Egypt. The Great Pyramids and Sphinx were famous. But Upper Egypt wasn't as well known.

That changed when the savants arrived. "The whole army, suddenly and with one accord, stood in amazement...and clapped their hands with delight," Denon later wrote.

Denon's drawing of the Edfu Temple. The people give a sense of the huge scale of the monuments. Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images

His drawings and descriptions of the temples and ruins at Thebes, Esna, Edfu, and Karnak proved immensely popular. Many were depicted in fashionable paintings and inspired decor trends.

Since he'd had to capture everything in short bursts of time , Denon had pushed for two commissions of savants to return and better document the monuments.

Napoleon's architects and engineers made careful drawings and took measurements of a large number of monuments. Others attempted to measure the pyramids. (Napoleon never shot them with cannons, in case you were wondering.)

3. Savigny discovered a new way to classify insects

When he was back in France, Jules-Cesar Savigny needed to organize the 1,500 species of insects he'd brought back. There didn't yet exist a systematic way to distinguish one species of moth or butterfly from another. So Savigny invented one.

It turned out, the mouth parts had sufficient differences to allow Savigny to separate the bugs into species. He pored over the tiny jaws of the insects. He drew over 1,000 images of specimens, some of which were only a centimeter long.

Just 21 and a botanist by training when he arrived in Egypt, Savigny collected invertebrates like worms, bees, spiders, snails, and flies. He also took specimens of starfish, coral, and sea urchins.

Savigny's intricate drawings of arachnids from the from Description de l'Egypte. De Agostini Editorial via Getty Images

Savigny applied the same rigor to arachnids, worms, and other animals that lacked backbones. Some of his classification methods are still in use today.

4. The discovery of a new species of crocodile that took 200 years to confirm

Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was convinced there were two species of crocodiles in the Nile.

Like Savigny, Geoffroy was a prolific collector. While in Egypt, he studied bats, mongooses, tortoises, and more.

One reason Geoffroy was able to dissect and stuff so many specimens was he had purchased an 11-year-old enslaved boy, whom he trained to help with his work.

Geoffroy dissected so many different kinds of animals that he started to see patterns between even very different species. It led to his theory of a " unity of plan " or "unity of composition" a kind of quasi-evolutionary idea that Charles Darwin would reference decades later.

Geoffroy's theories often irritated his fellow naturalists. That includes when he attempted to demonstrate a mummified crocodile he'd taken from Egypt represented a separate species.

Geoffroy's depiction of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) from the Description de l'Egypte. De Agostini Editorial via Getty Images

Its jaw was completely different from the Nile crocodile, Geoffroy said. Plus, it was less aggressive. One had been on display in Paris. "It took pleasure in being patted; and anyone might, without the least danger, open its mouth, and place his hand between its teeth," according to one account.

His colleagues said he was wrong about there being a separate species of crocodile. However, over 200 years later, biologist Evon Hekkala and a team of researchers analyzed the DNA of modern crocodiles and some of Geoffroy's mummies to confirm his suspicions, and show two separate species swam in the Nile: Crocodylus niloticus and Crocodylus suchus.

5. The advent of ophthalmology

An engraving from the Description de l'Egypte showing the interior courtyard of a house. Science & Society Picture Library via Getty Images

The French physicians who accompanied Napoleon encountered unfamiliar diseases in Egpyt. One disease they brought back with them to Europe was something they called Egyptian ophthalmia , which is now known as trachoma and can cause itchy, swollen eyes and lead to blindness.

It became so prevalent that physicians all over Europe started studying the disease. Geoffroy, who contracted it, was " totally blind" for weeks, he wrote.

Up to that point, ophthalmology wasn't a formalized branch of scientific research, but the race to find the origin of this disease laid the groundwork for its creation.

Eventually, British physician John Vetch realized the pus from the infected eye could spread the disease. Knowing it was contagious, Vetch developed methods of prevention and treatment that are considered milestones in the history of ophthalmology.

6. The Rosetta Stone helped Champollion discover how to decipher hieroglyphs

For centuries, no one could read hieroglyphs, the pictorial writing that covered many Egyptian monuments.

When the French found the Rosetta Stone during their invasion, they knew it could serve as a kind of translation key.

Deciphering hieroglyphs would allow scholars to read the writing on scores of other Ancient Egyptian texts and monuments.

In 1801, the British were negotiating for France's surrender. One stipulation was that the British would take the antiquities and the savants' collections , which included the Rosetta Stone.

Geoffroy told the British that the savants would "destroy our property, we will disperse it in the Libyan sands, or we will throw it into the sea" before they handed it over. They were allowed to keep their notes and collections.

The Rosetta Stone is housed at the British Museum. Fox Photos/Getty Images

Three texts were inscribed on the stone, in Egyptian hieroglyphs, an Egyptian cursive script derived from hieroglyphs, and Ancient Greek. Since the three were identical, the Greek writing could help researchers decipher the hieroglyphs.

It took two decades for French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion to translate them. Champollion made use of a copy the French savants had taken of the slab and published.

The Rosetta Stone is currently in the British Museum. Egypt has been trying to get it back, calling it a "spoil of war."

7. The invention of an engraving machine that sped up the printing process

When the savants returned to France, many worked on compiling the multi-volume book "Description de l'Egypte," which amounted to 7,000 pages encompassing what they'd seen and studied in Egypt.

To save some of the laborious work of engraving, engineer Nicolas-Jacques Conte created a machine that automated part of the process.

To print the hundreds of illustrations, engravers first had to transfer them to copper plates .

Just one of the many detailed engravings added to the Description de l'Egypte, this one of a mosque in Cairo. Science & Society Picture Library via Getty Images

For plates with monuments, Conte's machine could engrave the sky in the background. The engraver could program it to create clouds as well.

What originally would've taken six to eight months could be completed in just a few days.

It was still a massive undertaking and considered to be the most ambitious work of France in the early 19th Century. The first volume wasn't printed until 1809 . The final volume came out in the late 1820s, nearly a decade after Napoloen's death .

Read the original article on Business Insider
VISTA, Calif.  Seven people were arrested in connection to a retail theft operation at two Target stores in Vista, authorities said.

The crimes occurred Thursday in the 1700 block of University Drive and 3100 block of Business Park Drive, Sgt. Brent Longfellow with the San Diego County Sheriffs Department said in a news release Friday.

Authorities identified the seven shoplifting suspects as Allen McNabb, 30, Martha Madrigal Villanueva, 38, Isaiah Mojica, 23, Alejandro Villegas, 50, Heather Ovalle, 34, Isaiah Cruz, 26, and Alex Valadez, 35.

Heres where San Diegans are looking to buy a home, according to study

Deputies recovered about $1,800 worth of stolen merchandise from Target, as well as $2,800 of merchandise stolen from a Home Depot store.

In October, the Vista Sheriffs Station arrested five people suspected in a $1,000 retail theft operation.

San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan met with businesses last month to crack down on organized retail crimes, saying that her team assigned to prosecute organized retail crime thefts have been able to prosecute the crimes at an organized crime level, which institutes a felony.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
A nurse collects blood for a child at a children's outpatient service of a hospital in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 24, 2023. (Xinhua)

Facing the recent high incidences of respiratory infectious diseases, medical authorities across China have coordinated medical resources and taken multiple measures to meet the increasing demand for medical treatment among its residents this winter.



Monitoring data shows that the recent respiratory infectious diseases are mainly influenza, along with others caused by rhinovirus, mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, and the like.

Currently, pediatric medical institutions nationwide continue to run around the clock, providing necessary medical support for minor patients. At the same time, education authorities and schools are strengthening their health monitoring and disease prevention measures to safeguard the health and safety of their faculties and students.





24/7 MEDICAL SERVICE

The National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday that it will fully tap the potential of pediatric diagnosis and treatment services and expand the total number of available service resources.

Amid the latest surge of respiratory illnesses, medical institutions should extend their outpatient reception hours, add available outpatient service numbers, expand consultation rooms and diagnosis and treatment areas in hospitals, and set up nighttime and weekend outpatient departments according to the medical treatment needs of their children patients, said NHC.

Beijing Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric specialty medical institutions in the Chinese capital and the national children's medical center. Recently, the number of outpatient and emergency children patients has risen sharply, at times far exceeding its reception capacity. To expand its service capacity, the hospital's surgical rooms have also freed up a large part of the space for treating children with fevers.

Zhao Chengsong, vice president of Beijing Children's Hospital, introduced that the hospital has coordinated all its medical resources to ensure the medical needs of various children patients, adjusted the staff distribution, which is now tilted to the internal medicine or fever and cough departments, set up a sequential treatment clinic for pneumonia, adjusted the inpatient beds, and opened beds in its internal medicine department to treat children with pneumonia.

Meanwhile, the hospital also facilitates its inspection, imaging, pharmacy, and charging services for the patients, with staff numbers increased and their working hours extended.

In the Second Hospital of Jilin University, located in Changchun, the provincial capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, most of the outpatient reception hall has been turned into an infusion area for minors, where children can undergo infusion treatment accompanied by their family members.

Zhang Yunfeng, director of the pediatric diagnosis and treatment center of the hospital, said that as of late, the daily number of pediatric outpatients was around 400 to 500, while the number of patients in the emergency department was 200 to 300.

Pan Zhenxiang, vice president of the Second Hospital of Jilin University, said that some doctors from other departments have joined the work of the pediatric internal medicine department to help relieve the piled-up medical treatment demands. A complete emergency plan has been made, with sufficient medics on standby.

Even at night, the hospital has set up a special emergency department that lasts until 11 p.m., which helps ensure those who come to see a doctor late at night. It also established a temporary pharmacy for pediatric emergency patients, making the service easily accessible for anxious patients.





FOR THE SAKE OF STUDENTS' HEALTH

In response to the current upsurge of respiratory diseases, in late November, relevant Beijing municipal authorities including the Beijing Municipal Education Commission urged greater efforts to safeguard the health and safety of students, and demanded monitoring the health of teachers and students to ensure that no teachers nor students go to work or attend classes with illness.

The schools should not make mandatory requirements for homework when its students fall ill, and it is not recommended to rush making up homework during their illness, said the municipal education commission.

Moreover, the schools should do a good job in the orderly coordination of online and offline teaching. The schools and relevant class teachers should communicate with the parents about the key points of the recent teaching courses missed by the absent student patients, the commission added.

In accordance with the requirements of the local education department and disease control department, all schools in Jilin Province have strengthened their daily management and science popularization in schools and among students and parents.

In the Second Experimental Gaoxin School of Jilin Province, each grade strictly implements the system of morning and afternoon inspections, registration, and reporting of absence due to illness.

The classes have strengthened the daily ventilation and sanitation work. The head teachers are asked to guide their students to wash their hands frequently.

In the classes with related cases, measures such as symptom monitoring, case management, disinfection, and ventilation have also been ramped up, according to the school.
The cease-fire is over, but not before it offered a glimpse of the wars horrors to Palestinians in Gaza and people around the world.

As residents used the fragile truce to find aid, search for loved ones under the rubble, and head home to survey the destruction, a particularly disturbing scene emerged.

Seen in a video that moves through the abandoned and disarrayed hallways of the pediatric intensive care unit at Al-Nasr Childrens Hospital in northern Gaza were several babies whose unattended bodies lay on separate hospital beds. A blurred version of the video was shared widely on social media this week, a grim and graphic contrast to other scenes of families reunited as hostages and prisoners were freed.

In a piece he reported, Mohammed Baalousha, a journalist with the Emirati TV channel Al-Mashhad, said he found the decomposing infants when he entered the pediatric ICU in the health facility in Gaza City. The hospitals staff and critically ill patients were forced to evacuate in early November as the Israeli military focused its ground assault on the city, with hospitals under fire.

NBC News obtained raw footage from the channel and has reviewed its contents.

You will see now horrific scenes of this hospital, Baalousha narrates in the unedited footage, after passing through the corridor marked with a sign reading Intensive Care Unit in Arabic.

We had to leave patients on the beds

Filmed about two weeks after the hospital was evacuated, the footage appears to show at least three of the five dead infants, with their bodies putrefying, in close proximity to catheters and ventilators.

One baby is seen decomposing while lying alone, appearing to still be connected to an oximeter with a green oxygen tank nearby, as insects appear to crawl on its chest. A bedsheet is used as a soft pillow, and an empty bottle and a medical glove box are shown closer to the beds edge.

NBC News cannot independently confirm the status of the infants in Al-Nasrs pediatric ICU between the time hospital staff evacuated and the point when the journalist accessed the unit.

Two independent forensic pathologists reviewed the raw footage. They said the advanced stages of decomposition of the dead infants is consistent with the roughly two weeks from the time the infants would have been abandoned to the date the video was shot.

Around Nov. 10, doctors, patients and hospital staff were forced to evacuate Al-Nasr as the Israeli military continued its ground invasion of northern Gaza and issued repeated evacuation calls to the hospital and others in the vicinity. Amid heavy gunfire and shelling, and as Israeli tanks encircled the hospital, staff concluded they could not safely evacuate five babies, several of whom were premature and placed on oxygen machines, said Dr. Mustafa Al-Kahlot, director of the hospital.

Our evacuation from Al-Nasr Hospital was very difficult and under fire, he told NBC News in a phone call on Wednesday. Children cannot be carried by hand or evacuated without oxygen equipment.

Medical equipment in the pediatric ICU at the Al Nasr Children's Hospital (Al Mashhad Reporter in Gaza Mohamed Baalousha)

An earlier video taken during that evacuation period, which was obtained and verified by NBC News, shows Al-Kahlot in the same hospital room pleading for help from global organizations to evacuate eight patients in the pediatric ICU. One baby is seen being cared for in a bed next to him, with monitors beeping in the background, as he describes bombing and shelling on the hospital. He also confirms the death of a child due to the lack of oxygen.

We were bombed twice. The first was at the hospital gate, and the second was directly on the departments, he said. Al-Nasr Childrens Hospital is out of service, except for the intensive care in which I am standing now, and in which eight patients are sleeping. If the electricity is cut off in this department, patients will die.

We are trapped in the hospital. Ambulances cannot reach us, he added.

A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) representative confirmed that while Al-Nasr Childrens hospital is not an MSF-supported facility, the organization did have one nurse who was there in their own capacity at the time the hospital was evacuated.

The nurse was sheltering with his family and volunteering at the facility when he said in a Nov. 10 audio recording to the organization that there was a sniper shooting, making it impossible for anyone to leave or move.

Do not prevent us from taking our patients, he says in the audio recording.

Five patients remained in the intensive care unit on the oxygen machine, he said. We left them. We only took one baby.

We had to leave patients on the beds. We could not take any patient with us, the same nurse said in a separate video taken within this time frame and verified by NBC News.

UNICEF also warned in early November that children in Gaza are hanging by a thread, particularly in the north, and that Al-Nasr Hospital had reportedly sustained damage in an attack that impacted lifesaving equipment. The comments were made amid wider concerns about the near total breakdown and attacks on health services in Gaza.

Doctors at Al Shifa, one of Gazas largest hospitals, which faced intense bombardment and raids by Israeli forces last month, struggled to keep dozens of premature babies alive due to power outages. Most of them were then evacuated to Egypt by the Palestine Red Crescent Society. At the time, Palestinian health officials said eight premature babies died.

Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli attack during humanitarian pause (Fadi Alwhidi / Anadolu via Getty Images file)

But while that saga got the worlds attention, the fate of the babies at nearby Al-Nasr appeared to have been largely unreported until this week.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al Qudra told NBC News that five children had been abandoned in Al-Nasr Hospital as a result of the frenzied forced evacuations and heavy fighting that left hospitals in northern Gaza nonfunctional last month. He blamed the Israeli military for their deaths.

Some cases were transported by medical teams, but these cases are intensive medical cases under artificial respiration machines and life support, and medical teams cannot evacuate them by hand, Al Qudra said, referring to the intensive care unit at Al-Nasr Hospital. There must be health standards for transporting them.

Both health officials said they notified the International Committee of the Red Cross to help with the patients left behind in the evacuation process but said that the ICRC has been unable to commit to working in such conditions since the beginning of the war.

Concerns mount over video report on social media

When asked about the TV report, a spokesperson for the ICRC said it had received several requests from hospitals in northern Gaza for evacuation help but could not engage with them because of the challenging security situation.

We were not involved in any operations of evacuations, nor did teams commit to doing so, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Footage circulating of deceased newborn babies represents an unspeakable tragedy, an unacceptable reality of how civilians  including babies and children  pay the price in conflict, the statement added, as concerns were mounting over the video on social media.

Palestinian health officials also said the Israeli military barred any coordination with health ministry-affiliated ambulances to transport vulnerable patients from Al-Nasr.

There was clear negligence, Al Kahlot said.

In response to these claims, the IDF said that it did not operate inside the Al-Nasr hospital, and that these allegations are not only false but also a perverse exploitation of innocent lives, used as tools to spread dangerous misinformation.

This is more evident when taking into account that the IDF assisted in moving newborns from the pediatric ward of the Shifa hospital to safety, as well as provide Israeli incubators in the process, the statement added.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a human rights organization registered in Geneva, called for an independent international investigation into the deaths of five Palestinian newborns, according to its assessment of the situation.

Their bodies were discovered in a decomposing state in the Al-Nasr Hospital nursery, in what may amount to a horrifying execution and a crime against humanity, the statement read.

Even while accountability for the circumstances surrounding the babies deaths remains decidedly uncertain, the video has left an indelible mark.

We are horrified by reports from Al Nasr Childrens hospital of critically ill children who have died after doctors were forced to abandon their care amid Israels assault on the hospital, said Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza director for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British-based charity, in a statement to NBC News.

No child should have to die alone.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  More than a year after a man was found dead in a Lloyd District parking garage, police have arrested the man they believe stabbed him.

Jeffery Joseph McNeill, 26, of Alaska is accused of committing the second-degree murder of 33-year-old Nick Henderson on Nov. 4, 2022.

National Weather Service issues flood watch for NW Oregon

Officers discovered Henderson during a welfare check call around 11:25 p.m. and noted that his death seemed to have suspicious circumstances. A medical examiner concluded his death was a homicide.

Portland police detectives launched an investigation and, by June 2023, offered a $2,500 cash reward for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest.

Portland man accused of dealing fentanyl-laced pills that caused fatal overdose of teen

After identifying McNeill as a person of interest, investigators found that he was in custody of Clackamas County Jail on unrelated charges. He was transferred to Multnomah County on Friday.

McNeill is charged with second-degree murder and the unlawful use of a weapon related to a homicide. The case is still under investigation.

Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now)  Scottish pride and history are on display as Old Town plays host to the 52nd Annual Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk Parade on Dec. 2.

The parade, which includes dozens of participants, features Scottish clans in tartans making their way through the streets, along with pipe and drum bands from across the region, terriers, hounds, and more.

Visit Alexandrias website explains that Scottish merchants founded Alexandria in 1749. The city was named after John Alexander who owned the land that became Alexandria.

The day also will feature many other celebrations, including the Alexandria Boat Parade of Lights.

Holiday cheer: Events in the DMV to celebrate the season

The Christmas walk parade is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Its route starts at S. St. Asaph and Wolfe streets and ends at Market Square, located at King and Royal streets.

The boat parade of lights includes festivities that start long before the daylight fades. Theres something in Waterfront Park from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., and theres a family-friendly event at Canal Center from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The boat parade of lights, itself, runs from about 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. along the waterfront.

All of that means a lot of traffic in Old Town, so if youre heading that way, a few things to keep in mind in terms of road closures and parking, whether youre part of the special events or not:

One-way Traffic

Around 3 p.m. on Union Street between Duke Street and Queen Street, a one-way traffic pattern heading north is in effect to mitigate increased traffic for the Alexandria Holiday Boat Parade of Lights.

King Street Pedestrian Zone Expands

Around 3 p.m., King Streets pedestrian-only area (the single-digit and double-digit block and the 100 block) will expand to include the 200 block of King Street.

Lee Street from Duke Street to Cameron Street will be open to local traffic only, which includes residents, customers, parking garage patrons and deliveries. The intersection of King Street and Lee Street will be closed to all vehicular traffic.

The Alexandria Police Department will have officers there to manage access for local traffic and divert all other vehicles.

No Parking and Reserved Parking Zones

Areas along the Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk Parades route and next to the planned

activities in Waterfront Park may have no parking or reserved parking. Youll want to read signs carefully and make sure to follow the times that are posted on them.

For a full list of road closures, their times, and the impact theyll have, click here.

For more information about the big celebration, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
More than 200 people marched outside the North Carolina governors mansion Saturday demanding Gov. Roy Cooper commute all the states death sentences to prison terms.

Governor Cooper, we wont go, free the row, they shouted energetically, despite the gloomy weather.

This was not the first march of its kind. Last December, the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and other advocates called on Cooper, a Democrat, to use his clemency power as governor to commute death sentences.

Shortly after that march and others hosted by civil rights groups, Cooper commuted the sentences of six people in state prisons and issued pardons to four others who had been convicted decades earlier. Two of those were through the Juvenile Sentence Review Board, created by Cooper in 2021 to review juvenile sentences of life without parole.

We want to communicate very clearly to Governor Cooper that now is the time for him to give serious attention to this call for him to commute all the death sentences to prison terms, to leave a legacy when he leaves office that is even advancing racial justice and racial equity more than he has already done, Noel Nickle, executive director of the NCCADP, told The News & Observer.

Beyond commutations, the coalition called for abolishing the death penalty and for criminal justice reform, citing racial disparities in charges.

Nickle said the coalition launched its commutation campaign focused on Cooper almost exactly a year ago. Since then, she said, she has been very encouraged with progress, pointing to the recent commutations.

Some marchers brought lived experience

Saturdays gathering included North Carolinians who had family and loved ones on death row, as well as two men  Glen Edward Chapman and Alfred Rivera  exonerated after being on death row themselves.

Glen Edward Chapman and Alfred Rivera, two death row exonerees, attended a march on Dec. 2 calling on NC Gov. Roy Cooper to commute all the states death sentences to prison terms. Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

Chapman spent 15 years on death row before being exonerated in 2008, having been found innocent of two murders he had been accused of committing. He was granted a new trial in 2007 after a judge found the state withheld evidence and because his defense attorneys were ineffective, according to the University of Michigans National Registry of Exonerations.

Rivera was imprisoned in 1996 after being convicted of two counts of murder. He was found innocent in 1999 after a new trial was ordered for wrongly excluded witness testimony.

Theres always room for error, said Chapman. The only solution is to do away with it... Lets move forward, stop staying in the old days.

He spoke of the trauma his wrongful conviction caused.

My sons were one and four when I went into prison, he said. Their mother passed away while I was in prison  the love of my life. I cant get that back.

A total of 73 people have been exonerated for wrongful convictions in North Carolina since 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Of those exonerated, 56 were Black.

A couple, Lynda Simmons and John Simmons, called for compassion despite having lost their 24-year-old son in 2004 after he was killed by an 18-year-old in a random act of violence.

Lynda Simmons and John Simmons lost their 24-year-old son in 2004 after he was murdered by an 18-year-old. His death lead them to advocate for criminal justice reform and to call for the end of the death penalty. Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

Their sons death led them to advocacy and to restorative justice, an approach that seeks alternatives beyond punishment, they said.

The person who killed their son served 15 years in prison.

Im grateful that (the death penalty) was not on the table because I would have opposed it, said Lynda Simmons. I dont want to ever be complicit in anything that puts another mother through what Ive been through, the loss of my son or anybody to have to experience that kind of pain. Its just, its inhumane.

History of the death penalty

North Carolina is one of 27 states that still retains the death penalty. There is also a death penalty for people convicted in federal courts across the country.

The death penalty in America dates back to the colonial period. But all those currently awaiting execution in the state were convicted and sentenced under the states revised capital punishment law that went effect in 1977. That law restored the death sentence for first-degree murder following a court ruling that had paused the practice.

In 2009, the states Democratically controlled General Assembly enacted the Racial Justice Act, which allowed inmates to challenge their death sentences on racial grounds. In 2013, under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, the law was repealed.

According to a January 2023 report by the Capital Punishment Project of the Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit focusing on racial justice, North Carolina had the fifth most prisoners on death row in the nation and had the eighth highest percentage of minorities on death row.
China, Vietnam hold steering committee meeting on ties, cooperation

Xinhua) 09:20, December 02, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, co-chair the 15th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali)

HANOI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China and Vietnam held the 15th meeting of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Friday.

The meeting, co-chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, was attended online and offline by the ministry and local leaders from both sides as members of the mechanism.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that this year is of special significance to both China and Vietnam, and the socialist causes of both countries have entered a crucial stage.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam, Wang said. Under the strategic guidance of both leaders, bilateral relations have been developing at a high level, and strategic cooperation has been comprehensively deepened.

The two sides have reached important consensus on upgrading bilateral relations, which will usher in a new stage of bilateral ties, said Wang.

China is ready to work with Vietnam to make good use of the steering committee for bilateral cooperation, a general management mechanism for overall coordination of bilateral cooperation, make overall planning for cooperation in the next stage and make positive contributions to advancing China-Vietnam relations in the new era, he said.

Noting that China-Vietnam relations have made great progress since the last meeting, Wang said effective high-level guidance, breakthroughs in practical cooperation, progress in maritime cooperation and strong multilateral support have laid a solid foundation for bilateral relations to enter a new stage.

Facing a world with changes and chaos, China and Vietnam should stay true to their original aspirations, remain united, firmly follow the path of peace, cooperation and development, and view the relations between the two parties and the two countries from the strategic perspective of promoting human progress and boosting the strength of socialism, he said.

The two sides should maintain high-level strategic communication, strengthen cooperation mechanisms in national defense, public security, and security, jointly build a mutually beneficial, stable and unimpeded production and supply chain system, and strengthen personnel exchanges, Wang said.

He called on both sides to work together to safeguard international equity and justice, practice genuine multilateralism, and support each other on issues concerning their respective major interests.

Wang also noted that both sides should abide by the high-level consensus, manage differences through friendly consultation, actively advance maritime cooperation, and safeguard the hard-won peace and stability in the South China Sea.

For his part, Quang said as a "comrade and brother," Vietnam supports China in playing an increasingly important role in safeguarding regional and world peace and stability.

Noting that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he said the two sides have maintained close high-level exchanges, deepened political mutual trust and made progress in cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, transportation and science and technology.

Vietnam agreed with China on the overall vision of the development of bilateral relations in the next stage, Quang said, adding that Vietnam is ready to increase high-level exchange of visits and boost inter-party and parliamentary exchanges with China.

Both sides should give full play to the steering committee for bilateral cooperation, strengthen cooperation in diplomacy, defense and security, and promote cooperation in trade, investment and finance, as well as in agriculture, environmental protection, science and technology, tourism, education, and exchanges between local authorities, said the Vietnamese deputy prime minister.

Under the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, Vietnam and China should properly manage differences and jointly push forward the consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, so as to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation, he added.

Both sides agreed to strengthen coordination among relevant authorities to further promote their comprehensive strategic cooperation and lay a solid foundation for the new stage of bilateral relations.

The 15th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, co-chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, is held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
President Joe Biden on Saturday paid tribute to the late former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor as "an American icon."

She spent her career committed to the stable center, pragmatic and in search of common ground. I did not agree with all of her opinions, but I admired her decency and unwavering devotion to the facts, to our country, to active citizenship and the common good, Biden said.

OConnor, the first woman to serve on the nations highest court, died Friday morning in Phoenix, Arizona. She was 93.

As a U.S. Senator on the Judiciary Committee, I remember the hope surrounding her historic nomination to the Supreme Court. The Senate voted 99-0 in her favor, proof that our nation can come together to move history forward, Biden said.

O'Connor was appointed to the bench in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. At her Senate confirmation hearing, then-Sen. Joe Biden quickly voiced his support for her. A senior member of the Judiciary panel at the time, Biden encouraged the first woman Supreme Court nominee to remember her sex, particularly when it came to speeches and other activities outside of the courtroom as a newly high-profile figure.

"It is your right, if it were your desire, to go out and campaign very strongly for the [Equal Rights Amendment], Biden told her. It is your right to go out and make speeches across the country about inequality for women  if you believe it. Don't wall yourself off. Your male brethren have not done it. Don't you do it."

Initially, OConnor pushed back, saying it would be a potential violation of judicial ethics for her to do so. Biden disagreed, calling it an obligation to American women to speak out on issues important to them, as long as her speech conformed to judicial ethics.

"You are a singular asset. And you are looked at by many of us not merely because you are a bright, competent lawyer but also because you are a woman. That is something that should be advertised by you, he said. Don't let us intimidate you into not doing it.

When O'Connor retired from the court in 2005, Biden acknowledged the role she played in steering us through some very rough waters during her time on the bench.



"Though I have not always agreed with her, I have always held Justice O'Connor in the highest regard, he said.



In his Saturday statement, Biden also praised O'Connor's dedication to public service and the bedrock American principle of an independent judiciary," and cited her institutes work to promote civics education and civil discourse.

She knew that for democracy to work, we have to listen to each other, and remember how much more we all have in common as Americans than what keeps us apart, he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris also released a statement Saturday calling O'Connor a "trailblazer."

"As an associate justice of the Supreme Court, as a state senator, and as a proud daughter of Arizona, Justice O'Connor dedicated her life to public service. A champion of civics education, Justice OConnor helped countless young Americans better understand the nature and importance of our democracy," Harris added.

Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
(Photo/American Indian College Fund)

The American Indian College Fund has received a $300,000 grant from CoBank to provide scholarships to American Indian and Alaska Native students over the next three years. The grant will provide $100,000 per year for 20 students scholarships in the amount of $4,500.

All Native students are eligible to apply for consideration, however preference will be given to those studying banking, finance, and agriculture. Scholarship recipients who continue to meet program requirements can reapply for funding each year.

"CoBank is honored to partner with the College Fund to provide scholarships to deserving students. Higher education plays a vital role in securing a prosperous future for individuals, families, and communities throughout the country  especially in rural America. We are excited about this new relationship and the opportunity to support underserved Native American students," said Tom Halverson, CoBank's president and CEO.

Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning.

College Fund President and CEO, Cheryl Crazy Bull said, "On behalf of the College Fund, I want to thank CoBank for this wonderful partnership that will help students obtain degrees that are so important to the financial well-being of our communities and the important relationship that we have with the land and its resources."

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
St. Lukes has won significant battles recently in its fight against far-right activist Ammon Bundy.

The health system, which won a defamation case against Bundy and one of his associates this year, has taken ownership of his Emmett property and succeeded in getting Bundys websites removed from the internet.

Ever since an Ada County jury ordered that Bundy, Diego Rodriguez and their entities had to pay $52.5 million in damages for defaming St. Lukes and some of its employees, the health system has been pushing hard to collect money. It has also been trying to get Bundy and Rodriguez to remove false, defamatory online statements about St. Lukes and its staff as part of a judicial order.

This week, St. Lukes made gains on both fronts.

When Bundy refused to begin making damage payments, St. Lukes was able to go after his assets instead. St. Lukes asked 3rd District Judge Brent Whiting to undo the sale of Bundys home, alleging that he sold it illegally last year to put an asset beyond a creditors reach, which is considered a fraudulent conveyance under the law.

Aaron Welling, a close associate of Bundys, purchased the property  and all the furniture and appliances in it  through his corporation White Barn Enterprises for $250,000 last December, according to court records.

Land Advisors Organization, a Boise real estate agency, stated in court filings that the house and property were worth at least $1 million. Bundy and his family continued to rent the Emmett house and live there until last month, according to court documents.

Now, its not clear where Bundy is.

Bundys wife, Lisa Bundy, made statements on social media last month suggesting that her family was moving, and those following her wished her goodbye.

Mr. Bundy and Mr. Rodriguez continue to defy orders, hide assets, and now they both are in hiding, St. Lukes attorney Erik Stidham told the Idaho Statesman in a message. St. Lukes and the individual plaintiffs will continue to pursue their rights to collect the jury verdict and enforce the Courts injunction. Mr. Bundys fleeing and hiding will not deter collection and enforcement of the injunction.

Bundy could have tried to fight the fraudulent conveyance claims in court, but failed to appear for hearings and filed case documents incorrectly  twice. The judge found him in default, meaning he essentially forfeited his case, and the sale was ruled fraudulent.

Welling, who has been cooperative with the court, agreed to hand the Emmett property over to St. Lukes, according to documentation filed Friday afternoon. The transfer was described as part of a settlement agreement, according to the document. The property is now officially in St. Lukes hands.

Stidham told the Statesman that it was clear Mr. Bundy had left because the house was stripped bare when St. Lukes conducted a home assessment in Emmett in November. Bundy violated a judges order by removing the homes furnishings and other contents that were part of the sale, according to Stidham, who said St. Lukes intends to move for contempt charges and sanctions.

Ammon Bundy is present at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise for a August arraignment hearing.

Bundy, Rodriguez lose online platforms

When it came to the defamatory statements online, St. Lukes not only succeeded in getting those removed, but was able to get entire websites run by the defendants to be stricken from the internet.

Web hosting services removed sites run by the Bundy-founded Peoples Rights Network, Freedom Man Press (run by Rodriguez) and Bundys campaign website. He ran for governor as an independent last year.

A new Peoples Rights Network website was available under a different domain name Friday afternoon. Stidham said his legal team was working to get it removed as well.

YouTube also removed dozens of videos containing misinformation from the defendants.

Stidham confirmed to the Statesman that St. Lukes attorneys had requested these actions be taken.

After review of your legal complaint, the content in question has been blocked from view on the country domain, the YouTube Team wrote St. Lukes legal team in an email shared with the Statesman.

Bundy and Rodriguez began making defamatory statements about St. Lukes, its CEO and some medical professionals after leading protests at hospitals in Meridian and Boise in March 2022 over a child welfare case involving Rodriguezs 10-month-old grandchild.

The defendants were found to have posted multiple lies about why the baby was taken into custody. They posted videos and blogs saying the hospital was working with the Idaho government to take children away from Christian families to be sexually abused and given to gay couples, according to court documents.

Supporters of Ammon Bundy gather at his property in Emmett in April after they were told his arrest was imminent.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  The Montgomery County Department of Police (MCDP) said that officers arrested a man who is accused of burglarizing several businesses at the Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center, thanks to an anonymous tip.

MCDP said that Joe Ramsey, 21, of Washington, D.C., broke into the Cellairis kiosk in the Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center around 8:10 a.m. on Monday, April 3. Police said he stole items and cash before leaving.

Police said Ramsey came back to the shopping center on Tuesday, Aug. 15 around 8 p.m. when he started to walk around the Toy World kiosk before going up to it, taking cash, and leaving.

Police looking for a man wanted in Florida for armed carjacking who could be back in DC

MCDP said he stayed in the shopping center and looked at other kiosks before approaching Ricos Ice Cream, jumping over the counter, opening the register and stealing money.

MCDP said that detectives got a call from an anonymous tipster that helped them identify Ramsey.

Police got an arrest warrant for Ramsey on Friday, Sept. 29. Officers arrested him on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and took him to Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where he was being held without bond as of Dec. 1.

The charges against Ramsey include burglary and other theft-related charges.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
A federal appeals court on Friday ordered Texas to remove a floating barrier from the Rio Grande placed there under the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to deter illegal migrant crossings.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a lower courts finding that the buoys were illegal.

Judge Dana M. Douglas, a Biden appointee, wrote that the lower court considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life the floating barrier created.

The district courts factual findings were not clearly erroneous, Douglas wrote.

Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, wrote the dissenting opinion.

Abbott responded to the ruling in a post on X, calling the decision clearly wrong, adding that he would seek an immediate rehearing by the entire court and go the the Supreme Court if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The courts decision comes amid a lengthy battle between Abbott and the Biden administration over a floating 1,000-foot barrier near Eagle Pass.

The appeals court had temporarily put on hold a judges order in September requiring Abbott to remove the barrier from the middle of the Rio Grande after finding that it posed a threat to human life, and that impairment to free and safe navigation outweighed the states interest in installing the buoys.

In a civil lawsuit this year, the Justice Department said that Abbott violated a federal law that prohibits creating any obstruction to the navigable capacity of the countrys waters without authorization when he ordered the installation of the barrier.

Attorneys for Texas had argued that the U.S. Constitution afforded the state the power to repel invasions, including the illegal entry of thousands of migrants.

The floating barrier is part of a broader fight Texas has waged against the Biden administration over its immigration policy.

Abbott sent a letter sent to President Joe Biden in July accusing the administration of impeding his states sovereign interest in securing its border. His office has repeatedly touted the busing of thousands of migrants out of his state since last year to cities like Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.

Abbott vowed again this week to continue the busing effort, writing on X that Texas will bus migrants to sanctuary cities until Biden secures the border.

Some of the states other border tactics have been dealt legal setbacks.

A federal court this week rejected an effort by Texas to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection from removing razor wire near the Rio Grande. Abbott had ordered the wire to be placed there to stop migrants from entering the state after crossing the river from Mexico.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A journalist was arrested Thursday in Tucson, Ariz., while covering a small pro-Palestine protest outside a Raytheon facility at the University of Arizona Tech Park.

Alisa Reznick of public radio station KJZZ was detained by a Pima County sheriffs deputy while leaving the protest and walking back to her car.

Video of the arrest shows the deputy holding Reznick by her arm as she explained her status as a journalist to the officer. She was wearing an identifiable press pass while holding a large camera, according to the footage.

The reporter was taken to a police station and released hours later after being cited for criminal trespassing alongside 25 protesters, the Tucson Sentinel reported.

Sheriff Chris Nanos told the Sentinel that deputies made arrests after the protesters were asked to leave the Raytheon cite multiple times. When asked, he denied knowledge of the departments policies regarding treatment of the press.

I dont think I need a policy to tell you treat the press this way or that way, rather we treat our citizenry, no matter where they work, with respect, he told the Sentinel.

Pima County Sheriffs Department policies note that deputies must allow journalists reasonable access to scenes and that no arbitrary or unnecessary obstacles should be imposed on their work.

The ACLU of Arizona called the arrest deeply concerning.

Arresting journalists while doing their job to keep the public informed is a blatant violation of their constitutional rights, the organization said.

The Hill has reached out to KJZZ and the Pima County Sheriffs Department for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In July, Mike Turney was cleared after being charged with the murder of his stepdaughter, Alissa  22 years after the high school junior vanished. But his son has no doubt the teen, whose body has never been found, was his fathers victim.

Theres no justice in the system for her, James Turney, 49, told NBC News. It failed her 100 %.

Now, James is speaking out about the often misunderstood type of abuse, known as coercive control, that he said Alissa suffered for years  allegations that include intimidation, surveillance and psychological abuse. And hes calling out Arizona prosecutors for downplaying what one expert called a textbook example of coercive control.

Although he has no expectation of justice for Alissa, James said he hopes she serves as a grim but instructive reminder to others facing what Evan Stark, the social worker who first defined coercive control, has described as a hostage situation aimed at erasing a persons liberty and a predictor of fatal violence.

For more on the case, watch "The Day Alissa Disappeared" on Dateline at 9 ET/8 CT tonight.

James pointed to countries like Scotland, where coercive control has been codified in criminal law and the country has provided judicial training and support for victims, as a model of reform for the United States.

Lawmakers in a handful of states, including California and Connecticut, have enacted laws in recent years allowing victims to cite the abuse in civil matters, including petitions for protection orders. In Hawaii, the abuse is a misdemeanor.

Though Mike, 75, was charged with second-degree murder after Alissas disappearance, he was acquitted during a six-day trial in a Phoenix courtroom. Before the case went to the jury, Mikes defense attorneys argued there wasnt substantial evidence to support the charge  a claim the judge agreed with.

Alissa, Sarah and their mother, Barbara. (Courtesy Turney family )

Mike has not been charged with any crimes in connection to the abuse and coercive control allegations. In an interview with NBCs Dateline, the former Maricopa County sheriffs deputy denied abusing his stepdaughter, whom he adopted shortly after he and his wife got together in 1986, though he acknowledged being a controlling parent, saying it was necessary because Alissa needed constant supervision.

Mike told Dateline he was trying to protect a teenager who he said was very naive and easily influenced. (Mikes wife  Alissas mother  died when she was in second grade.)

But to James, the second oldest in the blended family of six children, his father is a master manipulator who routinely called Alissa stupid and not that intelligent.

Mike also said things that seemed far more cruel. He had recording systems inside his suburban Phoenix home that captured phone calls as well as video  a camera was tucked inside an air conditioning vent in the living room  and audio tapes recovered by authorities captured him making disparaging comments about Alissa and using expletives to describe her.

From the camera inside the vent, Mike saw Alissa kissing someone who wasnt her boyfriend  then revealed to the boyfriend that his stepdaughter was cheating on him, William Andersen, the Phoenix police detective who led the investigation into Alissas disappearance, told Dateline.

Mike also regularly appeared at Alissas job  she worked at a Jack in the Box  and filmed her from his car, Andersen said.

Mr. Turney has stated that he would routinely show up an hour or two early to ensure she did not leave the premises with anybody else, Andersen said. Its very much over the top.

Alissa and her stepfather, Mike Turney. (Courtesy Turney family)

Mike said it was a lie that he disclosed his stepdaughters cheating. He said he initially filmed Alissa at her job because she asked him to  he said she wanted to be recorded at her first job  and he later did so because he believed she was giving her phone number to men at the drive-thru.

Mike said he placed the camera inside the air-conditioning vent because someone had tried to break in when his children were home alone. He made the disparaging comments, he added, because he discovered Alissa was doing drugs, having sex and lying to him.

A co-worker of Alissas, Cris Ridenour, painted a different picture of his friend. He said it was possible Alissa was giving out her number to random guys, though he never saw it, nor did he know her to sleep around or do drugs.

She seemed bothered by her home life, he told Dateline. But when she was at work, it looked like she was happier, you know? Like she was away from whatever it was.

Disturbing allegations

Other allegations of abuse came from several people who knew Alissa. Three different sources  including Alissas then-boyfriend  told investigators that she described Mike driving her to the desert and touching her inappropriately, Andersen said.

In an interview with police, another friend said that Alissa described waking up to her father gagging her with a sock  and telling her to remain quiet about the event because no one would believe her, according to a recording of the interview obtained by Dateline.

Mike has previously denied that allegation.

Alissas third-grade teacher told authorities that the teen once confided in her that she was having sex with her father. The teacher did not report the allegation to authorities because she said that Alissa immediately denied it. But the teacher confronted Mike, Andersen said, and he denied it, saying Alissa believed sex is when people kiss each other goodnight.

A year before Alissa disappeared, Mike called child protective services with a warning: His stepdaughter might falsely claim that he was molesting her, Andersen said. He also made her sign a notarized contract  "my statement about things in my life at home"  saying that he hadnt abused her, Andersen said. (He made her sign other contracts that focused on drug use and behavioral issues, the detective said.)

Its a form of humiliation, Andersen said of the notarized document. Its intimidation. With this document, Mike can turn around and say, You can never accuse me of any of these things because youve signed your life away.

Mike described the contracts as a way to give Alissa structure  If you told Alissa something within an hour or so, she didnt remember it, he said  and the notarized document as a means of protecting himself from what he described as Alissas false allegations. He said Alissa had been threatening him with child protective services as part of an effort to emancipate herself from home.

Asked if he sexually abused Alissa, Mike said: I never did, and I would never do anything like that.

It took years for prosecutors to file criminal charges in Alissas disappearance  a result of authorities initially believing she was a runaway and the voluminous audio and video evidence investigators had to sift through.

But after Mike was indicted for second-degree murder in 2020, the sex abuse claims were at the heart of the prosecutions theory of the case: Mike believed she would reveal the abuse, prosecutors at the Maricopa County Attorneys Office alleged.

But the judge ruled those claims were hearsay and barred prosecutors from discussing them.

Mike said the motive was fabricated and based on lies told by people that say that Alissa said this." His lawyers dismissed the case as thin on real evidence.

"For me, it was immediately, 'Wow, theres very little physical evidence, obviously, in this case, or none,'" one of the lawyers, Jamie Jackson, told "Dateline." "And it seemed that this all became kind of a character assassination."

Alissa Turney. (Courtesy Turney family)

Taken away somebodys liberty

To Stark, who authored the 2007 book "Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life," Alissas case appeared to be an open and shut example of the abuse.

Stark, who wasnt familiar with the case but reviewed the allegations for NBC News, pointed to the surveillance, the contracts and other aspects of Mikes behavior and said: Once you put all these elements together, even if you dont have physical violence, you have the elements of a coercive control crime because youve taken away somebodys liberty.

Coercive control that ends with a homicide, Stark added, means the pattern of abuse failed.

Coercive control is not a criminal offense in Arizona. Still, James believed it defined his fathers relationship with his stepsister and he feared the jury in his fathers case wouldnt connect the dots between what may appear to be a series of unusual behaviors and what he described as brutal, systematic abuse, including filming her at work and routinely saying disparaging things about her.

During the trial, the Maricopa County prosecutor who delivered the opening statement, Vince Imbordino, said that Mike "attempted to basically control every part" of Alissa's life.

But to James, who attended the proceedings, prosecutors did little to link his father's allegedly abusive behaviors. They didn't present the surveillance as part of a pattern, for instance, but as a strange habit, he said. He said he begged prosecutors to call expert witnesses who could help the jury make sense of the alleged abuse and explain the corrosive dynamics of coercive control.

Why is no one putting this all together? he recalled telling prosecutors at the time. Why are we not showing that this is a pattern of events? Stop saying individual, isolated things  you need to connect them."

"You need to show that this was going on throughout her life," James added. "This wasnt a one-time bad parenting decision.

Pushing prosecutors to dig deeper

With the help of a forensic psychologist relative, James even lined up possible experts and emailed prosecutors potential lines of questioning they could pursue. But the prosecutors declined, James recalled, and said it wasnt necessary and wouldnt be effective.

In an interview, Imbordino said that he believed James wanted testimony related to coercive control to help establish a motive.

That wasnt our problem, Imbordino said. We had motive.

Its unclear what role expert testimony would have played in the case. After prosecutors rested  and before either side presented their closing arguments  Mikes lawyers argued there was a lack of physical evidence and asked the judge to throw out the charge.

The judge agreed. Prosecutors hadnt put forward "substantial evidence" to warrant a conviction, the judge ruled. Mike Turney was acquitted of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors disagreed with the decision but accepted it, Imbordino said. The statute of limitations on other potential charges, such as stalking or entrapment, have expired, he added.

To Stark, the prosecutions decision not to take up James request was a mistake  one that could have not only raised awareness about coercive control through a high-profile criminal trial, but also potentially shifted the cases outcome.

An expert, Stark said, could have reframed what seemed like relatively trivial behaviors  such as the surveillance  as contributing elements to a homicide. Those elements could have been presented as part of an ongoing course of malevolent conduct designed to dominate and deprive that girl of her liberties and her dignity, and ultimately culminating in her death, he said.

Though Mike was acquitted, James still believes that his father killed his stepsister, though hes unsure what would have prompted him to do so. But a request she made in the weeks before her disappearance continues to linger: She wanted to leave her fathers home, James recalled her saying, and move in with him.

"She couldnt take living with my father anymore," he said. "She was afraid of him."

Mike told "Dateline" that he did not believe Alissa feared him. And he said hes unsure what happened to her.

"I have no idea where Alissa is, alive or dead," he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Night drone attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut

In an exclusive interview with Radio NV on Dec. 1, former MP and current UAV Squad Commander Yehor Sobolev lauded the Ministry of Digital Transformations Army of Drones initiative as one of the most effective endeavors of the past two years.

Sobolev, also a drone unit commander, expressed satisfaction with the program, citing the acquisition of night bomber drones and the subsequent destruction of a significant amount of enemy equipment.

Read also: Ukraine delivers nearly 2,000 AI-powered drones to the troops

We are very satisfied, having already destroyed a significant amount of enemy equipment with these acquired drones, Sobolev said.

I believe the efficiency is not in the hundreds but in the thousands of times, considering the production costs and what we have managed to destroy with these manufactured and acquired drones, he said.

Read also: How defense minister Umerov begins to reform his department  expert interview

Sobolev emphasized the effectiveness of the Army of Drones initiative, stating that it provides essential weaponry, including night bombers, which has proven instrumental in achieving strategic military objectives.

The establishment of specialized UAV squads, coupled with the Army of Drones initiative, constitutes two excellent military solutions, significantly impacting the enemys operations, said Sobolev.

However, not all voices are singing praises. Vitaliy Deynega, founder of the Return Alive foundation and a former deputy defense minister, on Nov. 25 urged a reboot of the State Special Communications Service (SSCS) and called for an audit of the Army of Drones initiative. Deynega criticized the SSCS as a corrupt entity and accused Mykhailo Fedorov, head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, of advocating for its interests within the Presidents Office.

Yuriy Nikolov, editor of the Nashi Groshi project, countered these claims, stating in a Radio NV interview that identified shortcomings in the Army of Drones project have been or are being addressed. He accused Deynega and former Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov of sabotaging the Defense Ministrys drone procurement.

Read also: Ukraine appoints two new deputy defense ministers

Implemented in collaboration with the General Staff, the State Special Communications Service, the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the fundraising platform UNITED24, the comprehensive Army of Drones project involves systematic drone procurement, repair and operational replacement, and operator training.

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More than a year after leaders of Floridas largest homeowners association, which is located in Kendall, were charged in a money-laundering scheme, another arrest was announced Friday in the ongoing fraud saga.

Kevin Leonardo Alzate, 32, was charged with perjury by contradictory statements, fabricating physical evidence and resisting an officer without violence. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Friday and still remains there.

I am thoroughly elated. This is what I would consider a early holiday gift for the residents of the Hammocks who have been tortured and brutalized for the last seven years, said Don Kearns, a 29-year resident who is president of the Hammocks Community Associations Advisory Board of Directors.

According to the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office, Alzate played an integral role in a plot to steal $2 million from the Hammocks HOA bank accounts over several years.

READ MORE: Florida homeowners rebelled, hope to see justice after years of battling HOA board

Alzate is the cousin of former HOA President Marglli Gallego, who was one of the five people first arrested and charged in November 2022 for several financial crimes victimizing the HOA, the state attorneys office said in a release Friday.

The other four charged are former board president Monica Ghilardi, former board member Myriam Rodgers, former board member Yoleidis Lopez Garcia and Gallegos husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez. Trial dates for those four and Gallego have yet to be set.

READ MORE: Leaders of Floridas largest homeowners association charged in $2 million fraud scheme

Not only did Mr. Alzates alleged activities allow our charged HOA Board members to continue their thefts, but the actions were a deliberate slap in the face to our Circuit Court Judges and our courts, said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in the statement.

Kearns said he is still surprised at the depth and complexity of this criminal enterprise.

My holiday hope for the Hammocks is that this is the first of many arrests, he said.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Oregon City police say they are searching for a man who committed an armed robbery at a bank on Friday afternoon.

Authorities say the man robbed OnPoint Community Credit Union located at 19753 Highway 213 just after 1 p.m.

32 female athletes sue the University of Oregon alleging Title IX violations by the school

After committing the robbery, the suspect fled the location on foot. Police searched the area, but were unable to locate the suspect. No employees were physically injured during the robbery, police said.

The man is described as a white man, 50-60 years old that is between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10. He has a gray mustache and was wearing a gray hoodie, blue sweatpants and a black beanie, according to police. He is also considered armed and dangerous.

Police say that if anyone recognizes the suspect, saw the suspect before or after the robbery, or has any information about the robbery, please call the Oregon City Police Department tip line at 503-905-3505 and reference OCPD case number 23-024846.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Consequences of shelling by the Russian invaders in the center of Avdiivka, November 8, 2023

A military and political observer with Information Resistance group, Oleksandr Kovalenko, said in a Dec. 1 interview with Radio NV that the Russians will continue their advance towards Avdiivka, as the concentration of their forces there is even greater than it was near Bakhmut.

Read also: Fierce fighting continues around Avdiivka, poor weather conditions add to defenders problems

They have to surround and capture Avdiivka. This is a combat task, regardless of the cost, Kovalenko said.

This task must be completed by New Years, period. If they fail, it becomes a matter of principle  to complete this combat task by the so-called elections in Russia.

And heres the point: If they cant surround and capture it by New Years, after New Years, to ensure it is done before the elections, they will concentrate even more resources there, Kovalenko told Radio NV.

There are currently over 40,000 enemy troops near Avdiivka, said Kovalenko, adding that comparing it to Bakhmut, the concentration of Russian forces and resources is 2-2.5 times greater per kilometer of the front.

Read also:

Bakhmut exceeds Avdiivka in terms of geographical size, and the frontline in Bakhmut was nearly twice as extensive. The concentration of (Russian) forces and resources is undeniably 2-2.5 times greater per kilometer of the front than it was near Bakhmut. They will undoubtedly continue their advance  pressing from the north and south, he said.

This is not decisive in the sense that (Avdiivka) has already been completely destroyed. It was being destroyed, especially since 2022, 24/7, around the clock. We mostly control the dominant heights in the western sector from Avdiivka; they are under constant shelling there.

Moreover, they will need to exit from this pocket, but they are not allowed to do so, and we continue to block them there. Even if they manage to leave, they will have to pass through the private sector, also through our borders where our positions are located, Kovalenko said.

Read also: Why Russia is struggling to defend itself against drone attacks  expert view

However, although it is very difficult for Russians to advance in Avdiivka and its surroundings, they have the advantage in numbers and can afford to advance gradually and further, said Kovalenko.

Tavria front defense forces spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun reported on Nov. 29 that Russian invasion forces had intensified their storming actions on the Avdiivka section of the front.

After a certain lull due to bad weather, they significantly increased artillery shelling and airstrikes using aviation, he said.

A former commander of the Aidar Battalion, Yevhen Dykyi, informed Radio NV that the fighting in the Avdiivka industrial zone is new  the last segment of the old front line from 2014 that Russians couldnt overcome. The old defense lines were breached on other fronts in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion.

Dykyi attributes the success of the occupiers in Avdiivka to there being insufficient personnel of the Ukrainian Defense Forces for the citys defense.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Ronald Oliver, the new warden at Southern Desert Correctional Center, admits there are many challenges with his new job. The medium-security prison is located near Indian Springs which is approximately a 45-minute drive north of Las Vegas.

Id love to protect everybody but I cant, Oliver said in an interview with the 8 News Now Investigators.

The facility, built in 1982, has outdated equipment like locks and doors. Inmates were able to unlock their doors and take over part of the prison on December 8, 2021. The Nevada Department of Corrections had referred to the incident as a disturbance. After a nearly four-month investigation, the 8 News Now Investigators exposed how it was a riot.

Ronald Oliver, the new warden at Southern Desert Correctional Center, admits there are many challenges with his new job. (KLAS)

Oliver described working at the neighboring High Desert State Prison and responding to help gain back control from the inmates.

Ill put it to you this way. More offenders than staff had control of this place until more staff showed up to take it back over, Oliver said.

Nine months later in the same unit where the riot occurred, convicted murderer Porfirio Duarte-Herrera escaped. He was gone for four days before prison staff noticed, according to state documents.

Investigators determined that with a combination of lotion and a device that appeared to be a headphone jack, Duarte-Herrera used electricity to wear away at the window and then climb out. He was able to climb over prison fences and make his way to Las Vegas. Multiple law enforcement agencies worked to find him. He was captured by Las Vegas Metro Police in downtown Las Vegas before he was getting ready to board a bus to Mexico.

Investigators determined that with a combination of lotion and a device that appeared to be a headphone jack, Profirio Duarte-Herrera used electricity to wear away at the window and then climb out. (KLAS)

The escape shed light on security issues like insufficient fencing and the department-wide staffing shortage.

When the 8 News Now Investigators toured Southern Desert Correctional Center, Oliver said that he was eight officers short.

That means some post is not being manned, he said. That protection goes a little less.

The department is training and recruiting new officers. A pay raise is also helping.

Director James Dzurenda returned in January to lead the department again.

The marching orders are different, Oliver told the 8 News Now Investigators. He said that he spends less time in administrative offices and more time walking through the prison and speaking with inmates.

Director James Dzurenda (as pictured at right) returned in January to lead the department again. (KLAS)

I can tell you, for sure the tension is cut way down, he said.

Inmates expressed that there was a lack of communication from staff before the riot, according to Oliver.

When asked if a riot could happen again, Oliver said that it could.

Well theres plenty of theories about how it happened, but Ive been having regular dialogue with all of the offenders on this yard and I figure as long as they know what Im thinking, then at least they get a straight answer, he said.

Oliver said that he is also working to get programs for the inmates back up and running as some were discontinued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The facility, built in 1982, has outdated equipment like locks and doors. Inmates were able to unlock their doors and take over part of the prison on December 8, 2021. (KLAS)

Facility changes like an electric fence are expected by the end of 2024.

The environments changed and Im relying a lot on that because I have no additional security measures in place yet. Theyre working on the fence project. Theyre working on the door project Oliver told the 8 News Now Investigators. All this stuff was already set in motion. Its just a matter of making it happen now.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
You are here: World

 Flash

An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, the latest in a spate of Israeli attacks against Syria, according to the national Syrian TV.

Multiple explosions were heard in Damascus after midnight in what appeared to be a hostile missile attack.

The state-owned TV later confirmed it was an Israeli missile attack on the vicinity of Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army said in a short statement that around 1:35 a.m. local time, the "Israeli enemy" conducted an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting some military points in the vicinity of Damascus.

It added that the air defense brought down most missiles and the losses were limited to material damage.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, as well as convoys transporting weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran.

Israel sees Iran as its arch-enemy and will not allow Iran to establish a permanent base in Syria.

Israel and Syria have a border along the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.
In the western regions, almost 500 settlements were cut off due to bad weather

Bad weather conditions left 497 settlements in western Ukraine without electricity on Dec. 2, Ukraines Energy Ministry reported on Telegram.

Lviv Oblast experienced the most significant impact, with 305 settlements left without power, of which 184 were partially affected.

Read also: Ukraine faces electricity shortage, urges conservation

In Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, 72 settlements lack electricity, while in Ternopil Oblast, 67 settlements (including nine partially affected) are facing power outages. Additionally, 50 settlements in Khmelnytskyi Oblast and three in Zakarpattya Oblast are without electricity.

Prykarpattyaoblenerho Energy Company reported 47 settlements completely without electricity and 54 partially affected as of the morning.

Read also: 5 injured, 61,000 left without power after Russias massive overnight drone attack on Ukraine

The reason was significant snowfall that lasted all night. The adhesion of wet snow caused breaks in electrical lines, the company said.

The Energy Ministry informed that 134 emergency repair brigades are working in an enhanced mode to address the situation.

Due to weather conditions, 1,700 consumers remain without electricity in Odesa Oblast, and another 4,000 due to technical issues. All of them should have power restored by the end of the day, the ministry notes.

Adverse weather conditions have also left 1,700 consumers in Odesa Oblast without electricity, with another 4,000 affected due to technical issues. The Energy Ministry aims to reconnect all affected consumers by the end of the day.

Due to hostilities and technical challenges, 441 more settlements in Ukraine are still without electricity.

Read also:

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The number of bathing waters in England rated poor has hit its highest level in eight years, Environment Agency figures show.

Of the 423 bathing waters measured in 2023, 18 were classed as poor, up from 12 in 2022 and four in 2021.

The majority  72.1 per cent  were rated excellent but the figures show a marked rise in the number of swimming spots on the coast and in rivers that do not meet minimum standards.

Only in 2015, when the Environment Agency began using the current classification system, was there a higher percentage of poor ratings, with no data recorded in 2020 because of coronavirus restrictions.

The figures also show that the number of bathing waters rated sufficient or good has dropped in recent years while the percentage rated excellent is at its highest since 2015.

Alan Lovell, the Environment Agencys chairman, said: Many people enjoy time in or on lakes, rivers and coastal waters, and we know the value they bring in terms of social, health and wellbeing benefits.

Slogans drawn in the sand ahead of a protest against toxic sewage being poured into UK seas in 2022 - Ian Forsyth/Getty

The slight fall in standards this year shows we must go further to drive improvements and that this takes time and investment. Thats why we are strengthening our regulation and working with the water sector, farmers, industry, and others to help them put the environment at the heart of their activities and improve our bathing waters for all.

James Wallace, the chief executive of campaign group River Action, said: We want to see all the UKs rivers healthy and free of agricultural and sewage waste pollution. A good start is making sure the polluters always pay.

We need a well-resourced Environment Agency capable of enforcing existing environmental laws. And we need the water regulator, Ofwat, standing up for consumers and demanding that the water companies invest in their leaky infrastructure and make up for decades of profiteering.

Bathing waters are monitored between May 15 and Sept 30 with the Environment Agency looking out for E.coli and intestinal enterococci  bacteria that can come from sewage and agricultural pollution.

Readings taken from the previous four summer seasons define the rating of the current year.

Stinking, toxic sewage

Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, said: The water industry is broken after 13 years of Tory government  with stinking, toxic sewage lapping up on our rivers, lakes and seas.

With Labour, the polluter  not the public  will pay. We will give regulators the power to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses until they have cleared up their filth.

The Environment Agency has been contacted for comment.

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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday. Harris announced several new U.S. initiatives, including a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund. Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA-EFE

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The Biden administration rolled out a new final rule on methane emissions to coincide with the COP28 conference in Dubai Saturday as a new international decarbonization charter was also announced.

The Environmental Protection Agency's final rule is expected to prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions between 2024 to 2038 -- the equivalent of 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, the EPA said in a statement.

The rule is designed to achieve a nearly 80% reduction of methane emissions over what would expected without the rule "thanks to changes that strengthen provisions to limit wasteful, polluting flaring of natural gas and analytical updates that better capture the impacts of this rulemaking," administration officials said.

"On day one, President [Joe] Biden restored America's critical role as the global leader in confronting climate change, and today we've backed up that commitment with strong action, significantly slashing methane emissions and other air pollutants that endanger communities," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

The White House said the United States is seeking to enhance international cooperation to combat climate change at COP28, announcing it will also participate in a parallel conference addressing methane pollution alongside representatives from China and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a series of U.S. climate initiatives, including a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund.

"We must do more," she told leaders at the conference, but warned that "continued progress will not be possible without a fight.

"Around the world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation. Corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies," Harris said.

The U.S. actions came as dozens of global energy companies agreed to the new Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter at COP28, which calls on the energy industry to reach net zero by 2050 and to "zero-out methane emissions."

Under the initiative announced by the UAE hosts and Saudi Arabia, 50 oil and gas companies have joined pledged "high-scale impact" and to "speed up climate action within the industry."

COP28 President Sultan Al Jabar said the launch of the charter "is a great first step -- and whilst many national oil companies have adopted net zero 2050 targets for the first time, I know that they and others, can and need to do more."

According to the organizers, the 50 companies who have agreed to the charter account for 40% of the world's oil production.
The Biden administration on Saturday announced new regulations that are expected to deliver significant cuts to the greenhouse gas methane in the oil and gas sector.

The rule, finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), tees up emissions reductions for both new oil and wells and, for the first time, existing oil and gas wells.

An EPA press release said the rule is expected to prevent 58 million tons of methane from entering the atmosphere between 2024 and 2038. These emissions savings are the climate equivalent of taking 28 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

Methane is a planet-warming gas thats about 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is responsible for about 25 percent of global warming.

It mainly comes from the production and transport of fossil fuels  as well as from livestock and other agriculture and decaying waste in landfills. Natural gas is primarily made up of methane.

The announcement was made as the U.S. looks to show that it is tackling the issue and encourage other nations to do the same during the global climate summit known as COP28 being held in Dubai. While President Biden will not go this years summit, other officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Special Climate Envoy John Kerry, are attending.

The EPA rule would deliver the methane emissions cuts through policies aimed at limiting leaks, such as requiring monitoring and repairs.

The final rule also adds an additional requirement for new wells  to phase in the elimination of the routine burning off of excess gas thats extracted alongside oil. The practice, known as flaring, occurs when companies opt to burn off gas that comes alongside oil production instead of capturing it for use.

The new requirement on flaring goes further than previous proposals and comes after pressure from Democrats to take further action to address flaring.

The EPAs rule also includes a program that will require oil and gas companies to investigate large releases of methane when those releases are identified by certified third parties.

In addition to methane, the rule is also expected to reduce pollution, preventing 590,000 tons of toxic air pollutants from being emitted from 2024 to 2038.

Methane regulations have been something of a political issue in recent years. The Trump administration rolled back methane regulations.

However, President Biden was able to undo that rule with the help of Congress since a law called the Congressional Review Act allows for the reversal of recently passed rules.

Bidens latest action received a warm response from at least one player in the oil and gas industry.

BP welcomes the finalization of a federal methane rule for new, modified and  for the first time  existing sources, said Orlando Alvarez, chairman and president of BP America, in a press release issued by the EPA. We appreciate the collaborative way EPA, NGOs and industry worked together on this rulemaking.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Biden honored former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor after her passing in a statement Saturday.

Justice Sandra Day OConnor was an American icon, the first woman on our nations highest court, Biden said in a statement. She spent her career committed to the stable center, pragmatic and in search of common ground. I did not agree with all of her opinions, but I admired her decency and unwavering devotion to the facts, to our country, to active citizenship and the common good.

OConnor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimers, and a respiratory illness on Friday, according to a statement from the court. In 2018, OConnor announced that she was withdrawing from public life in the wake of being diagnosed with dementia.

Defined by her no-nonsense Arizona ranch roots, Justice OConnor overcame discrimination early on, at a time when law firms too often told women to seek work as secretaries, not attorneys, Biden continued in his statement. She gave her life to public service, even holding elected office, and never forgot those ties to the people whom the law is meant to serve.

She sought to avoid ideology, and was devoted to the rule of law and to the bedrock American principle of an independent judiciary, Biden added. Unrelenting in her interrogations of attorneys before the Court, she was willing to learn and to change, open to the experience of fellow Americans and always conscious of the laws real impact on their lives.

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OConnor announced her plan to retire from the Supreme Court to take care of her husband, who had Alzheimers disease, in 2005. Current Chief Justice of the U.S. John Roberts was originally planned to succeed OConnor, but when then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, Roberts instead succeeded him.

A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day OConnor blazed an historic trail as our Nations first female Justice, Roberts said in a statement.

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

Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese vice premier, addresses the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ding attended the summit from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 in Dubai. [Photo/Xinhua]

As a major responsible developing country, China stands ready to work with all parties to build a clean and beautiful world, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Friday.

Ding, Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when addressing the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ding conveyed Xi's good wishes for the UAE to host the summit. He said that eight years ago, Xi worked with leaders of other countries to reach the Paris Agreement with the utmost political determination and wisdom, and embarked on a new journey of global cooperation to address climate change.

China has always kept its promise and made important contributions to global climate governance, said Ding, adding that China has vigorously promoted international cooperation on green development, energy revolution and climate change, and supported developing countries in enhancing their capacity to cope with climate change.

Ding stressed that mankind shares a common destiny in the face of the challenges of climate change, and all parties should strengthen their determination and capacity to jointly address it.

He put forward a three-point proposal: The first is to practice multilateralism, adhere to the goals and principles set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, enhance solidarity and cooperation, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

The second is to accelerate green transformation, actively increase the proportion of renewable energy, promote the clean, low-carbon and efficient use of traditional energy, and accelerate the formation of green and low-carbon production methods and lifestyles.

The third is to strengthen action implementation and fully honor the existing commitments. In particular, developed countries should effectively increase financial, technological and capacity building support to developing countries to turn vision into reality.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled his new HIV/AIDS strategy to end the more than 40-year-old epidemic, calling for a renewed focus on vulnerable Americans  including gay and bisexual Black and Latino men, who his administration says are too often stigmatized even as they are disproportionately affected.

The new strategy, which declares racism a public health threat, was released on the annual commemoration of World AIDS Day. It is meant to serve as a framework for how the administration shapes its policies, research, programs and planning over the next three years.

Abandoned puppies at Hayward grocery store recovered by police

But Biden acknowledged that the country still needs to work to destigmatize HIV/AIDS and noted that LGBT and racial minority groups have endured the brunt of the epidemic thats killed more than 36 million worldwide, including 700,000 Americans.

I want to make sure that everyone in the United States knows their HIV status, and everyone with HIV receives high-quality care and treatment that they deserve and that we end the harmful stigma around HIV and AIDS, Biden said.

The new strategy asserts that over generations structural inequities have resulted in racial and ethnic health disparities that are severe, far-reaching, and unacceptable.

Todays HIV treatments not only can give people with the AIDS virus a near-normal life expectancy, they can make those patients less likely to infect other people. There are also medications that can help protect healthy people who are at risk from their infected sexual partners, a strategy known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PreP.

New HIV infections in the U.S. fell about 8% from 2015 to 2019. But Black and Latino communities  particularly gay and bisexual men within those groups  continue to be disproportionately affected, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

African Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population but accounted for more than 40% of new infections. The Latino population accounted for nearly 25% of new infections but makes up about 18.5% of the U.S. population.

Historically, gay and bisexual men have been the most disproportionately affected group. They account for about 66% of new HIV infections, even though they are only 2% of the population, according to the CDC. In 2019, 26% of new HIV infections were among Black gay and bisexual men, 23% among Latino gay and bisexual men, and 45% among gay and bisexual men under the age of 35.

Disparities also persist among women. Black womens HIV infection rate is 11 times that of white women and four times that of Latina women.

To reduce the disparities, the strategy includes calls for focusing on the needs of disproportionately affected populations, supporting racial justice, combating HIV-related stigma and discrimination and providing leadership and employment opportunities for people with or at risk for HIV.

Besides addressing racisms impact on Americans battling the virus or at risk of contracting it, the new strategy also puts greater emphasis on harm reduction and syringe service programs, encourages reform of state laws that criminalize behavior of people with HIV for potentially exposing others and adds focus on the needs of the growing population of people with HIV who are aging.

Santa Rosa Fire Department adds therapy dog to team

Biden expressed disbelief that some states have laws on the book that criminalize spitting in public by HIV-positive people even though it has long been proven that the virus cant be transmitted through saliva. Thirty-five states have laws that criminalize various forms of HIV exposure, according to the CDC.

We have to follow science and that means eliminating laws that perpetuate discrimination, exacerbate disparities, discourage HIV testing and take us further away from our goal, Biden said.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, health officials were celebrating how new medicines and other developments had gradually tamed HIV, prompting then-President Donald Trump to announce in 2019 a campaign to eliminate the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. by 2030.

But researchers have expressed concerns that COVID-19 may have halted progress in the battle against HIV, with limited data collected by the CDC suggesting there was a large drop-off in HIV testing and other related services in early months of the pandemic.

The CDC looked at data from a lab that handles about a quarter of the nations HIV tests, comparing the numbers from March 13 through Sept. 30 last year with the same period the year before. The agency found there were 670,000 fewer HIV screening tests and about 4,900 fewer HIV diagnoses than normal. There also was a 21% national decline in prescriptions for PrEP.

The Biden administration recently announced it will host the Global Fund to Fight AIDS replenishment conference next year. The United States has contributed about $17 billion to the fund, about a third of all donor contributions.

A giant red ribbon, a symbol of support for people living with HIV, was displayed on the North Portico of the White House to mark World AIDS Day. The two-story ribbon display has become an annual tradition at the White House since 2007.

Trump received praise from some public officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious diseases expert, when he set the 2030 goal to eliminate the AIDS epidemic.

But as Biden marked his first World AIDS Day as president, he noted that his administration reestablished the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, an office that was eliminated during Trumps tenure. Trump also faced criticism during his time in office from some AIDS activists who said he did too little to address racism and the stigma faced by some most at risk of contracting HIV.

Shake Shack to open new location in South Bay

Biden praised former President George W. Bush, a Republican, for launching in 2003 the Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a global health initiative that is credited with saving more than 20 million lives.

He added that Bushs push for PEPFAR was undeniable proof of the good that American leadership and innovation can achieve in the world when we commit to it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
My recent visit to Israel coincided with David Camerons first trip as Foreign Secretary. Cameron had flown in to do rather what one would expect of a Foreign Office stooge: an exercise in appearing to signal support for Israel, but only inasmuch as its self-defence is limited.

Which is to say, not long after saying all the right things about the footage of some of the most gruesome barbarism ever filmed, as Hamas gangs executed, raped and kidnapped Israeli kibbutzniks and festivalgoers, Cameron warned Israel, via the BBC, that its war efforts in response are too much for his liking. The Gazan death toll, Cameron declared, is too high. One wonders what the right amount would be.

Thankfully, Israelis dont much care about any of what our august Foreign Secretary, back from the wilds of Chipping Norton, has to say about their countrys war efforts. In fact, when I asked them what they made of Camerons visit, nobody had even known it had happened.

Israelis are, with good reason, much more interested in what sort of rhetoric and support comes from the US. For decades, the two countries have worked closely. Israel has traded its wares  some of the best military and spy technology in the world  and maintained its position as the only holdout of US values in the entire Middle East and quite a bit beyond. In return, Israelis rightly expect American investment, armour and a vague promise of protection.

But while Western support for Israel hasnt vanished completely  and the US is still committed to providing Israel with billions in funding per year  the tone and stance has perilously shifted.

Biden initially appeared strong on Israel, even against the yowls of his party, which is now a toxic assemblage that has usurped the better angels of Americas nature and produced vicious anti-Israel voices such as congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. The US president held out despite his own flaws, as the man who fled from Afghanistan, handing over the keys (and weapons) to the Taliban as if the millions of women whose lives were betrayed by his doing so simply didnt matter.

Yet now it looks increasingly like Biden  and his moral backbone  are forsaking Israel. Perhaps, having inherited such a toxic coalition, it was only a matter of time until he would bow to pressure from those advancing an anti-Israel agenda, in spite of the fact that a great deal of ordinary Americans still vocally support the Jewish state and what it stands for.

Last week saw several developments that would have been absurd if they werent so concerning. It was revealed by the Washington Post that Biden, in a desperate bid at appeasement, secretly apologised to figures from the Muslim community in a private meeting.

His crime? Casting doubt on the reliability of Hamas casualty figures. I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed, he had stated on October 25, with perfect justification, given that the source for such figures the whole world seems happy to swallow come from a barbaric group of zombie terrorists.

The outrage that followed Bidens comment was so intense that he gave more than 30 minutes extra of the scheduled time to Muslim leaders, grovelling: Im sorry. Im disappointed in myself. I will do better.

This woeful exchange pointed to the sheer heft of the machinery that has been bearing down on the White House. Another result was a bewildering tweet last week  since retracted  appearing to indicate a possible shift in policy, in capitulation to progressive demands for a ceasefire. Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace, tweeted the President. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We cant do that.

Biden may have realised that equating Hamass barbarism with Israels entirely just response was a bit off, but that is little reassurance against the turning tide. The moral poisoning of Americas Democrats seems inexorable.

Secretary of state Anthony Blinken hasnt been much better, last week demanding compliance with international humanitarian law and a clear plan for what comes next  as if Israel were a bunch of bloodthirsty marauders that has to be restrained. This is, of course, false  the IDF is arguably the most moral army in the world. But by issuing impossible demands on Israel, Blinken comes across as yet another statesman trying to tie the states hands.

It wont work, however. There is no way we are not going back to fighting until the end, said Netanyahu  and indeed the country, still traumatised by the horrific crimes committed on October 7, wouldnt want it any other way.

Nevertheless, the rot of anti-Israel thinking in the highest echelons of American Democratic politics has been in train for some time. In 2021, the Biden administration rejoined the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which has become a forum for anti-Israel sentient. Biden also indicated he would reopen a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem to Palestine.

This presidential trend was set in place by Obama, who only supported Israel through gritted teeth, and who has continued to speak in this vein since October 7. At an event in early November, as Israelis were still reeling, he went on about the evils of the Israeli occupation in Gaza, saying it is unbearable. This message was quickly promoted by those who hate Israel.

People accuse Israel of acting arrogantly, aggressively, and unilaterally. The first two are distortions. The latter has become increasingly necessary as its best and closest ally turns its back.

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PORTSMOUTH  A local bank executive says he was the victim of a racist attack in downtown Portsmouth the night before Thanksgiving.

State police and the New Hampshire Attorney General's office are leading criminal and civil rights investigations.

Mamadou Dembele, a vice president with Bangor Savings Bank, who is Black, alleges he was assaulted and injured Nov. 22 on a Portsmouth street.

Last Wednesday I was attacked on a public Portsmouth Street. The words used by my attacker leave no doubt that this was a racist act," Dembele said in a written statement provided by his attorney. "My physical injuries are still hindering me but will hopefully heal with time. The fear and fury of being attacked in my home community because I was seen as other will never go away. I am grateful that law enforcement is investigating, and I will give them space and time to complete their work. But I look forward to seeing my attacker held accountable in a court of law.

Mamadou Dembele says he was the victim of a racist assault in Portsmouth on a city street on Nov. 22, 2023.

Robin Melone, the attorney representing Dembele, said Friday afternoon she believes the assault was a hate crime. She called it an unprovoked act by a white assailant with more people involved, adding Dembele had never previously met them. Melone declined to describe the attack or say what Dembele's injuries were.

Dembele and supporters are planning a protest and press conference at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3 at the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth.

Representatives from the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, the Business Alliance for People of Color New Hampshire, Black Lives Matter New Hampshire, the Seacoast NAACP and the New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity are expected to attend.

Chief says former Portsmouth police employee may have been involved

The Portsmouth Police Department responded to a report of a fight on Fleet Street around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 22 in the vicinity of Gilleys Diner, according to Portsmouth Deputy Police Chief Michael Maloney. He said Monday city police were investigating but did not provide details.

New Hampshire State Police have taken over the investigation because a former employee of the Portsmouth Police Department may have been involved in the alleged incident, according to city Police Chief Mark Newport.

We are not going to investigate due to the conflict of interest, Newport said Friday.

New Hampshire State Police Lt. Joe Ronchi confirmed Friday state police will be investigating. He was notified Wednesday of the handoff from Portsmouth police and expects to receive more information in the coming week.

The details of who is involved, it would be irresponsible to comment at this time, Ronchi said.

On Friday, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office also confirmed its active involvement in the investigation.

"The Attorney General's Office Civil Rights Unit is actively working with the Portsmouth Police Department and our law enforcement partners," said spokesman Michael Garrity.

The public Portsmouth police log from Nov. 22 states a report was taken after six people were fighting in front of a business. The call reporting the incident came in at 10:37 p.m. that night, the log shows. The information from the police log is preliminary and not confirmed by an investigation, according to police. Police have not said how many people were involved.

We believe one individual from the group committed the physical attack," said Melone, Dembele's attorney. "But there was a group who initially approached him and were present when Mamadou was physically attacked. The others in that group are just as responsible for Mamadous injuries even if they did not make physical contact with Mamadous body. They were part of this.

Dembele thanks those who are supporting him

Dembeles statement says that supporters, allies, and victims are welcome and encouraged to attend Sunday's event in Portsmouth. He also expressed gratitude for his friends, colleagues, and the community partners who have rallied to support me and every victim of racist violence.

Our country and our state cannot continue to welcome overt hatred, Dembele wrote. I did not choose to be a victim. But I am choosing to not be silent.

Dembele joined Bangor Savings Bank in 2019, according to the bank. He sits on the Portsmouth Music and Arts Centers board of directors, graduated from Furman Universitys Consumer Banking Associate Executive Banking School and has undergraduate degrees in education and psychology from the Aix-Marseille University in France, according to the bank.

His attorney is calling for the state attorney general to get involved.

I think any time we have an unprovoked attack on a Black man by white individuals, it would be appropriate for there to be consideration by law enforcement about whether or not this was a hate crime, Melone said. I have no question that this was a hate crime and I hope that the attorney general will consider it as such.

Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the New Hampshire attorney generals office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

More: Arvelo: Join us Sunday at 1 p.m. at African Burying Ground to protest racist attack

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Black man, bank VP, says he's victim of racist assault in Portsmouth
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG)  A woman was last seen a week before her body was found. Inside of her van  blood. Another woman was arrested 13 years later in connection to the murder. This is the story of Carolyn Whitney Antrim.

WKRG News 5 looks back at crimes that shocked the Gulf Coast. Whitney Antrims story is the thirty-second in the series.

Whitney was born in Pasadena, Texas where her father worked at the Houston Space Center. When Whitney was 16, her family moved from Texas to Pensacola, Fla., where she was later reported missing.

Whitney was last seen on July 20, 2007. On the 21st, Whitneys van was found and determined to be an abandoned vehicle.

Whitneys mother called the police on the morning of July 27, 2007, to report her daughter as missing. Later that same day, police discovered a body in the woods near Lola Lane. The body had already begun to decompose.

On the same day that she was reported missing and the body was found, Whitneys van was released to her family. Thats when her family noticed blood inside.

The body was eventually identified as Whitneys and she had suffered from 12 injured ribs and a smashed skull. It was also determined that she had been sexually assaulted.

The case went unsolved for years until 2020, when an an investigator was doing an annual review of the case. As part of that review, the investigator re-interviewed several people, however, it was the new people he interviewed that led to an arrest being made.

Cheryl Burgett, 54, was arrested on Oct. 15, 2020, and charged with accessory after the fact with a bond of $250,000. To this day, no one has been charged with murder in Whitneys case.

Anyone with information on this case can contact the Escambia County Sheriffs Office at 850-436-9620.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
Newly obtained officer-worn body camera video shows the circumstances behind the arrest of a young man who speaks little English and appeared not to understand what was happening when he resisted and was repeatedly jolted with a taser. The 52-year-old arresting officer, St. Johns County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Michael Kunovich, collapsed and died of heart attack following the struggle, court records show.

Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old who later confirmed he feared being deported back to Guatemala, is charged with aggravated manslaughter of an officer and resisting an officer with violence. He is being detained without bail, which his attorney is seeking to have set after filing a motion on Nov. 21.

The confrontation happened on May 19 about 9 p.m. when Kunovich saw the young man in the Super 8 motel parking lot on Florida 16 next to a closed Howard Johnson hotel in St. Augustine, according to the arrest report. The veteran lawman determined it was suspicious and began to question him, though it wasn't a call for service. When he attempts to pat him down, Aguilar Mendez resists and a struggle ensues. Other deputies arrive and a taser is used in an attempt to control him.

While fighting on the ground with the deputies, Aguilar Mendez grabs the taser to try to take it away or stop them. They get him handcuffed, but he still retrieves a folding pocket knife from his shorts pockets, according to the report. Shortly after they disarm him, Kunovich collapses from medical distress.

The physical struggle lasted about 6 minutes, the Sheriff's Office said. At least three deputies were involved in securing the teen, whose attorney notes is 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds.

Sheriff Robert Hardwick said during a news conference the sergeant did everything by the book and that Aguilar Mendez was trespassing. "All the suspect had to do was comply," Hardwick said.

The Times-Union was denied this portion of the bodycam footage from the Sheriffs Office but obtained it through court records filed by the defense.

What does Sgt. Kunovichs bodycam video show?

Kunovich pulls up to Aguilar Mendez in his patrol vehicle as hes slowly walking away while holding his phone and wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Kunovich gets out and yells Stop and calls in a signal 13 for a suspicious person as Aguilar Mendez stays put looking at his phone (records say he was talking with his mother).

Aguilar Mendez sighs and takes one step before Kunovich orders him to stop again. Im sorry, Im sorry, the teen says.

Kunovich begins to question him, Why when I was driving around, and the teen in very broken English tries to say something while pointing to the Super 8 hotel. But the sergeant cuts him off ordering him to Stop, stop. The teen says eating, eating. OK, but why did you get up and walk away, Kunovich says in an accusatory tone. When you saw me and you got up and walked away, why, why?

Aguilar Mendez sounds and looks confused and points in both directions, mumbling something about going far and drinking, motioning like hes taking a drink. Kunovich asks where is he staying, and Aguilar Mendez points to the hotel.

Here? Kunovich questions. And the teen says yes. Then why arent you eating inside, the sergeant asks. The teen again says hes sorry, and Kunovich asks if hes got any ID. He points to the room. Kunovich asks for his name and he responds he doesnt speak English.

The sergeant then asks if he has any weapons, and he says no. Kunovich asks him to turn around and grabs his right arm. The teen doesnt look like he knows what to do and says No, no. Dont walk away from me, the sergeant says. Sorry, sorry, Aguilar Mendez says again. Dont pull away from me, Kunovich says angrily.

He begins to try to search his pockets, but Aguilar Mendez resists, and then the struggle ensues as other deputies arrive and assist in taking him down. The teen repeats Im sorry several times. One of the deputies screams, Do you want to be tased! He continues to resist and cry for family and they use the taser on him multiple times. He grabs at the taser. They engage him again with another electric jolt.

They appear to have him stopped with one of the deputies on top of him. They tell him to get down and engage him again with the stun gun as he screams over and again. He says he doesnt speak English when given a command. But hes able to get back up and reach for what sounds like a deputy says is a weapon, and they take him down again and get him handcuffed and make him let go of a knife. He begs for what sounds like familia multiple times for family.

The video doesnt show Kunovich collapse afterward.

What is Vergilio Aguilar Mendezs background?

In her motion for a new bond hearing, Assistant Public Defender Rosemarie Peoples specifies 32 points, including the following:

 Virgilio (she notes the arrest report misspelled his name, and this is correct) is from Guatemala, where he learned some Spanish, but he speaks the language of his home and his people Mam. He is from a very rural area with a small indigenous population where they have spoken Mam for centuries. The language is limited, with many concepts, and words are adopted from Spanish. For the client, many of these adopted Spanish words need a great deal of explanation because they are new concepts to him.

 At the age of 17 years young, Virgilio arrived in the United States with hopes to work and send money home to his mother and father, for money to buy corn for his younger brothers and sisters to eat.

 Upon arrival at the southern border, Virgilio was held in federal detention for minors until his release to members of his fathers family. He was given a date to return to court for a hearing.

 After a few weeks with his uncle, he traveled to live and work with an aunt in Central Florida; then he met with some Mexican migrant workers with a promise of work in St. Augustine. He left his family and traveled to St. Augustine to work at local farms.

 The migrant workers spoke Spanish, they did not speak Virgilios mother tongue of Mam.

 For a few weeks, each morning Virgilio would travel to local St. Augustine farms where he picked vegetables, the money received he would save and send to his family in Guatemala.

 In the cool of the evening, on May 19, 2023, Virgilio Aguilar Mendez left his hotel room at the Super 8 hotel, to peacefully eat a meal outside while on the phone with his mother. Virgilio had a room key to the hotel room that he shared with the three migrant workers.

 As he stood in a well-lit area, on the phone with his mother, Officer Kunovich approached him in a marked unit and wearing a St. Johns County sheriffs uniform.

Illegally in the U.S.: Farmworker tied to suspect in St. Johns County deputy's death charged with hauling undocumented crew

 Virigilo explained he cannot speak English and began to walk away.

 Despite having committed no crime, Officer Kunovich placed his hands on Virgilio and tackled him to the ground.

 Virgilio attempted to distance himself from the physical hold of Officer Kunovich. Soon thereafter, several officers arrived and continued to wrestle with Virgilio.

 Without question Virgilio did not understand the purpose or reason for the officers to pile on him, to physically strike him multiple times, and the repeated use of a taser.

 Unable to understand the brutality of the officers, Virgilio began to cry out for his family.

 Virgilio was handcuffed and searched, with the officers recovering cash for his family, a cellphone, a lighter, a common pocketknife, and his hotel room card/key.

 There were no illicit substances found on Virgilio; nor were there any illegal items in his hotel room.

 Several minutes elapsed after the arrest when Officer Kunovich suddenly collapsed. It was later determined that Officer Kunovich died of a heart attack.

 Prior to his arrest on May 19, 2023, Virgilio had lived in the United States for less than one year. He has several family members in Florida.

 In Guatemala, Virgilio was able to participate in two years of education where he completed the sixth grade.

 Virgilio Aguilar Mendez has no prior criminal convictions and no prior arrests as a juvenile or adult. Counsel is unaware of any instance in which the defendant has failed to appear for a court proceeding.

 Mr. Virgilio Aguilar Mendez does not have a drivers license, and he relies on family and friends to travel or move around. If imposed, he is willing to submit to any restrictions on his movement that the court would deem necessary to assure his appearance in court.

 If a bond is permitted and posted, Virgilio Aguilar Mendez will be taken into federal custody to resolve a pending immigration hold.

 Here, the proof of guilt is not evident, the presumption of guilt is not great against a defendant who was declared indigent, the court may consider pretrial release on reasonable conditions.

His next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 22.

Was Vergilio Aguilar Mendez racially profiled and harassed?

All of the above could lead some people to believe the 18-year-old was targeted because of his Hispanic ethnicity.

So the Times-Union posed this question to the Sheriffs Office: In light of the bodycam video being released in the Vergilio Aguilar Mendez case, does the sheriff have any comment about the perception that he was racially profiled and unnecessarily harassed?

A spokesman responded, We cant comment at this time.

The Times-Union asked the same question for a response from the State Attorneys Office, but adding that there could also be the perception that Aguilar Mendez was overcharged.

A spokesman also responded, We dont have any comment."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Video shows teen's arrest that led to St. Johns County officer's death
Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas, Aymara Indigenous women who make a living as mountain guides, walk on the Huayna Potosi glacier on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. When they first started climbing the Andes peaks years ago, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, its the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their way up. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

EL ALTO, Bolivia (AP)  When they first started climbing the Andes peaks, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, its the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their ascents.

Dressed in colorful, multilayered skirts, a group of 20 Indigenous Bolivian women  known as the Cholita climbers  have been climbing the mountain range for the past eight years, working as tourist guides. But as the glaciers in the South American country retreat as a result of climate change, they worry about the future of their jobs.

The Aymara women remember a time when practically every spot on the glaciers was covered in snow, but now there are parts with nothing but rocks.

There used to be a white blanket and now there is only rock," said Lidia Huayllas, one of the climbers. The thaw is very noticeable.

Huayllas said she has seen the snow-capped Huayna Potosi mountain, a 6,000-meter (19,600-feet) peak near the Bolivian city of El Alto, shrink little by little in the past two decades.

"We used to walk normally; now, there are rocks and water overflowing, said the 57-year-old woman as she jumped from stone to stone to avoid getting her skirt and feet wet.

Edson Ramirez, a glaciologist from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France, estimates that in the last 30 years, Bolivian glaciers have lost 40% of their thickness due to climate change. In the lower parts of the mountain, he says, the ice has basically vanished.

We already lost Chacaltaya, said Ramirez, referring to a 5,400-meter (17,700-feet) mountain that used to be a popular ski resort and now has no ice left.

With no ice left in the lower parts of the mountain range, the Cholita climbers need to go further up to find it. This has reduced the number of tourists seeking their services as guides.

Huayllas would not say how much she makes as a tour guide, but she said a Cholita climber currently makes about $30 per tour. That is less than the $50 per tour they used to make.

In 2022, during the September-December climbing season, the Cholitas did 30 tours, Huayllas said. This year, through early November, they had barely done 16.

The situation has gotten so critical, the 20 women have looked for other jobs to make ends meet. Some of the Cholitas have started making and selling blankets and coats with alpaca wool from the Andes, Huayllas said.

If this continues, we're going to have to work in commerce or do something else for a living, said Huayllas, although she quickly dismissed her own pessimistic thought, somehow hoping for a change: No. This is our source of work.

____

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Immigration advocates are nearing their wits end as Senate negotiators barrel toward a deal that would permanently change immigration law in exchange for another round of Ukraine funding.

The four Latino Democrats in the chamber  who are not part of the talks  have made clear that the fundamental precept being negotiated is unacceptable to them.

This week three of them, Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), Alex Padilla (Calif.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.) joined eight other Senate Democrats, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), to decry the talks.

Using a one-time spending package to enact these unrelated permanent policy changes sets a dangerous precedent and risks assistance to our international partners. Any proposal considering permanent changes to our asylum and immigration system needs to include a clear path to legalization for long-standing undocumented immigrants, they wrote.

But the negotiations have explicitly excluded any form of legalization, while tying border policy and wartime aid to Ukraine, two previously unrelated issues.

Top Stories from The Hill

That core concept has made waves among immigration advocates outside Congress and in the House, where the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and its allies have a larger contingent.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) called the Ukraine-border amalgam an aberration.

The Ukraine side of the deal is relatively simple, a question of opening the purse strings for the Biden administration to send much-needed aid to its Eastern European ally, a major priority for the administration, many Democrats and a fair share of Republicans.

On the border policy side, talks are revolving over changes to tighten asylum policy  a concession immigration advocates dont take lightly  and curbing the presidents immigration parole powers, blowing a hole in President Bidens border strategy.

Those are potential concessions immigration advocates would hope to avoid in tit-for-tat negotiations, let alone in a deal with no Republican concessions on immigration.

Republicans have so far been successful at portraying both Ukraine funding and their border policy proposals as national security priorities.

Thats making some Democrats nervous.

Its going to be ugly. I think the Senate effectively is going to sell us out. And when I say us out, its not just border communities. Its not just the issue of asylum seekers and refugees attempting to be in this country, said Grijalva.

Allowing the Republicans to grab this narrative and to continue to attempt to poison with that narrative the upcoming election  because they see that its their issue, because they have no other issue  I think thats what they sold out.

Other House Democrats also said they were surprised by the nature of the talks, including that limitations on immigration would be swapped for something wholly unrelated.

If were going to concede on policy, then the bill should be related or the concessions should be related to getting things on immigration and asylum reform and so forth. Not on issues of war or other funding, one lawmaker said.

And advocates say the core issue is being overlooked: The proposed changes threaten to endanger human lives.

The credible fear standard is being treated as a technical point that can be traded away, but in fact its the heart of the United States compliance with the Refugee Convention and if its out of reach, access to the entirety of the asylum system is blocked, said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Heightening it would be historic  are these lawmakers just OK with knowing that the U.S. will be regularly sending bona fide refugees back to harm?

Lawmakers say those attitudes are par for the course.

For 200 years, 250 years in this country, immigrants have been a good political pinata to swing at. You know, this country is made of immigrants. Were all immigrants but yet we detest immigrants,' said Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.).

Regardless, the Senate negotiations have plowed on, attracting intense media attention.

The talks have been reported to include Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

In public, each of the negotiators has played a different role.

Tillis, for instance, has led the charge to include limits on parole; Cotton has been an advocate for including elements of H.R. 2, a House GOP border security bill that is a nonstarter with most, if not all, Democrats.

The mediatization of the talks has rankled some participants.

Theres a big difference between people going to the press versus the people doing the work, said a source close to the talks.

That work, say immigration advocates, is leading Democrats into a trap.

My question is, what are Democrats getting in exchange for this type of deal? Democrats understandably and rightfully should support border security, a more orderly border  those are all important democratic values for voters, said Andrea Flores, vice president for immigration policy and campaigns at FWD.us on a recent call with reporters.

But that is not what theyre getting here. And also, theyre showing Democratic voters that theyre willing to go through a whole negotiation, compromise on our values and not get a single, pro-immigrant Democratic priority in exchange.

A Democratic aide put it more succinctly.

Democrats are the ones putting themselves in a situation to eat a pile of s.

But pressure to fund Israel and Ukraine is intensifying, and Republicans could end up forcing Senate Democrats to take a tough vote letting down either a foreign ally or a core constituency.

Meanwhile, the White House is pushing Congress to act on a supplemental to fund aid to Israel and Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security and border security.

We want to see all four priorities taken up by Congress and all four funded. The reason why its a supplemental is because theyre all urgent. And as I said earlier, were running out of runway on Ukraine, and I would tell you the same thing for Israel, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday.

The administration is likely to be more open to asylum changes than to parole restrictions, which would undermine President Bidens border strategy.

Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday the administration had had conversations with members of Congress regarding the supplemental request.

Jean-Pierre panned H.R. 2, but left the question open on Senate negotiations, saying, as it relates to negotiations that are currently happening in Senate, with senators  right?  both Republicans and Democrats, were just not going to negotiate from here.

Still, it was the White House that originally mashed the four issues together in their supplemental request; the original border requests rankled some in the CHC, but to a much lesser degree than the current talks.

With Senate Republicans supercharging the border provisions, many CHC legislators had hoped to see the White House stepping in to set boundaries.

Im disappointed in the lack of communication and consideration that the White House is giving the Hispanic Caucus and our priorities, said CHC Chair Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.).

This is where I think the problem lies. Combining this aid was a mistake. And I think it should have never been done.

With House GOP opposition to the supplemental almost a certainty, a Senate deal  if it is reached and passed  will face an uphill battle in the lower chamber.

And any bill that tightens border policy without loosening immigration laws seems likely to split apart the unity that has characterized House Democrats this congress.

For some Democrats, that split wont be a surprise.

They sold out the opportunity to actually stand for something a little more fundamental. And its  its not even disappointing, to some extent its expected from the center, said Grijalva.

Updated Monday at 10:26 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukraine is planning to reopen the Kyiv-Boryspil Airport first, but only after security issues related to the ongoing war are resolved, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andrii Sybiha said on Dec. 1.

During a meeting with foreign diplomats, Sybiha recalled that Boryspil Airport was the first to close at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. According to him, it will also be the first to reopen.

Read also: Lviv airport could be reopened, mayor says

The deputy head assured those present that the airport will reopen "as soon as the security situation allows."

In October, Boryspil Airport CEO Oleksiy Dubrevsky stated that the facility would be ready to receive planes one month after the war's end.

Read also: Five passengers smuggling parts for Soviet military vehicles detained in Chisinau Airport

Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, during his trip to the United States, announced the potential reopening of one of Ukraine's airports for civilian flights. He did not specify a timeline, but from the context of his remarks, it could be understood that it referred to the airport's operation even before the end of the war with 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
 Flash

Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2023 shows New York Republican George Santos speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to expel New York Republican George Santos from Congress over the lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes.

The lower chamber voted 311-114 to expel Santos, with 105 Republicans and 206 Democrats voting for expulsion. All Republican leaders voted against expulsion.

The latest action, which required a two-thirds majority, makes Santos, a first-term lawmaker, the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body's history. Such move hasn't happened in more than 20 years.

Santos invented ties to the Holocaust and made false claims that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. His detractors also mentioned several times his use of campaign funds for personal expenses.

The removal of the scandal-ridden 35-year-old Congressman came two weeks after a scathing House Ethics Committee report revealed details about his use of campaign funds for personal benefit. Santos, however, repeatedly debunked the report as political smear.

Santos faces 23 federal felony counts. A 23-count indictment was filed in October in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging him with conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud.

"George Santos is a liar -- in fact, he has admitted to many of them -- who has used his position of public trust to personally benefit himself from Day 1," said Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, a Republican of New York.

Santos survived two previous expulsion efforts due to the influence of the current House speaker, Mike Johnson, and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who both didn't want to lose his seat to a Democrat in a special election.

Under New York state law, the governor has 10 days to declare the date of a special election.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday that she was prepared to fill the vacancy. "I am prepared to undertake the solemn responsibility of filling the vacancy in New York's 3rd District. The people of Long Island deserve nothing less," she said on social media platform X.
By Steven Grattan and Jake Spring

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) on Saturday launched an effort to restore degraded or destroyed woodland amounting to 60,000 square km (23,160 square miles) - an area nearly the size of Latvia - in the Amazon rainforest by 2030.

At the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai, BNDES announced that the Arc of Restoration program, with funding of up to 1 billion reais ($205 million) through 2024, would also seek to capture 1.65 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere by 2030.

The Amazon is vital to curbing climate change because of the vast amount of planet-warming carbon its trees absorb and it is home to many unique and endangered species.

"Avoiding deforestation is no longer the answer to the climate crisis. We need to be more ambitious," BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante said in a press statement.

"Let's reforest, so that the forest regenerates. It's the cheapest and quickest answer to the climate crisis because it captures carbon and stores it," Mercadante said.

The BNDES program will release an initial 450 million reais this year.

Brazil's top climate negotiator said in an interview last month that the country planned to launch the major restoration initiative, without giving details.

"This is a very ambitious project," earth systems scientist Carlos Nobre at the University of Sao Paulo, who first proposed the concept for the Arc of Restoration, said in an interview.

"This project has been put in place now because the Amazon is nearing a point of no return, so this is a very important, urgent and innovative initiative," he said.

Nobre is considered the godfather of a theory warning that deforestation and climate change could push the forest past a tipping point when it would die out and becomes a degraded savanna.

He said earlier this year that restoring some 700,000 square km (270,270 square miles) of the Amazon would help avert that tipping point, with just under half that area requiring active replanting. He estimated a total cost of at least $20 billion.

While scientists agree forests must be restored to meet the most ambitious climate targets, such efforts in practice are often confronted by lack of funding, technical challenges and hostile criminals seeking to profit off the forest.

($1 = 4.8801 reais)

___

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

(Reporting by Steven Grattan and Jake Spring; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Friday that the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from the House sets a bad precent, as he hasnt been convicted of anything.

Burchett, who voted against ousting the embattled New York Republican, claimed other lawmakers have done equally  if not worse  things.

We have one Congress member who has had at least an ongoing relation for quite some time with a Chinese communist spy, thats been documented. You have one thats possibly violated a immigration laws, you have one thats called a fire alarm, which at least in Tennessee, thats a pretty serious violation, he said in an interview with The Hill on NewsNation. And were not talking about kicking those people out.

His comments come after Santos was booted from Congress in a 311-114-2 vote on Friday morning, just weeks after the House Ethics Committees scathing report claimed substantial evidence exists to show that he committed serious federal crimes.

George Santos hasnt been convicted of anything, Burchett further argued. And in America, were still innocent until proven guilty.

Asked by host Blake Burman whether he would apply the same principle to Sen. Bob Menendez  who is facing calls to resign after being indicted in September on allegations that he and his wife accepted over $600,000 in bribes on behalf of interests in Egypt  Burchett reluctantly agreed.

Hes not been convicted. Of course, thats up to the Senate. The Senate probably has different rules than we do, he replied. But no. If he has not been convicted, then youre still innocent until proven guilty.

Until then, you know, nothing should change, he added, while claiming that former President Trump received the opposite treatment.

Burman also pressed the Tennessee Republican on a purported vote on launching a former impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his familys finances.

Stopping short of calling it a waste of time, Burchett acknowledged that nothings going to come of it anyway.

The Justice Department is so conflicted right now, he told the NewsNation host. Theyre not going to theyre not going to go after him.

I dont think its a waste of time, Burchett added. I think the American public needs to see whats happening.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE - Daouda Diallo, one of Burkina Faso's most prominent human rights defenders poses for a photograph, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Thursday Feb. 3, 2022. Daouda Diallo  who won the Martin Ennals awards for human rights in 2022  was taken to an unknown location by men who accosted him in the nation's capital city on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 the local civic group which Diallo founded said in a statement. (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia, File)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)  A prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso has been abducted by unknown individuals, rights groups have announced, in what activists say could be the latest attempt by the military government to target dissidents using a controversial law.

Daouda Diallo, a 2022 recipient of the Martin Ennals international human rights award, was abducted on Friday in Burkina Fasos capital of Ouagadougou after visiting the passport department where he had gone to renew his documents, according to the local Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities civic group, which Diallo founded.

His captors  in civilian clothing  accosted him as he tried to enter his car and took him to an unknown location, the group said in a statement on Friday, warning that Diallo's health could be at risk and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

Amnesty International's West and Central Africa office said Diallo's abduction was presumably (for him) to be forcibly conscripted after he was listed last month among those ordered to join Burkina Fasos security forces in their fight against jihadi violence as provided by a new law.

Amnesty International denounces the use of conscription to intimidate independent voices in #BurkinaFaso and calls for the release of Dr. Diallo, the group said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Earlier this year, Burkina Fasos junta announced the general mobilization decree to recapture territories lost as jihadi attacks continue to ravage the landlocked country.

The decree empowers the government to send people to join the fight against the armed groups. But it is also being used to target individuals who have openly criticized the junta and to silence peaceful dissent and punish its critics, Human Rights Watch has said.

HRW said at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition party members were informed by the government in November that they would be conscripted, including Diallo, who joined Burkina Faso activists in condemning the move.

The simple fact of showing an independence of position is enough to be conscripted, said Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty International in Burkina Faso.

Right now, civil society activists, human rights defenders and even leaders of opposition political parties do not dare express freely their opinions because this decree is being used to silence and intimidate all of the voices that are independent, he added.

Daouda Diallo won the prestigious Martin Ennals awards for his work in documenting abuses and protecting peoples rights in Burkina Faso where security forces have been fighting jihadi violence for many years.

A pharmacist turned activist, he told The Associated Press last year that hes regularly followed, his home has been robbed and he rarely sleeps in the same place for fear of being killed.

-

Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
 Flash

At least two people were shot dead and three more injured in a shooting on Friday in Las Vegas, reported local KTNV news channel, citing police.

The shooting was reported at local time 5:34 p.m. (0134 GMT, Saturday) and as of local time 6:45 p.m. (0245 GMT, Saturday), police disclosed at least two of the shooting victims had died from their injuries while other three victims had non-life-threatening wounds.

A spokesperson from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department described the victims as "unhoused," the report said, adding the attacker was still at large.

Meanwhile, the ABC 7 news channel reported that Friday's shooting in Las Vegas was not connected to recent cases in Los Angeles in which three homeless were fatally shot and may have been targeted by a potential serial killer.

The three victims were sleeping alone on a sidewalk or an alley when they were killed this week, the Los Angeles Police Department warned at a news conference on Friday.
(Bloomberg) -- Its been a week of extremes. Here are some of the gyrations.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In whats predicted to be the hottest year on record, in one of the hottest countries, COP28 is in full swing, scoring an early win for a loss-and-damage fund to compensate poorer nations. Tougher goals lie ahead in gas-rich UAE  to speed up the phasing out of fossils fuels and to find a way to make a just transition.

Timed with the meeting. a UN report showed that 1.84 billion people are currently drought stricken.

Sign up for the Green Daily newsletter for comprehensive coverage of the climate summit right in your inbox.

In Asia, the MSCI China stocks index is now trading at 9.3 times its 12-month forward earnings, less than half the level for the MSCI India Index that hit a record this week, so the question is: Is it time to switch back to China?

Easy come, easy go. Short sellers who made a pile when the S&P slid earlier this year face an $80 billion bill for Novembers surprise rally.

Less than five years after US sanctions nearly crippled Huawei, the Chinese company has become Beijings key weapon in the global chip battle and a Bloomberg investigation discovered that its backing dozens of startups using funds from a Shenzhen government fund.

The recent tribulations of crypto exchanges has benefitted one corner of the digital currency market: companies that allow you to look after your own tokens. Heres how a leading self-custody firm plans to attract wallets in Asia and the Middle East.

Another Elon Musk venture is also in action this weekend. South Korea launched its first spy satellite on a SpaceX rocket in the US. North Koreas Kim Jong Un put his first spy satellite up last month.

If you want an idea of what the financial markets might look like when the bots take over, have a look at the rollercoaster oil market.

Why do some wealthy South Koreans choose to live in shabby old high-rise apartment blocks? Samsung, Hyundai and some of the nations biggest conglomerates hold the answer.

A California startup that has created a low-cost, autonomous drone killer is one of a new breed of American defense contractor.

Also, the heir to a Texas wildcatter oil fortune is making progress to bring back the wooly mammoth and the dodo.

Have a reviving weekend.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Grosse Pointe businessman and entrepreneur Sandy Pensler announced Friday he is joining the crowded race for the Republican nomination for an open Michigan U.S. Senate seat next year.

Pensler becomes the 11th candidate in the GOP race to succeed U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, who has decided not to run for a fifth six-year term. Other top candidates in the GOP field include former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Peter Meijer, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and state Board of Education member Nikki Snyder.

Five Democrats are currently running, with the field led by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, and Detroit actor Hill Harper. No Republican has won a U.S. Senate seat race in Michigan since 1994, when former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham did.

In announcing his campaign, Pensler on Friday posted a cheeky video on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, bemoaning "your standard BS political ad" before saying he was going to employ "a risky strategy most politicians never use. I'm going to be honest."

"I believe America is burning," he says in the video. "Weve lost our moral compass. Career politicians are afraid of making tough decisions. They always take the easy way out. They're afraid of losing their jobs." He then goes on to discuss undocumented immigrants crossing the Southern border in huge numbers, crime and the economy.

America is burning! Weve lost our moral compass but we can turn it around. We need to apply basic morals, take responsibility and fight like hell to save America. This is why I'm running for US Senate in my home state of Michigan. Join us in the fight! https://t.co/gIp1obHxE9  Sandy Pensler (@SandyPensler) December 1, 2023

Pensler, 67, founded Pensler Capital, a private investment firm, and owns the Korex Corp. plant in Wixom, which manufactures cleaning products. In 2018, he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate nomination to take on Stabenow, losing 55%-45% to current U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township.

Other candidates in the Republican field include mid-Michigan businessman Michael Hoover; Wayne County lawyer Alexandria Taylor; Oscoda Area School Board Trustee Sharon Savage; St. Joseph physician Sherry O'Donnell; J.D. Wilson, a Houghton Lake businessman, and Bensson Samuel, a doctor in Sault Ste. Marie.

Other Democrats running include former state Rep. Leslie Love, of Detroit; Dearborn businessman Nasser Beydoun and Ann Arbor lawyer Zack Burns. State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh dropped out of the race recently to run for a U.S. House seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Businessman Sandy Pensler joins crowded US Senate field
The Caldwell Police Department abandoned an idea to unveil a new autism awareness patrol car at the Dec. 2 Treasure Valley Night Light Parade, just four days after announcing it.

We want to respect the autism community and the symbols used to represent them, said Char Jackson, spokesperson for the city of Caldwell, in a news release. Our role is to always remain neutral and unite the community, and the car was causing too much division.

Jackson said the car featured puzzle pieces, which were a popular symbol for autism but have fallen out of favor over the years. She said the department recognized the symbol was a tipping point for some people, with some thinking it was not proper representation.

We just came to realize the car was causing a division in the autism community, Jackson told the Idaho Statesman by phone. Thats the last thing we want to do.

Tiffany Klauba, executive director of the Autism Society of Idaho, called it a difficult subject and said there are camps on both sides of the puzzle-piece symbolism.

The Autism Society of Idaho, which is based in Coeur DAlene, provides statewide support for those in the community, including help with referrals, estate planning, education, training for businesses and first responders, and assistance with legal issues. Klauba told the Statesman that the organization is trying start more support groups in Southwest Idaho after the Treasure Valley Autism Society dissolved earlier this year.

Klauba said some members of the autism community find the puzzle piece symbol to be extremely offensive, and believe it represents that something is missing and they need to be fixed. Others, however, see it as a way to show their uniqueness and how they fit in like a puzzle piece.

Its very hard to have conversations with individuals about this, Klauba said by phone.

The Caldwell Police Department scrapped its plans to unveil a new autism awareness patrol car after receiving backlash over their use of a puzzle piece symbol.

According to a study published in Autism, a research journal associated with the United Kingdoms National Autistic Society, the puzzle piece symbol can evoke negative associations. In a study of 400 participants, the researchers found participants associated puzzle pieces with incompleteness, imperfection and oddity.

One criticism of the puzzle piece is its implication that autistic people are a problem requiring a solution, according to an editorial published in the journal following the study. A related point is that the puzzle piece implies that autistic people are somehow incomplete and need to be made whole.

The journal changed its own logo from the puzzle piece to a design with circles after the study was published, according to news organization Disability Scoop.

Other symbols, such as a rainbow infinity symbol, have become more popular representations for the community, Klauba said. But people often get hung up on the symbol.

Thats not what this is about. This is about autism, she said. The symbol is such a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

Learning lessons

After police had the car finished, Jackson said she spoke with Klauba and other groups aligned with the autism community to learn more, and said the departments decision came after these discussions.

It was an educated decision that we came to, Jackson said. We will continue to work with groups like that.

Klauba said the Caldwell Police Department received a heavy amount of backlash after driving the car around town and admitted that police had not done a lot of research on the symbol beforehand.

They did have the best intentions, Klauba said. They really were trying to bring attention to autism.

Jackson said CPD has not decided whether it will roll out a new, different car or do something else. But with April set as Autism Awareness Month, she said officials are thinking about more things to do to support the community.

(Were) definitely not just tabling everything for good, she said.

The car was set to join five other specialty cars in the Police Departments fleet, according to the original news release. The department has cars for The College of Idaho, breast cancer awareness, domestic violence awareness, the Caldwell Night Rodeo and Caldwell High School.

Ex-police sergeant denies in Boise courtroom that he used his role to victimize women

Idaho investigation into school district finds mistreatment of students with disabilities
Canton firefighters successfully revive a cat found lying unconscious inside house Friday during a fire on Tuscarawas Street E. An elderly woman also was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital.

CANTON  Firefighters rescued an elderly woman and revived a cat found unconscious in a house fire late Friday.

Firefighters were dispatched to 1941 Tuscarawas St. E for a structure fire at 11:37 p.m., Canton Fire Division Chief Steve Henderson said in a news release. There, they found light smoke on the first floor and a dead cat in a cage.

They also found and rescued an elderly woman from a second-floor window. They found a second cat, lying unconscious, and treated it for smoke inhalation. The cat was successfully revived and given to a relative, Henderson said.

Pets lost: 2 dogs die in Canton house fire caused by extension cords

The fire is considered accidental and it started inside near the front door. The damage was valued at $11,000 for contents and the structure.

Henderson said the woman was treated at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. No firefighters were hurt. The fire remains under investigation by the Canton Fire Department Fire Prevention Bureau.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton firefighters save woman, cat in Tuscarawas Street E house fire
Fiery tensions related to the crisis in the Middle East are worsening in the United States as Israel wages its war on Hamas  and white nationalists are flocking to the internet to exploit them.

Protests have erupted throughout the nation as pro-Palestinian demonstrators call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, where a week-long ceasefire collapsed Friday following Hamas and Israel's exchange of more than 100 Israeli hostages, the majority of whom were seized during the militant group's deadly Oct. 7 attack, and more than 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel, thousands of whom have been imprisoned for years. The crisis has also sparked a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and antisemitic incidents of bias and hate, leaving members of those communities reeling.

"Everybody has been affected whether it's personally affected by incidents in our communities, in our schools, in and around our places of worship, or that which has been experienced by a friend or community member or a family member," Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told Salon. Soifer explained that she's mostly seen hateful, antisemitic rhetoric fueled by the war crop up online alongside a rise in vitriol targeting her organization.

Recent reports have documented a massive surge in anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate speech on the internet in the nearly two months since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza that's killed over 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, in response to the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis, according to their government.

Posts on X, formerly Twitter, containing anti-Muslim keywords and hashtags spiked in the week of Hamas' attack by 250 percent compared to the previous week, according to an early November report from the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which also saw a sustained 297 percent jump in the number of posts on X containing anti-Muslim keywords in the five days following the initial 422 percent surge in hateful posts during the weekend of the attack. In an analysis of 162,958 tweets and 15,476 Facebook posts from the week before Hamas' attack to the week after, the ADL also found a 919 percent, week-over-week boom in antisemitism on X and a 28 percent increase in antisemitism on Facebook.

The presence of white nationalist rhetoric in online hate speech reveals a more insidious underbelly in the surge. Though researchers can't prove causation, white nationalist ideology has featured prominently in the hate speech circulating on social media sites, as users, in response to the crisis, lash out at Jews, Arabs and Muslims on mainstream platforms.

On X, where a premium account subscription provides a range of perks, including algorithmic content boosts in searches and access to ad-revenue sharing, posts espousing white nationalist viewpoints raise alarms, according to Katie Paul, the director of the Tech Transparency Project, which functions as the tech arm of ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability.

"These are ideologies that are essentially paying to get themselves lifted up toward higher level rankings when it comes to people who are searching for content related to the conflict," Paul told Salon. "That's deeply concerning because it's not prioritizing authoritative content or authoritative sources and essentially prioritizing, in many cases, disinformation and, in all the cases that we looked at, explicit racism and antisemitism."

In a report released last month, the Tech Transparency Project found dozens of X premium accounts associated with white supremacist ideology using the violence in the Middle East to further hateful agendas in posts that often violated X's policies. These profiles' posts tied the ongoing crisis to the "Great Replacement" theory  a bigoted ideology that claims Jews are perpetrating a plot to replace white-majority populations with non-white and non-Christian immigrants  defending "white nations" and giving voice to anti-Muslim rhetoric and antisemitic tropes.

One self-described "White Ultra National" X Premium account the watchdog found, @UltraPatriot44, made several posts in October pushing replacement theory. Multiculturalism has failed and by bombing Gaza the AntiWhite Jews will create a wave of AntiWhite refugees to our homelands, the user wrote in part in one post. "This is what the AntiWhite Jews want.

The user later attempted to use the violence in Gaza to recruit others to join Active Clubs, a network of white supremacist fight clubs, writing, "As the Arabs and Jews duke it out, We must be prepared to defend our White nations. Our enemies won't win the war for us!

A Nov. 1 post from user @makeeuropasnow, a premium account with more than 19,000 followers that condemns "race mixing" and warns of "white genocide," pushed an antisemitic claim that Israel "has all the power, control and manipulation of majority White Nations." The same post also attacked "the other side," represented by a Palestinian flag, as "p3dos" and "r@pists" who "are mass invading our White Nations trying to bring in white sharia law," the last part referencing an Islamophobic trope alleging that Muslims want to force Sharia law onto western nations.

All of the posts and users TTP found violated at least one of X's safety rules, according to the watchdog, the breach of which the platform states may result in the loss of the blue checkmark and even account suspension. A Salon search of the accounts named in the report saw that, as of Friday, all except one of the profiles (one of which appeared to have changed its handle to a similar one while maintaining the same bio described in the report) were not only still active but still had visible blue checkmarks, which can be hidden by Premium subscribers.

Some of the cited X users have also seen growth in their platforms since TTP published the report. @AntiWhiteWatch1 has more than 185,000 followers on X, up from the 174,000 it had per TTP's report.

What's happening on the platform "is one of the few times where we're not just seeing these accounts permitted, but they're still able to monetize. We're not seeing any effort to even stop the way that these white nationalist accounts are able to make money on the platform, let alone the fact that they are spreading hateful ideology, at all," Paul told Salon, adding that the proliferation of hate speech on all social media demonstrates that platforms' AI-run, reporting systems  and user reporting  aren't enough to combat the vitriol.

When reached by Salon for comment, X's press email returned an automated message reading, "Busy now, please check back later."

Two weeks ago, X owner Elon Musk, who reinstated accounts previously banned for peddling extremism and conspiracy theories upon taking control of the platform last year, even partook in amplifying the rhetoric, praising a user who pushed the "Great Replacement" theory against Jews, a move that garnered harsh rebuke. Musk, for his part, apologized for the post while speaking at a conference Wednesday night.

Still, the danger in Musk's praise also lies in the theory's direct ties to white supremacist violence. In fact, replacement theory, which was expressed in the antisemitic Protocols of Zion meant to foment violence against Jews, is at the heart of all white nationalist movement in the United States  and right-wing extremism movements globally, according to Lawrence Rosenthal, the chair of U.C. Berkeley's Center on Right-Wing Studies.

"This is a template. In fact, antisemitism is the model of what we're seeing both on the extreme right in this country and internationally in the right-wing populist movements that have often taken power," Rosenthal told Salon, adding, "So there's almost a coming home to roost quality about antisemitism emerging on the right in the face of the Hamas-Israel current war."

Islamophobia also fits snugly into that template, Rosenthal said, explaining that anti-Muslim hate had been prevalent among the far-right before 9/11 but became a "staple" in its ideology in its aftermath. Former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, which hinged on curtailing immigration alongside promises of a Muslim ban that were brought to fruition, further incited Islamophobic vitriol by amplifying anti-immigration sentiment that otherwise remained internal to far-right groups like the Tea Party and later pushing it to dominate the mainstream Republican Party, Rosenthal added.

While he largely sees parallels in white nationalist rhetoric toward Muslim and Arab people in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack and the current violence wracking the Gaza Strip, he noted that the breadth of the white nationalism movement is far greater now.

"That kind of exclusivity of Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11 is no longer the case," Rosenthal told Salon. "So you can get the Elon Musk-kind of antisemitism and at the same time you have [the idea that] Latin peoples, they're an invasion from the border."

Rosenthal pointed to the presence of replacement theory in the 2017 alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where demonstrators chanted, "You will not replace us" and "Jews will not replace us." That demonstration turned physically violent when a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

The theory later motivated the mass shooter who murdered 11 congregants of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, who wrote on the far-right platform Gab that he blamed Jewish people in the U.S. for bringing in an invasion of nonwhite immigrants, per Media Matters for America. A white supremacist in New Zealand who murdered more than 50 Muslims in a 2019 shooting of two mosques referenced the theory as well, describing Muslims as "invaders" in his manifesto. Mass shooters who carried out violent murders of Black people in Buffalo, New York, and Mexican people in El Paso, Texas also referenced the ideology.

Most alarming about white nationalists' use of the crisis in Gaza to push hate online in service of their agendas is how it coincides with a spike in physical incidents of hate and violence directed toward Arab, Muslim and Jewish people since Oct. 7.

A 6-year-old, Palestinian boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was stabbed to death and his mother badly wounded in Illinois in October, allegedly by their 71-year-old landlord who faces three murder counts, one count of attempted murder and two counts of committing a hate crime, among other charges. Prosecutors claim the suspect had become paranoid listening to conservative radio segments about Israel's war on Hamas.

Last weekend, three Palestinian college students  Hisham Awartani of Brown University, Kinnan Abdalhamid of Haverford College and Tahseen Ali Ahmad of Trinity College  wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves were shot in Vermont while conversing in English and Arabic. The suspect, a white man in his 40s, pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder earlier this week as authorities continue to investigate. State Attorney Sarah George told the Associated Press that while local law enforcement does not yet have evidence to support a hate crime charge, there is no question that this was a hateful act.

In the month following Hamas' attack, the Anti-Defamation League documented 832 antisemitic incidents of assault, vandalism and harassment in the U.S., marking a 316 percent increase from the number of incidents reported during the same period last year. A parallel report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations revealed that between Oct. 7 and Nov. 14, the organization received a total of 1,283 reports of anti-Muslim bias, a figure that represents a 216 percent rise in the number of complaints received from a similar period the year prior.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has also documented an increase in antisemitic harassment of individuals and "'fake' bomb threats to Jewish institutions" alongside incidents of "anti-Muslim hate groups capitalizing on the conflict to push bigoted rhetoric about Islam and fearmongering about the Muslim community," SPLC senior research analyst Caleb Kieffer told Salon in a statement.

"The community is very afraid," Corey Saylor, CAIR's research and advocacy director, told Salon, also noting Muslim and Arab communities' courage in continuing to call for a permanent ceasefire in the face of increased violence.

"We see all these incidents, and we see and we hear from people who are changing their behaviors," Saylor added. "They don't want to be out. They don't want to be visibly Muslim. And they're afraid of just having the lens, shall we say, turn to them."
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  Celebrate the holidays with the Districts Holiday Boat Parade which features over sixty decorated boats that will be parading along the Washington Channel on Dec. 2.

The event will feature activities including ornament decorating, karaoke, a live performance, photos with Santa, fireworks and more.

Things to do: Holiday events in the DMV

Here is the schedule:

6:00 p.m.  9:00 p.m.  Activities across The Wharf (ornament decorating, karaoke, photos with Santa)

7:00 p.m.  Boats arrive at the Washington Channel.

8:00 p.m.  Fireworks

8:15 p.m.  9:00 p.m.  Live music

Click here to see the full event schedule.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
The National Bank of Ukraine on Dec. 1 lifted all restrictions on financial institutions linked to the sales of foreign currencies to the public, the central bank announced .

"The de facto existence of such restrictions is one of the reasons for the multiplicity of exchange rates. By lifting them, we have reason to expect that this will allow us to keep the difference between cash and non-cash exchange rates at a minimum," said NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy.

In October, the central bank announced it was transitioning to a floating rate system.

Kyiv has sought to defend the hryvnia currency in order to shore up confidence in its banking system.

International donors have already disbursed $35 billion in financial support in 2023.

Read also: National Bank of Ukraine revises GDP growth forecast for 2023





Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY)  The charges against a former Chesapeake Police lieutenant accused of sexually assaulting and threatening a coworker were dropped in Chesapeake Circuit Court Friday.

Sean Maddox, 43, was arrested on June 1, 2021 after a Chesapeake 911 dispatcher accused him of raping her and sending threatening text messages after their romantic affair ended.

According to the online court system, four of his charges  rape by force, abduction with intent to defile, sodomy by force and stalking  were nolle prossed (set aside), while two extortion charges were dismissed.

10 On Your Side has reached out to Maddoxs attorney and the special prosecutor in the case but have not gotten responses yet.

We will update this story as it develops.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
A senior charity consultant claimed Israel is more Nazi than even the Nazis and shared a message on social media suggesting that atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct 7 were an inside job.

Tariq Shaekh, who is director of his own limited company offering fundraising, marketing and charity strategy services for the growing UK third sector, according to his LinkedIn profile, was previously chief executive officer of Human Aid & Advocacy for 20 months.

Mr Shaekh recently posted a video in which an Israeli TV presenter appeared to threaten citizens in several Arab countries, with the caption: When will the world wake up to the fact that Isrea! [sic] is more Nazi than even the Nazis were.

On Nov 19, he shared on social media a post by another user who wrote: If you truly believe one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with nuclear weapons, who is the hub for surveillance technology didnt know where Ham*s [sic] was on Oct 7, (were able to break through a concentration camp) and their military did not respond for more than 6 hours was by accident, but now as they are bombing civilians they all of a sudden know where they are, I am sorry you are an ignorant fool.

And your foolishness is enabling geno*ide [sic].

All of these wars were pre-planned. Ive been speaking about how they want to ethnically cleanse the region and expand their state for years using their own statements and sources.

Charlotte Littlewood, an extremism expert at the International Centre for Sustainability, said: Suggestions of an inside job and painting Israel as more Nazi than the Nazis are a standard part of narrative warfare employed since 9/11 that acts to paint the victim as the aggressor.

We need to get smarter on Islamist tactics and harsher on extremists that manipulate the generous UK system to spread their hate.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: Comparing Israel to Nazis is anti-Semitic, according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

But even more insulting is the suggestion that Israel orchestrated or deliberately turned a blind eye to Hamass massacre of some 1,200 people on 7 Oct in the worst anti-Semitic atrocity since the Holocaust.

It comes as Orlando Fraser, the chairman of the Charity Commission, warned that charities must not allow their premises, events or online content to become forums for hate speech.

The Telegraph has also revealed that the regulator is investigating 70 charities over concerns that they are hosting extremist or anti-Semitic views.

Human Aid & Advocacy, Mr Shaekhs former employer, already faces scrutiny from the Charity Commission after The Telegraph revealed in September that it had sent a delegation to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban, including Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi, its foreign minister.

It described the August trip as a fact-finding mission and said it took part in a series of meetings between the scholars and Afghan officials.

Delegates were complimentary about the Taliban government, with an NHS chaplain who sits on the charitys Islamic scholars board declaring himself very impressed.

There is no suggestion that Mr Shaekh was involved in the trip, which took place 10 months after he had left the charity in October 2022. The watchdogs regulatory compliance case to assess reports of the trip is ongoing.

It is understood that the regulators remit does not include consultants who are not employed by charities themselves, but it may engage with organisations if it believes it is using individuals who may present an unnecessarily high reputational risk. This does not necessarily mean any wrongdoing has been committed.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the regulator declined to comment on Mr Shaekhs case because he was no longer directly employed by a charity.

Referring to the Afghanistan trip, the spokesman said: We are aware of reports about Human Aid & Advocacy, and as a result have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess this further.

Human Aid & Advocacy and Mr Shaekh were approached for comment.

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Concord police are investigating an incident that left seven CC Griffin Middle School students hospitalized after they consumed an unknown substance Friday.

Police say the Cabarrus County Schools students who were hospitalized after ingesting an unknown substance on Friday knew what they were eating: THC edibles.

Now, the two students who brought the edibles to C.C. Griffin Middle School are facing charges for possession with the intent to sell and deliver the edibles and mushrooms, according to a news release from the Concord Police Department.

Paramedics on Friday treated an unknown number of students at the school, according to the Cabarrus County Schools statement. Later, out of an abundance of caution, seven were taken to Atrium Health Cabarrus.

Parents told WSOC they suspected the reactions were connected to treats shared during class. The students planned to buy and eat the Rice Krispy Treat-like edibles, police said, and they passed them on to other classmates.

None of the students that ingested the edibles unknowingly ingested the edibles, he said. In fact, everyone we spoke with knew they were taking THC edibles.

Some students told police they also ate psilocybin mushrooms.

It is unclear how many students police spoke to, but WBTV reported that officers suspected seven to 20 ate the edibles.

Police said one student is being charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a Schedule VI drug  the THC. The other is being charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver a Schedule I drug  the mushrooms.

Alleged assault on campus

School administration also worked with the police department on an alleged assault on a school resource officer at C.C. Griffin the same day, City of Concord spokesperson Lindsay Manson told the Observer.

The officer used a Taser as the student repeatedly punched him, including in the head, Manson said in an email.

Charges against the student are being filed with the Department of Juvenile Justice, Manson said.

Creating safe learning environments and protecting the safety of students and faculty is our top priority, Manson added.

This is a developing story. Check back to charlotteobserver.com for updates.
Dozens of volunteers and residents gathered at a Charlotte church to celebrate World AIDS Day on Saturday.

The first World AIDS Day was celebrated in 1988 to limit stigma around the disease, honor those who have lost their lives to it, and work towards a world where HIV is no longer a threat to public health, according to HIV.gov.

ALSO READ: Elton John addresses Britain's Parliament, urging lawmakers to do more to fight HIV/AIDS

The C.W. Williams Community Health Center, Inc. (CWWCHC) hosted an event from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the New Covenant Bibleway Church on Capps Hill Mine Road in north Charlotte.

CWWCHC partnered with RAIN, PowerHouse, Gilead Sciences, By His Stripes Wellness Center, RAO, Quality Comprehensive Health Center, and Charlotte Community Health Clinic to make the free, public event possible.

For more information about the CWWCHC, click here.

(WATCH BELOW: Dozens of patients may have been exposed to hepatitis, HIV during procedures at Atrium Health)
















The California Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal collision Friday after a vehicle went off a rural road and crashed into a tree in southwest Sacramento County.

The crash was reported about 6:15 a.m. in the area of Highway 160, also known as River Road, and Scribner Road, just east of the Sacramento River near the town of Clarksburg.

The vehicle heading north reportedly went down an embankment and struck a tree, according to CHP online dispatch records.

Its unclear how many people were in the vehicle. Officials at the CHPs South Sacramento office were not immediately available Friday afternoon to provide additional details about the crash.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said he is confident he will qualify for the fourth GOP primary debate next week.

Im confident that Ill be on the stage for the debate, he said in a CNN interview Friday. Remember, these same reports were made before the last debate about [Sen.] Tim Scott [R-S.C.], that he did not appear to qualify.

Scott went on to qualify for the third debate but dropped out of the race weeks later.

Presidential hopefuls will need to be polling at 6 percent or higher in two national polls, or at 6 percent in one early state poll from two separate carve out states  listed as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina  to get behind a podium, according to a release from the Republican National Committee. But which polls count for those tallies is unknown.

The only candidates that have qualified for the Dec. 6 NewsNation debate so far are Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Christie has struggled in national polls but has focused his campaign efforts in New Hampshire. He said polls are still too early to paint a real picture of the race.

If you look at polling over the last few cycles, you know who was winning the race in 2007 on Thanksgiving? It was Mitt Romney, Christie said. Who was winning the race in 2011? It was Newt Gingrich. And in 2015 it was Ben Carson.

A staunch Trump critic, Christie said Thursday that nominating Trump could be a death sentence for Republicans. Hes encouraged fellow GOP candidates to go after Trump more on the campaign trail, particularly Haley.

The death sentence is let Trump be our nominee. If Trump is our nominee, we will not only lose the presidency again, but we will lose both houses of Congress and we will lose races up and down the ticket, Christie said in a NewsNation interview Thursday.

And this isnt speculation, he continued. It happened in 18. It happened in 20, in 22 and again in 23. He is political poison up and down the ballot.

The Hill and NewsNation are owned by the same parent company, Nexstar Media Group.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) wont be on the Maine primary ballot, the state Secretary of State announced Saturday.

Christie and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) were the only GOP candidates still in the presidential race to be missing from the list of candidates on the primary ballot. Author Marianne Williamson was also not listed on the Democratic ballot.

Candidates are required to submit 2,000 petitioned signatures in order to be placed on the Maine ballot, according to state law.

On Friday, Maine officials informed the Christie campaign that the former governor only received 844 valid signatures in the state. Friday was the filing deadline for the Pine Tree State.

The campaign collected and submitted over 6,000 signatures, a spokesperson for Christies campaign told CBS News. This is simply a procedural issue with the way they reviewed signatures and is under appeal.

Christie has struggled to maintain momentum in his campaign, but hoped that his status as a staunch critic of former President Trump could carve a path to the White House.

He has lagged in national polls, but put up stronger performances in New Hampshire, where he has focused campaign resources.

On Friday, Christie said he is confident that he will qualify for next weeks fourth GOP debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He said polls are still too early to paint a real picture of the race.

If you look at polling over the last few cycles, you know who was winning the race in 2007 on Thanksgiving? It was Mitt Romney, Christie said. Who was winning the race in 2011? It was Newt Gingrich. And in 2015 it was Ben Carson.

The Hill has reached out to Christie and Hutchinsons campaigns for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie celebrated the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) Friday.

I think it was the right thing to do to expel George Santos, hes a liar and a thief, Christie said in a CNN interview Friday evening. He needed to be expelled from Congress. He should have never been there in the first place.

Santos was ousted from office in a 311-114-2 vote, the third attempt to remove him and the first after a scathing House Ethics Committee report that alleging he broke campaign finance law and lied to donors.

105 Republicans joined Democrats in the vote. Christie said those Republicans did the right thing, and he would have done the same had he been a member of Congress.

Santos faces 23 criminal charges for his alleged conduct, including wire fraud, identity theft and theft of public funds.

Top Stories from The Hill

He is the sixth ever member of the House to be expelled, and the first to do so without previously being convicted of a crime.

As he left the Capitol for the last time as a member Friday, Santos criticized Congress.

To hell with this place, he said. The House voted  thats their vote. They just set a new dangerous precedent for themselves.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-Stake of El Paso is hosting its 25th annual Christmas Nativity Around the World event this weekend.

You can go on a self-guided tour and view 500 nativities from around the world. There will also be musical performances and childrens activities.

The event will continue to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30 at 670 E. Redd Road and will continue again from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2.

For more information, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered perhaps his strongest remarks to date on Saturday over Israel's need to protect civilians in Gaza, calling them the center of gravity in Israel's war with Hamas and warning over the risks of their radicalization.

Austin, in remarks to the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, said he has personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, to shun "irresponsible rhetoric" and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank.

He also said he's pressed Israel to dramatically expand Gaza's access to humanitarian aid, adding that he expected more deliveries of aid "in the days ahead."

"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," Austin said, drawing on his experience as a four-star general overseeing the battle against Islamic State militants.

"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."

Israel has sworn to annihilate Palestinian militant group Hamas following Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

The Gaza health ministry says more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, with at least 193 Palestinians killed just since Friday's collapse of a truce between Israel and Hamas.

Austin's remarks came as Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday.

The United States has rushed military assistance to Israel, including air defenses and other munitions.

Austin pledged that the United States would stand by Israel's side, noting Israel's obligation to respond after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and calling the Palestinian militant group a "cruel enemy."

"The United States will remain Israel's closest friend in the world. Our support for Israel's security is non-negotiable," he told an audience of prominent U.S. lawmakers, national security officials and defense industry executives. Austin also renewed U.S. calls for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

"Without a horizon of hope, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will remain an engine of instability and insecurity and human suffering," he said.

As the Israel-Hamas war escalates tensions in the region, the Pentagon has been wrestling with wave after wave of attacks against U.S. troops by Iran-backed groups who blame the United States for Israel's actions in Gaza. Austin accused Iran of "raising tensions" and noted recent U.S. air strikes in response.

"We will not tolerate attacks on American personnel. And so these attacks must stop," he said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
The old Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond, and James May will be hitting your screen as the hosts of The Grand Tour for the final time in 2024. The two final episodes have now been filmed, taking place in Mauritania and Zimbabwe, where the trio we've grown to love will close a chapter that's been three decades in the making.

Were done. I have reviewed cars on TV since 1989. Thats 34 years. And after next year, I wont be doing that any more," Clarkson told The Times .

Since The Grand Tour launched in 2016, after Clarkson was fired from Top Gear for punching a producer, it's gone through several changes. First, it was essentially a Top Gear recreation, with celebrity interviews and an in-studio live show. Then they tightened it up by ditching the celebrity stuff. Eventually, they ditched the live show altogether and just made feature-length specials. And while none of The Grand Tour's iterations managed to capture the magic of Top Gear at its best , it was still one of the most watched shows on Amazon Prime. Millions of people tuned in to watch the automotive equivalent of the Three Stooges (and I mean that as a grand compliment).

Getty

All three hosts have their own projects to pursue outside of The Grand Tour anyway. Clarkson has his farm show and May has a travel show, both of which are also on Amazon Prime, while Hammond still does a lot of work for DriveTribe, while also presenting other TV programs. So they'll still be around, even though The Grand Tour won't be.

This news also comes just a couple of weeks after the BBC decided to indefinitely shut down Top Gear . After host Freddie Flintoff's accident during filming and the subsequent settlement, the BBC decided against renewing the show. Clarkson doesn't blame the most recent trio of Top Gear hosts for not wanting to return, either, specifically Flintoff.

"Richard Hammond was always keen to get back to work [following a crash], whereas Freddie isnt," Clarkson told The Sun . "I dont blame him. I know what happened on that awful day and it was horrific."

Getty

Clarkson even said that anyone who wants to take over in Flintoff's spot would come across as "heartless."

In a matter of weeks, the world learned that the two most entertaining car shows on TV are shutting down. We all knew this day was coming soon, as the original Top Gear gang are all either in their sixties or getting quite close, but it's still a little sad to see them go. Sure, their most recent work pales in comparison to the shows from their prime but, like most millennial car nerds, Clarkson, Hammond, and May made an indelible impression on me and the way I look at cars, and I'm sure I'm not alone on that one. Thanks for the memories, chaps.

Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A Columbus man is facing up to life in prison after being found guilty of raping three minors.

On Thursday, a jury found John Allen, 47, of Columbus guilty of raping three minors, according to a news release from Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack.

New bill at Ohio Statehouse aims to protect kids from sexual abuse

Allen assaulted the first victim in 2012 and the second victim in 2013. A third victim was assaulted several different times from 2017 to 2019, according to the news release. Allen was an acquaintance of all three victims. An investigation began after the third victim came forward in April 2021, Tyack said.

Allen was found guilty of four counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and one count of gross sexual imposition.

Allen will be sentenced in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on Dec. 8. He faces a sentence of 15 years to life.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
When the email came in from Juan Romero asking that I give him a call, I have to admit I did so with some apprehension.

The last time I had spoken with him, in February 2017, the Aurora father was desperate: His then-9-year-old son, Carlos, was battling a rare and deadly bone cancer that tends to hit children and young adults. And he was struggling to come up with the money needed for an expensive drug, not approved in the U.S., that could keep his sons cancer in remission.

Without it, he told me back then, the tumors his son continued to develop would likely come back and doctors admitted there were no more treatment options.

The good news was the Aurora community had gone to bat for the family time and time again. And this single dad who had just had his part-time benefits cut, was nothing but grateful for the $50,000 that was raised from a GoFundMe campaign, as well as from church fundraisers and raffles held by McCleery Elementary School, where Carlos was a fourth grader.

That money allowed Romero to pay for half of the 48 treatments his son needed over a nine-month period. But the problem was, how do you go back to the same well and ask for another $50,000? How do you continue to beg for money when you know there are so many other needy people also struggling with life-threatening challenges?

Turns out, after this story got out to the public, he didnt need to.

When I called Romero just recently, he quickly assured me his son not only was alive and well, Carlos remained a straight-A student even after missing so much school and, as a junior at West Aurora High School, is a member of the National Honor Society and excelling in extracurricular activities.

He then told me why: After the column ran in February of 2017, an anonymous donor came through with a $50,000 check.

This update may have been a long time coming, but is well worth the wait. As was my Wednesday afternoon visit with Juan Romero and his two kids at their home on Plum Street, where the 59-year-old father emotionally recalled that moment he learned Carlos had a fighting chance to beat osteosarcoma, which hed been battling since age 7.

He and his son were on their way home from yet another trip to Lurie Childrens Hospital not long after his story was published, when Carlos began asking his father about the money needed to continue with his treatments.

The account had gone dry by that time, but I told him, dont worry about it, Romero remembers. Then my phone rang. It was the social work manager from Family Reach, a New Jersey-based foundation that offers financial lifelines for families fighting cancer, who told him there was a donor who wanted to help.

When Romero told the caller how much was needed, he expected the offer to be a few hundred dollars, maybe even enough to cobble together one more treatment.

I had to pull the car over, he said, after learning the amount was the full $50,000. Miracles really do occur.

No one knows that more than Carlos, now a tall, healthy and obviously bright teen, who for years had to undergo repeated rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to remove tumors, including one that took half his left lung, only to have the cancer return again and again.

I just remember my dad always seemed so stressed, said daughter Daniella, now 15.

But Juan Romero was also determined. After all, what choice does a parent have when a childs life is at stake?

For one thing, because the needed drug Mepact was not FDA approved, he had to convince the doctors to even begin the process of trying to get it into the country, which meant also convincing them that if they could get special FDA approval, he would be able to come up with the $100,000 to pay for it.

In addition to desperately seeking funds, Romeros mission included repeated calls and visits to state and federal legislators, as well as trips to leading medical institutions like the Cleveland Clinic and the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.

Romero said he even considered moving to England in order to get the drug  generically known as mifamurtide  which is available in Europe and is said to boost survival rates to around 80%.

According to the Osteosarcoma Collaborative website, even after clinical trials in the U.S., the drug has yet to get approval in this country, although some young patients, like Carlos, have been able to obtain it through the FDAs compassionate use and personal importation program, and since 2017 some have even gotten full coverage by health insurance.

Romero, who can give a detailed account of the red tape and constant denials families can face when dealing with an orphan disease like osteosarcoma, has no idea who gifted them with the $50,000. Certainly both father and son would like to say thank you in person, but also understand and respect the request for anonymity.

Life since that phone call has been busy but good for the family. Juan, who was an accountant in Peru before immigrating in 2000 to this country, went back to school while working at Walmart to get a degree in logistics and is now looking for a career in that field.

Carlos, who got the all-clear news about his cancer last year, is a math-competition champ with plans to study engineering at Brigham Young University after completing his mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I obviously want to make money, not so I am rich but so I will not ever have to worry about this ever being a thing if something similar happens again to my family, he told me. I survived for a reason, to help someone else in the future.

Likewise, his father, who continues to think about the children without access to the drug, is looking to better himself financially so he too can pay it forward when and if possible.

One lesson I always taught my kids is perseverance, he said. We work hard. We try to do our best. We never give up.

dcrosby@tribpub.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  In late October, Oregon and Washington joined 31 other states in a lawsuit against Meta. Now, newly released court documents reveal why several states have accused the tech company of harming its younger users.

According to the 233-page complaint filed on Nov. 22, about 22 million U.S. teens log onto Instagram  which is owned by Meta  every day. Plaintiffs alleged that the parent company intentionally targets younger users so theyll spend more time online.

32 female athletes sue the University of Oregon alleging Title IX violations by the school

Because higher engagement leads to more money for advertisers, the plaintiffs additionally accused Meta of using its audience to maximize profits. In 2017, the court documents claim that an employee suggested that the company convince more teens to share their location so advertisements could be more tailored to high school students.

The complaint also alleged that disappearing Instagram stories were launched in 2016 to give teens FOMO, or fear of missing out, and encourage them to open Meta apps more frequently.

The documents went on to connect Instagram and Facebook filters, a feature that changes users physical appearance, to mental health problems and self-confidence issues among the youth.

Newberg restaurant secures Oregons only entry on OpenTables top 100 list

Plaintiffs said Meta leaders attempted to notify CEO Mark Zuckerberg of how the filters were actively encouraging young girls into body dysmorphia, but he dismissed their concerns.

Furthermore, the complaint claims that the company was aware of Instagram and Facebook users under 13, but failed to obtain the required consent from their parents.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, along with several other state officials who joined in on the lawsuit, asserted that Meta violated the Consumer Protection Act multiple times by targeting young users.

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The evidence is clear  Mark Zuckerberg and Metas top executives knew and disregarded the extensive risks that addictive features on Instagram and Facebook posed to children, Ferguson said in a statement. They ignored repeated warnings from their employees and researchers, and exploited harmful features to maximize profit. My office will continue doing everything we can to protect the mental health of Washington youth.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Government has pledged to restrict the ability of international students to bring family members to cut net migration - Yuen Man Cheung/Alamy

International students can take masters degrees in Transnational Queer Feminist Politics and Queer Studies, prompting fears that courses which do little to fill skills gaps are being used as an immigration route.

Soas University of London, popular among international students, with 1,890 studying full time (2021-2022), runs masters courses in the Anthropology of Food as well as Transnational Queer Feminist politics with special reference to the Middle East  both costing 25,320 per year for overseas students (compared to 12,220 per year for domestic students).

The latter includes a module on Queering Migrations and Diasporas and Soas advertises scholarships for such courses.

One of these covers living, tuition and return airfare costs for five Indian nationals and another is for candidates who are nationals of Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Palestine territories.

At University College London (UCL), the most popular with 22,885 international students (2021/22), overseas students can pay 31,100 to study MAs in Gender, Society and Representation Masters and Race Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies.

At the University of York, where 5,765 international students studied between 2021/22, overseas students can apply to do an MA in Queer Studies for 23,900, which allows them to explore the cultures that shaped us, and the cultures we shape, through an intersectional queer lens.

The course includes modules in Gothic Bodies and Late Medieval Sexualities.

Under current graduate visa rules, international students are allowed to remain in the UK for at least two years after successfully completing a course.

This goes up to three years for PhDs and other doctoral qualifications.

Around 39 per cent of all postgraduates are international students, with the last census showing that a third of the international student population was based in London.

Prof Brian Bell, the chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), previously told the Sunday Telegraph that he had warned the Government five years ago  when the two-year visa was introduced  that it could offer graduates a backdoor route to remain in the UK in low-skilled work.

It helped fuel a 10-fold increase in foreign students bringing dependents to the UK.

Since 2018, the number of postgraduate student dependents has risen from 16,000 to 135,000. There are also 73,000 students on graduate visas.

Degrees generate income for universities

Miriam Cates, a Conservative MP, said: Its hard to believe that degree courses such as these carry any merit or academic rigour. They appear to exist only to generate income for universities and provide a low bar route to entry for international students and their dependents.

Of course we want the worlds brightest and the best to be able to study for serious degrees at our elite universities, but it is hard to see what skills will be learned from these courses apart from how to deny reality and rewrite history. The Government needs to tighten up study visa rules.

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch, said the findings were yet more evidence of how desperate the higher education sector is to attract overseas students to supplement their shrinking budgets.

He said: Such trendy degrees will do little to advance the interests of people struggling in the countries from which students are coming. In which Middle East or South Asia state might it be useful to brandish a degree in Transnational Queer Feminist Politics? Universities offering these courses need to take a long look in the mirror.

A spokesman for Soas said: We are proud of our diverse international community at Soas and welcome students from across the globe to study a wide range of subjects including in disciplines such as law, finance and management, politics and languages.

A UCL spokesman said: We are proud to have a thriving and diverse student community at UCL, with the brightest minds from the UK and more than 150 other countries, choosing to study and research here.

Analysis commissioned by UCL shows our international students contributed 1.7 billion to the economy in 2018/19 and this is estimated to have supported over 12,000 jobs across the UK.

We offer over 650 masters programmes in a huge variety of subjects, including the arts, humanities and social and historical sciences. Our graduates in these academic disciplines go on to have highly successful careers, working globally for private sector companies, governments, schools, charities, NGOs, and as entrepreneurs.

This strong international student community also brings fresh ideas, a diverse cultural and social perspective, and extensive networks that bring huge benefit to the UK and beyond.

To cut net migration levels, the Government has pledged to restrict the ability of international students to bring family members on all but postgraduate research routes.

The University of York was contacted for comment.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
(Bloomberg) -- Opposition leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo are in talks about choosing a single candidate to face incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi, with national elections less than three weeks away.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Martin Fayulu, who was officially runner-up to Tshisekedi in Congos disputed 2018 election, said talks are ongoing among several candidates, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege.

A common candidate is ideal, Fayulu said by phone from the campaign trail in the eastern town of Bunia on Thursday. But for the moment everyone is running their campaign.

Twenty-six presidential candidates will be on the ballot for the Dec. 20 vote, though some have already dropped out to back businessman and former politician Moise Katumbi. Theyre competing to run a country thats the worlds biggest supplier of battery mineral cobalt and a top-three producer of copper.

Read More: Ex-Prime Minister Drops Congo Presidential Bid, Backs Katumbi

Fayulu, 67, said he is not currently in discussions with Katumbi. Representatives from the Katumbi and Mukwege campaigns didnt respond to messages seeking comment.

Opposition leaders backed Fayulu in 2018 against the hand-picked candidate of former President Joseph Kabila, until Tshisekedi broke away to run his own campaign.

Power Sharing

Congos Constitutional Court declared Tshisekedi the victor and he began his term in a power-sharing arrangement with Kabila supporters. Leaked results from the countrys electoral commission and observers from the Catholic Church suggested at the time that Fayulu actually won the poll.

Fayulu, who spent almost two decades working around the world with Exxon Mobil Corp., has lost key allies from that election, including Katumbi and Jean-Pierre Bemba, himself a former presidential runner-up in 2006 who is now defense minister under Tshisekedi.

There have been no large-scale independent polls, making it difficult to gauge public opinion on the upcoming vote.

Fayulu said he continues to attract large crowds at campaign stops, showing he remains a threat to Tshisekedi. Still, hed be open to backing another candidate if one emerged in the coming days, he said.

All depends on what the people want, he said.

Electoral Breaches

Last week, Fayulu, Mukwege and several other candidates sued the electoral commission and government for what they say are numerous breaches of electoral laws, including delays in publishing voting rolls, defective identification cards, and a lack of police protection for their campaigns.

Congos electoral commission says it will be ready for election day despite delays shipping voting material around Africas second-biggest country by landmass.

Fayulu said his immediate concern as president would be to end the violence in eastern Congo, where almost 7 million people are displaced because of fighting among dozens of armed groups, according to the United Nations.

Two years of Tshisekedi-imposed martial law in two eastern provinces along with thousands of troops from the UN, East African Community and private contractors have been unable to bring peace, Fayulu said.

We have subcontracted our security, he said in a separate interview last week in the capital, Kinshasa.

Instead he would focus on better training for a bigger army, paid for in part by reducing the bloated salaries of elected officials, he said.

The businessman, who still owns a boutique hotel in Kinshasa, said he would encourage foreign investment and had no plans to renegotiate Congos major mining contracts, beyond ensuring they were all win-win.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
By Kate Abnett

DUBAI (Reuters) - While the world's climate diplomats huddle over draft decisions to be made at the end of this year's U.N. climate summit, governments at COP28 are firing off a flurry of new promises for action.

Among the expected pledges at COP28 are a goal to triple renewable energy capacity and initiatives on methane and coal power. These voluntary side deals have proliferated in recent years, even as global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

Unlike official summit decisions, which must be passed by consensus among the nearly 200 countries, voluntary pledges can be made quickly, and boldly, without the worry of one party objecting.

"They go much further than what you can do multilaterally," said Marc Vanheukelen, a former EU official who led the bloc's work on an international methane emissions pledge launched at the COP26 climate summit in 2021.

Analysis of some of the COP pledges backed by substantial groups of countries or funders suggests they did lead to stronger action to curb climate change. Others have struggled - with experts warning that if unfulfilled, COP side deals risk undermining trust in the core U.N. climate negotiations.

"Often, these are exercises in what you could call 'fire and forget'," said Vanheukelen. Countries will fire off a statement of support, but then "you don't watch anymore what is happening to it".

Here is how some of the biggest voluntary pledges from recent years are faring today:

GLOBAL METHANE PLEDGE

Among the side deals announced at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, the U.S. and EU led more than 100 countries in committing to cutting methane emissions 30% by 2030.

Methane is responsible for around 30% of human-caused global warming since the industrial revolution. A potent greenhouse gas, it leaches into the atmosphere from leaky oil and gas infrastructure, livestock burps and manure, and landfill sites.

Supporters credit the Global Methane Pledge with raising the profile of the potent greenhouse gas, which governments including the EU, Nigeria and Canada have since introduced or strengthened regulation of.

The U.S. and China have also made methane a topic of shared efforts, although China and other major emitters including Russia have not backed the pledge.

Groups tracking the pledge say it's too early to gauge success by emissions levels, as policies passed since 2021 would take a few years to kick in. Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry increased slightly last year alongside rising fuel production.

"It's now about the actions that are being teed up. It's about the finance systems that are being created," said Jonathan Banks, Global Director on Methane at the non-profit Clean Air Task Force, pointing to funding announcements expected at COP28.

Reuters previously reported the World Bank is expected during the summit to new launch a fund, with backing from oil companies among others, to finance methane leak detection and cleanup programs in developing countries.

FOSSIL FUEL FINANCE

More than 30 governments including the U.S. and Canada committed at COP26 to stop financing international fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022 - the first international political deal to halt overseas oil and gas finance.

By end-2022, Canada, Britain, France and others had national policies in place to meet this goal, according to campaign group Oil Change International (OCI), estimating that the moves altogether have shifted some $5.7 billion away from fossil fuel projects toward clean energy.

"This initiative has done relatively well and has demonstrated real world progress," said OCI campaign manager Laurie van der Burg. "For many countries, they only started working on this after they joined the pledge."

Still, some countries blew past the deadline and continue to fund fossil fuels overseas, including the United States, Italy and Germany. The three altogether have put more than $4 billion into fossil fuels overseas since 2022, amid the Western drive to replace Russian gas, OCI said.

HALTING DEFORESTATION

More than 140 governments - representing the vast majority of the world's forests - pledged at COP26 to end deforestation by 2030, underpinned by $19 billion in funding commitments.

The year after, in 2022, deforestation increased by 4% worldwide, according to a coalition of environmental organizations including WWF, The Rainforest Alliance and Climate Focus.

"It's definitely not showing signs right now that it will succeed," said Erin Matson of Climate Focus, which advises governments and companies on emissions-cutting policies.

While Brazil has slashed deforestation in 2023, that trend came only after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office this year.

"The problem with these voluntary declarations is you don't nail out the nitty gritty in order to really get people to abide by it," Matson said, referring to details such as how progress might be measured.

___

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Katy Daigle and Jon Boyle)
When The Girlfriend Experience popped up on our screens for Season 4 of Canada's Drag Race, her star power was electric, but three episodes in and the charismatic queen from Vancouver was booted from the competition, lip syncing for her life against Kitten Kaboodle.

Reflecting on Thursday's episode, Girlfriend says she feels "so good" looking back at her time on Drag Race.

"When I was actually there on the show, I remember being in hysterics, crying in the waiting area by myself and then the producers came in and were just so sweet to me, and were just like, 'I know this sucks, but the pressure's off," Girlfriend told Yahoo Canada. "Leading up to yesterday, I was definitely worried and a little nervous to see what happens."

"From my point of view, where I was emotionally at that point, everything was chaotic. So seeing that on television and seeing it portrayed in such a beautiful and humbling light, I'm like, 'OK I'm happy.' The stress is off my shoulders now, and I can just go back to being me and having a good time."

Watch Canada's Drag Race on Crave

But when Girlfriend left the show, she still made an impact by giving us a wicked one-liner on her way out: "I just want you guys all to remember, that I was the prettiest."

"I didn't think about my exit line," she said. "It just kind of came to me."

"It was actually a little bit longer. I was having like a little heart-to-heart with the girls right before and then it came with the, 'We're all together. This is our journey together. And always remember, that I'm the prettiest.'"

'Drag was my way of letting that girl out in me'

During her time on Drag Race, Girlfriend was particularly open and honest about how she took some of the criticism from the judges personally, which impacted her mindset on the show.

"In context, the pandemic happened, I transitioned, I had a whole bunch of surgeries," Girlfriend shared. "I'm acclimating to this new life, this new womanhood and being treated like a woman, which I'm realizing isn't always the nicest, and a terrible breakup right before."

"My drag has always been a personification of the woman that I am inside. ... I think that those critiques, I wasn't ready for, because it does hit personally, because drag was my way of letting the steam out of the pot. To experiment with gender and allow myself to come to terms with my trans-ness. I grew up super religious and it wasn't conducive with the life that I live now. So when those critiques happen it's like, drag was my way of letting that girl out in me. And now that that girl is out, those things hit differently."

Watch Canada's Drag Race on Crave

While Girlfriend certainly made an impact on the show, the question still remains for her, was she really ready to be on Drag Race at that time in her life?

"I do believe everything happens for a reason," Girlfriend said. "Drag Race was something that I wanted to do and it just so happened that I got on right after all of that stuff that I had gone through."

"Emotionally prepared, I would say I wasn't there. But I kind of just went with it because at the end of the day, Drag Race is knocking. ... This is the biggest leg up in my career that I've had to date and I think it would be really silly of me to waste that opportunity, or to have waited. I believe that the way it all worked out happened for a reason. The only thing I would say is that I wish I had been a little bit more sound in myself, in my body, as I am now."

The frustration of shadowbanning on social media

While Drag Race, both in Canada and internationally, has historically provided a massive platform for the careers of participating queens, Girlfriend and other trans individuals on social media are facing shadowbanning from sites, particularly Instagram  something Meta has been accused of for years.

"It's definitely been tricky. It's been frustrating," Girlfriend said, adding that Drag Race, Crave and Bell have been helping her to communicate with Instagram and try to get some answers to the shadowbanning issue.

"It's been frustrating to have things that I do just be taken down, or say that it was for nudity and sexual content, when the only thing that is showing is my shoulders. I think how you navigate that is only going to be to ... my determination, because you can't just shut me up. If you tell me to stop, I'm going to go harder. There are other avenues and I've been pretty blessed that I was able to have some of my content stay on my feed during the duration of the show."

Giving just one example, Girlfriend highlighted that she wasn't even been able to post her promotional shot for Drag Race, but the show's account can.

"They posted it fine, but that's because they're a bigger content account," she said. "So there is a double standard, which I find a little bit unsettling, but it's the world we live in."

The Girlfriend Experience on Canada's Drag Race Season 4, on Crave

Looking forward in her career, Girlfriend wants to "travel the world" and just be "happy" in her life.

"I just want to be able to live my life the best way that I can," she said. "My goal in life is just to be happy."

"I always dream of being an old woman, on like my rocking chair with a wraparound porch and just cannot be bothered about anything. Just know that she lived her life to the fullest. Have grandchildren and just pull out the photo album and show them how, they could never."
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Jonathan Majors. The "Creed III" actor was found guilty on two of the four counts he faced: one count of assault in the third degree, and one count of harassment in the second degree.

He was found not guilty of assault in the third degree and not guilty of aggravated harassment.

The Marvel actor, 34, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom starting in early December, facing charges of assault and harassment brought by the state of New York, stemming from an alleged incident earlier this year involving him and his former girlfriend, dancer and movement coach Grace Jabbari.

Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good arrive at court for a jury selection (Yuki Iwamura / AP)

Majors is known for his roles in Creed III and HBOs Lovecraft Country, for which he received an Emmy nomination. He is also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing supervillain Kang the Conqueror in 2023s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Heres what to know about the allegations he faced.

Why was Jonathan Majors on trial?

The charges against Majors are tied to an incident on March 25, 2023, when the New York City Police Department responded to a 911 call in Manhattan. After an initial investigation, police determined that a 33-year-old male was involved in a dispute with a 30-year-old female, according to a statement from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI).

The woman involved in the incident, who was unnamed in the DCPI statement, told authorities she had been assaulted. According to the police statement, she sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.

Majors was taken into custody following what police are calling a domestic dispute, and he was charged with strangulation, assault and harassment, according to the DCPI. The strangulation charge was later dropped.

In a statement given to NBC News shortly after his arrest, a representative for the actor said, He has done nothing wrong. We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up.

Priya Chaudhry, an attorney for Majors, also issued a statement to TODAY.com from Majors' legal team following the incident.

Jonathan Majors is completely innocent and is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows. We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently, the statement read, in part.

All the evidence proves that Mr. Majors is entirely innocent and did not assault her whatsoever, a later part of his attorneys statement read. Unfortunately, this incident came about because this woman was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday. The NYPD is required to make an arrest in these situations, and this is the only reason Mr. Majors was arrested. We expect these charges to be dropped soon.

Shortly after Majors arrest, the U.S. Army pulled advertisements that featured narration by the actor.

The Armys Enterprise Marketing Office said in a statement obtained by NBC News that the Army was deeply concerned by the allegations and added that while Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.

What charges has Majors been charged with?

The day after Majors arrest, the actor was charged with multiple misdemeanor counts including assault in the third degree, aggravated harassment in the second degree, attempted assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree, according to the complaint shared by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office.

According to the document, the woman involved in the March 25 incident alleged that Majors (struck) her about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear.

She also alleged that Majors (grabbed) her hand, causing swelling, bruising, and substantial pain to her finger and put his hand on her neck, causing bruising and substantial pain.

In an April 18 letter to the New York County Criminal Court, Chaudhry denied the allegations against her client.

Ms. Jabbari claims that Mr. Majors assaulted her in a car in Chinatown around 12:00 a.m. on March 25, 2023, and during that incident, Mr. Majors broke her finger and lacerated her ear, part of the letter read. We have proof that this is a complete lie.

Chaudhry alleged that Jabbari had been "attacking, slapping, cutting and scratching Mr. Majors" during the incident.

After being charged on March 26, Majors was released on his own recognizance, meaning he was released without having to post bail, and an initial court date was set for May 8, according to the complaint received by NBC News.

Why was Majors' accuser also arrested?

In June 2023, Majors filed a cross-complaint against Jabbari. Majors claimed that Jabbari assaulted him in the March 25 incident, not the other way around.

In a June 20 statement provided to NBC News, Chaudhry alleged that Jabbari had committed a frenzied attack on Mr. Majors and said his team had provided photographs illustrating the injuries she inflicted on Mr. Majors and photos of his clothing torn as a direct consequence of Ms. Jabbaris violent actions to the district attorney.

Following Majors allegations that it was Jabbari who had in fact assaulted him, Jabbari was arrested on Oct. 25 in New York City and charged with misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief, NBC News reported a police spokesperson as saying. Jabbari's attorney did not respond to a request from NBC News for comment at that time.

The next day, all charges against Jabbari were dropped.

The Manhattan District Attorneys Office has officially declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit. The matter is now closed and sealed, said Doug Cohen, a press secretary for the Manhattan prosecutors office, according to NBC News.

Jabbari's attorney said in a statement to The Associated Press that the NYPD's decision to charge her was unfortunate and re-traumatizing and that she "was the victim, and not the perpetrator. "

What emerged about the alleged assault during the trial?

During courtroom testimony Dec. 5, Jabbari testified that she had endured two years of verbal abuse with Majors before the alleged assault took place, NBC News reported. It was confusing, she said, because I felt scared of him, but quite dependent on him.

She said the night of the alleged assault, Majors told her he was going to kill himself after learning she had confided in a friend about his allegedly abusive behavior.

Then, they went in the car, where the incident in question took place. Jabbari, on the stand, testified what she experienced in the back of the car. She said she saw a text message on Majors phone that said, Wish I was kissing you right now. She said she took the phone from his hands and he forcefully took it back, causing injury, then twisted her arm in a position that caused excruciating pain. After she said she felt a really hard blow across my head.

Photos that had been shared by prosecutors with the jury, but were not initially made public, were released in court Dec. 13. They show dark bruising on Jabbaris right middle finger, as well as a cut behind her ear and what appears to be bruising on her neck.

Prosecutors said these injuries were the result of Majors alleged assault against her on March 25.

Majors team alleged that Jabbari was the aggressor in the car. Their evidence includes a torn button on Majors coat and the fact that she went dancing with strangers after the fight.

The worst thing in my head wouldve been to go back to the empty apartment we shared in that moment, Jabbari said. Of her smiles in photos from the night, she said, I was having the nicest time I couldve had within the situation.

How long did the trial last?

After multiple delays, Majors trial began on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Majors held hands with his girlfriend, Harlem actor Meagan Good, as he arrived for the first day of the trial at a New York City courthouse.

A jury of three men and three women was selected on Nov. 30, and opening statements began on Monday, Dec. 4. Jury deliberations began Dec. 14 and concluded Dec. 18.

What was the jury's verdict, and what does it mean?

The jury found Majors guilty on one count of assault in the third degree and one count of harassment in the second degree.

He was found not guilty in two other charges: one count of assault in the third degree and one count of aggravated harassment.

Will Majors face prison time?

Sentencing is set for Feb. 6. Majors faces up to a year in jail.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Royal Caribbean has overbooked a handful of its 2023 cruises.

On Tuesday, several would-be Quantum of the Seas guests were left behind when the ship ran out of cabins.

While a rare occurrence, the growing demand for cruises may lead to more oversold itineraries in the future.

A serious issue for travelers could be quietly brewing amid the booming demand for cruises : oversold ships.

Like hotels and airlines, cruise lines may overbook itineraries in anticipation of last-minute cancellations. Compared to other industries, oversold cruises are as rare as winning the lottery, Patrick Scholes, an analyst at Truist Securities, told Business Insider.

But when it happens, the fallout could be more severe. Because cruises are almost always a multi-day affair, travelers facing an involuntary reservation cancellation could be left to figure out a logistical nightmare of refunds, new flights, accommodations, and replacement vacation days.

"It's a problem cruise lines could have only dreamed about two or three years ago," Scholes said.

Royal Caribbean oversold at least two Wonder of the Seas itineraries in 2023. Brittany Chang/Business Insider

Before the COVID-19-induced cruise industry pause, incidents of overbooked vessels were sparse.

But throughout 2023, demand for vacations at sea has quickly picked up and surpassed 2019 levels. With this has come an influx of last-minute bookings that may be catching cruise operators off guard, leading to oversold cruises, Scholes said.

This might include Royal Caribbean Group, which has overbooked a handful of its 2023 itineraries. Earlier in the year, the 7,084-guest Wonder of the Seas was twice over-reserved. On Tuesday, an oversold Quantum of the Seas ship left several travelers stranded at the embarkation port in Brisbane, Australia.

Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas. Royal Caribbean

Looking ahead, bookings for 2024 itineraries are already heating up with more cruises expected to sell out. While hard to predict, Scholes said he "wouldn't be surprised" if there were a handful of oversold cruise incidents next year as well.

But if your vacation at sea is coming up, there's no need to fret. Statistically, it's still unlikely: Only a handful of the millions of annual cruise travelers have ever been impacted by this.

In prior incidents, the cruise giant notified impacted travelers before the sail date

The Quantum of the Seas can accommodate 4,905 guests. Royal Caribbean International

But with the Royal Caribbean incident on Tuesday, the worst-case scenario happened: Groups of would-be cruisers arrived at the Port of Brisbane, bags packed and ready for their eight-night Quantum of the Seas vacation, to the news that there were no cabins left.

Cruise lines have offered travelers impacted by overbooking options like an alternative itinerary. Brittany Chang/Business Insider

Demand for the itinerary "went beyond the rooms that were available," a spokesperson for the cruise line told Business Insider.

In a letter given to these impacted travelers, Royal Caribbean offered alternatives such as the ship's nine-night cruise in late January 2024, another seven or eight-night sailing "with price protection," or a full refund with 25% future cruise credit.

"While disruptions to plans can occasionally happen, we do our best to minimize those chances," the spokesperson said, referring to its guests' vacation plans. "We take these disruptions seriously, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We have worked with each guest that was affected to rectify the inconvenience this has caused."

Book an individual stateroom to better your chances of boarding

Raynor said the November 28 Quantum of the Seas sailing would have been his first cruise. Brittany Chang/Business Insider

Reserving a "GYT"  or guaranteed  cabin leaves the specific stateroom assignment up to the cruise line. While hard to know for sure, Scholes says these bookings may be a common thread among travelers who have had their reservations aboard oversold ships canceled.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A rare sighting of an endangered animal ended in tragedy when a manatee that visited Rhode Island was found dead offshore in early October, the Associated Press reports.

What happened?

Manatees, also called sea cows, are large marine mammals usually found in more tropical waters near Florida, the Caribbean, the Amazon, and the coast of Africa, as National Geographic explains. Theyre gentle giants that graze on seagrass.

Because theyre adapted to warm water, manatees usually dont venture north. However, AP News reports that one was spotted off the shore of Rhode Island in early September. It was the first seen there since 2010 and one of only six known to visit New England in the past 18 years.

The unusual visit might have been an event to celebrate, but the manatee was found dead on Oct. 6 between Prudence Island and Hog Island, AP News reveals.

Sarah Callan, manager of the animal rescue program at Mystic Aquarium, told AP News that the animal was dead too long for the cause of death to be determined. However, she speculated that it might have been killed by cold stress in Rhode Islands fall weather.

We are all so saddened, Callan told AP News.

Why is this manatee death significant?

Manatees were removed from the endangered species list in 2017, but their population is still vulnerable. Damage to their habitats and mass die-offs continue to threaten the species.

Seagrass and manatees rely on each other to thrive  and since the seagrass helps keep the sea floor from eroding, this relationship between the species is key to a healthy ocean ecosystem. Thats why the decline of the manatee population is so alarming. Every manatee death brings the species closer to an irreversible tipping point.

Whats being done to protect manatees?

Conservation efforts by organizations like Sea & Shoreline have made a big difference by cleaning up excessive algae from manatee habitats. Miami-Dade County is also working to replace septic tanks that pollute coastal waters.

Individuals can help by donating to or volunteering with manatee conservation organizations.

Join our free newsletter for cool news and cool tips that make it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Death of world's 'saddest' elephant shines light on zoo animal welfare

Mali, an elephant dubbed as the world's "saddest" has died at a Philippine Zoo, Manila's Mayor Honey Lacuna has announced.

Vishwa Ma'ali -- commonly known as Mali -- was the only captive elephant in the Philippines. She passed away aged 43.

"Just to set the record straight, Mali died yesterday at 3:45 pm here at Manila Zoo," Honey Lacuna announced during a news conference on Wednesday. "She is about 43 years old. She was given to city government of Manila in 1981 by the Sri Lankan government."

Tributes have poured in for Mali in the Philippines and on social media, many sharing their memories seeing the Asian elephant, considered one of Manila Zoo' "star attractions."

Often referred to as the "world's saddest elephant," Mali was a resident at the Manila Zoo for over 40 years. Manila zoo's chief veterinarian announced Mali died from pancreatic cancer, as well as a blockage in her aorta.

At the start of the week Manila Zoo's chief veterinarian Dr. Heinrich Pena-Domingo said the zoo spotted indicators that Mali was in pain and the elephant spotted repeatedly rubbing her trunk against a wall. She was administered with antihistamines and vitamins but died shortly after on Tuesday afternoon. "We were her family," said Pena-Domingo.

Through the years, Mali has been the focal point of a global relocation campaign and her captivity has drawn the attention of animal welfare activists and organizations around the world. In a statement sent to ABC News, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said Mali "suffered" for decades in confinement.

PHOTO: Manila Zoo's Renovation Project in Philippines - 22 Jan 2022 (Josefiel Rivera/Sopa Images/Sipa USA via AP)

"World-renowned elephant experts, and [other] people from around the world all pleaded for her release to a sanctuary, where she could have enjoyed the company of other elephants," said PETA. "The Manila Zoo and the City of Manila sentenced Mali to decades of solitary confinement  torture for female elephants, who in nature spend their lives among their mothers and sisters, protecting one and other and raising each other's calves."

In 2013, the Beatles' Paul McCartney penned a letter to then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, calling on Mali's release to a sanctuary on health grounds following news on her ailing plight.

"I have great regard for governments that intervene in behalf of animals, just as yours did with the May 2012 directive ordering that Mali be evaluated and considered for transfer," McCartney said at the time. "With the stroke of a pen, you can bring an end to her suffering, and I urge you, with all my heart, to please direct that Mali be given that joy now."

According to researchers, the median life expectancy for a female Asian elephant is around 47 years old.

Animal welfare organization Four Paws tells ABC News that common behavior in captive elephants include pacing, rocking their bodies back and forth, repeatedly weaving or bobbing their head or swinging their trunks.

"Many suffer from injuries or diseases associated with captive conditions, such as foot infections and musculoskeletal disorders," the organization said. "For an elephant to spend their life alone is akin to a person living their life in isolated confinement."

"She might seem alone, but she had us beside her," Lacuna said. "She was the face that greeted everyone who visited Manila Zoo. She is a part of our lives."

Death of world's 'saddest' elephant shines light on zoo animal welfare originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
China ready to make coordinated efforts with Vietnam to advance next stage cooperation: Wang Yi

Xinhua) 09:26, December 02, 2023

Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong (R) meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali)

HANOI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to take coordinated steps in the next stage of cooperation with Vietnam in all fields to ensure steady progress in the building of a China-Vietnam community of a shared future, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while meeting with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong.

Wang said China-Vietnam relations continue to develop at a high level, which not only benefits the people of both countries but is also conducive to regional and world peace and development.

Wang recalled that the leaders of both countries had agreed to cement China-Vietnam friendship and advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle plan, charting the future course for deepening the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

At the 15th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation co-chaired with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, the two sides reviewed the progress in bilateral cooperation in all fields, defined work directions for the next stage, and reached a new consensus on strengthening cooperation and promoting the sound and steady development of China-Vietnamm relations in all fields, Wang said.

Noting that China and Vietnam enjoy a deep traditional friendship and this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Wang said that while the Vietnamese side regards consolidating relations with China as its strategic choice and top priority in its foreign policy, China also regards relations with Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy.

For his part, Thuong said both Vietnam and China are at a critical development stage, and enhancing bilateral cooperation will benefit each other's revitalization, pledging that his side is ready to work with China to continuously cement the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Thuong urged both sides to make thoughtful preparations for the important political agenda in the next stage and ensure full implementation of the consensus reached by the top leaders of both parties.

Noting that Chinese investment in Vietnam grew rapidly in the first 10 months of this year and bilateral trade maintained sound momentum, Thuong said he hoped both sides would further strengthen their cooperation in trade and investment, party-to-party exchanges, legislative institutions, local exchanges, youth, defense and security areas.

The two countries can also reinforce complementarity in seeking strategic synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle plan, and work more closely together in energy transition and critical infrastructure, Thuong said.

The Vietnamese side is ready for mutual support with China on international and regional affairs and is happy to see China achieve greater development and play a more important role in international affairs, Thuong said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
DUBAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Developing countries in Africa have urged developed nations to ensure equitable climate change financing for the implementation of adaptation and mitigation projects to address climate change.

"It is not enough, in our view, for developed countries to simply wring their hands and make empty promises," President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said Saturday during the ongoing COP28 climate talks.

They need to fulfill their commitments and obligations under the Paris Agreement, and ensure the rollout and implementation of tangible, concrete action to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change, the president added.

In the meantime, President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera urged developed countries to bear the cost of climate change.

"When it comes to determining who should pay for the climate bill, the answer is, bearing in mind the gap between developed countries, which are the primary polluters, and poor countries, it would be logical for the former to finance the mitigation process," said the president.

COP28, or the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held here in the United Arab Emirates.

On the day of its opening, the climate conference operationalized the Loss and Damage Fund to support the world's particularly vulnerable countries in their efforts to cope with the loss and damage caused by climate change.

The fund, established at COP27 in Egypt in 2022, has been a long-standing demand of developing nations to help cope with the cost of the devastation caused by ever-increasing extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and rising sea levels.

Calls on the developed nations to honor their commitments to provide climate funding have been made on various occasions during the climate talks. 
For the sixth time in history, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives was expelled. George Santos, a congressman elected to represent New York's Long Island in 2022, faced an investigation by the House Ethics Committee before ultimately being kicked out of Congress with a vote of 311-114.

How did NJ's congressional delegation vote?

The New Jersey delegation all voted in favor of the measure. After the vote, Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat, said in a statement that Santos is a con artist, a fraudster, and one of the biggest embarrassments ever elected to the United States Congress.

Santos had been accused of using campaign funds for his own personal benefit as well as federal crimes.

Implications for Menendez

Some were concerned that expelling Santos would set a precedent, especially considering how rare it is to happen. There have been calls for the last few months for New Jersey's senior senator, Sen. Bob Menendez, to face a similar fate.

Among the most vocal has been Pennsylvania's Sen. John Fetterman. He renewed his call for Menendez to face a similar fate on ABCs The View on Friday, saying that he has a colleague in the Senate that actually has done much more sinister and serious kinds of things.

If you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to stay in the Senate? Fetterman said.

Bribery case evolves: Sen. Menendez switches to a defense lawyer quite familiar with gold bars

Last month, the first-term senator introduced a new resolution that would implement safeguards against senators who are indicted for serious offenses like mishandling classified information, being charged as a foreign agent or compromising national security.

The resolution would strip any senator facing these charges from their committee assignments, prohibit them from accessing classified information or classified briefings and prohibit the ability to request earmarks or use official funds for international travel.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: George Santos: How did NJ vote? What it means for Bob Menendez
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  During the first 10 months of this year, there have been nearly 300 assaults involving inmates at the Downtown Jail and at the El Paso County Jail Annex, according to documents given to KTSM by the Sheriffs Office.

According to information sent by the El Paso County Sheriffs Office, there have been 283 assaults involving inmates through October of this year at both facilities combined.

Compared to the two previous years, these assaults are on the rise.

6 inmates facing charges in murder of fellow prisoner

In 2021, there were 152 assaults involving inmates at the two facilities and 295 in 2002, according to the Sheriffs Office. Both of those totals were for the entire year.

Monday, 57-year-old inmate Jesus Torres was murdered at the Jail Annex, and six other inmates are facing murder charges in his death.

This is the first death from an inmate assault during the three-year time frame that the Sheriffs Office provided statistics for, Sheriffs officials said.

Regarding staffing levels at the Annex, the EPCSO has always successfully met or exceeded State required staffing levels and certification, according to a statement sent to KTSM from the Sheriffs Office.

The Sheriffs Office says the protocol for when a violent incident is reported is to:

Respond immediately

Provide medical care

Send a deputy to write a report to determine if prosecution is possible

During the same time frame over the past three years, there was 23 assaults involving inmates and officers at the two facilities in 2021 and 36 in 2022. Through 10 months this year, there have been 23 assaults involving inmates and officers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Doctors Without Borders said the Israeli militarys attack on one of its convoys last month that left two dead was deliberate, according to an internal investigation.

The nonprofit, also called Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) internationally, said that internal investigations of the attack confirmed the organizations original suspicion that it was deliberate and the action was taken against clearly identified MSF vehicles.

On Nov. 18, a convoy of five vehicles was set to evacuate MSF staff from its main clinic in Gaza City towards southern Gaza, but the convoy was stopped at a military checkpoint and later fired upon while attempting to return to the clinic, the organization said.

Two people, an MSF volunteer and a staff family member, were killed in the attack. The organization is demanding the Israeli military investigate the incident.

MSF said the Israeli military also intentionally damaged and destroyed MSF vehicles in the days following the convoy attack. Twice, the group said Israeli bulldozers and tanks destroyed MSF vehicles on the street in front of the clinic, leaving the nonprofit without any way to evacuate staff.

When [the bulldozer] pushed aside the cars, the western wall of the clinic fell apart, an MSF staffer said. Then the tank came and opened fire towards the MSF cars and vans. The MSF vans caught fire.

Staff were able to evacuate Gaza City only after a weeklong cease-fire in the conflict began Nov. 24, when staff hitched rides with civilians in their vehicles, the organization said.

MSF has requested a formal explanation for this attack from Israeli authorities and calls for an independent investigation to establish the facts and who is responsible, the group said.

The Israeli military specifically targeted hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 24 cease-fire, alleging that Hamas militants used the medical facilities as bases.

Fighting resumed in Gaza Friday following the end of a temporary truce, which saw over 100 Hamas-held hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners released.

The conflict has raged for nearly two months, killing over 13,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, after leaving approximately 1,200 Israelis dead in Hamass initial attack on Oct. 7.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
While the first official presidential visit to Pueblo since JFK required "significant effort" across city government, it affected day-to-day operations fairly minimally, Mayor Nick Gradisar said.

"We haven't had a president here on official business since 1962, when John F. Kennedy came to sign the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Act. It's been a long time since we've had an official visit, although we've had them here when they were campaigning," Gradisar told the Chieftain.

"For four or five days before the visit, lots of staff time was spent by the city and the airport in terms of making preparations, and that's not even to say what happened at CS Wind where they had to make arrangements for the plant. But from the city's perspective it took some resources from lots of different departments," he said.

Local law enforcement officers from the Pueblo Police Department, Pueblo County Sheriff's Office and Colorado State Patrol trail President Joe Biden's motorcade as it departs from Pueblo Memorial Airport on Nov. 29, 2023.

More: President Biden visited a wind turbine factory in Pueblo, Colorado. Here's what he said

The visit required a large commitment from the Pueblo Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, Gradisar said.

"(President Biden) was here for three hours, but they probably worked for about eight. They had to get out early, block off intersections, block off the interstate when the motorcade arrived," he explained.

Roger Schneider, a spokesperson for Pueblo PD, said a total of 60 law enforcement officers from several different agencies including the Pueblo Police Department, Pueblo County Sheriff's Office, Colorado State Patrol Troop 2D, and others, were involved in traffic control for the visit.

Schneider said that the visit caused frustration for some residents who found that roads had been blocked without warning to provide security for the president's motorcade.

"We couldn't tell people (beforehand) where the roadblocks would be  obviously, Secret Service had security concerns," Schneider said.

U.S. Secret Service agents prepare for the arrival of President Joe Biden on Air Force One at Pueblo Memorial Airport on Nov. 29, 2023.

Largely, he said, the Secret Service was in charge of planning the president's protection and simply provided instructions telling law enforcement where they were needed.

Along with the traffic control officers, members of the Pueblo metro bomb squad and SWAT team were on location at the airport and CS Wind before and possibly after the president spoke, Schneider said.

Additionally, because Pueblo PD is significantly understaffed, some day shift officers that would normally be scheduled to go home after the visit were required to stay after to handle calls that still needed to be addressed.

"I'm not sure what time they started releasing people, maybe around 5 p.m. ... There was probably a lot of OT that day," he said. "For things like this, it takes a village."

For the Pueblo Fire Department, the visit wasn't too much of a strain, according to Fire Chief Barb Huber.

"It wasn't too much, especially compared to other exercises we've done in the past," Huber said. "We had personnel in place at different locations depending on where the president was going to be, and we also called in some of our mutual aid partners, like we do with exercises, to assist with staffing the numbers the presidential visit wanted for certain activities."

President Joe Biden's motorcade departs from Pueblo Memorial Airport on Nov. 29, 2023.

At the airport, firefighters were prepared for emergencies.

"We did have extra water supply there, and extra aircraft rescue firefighting apparatus out there that was brought down, and also we had (the Pueblo Rural Fire Department) to create extra staffing levels," Huber said.

HAZMAT-trained firefighters and HAZMAT gear from the Pueblo Rural Fire Department were also called on to be ready in case of a HAZMAT-related incident.

There were 15 or fewer firefighters from the Pueblo Fire Department involved in the visit, the chief said.

"We always try to maintain the same level of service within the city, so if the city were going haywire while (the visit) was also going on, we'd start to do callbacks and bring in additional personnel, but fortunately that day played out very well," she said.

"We do exercises every year with our community partners both in the city and the county. It is the president, but it's just activating those exercises and the procedures we've learned from that ... It wasn't a change for us, but it's nice to see how well the community works well together and is ready together."

More on President Biden's Pueblo visit: President Joe Biden makes first trip to Pueblo, Colorado, as president

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo officials talk logistical challenges of President Biden's visit
An annual Pentagon report on extremism within the ranks reveals that 78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism.

The report released Thursday by the Defense Department inspector general revealed that in fiscal 2023 there were 183 allegations of extremism across all the branches of military, broken down not only into efforts to overthrow the government and terrorism but also advocating for widespread discrimination or violence to achieve political goals.

The statistics indicate the military continues to grapple with extremism following its public denunciations and a stand-down across the services ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021. Furthermore, the numbers do not make it clear whether the military's approach is working. In 2021, the year the data was first released to Congress, there were 270 allegations of extremist activities. In 2022, that figure dropped to 146 before rebounding over the past year.

Read Next: Airman's Remains Recovered from Osprey Crash off Coast of Japan, 7 Others Listed as 'Whereabouts Unknown'

The Army had the most allegations in fiscal 2023 with 130 soldiers suspected of participation in extremist activity. The Air Force suspected 29 airmen; the Navy and Marine Corps reported 10 service members each. For the first time, the inspector general also reported numbers for the Space Force as a separate entity from the other services -- it suspected four Guardians of extremism.

The IG report also included instances of alleged criminal gang activity: There were 58 allegations of gang activity across the military.

However, the report did note that, out of all the suspected extremism and criminal gang activity, 68 of the total cases were investigated and cleared or deemed unsubstantiated.

In the U.S., extremist activity, including neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-government movements, has been growing, and numerous violent plots by veterans and even active-duty troops have been thwarted in recent years. Experts on extremist movements have warned about the growing potential of more violence and future attacks, similar to the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and was carried out by an Army veteran.

In February, a former National Guardsman, Brandon Russell, who founded the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, was charged with plotting to blow up Baltimore's electrical grid and cause as much suffering as possible. Russell, who allegedly kept a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after an arrest in Florida for possessing explosives.

In the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol building, the Pentagon tried to make a show of dealing with the problem of extremism among troops after it became clear that veterans as well as some active-duty troops were among the mob that stormed the halls of Congress in an effort to halt the certification of the 2020 election.

Military.com has reported that many of those efforts -- including the military-wide extremism training stand-down ordered by Austin -- were largely symbolic and were widely considered as just another box for commanders to check.

One active-duty noncommissioned officer said that, aside from the fact that no one was paying attention at the stand-down briefing he attended, the commander giving the lecture was "talking about what he thought were radical groups like Black Lives Matter."

The idea that far-left groups are just as problematic as far-right ones is a popular talking point among conservatives and Republican lawmakers. However, law enforcement officials and experts who study the topic have consistently noted that far-right groups espousing anti-government and white supremacist views are the biggest threat to the U.S. today.

The report also revealed that other efforts such as screening prospective recruits before enlistment are not working as well as intended.

Some recruiters did not complete all of the screening steps and "as a result, military service recruiters may not have identified all applications with extremist or criminal gang associations," according to the inspector general report.

"Further, the audit found that one military service entered data indicating applicants disclosed extremist or gang associations even though the applicants had not made such disclosures," the IG said, but it did not reveal which of the services falsely accused some of its recruits of having extremist ties.

What the report does make clear, however, is that when allegations are made, they are being referred for investigation, and when allegations are substantiated, some action is taken.

Of all the extremist and gang activity allegations, 135 were reported to military or civilian law enforcement, and 109 of the allegations were reported to another DoD organization or official.

Furthermore, 69 of all the allegations were substantiated at the time the report was written and the vast majority of those -- 50 -- were handled through administrative actions. That included involuntary discharge for 19 and counseling in three instances, while 17 more were handled by nonjudicial punishment and two went to court-martial.

There were no substantiated cases of extremism or gang activity where no action was taken.

While these figures, compared with the overall size of the services, are small, research and experts say that military service members and veterans pose an outsized danger to communities when they go down the path of extremism, given their increased familiarity with firearms and ability to organize and plan effectively.

In 2020, an Air Force sergeant at Travis Air Force Base in California pulled up to a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, in a white van and opened fire on security guards, killing one before going on the run and murdering a county sheriff's deputy a week later as part of a larger plan to incite a civil war.

Also in 2020, members of a group that included two Marines and styled itself as a "modern day SS" were arrested on allegations that they were plotting to destroy the power grid in the northwest. U.S. court records in that case say members discussed recruiting other veterans, stole military equipment, asked others to buy explosives, and discussed plans to manufacture firearms.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on X at @ktoropin.

Related: What the Pentagon Has, Hasn't and Could Do to Stop Veterans and Troops from Joining Extremist Groups
SHAWNEE, Kan.  The Shawnee, Kansas Police Department is investigating a hit-and-run crash Friday night that left a 9year-old child seriously injured.

The crash, involving a white truck and black Sedan, was reported just before 7 p.m. near Johnson Drive and Bell Road.

View the latest Weather Alerts in the Kansas City region on FOX4

Police said the driver of the white truck left the scene and the Shawnee Police K-9 Unit began a search and was successfully able to locate and apprehend the suspect.

The child victim was taken to the hospital and is reported to be in critical condition.

Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android

Detectives are interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence as the investigation into the cause of the crash continues.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
SAN DIEGO  Two drug cases netted six arrests after authorities seized large amounts of narcotics in the last three days, police said.

The first investigation started in October and ended Thursday when detectives seized 60,000 counterfeit* fentanyl pills, 5,000 ecstasy pills, nearly 9 pounds of cocaine and five pounds of methamphetamine, Lt. Adam Sharki with the San Diego Police Department. Two suspects, identified as Edith Gonzalez-Ramirez and Edwin Valles, were arrested and face narcotics trafficking charges, Sharki said.

The second investigation began after law enforcement received reports of illegal dispensaries operating near schools and homes, per SDPD. Delta-8 THC or Delta-10 THC are known as dangerous synthetics that have been reported to national Poison Control Centers of causing hospitalizations and deaths.

Person hit, killed near Coronado Holiday Parade route

Several law enforcement agencies served search warrants on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 at the following six locations through San Diego County, according to police:

Canably, located at 2971 India Street in the Middletown neighborhood, is suspected of selling and distributing cannabis and cannabis products within 1,000 feet of a school and homes. The owners of Canably also are suspected of operating another similar business from their own home in 6700 block of Bamburgh Drive, where investigators seized 300 pounds of loose cannabis, 5,400 edibles, 13,900 concentrates, and cash. Three young children lived in the household. Authorities arrested Jose Delahoz and Valeria Rada on suspicion of child endangerment drug-related offenses.

Authorities seized a loaded ghost gun, 331 loose cannabis pre-rolls and 426 concentrates were at Elevated Smoke Shop, located at 1570 Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. The business is suspected of operating within 1,000 feet of Pacific Beach Middle School. Investigators also searched the home of the owner of Elevate Smoke Shop in the 300 block of 14th Street in East Village, where more evidence, including an unregistered handgun, was found.

Five-hundred pounds of cannabis products were found at BestBudz smoke shop at 10010 Campo Road in Casa De Oro. Pedro Delahoz and Diego Delahoz were arrested on suspicion of drug offenses related to the investigation after Chula Vista police served a search warrant in the 700 block of Camino Francisco.





The State of California allows for the sale of cannabis and cannabis-derived products only in compliance with specific regulatory and licensing requirements, Sharki said. In addition, City of San Diego regulations require businesses that sell cannabis or cannabis-derived products to have a specific cannabis retailer license allowing such sales. The selling of cannabis to minors, selling illegal synthetics, and the possession of firearms are all criminal acts under state law.

Anyone with information about these cases is asked to call SDPD or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
President of Chery International Zhang Guibin addresses the rolling off ceremony of Chery's electric vehicle model Omoda E5 in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. The first electric vehicle (EV) of China's automotive company Chery has rolled off the production line in Indonesia, the company said on Saturday at its production base in Bekasi, a city east of the capital Jakarta. (Xinhua/Zulkarnain)

JAKARTA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The first electric vehicle (EV) of China's automotive company Chery has rolled off the production line in Indonesia, the company said on Saturday at its production base in Bekasi, a city east of the capital Jakarta.

President of Chery International Zhang Guibin is optimistic about the Indonesian market, as the carmaker has received positive appreciation from customers.

"The OMODA E5 EVs locally assembled in Indonesia will be launched soon. They carry the latest technology and our commitment to environmentally friendly innovations that are comfortable for consumers as well," Zhang said.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Affairs Airlangga Hartarto expressed his hope that Chery would make Indonesia a production base for exports, especially for consumers in Southeast Asian countries. 

China's automotive company Chery's electric vehicle model OMODA E5 is seen during the rolling off ceremony in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Dec. 2, 2023. The first electric vehicle (EV) of China's automotive company Chery has rolled off the production line in Indonesia, the company said on Saturday at its production base in Bekasi, a city east of the capital Jakarta. (Xinhua/Zulkarnain)
With 100 years under its belt, Duke University is celebrating the universitys largest donation ever. It was announced on Thursday that Duke Endowment, an independent philanthropic foundation, has awarded the university $100 million to fund various student programs. Duke President Vincent Price believes those donations will contribute to the universitys growth for 100 years.

This is a wonderful moment for Duke as we head into our centennial, a centennial that we share with the Duke Endowment, Price said. They have been an important philanthropic partner to Duke University throughout our history, and this marks just a wonderful moment for our future growth and development as we look forward to the next 100 years.

According to News and Observer, funding will support the universitys initiative to offer free tuition to North Carolina and South Carolina students whose families earn $150,000 or less annually. This semester, over 340 undergraduate students from the Carolinas are receiving support through that program, which covers additional housing, meals, and other expenses for family incomes of $65,000 or less. The university will continue to raise money for the program as its demand increases.

As part of the gift, Duke will support graduate and professional students who hold bachelors degrees from HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions  likely through direct financial assistance and outreach, Price said. The support will be given to graduates of HBCUs and MSIs in the Carolinas. In doing so, Price said, they hope to ensure that graduate and professional students have a diversity of talents.

We have a firm institutional commitment to creating access and opportunity for students, particularly students who havent had the resources of an institution like Duke University, Price said. So, making sure that we bring into Duke, a class that is socioeconomically diverse, racially and ethnically diverse, geographically diverse, that we have rural students alongside students who come from urban centers around the world  that rich diversity has tremendous educational benefit to every single student, faculty or staff member.

In addition, Duke plans to modernize the Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke Building on its West Campus to support collaborative and interdisciplinary learning.
LAMBERT, Miss.  When Evelyn Jossell took over as the superintendent of schools in Quitman County, she had no illusions about the challenges ahead.

Poverty has long had a stranglehold on this rural, predominantly Black community in the Mississippi Delta. It was the poorest county in the poorest state when Martin Luther King Jr. visited in 1968 and described seeing hundreds of Black boys and Black girls walking the streets with no shoes to wear.

Today, 57% of children in Quitman County live below the poverty line (the national average is 16%). And with the areas textile factories and cotton processing plants now shuttered, few jobs exist in a place that went years without a single grocery store.

Dr. Martin Luther King visits Quitman County, Miss., in 1968. (Dr. James Goldman / Quitman County )

As superintendent, Jossell quickly identified her most pressing problem. The majority of students couldnt read at grade level. So in 2016 she began sketching out what was then a pie-in-the-sky idea: a literacy program geared toward Quitman Countys youngest children.

I wanted something to meet them when they were really young because I felt thats where the gap was, Jossell said.

Seven years later, her vision has become a reality.

Jossells Early Learning Academy opened its doors in April in the 1,200-person town of Lambert. The program focuses on building early reading skills in its 3- and 4-year-olds as well as providing their parents with the tools to help the children succeed. The goal is to have the kids ready for kindergarten and launched on a path toward reading.

Were trying to show that when you intervene early enough, youre equipping young people to become better readers and ultimately better leaders, said Jossell, a former social worker who was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta.

Dr. Evelyn Jossell, superintendent of schools in Quitman County. (NBC News)

The state has made major strides in improving child literacy. In 2013, Mississippi fourth graders ranked 49th in the nation for reading proficiency. By 2022, the state had risen to 21st and other states were seeking to duplicate what some had called the Mississippi miracle.

Experts say there are many factors in the states improved performance. Mississippi abandoned the sight method  learning words by reference to pictures and context  and moved to the teaching of phonics. The state also placed a greater emphasis on hiring better principals who were able to recruit better teachers.

Still, only 29% of students from the Quitman County School District are proficient in reading, according to 2022-2023 data from the Mississippi Department of Education, and that's where Jossells academy comes in.

Angela Sykes Rutherford, a professor at the University of Mississippi and the director of its Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction, said a program like Jossells benefits both the students and their parents, who might otherwise not have the freedom to work.

We know how critically important it is for kiddos to be engaged in learning opportunities, especially language, from birth until they enter school, Rutherford said.

For centers like the one in Quitman County, it provides quality early care and education, she added, and it provides opportunities for families to participate in the workforce.

Even before the Early Learning Academy opened its doors there has been a marked improvement in childhood literacy in Mississippi. (NBC News)

The school is funded not by the government but by Save the Children, a global nonprofit founded in 1919.

Yolanda Minor, Save the Childrens Mississippi state director, said she reviewed Jossells plan for the program in 2016 and had been trying to secure funding ever since.

Its amazing to actually see a dream come true, Minor said. I wanted something where not only were we reaching children, we were reaching parents as well.

Multiple studies have shown that the more parents are involved in their childs studies, the more likely the students are to be successful in school. The challenges are stark in Quitman County, where an estimated 48% of adults struggle to read at a basic level, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

As part of the Early Learning Academy program, teachers visit students homes and provide educational activities for the parents to do with their children. Minor said its a crucial part of the program as many parents wake up in survival mode.

I have never met a parent that didnt want to give their child the best possible start in life, Minor said. But many just dont know how. Does that make them a bad parent? No. It means they lack the resources and they need more help to ensure that theyre able to support their childrens education.

Jossell's Early Learning Academy opened its doors in April in the 1,200-person town of Lambert. (NBC News)

Because of her years as superintendent of schools, Jossell was able to attract highly qualified and experienced administrators and teachers to the Early Learning Academy. The teachers are given a small number of students and work with a curriculum that has proved to be effective in getting young children ready to read.

For Jossell, the school is a family affair. Its located inside a building owned by her husbands church, which is next door.

Rev. Michael Jossell, one of 10 children who grew up working the cotton fields to help his parents make ends meet, said his father couldnt read, but his mother, who left school in eighth grade, impressed upon them the importance of education.

Education was the key for getting us out of that environment, Michael Jossell said. The couple has five grown children.

Kiera Jamison has two boys at the school  Grayson, 4, and Remi, 3. Jamison said Remi wasnt talking before she enrolled him in April and now he can say the alphabet and count to 20.

He has just taken off ever since we enrolled him here, Jamison said.

Another parent, Shaquayla Kidd, who enrolled her daughter Royalty in the program in August, described it as a blessing.

I dont have to worry about her being behind, Kidd said.

There is another major benefit. With Royalty in school, Kidd has been able to provide for her family without having to scrounge together the money for child care.

It gives me leeway to be able to work, said Kidd, who works at a gas station in the town of Marks.

Actor Jennifer Garner, a longtime Save the Children board member and ambassador, visited the school in October for a first look at the program. She arrived just in time to join in as a group of children played a passionate game of musical chairs in the gymnasium.

We have people who are despairing, who see no hope for the future, and that splashes backwards onto their kids, said Garner, who grew up in rural West Virginia. They feel invisible.

Jennifer Garner, a Save the Children board member and ambassador, visited the school for a first look at the program and read to the children. (NBC News)

Later, Garner watched as a veteran teacher, Cheryl Howard, led the students in an exercise designed to improve their fine motor skills: painting a picture of a butterfly.

Garner noted that there were striking differences in the butterfly paintings between the students who had just arrived at the school and those who had been there since April. The paintings done by the children whod been at the school for six months were far more detailed and precise, showing the control they had gained over their fine motor skills.

If you have not developed those skills and you get to kindergarten and youre asked to write your name, it might be really frustrating for you, Garner said. Over time, that could lead some children to give up on school, she added.

I wish it could be replicated across America, Garner said of the program.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Olympic swimmer Klete Keller avoided prison for his role in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

The gold medal winner stormed the Capitol and shouted profanities about Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Prosecutors asked for a prison term, but he was sentenced to probation and home detention instead.

Klete Keller, an Olympic swimmer and gold medallist, was spared jail during his sentencing for his involvement in the 2021 Capitol attack.

Keller, 41, was among the Donald Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He was sentenced to three years of probation and six months of home detention after pleading guilty to one charge of obstructing an official proceeding before Congress, per the BBC.

He was also ordered to perform 360 hours of community service.

The insurrection took place as lawmakers met to ratify Joe Biden's election victory.

Court sketch of Keller virtual hearing at DC court. REUTERS

The former athlete pleaded guilty to the felony charge in 2021.

Keller, who retired from swimming in 2008, won five Olympic medals. These include gold medals from the 2004 and 2008 Games.

Video footage taken during the attack shows Keller inside the Capitol shouting obscenities about Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 10 months in federal prison for Keller, calling his actions "unconscionable," per NBC News, but the Olympian was ultimately spared jail time.

"Klete Derik Keller once wore the American flag as an Olympian," prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing memo. "On January 6, 2021, he threw that flag in a trash can."

"I understand my actions were criminal and that I am fully responsible for my conduct," he told US District Judge Richard Leon.

In a letter to the judge, Keller said: "I stand before you feeling ashamed and profoundly embarrassed." He continued he understood that he had "set a terrible example for young people who looked up to me." The swimmer added that January 6 was a "terrible day," per ABC News.

The Capitol attack has led to approximately 1,200 people being charged over their involvement. About 900 have pleaded guilty or been convicted, per the BBC.

Sentences have ranged from home detention and probation to 22 years in prison.

Read the original article on Business Insider
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  Emergency crews responded to a reported house fire near Northeast 8th Street and North Bath Avenue on Friday afternoon.

House fire near Northeast 8th Street and North Bath Avenue. Image courtesy KFOR.

Firefighters battled heavy flames at the scene, and were able to extinguish the blaze just before 4 p.m.

No other details regarding possible injuries or the cause of the fire are available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
After four long days of testimony and public comment the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) decided recently to move forward with Gov. Lujan Grishams plan to follow Californias clean vehicle standard. In practice that means New Mexicos car dealers will have to increase sales of EV's in New Mexico from the current 3 percent of all new vehicles to 43 percent by summer of 2026 and 82 percent by summer of 2031.

That may seem like a long time away, but the summer of 2026 is less than 3 years from now. New Mexicos car dealers are the ones with the most to lose under this policy, but the new rules will negatively impact all New Mexicans. Car dealers rightly fear that New Mexicans will travel to neighboring states to purchase their cars. There is nothing to stop them. In fact, online super-seller Amazon just announced that it would begin selling vehicles online.

Amazons presence in the auto market alone is a problem for car dealers but if Amazon (and out-of-state dealers) can sell whatever consumers want and New Mexico dealers cant, that is a big problem. Many car dealers are small businesses. New car dealers average 56 employees per dealership and employ a total of 6,314 New Mexicans statewide. Car dealers also pay numerous taxes (like property, payroll, and income) that Amazon and Texas dealers wont pay when they sell cars to New Mexicans.

Paul Gessing

The EIBs process is hugely problematic. New Mexicos Democrats talk endlessly about defending democracy but when push comes to shove, elected bodies like the Legislature refuse to guard their own power. Every Democrat in the Legislature needs to go on the record in support or opposition to the Gov.s mandate when seeing reelection in 2024. Notably, every single Republican in the Legislature signed letters in opposition to the proposal.

Sadly, despite overwhelming numbers of New Mexicans expressing their opposition (including 3,517 individual opponents through our KeepYourCarsNM.com website), the SEVEN-member Board voted on a mere 3-2 basis to adopt the mandate. The Gov. couldnt even get an outright majority of her own appointed board to support her policies.

So, who supported it? Major environmental groups led the charge of course. But, in attending the hearings a common refrain from supporters (many of them wealthy, Anglo, EV owners from Albuquerque and Santa Fe) were that EVs work great for them.

That attitude ignores the dire lack of charging infrastructure throughout rural New Mexico, an issue that is even more acute in Navajo Country. Apartment dwellers and those who do not own single family homes, while often living a green lifestyle will inevitably struggle to charge their mandated vehicles.

Factually speaking, this mandate cannot and will not work. New Mexicans will simply not have enough EVs available to comply with this mandate with vastly more populous California having already embraced similar rules. Car dealers will go out of business and either Lujan Grisham or some future Gov. will either delay or modify this unworkable mandate.

The question is how many jobs will be killed in New Mexico? How many people and businesses will leave our state or choose not to come here due to the adoption of another ill-conceived public policy? We dont know, but what we do know is that despite having the benefit of a large federal infrastructure (and the jobs and tax dollars it brings) and being the 2nd-leading oil producing state in the entire country, New Mexico remains poor and is losing its young people.

In the name of environmental sustainability our Gov. has made New Mexicos future less sustainable.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexicos Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: The Environmental Improvement Board rule is unsustainable
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG)  The Escambia County Sheriffs Office is searching for a missing newborn.

Midtown Mobile car crash: 1 dead from gunshot wound, 1 injured (UPDATED)

According to a Facebook post made by ECSO, NyAniyah Robinson Smith, who was born Nov. 9, may be with her mother, Tiffany Leigh Smith, or her father, David Cordele Robinson. Officials said they may be in Florida, Alabama or Georgia.

David Cordele Robinson (ECSO)

Tiffany Leigh Smith (ECSO)

If the child is with her parents, what is the problem? you might wonder.

News 5 contacted the sheriffs office for more information; officials told us they received a court order from a judge to retrieve the newborn from her parents. They do not have more details to provide on the incident.

Navarre family invites homeless man in, girl molested: Arrest report

Anyone with information on this case can contact the Escambia County Sheriffs Office at 850-436-9620.

ALSO ON WKRG.com: Moss Point man arrested for voyeurism in Mobile County to face Grand Jury

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday condemned the hijacking of an Israeli-linked vessel in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi militia.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the highjacking of the Galaxy Leader with 25 crew members on board in the Red Sea in mid-November.

"They recalled, in this context, the ongoing threats and previous attacks against oil terminals under the control of the government of Yemen. They demanded that all such attacks and action cease immediately," said the statement.

The council members called for the immediate release of the vessel and its crew. They underlined the importance of the navigational rights and freedoms of all vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, in accordance with international law, the statement said.

They recalled the importance of enhancing international and regional cooperation to counter threats to peace and security in the region, it said. 
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has confirmed that her government is exploring the possibility of deporting individuals in the country who choose to obtain Russian citizenship, Estonian publication Postimees reported on Dec. 1.

The revelation comes amid growing concerns about potential security threats and ties to Russias aggressive actions in the region.

Estonian Minister of Internal Affairs Lauri Laanemets had already signaled in early November the governments intention to expel those expressing interest in acquiring Russian citizenship.

Read also: Russia likely using 'artificial' migration crisis as tool to destabilize West amid power struggle, says Finnis

Responding to a letter from Estonian MP Alexander Chaplygin, who questioned the legal basis for such actions, Kallas underscored that Russia, in attacking Ukraine, had breached all principles of international law.

The Parliament of Estonia and the Council of Europe have acknowledged Russia as a state supporting terrorism.

For example, the Russian Federation conducted attacks on Baltic countries during military exercises, consistently expressed hostile and false narratives about Western countries through official channels, and recently resumed organizing the illegal entry of migrants into the European Union, said Kallas.

Read also: Sweden backs Finland in securing EUs external border to combat illegal migration from Russia

This is a threat to the security of the Republic of Estonia and a clear signal that the Estonian state cannot ignore, she said.

Kallas said that each case would be meticulously reviewed by the Police and Border Guard Board to assess the perceived danger posed by the individual.

She also raised the possibility of investigating whether obtaining Russian citizenship could be considered support for terrorism and an activity direceted against Estonia and its allies.

Read also: Estonia to allow confiscation of frozen Russian assets, Kyiv says

In a situation where obtaining Russian citizenship is a clear signal of support for terrorism and actions against Estonia and our allies, it is undoubtedly necessary to consider the suitability of such an individual to live in a democratic country that upholds human rights, Kallas added.

Confirming the governments official position, Kallas reiterated Laanemets stance on seeking deportation methods for those pursuing Russian citizenship.

The closure of Estonias border with Russia is not ruled out, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna on Nov. 29.

Finland announced the closure of four border crossings along the eastern border with Russia earlier, on Nov. 6. The restrictions will be in place until Feb. 18, 2024, but may be extended if necessary.

Norway's Minister of Justice, Emilie Enger Mehl, expressed support for Finland's decision, and the next day, Estonia made a similar announcement. Several Finnish border crossings were closed on Nov. 22, leaving only one open.

On Nov. 28, Finland announced the closure of the last crossing on the border with Russia from Nov. 30 to Dec. 13, 2023.

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
Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, has backed discussions about the possibility of deporting people who obtain Russian citizenship.

Source: European Pravda, citing Postimees

Details: Public debate in Estonia about the possibility of deporting people who obtain Russian citizenship began in early November, when Minister of Internal Affairs Lauri Laanemets said that he was seeking legal mechanisms to do this.

This applies to citizens of the former USSR who were living in Estonia when the Soviet Union collapsed and never obtained any other citizenship.

Aleksandr Tsaplogin, a centrist MP, then questioned the legality of such ideas and asked whether the interior ministers position was the position of the government in general.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas confirmed that Laanemets' statement aligns with the official position of the Estonian government.

Kallas reminded MPs that modern Russia has violated all possible principles of international law and has been designated a state supporter of terrorism by Estonia and the Council of Europe, and in these circumstances, Tallinn cannot ignore the risks for itself.

She noted that Russia has regularly rehearsed combat operations against the Baltic states during military exercises, has continued to turn its population against Western countries, and has begun to orchestrate an artificial migration crisis on the eastern borders of the EU.

In the prime ministers opinion, if someone who has lived in Estonia for a long time with free access to information now accepts Russian citizenship, that is a signal that cannot be ignored.

Quote: "If a person who has lived in Estonia decides to obtain Russian citizenship now, when Russia is waging a war against the Ukrainian state and people, this is evidence that if necessary, this person is prepared to join the ranks of the Russian army and fight against Ukraine as part of the mobilisation. That is a threat to the security of Estonia," Kallas said.

In her opinion, a decision to obtain Russian citizenship should be investigated as a statement of support for Russias terrorist activities and its actions directed against Estonia and other Western countries.

Kallas noted that under Estonian law, a foreign citizens long-term residence permit can be revoked if this person threatens national security.

Background:

Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has warned Estonians against signing "declarations of loyalty" to Russia, which Moscow now requires for entry, because doing so could have serious consequences for such a person in Estonia.

In addition, Estonia has once again warned its citizens against "any travel" to Russia because of the risk of temporary border closures.

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The estranged husband of a woman whose body was found in a storage unit in Orange County, Florida, has been charged with her murder, authorities said.

Shakeira Yvonne Rucker, a 37-year-old mother of four, was reported missing after her family told the Winter Springs Police Department they last saw her on November 11, CNN previously reported.

Ruckers family reported she left her home for an unknown destination, possibly with her estranged husband, Cory Hill, police said at the time.

Florida law enforcement officials last month said her disappearance was being investigated as a homicide after her body was found in a storage unit registered to Hill.

The Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit has formally filed charges against Cory Hill for the murder of Shakeira Rucker, prosecutors said in a statement Friday. Hill remains in jail under a no bond status stemming from his November arrest of Attempted Second Degree Murder and other charges against his ex-girlfriend and her family.

Cory Hill - Orange County Jail

Hill, 51, was booked in the Orange County Jail on November 13 for an unrelated shooting, CNN previously reported. He was charged with four counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a former girlfriend and her family on November 12, according to Orange County Sheriff John Mina.

Hill now faces an additional charge of Second Degree Murder (With a Firearm) for the death of Ms. Rucker, prosecutors said Friday. Ms. Ruckers body was found in a self-storage facility at 2400 Wiggins Road in Apopka after someone complained about a smell coming from inside a unit registered to Cory Hill.

When deputies opened the unit, they found a woman later identified as Rucker dead from apparent gunshot wounds, Mina said.

Ruckers family has set up a GoFundMe page for her four children, ages 7 through 18.

Prosecutors said they will seek a first-degree murder indictment in Ruckers homicide.

Due to procedural rules, the State is limited to filing a Second-Degree Murder charge by Information prior to presenting the case to the Orange County Grand Jury, the statement said.

CNN has reached out to the public defender listed as legal representation for Hill for comment.

CNNs Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
FILE PHOTO: Women walk in Dubluk camp for the people internally displaced by drought in Dubluk town, Oromiya region

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The government of Ethiopia's largest region, Oromiya, on Saturday accused the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group of killing "many civilians" in attacks that followed the failure of peace talks in Tanzania.

At least 36 people were killed when unidentified attackers struck three villages in Oromiya's Shirka district on Nov. 24 and 27, residents told Reuters.

Hailu Adugna, the Oromiya region's spokesman, blamed the attacks on the OLA, an outlawed splinter group of a formerly proscribed opposition party that returned from exile in 2018.

"The terror group is committing brutal acts on civilians because it is now very anxious," Hailu told the state news agency, adding that properties were also destroyed in the attacks.

There was no immediate comment from the OLA. Federal government spokesman Legesse Tulu did not respond to a request for comment.

The federal government and its Oromiya regional counterparts have mobilised security teams to push out the rebels from areas they control, Hailu said.

The latest attacks came just days after a second round of talks between the government and the OLA to resolve the decades-old conflict ended in Tanzania without a deal.

Seventeen people were killed on Nov. 24 when attackers raided one village and 11 were killed on the same day in another village, residents of the area told Reuters.

One farmer lost seven members of his family, including his wife and son. Two of his other children suffered injuries and were being treated in hospital, the farmer said.

"They targeted Orthodox Christians," he said.

Another eight people, including babies, were killed in an attack on a third village in the area, the residents, who included a church leader, said.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Ask any American with young children what their No. 1 household expense is, and youll hear the same answer almost every time: child care. Each family finds its own way to manage. Some parents are pushed out of the workforce. Others work jobs they wouldnt take otherwise, or hold down multiple jobs to meet their families needs.

To show you how real families are navigating this child care challenge, HuffPost is profiling parents around the country. If youd like to be featured in an installment, email us at parents@huffpost.com.

Deanna Conley with her husband and children.

Deanna Conley with her husband and children.

Name: Deanna Conley

Location: Newport, Rhode Island

Age: 45

Childrens ages: 9 and 6 years old

Child care plan: Both children attend public school. The familys child care costs this year consisted of preschool tuition for the younger child before he started kindergarten and a couple of weeks of half-day summer camp.

Child care costs: When she was just starting out with her business, Conley said she probably spent more money on child care than she was making. Now, Id estimate probably half of my salary goes to child care, she said.

Work arrangement: Ive been an educator since 2000. Right now I run my own business as a special ed advocate.

I used to work full time as a teacher. And then when I went back to school for my doctorate, I switched to [65% full time] so I could do full-time school plus teaching a little more than part time. Our oldest was born around that time. Once I finished school, I went back full time as a special ed coordinator.

The family was able to access subsidized child care through the U.S. Navy, her husbands employer, although they had to rely on Conleys mother to pitch in and fill the gap between the time her maternity leave ended and when they got off the day care waitlist. Then, her husband was offered the opportunity to transfer to the Newport office, which the family had been hoping for, so they picked up and moved from Virginia when Conley was eight months pregnant.

I landed here in the middle of the school year. So for that first year we were here, I called myself an accidental stay-at-home mom. It wasnt what I planned. It was wonderful time with my youngest. We did end up enrolling my older son in preschool because we were getting close to kindergarten and we wanted to make sure that he had some foundational skills. Thats when I was trying to start my business, because I had a rare opportunity to not be employed by a school system, to kind of create my own path. Those were tricky years because preschool hours were 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. But because I was starting out, I had just a few clients. I would try to make my hours within his hours.

Now my business has grown and its a full-time-job-plus, which is wonderful. Because I run it myself I can again set my hours. She found a child care center run by the Haven Collection that offered flexible hours and workspace for parents. For someone like me who ran my own business, I didnt have to commute. I could work at the same place at the same time. So that was a big help, until he graduated. I cried.

Conleys work and child care arrangements lost their stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. I worked from home and my husband did too, and we kept them both home for like a year and a half  its kind of a blur.

Eventually, their older son enrolled in public school and they found a full-day pre-K program for their youngest. Her older son got on the bus at 8:05 a.m. and was dropped off at 3:15 p.m., so Conley was able to work every day until 2:30, when she needed to start the pickups.

The good part about [my business] is that it kind of matches school hours. There are some days I have to call my husband to do pickup so that I can keep working. The bad part is, my workday doesnt end at 2:30 p.m. So Im essentially trying to do a full-time job from ... 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day, which means sometimes I work after they go to bed to try to make up those hours. The blessing is I can create my own hours. The con is school hours dont match real-life work.

The parents she works with as an advocate, for example, often call her around 3 p.m., after they are getting home with their own children from school. Conley said she has considered hiring a nanny to cover these after-school hours. I would almost rather work after they go to bed and finagle it, but weve definitely had that conversation: quality of life, sanity.

What would help her family: Everyone talks about this village, but there really isnt a village and I get really mad when I hear the term, like your village. We have wonderful friends. We have wonderful family. But the reality is, our parents dont live in the same state as us  no fault of their own, its just how it is. Everyone around us is also doing the same hustle, trying to work and care for kids.

When things are going well, and we have the predictability of 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Im like, OK, I can do this. But its the unexpected parts of life that no one has any support systems in place for: when your kids get sick, when the whole family is sick. Whenever theres sort of a bump in the road we have to get really creative. The pandemic helped in some ways in that regard, because we did it all on our own. We worked from home, we took care of the kids ... we got almost skilled in this emergency child care response. Now, last year, my sons private school calendar was totally not aligned with the public school calendar. And it was terrible. Every month I would do our calendar and just be like, OK, how are we going to juggle this month?

I think our biggest obstacle is the unexpected, and there not being a safety net, ever. Theres no person to call, but life still goes on. The people I work with, rightfully, need help with their kids. Its not their issue that I have kids home sick or kids on vacation. You feel like youre constantly on a tightrope and you dont know when youre gonna fall off.

When youre planning to have children, youre aware of the need to create a college fund, like everybody talks about. You need to plan for college when youre having kids, but you have 18 years to generate that fund. No one ever warns you about the cost of early child care. And if youre lucky, you have three months to plan for that, maybe nine months if youre really on top of it. Nobody talks about it, but your hands are tied. Youre gonna quit your job, or youre gonna have to pay.

Developmentally speaking, this is the most critical and vulnerable time frame for kids development: 0 to 3. As a society, were wildly failing. Parents shouldnt be just trying to find the cheapest option and putting Band-Aids on child care. That should be when were coming together as a society and we are creating the richest, fullest experience  because that is setting the stage for the kids entire future. I feel like we need to equally value, or even, Id say more value, those early years than we do college. As a society, were just missing the mark.

Related...
A federal judge on Friday sentenced a retired Chicago firefighter to two months in prison, more than two years on house arrest and probation for his role in the attempted Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors had asked for more than a year behind bars for Joseph Pavlik, 66, a 2013 Chicago Fire Department retiree who became the latest Illinois resident to be charged in connection with 2021 melee. He pleaded guilty to felony charges of civil disorder and entering or remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon in late August.

Judge Trevor McFadden, of the D.C district court, sentenced Pavlik to the shorter prison term with six months of home confinement and 24 months of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. attorneys office. Pavlik will also have to pay a $6,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford confirmed in February that Pavlik joined the department in 1981 and worked as a firefighter until his retirement.

Prosecutors said Pavlik was a member of the Guardians of Freedom, an organization founded by his nephew and loosely affiliated with another right-wing militia group, the Three Percenters. They also cited numerous social media statements Pavlik made in the weeks preceding the riot calling for violence in response to Donald Trumps election loss.

These arent Americans they are indoctrinated socialists that hate America and hate Americans, he allegedly posted on Facebook in December 2020. We need to be much more brutal than punching and kicking. This is not some simple street disagreement.

At the Capitol on Jan. 6, Pavlik and five others tried to breach a line of law enforcement defending the buildings west terrace tunnel, where some members of Congress were sheltering in place, according to prosecutors.

He later appeared in surveillance images and police body-worn camera footage wearing a gas mask and vest with patches depicting anti-government phrases.

Pavliks companions, who are all from Florida, were arrested during the past year on charges stemming from the same tunnel altercation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Pavlik is among some 42 Illinoisans to be federally charged as part of the ongoing investigation into the Capitol attack, which prosecutors have described as one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history.

Nationwide, more than 1,200 people have been arrested in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on charges stemming from the Capitol breach, according to the Justice Department.

____
A former Memphis Police officer who has been charged in Tyre Nichols death had a previous record of policy violations and accusations of excessive force as a correctional officer, according to personnel records.

Demetrius Haley was previously a correctional officer at a prison run by the Shelby County Division of Corrections from 2015 to 2020. In his work as a corrections officer, an inmate named Cordarius Sledge accused Haley of using chemical spray on him, constituting excessive force, in 2015. However, an investigation didnt find any violations of use of force policies of the department, and found allegations unsubstantiated.

Records show Sledge was treated for a fractured right temporal bone and perforated eardrum, according to The Associated Press. Thirty-four inmates signed a letter to the corrections director, asking about a response to the reported abuse, in the wake of the incident.

Sledge later filed another lawsuit against Haley and two other correctional officers, in which Sledge alleged Haley and another officer punched him. A federal court later dismissed the lawsuit.

Haley was found in violation of department professionalism, ethics and conduct policy in 2015. Haley gave confidential information to an inmate that he should not have, according to records, per The AP. He also didnt report when an inmate informed him that he planned to smuggle in contraband.

In another incident, an inmate accused the then-correctional officer of the use of unnecessary force in the midst of a contraband search. Documents showed that Haley took the inmate to the ground, restraining him, after the inmate put contraband in his own mouth, according to The AP. Investigators found use of force justified, despite the inmates resulting head injury.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
BAGHDAD, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iraq rejected any attack by U.S. forces on its territory, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said on Saturday during a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Al-Sudani emphasized that the U.S. airstrikes on positions of armed groups linked to the Iraqi Hashd Shaabi paramilitary forces in the Jurf al-Nasr area in the central province of Babil constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, according to a statement issued by al-Sudani's media office.

"At the same time, al-Sudani reiterated the Iraqi government's commitment to protect international coalition advisors working in Iraq," the statement said.

Blinken called on the Iraqi government to protect installations hosting American personnel and to pursue those responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq, according to the State Department of the U.S..

Al-Sudani and Blinken also discussed developments in the Palestinian territories and agreed to stabilize the truce, stop attacks, and ensure that the Israel-Hamas conflict does not expand in a way that poses a real threat to security and stability in the region, the Iraqi statement added.

On Nov. 22, U.S. aircraft attacked positions of the Hashd Shaabi forces in the Jurf al-Nasr area, south of Baghdad, leaving eight of its fighters killed and wounding four others.

The U.S. airstrikes came after the armed group "Islamic Resistance in Iraq," an umbrella body for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, claimed responsibility for carrying out a series of rocket and drone attacks on military bases housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.

The attacks by the armed group are believed to be part of retaliatory measures amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Immediately after the airstrikes, al-Sudani condemned in a statement the U.S. airstrikes and described them as a clear violation of the coalition's mission, which is to fight the Islamic State militants on Iraqi soil. 
FILE PHOTO: Military vehicles manoeuvre next to a fence, as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza

FILE PHOTO: Military vehicles manoeuvre next to a fence, as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza

By Samia Nakhoul, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Jonathan Saul

DUBAI/CAIRO/LONDON (Reuters) -Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the enclave after war ends, Egyptian and regional sources said.

According to three regional sources, Israel related its plans to its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020.

They also said that Saudi Arabia, which does not have ties with Israel and which halted a U.S.-mediated normalisation process after the Gaza war flared on Oct. 7, had been informed. The sources did not say how the information reached Riyadh, which officially does not have direct communication channels with Israel. Non-Arab Turkey was also told, the sources said.

The initiative does not indicate an imminent end to Israel's offensive - which resumed on Friday after a seven-day truce - but it shows Israel is reaching out beyond established Arab mediators, such as Egypt or Qatar, as it seeks to shape a post-war Gaza.

No Arab states have shown any willingness to police or administer Gaza in future and most have roundly condemned Israel's offensive that has killed more than 15,000 people and levelled swathes of Gaza's urban areas. Hamas killed 1,200 people in its Oct. 7 raid and took more than 200 hostages.

"Israel wants this buffer zone between Gaza and Israel from the north to the south to prevent any Hamas or other militants from infiltrating or attacking Israel," said a senior regional security official, one of the three regional sources who asked not to be identified by nationality.

The Egyptian, Saudi, Qatari and Turkish governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Jordanian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

A UAE official did not respond directly when asked if Abu Dhabi had been told about the buffer zone, but said: "The UAE will support any future post-war arrangements agreed upon by all the concerned parties" to achieve stability and a Palestinian state.

Asked about plans for a buffer zone, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters: "The plan is more detailed than that. It's based on a three-tier process for the day after Hamas."

Outlining the Israeli government's position, he said the three tiers involved destroying Hamas, demilitarising Gaza and de-radicalising the enclave.

"A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarisation process," he said. He declined to offer details when asked whether those plans had been raised with international partners, including

Arab states.

Arab states have dismissed as impossible Israel's goal of wiping out Hamas, saying it was more than simply a militant force that could be defeated.

SQUEEZING PALESTINIANS

Israel has suggested in the past it was considering a buffer zone inside Gaza, but the sources said it was now presenting them to Arab states as part of its future security plans for Gaza. Israeli troops withdrew from the enclave in 2005.

A U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said Israel had "floated" the buffer zone idea without saying to whom. But the official also repeated Washington's opposition to any plan that reduced the size of Palestinian territory.

Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states have voiced fears that Israel wants to squeeze Palestinians out of Gaza, repeating the dispossession of land Palestinians suffered when Israel was created in 1948. The Israeli government denies any such aim.

A senior Israeli security source said the buffer zone idea was "being examined", adding: "It is not clear at the moment how deep this will be and whether it could be 1 km or 2 km or hundreds of metres (inside Gaza)."

Any encroachment into Gaza, which is about 40 km (25 miles) long and between about 5 km (3 miles) and 12 km (7.5 miles) wide, would cram its 2.3 million people into an even smaller area.

In Washington, an Israeli official said the Israeli defense establishment was talking about "some kind of security buffer on the Gaza side of the border so that Hamas cannot gather military capabilities close to the border and surprise Israel again."

"It is a security measure, not a political one," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We do not intend to remain on the Gaza side of the border."

Till now, Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace deal with Israel, and Qatar, which does not have formal ties but keeps communication channels open, have been at the centre of mediation talks with Israel that have focused on exchanging hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

SHIFTING FOCUS

Two Egyptian security sources said Israel had raised the idea in mediation talks with Egypt and Qatar of disarming northern Gaza and setting up a buffer zone in north Gaza with international supervision.

The sources said several Arab states opposed this. While Arab states might not oppose a security barrier between the two sides, there was disagreement over where it was located, they added.

The Egyptian sources said Israel had said in a meeting in Cairo in November that the Hamas leaders should be tried internationally in return for a full ceasefire. Mediators said the issue should be postponed until after the war to avoid derailing talks about hostage releases, the sources said.

A source in the Israeli prime minister's office declined to address the reports, adding: "Netanyahu's War Cabinet has defined the war missions: destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages back home, and we will continue until we complete our missions."

One of the Egyptian sources said Israel, in its discussions with Egypt and Qatar, had shifted from a focus on retaliation earlier in the crisis towards showing a greater willingness to "rethink its demands as mediation continued."

The regional sources compared the Gaza buffer zone plan to the "security zone" Israel once had in south Lebanon. Israel evacuated that zone, which was about 15 km (10 miles) deep, in 2000 after years of fighting and attacks by Lebanon's Hezbollah.

They also said Israel's plan for post-war Gaza included deporting leaders of Hamas, an action that would also mirror the Israeli campaign in Lebanon in the 1980s when it drove out the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had launched attacks from Lebanon into Israel.

"Israel is ready to pay a costly price to expel and evict Hamas completely from Gaza to other countries in the region similar to what it did in Lebanon, but it's not the same. Getting rid of Hamas is difficult and not certain," said another of the regional officials familiar with the discussions.

A senior Israeli official said Israel did not consider Hamas to be like the PLO nor believe that it would act like the PLO.

Mohammad Dahlan, Gaza's former security chief from the Palestinian Fatah faction which was ejected from the enclave when Hamas took control in 2007, said Israel's buffer zone plan was unrealistic and would not protect Israeli forces.

"The buffer zone could make (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's forces a target also in the zone," he said.

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Dubai, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo and Jonathan Saul in London; Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Aidan Lewis in London and Humeyra Pamuk, Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Diane Craft)
By Nandita Bose and Valerie Volcovici

DUBAI (Reuters) -The United States has pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday as she arrived in Dubai for the U.N. climate summit.

The fund, with more than $20 billion in pledges, is the largest international fund dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries.

The latest pledge, which Reuters was first to report, would be additional to another $2 billion previously delivered by the United States.

Sources said the pledge was subject to the availability of funds. The politically divided U.S. Congress needs to authorize the funding.

Harris announced the pledge in advance extracts of her address to the COP28 summit.

"Today I am proud to announce we will make a new $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund which helps developing countries access the capital they need to invest in resilience, clean energy, and nature-based solutions," the extracts said.

The fund's facilitators said in October that the current second round of replenishments had brought in about $9.3 billion in pledges to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties between 2024 and 2027.

Even so, pledges so far represent a fraction of roughly $250 billion that developing countries would need every year by 2030 just to adapt to a warmer world, according to the United Nations. In addition to supporting climate adaptation, the fund also finances projects to help countries shift to clean energy.

A U.S. climate official said the vice president would tell the summit that the world needs to "make sure that everybody is at the table, and everybody is stepping up. Everybody has to step up."

Harris, who is representing the United States at COP28 in place of President Joe Biden, is part of a U.S. delegation that also includes climate envoy John Kerry and dozens of senior administration officials and cabinet members.

"It was important for both the president and vice president to ensure that a leader from the United States was at COP," an official said, adding that Harris wanted to make sure we are telling the world the story of progress that we have made in the U.S."

___

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Valerie Volcovici, Writing by William James, Editing by Elizabeth Piper, Katy Daigle and Edwina Gibbs)
BOUNTIFUL, Utah (ABC4)  The three executive officers of the landscaping company Rubicon Contractors LLC accused of aggravated labor trafficking were released on bail Wednesday and allowed to continue running their company.

The three executives, Tyler Brinkman, 57, Clayton Phillipps, 49, and Adam Perea, 35, face seven charges of aggravated human trafficking, a first-degree felony. They have all been released on bail with Brinkman and Phillips bail set at $50,000 and Pereas a $1,000 unsecured bond.

The company released a statement saying it was shocked by the arrests and charges and has counseled with legal advisors to ensure compliance with federal labor laws since it began its H-2B visa work program.

The arrests came after a six-month investigation by the Utah Attorney Generals Office. The investigation started after the National Trafficking Hotline received a confidential tip, according to court documents.

Documents say investigators interviewed seven alleged victims who claimed they were recruited from Mexico and promised a guaranteed 40-hour work week, pay from $17 to $20 per hour, and help getting a VISA to work in the country.

The victims said they would at times go as long as months without work or would not be paid for their work for not completing the job on time. In addition, they said they were paid through a virtual bank they could access but not control.

One employee even claimed he was forced to work a 24-hour shift with only a one-hour break.

Rubicons attorney Skye Lazaro called the allegations outrageous and inflammatory saying the company believes they will all be exonerated.

We are relieved the executives have been released and will be able to lead the company during this important time of the year, Lazaro said. This will allow more than 200 employees to continue to earn a living while providing critical services to hundreds of companies.

The executives will be allowed to run the company with the stipulations that they do not contact the alleged victims or any H-2B visa workers, only use electronic contact with co-defendents and do no speak about the details of the case with employees.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Military expert Mykhailo Samus during an interview with NV on Nov. 30 outlined what Ukrainian forces must achieve this year in order to avoid the war being frozen on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's terms in 2025

There are two options for the development of events at the front in 2024, Samus said.

Read also: ISW analysts confirm ongoing Russian advances around front-line town of Avdiivka

"The first is for the Ukrainian army to conduct a key operation in the south, that is, to cut the land corridor," the military analyst said.

It could be through the Tokmak direction (in Zaporizhzhya Oblast) together with the east bank of Kherson Oblast, or even (just) the east bank of Kherson Oblast (where there is) access to Crimea.

This would lead to a strategic change in the war, and the liberation of other territories, i.e. the de-occupation of Crimea and Donbas, would be only a matter of time, as well as free up a significant amount of forces, Samus said.

Read also: Lithuania FM warns Baltics must gird for war as West's aid to Ukraine risks forcing compromise victory

"If during 2024 the Ukrainian army manages to cut the land corridor or to go through the left (east) bank of Kherson Oblast to Crimea, in 2025 we can hope to conduct successful operations, or start successful operations," he said.

And in these conditions, even the election of (Donald) Trump (in next year's U.S. presidential election) will not have any such catastrophic significance, because he will support Ukraine, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. He does not like losers, and Putin will be the loser in this case.

If Ukrainian forces fail to cut the land corridor to Crimea in 2024, and "Russia manages to hold the south and make certain moves in eastern Ukraine, in the Donbas," this will create the opposite situation, in which Putin will be able to offer Trump, if elected, a peacekeeping role in ending the "Russo-Ukrainian conflict."

"That is, he will agree to Putin's proposal: to freeze the conflict, stop helping Ukraine, and force Ukraine to sign something like Minsk-3, which will lay out Russia's demands," Samus said.

Read also: Putins plan for the rest of the war

That is, a neutral status for Ukraine, not joining NATO and the EU, and leaving the territories that are currently occupied under Russian control. And, of course, not recognizing Putin as a war criminal and (Moscow) paying voluntary compensation, not reparations. That is, Russia will participate in assessing the damage caused during the war together with the United States and European countries. And Russia will pay, that is, participate in the restoration.

Earlier, a former company commander of the Aidar battalion, Yevhen Dykyi, said in an interview with Radio NV that the Russians plan to defeat Ukraine in 2025, hoping that Donald Trump will win the U.S. election and cut off the supply of weapons, equipment, and ammunition to Ukraine.

Earlier, Anton Drobovych, director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and a soldier in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in an interview with NV that Ukrainians would not be able to win the war without allies.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The father of a man shot and killed outside the Oakley Target store in March 2022 is now suing the retailer.

The father of a man shot and killed last year in the crowded parking lot of the Oakley Target store is suing the retailer, citing that a lack of store security contributed to his son's death.

Tracy Phillips of Huntington, West Virginia, originally filed the wrongful death suit against the Target Corporation in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in October. It was removed to federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday.

In court documents, Phillips said Target security failed to intervene in March 2022 when his son, 24-year-old Alias Phillips, was threatened with a gun inside the store, before he was chased and gunned down in the parking lot.

"Target was partially at fault for the death of Alias Phillips, for the lack of store security and monitoring, which could have prevented the outcome if security would have intervened," the lawsuit reads.

Tracy Phillips is seeking $50 million in compensatory damages, as well as an apology from Target.

Target has asked the court to dismiss the suit because Tracy Phillips made no claims that he is the administrator or executor of his son's estate, and therefore lacks standing to sue for wrongful death.

Anthony McIntosh, 23, was convicted in connection with Alias Phillips' death and sentenced in August to a prison term of 21 to 26 years  a punishment that McIntoshs attorneys and prosecutors had agreed upon as part of his plea to involuntary manslaughter charges. He was also convicted in the death of 42-year-old Diantues Kemper, who was killed outside a gas station in October 2021.

After Alias Phillips walked out of the Target with his sister and at least one other person, McIntosh chased them down, firing multiple times. Prosecutors have said Alias Phillips returned fire with a handgun he legally possessed. He was shot in the head.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Oakley Target shooting: Dad of victim sues retailer over son's death
CHICAGO  Odai Alfayoumi struggled to find words Friday when asked how he is doing a month and a half after the death of his son, Wadee Alfayoumi, the Palestinian 6-year-old boy stabbed to death in Plainfield Township in what police call a hate crime.

What can I say, he told the Tribune. I lost my everything. My life. My son. My job. Everything.

Alfayoumi said he took off from work for 40 days to mourn and attend court cases after his sons death.

Nobody can wait 40 days, he said.

He is now driving for Uber. Many passengers recognize him and tell him they are sorry for his loss. The condolences make it hard to not think about his sons death and hard to work, he said.

Thats why I cannot do nothing, Alfayoumi said.

Last week, Alfayoumi filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joseph Czuba, the man who allegedly killed his son. The father also named Czubas wife, Mary, and their company, Discerning Property Management, in the Nov. 21 filing, claiming the Czubas and their company are responsible for the fatal attack through intention and negligence.

Czuba, 72, allegedly attacked the boy and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 14, eight days after the boy celebrated his sixth birthday. Czuba, the womans landlord, had become deeply troubled by Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He stabbed Shaheen at her door before she escaped to a bathroom, according to police.

When she came out, she found her son had been stabbed 26 times, police said. The boy was pronounced dead at Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet.

Joseph Czuba faces ongoing criminal prosecution for the fatal attack. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 30 to murder, hate crime and assault charges as Alfayoumi watched a few feet behind him in the courtroom. A judge ordered Czuba detained before trial.

Alfayoumis attorney, Ben Crane, said he hopes the lawsuit will provide monetary compensation to help the family recover. Alfayoumi is seeking over $50,000 and demanded a jury trial.

Theres justice for people who do bad things, and theres justice for the people hurt by them, Crane said.

For Odai Alfayoumi, the lawsuit is an opportunity to ensure his family is cared for, Crane said.

He wants to protect his family as much as he can, the attorney said. He wasnt able to when this happened, and now he wants to make sure.

A closed LaunchGood fundraiser collecting money for the boys family raised $630,541.

Any money recovered from the lawsuit would help support Shaheens recovery and the familys needs, Crane said. However, identifying where money can be recovered from may pose a challenge, he added.

While Joseph Czuba could be held directly liable through his assets, Alfayoumi will likely need to prove the Czubas acted negligently to win money from their homeowners insurance policy and commercial insurance, Crane said.

The lawsuit alleges Mary Czuba texted Shaheen about her husbands hatred of Muslims on the day of the attack, according to a copy shared with the Tribune.

It also claims that, before the attack, Joseph Czuba told his wife Shaheens Palestinian friends would harm them and also said he wanted the mother and son out of the unit they rented.

Mary Czuba knew enough to take actions that might have prevented the attack, such as calling the police or health care providers, Crane said.

The fact that he was in this downward spiral or was harboring hateful feelings, talking about taking steps, that something was going to be happening, all of those things in my view would cause a reasonably careful person to take some steps, he said.

The parties are expected to appear in Will County court March 11, according to court records. The Czubas are not yet represented by an attorney, and Mary Czuba has filed to divorce Joseph Czuba, court records show.

Thousands attended the boys funeral in October, where many mourners likened his death to the deaths of children in Gaza killed by Israeli bombs. The funeral occurred across from an Islamic day school that temporarily closed the week of the attack after receiving a threatening letter.

This is a terrible thing, Crane said. This family lost a little boy. Theres nothing worse. Theres nothing worse.



The Tribune is using spellings of the name of the victim and his family provided by Odai Alfayoumi. Some of the spellings differ from previous spellings attributed to authorities and activists working with the family.


The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered Texas to remove its border buoys from the Rio Grande, in another victory for the Biden administration in its ongoing battle over border policy with Gov. Greg Abbott.

In a 2-1 decision, the conservative appeals court upheld a lower courts preliminary injunction issued in September. The appeals court had previously stayed the injunction while it considered the case.

As the US grapples with increased migrant crossings, the border buoys have been a major point of contention between the Biden administration and the Republican governor, who deployed the controversial measure to deter migrants as part of his border security initiative.

The Justice Department argued in its lawsuit filed in July that the buoys were installed unlawfully and building any structure in US water would require permission from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Abbott has maintained that Texas has the constitutional authority to install them and that the buoys were necessary for self-defense.

In Fridays order, the 5th Circuit found that the lower court had not abused its discretion in issuing the preliminary injunction, determining that it had sufficiently considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life posed by the barriers.

Writing in dissent, Circuit Judge Don Willett said that the lower court had erred in issuing the injunction, arguing that the segment of the Rio Grande where the buoys were installed was not navigable to begin with and so the administration was unlikely to succeed in its case.

Following the decision, Abbott wrote on X that he and the Texas attorney general will seek an immediate rehearing.

Well go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders, Abbott added in the post.

This is the second time in a week that Texas has lost a legal battle in its ongoing border saga with the Biden administration over security at the southern border.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled in the federal governments favor after Texas asked the court to force border patrol agents to stop cutting razor wire installed by the state. In a lawsuit filed in October, Texas alleged federal agents were destroying state property by cutting razor wire in Eagle Pass, Texas, with the intention of allowing migrants into the US. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the order.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNNs Priscilla Alvarez, Hannah Rabinowitz and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.

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Fu Hua, executive chairman of the World Media Summit (WMS) and president of Xinhua News Agency, attends a signing ceremony of Xinhua News Agency and Foreign Media Organizations in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 2, 2023. The signing ceremony was held in Guangzhou during the 5th World Media Summit (WMS), which runs from Dec. 2 to 8. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's state news agency Xinhua on Saturday signed agreements with media outlets and institutions of other countries to deepen cooperation in areas such as news exchanges, personnel exchanges and visits, as well as integrated media development.

A signing ceremony was held in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, during the 5th World Media Summit (WMS), which runs from Dec. 2 to 8.

The signing ceremony was attended by Fu Hua, president of Xinhua, and representatives of media organizations and government departments of Argentina, the Philippines, Russia, Burundi and Barbados.

Representatives of the media outlets said they are willing to take this opportunity to strengthen exchanges, mutual learning and practical cooperation with Xinhua and other Chinese media. They said this will allow them to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of China, and contribute to boosting people-to-people connectivity among various countries and promoting world peace and development.

Maria Bernarda Llorente, president of Telam in Argentina, hailed the great significance of the agreement signed with Xinhua, saying that stronger media collaboration between the two countries is conducive to enhancing the mutual trust and bonds between the two peoples.

Luis Ausan Morente, head of the Philippine News Agency, expressed his hope that Philippine News Agency and Xinhua would undertake more personnel exchanges and visits to reinforce communication and cooperation.

Andrey Pershin, deputy general director of Rossiyskaya Gazeta in Russia, said the agreement signed with Xinhua has opened up new prospects for collaboration, adding that Russian readers have a great interest in news about Chinese politics, culture, sports, and science and technology.

Louis Kamwenubusa, director general of Burundian Press Publications, said the summit creates opportunities for media outlets from various countries to carry out exchanges, and that such exchanges are expected to advance global media development.

Tyson Anthony Henry, chief information officer of the Barbados Government Information Service, expressed his hope that the two countries would use the summit as an opportunity to promote personnel and technology exchanges.

To date, Xinhua has signed cooperation agreements with over 3,600 institutions worldwide, including media outlets, government departments and higher learning institutions.

Themed "Boosting global confidence, promoting media development," the 5th WMS has gathered over 450 participants from 101 countries and regions, including representatives of 197 mainstream media outlets, think tanks, government agencies, diplomatic missions to China, as well as UN agencies and international organizations. 
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Texas must put aside one of its signature initiatives on the US-Mexico border: a 1,000-foot long barrier made of floating buoys tipped with sharp metal.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a lower federal court was correct in September when it found that the barriers overstepped federal law regarding navigable waters.

It considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life the floating barrier created, Judge Dana Douglas wrote in her opinion.

In a statement on X, Texas governor Greg Abbott, who pushed for the wall as part of his larger Operation Lonestar crackdown on immigration, called the ruling clearly wrong, vowing to seek a rehearing.

Well go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Bidens open borders, he added.

The ruling means that Texas will have to cease work on the buoy wall and move it to the banks of the Rio Grande.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department sued Texas, arguing the controversial barrier was erected in violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act.

In September, a lower court agreed and noted there was no credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration.

The wall, which has been condemned by border-state Democrats in Congress as barbaric for its saw-like metal barbs, has been linked to multiple potential deaths of migrants crossing the Rio Grande into the US.

The wall has also prompted controversy at the local level.

A kayak guide in Eagle Pass, Texas, named Jessie Fuentes, has also sued the state over the wall.

Im not a politician. I just say listen, I love that river. Nobody speaks up for it. Im speaking up for the river. Man, I have the right to try to prosper from my love of the river, that allows me the opportunity to get out there, to bring people to the river, he told The Independent earlier this year.

They dont live here. I do, he added of Texass state leaders. Youve taken a beautiful waterway and youve converted it into a war zone.

Human rights advocates have warned that military-style deterrence barriers along the border push migrants towards more remote areas, which are even more dangerous to cross.

Its been proven time after time that these so-called prevention through deterrence strategies dont work, Fernando Garcia of the Border Network for Human Rights told The Independent earlier this year. They have not stopped immigration flows, but what they have done is they have put immigrants at risk.

Its very likely that with [the floating buoy wall] they are looking for more remote and isolated places to come across so that whenever they are in danger by heat exhaustion, by drowning, they will not have anybody to help them, he added, saying he worries it could be a record year for migrant deaths in the Rio Grande.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  As December kicks off the holiday season, the federal government would like to remind employers and workers to practice safety in the workplace, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

This comes as a sad reminder after 40-year-old Carlos Anaya-Ortiz suffered electrocution as he stood on wet, muddy ground and connected holiday lights to a homemade extension cord on Nov. 10, 2022 in McKinney, the release said.

According to an investigation into Anaya-Ortizs death, the employer was cited for exposing workers to electrical and fall hazards.

While employees celebrate during the holidays, employers must pay close attention to the safety hazards workers face atop ladders or roofs mounting decorations, handling customer orders in busy warehouses and crowded retail stores, and working outdoors as winter approaches, OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin in Dallas said in the release. We encourage all employers to stress the importance of workplace safety and health and training with their employees to prevent serious and potentially fatal injuries this holiday season.

As a way to keep workers safe year-round, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offers resources to help workers carry out an array of holiday-related jobs.

The resources include other information for how to keep workers safe in retail, warehousing, delivery and more, the release said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
A Florida appeals court on Friday upheld the states congressional map advocated by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which was enacted after the 2020 census and dismantled a Black-majority district in the northern part of the state.

The decision reversed a lower court ruling, which had found that the new map had improperly diluted Black voting power.

The appeals court disagreed, finding that the plaintiffs failed to present any evidence that the earlier version of the 5th Congressional District, which connected Black communities from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, contained a singular cohesive community that would have a right to protection under Floridas constitution.

Republicans currently hold 20 of Floridas 28 US House seats under the map put forward by DeSantis last year. The map moved a significant number of Black voters from the old 5th District  which had been represented by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat  into communities represented by White Republicans. Lawson then ran for a redrawn Republican-leaning seat anchored in Tallahassee and lost to GOP Rep. Neal Dunn by 20 points.

Opponents of the Florida map panned Fridays decision.

This decision blatantly ignores the will of Florida voters who  more than a decade ago  demanded Fair Districts that protect representation for communities of color, Amy Keith, the executive director of Common Cause Florida, said in a statement, referring to the states Fair Districts Amendment.

The state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2010 requires lawmakers to give minority communities an opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.

Keith noted in her statement that the Florida congressional boundaries are also being challenged in federal court in a separate pending case that argues that the map violates the US Constitution. Our work is not done until all voters can exercise their right to fair representation, she said.

The Florida case is one of several ongoing legal battles over redistricting, the outcome of which could change the balance of power in the US House of Representatives after next years elections. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in the chamber.

In neighboring Georgia, the Republican-controlled legislature is meeting in special session to craft new legislative and congressional maps to comply with a federal court order to boost Black political power in the state.

Georgia Republicans released a proposed congressional map Friday afternoon that appears to retain the current partisan balance in the states US House delegation. Republicans currently hold nine of the states 14 seats in the chamber.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
DUBAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President William Ruto on Saturday convened African leaders here at the ongoing COP28 talks to accelerate Africa's green industrialization.

At an event attended by leaders of Angola, Burundi, Djibouti, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia as well as COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative was launched.

The initiative aims to accelerate and scale green industries and businesses across Africa, promote climate mitigation and adaptation, and stimulate economic green growth on the continent.

In his remarks, Ruto said that "the initiative marks a concrete step toward the realization of the Nairobi Declaration, activating private sector-led scaling-up of green industrial clusters."

African leaders embraced the initiative as the pathway for their nations' development. They also discussed plans to activate end-to-end socioeconomic transformation through the rapid growth of green industrial clusters, the strong role of regional and global export markets for value-added green products and technologies, crucial for global clean energy value chain.

Attendees at the event also stressed that Africa's green industrialization was critical for the achievement of the world's collective climate ambitions.

Leaders or senior representatives from over 100 countries are gathering here on Friday and Saturday for the World Climate Action Summit, which is being held during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28. 
Warning: This video contains profanity and disturbing subject matter. We omitted footage that shows the actual shooting.

Footage released on Friday shows the terror that unfolded in the streets of Woodland Hills and Calabasas when a homeless man first attacked someone with a machete and then ran into a popular restaurant where he was fatally shot by police.

The incident took place on Nov. 1 when 911 dispatchers received a call from a man who said he had been attacked by another man with a machete at the McDonalds at Mulholland Drive near the 101 Freeway.

I was able to get away from him, and then he kept attacking me, the victim told the 911 dispatcher.

Benjamin Pritchard

We need to get in control of these homeless people, he added. The man said he was not seriously hurt and did not require a paramedic.

His attacker, later identified as Benjamin Pritchard, 35, had dropped the machete and was wandering through the parking lot of the busy shopping center when police arrived.

Dash camera video released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday shows officers first trying to stop Pritchard near the McDonalds, and then near the southbound 101 Freeway onramp at Mulholland Drive/Valley Circle Boulevard.

When they approach him at the ramp, Pritchard charges at the police SUV with a knife and hits the vehicle before running away, the video shows.

Calabasas Police Shooting

Pritchard then runs along traffic on Calabasas Road next to the Motion Picture & Television Fund complex and eventually into the parking lot of the Sagebrush Cantina, a popular restaurant and music venue in Old Town Calabasas.

Everyone, get inside the restaurant and lock the doors! This is the LAPD! Lock the doors! an officer shouts through the SUVs PA system.

Security cameras and police body-worn cameras captured the violent end to the ordeal.

Pritchard first emerges with a bottle and a knife at which point an officer who is chasing him on foot fires his Taser, which had little or no effect, the video shows.

Drop the knife! officers yell repeatedly.

Calabasas Police Shooting

Another camera angle shows Pritchard running into a patio dining area as a restaurant patron or employee flees to the back.

Officers then opened fire with their service weapons, striking Pritchard who fell to the ground. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. No officers or witnesses were injured.

Police say Pritchard was from San Diego County. While the toxicology report has not been released, officers believed he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident.

The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office to determine if the deadly use of force was justified.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, has announced measures to tackle the shortage of prison places - JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP

Foreign prisoners will serve shorter sentences than Britons under an emergency government measure to cut prison overcrowding.

Under the scheme, overseas citizens can be freed from UK jails and deported to their homelands up to 18 months earlier than a British prisoner would be released if serving the same sentence.

The plan has been criticised by a leading House of Lords committee and one of Britains most senior former judges.

It means that if a British man and a Polish man run a drugs gang together, and both get six-year sentences, the Briton would serve three years in jail while the Pole could serve only one-and-a-half years before being sent home. He would not have to serve time in Poland, but would be barred from returning to the UK.

The extension to the time limit on the Early Removal Scheme was one of a series of steps announced by Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, to tackle the shortage of prison places.

The disparity has come to light after the rule change was investigated by the Lords secondary legislation scrutiny committee, according to Inside Time. The committee concluded that the policy may not have been fully thought through by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, a former Lord Chief Justice and a member of the committee, said: The policy could be seen as reducing the punishment of overseas criminals in order to ensure that UK citizens can continue to be sent to prison.

In addition, the policy risks reducing the deterrents for overseas citizens to commit crime, potentially undermining confidence in the criminal justice system.

The peers also criticised the Government for failing to produce any estimate of how many foreign national prisoners would be sent home earlier following the rule change, or how many prison places would be freed up.

Previously, the Early Removal Scheme allowed releases up to 12 months before the release date. It applies to foreign nationals serving fixed-term sentences of any length, including for violent or sexual offences, but excluding terrorism.

The MoJ has calculated that extending the limit to 18 months will bring around 300 additional prisoners into scope of the scheme at any time.

There are 10,500 foreign nationals in English and Welsh prisons. Explaining the deportation scheme, Mr Chalk has said: Its right that foreign criminals are punished, but it cannot be right that some are sat in prison costing taxpayers 47,000 a year when they could be deported.

Instead of letting foreign nationals take up space in our prisons at vast expense to the law-abiding public, we will take action to get them out of the country and stop them from ever returning.

Other measures to tackle the prison capacity crisis include an 18-day early release scheme, a legal presumption that sentences of less than 12 months will be served in the community instead of in prison, and plans to rent prison cells abroad. Judges have also been asked to bail newly convicted criminals awaiting sentence.

Among those identified for return to Albania is Koci Selamaj, the murderer of schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, who was jailed for a minimum of 36 years - Metropolitan Police/PA

The MoJ is also paying Albania 8 million to take back up to 200 of their most dangerous prisoners, including 17 lifers who will complete their sentences in their home country jails.

Among those identified for return is Koci Selamaj, 36, the murderer of Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old schoolteacher. He was jailed for a minimum of 36 years for beating and strangling her to death in a park in south-east London.

He has so far served only two years, which would mean the UK paying Albania 400,000 to imprison him for the remaining 34 years of his sentence. However, it would cost 1.9 million if he remained in a UK jail.

The MoJ almost ran out of prison cells this autumn when the number of spare places in the male jail estate fell to within 300 of its capacity.

The number of prisoners in England and Wales has risen by 6,000 since the start of 2023 to stand above 88,000  just 1,000 short of the maximum permitted level.

The MoJ told the Lords committee: The Governments clear assessment is that urgent action is needed to tackle the prison capacity challenge.

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.
(KRON)  Former federal correctional officer John Bellhouse was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for his sexually abusive conduct against two female victims who were serving prison sentences at the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, the Department of Justice announced Saturday.

Bellhouse, 40, was employed as a correctional officer at the FCI Dublin, an all-female low-security federal correctional institution. Bellhouse was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse of a ward, and three counts of abusive sexual conduct.

Lawsuit: Santa Rosa school failed to help slain student Jayden Pienta

This defendants conduct was a disturbing deviation from the expectations and requirements of all federal correctional officers, said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California. Bellhouse violated his oath and abused the power given to him, all to victimize the people he was supposed to protect. This sentence makes clear that the sexual abuse of inmates by guards will not be tolerated.

According to the trial evidence beginning in December 2019 through October 2020, Bellhouse sexually abused and committed abusive sexual contact against a victim incarcerated and serving a prison sentence at FCI Dublin under Bellhouses custodial, supervisory, and disciplinary authority. Bellhouse engaged in oral sex with the victim in the prison Safety Warehouse and Safety Office. Bellhouse also touched the victims vagina and breasts in the prison Safety Office, according to the trial evidence.

Bellhouse committed abusive sexual contact against a second victim between October and December 2020, according to evidence presented at the trial.

The trial evidence further showed that Bellhouse sexually abused another inmate in 2020 and 2021. Bellhouse reached through a window in her cell and grabbed her breast, and on another occasion put his finger in her vagina without her consent while she was in her cell after showering.

Bellhouse would persuade his victims to remain silent regarding his abuse by giving everyday items such as Starbucks coffee, yarn, jewelry, and cleaning supplies, according to a memorandum filed in connection with Bellhouses sentencing.

Bellhouse was ordered to surrender by Feb. 2, 2024 to begin serving his sentence by Judge Gonzalez Rogers. The hearing to determine restitution is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2024.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
LOS ANGELES  In a roundtable held at his offices in Santa Monica on Friday, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with the families of three Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Ella Shani, 14, shared her account of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, explaining how her family woke up to the sound of rockets. She and her mother and brother survived, but her grandparents were shot, her cousin, Amit, was kidnapped, and later she learned her father was dead.

The last thing Amit knew or heard before he was kidnapped was that his dads house was on fire while his dad was still in there, and the last thing he saw was his mother and two sisters surrounded by six armed terrorists, Ella recounted.

4-year-old American hostage released by Hamas, Biden says

Jacob Bohbot, 36, explained how his brother, Elkana Bohbot, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival.

Schwarzenegger also heard from Bar Rudaeff, the son of Lior Rudaeff, 61, a security team member at a kibbutz who was taken hostage by Hamas.

Schwarzenegger Hostage Families

Local Rabbi Marvin Heir organized Fridays meeting with the Museum of Tolerance.

The former governor expressed hope that the current Israel-Hamas war will give way to lasting peace in the Middle East.

Lets get along, and lets work together, and lets coexist rather than fight each other, he told KTLA.

As other families wait to learn of their loved ones fates, Ella Shani shared her familys good news: her cousin Amit Shani, just 16, had been freed.

Im happy to say that two days ago he came back. We were all in euphoria, she shared.

According to the Israeli government, there are still 137 hostages being held by Hamas.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Former Memphis Police Officers Demetrius Haley, back left, and Tadarrius Bean, back right, appear in Judge James Jones' courtroom on Monday Nov. 6, 2023. The judge has set an August trial date for four former Memphis police officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in January. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  Before a former Memphis Police officer joined in a deadly beating on Tyre Nichols, prompting murder charges against him and four colleagues, Demetrius Haley incurred some policy violations in a prior prison guard job and faced accusations of excessive force that his department deemed unfounded or unsubstantiated, according to newly unsealed personnel records.

Demetrius Haley worked for the prison operated by the Shelby County Division of Corrections as a correctional officer from January 2015 until July 2020, when he resigned to join the Memphis Police Department.

While working as a corrections officer, Haley was accused of excessive force for using a chemical spray on inmate Cordarlrius Sledge in 2015, but an investigation found no violations of the departments use of force policies and the allegations were unsubstantiated. The records showed that Sledge was treated for a fractured right temporal bone and perforated ear drum and the incident prompted 34 inmates  the entire cellblock  to sign a letter to the corrections director asking for a response to the alleged abuse.

Sledge later filed a lawsuit against Haley and two other correctional officers, accusing Haley and another officer of punching him, and a third of slamming his head into the floor. The lawsuit was dismissed in federal court when a judge ruled in a summary judgment in favor of the officers over procedural issues.

Haley was found in violation of the departments professionalism, ethics and conduct policy in 2015. According to the records, Haley gave confidential information to an inmate when he should not have and did not report when an inmate told him of his intent to smuggle in contraband. He was given a written reprimand and was recommended to get refresher training on the policies.

Haley was also investigated and cleared of wrongdoing after an inmate accused him of using unnecessary force during a contraband search. Haley took the inmate to the ground to restrain him after the inmate put contraband in his mouth and hit Haley in the shoulder with his elbow, the documents show. The inmate received an injury to his head, but investigators found that the use of force was justified. Haley told investigators he did not intend to hurt the inmate.

Haley's attorney declined to comment on the newly released records.

Haleys Shelby County personnel file was part of a cache of documents that a judge in February blocked from public view concerning the officers charged in Nichols death and the incident itself. The Associated Press and other media outlets intervened in the criminal case against the officers in March to argue the documents should be made public. Early last month, the judge allowed the files to be released.

Most of the documents are held by the city of Memphis, where officials have said they are still making redactions under the courts order so the files can be made public.

Back in March, the city announced plans to release about 20 more hours of video and audio in the incident, in addition to administrative investigation findings for police and other departments, when the court stepped in to prohibit it.

A filing in May by Haleys attorney suggested that the judge keep the county personnel file sealed through the trial, arguing that media reports on the documents could spur bias in potential jurors.

Haley, Emmitt Martin, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges in Nichols' death in both federal and Tennessee court, where they face second-degree murder and other state charges. A fifth former officer charged in the case, Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty last month to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice.

Caught on police video, the beating of Nichols in January was one in a string of violent encounters between police and Black people that sparked protests and renewed debate about police brutality and the need for police reform in the U.S. The five former officers who were charged also are Black.

The officers were caught on camera punching, kicking and beating Nichols on Jan. 7. He died three days later.

__

Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.
A former pediatrician from Los Angeles will spend the next seven years in federal prison after being convicted of possessing dozens of DVDs and hundreds of images of child pornography.

Gary David Goulin, 62, of Los Angeles was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison on Friday. He was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and $22,000 in additional fees and will have to register as a sex offender for 15 years after his eventual release from prison.

Goulin pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography earlier this year.

In November 2021, Goulin knowingly possessed four DVDs that contained sexually explicit images of children who were younger than 12 years old. He also admitted to having dozens of additional DVDs with hours of explicit material on them.

According to prosecutors, he owned more than 200 hours of child sex abuse material in various forms.

In August 2021, Goulin used his cell phone to receive more child pornography. He was also found to have more than 600 images of child pornography, including some that showed children engaging in sadistic or masochistic conduct.

Goulin lived in the Beverly Grove area and worked as a pediatrician at an undisclosed hospital prior to his arrest. In November 2021, the Medical Board of California prohibited him from practicing medicine.

He also faced additional child pornography charges in Los Angeles County, which were dismissed in favor of the federal charges.

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
History-making Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor, who became the first woman on the nations highest court in 1981 and spent the next quarter-century as a pivotal figure in an oft-divided panel, has died. She was 93.

The jurists cause of death was listed as complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimers, and a respiratory illness, according to a news release from the Supreme Court.

OConnor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006, in part to assist her husband John Jay OConnor III as he struggled with Alzheimers disease before his death three years later. In October 2018, she publicly released a letter revealing that she too was diagnosed with the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimers disease.

In the courts statement, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., said Justice OConnor blazed an historic trail as our Nations first female Justice. She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor. We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education. And we celebrate her enduring legacy as a true public servant and patriot.

The Texas-born OConnor broke the glass ceiling after 192 years of male Supreme Court justices, and was later followed by fellow female jurists Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She became a key swing vote in scores of cases, including the decision upholding a womans right to abortion in Roe v. Wade.

The jurist, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was also the deciding vote in Bush v. Gore, the bitter legal battle following the 2000 presidential election, a ruling that effectively stopped the Florida recount and installed George W. Bush in the White House while making Al Gore an also-ran.

Though nominally conservative, OConnor consistently voted to protect abortion rights, support affirmative action and express concerns over the death penalty. Yet she was also an ardent defender of states rights and checks on presidential power.

And she was often on the winning side of the courts most contentious debates: OConnor voted with the majority in 148 of the 193 cases decided by a 5-4 vote between 1995 and her retirement.

Sandra Day was a daughter of the southwest, born in El Paso, Texas, and raised on her familys Arizona cattle ranch dubbed the Lazy B  where the self-described cowgirl became adept at horseback riding and helping with various farm duties. She proved an exceptionally bright girl, reading by the age of 4 while excelling in her schoolwork.

OConnors parents opted to send her to school in El Paso, where she lived with her grandmother while classes were in session and returned home for summers on the ranch.

She applied to Stanford University, overcoming the schools gender bias to win acceptance and graduating in 1950 with a degree in economics. She earned her degree at the colleges law school just two years later, ranking third in a class of 102 students that included her future Supreme Court colleague William Rehnquist.

But the new graduate discovered no law firm in Los Angeles or San Francisco wanted to hire a female attorney. Her lone job offer was for a secretarial position.

She finally landed a nonpaying job for a county attorney in San Mateo, California, just to establish herself, and worked her way up to deputy county attorney. She also married fellow Stanford Law grad John OConnor, and the couple moved in 1954 to Germany. John worked as an Army attorney while his wife worked as a civilian lawyer focused on contracts.

The couple resettled in Arizona in 1958, with a stint in private practice leading to a 1965 position as the states assistant attorney general. That four-year stint ended with her appointment to fill a vacant seat in the Arizona state senate, where she became the first female majority leader. In 1973, OConnor  the mother of sons Scott, Brian and Jay  changed jobs by winning election to a seat on the Maricopa County Superior Court.

She was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979, and formally nominated to the Supreme Court by Reagan on Aug. 19, 1981, as the new president made good on a campaign promise to put a woman on the bench. A month later, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and was sworn in the courts first female justice on Sept. 25, 1981.

It did not seem possible that a ranch girl would grow up to serve on our nations highest court, she wrote in her autobiography, Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest.

During her time on the Supreme Court bench, OConnor was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and underwent a mastectomy. She went public with her ailment and treatment in a 1994 speech before the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

She finally left the Supreme Court on Jan. 31, 2006, replaced by incoming Justice Samuel Alito.

Following her retirement, President Barack Obama presented OConnor with the the nations highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2009. Arizona State University also named its law school in her honor.

Nine years after Alzheimers claimed her husband, OConnor  by then age 88  went public with word of her struggle with the same debilitating ailment. By then, a hip injury had left her reliant on a wheelchair to get around.

As this condition has progressed, I am no longer able to participate in private life, she wrote in October 2018. Since many people have asked about my current status and activities, I want to be open about these changes, and while I am still able, share some personal thoughts.

While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life.

_____
HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA)  A traffic stop led Troopers to discover a 39-year-old driver stole two Cadillac Escalades, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Yajaira Martinez, of Riverview, was stopped by Florida Highway Patrol Troopers for speeding and a tag violation on a 2018 Cadillac Escalade on I-75 in Sumter County.

Caught on camera: Florida man walks out of Publix with 12 bottles of wine

Martinez told Troopers she didnt have the paperwork for the car. Officials noticed the vehicle identification number on the front windshield looked unprofessional and appeared to have been tampered with. A request for a secondary VIN showed it had been tampered with.

Troopers discovered the car had dealer plates attached and the dealer tag was not registered to her car. The VIN showed it was assigned to a 2020 Escalade, not the 2018 model she was driving. Both VIN decals were also found to have been swapped.

2022 Cadillac Escalade (FLHSMV)

2018 Cadillac Escalade (FLHSMV)

As for the car she was driving, it was stolen from Pennsylvania.

Martinez told officials she owned a car dealership in Tampa, called Champa Bay Auto Brokers, which recently closed in April 2023.

Florida dad who locked son in box has job offers waiting if released on bond

During their investigation, Troopers found a 2022 Cadillac Escalade confirmed to be stolen from Clearwater in June 2023 that had been re-vinned.

Martinez was arrested and taken to the Hernando County Jail on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and possession of a vehicle with altered numbers.

The investigation is ongoing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
KHARTOUM, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Saturday welcomed decision by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to terminate the mandate of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS).

"The decision came in response to Sudan's request submitted to the Security Council," Sudan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry stressed the Sudanese government's keenness to continue constructive engagement with the UN through strengthening the role of the UN country team and cooperating with the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, the statement said.

The UNSC on Friday adopted a resolution to terminate the mandate of UNITAMS as of Dec. 3, 2023.

Resolution 2715 requests UNITAMS to immediately start on Dec. 4, 2023, the cessation of its operations and the process of the transfer of its tasks to UN agencies, funds and programs, with the objective of completing this by Feb. 29, 2024.

It decides that the liquidation of UNITAMS shall begin on March 1, 2024.

The resolution won 14 votes in favor out of the 15 Security Council members. Russia abstained.

The UNSC resolution came after the Sudanese authorities' demand last month to shut down the mission.

The relationship between UNITAMS and Sudan has been strained since the outbreak of the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. The UN secretary-general's special representative and head of UNITAMS at the time, Volker Perthes, was declared persona non grata by the Sudanese authorities in June. Perthes later resigned.

UNITAMS, established by the Security Council in June 2020, was tasked to help Sudan with its political transition after the ouster of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019. 
Throughout each year, studies are done on all different facets of life across America and in Washington state. Organizations use various methodologies to determine all sorts of things, like which state is the hungriest, the dirtiest, or the most romantic.

Often times, Washington state finds itself on the extreme side of both ends of the good-bad spectrum. Studies and reports on state rankings tend to place the Evergreen State either in the top ten or the bottom ten. It seems the state is mentioned over and over again, across all kinds of categories.

So, how did Washington fare overall in the last year? Heres a recap of various data analysis and study-driven state rankings in 2023 that McClatchy reported on.

Washingtons top rankings in 2023

There were seven studies in which Washington state ranked in the top ten.

High School Student Safety

A resource organization for high school students evaluated 11 different metrics regarding high school student safety, including bullying, crime, weapons and the like. Washington had the best overall score, ranking number one.

Beauty Score

Washington was deemed the most naturally-beautiful state based on its abundance of mountains, national parks, waterfalls, large natural lakes and beaches.

Strongest economy

All 50 states and the District of Columbia were examined on economic activity, economic health and innovation potential across 28 metrics, determining Washington to have the strongest economy.

Best for nursing

Washington also took first place as the best state for nurses, based on 20 metrics within two categories (work environment and opportunity/competition).

Camping destinations

After evaluating each state across 25 metrics in five categories (access, quality, supplies, safety, affordability), Lawn Love determined Washington as the second-best state for camping, just after California.

Feline-friendly

Using data from multiple pet organizations and other sources, the Evergreen State was deemed the fifth-most cat-crazy state in the country.

Best for women

WalletHub analyzed 25 metrics to determine the best and worst states for women to live in. Washington placed at seventh place, the highest ranking in the region.

Washingtons poor rankings in 2023

There were four not-so-positive rankings for Washington this year.

Pricey drivers licenses

A political resource site compared each states standard cost of drivers license renewals and first-time applications, finding the Evergreen State is the most expensive state to get a drivers license.

Expensive home down payments

An evaluation of each states median house price found Washingtonians pay the third-highest amounts on down payments.

Tourist traps, overrated destinations

USA Today listed the most overpriced attractions and the most overrated tourist traps in the world, with a Washington mention making the top ten in both. Pike Place Market was deemed the tenth-most overrated tourist trap, and the Space Needle the tenth-most overpriced attraction. Two other mentions were farther down the list.

Feared roads and routes

The scariest route for each state was determined through a survey of 3,000 road-trippers. Washingtons SR 20, aka the North Cascades Highway, was named the Evergreen States most feared route, coming in at number 28 on the list.

WA city rankings in 2023

It isnt always the entire state getting mentioned in the analysis of data and studies. Cities, counties and other areas of Washington state are often mentioned in rankings as well.

Most-envied suburbs

A moving company reviewer evaluated the 175 most-desirable suburbs in the country through a survey of 3,000 people. Mercer Island ranked number nine, Medina ranked 11 and Liberty Lake came in at 85.

Most beautiful college campuses

A college resource site for soon-to-be graduates evaluated the number of college campus reviews containing the word beautiful to determine which campuses were most attractive. The top 50 were ranked, and Washington had the tenth-most listings, with three out of 50. The University of Puget Sound had the highest ranking at number three.

Rattiest city

A national pest control company evaluated the rattiest cities in the country based on new treatments. Seattle ranked 12 in the entire country.

Best places to retire

An online rental resource ranked Spokane as the third best city to retire in across the United States, based on weather satisfaction, air quality and state income tax.

Best summer trips

One of several Washington state mentions, Olympia ranked tenth-best summer travel destination in America, based on its access to numerous sights and scenes, plus local culture.
Galion School District shared its five-year fiscal forecast Tuesday that shows a decrease in revenue.

The forecast includes the current year, two previous years and the five years from 2024 to 2028. Although the plan does not exhibit drastic changes, the overall figures show a decrease in revenue with average change projecting a negative 3.9%.

Revenues at a glance

The school district total revenues in 2021 amounted to $21,036,531 and decreased to $20,121,799 in 2022, and then declined to $19,434,861 in the fiscal year 2023.

From here, according to the five-year forecast, the revenues should slightly increase next year to $20,452,784, but as of now it is not forecasted that the school district revenues will reach its 2021 peak again. The 2028 total school district revenues, according to the data, are projected to be $20,165,153.

The revenues are slightly declining, said Galion School District Chief Financial Officer / Treasurer Charlene Parkinson, because of the declining funding from the state. The state funding is declining, she said, because of the declining enrollment.

Parkinson noted that declining revenues in a situation where the expenses are fixed is a tough situation for any school district to be into, and a lot of school districts around Ohio except for the wealthier ones are in this "very tough situation."

More: Galion City Schools celebrate Tiger Portrait Awards recipients

The financial sources not included in the revenues, such as general property tax revenue, income tax, federal and state grants and others, are also forecasted to be decreasing by 4.8% thus making the total revenues and other financial sources to go down by 4.2%.

Other financial sources declined with $298,143 received in 2021, $77,378 in 2022, $127,194 in 2023, and $32,070 to be received in 2024. The following years included in the forecast have no financing sources registered as other.

Parkinson said that other financial sources are the receipts that the district receives in the current school year, but which are related to the previous fiscal year, such as rebates. She said those sources are hard to predict, and thus they are not included in the forecast.

Expenditures

The total Galion School District expenditures decreased significantly from 2021 when that line in the report amounted to $20,589,414 through $19,406,243 in 2022 to $16,870,367 in 2023.

However, the future, according to the forecast, holds an increase in expenditures to $23,065,328 in 2028, while other financing uses, not included in total expenditures, will decrease, according to the forecast.

In 2021 other financing uses accounted for $700,441, in 2022  for $619,878, in 2023 the balance stands at $448,529, and in the following five years the district for now counts this line as $70,000.

Cash balance fluctuates with some significant increases and decreases. The cash balance for 2021 was registered as $4,364,516, in 2022 it constituted $4,409,335, and in 2023 it amounted to $4,582,391.

According to the forecast, in the next few years the cash balance is projected to increase to $6,825,550 in 2024, peaking at $6,919,206 in 2025, and then fall in 2028 to $3,291,348.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Galion school board hears five-year financial forecast
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Multiple Beaverton households were evacuated as the result of a natural gas leak Friday morning, according to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

Just after 8:30 a.m., TVF&R firefighters were dispatched to the leak at the 14400 block of Southwest Downing Street. They arrived at the scene and found a damaged and leaking 2-inch natural gas line, officials said.

Firefighters quickly evacuated 12 nearby residences, authorities say. Then additional firefighters and technicians from TVF&Rs Hazardous Materials Team arrived at the scene.

It was not a sinkhole: Roads re-open after sudden flooding in Cornelius

Subsequently, NW Natural personnel arrived to further aid in stopping the leak, a process which took nearly an hour, according to officials.

Nearby Meadow Park Middle School was notified of the leak. Although there was no immediate threat to the school, students were kept inside as a precaution, authorities say.

Once crews determined it was safe, all residents were allowed to return to their homes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
NEW YORK  Cheerful constituents of ex-Rep. George Santos celebrated his expulsion from Congress on Friday, letting out a collective sigh of relief after 11 months of being represented by the truth-challenged 35-year-old Republican.

Around the corner from Santos darkened district office in the rain-slicked Douglaston section of Queens, Maura Flynn said it was a wonderful thing that the congressman had been ejected, calling him unvetted and unqualified.

Flynn, an illustrator and political independent who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said the presence of Santos office in her neighborhood had been galling. Over the last year, her friends had visited to see the office of the notorious fabulist.

What a mistake, Flynn said of Santos 2022 election.

As a candidate, Santos fashioned a fictional resume for himself, deceiving voters about his education, religion, family history, professional experience and property ownership.

Another local, Roseann Darche, said Santos didnt represent anybody except himself. She said she started cheering when a notification flashed across her phone Friday saying that Santos had been kicked out of Congress in a bipartisan vote.

Ecstatic texts from her friends soon started to flow in. Santos had exhibited hostility to the people during his tenure, Darche said.

Republicans can be good, Darche, a Democrat, said, but she added that Santos had risen without sufficient scrutiny. Nobody did any research on him, including the Democratic Party.

Roseann Darche, 78, and her husband, Gary, 83, both stopped in front of the green awning of Santos office to take triumphant pictures Friday.

We have been unrepresented in Congress, Gary Darche, a retired lawyer and a Democrat, said as he sat at the wheel of his car in Douglaston. I am relieved that this creep is no longer my congressman.

Santos falsehoods included a baseless claim that his mothers death was caused by 9/11.

He faces a 23-count indictment charging him with illegally pocketing unemployment benefits and using the credit card information of his donors, among other charges. He has pleaded not guilty and insisted he is not a criminal.

His office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Sheryl Scott, working in an artists studio near Santos office, offered an understated reflection on Santos time in Congress.

People who take up these offices really need to check themselves, she said. You need to be doing it for the well-being of others.

Arthur Skok, walking to a CVS across the street from Santos office in search of Christmas decorations, said he was most outraged by accusations that Santos had swindled money that had been raised in 2016 for a dying dogs surgery.

I will never vote for a Republican because of what hes done, said Skok, a 23-year-old software developer who also volunteers at a Manhattan animal shelter. I am ashamed of it. Im embarrassed that we live here because of that.

Skok said Santos expulsion, which came after a damning House ethics committee inquiry into the politicians conduct, was long overdue.

Skok said Friday was a good day, though he added he was sad that were not represented right now. A special election to replace Santos is not expected until February.

Thats the price we have to pay for someone who basically cheated his way into being our representative, Skok said.

I dont think theres any other recourse that could have been made that would have made it right besides kicking him out right now, Skok said. It couldnt have happened too soon.

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In October of this year, Rheinmetall and JSC Ukrainian Defense Industry registered a joint venture

German defense giant Rheinmetall plans to launch a plant in Ukraine as early as 2024, with the first weapons rolling off the production lines within six months of the start of operations, news agency Reuters reported on Dec. 1.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said that the company expects to sign an agreement with Ukraine on the production of Fuchs (fox in German) armored transport vehicles and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles by early next year.

Read also: Germany's Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with 25 Leopard-1 tanks

"After the contract is signed, we want to have finished the first (Fuchs) within six-seven months, and the first Lynx within 12-13 months," Papperger said.

Fuchs armored transport vehicle mass production in Ukraine is scheduled to begin by the end of the summer of 2024, while the production of infantry fighting vehicles will take a little longer, extending until the summer of 2025, he said.

Read also: Rheinmetall confirms transfer of LUNA reconnaissance drones to Ukraine

However, the production of Panther tanks is not currently being considered.

Rheinmetall and the state-owned Ukrainian Defense Industry (Ukroboronprom) have established a joint venture aimed at maintaining and repairing equipment supplied by Ukrainian partners, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Oct. 24.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- A decade-old China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has given strong momentum to Cambodia's socioeconomic development and poverty reduction, experts said on Saturday.

Neak Chandarith, director of the Cambodia 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Research Center, said BRI's landmark projects such as the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, and hydropower plants have greatly contributed to boosting the kingdom's economy, trade, investment and tourism.

"The BRI is not just a framework for infrastructure development. It's a catalyst for economic progress and prosperity, not only in Cambodia but also in the region and the world," he told Xinhua.

Chandarith said these landmark infrastructure projects represented a monumental leap forward for the Southeast Asian country.

"With a network of roads, bridges, and upgraded railways spanning thousands of kilometers, the country is becoming better connected internally and with its neighboring nations," the expert said.

He added that these developments have not only improved the country's transportation network but also spurred trade and increased foreign investment.

"Cambodia is becoming a more attractive destination for businesses and investors, and these developments have the potential to drive economic growth and create jobs, and improved the quality of life for millions of Cambodian people," Chandarith said.

He said the BRI, along with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement and the Cambodia-China free trade agreement, will help Cambodia achieve its ambitious goals of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

Thourn Sinan, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association Cambodia chapter, said the recently-launched Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, one of the BRI's landmark projects, has become a major international gateway to the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Park, which is the kingdom's most popular tourist destination.

"The Siem Reap Angkor International Airport is a key example of the successful cooperation between Cambodia and China under the BRI," he told Xinhua. "The 4E-level international airport is expected to boost tourism, trade, and investment in the region."

He said that the BRI has provided mutual benefits and win-win results and that under the initiative, Cambodia has received significant investment and assistance from China.

The BRI, a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was initiated by China in 2013 to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond via the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said BRI projects are transforming Cambodia into a key hub for trade and connectivity in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Cambodia is one of the countries that have seen the greatest impact of the BRI on infrastructure, trade, economy and cultural landscape," he told Xinhua. "China's investments in Cambodia have catalyzed a significant transformation of its infrastructure."

Sam added that China's investment in energy infrastructure has helped reduce Cambodia's power shortages and foster its sustainable development.

"The construction of hydropower plants, solar panel farms and power transmission networks has increased the country's green energy production capacity and alleviated its dependence on costly imported energy sources," he said.

"All in all, the BRI has provided tremendous benefits to Cambodia, injecting vigorous impetus into building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard Cambodia-China community with a shared future," he added. 
On Thursday, Springfield's LGBTQ+ community center announced it has hired a former City of Springfield employee as its first "full-time executive director."

Formerly the spokesperson for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, Aaron Schekorra will start at the GLO Center on Jan. 2, according to a press release. The GLO Center's current interim executive director Lou Hood started in March 2023, according to their LinkedIn.

After leaving the health department, Schekorra said he took a couple of months to focus on his businesses, Own Your Pride and Queerly Caffeinated.

Aaron Schekorra will begin serving as the GLO Center's full-time executive director on Jan. 2, according to a press release.

"The timing really just seemed to line up," Schekorra said, adding that a couple board members had reached out to him to encourage him to apply. "Talking to those folks, it felt like the perfect fit for what I wanted to do next."

The press release lists Schekorra's responsibilities as "overseeing the strategic direction, fundraising efforts, and community outreach initiatives of The GLO Center, ensuring the organization's mission and objectives are effectively carried out." Schekorra said he is looking to build on the existing success of the GLO Center's programs and to expand resources for the center so it can "continue to grow and give back to the community."

In addition to a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University, a master's degree from Missouri State University and several graduate certificates, Schekorra also has a graduate certificate in non-profit leadership with a focus on fiscal management.

More: Aaron Schekorra's latest venture, Queerly Caffeinated, blends love of coffee, LGBTQ advocacy

He hopes to take the knowledge from that certificate and apply it to his time leading the GLO Center.

"A big part of what I'm trying to do at the GLO Center is create some financial stability and long term resources so the GLO Center is here to stay," Schekorra said.

That includes ensuring that resources are available to everyone so the center can focus on gaps that exist rather than duplicating resources already offered.

"There's a lot of disparities that the LGBTQ+ community faces and unfortunately some of the services that are available in our community are not welcoming to all people," Schekorra said. "There are times where the GLO Center is providing resources simply because another service provider isn't a safe place for the queer community."

More: LGBTQ advocates say youth 'do not feel safe in SPS,' call for support

Schekorra previously served as development director for FosterAdopt Connect and was board president for PFLAG of Southwest Missouri. He credits his experience with PFLAG as part of what helped prepare him for the executive director role.

"I think it really played a huge role in looking forward to what I wanted to do with the GLO Center," Schekorra said. "I think that experience was really, really valuable."

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: GLO Center names Aaron Schekorra to executive director position
The House on Friday took the remarkable step of expelling George Santos (R-N.Y.), shrinking the GOPs already thin majority and depriving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of a precious vote as the chamber charges toward a series of legislative landmines.

And the partys math problems may be poised to get worse.

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) is headed for the exits to lead Youngstown State University early next year, and theres swirling speculation that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will quit Congress early after the House deposed him in historic and embarrassing fashion after just nine months with the gavel.

Republicans were quick to downplay the significance of their midseason loss of Santos. But with the GOP conference already fiercely divided over a host of high-profile issues  and with deadlines looming on must-pass legislation to fund the government and avert a shutdown  the loss of the seat could haunt the Speaker and his top deputies, all of whom voted to keep the scandal-plagued New Yorker in Congress.

Obviously, you want as much of a majority as you can get, said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), who voted to remove Santos. But that needs to be separate from this issue of who was just expelled. That is an entirely separate issue that should be outside of the discussion on the majority.

Top Stories from The Hill

Santoss removal has immediately trimmed the Republicans four-seat advantage down to three  a wafer-thin cushion that leaves Johnson, just weeks into his Speakership, little room for error as he attempts to steer the partys conservative agenda through the second half of the 118th Congress with a deeply divided conference.

A number of Republicans said the loss of Santos would be a minor factor in confronting that task.

Were back to where we were earlier this week, before Celeste Maloy was sworn in, said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), referring to the newly seated Utah Republican.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) offered a similar assessment shortly after Santoss ejection.

Weve got a razor-thin margin. Its more so now, but its really not much of a difference, he said. When we have issues  difficulty  moving things forward, its not usually a margin of three. Its usually much bigger. I mean, its not helpful. But thats not a factor.

Still, the cumulative effect of Santoss expulsion, Bill Johnsons eventual exit and a potential tap out from McCarthy would create undeniable new challenges for Republicans, putting them behind the eight ball as they look to keep the government open early next year, send aid for foreign allies and push through parts of their conservative policy agenda before Novembers elections, when the House majority is back up for grabs.

The timeline, however, is up in the air.

Bill Johnson is set to begin his tenure as president of Ohios Youngstown State University in mid-March, but he could leave Washington earlier. McCarthys case is a crapshoot: He vowed, after losing the gavel, to seek another term. But news reports suggest hes ready to leave, and he recently confirmed that hes weighing that decision.

If I decide to run again, I have to know in my heart, Im giving 110 percent. I have to know that I want to do that. I also have to know if Im gonna walk away, that Im gonna be fine with walking away. And so Im really taking this time now, McCarthy said at The New York Times DealBook summit this week, calling the decision a gut call.

Im gonna take the time to make the right decision for my district and for myself, he added.

The filing deadline to run for the House in California is Dec. 8; McCarthys decision on putting his name on the ballot for next year will hint at his future plans.

Then theres the special election to fill Santoss seat, which could either permanently deprive Republicans of the ousted lawmakers vote or keep the district red. Political headwinds are trending in Democrats direction: President Biden carried New Yorks 3rd Congressional District by roughly 8 percentage points in 2020, and the Cook Political Report rates the area a Republican toss up for 2024.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) will call a special election within 10 days of Santoss expulsion, and the election is required to take place between 70 and 80 days later, according to state law, teeing up a February or March election day.

The possibility of losing a vote in the slim GOP majority  during a session when Republicans have struggled to unite  loomed over the Santos debate for months. And while Speaker Johnson and other GOP leaders said their support for Santos this week hinged on their fear of setting a bad precedent governing expulsions, Johnson had acknowledged in October that the impact on the Republicans numerical advantage was weighing on his mind.

Heres the reality, Sean: We have a four-seat majority in the House, Johnson told Fox Newss Sean Hannity when asked about Santos shortly after winning the gavel. It is possible that that number may be reduced even more in the coming weeks and months. And so well have what may be the most razor-thin majority in the history of the Congress. We have no margin for error.

The numbers could be crucial as Congress steps into delicate debates in the coming weeks over controversial legislation, including bills to fund the government and provide emergency aid to the countrys war-torn allies of Ukraine and Israel.

Some lawmakers, however, rejected the idea that political implications may have factored into their decision on Fridays historic expulsion, arguing that there should be  and in their case, was  a line of demarcation between politics and ethics.

I dont make my decisions  and I didnt make my decision today  based on what impact it has on the majority of the House of Representatives. My god, that is absolutely unforgivable to make a decision on a matter of character based on what its gonna do to your majority, Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said Friday.

Thats a terrible excuse. I would be embarrassed if that were my excuse, he continued. So I voted to expel him, notwithstanding the fact that it moves us a little bit closer to, you know, perhaps losing this majority. But thats not at issue here. The issue is his character.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Outside London, few British towns can match Oxford for the richness of its architecture: Cambridge perhaps, though it pains this Cambridge man to admit Oxford might just have the edge. Its treasures are described in the revised Pevsner architectural guide The Buildings of England  Oxfordshire: Oxford and the South-East (Yale, 45).

The city was fortunate in its local stone, which glows like honey in the summer sunshine. But in modern times Oxford has suffered from some truly horrible building. The new volume is uncritical of the remarkably ugly Wolfson College, completed in 1974. The revised guides have been scrupulous in re-evaluating the opinions of the series progenitor Nikolaus Pevsner, who was unduly favourable to modernist horrors. A little more stringency would have been welcome here.

Yet in the past 25 years, Oxford has become home to some striking buildings. The Said Business School, designed by Dixon Jones, completed in 2001 and built in yellow brick, has a restraint that prompts the guide to say the building belongs with the Postmodern return to evocative primal forms. Even more impressive is the Blavatnik School of Government, completed in 2015, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, and looking like a casual pile of different shapes.

In the seven centuries before the Second World War, Oxford became a showcase of the finest architecture. Charles Barrys Tudor Gothic style can be seen in the New Buildings (1841-42) at University College. William Butterfield designed Keble College, which was largely built by 1870. In the first edition of this guide Pevsner described it as actively ugly. Happily, the revised volume observes that for many, Keble will always represent Victorian Oxford at its most courageous and inspired. From the 20th century, Reginald Blomfield and Giles Gilbert Scott left their mark on Lady Margaret Hall, the former designing much of the red-brick front quad in the 1910s, the latter the college chapel in the 1930s, which the guide calls ambitious in its Byzantine style.

A city of masterpieces: Radcliffe Camera, Oxford - Dylan Garcia ARPS/Alamy

But to most people Oxford means its ancient and Baroque buildings. Christ Church cathedral is a magnificent example of 12th-century building, with its ornate vaulted ceiling dating to the 1400s. Mob Quad at Merton dates from the late 1200s, and survives as the oldest quad in the university. Magdalen Colleges 15th-century Cloister Quad is a glorious exhibition of the local stone. And the great architects of the 17th and 18th century are mostly represented: Wrens Sheldonian Theatre (1664-1669) was only his second attempt at architecture, and one of his most celebrated.

Hawksmoor proliferated in the city in the early 18th century, his Clarendon Building originally housing the University Press. He conceived the idea for the Radcliffe Camera, begun by James Gibbs in 1737 and which the guide justifiably describes as his masterpiece.

But Oxford is filled with masterpieces, which is why walking its streets, preferably with this book in hand, is an inexhaustible delight.

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Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a press conference about campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Colleges and universities occupy a unique position as the truest marketplace of ideas, said Utahs Interim Commissioner of Education Geoff Landward on Friday.

Colleges and universities are places where the most educated experts in various ideas are able to express those ideas, engage with students, engage with community members, and other institutions and have been held out as the paragon protector of those forums, Landward said, addressing the Utah Board of Higher Education.

That responsibility kind of weighs on us all the time. Unfortunately, the complexity of the First Amendment also makes that responsibility very difficult to manage, he said.

With that in mind, the Utah Board of Higher Education, overseers of Utahs system of public colleges and universities, adopted a resolution establishing expectations for implementing principles of free expression on campus.

It calls on campuses to maintain institutional neutrality, protect a speakers right to free expression at approved events or venues on campus and to provide a process for an institution to publicly address, condemn or prohibit expression or actions that violate the law.

Landward said the resolution was a companion to an earlier free expression resolution passed in May by the former higher education board. The new board, all appointed by Gov. Spencer Cox, voted unanimously to adopt the new guidance document on Friday.

Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, spoke in support of the resolution, particularly with respect to institutional neutrality.

House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, listens as Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a press conference about campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

The governor said institutional neutrality may be a little controversial, it should not be. ... This idea that every institution needs to weigh in on every political debate of the day, its one of the dumbest things weve done over the last 10 or 20 years as a country.

Addressing Utahs public college and university presidents, I mean this with all the love in my heart when I say I do not care what your position is on Israel and Palestine. I do not care what your position is on Roe v. Wade. We do not mean for our institutions to take a position on those things. Thats not the way it was when I went to college. Its not the way it should be today, Cox said.

However, Cox said he cares about students being able to take their positions on Israel and Palestine and Roe v Wade, and I want them to debate those positions. But the minute our institutions say this is the correct idea of the day, then what you have done is, you have sent a message to other students that their ideas are not welcome to your institution. There is no room for debate and we will not allow that to happen. And I am very serious about that.

Schultz, meanwhile, thanked the higher education board for leading out on this issue. Were excited to partner with you in the legislative branch.

While it is critical to preserve students First Amendment rights, it is also clear that the higher ed institutions themselves must remain neutral. Institutions are a place for students to learn new ideas, develop into leaders and form their own opinions. The role of higher education institutions is to teach our students, not take a stand on the issues of the day, like the governor said. If thats what the higher ed institutions are gonna do, go run for office. Go into the political space. Thats the place for that, Schultz said.

Asked if lawmakers would also address the issue during their upcoming general session, Schultz said, Im sure we will. Im sure there will be some sort of memorializing in state statute what was said today. What that looks like, I dont know.

Were going to work together. Im super excited that were not having to address this from a legislative perspective, that were able to work collaboratively with higher education. I think we get better outcomes and better buy-in doing that, Schultz said.

The boards action comes as free speech on campuses across the country is being scrutinized by policymakers, donors and even employers.

Closer to home, the University of Utah has recently been tested as competing student organizations  Mecha and Young Americans for Freedom recently demonstrated on opposite sides of the Israeli-Hamas war and transgender rights.

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Earlier this week, seven student protesters who disrupted the Young Americans for Freedoms watch party at Marriott Library on Nov. 1 were cited by University of Utah police.

The protesters, all enrolled university students, face possible Class B misdemeanor charges for interfering with a peace officer, disrupting operation of a school and disorderly conduct. Any academic discipline and accountability will be managed by the Dean of Students Office, according to a statement from the university.

According to the statement, the citations stemmed from the individuals conduct at the event hosted by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter to screen the documentary, Damaged: The Transing of Americas Kids, produced by the Daily Caller.

University police halted the event over safety concerns. The event came to an unexpected halt as campus police enforced the hecklers veto, compelling us to shut it down, said YAF University of Utah chapter president Lucy Atwood.

Officers from the University of Utah Police prepare for an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom featuring Chloe Cole at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

This past week, the organization that Atwood said champions traditional family values and conservatism, conducted another watch party of the film Damaged and on Thursday night, hosted a talk by one of the documentarys subjects, Chloe Cole.

Cole, 19, is an activist from California who supports state bans of sex reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies for minors. The event was peacefully conducted amid a large police presence.

Cole appeared before a largely supportive audience in the U. Languages and Communication Building, although her viewpoint was challenged by some attendees during the events question-and-answer period. Meanwhile, students picketed outside the building in support of transgender rights and free speech.

Cole, who testified at the Utah Legislature earlier this year as it considered SB16, which bans sex reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies for minors, said the so-called doctors that treated her starting at age 13 abused her and her parents.

My moms and dads rights as parents were violated. They were lied to. They were emotionally manipulated in thinking that this was life or death for their child. The doctors told them that they had two choices for me, transition or suicide. They chose the only solution that they were given for me because they loved me and they wanted me to live. So, halfway through my eighth grade year at 13 years old, I was started on my very first intervention which was Lupron to block my puberty, Cole said.

Chloe Cole answers a students question at an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

After undergoing a double mastectomy, Cole said she realized at age 16 that transitioning was a mistake but she found no support from health care providers or others who had earlier helped her and her family navigate reassignment surgery or care.

One student, Jordan Langford, questioned why Coles experiences should weigh against people who are seeking sex reassignment surgeries and therapies.

From the studies that were performed, its about a 99% non-regret rate, which, for the record, is higher than most life-saving surgeries and knee replacements and mobility replacements. By and large. people do not regret these surgeries, he said, adding, Why should we believe that your case is everybodys case?

Cole questioned the reliability of the research, noting she and other detransitioners she knows have not been included in such research.

When was health care about happiness? Cole responded.

Health care should be about the quality of life of the patient. Regardless of how you look at it whether these patients say theyre happier or not, their overall health decreases greatly. Cole said.

The resolution also calls on Utahs public colleges and universities to establish a program designed to educate new students about the institutions role as the marketplace of ideas such as what constitutes protected speech; when the institution may intervene in speech, such as direct threats, violence, illegal harassment or discrimination and how to appropriately express viewpoints through events, such as protests, parades or other events.

Sebastian Miscenich speaks in protest outside of an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom featuring Chloe Cole at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. The student protestors believe the message promotes transphobia on campus. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

Attendees listen at an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom featuring Chloe Cole at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

Emma Quinn Reid sits in the lobby at an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom featuring Chloe Cole at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. Reid, a transgender woman, sat to offer any student who wanted to talk to a transgender person about their experience the opportunity. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

Police stand in the back while attendees listen at an event put on by student group Young Americans for Freedom featuring Chloe Cole at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Cole previously identified as transgender and received medical interventions but has since detransitioned to the gender she was assigned at birth. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

Gov. Spencer Cox, center, is flanked by government officials after a press conference on campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. From left to right are Amanda Covington, chair of the board of the USHE; Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton; Gov. Cox; Geoffrey Landward, interim commissioner of the USHE; and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

People listen during a press conference about campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Geoffrey Landward, interim commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, speaks during a press conference about campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Amanda Covington, chair of the board of the Utah System of Higher Education, speaks during a press conference on campus free speech at the Utah System of Higher Education office in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
Holy mole-y!

A slippery little animal has made an appearance after more than eight decades under the radar of scientists, according to research findings published Nov. 24.

De Wintons golden mole is a blind mammal about the size of a hamster, with powerful hearing and shimmering, tawny fur that helps it blend in with the South African sand dunes it calls home. The mole gets its glisten from a coat of oil, which also allows the small creature to swim through and underneath the sand.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.  a common Mark Twain misquote, and also what this mole is probably saying.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.  a common Mark Twain misquote, and also what this mole is probably saying.

The last known sighting of the elusive critters was in 1937, and scientists believed they were possibly extinct, according to last months research paper in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation. The animals had made the most wanted list of lost species compiled by conservation group Re:wild, which partially funded the effort to find them.

Some thought researchers attempting to locate the species were on a futile game of whack-a-mole.

One De Wintons expert told us, youre not going to find that mole. Its extinct, researcher Samantha Mynhardt told The Associated Press.

You can't keep a good mole down.

You can't keep a good mole down.

With the sniffing ability of a specially trained dog named Jessie, however, researchers were ultimately able to find what they believed to be two golden moles in 2021 near the town of Port Nolloth. The researchers took non-invasive cheek and anal swabs to get DNA, and then underwent the lengthy process of testing the DNA to make sure they had the right species, since there are multiple species of similar-looking golden moles.

Since then, researchers have found signs of what they believe are four other De Wintons golden mole populations in the general area. But the Guardian notes that the area lacks environmental protections, and diamond mining threatens the animals habitat.

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After a year of construction and raising over $11 million, an old Drake University building opened its doors as a brand-new hub for one nonprofit's Meals on Wheels program on Friday, Dec. 1.

WesleyLife, a Des Moines-based organization that provides various services for older adults in central Iowa, broke ground for its new Meals on Wheels campus over a year ago with the promise to serve even more older adults and veterans across the Des Moines metro.

"It's investments like this one that make such an incredible difference in our communities and the lives of Iowans," Gov. Kim Reynolds said at the opening ceremony.

Reynolds joined Des Moines Mayor-Elect Connie Boesen; Rob Kretzinger, president and CEO of WesleyLife; Drake University President Marty Martin; Sophia Ahmad, vice president of philanthropy at WesleyLife; and Shannon Draayer, the director of health and wellbeing at WesleyLife at the opening ceremony of the new Meals on Wheels Campus.

This new facility will help WesleyLife produce 3,000 meals a day  tripling its meal production  to serve older adults and veterans and offer aid to other Meals on Wheels programs in the state, said Heather Stuyvesant, director of community nutrition at WesleyLife, last year at the groundbreaking of the facility.

Mayor-Elect Connie Boesen spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new facility on Friday, Dec. 1.

"This campus will play a role in changing the social fabric of not only Des Moines, but the entire metro area by helping serve our older population and our veteran community," Boesen said.

About the new Meals on Wheels facility

The new Meals on Wheels campus is situated in the former College of Education building, which is located in the Drake University neighborhood at 3206 University Avenue in Des Moines. The facility features state-of-the-art kitchen appliances and the nations only Meals on Wheels-affiliated hydroponic farming operation, according to a news release.

"Folks are finding ways to make ends meet in many different ways, and we're a key part of that," Draayer said at the ceremony. "... this space is going to allow us to meet that growing need in new and imaginative and innovative ways."

The 5,000-square-foot kitchen includes cold and dry storage, mixers, tilt skillets and kettles, a grill and ovens, a blast chiller and warmer, a meal packaging station, a drive-thru window and a dishwashing station.

The campus also includes a restaurant, Hugo's Wood-Fired Kitchen, that will feature a Mediterranean menu; the Prairie Meadows Hydroponic Farm, which can produce 20,000 pounds of greens annually; and the Polk County Generations Hall, which is a collaborative space where multiple generations can connect.

The new campus will offer the nations only Meals on Wheels-affiliated hydroponic farming operation, named after Parries Meadows.

How the new Meals on Wheels campus came to be

For over a decade, WesleyLife staff and volunteers were stationed in an about 3,000-square-foot kitchen that was tucked in an old Sherman Hill building, making only 1,000 meals a day.

The search for a new facility had been ongoing until early last year, when WesleyLife met philanthropist and Drake University Board of Trustee Suzie Glazer Burt, who donated $1.05 million to the project and acquired the former campus building through the university.

The new Meals on Wheels campus features a timeline from how a meal starts in the kitchen and what it takes to get it to your doorstep.

The new campus was made possible by a WesleyLife-affiliated capital campaign, "More than Meals", to raise money for the nearly $11 million renovation project and collected donations from more than 100 contributions.

"This campaign is unprecedented, and it would not have happened without the committed and talented volunteer leaders, without selfless generous donors and without remarkable support," said Ahmad.

Meals on Wheels, food insecurity in Des Moines

In 2021, 9,000 older adults in Polk County experienced food insecurity, a number that continues to increase with rising costs, according to Draayer. Eighty percent of WesleyLife's Meals on Wheels recipients live 185% below the federal poverty line, and across the state, 41% of older adults who are working are struggling to pay for basic necessities such as food, housing and health care, Draayer said at the groundbreaking event last year.

"The need is great, and this campus will play a critical role in addressing hunger in central Iowa," Gov. Reynolds said.

Now, with its doors open and kitchen ready to go, 3,000 meals will be able to be made and distributed to Iowans in need from the new Meals on Wheels campus.

"We're now serving 500,000 meals (in the greater Des Moines area) and that is incredible," Kretzinger said.

What is WesleyLife?

WesleyLife is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization made up of comprehensive retirement communities with a focus on health and well-being services and initiatives for older adults.

WesleyLife offers independent living and assisted living services, memory support, long-term care and more for those who may need assistance with their day-to-day lives.

The organization has worked with Meals on Wheels for the past 17 years to deliver fresh meals to older adults and military veterans who need meal assistance.

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: WesleyLife's Meals on Wheels campus opens its doors to triple capacity
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  She may not have won the Miss Universe crown, but Michelle Dee will still have a homecoming fit for a queen.

The Miss Universe Philippines organization announced on Saturday that a homecoming parade will happen at the SM Mall of Asia complex on Dec. 10.

"We are going to have special guests and fun activities for all of you  it's going to be a fiesta!" the organization said.

"So, come in your best Miss Universe looks, prepare your loudest cheers and banners, and be ready to wave the Philippine flag high!" it added.

Dee arrived in Manila last week after her pageant stint in El Salvador, where she finished among the top ten finalists.

She also bagged several special awards including Best National Costume.

The 28-year-old beauty queen said she is planning to return to acting after hinting about an upcoming television project.
BISSAU (Reuters) -Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said on Saturday that gunfire and clashes that had erupted in the capital of the West African nation on Friday were an attempted coup.

"I can assure you that the events of December 1, 2023, are yet another attempted coup and those responsible will suffer serious consequences," Embalo told journalists after arriving from Dubai where he was attending the COP28 climate summit.

Clashes between two army factions broke out in Bissau on Thursday night and continued on Friday after national guard soldiers freed an opposition minister who was detained in a corruption investigation.

Bissaud's army said in a statement on Friday that order had been restored by afternoon in the tiny West African country where coups and unrest have been commonplace since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.

At least six people were killed during a failed attempt to overthrow Embalo in February 2022.

"On February 1, 2022, we witnessed the same scenario. We still need to put an end once and for all on these upheavals in Guinea-Bissau," Embalo said.

(Reporting by Alberto Dabo; Writing by Bate Felix; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Zieminski)
MANSFIELD, Ohio (WJW)  Officers responded to Minerva Avenue in Mansfield at about 4 a.m., Saturday after a man called police and said he just shot a man who was

wielding a knife, police reported.

Katie Ann Fuller, missing since September, found dead in Sandy Township

Mansfield police said they found a 30-year-old man dead inside a bedroom at the home.

It appears the victim sustained a single gunshot wound resulting in his death, police said.

Detectives said the suspect has been identified and arrested on an unrelated felony

warrant.

Woman who threw Chipotle order at worker can work off jail time at fast food restaurant

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to please call Major Crimes Detective Richard Clapp at 419-755-9470.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
GOP hopeful Nikki Haley faces a moment of truth in the next primary debate Wednesday in Alabama: Can she seize on her momentum and put in a top-level performance that will turn her into a real rival for the presidential nomination to former President Trump?

The former United Nations ambassador has seen boosts from her previous debate performances, and another standout showing could propel her ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has long been considered Trumps closest rival.

Given Trumps significant lead over the rest of the GOP field, all eyes are on the race for second place  with just more than a month before 2024 voting kicks off with the Iowa caucuses in mid-January.

Watching the trajectory of the debates, the one that is probably going to try to capture their moment will be Nikki Haley, because she is in a position to maybe securely take the second spot away from Ron DeSantis, said Chris Brown, an Alabama-based Republican strategist.

Top Stories from The Hill

Haley got another boost last week when Americans for Prosperity Action, the conservative network led by billionaire Charles Koch, backed her 2024 bid. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also called for Democrats to help Haley in her bid.

Combining that recent victory with a positive debate performance could really solidify her as the most credible alternative to Trump, or in a clear second place, said Aaron Kall, the director of debate at the University of Michigan and an expert on presidential debates.

The fourth debate  which is being hosted and broadcast by NewsNation and is being held in Tuscaloosa  is also a pivotal moment for DeSantis.

The Florida governor once seemed to be the heir apparent of the party, Kall said.

But as time has gone on, and weve done more debates, the polling has just changed. Haleys benefited the most from the debates. Shes been really consistent, and I think people have been impressed the more theyve seen of her, Kall said.

David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University in California, said the momentum heading into the fourth debate is clearly with the former U.N. ambassador.

Next week, the spotlight, obviously, will be on Nikki Haley, McCuan said.

McCuan pointed to the high expectations for DeSantis as a Trump alternative at the start of the race and said the Florida governor has continued to underperform in recent months  while Haley has been doing pretty well or better than expected and can grab that rolling momentum.

The Haley campaign is touting those successes and looking to push that energy even beyond the fourth debate.

[Haleys] gone into every debate making the case for why we need a new generation of conservative leadership who will leave the chaos of the past behind, said a campaign spokesperson, who labeled Haley as the only candidate on the rise.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) hasnt yet announced which candidates have met their heightened criteria for the fourth debate, but Haley, DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy appear to have qualified. Chris Christies team has said the former New Jersey governor has also met the donor criteria.

Trump has skipped the debate stages so far, and plans to forego the next.

The event in Alabama is set to be one of the last major opportunities for candidates to make their case just weeks before ballots are cast in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina  the three early states that could decide the GOP primary in 2024.

The stakes are really high for [Haley] to keep the enthusiasm going for her candidacy, GOP strategist Ron Bonjean said. Really knocking it out of the park at the debate would be a great thing for her to do.

After the first debate back in August, polling indicated GOP voters saw Haley among the top performers, and that momentum appeared to carry through her next appearances.

Haley drew direct attacks from several of her fellow competitors at the third debate and clashed with DeSantis on the Miami stage, underscoring her strength as a threat in the 2024 field. Another poll of likely Republican primary voters and caucusgoers put Haley as the winner of the third debate  with DeSantis in second behind her.

Brown and other strategists pointed to the declining viewership of the debates and concerns about how much attention the fourth event will get as some voters disengage during the holiday season  but Brown said the event could still change the dynamics of a candidacy if a contender snags a star moment.

Maybe this is the last chance before Iowa, New Hampshire start coming after Christmas to be the lead alternative to President Trump, Brown said.

Additionally, Republican strategist Justin Sayfie argued that some voters may be tuning in even more intently next week than they did for the previous debates.

The closer we get to ballots being cast, the more that voters in those early primary states are going to be paying attention. So in some ways  this is the most important debate that weve had so far, Sayfie said.

Haley has been closing in on DeSantis in some states and rising in recent polls of the GOP field. A mid-November Emerson College poll of New Hampshire voters found Haley surged to runner-up status behind Trump in the Granite State, and a CNN poll from October puts her in second in her home state of South Carolina.

In Iowa, the first state to vote in the GOPs presidential nominating cycle, Haley and DeSantis were tied for second in a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll from late October. DeSantis had dropped 3 points since August, and Haley had climbed 10 points.

Sayfie said expectations may be lower for DeSantis heading into the fourth debate and on  but argued that could now make it easier for him to exceed them.

Bonjean said the fourth debate is more important for DeSantis than ever, because the spotlight has been really fading on his chances.

At the same time, DeSantis recently scored a coveted endorsement from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) and made headlines for a Thursday night debate with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, just a week ahead of the RNC event. His team has expressed expressed confidence about his chances in the early states.

Its really gonna be the two of them that everyones interested in, Kall said of Haley and DeSantis at the fourth debate.

Just five candidates took part in the third debate, down from eight at the first.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) have both dropped out in recent weeks  but North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), neither of whom made the cut for the previous RNC debate, have both said they are staying in the race.

Many in the party are hoping the still-crowded field soon winnows, so support can consolidate behind a top Trump alternative, such as DeSantis or Haley, and make the race against the front-runner more competitive.

The former president is expected to win Iowa, but strategists say theyll be looking at the margin between second and third to see which candidate is best positioned to be the top Trump rival in 2024.

I think [Haley] has a lot at stake, Sayfie said. I think DeSantis has a lot at stake.

The Hill and NewsNation are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Saturday, Dec. 2

SPSCC American Portrait concert: On Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m., the SPSCC Symphony Orchestra presents this concert featuring American music from a variety of viewpoints, including works by Louis Gottschalk, Richard Meyer, Austin Schlichting, and William Grant Still. The orchestra will share the stage with the North Thurston High School Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Rebecca Gage. Admission is a suggested $15 donation at the door. Entrance is free to SPSCC students, staff, and faculty. More information is available on the colleges Arts & Entertainment webpage.

Olympia Yacht Club Parade of Lighted Ships: The Olympia Yacht Club (OYC) is pleased to announce the Parade of Lighted Ships will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2. OYC boats decorated for the holidays will travel from the club up through Budd Inlet to Boston Harbor Marina and back. The public is invited to watch the parade from Port Plaza, where Santa and Mrs. Claus will be handing out candy canes, coffee and hot cocoa starting at 5:30 p.m. (while supplies last). This traditional event is free. Parade begins from OYC at Percival Landing and heads north past Port Plaza, 701 Columbia St NW, Olympia, along the east side of Budd Inlet to Boston Harbor. Boats return to Olympia by 8 p.m. along the west side of Budd Inlet. Since many of the boats are decorated only on their starboard/right-hand side, the best viewing as they sail north is from the port area, the tip of the Port Peninsula by Anthonys Hearthfire restaurant and KGY Radio, as well as anywhere along East Bay Drive north of Swantown Marina. On the return trip from Boston Harbor, good vantage points include West Bay Drive, West Bay Marina and Tugboat Annies.

Olympia Yacht Clubs Parade of Lighted Ships will be at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Tumwaters Christmas Tree Lighting Festival: Looking for free holiday fun for the whole family and a chance to see Santa without that harrowing drive to the North Pole? Join Tumwater Parks & Recreation for the 20th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Festival from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Tumwater City Hall and Tumwater Headquarters Fire Station on Israel Road. Enjoy school choir performances, create a wooden ornament for your holiday tree, sip on hot cocoa, enjoy yummy biscuits, take pictures with Santa, and watch the ceremonial tree lighting at 5:30 p.m. Santa Claus will be in the City Hall Council Chambers to take pictures and share some holiday cheer. Bring donations of non-perishable food or cash donations for the Thurston County Food Bank.

Monday, Dec. 4

Lacey Parade of Lights and Christmas Tree Lighting: The Lacey Lighted Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday and will follow a route beginning on Sleater Kinney Road, traveling down Seventh Avenue, and ending at Huntamer Park for the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. A map of the parade route can be found on the Lacey Lighted Parade website. Local students will perform holiday music, and Santa will read a story you can listen to on your phone.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

The Olympia Woodworkers Guild: This group will meet Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Jefferson Middle School, 2200 Conger Ave., Olympia. Social time will begin 6 p.m. and the meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m. Enter through door 22 in the back of the school. Please bring a food donation for Jefferson students and also a woodworking item or project you would like to share in our Show and Tell. At approximately 7:15 p.m. the in-person presentation by Guild Member Cody Hanson on Exploring Wood Finishes will begin, with Q&A encouraged throughout. Learn more about the Guild on its website.

Wednesday, Dec. 6

Welcome to Medicare Zoom Presentation: This online presentation at 11 a.m. Wedneday offers an introduction to options for new Medicare beneficiaries. It covers Parts A and B, Medicare Advantage Plans, Part D Prescription Plans, Medicare Supplements, and programs available to limited-income beneficiaries. To register, email jrich@southsoundseniors.org or call and leave a message at Senior Services SHIBA program at 360-586-6181 ext 134. A registration link will be sent to you.

Thursday, Dec. 7

Olympia World Affairs Council Trivia Night: This event runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Heritage Distillery, 4200 Capitol Blvd SE, Tumwater. It will help raise funds for local study abroad students from South Puget Sound Community College, The Evergreen State College, and Saint Martins University.

State Capitol Committee considers Newhouse Building name: The State Capitol Committee will discuss a proposal to retain the Newhouse Building name at its meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 7. Information on the proposals is found in the SCC meeting packet. Public comments can be sent to SCC-CCDACPublicComments@des.wa.gov for consideration by 4 p.m. Dec. 5. People can also sign up to comment during the meeting. While the Legislature has ultimate naming authority, state law calls for recommendations that come from the State Capitol Committee. Buildings on the Capitol Campus are eligible for naming or renaming when constructed, after significant renovation, or when there is a change in the main tenant agency headquartered there.

Senior Medicare Patrol: Preventing fraud and abuse will be introduced in a Zoom presentation at 1 p.m. Thursday. The program will inform consumers about how to prevent, detect and report Medicare Fraud. To get a link to register, email jrich@southsoundseniors.org or call and leave a message at Senior Services SHIBA program at 360-586-6181 ext. 134. A registration link will be sent to you.

Friday, Dec. 8

City of Olympias Ceramics Open House and Holiday Sale: This holiday event will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW.

Olympia Peace Choir: The choir will perform its annual solstice concert, A Winters Night, to celebrate the returning light of the winter solstice. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Huntamer Park, 618 Woodland Square Loop SE, Lacey. Admission is free but donations are gratefully appreciated. Dress for the weather because this is an outdoor event.

Olympia Family Theater presents The Velveteen Rabbit: Olympia Family Theater opens its production of Margery Williams classic childrens story. It will run until Dec. 31 at the theater, 612 Fourth Ave. E. Tickets, available on a sliding scale starting at $5, are available now at www.Olyft.org. The play is approximately 55 minutes and presented without intermission; its recommended for ages 5 and older.

Fridays at the First: Olympia First Christian Church at Seventh Avenue and Franklin Street is hosting a series of holiday concerts. The first, at noon Friday, is the Timberline Chamber Choir. Admission is free. Gather for hospitality in the church library at 11:30 a.m. Concerts begin at noon and last about an hour. Contributions for the musicians are encouraged and gratefully accepted. Have questions? Email: cconcerts4fcc@gmail.com

Saturday, Dec. 9

Blacks in Thurston County discussion with Dr. Thelma Jackson: The League of Women Voters of Thurston County is partnering with The United Churches of Olympia to host Blacks in Thurston County, Washington 1950-1975: A Community Album, a free public book event from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, at United Churches of Olympia, 110 Eleventh Ave SE. Jackson will lead a discussion about her book. She is a long-time resident of Thurston County who is currently serves on the City of Lacey Commission on Equity. Blacks in Thurston County is a collection of 55 short biographies about Black people who came to Thurston County between 1950 and 1975. The book is published by the Northwest Institute for Leadership and Change.

Turn of the Tides: The Puget Sound Estuarium will host a seasonal celebration, Turn of the Tides, at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. This family-friendly free event will feature arts and crafts activities, the Estuarium touch tank station, warm drinks, information tables by environmental and community organizations, as well as eco-inspired artist vendors.

Native Plant Tea Party: The public is invited to this tea party where youll sip, savor, and celebrate the wonders of native plants. Taste teas brewed with native plants and make stylish crafts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the WET Science Center, 500 Adams St. NE, Olympia. Admission is free.

The Olympia Record Show: This event will be at the Elks Lodge #186, 1818 Fourth Ave. E., presented by Rainy Day Records. Its a vinyl lovers holiday shopping dream, with 40 tables of records on offer by the sellers from all over the Pacific Northwest. Admission is $2 from 2 to 7 p.m., with a $10 early admission at 1 p.m. Vendor spots are sold out. Call 360-357-4755 for more information.

Local author event with Mary Gentry: Browsers Bookshop will host local writer Mary Gentry at 2 p.m. Saturday, where she will discuss her third volume of personal essays, The Best is Yet to Be. The event will be held in-person and upstairs at the bookshop, 107 Capitol Way N, Olympia. Gentrys collection is part memoir, part commentary on daily life; she carries readers with her through the various joys, struggles, sorrows, surprises, and ambitions of her eighth decade.

Sunday, Dec. 10

The Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum Holiday Open House: This event will be at the Bigelow House Museum at 918 Glass Ave. NE in Olympia from 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is by a $5 suggested donation. Visitors will enjoy holiday decor, learn about this Olympia home as well as savor a holiday treat. One of Olympias oldest residences, the house was built by 1860 and features authentic period decor and furnishings which tell the story of the long residence of the Bigelow Family in Olympia. More information is at olympiahistory.org or email olyhistory@gmail.com.

Would you like to have your event included in our weekly Whats Happening listing? Email the details to news@theolympian.com at least 10 days before the event. Please put Whats Happening in the subject line.
On Saturday, the U.S. pledged $3 billion to help developing countries mitigate and combat climate change.

Today, I am also proud to announce a new $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries invest in resilience, clean energy and nature-based solutions, Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday during a speech at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai.

The funding comes at a time when Congress is sharply divided, and Republicans have been very vocal about wanting to cut spending overall, and fight President Bidens agenda.

A source told Reuters that the pledge was subject to fund availability.

In her speech, Harris also called for more climate action in her speech.

We must have the ambition to meet this moment, to accelerate our ongoing work, increase our investments and lead with courage and conviction.

She slammed leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation and corporations that greenwash climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
NORFOLK (WAVY)  A federal judge sentenced Ali Scott, 32, of Portsmouth to six years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to drug and gun violations.

Previously: Portsmouth man pleads guilty to drug, firearm charges

In October and November of last year, DEA and Portsmouth authorities searched two locations  one on the 1400 block of Lindsay Avenue, the other on the 1700 block of Des Moines Avenue. In those locations and in Scotts car, they found several handguns, an AR-15 rifle, an AK-47 rifle, ammunition and body armor, according to court documents.

It prompted Judge John Gibney to tell Scott this morning, you were ready for a shootout.

Agents also confiscated drugs, including fentanyl and the large animal tranquilizer xylazine.

That combination is known as the Zombie drug, or tranq.

In March, the DEA warned about tranq spreading through Hampton Roads.

Citizens of Virginia are dying day-in and day-out from fentanyl, but now the adulterants that theyre mixing with these pills with fentanyl is xylazine, and thats also contributing to a deadlier combination, said Jarod Forget, DEA Special Agent in Charge.

Xylazine is resistant to Narcan, because xylazine itself is not an opioid, and it can attack your body in another horrible way.

(It can cause) necrosis. The xylazine will actually lead to the decomposition of human tissue. Weve heard reports from medical professionals that it leads to amputations, Forget said.

Right after he saw his son sentenced to six years in prison, Scotts father said that he needs to learn his lesson. I cant understand why he needed all those guns.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez reminded supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People's Army, and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) not to make demands that may thwart peacebuilding efforts between the government and rebels.

Galvez was reacting to statements released by different groups after the government announced it will resume peace negotiations with the NDFP.

"There should be no preconditions whatsoever, as these can derail future discussions," Galvez said in a statement.

The CPP-NPA earlier expressed support for the resumption of peace talks but demanded that the government abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and repeal RA 10592 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

"As we have learned from our past experiences, making such pre-conditions even before the start of the discussions puts a huge burden on both sides when there is still a need to agree on the parameters and framework of the talks," Galvez said.

"Our future discussions should be rules-based, consultative, inclusive, and most importantly, all issues from both sides should be formally put on the table and not through other unofficial platforms," he added.

Galvez said making such demands when both sides are still in the exploratory phase of the peace process is "unnecessary and counterproductive."

"I would like to urge other parties to respect the Joint Statement and Oslo Joint Communique and not make preconditions or release propaganda that will water down the peacebuilding efforts of the previous and current administrations," he said.

"We respect and appreciate your suggestions. But now is not the time to issue such premature and provocative statements that will compromise the initial 'goodwill' that has been painstakingly built in Oslo," Galvez emphasized.

The Marcos administration earlier announced it will resume peace negotiations with the NDFP, as both parties acknowledged the "need to unite" to address national challenges, including foreign security threats.

Marcos has also granted amnesty to current and former members of rebel groups who may have committed crimes "in pursuit of their political beliefs."
George Santos, the disgraced New York Republican who was expelled from the US House on Friday, spent his first hours as a former congressman railing against his former colleagues and saying he would file ethics complaints against four of them on Monday.

Related: How George Santos responded to being fact-checked on 14 of his biggest lies

Santos told reporters after his expulsion he was done with Congress.

Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place, he told reporters outside the US Capitol after the vote.

By Friday evening, he was tweeting about his colleagues. He wrote on X that he would file an ethics complaint against three fellow Republicans from New York  Mike Lawler, Nicole Malliotakis and Nick LaLota  who had long pushed to oust him from Congress. He offered no proof of wrongdoing against any of the three.

He also wrote that he would file a complaint against the representative Rob Menendez, whose father, the New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, has been criminally charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of Egypt. Santos, again, didnt offer specific accusations of wrongdoing.

Any person can file a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, but that does not mean it will result in an investigation.

Santos also urged a Republican in Congress to have the testicular fortitude to move to expel Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a fine for setting off a fire alarm in a congressional office building.

Lets see who will be the Republican that will have the testicular fortitude to pick up my privileged motion to expel Bowman and reintroduce it! #ExpelBowman  George Santos (@MrSantosNY) December 2, 2023

Santos spent the week leading up to his impeachment vote railing against colleagues, accusing them of having affairs and missing votes because they were hungover.

Santos became just the sixth person ever to be expelled from Congress after a bipartisan 311-114 vote on Friday. His expulsion came shortly after a report from the House ethics committee detailed how he had spent campaign funds on luxury goods, cosmetics and an OnlyFans subscription. He also has pleaded not guilty to a 23-count federal indictment related to his use of campaign funds.

After being elected to Congress to represent Long Island and Queens last year, Santos quickly earned a reputation as a prolific liar. Among other things, he lied about working on Wall Street, that his mother died during 9/11, and that he was a volleyball star in college.
The holiday season is the perfect time to bring joy to our four-legged friends at Nassau County Animal Services. To facilitate the spirit of giving, all five Nassau County Public Library branches will be hosting collection boxes from December 4 to December 22.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

This initiative aims to collect donations for Nassau County Animal Services, ensuring that adoptable pets have a warm and festive holiday season.

Animal Services is seeking contributions such as pet blankets, treats, food, and collars/leashes to enhance the well-being of the animals in their care. The community is encouraged to participate in this heartwarming campaign and make a positive impact on the lives of these pets.

The full wish list, detailing the items needed for the Nassau County Animal Services Wish List Campaign, can be found on their official Amazon Wishlist HERE.

Your generosity can make a significant difference in providing comfort and joy to these animals during the holiday season. Lets come together as a community to ensure that the adoptable pets at Nassau County Animal Services have a festive and memorable celebration.

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Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Forty-five years ago, as governor, I gathered Arizonas leaders to confront a growing water crisis: declining groundwater that threatened our economy and imperiled Arizonas growth.

We worked together as Republicans, Democrats, and representatives from agriculture, homebuilders and industry to secure our future. In the end, we negotiated, and the Legislature then enacted, the 1980 Groundwater Management Act (GMA).

That legislation has served us well over the past four decades.

It provided the basis for sustained growth.

It set the stage for completion of the Central Arizona Project.

It proved that Arizona was prepared to manage its water supply for generations to come.

We never expected this water future

A center-pivot irrigation system in an alfalfa field near Willcox. Many rural areas rely solely on dwindling groundwater.

Back then, the rural counties of the state, including my hometown of Flagstaff in Coconino County, were largely left out of the GMAs regulatory framework. Those areas were not facing a crisis  yet.

None of us imagined that Arizonas population would soar from less than 3 million to more than 7 million, or that the worst drought in a thousand years was coming, or that out-of-state, industrial agriculture would pile into the state, demanding irrigation water for tens of thousands more acres.

That unforeseen future has now arrived.

In southern Arizona, the Willcox groundwater basin water levels are dropping so rapidly that one hydrologist recently commented in 20 years, there might not be anybody left there. Some residents are now having water hauled while others moved because of the declining water table.

In the Hualapai groundwater basin in Mohave County, the Department of Water Resources found that current groundwater withdrawals are so high, there is not a reasonable, safe supply of groundwater for agriculture. It also found that groundwater is overused by more than 11 billion gallons every year  a deficit equal to the amount of water used by 115,000 households in Phoenix for an entire year.

In La Paz County, residential wells have been going dry since 2015, and even deeper municipal wells are declining.

While some parts of the state have rules to protect their imperiled groundwater, most of the state does not. This includes cities and towns from Flagstaff to Camp Verde to Patagonia, and many others without any protection for their groundwater supplies.

Rural areas need local groundwater control

Earlier this year, Gov. Katie Hobbs took the first step toward reform. She appointed a broad-based, bipartisan Water Policy Council and charged it to recommend legislative solutions by the end of the year.

On Nov. 29, the council proposed a package of reforms for the Legislature to consider. The proposals take advantage of what we have learned from the urban Groundwater Management Act over the last four decades.

However, there are major differences between then and now, and between urban regulation and rural management.

Groundwater is in trouble: How much is left?

In contrast to the more centralized structure of the urban GMA, a new Rural Groundwater Management Act would be built on decentralized governance that can be initiated by local voters or their representatives.

And it would establish groundwater councils consisting of no fewer than five and no more than nine local members appointed from lists submitted by local government entities and stakeholder groups.

These councils, in turn, would develop area goals and management plans to protect local groundwater supplies.

Lawmakers must pass these reforms

Management plans would provide for inventorying and reporting water uses, developing conservation measures and incentives, and making recommendations to the Department of Water Resources.

Management plans would then be subject to concurrence by the Department of Water Resources, thereby providing a balance between informed local control and reasonable state oversight and technical expertise.

This package of reform proposals will be submitted to the Legislature in January.

By acting on these recommendations, the Legislature will assure a bright future for rural Arizona.

By demonstrating Arizonas unity and commitment to managing groundwater, it will strengthen the states credibility in the upcoming and difficult negotiations with California and the Colorado River basin states.

The time to act is now.

Bruce Babbitt served as Arizona governor from 1978-87 and as secretary of the Interior from 1993-2001. Reach him at brucebabbitt2000@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona must reform the groundwater law I helped pass
Law enforcement officials in Henderson, Kentucky, disclosed Friday that a young girl who was reported missing earlier this week had been located.

The announcement came just after 4 p.m. when the Henderson Police Department, on its public Facebook page, noted that 13-year-old Kayley Ross was no longer considered missing.

The department's post on Friday did not provide additional information concerning the circumstances surrounding Ross' disappearance or disclose how she was found.

Thursday morning, a woman who identified herself as Ross' grandmother sought the public's help in locating Ross via a personal Facebook post.

The family member said Ross had not been seen since Tuesday: "Please share this post," they wrote. "I'm worried sick about her."

The Courier & Press sought to clarify with Henderson police whether Ross had been found safe as opposed to just "located." HPD Sgt. Lucas J. Oliver told the newspaper, "This case involves a juvenile, and we can't release further information."

Editor's note: This article was updated Friday night to include a statement from HPD Sgt. Lucas J. Oliver.

Houston can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson police confirm teen missing since Tuesday was located
Hilary Farr is sharing some news that her fans aren't likely to love.

After 17 seasons and 12 years of starring on HGTV's "Love It or List It," Farr is leaving the hit show to pursue new opportunities, a Warner Bros. Discovery rep confirmed to TODAY.com.

'Love It or List It' has had such a true impact on so many lives, including mine, but now its time for me to embrace new challenges that have come my way. If this is my legacy, its a great one," she said in a statement in a media release on the Warner Bros. Discovery website on Dec. 1.

Since the show's premiere, Farr and her co-star David Visentin have been a part of the show, which follows the interior designer and real estate agent as they work with families to find their dream home.

Im so grateful to the network for their support and to my fans who have stayed loyal and true. David and I will remain friends forever and I expect him to be as fabulously and hilariously annoying as ever, Farr continued.

Love it Or List It, Hilary Farr and David Visentin (HGTV)

Visentin reflected on his co-star's departure in his own statement.

"Working with Hilary has been a wild, unforgettable ride. Id like to forget the mountain of love its but hey, shes a talented lady," he said. "Although we were rivals on the show, we became quick friends and share countless memories both on and off set. I look forward to continuing that friendship and wish her all the best in everything she does."

Loren Ruch, head of content for HGTV, also responded to the news in a statement and briefly referenced the show's future.

"It has been a joy working with Hilary for over a decade, showcasing her quick wit and ever-present charm in each episode," Ruch said. "She and David will always be an esteemed HGTV duo, and the network looks forward to a new chapter for 'Love It or List It.'"

In an interview with People, Farr revealed that she made the bittersweet decision to pursue something different after filming the shows most recent season.

Ive given it so many years of my life, the design pro said. Its got me through hard times. Its got the audiences through hard times. It has evolved into a mainstay of peoples lives and its been incredibly gratifying.

Even though they won't be working together anymore, Farr said her friendship with Visentin "is not going to just disappear." She even applauded her co-star for supporting her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

"I was working all the way through cancer and he was always there," she said.

Farr has found lots of success with her role on "Love It or List It," but she said she felt the need to see what else lies in her path.

"I realized that everything that I am as a woman, which is (that I) look for challenges, look for inspiration, look for new ideas, be excited about all the possibilities that are out there, had really needed to bloom and to find their way," she said. "I told everyone Im done."

Farr said her previous cancer journey also influenced how she will spend her time in the future.

"Im now very aware of really wanting to take joy out of every day, and thats one of the reasons that it was time to leave 'Love It or List It,' because it was becoming too easy ... I was in a rut. Its been so many years. You want to feel that every day is something different and special and grasp for those challenges. Thats really what I think drives me, anyway," she said.

In 2021, Farr debuted a solo series called "Tough Love with Hilary Farr," and she's not ruling out a third season of the show as she looks ahead to her next chapter.

Well see what happens there. Im not at all stepping away, she said.

The design pro said she has "a few other things in the pipeline" and plans to build a "tiny house" in Italy.

Only time will tell how "Love It or List It" will continue without Farr, but she is giving the show's team her blessing.

"I wish them all the luck in the world," she said. "And I would probably tune in and watch it."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Foreign sinologists gather in east China to promote exchanges

Xinhua) 09:27, December 02, 2023

HANGZHOU, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 young sinologists from 30 countries and regions gathered Friday in east China's Zhejiang Province to foster exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations.

Sinologists from countries including Kazakhstan, Italy, Austria, Nigeria, and Germany and experts from China attended a sub-forum of Liangzhu Forum for young sinologists at the ruins of Liangzhu ancient city in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province.

The Liangzhu ruins have gained the world's recognition as a testimony to the existence of Chinese civilization at least 5,000 years ago. They have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The dialogues and discussions focused on exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, the role of the cultural Silk Road in promoting people-to-people exchanges, and the global significance of Chinese modernization.

Albert Tadeusz Kozik from the University of Warsaw in Poland said the opportunity to see the great cultural heritage of Liangzhu helped him further understand ancient Chinese culture. "I believe that if I can understand China's past, I can also have a deeper understanding of China's present and future."

"One of the most interesting points for me is that modernized China has a perfect blend of modernity and tradition," said Dimitrios Methenitis from Greece. "Nowadays, under the Belt and Road Initiative, the two countries have carried out a series of rich and colorful people-to-people exchanges, which further promote exchanges and mutual learning between different cultures and civilizations."

The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Zhejiang provincial government, and the China International Culture Association.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  Malacanang has issued an order granting a second chance to those who wanted to establish special economic zones within Metro Manila.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Nov. 24 signed administrative order (AO) No. 11, amending provisions of the previous administration's AO No. 18 that stopped the processing and evaluation of ecozone applications in the National Capital Region.

While the moratorium on the processing of applications for ecozones stays, the new order said those who have obtained "Pre-Qualification Clearances" from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Board before AO No 18 was implemented in 2019 will be allowed to resubmit their application with certain conditions.

In line with this, the PEZA will submit a list of applicants with the said clearances to the Office of the President through the Office of the Executive Secretary.

The order, however, clarified that inclusion in the list does not guarantee approval or proclamation as economic zones.

"Only those included in the Masterlist shall have the option to resubmit their applications for ecozones, provided that they undergo anew the pre-qualification process of the PEZA," the order read.

"For this purpose, all required national or local licenses, clearances, permits, certifications or authorizations that have already expired shall have to be renewed in accordance with pertinent laws, rules and regulations," it added.

The Palace said the amendment is expected to have a positive impact on job creation and strengthen Metro Manila's position as a leading information and communications technology hub in the country.

It added that the services sector, which includes information and communications, continues to be a reliable source of economic activity in the country, with Metro Manila registering the biggest share.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A hearing has been set for Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner as a federal judge reviews possible interference.

Finkbeiner was released on $5,000 bond after a Nov. 3 hearing in the Western District of Arkansas federal court on charges of interfering with an FBI investigation earlier in the year. Prosecutors at the time asked for a detention hearing, which was denied by the presiding judge.

Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner charged with obstruction of justice tied to federal drug investigation

On Nov. 6, the county Quorum Court required Finkbeiner to begin taking weekly drug tests and forbade him from driving any county vehicle. Finkbeiner remains as the elected sheriff of Hot Spring County.

On Nov. 8. prosecutors appealed the judges decision not to hold a detention hearing.

On Nov. 15 three additional charges were filed against Finkbeiner related to interference in that same FBI investigation regarding a drug house in Hot Spring County.

Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner facing additional charges in new federal indictment

On Nov. 24 prosecutors filed a supplemental briefing to the Nov. 8 appeal, asserting Finkbeiner took the following actions after his Nov. 3 release:

That Finkbeiner said he was going to interview a jail inmate about the case against him, and would release the inmate on his authority. When Finkbeiner found out members of the sheriffs department were going to be government witnesses, he said he was either going to lay them off or terminate their employment. Finkbeiner asked two county constables to investigate on his behalf. This was not coordinated with his federal public defender, the briefing states.

On Nov. 28, Chief United States District Judge Susan O. Hickey issued an order finding the governments request for a detention hearing ripe for consideration.

Upon consideration, the Court finds that the government has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that this case involves a serious risk that [Defendant] will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, or intimidate, or attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate, a prospective witness. Order by Chief United States District Judge Susan O. Hickey in United States of America v. Derek Scott Finkbeiner, dated Nov. 28

Hickey adds, The Court expresses no opinion as to whether Defendant should be detained or released, only that the government is entitled to a hearing to address the issues.

Quorum Court members in Hot Spring County meet to discuss sheriff being arrested

The detention hearing is to be set for after Finkbeiners arraingment, the judge ordered.

On Friday, according to court records, an arraignment was held and Finkbeiner entered a not guilty plea.

After the arraignment, the court set a detention hearing for Dec. 18 and a jury trial for Finkbeiner on Jan. 22, 2024.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
SWAN VALLEY, Idaho (ABC4)  A man who police believe killed his wife and kidnapped his 10-month-old son had been admitted to the hospital for mental health issues Thursday after walking through a local general store fully naked, according to East Idaho News.

Jeremy Albert Best, 48, who is believed to be armed and very dangerous, allegedly abducted his infant son on Thursday. Teton County Sheriff Clint Lemieux said members of the public should not approach or confront Best if they find him.

PREVIOUSLY: Amber alert issued for missing Idaho 10-month-old child after mother found dead

Courtesy of Teton County Sheriffs Office

According to East Idaho News, at around noon on Thursday, Best found himself in trouble with law enforcement in Swan Valley, Idaho. Authorities said Best was walking through the Swan Valley General Store nude.

Surveillance video reportedly showed Best slouching on the store counter by the cash register and grabbing a cigarette before being escorted out.

Bonneville County Sheriffs deputies responded to the incident and identified the man as Best.

While Best was taken to the hospital for medical and mental health concerns following the matter, Best was discharged that afternoon.

That same night, the Teton County Sheriffs Office received a 911 call around 11:40 p.m. from a home near 4600 Skyline Loop in Victor, Idaho. The dispatcher heard a disturbance on the line, East Idaho News reports, and deputies went to the house.

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Upon arrival, authorities found Bests wife, Kali Jean Randall, 38, dead. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

An Amber Alert was issued Friday morning for the baby, who is believed to be in grave danger.

Best is described as a white man, 511, and weighing 245 pounds. Police said he has brown hair that is graying and green eyes. He is believed to be driving a Black 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with Idaho license plate number 1T39349.

Anyone with information on the suspect or child is asked to call 911 immediately.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
By Brad Haynes and Jake Spring

MANAUS, Brazil (Reuters) - The Amazon rainforest's record-breaking drought hit home for Raimundo Leite de Souza one October morning, he said, when he woke to find the stream that runs behind his house had dropped nearly a foot overnight, stranding his skiff in a mudflat.

As weeks passed, Souza said, rotting fish washed up on the banks of the Jaraqui, a tributary of the Rio Negro. Rodents thrashed in the mud searching for water. Carcasses of caimans and cobras turned up in the forest.

Finally Souza, an innkeeper and community leader in Bela Vista do Jaraqui, said he rallied two dozen neighbors to drill a 60-meter well in the heart of the world's largest freshwater basin.

"Never in my 37 years have I seen anything like this happen to our stream," he said.

Driven by climate change, the drought gripping northern Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Venezuela and Colombia has sapped the Amazon River and four of its biggest tributaries to their lowest levels in at least half a century.

It has killed endangered river dolphins and triggered deadly riverbank collapses. With rivers forming the backbone of transportation across the Amazon region, the drought has disrupted access to food and medicine in dozens of cities. And, in one of the world's top food producers, it has wiped as much as 10 million metric tons off initial forecasts for next year's soybean crop.

In a threat to the global climate, the drought could also double the mortality rate of the rainforest's largest trees, releasing the huge amounts of climate-warming carbon they collectively store in their wood, according to scientists.

The Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, is regarded by scientists as a bulwark against climate change because its dense vegetation absorbs carbon and emits oxygen.

"Even if we don't knock down one more tree, the Amazon could reach its point of no return," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned the United Nations COP28 climate summit on Friday.

The worst may be yet to come, with experts predicting an even more intense drought next year.

Reuters interviewed nine scientists who said the drought, which began in April, is likely to weaken the annual rainy season now underway, and last until the next rainy season in late 2024.

Five of those scientists said the Amazon is unlikely to make a full recovery before early 2026, at best, because it may take two healthy rainy seasons to restore the forest's normal soil moisture.

"This is the overture," said Michael Coe, director of the tropics program at the U.S.-based Woodwell Climate Research Center, and one of the scientists expecting the effects of the drought to linger into 2026. "Where we are now, we're just getting started."

The five researchers predicting a 2026 recovery said the effects of the drought could endure even longer if El Nino is prolonged.

The naturally occurring phenomenon roils global weather every two to seven years, warming waters off the Pacific coast of South America and pulling rains in that direction while depressing precipitation in the Amazon.

Four of the scientists said it was hard to predict precisely when the rainforest would recover from this drought, given the uncertainty in any long-term weather forecast.

"DOUBLE WHAMMY"

The scientists said the drought is being caused by warming in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and off South America's Pacific Coast, phenomena that are becoming more extreme with climate change. Coe called it a "double whammy."

Rains tend to track the hottest areas of the ocean. Seawater evaporates and is carried high into the atmosphere by rising air currents.

North Atlantic temperatures soared to all-time highs in August and September, with water off Florida's coast reaching hot tub temperatures of 38.4 degrees Celsius (101 F).

Those warmer waters pulled the band of rains known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone further toward North America and away from the Amazon, making May to October - the jungle's dry season - even drier this year.

Meanwhile, the rains that would typically deluge the Amazon starting in November are being dampened by the effects of El Nino.

"We've had climate models showing that you get super El Ninos because of global warming, which is what we're having now," said Philip Fearnside, an ecologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research.

The lack of rain is draining the soil deep beneath the Amazon forest and that moisture is unlikely to recharge until heavy rains return, around November next year, the scientists told Reuters.

"In the last 15 years, this is probably the fourth 'drought of the century' over the Amazon," said Henrique Barbosa, a physicist who studies tropical forests at University of Maryland, Baltimore. "This is way worse than the ones we had before."

"OVERWHELM OUR STRUCTURES"

The drought has played havoc in a vast region - larger than Western Europe - that relies on its rivers for food, transportation and commerce.

Brazil's Amazonas state, the hardest hit, declared a public emergency in September, and has delivered drinking water and more than 1,000 tons of rice, beans and other staples via aircraft and smaller boats that can navigate shallow waters.

The state has deployed helicopters to airlift the sick to hospital and set up remote learning for some 7,000 students who can no longer get to school.

Brazil's federal government has pledged 628 million reais ($129 million) toward relief, including medical supplies, reinforcements to fight forest fires and dredging to ease boat traffic, with plans for more dredging next year.

"The issue we're confronting now is adaptation to these climate changes, and the cost is still unimaginable," Amazonas Environment Secretary Eduardo Taveira said in an interview in the state capital Manaus.

Outside, smoke from forest fires blotted the horizon.

"One abnormal year  or maybe two, three in a row  it starts to overwhelm our structures," Taveira said.

The economic costs for Brazil, the world's 11th largest economy, are mounting.

In Itacoatiara, near the meeting of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers, part of a $15 million port collapsed in October as dry, loose soil gave way, just five years after its inauguration.

The port of Manaus recorded its lowest water levels in 121 years, disrupting access for container ships for more than 50 days.

Assembly lines idled at the Manaus free trade zone where Honda, LG and other companies assemble consumer goods from imported parts. Electronics maker Positivo Tecnologia slashed its 2023 revenue forecast by 15-35%, warning of disrupted deliveries for the Christmas season.

The barges that carry more than 40% of Brazil's grain exports to northern ports have been running at half capacity.

In farm country, the drought has forced many producers to plant one crop this year instead of two, knocking millions of tons off next year's soy and corn forecasts.

GIANTS AT RISK

The forest itself is also being pushed to its limit, scientists said. Trees, stressed by hot and dry conditions, are shedding more leaves and leaving more debris on the ground to feed forest fires.

"That is just the perfect combination for a big barbecue of the Amazon," said Paulo Brando, an ecologist at Yale University.

Severe and repeated droughts affect the moisture levels deep in the soil where the largest trees plunge their roots.

The loss of these jungle giants may push the forest even faster toward a point of no return, leading large sections of the forest to die off, he said.

Brando estimates that the normal big tree mortality rate can double to 3% or more in extreme drought years  which could have huge impacts on global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The big trees, if they start dying at a higher rate, they store most of the carbon," Brando said.

If drought-like conditions become permanent with climate change, as some long-range climate models suggest, the Amazon biome could lose one-sixth to one-half of its area, or 1 million to 3 million square kilometers (386,000 to 1.2 million square miles), according to computer simulations run by Barbosa.

That would release huge amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change and wiping out a wealth of plant and animal species found only in the Amazon.

"The effects that we're seeing this year, if they were to persist, that would be tragic," Barbosa said.

(Reporting by Brad Haynes in Manaus and Jake Spring in Sao Paulo; Additional reporting by Ana Mano and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Suzanne Goldenberg)
(Bloomberg) -- Indias ruling party is leading in three key states in local elections and is set to unseat the opposition in two of them, a strong show of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Most Read from Bloomberg

After more than seven hours of counting, Modis Bharatiya Janata Party has a wide lead over the Indian National Congress in Madhya Pradesh, the biggest of the four states reporting results on Sunday. Thats in line with most exit poll predictions.

The Congress party, which governs Rajasthan, is trailing behind the BJP in the northern state. And in a surprise upset, the BJP is leading in Chhattisgarh, where exit polls had predicted the Congress would retain control.

The only good news for the Congress party came in Telangana, where it looks set to clinch the southern state currently run by a regional party.

In total, five states held elections in November to choose lawmakers for their local assemblies. Counting in Mizoram will be done on Monday.

Latest Results From Election Commission (4:38 p.m.)

Congress President Says Results Disappointing (4:02 p.m.)

The performance in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have no doubt been disappointing, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said. But with determination, we reaffirm our strong resolve to rebuild and revive ourselves in these three states. The party will overcome temporary setbacks and prepare for the upcoming national vote with the other opposition groups, he said.

Results Are Precursor for 2024 Vote, Minister Says (1:38 p.m.)

We have been saying consistently that the next Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will score an even bigger victory and absolutely historic victory, Piyush Goyal, Indias trade minister, told Press Trust of India. This is a precursor to that and very clearly the people of India have spoken their mind.

Congress Plans to Form Government in Telangana (11:44 a.m.)

Uttam Kumar Reddy, a lawmaker from the Congress party, said it would form the government in Telangana state, which is currently governed by Bharat Rashtra Samiti. Early trends from the Election Commission of India showed Congress was leading in more than half of the seats in the 119-member assembly.

There is a special place for the Gandhi family in the hearts of the Telangana people, Reddy told local media ANI. We made a mistake in the 2014 and 2018 elections. This time, we corrected ourselves, and we are on the way to victory.

BJP Workers Celebrate in Rajasthan (10:48 a.m.)

BJP workers danced and celebrated in the streets outside their offices in the Rajasthans capital, Jaipur, as early trends showed Modis party may unseat the opposition in the state. Members were seen dancing and beating drums, according to footage posted by the local media ANI on social media site X.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Predicts BJP Win (10:45 a.m.)

I have said this before that a comfortable majority will come to the BJP because the love of the people could be seen everywhere, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said on TV. The BJP is leading the main opposition in the early vote count in the state, which is currently governed by the party.

Modi May Visit Party Headquarters in New Delhi (10:45 a.m.)

Modi is likely to visit the ruling partys headquarters in New Delhi at 6 p.m. today, CNBC-TV18 reported. Early counting showed the BJP may retain power in Madhya Pradesh and unseat the opposition in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

--With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Akriti Sharma and Devidutta Tripathy.

(Updates with latest details.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
A prison inmate accused of stabbing Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, has been charged with attempted murder.

John Turscak, an incarcerated former gang member, was charged on Friday after allegedly stabbing the ex-Minneapolis officer 22 times at a federal correctional institution in Tuscon, Arizona, last month.

Federal prosecutors said Turscak  who is serving a 30 year sentence  would have killed Chauvin had correctional officers not responded so quickly. Chauvin is expected to survive the attack, according to Reuters.

Turscak reportedly told investigators he had thought about attacking Chauvin for a month due to him being a high profile inmate. Turscak later denied wanting to kill the disgraced officer, according to the Associated Press.

The incident allegedly occurred in the prisons law library at around 12.30pm local time on November 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

Derek Chauvin, 47, is serving a 21-year sentence at a federal prison for the killing of George Floyd (AP)

Turscak, 52, allegedly used an improvised knife to stab Chauvin. Prison staff stopped the attack and performed life-saving measures before transporting Chauvin to hospital for treatment.

According to prosecutors, Turscak told FBI agents interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, which garnered widespread support in the wake of Floyds death.

The timing of the attack also had a connection with the Black Hand symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, prosecutors said.

Turscak is also charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. He had been scheduled to complete his current sentence in 2026.

The Black Lives Matter movement, which garnered widespread support in the wake of George Floyds death (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

George Floyd, a Black man, died on 25 May 2020 after Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill.

A bystander video captured Floyds fading cries of I cant breathe. Floyds death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Chauvin, 47, is serving a 21-year sentence at a federal prison for the killing. He is trying to overturn his federal civil rights conviction in the murder, claiming new evidence shows that he didnt cause Floyds death.

He was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in 2021. He also pleaded guilty to federal charges for violating Floyds civil rights and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Chauvins lawyer at the time, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he would be a target.

In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement largely for his own protection, Nelson wrote in court papers last year.
(AP)  A federal inmate was charged Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.

John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, with an improvised knife, federal prosecutors said. Turscak, 52, told correctional officers he wouldve killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, prosecutors said.

Turscak later told FBI agents that hed been thinking about assaulting Chauvin for about a month because he is a high-profile inmate but denied wanting to kill him, prosecutors said.

Turscak told the agents that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Hand symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia gang, prosecutors said.

What is White Lung Syndrome, the Ohio child pneumonia outbreak?

An attorney for Turscak was not listed in court records and Turscak, who has represented himself in numerous court matters from prison, remained in custody on Friday.

Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyds civil rights and a 22-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvins lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating hed be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement largely for his own protection, Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video captured Floyds fading cries of I cant breathe. His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
An inmate has been charged with attempted murder over the Nov. 24 stabbing of former police officer Derek Chauvin, seen here in court in 2021. Credit - Court TVvia AP

Federal prosecutors accused a prison inmate of stabbing Derek Chauvin 22 times and charged the man with attempted murder on Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin, 47, is serving two sentences for murdering George Floyd and violating his civil rights after he was caught on camera in 2020 kneeling on the handcuffed mans neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeated I cant breathe.

The office of Minnesota's attorney general previously confirmed to TIME that Chauvin was stabbed and seriously injured at FCI Tucson, a medium-security federal prison in Arizona, on Nov. 24.

John Turscak, 52, who is identified in prison records as white, stands accused of carrying out the attack. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed as a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, the Associated Press reported.

The Justice Departments new complaint alleges that Turscak stabbed another inmateidentified only as D.C.who was convicted of federal crimes in another district approximately 22 times with an improvised knife in the prisons law library around 12:30 p.m.

The complaint said that in an interview with FBI agents on Nov. 26, Turscak denied wanting to kill D.C., but said he had been thinking about assaulting him for about a month because he was a high-profile inmate. Turscak said he saw his opportunity to attack on Black Friday, which he viewed as symbolic with the Black Lives Matter racial justice movement and the Black Hand symbol reportedly associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization. The complaint did not elaborate further on Turscaks comments.

In an email to TIME on Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that while it does not discuss specific security practices, the agency "takes seriously" the "duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintain the safety of correctional employees and the community."

"As part of that obligation, we review safety protocols and implement corrective actions when identified as necessary in those reviews to ensure that our mission of operating safe, secure, and humane facilities is fulfilled."

The murder of Floyd, who was Black, by Chauvin, who is white, reignited Black Lives Matter and sparked the largest racial justice protests across the country since the Civil Rights Movement.

On Friday, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Arizona charged Turscak with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The first two offenses each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. The latter two could lead to up to 10 years in prison.

Prison records show Tursack has been transferred to USP Tucson, a high-security penitentiary, following the assault on Chauvin.

Former police officer Chauvin arrived at FCI Tucson in August 2022 from a Minnesota state prison, where he was largely held in solitary confinement for his own protection, his attorney wrote in court filings last year.

Chauvin has attempted to appeal his conviction, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal on Nov. 20.

TIME has reached out to the Justice Department and the Minnesota Attorney Generals office for more information.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
The inmate accused of attacking ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last week has been charged with attempted murder, according to federal prosecutors.

The prisoner, identified as 52-year-old John Turscak, stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Tucson, Ariz.

Turscak told officials in the prison that he would have killed the former officer  who is serving time after being charged with murdering George Floyd  had they not responded quickly, The Associated Press reported.

According to the charging documents, obtained by a local television station KVOA, Turscak was charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Turscak stated he saw an opportunity to assault D.C. in the law library on Friday, November 24, 2023, the day after Thanksgiving Day commonly known as Black Friday,' the documents read. Turscak stated that his attack of D.C. on Black Friday was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the Black Hand symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization.

Floyds murder in May 2020 sparked a civil rights movement and reckoning about the historical treatment of Black people in the U.S. by both institutions and individuals.

The Supreme Court rejected Chauvins appeal of his murder conviction last week.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed quickly after the incident Nov. 24 that an inmate had been attacked and was receiving treatment  but did not mention Chauvin by name.

No employees were injured during the incident, the BOPs statement read. Responding employees initiated life-saving measures for one incarcerated individual. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued. The incarcerated individual was transported by EMS to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Attorney Generals office said Chauvin was expected to survive the incident.

FCI Tucson is a medium-security prison that has reportedly faced problems with security and staffing, according to AP.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Corporal N is unequivocal in her answer. Yes, my workload has absolutely increased since the start of the war, she says. Its work around the clock. To do my job, I need to be much more aware, because things happen  and have happened  immediately.

But what exactly her job is, remains something of a mystery. There is talk of cognitive capabilities, needing to remember all the little details, creativity and, perhaps most importantly, she says, patience. You need a lot of it.

Such ambiguity stems from the fact that Corporal N, just 19 years of age, serves in an intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Southern Command. Its a demanding job, cloaked in mystery and secrecy, but one that Corporal N excels at  largely thanks to her autism.

The teenager, fresh out of school, is one of 400 autistic recruits currently serving across the IDF in a range of departments  from the air force to the navy to the army (though none are placed into combat positions).

But only a small proportion of this group are placed in the IDFs highly classified intelligence units, including the famed 9900 and 8200.

The 9900 is responsible for analysing visual intelligence from satellites and aircraft which is then fed into troops on the battlefield, while the 8200 is similar to that of Britains GCHQ, covering everything from public data analysis to the use of in-field human operators.

'Precision is a key adjective,' says Corporal N - IDF

Corporal N insists she cant really talk about most aspects of her position, and doesnt give any clues as to which intelligence unit she serves in, but cryptically emphasises that precision is a key adjective here for the requirements of my job.

Prior to the events of Oct 7, at least, which have tarnished the reputation of Israels intelligence agencies, the 9900 and 8200 units were widely considered by analysts to be among the most formidable of their kind in the world, keeping civilians safe from both internal and external threats.

Enrolment into either unit has long been a source of pride for any Israeli, but only those with the sharpest minds and a fine attention to detail are considered  which is why teenagers with autism often make the cut.

Its clear that they have a qualitative edge over other soldiers, and thats why they find themselves in cyber and intelligence units, says Lt Col Rotem Sabag, head of the service for the IDFs Meitav department, which processes new recruits.

The capabilities that are often associated with autism  their ability to focus, their ability to recall specific details very well  these all contribute to their edge.

Once an autistic soldier is integrated into an intelligence team  a process that can take time and usually involves support from a mentor  their photographic memory and cognitive skills are put to use in a range of jobs: aerial imagery analysis, geographical data collection, 3D mapping and much more.

In return, these individuals who, as children, may have never envisioned playing such a vital role for their country get to enjoy a challenging and interesting army service, says Lt Col Sabag. What we like to say in the army is that this is a win-win.

Highly independent and lower need

Such is their value to the IDF that the force has even created an entire team within the 9900, called the Roim Rachok (RR) programme  Hebrew for far beyond horizons  that is composed entirely of autistic recruits.

The work done in the RR programme is largely in collaboration with other branches of Unit 9900. They use satellite imagery and maps to understand Israels geographical landscape and defend its borders, says the IDF.

But entry into the 8200, 9900, or any of the forces many other intelligence units  some so secret that Israelis refuse to acknowledge their existence  isnt easy, especially for autistic recruits.

First, these individuals have to get a place on the IDFs Titkadmu programme, which determines whether a person with autism is fit to serve in the force and provides support to those who are accepted.

Only teenagers who are highly independent and lower need on the autistic spectrum are considered, says Yuval, the Titkadmu commander. They undergo questionnaires and interviews with autism experts and psychologists to initially assess their suitability.

After that, a recruit will face further interviews and extensive testing. According to how they score on these tests, they can go to any of the different units that regular soldiers go to, says Lt Col Sabag  including intelligence.

Research certainly suggests that those with autism can be well-equipped to deal with the demands of serving in a unit like the 9900.

A growing body of research is showing that autistics outperform neurologically typical children and adults in a wide range of perception tasks, such as spotting a pattern in a distracting environment, Laurent Mottron, a psychiatry professor at the University of Montreal, wrote in a 2011 column for Nature magazine.

Most people with autism outperform in auditory tasks (such as discriminating sound pitches), detecting visual structures, and mentally manipulating complex three-dimensional shapes, he added.

Perception tasks are a crucial element of intelligence work - IDF

Israel, like many developed countries, has experienced a rise in autism cases in recent decades. According to the Israeli Society for Children and Adults with Autism diagnoses are increasing by an average of 13 per cent annually.

In this period, societal attitudes towards people with autism have improved  though not entirely  paving the way for teenagers like Corporal N to prove her worth.

There was no need for her to join the army. At the age of 16, she received a medical exemption stating that, because of her autism, she was not required to draft for the IDF.

Military service is obligatory for most over-18s in Israel, with men required to serve for 32 months and women for two years, but not those with mental or physical conditions, such as autism.

But the desire to serve her country proved far stronger than the social anxiety that had characterised Corporal Ns childhood.

Having once struggled to communicate and make eye contact with other people, the teenager is now thriving in the IDF, generating vital intelligence that is fed into armed soldiers fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

There are still moments when her autism resurfaces, she says, expressed through the difficulty of understanding social situations or anxiety. But thanks to years of mind training and input from her Titkadmu mentor, she knows how to cope.

I usually ask people to switch out for 5-10 minutes and go and breathe to kind of get back my senses, she says. I find the techniques and methods that work best and use my brain in order to overcome the stress.

Corporal Ns commitment to her work is greater than most, having lost her 23-year-old sister in the attacks of Oct 7. The horrors of that day continue to haunt her mind, the loss of her sibling still raw. But its through service to Israel that she continues to push on with her life. The way to process it has been by working, by doing.

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Smoke from an explosion rises in Gaza, after a temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas expired, as seen from southern Israel

By Alexander Cornwell

DUBAI (Reuters) - The resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip has been intense, the director general of the Red Cross said on Saturday, as Israel air strikes and artillery bombarded the enclave a day after a week-long pause in hostilities there with Hamas collapsed.

Israel's military has said it struck 400 militant targets and killed an unspecified number of Hamas fighters in the past 24 hours. Gazan health officials said hundreds of Palestinians had been killed since the end of the truce.

"We don't have precise reports but what I can say is the resumption of fighting was intense again," ICRC Director General Robert Mardini told Reuters at the COP28 U.N. summit in Dubai.

"It's a new layer of destruction coming on top of massive, unparalleled destruction of critical infrastructure, of civilian houses and neighbourhoods," he said, warning that the violence would make it difficult to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Mardini described Gaza as being in "shambles and rubble". The ICRC had 130 staff working there, he said.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the collapse of the truce, during which the Palestinian militant group had released hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed Israel, when Israeli authorities say they killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and took around 240 hostage. The ensuing Israeli bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed over 15,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave.

Mardini said that people in Gaza were "living in constant fear of violent death" and struggling to survive amid shortages of food and water caused by the fighting, while hospitals were working with limited resources.

"Everything in Gaza is at the breaking point," he said.

The truce, which started on Nov. 24 and was extended twice, saw Israeli women and children and foreign hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But after seven days, mediators failed to agree on a third extension.

The Red Cross, a neutral, Swiss-based organisation, had helped facilitate those exchanges, including transporting hostages that were held in Gaza by the Hamas militant group.

"We stand ready to facilitate further release operations of hostages in Gaza, Palestinian detainees to be reunited with their families," Mardini said.

(Tis story has been corrected to fix the quote to read 'new layer of destruction', not 'new layer of disruption', in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing Giles Elgood)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  Mixed adjustments in pump prices are expected next week, according to a forecast by Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Inc. on Saturday.

Unioil said diesel may see a rollback of 0.30 to 0.40 per liter, while gasoline may go up by 0.10 to 0.20 per liter.

The price adjustments are expected from Dec. 5 to 11, it added.

According to the Nov. 28 data of the Department of Energy, the price movements have resulted in a year-to-date increase of 6 per liter for diesel and 1.74 per liter for kerosene. Gasoline remains at 12.30 per liter.
The International Red Cross has suspended the membership of the Belarusian Red Cross effective 1 December on account of its leader, who illegally transported Ukrainian children to Belarus and visited the Russian-occupied part of Donbas wearing clothing marked with the letter Z [one of the symbols with which the Russian occupying forces mark their military equipment that has become part of Russian propaganda  ed.].

Source: statement by the Red Cross; Belarusian media outlet Zerkalo (Mirror)

Details: The statement said the Belarus Red Cross Society had been suspended as a member due to its refusal to dismiss its head, Dmitry Shevtsov, over remarks he made about nuclear weapons and the displacement of children to Belarus, as well as his visit to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian cities of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Belarus Red Cross loses its membership rights effective 1 December. Any new funding for the organisation will be suspended. It will no longer be able to participate in the General Assembly or to vote or be elected at any statutory meetings.

The Belarus Red Cross can be reinstated after Shevtsov has been dismissed.

Shevtsov himself has labelled the decision "purely political" and said that three countries - Russia, Venezuela and Egypt - backed him in the vote.

Background:

In July 2023, Belarusian opposition media reported that Dmitry Shevtsov, Head of the Belarusian Red Cross, had travelled to Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and, wearing a uniform with a Z patch, admitted to Belarusian state television that his organisation had "taken and will continue to take" children from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The International Red Cross launched an investigation after Shevtsov's trip to the occupied territories of Ukraine, during which he confessed to abducting Ukrainian children and taking them to Belarus.

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Investigators identified the four people being sought for interviews as Gerald Elkins, John McConaghy, Jessica Freeman and Patrick Barnes.

The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that it was seeking a group of people who it said were refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the fatal shooting of a man at a North Kitsap residence in October.

The sheriff's office initially identified Gerald Elkins, John McConaghy, Jessica Freeman and Patrick Barnes as the four people who detectives wanted to interview for their investigation into the death of 38-year-old Brandon Lyle Egeler, of Bremerton. The four had active warrants for their arrest, the sheriff's office said in a social media post on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the sheriff's office said that Elkins had been interviewed.

More: Drugs floated as possible motive for North Kitsap murder as search continues for 2 men

Prosecutors filed murder charges against two men, Caleb Sloan and Aksel Strom, shortly after the fatal shooting on Oct. 3, and Strom was arrested later that month. Sloan is still being sought.

Barnes and Freeman were identified by a witness to the shooting as being among a group of people who had been at the location on Lincoln Road just outside Poulsbo city limits where Egeler was shot on the morning of Oct. 3, according to court documents.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Investigators seeking interviews for North Kitsap murder case
Anarcho-tyranny is a system of government that fails to protect its citizens from violence, while simultaneously persecuting conduct that would typically be regarded as innocent. The experience of living under such a system may be familiar to you, even if the term itself is not.

A state of anarcho-tyranny might, for instance, see career criminals like Jordan McSweeney free to walk the streets of London murdering women, mere days after being released from prison on licence, even while offensive limericks, online poetry and dogs trained to perform comical Nazi salutes are treated with the utmost seriousness by our criminal justice system.

The result is a disorientating combination of two different kinds of fear: a fear of rising violent crime, combined with a fear of arbitrary criminalisation, including the criminalisation of citizens who complain about what is being done to them by their governments.

Systems of anarcho-tyranny rely especially on laws that criminalise speech that would ordinarily be regarded merely as rude or controversial.

In Ireland, the Varadkar government is currently fast-tracking just such a law: the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate offences) Bill, which would criminalise any person who prepares or possesses material that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics.

Note the flabbiness of this wording. Violence, one might once have assumed, is pretty easy to objectively define, although we have seen audacious efforts by activists to erode the meaning even of this word, with everything from misgendering to micro-aggressions sometimes classed as a form of violence.

But hatred? Now thats a word that a vengeful prosecutor could really make hay with, particularly given the usefulness of that additional word likely. With the new law in place, the authorities could easily decree that all sorts of politically inconvenient speech is likely to incite hatred against particular groups.

Take, for instance, the professional MMA fighter Conor McGregor.

Ten days ago, three young children were stabbed outside a school in Dublin by a man which online rumours suggested was originally from Algeria. The ensuing riot was met with an appropriately heavy response from the police, and across the following week, Conor McGregor emerged as the voice of a particularly angry faction in Ireland  angry at the very dramatic recent rise in immigration, and angry at the apparent inconsistency of a police force willing to come down hard on some violent crime, but not all.

I do not condone last nights riots he tweeted, I do not condone any attacks on our first responders in their line of duty. I do not condone looting and the damaging of shops...

I do understand frustrations however, and I do understand a move must be made to ensure the change we need is ushered in... There will be change in Ireland, mark my words.

McGregor is reportedly being investigated by Irish police, under suspicion of inciting hate. If the new Criminal Justice Bill had been in place, McGregor might well have fallen foul of it. It will prove a useful law for those in power who wish to silence subversive political actors.

We are restricting freedom said Irish Senator Pauline OReilly of the Bill, but were doing it for the common good.

Whose good, though? Not the people of Ireland, I would argue. Nor any other people living under a system of anarcho-tyranny.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday told world leaders that the Philippines intends to host the "loss and damage fund" designed to help nations most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

He said this during the historic opening of the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, which saw global delegates formally adopting the fund that developing countries have long pressed for.

"The Philippines will announce its intent to host the loss and damage fund," Marcos wrote in a speech read by Special Assistant to the President, Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr.

Marcos skipped the climate summit due to developments on the Filipino seafarers held hostage by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

"We urge partners from the private sector, civil society, partner countries and governments, and developing funding institutions to support the Philippines in this bid," the president added. "You have been there for meaningful collaboration with our government to tackle the climate crises."

Marcos also called for the immediate operationalization of the fund that has been decades in the making.

The loss and damage fund would channel money from high-income countries  which have largely contributed to climate change  to pay poorer nations that have to bear the brunt of the crisis.

A special UN committee earlier recommended that the World Bank serve as the fund's host and trustee. Developing countries had opposed this, as they feared that allowing the bank  whose presidents are appointed by the United States  to manage the fund might give donor countries outsized influence.

However, all parties eventually agreed to give the bank the oversight power on the condition that it would only be over a four-year period.

READ: Nations pledge millions to new climate damage fund at COP28, US criticized for its small contribution

Based on a 2022 report by the UN Environment Programme, adapting to the climate crisis could cost developing countries anywhere from $160 billion to $340 billion annually by 2030. It added that the number could rise to $565 billion by 2050 if climate change accelerates.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu falsely characterizes Russian offensive operations in Ukraine as "active defense" in order to "temper expectations" about his military's ability to meet objectives, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report on Dec. 1.

Both Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin referred to Russia's attempt to capture Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast as "active defense," following its failure to move forward in early October 2023.

Referring to the push on Avdiivka as "active defense" is intentionally misleading, the ISW said, as the city has been a "famously static Ukrainian defensive position since 2014."

The characterization attempts to conceal "the lack of any major Russian progress around Avdiivka despite over two months of large-scale Russian attacks there."

Russian forces intensified ground attacks against Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, and surrounding settlements in early October in an effort to encircle the town.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces have lost around 10,000 soldiers, more than 100 tanks, over 250 other armored vehicles, and seven Su-25 aircraft in the first month of their offensive on the town.

Read also: UK Defense Ministry: Russian casualty rates some of highest over last 6 weeks

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A few weeks ago, Officer Crocker with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office met Sara and her daughter, Ana, while he was working at Anas school, Mount Herman Exceptional Student Center.

Ana has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. As a result of the diagnosis, the family moved to Florida to escape the harsh winters of the north that complicated Anas condition.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

During their conversation, Officer Crocker recommended the family visit Huguenot Park  as this would allow for them to drive onto the beach, a location that typically would not be attainable in her current condition while confined to a wheelchair.

Officer Crocker didnt stop there, a few days later while on duty in the park, he met the family as they arrived and showed them around to the best locations to go that would offer Ana the most enjoyment.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

According to Sara, This information opened a whole new world for Ana to enjoy the sand and waves and for us to experience the beach as a family To say that Ana loves to go to the beach is an understatement.

She went on to say, Not only did Officer Crocker sensitively acknowledge the limitations of a child with disabilities, but he shared a solution to help Ana enjoy life to her fullest.

Thank you, Officer Crocker, for providing a life changing path for this family, and most importantly, for Ana! Demonstrating the Core Values of Community Focused and Respect for Others, said JSO in a news release.

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Janet Reno: A Life, by Judith Hicks Stiehm, University Press of Florida, 224 pages, $35

In April 24, 2000, a day after Easter and two days after she sent 130 federal agents to storm Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Attorney General Janet Reno received reverential treatment on NBC's Today show. "One of the things that is so very important," Reno declared, "is that the force was not used. It was a show of force that prevented people from getting hurt."

This was news to the people who had been brutalized by federal agents, including two NBC cameramen left writhing in pain from a stomach kick or a rifle butt to the head. Reno had authorized a massive no-knock raid to seize 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez and send him back to Cuba, even though the court battles regarding his fate were ongoing. Her attempt to portray the federal assault as the equivalent of a Girl Scout cookie delivery was debunked by an Associated Press photo of a Border Patrol agent pointing his submachine gun toward the terrified boy being held by the fisherman who had rescued him from the Atlantic Ocean.

Reno counted on maximum media deference for her "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" shtick. She brushed off the photo: "If you look at it carefully, it shows that the gun was pointed to the side and that the finger was not on the trigger." Admittedly, the muzzle of the gun was not in the boy's mouth. But that Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun sprays 800 rounds a minute, and the agent didn't even have both hands on the weapon.

The aftermath of the Gonzalez raid epitomized Janet Reno's career. The Washington Post praised her for ensuring that not all journalists would be beaten during the raid, and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in a piece headlined "Reno for President," declared that the machine-gun photo "warmed my heart." But Cuban Americans never forgot Reno's lies, and their fierce opposition torpedoed her 2002 Florida gubernatorial campaign.

***

You'll find almost nothing about Reno's failures and frauds in Judith Hicks Stiehm's new biography, Janet Reno: A Life. What is the point of sending a 200-page love letter to a dead politician? That is just one of many questions that Stiehm, a retired professor of political science, fails to answer in a book whose style sometimes resembles Fun with Dick and Jane. Her biography is the last place to seek the truth on one of America's most blood-stained attorneys general.

For Stiehm and much of the media, the fact that Janet Reno was a progressive and the first female attorney general absolved all her failures and abuses of power. Such pandering will be the death of civil liberties.

Stiehm endlessly reminds readers that "Reno's first commitment was to truth" (italics in original). This is a Mount Sinai biography, treating whatever Janet Reno said as the word of God.

For Reno, government was always the avenging savior. She saw public employees as a Brahmin class: In 1995, she told federal law enforcement officers, "You are part of a government that has given its people more freedomthan any other government in the history of the world." Thank you, Masters! In a 1996 speech to government prosecutors, she declared, "All of you public lawyers are but little lower than the angels, and I salute you."

Since government officials were practically angels, there was no need to hinder their public service by compelling them to obey the law.

Reno's most vivid abuse of power occurred 36 days into her reign as U.S. attorney general, after she approved an FBI tanks-and-toxic-gas assault on the Branch Davidians besieged near Waco, Texas.

On February 28, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms launched an unprovoked attack on the Davidians' sprawling wooden home. Four agents and seven Davidians were killed in the gunfire. The FBI was then sent in to bring the Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, to heel.

Stiehm's discussion of Waco could have been written by the FBI press office. But her perspective was widely shared inside the Beltway, where almost no one gave a damn at the time about the innocent civilians killed on April 19, 1993. That contempt was epitomized by the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia creating a Janet Reno Torchbearer Award.

Reno approved the bureau's final assault after she was told that Koresh was abusing babies. She later claimed that she could not remember which FBI official suckered her with that false claim. Reno portrayed the assault as nonviolent, but the official plan called for collapsing the entire building atop the Davidians if they refused to come out. Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles had collapsed more than 20 percent of the building before a fire broke out, likely killing many people inside.

Reno approved pumping the Davidians' home full of toxic CS gasgas the U.S. government had just pledged, in the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, never to use against enemy soldiers. (The treaty still allowed governments to use it on their own people.) Prior to approving the attack, the FBI notified Reno that the impact of the CS gas on "infants and children cannot be ignored because gas masks are not available for infants and younger children." Chemist George Uhlig later testified to Congress that the FBI gas attack probably "suffocated the children early on."

Before the fire, the FBI had thrown flash-bang explosiveswhich have started many fires during police raidsat Davidians attempting to exit the building. The FBI also fired pyrotechnic devices at the Davidians before the fire erupted. Once the fire started, FBI agents blocked local fire trucks from dousing the flames. The assault ended with 80 dead men, women, and children.

In the aftermath of the fire, the Los Angeles Times hailed Reno as a "folk hero" and The Washington Post said she had "superstar status." She achieved this by pretending to take responsibility for the outcome as she vehemently blamed it all on David Koresh. Reno exploited her newfound popularity to orchestrate a cover-up so sweeping that even the press started to object: A New York Times editorial denounced the "Waco whitewash."

Reno faced few questions on Waco until House Republicans held hearings in mid-1995. When Rep. John Mica (RFla.) presented Reno with a gas mask to illustrate that it could not have fit children, Reno casually tossed the mask on the floor and announced that "it's not very helpful, in terms of trying to understand what happened there, to just show gas masks."

Reno previously described the CS gas as a mere "irritant." When asked why she approved the use of 54-ton combat vehicles to assail the Davidians, Reno replied that these were "not military weapons.I mean, it was like a good rent-a-car." The media mostly ignored that howler, instead heaping praise on Reno's demeanor for standing up to Republicans that day.

***

The charred corpses of April 1993 didn't matter to such people because Reno's devotion to children was beyond disputeat least according to official scorekeepers. She had risen to national prominence as a crusader against child abuse, thus securing her selection as attorney general.

Yet it was one of those child abuse cases that provoked what is practically Stiehm's only critical comment on Reno. In the Country Walk case, Stiehm writes, "there was a possibility that she had been part of an unjust conclusion."

A "possibility"? Starting in 1984, Renoat that point the state attorney in Dade Countyprosecuted a husband and wife who ran a preschool, relying on ludicrous testimony about chants to Satan and about snakes and guns put into vaginas. Reno relied on the novel "Miami Method," in which therapists endlessly interviewed kids to gin up evidence for prosecution. PBS' Frontline slammed Reno in 2002 for mercilessly coercing a false confession, withholding exculpatory evidence, and exploiting children in a charade that boosted her reelection.

In fact, Reno's child abuse frauds had been exposed even before she became attorney general. On March 3, 1993, Debbie Nathan, writing in the Miami New Times, revealed how the Country Walk prosecution was "fueled by opportunism, zealotry, and highly unusual behavior" by Reno. Here's how Nathan summarized the case: "An election was near. Janet Reno was going to send someone to jail. No matter what."

Stiehm writes that Reno's "consistent, ethical conduct reinforce[s] what a good civics class teaches students: that one can successfully engage in the political while remaining both human and honest." Actually, Reno's greatest achievement was to teach Americans that there isn't much justice in the Justice Department. But never trust the professors, pundits, and other official scorekeepers to admit that truth.

The post Janet Reno Is No Hero appeared first on Reason.com.
Jefferson County Commissioners rejected the highest bid for the old school building in Louisville and are now looking into remodeling the structure and using it for county offices, specifically a new elections department.

After nearly an hour of discussions in closed session, the Jefferson County Commission voted unanimously Nov. 14 to reject a $279,000 bid for the old Louisville school building and begin looking into the possibility of utilizing parts of the facility for a new board of elections office.

Commissioner Wayne Davis moved to reject the bid, saying that it did not bring the amount of money the board had expected.

The 17,000 square-foot building complex, originally built in the 1950s as the countys first consolidated school for African Americans before mandatory integration, and the 16.68-acre lot on which it sits on the bypass in Louisville, has been appraised at $500,000. The Jefferson County School Board gave the property, which has also served as Louisville High School and more recently as Louisville Middle School, to the commissioners for $1 after construction of a new consolidated county middle school was completed five years ago.

The property, located at 1301 School Street, was marketed through Govdeals.com, with bidding running from Oct. 23 through Nov. 6.

We had over 80 people looking at the property while it was bidding, which Govdeals said was a record number for that activity, said County Administrator Jerry Coalson. There were a large number of bids placed by different people. The link was sent out to over 1,300 developers.

The highest bidder was an investor out of New York, who Coalson said has other Georgia properties that are primarily used for indoor self-storage, and that would have been the likely use for this property as well.

The commissioners did not feel that was enough money for the property, so for now they have declined the bid, Coalson said.

In the same closed session, the county reviewed several properties it was considering for a new elections office, and each of those properties would have cost more than they would have gotten for this much larger building they already owned, Coalson said.

Commissioner Wayne Davis moved the county inspect the old school building, which has sat empty for around five years, for mold, mildew and asbestos and then develop a viable option for using the property for county offices, specifically for the Board of Elections.

In the days following the meeting the county contracted with a certified inspector who has been through the old school.

There is mold all throughout the building, but it is a surface mold you get when you turn your air conditioner off for a while, Coalson said. He says that it is not the harmful stuff. We dont know of any roof leaks. So we are going to go through and spray the entire building with a mold killer. Remove all the furniture. Put the building on insurance, clean it up and start a rehab project.

The biggest expense is expected to be in the engineering and replacing the HVAC units which are 30 years old. The rehab will include replacing the tile flooring, repainting and replacing the older ceiling tiles. The elections office will be the first to move over, Coalson said. Then the commissioners can decide if they want to put the rest of us out there. Theyre probably going to want to. If you are going to heat and air condition one section of the building youve got to do the whole thing. But it will be a lot less expensive than building a new building.

The school is in a lot better physical shape that Coalson said he originally thought.

The main front building and the little hallway with the bathrooms that goes back, just those two sections are a little over 30,000 square feet. Thats 30 percent bigger than the new building we were looking at to put everybody in, Coalson said. Were starting now. Im calling the architect today and get him started on the HVAC system.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: County rejects bid for old school, exploring use for elections office
Jemima Goldsmith has pleaded for Britons to unite, having personally felt the fallout from the Israel-Gaza conflict with rape and death threats sent to her and her family.

The film producer and former wife of Imran Khan, the ex-prime minister of Pakistan, is joining a vigil outside Downing Street this weekend aimed at bringing different religious communities together.

Race attacks have flared in the UK since the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October and the retaliatory Israeli bombardment and invasion of Gaza.

Writing in The Independent, Ms Goldsmith describes how her Jewish background and Muslim marriage has led to her family being targeted by both antisemitism and Islamophobia.

My Jewishness was used as a baton to beat my politician ex-husband Imran Khan, in Pakistan, where Zionist conspiracy theories about me were fabricated and fervour was whipped up by opposition politicians & by a partisan media.

Imran and Jemima Khan join a demonstration outside Downing Street (AP)

This led to decades of death threats and threats of rape and violence towards me and my children, which continue to this day.

After the attack, the would-be assassin declared in his confessional video that the motive for the shooting was (Imrans) acceptance of Israel.

She went on: Equally, Muslim hatred is also on the rise and it affects many people I love, including my children.

Sundays vigil is being organised by Together for Humanity, a charity co-founded by the widower of Jo Cox, the MP who was murdered in 2016 by a far-right extremist. The organistaion aims to stand against rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate amidst the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine.

The meeting has been organised against the backdrop of dozens of pro-Palestine marches and demonstrations against the rise of antisemitism.

Calling for understanding on both sides, Ms Goldsmith said: You can be horrified by Hamas massacre of Israelis AND condemn Israels ongoing killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

This conflict has rendered each side deaf and impervious to the others suffering and fear... Its not a competition. And if you only see one or the other, you are part of the problem.

On Sunday we invite people to step outside their tribes, to put down their flags, and to come together at our vigil, led by Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones in this conflict.

Imran Khan and Jemima Goldsmith became engaged in 1995. Goldmsmith says her Jewishness led to death threats (Rex Features)

Since 7 October, the two movements are yet to march together, though both claim to stand against all racism. Jewish and Muslim protesters have been present at both forms of demonstration.

Over the last eight weeks there has been a marked rise in antisemitism and Islamophobic offences, according to the Metropolitan Police.

A spokesperson for the Met Police said that between 7 October and 25 November 2023, we received: 909 reports of antisemitic offences and 1079 reports of antisemitic incidents. This compares with 75 offences and 82 incidents in the same period in 2022.

We received reports relating to 420 Islamophobic offences and 433 Islamophobic incidents. This compares with 117 offences and 108 incidents in the same period in 2022.

And this trend is evident in other areas of the country.

Greater Manchester Police said last week they had seen a significant increase in reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia hate since the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict.

Community Security Trust, a charity focusing on private security for British Jews at risk of antisemitism, said they welcomed the march on Sunday.

Police have expressed concern about rising incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia (PA)

Spokesperson Mark Gardner told The Independent: The increases in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hatred in Britain over the past two months have shown how important it is for everyone to actively push back against the extremist narratives that divide communities and fuel prejudice.

This initiative is a vital and welcome effort to promote our shared values and resist the messages of hate that seek to push us further apart.

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) said they support the initiative but that it is important that calls for peace, humanity and harmony are not used to whitewash the suffering of Palestinians who are living under an illegal occupation and a brutal system of apartheid.

A spokesperson for MAB told The Independent: We must stand together for justice for all, and we must be united against all forms of hate.

The spokesperson added: Today [Friday] Israel has resumed its indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip after a pause that was, for many Palestinians, a temporary stay of execution.

Any interfaith event must be unequivocal in calling out Israeli war crimes, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine. Neutrality in the face of injustice cannot be an option.
One of John Simpsons more memorable keepsakes was a second-hand fountain pen given to him during the Romanian revolution in 1989. It was a fat, flashy number, far too bling for a BBC man, but was still somewhat special: its previous owner was Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanias very-soon-to-be-late dictator.

Ceausescu had been captured and we were outside his old HQ in the hope of doing some filming, Simpson recalls. Eventually they let us in, and Ceausescus housekeeper gave me the fountain pen as a memento.

Then, that evening, about 15 minutes before our live feed, it was announced that Ceausescu had been executed, so I scribbled down a new script. It was only afterwards that I realised Id written what was effectively his obituary with his own fountain pen.

Even by the flamboyant standards of foreign correspondents barstool yarns, this one takes some beating. Then again, after half a century of globetrotting for the BBC, during which he has met 200-plus world leaders and covered nearly as many wars, the BBCs veteran world affairs editor has them in spades.

Now aged 79, and very much one of the Corporations elder statesmen, Simpson has become just the kind of grandfather you might like to have telling stories over Christmas dinner. Hence his appearance on the BBCs festive schedules next week, when he sits down with presenter Adrian Chiles to mull over his life, various brushes with death, and memories of Christmases past.

Simpson will sit down with presenter Adrian Chiles this week to mull over his life

But at the risk of a spoiler alert, most of Simpsons festive recollections do not involve scoffing figgy pud in front of a Bond movie. Romania in 1989 was just one of many not-so-merry-Christmases he has spent in war zones abroad  not that hed have had it any other way.

Indeed, far from being the big grandee who couldnt be disturbed by BBC bosses at Christmas, he used to actually volunteer for the on-call roster.

Because I didnt live any longer with my children [he parted from his first wife in 1986], I couldnt see any reason not to spend Christmas doing something. Everyone else wanted to be with their families at that time, and as we all know, most Christmases, something pretty awful happens.

So it was with the Christmas Revolution against Ceausescu. A hardliner even by Soviet standards he banned public celebration of Christmas in his bid to eliminate symbols of potential opposition to his regime.

Simpson and his team were scrambled to Bucharest on December 21, after crowds booed Ceausescu during a speech, driving through Romania in -25 C and nearly missing the revolution altogether when their car broke down. Once in Bucharest, Simpson did live broadcasts from outside a secret police HQ as revolutionaries besieged it, gunfire crackling everywhere. It was one of his great reporting scoops  although in Ceausescus Romania, there wasnt even a decent hotel bar for a post-revolutionary drink.

It was absolutely freezing, and we hadnt brought decent winter clothes, he says. On Christmas Day we finished about midnight and tottered back to a really rough hotel and fell into a dreamless sleep. A day or two after, though, we did all have a great Christmas meal.

On taking the fountain pen home he discovered that it bore a label saying Gift of the British Labour Party. They claimed to have had no record of sending it, although it wasnt a very good moment to have said: Yes, we sent Ceausescu a nice fat expensive pen.

Simpson reporting near Mosul, northern Iraq, in 2003 - BBC

Collecting war zone memorabilia is a common habit of foreign correspondents. Simpsons hoard includes a Taliban T-shirt and a large Isis flag that hangs in the toilet of his Oxford home. His most significant memento, though, is a piece of shrapnel in his backside  during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, an American warplane dropped a 1,000lb bomb just yards from where Simpson was standing, killing 18 people. George Bush, as he once nicknamed the shard (it being a pain in the arse) now travels with him everywhere, and is a reliable indicator of the quality of airport security metal detectors. It only goes off at the good airports, not at the second-rate ones.

Simpson is more than familiar with places where the airports are indeed second-rate, if functioning at all. In Bosnia in Christmas 1992  covering for Martin Bell  he travelled to Sarajevo with a convoy of aid lorries from Britain. The rooms in the citys bomb-scarred Holiday Inn had neither water nor heating, forcing Simpson to sleep fully dressed in -19 C temperatures. Christmas dinner was watery soup, washed down with imported Laphroaig. It was pretty rough, with only one meal a day, so we were ravenous all the time.

Other Christmas stints abroad included Moscow during the Soviet Unions fall, and Baghdad in the run-up to the first Gulf War, where he stayed in the Al-Rashid Hotel. Saddams spooks were said to have planted spy cameras in every room, and had a sideline selling their films of honeymooning couples in the local souk: Simpson hoped that footage of a large BBC hack in his underpants wouldnt be that marketable. He says he always enjoyed his Christmas stints abroad, although what passed for a normal days work could be pretty horrifying. In Bosnia one year, he spent Christmas morning filming an elderly man chopping wood for a stove to warm an elderly care home. The next day, the man was killed by a sniper.

Simpson has borne witness to such horrors despite not being an obvious choice for the rough and tumble of front-line life. As he recalls in his autobiography Strange Places, Questionable People, when he first arrived at the BBC, its news editors were unimpressed by the foppish new graduate intake of which he was part. At one selection board, a boss declared he wanted men to do a real job, go to dangerous places, describing his ideal candidate as the kind of man who would walk into a brothel.

In Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991

Simpson found it a steep learning curve, having come directly from reading English at Cambridge, where he edited the literary magazine Granta. He originally hails from a family of property developers, who built much of the ticky-tacky two-up-two-down suburban housing that spans south London. The family business accrued debt, however, and by the time Simpson was born, they could only afford to educate him at a very minor prep school. We were decayed upper middle class, with pretensions that we no longer had the cash for, which is one of the most depressing things to be.

As he tells Chiles, however, his early boyhood as a posho in grimy post-war Norwood was useful career training. As the sole local kid in a bright purple school blazer, he caught the attention of neighbourhood toughies, who gave him an early experience of being abducted, on one occasion imprisoning him in a hut on a bombsite.

I used to have to avoid the local kids, whod attack me and throw stones, he says. Even now when I go to difficult places, I put into practice what I learnt as a nine-year-old.

When he was just six, his mother also walked out on his father  a lovely man, but who was difficult to live with. Unusually for the time, Simpson was asked which parent he wished to stay with. He opted for his father  reasoning, with a childlike sense of fairness, that his mother, whose first husband had died during the war, already had two children from a previous marriage. It was, if you like, a bit of BBC balance, he tells Chiles.

Much to his fathers relief, he then won a scholarship at 15 to St Pauls. To some, that makes him part of the gilded elite that has ruled too long at the BBC, although he claims to have no great problem with the current diversity drive at the Corporation.

Privately educated, middle-class Oxbridge people used to dominate, but the world has changed, he says, mentioning how earlier in the day, he attended a service in Chelsea for his late friend Lord Cadogan, the billionaire peer. The service was full of precisely those sort of people, and as I looked around, I thought: These are not the people who run the country any longer. But I dont have any sense of being hunted down because Im of the wrong colour or class  I think theres room for everybody.

Besides, when Simpson first started his reporting career at the BBC, his plummy tones werent much help: as a rookie, he was once punched in the stomach by the then prime minister Harold Wilson, for having the cheek to ask him an unscheduled question as he boarded a train. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he came to prefer foreign news to the home beat.

Reading the 9 o'clock news in 1981 - Television Stills

Assigned to Dublin in the early 1970s, at the height of the Troubles, he had to leave at one point after upsetting the IRA (an anxious colleague got a call claiming his body had been dumped by a roadside). Investigating British mercenaries in the Congo in 1976  his first real front-line assignment  he was chased by several who wanted to kill him, and watched, horrified, when one casually stuck a lit cigarette in a taxi drivers eye. In Lebanon in 1982, Beirut militants detained and tortured him  not horribly, but what really upset me was that I realised Id tell them anything.

He blamed his prolonged absences abroad partly for the break-up of his marriage to his first wife, portrait artist Diane Petteys, with whom he had two daughters, Julia and Eleanor, born in 1969 and 1971. In 2006, he married his former producer Dee Kruger, 20 years his junior, whom he met while covering the post-apartheid elections. At 61, he then became a father again when the couples son, Rafe, was born  since when he has reined in the Christmas travel.

By then, though, he had already notched up his biggest triumphs, witnessing the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and sneaking into Afghanistan under the guise of a burqa during the fall of the Taliban in 2001. He later walked into Kabul, famously declaring that the BBC had liberated the city (he insists this was only meant as a joke).

It is debatable, though, whether some of his past exclusives would pass todays BBC risk assessments. Like the time he flew into pre-revolutionary Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini, despite warnings that the Shah would have the plane shot down. He did so against explicit orders from his foreign desk  which might be a sacking offence now.

Fortunately, in the case of the Ayatollahs plane, we won all the awards going that year, so nobody afterwards remembered that theyd ordered us not to go, he says, admitting, though, that today it might be harder to get away with.

Simpson walks into Kabul during the fall of the Taliban in 2001

Like many TV reporters, these days he is routinely accompanied on the front lines by an ex-military security guard, who acts as both a medic and safety advisor. Such guards generally stay out of shot, but can often be heard off-camera shouting run! or f---ing get down! in distinctly non-Oxbridge tones. Some TV crews complain that such guards are inherently risk-averse; Simpson, who learned his trade without them, finds the opposite.

Often these people have been in the SAS or Paras and are quite adventurous-minded, he says. So when you say: Look, Id like to do this tomorrow, they find ways of doing it, rather than just saying: No, you cant.

But sometimes you have to be pretty disingenuous. When I went to Mosul in 2016 during fighting with Isis, we had an utterly useless head of news who made me promise that I wouldnt go within a certain number of miles of the city centre. So I told the crew I was going to have a sleep in the back of the car and that they should just drive wherever they needed to. When I woke up later, wed got some very good pictures, and I argued to myself that I didnt break my promise because I wasnt aware of what was going on.

As well as his own safety, though, there is the welfare of local fixers to think about  something Simpson knows all too well. Among the 18 who died in the friendly fire incident in Iraq was Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, a 25-year-old Kurdish BBC translator. He was a lovely boy, and was the only financial support for his large family, Simpson tells Chiles, admitting that he suffers survivor guilt. I keep his photo with me, and it will be by my bed tonight. The one duty I can perform is not to forget him.

To this day, he still travels to war zones for his TV programme Unspun World interviewing president Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine in February and visiting Lebanon in October. His hardcore bullet-dodging days, though, are over. Im sure the BBC doesnt want to send me to ultra-dangerous places any longer. I mean, if something happened, can you imagine the Daily Mail headline? Why did the BBC send an 80-year-old to the most dangerous place on Earth?

He is also on Twitter/X, with nearly 250,000 followers, although unlike certain other BBC names, he doesnt see it as his personal political mouthpiece. He was, he says, really cross with Gary Lineker following the latest Twitter controversy, when he endorsed a video of an academic accusing Israel of genocide.

He [Lineker] knows what we can and cant do, and it was embarrassing. With the amount he earns, he should have a greater sense of responsibility towards the BBC. (The BBCs impartiality rules, however, are not the same for presenters and newsreaders.)

Privately educated, middle-class Oxbridge people used to dominate, but the world has changed - Matt Writle

One topic on which he has spoken out is defending the BBC policy of describing Hamas as militants rather than terrorists, insisting it is simply not the BBCs job to tell people who to support and who to condemn.

I lost quite a lot of friends over that, and was attacked by everyone including the president of Israel, he says. But I talked to Jeremy Bowen, whos just come back from Israel, and he said his relationships with the government were just the same as before, and nothing had changed. Were not really in the business, though, to make sure everyones friendly to us.

So after nearly 60 years at the BBC, what next for the man whos been everywhere? Hes writing a new book, he says, about world events since 1945. He also intends, at some point, to write an article in support of colleague Huw Edwards, who is now expected to leave the BBC in the wake of allegations of him paying a teenager for explicit images. The teenager in question denied the claims. Simpson didnt know Edwards particularly well, but feels appalled by how he has been cast out.

We all do idiotic things from time to time... But what happened to him is awful. And the way that nobody speaks about him in the BBC  that upsets me too. I dont think we should have non-persons.

Simpson mentions this in response to my asking whether hed be interested in taking over Edwards role as the voice of the nation, narrating state occasions like a coronation. He is, after all, one of the BBCs best-known faces, and the job might suit a semi-retiree.

The answer is no. For one thing, his high profile is mainly because people think Im David Attenborough. And for another, the reverential tone isnt really him. That hushed voice... and now, His Majesty, the King...  its not quite my thing, he grins. Besides, Huw and David Dimbleby did it fantastically well, whereas I cant say a sentence without humming and hawing, and you dont want that at a coronation. I like to think I have a rather rougher edge.

With that, he is off  although this Christmas, dont expect to see him on TV dodging bullets in some freezing war zone. Instead, hes off to a friends house in balmy Portugal  where the food will be hopefully better than in Sarajevo, and the gift list may run to more than just deceased dictators fountain pens. He has no regrets, though, about all those last-minute airport scrambles. Im really glad I covered all those events  even if it meant missing the chestnuts on Christmas Day.

My Life at Christmas: Adrian Chiles Meets John Simpson is on BBC One on December 10 at 10.30am

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House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled Saturday that he plans to tee up a formal vote on the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, calling it a necessary step.

We're being stonewalled by the White House, because they're preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward, a former White House counsel, the national archives ... the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence," Johnson said in an interview on Fox News.

"I think it's something we have to do at this juncture," Johnson added.

The speakers comments came after several Republicans predicted Friday that a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry would come before the House breaks for December recess.

The Biden administration has argued that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate since it has not yet been formalized by a House vote. Such a vote is not technically required, but has been used in the past to legitimize the process.
Jonathan Byrd

Former Michigan labor leader Jonathan Byrd, 40, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of aggravated assault in a sentencing agreement that recommends 90 days of incarceration and a series of other stipulations, including sex offender counseling.

Byrd previously worked for the Michigan Laborers District Council, of the Laborers International Union of North America, or LiUNA, and was considered a labor leader in the state. His work took him to political meetings and fundraisers, and it was at one of those public events that a woman accused him of sexual assault. In November 2022, the woman filed a police report with Kalamazoo police. She said Byrd caressed her bare legs at a public event, according to the police report. He moved her hand to his crotch, stroking it over his erect penis, and she pulled away, she told police. The Free Press does not name victims of alleged sexual assault without their permission.

The attorney general's office charged Byrd with one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in June.

Although this was the first time he'd been charged with sexual assault, it was not the first time he'd been accused of it. In 2017, Margie Hemgesberg filed a police report accusing him of sexual assault in Flint Township  an allegation that lost him his position within the Michigan Democratic Party. That case was ultimately referred to a special prosecutor who declined to press charges.

As part of the sentencing agreement in the Kalamazoo County case, Byrd has agreed to have no contact with the victim, participate in mandatory alcohol testing, serve a period of probation and attend sex offender counseling. The agreement was reached by prosecutors and defense counsel but has yet to be approved by the judge.

Todays guilty plea and upcoming sentencing will put a predator behind bars, said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. I am grateful for our prosecutors who held accountable a public figure, and especially for the victim whose bravery may put an end to one mans predation of young women in politics. My office will continue to seek justice for victims of assault regardless of how well-connected their assailant may be.

Byrd's next court appearance is for sentencing on Jan. 8, 2024 in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. Emily Lawler is the state government & politics editor at the Detroit Free Press. Reach her at elawler@freepress.com or follow her on formerly Twitter, now X, at @emilyjanelawler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Aggravated assault plea for former Michigan labor leader
WASHINGTON  A federal judge on Friday denied two of former President Donald Trump's motions to dismiss the federal election interference case against him.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, ruled against the first motion by saying that presidents do not have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts that fall within their official responsibilities unless first impeached and convicted in the Senate.

The Constitutions text, structure, and history do not support that contention, Chutkan wrote in her opinion. No court  or any other branch of government  has ever accepted it. And this court will not so hold. Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass.

Trump's indictment also does not violate the First Amendment, Chutkan wrote in rejecting the second motion to dismiss.

It is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime, and consequently the Indictment  which charges Defendant with, among other things, making statements in furtherance of a crime  does not violate Defendants First Amendment rights, she wrote.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Trump said radical Democrats and President Joe Biden are trying to set dangerous precedents that would cripple future presidential administrations and our country as a whole, in their desperate effort to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election.

The corrupt leftists will fail and President Trump will keep fighting for America and Americans, including by challenging these wrongful decisions in higher courts, Steven Cheung said in his statement.

It was not immediately clear if Trump would appeal the judge's rulings. Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump's lawyers in October filed several motions to dismiss the case, citing a series of constitutional grounds, including the First Amendment, double jeopardy and due process.

Two additional motions to dismiss  on statutory grounds and claims of selective or vindictive prosecution  are pending.

Trump faces four counts of criminal conduct related to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. He pleaded not guilty and has publicly condemned the allegations.

The former president has repeatedly pushed to postpone various legal challenges against him until after the 2024 election, arguing that earlier trial dates are tantamount to election interference.

The trial overseen by Chutkan is scheduled to begin in March, while his classified documents trial in Florida is slated for May.

In Georgia, where Trump has also pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a sprawling racketeering case, the former presidents lawyers told the court on Friday that starting his trial there before next fall would amount to the most effective election interference in U.S. history.

Daniel Barnes reported from Washington, and Zoe Richards reported from New York.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  The Philippines and France on Saturday signed a Letter of Intent which seeks to open negotiations between the two nations for the establishment of a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA).

The SOVFA seeks to enhance maritime and security cooperation and defines the rights and responsibilities of one country's forces when visiting the other.

It also facilitates the process of troop visitation and the conduct of joint exercises between the two countries within their territories.

The Philippines currently has a VFA with the United States and a SOVFA with Australia.

In November, Manila and Tokyo launched negotiations for a Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will provide for shared military training and operations.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastian Lecornu met in Manila on Saturday, where they signed the letter which seeks to strengthen bilateral ties of Manila and Paris, particularly through defense.

Both defense leaders first need authority from their respective heads of state before talks can officially begin.

"We can't give a definite timeline because that is a matter for the heads of state to decide -- to get authorities from our respective heads of state to negotiate a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement," Teodoro explained.

"In our experience with Japan, it happened very rapidly so we hope that the same thing happens here," he continued.

Aside from troop cooperation and traditional defense hardware, Teodoro said the Philippines was looking to cooperate in "emerging and disruptive technologies."

These include possible deals with the Philippine Space Agency on the possible peaceful uses of space technology, applications on hybrid warfare and threats, and capability enhancement in disaster risk reduction.

The two countries also reiterated the call for rules-based international order, peaceful resolution of disputes, and a "free, open, inclusive and stable Indo-Pacific."

"With regard to the West Philippine Sea / the South China Sea, both sides expressed adherence to the spirit and provisions of the 1982 United States Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the primacy thereof, and recalled the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea," a joint statement by Manila and Paris read.
A judge has halted the potential release of a Sacramento-area doctor accused of possessing and distributing child pornography, staying an order Thursday by a magistrate judge that would have allowed him to get out of jail next week under monitoring.

U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley issued a stay of the magistrate judges order Friday afternoon and ordered the defendants lawyers and prosecutors to file briefs on whether Dr. Khursheed Haider can safely be released pending the outcome of his case.

Haider, 48, is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on charges of distributing and possession child pornography, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Klein argued in a court filing Friday that Haider poses a grave danger to the community if he is released.

Using an online application, Haider posted videos in chat rooms depicting very young boys and girls being sexually assaulted, Klein wrote in opposing Haiders release. Defendant also provided details about how he would like to see infants, toddlers, and prepubescent minors raped and sexually abused.

Court documents say the FBI found more than 600 images and videos of child pornography on one of Haiders laptops and at least 11 videos on his iPhone that had been viewed as recently as Nov. 10.

Klein argued that Haider, a U.S. citizen from Pakistan, is a flight risk who has traveled overseas at least 14 times since 2014, including a 14-day solo trip to Pakistan and Dubai less than two weeks ago.

It is significant that defendant has taken many trips abroad where he is flying into one destination, like Istanbul, and out of another, like Dubai, Klein wrote. In 2023 alone, he made two round trips to Dubai; since 2019, hes made five trips out of the country.

Defendants access to significant resources, family ties abroad, and his frequent, sometimes lengthy travel abroad presents a risk of nonappearance.

Klein also raised concerns about Haider having access to his four children, who range in age from 3 to 18, and argued that as a doctor he may have access to minors through his work, either via telehealth or at hospitals where he has privileges.

Haider attorney Michael Pinkerton argued in a filing that Haider was not a flight risk and is a respected and responsible member of the community in general and the medical community in particular.

Pinkerton noted that Haider has resided in the Sacramento area for a decade and has deep roots in the community. He also argued that Haider poses no threat to his four children, and offered to have the pulmonologist live in a hotel or other rental property away from his residence pending the resolution of his case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire on Thursday ordered the release of Haider on $500,000 bail and strict conditions that he wears a monitoring device, not return to his Roseville home and have no unsupervised contact with minors. But she stayed her own order to give the government time to seek an order from Nunley revoking any release.

Nunleys order gives Haiders attorneys until Tuesday to file arguments supporting his release, and gave prosecutors until Thursday to reply.

Haider was arrested on a criminal complaint Nov. 20 and indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.

If convicted of distribution of child pornography, Haider faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, restitution, and a $250,000 fine, U.S. Attorney Phil Talberts office said in a new release. If convicted of possession of child pornography, Haider faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, restitution, and a $250,000 fine.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump stands on the field during halftime in an NCAA college football game between the University of South Carolina and Clemson Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution in his election interference case in Washington, a federal judge ruled Friday, knocking down the Republican's bid to derail the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision amounts to a sharp rejection to challenges the Trump defense team had raised to the four-count indictment in advance of a trial expected to center on the Republican's multi-pronged efforts to undo the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Though the judge turned aside Trumps expansive view of presidential power, the order might not be the final say in the legal fight. Lawyers for Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, are expected to quickly appeal to fight what they say an unsettled legal question.

In her ruling, Chutkan said the office of the president does not confer a lifelong get-out-of-jail-free pass.

"Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability," Chutkan wrote. Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.

Chutkan also rejected Trump's claims that the indictment violates the former president's free speech rights. Lawyers for Trump had argued that he was within his First Amendment rights to challenge the outcome of the election and to allege that it had been tainted by fraud, and they accused prosecutors of attempting to criminalize political speech and political advocacy.

But Chutkan said it is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime.

Defendant is not being prosecuted simply for making false statements ... but rather for knowingly making false statements in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and obstructing the electoral process, she wrote.

An attorney for Trump declined to comment Friday evening.

Her ruling comes the same day the federal appeals court in Washington ruled that lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers who have accused Trump of inciting the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, can move forward.

The appeals court in that case rejected Trumps sweeping claims that presidential immunity shields him from liability, but left the door open for him to continue to fight, as the cases proceed, to try to prove that his actions were taken his official capacity as president.

Trumps legal team had argued the criminal case, which is scheduled to go to trial in March, should be dismissed because the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner is shielded from prosecution for actions he took while fulfilling his duties as president. They assert that the actions detailed in the indictment  including pressing state officials on the administration of elections  cut to the core of Trumps responsibilities as commander in chief.

The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for actions related to their official duties, but the justices have never grappled with the question of whether that immunity extends to criminal prosecution.

The Justice Department has also held that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. Trump's lawyers are trying to ensure that same protection to a former president for actions taken while in office, asserting that no prosecutor since the beginning of American democracy has had the authority to bring such charges.

"Against the weight of that history, Defendant argues in essence that because no other former Presidents have been criminally prosecuted, it would be unconstitutional to start now," Chutkan wrote. But while a former Presidents prosecution is unprecedented, so too are the allegations that a President committed the crimes with which Defendant is charged.

Special counsel Jack Smiths team has said there is nothing in the Constitution, or in court precedent, to support the idea that a former president cannot be prosecuted for criminal conduct committed while in the White House.

The defendant is not above the law. He is subject to the federal criminal laws like more than 330 million other Americans, including Members of Congress, federal judges, and everyday citizens, prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Its one of four criminal cases Trump is facing while he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024.

Smith has separately charged Trump in Florida with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. Trump is also charged in Georgia with conspiring to overturn his election loss to Biden. And he faces charges in New York related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.

___

Richer reported from Boston.
A federal judge on Friday rejected former President Trumps argument that he is immune in his 2020 election subversion criminal case, while also denying his other constitutional defenses.

Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong get-out-of-jail-free pass, Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in the 48-page ruling.

Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office, she added.

Trump asserted the immunity defense in October, arguing all his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are protected by presidential immunity.

The former president faces four felony charges in the case, with Justice Department special counsel Jack Smiths office saying he engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruct the certification of the votes being carried out by Congress, as well as a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have ones vote counted.

The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges in August.

Nothing in the Constitutions text or allocation of government powers requires exempting former Presidents from that solemn process, Chutkan ruled. And neither the People who adopted the Constitution nor those who have safeguarded it across generations have ever understood it to do so.

Defendants four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens, she added in her decision.

Trump had also pointed to his second impeachment, noting the Senate failed to boot him from office after his efforts to resist the peaceful transfer of power were swiftly brought before the upper chamber.

He contended that his acquittal in the Senate meant he couldnt be prosecuted in the case.

But Chutkan, an Obama appointee, rejected that argument as well.

But neither traditional double jeopardy principles nor the Impeachment Judgment Clause provide that a prosecution following impeachment acquittal violates double jeopardy, Chutkan wrote.

She also tossed Trumps contention that the indictment violated his due process rights and that the alleged conduct was protected by the First Amendment.

Trump argued the prosecution criminalizes his core political speech.

But it is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime, and consequently the Indictmentwhich charges Defendant with, among other things, making statements in furtherance of a crimedoes not violate Defendants First Amendment rights, Chutkan wrote.

Updated at 8:05 pm.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump does not have immunity from criminal charges for actions he took as president, a U.S. judge ruled on Friday, rejecting his bid to toss out the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith accusing him of unlawfully trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found no legal basis for concluding that presidents cannot face criminal charges once they are no longer in office. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. election, served from 2017 to 2021.

"Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass," Chutkan wrote in her ruling.

Because Trump is the first current or former U.S. president to face criminal charges, Chutkan's ruling is the first by a U.S. court affirming that presidents can be charged with crimes like any other citizen.

The judge also rejected Trump's argument that the charges violate his free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Trump's lawyers had argued that the case by Smith "attempts to criminalize core political speech and political advocacy."

Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Trump, declined to comment on the ruling.

Chutkan's ruling brings Trump a step closer to facing a jury on charges that he plotted to interfere in the counting of electoral votes and obstruct congressional certification of Biden's victory. Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of attempting to damage his campaign.

The trial is scheduled to begin in March. Trump can immediately appeal the ruling, which potentially could delay the trial while an appeals court and potentially the Supreme Court weigh the issue.

Trump has additional pending legal motions to dismiss the case based on other claims including that his conduct as alleged by prosecutors does not fit the charges they brought. In addition to the case being pursued by Smith, Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia related to his actions seeking to undo his 2020 defeat and two other indictments. He has pleaded not guilty in those cases as well.

The U.S. Justice Department long has had an internal policy not to indict a sitting president, but prosecutors said no such restrictions exist once a president leaves the White House.

Trump's lawyers had made a sweeping claim that he is "absolutely immune" from charges arising from official actions he took as president, arguing that political opponents could use the threat of criminal prosecution to interfere with a president's responsibilities.

His defense team argued that the immunity U.S. presidents have from civil lawsuits should extend to criminal charges.

Prosecutors contended that Trump's argument would essentially put the U.S. president above the law, violating foundational principles of the Constitution.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
JUPITER  A 25-year-old after-school counselor won't be returning to Jupiter Farms Elementary School after his arrest Wednesday night in which police say they caught him in an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old.

Principal Suzanne Matuella sent that message to parents following the arrest by Jupiter police of Sebastiano Scionti of Royal Palm Beach on one count each of lewd sexual activity with a minor and indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of a minor. Both of them are felonies.

Under Florida law, the age of sexual consent is 18. Those who are either 16 or 17 can legally consent only to a partner younger than 24.

Teacher arrest: Police seek risk-protection order against middle-school instructor following series of arrests

Counselor employed at Jupiter Farms Elementary since 2019, records show

A sign outside Jupiter Farms Elementary welcomes back in-person students in September 2020.

Scionti had worked at the school since August 2019 as an assistant instructor and technical support employee, reporting directly to Matuella, who pointed out to parents that the arrest occurred off campus and did not involve any Jupiter Farms Elementary students.

The 17-year-old also worked at the elementary school as an after-school counselor, according to Scionti's arrest report.

Scionti, a Royal Palm Beach resident, is free on $20,000 bail, according to court records. The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office represented him at a bail hearing Thursday. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases.

The Palm Beach County School District did not immediately comment Friday on Scionti's employment status.

Court ruling: Judge dismisses case against Palm Beach Central official who didn't report sexual assault

Police: Counselor, student caught in car at Jupiter park

The arrest happened at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday in Indian Creek Park in Jupiter, about 5 miles east of Jupiter Farms Elementary. An officer observed Scionti and the 17-year-old in a state of undress in the back seat of a Lexus parked at the complex along Central Boulevard after it had closed, according to the arrest report.

The teen provided the officer with an age of 18, but the teen's identification card confirmed an age of 17, the report said.

The teen acknowledged having physical contact with Scionti but denied having sex with him, the report said.

Attorney discipline: Lawyer caught downloading child porn among 8 attorneys cited by Florida Supreme Court

Scionti told officers he believed the teen was 18. However, text communications between Scionti and the teen revealed that Scionti knew the teen was a minor, the police report said.

The arrest report indicates that Scionti and the teen first met when the teen was in middle school and that the two had recently begun working together as after-school counselors.

During Thursday's hearing, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ordered that Scionti have no contact with any school in Palm Beach County, the victim or the victim's family.

Staff Writer Katherine Kokal contributed to this report.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County school counselor arrested on lewdness charges
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 1)  The Philippines will showcase its campaign towards a climate resilient future as the country opened on Friday its first-ever pavilion at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai.

"It is extremely important for the Philippines as a climate-vulnerable country to be heard by other nations because what we're trying to do at this point is really approach our climate resilience by twinning, adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction," said Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga, who heads the Philippine delegation to COP28.

READ: Marcos cancels COP28 trip amid 'developments' involving 17 hostaged PH sailors

"That will involve the social, economic, environmental, and scientific efforts of the whole-of-government," she added.

A pavilion is a space where parties can host events and discussions at the sidelines of the two-week international summit, where world leaders assess progress on climate change response and conduct critical negotiations dealing with the phenomenon.

For environmental groups, the space has "potential to facilitate critical intersectoral discussions for our people's climate survival and to exhibit the Filipino solidarity for climate justice and action."

RELATED: DENR: PH at COP28 to urge developed nations to fulfill climate commitments

However, a coalition of civil society groups expressed "grave disappointment," saying the Philippine delegation failed to "uphold meaningful participation of communities and civil society" in the pavilion.

"Unfortunately, it is clear that the inclusion of vulnerable communities and civil society is not a priority of the delegation, and the pavilion's execution," the Power for People Coalition and Youth for Climate Hope Philippines said.

"Despite compliance with the changing requirements from the Pavilion Committee, civil society groups without pre-existing ties with the Philippine delegation head were unable to receive formal and consistent communication regarding applications for pavilion events, including their eventual denial," they added.

The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, Greenpeace Philippines, Laudato Si' Movement Pilipinas, and Caritas Philippines also described it as "prejudice" against those that raise critical discussions.

They claimed the exclusion could bury crucial talks for climate action under "flashy pronouncements" to say that the Philippine government's participation was a success.

But in her remarks at the pavilion opening, Loyzaga acknowledged civil society organizations that are part of the side eventsincluding the Forest Foundation Philippines. She also mentioned partners like Ayala Corp. and the Asian Development Bank.

The Philippines is hosting 32 sideline events throughout COP28, covering topics on data governance, nature, land use and oceans, disaster resilience, energy transition, transforming food systems, and climate financing.
Beyond Columbia Universitys heavy iron gates emblazoned with the words May All Who Enter Here Find Welcome and Peace, a 25-year-old graduate student said he felt immense pressure to pick a side in the Israel-Hamas war.

The student, who is working on a PhD in statistics and asked not to be named because of safety concerns, recalled being approached repeatedly by friends on both sides of the conflict and refusing to lend his name to petitions or statements on the emotionally fraught topic.

Im not an expert. I dont have an opinion, he said. Its not simple, and a lot of people are dying. My opinion is that its sad.

Longtime bastions of political discourse and protest, US college campuses are seeing widening fissures created by the intense debate over a conflict that has sparked contention for decades. While students on both sides say they feel unheard and abandoned by the universitys administration, young people who wont take a stand on the war argue those feelings are also true for them.

You can either act like you dont care and avoid whatever they say, or you can try to reason and understand whats going on to see an ideological way of picking a side. But the situation is so involved, the student said, who moved to New York in August after studying in Texas.

Either you dont care or you feel lost. Its too much to try to handle.

I dont even want to be involved on campus

Entrenched opinions about the long-running conflict have not only resulted in disciplinary action against faculty members but also created a fierce backlash against more vocal students. As a result, many grads and undergrads nearing the end of one of the more tumultuous semesters in recent history agree the highly charged environment is impacting college life, turning a place of learning into a place of mistrust and disorder.

I dont even want to be involved on campus, said a second-year Columbia Law student, who is Jewish and did not want to give his name, looking exhausted after recent pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Now I want to graduate and get out of here.

On a recent November afternoon, demonstrators gathered on both sides of Low Plaza, the heart of the Columbia campus in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan. That day  and at other times this fall  school administrators closed the sprawling grounds to the public in part to help maintain safety and a sense of community through planned demonstration activities, according to a statement.

The words Corner of Peace  which had been scrawled in chalk above a bench on Campus Walk, the main artery across the university  had now been washed away.

With campus closed to the public that day, a university spokesperson escorted a reporter around, noting the war-related events were not sanctioned by Columbia and violated school policy.

On the steep granite steps leading from the vast esplanade to the portico around the entrance to Low Library, demonstrators chanted Cease fire now in a measured, restrained cadence.

A Palestinian refugee, Mohsen Mahdawi, delivered an impassioned speech about his experience getting shot in the leg at a refugee camp. Mohsen, an undergrad, later led demonstrators down the steps and around a group of Jewish students  who waved Israeli flags and refused to move  to stage a die-in.

Were not going to die under an Israeli flag, he said, leading the demonstrators to hold their protest away from the flags.

At the top of the steps, a senior majoring in biology  a reformed history student  only gave his first name, Daniel. He is half Iranian. The tension on campus, he said, made him uncomfortable  a mental discomfort.

Daniel said he doesnt have a problem speaking his mind. But he warned that picking a side can lead to getting ones name and face displayed on a mobile billboard doxxing truck that a conservative nonprofit has used to shame pro-Palestine students. Daniel only shares his opinions with close friends and family, he said.

Physical peace and ideological peace are two different things, he said as the die-in was breaking up.

In October, university president Minouche Shafik addressed doxxing  an online invasion of personal privacy  in a statement.

Some students, including at Columbia, have been victims of (doxxing), Shafik said. This form of online harassment, involving the public posting of names and personal information, has been used by extremists to target communities and individuals. This kind of behavior also will not be tolerated and should be reported through appropriate school channels. When applicable, we will refer these cases to external authorities.

Columbia has created a resource group to deal with issues relating to doxxing, harassment and online security.

The university postponed its massive Giving Day fundraising event in October amid simmering tensions on campus over the Israel-Hamas war.

Right now, we know that the atmosphere on campus is extremely charged and many are concerned for their personal safety, Columbia officials said in a statement on October 12.

University leaders issued a separate statement condemning disturbing antisemitic and Islamophobic acts, including intimidation and outright violence.

That statement came after a Columbia student who was hanging up posters on campus in support of Israel was assaulted.

Shafik has urged the university community to avoid language that vilifies, threatens or stereotypes entire groups of people, adding this type of speech will not be tolerated when it is unlawful or violates university rules.

Outside Butler Hall, two undergrad Filipino American women and a male friend  all of whom asked to remain anonymous  said the campus is full of people talking about the war despite it not affecting them personally. One woman said the heated debate made it difficult to focus on school.

At a November sit-in at the Graduate School of Social Work, about 50 demonstrators accused the university of being one-sided and pro-Israel. One student held a bullhorn; another banged a drum.

The universitys senior executive vice president, Gerald Rosberg, showed up at one point. After about 20 minutes, he informed the students they were violating school rules and faced possible sanctions. The students didnt leave.

When someone doesnt meet your demands, that doesnt mean theyre not listening to you, Rosberg said.

One demonstrator filmed everyone entering the building, forcing some students headed to class to take cover behind the front desk to avoid being recorded.

Rosberg, who chairs the special committee on campus safety, later issued a statement announcing the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) as official student groups through the end of the term.

Rosberg said the groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event (November 9) that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.

In a statement on Instagram, the groups called the suspension an attack on free speech. The groups accused the university of selective censorship of pro-Palestinian student organizations in order to prevent protest against Israels increasingly brutal attacks and silence our voices.

The PhD student who felt pressure to pick a side said Americans are more concerned with not offending someone than voicing their opinions. The Israel-Palestine conflict, he said, makes it extremely difficult to connect with people because everything you say can be misinterpreted and offend someone.

As the fall semester draws to a close, he will avoid protests and study at home. He prefers superficial talk about the weather or lunch, he said, because when discussing politics people will respond to you and will play the victim.



So people dont talk, he said.

This story has been updated to remove identifying information about one of the students over concerns for that students safety.

CNNs Elle Reeve, Eric Levenson, Ramishah Maruf and Matt Egan contributed to this report.

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Less than 24 hours after a man was killed and a person taken into custody in a shooting at a Kansas City home, police on Friday identified the victim as a 50-year old John M. Buckley.

Buckleys killing comes as Kansas City is on the brink of its deadliest year  yet again.

The record for the city was set in 2020 with 182 killings, rocketing past the previous record of 155 homicides reported in 2017, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. Since then, homicide numbers have been among the worst the city has seen. In 2021, 157 lives were lost in homicides. There were 171 killings in 2022.

In mid-November, 2023 gained the notorious distinction of becoming the citys second deadliest year. As of Friday, 176 people have been killed in homicides, according to the data tracked by The Star.

With just over four weeks remaining until the end of the year, Kansas City faces the grim reality that this year could be its deadliest ever, as an ever-growing number of arguments, domestic disputes and acts of retaliation end in deadly violence. The single highest cause of homicides this year  arguments. The single biggest deadly weapon  guns.

And despite some glimmers of hope for solutions down the road in the form of new community partnerships and collaboration to help stop the violence and support victims, the unyielding violence thats become part of everyday life in Kansas City is sobering.

One homicide is too many

The number of homicides and non-fatal shootings is indeed very concerning, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said in a statement.

One homicide is too many, she said. Its something everyone in Kansas City should care about!

The police department continues to work with its strategic partners on the issue, she said in the statement. The police department is confident in the investment and efforts it is employing to reduce violence, along with Partners for Peace, KC 360, state and federal partners, probation and parole and other community partners.

Reducing violent crime is among the highest priorities for our department, to make Kansas City as safe as it possibly can be, Graves said.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said hes also not happy with the citys number of homicides. He recognizes that with each life lost, theres a grieving person or family left behind.

While there may be some who try to leverage these number for any number of different reasons, my heat breaks for all of the victims in Kansas City and I continue to believe that we can and should be a safer city, Lucas said.

Every live lost is a tragedy, Lucas said, but he wants to focus now on how the city can prevent more tragedy. This week, the City Council passed an ordinance accepting a U.S. Department of Justice grant that will allow the city to work on focused deterrence more, which was a big part of the Kansas City No Violence Alliance, or KC NoVA.

Im heartened that were seeing efforts like those renewed, Lucas said.

That program captured national attention after killings dropped to a historic low of 86 in 2014 by targeting violent people and their associates. They received help finding jobs, getting an education and other assistance. When KCPD Chief Rick Smith took over in 2017, he killed the program.

Work also continues through the new program called Partners for Peace, a collaboration between the city, the Jackson County Prosecutors Office and the Kansas City Police that brings together local agencies and nonprofits to administer resources and assistance to families after a loved one is wounded or killed in a shooting.

This past week, Lucas joined other members of Partners in Peace to canvass the Independence Avenue neighborhood to reach out to those who might be at risk of retaliation, as as well as to make proactive code enforcement efforts with businesses to address criminal activity.

Its an effort to stop crime before it starts and address mistakes from the past, as in the case of the auto business at 57th Street and Prospect Avenue that was operating an after hours nightclub, but wasnt shut down by the city until after a shooting in late June left three people dead and six others wounded.

Lucas said there were dozens of calls to the Kansas City Police Department, but he said he thinks its fair to say that they didnt get shut down until it was too late.

Residents gathered at 57th Street and Wabash Avenue after three people died and five were injured following a shooting on June 25 near 57th Street and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City.

Going to get worse

It doesnt surprise Rosilyn Temple, founder and program director of KC Mothers in Charge, that Kansas City finds itself once again on the verge of breaking its record for the number of homicides in a year.

I knew we were going to get here this year, said Temple, who founded the local chapter in 2014 after her son, Antonio PeeWee Thompson, was killed Nov. 23, 2011. And I know its going to get worse before it gets better.

For 10 years, she has been going to homicide scenes and working in the community, so she has seen the pace that the city was on this year. Part of the problem, she said, has been young kids carrying guns who dont know how to deal with conflict. People need to realize this is a community problem and stand up and say that they have had enough, she said. Otherwise, she fears, nothing will change.

Founder and director of Kansas City Mothers in Charge, Rosilyn Temple, middle, looks over the scene of a fatal shooting that left one person dead on the 4500 block of South Benton Avenue on July 12 in Kansas City.

You shouldnt have to come to a place where you lose a child like I have to make a stand for something, Temple said. We got to do something now.

In this years homicides, firearms were used 160 times as the means of attack, according to the Kansas City Police Departments daily homicide analysis.

About a third of the victims were under the age of 25, including 18 victims, or 10%, that were 17 years old or younger.

Arguments were the leading contributing factor in this years homicides, involving the killing of 65 victims. There were also 21 killings where domestic violence was a prevailing factor. Retaliation accounted for 17 deaths, according to the police departments analysis.

One of the more concerning issues that Lucas has noticed is the anger that is being seen among families, and the youths they are seeing as both victims and assailants. Lucas said he sat through a funeral of a murdered teen last weekend.

Youre seeing teenagers getting access to guns easily on the streets of Kansas City, he said. I think that that creates a deadly cocktail in connection with that fact that its been made apparent over the past that easy, readily available access to firearms for those who dont need them often leads to these types of very challenging outcomes.

Whats going on in Kansas City is more than just an epidemic of violence, which the city has been suffering through for some time, said Damon Daniel, president of the AdHoc Group Against Crime.

Were at the point where this has really become a moral crisis, Daniel said. I say that because America continues to romanticize and love their guns.

Not enough is being done to protect the children and the community in general with common sense gun legislation, he said. Not enough is being done to make sure that social service agencies as well as schools have what is needed to provide quality education and services.

Its not rocket science, he said. When we think about where real investment needs to go, it needs to go where there is none or theres very little.

If communities allow only some parts of the city to thrive while other parts suffer, they will continue to see violence, he said.

Messages written in chalk are seen on the sidewalk outside Klymax Lounge on May 22 in Kansas City. Three people were killed and two were injured in a shooting on May 21 at the nightclub.

Public health emergency

With the number of homicides in Kansas City alarmingly high, and with the city nearing the point of breaking its record, it underscores the fact that gun violence is a public health emergency and it needs to be seen that way, said Matthew Huffman, chief public affairs officer for the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

I consider gun violence to be a public health emergency because whenever we look at the rate at which it is happening, it just continues to rise, Huffman said. But we also know that gun violence is preventable and if we treat it like a public health emergency, it means that we can take the necessary steps in order to prevent it, because we know that it can be prevented.

There are many folks who have considered gun violence to be a public health issue for a long time, he said.

At the same time, there are those who see gun ownership as solely a Second Amendment rights issue, which puts the issue of gun violence back to the individual rather than a community-wide public health issue.

I think there can be space for those not to be looked at as separate issues, but combined, Huffman said. You can have responsible gun ownership while also recognizing that gun violence and homicides as a result of gun violence are indeed a public health issue.

For decades, government leaders in Missouri and elsewhere have seen gun violence as a crime problem to be solved with law enforcement.

Instead, experts say gun violence should be looked at a public health problem to be solved by improving underlying life conditions that put people at greater or lesser risk, such as income, housing and food security and schools, as well as structural racism, another risk factor, that puts Black residents at a disadvantage in those categories.

There are no easy, short term solutions to Kansas Citys homicide problem, said Huffman, who attributed the homicide rates to Missouris lack of strong gun laws, he said.

Narrowing the focus specifically to domestic violence homicides, Huffman said that if Missouri statutes mirrored federal laws that prevent a domestic violence offender with an order of protection against them from having access to a firearm, deaths could be prevented.

Without those laws in Missouri and without local communities like the Greater Kansas City Area being able to implement and enforce laws like that, we will continue to see more people die as a result of gun deaths, including domestic violence homicides, he said.

But the mayor sees it as a more complex problem.

There are a number of reasons Kansas City has such high violent crime numbers, Lucas said. They range from the number of officers to jail issues, as well the lack of investment in mental health. There is also incredible poverty and inequality in the city, he said.

All of these things become very relevant, but I dont think youre being a serious person if you dont look at the fact that the easy access to guns  the fact that you can talk to 12 and 13 year olds in Kansas City who know how to find firearms, Lucas said. I think that becomes a big part of our issue long term.

Kansas City has great asset through its KC Blueprint for Violence Prevention and a Safe and Healthy Community that drew upon a variety of stakeholders across the city to develop a list of violence reduction strategies for the different sectors, Huffman said.

While Kansas City has for some time viewed violence as a public health problem, including placing the the Violence Free Kansas City Committee is under the umbrella of the citys Health Commission, Daniel with the AdHoc Group Against Crime said he doesnt think all of the citys various sectors see it that way.

Theres a need to take a step back and define what a healthy community looks like and then go beyond just putting that definition on paper, he said.

We want to be able to experience what a healthy city, what a healthy community, what a healthy neighborhood feels like and looks like, Daniel said. That should be the goal of our city, and our metro for that matter. It cant just be one city. It does have to take a regional effort.

One aspect Daniel feels people are overlooking is generational trauma that has been associated with violence. He said there are people in the community who have lost multiple family members to violence and who have survived violent acts and assaults. Finding ways to disrupt generational trauma will be an upcoming focus of AdHoc Group Against Crime, he said.

Its important to also recognize that Kansas Citys homicide problem hasnt happened overnight. Its the result of decades of neglect of certain parts of the city that has been allowed to spread like a deadly disease, Daniel said.

If one part of our body has an ailment and we ignore it, other parts of our body begin to break down, he said. That illness begins to get worse and it spreads to other organs and other parts of our body. Our functions begin to deteriorate. That is what has occurred in our city.

Homicide detectives investigate the scene of a fatal shooting on the 1300 block of E 81st Terrace on Friday, July 14, 2023, in Kansas City. The homicide victim is an adult male who died at the scene, police said.

Light at the end of the tunnel

But some people are starting to see signs of hope.

Obviously we are in a very bad place in the sense of the number that youre seeing as far as homicides and shootings, said Vincent Ortega, executive director of Jackson County Combat. But at the same time, he said he sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

That spark of optimism stems from an ongoing collaboration among the police, social service agencies, prosecutors and concerned citizens who have been meeting for about eight months for the first time in many years, he said.

At those weekly meetings, they discuss the issues that are going on, the number of individuals who were shot and killed that week, suspect information and collaborate with different agencies and individuals, Ortega said.

Were doing things a lot differently, he said. Youre seeing a lot more collaboration. Youre seeing a lot more communication, and on a more comprehensive level, where all parties involved are working together to try to reduce violence.

As its part, Combat set up a Midtown hub in July 2021 at the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ at 37th Street and Wabash Avenue that refers shooting victims and families of homicide victims to social services programs to meet their physical needs as well as mental health needs to help them deal with the trauma and to intervene when the victim feels the need to retaliate.

On average, 15 to 20 individuals are shot each week in Kansas City with three or four of them ending up as homicides, Ortega said. What they found was that while police followed up on investigations, 70% or more of the victims were never contacted for social services to help meet their need.

So far this year, the hub has had 853 social service referrals, mostly of survivors of shootings or families members of homicide victims, he said.

Meanwhile, the KC 360 violence prevention strategy that mirrors one by a similar name in Omaha, Nebraska, is seeing mixed results in Kansas Citys Santa Fe neighborhood. Homicides are down, but nonfatal shootings remain steady. A more extensive effort to track the impacts wont launch until next year.

The program is still in its early stages. In May 2022, then-interim Kansas City Police Chief Joseph Mabin announced the department had joined KC 360 and was conducting a pilot program in the Santa Fe Neighborhood.

Officials are hoping to replicate the similar successes as Omaha, which saw a 74% drop in shootings in 15 years in Omaha, officials said.

The nonprofit KC Common Good is spearheading the KC 360 effort to reduce violent crime and increase access to opportunities. The nonprofit was founded in 2018 to address root causes of violence. The board is made up of faith, business and community leaders, including the mayor.

Next year, Kansas City police also will be taking a focused deterrence approach to an overall violence reduction program that uses enforcement, intelligence-led policing and community engagement, said Capt. Corey Carlisle, a spokesperson for the police department, in an email.

Many of these efforts are being are being utilized today but a more comprehensive phase will be adopted in the beginning of the new year which will include more community partners and resources to help increase long-term crime reduction results as it relates to violent crime, he said.

Police work the scene of a fatal shooting on westbound lanes of Interstate 670 near Broadway Boulevard June 7 in Kansas City.
A Kansas woman has filed a lawsuit against Saint Lukes Health System and doctors for alleged medical malpractice, negligence, and a misdiagnosis that left her multiple sclerosis untreated for 10 years.

The lawsuit filed on Nov. 8 on behalf of Sara Allison, a resident of Kansas and former patient at Saint Lukes, is seeking $25,000 in damages for expenses and relief.

Named as defendants in the suit are Allisons former neurologists at Saint Lukes, Charles L. Weinstein and Sarah Gibbons, as well as Saint Lukes Physician Group. The suit alleges the defendants are responsible for failure to take steps toward studying and achieving the true diagnosis of Allisons medical condition that has impacted her life.

The suit contends that Allison was misdiagnosed by Saint Lukes doctors in 2012 with migraine headaches. That misdiagnosis, according to the suit, only worsened her condition. Court documents allege that throughout Allisons treatment she exhibited symptoms that could have been related to a demyelinating disease which affects the nervous system, but was only treated for migraines.

The plaintiff argues that while she was in Saint Lukes care, Allisons physicians were negligent and ignored, dismissed, failed to consider or follow-up on, and/or they failed to further test appropriately toward a differential diagnosis.

Without an accurate diagnosis by Allisons physicians at Saint Lukes Neurology, the suit alleges that her disease progressed and was left untreated, which has caused lasting effects.

After 10 years, her then-neurologist Dr. Gibbons allegedly advised Allison to seek treatment at another hospital, where she was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The suit says it wasnt until Allison sought assistance elsewhere that she received sufficient testing and a true differential diagnosis from her new physician, who has confirmed that she has MS/relapsing-remitting.

The suit contends it took a decade for Allison to find her true diagnosis. Over time, her condition worsened and prevented her from supporting herself financially, the suit says.

Reached by email on Friday, a spokeswoman for Saint Lukes Health System said, Saint Lukes is deeply committed to providing the highest level of care to every patient. While we are unable to comment on pending litigation, we can say we are proud of the exceptional care we provide and have the utmost confidence in our physicians who dedicate their lives to serving our patients.
Kash Patel, former chief of staff for President Donald Trump, speaks at a rally in Minden, Nev., on Oct. 8, 2022. Patel was in Utah on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, campaigning for Trent Staggs. | Jose Luis Villegas, Associated Press

U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs has received endorsements from several pro-Donald Trump conservatives, with the latest nod coming from former Trump administration official Kash Patel.

Patel served in various positions in the Trump administration, primarily in intelligence, and was the chief of staff to former Trump Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. He also served as the deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

Patel attended two private events with Staggs Friday, and joined the Riverton mayor for an interview with the Deseret News that afternoon.

Staggs is running to replace Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who announced earlier this year he would not run for reelection. Also in the running for the Republican nomination are former Utah House speaker Brad Wilson, Roosevelt Mayor Rod Bird Jr., Carolyn Phippen and others. Rep. John Curtis, who represents Utahs 3rd Congressional District, is also rumored to be considering joining the race.

Patel is just the latest pro-Trump conservative to endorse Staggs, joining Arizona Republican Kari Lake, Charlie Kirk, Mark Levin and former ambassador Ric Grenell.

Related

Staggs, who has already endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, is running on an America First platform, having endorsed several of the policies favored by Trump, including taking a hardline approach on border security, disengaging from some foreign conflicts, protectionist trade policies and fighting crime.

In their interview with the Deseret News, Staggs and Patel emphasized their agreement on foreign and immigration policy.

What I learned in my time in the administration, especially in a senior post in the Trump administration, was we didnt have the allies we needed to push forward President Trumps agenda when it came to shutting down the border, taking on the drug cartels, shutting down fentanyl, taking on Iran, China, rolling out our sanctions  multilateral efforts along with our tariff efforts  along with our national security mission of basically ending the forever wars and wiping out terrorists, said Patel.

He said he thinks Staggs would by an ally on the Trump agenda in the Senate, unlike Romney, who frequently spoke out against Trump.

Staggs said he supports Trumps immigration policies, and would like to see the border wall completed, and for fewer migrants to cross the southern and northern borders. A record number of migrants have been apprehended at the border in recent years, and Staggs criticized the Biden administration, saying the president hadnt done enough to secure the border.

Those that literally live right there on the border, and they see the human trafficking, and some of the horrific stories that theyve shared ... the compassionate thing to do is to get the border secured, closed off, have great ports of entry, said Staggs. And one thing I would like to see, frankly, is to streamline the immigration process for those that want to come here to this country and pledge allegiance to that flag, irrespective of where theyre from.

On refugees, Patel said his father had to flee a genocidal dictator in East Africa, gradually making his way to the United States.

My dad stood in line for three years to get into this country, even though his family was getting murdered, said Patel. Theres a law and theres an order and theres a way to do it.

Honored to have my friend Kash Patel in Utah joining me on the campaign trail. pic.twitter.com/Wzmul1M8QR  Mayor Trent Staggs (@MayorStaggs) December 2, 2023

Patel and Staggs also spoke about their concerns about the fentanyl coming across the border, and said it should be treated as a national security issue.

Patel, who worked as a federal public defense attorney and a federal prosecutor, said he is familiar with how the cartels operate, and said he believes they are exploiting American immigration laws in order to traffic drugs and people into the U.S.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2)  Two Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking in China were executed last week, 10 years after their arrest, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed on Saturday.

It said the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou confirmed that the two were put to death on Nov. 24.

The DFA also explained it is withholding the identities of the Filipinos and had deferred from announcing the development to respect their families request for privacy, and pending confirmation from China.

We offer our most sincere condolences to their families and loved ones, it wrote in a statement.

From the time the two Filipinos were arrested in 2013, to their criminal trial, and on through their appeal before the High Court of the courts judgment of conviction in 2018, the Department provided all possible assistance, including legal assistance funding, it added.

The government said it exhausted all measures available to appeal to China to commute their sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.

There were also high-level political representations over the matter.

Our repeated appeals were consistent with the laws and values of our nation, which put the highest premium on human life, the DFA said.

In the end, the Chinese government, citing their internal laws, upheld the conviction, and the Philippines must respect Chinas criminal laws and legal processes, it also said.

The department said it assisted the families of the two Filipinos in their recent compassionate visit to Guangzhou.

Based on official data, there are 92 Filipino death penalty cases in China  of which all but one are drug-related.

Of the total count, two cases have been reduced to life-imprisonment, while 86 have been commuted to fixed term. This means two remain pending and are being appealed.

According to the government, the recent deaths strengthen its resolve to continue its fight against drug syndicates that prey on the vulnerable, including those seeking better lives for themselves and their families.

It also warned Filipinos who wish to travel abroad to be careful not to unwittingly become drug mules.

The DFA reminded them not to carry any package that they have not personally packed and thoroughly inspected.

While the Philippine government will continue to exhaust all possible avenues to assist our overseas nationals, ultimately it is the laws and sovereign decisions of foreign countries and not the Philippines which will prevail in these cases, it said.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Las Vegas police and the FBI thwarted a potential terror plot involving a 16-year-old, police said Friday.

During a news conference, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officials detailed an investigation into a terror threat on a social media platform. The image of the threat was shown by LVMPD officials. It read:

Peace be upon all brothers who see this. I am here to announce that I will be starting lone wolf operations in Las Vegas against the enemies of Allah. I ask you to make Dua for victory. I am a supporter of the Islamic State, and I will make sure the zionists in this city know it.

The post included an ISIS flag and words in Arabic.

Photo provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Police immediately initiated a multi-agency investigation, officials said, and increased security in the area. Within hours of identifying the threat, police said they were able to identify the individual responsible and his location.

Police described the suspect as a 16-year-old from Las Vegas who was a recent convert to Islam. A search warrant was served, and the teenager was taken into custody without incident. A police search found components for building an improvised explosive device along with bomb-making recipes and instructions, Deputy Chief Dori Koren said Friday.

Additionally, police found terrorism propaganda, a handmade ISIS flag, a headband and patches. Evidence also included ISIS and Al-Qaida propaganda, radicalization materials, and guidance for conducting a terrorist attack, investigators said. Police also found self-portraits of the suspect wearing the material and surrounded by propaganda, self-produced terrorism propaganda and anti-Semitic threats.

Photo provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Photo provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Photo provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

The teenager faces felony charges of terroristic threats, attempting to further an act of terrorism, providing material support to a terrorist, terrorist organization, and/or act of terrorism, and five counts of possession of an explosive component. His name was not released due to his age.

Investigators said there was no indication of a continued threat, calling it isolated.

Metro officials emphasized the departments see something, say something message, and the importance of the community staying vigilant and identifying suspicious activity. If you see something, say something and call 911. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555 or visit crimestoppersofnv.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer involved in a shooting in the northeast valley earlier this week has been identified.

Officer Coleman Oswald, 37, has been employed with the department since 2009.

The shooting occurred on Nov. 29 in the 5700 block of Baffy Circle near Nellis Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue.

A man was shot by police late Wednesday night after he stole a tow truck, fled from police, barricaded himself inside a home, attempted to flee a second time, and then aimed a gun at police, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Armed suspect steals tow truck, barricades in home, before being shot by police, Metro says

The suspect was taken to an area hospital. His condition is unknown. No officers were injured in the incident.

Officer Oswald is assigned to the Homeland Security Special Operations Division, Special Weapons, and Tactics Bureau, according to police.

Officer Oswald has been placed on routine paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a review of the incident.

It was the eighth officer-involved shooting for Metro in 2023.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
To the world, Rosalynn Carter was known for her dedication to humanitarian efforts and as a devoted partner and trusted adviser to her husband of 77 years, former President Jimmy Carter.

To her family, the former first lady who died November 19 at age 96 was remembered as a lover of people, a hero, an adventurer and a cool grandma  who did Tai Chi with a sword, as her grandson, Jason Carter, shared at her tribute service in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Rosalynns final journey through her home state this week stretched over 100 miles, starting and ending in her and Jimmys birthplace of Plains, Georgia. As mourners paid their respects and revisited her life and legacy, occasional laughs from heartfelt anecdotes punctuated the somber moments during a series of ceremonies held in her honor between Monday and Wednesday.

Theres no place on this earth that you can find anyone that has anything bad to say about Rosalynn Carter. Not one word. Not a news article. Not even one person on the left or anybody on the right, said Pastor Tony Lowden at Wednesdays private funeral service in Plains.

I believe  the reason why is because she did not worship the donkey or the elephant. She worshipped the lamb, Lowden said, referring to Rosalynns faith.

Heres how she was remembered this week.

Just like everyone elses grandmother

From the mayonnaise included in just about all of her recipes to the birthday cards she stuffed with $20  even for her adult grandchildren  Rosalynn Carter was like everyone elses grandmother, her grandson Jason Carter told mourners at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at Emory University on Tuesday.

When I was 45, $20 bill, Jason said to laughter from attendees. He reflected on his grandmother as a down-to-earth woman who made sure no one went hungry on a trip  family and strangers alike.

We were on a flight on Delta from here to somewhere, and we were all sitting in the back of the airplane together and took off, Jason recalled of one getaway. We looked over, my grandmother took out this Tupperware of pimento cheese and this loaf of bread and she just started making sandwiches.

Rosalynn distributed the sandwiches to her grandchildren but didnt stop there, Jason said.

Then she started giving them to other people on the plane, and people were sitting there like, Rosalynn Carter just made me this sandwich! he said. They couldnt believe it, but she loved people.

She also loved her family and adored the little ones, grandson Josh Carter said.

She was happiest whenever theres a new baby, every time we had a new baby in the family, she could not wait to play with them, Josh Carter said at Wednesdays private funeral service.

In the same Carter Center boardroom where my grandparents would host presidents and other world leaders, Mom, in her 80s, would get on the floor and chase babies and play peekaboo, he said.

An adventurer, a voyager, a mountain climber

Rosalynn Carter was not a person to shy away from adventure, as could be seen in the fantastic Disney World photos of her beaming with excitement from the top of the Tower of Terror  her favorite ride  as the Secret Service agents behind her appeared on the verge of being sick, Josh Carter described to chuckles from attendees.

James Earl Chip Carter III reflected on his time as a second grader at Plains High School. The school hosted a donkey basketball game fundraiser in which Rosalynn participated, he said Tuesday.

My mother rode her donkey as fast as it would slowly go, right under the goal, spun around so she was facing its tail, caught the pass and made the winning two points, he said. She was my hero that night, and shes been my hero ever since.

Amy Carter speaks during a tribute service for her mother and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta. - Andrew Harnik/AP

Jason Carter remembered his grandmother as an adventurer, a voyager, a mountain climber who learned to ski in her 60s and continued the hobby for 25 more years.

Rosalynn fished trout streams from Georgia to Wyoming, and from Venezuela to Siberia, Jason shared. The life of adventure she shared with her naval officer husband took her to over 120 countries in her lifetime.

The former first ladys role as the rock for our family, as Jason called her, may have made Rosalynn well suited to explore the mountains, including Kilimanjaro and Fuji, he said his grandmother dared to climb.

I know that she went to the Everest base camp in Nepal, and I can guarantee you she was looking up at that thing and thinking, if they would just let me, and based on what she did, I think she could have done it, Jason said.

A staunch mental health advocate

Rosalynns family highlighted her decades of tireless dedication to mental health reform, and how she and her husband partnered to start the Carter Center to allow her to continue fighting the stigma of mental illness.

Her advocacy for mental health was a 50-year climb that is as remarkable as any other, Jason Carter said. But if you imagine just how far our society has come in the last five years on issues of mental health, and you think that she decided in 1970 to tackle the anxious stigma associated with mental illness, it is remarkable how far she could see and how far she was willing to walk, and that effort changed lives, and it saved lives, including in my own family.

During a time when mental illness was looked on as a failure of character, Rosalynn stepped up to eliminate the stigma and treat it as any other diagnosable, treatable illness, Josh Carter said.

She built programs such as fighting for mental health parity and teaching journalists how to write about mental illness, he said. She saw people that are suffering from mental illness as people who also have hopes and dreams and are worthy of love.

A champion hula dancer

Carter family members wore leis during Wednesdays funeral service in honor of the time Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter spent in Hawaii during the former presidents time in the Navy, Matthew De Galan, Carter Center spokesperson, told CNN.

Rosalynn learned hula dancing while living there and once won a hula dancing contest, De Galan said. Josh Carter described his grandmother as a champion hula dancer.

Chip Carter said his mother still had the moves well into her later years and while living with dementia.

One day, my mother was sitting with my wife Becky and she was reminiscing on what it was like to live in Hawaii, and she was talking about learning all the native dances, Chip said during Tuesdays tribute.

She got up from the sofa, pushed her walker away  which she couldnt take a step without  and proceeded to do the hula for two or three minutes, he said.

She grabbed her walker, turned around, sat back on the sofa and turned to my wife and said, thats how you do it.

Journalist Judy Woodruff pauses at the casket of first lady Rosalynn Carter, after speaking at Wednesday's tribute service. - Brynn Anderson/AP

A close and trusted adviser

Journalist Judy Woodruff, who first met Rosalynn Carter in 1970 as a reporter during Jimmy Carters gubernatorial campaign, described how she redefined the role of first lady.

Woodruff shared how Rosalynn would sit in on cabinet meetings and immersed herself in learning about subjects that mattered to her.

What we witnessed was a first lady who saw her role as going well beyond the essential warm and welcoming host to being a close and trusted, yes, adviser. In essence, an extension of the president himself, Woodruff said Tuesday.

Woodruff recalled a diplomatic trip Rosalynn took to the Caribbean, Central and South America early in the Carter administration. She wanted to report concerns to Jimmy, Woodruff said, especially ones involving human rights.

Ill never forget the looks on the faces of some of the Latin leaders as they realized that they were dealing with a serious, supremely well-informed and well-briefed representative of the President of the United States, she said, as one of the journalists on the trip. The person closer to him than anyone else. Criticism ahead of time that she would be dismissed melted away.

The love of Jimmy Carters life

Rosalynn Carter, who married Jimmy Carter in 1946, spent much of her life in love with my dad, said the couples only daughter, Amy Lynn Carter, on Tuesday. Their partnership and love story was a defining feature of her life, she said.

Jimmy Carter, 99, is unable to speak, so Amy Lynn shared a letter written by the former president to his wife 75 years ago while he served in the Navy.

The excerpt read: My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I return to discover just how wonderful you are.

While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember.

But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesnt to me. Goodbye, darling. Until tomorrow. Jimmy.

CNNs Alta Spells and Elise Hammond contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Oleksandr Dubinsky, a lawmaker charged with treason, claimed on Dec. 2 that he had been beaten and injured at a pre-trial detention facility.

Dubinsky, a populist politician who promotes pro-Russian narratives, used to be an ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky and previously represented his Servant of the People party in parliament. Later he became one of Zelensky's major critics and was expelled from the party in 2021.



According to a statement on Dubinsky's Telegram channel, he was heavily bruised, and the unknown assailants possibly cracked his rib. An ambulance was summoned.

Police told Ukrainska Pravda they are looking into the incident.



The MP demanded the presence of the chief of Kyiv's pre-trial detention center and a reaction from Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.



Dubinsky's lawyers also demanded his immediate transfer to a different detention facility, saying his life was threatened.

Four years ago, Dubinsky assisted Rudy Giuliani in his unsuccessful efforts to uncover information about Joe Biden at the behest of then-President Donald Trump. He's been accused of collaborating to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.

In August, the lawmaker was charged with forging documents in order to leave Ukraine.

At the start of November, he was also charged with helping his partner's brother illegally cross the border and flee to a European country.



In mid-November, he was arrested and charged with treason and taking part in a criminal organization. The Pechersk District Court in Kyiv approved detaining Dubinsky for 60 days.

The State Investigation Bureau and the Security Service of Ukraine said that Dubinsky, former pro-Russian MP Andriy Derkach and other suspects had been working with Russian intelligence services to spread fakes. Their purpose was to discredit Ukraine, the Ukrainian government and the West, according to the investigators.

Dubinsky, along with his mother and now ex-wife, engaged in high-risk financial transactions from 2008 to 2023, according to the investigators.

These transactions substantially surpass their officially declared income, suggesting potential involvement in money laundering through the acquisition of highly liquid assets and the transfer of funds to deposit accounts, according to the investigators.

A total of 39 real estate objects, in particular, 23 apartments in Kyiv, eight land plots, two houses in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast and 15 cars belonging to Dubinsky and his family members, were seized.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russias war enters new phase, says Zelensky

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
AUSTIN (Nexstar)  Texas lawmakers on Friday hurriedly passed legislation to prevent delays to their top promises to voters, confronting a challenge to the November constitutional amendment election that temporarily blocks property tax relief, teacher pension increases, and more from taking effect.

The Texas Senate passed legislation in a whirlwind legislative feat Friday that would shorten the timelines for lawsuits filed against constitutional amendment elections. The move comes as Republicans confront a lawsuit filed in Travis County by right-wing activists acting on false beliefs that the voting machines used in November were connected to the internet and unreliable.

Those voting machines were certified by the Secretary of State and were not connected to the internet. But any challenge to the election, valid or not, delays the policies approved by voters from becoming law.

The election contest is pending. That complicates certifying the election, and without certifying the election, the amendments cant take effect, State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, told Nexstar Friday.

Senate Bill 6 would require courts to hear these cases within 50 days of the election  much shorter than the current 180 days.

The people who file these lawsuits have every right to have them heard. Were not doing anything to take away there, Hughes said. This just says the court has to rule quickly. So the people of Texas arent waiting around to see what the result is.

Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, was the one senator who voted against the bill. She joined other Democrats in accusing Republicans of fomenting the election denialism that now impedes their prized policies.

They created a monster, and the monster is now eating their signature legislation for the session, Eckhardt said. It is ironic that elections deniers who have been encouraged at the very top of the Republican ticket are now challenging some bipartisan, hugely popular initiatives that are near and dear to the very Republican leaders who had encouraged this behavior.

Sen. Eckhardt expressed concern for the precedent this change will pass, as the shortened deadlines apply not only to this case but to all challenges to constitutional amendment elections in the future.

The two things I want to stress is we dont want to change the law so that legitimate cases of election integrity cannot prove their case, she said. And second, as I sit here today, I have no reason to believe that the judiciary wont handle these six cases expeditiously.

SB 6 heads to the Texas House, which has until next Wednesday to pass this version of the bill in the fourth special session.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
LEANDER, Texas (KXAN)  Leander ISD will create its own police department to comply with a new state law.

The districts board of trustees approved the decision Thursday. The initial department will include a chief, an assistant chief and 10 marshals.

PREVIOUS: Leander ISD board considers district police department

The Leander ISD Police Department is the districts response to House Bill 3, a law that went into effect Sept. 1 and requires armed security officers at every school campus in Texas.

The district said the vote will let the district take initial steps in immediately bolstering on-campus security presence with the marshals. LISD currently has school resource offices at each high school through partnerships with the Cedar Park Police Department, Leander Police Department and Travis County Sheriffs Office.

The board also approved a $1.1 million budget amendment to fund the department. It will be paid for in the general operating fund of the 2023-24 budget, according to LISD agenda documents.

Police department costs also include training, insurance, equipment and an administrative role, according to the district.

The next steps include applying to be an authorized police department with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and hiring school resource officers, according to LISD.

Similar to Leander ISD, the Eanes ISD board of trustees voted to create a district police department in June.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Tuesday's massive blaze in South Los Angeles spread from the framing of an apartment building under construction to nearby homes on East Vernon Avenue. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A small, unburned patch of the living room under a caved-in roof is all that remains of Omar Hernandezs house after a massive fire tore through his block in South Los Angeles this week. Pink insulation and overhead lights dangle from above as he tiptoes around glass shards and gravel in slippers.

Hernandez, 53, and his wife and cousin are spending nights at a friend's apartment in Glendale, but return every day to what is left of the house to salvage any belongings. The plan is to move everything out by Monday as they search for a new home and some answers.

Before dawn Tuesday, flames swept through an apartment building under construction in the 1500 block of East Vernon Avenue in the working-class neighborhood of Central-Alameda. Burning hot and fast through the exposed wood of the building's framing, the fire spread quickly to neighboring homes, injuring three people and displacing 17, including Hernandez.

Seven buildings were damaged, including five that were left at least partially unsafe for occupancy. Entry is prohibited to one single-family home and two duplexes deemed completely uninhabitable, according to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

Kimberly Erendira, 12, is among those whose homes were gutted by the fire. Seven buildings were damaged or destroyed. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

As neighbors sift through the remnants of their belongings and seek new housing, many are pointing to the building under construction. City records show that it was to be a four-story affordable housing complex and that it had received expedited processing, clearances and approvals under Mayor Karen Bass' Executive Directive 1.

I blame the owner of the construction site, Hernandez said. They were trying to make this small plot of land into a four-story building next to small homes. Whoever said OK to this project needs to be held accountable.

The site, steps from neighboring houses, had a problem with trespassers and no security guards on the property, multiple neighbors said.

Read more: Massive fire sweeps through L.A. city block in 'a blink of an eye, consuming homes

Jerardo Diaz, 30, whose family lived in the home directly behind the site for 35 years, had even asked the construction crews to put up a bigger fence to give his family more privacy. In front of the charred remnants of his house there now hangs a red leaflet from the Department of Building and Safety reading: "Unsafe / Do not enter or occupy."

The sites contractor, Arrow Construction Co. in Artesia, did not respond to a request for comment.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and it's unclear when authorities will make a determination, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Margaret Stewart.

The cause of the massive fire this week in the Central-Alameda neighborhood is still under investigation, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, those whose homes were damaged or destroyed are struggling to figure out what to do next as families face the prospect of a holiday season spent rebuilding or looking for a new home.

To explain to a child, when its Christmastime, [that] all their friends have toys but theyre not going to be able to this year  because right now their mom and dad need to get a roof over their head  is going to be their reality, said Edward Winters, 63, of Lynwood, a former East Vernon Avenue resident who visited Wednesday morning to help neighbors after seeing a GoFundMe page that had been set up for Hernandez.

Hernandez said he had not received any help from his landlord or communication from the contractor of the construction site. He works as a dental assistant and moonlights as a DJ, and said he lost three cars and $15,000 worth of DJ equipment in the fire, among other belongings.

Read more: Bass issues sweeping directive to fast track affordable housing projects

Hilda Flores, who has known Hernandez for 20 years and set up the GoFundMe page, is housing his family in her two-bedroom Glendale apartment and has urged them to stop returning to their destroyed home.

"I told them, 'Leave the clothes.' Those are all material things we can buy again," said Flores, 41. "It's not safe."

Large planks of charred wood protrude into the walkway to the home, and pieces of insulation fall from the damaged ceiling despite a tarp they put up to cover it. Smoke and bits of charcoal still linger in the air.

"The main thing is we need a place to stay," said Isabel Perez, 67, Hernandez's wife. "A two-bedroom in this area. Anything, really."

Neighbors have voiced concern over the mental well-being of the displaced families. Perez believes her husband has been suffering from depression since the fire, and says their dog, Mia, suffered burn injuries on her head and must be taken to the veterinarian.

Omar is crying every hour and wakes up in the middle of the night crying from nightmares, she said. "Mia keeps on whimpering and crying too. If something is seriously wrong with Mia, he might die."

"At least we lived," Perez murmured to herself, cradling Mia.

Read more: Cafe Tropical closed this week. Debts and a bitter family dispute played a role

A spokesperson for City Councilmember Curren Price, who represents the area, acknowledged the anguish victims are feeling and said the American Red Cross has been assisting the city's emergency response.

"They're in limbo, living day to day," Angelina Valencia said of the displaced residents, adding that at least one family has temporarily moved to Bakersfield to stay with relatives.

Price met with victims Tuesday afternoon, and his office has coordinated with local organizations to give the families clothing, toiletries, baby wipes, diapers and toys.

"Our own staff has donated baby clothing because most of the impacted families have young children, from a month old to a 12-year-old," Valencia said.

Price's office had connected with two families and was working to reach others.

Evacuated residents were left stunned Tuesday morning, many without shelter, after the East Vernon Avenue fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

The Red Cross has also provided residents cards with some funds, but "it's only meant to help them in the short term with their immediate needs," Valencia said. "Still, the families feel confused and desperate to get answers as they don't know what tomorrow will bring."

A disaster team, caseworkers and volunteers have been in touch with the displaced residents and will continue to offer assistance in the days to come, said Stephanie Grande, spokesperson for the Red Cross' Los Angeles region. A temporary evacuation center closed at 1 p.m. the day the fire broke out.

"Casework assistance often entails connecting those affected by a disaster with existing social service programs in the community, helping them navigate complex paperwork, providing financial assistance to help meet immediate needs, and locating help from other agencies to assist with longer-term recovery needs," Grande said.

With the shock of the fire behind them, Julise Jimemes, 56, said the neighborhood was coming together to lend what support it could to the displaced families.

When Jimemes woke up Tuesday morning, she was convinced her home would be taken by the fire. She gathered all of her important papers and belongings into her car and got ready to flee with her 87-year-old mother.

But after firefighters extinguished the blaze, Jimemes' home remained unscathed.

Thankful to be among the fortunate ones, she couldn't bear to see neighbors struggle on the block she has called home for 35 years. On Friday, she said, she planned to cook dinner for Hernandez's family.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Smith's Plantation Library of Congress/Digiital Public Library of America

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, celebrated in history books for extending U.S. influence throughout the hemisphere. But few Americans are aware of its lesser-known predecessor  The Jefferson-Monroe Penal Doctrine  which first proposed using slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime to establish a national penal colony. At a time of continued reckoning over slavery in the United States, it is also a fitting moment to consider the roots of prison expansion in empire.

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Gabriel Prosser and hundreds of enslaved people in Virginia planned a revolt. Enslavers and local militia discovered and thwarted the rebellion amid a suffocating climate of white hysteria over the revolution taking place on the former French colony of Saint-Domingue, where enslaved people were engaged in a struggle against slavery that would establish the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

In the wake of Gabriels Rebellion, James Monroe wrote to Thomas Jefferson requesting he find a place to transport prisoners convicted of sedition, conspiracy, or insurrection out of the limits of the U.S. What they came up with was evoked in schemes to establish a national penal colony in places like Ile-a-Vache, off the coast of Haiti, and Alaska, dubbed Americas Botany Bay.

Federal law providing for slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for crime in territories that otherwise outlawed slavery made proposals for using prison labor to colonize land seem feasible. The so-called convict clause, the legal exception for prison slavery, originated with the Northwest Ordinance, applying to territories claimed northwest of the Ohio River, and was carried forward in the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The clause provides that: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime shall exist within the United States, or any place under their jurisdiction.

Over successive eras of empire-building, those places under U.S. jurisdiction came to include a vast expanse of Native American land across North America, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Panama Canal Zone, and the Philippines. Plantation labor at the Iwahig Penal Farm in the Philippines established after the U.S. waged war with Spain and put down the Philippine independence movement  said to be the largest penal colony in the world  looked strikingly similar to convict labor at Parchman Farm in Mississippi.

Prison officials celebrated the Iwahig penal colony as a model Prison without Walls when they set about implementing a similar scheme at McNeil Island prison off the coast of Washington, in the Puget Sound, suggesting that taking up the White mans burden of imperialism overseas had taught them how to better govern prisons domestically.

The Jefferson-Monroe Penal Doctrines formulation that prison slavery be used beyond borders became a mainstay of federal policy. President Theodore Roosevelt selectively extended certain constitutional provisions by executive order to the Panama Canal Zone, where the U.S. had seized control in the early 20th century, for example, making clear that the convict clause would apply in this new extra-territorial jurisdiction as well.

Many of the same military men, police, and prison guards who fought in places like the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, were tapped to extend prison imperialism in the Canal Zone. Veterans from Roosevelts Rough Riders assumed posts as police captains and prison wardens, overseeing one of largest infrastructure building projects in history. Highly visible and degrading convict labor on road gangs was used to structure racial hierarchy in the Zone.

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As in the U.S. South, bogus charges and sentences to hard labor effectively re-enslaved Black people in the Panama Canal Zone, including thousands of migrant workers from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Barbados, and Martinique. And hard labor on road gangs in the Panama Canal Zone looked a lot like the chain gangs used to consign Black people to prison slavery in the South.

The convict clause may now be the longest lasting and farthest-reaching piece of federal prison policy. As an early cornerstone of what might be called prison imperialism, it spawned a network of historic and contemporary institutions that have spread U.S.-style structural racism around the globe. Whether we chose to disavow or ignore it, the fact is that empire-building crucially shaped the rise of the mass incarceration.

Ahead of the impending commemorations of the Monroe Doctrine, we should understand that U.S. policymakers exported prison slavery along with their foreign policy aims. By uncovering the lesser-known history of the Jefferson-Monroe Penal Doctrine, we might counter the white nationalist celebrations that characterize so much of recent debates over the American past.

To reverse course requires that we reckon with the living legacies of racism and colonialism in the prison system. The convict clause provision for prison slavery has recently been abolished in seven states and was on the ballot but failed to garner enough votes in California and Louisiana last year. This history, hidden in plain sight, urges us to mobilize support for campaigns like 13th Forward in New York and the Abolish Slavery National Network across the country, and push to end to slavery, without exceptions.
(CNN)  Israel and Hamas continued to negotiate through mediators Friday over the potential release of hostages from Gaza that would prompt another pause in hostilities, sources said, despite the ending of the week-long truce and the resumption of fighting.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier it had resumed combat operations and accused Hamas of violating the truce first by firing rockets toward Israeli territory.

A total of 178 people have been killed, with hundreds more wounded, since military operations restarted early Friday, according to a spokesman from Gazas Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

But efforts to revive the truce continued, with Israel and Hamas  in consultation with Qatar, the United States and Egypt  actively discussing the release of the rest of the women hostages, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

The IDF said Friday that there are 136 hostages still being held hostage in Gaza, including 17 women and children.

If the remaining civilian women were to be successfully released, the parameters of the negotiations would quickly turn to the release of civilian men as well as both male and female military reservists, two sources said. The negotiating parties believe securing the release of Israeli soldiers will be the most difficult.

The Biden administration and Israeli officials believe that Hamas continues to hold a number of women aged approximately between 20 and 30  many of them kidnapped from the Nova music festival, one US official and another source familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The young women still held by Hamas are of particular concern to Israel. In hostage negotiations with Israel on Thursday and in the hours after fighting resumed, Hamas has been insisting that that they did not have any more non-military female hostages to release, claiming that some of the remaining women in their captivity were considered a part of the Israel Defense Forces, the sources said.

The resumption of fighting early Friday morning marked the end of a brittle truce between the warring parties that allowed for the release of 110 Israeli women and children, as well as foreign nationals, who had been taken hostage by Hamas during its October 7 attack, and for the release of about 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Within minutes of the truce expiring, smoke could be seen billowing across parts of the densely populated enclave as the IDF declared it was once again out to destroy Hamas. Early Friday evening, Israels Iron Dome defense system intercepted incoming rockets near Tel Aviv, CNN staff saw.

Netanyahus office said Hamas didnt respect its obligation to release today all the abducted women and launched rockets towards the citizens of Israel.

Netanyahu said his government remained committed to achieving its war aims, which he said were releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israelis.

The Hamas-controlled Government Media Office in Gaza blamed the international community  and the United States in particular  for the resumption of fighting, saying they bear responsibility for the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the continuation of the brutal war against civilians, children and women in the Gaza Strip.

With the resumption of fighting came an expansion of Israels military operations in Gaza, which have until now been concentrated in the north. The IDF dropped leaflets in the southern city of Khan Younis on Friday, calling it a fighting zone and telling residents to evacuate immediately.

Israel repeatedly told residents of northern Gaza to move south of Wadi Gaza  the wetlands that roughly split the territory  for their safety. Khan Younis is located south of that line.

Before the truce began last week, Israel defense minister Yoav Gallant had warned Israel will aim to dismantle Hamas wherever it is, which will include both the north and the south of Gaza.

The IDF released a new map Friday showing Gaza divided into hundreds of numbered districts showing evacuation zones to be used in the next stage of the war. It said the map enables the residents of Gaza to orient themselves and to evacuate from specific places for their safety if required.

Later Friday, the IDF confirmed it was conducting offensive operations in southern parts of the territory, including Khan Younis and Rafah.

In a video statement, Israel war cabinet member and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel had prepared for widening the framework of its operation in order to bring the remaining hostages home.

Hours before the latest fighting erupted, the United States pressured Israel to shield Palestinian civilians in one of the most significant diplomatic moves yet in the more than 50-day conflict.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out American requirements in private talks in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and his war cabinet. But he also made the Biden administration approach clear in unmistakable language in public.

I underscored the imperative of the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south, Blinken said in a televised press conference in Tel Aviv.

End of brief respite

Israel had repeatedly stated it would resume its military assault in Gaza if Hamas could not produce 10 hostages for each extra day of pause. As the 7 a.m. local time deadline (midnight ET) passed, the hostilities resumed almost immediately.

Meanwhile, three additional Israeli hostages have died in Hamas captivity, their kibbutz and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Friday.

They include Arye Zalmanovich, 85, the oldest Israeli held in Hamas captivity, Maya Goren, 56, a mother of four children and Ronen Engel, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose wife and two children were released this week.

Both Israel and Hamas had indicated earlier they were prepared for fighting to resume. We should be prepared for a quick transition into full scale fighting at any point, today, tomorrow, at any moment. As soon as we maximize the move to return hostages we will resume fierce fighting across the whole Gaza Strip, Gallant said Thursday.

Hamas armed wing on Thursday also told their forces to remain on high combat readiness in the final hours of the truce, the Al-Qassam Brigades said on Telegram.

The hard-negotiated truce, which came into effect on November 24, marked the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the latest conflict which began when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 200 hostages, in the deadliest such attack faced by the country since its founding in 1948.

Since October 7, more than 14,800 people, including 6,000 children, have been killed in Gaza after Israel launched attacks from the air and the ground, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, using data from Hamas-run health authorities in the Strip.

The brief pause in hostilities allowed for more than 2,700 trucks carrying thousands of tons of desperately needed aid to cross from Egypt into Gaza since October 21, according to an Egyptian official. But even that was completely inadequate to meet the needs of the more than two million people in Gaza, many of whom are displaced, aid agencies said.

Renewed fighting threatens once again to shut off that one supply line into Gaza  where residents were already struggling to find shelter, food and clean water while under constant bombardment from Israeli airstrikes.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, told a CNN stringer outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis that more than 30 dead and scores of injured people are now in the already overcrowded hospitals in the Strip.

Fighting resumes, but negotiations continue

There had been hopes that the truce, originally slated to last just four days, could be extended into an eighth. But negotiators had warned that extending the truce would be mired in logistical and strategic challenges.

Hamas claimed on Thursday it was having trouble locating 10 women and children hostages  a condition that Israel insisted must be met  to extend the truce.

In the seven-day pause in fighting, 86 Israelis and another 24 foreign nationals were released. Another Israeli dual citizen was also freed outside of the agreed-upon deal.

As of Thursday, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons  mainly women and minors. Under the terms of the truce deal, Israel has to free three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage released.
Arvydas Anusauskas, Minister for National Defence of Lithuania, presented the updated concept of the mine clearance coalition to Yurii Dzhyhyr, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister, during the latter's visit to Vilnius.

Source: European Pravda, citing Ukraines Defence Ministry

The message states that the concept includes both elements of humanitarian demining of liberated occupied territories and combat demining on the line of contact with Russian troops.

Anusauskas said that for Lithuania, implementing this issue is the main priority in assisting Ukraine for 2024-2026. Currently, 22 countries intend to join the anti-mine coalition headed by Vilnius.

Dzhyhyr said the mines and unexploded shells that Russia sowed the lands of Ukraine with are not only an obstacle to a counteroffensive, but also a shot at future generations because mined countries continue to suffer from mines and unexploded shells decades after the wars are over.

Quote: "Lithuania is today leading a very difficult direction in the fight against this insidious weapon. In particular, expanding the coalition's work into combat zones confirms the readiness to quickly consider the most acute problems and find ways to solve them," he summarised.

Background:

Earlier, Lithuania took part in the 17th meeting of the Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine (Ramstein format), which took place online and reported on the progress in establishing the mine clearance coalition initiated by it.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced the creation of a mine clearance coalition to help Ukraine during the Ramstein-format meeting in July.

Apart from that, Lithuania became one of the participants of the Northern European-Lithuanian Minesweeper Training Initiative (NLETI), which provides for four training sessions during 2023 with the aim of training Ukrainian bomb disposal experts.

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Lithuania has indicated interest in cooperating with Ukraine in defence research and development.

Source: Ukraines Defence Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Details: During his visit to Lithuania, Yurii Dzhyhyr, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister, raised the issue of cooperation in this area with Arvydas Anusauskas, Lithuania's Defence Minister, his deputy Monika Tuckute and Kristina Deviatnikovaite, Chancellor of the Defence Ministry.

During the meeting, the Ukrainian official reportedly presented information on reforming the defence procurement system of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and the anti-corruption efforts in this area, stressing that this issue is of fundamental significance to Ukraine's Defence Minister, Rustem Umierov.

At the same time, Anusauskas said Vilnius appreciates and supports Kyiv's efforts to implement defence reforms despite the ongoing war.

"Lithuania will share its expertise in creating and maintaining a transparent procurement system with Ukraine. We will pass on our experience of how we started, what legal framework is necessary, and how to ensure procurement transparency and prevent corruption," the official stressed.

Earlier, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said small EU states would face challenges without the expansion of the European Peace Fund (EPF), which compensates for arms supplies to Ukraine.

Before that, the official voiced concern that if the Western allies do not have the political will to help Ukraine prevail, Russia will perceive this as a triumph for itself and begin preparing for a new war, with any of its neighbours falling prey to aggression.

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Liz Cheney, the former Republican representative from Wyoming, expressed deep concern in an interview about American democracys ability to survive another four-year presidential term for Donald Trump.

In clips shared Friday from the interview that will air on CBS News Sunday Morning, Cheney told host John Dickerson that Americans cant entirely rely on Congress and the judicial system to rein in Trump  the clear front-runner at this point for the GOP presidential nomination despite facing 91 felony charges linked to his 2016 campaign, his 2020 reelection loss and his mishandling of classified documents.

Hes told us what he will do. Its very easy to see the steps that he will take, Cheney said.

People who say Well, if hes elected, its not that dangerous because we have all of these checks and balances dont fully understand the extent to which the Republicans in Congress today have been co-opted.  One of the things that we see happening today is a sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States.

"One of the things that we see...is a sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States."



Liz Cheney forewarns John Dickerson if Donald Trump is re-elected, it could mean the end of the republic & expresses concern about her party's comfort with Trump and his lies. pic.twitter.com/JBh7nKkbfP  CBS Sunday Morning  (@CBSSunday) December 1, 2023

In a quote from the interview released by CBS News, Cheney slammed newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as someone who knows ... that what hes doing and saying is wrong, but hes willing to do it in an effort to please Donald Trump.

Johnson was one of the biggest cheerleaders of Trumps ill-fated attempt to claim victory in the 2020 election won by Joe Biden. Shortly after the election, Johnson led an amicus brief backing a Texas lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the vote.

Cheney raised similar concerns about Johnson during a podcast appearance last month.

Mike is somebody who says that hes committed to defending the Constitution. But thats not what he did when we were all tested in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Cheney said on Politics Is Everything, a podcast by the University of Virginia, adding that she believes he is dangerous.

After serving three terms in Congress, Cheney lost her Wyoming primary last year, an outcome widely attributed to her going against the GOP and voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

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Liz Truss has said it is vital that The Telegraph is able to publish freely - Dermot Tatlow for The Telegraph

Liz Truss has urged the Government to protect The Telegraphs editorial independence amid growing concerns about a takeover of its titles by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund.

The former prime minister said it was vital that it was able to publish freely after ministers decided to launch a review of the deal amid fears of censorship and foreign interference.

In an interview with The Telegraph in Washington DC, Ms Truss also argued that the UK should work to prevent Gulf states becoming part of a growing global axis of authoritarianism led by Russia, China and Iran.

I am a great supporter of the free press and Ive always been a great supporter of the free press, she said. I want the Government to ensure that any ownership of the press enables them to freely publish according to what they believe to be the case.

Ownership of The Telegraph is set to pass to RedBird IMI, an investment fund led by Jeff Zucker, the former CNN boss, and backed by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the UAEs royal family.

The fund has issued a 600 million loan to the Barclay family, who have owned Telegraph Media Group since 2004, to repay a debt to Lloyds Banking Group. IMI, an Abu Dhabi vehicle, is lending them an additional 600m to repay other debts to the bank. Under the deal, the first loan will be converted into shares of The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine.

However, Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, last week temporarily blocked the fund from taking control of The Telegraph while she carries out a review.

Her decision came after a dozen Conservative MPs, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, and Alicia Kearns, the chairman of Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to the Government requesting a review. They warned of a very real potential national security threat if the deal went ahead.

Liz Truss is in Washington DC to discuss foreign policy with wavering Republican congressmen who have threatened to end security assistance from the US to Ukraine - Dermot Tatlow for The Telegraph

In her interview with The Telegraph, Ms Truss said the UK must try and prevent the UAE from being drawn into an alliance with hostile foreign states, including Russia and China.

Citing the rise of the USSR during the Cold War, she said: What worries me is that we have this axis of authoritarian regimes trying to build their influence around the world, and what we need to do is show strength. That is both economic strength, military strength and moral strength.

We need to attract other countries who are not part of that axis to align with the West and to align with our values. No country is perfect. And if you only had allies that perfectly subscribe to every value that we hold dear in Britain, you wouldnt have that many allies. So we need to reach out, in my view, to countries and persuade them.

Ms Truss is visiting Washington DC to discuss foreign policy with wavering Republican congressmen, who have threatened to end security assistance from the US to Ukraine.

She said wars in Ukraine and Israel and concerns over Taiwan were part of the same conflict of democracies against authoritarian dictators.

These are not multiple wars  this is the same war, she added. This is a war against freedom and democracy and our way of life. Thats what it is, and we should see it as such. If you look at Israel, or you look at Ukraine, or you look at Taiwan, these are free democracies that are neighbours to autocracies.

We need to give our full support to the Israeli government. No ifs, no buts. I dont want to see double standards applied, that Israel is held to different standards than other countries.

They are a free democracy in a part of the world where free democracies are rare and the heinous crimes, the rape, the brutality, the kidnapping of children that has taken place is truly horrific.

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Ms Truss called on the US to do more to support Ukraine in the coming months as the country faces a winter air offensive from Russian forces, saying: What I would like to see is more of the weapons that will help Ukraine actually win being provided. So the long-range weapons, for example, the mine-clearing equipment, for example.

Planes, as well, would be extremely helpful to enable the Ukrainians to actually have the wherewithal to win the war, rather than just maintaining the status quo.

Responding to the UK Supreme Courts decision last month to declare the Governments Rwanda migrant deportation policy unlawful, Ms Truss said Rishi Sunak should legislate to circumvent the European Court of Human Rights.

Asked whether she supported the Governments plan to pass a law to allow the flights to go ahead, she replied: Ill wait to see the legislation.

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Democratic presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Cenk Uygur blasted the Florida Democratic Party after they were left off the primary presidential ballot.

The candidates held a joint press conference on Zoom Friday where they addressed their displeasure with the Florida Democratic Party, which has effectively canceled the primary and awarded all delegates to President Joe Biden.

This is about all three of us being excluded in a way that was absurd, ridiculous, counterproductive, done, obviously in secret, obviously, to help the incumbent Joe Biden, Uygur said. The number one problem with what the Florida Democratic Party is doing is not how it affects me Marianne and Dean [Phillips]. Its how it affects the Florida Democratic voters. They are robbing them of their voice. Theyre saying the democracy is not important, that you should not participate in the process.

The public address by the two progressive candidates comes after another candidate in the Democratic primary, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), clashed with the state party Thursday. Phillips campaign asserted that the Florida Democratic Partys executive committee voted on Oct. 29 to only include President Biden on the Sunshine State primary presidential ballot.

The Florida Democratic Party has stripped the right of every Florida Democrat to vote for the candidate of their choice since the state will not issue a ballot for a party primary with only one candidate, Phillips campaign wrote in a statement.

His campaign also alleged that the state party delegate selection did not abide by the rules put forward by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Like Phillips and Uygur, Williamson also called out both the state party and the DNC during the Friday conference, saying that this is the chipping away of our democracy.

What an irony that the party called the Democratic Party, the party that claims to be the champion of democracy, has basically decided that Joe Biden will be the candidate, Williamson said. Now this is authoritarianism, just as Cenk said. When I was a child, we were told that in the Soviet Union people could vote, but then were told who their options were. And thats exactly whats happening here.

The self-help bestselling author also said that the Democratic Party has no right to manipulate the circumstances and that the Florida statute is unconstitutional.

I think that the Florida statute itself is unconstitutional giving that kind of power to the party. The party itself as a political committee, its not a government agency, but its playing a quasi governmental function here, and it has no right to block democracy this way, Williamson said. It has a responsibility to the public good.

When The Hill reached out to the Florida Democratic Party for comment, the spokesperson pointed to the comment they gave Thursday about Phillipss outrage with the process.

The process to be on the Florida ballot has been publicly available on our website, the state Democratic Party spokesperson wrote Thursday. It clearly states that the Florida Democratic Partys primary ballot is submitted to the Secretary of State by November 30, 2023. This is the standard process.

The State Executive Committee meets to vote to place candidates on the presidential primary ballot at the Florida Democratic Partys State Convention every four years.

Williamson and Uygur will file an implementation challenge by December 5 to the DNC, saying, we will challenge that with whatever injunction that we can legally file.

When asked how she got on the Florida ballot in 2020, when she was a presidential candidate for the first time, Williamson said that she participated in the debates, therefore it was hard to argue that she wasnt a candidate.

Well, in 2020, I was on the debates on, two Democratic debates, Williamson said. So it was very difficult to claim that I wasnt a candidate in 2020. And to be honest, its very difficult to claim that the rest of us arent candidates this time. However, they are doing it because they can. And were here because we want to make clear that they cant.

No Labels, a political organization working on having a third-party presidential candidate by mid-March next year, also reacted, posting on X regarding the news of Phillips being off the ballot.

The group, which is still assessing whether to move forward with the uni-party ticket and how to select it, characterized the development as undemocratic and unAmerican, calling out the DNC for rigging the primary system.

It is undemocratic and unAmerican for the Florida Democratic Party to cancel its Democratic primary and keep Democrat Dean Phillips off the ballot, NoLabels wrote on X. The DNC party establishment is rigging the primary system to eliminate competition  and this is why a No Labels Unity ticket could be the only way to give American voters the choice they want.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(CNN)  Israel and Hamas continued to negotiate through mediators Friday over the potential release of hostages from Gaza that would prompt another pause in hostilities, sources said, despite the ending of the week-long truce and the resumption of fighting.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier it had resumed combat operations and accused Hamas of violating the truce first by firing rockets toward Israeli territory.

A total of 109 people have been killed, with hundreds more wounded, since military operations restarted early Friday, according to a spokesman from Gazas Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

But efforts to revive the truce continued, with Israel and Hamas  in consultation with Qatar, the United States and Egypt  actively discussing the release of the rest of the women hostages, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office believe 137 people are still being held hostage in Gaza, including 20 women. Two of the abductees are under the age of 18, and 10 are aged 75 and over.

If the remaining civilian women were to be successfully released, the parameters of the negotiations would quickly turn to the release of civilian men as well as both male and female military reservists, two sources said. The negotiating parties believe securing the release of Israeli soldiers will be the most difficult.

The resumption of fighting early Friday morning marked the end of a brittle truce between the warring parties that allowed for the release of 110 Israeli women and children, as well as foreign nationals, who had been taken hostage by Hamas during its October 7 attack, and for the release of about 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Within minutes of the truce expiring, smoke could be seen billowing across parts of the densely populated enclave as the IDF declared it was once again out to destroy Hamas.

Netanyahus office said Hamas didnt respect its obligation to release today all the abducted women and launched rockets towards the citizens of Israel.

Netanyahu said his government remained committed to achieving its war aims, which he said were releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israelis.

The Hamas-controlled Government Media Office in Gaza blamed the international community  and the United States in particular  for the resumption of fighting, saying they bear responsibility for the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the continuation of the brutal war against civilians, children and women in the Gaza Strip.

With the resumption of fighting came an expansion of Israels military operations in Gaza, which have until now been concentrated in the north. The IDF dropped leaflets in the southern city of Khan Younis on Friday, calling it a fighting zone and telling residents to evacuate immediately.

Israel repeatedly told residents of northern Gaza to move south of Wadi Gaza  the wetlands that roughly split the territory  for their safety. Khan Younis is located south of that line.

Before the truce began last week, Israel defense minister Yoav Gallant had warned Israel will aim to dismantle Hamas wherever it is, which will include both the north and the south of Gaza.

The IDF released a new map Friday showing Gaza divided into hundreds of numbered districts showing evacuation zones to be used in the next stage of the war. It said the map enables the residents of Gaza to orient themselves and to evacuate from specific places for their safety if required.

Later Friday, the IDF confirmed it was conducting offensive operations in southern parts of the territory, including Khan Younis and Rafah.

In a video statement, Israel war cabinet member and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel had prepared for widening the framework of its operation in order to bring the remaining hostages home.

Hours before the latest fighting erupted, the United States pressured Israel to shield Palestinian civilians in one of the most significant diplomatic moves yet in the more than 50-day conflict.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out American requirements in private talks in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and his war cabinet. But he also made the Biden administration approach clear in unmistakable language in public.

I underscored the imperative of the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south, Blinken said in a televised press conference in Tel Aviv.

End of brief respite

Israel had repeatedly stated it would resume its military assault in Gaza if Hamas could not produce 10 hostages for each extra day of pause. As the 7 a.m. local time deadline (midnight ET) passed, the hostilities resumed almost immediately.

Meanwhile, three additional Israeli hostages have died in Hamas captivity, their kibbutz and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Friday.

They include Arye Zalmanovich, 85, the oldest Israeli held in Hamas captivity, Maya Goren, 56, a mother of four children and Ronen Engel, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose wife and two children were released this week.

Both Israel and Hamas had indicated earlier they were prepared for fighting to resume. We should be prepared for a quick transition into full scale fighting at any point, today, tomorrow, at any moment. As soon as we maximize the move to return hostages we will resume fierce fighting across the whole Gaza Strip, Gallant said Thursday.

Hamas armed wing on Thursday also told their forces to remain on high combat readiness in the final hours of the truce, the Al-Qassam Brigades said on Telegram.

The hard-negotiated truce, which came into effect on November 24, marked the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the latest conflict which began when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 200 hostages, in the deadliest such attack faced by the country since its founding in 1948.

Since October 7, more than 14,800 people, including 6,000 children, have been killed in Gaza after Israel launched attacks from the air and the ground, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, using data from Hamas-run health authorities in the Strip.

The brief pause in hostilities allowed for more than 2,700 trucks carrying thousands of tons of desperately needed aid to cross from Egypt into Gaza since October 21, according to an Egyptian official. But even that was completely inadequate to meet the needs of the more than two million people in Gaza, many of whom are displaced, aid agencies said.

Renewed fighting threatens once again to shut off that one supply line into Gaza  where residents were already struggling to find shelter, food and clean water while under constant bombardment from Israeli airstrikes.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, told a CNN stringer outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis that more than 30 dead and scores of injured people are now in the already overcrowded hospitals in the Strip.

Fighting resumes, but negotiations continue

There had been hopes that the truce, originally slated to last just four days, could be extended into an eighth. But negotiators had warned that extending the truce would be mired in logistical and strategic challenges.

Hamas claimed on Thursday it was having trouble locating 10 women and children hostages  a condition that Israel insisted must be met  to extend the truce.

In the seven-day pause in fighting, 86 Israelis and another 24 foreign nationals were released. Another Israeli dual citizen was also freed outside of the agreed-upon deal.

As of Thursday, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons  mainly women and minors. Under the terms of the truce deal, Israel has to free three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage released.
The cast and crew of the viral ad for Charlie's bar in Enniskillen, pictured in the pub - Charles McQuillan

We hoped it would do well locally for Una, but it went off the Richter scale altogether, you know. The simple truth strikes a chord with people.

These are the words of 73-year-old amateur actor Martin McManus from Lisnaskea, who has been catapulted into the spotlight after the social-media advert he starred in for Una Burns Enniskillen pub, Charlies Bar, went viral.

The former painter and decorators friends have been gently joking with him that hes now destined for Hollywood.

I had the pleasure of being dispatched from Belfast to chat to McManus and the team behind the advert that took three hours to film and cost just 700 to make, but has amassed tens of millions of online views and brought them to international media attention.

This Christmas ad for a pub in Enniskillen is better than anything John Lewis has ever put out pic.twitter.com/GFlkhDgyuj  Greg Murphy  (@TheGregMurphy) November 25, 2023

Bar manager Burns, local content creator Aoife Teague and a small group of local actors, many of whom are customers of the traditional Irish pub, are overjoyed and overwhelmed that their two-minute tear-jerking social-media film has been a roaring success.

Three generations of the Burns family have run Charlies bar and lounge, but festive season in the town has never been quite like this before.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen, says Burns. One time we got 13 million views for a video of good dancing in the bar that I took on my way back from cleaning the toilets. I thought that was viral. And then this happened.

Its heart-warming to see, ahead of a festive wreath-making workshop being held in the community-orientated venue, the spectacle of locals and tourists clamouring for drinks and photographs in and outside the bar.

Martin McManus poses with tourists at the pub - Charles McQuillan

And Warner Music has told Burns that there will be no issues around licensing (which hadnt even been considered by her) Birdys 2011 version of the song People Help the People.

Its moving music and lyrics tug at the heartstrings in the advert, which depicts McManus as a lonely, grieving old man visiting a graveyard, who is then befriended by a couple and their dog in Charlies.

Posted on the pubs Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages to appeal to a hyperlocal audience, the clip has won plaudits from festive ad titans John Lewis, and launched Charlies Bar into the headlines and airwaves of Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Italy, Germany and beyond.

Barman of 30 years Peter McManus says its been complete madness in the pub that Tyrone man Goose Murphy, who doesnt drink alcohol, tells me is the best bar in the town.

Murphy offered to take part on the day of filming, so he landed the role of the man on the bench ignoring McManuss character in favour of his newspaper.

Stills from the advert, which depicts McManus as a lonely, grieving old man, who is then befriended by a couple and their dog in Charlies

Charlies is a relaxed place where customers read the paper or watch the horses on the television, and is most definitely a dog-friendly pub. A collection box for the local guide dogs charity sits on the bar, and little Missy, the two-and-a-half-year-old Lakeland fell terrier being courted by brands after her star turn in the advert, is busy sipping water from a paw-print-emblazoned bowl on the ground close to the open fire.

Last week Burns was worried that she had wasted money on the advert. Fast forward to this week and she tells the Telegraph its the best 700 shes ever spent.

The 32-year-old former secondary-school teacher owns the pub with her parents, Gerry and Teresa, who like to avoid the limelight. Gerry went as far as pouring an Irish whiskey for a camera operator to film and then legged it back up the stairs, says Burns.

She found herself fronting the family business during the Covid pandemic quite by accident after the previous manager left. It is named after her late grandfather, Charlie, who owned it when it was called The White Star, by which name some older customers still remember it.

Burns wanted the pubs festive advert to reflect its focus on community and convey the true meaning of Christmas, without it being cringey, depressing, too negative or too joyful. Many people struggle at Christmas so we wanted to reflect that, she adds.

She got the idea for making a festive advert from her friend Jonny, and had worked with Aoife Teague before on a St Patricks Day video, so she drafted her in again.

The cast: Martin McManus, Alex Middlemass, Meagan Burns and Missy the dog - Charles McQuillan

McManus was picked for the role of the lonely old man because he isnt from Enniskillen.

The thinking was, if he had been a familiar face in the town and from the pub, it would have distracted from the message, Burns explains. And we didnt want to associate grief with drowning your sorrows in alcohol, so the pint served was Guinness Zero.

Enniskillen is a really friendly place and if you come into any bar in the town youll find people will join you for a drink, she continues. Its a simple idea which is probably why so many people liked it.

Scenes that featured a friend of Burns, filmed as a homesick woman on a packed London

Tube and then being welcomed home by her mother before heading to Charlies, had to be dropped because they didnt fit the storyline.

It was hard to deliver the news because she is my friend, Burns admits.

The Burns family mobile-phone group chat, which includes Unas brother and two sisters, is currently lit up with all the ad chat and details of her latest broadcast appearance. She knows the pressure is on for next years adverts, but lots of ideas are already flying in.

I thought it was funny when someone said that in November we should put out [a message saying], John Lewis, you better watch out. Its coming, she says. We are just really enjoying seeing new faces through the door. My parents cant get over it.

'The reaction has stunned us all': Martin McManus with Missy the dog, who is being courted by brands after her star turn in the advert - Charles McQuillan

McManus has decades of acting experience and has been a member of the local Knocks Drama Group for more than 30 years. Off the back of the Charlies advert, he wants the wider audience it has unexpectedly reached to think about how loneliness can affect anyone, and encourage people to look out for each other this Christmas.

It didnt take terribly long to film, and the reaction has stunned us all, and thats the truth, he says.

Creative-studio owner Meagan Daley (28) and her fiance Alex Middlemas (32), who owns an alloy wheels business, feature as the couple in the advert, along with Missy. Previously the couple have done television commercials and some modelling together, but nothing that has garnered this amount of commentary.

It has been crazy, says Daley. Its overwhelming. We have been approached from businesses and brands about working with us. And people want to see more of Missy now, so she has her own social-media profiles too.

The couple adopted Missy a year ago when Daleys brother moved to Canada, and now shes a star, hes like, can I have her back?

Middlemas says that at the start of all the attention, he got a bit of anxiety thinking, What are the boys going to say about this? His mother Denise, a local primary-school caretaker, is enjoying her sons new found fame. She is loving it. Shes chatting to everyone about it.

Aoife Teague (right) filmed the ad on her phone - Charles McQuillan

Freelance content creator Aoife Teague (23) from Lisnaskea, a believer in the power of organic marketing, edited the video after filming it on her well-used iPhone.

In a previous role I had a conversation with someone where I said, I really think organic marketing could explode, and he told me, Not a chance, she says. I have now had people and businesses reach out to me about doing content for them, which is lovely. It is hard to comprehend at the minute. I cant believe something I made has been seen by so many people. And John Lewis commenting on the ad is such a compliment.

Teagues family own the Corranny bar in the nearby village of Aghadrumsee, and while working on the advert she discovered that McManus had a connection to her late grandfather.

I had never met Martin before filming this video, she says. While we were driving to the graveyard to film that scene, he asked me about myself, and I explained where I lived. He realised who my family was and told me in his younger years he had been a regular in my grandas bar. I had brought a peaked cap for Martin to wear in the scene, because my granda always wore one and I thought it would be nice to bring it into the film. It was a lovely reminder of him and a nice moment.

Teagues new connection with McManus is a perfect example of the WB Yeats quote used at the very end of the advert, which is also painted on the side of the pub: There are no strangers here, only friends you havent yet met.

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INDIANAPOLIS  Police are investigating after a male was shot in the head Friday night on Indys near east side.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 11:30 p.m., officers responded to the corner of Commerce and Brookside Avenue on the near northeast side. When officers arrived, they locate male with a gunshot wound to his head. He was awake and breathing, according to police.

Police believe the male was actually shot at Dubarry Park on East 35th Street.

Not much is known about what led up to the shooting, but officers did find a bag of marijuana at the scene.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTTV CBS4Indy.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  A Kent County jury has found a man not guilty of the 2016 shooting death of another man in Grand Rapids.

Omar Wilson was acquitted of a murder charge on Friday, the Kent County prosecutor said. A jury did convict Wilson of two weapons charges.

A Nov. 5, 2019, photo of Omar Wilson from the Michigan Department of Corrections.

The case stemmed from the death of 27-year-old Mark Toliver, who was shot and killed May 25, 2016, while sitting on his front porch.

The murder charges were filed against Wilson in October 2020.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A suspect has been charged in connection to Thursday afternoons deadly shooting in south Kansas City.

Jackson County prosecutors on Friday charged Gregory J. Foster with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Memorial planned for 5-year-old who fell from Kansas City building

According to court documents, Kansas City police officers responded to a shooting just after 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, near E. 117th Street and Troost Avenue, south of Minor Park.

The person who called police stated he had shot someone in his basement and left the back door open for officers.

When officers arrived on scene, they entered the home and located the deceased victim, later identified as 50-year-old John Buckley, covered with a towel and spent shell castings found nearby.

Foster told detectives he discovered a note from the victim, who shared the residence with him, stating that he had three days to move out, according to court documents.

Kansas City teacher on leave after inappropriate videos shown in class

Court documents say Foster retrieved his Glock 17 handgun and walked downstairs to the basement, where the victim typically stayed. Upon entering, Foster witnessed the victim sitting on the couch, watching television. Without hesitation, Foster approached the victim and fired multiple shots into his chest until he collapsed.

Afterward, Foster ascended the stairs, obtained a blanket from the closet, and returned to cover the victim.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Police arrested a man with a gun and an estimated $60,000 worth of drugs near a West Loop homeless encampment where safety concerns sparked political debate between the mayor and an alderman.

Officers arrested 19-year-old Tailon Dshawn Appleton at 514 W. Lake St. on Thursday afternoon after an undercover officer made a drug transaction with him, according to court records.

In Appletons backpack, police found what they suspect were 141 ziplock bags of heroin, 230 knotted crack cocaine baggies, $1,188 in cash, one bottle of liquid codeine and one loaded Glock 19 handgun, according to an arrest report.

Cook County prosecutors charged Appleton with five felonies for drug and gun possession during a court appearance Friday.

While prosecutors requested he be detained, Judge Maryam Ahmad determined he should be released on electronic monitoring with a curfew, court records show. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 19.

The Lake Street address of Appletons arrest is one of several locations under downtown viaducts at which tents where people sleep have lined sidewalks.

When Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, sought the support of Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration to remove tents in the area in early October, top Johnson adviser Jason Lee tied an offer to help to Conways votes on two pillars of the mayors progressive agenda, Conway told the Tribune in mid-November.

Lee sought Conways support on the approval of a referendum for an increased real estate transfer tax on properties over $1 million to help fund citywide homeless services and an ordinance ending subminimum wage for tipped restaurant workers.

Both policies have since passed in the City Council. Conway voted against the real estate transfer tax referendum and was absent for the vote on the tipped wage ordinance.

I was shocked by what he said, Conway told the Tribune of his conversations with Lee. I wasnt going to bargain with public safety.

In another mid-November interview about the interaction, Lee acknowledged linking the issue of the camps with votes for the policies, but defended it as an appropriate deal.

What I expressed to Ald. Conway is that  theres a perception that doing something like removing encampments is not necessarily in line with progressive values and that it could be perceived as a callous act disconnected from the realities of what the unhoused and other vulnerable populations are going through, Lee said.

Ald. Conway demonstrating his commitment to progressive values, including eliminating the subminimum wage but most importantly Bring Chicago Home, is helpful to neutralize some of the criticism he might face in pursuing that.

He added that police would continue to respond to issues with the encampments.

There was never any notion that we would not continue to support efforts to secure public safety to the extent possible in these encampments, Lee said. The issue is removal.

The day after the Tribune reported on the alleged quid pro quo, Johnson deflected questions about it, then described Conways accusations as a mischaracterization and said pushing for real support around the unhoused (is) what this has always been about.

On a weekly basis, our offices receive hundreds of phone calls and emails from nearby residents who report drug sales and drug use; lewd behavior and sex acts; propane tanks that present a danger to the community and rail line above; and threats of violence against pedestrians, Conway and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, wrote in a November petition signed by 1,500 residents and sent to Johnson.

At least four armed robberies and three shootings have occurred near the camps since early October, according to Conways office. Conway had first focused on an encampment near Union and Ogilvie stations.

Debate over tent encampments in the area stretches back beyond the recent controversy. In October 2022, activists resisted when the city sought to temporarily move newly donated winterized tents in the area for sidewalk cleaning.

Conway previously said he referred the matter to the city Inspector Generals Office. He commended the police for arresting Appleton in a statement to the Tribune Friday.

As Ive been saying, this area under the viaducts is not a peaceful encampment but rather a magnet for narcotics and violent crime, he said. Nothing is more important than public safety, and we will continue to request more resources from the mayors office to ensure it.

Chicago Tribunes Gregory Royal Pratt and Alice Yin contributed.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
CHULA VISTA, Calif.  A man who was killed after being struck by a vehicle on Interstate 5 in Chula Vista last week has been identified by authorities.

According to the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office, 39-year-old Hinga Benson was the sole occupant of a vehicle that apparently stalled from mechanical issues in the southbound travel lanes, north of Palomar Street.

Benson, a San Diego resident, exited his vehicle when an oncoming vehicle collided with him, California Highway Patrol explained. An additional southbound vehicle also struck his vehicle.

When first responders arrived to the location, Bensons death was pronounced at the scene due to fatal injuries. The medical examiner list his cause of death as multiple blunt force injury.

All involved parties stopped, remained on scene, and cooperated with the investigation, CHP said. Alcohol/or drugs are not suspected to be a factor in the crash.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  DC Fire and EMS said a man was rescued after he fell into the Anacostia river Saturday morning.

DC Fire and EMS said that at about 8:50 a.m., they were dispatched to the James Creek Marina at 200 V Street, S.W. for the report of a person in the water.

DC Fire and EMS responds to bamboo fire in Georgetown

When crews arrived at the scene, they found a man floating in the river. He was evaluated by EMS and they determined that he did not require transport to a hospital.

First responders said the man fell from the fuel dock at the Marina and drifted out into the river.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
(CNN)  Kept in the dark. Forced to sit in silence. Fed only meager rations. These and even more chilling scraps of information are beginning to show how hostages survived in Hamas captivity.

Around 240 people, from infants to octogenarians, were taken hostage during Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Dozens have been freed but many more remain missing, presumed to be held by the Palestinian militant organization and other groups in Gaza, as the warring sides resume battle.

The Red Cross and other humanitarian groups have not been allowed to visit the hostages. So relatives and the wider watching world have to wait for testimony from those who have been freed to know what might be happening to their loved ones still held in Gaza: whether they have been seen, if they are alive or dead.

The details below have been compiled from comments by freed hostages to their families, their carers and sometimes to reporters.

Under the terms of the deal between Israel and Hamas, most of those released are women, children and foreign workers. As of Friday, only one adult Israeli man - who also had Russian citizenship  had been released and no members of the Israeli military. Hostages are believed to be spread across locations and in the hands of different groups. Its already seeming that not all hostages were treated the same way; the story of each new person recovered will add to the understanding.

Kept in the dark amid nonstop bombing

Adina Moshe was dragged from her safe room at home in Israel, taken to Gaza and forced into tunnels five stories underground, her nephew Eyal Nouri said.

They took her inside the tunnels  she walked, bare feet in the mud of the tunnels, he told CNN of the first hours of her captivity. It was very hard to breathe. They marched [for] hours in the tunnels.

Moshe said his aunt was held in an underground room where the lights were switched on for only two hours a day. The darkness was literal and also figurative, Nouri said. Deprived of any information, their other senses and imaginations became keener.

They didnt know anything about what happened above, Nouri said. They just heard the nonstop bombing until the day before their release. Suddenly, there was amazing silence and they knew something was going to happen but they didnt know what.

The network of tunnels under the built-up enclave of Gaza described by Adina Moshe matched the testimony of Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old grandmother released early in the conflict, outside the terms of the truce.

For weeks, Thomas Hand assumed his young daughter was deep underground as well. She is more than likely in a tunnel somewhere under Gaza, Hand told CNN, after he learned that Emily, once declared dead, was believed to be a hostage.

Its her birthday on the 17th of [November]. She will be 9, he said. She wont even know what day it is. She wont know its her birthday. There will be no birthday cake. No party, no friends. She will just be petrified in a tunnel under Gaza. That is her birthday.

Hand was taken aback after her release when Emily told him that she, her friend Hila Rotem-Shoshani and Hilas mom Raaya Rotem, were imprisoned above ground, in a series of houses. That came with dangers of its own. As Israeli forces attacked Gaza, moving deeper and deeper into the Palestinian territory, Rotem and the girls were forced to run from building to building.

Thats terrifying. Being pulled, dragged, pushed  under gunfire probably, Hand said. An estimated 40-50% of buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged, independent researchers say, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Wednesday up to 1.8 million people in Gaza, or nearly 80% of the population, are thought to be internally displaced.

Hand was right about Emily losing track of time. Released on the 50th day of captivity inside what she called the box, the little girl told her father she thought she had been gone for a year.

Forced to endure in silence

The most shocking, disturbing part of meeting her was she was just whispering, you couldnt hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips, Hand said of Emily. Shed been conditioned not to make any noise.

Both Emily and Hila dared only to whisper, even once they were back with their families. Three days later, Hand said he could hear Emily from about a meter (three feet) away when she talked, but when she cried she buried herself under bedclothes and was almost silent.

She had learned the Arabic for keep quiet! Hand said. Child hostages were only allowed to draw or play cards without making noise.

Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was also ordered to keep quiet, even while being made to watch films that no one would want to see of the October 7 attacks, his aunt Deborah Cohen told CNN affiliate BFMTV.

Omer Lubaton Granot, who founded the Hostages and Missing Family Forums, said a gun was held to Eitans head to threaten him if he would cry.

What we hear from the stories from children  the captivitys harsh reality is unbelievable, Granot said. Sisters of other children told them that Hamas have told the children that their whole family has died, that nobody wants them back, that they dont have a home to go to. They tried to scare the children.

Fed survival rations

Captives ate the same food as the guards, according to Lifshitz, who was released with her neighbor on October 24.

Grandmother Ruth Munder told Israels Channel 13 conditions got worse as the captivity went on, and as Israels vise on Gaza tightened. UN officials have warned of massive outbreaks of infectious disease and hunger in the enclave due to Israels strict blockade on all imports beyond a small amount of humanitarian aid.

At the beginning, a guard brought chicken, rice, canned goods and cheese for the hostages. When we got up we had tea and in the evening once again tea and sweet things for the children, Munder said, until the economic situation started to be bad and people were hungry.

Adina Moshe said in her tunnel room, They were fed only rice, some beans from cans, which they tried to avoid eating so as not to have stomachache, her nephew reported.

Emily Hand told her father that they always had breakfast and sometimes lunch or an evening meal. She said she was so hungry she learned to like plain bread with olive oil. Since her release shes wanted to eat like a horse, her father said, but they are restricting intake for now while her shrunken stomach recovers.

Its a similar story for other former captives, whose weight loss and pale skin jolted the relatives welcoming them home.

Thai former captive Uthai Saengnuan said his concern was with his countrymen still in captivity.

Physical and mental wounds

Eitan, the 12-year-old, was beaten when he arrived in Gaza, his aunt also said. Perhaps I was naive but I thought he would be well-treated. But no, they are monsters, she said of his Hamas captors.

Emily Hand said she was not hit and her father said he believed harsh voices were enough to make her do what was wanted.

When her friend Hila talks of her captivity, its like shes describing a scene from a movie she watched, not something she went through herself, her uncle Yair Rotem told CNN.

Shes a little bit distant now, shes a little bit cold, he said. She talks about things that happened like its in third person, like it happened to someone else. Shell say she saw horrible things, but she says it with a straight face.

The father of a Thai hostage who spoke to his son after he was freed said he sounded in good health and good spirits. He suffered from bugs biting him while in captivity, Chumpron Jirachart, father of Manee Jirachart, told CNN.

Thomas Hand said Emily suffered insect bites too. Her head is full of lice, absolutely full of head lice. Ive never seen so many in my life.

He said he and his older daughter worked in tandem with combs. Just one pass and the thing was full, full of little black creatures.

Elma Avraham, 84, was seriously ill when she returned from Gaza, first needing a ventilator as she fought to survive in hospital.

Dr. Hagai Levine, head of the medical team for the Hostages and Missing Family Forums, said her body told its own harrowing story.

You can see on her body that she was dragged from place to place, that she was handcuffed, he said. She has chemical wounds from not treating her basic needs.

First steps to recovery

Rehabilitation will take time. Former detainees may experience a range of layered psychological impacts including anxiety, depression, disorientation, grief, post-traumatic stress and survivors guilt, experts say.

Many hostages lost their homes in the October 7 attacks; as they return, some are also finding out how many of their friends and relatives were killed.

But Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, chief executive officer of the Schneider Childrens Medical Center of Israel, where some of the hostages have been treated after being released, said what the staff had seen so far made them optimistic.

We heard from many of the children and women unimaginable accounts, some of them really surreal. We have heard stories, which are hard for us as doctors and as caregivers to believe they can exist, Bron-Harlev said.

But their patients were strong and determined.

Over the last five days, we met children who were initially withdrawn and lost, and after a day or two, they were already running around the ward, playing and laughing.

Israel said Friday it believed 137 hostages taken captive on October 7 remained in Gaza.

Written by CNNs Rachel Clarke in Atlanta from reporting by Joseph Ataman, Wolf Blitzer, Kate Bolduan, Bianna Golodryga, Jessie Gretener, Poppy Harlow, Jacqueline Howard, Lauren Izso, Ed Lavandera, Phil Mattingly, Kocha OIarn and Clarissa Ward.
TechCrunch

Honda is dunking on the "thick, heavy" electric vehicle trend in an attempt to build buzz around its upcoming 0 series EVs. At CES 2024, the automaker teased two concept vehicles, the Saloon and Space-Hub, and said the first commercial model in its 0 series EV lineup will launch in North America in 2026. Honda's first 0 series model is apparently "based on" the Saloon concept  a low-slung, roomy yet sporty EV that looks a little like a CGI set piece from a Blade Runner sequel.
A Cook County man fatally shot by police in the northwest suburbs Friday afternoon has been identified as Jack Murray, 24.

Several Elk Grove Village police officers confronted Murray in a yard near the Murray family home on Fern Drive Friday afternoon, the Tribune reported. A neighbor had called police to report a man leaving a house holding a knife. Someone inside the house had previously called the police, Deputy Chief of Police Christopher Torres told the Tribune Friday.

Murray was still holding the knife as a confrontation ensued, Torres said. An Elk Grove Village police officer shot Murray around 4:30 p.m.

Murray was pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital Friday night. The Murray family declined to comment Saturday morning.

Murrays parents have hired attorney Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin, a Chicago personal injury law firm, to represent them in any legal recourse against Elk Grove Village police.

Murrays parents were not allowed back inside their home for upward of five hours after the shooting, a representative for Romanucci & Blandin said.

We hope to cooperate with the Elk Grove Village police to determine exactly what happened during this tragic incident, spokeswoman Jennifer McGuffin told the Tribune.

Torres had said that Murray also lived in Elk Grove Village, but he also kept an address in Edgewater, according to the medical examiners office.

Three Elk Grove police officers were sent to Alexian Brothers hospital Friday for observation and have been placed on administrative duties, the Tribune previously reported. The officer who shot Murray has not yet been identified.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Memphis Police say a man was shot near a Memphis Police precinct Friday night.

Officers responded to a shooting call at 9:30 p.m. near the precinct on Mount Moriah Road and South Mendenhall Road.

Memphis Police say a man went to Regional One Hospital in critical condition.

MPD squad car, shotgun stolen during foot chase

According to police, the victim was driving on South Mendenhall when a black sedan followed him. Shots were fired and the victims vehicle crashed near the precinct.

Memphis Police ask anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Support for victims and survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence is available 24/7: 1-800-897-LINK (5465). If you or someone else is in immediate danger, or in an emergency, please call 911 immediately.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  A domestic violence-related arson and stabbing occurred at a Salt Lake City residence early Saturday morning, according to Salt Lake City Police.

On Dec. 2, at around 1:20 a.m., police received reports of a disturbance near Faultline Park.

Officers responded to the scene and learned that the suspect, a 22-year-old man, had stabbed his 23-year-old roommate. The motive for the stabbing remains under investigation, police said.

Weather alerts issued as weekend storms look to bring mountain, valley snow

After being stabbed, the roommate reportedly hid in a lower portion of the home. Police said the suspect followed the victim, poured accelerant on the floor, and started a fire.

Salt Lake City Fire crews responded to the scene and were able to put out the fire before it spread, the release states. Firefighters reported that actual fire damage to the home is minimal, though damage due to the accelerant, smoke, and water is more significant.

Paramedics took the victim to the hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. Police detained the suspect, and paramedics took him to a separate hospital with minor injuries related to the fire.

Police said that while on the way to the hospital, one of the ambulances lost traction due to winter conditions and crashed. No injuries were reported due to the crash, and there was reportedly minor damage to the vehicle.

After being medically cleared, the suspect will booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on charges including aggravated assault and aggravated arson.

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An SLCPD police officer received minor injuries related to smoke exposure during the arrest, the release states. Police said the officer is recovering.

The identities of those involved in this incident are being withheld because this is being investigated as a domestic violence incident.

No further information is available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
After complaining about intense headaches for a while to her primary care doctor  and having those complaints dismissed  Tracey Piper fainted one day in 2019 at work.

She was taken to the hospital, where doctors found a tumor the size of a lemon in her head. They performed emergency surgery on her. Thankfully, the tumor was not cancerous, but it was the recovery that would push her further into a deep depression.

Then she adopted her great-nephew, Zaire, who was born just weeks after her surgery.

We call it therapy for each other, Piper said. He needed me, and I needed him.

Tracey Piper holds her great-nephew Zaire Piper, whom she adopted, in their Bastrop home. Zaire, who has autism, needs many sensory toys and tools to help him explore his world.

The Piper family is part of the Statesman's Season for Caring program, which helps hundreds of families each year through local nonprofit agencies. The Piper family was nominated by Community Action, which provides support for families in Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties.

Zaire is like many other kids. He loves Spider-Man, pizza and red Gatorade. But finding your place in the world can be tough for any 4-year-old, especially one who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and autism.

Although it's a recent diagnosis, Piper said it just reaffirmed what they expected. He has trouble speaking and hasnt quite mastered how to use the toilet just yet.

When he was born, Zaire was placed in Child Protective Services. Despite being in the early stages of what would be a two-year recovery after her brain surgery, Piper adopted him.

During Pipers recovery, her adult son Royce Raivon moved back home, where he still lives. He has mental illness. Piper said he tries to work, but it has been hard at times for him to hold down a job.

Her daughter Jamisha Cook, who is married and has three children of her own, used to offer a lot of support to Piper. But last year, Cook was diagnosed with lupus, and Piper has since helped get her to all her doctor's appointments.

Read more: Tracey Piper of Bastrop puts needs of others before herself | Season for Caring

In addition to the brain tumor, Piper has had diabetes since 2014.

So many storms come in my life, Piper said. But I deal with them.

Tracey Piper watches TV with daughter Demitria Hill, left, and granddaughter Emilie Rivero, center, in Piper's Bastrop home. Piper had emergency brain surgery for a tumor a few years ago.

Through all of this, Piper has started moving on and getting back into the swing of life that she had to put on pause due to her brain tumor.

The recovery caused her to quit her job as an activities director at an Austin nursing home, a place where she had worked for 20 years. Once she was able to start working again, she had to take a lower-paying job, and, due to everything with Zaire and Cook, she didnt want to be far away from her home in Bastrop.

In the past few months, Piper has been able to find a new job as an activities director at a nursing home near her home. The job also lets her work around when she needs to take Cook to the doctor.

With the new job came a pay raise, but its still not enough to help meet all the family's needs, especially for Zaire. His counselors have begun recommending various therapeutic toys and items to help calm him down during meltdowns.

Giving in action: 12 families featured in the 25th Season for Caring program. Here's how you can help.

While Piper would love to get all those things for him, she cant afford it. There are also things around the house that she needs: a new stove, help paying for groceries and diapers for Zaire. After everything she has gone through the past few years, she could use a spa day.

Well just be grateful for what we get, Piper said.

To find out more about the Piper family or to give an item on their wish list, contact Community Action of Central Texas, 512-392-1161, ext. 329, communityaction.com.

25th Season for Caring

The Statesman will be sharing the stories of all 12 Season for Caring families throughout the holiday season. Find more stories and information at statesman.com/seasonforcaring. You can donate online or use the coupon on Page 2B. Now through Dec. 25, all monetary donations will be matched up to $500,000 by the Sheth family.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Statesman Season for Caring grandma from Bastrop takes care of others
Tuskegee resident Elise Tolbert hasnt had a hospital in her city in her lifetime. Macon county, where her family has lived for generations and where four out of five residents are Black, once had two hospitals, but both were closed by the late 1980s.

That has forced locals to travel a half hour or more to other larger towns to get treatment  a long trip during a medical emergency, especially since calling for an ambulance can lead to a long wait. Residents often have to drive themselves, or find someone to take them if they dont own a car  which is common in a town where 29% of residents live in poverty.

Related: Arizona voting officials charged for refusing to certify 2022 election results

The lack of local medical services is a serious problem for her ageing relatives. Tolbert also worries about her asthmatic nephew.

If he needed to go to the emergency room, the closest was either in Montgomery or [near] Auburn, said Tolbert, an environmental scientist and political activist. Its a big concern for people, particularly older people who are thinking about their ability to age in place.

Tuskegee is one of many Black-majority Alabama communities where the legacies of segregation and systemic racism, including intentional political disenfranchisement, have led to dramatically underfunded public resources. The towns population has dropped from 12,000 to 9,000 residents in the past two decades  a vicious cycle where lack of jobs and resources force people to move away, making it harder for the town to maintain the community services it does have. But now, the community that tends to historically vote for Democratic candidates has a glimmer of hope for representation in a state that overwhelmingly votes Republican.

After a two-year legal battle led to a surprise supreme court victory for civil rights advocates, a federal court ordered Alabama to implement a new congressional map in October and create an additional district where Black voters can elect a candidate of their choice.

The congressional map for the 2024 elections will provide Black Alabamians with the opportunity to elect two of the states seven congressional representatives, thanks to a new second district where Black voters make up 48.7% of the population. That means they can elect a lawmaker to Congress who will not only represent their political views on national issues  but be more attuned to the local needs and problems of the communities and more willing to fight for earmarks for specific projects like funding for local medical care.

Democratic congresswoman Terri Sewell, who currently represents the states lone Black-majority district, said she was excited that she wont be the only D in the state of Alabama for long  and that there will likely be another colleague who will focus on helping Alabamas Black community with constituent services.

My office gets tons of calls all across the state but yet we only represent Alabamas 7th congressional district, she told the Guardian. The constituents of this new district will be excited to be able to have a person in that seat that they can actually relate to and feel comfortable enough to ask them to help.

Evan Milligan, the executive director of progressive civic organization Alabama Forward, was one of the plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit. He agreed to join the case after growing frustrated with lawmakers who he said took advantage of Black communities without fighting to get them the services they need.

[Legislators are] using census data to get millions, sometimes tens of millions of dollars, for infrastructure projects. [Theyll] use numbers of Black people to get low-income housing funding, stuff for bridges and stuff like that and will never put [those funds] where these people are, he said.

The court win was just the first step.

Now, advocates will need to convince Black voters who have been ignored for so long to turn out and cast their ballots.

Its time to shift into raising awareness, said Anneshia Hardy, executive director of the grassroots progressive organization Alabama Values. What does it mean to have this second district? What does it mean to turn out and vote?

The court case in Alabama is one of several redistricting cases being considered by courts throughout the country in southern states where the Voting Rights Act once forced local white politicians (from both parties) to create more Black-majority districts.

That landmark 1965 law helped end a century of Jim Crow policies that had all but banned Black political participation in the south, and created a bevy of Black-majority districts throughout the country. Recent supreme court decisions chipping away at the laws enforcement mechanisms have weakened this, however, and led to plenty of GOP gerrymanders that diluted Black voting power  especially in southern states like Alabama, which has some of the most racially polarized partisan voting patterns in the country.

But the supreme courts recent decision to ban the most extreme racial gerrymanders  like the ones that Alabama Republicans had used for their most recent congressional map  have opened the door to more Black political power as well as more Democrats in Congress.

What does it mean to have this second district? What does it mean to turn out and vote? Anneshia Hardy

Judges recently ruled in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana that the states congressional maps need to be redrawn, which could create more Black representation throughout the region  as well as give Democrats an easier path to a House majority in the next election. The courts ruling is no guarantee of new maps, however: A court recently ruled that South Carolina Republicans didnt have to draw a second Black-opportunity in that state.

While nationally the conversation has mostly centered on how creation of the second district in Alabama and potential new congressional maps in other states could help Democrats secure a majority in the US House, a new congressional map could have much more tangible impacts for the voters of central Alabamas Black Belt communities.

Alabama is ranked among the worst states in terms of overall child wellbeing as well as life expectancy  and Black people face significantly worse outcomes than their white neighbors. The residents of states lone Black-majority district that Sewell represents have the shortest life expectancy of any House district in the country, according to a recent Harvard study. The infant mortality rate for Black Alabamians is 11.9 deaths per 1,000 births, more than double the national infant mortality rate as well as that of white Alabama infants, according to data from the Equal Justice Initiative.

Additionally, a recent report by the nonprofit thinktank the Milken Institute found Alabama has the worst mortality rate in the country, with outcomes being significantly worse for Black women in the state. A national report conducted by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsins Population Health Institute found that the predominantly Black Macon county is among unhealthiest counties  ranked 59th of 67  in Alabama.

Healthcare, education, roads and infrastructure, sewage and access to clean water are all concerns for locals as they look ahead to the 2024 election. Black residents are hoping a new member of Congress will help secure federal funding for these issues through earmarks or community project funding.

Robert Turner, a Tuskegee native and local community organizer, said he often gets emotional when he thinks about how his access to healthcare has dwindled in his lifetime. He remembers back when the John A Andrews memorial hospital was still open. But even then, locals with the means to do so often traveled elsewhere to receive what they viewed as better care.

The folks with money stopped utilizing it, Turner said. Only poor people were using it. They were losing money.

Residents issues havent been completely ignored. Republican congressman Mike Rogers, whose current district currently includes Macon County, was one of the Republicans who led the charge for Congress to bring back earmarks, where lawmakers can fight for money for local projects. His recent requests include $2,200,000 for the residents of Fruithurst in Cleburne county to get their water from a well after Auburn University attributed a cluster of rare cancers plaguing residents in the area to water contamination.

But local Black activists are hoping that having a second lawmaker focused on Alabamas Black communities will increase their pull in Congress  and help them find funding for crucial issues.

We feel there is an opportunity that we have secured. A lot of those people are dealing with life and family situations where an infusion of federal resources is really going to decide if some of them live or die, and certainly if certain towns and communities stick around, Milligan said.

Cameron Joseph contributed reporting
An image from 2016 of Meghan Markle discussing her role in the Suits - Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

The Duchess of Sussex took her publicist on a tour of a US magazine while she was still an aspiring actress in an apparent bid to raise her Hollywood profile, Omid Scobie has claimed.

Meghan visited the American offices of US Weekly a year before her relationship with Prince Harry became public to see if there was something to do.

The future Duchess was starring in the legal drama Suits at the time but was not regarded as a major celebrity, and the visit is likely to be interpreted as an early publicity drive on her behalf.

Scobie, whose new book, Endgame, has come under the spotlight over revelations in its Dutch edition about the King and the Princess of Wales allegedly making remarks about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs unborn child, suggests the visit was a factor in Meghan later trusting him as a journalist.

Omid Scobie said Meghans visit to his magazines offices gave him an advantage when it later came to reporting her romance with Prince Harry - Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Speaking about the moment in 2016 that news broke that Prince Harry was in a relationship with Meghan, Scobie  who worked for US Weekly at the time  told the James OBrien podcast Full Disclosure: Suits was a huge thing for our magazine.

Funnily enough a year or two earlier  I wasnt in the office at the time  Meghans agent or publicist had brought her in to just meet editors and see if there was something to do. She was very much on the radar, even if she wasnt up there with the big-name celebrities.

Scobie said Meghans visit to his magazines offices gave him an advantage when it later came to reporting her romance with Prince Harry.

We really had a lead, he added. I had the lead in covering the early days of this relationship, and when I left the magazine they were my focus for this [royal] beat.

Scobies new royal book, Endgame, was released late last month - pixel8000

He suggested that it was this early connection that allowed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to trust him as a reporter who could be sympathetic to her situation as a mixed-race person marrying into the British monarchy.

She had picked the people she wanted to cover it. I was able to be the one that provided the different perspective, said Scobie, who is of British-Persian heritage. I was known as the safe face at least.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A memorial is growing for a 5-year-old boy who died after falling from a building in downtown Kansas City.

As the police investigation continues, neighbors of Grayson OConnor have planned a memorial service Saturday near where he died.

Kansas City man charged in Northland Rally House shooting

You didnt deserve this or how you were treated your short life. The system failed you so bad. Rest in peace, little one, said one woman, reading a letter she wrote for the boy.

A Spider-Man mask, toy trucks, dinosaurs and the nutcracker: Theyre things 5-year-olds generally enjoy. But those simple joys of life have been ripped away from Grayson OConnor. Now they sit at a memorial near 10th Street and Grand Boulevard.

Its pitiful. Theres no reason for it. I just hope the system doesnt fail anymore kids. It happens too much, too much, said Brandy Kinkelo who is mourning the 5-year-old.

The circumstances surrounding OConnor death still leave a lot of questions. How and why did he fall to his death? Could something or someone have prevented this?

Kansas City teacher on leave after inappropriate videos shown in class

While they wait for answers, neighbors, strangers and the Kansas City community are honoring the little boy.

A group of women FOX4 spoke to Friday didnt know OConnor, but they still mourn regardless. Some are mothers who have 5-year-olds themselves and could never imagine the pain.

If we would have known before we would have cared. We all are very protective over each others kids and everything, one woman who stopped by the memorial said.

For now, KCPDs investigation is ongoing. Two days ago, police named OConnors mother as a subject of interest but did not give any other details as to why.

Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android

Neighbors have organized a memorial service and balloon release for OConnor. Its Saturday at 2 p.m. right at 10th and Grand. Anyone who wishes to join is welcome.

Those you made an impact in their lives while you were here for a short time will never forget you and will not stop until you have justice. Rest in peace, Kinkelo read.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Some 50 oil and gas companies worldwide have pledged to shore up leaky methane systems by 2030, a move that could rapidly reduce emissions of the potent gas and forestall some climate change effects  if the companies live up to their word.

The pledge, which was announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber on Saturday, calls for oil and gas companies to dramatically reduce methane leaks to near zero by 2030. Al Jaber, the conferences president, is the United Arab Emirates special envoy for climate and the CEO of ADNOC, a state-owned oil and gas company.

The pledge includes ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabias Aramco, among the largest oil and gas producers in the world.

Emissions rise an oil refinery in the U.S. ( Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Several environmental nonprofits and intergovernmental organizations  including the Environmental Defense Fund and the International Energy Agency  have signed on to track the effort and use satellite technology to provide additional accountability measures.

Other environmental groups decried the new agreement, called the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, as part of a greenwashing effort. More than 300 organizations signed on to an open letter criticizing the effort.

Methane emissions and gas flaring are symptoms of a more than century-long legacy of wasteful, destructive practices that are routine in the oil and gas industry as it pursues massive profits without regard for the consequences, the groups wrote. The only safe and effective way to clean up fossil fuel pollution is to phase out fossil fuels.

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Controlling methane, which has been rising in atmospheric concentration for decades, is seen as one of the easiest and cheapest ways to make an immediate impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. And many fossil fuel companies have a natural incentive to reduce leaks, which often cost them money as supply is lost.

Its not complicated technology. Its mostly plumbing, simple  you know  tightening the screws, shutting off leaks, stopping the flaring, stopping the venting, which is just wasting gas, burning it off in the atmosphere and doing damage, said John Kerry, the United States special presidential envoy for climate, in a briefing about the accountability measures behind the agreement, adding that methane has been responsible for about 30% of the planets warming. Its absolutely essential that we deal with methane.

A 2019 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report estimated that methanes potential contribution to global warming is more than 80 times that of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide when impacts are measured over 20 years. Methane, which is the primary component of natural gas, accounted for about 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the worlds energy supply, according to the latest IPCC report. Methane is also produced at landfills, in agriculture and in natural processes like decomposition.

Also on Saturday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its final rule on methane pollution, which the agency says will reduce emissions from the U.S. oil and gas industry by about 80% over what could be expected without it. The rule will dictate how the oil and gas industry finds and fixes leaks, strengthening provisions about flaring and enhancing emissions standards for pumps.

A study published this summer in Environmental Research Letters suggests that leaky methane can be just as bad for global warming as coal, which illustrates why world leaders are so animated about the issue.

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the oil and gas companies agreement could be the most helpful environmental action of his career if the companies hold to their commitments.

We need to make sure the oil companies deliver, we need to hold them accountable, Krupp said in an interview. Many promises have been made at COPs that have not been kept.

Krupp said EDF analysis suggests that about 2-3% of the natural gas removed from the ground is leaked into the air because of incomplete combustion during flaring, leaky compressor seals or through venting valves. The agreement calls to limit that leakage to near zero, which is defined as .2%, Krupp said.

Every piece of equipment, every component, can leak methane along the supply chain, said Arvind Ravikumar, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the co-director of its Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab. The only way to know it is to go look for it.

Ravikumar, who was not involved in either Saturday announcement, said about 10% of leaks in the oil and gas supply chain create more than 50% of all methane emissions.

If you want to address methane emissions, find these super emitters and fix them, Ravikumar said. Theres the economic interest associated in stopping leaks.

Ravikumar said many publicly traded oil and gas companies are under public pressure to reduce leaks, but that an international agreement is essential to spur private or national companies to take similar action.

EDF is planning to launch a satellite next year that can detect methane leaks. Bloomberg Philanthropies, which coordinates the charitable giving of former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, has committed $40 million to create tools to track methane leaks and expand data tracking and coordination among organizations focused on accountability.

Krupp said the companies will have to report their emissions data for third-party verification and that the organizations monitoring this effort, including EDF, should be able to ensure if theyre following through.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(Bloomberg) -- Samuel Garcia, who stepped down as governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to run for the presidency next year, said he was withdrawing from the race and returning to office to avoid being replaced by an opponent.

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I have resumed functions as constitutional governor of the state, Garcia said in a decree posted on his social networks on Saturday, adding that he wont need a permit for the presidential campaign. I have decided not to participate in the electoral race for president.

After a complex legal battle for control of the state in which Garcia proposed several allies to replace him as governor while he was competing for the presidency, the Supreme Court on Friday night said Luis Enrique Orozco, an opponent, should become the interim governor.

Garcias return will prevent his Movement Party from losing control of the state. The move had raised doubt about his ability to compete in Junes presidential election, as he was legally required to leave office before Saturday, exactly six months before the vote.

Orozco has refused to accept Garcias return and is claiming the position of interim governor, which could extend the legal battle, Reforma reported. It remains to be seen whether Garcia will be able to resume his duties in the midst of the legal dispute. Garcias Movement Party called a meeting on Monday to decide the next steps following his return to the governorship, according to Latinus.

Garcia, 35, has ranked third in several polls ahead of the election, with about 8% support. He was behind opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez and frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, member of the Morena ruling party and a close ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Nuevo Leon, in the border with the US, has become one of the major targets for new investment in the country, propelling Garcia into prominence on the national stage.

Read More: Mexican Governor Luring Tesla Is 35 and Running for President

(Updates with Samuel Garcias decision in first two paragraphs. Changes headline.)

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Professor Naoko Kihara, who has practiced Hanayagi-style dance for over two decades, stands in her studio during an interview in Mexico City, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. Born in Brazil from Japanese parents who later moved to Mexico City, she carries on the legacy of Tamiko Kawabe, her mentor and pioneer of Hanayagi-style dance. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

MEXICO CITY (AP)  When music requires her to cry, Japanese traditional dancer Naoko Kihara barely alters her expression. Its her arms and torso that move like a slow-motion wave.

Expression is minimal because we cry with our body, said Kihara, wrapped in her white and navy kimono, on a recent day at her dancing studio in Mexico, where an estimated 76,000 Japanese descendants live.

It is the dance that is speaking, interpreting, since we do not smile, shout or laugh.

Kihara wont reveal her age, but shes been practicing Japanese traditional dance for almost 24 years. Born in Brazil from Japanese parents who later moved to Mexico City, she carries on the legacy of Tamiko Kawabe, her mentor and pioneer of Hanayagi-style dance in the country.

For Latin American audiences, Kihara said, Japanese traditional dance might be hard to embrace.

Unlike the fast-moving interpreters of samba and salsa  widespread in Brazil and Mexico  Hanayagi dancers move quietly and gently, performing just a few moves that their bodies keep fully controlled.

Is this yoga? a spectator once asked Kihara, who responded: No, its an interpretation.

Some of her repertoires are almost sacred. Japanese dances as Hanayagi and Kabuki have been historically performed to honor the emperor, considered a representative of god in the Shinto religion.

For traditional dancers, choreography is a sign of respect and no detail is minor. How a woman holds her fan speaks of her sense of elegance and honor.

You are not taught a dance, but a way of living, said Aimi Kawasaki, a 21-year-old student of Kihara who will soon travel to Tokyo hoping to receive her dancing diploma.

Born in Mexico after her parents moved from Japan, Kawasaki says that Hanayagi is like ballet, but with an important exception: While Japanese traditional dancers are delicate and elegant, they never stand on the tip of their toes or pull their bodies toward the sky.

A Japanese dancer is rather crouched, Kawasaki said, her teacher demonstrating the posture: firm torso, bent knees and feet close together, as if she were a flower rooted to the ground.

Its to be humble, Kawasaki said, and because Japanese traditional dance maintains profound codes.

We move our bodies close to the earth because we are part of nature, Kihara said. It is a respect for the earth.

In the Japanese worldview, Kihara said, dance originated from earth, air, fire, and water. That's our essence; it's our basis.

To keep this in mind, each Hanayagi dancer takes an oath when receiving her diploma in Japan. Its like a manual of honor, Kihara said. A promise to preserve one's legacy.

Thirteen students  seven of them at the basic level  study in Ginreikai, her dancing studio.

In our performances, its all about patience, Kihara said. We call them long songs, because they are not plays with a beginning nor an end.

Eiko Moriya, another descendant of Japanese migrants who will soon travel to Tokyo to get certified, has spent the last three years perfecting the long songs shell perform before the Hanayagi committee.

Her mentor watches her attentively while Moriyas feet slide delicately over the wood floor, and always provides feedback. Move your foot only when the music asks for it. Be mindful of the rhythm. Dont overbend your arm.

Dancing is a transformation, Moriya said. Our dances are pieces of culture that are re-signified.

The meaning of their performances is conveyed through music and movement, Kihara said. Even in front of foreign audiences who might not understand a Japanese song, their bodies are their means to speak.

Her favorite long song, a story about an unrequited love, portrays a princess convinced that the man she loves has transformed into the bell of the local temple. So, to get to him, she turns into a snake.

There are just a few movements, but each of them portrays her belief of transforming, Kihara said. It is a story about anger, courage. It symbolizes the suffering of humanity.

The songs that she and her colleagues perform for Mexican audiences are shorter and less complex than the original Japanese long songs  a dance can last up to five minutes instead of 20 or 30  but creating new choreographies and adaptations for foreign scenarios does not diminish her excitement.

Through Japanese dance, we connect, she said. It is an exchange of cultures.

Ginrekai, which translates into silver mountain, was the name chosen by her predecessor for the school because she believed that Japan and Mexico share more than their sacred volcanoes. If Mount Fuji and Popocatepetl are so similar, she used to say, its because deep down we are all the same.

At Ginrekai we have that cosmic vision, Kihara said. Humanity is divided by religion, by culture, but for me, dancing is a way of saying: We are all one.



Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pic story: face-changing lessons in SW China's Wu'an primary school

Xinhua) 09:49, December 02, 2023

Students practice the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Students practice the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Students prepare to practice the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

A student practices the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Folk artist Li Yong (2nd R) explains the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Folk artist Li Yong (1st R) teaches the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Folk artist Li Yong demonstrate gestures of the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Folk artist Li Yong explains the decorations used in the traditional "bian lian" performance, or face-changing, at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Folk artist Li Yong teaches a student the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Students practice the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Students practice the traditional "bian lian", or face-changing skills, in a dance classroom at Wu'an primary school in Dianjiang County, southwest China's Chongqing, Nov. 28, 2023. With more than 600 students, Wu'an primary school in recent years cooperated with folk artist Li Yong and added face-changing as a special part to its curriculum. The face-changing technique is one of the most famous parts of Sichuan Opera, whereby actors rapidly alter their face makeup in stunning and dramatic effect. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Hongyu)
Eduardo Bravo, Irys chief operating officer (left) and Beto Altamirano, Irys chief executive pose for a photo. Courtesy Irys The Irys and DTSI team Courtesy Irys

A San Antonio tech startup has acquired one of the citys oldest cybersecurity and information technology firms.

Irys Technologies Inc., developer of San Antonios 311SA mobile app, said Friday it purchased Diversified Technical Services Inc.  or DTSI  a 40-year-old company with a long history of government contracts. The price was not disclosed.

Weve been working on this deal for the past six or seven months and so, for us, its very exciting to complete this acquisition, said Beto Altamirano, CEO of Irys.

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Under the cash deal, DTSI will become an Irys business unit. Its staff of 60 and offices on Interpark Boulevard will remain in place as will Irys 10 employees and West Side headquarters.

The decision to entrust DTSI to Irys comes at a pivotal time, marking a moment of transformation for both the market and our company, Suzanne Castanuela, DTSIs former chair, said in a statement. As I step back, I am confident that this is the best path forward for the legacy and the future of the company.

The companies had done business for about two years. Acquisition talks began over the summer when one of DTSIs longtime military contracts faded. In July, DTSI laid off 137 of its 188 workers after a major information technology services contract with the Air Force ended July 31.

DTSI was facing a challenge in terms of what technologies they needed to innovate or implement so that they could scale their products and services, Altamirano said. I felt they were hitting roadblocks, which is normal for any company that has been around for 40 years.

He said Irys capabilities in developing generative artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning and data analytics complement DTSIs software development, cybersecurity and IT services.

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Theres been a transition of service-oriented companies toward product-oriented companies, said Eduardo Bravo, Irys chief operating officer and former chief financial officer. This brings an interesting synergy between Irys and DTSI.

Altamirano, Bravo and Beto Gomez launched Irys in 2017 at Geekdom, the startup incubator on Houston Street. Bravo said the companys revenue has grown 60% annually since inception.

Altamirano said Irys revenue last year was about $7.5 million, or about a quarter of DTSIs $30 million. The companys flagship platform, also called Irys, helps businesses and government organizations communicate with customers, track maintenance and operations and collect data.

Were finding different opportunities to grow through acquisitions, through relationships, through partnerships with different companies, and keeping our roots in San Antonio, Bravo said. Im proud of that personally and proud of the team that we have because of what weve done.

Government contracts drive 80% of Irys revenue with the remaining 20% coming from the commercial sector. All of DTSIs revenue comes from government contracts. It has 10 contracts with the Department of Defense and federal government. Irys also has several contracts with the Air Force, including one assessing missile maintenance at F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming and another tracking quality-of-life issues at Robins AFB in Georgia.

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DTSIs relationships with the Defense Department and long track record of military business was a motivator for Irys according to Altamirano.

We decided to get closer to them  so that we could grow our military presence, so that we can expand our product suite into more cybersecurity as well, and so, here we are, he said.
In November 2013, then-Secretary of State John Kerry declared, to thunderous applause, that the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over. Flash forward to 2019 and John Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, proclaimed that the Monroe Doctrine was alive and well. Within six years, high-level administration officials had shown the range of views toward the 200-year-old proclamation and U.S. policy in Latin America more broadly: While the left tends to treat the Monroe Doctrine as a symbol of the imposition of U.S. hegemony, the right regards it as a defense of U.S. strategic interests in the hemisphere.

Despite those divergent views, the Monroe Doctrinefirst proclaimed on this day in 1823 by President James Monroedeserves renewed attention. Revisiting it should lead us to ask anew how to appropriately engage with our neighbors in Latin America, a task made all the more imperative today by the troubling and often unnoticed activities of China, Russia, and Iran in the hemisphere we share.

At its inception, the Monroe Doctrine was not a declaration of U.S. hegemony. Rather, it was a statement by a young nation that had just fought a second war against Great Britainending in a draw and with the burning of the Capitol, nine years prior. In that context, the U.S. was reaching out in solidarity to its neighbors to the South, who were engaged in their own struggles for independence against their own colonial masters.

But as the late 19th and early 20th centuries unfolded, the expansion of U.S. power and a changing geopolitical context resulted in a more involved application and interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. In 1898, the United States leveraged its status as an emerging naval power to support Cubas war for independence against Spain, decisively beating the Spanish Armada in both the Atlantic and Pacific and eliminating the last of Spains colonial grip in the Caribbean. A few decades later, the U.S. used economic, political, and military power to shape the hemisphere, including through supporting military occupations in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Mexico prior to World War II. And during the Cold War, U.S. resistance to attempts by the Soviet Union to establish a political and military presence in the regionthrough leftist guerrilla movements and communist or socialist governments in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Nicaragua, and El Salvadorreflected the adaptation of the Monroe Doctrine to new geopolitical realities.

How the ascendant U.S. used its economic and military influence in Latin America has been a source of debate. But today, even more than in 1823 or 1898, the conditions in our shared hemisphere deeply affect the U.S. and our neighbors through commerce, criminal networks, migration, and, perhaps especially, security concerns.

Take the challenges posed by China. Though Chinas potential as a market and commercial partner creates genuine opportunities, Chinese companies pursue their interests in the regions resources and markets in a predatory fashion. They maximize benefits for themselves while imposing costs and indirectly undermining democracies in the region. Corruption, onerous contracts, appropriation of partners intellectual property, and favoritism of Chinese suppliers abound.

The Chinese, for example, loaned tens of billions of dollars to populist regimes in Venezuela and Ecuador for projects spearheaded by their companies and workers. The projects were almost entirely repaid by pumping oil out of both countries through operations that Chinese companies controlled. Yet the projects themselves left little or no value for Latin American nations, but instead left vestiges such as an abandoned train line in Venezuelas interior and an Ecuadorian dam beset by thousands of structural cracks that kept it from working properly. In the Bahamas, the Chinese construction company contracted to build the Baha Mar mega-resort performed so poorly that the facility opening was delayed for months. Baha Mar was forced into bankruptcy, and an obscure contract clause required the matter to be settled by arbitration in Hong Kongwhere a shady Macau-based Chinese conglomerate secured control of the entire resort.

The weakness of Latin American institutions, their vulnerability to corruption, and the self-exclusion by some governments from more traditional sources of loans and investment all decrease the likelihood that the region will benefit from these projects. And politicians and businessmen hesitate to speak critically of Chinese behaviors out of fear that such talk will jeopardize the Chinese markets they hope to access or the partnerships they hope to forge. The result is that elites overestimate the probability of securing the hoped-for benefits from the Chinese, while underestimating the risksincluding poor project performance, social conflict, environmental damage, or the economic non-viability of a project once completed, to name just a few examples.

Beyond economics, Chinas no judgment engagement with local governmentsas long as Chinese interests are protectedsustains repressive regimes and undercuts democracy until it is too late. Venezuela, for example, received more than $62 billion in loans from the Chinese, tied to the export of its oil. This helped maintain a stream of income while the left-oriented populist authoritarian regime of Hugo Chavez progressively nationalized the economy, consolidated control of the countrys political institutions, and eliminated political dissent like independent media and non-governmental organizations in the country.

And should a Chinese invasion of Taiwan lead to war with the U.S., the commercial presence and military relationships China has built in the Western Hemisphere will likely be used to disrupt U.S. deployment and sustainment flows. China could, for example, shut down the Panama Canal and Strait of Magellan, attack U.S. space assets from the Western Hemisphere, or project forces against the U.S. from dual-use ports and other facilities in the region.

But Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere is not the only concern. Threats posed by Iranian and Russian engagement are even more direct. Iran has worked through surrogate organizations such as Hezbollah to orchestrate terrorist operations. These include attacks in 1992 and 1994 against Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina, or Iranian agent Moshen Rabbanis role in recruiting Islamic extremists in the failed plot to attack the JFK airport in 2007. Iran was also implicated in seeking to contract what it believed was members of the Mexican Zetas cartel in a 2011 plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington. Just this past June, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi traveled to Latin America, meeting and signing agreements with Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Separately, Iran signed a defense cooperation agreement with Bolivia. Escalating tension with the U.S. in the Middle East only increases Irans interest in expanding its reengagement with the region.

Russia, like Iran, has periodically sought to challenge the United States through partnerships with anti-U.S. regimes. Even as its sustained invasion of Ukraine has weakened its ability to project power into the Western Hemisphere, Russia has played a dangerous niche role in the information warfare space in Latin America, collaborating with friends such as Cuba and Venezuela in using traditional and social media to send messages that undermine pro-Western democracies. If Russia-NATO tensions escalate over Ukraine, it could leverage anti-U.S. partners in the Western hemisphere to threaten the U.S. from the region.

The threats the U.S. faces in Latin America are real and pressing. They involve regimesChina, Russia, Iranthat undermine our interests in other regions of the world. What, then, should our response be?

In the spirit of the original Monroe Doctrine, dialogue with the region over the activities of China, Russia, and Iran must convey a sense of solidarity in shared interests, not a U.S. imposition. The U.S. can do far more to help the region strengthen its institutions to best secure the opportunities and navigate the perils in dealing with these actors.

In shaping the regions choices, the balance between U.S.-friendly democracies versus anti-U.S. populist regimes will become ever more important. One of the most important strategic steps the U.S. can take is to work with countries of the region through institutional strengthening, economic programs, and security cooperation, to help ensure that democracies succeed in producing results for their peoples. The U.S. should also redouble its efforts to educate regional partners about the perils of Russian information operations, Iranian surrogate terrorist networks and other threats, and the seemingly non-threatening ways that Chinese commercial assets and relationships could be put to military use in time of war.

As the Monroe Doctrine turns 200, its continued success depends on Latin Americas choices, rather than its obedience. If Latin America stands in solidarity with the U.S. against the new generation of extra-hemispheric threats, itll be not because the U.S. demands it, but because the region recognizes that doing so is in its own self-interest.



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MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  A center that helps migrants in Montgomery County said its federal funding is ending and now theres a request from the Montgomery County Council for a $ 2.2 million grant to help the center.

The request for $2,261,663 in grant money will go to the Montgomery County Respite Center which opened with the non-profit SAMU First Response in June 2022. The center helps migrants who arrive in the Washington Metropolitan Region.

Officials say the center started around the time Texas was bussing migrants to The Washington Metropolitan Area.

Officials with SAMU First Response reported that from June 21, 2022, to November 10, 2023, a total of 4,121 people, and 922 families had been served in the Countys Respite Center. The service provided is for 3 to 5 nights.

Funding for nonprofits is through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program and funding ends on December 31

Migrants continue to pour into DC. This is their journey.

Officials said the request for the over $2.2 million from Montgomery County Council will provide services, including emergency shelter, food, and transportation for migrants arriving and needing respite services in the county.

In a meeting with several county committees including the Montgomery County Health and Human Services Committee, the grant funds are expected to come from the general fund undesignated reserves in Montgomery Countys FY24 operating budget.

The Council introduced the proposal on November 7 and the Council held a public hearing on November 28.

If approved this would be the first county funding to this program. council staff recommends the council receive an implementation status report in April 2024.

Montgomery County Council is scheduled to take on the request on December 12.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
I dont like to brag, but I have a special gift. Its a super power, really.

I have a freakish ability to associate certain songs with specific memories. Sometimes when I hear a particular tune, it catapults me to another time and place. For a fleeting moment, I return to the past.

Petula Clarks 1964 hit Downtown is one of the first songs I remember hearing as a child, although it must have been several years after it was popular: When youre alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go  downtown!

Mark J. Price, Beacon Journal reporter.

What makes it so memorable is that I was in downtown Akron when I first heard it. I was shopping with my mother  I dont know if it was at ONeils or Polskys  and we were strolling along Main Street, looking in store windows on a chilly day, when that song played over the loudspeakers.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city. Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty. How can you lose?

Downtown doesnt look the same as it once did, but in that fragment of a memory, its as colorful as ever.

There are times when car radios seem to offer a running commentary on life. One afternoon in the 1980s, I was driving through North Hill on East Cuyahoga Falls Avenue when I stopped for a funeral procession near Gorge Boulevard. As the hearse rolled past, Blue Oyster Cults (Dont Fear) The Reaper drifted up from my speakers.

Seasons dont fear the reaper. Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain. We can be like they are. Come on, baby, dont fear the reaper.

It felt like a scene from a movie.

I remember hearing Jimi Hendrixs Purple Haze in Detroit, Madonnas Lucky Star in Myrtle Beach, Frank Sinatras New York, New York in Manhattan, Eric Carmens Hungry Eyes in Downers Grove, Illinois, and Toby Keiths Shouldve Been a Cowboy in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

For years, I had to change the station whenever Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears came on the radio. The flashback was too painful.

That was the first song I heard after my college girlfriend and I broke up. Moments after we parted, I sat teary-eyed in my Pontiac 1000, preparing to drive away from Kent State, when I absent-mindedly turned on the radio.

Something happens and Im head over heels. Ah, dont take my heart, dont break my heart. Dont  dont  dont throw it away.

Sigh.

There were gleeful moments, though.

In the early 2000s, I had to drive all night to a friends wedding in Brooklyn, New York. I chugged caffeinated soda and rolled down the windows to let fresh air hit my face so I could stay awake on the long trip. Somewhere in the darkness along Interstate 80 in the mountains of Pennsylvania, I found a rock station on FM.

What was it playing? No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys. I kid you not.

I sang along and made it to New York City by dawn.

Perhaps you were there in September 1986 when the Goodyear Airdock rolled open its giant doors to the public for the first time in more than 50 years. At least 150,000 people attended the kickoff event for the United Ways annual campaign.

As the doors parted, the majestic fanfare to the Richard Strauss work Also Sprach Zarathustra, perhaps best known from Stanley Kubricks 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, blared over the loudspeakers at ear-splitting decibels.

Dun ... Duuun . Duuuuun  DUN DAAAAAH.

Completely unforgettable.

You also may have been in the crowd at First Night in downtown Akron on Dec. 31, 1998, when 30,000 revelers counted down toward midnight.

Before the fireworks exploded near Canal Park, the jubilant crowd sang along as Princes 1999 made us forget the 10-degree weather.

They say 2000 zero zero, party over. Oops. Out of time. So tonight Im gonna party like its 1999.

I associate songs with grand events and tiny moments. Here are a few that spring to mind:

 Stevie Wonders Living for the City (singing in music class at Portage Path Elementary).

 The Stampeders Sweet City Woman (watching The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show on Friday nights).

 Elton Johns Philadelphia Freedom (skating at the Akron Rollercade).

 The Eagles New Kid in Town (staying up late at a Portage Lakes sleepover).

 Pat Benatars Hit Me With Your Best Shot (attending pep assemblies at North High School).

 The Doors Light My Fire (floating down the Mohican River on an inner tube).

 Don Henleys Dirty Laundry (going to journalism school at Kent State).

 Loverboys Working for the Weekend (playing the jukebox at the Hamburger Station).

 Billy Idols Rebel Yell (enjoying spring break in Fort Lauderdale).

 Young MCs Bust a Move (dancing at the Trolley Stop).

 Aerosmiths I Dont Want to Miss a Thing (dating my future wife and dancing at our wedding).

There are hundreds more. Maybe thousands.

Truthfully, its a pretty useless super power. I wish I could remember some of the really important things that Ive long forgotten. But you take what youve got.

In the song More Than a Feeling, Boston summed it up nicely: I looked out this morning and the sun was gone. Turned on some music to start my day. I lost myself in a familiar song. I closed my eyes and I slipped away.

It is more than a feeling.

Is there a certain song that reminds you of a specific moment in time? Feel free to share at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com or Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal, 388 S. Main St., Suite 720, Akron, OH 44311.

Mark J. Price: Things Im old enough to remember about Akron

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Sometimes when you hear a song, it takes you back
(WHTM)  The Pennslyvania Department of Environmental Protection announced on Friday that a drought watch continues for 13 counties in the Commonwealth.

Counties impacted by the drought watch in Central Pennsylvania include Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Perry counties. York County remains under a drought warning.

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It was also announced that Clinton County had been moved into a drought warning.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), they make drought watches, warnings, and emergencies based on four numerical parameters. These include precipitation, the palmer soil dryness index, surface water flow, and groundwater levels.

To see a map of drought declarations which is updated daily, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
(WHTM)  Pennsylvania has a plethora of small towns and places that celebrate the holiday season in their unique way.

abc27 has put together a list of some of the best small towns in the Keystone State where you can truly experience the magic of the holiday season.

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New Hope

According to Country Living, this is one of the best places in the state to visit during Christmas. The town has its own North Pole Express where you and your family can be treated to cookies, cocoa, and even a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Bethlehem

This town is right near Allentown on the eastern portion of the state. Country Living states that this town features horse-drawn carriage rides and a Christmas city stroll. The city is home to two Christmas markets, the authentic Christmas City Village downtown, and Christkindlmarkt.

Lititz

Travel Awaits states that small cafes and stores with decorated windows line the streets. Moravian stars that date back to 1747 also glow around this small town located right here in the Midstate.

Toys for Tots locations throughout Central Pennsylvania

Bernville

Bernville is home to the famous Koziars Christmas Village which has dozens of indoor and outdoor light displays. The village always ranks high among the top attractions in Pennsylvania. Bernville is located in Berks County.

Indiana

Indiana, located in Indiana County, hosts an annual Its a Wonderful Life Festival, based on the 1946 film of the same name. The town is also the birthplace of James Stewart, who played Georg Bailey in the film. Indiana is also known as the Christmas Tree capital of the World with its large amount of Christmas tree farms

Reindeer arrive at Hersheypark for Christmas Candylane

Jim Thorpe

Located in Carbon County, Jim Thorpe is known for its small-town atmosphere and quiet streets with small shops and eateries. The town hosts an Olde Time Christmas celebration during the first few weekends in December.

Wellsboro

Located in Tioga County, Wellsboro hosts their Dickens of a Christmas Celebration every year. The festival features over 170 vendors and creates a Victorian marketplace from the 1800s. It shows the old-fashioned Christmas spirit and Victorian atmosphere to match Wellsboros gas lights.

The town also hosts Christmas on Main Street the second weekend of December.

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Hershey

Located in the Midstate, Hershey features many holiday treats and fun activities. Hersheyparks Christmas Candylane features 5 million lights, as well as Hershey Sweet Lights, which is a drive-through Christmas light trail that stretches for two miles through the woods and countryside.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
The mother of a Florida teenager who beat his teacher into unconsciousness over a Nintendo Switch is speaking out about the horrific attack.

While expressing empathy for the educator and apologizing for her sons action, she aims to raise awareness about the gravity of his autism. Due to his developmental challenges, she contends that sentencing him to jail would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Leanne Depa begs for mercy from the courts as her son faces 30 years in attack of Florida High School teacher. (Credit: Depa)

Leanne Depa is pleading with the courts to show leniency in the legal proceedings concerning her son, Brendan Depa.

The 18-year-old is facing up to a 30-year prison sentence for pushing Joan Naydich, a paraprofessional at the Matanza High School, in Palm Coast, Florida, to the floor in a hallway and brutally punching and kicking her while she was down.

Brendan with the support of his legal team pleaded no contest as an adult for first-degree aggravated battery last month.

Surveillance video of the Feb. 21 incident shows the 6-foot-6, 270-pound teen, who was 17 years old at the time, pummeling the older woman in her head and on her back repeatedly.

The teen was playing with the video game system during class and one of the professionals attempted to take it away. The teen lashed out at Naydich, despite her not being the teacher who intervened.

The woman sustained five broken ribs, hearing loss, and claims that she has been experiencing cognitive problems since the attack.

I was attacked on February 21st and I feel like Im just constantly being attacked, she said, adding in an interview with Fox 35, Everybody that knows me or knew me [before the attack], knows that Im a totally different person now, she said. My whole life was just turned upside down.

Other teachers tried to jump in and stop Brendan from attacking Naydich but to no avail.

The mother, who told local outlet Flagler News this summer that Brendan was adopted as an infant, appeared on NewsNations Bandfield and is hoping her appeal will help her son get a lighter or more just punishment.

I am so sorry for what my son did and nobody should ever have to go through that, the mom said, adding, But at the same time, please consider that my son has had a hard life and hes gone through so much trauma in his life. He has autism. Please show mercy to him.

The victim wants the child to receive the maximum sentencing for the crime.

I feel like if he gets sentenced to prison, its a death sentence for him. Hes scared. And to have your child call and cry and say, I dont want to die  its awful, the mother tearfully said in her interview, explaining that her son had a history of IEP that was ignored when his intensive behavioral group home placed him in the Florida public school.

She also said she questioned why he would be placed in the school when the decision was made to move him there.

I had always homeschooled him because he didnt handle the school environment. I asked the group home, Did he have to go to public school? Could he not do school online? And I was assured by them that all of their clients went to public school, Depa said. She continued, I never thought he belonged in public school. I didnt have a choice.

According to Leanne, Brendan was clinically diagnosed with autism, ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder, and reactive explosive disorder. His conditions, in his state, cannot be used as a part of his legal defense.

Since Brendan is now a legal adult, he will no longer be charged as a minor. These charges have been upgraded, and he is currently being held on a $1 million bond as he awaits his sentencing hearing in January.

He is considered dangerous. This is not the first of his violent outbursts. He was arrested three times on battery and even was written up for fighting in jail in September 2023.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A motorcyclist was hospitalized after a crash in the central Las Vegas valley.

On Saturday around 11:40 a.m., Metro police responded to a report of a crash involving a vehicle and a motorcycle in the area of East Flamingo Road and McLeod Drive.

Evidence at the scene and witness statements showed that a Yamaha R6 was traveling eastbound on Flamingo Road in the right turn lane approaching McLeod Drive when a Nissan Frontier approached McLeod Drive westbound on eastbound on Flamingo Road.

The crash occurred when the Nissan made a left turn as the Yamaha was entering the intersection. The Yamaha crashed in the Nissan and the rider was ejected, police said.

The motorcyclist was taken to a local hospital where he is in critical condition.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Merry on Main, an annual celebration in Pleasonton, includes appearances by Santa Claus. Courtesy Pleasonton Express

San Antonians with an itch for a road trip and some holiday fun might want to consider heading south.

Pleasanton, Poteet and Floresville all have events that might be worth checking out. Here's a guide:

Pleasanton: The town's two-day Merry on Main celebration begins with the arrival of Santa Claus, opting to travel by helicopter rather than sleigh. The chopper is slated to land at 6 p.m. Dec. 1. From there, the festivities include a Christmas tree lighting followed by live music. On Dec. 2, the fun includes a carnival, a bike parade during the day and a light parade at night, fireworks and a tribute to George Strait. On both days, folks can check out the kids' zone, a children's play area including an ice slide.

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Poteet: The Living Christmas Village brings to life the story of the nativity, including depictions of Elizabeth telling Mary about how their sons will change the world, Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and their hunt for a place to spend the night and the arrival of their child. The immersive experience runs Dec. 8-10. Those who go should be prepared to do some walking. Admission is free.
ZANESVILLE  All dogs older than 3 months are required to be registered in Ohio per Ohio Revised Code 955.01. The 2024 Muskingum County dog licenses are on sale through Jan. 31. And license purchased after Jan. 31 will have a penalty fee.

The fee for a one-year license is $16. The Muskingum County Commissioners approved legislation for 2024 to increase the dog licenses to cover the cost of care.

Muskingum County also offers three-year and permanent licenses. These licenses are only available to purchase at the Muskingum County Auditors Office and the Muskingum County K-9 Adoption Center. The fee for a three-year license is $48 and a permanent license is $160.

Kennel licenses are $80 and are only available from the auditor's office or by mail. An active vendor's license is required. A kennel license is only available if one is breeding and selling dogs.

Licenses can be purchased online at doglicenses.us/oh/muskingum with a $2.25 shipping and handling fee, at the Muskingum County Auditor's Office at 401 Main St. or by sending in a completed form through muskingumcountyauditor.org and submitting it to the office with check or money order and self-addressed stamped envelope for tags and receipt to be mailed.

Satellite vendors selling tags at an additional 75 cents charge are the Animal Shelter Society, Duncan Falls Library, Gobel Hardward in Roseville, Hanby Farms in Nashport, Maysville Do-It Center, The Mill in Dresden, Muskingum County K9 Adoption Center, John McIntire Library, Shriver's Pharmacy in Dresden, Sunrise Do-It Center, Orme West in New Concord and the Village of Frazesyburg Town Hall.

For more information or questions, call 740-455-7109 and press option 1 or email doglicenses@muskingumcounty.org.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: 2024 Muskingum County dog licenses available through Jan. 31
Two men were arrested for using fake documents to try and get identifications through the Division of Motor Vehicles, state police said.

Sai Snehith Rachamalla, 22, and Lakshmi Nagaraju Gogula, 23, both of Nashua, are each charged with tampering with public records or information, state police said. Both men were arrested on Wednesday.

Investigators received information that Rachamalla and Gogula were attempting to submit fraudulent documents to the Nashua Division of Motor Vehicles, state police said. Rachamalla had tried to obtain a New Hampshire non-driver identification, while Gogula had tried to obtain a New Hampshire drivers license.

Both Rachamalla and Gogula are scheduled to be arraigned in the 9th Circuit Court  District Division  Nashua, on Feb. 14, 2023, at 8:15 a.m.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Nicholas Quintiliani at Nicholas.Q.Quintiliani@dos.nh.gov or Detective Christopher J. Prenaveau at Christopher.J.Prenaveau@dos.nh.gov.

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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Nearly three years ago, thousands of people stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to interfere with the certification of the 2020 presidential Election.

Prosecutors have charged more than 1,000 people throughout the country with crimes related to that days events, including six Idahoans. Now the U.S. Attorneys Office has announced the arrest of another man with ties to the Gem State.

The FBI arrested 54-year-old Theo Hanson on Thursday in Nampa, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office. Hanson, now an Idaho resident, lived in San Diego when the alleged crimes were committed, the news release said.

Hanson was arrested on suspicion of felony obstruction of an official proceeding and felony civil disorder, according to the release. He also faces three misdemeanors: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Theo Hanson, who authorities alleged illegally entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was arrested Thursday in Nampa.

Its unclear why Hanson wasnt arrested until now.

In 2021, authorities charged six Idaho residents in the Capitol riot, and all but one of the defendants  Sandpoint resident Michael Pope  have been sentenced. Idaho Falls resident Tyler Tew was the only one placed on probation; the other four were sentenced to at least some time in jail or prison, ranging from a few months to over four years.

Records obtained by the FBI showed that Hanson was a part of a Telegram group chat called the The California Patriots-DC Brigade, which communicated about gathering fighters to travel to Washington, D.C., for the certification of President Joe Bidens election victory over Donald Trump.

The group was led by Russell Taylor, who was arrested alongside four other men who identified as Three Percenters, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a previous news release.

Three Percenters hold a belief that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks U.S. hate groups. They are typically members of the far-right, anti-government militia movement.

Taylor pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government and take full responsibility for his actions, NBC News reported.

Theo Hanson responded to another man on Telegram. He was a part of a Telegram group chat called the The California Patriots-DC Brigade which communicated about gathering fighters to travel to Washington D.C., according to records obtained by the FBI.

In a Telegram message, which was included in the court records, Taylor asked Hanson whether he was bringing heat to the Capitol, and if so, said Hanson just went up many clicks in (his) book.

Yeah brother, Hanson responded. I am bringing a few compacts and an AR dragon. I look at them as peacekeepers and of a last resort of sorts. Once they come out, that genie doesnt go back in the bottle.

Where each bullet lands is my fault and mine alone, he added on Telegram, court records said.

Hanson was seen on video inside the U.S. Capitol Building, according to a statement of facts provided to reporters by the U.S. Attorneys Office. He was identified on CCTV footage illegally entering the Capitol at around 2:22 p.m., and footage showed that he stayed inside until 3:33 p.m., the release said.

Authorities said Hanson helped other rioters on several occasions gain access to additional areas of the building. At about 2:30 p.m., while officers tried to close security doors, Hanson is seen on the CCTV footage standing underneath one of the doors, prosecutors said. In CCTV footage, Hanson was seen waving his hands back and forth to prevent it from closing, the statement said. Authorities said other rioters use trash cans and chairs to block the doors.

Nampa resident Theo Hanson inside the U.S. Capitol standing underneath one of the security doors during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Riot. Authorities said officers tried to close the doors but were prevented by riots including Hanson.

Hanson repeatedly obstructed efforts by law enforcement to close the doors, which would have prevented rioters from further accessing the building, the news release said.

Hanson was also seen on CCTV footage at 2:44 p.m. and 3:09 p.m. pushing doors open to allow additional rioters inside the building, the statement said. He also blocked an officers attempt to move him out of the building, the statement added.

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Jens Stoltenberg has a balanced assessment of the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, Oleksandr Musienko believes

In a recent interview with Radio NV, Oleksandr Musienko, the head of the Center of Military-Law Researches, shed light on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergs call for Ukraine to fortify its defenses.

Musienko underscored Stoltenbergs balanced assessment of the Ukrainian battlefield, emphasizing the imperative for the nation to prepare for defense.

Read also: Ukraine lacks resources for endless counter-offensives, says military expert Musienko

He talks about defense, about the need for Ukraine to prepare. Because, I believe, he understands much better than those experts who suggest surrendering already, that the Western military industrial complex needs three to six months to scale up to greater capacities than they currently have, explained Musienko.

Only Ukraine can determine the conditions for peaceful negotiations with Russia, Stoltenberg stated on Nov. 14. He also emphasized that wars are unpredictable, and it is impossible to foresee when or how this war will end.

Read also: Russia deployed all available reserves, military expert says

However, he stressed that the likelihood of a favorable outcome in negotiations increases with greater military support from NATO to Ukraine.

Musienko highlighted the absence of goodwill from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in reaching an acceptable solution for Ukraine.

The only way to achieve this is to convince Putin that he wont win on the battlefield, and the only way to do that is to strengthen Ukraines military potential by providing support, Musienko said.

Stoltenberg also commended Ukraines Defense Forces for successfully pushing the Black Sea Fleet out of Crimea.

Read also: Expert: Ukraine's top 2024 goal is to cut land corridor to Crimea to prevent Russian-dictated peace in 2025

During a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Oct. 24, Stoltenberg stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had depleted NATOs reserves.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Nearly six months after Valerie Tindall vanished, the Indiana teenagers remains were found stuffed in a box and buried on property owned by her neighbour who has allegedly admitted to strangling her with his belt, newly released court documents revealed.

Patrick Scott, 59, continued to wear that same belt in the days and weeks after the killing of the 17-year-old that allegedly happened inside his Indiana home on 7 June.

I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit, Mr Scott allegedly told investigators after he was arrested on Tuesday, according to the documents obtained by WTTV.

Mr Scott claimed he hadnt planned to kill Valerie and that it just kind of happened. He said it happened when he thought the teenager was going to seduce him or try to blackmail him into buying her a new car, according to the documents.

He was charged with murder and booked into Rush County Jail after Valeries body was discovered. Investigators have not clarified whether new evidence or tips led them to Mr Scotts property.

Valerie Tindall vanished on 7 June (Indiana State Police)

Valeries cause of death has yet to be determined, but her remains were positively identified by the coroner on Thursday.

She had worked for Mr Scott, who owns a lawn-mowing business. Court documents indicate that she told her parents on 7 June that she was going to work.

Mr Scott told police that later the same day he drove Valerie back to his home in Arlington, a rural community about 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

Her mother, Shena Sandefur, told WRTV-TV the family had trusted Mr Scott.

She and him had a bond. They were friends, Ms Sandefur said. She worked for him, but she also hung out with his family. His granddaughter was her friend, and we went places with them.

Several searches were launched after Valerie was reported missing, including on 11 October when cadaver-sniffing dogs located the smell of decomposition in a pond near Mr Scotts property. However, a search of the pond failed to turn up anything, the court documents state.

A flyover was conducted on 12 October during which police noted multiple areas of obvious ground disturbance.

Search warrants in hand, nearly 40 federal agents and local law enforcement officers descended on his property on 28 November where they found a large dirt pile.

They uncovered a homemade box and immediately noted the smell of decomposition despite being wrapped in a tarp with duct tape used on the seams. Human remains were found inside.

An officer on the scene described instantly spotting orange fingernails on the body that matched the color of Valeries nails as seen in a photo posted to social media on 7 June  the day she disappeared.

According to court documents, Mr Scott had purchased 2x4s and the oriented strand boards to make the boxes at the Home Depot in Greenfield the day after Valerie vanished.

He later allegedly admitted to police that he bought the boards to make the box for her body, which had been in his office.

The married man said his wife and daughter dont know nothing about the killing.

The teenagers distraught mother told FOX 59 that she had moved from Indianapolis to rural Arlington to get away from violence in the city.

But we moved across the street from her predator, she said, adding that Mr Scott acted like a jealous boyfriend and even tracked her daughters phone.

"She worked hard to get her grades up, she was gonna go to college, she was accepted and now shell never have the chance," Ms Sandefur said. "I wanted to get her help and she wouldnt and I think [Scott] took advantage of that."

Valerie would have turned 18 on 29 August.

Im doing my best to not have any hate in my heart, but I just dont think its possible. How could someone take away such a beautiful soul? Valeries aunt, Precious Miniard, wrote on social media.

In a statement released following the coroners findings, the Rush County Sheriffs Office said that it offered its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Valerie Tindall during this time of mourning.

A judge ordered Mr Scott to be held without bond at the Rush County Jail and appointed a public defender to represent him during his initial hearing.
Trilobites - shown here in fossil form at the Academy of Science in San Francisco - were arthropods that lived underwater hundreds of millions of years ago. A Texas State University researcher is part of a team that recently discovered 10 new species of trilobites. CARLOS AVILA GONZALEZ/SFC

A team of researchers  including one from Texas State University in San Marcos  have discovered 10 new species of an extinct marine creature, a finding that scientists say could help piece together information about supercontinents in Earth's ancient past.

The 10 previously unknown species of trilobites discovered in Thailand could be part of missing pieces in an intricate puzzle of ancient world geography, according to the university.

Trilobites are arthropods that lived underwater hundreds of millions of years ago. They rolled up into balls and breathed through their legs, scientists say.

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Shelly Wernette, a senior lecturer of geography and environmental studies at Texas State, co-authored Trilobites of Thailand's CambrianOrdovician Tarutao Group and their geological setting, in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

In addition to the 10 new species, the researchers also encountered other known types of trilobites that had not previously been found in Thailand. That finding indicates Thailand was once connected to other land masses that are now thousands of miles apart, researchers say.

We can now connect Thailand to parts of Australia, a really exciting discovery, Wernette said in a written statement.

Scientists say that region of Thailand was once part of Gondwanaland, an ancient supercontinent formed by Africa, India, Australia, South America and Antarctica that began breaking up about 180 million years ago.

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The fossils were found on an island of Ko Tarutao, off the southern edge of Thailand. They were petrified by eons of sediment and ash spewed by volcanic eruptions. The researchers used radioisotope techniques to determine the age of the fossils, according to the university.

One of the papers co-authors, Nigel Hughes, called the piecing together of ancient supercontinents a 3D jigsaw puzzle.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Oregon-founded sportswear company Nike is eyeing a temporary location in Downtown Portland.

According to a permit application filed with the city, the shoe and apparel brand is hoping to make changes to a building on 700 SW 5th Ave.  which currently holds Pioneer Place.

32 female athletes sue the University of Oregon alleging Title IX violations by the school

Submitted on Wednesday, Nikes permit application indicates that the new location would take over two floors of the shopping mall. Construction crews would demolish walls in the current site and install new ones to make room for a sales area and stock room. The crew would remodel fitting rooms, bathrooms, closets, a sitting room and more as well.

The new location would be a few hundred feet away from the Kress Building, which holds Nikes pre-existing downtown shop on Southwest 5th Avenue.

The current location opened back in 2011. TVA Architects, the architecture firm behind the sportswear giants downtown store, said the company aimed to create a significant retail presence in their hometown with the flagship store.

Oregon lawmakers introduce bill targeting outrageous kombucha tax

KOIN 6 reached out to Nike officials to confirm whether theyre opening a new store and if itd replace the current shop. The brands media relations team said the proposed site would be a temporary measure starting in spring 2024, when they plan to close the other downtown location to renovate and enhance the shopping experience for customers.

To best serve downtown Portland, we are in the process of opening a temporary store in nearby Pioneer Square so consumers can still shop the brand they love, Nike wrote in an email.

Earlier in September, the company permanently closed its store on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. This was after their team proposed a safety partnership with the City of Portland in an attempt to protect the MLK shops employees and customers.

3 things: What the Ducks need to do to beat the Huskies

In the closure announcement, Nike said it was re-imagining its retail spaces and considering new locations for the brand.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Hes never been a friend to Black people, says Angela Angel, senior advisor at Black Lives Matter Global Network.

An endorsement from a man claiming to be a founder of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island led former President Donald Trump to falsely assert that he had the support of the global organization and social movement.

But in a joint statement from Black Lives Matter Global Network and Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, the organizations, which are not affiliated with each other, made clear that the man in question, Mark Fisher, is not a member of the groups or the broader social justice movement.

The organizations described Fisher as an imposter and the Trump endorsement a publicity stunt.

Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign rally at Trendsetter Engineering Inc. on November 02, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Fisher, a former Democrat who created BLM, Inc. in Maryland, made headlines after he endorsed Trump, the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate, over Democratic President Joe Biden. On its website, BLM Inc. bills itself as an organization advocating for entrepreneurship education and financial empowerment in Black communities across Maryland.

Were not stupid.  We understand when someones for us and when someone is not, and its obvious that the Democratic Party is not for us, Fisher said during an interview on Fox News.

Black Lives Matter Rhode Island founder Gary Dantzler clarified that Fisher worked as an advocate for the group for a short period and is absolutely not a co-founder of the organization, Providence Journal reported.

Angela Angel, senior advisor for Black Lives Matter PAC, the political arm of Black Lives Matter Global Network, told theGrio that the nonprofit organization and Black Lives Matter Rhode Island came together to clear up any confusion that Fisher at any point represented them or the broader BLM movement.

We wanted to be clear and set the record straight that this is not our man, said Angel. He created [BLM] Inc. in Maryland all for the purpose of defrauding and confusing people.

Protestor holds Black Lives Matter sign at rally in Wayne on June 6. WayneRally.jpg

She continued, He is someone who knows that name can get him certain recognition  it can do what its supposed to do, which is muddy the waters and create confusion.

Angel said Fisher is part of a history of opportunists and distractors in the Black community determined to bring attention to themselves, enrich themselves, and dilute the movement.

Trump, who as president called Black Lives Matter a symbol of hate during the 2020 uprisings, used his endorsement from Fisher as an opportunity to claim that he has done more for Black Americans than any other president, except perhaps President Abraham Lincoln, who notably abolished slavery.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote, I have done more for Black people than any other president (Lincoln?), including 10-year funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, where they had none, Opportunity Zones, Criminal Justice Reform, and much more.

Though Angel refused to say Trumps name, instead opting to refer to him as the man who occupied the White House, she said, Hes never been a friend to Black people.

She added, Hes a terrorist. He committed treason and tried to subvert American democracy.

Trump is the same person he was in 2020 when he made disparaging remarks about Black Lives Matter protesters, Angel said.



As for the twice impeached, four-times indicted former president and his support from Fisher and perhaps others, she said Trump always used Black folks around him to manipulate and confuse the public  and thats whats happening now.

When asked what Trump stands to gain from embracing an organization he once vilified to his base of supporters, Angel said, Are we not writing articles about it? Are we not talking about it? Hell do anything for clicks [and] for attention.

Significant or not, Fishers endorsement of Trump has been used by conservatives as evidence of a narrative that Black men are gradually finding a new political home with the Republican Party thanks to Trump  a growing concern that appears to be backed up by some polling.

Blacks For Trump members gather on Rice Street to support the former president in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Benjamin Hendren/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

But while Angel admits the socioeconomic challenges Black men face are unique and how they are aligning politically is a very complicated issue, it should be made clear that Trump is not the solution for Black communities.

One of the things that we also have to know is what is our collective good? she asked rhetorically. Who is protecting our sons and our daughters? Who is protecting the Black community as a whole, and where can we find safety?



She added, Weve never been able to find that in the person that used to occupy the White House.

Angel recalled Trumps 1989 ad calling for the deaths of the five Black teens known then as the Central Park Five.

Hes vilified and gone after Black folks, not for years, for decades, she said. He is good at his press, and one thing he is good at is manipulation.

As the 2024 election continues to unfold, Angel said Black Lives Matter is encouraging Black voters not to fall for the okey doke.

She added, Do not fall for this person who wants to use you to further his own interests.

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.

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The post No, Black Lives Matter did not endorse Trump for president appeared first on TheGrio.
By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - There will be no Christmas tree in Bethlehem this year as the traditional site of Jesus' birth holds pared-down celebrations "without the fanfare and without too many lights" in the shadow of the Gaza war.

Bethlehem, which neighbours Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, has been battered by Israeli-Palestinian clashes of years past. But many townspeople have been especially gripped by the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, 50 km (30 miles) away.

Triggered by an Oct 7 killing and kidnapping spree in southern Israel by gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the war has seen much of the impoverished enclave devastated in an Israeli counter-offensive with no end in sight.

In the early days of every December, church leaders convene in Bethlehem to inaugurate the pre-Christmas Advent season, usually a major tourist draw. But this year the streets and plazas of the hilly town were largely empty and sombre under a dry winter sun.

"We have never seen Bethlehem like this, not even during the time of COVID. The town is empty, sad," Father Ibrahim Faltas, a senior Franciscan friar, told Reuters in front of the Church of the Nativity. "Today was meant to be a joyous day."

Palestinians were in pain at the "many children, women, the elderly, the people who were martyred in this crazy war", he said. Gazan authorities put the Palestinian death toll at more than 15,000, while Israel says it lost 1,200 people to the initial Hamas attack and more than 70 troops to Gaza fighting.

A Nov. 10 statement by church heads in the Holy Land voiced sympathy for people wracked by "the uncertain fate of those dear to them" - a possible reference to families and friends of some 240 people taken hostage by Hamas and kept mostly incommunicado.

For the first time in many residents' memories, no Christmas tree had been erected in Nativity Square, where the church prepared to hold religious services shorn of festive events.

"We will celebrate in sobriety," said Father Francesco Patton of the Custody of the Holy Land church group. "That means without the fanfare and without too many lights, in the most spiritual way and more (among) families than in the square."

(Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Giles Elgood)
People stand next to children sitting in camping carts as they wait for their rides outside a children's hospital in Beijing

People stand next to children sitting in camping carts as they wait for their rides outside a children's hospital in Beijing

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) -China's surge in respiratory illness is caused by known pathogens and there is no sign of new infectious diseases, a health official said on Saturday as the country faces its first full winter since lifting strict COVID-19 restrictions.

The spike in illness in the country where COVID emerged in late 2019 attracted the spotlight when the World Health Organization sought information last week, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.

Chinese authorities will open more paediatric outpatient clinics, seek to ensure more elderly people and children receive flu vaccines and encourage people to wear masks and wash their hands, Mi Feng, an official with China's National Health Commission, told a press conference.

Doctors in China and experts abroad have not expressed alarm about China's outbreaks, given that many other countries saw similar increases in respiratory diseases after easing pandemic measures, which China did at the end of last year.

(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Lincoln Feast and William Mallard)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spent his day on Friday meeting with high-profile leaders at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai. The same day, his countrys army dropped leaflets around southern Gaza, warning residents to flee  its combat operations against Hamas were resuming after a seven-day pause.

Herzog was supposed to give an address that day calling for action on the climate crisis. His slot came and went; he didnt speak. He was instead meeting with the likes of King Charles III and leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the European Union, the United Kingdom and India, as well as the United Nations Secretary General.

The discussions were private, but no doubt the top of Herzogs agenda was soliciting support, or at least tolerance, for Israels part in the war with Hamas, and helping secure the release of the remaining 136 hostages who were abducted from Israel by the armed group in its October 7 attack. Since then, Israel has retaliated with enormous military might, in a war that has killed more children than all the conflicts around the world in a year put together.

The Israel-Hamas war is casting a shadow over the COP28 climate talks. Friday only marked Day 2 of proceedings, yet the subject has been unavoidable in press conferences, speeches and even in the optics of photos and handshakes.

The UK's King Charles III shakes hands with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai on December 1, 2023. - Israeli Presidential Press Office/Handout/Reuters

Some participants walked around the summit venue wearing lanyards in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa openly accused Israel of committing war crimes in formal speeches that were supposed to be about climate to thousands of delegates, in remarks publicized well beyond Dubai.

Meanwhile, Israels allies, like UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, repeated the line that Israel has the right to defend itself. Sunak met with at least four leaders about the war  its unlikely he had much time left for climate.

Its not surprising or even untoward that Herzog would spend his time at COP28 with influential leaders  there are few opportunities as awash with powerful players as the first two days of the UN-backed talks. But it is symbolic of an ongoing problem  the world struggles to make room for the drudging issue of climate change when conflicts happening in the now use up so much time, money and attention.

Already, the heat of the war has entered the talks. The Iranian delegations left the summit because Herzog and the Israeli delegation were present, according to Iranian state media IRNA. Iran doesnt recognize Israel. Its not clear if its delegation plans to return.

As 2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record, there is a growing sense of urgency that countries need to put aside their differences for the climate crisis  the consequences of feuding while the planet fries in record heat and crumbles from deadly extreme weather events are just too grim to ignore. The US and China, for example, agreed to resume a climate working group last month and pledged a major ramp-up of renewable energy after a freeze since August last year.

But in reality, the scourges of conflict and climate change have become so intertwined  even horrifically similar in their outcomes  that addressing them together may be an inevitability.

That point was made clearly by Jordanian King Abdullah II, who in his speech Friday warned that war would only worsen the Middle Easts acute water stress and food insecurity, already fuelled by the climate crisis.

My friends, this years conference of the parties must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us, he said.

As we speak, the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives and well-being. In Gaza, over 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, tens of thousands have been injured or killed in a region already on the frontlines of climate change. The massive destruction of war makes these environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity even more severe.

North-South trust deficit

The wider, longer-running Israel-Palestinian conflict has caused divisions globally along the lines of race, religion and ethnicity since the state of Israel was established in 1948. But at COP, the current war is also causing a Global North-South divide, according to Ulrich Eberle, Director of Climate, Environment and Conflict at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.

The longstanding trust deficit between the US and the Global South has grown even deeper because of the Biden administrations unstinting support for Israels Gaza campaign, Eberle told CNN. North-South conversation at COP was never going to be easy, but the timing and severity of the war certainly doesnt help, and could distract attention from vital issues.

Heads of states and senior UN officials pose for a "family photo" on December 01, 2023 in Dubai. - SeanGallup/Getty Images

In the early days of the war, US President Joe Biden was one of the most emphatic supporters of Israel and its right to defend itself. But his administration has been cornered into softening that tone, as gruesome images of the toll on civilians in Gaza draw outrage against Israel from many corners of the world.

The Middle East has long been wracked with conflict, but the climate crisis was one area that was helping repair old rifts. The UAE  a long-standing supporter of a Palestinian state  had recently begun cooperating with Israel on climate.

In 2021, Israel and the UAE signed a water for energy deal with Jordan that would involve an exchange of solar power for desalinated water. Last month, Jordan pulled out of the deal, with its foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, telling Al Jazeera it couldnt possibly ratify it while Israel continues to kill children in Gaza.

The question now is whether the heat of the war will leave the summit along with the world leaders  who typically fly home after making big, bold statements at the start of talks  or if two weeks of painstaking negotiations around the viability of our planet may just add to tensions among the wars key players, and their allies and foes.

Its early days, but so far, the actual negotiations havent been too clouded by the conflict, according to Alden Meyer, a senior associate with the climate consultancy E3G.

But its one more geopolitical stress on top of what you already have with Ukraine and other tensions like US-China relations. And this has not been an easy space for a number of years, in terms of separating the need to act collectively on climate change, versus the conflicts in other arenas, whether its trade or vaccines or the debt crisis or armed conflict in a lot of parts of the world, Alden told CNN.

Its not like this is a new dynamic, but its obviously a very intense issue right now.

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The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected talks with the U.S. at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday following weeks of deteriorating relations. In the last two weeks, Pyongyang launched a spy satellite violating resolutions set by the U.N. and withdrew from the 2018 military pact with South Korea that aimed to ease tensions in the Korean peninsula.

Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, who is a senior official of Pyongyangs publicity and information department, criticized the U.S. as having extreme double standards for suggesting to reopen talks while increasing military activities in the region. North Korea will continue to make efforts to develop everything belonging to its sovereign rights and continue to exercise the sovereign rights, enjoyed by all the member states of the U.N., in a dignified manner without being restricted in the future, too, she said. At Thursdays meeting, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the satellite launch, labeling it reckless, unlawful.

Kim Yo Jong claimed that Washington was double-faced" and that it was U.S. high-handed and arbitrary practices that thwarted peace in the region  not the space program.

On Friday, Kim Jong Un called on the military to prepare for any provocation and announced a deployment of more soldiers and other weapons to its border with South Korea.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in Russia in September. (Sputnik/Vladimir Smirnov/Pool via Reuters)

The latest fallout

Last week, North Korea claimed it successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite despite repeated warnings that such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. Officials in South Korea cautioned Pyongyang that it would suspend the Panmunjom Declaration, the peace agreement signed in 2018. Just before the launch, the U.K. government announced a defense agreement with South Korea that would enforce sanctions on North Korea.

Just hours after the satellite launch, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol suspended part of the 2018 agreement that enforced a no-fly zone along the border. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told reporters that the move was necessary for the security of the country.

The next day, North Korea retaliated by abandoning the agreement with the Defense Ministry, stating that all military measures would be restored immediately. On Monday, South Koreas military said it detected soldiers along the border where North Korea had previously held guard posts before the 2018 accord.

Kim Jong Un looks on as a rocket carries a spy satellite.

The next day, North Korean state media claimed the spy satellite had taken photos of the White House, the Pentagon and naval stations in Guam and Hawaii. The images have not been made public, and its yet to be confirmed whether North Koreas satellite is operational and was used to see U.S. military bases.

Recommended reading

How did we get here?

The military pact in 2018 was a momentous time for the Korean peninsula, as a new era of peace was ushered in and the official end to the Cold War friction that had been felt for decades. However, less than a year later, all signs of progress faded following the collapse of diplomatic talks between Kim Jong Un and former President Donald Trump in Vietnam.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

After the failure of the Hanoi Summit between Trump and Kim in 2019, North Korea decided that it was not going to negotiate with the U.S. and South Korea, and then the pandemic happened and North Korea closed its borders, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King's College London, told Yahoo News. So Kim doubled down on this decision of not engaging in dialogue with other countries and we have seen an escalation since then.

Two years after Kims first meeting with Trump in Singapore, North Koreas foreign minister vowed that the country would never provide another U.S. president with a package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns. Kim moved away from the West and visited Russia for the first time to discuss North Koreas nuclear problem and has since displayed the might of its military as a nuclear state.

North Korea has played the biggest role in having engineered the current tense situation, Sung-Yoon Lee, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told Yahoo News. There is enough blame to go around to other parties but it's North Korea that's been the driver. I've been studying North Korea for 25 years or so. And I see them as not only very clever and strategic but also more proactive than the bigger countries surrounding them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in Russia in 2019. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

What has Pyongyang said about recent escalations?

According to North Korea, the recent satellite launch is the country executing its sovereign right to bolster up its defense capabilities in the name of national security. However, due to U.N. sanctions, North Korea has been banned from using the technology required to launch a satellite.

There are 10 major security council resolutions that explicitly ban North Korea from testing, acquiring developing ballistic missiles, Lee said. And launching a satellite requires continental ballistic missile technology.

Pyongyang blamed the U.S. and its allies for this escalation after pushing ahead with its own monitoring system that would spy on North Korea and neighboring countries. South Korea launched its first satellite on Friday after an initial delay  one of five satellites deployed from California with the help of SpaceX.

South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and President Joe Biden in Washington in April. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

South Korea is not constrained from launching a satellite into orbit in space with the help of the U.S. or on its own, Lee explained. Nor are most nations of the world but North Korea has been an outlier. The launch is a brazen violation of major resolutions that were all unanimously endorsed by Russia under Putin and China under Xi Jinping.

What about security on the Korean peninsula?

I guess there will be more rhetoric and actions  even small-scale activities, Lee said. They'll certainly be nonlethal provocations like sending multiple drones into South Korea, of filming the presidential office compound.  These are not provocations that justify war, but they still create anxiety in South Korea. And in some sense, it's effective psychological manipulation. They are to be feared, they are to be condoned for fear of escalation, and then ultimately rewarded if they return to talks.
By Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea said on Saturday it would consider any interference with its satellite operations a declaration of war and would mobilise its war deterrence if any attack against its strategic assets were imminent.

Pyongyang would respond to any U.S. interference in space by eliminating the viability of U.S. spy satellites, state media KCNA reported, citing a statement from North Korea's defence ministry spokesperson.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defence to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites," the statement said.

DPRK are the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea says it successfully launched its first military spy satellite on Nov. 21, transmitting photos of military installations in the U.S. mainland, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.

A U.S. Space Command spokesman, asked if Washington had the capability to interrupt the North Korean satellite's reconnaissance operations, said the U.S. could deny an adversary's space capabilities using a variety of means, according to U.S. broadcaster RFA.

In a statement issued later on Saturday, North Korea's foreign ministry said it will take countermeasures against individuals and organisations of the U.S. and "its vassal forces" that impose and enforce sanctions against North Korea, adding that U.S. sanctions violate international law.

The United States on Thursday targeted North Korea with fresh sanctions after the launch, designating foreign-based agents it accused of facilitating sanctions evasion to gather revenue and technology for its weapons of mass destruction programme.

South Korea on Friday blacklisted 11 North Koreans for involvement in the country's satellite and ballistic missile development, banning them from financial transactions.

North Korean state media issued a commentary by a North Korean international relations analyst, who argued "the United States, the world's biggest satellite possessor," should face the United Nations Security Council if sending satellites is considered a crime.

"In case an unexpected clash happens in the Northeast Asian region around the Korean peninsula, the U.S., which has continuously put pressure on the security space of the DPRK by escalating military threat and blackmail, will be held wholly accountable for the catastrophic situation," the commentary said. It also blamed the United States for joint military exercises with Japan and South Korea, as well as for displaying its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang, Josh Smith, Jack Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast, William Mallard and Toby Chopra)
North Korea  officially known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)  warned early Saturday morning that any interference with its spy satellite would be a declaration of war.

Any attack on space asset of DPRK will be deemed declaration of war against it, a statement by a spokesperson for North Koreas defense ministry reads, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea reportedly launched their spy satellite, known as the Malligyong-1, at the end of last month after two failed attempts. The North Korean government claimed the satellite photographed the White House last week, KCNA reported.

The Biden administration strongly condemned the purported launch, arguing it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions because it used ballistic missile technology  which the U.N. has barred North Korea from using.

The president and his national security team are assessing the situation in close coordination with our allies and partners, the Biden administration said in a statement at the time. We urge all countries to condemn this launch and call on [North Korea] to come to the table for serious negotiations.

The DPRK spokesman said Saturday that if the United States military deemed the satellite as a military threat, North Korea would turn its ire on U.S. satellites.

If the reconnaissance satellite of the DPRK is regarded by the U.S. as a military threat that must be gotten rid of, countless spy satellites of the U.S. flying above the Korean peninsula region every day, exclusively tasked with monitoring the major strategic spots of the DPRK, should be deemed the primary targets to be destroyed by the armed forces of the DPRK, they wrote.

In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defense to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites by exercising its legitimate rights vested by international and domestic laws, the spokesperson added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a celebration after the launch, claiming it had propelled the country into a new era of space power.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attended the Cybertruck event Thursday, where he met with the owners of the new vehicles. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP file photo

A Florida man is in custody after police say he traveled from Orlando to Austin to carry out a 'mass casualty attack' at Teslas Cybertruck event Thursday.

Paul Ryan Overeem, 28, was arrested in Travis County Wednesday after an investigation into a series of threats he allegedly made in an Instagram group chat, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.

Tesla was alerted on Nov. 10 about the messages, where a man wrote I plan on killing people at the Cybertruck event and it was up to you guys to stop me.

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The Austin Regional Intelligence Center started investigating the next day. The man sending the messages was identified as Overeem through an Instagram subpoena.

I would like you to do something about it so I dont have to, the messages said, according to the affidavit. I wanna die.

Cell phone data and traffic camera footage of Overeems Chevrolet Tahoe placed him in Austin in the days leading up to the Tesla event, the affidavit said.

The Tesla event took place at its Gigafactory Texas and marked a milestone as the first Cybertrucks were delivered to customers. CEO Elon Musk was in attendance.

Overeem is facing a third-degree felony charge of terroristic threats, according to Travis County arrest records.

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By Arafat Barbakh and Nidal al-Mughrabi

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (Reuters) -Under aerial bombardment from Israel, people sheltering in the south of the Gaza Strip after fleeing their homes earlier in the war said on Saturday they had nowhere safe to go now.

The city of Khan Younis is the focus of Israeli air strikes and artillery fire in a new phase of the war after fighting resumed on Friday following the collapse of a week-long truce. Its population has swelled in recent weeks as several hundred thousand people from the northern Gaza Strip have fled south.

Some are camping in tents, others in schools, while some are sleeping in stairwells or outside the few hospitals operating in the city. A World Health Organisation official said on Friday that one of the hospitals was "like a horror movie" as hundreds of wounded children and adults waited for treatment.

Abu Wael Nasrallah, 80, scoffed at the Israeli army's latest order to move further south to Rafah, bordering Egypt. Children were injured in Israeli strikes in the town on Friday.

The message was delivered via leaflets dropped from the sky over several districts in Khan Younis.

"This is nonsense," Nasrallah told Reuters. He had heeded Israeli evacuation orders and moved from the northern Gaza Strip earlier in the war that broke out on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants crossed into Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Some 193 Palestinians had been killed since the truce expired, the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday, adding to the death toll of more than 15,000 Gazans announced by Palestinian health authorities.

Israel says it is making efforts to minimise civilian harm as the fighting moves south.

The United States insisted to Israel this past week that it make clear plans to limit civilian casualties in its southern offensive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government did not give clear assurances on this, a senior U.S. official said on Friday as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a trip to the region.

A senior adviser to Netanyahu told journalists on Saturday that Israel had informed humanitarian groups of the "safer areas". Mark Regev said Israel had not asked the entire population of southern Gaza to leave. "But those neighbourhoods, those specific areas where we know there is going to be heavy combat, we've asked people there to relocate."

'NIGHT OF HORROR'

Nasrallah said he and his family would stay put because they had already lost everything.

"There is nothing left to fear. Our homes are gone, our property is gone, our money is gone, our sons have been killed, some are handicapped. What is left to cry for?"

A mother of four, who gave her name as Samira, said she had fled south from Gaza City with her children after Israel began bombing there last month. They now shelter with friends in a home west of Khan Younis.

She said Friday night had been one of the most terrifying since she arrived: "A night of horror."

She and other residents said they feared the intensity of the bombing in Khan Younis and the nearby city of Deir al-Balah meant Israel's ground invasion of the south was imminent.

Another man, who gave his name as Yamen, said he and his wife and six children had fled the north weeks ago and were sleeping in a school.

"Where to after Deir al Abalah, after Khan Younis?" he said. "I don't know where to take my family."

The U.N. estimates that up to 1.8 million people in the Gaza Strip - or nearly 80% of the population - have been forced to flee during Israel's devastating bombing campaign.

Israel has sworn to annihilate Gaza-based Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 attack.

(Reporting by Arafat Barbakh and Nidal Al-MughrabiWriting by Maggie FickEditing by Giles Elgood and David Holmes)
New York Attorney General Letitia James threw her offices considerable influence Friday behind a court-ordered takeover of Rikers Island and other city lockups.

In a letter to Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain, James argued that only receivership can fix decades of dysfunction in the citys beleaguered jail system.

A receiver is needed to effectuate the safety and order required under State and (city) minimum standards, said the letter signed by Assistant Attorneys General Louisa Irving and Lois Saldana.

We respectfully ask the court to  order receivership, and any other additional actions necessary to resolve the crisis and create safety in NYC jails.

The city Law Department and the Correction Department did not have immediate comment on the filing.

Swain is presiding over Nunez v. City of New York, a class action lawsuit filed in 2011 over violence and excessive staff use of force. In 2015, the city agreed to a consent decree with the Department of Justice which created a monitor to track improvements.

James letter is one of a series of briefs expected to be filed in support of a Nov. 17 motion by the Legal Aid Society and a letter from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damien Williams seeking federal receivership for New York Citys jails. The briefs were due Friday.

The AGs letter notes six detainees have died in the past six months on Rikers Island, and details troubling facts about jail deaths in 2021 and 2022.

It has become clear that the dangerous conditions that have plagued DOC [city Department of Correction] jails for many years continue to this day, the letter said. Of particular concern is DOCs persistent failure to ensure adequate supervision of people in custody.

The letter cites a series of breakdowns that contributed to deaths, including failures by correction officers to conduct their rounds, failures to properly supervise and staff jail posts, and the falsification of records to cover up posts that are unstaffed.

In one case, after Esias Johnson, 24, died of a methadone overdose on Sept. 7, 2021, investigators found officers failed to do their rounds for a six-hour period. Rigor mortis, which takes from two to eight hours after death, was setting in when Johnson was found.

Investigators with James office found that a correction officer falsely noted in the logbook that active supervision was conducted every 30 minutes as required by city rules, James letter says.

The death of Tarz Youngblood on Feb. 27, 2022 followed a similar pattern. In that case, officers conducted just one tour over three hours before he was carried out of his cell by other detainees.

Mary Yehudah, who died May 18, 2022 of severe diabetic shock, was moaning in pain all night before she was found unresponsive on the floor of her cell.

Unstaffed posts, failure to conduct rounds, and failure to render prompt first aid were persistent problems identified in our investigations, the AGs letter said.

These failures are unacceptable and are a result of the DOCs inability to provide the most basic requirement for running a jaildirect supervision.

James first raised serious concerns about Rikers conditions and detainee deaths in 2021, the letter notes.

Also Friday, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a brief supporting receivership that scored the aggressive effort by City officials to block the Court, other oversight bodies, and the public from access to vital information about the operation of the Citys jail system and about the plight of those trapped in that system.

The letter, by NYCLU lawyers Molly Biklen and Christopher Dunn, said a receiver would provide this court and the public an important opportunity to increase transparency into the humanitarian crisis.

Under receivership, Swain would select an outside person  likely a lawyer, judge or correction professional  to run all or parts of the jail system with powers laid out by her.

City officials say they will fight the push for receivership by James, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, and groups advocating for detainees.

This administration has made progress in many areas to address the deeply rooted problems at Rikers that have existed for generations, said Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department. We are committed to building upon that work and we do not believe a receivership is the solution to fixing the citys jail system and we are prepared to fight this in court.

The city is expected in January to file a formal motion opposing receivership that likely will be followed by additional legal wrangling before Swain makes a decision.
An Orange County man pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for firebombing a Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood clinic in March 2022 and admitted to plotting other attacks. (U.S Department of Justice)

An Orange County man has pleaded guilty to firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa as well as plotting similar attacks elsewhere in Southern California, according to authorities.

Chance Brannon, 24, of San Juan Capistrano pleaded guilty Thursday to four federal charges: malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives, possessing an unregistered destructive device, intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility, and conspiracy.

Brannon, who at the time was an active duty U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, was one of three suspects arrested in connection with the 2022 attack.

The other two defendants, Tibet Ergul, 22, of Irvine and Xavier Batten, 21, of Brooksville, Fla., have pleaded not guilty to their charges and are scheduled to go to trial in March.

Read more: Camp Pendleton Marine and accomplice charged with firebombing Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood

According to Brannon's plea agreement, the three made plans in February and March 2022 to use a Molotov cocktail against various targets, including the office of the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego. The trio decided to target the Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa to deter doctors and scare pregnant women from seeking abortions, prosecutors said.

The plea agreement states Brannon and Ergul threw the incendiary weapon at the clinic on the morning of March 13, 2022. It exploded at the front entrance, leaving noticeable damage.

Later that year and into 2023, authorities say Brannon conspired to seek out additional targets, including a second Planned Parenthood clinic and the Dodgers' LGBTQ+ Pride Night. He also discussed plans to start a "race war" by damaging a utility substation to disrupt Orange County's power grid, according to the plea agreement.

Read more: 'Violent and reckless' O.C. Planned Parenthood firebombing plot detailed in federal indictment

This defendant exemplifies the insidious danger posed by domestic extremism, U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.

Brannon was arrested in June and has remained in federal custody since.

"Chance is a young man who has made mistakes. He is looking forward to closing out this chapter in his life," his attorney, Kate Corrigan, wrote in an email.

Brannon is due to be sentenced on April 15. He faces a maximum sentence of 51 years in prison.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Scott Borsch, an off-duty Clovis police sergeant, was sentenced to one year probation and 20 days of community service for a car crash that killed 51-year-old Ana Ortega of Sanger who was out on her morning walk on April 19.

It was a walk that Ortega, her husband, Adrian, and their dog Jack usually took together. But that day Adrian was in Mexico, so Ana and Jack went alone. It was about 7:50 a.m. as they walked west on a rural stretch of Clinton Avenue near Bethel Avenue, not far from their home.

Coming in the opposite direction was a fatigued Borsch, a 16-year department veteran, whose truck drifted over the center line and struck Ortega and her dog.

Borsch, 45, stopped his Chevrolet truck and tried to help, but Ortegas injuries were too severe. She died at the scene.

Borsch was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. He pleaded no-contest to the charge on Friday and was sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Egan. His defense attorney was Roger Wilson.

Egan said that because Borschs actions were considered ordinary negligence, he was charged with a misdemeanor. Also working in his favor was his lack of a criminal history, he accepted responsibility, and he was remorseful.

Husband and children tell judge of loss

Speaking to the judge, Adrian Ortega said the death of his beloved wife has devastated the family. The two met in Mexico when they were teenagers  he was 17, and she was 16. They were married for 36 years and vowed to be together forever.

We swore never to separate and when we came to this great country, we started working extremely hard so that our children could get a head, Ortega said through a Spanish interpreter. And our dreams were realized. I adored her with my entire heart and soul.

Ortega and his wife had big plans, he said. They had finished paying off their home and were looking forward to traveling to Hawaii and Germany, where their daughter is stationed in the Air Force.

David Ortega, 35, one of the Ortegas three children, still cant believe his mother is gone. A self-admitted mommas boy, he spoke with his mother daily. They would text each other every morning.

She always wanted to see the beautiful blue water and white sand in Hawaii, David Ortega said. I still wake up hoping to see a good morning text from her, hoping this was all just a nightmare.

Speaking via Zoom, Air Force Sgt. Alondra Duenas remembered her mother as the glue that held the family together.

My mom was the world to me, she said, fighting back tears. She was the one I always wanted to make proud. She made me feel safe, loved and appreciated. She was always the first to know my good news and my bad news. I will never be able to live my life the same.

The family dog, despite suffering severe injuries, stayed by Ana Ortegas side after the crash. He passed away Oct. 16.

I pray that Jack provided her with some comfort in the last few seconds of her life, Duenas said.

Sergeant remains with Clovis Police Department

Borsch spoke briefly during his sentencing, saying he was deeply sorry for the pain he has caused the Ortega family. He tried talking to the family after the crash, but he realized it was probably best to stay away.

The Ortega family will probably hate me forever, and I know my grief and sorrow will never match theirs, Borsch said, his family members nearby. I have been on one side of the law my entire life and I have fought to save and protect others and to know my involvement in this has caused so much pain, I just cant imagine. 

Borsch remains with the Clovis Police Department.
This article is from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz.

Life got interesting for Anthropic two weeks ago, when OpenAI nearly lit itself on fire. Anthropic had been operating comfortably in OpenAIs shadow, collecting billions in investment from Amazon, Google, and others as it developed similar technology with an increased focus on safety. Then, as the chaos rolled on, companies that built their products entirely on top of OpenAIs GPT-4 model looked for a hedge. And Anthropic was there, waiting for them.

Anthropic is now in prime position to take advantage of OpenAIs misstep, in which the nonprofit board that controls the company fired CEO Sam Altman, only for him to be rehired five days later. But Anthropic has its own untraditional board structure to contend with. The company is a public benefit corporation, with a board that serves its shareholders. But a separate long-term benefit trust will select most of its board members over time, with a mandate to focus on A.I. safety. The trust has no direct authority over the CEO, but it can influence the companys direction, setting up another novel governance structure in an industry now painfully aware of them.

The LTBT could not remove the CEO or president (or any other employee of Anthropic), an Anthropic spokesperson told me. The LTBT elects a subset of the board (presently one of five seats). Even once the LTBTs authority has fully phased in and it has appointed three of five director seats, the LTBT would not be able to terminate employees.

Several OpenAI employees left in late 2020 to start Anthropic. With serious technical ability, and concern about the dangers of A.I., the group raised $7 billion, expanded to around 300 employees, and built Claude, an A.I. chatbot and underlying large language model. Anthropic now works with 70 percent of the largest banks and insurance companies in the U.S. and has high-profile clients including LexisNexis, Slack, and Pfizer. It announced billion-dollar investments from Google and Amazon this fall.

The founders of Anthropic claim to be even more concerned than OpenAI with safety, but were aware of the pitfalls of their ex-employers board structure. So they created a traditional board responsible to shareholders and installed the LTBT to pick board membersa departure from OpenAIs nonprofit model.

The trust consists of five financially disinterested members there to help align our corporate governance with our mission of developing and maintaining advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity, the company said. Effectively, its an effort to sync Anthropics governance with its mission but insulate the company from dogmatic chaos.

Stability is a key, said Gillian Hadfield, a University of Toronto law professor and exOpenAI policy adviser who spoke with Anthropic as it was structuring the trust. They dont want their company to fall apart.

The trust is not risk-free. Board members will have responsibilities to shareholders, but they wont easily forget those who nominated them and why they did it. Theyll have to find a way to balance the two. The structure should make Anthropic more stable than OpenAI but not entirely immune to a repeat of the Altman situation.

Could you see it happen with Antropic? Yes, I think we could, Hadfield said. Im proud and supportive of the fact that these companies are thinking deeply and structurally about the potential risks. And theyre thinking about How would we distribute the benefits? 

Anthropics leadership is also close to the effective altruism movement, which has ties to ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (who directed his crypto hedge fund to invest in Anthropic, likely with his customers funds), along with some of the board members who ousted Altman two weeks ago. The long-term benefit trust has at least two members connected to effective altruism. Paul Christiano, the founder of the Alignment Research Center, is a prolific writer on EA forums. Zach Robinson, the interim CEO of Effective Ventures US, runs a firm tied directly to the movement.

Many effective altruists ascribe to a philosophy called longtermism, which holds that the lives of people deep in the future are as valuable as lives today. So they tend to proceed with A.I. development with exceptional caution. The theory sounds righteous on the surface, but its critics contend that its hard to predict the state of the world generations from now, leading longtermists to sometimes act rashly.

Yale Law Schools John Morley, who helped design the trusts structure, declined to comment. Amazon declined to comment. Google didnt respond to a request for comment. Amy Simmerman, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati who also worked on developing the trust, didnt respond.

Anthropics governance should be stable enough to make customers feel comfortable working with the company, at least in the coming years. Thats a significant benefit after OpenAIs chaos showed the risks of relying on a single A.I. model. And those betting on the company seem to be aware of its structure and happy its in place, even if it adds some uncertainty.

This long-term benefit trust is a little bit different. My sense is theres some level of security in implementing something like that, said Paul Rubillo, an investor who participated in Anthropics Series C round in May. Were in uncharted waters, right?
The Bexar County District Attorney's Office dismissed a murder charge against Clyde Poindexter on Thursday. Poindexter was accused of fatally shooting Michael Lane in 2020. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

The Bexar County District Attorneys Office dismissed a case Thursday against a 42-year-old man charged with murder.

A grand jury indicted Clyde Poindexter in 2021 in the death of Michael Lane, who was shot outside of Lulus Bakery and Cafe on the North Side. The crime is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and a possible fine of up to $10,000.

But the case was closed due to a missing witness the day before opening arguments for the trial were scheduled to begin, according to court records.

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In a statement, the district attorneys office said Poindexters case was dismissed to allow for further investigation.

A decision on (the) next steps will be made once that additional investigation is completed, the statement reads.

Poindexters dismissal does not mean that he cannot be reindicted later. This year, the DA dismissed a case involving Kristian Ray Belmudez, 19, who was facing two counts of murder. He was later rearrested and indicted on a capital murder charge.

Still, Poindexters dismissal comes as the San Antonio Police Officers Association continues a campaign against District Attorney Joe Gonzales, criticizing how he handles the office  and the number of cases dismissed under his leadership.

The police unions campaign, titled The DA Chronicles, states in videos posted to SAPOAs account on X, formerly Twitter, that the DAs office is putting law enforcement at risk.

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Gonzales "can blame everybody else that he wants, but the bottom line is he needs to do his job and prosecute these individuals to the letter of the law, said Danny Diaz, president of SAPOA, in a recent interview.

A recent Bexar County Judicial Management Report showed a 45.7% rise in dismissals under Gonzales leadership. The quarterly report noted that 6,017 cases were dismissed over three months, from January to March, when 3,978 cases were dismissed in the previous quarter.

The ball is being dropped from the DAs office, where theyre not prosecuting and allowing these people to go out. This community is not safe, Diaz said.

Diaz added that Gonzales office is finding any excuse to throw out some cases so that it doesn't have to prosecute these individuals.

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In a post on X, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, whose district includes part of San Antonio, also voiced his concern about the rise in dismissed cases over the last quarter.
FILE PHOTO: Olympic rings to celebrate the IOC official announcement that Paris won the 2024 Olympic bid are seen in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero square in Paris

FILE PHOTO: Olympic rings to celebrate the IOC official announcement that Paris won the 2024 Olympic bid are seen in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero square in Paris

By Lincoln Feast

(Reuters) -A barge planned for use building a controversial judging tower for the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti snagged on a reef and damaged coral near the contest site on Friday, local opponents said.

Residents of Teahupo'o in October protested plans by Games organisers to build the 14-metre (45-foot) aluminium tower to enable up to 40 people to watch, film and judge the surfing at a famed break in front of the village.

Organisers including Paris 2024 and the French Polynesia government said last month they had decided building a smaller, lighter tower on the site was the best option, allowing for smaller equipment to install it - but still requiring new foundations in the reef.

A video posted on Instagram by Save Teahupo'o Reef, a coalition of locals, surfers and environmental NGOs, showed the barge apparently stuck on the reef, along with broken coral and the barge's damaged propeller.

"The barge got stuck on the reef several times," as locals had predicted, Save Teahupo'o said, adding that this occurred at high tide with no load on the barge.

The group said the authorities had planned to take the opposition associations on the barge on Saturday to show how it would operate but instead went there on Friday without them.

The barge was eventually freed and returned to the marina, the video showed.

'DOES NOT SEEM WORTH IT'

The wave at Teahupo'o is one of surfing's most hallowed venues, where big swells slam onto the shallow tropical reef creating perfect but ferocious tubes.

Teahupo'o has long hosted a contest on the professional world tour, using a modest wooden tower for judges on the reef that locals want to be retained for the Olympics but which organisers say is unsafe.

"This does not feel good and does not seem worth it," Vahine Fierro, a local Tahitian who has qualified for the French Olympic surfing team, commented as she reposted the video.

"I hope that this morning's 'testing' will be enough to prove that we need to adapt to our Polynesian ecosystem norms."

Representatives for Save Teahupo'o did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. Paris 2024 did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

In a statement to Reuters earlier on Friday, Paris 2024 organisers said they wanted more than ever to continue dialogue with local groups and surfers, having shared numerous documents outlining various studies, options and decisions on the tower.

It said an earlier social media video by protesters showed corals that were not present at the site of the tower's foundations, which would be on a flat, bare part of the reef with "low ecological sensitivity". Some coral outcrops would be carefully moved outside the work zone to protect them, it added.

In California, a small group of protesters gathered on Saturday outside the headquarters of the International Surfing Association, which runs the Olympic surfing events.

"We just don't want to see nature lose again in another battle," protest spokesperson David Anderson told Reuters. "The Olympic committees are sensitive - they don't want bad press - and we feel like this is a fight we can win and we want to raise awareness. We don't want any more drilling into the reef just for an elite judging tower."

The ISA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Christopher Cushing)
A 23-year-old man is dead following a shooting on Glenwood Avenue in Rochester early Saturday morning.

Rochester police said the unidentified man was shot at least once in the torso about 1 a.m. The man was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he died, police said.

No suspects are in custody.

The investigation is ongoing.

Police are asking anyone with information to call 911.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: One dead following shooting on Glenwood Ave. in Rochester NY
By Dominique Vidalon and Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) -A man armed with a knife and a hammer killed a German tourist and left two people, including a British man, wounded near the Eiffel Tower in Paris late on Saturday in what President Emmanuel Macron called "a terrorist attack".

A 26-year-old suspect, a French national arrested after the attack, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a video recorded beforehand, anti-terrorism Prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said on Sunday.

The suspect had told police he was angry about the situation in Gaza and the fact that "so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

The German tourist suffered fatal injuries when he was attacked on the Quai de Grenelle, a few feet from the Eiffel Tower, authorities said.

The attacker was chased by police and assaulted two other people, including the British man, with a hammer, officials added.

European security officials have warned of a growing risk of attacks by Islamist militants amid the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat likely from "lone wolf" assailants who are hard to track.

An investigation was underway into murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist organisation, prosecutor Ricard told a news conference. Three other people from the suspect's family or entourage were in police custody, he added.

The suspect had in 2016 been sentenced to four years in prison for planning another attack, and had been on the French security services' watch list, Darmanin said. He was also known for having psychiatric disorders, Darmanin added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X that he was "shocked" by the attack. Britain's foreign ministry said it was working with French authorities to support the British man.

France has been on high alert since raising its security threshold in October, when a Chechen-origin man with a knife killed a teacher in a school in northern France.

PARIS OLYMPICS SECURITY

The attack in central Paris comes less than eight months before the French capital is due to host the Olympic Games and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.

The city was planning an opening ceremony on the Seine river with the potential to attract as many as 600,000 spectators.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM TV on Sunday that the terrorism threat was "permanent" and that the opening ceremony had been prepared with security measures taking into account a "high level" of terrorism threat.

"I send all my condolences to the family and loved ones of the German national who died ... during the terrorist attack in Paris and think with emotion of the people currently injured and in care," President Macron said on the social network platform X.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on X: "We will not give in to terrorism."

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Gilles Guillaume in Paris, Elizabeth pineau additional reporting Manuel Ausloos in Paris and Michael Holden in London; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Matthew Lewis, Jonathan Oatis, David Goodman, Bernadette Baum and Andrew Heavens)
One person was injured Friday in a shooting on the campus of South Carolina State University.

The incident happened at about 7:24 p.m. Friday in a campus residential building, according to a release from the university. The shooting stemmed from an incident between two non-students who were guests of a student, school officials said. One person suffered an injury that was not considered life-threatening.

University police responded to the incident and determined that the shooter had left the campus. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is helping the university with the ongoing investigation, school officials said.

Our priority at South Carolina State University is to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and employees, SC State President Alexander Conyers said in a statement. I cannot emphasize enough that the misguided actions of one person can put others unnecessarily at risk. One bad decision can disrupt the safety and security of everyone who lives, studies and works at SC State.

The school president asked students to be proactive in reporting suspicious activities on campus.

Our campus police department works hard to maintain security on the SC State campus, but they require the assistance of students and employees, Conyers said. We ask you to join us in maintaining a safe environment by always remaining alert and aware of your surroundings. I remind you that the best defense against trouble is that if you see something, say something.
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  One person has been arrested for a house fire that displaced 12 people in west Charlotte, according to the Charlotte Fire Department.

Crews responded to the scene at the 2800 block of Columbus Circle around 9:05 p.m. Friday.

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No one was injured and the fire was under control in 10 minutes, officials said.

A person is in custody for the fire that CFD says was intentionally set and left damages totaling an estimated $30,000.

The Red Cross is assisting the five adults and seven children who have been displaced.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
A man was shot in the abdomen as he tried to break-up a a fight between a man and a woman early Saturday in a Northwest Side parking lot. Theo Esquivel/21 ProVideo

A man attempting to break up a fight between two people at a Northwest Side parking lot was shot and rushed into surgery early Saturday.

The argument broke out about 2:22 a.m. at the Bandera Festival Shopping Center parking lot in the 7700 block of Guilbeau Road, San Antonio police said.

Witnesses said the man, 35, was attempting to break up an argument between another man and a woman. Thats when the unidentified man who was arguing with the woman pulled out a gun and shot him.

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The suspect fled the scene in a white SUV along with the woman.
A truck driver accused of leaving a fiery wreck on Interstate 75 that killed three people and injured five others last year has been identified and arrested.

Billy Lee Kieffer faces three counts of fail to stop/remain at crash involving death, five counts of fail to stop/remain at crash involving injury/other serious bodily injury, and one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to property.

Records show Kieffer was booked into the county jail on Friday afternoon with bail set at $100,500.

First appearance hearing Saturday morning

Wearing a red and white jail uniform, the 67-year-old Orlando man appeared in court at the jail on Saturday morning in front of Circuit Judge Gregg Jerald.

Handcuffed and standing at the podium, Kieffer learned that, if he posts bond, he cannot operate anything that has wheels, including a bicycle.

Circuit Judge Gregg Jerald

The Public Defender's Office was appointed for Kieffer's representation, and his next court date was set for early January.

Documents show Kieffer cannot have any contact with victims Donald Robert Shine, 57, of Gainesville; Zyriel D. Parker, 20, of South Carolina; or Brayan Daniel Garcia, 24, Maria Alejandro Razo-Olvera, 37, and Obeth Nataly Garcia-Rojas, 34, all of Texas.

Kieffer was ticketed for the crash. The violations were improper lane change or course with property damage estimated at more than $70,000.

About the crash

The crash happened the afternoon of Oct. 26, 2022 and involved six vehicles. It happened on I-75 south of the County Road 484 exit.

According to Florida Highway Patrol Cpl. Shaun Lattinville's report, a semitractor-trailer driven by Kieffer was southbound in the right lane. Another semitractor was southbound in the center lane. A third vehicle, a Subaru Legacy, was southbound in the left lane.

Meanwhile, a Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck was northbound in the center lane of I-75, and a Chevy Tahoe was northbound in the left lane.

Authorities said Kieffer's vehicle failed to maintain its lane and entered the center lane. His trailer's left side hit the right side of the other semitractor-trailer, which forced it into the left lane, where it struck the Subaru.

Both the Subaru and the semitractor-trailer went off the roadway and into the center grass median and hit a guardrail, the report says. The vehicles then continued into the northbound lanes, where the left side front of the semitractor hit the front left side of the Dodge.

The semitractor jacknifed and its trailer detached from the cab. The trailer hit the front left side of the Chevy, whose driver swerved to the right trying to avoid the collision.

Troopers said a sixth vehicle, a Mercury, was struck with debris.

Deaths

The impact ignited a blaze and at least two vehicles caught fire, FHP said.

Three people died: the driver of the second semitractor-trailer, Jodie Lee Williams, 52, of Ocoee; the driver of the Dodge, 32-year-old Richard Terrell Parker of South Carolina; and the driver of the Chevy, Enrique Lopez Masqueda of California.

Fatality: Woman, 29, run over multiple times and killed. Was she standing or lying on U.S. 301 North?

Kieffer did not stop and continued driving south on I-75. Through their investigation, troopers were able to identify Kieffer as the driver.

Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Arrest made in fiery October 2022 crash on I-75 that killed three
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  Embattled New York Congressman George Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday in a historic vote. Santos, who was only the sixth lawmaker ever ousted from the lower chamber, and the first in 20 years, was voted out 311-114-2. Over one hundred Republicans joined nearly every Democratic member in voting the controversial NY lawmaker out.

During his scandal-ridden 328 days in Congress, Santos made headlines for being federally indicted, falsifying his resume, and allegedly spending campaign funds on Botox and OnlyFans. He also reportedly introduced several dozen bills and resolutions, two of which were apparently named for female pop stars.

Lawsuit: Santa Rosa school failed to help slain student Jayden Pienta

SWIFT Act of 2023

One, HR5288, which was also cited as the Securing Womens Independence For Today Act of 2023, or the SWIFT Act of 2023, was introduced on Aug. 25, 2023. The 12-page act called for improvements to health education curriculum, a comprehensive education program to improve healthcare system with respect to domestic violence and sexual assault, and funding for prevention and response to sexual violence, among other things.

MINAJ Act of 2023

Earlier in the year, Santos introduced HR2631, also cited as the Medical Information Nuanced Accountability Judgement Act of 2023, or the MINAJ act of 2023. That shorter, four-page act called for prohibition against vaccine mandates prior to marketing approval for at least 10 years.

Neither of the bills were passed into law, nor were any of the other approximately 40 bills or resolutions Santos introduced.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
Four of the countrys leading civil rights lawyers have joined resources to fight for justice for the family of a deceased Alabama man, who lost his life in a police-involved altercation. The team is calling for the Mobile Police Department to release footage of the unarmed 36-year-old Black man allegedly screaming before his premature demise, I cant breathe. I dont want to be George Floyd.

Jawan Dallas family is demanding Mobile police department release bodycam footage. (Photo: @LeonardYoung302/ Twitter screenshot)

Jawan Dallas died on July 2 after police officers approached him after receiving a complaint about a possible burglary attempt in a trailer park, according to a report. Mobile police who responded to the call reportedly saw two men in a car parked a short distance from the complainants trailer. When Dallas, the driver, was asked to get out of the car he complied and then bolted, police claim.

While attempting to identify one of the males, he immediately attempted to flee. The officers tried to apprehend the individual, and he physically resisted, the police report said, adding, During the struggle, an officer used his Taser to gain compliance from the subject.

Officers used their stun guns multiple times on Dallas as they tackled and struggled with him. Police claim he attempted to grab the Taser from one cop but was unsuccessful. At some point after Dallas was handcuffed he was observed to be in medical distress, upon which EMTs were called and he was taken a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The couple who reported a suspicious man on the property would later insist that Dallas was not the person they saw, adding he was about 200 yards away from the home.

That wasnt the guy. That wasnt the guy that I called for. I called for a guy breaking in and coming onto my property, one unidentified member of the couple said to local station WALA in July, adding, That man begged him to stop. Just kept hitting him, just on top of him, pounding on him. Its just not right. What they done was wrong.

The legal team representing the family, which includes Harry Daniels, John Burris, Ben Crump, and Lee Merritt, has called for the Mobile Police Department to release bodycam footage of the violent arrest. However, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that police are not required to release the footage.

The new call came after the family had a chance to view the bodycam videos that led up to his death almost five months after Dallas was killed.

This is one of the worst days of my life, Phil Williams, the father of Jawan Dallas, said at a press conference Wednesday, Nov. 22, after watching the video, according to AL.com, Mobile Police Department, you straight murdered my son. You were not there to serve and protect him, you were there to destroy. You killed him.

Daniels, who also viewed the video last week, disputed earlier reports that Dallas was hit with only two Taser strikes, saying at the news conference, We heard almost 13 [Taser] cycles. Now we dont know if those cycles actually struck his body. But we know it was 13 times, we know he was begging for his life, telling the officers I cannot breathe, help me.

In a statement obtained by Atlanta Black Star, the team heralds a new call for transparency, hoping this will help Dallas family receive justice.

Its no secret why the Mobile Police Department doesnt want to release this video. It shows their officers illegally accosting, assaulting, and killing an unarmed innocent man while he begs for his life screaming I cant breathe. I dont want to be George Floyd. Of course, they dont want the public to see that, the statement reads.

But this isnt about what the Mobile Police Department wants. Its about justice, the statement continued.

The lawyers argue that the public has a right to see this video and that people across the nation deserve to know what kind of officers the Mobile Police Department are (sic) protecting, the kind of officers who would do this to an innocent man begging for his life.

The group of lawyers all believe that as long as the two officers, who have been placed on administrative leave, are still listed as members of the department no one is safe.

While the bodycam footage has not been released, transcripts of the altercation were made public.

Daniels released a statement to this publication that suggests the suspect was not in the callers home, a misdemeanor crime that should not have been paid with the mans life.

To be clear, Alabama State Law set the maximum penalty of Misdemeanor Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree at up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $200. That means Chief Prines officers struck Jawan Dallas, tased him multiple times before he died over a Class C misdemeanor that, according to witnesses, he didnt even commit, the statement stated.

The department has not responded to the new call to release the footage.
By Kate Abnett, Valerie Volcovici and David Stanway

DUBAI (Reuters) -Governments launched new initiatives on Saturday to bolster clean energy and to wean themselves off fossil fuels at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, where countries are grappling with how to halt the non-stop rise in planet-warming emissions.

In one of the most widely supported initiatives, 118 governments pledged to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030 at the U.N.'s COP28 climate summit on Saturday, as a route to cut the share of fossil fuels in the world's energy production.

The pledge was among a slew of COP28 announcements on Saturday aimed at decarbonising the energy sector - source of around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions - that included expanding nuclear power, cutting methane emissions and choking off private finance for coal power.

"This can and will help transition the world away from unabated coal," said Sultan al-Jaber, the United Arab Emirates' COP28 summit President.

Led by the European Union, United States and UAE, the pledge also said tripling renewable energy would help remove CO2-emitting fossil fuels from the world's energy system by 2050 at the latest.

Backers on Saturday included Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados.

While China and India have signalled support for tripling renewable energy by 2030, neither backed the overall pledge on Saturday - which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.

Backers including the EU and UAE want the renewable energy pledge included in the final U.N. climate summit decision, to make it a global goal. That would require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present.

The pledge, a draft of which was first reported by Reuters last month, also called for "the phase down of unabated coal power" and an end to the financing of new coal-fired power plants. It also included a target to double the global rate of energy efficiency by 2030.

Climate vulnerable countries insisted that the goals must be paired with a deal among countries at COP28 to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.

"It is only half the solution. The pledge can't greenwash countries that are simultaneously expanding fossil fuel production," said Tina Stege, Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands.

While deployment of renewables like solar and wind has been surging globally for years, rising costs, labour constraints and supply chain issues have forced project delays and cancellations in recent months, costing developers like Orsted and BP billions of dollars in writedowns.

Hitting the target for 10,000 gigawatts of global installed renewable energy by 2030 will also require governments and financial institutions to hike investments and address the high cost of capital that has stymied renewable energy projects in developing nations.

"The mismatch still exists between our potentiality and our limitations to attract investment," said Najib Ahmed, a consultant at Somalia's climate ministry.

Africa has received just 2% of global investments in renewable energy over the last two decades, the International Renewable Energy Agency said.

NUCLEAR NUDGE

More than 20 nations also signed a declaration on Saturday aiming to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050, with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry saying the world cannot achieve "net zero" emissions without building new reactors.

"We are not making the argument that this is absolutely going to be the sweeping alternative to every other energy source," Kerry said during a launch ceremony at COP28.

"But ... you can't get to net-zero 2050 without some nuclear, just as you can't get there without some use of carbon capture, utilisation and storage."

Global nuclear capacity now stands at 370 gigawatts, with 31 countries running reactors. Tripling that capacity by 2050 would require a significant scaling up in new approvals - and finance.

Other pledges took aim at coal, the most CO2-emitting fossil fuel.

France said it would rally a group of nations to ask the OECD to measure the climate and financial risks attached to investing in new coal assets, to deter private financiers from backing projects.

Coal users Kosovo and the Dominican Republic also agreed to develop plans to phase out their coal-fuelled power.

Meanwhile, nearly 50 oil and gas companies including Exxon Mobil signed the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, an initiative driven by COP President Sultan al-Jaber to cut operational emissions by 2050.

The charter was criticised by environmental groups who said the commitments were merely a distraction from the COP28 process and fail to deal with the emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.

"The pledge doesn't cover a drop of the fuel they sell, which accounts for up to 95% of the oil and gas industry's contribution to the climate crisis," said Melanie Robinson, Global Climate Program Director at the World Resources Institute.

METHANE EMISSIONS

The Biden administration on Saturday also unveiled final rules aimed at cracking down on U.S. oil and gas industry releases of methane, part of a global plan to rein in emissions that contribute to climate change.

Meanwhile, several governments, philanthropic organisations and the private sector said they have mobilised $1 billion in grants to supports countries' efforts to tackle the potent gas.

Two major emitters of methane, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, joined the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary agreement by over 150 countries to slash their methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

The World Bank on Saturday launched an 18-month "blueprint for methane reduction" that will set up 15 national programs aimed at cutting methane emissions from activities like rice production, livestock operations, and waste management.

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Valerie Volcovici and David Stanway; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Katy Daigle and William Mallard)
FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE/KSEE)  Certain smoke shops in Fresno received multiple charges and citations on Thursday as police and investigators say they found over $40,000 in illegal flavored products and discovered other illegal activities.

Northeast and Northwest Fresno Police Detectives say they participated in a joint operation with the Fresno City Code Enforcement and the California Department of Tax and Fee on Thursday after they received multiple complaints of children purchasing illegal cannabis and flavored nicotine vapes from certain smoke shops within the city.

The Fresno Police Department says they received multiple complaints of children purchasing illegal cannabis and flavored nicotine vapes from certain smoke shops within the city.

The joint team says they were able to conduct several inspections at the smoke shops involved in the complaints and found over $40,000 in illegal flavored products as well as unlicensed cannabis products being sold on-site. The inspections resulted in several criminal charges and citations, and the items were confiscated according to the Fresno Police Department.









Police say Senate Bill 793 went into effect on Dec. 21, 2022, which bans the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products, with the intent to prevent children and teens from being attracted to the sweet flavors.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was forced to rely on diesel generators overnight during a blackout, threatening the safety of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Ukraine's state nuclear energy company Energoatom reported on Dec. 2.

The plant, which is located on the east bank of the Dnipro River in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was forced to rely on diesel generators after the 330 kV backup and 750 kV main power lines were cut off.

Energoatom did not give the exact reason for why the blackout happened, but said the plant was cut off from the main line during an air raid alert.

According to Energoatom, "all 20 diesel generators turned on automatically, eight of which were later left in operation."

"Thanks to the efforts of Ukrainian specialists," the 759 kV power line was restored at around 7 a.m. local time, Energoatom reported.

The main danger of losing external power is that the fourth reactor could overheat as a result of the cooling pumps being switched off.

Russian occupying forces keep the fourth reactor in a hot state, in violation of how the Ukrainian regulator determined the reactor should be operated. "The block needs an urgent transfer to a cold state," Energoatom said.

Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant since March 2022. Throughout the full-scale invasion, the plant has been repeatedly disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid due to Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.

For four months between March and July 2023, the plant was disconnected from the 330 kV backup power line due to damage on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has staff based at the nuclear plant on rotation since September 2022 to monitor the situation.

Read also: IAEA: Shelling and power loss at ZNPP highlight nuclear risks

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
From the G-File on The Dispatch

Dear Reader (including those of you with odd Christmas traditions),

Having gotten the jocularity out of my system with Wednesdays newsletter on Sandwich Shop Monopoly, Im going to veer hard in a different direction. This is going to be a pretty eggheady rumination. If thats not your cup of tea, thats fine. Ill talk to you next week.

Yesterday I gave a speech in defense of liberalism. Im not going to reprise or reprint that here. But the gist of it was that the rise in post-liberalism on the right can be understood as right-wingers joining a game already in progress. Indeed, the rise of illiberalism on the right is often explicitly justified as a necessary response to the illiberalism of the left. We have to fight them the way they fight us. Complying with liberal, democratic, rules is a recipe for defeat.

Even the term post-liberalism is in a very real sense a branding effort to distinguish it from the left-wing versions of the same project. Its the Pepsi to their Coke. After all, there has been an effort on the left to get past, transcend, replace, or inter liberalism for a very long time. We just havent called it post-liberalism. Weve called it lots of things, but a good shorthand is simply anti-liberalism. After all, if you dont like liberalismand think you have a good idea for what to replace it withyou, too, are a post-liberal by another name.

What do I mean by liberalism? Pretty much the same thing the anti- and post-liberals mean. The only difference is that I like liberalism, and I dont describe it in the tendentious and invidious ways its enemies do. So, in short, liberalism is a system of political order that recognizes the sovereignty of the individual as well as a slew of rights that flow from that sovereignty: property rights, free speech, free association, freedom to worship, etc. The right to a fair trial is a liberal idea. Its also a deeply moral idea. Democracy is partly a liberal precept, but its also a tool for preserving liberalism. A liberal polity without democracy will eventually descend into authoritarianism, oligarchy, or some form of kakistocracy.

All of this points to my most fundamental disagreement with foes of liberalism in all parties. I think liberalism is not only a morally rich political philosophy at scale, its morally superior to all of its alternatives. Freedom and self-rule are both moral goods, and theyre also the best way to improve the lives of the most people. If you dont find my short summary of liberalism satisfactory, I suggest reading Cass Sunsteins precis in the New York Times.

Little platoons vs. extended order, again.

What do I mean by at scale? I mean that there may be better systems than liberalism suited for the wants and needs of individual people and communities, but those systems cannot work for large populations of people in a modern society. For instance, the family is not a liberal institution. Its got bits and pieces that look more like communitarianism, socialism, communism, and authoritarianism than liberalism.

This is Hayeks point about the microcosm and macrocosm. In the microcosm or little platoons of everyday lifethe rules are different. In the family, we dont charge our children for food, and we do not present our sick parents with a bill for services rendered. In the platoon, soldiers do not risk their lives for their comrades because some legal contract requires it. We do favors for friends and make sacrifices for them out of moral, biological, and other, deeper, imperatives. But these commitments do not scale for a whole society, never mind a nation. It is a basic human desire to live in a family, a tribe, a small group of shared meaning and connectedness.

The problem is that such things can be achieved only at the most local of levels. A nation of 332 million people cannot live with the rules of a family or fraternity. Liberalism is a system for large, diverse, polities. Thats why pluralism is essential to liberalism. Different communities will be based on different commitments and these communities deserve respect and autonomy so long as they adhere to the same principle with regard to other communities. Also, they must abide by some fundamental liberal precepts. Im fine with leaving cults and communes alone, so long as their members fundamental rights are not violated and the members have the right to exit these communities when they want. We should also allow for a profusion of communities and institutions, because that is where good character and citizenship is actually formed.

The long counterrevolution.

Back to my point. Ive been reading up on the Revolutions of 1848, a subject Ive long ignored because its all so knotty and confusing. But I think the 1840s can be described as the dawn of post-liberalism. By the 1840s, liberalismand the industrial revolutionhad established themselves as part of the New Order. And those who did not like the New Order started to rebel against it. Some of the rebels were liberals whorightlyobjected to the fact that the premises of liberalism were not being fully realized. Democracy was all the rage, but few could vote. The rights of man were touted everywhere, but few felt like they had the ability to actually exercise them. But other rebels detested liberalism itself. They wanted some other system that answered the social question.

A lot of historians point to the rise in inequality, poor working conditions in the factories, and other material deprivations as the drivers of this unrest. Obviously, thats a huge part of the story. But I think the way this story is told often distorts the specific motivations driving protest and revolt. People were getting richer and healthier in the 19th century, which is why European populations more than doubled. What offended people was the fact that some people were getting richer a lot faster than other people, and this aroused all of the outrage against exploitation, greed, etc. Also, traditional communities were unraveling as serfdom and serf-like arrangements were dismantled. People flocked to cities that offered plenty of work, but were often plagued by terrible living and working conditions.

These twin dynamics, the unraveling of the old social order and the unraveling of the old economic order, brought forth two major -isms: socialism and nationalism. As psychological, instinctual impulses, socialism and nationalism can be understood to be much older than liberalism. (What were prehistoric tribes other than nationalistic and socialistic enterprises?) But as organized philosophical and political projects, both are in meaningful respects younger than liberalism. Thats because they emerged as reactions to liberalism. The Jacobins and then Napoleon midwifed nationalism into existence by imposing the French system on conquered lands. This elicited an antibody, Romantic resistance that gave birth to the first nationalist movements. As Joseph Schumpeter wrote, this Romantic rebellion arose almost immediately as a part of the general reaction against the rationalism of the eighteenth century that set in after the revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

There are neo-nationalists who will bristle at this, believing that nationalism is the authentic and natural way of organizing human beings. All I can say for now is, theyre wrong.

Okay, Ill say a little more. For most of the last few thousand years, nations were subunits of dynasties of one sort or another. Families ruled different polities, some of them nations, some mere enclaves of various peoples. And these dynasties traded these possessions, sometimes by force of arms, sometimes through cash exchange. I mean, when various European regimes didnt have an available heir to the throne on hand, they didnt automatically look for, say, an Englishman for the English throne. They often did an executive search for some other royal from another country to rule them. Not very nationalistic if you ask me. The idea that singular, discreet, nations haveor should haveself-rule is a very, very, modern concept. As Lord Acton noted in 1862, In the old European system, the rights of nationalities were neither recognized by governments nor asserted by the people. Heck, the idea of self-determination was a radical, new age idea whose time had come at the end of World War I.

Marx wasnt the first post-liberal, but he can still be understood as the father of one branch of post-liberalism (which may explain why so many right-wing post-liberals frequently pay homage to Marxism). His theory of historical materialism was fundamentally an argument about moving to the next stage of history. Marx had celebrated the rise of liberalism because it cleared away the old order of aristocracy. But he believed that liberalism should be a temporary thing. Now, he argued, its time to move on to the next chapter: the ages of socialism and, ultimately, communism. The aristocracy of wealth created by liberalism had to go. And that would happen when the proletariat achieved class consciousnessi.e. agreed with himand overthrew the bourgeois order.

Published in 1848, Marx declared in the Communist Manifesto, The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. And he concluded:

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

Marxism from the outset was post-liberalism. The Bolsheviks were post-liberals, even though Russia never enjoyed a real liberal moment to move on from. The descendants of Marxism, some of whom reject the M-word while others use it without having the faintest familiarity with Marxism, have been post-liberals, in whole or in part, ever since.

Illiberalism today.

Identity politics is post-liberal. All of the talk about white supremacy is post-liberal. Ditto critical race theory, post-colonialism, and most of the sociological and ideological pathologies that often get described as wokeness.

The idea that some groups deserve the benefit of different rules or a suspension of the existing rules, simply by an accident of birth or ancestry, is antithetical to liberalism. The idea that my speech must be held hostage to your hegemonic control of the meaning of words is illiberal. Good manners are necessary to liberalism and a decent society. Saying youre a racist for not using other peoples shibbolethsLatinx, etc.is illiberal.

All of the talk about white supremacy is as good an example of the paranoid style in American politics as any of the Bircheresque squeals about globalists and the Deep State of the New Right. Most left-of-center intellectuals wont identify it as such, though, because they are doubly ensorcelled by two myths: the paranoid style is definitionally right-wing and because any indictment of white racism (but only white racism) must automatically be granted the benefit of the doubt of moral and intellectual seriousness.

I could expand on this at great length, but Ill just point to a single Washington Post op-ed from last year to illustrate the point. Last winter, a lot of people were losing their minds over the Freedom Convoy protest over COVID restrictions by Canadian truckers. A University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. candidate wrote an essay for the Post titled, The Ottawa trucker convoy is rooted in Canadas settler colonial history. The author explained that:

The notion of freedom was historically and remains intertwined with Whiteness, as historian Tyler Stovall has argued. The belief that one is entitled to freedom is a key component of white supremacy.

Its funny, I could have sworn that the belief that one is entitled to freedom was a key component of abolition and the civil rights movement. The white supremacy fadwhich, if liberalism survives, will likely be remembered as an example of elite moral panichinges on a Manichean, paranoid, monocausal theory of society that reduces all problems to a simplistic story of oppressor and oppressed.

In this light, the whole notion of settler colonial history is an updating of the Romantic counterrevolution against the Enlightenment from two centuries ago. Liberalism has been reduced to an imperialist project imposed by white peopleor white menon the authentic, natural, systems of indigenous or oppressed peoples. You can find this view all over the place in the riots of hatred against Israel these days. But you can also find it closer to home. The idea that black kids who excel in school are merely acting white is as sinister and malevolent an idea as the more familiar and demonized forms of racism progressives arerightlyso eager to condemn. Its a stylized version of David Dukes view of black people.

But lets get back to the paranoid style, which is another way of saying conspiratorial thinking. White supremacy paranoia is conspiratorial because it starts from the assumption that other people are responsible for the problems of the oppressed. Its a way to rob the oppressed of agency and put all the blame on others. The same goes for the equally paranoid theories of the New Right about globalists, the deep state, Big Tech (when not run by Elon Musk), and in some quarters, Jewish financiers. They all work from the assumption that there are other humans out there who are oppressing other peopleand profiting from that oppression.

This is the paranoid style and you can see manifestations of it everywhere, from the do you know what time it is? MAGA faithful to the left-wing radicals, to the Zionist hunters on campuses and elsewhere. This Flight 93 mindset suffuses our political and online culture. Rather than reprise those arguments, Ill quote from Richard Hofstadters Paranoid Style in American Politics:

As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminatedif not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoids sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.

Sound familiar?

In fairness to some of the post-liberals on the right and critical theorists on the left, their paranoia is removed by one or two degrees from cartoonish notions of star chambers of string-pullers. They have a more traditionally radical, Rousseauian, indictment: The system itself is designed to benefit the undeserving ruling class and the ruling class is merely acting on its interests to preserve the liberal status quo.

But the interesting thingto me at leastthat unites all the foes of liberalism on the left and the right is the unavoidable psychological projection involved. They all argue for replacing the existing ruling class with an anointed ruling class of their choosing (while pointing to the same desire in their enemies as proof of their demonic threat).

In one sense this is unavoidable, they argue. Someones got to be in charge. The psychological projection comes in from the whole concept of a ruling class to begin with.

Heres the thing. Liberalism doesnt have rulers.

Sure, we have government officials. But theyre electedtemporarily. Or theyre appointed by elected people. With the exception of some judges, the appointed ones dont have lifetime appointments, and even the ones that do can be removed (not deposed, removed). But all of these officials are constrained by law and the Constitution in what they can do. Save in some national emergencyand maybe not even thenthe president cannot order you to do anything. Policea very local government positioncan tell you what to do sometimes, but they need a lawful reason or they lose their jobs. And the people ultimately decide what the law is, because here the people rule.

But some people cannot accept that this is the way liberalism works. There just has to be someone behind the scenes running things without regard to the voters or the law. Big donors, Jews, globalists, white supremacists, corporate fat cats, somewhere, somehow, must really be calling the shots. After all, the paranoid illiberals see oppression all over the place, so there must be oppressors behind a curtain somewhere. And this belief, that the hidden reality is the real one, compels these illiberals to think our existing secret rulers should be supplanted by rulers of their choosing.

Since the dawn of liberalism, the idea that people in liberal societies are largelynot entirely, but largelyresponsible for their fate in life is too terrible to contemplate. And the idea that the people, plural, are ultimately responsible for the government they have is scary. Thats the thing about freedom, it asks more of the peopleindividually and collectivelythan some are willing to tolerate.

Various & Sundry

Canine update: Zoe went back to the vet for a post-op checkup. Everything is healing nicely. Alas, it seems like shell never get a handle on the traditional jerky treats, and its too sad to see her try. Well give it another shot when shes fully healed. But were on the lookout for a new treat. I was in Dallas for most of Wednesday and Thursday and the girls were happy to see me last night. Pippa, however, is trying to claim that, lacking video evidence of treat time, I should compensate them with double treats. Pippa, who does a mean Elvis impersonation, has been hanging out a lot with Clover, aka Dark Pippa, and someone had fun with Photoshop. She also debuted her nighttime collar. Zoe has one too, but Pippa needs it more because she goes leashless so much, and shes little. She also still insists on belly rubs before going on walks. Gracie endures amid the beasts.

ICYMI

How gratitude opens the heart

A distinctly wonky Remnant on political demography with Ruy Teixeira

When historians go bananas

An exceedingly rank Remnant on the 2024 race with Brother Stirewalt

A special Thanksgiving Ruminant

Why Democrats lose when they play identity politics

The Remnant with Danielle Pletka on Iran, Ukraine, and Israel

Elizabeth Warren wants your lunch

The Remnant with Tim Alberta on American evangelicalism

The Dispatch Podcast on how to fix Congress

And now the weird stuff.

Wild ride

A Festivus miracle

Lost in translation

Memory lane

Devils children

Respect

Revenge of the nerds

Read more at The Dispatch

The Dispatch is a new digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary, informed by conservative principles. Sign up for free.
Pro-Palestinian groups are encouraging parents to take children as young as eight years old out of school to attend protests, according to a new report.

Research by the think tank Policy Exchange found pupils were flouting attendance rules through a coordinated national campaign that instructs parents on how they can avoid fines and organise protests most effectively.

Schools were recording the children on the protests as unauthorised absences - but not fining the parents as head teachers took the view it was only one day.

The think tank warned that teachers or schools advocating pupils attend the protests were breaching rules on impartiality and could be putting at risk their statutory duties to prevent children from being drawn into extremism and safeguard them from harm.

The report called for automatic fines for parents of children who skip school to attend protests  and that Ofsted should investigate schools which endorse the school strikes or promote partisan material.

Nadhim Zahawi, the former education secretary, said the UK had looked divided as a result of the Hamas terror attack on Israel: We all have a duty to come together to address this. Encouraging children to leave school in order to attend political protests  as Policy Exchange has exposed  will make the situation worse, not better.

Ruth Kelly, the former Labour education secretary, said: During school hours the place for children is in the classroom, not protesting on the streets. It is particularly concerning to see so many young children being drawn into these activities during the school day.

Statutory duty to safeguard children

Policy Exchange cited protests organised by the School Strike for Palestine with the support of Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Green Party in Bristol.

School Strike for Palestine provided campaign resources including guides to action and promotional images as well as a template letter for parents to send to their school if their child was joining the strike.

It stated: We wish to protest peacefully, with the intention of showing solidarity with the people of Gaza, with particular focus on the one million innocent children, over 3,000 of whom have been killed in the last three weeks.

Whatever our faith or politics, as parents and carers, we wish to unite for the preservation of human life and collectively demand an immediate ceasefire. I will gladly support [insert childs name] in catching up with any work they might have missed.

The Instagram site for the strike contained web links to Cage, an Islamist organisation that has campaigned against the Governments counter-terror programme Prevent.

The report warned schools had a statutory duty to ensure that children were not drawn into extremism.

Maintain principle neutrality

Upholding that duty is extremely difficult if pupils are leaving their school to join political protests, and meeting potentially anybody who chooses to attend or organise a demonstration, it said.

School strikes are not unique  indeed there was arguably a blind eye turned to walkouts in support of the climate action campaign within recent years, it said. Those walking out in these school strikes, have referenced the earlier climate strikes. Such actions, though, should not set a precedent.

In order to ensure the principle of political neutrality is maintained in our schools, school leaders and education authorities must ensure teachers do not support, or assist, political protests in any way.

Where pupils have left school to join demonstrations, a full investigation must be conducted as to the process by which they left their desks, for the high street.

The report also recommended that head teachers should not authorise absence for pupils to attend protests and should emphasise to teachers in writing that advocating pupils attend was a clear breach of impartiality.

It said local councils should update their codes of practice on attendance to set out that absence to attend a political protest may result in a fine even if the normal thresholds for receiving a fixed penalty notice has not been breached.

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Santiago, 12, helps his younger sister, Luissiana, 4, find a pair of shoes that will fit her feet. The siblings came from Venezuela with their mom and are waiting for their chance to enter the Migrant Resource Center. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their ticket to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their ticket to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their ticket to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCiOs Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their chance to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their ticket to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Sandwiched between the Migrant Resource Center and CiCis Pizza Parking lots migrants crowd a red pickup truck loaded with clothing and toys looking for anything in their size and to keep their children warm. Many of the migrants are waiting for their ticket to to be able to enter the Resource Center and have been forced to sleep on the streets while they wait for help. Jessica Phelps Migrants waiting outside the Migrant Resource Center on San Pedro Ave look through bags of clothing being donated. Jessica Phelps

San Antonios Centro de Bienvenida is being pushed to its limits as the number of migrants seeking asylum continues to soar, forcing many  sometimes hundreds  of people to sleep outside the center each night.

About 100 people sat in chairs outside of the North Side facility Friday afternoon, with dozens more chatting on the shaded sidewalk outside of the fence that surrounds the center. Some were spending time outdoors to enjoy the sunny day while others were there because the center had reached its 700-person occupancy limit.

Others gathered in a paved area between the facility and a next-door shopping center. Beep, beep, a small boy called out as he rode a bike behind the strip mall.

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The city opened the center at 7000 San Pedro Ave. in July 2022 and handed off the day-to-day operations to Catholic Charities of San Antonio in September of last year. The facility, formerly called the Migrant Resource Center, assists people as they make their way to out-of-town family and asylum court hearings.

At the center, migrants can ask an attorney legal questions about their asylum cases, talk with a counselor and get funding for bus and plane tickets. The facility provides three meals to asylum seekers in the center and its parking lot, and lets people access showers and restrooms.

Even before the recent surge of migrants, the center frequently reached its occupancy limit, with migrants having to wait in the facility parking lot. But for the past few months, many have also had to sleep on mats outside, according to J. Antonio Fernandez, Catholic Charities of San Antonio president and CEO.

Fernandez said he is worried the situation will only worsen next year because Catholic Charities no longer will receive federal dollars to buy people bus and plane tickets out of town. He said the organization gets about $4 million a month from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to run the facility, but that will be dropping to about $500,000 in the new year.

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The bottleneck is going to grow and grow, Fernandez said. And Im sad, but I cannot be here at 2 oclock in the morning. I cannot have my employees here at 2 oclock in the morning feeding people all the time. And it breaks my freaking heart.

Fernandez said the number of people spending the night outside can range from 50 to 500. About six weeks ago, more than 900 people were outdoors.

But not everyone who starts the evening with a mat and blanket outside has to stay the entire night, he said. As migrants leave to catch buses and planes out of town, people on the outside get moved inside to sleep on a cot. But some immigrants have had to stay outside for two nights, Fernandez said.

About 200 people were sleeping outside of the facility at 6 a.m. Friday when San Antonio police Sgt. Steven Bratina arrived for his shift. Bratina, who has served as security periodically for the past 18 months, said he has noticed an increasing number of migrants over the past couple of months.

Theyre overloaded, he said.

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About 1,000 people have come through the center each day recently, Fernandez said, but many of them already have bus or plane tickets and do not stay overnight.

According to a city dashboard, about 1,200 migrants arrived in San Antonio on Thursday, with 1,100 of them going through the center.

The number of people staying in the migrant center, as well as camping out at San Antonio International Airport, is climbing, the dashboard shows. In August, almost 25,000 people stayed at one of those two locations overnight, but the number jumped to more than 28,000 in both September and October, and almost 29,000 in November.

Last December has been the busiest month so far, with more than 36,000 people staying overnight at Centro de Bienvenida and the airport.

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In September, Customs and Border Protection reported encounters with nearly 270,000 undocumented migrants along the nations southwest border  and a record high 2.47 million encounters for the entire fiscal year.

The latest surge of migrants into Texas has prompted federal authorities to close one of two international bridges in Eagle Pass.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A pedestrian was killed in a hit and run crash in Vancouver early Saturday morning, according to the Clark County Sheriffs Office.

At around 12:45 a.m., CCSO says a witness called 911 to report the collision on Northeast Highway 99 near the intersection with Northeast 82nd Street in Vancouver.

Witnesses reported the vehicle fled the scene immediately after the crash.

First responders along with CCSO deputies arrived to find the person dead from their injuries.

Man dead after shooting in Centennial neighborhood

CCSOs Traffic Unit investigators say it was likely the pedestrian was attempting to cross the busy road in a low-lit area with no crosswalk.

Northeast Highway 99 between Northeast 78th Street and Northeast 82nd Street will be closed for several hours during the investigation.

Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to contact the Clark County Sheriffs Office.

This is a developing story. Stay with KOIN 6 News for more updates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took aim at ousted Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) after he exited the House chamber Friday before his expulsion vote had come to an end, calling him a coward for doing so.

Pelosi said that while the historic 311-114-2 vote to boot Santos was heartbreaking, it was necessary.

This is not a casual vote for us. Its something you take very seriously, and and he should have taken it seriously, Pelosi told reporters following the vote, adding that he should have been man about it.

This is a very serious matter to uphold the dignity and respect the House of Representatives, she continued. He has not, and he didnt today  by not even showing up and being a coward.

Fridays historic vote followed two previously unsuccessful attempts to sack the former New York congressman, who has come under fire over a series of alleged ethics violations, including fraud and campaign finance crimes. Just weeks ago, the House Ethics Committee released a damning report claiming substantial evidence of criminal behavior.

Top Stories from The Hill

Santos, now the sixth lawmaker to be expelled from the House, has maintained his innocence. He recently announced that he would not be seeking reelection but would also not prematurely end his term in Congress voluntarily.

If I leave, they win, Santos said Thursday. If I leave, the bullies take place. This is bullying.

Pelosi commended her colleagues for voting in a bipartisan way.

This was a very bipartisan vote, Pelosi said. There was a coming together to say we respect the dignity of the House of Representatives.



This is sad. Its heartbreaking, and I dont view it as partisan, she continued. In fact, Im one of the ones who is reluctant to go forward unless theres really solid evidence. And this was clear.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WHTM)  A top prize-winning ticket worth $157,979 for the Cash Flow game was sold at a Pennsylvania lottery retailer on Thursday, Nov. 30.

According to lottery officials, the Nunez Mini Market II located at 5701 Warrington Avenue, Philadelphia, receives a $500 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

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The Cash Flow game is a $5 Fast Play game that offers progressive top prizes starting at $75,000.

To see if theyve won a prize, players can review the ticket, or scan it at a Lottery retailer or with the Ticket Checker by using the official app from the lottery. The holder of a top prize-winning Fast Play ticket should sign the back of the ticket and call the Lottery at 1-800-692-7481.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will appear as keynote speaker Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. The annual conference in Simi Valley, Calif., includes civilian and military leadership, along with private sector defense specialists.

Panels at this years conference are covering topics from AI to recruitment. But questions about U.S. support Israels war against Hamas and Ukraines defense against Russia will both likely add urgency to the event.

Along with the potential for Chinese military action toward Taiwan, these issues were highlighted in recent survey results released by forum hosts the Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute. According to the groups polling, American opinion favors increased defense spending generally, and increased defense aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Their data also suggested that the U.S. public finds China to be the biggest security threat, followed by Russia.

Secretary Austin is scheduled to speak at 2:45 p.m. EST.

Watch the live video above.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Pfizer's new experimental weight-loss pill worked in achieving its stated goal  but with that weight loss came side effects so gnarly that it's shutting down the research.

In a press release, the pharmaceutical giant said it was discontinuing clinical trials for danuglipron, its twice-daily weight loss pill that uses a similar mechanism to semaglutide, because a large percentage of the people who took it in its first two experimental phases experienced gastrointestinal side effects like nausea and diarrhea.

"While the most common adverse events were mild and gastrointestinal in nature consistent with the mechanism, high rates were observed (up to 73% nausea; up to 47% vomiting; up to 25% diarrhea)," the press release reads. "High discontinuation rates, greater than 50%, were seen across all doses compared to approximately 40% with placebo."

Like semaglutide, the active ingredient in the uber-popular Ozempic and Wegovy injectables, danuglipron is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, the exact mechanism is up for debate but which on a broad level is understood to mimic the feeling of fullness in the gut. Though semaglutide injections  which only in the past few years became approved for weight loss  are so trendy that pharmacies are struggling to keep them in stock, they too can have some major gastrointestinal side effects.

With the popularity of semaglutide injectables came a growing drive to find a way to get the drug's effects in pill form. Until Pfizer decided to discontinue its trials, danuglipron seemed poised to be the next big thing in weight loss treatment  especially considering that prior study results suggested it was as effective as Ozempic.

Not one to give up the goat, Pfizer said in its statement that although it's discontinuing danuglipron trials, it's still seeking to release a weight loss pill.

"Results from ongoing and future studies of the once-daily danuglipron modified release formulation will inform a potential path forward with an aim to improve the tolerability profile and optimize both study design and execution," Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer and president of its research and development wing, said in the statement.

Regardless of its future intentions, the pharma giant's stock did fall four percent after news of danuglipron's crappy side effects dropped.

More on weight loss drugs: Scientists Say Semaglutide Appears to Help Alcoholics, Too
San Antonio police investigate the scene where a gray Nissan pickup cut off an officer at an intersection, colliding with the patrol vehicle and sending it into a metal pole Friday night at the Southeast Military Drive and South Presa intersection. Theo Esquivel/21 ProVideo San Antonio police investigate the scene where a gray Nissan pickup cut off an officer at an intersection, colliding with the patrol vehicle and sending it into a metal pole Friday night at the Southeast Military Drive and South Presa intersection. Theo Esquivel/21 ProVideo

Two San Antonio police officers were wounded overnight in separate drunken driving accidents just hours apart on the citys Northwest and Southeast Sides, police said.

The first accident occurred about 9 p.m. on Friday at the intersection of Southeast Military Drive and South Presa, San Antonio police said.

An on-duty officer was traveling west through the intersection when a gray Nissan pickup failed to yield the right of way and turned into the officers vehicle.

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They collided, sending the officers patrol vehicle into a large metal pole, investigators said.

Witnesses at the scene helped the officer until other police arrived. The officer, who has been with the department for four years, was taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center with serious injuries.

The driver accused of cutting the officer off was identified as Trinidad Huerta. He failed the standardized field sobriety test and was arrested at the scene.

The officer is in stable condition, police said. About three hours later, after midnight, another officer was driving south in the 6400 block of Babcock Road when the second accident occurred.

A white Mercedes-Benz was pulling out of the parking lot of a bar. Brissa Acevedo, 30, was behind the wheel and failed to yield to the officer, San Antonio police said.

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She made a left turn onto Babcock, crashing into the officers patrol vehicle.

The officer, who has been with the department for a year, reported head, neck, back and arm pain and was taken to University Hospital in stable condition, police said.
A planned three-way sexual encounter between Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler, his wife and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, and a woman they had sex with in the past ended in accusations of sexual assault against Christian, according to a police affidavit.

The affidavit obtained by media outlets and Florida Center for Government Accountability and shared with USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida provides a detailed account of the allegations against Christian Ziegler, which became public Thursday.

The alleged assault occurred on Oct. 2 at the Sarasota apartment of a woman Christian Ziegler has known for 20 years.

"The victim and Christian Ziegler agreed to have a sexual encounter that included Christian's wife Bridget Ziegler," according to the affidavit. "When the victim learned that Bridget Ziegler could not make it, she changed her mind and canceled with Christian."

The alleged victim then went to walk her dog and found Christian Ziegler standing outside her apartment, according to the affidavit.

"Christian entered the apartment," according to the affidavit, and then allegedly assaulted her.

Christian Ziegler says sexual encounter was consensual as police investigate trove of 'digital records'

Christian Ziegler told detectives the sexual encounter was consensual. He said he took a video of the encounter and deleted it, but later uploaded it to his Google Drive.

"Mr. Ziegler has been fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department," Ziegler's attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. "We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated."

The affidavit detailing the allegations against Christian Ziegler is for a search warrant seeking files from his Google accounts, and another search warrant seeking his cell phone.

The alleged victim told detectives she had a sexual encounter with both Zieglers more than a year ago, and Bridget Ziegler, who serves on the Sarasota County School Board, confirmed in her interview with detectives that the three had sex together one time.

Investigators obtained surveillance video of Christian Ziegler arriving at the alleged victim's apartment complex in his grey Ford truck on Oct. 2, at 2:29 p.m.. He was wearing "dark shorts and a red shirt."

The evidence also includes "digital messages" with Christian Ziegler on Oct. 2 that were extracted from the alleged victim's phone. In one of the messages he "asked the victim for her address and told her they were driving around referring to him and Bridget."

When Christian Ziegler later texted the alleged victim and told her he was coming over alone, she responded "'Sorry I was mostly in for her' referring to Bridget," according to the affidavit.

The alleged victim told her sister she was raped. She was treated at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where a rape kit was administered. She said Christian Ziegler did not use a condom, according to the affidavit. The allegations were reported to police on Oct. 4.

'Those are big words': Instant messages reveal Christian Ziegler's conversations with alleged victim

Ziegler tried to contact the alleged victim on Instagram on Oct. 27. Detectives and the alleged victim then began communication with Ziegler and recording the communications.

"I'm not ok with what happened the other day between us," the alleged victim messaged.

"Oh, that's not good. You are my friend," Ziegler responded.

"Tell me why you think what you did was Ok," the alleged victim says later in the conversation, and Ziegler responds by asking if she wants to meet.

"Worried about you. Your are my friend," he messages.

Police also recorded three phone calls between Ziegler and the alleged victim where she confronts him.

"The victim asked him why he forced her to have sex with him when she never wanted to," the affidavit says, summarizing one of the calls. "Christian said he has never done that then said he had to go because some guy was giving him a hard time."

In another call, the alleged victim tells Ziegler he "sexually assaulted her."

"Those are big words, please don't, no I didn't," Ziegler responds. "You invited me in, that's it. I did not at all, and I never want you to feel that way."

The affidavit states that Ziegler "Went on to say the victim was his friend and asked her what she needed. Christian asked the victim if she needed financial help or anything else."

The fallout: Calls mount for resignations

Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for Ziegler to resign from his state party position.

The Zieglers are a Florida GOP power couple who have been leading advocates for the culture war battles championed by DeSantis, including policies targeting LGTBQ discussions in schools.

Reaction: 'The hypocrisy is just off the charts': Zieglers face reckoning after moral crusading

Bridget Ziegler was with DeSantis when signed legislation derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill and was appointed by the governor to serve on the board overseeing a special district that governs Disney's properties in Central Florida. Disney has clashed with DeSantis over the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

The sex scandal has rocked GOP politics in Florida, especially in Southwest Florida where the Zieglers have been active on the political scene for years.

Bridget Ziegler has served on the School Board since 2014. Christian Ziegler is a former Sarasota County commissioner who was vice chair of the Florida GOP before becoming chair in February.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Christian Ziegler: Florida GOP chair's assault allegations detailed
The Metropolitan Police said it had arrested a man for a racially aggravated public order offence in Brixton, and another, a teenager, on suspicion of criminal damage

Police were surrounded by demonstrators and prevented from leaving after making two arrests at a pro-Palestinian march in south London.

The arrests came as Liz Truss, the former prime minister, claimed on Fox News that people are being allowed to demonstrate in favour of terrorists.

The Metropolitan Police said it had arrested a man for a racially aggravated public order offence in Brixton, and another, a teenager, on suspicion of criminal damage.

The protest in Brixton was one of dozens taking place across the country on Saturday in a day of action organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

The group is demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war after fighting resumed on Friday and said its primary motivation was concern over further civilian casualties.

Police talk to protesters at the demonstration in Brixton - Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News

The Met declined to provide details about the content of the placard it deemed to be potentially racially aggravating, but numerous posters on display during weekly pro-Palestinian marches have been described as anti-Semitic by campaign groups.

The force said protesters obstructed their route as they attempted to leave the Windrush Square, a pedestrianised area in the centre of Brixton, having arrested the first man.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the force said: When officers tried to leave the area, their vehicle was surrounded by other protesters. Some sat in the road blocking their path. Additional officers were deployed and the arrested man is now on his way to custody.

Turning onto Saltoun Road, the police van was again stopped by protesters and a male teenager was arrested for criminal damage to the vehicle. A spokesman for the Met said that a number of people tried to obstruct the police van as it drove off. They were moved out of the way by officers.

The force had been criticised for being too soft at initial marches in the capital. However, last weekend it warned demonstrators that it would take incitement to violence or racist language far more seriously.

Officers handed out leaflets to provide absolute clarity on what was deemed an offence, while Arabic-speaking officers were deployed to pick out offensive chants and images in the crowd.

The protest in Brixton was one of dozens taking place across the country on Saturday - Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News

In response to the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, protesters gathered at rallies and vigils across the UK and Ireland on Saturday. While the marches were largely peaceful, protesters across the country continued to chant slogans condemned by many as anti-Semitic.

On the streets of Dublin, some marchers called for an intifada, while at Plashet Park in East Ham, east London, there were chants accusing Israel of being a terrorist state.

Ms Truss, who has been on a trip to the United States as part of a delegation with the Conservative Friends of Ukraine, claimed the protests showed the woke Left would rather support authoritarian regimes than the West.

She said: On the streets of London, I see people demonstrating in favour of terrorists, and that being allowed to happen.

They are about saying: The way of life that we have in Britain or America, that is not the right way of life. Actually, we would rather support terrorists, wed rather support authoritarian regimes.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who has previously refused to condemn Hamas as terrorists, appeared as the keynote speaker at a Stop the War Coalition event in east London.

Journalists attending the Freedom for Palestine; Imperialism, War and the Middle East were told the meeting at a small conference centre was not open to them.

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GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley takes selfies with supporters after a campaign event on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023, in Bluffton, S.C. Haley is who many Republican voters want as vice president if former President Donald Trump becomes the nominee. | Meg Kinnard, Associated Press

If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination for president, most voters want him to pick Nikki Haley as his running mate, according to a new national poll conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News.

Registered voters were asked who they want Trump to pick as his vice president, if he is the GOP nominee. Among registered voters, 19% of all voters, and 20% of Republicans, chose Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The second option was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at 15%, and 18% of Republicans, followed by Chris Christie, who received 9% overall, and 4% of Republicans, and Vivek Ramaswamy, chosen by 8% overall, and 13% of Republicans.

Mike Pence, who was Trumps former vice president and recently bowed out of the 2024 contest, received 7% support, and former Republican presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was picked by 6% of respondents.

Haley was the top choice among Democrats and independent voters, too, as 21% of registered Democrats said theyd like Trump to select Haley, if he wins; 15% of independents said the same.

Also included in the poll were a slew of potential vice presidential candidates who received 5% or less support from voters, including Sen. Tim Scott (5%), Tucker Carlson (5%), Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (5%), Gov. Kristi Noam (4%), Kari Lake (3%), Gov. Kim Reynolds (1%), Asa Hutchinson (1%), Gov. Doug Burgum (1%), Rep. Byron Donalds (1%), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (>1%). Another 11%, and 6% of Republicans, chose someone else.

The poll was conducted Nov. 21-22 among 1,012 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

With less than seven weeks until the Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the 2024 presidential cycle, Trump maintains massive leads in national polls. FiveThirtyEights polling aggregator shows Trump at 60% nationally, with his closest challengers  DeSantis and Haley  in the low teens or single digits. In Iowa, the competition is closer, though Trump still leads by over 20 percentage points.

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But Haley has seen a sharp uptick in momentum in recent weeks. In Iowa, shes received key endorsements from a number of high-profile activists, including Marlys Popma, a pro-life crusader and ex-John McCain adviser. In some polls, her support in Iowa has tripled since early August.

Haley denies that shes running to be vice president, though. I dont run for second, she told Politico in August. Thats something that I hear all the time, and Ill tell you that, look, we have a country to save, and I dont trust anybody else to do it.

DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Christie have each said they would not serve as Trumps vice president, if they were invited to do so.

(Haley) wouldnt entertain talk of the second slot at this time  and maybe not ever  because she believes she can win the nomination, GOP consultant Max Klink told Newsweek.

Related

It seems unlikely, though not impossible, that Trump would select Haley as his running mate. Historically, it is rare for a nominee to select a primary challenger as a running mate in the general election. And though Trump and Haley were once allies, Haleys decision to run against Trump  after saying shed stay out of the race  irked the former president.

Trump has repeatedly derided Haley during campaign appearances. At a recent event in Iowa, Trump blasted Haley for disloyalty and called her Birdbrain.

I know her well, Trump said. Shes not up to the job (of president).

While Haley has frequently critiqued the Trump administrations record, especially on its overspending, she has been hesitant to directly attack the former president. At a debate in August, she acknowledged that shed support Trump if he wins the Republican nomination, even if he is convicted on any of the legal charges he faces.
An estimated 460,000 people died of causes attributed to fine particulates from coal power generating stations nationwide, according to a new study, which examined so-called "excess deaths" between 1999 and 2020.

Three of the plants in the study operated in northern Arizona or in New Mexico along the edges of the Navajo Nation.

Exposure to the fine coal dust, known as PM2.5 based on the size of the particles, led to a mortality risk two times greater than exposure to fine particulates from other sources, the study found.

Air pollution exposure is associated with adverse health effects and increased risk of death, according to the study "Mortality risk from United States coal electricity generation." Coal electricity-generating units, or power plants, are a major contributor to poor air quality.

Researchers compared mortality risks associated with fine particulate exposure from coal and from all other sources, then analyzed Medicare death records covering 650 million person-years in the U.S. Annual excess deaths were highest between 1999 and 2007, averaging more than 43,000 deaths per year for a total of 390,000.

About 480 U.S. coal-powered plants operated from 1999 to 2020, including Four Corners Generating Station and San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico, and the now demolished Navajo Generating Station in the Lechee community of the Navajo Nation outside Page. That plant closed in 2019.

Trio of concrete stacks at the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz. that came down in late 2020.

Fewer than 1,000 people died of causes resulting from fine particulates emitted from power plants on or near the Navajo Nation, but that is likely an undercount, according to Lucas Hennema, the study's lead researcher.

We are capturing deaths in the U.S. Medicare population," he said in an email to The Arizona Republic, "so the actual impact from the facilities is likely larger than the values we report.

Four Corners Generating Station is connected to at least 460 deaths related to fine particulates. San Juan Generating Station listed about 310 deaths, and Navajo Generating Station is linked to about 100 deaths due to fine particulates.

Navajo Generating Station: Navajo residents seek 'just and equitable' help after closure of power plant, coal mine

Seeking an equitable transition

Coal-fired plants east of the Mississippi River were associated with the greatest numbers of deaths because of their high emissions and proximity to population centers, the study found. But the effects on the land, water, animals and people from Navajo Generating Station and coal mines such as Black Mesa and Kayenta, linger to this day, which is why Navajo environmental groups continue to push for an equitable transition.

Some of their current projects are related to the idea of what they call a just and equitable transition from a coal-related economy, "because we are coming from decades of resource extraction, fossil fuel use revenue that our tribes have been dependent on and to some degree still are, said Robin Jackson, Dine C.A.R.E., during a recent Indigenous Just Transition Southwest Regional Gathering. We need to encourage them to look into more sustainable, regenerative, renewable forms of economic development.

Navajo Generating Station was the Wests largest coal plant, with three 775-foot smokestacks alongside the 2,250-megawatt plant. After its closure in 2019, Dine CARE, along with partners like To Nizhoni Ani (Sacred Water Speaks) and the Black Mesa Water Coalition, launched the Navajo Equitable Economy Initiative.

The initiative focuses on five areas: ending coal operations regionally, transition funding from utilities, land and water reclamation, clean energy development, and community voice in projects, according to the Dine C.A.R.E. website.

There is still a mindset stuck on keeping fossil fuel development going, said Jackson, other than developing other forms of economic development that's not based on fossil fuel. So we actually were involved with other people to prevent our Navajo Nation from continuing the Navajo Generating Station because that would not have been a good deal for our people. That wouldve allowed for more pollution into the environment.

Nicole Horseherder, executive director of To Nizhoni Ani, said during the gathering at NAU that the end of coal on Navajo is approaching and transition is happening, but what transition means varies from person to person.

We have been fighting coal mining and water mining for the past 50 years for those who are from Black Mesa, said Horseherder. We definitely see a transition on the horizon and it's important for us to stay involved. When I think of transition I think of this loose mess as coal mines start to shut down, and coal plants come down.

Power plant: As coal mines depleted a Navajo Nation aquifer, feds failed to flag losses, report says

Why activists say it's important to get involved now

The complexity of transition is easier than dealing with the disorder of when coal ruled across the Black Mesa, Horseherder said. She described the time when NGS was still operating and connected to the Kayenta Mine, and the Mohave Generating Station in Nevada was connected to the Black Mesa mine, as a tangled, really knotted up mess.

We had water crossing basin lines, state lines, we had coal leases exclusive to coal plants, said Horseherder. We had Navajo Nation being coerced to wave its water on the upper basin Colorado River, give away rights-of-way for free, then having to share revenues with the rest of the state. What was given to the nation was probably what was given to the county. A big rip-off all the way around. The mess of transition is probably a little easier to deal with.

Anyone who has dealt with the shutdown of the mines understands that being a part of whats to come next is important, she said, because if you arent working on what's to come, someone else will make that decision. She noted the Navajo Nation is surrounded by seven coal-fired power plants.

As those coal plants come down everyone is eyeing those coal plants because the transmission lines are there, she said. Transmission lines are not going to come down like the way the rest of the infrastructure came down. Theyre very valuable. The utilities own them, probably in the same ratio that they own the coal plant, so they got something planned already. It is important for us to get out front and have a say in what happens next.

Resource development: Navajo Nation president vetoes a plan to explore for helium near 2 tribal communities

How a plant lease renewal reverberated for years

Dr. Andrew Curley, University of Arizona professor in the School of Geography, has been researching the coal industry and the politics that surrounded it in the Navajo Nation for over a decade. His book Carbon Sovereignty: Coal, Development, and Energy Transition in the Navajo Nation delves deep into coal development in the Navajo Nation, and how the tribe intended to use the coal industry in support of sovereignty.

It's a book that traces the history of how the Navajo Nation gave Phoenix and Tucson water and supplied electricity to Arizona, California and Nevada for practically nothing through the Lechee plant and coal mines located on Navajo. In explaining the connections, the book coins the phrase "carbon treatymaking."

For colonizers, these powers need to access resources in and around reservations. I refer to this concession process between tribes and colonizers as carbon treatymaking, an extension of the idea of carbon sovereignty and its inherent limitation, Curley wrote. An example of this is the 2013 NGS lease renewal.

A large dump truck carries coal through the Kayenta Mine in Black Mesa, Ariz., on Feb. 4, 2017.

In 1969, the Navajo Nation Council signed the original land lease for the Navajo Generating Station, and in 2013 the lease renewal came up for debate at the Navajo Nation Council.

This was an example of modern-day treaty-making, wrote Curley.

Navajo Nation Council delegates were concerned about land leases for strip-mining, water rates for coal production, the land lease over the railway the land lease for the actual power plant itself, he wrote. Tribal sovereignty was understood but performed in the context of colonial capitalism.

In 2013, the Navajo Nation was asked to forego water claims to the Colorado River and exempt the lease site from tribal sovereignty. The two major limitations were labor rights for Navajo workers and rights to 34,000 acre feet of Colorado River water.

The 2013 lease, like treaties before it, set conditions on Navajo jurisdiction and the use of Dine resources in exchange for monetary goods and investments in infrastructure, Curley wrote.

Even if the finding of excess death attributed to fine particulates emitted from coal-fired plants was minimal in and around the Navajo Nation compared to plants in the eastern U.S., the harm done environmentally, socially, politically, and economically through the Navajo Nation is evident and documented.

"Large decreases in annual deaths across the study period highlight the success of emissions reductions brought about by regulations under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments," the study's authors wrote. "Although coal use in the U.S. has remained low, global use is expected to increase and plateau by 2025, suggesting the potential for high mortality costs from coal for years to come."

Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hundreds in AZ, NM died from coal-fired power plant dust, study says
Victoria Gabriela Rodriguez-Morales claims she was the girlfriend of the Uvalde mass shooter. Federal court records

A woman who claimed she helped plot the Uvalde school massacre in 2022 as the shooters girlfriend has been indicted on 13 federal charges, accused of threatening people there and in Atascosa County this year.

A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico returned the indictment this week against Victoria Gabriela Rodriguez-Morales, 19, who was arrested by the FBI on the U.S. territory, where she now lives. The indictment was unsealed Friday.

The 13 counts of making threatening interstate communications describe specific threats she allegedly made between May and Oct. 28, though a separate FBI affidavit said she had threatened Uvalde residents for years  using social media, phone calls and email.

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The U.S. Attorneys Office has no tolerance for illegal threats, especially threats that target people who are the victims of the horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, said W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. attorney for the district of Puerto Rico. We hope that this arrest brings a sense of peace to those who were targeted by the defendant.

The affidavit noted some of the threats included claims by Rodriguez-Morales that Robb Elementary School shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, was her boyfriend and that the pair plotted to commit the massacre, but that he didnt wait for her. Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers during his rampage on May 24, 2022, and was killed by police after a delayed response by officers.

Investigators say the womans claims that Ramos was her boyfriend and that they plotted the massacre together are untrue. Prosecutors said in court filings that Rodriguez-Morales has mental health issues, and that her parents were unable to control her as a juvenile and now have less control since she became an adult.

Rodriguez-Morales lived in Uvalde until 2020 and allegedly has been making threats against residents of the city since at least 2018.

She has been in the juvenile system because of her history of directing threats at public officials or anyone she believed slighted or investigated her. As part of a deal that released her from juvenile supervision, her parents agreed to move her to Puerto Rico in 2020, court records said.

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But the threats have continued each year since her move, the FBI alleged in the affidavit. Agents traced some of the threats to her email account at the university she attends in Puerto Rico, the affidavit said.

Each of the 13 charges in the indictment represents one of the most recent threats.

Some were posted on Instagram or emailed from an account that includes the name schoolshooter and were sent or directed to Uvalde City Hall, Uvalde police, Texas Childrens Hospital, Uvalde radio and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.

Other threats were posted on the livestream service Kick. Two were made from Facebook accounts linked to her and directed at the Atascosa County Juvenile Justice Center and the Zavala County Sheriffs Office.

The posts, direct messages or emails threaten shootings or bombings at Uvalde High School and a middle school and hospital there, as well as at Texas A&M college and the Atascosa County juvenile center.

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One was emailed to Uvalde CISD and says that, If Mata Rubio wins the elections I will kill her, an apparent reference to Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was one of the students killed at Robb. Mata-Rubio ran for mayor of Uvalde but lost on Nov. 7 to Cody Smith, a former mayor.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Porch pirates appear to be a common issue in Portland, according to a recent study that ranked the metro area within the top 10 for the worst package theft.

SafeWise, a platform that reviews home safety products and security companies, has compiled a list of the most common places for package theft for the past six years.

Oregon to see 370 new electric vehicle charging ports in 2024

In January, 5,000 Americans responded to the websites survey on safety and crime in the U.S. The results showed that three out of four residents had at least one package stolen throughout 2022  and 40% of respondents reported repeat offenses.

Overall, a projected 119 million packages were taken that year alone. SafeWise estimated that thats $6 billion worth of products.

Along with that, the platform used Google Trends data and surveyed respondents across multiple cities to determine which ones were most worried about package theft.

Oregon Secretary of State urges trust in elections amid prolific misinformation

About 67% of Seattle participants said they were worried, and the city was ranked first for porch pirates. Memphis, Tenn., San Diego, Birmingham, Ala., and Denver rounded out the top five.

The Portland metro was ranked at No. 10. About 57% of Portland-area respondents said they were concerned about package theft, and about 67% reported they used deterrents like security cameras to prevent it from occurring.

Ben Sickle, a criminal justice professor who specializes in crime prevention, told SafeWise that package theft was a crime of opportunity  and its especially common during this time of year when people may be ordering Christmas gifts and spending less time at home.

Peacock Lane celebrating 100 years of iconic holiday lights display, announces start date

All of this adds up to easy targets for thieves, Sickle said. Porch piracy is a low-entry crime. There are no special skills needed to walk up a driveway and steal a package Whats more, the risk is very low as well, and punishment, even if caught, is minimal.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A man accused of dealing fentanyl-laced pills that caused the fatal overdose of a 15-year-old girl in September has been arrested, the Portland Police Bureau announced Friday.

Authorities say Nasir Noni Overton, 20, sold two counterfeit Oxycodone pills to the teens friend in the area of Northeast 42nd Avenue and Northeast Going Street.

On Sept. 20, police say the girl took the pill and fell unconscious almost immediately. A friend called 911 and used CPR until paramedics arrived, but she fell into a coma and died in the hospital four days later.

32 female athletes sue the University of Oregon alleging Title IX violations by the school

Investigators arrested Overton on Thursday, Nov. 30. According to the Oregon District Attorneys Office, he faces one count each of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl resulting in death and distributing and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl resulting in death.

I would say we havent done an arrest like this at least in the last six to nine months, PPB Capt. Jake Jensen said.

PPB says the agency has been overwhelmed amid the citys ongoing fentanyl epidemic. To date, there have been 277 fatal overdoses in Portland  a 75% increase since 2022. On top of that, 2022 also had a record number of fatal overdoses in Portland.

National Weather Service issues flood watch for NW Oregon

Police say its becoming more difficult to get fentanyl off the streets as it makes its way into other drugs.

If youre not getting your drugs from a pharmacy, dont use them. Thats just kind of the bottom line, Jensen said. If youre buying something that looks like an Oxycodone pill or a Xanax bar or Tylenol even, and youre not getting it from the grocery store or the pharmacist, its probably got something in it its not supposed to have. Dont use it. You could die.

Out of the 277 deadly overdoses so far this year, officials say nine of them involved juveniles. Another three juveniles overdosed this year, but survived.

We understand the impact this is having not only in our community as we talk about our efforts downtown on the street corner but these events are also happening in homes of our families around the community, Portland Police Chief Bob Day said.

Alaska man accused of stabbing murder at Lloyd Center parking garage in 2022

If convicted, officials say Overton faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

Just want to take a moment to recognize that loss for that family and hopefully this is a step towards bringing some closure and some relief in that journey, Day said.

Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
More than 200,000 Georgians will get part of a $15 million margin refund this month after their power company sent out checks.

According to Jackson Electric Membership Corporation, 235,000 current and former members of the company will get a portion of their money back as a margin refund check in December.

Since its founding in 1938, Jackson EMC said the December refunds will put the companys returns to customers at a total of $204 million.

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Jackson EMC operates at cost, which means our primary focus is member service, not profits. Crossing the $200 million mark in returned margin refunds this year shows Jackson EMCs long history of keeping the cooperative financially strong to deliver safe, reliable and affordable electricity for its members, Rodney Chandler, chairman of the Jackson EMC Board of Directors, said.

Margin refunds are set for a combination of years, according to Jackson EMC, so long-term and newer members of the electric co-op are able to benefit. The funds are left over revenues after the companys expenses are fully paid, and then returned to the customers.

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For the December checks, refunds will go to those who got their electric service from Jackson EMC in 1996, 1997, 1998, and/or 2022. Each refund check will have an amount based on what the member paid for service during those years.

Please note that your margin refund check in December may vary from your calculated capital credit amount for a specific year. The board of directors determines when to retire capital credits, officials told Channel 2 Action News.

For more information about refunds, customers can contact Jackson EMC at 1-888-228-9166.

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NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  An effort led by the victims husband to find Faith Ann Johnson came to fruition after the suspect called police to confess that he believed he had something to do with her death. He was sentenced Friday to 20+ years in prison in Norfolk.

Previous Coverage: Norfolk man charged after womans dead body found inside a home

Dustin James Wilder, 40, was sentenced to 20 years and six months for the murder of Johnson, 44, and the illegal concealment of her body. He originally claimed Johnson died from an overdose, but her injuries were consistent with being crushed, officials said. Johnsons husband helped initiate a police investigation before Wilder turned himself in. According to Wilder, the victim was his girlfriend. Wilder pleaded guilty March 6.

Johnsons husband had not seen or heard from her since Oct. 18, 2019, and reported her missing four days later. He said he knew Wilder was his wifes friend, and had noticed bruises on Johnson after she would hang out with Wilder, officials said.

The husband went to Wilders residence with officers and saw his wifes car, but after there was no answer, they left. Officers said there wasnt enough cause to enter the home, and advised him to monitor his wifes bank records.

The victims debit card was used on several occasions since her husband had last seen her, including at a 7-Eleven on Oct. 23, 2019  the day after she was reported missing. Norfolk police obtained video footage showing Wilder driving up to the store in Johnsons vehicle and making a purchase.

He made three additional trips to the 7-Eleven on Oct. 24, but was unable to make a purchase on the third trip after Johnsons husband froze the card, officials said.

Police didnt arrest Wilder until he called the officers while on yet another trip to 7-Eleven on Oct. 25. Three days after she was reported missing, and a week since she was last seen by her husband, Wilder told officers that his girlfriend was dead and in his house.

My girlfriend is dead, Wilder told officers. I am pretty sure that I am the culprit.

He told officers she was located at his house on West 26th Street, and that he was calling from a 7-Eleven on Monticello Avenue. Wilder was detained and brought to his house where Johnsons body was recovered after being hidden under a pile of blankets.

Wilder told detectives that in several days prior, they were using drugs, and she was dead the next day from an overdose. However, and autopsy indicated she was crushed to death while lying on a firm surface.

She had 50 fractures to her ribcage, blunt force trauma to the head, trauma to her neck consistent with prior strangulation and several other additional injuries, officials said.

Judge David W. Lannetti sentenced Wilder in accordance with his plea deal on the conditions that Wilder be of uniform good behavior for 10 years, complete an indefinite period of supervised probation, pay $6,000 restitution to Johnsons family and not contact her family.

Mrs. Johnson suffered a terrible death at Mr. Wilders hands, and my condolences go to her and her family, said Commonwealths Attorney Ramin Fatehi. Good police work and the persistence of Mrs. Johnsons husband  to whom we are all grateful  helped to ensure Mr. Wilder will serve a sentence that fits his crime. I hope that the verdict and sentence offer some closure to Mrs. Johnsons loved ones.

Keep up to date with the latest news on WAVY.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
LANDOVER, Md. (DC News Now)  Prince Georges County Police Department (PGCPD) said it was investigating a fatal crash that happened early Friday morning.

Andrevene Bryan, 27, was driving around 1:10 a.m. when he got in a crash with another driver near Landover Road and Kent Town Place. Bryan died there, and the other driver was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Death Mystery: Montgomery County police ask for help after unconscious man dies

PGCPD said the other driver was heading southbound on Landover Road when he hit Bryans SUV in the intersection.

Anyone with information about this crash is asked to call (301) 731-4422.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
It may have been a bestseller, breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time, but Prince Harrys autobiography Spare has now reached a new, rather less salubrious milestone.

According to We Buy Books, the 416-page tome, which was published on Jan 10, was the most traded-in biography of the year.

A spokesman for the books specialist, which turns unwanted books into cash, said: Prince Harrys Spare was our most traded-in biography of the year. Weve accepted 459 copies. We limit how many we accept in a timeframe so chances are if wed accepted every copy, thered have been a lot more!

Customers trade in their books online by typing the ISBN number into the website or scanning it on the app and then accepting the instant valuation offered. Although Spare originally retailed at 28, We Buy Books would offer customers 2.40 for their second hand copies. The hardback edition is currently selling for 14 on Amazon and is priced 19.99 at Waterstones.

The book came out in digital, paperback, and hardcover formats and has been translated into 15 languages. There is also a 15-hour audiobook edition, which Harry narrates himself.

Total sales including audio and e-book editions were around 400,000 copies on the day of its release, making it the UKs fastest selling non-fiction book ever.

It sold more than 1.4 million copies in the US, Canada and Britain on its first day, which was described by Penguin Random House as the largest first-day sales total for any non-fiction book it ever published.

More sales than Barack Obama

It beat Barack Obamas 2020 autobiography, A Promised Land, to become the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time.

Sales were fueled by many booksellers including Waterstones, WHSmith, and Amazon offering it to customers at half price.

After selling 467,183 print copies in its first week and 750,000 copies across all formats in the UK, it became the fastest-selling nonfiction book in the UK since Nielsen BookData began recording official printed book sales in 1998. Sales well surpassed Kay Allinsons Pinch of Nom cookbook, which sold 210,506 copies in its first three days of release in 2019.

In the book, which was ghost written by J. R. Moehringer, Harry details how he played second fiddle to his brother William as the spare to the heir and reveals the trauma he suffered as a result of the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

He describes being assaulted by William, reveals how the King begged his sons not to make my finals years a misery and details losing his virginity by an older lady in a field behind a pub.

He also revealed he had killed 25 enemy combatants while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan.

The book, which accused his stepmother Queen Camilla of leaking stories to the press and suggests the Princess of Wales was insulted by Meghan referring to her having baby brain, received mixed reviews.

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Prince Harry and Meghan are yet to break their silence after the Dutch translation of Omid Scobies book Endgameidentified two royals at the centre of a racism row.

King Charles and the Princess of Wales were named as the royals accused of raising questions about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son, Archie, before he was born.

The Sussexes - who first made the claims in their 2021 interview with Oprah - have been silent so far on the situation.

A source close to the royal family has called on the Sussexes to speak out and defend their relatives as their silence is deafening, according to The Telegraph.

TV host Piers Morgan defended his decision to identify the two members of the royal family at the centre of the furore, saying it was blindingly obvious they were not guilty of racism.

The Dutch version of Endgame was pulled from the shelves, the publisher dismissing the edition containing the names as a translation error.

Mr Scobie told Newsnight it was not for him to apologise because he still wanted to know what had happened.

He said: The book I edited and signed off on did not have names in it.

Key Points

Harry and Meghan called to break their deafening silence - report

Palace considering all options on Endgame translation

Piers Morgan identifies alleged royal racists

King takes centre stage at Cop28 after being named in Endgame translation

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

22:00 , Joe Middleton

As the royal exposer-in-chief Omid Scobie is lambasted for betraying so many private conversations with his gossipy book Endgame, Harrys biographer Angela Levin asks why has there been no word from the Sussexes

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

Charles should be King of Cop, but has Harry rained on his parade?

21:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Omid Scobies hit piece against the royal family has distracted attention from the effort to fight climate change, writes Sean OGrady  a cause to which the Sussexes claim to be passionately committed:

Prince Philip always used to say that the British monarchy would survive for as long as it made itself useful. In Dubai for the Cop28 climate change summit, his son has demonstrated exactly how that can and should be done.

In his latest attack on him and the royal family, royal biographer Omid Scobie has  inadvertently or not  done neither himself, nor Harry and Meghan, any favours. Unforgivably  albeit probably through an accident of timing and production  Scobies book Endgame has distracted attention from the effort to fight climate change, a cause to which the Sussexes claim to be passionately committed.

Charles should be King of Cop, but has Harry rained on his parade? | Sean OGrady

10 explosive claims from Omid Scobies scathing new royal book Endgame

20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

No sooner had controversial royal reporter Omid Scobies new book Endgame hit stands in Netherlands, its publishers announced the translated version was being recalled and pulped over an explosive publishing error.

The publishing house, Xander Uitgevers announced on Tuesday that its temporarily withdrawing the book after an error occurred in the Dutch translation that is currently being rectified.

Scobie, 42, also cited a translation error while denying claims he had named the royal racist who allegedly inquired about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs firstborn in his book, which has been criticised as a biased takedown of the British monarchy.

10 explosive claims from Omid Scobies scathing new book Endgame

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

19:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

As the royal exposer-in-chief Omid Scobie is lambasted for betraying so many private conversations with his gossipy book Endgame, Harrys biographer Angela Levin asks why has there been no word from the Sussexes:

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

Writer Scobie accused of stunt to sell books over naming of race row royals

18:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Author Omid Scobie has been accused of being behind a stunt to sell books during a television interview where he claimed never to have named the two race row royals in his expose.

This Morning co-host Craig Doyle quizzed the journalist about his royal family book Endgame, saying it seemed bizarre to the public that two members of the monarchy, accused of racism by commentators, had been identified in the Dutch version of his book.

Copies of Mr Scobies book were pulled from the shelves in the Netherlands on publication day on Tuesday, when they were found to have named two members of the royal family alleged to have raised concerns about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son.

Writer Scobie accused of stunt to sell books over naming of race row royals

Who is Omid Scobie? Author of Endgame which named royal racists

17:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

As the world reacts to the unfolding drama, we take a look at the man behind Endgame:

Who is Omid Scobie? Author of Endgame which named royal racists

Dutch translator of Omid Scobies Endgame denies making error: The names were there in black and white

16:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Dutch translator for Omid Scobies Endgame has broken her silence to insist the names of the royals who allegedly raised questions about Prince Archies skin colour were there in black and white in the manuscript she was sent.

The royal authors second book was pulled from the shelves in the Netherlands after the translated version identified the two royals said to have questioned the skin tone of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs child before he was born.

The publisher dismissed the edition containing the names as a translation error. But translator Saskia Peeters, who worked on Scobies latest book, refuted claims she had added the names of the two royals in the Dutch translation of her own accord, despite the English version leaving them out.

Endgames Dutch translator breaks silence: The names were there in black and white

King Charles: We are headed for dangerous, uncharted territory (No, hes not talking about you, Harry)

15:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

King Charles shrugged off a royal racism storm that threatened to overshadow his Cop28 speech, delivering an urgent message to world leaders: The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.

Echoing The Independents call for action to turn the tide of climate change before it is too late, he told delegates at the Dubai eco-conference that nations must work together to preserve our planet for generations to come.

I pray Cop28 will be a critical tipping point towards genuine action, Charles said, ignoring the racism row that continues to rumble on in the wake of royal author Omid Scobies palace expose, Endgame.

King Charles: We are headed for dangerous, uncharted territory

Endgame page 128: Inside the leaked Dutch version of Scobie book which names royal racist

13:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A new book about the royal family has reignited a racism row, after it named two members of the family who allegedly made comments about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son.

Endgame, by royal author Omid Scobie, refers to the row that started two years ago after comments made by Meghan Markle in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

But the Dutch version of the book names the individuals said to have been involved as King Charles and the Princess of Wales.

Endgame page 128: Inside Dutch version of Scobie book which names royal racist

The Crowns dialect coach on teaching actors to sound like Princess Diana: Everybody struggles with this posh ah sound

13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

For more than a decade, William Conacher has been teaching stars from Naomi Watts to Elizabeth Debicki how to sound like the Princess of Wales. Ahead of the final batch of The Crown episodes, he gives Isobel Lewis a lesson in Diana-isms:

The late Princess Diana had one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, and the voice to match. Over the years, plenty have parodied the doe-eyed, low-voiced royal. But according to dialect coach William Conacher, the man responsible for getting some of the worlds biggest actors to sound like Diana, its much more complex than it might seem.

The Crown dialect coach on teaching actors to sound like Princess Diana

From Oprah to Endgame: How the Harry and Meghan royal racism row unfolded

12:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

It was a royal saga to put even the most dramatic of Crown episodes to shame.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, sat across from Oprah Winfrey in a sprawling LA mansion, making the astonishing claim that a senior member of the royal family had made comments about the skin colour of their then unborn child, Archie.

The fallout was enormous, and though the Duke of Sussex later distanced himself from the remarks, the damage to The Firm was undeniable.

Fast forward two years when Omid Scobies book, Endgame, which purports to expose the monarchy and the fierce battles fought among the royals, reignited the damaging row thanks to a translation error which identified the two senior royals at the heart of the claims: Charles and Catherine.

How the Harry and Meghan royal racism row unfolded

Boris Johnson says questioning a babys skin colour is just human nature amid royal racism row

11:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Boris Johnson has called the racism row surrounding the royal family normal and not remotely racist.

The racism row has reared its head once more in the wake of Omid Scobies tell-all book, which hit the stands on Tuesday.

A Dutch translation of the book identified King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the two senior royals who allegedly raised concerns about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son.

Boris Johnson says questioning a babys skin colour is just human nature

Boris Johnson weighs in on royal racism row

10:18 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Former UK prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the racism row surrounding the royal family normal and not remotely racist.

The racism row has reared its head once more in the wake of Omid Scobies tell-all book, which hit the stands on Tuesday.

While the English version made no mention of who said what, a misprint in the recalled Dutch translation pointed the finger at two senior royals.

The revelation of the accused royals made headlines around the world and saw Dutch versions of the book pulled from shelves.

The former PM wrote in the Daily Mail: To ask such questions, in anticipation of a happy event, is simple human nature.

It is one of the greatest joys and -mysteries of life that we have no real idea, in utero, what our children will look like ... that, I expect, was exactly the kind of ruminative debate that the so-called royal racist was having.

The former prime minister went on to use his op-ed to attack wokery and cancel culture, which he believes is at the heart of the latest royal fiasco.

He said: Frankly, I neither know nor care which royal said something about Archie, but I am certain that he or she was not remotely racist.

Its time to stop all this nonsense, and re-draw the distinction between the ugliness of racism and prejudice - against which we have abundant statutes - and ordinary, innocent patterns of human thought and behaviour.

(PA Wire)

Voices: Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

09:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

As the royal exposer-in-chief Omid Scobie is lambasted for betraying so many private conversations with his gossipy book Endgame, Harrys biographer Angela Levin asks why has there been no word from the Sussexes.

The test to determine whether Harry and Meghan were involved with Omid Scobies new book, Endgame, is to see if Prince Harry sues him. Harry dislikes anyone breaching his privacy and is a regular at the high courts.

Similarly, Meghan isnt known to be slow in calling out intrusion when private correspondence is thrust into the public domain. It is something she has done before, and after the contents of private letters exchanged between King Charles have been exposed, why not now?

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

08:37 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Omid Scobie refuses to apologise after King Charles and Kate named in Dutch book

Prince Harry and Meghan urged to defend King and Princess of Wales'

07:46 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been urged to back the King and Princess of Wales amid accusations of racism.

Prince Harry and Meghan have so far made no comment after Charles III and Katherine were accused of raising questions about the skin colour of Archie in a Dutch translation of Omid Scobies Endgame.

For the couple that talked about death by a thousand no comments, the silence at this point is deafening, a source close to Prince Harry and Meghan told The Telegraph, as they urged the couple to defend their relatives.

(Getty Images)

Harry and Meghan agreed Spotify deal because they needed serious money

07:00 , Jane Dalton

Recap: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed their lucrative, yet ultimately ill-fated, Spotify deal because they needed serious money after quitting the royal family, Omid Scobie claimed:

Omid Scobie: Harry and Meghan agreed Spotify deal because they needed serious money

Kate Middleton took elocution lessons, author says

06:30 , Jane Dalton

Reminder: The Princess of Wales has taken elocution lessons and now sounds more posh than her husband, Omid Scobie claimed:

Kate took elocution lessons and now sounds more posh than William royal author says

Reminder: How the royal racism' row unfolded

06:00 , Jane Dalton

The Independent recaps the twists and turns of this very modern royal row, starting in 2016:

How the Harry and Meghan royal racism row unfolded

Rishi Sunak praises the King and avoids racism controversy at Cop28

05:30 , Shweta Sharma

Rishi Sunak refrained from commenting on a royal controversy surrounding allegations of racism while commending the King for his role in international climate talks.

Asked about the controversy as he flew to Dubai for the Cop28 climate talks, Mr Sunak told reporters: By longstanding and appropriate convention it wouldnt be right for me to talk about the royal family in any way shape or form.

He praised the climate-conscious King and highlighted the UKs leadership at the climate summit.Im delighted that hes going to be at Cop tomorrow, hes giving a call to arms in the opening statement, Mr Sunak said.

It speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country that weve got our head of state there, delivering a call to arms in the opening statement which speaks volumes about the respect that hes got on this issue around the world.

Weve got the head of government there in me, and weve got our chief diplomat there in the Foreign Secretary. There are very few countries that will be able to say what Ive just said.

So that speaks again to our leadership on this issue and particularly His Majestys longstanding track record championing this issue and Im delighted that hes going to be delivering this very important statement tomorrow.

Opinion: People can be unthinking, Meghan

05:00 , Jane Dalton

A guest at my sons christening asked whether he was the milkmans, writes Angelina Villa-Clarke:

People are unthinking  a guest at my sons christening asked if he was the milkmans

Monarchy has suffered long-lasting reputational damage

04:12 , Shweta Sharma

The monarchy has suffered long-lasting reputational damage and it is going to affect the whole family as well as the institutions, a royal commentator has said.

Joe Little of Majesty magazine said that the doubts are enough to cause damage to the royal family and monarchy as a whole due to the racism row.

The allegations, true or untrue, will clearly put doubt in the minds of people who are aware of the individuals who have been named. That cant be helpful in any shape or form.

But mud sticks, once the shadow of doubt is there, it never really goes away, and its got to impact not only on the individuals but also the institution as a whole - its a long-lasting reputational damage, he said.

Recap: Scobie criticises King and Prince for failing to contact Harry after car chase

04:00 , Jane Dalton

Omid Scobie singled out King Charles III and the Prince of Wales after it appeared that not one member of the royal family contacted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex following their near-catastrophic car chase through New York City earlier this year:

Omid Scobie criticises Charles and William for not contacting Harry after car chase

Harry and Meghan called to break their deafening silence - report

03:55 , Shweta Sharma

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been urged to defend King Charles and Princess Camilla, sources close to the family said, amid a racism row.

A source close to the royal family has called on the Sussexes to speak out and defend their relatives as their silence is deafening, according to The Telegraph.

For the couple that talked about death by a thousand no comments, the silence at this point is deafening, the source said.

Another individual characterised the choice to refrain from addressing the allegations as interesting, particularly considering that the Sussexes had previously lodged multiple complaints about lacking defense against unfavourable media coverage during their time at the palace.

It comes as public figures are pressuring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to speak out as the pair have remained silent over accusations that the King and the Queen raised concerns about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son, Archie, before he was born.

Kings five-point plan as he urges trillions of dollars to go to tackle climate crisis

02:55 , Jane Dalton

King Charles has set out an action plan for tackling the climate crisis based on five key suggestions at Cop28, saying up to five trillion dollars will be needed each year:

Charless five-point plan as he urges trillions of dollars to tackle climate crisis

King animated talking to Sunak

01:35 , Jane Dalton

The King looked animated when speaking to PM Rishi Sunak at the Dubai climate talks, where he set out an action plan for tackling the climate crisis.

(PA)

Analysis: Charles should be King of Cop, but has Harry rained on his parade?

00:15 , Jane Dalton

Omid Scobies hit piece against the royal family has distracted attention from the effort to fight climate change, writes Sean OGrady:

Charles should be King of Cop, but has Harry rained on his parade? | Sean OGrady

10 explosive claims from Endgame

Friday 1 December 2023 23:15 , Jane Dalton

These are some of the biggest alleged revelations from Endgame:

10 explosive claims from Omid Scobies scathing new book Endgame

Meghan source denies leaking names to Scobie

Friday 1 December 2023 22:30 , Jane Dalton

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex, who allegedly wrote in letters to King Charles the names of the two family members she accused of racist comments, have insisted that she never intended them to be publicly identified and that they were not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Young William and Kate share a kiss in The Crown part two

Friday 1 December 2023 22:00 , Jane Dalton

A young Prince William and Kate Middleton are seen leaning in for a kiss in the trailer for part two of the sixth series of The Crown.

The second half of the hit royal dramas final season, which will be released on December 14, explores a number of historical events, including the death of Princess Margaret and the Queens golden jubilee.

King to consult advisers on familys next step

Friday 1 December 2023 21:31 , Jane Dalton

The King is taking the furore over the Omid Scobie book very seriously and will consult senior advisers next week on the familys next step, its been reported.

This includes the possibility of legal action, according to MailOnline.

William competing with King for control, Scobie claims

Friday 1 December 2023 20:50 , Jane Dalton

The Prince of Wales is competing with his father for control of the royal family, author Omid Scobie has claimed in his new, book:

William desperately competing with Charles to run royal family, claims Scobie book

Charles dons Greek flag tie in meeting with Sunak

Friday 1 December 2023 19:00 , Katy Clifton

Meanwhile in Dubai, the King has worn a tie with a Greek flag motif for a meeting with prime minister Rishi Sunak - just days after the politician snubbed his Greek counterpart in a row over the Parthenon Sculptures.

Charles chatted to Mr Sunak during the opening day of Cop28, the UN Climate Change summit being staged in Dubai, sporting the neckwear decorated with the blue and white flag.

The prime minister sparked a diplomatic row by controversially cancelling a planned meeting in London on Tuesday with Greeces Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The decision came after Mr Mitsotakis used an interview ahead of the talks to push for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.

Greece has long demanded the return of the historic works, which were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

The King has close ties to Greece through his father Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was born on the Greek island of Corfu, to parents Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg, before becoming a naturalised British subject in 1947.

King Charles III (left) speaks with prime minister Rishi Sunak as they attend the opening ceremony of the World Climate Action Summit (PA)

From Oprah to Endgame: How the Harry and Meghan royal racism row unfolded

Friday 1 December 2023 18:00 , Athena Stavrou

In 2021, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, sat across from Oprah Winfrey in a sprawling LA mansion, made the astonishing claim that a senior member of the royal family had made comments about the skin colour of their then unborn child, Archie.

The fallout was enormous, and though the Duke of Sussex later distanced himself from the remarks, the damage to The Firm was undeniable.

The latest episode of the saga came this week - when a Dutch translation of Omid Scobies new book identified King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the royals who raised the questions.

Read the full timeline of the royal race row here:

How the Harry and Meghan royal racism row unfolded

What did the Dutch translation say?

Friday 1 December 2023 17:20 , Athena Stavrou

Royal author Omid Scobies book Endgame hit the shelves in the Netherlands accused King Charles and the Princess of Wales of being at the centre of a racism row.

The book was pulped by publishers and Mr Scobie has denied including the names - but what does the passage in question actually say?

According to a translation, page 128 of the manuscript read: After discussing possible unconscious biases within the family, after it was revealed that the King and Princess of Wales had taken part in such conversations about Archie, Kate has avoided discussing the subject with her sister-in-law.

Read the full story here:

Endgame page 128: Inside Dutch version of Scobie book which names royal racist

Watch: The interview where the allegations were first made

Friday 1 December 2023 16:50 , Athena Stavrou

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex first made the claim a royal had asked about their sons skin colour when they were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

Ms Markle told the US host: In those months when I was pregnant... we have in tandem the conversation of He wont be given security. Hes not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when hes born.

Meghan and Harry have refused to name the royal involved, but said it was not the late Queen Elizbabeth II or her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

After Meghan and Harrys interview with Winfrey was made public, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Noting that recollections may vary with regards to the racism allegations put forward by Meghan, they said: The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.

Is Omid Scobie friends with the royals?

Friday 1 December 2023 16:10 , Athena Stavrou

After the Dutch translation of Omid Scobies book identified royals who raised questions are Prince Harry and Megan Markles sons skin colour, many have asked if he has connections to the Sussexes.

Over the years, Mr Scobie has been dubbed Meghans mouthpiece for his favourable reporting of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but Mr Scobie has repeatedly denied being friends with her.

He posted on X that he is not Megs pal. and in an interview with Paris Match, he again said: I am not their friend and never have been.

In 2020, Mr Scobie wrote that he shared a goodbye hug with Meghan as she finished her last engagement as a working royal and he was one of three journalists invited to cover the event before she flew to Canada.

In Endgame, Mr Scobie revealed that Meghan had personally called him after learning that he had received threats on social media.

(Luke Fontana)

Monarchy suffered reputational damage following Endgame row

Friday 1 December 2023 15:40 , Athena Stavrou

The Royal Family has been hit with long-lasting reputational damage after King Charles and the Princess of Wales were named as being at the centre of a race row.

A Dutch translation of royal author Omid Scobies new book alleged the pair raised questions about Prince Harry and Meghans sons skin colour before he was born.

Royal commentator Joe Little said the accusations have cast a shadow of doubt over the monarchy.

The allegations, true or untrue, will clearly put doubt in the minds of people who are aware of the individuals who have been named. That cant be helpful in any shape or form, he said.

But mud sticks, once the shadow of doubt is there it never really goes away, and its got to impact not only on the individuals but also the institution as a whole  its a long-lasting reputational damage

It is understood all options are being considered by Buckingham Palace following the publication of the two names.

A royal commentator has said the royal family is facing long-lasting reputational damage following the race row (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

Palace considering all options on Endgame translation

Friday 1 December 2023 15:11 , Athena Stavrou

In response to a Dutch translation of royal author Omid Scobies book Endgame naming King Charles and the Princess of Wales as royals in the centre of a racism row, the palace is reportedly considering all options.

Buckingham Palace has yet to respond to the allegations so far and no royals have spoken about the accusations at formal engagements.

King Charles made a speech at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai today, but made no mention of the scandal.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chose to steer clear of commenting on the row as he flew to the limate talks. Asked about the controversy, he said: By longstanding and appropriate convention it wouldnt be right for me to talk about the royal family in any way shape or form.

Attending the Royal Variety Show last night, Kate and Prince William showed a united front and again did not address the claims.

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan have also not spoke to defend or confirm the accusations.

Watch: Piers Morgan names alleged royal racists named in Omid Scobies book Endgame

Friday 1 December 2023 14:50 , Athena Stavrou

King Charles and the Princess of Wales were named on Wednesday as the royals accused of raising questions about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son before he was born.

TV host Piers Morgan defended his decision to identify the two members of the royal family at the centre of the furore, saying it was blindingly obvious they were not guilty of racism.

You can watch the revelation here:

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

Friday 1 December 2023 14:24 , Athena Stavrou

Royal author Omid Scobies new book Endgame has sparked controversy identifying King Charles and the Princess as Wales as allegedly being at the centre of a royal racism row.

In a Dutch translation of the book, the pair were named as the royals accused of raising questions about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son before he was born.

However, the Sussexes - who first made the claims in their 2021 interview with Oprah - have remained silent on the revelation.

Harrys biographer Angela Levin has asked why there has been no word from the couple, and says the test to determine their involvement will is to see if they sue Mr Scobie.

Read the full Independent Premium piece below:

Why wont Prince Harry speak out to defend his dad?

Who is Omid Scoobie?

Friday 1 December 2023 14:20 , Athena Stavrou

Omid Scobie is a 42-year-old British journalist based in the US.

He is thought to have been born in Wales and grew up in Oxford, going on to study journalism at London College of Communication at University of the Arts London.

In his early career, he covered celebrity news for publications including Heat and US Weekly. He eventually joined Harpers Bazaar as the royal editor, which remains his role to date.

He had been covering royal affairs for five years when Prince Harry began dating Meghan.

Omid Scobie refuses to apologise to two racist royals named in Dutch book. (BBC Newsnight)

Mr Scobie co-authored his first book, Finding Freedom, with Carolyn Durand. The book, released in 2021, is an intimate portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Over the years, Mr Scobie has been dubbed Meghans mouthpiece for his favourable reporting of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

However, he has repeatedly said that he is not a friend of the Sussexes. In an interview with Paris Match, he said: I am not their friend and never have been.

However, In 2020, Mr Scobie wrote that he shared a goodbye hug with Meghan as she finished her last engagement as a working royal and he was one of three journalists invited to cover the event before she flew to Canada.

In Endgame, Mr Scobie revealed that Meghan had personally called him after learning that he had received threats on social media.

Is Scobie an unreliable narrator?

Friday 1 December 2023 13:50 , Athena Stavrou

As controversy around royal author Omid Scobies new book Endgame continues, some have questioned his reliability as a narrator.

After the Dutch translation of his book named King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the royals who raised questions over Archies skin colour before he was born, Mr Scobie has denied he wrote the names himself.

However, Hugo Vickers says he is not surprising that Mr Scobies book full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations.

Read the full article below:

You can count on Omid Scobie to be an unreliable narrator

Charles takes centre stage at Cop28 after Endgame book names King and Kate as royal racists

Friday 1 December 2023 13:20 , Athena Stavrou

King Charles has taken centre stage at the Cop 28 climate conference in Dubai amid a royal racism row at home.

As the publication of Omid Scobies book Endgame dominated headlines in the UK, Charles called for global action as he told the heads of states and governments that the dangers of climate change were no longer distant risks.

The address came after the monarch was named along with the Princess of Wales as the two senior royals who allegedly raised concerns about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son.

Charles takes stage at Cop28 after book names King and Kate as royal racists

PM praises Charles for Cop28 speech amid Royal race scandal

Friday 1 December 2023 12:48 , Athena Stavrou

Rishi Sunak praised the King as having been at the forefront of the fight to protect our planet for more than 60 years as he posted a picture of himself with Charles at Cop28 on social media.

He said on X, formerly Twitter: For more than 60 years, His Majesty has been at the forefront of the fight to protect our planet.

Today at #COP28 were committed to safeguarding the environment for generations to come.

King Charles speech today marked his first public appearance since the Dutch edition of Omid Scobies Endgame identified himself and the Princess of Wales as the Royals accused of raising questions about Archies skin colour before he was born.

The King has not commented on the allegations.

For more than 60 years, His Majesty has been at the forefront of the fight to protect our planet.



Today at #COP28 were committed to safeguarding the environment for generations to come. pic.twitter.com/U7rsoc0CrW  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 1, 2023

Kate puts on united front with William at Royal Variety Show

Friday 1 December 2023 12:31 , Athena Stavrou

The Princess of Wales dazzled at the Royal Variety Performance last night as she and Prince William brushed off the fallout from the royal race row after the publication of Omid Scobies book Endgame.

The Princess and King Charles were both identified in the book as being the royals accused of raising questions about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son before he was born.

It is their first public appearance since royal reporter Scobies book Endgame hit shelves on Tuesday and the palace has not yet commented on the situation.

Kate stunned in a blue Safiyaah gown (PA)

Omid Scobie denies publicity stunt accusations

Friday 1 December 2023 11:53 , Athena Stavrou

Royal author Omid Scobie has denied that the naming of royals at the centre of an alleged racism row was a publicity stunt.

He said he did not know how the Dutch translation, which has been pulped by publishers, came to include the names of King Charles and the Princess of Wales.

Mr Scobie told Newsnight that he was hurt by conspiracy theories that this is a publicity stunt.

It comes following speculation that the names were included in an earlier draft than was translated in the Netherlands.

How did the names end up in the book?

Friday 1 December 2023 11:30 , Athena Stavrou

After King Charles and the Princess of Wales were named as being at the centre of a royal racism scandal in new book Endgame, many have asked how could such a mistake be printed?

The author, Omid Scobie, has denied including the names in any version of the manuscript he wrote and edited and has blamed translation errors.

However, others have speculated the names may have been included in an earlier draft of the book.

(REUTERS)

The Dutch translator of the book, Saskia Peeters, refuted claims she had added the names of the two royals in the Dutch translation of her own accord and said they were there in black and white.

Royal reporter Rick Evers questioned how it is possible to mistranslate a name, and suggested they were included in an earlier manuscript.

He told Good Morning Britain: There are some debates about how these passages were stated in the book. I would say how could you translate a name wrong?

I got through the book with a colleague of yours and we saw some passages were missing in the English version. Like a sentence, five sentences between the first and the third part that was in the Dutch version.

So something has been erased during the work that has been done for the book.

What did the Dutch translation say?

Friday 1 December 2023 11:15 , Athena Stavrou

Royal author Omid Scobies book Endgame hit the shelves in the Netherlands accused King Charles and the Princess of Wales of being at the centre of a racism row.

The book was pulped by publishers and Mr Scobie has denied including the names - but what does the passage in question actually say?

According to a translation, page 128 of the manuscript read: After discussing possible unconscious biases within the family, after it was revealed that the King and Princess of Wales had taken part in such conversations about Archie, Kate has avoided discussing the subject with her sister-in-law.

The page from the Dutch version of Endgame shared by @RickEversRoyal.



Translation on the right. It clearly states that both the King and Catherine spoke about the Archie's skin color. pic.twitter.com/SDMSTRgIfH  The Royal Rogue (@the_royal_rogue) November 29, 2023

Watch: Omid Scobie refuses to apologise to the two senior 'racist royals' named in Dutch book

Friday 1 December 2023 11:00 , Athena Stavrou

Royal author Omid Scobie has refused to apologise for the Dutch version of his book naming two royals in the centre of a racism row.

King Charles and the Princess of Wales were accused of making comments about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghans son Archie before he was born.

Mr Scobie denies ever naming the pair in any version of the book he produced. He told Newsnight it was not for him to apologise because he still wanted to know what had happened.

Why have Harry and Meghan been silent?

Friday 1 December 2023 10:43 , Athena Stavrou

As the royal exposer-in-chief Omid Scobie is lambasted for betraying so many private conversations with his gossipy book Endgame, Harrys biographer Angela Levin asks why has there been no word from the Sussexes?

Mr Scobie says Harry and Meghan had nothing to do with the book, but Angela Levin says the true test to determine whether they were involved will be if they sue the royal author.

Read the full article below:

Harry and Meghans silence about Scobies book speaks volumes

Watch: When were the claims first made?

Friday 1 December 2023 10:19 , Athena Stavrou

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex first made the claim a royal had asked about their sons skin colour when they were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

Ms Markle told the US host: In those months when I was pregnant... we have in tandem the conversation of He wont be given security. Hes not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when hes born.

Meghan and Harry have refused to name the royal involved, but said it was not the late Queen Elizbabeth II or her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

After Meghan and Harrys interview with Winfrey was made public, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Noting that recollections may vary with regards to the racism allegations put forward by Meghan, they said: The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.

King Charles and PM avoid addressing royal race row at Cop28

Friday 1 December 2023 09:24 , Athena Stavrou

King Charles and Rishi Sunak have both avoided addressing the matter of Omid Scobies book Endgame while speaking at the Cop28 climate summit.

King Charles was seen for the first time this morning since the book named him and the Princess of Wales as the royals who allegedly made racist comments about Archies skin colour before he was born.

Charles said at the opening of the World Climate Action Summit on Friday that despite some progress, transformational action was needed as the dangers of climate change are no longer distant risks.

He made no mention of the ongoing controversy in his speech.

(Chris Jackson/PA Wire)

Prime minister Rishi Sunak also steered clear of commenting on a royal race row as he heaped praise on the King for his involvement in international climate talks.

Asked about the controversy, Mr Sunak told reporters: By longstanding and appropriate convention it wouldnt be right for me to talk about the royal family in any way shape or form.

Watch: Piers Morgan names alleged royal racists named in Omid Scobies book Endgame

Friday 1 December 2023 08:44 , Athena Stavrou
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that sometimes prisoners-of-war (POW) exchanges with Russia take place directly on the battlefield.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with AP

Details: The Ukrainian president explained that POW exchanges are not always large-scale and public as they also happen directly on the battlefield.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "We have liberated rather few people over the last six months, about 100. We have brought back several thousand people over the entire period.

We are standing up for every one of them. We make exchanges...

We often exchange prisoners of war in a less public way.

To be frank, we swap them right on the battlefield. Sometimes, we have 10 of them [the Russians], and they have a few of our guys, and we exchange them. This happens in different ways."

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This article was originally published in Wisconsin Examiner.

A nationwide discussion about which books should be kept out of the hands of K-12 students came to the state Capitol Tuesday. Two proposed bills (SB-597 and SB-598) got a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children & Families. The measures would require school boards and public libraries to create systems to notify parents about materials a student checks out within 24 hours.

Sens. Romaine Quinn (R-Cameron) and Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) testified before the committee that over the last year, their offices have been inundated by complaints from parents about books in public libraries. Quinn noted that Wisconsin already has a law providing that parents of children under the age of 16 may request library materials and records provided to the student. Quinn added that school boards and libraries have policies in place to deal with removing books and handling complaints. The bills developed by Quinn and Dittrich add a parental notification requirement.

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This bill puts the parent and/or guardian in the driver seat to have conversations with their children about any materials or themes that they find their child is not ready to be exposed to, said Quinn. The onus should not be put on the librarian, the aid, or the volunteer to make that decision as parenting styles differ from family to family, and many libraries have a self-check-out system where there may not be any interactions when the child has the entire trip to the library.

Dittrich said that in the past, school administrations struggled to get parents to be engaged with their childrens education. Then the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 arose, putting a halt to most forms of travel, business, recreation, and services. Dittrich described the pandemic as having made life interesting for all of us. Parents began to notice the books that were being provided to students in schools, said Dittrich. All of a sudden these disengaged parents were suddenly seeing maybe what their kids were learning in school, what their kids were checking out, and things really became contentious, said Dittrich. It was a fracture in Dittrichs words, out of which sprang the voices of parents upset about the books that were in their kids classrooms.

Throughout the public hearing, supporters of the bill described books that angered parents as inappropriate.

Like Sen. Quinn just mentioned, that measure of appropriateness is different for each family, Dittrich said. She also pushed back on criticism that the bills were inspired by a motivation to restrict discussion or ban books. Its time to bring the temperature down on this whole issue of books, said Dittrich.

In addition to hearing from parents who feel certain books are inappropriate, she has also heard from parents who want their kids to balance fiction and non-fiction materials, Dittrich said. I think people have ascribed some motives to these pieces of legislation that arent necessarily there, said Dittrich. We want parental engagement. The goal, Dittrich explained, is to bring down the temperature surrounding a controversial issue.

When asked by committee members, the senators denied that the bills were intended to restrict or ban books. But those are exactly the concerns the bills  and others like them  have raised during the last legislative cycle. Since 2020, conservative parents and school officials have taken a keen interest in books that feature LGBTQ topics or characters, certain aspects of American history including slavery and Native American genocide and other social justice topics Conservative organizing has driven a wave of book purges in school districts, banning, restricting, or relocating hundreds of titles.

In Wisconsin, multiple school districts have seen those efforts guided by a list of inappropriate books compiled by parent groups. Sen. Jesse James (R-Altoona), who chairs the committee alongside vice chair Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton), was provided a version of this list when he was still an Assembly representative. James was sent the list by a parent who said shed found sexually inappropriate books, as well as material teaching our kids to hate cops and their white skin. The parent suggested passing a law to remove protections for librarians so they could be held criminally liable for providing inappropriate reading materials to children. James and other Republican lawmakers worked on drafts of legislation that would expose library and school staff to felonies for providing inappropriate or obscene material to young students. Dittrich and Quinn stressed that their bills are not intended to persecute librarians or teachers.

The same list James received was used in southern Wisconsin to purge books from the Elmbrook School District. Meanwhile, the district removed privacy protections for student check-outs. Information on materials students checked out was sent to their parents on a weekly basis. LGBTQ advocates warned such policies could have disastrous consequences for students who come from less tolerant families. The Kenosha Unified School District also removed LGBTQ titles from library shelves.

During the Senate committee hearing, representatives from libraries in the Elmbrook, Beloit, Wauwatosa and Outagamie-Waupaca communities, as well as officials from the Department of Public Instruction and members of the public testified that the bills are unnecessary. Some noted that a plethora of tools are already available for parents to learn what books are provided in class and what their children are checking out. Others described the daunting task of monitoring students and notifying parents. Some districts have thousands of students, and would require tens of thousands of notifications. Some districts have tools which give parents real-time access to their childs reading materials, including log-in credentials in some cases.

As there is a staffing crisis, and not all schools have a certified full-time librarian, I am concerned that this will require a large amount of administrative time when there is not enough staff right now, said Emily Dittmar, legislative chair of the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association. Dittmar called such notifications fiscally irresponsible. Making the bills requirements a reality would take teachers and librarians away from other tasks and crucial student interactions. Please consider how this bill could put a burden on schools both in personnel, and in resources, said Dittmar.

Instead of spending time and resources on real issues facing Wisconsin families and students, like making child care more affordable or ensuring Wisconsin schools are fully funded, said Lucy Ripp, communications director for A Better Wisconsin Together, state Republicans are continuing their efforts to meddle in personal and educational decisions they have no business in  this time with a bill that unjustly scrutinizes school libraries, imposes unwarranted burdens on local librarians, and impedes upon Wisconsin students freedom to read.

How hypocritical that Wisconsin Republicans, the party of small government, want to ban books and know what every individual is checking out from the library, said Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard. This Orwellian-inspired overreach is chilling and intimidates our librarians and educators under the facade of parental rights. Senate Democrats do not support these GOP efforts to stifle learning and limit access to information.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
Former President Donald Trump has renewed his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, six years after he and his fellow Republicans failed to do so, and at a time when opposition to the federal health-care law is practically non-existent. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer

One of the most persistent and irritating lies that Donald Trump has told about his presidency concerns his failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Trump repeatedly promised during the 2016 campaign to eliminate Barack Obamas sweeping health insurance package and entered the White House in January 2017 with like-minded Republicans holding majority control of both houses of Congress.

When Trump failed to destroy the ACA, popularly known as Obamacare, he pinned the blame on John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator who dramatically delivered an early morning thumbs-down vote in July 2017 to kill a GOP repeal bill.

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Trump told his followers that he had been on the verge of replacing the ACA with a beautiful, low-cost health insurance program but got betrayed by a petulant member of his own party, who did a "tremendous disservice" to the country.

It's a message that Trump revived this past week, when he pledged to eradicate the ACA if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it, Trump complained on his Truth Social account. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!

What gets lost in this narrative is that Senate Republicans never put together a replacement plan for the ACA. With time running out on their chance to bypass a filibuster by using the budget reconciliation process, they went behind closed doors, with no chance for hearings or debate, and dashed off a placeholder bill.

It was a so-called skinny repeal that left much of the ACA intact and provided no replacement. The bill existed purely as a means to keep the legislative process rolling, in the hope that some kind of compromise could be hashed out in a conference committee by House and Senate Republicans.

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The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the skinny repeal would cause 16 million Americans to lose their insurance within a year.

The repeal bill was so anemic that two Trump loyalists, Lindsey Graham and Ron Johnson, issued an 11th-hour threat to vote against it unless they received assurances that it would not be the final version of the GOP health plan.

Graham accurately called the bill a fraud and a disaster. So when McCain voted against it, he wasnt blocking health care reform; he was refusing to play along with a hucksters trick.

Congressional Republicans had spent seven years railing against the ACA and promising that they could do better, but when they had all the levers of government under their control, they couldnt pull it off.

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Theres a reason for that.

Reforming this countrys massive, complex health insurance system is a nearly impossible political task. The ACA  with its combination of public exchanges, federal marketplace subsidies and Medicaid expansion  was a convoluted, compromised attempt to close the doughnut hole of uninsured Americans.

Conservatives derided it as a radical government takeover of the health care system and some progressives belittled it as a weak substitute for a Medicare-for-all program.

But a funny thing has happened over the 13 years since Obama signed the ACA into law. It is working.

A record 16.3 million people nationwide signed up for coverage through ACA exchanges during last years enrollment period. Republican-controlled Florida led the way with 3.2 million enrollees.

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Another 21 million people receive their health insurance under the ACAs Medicaid expansion.

The ACA has lowered prescription drug costs for seniors and enabled more than 2 million young adults to stay on their parents health plans.

All that will go away if Trump has his way.

Republican politicians, who built whole campaigns out of trashing the ACA between 2010 and 2016, rarely talk about it anymore.

By zeroing out the ACAs individual mandate (a tax penalty for those who refused to sign up for insurance) with their 2017 tax cut, Republicans inadvertently did Democrats a political favor. They took out the ACAs most disliked provision and left all the popular stuff.

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At this point, even red-state voters have grown attached to the ACA and there is no public groundswell to get rid of it.
Queen Elizabeth II is the subject of almost eight million web searches and 1.7 million social media hashtags per month - Samir Hussein/WireImage

Queen Elizabeth II attracts more interest online than any other member of the Royal family more than a year after her death, according to a new study.

Despite her son, Charles, ascending to the throne and her grandson, Harry, and his wife, Meghan, being in the news again, Britains longest-ever serving monarch is still the most influential royal, an analysis of searches and hashtags across social media reveals.

Her Majesty, who passed away in September 2022, is the subject of almost eight million web searches and 1.7 million social media hashtags per month.

And the sovereign, whose reign lasted more than 70 years, has had 916,869 articles written about her in the past year.

Prince Harry is the next most highly discussed member of the House of Windsor, with two million monthly googles and 1.2 million hashtags.

Meghan is third - almost matching her husbands online profile - followed by the Princess of Wales and King Charles III.

The Prince of Wales, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, and Queen Camilla round off the top 10.

The figures for Elizabeth II are even more extraordinary when looking at TikTok, on which she accrued a staggering 26.1 billion views.

Prince Harry is second again, but still far behind, with 14.1 billion views on the social media giant.

The late Diana, Princess of Wales, remains a subject of fascination online, even 26 years after her death at the age of 36. Her name comes up in 1.7 million searches on Google each month, and she has a total of 17.8 billion views on TikTok.

A spokeswoman for GetInsta, which conducted the study, said: The British Royal family undeniably holds a significant level of influence and captivates the interest of people worldwide.

This enduring fascination can be attributed to a combination of historical legacy, tradition and the modern-day portrayal of the royals in the media.

She added: This research offers an intriguing perspective on the most influential members of the Royal family who maintain broad popularity among the public.

With Netflixs The Crown releasing a new season focusing on the Royal familys lives from the late 1990s through the 2000s, it will be interesting to see if these rankings will change.

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AccuWeather forecasters say a quick-hitting storm, known as an Alberta Clipper, is forecast to usher in nuisance rain and snow showers from Minnesota to Maryland during the first days of the new week.

"This system is expected to quickly dive through the Midwest early this week, which will put some large metropolitan areas in line for a round of snowfall," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.

Wintertime storms that originate from the Canadian province of Alberta and tend to move swiftly along in a southward dip of the jet stream around the Great Lakes and Northeast are referred to as Alberta clippers.

This particular clipper is poised to dive into North Dakota on Monday, reaching the western Great Lakes during Monday night, Ohio Valley by Tuesday and exiting the United States off the mid-Atlantic coast on Tuesday night.

To the south of the track of the storm, rain or a mixture of rain and snow is expected, with all snow forecast farther to the north.

Precipitation is expected to be light and mainly a nuisance for most along the path of the clipper; however, AccuWeather meteorologists say there can be a few areas where slippery spots develop, especially in higher elevations and where snow falls at night.

"As the clipper dives to the southeast, cities like Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Chicago; and Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan; may be in line for some light snow. In many of these areas, temperatures can be within a few degrees of freezing, so any accumulation will largely be limited to non-paved surfaces," Buckingham said.

"The window to watch for potential issues on roadways will occur Monday night as temperatures drop well enough below freezing. The current forecast highlights this zone to reside along a path between Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin, overnight Monday," Buckingham said.

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By Tuesday morning, residents in and around the Cleveland metro area may step outside with snowflakes falling.

Heading into Tuesday night, the clipper is expected to track into the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states.

"By this point, snowfall accumulations will likely end up being elevation-based, but it is not out of the realm of possibility for at least a few slushy inches of snow to fall in the high terrain of southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland and West Virginia," Buckingham said.

Precipitation from this system will mainly stay south of the areas in New England where 6-12 inches of snow can fall as the new week begins.

Chilly but generally seasonable air will persist across the Midwest and Northeast as the clipper system moves along. Along the Northeast coast, temperatures can dip several degrees below the historical average by the middle of the week as breezy conditions make it feel even cooler.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said hes looking forward to questioning former pandemic chief Anthony Fauci over the origins of COVID-19 during a congressional hearing scheduled for next month.

Paul has been the loudest voice calling for investigations into government action surrounding COVID-19 origins, specifically into U.S. government funding of biotech research in China. Hes a major proponent of the lab leak theory of COVID, but the diseases exact origin is still unknown.

What we discovered is everything Anthony Fauci was saying in private, he was saying the opposite in public, Paul said in a Fox News interview Friday. So when he came to Congress, he basically lied to Congress and said that they werent funding dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, research that in all likelihood led to the virus.

Pauls theory is that dangerous research at a Chinese-run lab in Wuhan, China  which received some U.S. funds  created the COVID pandemic through a lab mishap. He claims that Fauci and the U.S. government then executed a cover-up to hide involvement.

This may be the worst medical decision ever made by a scientist or physician in government, not to review [Wuhan lab tests] for safety before allowing this money to go to China, Paul continued.

The senator, also a COVID vaccine skeptic, has openly called for Fauci to be jailed for his involvement in the pandemic. Fauci served as the head of pandemic response during both the Trump and Biden administrations.

But the real question is, was the top of the food chain of the cover-up Anthony Fauci? Paul questioned on Friday.

Paul also alleged that the CIA may have been involved in such a cover-up, an unproven conspiracy theory.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The march heads down Piccadilly as hundreds of thousand of people attend the national protest in solidarity with Palestine on November 25, 2023 in London

Many people on the Right suspect that liberals who criticise Israel are anti-Semitic. No doubt some of them are. In most cases, though, I dont think its got anything to do with race.

I think its got much more to do with class.

In the past, people could instantly tell what class you belonged to by listening to the way you spoke. But it wasnt just your accent that gave you away. It was also your vocabulary. In the 1950s, Nancy Mitford compiled a list of words that indicated whether their user was common or posh. Common people said serviette; posh people said napkin. Common people said toilet; posh people said loo. Common people said settee; posh people said sofa. And so on.

These particular distinctions matter little today. But that doesnt mean our society has become any less obsessed with status. All thats changed is the way status is gauged. Instead of their vocabulary, people are now classified according to their opinions.

Its an inevitable outcome of the digital age. Social media, to which everyone under the age of 50 has become incurably addicted, is a mode of communication based almost entirely on the sharing, applauding and denigrating of opinions. As a consequence, our opinions have come to define us  and to determine our social status.

If youre eager to be seen as a superior class of person, therefore, you need to express the opinions that the superior class of people invariably hold. And in the world of social media, these opinions are always progressive ones. Which means you need to show that you, for example, support Black Lives Matter, believe trans women are women, love Greta Thunberg, and loathe Tories.

To express the opposite of these opinions would be a frightful faux pas. Because, in the eyes of the superior class, its the 2020s equivalent of saying settee, serviette and toilet. That is, it suggests youre common  or, as todays superior class prefer to say, gammon. The two words mean much the same thing. They even sound alike.

Anyway, the result of all this is that much political debate these days, at least online, is worthless. This is because, instead of forming opinions of their own, many people simply parrot the opinions that are most likely to boost their status.

Which brings us back to the debate over Gaza. The superior class all take the Palestinian side. Hence why I think its wrong to assume that liberals who criticise Israel are anti-Semitic. Many of them, I suspect, are just painfully insecure, and desperate to gain the approval of their betters.

The BBC has forgotten what its for

Why do we still pay the licence fee? I dont mean that rhetorically. Its a genuine question. Still, theres no point asking the people who run the BBC. Because they appear no longer to know.

Look at the reason given for the brutal cuts to Newsnight. Deborah Turness, the boss of BBC News, said it didnt make sense to have a bespoke reporting team on a news programme with a small and declining audience, however good that programme is.

But hang on. Surely the BBC isnt supposed to worry about ratings, like its commercial rivals do. As a public service broadcaster, its job is to produce the type of serious, high-quality programming that commercial rivals tend not to bother with. If the BBC has cut Newsnight merely because it doesnt attract a mass audience, its no longer a public service broadcaster. Its just a middle-class ITV.

Ms Turnesss other excuse is that the BBC needs to save money. In that case, how about it stops blowing 1.35m a year on Gary Lineker? Otherwise, its effectively saying: Sorry, weve got to slash our news budget. Its the only way we can afford to keep paying eye-watering salaries to celebrities.

Thats the sort of thing a commercial broadcaster would do. And if the BBC insists on behaving like a commercial broadcaster, it should have to fund itself like one.

Waving bye-bye to the hated mince pie

A hotel in Scotland has announced that this Christmas it wont be serving mince pies  because guests no longer eat them. Every year, we buy them, we serve them, then with a very few exceptions we bin them, sighed Willie Millar, of the Glynhill Hotel in Renfrew.

In these dark times, how heartening it is to read a rare piece of good news. Because at long last, its clear, the British people have come to their senses  and realised that mince pies taste absolutely rank.

They do. So teeth-cloggingly thick, sticky and bitter. Theres a good reason people eat the things only once a year. And its not tradition.

But then, the same applies to most festive food. Apart from the roast potatoes and gravy  which we eat throughout the year anyway  the standard components of Christmas lunch are at best bland, and at worst foul. Turkey is the drabbest, driest bird on Gods green earth. Brussels sprouts stink of school kitchens. Pigs in blankets are so salty they make your kidneys wince. And Christmas pudding tastes like sugary shoe polish.

This is the real reason why, on Christmas Day, people drink Bucks fizz with their breakfast. Its so that, by the time they come to eat lunch, theyll be so drunk they wont be able to taste it.

Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday

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In its early years, the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons was famous for laughable characters who would shout, "WILL SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!" at the drop of a hat, a smart parody of increasingly ubiquitous attempts to push political and cultural agendas by invoking society's most vulnerable members. Only a few weeks ago, I wrote a Reason column about the show's slow, sad embrace of just such an attitude regarding pater familias Homer's cartoon violence toward his son Bart and other offenses to "enlightened" sensibilities.

But now, as we enter the weekend period of Reason's webathonthe one time a year we ask our readers, viewers, and listeners to make tax-deductible donations to fund our principled libertarian journalismI unironically ask you TO THINK OF THE CHILDREN! (And while you're doing that, go here to check out different giving levels and associated swag; and yes, we accept bitcoin, fiat currency, and almost anything short of live or dead animals.)

Give me a minute to explain.

Established in 1968 as a mimeographed magazine by Boston University student Lanny Friedlander (who died in 2011), Reason has over the ensuing decades become a full-fledged media juggernaut. Our monthly mag goes out to 52,000 subscribers, our podcasts are downloaded 530,000 times a month, our website pulls 3 million visits a month, and our videos generate on average 5.1 million views a month. We've got 43,500 Instagram followers; 282,000 Twitter (alright, X) followers; 363,000 daily email newsletter readers; 618,000 Facebook followers; and 868,000 YouTube subscribers. (All figures are from our Fiscal Year 2023, which ended in September.)

As our reach and visibility have grown, so has our readership among and influence on younger people, who are constantly being told in explicit and implicit ways that they are entering a world that is completely devoid of common decency and moral virtue, uniquely destructive to psychological and emotional health, and fundamentally unsustainable from environmental and economic perspectives. There are right- and left-wing variants to these metanarratives of doom and gloom, but they are absolutely everywhere you look: Don't have kids because of the environment (or because they're too expensive)! Gender fluidity must be eradicated from public life entirely and, besides, Atrazine is turning frogs and boys gay! There are too many flavors of deodorant to choose from, which is both psychologically demotivating and economically wasteful. School shooters, child molesters, stochastic terrorism, and unnaturally thin social media influencers have taken complete control of American life!

As psychologist and Generation Disaster: Coming of Age Post-9/11 author Karla Vermeulen told me in the video below, Millennials and Gen Zers have been bombarded since birth with messages that their world is utterly and totally doomed.

No wonder that across the board, Millennials and Gen Zers tend to report significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than Gen Xers and Boomers do. They've simply been attentive to what American Enterprise Institute sociologist Scott Winship calls "declension narratives," or stories about how the past was better and the present and future really just kind of totally suck. Watch this short video for a discussion of "3 Myths About American Decline" and why they are misguided when not just totally false.

Reason stands athwart such toxic pessimism "yelling Stop," as National Review long ago promised to do vis-a-vis history. But unlike conservatives, we aren't constantly trying to breathe life into dead-but-with-us-still institutions, attitudes, and mindsets. We celebrate economic, cultural, and political creative destruction that allows societies to grow, innovate, and flourish while also maintaining continuity with the past. And we consistently take this piss out of the apocalypse du jour by showing younger people (and older ones, too!) that "Free Minds and Free Markets" are already making the world a better placeand could do even more if we were all given a little more freedom.

Younger people don't need to be hectored about what might have worked in some supposed Golden Age past. They need to be given realistic analyses of today's world and what sorts of policies might work in the future. We've been delivering the goods on that front, especially with short videos that whet the appetite for deeper dives on all sorts of policy areas. Consider this YouTube short featuring Andrew Heaton that talks about how housing policy has made it virtually impossible to build new apartment buildings in many major urban areas. The video has pulled 2 million views, and 57 percent of those watching are under 35 years old.

Or consider this TikTok featuring Reason's Billy Binion, which was similarly popular among younger people. In less than a minute, he deftly explains the looming threat of eminent domain abuse. Interested readers can comb through hundreds of articles about eminent domain by Christian Britschgi, C.J. Ciaramella, Joe Lancaster, and others.

And if Millennials and Zoomers have been subjected to a steady stream of socialist propaganda in their K-12 and college years, Reason is robustly advancing the argument that it's capitalism that has produced a historic reduction in global poverty. Cue Robby Soave:

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Which is a roundabout way of answering the question in the subtitle of this post. Who's thinking about the children, especially as they grow up and move out into the world? Reason is, and we're offering persuasive counternarratives to the negative and false messages about the future being sent from the right and left.

When I started at Reason back in 1993, I'd say that the biggest sources of new libertarians were the works of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, and maybe Robert Heinleinwriters and public figures who in very different but effective ways made the case for individualism, minimal government, and increasing freedom in all areas of human activity. Toward the end of the aughts, Ron Paul became a major factor, especially among younger people. So was the state of the world itself and the politicians who ran it. Endless elective wars, a financial crisis that was clearly the result of massive and disparate government interventions into all sorts of economic activity, and bald-faced lying about surveillance on the part of successive presidents and presidential candidates also played a huge role, too.

But so has Reason in all its permutations. I've talked about how Reason played the chief role in my own political awakening, and television legends such as Drew Carey and John Stossel have given credit where credit is due. In 2007, Carey told Time, "I never thought I was a libertarian until I picked up Reason magazine and realized I agree with everything they had printed." And in 2011, Stossel told viewers of his Fox Business show:

I looked in The New York Times and the lefty press that we were reading and it was all about got to have much more government doing everything. And I turned to the conservative press and the conservative press was all upset about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. And upset about homosexuality, and it just didn't make sense to me. I finally discovered Reason magazine.And that was an epiphany for me. It was like, wow, these people get it. Wow, they really get it, much better than I do.

Now more than ever, Reason is helping to create the next generation of libertarians by producing more and more content that finds Millennials and Gen Zers where they live and that speaks to the mix of idealism and exhaustion they evince. Without speaking down to them (or to anyone else, for that matter), we report on the real state of the world, what's working and what's not, and how to create a future in which more and more of us get to live how we want to live.

If you want to help create tomorrow's libertarians, support Reason today with a tax-deductible donation. Your gift is currently being matched, meaning it goes twice as far when it comes to writing more articles, recording more podcasts, and producing more videos. Give now!

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